Click on images below to enlarge:
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| Lunch from Hi-Rise at the Blacksmith House
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| Hi-Rise at the Blacksmith House is the bakery/cafe from which we bought
lunch.
| A sandwich with a large chicken breast, roasted peppers (in small strips),
onions (ditto), and black olive spread. Good. I got it because it had
the black olive spread, yet the strongest flavor was the roasted peppers.
(I didn't mind.) The peppers made the sandwich really punchy.
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| South End
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On the way to dinner and while waiting until a table opened, we explored
the neighborhood of Boston's South End.
It's filled with brownstones that reminded me of some found in Brooklyn.
There's no dense commercial district. Although some main streets have
shops, even shops on these streets aren't often adjacent--they're
separated by residential and other buildings.
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| Dinner at Orinoco
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For dinner, we ventured to Orinoco, a hip, semi-casual
Venezuelan restaurant in the South End.
The scoop: the empanada dish was quite good. Nothing else is worth
ordering. But, I want to go back to eat more empanadas and the salad they
come with.
In this lighting, Orinoco's entrance looks almost rustic.
| A panorama of Orinoco's interior. It has personality.
| Di Yin and I with very intense gazes.
| An Arepa ("Traditional Venezuelan Grilled Corn Pocket Sandwiches made
Just Like In Any Taguarita back Home--a Healthier and More Delicious
Substitute for Bread") Pernil: "slow cooked pork leg with mojo." A
soggy, difficult-to-eat stuffed bread. The pork wasn't
particularly good. Not even the sauce made it worth putting in the
effort to eat.
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| Empanadas ("Traditional Latin American Turnover Patties served with Fresh
Tossed Salad and Our three Special Salsitas") Verde "made with 100%
plantain dough and filled with wild mushrooms, piquillo, manchego cheese
and salsa verde." The empanadas are the darker, fried items in the
corners of the plate. Although pretty good, they were outclassed by the
accompanying salad and its great dressing.
| Di Yin above the empanada plate.
| Me above the empanadas.
| "Asado Negro: panela and onion slow-cooked beef and sauce with rice and
sweet plantains." I thought the meat was pretty boring; it reminded me
of dorm food. The plantains were the standard good fried plantains.
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One major complaint about the restaurant is that food came out
unpleasantly fast. We were only halfway through our first appetizer and
hadn't even started on our second when the entree was delivered.
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The total was $16/person including tax and tip.
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Should I return to the restaurant, I'd try to following other dishes
recommended by restaurant reviewers:
- datiles (bacon wrapped, almond-filled dates)
- domino arepa. (Many people admit most arepas are dry. Some say that
perhaps the beans and cheese add moisture, making this the best one.)
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| Fodder of Panorama of Orinoco's Interior
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