pan latin
venue: charanga (2351 mission st. @ 20th)
guest eater: kyla calvert
price: $27, with wine and potatoes. (most plates 9-14 bucks)
verdict: lame food, slow service, schizo decor
well, at least the conversation was good.
kyla was a complete stranger but she turned out to be good company. we met outside the restaurant, walked in, and were promptly seated at a table literally three feet from the entrance. "guess we don't have a choice, huh?" i asked the host, hoping for something better. he faked a smile and disappeared into the kitchen. i saw an empty table off to the side but that apparently was for someone more important. oh well.
we started talking about kyla's job a bit. she works for an international hostel association (i forget the exact name) downtown, doing marketing and listening to the same old war stories/conversation starters from european and australian backpackers. she also lives in the hostel where she works.
wine came first of course. i had the alamos ridge malbec from mendoza, argentina, a 2001 vintage. it was good.
i don't know the first thing about describing wine (full body, light palate, strong finish sound more like sex terms to me) so it's either yes or no with me.
mostly yes.
to start, we got patatas bravas, or fried new potatoes with that tasty cascabel chili and tomato sauce (5.25). these were fine, no complaints.
the service crawls at this place. we did get there when everyone seemed to be ordering at the same time, but the wait was ridiculous AND my food came a good fifteen minutes before kyla's did. i tried being polite for about seven seconds but staring at food without eating it, for me, is an impossibility.
at some point the waitress thought it'd be funny to try to convince us, totally unprompted, that we had a great seating situation. "it's so much hotter back there," she said. "you guys have the best table."
maybe she saw us shivering and felt like she had to say something.
i had the arroz asopao, or risotto with seasonal vegetables and manchego cheese (10.50). my mom's porridge is better. so much better that i missed being sick in the fourth grade, slurping porridge with a dash of soy sauce and some pickled radish on the side. damn, that shit was good.
the risotto was kind of bland and mushy, and the combination of vegetables was nothing memorable. i love manchego but it just didn't taste right here...its traditional kick was replaced by a creamy boring taste. disappointing.
kyla got a chicken kabob dish...don't remember the name. i think it had some asian flair in the sauce, one of those fusion-type jobs. i believe she liked it. meat dishes tend to fare better at these small plate establishments.
we talked about our generation over dinner, kind of a weighty subject, but it beat talking about sports or tom cruise and katie holmes or something else completely forgettable. we're twixters, i guess, or people in their twenties who have no fucking clue what to do with themselves. this city is full of them.
i've been having this conversation a lot lately.
guest eater: kyla calvert
price: $27, with wine and potatoes. (most plates 9-14 bucks)
verdict: lame food, slow service, schizo decor
well, at least the conversation was good.
kyla was a complete stranger but she turned out to be good company. we met outside the restaurant, walked in, and were promptly seated at a table literally three feet from the entrance. "guess we don't have a choice, huh?" i asked the host, hoping for something better. he faked a smile and disappeared into the kitchen. i saw an empty table off to the side but that apparently was for someone more important. oh well.
we started talking about kyla's job a bit. she works for an international hostel association (i forget the exact name) downtown, doing marketing and listening to the same old war stories/conversation starters from european and australian backpackers. she also lives in the hostel where she works.
wine came first of course. i had the alamos ridge malbec from mendoza, argentina, a 2001 vintage. it was good.
i don't know the first thing about describing wine (full body, light palate, strong finish sound more like sex terms to me) so it's either yes or no with me.
mostly yes.
to start, we got patatas bravas, or fried new potatoes with that tasty cascabel chili and tomato sauce (5.25). these were fine, no complaints.
the service crawls at this place. we did get there when everyone seemed to be ordering at the same time, but the wait was ridiculous AND my food came a good fifteen minutes before kyla's did. i tried being polite for about seven seconds but staring at food without eating it, for me, is an impossibility.
at some point the waitress thought it'd be funny to try to convince us, totally unprompted, that we had a great seating situation. "it's so much hotter back there," she said. "you guys have the best table."
maybe she saw us shivering and felt like she had to say something.
i had the arroz asopao, or risotto with seasonal vegetables and manchego cheese (10.50). my mom's porridge is better. so much better that i missed being sick in the fourth grade, slurping porridge with a dash of soy sauce and some pickled radish on the side. damn, that shit was good.
the risotto was kind of bland and mushy, and the combination of vegetables was nothing memorable. i love manchego but it just didn't taste right here...its traditional kick was replaced by a creamy boring taste. disappointing.
kyla got a chicken kabob dish...don't remember the name. i think it had some asian flair in the sauce, one of those fusion-type jobs. i believe she liked it. meat dishes tend to fare better at these small plate establishments.
we talked about our generation over dinner, kind of a weighty subject, but it beat talking about sports or tom cruise and katie holmes or something else completely forgettable. we're twixters, i guess, or people in their twenties who have no fucking clue what to do with themselves. this city is full of them.
i've been having this conversation a lot lately.
posted by dave at 9:50 PM
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