My Crazy Trip to the North End

So, it's kind of been a while...

But I have an excuse!  Lots of activities, lots of studying, lots of everything.  Whoever said second semester of senior year was easier than first semester was a dirty liar whom we should all fling poo at.  Because that was definitely NOT the case.  But it's all over and done with, and I have a high school diploma to prove it :)

So anyways, a month or so ago, I was in Boston.  And I know what you're thinking.

And that was precisely the week where Tamerlan and Dzokhar Tsarnaev bombed the Boston Marathon and then were captured.  I was there for the capture (which took place between the 18th and 19th of April).

So, basically, what this means was that on the 19th, a Friday, I was stuck in my hotel room for several hours while the police searched for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Watertown, on the Cambridge side of the Charles.  I was staying on the Boston side of the river, looking dead on at Cambridge, and saw a large number of police cars pass by.

My dad and I were very bored, and by 2:00 PM, very hungry.  Since we were on the Boston side of the river, we were able to leave the hotel, so we escaped to the North End.

The North End, most notably Hanover Street, of Boston is famous for the seemingly impossible number of Catholic churches and it's wonderful Italian food.  It was where many Italian immigrants decided to inhabit upon coming to Boston, and their legacy was the wonderful food they left.  And all of the freaking churches (there are literally two churches within a five minute walk from each other.  On the same street).

So anyways, after spending half an hour trying to find a parking spot, my dad and I went into this cute little bar/restaurant called Florentine Cafe on the corner of Hanover and Prince streets.  We sat down to some deliciously warm bread and olive oil, and our server was very cheerful and nice.  She informed us that the restaurant we sat in was the oldest bar in the North End, opened directly after Prohibition was lifted and renovated in 1995.

The Florentine Cafe!  And a really tricked out Ford Fusion.  And you can see one of the many churches.

 So there it is in all its glory.  We were kind of hungry, because we had been trapped in a hotel room all day, so we decided to order some fried calamari.

That looks delicious even now.

Now, I don't say this lightly, but oddly, this was the fluffiest, lightest calamari that I've ever eaten.  It was chewy, but not rubbery, and the batter was buttery and delicious, with just the right amount of flavor.  The tomato sauce had a bit of a bite to it (in a good way), and complemented the calamari in a very beautiful way.

My next course was the specialty of the house:  Lobster Ravioli.

Needless to say, these make Chef Boyardi toss and turn at night.

Dear Christ.  This dish perfectly defines the North End, with its geographic location right by the water and its Italian heritage.  There were a couple of lobster nuggets outside of the ravioli, which, paired with the sauce (which I will get to), tasted something like I envision heaven tasting like.  It was divine.  The sauce was deliciously creamy, with flakes of parsley mixed in for color and flavor, and honestly, could be eaten by itself as a soup.  When you add the wonderfully crafted ravioli, cooked al dente with a delicious filling that hardly tasted like seafood at all, your tastebuds just rocket into space having been propelled by an incredibly flavorful force.  It was that good.

So, that's some of what happened when I went to the North End they day they were looking for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the loose in Cambridge.

Best Cuban Coffee in Miami: Versailles

When it comes to Cuban coffee, you really can't go wrong anywhere in Miami.  No matter where you go, the espresso is light, sweet, and tasty, as is custom with the coffee.  You can have a small demitasse cup, a colada, a larger cup with milk, café con leche, or you can go halfway between the two with a cortadito, where you get Cuban coffee with just the right amount of sugar in a demitasse cup with milk in it.  Desserts also tend to be pretty good anywhere, whether you are eating arroz con leche, or rice pudding; pastelitos de guayaba, queso, o guayaba y queso, or cream cheese, guava, or guava and cream cheese pastries; tres leches, a three layer milk cake where the layers are made with whole milk, evaporated milk, and condensed milk, respectively; or flan, or egg custard.  Any way you choose to go, your taste buds will thank you very much.

