Gorging with Greeshma: Kyochon Chicken, Brazilian Street Festival, Socarrat Paella Bar

Greeshma food continued!

We had dinner at my favorite Korean BBQ place, Don's Bogam, but Julian was still not satiated after eating three types of marinated beef, so we headed to Kyochon for a snack.

A slight misread had Julian ordering two types of potatoes plates as a snack, unfortunately.

Chicken croquettes which were basically fried Japanese style-mashed potato sticks with the barest hint of any sort of chicken.

Potato wedges.  Standard.

This was how we felt about the food there.  Total snoozefest.  Thanan later tells me the chicken is not even worth it either, so who knows what's going on in the otherwise cool sci-fi-esque eatery.

On Sunday, Greeshma checked out one of my top two favorite street festivals ever - the Brazilian Day Festival!

Greeshma shopping at the street fair, o' course.  Note the sweet shades we scored from the Brooklyn Flea.

Watching Greeshma shop made me thirsty for some mango lemonade.

Greeshma then had to immediately have this when we saw a sign for Brazilian fried cheese bread.

But she opted for this chocolate sprinkle-coated gooey caramel ball instead which she adored.

And then because everyone was holding one of these, Greeshma went hogwild and got one too!  Brazilian empanadas.

They come with either beef or cheese filling.  I also prefer the beef.  Naturally. :)

This year, instead of the empanada, I tried this gorgeous looking sausage on a crusty roll.  Tasted just as good as it looked.

But truthfully, my main reason for loving the Brazilian Day Festival is for one thing and one thing only:

Freshly made churros !!

Correction: freshly made dulce de leche filled churros to be exact.  Like a crispy, sugary, cinnamony, gooey dream in your hand.  Greeshma made good work of hers and ranked these churros right up there with her beloved fried oreos.  Now that's an honor!

For dinner that night, we headed to Greeshma's beloved paella spot: Socarrat.  The place is a cozy gem in Chelsea with exceptional waits (typically hour long) at all times, according to Greeshma.  It was my first time, and her favorite, so we endured over 1.5 hours before nabbing a table in the bar area.  Greeshma ordered us:

Mixed seafood paella with squid ink rice

I totally thought my teeth were going to be black after eating this, but phew, they didn't!  (Woulda been fun if they did though!)  This black rice is so fascinating right?  It didn't have a distinctive taste, and the seafood was standard fare.  I was hoping there'd be clams and mussels, but it just had bits of cod (?) fish, squid and shrimp.

Vegetarian paella filled with fat beans, artichokes and tomatoes. 

Rich and flavorful from the strong, fresh tomatoes.  I really liked this one over the squid ink!  Surprisingly!  I know!  Me liking a vegetarian dish (what is going on?!)

Some weird sauce that Greeshma swears by for the paella.  It tastes kind of like mayonnaise but looks like butter.  I tried a little bit, and thought it tasted good, but liked the paella plain also.

For some inexplicable reason, and a reason we did not question, we were given these mini chocolate beignets on the house!

The dark chocolate filling was sublime and a great nightcap to our Spanish feast.

All in all, Socarrat was a tasty, neat spot, but like Clinton St, the restaurant is a serious time investment.  I don't know if I'd have the patience to do it again, but it's definitely worth trying at least once (but maybe try one with meat! Oh the possibilities!).

Kyochon

319 5th Ave

New York, 10016

(212) 725-9292

Socarrat

259 West 19th Street

New York, NY 10011

(212) 462-1000