Sólo la cuenta, por favor

[muckefuck]

Diego's "very inauthentic paella" (or "arroz con cosas", as he dubbed it in Spanish) on Wednesday was nothing at all to apologise about, though it suffered from being followed by Uncle Betty's truly phenomenal "welfare flan". ("All the ingredients can be bought with food stamps at a gas station," Diego explained.) I warned him that, even if it were better than e.'s, loyalty would prevent me from saying so, but he assured me that it was a completely different kind, made with cream cheese, so there could be no direct comparisons in any case. I will say this: The great thing about e.'s is that it's light enough I can eat a half pound of it without particularly noticing, but it was a struggle to finish one large ramekin of Betty's even though it tasted fantastic.

After dinner, we broke into dyads. I don't really know what monshu and Diego talked about (I gather it was something boring like databases) because his better half and I were deeply engrossed in discussing food. With Holy Week on our heels, he was thinking of fanesca (for Calvin Trillin's take on it, read here) and already looking forward to gorditas of the street vendors in the park. Diego ate up my advice about Sabor Peruano; apparently, he dines there a couple times a month and always orders the jalea. Amazingly, they haven't tasted the ají de gallina yet, but Betty assures me he'll remedy that. In the meantime, he suggested I hie myself to a Guatemalan bakery called Isabella's on the weekend for the tamales and to the Angel Food Bakery for the hyperobnoxiously-named "Barthelona hot chocolate".

Well, last night was too warm for chocolate, so I thought I'd check out Isabella's weekly assortment. A little disappointing, to be frank. The only savories seemed to be ham or turkey croissants (yawn!) so I picked up an empanada filled with "manjar", which she explained as "a kind of custard". (I think it may actually be a blancmange of some sort.) I still needed some dinner, though, and across the street was a marquee reading "FAJITA GRILL fine mexican cuisine". I know, how many warning signs are there in that one little sign? Still, if we never question our assumptions, we'll never be pleasantly surprised, so after looking over the menu I decided to go in and order.

Unfortunately, it was all exactly as I predicted: "Fine" is a euphemism for "overpriced". The chips were courtesy of Frito-Lay. Although beautifully presented, the combo platter consisted of a single taco, a single flauta, and a small enchilada--even the side of rice and (puréed to nothingness) beans was scanty. The mole had no depth and the chicken hadn't been cooked in it, rather sauced at the last minute. None of it was actually bad, it simply couldn't live up to the owner's pretensions.

Which is sad, because I really liked the owner (assuming that's who served me). He was charming and attentive, and I suspect that if we could've sat down together over a carafe of Rueda, we'd have had as interesting a chat about food as me and Betty. It's a comfortable place, but I had the misfortune to be seated one table away from a quiet couple who were being lectured in a loud grating voice by a sullen trixie. It must've been the springlike air lightening my spirits, because I merely reflected abstractly on what a miserable and irritating person she was rather than being made miserable and irritated by her incessant yapping.

It *was* a stunning night. Like rollick, my heart goes out to the little shoots bravely poking up through the muddy earth only to be slaughtered during our next killing freeze. I nibbled my empanada as a strolled, strewing crumbs for the starving birds, and looked forward to the days of al fresco dining and street vendors on every corner at last.

Comments

[danbearnyc.livejournal.com]

I know all about Calvin Trillin and fanesca; this restaurant is in my neighborhood.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

But their version has barely two-thirds of the necessary ingredients! It's as if the Boanerges' boat sank after all!

[danbearnyc.livejournal.com]

So true. So sad.

I did visit Ecuador several times, but was never able to make it to Cuenca: floods, bus crashes, volcanos. I think it's one of those places I'm not meant to see.

"Das ist ein Unikum!"

[monshu.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the Unicum Diego served us after the meal--really quite nice, reminded of an Italian amaro.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

So is that why you want to hit Sam's bright 'n' early tomorrow?

Ah, YEAH!!!

[monshu.livejournal.com]

And also to get wine for next week's Easter dinner of course--but some Unicum WOULD be nice as a bonus!