January 8, 2010 - El Porron

So i'm changing the format of these reviews due to previous stated reasons (if you read my blog, you would know those reasons, hehe) my reviews will have to be brief if I intend at all to be reviewing restaurants!

Well a new restaurant opened up in my neighborhood called El Porron (1123 First Avenue b/w 61st & 62nd Sts, 212-207-8349), www.elporronnyc.com. The chef is named Mr. Gee, literally. Mike and I stopped in here for dinner one day, coz I kept bothering him about how, "wow doesn't spanish tapas sound deeeelish???" LOL. I don't drop hints apparently, just bombs. Ha! =)

But we were both really glad we went and have definitely put El Porron on our "return to" list along with "Catch de Fish", which we have yet to get back to though we've discussed it innumerable times! The thing is, we aren't frequent "re-visitors" b/c there are so many new places to try it's hard to justify going back somewhere if you haven't yet been to all the other spots you've been listing (and the list keeps growing, Brett, we were talking about this!) We do sometimes frequent Green Bo (xiao long bao) and Mee Noodle (cold sesame noodles!) and Five Guys (who doesn't?). So back to El Porron, here's what we ordered:

Appetizers:
(1) Croquetas de Pollo (on recommendation of server) - delicious! If you like fried chicken, give it a whirl! The tomato sauce is fantastic!

(2) Albondigas de Ternera - Fabulous! These were absolutely melt-in-your-mouth savory balls of deliciousness! Ha!

Main Course:
Paella Valenciana - Mike and I split the paella b/c it was HUGE!!!! Oh man and really, really good too! I really haven't had too many paellas in my lifetime but I might have to start really trying them more frequently!

At the end of our dinner Mr. Gee even came out and greeted the guests and made us his own version of Port Wine for a dessert! He gave the port as a complimentary gift to all of the patrons there that night ... it was STRONG, but of course, very good!!!!

In short, Mike and I would definitely return to this spot, we stare at it longingly all the time, but haven't yet made it back in through the doors yet .... sigh ... some day. =)

Dam Gina

Whoa .... I haven't posted since January?! I am clearly waaaayyyyyy.... behind, haaa!!! All right kiddies, I got some time to kill so I guess I'll get started.

FYI - I'm really quite swamped these days b/c my friend/co-worker is on maternity leave (ps - her baby is soooooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuuutttteeee, and that's saying ALOT b/c i'm soooo NOT a baby/kid kinda person) so i'm handling her project as well while she's gone ... i'm the only full time project administrator right now, sooooo.... my posts will be a little bit more abbreviated.... if you have questions, just ask!

Lotsa luv, me