I’ve been wanting to go to Hoof + Fin for awhile, but when I found out about their non-weekend multiple course specials, I was absolutely sold! So from Sunday through Thursday, they are offering 2 courses for $19, 3 courses for $26, 4 courses for $36, etc. There’s also a 2 courses for $13 brunch deal. It’s too good to pass up! It’s an argentinian byob right off of South Street. It’s pretty small and intimate. Other than some daily specials, everything on the menu is fair game for the multi-course deal. Oh, we were going to get our eat on!
While we waited for our appetizers, our adorable hippie server brought over some breadsticks and some delicious dipping sauce.
E got the ceviche de pulpo, aka octupos ceviche. It was filled with slices of octopus, avocado, onions, carrots, tomatoes, celery, and cilantro. This was so fresh and yum! It also had a mysterious slightly sweet taste, but we couldn’t put our finger on it. Was it passion fruit? Who the hell cares, all we know is that it was great.
I got the corn and cheese empanadas, per our server’s recommendation. These were so delicious and not greasy at all. Does that mean these were baked? The filling was also only lukewarm in the middle, and I wasn’t sure if that’s how it was supposed to be. Even if it wasn’t supposed to be like that, I didn’t mind because it did not burn my mouth when I ate it. The dough was hot and flaky and not in the least greasy. Seriously, it was like amazing how grease-free these were. And the filling was great.
For her entree, E got the most ginormous hunk of mahi mahi I’ve ever seen in my life! It was delicious and perfectly cooked. Also, there was some coconut rice, sweet plantains, and a side salad. Everything was served on top of banana leaves, a nice touch.
My entree was the Arroz a la Gallega – yellow rice, shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, calamari, fish, chorizo, and veggies in a tomato based sauce. I don’t know what’s in this but all I know is that it was amazing! The seafood was so fresh and tasty and the flavor was just awesome. It was mostly seafood with some rice, instead of the other way around, so they totally do not skimp on the seafood! E and I both agreed that this was definitely the winner of the evening. And there’s so much of this dish too, it was crazy.
Here are the panqueques with dulce de leche on the inside. Basically, these are like crepes, that are filled and then rolled. Oh man, these are extremely rich due to the dulce de leche. It was basically eating forkfuls of dulce de leche with a little bit of crepe thrown in. This is not for the weak!
And we couldn’t say no to the churros with melted chocolate. Oh my word, these were some tasty ass churros. Who doesn’t like fried dough? Who doesn’t like melted chocolate? Put them together, and you can’t go wrong! We were both beyond stuffed with this meal. In fact, I was beyond stuffed way before dessert, but I couldn’t pass up this deal, so I forged on! It was a frigid weekday evening when we went, and there weren’t too many other diners there, which made me a bit sad. This is a gem of a restaurant with excellent food at a beyond excellent value. And don’t forget it’s byob! I can’t wait to stop in again!

Due to my giant flight delay, I only had one chance to actually eat in Albany. So on my second night there, I headed downtown to DP. This is actually in the Hampton Inn. That might make you think twice about eating here, but please, do not let that stop you. This place is good in my book. I dined at the bar and it happened to be happy hour. This is an impressive bar. The bartenders here definitely know their stuff. And it looks like they’ve won a bunch of local awards, which is quite deserved.
I had this cucumber martini which totally kicked my lame ass. It was super duper strong and whew, did this thing pack a punch. But it seemed healthy to me because I could taste cucumbers. That’s healthy, right?
Instead of bread and butter, DP does it right. They serve sourdough pretzel ball rolls with homemade whole grain mustard. First off, how cute are these things? And second off, they’re freakin delicious and warm! Please, someone tell me how to make these!
I got the soup of the day which was a potato and leek soup. This is one of my favorite flavors of soup, ever, and they definitely do it right here. It also had bacon in it. How can you go wrong with that?
The lobster ravioli. These kind of look a mess, but they tasted just fine. I actually found it cool that it was black pasta.
These were the pork dumplings, served in a chinese to-go box. Meh, on that presentation choice. There were two dipping sauces, the first brown one was just kind of gross, and the second one was a sweet chili sauce type which I greatly preferred. The dumplings themselves were just meh too.
The banana bread bread pudding! Yes folks, bread pudding made from banana bread. It was super good. If you like banana, I highly recommend it! The two bartenders that waited on me were awesome. They were friendly and helpful and gave me recommendations and were quite attentive. They also kept calling me young lady, which was hilarious. If I’m ever back, I’m going to jump in and try some entrees!

After actually being in New Orleans, I didn’t want to see any more New Orleans style food. But I kept telling E about it and she wanted some. Now with months having passed since my visit to the big easy, it was time to trek through the snow to check out Catahoula. So I totally didn’t think Catahoula would be where it is. I pictured it being near other restaurants, other nightlife, other shops. But it is really all by itself, except a funeral home nearby. Otherwise, it’s just houses people, just houses. I also didn’t know it would be so teeny! There are only a few high-top tables and then the bar. It’s seriously small, or as they say, intimate.
The gumbo and the crawfish bisque. This is considered a cup, but it sure looks like a giant bowl to me. It’s really sizeable. I can’t even imagine how big the bowl must be. The bisque was delicious. The gumbo was ok, it was a bit too intense for me.
Here are the hush puppies. These puppies are big too. I found them a bit too mushy and undercooked on the inside, but otherwise, they were good. I think we ate maybe two of these.
We both got po-boys. E got catfish and I got shrimp. These were pretty good. The bread is some of the crustiest bread I’ve ever eaten. And not like hard crunchy crusty, but like fall-apart crusty. So every time you took a bite, bits of bread are all over the damn place. It’s good bread, but I just wish it stayed together a bit more. The fries are good too!
I was pretty full, but we ended up sharing the special dessert of the night – Sweet Dee’s chocolate cake, served with vanilla ice cream. OH. MY. WORD. So seriously, this was some of the best cake I’ve ever had in my life. It was so super dense and amazing. And the vanilla ice cream, which was absolutely delicious and simple on its own, was the world’s most perfect compliment for this cake. People, this cake is up there with Golosa’s red velvet cake. And I’m not even a chocolate person! I’m certainly not a chocolate cake person, but I could have eaten the whole thing, and maybe I even did. Our waitress wasn’t the best, and that’s being nice. I hope she has other career aspirations!