A Little Piece of Mexico (or Heaven) Right Next Door
courtesy of cafeollin.com
Café Ollin is one of the best Mexican restaurants in my neighborhood and I’m happy to say that it’s really affordable. A taco will set you back 2 or 3 bucks depending on the toppings. Everything tastes incredibly fresh and the environment is wonderfully decorated. Rich colors, cute knick-knacks and most likely futbol on the television screen. Their sandwiches are monstrous and bigger than my head…and my head is very big (size-wise, not conceit-wise). I have two favorites, the Mexican style tacos: soft shell, different types of meats topped with lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, cotija cheese, cilantro and avocado, and also the Tostadas: basically the same thing, but with a flat fried tortilla and beans. I don’t know what it is about this place, but I could eat there everyday. It’s like having a crack house right next door. Oh wait, I have that already. OK, a food crack house.
Cafe Ollin
339 E 108 St Btwn 1st & 2nd Ave
(212) 828-3644
8 out of 10
-Juice
‘WichCraft Reinvents The Sandwich
-wichcraftyc.com
I may not be able to afford Tom Colicchio’s Craft restaurants all the time, but thanks to ‘WichCraft, his sandwich shop, I can grab a delicious sandwich whenever I want (sandwiches range from $6-$10). By the way, isn’t he such a cutie, and a really great dresser I might add. Tom, if you ever leave your wife, call me!
First off, the breads used to hold in all the delicious-ness of these sandwiches are nice and crusty on the outside and doughy on the inside, yummy! Never underestimate what good bread can do for a dish.
1) Grilled gruyere with caramelized onions on rye bread: Karen actually exclaimed out loud, “It tastes like French onion soup!” A grown up grilled cheese sandwich that mixes the sharp and salty cheese with the natural sweetness of the onions. My mouth is watering thinking about it.
2) Slow-roasted pork, red cabbage, jalapenos and mustard on a ciabatta roll: tasty and filling, definitely not something you can find in your local deli. Thumbs up for the bite you get from the jalapenos. The red cabbage gives it a nice crunch and a great change from using lettuce for that type of texture.
3) Meatloaf, cheddar, tomato relish and bacon on a ciabatta roll: My least favorite of the ones I have tried here. Meatloaf to me should be comforting, but the actual meatloaf tasted too healthy/grown-up. It lacked the richness of meatloaf that I am use to. The tomato relish had a strange spice in it, I wish I could pin-point what the seasoning was, but I can’t, but if you can give me $30,000 to go to the French Culinary Institute, I promise I’ll be able to tell you once I graduate. Also, because of the relish, I was actually unable to taste the cheddar and bacon, which was strange to me because these two ingredients have such strong flavors. Though, the bacon was nice and crunchy and made the sandwich nice to bite into.
I’m trying to decide if on my next trip I should get the
A) Pork loin, tonnato sauce, celery slaw and arugula on a ciabatta roll.
B) Pastrami, mustard and sauerkraut on, I am guessing, on rye bread, the menu doesn’t say.
C) Grilled mozzerella and fontina with tomato-olive preserves on country bread.
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
7.5 out of 10 stars
Visit wichcraftnyc.com for locations.
Please Feed Me 