Palenque

We didn't finish our WWC2015 recaps before the end of 2015, so let's see how quickly we can get them up in 2016...

One of our favorite teams during the 2014 World Cup was Colombia, and we felt a little bad that when we did our World Cup challenge meal back then, we had only stopped in for an empanada and a buñuelo. We were hoping to rectify that with a full Colombian meal for the Women's World Cup challenge, but instead we ended up just grabbing a snack. At least this time it was an arepa, which could qualify as a full meal for one of us.

We had gotten Korean mandoo earlier in the afternoon but found ourselves a little peckish as we walked home so we stopped by the Palenque stand at one of the Urbanspace markets. I had remembered Palenque from the food truck that used to roam around town selling arepas, and while they always looked good, they were a little pricey for a work lunch. (I wasn't sure one would be enough, and even the smaller size approached my $10 target.) The arepa prices still weren't that affordable (we seriously miss Farmers so much), but we decided to try them anyway.

To start with, A picked up a Colombian soda, which was basically just like the Peruvian Inca Kola. If you've never had one of those before, they taste a bit like bubblegum.

For our arepa, A chose the one that was made with Colombian chorizo (and in the large 7 inch size). On top of the corn base, they piled on lots of slices of chorizo, tons of Colombian cheese, and arugula, and served it with sides of chipotle mayo and cilantro salsa. The toppings were far more generous than we had expected (a good thing).

We were pretty happy with this arepa. The chorizo and cheese had so much flavor. The only thing we wish it had was a touch more vegetable matter outside of those little green leaves you can see in the pictures. We would probably treat ourselves to this again sometime.

A's Favorite Food Memories 2014

So like the last few years, M and I have decided to write up our favorite food memories for the past year. 2014 was different from previous years. We didn't have a big, food-centric vacation that dominated our lists, but we did get to explore the world through our World Cup eating challenge and M's 52 week cooking challenge. Here are my top 10 favorite food memories of 2014 in no particular order:

1.   Uni Tostada - Cosme (NYC)

This was a dish that opened my mind up. I love uni, and I love bone marrow, but I had never thought to put them together. The crisp blue corn tostada provided an amazing crunch and base, and the bone marrow salsa added a beautiful richness, but the true star of the show was the uni. It was so fresh, and you could definitely taste the sea with this dish. When you paired everything together it all melded into a seamless, perfect dish.

2.   Lobster Pibil - Cosme (NYC)

I usually don't go out of my way to get lobster. I find that, for the price you end up paying I just don't find the value to be worth it. Sure it's tasty, but I'd rather split the cost of a lobster dish into two dishes to try. I'm really glad we got this dish, though. The lobster pieces (claw, knuckle, half tail) were so sweet and tender. There was no chewiness to them at all. The black bean puree mixed with the avocado leaf puree offered richness and body, and the chorizo added some saltiness to balance out dish.

3.   Gorgon - Otto's Tacos (NYC)

After M showed me a picture of what this special "off-menu" item looked like, I knew we had to try it. It's a San Antonio style puffy taco filled with their carne asada, chopped onions, cilantro, guacamole, and a serrano chile crema. It's a gut bomb, but at the same time it's one of the most delicious things ever. I would eat this again in a heartbeat, but you need to make sure to only order when they're not busy. Since it's a special order they have to make it fresh so it takes some time.

4.   Cevapi - Cevabdzinica Sarajevo (Astoria, Queens)

As part of our World Cup eating adventure, M and I were fortunate enough to try food from some new countries. One was Bosnia, and we made a special trip out to Astoria for cevapi, which are a homemade sausage. The spice mix is obviously a secret, but it was delicious, and when paired with their homemade bread, chopped onions, and ajvar was an amazing dish.

5.   Crab Spaghettini - Jamie's Italian (Quantum of the Seas)

On our big vacation of the year, we found ourselves on a boat in the Atlantic with limited food options. All that said, we did find a really nice meal at Jamie's Italian, the restaurant designed and created by Jamie Oliver. This dish tasted and felt really clean and fresh. The crab was sweet and delicious, and the pasta was simply prepared with olive oil and garlic.

