Mile End, Brooklyn

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

The Slingshot Lounge, Portland, OR

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

Lambfest at the Slackhaus

This year, after the Maryland Sheep & Wool festival, Gubeen and Olironstomach invited us over for a Lambfest dinner. Our friend, Jake, also lent a hand in cooking as well as supplying us with amazing drinks.
It was a fantastic and ambitious dinner using 6 different cuts of lamb.
We started with Gubeen's tasty quinoa dish served with Jake's dish of lamb tongue, fennel and oranges. The tongue was so tender- more so than beef.

Our second lamb dish was loin chops roasted on the infrared grill. They came out a perfect medium rare and were just amazing with really no other prep beforehand.

It was served with homemade persillade, a side made of chopped parsley, garlic, oil, & vinegar, that went perfect with the lamb.

Redneckhunter was thrilled to have the next course- white beans cooked with lamb necks.



It was so good- the meat from the lamb neck actually had a really nice sweetness to it. Fougoo and I both cleaned the bones clean. I'm pretty sure I ate all the cartilage, too.

Inspired by what they had at the festival, they also made a pit lamb for us. Just to kick it up a little, the meat had a glaze of sriracha sauce. It was so much better than any pit beef I've had because of the lamb's incredible flavor.

Our last courses were grilled lamb leg and shoulder pieces. The best part was the shoulder because Jake had marinated them in Dolin vermouth. I think the shoulder was my favorite piece, or pieces rather, of lamb I had that evening.

Jake brought some bottles of Dolin vermouth- the rouge, blanc, & dry. I tried all three and really loved the flavor of each of them.



My favorite drink of the evening was an aperitif, the Cocchi Americano. I finished the evening with this fine digestif.
I should also note that after crashing in the living room that night, we had more Cocchi the next morning to kickstart the day.