Please, please do more reviews of smaller, inexpensive restaurants like this. I don't need to know about all the lavish restaurants I can't afford.
1
It seems that the main distinction of the chefs considered worthy of review in FOOD section is their ingenuity in mixing together bizarre and seemingly incompatible ingredients and then presenting them under some geographically exotic label.
Trust the Times to review a hoity-toity luncheonette with the most unappetizing items I've ever heard on the menu. This reminds me of the poor detective in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy who was forced to eat tiny portions of inedible squab that his wife had cooked, apparently in an unconscious effort to kill him through a protracted process of starvation.
1
This has got to be the cheapest restaurant given the major weekly restaurant review in the history of the Times. Imagine Craig Claiborne or Mimi Sheraton stepping into this place, let alone doing a full-on review!
Please, more of these, although the net effect will be to make the place inaccessible in the short term.
Please, more of these, although the net effect will be to make the place inaccessible in the short term.
6
Mr. Wells seems to have made the transition from a writer whose reviews are read as a way of finding a new restaurant, to a writer whose reviews are read because his name is on the byline.
1
Far too rarely does the lead restaurant review rate restaurants of this ilk. When was the last time the most expensive dish in the lead review was only $17? (It must have been hard to find a place for the Hungry City review that was cheaper.) Congratulations for reviewing this place.
There must be many more inexpensive restaurants in the city whose quality is high enough to rate consideration for review by the main food critic (that's you, Mr. Wells.) How nice it would be if more were to find their way into this weekly review.
There must be many more inexpensive restaurants in the city whose quality is high enough to rate consideration for review by the main food critic (that's you, Mr. Wells.) How nice it would be if more were to find their way into this weekly review.
7
WHEN IN SPAIN Don't look for chicharrones. I've never seen them there. But they do favor a very homey dish, migas de pan, or, literally, bread crusts. They are best made with day old bread, crusty, moistened with a few drops of water, olive oil, garlic and pimenton picante, the renowned Spanish spicy smoked paprika. They're considered to be 'muy casero,' or very home style food. The recipe is very forgiving. Use the bread you like and have on hand, toast it if it's too soft, wet it a little, a moderate amount or not at all, varying the amount of olive oil accordingly. Serve hot and enjoy with red wine or dry sherry. Sometimes chorizo is added and cooked into the recipe to make it a main dish or more nourishing tapa. But chorizo is a great delicacy to me which I like to nibble straight up or on a slice of good crust bread along with vino tinto (red wine) or jerez (sherry). I imagine that the vegetarian chicharrones would find many enthusiastic tapas nibblers in Spain.
"some of the less punitive flavors of the health-food and vegan disciplines" is one of the best descriptions ever! :)
7
I've been here. The service was wonderful- the staff was super sweet!
1
Terrific writing. Deft, detailed descriptions and entertaining similes that can wake up the mind on a groggy morning. If I wasn't thousands of miles away, I would be at El Rey Coffee Bar tonight.
10
This reminds me of the early days of the Underground Gourmet and the early days of New York Magazine back in the 60s. I discovered many affordable places through that column. We have any number of places serving good food at reasonable prices in my little patch of Dupont Circle in Washingon.
3
Nice writing!
6
They make some of the best coffee drinks in the city, and use a little known independent roaster. How is that not in this review?
12