Food Pics of the Week (FPOTW): Mariscos 1133

Mariscos 1133 (***)

1133 11th St NW Washington, DC 20001

Last weekend, we hit up Mariscos 1133 - a seafood spot in DC for brunch. It's kind of interesting because I don't really think seafood (for the most part) goes with brunch/breakfast. The place was just ok for me. It wasn't bad, but I think I would prefer to dine there for dinner rather than brunch.

Oysters al Carbón con Crabmeat and Ceviche

Left: Oysters al Carbón con Crabmeat - I'm not really sure why they didn't keep the name all in Spanish or in English. LOL, I had to triple check to ensure that I typed carbón (charcoal) and not cabrón (a male motherfucker or bastard). This dish was interesting because I really didn't think parmesan cheese and grilled oysters would work out. Strangely enough, the dish was quite tasty. It probably was the best dish of the afternoon.

Right: Ceviche - This was very meh because it was a bit too 'soupy' for me. Maybe this type of ceviche popular in Mexico.

Seafood Huevos Rancheros

What a hearty dish that is great for someone who is always in a constant state of hangry. The ranchero sauce was absolutely amazing.

Pisco Sour

LOL. I joked with the server saying that he served the drink in the wrong orientation. I assume the drink was supposed to be placed in a way so that I would see an M instead of a W. Now, is the M because the restaurant is named Mariscos 1133, because the restaurant is on the corner of M Street, or both? ;)

Food Pics of the Week (FPOTW): La Malinche

La Malinche (***)

8622 Colesville Rd Silver Spring, MD 20910

We tried to do something a bit different for a recent happy hour. I guess visiting this place wasn’t thinking outside of the box since this restaurant is next door to the other restaurant (J. Hollingers Waterman’s Chophouse, link to FPOTW entry: ***) that we typically frequent for happy hour.

Marinaor Malintzin (c. 1500 – c. 1529), more popularly known as La Malinche, a Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast, became known for contributing to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519–1521), by acting as an interpreter, advisor, and intermediary for the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés. She was one of 20 enslaved women given to the Spaniards in 1519 by the natives of Tabasco. Cortés chose her as a consort, and she later gave birth to his first son, Martín – one of the first Mestizos (people of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry) in New Spain.

-Wikipedian.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Malinche

Since the restaurant is described as Spanish and Mexican tapas spot, we decided to get a small spread of food that included patatas bravas, croquetas, boquerones (white anchovies, one of my favs), and mussels. Oh of course, we had beers and margaritas since it was happy hour.

First, I’ll say that the service was very exceptional because the entire service staff was super friendly. Unfortunately, the food was not that great. Lemme clarify that. The food was not nasty or gross, but it just didn’t meet our expectations. Well . . . I guess it didn’t meet the hubby’s expectations. Since he is from Spain, he takes his tapas very seriously. 😉 I’ll cut La Malinche some slack because the patatas bravas were pretty good. When all the food came out at the same time (less than 10 minutes after placing our order), I had a feeling that food would not be amazing. We were right because the croquetas tasted like they were fried a few weeks ago and reheated in the microwave before arriving at our table.

If I visit La Malinche again, I’ll probably stick to the patatas bravas and the margaritas. While the food was not that great for me, I’ll say the restaurant has a very generous happy hour.

FOOD PICS OF THE WEEK

Cantina Taqueria & Tequila

1838 7th Ave New York, NY 10026 (Harlem)

How does one celebrate running his first race of 2022? This guy gets tacos and margaritas.

Cantina is a local Mexican staple in Harlem (well maybe it's more Tex-Mex). For this outing, we decided to go to another Cantina location - one that is a 15-minute walk instead of an 8-minute walk from our place because the service at the closest Cantina is a bit of a struggle.

My tacos of choice were al pastor, chili-lime chicken, and Baja fish. We went a little crazy with "salsa" sampler and the tater tots con queso.

It's not a fun taco night without frozen margaritas. I probably was on margarita número tres or cuatro at this point . . . who cares if it was 28F outside?

Going forward, this will be my go-to Cantina because everything was on point - food, services, bebidas, a limited amount of ignorance. The loud music would be the only thing that I would change. Random question: Why do restaurants play their music so freaking loud (especially when the restaurant isn't even half full)? Is it to make folks drink more booze? Is it so folks will eat faster and leave so the restaurant can flip the table? I've noticed this trend in quite a few places in Harlem.

Side Story:

Funny story about the other Cantina (the one that is an 8-minute walk from our place). After moving to Harlem, Cantina was the first restaurant where we dined for late lunch. As most know, I'm pretty good with handling my adult beverages, but the margaritas from that day hit me like a bus. In my defense, I was a bit sleep-deprived because the movers arrived at my place around 8 am so I pulled an all-nighter packing. After lunch, we both went back to the apartment, and I slept for a good two hours. The plan was to go to Target right after lunch to get things for the apartment. During our Target visit (FOUR HOURS LATER), I think we were still feeling the effects of the margaritas because we ended up buying a whole bunch of crap that we DID NOT need, but none of the stuff that we actually needed like a freaking shower curtain or blinds for the bedroom.

My drunk a**, needed a redo to properly spell my name - it's spelled Kwame.

Speaking of crap we did not need for the apt, we did buy a wooden "K", "P", and "&".