Recipes

October 26, 2012 Boston

Sportello

Ask anyone to name the best chefs in Boston, and undoubted you'll hear Barbara Lynch's name in the mix. After all, this "rags-to-riches" local Bostonian female chef has climbed through so much to get to where she is today.

Her achievements are numerous. She and her restaurants have won multiple James Beard Awards over the years. Her highest-end restaurant, Menton is the first (and only) restaurant in Boston to receive the prestigious Grand Chef Relais & Châteaux award. No. 9 Park her original flagship restaurant, is still is one of the most highly regarded restaurants in Boston today.

But no one eats at these restaurants on a daily basis. These are places that are reserved from special occasions, celebrations, and expense account dinners.

That's the beauty of Sportello, Chef Lynch's neighborhood answer for the local Bostonian looking for excellent, Italian food in a casual yet trendy atmosphere.

When given the opportunity to build something in a converted warehouse in the Fort Point neighborhood, Barbara Lynch looked at Boston and thought about what was missing.

She sought to build "the next level of fine dining" that Boston hadn't seen with the opening of Menton. She thought Boston could use some really good drinks, and built up Drink in the adjacent space.

Finally, she reminisced about the days when she was a child, and her mom used to take her to Woolworth's for a simple grilled cheese and a pie.

"The last thing is a cool sort of counter. . . . grab and go but sleek and stylish with my food."

That's exactly what Sportello is.

Two U-shaped counters essentially take up the entire dining area. There are a couple tables, but most of the seating consists of bar stools, many of which have views of the semi-open kitchen.

A lot of the prep work is done downstairs in the large kitchen that's shared with Chef Lynch's other restaurants (Menton and Drink are also in the immediate vicinity). However, you can still watch some of the cooking from your bar stool seat.

Bryan and I visited Sportello after watching the Red Bull Diving Competition at Fan Pier in Boston's waterfront area. Crazy divers jump off the top of the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) building, which is many, many stories high. Admittedly, it may seem like nothing compared to jumping from the edge of space, but it was still pretty awe-inspiring to watch.
Because it was August when we went, we sampled the fresh, seasonal ingredients in the Heirloom Tomato Salad ($12), which was served simply with crumbled pecorino, fresh basil, and balsamic vinegar "dots". If the ingredients are top notch, you can't really go wrong with this salad, and this one was great.
All of their pastas are homemade, and you can order any pasta as a half size appetizer portion for half the price. We decided to order two half-sized pastas as starters and share one entree. Our first pasta was a seasonal offering: Pappardelle with Tuna Belly, San Marzano Tomatoes, and Eggplant. We both loved the perfect al dente texture of these wide ribbon-like noodles.
The Tagliatelle Bolognese, on the other hand, is a staple menu item that stays on all year long. We both liked it a lot, and would definitely be happy to order it again. I probably preferred the bolognese to the tuna belly pasta, though both were good.

Entrees vary a lot depending on the season, but there's always a "Market Fish" on the menu. In late summer when we went, we enjoyed a lovely grilled white fish which was served with grilled Japanese eggplant, summer squash, and an edamame puree.

I did want to mention that I loved the wine we got, a little find from a young winemaker in Sicily. We learned about this wine, Occhipinti Il Frappato Sicilia 2010, because we just happened to be sitting right next to a person from Central Bottle, who instantly recognized the wine we got (they sell this wine at Central Bottle as well).

True to Chef Lynch's promise, Sportello offers the opportunity for one to come and just "grab and go." You can walk up to a bakery/cafe counter inside the restaurant and order sandwiches or bakery items to take away.

Dessert is sort of a fun affair because you can either order off of the normal dessert menu or walk over to the counter and pick out whatever bakery items you might want for dessert.

Bryan and I decided to try both (!!). We ordered the Blueberry Cheesecake off of the normal menu, which was great. I especially loved those fresh, Maine blueberries.
We also got a Kit Kat Cupcake from the bakery, which, honestly, I thought was pretty average. The cupcake was a tad dry and not nearly as interesting as I had hoped.

General Thoughts
In general, we both thought Sportello offered high quality food and wine in a fun, casual, yet sleek environment. Pastas were especially tasty, and I really loved the wine.

It's still a bit of a trek from Cambridge, and not quite "destination-worthy" for us to make the trip out to Fort Point just to eat at Sportello. We have plenty of excellent restaurants close to home. However, if we're in the neighborhood (or, when my company moves there next year), I will happily stop by often, either to try their lunch take-away sandwiches or for the excellent pasta dishes.

As a cool side note, Sportello is currently offering a three course Sunday meal, including all-you-can-eat pasta, for $45. Sounds awesome yet dangerous at the same time!

Sportello
348 Congress Street
Boston, MA 02210

October 24, 2012 Boston

Tiny Urban Kitchen on Kitchen Nightmares?

This Friday at 8PM is the premier of Gordon Ramsey's reality drama "Kitchen Nightmares" on FOX. Although I normally never talk about TV on this blog (in fact, I hardly ever watch TV, too busy with all my other activities!), I will most definitely be tuning into this show on Friday.

Why?

Well, I was there.

That's right. This past summer, Chef Ramsey decided to do his magic on a struggling Italian restaurant in Boston's North End. The sequence of events surrounding this restaurant's "make-over" will span two weeks, and seems to promise all the drama that typically accompanies Ramsey's shows (yelling, crying, more yelling . . etc.)

I was invited to attend the re-launch dinner while it was being filmed in Boston. Along with a few friends, I had dinner on the very first relaunch night at La Galleria 33. It was a bit surreal, surrounded by endless cameramen, harried staff, and Chef Ramsey himself.

I'll write a more detailed post about the entire experience a little later. For now, I just wanted to let you know in case you wanted to tune in.

There's no guarantee I'll be on the show. Like with most shows, I "signed my life away" on those waiver forms essentially letting them do whatever they want with the footage that they took.

I'm a bit nervous about how they'll portray everything, but I promise that my follow up post will be a completely honest rendition of what I thought the evening was like.

Photos courtesy of FOX

October 21, 2012 Dessert

Jeni's Inspired Vanilla Ice Cream

I love ice cream.

It's one of my all time favorite foods and something I could eat at every meal (if only it were as healthy as kale or broccoli). Yes, I know it's all my dad's fault, but that doesn't make me crave it any less.

And I'm from Ohio. And my name's Jennifer.

It's no surprise that when I found out about Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream from Ohio (of all places!) whose immense popularity seemed to be sweeping the press and blogosphere by waves, I decided I absolutely had to try it (I mean, seriously, how often does my beloved home state get this kind of praise from the food community?).

But then, it's not like I can ask my mom to bring me ice cream from Ohio when she visits. And I usually only go back to Ohio during the holidays, so it means waiting months before trying it. That is, until Formaggio Kitchen started carrying it in their stores.

You can guess what I did next.

At $12 a pint, Jeni's ice cream is probably the most expensive ice cream I've ever seen. Part of the high cost comes from the fact that she sources all of her cream from grass-fed cows in Snowville Creamery, a local milk producer in Ohio.

Jeni's ice cream is unusual in that she does not use any eggs. She believes in truly highlighting the flavors of the ice cream ingredients, and eggs can sometimes detract from that.

In order to get a smooth creamy texture, she uses several tricks. First, to avoid any ice crystals, she painstakingly removes some water from the ice cream "batter" by boiling the cream/milk mixture. She also adds starch for two reasons: 1) as a desiccant to remove additional residual moisture; and 2) as a thickener to make the ice cream more creamy.

She then uses a bit of cream cheese to round out the ice cream, making it more scoopable.

We picked up Wildberry Lavendar and The Buckeye State.

For those of you who are not local to Ohio, the buckeye tree is the Ohio state tree. It produces a nut that looks very much like a chestnut. Buckeyes are also local chocolate-peanut butter candies made to resemble the buckeye nut. Jeni paid homage to Ohio by creating this ice cream filled with pulverized buckeyes.

Initial Thoughts?
I so wanted to love this ice cream. But alas, Bryan and I both found the ice cream to be just a bit chalky and not as lusciously creamy as we had expected. "The Buckeye State" was the chalkier one, possibly made that way by the peanut butter inside?

Bryan didn't really like the texture. And I agreed that I preferred the creamy texture of egg-based ice creams. Nevertheless, the flavors, especially the Wildberry Lavendar, were clean and pronounced, shining through with no competition from egg yolks or other strong flavors.

Despite my first experience with the ice cream, I was still intrigued at the idea of egg-less ice creams that would be smooth and creamy. Furthermore, since eggs are such a pain to deal with at home, I really was drawn to the idea of trying to make ice cream using her method.

So I finally did.
About a week ago, I noticed that my quarts of cream in the refrigerator were imminently about to expire. In order to avoid throwing them all out, I decided to make ice cream, immediately. Typically, I make a rich, custard-style ice cream with many, many egg yolks.

Alas, I had virtually run out of eggs. Intrigued by Jeni's ice cream process, I found a recipe online for Jeni's version of a simple egg-less vanilla ice cream. Thrilled that I actually had both corn starch and cream cheese at home (I virtually never have a stocked kitchen), I decided to forge ahead and see how a homemade version of Jeni's would taste like.

I must confess, I could not completely follow the recipe because of a lack of certain ingredients in my house (it was late at night too, so no chance to stopping by a grocery store). Most notably, I did not have simple white sugar and corn syrup. I took the plunge and substituted agave syrup. I've read elsewhere that Jeni specifically cautions against using other types of sugar (aside from what she recommends in the recipe), so I've put her original recipe below with notes about my modifications.

Despite all my crazy modifications, I still really enjoyed the final product! Sure, the texture was a not as creamy as I would have hoped, but how could I expect that given the changes I made? I'm pretty certain that my changes upset the delicate balance of water to other ingredients. In other words - my version had too much water, thus affecting the way the entire batch froze.

What about the Eggless Vanilla?
It tasted fantastic. I loved the clean, unadulterated fresh cream flavors of this ice cream. The vanilla really shown through, fragrant and sweet. I would totally consider using this method to make ice cream again. I'm pretty certain that if I cut down on the water content and used the right sugars (ahem - in other words, followed her tried and true recipe), it would turn out just right.

At least, what I've done is shown that even if you mess with several elements of the ice cream making process, the final product will still taste pretty darn good. Seriously, you really can't go too wrong with heavy cream and fresh vanilla beans.

Enjoy!

Jen's homemade version using Jeni's recipe

Simple Vanilla Eggless Ice Cream
[source: Food & Wine Magazine: Originally from the book Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home]

2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 ½ ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
⅔ cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

In an small bowl, add cornstarch to a small amount (about 2 tablespoons) of milk and dissolve completely. Set aside. In another large bowl, whisk room temperature (important! Not straight out of the refrigerator!) cream cheese until smooth. Set aside.

In a saucepan, heat milk, heavy cream, sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla beans for about 5 minutes until the cream mixture is well infused with vanilla flavor. Remove from heat and slowly add corn starch/half & half mixture, stirring until everything is well incorporated. Return to heat and boil for 1-2 minutes until the mixture becomes thick and creamy.

Slowly add the hot cream mixture to the whisked cream cheese and stir well until mixed. Cool in an ice bath (at least 20 minutes) until cold.

Make in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Store the ice cream in airtight conditions and freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.

My Modifications & Notes
As I said, I was desperately trying to use up my cream, so in my haste I reverted to familiar ratios from the recipe I usually use, not fulling appreciating how the difference in water content could really affect the creaminess of the egg-less ice cream. To make matters worst, I had just enough corn starch, but not the extra amount I probably needed to make up for the extra liquid I was adding.

My Measurements
2 cups half & half + 2 cups heavy cream [admittedly too much liquid?]
½ cup agave syrup instead of sugar [yikes, even MORE liquid!]
2 vanilla beans [at least I'm upping the vanilla flavor, yikes!]

I basically followed the instructions from the recipe except that I cooled my ice cream base in the refrigerator overnight since I did not have time to make ice cream right away.

October 18, 2012 Cambridge

Hungry Mother

Why don't I go to Hungry Mother more often?

We are spontaneous diners who don't plan ahead. As many unlucky diners have learned throughout the years, not planning ahead = not dining at Hungry Mother.

I have found Hungry Mother (together with the likes of Bondir, The Helmand, and Craigie on Main), to be one of the most difficult reservations to get in Cambridge at the last minute.

It's not hard to see why. Their prices are reasonable and the food is phenomenal. It's unusual that I'll write about a restaurant three times on this blog, but I think it's warranted here. After all, the first post had no pictures (I know, crazy huh? Early days of the blog!) and the second post was just a recipe for one of their dishes. So now (finally!) for the first time, I have a proper write-up full of mouthwatering photos as well as my thoughts about the experience.

Hungry Mother is easy to miss. It's hidden in a little street corner right near One Kendall Square in Cambridge (across the street from the theater). It opened in 2008 to much anticipation and fanfare and has been very, very popular ever since. Forget trying to show up without a reservation on a weekend evening. Be prepared to wait.

The food is Southern American made using refined French techniques. The chef-owner is originally from Virginia and sprinkles various bits of his home state throughout the restaurant. For example, "Hungry Mother" is also the name of a state park in Virginia, and the state bird of Virginia is the cardinal (the logo of the restaurant).

The menu constant changes depending on what's available and what's seasonal. They try their hardest to source ingredients locally or (in the case of Southern-specific ingredients), from Virginia. For us, it had been quite a while since we had last visited, so we anxiously explored the menu and tried several dishes.

The house made Surryano Country Ham Biscuits came with a homemade red pepper jelly, smoked bluefish pate, and pickled okra. We loved the sweet + savory + spicy combo that came from the salty ham, buttery biscuits, and sweet & spicy jelly. I loved the spicy red pepper jelly so much I purchased a jar of it on my way out (yes, they sell them at the counter for $9 a jar).

One of my favorite dishes of the evening was the Crispy Smoked Pork appetizer, which came with Hakurei turnip greens and Jim Nardello peppers in a rich, savory potlikker broth. The broth was incredible, incorporating the rich, smoky flavors from the pork. A cornbread stick served as the perfect tool by which to soak up any remaining broth.

The Chatham Bluefish came with "hm" bacon ("hm" presumably means Hungry Mother? Or maybe House-made?). It was topped with tomato jam and served over a salad of arugula and red Norland potatoes tossed in a cider vinaigrette.

This dish was solid, though I think deep down inside we both thought that the famous fried catfish was the better dish.

Bryan absolutely loved the Baked Anson Mills Grits, which were made with "hm" Tasso ham and tons of sharp, Vermont cheddar. It was wonderfully cheesy, very creamy, and all around very good.

The Sauteed Local Collard Greens, cooked with pepper vinegar, was fine, but uninspiring.

My other favorite dish - the one I could not stop eating - was the Skillet Cornbread with Sorghum Butter. Sorghum is a type of sweet molasses made from sorghum, an early grain. Sorghum butter is sweet, sort of like honey butter.

The cornbread was addictive. Buttery and moist on the inside, crunchy on the outside - it was definitely amongst the best cornbread I've ever had. Heck, I'd go back for that dish alone. We only ordered a "small" portion (half circle), but you can easily get a whole one for the table to share. I guarantee it won't stick around for long.

Bryan got the Strube Ranch Wagyu Bavette Steak, which was served with creamed native corn, blacked arrow head cabbage, and "b-1" sauce. The steak was solid, though the entire dish was not particularly special. We've had more interesting dishes in the past, and I think this time around, our main entrees were good, but didn't exactly blow us away.
Nevertheless, we're still huge fans of the restaurant. My favorites are the Crispy Smoked Pork appetizers and the Sorghum cornbread. The fried green tomatoes are excellent, and we've enjoyed the French gnocchi a lot on a past visit.

Their menu changes daily, so there's always a chance to try something new. Of course, certain classics, like the cornbread and the fried green tomatoes, probably never leave the menu.

For dessert we tried the Blueberry Stacked Cake, which was great - not too sweet, and full of luscious, in-season berries. I still miss the buttermilk pie they had the first time I came. I'm not sure if they will ever bring it back, but I hope for it every single time.

Overall, this fun little Southern place is a gem in Kendall Square. It's very evident why Hungry Mother is so popular. On top of the great food, they also serve some really interesting cocktails and have an extensive spirits list. Finally, the space is warm and cozy, reminiscent of a traditional Southern restaurant with many rooms, each one painted a different color. You almost feel like you're inside a big house.

Hungry Mother
233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave
Cambridge, MA 02141

October 15, 2012 Michelin

Din Tai Fung (Bellevue)

This is the first post in the Summer in the Pacific Northwest Series, which is sort of being run concurrently with the Oh Canada Series (partly due to some overlap).

I guess you could say I'm on a mission.

It's not a difficult mission, really. I'm just trying to eat at every Din Tai Fung in the world, that's all. I've made reasonably progress to date. I visited the original one in Taipei, of course, as well as the one in Los Angeles opened by the family's son. There are franchises around the world, and I've gone to both the ones in Beijing and Shanghai. Heck, I've even been tricked and gone to a knock-off one in Toronto.

And then they finally decided to open a second location in the U.S. I prayed that they would choose the East Coast (why not? There is already so much good Chinese food out west!). Alas, they decided to open in Bellevue, just outside of Seattle.

Disheartened, I really had no idea when I would be able to go.

As it turned out, Bryan's cousin decided to get married in Seattle. Better yet, his aunt (with whom we stayed) actually lives in Bellevue.

It's not hard to guess where I wanted to go for dinner.

Unlike some of the older Din Tai Fung locations (like the original one in Taiwan or even the original one in Los Angeles), this one is prettier and "swankier" inside, with hard wood floors, cute hanging lights, and prettier dishware. It reminded me more of the slightly more upscale ones in Beijing and Shanghai (where Din Tai Fung is regarded as a really pricey restaurant).

Your food comes out on prettier, slightly more stylish dishware. The marinated cucumbers, always a refreshing starter, were great.

The spicy wontons were average and probably worth skipping. After all, if you're coming to Din Tai Fung, you should really be getting their xiao long baos!

Speaking of which, we ordered several dozens of the dumplings. These were solid, definitely serviceable, but we noticed a quality difference between the ones here and both the ones in California (slightly better) and Asia (noticeably better).

The skins aren't supposed to break, but I think we had one or two break on us.

But really, I'm arguably splitting hairs here. The dumplings were still delicious and very, very enjoyable. The soupy pork filling is still very flavorful and satisfying, and people still gobbled it up. If this exact restaurant opened up in Boston, I would still go at least once a week!

Sauteed Green Beans

Other non-dumpling side dishes, such as the stir fried green beans, were all fine. It's nice that they have a variety of offerings on their menu. After all, if you're a local, you may not feel like eating xiao long baos all the time.

Stir Fried Rice Cakes (chao nian gao)

Of course, I think Bryan would differ. He's pretty particular about what he will eat when he's at Din Tai Fung. In short, he only eats the crab roe xiao long baos. He thinks everything else is a "waste of stomach space."

Wonton Soup

Most people aren't like Bryan, so I still think it's nice that they have a variety of dishes. We found most of their dishes, such as the stir fried rice cakes (two photos above) and the wonton soup (above) to be pretty tasty. I would definitely consider ordering a bigger variety if I lived close by and came every week.

However, if I'm only coming to visit it as a destination restaurant, I would focus mostly on the dumplings, which are still their main specialty.

Definitely try the dessert dumplings if you've never had it before. My personal favorite (by far) is the taro dumpling. Often I'll eat the same number of taro dumplings as normal pork ones! Black sesame is also pretty good. We did not try the red bean one here, but we've noticed a difference in sweetness and texture between the Los Angeles and Taiwan ones, so I can't recommend one from a particular restaurant unless if I've tried it, and we didn't try it here.

Overall, I am still very, very jealous of all you people that live in the Seattle area. You are so lucky that Din Tai Fung picked another West Coast city in which to open their second restaurant.

This Din Tai Fung is very popular, just like every other Din Tai Fung in the world. We arrived early, around 5:30PM, so we did not wait in line. By the time we left, however, the line was super long. The restaurant is inside of a mall, so if you do have to wait a long time, I guess there's at least stuff you can browse while you wait?

I still hope that someday, they will come to the East Coast. The odds of Boston may seem low, but then they picked Bellevue over San Francisco, so we can always dream, right?

Din Tai Fung
700 Bellevue Way NE Ste 280
Bellevue, WA 98004

October 12, 2012 Italian

Involtini di Prosciutto e Provolone al Forno

Reverse engineering is one of those skills that some people are just born with . . .

These people can taste something at a restaurant, immediately identify key ingredients, and then recreate a pretty good mock-up at home. If I could do that, we wouldn't be eating out nearly as much.

Ha ha, in fact, Bryan once said to me, "if you could cook like Jody Adams, I'd be happy to eat at home everyday."

Alas, I am far far away from being anywhere close to having the cooking savviness that many of our local chefs possess. However, once in a blue moon, I do succeed in recreating some easy dishes inspired by local restaurants.

Here's a delicious yet über simple appetizer dish we made the other day. It's inspired by one of Bryan's favorite appetizers from Monica's (both the Trattoria and the Vinoteca) in the North End. It's funny, if you look at both posts, you'll notice Bryan ordered it both times - he likes it that much.

Frankly, we didn't do a whole lot to "reverse engineer" this dish. We gathered clues from the name of the dish. On the menu, this appetizer is called "Involtini di Prosciutto e Provolone al Forno", which translates to baked prosciutto and provolone "rolled up" ("involtini" means rolled up and "al forno" means baked).

That's pretty much what we did.

