Small Bites

I’m Hilary Remsen and I’m so pleased to present another guest blog, this one for dinner at Sonora in Port Chester as part of the celebration of Hudson Valley Restaurant Week.

The main entrance to Sonora, which is on Willett, and not Rectory Street where their parking entrance is, was relatively easy to find. The interior of the restaurant with its peach and yellow ochre tones accompanied by soft Latin music set a relaxing mood. Our table for four was generously large and well appointed with sparkling tea candles and well-designed dishes, glasses and flatware.

Their website says Sonora is offers “Nuevo Latino Restaurant and Tapas” and Chef Rafael Palomino’s cuisine certainly lives up to it’s promise. Our very warm welcome of soft sourdough bread from a local bakery was offered with a tapenade bursting with the fresh flavor of peppers and sun-dried tomato.

The shrimp ceviche was our most ordered appetizer, but the consensus was that although delicious, it was not quite as good as the ceviche we’d had here before. We wondered if the shrimp had been cooked with heat instead of citrus for tonight’s appetizer. The trio of empanadas and dipping sauces were absolutely scrumptious. The savory fillings and dipping sauces were each quite unique, one more divine then the last, leaving me wishing only for more. Thankfully the sourdough bread served as a vehicle to scoop up every last bit of the sauces.

For our second course we enjoyed the vegetarian, two salmons and the skirt steak. The vegetarian was a cornucopia in a woven basket made from potato shreds bursting with veggies bedded on saffron rice surrounded by a circle of raindrop sauces. The vegetables were perfectly cooked, their colors and flavors in total harmony with each other, while the potato wrap was an especially lovely crunchy treat. With each bite the spices and herbs gained in fullness. The Salmon was perched atop a Tabouleh salad while the skirt steak was plated in a fan shape accompanied by rice and some lobster and plantain.

There was only one desert offered for HVRW, but it did offer a sampling of three of their different sorbets presented with a thin cookie “spoon”, a slice of strawberry and some vibrantly fresh mint leaves. Our favorite sorbet was the perfectly refreshing coconut. The mango sorbet was a bit strong for me and the darker red sorbet seemed a tiny bit grainy. My decaf coffee was deliciously rich, so much so that I wondered if it were mistakenly caffeinated and I’d be up all night. It was however, indeed decaf and now I wish I had asked them what type it was, as I have a hard time finding a full-bodied decaf.

Sonora was very busy the night we were there, but somehow it seemed that the staff was courteous and quite attentive to all of the tables. I’m adding Sonora to my local Yummy Yummy list (yes I really call it that) so I’ll remember to take the trip over more often.

HVRW menu for Sonora

The 411 on Sonora

Photo Caption: sonora1