El Paso Taqueira.

El Paso Taqueira is a hidden away on a small Upper East Side street under building scaffolding and behind many bushes on the sidewalk, but once discovered, there are many feasts for the eyes and reasons for your tummy to celebrate on the inside.

I went to El Paso Taqueira with Kitty, Squishy, Volatile, Twitchy, Roomie, and Mic on a cool winter evening after class. We were hungry and craving some very good Mexican food. Boy, were we satisfied.

First we got appetizers. One of the appetizers we got was the guacamole with fresh tortilla chips. The guacamole was fresh and creamy with the butteriness of the avocado coming through. You can tell that there was lime in there, but it was perfectly balanced, without the lime killing the avocado taste. Paired with freshly made tortilla chips, it was a nice start to the meal.

Our second appetizer was the nachos. The nachos looked extremely messy when it arrived at our table, but the appearance of the dish was not representative of its great taste. The flavors were blended very well, with the fresh vegetables adding to the lightness of what would seemingly be a greasy appetizer. With the crisp tortilla chips paired with more of the fresh guacamole, covered in cheese and sour cream, you can say that you enjoyed this guilty pleasure.

From the appetizers, we moved on the explore the world of El Paso's entrees. I apologize for the blurriness of some of the photos. When these photos were taken, I still had not learned how to take masterful pictures of food without flash. The reason could be that the camera was new and had many new functions I still had to learn. This is what you get for not reading the instruction manual, I guess!

After failed attempts at getting good enchiladas, I figured that this authentic Mexican restaurant would have good ones. I would be greatly satisfied. I got the enchiladas filled with beef and the green tomatillo salsa. The dish came with rice and black beans on the side. The enchiladas were warm and moist with the beef on the inside satisfyingly tender and complemented with just the right amount of spice. The green tomatillo salsa was not overly spicy, as I feared the red sauce would be too spicy (And it did turn out to be too spicy, as we'll see from Mic, Twitchy, and Volatile's dishes.). The rice was flavorful and when mixed with the beans, it was very hearty and warming a cold evening. The only thing I could complain about were the raw onions that were used as garnish. They were large and unnecessary to the dish and eating them would lead to killing all other flavors in the dish and bad breath for me.

Twitchy and Mic got the same dish as I did, but instead of the green tomatillo salsa, they chose to sample the red guajillo salsa. Mic's dish also varied in that she had chicken instead of beef. The sauce was tasty, but it was also overly spicy. As a result, you could not taste the rest of your food after eating this. If you like spicy food, however, you should always get the "red sauce." Mic also made the unfortunate mistake of declaring the dish not spicy enough and adding hot sauce to it. After a few more mouthfuls she died. Copious amounts of water were consumed on that side of the table.

But on our side of the table, copious amounts of water were also consumed. Volatile also made the terrible mistake of adding hot sauce to her enchiladas. She got the cheese enchiladas with the red guajillo salsa. Her face was very red after she consumed such a hot plate.

Kitty and Squishy, because they were as famished as we were, shared a chicken quesadilla and an side order of rice and beans. The quesadilla came with the great guacamole again and the quesadilla was warm and fresh. They enjoyed the heartiness of the rice and beans and were easily satisfied.

Strangely enough, the dessert was very limited, so three of us got the flan. For some reason, one dish came with a chocolate sauce, while the other two came with a strawberry sauce. Both were equally delicious and complemented the flan, which was smooth and light. The caramel sauce was strong, but not overbearing and it was a nice way to end such an enjoyable meal.

Mic and Roomie shared the fried bananas with vanilla ice cream. The crispy wrapping gave way to warm and gooey banana contents that, when paired with cold vanilla ice cream, brought us to heaven. The pairing of hot and cold inside your mouth is always a pleasing feeling when eating and is best achieved in the wonders of dessert.

Overall, El Paso Taqueira has great food with a pleasing atmosphere and festive decorations. Though small (we had to wait a short while for a table), the fact that it was still crowded when we were leaving is a testament that this is a little Mexican gem tucked away near the exposed tracks of the subway in a small abode in the Upper East Side. I would return there again when I crave authentic and spectacular Mexican food.

Price: <3<3<3

Taste: <3<3<3<3<3

Atmosphere: <3<3<3<3<

Opinion: Highly Recommended

Apologies.

Hello All,

I have finally returned to this page. I have been absent from this page in the past four months because Blogspot is one of the domains that China has placed a ban on for users in the country. Because I was studying abroad there for the Fall 2009 Semester, I was unable to update this blog. I will continue to write from my last entry and will go through all of the restaurants I have not written about yet.

I also committed the sin of not taking many pictures of food while in China. Though I know this is an unforgivable sin as a food blogger, I hope that you, my readers, will forgive me as I continue my writing.

My deepest apologies to you all!

~Kev

Food Porn Blogger

Lyric Diner.

