Latin American food you didn’t know you wanted and needed
La Pulperia:
La Pulperia is now my new favorite Latin American restaurant when I am in Manhattan. Chef and owner Carlos Barroz opened La Pulperia in the Upper East Side and since then it has expanded to Midtown East and Hell’s Kitchen. La Pulperia is unique in the way that it fuses traditional South American dishes with European influences from Spain and Italy.
The Hell’s Kitchen location is pretty deep into the west side, close to 10th avenue. As I was walking there all I could think about are all the messy nights I have had when going to all the local gay bars while simultaneously checking Google maps to make sure that I was walking the right way and didn’t accidentally pass the restaurant. The restaurant itself isn’t super hard to miss and has a really cute, dimly lit interior that creates this sense of refinement. We were greeted by the hostess almost immediately and were brought to our seats. The hostess was even nice enough to take our things which were nice that way we didn’t have all the extra clutter from our bags and coats.
After we got comfortable, we immediately looked at the cocktail menu. There were so many interesting cocktail choices and it took us a while to choose what sounded the best for us. A cocktail can make or break your night and so we had to make sure we started off our night the right way. I decided to start with the La Peruanita which was made with Pisco 100, Maracuya puree, Egg whites, and Gum syrup. Now when my friend read that egg whites and gum syrup was in the drink she was a little skeptical. Luckily, I had a drink a while back that featured egg whites and it just makes the drink very frothy and a little thick which I think is very yummy. And in case you didn’t know, gum syrup is essentially an alternative version of simple syrup. So when I tried the drink, the egg whites created a great froth on top which was very cool when touching your lips. And the maracuya puree (which is just passion fruit puree) gave the drink a great sweetness with a slight tart taste at the very end. And the gum syrup just allowed the drink to go down extremely smooth. My friend had the La Pulperia which was made with Zarco Tequila, Cointreau liqueur, fresh pineapple, jalapeno, cilantro, and a black lava salt rim. If you are going to name a drink after your restaurant, it better be good (it was really good!!!). The drink first hits you with the sweetness from the pineapple and paired with the salt rim balances out that sweetness and acidity. And right when your palette mellows out, you are hit with an ever so subtle spicy kick from the jalapeno. If you are a fan of a little spice in your life then this would be a great drink to go for. It has salt, sweetness, and spice all in one.
For starters, we went with the guacamole and the beef empanadas. The guacamole was a solid guacamole. It has a good amount of seasoning from the herbs, a little acidic, and what I loved the most was the cotija cheese on the top. It’s a little weird to think about a cheesy guac but let me tell you, the cotija cheese really mellows out the acidity of the lime in the guac as well as the fattiness from the avocados. And then we moved on to the beef empanadas. These empanadas were A-MA-ZING. When eating food with a crust, I am a harsh critic of the crush and the dough. But let me tell you, the empanada crust was flaky and moist and was just so addicting. The beef was cooked nicely and seasoned really well. The dish also came with a chimichurri sauce which adds a bit of acidity to cut through the savoriness of the beef. But, these empanadas could be eaten without any sauce and still be delicious.
We now move on to the main course. We tried the Lobster (because you can’t really go wrong with lobster) and we tried the Moqueca Mixta which is a Brazilian stew made with squid, shrimp, mussels, white fish, scallops, soybeans, Spanish chorizo, bacalao, green coconut rice, and dende oil. The lobster was sweet and cooked well. The fun part (well depends who you are) is that you get to crack open the lobster yourself since they give you a whole lobster. The Moqueca was absolutely delicious. The broth in the stew was very rich and bright. It really allowed each individual seafood piece to shine by accentuating their naturally sweet taste. It was also served with a crostini like bread which was great for literally sopping up the broth. The rice was also great where if you give it enough time, the rice will absorb the juices of the broth and became super flavorful.
Overall, we loved eating at La Pulperia. The food was delicious, the restaurant was cute, and the staff were friendly and very helpful. You can check out one of their three locations around the city if you are in the mood for some great Latin American food.