Miami Day 1 & 1500° Restaurant

J and I have been planning a getaway from everything since January.. we were planning on going to Ultra in March but the prices were sky high so we decided to wait a month.  So one drunken food coma night…. as J was passing out and I was still on a drunken high…. I bought us tickets to Miami for 3 nights 4 days. Somehow we got booted up to first class. OH YES. First class bitches!

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY. I’ve been SO excited to go back…. last year I went but wasn’t really able to enjoy much… didn’t leave the resort and had to play solo… but this timeeeeee… my partner in crime were ready to eat drink and RELAX. I think I deserve it considering my car accident, almost breaking my spine, almost slicing off my finger, 2 trips to the ER, etc all in the past 3 weeks.. yes I deserve a break… and J just works really hard and needs to REEELAX :]

On the way to LGA airport I said bye bye to my pale ass ghost legs.

BYE BYE BYE

We finally got to the airport… got REJECTED from the Admirals club cuz even though we’re first class it has to be international or we need a platinum Amex or a Black card uhhh… good thing we got there with only minutes to spare.

Yeah barely there makeup – was too excited and forgot to put much on.

Front Row, First Class Bitches…

And warm nuts <3 You’re gonna love my nuts!!!!

Altho there was a choice pre-flight online for a buffalo salad or beef wrap they only had beef wraps on this trip.  Not sure about the presentation but at least it was a pretty healthy/decent “snack” – Some Carrots and Cucumbers to dip [I actually didn’t get any dip but J got some on his] and while the beef wrap was a bit small and soggy it was pretty decently tasty.  I also hadn’t eaten anything all day… sooooo…. big factor. I WANT MORE NUTS

And while  not the underbaked cookies I remember from previous AA flights…. these were warm and crispy.. and I got it all over myself. Yep. Completely covered in crumbs and chocolate.

Beautiful….

Our gorgeous Eden Roc Hotel Resort..

Unfortunately we were like this:

Since as soon as we got in the taxi from the airport it was raining like crazyyyyy…

OH so we get to the front desk and it’s “I’m sorry our standard rooms are fully booked, we have to upgrade you for free to an Ocean View Room in our new with with a Balcony and a Hot Tub.

Ohh shucks. Life sucks :]

Our hot tub <3

So since it was raining out, we decided to hot tub it inside… with some champagne of course. OF COURSE.

And then it was time to get ready to get pretty for dinner and play.  I had already, in advance, booked us resos at 1500°.. and than later finding out it’s quite a big big deal.

1500°.. Farm to Table eating with the famous Hell’s Kitchen competitor Paula DiSilva as exec chef.

Everything local.  And our waiter was kind enough to tell us where all our food was coming from :]

Add a FRIED DUCK EGG TO MY STEAK? Sold! Obviously I have to get it……


And of course we tried the Black Garlic Truffle Butter for our steak [on the side]

We got a lovely bottle of Rioja and some chamapgne… but I found a bucket of these waters next to us hahaha for other tables

Wine art? This belongs in MOMA or the Guggenheim…

We started off with a half dozen Kumomoto Oysters [hehe J usually leaves it up to me for food while he picks out the wines]

The famous Palmetto Creek Farms Pork Belly Tacos with Homemade Kimchi

These were good but not THAT impressive. The fried wonton shells and the kimchi [totally NOT kimchi] were more chinese food than anything.. like chinese takeout-ish… but the pork belly itself was delicious and melt-in-your-mouth

Grilled Octopus on a Zucchini puree, frisse, roasted tomatoes, sheep’s milk feta and kalamata olives

This was amazing. Me and J were tearing this APART – but I gave him the olives and he gave me the tomatoes.  Refreshing and the octopus was sooo tender with just amount of chew. Perfection. SOO tender and the smokiness from the char from the grill. AMAZE BALLS.

And then our “Sides”

Swank Farms Shishito Peppers with just simple Sea Salt and Lime

This was actually a sharing plate but we used it as a side dish. I LOVE Shishito peppers… these were so tasty.  We both thought the red ones were gonn be really spicy but they weren’t.  They were lighter and sweeter.. a few green ones had some kick to them tho. YUM.

Spicy Grilled Zellwood Florida Corn with Cotija

This was my MUST HAVE side dish. I LOVE Mexican Corn and Cotija. AHHH…reminds me of summer in Chicago. This was DELICIOUS!!!!!!  Slight heat to it but only to be cooled down by the light tang of the creamy cheese. YUMMMMM

And the main dish, the star of the show

….. we split a 14oz Florida Grass Fed Wagyu Ribeye…. Medium Rare of course…. with the Black Garlic Truffle Butter on the side. And smudge of… red stuff.. hahaha. I think it’s something sweet and tomato-y.

