Monday was another perfect weather day — low humidity, with temperatures in the the high 70s. And we hoped we would have another perfect lunch on our third visit to Empellón Taqueria in the West Village.
We were seated at one of the many unoccupied wooden tables and ordered yummy mezcal margaritas. On our previous visit, we had enjoyed a wonderful hamachi ceviche, so we selected a halibut ceviche starter to share and then three of Empellón Taqueria's inventive taco offerings.
Mezcal Margarita — Fidencio Clasico, with fresh lime and smoked salt The ceviche was beautifully presented. The halibut, sushi grade and tender, was subtly complimented by sweet strawberries and not-too-hot habanero. It was a wonderful dish.
Halibut Ceviche with Habanero, Shiso, and Green Strawberries Empellón Taqueria's tacos are incredible. The flour tortillas are thin and unobtrusive, the perfect wrapper for the stuffed tacos. This time around we had sea bass, lobster and pork. The tender grilled sea bass, with its roasted tomato and green chili salsa, was perfect. The sweet lobster and sweet corn contrasted beautifully with the pungent epazote. The red chili pork, with its salsa roja, was a nice departure from the typical sweet barbecue sauce based pulled pork. All three were fresh and delicious.
Sea Bass a la Plancha with Salsa de Molcajete
Lobster with Sweet Corn and Epazote
Red Chile Pork with Salsa Roja We were pleasantly stuffed and ready to pay the bill and walk off calories, when our waiter appeared and treated us to glasses of his favorite mezcal. The rich smoky mezcal was pleasantly fruity and sweet. It was excellent.
San Juan del Rio Alipus mezcal
Our wonderful waiter, Diego We've fallen in love with Empellón Taqueria; it's our New York Daiquiri Dick's. We will definitely return.
Our dinner reservation was at Locanda Verde, in the Greenwich Hotel in TriBeCa. Open since 2009, it's one of Andrew Carmellini's gaggle of restaurants; we had dined at his Little Park in October.
"Locanda" in Italian is a local place to eat and drink, and indeed the clientele appeared more local than tourist. The relatively large space was divided by wooden banquettes into small dining sections, with a large brasserie style bar promoting a casual tavern like feel. Tall French windows opened onto the sidewalk, where tables on Greenwich Street were filled with diners, even though the skies threatened rain. Carmellini's seasonal urban Italian menu offered antipasti, house made pastas and secondi. We ordered two antipasti and two pastas to share, passing on the secondi, and settled in with a nice Nebbiolo.
Our two antipasti — first the steak tartare and then the lamb meatball sliders — were both excellent. The rich wagyu tartare oozed truffle oil; it was decadently delicious. The lamb meatballs were served on small focaccia buns, with Italian goat cheese and a tomato based, pickled cucumber caulis. They were incredible; we wanted more.
Steak Tartara Piemontese — wagyu beef with hazelnuts & black truffle
Lamb Meatball Sliders — caprino & pickled cucumber We were given sharing plates and serving utensils for our two pastas, and assumed the paccheri and the lasagnette we had selected would come out sequentially. Unfortunately, they arrived together. By the time we got to the lasagnette, it was no longer piping hot. The large tubular paccheri was bathed in a pork shoulder ragu and covered with melting provolone piccante. It was very good, as was the green ribbon lasagnette, with its white veal Bolognese. But both were ordinary very good. Neither was as extraordinary as the pastas at Mario Batali's Lupa, where we would lunch later in the week.
Paccheri — Sunday night ragu & provolone piccante
Lasagnette Verde — white veal bolognese & aged parmigiano We enjoyed our dinner at Locanda Verde and we would recommend it. But it probably serves locals in search of Italian a better meal than foodies in search of something special. Copyright © 2016 TwoForTheTable.com |
