Caliente Cab [Click the photo above to go to Caliente Cab’s website]
488 3rd Avenue (on the corner of 33rd Street), New York, NY 10016
I planned to go to dinner with two friends at Yuca Bar, for their Loco Tuesday special…half off all tapas wooooohhh. It seemed so easy at first! I had been salivating at pictures of their dishes for days…it was like food porn.
But Friend # 1 is some sort of social worker that works with foster children (vomit..kidding), and she had to cover for someone who is away in Nigeria last minute SO we couldn’t go at 6:30 to make this Loco Tuesday special and all hell broke loose, because rescheduling was just not an option, and we’re girls, so I mean how easy could we possibly be? WE WILL FIGURE THIS OUT!
It was more stressful than going on a date with a boy. Going out with newish girl friends is so hard. You don’t want to be too difficult, you want to make sure everyone’s happy, you don’t want to be too bossy, bc you’re not good enough friends yet to let your(my) freak flag fly.
Typing a text, deleting a text, do I send an emoticon?? IDK!
I spent the last hour of work yelping, googling, gchatting, texting trying to figure this out (whatever). I can’t go any other time this week unless we go on the weekend, and it’s St Patrick’s Day on Saturday so it doesn’t really work etc etc etc.
“How about here?”
“Do they take reservations?”
“I don’t know about the menu.”
“Is it hh??”
“What is hh?”
“HAPPY HOUR!”
“Maybe I can get out earlier.”
“I want to cry.”
“I am filled with emotions.” (that was me)
So everyone is scrambling left and right to pick a time. Friend 2 gets out at 5. I get out at 5:30. Who knows when Miss Fostercare gets out (Friend 1 has now been renamed). The Loco Tuesday only goes until 8. Fostercare has to park her car, but it’s hard to park downtown. Lets go more local. A;lfkjaslfjsfl;kj
So I’m frantically trying to find an outdoor space (b/c it was SO nice out), but there aren’t THAT many spots with outdoor seating, good food, and alcoholic beverages.
“Rio Grande?”
“Eh”
Ummmmm I’m drawing a blank here.
I know this place called The Cannibal has outdoor seating and beer, but Fostercare is a vegetarian and they specialize in unusual meats…great, think harder!
I call The Cannibal to see if they can work around a vegetarian and they say fine, but turns out Friend # 2 doesn’t really want to eat there.
So Friend #2 meets me after work, and we walk to my apartment to turn ourselves into human specimens as opposed to what one looks like when they leave work at the end of the day (at my apt I was like “what do you want to watch? Do you like this show? I can change it…Who am I? Being so accomidating?) And then we walk to the Cannibal to look at the menu, while Fostercare parks. As we know, I will eat just about anything, but I don’t want to pick a place no one likes etc etc. so Friend #2 doesn’t want to go there (I get it. They serve pig’s ear as a dish…I’ve tried it before though…judge away) so we start aimlessly walking around the city.
“How about here?”
“Hmm.”
“I’m fine with anything.” (my neutral response to every place, because honestly I’ll eat anywhere as long it looks worth the money. Thank G-d I had an iced coffee otherwise my hunger would have overridden any form of social etiquette or sanity).
On the walk to my apt, Friend #2 walked by Caliente Cab and said, “oooh that place looks cute,” and it’s Mexican which goes sort of with the Yuca Bar theme in that they both serve quesadillas, and you can sit outside.
So we decide to go there. Is it amazing fair? No, but there’s outdoor seating, margaritas and guacamole, and I don’t have to take public transportation (yeah, right) or a cab. Fine.
Waiter walks by..
“Can we get an order of guacamole?”
“Mild, medium or spicy?”
Ah, decision to be made.
I like spicy (picante), but it’s rude to order dishes with extra heat if other people can’t eat them, so I wait:
Friend #2: mild to medium
Fostercare: medium
Me: We’ll have medium.
