[CH] Re: Places to visit in NYC and ... (wrap up)
Ole Saether (ole.saether@eunet.no)
Tue, 3 Aug 1999 21:07:14 +0200
Dear CH-ers,
We are back from our holiday on the east cost of USA and just thought I
would say a few words about some of the places we had dinner at. Marit and I
traveled for over three weeks and had dinner at a restaurant almost
everyday. We visited several hot sauce shops and I brought home a large case
of sauces, chili fixins and snacks. Before I go on I will mention a few
words on heat and water.
As mentioned several times on this list, the feeling of heat a person
experiences when eating hot food is very difficult to describe to others. On
my own scale I like food that is hot but not very hot. For example a
teaspoon of Dave's Insanity Sauce is on the edge of what I can handle and is
much to hot for me. The same goes for eating raw Habaneros.
It surprises me that so many restaurants are serving water that tastes like
chlorine in the U.S. If a restaurant like Mesa Grill did that in Norway it
would have been instantly rejected by the customer. When the customer order
a $30 dish why not spend 50 cent on a bottle of water for him? This is true
even for soft drinks. McDonald's claim that their food tastes the same all
over the world. This is not true. We had lunch there one time and the coke
("the real taste", NOT!) tasted like chlorine.
Among the restaurants we visited during our stay was:
Austin Grill, Washinton DC (www.austingrill.com):
Free chips with (very thin) salsa. I had a cup of Chile con Queso with the
chips. Marit ordered Chicken Enchiladas with Tomatillo and Ranchera sauce. I
had a cup of Hot Texas Chili and a bowl of Chile Verde. I had never tasted
Chile Verde (other than mine) before and were very curious to taste it. To
be honest I was very disappointed. It was a thin soup that tasted like
chicken broth and fresh cilantro. I was expecting a thick stew that tasted
like green NM chiles and cumin. The Texas Chili was good but not hot at all.
Tequila Grill, Washinton DC:
Starter: Tri-color chips with salsa ($1.95) and Cowboy Tears (Jalapeno
Poppers). Main: Tequila Chili (with beans). Not hot at all. They claim they
have DC's best chili. I think the chili at Austin Grill was better.
Sticky Fingers, Charleston, SC:
My best BBQ ribs ever! We had ribs here two days in a row. Not hot but they
had their own brand of sauces at the table (smoked BBQ sauce and Habanero
sauce). Highly recommended.
Mesa Grill, NYC (http://newyork.citysearch.com/E/V/NYCNY/0010/85/18/):
Free flavored bread (several kinds, one of them had small pieces of chile
peppers in it). I don't remember the names of the main dishes we had but I
had filet of pork with tamale stuffed with mashed corn and goat cheese while
Marit had grilled chicken filets with another kind of tamale. Not hot. This
was one of our best meals on the trip. Highly recommended.
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Syracuse, NY:
I started with their hottest wings. I don't remember the heat rating but it
was above "very hot" on their menu. This was the hottest meal I have ever
had. I struggled with the last wing and had to order on extra beer! I
continued with ¾ rack of ribs with Ass Kicking Chili and Fries. Marit had
grilled chicken (again). The ribs were very good but not as tender as the
ones I had a Sticky Fingers. The accompanying chili was the best I have had
in the states. Highly recommended.
Armadillo Texas Grill, Toronto, Canada:
Free chips and (tick and very good) salsa. We had chicken Fajitas with
Jalapenos. I had Fajitas three times on our trip (also at Lupita's Mexican
Restaurant and Hard Rock Café), these were the best. Great atmosphere and
highly recommended.
Anchor Bar & Restaurant, Buffalo, NY (www.anchorbar.com and
www.buffalowings.com):
This is the place where Buffalo Chicken Wings were invented. We started with
Jalapeno Poppers and continued with Chicken Wings and Anchor Chips. I had
the Suicidal ones while Marit had the Hot ones. The Suicidal wings were hot,
but not as hot as the wings at Dinosaur BBQ. Highly recommended.
Other restaurants visited:
Lupita's Mexican Restaurant (Gettysburg, PA)
Santa Fe Café (Arlington, VA)
Planet Hollywood (DC)
Nawab Indian Cuisine (Virginia Beach, VA)
Hard Rock Café (Atlantic City, NJ)
Again, thanks to all of you that sent us suggestions on places to visit.
Ole