NYC restaurant week now includes this joint at the One57 building on Billionaire’s Row, “The Back Room.” They offer a really great menu. The decor is beautiful and vast. It’s a huge place. Tables are wide and spacious. Very different from the usual situation in NYC.
The onion bread with garlic and herb cream cheese is a delicious way to start the meal here:
We also sipped on some really excellent cocktails.
The charcuterie board had five different styles of cured meat with some pickled items. I thought this was really generous. The quality of these meats was top notch, too. Coppa, cacciatorini, fennel sausage, soppressata, spicy nduja, lardon. The fat content was so soft and sticky that it was clinging to the bottom of my tongue like peanut butter. So good.
We also had the reginetti pasta, which are like little squiggly brain shapes that hold the sauce nicely in the convolutions.
For our main courses we went with the beef cheek and the quail. The beef cheek was braised in red wine to a perfect tenderness that still retained a nice juicy inside. It was served on a parsnip and rutabaga puree, and topped with crispy onions and a red onion jam.
My wife’s quail dish was nicely cooked and had good flavor, but it was slightly gamey. The quail was in no way bad. It just didn’t hit the same high mark as the beef.
Dessert was pretty great. Maybe restaurants in NYC are finally understanding that people want to see something different than tiramisu, creme brûlée, chocolate cake and fucking flan. First up was this cocoa toffee pudding with brulee’d bananas, salty cocoa nibs and malted coconut ice cream. Excellent.
We also had the meyer lemon zabaglione with whipped tea, lemon confit and earl grey ice cream. Very inventive and unique, and a nice bright way to end a meal.
The waiter, Ivan, was great. He even brought over a candle and complimentary glass of honeyed dessert wine for my wife since they knew it was her birthday (was mentioned on the Open Table reservation).
On a second visit I tried their two-course lunch for $32, along with a taste of a few other things that the rest of the table had.
First was this delicious grilled octopus.
The texture was perfect. While the chimichurri-esque green sauce was a bit bland, I did like it a lot with the octopus, and even with the table bread as well.
I went with the skirt steak for my main course.
The dollop of garlic butter on top really added a great flavor and creaminess to the cut. It was perfectly cooked to medium rare.
While the steak itself was a bit small, it did pack a ton of flavor. 8/10.
Here’s a look at the lobster roll on the lunch menu. I think it could use a bit more quality, large chunks of claw meat. The bread was solid, but I’ve had better lobster rolls elsewhere.
The duck leg confit was brilliant. So tender and juicy, and beautifully plated as well.
And speaking of beautiful plating, this bowl of fried oyster mushrooms with lemon are served with an edible chive blossom.
For dessert we sampled a trio of eclairs and a chocolate espresso cake, which was super soft, smooth and decadent. The texture was more like soft fudge or a thick custardy pudding.
Of the three eclairs, I liked the pink and red one the best. All three had great creamy fillings and were beautiful as well as tasty.
THE BACK ROOM AT ONE57
157 W. 57th St.
New York, NY 10019
My wife scooped up a flash deal for this place that offered five courses with a bottle of wine.
We got to sample a little bit of everything. I’ll hit you with a rundown of everything below:
The first thing I will say is that this place needs to do better with the pacing of the service. Everything pretty much came out all at once. The table was extremely cluttered as a result, and things inevitably spilled. I don’t mind too much, but maybe the kitchen needs to think about that when they receive orders.
We “started” with the spicy salmon salad to share. This was essentially a bed of lettuce topped with onions, diced salmon sashimi and spicy mayo. I thought it was delicious. Simple and tasty.
The two sliders we tried were “Jack’s” and “The American.” “Jack’s” had bacon, onions and a spicy mayo, while “The American” was a simple lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese burger. The better of the two was Jack’s. It was nicely seasoned, had a good char, was cooked just right, and even had their dog logo pressed into the bun.
We devoured these with an order of the old bay and herb french fries. These were excellent: golden crisp! Glad we ordered these above and beyond what the flash deal provided.
Our next course was ramen. We tried the pork and beef bowls, skipping a sushi choice. The pork ramen was bland and lacked flavor – even the pork meat itself, which looked great, was just a little too boring. In hindsight, I wish we ditched the pork ramen and went with a sushi roll instead.
The beef ramen had a good salt level, decent thin-sliced meat, and a thicker broth. That was the winner of the two, but I would say that if ramen is your game, then you should go to another place. This place is better for the burgers and sushi, and the ramen comes off more Chinese in flavor than Japanese.
