Spanish

dinner / nyc / Spanish / Uncategorized — No Comments
4
Nov 11

Gastroarte: Food is Art and Your Plate is the Canvas

Located by Lincoln Center, Gastroarte is a restaurant to immerse yourself into the world of art and food. With intricate paintings of a bull fighter and flamengo dancers on the walls, it is hard not to notice the Spanish influences that Jesus Nunez (the chef) has made upon this restaurant.

Note: All dishes shown are their tasting-sized portions.

Each table was given a few small starters to whet your appetite.  Pictured above were their croquetas – one filled with cheese and ham and the other made of squid ink. It was actually quite nice, not too fried or oily, and so easy to just pop them into your mouth.

I really enjoyed their version of patatas bravas, Patatas Braviolis, which are fried potato cubes with house bravioli sauce. The sauce was very well done – nice and spicy giving the petite potato cubes a nice kick.

Labeled their Savory Carrot “Cake” with mahón cheese, asparagus seemed like an interesting appetizer to try.  They said it was one of their most popular dishes and served as inspiration for their paintings and decor of a dining room section.  It was definitely unique (who makes savory carrot cakes?) and had a nice creamy texture to it.  The carrot flavor was just enough for you to know what it is, but had a completely different texture than the typical carrot crunch.

Their Beets And Goat Cheese Mosaic Salad was nicely cooked and cubed; the beets were soft and easy to eat.

The Red Tuna served with tomato and sherry sauce was delectable.  The tuna was cooked just right, a pinkish red in the middle and lightly seared on the outside.  I particularly liked the “sauce” or as I would like to say “broth” – it had the sweet tartness from the tomato and sherry.  I only wished my piece was slightly bigger so I could have more.

I ended off the meal with Warm Liquid, chocolate fritters served with various orange sauces and jellies.  I liked the dessert, especially since they used a dark chocolate that really worked with the slight bitterness and tartness of the orange sauces / jelly.

Gastoarte is a solid restaurant that cooks their food to perfection and plates it just as seriously.  Your plate is their canvas, and they look to bring your dining experience into another realm of artistry and deliciousness. You pay for this particular experience where entrees are upper $20s to $30s, but hey – it’s still cheaper than a painting.

Gastroarte
141 W. 69th St., nr. Broadway
http://gastroartenyc.com/ 

American Traditional / brunch / drinks / nyc / Spanish — 1 Comment
14
Jun 11

Caliu – AYCD Brunch with Spanish Flair

I am all for scoping out great food deals. All You Can Drink (aka. AYCD) brunch happens to be one of those great deals that each NYer needs to experience for themselves. Unlimited drinks plus brunch food? What can be better. Venturing into the West Village you can find Caliu, a small but cute restaurant with the $25 brunch deal.

Their watermelon sangria, shown in the first picture, is definitely a highlight. If you grab brunch, definitely try it (since it’s unlimited anyway). It’s light, refreshing, and tastes like you’re eating watermelon that is slightly spiked.

Having the choice of one entree I chose their eggs benedict with serrano ham, jalapeno hollandaise, salad, and truffled hash browns (normally $13).  It was a solid brunch dish, eggs poached nicely and I definitely enjoyed the fragrant hash browns; anything with truffle oil makes it automatically taste better.

All in all, it was a pleasurable experience drinking and eating a casual brunch with my girlfriends. I’m not sure about dinner, but at least brunch is worth making a trip.

Caliu
557 Hudson Street (Between W. 11th. & Perry St.)
New York, NY 10014
(212) 206–6444

 

dessert / dinner / nyc / Spanish — No Comments
21
Apr 08

Casa Mono…Yes or No?

So, I’ve been getting into tapas bars recently so naturally Casa Mono came up on my list. This is one of Mario Batali’s restaurants, and it’s also where the 2nd season of Top Chef, Ilan Hall, cooked prior to winning.

I would pass by this place everyday walking home from NYU campus when I lived in Gramercy. Sometimes I would stop to see the menu and think, “it’s not THAT expensive…” However, as a student, anything that was over $10 and considered a “small plate” did not fit into the budget. I was lucky enough to win an American Express gift card for $50 and decided that this is where I would spend it – Casa Mono.

Finally after months and months of pining for some delicious Spanish tapas, my friend decided to come with me on this tasting adventure. We made reservations and off we went. I was quite excited.

We were one of the first ones there for dinner and got a small enclosed table by the window. After we asked the waiter millions of questions like, “so what exactly is Fideos?” or “how spicy are your patatas bravas?”, our orders went in and anticipated our meal.

These are their Bacalao Croquetas with Orange Alioli aka. Cod encased deep fried goodness with yummy orange sauce. The croquetas were crisp but didn’t make me feel like I was eating oil. I definitely tasted the cod too, so deep frying it didn’t make it lose the flavor.

This is the Fideos with Chorizo and Clams. Okay…wha? If you’re like me, you’ll need an explanation:

  • Fideos – a thin, vermicelli-like noodle
  • Chorizo – fresh sausage
  • Clam – okay, this is something you should just know…=P

Anyway this dish was actually really good too and nice to share. I’m not the biggest fan of clams so I didn’t eat that, but it had good flavors.

