Mexican Chanukah

It's been almost two years since I've seen Heather, which is way too long to go without seeing one of your best friends from college.  Thankfully, my friends are not just cool, they're smart, too, which is why I had the opportunity to see Heather while she was here interviewing for a residency program.  It was a very short visit (about 18 hours), so we only had enough time to do dinner, but at least that gave us more face-to-face catch-up time than we've had in a while.

We did not want to stray far from her hotel since Heather had to be up early for her interview, so we went to Toloache.  Not only did I pick Toloache because it's a tried and true Midtown Mexican spot, I picked it because I had heard about their special Chanukah menu.  Apparently, the Hispanic chef's wife is Jewish so he developed a special menu to celebrate their combined cultures.  We didn't go with the full menu, but we couldn't pass up the latke trio:

• Potato Jalapeno with Horseradish Crema
• Zucchini with Tomatillo Apple Salsa
• Mexican Ricotta with Chipotle and Agave

The horseradish crema was so yummy we ended up putting it on all of the latkes, including the ricotta (a creamy, fried ball of cheese - not super latke-like but delish).  It was a fun way to celebrate the 2nd night of Chanukah, which I needed to do since I actually didn't know it was Chanukah until it had already begun.  Oops.  They're also doing the menu at their sister restaurant, Yerba Buena (which I actually prefer to Toloache), so no matter where you live in the city, you don't have much of an excuse to miss out on this fun Chanukah menu (through 12/9).

Now all you blog readers need to start crossing your fingers and toes so Heather chooses NYU for her residency and moves here because one of these dinners every two years is not enough for me.