Since R and I met, poor service has kind of become our thing. The first time I ever saw her was at a friend's birthday party at Brown's in Troy, where I ordered a soda three or four times and somehow never got it. Since then, almost every place we've gone has featured long wait times, being completely ignored by waitstaff, kitchen errors, and stale/unseasoned food. It isn't consistent, but it is unusually regular. I suspect this is the reason we like to search out the little known, uncharted places in the area. For one we both have pretty adventurous tastes, but also with this curse hanging over us, if we have a good experience then we know it's a genuinely great place.
Unfortunately, Carmen's Cafe fell completely flat on all the above issues. It started well enough, we sat and were seen immediately for food and drink orders (although, oddly, by different waitresses). The decor and floor were also nice, though my chair was set at the corner of the fireplace, forcing me to sit at a slight angle to the table. Just enough to be annoyed but not enough to say anything or move once we had sat.
The wait for our food was a good half hour for eggs. EGGS! It was probably worse for R because it was her first meal that day (I take early classes on weekends), but regardless it's kind of long for breakfast in a dining room that's only half full. Service fell down a bit here, as we finally had to ask what was going on with our food at the half hour mark (nobody had let us know the kitchen was backed up or checked on us in that time, though our water glasses were kept full which I appreciate). Fortunately, at that point it was in the window anyway.
We can officially add Peruvian cooking to our list of favorite ethnic eats. Just last week I got I got a chicken empanada from La Empanada Llama lunch stand at the Empire State Plaza. That empanada was so memorable that I had to track down the restaurant and share my find with J.
I remember reading about the new La Empanada Llama storefront located in the Crestwood Plaza in Albany (same plaza as Spinner's Pizza) and can't believe I didn't make it a point to stop by earlier. J and I got to the place a little before closing time and and the restaurant was sadly empty except for the life size stuffed llamas. We decided to order a small feast to go which seems to be the norm vs. dine-in.
Since empanadas are the specialty, we ordered one of each kind: beef, chicken, chorizo, and spinach and cheese. For little hand pies, these puppies were packed with flavor. The dough is light and flaky yet not too greasy from being fried. J's a "meatatarian" and the spinach and cheese was his favorite. My favorite was the chorizo and cabbage empanada, which was different from the bright red and spicy Mexican chorizo that I'm normally use to. I was taken aback by the bites of raisins in the beef empanada but the sweetness worked so well with the spiced beef, corn and rice filling. As for the chicken, I can see why it's a Farmer's Market bestseller. It's cooked in a traditionally aji amarillo sauce, a Peruvian yellow chilli pepper, that is midly spicy but not as sharp as jalapenos. It's a good starter empanada, even for my co-worker who normally isn't adventurous and she loved her first time trying something new. Needless to say, not one bite of any of these empanadas was disappointing. It was a good balance of flavorful filling to crust. What we discovered is that there's so much more to La Empanada Llama than its signature empanadas.