Our next item was braised short rib. The veggies here were useless. They tasted frozen or over-steamed or something. Not much flavor. But the beef itself was good. The meat was soft and tender, and the fat was all edible.
Our wine was actually good. We went with the merlot instead of cabernet, chardonnay or pinot grigio. I thought it was going to be a headache-inducing acid reflux fest, but it was smooth and mild.
For dessert, we tried two ice cream sandwiches. One was a sugar cookie with cookies and cream ice cream in between, and the other was red velvet cake with taro ice cream in the middle. Both were good, but we liked the sugar cookie better. The cookie held up better than the cake as “sandwich” material.
Overall this was a decent meal. Skip the ramen, stick to the raw fish and burgers, and get the fries. That should keep you happy.
JACK’S SLIDERS & SUSHI
171 3rd Ave.
New York, NY 10003
NOTE: THIS PLACE HAS MOVED AND I HAVE AN UPDATED REVIEW: CLICK HERE.
My wife and I were recently invited to Nai, a Spanish tapas bar in the east village, for a press dinner.
This place slings classic Spanish tapas that hail from Galicia, but they also serve some high-end molecular gastronomy as well as fine dining cuisine. But at first glance, the inside might not make you think about fine dining. By no means do I mean to suggest that the decor is not good. On the contrary. It’s set up like a warm, inviting and cozy tavern. Very low key. There’s lots of custom dark wood fixtures and furniture, and even some artwork on the walls.
On the food and service angle, though, this place is nothing short of 5-star dining. What you’re getting here is high quality fine dining in a cozy, rustic setting, with beautiful plating and stellar service, all at an affordable price. The 40 different tapas on the menu range from $6 to $15 a piece. I mean, shit… they even offer a prix fixe deal for 12 or more guests: 10 dishes and unlimited open bar for 2.5 hours at just $45. That’s unheard of!
The wine list is 95% Spanish, and all the beer on tap and in bottles are also Spanish, with the exception of one Ommegang farmhouse saison (one of my favorites, which was served with our first courses). I tasted this refreshing wheat beer:
In April or May, Nai will expand its space into an upstairs second floor, which will have an open view test kitchen and a more experimental menu. In addition, the wine list will become 100% Spanish, with a much larger selection.
They offer happy hour specials, a live flamenco band and flamenco dancing on Thursdays and Saturdays, and six different flavors of sangria, including mango and blueberry. Pitchers of sangria are just $22 during happy hour and all night Monday through Wednesday.
Nai means “mother” in Gallego, which is meaningful because Chef Ruben has garnered all of the traditional tapas recipes from his mother (also a chef and restaurateur), and in turn, his mother’s mother. He’s added his own touch since studying under famous Spanish chefs from Europe, picking up newer, more modern and more technical styles. There are 15 tapas that he considers to be core items, which are always available on the menu. The other 25 items change seasonally.
Having grown up in his mother’s restaurants in Spain, Ruben is comfortable in, and passionate with, his craft. He’s always striving for more, to be better, to take his food to the next level, and he’s constantly shooting for perfection. This passion is reflected in his food, as what I tasted at this meal was truly some of the best tapas I’ve ever had.
Essentially we had a multi-course fine dining experience here, with wine pairings for each. I’ll take you through each course below.
This first bite was a hint of that molecular gastronomy style of high-tech cheffery. It looks like an olive, but it is essentially a small edible water balloon filled with liquefied olive. A great way to open up the taste buds.
Next up was a platter of thinly sliced jamon and a bowl of marinated REAL olives. Very simple, very beautiful, and very delicious.
Those two courses paired with the Ommegang farmhouse saison.
These mini-airbags were like a crispy yet soft pastry filled with creamy manchego cheese foam. It was cool and savory. I immediately exclaimed that I could pop these for hours. Very deadly.
There was also this delicious plate of bluepoint oysters with a lemon foam as garnish. These go for $14 per half dozen. Not bad! They’re bright, crisp, creamy and fresh.
Those bites were paired with cava that was mixed with lemon, orange rind and fresh mint. Watch as David Martinez, co-owner, wine director and general manager, swirls it up before pouring:
The next course was one of two favorites for me; a delicious sea bass wrapped in thin-sliced crispy toast and then topped with asparagus that was wrapped in prosciutto. What a perfect bite here! Soft, crunchy, savory, juicy and light.
