70. Cafe Atlantico
Continuing my weekend of all things Jose Andres, I finally tried the famed Latino Dim Sum Brunch today at Cafe Atlantico. Not only was I giving Jose Andres another chance after my less than enjoyable experience at Jaleo, I was giving tapas another chance. You can try and fool me, Jose, but I know that dim sum is just a fancy (and Chinese) name for tapas. Luckily, the menu items were not just carried through some secret underground tunnel from Jaleo down the street. They were much more inspired and just seemed special. Someone once told me (perhaps the Cafe Atlantico website?) that if you are a newbie to the dim sum brunch, you are supposed to get the tasting menu. Well the subliminal advertising must have worked, because we ordered it. We chose the complete tasting menu which has fourteen dishes. There is also a vegetarian option with twelve dishes, but we couldn’t justify brunch without the hope of bacon so that wasn’t for us.
The first wave of dishes came and hit us hard with citrus—canteloupe and tomato skewers, tuna ceviche, mango anchovy ravioli and oysters with a mango-lime sauce. (Mango! Mango! Mango!) My favorite of the group was the ravioli since it did that salty/tangy/sweet thing quite well. Could I have eaten an entire entree sized plate of it? Definitely not, but it was a great little bite. The next group was sponsored by the letter M for messy. Hopefully the restaurant has a stock of Tide To Go. Here they are, with a one to five messy ranking: mushroom with soft friend egg (4), grilled skirt steak (2), conch fritters (5+), unagi wrapped in pineapple (4). Luckily, I managed to spill on the tablecloth in a formation that was the same size as my plate. Not ON the plate mind you, but it was easy to hide the mess. Oddly, I thought the best was the unagi—all the eel flavor without any of the fishiness. The mushroom and fried egg dish was a close second though. We also had two soup-like things along the way, potato and vanilla mouse with caviar (yum!) and hot and cold foie gras corn soup (surprisingly gross!). There was a fried eggs with black beans dish that was very filling if not all that showstopping. Then we were served the desserty items: pan dulce with cinnamon syrup (french toast), and coconut rice pudding. The pan dulce was stupid delicious, but neither of us could get by the consistency of the rice pudding. I also hate coconut milk, so that dish was really destined for failure. The last thing they brought out was a monster size piece of pork belly. It was caramelized on top with brown sugar, and was served with another mango sauce. Totally delicious. ‘nuff said.
I haven’t been to Cafe Altantico in a long time, and I had forgotten how much I loved the layout of the restaurant. It’s really not a big restaurant, but with the open design and giant windows it feels huge. We were seated on the third level, unfortunately forcing me to stare directly at Minibar. There it sat, completely empty, mocking my inability to dial a phone on time and get a reservation. Who would have thought it would be that hard to find someone to let me give them $135? I’ll get you next time, Andres, and your little Minibar too…