We bought some nice prosciutto and provolone cheese from Formaggio Kitchen. You don't need anything fancy. In fact, when I told the cheesemonger at Formaggio what I planned on doing with the provolone, he suggested the simpler, less expensive provolone.

Cut up the provolone into manageable pieces (mine were about ½ inch by 1-2 inch), wrap with prosciutto, and then bake in the oven. I believe I used the toaster oven and baked at around 350 degrees. You can use convection if you want to crisp up the prosciutto a bit. In fact, I'm guessing that if I did it at a higher temperature, my prosciutto would have looked more crispy.

Serve alongside some roasted red peppers or summer heirloom tomatoes. We did modify Monica's original dish a bit by putting the whole thing over grilled bread (from ACME bread company in San Francisco, no less!), which was awesome.

You can't really go wrong with this combination. It's sort of like a really fancy ham + cheese sandwich. It's brilliant, yet so easy, and really, really good.

Involtini di Prosciutto e Provolone al Forno from Monica's (above) and ours (below).

Ha ha, I put mine in the oven a bit too long (I was cooking a gazillion things at the same time - see entire meal at this post) and the cheese oozed out of the prosciutto "wrapping" while I wasn't paying attention. I really do believe that higher temperature and a faster baking time would have resulted in something that looked more like what they have.

Not a big deal though - it still tasted excellent!

October 11, 2012 Michelin

New York Michelin Stars 2013

"Foie Gras" at Eleven Madison Park

It's official! The 2013 Michelin guide for New York City has just been released.

The Michelin Guide is a guide book published by Michelin (yes, the tire company) that reviews and rates outstanding restaurants around the world. It originated from France in 1900 and was pretty European-centric until 2005, when it published its first guide for the US (New York City, to be more specific). Since then, it has published guides in many cities, including Tokyo, San Francisco, Chicago, and Las Vegas.

According to the Michelin Guide, one star represents a restaurant that is "very good cuisine in its category". Two-stars mean "excellent cuisine, worth a detour", and three stars are given to restaurants offering "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey".

Cherry Belle Radishes and Miner’s Lettuce with Black Winter Truffle Mayonnaise at Per Se

There are some notable changes. Several newcomers came onto the list, such as two-star Atera and the following one-star places: Blanca, Cafe China, The Nomad, Torrisi Italian Specialties, Lan Sheng, and Hakkasan.

I'm thrilled there are three Chinese restaurants on this list. Hakkasan, a high-end modern Chinese restaurant, is originally from London and hails from the creator of the Wagamama chain (also from London). Cafe China and Lan Sheng are both Sichuan restaurants in Midtown. Out of all the newcomers, Torrisi Italian Specialties is the only one I've tried, and I can definitely attest that the food there is excellent.

Mosaic of Capon, Foie Gras, and Celery Root at Daniel

In terms of changes, the original chef of the shojin (temple) cuisine restaurant, Kajitsu, had left earlier this year. We visited Kajitsu right when the new chef had begun. Although it was a great dinner, we weren't blown away with the meal as much as we had hoped. It seems like the Michelin reviewers felt the same way, dropping it from a 2-star restaurant to a 1-star restaurant.

The three-star champions remain the same as last year. Out of all those places, Daniel is my favorite in terms of overall experience (the service, food, and ambiance were all just perfect), while Le Bernardin is still my favorite when it comes to the food (love, love, love Eric Ripert's command of seafood).

Three Stars

Daniel
Per Se
Masa
Le Bernardin
Eleven Madison Park
Jean Georges
Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare

Uni + Lardon at Marea

Two Stars

Corton
Gilt
Gordon Ramsey at The London
Marea
Momofuku Ko
Soto
Atera

The two star list is still pretty exclusive (such a far cry from Tokyo, which currently has fifty-seven two-star restaurants). I love the food at Marea, although I found the total experience at Momofuku Ko to be more unique, surprising, and overall more interesting and fun. It's not a surprise that a reservation is so difficult to procure.

One Star

Adour
Ai Fiori
Aldea
Annisa
Aquavit

Parallel Tasting at Aureole in Las Vegas (also 1 star)

Aureole [Vegas Aureole post]
A Voce Columbus
A Voce Madison
Blanca
Blue Hill
Bouley
The Breslin
Brushstroke
Cafe Boulud
Café China
Casa Mono
Danji
Danny Brown Wine Bar & Kitchen

Bryan has eaten at way more of these 1-star establishments than I have. I know that he prefers Batali and Bastianich's B&B Ristorante to their 1-star New York establishment, Del Posto. Neither Bryan or I was particularly impressed with Aureole when we tried it in Vegas (even though it's also rated a 1-star there).

Del Posto
Dovetail
Dressler
15 East
Gotham Bar and Grill
Gramercy Tavern
Hakkasan
Jewel Bako
Jungsik
Junoon

Somen noodles with Summer Cypress at Kajitsu (dropped from 2 stars to 1 star)

Kajitsu
Kyo Ya
Lan Sheng
Minetta Tavern
The Modern
The Nomad
Oceana

As I mentioned earlier, I guess I've only had the "1-star" version of Kajitsu because I tried it right when the new chef began. The experience was really interesting and the variety of plants and other ingredients was most definitely exotic. The entire meal just did not blow me away like I had hoped. Perhaps I need to visit Kyoto someday to get the true kaiseki or shojin ryori experience.

Porterhouse for two at Peter Luger

Peter Luger
Picholine - closed
Public
Rosanjin
Rouge Tomate
Saul
Seasonal
Spotted Pig
Sushi Azabu
Sushi of Gari
Tamarind Tribeca
Tori Shin

Peter Luger must be one of the few cash-only places on this list (interestingly, contrast that with Japan, where it's not unusual for 3-star Michelin establishments to ask that their $500+ meals be paid by cash). Of course, the steak at Peter Luger is fantastic and probably worth all that hassle (though Carnevino in Vegas is still our all-time favorite steak place),

Trout Roe and Smoked Fish at Torrisi Italian Specialties (newly added to the list)

Torrisi Italian Specialties
Tulsi
Wallse
WD-50 [Wylie Dufresne]

We loved our meal at Torrisi Italian Specialties, and we haven't even had their famous 20-course dinner tasting. The lunch was excellent, though we still like Il Buco Alimentari's pasta a bit better, and (of course), nothing beats Rome and our favorite place there.

Thoughts
Although the Michelin Guide may not catch every great little hidden restaurant in a city, it does a good job of at least choosing excellent restaurants to feature. I've never had a bad meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant, and in general, I agree with their rankings. 3-star establishment tend to be better than 2-stars, which are better than 1-stars.

Kampachi Tartare from Le Bernardin

However, I wouldn't just "Michelin-shop" when choosing where to eat in a new city. There are a ton of fantastic restaurants out there that have not been recognized by Michelin. Heck, entire cities (Boston included!) have never been reviewed by the Guide. In general, it takes a lot more comprehensive research (my favorites are Chowhound boards, local newspaper reviews, local blogs, and confirmation by other "top restaurant" lists) to really get a complete picture of any one city.

Nevertheless, the Michelin Guide works great, especially if you're short on time (hello business traveler like Bryan!). Chances are, you'll enjoy an excellent meal if you eat at any establishment recommended by the Guide.

A note from our sponsors:

Of course it's fun to dine out in New York, but sometimes you'd prefer to have the food brought to you. Consider catering NYC for a change.

October 10, 2012 Cambridge

Sunday Night Suppers via Formaggio Kitchen

I love Sunday suppers.

Sunday is the day when you can spend a little extra time preparing for that fun, relaxing dinner. Instead of quickly trying to churn out a dinner in 30 minutes after a long, hard day at work, you have the whole afternoon to shop, prep, and cook that elaborate (or just time consuming) meal.

Oddly enough, I find that the type of dinner I enjoy most on a Sunday evening is actually not that complicated.

Instead, it involves visiting one of my favorite neighborhood markets, Formaggio Kitchen, and just buying whatever catches my eye. Formaggio Kitchen offers tons of fun eye candy for food lovers, but be forewarned! You could easily spend hours (and many, many dollars if you're not careful!) perusing their aisles filled with all sorts of carefully curated, artisanal products.

A few Sundays ago, we noticed that the salumi counter had a really interesting assortment of cured meats. Not only did they have the famous Jamon Iberico from Spain, they also had the most coveted Jamon Iberico Bellota, the richest, (fattiest), and most luxurious cured pork in all of Spain (and possibly the whole world).

Spanish Iberian cured ham is prized for its rich savory flavor. The pigs roam freely in oak forests and are fed a diet of only acorns at the last stage of their lives. Because of this diet, the fat in these pigs is mostly monounsaturated, "healthy" fat (oleic acid). The Bellota breed is the finest because it eats purely acorns during this last stage (as opposed to a mixture of acorns and grain, or grain only).

Jamon Iberico leg from Fernandez & Wells in London

Up to this point, I had only tried the Iberico pork at restaurants, once as cured meat at a lovely Spanish cafe in London, and (if you can believe this) once as a breaded fried pork cutlet at a specialty tonkatsu restaurant in Tokyo.

Iberico Pork Tonkatsu from Butagami in Tokyo

It's unusual (and typically pretty difficult) to find this type of pig at the market in the US.

The price for the bellota was pretty insane ($189/lb!!!), but ended up only being about $20 for the four slices that we bought.

For fun, we decided to pit the normal famous Jamon Iberico (still a whopping $99/lb) against the Jamon Iberico Bellota ($189/lb). We also bought some "ordinary" (I'm sure it was still pretty nice) prosciutto from Italy, and rounded it off with a local Soppressata Picante from New York.

You can't go to Formaggio without getting some cheese, so of course we sampled several at the counter (one of my favorite things to do) before settling on a few different pieces.

Some of my favorites right now? Hooligan from Cato Corner Farm from Connecticut. It's a washed rind cow's milk cheese that's creamy yet salty and strong. It's classified as "stinky", although I find it more approachable than, say, a blue cheese (which I'm still learning to like).

I also love their buratta and mozzarella, which I believe comes locally from Everett, Massachusetts.

And to top off the simple Sunday supper? Local greens (my favorite is arugula, which is my default), paired with whatever cheese I fancy that day. Here, I've purchased some lovely halloumi, another one of my favorite cheeses (and one that tastes fantastic grilled!).

Wait, what about the meat?
Of course, how could I forget?

I loved the normal jamon iberico. It's got a deep and complex richness that can only come from quality pork that's been aged for quite a while. There's just a bit of fat on the edge to round out the meatiness.

The Bellota is really, really fatty. It's sort of like eating a blend of cured meat and pure lardon (just the fat). The fat, of course, is extremely flavorful. And remember, it's mostly monounsaturated fat, so if you're going to eat animal fat, this is about as healthy as it gets.

For me, however, it was too much. I don't love munching on pure fat, and I couldn't get over that gag reflex that I usually get when eating really fatty pieces of meat (e.g. on steaks or certain Chinese dishes). It was worth trying, but at least for me, I'll gladly pay half the price and enjoy the (still) wonderfully deep and rich flavors from the normal jamon iberico.

The prosciutto was solid, and we actually used it to make a fun "copy" of a dish we so often enjoy in the North End (will post about that soon!).

If you like a bit of "kick" in your salami, you'll love Soppressata Picante. It seems like every cheesemonger (or whatever you call those people behind the cheese counter at Formaggio), recommends this one when we say we want something spicy. We've tried some of the others, but we almost always go back to this one. It's really good, and has become a standby for us every time on our Sunday supper "salumi" plates.

Anyway, if you love fun, gourmet markets full of stuff you didn't even know you wanted, you have to stop by Formaggio Kitchen. They have an excellent selection of cheese, cured meats, and all sort of other things. My most recent "find" there? truffle salt and incredible dried pasta from Italy - yum. It's definitely one of my favorite places in my new "hood."

October 5, 2012 Back Bay

Uni Sashimi Bar

Just a little over a month ago I celebrated my 11th wedding anniversary.

I guess I never really wrote about our celebratory dinner.

As you can see, I'm just a tad back-logged on my posts. That's what happens when you travel over the summer, I guess. You eat out more when you're on a trip (like every meal), and you have less time to blog.

So the posts (or, more accurately, the photos) pile up.

And then there are the weeks, like this past week, where I was inundated with work (my other job, as a lawyer). I almost never do this, but last week I worked into the wee hours of the morning multiple nights in a row. I was exhausted, severely sleep-deprived, and really unaware of anything else that was going on around me. Thankfully, my mom was in town and cooked me lots of yummy home-cooked Chinese food to sustain me that week.

I'm finally back.

Back to share with you about a really, really great meal I had last month. Perhaps it was because it was our anniversary and I was more relaxed. Or perhaps it was because of the excellent service we got at Uni. Or perhaps (more likely), the food is just exceptional here, and that really makes a difference.

Whatever it was, I really enjoyed our special (yet low-key) omakase ("Chef's Choice tasting menu) dinner at Uni Sashimi Bar.

Right at the beginning of the meal, the server handed us a little snack to curb our hunger - one of my favorites - blanched edamame with sea salt. I love it when a restaurant has food ready for you to nibble on as soon as you enter the restaurant. It's a really nice touch, especially when you're really hungry.

They have a bunch of really cool sounding cocktails. Bryan tried the Flaming Paco, which was described as "illegal Mezcal (smoky tequila) torched lime, and seared hot peppers." I love spicy cocktails, and this fiery cocktail totally hit the spot. I loved the strong, smoky flavors and the crisp lime - it worked together really well. It was so good, in fact, I almost ordered one for myself (even though I hardly ever order cocktails).

Tomato Water Martini
basil oil, jicama tomato squares, tomato Popsicle,

Soon after we ordered, the most intriguing amuse bouche arrived. This "Tomato Water Martini" is served at both Clio and Uni and is one of Ken Oringer's signature dishes. The tomato water is painstakingly made by gravity dripping mashed up tomatoes through a cheesecloth. Drip, drip, drip, drip. The "tomato water" is then mixed with basil oil, tiny tomato and jicama cubes (the knifework is astounding), and finished with a refreshing tomato popsicle on the side.

You have to try it to get it. It's absolutely incredible.

Next, we had the Winter Point Oysters from Mill Cove, Maine, which were served with pickled cherry, house made yuzu kosho, and birch pepper. These oysters were clean, sweet, and balanced. Although I could not really pick out the individual flavor ingredients, I thought overall the entire dish worked very well.
As you may know, I did not really like uni until I tried it in Japan. That is because I tend to find a majority of the uni here in Boston to be a bit "stinky." I was happy to discover that I actually really enjoyed our next course, the Uni Sashimi, at Uni. This uni (sea urchin) is from Santa Barbara and was served with pickled mustard seed, ume (plum) vinegar, and citrus rice.

The uni itself was nice, fresh, and creamy. I loved the touch of citrus, though I did find the mustard to be just a tad bitter.

Next up we tried the Suzuki Ceviche, gorgeous slices of striped bass from Rhode Island were served with Sudachi lime, thin slivers of golden beets and coconut green curry. I thought the presentation was whimsical and cute. The beet slivers were clearly made to look like ginger, and the coconut cream resembled wasabi dollops.

This course was also excellent. The overall dish had a lovely clean flavor from the citrus and the cilantro flavors that permeated the dish. The fish was just slightly "cooked", as ceviche should be.

I absolutely loved the next dish, Hirame, which consisted of fluke from Rhode Island topped with preserved lemon, tonburi, roast garlic and crispy potato. The quality of the fish was outstanding - the fish appeared to melt in my mouth and was definitely softer and smoother than most fluke I've had. I loved the crunchy potato strings, and the roasted garlic definitely gave the dish a strong, forward flavor which worked well.

I don't think I have seen Shima Aji, or horse mackerel, much outside of Japan, so I was surprised to see it as part of this tasting menu. Here, the shima aji is dressed with olives, ponzu sauce, and shiso as garnish. Although I've never had cured olives with raw fish before, here the salty olive actually cuts the richness of the stronger fish quite nicely. It surprisingly works.

Next, we had the Amber Jack, which came with a gorgeous slice of uni on top. I felt the uni flavor was almost a bit too strong here, and I longed for some sake to "offset" the strong Uni flavor (which we had ordered, thankfully!).

The next dish, the Branzino, was gorgeous presented and came topped with mini crispy rice, ginger, and "negi" (chopped scallions).

The Tako (octopus) came all the way from Japan and was served with hot sesame oil, yuzu, soy, cilantro, and ginger. I found the cooked octopus to be just a tad tough but acceptable. Bryan really liked the flavors of the dish a lot (he does love cilantro and anything spicy), and it paired really well with the Riesling which offset some of the spice.

For our first hot course, we had Lobster Tempura (from Maine), which was served with a Singaporean black pepper chili sauce. This course surprisingly (or maybe not surprisingly, since it's Singaporean?) delivered a pretty substantial kick. The deep, rich, spicy sauce offset the rich, fried lobster in a balanced way.

We ended the hot courses with a Barbecued Unagi (freshwater eel from Japan), which was served with seasoned rice, sesame and pickled burdock, and a pickled ramp. I found the pickled "ginger" (or that's what I thought) to be really really strong - a bit too strong! However, the unagi was fantastic - perfectly charred, sweet, and crispy. The rice is on the sweet side, but very good.
For our first dessert, we sampled the Sour Cream Ice Cream, which was served with tri-colored raspberries (red, orange, yellow), cookie, lychees, hazelnuts, and a "snow" of sorts (yes, Ken Oringer most definitely dabbles in a bit of molecular gastronomy!). I liked the overall tartness of the dish. It felt sort of like a palate cleanser, yet much more sophisticated.

I don't typically love chocolate desserts (they often bore me a bit), but this Raspberry Chocolate Cremoux, which was served with a smorgasbord of molecular gastronomy products, was actually fantastic. I loved the deep, deep rich flavor of the chocolate and rasperry sphere, which went well with all the other crazy textures and flavors on the plate (e.g., other flavor "blobs", powder, crunchy cookies, and the bright red raspberry sauce. This was served with fragrant jasmine ice cream.

It was really an excellent dessert.

Since we were celebrating a special occasion, Bryan treated himself to a shot of MaCallan 30 (yes, Uni/Clio has a nice selection of various whiskeys, among many other types of drinks). He slowly sat and sipped it, slowly savoring each precious drop.

Cheers!

It was a fabulous 11th low-key anniversary, filled with kayaking along the Charles River, shopping for rain jackets (which I've used a lot since that date!), and just generally hanging around at home. Boston is such a gorgeous place this time of year; I was really thrilled to be able to savor so many parts of this beautiful city we live in.

As for Uni, I would most definitely go back. The menu is pretty vast, and I was surprised how flexible it was. You can spend over a hundred dollars on a fancy omakase, or just mix and match various small to medium sized plates, most of which are under $20. You can even get some of the cheaper items that I thought were only available on the late night menu, such as pork belly buns and fried shishito peppers.

All in all, I was very impressed with the food at Uni. Being a seafood person, I loved how every single course was seafood (yay! No heavy red meats to end the meal). I left the meal feeling satisfied, yet not overly full. It's really my favorite way to end a meal, and a near perfect way to end our 11th anniversary evening.

Uni Sashimi Bar
The Eliot Hotel
370a Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA 02215

The Eliot Hotel is located in one of the classiest neighborhoods in Boston - Back Bay. One of my favorite things to do is to walk along Newbury Street from Back Bay all the way down to Beacon Hill, another quaint part of Boston which is full of old historic buildings, such as Hampshire House, a mansion that houses the original pub from the iconic TV show, Cheers.

October 4, 2012 Seattle

Summer in the Pacific Northwest

Stanley Park, Vancouver

The Pacific Northwest is a gorgeous place to visit in the summer. The rain that they get all throughout the rest of the year produces gorgeous, verdant hills that are absolutely breathtaking.

From a food perspective, they have access to some of the freshest produce around.

Last summer, I had a wonderful opportunity to visit this unique region with Bryan’s family. We spent a few days in Seattle (to attend a wedding), before heading up north to Vancouver and Victoria.

Here’s a sneak peak at some of the food we enjoyed on this trip, some of which overlaps with the Oh Canada series. Stay tuned for more detailed posts on some of these places!

A hip brunch spot near the University of Washington famous for its massive fruit toppings bar for pancakes and waffles.

One of the most famous outdoor markets in America, where they throw fish around.

This Vancouver restaurant’s roasted quail is allegedly so famous, people will fly in from Hong Kong to taste this signature dish.

One of the best restaurants in Victoria Island, North of Vancouver.
Only the second of this world famous Taiwanese dumpling shop to open in the U.S.
Jen being caught "on film" taking pictures of Bryan's food . . . .

October 3, 2012 Canada

"Fake" Ding Tai Fung (Toronto)

This is the fifth post in the Oh Canada series, summarizing some of the great eats I had when visiting various Canadian cities this past year. We're moving from Montreal onto Toronto now! Other posts in this series (Montreal posts) include St. Viateur Bagels, Le Bremner, Schartz's Smoked Meats, and Joe Beef.

I was most definitely totally fooled.

I mean, I'd vaguely heard about this happening. My mom has told me anecdotal stories about my Taiwanese relatives popping into Din Tai Fung in other countries (was it Macau, or maybe some small city in China?), only to be turned off by the clear subpar quality of the food - an obvious knock-off.

But for some reason, I didn't think it would happen in North America, a place where trademarks are typically enforced rather strongly.

I had heard there was a Din Tai Fung in Toronto, so it was actually my idea to get everyone to go there. You know me, trying to hit as many Din Tai Fungs as possible.

