Empanada Mama

I've mentioned Empanada Mama on Scoboco before, and how it's one of my favorite Quick Bite places in town, either for an on-the-go snack (empanadas make excellent ambling food), an inexpensive sit-down lunch, or a fun, tasty pre-theater dinner, such as the one I had with Mom, Debbie and Erika in April before The Year of Magical Thinking.

Anyway, I was reminded again last Saturday how much I (and my daughters) like this place, when the three of us squeezed in a meal between the MoMA and a movie. On this day I wandered a bit across the menu and tasted disappointment, but if you stick to any of the over 30 varieties of empanadas—wheat flour or corn, fried or baked, savory or sweet—you're pretty much guaranteed happiness.

For example, the Broccoli and Cheese Corn Flour Empanada: Co and I get this every time, unable to resist the sweetness of the corn, the salty cheese, the firm broccoli. Co also loves the lively Cuban, on Wheat, which houses the usual ham, pork and cheese. The Reggaeton is delicious (roast pork, sofrito, yellow rice, peas) as is the Cheese Steak, and the Brasil (ground beef with onions, peppers, olives and potatoes), and the Pernil (spicy shredded pork), and the Chorizo.

Bo tried the Pizza for the first time, and devoured it, declaring a new favorite. Even the garlic-laden Viagra (shrimp, scallops and crab), which I had in April, is so good that it's almost worth the discomfort of those around you for the rest of the night. For dessert we've enjoyed the Guava and Cheese, the Figs, Caramel and Cheese, and the Belgian Milk Chocolate with Banana. Obviously, these are not your empanadas of yore... but if you purists out there can stomach a few cutesy names and Hot-Pocket-esque combinations, you're in for a treat.

Like I said, they do serve other dishes here, too, but I'm not sure it's worth the risk. In April my Chicken Arepa was great; in June, tired and stale. But the worst mistake in my dozen or so visits has to be Saturday's Italian Parsley Salad, which, for $6.95, was basically exactly that: a mountain of parsley, getting no support from the scattered grains of bulghur wheat nor from the alleged lemon and oil dressing. Stick to the right side of the menu, then, and you'll do fine.

Empanada Mama is on Ninth Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets, a short (10- to 15-minute) walk to most Broadway theaters. Apparently there are other locations in Queens, where co-owners Socrates Nanas and Javier Garcia grew up, but I've never been.

Casellula

It's only been about 18 hours since I polished off the last of my heavenly, cheesy creations at Casellula, but already I'm craving more... especially of that Pig's Ass Sandwich, a definite nominee for my favorite dish of the year.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Casellula is a Cheese and Wine Cafe that opened about a month ago in a pleasant, airy room in Hell's Kitchen. The staff couldn't be more excited about the place, manifested both in their friendly, infectious enthusiasm—server Perri sparkled, fromager Tia Keenan stopped by for a chat, as did the host, as did a young man whom I guess was a line cook—as well as in the obvious love that goes into this food. Basically? From start to finish, this was one of the best meals I've had in a while.

I began with three fun and flavorful Chistorras in a Blanket, spicy, skinny chorizos wrapped in crispy pastry, topped with a lovely radish pico de gallo that was sliced so thin, it was like eating vinegary flower petals. Next came my "composed cheese plate", the excellent Gratinéed Comté—a generous slab, soft and nutty—combined with a pile of rich oxtail rillet, glazed little onions, perfectly pickled ramps and slices of fennel, and enough slices of toast to scoop it all up. I loved both of these dishes. And then my dinner got even better.


It was the Pig's Ass Sandwich that got me in the door to Casellula (New York magazine's Underground Gourmet gave it a rave), and it'll be the Pig's Ass Sandwich that keeps me coming back. Combining fatty, juicy, marinated pork butt with two kinds of heady cheese—cheddar and foi epi (like a swiss)—and sweet B&B pickles, all pressed together on wonderfully crunchy ciabatta and served with a side of chipotlé aoli, this pseudo-Cuban sets off beautiful explosions of flavors and textures and amazingness in your mouth. Finally came dessert, an intense Lemon Tart with roasted pistachios inside and out, paired with a mound of goat cheese ice cream which, honestly, I wanted to be more interesting, but which did provide a nice creamy coldness to things.

Casellula in located on 52nd Street, just west of Ninth Avenue. In addition to the prepared dishes menu from which I ordered (and, by the way, the amount of food I got would have been enough for two), there's also an extensive cheese menu, divided into sections such as Bloomy, Uncooked, Washed and Blue, from which Tia would be happy to prepare a flight or two. This place hasn't really been discovered yet—there were plenty of open tables last night between 7:30 and 8:30—but with food this good, it's only a matter of time. Enjoy it in peace while you can.

Kyotofu

Scoboco figures: if people are going to keep opening all these new restaurants that only (or primarily) serve beautiful, creative, lovingly assembled desserts... well, the least we can do is go out and enjoy them every once in awhile. And so Saturday night Bo, Co and I headed to the mod-cozy Kyotofu, and indulged in three remarkably tasty, Asian-inspired treats.

