OREGANO

  

     Today I went to OREGANO.  It is a Franco/Iberian Bistro, which serves French and Spanish/ Portugal food.  It is at 3522 Johnson Ave in Riverdale.

     At this restaurant there was 1 flat screen tv and it also has old fashion, funky looking lights.  Another thing was 2 written on mirrors, they had some of the types of food written on them.  There was also what my mom calls subway tiles. There were two paintings, one painting has a beach on it, the second one looks like it is an ad for wine. There is a cool thing for parties (at least my mom said)in the middle of the restaurant- there is a big plant-filled space with tables and chairs, and it even has a glass roof.

     I got Canard aux deux Facons, which is (yummy) Duck Leg Confit and Duck Breast with herbed liquor reduction.  I loved the duck, I loved it so much that it gave me a new motto: "Get duck when ever you can."  I also loved the sauce near the duck. I liked the lasagna shaped sweet potato side dish, which was called sweet potato gratin.  Another side dish is roasted fennel, that I didn't like. I tasted it when it was in the sauce and the fennel had one flavor and the sauce had another flavor and they didn't mix well, like water and oil.  I also got Pate, which is like a liver moose.  I did not like the texture.  I also got some snails with butter, that I liked.
It was nice and chewy.




     For dessert I had a piece of tres leche cake.  It was so good I wanted more.  I was the first one to grab the cherry.

     I really like this restaurant and I think you would go there and try the duck.

Dinosaur BBQ

     On Friday I went to a place called Dinosaur BBQ.  It smells like BBQ sauce and woodsmoke.  It is a big restaurant.  There is even big posters of old movies.  They have a visible kitchen.

     For a appetizer I had some awesome tasting wings.  The wings were a little spicy.  The flavor was called Mango Tango.  Another appetizer is a fried green tomatoes.  They were yummy.  They were green and they were ripe(ya I said it they were RIPE.)  They were also deep fried so it has a perfect name.

     For dinner I had some really good ribs.  They were not too spicy.  What I liked about them was the sauce that was on them.  I also had mac+cheese.  I saw little pieces of pepper and it had a nice spicy kick with a good aftertaste to it.
       Sadly I didn't have any dessert to tell you about.

P.S
     Sorry but I am now a 9 year old. 

Cafe al Mercato

 

 Today me and my family went to Cafe Mercado.  It is on Arthur Ave. in the Bronx.  There I got penne vodka (don't worry the vodka part that makes you drunk got boiled away) pizza.  The pizza was a piece of pizza with ziti on top (but it's not ziti, it's penne.)  I loved the pizza.

My mom and dad they split a sandwich on focaccia bread with fried eggplant and broccoli rabe.  They also had pasta fagioli.  Which is a soup.  I tried both.  The sandwich was okay, the only funky taste was the broccoli rabe.  The soup was delish.   I really liked the beans.  

     

For dessert I had chocolate gelato.  My sister had chocolate and hazelnut.  Hazelnut tasted marshmallow-y.

Cheese Platter

     Yesterday me and my mom went to a cheese store.  There me and my mom bought 8 cheeses to make a cheese platter for Easter.  Today I am trying cheeses and writing a blog post about them (the cheese). 
     Our first cheese is Imported New Zealand cheddar.  It doesn't have a strong taste.  My dad tasted salt.  Surprisingly the cheddar is whitish-yellow color instead of being orange.
     our next cheese is White Stilton With Mango and Ginger.  It smells weird.  I don't like it because, it has mango and ginger.
     The next cheese is Black River Gorgonzola.  It smells like cream cheese.  It has a nice spicy kick to it.  It is the softest of all the 7 cheese.  It is kind of a stinky cheese.
     Our fourth to last is Manchego from Spain.  It smells like Swiss cheese.  It's the whitest of all the cheeses.  It tastes like nothing.  It has a funny after taste.
      Our next cheese is Asiago.  It has a crunchy after taste.  It also tasted salty.
     Our second to last cheese is smoked sharp cheddar.  It tasted warm.  It is not salty.
     Our last cheese is Soinon Bucheron Goat Cheese.  It has a weird after taste.  It also tasted like cream cheese.

