Iron Chef: Battle of the Sweet Potato - Part 1

A disclaimer: while the focus of this blog has been primarily restaurant reviews, last night's meal was of such high quality that I would have gone to a restaurant to enjoy it. Therefore, I find it necessary to review the Iron Chef Battle of the Sweet Potato. This event was an elaborate ploy of my friend Melissa and myself to get her roommate, Tricia, and my boyfriend, Justin, to compete to give us the best meal of our lives. Mission accomplished.

Both chefs were given advance notice of the secret ingredient, seeing as how we had neither the space nor the kitchens that they work with on Iron Chef. Therefore, they were given a good amount of time to cook and prep all day. I'll bend the rules for some things.

We had told the chefs to produce a minimum of two dishes. They both went above and beyond our expectations, cooking 3 courses (Justin) and 4 courses (Tricia). Because Melissa and I might be slightly biased, we recruited a 3rd judge - Inez (who, as a good friend of Tricia's, also might be slightly biased, but she was the harshest judge of all). Dishes were rated on a scale from 1-10 based on taste and originality. Each judge then averaged their individual scores for each category and added them together, allowing each contestant a maximum of 30 possible points in each category, 60 overall.

I bring you..... The Battle of the Sweet Potato!

The two chefs:


Justin working on his potato flowers filled with sweet potato puree, topped with crab.


Tricia stirs sweet potatoes for hash.



Justin works his magic on a bell pepper.


Steam blocks the camera.


Tricia cooks gnocchi.

Pork tenderloin topped with roasted/glazed sweet potatoes.

Tricia plates her first course.

Tricia's first dish - sweet potato croquettes topped with cranberry sauce.

This was a good dish, but there were some flaws. All judges agreed that the sweet potato was overwhelmed by the bacon in the croquette. The inside was smooth and savory, but did not have a strong sweet potato flavor. The cranberry sauce also did not complement the dish as well as I would have liked. I liked it separate from the actual croquette.

Justin's first dish - sweet potato soup.

This dish contained bacon as well, but I found that it mingled well with the flavors of the dish instead of becoming the focus. There were also small chunks of carrots, celery, and sliced spinach. It was a nice, comforting dish. Chef Justin regretted that he forgot to offer a portobello garnish as he had originally intended, but I didn't think the dish needed it.

Tricia's second dish - sweet potato gnocchi with mushrooms.

I liked the gnocchi, and it was Tricia's first time making it! The sauce was lite, buttery, and earthy. Inez commented that the mushrooms themselves were a bit rubbery. The dish was further enhanced when Tricia realized that she'd forgotten her garnish (these forgetful chefs...) and sprinkled some toasted walnuts over the gnocchi. That changed the dish, creating a nice texture contrast and enjoyable taste. However, there were two things I was expecting that evening - a gnocchi and a pie, so I didn't rank the dish as highly on originality.

Part 2 to come....

Caracas Arepa Bar

Living in the East Village, I go out to lots of delicious and inexpensive spots. I like to try new places, but there are a few spots that are standbys. Caracas Arepa Bar is one of them.
It has its downfalls to be sure - it's situated in a teensy-tiny space, there is always a wait on weekends, and they have the smallest napkins on the planet to accompany a deliciously messy meal, but it is one of my favorite spots to eat at and, very often, order delivery from.
This weekend, I had a friend visiting from out of town. She's a vegetarian, so sometimes eating out can be an ordeal. I also went out with my celiac friend, so talk about difficult to eat out with! Caracas was the perfect spot.
As mentioned above, there is always a wait. So when we arrived at 7:00 on a Saturday night, it was no surprise that we were told that there would be a 45 minute wait. We decided to grab a drink down the street at 7A. 30 minutes later, we were back at the restaurant and they had already given our table away! So we had to wait a bit in the cold, but at least this time we had some drinks inside us to keep us warm.
Finally, we were seated at a minescule 2 person table that they made into a 3. But arepas were to be had, so it's all good.
Above is some of their deliciously spicy, messy sauce. I am obsessed with it. I keep meaning to ask if I can purchase some to put on everything, it may even be able to replace ketchup in terms of top condiments (have I mentioned my affinity for ketchup?).


Food at Caracas is served in rounds. The tables are so tiny, I suppose it makes sense. Stefi (the celiac)'s first arepa was the A-12 De Pollo ($5.75) -grilled chicken breast with caramelized onions and cheddar cheese (I know, I know - blurry camera!).


