This is Gonna Be Good

Pies n' Thighs, Brooklyn

2012-01-03T06:38:00.000-05:00

I have been wanting to go to Pies n' Thighs in Williamsburg for a while. Two things I love are fried chicken and pie, they're pretty much never bad, but when they're good, they are divine.

So I finally made it for lunch with 1000yregg and Redneckhunter. Since we were eating with our cousins later that evening (and we wanted pie!), 1000yregg and I opted to share a 3-piece chicken box, and I ordered a couple sides. The chicken was hot, crispy, nicely spiced - perfect.

Redneckhunter got his own plate -- his beloved biscuits and sausage gravy, topped with cheese and scrambled egg -- called the Rob Evans. He had to hand it to them - one of the best he's had north of the Mason-Dixon line.

The collards we ordered with the chicken were wonderfully bacony. I think it was the best of the sides. 1000yregg liked the hush puppies - they were little and crisp and light, but I tend to like mine bigger and denser. Mac and cheese was fine, but I needed to save room for PIE!

We each got a slice. I think Redneckhunter's was the best - banana cream. Mine was pumpkin, and 1000yregg went with key lime pie. Graham cracker crusts were buttery, whipped cream was smooth and delicious -- everything was just the right amount of sweet - fresh natural flavors and not cloying.

Pies n' Thighs
166 South 4th Street
Brooklyn, NY
347-529-6090

Wit & Wisdom Tavern, Baltimore

2011-12-12T13:30:00.000-05:00

We went to the new Four Seasons Hotel in Harbor East in Baltimore for a light dinner at chef Michael Mina's Wit & Wisdom Tavern last week. Upon entering, our first reaction was, "Are we in Baltimore?" With it's large panoramic windows overlooking the water, a large bar area surrounded by fireplaces and couches, and a modern minimal decor, it felt like we were another city.
The kitchen area is open, similar to Woodberry Kitchen, with a wood burning stove in the center. The restaurant was dimly lit while it seemed as if spotlights were lighting up the chefs and food prep area like a show.
I was very excited that pastry chef Chris Ford, formerly of Rogue 24 in DC, was currently directing the dessert menu.

We decided to stick to small plates and appetizers for our meal to save room for dessert.
For out first course, we shared the smoked housemade ricotta topped with roasted eggplant, black walnuts and vinegar. The ricotta was delicate and wonderful. I also had a fall vegetable salad which consisted of beets, squash, parsnips, and Benton's ham.

Our second course consisted of perfectly fried hush puppies made of Anson Mills grits topped with a sauce made of Crystal hot sauce and honey. They were crispy outside, soft inside, and the sauce with it's combination of sweet and spicy just put this dish over the top.
We also shared the roasted brussel sprouts and apples with apple vinegar.
I had a small bowl of the Carolina Gold congee with duck tongue confit, egg, and crackins. It was like a meeting of Chinese and French styles in one bowl. The duck tongues were so good, and the broken yolk mixed with the rice was so creamy and delicious.

We decided to get two desserts to share. First was the "Baltimore Bar" which was a reimagining of a Baby Ruth Bar. It was made with a layer of peanut butter ganache and a layer of chocolate mousse, all covered with chocolate and then topped with pieces of pretzel and candied peanuts. It was a beautiful plate: rich and satisfying with sweet & salty flavors.
Our second dessert was even better. We had the maple custard with orange toffee, bourbon, and almonds. It was reminiscent of a crème caramel with more intricate flavors.
I look forward to returning to give their entrees a crack, but I will always save room for dessert here.

200 International Drive
Baltimore, MD
(410)576-5800

Waterfront Kitchen, Baltimore

2011-11-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

I had lunch at the recently opened Waterfront Kitchen, located in a Living Classrooms building in Fells Point, featuring local and seasonal cuisine.
We started with warm farmer's cheese flan as an appetizer. Consisting of goat cheese and egg, the flan was light, delicate and delcious. It came with toasted squash seeds, a schmear of Hubbard squash, and a frisée salad with pickled fennel.
For my main, I had the head-on Marvesta Farm shrimp poached in a tasty tomato nage on a bed of, not grits, but mashed celery root with some boudin blanc chunks. I left no shell or head uneaten.

My friend opted for the vegetable sandwich, which was composed of a grilled cauliflower "steak", roasted mushrooms, and these great pickle brussel sprout leaves on toasted whole wheat. It was a pretty hearty sandwich.
We shared dessert, a chocolate pate, topped with candied fennel sprinkles, creme anglais, cranberry sorbet and a lace tuile. It looked like a hostess cupcake, but the chocolate was smooth and rich through and through.

1417 Thames Street
Baltimore, MD
(443)681-5310

The First Gastronaut Society Dinner at Corner BYOB, Baltimore

2011-11-22T11:28:00.000-05:00

Last week, Corner BYOB in Hampden held the inaugural dinner for their Gastronaut Society. The emphasis of the society is an exploration of "exotic meats". Members get a specially engraved knife, and discounts for the special dinners.
When I arrived, before being seated, members shared drinks and some hors d'oeuvres around the bar. My favorite was an oyster topped with pomegranate sorbet and American caviar. It had a pleasant mix of briny and sweet.
We also had asparagus wrapped with proscuitto and small toasts with pate and cornichon.

We were then instructed to take seats in the restaurant. There was no assigned tables, so we were able to sit with other diners and socialize. I liked this idea as I had come on my own. During dinner, we had great conversation and had a fun time sharing the experience of the meal.
The dinner was composed of seven savory courses, and the chef placed feedback sheets for each course that we were encouraged to fill out.
First up was kangaroo tartare with a raw quail egg and rosemary crostini. This was my first experience with kangaroo. It does not have much flavor, reminding me of a very bland lean beef. While I liked the presentation of the plate, it was just an ok dish.
I was happy that the next course took us into the wonderful world of offal. We had cow penis in a vegetable coconut curry broth. The penis had the texture similar to beef tendon or sea cucumber- firm, gelatinous, and it took on the flavor of the broth. While I wished the dish would have been served piping hot, I liked it.

The third course was braised boar cheek on a bed of parmesan truffled polenta covered with a foie gras froth. The cheek fell apart easily, and as you ate more, the foie gras flavor became more evident.
The fourth course was actually my least favorite as it was the least "adventurous". It was a pan seared diver scallop, cooked beautifully, on a bed of Napa cabbage with basil oil, prickly pear, spherical juice, steelhead caviar and a little rambutan.

The next plate was a roasted wild Scottish squab and brussel sprouts with a jerk lingonberry sauce. The meat of the bird paired well with the slightly tart sweetness of the sauce.
The last main dish was antelope loin with a green apple mustard sauce, salsify with Cherry Glen goat cheese, and bone marrow pommes Parisian. The antelope, particularly with the apple mustard was just great. I also liked the salsify. I don't think I could appreciate the marrow in the potatoes though.

The final course was a cheese plate with selections from Cherry Glen. My favorite was the Monocacy Silver that was served with dried cherries. We also had a fresh goat cheese, the Monocacy Ash, and slightly bruleed Monocacy Crottin.
The next society dinner is in January. Can't wait.

Marquee Brunch at the Creative Alliance, Baltimore

2011-11-14T16:14:00.000-05:00

I'm a fan of Blacksauce Kitchen, and their biscuits at the Saturday morning Waverly Market in Baltimore, so when I heard that they were going to be making brunch at the Creative Alliance in town, I could not pass up an invite to go. This was the second time running the event, and the host said they had got out some of the kinks from the first date the month before.
We ordered several items off the "Small Plates" part of the menu to start.
Before those items arrived though, they brought us small biscuits to start. These were not as good as the ones they have on Saturdays, but they were still tasty.
Our first item was an aged rum sticky bun. It had a generous rum flavor to it, and was my favorite of the starters.

The next item was warm beignets with a sweet lime glaze. I wish there was more of the sweet-sour glaze because it was so good.
We also ordered a small plate of their double smoked bacon. It had a sprinkle of pepper and was topped with what seemed to be a homemade ketchup.

We ordered three "Large Plates" and passed the dishes around so we could all try them.
My favorite item was the beef brisket with poached eggs on top of cider braised greens. The beef was cooked beautifully and had a great flavor that was complemented with the greens.
The second dish was the beef shortribs, fried okra pickles and stoneground grits. The beef was nice and tender.
Our third plate was smoked almond French toast with apple compote on a sweet potato shallot hash.
They are planning another brunch the first Sunday in December.

Mémé, Philadelphia

2011-11-10T11:19:00.001-05:00

Fried Brussel Sprouts

Grilled Quail

Fougoo, Xtine, and I made a trip to Philadelphia to have dinner at Mémé, chef David Katz's casual eatery located just west of Rittenhouse Square. Fougoo picked the place because of the Ralph Steadman designed logo as well as having read some good reviews of the food.
The menu was seasonal and really simple: starters, mains, and desserts. I love eating out with family because we decided to share everything.
We saw a lot of tables getting the roasted bone marrow, cut longitudinally, served with bread and caper-parsley radish, and it looked good. However, Fougoo had recently had her share of marrow at her recent dinner at Beacon.

Sautéed Veal Sweetbreads

We ordered three starters. First up was fried brussel sprouts that came with a ham croquette all topped with a zesty lemon aioli.
We got the grilled quail served with pickled onions, candied bacon, date purée, and aged balsamic.
The sautéed veal sweetbreads were my favorite of the three starters. They were tender and creamy. It came with roast grapes, mushrooms and a walnut purée.

Magret Duck Breast

We ordered two main dishes. First was the Magret duck breast with chard, beets and a port reduction. The duck was cooked beautifully- it was tender, juicy, and wonderfully fatty. I also really loved the chard and beets.
The "Catch of the Day" was a trout stuffed with chorizo cornbread that was served with an heirloom tomato coulis.

Trout with Chorizo Cornbread

Chocolate Ganache Cake

Heirloom Apple Crisp

We saw all the desserts on the menu and decided to order all three of them. There was a wonderful dark chocolate ganache cake with vanilla gelato and an heirloom apple crisp also with the vanilla gelato.
My favorite was the vanilla panna cotta with port cherries. The texture was smooth and rich, and the vanilla flavor went well with the cherries.

Vanilla Panna Cotta

2201 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 735-4900

Roberta's, Brooklyn

2011-11-08T19:59:00.002-05:00

Brooklen, LBT, Jude, and I went one Sunday morning to East Williamsburg in Brooklyn to Roberta's for the the weekly NYC ritual of brunch. Brooklen had been wanting to go because he had tried their pizza at Madison Square Eats events.
When we arrived at the address, at first, we weren't sure we were at the right place. The exterior looked very modest, with a very small sign just above the doorway. Inside though, the space was great with long wooden tables, a red wood burning oven, exposed ceilings, a bar, and where we sat, a garden courtyard that looked into a radio studio.

We had to at least get one pizza. Immediately, we knew we wanted to try Paige's Breakfast Burrito pizza. It came topped with tomato, mozzarella, potato, red onion, jalapeño, egg, and Berkshire pork sausage. The crust on the pie was thin, crisp, and a little chewy with a decent char.
We also shared a tasty sticky bun and buttermilk biscuit. Both were scrumptious.

For our main courses, I ordered the fried eggs with beef tongue, salsa verde and potato hash. The tongue was great, really tender and delicate.
LBT got a breakfast sandwich of a hunk of sausage, egg, and cheese on a potato roll. It was a bit odd that they could not scramble the egg for her.

Brooklen got the ricotta pancakes with brown butter and maple syrup. We shared a small plate of thick fatty slab bacon.

261 Moore Street
Brooklyn, NY
(718)417-1118

White Rose System, Linden, NJ

2011-11-08T09:55:00.000-05:00

I had friends visiting from the Midwest, so I wanted to take them to an authentic MidAtlantic breakfast joint before they flew home from Newark. I found White Rose System, a small diner in Linden, NJ. Their specialty is the Taylor ham (aka pork roll), egg & cheese sandwich. The "complete" included home fried potatoes in the the sandwich.

1301 East Elizabeth Avenue
Linden, NJ
(908) 486-9651

Totto Ramen, NYC

2011-11-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

Vegetable Ramen

I was lucky to go to a taping of The Colbert Report last month, and afterwards, we grabbed dinner at Totto Ramen nearby. Their ramen is different that what I've had before, as their broth is based in chicken and soy instead of pork.
I got the Totto Miso Ramen, which came with a scoop of Koji Miso & pork, egg, scallions, bean sprouts, onion and char siu pork. I also got a side of their very spicy bamboo shoots. The broth, even though it was chicken based, was hearty and flavorful. The noodles were also very good, a little toothsome and good alkaline taste.
My friend ordered the vegetable ramen, which was also very good. I believe it was made with seaweed and shitake mushroom, and the toppings included avocado and yuzu paste, one of my favorite Japanese condiments. The yuzu added a pleasant salty-citrus flavor.

Totto Miso Ramen

366 West 52nd Street
New York, NY
(212) 582-0052

A.Kitchen, Philadelphia

2011-11-04T12:35:00.000-04:00

We were up in Philly to see the Brothers Quay beautiful new film shot in the Mütter Museum, and Fougoo arranged for us a reservation at A.Kitchen, a restaurant near Rittenhouse Square that opened this past spring.
We had dinner family-style, sharing several of the small plates they had to offer. We started with a "breakfast" frisee salad that had a warm hash brown, poached egg, and bacon.

We then ordered two items from their "Fish" menu. I really wanted to try to octopus with caramelized watermelon. The octopus was grilled beautifully and it was complemented by the sweetness of the watermelon.There were also drizzles of hot sauce as well.
We also ordered the skate Provençal with fingerling potatoes.

Afterwards, we decided on two pasta dishes. They make their own pasta in house, so it was all very good. First was corkscrews with duck, chanterelle mushrooms, and butternut squash.
We also had the tagliatelle with veal ragu.
For dessert, we shared a lovely chocolate panna cotta.

135 South 18th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 825-7030

Tian Chinese & Korean and Mad For Chicken, Ellicott City, MD

2011-11-03T11:09:00.000-04:00

There is no denying I'm obsessed with Korean style fried chicken. I've accepted driving 1-2 hours away to get my fix. I was very excited that Tian Chinese & Korean in Ellicott City started serving it a few months ago. They are making a brand of "K"FC called Mad for Chicken.As is common with "K"FC, you either order in advance or you can expect to wait 30-45 minutes for them to make the chicken, but it's worth it. They offer both the regular soy garlic, and the spicy versions. While I think I prefer the flavor of Bon Chon, Mad for Chicken is a good representative of why I love this stuff: crispy skin, juicy meat, not too saucy. My preference is also for the drumsticks over the wings.
They offer whole chicken on the menu, but this is not made the same way, so I would caution folks to just stick with the wings or drums options. Additionally, the orders include the daikon in vinegar and boiled peanuts (so Asian).