In fact that’s something that runs through all the courses here: lightness. Nothing felt heavy or burdensome to eat, which is a feat given the ham-heavy offerings available here.
Shrimp in garlic sauce was next. The sauce on these babies was amazing. We sopped it up with some bread after devouring all the perfectly cooked shrimp in the skillet.
This next dish is crab meat wrapped in avocado and then topped with crisped ham sprinkles. It was a lot like a sushi roll, though I felt that it needed a touch of finishing salt. The crispy ham on top didn’t quite have that savory salt-punch that I expected. In any event, this was a light, fresh and creamy-textured dish.
Those fish items were paired with an albarino single grape wine that was crisp and refreshing.
This palate cleanser was watermelon infused with sangria and topped with mint leaf.
The next dish was smoked chicken with Asian bbq glaze. The chicken is pre-smoked with hickory wood, then cooked sous vide style for hours, then glazed and skewered. The presentation is great with this dish. Watch as David lifts the cloche and wafts the smoke:
The chicken was tender and soft, and the glaze was key for adding that salty, spicy-sweet kick.
We also had these fried croquettes that were filled with ham. They had a potato and cheese flavor and feel, with a crisp cornmeal texture on the outside.
This pork belly was super soft, and was served with a carrot puree and toasted pecans. It reminded me of Thanksgiving dinner!
These bites were paired with a three-grape red wine blend of cabernet, temperanillo and monestrell grapes. Super smooth.
Here comes my other favorite of the night: spicy basque chorizo, with manchego cheese and piquillo pepper on toast, topped with a fried quail egg. This is upscale breakfast at its finest! It had spice, smoke, fat, and ooey-gooeyness. The texture was dynamic.
The final savory course was this short rib platter. It came with fire roasted shishito peppers and diced potatoes in a cheese sauce. Very hearty but not heavy. It was a Spanish tapas nod to great American BBQ, if I had to fit it into a pre-conceived food notion.
These were paired with crianza red wine from an area south of Rioja, made with a temperanillo grape called “tinto fino.”
For dessert we had a small stick of pear flavored cotton candy. It was fun, and actually tasted like a mix of pear and sour apple.
Finally, there was this incredible chocolate filled churro. The outside was crisp and light, and the inside was soft and fluffy. It was filled with a melty chocolate and nutella mixture that was decadent.
Dessert was paired with a nice sweet white moscatel dessert wine.
This place is amazing. I will definitely be back for happy hour, sangria night and flamenco night. I think my next party or event will probably be here too. There’s amazing food, amazing service and everything is really fairly priced.
A good thing to know for those with diet restrictions: Chef Ruben whipped up this vegetarian menu with only 30 minutes notice regarding one of the press meal invitees. I tasted a few things from this menu, and they were all delicious.
I recently took a trip to Disney with my wife and her family. There’s actually some pretty decent places to eat and good snacks to try if you know where to go. Below is a smattering of places and things we had along the way.
EPCOT
The first park we visited was Epcot. We hit a few rides in the futuristic area, and had some popcorn snacks:
But Epcot is known for its “world walk,” which showcases 11 countries and features aspects of their culture and cuisine. This is what we were most excited to do.
Mexico: We had a frozen avocado margarita at a tequila bar inside the pyramid that had tons of different tequilas, mezcals and sotols available. The drink didn’t taste much like avocado, but it was good nonetheless.
Norway: Here, we sampled some desserts and a shot of flavored aquavit from one of the shops. The buildings here are really cool.
The first dessert was a cinnamon roll-up sort of thing. Somewhat disappointing. The second was a troll horn, which was really good – similar to a cannoli but with a creamier filling. Only down side was that the filling didn’t go all the way down into the point of the horn.
The shot was good! It had hints of anise and cinnamon to take off the strong alcohol bite.
We also sampled a meatball that was covered in gravy and topped with cranberries. It was like a Thanksgiving Swedish meatball.
China: By now we were thirsty, so we grabbed a mango and green tea slushy. This was really great. The green tea cuts the sweetness so you aren’t running on a sugar high all day.
Germany: Germany offers good beer, tubed meat and pretzels. It is essentially a Bavarian Oktoberfest all year long here.
We tried the bratworst, paprika chips and some interesting shots – a honey whiskey and a corn flavored liquor. Both very good. The brat was nice and browned on the outside, not simply boiled. It had a good snap to it, and the meat was both sweet and savory.
