Dinner at Tacos Matamoros

Sunset Park! Can you believe it? I finally made it out there, to a place the now defunct Best View in Brooklyn recommended almost a year ago! Tacos Matamoros (4503 5th Avenue, between 45th & 46th Streets, 718-871-7627) is an eat-in or take-out establishment, with nicer ambiance than the also recommended Xochimilco across the street. You can bring your own beer (or tequila as one yelper wrote), and order some of the tastiest & cheapest Mexican around.

We started out with some Guacamole & Chips, naturally, which came with a fresh and flavorful salsa verde and cut up radishes. The chips were nicely salted and fresh as well. The guacamole was chunky with red onion & tomato and wonderful.



I ordered three small tacos - one with Al Pastor (slow roasted pork), one with Chorizo and one with Carne Asada. The Al Pastor was delicious - slightly smoky, the meat had a certain depth to it. The Chorizo was super spicy with a red chili sauce drizzled all over it, but great, and the Carne Asada...well, I received chicken instead, and decided to just go with it. It was disappointing and a bit bland. I think the beek would have been better. Oh well, next time. The tacos are all made with corn tortillas that are fresh and hearty, and everything is sprinkled with cilantro.



My friend ordered two small tacos, one with pollo and one with al pastor. Again, everything was fresh and sprinkled with ample cilantro. She also got a tamale which she deemed "authentic".



I couldn't believe it when we got the bill and it read $12! What a bargain. I really liked Tacos Matamoros. It's a great place to go with a big group of friends - they certainly have enough space, and there's even a party room in the back! The food is hearty & filling and delicious as well!

Dinner at Lot 2

A colleague recently told me about Lot 2 (687 6th Avenue, at 20th St., 718-499-5623) and it's been high on my list ever since. I was fortunate enough to go last Friday, to celebrate something my boyfriend has been working towards for a very long time. As soon as I walked in the door I liked it. Low lighting, browns & exposed brick, with wooden tables in addition to a small-ish bar are all that fill the space. The waitstaff was friendly and knowledgeable, and the menu was enticing. We started out with some salads, all of which were delicious. My step-father ordered the Arugula with Pickled & Roasted Beets which was wonderful. The dressing was slightly lemon-y, and the plate was piled high with crisp leaves of arugula with fresh beets, earthy and flavorful.



My mom got the Roasted Mushroom and Herb Salad with slices of tender Porcini and Chanterelle mushrooms, in a light, tangy dressing. Celery leaves were mixed in with the greens, adding a nice, clean flavor.



My boyfriend and I shared an order of the Cauliflower & Romanesco with Capers and Mint. This was great - chunks of roasted cauliflower and pieces of romanesco (aka summer cauliflower), mixed with tangy capers & fresh mint. Served warm, it was an excellent way to whet our appetites.



My step-dad got the Buttered Noodles with Yellow Wax Beans, Summer Squash & Lemon for his entree. While a basic dish, it still offered a complex array of flavors, from the green squash to the citrus-y lemon to the comforting butter. It was quite good!



My mom chose to order a bowl of white bean & escarole in broth that was really tasty. It was slightly on the salty side, but the beans were cooked to a perfect consistency and the escarole provided a nice veggie balance.



I picked the Steamed Clams, Roasted Tomato, fresh chives & garlic bread for my entree, and split it with my boyfriend. A bowl full of smaller sized clams arrived in a wonderful broth - I only wished I had more garlic bread to sop it up with! I thought the clams were good, he felt like they were a little on the fishy side.



We also split the "Slow & Low", a dish with Beef Brisket, Pork Jowl, Lamb Rib & Carrots and Potatoes. The brisket was some of the best I've ever tasted - tender, rich and meaty, while the pork jowl while flavorful was mostly fat. The Lamb Rib was also good, with melt in your mouth meat that falls off the bone, all in a broth that was so flavorful, again, I wanted more bread, but also didn't want to fill up on bread!



