Melba's for some Southern Comfort Food

After we opted out of the dumpling crawl that our fellow crawlers went for, we went up to Melba's in Harlem. Did I say I was happy to *finally* get there? The food smelled so good from just the aroma wafting around that I was just absolutely starving for it then. Service was wonderfully attentive and there were two birthdays in there that night; we joined in clapping and singing. Melba's gets a plus for their service.

Barb decided on the turkey meatloaf. I'm not a big meatloaf fan. That said; this was really some incredible meatloaf. Did I mention I have a NYSC coupon somewhere that I need to find? Well, I do. And the reason is all this eating I've been doing like I was a bear just before I go into hibernation. 

The meatloaf was tender, well seasoned. Can someone get the recipe please? Turkey is not always done right but Melba's did! I never really ate collard greens before but their collard greens was lip-smacking good. And if I had metabolism of a 5 year old, I would be eating this stuff every single day except for when I'm eating other stuff.

The incredible edible *turkey* meatloaf

I just had to have their southern fried chicken and waffles. And boy, did they serve it up! A large crispy breast and wing combo with three...yes three fluffy waffles and maple syrup on the side.

Chicken and waffles, Melba style

The chicken was crispy but moist - not dry. It was lightly seasoned and perfectly cooked. It is definitely a hands on food. I tried to be neat and use my knife and fork though. The mini waffles were very fluffy and the powdered sugar meant you only needed a bit of the maple syrup. It was just satisfying. I could not finish the whole thing - left about 1.5 waffles behind and just a bit of chicken. I was saving room for dessert...

A good test of a bakery is the red velvet cake which seems to be standard in every NYC bakery. C'mon, folks, you can't really mess that up...unless you were me. Although, I am not a fan of the red dye so many places like to use. Be natural - use something else. Like beets - which Carousel Bakery uses in their red velvet.

Barb got their red velvet cake and like all sweets, she left it to be wrapped home - consuming about 40% of it. Did I mention, we still had the red velvet from the Little Cupcake Bakeshop which is way better than overly sweet crumbs? Yeah, that's right. I hate Crumbs.

Moist, rich red velvet cake

This was a moist and rich cake. Very delicious. 40% is a record for Barb so that's really saying something.

I was waffling between either the Coconut layer cake and the sweet potato pie. I ended up with the sweet potato pie because Barb said it was very light - just what I wanted after a day of too much indulgence.

Melba's Sweet Potato Pie

She was right. The filling was like eating lightly sweetened, sweet potato flavored air. It really was that light - I ate almost the whole thing. The crust was so soft and it was served up warm with a bit of whipped cream. Truly a masterpiece - with some cinnamon and even a hint of cardamom. Quite delicious.

If you like southern food done right, you might want to hop that train into Harlem and indulge in some terrific food at Melba's. No, they didn't pay me to say that. It's just that good.

Melba's
300 West 114th Street
New York, NY 10026
Tel.212.864.7777
Hours:
Tues - Fri: 5 pm - 11 pm
Sat & Sun: 10 am - 3 pm and 5 pm - 10 pm
Mon: Closed

Hudson River Cafe

Hudson River Cafe in Harlem, looks like nothing special - even a bit like a dive, peeking out from its spot under the overpass by the river.

Inside, it is sleek and modern and empty. Christmas Eve, we came here, looking for good food and drinks to celebrate Barb's birthday. We scored 1 of 2.

The hostess was a little weird but the busboy and waiter made up with plenty of attention - we never lacked for water, for clean plates or anything else that we might normally have had to wave down for but due to the slow night, we had plenty of attention.

Downstairs, was a smaller area set up with a bar, seating, hostess stand and kitchen. It was expanded by promise of seating outside in an enclosed space with another bar.

We chose to sit upstairs and spied a room closed off - it might have been a dance floor but we don't know.
Just the drink menu was confusing enough as we just had no idea what to choose. Barb got a sampling of their sangria but it wasn't the best so she opted out of it. Finally we settled on the Pomegranate Martini for Barb and the Very Berry Caipirinha for myself.

Pomegranate Martini

Barb was not thrilled with her pomegranate martini. I expect it didn't have pizazz one might expect from pomegranate but it was clear she was not enamored of the drink.

I concurred. My Very Berry Caipirinha was not the tastiest drink nor was it strong. I am not an alcohol enthusiast by any means but this was one big disappointment. I am not certain it was the drink itself or bartender but something tells me that the bartender was not into his job that night.

Very Berry Caipirinha

After sipping our drinks, we concentrated on getting some food order in. As we could not decide, we finally chose two appetizers (luckily not four) - the empanadas and the buffalo shrimp.

Empanadas

The empanadas came in a trio. There was beef, chicken, cheese w/ collard greens. Interestingly enough, I have never tasted collard greens in my life. I think it's lack of southern cooking in my life...(Melba's?). :)

Collard Greens with Cheese

The Collard Greens was surprisingly good. It reminded me of spinach and cheese. Then again, I doubt that anything you fry would taste bad...so these empanadas were already delicious because of the crispy crust.

Beef Empanada

The beef was very good. Again, very flaky crust; good seasoned meat inside. It was hard to cut in half but we did it.

Chicken Empanada

This was just as good as the beef one. I admit a love of empanadas to begin with - mostly the one I found called "Argentinian Empanada' but empanadas are good. No matter what. :)

Buffalo Shrimp

Buffalo shrimp. Need I say more? After liming it up, these tasty and well cleaned shrimps paired well with the bleu cheese dip. It had the right amount of spice cut by the citrusy lime and cooled by the dip. Needless to say we polished off this plate - just the shrimp though.

Costillas de Buey

Barb ordered the Costillas de Buey, which are braised short ribs, pomegranate & rioja red wine reduction, manchego yucca mash. However she subbed the yucca mash for mashed potatoes instead. These were plated as seen above with a lovely orchid.

Seafood Paella

I should have ordered something less daunting but I went for the full monty - half lobster, various seafood as you can see and squid ink rice.

As expected,  I couldn't finish the massive plate. I tried to pick off as much shellfish as I could - meaning my favorite lobster and mussels but I managed some rice, clams, and squid. :)

We had to get ours in doggy bags to go. :X

However, because it was Barb's birthday, we had to get dessert in. Even if it meant, unbuttoning the jeans and praying not to explode. :)

They disappointed us with not having flan - by that I meant me...but they had the tres leches cake (3 milk cake) so we shared that.

As the waiter knew it was Barb's birthday, she got a candle too. (sorry, I only use my iphone now since I hate carrying lots of items).

Tres leches cake topped with candle

Luckily no singing was involved! Barb made a wish, blew out the candle and cut the cake in half. It was good - not that sweet but it was not as good as Agozar's.

I have to admit - all latin places are compared to Agozar's in my mind. :)

Hudson River Cafe

697 West 133rd Street 

New York, NY 10027-7303
T.  (212) 491-9111

Hours:

Happy Hour 4pm to 7pm (Subject to change due to private events)
Dinner Tuesday thru Saturday 5pm to 12am,
Sunday and Monday 5pm to 10:30pm
Saturday & Sunday Brunch 11am to 4pm, Dinner 5pm to 1030pm
Live Music Schedule (Sat and Sun From 11am to 3:30pm)

Happy Hour 4pm to 7pm (Subject to change due to private events)
Dinner Tuesday thru Saturday 5pm to 12am,
Sunday and Monday 5pm to 10:30pm
Saturday & Sunday Brunch 11am to 4pm, Dinner 5pm to 1030pm
Live Music Schedule (Sat and Sun From 11am to 3:30pm)