Weekly Specials / Tapas / New Art / Fall Music Schedule

Week of Thurs. Oct. 9 to Sun. Oct. 12

Carmen Updates Window Boxes

As Wednesday’s cold front was rolling in, Jim was winter proofing and Carmen was cleaning and redecorating the window boxes. Check them out—  hearty mums, gourds and baby pumpkins.
Get Your Leaf Peeping In Soon!

¡Lunch!

French TaostBy which we mean, breakfast any time, PLUS our lunchtime menu!

—Which is why we are showing you a picture of French Toast with Fresh Fruit and Real Whipped Cream

Cubano Sandwich by popular demand— pork, ham & Swiss w/ mustard & pickle on Cuban bread

Picadillo

Check out our full menu!

Though for a real treat, come in and see what’s on our Specials Board.

SearedTroutFriday Tapas Specials 10/10

Beef Stew slow cooked in a tomato herb broth
Herb Stuffed Pork Loin marinated, served over mashed sweet potatoes
Pan Seared Rainbow Trout over saffron rice & pea purée

~Full Tapas Menu Here~

Desserts expanded offerings:

Have you tried the Apple Crisp? Fan-Tastic!!

Flan

Raspberry Chocolate Layer Cake

Gary Masline Faces & PlacesNew Art: Gary Masline—Faces & Places Showing Thru 2014

Gary loves Santa Fe, and it shows.

You may have seen Gary’s work around the area, he’s widely known.  We like the way his paintings start to tell a story, then leave the rest for you to figure out.  Look for an artist’s reception toward the end of the month.

Shows @ 6 & 8, $5 cover each

Music This Fall:

Mundo Nuevo – 10/24
Elizabeth Kasius & Heard– 11/21
The Nellies – Victorian Stroll
Mundo Nuevo – 12/19

Rock Hill Bakery / Empty Bowls / Faces & Places / Specials

Rock Hill Bakehouse comes to Carmen’s

after a visit to the mostest fantasticest bakery in the area, Carmen’s is carrying Rock Hill Breads. One taste won us over!

Try a Basket o’ Breads with our own whipped Strawberry Butter and a Cortado!

Empty Bowls Benefit for the Homeless

Oct 5th 2014 ~ 12-3pm Italian Community Center Troy NY 12180

Featuring many Troy restaurants, including your favorite, Carmen’s
What wonderful blend of savory and spicy will we bring this year? You’ll have to come and see! It’s all good, all for the homeless, AND you walk home with a handmade bowl, courtesy of area potters and volunteers.

A unique event to support the growing fight against the issue of hunger.

OCTOBER 5, 2014 ~ 12-3pm~ Italian Community Center ~1450 5th Avenue, Troy NY 12180

Gary Masline Faces & PlacesNew Art Exhibit: Faces & Places, works by Gary Masline

Showing Thru 2014

Gary loves Santa Fe, and it shows.

You may have seen Gary’s work around the area, he’s widely known. We like the way his paintings start to tell a story, then leave the rest for you to figure out.

Look for an artist’s reception toward the end of the month.

Gary Masline is a post-modern realist working exclusively in oils. His paintings utilize the colors and light of the American Southwest, where he spent time as a youth, and often incorporate figurative images to create narrative.

Masline believes the Southwest is one of the Earth’s centers of spiritual energy, an energy which animates artistic awareness. Realizing that a painting can feign a reality neither the artist nor viewer has seen, he concludes that people can be profoundly affected by images of western landscapes which they may never have experienced, or by events which are alien to their actual experience, but which through imagination or memory reverberate nonetheless in the viewer’s unconscious.

In this regard, Masline expresses images that are emblematic or totemic, their symbols and gestures generating “stories” in the minds of viewers. He paints with the understanding that art is meant to be provocative, and his hope is to provoke a conversation with the viewer responding to his use of color, light and body language to establish image, illusion or icon.

Masline’s previous creative incarnation was as a screenwriter. He reasons that, if one thinks of painting as consisting of line or drawing, color, and story or narrative, his paintings reveal him making films…just one frame at a time, illuminating a moment of truth, whatever that may be for the viewer.