On March 31st, 2009, following talks about women's special places as we viewed a school production of The Vagina Monologues, we craved a food escapade.  So we, Volatile, Squishy, H, and I, decided to hit up our good old friend, Lyric Diner.  It was a nice rendezvous with a restaurant we were familiar with.

Volatile got a meal.  It came with soup, fruit, and an entree.  This is the lentil soup that came with it.  It looked thick and gloppy, but she said that it was alright.

Squishy got eggs, sunny side-up, and ham.  It came with home fries.  It was pretty run of the mill.  Nothing extra sexy or seductive.

I got my usual corned beef hash and eggs, over-easy.  This was the first time I got the hash here and it was especially good.  I could tell that the hash was made with fresh corned beef instead of coming from a can.  You could see the remnants of corned beef throughout the hash and could tell that it came from a nice and flakey corned beef.  It was also not that salty, which was definitely a plus, and perfectly crispy.  The home fries were nothing out of the ordinary.

H got the Derby Burger, which came with french fries, a pickle, and cole slaw.  The burger comes with lettuce, tomato, bacon, avocado, and bleu cheese.  H said that it was alright.  He especially enjoyed their french fries, which I must argue are some of the better fries for diners that I've ever had.

Here is Volatile's baked lasagna.  She enjoyed it because it was very cheesy and fresh.

Lastly, here is the fruit bowl that came with Volatile's meal.  The fruit seemed fresh.  There was cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple, and grapes.

Overall, it is a safe place for eating.  Service during busy hours is a bit lacking, but if you go at an empty time, the service is alright.  Food is decent.

Price: <3<3<3<3

Taste: <3<3<3<3

Atmosphere: <3<3<3<

Opinion: Recommended

Yuka.

To continue our food orgy, Roomie, H, Volatile, Nico, Squishy, and I went to possibly the most sexy sushi restaurant in the whole city. The meal was extremely satisfying. There are two options at Yuka: (1) All you can eat or (2) Menu. We wonderfully decided to be fat pigs and decided on the all you can eat option. The way it works is that you have sheets of paper at the table with the sushi options. They (the restaurant staff) give you pencils and you mark off the number of rolls or pieces of nigiri you want. You generally order for the whole table, so the following pictures were basically for the whole table.

These were avocado-cucumber rolls. Volatile ate most of these because she's a veggie. She said that they were alright.

These were the spicy tuna rolls. They were extremely spicy, but that's how spicy tuna rolls should be in the first place. They were good.

Here is a plate of yellowtail and tataki nigiri. The yellowtail was extremely fresh and had great texture. The scallions that were sprinkled on top added a nice subtle onion flavor that complemented the yellowtail. The tataki was nice, but tasted just like regular salmon.

The top row is tuna, the middle row is mackerel, and the bottom row is egg custard. The tuna and mackerel were both very fresh. The egg custard was very fresh and soft, with a mild sweet flavor. It was one of the best egg custard sushi I've ever tried before.

Here is a beautiful tray of salmon and tataki nigiri. The salmon here was extremely fresh and practically melted in my mouth.

Beastly Roomie got some hand rolls for himself. Included were the crab salad and tuna salad hand rolls picture above. He shockingly stuffed almost a whole hand roll into his mouth at one point in the meal. He was so happy that night!

Here is more salmon. We also got unagi, but I was too busy eating some of the best unagi I've ever had in my life to take any pictures. It was the only thing I somehow missed, pictures-wise. I promise to have pictures next time.

Overall, this place was great. We got an both an extremely filling meal and good quality food at the same time. We definitely will be back there in the future.

Price: <3<3<3

Taste: <3<3<3<3<3

Atmosphere: <3<3<3<3<

Opinion: Highly Recommended

Ottomanelli Bros.; Beard Papa's.

March 26th, 2009 was day of epic eating for us.  To start it off, Roomie, M, L, J, and I went to Ottomanelli Bros. for lunch after class.  Roomie really wanted to go there because he fell in love with their Hulk Burger Challenge and wanted to ask the burger out for a challenge.  The food journey that thus ensued was sick, yet memorable.

M got the 1/2 lb. Steak Burger, I believe, with American cheese, cooked medium rare.  It came with waffle fries and a pickle.  He ate it extremely slowly, as he normally does, but stated that it was cooked just the way he liked it: bleeding.

J wasn't that hungry, so he got the Popcorn Shrimp appetizer.  He said that it was alright.  I tasted it with a little bit of the "spicy" dipping sauce.  The dipping sauce was disappointing and the popcorn shrimp was only mediocre.  It was nothing out of the ordinary.

Unfortunately, the Hulk Burger Challenge ended at 2:30 and we arrived at Ottomanelli's around 2:40, so Roomie and I both settled for the burger pictured above.  We both got it cooked medium well and it came with waffle fries and a pickle spear.  The burger itself was alright, but I did especially like the nicely cooked peppers on the top.  The roll that the burger was placed on was a potato roll and was nice and soft.  The fries were also nice a crisp and only need a tiny dash of salt.

