The Joe Special

I have been dreaming of an amazing sandwich we had recently at Touch of Italy in Rehoboth Beach over Memorial Day weekend.  The Joe Special was simple, yet perfect -- just prosciutto with fresh ricotta and extra virgin olive oil on semolina bread.  At Touch of Italy, they bake their own bread, and we were lucky enough to get a sandwich on a freshly baked still warm loaf.  It was probably the best thing I've eaten in a long time.

 So when I saw fresh ricotta from Salvatore Bklyn at Beecher's, I grabbed a tub with the idea of making the Joe Special at home.  Salvatore Bklyn makes their ricotta by hand in small batches daily -- the texture is dense and creamy, the flavor is of rich whole milk with a hint of lemon. It's absolutely amazing and I could have probably eaten the whole tub with a spoon. But semolina bread and cured meat was calling.

Instead of prosciutto, we already had smoked bacon at home from Pulaski Meats, the Polish butcher in the Trenton Farmer's Market, and grabbed a loaf of semolina from D'Angelo's Italian Market in Princeton, drizzled it with plenty of olive oil, and went to town with our own version of the Joe Special sandwich.

I also happily devoured ricotta with honey on toasted bread - yum...  I need to get back up to the city to get more ricotta! I'm also excited that Touch of Italy is opening a bakery in Lewes, DE where you'll be able to buy loaves of their delicious bread.  Hopefully they'll be open by the time we make it back down to the beach again later this summer. 

Bien Cuit: The Smith Street Bakery, Brooklyn

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 

Moran's Oyster Cottage, County Galway, Ireland

Redneckhunter saw Moran's Oyster Cottage listed online in a Top Ten Pubs in Ireland list, so since we were staying in Galway, we decided to take the short drive outside of the city to find it. Thank god we had a GPS, otherwise we never would have found the thatched cottage located on the tidal Dunkelin river, across from the old stone wall that's known as The Weir. It was well worth the drive.

In business since 1797, seven generations of Morans have run the restaurant. We were greeted at our table, in fact, by current owner Michael Moran.


We ordered the specialty of the house two ways: fresh, on the half-shell; and grilled, with garlic breadcrumbs. Both were delicious -- big, briny, meaty oysters, expertly shucked. Apparently the shuckers at Moran's are world champions of the craft.

We rounded out the meal with seafood chowder (more refined and less chunky than others we had had in Ireland) and more locally smoked salmon on brown bread. The smoked salmon we had in Ireland is milder, less salty than its American counterpart. And homemade brown bread is addictive -- dense, chewy, nutty, slightly sweet... I miss it now that we're back at home!

Moran's Oyster Cottage
The Weir
Kilcolgan, County Galway
Ireland
+353-091-796113

Snacking at Churchkey, DC

Recently, my favorite combination of food and drink when going out is charcuterie and good beer. I went to Churchkey in the Logan Circle area of DC a couple weeks ago for such a meal.
First off, I was impressed with Churchkey's impressive draft and beer menu with selections for the casual drinker or the hardcore beer fanatic. On this evening, I decided to try a few Saisons with dinner. I enjoyed the Du Ronke Saison de Dottignies from the cask. It was nice and smooth.
We ordered both a cheese and a charcuterie plate to start. I can't recall all the cheeses we tried, but I know that I did like the Cashel Blue, a creamy Irish cow's milk cheese.
My favorite items on the charcuterie plate were the pig's head and trotter terrine (big surprise there) and the housemade duck liver mousse. We also had mortadella, a calabria sausage (pork, beef, bacon) and cured pork loin.
The appetizer of shrimp corn dogs with tartar sauce was fun to eat. It reminded me of the shrimp dumplings from Chinese dim sum, but with the fried corn bread coating.
We also ordered one of the specials, a house bread platter, which included a jalapeño cornbread, pretzel rolls and olive bread. Mmmm... pretzels.
Dessert was their take on the hostess chocolate creme filled cupcake. Not bad at all.