With a fried duck egg [of course] – this they couldn’t split for us since  it’s gooey so they just gave it to us in the middle in a skillet.

Best piece of meat I’ve ever had methinks.

This is one of the most amazing pieces of steak I have ever had.  Meat even.  Tender, melt in my mouth and the perfect size.  J and I were so glad we split the steak so we could still move and play after dinner instead of just dying and food coma-ing out.

I’ve had a LOT of meat in my life and a LOT of steak, a lot of good steaks… especially ribeyes, but this was just perfection.

Afterwards we walked around the resort and headed to  the Cabana Beach Club for a drink or two…..

Than to the Lobby Bar we picked up a Mojito and a Margarita, put on the hot tub again and enjoyed our amazing view.

O

OH Miami how I love you so.

Chilean for the Afternoon at Pomaire

I love the area I live in… I’m in Hell’s Kitchen.. there is soooo much amazing food on every block whether I go East, West, North or East. But I’m not one of those human compasses… so this place is to the right of my apartment here in the City [haha] – I checked out the menu earlier when I was looking for new places to brunch. It’s a cute little tiny Chilean restaurant called Pomaire…. it’s just off of 9th on W 46th…..

My mom had been visiting for me for a few days so it was fun to explore with her….. we had decided to get Szechuan food for dinner so we wanted a little something different. I was going to take her to Agua Dulce [yes I know I have two entries from there that I haven’t finished and posted yet] and then I remembered that I really wanted to try Chilean food… :] My mom is a GREAT foodie companion – she’s not a huge foodie fan but she’s down to try anything with me…. she’s picky but I’ve never seen her unhappy with my choices.

As soon as we walked in, I fell in love. It was warm, tiny, gorgeous paintings on the walls and just seemed so cozy. We were the only non-Latino people in the restaurant – not even sure if they see a lot of Asians… but the waiter/host and the waitress [she spoke limited English] were so sweet….

Pomaire is a town that makes clay pottery and many of what are used to make the restaurant’s authentic Chilean dishes.

Fluffy Chilean Bread, Pan amasado, with some pebre, [a piquant Chilean salsa] and a HUGE thing of butter…. soft creamy butter…

Pebre

This salsa was sooo goood… it was a little oily – but good Olive Oil – but so worth the extra oil calories [haha, cuz you know me how I count my calories LOL] the veggies, onions, tomatoes, garlic, aji peppers, etc… were diced super small almost to the point of puree-ing it, but still maintaining texture and pieces. I ended up eating this on everything…. especially the ceviche…

I ordered a delicious Cabernet Sauvignon [thanks to our waiter’s recommendation] a Casas Patronales, Reserva [Maule Valley] 2004 which paired perfectly with all the dishes we ordered.

Humita

Steamed fresh corn and basil wraps in corn husk. Side of Chilean Salad.

This is like a Chilean tamale. The corn was soooo creamy and the basil integrated sooo well… it was an amazing texture and they gave us SO much.  The Chilean salad was just a simple onion/tomato salad with a simple vinaigrette – I. LOVE. TAMALES. And I loved this…. and even my mom couldn’t stop eating it….

Crudo de Salmon

Salmon tartar, chopped fresh salmon, capers and onions

I’m obsessed with tartars…. and I love salmon.. so why not. This was SO FREAKING GOOD. The onions and capers were perfectly balanced… the salmon was soooo fresh and perfectly chunked… it wasn’t too salty [at all – usually I find tartars WAY over salted – sigh] this made me soooo happy!!! So light and satisfying. Perfectly portioned.

Ceviche de Corvina

Traditional fish ceviche, Cubes of South pacific bass, aji, garlic, lemon

HUGE bowl of super super tender corvina [huuuuuge chunks and SOOOO much, almost didn’t finish it cuz it was just SO much – but we did…] ….  it wasn’t too sour or oily at all.  And even my mom adored it – she’s not a huge ceviche fan ;D But like I said, do I ever steer her wrong?

Empanada de Mariscos

Empanada stuffed seafood

My mom actually wanted to order this – I’m surprised, usually she’s not as adventurous but she said she HAD to try an empanada… the crust was crisp and lardy [in a good way] and there was SO MUCH FILLING. It was accompanied with a simple crisp romaine salad on the side

We split the empanada and devoured it immediately… filled with little shrimps, piece of fish and other misc yummies… the spices were amazing and it wasn’t heavy at all

Corvina

Pan roasted South Pacific bass fillet, seafood white wine reduction and roasted garlic tomatoes

I was surprised that it came with a HUUUUUUUGE clam and lots of mussels…. my mom isn’t a mussels fan so I got to have it all ;D WOO. The fish had a nice crust to it and wasn’t as tender as I expected [esp after having the ceviche] but it was very simple and tasted great.

