Chi chi

I went to the fancy Dominican-Asian fusion place in my neighborhood tonight with my spanish speaking group. It was nice, although one person brought his non-spanish speaking girlfriend, so we all ended up speaking more English that we should have. I guess its a sign of the neighborhood gentrification that the cheapest entree on the menu was $22, and I don't often drop this much on one meal. On many occasions, my ex-boyfriend patently refused to go there, and now I realize its just as well, because even I blanched at the prices and he was way more money-conscious than I. Some certainly say that the gentrification is happening at the expense of the Dominican community in Washington Heights, and I am sure that's justified as far as rents and sales prices go. But still its nice to be able to eat a fancy dinner on your corner, and it did seem like the chef, who we met, was probably Dominican, so perhaps its not an outsider cashing in on the rising rental prices in the neighborhood. Someone ordered flan. And they did make a mean Mohita and offer a good selection of Argentinian wines from Mendoza. For some reason meals with this particular group of people always end up being exorbitant affairs. But we usually pick good restaurants. So it's probably worth it once and awhile.

In my own defense, I did suggest the much more economically priced Malecon, which someone vetoed for the fancier place.