DRYDEN - Village Taqueria and Grill

DRYDEN - VILLAGE TAQUERIA AND GRILL

We’re back for round 2 here at Village Taqueria! We were passing by on our way home from our friend’s birthday nearby and decided it was the right place for dinner. We hesitated because we weren’t sure if they were open or if it was too close to closing, we don’t like being those people that push it down to the wire at all but a couple of people/groups came after we ordered which made us feel better for sure.

LOCATION: 2 E. MAIN ST. DRYDEN, NY

No tamale sightings this time so tonight was a taco only night. I couldn’t quite remember how I felt about the tacos the last time we went so it was a fresh slate for me this time around when I ordered. I decided to go with my standard order and went with a Carnitas Street Taco. an Al Pastor Street Taco, and a Baja California Fish Taco. Caleb found my order to be annoying since I got three different types of tacos but I’m convinced it’s totally normal. I always get three different tacos whenever I go to a taco place like this. There’s a reason that they sell them individually! He’s more of a burrito person though so I guess if he got tacos he would just order one type. Where’s the fun in that!?

Since I’ve already written about the Baja California Fish Taco last time I’ll glaze over it and just say it was a perfectly good battered fish taco. On to the meat! The Street tacos are listed as coming on a grilled corn tortilla with onions, cilantro, radish, and lime. The al pastor however, came with pineapple instead of radish which is a pretty typical substitute. This was a pretty good sweet addition but as you can see in the photo, the pineapple was a huge chunk and would’ve been a little more enjoyable if it was cut more uniformly for the taco. The Carnitas Street Taco was flavored well and had a good balance overall. It doesn’t stand out at all but it was a good taco.

I think my take away from the Village Taqueria after two visits is that it’s a pretty good place for tacos and Mexican food but it doesn’t quite live up to all our friends hyping it up. I haven’t been blown away by anything and while the ingredients are good, they don’t feel impressive or exceptional in any sort of way to me. They have a standard menu and if I’m passing by I’ll stop but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it.

ITHACA - Maru Ramen

ITHACA - MARU RAMEN

We’re going on an adventure!! Caleb and I don’t have an official date for our anniversary so a couple of years ago I picked April 15th as an arbitrary anniversary date and every year I remind him that while it’s the date that I made up, it kind of marks another year together! Success! We typically don’t really do much for it but seeing as this year we hit 5 years together Caleb decided we should have a more adventurous date day and try a new restaurant for a meal. We decided to finally go to this ramen place that we pass often in Ithaca that we’ve continued to claim we would try one day. Well, today is that day.

LOCATION: 512 W STATE ST., ITHACA, NY 14850

Maru Ramen has a cute pink storefront with big front windows that’s hard to miss and while I love ramen and was excited to try this place, Caleb tends to be more weary to try something new. Their menu has a few different types of cuisine included baos and pho along with ramen and dishes with kimchi so they’re really running the gamut of asian cuisines. Whenever I see a menu like this I tend to get a little weary about the quality or the authenticity of ingredients but I was hopeful that the namesake ramen would be enjoyable.

I tend to try tonkotsu ramen when I go to new places because it can really tell how good the restaurant is and I love a good pork belly but this time I decided to mix it up and go with the Tantan-men Ramen which, here, is made with a chicken broth, spicy tantan dashi, and includes their pork belly chashu, soy-cured soft-boiled egg, toasted sesame seeds, seaweed. ginger, and scallions. Originally, Caleb was going to get a chicken bibimbop which a classic safe choice for him. Chicken and rice usually can’t go wrong and doesn’t stretch too far beyond his comfort zone but before our waitress came back he changed his mind and decided to venture out and try some Tori Ramen which is Maru’s spicy shredded chicken ramen option. This also comes with the soy-cured soft-boiled egg, sesame seeds and all the veggies included in my ramen as well.

When it came out the bowls looked very promising. Caleb felt the bowls were quite big and deep though his had a more conical shape which give the illusion of being fuller from above than it actually is volumetrically. That doesn’t discount that this is a very generous serving of ramen which excited me. The top of the broth had a spicy oily top layer and a creamier fuller broth underneath which is always a good sign. I could tell right away that I wouldn’t like the chashu as much as I was hoping based on the cut and the lack of pork belly fat swirled throughout the pieces. They looked much leaner and therefore more dry than I was hoping for. After mixing in the toppings and the broth I also quickly noticed the straighter noodles as opposed to the wiggly chewy ones that I also prefer. Straighter noodles typically indicate a softer noodle with less chew that tend to get soggy after sitting in the broth for too long. There are, of course, straight noodles that are thinner and tend to hold up better but these were not those noodles. A good broth with average ingredients mean this place likely won’t be top of my list to revisit. While it was still a tasty dish with a great amount of kick and eggs done well, the noodles make or break this dish for me. I’m glad we ventured out and finally tried Maru Ramen but I can’t say I’d petition to go back again soon (though I’m also not opposed).

CORT - Pita Gourmet

CORT- PITA GOURMET

Another day, another lunch craving. Today, we’re headed to Pita Gourmet which is usually somewhere I like to go during warm weather just because of that Mediterranean feeling in the summer but I’ve struck a craving for Dolmas today so off we go.

