Fritanga is "St. Louis' only Nicaraguan restaurant" and we're lucky that it's a mere five minute drive from our house. It is located on south Jefferson in a stretch of boarded up businesses and an occasional storefront church. The owners took a gamble putting their business here, but everytime we drive by most of the tables are occupied, though the place is small. This was our second time at Fritanga, but it had been awhile, and they made a small remodel to include a separate bar area with bar height tables.
Nicaraguan cuisine is similar to Cuban or any other Central American country's, with emphasis on meat, plantains, and rice and beans. I went with chancho asada, grilled pork with sides of black beans and rice, sweet plantains, and coleslaw. Tim ordered carne asada, with the typical grilled skirt steak and above sides. I also wanted a side of mojo yuca, as yuca is such an interesting tuber and I have to order it whenever I see it on a menu. We were also give a sampler of three different sauce accompaniments: a cilantro/parsley, a vinagre, and pickled jalepenos. I stayed with the first two but Tim went ahead and dove into the jalepenos, which he may be paying for this AM.
We each ordered a mixed drink with tamarind juice. Tamarind is very sweet, almost sickeningly so, but I enjoyed my rum and tamarind and Tim seemed to like his margarita. Our waiter, (see "gay" below), thought my pronunciation was bueno.
Totally unrelated to the food experience, Fritanga is owned by one, two, or three gay men, each more flamboyant than the last. These are Nicaraguan gays, and if you've been any time around Latinos, being out and proud is not common. Putting their flamboyance to shame last night, however, was a 6 foot tall tranny WHO WOULDN'T HAVE FOOLED MY DAD! She made no attempt to hide her deep baritone when yelling across the bar and during her numerous trips to the "ladies" she walked like she had just had gotten off the old steed. Anyway, this is an inner-city hangout and diversity is expected. Food is good too.
http://www.fritangastl.net/
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Regal Eating
I decided I was in charge of Valentine's Day plans this year, even though Tim did an outstanding job last year. I went to OpenTable, which had a specially designed website for all of your VDay needs, including reservations, naturally. I chose Monarch in Maplewood after hearing positive reviews from coworkers.
Our last upscale dining experience was an utter disaster (see last post) so I had my fingers crossed and lowered my expectations. The latest time available was 5:45, so I was pleasantly surprised when the average age of the diners at this time wasn't much older than us. I was also glad I went with the skirt option and Tim, some chinos as everyone here was dressed to the nines, I'm guessing because of the holiday.
We started off with a charcuterie and cheese platter, which wasn't necessarily self-explanable on the menu. Apparently, the waitress thought the same thing and had to carry a cheat sheet to make sure she described everything correctly. Even though we had just had homemade Bleu Cheese burgers the night before, Tim was all over that option; I saw sheep's milk and thought, "Yes." For the meats, we had some sort of hard pork salami and a huge chunk of country pate, which had venison in it-good.
For the entrees, we both went fish: Tim the flounder and me the skate. Each fish came with some interesting side options. Mine had these pistachio and horseradish sunchokes-wow! and Tim had deep-fried chickpeas. By this time, Tim's hangover had taken over and I flew solo with my dessert: a dark chocolate souffle! Ok I'm stuffed now.
The wine list was very easy to navigate and had options at every pricepoint. The service is outstanding with a separate breadserver, handing out individual garlicky slices, as well as a water girl who kept her left hand behind her back at all times-fancy! The atmosphere is really cool with hundreds of paper-mache butterflies hanging from the ceiling. Finally we found a restaurant that deserves a repeat.
http://monarch.tophatandmonocle.net/
Our last upscale dining experience was an utter disaster (see last post) so I had my fingers crossed and lowered my expectations. The latest time available was 5:45, so I was pleasantly surprised when the average age of the diners at this time wasn't much older than us. I was also glad I went with the skirt option and Tim, some chinos as everyone here was dressed to the nines, I'm guessing because of the holiday.
We started off with a charcuterie and cheese platter, which wasn't necessarily self-explanable on the menu. Apparently, the waitress thought the same thing and had to carry a cheat sheet to make sure she described everything correctly. Even though we had just had homemade Bleu Cheese burgers the night before, Tim was all over that option; I saw sheep's milk and thought, "Yes." For the meats, we had some sort of hard pork salami and a huge chunk of country pate, which had venison in it-good.
For the entrees, we both went fish: Tim the flounder and me the skate. Each fish came with some interesting side options. Mine had these pistachio and horseradish sunchokes-wow! and Tim had deep-fried chickpeas. By this time, Tim's hangover had taken over and I flew solo with my dessert: a dark chocolate souffle! Ok I'm stuffed now.
The wine list was very easy to navigate and had options at every pricepoint. The service is outstanding with a separate breadserver, handing out individual garlicky slices, as well as a water girl who kept her left hand behind her back at all times-fancy! The atmosphere is really cool with hundreds of paper-mache butterflies hanging from the ceiling. Finally we found a restaurant that deserves a repeat.
http://monarch.tophatandmonocle.net/
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