Tag Archives: Tuna

Raymi — Peruvian Cuisine

Okay, I’ll admit it — I was very nervous to go out to dinner on Friday night. Peruvian food isn’t exactly something I am familiar with; and after menu-stalking I was a bit overwhelmed. After reading over several ingredients I either didn’t know the word/translation or I couldn’t seem to envision what the plate would taste like. I even found myself re-reading over “habanero.” The embarrassing part: I know what a habanero is. I know how to grow the plant in my backyard. I know just a small amount of this pepper will clear out my sinuses. But yet, I was so overwhelmed by the menu I had to look at the word “habanero” multiple times.

Within only a couple of minutes of being at the restaurant, I knew my dinner was in great hands. The servers at Raymi have perfected how to describe every dish, they know how to pair your food with Peruvian-style cocktails, and over-all they are brilliant at making your Peruvian dinner a memorable one.

You can easily get away with eating the entire meal in a tapas-style sort of way. Our first dish: Causa of the day. Lobster was the catch of the day and the fish was placed over a cold aji amarillo potato puree. The rich, creamy texture of the lobster and potato puree was outstanding — but to add some extra flavor and crunch to the plate the chef added some roasted dehydrated corn. These little bites of crunchy corn was so delicious! I wish they were sold at the grocery store!

catch of the day

My boyfriend did a little bit of Yelp’ing before heading to dinner and everyone was raving about the restaurant’s Peruvian Corn Cake plate. It seemed like such a hit, so obviously we put this at the top of our list of plates to order.

The corn cake is topped with a mushroom ragout and watercress leaves. It’s incredible how all of the flavors fuse together so beautifully — especially on this dish. Without the peppery taste of the watercress, the mushrooms and corn cake wouldn’t have that necessary zing. And I’m sure you are thinking about the texture of this “corn cake,” and let me assure you it’s nothing like a corn muffin or corn bread that we typically eat in the U.S. This corn cake doesn’t have the distinctive grainy consistency and is smooth and creamy and makes it easier to pick up the rest of the ingredients on your fork. I would be happy to order this plate and eat it as my lunch or dinner — funny enough, one of the hosts said she did just that the night before! This plate seems to be a hit for those dining at the restaurant and those working there!

peruvian corn cake

And since Friday was date-night for me and my Valentine, the tapas style dinner made it more romantic. Sharing food and talking about your favorite plates makes a dinner so much more intimate. Which is why I loved the Ceviche & Tiraditos Tasting plate. This plate allows you to pick a total of 4 items from the ceviche and tiraditos section of the menu. Our choice (clock-wise from the top left): *the first one was my boyfriend’s pick and I forgot to try it, fluke, tuna and salmon. The manager recommended we eat these with a spoon — and boy was he right! Eating ceviche with a spoon rather than a fork allows you to scoop up the extra citrus juices at the bottom of the bowl — this gives the fish a refreshing flavor. This tasting plate couldn’t have been more of a hit between the two of us!

peruvian ceviche

And, a close-up of the tuna:

tuna ceviche

Another brilliant appetizer to share between 2 people was the Hanger Steak — specifically it’s skewered hanger steak seared and served with aji panca glaze, creamy ocopa sauce and rocoto salsa. Wowza — this plate sure was full of flavor! It tasted as if the hanger steak was soaking and marinating in the most complex mixture of seasonings and spices before being cooked. Hands-down this was the most flavorful piece of meat I have tasted in a very long time! In addition to the  Peruvian Corn Cake, this Hanger Steak is a must-order!

peruvian hanger steak

For our “main dish” the two of us shared the Chaufa Completo — which is served with jasmine rice, chicken char siu, shrimp and chinese sausage. I dug in around the sausage but the overall plate was just bursting with exotic flavors. I knew right from the start the jasmine rice was going to add subtle but important flavorings to this plate.

