Intimidating!

I was reading one of my favorite blogs the other day, Skillet Doux, and noticed that he had been nominated for a web award through Saveur magazine.  Since I enjoy his blog so much, I decided to go over to the Saveur website and vote.  After voting, I took a look at some of the other blogs nominated for awards--wow!  What was I thinking, starting a blog??  These sites are so professionally put together, with gorgeous photos and really smart well-written copy!  Yikes, I think I've gotten myself into something a little out of my league...

BUT, I was also inspired.  I went to a new restaurant with some gorgeous gal pals and thought I'd try my hand at describing my experience.  I can't call it a review, but will do my best. 

For Christmas, I received a Diner's Deck, a deck of cards with different restaurants on each card.  I'm determined to try all of these restaurants by the end of the year.  It's going to be hard to catch up since I've started so late, but oh well!  Last night, we went to La Palapa in the East Village.

It's a lovely little spot on St Mark's Place, small, dark and a little noisy, but nicely laid out with delicious food.  We started off with some delicious margaritas (I got pomegranate--so yummy!) and some guacamole and chips.  The guac was very fresh and tasty, as was the pico de gallo.  The margarita choices are plentiful and all of the fresh-squeezed juice made the drinks pretty dangerous!

I decided to get two appetizers instead of an entree, so I could try more food.  I think we've discovered the reason why I'm having issues with my weight.  Anyway, after toying with sampling their vegan options, I decided I couldn't be at a Mexican restaurant without tasting dishes with fresh Mexican cheese.  So I went vegetarian instead.  I got the tamal de rajas - corn masa with poblanos and cotija cheese in a toasted pumpkin seed and tomatillo sauce.  It was delicious and rich, and rather looked like a piece of lasagna:

The toasted pumpkin seed and tomatillo sauce tasted like nothing I've ever had before--it had great depth of flavor; a little smoky and a little spicy and ever so sweet.  The pumpkin seeds added a nice textural contrast.  I'm glad I got the appetizer size, though, since it is such a rich dish.

I also ordered the chalupa con chorizo (but without the chorizo).  Even though they called it a chalupa, to me the description sounded like the sopes I had enjoyed at Rick Bayless' restaurant in Chicago:  corn masa 'boats' filled with guacamole, black beans, queso fresco and crema.  These were also so delicious--I could've eaten them all day long.  They were little bites of fresh deliciousness.  Perhaps a little sprinkling of fried tortilla chips or something would've added a nice crunch, since the little bites were so soft, but perhaps that was because I got them without chorizo.  I would imagine that the chorizo added a tiny bite of crunch.  But they were so amazingly tasty, it didn't really matter all that much.  Sorry the photo isn't very good:

One gal pal got the fish tacos and said they were amazing, and the other got a cheese quesadilla and said it was fine.  I definitely thought my food was more than fine and the prices were pretty reasonable for all the fresh ingredients.  We decided the food seemed pretty traditional without a lot of bells and whistles and we enjoyed that.

Even though I had no business eating one more thing, we looked at the dessert menu and could not resist ordering a dessert to share.  I think after reading the description, you will understand why it had to be ordered:  it was a cinnamon empanada, filled with rice pudding, and served with cinnamon ice cream.  It was really a wow dessert.  You would think it would be overly rich and heavy, but the rice pudding was actually really light, as was the empanada.  The empanada itself was much softer than we thought it was going to be--we all expected some crunch there.  I don't know if that would've made it a better dish since it was awfully darned delicious the way it was presented.  I didn't try the ice cream since I figured I was on dairy overload by now, but the gals said it was lovely.  My picture here isn't vey good either:

So, bottom line?  Thumbs WAY up for La Palapa.  We will definitely be going back.  I want to try a ginger margarita next time.  Our next restaurant card is next week--stay tuned!