Even though we were quite full, we couldn't completely pass up dessert, so we ordered the Vanilla Cheesecake with Almonds and Nectarines. I loved the sliced fruit splayed against the cheesecake, but I've been spoiled on cheesecake growing up with my Italian grandfather. This was so light, it was more like Pannacotta or a dish of Mascarpone, which, while nice, isn't what I'm expecting when I order Cheesecake. I wanted something denser and richer.



I really liked Lot 2, and would recommend it to someone looking for someplace nice to have dinner. They also serve grass-fed, locally-raised meats, which adds points in my book. Go and see for yourself - and just so you know, they specialize in Bourbons and Whiskeys, so don't go when you're craving a Vodka Martini.

Dim Sum at Pacificana

Congratulations to Best View in Brooklyn for winning a copy of Andrew Coe's new book, Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States. Here is a post she wrote about Dim Sum in Sunset Park. Enjoy!

After several less-than-patient attempts to partake of dim sum at Pacificana, I have finally experienced the legendary tidbits and nibbles above the Chase bank on 8th Avenue and 55th Street. I went with a friend who speaks and understands Chinese, and she also was familiar with some of the items I hadn't ever seen. The servers did translate the dishes, so don't worry if you don't know Chinese.

We started out by ordering Chrysanthemum tea instead of the regular green tea. So good. Let it steep for a while after it gets to the table. Fanny also told me that it's polite to tap the table with your fingertips while the server (or your friend) pours tea for you. It basically means "Thank you for pouring my tea."

Other highlights we ordered were shu mai, shrimp dumplings, and some crunchy goodness wrapped in squishy goodness. Fanny had to eat most of that since only the crunchy-squishy goodness was sans meat. We then saw a bun/pastry cart go by. Fanny picked out the durian and egg custard plates. I was a little dubious about eating the durian pastry (pictured below) because I had seen that bizarre foods show with that food guy on that food channel. The durian vendors in his show were stationed far from everyone else due to the smell of the durian fruit. It's also banned in touristy hotels in China and Singapore! Fanny assured me that the taste (and smell) is much different post-cooking than fresh. I would have tried it anyway, just to try it.

However, it was really good! The durian filling is kind of like cooked but uncaramelized Vidalia onions. It was all I could do to save one to bring home for my better half.

The photo below shows some of the other items we tried. From right to left: the egg custard tarts were also quite tasty. Very eggy flavor, and sweet. The greens were excellent, and it was a good thing we ordered them. Nice to have something to help things move along. The turnip cake has chunks of turnip and some pork in it. I did try a little of the turnip chunk, and it was tasty. On the far left is an almond pudding. Very sweet and very good. In fact, it was particularly tasty as a way to cut some of the bitterness of the greens. There is also some hot sauce on the table. You have to order that specifically; just ask for "hot sauce."

The entire meal, Fanny had been talking about fresh tofu pudding. She hadn't had it for years, and we didn't see any going by in the carts. After we'd already ordered an obscene amount of plates (we were there to try lots of stuff - we didn't finish them all!), I saw a server scooping wobbly white stuff into bowls. I'd found it! I was very pleased to make myself useful at Pacificana. So, of course, we had to order a bowl of fresh tofu as well. It was a perfect ending, actually. Very light, the tiniest bit sweet, and it actually tasted like tofu...not spongey shoelaces like some of the pre-packaged tofu can be. Here's what the serving looked like before we attacked it.


What surprised me about Pacificana most was how crowded it was. I mean, it was 11:30 AM in the middle of the week! I thought there would be SOME people there, but the place was FULL. And when it started to thin out at about noon, a new wave of people came in. I have to say, we spent a lot more time there than most. At first we were seated with the maternal side of a family (grandmother, mother, three girls), they finished up while we started, and then a couple of White women came in and they were seated with us. (We three were the only White people there, by the way. Coincidence? I guess we got the kids'/White people's table.) The two women were out of there within 20 minutes...quick lunch. A third party was being seated when we finally had our bill tallied. Perhaps a lot of people use it as a quick, relatively cheap way to have lunch. Anyway, I was amazed by the amount of people in that huge space.

I'll be back, for sure. I know that on the weekends it's best to get there quite early. We were seated almost immediately, so weekday lunch is pretty easy. Enjoy!