Oficina Latina in Nolita I often feel like one of my favorite ways to try out a new restaurant is to try a bunch of the small plates. Oficina Latina in Nolita (i just love the way that sounds!) is a great spot to try out different South and Central American flavors, cuisine and cocktails. Here are some of my must try recommendations from Oficina Latina so you can get a little taste of everything. Cocktails First, the ginger lychee mojito, when I got this drink my mind was blown. I love ginger and this ingredient brought a whole other dimension to the cocktail. The second must try cocktail is the spicy avocado cilantro margarita. Now this could be better described as a smoothie because of its texture and thickness. It’s hard to describe how bunch of guacamole ingredients could make a delicious cocktail but it works! I’m not someone who usually goes for fruity or sweeter drinks. Oficina Latina has managed to make delicious, unique and Latin inspired cocktails without tasting overly sweet, what an accomplishment it is! And even better, Oficina Latina accomplishes this by using high quality and fresh ingredients, drink up! Small Plates at Oficina Latina in Nolita The best method for ordering small plates for a group is to make sure that each one is distinctive and satisfies a different part of the palate. Something Meaty- The Carne Arepas 2 come with your order of arepas, perfect for sharing, or not! The Carne Arepas are filled with tender slow roasted short ribs, perfect to fill your caveman food desires. The arepa bun itself is made with a bit of sundried tomato, which adds distinctive flavor and beautiful color to the dish. The arepas come with a malbec wine reduction on the side. If you are sharing the arepas I highly suggest snagging this sauce for yourself and not letting one drop go to anyone else! Cover your short ribs in this stuff! Something Delicate- The Vieiras Ceviche I will be planning a trip back to Oficina Latina solely based off of this dish. Almost all of my favorite foods are served all married together in the beautiful presentation of a scallop shell. This is a ceviche made up of mostly fresh scallops but also adorned with salsa criolla, mango, caviar and serrano peppers. Raw scallops are perhaps my favorite of all seafood. When they are fresh and simply, as they are at Oficina Latina, the natural sweetness of the scallop is able to come through and hopefully let the diner appreciate their deliciousness. I highly suggest ordering this and even more so I suggest picking up the scallop shell and slurping up all the juice after the scallops are eaten. Something Crispy- Cangrejo Tostadas Tostadas are the somewhat less popular flat cousin of tacos. As much as I’ve written about tacos and how much I love them, I am an even bigger fan of tostadas. This preference is for one simple reason, they tend to hold more stuff! With a taco you risk all the goods falling out the back of the taco shell, not with a tostada! The particular one is topped with an extremely generous amount of crabmeat and mango salsa. At Oficina Latina the fried tortilla is thick and crisp enough that is doesn’t fall apart when you take a first bite, an important detail. The crabmeat is almost creamy and with the sweetness of the mango it balances out the fried tortilla so that it is not heavy. This small plate is a definite! Overall Oficina Latina in Nolita has amazing food and cocktails with the atmosphere to match. This is a perfect spot to check out on a weekend night with a friend or a date. I look forward to heading back to check out their brunch (and the brunch cocktails) Check out the Oficina Latina in Nolita website here
