ups and downs of the food biz...

i found out a couple of weeks ago that 2 restaurants that i've posted about or mentioned, kitchen and cocktails and maroons smoke shack, recently closed. wow. oops. my two cents are worth even less than i thought....still, i defend myself. i hadn't been to smoke shack, but would have gone, if it ever opened, solely because on the winning fare at it's mother ship, maroons. (i still contend they serve the most amazing red velvet cake!) in any case, it seems a partnership disagreement led to it's aborted opening. (i know all too well how that goes...) as far as kitchen and cocktails goes, eater doesn't have the scoop, and neither do i. there is still some hinky-ness with their website. maybe that was a sign. in any case, sad news for pork chop lovers...

i was also pretty irritated with ny magazine for posting that tides restaurant is open, mondays-saturdays from 6pm-11pm -- i found out, on a recent monday night, how wrong wrong wrong they were. as my dear friend said, that's what you get for listening to new york magazine.

these are the real hours for tides restaurant:
sun 6-10
mon closed
tues, wed, thurs 6-11
fri, sat 6-11:30

and i got the scoop from someone really in the know--turns out that my friend's friend's brother is one of tides' (silent) partners. woo hoo! very exciting! i told her about the whole new york mag fiasco, so she set the record straight, gave me her picks for the best dishes at tides, and we made plans to go there soon, and NEVER on a monday...

and don't think, in spite of my annoyance, i would let stupid ny magazine ruin my evening! we went to paladar instead. it was delightful! the mood was intimate, yet still festive. (a little too "moody" for picture-taking while still remaining unobstrusive to the rest of the diners, so i don't have any photos to post). we enjoyed the lively music, and the welcoming hostess and friendly, attentive waitstaff made the memory of our vanquished plan to go to tides recede immediately...

anyway...i remember chef aaron sanchez from his appearances on the now defunct food tv program, melting pot. the episodes with sanchez, the son of celebrated mexican chef zarela martinez, and chef alex garcia, a native of cuba, were among my favorites--a fine opportunity for viewers to contrast their styles and their interpretations of "latin" dishes. garcia is the maestro behind the glorious calle ocho restaurant, where i've had the pleasure of dining a few times before. but paladar would be my first opportunity to experience sanchez' cuisine.

we started with the plantain canoe, a firm sweet plantain, sliced in half lengthwise and stuffed with a salty stewed bacalao. I love codfish stew--my aunt's is the best i've had--but this is pretty close. the dish is served with a healthy amount of it, but i would have loved an extra ladle-full myself. we then went for the steamed mussels in tequila and chipotle broth. a couple of the mussels were sandy--which bothered my friend more than me, but it was only the first couple. the rest were clean and tender. the broth was rich and terrific for slurping and sopping with hearty, crusty slices of bread.
the pescado con porotos that night was a pan-roasted tilapia with sea urchin butter and heirloom bean stew. the waitress was right--the sea urchin butter was nicely pungent, but nowhere near as decadent as the fresh stuff my friends and i made two summers ago.
the birria--slow roasted short ribs in pasilla chile broth had the weighty flavor of an oxtail stew. it was wonderful, but left me too full for dessert. (that almost never happens.)

paladar also has a "mojo y mas happy hour"---from 5pm-7pm, monday thru friday, and noon - 7 on saturday & sunday, you can enjoy half-price drinks. i would only caution you to stay away from the el vampiro--i was intrigued by the sound of a margarita with hibiscus juice, but the cayenne and salt rim gave it a schizzy flavor--it was sweet like a cosmo and spicy like a bloody mary. stick to one of the more straightforward cocktails--a mojito, or a margarita, or a nice, cold cerveza.