6.   Herbs Spring Rolls - Chada (Las Vegas)

The reason this dish resonated with me so much this year was that it was so different than anything else I had ever eaten at a Thai restaurant. Sure, I'd had fresh rolls and summer rolls in the past, but this was something entirely different. I couldn't quite place the flavor, but the herbal nature of the vegetables was so refreshing and so bright. The filling was warm and added a nice balance of salt to the dish. It's something that I would love to have again.

7.   Nam Prik Ong - Lotus of Siam (Las Vegas)

This is something that is something else. It's often described as a spicy pork and tomato dip that gets served with sliced vegetables. Obviously there's much more to this than just being a simple dip. In the end, the only way I know how to describe this is as one of the best and richest bolognese sauces ever. I would pour this all over pasta and eat this every day if I could.

8.   Hungarian Pancake - Smak-Tak (Chicago)

On our most recent trip back to the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago for a wedding, we made a trip into the city to get some Polish food. Chicago has a thriving Polish community so we knew our best chance of getting something for the World Eats Challenge would be there. I'm not sure why it's a Hungarian pancake in a Polish restaurant, but it's a specialty of Polish cuisine apparently. It's a massive potato pancake folded over and filled with gulash with red cabbage slaw and sour cream on the side. It's hearty, it's filling, and it's amazingly delicious. This is one of those dishes where you eat it and instantly need a nap. I'm also pretty sure that's exactly what I did.

9.   Arepa Con Queso - Arepa Lady (Elmhurst, Queens)

M and I have always talked about how we want to find the Arepa Lady in Queens. She's famous for her amazing arepas and also for her insanely inconsistent hours. Often times she doesn't even show up to her spot until right around midnight. Recently she had also opened up a brick and mortar store, and we really wanted to check that out, but people always said that the cart was still better. Luckily for us we were able to get to the Viva La Comida street festival where she and her cart were vending. She has two options available, one made of corn and one made of choclo (a Peruvian large kernel corn). The one I selected was the corn version. It has a subtle sweetness from the corn, but it's stuffed with cheese, griddled, and then covered in more cheese. 

10. Home cooking (NYC)

This year M did a lot of cooking at home. She unofficially participated in the Reddit 52-week cooking challenge, and it turned into a lot of amazing meals. I'm highlighting four of them here as these were my favorites. For TV inspired she made Hawaiian Garlic Butter Shrimp inspired by Hawaii 5-0. It was such a rich, amazing flavor. You could really taste the butter and garlic paired with the sweet shrimp. For street food she went Mexican and made esquites. Charred corn mixed up with chilis, garlic, scallions, cilantro, spices, and mayo ended up being one of our most favorite things she made all year. For "American" she made Hoppin' John and Collard Greens, and the collards were unbelievable. I'm a huge fan of collards, and these rivaled almost every other one I've had in restaurants. For Belgian week she made Carbonnade and Stoemp, Flemish Beef (M used chicken) and Beer Stew and Mashed Potatoes with mixed in vegetables. We'd had carbonnade while in Belgium, and this was just as rich and sweet as we remembered. The stoemp was filling and a perfect complement to the rich stew.

Los Perros Locos

Earlier this year (this post has languished in drafts for so long), M was reading Eater when she came across the sad news that Los Perros Locos, a Colombian hot dog joint down on the Lower East Side, had closed. We only made it down there once during their 20 month tenure but were hoping to go again to try more in connection with our Colombian WorldEats quest. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen since the shop is gone (even though it may return in other forms according to the post), but to say goodbye, it's probably a good time to finish off our post on our first (and only) visit.

We had been wanting to try Los Perros Locos since we heard of their opening, since (a) we love hot dogs, (b) we like Colombian food, and (c) we really enjoy trying out fast food from other cultures. At some point, we picked up a voucher for a really sweet deal, so we used that on our only visit there. With our voucher, we got 3 beef hot dogs, 1 salchipapas populares, and 2 cervezas for just $18!

We started out with our cervezas. A went for a Presidente as he drank many of them in the past when out with coworkers. It's a clean pilsner with little in the way of bitter hoppiness, but it's a refreshing beer overall. M had never heard of Aguila beer, but chose it anyway, solely because it was a Colombian beer. From what she remembers, she liked it, but it's been a while and she's not very good at describing beer anyway, so sorry, no other details on the Aguila here.

