Buenvenidos a Miami !

Dish Gal is headed to Miami next weekend! As in, a week and 3 days...As in, we only booked our trip last night... ha! A little last minute, but upon waking up to this slushy, disgusting day we're having, so needed.

Why am I headed there? Julia and I are headed to Chloe's wedding! We both have never been to Miami, and I am so excited to lie on the beach (crossing my fingers for good weather...), swim in the pool, drink a mojito, and-- of course-- try some great restaurants!!

Before I bothered looking at a map, I had booked a reservation at Michael's Genuine for Saturday night. However, now looking at where our hotel is vs. where this restaurant is (and our lack of rent-a-car), I'm thinking we need another place to eat. We're staying near 17th st on Collins Avenue. . .

Suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!! =)

Brunch in Salem

Z and I love taking mini-day trips, or adventures as we call them. Last Sunday, despite too many dirty martinis at RumBa on Saturday night, we got in our Zipcar and headed north, and spontaneously decided that Salem would be our destination of choice (in the past we've visited Rockport, Gloucester, Newport, Newburyport, and Manchester-by-the-Sea).

First we stumbled upon the large ship, the "Friendship," which we thought would be kind of an unexpected fun thing to do. We were impressed with ourselves that we would be doing something historic and educational. However, upon walking up to it, we saw that it was $5 per person. Hmm... No thanks!

After we did the awkward abrupt-stop-and-exit, we wandered down this street and happened upon this restaurant, "In a pig's eye". We wandered in through the swinging door into this adorable brick restaurant and bar. They were serving Sunday brunch-my favorite meal! Yay!

We both ordered bloody mary's. The restaurant was pretty empty except for a large party with lots of little kids. This took up most of the waitress's attention, though she was very nice. The bloody mary's were really spicy, lots of horseradish. Z ordered eggs benedict with sausage and spinach-it came on these enormous English muffins with hash browns, a small slice of melon, and a side of a piece of coffee cake. What a great touch! I loveee coffee cake. The sausage with the eggs benedict was delicious and surprising-I've never seen that on a menu before. I got the pastrami sandwich with mustard and onions on dark rye-called "the ultimate cure." Sounded exactly like what I needed ;) It wasn't exactly what I imagined (I think I was picturing a reuben, and was disappointed when it didn't have Russian dressing, but that's my own fault, as I always do that), but it was delicious and the fries were AMAZING! Ah-may-zing. So crispy and fluffy. Couldn't get enough of them.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this place if you're in Salem. A great addition to our adventure Sunday!

Vineyard Weekend

Things have been kind of crazy at work, so sadly I still haven't had a chance to write about the great Martha's Vineyard weekend I spent with Sebastian and his family, filled with lots of beaches, sun, and of course, yummy food.

We got there early on Friday night, and were lucky enough to have a home-cooked meal made for us by Sebastian's mom. Isn't it funny that once you are away from home you start craving those kinds of meals? It's become such a treat to have someone cook for you and not be in a restaurant. She made chicken with two recipes (from the Boston Globe) that both were delicious- lemony sugar snap peas (had to stop myself from eating all of them-so delicious) and potato salad with bacon and apples. She said they were pretty easy to make, too. Will have to try someday.

On Saturday, Seb's mom packed us all some sandwiches and we headed to Gay Head for some rays. If I kept a running tally of all the foods I ate in my life, I think turkey sandwiches might be #1-I eat them at least once or twice a week at work. But there's something about a turkey sandwich on the beach that really hits the spot and pulls my heart strings. Also, this sandwich reminded me how important fresh ingredients are for cooking-salty and sharp cheddar cheese, soft avocado, and juicy tomatoes brought the turkey from ho-hum to mmm-mmm. Of course, the view doesn't hurt, either:

On Saturday night, Sebastian and I were on our own, so we headed into Oak Bluffs and dined al fresco at this wonderful spot called the Offshore Ale Company. Inside it was rustic and dark-peanut shells were littered across the floor, and wooden beams lent a country feel to it. But luckily there was space on their lovely brick patio, which had a nice cool breeze going through it that summer eve:

I got fish n chips-Seb got a burger. I think he won. The service was a bit brassy (our waitress, upon finally greeting our table, groaned "if you're going to get pizza, it's a 45 minute wait." Ummm okay?) but overall the restaurant was a nice choice for a reasonably priced, non-seafood-exclusive restaurant.

