Fiesta brunch @ Masa

I am, by definition, an awful person... I can't believe I've neglected to update for more than a month! To help make up for it, I want to share a gem of a brunch experience. This morning, my roommates and I woke up early for brunch in the adorable south end neighborhood at Masa. I'd been there before, but not for fiesta brunch: you get an appetizer, an entree, and coffee/tea - all for $7.95. Um, I haven't seen prices like that since 1995.

The atmosphere is warm, modern, and there is definitely a southwestern feel.

We were greeted with a basket of blue and regular cornbread.

It came with a flight of spreads - apricot, maple butter, and sweet chipotle. We loved it all. The chipotle spread had a nice little kick, the apricot spread tasted light and fresh, and the maple butter, well, you can't really go wrong there. The bread itself had a nice moist texture, and was generally pretty good. If it had been served warm, it would have been outta this world.

I went with the caramelized plantain empanada as my appetizer. It tasted exactly as it sounds - heavenly!

It was served warm, on top of a generous dollop of cinnamon cream cheese. Everything about this was perfect - the plantain was outstanding, dense but not too sweet. The pairing with the cinnamon cream cheese was genius. I want more already.

Samiksha and I both ordered the huevos rancheros for our entree.

We didn't really know what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised by how pretty it looked. It was a cheese quesadilla over a black bean puree, topped with two over-easy eggs, cotija cheese, sour cream, and a circle of salsa ranchero. We were so excited to dig in, and our excitement only increased as we took in each bite. Soooo delicious. I'm not usually a fan of black beans, but the combination with the quesadilla and eggs... just wonderful.

Ritu and Sophia ordered the Santa Fe style eggs benedict. (I know, my roommates are all super gorgeous!)

They confirmed that their bennys were quite tasty. Also, you can see that our coffees were served in glass mugs. Awesome. I don't know why beverages taste better in glass mugs, but they certainly do.

And finally, as Samiksa ate her way through her plate, she stopped and said, "Hey look, guys, it's mitosis."

Sigh. These are the sort of things you hear when you live/brunch with three engineers. <3

The best part of the meal came with our bill -- the knowledge that, including tax and tip, it came out to $10 each. Literally. Cue the gospel music. Too good to be true, right? Nope, we pinched ourselves, and left Masa only $10 lighter. So if you're looking for a fancy brunch on a not-so-fancy budget, look no further than Masa! You'll love it as much as we did.

Masa
439 Tremont St.
Boston, MA
617.338.8884

Churros at La Churreria & Lady M Confections

One of my first NYC meals of 2012 was at La Churreria with Mr. Foodandpants.  Though I believe there is no finer churro than the ones served in body-packed Little Brazil during Brazil Day, the idea of a new eatery specializing in these golden-ridged rods was something I just had to check out.

From the same owners of Socarrat, La Churreria offers a small menu featuring breakfast rolls, sandwiches and churros.  The restaurant is tiny, with just a handful of small tables and a few barstools, and gets packed quickly.  Luckily, this old man slammed down his hot chocolate and left after finding my intense stare particularly disconcerting.  Works every time!

Josh requested we order a bikini to share.  I was all for it, because who doesn't love food named after swimwear, served as little toasted, triangle-shaped beauties?  I can't stop smiling just thinking about it.  Consider me easily charmed!

This bikini came with Spanish ham, cheese and caramelized onions.  Though the sandwich appeared thin and rather simple, the taste was a surprisingly perfect balance of savory and sweet.  Caramelized onions should be a cast member appearing in all sandwiches.

We made quick work of the bikini and promptly moved onto the paper cone of churros, freshly fried to order and lightly dusted with soft white sugar.

You can see Josh in the background, impatiently awaiting for the churro photo session to end.  What a good friend (with a cool Casio watch).

The churros can be ordered with a small cup of melted chocolate, and it is the only way it should be ordered, as the sugar lends little sweetness to the fried stems, but a luxurious swirl in the pool of dark chocolate can quickly remedy that situation.  Such a lovely snack.

