Octuberfest X

This past weekend, I went to visit a friend, ol_ironstomach for his annual Octuberfest party. The theme- tubers, tubers, tubers.
This presented a wide variety of interesting dishes. First off, despite being off the theme, the hosts had a 1 year aged ham they brought back from a recent trip to Kentucky.
I brought Fougoo/Redneckhunter's White Trasherole as my dish. I actually won favorite of the night.
There was Jicama salad, odd potatoes wrapped in salmon, a delicious pork pie, potato kugel, potato croquettes, empanadas, and a sweet potato with sausage casserole.

There was also an interesting variety of desserts - sweet potato pie with and without walnuts, nice strong gingerbread cookies, ginger bread, a nice sweet potato flan, and tapioca pudding. One person made chocolates with butter cream- the tuber was in potato used in the butter cream- they diappeared quickly.

This was a tasty batch of Vegetable Samosas from a Northern Virginia place- they even added little chile flecks in the potato inside.

These were french pastries stuffed with mashed potato and bacon.

Hands down, my favorite dish was the Lancashire Hotpot- slow cooked in a large pot- it consisted of lamb on the bone, some lamb kidney, onion, seasoning, stock, and a layer of potatoes sliced thin on top. Wow, the flavor, then tendon, the moistness.

Lunch at Soba-ya, NYC

Fougoo, Redneckhunter, our friend Melinda, and I met up for lunch in the East Village at the Japanese restaurant Soba-ya over the weekend. The place is known for it's homemade buckwheat soba noodles made on the premises.
We started with an appetizer of Uni Tororo- sea urchin with Japanese yam. The urchin was fresh, and went well with the stickiness of the yam.

Soba-ya offers pretty amazing lunch specials, all accompanied by a plate of fresh soba noodles. Redneckhunter got the hot lunch special that included tempura, a piece of salmon, and some nice vegetables including lotus and burdock.
Melinda got the Maguro Don rice bowl - the tuna was really nice a fresh.

I ordered the Sake Oyako Don rice bowl- with salmon and salmon roe. Fougoo got the Sakuraebi Seiro soba bowl which was topped with tiny shrimp and mitsuba leaf tempura.

For dessert, Redneckhunter got a serving of sweet milk tofu with strawberry. The rest of us shared a trio of ice creams also made at the restaurant.

They were black sesame, honey wasabi, and yuzu (Japanese citrus). The black sesame was like oreo cookie, the yuzu had an orange peel like flavor, and the wasabi- was interesting.

Soba-ya
229 E 9th St Ste 3
New York, NY 10003-7536
Phone: (212) 533-6966

Food Stands at the Red Hook Soccer Fields

Over this Indian summer weekend, Fougoo, Redneckhunter, and I went up to New York City, and since we had a car, we drove to Red Hook to visit the much buzzed about food stands at the soccer fields.
The place is known for food stalls that serve a variety of cuisines from Latin America including Mexican, Salvadora, and Honduran. The pupusas looked pretty fantastic. I also saw them making tacos and tamales. We grabbed some Aqua Frescas from one stand- I had watermelon, Fougoo had canteloupe.
My favorite part of the visit was my first time trying roasted corn on the cob Mexican style- after it comes off the grill, they coated with mayo, rolled it in cheese, sprinkled it with chili powder, and a squirt of lime. Unbelievable combination of flavors.

Fresh sushi

Redneckhunter has a friend who's a real redneck hunter and fisher. Last weekend he caught a big one, and we got to reap the benefits.




Nothing beats freshly caught tuna. We ate it as sashimi and I made a couple rolls too. This happened to be the night after brownie's shower - man, what an amazing food day!

Foodie bridal shower

Brownie had her foodie bachelorette party, so naturally, her bridal shower had to be equally food-centric. It was absolutely lovely! The four hostesses really outdid themselves. Hostess #1 made homemade scones served with clotted cream and strawberry jam.

Her talented husband smoked his own salmon. There were also wonderful little lobster tails, so sweet.

Hostess #2 made the moistest, prettiest lemon cake. Hostess #3 provided prosecco and prosciutto with melon. Hostess #4 made tea sandwiches (I think the lobster tails were hers too).

But I know that brownie's favorite was the cupcakes. Hostess #1 who made them is also set to bake the wedding cake - I can't wait!

