Lately I have been lazy. Too lazy to cook and too lazy to wander outside of my neighborhood footprint for a good meal. It all started when I ordered in brunch last Sunday from WESTVILLE (W. 10th off of bleeker). I woke up craving eggs with some sort of meat/cheese combo and rather than dress myself to go pick up the sausage and cheese (I had eggs in stock) I decided to test out the delivery capacities of Westville. I have never had brunch delivered to my house before and am still pretty embarressed about having done so--am I rewarding myself for simply waking up?--but last Sunday my rumbling stomach could not wait for anything. I ordered a special scramble with prosciutto, mozzerella, tomatoes and herbs and it came in about 5 minutes and was piping hot. Menupages.com has many naysayers about Westville's quality of delivery but I found it to be quick, easy and attractive (this last descriptor pertains to the delivery man who I may or may not have tipped 50%). The mashed potato concoction as a side to the scramble was rather bland (it needed a lot more salt) and the diet coke came in one of those tiny glass bottles that I finished in two gulps--why the soda is so small when the meal is so supersized I have no clue
--but I was still happy for the robust meal in such a short amount of time.
The next night I was meeting a friend for dinner and I suggested FLOR'S KITCHEN (Waverly Pl. btwn 6th and 7th Ave.), a Venezuelan restaurant, because I walk by it everyday on my way to/from work and I have always thought it looked like a "best kept secret" type of a place. Unfortunately, it falls more into the "average neighborhood restaurant" category than anything else. There are two outside tables prime for people watching and the ambiance is very relaxing but the tuna ceviche (with avocado, chopped onions and avocado in a chipotle broth) tasted like a watery salsa with chunks of fish and the shredded beef in the arepa was extremely tough--and not shredded--and the corn pocket tasted stale. I will, however, say that the Shrimp entree was fresh and the rice was fluffy, light and moist. The check was not as fluffy and light as I expected--$50 for the arepa (size of a deck of cards), ceviche (in ramekin dish), one glass of sangria and one glass of inexpensive red wine.
Wednesday found me at AGAVE (7th ave btwn Charles and W.10th), where I split fried calamari, shrimp tacos and sangria with a friend of mine. I was very excited to taste the sangria and compare it to Flor's Kitchen and was thoroughly disappointed. It was terrible I tell you! It tasted as if someone had sweetened grape juice and then dumped a boatload of sprite into it. On a trip to the bathroom I learned from a plaque on the wall that the restaurant was given the award for "best margarita 2006" from Citysearch--which apparantly had given them free license to serve non-award winning sangria. That being said, the food wasn't half bad. The calamari, was cut into big pieces and served with two different types of dipping sauce, avocado and chipotle and was satisfying eventhough it should have been more crispy. The shrimp tacos were quite good all around. The tortillas were soft and enclosed crisp corn, and juicy shrimp. In each bite you could taste the ingredients which is rare in restaurant tacos that are often doused in mayo-type creams.
If you would like to have a long dinner outside than Agave's service will suit you just fine. It is slow, bordering on non-existent. Our waiter, whose name was Kevin but spelled Keyvan, was at the same time aloof and snobby--he did not bring us chips and salsa, did not fill our waterglass and did not try to interact with us in anyway
--and proved to me that I am right to think that people with phonetically spelled names are inherently difficult. I think the way to go at Agave is to sit at the bar have a margarita and the shrimp tacos and call it a day.
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