Bronx Ale House

Yesterday I went to a restaurant called the Bronx ale house.  It is at 216 W 238th St, Bronx, NY 10463 it is right off of Broadway.  When you walk in you can see that the walls are mostly brick and with wooden beams.  On the far wall there is a rack of barrels. There are high tables with bar stools. My family was sitting on the right wall.  Opposite of where I was sitting there is a bar.  Above the bar is a TV with the beer menu with a color coding system, for telling you how much beer they have left in each keg and what type of glass it comes in.

I love how the they give you free popcorn at the start.  As a starter we ordered deep fried pickles.  They were pretty good, and a touch bit spicy.  I ordered deep fried Mac N cheese, which was AMAZING.  It has the perfect mix of the creamy cheese and the crunch of the fried shell.  It was shaped like a square, that was cut in 2.  My mom and my sister ordered pulled pork bomber (there word for sliders) with fried green tomatoes.  I had a bit of the pulled pork, and it was enjoyable there were bits of coleslaw in it so I would have a crunch every few bites.  My dad got a fried chicken sandwich and these delicious garlic parm fries. The garlic wasn't too strong and not too little that you can't taste it, which was good and the occasional cheese bit was yummy.  Even though we didn't get this, the waiter told us about a super spicy sauce you could get on some wings and the waiter said that he normally gets 2 drops, while a lady once got 15 drops!  I would come back here.  I mean there is so much that sounds good on their menu.

In conclusion that is my blog post of Bronx Ale House.

LOUIE & ERNIE'S PIZZA

      Yesterday my family and I went Louie and Ernie's Pizza.  It is at 1300 Crosby Avenue, Bronx NY 10461.  Fun fact: It is right down the block from where my grandpa once lived.  When you first walk in you get that cheesy pizza smell.  It is actually partly below the street.  The windows are level with the street.  The place is one long and skinny room (excluding the kitchen).  On the walls there are pizza related drawings and newspaper articles about the place.  On this low hanging part of the ceiling there was a pizza clock with pepperoni with the numbers on them.  In the back there is outdoor seatings.  We didn't sit there of course, it was rain/snowing.

     We got some amazing foods.  For starters my mom ordered a white pizza (a pizza with no sauce, just mozzarella and ricotta cheese) for the family to share- but more on white pizzas later. We all ordered calzones (beside my dad, he had bit of all of them).  I got a meatball calzone.  It was big.  The meatball wasn't whole, but it was in bits.  It was delicious, it came not too hot and not one bit cold.  My mom got a broccoli rabe calzone.  It had little cheese, but was full of garlicky broccoli rabe, which she loved.  My sister got a regular cheese calzone.  It had a TON of cheese, like gooing everywhere a ton.  Of course I had to eat more.  So I ordered a white pizza for myself.  It was oily (but not in a bad way at all) and heavenly. The cheese was really thick, but that's a good thing.


     So I loved this place.  Delicious food and a cool inside.  Definitely a place to return to.  

Leche Y Miel

     Yesterday my family and I went to Leche Y Miel, which is at 5761 Broadway Bronx NY, 10463 and here is their website:
http://lecheymielrestaurant.net  The place is very simply decorated.  There are creme colored walls and low lighting.  The only lighting comes from these sconces  and pendant lights.  There is an open kitchen which is cool because I can watch them cook.  On the ledge surrounding the kitchen there is a stack of cookbooks.  They have this neat rule where you can't order alcoholic  beverages, but you can bring your own.  On the tables there are fresh flowers.  The restaurant is on Broadway and there are these huge windows that over look Broadway as well.  When the door opens you have the chance of hearing a train rumble by.  We got our drinks in these really beautiful mason jars and the plates were all white squares or rectangles.

    For starters we got Monfonguitos, which is a smashed plantain formed into bowl.  The bowl was filled with grated cheese and your choice of shrimp or steak.  My family chose steak because I greatly don't like shrimp for reasons that I don't want to share.  Anyway I loved it.  And I am a person who doesn't like plantains normally.  The cheese and the steak mix perfectly with the plantains.  We also got Cheese and bacon-filled cassava balls.  They were delicious.  They came with this yummy sauce.  It was orange and it tasted like a salad dressing I once tried.  It was crispy one the outside and fluffy on the inside. Pastelito sampler-chicken is the last appetizer my family got.  It was a quarter circle crust with chicken and cheese inside.  It was heavenly.  The cheese was gooey, and the chicken was mouthwatering.

     That is it for appetizers, but we got some entrées.  We got Chicharrones De Pollo, Con Tostones, which is fried plantains with some small pieces of chicken.  The seasoning on the chicken was an awesome mix of seasoning and not too much of each flavor.  The chicken was mostly dark meat and it was very garlicky.  The plantains this time were fried.  I liked them but I like them better as a bowl in the mofonguitos because the flavors mixed together better.  We also got Stewed Goat.  The dish also could be ordered with oxtail.  Most of the goat came on the bones and the goat came with a pile of rice.  The goat was ambrosial.  It had the same earthy taste that I normally get with goat.  The rice was good too. It was buttery.