It wasn't until after I came back to the US, and after some online research, that I confirmed that I had indeed eaten at a fake Ding Tai Fung.

It's actually a pretty authentic-looking copy. When you enter the restaurant, you see the signature window displaying chefs making the dumplings. This is something you see at every Din Tai Fung, and it affirmed to me even more strongly that this restaurant must be the real thing.

The menu looks the same and the dishes look pretty similar. I didn't even notice that the English name is technically off by one letter. You see, it's confusing because when you pronounce "Din Tai Fung" in Mandarin, the proper phonetic spelling using pinyin (the official method) is actually "Ding Tai Feng." So the spelling with the letter "g" in the title (the way this fake restaurant spells it) actually sounds more correct in Mandarin.

The dishes look identical, and many tasted pretty good.
Pan fried rice cakes with mustard greens, bamboo shoots, and pork were decent - not too gummy and pretty good flavor. The tofu sheets with mustard greens was OK, and I actually quite enjoyed the spicy wontons and I took several helping - there's something about that addictive hot & spicy oil!.

But the dumplings were definitely sub par. They weren't made with quite the same finesse as the real ones. The flavors were OK, but the texture of the skin was not nearly as good. Still, though, it was objectively a decent dumpling, and still better than many dumplings I've had in the US.

Thoughts
I guess it's an interesting question - would you visit a restaurant that you knew was blatantly copying another restaurant (down to the name, trade dress, menu, etc) yet still produced reasonably solid Shanghai-style dim sum?

This Ding Tai Fung has been in Toronto for years, so clearly it's been able to survive in one of the most competitive Chinese restaurant markets in North America. By this point, I'm sure a lot of people know that it's not the real Din Tai Fung, yet they are happy to eat there because it's still a decent imitation and offers them a workable copy of something they wouldn't otherwise get (at all).

It kind of reminds me of all the Pinkberry inspired places ("insert-name"-berry) that started opening in various cities where the real Pinkberry was not available. People still swarmed to these places because they offered something that people couldn't otherwise get in their hometowns. Maybe this is something like that.

I had heard from a friend that this Ding Tai Fung has "gone downhill" in the past few years. Perhaps there was a time when it was really close to the real ones, and maybe no one knew? I don't know the history, but I find it interesting that the real Din Tai Fung hasn't really tried to go after these fake ones. Maybe there are too many? Or is that difference of one letter enough that it doesn't constitute copying? (I would highly doubt that, but who knows!) Or was there some sort of "break up" where before, there was a time when it was "real"?

I find it peculiar that the real Din Tai Fung did not say anything about it until July 2010, when they posted a statement on their website calling the restaurants in Toronto and Macau "imposters."

Nevertheless, most of the guests who were with me that night still enjoyed the food. To this group of out-of-towners (virtually none were local to Toronto), this was still better Chinese food than anything they had in their hometowns. Maybe it's because I've visited too many better Din Tai Fungs that I could quickly tell that it wasn't as good.

However, like I said, it's still reasonably enjoyable. If it had a totally different name and opened in Boston, I'd probably eat there because it competes reasonably favorably with many of Boston's Chinese restaurants. However, the fact that they are blatantly copying sort of puts a bad taste in my mouth, and for that reason alone, I'm not certain I'll return.

Ding Tai Fung
3255 Highway 7 East, Unit 18B
Markham, ON L3R3P9

October 1, 2012 Recipe

Worlds of Flavor: Persian Saffron Rice

One thing I like about having this blog is that it forces me to constantly think about creating new content. Don't continue cooking the same old tried-and-true recipes. Otherwise, I'll have nothing to write about here.

Of course, when times get busy (as they have been lately), it's easy to get lazy and rely upon those tried-and-true favorites. I cannot tell you how many times I've made Baja fish tacos, Taiwanese grilled corn, or the simple roasted beet salad this past summer. One of Bryan's recent favorites that we've made numerous times? Pasta Carbonara.

I must confess I was hoping for an "easy" project when I got an offer from Dailybuzz Food to sample a product from RiceSelect and write a "Worlds of Flavor" blog post about the dinner.

I thought, "rice will be easy! There will be so many different kinds of Chinese things I can make."

The catch? They wouldn't tell us what kind of rice we'd get.

As luck would have it, they sent me brown basmati rice - so very, very, un-Chinese. Completely unfamiliar with this type of rice (I don't think I've ever cooked basmati rice before), I had to do a bit of research.

I finally settled upon trying to make Chelow Ba Polow Paz, or Persian Saffron Rice, an intensely fragrant rice with a gorgeous crispy crust.

Prep: The key ingredients are, of course, basmati rice and saffron. I used brown basmati rice because that's what RiceSelect sent me, but normal white basmati works fine. Ideally, soak the rice in salted water for 1-3 hours, or even overnight!Try to get whole saffron threads, not any sort of ground up powder. You want to finely grind the saffron threads before letting them steep in hot water (clearly something I forgot to do!) for preferably about 30 minutes.

Bring a pot of nicely salted water to a rolling boil, and add the basmati rice. Cook for about 7-10 minutes, or until the rice is al dente but not mushy.

Now we will make the "crust" part (known as tahdig in Persian cooking) separately. Mix about 5-6 tablespoons of the parboiled rice and stir together with a portion of the saffron water, a small individual-sized carton (about ½ cup) of plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt), and optionally 1 egg.

After adding some water and oil (or butter) to the pot, Line the bottom of the pot with the yogurt-mixed rice. Add the rest of the parboiled rice on top (forming sort of a pyramid), and poke some holes to allow the water from below to steam up.

Cook on high heat for 7-10 minutes (you're forming the crust here!).

Then lower the heat to a simmer and cook, covered with a towel-covered lid, for about 30-60 minutes until the rice is done.

The crust may be a bit stuck to the edge, so I got my trusty flexible spatula (seriously, a life saver here!), which did a beautiful job of separating the rice "cake" from the pot.

Carefully flip . . .

And voila! Isn't that a gorgeous crust?

It was very crispy, and had lovely saffron notes. I sort of wished it were a bit more salty, which of course is easily remedied after the fact. I also wonder how this would have tasted had I boiled the rice in chicken stock instead, which is how I usually make my easy saffron rice in a rice cooker (which is actually quite tasty!).

Nevertheless, I couldn't stop eating that addictive crust. It's really fun to crunch on!

Persian Saffron Rice
2 cups basmati rice
1 6-oz individual sized cup of plain yogurt (or about 3-4 tablespoons)
1 egg (optional)
1 teaspoon saffron threads
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or butter
salt

Prep
Soak the rice in ~ 6 cups of water for at least 1 hour, but preferably 3 hours. Grind up saffron threads into a fine powder (you can use a mortar and pestle, or just use your fingers and try to crush it as much as possible). Let the powder steep in about ¼ cup hot water for at least 30 minutes.

Cook
Parboil the rice for about 10 minutes, drain water and set aside. Take about 5-6 tablespoons of the parboiled rice and mix it with the yogurt, egg, and half of the saffron water.

Using a heavy pot (I used my Le Creuset cast iron Dutch oven), dd enough water just to coat the bottom of the pot. Add about an equal amount of vegetable oil. Line the bottom of the pot with the yogurt mixed rice. Without disturbing anything, pile the rest of the cooked rice on top. Using the back of a wooden spoon, poke several holes into the rice pile in order to allow water to steam through.

Cover and heat on high for 5-8 minutes. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook for about an hour (or until the rice is done) with the cover of the pot wrapped in a towel.

When finished, add remaining saffron water to the pot, cover, and let cool for 10 minutes. Use a flexible spatula to try to loosen the crust from the pot. Flip around onto a plate, and serve!

Enjoy!

This post is brought to you by Rice Select.

September 30, 2012 Asian

Gene's Chinese Flatbread Cafe

Why, oh why does this amazing little find of a restaurant have to be so far away from where I live?

Remember how I've been hunting for hand-pulled noodles since like, forever? How, after not being able to find any in Boston, I set out to learn how to make them, culminating in this crazy video that I made for Project Food Blog Round 7? And how I even went to Beijing and tried to learn the art of noodle pulling from a real master?

It's been a tough decade since Noodle Alcove closed.

But the days of waiting are now over . . . sort of.

This past November, a tiny little hole-in-the-wall Chinese "cafe" quietly opened up in Chelmsford, a suburb about 45-minutes outside of Boston. Gene Wu, the proprietor of this humble place, cranks out some insanely incredible hand-pulled noodles, along with several other authentic and very tasty dishes from the region of Xi'an, most famous for its terra cotta warriors.

This place is far, far away from Boston. Expect to drive at least 40-60 minutes, depending on traffic. Furthermore, it's really sort of located in this random spot that's easy to miss. The space sort of looks like a gas station or convenient store.

Clearly, they do a lot of take-out business, as their phone number is plastered all over the place.

Inside, the menu is refreshingly easy. All the dishes are pictured behind the counter and labeled by number in bright red text. The photos make it easy to know what you're getting, which is extremely helpful considering that less people are familiar with Xi'an style food.

You order up at the counter, pay cash, and then wait for your name to be called.

We started with these lamb skewers (I think they were only about $1.50 each), which were fantastic. They were really flavorful, with a complex blend of spices that I can't even begin to list out, but which definitely had some heat.

We got a few flatbread sandwiches (one pork, one beef - $4), which were OK but not great. The flatbread itself was a bit dense and dry, which the flavorful filling did not quite compensate.

The lamb stew (羊肉泡沫 yang rou pao muo) is a classic Xi'an style dish. Traditionally, the server brings out the dense bread for the diner to break up into small pieces.

According to Mrs. Wu, Gene's wife (who worked front of the counter and also served us our food), breaking bread is a very social affair in Xi'an. People will sit together at the table and slowly break up the break into tiny, tiny pieces while chatting. It's time consuming, but sort of fun because you're also socializing.

When I initially broke up the bread (see pic above), Mrs. Wu told me that my pieces were too big.

"The smaller the pieces, the better it absorbs the soup, which makes for a much more flavorful dish overall."

She handed it back to us and told us to keep on shredding. When the pieces are finally of sufficient acceptable size (about 1 cm squares!), the server takes the bread back and moments later, brings you this amazing soup.

This lamb stew consists of slices of lamb, various mushrooms (e.g., woodear), vermicelli, and a really flavorful broth.

It was warm and hearty, yet not at all greasy. I really felt healthy eating this, like I was being nourished. I really, really enjoyed this soup, and could totally see myself craving this on a cold winter night.

But wait, what about the hand-pulled noodles?

These noodles, called "Biang Biang Mian", are so named because the hand-pulling action make this "bang bang" sound when you slap the noodle dough against the table.

These were awesome. The texture was far better than any noodle in Boston - period. It was thick, chewy, and had that perfect "QQ" bite to it. Tossed with tons of garlic, chili powder, cilantro, and scallions, it is absolutely loaded with flavor, and really quite addictive, might I add.

Oh it's so hard to pick a favorite, because I loved the Xi'an Chilled Noodles ("Liang pi") as well, which are only available on weekends. These noodles are lighter yet also have a really neat, chewy texture that's also quite addictive. The chili oil in which they are tossed is garlicky, spicy, and vinegary. It was refreshing and would be perfect on a hot summer day.

This place is a true gem and I'm so so sad that it's so far away. I'm a little jealous of Bryan, actually, whose office is only 4 miles away from this place. Grrrr - he could eat here for lunch once a week if he wanted!

I had a chance to chat with Gene himself (in pure Mandarin!), who is a really, really friendly guy. He told me he had originally wanted to open up his restaurant in Boston, but alas he couldn't find the right space. So when this space opened up in Chelmsford, he was so anxious to open something by that point, he just took it.

I asked him if he would consider opening up a place in Boston.

He looked at his daughter (a little girl around five years old) and said, "maybe when she goes to college I can move."

That kind of broke my heart right there.

But it's OK, really. I shouldn't be so demanding. Seriously, I'm thrilled that I can drive less than an hour and access some pretty incredible Chinese food. This really has become one of my new favorite Chinese restaurants in the Boston area. The food is excellent, the prices are dirt cheap (the most expensive item is $6.50), and the owners are really, really cool people.

We ended up going back up and ordering second helpings of our favorite dishes - both the Biang Biang Noodles and the Xi'an Cold Noodles!

I guess 13 years is a long time to wait for this place to come to Boston. For now, I'm at Bryan's mercy on whether he chooses to drive there after work to pick up noodles for me.

If you have a car and enjoy trying out new, unusual, and interesting Chinese food, definitely check this place out. There's definitely nothing in Boston quite like it, and I think we are so fortunate to finally have hand pulled noodles in (greater) Boston, once again.

Update: the restaurant moved to Woburn
466 Main St, Woburn, MA 01801
(781) 938-6888

Second location in Boston open Monday - Saturday
86 Bedford St
Boston, MA 02111
(617) 482-1888

September 28, 2012 Europe

L'Autre Pied

We're not done with Canada yet, although we have concluded all four posts for Montreal. We'll take a brief break from Canada today as we whisk over to London briefly before returning to Toronto and Vancouver next week!

Whenever I'm in London, I find myself passing through Paddington Tube station a lot.

Why?

Many reasons, actually. First, the Heathrow Express runs straight into Paddington from the airport in a zippy 15 minutes. It is undoubtedly the fastest, most traffic-free, and most convenient way to get into the city.

Second, I go to London mostly for business, and my company is actually closer to Oxford. Again, the train that runs to Oxford leaves from Paddington Station. So I find myself near Paddington a lot.

Invariably, the question comes up about where to eat near Paddington. Is there good food in that area?

The last time I was in London, British colleagues of mine took me to a fantastic little French restaurant right in Marylebone, an area that's only about a 10-15 walk away from Paddington Station.The food at this one-Michelin star French restaurant was fantastic, and I was actually quite surprised at how reasonable the prices were.

L'autre Pied is the little sister restaurant to Pied a Terre, the fancier, upscale French restaurant. This (literally) "other Pied" serves excellent food at a fraction of the price of its two-Michelin older sister. We ordered the 9-course tasting, which only cost 49 pounds (about $78). This is even cheaper than the 7-course tasting for $85 at Luce, which Bryan already thought was a reasonably good deal.

We began with a creative and cute amuse: Beetroot cup with lemon mousse. The lemon mousse most definitely was blended with something that had a strong liver essence. Not being a huge fan of liver, I did not love the amuse, though I could see a foie gras lover thinking it was pretty good.

The next course, Avocado Cucumber Cream, was light and airy, and came topped with miniature olive sprinkles and micro chopped herbs.

English Asparagus, Grapted Belper Knolle, Mizuna Cream, Lemon Puree, and Crispy Shallots

This next dish totally shouted spring! (it was April, after all). Shaved English asparagus and grated Belper Knolle (a firm, unpasteurized cheese) were served with mizuna cream, lemon puree, and crispy shallots. I loved the intense shots of flavor that came from the various "creams" and "purees", which came as fun spherified balls on the plate.

Roasted Scallop and Tartare, Black Quinoa, Fennel adn Ginger Jelly, Red Pepper and Kaffir Lime

We soon noticed that the chef really liked to present his sauces in many different forms. The next dish, Roasted Scallop and Tartare, came with black quinoa and "sauces" such as fennel & ginger jelly and red pepper & Kaffir lime "dollops." Everything was executed exquisitely.

Squid "Linguini", Gremolata, Smoked Anchovies, Pine Nuts, Semi Dried Grapes

Next came Squid "Linguini", which was served with gremolata, smoked anchovies, pine nuts, and semi dried grapes.

Pan Fried Cod, Broccoli Puree, Pickled Cauliflower, Ruby Grapfruit, Brioche and Black Onion Seeds

The fish course was a Pan Fried Cod, which came with broccoli puree, pickled cauliflower, ruby grapfruit, brioche and black onion seeds. Again, note the creative presentation of the purees and sauces.

Loin of Roe Deer, Baked Crapaudine Beetroot, Smoked Bacon Puree, Tapioca and Walnuts

For the final meat course, Loin of Roe Deer (venison) was served with baked crapaudine beetroot, smoked bacon puree (another pink dollop!), and tapioca and walnuts cooked in Cabernet (hence the deep red color). The venison was cooked a perfect medium rare, though the baked beetroot was a bit bland in flavor and definitely not a favorite at the table.

We enjoyed a lovely selection of French and British Cheese.

These came with thin, airy crackers (which I loved) and a bit of honey or jam.

Our "pre-dessert" was a great palate cleanser, consisting mainly of fruit.

Baked Vanilla Cheesecake, Caramelised Banana, Passion Fruit Mousse

Our final course was a Baked Vanilla Cheesecake, which came topped with gorgeously caramelized banana slices and passion fruit mousse. Everyone raved about this dessert.

Thoughts

I came out of this restaurant thinking that I would definitely consider coming back. I really enjoyed how the meal focused on generally lighter fare (venison and fish versus pork and beef, for example). I thought some of the courses, such as the asparagus course or the scallop course, were absolutely phenomenal. Other courses, even if they weren't "wow" dishes, were still solid. I even looked back at it fondly after our Michelin experience in Rome, which, although good, was just a tad "lower" than this one in terms of creativity and execution.

Considering how weak the dollar is right now, this is a surprisingly good one-star Michelin "deal" (if there is such a thing!). Perfect if you're passing through Paddington Station and want to enjoy a very good meal in London.

L'autre Pied

5 Blandford St
Marylebone, UK W1U 8

Here's a message from one of our sponsors. Looking for last minute travel? Interested in good deals for travel in the UK? Check out Thomson for some great last minute UK travel deals.

September 26, 2012 Canada

Joe Beef

This is the fourth post in the Oh Canada series, summarizing some of the great eats I had when visiting various Canadian cities this past year. Other posts in this series include St. Viateur Bagels, Le Bremner, and Schartz's Smoked Meats.

I hate dining alone.

Some people love it. Bryan travels a lot for work and is perfectly content relaxing at a restaurant, reading his iPad, and enjoying a nice meal.

I hate it. When I'm at home in Boston, I would rather scour the fridge and eat scraps of random stuff that I can dig up than go out alone. I get so bored sitting there, staring into space. Sometimes I'll whip out my phone and read emails. But at the end of the day, I would much rather relax at home.

So just a couple weeks ago, I had to go to Montreal for business. Thankfully, the first night some colleagues took me out and I had a lovely dinner at Le Bremner. The second night, however, I was on my own.

I soon decided that the uber famous French restaurant, Toque, felt too formal for a gal dining by herself.

The other famous place, Pied au Cochon, seemed like it had great food, but such huge portions that I (again) really wouldn't be able to enjoy anything if I went there by myself.

So instead, I reserved a table for one at Joe Beef, which turned out to be perfect.

View from Jen's seat at the bar

Joe Beef has a really nice bar where solo diners like me can enjoy a lovely dinner while watching oysters being shuck. It was great - I sat between other solo diners. We ended up chatting quite a bit and I learned a bit more about Montreal (from the local guy on my right) as well as about lots of other food related stuff (from the food industry woman on my left).

It turned out to be a really, really fun evening.

But back to the restaurant, who is Joe Beef?
"Joe Beef" was the nickname for Charles McKiernan, a 19th century tavern owner and philanthropist from Montreal whose tavern, "Joe Beef Tavern" refused service to no one. His tavern welcomed people are all races, all classes, etc. and became a social hub for the working class in Montreal.

This man's name was the inspiration behind the newish restaurant in Petit-Bourgogne (Little Burgundy) neighborhood of Montreal called "Joe Beef," which opened in 2006.

Joe Beef has become known in the U.S. largely because Anthony Bourdain visited it on his show. The Joe Beef guys just published a cookbook this year, and they're hot right now. The place is super busy, lines go out the door, and it's quite difficult to get a reservation.

It's hard to describe the food at Joe Beef (it's definitely not just beef!). The menu changes constantly and is written on blackboard throughout the restaurant. The emphasis is on fresh, local ingredients. There's quite a bit of interesting game as well as lots of foie gras.

Most of the vegetables served at the restaurant come from their own garden (at least in August this was true). I had a lovely, simple mixed greens salad that included their own baby kale, bibb lettuce, and a bunch of other greens I can't even name. It was tossed in a lovely smoked vinaigrette and topped with smoked cheddar, pumpkin seeds, and some beauiful red, edible flowers.

One of their signature dishes is a "double-down foie gras," a breaded and deep fried piece of foie gras (not unlike KFC coating) in a sandwich with homemade bacon, smoked cheddar, and mayonnaise. It's crazy decadent, but, according to the girl sitting next to me, "very delicious, though I feel like I might fall sleep right now after eating that."

Don't come here if you're trying to watch your cholesterol. There's plenty of foie gras all over the menu. They serve this particular version which is mixed with marrow and other good stuff, and then stuffed back into the bone. It's sort of a "bone-in" foie gras. There are various liver terrines. They have a lobster foie gras pasta and a seafood stew that are staple menu items.

I tried spicy and flavorful Stuffed Squid. I could not identify all the components, but there was definitely corn in the stuffing, as well as something that was bready which held it all together. The sauce was bright, bold, and piquant. It definitely had some Spanish or Latin American influences. The squid was tender, and the accompanying shrimp was very juicy and flavorful.

Filet Mignon de Cheval (horse)

It's not unusual to see various types of game on the menu. The day I was there, the chalkboafd menu included quail, rabbit, and even horse (which is illegal to slaughter in the US). The guy next to me ordered a "cheval" (horse) filet mignon (which came with a poached egg on top) and was surprised at how juicy and tender it was.
Desserts were fun. I tried something more unusual - a Corn Financier. The financier (which tasted like a dense, sweet cornbread), was served on a smoked husk and topped with real corn. It sat in a flavorful creamy sauce surrounded by fresh and intensely flavorful raspberries and blueberries. The combination worked surprisingly well.

