Travelin’ to the Upper East and West Siiiiide
Now, living in the East Village, I have anything and everything I want right around the corner from me and it’s really easy to just stick around that area. Luckily, I have friends that live all over the city, so it’s a good excuse to go around unfamiliar territory. For example, our friends TumbleBart™ live in East Harlem and had been raving about this awesome soul food place about a 15 min walk away called MoBay. We met there with another couple for dinner. I started out with a monster drink. I can’t remember the name of it, but it was something along the lines of “it’s called this because basically, you’ll need a cab to get home.” Edit: I was just made aware that this drink is actually called “Call me a Cab”. Figures 🙂
Once we ordered dinner, the most amazing appetizer/side dish followed shortly:
A corn muffin with PINEAPPLE BUTTER! Now, I’m not the biggest pineapple fan, but this was awesome. The warm corn muffin with the chunks of fruit and slightly melted butter just worked in harmony. Dear Soul Food Gods, thank you for this amazing creation. I was very satisfied already when our dinner finally arrived. I had the ribs with plantains and mac and cheese.
Now, one half of TumbleBart™ recommended their potato salad, which, in a few moments, I will get to. The other half told me that their plantains were so good. The ribs had a spicy sauce and even though my mouth was somewhat on fire, I couldn’t help but eat most of my fall off the bone meal. Dear Soul Food Rib Gods: YES YES YES!
A couple of days later (maybe a week later) TumbleBart™, myself and some other friends met up for brunch. This time, I decided to change it up. I got the jerk chicken sandwich with potato salad.
As what usually happens when I’m enjoying a meal, I remember halfway or almost the whole way through that I need to take a photo and document what’s going on. Clearly, there was a fail this time. The Soul Food potato salad gods were smiling down on me, that’s why I forgot. I don’t know how they make it, but it was the best potato salad I’ve had. The sandwich, even though in this picture, is almost gone, was a bit disappointing. The chicken was spicy, but it tasted like they added the seasoning after cooking it, so it didn’t really develop the flavor in the meat.
A couple of weeks ago, I went with a bunch of scientists (cause sometimes you need to switch it up a bit) to a place called Covo Trattoria. It’s a great Italian place sort of located in the middle of nowhere. What’s great is that they can accommodate large parties, which we were and the food isn’t very expensive. This place ended up being a total photo fail. I started with a special appetizer: squid ink ravioli stuffed with crab or lobster in a vodka sauce. Never had squid ink pasta before and figured it was a good time to try it. Really good and I totally recommend it to anyone. Like I said after I came back from Italy all spoiled, fresh pasta really makes a difference.
I was also told this place has great pizza, so I got one with prosciutto. Once again, excellent choice.
I’m so thankful that I have friends like TumbleBart™ who live in East Harlem and Dr. Awesome’s science posse that live on the Upper West Side to expose us to cuisine and places that I would never normally find or go to.
By the way, Food Tour Spring 2011 will be underway in March! A taste of what Brooklyn has to offer.
I YUM New York 