My Kind of Saturday: Macondo and Death + Company
Move over Caracas, there’s a new arepa in my belly. I kid, because I love Caracas, but Macondo really impressed me last Saturday with its brunch (not even dinner!). I walk by this Latin restaurant on a daily basis and suffered a year-and-a-half of curiosity.
Apparently their concept is to take Latin street food to the “gourmet level,” so imagine fancy arepas (Venezuela), churros (Spain), tacos (Mexico), and a Brazilian Juice Bar. Reminds me a little bit of the new Oficina Latina huh?
On the brunch menu, this dish is simply called “Benedicts,” but it should really be renamed to something more creative, like OMG-poached eggs-smoked salmon-saffron-lemon-aioli-over-AMAZING-yellow-corn-arepa! Do you see where I’m going with this? I think I probably told 10 people about this meal on Saturday, but I just had to share my delight.
The nitty gritty… The poached eggs were a TEENY TINY bit overpoached (maybe by even 10 seconds) but absolutely delicious with the cakey yellow corn arepa, smoked salmon, and saffron lemon aioli. Everything just worked beautifully! Here are some “ness” adjectives that might not even be real words: sweetness, smokiness, fishiness, tanginess, spiciness, richness, and heaviness. It doesn’t look like it, but one of these babies turned out to be a lot of food. Obviously, I couldn’t stop eating, so I ate both and felt just lovely afterwards.
Macondo, you’ve ruined me. I still don’t know how spinach can be so wonderful. No other spinach will ever make me feel the way Macondo’s Spinach Catalana does. Just try and imagine lightly sauteed spinach that is so light it still looks raw. It was that in-between stage that impressed me so much at first glance. But the other ingredients really did it for me. The rich pine nuts, tart apple, and sweet (and squishy) golden raisins made for tasty accompaniments to the velvety spinach. Just look, it glistens:
I desperately wanted to try the Churros with spicy chocolate, but there was absolutely no space in my belly for dessert. And that never happens! I love you, Macondo.
Death + Company
After work on Saturday, John and I tried the lovely cocktails and not-so-small snacks at Death + Company. The whole speakeasy craze is as crazy as ever, and Death & Co. is always included in the conversation. How gorgeous is the interior? In reality, it’s much darker when you’re in there, but sexy nonetheless.
hauteliving.com
It’s not the typical New York speakeasy (whatever that means to you) in that you can actually find it without texting a secret number or finding a hidden door. And most importantly, they actually let you in (sometimes), unlike Milk & Honey, which recently became members-only (just found out about that). This trend is here to stay and probably won’t die down for another few years, unless tiki bars take over (nah).
Check out Death & Co.’s menu here.
As for drinks, I tried the bubbly Morfeo made with chamomile-infused old overholt rye whiskey, fresh squeezed lemon juice, housemade acacia honey syrup, galliano autentico, and topped with champagne. Yes, fancy ingredients that go WAY over my head.
Needless to say, it was delicious and refreshing.
Since I was dying from one of my frequent, almost hourly bouts of hunger, we ordered the Tuna Tartar with crushed avocado and homemade kettle chips. Bigger chunks of fresh tuna made this dish a little different from what I’m used to on the tartar front. I thought the crushed avocado tasted super fresh and gave the tuna another dimension of flavor. However, something was definitely missing in the form of salt, herbs, seasonings…something. The kettle chips paired nicely with the tuna, and even after all the fish was gone, I was still fattening up on the chips.
The Braised Short Rib Sliders were my contribution to our midnight meal. YUMMY. First of all, 3 sliders came in one order. Secondly, sliders by Death and Co. Standards are ginormous. Those 2 facts made me a very happy fatty.
The short rib was tender and juicy surely thanks to some sort of marinade or BBQ sauce. The cheese was swiss or provolone, and the slider bun was a lovely brioche (me thinks). Alcohol = memory fail. Nevertheless, the toasted bun was soft, sweet, and 100% lovely. Very yummy but not a mind-blowing culinary achievement. And that’s okay! It’s bar grub and very good bar grub at that.
What a triumpant Saturday! So delicious, so fulfilling, still recovering. Thanks Macondo, Death + Company, and the “devilishly handsome” John (his words, not mine). 
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