Delivery, Manhattan, Quick Post, Upper East SideKerry Alaric CheeseboroJune 27, 2012bargain, beans, beef, Carribean, Delivery, Judy's, Jusy's Spanish Restaurant, latin, ox, oxtails, Quick Post, red, rice, setw, Spanish, ues, Upper East SideComment

Oxed Lunch

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OX TAILS ARE ONE OF my all-time fave food dishes. Since I was a young kid and my mom would get them from the Chinese/Cuban restaurant that sat just off the corner of my block back then on 125th Street and Broadway. Must have had them at least once, twice a week, and continued to do so—from this exact restaurant—long into my early 20s.

Soon after though, as I started my since 25+ year tenure as an Upper East Sider, I can safely claim that I wasn't able to have it readily available—or at all—for years at a time.

And even throughout my PHUDE endeavors, it has been only recently (the last couple of years), that "mainstream" foodies even cared about the dish. Especially here on the notoriously culinarily homogenous Upper East Side. Lucky enough, a few small shops have popped up here in the East 90s—on the fringe of East/Spanish Harlem—including the ever-excellent Abuela's Kitchen, the fully specialized and deliciously authentic takeout from the Yvonne’s Jamaican Food Truck, and—surprisingly enough unbeknownst to me for the last almost 7 years—the more-than-serviceable Judy's Spanish Restaurant, from where I decided to also sample some oxtails.

My first ever deliver arrived quickly, hot, and plentiful, easily able to get two entire meals out of the two containers. Properly cooked-through oxtails with nicely gelatinous fat and cartilage, and tender lean meat, was, I'll say, "safely"-seasoned, soupy red beans whose liquid was absorbed nicely by the rice. I personally added some extra black pepper and sriracha to add a little depth and kick, but overall was happy to have a nice, hot lunch of oxtails, and then have another hot plate for dinner a night later. All for just 10 bucks, I might add.

They don't really compete with the very yummy, nuanced, layered, homey-yet-exotic oxtails served at Miss Lily's, but Lily's is all the way down in the West Village, will Judy's is a 5-minute delivery bike ride away.

And as they say, if you can't be with the one you love....

Oxtail Stew with Rice & Beans

Bun Apple Tea!

KACnyc

Kerry Alaric Cheeseboro