If you’re following, I had a big weekend of birthday dinners - just posted about dinner at Judy and Harry’s over here - Saturday night we headed to another of Chef Viana’s restaurants - and La Otra and Lita did not disappoint!
We arrived early so we could have drinks at La Otra, which is only open Thurs-Sat. We were escorted through the restaurant to the cocktail bar, which is appropriately lit and has a combination of booths and tables. The 4 of us were seated at a booth and it wasn’t until we were leaving to go have dinner that we realized what was so odd about it - 3 of us in the booth + 1 at a chair in the ‘aisle’ - and it turns out the curved booth is squared off in the seats, which explained why (we learned as we talked about it) the booth dwellers never quite felt like it was a comfortable booth. That said, we were all happy with our cocktails (they’re different online, but I know I had a Brooklyn, which was described as a rye/sherry old fashioned.
Dinner: Oh boy! Stunning Benchmark sourdough w (in this case) a compound butter with long hots and other stuff I can’t remember. Delicious. We then shared:
Rissóis de Camarão - Shrimp turnovers (DO NOT SKIP)
Tártaro de Atum - tuna crudo, lemon vinaigrette, crispy sunchokes
Salada de Edìvia - endive salad, fennel, apples, pickled squash, blue cheese, squash vinaigrette
Paella of the day with chicken, chorizo, and ‘ranch’ dressing drizzled on top. I really wish I could remember what the ‘ranch’ was made of, but when our waiter told us, we all said YES.
Camarão Alhinho garlic shrimp, vinho verde, crispy potatoes (all excellent)
Bife de Fraldinha - sherry marinated skirt steak (OMG)
Charred Cauliflower - sundried tomato vinaigrette, Manchego (loved it!)
Romano Beans - lemon, olive oil (charred SO well)
Rosa’s Flan - mom’s Portuguese flan recipe
Abuela’s Apple Cake - cinnamon sugar, spiced whip w cardamom
Sweet Potato Basque Cheesecake - toasted marshmallow ice cream, graham cracker streusel
There were decaf espresso martinis, too. 
I can honestly say there wasn’t a ‘miss’ anywhere. I think we chose our dishes beautifully and when I chatted with Chef, he agreed!
GO.
The only photo from the night is the paella