We were very excited about the salchipapas (fries) and it was our favorite part of the meal. We got the salchipapas populares (waffle fries with hot dogs, salsa rosada, and salsa verde). These are everything you would imagine them to be. Crisp exterior with a soft potato interior on the waffle fries paired up with melted cheese, cut up hot dogs, and two creamy salsas. Heavenly.

We got 3 hot dogs with our voucher so we picked:

Amero-Perro (their version of a chili dog - beer and cocoa infused beef chili, shredded Vermont cheddar, chipotle kraut, crushed Fritos, ChipZana [chipotle + apple] sauce)

The crushed Fritos were a little odd, and neither of us really were sure what to make of them. Yes, they added texture and that heavy corn flavor the chips are known for, but they didn't fully mesh with the rest of the hot dog. It was odd, though, since this was essentially a chili cheese dog which should go well with Fritos considering that's what goes into Frito Pies. The chili cheese dog part of it was good though.

Mexi-Max (sriracha pico de gallo, chipotle kraut, ChipZana sauce, salsa verde, queso cotija, crushed Fritos)

Again with the crushed Fritos, although they seemed to work better here. This hot dog was similar to the Amero-Perro in that it had the chipotle kraut, ChipZana sauce, and crushed Fritos, but the differences certainly stood out. We're big fans of salsa verde and queso cotija so we knew we'd really like the flavors on this dog. The sriracha pico de gallo was really refreshing and offered just the right amount of heat.

Chimi-Churi-Chori (chorizo, grilled Provoleta, homemade chimichurri, aji panca aioli, crushed potato chips)

This was our favorite, and we figured it would be. We're both really big fans of chorizo because of its distinct and powerful flavor, but adding in the grilled Provoleta, chimichurri, and aioli enhanced the flavors so much. The crushed potato chips didn't add as much flavor as the crushed Fritos from the previous two hot dogs, but they added that same unique texture.

Overall, we had a good meal at Los Perros Locos with lots of tasty things that we hadn't had before. The voucher meant we basically got our meal for half price and it was a great deal. We definitely wanted to return, but sadly that will not be happening now. It was pretty packed the night we went so we were surprised to hear the news of their shuttering. Hopefully Colombian hot dogs will pop up elsewhere soon!

La Sabrosura

Colombia was one of our favorite teams in this year's World Cup and we were sad they didn't make it further in the competition. We were hoping to honor them with a nice dinner with some of our favorite Colombian foods, like rotisserie chicken and arepas, but we just didn't have time to fit that into our schedule. If Farmers were still around, Colombia would have probably been the first country we crossed off the challenge list. But since they're not and since we only had time to hit Colombia in a food crawl, we decided to stop at the La Sabrosura Bakery since we were already in Astoria for Bosnian food.

We ordered one buñuelo and one Colombian empanada with hot sauce on the side. It cost $3 total.

They had a bunch of empanadas in the window at the bakery and they seemed to be popular with all the people stopping in that afternoon. I originally asked for the Colombian empanada in chicken, since that was an option on the menu, but she said I could either get the chicken or the Colombian one. Since we were at a Colombian bakery, I, of course, opted for the Colombian empanada. I have no idea what type of meat was inside it but the combination was tasty. It was even better with the hot sauce.

A buñuelo is a fried dough ball which, in Colombian cuisine, often has cheese mixed in before it's fried, making it even richer and giving it a unique texture. This buñuelo was a little on the sweet side, but the texture was nice. A liked the buñuelo better than the empanada, and I was the opposite.

We thought our snack at La Sabrosura was okay, but there are so many Colombian restaurants and bakeries throughout Queens that I'm not sure we'll be back here. If you're in the neighborhood and want a quick pastry or empanada, it wouldn't be a bad choice but it's not so much of a destination place in our opinion.

La Sabrosura Bakery is located at 3802 Broadway, in Astoria, Queens.

Farewell Farmers Rotisserie

Walking home from our Ethiopian dinner tonight, we stopped abruptly when we saw the windows of one of our favorite neighborhood spots covered in newspaper.  We were hoping that it was just a renovation, but when we saw the sign in the window, our hearts sank.