The town here is full of cool stores for beer steins and mugs, as well as sweets like caramels.
Japan: This pavilion has some cool offerings, and awesome architecture.
We started with a shave ice, which was a bit too icy (not soft).
While there was no ramen, they did have a ramen shirt:
In one of the gift shops you could take a crack at finding pearls in oysters. We saw a few people score. But I wonder what they do with the oyster… I wanted to eat them.
Italy: We recharged a bit here with some espresso. One thing they do here is offer gelato with a shot of espresso floating on top!
We watched some crazy flag tossing show and took in the interesting sculpture and architecture.
Morocco: I would have liked to spend more time here. The architecture was very realistic and looked like a movie set. The food smelled delicious, and the gift shops were filled with cool shit. We had dinner coming up, so none of us wanted to spoil our appetites. Next time, I guess.
France: We had dinner reservations here, so we basically just walked around and took in some of the sights before eating at Monsieur Paul. Check the review if you want. Here is a photo dump of the other shit in the French pavilion:
We didn’t eat, drink or snack at the USA spot, and we basically just walked through the UK and Canada because we were heading to a fireworks show after dinner. Here are some shots of those areas:
UK:
Canada:
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
Our next day was at Hollywood Studios, formerly MGM. There’s a lot to do at this park, given Disney’s recent acquisition of the Star Wars franchise.
So we ended up having a snack before our main late afternoon meal at the 50’s Prime Time Cafe theme restaurant. They have turkey legs all over the place, and tons of snack and candy joints lining the roads. I didn’t eat much of that junk. The mediocre bites we had along the way were an appetizer sampler and buffalo chicken bites at the Sci Fi Snack Bar, a place that’s set up like an old 1950’s drive-in movie theater. You sit in cars and face a movie screen that plays old B- and C- quality sci-fi movies. Fun!
Our main meal was at 50’s Prime Time Cafe. This place is set up like the inside of a mid-century modern 1950’s or early 60’s home. Lots of round-screen tube television cabinets are playing clips of old shows from the era, and there are sea-foam green appliances and furniture, wood paneling, checkerboard floors, etc. I loved it.
Plus the food was pretty fucking great too. Everything is home-style cooking, like stuff that your grandma would cook for you. I ordered a smoked gouda stuffed pork chop. It was absolutely awesome. Juicy inside, crispy outside, good stuffing. I demolished it.
I also got to try the fried chicken. Same deal – crispy on the outside, juicy inside. A great thigh!
Their PB&J ice cream shake is incredible too. Not too heavy on the PB so that you get instantly full either, as the base is vanilla.
My wife had a great pork osso buco. While I liked my dish better, her dish was fall-apart tender and beautifully plated.
She also had a crazy soda concoction drink with a glowing ice cube, and they sang Happy Birthday to her and gave her a cupcake for dessert.
Check out the mixed plate, with chicken, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Not bad!
That night, we had some special desserts and snacks as we watched a fucking AWESOME Star Wars themed fireworks show. We came away with some funky Chewbacca steins, too.
The next day we relaxed. We took the day off to rest and regroup our aching feet, and that night we had a nice steak meal at the Yachtsman Steakhouse, which is located at the new(ish) Disney Yacht Club resort.
The following day we went to Universal Studios, which is Disney’s arch nemesis in Orlando. You can check out my commentary on that park’s eats and drinks HERE.
MAGIC KINGDOM
Our final Disney park visit was Magic Kingdom. This is where I finally broke down and grabbed a turkey leg. It was absolutely awesome. It was smoky, crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. It tasted like a good ham.
We picked the meat clean off the bone!!!
Nearby at Gaston’s, they used to sling a pork shank! I wanted so badly to walk around the park with a pig leg in my hand, but they no longer sell them. Instead we tried this slushy that was apple and cinnamon flavored, called LeFou’s Brew. Really delicious:
Dole Whip is also a must at Disney. It’s a soft serve pineapple ice cream thing, the same stuff we had in Hawaii. My wife got a “float” version, which has pineapple juice at the bottom of the cup.
Later on, we had a buffet dinner at Crystal Palace.
For $42 it is all-you-can-eat, and they even have some decent meat carving stations with roasted sirloin and turkey. The star, for me, was the achiote pork. I found a big chunk that was super moist in the middle. Yum.
