New York: The Food

As promised....I shall now blog about food. (Shannan, you asked for it)!
In New York, it's hard not to talk about the food. It's everywhere. On every street corner (literally, there is a street food vendor on almost every street corner). Then standing just behind the street food vendor stands rows and rows of restaurants....beautiful-fancy-cloth-napkin-type places with three times as many hole-in-the-wall-restaurants in between.

Tonight...I had the pleasure to eat at Bobby Flay's first restaurant, Mesa Grill located on 5th Avenue in the Flatiron District.

Having just come from the extremely busy graduate school fair, Idealist, I was a bit famished. Me and two of my friends, recruiters from other programs, decided to try a few appetizers. I chose the tuna and salmon tartare with spicy chili sauce and plantain chips. I also got a side of the Cornmeal Crusted Chile Relleno stuffed with white cheese and beans. The tuna and salmon was essentially a Mexican version of Hawaiian Poke (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poke), which was fine by me, because I happen to love Hawaiian Poke. This was all accompanied by a nice glass of Malbec from Argentina.

Between my dinner mates, one ordered the shrimp and roasted garlic stuffed tamale, and the other ordered a Blue Corn Pancake filled with with barbecued duck,
habanero chile-star anise sauce, along with a side of roasted corn with smoked chiles, cojita cheese, and lime. Everything I had was tasty, although I still think Mimi's chile relleno's can't be beat, but unfortunately she does not have a restaurant where I can recommend everyone go try them. You'll just have to hope to someday have the amazing opportunity to try Mimi's chile relleno's.

A Recipe: Barbecued Mexican Corn
The corn side was a lot like a recipe I learned from one of my dear friends and an amazing chef named Aaron. He starts by BBQ'ing the corn in husk. After it gets nice and hot, pull the husk down away from the corn but don't remove it fully. If you leave some of the husk hanging down off of the corn, it provides a nice handle for holding the hot corn!
Disclaimer: The real recipe is not for those watching their waistline, but it is the best tasting. Slather a thin layer of mayonnaise on the corn, just like you're buttering it. Then roll the corn in a pan of crumbled cotija cheese mixed with a bit of taco seasoning. You can also use butter instead of mayonnaise...not entirely sure either is that healthy, but like I said, the mayonnaise definitely tastes better.

So there you have it...a restaurant review and a recipe, all in one blog! Enjoy!
Oh...no pics yet, but I promise I'll include some soon!