Dinner on my own

I recently ventured off for dinner by myself. The kids were at my in-law's house and my wife was at work. I set a course for Mr. Pio Pio because I had wanted to eat there for awhile and hadn't found the time. The place is definitely a hole in the wall. Not that there's anything wrong with that. In many cases, I'd argue that's a positive. I took a seat at a small table in the back next to a wall-mounted TV. Took me a second (I took French in school) to realize that the TV was volume was muted and a Latin radio station was playing. The music seemed to match that particular segment of El Gordo y la Flaca pretty well. As near as I could tell, El Gordo y la Flaca is a Regis and Kelly kind of show if  Regis put on a hundred pounds and Kelly wore short shorts.

The Yelpers recently steered me to Eva's in Syracuse so I was ready to give them the benefit of the doubt. I also saw Pernil on the menu. I've heard of it but never had it. The Arroz Con Pollo ($7.95) was tasty and quite a large dish. The chicken was a touch dry but I still enjoyed the dish.  

The Pernil ($8.50) was also pretty good. I was hoping it would be more flavorful than it was. The bites that included the little bit of sauce/parsley were the best.

One of the dishes, I'm guessing the Pernil, came with this hot sauce. It is a pretty flavorful sauce that reminded me of Lottie's Barbados Hot Pepper Sauce, just a little runnier. Remember when every mall had two stores that only sold hot pepper sauces? They all had Lottie's.

I sat next to a very nice family. The father recommended the green sauce over the hot pepper sauce. Next time. They eat here at least once a month. I enjoyed my visit. The food wasn't fantastic, but it was good and most dinners are under $10. The feeling I got from the place was that I would be able to find something I loved, it just wasn't the Arroz Con Pollo or Pernil and I'd have to keep looking.