They also had some good dessert here, in particular the small cube cakes. Key lime pie, cheesecake with Oreo crust, and a berry pie that had the same consistency as the key lime pie but with sweeter fruit and berry flavors. All great. Even the basic sugar cookie was pretty good. The ice cream, on the other hand, was too icy for soft serve.
Despite the pretty good desserts, I think the best part of this meal was that achiote pork, as I mentioned above. Either that, or getting a love-attack by Tigger!
We took pics with all four Pooh characters as they wandered around the restaurant: Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger. I won’t bore you with those. I will say that the people who wear the costumes must be very patient to deal with screaming kids every day.
All-in this was a pretty great food trip. We also had some good stuff (and bad) at Universal as well on the same trip, so check that out too.
This is a review of the buffet dinner at Crystal Palace in Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
For $42 it is all-you-can-eat, and they even have some decent meat carving stations with roasted sirloin and turkey. The star, for me, was the achiote pork. I found a big chunk that was super moist in the middle.
They also had some good dessert here, in particular the small square / cube cakes. Key lime pie, cheesecake with oreo crust, and a berry pie that had the same consistency as the key lime pie but with sweeter fruit and berry flavors. All great. Even the basic sugar cookie was pretty good. The ice cream, on the other hand, was too icy for soft serve.
Despite the pretty good desserts, I think the best part of this meal was that achiote pork, as I mentioned above. Either that, or getting a love-attack by Tigger!
We took pics with all four Pooh characters as they wandered around the restaurant: Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger. I won’t bore you with those. I will say that the people who wear the costumed must be very patient to deal with screaming kids every day.
This place at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is set up like the inside of a mid-century modern 1950’s or early 60’s home. Lots of round-screen tube television cabinets are playing clips of old shows from the era, and there are sea-foam green appliances and furniture, wood paneling, checkerboard floors, etc. I loved it.
Plus the food was pretty fucking great too. Everything is home-style cooking, like stuff that your grandma would cook for you. I ordered a smoked gouda stuffed pork chop. It was absolutely awesome. Juice inside, crispy outside, good stuffing. I demolished it.
I also got to try the fried chicken. Same deal – crispy on the outside, juicy inside. A great thigh!
Their PB&J ice cream shake is incredible too. Not too heavy on the PB so that you get instantly full either, as the base is vanilla.
My wife had a great pork osso buco. While I liked my dish better, her’s was fall-apart tender and beautifully plated.
She also had a crazy soda concoction drink with a glowing ice cube, and they sang Happy Birthday to her and gave her a cupcake for dessert.
Check out the mixed plate, with chicken, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Not bad!
Big Steak is king in the vast wasteland of Manhattan’s midtown “Bankville,” but Japanese cuisine is a strong and worthy adversary that’s rapidly encroaching on its territory (especially for lunch).
My wife and I stopped into one such Japanese joint, Iroha, for a quick dinner bite at the bar before seeing a Broadway show, and we were both pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food, the plating presentation and the price.
First off, there is a coupon for a free mug of beer online that you can use from 5-7pm. That was perfect for us, since our show was at 7pm.
We ordered a bunch of shit, and we could have kept going, because everything looked fucking awesome.
First was this amazing glass cup of rawness. Uni, salmon, salmon roe, tuna, yellow tail and avocado. Not only was it beautiful, but it was absolutely devourable. Get it. I can’t recall the name of it for the life of me, but you can’t miss the pretty picture in the highly visual menu.
Next was a pork belly and soft boiled egg appetizer, which had three generously sized thick-ass hunks of braised belly. Perfection. It’s ramen toppings without the soup and noodles, essentially. Can’t go wrong with bacon and eggs, ever.
I ordered a small version of the all-salmon Chirashi bowl (Salmon Oyako Don), which had four pieces of salmon sashimi and a good blob of briny and savory salmon roe. The sushi rice beneath was surprisingly tasty, and was topped with a good amount of fresh wasabi, ginger and sesame seeds.
My wife ordered a grilled eel dish that came with a LOT of eel (in the pic, there is an entire second slab of eel that is not visible because it is UNDER the rice). It is served with a miso broth of sorts, to mix in with the sweet-yet-savory flavored rice. There’s also a plate of pickled items and some puffed rice for a crunchy texture element.
In short, this place is great, and it is representative of the strong and growing force that is Japanese cuisine in midtown. We sat at the bar, and the guys were plating everything right in front of us. Some of the salad items were tremendous and included tons of proteins (fish). I will definitely be back here to try more shit in the future.