Indian Food Feast

     I went to my grandparents' house to have some Indian food and see pictures of the trip that my papa and Uncle Tommy had in India.  My grandma made some Indian food.  

                                      Bombay mixture     
     For a snack grandma served Bombay mixture.  It's crunchy and yummy.  

Dinner

     Next it is dinner.  I had Samosas which is a potato, peas, and a spice called Tumeric.  I think it's hot.  

                                 
     Chicken Burra has lots of butter.  It was delish.  It is brownish red.  Lamb passanda tastes great and there is chunks of lamb.  Chicken tikka massala tastes good.  But is a little too buttery. 

                                         naan bread 
    Naan is like a flat bread.  It is impossible to make at home.  Unless you have a tandor oven that can go up to like a 1,000 degrees F.  

     Rice pulaob has peas, onions, Basmati rice , and sticks of cinnamon and last but not the least we have Dhal which is made with red lentills called Masoor.  

     I had to drink is Mango lassi which is like a mango smoothy.

                                          

                                          My plate

Tin Marin

    

    Today I went to Tin Marin.  It's at 3708 Riverdale Ave. Bronx 
N.Y.  It is a Spanish restaurant that serves tapas, which is like snacks or finger food.  There is a lot and I mean a lot of wine bottles on the wall, and I am not talking about the song 99 bottles of what ever you say on the wall.  The ceiling looks like squares of wood.  There is a bar, over the bar there are logs, and hanging from the logs are candle holder.  The bar is topped with stone squares.  There are three mirrors and a beautiful painting.  My mom liked the orange curtains.  There is one waiter named Ramon.  He is really busy.

     

     We had really good food ( well one I didn't like). Here are the foods:

1. Pulpo Ala Gallega: which is octopus with Spanish paprika and potatoes.  I didn't like it because it's thick and very chewy, and I only like the skinny crunchy tentacles parts.  It also has very buttery potatoes.

2. Croquetas De Jamon Ahumado:  it is shaped like a fish stick, but with mashed potatoes and ham.  It's good.

3. Coca Catalonia: which is flat bread with manchego cheese, and onions.  Its cheesy, chewy, and crunchy.

4. Pastelitos: which are empanadas,  one with cheese, and one with beef.  The cheese one was delish.  It was cheesy and chewy.  The beef one was great. It was meaty in a good way.

5. Chorizo: which is Spanish sausage with shallots.  It's yummy, it's not fatty.  Its has a nice spicy kick to it, and it's very crispy.

6. Gambas Al Ajillo: which is shrimp.  The shrimp still has its tail.  It's very garlicky.  It burns my tongue.

     

     Now we have what I had for dessert. Yum, where do I start?

These are the desserts:

1. Crema Catalana which is custard with a hard caramelized top.  The custard is creamy and looks and feels pudding.

2. Chocolate Torte which is dark chocolate & almond cake.

It's a really, really, really, really (oh, you get my point) good chocolate cake.  

       This is what I saw and ate at Tin Marin.  It's a great place and you should eat there.

Food Fest

     Today me and my family went to Kids Food Fest.  It's by Citi pond at Bryant Park, NYC 6th ave. and 42nd st.  Citi pond is a ice rink.  People were playing hockey. We had a good time.

     There was a fun scavenger hunt.  You need to find 5 stamps.  Each for the 5 food groups (not including oil).  You get a stamp by finding a stall with a stamp.  You ask if you can have a stamp.  One person said I had to do 10 jumping jacks to get a stamp.  Another reason is you ate a food in this food group.  When you find each stamp you go where you started you hunt and you get a goody bag.  

Goody bag 

     

     There were free samples.  They were some Kerrygold cheese, grape juice, grilled cheese, candy skewers, and chocolate milk.  There is also frozen kefir which I did not like, but mommy and daddy loved it.  I also made my own trail mix with goldfish, coconut slices, cereal squares, and  chocolate chips. 

 Yum, trail mix

     We bought a baby shirt for my cousin.  His name is Charley.   It was perfect because Charley is cute and the shirt is cute, it will make Charley twice as cute.  The shirt said "I heart NY" but instead of a heart there is a pretzel and the I is a hot dog. 

Hotdog Pretzel NY

   So if you want to go there, you better hurry it ends on March 3rd!