Sweetbreads with Fennel al Mono. I think this was the first time trying sweetbread and not to say that this wasn’t good, but I personally dont’ like the texture of sweetbread in general.

Last of the savory dishes was Skirt Steak with Onion Mermelada (aka. Preserve). From what I remember, the Onion Mermelada was really good. Don’t get me wrong, the steak was cooked well but I enjoy the sauces that it is paired with.

And onto desssssert!

This is their Mono Sundae, comprised of Plum Brandy Ice Cream with Arrope (grape syrup) and Almonds. Oh man, this was SOO good. All the flavors worked together and satiated my craving for something sweet at the end. Yum yum.

Pricey? Yeah, everything adds up kids. I’m just glad I had that gift certificate. The waiters know what they’re talking about and it looks like they have an extensive wine menu, so I’m sure these dishes would go well with the right wine. I warn you that you might end up smelling like some of the food in there – it’s an open kitchen space.

Conclusion: Worth checking out though? Casa Mono is a YES.

Casa Mono
52 Irving Pl
New York, NY 10003

BBQ / dinner / Fusion / Japanese / nyc / Queens / snack / Spanish / Thai — No Comments
2
Sep 06

August Part 1

Long time no blog!

It’s been quite a busy few weeks finishing up my internship, seeing friends from home, helping out with freshmen orientation at NYU…so I apologize for the lack of entries. However, that doesn’t mean I’m taking any less pictures. My friends around me can testify to that. My ability to sneak in a picture before everyone dives their forks into a dish is inpeccable.

In the month of August, I’ve been exploring restaurants all over the place. Being that there are so many places I have decided to highlight certain foods and activities surrounding my restaurant excursions.

In celebration of my friend Sunny’s birthday, we decided to take it back to Barcelona…or at least close enough to La Paella East (214 E 9th St., New York, NY). Of course we got some sangrias, tapas, and paellas. It was pretty good, but relatively pricy as well.


As you can see, this is the Seafood Paella that we got which has large shrimp, calms, mussels…yum yum. We actually ordered a bunch of other food as well but I’m going to keep this post relatively short and sweet!

Then for one of my favorite freshmen, Eric Lum, is now in Prague…but for his going away party we went to Spanky’s BBQ near Time Square (127 West 43rd St., New York, NY 10036). That was pretty fun. The menu screamed unhealthy to me – take a look at their menu. The typical American Southern BBQ kind of place.


I shared one of the two salads on the menu with my friend. As you can see, it’s got beef, taco bits, and avacado. I feel as though the greens were on the side rather the actual dish. hahahah. All in all, a decent place if you want to eat your heart out with a real All-American Southern BBQ. Wait, why are Americans obese again? haha.

So I had a small reunion with some friends at Momofuku Noodle Bar (163 First Avenue, New York, NY 10003). The head chef was a guy who also worked at restaurants like Craft I believe. This was also one of the top cheap eats listed in the New York Magazine so I definitely had to check it out. The line is extremely long so I give you warning – be ready to wait in line for up to an hour (depending upon when you go). Aside from the food, the actual restaurant can only fit around 30 people.


I got the Rice Cake with Baby Bok Choy and Braised Pork. It was pretty good I guess, but a bit too salty for my taste. That mainly came from the braised pork though.


We ordered their famous Steamed Pork Buns…and they were 2 for $9! Yeah, even though in my opinion this is pretty steep, it definitely lived up to its price. It was really good, especially because even though there was fat on the meat, it did make it taste better and not gross. I think there’s also cucumber and peking duck sauce. The combination of meat and fresh ingredients in these buns made me want to eat 50. Yum. Of course that would make me extremely poor…

I ended up going back the next day because my other friend wanted to go there. Thus, more pictures of their dishes:


My friend got their Chicken and Rice dish. It was REALLY good so I do recommend this to eat if you decide to go. I got a taste of the chicken, which was prepared really well. The flavors of the whole dish seem to come together very well so my friend adores this dish.


I got their famous Momofuku Ramen. It was really good too, but still a bit salty. I do realize that ramen in general tends to be saltier, so I’m sure it’s good ramen. I just have a dull palette. ha.

The next day I went to the Donut Plant (379 Grand St., New York NY) which I’ve been meaning to for the past few months. I finally got to go and it was definitely real good. Very unique flavors.


They’ve been on the Food Network before, showcasing their variety of flavors for their donuts. It’s crazy because they seriously make different ones each day. I got the White Peach donut. Oh man, that was really good too.


I definitely enjoyed my donut. I wouldn’t mind going back sometime…:hint hint:

Lastly, I went to this place in Fresh Meadows called Kyoto (153-11 Union Turnpike, Queens, NY). It’s a real cute place right next to a relatively sketchy bar…but nonetheless, they had good sushi rolls and an assortment of Thai and Japanese food. I ordered an Angel Roll, which I can’t remember what it consisted of. It definitely had crunchy stuff on top with tuna I believe…


It was fun times, eating and celebrating my friend Jenn’s birthday. We ordered a bunch of other things, but as I said before this blog entry cannot be any longer…hahah.

Anyway, this is just part 1 of my August eats. Check back next time to catch my other adventures around this beautiful, food-ridden city.