Pabu Izakaya, Baltimore

   One thing lacking in the Baltimore restaurant scene is a true Japanese restaurant. Most of the sushi restaurants in the area are Chinese or Korean run. I was very excited when they announced that Pabu, an izakaya run by chefs Ken Tominaga and Michael Mina, would open in the Four Seasons at Harbor East. I'm already a fan of Wit & Wisdom, Mina's first restaurant in Baltimore. I was also excited to hear that desserts would be made by pastry chef Chris Ford.
   Pabu is also promoting itself as having a master sake sommelier, Tiffany Dawn Soto, so when I first arrived for an early Mother's day meal with my parents and aunt & uncle, I ordered a sake cocktail, the Super X, made with Lillet Blanc, junmai ginjo, yuzu, and housemade falernum, a kind of simple syrup. It had a good tartness and sweetness to it.

   Since Pabu is an izakaya, we ordered a lot of small plates, starting with a couple tempura dishes. First was a dish with maitake mushroom and some seasonal vegetables.
   They also inadvertantly served us a plate of the meso anago (young eel) tempura.
Both dishes were beautifully fried, and in particular the eel was great.

   We ordered Jako, a small dish of minnows seasoned with ginger, shiso and goma. It's like the Japanese equivalent of beer nuts, a salty snack to pair with drinks.
   My father and I wanted to try their Rappahannock oysters served with a tasty ponzu sauce.

   Next was soy braised lotus root with sesame seeds and thin chili threads.
   I always order the shishito peppers if they are on the menu. They served a bowl with at least 20 or so peppers, nicely charred, topped with shredded bonito and seasoned with shoyu.

   Pabu's edamame dish had a nice flair to it as it was seasoned with chili oil and smoked salt giving it a good kick in flavor.

   Our next course was hirame wrapped uni tempura. They came as small nuggets on the stick. When you bit into it, you first would hit the delicious white fish meat and in the center was the wonderful sea urchin.

   We then proceeded to get several items from their Robata grill. First to come out was tiny Japanese eggplants served with a miso sauce. It was good, but I thought the sauce was a little heavy.
   We then got ika yaki, or whole grilled squid. It came with a side of the yellow Japanese style mayo.

   I really loved the beef tendon. It was soft and seasoned with a wonderful yuzu kosho ponzu sauce.
   We also got kokoro, sake-cured chicken hearts, which reminded me of very tender gizzards, and kariganebone, the shoulder blade of the chicken.
Somehow, they ended up giving us an extra order the the shoulder, but boy, was it good.

   My folks also really liked the erengi mushroom skewers served with garlic and more shishito peppers.
   After the small plates, each of us ordered a "main"  of either noodles or rice.
I ordered a tasting of nigiri sushi. Chef flies some fish all the way from Tsukiji market in Tokyo for the sushi.
   The rice was awesome, and the selection of fish was pretty amazing including mackerel, yellowtail, sea bream, and horse mackerel.

   My mother and aunt ordered Michael's Chicken Noodle, a chicken ramen with a really flavorful broth.

   My uncle ordered the soba noodles. It included a quail egg to mix with the dipping sauce.

   My dad had the unagidon which included a piece of foie gras on top the the freshwater eel.

  Of course we had to order dessert. With a pot of coffee from Lamill, first we had a deconstructed sesame ice cream sundae. In the large bowl was ice cream with cocoa meringues. In the smaller bowls, there was black tapioca, togarashi chocolate sauce, and caramel crumble.
 

   We also ordered the dessert omakase, a plate with four dessert items. There was a white chocolate bar loaded with whiskey. I really loved the honey panna cotta topped with yuzu gelee and tapioca.
   It also came with a green tea sorbet with lemon grass, melon and pineappple, and a small mochi with miso caramel ice cream.
   I'm already looking forward to go back to try promising looking items like Maryland crab okonomiyaki, octopus poke, and tsukune, as well as some ambitious looking rolls. 

200 International Drive
Baltimore, MD
(410)223-1460

ink., LA

 When I went to Los Angeles, my friends and I had a memorable dinner at Top Chef winner Michael Voltaggio's restaurant ink. We all decided to get the tasting menu, but we ordered some additional appetizers.
First was roasted shisito peppers topped with almond-bonito sand with a side of tofu mustard. The peppers were nice and spicy.
We also got an order of Malpeque oysters topped with an oyster leaf and mignonette ice. We were instructed to eat everything in a single bite. They were delicious.

 Our first course of the tasting menu was a beautifully composed plate of scallops, tofu, and rice crackers sprinkled with a black vinaigrette and cocoa. It was nested on a small bed of green tapioca.

The second course, our table agreed, was our favorite. In a take on chicken and waffles, Voltaggio had a beautiful portion of foie gras nestled in between waffle crackers served with a line of smoked maple syrup that had a consistency of marshmallow. If that weren't enough, he added small dollops of sriracha sauce. The combination of flavors were incredible.

The third course was a wonderful portion of sturgeon served on a bed of mushroom oatmeal and topped with mushroom "hay". The "hay" were dehydrated mushrooms. To say this dish was an umami bomb is an understatement.

Our fourth course was "steak frites". The beef was a beef rib cap which was very tender and tasty, and it was accompanied by "flavors of béarnaise", a kind of deconstructed version of the sauce.

As my dessert course, I selected a line of grapefruit curd with cilantro sorbet, lime meringue and avocado. It had more of a savory taste to it.
My friends ordered the apple with caramel and burnt wood ice cream.
I would dare say, I enjoyed my meal at ink. more than my experiences at Volt.


8360 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(323( 651-5866

The First Gastronaut Society Dinner at Corner BYOB, Baltimore

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.

Foodie day in Williamsburg

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