The place was the packed the whole time I was there. By the time I tried to leave, I saw a line that literally went out the door. There must have been at least 10 people waiting in line.

The food is quite good here. I really wished Bryan could have been there because I could have given you such a better sense of the food here. Bryan loves foie gras, bone marrow, and all the sorts of things that Joe Beef does really really well. Alas, I just couldn't eat all that by myself. I will confirm that their lighter options are still excellent. I an also attest that the woman who sat left of me at the bar loved her foie gras double down, and the guy sitting right of me could not stop raving about how good the horse filet mignon was.

Though I wouldn't come here on a regular basis (my arteries would cry uncle), I definitely think it's a destination-worthy restaurant if you're visiting Montreal. They make a lot of unique dishes here. Even if you're not into the unusual foie gras, game meat, or bone-marrow related dishes, you can still try all sorts of other really well-executed dishes.

Seriously, it seems like everything here is really, really good.

Joe Beef
2491 Rue Notre Dame Ouest
Montréal, QC H3J1N5

September 25, 2012 Canada

Schwartz's Smoked Meats

This is the third post in the Oh Canada series, summarizing some of the great eats I had when visiting various Canadian cities this past year. Other posts in this series include St. Viateur Bagels and Le Bremner.

Who would have thought that one of the most famous places in Montreal - a "must-visit" that was recommended to me by numerous people - would be a Jewish deli?

Although the French influence is definitely the first thing you notice when you enter this city (they do speak French after all, and the place is filled with boulangeries, boucheries, and cafes), you soon begin to realize that there's quite a strong Jewish presence here as well.

Montreal is very well known for its freshly made bagels, which resemble New York bagel s but are smaller and sweeter (check out the full post here). I soon learned, Montreal is also very well known for smoked meats, especially at this one historic Jewish deli which has been here since 1928, serving up some of the best smoked meat I've ever had.

Schwartz's is no secret to tourists. Just during our visit alone we heard several different languages being spoken in the dining hall. In fact, I ended up sitting next to some Americans from Florida.

Definitely show up early if you don't want to wait in a long line. Above is what the front of the restaurant looked like when I arrived at 11:45AM.

By the time I left (only about 45 minutes later), it looked like this.

Yep - arrive early. It's worth it!

Although the menu offers all sorts of different meats and sandwiches, you should just order their one signature item - basically anything made with their homemade smoked meat. Everything else that they sell (e.g., the sausage, chicken, etc.) is made by others - in other words, outsourced.

The classic thing to get (and what most people ordered), is the simple smoked meat sandwich ($5.95). White bread simply slathered with mustard and piled high with the gorgeously flavorful smoked meat, you really can't go wrong.

You have only one choice to make: lean, medium, or fatty?

We asked the server which one was the best. He said if it was our first time, he would recommend the medium. However, the "fat" one was definitely more juicy. For fun, we ordered one of each: one "medium" and one "fat".

Above is a cross section of the two types: on top is the medium; on the bottom is the fat. You can definitely see a few chunks of fat in the "fat" one on the bottom.

We definitely both liked the "fat" one more. It's definitely more juicy and still very, very flavorful. Of course, the medium one is delicious as well. It definitely tastes like a pastrami sandwich, though I find their meat to be less salty (which I like) and still deeply flavorful.

We ordered a simple pickle as a side, whose crisp acidity worked great to cut the fat of the sandwich.

The guys next to us ordered fries. I can't imagine wanting to eat fries to complement the rich sandwich (which is why I ordered the pickle), but I guess it's nice that they offer it.

You can order various sizes of the meat as "take-away" at the store next door. They sell everything from an entire side of meat ($70-100, sold by weight), to just a few slices sufficient for a sandwich. I wasn't sure what the policy was for bringing meat across the border, so I did not buy any meat to take home (sad!).

If you don't feel like waiting in such a long line for a sit-down meal, you can also order takeout sandwiches at their shop next door (which may still have a line, but it moves faster).

I had a great time sitting in this old school Jewish deli. The service is friendly but fast paced. The decor is simple and the prices are cheap. The smoked meat is incredible and probably amongst the best I've ever had (though some say it's equivalent to the sandwiches in New York). I can't say because I've never been to Katz or Carnegie Deli.

If you have time, I'd recommend trying to eat in. However, even if you don't, definitely at least try to take-out one of the sandwiches. They are really, really good.

Schwartz's
3895 Boulevard
St-Laurent Montreal
QC H2W1L2

September 25, 2012 Canada

Le Bremner

This is the second post in the Oh Canada series, summarizing some of the great eats I had when visiting various Canadian cities this past year. Other posts in this series include St. Viateur Bagels.

Chuck Hughes is Canada's darling when it comes to food TV. He was one of only two Canadians ever to win Iron Chef America on TV, beating Bobby Flay. He currently has a show called "Chuck's Day Off".

Le Bremner is Chef Hughes' second restaurant. Located hidden almost beneath street level with the inconspicuous words "restaurant", we almost missed it. In fact, the cab driver had to recheck the address again before we confirmed that, yes, indeed this little red sign was our destination.

Although his first restaurant Garde-Manger is more popular and harder to secure, more than one food enthusiast has remarked that Le Bremner actually is better and it's where Chuck hangs out more, often working the line.

Le Bremner is dark inside, with almost a taverny feel. There's a definitely loud energy to the dining room, complete with a funky blend of "oldies" ranging from Cheap Trick to Bryan Adams (well, I guess he is Canadian).

All their sodas are made in house, such as their root beer, lemon soda, cola, and tonic water. The special drinks offered that day sounded fabulous, but I decided to go with the simple gin & tonic.
It was good, although a bit too sweet for my tastes. I still preferred Jaleo's versions of gin & tonic.

The menu definitely focuses on seafood (yay!) and is divided up into seven sections: Chilled Items, From the Outside, Bread & Cheese, From the Stovetop, From the Broiler, Vegetables, and Dessert.
Many of the dishes are designed to be shared, sort of like tapas. Because there were three of us, we were able to order a nice, wide variety of dishes to share, which made it really fun.
Scallops on the half shell ($6) were served with a pickled celery vinaigrette and lemon, though the server actually suggested skipping the mignonette and just eating it straight up with lemon. These were pretty good, though not the best I've ever had (not quite as good as the incredible raw scallops in the sushi world). Still perfectly enjoyable, of course.

Raw Scallops Tartare (one of the specials of the day) was fresh, flavorful, and delicious.

Spicy Raw Salmon ($18) sounds simple enough, but it's actually salmon that has been cured in beet juice so it looks like tuna. It's topped with a dill mayonnaise, capers, and crispy tempura flakes. Lovely flavors, even though it was weird to eat something that tasted like salmon but looked like tuna.

Kimchee Snow Crab with Crispy Rice Cake ($22) definitely had the strong, bold flavors of kimchee. I personally felt that the kimchee overpowered the delicate sweetness of the snow crab. Nevertheless, the dish did have an interesting textural interplay between the crispy rice cake base, soft tender crab, and mushy, fibrous kimchee.

This creamy seafood dip (I can't for the life of me remember if it was raw fish or scallops!) was fresh and creamy with subtle flavors from various herbs and spices. The salty umami of the pork cracklings added just the right amount of zing and crunch to really completed the entire flavor and texture profile. I enjoyed this one a lot and definitely came back for second helpings.

Lobster Toast au Gratin was under their "foccacia" section, though I really had a hard time distinguishing this from a good old pizza. It was nice enough, with a buttery crust and flavorful, bold toppings. However, it was a bit underwhelming for me since it really just seemed like a nice, fancy pizza. They did crack a poached (or sous vide?) egg on top, which was quite lovely.

Hake and Clams ($25) was beautifully flavorful - what a good idea to combine clams with any fish, really. The pieces of hake were cut up and almost stuffed inside the clams. Although the clams were a bit rubbery, the dish had a lovely, very flavorful seafood broth that was fantastic. I loved the bits of Brussels sprouts on the side as well - one of my favorite dishes.

Cornbread With Broiled Garlic Shrimp ($20) was nice and savory, an inspired twist on shrimp and grits. The cornbread is pan seared in butter (oh my) and then topped with a fragrant sauce (made with seafood stock, herbs, celery) as well as microgreens. The flavor combinations definitely reminded me of shrimp & grits, but probably much healthier!

The Beignets came with three filling choices, of which I can only remember two: chocolate and raspberry. These were fine, but nothing particularly special.

The Blueberry Lemon Tart had wonderfully juicy blueberries (and generous amounts of it, might I add), which worked great with the tart.
My favorite? The Pancakes were incredible! - soft, fluffy, buttery, reasonably yeasty (or was it baking soda?) and nicely salty. It was addictive with the sucre and melted butter on top. Even though I was full, I took several helpings of this one. It was fabulous and most definitely my favorite dessert.

I had a fabulous time at this little restaurant. The food is excellent, though definitely a bit expensive for the portion size. We ordered the equivalent of 3-4 courses a person, and we essentially ate everything. Both appetizers and main entrees hover in the $20ish range, so it can add up pretty quickly,

The ambiance is dark, pretty casual, and very comfortable. The service was great. The server spoke fluent French and English (almost everyone in Montreal does), and she offered a lot of great advice about the food.

Though we did not take advantage of it, the restaurant has an amazing "terrace" where you can eat outside.

Afterwards, if your feet are up to it, walk down the cobbly roads through old Montreal back to downtown. It's a lovely walk (if the weather is cooperating), and you really get a great tour of old Montreal.

Of course, I paid for it with a horrible blister (yes, I was wearing heels), but I don't regret it one bit.

Le Bremner
Old Montreal
361 St. Paul
East Montreal,
QC H2Y1H2

September 23, 2012 Canada

St. Viateur Bagels

This is the first post in the Oh Canada series, summarizing some of the great eats I had when visiting various Canadian cities this past year

There's truly something irresistible about a fresh, piping hot bagel.

When my Canadian-Boston transplant friend found out I was going to Montreal, the first thing she requested was that I bring back some sesame bagels. For her, the memories from college (when she was at McGill) were priceless.

"It's super fun to go in the middle of the night and grab a fresh piping hot bagel as it rolls down the wooden chute."

"sooooo good."

Yes, exact words from her email. She really wanted these bagels.

What could I do? I had to make the special trip.

In Montreal, you typically hear about two bagel places: St. Viateur and Fairmont. The two are only a few blocks from each other (one on St. Viateur Street, the other on Fairmont Street), so you could really visit both if you wanted. I had a tight schedule (a flight to catch!), so I could only choose one.

I hailed a cab and told the driver my plans. I only had about 15 minutes to head to a bagel place before I had to rush over to Schwartz's to beat the lines.

The driver assured me that St. Viateur was the better place. He thought the bagels were different at the two places, and he much preferred St. Viateur.

"Everybody who is visiting Montreal always wants to go to St. Viateur. Trust me, that's where you want to go."

I guess I decided to trust him. He seemed to be telling the truth. In fact, he even stopped and picked up some bagels himself when he took me there.

St. Viateur is open 24 hours, 7 days a week. You can really stop by at any time and "grab a fresh piping hot bagel as it rolls down the wooden chute."

It was quite clear that sesame was the most popular flavor. They were making HUGE batches of sesame bagels compared to all the rest. It just so happens that sesame bagels are amongst my favorite as well, so I ended up ordering eighteen (!) sesame bagels, and 6 others (assorted flavors).

It's also fun to visit St. Viateur because you get to watch all the bagel making action.

Check out that huge slab of dough, ready to be cut into bagel sized strips.

Montreal bagels are a little smaller than American bagels. The hole is bigger and the overall bagel is "thinner."

It's really cool to see the rows of bagels going into the huge wood-fired oven.

Though there's no way you can eat them all, I would highly recommend eating one bagel fresh on the spot. They are definitely hot when you get them, and that's by far the best time to enjoy them. The exterior is crispy (I love how the sesame seeds toast a bit and become super fragrant), and the inside is just a hair sweet and chewy.

Soooo good.

Once you take them home, try to freeze them as soon as possible. According to my Canadian friend (who apparently has some experience doing this), if you freeze it the day you buy it, it tastes almost as good as fresh when you re-toast it.

If you have a vacuum sealer, you can vacuum seal them, which will keep them from drying out. Any remaining bagels that you don't finish within a day or two can be sliced up, toasted, and made into fantastic bagel chips.

I ended up liking all the other flavors I bought as well. The 9-grain and flaxseed were both nutty, fragrant, and sweet. I had really wanted the "All-dressed" (everything), but it was still baking in the oven when I arrived. Because I was short on time, I had to forego it this time around.

Are they as good as New York bagels?
Oooh, hard to say - they are different, and I think it's a matter of preference. Any fresh bagel out of the oven beats a non-fresh one, so in that sense they are both fantastic. If I had to compare them, I would say that Montreal bagels are smaller, less dense, and are just a tad sweet (which I like). Both are delicious, especially if eaten fresh. Gosh, I really can't choose between them.

In any event, all I'm saying is that St. Viateur is most definitely worth a visit.

St. Viateur
158 St-Viateur
West Montreal, QC
H2T2L4

September 22, 2012 Canada

Oh Canada

Our neighbors up north are hiding a lot of awesome things up there. This past year, after a decade-long hiatus, I finally had a chance to visit various parts of Canada and explore some of the amazing things it has to offer.

I'm no stranger to Canada. In fact, I grew up an hour outside of Windsor, Ontario. My family used to drive there all the time to eat dim sum and get Chinese groceries. It was one of those day trips I always looked forward to . . .

Ever since moving to Boston, however, those visits have diminished to nearly zero. My last visit was the Jazz Festival in Montreal during the summer of 2000. Yes, its' been that long. It wasn't until this past year, for a number of very different reasons (wedding, funeral, work), that I ended up hitting three major Canadian cities in one year.

As always, can you guess where I went?

Pop in anytime to get hot, freshly baked bagels which are made 24-hours a day.

Stand in a long line to get a taste of one of Montreal's most famous bites - the smoked meat sandwich - so, so incredibly good.

Just look at the chalkboard for the daily menu. On any given night, this Anthony Bourdain-blessed (and thus now internationally famous) restaurant may offer you bone marrow stuffed with fois gras, horse filet mignon, hand picked greens from their greenhouse, or the crazy "double down" deep fried fois gras sandwich.

One of only two Canadian chefs ever to ever win Iron Chef America, this Food Network star pushes the edge on creative interpretations of seafood small plates with his second restaurant in Montreal.

And just a tiny small peek into Toronto . . .

A simple Chinese chain serves up solid, fantastic Chinese dim sum dishes and congee. *Sigh* - Why can't we have such Chinese chains here??

How do the xiao long baos taste at the "knock-off" Din Tai Fung?

What can I say? Chinese food in Toronto is just pretty freaking awesome.

And Vancouver . .

World famous roasted squab that people supposedly fly all the way from Hong Kong to eat.

* * * *

I may intersperse the Canada posts with some other trips I've taken, but definitely be on the lookout for full posts about the restaurants described above in the next couple weeks!

September 19, 2012 Restaurant

Rasika West End

This is the seventh and final post in the new series about my recent trip to Washington DC right on Julia Child's 100th birthday (Series overview: Happy Birthday Julia Child): Other posts in this series include Wolfgang Puck's The Source, Ben's Chili Bowl - an Inside Perspective, Exploring Little Ethiopia, Jaleo, The Federalist, and Peregrine Espresso. I hope you enjoyed the series!

I hardly ever eat Indian.

It's the one cuisine that Bryan refuses to eat. Even though he's not the biggest fan of Korean or Southeast Asian food (ever notice the death of posts for those types of restaurants on this blog?), at least he willing to occasionally try those two cuisines.

But Indian? Forget it. He tried it once in college, absolutely could not stand it, and has refused to set foot inside an Indian restaurant ever since.

So if I want Indian, I basically have to fend for myself.

Of course, this also means that my knowledge of Indian food is woefully elementary. I hardly am aware of the "basic" Indian dishes, (e.g., tikki malasa, samosas, and saag paneer), let alone some of the more exotic stuff.

Which is why I was all the more excited when I found out that we would be visiting one of the hottest Indian restaurants in Washington D.C.

Palak Chaat Crispy baby spinach / sweet yogurt / tamarind / date chutney

Rasika West End just opened in March of 2012. It's the sister restaurant of Rasika, Ashok Bajaj's wildly successful and very popular first Indian restaurant, which he opened in 2005. Bajaj has been nominated three times for the James Beard Award for "Best Restauranteur" due to the incredible success of Rasika, which focuses on modern upscale Indian cuisine.

Reservations are always hard to get at Rasika, so Rasika West End is a great alternative. Although the meus are not exactly the same, there is some overlap of the most popular dishes, such as their signature dish Palak Chaat, shown above, which, by the way, is absolutely incredible.

This dish is like no Indian dish I'd ever had before and I loved it. Baby spinach is coated in chick pea flour and flash fried into crispy, delicate leaves, which are served tossed with yogurt, tamarind sauce, and date chutney. The mix of flavors is vivid and intense. I would come back just to order this one dish.

Cauliflower Bezule Mustard seeds / curry leaves / green chilies / lemon juice

A portion of the menu is different from the original Rasika menu. This menu offers a lot more vegetarian options plus a brand new section called "Nosh Farmana" (translation: to eat or to drink) which includes dishes such as the Cauliflower Bezule shown above. Furthermore, the new, trendy modern decor (from James Beard winner restaurant designer Martin Vahtra), is a great place to relax with a cocktail (of which they have many) or a wine from their international wine list.

Fish Chutneywala Sea bass / cilantro / mint / coconut

Having only tried Indian food a handful of times (mostly at cheap Indian buffets around Boston), I was floored by the variety of flavors and textures available here. One of my favorites was the Fish Chutneywala, which I really thought even Bryan would enjoy. Sea bass is cooked inside of a huge leaf and slathered with a rich pesto full of cilantro (Bryan's favorite) and mint. It really reminded me of the cilantro dipping salsa that comes with the bread at The Helmand in Boston (which Bryan really likes).

I wish I knew more about Indian food so I could talk more in detail about these dishes. Unfortunately, this was my first time ever sampling a lot of these flavors. In general, I loved the restaurant. Virtually all of the dishes were multi-dimensional and full of complex (and very good!) flavors. For me, most of it was quite foreign, and therefore delightfully surprising and totally fun.

Because I'm less familiar with Indian food in general, I had a harder time keeping track of the names of all these dishes, for forgive me if I don't label everything correctly. I think I'm reasonably accurate, but I'm much less "sure" about this set compared to if all these dishes were Chinese!

Paneer of some sort?
Malai Fish Curry was made with halibut in a creamy and fragrant sauce made of coconut milk, onions, bay leaf, and lots of curry.
The Mixed Grill was a great way to sample three of their meat entrees, such as the Kali Mirch Salmon, Scottish salmon with pink & black pepper and green pea chutney; Coorgi Murgh Tikka, chicken flavored with balsamic vinegar, black pepper, and cumin; and Seekh Kebab, minced meat mixed with spices.
I cannot for the life of me remember what this was - maybe sweet potato? Or carrots?

Sweet Potato and Sago Tikki was flavored with cumin, green chilies, curry leaves, and served with pineapple chutney.

The Roti Pe Boti with grilled lamb, onion, tomato and tawa paratha (a soft tandoori bread) was one of my favorites. It totally reminded me of the Singaporean version of this dish, which I always order.

Here are both types of bread - Naan (Indian flat bread) on the bottom and Mint Paratha (the soft layered bread) on top. These were both fantastic!

A lovely plate full of a little bit of each one of the dishes on the table!

Desserts
Although the meal was fantastic, we thought that the desserts were only OK. I did appreciate the fun use of certain types of "modern" food techniques (such as spherification) to achieve some of the unusual textures in a subset of the desserts.

However, by-and-large, I still stand by my original opinion about Indian desserts: I just don't like them that much. I think it's largely personal preference. In general I dislike cardamon, cloves, and similar flavors. I'm also not a huge fan of rose water.

In spite of all that, the desserts were beautifully plated and hit that spot (you know, that sweet craving you get at the end of a meal?).

Coconut and Lemongrass Panna Cotta
Cardamom ice cream with honey soaked cake
Rice Kheer - saffron and green cardamon
Mango and Jasmine Sorbet
Rose Compote Ice Cream

Overall Thoughts
Like I mentioned earlier, this restaurant had really good food. Washington Post gave it 4 stars, the highest score you can get. Definitely try their signature Palak Chaat, which is pretty incredible. Seriously, though, you can't go wrong with the rest of the menu. Try an assortment of different little dishes with friends, and get lots of naan. It's the most fun way to eat, and you get to try more dishes that way.

Personally, I think it's fine to skip dessert and just save more stomach space for the awesome food. However, if you really have a sweet tooth, my favorites were the cardamom ice cream with honey soaked cake or the coconut and lemongrass panna cotta.

Washington D.C. is super fortunately to have such "cutting edge" Indian food. It's a far cry from the Indian buffets I've tried in Boston, and definitely something I enjoyed a lot more.

Heck, I seriously even think I could convince Bryan to like Indian food if he tried this.

Rasika West End
1177 22nd St NW
Washington, DC 20037

Disclaimer
This trip was part of a media tour of Washington DC paid for by Destination DC, a non-profit organization that supports the DC travel and tourism sector.

