La Fonda has Soul

After seeing Josh DeChellis masterfully prepare octopus, I couldn't help but want to check out La Fonda del Sol. Located in Midtown, this seemed like a great place to hit with my Grandma Thelma.  It turned out to be a perfect place to go with her.  Everything that we liked on the menu was in the tapas or appetizer section, which made for perfect nibbling between me and my tiny grandmother. It was also working to our advantage that the dining room -carpeted, soft, warm- was more than half empty.  We could hear each other easily and without strain.  I realize this may not be a plus for everyone, but if you want to take your grandma somewhere, the volume at Fonda is juuust right.

We started with an amuse - Taylor Bay scallops floating in horse radish, tomato jus, and a dribble of olive oil.  My grandma exclaimed that she herself could not make these, which was a high compliment.  I, too, was quite impressed - so much flavor is the mini give away!

Next came salt cod croquetas with romanesco sauce. These were also masterful.  Five came with the order, and they were rich.  But not rich enough for us to leave the odd man out.  We split the fifth.

We also quite enjoyed the sea scallop tiradito.  After a quick googling, I learned that this dish is also a relatively famous Nobu recipe.  But here, DeChellis adds tomato and uses baby cilantro curls to differentiate. 

We love shrimp so we had no qualms about ordering a jumbo prawn a la plancha as well as the garlic shrimp cazuelita.  They turned out to be very different dishes.  The prawn was indeed jumbo.  It was ginormous.  I loved it but my grandma thought it hadn't enough flavor.  She preferred the garlic shrimp, which came piping hot in a shallow dish all bubbling with garlic and oil and chilies.  Both were good; I couldn't decide.

We couldn't pass up the octopus - after I'd seen the video and the waitress stressed it's virtues.  But we ultimately weren't impressed by it - not compared to the other dishes we'd thus far relished.  We preferred the heavily charred/caramelized Brussels sprouts that we ordered to accompany all of the sea creatures.  We couldn't get enough of those - a line I usually reserve for my grandma and me with the petit fours.

All fulled up, we almost passed up dessert but we figured that sharing a creme catalona would be innocent enough. It was a wonderful way to end the meal.  It's mellow, creamy vibe was accented heavily with cinnamon and hints of orange.

And just when we thought we were all finished, we were presented with the petit fours... A three-tiered jewelry box of the daintiest rendition of petit fours.  Almond and passion fruit macarons, lemon triangle tarts, chocolate and salted caramel truffles, quince gelées and rhubarb cookies.  And of course, we couldn't get enough.