the last hurrah

in two weeks and two days i will officially embark on my once a year, short term life as a vegetarian. while there are certain fasting, specifically meat-eating fasting, rules for catholics during lent, for the past 4 years, i have been giving up meat for the full 40 days. believe me, it is a challenge. while being very conscious that the time is approaching, i especially enjoyed a meal that james and i went to last week at ricardo steak house . it was a recommendation by a friend of james (and actually a follower of this blog- holla!!)

the restaurant location can be quite deceiving, as you wouldn't think that there are any particularly great steakhouses in spanish harlem, or SPAHA if you will (it's on 1st avenue between 110th and 111th). but this gem was certainly a place to celebrate an occasion (if you happen to be celebrating, like we were).

my friend allie (who is also a follower of this blog and definitely my foodie in crime) once told me that her father said that you could tell if i restaurant is good by their bread. makes sense, right? it starts the meal off. this bread was LIFE CHANGING- it was like a pizza hut breads tick times 100. i kind of feel guilty comparing the bread to an item at pizza hut, but i am sure you get the visual on it by this example.

we started with angus empanadas. fyi 1) i am salivating just thinking about them 2) in reaction to his first bite of the empanadas stated, "i wish i could sit in front of the tv eating these empanadas all day.

needless to say, we will be returning to the restaurant, if only to eat those empanadas. and the bread.

james and i decided not to 1/2 and 1/2 it, being that we both wanted the same thing. we got what was called the "Ricardo Mixed Grill", which came with grilled PGA Skirt steak (whatever that golf reference means), chicken breast, pork and chorizo served with roasted potatoes and garlic spinach. i dont want to say that i ate all of the steak and chorizo, but i did. it was such a meat fest, but an excellent one at that. the portions were actually not 5 star size (anorexic model status), but not cheesecake factory or vinny testa's (holla at boston) size either. i did end up taking some of the meat home because i didn't want to subject myself to any meat sweats (which i knew about but never really thought about it out loud until my friend troy told me about it).

similar to the bread comment above, deserts are just as important as any other part of the meal, because that is what leaves the lasting impression of the place (a la tom colicchio in a recent episode of top chef). all i have to say is HOLY DESERT! damn son! usually james and i 1/2 and 1/2 that ish, but since i didn't over do it with the meat, i was feeling exceptionally adventurous and decided that i could do my own desert that night. little did i know that it was going to be a 3 course meal in itself! james got this chocolate ganache cake and i got fried plantains. the fried plantain actually looked like a potato croquet when it first came out, but it was actually pretty freaking awesome. it wasn't too sweet (and some plantains, like maduros, tend to be too sweet for me sometimes) and had this caramel sauce on the bottom. both of our deserts had a big cup of ice cream placed on the dinner sized plate, and a little cup of whipped cream also on the side. i actually took a picture of both of our deserts on my blackberry, but someone stole my USB cable at work so i can't download them, and everytime i try to email it, it times out. well, that will be a reason for you all to check it out yourselves since i didn't post any pictures for this one!

what made ricardo's especially stand out from other places is that the waitstaff was super nice, and the restaurant manager came by twice to see how we were doing and how the meal was (even plugged her business card for private events).

aaaaaaaand it was VERY recession friendly given that it was a steak house (and that we got drinks, appetizers, and desert for both of us). we definitely got the bang for our buck, and then some! i really loved this place that much, that i might need to go back there before my two weeks and two days are up!

now it's your turn. we went to this place on a recommendation- tell me if you loved it the same way we did! well i guess that goes for any other restaurant i write about, huh?????