One time, when waiting for the chicken order, I tried Tian's chajan myun. I had heard that the noodles were made in house from HowChow, and they started pounding away in the back when I was waiting for my order.
I had the samson-gan chajang, which came with squid and shrimp in the black bean sauce. It's served with raw onion, pickles, and some chile sauce. It was good. The noodles were light and really held onto the sticky thick black bean sauce.

8801 Baltimore Natl Pike # 21
Ellicott City, MD
(410) 418-8198

Raw Food Dinner at Zia's Cafe, Towson, MD

2011-11-02T14:30:00.000-04:00

A little over a month ago, I was invited with some local foodie friends to Zia's Cafe in Towson for their monthly raw food dinner. I was a bit skeptical as my prior experiences with eating raw food resulted in me grabbing a slice of pizza afterwards as it just was not very filling, and I was ready to go get a burger across the street should the meal turn out to be not very satisfying.
We started with an slightly sweet apple-butternut squash soup. It was a bit odd at first to have this served not piping hot. The chef told us this was done via prolonged puree in a blender. Because the squash was raw, it had a slight texture of apple sauce. It was a nice starter though.

The second course was a beet root salad with some fennel, greens, and topped with a surprisingly good vanilla vinaigrette.
The combination of flavors was interesting: some earthiness from the beet, the licorice flavor of the fennel, and the sweet vanilla.

The main course was a timbale which was a large greens leaf filled with mushrooms. It arrived on a bed of greens and cherry tomatoes in a sesame, coconut amino and ginger marinade. The leaf was a bit much in it's raw state, but the mushrooms and the small salad were very good.

Dessert was a wonderful fig tart with a cashew butter filling and a walnut crust. This was really good, and by the end of the meal, I was unable to finish this because I was too full. All in all, the dinner was a good experience.
By the way, the next one is planned for this Saturday, Nov. 5th.

13 Allegheny Avenue
Towson, MD 21204-3908
(410) 296-0799

Mile End, Brooklyn

2011-10-31T15:51:00.000-04:00

After wandering Boerum Hill for a while, we had worked up enough appetite to eat at Mile End, the Jewish-Canadian delicatessen (named after Montreal's traditionally Jewish newly hip neighborhood).

We had a big group so 6 of decided to order a bunch of dishes and share. We started out with chopped liver, served with onion relish, egg, and a "pletzel." Even those unsure of whether they'd like liver thought it was delicious. The onion and egg went nicely with the liver. The "pletzel" was like an everything foccacia (not pretzel-like was we were expecting).

Next up we had the Deli Meat Board - that day's selection was turkey rillette, duck proscuitto, and salami served with toast and apricot preserves. All the house-cured meats were excellent.

Then came the lamb's tongue with onion raisin marmalade, served on pumpernickel toast with horseradish. I didn't really taste the horseradish, which was fine with me. The pumpernickel had lots of great rye flavor which went well with the sweetness of the marmalade. I think they really have a knack for not only preparing the meats well, but pairing them with great flavor combinations.

Our next dish was Veal Sweetbreads with pecan butter, concord grape jelly, apple and chili. Of course deep-fried sweetbreads are always delicious, but again, it was the sauces and toppings that made the dish stand out. Concord jelly with pecan butter - like schpanky PB&J -- with crisp spicy apples on top - who would think of such combinations?! Somehow it worked!

Our last small plate was warm chanterelle salad with radicchio, chevre noir, and maple walnut vinaigrette - the mushrooms were perfect and worked well with the crunch of the radicchio - another great dish.

Then came our mains. My friend Tricia ordered her own main which was the Hoyt Dog (named for the restaurant's address on Hoyt Street). It was a house made beef frankfurter with smoked meat baked beans, and sauerkraut. The beans were excellent - the meat to bean ratio was heavily meaty - and very satisfying.

Brian chose the Trout served on top of smoked trout bisque, with pickled mustard, horseradish. I only got a small taste of this, but it was nice.

We all dug into the Smoked Meat Deluxe. By this point, after so much food, we just dispensed of the bread and dug into the meat in the sandwich (pictured above). Poutine came with it on the side. Not as good as Montreal (the cheese curds got a bit too melty in my opinion, so there wasn't that nice texture contrast of chewy cheese, creamy gravy, and crisp fries), but I can't complain too much - it was still delicious.

Mile End
97a Hoyt Street
Brooklyn, NY
718.852.7510

Bien Cuit: The Smith Street Bakery, Brooklyn

2011-10-29T15:29:00.000-04:00

The squash and quince puree dessert at the "gastronomic picnic" just was not satisfying as a dessert, so we all decided to get some coffee and check out the sweets at Bien Cuit on Smith Street.

My cousins, however, ordered more savory food -- I was impressed! My family are basically hobbits - second breakfasts and second lunches are second nature. After trying their choices though -- open-faced quail egg, heirloom tomato, feta, and truffle salt on pugliese; and Tuscan-style salami, coppa, Tomme de Savoie, mustard and cornichon on baguette, I understood why - the bread was amazing! Sitting there, I had wanted to grab a loaf for home, but somehow in the shuffle on moving on to our next destination, I forgot. Sad - well, for next time I'm in the neighborhood.

The rest of us got sweets - I went with classic pain au chocolat, Redneckhunter got a hazelnut tarte - so moist!

And Tricia got a cardamom apple danish.

While writing this post, I just noticed that they sell their bread online from the website! Oh, so tempting...

Bien Cuit
120 Smith Street
Brooklyn NY 11211
(718) 852-0200

A Tale of Two Chefs Gastronomic Picnic at The Invisible Dog, Brooklyn

2011-10-28T15:04:00.000-04:00

My friend Tricia read about a "gastronomic picnic" at an art space in Brooklyn called The Invisible Dog. My cousins (who are always up for good food) lived in the neighborhood, so I invited them along. No one was quite sure what to expect, but costing only $20, it seemed worth checking it.

The event was part of an art exhibit and day of events celebrating French-American collaboration, so we were served a 5-course box lunch created by two chefs - French Chef Mathieu Rostaing Tayard from Le 126 in Lyon, France; and American Chef Brian Leth from Vinegar Hill House in Brooklyn. The Invisible Dog had a garden in back, and it was a great fall day, so we were able to eat in an urban picnic setting.

First course: Fennel Salad with saved fennel, currants, corignola olive oil, sherry, green peppercorns, dill and parmesan.

Second course: Braised squid with walnuts, cauliflower, Munamarra (red pepper) sauce, and peanuts.

Third course: Bacon and sea urchin with sauerkraut and hedgehog mushrooms.

Fourth course: Snail tempura with herb jus, green apple, daikon, ricotta salata

Dessert: Butternut squash and quince puree with vanilla meringue, roasted chestnut powder and lemon zest.

The general consensus was that everyone's favorite dish was the bacon and sea urchin. The sauerkraut was delicious, and the "hedgehog mushrooms" were intriguing - no one had had mushrooms like that before (they almost seemed like tiny tomatoes).

Redneckhunter was probably the smart one eating his hot dishes first. The rest of us tried to follow the courses as listed, so by the time we got to Snail Tempura the fried snails were no longer hot. I like the dish anyway - that was my second favorite. My only complaint was that if I was a judge on Top Chef, I would have said something about how it was difficult to eat the large pieces of apple radish in a picnic setting - needing to cut it while balancing a little cup on my lap. Once I did cut everything up, I really liked how all the flavors worked together. Perhaps my cousins didn't do the same as they didn't like the dish as much as I did.

After lunch, the chefs had a Q&A session, in which we found out that they didn't come up with the menu until Chef Tayard arrived in New York on Thursday (3 days prior). They had no preconceived ideas, other than Chef Tayard wanted to try to use snails (or maybe it was the urchin, I can't quite remember). The two shopped together for ingredients at the Union Square Greenmarket. Chef Leth made the fennel salad and squid. Chef Tayard made the snails and dessert, and they collaborated together to come up with the bacon sea urchin dish.

Beacon Restaurant, NYC

2011-10-26T14:22:00.001-04:00

My aunt and uncle had a 40th birthday dinner for my cousin at the Beacon Restaurant in midtown Manhattan, known for cuisine cooked over its wood-fired grill. My cousin, apparently, is a regular, and we were very well-treated by all the staff. The waiter held his own, trading jokes with my aunt; and we were paid visits by the manager and chef.

My aunt could not stop raving about the wood roasted bone marrow appetizer, from the second we arrived, so I ordered it. It was indeed as large as she said - too much in fact! I've had marrow before with parsley vinaigrette salad, and I really think having a little bit of acid and greens help cut the richness. This bone was served with horseradish toast (which had been brushed with olive oil), so it just added to the richness. You might not think you can have too much bone marrow, but I did, passing on my 2nd half to the birthday boy.

For my main dish, I ordered the roasted leg of rabbit with tomato coulis, bacon, and polenta. I loved it - the lean rabbit was not dry in the slightest.

Pictured left and right are my aunt and uncle's entrees -- the Delmonico ribeye with onion herb relish (left), and the Venison paillard with red currant and black pepper vinaigrette.

For dessert a number of people at the table ordered souffles. Above is the chocolate-chocolate chip. They also had a pecan bourbon souffle that night.

Because the souffles took 15 minutes to be baked fresh, we were offered the chance to go into the kitchen and see the restaurant's very own cotton candy machine. They even let us make our own balls of cotton candy. Yep, mine is the one that's bigger than my own head.

El Grullo Taqueria, Oakland, CA

2011-10-24T13:43:00.000-04:00

We were determined to eat good Mexican food while in California, so on our last day there before we flew out of Oakland Airport, we found El Grullo Taqueria.

The reviews on Yelp sounded delicious and were pretty funny (i.e. "ignore the crackheads in the neighborhood") and the place sounded exactly like the kind of hole-in-the-wall joint we were looking for.

I got the posole -- with huge chunks of pork falling off the bone, wonderfully red in color (though not overly spicy), it was just what I needed on a rainy Bay Area day. Redneckhunter got carne asada, served with hot corn tortillas.

El Grullo Taqueria
2630 Foothill BlvdOakland, CA 94601
(510) 261-6091

Savor the Central Coast, San Luis Obispo, CA

2011-10-23T08:52:00.001-04:00

The day after we attended a wedding in Monterey, our friends from Santa Barbara proposed to meet us halfway in San Luis Obispo. They came up with the wonderful plan to check out Savor the Central Coast, a huge food and wine festival celebrating that region.

The event took place at the 15,000 acre Santa Margarita Ranch. The weather was gorgeous and with a half price Groupon, I felt like it was a great deal even though I and our pregnant friend didn't partake of any of the wine tasting. Just tent after tent of free food! Here's a sampling of what we ate:

I think the absolute best thing we had was the maple bacon donut from SLO Donut.

Their donut holes with whipped cream and fresh berries were yummy as well!

Lamb tagine with loads of local olive oil.

Mozzarella tomato and pesto on focaccia by ByScotti.

Cookies by Brown Butter Cookie Company.

Whiskey marinated beef from Harris Ranch.

Lamb tacos from Central City Market

Homemade cavatelli with wild boar ragu from Artisan Restaurant

Cured meat from Allesina

Fresh oysters and abalone ceviche

And teeny tiny cones of merlot raspberry truffle ice cream

Blue Bottle Coffee and Little Green Cyclo, San Francisco

2011-10-19T12:30:00.000-04:00

Having been to Blue Bottle in Brooklyn, we figured we should go to the source in SF. We went to the branch at Mint Plaza, just a short walk from the end of the Market Street cablecar line (yes, we did the touristy thing - I even hung off the side).

After seeing the cold brew set-up in the Brooklyn store, this one was not nearly as impressive. But we got a cup of joe and head outside to grab a bite from the food truck parked on the plaza.

It was Little Green Cyclo - serving Vietnamese banh mi and other snacks. We each got a banh mi -- mine was Five Spice Grilled Chicken, Redneckhunter's was House Made Pâté w/ Truffle Oil & Pork Roll. They were huge - we really could have shared one. We were also tempted by the Sweet Potato Tater Tots, tossed with basil and mint, with tamarind plum dipping sauce.

A nice cup of coffee, beautiful weather, a cellist playing in the plaza, people watching -- couldn't ask for more...

Mission Chinese Food, San Francisco

2011-10-18T16:32:00.000-04:00

I can't remember how I first heard of Mission Street Food or Mission Chinese Food -- perhaps it was the cookbook published by McSweeney's, perhaps it was from Bon Appetit's list of Best New Restaurants 2011 -- but a great story sticks in your head.

The short version of the story is that first-generation Chinese-American Anthony Myint (parents immigrated to Virginia by way of Burma) took a trip eating his way around the world, came back, moved to San Francisco, and started running a food truck with his wife. After that came a pop-up restaurant inside an existing Chinese restaurant Lung Shan in SF's Mission district. Mission Chinese Food went from one night a week to guest chefs to now basically existing as a restaurant inside a restaurant.

I loved it the second I walked in; I loved that they hadn't changed the old-school wood-paneled decor, that they had a New Year's parade dragon hanging from the drop ceiling, that the staff were all pictured family-style on the top of the menu. I believe it was "Auntie" who brought us menus.

I really wish it was more than just Redneckhunter and myself, because I wanted to order one of everything on the menu. We opted instead for one cold dish, one hot dish, and one noodle dish. Our cold dish was Savory Egg Custard with Sea Urchin, Cured Trout Roe, Rice Wine and Shiso. The egg custard was the perfect smooth texture like silken tofu, the urchin and roe were wonderfully fishy. Not sure why there was a ninja next to this one on the menu, but I liked it!

I was so disappointed when the noodle dish I wanted was not available -- Numbing Lamb Face Biang Biang Mien, so we opted for Thrice-Cooked Bacon with Rice Cakes, Bitter Melon, Tofu Skin, Scallion, Black Bean and Chili Oil. For those Chinese readers, it was like niang gao crossed with hui-guo ro, but with the interesting addition of ku gua -- a much more traditionally Chinese dish than the egg custard.

Our last dish was Pork Belly with Soy-cured Egg, Ginger Scallion Rice Noodles, and Cucumber (pictured on top). I think I would have preferred the pork belly to be slow-braised like dong-puo ro rather than fried, but I can't complain too much about pork belly. But mostly I like the deconstruction of this dish from its traditional antecendents, with a more Western-style presentation, yet all the great Chinese flavors. And, it was great to have a soy egg that was soft-boiled.

Mission Chinese Food will definitely be one I return to next time I'm in San Francisco. I'm far more into this place than his fine dining establishment Commonwealth (though I do like how both restaurants donate a percentage of their profits to charity).

Mission Chinese Food
Inside Lung Shan Restaurant
2234 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA
(415) 863-2800

Incanto, San Francisco, CA

2011-10-17T10:36:00.002-04:00

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that we at TIGBG love nose-to-tail eating. So when we had to go out to San Francisco a couple weeks ago, we made a reservation at Chris Cosentino's (www.offalgood.com) place Incanto, in the Noe Valley neighborhood. The restaurant is on a quiet corner in a residential area, and is warm and inviting inside. We were really looking forward to our meal because of the strong porky aroma emanating from the kitchen.