1337 14th St NW
Washington DC
(202) 567-2576

Edgar Allan Poe Dinner at Volt, Frederick, MD

Last week, as part of The Big Read program, the restaurant Volt in Frederick, MD, run by Top Chef Las Vegas contestant Bryan Voltaggio featured a special tasting menu inspired by the life of Edgar Allan Poe. It was my first time eating at Volt, and it was impressive.
Right away, we started with the amuse bouche, which was the dish that won him an elimination challenge on Top Chef, a sweet and sour lime macaroon with guacamole.

We then were served bread. I chose the roll that had applewood smoked bacon in it.
The tasting menu offered two choices, Boston and Baltimore, contrasting the towns where Poe was born and died.
The first course from "Boston" was a New England clam chowder that was special in that the root vegetables, potatoes and carrots, were not quite vegetables, rather, the potato was like a small gnocchi and the carrot were more like noodles. It also had small spheres of balsamic vinegar in it.
The "Baltimore" opener was a blue crab cake topped with a chip seasoned with his take on Old Bay and served with a green apple remoulade and celeriac.

The second "Baltimore" course was a perfectly cooked pigeon served with caraway potato balls, cabbage, chard and roasted mustard seeds. The bird was so delicious and delicate in flavor, I can say that I have never had pigeon made so beautifully.

The second "Boston" course was Taylor Bay scallops with sea urchin, maitake mushrooms, coriader blossom with soy air. The blend of flavors, particularly with the sea urchin was wonderful.

For the main course, the "Baltimore" featured Voltaggio's take on pit beef with cut of wagyu beef prepared sous vide style to recreate the slow cooking. It was served over pureed potates and carrots and turnips. The resulting beef was tender and delicious.
The "Boston" main course was inspired by Poe's "The Raven" as he grilled black chicken served on two purees- parsnip and chestnut. Too bad the cooking took the black color out of the chicken.




For dessert, Voltaggio made a version of the Lady Baltimore cake with Mission fig and pecans accompanied by a fig sorbet.
The other dessert was a deconstructed Boston Cream pie.
As an extra treat, we received little ice cream sandwiches with homemade cookies. My favorite was the oatmeal cookie with coconut ice cream.


228 N Market St
Frederick, MD 21701-5335
(301) 696-8658‎

New Amsterdam Market, NYC

Last weekend, we went up to the New Amsterdam Market near the South Street Seaport. Held only once a month through December, the market is hoping to establish itself as a permanent fixture.

There were plenty of samples to be had, so we walked around and tried bread from Sullivan Street Bakery and Balthazar, cheese from Saxelby Cheesemongers and assorted farms from Pennsylvania, New York state, and Vermont. We tasted Kombucha and kimchee made in Brooklyn, many different jams. I picked up some duck prosciutto and smoked duck from the Hudson Valley Duck Farm.

But there was also plenty to be eaten right there at the market. We got a few small dishes to share. First off was a bowl of chili made from grass-fed beef from Marlow and Daughters in Brooklyn.

Then we shared a piece of pear and goat cheese tart with crispy thyme from Sweet Deliverance.

And a teeny piece of braised brisket sandwich from Jimmy's No. 43, served on a crunchy cornmeal bruschetta-type bread.


But I think my favorite snack of the morning was the pork sandwich from Porchetta. The pork was well seasoned with herbs and juicy, the skin was nice and crispy, all served on a nice chewy roll.

My only issue with the market were the New York City prices... but, well, that's par for the course in the city. The abundance of samples make up for that, I guess. Excellent people watching too.

After the market, we walked a bit around Soho, where we stopped into Grandaisy Bakery and got a "pizza bianca" - not pizza in the American sense - this was a flatbread just sprinkled with rosemary, no cheese, no sauce. It was still warm and absolutely amazing - the flavor, the texture were perfect. For $1.50 we got a slice about as big as a 14-inch laptop! We just tore it up and devoured it right on the sidewalk. I'm craving one as I type this...


New Amsterdam Market
South Street, between Beekman Street and Peck Slip
On the East River waterfront in Lower Manhattan
11:00am to 4:00pm, November 22 and December 20, 2009

Grandaisy Bakery
250 West Broadway or 73 Sullivan Street