September 19, 2012 Restaurant

Peregrine Espresso

This is the sixth post in the new series about my recent trip to Washington DC right on Julia Child's 100th birthday (Series overview: Happy Birthday Julia Child): Other posts in this series include Wolfgang Puck's The Source, Ben's Chili Bowl - an Inside Perspective, Exploring Little Ethiopia, Jaleo, and The Federalist.

Oh coffee, how I tried so hard not to become an addict.

Strangely, even though I have been drinking some version of coffee since I was pretty young (my mom used to give me tastes of the free coffee from our local grocery store, diluted with TONS of cream, hot water, and sugar, of course), I was never addicted to coffee.

Throughout college, as other students at the 'Tute (affection way by which we refer to MIT) lived off of intravenous coffee drips into the week hours of the night with their problem sets, I never needed it. Sure, I drank my frappuccinos "socially", but it was never a daily occurrence.

It was the free, available coffee at work that did me in.

For years, I only drank coffee in the afternoon, convinced that I "wasn't really addicted" since I didn't need it in the morning to wake up. It wasn't until I noticed this dull, throbbing coffee headache whenever I skipped my afternoon cup, that I realized just how physically addicted I was.

So what did I do? Embrace the addiction, of course!

Now I drink a lovely cup of cappuccino that I make at home every morning. After lunch, I brew yet another cup at work. Yes, I have a coffee maker in my office so I can make a fresh cup (even though there's free coffee in the kitchen). Yes, I'm a wee bit obsessive.

While in DC on this food trip, we soon found out there were several members in our group who were just as addicted as I was to coffee. We all politely requested (or more like begged) that a coffee shop be our first stop.

Our host, Katie, couldn't have picked a better place in DC for us to try.

Peregrine has definitely received its share of accolades. In 2009 Bon Appetit named Peregrine one of the 10 best boutique coffee shops in America. Their founder/barista Ryan Jensen won the Southeast Regional Barista Competiton in 2005. It's constantly being named "Best coffee in DC" on numerous lists. Clearly, it has a strong following here in DC.

Those who are willing to wait a few minutes for great coffee can order a gravity drip "microbrew" pourover coffee, where you can slowly watch your coffee being extracted right in front of you. The menu has many unusual and exotic choices, including a rotating variety of single-origin coffees.

Of course, if you're in a huge rush, you can still grab a piping hot cup of their "macrobrew" single origin coffee, although it is only available in the morning (when there are enough people to ensure that the coffee remains as fresh as possible).

You can order a cappuccino and enjoy some gorgeous latte art (see top picture). It was tough to choose between them, but eventually I opted for the cappuccino, which was awesome.

Thanks Kate for taking care of our coffee-deprived bodies that first morning in DC. I can't imagine a better way to start in the morning.

Peregrine Espresso
660 Pennsylvania Ave SE
Washington, DC 20003

Disclaimer
This trip was part of a media tour of Washington DC paid for by Destination DC, a non-profit organization that supports the DC travel and tourism sector.

September 18, 2012 Restaurant

The Federalist

This is the fifth post in the new series about my recent trip to Washington DC right on Julia Child's 100th birthday (Series overview: Happy Birthday Julia Child): Other posts in this series include Wolfgang Puck's The Source, Ben's Chili Bowl - an Inside Perspective, Exploring Little Ethiopia, and Jaleo.

These are exciting times for DC.

The presidential race is going full force, and pretty soon the inauguration will take over the nation's capital. Droves of people will swarm upon the city to enjoy its incredible museums, lively food scene, and excellent hotels (many of which have a rich history of hosting dignitaries over the years!).

Take the Madison Hotel, for example, which has been around for nearly 50 years and has housed countless dignitaries in its presidential suites, including President Kennedy, one of its first guests back in 1963. I had the pleasure of staying in the Madison Hotel during my short DC food trip back in August. It had just undergone an extension 22-million dollar renovation.

After arriving in DC that first night, it was nice not having to worry about trying to head out somewhere for dinner. Our group met at The Federalist, a new restaurant adjacent to the Madison that opened as part of the massive renovation of the hotel. The Federalist takes local Mid-Atlantic ingredients and creates dishes inspired by recipes from the 18th century.

We started out with cocktails in the restaurant's lovely outdoor terrace. The weather was surprisingly not too hot, even though it was the middle of August!

Here are the fun cocktails we sipped on while people watching on the terrace: upper left is the Twin Leaf, which is made of Hangar 1 vodka, chamomile tea, and sake with elderflower & lavender. To the right is the Smoked Strawberries, which tasted surprisingly (and pleasantly) smoky (presumably from the 'smoked' limoncello). There's also Three Citrus Vodka and local strawberry preserves, Five on Rye consists of (ri)1 Rye, peaches, rhubarb shrub, pink peppercorn, and sugar.

We asked the chef, Harper McClure, to tell us his favorite drink. He picked an off-menu drink called Trade Winds, which has candied ginger, lime, lemon verbena vodka, and vermouth. Of course a couple members of our party just had to try it (and they liked it!).

I had the Twin Leaf, which was quite nice, and I sampled the Smoked Strawberry, which was very interesting and fun. Everyone seemed to enjoy their drinks as well.

As the sun began to set, we headed on inside. After some discussions with the chef, we decided to keep the entire meal a surprise. After all, isn't it best to let the chef choose what you eat? Sort of like an American-style omakase?

The Chef McClure was excited by our proposal, and ran back into the kitchen to get started our our tasting.
Our first course was an amuse - Yellowtail and Watermelon Sorbet, which was served alongside some finely chopped pickled root vegetable (maybe daikon?). I actually really liked the tart and bright flavors of the pickle. However, I found the yellowtail to be quite average. It was just a tad fishy and not quite as good as most yellowtail I've had in sushi restaurants. The watermelon sorbet which accompanied the yellowtail was delicious on its own, but I felt like the overall concept of the dish just didn't quite work. The yellowtail, which was a bit warm, was weird when paired with the cold, fruity sorbet.
The next dish, Heirloom Tomato Panna Cotta ($12), was both stunning in its presentation, creative in its execution, and enjoyable to eat. It's served with a horseradish tomato consomme, roasted cherry tomatoes, white anchovies, and opal basil. I loved the lovely sweet concentrated tomato flavor as well as the fragrant melon essence in the consomme. The Grilled Judith Point Calamari ($13) was served with seared potato gnocchi, roasted garlic puree, pearl onions, and scallions. I liked the pan friend gnocchi, though I thought the calamari was only average. It was just a tad rubbery and could have benefited from being cooked just a hair less.Ipswich Clam Chowder came topped with braised pork belly, poached Ipswich clams, cabbage, Yukon gold potatoes, and sweet corn. Though the dish was creative in design and gorgeous in presentation, I still found the chowder itself to be lacking in "clam" flavor. Perhaps it was a bit undersalted? The chowder was creamy, but had some other strong flavor I did not like, almost like a stinky clam?? I don't want to assume that it was a bad clam, since others at the table actually loved this dish. I found the pork belly to just a tad tough, though decent in flavor. The Lobster and Corn Fritters ($12), served alongside a warm vermouth cream, are pretty popular, and it's not hard to see why. How can you go wrong when you combine these two awesome ingredients? These were well-executed and would make a great bar snack. The Roasted Gulf Shrimp ($27) consisted of jumbo shrimp served with baby bok choy, snow peas, and bell peppers with a bergamot broth. This dish was nice, simple, and pretty good. The Virginia Black Bass was a special that day and came highly recommended. The seared fish came on top of a gorgeous pile of sweet summer corn, chanterelle mushrooms, fried fresh link chiles (they look like hats!), over a paprika-live oil emulsion. I really enjoyed this dish. The sea bass had a lovely crispy skin, and the farm fresh ingredients, especially the corn, were a joy to eat. The interesting link chilies (the green looking hat-like things) were spicy and smoky, yet not overwhelming tear-inducing hot either. The Seared Raw Tuna Loin ($30) was served with a Rappahanock (local to Virginia!) oyster veloute amd baby summer squash blossoms. The oysters were soft, fresh, and pretty tasty. The tuna was reasonably fresh and seared to a perfect "rare", but just did not inherently have that much flavor. The Heritage Pork Chop ($32) came with a summer bean ragout, pearl onion, and cornbread puree. I thought the Marsala sauce that accompanied the pork chop was deep and flavorful, definitely adding to the complexity of the dish. Though I am not a duck person, I can still be objective in picking out a good duck dish. The Roasted Moulard Duck Breast ($29) was excellent. It was cooked absolutely perfectly, and was soft, tender, and very flavorful. Alongside the duck were grilled white peaches, Lacinato kale (which has a gorgeous deep umami flavor from the Sarsaparilla jus), and an absolutely lovely macadamia nut butter, which I loved. I thought this entree was the best of the bunch. Similarly, I thought the Martin's Angus Beef Flatiron ($28) was also very good. The lovely summer roasted heirloom tomato were delicious, and I really liked the cute little marble potatoes, each perfectly formed sphere seared to a nice golden brown on each side. The steak was fabulous when paired with the rosemary-lavender-garlic butter. The desserts were good. A la Minute Chocolate Cake $9 came with poached cherries and a sprinkling of cocoa nib. I thought I would just try one bite but found myself reach back for more . . . and then more . . . and then more. I think there's something about cherries that just matches perfectly with chocolate.
I love panna cotta and Greek yogurt, so it wasn't a surprise that I liked the Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta $9, which came with blackberries and shortbread cookies. What I found unique and surprising was the black pepper syrup, which actually worked really well! I loved the peppery kick that it added to the dessert.

Represented from left to right: The Daily Meal, Destination DC, The Madison Hotel, Messy & Picky.

Thoughts
The Madison Hotel is a gorgeous place to stay, and I enjoyed every minute of sleep on their oh-so-comfortable beds. The Federalist is a lovely space and seems like a great convenient location for business meals. The dishes are generally "safe" (meaning they are not so exotic that a client may not like the cuisine), and the overall ambiance of the place is really nice.

Although some dishes were disappointing, others surprised me with their creativity and quality execution.The menu is constantly changing depending on what's seasonal, which is part of the fun.

We had a wonderful meal in this gorgeous space adjacent to the Madison Hotel. After dinner, we were really glad that we were staying right upstairs because, frankly, we were probably too stuffed to move very far!

The Federalist
1177 15th St NW
Washington, DC 20005

Disclaimer
This trip was part of a media tour of Washington DC paid for by Destination DC, a non-profit organization that supports the DC travel and tourism sector.

September 17, 2012 Restaurant

Jaleo

This is the fourth post in the new series about my recent trip to Washington DC right on Julia Child's 100th birthday (Series overview: Happy Birthday Julia Child): Other posts in this series include Wolfgang Puck's The Source, Ben's Chili Bowl - an Inside Perspective, and Exploring Little Ethiopia.

Welcome to the totally redesigned Jaleo.

This Jaleo, which resides right in Penn Quarter in DC, is the original Jaleo, which has been open for nearly 20 years. Deemed by some to be the "DC restaurant most overview for a facelift," Jaleo closed its doors in the winter of 2012 for close to a month to revamp the entire space.

The design of the new space is stunning. Designed by Juli Capella of Barcelona, who also helped Andres design his Las Vegas Jaleo, this new dining space is colorful, whimsical, and fun. The bar is covered with colorful foam hexagons, which double as sound absorbers, significantly reducing the noise levels in the entire restaurant (upper left photo). Tiny fun spaces, such as the hidden "date spot" near the window (lower left photo) offer a romantic semi-private dining area that's great for people watching. Even the front hostess table is shaped like a flower pot, with a huge flower lamp hanging above.

With the new renovation, Jaleo also revamped its menu a bit. Although many of the dishes are the same as before, about 20% of the menu has changed, including more "playful" interpretations of traditional Spanish fare, a few more dishes incorporating Spanish Iberian ham, as well as a slew of new cocktails.

As part of our DC tour, we visited Jaleo in the afternoon to focus on cocktails. According to the schedule, we were to enjoy a one hour "cocktail class" at Jaleo.

It turned out to much more than that. Not only did we learn about (and sample!) several cocktails from Jaleo's new bar, we also muched on a variety of mouthwatering small plates, along with a fun dessert that incorporates some cool molecular-gastronomy techniques.

After getting a tour of the new space, we sat down to learn all about the perfect gin & tonic. According to our host, general manager Jorge Figueredo, gin & tonic is huge in Spain. With this new renovation, Andres decided he wanted to focus on this almost "national" drink by offering six different versions of it.

We started with José’s Choice, José’s own personal favorite recipe for a gin & tonic.
We start with Hendrick's gin.
and then add Fever Tree tonic.

There's some other ingredients in there, like kaffir lime, lemon, and juniper. I can definitely see why this is José’s top choice. Quality ingredients make a ton of a difference in a simple drink like this one. It was bright, refreshing, and my eyes were certainly opened to a drink that I used to think was only OK.

What better "bite" to enjoy the drinks with than some exquisite, delicate salmon tatare with trout roe and sheep's milk cheese cones (one of the new menu items) from the kitchen?

People who are confused about what drinks to get can request one of the many iPads, which is loaded with tons of information about all the drink offerings.

You could try the Coriander blossom, a lovely cocktail made with lemon and lime . . .
or Or the Vegetal, an interesting cocktail that is both beautiful and surreal, filled with floating fennel, radish, cubeb, and kumquat.

How about the Barrel Aged, made with Old Tom Gin (whisky barrel aged) with pickled ginger, allspice, orange, and lemon?
Q Q Tonic (which is made with agave syrup) is used in the New Western, made with Silvertin gin, Fever Tree tonic, tarragon, lemon, lime, and borage.
The staff brought all kinds of little bites for us to enjoy with our cocktails. Pan de cristal con tomate ($8.50) was absolutely fantastic. Pan de cristal (literally "crystal bread") is an extremely light, airy, and crispy bread from Spain. It's a ton of work to make the bread. In Spain, they have these special machines that stretch the dough like bubble gum over and over again. The constant stretching causes the dough to incorporate tons of air pockets, which really gives it a unique texture.

At Jaleo, they ship the bread directly from Spain because they could not find anyone in Boston who could make this incredible bread.

I loved this bread and took multiple helpings. I especially liked how the unique, crispy bread absorbed all the tasty flavors from both the cheese and the fresh tomatoes. The airy, crispy, yet elastic texture is something that's quite unique and definitely worth trying. I would order this again in a heartbeat if I ever returned.

We asked multiple people who worked there, "what is your favorite thing to eat here? What is a must have?" Surprisingly, we continued to hear "you have to try the Croquetas!"

Croquetas are deep fried breaded mashed potato "balls" that typically include some kind of meat (in this case, chicken). It's a tradition for José Andres' croquetas to be served inside of a shoe. In some states, it actually comes in a real shoe. However, D.C. food regulations wouldn't let them do that, so they had to come up with a glass sneaker, instead!

These were hot, savory, crunchy, and oh-so-satisfying.

I wouldn't necessarily say it blew me away as being the most unique or "must-get" thing the restaurant offered (my mind was still on that pan de cristal) but I did enjoy the bite quite a bit.

Ostras ‘Gin & Tonic’ ($15) - This was a cute take on gin & tonic, raw oysters that are actually served with a bit of lemon, gin, and tonic!

Refreshing and light, they were tasty, though I still prefer eating really good raw oysters pretty much plain.

We also sampled some lovely Mejillones Vinagreta, mussels served with pipirrana (a Spanish salad with tomatoes, potato, and peppers), sherry dressing and honey ($9).
The theme continued as we enjoyed our dessert, also called ‘Gin and Tonic’. It consisted of gin and tonic sorbet, a fizzy tonic "espuma" (foam), lemon and aromatics. It was fascinating how they emulated the fizziness of tonic with the foam. The manager told us that there was a special type of molecular gastronomy compound that could make foams appear to taste fizzy, even though there's no actual carbon dioxide inside.

It was an illusion, but I was totally fooled!

Jorge Figueredo, General Manager and one of the chefs with whom we spoke. They were fantastic hosts.

Here's the whole crew, sitting at the funny fooseball table (yes, look underneath the glass, you can actually play during dinner!)

It was definitely a fabulous way to spend an afternoon. Not only did we learn a lot about the art of gin & tonic (I personally became a new fan of this drink!), we also had a chance to sample some fantastic bites from the restaurant.

Getting just a small taste of their menu totally peaked my curiosity as to what the rest of the food tastes like. I loved José Andres' food the last time I had it at SAMM inside Bazaar in Los Angeles. I'm also a huge fan of small plates in general. This is why I'm pretty certain I would really enjoy a full meal here at Jaleo.

Definitely the next time I'm in D.C., I'll have to take Bryan here again. I'm pretty certain he'll love the new Jaleo.

Jaleo
480 7th St NW
Washington, DC 20004

Disclaimer
This trip was part of a media tour of Washington DC paid for by Destination DC, a non-profit organization that supports the DC travel and tourism sector.

September 14, 2012 Japanese

Uni Shooters

Did you hear?

I was beyond excited when I found out that Cambridge would be getting its own H-Mart (Korean grocery store). Really? Finally! Super convenient access to a wide variety of fresh Asian vegetables, tofu, various types of sashimi, soup bases, etc.

Altough we don't really cook that much Korean food at home (with the exception of a few dishes I've learned through the years), I'm still excited at the prospect of a big Korean market near me because, typically, they also stock tons of Japanese ingredients.

As you must have gathered by now, I love Japan and all things Japanese.

A couple weeks ago, my extended family traveled to Los Angeles for a summer trip. While we were there, we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Matsuhisa, Nobu's original restaurant in LA (post coming, hopefully soon!). Bryan and my brother-in-law, Mike, ordered uni shooters.

According to both of them, it was one of the best uni shooters they had ever had in their lives.

So of course, when we got back to Boston, what's the first activity we did together?

Make uni shooters, of course.

Mike, who's Korean, (you've seen his awesome Korean recipe on this blog before), headed out to various places (mostly H-Mart in Burlington) to pick up necessary ingredients. A bottle of sake, fresh uni (sea urchin), fish eggs (you can get orange or black - he just prefers black), quail eggs, and ponzu sauce (not pictured). He also gathered some baby scallions from his backyard garden.

One you have all your ingredients, it's really not hard to put it all together to make this shooter. Seriously, after procuring all the ingredients, the most challenging part is probably separating the quail egg yolks from the whites, which is harder than the same task on a chicken egg. If you have an egg separator, you might want to try using it here!
Start with a nice little shot glass and add 2-4 pieces of fresh uni. Honestly, the order is not crazy important, but we added sake and then the yolk, but reverse is probably not a bit deal either.Adding Liquids: This part is a bit subjective and we definitely played around with various ratios (although we didn't exactly measure anything!). As a general rule, add enough sake to cover the uni, and then add a "splash" of ponzu sauce (like a teaspoon or so?). Too much ponzu will make it unbearably salty. Of course, this will depend on the brand of ponzu sauce you buy as well, as they vary in saltiness.

You definitely want to try to use good ponzu sauce. Ideally, try finding one from Japan that includes real yuzu, (not just lime or lemon), such as this one.
Add garnishes, like finely chopped baby scallions, chives, and tobiko (fish eggs). Mike likes black tobiko, which is a bit more expensive (I think our pack was a little under $10), but the orange kind you typically find works just as well.And then serve!

I seriously thought it was fantastic. Here's my reaction as I drank my first home-made one.

Uni Shooters
Servings: 6-8 uni shooters

Ingredients
2 "flats" of uni (12-15 pieces per flat?)
1 dozen quail eggs
1 bottle of sake (300 mL) - [Mike's favorite cheap brand]
1-2 teaspoon finely chopped scallions
1 package of tobiko or other fish eggs (about 4 oz?)
optional - tabasco sauce
1 bottle of ponzu sauce with yuzu

Add 3-4 pieces of uni to the bottom of a shot glass. Add enough sake just to cover the uni (about ⅓ up the glass). Separate the yolk from the egg of the quail egg (easier said than done! If you have an egg separator, use it!). Add the yolk. Add a splash of ponzu sauce (if you like you drinks saltier, you can add more - this is sort of subjective and dependent on how salty your ponzu sauce is). Top with tobiko and chopped scallions.
Serve!

Enjoy!!

September 12, 2012 Restaurant

Exploring "Little Ethiopia"

This is the third post in the new series about my recent trip to Washington DC right on Julia Child's 100th birthday (Series overview: Happy Birthday Julia Child): Other posts in this series include Wolfgang Puck's The Source and Ben's Chili Bowl - an Inside Perspective.

I love exploring ethnic enclaves, especially of cultures that are really foreign to me.

That's why I was especially excited about a walking food tour of DC's Little Ethiopia, an area along U Street to 9th Street that houses a large cluster of Ethiopian-owned businesses. According to our tour guide, Ethiopians like living near the region of power, which is typically the capital city. This is why the Ethiopians flocked to Washington D.C. when they emigrated here after the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in their home country.

High rents in other areas forced them into the U Street area, at that time a dead, desolate block that soon became revitalized with Ethiopian shops, markets, and restaurants. Controversy between the African Americans (who see that area as their own) and the Ethiopians (who revitalized the area) has prevented the area from officially being recognized as Little Ethiopia.

Nevertheless, the culture is clearly present in this little corner. I took a fascinating (and tasty!) tour of this area where we sampled Ethiopian breads and spices; experienced a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony, and watched the hand-laborious production of injera (Ethiopian sponge bread) from the largest producer in the area.

