1 cup ketchup
1 tbsp. prepared horseradish
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. Swazi Fire Sauce
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Mix all ingredients together. Serve.
*Johnna’s tip: Be very careful with this sauce! Swazi Fire Sauce is pretty spicy and almost burned someones eyes out after handling this sauce and touching the eyes (*Trust us, we witnessed the pain firsthand…) Serve as the sauce for your shrimp cocktail or with oysters.
Before this weekend, we could not understand the hype surrounding Rosa Mexicano. That is, until, we came face to face with the National Harbor’s Rosa Mexicano. The setting is beautiful with patio style chairs lining the outdoor dining area and a cool, fresh view of the Potomac as you sip Tequila. The inside decor isn’t much to talk about except if you sit in the right seat, you too can get a nice glimpse of the waterfront as you dine. Reasons we fell in love with this place over the weekend?? Well besides the fact that the view is beautiful and when the weather is warm it’s always fun to sit outside with a Margarita or two (while the breeze from the Potomac lightly touches your shoulders…), the food was delicious.
It was a large group of us (*It’s that time of year to celebrate graduations around the clock…), so our expectations for the service were very low going in. We were delightfully surprised however to find some of the most attentive service for a group of 16. We didn’t have to send the staff back for missing orders and it wasn’t a big fiasco when one of our guests had special meal requests. Before this dinner, we hated guacamole as in “ugghhh, disgusting, we’ll pass…”, but Rosa National Harbor changed our minds. The restaurant is known for great guacamole that they make right there at your table with fresh avocado, tomatoes and onions amongst other fresh ingredients. We ended up eating half the bowl. By ourselves. Enough said. The Flauta de Pollo (*Small, rolled crispy tacos topped with salsa verde & sour cream) were a nice treat in between waiting for the entrees too. The entrees ranged from grilled organic salmon over black beans and french cut chicken breast topped with a wild mushroom-tequila cream sauce (*This was our absolute fave of the day besides the guacamole…). But they didn’t stop here, dessert was even more inviting. It was a rich, creamy cheesecake with cajeta sauce (*which basically tastes like caramel) in the center.
We were impressed. The Rosa Mexicano in D.C. does not compare to the one on the Harbor. We don’t know if this is due to different management or the newness of the one on the Harbor, but this is definitely worth the drive. We would go back and this time we are sitting in one of those comfy looking patio chairs…
Picture source: http://www.rosamexicano.com/ChefsCorner/Recipes/tabid/89/Default.aspx#guacamole_en_molcajete
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese (softened)
3 tbsp. milk
2 green onions (finely chopped)
2 tbsp. prepared horseradish
2 (6 oz.) cans crabmeat (drained and flaked)
1 tbsp. capers (finely chopped)
In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese, milk, green onions and horseradish; gradually mix in crabmeat by folding it in. Top with capers. Chill in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours before serving. Serve.
*Johnna’s tip: It’s warming up outside, so we gotta start cooling it down in the kitchen. This weekend will be the first official weekend that kicks off the summer of cookouts, bbq’s and all the rest of the outdoorsy activities. Cold items are going to be needed alongside all the ribs and hot dogs that will be smoking on the grill. Try this as one of your appetizers and serve inside a King’s Hawaiian Bread Round (*We love, love, love these as a way of serving cold dips such as cold crab dip or cold spinach dip). Just cut the top off of the bread round, scoop out the bread inside and break into small pieces for dipping, set aside. Fill the empty bread round with your dip and put the small pieces beside it, it’s ready for serving. Have a great Memorial Day weekend!!
Simple, coffee, wireless. Doesn’t it feel good to go to spot that offers all three sometimes?? When looking for a good place to eat, spending large sums of money or going to some hole in the wall that’s been the neighborhood favorite for years come to mind. It never seems to be the in between spot (*Translation: In between spot is a spot that’s not the best food you’ve tasted but it’s good food for these prices and the decor isn’t beat down) that gets any love these days. Society Cafe is that spot: in between with good food (*Entrees range from $4-$15). The setting is a bit different from your typical coffee shop with a couple of lunch room style tables in the center of the restaurant and one long letter couch lining one of the walls. Even with the lunch room style seating, it still makes you feel cozy and want to curl up/cross your legs and read a good blog online (*Ahem…JKGF…;-) while sipping on one of their caffeine treats.
The open kitchen encourages you to peer over and see what’s cooking which could range from shrimp and grits to cheddar apple sandwiches. We had the shrimp and grits which we must say we were pretty impressed with (*Even though you know JKGF is not a huge fan of spicy food and this definitely had some New Orleans spice in the pot…). The Italian sodas are worth a try too with flavors such as Coconut, Passion Fruit and Almond. We must say the thing we liked the most about Society was the vibe of the people patronizing the spot. Looking around we saw a mom, grandma and young child sitting and enjoying a meal together while on the other side of the small room sat a group of young men talking politics and beside them a young woman enjoying her afternoon latte while browsing the Internet. It seemed like the spot you could come for just about any reason: to chill, to catch up with friends/family or to just read/study.
The service. Ehhh, we could’ve done without the waitress/cashier attitude (*That’s right, the same person was doing the waiting and the cash register…in addition to randomly later on that night, we breezed through 67 Orange and there we found the same waitress!! Is NY running low on servers in the industry these days?!?…Just asking…), she seemed a bit irritated when we first arrived.
It is good to see new spots like Society popping up in Harlem these days, it adds a nice flavor to the neighborhood…and not to mention it beats Starbucks coffee;-)
Locate:
Society Coffee & Juice, Inc.
2104 8th. Avenue
NY, NY 10026
(212) 222-3323
