Accomplished Eaters

Sunday was nothing short of an embarrassment of riches. Rich food, that is. The boyf got us tickets to an afternoon concert at Lincoln Center, and of course, we planned the day's itinerary around our meals.

I rose bright and early and did some warm-up (stomach) stretches with a wee snack plate:

Along with my coffee, I had strawberries, a couple medjool dates with almond butter and the raw macaroon samples from One Lucky Duck, courtesy of Melissa. The chocolate one 'raw'ked my socks off! Oh, and I had a multivitamin that wasn't supposed to actually be in the photograph.

I hustled into the city after a quick shower and met the boyf for brunch at Angelica. It was high time he experienced the insane goodness for himself. At my suggestion, he ordered the Ole Man Seitan burrito, which is what I ordered when I dined there for the first time. I ordered from the daily specials menu, and I can't remember what they called it...but it had some cutesy name that didn't do much to describe the phenomenon that ended up on my plate.

HOT POT OF COFFEE was this ever delicious. It was similar to a pot pie, I suppose - the top and bottom crusts were made of a maize masa, I believe, and the filling was a spicy stew of seitan and roasted veggies. Sort of what I would imagine Mayan cuisine to be, not that I'm any expert on indigenous Latin American gastronomy...

Don't think I didn't lick my plate clean, either.

And just because we were in the neighborhood, we had to pay our respect to the cakes at Atlas. Not like a trip there would ever be premeditated when I'm involved. ;) Mine was the S'mores (foreground) and his was the Hazelnut (background).

The boyf's cake kicked my cake's booty, big time. Don't think I didn't lick my plate clean again anyway, though. :)

We did our best impression of cultured audience members once seated in Avery Fisher Hall up at Lincoln Center, but I have to admit that the food coma overtook me during one piece. Unfortunately, it was the one dedicated to a couple of cancer survivors. Who were playing in the symphonic band on stage at the moment. And the composer was in the audience. DOH!

The concert was great overall, though, and if you ever have a chance to listen to the choral works of Eric Whitacre, I recommmend doing so.

We made a valiant effort towards digestion during and after the concert, but inevitably, 5 o'clock rolled around. In our world, when strolling Lincoln Center at that hour on a Sunday evening, it can only mean one thing, and that thing is not happy hour. It's a reservation at Rosa Mexicano. There may or may not have been margaritas involved, but that's a minor detail. :)

If you've ever been to one of Rosa Mexicano's locations, you know that it's not a dinner worth having unless you get the guacamole, which they make tableside in a molcajete and then put the whole thing down in front of you with fresh chips and handmade tortillas. That's my frozen pomegranate margarita in the foreground. It's not really a coincidence that the photo is "tipsy" itself, I guess!

I ganked a bite or two of the boyf's appetizer, which is a skillet of queso fresco with chorizo and poblano peppers, served with more handmade tortillas...holy heart attack, this stuff is good, though understandably the one plate from the whole day's worth of eats that we did NOT clean!

I was too fixated on my own plate to take a pic of the boyf's, but my entree was what I believe they call Mole de Xico, which is a set of two beef enchiladas drowned in a rather sweet mole sauce - their version has platano, raisin and hazelnut flavors. Clean plate: check.

I don't often cook meat for myself because it's expensive, a little gross, and kind of a pain in the sanitation department, so it's nice to be able to order a really great meat dish once in a while, especially when I'm at an exceptional restaurant. And only a truly exceptional restaurant would have a naked-diving-man wall fountain.

Sunday was definitely our idea of fun, and the stars don't often align so that we're able to go all out like that, so it was really big treat.

What's your idea of the perfect day? And don't try and pretend like it doesn't involves something delicious. :)

(Don't forget the granola giveaway! Enter here!)