There were two appetizer specials that night, so we ordered both of them -- trotter cake with foie gras, served with a red wine reduction; and testa (head cheese) ravioli with pig's blood in the pasta, in a sauce that had cinnamon, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, dried fruit. The trotter cake was the best dish we had that night. You can't go wrong with a lobe of seared foie gras. The cake was a bit like scrapple with more meat - chunkier (I got a nice chunk of cartilage in one bite). I appreciated the use of grapes and wine - a nod to the local region. The ravioli, though, were a bit disappointing -- I didn't really get any offal-ness - no satisfying funk from the head cheese or blood. The waitress had described the sauce to us as "kind of like a mole" so that was disappointing as well. It had none of that concentrated richness of a mole - I mean, yes, it had cinnamon, and pumpkin seeds etc., but not ground in, reduced for hours, had it been a true mole. One thing the Top Chef judges have dunged people on was calling a dish something that it really wasn't. If they hadn't said "mole" I wouldn't have been disappointed that it wasn't one.

Because we still had five more days in the Bay area and wanted to conserve our appetites, for our main dishes we each order a half portion from the pasta section rather than one of the larger meat dishes, though we did go all pig (after all, it is their specialty). Redneckhunter went traditional with handkerchief pasta with pork ragu. I went with the Corzetti, cotechino, mizuna & pangrattato. First off, I liked that I didn't know what any of those words meant! Here's what it was - corzetti are flat round pasta (Incanto's were imprinted with their piggy mascot), cotechino is an Italian sausage sliced thin like salami, mizuna are mustard greens, and pangrattato are breadcrumbs.

I thought Redneckhunter's was just ok - personally I think he makes a better pork ragu (but then again we get some really delicious ground pork from the Asian market in Plainsboro). I liked mine, the slight bitterness of the greens and the texture of the breadcrumbs were nice, and I got how they were going for similar flat and round of the sausage and pasta.

For dessert, we also ordered the special which was an ice cream float in strawberry verbena soda. It was light and refreshing. All in all, we had a good meal, but not one I'm going to dream about. Though they celebrate the pig here, it's a far cry from the temple of pork indulgence of the likes of Au Pied de Cochon, by any stretch.

Incanto
1550 Church Street
Noe Valley, SF
415.641.4500

South Florida Eats

2011-10-05T13:54:00.000-04:00

After Tampa, I head down to Miami for a few days to visit friends. Upon picking me up at the airport around 9 pm, my friend decided the first thing I needed to see was South Beach. It was all I was hoping for from South Beach - the Art Deco architecture, the booty clubs, the hoochie mami outfits, the devotees outside the Versace mansion. After our walk up and down the beach and the strip, she took me Puerto Sagua - an old Cuban diner just blocks away from the neon scene.

Apparently she had once had a Justin Timberlake sighting here! But it's not at all glitzy or glamorous. This place is old school -- formica tabletops, wood panelling, murals painted on the wall. I got a medianoche sandwich, and we shared 2 desserts. Flan, and a quatro leches cake. The fourth milk in the quatro leches was dulce de leche on top. I think we should have stuck with tres leches - it was just way too sweet for me!

The next day, still feeling like I needed to get more Cuban food in, she took me to Casa Larios in South Miami. The place had a nice Old Havana feel to it - men ordered coffee from the take-out window and played chess on the patio. Here, I got my first real Cuban coffee of the trip. The milk was piping hot, the shot was strong, and I was glad that they let me put my own sugar in. I also got the best lunch special deal - $7 for a massive plate of arroz con pollo with a side of plaintains!

Next on my list of things I had to eat while in Florida was Key Lime Pie. I got that fix in at Books and Books in Coral Gables. It's a wonderful independent bookstore in a great historic Spanish villa with a central atrium and a nice cafe. My friend's dessert was a fresh cranberry tart with ice cream. I got to meet owner Mitchell Kaplan -- he is truly living the dream, running bookstores in Coral Gables, Bal Harbour, Westhampton, Grand Cayman, and Fort Lauderdale and basically being the center of the literary world in South Florida.

The next day my friend had a meeting in Fort Lauderdale, so I tagged along. It was nice to see it when it wasn't spring break season. Determined to have a meal on the beach, we found a spot literally on the sand -- Anglin's Beach Cafe on Anglin's Fishing Pier in the quieter town of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. My friend got a fresh blackened fish sandwich, and I got the captain's salad with grilled shrimp. I probably could have gone for another slice of Key Lime Pie, but we were in a hurry to get back to Miami to pick up my friend's kids from school. I did however, get another thing off my Florida list there - fresh squeezed orange juice.

Puerto Sagua
700 Collins Ave
Miami Beach, FL
(305) 673-1115

Casa Larios
5859 Southwest 73rd Street
South Miami, FL
(305) 662-5656

Books and Books Cafe
265Aragon Avenue
CoralGables, FL
(305) 442-4408

Anglin's Beach Cafe
2 Commercial Blvd
Lauderdale By the Sea, FL
(954) 491-6007

Columbia Restaurant, Tampa, FL

2011-10-04T13:09:00.002-04:00

In Tampa, we ate at the oldest Spanish restaurant in the US -- The Columbia Restaurant. Established in Ybor City in 1905, the restaurant has been passed down through several generations and branches of the same family ever since. It's a great Spanish Colonial space, bustling with activity, even at 5 pm when we went there. We had a large group, so we shared some tapas to start, including chorizo espanola, mussels and chorizo "Andres," and stuffed piquillo peppers.

Redneckhunter and I both ordered dishes that were made to order and required extra time -- I got Arroz con Pollo "Valenciana", and he got Paella "Campesina." They were both worth the wait. I have a soft spot for arroz con pollo (chicken with rice) -- a simple dish, but such satisfying comfort food when made right. This one was. The rice was toothsome and full of "sabor" (aka flavor), the chicken fell off the bone.

Another thing, the portions were very generous! I had enough left for the next day's lunch for a couple of us. Below are some of the other dishes ordered by people in our group:
Roast Pork "A la Cubana" with rice and beans and yucca.

Veal Chop "La Reina Isabella" with saffron butter sauce and lump blue crab meat.

Boliche "Criollo" - roasted eye round of beef stuffed with chorizo, with rice and beans and plaintains.

And the ginormous "1905" Salad - lettuce, baked ham, Swiss cheese, tomato, olives, grated Romano, and house garlic dressing (with the secret ingredient of Worcestershire sauce) - all tossed tableside.

We shared a flan for dessert, which was one of the best I've had. It was all gone before I could snap a picture.

Columbia Restaurant
2117 East 7th Avenue
Tampa, Florida 33605
(813) 248-4961

Bern's Steakhouse, Tampa, FL

2011-09-16T17:04:00.001-04:00

Bern's Steakhouse apparently is THE place to go in Tampa. Founded in 1956 by Bern Laxer, it has become world renowned for its extensive wine cellar. They're also known for their aged steaks and dessert room - basically it's a dining experience, and it did not disappoint. Starting with the wine, Bern was an avid world traveler and amassed quite a collection -- if I'm remembering correctly, Bern's cellar is the largest in the Americas and 2nd largest in the world. According to their website, " more than 6,800 unique wine labels, 5,500 red wines, 1,000 white wines and more than 200 sparkling wines. In addition, we feature about 300 Madeiras, Ports and Sherries by the glass, as well as 200 table wines served by the glass with vintages to 1973."

Redneckhunter was a like a kid in a candy shop looking through the wine list, aka Bible, which was about as thick as a telephone book. He was even texting his wine stores friends who were green with envy. We started out with a 1979 Chateau Tour Saint Jean Bordeaux, bottle covered in dust, and sediment decanted out. Redneckhunter thought it was a bit past its prime, and the waiter was very accommodating offering to get us something else, but we let it breathe a bit and drank it anyway. I think he was much happier with our second bottle - sticking with 1979, this was a Chateau Neuf de Pape. Both bottles were unbelievably reasonable price-wise.

Now onto the food:

While not as thick as the wine list, the Bern's menu is quite encyclopedic in its own right at 19 pages long. In addition to pages on the history and ethos of the restaurant, and the usual sections devoted to starters, seafood, etc. there's also a 2-page caviar list, and a 4-page explanation of cuts and doneness of steak, including a full-page chart of cuts and thicknesses from which to order. Then there are sauces or toppings that can be added.

It was all a little overwhelming for me (not being a regular steak eater), so I opted to just get 6 ounce Chateaubriand tips, medium rare. I was however intrigued by the idea of "flan" as a topping, so I tried a blue cheese flan on mine.

At Bern's (unlike the venerable Northeast steakhouses we're used to where everything is a la carte), steaks come with soup (French onion), salad (I tried the house dressing vanilla macadamia), baked potato with all the fixings, onion rings, and vegetables. So with all that food in our future, we opted to just share 2 foie gras appetizers among our party of 6 people.

We ordered one of the daily specials -- foie gras torchon, encrusted with pistachios, cranberry compote and caramelized onions, and one of the foie gras dishes off the menu -- foie gras a la plancha with truffle roasted wild mushrooms, on a toasted brioche, and Napa Valley Merlot reduction.

The torchon was smooth and the flavors of the fruit and onions really blended nicely. The grilled foie was also delicious and on this dish it was the reduction that really hit the spot. I was sopping it up with bits of toast. I could have been happy drizzling it on ice cream.

My steak (pictured above) was perfectly cooked, with that nice aged flavor, and the flan was delicious. Redneckhunter's rare was sufficiently bloody for him. I have to say I had little room left in my stomach to really eat the baked potato, carrots sauteed in Grand Marnier, and veggies.

Plus, I knew I had to leave room for dessert in their separate dessert room. Luckily we had a little kitchen and wine cellar tour to give us some time to digest. Pictures can't do justice to how big the cellar was - room after cavernous room. And apparently what we walked through was only about 1/10th of the full collection.

Finally we were escorted on to the Harry Waugh dessert room, named so after a friend of the Laxers. Harry was a British gourmand and wine connoisseur, director of Chateau LaTour. After a memorable evening where the Laxers were invited to enjoy aperitifs and desserts in Waughs drawing room, Bern Laxer, thought, why don't we do that in the US? And thus was born the Bern's dessert room. Each table is seated in a private booth made from old wine casks, with its own music selection, in which to intimately enjoy dessert, coffee, and drinks.

I ordered Bern's version of "Cafe Con Leche" (you know, when in Florida...). I'd say it wasn't authentically Cuban, but that was probably good thing as it was not too sweet for me.

Above is the Macadamia Nut Sundae -- of course it was yummy, but I have to say I was hoping for more macadamia flavor in the ice cream.

Far more nut flavor was delivered in the crust of the Framboise Macadamia Decadence, with raspberry sorbet.

Then there was the Chocolate Cheese Pie - not exactly a cheesecake, this pie was like a dense mousse, and very pretty.

I realize I never got a picture of the King Midas - carrot cake with Macadamia Nut Ice Cream and dark chocolate sauce, but it was probably the least favorite one of mine. The most favorite (how can you go wrong really) was the Dulce de Leche Liquid Center Cake.

Four hours later, we were pretty fat and happy. Bern's is definitely an all around dining experience, and shouldn't be missed if you find yourself in Tampa.

Bern's Steakhouse
1208 South Howard Avenue
Tampa, FL
813-251-2421

Fatty Crab... again

2011-09-12T13:28:00.000-04:00

Recently we found ourselves going out in the Meatpacking District, and since I'm rarely in that neighborhood, I wanted to go eat at Fatty Crab. It was a great summer day, so we sat outside, and Redneckhunter and our friend started off the evening right with some Fatty special shots and chasers: #1 was the Recession Special: whiskey, spicy pickle back, and PBR; #2 was the Panchito Special: tequila, Malay sangrita, and Tecate with lime and chili-salt.

Then came the snacks: Steamed pork buns (which were good, but less flavorful than Momofuku's), Fatty sliders (pork and beef burgers, with a nice thick Asian-style pickle, and spicy remoulade), the Fatty dog (xo sausage, pickled chili, pickled radish, cucumber, aioli), and charred corn with chili-sugar-salt (a bit overpriced at $6). We also ordered my favorite dish, Nasi Lemak (chicken curry, coconut rice, poached egg, and otak which is dried spiced fish). We devoured it before I thought of taking a photo. It's still my favorite dish - just wonderful comfort food -- and of the snacks, the nice surprise were the yummy sliders. Another shot and chaser and we were ready for the Meatpacking circus!

Fatty Crab

643 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
(212) 352-3590

Annie's Banannies, Rehoboth Beath, DE

2011-09-06T11:23:00.004-04:00

I have always loved frozen bananas (they don't even have to be dipped in chocolate), and have often put peeled bananas in my freezer to have as chilly treats. But I first discovered that putting frozen bananas through an extruder created something akin to ice cream years ago at a place in Manayunk, PA. That place is long gone, but I've been lucky to have The Bent Spoon close to home in Princeton, with their banana whip, and I was so happy to discover Annie's Banannies in Rehoboth Beach!

Annie's story, according to their website, is that she was inspired by her mom. Growing up, her mom loved juicing, the kids hated it, until they discovered frozen bananas through the juicer. Annie made a promise to her mom, as she was dying of cancer, that she would open up her business Annie's Banannies, making frozen banana "ice cream." And she did it, opening in 2009, in Rehoboth Beach where they used to vacation as a family.

At Annie's you can have all sorts of healthy toppings added -- we went with strawberries and strawberry puree for 1000yregg, and natural peanut butter for me. As good as ice cream any day! For Baltimoreans, she's got another branch at Harborplace.

Annie's Banannies
#9 1st Street South (at Wilmington Ave.)
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

Harborplace
301 Light Street Pavillion
Baltimore, Maryland

Biscuit Sandwiches from Blacksauce Kitchen, Baltimore

2011-08-22T14:35:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite things to do on Saturday mornings in Baltimore is to go to the year round Waverly farmer's market, and have breakfast at the Blacksauce Kitchen stand.

Their specialty is making wonderful buttermilk biscuit sandwiches that change week to week. Their handmade biscuits are great, fluffy, delicate, and buttery.

My favorite sandwich so far has been the fried chicken with blackberry honey. They fry the chicken to order for this one.

I've also enjoyed their beef short rib biscuit, the merguez sausage and fried egg biscuit, and the "BLT" with bacon, microgreens, & tomato jam.
They also make an appearance at the Highlandtown market on Thursday afternoons, but I fear having their biscuits more than once a week will be hard on the waistline.

Epicerie Boulud, NYC

2011-08-21T22:15:00.010-04:00

We were up in New York to see a show at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, so we grabbed a quick bite at Epicerie Boulud, the take-out offering in Daniel Boulud's row of establishments on the block which includes the fine dining restaurant Boulud Sud and Bar Boulud.

We shared the banh mi with Thai sausage, country pate, jambon de Paris, radish and carrot slaw, and jalapeno mayonnaise. Non-traditional, but very very tasty.