LOCATION: 41 MAIN ST., CORTLAND, NY, 13045

I’ve eaten here before and I’m kind of surprised I haven’t written a post about it yet so here we are. When I think if Pita Gourmet I have positive thoughts but I think my expected vs. reality ideas of it don’t quite line up. I like walking in there and ordering at the counter from the founders of the restaurant who seem so nice and get right down to business. The place feels authentic and it makes me excited to eat the food so maybe I’m just ordering the wrong thing and that’s why it’s not quite living up to my expectations.

My normal order is the Mazza combo which lets you try three of the five options: tabouleh, hommos, baba gannush, grape leaves or falafel. I love this option because it allows me to try a few different items and graze a little then switch it up so the flavors never get boring. I’m a fan of tapas or appetizer/sample platters for this very reason so ordering something that gives me multiple samples is ideal for me.

So when it comes down to it, I tend to order the mazza combo with hommos, grape leaves (my favorite Mediterranean dish), and falafel. This combo comes with warm pita for dipping which I also love. Warm Pita is just comforting all around. However, though this place delivers with options, I’m usually let down a little with the actual food.

The grape leaves (dolmas) are perfect to me and I love that they’re warm and zesty so there’s no complaint there but I could see them being a little too acidic/sour for some. The hommos is a little bit of a let down and isn’t really anything to write home about. It doesn’t have much interest to it and while it’s not bad, it’s not great either. The falafel really loses me and is so dry and overly salted. It comes on a little bed of tomato and lettuce that’s a little sad to look at and I can’t say that I rush to eat it either. It helps to eat the falafel dipped in some of the hommos to bring down the salt levels and add some moisture but I can’t imagine eating it with the pita because it would be dry dry dry. I could substitute out the falafel and get baba gannush or tebouleh but I can’t imagine getting the baba gannush AND the hommas as they’re too similar in texture. I also will admit that I’m not a huge fan of tebouleh so that’s not a great choice for me either. If it were, I would just order the Fabulous Five which is the combo with all of these options.

At the end of it, I want to love Pita Gourmet and I want to go more often but it’s tended to let me down the few times I’ve gone and my visits are few a far between. Maybe writing this post will be a reminder for me to expand my ordering and try something new next time. I just love the grape leaves so much and this combo always looks so appealing to me just on variety alone. Stay tuned. I promise I’ll order a different dish the next time I go. I’m sure there’s something wonderful here that' I’m just missing.

CORT - Wild Ginger Asian Fusion

CORT - Wild Ginger Asian Fusion

This week leading up to the holidays is tricky with prepping to travel and not wanting to get too many groceries before we have to pack up and leave so it’s leading to more lunch takeout than I would typically like but I won’t say I’m upset that I’m getting lunch from Wild Ginger.

LOCATION: 47 MAIN ST., CORTLAND, NY, 13045

Typically, I just order sushi and call it a day but I’m craving something warm today and miso soup won’t cut it. I decided to be a little more adventurous and I ordered the Beef Negimaki Bento Lunch Special. I’ve never heard of Beef Negimaki before but I really wanted a beef dish (I guess my body wants iron) and I looked up Beef Negimaki and to seemed like something nice to try. Google says it’s a traditional Japanese dish of thinly pounded meat that's marinated in teriyaki sauce, wrapped around scallions and grilled. I’m never really drawn to teriyaki sauce dishes but it’s not usually bad either so it seemed worth the shot.

The bento boxes from Wild Ginger are a good deal since they come with a couple dumplings/mini eggrolls, rice, soup/salad, and a California roll along with the protein of choice. While I knew this was a filling order I also go a spicy salmon roll too because I really wanted that but there wasn’t a way to substitute the Cali roll for it when I ordered online. I was super happy I ordered the salmon roll though because the California roll just doesn’t cut it like it used it. I did have too much food and had to save some for dinner but it was a good order overall. I didn’t really love the Beef Negimaki because there was SO MUCH scallion on the inside which was very overpowering; not the dish for me though the grilled beef was still good. I also still don’t love teriyaki because it can be so salty so these were things I knew going into ordering that weren’t a surprise for me. If these things sound like your type of food, then Negimaki is good for you but it turns out to not be my thing. I’m still glad I tried it and it was a good deal for lunch so I’m happy about that as well. Wild Ginger doesn’t let me down.

CORT - Yori House

Yori House is back in rotation! At least for today. I always come back to it because I CRAVE Korean food and I always want Yori House to be good even when it continues to slightly disappoint me. They did just come out with their Winter ‘22 menu and there were some menu items I wanted to try so I had to give it another shot. It also happens to be the only restaurant in town that is remotely Korean so this is my only option for a fix. The struggle is so real.

LOCATION: 114 ELM ST., CORTLAND NY, 13045

One new item on their winter menu is the Creamy Seafood Pasta which I’m not sure is remotely Korean but this could be a good thing for my expectations. The pasta comes with shrimp, mussels, cream sauce, and pecorino cheese over a classic spaghetti. Seeing as my go to dish on their menu is the Seafood ‘Paella’, this option seemed like a safe choice for something I would enjoy and I wasn’t wrong. They use the same mussels and shrimp in their paella dish as well as the same cream sauce so the only difference was the carb that was switched out. I don’t recall if the paella has pecorino on it but boy did it add a lot more salt to this dish. It was a little bit of a salt bomb and I was really glad I decided to order edamame on the side to help me quell the saltiness of the pasta though the shrimp did help.

Yori House slightly disappoints again. This wasn’t a bad meal and was still edible but it wasn’t very good and I will go back to my usual Seafood Paella next time instead over this salty pasta. Oh Yori House, we’ll keep trying.