Before I go any further: I'm generally NOT a fan of Asian desserts, like those gummy bean cakes, or those bland almond things, or the grainy not-sweet ice cream. Believe me, Kyotofu is not like that.Take, for example, Bo's Warm Chestnut Mochi Chocolate Cake, a moist, semi-sweet cake with a gooey, nutty center, topped with creamy green-tea ice cream and served with an intense fig "yokan" (like a thick gelatin) on the side. It was absolutely delicious. Or my Ginger Infused Japanese Rice Okayu, a warm rice pudding-esque dish strewn with sour cherries, nicely sweetened with a generous dollop of something called kuromitsu whipped cream, and finished with a crackly, seeded wafer cookie and several pieces of perfectly complementary candied ginger. Totally yummy.

And Co? She had the best dessert at the table, a wonderfully rich and flavorful Toasted Walnut Tahitian Vanilla Parfait, with a hefty topping of maple soy-mascarpone mousse and a sticky caramel apricot sauce. And those three persimmon seeds weren't just toss-asides, for garnish, either, but rather stunningly perfect blasts of sourness. In fact, in each dessert the ingredients and flavors worked together in marvelous ways. These guys are true pros.

Even the pot of roasted green tea I had was exceptional (though it did get increasingly bitter, which, as Debbie pointed out to me later, I could have prevented by asking for more hot water). Make sure you go after 6:00, though. Kyotofu, on Ninth Ave near 48th Street, may be open all afternoon, for tea and cookies and the like, but they only serve the "real" dessert menu at night.

Eatery

My assignment a couple of Fridays ago? Find a place for a pre-Broadway-theater dinner, for nine, including kids and out-of-town family. In other words: fixed location, nothing too touristy (or rip-off expensive), but it needed to be a bit of a crowd-pleaser.

Totally nailed it.

I've always liked Eatery's signage, the big lower case "e" jutting out over Ninth Avenue (on the corner of 53rd Street), but this was Scoboco's first meal here, and now I'm not sure what took us so long. The room is contemporary and inviting; the service friendly and responsive (especially during the "water-spill" incident...); the menu filled with familiar dishes presented with an international spin, generally asian or latin; and the food ranged from definitely good to pretty delicious.

I had the Chipotle Spiked Meatloaf, served on a bed of spinach and a pile of creamy mashed potatoes, topped with a rich cheese sauce. It sounds like a bit much, I know, but the kitchen really pulled it off: the flavors were well-balanced, the meat juicy, the spinach cooked just right. I was impressed. And very full. Other winners around the table included the Udon Noodle Salad, the Pearl Crusted Yellowfin Tuna (with Japanese Eggplant, Edamame and Fresh Water Chestnuts), the Adobe Salad (read: Cobb salad, made Mexican) and a Coconut Shrimp special.



The desserts were also well-handled: the table devoured a Warm Chocolate Cake with Pistachio Ice Cream and an Apple Pecan Bread Pudding with Dulce de Leche Gelato. Nothing spectacular, but they definitely did their job.

El Centro

"Care for a little food with your garlic, señor...?"

Now, that's not entirely fair: there were plenty of other flavors—chipotle, chili, spicy mole—also fighting for my attention at El Centro, and they were fine flavors all... but I can't say I could really taste the food itself. Take my Roasted Pork Chilaquiles, basically a casserole of day-old tortilla chips and garlicky pulled pork, slathered in spicy mole, then topped with avocado, queso blanco and muchos chives. It felt good to eat, no question—hearty, crunchy, rich—but I doubt it tasted any different than, say, the Grilled Shrimp Cilaquiles. My Chipotle Caesar Salad was the same kind of thing... a large plate of romaine, garlicky croutons, and cheese that really all just served as a delivery vehicle for the intensely spicy dressing. My dining companion Jack devoured his plate of Cheese Enchiladas. Definitely no complaints there... but again, it all kind of felt like the food was just something to chew on so that we could swallow the sauce.

After a meal like that (which can take days to stop tasting), I needed dessert, and to my surprise, the kitchen totally came through with a reasonably scrumptious take on a s'more: gooey marshallow melted onto a sugary graham cracker topped with dense chocolate ice cream. It wasn't subtle, but it definitely did the trick. And speaking of not-subtle, the undeniably appealing and festive decor—the tables are bottled caps under glass; the chandeliers are made of Corona bottles; the lamps, crowns of apple juice containers, and the entire North wall is filled with tin ornaments depicting Mexican tarot symbols—also makes El Centro, on 9th Avenue and 54th Street, worth putting into your mix of Hell's Kitchen, pre-theater dinner choices.

we heart cheese

granted, it's not the most radical of limbs to go out on, but scoboco loves cheese. me and bo slightly more than co, perhaps, but she's a cheese fiend just the same. so when i first heard about say cheese on 45th and 9th--"home of the grilled cheese sandwich" --i knew it was only a matter of time before we lunched there.