After that it was time for a sweet - we got a slice of the Galette Bresanne - basically like a cream tart. The cream was ok - not too sweet, but the "crust" was more bready than pastry, and rather dry. It was sort of like a fancified cheese danish, but not a good one.

So unsatisfied with that treat, we decided to go back to the case and try again. The woman working the pastry case told us this brioche was filled with pastry cream and candied fruit, but when we cut it open there was neither inside -- instead there was something the texture of almond paste, though without any flavor. Again, the brioche was dry and not fresh.

Later that evening, we stopped back in to pick up some food for sitting out on the lawn at Summerstage -- a nice seared tuna sandwich, cheese and pate plates. Basically the lesson was, stick to the food, skip the sweets.

Epicerie Boulud
1900 Broadway at 64th Street, NYC
212-595-9606

Frank Pepe's Pizza Napoletano, New Haven, CT

2011-08-15T14:15:00.010-04:00

We only had a brief time in New Haven this weekend while attending a wedding, so we wanted to hit some landmarks. Louis' Lunch (birthplace of the hamburger) sadly was closed on Saturday afternoon, so instead we went to the famous Pepe's Pizzeria.

We were lucky enough to arrive right at 2 pm, when they opened up The Spot (the small annex next door, which is the original location from 1925), so we jumped in there rather than into the long line.

We ordered 2 smalls of their signature pies: white clam and fresh tomato (only offered in the summer). Both pies arrived on a single long rectangular tray and we dug in, forgoing plates to just eat off the tray which took up our entire tabletop. The white clam was super garlicky and loaded with big breaded clams. The tomato pie was a nice contrast - fresh and more subtle. I think the biggest difference of Pepe's with other thin crust pizzas I've had is that the crust is much chewier - perhaps it's the Connecticut water.

And in keeping with eating local, I washed it all down with a lemon soda from Foxon Park, an East Haven beverage company who have been making soda since 1922. By the time we finished, there was already a line at both The Spot and the main location.

Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletano
157 Wooster Street
New Haven, CT
203-865-5762

Foodie day in Williamsburg

2011-08-12T13:44:00.023-04:00

Petitesoeur and I had a lovely summer day snacking our way around Williamsburg. We started off at Blue Bottle Coffee, the Brooklyn outpost of the Bay Area roaster, for some cold brew to kick-start our day.

I got the New Orleans with chicory, milk, and sugar, along with an olive oil semolina buckle with Brooklyn Winery Riesling poached peaches and almond lavender streusel on top. Petitesoeur, much more the coffee purist, went with the Kyoto black, along with a buckwheat buttermilk biscuit sandwich with Tasso ham from Marlow & Daughters, housemade strawberry jam, and raw milk cheddar from Smith's Farmstead.

They had a very impressive cold-brew-drip set-up -- "perhaps the longest and most theatrical drip bar on the eastern seaboard" according to their website. We also got to watch the barista masterfully hand-pull espressos on their restored 1958 Faema Urania lever espresso machine.

Properly caffeinated (perhaps a little too caffeinated in the case of petitesoeur), we head off to explore some more, hitting our next string of foodie destinations on Bedford Avenue.

The first was Radish, where we admired the wonderful and fresh prepared foods we weren't yet hungry enough for, but ended up getting a homemade blueberry basil soda.

Further on down the block, we hit the Bedford Cheese Shop. The smell that hits you upon opening the door is just heavenly! We spent a good deal of time in there, taking in the overwhelming selection. Incidentally, if there were a prize for cheese writing, it should go to the Bedford owner for his hilariously colorful descriptions.

When I saw this funky pretty little cone of cheese -- called Crocodile Tears -- I knew I had to come back to get it. I decided on that along with a Farmer's aged gouda that was wonderfully sharp, nutty and caramelly, and also picked up some Anarchy in a Jar strawberry balsamic jam. Next stop on the block was kitchen supply store Whisk where I stocked up on more of my beloved Bacon Marmalade.

Finally we started getting peckish, so we head down to Nha Toi for bahn mi. It was a tiny little joint with just a couple 2-tops with low Asian-street-stall stools, a window counter with a handful of high stools, and a few benches on the sidewalk - perfect! We ordered the summer roll with pickled vegetables -- so pretty! -- accompanied by 2 delicious sauces (so good I brought them home with me).

We also split a banh mi with bì heo (shredded pork and skin with roasted rice powder). It was so big we only ate half of it between the 2 of us (with the other half packed up to bring home to Redneckhunter). And now that petitesoeur's coffee buzz had finally calmed down a bit, she left with a Vietnamese iced coffee for the road.

Our final destination was Maison Premiere for their $1 oyster happy hour. Now a lot of places in the city do $1 bluepoints, or one type of oyster, but at Maison Premiere, every oyster from their extensive menu is just $1 -- all the better to serve up absinthe, Pimm's and other cocktails. I let petiteseour choose a sampling: 2 each of Madaline, Caraquet, Quilcene, Triton Cove, Gigamoto, Elkhorn, Oakland Bay and Skookum.

Before:And after:It was lovely sitting in their back garden slowly slurping oysters and amusing ourselves by people watching. Petitesoeur finished off with a palate-cleansing cocktail -- an Old Hickory: Dolin Blanc vermouth, Carpano Antica, Peychauds and orange bitters.

Finally, it was back to the cheese shop to pick up our cheese, now that we were heading home and out of the summer heat. Petitesoeur got a slice of ricotta cake, imported from Sicily. We were going to go back to Blue Bottle to eat it (I guess she needed even more caffeine!), but since they were closed, we just had it on a sidewalk bench. It was divine - definitely the best ricotta cheese cake I've ever had. Smooth, lemony - I'm still craving more... The perfect ending to a great day!

Blue Bottle Coffee
160 Berry Street
718-387-4160

Radish
158 Bedford Avenue

(718) 782-2744

Bedford Cheese Shop
229 Bedford Avenue

1-888-484-3243

Whisk
231 Bedford Avenue
(718) 218-7230

Nha Toi
160 Havemeyer St.
(718) 599-1820

Maison Premiere
298 Bedford Avenue
347-335-0446

Rogue 24- The Journey, DC

2011-08-01T17:56:00.001-04:00

I've been a fan of chef RJ Cooper for several years, and when he ran his original 24 course tasting menu at Vidalia, I had a reservation to go. However, a week before the date, he left Vidalia, and the experience never happened.
Now, over a year later, he's opened his own restaurant, Rogue 24, offering the 24 course tasting menu. Luckily, I was able to book a seat in the opening week. The layout of the restaurant is unique. The main kitchen and prep area is placed at the center of the restaurant under bright lights, allowing diners to watch everything going to make each of the courses. The staff also welcomed questions and interaction with them during the whole course of the meal.
Because I had to drive, I opted for the non-alcoholic drink pairings created by mixologist Derek Brown. When first seated, I was given a starter of watermelon water with fresh basil.
Courses 1/2
The 24 courses were broken down into groups of 3, with a paired drink to each group. For the first group, "snacks", I was served a simple, refreshing tonic with elderflower.
I first had a small cube of compressed watermelon topped with manchego cheese, bits of almond, a nib of cocoa, and a small piece of dried Jamón Ibérico.
The second course was an oyster shooter. They took a Stingray oyster (VA) and spherified it with a soft shell of mignonette sauce and Old Bay seasoning. It was then topped with a Snapperhead I.P.A. foam. This bite captured the tastes of eating raw oysters in the summer in the Midatlantic region.
Course 3
This was chef's take on Cig Kofte, a Turkish style tartare, using rose veal, housemade pickles, wheat germ, and sumac. The veal was very tender and had a wonderful flavor.
Course 4
The next set of courses were paired with a housemade ginger lemonade that had a strong ginger kick.
The 4th item on the menu was called the "Sea Floor". It was served in a very deep bowl, so the utensil for eating it was a set of forceps. It's components included sea urchin, seaweed, and sea water air. There also were edible "lava rocks".
Course 5
The next set of courses were tributes to chefs that inspired chef Cooper. The first was called an "Ode to O'connell" in recognition of chef Patrick O’Connell from The Inn at Little Washington and his "Tin of Sin". Served in a caviar tin, I had Osstra caviar with egg & crème fraiche served along with a baby cucumber with flower attached and cucumber air.
Course 6
This sixth course, a tribute to Chef Jeffrey Buben of Vidalia, was shrimp 'n' grits, bent & twisted. First, the shrimp was made into a slice of chorizo. Then, the grits, the part inspired by Chef Buben, was a corn milk pannacotta coated with a fried grit shell.

Course 7
For the next trio of items, my drink was a cherry phosphate soda.
The seventh course was called "Fowl Play". It arrived covered with a glass dome filled with smoke. I was instructed to lift up the dome, inhale the smoke, and then eat the item inside. Inside was a nest of "hay" with a cured partridge egg, chicken gizzard and skin.
Apologies to chef for the lousy pic of the egg & nest, but I was holding my breath in and only gave myself one shot before I ate it as I wanted to experience the smoke and the food at the same moment.
Course 8
I liked this course because it was a little down and dirty. I was handed a glass bowl which contained a fresh radish in what appeared to be "dirt". It was actually a combination of coffee, butter, and had a hazelnut in it as well. The server instructed me to grab the stalk by hand and rub it around on the inside and eat up.
It was fun seeing some fellow diners who were in suits get a little touchy about making a bit of a mess when eating this course.
Course 9
I was a fan of RJ's Pig & Pinot Fridays at Vidalia, and the ninth course reminded me of those dishes. He made a smoked hog jowl on top of caramel ice cream and pain perdu. I wished this was more than just a small bite.
Course 10
My next drink was a coriander carrot soda topped with crema.
The 10th course was a lavender meringue topped with a foie gras torchon that was frozen and then shaved on top. Under the meringue was a wild berry sauce.
Course 11
As an homage to the chef's Midwestern roots, the next dish highlighted corn in various forms. It had bits of grilled baby corn, popcorn, and a small tamale of vanilla corn custard served inside a husk of corn.
Course 12
Next up was a "salad" course that was Green Goddess dressing ice cream served with vegetable chips.
Course 13
One of my favorite drinks of the evening followed, a strawberry rhubarb drink with vinegar. It reminded me of drinking vinegar from Japan.
The start of the second half of the meal was an item called "liquid chicken" which reminded me of the foie gras cromesquis from Au Pied De Cochon. It was a chicken broth cooked into a shell with sheep's cheese and truffle, topped with a cepe mushroom. I was instructed to take the whole item into my mouth and bite down. The chicken broth bathed the inside of my mouth with all it's accompanying flavors.
Course 14
This was a representative dish of the season with the flavors of a Caprese salad. It was a beautiful green tiger heirloom tomato gently carved served with olive oil, balsamic vinegar spheres, ricotta cheese, apple and basil blossoms.
Course 15
This was another one of my favorite courses in how simple it was. This was a beet granita topped with char roe. There was a wonderful contrast of the the sweetness from the beet with the salinity of the roe.
Course 16
My next drink was a smoked cola with lime slice.
They called number 16 "What's up, Doc?" It had a piece of rabbit with baby carrots on a bed of edible "soil".
Course 17
This course was a take on vichyssoise. The soup was almond milk with truffle, and on the small skewer was violet potato, leeks.

Course 18
There was more playfulness with the 18th course. It was called "Not the Cheese" course. Using red aspic, headcheese was made to look like a small gouda wheel. It came with pretzel paper, pickled mustard seeds, and mayonnaise.

Course 19
Up next was a small bottle charged with CO2 of a garden vegetable summer consommé.
I then got another drink pairing. This time it was a delightful peach fizz.
Course 20
Chef Cooper brought course 20 to my table himself and described the preparation of the Border Springs lamb neck. He said it was braised for 18 hours, and topped with eggplant. It also came with a side of black garlic.
The lamb meat was so good, and smeared with a little of the black garlic, it was perfect.
Course 21
21 was the real cheese course. Pipe Dreams Fromage fresh goat cheese was presented on a piece of wood with olive paper, olive chunks, and a spherical olive.
Course 22
At this point, pastry chef Chris Ford took over for the last 3 dessert courses.
My final drink was an African tea, Rooibos Masala Chai, which was a first try for me. I loved it- it was a little spicy, and had a smooth flavor, with a little milk and honey, was great.
The first dessert item was seasonally inspired, using peaches from Toigo Orchards. There was a doughnut peach, and a bourbon gelee, topped with a sweet tea marshmallow noodle, basil blossoms and cream snow.
Course 23
The second dessert item was called Tennessee as the ingredients all came from there. The chocolate came from Olive & Sinclair Co. of Nashville, and it was fashioned into bark and dirt with liquid nitrogen. There was a dark chocolate cremeux and a quenelle of maplewood ice cream.
Course 24
The final course was 3 small bites: a lavender nitro chocolate truffle, a pecan crisp, and a cola gelee.

I waited over a year to try this tasting menu, and it surpassed my expectations especially with the participation of the mixologist and pastry chef. Next time, I plan to get the alcoholic beverage pairings.

922 N St NW (Rear/Blagden Alley)
Washington DC
(202)408-9724

Baking for Good

2011-07-25T13:38:00.004-04:00

I loved the concept of Baking for Good when I first heard about them. For each online purchase, they donate 15% to a charity of your choice (there are over 200 to choose from). I first sent them to a friend when her grandmother passed away, and when she raved about how good the cookies were, they became my go-to food gift of choice.

Everyone we sent brownies or cookies too loved them, and yet, I had never actually tasted any of these baked treats, only sent them out to others. Until recently...

We took the opportunity when we had a bunch of gifts to buy to throw in a few bags for ourselves. The chocolate chip cookie brownie (basically cookie dough dropped over a brownie and all baked together), I think, were my favorite. Warmed up briefly in a microwave, then topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup, they made great brownie sundaes. The s'mores brownies were super sweet but were fun ooey, gooey, treats. The traditional chocolate brownies were good, but I still think Redneckhunter makes the best on earth.

Can't wait until I have another excuse to try their oatmeal cookies, chocolate crackles, the list goes on. They also make fun decorated sugar cookie for every occasion you can think of - graduations, baby showers, weddings - they'll even do custom designs. As their motto goes, "a little sugar goes a long way."

Fairmount Bagel, Montreal

2011-07-18T12:00:00.000-04:00

Wandering around the Mile End neighborhood in Montreal, Fougoo & I happened upon Fairmount Bagel, one the oldest bagel bakeries in town. The shop is open 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, churning out their hand rolled, wood oven baked bagels.
We opted to try their "all dressed" bagel, covered with onion, garlic, caraway, sesame seeds , poppy seeds and coarse salt. First off the Montreal style bagel is a bit larger than the New York City bagel. It has a less chewy texture than the NYC counterpart, and the Montreal bagel is a little sweeter as well.
Personally, I still prefer the New York bagel, but I do respect the tradition of the bagels they make up North.

