Oysters

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Harlem Tavern: A Quick Bite At The Tavern

Location: West 116th Street and Frederick Douglas Blvd

ETA: Afternoon

On an afternoon where we felt like a beer and a quick bite we stopped by the popular spot while it wasn’t crowded.

Sitting outside with this nice an unseasonably warm weather made all the sense in the world. And while In the festive mood of the season instead of having an ordinary beer, we went with the Pumpkin & Ginger Spiced Blue Moon on tap. This beer tastes really good!

For an appetizer oysters were in order.

In my opinion eating oysters with fresh lemon juice, a little salt, a little black pepper, & some tobasco sauce or hot sauce is the way to go.

Their flatbread pizza with steak and pepperoncinis. This was really good although I didn’t sample it personally. I mean how could it not taste really good, there’s steak and cheese and bread and pepperoncinis!

When I looked over the menu I settled on what else? Harlem Taverns Create your own Mac N Cheese. I wanted to think outside the box on this one. So looking at the list of options for creating one’s own Mac, N Cheese, I decided for spicy and meaty taste and texture. Jalapeños for the spice/heat and mushrooms for that meat like texture. This is definitely my new favorite Mac N Cheese variation. There was perfect melding of flavor and heat with not only the heat from the jalapeños but the mac n cheese itself. The mushrooms gave the mac n cheese another layer of depth that made my mouth sing and to be honest burn a little. ;).

Flatbread gets 5 out of 5 dinner plates

Create your own Mac N Cheese also gets a perfect 5 out of 5 dinner plates

Blue Moon Seasonal Beer gets 5 out of 5 Pint Glasses

Harlem Tavern is a great spot in West Harlem to stop in for a excellent bite to eat or for drinks. Price wise it’s worth the price of admission. Expect to spend $$$ Till next time this has been THEJNSREPORT’S: A Quick Bite At The Tavern

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Socarrat Paella Bar Experience 2014!!!

Located in Chelsea around the corner of 8th Ave & 19th St.

Socarrat Entrance

Socarrat Paella Bar Int.

Socarrat Paella Bar’s interior layout reminds me of a “RailRoad” apartment. I ventured into this place on a Saturday night with a couple of friends who raved that the Paella here was a must try for Paella lovers. Having eaten Paella in Spain once upon a time. I figured now was as good a time as any to see if NYC could and would measure up to that experience.

Socarrat offers a nice atmosphere and complimentary coat check which just makes sense considering the limited seating space inside. Not having to worry about where to place one’s jacket or bag while trying to dine in is an important part of any dining out experience.

We decided to start our dining experience off with some appetizers while looking over which Paellas we were going to try. After some thought we settled on having white anchovies, in olive oil with black & green olives, sliced plum tomatoes and bacon wrapped dates.

White Anchovies

The White anchovies actually tasted better than anticipated and were quickly laid waste to along with everything else on the plate. That being said, ladies and gentlemen…Behold the power of Bacon son!!!

Bacon Wrapped Dates

Whoever came up with this creation to quote Epic Meal time is “F’N Smart!!!” Salty sweet cravings get satisfied and then some when having one of the above bad boys let me tell ya. Once again, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Yassum!!!

After toasting with cocktails of Milagros Tequila with lime…. out came our Paellas.

Paellas

Paella with Squid Ink

We chose one Paella with Black Rice colored with Squid Ink. The second Paella had no ink in it. Both were equally well cooked and very delicious.

Paella II

Portions more than satisfied and caused us to have to request a doggy bag.

Doggy Bag

Exit

The next day I was able to enjoy some left over Paella that tasted even better the second day especially when coupled with scrambled eggs. Yes Ma’am!!! It was gooood!!! Socarrat in terms of presentation and taste gets 4 1/2 dinner plates out of 5. OOOO [. We had a great time dining here and ultimately ended up closing the place down.

While Socarrat is definitely a cool little spot to dine be warned this is not a cheap place to eat. Our tab for 3 people came in at a bit over $200 with tip. Drinks definitely contributed to the bill perhaps more than the Paella and appetizers.

Even so, I’ll definitely be back to sample more Paella from Socarrat in the near future. Till next time this has been the Socarrat Experience 2014 by THEJNSREPORT.