that time, as it turned out, was saturday.

after being greeted by the almost too-eager-to-please owner and admiring the hilariously random decor, we each had some version of "the basic", for which you can choose one of maybe six standard grilled-cheese cheeses (american, cheddar, jack, provolone, swiss, muenster, probably something else i'm forgetting), then add on things like avocado or bacon or tomato, etc. the ingredients are fresh and nicely proportioned, and it's served on crunchy, tasty, buttery sourdough. and it's served ON something i've never seen before: a basket with tin foil stretched over the top to form a sort of elevated plate. like the guy had all these baskets already, and didn't want to spring for "flat" plates. though wouldn't his ongoing tinfoil costs outweigh a one-time purchase of regular tableware?

anyway, our sandwiches were big and satisfying and delicious, as were the curly fries (always gets a bonus in my book, when a place serves curly fries... it's like they care enough to put a little love into it) and the creamy, flavorful tomato soup. and it was pretty reasonable, like $25 for the three of us, with tip.

all in all, a perfect, cozy, warming treat for a chilly day. we're definitely going back... if only to try to figure out what the heck that owl is doing up there! (click on image to enlarge)


speaking of non-controversial stances, harry potter and the goblet of fire? the verdict is unanimous: fun, scary, thrilling, slightly saggy in the middle (that's just me, actually), tear-jerkingly sad, cool cgi, well acted (the movie's adults), enormously appealing (the movie's kids), a total must-see. to paraphrase dglass, we loooooooooooved it!

sunday night blah-blah-blah

i don't really ever get the sunday-night blahs anymore, and i'm not sure why. it's not like i love my job, and can't wait to get back to it. or that i'm psyched to hear the alarm go off at 5:45 tomorow morning. or that i had a bad weekend i'm glad to be rid of (it was the total opposite). one theory i have is maybe now that i've done 42 years of sunday nights, i'm just sort of used to it.... but more likely, i think, is that the lack of dread i used to always feel is a nice benefit of an overall optimism that's been growing in me for a number of years. i mean, i'll ALWAYS take a weekend over a weekday, but tomorrow could be the best day of year, right?

anyway, what about my totally totally great weekend with boco? here's the highlights:

saturday was art class and homework and errands at the time warner center, which we always love going to, especially whole foods. by the way, the new fountain they did in columbus circle is really pretty amazing... you wouldn't think you could feel even remotely tranquil in that location, but they pull it off: it's actually a really nice place to sit.

in the evening we hooked up with dglass and saw "dreamer," which was ok. i mean, even though there's NO question what's going to happen, you can't help but get all excited during the final race... and dakota fanning certainly is appealing, as is the whole cast, i guess... and it's pretty to look at, the kentucky horse-country setting... but the pacing kind of gets to you pretty quickly: there's just one obstacle after another that seems to spell doom, but of course you know it doesn't, because there's still plenty of movie left to go, and so the tension is totally
artificial.



a total aside: during the movie i whispered to dglass: "you know, i hate horses..." mostly to make her chuckle but also, honestly, i don't particularly care for them. then, total coincidence, much later that night i'm goofing on the internet and i come across a hilarious blog by a guy who REALLY hates horses! the page is obviously a joke and it's completely moronic (he sells shirts that have a pic of a horseshoe and say "nice shoes asshole!") but it cracked me up.




anyway, after the movie we had wanted to go to dinosaur barbecue up on 131st but i called in the afternoon to make a reservation (not at all thinking i would need one, but why not) and they were booked solid all night! so we ate at tomo on 111th, which is always tasty and pretty reasonable: the sushi boat for two--which easily fed us four--is only $40 and is fun to have on your table.

sunday was no soccer because of too-wet fields so i took boco to moma to see those two exhibits and they were both excellent, especially the elizabeth murray. i had never seen her stuff and it's just so full of movement and color and humor and it's smart and playful and expressive and there's LOTS of it and it put me in such a great mood. safe was cool, too, and both kids were totally engaged by the products, like the stuffed "parasites and viruses;" the bearcub pad-lock and heart-link chain; and the protective, passive resistance protest suit, my favorite feature of which was the fact that it amplifies the wearer's heartbeat through that speaker, to emphasize the protestor's humanity.

and amazingly, the musuem was completely not crowded. we got there during prime time, around 1:15, and there was NO line to buy tickets, and in both exhibits it felt like you could see whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted. and i was debating NOT going because i thought it'd be a mob scene.

ok, last thing i'll mention: after moma we walked over to 51st and 9th for lunch at empanada mama, which i think are the best in town. there's tons of choices--the corn flour ones are wonderfully sweet (goes great with broccoli and cheese), but the wheat flour ones are tasty too--lots of interesting beverages, music playing, pleasant people, cheap prices (seven empanadas came to less that 20 bucks, with tip), always worth stopping in for a snack if you're in the neighborhood.

and now? i guess it's time to rest up for tomorrow... the best day of the year!