74 Avenue Fairmount Ouest
Montreal, QC
(514)272-0667

BrookLen Goes to Au Pied de Cochon, Montreal

2011-07-14T16:53:00.001-04:00

It only took me getting into five years of career starts and stops, a marriage, and a little guy we'll refer to as BrookLEn Jr, and finally, I was able to stroll through the doors of Au Pied du Cochon, for the great Northern TIGBG eat-athon. There is nothing adorning the alley-sized apartment of gluttony, and in a city (nay, country!) that seems to have no shortage of space, you find yourself lucky to be eating and chatting elbow-to-elbow with patrons and staff alike. Even though I already had in mind a couple classic dishes I had read about in this very blog, I was prepared for whatever specials might come down the gangplank to our onerous party.
Redneckhunter scaled the winelist, and came up with the smart suggestion of a Boujoulais Nouveau, which would be a tidy excuse to sip red with shellfish. Although they were actually out of the listed wine, their substitute, La Tentation Domaine Jean-Claude Lapalu was beyond the par of what I hoped for, and we gladly shared a couple bottles. 1000yregg ordered like his hair was on fire, and I had just enough time to yelp for the ever-famous duck in a can.
And then we waited. For this, I was finally getting into the Quebecois mindset. I am sick of impatience- in myself, in Americans. I was ready for Royal Mountie Time. If you can wait for an hour, then the chef will give you what you deserve. If you can't, go down the road, there's a border crossing nearby.

An hour later, we saw our first dishes. To start, the mystery cubes. I was told to let the foie gras cromesquis cool, and I waited with apprehension. What I afraid of disappointment? I lifted one up, and let it break on my tongue. The liquified liver poured down my throat, a surge of fat for what was to come. Two orders of the foie gras poutine landed between the seven of us, and not a fry survived. In describing that dish, it is hard to imagine that it would actually be lush and velvety. Along with this came some spicy fried cod balls, and a tarragon bison tongue, tough but made bright with my secret new favorite herb.

Then, it arrived: the inimitable Duck in A Can. The presentation of that plate was done for BrookLEn Jr., to awe and some exhaustion (it was after his bed time, after all). The duck was a revelry; watching in come out was like a downward parade onto the plate. I'm sure I saw a sprig of thyme amongst the dark gravy and red meat. Juiced with fat, but a touch of tender lean in the duck made their set-piece dish still feel like a standout.

To my surprise, most dishes had a nod to more than just meat and gravy. There were vegetables, amazing potatoes and morels; our table made neat work of a single salad that had octopus and bacon amongst some sweet and fresh greens. It truly was a food parade, but the secret parade that happens at midnight. It's the parade that still beguiles the internet, and manages to find that sweet alley to march. Between courses, thunder rolled in, and a heavy rain poured on the skylight.

Next, the second wave of plates arrived. Boudin noir propped up in mashed potatoes.

A lobster roll with foie gras slices adorning.

And the plateau des plateaux, a tower of Canadian seafood orgy: fried AND boiled crabs legs, oysters, crawfish, mussels, clams, and a pan of Szechuan-spiced snails worthy of 1000yregg's drool. One of the oysters that had a slice of gelée might have been the best thing I ate all night. Just when I started thinking about where I left my will, the collar was affixed to our table.

The tuna collar, one of the two available for the whole night, was a beautiful nightmare of aquatic eatery. The C-shaped bone held tender meat that would melt in your mouth, doused in a rich, buttery sauce, and garnished with a stack of onion rings. Yes, onion rings. The table tore into this food, and before I knew it, the TIGBG crew were taking turns working at the tuna collar, exploring its secret meats. The meat sweats started in.

1000yregg: Just adding my two cents, as this was the first time I had tried the tuna collar as well. I was still feeling the seafood "high" from the plateau when I took my first bites of the collar. Oh my god, this was the most tender tuna I have ever eaten. Fougoo and I also noticed that the collar had several different areas where the meat went from a white color to dark red. These areas all had different levels of flavor and texture. I probably continue eating 45 minutes after the rest of the table cried "uncle". I blame the shellfish high munchies which gave me the second wind.

fougoo: No matter how many times we come here, they still surprise us! The tuna collar was truly an experience. I only wish that it hadn't come last, so that I could have eaten more - it was like no fish I'd ever tasted. I had fun picking scraps of meat off with my fingers after everyone else was done... I also thought it was funny that different people in our party would walk out of the restaurant for periodic breaks for fresh air throughout the long meal - whew!

Over four hours later, with a ravaged table, we entertained dessert, marveling at what we'd done. The fantastic pouding chomeur, swimming in a mild maple sauce, complimented the classic creme brulee, and dark chocolat pot de creme. It's been a long wait, and I'm already thinking about when I can make it again.

536 Avenue Duluth Est
Montréal, QC
(514)281-1114

Restaurant Le Plaza, Montreal

2011-07-13T21:00:00.002-04:00

The TIGBG group spent Saturday after Canada Day watching all the activity at our hotel, ITHQ, because it was the site of a visit by Prince William & Kate. We left for dinner past the throngs of royal watchers to the quiet neighborhood along St. Hubert to Restaurant Le Plaza.
Le Plaza makes a menu that is considered more old school Quebecois cuisine, and we opted to eat a less heavy menu as we had Joe Beef the previous evening, and Au Pied De Cochon ths next night.
We started with a pair of salads: spinach salad with crab, croutons, avocado & lardons and a tomato salad on top of a grilled ricotta cake.
The foie gras preparation of the day was a delicious tart of foie gras with poached pear. We also shared the house charcuterie plate which was all seafood including house smoked salmon & eel, and a really good shrimp confit.

We then ordered two large tartare preparations. First was the traditional beef tartare with frites. It was really good with a great balance of beef, pickles, hot sauce and raw egg.
The second tartare was made with Arctic char and mixed with a little mayo, cucumber and dill.

For dessert we ordered a set of "whoopie pies". There was the traditional chocolate cookie with cream. One was a lemon cookie, and the third was inspired by Elvis- banana cookie with peanut butter and bacon filling.
We also got the Yankee toast, not the French toast, which was covered with molasses and vanilla ice cream. This was delicious, but I wanted more ice cream to go with the toast.

6230, rue Saint-Hubert
Montreal, QC
(514)270-7155

Poutine at La Cantine Bistro Boutique, Montreal

2011-07-12T20:00:00.001-04:00

Before this trip to Montreal, I found a blog Poutine Pundit, that rates their fav poutine places in Quebec, NYC and around the world. Their favorite poutine was at Montreal's Le Cantine Bistro Boutique, so one late night, Fougoo and I went.
Their iteration of this Quebecois classic is particular in that the gravy has Szechuan peppercorn. It arrives with a beautiful presentation, in a mason jar. However, per Poutine Pundit's recommendation, we removed all the contents from that jar quickly so the fries do not get soggy.
The result was spectacular: crispy fries, squeaky fresh cheese curds, and wonderfully flavored only mildly spicy gravy. It was one of the best versions of poutine I've ever had.

212 Avenue du Mont-Royal Est
Montreal, QC
(514)750-9800

Le Comptoir Charcuterie et Vins, Montreal

2011-07-11T18:20:00.000-04:00

On researching for the Montreal trip, I had heard some good things about Le Comptoir Charcuterie et Vins, another recently opened restaurant that specialized in small plates of housemade charcuterie. Le Comptoir translates to "counter", and we sat at the main counter that evening, watching the food prep area that was on the other side.
We started with a large charcuterie plate. All the items are made at La Comptoir. We had their pâté de foie gras, saucisson sec, sopresseta, country pâté, and chorizo. We had something else that was lot like scrapple- very liver-y- seared so it was crunchy on the outside, mushy inside. Fougoo really liked the house made cumin mustard, and bought a jar to take home.
Their menu is listed on a chalkboard, and highlight what is seasonal and available. We ordered two items to share. First was a beef heart confit served chilled topped with a salad of octopus & potatoes with a red wine emulsion.
Second, we had a boudin tart with a shallot confit, bacon and "soft boiled egg". The boudin was nice and creamy, and tasted great with the shallots.
For dessert, we got a marquise au chocolat with strawberries, rhubarb and a hazelnut tuile.
Le Comptoir makes me wish there were more restaurants following the same low key style with amazing no nonsense food and casual atmosphere. I know I'll be back next time I'm in Montreal.

4807 Boulevard Saint-Laurent
Montréal, QC
(514)844-8467

Joe Beef, Montreal

2011-07-08T12:45:00.001-04:00

On Canada Day, the whole TIGBG crew got together in Montreal for an unforgettable dinner at up and coming restaurant, Joe Beef. We figure we’d try a different approach to our posts and turn this into a discussion about our meal.

fougoo: First off, before getting into the food, the atmosphere at Joe Beef is absolutely charming. Even though we had a little mix-up with the reservation, the staff were accommodating, and we were lucky enough to get a spot in the corner of the garden. Dining out there in the early evening sunshine, with plants, flowers, herbs, and vegetables all around us was just a perfect setting - as if you were invited over to your fabulously bohemian friend’s house for dinner on their patio. Our waiter was helpful translating the menu posted on the chalkboard, offering suggestions, and letting us know what was fresh and where it had come from.

brooklen: By our dumb luck, we got the best seat in the house; on one side of my seat I was smelling the smoker, on the other I was getting whiffs of basil. There was thyme growing out of the tree stump at the end of our table!

1000yregg: We were so fortunate to be sitting in the backyard of Joe Beef for dinner on such a perfect summer evening. Redneckhunter selected a 2007 Castiglion del Bosco Rosso di Montalcino, a versatile wine for the evening's dinner.

fougoo: We ordered french fries for the 2-year-old BrookLEN Junior, but everyone ended up stealing from the poor kid - they were crisp, garlicky and delicious!

brooklen: Poor Junior spent all of Montreal subsisting on french fries... he didn’t inherit his daddy’s palette (yet)...

fougoo: our cousin, stephen, managed to eat a foie gras Double Down all by himself! I was totally satisfied with my one delicious salty, fried, rich, creamy bite.

1000yregg: I was actually a little hesitant to get the foie gras Double Down, feeling it would be too much, but since we had a good sized group, I knew we had to. It was wonderful. The batter was deliciously spiced and crispy like fried chicken skin, and the lobes of foie gras were beautifully fatty and rich. Even the honey under the “sandwich” was awesome. I understand how my cousin could want more, and yet I also felt very scared for him.

brooklen: Ohh, the Double Down. Stuff of legend, though I have to admit, it won’t be the dish I remember forever. I think the sauce had a touch of honey, to give it that Southern-fried flair.
fougoo: As 1000yregg and redneckhunter devoured the Double Down, I focused my attentions on our other foie dish, a foie gras confit with rhubarb, which I preferred - a perfect summer dish - the tartness of the rhubarb melding nicely with the smoothness of the foie.

brooklen: Yes! I believe foie gets a lift with a little sweet; a Northern chutney of Pie Plant. Even the jellied fat was summery. Might be my favorite of the dinner.
fougoo: we ordered the Smorgasburg toast when we heard that they smoked all the seafood on it just feet away from us in the back garden. It was a nice dish -- a bit hard to share among so many people, but really a perfect appetizer if I had to order something for just myself -- a nice variety of fish and shellfish, an oyster, whitefish salad.

brooklen: My first oyster of the trip; not icy cold as we Americans tend to take ‘em, but it was graced with a touch of herbs that seems to be the Quebec style.

brooklen: The cavatelli with morels was simple in appearance, but the cream sauce was perfectly rendered. I might have fallen in love with morels on Canada Day.

1000yregg: The lobster spaghetti was my choice on the menu, and boy was it good. The lobster was huge, and the lobster sauce was rich and strongly flavored. As clean up guy for the table, this was the plate that I finished first.

fougoo: I marveled at 1000yregg’s prowess as he finished up claws bigger than my own hand, large chunks of lobster tail, and bite after bite of sauce-heavy pasta. If they bottled that lobster sauce, I would have bought a jar to take home and savor.

fougoo: The porchetta with summer vegetables was my menu choice and I’m glad it didn’t disappoint. We probably didn’t need another meat dish, but I did love it. The pork was fragrant with herbs, not overly salty (as it sometimes has been at Porchetta in NYC), the perfect marbling of fat, just melted in your mouth. The waiter chided us for not finishing all of the skin, but by this point 1000yregg (who had cleaned up the lobster spaghetti) was saving room for dessert.

brooklen: The secret side-players on this dish were the veggies; gorgeous chard, and perfectly cubed beets. This was also the brightest sauce of the night- what was in that green stuff?

fougoo: Agreed - the green sauce was awesome! Parsley perhaps?

fougoo: I couldn’t believe how much schnitzel we got - two huge flat platter-sized pieces, along with a mountain of potatoes and veggies.

brooklen: The girotte mushrooms made this dish, not to be outdone.

fougoo: Our waiter had recommended the cheval (horse) with red wine sauce when we told him we were die-hard carnivores, but it was actually our least favorite meat dish. The marrow, however, was one of the largest portions I’ve ever seen. Redneckhunter always says that marrow is the Frenchie litmus test of whether someone is worthy of French cuisine or not. I have to say, after seeing 1000yregg pull out a massive glob of marrow onto his plate - jiggly and goopy like a mound of snot - the fact that we all thought “ooh, yummy!” at this stuff that would probably turn other people’s stomachs says a lot.
1000yregg: It was a little disappointing. Horse seems to be a leaner meat, and ours was a little dry. We guessed it could have sat while our other items were being made. I’d still try it another time. The veal bone marrow was spectacular and a huge portion. As with the porchetta, the side veggies, spring onions, were wonderful.

1000yregg: As a counterbalance to all this protein, we also ordered a Parc Vinet salad. The Parc Vinet refers to Joe Beef’s own garden located in the back of the restaurant. One of the waitstaff told us that he had hand picked the vegetables in our salad that evening, a wonderful medley of lettuce, fennel, and radishes.

1000yregg: For dessert, I was glad we got the Bavarian cream with rhubarb. It was very seasonal, and not overwhelming, especially following our amazing meal.

fougoo: by this point, 1000yregg and I had to keep up our 3-day streak of rhubarb desserts, though I have to admit I was too stuffed to eat more than one bite. Bavarian cream was nothing like the American “Bavarian Creme Pie” filling - a lot more subtle, but than most things un-American are...

fougoo: While we were dining, we were a little jealous seeing chef/owner David McMillan talking to some of the other diners and showing them the smoker. But as we were leaving the big man himself stopped 1000yregg because he had noticed all the picture-taking, and asked if we’d let him know when they were posted online. He showed us a soon-to-be “secret” table in the adjacent alleyway.

1000yregg: Chef David McMillan chatted with us for a while after dinner. He said despite all the press about the foie gras Double Down, he had not eaten a whole one by himself until recently with David Chang, who was in town the previous week working on content for Lucky Peach.
He said he wanted to be known for other items on the menu such as his vegetables. It was generous of him to talk with us, and I know that we're going to go back on our next trip to Montreal.

