Our best bite in Miami was the cubano sandwich from a small, relatively new shop called Cubaton. It was incredible!
Had I known it was this good, I would have went twice. We were leaving for home the same day we went here.
The frozen drinks were great too.
CUBATON SANDWICH SHOP
413 15th St
Miami Beach, FL 33139
First, check out my Ride 7 Review video HERE:
The PR folks who are helping manage the newly opened Palermo Bistro (right on restaurant row) invited me in for a dinner to feature their Parrillada mixed Argentinian grill platter. Here’s what my wife and I had:
First, the Vitel Tone, which is similar to vitello tonnato – the Tuscan dish often made with veal (as the name suggests), or even wild boar, that tastes like tuna. This was great here, made with veal eye round and anchovy.
Next was the octopus, which was very tender inside and crisp outside.
I paid a little extra for this NY strip milanese (along with a drink), because I had to try it out. It was excellent!
That was really all I wanted when I saw the menu online, but the parrillada was better than I expected. Generally, these things let me down, but here, we loved the blood sausage and the hanger steak the most.
On the side, we had mashed potatoes, broccolini and humita, which was similar to a cheese and polenta dish.
For dessert, we had the banana bread pudding with vanilla ice cream. I liked this because it wasn’t too sweet, as many bread puddings can be.
Cocktails and bread service was nice.
I also liked the wall decor.
Give this place a shot – especially for the veal app and the milanese!
PALERMO BISTRO
373 W 46th St
New York, NY 10036
First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:
This joint dates back to 1958, when it was called La Lechonera. In 1978 it became Cibao, and it remains a neighborhood icon to this day.
I’ve walked by it many times, and always wanted to try it. There are a lot of great Hispanic and Latin American food places nearby, like Castillo de Jagua (I and II), Casa Adela, and Castillo de Manhattan. I’ve tried all of those, and now I’ve finally made it to Cibao for some grub.
Everything was tasty. Here’s what we tried:
First up was the Cuban sandwich. So crisp and tasty. Great ratio of meat to mayo to pickles to cheese. This is a win, especially at just $9.
Next, the bone-in chicken chicharrones. The only way to get them! Juicy inside, golden brown outside and with very flavorful, super crispy skin. Perfect! I want to order the larger format fried chicken items next time to see how they compare.
The Pernil was a little dry, but overall still really tasty. Best for sandwiches that have cheese, pickles and mayo, to juicy it up a little bit. Or maybe they could serve this with a little cup of the roasting juices/drippings.
The sides were good too. We tried the green plantains, yellow rice and beans. Platano power!
We washed it all down with some delicious Morir Sonando (orange juice and milk drink).
I will definitely be back here again for the fried chicken and mofongo, and I’ll likely order it for delivery as well. The Sancocho is only offered on specific days, so I’ll definitely have to go for that.
CIBAO
72 Clinton St
New York, NY 10002
First, check out my Ride & Review video for this spot HERE:
My wife and I have walked by this place a bunch recently, and it reminded us of a smaller version of Miss Lily’s. The food looked great, and my best friend from growing up said that he heard great “tings” about it, so we had to give it a try.
Omar’s serves up Caribbean and Jamaican food in a small, casual and lively spot on Clinton Street just below Houston. The cocktails are awesome. This Scotch Bonnet pepper margarita was incredible. A perfect balance of heat, sweet and savory refreshment.
These Scorpion Pepper wings aren’t as spicy as you might think. The sauce is really nicely balanced here, so you won’t hand numb lips and watery facial orifices after eating. The meat is also insanely tender – almost as if they were stewed.
I also loved this salt fish hush puppy type things. Perfectly friend. Light and dense at the same time. Very satisfying.
These hibiscus sorrel lamb chops are as unique tasting as they are beautiful. A combination of earthy Indian and bright Latin/Caribbean spices that marry beautifully on tender, nicely cooked chops.
The real star of the show, though, is the coconut curry with oxtail and dumplings.
This was insane! The dumplings ate almost like Korean rice cakes, but a bit less chewy. Nice little logs of free-form dough, soaked with the rich, deep flavors of the curry. Delicious.
We will definitely be back here again. What a spot! The only negatives here: (1) all of our dishes came out at once, apps and entrees at the same time, and (2) the music is a bit loud if you’re seated inside. Go for dinner, stay for drinks!
OMAR’S KITCHEN
29A Clinton St
New York, NY 10002
Casa Adela is a local Alphabet City Puerto Rican joint that serves up some really delicious and wallet-friendly food.
It’s been recommended to me by several people, and my wife and I finally made it over to try it out. Here’s a quick Ride & Review video of the experience:
We started with the chicken chicharrones, which were AWESOME, especially with that West Indian scotch bonnet and papaya hot sauce.
Next up was the oxtail stew. This was really flavorful, and the oxtail itself was incredibly tender without being dried out. It was legitimately perfect.
The pernil was juicy as well, with a nice strip of crispy, sticky, fatty skin on top. Amazing! That was my favorite bite of the meal, with the oxtail just behind it.
This, too, went nicely with the hot sauce.
Lastly, we had a half roast chicken. The same red spice used on the fried chicken skin is also used on the roasted skin. Whatever it is, it’s beautiful and delicious.
This place is cash only and they do not offer delivery, so I think I’ll be making many more trips here with the bike to pick up food in the future.