The neighborhood looks anything but desolate now, brimming with various Ethiopian businesses (you can even see a tiny yellow sign that says "Ethiopian Yellow Pages").

We started our tour by entering an Ethiopian market. This market sells all kinds of Ethiopian ingredients, such as spices, breads, coffee beans, and various canned goods. They have a whole cafe section where you can either get take-out or sit and eat a meal.

We all sat down and tried this cool segmented Ethiopian honey bread. It reminds me of a sweet, non-buttery version of monkey bread, but with many more segments! It was sweet and pretty tasty, reminding me just a bit of Hawaiian bread.

Next, we visited Zenebech Injera Restaurant.

First of all, what is injera?

Injera is a yeast-risen Ethiopian crepe made from teff flour, an iron rich grain that grows in Ethiopia. Usually injera in the US is made with a mix of teff flour and regular flour, the more expensive (and more flavorful) versions having more of the imported teff.

The spongy, slightly tart, absorbant bread is used to "pick up" various sauces, since Ethiopians eat with their hands without any utensils.

In traditional Ethiopian dining, dishes are brought out on a huge piece of injera and served on a traditional round straw table. Guests pick up pieces of bread and dip it into whichever dish they want.

The tan colored sauce is called berbere, and is much like a curry powder, comprising spices such as cardamom and cumin. The dark reddish brown sauce is called mitmita, and consists of African birds eye chili peppers, cardamon seed, cloves, and salt. The light yellow sauce is called shiro and is made from ground yellow split peas. The green vegetables are stewed collard greens and the fresh "salsa" consists of tomatoes, onions, and green peppers.

We also tried lamb wat, a curry stew made with meat, vegetables (in this case tomatoes and jalapenos), berbere spice, and kibbeh, a clarified butter infused with garlic and other spices.

The flavors of all these different sauces were fantastic. Deep, rich, earthy, and full of flavor, one diner even commented that if he were a vegetarian, he could eat Ethiopian food and not miss the meat at all. The one lamb dish was excellent, infused with the deep, rich flavors from the flavorful bebere.

Sneak Peek Into the Kitchen . . .

After enjoying the lovely tasting of Ethiopian flavors, we had a really unique opportunity to step inside the kitchen. It is incredible to think that this is where a majority of all the injera in DC is made.

The woman making injeras is methodical and exact. First she measures our a specific amount of batter, which is housed in a HUGE human-sized plastic bucket.

She pours the pre-measured amount onto an injera cooker (see how they have a whole row of these machines?).

She covers that one, and then goes over to another one she has set up earlier and removes it. The timing to get this whole operation requires precision-like awareness of everything that's going on. She makes it look extremely easy, but I'm sure it's not.

She can work straight for hours, churning out thousands of sheets of injera, which they sell to many, many local restaurants and stores.

What a crazy stack of perfectly formed pancakes.

In the market, they are usually sold in bags like this.

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony
Finally, we ended the visit with a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. In Ethiopia, everyone roasts their coffee at home. I only saw green, unroasted beans in the market.

First, roast your beans right on the pan over a flame on the stove. It will create tons of smoke and smell really good.

Bring out the pan while it is smoking and bless the guests with the aroma of the coffee.

Traditionally, they would then grind up the beans manually using a mortar and pestle. These days, they will use the wonders of modern technology and grind the beans using an electric grinder.

Finally, steep, and pour.

The coffee is unfiltered, and thus is quite strong, thick, and slightly gritty at the bottom.

It's hard to beat freshly roasted coffee, and this coffee was deep, rich, and wonderfully fragrant. I didn't mind the little bits of grit at the bottom.

I had a great time on this tour. Our tour guide Chris was knowledgeable, friendly, and took good care of us. I especially enjoyed learning a mix of history, culture, and food. The places we visited were fantastic, and I look forward to going back to eat full meals at these places.

Disclaimer
This trip was part of a media tour of Washington DC paid for by Destination DC, a non-profit organization that supports the DC travel and tourism sector. The tour was provided by DC Food Tours.

September 11, 2012 Restaurant

Ben's Chili Bowl - an Inside Perspective

Jen and Virginia Rollins, co-founder of Ben's Chili Bowl and wife of the late "Ben" Ali.

This is the second post in the new series about my recent trip to Washington DC right on Julia Child's 100th birthday (Series overview: Happy Birthday Julia Child): Other posts in this series include Wolfgang Puck's The Source.

There's no question that this is one of the most famous and popular food places in the entire DC area.

Tourists line up around the exterior of the building just for the chance to take a bite into their famous, absolutely delicious, chili half smokes. It's the stuff of legends, really. President Obama's been there. Bill Cosby swears by it and goes all the time.

The walls of this simple, humble looking place are adorned with photographs from celebrities, old friends, and loyal customers from the past fifty years.

I first visited Ben's Chili Bowl just like any other regular tourist back in 2010 with Bryan's family. We stood in that long line to get inside to taste those chili half smokes. It was crowded, crazy, but lots of fun.

This time, I got the inside scoop.

Together with Kate, our fearless leader from Destination DC, we got up bright and early and headed over to the U Street in the Shaw neighborhood of DC.

Shaw is a historically African American area that originally grew out of freed slave encampments. Black Broadway (U Street Corridor) thrived in the early 20th century as the hub of African American music and culture, bringing about greats like Langston Hughes, Miles Davis, Nat King Cole, and Duke Ellington. These days you can still see the grandeur of those times reflected in the gorgeous victorian houses that line these streets.

The most famous food institution in the area is, of course, Ben's Chili Bowl. If you come in the afternoon, you'll fight with the mobs of tourists who come to experience this significant historical place.

The early morning, however, is when the locals hang out. The place buzzes with energy as the workers at Ben's dole out hearty breakfast items to the guests.

People treat each other like family.

In fact, the crew that works here is pretty much like family. Some of the workers have been with the restaurant for decades.

When we asked Virginia (cofounder; wife of Ben Ali, who passed away October of 2009), her philosophy on how they hired people, she said you had to let people be themselves. It's really about hiring happy people who love what they do.

"It's not just a job - you work too hard for it to be just a job."

"It's family."

For example, this lovely lady in purple on the right (boo, I can't remember her name) has been with the restaurant for over 40 years.

She stuck with Ben's as the only employee back in the dark days when riots following Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination essentially devastated the neighborhood. Further construction to build the new U Street metro station forced most businesses off the street because no one could get the the restaurants.

Ben's was one of the only businesses open in their entire neighborhood, staffed by the loyal employee, who worked tirelessly next to Ben and Virginia.

It's incredible and inspiring to see the rewards of such tenacity during difficult times.

And they give back to the community.

Homeless kids in the neighborhood will sometimes come by, hungry for some food. The restaurant will feed them, but the kids have to bring a book and read it there. Afterwards, they actually get tested on the contents of the book! The folks at Ben's Chili Bowl care about the education of these kids.

Occasionally, single mothers who are in a bind will drop their kids off to hang out at the restaurant. The folks at the restaurant encourage these kids to be productive during this time, teaching them how to help out at the restaurant.

We asked Virgina what her favorite breakfast items were. Salmon cake, grits, and eggs. She says she makes sure to eat a hearty breakfast every morning.

"You have to eat enough food to have energy for the entire day."

Her daughter-in-law attests, "she has more energy than the rest of us!"

The staff was so kind as to bring over a ton of various breakfast foods, like these homefries, which had fantastic flavor.

Scrambled eggs were normal - nothing particularly unusual.

Similarly, the French Toast was solid.

My absolutely favorite (not surprisingly) was their signature chili half smoke. It's juicy, smoky, with just a bit of heat. Definitely eat it with their famous chili, which is a must-have.

When we asked Virginia what influenced the recipe for the chili half smoke, she mentioned that Ben took inspiration from his Trinidad background and applied it to the American hot dog, which he learned about in the US. The resulting hot dog is legendary, and definitely worth trying. [More pics of the chili half smoke when served as a full hot dog here]

Salmon cakes are moist, flavorful, and definitely a healthier option. It's also one of Virginia's favorites.

The grits come with a generous dollop of butter on top. They were alright, but I've had much better versions in the south.

At the end they dropped of some sweet apples, which tasted like the inside of an apple pie. A bit sweet for me, but my palate is definitely more sensitive to sweet than most!

Alas, we had to move on.

As part of this crazy food trip, we still had to go to a food tour of U Street and Little Ethiopia before lunch.

The eating had just begun . . .

Stay tuned tomorrow to learn about Little Ethiopia in DC, the second largest Ethiopian population outside of the capital city in Ethiopia

Jen enjoying an entire chili half smoke back in 2010

For a different look on Ben's Chili Bowl, definitely check out my post from 2010 where I describe a lot of their non-breakfast, more normal menu items.

Ben's Chili Bowl
1213 U St NW
Washington, DC 20009

Disclaimer
This trip was part of a media tour of Washington DC paid for by Destination DC, a non-profit organization that supports the DC travel and tourism sector. The tour was provided by DC Food Tours.

September 11, 2012 Restaurant

The Source (Wolfgang Puck)

This is the first post in the new series about my recent trip to Washington DC right on Julia Child's 100th birthday: Series overview: Happy Birthday Julia Child.

The last place I would have thought to look for D.C.'s best Chinese food would be at a restaurant inside a museum with Wolfgang Puck's name slapped on it.

I mean, I'd had Wolfgang Puck's food before. Nothing super fancy, of course, but I'd tried Spago Cafe in Vegas and his casual Wolfgang Puck Bistro in Los Angeles (underwhelmed both times). I knew he was the inventor of the creative California-style pizzas (like the barbecue chicken pizza) and was the brains behind his flagship Beverly Hills restaurant, Spago.

But Chinese food? Like, really, really good Chinese food?

I was seriously taken aback by the meal we enjoyed at The Source, Wolfgang Puck's first restaurant on the East Coast. I had not expected such incredible dumplings to come out of what seemed like a trendy, vibe-y modern American restaurant.

No joke. I don't think I've had dim sum dumplings this good since I was in Hong Kong.

The Source is Wolfgang Puck's first restaurant on the East Coast located right on the National Mall adjacent to the Newseum. The restaurant is divided into two different sections. The bottom floor serves more casual small plates and drinks, sort of in a Japanese izakaya style. The upper floor is more like a fine dining establishment, with dishes that derive influences from various parts of Asia, including Japan, China, and Thailand.

Meet Chef Scott Drewno, the executive chef behind The Source (don't you love his shirt? ha ha ha). When Wolfgang Puck decided to open his first restaurant on the east coast, he tapped Drewno, who used to work for Puck in Vegas, to be executive chef. He gives Drewno tons of freedom over the menu. According to Puck "Scott has the liberty to put new things on the menu, which I think keeps him interested." [source]

Drewno has a huge passion for Chinese food and has been trying to continually learn more and more about it. He went to China a couple summers ago, exploring various eats and even taking a cooking class from a Chinese grandmother. Most recently, he's been dabbling in making his own Sriracha sauce, soy sauce, and tofu.
One of his signature dishes, and one of my favorite bites of the evening, were these Miso Tuile Cones with Tuna. Imagine a candied sesame cone infused with the savory umami of miso. OK, now take that cone and fill it with fresh raw tuna pieces, dried bonito fish flakes, and tobiko.
It was so addictively good. I would have loved a second one.

We then tried Chef Drewno's homemade tofu, which was great. The cold and refreshing tofu came with a mix of chili sauces, including his homemade Sriracha.
Boiled Beef Dumpling - fermented chili bean sauce
Then the dumplings began to arrive. The texture of the skin on the boiled beef dumpling was wonderfully dense and chewy (clearly homemade!), and the fragrant chili bean paste was intense and flavorful.
Next we tried his original dumpling - the Kurobuta Pork Belly Potsticker, which was served with black vinegar and chili oil. The handmade skins were (again) beautifully a dente but for some reason I didn't love the flavor of the filling. The Crystal Chive Dumplings, on the other hand, were fantastic. They are filled with Kurobuta pork and king crab (not a bad combination!). The dish came with a bold flavorful sauce that had elements of spicy, sweet, soy, and tons of umami. In some ways, it reminded me of a more complex, more elevated version of the suan la chow shou sauce that they serve with the dumplings at Mary Chung in Cambridge (a dish I've always liked). We also tried a few bites from The Lounge, which is the name of the more casual "izakaya" downstairs. Both "sandwiches" (the chicken sandwich and the pork bun), come from the lower level menu.
Everyone loved the Tempura Chicken Sandwich, which came with heirloom tomatoes and avocado chili aioli. The chicken was fried perfectly with a hefty crunch, and the combination of flavors from the different components made this a very satisfying sandwich to eat.

Beautiful cross section, no? We weren't sure what to do with the pickles on top so we just took them off and ate them separarately. It does provide for a dramatic presentation, though.
Pork Belly Buns are all the rage now, and Chef Drewno has his own version too. All the components in this bun were executed well (nice soft bun, crispy pork belly). However, I found the accompanying sauce to be too sweet, and thought the overall flavors were only OK. I've had better pork buns.

Back to the upstairs menu, the Lacquered Chinese Duckling is one of the most popular items on the menu. It is clearly inspired by a the traditional Peking duck, and is served over lo mein noodles with a star anise-Stanley plum compote. Chef Drewno did a fantastic job on the crispy skin, something that is still elusive to me. I'm not the biggest fan of duck, so I'll never love it as much as, say, my husband. I would not have minded if the duck had been a bit more moist. Overall, however, it was pretty good.

I did love the chowfoon-like rice noodles over which the duck was served. The deep fried Thai basil provided fantastic, crunchy fragrant "pops", and the slightly sweet and savory noodles had a lovely black pepper zing. Seriously, I couldn't stop eating these fresh noodles.
Finally, we tried his newest dumpling (perhaps still experimental?) which came with lobster and (I believe) pork. It had some game-y distinctive taste I that I didn't like, sort of like lamb or something. The presentation here was a bit "deconstructed", with the lobster tails and scallions on the outside of the dumpling. Again, it was served with his homemade sriracha.

Dessert

Dessert was exquisitely presented, though hardly Asian at all. We started with the Peaches & Cream, which was served with caramelized peaches, almond gateaux, peach gelato, a red miso tuile, and peach jus.

I really liked the Vanilla Bean Custard (though it's not hard to get me to like anything made with vanilla). The custard was accompanied by a ginger-orange madeleine, pineapple sauce, super thin an delicate dehydrated ginger chips.

The final dessert, Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate, was really really good. They did a great job of creating desserts that really had a deep, strong chocolate flavor. The three components are: Chocolate Soufflé, Chocolate Sorbet, and 10–Year Chocolate Sauce.

Thoughts
I was really impressed with the food at The Source. I loved how all the different dumplings here are really crafted with care. Scott Drewno clearly has a passion for Chinese food, and he puts a lot of thought into each dumpling. I absolutely loved the fresh, homemade skins on these dumplings, where were really dense and satisfying chewy. Scott likes to plays around with interesting ingredients and sauces, which always makes the food more interesting. I think it would be super fun to come on a Saturday during brunchtime to try the Dim Sum Tasting Menu.

The prices at The Lounge are pretty reasonable, with most small plates hovering around $9-10. For an even better value, get the three-course lunch for $22, or come during Happy Hour (4-6pm), when you can get three small plates for $20.

Upstairs, the food is much more exquisite and the prices are much higher as well. A 7-course tasting costs $135, or $200 with wine pairing. At the time of this post publication date, you could also enjoy their family style "Banquet" menu (family style) for $55 a person. Personally, for the best "bang for buck", I would just sit at the bar at The Lounge, order a few plates of Scott's excellent dumplings (maybe with a drink during Happy Hour), and continue sightseeing.

Newseum - old, old newspapers covering key events in history

For tourists, the restaurant is located conveniently right on the National Mall inside the Newseum. The Newseum itself is a worth a visit, though (unlike most of the other museums on the Mall), it actually costs money (a little over $20 a ticket!). I particularly enjoyed their collection of really, really old newspapers reporting key events in history, really interesting (and often poignant) photos from the official White House photographer through the years, their 9/11 memorial display, as well as a massive chunk of the Berlin Wall.

Of course, the Mall has tons of great free museums you can visit too. In any event, there's a high likelihood you'll be in this general area if you're visiting D.C. It's great that The Source is located in such a convenient location for all those weary tourists (and anyone else who happens to be hanging out at the Mall!).

The Source
575 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20001

Disclaimer
This trip was part of a media tour of Washington DC paid for by Destination DC, a non-profit organization that supports the DC travel and tourism sector. All opinions are my own.

September 6, 2012 Japanese

Kajitsu

This is the eight post in the Eating the Big Apple series. Other posts include Soba Koh, Sylvia's Restaurant (Gospel Brunch), Torrisi Italian Specialties, Ippudo,Tasty Hand Pulled Noodle, Il Buco Alimentari & Vinera, and Shake Shack.I've heard of this place so many times.

First, in the thick of Project Food Blog in 2010 (wow, I can't believe that was 2 years ago!) when we were down to the final three contestants, fellow contestant Marc Matsumoto wrote a really creative entry about this place.

About a year later, friends of mine visited and absolutely fell in love with it. Knowing that I love vegetables, they continued to bug me to try it. "Jen, I think you'll really like it."

I definitely tried to go. Not surprisingly, this two star Michelin restaurant was really hard to book.

It wasn't until later that I found out the original chef, Masato Nishihara, had announced he was moving back to Japan in April 2012. People came in droves to experience his food before he left.

This past June (right after Nishihara left) I got the unexpected opportunity to visit New York again, this time to attend the Saveur Food Blog Award Celebration in New York (I still can't believe I won). I called Katjistu immediately and finally landed a seat at the table with the new chef.

I was so curious. What would shojin ryori taste like?

Shojin ryori is a specific type of Japanese cuisine that originates from Zen Buddhism. The cuisine is strictly vegan and emphasizes bringing out the natural flavors of fresh, seasonal ingredients.

Ryota Ueshima, the new chef at the helm, had previously worked at Murasaki no Wakuden, one of the top kaiseki restaurants in Kyoto. Kaiseki is not vegan, but it incorporate a lot of the same philosophies as shojin ryori, most notably the art of creating and presenting fresh, seasonal ingredients in the utmost exquisite way in order to best showcases their natural flavors and colors.

The restaurant includes both normal style seating and "sushi bar" style seating. We sat at the bar, which was great because it gave us a front row view to all the action in the kitchen.

The menu only has tasting menus. You can either order the four-course “Kaze” ($50) or the eight-course “Hana” ($70). The Hana and Kaze share the first four courses, but the Hana includes three additional dishes, including house-made soba noodles, dessert, and matcha.

We decided to go with the Hana, since Bryan always thinks you should try a restaurant's "signature" or flagship offering, especially if it's your first time and you're going to write a blog post about it.

We began with the first dish, Summer Eggplant with White Miso Sauce. I was surprised that the miso paste was actually a bit sweet. The dish had a pretty strong ginger essence. The deep fried (shallot?) strings on top gave the salad a nice crunch, and overall the dish felt simple, clean, and balanced.

The second course came hidden underneath a huge Magnolia leaf. In fact, it was called Shiitake Mushroom Soup with Magnolia Leaf Lid.

Inside there was a clear broth filled with fried shiitake mushrooms, house made fried tofu, syungiku, goma-fu, and choji-fu (the "-fu" being different types of pillowy wheat gluten blocks).

I absolutely loved the two types of fuyu, especially the more chewy one. The soup flavors were subtle yet complex at the same time, with a deep mushroom base supported by white peppery overtones. Although the dish was not very salty, the deep umami from the mushroom stock provided plenty of depth to the entire dish.

This was one of our favorite courses.

The next course was a fun play on chips and dip. The "chips" were actually leaves from a fire-roasted artichoke, while the "dips" were mashed up versions of lilly rosebud, avocado, and squash with plum. From a distance, the colors of the dips almost resemble a typical sushi plate, with the avocado as wasabi and the pink squash with plum as the ginger.

These "Artichoke Chips with Vegetable Dips" were served with a konnyaku yam with tofu sauce and a brown mustard spring roll. The mustard spring roll, which was rolled as thinly as a pencil, was crunchy with a strong yet vinegary zing from the mustard inside. I loved it. The dips were OK, but didn't especially strike me as that interesting.

The next course, simply yet deceptive called Vinegared Summer Vegetables, was beautiful and exotic at the same time. It consisted of ingredients like tomatoes, junsai, cresson, lotus root, and kaede-fu. Again, I loved the clean, simple, yet very balanced flavors of the various cold components.

"Junsai" is a water plant that is slightly gooey and gelatinous. These plants grown in mud ponds in Japan, the best being from Kyoto. Only when the junsai is grown in its native environment (transplanted ones won't do) will its young shoots develop the highly prized gelatinous covering. It's that stuff he's spooning in the picture up top.

"Cresson" is the green vegetable, which was briefly blanched while kaede-fu are the spongy, wheat-gluten based stars.

The next course, Fried Yuba Wrap with Morel Mushroom and Hijiki, was deeply flavorful. The soup was thick, with a strong essence of seaweed from the hijiki, a deep, black, and fragrant Japanese seaweed. The Yuba wrap consists of layers upon layers of soy sheets wrapped around Morel Mushrooms inside. This dish was extremely flavorful, full of rich umami from the seaweed and Morel mushrooms.

Vegan sushi isn't just about cucumber and avocado rolls. This Burdock Root with Kimipira Sushi was one of the best nigiri sushi "pieces" I'd ever had in the US. On top, thin, delicately julienned clies of burdock, carrots, and celery were marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar.

