I recently went to A.G. Kitchen, a Latin American Fusion eatery I was unfamiliar with at 289 Columbus between 72nd and 73rd, and was more than pleasantly surprised. This one threw the baseball straight out of the park, so to speak! The prices were super-reasonable, quality was up to par with major four star Latin and other fusion eateries in town, and it had the best service I have had in the past year. That “triple threat” is enough to make this a future legend of the Upper West Side. Did I fail to add that all of the dishes came out in under ten minutes? It is too good to be true?
So what did I try? First up was chips with their famous guacamole, which is constantly rated in the Top 10 guacs in all of the city! I then fell in love with the Arepa, a delicious pulled pork covered fresh soft flour taco with a fresh red salsa on top. It had the slightest spicy kick and is enough to fill you up–you can almost skip your entree!
I tried to be a little healthy since it was the start of a new year, so got the market Chopped Salad, which was fresh field greens, avocado, red onion, Feta cheese, cucumber, fresh corn and topped with an olive viniagrette dressing. Again, it was a large portion and was able to share it with my dinner mate, Gail (and we could hardly finish it after the juicy arepa)! Also on the health tip, we got the Grilled Asparagus, and the portion was about one cup of super thin and tender spears grilled after being brushed with EVOO!
I fell in love with both the awesome Samba Chicken with is done Brazilian style and marinated in many herbs for 24 hours before grilling with a dry charcoal rub and honey glaze on it. I think I could just survive on the juicy skin of this tender chicken dish for a week, LOL!
The Cuban Sandwich was also a winner, with it’s soft homemade bread, tender ham and stringy white cheese. This is a real stick to your ribs dish that is two or three times the normal size Cuban sandwich and town.
We had the Banana Cake to share at the end. It was actually banana bread topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream and was super flavorful. Everything in it was freshly made right down to the large amount of whipped cream on top.
A.G. Kitchen is also famous for huge burgers with diversified toppings, as well as unique milkshakes like salted caramel and Gone Bananas, which is banana and butterscotch mix (rum can be added)!
The phone number for A.G. Kitchen is 212-873-9400 and their website is simply http://www.agkitchen.com. I find it interesting that many of their recipes are shared on the site, so be sure to check it out. Takeout for A.G. Kitchen can be ordered through seamless.com, BTW! I will be back and hope to wrap my mouth around one of their legendary burgers and have one of those crazy shakes–I think the salted caramel one is what I crave!