CASA ADELA
66 Avenue C
New York, NY 10009
My wife and I stopped in this little joint for dinner last week, and we really enjoyed it.
We started with aguachile verde and ceviche, both of which were great, although I would have preferred some additional tortilla chips to pick up all that tasty goodness.
For our mains, we ordered enchiladas verde and lamb barbacoa. Both were excellent, but the shredded, slow roasted lamb was amazing. So much rich, earthy flavor. Again, more tortillas would have made this perfect.
We will definitely be back here again – I need better pics!
BARRIO CHINO
253 Broome St
New York, NY 10002
This newish neighborhood Mexican joint was a hit!
My wife and I started with some “two for $10” tacos.
We did two orders (four tacos): two BBQ lamb, and two fish. Both were really great. The lamb was unique, and after having it, I kinda wished they had a BBQ lamb dish on the entree menu as well, for a composed plate (like lamb over rice with beans, etc). The fish taco was grilled as opposed to crispy/fried like many other places do. We loved it.
For mains, my wife ordered the chile relleno, and I ordered the cochinita pibil burrito.
This was a great burrito for $14. Hefty and tasty. My only criticism is that I don’t want sauce on the outside of the tortilla. I had to scrape it off. It was just getting too messy to eat. My wife’s plate came with a side of rice and beans, which were also good. A great deal for $17.
In fact, everything here is reasonably priced – even the cocktails ($14) and beer ($5 cans). The flan was pretty good too. Nice plating, but the coconut shavings threw the silky texture off a bit.
I’ll definitely be back here for more. At the very least we will be ordering for delivery regularly. And when you hit this place, make sure you try their orange and green sauces: DRINKABLE!
MICTLAN MEXICO
17 Orchard St
New York, NY 10002
Amigo is a casual but high quality tapas joint that’s owned and operated by Chef Ruben Rodriguez from Nai Tapas Bar (one of the best Spanish joints around).
My buddy Mike, my wife and I tried almost the entire menu, so I’ll just get right into it. But this was easily one of the best meals I’ve had this year.
First up: cocktails. The espresso martini and wasabi infused scotch cocktails were awesome.
Octopus and shrimp ceviche:
45-day dry aged rib eye steak tartare – this was one of the top bites of the night.
Shrimp tacos:
Bacalao – fried cod tacos. These were also a top bite of the night.
Mango salad:
Eggplant:
Braised pork cheek. This was insane. So tender:
Watch how easily it gets pulled apart (about 17 seconds into the slide show):
This savory corn pudding was delicious:
Pork belly taco:
The oxtail tacos de birria were another top bite.
I drank that entire cup of dipping broth.
The lime ice cream granita was off the charts – another top item:
And these chocolate filled churros were perfectly paired with that espresso martini I mentioned earlier.
I can’t wait to go here again. So damn good!
AMIGO
29 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10003
Casa Mezcal is a fun Mexican bar/restaurant on Orchard Street that serves up some great food and drinks.
My wife and I stopped in here on a whim because a place nearby where we wanted to eat was closed for renovations. It turned out to be a nice unforeseen change of plans.
We noticed that they give free shots of mezcal if you post and tag them on Instagram, so that was a no brainer for me.
Those mezcal shots were deliciously hibiscus flavored and spice-rimmed. I tried one of their sipping mezcal too and really liked it (Del Maguey Wild Jabali).
They also had awesome cocktails on the menu. We tried a couple and loved both.
Speaking of drinks, this place has an awesome bar set up. There is even seating there now, COVID be damned!
We started with the carb meat tostada, which was our favorite item of the meal.
They accidentally brought out an order of chicken quesadillas instead of my burrito. I let them know and they took it off the bill. However, rather than let it go to waste, they told us to keep it anyway. So I gave the value of the item extra in tip at the end to make up for it. That was a really nice move on their part so I wanted to make them whole.
Both were excellent, but the burrito was probably one of the best I’ve had lately. My wife got fish tacos, which I didn’t shoot, but they were the best entree.
Over all this was a really great meal with really great drinks. We will definitely be back here.
CASA MEZCAL
86 Orchard St
New York, NY 10002
First, check this video out HERE:
A $7 cubano sandwich stuffed to the gills with pernil, a $4 banana shake, a juicy-ass half roast chicken and an ungodly amount of yellow rice? You can’t go wrong at El Castillo de Jagua. This second location, which is right near our new place, offers some amazing food at amazing prices.
The Cuban was probably our favorite. Definitely could benefit from extra pickles and extra ham, but at $7 bucks with perfectly toasted and pressed bread, lots of pernil, and little grease, we were thrilled.
Speaking of, the pernil entree itself was juicy and MASSIVE in terms of serving size.
The roast half chicken comes with exquisitely crispy skin that somehow still remains juicy as well.
The fried pork meat was a blast. It reminded me of Chinese boneless spare ribs, but less sticky sweetness and more of crispy savoriness.
The main dishes come with copious amounts of rice. We picked yellow instead of white. Beans came with the mains as well (not pictured individually, but see the last photo for the serving size to the left of my hand).
The fried plantains had just enough sweetness to make them almost dessert-like.
Speaking of desserts, we were impressed with both the banana and sour sop shakes.
I can NOT wait to explore this menu some more!
EL CASTILLO DE JAGUA
521 Grand St A
New York, NY 10002