Top Chef: French Culinary Shakedown

One of the thrills of Top Chef (a favorite of the TIGBG crew) is witnessing a hotly- debated cooking question get played out amongst the contestants: which works better- talent or technique, home-spun cookin' or classic preparations? This week's episode gave us that match-up on the silver plate of the classic-contemporary French kitchen.

A few years back I was fortunate enough to take a beginner's class at the French Culinary Institute. While the program did a great job exposing me to the authentic preparation techniques, my teachers made no bones that they were actually babysitters to us armchair cooks. I can only imagine that the real students (like TC Season 1's Lee Anne) got worked for every roux. The training is militaristic and impeccable; a true French kitchen heeds no shorthand or laziness. When Anthony Bourdain writes that Andre Soltner "[speaks] from the mountain top", you better listen up.

So it came as no surprise that Hung exceeded in this contest, and the more 'bottoms-up' chefs like Dale and Brian scuttled about like nervous freshman. However, Casey astutely read the situation and dipped into her French heritage enough to impress the panel. For these judges, the technique won over tradition, but it was a surly race. Hung was is his comfort zone, but the home-spun cook might have leverage in the less sanitized conditions (beach bonfire anyone?).

Finally, did Bourdain unwittingly give us props? Check out the last line of his Top Chef blog... see ya at the screen next week.

Cafe Zeus, Rehoboth Beach, DE

We were looking for a nice place for dinner in Rehoboth and my friend told me about Cafe Zeus. Like many restaurants in Rehoboth, Cafe Zeus resides in a cute Victorian house. The space is great -- cozy rooms and a large terrace where we sat and were serenaded by Nikki Lee, soul singer, while lesbian couples slow danced. It was all very Rehoboth.

I thought Duncan and I ordered the best thing on the menu that night, New Zealand lamb chops (above), encrusted with cumin and cooked a perfect medium rare.


Both redneckhunter and 1000yregg had ordered veal. 1000yregg had his made "Oscar" style, with crabmeat on top. Unfortunately we had just been to the Crabcake Factory the night before and you just can't beat the lump crab from there...

I loved my lamb - it was so good, I wanted to reach over and gnaw on the bones from Duncan's plate!!

Everything else there was just ok though. We had a baked brie appetizer, and for dessert, 1000yregg got profiteroles (which always make me think of testicles - there's a story behind that), and redneckhunter and I got truffles that were just a bit too rich...

Cafe Zeus
37 Wilmington Ave
Rehoboth Beach, De 19971
(302) 226-0400

Sake Bar Hagi, NYC

Sake Bar Hagi is a basement izakaya on West 49th. You really have to keep an eye out or you'll never find the entrance. Apart from not having "Ir-ra-se-ma-se!" shouted at you when you walk down the stairs, you feel like you've just stepped into Japan. The warm, cozy room has bar seats and tiny tables and a wall with shelves of sake bottles with names on them, the bar holding on to personal bottles for the regulars.

We were starving, but in typical leisurely drinking style, it took a while for the dishes to start coming. We started with black edamame which had a sweeter marinade. Wasabi octopus sashimi with shredded mountain yam was cold and gooey and slimey -- these are good things, mind you....

Our other cold dish was cod roe with shredded daikon.

We ordered just one yakitori skewer: the special on the board -- alligator. It was alright - you know, tastes like chicken. I think we probably shouldn't have been swayed by the exotic and stuck with a more standard yakitori like chicken gizzards and skin.

My favorite dish of the night was takoyaki (fried squid balls). In fact, I think I ate them so quickly I forgot to take a picture!

The onigiri (rice ball) was the least interesting - pretty standard, and not enough bonito inside...

Pictured on top is hamachi kama (broiled yellowtail collar). It wasn't the best I've had, but it was good - hard to go wrong with the collar, such a tender part of the fish.

We finished the meal with a yakisoba with chicken and kimchee. My dinner companions loved this dish. To me, it was kind of like stuff I throw together at home from leftovers. But then again, as the NY Times reviewer said about the spaghetti with ketchup bacon dish, maybe it's for nostalgia...

To me, food-wise this place didn't live up the rave reviews I've heard, but then again, I've had a lot of good Japanese food in my day.

What I like about this place is the atmosphere - I can see why Japanese ex-pats living in NYC would come here to hang out and drink and snack. I still stand by my favorite New York izakaya when it comes to food -- that's Mugi on W. 58th St -- but often we've been the only people in the dining room. I love Mugi, but I can see why people would rather drink at Sake Bar Hagi.

Sake Bar Hagi
152 West 49th Street, NYC
(212) 764-8549.