Finally, Dish Gal decided to undertake a project for herself and find the best ice cream on the Vineyard, and tried three different places in three days-- wow, that was a lot of ice cream. We had Mad Martha's, Ben & Bill's Chocolate Emporium, and Scoops. However, looking back I cannot decide which was my favorite! I am a disappointment to myself. I'm thinking it's because either 1) I don't have the sophisticated, ice cream palate to be able to differentiate; 2) they were all equally amazing; or 3) I didn't do the research properly and changed the variables (I got a different flavor at each place). I'm guessing it was a little of each. But you can't go wrong at any of them!!

Puerto Rico III (last non-Boston post, I swear...)

Okay, so this is my last post about Puerto Rico, but I thought the non-Puerto Rican food we had warranted a separate post-- It wasn’t all fried mashed potatoes and rice and beans!

We had some incredible dining experiences.

Our first night we ate at Pamela’s, an oceanfront

restaurant where the tables are literally on the beach. Having your toes in sand while you sip on champagne, the warm ocean breeze wrapped around you and the sound of rustling palm trees—it’s cliché, but its quite the out of body, enlightening experience. The service was exquisite, and the tempura bananas with cinnamon and ice cream was quickly devoured:

On night two we headed to the Water Club, a boutique hotel a few minutes from our hotel. We dined on their roof deck lounge, which was very South Beach in ambiance, with white beds and cool blue lighting. We ordered sushi and after striking up a conversation with the sushi chef discovered that he had lived in the South End for years and worked at Jae’s! Small world… While the views were outstanding and the mango mojitos sweet and refreshing, the tiny pieces of uninteresting sushi left quite a bit to be desired. And that's how we ended up at Wendy's in Puerto Rico at 11:30 pm. . .

Our favorite dinner though was our night in Old San Juan. We started at The Parrot Club for drinks, a hip and funky restaurant with fun drinks, like my “mojitini” (a mojito martini!). Then we wandered across the street to Dragonfly, which Zain (our guide book author) described as “see and be seen dining.” Zain was certainly right; the inside was much more New York City than Caribbean. Red lighting, men and women dressed to the nines, large crowds huddled around the bar sipping martinis, a group of young businessmen getting bottle service—this scene looked very familiar, which was almost a disappointment. Why travel to see what you could see any Saturday night?

But the menu’s curious offerings and bold flavor combinations (the cuisine is described as Spanish/Asian fusion) piqued our interest enough to make us stay, and even wait quite a while for a table. Thank God we did, though! We started with calamari, cooked in a really spicy cilantro sauce (sorry, no menu available online so I’m trying to remember food from weeks ago…) with a chili dipping sauce. Mmmmm! Then we had a spicy tuna roll with jalapenos. Needless to say, after those two dishes my mouth was on fire! Luckily, our awesome waiter Brenda made sure our water glasses were always filled.

But my absolute favorite dish was (drum roll, please) the Peking duck nachos with wasabi sour cream. Yeah. You read that right. If I were wealthy, this is a dish that I would fly to Puerto Rico for. Because you can’t recreate the light and crunchy chips, the tender shredded duck, the spicy and silky wasabi sour cream, or the tangy, crunchy slaw.

And so folks, this concludes my posts about Puerto Rico. I'll end with a photo:

Puerto Rico, Part II

I can't write about Puerto Rican food without mentioning my experience at the Zain-recommended Luquillo Beach kiosks. . .

After trekking through El Yunque, the only rainforest in the US, Z and I drove to nearby Luquillo Beach to the famous kiosks. I expected them to look like the food carts in New York City, but instead they were a row of grungy looking "restaurants" with only 2 walls-- the front open to customers, the back open to face the beach. Each kiosk offered the same selection of food-- so similar that it made me wonder how they all stayed in business? Some of them were closed, some were open, and while their business model baffled me, the smell of the fried food and sound of the Caribbean music squelched any disbelief or cynicism that briefly flickered through my mind.

Z ordered for us (and by ordered I mean pointed at stuff) and got us quite the sampler. I have to admit I didn’t know half of what I was eating, but with everything deep-fried it wasn't a big leap of faith that it would all taste good. Got some more rice and beans (told you, it’s everywhere…), more mashed plantains, and –the most bizarre of all—deep fried mashed potatoes stuffed with meat. Yes that’s right, potatoes+fried+meat-- so basically it was really healthy...