After, Josh and I hopped the 6 to the UES and stopped by Lady M's in hopes to experience their ridicuously gorgeous banana mille feuille, which Josh pronounces beautifully, and I butcher with my rough, Texas roots.

Unfortunately, the stars were not aligned for us, and there were no banana mille feuille to be had.  The remaining offerings included their namesake Mille Crepe featuring 20 layered crepes.

A wondrously sleek-looking strawberry shortcake.

And the craggly, rectangular strawberry mille feuille.  

Naturally, we grabbed slices of all of these.  Unfortunately, the narrow-spaced cafe was filled to the brim with ladies that tea that afternoon, so we took our bakery box to a nearby park bench to enjoy.

I am somewhat embarassed with how quickly I was able to stuff this slice of strawberry shortcake into my mouth, but it was cold, and for whatever reason, the buttercream frosting just lubricated my throat so well.

The cake was airy and light, and the strawberries were fresh and sweet.  It was basically everything one would expect a fine strawberry shortcake to be, but there is little else to remark upon this perfectly unremarkable slice of cake.  

On the other hand, the strawberry mille feuille was a lovely mix of textures, with crispy, buttery puff pastry cradling layers of cream, strawberry and sponge cake.  I suspect the banana mille feuille might be even more brilliant, and I see that verdict in my future soon. 

La Churreria

284 Mulberry

New York, NY

Lady M Confections

41 E 78th St

New York, NY

Tabare: Uruguyan Cuisine in Williamsburg !

(Note: This is my first post with pictures from my DSLR; I still have quite a bit of learning to do with it :)

Nick is a friend who is moving to San Diego at the end of this month.  As expected, he has been on a most glorious eating rampage to take in as much of New York's finest before his departure to the West Coast.  I recently lured him out to my neck of the woods to try a charming little Uruguayan restaurant called Tabare.

The restaurant was delightfully small, warm and intimate with an adorable outdoor dining space attached at the rear. 

The small menu offers empanadas, grilled octopus, mussels and chorizo as appetizers and heartier plates like grass-fed steak steak and homemade vegetarian lasagna.  There is something for just about everyone, vegetarians, omnivores and carnivores alike.

And they also have happy hour from 5p-7p with $3 beers and $5 glasses of wine.  We ordered a bottle of Uruguayan beer because when in pseudo-Uruguay...

We were greeted with a warm airy loaf of bread, delivered to the table with a small bowl of olive-infused olive oil.

We ended up requesting another loaf of bread.  It was just too warm and crusty and soft to not order another one !

After plundering the bread, we ordered two handmade empanadas to share.

One was filled with caramelized onions, fontina and gruyere cheeses, with great emphasis on the cheese.  It oozed out like hot lava - spectacular!  

The second (not pictured) was tight with Spanish tuna and minced black olives.  It was uniquely flavorful and surprisingly quite tasty.

The caserola de pulpo, octopus casserole, was a complete charmer in its shallow cast iron pot.  Thick juicy cuts of octopus were covered with fat lima beans, sprinkled generously with paprika and topped with a whollop of lemon aioli sauce.

I particularly enjoyed how the paprika was encrusted on each fat bean.  I don't think I've ever given lima beans their proper due - I am quite a fan after this dish!

But enough about beans - the grilled octopus was especially killer - so soft and tender.  Such a terrific little appetizer of flavors and textures.

Nick and I shared the chivito completo entree plate because it defined everything that should possibly be included in a sandwich: grass-fed filet mignon with bacon, mozzerella, onions and a fried egg.  Yes please to everything.  Yes to those home fried potatoes, too, whatever they are.  Yes to those extra napkins that you recommended to our sloppy selves.

Home fried potatoes turn out to be super thin cut fries by the way.

Nick was tasked with halving our sandwich to share.  It might have been the outdoor seating or the intense stress of the matter, but he broke a little sweat.

The sandwich was very good - a juicy, goopy egg on tender meat is always perfection.  Add in some thick cut bacon...whooee, it's a winner.  I ended up eating it as an open faced sandwich though because it was a bit too much my hands (and my mouth) could handle, but I'm sure Thanan with his giant mouth could easily handle this monster.

