There's Nothing Skanky About 79th Street. Especially at Dinner Time.

Biscayne Boulevard from the upper 50s to 79th Street has already arrived, except for the strip club.  There are lots of restaurants, several of them excellent.  A++ for The Blue Collar.  Ni.Do. has wonderful Italian food.  Balans is a standard.  Michy's has clearly stood the test of time.  I no longer eat there, though, because it's too expensive for too little food, and it's noisy and crowded.  I would definitely skip the Indian place, Namaste, on the west side of the street.  It's not at all good.

On 78th Street just east of Biscayne, where Ouzo's used to be, is a place called Big Fish.  Excellent food, now downright classy and expanded, and a nice setting outside.  It's not cheap, but it's not unreasonable for the high quality of the food.  The fish is tasty, the recipes are most pleasing, and the side dishes and bread are fulfilling.  I sort of forgot to blog this place, but Walter and Erica Pettis recently ate there, they loved it (they now intend to be regulars), and they suggested I get the word out.  It's out.  Go to Big Fish.

Around the corner on 79th Street, the gentrification continues.  Liza Meli, who used to own Ouzo's, has now reopened the same kind of place on the north side of the street between Biscayne and NE 8th Avenue. She now calls herself BarMeli.  Pretty much the same food, and why not, since it worked very well.  Still the same friendly, if occasionally harried, service.  And if Liza the knockout isn't there, Alexandra the other knockout is.  Liza still features music, at least from time to time.  I don't know if it's because this place is still a bit new, or if it's because it's Liza, but you never know quite what's on the entertainment menu.  Liza was also planning to start one of her special evenings, which was to be on Thursdays.  The deal was tasting the wine of the week or month, and whatever other wines she wanted to add to it, and "tapas" (every trendy place has to serve "tapas" nowadays) for $25.  This program hadn't actually started by the end of her second week, but it may well have by now.  There's always a reason to eat at whatever restaurant Liza owns.  The only precaution this time is the lamb chops.  In a word, don't.  They're surprisingly tiny, and they're surprisingly expensive, for such little chops.  They were also not particularly good.  Get anything else on the menu, though.  And Liza always makes sure she stocks excellent wine.  Still the case.  "Happy Hour" is 5-7, and you'll get wine for $5 a glass, or beer for $3 a glass.

A year or so ago, I was at one of the WDNA jazz concerts, and the caterer was Boteco's.  They have restaurants on NE 79th Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues) and on South Beach.  Their offerings were terrific, and for who knows what reason, I never got around to going to the actual restaurant.  Until tonight.  Boteco features music on some sort of schedule, and tonight, the performers were Rose Max and Ramatis.  I've heard them twice before, and they're spectacular.  She sings Brazilian jazz, and he, her husband, plays guitar.  So that was enough to make tonight the night to try Boteco for real.  I went with three other people, and we got "tapas," other appetizers, a Brazilian salad, and a bottle of wine.  The food was exceptionally good.  We got two kinds of chicken, one kind of fish (one chicken dish and the fish were croquettes), fried yuca, a black bean and bacon side dish, and the salad.  I wanted one of their spicy jerked beef dishes, but they didn't have anything with jerked beef tonight.  We also got a bottle of Malbec for $26.  The food was perfect, and so was the wine.  We never even got to regular entrees.  The other thing that was perfect was Rose Max and Ramatis.  Boteco also has a special all-you-can-eat menu for lunch on Sundays, and they have special menus for Thursday dinner and Saturday lunch.  The Saturday all-you-can-eat lunch deal is feijoada.  I haven't had feijoada from Boteco, yet, but if you don't know this dish, do yourself a favor.  It's a Portuguese white bean and meat stew, more or less like Spanish fabada or French cassoulet.  From what I tasted of their other dishes, I would put money on their feijoada.  There are other promotions, too.  You can find them online.

By the way, if you haven't been, check out Marky's Gourmet (Russian) Store.  Remarkably good gourmet foods and ingredients, and the prices are actually good for this stuff.  Marky's has been there for decades.  The staff are amazingly helpful.  Marky's is on the north side of 79th Street between about NE 7th and 8th Avenues.


PS:  In a word, or two identical words, Tunky-Tunky.  It's not on 79th Street.  It's on Biscayne at 110th, where North 110 was.  The menu is Peruvian, and the food is amazingly good.  I did say amazingly, didn't I?  Portions are generous, the service is practically a show of its own, if you like handsome and cut waiters, and the food is as tasty as the day is long.  I don't know enough about Peruvian food to know if it's authentic, but it sure was good.  The raw fish dish was spectacular, in substantial part because of the sauce.  The prices were not at all bad, either.