So we are home for the holidays after our Paris trip the first week of December. Our next guests are Nick, Lee & Aarav for new years day. Meanwhile we are taking the opportunity to eat at favorite places and try new things...
Holiday season is upon us and our small - 24 seat (current favorite) place to dine was overwhelmed by two large groups of merry makers. One a group of 9-10 French folks being hosted by a Spanish guy and a second mixed Spanish group of 5-7. The "French" table seemed very much a business "party." (Read that as loud - not intentionally or with bad behavior - just too many people trying to be heard at a large table.) The food remains among our top three places to dine. And the service is generally excellent - if a bit stretched tonight. Tough to pick a favorite course. The tuna triptico is always among the top, as are the steak tartare bombitos but I still love the pez mantequilla "tacos" (Little tarts of marinated butter fish that are just the perfect combo of fresh flavors!) We have reserved for when friends visit over New Year's.
A huge WOW (or Guau! as we learned in Spanish) dinner tonight was spectacular. In order to assess the food we, of course, ordered the longer menu. Thankfully Phil ate a lot of my unfinished courses. Everything was really full of intense flavors and the menu had much variety. My personal favorites were the bacalao, the vaca tartare, the gambas blancas courses and all the desserts. We did the wines, and six of the seven were magnificent pairings with the food. We reserved for January 1st with our friends Lee, Nick, & Aarav. The staff was so lovely, they asked about whether we'd do the longer or shorter menu. When I insisted the long was too much, they graciously offered to rework the shorter one to substitute any favorite that wasn't on the shorter menu. Going to the top five for us immediately.
Streets are teeming with people and restaurants are fully in holiday get-together mode. Tonight we went for a quick meal. We were a two-top sandwiched between groups of seven and five and across from a row of four-tops. We were the only two top in the whole restaurant.... The big table in the back was set for seven (it's usually a nice four or a tight six. Things are hopping. The light show on the river is running tonight and I think this might be the first night. Lots of people. Our meal was quick and peaceful as we arrived at 9 PM and the bigger groups started wandering in around 9:55 (likely 10 PM reservations.) Had three of our favorites to share and then gelato on the way home.
Then the following night we headed back to Chiquilla - where we have learned from experience we do better on our own than with people who want an english menu. (completely different treatment)
A fabulous dinner tonight. All specials "fuere de carte" (off the menu). The freshly foraged mushrooms followed by the variations of tuna (resembled the triptico we get at Augurio but more generously sized.) Then our main was the cabracho (scorpionfish) that gets its color from a diet of shrimp (like pink flamingos - LOL) We had lovely service and since we sat at the chefs counter we got to watch the prep for all the dishes. A fun time.
Then on Sunday night we went to Islamorada and walked home along Constitution Avenue to see the holiday lights.
on the last leg of our walk home we got to see the work along Mendez-Nunez which has been under very loud reconstruction for months now- nearly finished now- including wider sidewalks and a set of trees which were never present before!
now- maybe when we are gone next summer they can do a rework of Calle Bilbao - we have the worst pavement in the city I think on the two short blocks that make up Calle Bilbao... but we need them to do it in the summer - as there was no sleeping when they were working on the above project even though it was a block to three blocks away!