Being stood up by the Hulk Burger Challenge, Roomie was dying to swallow something and preposterously proposed going down to Chinatown, buying a whole cake, and eating it all.  We, however, opted for something slightly less extreme and picked Beard Papa's.  I had heard about this sexy old guy after seeing some of Mellow's pictures, and wanted to check him out, so we headed on down to his joint in the village.

I got two cream puffs.  The first one, pictured above, was a Green Tea Cream Puff.  Unknownlingly, I bit into the puff and was splurged on by the precious cream filling.  I was unable to salvage a lot of the cream, sadly, but did enjoy whatever was left.  It had a very subtle, yet nice green tea bitterness to it.

As shown in the picture, I made sure to splunk right into the hole of this cream puff and did not waste any of the precious vanilla cream inside.  The filling was nice a light, not overly sweet.  The puff was very airy and light also, with a very flaky feel to it.  It was very delicious and satisfying.

Overall, Ottomanelli's was a decent place and I'd like to go back and try their steak one day.  They had good food for reasonable prices.  Beard Papa's was pretty good, but I must complain that they need more seats inside of there.  Maybe Papa should consider investing in a bigger place, no?

Ottomanelli Bros.

Price: <3<3<3<3

Taste: <3<3<3<

Atmosphere: <3<3<3<

Opinion: OK to try

Beard Papa's

Price: <3<3<3<3

Taste: <3<3<3<3

Atmosphere: <3<3<

Opinion: Recommended

Ottomanelli Bros.

in Upper East Side

1325 5th Ave. (On the corner of 111th St. and 5th Ave.)

(212) 828-8900

Rice To Riches.

Following our indulgences in salty foods, we were craving a sweet dessert to ironically put the icing on the cake.  H had heard about Rice to Riches and we looked it up on the computer.  Upon finding out what it was, we had to go there.  It was a definite must.

Here are two bowls of rice pudding we found flirting in this trendy dessert restaurant.

I got the Solo Coast to Coast Cheesecake.  It actually tasted like cheesecake, but in a liquified form.  The pudding was very creamy and the rice had very good texture.  It was not too hard, but still had good bite to it.  Plus the nifty little plastic bowls they served it in with covers were a nice complementary gift, given that we could take it home, wash it, and reuse it however we like.

Roomie got the Epic with two flavors.  It was half The Edge of Rum Raisin and half Don' Cappuccino.  The cappuccino flavor was alright.  Roomie seemed like he liked it, but it's always difficult to tell because he scarfs anything and everything that he eats down.

H also got the Epic size with two flavors.  It was half Coconut Coma and I think half Hazelnut Chocolate Bear Hug.  I could be wrong about the hazelnut.  It could be caramel.  Judging from my memory, it must've been only mediocre and not memorable.

Volatile got the Epic Coconut Coma.  The coconut flavor was very powerful in this one, and therefore, very delicious.  If also made Volatile very volatile, if you get my drift.

Overall, it was pleasantly enjoyable for us and we were caught off-guard by the many funny placards with jokes all over the walls.  The atmosphere was fun and trendy and it's a great place to stop at for dessert with friends during a night out in the city.

Price: <3<3<3

Taste: <3<3<3<3

Atmosphere: <3<3<3<3<

Opinion: Recommended

Katz's Deli.

On Thursday, March 19th, 2009, Volatile, H, Roomie, and I finally got a piece of Katz's Deli.  It was amazing.

I got the Hot Pastrami on rye with mustard, two half-sour pickles, and a Dr. Brown's Root Beer.  The half-sours were alright, but Katz's should have fresher pickles, considering that they're in the Lower East Side.  The pastrami sandwich was very good.  the pastrami was nice a moist, with just the right amount of fat content throughout the slices.  The spicy mustard complemented the saltiness of the pastrami and the rye bread was nice a sturdy, with that great rye taste.  All of this was washed down with a good old root beer.

Roomie got the Combo Turkey and Pastrami sandwich with mustard, and a half- and full-sour pickle.  He commented similarly on the pickles, and also liked the sandwich very much.  He didn't say much, but once again wolfed the food down.

H got the Chili Burger.  H got two of them, in fact.  He said that it was very, very good.

Volatile got some french fries because this guy walked by with a huge tray of freshly fried french fries.  They were perfectly crisp and didn't get soggy for the duration of the meal.

Volatile also got the Potato Latkes.  She said that they were pretty good and enjoyed them.  They looked pretty well done for latkes.

Overall, this is a great place for sandwiches.  The sandwiches here are definitely more manageable than those at Carnegie Deli and tastier.

Price: <3<3<

Taste: <3<3<3<3<3

Atmosphere: <3<3<3<

Opinion: Recommended