     So Leche Y Miel is a mind-blowing restaurant.  They have luscious food and the restaurant is simple but that's what makes it unique.      

Bronx BBQ Pit & Gastropub

     On Friday my family and I went to Bronx BBQ Pit & Gastropub, which is at 170 west 233rd St. Bronx,NY 10463.  I know what you are thinking what's a Gastropub?  Well it is a pub that specializes in serving high-quality food.  Here is their website http://bronxbbqpit.com/.  The place used to be a Moroccan nightclub.  There is still nightclub remains.  Like castle ramparts around the restaurant (because of the nightclub's theme).  Also there is DJ tower and under that there is a coat check.

     The first thing you do once you're past the door is walk up some stairs to a big open area.  There is a bunch of huge TVs.  4 of them are above the bar alone.  The room is relatively dark.  The only light coming from the TVs., light-strings, candles on the tables and this really cool fake tree that has some sparkly lights.  The first thing that you will notice is the semi circle bar, and the huge ground to ceiling windows.  The windows overlook Broadway.  There are a lot of exposed parts, but in fashionable way.  Exposed brick walls, wooden beams, and exposed pipes add to the look of the place.  The family-sized tables (tables that don't have only 2 seats) are actually picnic tables which I find really cool.  On the right side of the restaurant there is a balcony.  On each table there are packs of cards to entertain you while your food is being made.

     I ordered half a rack of ribs, I was able to get 2 sides with my ribs, so I picked French Fries, and Mac and Cheese.  The ribs were tasty.  They had lots of sauce on it which I like and the meat was chewy.  The Mac and Cheese was awesome.  It was creamy and not too heavy.  The French Fries were good.  Not too big or not too small and crispy.  My dad got a half rack too.  

     My sister got fried chicken.  She said that the fried chicken was crispy on the outside but juicy and yummy on the inside.  My mom got a pulled pork sandwich which was on a brioche bun.  The sandwich had sautéed onions and peppers.  

One really cool things about the dishes and food baskets is that they are outlined in old newspapers.

     For desert we got a Oreo mousse cake.  It was delicious, but I only had a few bites.  The ribs are very filling.  I really liked that place.  It has good food and is really cool looking.              

The Tater Tot crawl

     A few weeks ago I went on a Tater Tot Crawl.  What's that? So I basically go around the city and try different restaurants that serve tater tots.  My mom found the crawl on a website, The Huffington Post. There are 11 places on the website but we only went to three of them because of time and we couldn't eat that much.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/03/tater-tots-new-york-city_n_6912968.html

Click on that link to visit the site.  I recommend it.

     Anyway the 1st place we went to is The Melt Shop.  On the one of the sides there is black boards with cheese related things drawn on it.  Here you can get sandwiches, salads, and tater tots.  The employees had funny cheese puns on the back of their shirts.  They're really cheesy, huh get it.  Some of the puns were "Girl you lookin Gouda" and "Give me all ya Cheddar".  
https://www.meltshop.com

     We got their loaded tots.  They were like heaven.  So it's tater tots with parm. cheese bits, melted cheese, Jalapenos (which I avoid, I don't like spiciness), and bacon.  It was awesome with the random bits of crunchy bacon.

   The Whiskey Tavern is next on the list. They have a bar on one side.  Opposite of the bar are these cool tables that are chess board sized tables that just stick out of the wall.  It's near all the kinds of court houses in the city.  I made a joke that the judges and the lawyers come here to eat.
http://whiskeytavernnyc.com

   We got the Pizza tots.  They're tater tots covered in pizza sauce and melted cheese.  I like them but they were a little weird in the way the sauce had made them wet.  We also ordered the pork tacos.  They were delicious. 

   The last place was Criff Dogs.  You had to walk downstairs into a basement to get to this restaurant.  It was very small and very popular.  There was a bar across one side with stools.  There were two arcade games you could play and one arcade game made into a table.
http://www.crifdogs.com

     We got the chili cheese taters.  They are tater tots covered in chili and cheese. They were a tiny bit spicy.  I loved them.

     So I really like the three places.  They all have really cool websites that you will want to check out.  I want to go back to try their other foods.  I again really recommend doing the crawl.  It's really fun and you get some exercise and you explore the city.

   
    

Dobbs Dawg House

   

     Yesterday on my birthday (I turned 11), me and my family went to Dobbs Dawg House on 25 Cedar St, Dobbs Ferry.  Inside you will see a big T.V. and a counter where you order.  The seating is bar styled, with counters instead of tables and high spinning chairs.  