Friend #2: what did you want? (busted for being too agreeable!)
Me: well, I like spicy, but I can still eat medium or mild. Some people just can’t eat that. (should I have lied?)
After 2 margaritas I felt a little better.
AND WHEN I GOT HOME…MY NEW SNEAKERS HAD BEEN DELIVERED WHAT WHAT! Caliente Cab ended up being the best choice for the night (outdoors with alcohol, food was meh) but I still want to go to Loco Tuesday for some legit food 😦
Caliente Cab (tacos al carbon)
For under $10 it’s hard to complain.
Caliente Cab (quesadilla: vegetales frescos)
I didn’t try them, but it looks pretty good. The vegetarian ordered this. It is surprisingly easy to order dishes without any meat at a Mexican restaurant (if you ever go with a vegetarian or a vegetarian yourself).
Caliente Cab (healthy burrito)
Here is my disharoo. It tasted healthy, so you be the judge of that statement. I didn’t feel guilty for eating it, but it needed a little something, maybe more beans.
Caliente Cab (guacamole)
Hard to mess up gauc, but they brought the guac without chips at first…you have two hands…bring the chips.
Caliente Cab (strawberry margarita)
A little syrupy, and the waiter was kind of sucky in that he took forever to bring us a second round, and oh yeah, he brought me the wrong margarita.
I get it was crowded, but no.
Tiffin Wallah: 127 E 28th Street, New York, NY 10016
Being a girl, I do not like to sit at a restaurant and eat alone. “She must be so sad and lonely,” the other patrons think to themselves as they stare at me weeping into my salad. That’s what delivery is for! I decided to broaden my horizons and try something new instead of ordering from my go to sushi place.
I always feel skinny saying I ate vegetarian, so I decided to try a restaurant from the infamous Curry Hill landscape. Tiffin Wallah appeared in my search, and with Wikipedia open in a separate tab, I researched the menu as I waited for Bethenny Ever After to come on (why so late Bethenny? Ok fine 9 pm is not late)
First thing I saw was Rasam (spicy tomato lentil soup). I love lentil soup, it’s delicious, filling, healthy AND vegetarian (winning!). Besides, spicy food speeds up your metabolism. That ended up being a bust. It tasted like water with hot sauce.
Moving on I decided to pursue the mixed vegetable uttapam. Uttapam is essentially a savory pancake made from rice and lentil flour. Success! It came with 2 dipping sauces, and I was filled with just one order and did not even go in search of a little snackaroo in my fridge later in the night.
If you feel like taking a dip in the curry pond I would def try Tiffin Wallah to get your feet wet.
Order: Mixed Vegetable Uttapam.
BLUE SMOKE[Click the photo above to go to Blue Smoke’s website]
116 E 27th St b/t S Park Ave & Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10016
Went to Blue Smoke last night with my pops. It’s a good spot for Murray Hill: comfortably crowded, decent food, and sort of a dudefest (girls think about that for an after work drink).
We ordered the warm bbq potato chips with blue cheese and bacon dip to start. It’s hard to complain about a creamy dip with bacon, but the chips were stale and tasted store bought.
It was fine, but I wouldn’t say it was restaurant quality. It reminded me of in college when my roommates and I would try to “cook” (look boys we’re cute and domestic). We’d haul our cookies to the supermarket (secretly munch on samples), buy all the ingredients, make this fatty dip, and realize we forgot chips, and end up running to the vending machine to see what they had.
Blue Smoke
I had the burger, and I have to say I liked it. It was big and juicy (don’t make it weird), and the fries were well done which I love!
Mi padre had the fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. We also split a side of brussel sprouts and sesame cole slaw. I had a nibble of my dad’s, and if you’re not in the mood for red meat I would recommend getting that.
Overall it’s a good spot if you’re going with parents or a coed crowd. I didn’t see one group of girls sitting at a table. Some might see that as no competition.
GirlyFoodie 