Cienfuegos

I had been patiently waiting for restaurateur Ravi DiRossi’s Cienfuegos to go all-vegan… then I forgot about it. But then I remembered and went relatively soon thereafter for a friend’s birthday soirée.

We tried most of the small plates on the menu. They were all fantastic, though photographed poorly in the dark ambiance. Here–kale, forbidden rice, and black bean empanadas and Cuban charred corn drenched in lime crema and pumpkin seeds. 

The mother load, front to back: fried guacamole (amazing!) and a bowl of plantain chips, Cuban sliders, yucca fries in a herb pesto. 

Back to the fried guacamole. This was a spectacular plate. The horribly flashy photograph below was my desperate attempt to capture it. But it did it no justice.

I was on cake duty. As in, I picked up the cake in the 4 hours I had to kill. . this is one of the tough parts about being a teacher. Who else gets off work at 3:10? Anyway, I headed to the West Village to By Chloe’s bakery and dropped it off at Cienfuegos for serving.  It was a bit dense but tasted yummy.

And my day ended as it started, in the dark and on a train.