In conceiving a work, Masline frequently is influenced by the poses and postures of newspaper and magazine advertising, whose defined reality and bland presentation collides with his personal interpretations of body language and locale. He concurs with artist Gerhard Richter, who has worked from photographs and said “I am fascinated by the human, temporary, real, logical side of an occurrence which is simultaneously so unreal, so incomprehensible, and so atemporal. And I would like to represent it in such a way that this contradiction is preserved.” Masline’s other influences are painters Edward Hopper, Balthus, and Lucien Freud.

This Week’s Specials:

¡Lunch!

French TaostBy which we mean, breakfast any time, PLUS our lunchtime menu!

—Which is why we are showing you a picture of French Toast with Fresh Fruit and Real Whipped Cream

Cubano Sandwich by popular demand— pork, ham & swiss w/ mustard & pickle on Cuban bread

Picadillo

Check out our full menu!

Though for a real treat, come in and see what’s on our Specials Board.

Friday Tapas Specials 10/3

TapasBraised Beef Short Ribs w/ herbed garlic mashed potatoes

Pan Seared Salmon in garlic cream sauce over saffron rice

Pernil slow roasted pork shoulder over saffron rice w/ chimichurri sauce

~Full Tapas Menu Here~

FlanDesserts: expanded offerings:

Flan

Raspberry Chocolate Cake

Tapas Specials / Expanded Dessert Offerings / Fall Music / Chardapalooza

TapasFriday Tapas
 Specials

Pan Seared Halibut w/ Chopped Chard-Tomato Ragu & pineapple cilantro slaw

Roasted Vegetarian Napoleon w/ Roasted Red Pepper Coulis & Sautéed Swiss Chard

Costillitas de Cerdo— Cuban Spare Ribs w/ pineapple guava glaze

Pan Seared Beef Tournados w/ apple brandy cream sauce.  Tomato Jam w/ potato hash & sautéed chard

Cubano Sandwich by popular demand—  pork, ham & swiss w/ mustard & pickle on Cuban bread

Picadillo

~ Full Tapas Menu ~

DessertsExpanded Dessert Offerings:

Flan

Key Lime Pie

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Carrot Cake

ChardChardapalooza!

Rainbow, Dinosaur, and Swiss Chard, Fresh Grown & Organic! What’s to become of it?

 A great veggie special, that’s what! Come in Friday for 
Roasted Vegetarian Napoleon.

also on the menu:

Cuban Sliders topped w/ caramelized onions & avocado

Picadillo

Music This Fall

Sensemaya – 9/19
Mundo Nuevo – 10/24
Elizabeth Kasius & Heard – 11/21
The Nellies – Victorian Stroll, 12/7
Mundo Nuevo – 12/19

~ Bookmark the Upcoming Events Calendar ~

Friday Night: Mundo Nuevo—Tapas Specials—Fall Music Calendar

Mundo Nuevo Returns to Carmen’s Friday August 22nd

The best in Latin music, plus the best in Cuban food!
What a wonderful world! Mundo Nuevo returns to Carmen’s for an evening of music, dance and celebration. How good does it get?

About the only way you hear these guys is to hire them for your party (hey, we don’t mind!) or come to Carmen’s when they play. Shows @ 6 & 8, $5 cover each

now for tonight’s news from the happeningest bistro on First and Adams:

Tapas Friday night, and maybe over the weekend too

Tilapia over saffron rice w/ garlic-wine sauce

Cubano Sandwich by popular demand— pork, ham & swiss w/ mustard & pickle on Cuban bread

Picadillo

Pernil Pork, slow roasted for 14 hours…served with arroz con gandules…that’s herbed rice with pigeon peas

Desserts tasty & traditional

Flan

Key Lime Pie

Triple Chocolate Cake

Full Tapas Menu (click here)

Music This Fall: Who Plays When

Sensemaya– 9/19
Mundo Nuevo– 10/24
Elizabeth Kasius & Heard– November TBD
The Nellies– Victorian Stroll
Mundo Nuevo– 12/19

Art Reception Today 5—8pm Meet Francelise Dawkins: Textile Collagist

Francelise Dawkins—Meet the Artist, discuss her work

Since she was a young girl, Francelise has collected fabrics. As an artist, she snips and sews collages— sometimes figural, sometimes abstract. Meet her this Thursday, Aug. 7, from 5-8 pm and discuss her work over Tapas and Sangria.