Even though we had just a bit of leftovers, sharing all of these plates together completely satisfied us for dinner.

peruvian dinner

Over course we had to end our evening with dessert. We followed the manager’s suggestion and ordered the Peruvian Crispy Donuts. I know what you’re thinking — donuts are such a big food trend these can’t be anything other than ordinary, blah blah blah. But you’re wrong! Yes, donuts are such a food fad these days but Raymi adds a perfect, sweet, twist to the homemade dessert. Honey is the ingredient that makes these donuts have a natural sweetness — I guarantee that you’ll agree with me that these donuts are anything but ordinary!

homemade donuts

I’m sure you are overwhelmed reading this post — because you can see how much I truly enjoyed my first dinner at a Peruvian restaurant. I’m sure you have also noticed that Peruvian food is highly influenced by the Asian culture and cuisine! Who would have thought that a blend of Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, West African and Italian cuisines would be brought to the country of Peru and all of these cultures have been an influence on the food that is made throughout the country to this very day.  Luckily, for me, I found that Peruvian food seems to have a stronger influence from the Japanese — I’m not a huge fan of Chinese cuisine, but Japanese I love! There’s nothing like beautiful cuts of raw fish tossed in citrus and served fresh!

A Birthday Dinner in NYC

This week was my good friend’s (Kelly) birthday. Kelly and I were introduced through one of my best friends over a year ago right before Kelly officially moved to NYC. My friend Ken introduced us — Ken and I met when I was still in undergrad at Penn State. We met the summer we lived in NYU housing while we worked our summer internships (this specific summer was when I was an editorial intern at Food Network Magazine). It was the night before I started my internship and I was trying to put together my first day of work outfit and I realized there was no floor length mirror in the room! I then went knocking on doors asking if anyone had a mirror — when I got to Ken’s room I was shocked when he said he had a floor length mirror I could borrow! And that’s when our friendship began. It’s funny, you never know how you are going to meet someone in the great city of New York!

Ken and I the summer we met.

Well, Monday was Kelly’s first birthday in the city and of course that means we needed to celebrate! Kelly wanted to do dinner and an off-broadway show with his closest friends. Unfortunately, I could only do one or the other and I picked dinner because I’m an old lady and can’t be out too late on a work night (plus, shows some times can get rather pricey).

Kelly/The Birthday Boy at dinner.

This week also happens to be winter Restaurant Week! So, Kelly picked a restaurant (Thalia) with a Restaurant Week menu (you pick an appetizer, main course, and dessert for a flat rate of $35). I was originally going to order off of that menu, then I took a look at the regular menu and discovered a dish that called my name — Mushroom Duxelle Ravioli with asparagus, grana padano cheese, in a porcini truffle sauce.

Ravioli in a porcini sauce w/ truffle and asparagus.

I have to admit, I often stick my nose up to restaurants in Midtown Manhattan but every once in a while I am delighted when I experience a delicious dish in the heart of that neighborhood. And that’s exactly what happened at Kelly’s birthday dinner — boy oh boy did I order an unbelievable dish! The porcini truffle sauce was delectable! The creamy sauce wasn’t too heavy and the shaved truffle on top made the dish even better. You know that truffle is on someone’s plate when you can smell it the moment the dish is set in front of you. My friend Ken was sitting to my right (and the birthday boy to the left) and Ken immediately asked me if truffle was an ingredient in the ravioli dish I ordered. I also love asparagus, and the small slices of my favorite vegetable added a nice crisp texture that actually complimented the cheesy ravioli!

restaurant week NYC

Kelly's main course of tuna.

The birthday boy ordered for his main course a tuna dish. Even though I didn’t taste the tuna myself (I know, what a shocker, there was tuna on the table and I didn’t even eat a bite!) I had to show you all a photo of this gorgeous plate! Check out all the fantastic colors! It not only looks fantastic, but Kelly said it tasted great!

Again, it’s such a shock to me when I eat at a great midtown restaurant. But it’s great to know of a delicious spot to take friends to when they are in town for a Broadway show. The location is perfect for those who want to walk from their restaurant to the theatre. And not only was the food delicious, but the service was immaculate! They understand completely when a theatre-goer tells them they need dessert and the check asap because they have a show to run off to.

New Chelsea Restaurant, La Promenade Des Anglais

A new restaurant opened only a few weeks ago in the heart of Chelsea in the building of the famous London Terrace (an apartment building so large it stretches one avenue long and one block wide). I was very pleased because the northern part of Chelsea could use some more restaurants and I love finding out that there’s something new to eat. Really, this part of the neighborhood needs a combination of both fancy-sit-down restaurants as well as casual brunch and dinner venues. La Promenade Des Anglais is definitely categorized under the “fancy-sit-down restaurants.”