And it came with a side of fluffy buttery rice….

Afterwards, our waiter was curious if I was a regular at the restaurant. I said that I wasn’t… he said because we chose very authentic Chilean dishes…. most people weren’t ever that adventurous… and that Corvino is only found in Chile. My mom, being the mom, got all excited and started talking about my blog *blush* and that I was some foodie lover hahaha. Too cute.

We were so full and happy we didn’t have any more room for coffee + dessert, so we picked up our full bellies and slowly walked back home in the gorgeous chilly weather… [altho it HAS been warmer than usual]

celebrating dos de mayo

Since we decided to celebrate Cinco de Mayo at home [read about it at the end of this entry], we decided to go out for Dos de Mayo…. not sure why but we’ve been in the mood for Mexican for awhile… we had tried to get in the day before but it was booked for the whole night… so Sunday night Mexicano dinner it was :D This is just a few blocks from our apt so we strolled down on the nice hot – slightly too humid – night to Hell’s Kitchen and got our Mexican on :D

Apparently their “busy time” is 5-7 so thats the only time they take reservations… when we got there we sat at the bar waiting for a table and got us some drinks….

Dos de Mayo

Hers: Wajito – Light Rum, Fresh Watermelon, Lime Juice  & Fresh Mint


His: Classic Margarita


Complimentary dip from the chef…


Delcious black bean dip with sour cream and delicious little sweet corn bread slices…..


Guacamole with Homemade Crispy Guajillo Corn Tortillas

The tortilla chips were sooo good and thick and crispy. The guacamole was amazing, LOVE good classic guac :]


Baby Back Ribs

We were in the mood for ribs, they were amazing. Fall off the bone happiness…


Shrimp Ceviche

Delicious and fresh. Ceviche and some sangria is the perfect hot summer day meal :] Speaking of which we ordered a pitcher of it…


Sangria

Love it when sangria has chunks of fruit in it :D


Duck Confit Empanadas with Cranberry Mole & Pico de Gallo

These were sooo soooo soooo good!!!! Crisp outside and yum flavorful duck on the inside.


Grilled Shrimp with Serrano Sauce, Sweet Plantain & Guacamole

Loved the little salad in the middle. THe plantains were so delicious and each one was topped with shrimp. Needed some heat so I asked for some hot sauce and they gave me a nice roasted pepper hot sauce.


Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass with Grilled Chayote, Sweet Plantain Puree & Salsa Verde

Buttery rich fish and loved the puree and the chayote. The salsa verde was pretty light. Wish it had been spicier as well…


Poached Artichoke Quesadilla with Idiazabel Cheese, Roasted Sweet Corn & Poblano Crema

This was a huge disappointment. I was most excited about this, because I LOOOOOVE artichokes but just like at dell’anima, it was overpowered by the idiazabel cheese which was a little pungent for me and it just tasted like cheese mush :[ Waa…

For once I actually felt stuffed… but then came the delicious trio of desserts…


Tres Leches with Cherries Sponge Cake Soaked in Rum & Milk

SO GOOD. I love a good tres leches :] I’ve had some bad tres leches before where it’s TOO milky and almost sour. This was sweet, not too sweet, and just so good…


Caramelized Banana Empanadas Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce

LOVE empandas and LOVE bananas :] This made me oh so happy!!!


Flan de Coco – Cocounut Flan with Fruit Salad & Coconut Macaroon

SO GOOD. I can never pass up flan, it’s so simple but it’s always so good…. :D

We will definitely be coming back here again… Ok, that’s a lie, we might not. There is just way too many restaurants and places to eat at in the City… I’m more into menus that change seasonally so I’d like to come check it out later in the summer or in the fall to see if it’s changed at all… it’s not REAL mexican food and there are some people who have reviewed this place and aren’t that into that.. but it’s a nice spin and gourmet-a-fying it. But then this just makes me want to be at Frontera Grill ;D

Cinco de Mayo

I decided to make a special pork shoulder taco dinner for Cinco de Mayo.. we planned on eating at home and then going out for drinks afterwards :D


Shredding the pork after 2-3 hours and then putting it back in the oven for another hour…


We had grilled corn and drank Inedit… maybe too much Inedit… anwyays we ended up NOT leaving the house because of food coma and already drunk :D