The rice was incredible - among the best sushi rice I've ever had in the US, rivaling what I've had in Japan. To complete the elegant presentation, this huge "sushi" was topped with microshiso leaves and French breakfast radishes pickled to look like ginger.

This dish was fantastic. The slightly sweet and crunchy vegetables were a perfect accompaniment to the gorgeously chewy rice.

Next we had Somen Noodle with Summer Cypress. The enoki mushrooms on top look sort of like noodles, while the "caviar" you see on top are actually seeds from the Summer Cypress plant. The seeds of this plant, called "tonburi" in Japan, are a delicacy in Japan and have a texture that is similar to caviar. Their preparation is quite labor-intensive, involving soaking and boiling the seeds for a day before hand-rubbing their outer skins off.

For dessert, we had this lovely light Matcha Bean Yokan and Hoji Tea Jelly. Asian desserts tend to be lighter and less sweet than American desserts, which I really like. Yokan is a dense gelatin-based block (made with matcha green tea here), while the jelly is less dense with a rich roasted tea flavor. Tiny tapioca balls on top complete the picture.

We watched Chef Ueshima as he executed the traditional Japanese art of making matcha with a bamboo whisk. Finely ground matcha powder is vigorously stirred with hot water using a bamboo whisk until a fine foam forms, almost like cappuccino.

We drank the matcha with candies by Kyoto Suetomi in Japan.

Two airy, light, sugar wafers were held together by a sweet, chewy filling in the center. The strong, slightly bitter matcha was a good contrast to the sweet sandwich cookies.

We ended the meal with fresh rambutan, a juicy tropical fruit that reminds me quite a bit of lychee.

Thoughts
Our meal at Kajitsu was really fun, although it took awhile for Chef Ueshima to warm up to us. Initially, he would just silently hand us the plates, allowing the server to explain each dish to us. It's quite understandable. After all, he had just come from Japan. We were literally trying the first set menu he had designed for the new restaurant. He felt uncomfortable with English, I think, which is why he stayed reasonably silent.

It wasn't until I tried to speak to him in Japanese that he relaxed and became a lot more friendly. He began trying to describe the dishes to us, using a mix of Japanese and English (after all, Bryan does not speak a lick of Japanese and mine's still pretty elementary!). With the help of smartphone dictionaries, we were able to communicate reasonably well, with much laughter in between.

The food was excellent. It was clear that a lot of thought had been put into designing these dishes. There were several standout dishes (e.g., the Shitake Mushroom Soup, Fried Yuba Wrap, and Burdock Root with Kimipira Sushi), and an occasional one that made me scratch my head (Artichoke Chips with Vegetable Dip).

It's hard for me to gauge how it compares with former Chef Nishihara's work. Although I really enjoyed the meal, I was not as floored with the food as I had expected to be based on everyone's glowing reviews.

Nevertheless, it was still a really, really cool experience and definitely worth trying at least once. If you've never had shojin ryori before, it's really quite an enjoyable and eye opening experience. I sampled so many flavors and textures I had never tried before.

It's pretty incredible that the chef can pull off such an interesting, flavorful, and fascinating progression of flavors - all without any meat products.

Kajitsu
414 E 9th St
New York, NY 10009

September 4, 2012 California

Luce

This blog could have so many more posts if Bryan would cooperate.You see, Bryan travels for work quite frequently. The nature of his industry allows him to visit some of the best food cities around the world. He often eats at great restaurants that I would love to write up. Unfortunately, whenever he shows me his dimly lit, fuzzy, yellow iPhone pictures that he took of his meals, I just can't bring myself to put them up on this blog.

It would kill me, really.

Thankfully, things are finally changing.

Bryan recently bought himself a pretty snazzy point & shoot camera. I have to say, I'm really, really impressed with this little Sony camera. It's small enough to fit inside his pocket, yet takes quite impressive food photos in pretty dark lighting.

Bryan really has no excuse now.

Lucky for all of us, Bryan has graciously agreed to start taking photos of the food he enjoys on his many business trips. We'll start an ongoing series of "Bryan's Travel Eats" on this blog. These posts will most likely be a bit more photo-driven, since I can't personally write nearly as much about these visits since I'm not there. Nevertheless, I'm thrilled to be able to share about even more cool restaurants on this blog.

For these posts, I will usually at least write a summary of his general thoughts regarding a restaurant at the bottom of the post. Hopefully, I can add as much detail as possible (but it's really all up to how much he can remember on these whirlwind trips that he takes). 🙂

Please enjoy! (and check out the debut of this little camera's work!)

Luce is a modern, new American restaurant inside the Intercontinental Hotel in San Francisco. The space is airy, bright, and sleek. Some have criticized the decor as being too "corporate" and cold. However, there's no denying that the impressive high ceilings and designer decor make this place well suited for power business meals.

Luce was previously helmed by the famous Dominique Crenn, who helped Luce earn its first Michelin star in 2010. Ms. Crenn became nationally famous when she won Iron Chef America in 2010 against Chef Michael Symon. Chef Crenn left Luce in March of 2011. Thankfully, the new chef de cuisine, Daniel Corey, has already proven himself by again achieving one Michelin star in 2012 for Luce.

Bryan came here with a co-worker during a business trip in San Francisco.

Before dinner at Luce, they first stopped at Bar 888, which is right next to Luce inside the Interncontinental. Bar 888 is the nation's first and largest grappa bar with over 120 (!) different grappas to try.

Bryan tried a couple grappa cocktails, which he thought were fun and tasty.

For dinner, Bryan and his co-worker decided to try the "Summer Tasting Menu" for $85, or $140 with wine pairing. Similar to at many restaurants, the whole table has to participate if you want to try the tasting menu.

The meal begins with a fun, savory amuse - savory, thin toasted bread topped with a single slice of tomato, a basil leaf, and a powdered "snow" (made from cheese, perhaps?).

The summer tasting continues with its first course, Roasted Abalone and Diver Scallop, which is served with pickled ramps and raspberries in a vibrant green foam.

The second course,Marinated Heirloom Tomatoes. is stunning in its artistic plating and is served alongside melon, pistachio, and basil.

The third course features a Slow Cooked Hen Egg with summer truffle, smoked potato, and pork jus.

Break the egg open to reveal the gorgeous, runny center.

Next comes a palate cleanser cleverly called "Sweet and Sour". Refreshing and light, it consists of marinated strawberries topped with a white balsamic sorbet.

The fifth course is a Poached Lobster served with charred onion and fig vinegar, turnips, and buckwheat.

The sixth course is a perfectly executed Herb Roasted Lamb Loin served with crispy belly, baby eggplant & fig, tiny dollops of yogurt, and berber spice.

Before dessert, a second palate cleanser, the Raspberry Mojito Float, appears.

The meal ends with an exquisite Elderflower Mousse, which comes with compressed white peaches and Bellini ice.

General Thoughts
Bryan was very impressed with the overall meal. The space is stunning, the service was excellent, and overall the food was great. The dishes embody a food philosophy that is so Californian - a dedicated focus on the region's rich bounty of locally-grown, seasonal ingredients.

Bryan thought that $85 for a tasting menu of this size and caliber was quite reasonable, especially considering the location of the restaurant, the complexity of the dishes, and the cachet of the Michelin star. Perhaps we're biased since we're coming at it from a Boston perspective (where such abundant access to great produce and high quality execution is just a bit harder to get). Nevertheless, biased or not, Bryan still thoroughly enjoyed his meal and was quite excited to tell me all about it when he got back to Boston.

Luce
888 Howard St
San Francisco, CA 94103

September 2, 2012 Boston

Happy Anniversary!

Jen & Bryan at Rockport, 1997

I've noticed something that my parents always told me when I was younger.

As you get older, it's so true - time just flies by faster and faster and faster.

I'm really shocked that it's already been a year since that day when Bryan and I went out into the desert in our wedding garb and took some crazy photos to commemorate our tenth wedding anniversary.

10th anniversary shoot - September 2011

In fact, the past 5 years since I graduated from law school have just whizzed by. I really feel like I started the blog yesterday!

Has it really been five years???

In some ways, it's funny to watch the progression of my posts throughout the years, starting with my 6th wedding anniversary post from Craigie Street Bistrot which had no photos (I know, shocker, can you imagine me posting something without photos today?) to my 8th wedding anniversary post from No. 9 Park (wait did I really skip a year? - I guess 2008 was a bare year for the blog), to our 9th at Menton (yes, we did a Barbara Lynch series for a couple years I guess), culminating in our crazy 10th year menu degustation at Joel Robuchon in Vegas.

How do you follow a crazy ten-year?

By being simple, I guess.

Wedding Day - September 1, 2001

Bryan and I purposely chose Labor Day weekend for our wedding because we liked the idea of always having a long weekend to celebrate our anniversary.

Typically we would love to travel. However, it's been a pretty crazy week for both of us. Bryan just came back from a business trip to SF where he ate at some fantastic restaurants (he recently got a decent point & shoot so I'll actually share his pics). I was in Montreal for work this past week as well (posts on my meals coming very soon!).

Alas, because we've both been away, it's actually really, really nice just to be home.

So we will be enjoying Boston this weekend. On our actual anniversary, we had a fabulous dinner at Uni. I don't want to give it all away now, but I thought I'd share with you just one pic from our 12-course tasting menu (of uni, of course!).

"Uni" at Uni

Tomorrow, we plan on cooking a nice, simple meal at home (maybe pick up some cheese and salumi from Formaggio Kitchen, make Bryan's favorite awesome homemade pasta carbonara, and grill some steaks). It will be low-key but really, really relaxing.

Perhaps we'll kayak on the Charles River, or maybe check out a museum.

I feel like I've been flying to so many places lately, it's actually really nice to be home.

Can't wait to enjoy Boston this weekend!

Happy 11th anniversary!

Bryan and Jen at Uni - Sept 2012

Bryan and Jen being silly the summer before they started dating - July 1996

August 28, 2012 New York

Shake Shack

This is the seventh post in the Eating the Big Apple series. Other posts include Soba Koh, Sylvia's Restaurant (Gospel Brunch), Torrisi Italian Specialties, Ippudo,Tasty Hand Pulled Noodle, and Il Buco Alimentari & Vinera.

Who has the best burger?

It's a touchy, touchy subject. Those from the West Coast (like my husband) swear by In & Out, citing their soft buns, high quality meat, and the variety of secret "off-menu" styles that are available. Friends from the DC area absolutely love Five Guys, a burger joint originally from Virginia that offers generously sized burgers with a wide variety of fresh, high quality toppings.

Up until this point, those were the only two I had tried. Bryan always insisted on stopping by In & Out every time we were in California, and I have several friends who are so obsessed about Five Guys (this is a couple years back), we would regularly make the trip to Dedham from Cambridge just for a bite of that burger.

Yet I would always hear about Shake Shack.

New Yorkers rave about Shake Shack. Fans point to the soft potato bun and deliciously juicy beef patty. Apparently their shakes are incredible too. Lines are notoriously long.

This past year Bryan and I finally tried Shake Shack. We visited twice - once at the original location in Madison Square Park and once at a newer location in the theater district (not too far from Times Square!).

Shake Shack is definitely a more recent phenomenon, starting as just a simple hot dog cart in Madison Square Garden to support the garden's first art installation. It became so popular that, in 2004, Shake Shack obtained permission to open a permanent kiosk right inside the park.

Since then, the lines have been notoriously long (the guy with the Lakers shirt above is at the end of the line). Don't be surprised if you have to wait 15-20 minutes for your burger. Thankfully, there are two lines. If you're just there for shakes, ice cream, or drinks, you can actually go into the much shorter line.

Their namesake burger "The Shackburger" (shown below), is a cheeseburger served with lettuce, tomatoes, and "Shack Sauce" (a ketchupy-mayo-like sauce with other spices).

Their burgers are cooked medium by default unless if you request otherwise. Frankly, I thought medium was just perfect. The potato bun is super soft and goes down quite easily with the juicy burger. The vegetables are all fresh, and overall, it's a great burger.

Their version of a hot dog - the Shack-cago dog- is topped with relish, cucumber, pickle, tomato, onions, sport pepper, celery salt, and mustard. It also uses the same type of potato bun. I'm really not a hot dog connoisseur, so I'll guess this is similar to a Chicago-style hot dog? (Yes, I'm embarrassed to say I was raised a Midwesterner and I don't know the answer to that . . .)

They serve all sorts of frozen custard. For some reason, this particular one I got was a bit melted, which made me sad. One time before, I had tried one delectable, single spoonful of perfect custard at the other location (they were passing out free samples), so I knew it could be better than this.

Perhaps this was an anomaly?

Bryan told me to go and get a new one, but I really didn't feel like standing in line again.

So I ate the melty one. The flavors of the custard were nice, but the melted, messy nature of the custard sort of ruined the texture and enjoyment of the dessert for me.

They had messed up our order and accidentally gave us a root beer float, which they let us keep. Bryan actually loves floats so he thought it was great. Me, I like my ice cream nicely solid. Why "melt" it with liquid and ruin a good thing? 😉

We visited one of the newer Shake Shack indoor "brick and mortar" locations in the theater district. This one is pretty close to Times Square (it's at 44th street and 8th Avenue). We stopped by here for a quick bite right before heading out to Penn Station (34th street) to take the train back to Boston.

This Shake Shack is trendy and modern inside, especially when compared to the outdoor benches at the Madison Square Garden location.

The lines are still ridiculously long and very often snake outside the door. They have those line-organizing barriers (like at Disneyworld!) to keep everything in order. Crazy!!

The seating area is reasonably large, and people eat quickly, so it wasn't too hard to find a seat.

Bryan got the crazy ShackStack® - a cheeseburger and a ’Shroom Burger topped with lettuce, tomato and ShackSauce. It was alright, with fresh ingredients and quality components, but Bryan thought it was a bit too crazy. It's virtually impossible to put that thing in your mouth, it's messy, and at the end of the day, it just wasn't as good as a simple cheeseburger.

"It tastes like a veggie burger with meat on top" - Bryan Che

I got the a single cheeseburger with lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles. It was just the right size and pretty darn good.

Thoughts
We both really enjoyed our burgers at Shake Shack. They definitely make a solid burger at a good price point ($4.55 for a single, $7.10 for a double cheeseburger). I can totally see why the lines are so long.

Having said that, Bryan still prefers In & Out. He didn't really like the beloved potato buns. He thought they were too "airy". He also is a huge fan of the "animal style" burger at In & Out (grilled onions, special "sauce"), and hasn't yet found another "fast" burger that quite competes.

Nevertheless, we both agreed that Shake Shack burgers are quite enjoyable and we would most definitely consider stopping by again if we were in New York.

And I still do want to go back and try a full cup of that custard. I am dreaming of a rich, thick and creamy bite without a melty puddle in sight.

Shake Shack
Madison Square Garden
11 Madison Ave
New York, NY 10010

August 24, 2012 Cambridge

Temple Bar

This is the third restaurant post in the new series, Welcome to My New Hood. Other posts in this series: Rafiki Bistro and Super Fusion Sushi.

I utterly can't believe it, but it's been just a little over a year since we moved into our our new place just north of Harvard Square.

This most certainly confirms that I am guilty of being just a tad sluggish on this "Welcome to my New Hood" Series. It isn't that I haven't been chowing down around my home (I have!). It's just harder to get inspired about my neighborhood joints when photos from trips like New York, Rome, Napa Valley, and Las Vegas vie for my attention.

But that's no excuse. There are some real gems just around the corner from where I live. I had originally expected to be secluded on my woodsy, tree-lined street, far away from any restaurants. I was pleasant surprised to find out how many really cool places are within a 5-minute walk from my home.

Temple Bar is one of these.

Temple Bar is owned by the Grafton Group, a group that also owns Park, Russell House Tavern, and Grafton Street Grill. The gastropub offers what it calls "modern American cuisine" with a focus on "seasonal, New England flavors at reasonable prices."

This place serves solid food at reasonable prices. It's a great reliable standby on those nights when we don't feel like cooking and don't feel like going out very far.
Have you ever tried a barrel aged cocktail? We certainly had not, and Bryan was most definitely intrigued by it. Hugh Reynolds, former bar manager at Temple Bar, had begun playing around with aging cocktails in charred oak barrels in order to round out and mellow the flavors of the alcohol.

Reynolds was the first in Boston to do this. Since then, other craft cocktails places, like Drink, have joined in on the fun. Though Reynolds is no longer at Temple, bar manager Alex Homans (from Russell House Tavern) continues the tradition.

The food at the Temple Bar is supposed to be "Modern American", though executive chef Greg Boschetti injects influences from many other cultures. Chef Boschetti trained under French chef Paul O'Connell at Chez Henri and Tom Berry (a "trailblazer" in Asian inspired bistro cuisine) at Temple Bar. As a result, don't be surprised if you see French, Asian, or other worldwide touches in his food.

For example, the Yuzu-Ginger Salmon Poke reminds me both of Japan and Hawaii. Chef Boschetti's version sits on top of a spicy cucumber salad and is topped with avocado mousse and shiso (one of my favorite Japanese herbs). The overall flavors of this dish are reasonably enjoyable and refreshing on a hot day.

Bryan loves duck, and he enjoyed this flavorful Tea Smoked Duck Salad. Thin slices of tea smoked duck breast are served over a healthy bed of arugula together with thyme roasted pear, candied pecans, and caramelized blue cheese in a roasted shallot-ginger vinaigrette.

The Slow-Braised Boneless Beef Shortrib is hearty and satisfying. It comes on top of horseradish mashed potato and is served with crispy shallots.

The White Truffle Pizza sounded promising, with avocados, tear drop tomatoes, baby Arugula topped with balsamic vinegar and white truffle oil. I couldn't really taste a strong white truffle essence. The crust was fine, but this dish did not particularly stand out.

We came back another time for brunch, where we started out by munching on complimentary baked muffins and coffeecake.

The House-Smoked Pastrami Reuben is great (and HUGE!). It comes stuffed with braised sauerkraut, house Russian dressing, and Gruyere.

I order the House Citrus & Fennel Salmon Gravlax, which comes with a toasted bagel, caper-herb cream cheese, and slices of tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions. The fennel and citrus cured gravlax is delicious (I do have a weakness for gravlax and love making it at home), and I enjoyed making little bagel sandwiches with it.

General Thoughts
In general, we enjoy going to Temple Bar. For a neighborhood restaurant, it delivers a nice combination of quality food, reasonable prices, and an interesting cocktail list. Usually the service is fine, though we have on occasion found it frustratingly slow.

Is it a destination-worthy restaurant?

Likely not - but only because I think Boston has a lot of really, really good gastropubs (heck, I used to have one within a 2-minute walk from home!). It's one of Boston's strengths in the dining arena - we have a lot of cozy little gastropubs that serve excellent beers and very good New American food. We're really fortunate in Boston that way. Perhaps it grew out of the Irish pub culture of a former generation.

More likely than not, you probably already have your own little gem of a "neighborhood pub" near by.

I'd love to hear about your favorite neighborhood gems. Please do share below in the comments section!

Temple Bar

1688 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138

August 22, 2012 Boston

Hard Rock Cafe Boston

A long time ago - during my awkward, braces-wielding, teeny-bopping days - I used to be obsessed with Hard Rock Cafe.

It wasn't because I liked hard rock. In fact, I sort of hated it. Seriously, it was only because so many other people at school wore their shirts. You know how it is in middle school - you scope out what everyone else is wearing and you desperately try to copy it.

Hair-sprayed tall hair? Check. Huge Esprit tote? Check. Guess jeans? Hmm, actually my mom never let me get those, so I guess that's not a check. But I tried as hard as I could.

I also liked visiting Hard Rock Cafes because they served as badges representing cities I had visited. My hometown did not have a Hard Rock, which meant we had to travel to get the coveted T-shirts. My sister and I relentlessly dragged my parents to multiple Hard Rock Cafes every time we traveled. If there was a Hard Rock Cafe in a city we visited, we had to go there.

I have Hard Rock memorabilia from Boston, Chicago, New York, Washington DC, Beverly Hills, and Orlando - not to mention Banff (Canadian Rockies), Tokyo, Singapore, and Honolulu.

We were nuts.

Then I went to college and proceeded to completely forget about the Hard Rock Cafe.

That is, until a couple weeks ago, when I got an invitation from My Blog Spark to try Boston's Hard Rock Cafe's new menu.

Hard Rock? Wow, that totally brings back such funny nostalgia. It's been years since I've even thought about that place.

I decided that, after almost 20 years, it was worth revisiting this place I'd sought after with such zeal during my childhood. I really had no idea how my new adult, food blogger self would see this place.

There was only one way to find out.

For those of you who have never heard of Hard Rock Cafe, it is a nationwide chain that houses cool rock memorabilia from famous (often local) artists.

It all started back in the seventies in London when Eric Clapton, who loved eating at this American restaurant called "Hard Rock Cafe", asked them if he could mark his favorite seat with a plaque.

They said, "why don't we put up your guitar?"

A week later, Pete Townshend of The Who dropped off his Gibson Les Paul.

Pretty soon, donations of guitars and other musical memorabilia began pouring in, and the restaurant slowly expanded throughout the world.

Eddie Van Halen

In Boston, for example, you can see Eric Clapton's acoustic guitar, Aerosmith's outfits, Van Halen's electric, and handwritten lyrics by Bruce Springsteen. It's sort of fun just to wander around the restaurant and peruse the stuff hanging on the walls.

Bryan and I arrived at the Hard Rock Cafe Boston on a warm, Monday evening. Although tons of seats were empty, the hostess told us there was a 20-minute wait. She could not seat us because the restaurant was severely understaffed.

