'INOTECA

'INOTECA
98 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 614-0473

'inoteca, a trio of Italian wine bar/tapas places in downtown Manhattan, has a glowing rep. Customers can't stop raving about the place, Time Out has it as a Critics' Pick... and I keep walking past it seeing happy people enjoying themselves happily. Thusly do I report, with a heavy heart, that they just weren't that good... and I wanted to so badly to love the place. By the way, I apologize in advance for the lack of food pics. My camera battery died after grabbing the interiors.

I got there a bit before Speeds showed up, plunked myself by the window and started ordering wine while I waited. And here's the thing. I want, quite badly, to love 'inoteca. The atmosphere was perfect. The staff was great! I sat there and read and nursed my wine and coffee and read a book no one gave a crap. Until it started to crowd up at 7pm, it had a decidedly coffee bar atmosphere.

Unfortunately, the food and wine just weren't up to par with the ambiance. My first glass was so sweet that it was like thin syrup, Speeds' first glass was tainted and had to be replaced, and the rest of the wines were so earthy, they were like liquid peat. Maybe you're into that, but me, not so much. I don't normally order specials, but this time I did. It was Gnocci, which I find hard to resist. But this gnocchi was sorta mediocre. There wasn't much of it, was somewhat charred, and but for the spices it was coated in, flavorless. Speeds ordered the Grilled Calamari Salad, which was served with apples and celery and olives. The calamari was perfectly grilled, but the dish used so much vinegar that it overpowered all of the other flavors. Next up, a round of Bruschette: pesto, olive tapenade, and Gorgonzola with grape. Speeds liked the tapenade, but not the pesto. I liked the pesto, but not the tapenade. She really liked the Gorgonzola, but I was indifferent. Finally, we split a Prosciutto and Spicy Mayo Tramezzini, a small white-bread sandwich (no crust). The mayo was spicy, but that's about all the compliment I can dish out about it. It was boring and cost seven bucks.

Wine costs between $8 and $12 per glass, which is about standard, and the food ranges in price from $7 for a panini or a round of bruschette, to $16. But here's the thing. It's small plates. None of the dishes are large, so you have to order quite a few to get a real meal out of it. So it adds up quickly. Expect to spend $35-40 per person, but budget for more.

MAMA'S EMPANADAS

MAMA'S EMPANADAS
85-05 Northern Boulevard
Jackson Heights, New York, 11372
(718) 505-9937 / 1393

About a year ago a place called Joe's Empanadas opened in Chelsea and a few months ago they closed. Damn, I thought. Now how was I gonna fill my random empanada cravings? Why empanadas? Well, dear reader, sometimes you want a fast, snacky food, served dirt cheap that you can eat on the run that isn't pizza or a dollar-menu McChicken sandwich. Jackson Heights has such a place. Mama's Empanads, a 24-hour, cash-only empanada haven serving out an alleged 50 varieties of the pocket treats. I went with Bro and we tried about 10.

Mama's Empanadas is not the classiest of places to have a bite to eat. The counters could use a wipe-down and the closest thing they have to a table is a wrap around bar with stools so uncomfortable they they must have been designed to get you to sit for as short a period of time as humanly possible. That said, Mama has a husband named Papa, and Papa's Empanadas is one block West with tables and an expanded menu.

As I said, Bro and I tried about 20% of the menu. You can get your empanadas with a corn (maiz) or wheat (trigo) wrap and there are also breakfast varieties. Without boring you with a breakdown of each one, let's break it down to the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good: Carne y Papas Maiz, shredded beef and potato in a corn shell. Carne Molida Maiz, ground beef in a corn shell. Beef Trigo, ground beef in a wheat shell. Reggaero Trigo, rice and green peas with ham. Follow this up with the Ham and Cheese Trigo and the rule here seems to be that the oldies but goodies are the best. Unlike the fancier ones below, which we decided we could have easily lived without.

The Bad: Greek Trigo, spinach, feta and mozzarella in a wheat shell. Yecch. Cuban Trigo, ham, pork and cheese. Not horrible bad, but not good. Better than the Greek, which is more than I'll give the Broccoli and Cheese Maiz, which was just as bad. Last on the bad list, the Cheese Steak Trigo, steak, onion, pepper and cheese in a wheat shell. Or at least steak and cheese. I can't speak for the other two ingredients.