Stacy (vegetarian) started with the A-9 De Guasacaca ($5.50) - venezuelan style guacamole with paisa cheese. She proclaimed "it tastes like falafel," which I thought was a strange thing to say about an avocado arepa.

And I started with my favorite - A-8 De Pabellon ($6.75) - shredded beef, black beans, sweet plantains and aged cheese. The flavor of the sweet plantains, mixed with the beef and cheese.....mmm, it is perfection.


For her second arepa, Stacy followed Stefi's choice - an A-12 with tofu instead of chicken. This one she loved, it was not falafel-like at all.

Stefi went with a classic cheese arepa, the A-3 La Paisa ($4.25) - paisa cheese (mild but tasty white cheese). While tasty, I find the plain cheese arepas to be a little boring, especially when presented with so many other exciting and interesting options!


My final arepa was the A-14 La Jardinera ($5.75) - grilled eggplants, sundried tomatoes (antipasto style), caramelized onions and guayanés cheese. This is one I hadn't tried in a while, as I usually stick to spicy or meaty, with plantains. It has a very mediteranean flavor, balanced by a creamy cheese. I think i prefer arepas with meat in them, but I was not disappointed by this choice.

Two arepas is always enough at this place. While they are cheap and little, I always find myself happy and stuffed to the brim when I leave. Long live Caracas!

Caracas Arepa Bar is located at 93 1/2 East 7th Street (at First Ave)
212-529-2314

The take-out joint, Caracas ToGo is located at 91 East 7th St
212-228-5062

Anniversary Dinner

Monday night, my boyfriend and I celebrated the anniversary of our first date. Usually, I'm left with the restaurant decisions (having lived in NYC for longer and being, as he puts it "obsessed with food."), but he did his research and came up with a great pick without me. He took me to La Lanterna, a dark and charming cafe in Greenwich Village. The atmosphere was perfect - fireplace, candles, garden in the back. We'd hoped to sit in their room downstairs, but it was closed to food service for the night. However, there was a nice little jazz concert taking place. We settled into a cozy corner and perused the menu by candlelight. La Lanterna's menu is geared toward a European palate - meats, cheeses and breadstuffs dominate the list. But paired with a good bottle of wine, I'm one happy lady. We settled on a bruschetta with truffle pate and chopped onion; a panini with smoked prosciutto, melted marscapone, and a splash of cognac, and a plate of three cheeses - chevre rodin (a tangy, spreadable goat's milk cheese), piave(a firm cow's milk cheese, similar to parmigiano but without the granules), and taleggio (a semi-soft cow's milk cheese, described as "pungent, meaty, and nutty with nuances of fruit."). And of course, wine. Justin made me choose that. I went (red) with the Nero d' Avola from Sicily. The bruschetta arrived first. I think part of me thought that it would contain tomatoes, but it didn't. The pate was creamy and offset nicely by the chopped onions. Could have used tomatoes, but it was delicious. Our panini and cheeses arrived together. The smoked prosciutto was very salty, again, might have been well paired with tomatoes (even Justin agreed, and he's a recent tomato convert). Still quite tasty and delicious with the wine. My favorite cheese was the chevre rodin. I was surprised, as I'm not usually a huge fan of goat cheese. But it was light and tangy, slightly herby. The taleggio was certainly the most distinct. Justin's favorite, it seemed. I found its pungent quality a little overpowering and while I enjoyed it, I preferred it in small amounts. Then of course, what good is a meal with out dessert? This place had a dauntingly long dessert menu, a good thing in my opinion, but it took a while to make a decision. It came down to the pumpkin pie or the tiramisu. So we flipped a coin and landed on tiramisu. Perfect choice. Especially when paired with espressos. I can be wary of tiramisu. Sometimes it's delicious, sometimes it's lady fingers and whipped cream dribbled with chocolate. This was of the former variety. I think Justin even wowed it. Light and creamy, not cloyingly sweet, it was a beautiful end to a perfect evening.
Of course, I could sit at a McDonald's with Justin and be happy, but I thought it was a lovely and reasonable place for a romantic evening with someone special.
*Due to the dark, romantic properties of the restaurant, taking a picture with my dinky digital camera was difficult at best. So I leave you with my artsy shot, an empty fork, signifying the end of a well-fed night.


La Lanterna is located at 129 MacDougal Street
212-529-5945