Café Frida

This evening we traveled across town to Café Frida, on Columbus Avenue behind the natural history museum. This was our second trip there in the past couple of weeks, and on the basis of this visit it may now have secured the top spot in our family Mexican restaurant rotation, despite the extra distance.

The outside appearance of the place isn't anything remarkable, and I would assume it's intended mainly to minimize attention and walk-in traffic off the street. In addition, there is an unpleasant feature wherein as soon as you enter you feel like you have stepped into a frosty wind tunnel courtesy of the air curtain generated by a massive vent above the hostess station. High marks for minimizing excess energy use from cooling/heat loss via the doorway, but since you have to stand in the midst of this vortex while negotiating with the hostess and waiting to be seated, it makes the initial part of the dining experience uncomfortably like being processed through a decontamination chamber.

Thankfully the dining room itself doesn't suffer from this defect, and although the tables are densely packed into a small area it feels comfortable and friendly rather than overcrowded. There weren't nearly as many oil paintings on the walls as I would have expected given the description from OpenTable indicating the interior is inspired by the restaurant's namesake artist, but I suppose I was reading it far too literally. The influence is definitely understated with just a single portrait of Frida and an absence of cliched Mexican paraphernalia like sombreros, serapes, and pinatas.

All the main dishes were excellent, including the standard but well executed tacos al carbon with avocado and smoky chili sauces on the side. What makes this place stand out for us, though, is the selection side dishes. The rice casserole with zucchini and corn as well as the fried plantains are staples, and the corn souffle and roasted jalapenos are definitely worth trying.

Brunch at Balthazar

This morning we headed down to Balthazar in SOHO for brunch. We got there at about 9:30, and were surprised to be presented with a 45 minute wait (apparently a lot of other people have heard of this place). In any case, going against my usual policy which forbids waiting for breakfast, we decided to stay, and were seated after about 35 minutes.

The baked goods were excellent, and we all agreed that the they were worth the 50% relative price increase over our standard bakery brunch (Le Pain Quotidien). Hazel nut waffles were quite good as well.

California Pizza Kitchen

Tonight after work I met the family at California Pizza Kitchen on Park Avenue. As I have mentioned before, it's not that CPK's pizza is that good (certainly not compared with many of the New York-style pizza establishments I have grown accustomed to), but it is familoar and reliable. I wouldn't even necessarily call it pizza exactly; just a distant relative from across the country that bears only a vague resemblance.

I haven't been keeping an exact count, but for about the past 25 times I have been to CPK I have ordered the same item, the California Club pizza on whole wheat dough. Note that those 25 visits have occurred within the past year. Since moving to Manhattan a few months ago the frequency of my visits there has decreased significantly, but in Seattle it was at least a weekly destination.

I am not sure exactly how I got into the rut with the California Club, which is one of their salad pizzas served with lettuce, tomatos, and avocado on top (applied after the pizza is baked, of course). I can't imagine getting a more traditional type of pizza there like pepperoni or sausage, since as stated previously I think there are many better options for that.

Amazingly enough, our five-year-old son's attachment to the kids' Hawaiian pizza goes back even further than my California Club streak. He has frequently vowed that he will never try anything different there for the rest of his life. We are hoping that he reconsiders at some point, but for the present he seems pretty steadfast in his conviction that nothing could be the Hawaiian. As a result of this, he is pretty particular about the exact preparation, and therein a problem has arisen in our visits to CPK since moving here.

In Seattle, a CPK kids' Hawaiian is made definitively with pineapple and Canadian bacon.
However, here in New York, a choice is offered between Canadian bacon and pepperoni. To complicate matters, it is not altogether clear what the default choice is supposed to be. Since we are used to the Seattle version, on at least one previous occasion we have forgotten to specify and wound up with Pepperoni, which our son finds unacceptable. Apparently even as close as it is, the pepperoni version is different enough to be banned along with the rest of the menu choices at CPK from consideration for all time.

On this particular evening we encountered the problem once again. It had been a while since we had been there, and so when ordering we forgot to specify the Canadian bacon explicitly. When the pepperoni-topped pizza arrived, the problem was immediately detected, and a new one was comissioned. The surprising thing in this case was that the second pizza also arrived with pepperoni, even after the clear request.

Dinner at Les Halles

Tonight was another late night at work, and afterward a colleague and I stopped at nearby Les Halles for dinner before heading home. This is significant because we tried to go there twice in the last week, but left after we found it too crowded to wait.

It seems that Mondays are fairly light, though, and so tonight we got right into the mostly empty dining room without any problem.

I ordered my standby favorite Hamburger Rossini, while my colleague opted for the establishment favorite Steak Frites.

Usually we find ourselves waiting at least 20 minutes or so for our food to arrive, but tonight it arrived in an amazing 5 minutes or so. I assume that given the light Monday night crowd, the whole kitchen staff was poised and waiting to pounce on our orde.

Sunday Dinner at Zarela

Zarela on 2nd Avenue is a weekend standby for us, partly because of their Sunday night prix fixe specials. Tonight was a Zarela night, and we very much enjoyed the three-course special menu. I started with the chicken and tomato soup (with avocado and chickpeas), and then for the main course tried a braised pork preparation that seemed to be in a Yucatan style with an achiote sauce. My wife had the tropical salad to begin with followed by chicken with house mole.

For dessert we were served the usual bread pudding with vanilla sauce. Altogether a fine dining experience, with no service glitches of any kind.