Dinner at 312 Square Feet

The humidity was criminally high as we made our way down Canal Street on a Saturday night, dodging drunken tourists and scary visitors to the final evening of the San Genaro festival a block away, but we persisted. The Light at the End of the Sticky Tunnel? 312 Sq Feet! A place most of you should have visited (virtually at least via link on the right of this page) and salve for our quickly fraying nerves. Sure enough we barely stepped inside before relaxing with a minty cocktail and soothing ciggie and love from house mascot Ronnie, the Three-Legged Kitty. Once the furball settled into Cafe Drake's lap, and the liquor hit the synapses, we knew all was well. Icing on the cake was a spread of good brown bread, St. Andre triple creme and herbed boursin cheeses, as well as an assortment of olives of every stripe, color and marinade process. Good company including Cafe Drake pal and illustrator extraordinaire Lisa Weber and longtime compadre Octavio Fenech added to hostess Christine Hart's (the brains behind 312 Sq Ft, of course) welcoming atmosphere of casually elegant comfort.

A starter of patatas bravas was genius and eye opening: delicately roasted potatoes (golden without an overwhelming brownness that results from longer times in a hotter oven) tossed with a spicy tomato sauce and chopped parsley. As if you needed another reason to visit Christine's blog, the recipe can be found under "Older Posts" at the bottom of 312 Sq Feet's home page. Tomatoes gracefully made the transition to a main course sauce as well, this time coating a huge tuna loin seasoned with lemon peel and fresh mint, sided with simple fresh Swiss chard, a silky co-star absorbing perfectly the tuna sauce's pleasant acidity. More red, white and sparkling wine, coffee and good dark chocolate brought this delightful evening to a close . . . but not before Cafe Drake snapped a few more pics and swallowed a couple of shots of port.