Universal Studios theme park in Orlando has a few decent food items worth trying if you happen to be there. There are also some pitfalls as well, so be on the look-out.
There’s some cool shit to see, like olive oil from Genco (The Godfather) and Mel’s Diner (Alice).
If you need a snack, there are turkey legs all over. I didn’t try them here, but I did try them at Disney’s Magic Kingdom – they’re fucking great! They taste like ham. Very smoky.
We actually ate a quick lunch at Richter’s Burger Co. Please avoid this place. The burger quality is that of a frozen patty backyard burger. Terrible. Fries were at least pretty good though. And the shakes were thick, like a Wendy’s Frosty.
Springfield!!! This is the land of The Simpsons, in the event that you have been living in a fucking bubble all of your life.
I was immediately pissed off that I didn’t think to try a Krusty burger after just eating that God-aweful burger at Richter’s. Ugh. Or should I say “DOH!” I was tempted to vomit and make room to try it.
All the show favorites make an appearance.
Lard Lad Donuts is Homer’s go-to place for a forbidden donut. We tried a pink with sprinkles (the iconic one from the show) and a jelly. Both were on par with Dunkin Donuts.
Duff Beer has a brewery on site, of course.
This next shot is from the factory tour episode, where all three kinds of Duff beer come from the same tubes (Duff, Duff Lite, Duff Dry).
There actually IS a difference between Duff and Duff Lite at the bar. Both are very slightly hoppy, but the regular is a little more robust, while the “Lite” is a bit more citrus flavored.
Harry Potter’s “Wizarding World” is by far the coolest and most fun part of the park, for me at least.
You can get all sorts of flavored sodas at this one stand:
Or you can try the famous butter beer, which is similar to a cream soda, only sweeter and a bit savory as well.
This joint had some other shit:
Below is a shot of the fishy green ale, a citrus and blueberry drink.
This is a frozen butter beer – essentially a butter beer in slushy form.
Fire Whisky is like a Fireball shot, and Wizard’s Brew is like a Guinness. Not sure what the other shit is.
We ate a quick snack at The Leaky Cauldron, a better than average British food joint that’s set up like a really old tavern.
This is a kids meal fish and chips. Cod. Actually quite good!
This is a plate of two mini pies: cottage pie and fish pie (cottage is essentially shepherd’s pie, and fish pie is like a pot pie with cod, salmon and veggies inside).
I finally got around to trying Jack Link’s jerky. It’s amazing I hadn’t caved to their awesome Sasquatch marketing campaign sooner, because I really liked those commercials.
Don’t ever fuck with a cryptozoid… Anyway, I picked up a bag of sweet and hot.
The texture is tender, and the beef doesn’t seem to get stuck in your teeth when chewing. The flavor is spot on spicy and sweet. A really fine commercial brand jerky. I’ll definitely be picking up more flavors.
When I’m away from NYC, I love trying new fast food joints that I can’t find back home. In Florida, I kept seeing these Pollo Tropical joints all over the place, so I had to try it.
The menu is pretty simple – chicken or pork, rice bowls, platters and sandwiches. My wife and I tried a bunch of stuff.
First was the guava BBQ pulled pork sandwich, which reminded me of luau pork or achiote pork. The BBQ sauce was good – sweet and tangy with a unique fruity flavor. The chicken sandwich was pretty basic – nothing special there: grilled chicken, cheese and some fixings on a potato bun. The rice bowl we tried was the same pork meat as the sandwich, but on a bed of yellow rice with black beans, onions, and corn. This was the best value, in my opinion. You got a lot of food for the money.
Each sandwich item came with a side. We had fried yucca, and corn soufflé – both were excellent, and easily addicting snack foods.
They even serve beer from the Bahamas. Sweet!
But the thing that really sets Pollo Tropical apart from other joints is the sauce selection, all free to grab as much as you want, to mix and make concoctions of your own, etc. They have things like guava BBQ sauce (as well as regular BBQ sauce), curry mustard sauce (amazing – I know it sounds bad, but trust me), garlic cilantro cream sauce (awesome for the beef selections, if available in that particular restaurant – and it has a hint of lime), pineapple rum (thing “tropical duck sauce”), spicy poyo poyo sauce (great kick from habanero peppers), Pollo Tropical hot sauce, and fresh salsa. You really can’t go wrong with any of them.
In short, I dig this place. If there was one in NYC, I’d be hitting it pretty often.