We washed it all down with two ice-cold coronas, then wandered over to the beach. A truly blissful afternoon.

Start spreading the news...

I've just returned from my trip to NYC and wow, what a culinary extravaganza. I won't write too much, since it is New York and this blog is supposed to be dedicated to my dear Beantown, but I can't resist writing about the amazing food and drinks I tried.

So one thing I am in awe of in New York is how no matter where you are, there is some "hidden find" that is most of the time better than most restaurants in your average city. While New Yorkers consider them just their "local", visitors consider them totally destination-dining worthy.

First example. Arrived in Brooklyn late on Friday night and was immediately in need of some libations. Traveled probably about a total of 25 steps to Sample in Cobble Hill. Was a very long and narrow, darkly-lit bar with a smattering of votive candles. The idea behind "sample" is that you pick and choose tapas-style meats, cheeses, fishes, etc. to create a "sample" of foods you'd like to pick at. After awkwardly navigating the slightly-claustrophobic bar, and snagging a seat (probably the last two in the place), we immediately ordered drinks-- a sangria and a grey goose martini. The sangria was so refreshing (probably too refreshing; I drank it in all of 2 minutes). Since we had already eaten, we opted for the "cookie" plate, which was so cutely garnished with pistachio cotton candy! (that's another thing about New York-- all the great small details). We moved on to some also refreshing margaritas, which were tiiiiny (I'm going to say they are the same amount as two shots at Lucky's haha) Sample was definitely the type of restaurant you could find yourself sitting at for hours, continually ordering small drinks and food until you realize that oops, they are closing. It is so cozy and romantic and just the perfect neighborhood bar. However, the heat was turned up so high that my contacts were drying up! I had to leave, and gladly stumbled into the crisp New York night.

Whoops, already wrote a lot... But anyway, on Saturday had lunch at Jolie, also in Brooklyn, a small brasserie-type restaurant. Had (cliche alert) the croque monsieur, which was pretty much cheesy exctasy. Washed it down with a zingy Bloody Mary (Dish Gal's absolute favorite drink). On the way to the restaurant passed the apartment where Michelle Williams lives/Heath Ledger used to live... had flowers piled on the stoop.. quite sad and eery.

Anyway, moving on. Had dinner with my brother at Cafe Gray. I don't think I've ever had a dining experience in my whole life quite like this. (To put it in perspective, the last time he had eaten there, Iron Chef Morimoto was at the table next to him... and bowed to the chef on his way out). I started with a Sangria that was made with white wine, and garnished with dried cranberries and a fresh sprig of rosemary (there's that NY attention to detail again!). Every time I took a sip, my palate was struck by the constrasting flavors-- the white wine vs the rosemary. Exquisite.

After finagling a table with no reservations, we were escorted to a table where the waiter pulled my chair out for me as I sat down. This was just a hint of the superb service we received during the night. We had like 4 different servers! And one looked like he was the manager. But I digress.

We were started off with an amuse bouche. I love it. Felt like I was on Top Chef. God I wish I had Padma's job...

I started with tuna sashimi (take that, mercury !) that was a velvety thin sheet of red tuna, sitting atop a bed of chopped jicama with tiny breaded scallops and thin pieces of mint. Every bite was different, depending on what I picked up with my fork, and every bite was (to use a really lame phrase) a party in my mouth. The waiter selected my white wine for me to accompany this, which had, as my brother pointed out, notes of honey. It matched up perfectly.

I had the duck confit with saurkreut as my entree... It was so unusual tasting but so delicious. I can't even attempt to describe how it tasted for fear of doing it such terrible injustice. We decided to opt out of dessert, and the waiter kindly brought over a sampling of chocolate ganache and tiny little cookies. Gosh, why is it that the really expensive restaurants give out the fun free stuff? Oh right, because you just paid an exorbitant amount of money to eat there!

On our way back to Brooklyn, we made a stop off at Billy's, a bakery in Chelsea, for some cupcakes. My brother swears they are much better than the over-hyped Magnolia's Bakery, and while I've never tried Magnolia's, Billy's certainly swept me right off my feet with their buttercream frosting and soft and fluffy cake.

Ah, New York. How I love thee.