Sometimes you don’t want a full meal at a restaurant. You just want a quick drink, a little snack and a good time. I had a couple experiences like that last week, at 2 restaurants I had never heard of.
Do you know how hard it is to get someone to serve you a drink before 4 p.m. on a weekday?! It is like we live in a Puritanical society or something!
Or like some people don’t drink…
Whatever that means.
Anyway, my party and I happened upon Barzinho, a tiny Brazilian restaurant that is open all day and has a 4-7 p.m. happy hour offering 2-for-1 caipirinhas.
Within a few moments of sitting down in the small but cheerful space, we were each handed a sugary, limey drink that was reminiscent of a sweeter gin gimlet. It is made with cachaca, which is a Brazilian liquor that is similar to rum. The first sip was nothing less than BRACING – as in, I thought i would have to ask for a glass of wine, because this was just too strong.
But something sort of remarkable happened between the first and second sips. By the time I returned to my drink, the flavor of the booze had mingled with the citrus and the sugar to create a bright, smooth drink. The melting of the ice tempered the alcohol’s bite, and by the end of the glass, I was SO ready for another one!
We ordered some Pao de Queijo to share – Brazilian cheese bread. These are tiny, soft puffs of airy bread surrounding stretchy and gooey mozzarella-type cheese. Literally nothing was wrong with these, although they would have been delicious if they were served with some sort of dip…
like the dip served with the delicious Yucca Fries. Yucca is a starchy plant and these fries were awesome. Some people might think they were too mushy, but I rather enjoyed the soft, bland interior next to the crisp exterior. Dipped in the zesty, but not incendiary, jalapeno-cilantro sauce, it was perfect for sopping up the alcohol. Barzinho is an inexpensive, sweet and delicious bar serving very serviceable snacks.
A few nights later, I visited totally fabulous Fedora.
*Where, by the way, I had the most wonderful applejack and apple cider based drink called Louisa May’s Favorite Table – it was a tart, light, sweet ode to the apple. Totally drinkable with that smooth, deep taste of applejack. And when the management very apologetically asked my party to move from the bar so that patrons could order dinner there, they were gracious enough to buy us a round of drinks. That level of class is rarely seen, especially by trendy establishments, and I will ABSOLUTELY return. I just SO appreciate a management that appreciates the diner. One gratis drink bought them a lifetime loyal customer. And next time, I’m getting those shoestring fries!*
When we tried to get into ‘ino to try the famous truffled egg toast, the wait was over an hour, so we walked across the street to a small Italian trattoria called Quinto Quarto. The small, rustic restaurant was positively booming at 10 p.m., and service was quick and friendly. Though the bread was sub-par and the pasta was merely serviceable, there were some totally outstanding soups.
I ordered the Pappa al Pomodoro. It was this thick, spicy, tart tomato soup that lacked that sickly sweetness that so much canned soup has. This was clearly homemade, thick enough to coat my spoon, and redolent of bright tomatoes, hearty bread and salty Pecorino Romano cheese. Truly excellent.
Passata Di Cipolle-thick breaded and grated onion soup with Pecorino Romano cheese and rosemary.
This came to the table looking and smelling like French Onion Soup. And then we dug in…
Can you see how thick that is? That isn’t a soup, that is a dip! It is actually thick enough to stand a spoon in upright, and equally as delicious. It was a tad too salty, but the bread played with that nutty cheese and those sweet, caramelized onions so well. It was MUCH more hearty than a standard onion soup, and, I felt, much more delicious. We all love dipping our bread into soup – here it was already done for you. There was so much bread that it actually soaked in all the moisture, and this was more a bread pudding than a soup. So delicious that I can’t wait to try it at home!