Yes, we’ve done it again, Carmen’s has scored another amazing artist and is showing some of her best and prettiest work. It’s the perfect time to take some home with you— at Carmen’s we don’t charge the artist a commission, so all proceeds go directly to Francelise.

First Time! Besides serving Tapas Samples, we’ll be serving Tapas Dinners! Limited selection, but if someone should, say, ask for an authentic Cubano Sandwich we’d be happy to oblige!

Francelise Dawkins

Collages, whether made of words, paper, objects or cloth, have always been my means of expression. In 1988, I first coined the term “Silkollages” to introduce my meditative concept in textile collages to interior designs. Then in 1992, I added “Ethnikollages” to re-activate cultural interests. My collages are either embroidered into miniature quilts, or framed into window boxes. When large and three-dimensional, they become hanging art quilts or soft installation pieces. Abstract or representational life forms as dancing shapes seem to multiply in my work. I draw them out of colorful cloth from Asia, Africa and Europe to visually create a blurring of boundaries between such cultures. As a collage maze is formed, the viewers are invited to enter it. If my playing on fabric brings the viewers to rethink the multiplicity expressed, an expansion of their own true awareness might occur. What I seek is an element of uncensored, emotional surprise, beyond multicultural reality. I am on a spiritual exploration, deepening my sense of what it really means to belong to the human race. It is about exploring that sense of oneness, born out of welcoming the difference we are.

Francelise Dawkins is a Parisian “textile collagist”, living in the U.S. for over two decades. She first studied Fiber Arts at the Art League School of Indianapolis before moving to NY, where she developed her meditative concept for interior designs in textile collages. She has since exhibited or taught at the American Craft Museum in NYC, the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the NY State Museum in Albany, NY, and other renowned venues. One of her installations was part of the “Putt-Modernism” show at the Hyde Collection Museum in Glens Falls, NY. Writing about her art, she had essays published, such as the one on intuition in Margaret Blanchard’s book: “From the Listening Place”. She designed the art cover for Gisele Pineau’s French novel: “L’Espérance-Macadam”. Many of her pieces have been shown in magazines, on cable network TV and books, such as Carolyn Mazloomi’s contemporary art quilt book: “Spirit of the Cloth”. Her work is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of the American Quilter’s Society in Paducah, KY.

 

Friday Evening Tapas for May 16

Download-MenuButtonFriday May 16

Coctel de Gambas y Aguacate avocado and shrimp cocktail 16

Ropa Vieja shredded beef w/crispy ricecakes & pureed black beans 15

Costillitas de Cerdo roasted pork spareribs w/guava-pineapple glaze 13

Braised Chicken w/sundried tomatoes over saffron rice 14

Grilled Vegetables w/crispy polenta and a sweet pea puree 12

Marinated Manchego w/garlic-rosemary olive oil, marcona almonds, and sun-dried cherries 8

Crispy Artichokes lightly floured and served w/aioli 8

Chorizo Stuffed Mushrooms topped with manchego cheese 8

Patatas Bravas crispy potatoes w/spicy aioli and sea salt 5

Pan Caramelized Brussels Sprouts w/ balsamic reduction 5

Salmon Pate… served w/capers, cornichon and toasted pita 10

Empanadas 1 for 3.5 | 2 for 6.5
choice of filling:

  • meat seasoned with olives capers onions
  • veggie with spinach mushrooms and plantains

Rice and Beans white rice, black beans 4

Yucca Fries Cuban root vegetable 4

Platanos fried ripe plantains 4

DESSERTS

Flan 5
Fresh Berry Cheesecake 6
Chocolate Sour Cream Cake 6

Great Lunches!

Wed & Thurs: lunch & dinner 11-6 • Fri: lunch & tapas dinner 11-10 • Sat & Sun • breakfast & lunch 9-4
Local Delivery $15 minimum weekdays only 518.326.2064
198 First Street • Troy, NY

Cuban BreadCuban Bread

straight from the source

We are now importing Pan Cubano, made the Cuban way, all the way from the source— Papito’s Cuban Bakery in New Jersey’s Little Havana! We drove down specifically to get these beauties, and we’ll be bringing them in fresh twice a week so our flavors are more authentic.

The little ones are Media Noches (middle of the night), a sweeter bread and just as tasty!

