Entries Tagged as 'cuban'

Caipirinha!

October 13th, 2010 · 1 Comment

In August I had a Groupon for Cafe 28 that was going to expire soon so Dallas and I met up with Paul Baker and Kate for dinner. Cafe 28 is a Cuban-Mexican restaurant on Irving Park Road that Dallas used to live near. We used to go for brunch and dinner sometimes and it was always good. Since Dallas doesn’t live near there any more, we haven’t been to dinner at Cafe 28 for probably years. I was excited to go back!

I arrived a bit earlier than everyone else so I sat at the bar. I ordered a caipirinha and chatted with the bartender a little bit. When my drink came, I took a sip and was like “Whoah! That is strong!” and the bartender was all “Well, it should be. It’s all liquor!” Oh. Ok. The bartender reminded me that the caipirinha is made from cachaca (like rum, but made from sugarcane) and a bit of lime and sugar. I love this drink though! It’s Brazil’s national cocktail. As far as I can remember, the first one I ever had was at Esperanto in New York 5 years ago. Love at first sip. I will always remember that as being the best one I had…. tons of muddles limes. Delicious.

As for Cafe 28. It was great, as always. And we hadn’t been out with Paul and Kate for ages, so it was good to catch up with them. Fun night!

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Happy Birthday, Jessica

December 9th, 2008 · 2 Comments


Jessica and Rachelle, Cafe Bolero, Logan Square, Chicago

On Saturday night Jessica invited Dallas and I out for dinner and drinks with her friends to celebrate her birthday. I was excited to go, not only to celebrate the occasion, but also because we were going to two places in our new neighborhood that I’ve never been to.

We had dinner at Cafe Bolero, a Cuban restaurant. I don’t think they were used to groups of 10 or so, but I thought the food was good. We all shared a bunch of different tapas plates. I remember empanadas, plantains, ceviche. We also shared many pitchers of sangria. Jess and I also tried a caipirinha, but I didn’t like Cafe Bolero’s version of the drink as much as I’ve enjoyed it other places. For my entree I had Fricase de Pollo – tender chicken stewed to perfection with roasted peppers, garlic, potatoes and herbs in a tomato base sauce. This also included rice on the plate and beans on the side. It was great. The chicken was so tender. My only complaint was that some of the chicken was still on the bone so it made it a little more complicated to eat. After dinner we had pumpkin pie that Jess’s friend Max made. That’s when the photo above was taken.

After dinner we went to The Whistler, a new(ish) minimalist bar on Milwaukee. Blink and you won’t see it, it’s not marked well outside. Inside is just a bar and a few tables. I drank beer all night, but they also had a whole list of specialty drinks that they meticulously made with fresh ingredients like rosemary and hibiscus flowers. The crowd leaned toward hip and young. We had fun. Jess’s whole birthday group was up in the DJ area so we looked down on the bar. It was good people watching! Oh, funny thing. Dallas and I were recognized in the bar. It was a friend of a friend of ours who reads this site. We talked briefly. Kind of neat. .. but then I swear I saw this girl all night that I do not know but that a friend of mine used to be friends with and I recognized from photographs. I should have paid it forward and introduced myself, but I’m not sure she is still friends with my friend and I didn’t want to start anything.

Anyway, we had a great night. Happy birthday, Jess!

Oh, one last thing. At The Whistler they had this photo collage that was actually one huge photograph cut up and separately framed. I have no where in my house that I could make this happen, but I took a photo of it anyway, because I thought it was so neat.


The Whistler, Logan Square, Chicago

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Arriving in Austin

March 11th, 2008 · 4 Comments

Austin Hyatt Regency
Austin Hyatt Regency, Austin, TX

1st Street Bridge Grafitti
1st Street Bridge, Austin, TX

The Library - Austin
The Library, Austin, TX

Friends - Austin - Lone Star
Friends, Austin, TX

Ahhh, so where to begin? On Friday night we arrived in the Lone Star state. Justin and I were staying in at the Hyatt and John and Matt were staying at another hotel right by the convention center. I checked into the Hyatt*, which is actually across the river and about a 20 minute walk from the convention center, and when Justin got in we met Matt & John to pick up our SXSW registration. While walking across the bridge to the downtown area and seeing the graffiti, we realized that our hotel was actually in East Austin. Jake and his fiance Natalie were also in town so they met up with us too.

After getting our SXSW badges, we went for drinks. We weren’t sure where to go and just wandered into a bar called The Library where they were having a “$2 – You Call It” special. Not to shabby.

After a couple drinks we headed over to Habana for some Cuban dinner. I had the Lechon Asado (Roast Pork) that was overnight and slow roasted. One of the main reasons for John and I ordering this dish was because on the menu it had 5 exclamation points after saying it was incredible and a best seller. I’m glad I did order it, though. Also, we started a trend for the trip where we realized that some of the menu items were NSFW. Like.. banana cups? and gigante breast? I don’t know, but it was a trend through the week.

After dinner we wandered down 6th Street to Friends bar where there was a live band playing. We had a couple more beers and then called it a night.

I hadn’t been to Austin for about 4 years – the last time I was at SXSW – and some things were the same but there were some things that I noticed had changed. There’s a lot of construction and areas that were empty back then were now filled with hotels and stores and residences. Austin is definitely growing. In fact, I just looked on Wikipedia and it says Austin is the “3rd fastest growing large city in the nation.”

* I would like to mention that the Hyatt was a lovely hotel with magical glass elevators where you could see all the way down to the lobby from the 14th floor. When I checked in they gave me a complimentary glass of champagne and were generous with the supplies when Justin and realized we’d forgotten toothbrushes and toothpaste and shaving cream (not me) and deodorant (again, not me). They could have a better coffee shop, though.

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Esperanto & The Porch

September 11th, 2005 · No Comments

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Sunset Looking West on Houston, East Village, Manhattan

caipirinha.jpg
Caipirinha :: Esperanto, East Village, Manhattan

moqueca.jpg
Moqueca :: Esperanto, East Village, Manhattan

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Jessica, Jeannette, Julie, Rachelle :: The Porch, East Village, Manhattan

Cafe Borgia gave us enough energy to shop around SoHo a little bit before meeting up with Julie, Jeannette, Yvan, Kody, Eleanor, Dan, Masako, and Vivian for dinner at Esperanto, a Brazilian and Cuban restaurant. I was so tired and hungry I probably could have eaten anything. The Caipirinhas were really good with a whole lime in each one… and the Moqueca tasted awesome.. of course I’m a sucker for anything with coconut milk.

After dinner we went over to The Porch for a drink. My allergies were super bad on the trip though and I started having a sneezing attack with a runny, itchy nose to match. I’m sure it was really attractive! We only stayed for one drink or two.

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