Refreshments found at Lucy Latin Kitchen

Lucy Latin Kitchen (www.lucylatinkitchen.com, 19th btwn Park and Broadway near Union Square.) is one of those great restaurants to go to with your girlfriends after work for fun food and even funner drinks. Well, it could just be that that's what I did...and what most of the tables around me were doing.

First, the drinks. My watermelon mojito was utterly delish. Sweet but not syrupy, refreshing and not overly mashed. I didn't end up with chunks of mint in my mouth like I did with the mango mojito at Mercadito Grove. Maybe my next blog should be a mojito search. Anyway, Vanessa had a Gingerita that was out of this world. It was uber tasty, with a gingery kick and totally unique taste. Jenn had the frozen Strawberry Pisco Sour. What's Pisco? No idea. But it was an amazing frothy strawberry goodness...with egg whites. Ok, now that is a little weird in retrospect. Regardless, HIGHLY recommend the drinks here.

The food...good stuff, if not super duper out of this world. We ordered a series of 'tasting' options so we could get a good sample. The empanada tasting gave us two small manchego/spinach puffs, a larger crab/shrimp concoction and a larger ropa vieja (old clothes) pocket. They were all fried and quite tasty, not at all drowning in their own oil. The sauces strewn across the plate were great for adding a little extra taste.

The ceviche tasting was also good, though a bit lopsided. By far, the best of the three was the hamachi ceviche, which features a citrus marinade and shredded jicama and green apple. Simply excellent. I could have picked up the little cup and drank the acidic sauce. The red snapper with olives and capers was a little far from what I expect in a ceviche. More Mediterranean than Latin, and it wasn't my favorite. The Rainbow ceviche, an Asian-influenced option, included tuna, salmon and snapper in a soy-sesame-citrus sauce. It was excellent, but paled in comparison to the hamachi. Mwah!

The highlight of the meal may have been the lobster guacamole, worth every cent of the $19 it cost. It felt like a never-ending plate of guac, with large chunks of lobster spread throughout. It was obviously fresh, bright green with plenty of tasty cilantro and lime. The chips it was served with where light and fresh-tasting, not overly oily on the lips. It was simply delicious. I would go back for this in a heartbeat.

We wrapped it up with a side of fried plantains. Instead of the sweet, slightly mushy fruit that I love, these were quarter-inch thick, length-wise slices of not-quite-ripe enough plantains. They were unremarkable, and we could have done without.

All in all, decent food and drinks...a great after work spot. Consider getting drinks and gorging on the guac. It's worth the trip.