Appetizer, Dining Out, Dinner, Lunch, Manhattan, Outdoor Seating, Revisited, Takeout, Upper East Side, YorkvilleKerry Alaric CheeseboroMay 11, 2011Appetizer, appetizers, chopped, cilantro, Dining Out, Dinner, Dorrian's, Dorrian's Red Hand, fish, flour, fresh, juice, lime, Lunch, onion, onions, pub, red, sauce, soft, sriracha, taco, tacos, tortillaComment

Handy Tacos

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FRIENDS AND FANS WHO HAVE seen my own culinary creations here on PHUDE-nyc in the Cooking In category—and those who have sampled my fare in person—have always very flatteringly asked why I don't open up my own restaurant. Suffice it to say that I can most times barely afford the meals I go out to pay for, so possessing the funds to open up my own place is still, sadly, a wild, child-like dream.

However, I have been lucky enough to have some of my meal ideas appear on, or at least influence, menus of actual "brick and mortar" establishments, most notably, the main place of my service industry vocation, Dorrian's Red Hand [Page].

I have designed, graphically, the menu their for almost twenty years, and I've had some input over that time on what to put on that menu. Recently, I've extended their burger section to include "specialty" burgers, such as the highly popular Ragin' Cajun burger (Cajun-spiced and topped off with pepper Jack, jalepeño relish, and ranch dressing), the namesake Red Hand Burger (smoked ham, cheddar, fried onions)...

...and the newly added Blue Mountain Burger (blue cheese, smoked bacon, steak sauce, and fried onions).

I was eventually inspired to add Pub Tacos to our menu, comfortably elevating the standards of the average Mexican takeout joint, without the overthough—though still successful—iterations served at nearby Cascabel.

The Pub Tacos are our newest greatest hits, served two per serving, making them imminently conducive to sharing with a friend over a few beers, and now that spring is finally upon us, we've decided to add a fish version, using fresh cod, battered and deep-fried, then topping it with a light, bright, and tasty medley of chopped red onion, fresh cilantro, and lime juice, all while offering sriracha sauce as well, now available tableside.

This is as close to the goodness I can possibly provide to the public, and although I of course didn't invent the fish taco, nor am I the excellent chef who executes them quite deftly, this is as close as I get to having my ideas in a restaurant. And even then, proudly so.

Bun Apple Tea!

.kac.

Kerry Alaric Cheeseboro