Tapas Samples!Holiday_Partyc6d7b6

Try tastes of our famous tapas— we’ll have Jamon Serrano, Marinated Manchego with Marcona Almonds, fine cheeses and fresh fruits. We’ll pass out sips of Sangria and our new Fentiman’s sodas!

Fentiman’s SodasFentiman's Sodas

Imported from England, these botanical soft drinks feature complex combinations of flavors, distilled and fermented from herbs and spices.

Reduced sugar, eminently satisfying, they are a delicious alternative to mass-market soft drinks.

Salads!Salads

Cleanse your palate– build your body right with Carmen’s half and whole Garden Salads

Sandwiches!Chicken B.L.A.T

All w/ our own cole slaw and potato wedges

Roast Turkey w/ Wensleydale– Cranberry Wensleydale, arugula & our own marinated tomato spread

Grilled Brie– w/ thin sliced apples and arugula pesto on artisan bread

Black Bean Burger– fresh and tasty, vegetarian, w/ lettuce, onion, & tomato on artisan roll

Soups!Soups

All home made and tasty

Flamenco – yes, our favorite egg dish starts with a stew! And it’s great as a stew without the eggs. Available w/ chorizo or vegan

Cream of Mushroom– with exotic mushrooms

Turkey Rice – with our own fresh baked turkey

There’s always the CubanoCubano

with real Pan Cubano!

We have always built great Cubanos, now they are even better! We start with Pan Cubano, authentic Cuban bread (or a Media Noche if you prefer, a bit sweeter and just as delicious.

We layer it with Pork, Ham, Swiss Cheese, and Pickles, add a dab of Mustard and wow, what a flavor!

Cuban Valentine’s with Mundo Nuevo!-3

This Friday, Feb. 14. Reservations strongly recommended for this heartful evening with our favorite musicians

MasterCard  —  Discover  —  Visa  —  American Express accepted.

 

Cuban Celebration: Wednesday Feb. 5 from 1-3

Cuban Celebration:

Wednesday Feb. 5 from 1-3
Featuring tastes of our new products:

Fentiman’s Botanical Sodas

Cuban Bread from Papito’s Bakery

New Tapas Samples

Celebrate our expanded hours:
Wednesday, Thursday: 11-6
Friday: 11-10
Saturday & Sunday: 9-4
Free Weekday Delivery to Downtown Troy w/ $15 Minimum

Cuban Bread

Cuban Bread
straight from the source
We are now importing Pan Cubano, made the Cuban way, all the way from the source— Papita’s Cuban Bakery in New Jersey’s Little Havana! We drove down specifically to get these beauties, and we’ll be bringing them in fresh twice a week so our flavors are more authentic.

The little ones are Media Noches (middle of the night), a sweeter bread, more like Challah, but just as tasty!

Holiday_Partyc6d7b6

Tapas Samples!
Try tastes of our famous tapas— we’ll have Jamon Serrano, Marinated Manchego with Marcona Almonds, fine cheeses and fresh fruits. We’ll pass out sips of Sangria and our fruit soft drinks!

Fentiman's Sodas

Fentiman’s Sodas
Imported from England, these botanical soft drinks feature complex combinations of flavors, distilled and fermented from herbs and spices.

Reduced sugar, eminently satisfying, they are a delicious alternative to mass-market soft drinks.

Salads

Salads!
Cleanse your palate– build your body right
with Carmen’s half and whole Garden Salads

Chicken B.L.A.T

Sandwiches!
All w/ our own cole slaw:
Cubano– star of the show!
Sliders– Cuban burgers w/caramelized onions
Black Bean Burger– fresh and tasty, vegetarian, w/ lettuce, onion, & tomato on artisan roll
Cuban Roast Beef– marinated in seasoned herbs, roasted to perfection
Grilled Cheese– on artisan bread, w/ zucchini, caramelized onions and our own fresh jalapeño jelly

Vegetarian Huevos Flamenco

Vegetarian Huevos Flamenco

Soups!
All home made and tasty

Flamenco– yes, our favorite egg dish starts with a stew! And it’s still great without the eggs. Available w/ chorizo or vegan
Tomato Basil Bisque– creamy and delicious
Chicken Noodle– Cuban style w/ tomato broth and cilantro
Caldo Gallego– Cuban beans & greens w/ chorizo

Cubano

Cubano
with real Pan Cubano!
We have always built great Cubanos, now they are even better! We start with Pan Cubano, authentic Cuban bread (or a Media Noche if you prefer, a bit sweeter and just as delicious.

