post-world cup pulpo

I'll be honest. I didn't really follow the World Cup all that much. For the duration of the games, my Facebook status updates mostly read, "Just let me know when Cristiano Ronaldo takes his shirt off. Thanks." And then I completely lost interest after I was told the players weren't allowed to remove their shirts anymore (marketing FAIL). I had allegiances in certain matches but that had more to do with my gratitude to certain countries for the wonderful beer they have fueled my life with (Germany), the location of the city I love and live in (USA), the smokin' hot players (Portugal), and the chocolate they regularly provide me when my eyelids start to droop at 3pm (Switzerland). Today, I followed the finals with mild interest as I had to study for my Spanish test tomorrow. But strangely enough, even as I was laboring at learning Spain's tongue, I was rooting for the Dutch. One of my dearest friends ever, my brother from another mother Johan, is Dutch. So I really wanted them to win it and hear of the mad tales of celebratory debauchery afterwards.

But alas, the victory went to Spain. I ended up spending the evening dancing to Brazilian Forro and a smattering of Latin music at L'Orange Bleue, which inevitably meant dancing amongst the victorious red-clad Spaniards. But don't worry Johan, I had this to commiserate with you and your countrymen:

I thought the salad was quite nice. There was some bitter arugula, endives, turnips, baby turnips, orange segments, and of course, the grilled octopus. The octopus was very tender and not all overly chewy. I would've liked a few more orange segments to counteract the bitterness of the arugula, though. I'm now a fan of their peach sangria, which for $27 a pitcher fueled a few hours of dancing pretty well. I also really liked how easy-going the staff are at L'Orange Bleue. They don't rush you at all, which is unheard of in Manhattan, and will even sit with you and take you for a spin on the dance floor. (The downside is, you may be in a rush to leave but if you're server is in the middle of dancing to Dejame Entrar, there's not much you can do but wait!) This probably isn't the place for someone not interested in getting chummy with their servers, but if you're looking to unwind on a Sunday night as we were, then this is definitely a great place to do it.

Felicidades to our Spanish friends. Hopefully my proctor for tomorrow's test comes to NY via España and will be a tad more forgiving (or too hungover to notice) wandering eyes. I kid ... does this look like the face of someone who can do wrong? (Just work with me, come on.)

Wishing everyone a productive week ahead, now that you can all finally go back to actually working!



L'Orange Bleue is located at 430 Broome Street (at Crosby Street), New York, NY. Tel. (212) 226-4999