The Ugly: The Chocolate Empanada, dark chocolate and peanut butter in a powdered sugar coated patty. I was looking forward to this one, and man, oh man, what a let down. It was just weird in a bad way. The chocolate was too bitter and the peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth like room-temperature caulk. This could have been so good.

The empanadas range in price from $1 to $2.50 (and that one has scallops and crab). For an alternative opinion on Mama's Empanadas, check out Feisty Foodie's recent visit.

GERONIMO

GERONIMO
271 Crown Street
New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 777-7700

Connecticut. For a state that is alleged to be the wealthiest in the country, its cities are... pretty bad. Let's not beat around the bush about this, they're slums. Like Waterbury and Bridgeport, New Haven's downtown is ringed by decrepit and crumbling apartment buildings, vacant lots and a depressed and depressing population of the pitiful and poor. What separates New Haven from Waterbury and Bridgeport is that, thanks to Yale University and some key businesses that have set up a regional headquarters there, you can wander around all day without noticing, so long as you stay within the Green Zone. After dark, Yale apparently tells its students not to walk around outside. That sounds bad even to me, and I went to school in glamorous Poughkeepsie. A key result of the Yale population's residence here is that there just so happen to be quite a few of some truly very good restaurants.

Anyway, I was in the general vicinity of New Haven when I decided to hang out with Operagirl, who lives there now. She explained how New Haven has a reputation for amazing pizza. We tried it, it was good, but come on, let's get some real food. The pizza we didn't finish was tossed into my car so I could eat it on the road (PS - it fell out of the box later while I was driving and got all over the seat. I ate it anyway). And thus did we stumble randomly onto Geronimo, a Mexican/Southwestern restaurant-cum-tequila lounge.

Geronimo has a ton of outdoor seats, heated for the winter, but we chose to go inside anyway. We were shown a tall table in the corner by the bar, where we decided that since we just had pizza, we should stick to the appetizers. To start the meal off, however, we asked to try the Anejo Tequila Flight, three anejo tequilas, each growing in potency and smoothness and served with a virgin bloody mary-style drink to cleanse the palate. I know absolutely nothing about tequila, so this was fun to do. And strong. We split theses three very large shots and couldn't finish them. But I'm tempted to return. I don't like my liquor getting the better of me.

When the four dishes we ordered began arriving in random order, we quickly learned that this was no ordinary Mexican restaurant. Most people, when they think Mexican food, conjure up images of places like Blockheads, where Corona is served by the gallon and the food's so greasy it should come with a bib. No, this is gourmet Mexican food. The first two to arrive were the Quinoa Relleno, a poblano pepper stuffed with quinoa, served with Sierra Nevada black beans and a smoked tomato sauce (it looks almost like a clown fish swimming in a black sea), and the Smoked Trout Fry Bread, smoked trout with red jalapeno goat cheese, capers and red onions, on a toasted Navajo fry bread. Both of these were simply outstanding. The Quinoa Relleno is a sweet and smooth vegetarian dish. It's not spicy, though plenty of spices are used. The smoked trout fry bread may not appeal to those who dislike fishy-tasting fish. But for those who either don't care or are willing to take the plunge and try it anyway, you get rewarded with a tangy fish appetizer that was begging be ordered alongside a sharp, sweet Riesling.

Another vegetarian appetizer that we tried was the Posole Portabella, a portobella mushroom stuffed with hominy, poblano peppers, caramelized onions, toasted pine nuts, scallions, and cornbread crumbs, topped with a yellow pepper sauce and melted Chihuahua cheese. It's hard to explain how many flavors there were in this dish alone, between the mushroom, the peppers, the sweetness from the caramelized onions, the nuttiness of the pine nuts, and the cheese, it was a madhouse. But an incredibly well organized one. Each flavor worked with and complimented the last. Finally, the Grilled Hangar Steak Quesadilla, a quesadilla stuffed with grilled steak, black beans, sauteed mushrooms, onions and Chihuahua cheese. It was the most standard, common dish we tried, and it was perfect, too. It's nice to have a comfort food option thrown in among the new creations, if for nothing else than as an anchor. After all, if they can't do this right... but they did.

The tequila flight, one cocktail and the quesadilla and three appetizers, plus tax and tip came to $78 even.