     The menu has crazy toppings.  You want cream cheese on your hotdog?  You can get it. Wanna get some peanut butter on your dog. You can here!  On the menu, on the side opposite of the build your own dawg, there is the specialty dawgs.  Which includes but is not limited to: the Reuben dawg, the Pizza dawg, and the Toe nail dawg.  Just kidding on that last one.  I asked them how they come up with their specialty dawgs. The answer is: they take what foods they like and they put them on a hot dog.  They also have a "dawg of the month".  If that dawg is popular then they might add it to their menu. They started with 12 specialty dawgs.  Then they add dawgs in groups of 3 because the specialty dawgs are in 3 columns.  Now there are 48 of them!!!!  They said the most popular one is the Mac Attack (has mac and cheese and crispy bacon).
      
       I got 2 dawgs.  The 1st one I got was custom made.  I call it the Awesome Dawg.  The toppings are divided into categories: sauces/ cheeses, crunchy, veggies/ fruit, and then you have deluxe toppings and premium toppings (like a fried egg).  It started as a normal dog with the standard ketchup, relish but then we get into the crazy toppings like BBQ sauce, cheese sauce cheddar cheese bits crunched Doritos, and bits of bacon.  Sounds awesome right.  It was so tasty.  The Doritos add a very nice touch. For dessert I got the Dessert dawg.  It may sound gross but it was delicious.  It was a plain dawg with chocolate sauce, crushed nuts, and peanut butter.  The chocolate sauce gave it a sweet taste while the dawg gave it that savory taste.  The nuts made the dawg crunchy and the peanut butter gave it that feeling when the peanut butter sticks to the back of your teeth. 

   My mom got the Hawaiian Dawg which has: bacon, teriyaki glaze, pineapple & scallion and the Boston Dawg which has: brown mustard, crispy bacon, baked beans & diced onions.

My dad got the Sushi dawg which has: ginger soy mayo, wasabi cream, seaweed salad, pickled ginger & sesame seeds,
and the Slaw dawg which has:

yellow mustard, chili, coleslaw & diced onions.

     My sister got a S'mores dawg which has: chocolate sauce, marshmallows & graham cracker crumbs.

     Instead of french fries this place has tots- Tater Tots, and a lot of types.  Me and my family got the General Tots.  It was a lot of tater tots 

under lots of baked beans, bacon,  and 
cheddar cheese.  I didn't try them but I bet they
were good! The one I did try was the Dawg Bowl
Tots.  They are just like the General Tots, but instead of baked beans it was Mac and Cheese.

     The place has its own contest.  The rules are you must eat all the dawgs in your column with no modifications and must be eaten in the order listed.  To find your column you have to roll a dice.  36 people have tried but only 1 of them has succeeded. 

    So if you are a hot dog lover or a really hungry person in or near Dobbs Ferry (I say that because they make their hotdogs fast- I got my custom one in like 5 minutes), you should really check this place out.                  

     

Havana Cafe

  

Yesterday me and my family went to an awesome restaurant called Havana Cafe.  It is located on 3151 East Tremont Avenue Bronx, NY 10461.  When you first walk in you can hear loud Cuban music. You will see the bar which is next to the door.  You should also see the brick pillars.  For light there were chandeliers hanging from the wooden ceiling.  On the corners there are T.Vs.  On most of the walls there were murals.  We were there from 5:30-7:00 and at these hours it was busy. It seems like a very popular restaurant! I remember a guy walking around and balancing a lot of cups.  That was cool.

  Let's talk about the food.  We got 3 appetizers.  We got Mofongo, which is green plantations with smoked bacon and jumbo shrimp on top. I didn't taste the bacon.  My mom loved it though.  She said she tasted nothing but bacon.

The other appetizer are Empanadas, which are little turnovers or as I like to call it little pockets of food.  The Empanadas were assorted or mixed up.  One of them had chicken which was yummy.  The other one had beef which was exquisite. 

  
  The final appetizer was Pastelons.  Picture a shepherd's pie made with food like plantains, olives, raisins and instead of mashed potatoes on top it is melted cheese.  In the Pastelons there is ground beef. It tasted great! 

  We got two dishes as a main course.  We got Chorzizo pizza which was impeccable.  It was a bit spicy with the chorizo on top.  It was bit spicier than your average pepperoni pizza, which it what I liked about it. 

 We also ordered Ropa vieja.  This is one of the national dishes of Cuba.  It looks like pulled pork, but it's beef.  It was luscious.  The funny thing about the dish is that when translated it means old clothes.  Maybe because the dish looks like a pile of old and torn clothes! 

  For desert we got a flan.    The flan came with strawberries and whipped cream.  

 This restaurant is great!  You should check it out.  Check out their website first to look at the menu.  Their website is: www.bronxhavanacafe.com