LOCATION: 114 ELM ST., CORTLAND NY, 13045
Today I ordered myself the Seafood Paella for dinner while Caleb got his classic Kimchi fried rice. The seafood paella is described as a creamy rice dish with a spicy kick topped with sautéed shrimp and mussels. To me, this feels more like a risotto and less like a paella because there’s no crisp rice edge or smokiness and instead is just creamy. Naming aside, this may be my favorite dish from Yori House thus far. The shrimp pancake feels authentic but this is all flavor. It’s quite heavy because of all the cream and I don’t see any sort of noticeable spice but it’s so good and this portion is actually not huge so I did manage to finish it all in one go.
Unsurprisingly this doesn’t seem like it’s made with fresh mussels but these still taste fine and the shrimp is also a nice way to mix it up. This dish is super filling but very satisfying and if I’m looking for risotto, this is a close substitute.
Edit - I also decided to order the angry gnocchi because while there aren’t clearly designated appetizers this felt like it was a nod to tteokbokki which is more like a snack and I wanted to give it a shot. I will say that after eating the ‘seafood paella’ I was stuffed so I actually heated this up the next day so my thoughts are on day old angry gnocci. The description of it is “gnocchi tossed in sweet and spicy, Korean chili sauce topped with mozzarella cheese.” As can be clearly seen, they also added bell peppers which is unusual for tteokbokki but according to their social media, many people requested a veggie be added to this dish. I’m disappointed I didn’t try it before the addition because I’m not a fan of bell peppers and Yori House has a way of slicing bell peppers into quite large pieces so I feel like they take up so much filler space that I don’t appreciate, not that this was an expensive dish to purchase.
Anyways, bell peppers aside, I didn’t particularly enjoy this dish. After heating it up my gnocchi was a little too mushy so I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt that this was due to my reheating. The sauce, while it tasted good, was a little grainy and again, tasted too strongly of bell peppers. The cheese was an odd addition and I get it for the gnocchi but this just feels like one of those fusion dishes that theoretically should work but just don’t. I was totally missing the chewiness of a rice cake and was annoyed with all the bell peppers in the dish. The sauce was too sweet and grainy and overall, would not get again or recommend to people. It’s hard to see who this dish is made for after all the fusion.