2491 Notre Dame West
Montreal, QC
(514)935-6504

Ta, Montreal

2011-07-07T21:31:00.014-04:00

We had read about Ta, an Australian pie place that had opened up last summer. Situated on the edge of Parc Jeanne-Mance (near the big Parc Mont Royal), it was a perfect spot to pop in for lunch as we walked up toward Outremont and Mile End from our home base in the Plateau neighborhood.

Not sure if the name Ta is an acronym for Toutiere Australienne, or because it's an Aussie slang way of saying thank you. At any rate, the place was simple, satisfying, and good. They have a variety of pies with traditional (i.e. steak and kidney) and not so traditional (i.e. lamb roganjosh, Thai green curry) fillings.

I opted for the vegetable curry, topped with sweet potato. 1000yregg went Down Under all the way with the "Ned Kelly" (named after the infamous Irish-Australian hero) -- which I think was beef, bacon, egg, and cheese -- done as a "stack" with mashed potatoes, mushy peas, and gravy. I had mine with some HP brown sauce and chutney, though there were an assortment of other condiments to choose from -- everything from traditional ketchup to sriracha.

I knew I wanted to try the Afghan cookie for dessert when I read about it on their website -- a dark Belgian cocoa and cornflake cookie, covered with bittersweet chocolate. It was amazing - really great dark chocolate, and the cornflakes gave it such a great chewy-crunchy texture -- David Chang would have approved.

1000yregg opted for the Lamington, an Australian specialty which is like a petit four, dipped in chocolate and rolled in coconut. Interestingly, while we had thought it was chocolate frosting, the cake is actually soaked in chocolate on the outer layer.

They had the story of the Lamington posted on the wall of the restaurant -- how the cake was name for Lord Lamington, Governor of Queensland, even though he actually hated the dessert and called it "those bloody poofy woolly biscuits." (though Wikipedia has varying accounts of its origins).

We could only finish 1/2 our desserts, but they were too good to leave behind, so we got a to-go baggie, making for a perfect accompaniment for a mid-afternoon ice coffee break later in the day. If I lived close to this place, I could see myself becoming a regular -- trying all the different flavors, buying frozen pies to take home, and of course, stopping in for those great cookies!

Ta (Tourtiere Australienne)
4520 Parc Avenue
H2V4E3, Montreal, QC
(514) 277 7437

Le Filet, Montreal

2011-07-06T09:54:00.000-04:00

On our first night in Montreal, Fougoo and I grabbed dinner at Le Filet, a recently opened restaurant located near Parc Mont-Royal. It's run by the same people who run respected Montreal restaurant Le Club Chasse et Pêche, and it has a menu that highlights a lot of seafood.
We began with a couple sets of Canadian oysters: Eel Lakes (Nova Scotia) served with soy & citrus jelly and briny Beausoleils (New Brunswick) prepared slightly warmed with Hon Shimeji mushroom, truffle oil, & oyster cream.
We also had a second starter of raw fluke with wasabi, Japanese plum, & cucumber. The fish was very fresh, and the I loved the plate's simple preparation.
For our larger courses, we selected two items from a part of the menu called "Amphibians" as they combined seafood with proteins from land animals. First was sweetbreads, lobster salad, mozzarella, and eggplant puree. The pairing of sweetbreads and lobster was just right. They both have similar textures and sweet flavors. Fougoo noted that she really liked the puree.
Our second main was a spicy grilled octopus, bone marrow, and cherry tomatoes. It reminded me of Spanish tapas. The octopus was smoky with a hint of char, and I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of marrow in the dish.
For dessert, we shared a slice of rhubarb pie with white chocolate ice cream. It was tart, fresh, warm, sweet and cold all in one dish, a beautiful ending to a great supper.

219 Ave du Mont Royal W
Montréal, QC
(514)360-6060

Gus' Famous Red Hots, Plattsburgh, NY

2011-07-05T10:36:00.000-04:00

We started our now annual Montreal roadtrip last week with another stop in Plattsburgh, NY, an hour from the Canada border. On this ride, we stopped at Gus' Famous Red Hots to try their version of the Michigan dog.
The offered them using a Glazier Redskin frankfurter, a red skinned natural casing hot dog from the region. The Michigan sauce was a little zesty. The redskin really made the dish for me. It was great. We also agreed that their macaroni salad was good as well.

2 Cumberland Head Rd.
Plattsburgh, NY
(518)561-3711

King's Fried Chicken, Baltimore

2011-06-30T10:08:00.001-04:00

Here'a hoping everyone has a nice holiday weekend. The entire TIGBG crew is going to be in Montreal for Canada day.
In the meantime, here's a pic from King's Fried Chicken in Waverly in Baltimore. They are a halal fried chicken joint serving a slightly spicy fried chicken without a heavy batter. It was nice and juicy on the inside as well. While their greens were not so hot (no pork), they take orders for 100 pieces of their tasty chicken.

3300 Greenmount Avenue
Baltimore, MD
(410)338-0609

Nando's Peri-Peri

2011-06-29T06:30:00.001-04:00

A few of my friends work or have worked in Malaysia, and I remembered that one of their regular go to restaurants in Kuala Lumpur was Nando's Peri-Peri, a chain that originated in South Africa. They serve Portuguese flame grilled chicken smothered in sauces made with African Bird's Eye Chili peppers. When I discovered that they had several branches in the Annapolis & DC area, I wanted to try them out. I had dinner at the branch in the Annapolis Mall.
I order a quarter chicken, dark, with a side of fries and perinaise and macho peas, a pea mash with mint, parsley & chili. I could not resist order a side of chicken livers as well. I did not know how spicy the sauce was, and the waitress told me it was really hot, so I opted for just the hot. However, it was not spicy at all to me, so I grabbed the black Extra Extra Hot sauce bottle to give the flavor a kick. I liked that much better.
All and all, not a bad meal- reminded me of Boston Chicken but with more spice.

The Roseda Beef Farm Tour & Cookout

2011-06-28T09:30:00.000-04:00

Fougoo, Redneckhunter, & I went on a Slow Food DC event at the Roseda Beef farm in Monkton, MD in Baltimore County one weekend. It included a short history of the farm and business, a hayride to their cow pastures, and a BBQ cookout.
Roseda raises Black Angus cows to specific genetic standards with no hormones, and they age their beef 2-3 weeks before going to market.
In the pasture, the cows gathered around our trailer, grazing peacefully.
For dinner, the hosts had slow smoked the beef. We tried several cuts, the tenderloin, the shoulder, and the rib. My favorite cut was the very rare piece for shoulder I got on my second round of meat.

We also enjoyed some salad, baked beans and grilled corn on the cob with a selection of butters including wasabi and maple syrup (from syrup taken from trees on the farm).
Dessert was a strawberry shortcake made with fresh local berries and a lot of Redi-whip. It was a beautiful evening to have dinner in the Roseda Beef farm barn.

Eating at Baltimore's Greek Folk Festival

2011-06-27T19:45:00.001-04:00

On the second weekend of June, I went with a group of friends to the Greek Folk Festival at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Baltimore. My friend Tom told me he comes every year and orders the charcoal grilled octopus platter with olives, cucumbers, tomato and feta cheese. It was good and simple- smokey, with a little lemon.
I also ordered a side of deep fried smelt fish.

We shared several desserts. I ordered a baklava sundae made of vanilla ice cream topped with shredded up baklava. You could also top it all off with either caramel or chocolate sauce. I opted for caramel.
Tom & Jamie got several loukoumas, deep fried balls of light dough smothered in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Baltimore Burger Bar

2011-06-27T07:13:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks back, I went to the Baltimore Burger Bar located on the Avenue in Hampden for dinner. Their burger menu changes from week to week, presenting a variety of "burgers" including scrapple and rabbit, as well as a variety of interesting toppings and sides.
I order their straight up grass fed beef burger. For my toppings, I got American cheese, a fried egg, stuffed squash blossoms, and strawberry-rhubarb ketchup. It was a tasty burger, and the brioche style bread was nice. The addition of the stuffed squash blossom was particularly good. I hope to return to try other combinations and in particular, their toppings.

830 West 36th Street
Baltimore, MD
(410)878-1266

Smorgasburg, Brooklyn, NY

2011-06-24T09:30:00.004-04:00

The best part of the Brooklyn Flea was always the food, so when the Flea organizers decided to open another market solely for food, needless to say we were thrilled!

Brownie and I went to Smorgasburg in East River Park in Williamsburg one Saturday, arriving around 10:30 am when the crowds were still thin. We first did the rounds of the purveyors of food products to take home (more on those goodies later in the post), then when our friend arrived, we got serious about the eating. Others had the same idea - by 11 am, the crowds were starting to show up.

We tried to not duplicate going to vendors we'd had before at the Flea, but we just couldn't resist getting a pupusa from Solber (from the Red Hook ball fields). It did not disappoint - in fact it was still probably the best thing we had - the pickled cabbage slaw is just the perfect accompaniment to the hot crispy-soft masa of the pupusa.

The second best thing we ate was Mimi and Coco's spin on Japanese takoyaki. We tried all 3 flavors - sausage, shrimp, and potato. I loved the sausage and shrimp, but could pass on potato (starch wrapped in starch).

We were disappointed by the bahn xeo from Queen's Dahn Tu. The crepe wasn't crispy, the filling was bland. Next time, I think I'll try the other Vietnamese vendor Bep.

We were also disappointed by the "dumpling pancakes" from Bite Size Kitchen. Despite the name, they were basically bing filled with pork, but I think because of trying to turn them out quickly, they were just gummy inside. They made us miss Roll & Dough. I also decided I should just make them at home (don't worry Brownie, when I do, I'll bring some over for you).

We were hoping for more baked good vendors, but we did get a few great things - one was this fig and onion hamentashen from Weekend Girls, washed down by their refreshing cucumber juice.

We also got a great vegan bar from SCRATCHBread. Their take on sticky buns (served as mini buns in a cone) looked interesting, but a little too much given our grazing.

I did bring home a Momofuku corn cookie for later, plus a coconut donut from Dough for Redneckhunter. Not as good as Doughnut Plant was his surmisal.

I also brought home Rhubarb Hibiscus jam from Anarchy in a Jar. Brownie opted for the super-fresh and delicious strawberry balsamic. We also were surprisingly pleased with the Spiced Beer Jelly that we tasted.

I was also happy that the Hudson Valley Duck Farm had a booth, so I could bring home a smoked breast and tub of rillettes. Along with some cheese from Bardwell Farm, and a roast pork sandwich from Porchetta, Redneckhunter and I had a nice dinner.

Next time, I'd like to try a biscuit with either fried chicken or sausage gravy from King's Crumbs, and get some bacon from Landhaus (they were only selling BLTs at this point, but told me they'd sell slabs of bacon later on this summer).

The Country Cat Dinnerhouse Bar, Portland, OR

2011-06-20T08:09:00.000-04:00

On my last evening in Portland, OR, I had a memorable meal at The Country Cat Dinnerhouse Bar, located on the southeast part of town. They serve farm-to-table food that is unpretentious and just plain good.
I ordered a good cocktail for starters, the Summer in the City, Russel's Reserve 6 yr Rye, Punt e Mes and fresh muddled strawberries.
Our table got several starters to share. We had the this sliced Country Cat's onion rings and a wedge of butter lettuce topped with Green Goddess dressing and a poached egg.

They gave us an additional complimentary appetizer that was awesome: braised pig face with croutons and a duck egg.
For my entree, I ordered the cast iron skillet fried chicken. It came with a sweet cream biscuit and bacon braised greens. The fried chicken was great, seasoned beautifully and not heavily battered. I was only able to eat two of my pieces, but the third was still good eaten cold the next morning.
We had two sides, the baked beans and the mashed potatoes with gravy. The gravy was loaded with meat.

I tried nibbles of my friends' dishes. Beth got the wonderful red wine braised beef with an asparagus and spring onion bread salad. Matt got the Country Cat's Whole Hog plate which included rolled pork belly, a brined pork loin chop, and smoked shoulder with grits and cider soaked cherries.

We tried a couple desserts. First was a rhubarb upside down cake with salted caramel and whipped cream. We also had the trio of puddings: chocolate, butterscotch, & creme brulee. This came with homemade cookies.
I'm happy that my last dinner in Portland on this trip was the best meal of the whole trip. Can't wait to head back.

7937 Southeast Stark Street
Portland, OR
(503)408-1414

Beast, Portland, OR

2011-06-17T14:03:00.000-04:00

Because of the recent series of Top Chef Masters, I was looking forward to dinner at chef Naomi Pomeroy's Beast in Portland. The restaurant is set up to serve customers all together in two seatings, and the menu is a set six course prix fixe with no substitutions. Despite being called Beast, the dinner we had was veggie heavy, and I was disappointed that we did not get to have pork for our main course. I've also included the wine pairings.
We started with a chilled cream of spinach soup with a fried artichoke. The soup was really good, capturing the taste of spring.
Schloss Gobelsburg Gruner Veltliner Steinsetz 2009 (Austria)

The second course was a charcuterie plate. It included five items: Olympic Provisons' salami, pork pate with fennel & chili flake, chicken liver mousse on leaf lard cracker, steak tartare with quail egg & toast, and a foie-gras bon-bon topped with sauternes gelee.
The chicken liver was awesome, particularly with the cracker. I also enjoyed the tartare. The foie-gras bon-bon got mixed reviews in my party, but I like a sweet foie sometimes.
O.S. Winer Riesling Champoux Vineyard 2010 (WA)

We followed with a small palate cleanser, a citrus rhubarb thyme sorbet. It was a little sour and tart mixed with sweet.

Our main was originally listed as duck, but instead we had a Rainshadow El Rancho game hen served with caramelized turnips, lovage, white wine braised fennel, and demi-glace. I found the hen a bit disappointing as it was dry especially with my anticipation for a fatty duck. The veggies were excellent though.
Benoit Courault Anjou Rouge Tabeneaux 2008 (France)

The fourth course was a salad of arugula, shaved zucchini, and lemon oil with sheep's ricotta and a green garlic toast. The rose wine that was paired with this was really sour, and while it went well with the salad, it was not pleasant to drink on it's own.
Chateau Mourges du Gres Fleur D'Eglantine 2009 (France)

The next course was a cheese plate. We had three cheeses: a Washington state ladysmith cow's milk, a French cow's milk cheese, and a goat's milk cheese. Sorry, I can't read my handwriting in my notes.
They arrived with a yummy anise & fleur de sel shortbread, honey, Angelico plums, and fried Marcona almonds.
Domaine Richou Anjou Blance Chauvigne 2009 (France)
Dessert was a chocolate souffle topped with a smoked salt ice cream with balsamic macerated strawberries.
All in all it was just an ok meal, definitely the least memorable of my trip.
Clos Serre Romani Maury NV Roussilon (France)

5425 Northeast 30th Ave.
Portland, OR
(503)841-6968

Nong's Khao Man Gai, Portland, OR

2011-06-14T12:56:00.000-04:00

My favorite food cart meal when I was in Portland, was at Nong's Khao Man Gai located in Downtown. The cart was started by a young lady, Nong, from Thailand in order to bring the spirit of Thai street food to Portland. She only makes one dish, which is common with food carts in her native country. That dish is Khao Man Gai, a simple staple dish in Thai cuisine. It is simply a boiled chicken with rice topped with a sauce made of ginger, chilies, garlic and spices.
Nong's is served wrapped in butcher paper with a small cabbage soup side. I ordered mine with additional chicken livers. The dish is incredible and so satisfying. The texture of the chicken was light and moist, the rice was sticky, and the sauce had many nuanced flavors that showered the chicken and rice. The livers were simply poached as well, and they were very good with the gingery sauce. I understand this dish is basically comfort food for Thai folk, and I can see why- it's unforgettable.