Luckily my apartment is only steps away, so naturally I was thrilled to be going here for dinner. Upon arrival I ordered the lavender lemonade at the bar. I haven’t had such a strong cocktail in a very long time. The lavender was so potent in the drink and the lemonade flavoring masked most of the alcohol’s taste. The drink is a unique one that I probably wouldn’t order again just because the size of it was far too much too large.

For our appetizers we had a shrimp tartare that was so delicious, I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed it. When it comes to shrimp I either will love the dish or I will hate it. Shrimp cocktail makes me gag because I can’t stand the texture when you bite into the cold shrimp — it’s like I can feel the shrimp muscles ripping in every bite (I know, I don’t know what I am talking about because my description is ridiculous… but that’s the way I feel when I eat shrimp cocktail). This shrimp tartare was so fresh and light and for each bite you would add the tartare to the top of a homemade salty potato chip for some cripiness and extra texture. Another appetizer we ordered was something I never had before: fried gnocchi. I didn’t enjoy this one bit, it was far too bland and we even asked if the chef could give us some red sauce for dipping but the sauce didn’t help at all. Gnocchi is supposed to be fluffy and if it’s not then it is cooked incorrectly. Frying gnocchi… I don’t think so. The outside of the gnocchi was crispy just like anything that is fried and the gnocchi itself was much more dense, there was no fluff to it. (If you are looking for a restaurant that serves the BEST gnocchi in the entire world, try either of these two sister restaurants: Gnocco or Perbacco both on the Lower East Side/Alphabet City. I have never had a bad meal at either of the restaurants, the chefs are brilliant, I even think these restaurants served me better meals compared to any place I ate at while touring Italy.) Our final appetizer we ordered was the Vitello Tonnato — sweetbreads and blue-fin tuna, with romaine hearts. I actually didn’t try this dish because I was so turned off by the smell. And you all know how much I love tuna, so my boyfriend was shocked when I turned down a tasting.

For my main course I ordered the scallops with zucchini, red pepper, and pine nut gremolata. The scallops were cooked perfectly and I loved that there were extra salty seasonings added to the scallops — this salty flavor was only on the outside yet it tasted as if it was pan seared into the fish. It was probably one of the best scallops I have had in a while.

Overall the restaurant was pretty good — would I go back for a second dinner? Probably not, unless the chef redesigns the menu. I appreciate when a restaurant is consistent from dish to dish and even though I did like a few of the plates that I ordered, I didn’t enjoy everything that we ordered. I also couldn’t figure out if the style of the foods were supposed to be from French inspirations or if there was a fusion of some sort from French food to something else.

Bravo to the chefs that are launching this new restaurant. It’s off to a great start and I’ll be interested to read reviews over the next year and I’ll be very excited to see a revised menu when the seasons change and you offer different dishes.

Megu

Through the front door, up the stairs (on the left), around the corner (to the right), down another flight of stairs, and to the left of the massive Buddha (and I think he was made of ice) — that’s where I found myself sitting in Megu contemplating which dish I wanted to devour. I’m not a big fan of Asian cuisine, but once I ventured to Megu I realized that there’s different ways for restaurants to cook and present this type of food. After reading and re-reading the menu multiple times, my order was finally placed in the kitchen: Tuna & avocado MEGU Style, MEGU Original Crispy Asparagus, the Grilled Lamb Chops, and a side of Parmesan French Fries. I enjoyed every bite of food. I was stuffed by the end of the meal, but I wanted to order another serving of the Tuna & avocado (I am currently on a bit of a tuna-kick and find the fish fresh tasting and insanely delectable). Wasabi was an ingredient mixed up with the tuna and avocado — the spicy factor made me a bit apprehensive to order it but it turned out to be mild and the flavor of the wasabi was delicious. The marinade on the Grilled Lamb Chops was divine — “gempei miso” is what it is on the menu. The glaze of marinade was sweet but with a zing I have never experienced. And the Parmesan French Fries had white truffle oil on it (if the words “white” and “truffle oil” appear side-by-side any where on a menu, I HAVE to order it! White truffle oil has never tasted bad in my mind.) The lighting of the restaurant, volume of the music, and the waiters/staff were perfection. Next time I return, I’d like to start off enjoying a drink at the bar upstairs before being seated in the main dining room for the meal.