Paseo

4225 Fremont Ave N
Seattle, WA 98103

Occasion: After a morning at the Zoo, we were super excited to try this raved about place both by friends and on yelp. Oh and trust me the sandwiches sure did not disappoint at all. It was about a 10 minute walk from the zoo and very convenient, just go straight down Fremont Ave after you get out of the zoo and walk about 10 blocks.  08.31.12

Carribean Roast Sandwich

Pork shoulder coated in Paseo marinade and slow roasted til falling into succulent morsels.

In my opinion, I thought it lived up to the hype! It was so freaking delicious. The pork meat was super tender and super flavorful and the bread was slightly toasted. It was so good, I wanted more.  I don't know what they use to flavor it, but it was finger licking good.

Paseo Prawns

Black tiger prawns sauteed in extra virgin olive oil, garlic tapenade and simmered in a vibrant red sauce.  Instead of getting two sandwiches, we decided to for variety and got one entree and boy was it a mistake.  We should have just stuck to the sandwiches, because this was at best mediocre to me. Nothing extraordinary nor anything special worth mentioning. Next time, just skip this and get an extra sandwich.

Alma de Cuba

1623 Walnut St

Philadelphia, PA 19103

Occasion: Jared and Mark took Ella and I out to dinner on a Monday night. 10.18.10

Tuna Tartare Tacos

candied lemon and pickled onion

Yummy little appetizers with tuna tartar in it. I am always down to eat some good raw tuna. I loved the fish in combination with the tart lemon and pickled onion. It really did compliment the fish well.  Too bad Ella does not eat raw fish...cuz it was delicious.

Thai Mixto

Crab, shrimp, octopus and fluke with coconut-leche de tigre, mango and tomatillo

Amazing! Love the combination of all the flavors. Coconut, mango...it just tasted very tropical to me. It is definitely worth trying.

Panela Chilean Sea Bass

Creamy quinoa with a cubanelle sauce and a baby cucumber and poblano pepper salad

It was the best entree we got and everyone else agreed.  The seabass was soooooooooooo goood and the meat was so tender. The outsides were crispy and full of flavor. The flavor was so unique I still remember it til this day.  I had to ask the waiter what the secret was and he says that it is the flavor of the quinoa that gets soaked up to the fish. It's seriously the most scrumptious thing I had all night...maybe even my whole trip in Philly. I love love loved it!

Maine Diver Scallops

Pastel de chocolo and piquillo chimichurri

Ella got this dish, but she wished she'd gotten mine. It was good, but it did not compare to my seabass which was amazing.  It was my first time having chimichurri flavored anything, well at least first time I'm actually aware of, and it was pretty tasty.  It had all the herbs and flavors that I liked, so no complaints for me.

Beef Tenderloin

Jumbo lump crab salad, grilled asparagus and horseradish chimichurri

I got to try a little bit of Mark's and thought it was pretty tasty, but not as tasty as my seabass. Yes I'm still talking about it! I'm not big on meat anyway, so I'm glad I didn't get an entree to myself.  I like how it came with a crab salad, which wasn't much but at least there's variety. Meat and seafood. Nom Nom Nom!

Yucca with Creamy Mojo

I wanted sweet plantains and Mark thought my description sounded like yucca.  It has a crispy fried skin with a soft inside. It was really really tasty and I enjoyed it a lot. Definitely, not the plantain I wanted but still delicious. Yucca, another first for me that night.

Sweet Plantains

Yes, exactly what i was looking for. It was AMAZING and hit the spot. When I think of latin american cuisine, I think of plantains.  I absolutely love them and it was very scrumptious here. I'm glad I got three other people to split this with because between the four of us, we did order kind of a lot of food.

Chocolate Cigar
Award winning almond cake wrapped in chocolate mousse, dusted with chocolate and served with dulce de leche ice cream

Though we were reallly full, Jared said they're famous for their chocolate cigar dessert and that we had to try it. Presentation was amazing. It really looked like a cigar.  In my opinion it was too rich for my liking. I only had a bite and that was enough. But if you love cholocate...this is the dessert to get. It's so chocolatey!

Cafe Habana On The Go

229 Elizabeth Street

New York, NY 10012

Occasion: After shopping snack! 10.16.10. This place is just around the corner from the actual Cafe Habana Restaurant. Came here to try their

Cuban grilled corn

soaked in butter, topped with lime juice, cotija cheese and chili powder

This was the perfect snack after shopping.  I've heard so much about it and since I love corn I really wanted to give it a try. It was so worth coming to try. Flavorful and delicious, but a bit spicy. I loved it!!

CHA CHA CHA

1801 Haight St

(between Shrader St & Stanyan St)

San Francisco, CA 94117

Occasion: bAbiE Tiff and Jenna's Birthday dinner! We ordered two of everything except of the crab cakes and the spanish rice! We shared everything family style and most of the tapas were really good!! Sangria was awesome and I loved the decor of the place. I just didn't like the size of the place. We went to the one on Haight Street, but I heard the one in Mission was a little better.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken
The meat was so tender, but too bad it was too spicy for my liking. I mixed it up with the rice to try to ease the spiciness, which helped. If you like spicy food, this is a must get!

Cajun Shrimp

Although it was a little bit spicy, it was delicious. Once again, I loveeee seafood and I loooove shrimp. It was addictive.

Snow Crab Cakes

Personally, I did not think that these two small pieces of crab cake was worth the $13.50. The taste of it did not blow me away at all. I was expecting it to be spectacular especially when we ordered it from the specials menu. I was a bit dissappointed. Don't make it a special if you cannot specialize in it.

Spanish Rice and Black Beans

Honestly, I barely touched this dish. I had a little bit of it, but it just reminded me of the rice and beans from a burrito. There were too many other dishes of deliciousness on the table for me to want more of this! It tasted really plain to me and nothing really stood out about it.

Sauteed Mushrooms

I LOVE MUSHROOMS!! I don't think you can go wrong with mushrooms, garlic and onions. What's great about mushrooms is that you don't need to add much flavor to mushrooms. It has its own natural sweetness to it. Add a some minced garlic and YUMMAY!!

Chicken Paillard

One of my favorites of the night! I absolutely loved the sauce it was cooked in; it had good a kick to it! The sauce wasn't too watery and not too thick...it had the perfect consistency. I also dipped bread into this sauce!

Chicken Wings

It was nice and steaming hot when it came out! The chicken wings had a sweet taste to it, unlike what I'm used to the usual savory fried chicken. It was a good change!

Calamari

I always like calamari and its always good to have as a snack food or a finger food! It's absolutely deliciousness. Nothing really stood out about it, but I still enjoyed it! This dish is only a problem if it doesn't taste up to standard, which it does.

Mussels

I love the colors in this dish! I'm totally a seafood person, so I enjoyed this dish very much. The sauce was freaking bomb! I love sauce that is really good because it's perfect to dip our breads in!

Fried Potatoes

I LOVE potatoes cooked in almost any way! This was a great starter full of flavor especially when you dip it with the aioli sauce! The skin had a little crisp to it but when you bite into it it was soft and melted in my mouth.