This is especially true of Versailles, a Miami landmark that has been serving customers on 8th Street in Miami's "Little Havana" district for over 40 years, and counting.  Famous for its delicious Cuban food and wonderfully Miami atmosphere, it's a lot of fun to go eat and even to just look around to see who is there.  From the outside, one of its most famous features, what the locals call la ventanita, or "the little window," is instantly visible, as there is always, no matter what time of day, a group of people, typically older Cuban men, gathered there to drink coffee and discuss South Florida (and Cuban) politics.

Excuse the poor quality of this picture.  You get the message, though, right?

When you walk in, you notice that the place is absolutely packed.  They are so busy that they have a restaurant and a bakery attached that serves coffee and desserts to those who wish not to enter the craziness that is the actual restaurant.

Isn't that something?  You can just smell the goodies made inside from here, right?

However, if this gets too crowded to your liking, you always have the option of taking the hallway in the back of the bakery to the main restaurant.  As afore mentioned, this place is always hopping.  There are two large rooms:  a foyer, where you enter the restaurant and where a majority of the seating is located, and the back room, where about 1/4 of the seating is located.  Mind you, this back room still isn't very small.  It can hold quite a large number of people.

Look at this!  And this was on a weeknight at 11:00 pm!

Once you are able to find seating, which is no small feat in a restaurant as crowded as this, you are provided a menu and a dessert menu.  I chose to have a cortadito and a dulce de leche flavored flan.

Isn't that glorious?  Makes me really thirsty when I think about it.

While you can get good coffee anywhere in Miami, there is a difference between good Cuban coffee and great Cuban coffee when it comes to the cortadito.  The difference?  Most places use whole milk to mix with their coffee.  Versailles, on the other hand, uses evaporated milk.  And this is where the magic begins.

The Versailles cortadito is distinct because of the evaporated milk used, which really ties everything about this little cup of paradise together.  The coffee has a refined sweetness, not too sweet, like some cups of coffee, and the coffee itself is present flavor wise, but not the main flavor contributer.  Add the evaporated milk, with its succinct flavor, and the flavors of the coffee and the sugar are bridged together into this light, frothy delicacy.  There is a real equilibrium within this cortadito, which is obvious to anyone who happens to take a sip.  So I happily enjoyed mine.

My siblings and I drinking cortaditos.  From left to right:  my brother Michael, myself, 

and my sister Hannah.  We are just way too cool for our own good.

Now it's the flan's turn.  Dulce de leche is a sweet candy that is made out of the sugar in milk, and can be made at home or bought at the grocery store.  Flan is a very popular dessert in many hispanic countries, although if you ask me, Cubans make it the best.  Ok, I may be biased, but we are all entitled to our opinions, am I right?

Mmmmmmm.  It just looks divine.

The interesting thing about this flan to me in particular is the fact that it combines two classic Latin desserts, and does so in a way that exceeds expectations.

Sometimes, when a flan is overcooked, it can be hard and rubbery in texture, which is not uncommon to find in flans on restaurant menus anywhere.  Many restaurants fear serving undercooked flan to guests, which, since it contains eggs, may contain salmonella, and thus over cook their flans, but this was not the case for the Versailles flans.

The dulce de leche flavor could have been extremely overpowering in sweetness, as dulce de leche tends to be a very sweet candy, but this flan had a subtle sweetness that very much captured the essence of both the flan and the dulce de leche that did both sweets justice.  As a result, the flan had a marshmallowy taste, which was unexpected but welcomed, and had an overall smooth texture.  In summary, this dessert gets an A+!

I guess the main lesson I learned from the coffee and desserts of Versailles is the importance of balancing the flavors, textures, and appearance of a dish or a drink in order to make it both aesthetically pleasing and downright delicious.  Too often restaurants skimp on taste and balance of flavors in order to get the cheapest product out to the table, but this was not the case at Versailles, where you can indulge in both of these treats for under $6.

Tiraron la casa por la ventana with this one.

So if you're ever in Miami, and happen to see this sign while driving down 8th Street, do yourself and whoever else is in the car with you a favor and go eat.  Your taste buds, and your stomach, will thank you.