Calle Ocho

Calle Ocho
446 Columbus Avenue - Map
Between 81st Street and 82nd Street
(212) 873-5025
Latin Cuisine

This kitchy, happening restaurant on the Upper West Side is a great place to go for a high-energy, vivacious, meal. As soon as you walk in, vibrant colors, and the layout of the entrance is fun, yet relaxing and inviting. The bar sports a wonderful selection of various latin-influenced cocktails and mixed drinks to titillate your palate! Also, a novelty not typically found at many latin-type bars/lounges is fresh sugar cane! Yes, you read correctly! :-) Stalks of it are strategically placed on the bar to not only add a sense of latin paradise decor, but as a handy accoutrement to many of the drinks on the menu.

My visit to this cool establishment was due to NYC Summer Restaurant week, where I met with my former co-workers for some after-work dinner to catch up on life, and take advantage of their inexpensive prix fixe dinner. Until our entire party arrived, as we slowly trickled in, we were kindly served drinks at the aformentioned bar (which would be cool to go to even on a night out on the town!). The bartender was upbeat, cool, and had a witty air about her that was off-color in a very fun way. She was more than happy to describe some of the more exotic drinks, and was fairly accomodating. When we finally all arrived, we were escorted to the back, which explodes into a room with VERY high ceilings, sistine-like in its magnitude. Palm trees were placed at various corners to add to the illusion of height, allowing your eye to follow its slender and graceful ascent to the ceiling.

While I wasn't pleased that it took a while to get some service, to their credit, they were packed to capacity, and the quality of the food in terms of presentation, aroma, and taste was very well-done and worth the wait. Also, since we weren't really in any rush (short of developing some light hunger pangs - which I think helped in appreciating the cuisine), it was nice to just sit, sip on our cocktails, and schmooze around. While the large room was fairly loud, it created the fantasy of complete privacy. On a side-note, one of our party brought her baby son with her. Now, I normally don't recommend bringing children, especially infants (and even worse when they walk and run-around), this place was loud enough to even drown out a distant babies cries (not that we heard any) - so this place is definitely stroller-friendly.

When we finally had a chance to place our orders, it wasn't too long until we got our first course. I ordered their Tamal appetizer - described as being "Ecuadorian sweet corn and goat cheese Tamal, shrimp enchilado." Allow me to sing it's praise. The fusion of flavors went very well - the musky gaminess of the goat cheese, spread atop a baked plaintain, somewhat reminiscent of a strip of toothpaste, provided a perfect compliment to the rich savory flavors of the corn and shrimp. For my entree, I ordered their salmon dish served with a light tangerine glaze that not only added a beautiful sheen, but a healthy rich color to the fish, that was served with a side of lobster mash and cucumber salsa. What initially drew my eye to the salmon dish in the first place was the cucumber salsa - it just sounded so interesting and I was curious to see how it would taste, and secondly, I was looking forward to the flavor of the tangerine glaze on my salmon - yum!

I have to say, I was not disappointed. The portion was appropriate, and I didn't feel like I was gorging myself. While I make it a rule to order fish either medium, or medium rare (only if I'm familiar with how the chef prepares fish in the first place, and I'm ensured a decently prepared fish), I found that they cooked the center cut piece exactly to how I prefer it: moist, flaky, and slightly raw on the inside, with it's juices flowing everywhere. Commonly, I find that most of the seasoning tends to stay on the outside of the fish at many establishments that I attend, and I was pleasantly impressed with the harmonious homogeny of flavour infused in every bite, nook, and cranny. The lobster mash was also particularly delicious, delicate in the mouth, satiny creamy, with a distinct flavor of the sea that all seafood lends to its dishes - I found it to go very well with the salmon that tends to have a heartier, more robust flavor. The most impressive was the light cucumber salsa strewn about the plate, almost added as a garnish than as an accompanying side-dish. It's light refreshing flavor and texture was a perfect balance to an otherwise "heavier" counterpart.

I had also requested a glass of their Campo Viejo Rioja (Rioja is a typically Spanish red wine commonly found in many Sangria recipes). While it may be somewhat untraditional to order a red wine with fish/seafood, many of these conventional boundaries are broken these days in order to create a more robust dining experience. Once again, my somewhat inebriated instincts didn't fail me (at this point, I had downed 2 glasses of their red sangria! They also had a white one, which I tasted, and was very good - more of a citrusy overtone) - and the medium-bodied, semi-dry (but more on the dry end) red wine did very well to sort of cleanse the palate between bites, and made for a wonderful "end-note" to complete each balanced fork-full of food (yes, I know "end-note" is a term used in fragrances and perfumes - but for all intents and purposes, that's exactly what it was like!).

For dessert, we were given a selection of their entire menu, of which I chose their Lime Flan. Allow me first to say, that my favorite dessert is Creme Brulee, of which Flan is the closest Spanish analog. While I couldn't finish dessert, the rich flavors, and the creamy custard flan, while arguably a heavier dessert, was also delectable. I had small bites of their Domino Pastelito - a chocolate lover's decadent dream come true! Rich blends of various chocolates, layered to an aesthetically beautiful perfection. The flan was also accompanied by a cappucino that was of decent blend, and not particularly noteworthy in and of itself.

In conclusion, I recommend Calle Ocho for a great way to start the evening with some high-energy fun. Great crowd, friendly service, good food.