On Thursday we headed to NY with Samuel for the holiday weekend, expecting to arrive at our hotel by 4pm, settle in, and head to an exciting dinner at PER SE (without Sam), but a 5 hour weather delay wreaked havoc with our well laid plans, so we quickly reworked our evenings and upon getting to Manhattan at 8:30pm headed to our friend Mario's wonderful Cuban spot we adore so much, GUANTANAMERA (www.guantanameranyc.com) on 8th Avenue at 56th St. We met up with our friend Lauren and the place was heaving due to the live Latin entertainment upstairs, so we moved downstairs and tried to order as quickly as possibly to get Sam fed as it was way past his bedtime. He
had been a brilliant sport all day with the delays!
I asked Mario if they had some meatballs or pasta....silly me, this was Cuban food. He quickly ran into the kitchen and said, "NO PROBLEM." We ordered a bottle of superb smooth red Spanish TEMPRANILLO Old Vines 1999 Gran Reserva (I sadly don't have the producer's name).
As always my ENSALATA PALMA REAL was superb with soft ripe avocado slices, artichoke hearts and parmesan. Lauren chose the EMPANADAS of Beef & Chicken, Will went with the CEVICHE of mostly calamari and shrimp which was much better than the last time I had it here.
Sam's SPAGHETTI was fine and the two huge MEATBALLS were outstanding, full of flavor and nice spices. We all tasted them and agreed, Will's POLLO GUANTANAMERA was served in a tasty Garlic Cuban Sauce with Tostones (they were great, but needed the sauce for flavor), Lauren chose my standard, the CHURASACO con CHIMICHURRI which is a superb steak with the most wonderful sauce. Everything comes with great beans and rice, and we all agreed my new choice was the surprise find of the evening, VACA FRITA was a shredded pan-seared steak with Fresh Mojo, onions, parsley and thyme. The meat was tasty with a bit of crunch on the tips and the sauce was divine.
Sam polished off a bowl of Lemon Sorbet drizzled with chocolate sauce (odd choice) and promptly fell asleep as we headed back to our hotel and crashed, totally exhausted.