Farmers Rotisserie, also known as Farmers Rotisseria a la Brasa, was one of the best affordable casual spots in Hell's Kitchen.  (We wrote previously about the arepas (here) and their rotisserie chicken (here).)  It wasn't trendy, it didn't have lines down the block, it didn't have a well-known chef. It was just down-to-earth Colombian cooking with delicious food.

We're not sure when it closed.  It looks like people were still going on Wednesday based on Foursquare, but today the windows were covered and the menu board outside was blank.  We haven't eaten there in a few weeks, and I think we took for granted that it would be there the next time we had the opportunity and the desire for rotisserie chicken.  It's never a happy occasion when a restaurant closes, because someone is always adversely affected, but it just feels so much worse when it's actually a good spot that you love.

We will miss their rotisserie chicken - the juiciest we've ever had at a restaurant and so well-flavored.  We will miss their spicy green hot sauce and their rich scallion-filled chimichurri sauce.  We will miss the rice, the beans, the plantains.  We will miss their crispy corn arepas topped with the tastiest white cheese.  Mostly we will miss our go-to neighborhood spot for a reliable casual dinner.  Farewell Farmers. We will miss you.

Now where will we go for rotisserie chicken?  Any recommendations?

Farmers Rotisserie

One of our favorite places in Hell's Kitchen for a casual dinner is Farmers Rotisserie.  Over a year ago, I wrote about the delicious arepas we had there and I think we've gotten arepas every single time since then.  But somehow, we've never written about the rotisserie chicken that the restaurant is named for!  We went to Farmers again a couple of days ago, so it's time to talk about the chicken (and everything else).

For appetizer we once again got the arepa con queso.  The corn cake was crispy and the cheese was delicious, as always.

The rotisserie chicken comes with a salad, which is usually the first thing to arrive at the table.  The salad has romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, carrots and beets, along with bottles of oil and vinegar that you can mix to your liking.  Simple salad, but they include lots of non-lettuce vegetables which is nice.

We ordered a half-chicken with rice, beans and plantains.  You have a choice of red beans and black beans; we've tried both but usually end up going with the black beans.

The rotisserie chicken at Farmers could be the best rotisserie chicken we've ever had.  The chicken is seasoned well and incredibly moist and juicy, even the white meat.  Whatever they do to it is better than everyone else, and we keep going back.  The rice, beans and plantains are all solid, but the real star is the chicken itself.

The chicken is also accompanied by two sauces - a chimichurri sauce of parsley, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and seasonings, and a green spicy sauce.  Adding these to the already flavorful chicken just makes it even better.  I may also add the green spicy sauce to the plantains... and the beans... and the rice...

We often split the chicken and an arepa, but we were a little hungrier this time and decided to try one of the new specials - tostones con pollo y guacamole (green plantains with chicken and guacamole).  You can't see the plantains in the photo below but they are flattened and fried and placed under the chicken and guacamole.

What a great dish!  The combination just works, as did each individual part.  The chicken tasted so familiar but I still can't place where I've had those flavors before.  A thinks it tasted like an amazing chicken stew.  We would get this again, but it is quite filling.

If you're in the mood for rotisserie chicken, we highly recommend going to Farmers.  Laid-back, casual, tasty food, amazing rotisserie chicken.  Can't go wrong!

Arepas

I love arepas. I tried my first real arepa about nine years ago over spring break in Miami. It was so good. So good that later, in law school, I bought the Goya masarepa flour and tried to make my own. Here in NYC, we love Caracas for arepas, but they are always so crowded!

What are arepas? For those not familiar, arepas are cornmeal patties, sometimes with cheese, that are common in Colombia and Venezuela. Every one that I've had seems to be a little bit different.


This arepa is from a restaurant that opened up in our neighborhood last year (I think, in the fall) - Farmers Rotisserie. The menus call it Farmers Rotisseria a la Brasa. It's a Colombian place with fabulous rotisserie chicken and all around good food. Last time we went there, we got rotisserie chicken and tried empanadas for appetizers. This time, I suggested we go for the arepa con queso.


It was so good. The cheese was a nice addition and the corn patty was crispy. We would definitely get this again (and wanted a second as soon as we finished the first!). We recommend a visit to Farmers generally for solid good flavorful food, and if you're there, we recommend trying the arepa!