We layer it with Pork, Ham, Swiss Cheese, and Pickles, add a dab of Mustard and wow, what a flavor!

flan

Flan!
What’s Carmen’s without Flan for dessert? What a great way to top off a meal

-3

Cuban Valentine’s with
Mundo Nuevo!
Next Friday, Feb. 14. Reserve early for this heartful evening with our favorite musicians

~~~

~ Full Tapas Menu Here ~

~ Full Breakfast Menu Here ~

~ Full Lunch Menu Here ~

We’ve come up with some great new dishes— check out the pictures below.
In addition to these, we have a new recipe for Hot Spiced Cider, perfect for taking off the chill, and all our usual taste delights. Sample our Wine Cocktails: Bloody Marys, Cosmopolitans and Mimosas. Perfect for a light sip while keeping a clear head for the day!

Vegan Huevos Flamenco

Eggnog French Toast

Eggnog French Toast
In the Holiday Spirit
Our delightful French Toast made with Amazing Eggnog (the favorite of our Holiday Party!) Get it with bacon for the perfect sweet-salty combo!

We bring you the best and the freshest!
We take special delight in surprising you with amazing food.
Just ask our servers, we always have goodies for our vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free friends.

House-cured Smoked Bacon

Fresh Bacon
We cure, smoke and slice our bacon, fresh for you. Chorizo sausage too. Why? It tastes sooooooo good, and because we care.

MasterCard — Discover — Visa — American Express accepted.

Tapas / A Splash of Color / The Collar City Ramble

Tapas Menu for Friday, September 13

Pan Seared Rainbow Trout
over exotic Rice & Veggie

NY Strip Steak
w/ Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Veggie

Roast Chicken
w/ Rice & Beans

Crispy Rice Cake
w/ Farm Fresh Grilled Veggies

Creme Brulée

Lemon-Ginger Cheesecake

Home Made Farm Fresh Peach Pie

~~~
Next Thursday, September 19, from 5-8 pm—
Artist’s Reception for Willie Marlowe
A Splash of Color
Paintings and Collages
Collage Dyptich # VII, acrylic mixed media, 15 3/4″ x 20″
¡Meet the artist over Tapas and Sangria!

Yellow Track
~~~

A taste of The Collar City Ramble
Troy’s new recreational trail—

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The Pre(R)amble
walk, bike, skate, wheel, jog
People enjoying a Ramble on big wheel bicycles
From the Farmer’s Market…
…to the Burden Iron Works Museum…
…to StoryHarvest at Freedom Square!
Saturday, September 28 from noon to 5
—prizes for costumes & decorated bikes, skateboards & wheelchairs!
(for help decorating, Troy Bike Rescue is holding a workshop on Tuesday Sept. 22)

Friday Tapas / Doc Scanlon Trio / Troy Night Out / Joy Adams’ Artworks

Tapas Menu for Friday, July 26

Grilled Scallops
over Crispy Rice Cakes

Filet Mignon w/ Roasted Red Potatoes

Grilled Pork Tenderloin w/ Orange Mojo Sauce
over Rice & Beans

Crispy Avocado w/ Warm Quinoa Salad
w/ Tarragon Vinaigrette Dressing

Sliced Fresh Fruit in Season

Flan

~~~

Call 518 326 2064 for reservations

Friday, July 26 Troy Night Out:

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Doc Scanlon Trio
plays Carmen’s!

Doc Scanlon plays hot swing jazz of the 1920’s through the 1940’s, classic rhythm & blues, New Orleans Jazz, Motown and 1950’s & 60’s roots rock. His song list can include the great standards of Gershwin, Berlin & Porter as well as the hot jazz of Django Reinhardt, Fats Waller and Benny Goodman as well as the roots rock & roll of Elvis, Chuck Berry & Buddy Holly.

Shows at 6 & 8  Cover $5 each

~~~

Through August 18—
Joy Adams
Strange Paradise
works on paper and paintings
Last of the Summer Thistles—  Oil on Board
Last of the Summer Thistles—  Oil on Board