La Tortilla Feliz

Saturday night my husband and I went to La Tortilla Feliz in Treamont for the first time. I can't really say why we haven't been there before. In the summer, everyone sitting outside at the little tables look like they're enjoying themselves. It's very inviting. I've heard good reviews from friends, but I've also heard it was really hit or miss.

For a Saturday night, the place was empty. We got there around 8:30pm and there were only 2 other tables of guests in the non-smoking side. When we left at 10pm we were the only ones left! They seated at a nice table against the front window - plants lined the window sill. There were little fake birds nestled between the leaves. A wine bottle with a drip candle was placed on each table. The whole restaurant had a nice, warm ambiance to it.

After ordering the beer special and picking up the menus we quickly realized that we were at one of those places where we have no clue what anything on the menu is. I love it when this happens! They do have nice descriptions of each dish and list all the ingredients, but still it was NEW to us!

On to the food...

We ordered the "you pick 3" appetizer plate. We picked:
1. Arepa de Reina Peplada (Venezuelan tortillas with an avocado & potato filling) I liked this filling a lot, it was really creamy and rich.
2. Chuchito de Pollo (corn flour dumplings, filled with chicken & special spices; steamed in cornhusks) OK
3. Ceviche de Tilapia (fresh tomato, onions, cilantro & tilapia in a lime juice marinade; with chips) *favorite*

My dinner:
Cochinita Costal (chunks of tender pork from the coastal Comals of Central America, bordered by a blue mound of singular cocoa milk rice with black bean accents, accompanied
by slabs of plantain) Pork was very tender and moist. They came in a fresh, chunky fresh tomato sauce. Rice sounded very exotic and was presented in an interesting cone shape on the plate, but was not very blue or cocoa-ish?. Pretty bland. The plantains were good.

His dinner:
Bife Borracho (pan seared beef in a drunken sauce of South American beer, tomatoes and onions. Served with saffron rice and broccoli.) He said that the sauce was really rich and liked it but thought I wouldn't because of all the onions. After eating the beef, my husband mixed the rest of the plate all together, coating the rice with the sauce and devoured every last grain.

Dessert:
A tiny chocolate cake with whipped cream on top. The waitress was a doll (and most likely bored at this point of the evening) and tried to make a smiley face on the little thing. This cake was about the size in circumference of a cupcake, but only a weee inch or so high. It was real dense and dark and moist. Not sweet, here's where my cocoa was hiding! But next time we each need to get our own cake.