Last night, Diane and I went to Mamajuana Cafe. I’ve been to this place three times now and if I had to pick a favorite restaurant, this would probably be it. They make great food. As a side note, the restaurant is a half a block away from the Mormon chapel in Inwood and close to The Cloisters/Fort Tryon Park as well.

Besides the fact that it was Valentine’s Day, we were going because Diane hadn’t been there yet and I wanted her to experience the seafood paella they offer, which is nothing short of incredible.

When we arrived, we realized Mamajuana Cafe was preparing a special Valentine’s Day 4-course meal for its customers. Each course offered a variety of options. We were glad to see paella was on the list for the third course. Here was the menu with its choices (the choices we decided on are in red):

First Course (choose one)

• Lobster & Roasted Red Pepper Corn Chowder
• Edible Flower Salad W/ A Honey Champagne Vinaigrette
• Crab Meat & Cheese Fondue W/ Flatbread
• Spanish Tapas For Two (artisanal cheeses, cured meats & assorted condiments)

Second Course (choose one)

• Shrimp 3 Ways (a) plaintain crushed w/ guava BBQ Sauce; (b) Grilled Spicy w/ Passion fruit sauce; (c) Chilled w/ Rose cocktail sauce)
• Filet Mignon & Cabrales cheese empanadas
• Viagra Ceviche for him (raw oyster, clams, octopus, shrimp & lobster in squid ink latin mojo)
• Mamajuana ceviche for her (crabmeat, scallops & lobster in a vanilla safron mandarin mojo & mamajuana liquor)
• Stuffed Crepes (w/ smoked chicken & melted leeks in a walnuts & asparagus champagne cream)

Third Course (choose one)

• Paella Valenciana for two (saffron rice, chorizo, calamari, shrim, clams, mussels & 1/2 lobster)
• Whole Crispy Red Snapper (stuffed w/ seafood & served w/ coconut rice in enchilado sauce)
• Mar y Tierra (grilled filet mignon & langoustine w/ truffle mashed potato & grilled asparagus in a wild mushroom red whine au jus)
• Lobster Ravioli (ravioli w/ lobster inside in saffron, piquillo & lobster cream sauce)
• Grilled quails (w/ dominican rum ginger glaze & sweet potato mash w/ haricot vert)
• Roasted Chicken Breast (w/ Foie gras & portobello mushroom in a porcini cream sauce, fingerling potatoes & sauteed spinach)

Dessert (assorted desserts for two)

This is a picture of us with the dessert presentation, which consisted of cheesecake strips (with edible flower on top), flan and chocolate mousse.

Champagne was supposed to be included with the meal - they didn’t seem to mind that we asked for fruit juice instead.

It made for a very memorable and romantic meal and for my part, I couldn’t have been with better company.

[A special thanks to my good friend Jeff Hedberg and his father, who introduced me to this restaurant some months ago]

Some more pictures of the restaurant, from the outside: