NYC - Saturday

If I never left Ft. Lauderdale, I would weigh 87 pounds.

I was meeting my friend Les in Queens, so I was walking to the subway. The station is right next to Smiling Pizza.

Smiling Pizza isn't special... it's just a Pizza Place on a street corner in Brooklyn. You walk in, say, 'slice,' and they give you pizza. There's a million of this type of place in New York. I walked in, said 'slice,' and they gave me one.

It was immeasurably better than anything you can get in Florida. Michael *hates* Smiling Pizza; he thinks it is drek. He just has no clue how lucky he is.

I met Les in Forest Hills on Queens Boulevard. There are a lot of restaurants in that area. He said that he knew one that was just OK, but they didn't have much in the way of customers, so it was quiet, and we could talk. Biu Bella Cafe sounded like just the right place.

He was right; it was empty. On a street where every restaurant was busy.

The food was fine. I had a delicious bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup, and a perfectly-average Eggplant Parm Sandwich with delicious vegetables instead of French Fries.

Les had a Turkey Wrap. First, they brought him someone else's Eggs Benedict (which could have something to do with the lack of customers), so here he is, making his blog debut with the Wrong Food.

When Les went on his way, I killed some time in Forest Hills (I got my eyebrows threaded) and met my friend Walter, someone I knew from Peru.

We took the train one stop to Jackson Heights. Roosevelt Avenue is a whole different world. It's like Epcot made a new country: Spanishland. We walked around a little (I loved it) and caught up. We stopped in front of a Mexican place and I bought a cup of camarones y pulpo (Shrimp and Octopus) cocktail. It was $8 and worth every penny.

 

I also picked up a two-pound package of Strawberries for $2. Anna, Michael and I ate those when I got back to the house.

Anna and Michael were fascinated with my stories of the food in Peru. They wanted to try some, so we made reservations at La Mar Cebicheria in Manhattan. La Mar is owned by Gaston Acurio, who is the Pope of all things food-related in Peru.

We ordered a bunch of things and shared them. Our first two plates were cebiches. One was the classic fish cebiche, and the other was Tuna Nikei.

The 'classic' version was very good. The only thing that its South American cousin has over it is a bit more spice. The Tuna dish is marinated with lime juice, soy sauce and sesame oil, giving it a Japanese flavor. That's starting to get popular in Lima as well, and this was a very good example.

Next, we ordered the Causa.

I love Causas. They are mashed Yellow Potatoes (held together with some lime juice) which are then sliced and 'stuffed' with one of a variety of things, usually what we would call Chicken Salad, Tuna Salad or Crab Salad. The newfangled, fancier Causas are balls of potato topped with one of those items. That's what these were. I don't like them like that in Lima, and I don't like them like that here. This method favors the flavor of the toppings (in our case, Chicken) over the potato. For what it was, it was good, but Anna and Michael were not impressed, and I didn't blame them.

We shared two Main Dishes.

The first one, Lomo Saltado, was the hit of the night. This is a stir fry of Beef, Onions, Tomatoes and some spices, served over French Fries. It is the classic Peruvian Dish, and this was a perfect example. Everything about it was perfect, but for $30, it damn well better be. The second dish had a name that I don't remember, but it was Rice with Seafood (Arroz con Mariscos). That's half of what I eat when in Lima, so you could call me Subject Matter Expert on this dish. This was good, but nowhere as good as the Lomo. However, the three of us finished every bite.

Considering that we were 3600 miles from Lima, this was an excellent Peruvian meal. It was possibly the best Peruvian food I have had in the USA. The Lima version of La Mar is twice as good, with a better menu selection.

Anna and Michael had a few Pisco Sours during dinner, so I drove home. We took Flatbush Avenue, and passed Juniors.

We really didn't pass Juniors; I stopped the car and the two of them got out while I circled the block. We got home with two slices of cheesecake.

I had one slice, they shared the other.

If you think you like cheesecake and haven't tried Juniors', then you are missing out. It is the best. End of discussion, unless you've tried it. Here's Michael reveling in his piece:

 

Then, bed. Sunday, airplane. If I can fit in the seat.