SW 10th & Alder St.
Portland, OR
(971)255-3480

Fuller's Coffee Shop, Portland, OR

2011-06-13T13:00:00.001-04:00

For breakfast, one morning, my friends took me to Fuller's Coffee Shop located in the Pearl district of Portland, OR. It's an old school diner making great straightforward breakfast and lunch food. Inside, the diner has two long U-shaped countertops for customers to nestle into. The service was attentive as well. The waitress made sure our coffee and water was always topped off.
I could not resist ordering a strawberry milkshake as strawberries are just coming into season. Made to order, it was thick, passing my "straw test", and was delicious.

For breakfast, I ordered their "pigs in a blanket". The pancake was light and fluffy topped with powdered sugar, and the sausages were great. It even came with heated maple syrup.
My friends took home a loaf of their house made bread as well.

136 Northwest 9th Avenue
Portland, OR
(503)222-5608

The Slingshot Lounge, Portland, OR

2011-06-12T12:00:00.000-04:00

My Portland friends' Matt & Beth took me to one of their favorite late night spots for food, the Slingshot Lounge, after their First Thursday opening. They serve bar food until 2 am, but because it's in Portland, the level of the food was definitely a notch above the norm.
I started with a hoppy strong glass of local Ninkasi Tricerahops double I.P.A.
Beth recommended the fava bean hummus with some honey. It was sweet, light and really delicious.
I ordered starters for my meal. First was the fried polenta topped with fried egg. The polenta outside was crispy and the inside was creamy, pairing well with the runny egg yolk.
I also order the yummy tomato toast with anchovies.
Matt told me that the chef at Slingshot used to work at one of the fine dining Italian places in town, and was now using his skills to make less fussy food. I wish we had a late night place like this in Baltimore.

5532 Southeast Center Street
Portland, OR
(503)445-6649

Grüner Restaurant, Portland, OR

2011-06-10T15:00:00.000-04:00

I stopped into Portland restaurant, Grüner, for lunch. They describe themselves as 'alpine' European cuisine.
I had heard a lot about their burger, but trying to pace myself, I opted for the spätzle with pieces of riesling braised chicken, Crimini mushrooms, crème fraîche, tarragon & thyme, sprinkled with crispy shallots. It was a beautiful, simple, and delicious dish. I had an elderflower soda as my refreshing beverage.
For dessert, the Bavarian cream trifle with rhubarb sauce was rich and wonderful.

My check came in a book by Nietzsche.

527 Southwest 12th Avenue
Portland, OR
(503)241-7163

Portland Food Carts: The Gaufre Gourmet & Koi Fusion

2011-06-09T10:47:00.001-04:00

Portland had the most food carts I've seen in any city. They are everywhere in town, and they offer a wide diversity of foods. While I was in town, I managed to squeeze a few in during the days I was there.
In Old Town, I dropped by the Gaufre Gourmet, which made Belgian liége style waffles. The waffle uses brioche style dough not batter, and ends up denser and more rich than regular waffles.
I ordered their ABC Waffle, which is topped with fig jam, camembert cheese, bacon, and arugula. It was really good, particularly the fig jam with the waffle.

Kitty corner to the waffle cart, Korean taco truck, Koi Fusion was parked, so I popped across to give them a try as well.
I ordered their kalbi, short rib, taco and the spicy pork taco. Both were really delicious. The tacos reminded me of the ones from the Kogi trucks in LA, but they were cheaper, and the corn tortillas were more fresh, so they did not have to cook them like they do on the LA truck. Portland win.

Miho Izakaya, Portland, Oregon

2011-06-08T09:00:00.001-04:00

I went to Miho Izakaya for dinner my first night in Portland, OR. Even though it's called an izakaya, they admit freely that they are not a strictly Japanese restaurant. Chef Michael Miho hails from Hawaii so there are some items on the fun menu inspired from his home. We were lucky to share some drinks with bar manager Michael Carothers this evening, sampling some shochu as well as several beers from the local Bridgeport Brewing. I quite liked the Hop Czar Imperial I.P.A.
We started with a tasty salad made with warm kimchee and a generous amount of gochuchang. We ordered the 'Ika' calamari salad, a wonderful and tangy salad made with tender squid, and an order of the kabocha squash.

On the menu, my eyes were right away drawn to the beef 'loko-moko' burger. I'm a fan of the original Hawaiian grinds version, so I ordered the iteration at Miho. In place of gravy, they used a Bull Dog sauce, used in "katsu" dishes in Japan. The result is a sweeter and smokier taste that was perfect with the rice, burger, and egg.

Next up was an order of crab and potato croquettes. They arrived with three sauces: hot mustard, horseradish, and a tomato sauce.
The dish of pork belly with sweet egg followed. The pork belly was wonderfully braised and very tender and fatty. The sweet egg was a split hard boiled egg that was topped with sugar and flamed like a creme brulee. It was really good, but I imagine how it would have been had it been a deviled egg.
Our last item was the sesame pork meatballs, a simple but satisfying dish.
By the end of the evening, the great food combined with great local drinks really hit the spot.

4057 N Interstate Ave
Portland, OR
(503)719-6152

Happy Hour at PING, Portland, Oregon

2011-06-07T08:45:00.003-04:00

On my first day in Portland, Matt and I went to happy hour at PING, a restaurant featuring a blend of Asian snacks and bar food.
I started with a glass of yuzu beer, a drink consisting of Sapporo draft beer with yuzu extract & sugar. It reminded me of a shandy- very light and refreshing.
At Ping, they also have drinking vinegars made from their sister restaurant Pok Pok. I tried a the tart tamarind vinegar with soda. It was also excellent.

We ordered some snacks to tide us over until dinner time.
First up was a Chinese tea egg, a hard boiled egg made in black tea, soy sauce, ginger, star anise and cinnamon. It was a straightforward and faithful version of this snack.

My favorite item was the baby octopus skewer. They were marinated in lime, chilies, garlic, fish sauce, and cilantro. The flavor was a fantastic mix of sour, spicy, and savory.

On special that day, they offered duck liver skewers. They came with a spicy dipping sauce.

I finished off with ju pa bao, a dish from Macau, that was simply a fried pork chop seasoned with salt, pepper & garlic served in a bun that's similar to a torta. It was simple and tasty.

102 Northwest 4th Avenue
Portland, OR
(503)229-7464

Arleta Library Bakery Cafe, Portland, OR

2011-06-06T09:31:00.003-04:00

I visited friends in Portland, Oregon last week to attend the First Thursday opening of their Hellion Gallery. Lucky for me, they also love good eating.
My friend Matt took me to the Arleta Library Bakery Cafe for my first meal after touching down in town. Even though it was lunchtime, I took a page from Redneckhunter's must-orders and got the Arleta Library's Portland’s Best Biscuits-n-Gravy.

The dish has house made biscuits topped with a wonderful creamy pepper & rosemary sausage gravy. It is then topped with some thin sliced roasted pork loin. It was surprisingly a lighter dish than I expected. Matt recommended I have the house made ketchup with the potatoes.
He ordered a beautiful Cuban sandwich, and we also shared the house made coffeecake. The cake was warm and had a great crust of sugar on top.
Oh, and here's the second post in a row of a place that's been featured on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives.

5513 Southeast 72nd Avenue
Portland, OR
(503)774-4470

Smoked coconut club sandwich at Memphis Tap Room, Philadelphia

2011-06-04T13:41:00.006-04:00

We found ourselves at the Memphis Tap Room in the Fishtown section of Philly, and just had to try their famous vegan club sandwich. Yep, we said it - the evil V word - "Vegan." The "bacon" was made from smoked coconut, with tofu as the "meat" and a tomato-based "mayonnaise."

The chef did an amazingly great job mimicking the crisp-chewy texture of real bacon, and capturing its smoky flavor. I never would have believed I was eating coconut.

See below to see how it's made:

Memphis Tap Room
2331 East Cumberland Street
Philadelphia, PA 19125
215-425-4460

Coppelia, New York

2011-06-02T13:13:00.002-04:00

On our last girls day, petiteseour and I went to the newly opened Coppelia for dinner, a 24-hour West Village Cuban/Latino diner opened by the owners of Toloache and Yerba Buena.

We were very tempted by such delicious-sounding entrees as coffee-braised oxtail and chocolate-glazed ribs, but wanting to eat lighter, we opted to share a bunch of starters.

The ceviche limeno was nice and bright, with sweet potato chunks, and 3 types of corn - large Peruvian kernels, regular sweet corn, and dried crunchy corn nut-style kernels.

We also got an oxtail empanada, which was very sweet. Petiteseour suspected they used plantain in it. And lastly, was the Pizza Cubana, basically all the ingredients of a Cubano sandwich -- roast pork, ham, swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard -- all on a pizza crust.

We finished it all off with a trio of sorbet/helado -- tamarind mojito, passionfruit mango tequila, and leche condensada.

We have vowed to go back for brunch to try out their dessert basket, with creations by Pinchet Ong. And these pearl sugar cheese bread balls that petiteseour raved about.

Coppelia
207 West 14th Street, between 7th and 8th, NYC, 212-858-5001

Eating in Cape May, NJ

2011-05-31T10:23:00.000-04:00

Over the Memorial day weekend, the TIGBG crew took a day trip to Cape May, New Jersey. We rode over from the Delaware shore via the ferry out of Lewes, a pleasant hour long ride.
Our first stop for snacks after we disembarked was The Lobster House. The place has the feel of a tourist trap, but we enjoyed sitting dockside on the pleasant day next to moored fishing boats. I was told by some friends to try their snapper(turtle) soup. We also ordered a small cup of their clam chowder. The snapper soup was very rich and hearty. Too bad, it did not come with some sherry. We were disappointed in the chowder which was not hearty enough.

Our next stop in Cape May was Gecko's, a Southwestern restaurant. We shared some chips with salsa and guacamole and a Ute taco. It's a Navajo fry bread topped with lamb adovada and bean & corn salsa. It came with a chipotle salsa. The lamb was similar to pulled pork, and it was a little spicy. Gecko's is definitely worth returning to as their dinner menu had some delicious sounding plates.

For supper, we went to the Magnolia Room, inside the Chalfonte hotel, for the Sunday supper buffet. Fougoo had heard that the fried chicken was special because the chefs use their mother's old cast iron skillet which is over a hundred years old to make the chicken. Also, a key component to their recipe is that the first fry onions brown in the oil prior to putting the chicken in. The chicken was good, with subtle seasoning. The skin was wonderfully crispy.
The rest of the buffet was Southern style cuisine including black eye peas, broccoli salad, ham, and stewed tomatoes. For dessert, we tried their chocolate cake and tapioca pudding.

The Lobster House
906 Schellengers Landing Road
Cape May, NJ
(609)884-8296

Gecko's
31 Perry Street
Cape May, NJ
(609)898-7750

Magnolia Room
301 Howard Street
Cape May, NJ
(609)884-8409

Freddy's Lobster & Clams, Bethesda, MD

2011-05-27T09:06:00.000-04:00

The owners of Grapeseed Bistro in Bethesda recently opened Freddy's Lobster & Clams next door. It's a much more casual counterpart to Grapeseed that is in the spirit of a New England clam shack.
I popped in for lunch last weekend, and boy, I can't wait to go back already. I started with a small lobster stew. In tradition with how it's prepared in New England, the soup was basically cream and butter with a huge amount of lobster. It was wonderful. They serve it with a blueberry muffin that I ate the next day.
I decided to try their lobster roll as well. They gave the option of having it warm with a melted butter or chilled with a little mayo & lemon zest. I opted for the cold variety. The lobster was so good, and was really pleasant with just a dash of the mayo.
I need to go back soon to try their fried whole belly clams.

4867 Cordell Ave
Bethesda, MD
(240)743-4257

Market Table Bistro, Lovettsville, VA

2011-05-26T06:55:00.005-04:00

While visiting friends who live all the way out in Loudon County, Virginia, we had dinner at the Market Table Bistro in Lovettsville, VA. Because the area is basically farmland, the supply of local ingredients is bountiful, and this restaurant takes advantage of it's location to highlight the food of the area.
We started with a pair of snacks to start our meal. First up was a bag of toasted Virginia peanuts. They were also a little spicy, and very addicting. Our second app was warm olives in a cast iron pan with garlic & peppers.
I decided to make my meal of just starters. My first course was a chilled Kerry Springs Farm asparagus soup. It was topped with Cherry Glenn chevre cheese, olive oil and chive blossoms. The soup was light and captured the flavors of the early summer.

Next, I had the restaurant's version of "liver and onions". In this case, it was a chicken liver pate topped with a sweet red onion marmalade. It came with small house made toasts.

I ordered a second soup, a white bean soup with house made ham. It was rich and hearty.
I followed with a salad called "Spring Garden & Forest Floor" which was composed of seasonal items from local farmers & foragers. This evening, it consisted mostly of asparagus and beets. My favorite parts were the mushrooms.

Everyone at the table ordered desserts and we shared each others choices. I got the dark chocolate creme brulee with homemade ginger snaps. The brulee was sweeter than I expected, but I did love the ginger snaps which seemed more like ginger bread in texture to me.

The hit of the trio of items was the spring strawberry crisp with vanilla ice cream. It had the perfect combination of sweet, tangy, hot and cold.
We also tried the "cookies & milk", a chocolate cookie made in an iron skillet with a glass of milk. The server recommended some chocolate sauce.

13 Broad Way East
Lovettsville, VA
(540)822-3008

The Pure Pasty Co., Vienna, VA

2011-05-25T08:45:00.000-04:00

My friend Claus lives in Vienna, VA just outside of DC, and in the past year, The Pure Pasty Co. opened right near his house. They specialize in making authentic Cornish pasties, which are like large empanadas or Hot Pockets.
The traditional kind has ground beef, potato, onion, and veggies. I like mine with a little HP sauce and some strong mustard.
They also offer other kinds of pasties. The Cornish Masala is filled with chicken & potato seasoned with curry. My friend Claus likes the Philly cheesesteak version. This past Easter, they made lamb pasties that were really good.
Pure Pasty started making 1/2 lb. pork pies in the last couple months as well. These are especially good. I particularly like the pork jelly that is between the crust and the pork.

