Nothing quite like the anxiety of being far from home: Exhausted, hungry and not having a clue about where to get a good dinner. It's a crapshoot. Pick a food category, roll the dice & hope it don't come up snake-eyes.
We had a good...
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Nothing quite like the anxiety of being far from home: Exhausted, hungry and not having a clue about where to get a good dinner. It's a crapshoot. Pick a food category, roll the dice & hope it don't come up snake-eyes.
We had a good roll. My daughter & found Little Mexico on a cold, rainy Long Island night and from the moment we stepped in everything went right. The staff were really welcoming and the entire dining room seemed in a great mood.
House chips & salsa came first. Half-starved from a day of driving we demolished those righteous fried tortillas pretty handily. Ordering was then a snap. My kid asked for chicken fajitas and I picked out Tacos al Pastor and the Sopa 7 Mares like seafood stew junkie I am.
On a moderately busy night, dinner came out fairly quickly. The fajita plate was enormous, obviously intended for more than one person, sizzling hot and delicious.
The Sopa didn't look that huge but it appeared to be bottomless. Chunks of fish & shellfish kept surfacing every time I plunged the spoon in. It had a generous proportion of shrimp - all plump & snappy; a far cry from some of the withered crustaceans you find elsewhere.
My daughter requested some hot sauce. Smoky, earthy & tangy was the first impression upon tasting. Our tonsils exploding and setting fire to our lugs was the next. Boom! Nice! I asked the server what kind of chiles were in it. "Guajillos", was the answer. I'm guessing the smaller guajillo puya, which I've only heard about. Or regular guajillos from mirasol chiles grown in a nuclear reactor.
As it tuned out the 7 Mares was really filling, leaving the Tacos al Pastor as an almost impossible to attack. But I went for it anyway. Just perfect. Succulent & zippy pork with slivers of roasted, caramelized pineapple. Damn, I wish I'd had room for the other two as we rarely encounter such a luscious al Pastor around Boston. But they were coming with me anyway.
Sometimes you just get lucky.