I am delighted to find such a gem in my neighborhood so fairly priced, charming and simply delicious.  Those empanadas have seriously captured my heart.

Tabare

221 South 1st Street

Brooklyn, NY 11211

More Brooklyn Flea Food Fare - Mexican Corn, Pizza Moto, Sigmund Pretzel Shop and Red Hook Lobster Pound !

We are alive.  Promise.  Some things have a way of tumbling down, like time for instance.  My lease end date of August 31st originally seemed so far away, but now, it's kind of...2.5 weeks away...and I still have no place to live...  But that's just minor details.  You don't care about those.  Where is the food?!

I'm going to go ahead and skip forward to the weekend where we returned to the Brooklyn Flea (at J's request! It wasn't me, but I wasn't fightin' it!).  We saved our stomachs all morning, and with J in tow, I finally got to try just about everything I've ever wanted !

So enough small talk, let's see it already!

I've long been eyeing Pizza Moto's ~$10 pizzas that they make fresh on-site; there are three types of pies available: margerita, black mushroom and a white pie with an option of adding pepperoni for $2 more.  The ginger eye candy is free!

They cook the pies using their portable wood-fired oven.  After you place your order, the pie will be finished in about 15-20 minutes depending on the queue.

15-20 minutes can be a long time with all the delicious food scents wafting in the air, so we got a snack in the meantime at the beloved Mexican fruit drink stand - Mexican corn !

These are the ingredients that go into making Mexican corn.  Now we will watch how these ingredients are used!

First, put a napkin in your cleavage to soak up excess sweat.  Second, lather on OODLES of butter onto freshly grilled corn using a spatula

Scoop up a bunch of white cheese

Sprinkle it all over like it's snow on Christmas day!

  

Lastly, spice that motherf*ckin' corn up, son!

A couple of minutes and $3 later, this beauty was mine !

I must say, I had my doubts.  I had no idea what this crazy mess would taste like, but I am glad I took the plunge.  It was the best surprise I've had in some time.  The salty combination of the cheese mixed with the sweetness of the corn and encompassed by the spiciness of the Mexican chili...Let me just say.  It was like Mozart was in my mouth conducting himself an edible little orchestra.  All the flavors were amazingly in synch.  Can I also admit to you that I've been thinking about this corn for two weeks?  I am going to get some this weekend.  I cannot wait any longer!

Our pizza was finally finished 25 minutes later; we opted for the margerita + pepperoni (o' course)

Fresh mozzarella, basil and pepperoni

The pizza had a really nice flavor.  Light, fresh sauce, chewy cheese and crisp pepperoni.  It was super thin (perfect to just snack on).  The pizza is a  bit on the soggy side though so good if you don't mind that (you know who you are, crisp-pizza-snobs!)

I've been eyeing these for awhile - I've seen Sigmund's Pretzel Shop at the Hester Street Fair, and they appear to be regulars at the Brooklyn Flea as well.  This baby here is a truffle cheddar cheese pretzel.  They have a few options as well as chocolate chip cookies with pretzel chunks, but we had to try this cheese-encrusted fella.

You have the option to heat up the pretzel (which we chose) as well as a variety of sauces.  J picked some mustardy number that he found rather wretched; the pretzel itself was ok.  I appreciated the cracked black pepper but found the overall pretzel too oily/greasy for my taste. 

Lastly, one last hurrah before we left: noted as one of Grub Street's top 101 NYC sandwiches - the Connecticut roll from Red Hook Lobster Pound

The Connecticut roll is rather simple: just thick chunks of lobster griddled in butter and served in a butter-toasted roll with a smatter of scallions.  No mayo, no nothin, and it doesn't need anything else.  The lobster had beautiful flavor all by itself.  I preferred this version over their Maine (cold, mayo) because my heart still belongs to Luke's for that number.

And that my friends, is it!  I can't wait for Saturday when I get to sink my chompers into that corn again.  I am going to pack my floss right now!

Brooklyn Flea

176 Lafayette

Brooklyn, NY