128C Church Street Northwest
Vienna, VA
(703) 255-7147

Chef's Table at Elements, Princeton

2011-05-18T10:20:00.021-04:00

The list above (printed on plantable seed-infused card stock) was the inspiration for our recent Chef's Table at Elements. With so many courses and extra "snacks" this post will mostly just be a list of courses and photos, but hopefully you can vicariously experience Chef Scott Anderson's creativity at work.

We started with some fun cocktails and mocktails, and a bread basket with housemade focaccia, grossini, crispbread, and twists.

Next they brought out a sampling of amuse bouche: clockwise from left (radish with housemade mayo, salad of local beets and apple, sweet potato soup, murcia (blood sausage), and avocado mousse.

Course #1 was a salad of mixed greens with lardo, shaved ricotta, and asparagus puree. Asparagus being currently in season in NJ, they became an ongoing motif throughout the meal. The wine pairing for this was Grinalda Vinho Verde from Portugal.

Snack #2 came out next -- fresh kindai tuna tartare. By this point, we were starting to think we better pace ourselves if the "snacks" were going to number as many as the actual courses.

Course #2: Shimaaji (Striped Horsemackerel) with trout roe hollandaise. Wine: Bodegas Castillo de Monjardin El Cerezo Chardonnay 2009.

Snack #3: "Spaghetti & Meatballs" - where the "meatballs" were beak muscles of calamari and the "spaghetti" were julienned asparagus.

Course #3: Hamachi "short rib" - a playful presentation with fish bones as "ribs" - on sweet potato noodles, with a sauce of yuzu, nasturtium, and thai chile. Paired with: Dewatsuru Kimoto Junmai Sake.

Course #4: Blowfish tail and razor clams, on sticky rice. Paired with: Rio Maggio Telusiano Falerio. There were 2 sauces - one was a gingery puree, the other was slightly citrusy. The greens were black bean shoots. With a table full of mostly Chinese people, we thought maybe the texture of the sticky rice could have been better, but of course we were all comparing it to our moms' - who can beat that right?

Snack #4 was the piece de resistance - a foie gras "cookie" - yuzu-infused foie gras torchon sandwiched in between parmesan shortbreads -- absolutely rich, decadent, and delicious!

Course #5: California snails with whey and bonito foam, with cabbage, on macadamia nut puree. The snails were delicious though I wished I could have tasted more macadamia nut flavor. Wine: 1994 Kalin Cellars Chardonnay Cuvee W Livermore Valley.

Snack #5: Morel stem stuffed with pork butt and smoked ricotta. We got an added treat when we were invited into the kitchen to see the delivery of morels by their mushroom guy. They were the hugest morels I've seen in person!

Course #6: Duck breast with shaved asparagus, evergreen pine puree, english peas, glazed radish on wild rice. This came with two pinots: Robert Sinskey Aries Pinot Noir Carneros 2006 and 2009 Melville "Estate-Verna's" Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir.

Snack #6: Anchovy tart with olives and goat cheese, on chorizo puree.

Course #7: Lamb loin, vadouvan sauce (a North African curry) with housemade smoked ricotta, carrot and japanese almonds. This reminded us of Japanese curry. Wine: 2007 Dunham Trutina Red Blend.

Course #8 (Palate cleanser): Sheeps milk yogurt, with diced fennel, asparagus and apple, and housemade granola.

Course #9 (Dessert): Chocolate dome with dark chocolate ganache shell and milk chocolate mousse inside, with hibiscus puree, sorbet and ice cream. Paired with: Dow's 10-year-old Tawny Port.

Finally ending with a plate of petit fours: (front to back) pistachio hazelnut macaroon, blood orange gelee, passion fruit tart, and mango shortbread. We were fat and happy by the end of this great meal.

Elements
163 Bayard Lane
Princeton, NJ
(609) 924-0078

The Best Darned Blueberry Muffin!

2011-05-18T09:16:00.001-04:00

Redneckhunter recounts the story well. A small coffee shop in Princeton, NJ, Small World Coffee, gets its start selling muffins made by a lady in town. They are amazing muffins. The proportion of blueberry and muffin is mindblowing. How does the muffin stay together?
The coffee place gets more well known for their coffee, and the lady decides to stop making the muffins full time. Now, these legendary blueberry muffins are only made on weekends. One tray only, and they are usually sold out by noon. Redneckhunter attributes this largely to some "regular" who sweeps in and buys half the tray each morning.

Corner BYOB in Baltimore

2011-05-16T12:17:00.000-04:00

On the Avenue in Hampden in Baltimore, a new restaurant, Corner BYOB, opened in the last few months, and I stopped in for an early dinner one evening a few weeks ago. The chef, Bernard Dehaene, from Brussels, previously cooked at a Belgian place called Mannequin Pis in Olney, and I had heard that his new venture had a more adventurous menu. When I was seated, one of the days specials included kangaroo tenderloin, but I was immediately attracted to the boudin noir and the just in soft shell crab.
The crab arrived first on a bed of fiddlehead ferns. This started truly captured the local and seasonal spirit of the area. The crab was fantastic, just simply pan fried with no battering at all, and it paired wonderfully with the fiddleheads.
My second starter was the boudin noir on a bed of mash and topped with a whole grain mustard. The texture was creamy and the flavor was nice and earthy. I think Corner won me over with just this dish alone.
For my entree, I had the Veal Orloff, a veal that starts braised, then is topped with mushrooms and bacon, and finished in the oven. It's then smothered with a béchamel sauce. I liked it, but the star of the meal was the blood sausage.
I was too stuffed to try dessert, but I hope to return soon.

850 W. 36th St.
Baltimore, MD
(443)869-5075

Mini Hawaiian Food Safari in Las Vegas: Malasadas Hunting & Local Kine Grinds

2011-05-13T14:45:00.000-04:00

My last full day in Las Vegas started with an idea that I could find malasadas in town. Fougoo posted about Leonard's malasadas when she went to Hawaii a few years ago, and I could not forget how much she and Redneckhunter loved these sweet treats. I knew that there were a lot of Hawaiians in the Vegas area, and by doing a quick survey online, I found several places mentioned that made malasadas.
The first place was a bakery on the northeast side of town, but I discovered they had shut down.
I had another lead, a branch of the chain L&L Hawaiian Barbeque was also noted to have malasadas. They certainly did. I ordered one of both kinds- plain and custard filled. They were made to order and came out piping hot. I would agree with Redneckhunter's preference for the custard filled malasadas. They were amazing: creamy, eggy, sweet and warm goodness.
I also tried some the the Hawaiian food at L&L. First I got the Loco Moco. It was not so good. I was told that L&L are more of a fast food chain, and this showed in their Loco Moco. The hamburger patty reminded me of a McDonald's hamburger patty.
At least their Spam musubi was decent. After all, you can't have a filler substitute when it's already Spam.

After a disappointing Loco Moco, I decided to go the downtown Vegas to Aloha Specialties for supper to make up for it. As I arrived, I saw that they were having a "Lei Day" festival, and I saw a big banner advertising "Malasadas".
I headed directly to the stand, and ordered just the custard filled variety. These were better than the ones at L&L. I watched them deep frying them and piping in the custard while I enjoyed a couple more malasadas.
After dessert, I walked over to the California Casino to the their mezzanine level to grab a bite at Aloha Specialties. This restaurant has been in Vegas for years, and they might make some of the best Hawaiian food in town. I decided on the Hawaiian tripe stew with a side of mac salad.
The tripe was tender and the flavor of the tomato and onion sauce was pleasant and mild. Their mac salad was delicious. The Hawaiian version of macaroni salad is usually less watery than mainland mac salad. When you scoop it up, it retains it's shape.

L&L Hawaiian Barbeque
7891 W Tropical Pkwy # 120
Las Vegas, NV

Aloha Specialties (inside California Casino)
12 East Ogden Avenue
Las Vegas, NV

Monta Japanese Noodle House, Las Vegas

2011-05-12T18:55:00.001-04:00

For lunch on one of the day in Las Vegas, I popped into Monta Japanese Noodle House just west of Chinatown in the same shopping center as Aburiya Raku.
We started with an appetizer of pan fried gyoza. They were pleasant and light, with a little spiciness.
Monta offers several different kinds of broth for their noodles. I selected the miso ramen. In true "Hokkaido style", I ordered it with corn and a pat of butter. I also added an egg.
When you get the butter, it slowly melts into the miso broth, gradually turning it more creamy. It pairs perfectly with the sweet corn.
The noodles at Monta were very good. I don't think they make them, but they have the right texture I expect from ramen.
Monta is part of a family of Japanese restaurant in Vegas. Sushi Mon and Goyemon are sister places, and my friend in town told me that after Monta closes at 11 pm, the remaining broth is brought to Goyemon and made part of their all you can eat menu.

5030 West Spring Mountain Road, #6
Las Vegas, NV
(702)367-4600 ‎

Aburiya Raku, Las Vegas

2011-05-10T06:44:00.002-04:00

On my second night in Las Vegas, I had a great late night dinner at Japanese Robata grill and restaurant, Aburiya Raku, located just west of the city's Chinatown area.
We started with a series of cold dishes before sampling items from the grill. First was a bowl with poached egg, mountain yam, nameko mushrooms, okra, sea urchin & salmon roe. This was a wonderful slimy bowl of briny, eggy, fatty goodness. All the components blended so well together.

We ordered a serving of Raku's housemade tofu. They offered to split the portion into a cold portion which arrived first and a hot portion for later. The cold tofu was reminiscent of fresh mozzarella in texture and in it's clean flavor. At the table, you had the option of toppings for the tofu including: green tea Hokkaido sea salt with shitake & seaweed; yagenbori shichimi, a blend of seven kinds of chile powders, koregusu, an oil with Okinawa chili, Awamori, and island peppers; and a soy sauce deuced with plum. The tofu also came with bonito, onion, & shredded daikon.
I found myself using the green tea salt the most.

That evening, there were some specials. We first got the kampachi, or amberjack, sashimi. It's a mild white fish with a good flavor to it.
We also got a small salad of hotaru ika, or firefly squid, sunomono style.

Out last cold started was the Kobe beef liver sashimi. It was sliced thin with a very thin slice of garlic on top. The texture reminded me of tuna sashimi, and raw, the liver does not have a strong "offal" flavor. It's much cleaner tasting.
We got the second half of our housemade tofu "agedashi" style. It's lightly fried and served in a dashi broth with salmon roe and onions. It was good, but I did prefer the tofu straight up simply because it was so fresh.

We started our grill items with vegetables. First up was roasted tomatoes. They immediately blew me away. With this as a start, I could taste the flavor imparted by their Japanese charcoal smoke throughout the flesh and skin of each tomato. It was remarkable.
The following bacon wrapped asparagus was a little underwhelming to me after the tomato. The bacon hid the smoke flavor I think.

I liked their shishito peppers. It's one of my favorite items to get at izakayas. Eating them is a bit like Russian roulette. Some are very mild, but every so often, you get one that is really spicy.
The directed flamed Japanese eggplant was just alright. The texture of the eggplant was soft and pleasant, but it seems to be very bland, hidden away in the forest of bonito.

Next up were our meat skewers. My tablemates ordered the apple marinated lamb chop and the duck with balsamic soy sauce. The lamb was wonderful. It was soft, juicy, and packed with flavor.
I found the duck not as memorable. The sauce was good, but the meat was alright. I think the flaming dried it out a little.

Raku has two options for Kobe beef from their grill. The first we tried was the Kobe beef skirt steak with a thin piece of garlic. The beef prepared this way was great.
I also had the Kobe filet topped with fresh wasabi. This was less fatty than the skirt, and with the kick of the wasabi, reminded me of pit beef with horseradish.

We ordered one chicken item, the tsukune- ground chicken sausage. It was light, juicy and delicious. I do prefer my tsukune with a little cartilage, but unfortunately, Raku's did not have any. It was still quite good.
I got my cartilage fix with the next course, the pig ear. This was awesome- fatty with a little bite of the cartilage on some pieces.
I also really loved the Kurobata pork cheek. I was in piggy heaven. The pork was so rich, it felt like eating 1 centimeter thick chunks of bacon.
My favorite of the robatayaki was the Kobe beef tendon. I got two large chunks. They were incredible, and each chunk had different flavors. The first piece I had was very smoky, savory and meaty, whereas the second piece was more juicy and sweet. The flavor contrast blew me away.
For dessert, we ordered two "sorbets". They were more like slushies, but both were very good. The first was tangerine which was pleasantly sweet with a little tang. My favorite was the strawberry. Maybe this was because it was topped with condensed milk.

5030 Spring Mountain Road # 2
Las Vegas, NV
(702)367-3511 ‎

Soyo Korean Barstaurant, Las Vegas

2011-05-09T07:21:00.000-04:00

One late night in Vegas, I went to Soyo Korean Bartaurant on the south side of town. It reminded me of a Japanese izakaya, but the cuisine was Korean and soju was the drink of choice.
When you walk in, the decor is whimsical with shelves of manga along the walls, and several private booths elevated above the main floor of the restaurant.
The menu is a wide array of Korean bar food including soups, noodles, and side dishes. Since I was flying out the next day, we only drank a pitcher of beer, but next time I go, I plan to try their sojus.
Upon arrival, you are immediately served a container of cold barley tea poured out in metal cups. It was a refreshing start. They also brought a variety of bon chon including kimchee, seaweed, and a kind of cole slaw.
We started with the grilled squid and garlic. It came in a ball of aluminum foil which was unwrapped at tableside. The fragrance of the garlic was the first thing you were hit with. The squid was light and flavorful
We also ordered the dduk bok-kee, the rice dumpling and fish cakes with cabbage and carrots. They pulled no punches on the spice and the dumplings were wonderfully soft.
My friend Alex was intrigued about their dish with sweet corn & green onion topped with mozzarella. Served in a cast iron plate, this was surprisingly satisfying.
I knew right away, I had to try their version of Korean fried chicken. Their's was more saucy than my preference, but packed with spicy, soy garlic flavor. Not Bon Chon, but not bad at all.
For our last course, we ordered the gamja jeon, or potato pancake. The Koreans like theirs savory, dipping it in a little soy sauce.
This is a great place for late night snacks and drinks, and I plan to drop by Soyo again when I return to Vegas this summer.

7775 S Rainbow Blvd
Ste 105
Las Vegas, NV
(702) 897-7696

Breakfast at Hash House A Go Go, Las Vegas

2011-05-06T16:31:00.000-04:00

One morning in Las Vegas, I went with friends to the Hash House A Go Go, a small regional chain originally from San Diego with a few locations in Vegas. Their food is over the top- massive portions with fun and kooky presentation. I started with a glass of fresh tangerine juice.
I ordered the sage fried chicken with bacon waffles, maple reduction and fried leeks. It was a ridiculous portion- two fried chicken breasts and 4 large waffles with bacon cooked in each one. I was able to finish one breast and 1 1/2 waffles. Of course, then I ate the skin off the other breast.
I hope to go back to try their different hash recipes.