South of the Border Wantagh, NY

So last night me and my boyfriend wanted to go somewhere for some warm food but somewhere that is different and fun.  The first thing that came to my mind was pitchers of margarita or sangria will warm up the night.  And I couldn't think of a better place to go but South of the Border on Wantagh Avenue in Wantagh, New York.

Pulling up the restaurant looks like a restaurant that belongs on the streets of San Diego.  It has a nice clay exterior and is lit up so very inviting.  You walk in and the entry way is very small so if anyone else is coming in, it gets a bit cramped and not so inviting to wait.  But luckily you are more than welcome to pull a chair to the bar and enjoy a few pre dinner drinks while waiting for a table.  We did not need to wait for a table which was good since it was a Saturday night at 7pm, but we also were lucky because it was crowded and after we were seated, a bunch of people came in and had to wait for a table.

So as soon as we sat down, we looked around the inside.  Boy is it festive.  With fun mexican colors and decorations, this is the type of place to have a fun date night, or a night out with the girls.  Our waitress was quick to our table to see if we wanted anything to drink and I asked for the drink menu but she said they didn't have one.  So I asked okay do you have pitchers of anything? and she said absolutely! what do you have in mind?  This was a big plus since I had a few things on mind and asked about margarita pitchers, sangria pitchers, and if they have frozen drinks... Her answers, yes, yes, and yes!  But she did not recommend getting a frozen margarita pitcher since it would definitely melt down as we were drinking it.  So I said okay Sangrias, do you have red? and she once again said yes both red and white.  I already was falling for this place, good sign when they have everything you want.  So we decided to order a pitcher of sangria.

A couple minutes later the waitress brought chips and salsa.  I am not the biggest fan of fried chips but I decided to give it a try to taste the salsa.  I must say for fried chips, they were certainly not too greasy/oily and I even enjoyed them.  And man the salsa was to die for.  Looking at the menu I knew I was craving a mexican grilled chicken salad so I was set on that.  But it wasn't easy to keep myself from looking at other choices to change my mind to.  I did see one thing in particular I knew my boyfriend would be interested in, a paella with mussels shrimp clams lobster and chorizio.  He never had it before and decided what the heck lets test it out.

We had a nice gap of time to enjoy our sangria and the dynamics while waiting on our entrees. I did not mind this at all because some restaurants just care about turnover and try to get you out as quick as possible.  What was even better was the waitress did not continually ask how we were, especially since we did not have any food yet, so me and my boyfriend actually got to talk and have a nice date night.  One negative was that they did not put water on the table and it took a few minutes to flag down our waitress for some water.

Out came our entrees, my boyfriends in a traditional paella pot and my salad a very large portion for not too bad of a price (11.95).  The paella had more seafood than I could imagine and was only 23.95 so that was not too bad at all either.  He was amazed by the large amount of lobster and all seafood he received and was pleasantly surprised.  We were ready to just dig in but everything was nice and hot so that allowed up to pace ourselves.  The paella was so good it was hard not to be an animal and eat it non stop.

My salad had a whole avocado, large grilled chicken, some corn, pepper, beans and cheese.  It was not the most impressive salad and I probably would order something different next time but it was very fresh and tasty.  I would say that it was worth the price though and did satisfy me.  The paella was by far the bang for your buck entree and I would highly recommend someone ordering it.  And better they do have the paella in size for 2 for around 44.  So a good date idea!

The salsa was very spicy and I was a bit buzzed from the entire pitcher of sangria with my bf so I was pretty full and ready to go after finishing eating.  One not about the sangria.. IT was amazing! there were oranges and apples in it, we ordered the one with red wine, and it tasted delicious.  One note, stir it before pouring because it was not mixed very well.  Another thing, a pitcher is way larger than you think and is the perfect size for a party of four!  Probably too much for just me and my boyfriend but still so so worth it... Next time I would love to try the frozen margarita and have room for some desserts as well!!

With that being said, overall I would highly recommend South of the Border, whether it is for a date or with friends or even your family.  It was a place that is not to be overlooked and if you live in the area, somewhere you have to go to at least once!

Until next time, enjoy eating out on LI!

Restaurants on LI

So I love food and everything about it.. cooking, understanding nutrition, finding out where it comes from, and eating!  I am a bit of a restaurant lover and all my friends always ask me for restaurant recommendations or where we should go.  One suggested I should blog about where I go since I love always trying new restaurants, no matter where I go.

A bit of background on me.  I just graduated from Cornell University in December (an early grad yay!) and now I am searching the job market for my perfect fit.  I already did find a position that I was offered but it required me moving which face it, I am a LI girl and my friends and family are too so I was not ready to uproot my life.  I just got a new puppy and am pretty tied down to being home to take care of her (not all too bad of a responsibility) but I decided since I am home anyway why not start this blog.

I will add posts when I go to new restaurants, what I ordered, what I liked/didn't like about the atmosphere/food/service etc and hopefully help people find new places to frequent and enjoy.

I hope you like reading my blog!