Before heading to see the new musical Amazing Grace on Broadway, I stopped in for dinner at the Hell’s Kitchen location of La Pulperia, a Latin American restaurant.  Mixologist Luis Villanueva walked us through their offerings with suggestions of what we should sample, as we were their guests.

We started with Luis’s unusual cocktails. I liked the spicy Chilango signature cocktail best, containing tamarind, tequila and jalapeño served in a chili-rimmed glass and the Smoky Room, a mescal (hence the smokiness), Milagro tequila, passion fruit and pomegranate.

Since we were sampling lots of their menu items, Luis agreed to make some smaller plates for us when possible. La Pulperia’s signature appetizer is an unusual tartare of salmon, topped with cream cheese sprinkled with brown sugar and torched like a crème brûlée ($15) with a strawberry-ginger sauce.  An unusual lobster, cream and bleu cheese offering comes hot from the oven immediately topped with an egg that partially cooks from the heat, drizzled with truffle oil ($20) all served with grilled bread. A bit too rich for me.  Luis described La Pulperia’s  lamb meatballs  like a flashback to his grandmother’s Mexican kitchen. The crispy bites arrive sitting on garlic mashed potatoes with grilled peppers and onions all sitting in  a creamy chimichurri garnish.  My favorite appetizer was the crispy lobster taquitos (four for $20) of freshly cooked Maine lobster mixed with red pepper, pineapple and a soupçon of Japanese mayo in crispy wonton shells over avocado cream salsa.

We then moved on to their entrees, starting with the unusual Brazilian fish ribs ($25) marinated in an orange chipotle barbecue sauce, served with a green rice, colored by fresh cilantro and flavored with coconut milk. These succulent meaty ribs come from the Pacu fish, a freshwater fish related to the pyranna. Unusual for sure.

Next we sampled their Brazilian style seafood stew ($32), a white wine based blend of  seafood (bacalao [salted cod fish], shrimp, squid, mussels, white fish, scallops), Spanish chorizo, red pepper sauce, clams sauce and — to me an unnecessary addition of cubes of — tofu, all topped with that same green coconut rice that accompanied the fish ribs and drizzled with the bright orange palm oil.
We sampled the unusual lucama ice cream. This South American fruit has a flavor as if a mango and some pistachios had a baby! And the traditional three-milk sweet and moist cake dessert.

I’d suggest a visit to this unusual Latin American restaurant next time you’re looking for a place near the theatre.

 

– bonnie

BonnieBOTB

 

La Pulperia
Hell’s Kitchen
371 West 46th Street
(bet. 8th & 9th avenues
New York, NY, NY 10036
(212) 956-3056

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