40 W 38th St., New York, NY 10018
Well, this is not really a food pic of the week; it's more of a quick post about the most recent Yelp Elite Squad - NYC event that I attended. According to its Yelp page, Cocina del Sur is a "fast-casual restaurant serving traditional South American dishes right off the grill. [They] serve up a delicate balance of healthy eating and quality Latin comfort food based on locally sourced & organic ingredients"
Random: I've noticed that we have not had many Yelp elite events over the past couple of months. I wonder what's going on. I like my free stuff.
Anywho, the event was pretty fun, but there were not too many people in attendance because the restaurant is a bit small. Cocina seems kind of like an in and out kind of place. I probably talked to about 4 people in total, and I don't think that I wanted to befriend them on Yelp.
A pretty "simple" rice bowl with chicken, salmon, and steak with chimichurri sauce (I think it was chimichurri sauce) and some other random fixins. The Brussel sprouts were pretty delicious. Oh, there was a mango (or was it pineapple) salsa that was out of this world. Actually, they should sell that in a jar.
I liked the spot, but I would not travel out of my way for a rice bowl in midtown. But, game on if I'm in the area.
Since the restaurant is out of the way for me, of course, I was the first winner of a free meal.
Random II: What do you think about arepas?
I ask because every time I hear someone in NYC talk about Latin food, he/she will always bring up arepas. Well . . . it's usually tacos first, then arepas. "OMG! _ has the BEST arepas in NYC." And, I'm like I guess
Here's the thing, I do not dislike arepas. I just haven't found anything that makes them so amazing. If I order chimichurri steak and an arepa happens to be included then great. But, if I were to order chimichurri steak and the kitchen forgot to put the arepa on the plate, I probably would not even care (or even notice). Eh, different strokes for different folks.