"We only have 6 servers. You're welcome to go to the bar."

We walked over to the bar. Initially, the bartender told us she was maxed out and wouldn't be able to serve us. However, we indicated that the hostess had sent us here. She looked harried. A piles of dirty dishes sat forlornly a few seats down from us, desperately wishing to be cleaned up.

It was quite evident the staff was overworked.

Bryan tried to order a beer on tap, only to find out almost all of their beers were sold out.

"We had a crazy weekend; the patrons drank up most of the beer on tap."

Thankfully there were one or two remaining choices, so Bryan opted for one of them (sorry, I can't remember what it was!).

For appetizers, we tried the Santa Fe spring rolls, which were stuffed with spinach, black beans, cilantro, corn, jalapenos, diced red peppers and Jack cheese. It was satisfying (we were hungry!) and decent, though I did leave behind the tired bed of lettuce in which they sat.

We tried the hickory smoked BBQ combo with ribs and pulled pork. The ribs were, unfortunately, a bit tough and far from "fall-off-the-bone." The pulled pork was OK, but it was hard to really love either one considering we had just tried some pretty incredible barbecue a few weeks ago.

Hard Rock calls their burgers "Legendary", which compelled us to try one. These burgers are 10 ounces and come with either fries or onion rings. At $15 each, they are flirting with the prices of Craigie's famous bone-marrow-infused burger, the famous Radius Burger, and actually cost more than a Smith & Wollensky burger made from 100% prime beef.

The burgers were good - definitely the best item we had that night. The meat is juicy, cooked well, and slightly charred on the outside. It's filled with onion rings, cheese, and bacon.

They make regional versions of burgers too. The Boston version is topped with baked beans, which just didn't sound all that appetizing to me.

For dessert, they have normal sized desserts and "bites", which are small portions that only cost $3. We tried two different bites - chocolate mousse and chocolate peanut butter pie. Both tasted as expected - decent, but nothing to write home about.

Overall, Hard Rock Cafe is a mixed bag. The memorabilia is cool, and if you're a fan of rock, you'll love looking through the cool collection that the Boston Hard Rock Cafe has. However, the food is mediocre, not exactly cheap, and the service can be spotty (though I must say that after we sat down, our bartender actually took reasonably good care of us).

If you do come, the burger is pretty solid, and I'm guessing some classic "American" dishes might not be too bad either. However, I definitely wouldn't consider the food destination-worthy. There are much, much better places in Boston for the same price.

Disclaimer
I received free gift certificates to try the food at Hard Rock Cafe as part of the My Blog Spark program. All opinions in the post are my own.

August 16, 2012 Washington DC

Happy Birthday Julia Child!

Julia Child, the iconic TV chef who introduced French cooking to everyday Americans, would have turned 100 today.

Julia Child lived in North Cambridge, not too far from where I live now. She loved shopping at Formaggio Kitchen and Savenor's (both of which, by the way, are fantastic gourmet markets). She regularly dined at Sandrine's and Harvest, both in Harvard Square.

In 2001 Julia Child donated her kitchen from her Cambridge home to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.

I had the honor of being at the Smithsonian Museum of American History today to attend a special birthday celebration in honor of Julia Child.

There were A LOT of people there!

A band of musicians dressed up as chefs played a few songs, including happy birthday.

They passed out cookies made from one of Julia Child's recipes. Land O Lakes donated 50 kg of butter and Wegman's donated the rest of the ingredients and the labor cost. Can you believe they made over 3000 cookies?

Afterwards, we visited Julia's kitchen, which has recently been moved (within the museum) and rebuilt in a way that allows more people to view it at once. Whereas there used to be only three "viewing" windows around the kitchen, there are now six viewing windows.

Isn't this cute? Julia liked to use a pegboard to keep track of where everything went. If you look closely, you'll see the outline of each item drawn on the board indicating where everything goes.

I was so intrigued by all her kitchen gadgets. What are all those copper pans in the back? It was also cool to think that this was the famous kitchen where she filmed so many of her TV episodes.

Julia Child's kitchen will become part of a larger new exhibit at the Museum of American History exploring food and wine in America from 1950-2000.

The exhibit will explore how food in America has changed as a result of technology (e.g., the scienrific advancement of food production and "Big Ag"), immigration (e.g., the rise of Mexican cuisine and, more recently, Indian and Asian cuisine), and major historical events, like World War II. Julia Child is a huge player in this history, being the one to bring the art of French cooking to everyday Americans.

They have acquired some interesting pieces to display, such as a Krispy Kreme doughnut machine and shopping carts from the 1950's compared to a Costco cart today.

The exhibit begins on November 20, 2012. It sounds exciting and I can't wait to see it!

A Peek of DC Food
Of course, I can't write a food blog post without posting any pictures of food, right? I've been in DC the past two days on a crazy food tour. Here's just a small peek at some of the stuff I've enjoyed!
A lovely cappuccino with "latte art" from Peregrine.

A gorgeous cocktail from the bar at the Federalist, the restaurant/bar that is part of the new (20 million dollar) renovated Madison Hotel.

Fantastic dumplings from The Source, Wolfgang Puck's restaurant-within-a-museum in DC.

A snack before dinner? Mussels served with pipirrana, Sherry dressing and honey from Jaleo.

The "Vegetal" gin and tonic from Jaleo, complete with radish, fennel, cubeb (tailed pepper), and kumquat.

Palak Chaat - a fantastic crispy spinach appetizer from Rasika West End in DC.

I still plan on visiting a few more places before returning to Boston. I will definitely write about all of these restaurants in full, gory (photolicious!) detail after the Eating the Big Apple series concludes. I've definitely visited some incredible places and I can't wait to share them with you.

Stay tuned!

Disclaimer - this trip, including all the meals, were provided by Destination DC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting DC as a travel destination. All opinions provided in this post are my own.

August 15, 2012 New York

Il Buco Alimentari & Vinera

This is the sixth post in the Eating the Big Apple series. Other posts include Soba Koh, Sylvia's Restaurant (Gospel Brunch), Torrisi Italian Specialties, Ippudo, and Tasty Hand Pulled Noodle.

I rarely visit the same restaurant twice.

OK, perhaps I exaggerate slightly. Maybe I should say, if I’m not in Boston, I hardly ever re-visit a restaurant that I’ve written about in a blog post. Why “waste” a meal on a restaurant I’ve visited before when I could be trying dishes, photographing, and writing about a completely new restaurant?

Instead, my typical modus operandi involves scouring my favorite sources (my “go-to’s include Chowhound, the Michelin Guide, Zagat, and various “Best Restaurant” lists on the internet”) and planning the trip itinerary around the food.

I broke my own rule the last time I was in New York.

Come to think of it, I think I regularly break that rule in New York. I’ve visited Le Bernardin and Sushi Yasuda (two of my favorite restaurants in New York), at least three times each.

And now I think I’m adding another restaurant to that category.

Il Buco Alimentari & Vinera, the closest thing to Roscioli (our favorite Italian marketplace/restaurant in Rome) this side of the "pond", is definitely a place that is worth visiting over and over and over again.

Il Buco Alimentari & Vinera is the second restaurant from Donna Lennard, founder of the first Il Buco back in 1994. Donna longed for a restaurant that embodied the philosophy that she saw all over Italy. In Italy, markets selling the day’s freshest and best salumis, cheeses, and pastas sit a stone's throw from the local eateries.

What you end up getting are local, family restaurants that serve incredible food because they have easy, virtually immediate access to some seriously fine ingredients.

Il Buco Alimentari & Vinera aims to recreate that little Italian "village." They bake their own breads, cure their own salumis, and carry a huge selection of fantastic olives, olive oils, cheeses, and other fine imports from Italy.

Culatello, salame Toscano, finocchi, guanciale, capocollo, pancetta, prosciutto, mortadello, “bologna”

The house-cured meats are fantastic. The availability always varies depending on which meats are ready. During one visit, for example, our sampler plate included the mortadello, prosciutto, “bologna”, speck, and guanciale. They also have a nice selection of imported cured meats from Italy and Spain (among other places). It's fun to order a variety to share.

If you don't want the entire large share plate you can custom order a smaller share plate (even though it's not on the menu). Bryan and I did that the second time we visited when it was just the two of us.

We started with the Crispy Artichoke with Preserved Lemons and Parsley. Pickled and then flash fried, these mini-artichoke hearts were great starters. I was not expecting them to be so brown, but I still enjoyed this snack. Artichokes are huge in Rome, and thus this appetizer totally reminded us of our recent Rome trip.

Ceviche with Local Fluke, Black Radish, Cucumber, and Jicama was light, fresh, and just a beautiful combination of flavors and textures (crunchy, creamy, and bright!). Perfect for summer.

Octopus a la Plancha was expertly grilled - gorgeously crispy on the outside yet soft and tender on the inside. It came with Corona beans, Taggiasca olives, and kumquats.

The Chittara (house extruded pasta) with Ramps, Fresh Chili, Lemon, and Pecorino was fantastic. The texture of the pasta had a nice toothsome bite to it, and I loved the herbaceous flavor from the ramps, one of my favorite springtime vegetables.

Paccheri (another house-extruded pasta) with Braised Oxtail, Greens, and Parmigiano also had great texture as well as a deep, rich, flavorful meat sauce.

Bucatini Cacao e Pepe is pasta with Pecorino Romano and black pepper. It is deceptively simple, relying a lot on the pure quality of its ingredients. I loved the al dente "QQ" bite of the pasta. Though the ingredients were simple, this dish packed a ton of flavor, seriously contending as one of the best pasta dishes we’ve ever had in America. (!)

The Lasagnette, served with spinach and braised pork shoulder, was also very tasty. The pork was fall-off-the-bone tender and the tomato-based sauce full of flavor from the braised meat.

Salt-Roasted Branzino
thyme, coarse sea salt, caramelized lemon

I’ve had branzino several times in many area restaurants. Every restaurant I’ve visited recommends the branzino as the restaurant’s house special, claiming it's one of the best dishes. Although it’s usually quite good, at the end of the day, I’ve always though of salt-roasted branzino as an oven-steamed fish – nice with lemon, but nothing extraordinary.

Il Buco changed all that. The branzino at Il Buco was seriously the best branzino I’d ever had. Though similar in preparation, the texture was super soft and the flavor was somehow incredible. It must be the quality of the fish.

Porchetta alla Roman
shaved fennel, blood orange, mustard greens, cracklings

This wonderfully “porky” dish came with soft, fall-off-the-bone porchetta that was incredibly juicy and flavorful. The smoky cracklings added a lovely defining crunch to the dish.

Spit-Roasted Short Ribs
Castelvetrano olives, celery, walnuts, horseradish

The result of being cooked for many, many hours, these short ribs were soft, meltingly-tender, and absolutely delicious.

Dessert

I did not expect a small splash of aged balsamic vinegar to make such a difference, but I was blown away by the house made panna cotta with 10-year aged balsamic vinegar. The aged vinegar was deep, almost-syrupy, and sweet. It added a lovely complex dimension to the creamy panna cotta.

In fact, I liked it so much I broke down and purchased a whole bottle of this gorgeous balsamic vinegar at the market after our meal.

I confess, I often sneak small cups of this addictive stuff and drink it straight up. It's that good.

I ended the meal with a Cappuccino and some cookies.

Bryan went with the Espresso. Both were great and totally reminded us of Italy, again.

The Food
The food here is excellent. We've only been here twice (once for lunch, once for dinner), but both times we had a great time. Everything is good. The salumis are among the best we've ever had, the cheeses are excellent, and the pastas are unparalleled. Every single meat/fish dish was executed really well.

The Market
It's hard not to be tempted to shop at the market after the meal. The best part is that you can often purchase things that you enjoyed during your meal, such as particular cheeses, cured meats, or olive oils.

I picked up a huge bottle of amazingly fragrant extra virgin olive oil as well as a bottle of that lovely balsamic vinegar.

They are used to dealing with out of town customers, so they can help you pick out market items that will last your trip home. In our case, we ordered a bunch of fantastic cured meats as well as some of their delicious bread. Perfect for a sandwich on the train or bus ride back to Boston!

Il Buco Alimentari & Vinera
53 Great Jones St
New York, NY 10012

August 13, 2012 Cambridge

Park (Harvard Square)

Harvard Square is forever a changing scene when it comes to restaurants.

Back when I first moved into the area (over 10 years ago!), it seemed like the only way to get really good food was go somewhere really casual (e.g., Herrell’s ice cream, Bartley’s Burgers, Veggie Planet) or really fancy (Craigie Street Bistrot, Rialto, or Upstairs at the Pudding).

There was a gaping hole for nice, gastropubs that offered excellent food, a great drink list, and reasonable prices.

The past five years, several casual yet great food-focused options have popped up right in the Square. Russell House Tavern is by far the most popular one, serving excellent new American cuisine along with a great selection of drinks. The Monday Club just recently opened its food bar, another great alternative for reasonably priced and fantastic small plates, pizzas, and pastas.

Add to that list places like Tory Row, Ten Tables, Garden At the Cellar, and now Park, you have a solid list of great gastropubs serving innovative and well executed dishes that go with great beer on tap.

Park replaces Redline, a tired, American pub/nightclub whose dated presence just wasn't working anymore (or perhaps it was the food, which I never found to be that exciting?). After a massive renovation, Park re-opened just a couple months ago to great fanfare, not the least of which came from the very influental Boston Globe writer Devra First.

The interior resembles an old library filled with cozy little sitting areas where you can lounge in leather couches while staring up at endless shelves of books. The tables are a bit smaller and lower to the ground here, but I really like it because it's more low-key. It's like relaxing in a friend’s living room - there’s a bit less noise and a bit more space.

Bacon 3-way

I had been intrigued by the “toasts” that they offered. Though I was tempted to order the tomato-themed set of three toasts, Bryan really wanted to try the Bacon 3-way toasts [$12], so we went that way instead.

The "Bacon, Egg, and Cheese" is unusual in that it's made with lamb bacon, Gruyere cheese, and a quail egg. It was excellent. The bacon was well crisped, the egg was just a tad runny, and the toast was nicely browned.

Similarly the House cured Maple Bacon, Confit Tomato and Arugula toast was tasty and my favorite of the bunch.

The Prosciutto, Summer Melon and Balsamic (there was no toast involved, just a Chinese ladle filled with tiny bits of melon, prosciutto, and balsamic), was more interesting in concept than actual execution. The flavors were alright, but I did not think the creative presentation added anything to the flavors.

Meat Pies
We had heard some pretty incredible things about their popular ever-changing daily Meat Pies. They only make a certain amount per day and invariably run out early. As predicted, they had run out of the last meat pie by the time we ordered (even though it was like 7PM - Grrr!).

According to the chef, the meat pies keep them creative. Though most of the menu is relatively constant, the meat pie changes daily. It gives them the creative outlet to continue innovating, dreaming up new variations and styles of this comfort classic.

Bryan did manage to order a meat pie on a subsequent solo visit and reported back that it was sausage-based and was “pretty good.” (He is a man of few words, alas).

The side dish Sautéed Garlicky Greens [$6] was fine but a bit underwhelming. It's serviceable if you're ordering a side of vegetables to be healthy, but the flavors were only OK. Any Cantonese restaurant's version of garlic wok-fried vegetables beat this hands down in terms of flavor.

Bryan really liked the Salt and Pepper Shrimp Pickled Jalapeños, Napa Cabbage and Cilantro [$10], which was recommended to us by the waitress. Though the pan-Asian inspired flavors were not my personal favorite (it was just a bit sweet & sour for my tastes), the shrimp was executed well and the dish was still enjoyable.

Seared Scallops Corn purée, shaved asparagus and house-cured bacon vinaigrette [$23]

The scallops were perfectly cooked - nicely seared, juicy, and sweet - and were served alongside thinly shaved asparagus and topped with bacon. The flavors were solid, though it was the type of dish that I sort of felt like I could recreate at home.

Bryan loved the Grilled Lamb Belly Summer succotash, Madeira [$19]. It was extremely tender, “fall-off-the-bone” soft and full of deep, rich flavor that was brightened a bit by the Madeira wine. The accompanying succotash was great, chock full of fresh peas, corn, and fava beans. I would totally come back and just order myself a full side of of succotash, it was so good.

Initial Thoughts
Park is a welcomed addition to the burgeoning food scene in Harvard Square. It offers a nice selection of well-executed creative dishes at a reasonable price point. The food is good, and we like the focus on fresh seasonal ingredients as applied to comfort foods. The bar has a lot of craft cocktails that we have yet to try and the beer selection looks great as well.

Is it my first choice for dining in Harvard Square? Probably not. Being a person who loves fresh farm produce more than meat-focused comfort foods, I tend to gravitate towards restaurants with lighter fare.

Nevertheless, the food is solid (Bryan definitely liked the restaurant more than I did overall), and it's a great option to have in the Square. The menus has a nice variety of options, the dishes are executed well, and it's fun going there.

I'm sure we'll return.

Park
59 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

August 7, 2012 Italian

Pasta Carbonara

Pasta Carbonara is so misunderstood.

I misunderstood it for years.

{OK, to be fair, I haven't known pasta carbonara for that long. In fact, I first knew the name as a server at MIT. Yes, MIT named its servers after pasta dishes, likes Primavera, Carbonara, you get the picture.}

But even after I knew that it was a pasta dish, I always thought I hated carbonara. Why? I really don't care for cream sauces. Fettuccine Alfredo makes me shudder, and I would choose a rustic tomato or simple olive-oil sauce any day over a cream sauce (with only a few exceptions).

But then I tried carbonara in Rome.

It's so different there.

In Rome, we tasted some of the best carbonara we'd ever had in our lives. At Roscioli, a restaurant known for obsessing about the source of its ingredients, it's all about the eggs. The pasta carbonara at Roscioli is much "eggier" than any carbonara we've ever had. The intensely yellow-yolked eggs come from Paolo Parisi, a well-known egg farmer whose free-range hens feed on goats' milk.

We also learned that pasta carbonara in Rome has absolutely no cream.

In fact, the ingredient list for this rich, velvety pasta is ridiculously short and simple.

A true carbonara consists of only the following: eggs, guanciale (smoked pork jowls), pasta, cheese, and fresh, ground pepper. That's it! Forget the garlic, white wine, parsley, and butter. Definitely forget the cream.

Because of the recipe's simplicity, it's crucial that you buy the highest quality ingredients. You can easily be disappointed by this recipe if you don't use good ingredients.

So we went all out. We went to Formaggio Kitchen, one of the nicest gourmet stores in the Boston area known especially for its incredible cheese selection. We picked up a really nice, eggy dried pasta from Italy called Marco Giacosa.

We bought the house-cured guanciale (cured pig's jowls), a mix of Pecorino Romano and pure Pecorino from Italy, Chip-In eggs, and a blend of pink, white, and black peppercorns. For fun, I threw in some Sichuan peppercorns that I had as well.

Once you have your ingredients, it's really, really easy to make this simple dish. Cook the guanciale over medium heat until the fat is rendered. The original recipe says don't let it brown, but definitely ignore that! All of the guanciale we had in Rome was super crispy. It was one of our favorite parts of the dish, so I would definitely let it get nice and crispy. Drain the oil and put the guanciale in a separate bowl. Mix in your glorious bowl of (mostly) egg yolks, and stir!

Meanwhile, on the side, cook your pasta until perfectly al dente (make sure to salt the water a lot, til it "tastes like the ocean"). Grate some cheese, crush some pepper, and then get ready to assemble!

Add in all the goodies (including some reserve guanciale fat and pasta water!), taking care to add the cheese in small quantities (and mixing in between) so it can melt and distribute evenly.

Toss everything together!

Serve on warm plates, as the dish does cool pretty quickly.

Add extra fresh ground pepper and grated cheese to taste.

Enjoy!

Bryan, definitely my toughest critic by a long shot, thought the dish was really good and happily volunteered to eat all the leftovers the following day.

This one's definitely a keeper.

Pasta Carbonara
Serves 4-6
adapted from Barbara Lynch (of Boston's No. 9 Park, Menton, among others)

¼ pound guanciale, cut into ⅓" cubes
7 large egg yolks
1 large egg
1 pound pasta (I used pappardalle)
Kosher salt
½ - 1 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano (original recipe said ½ cup, but we added more)
¾ teaspoon freshly ground green peppercorns
¾ teaspoon freshly ground pink pepper
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
[note: I just used 2 teaspoon of one of those pre-mixed sets of peppercorns]
Freshly ground black pepper

Cook guanciale in a large skillet over medium heat until fat renders and the guanciale is nicely browned and crispy, about 10 minutes. Pour into a fine-mesh sieve set over a small bowl; reserve drippings. Transfer guanciale to a large bowl and let cool slightly. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks and egg.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water (I made the water pretty salty, "like the ocean."), stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain, reserving ½ cup pasta cooking liquid. To the egg mixture, immediately add pasta, 2 tablespoons pasta cooking liquid, and 1 teaspoon guanciale drippings; and toss to coat. Working in 3 batches, gradually add the cheese, stirring and tossing to melt between batches. Add the fresh ground pepper and toss until sauce thickens, adding more pasta water by tablespoonfuls if needed. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Divide among bowls. Garnish with additional Pecorino and fresh ground pepper.

Enjoy!

Note: I halved the recipe (it could still easily serve 3 people), so I used 3 egg yolks and 1 egg, which still worked out fine.

August 3, 2012 Chinese

Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles

This is the fifth post in the Eating the Big Apple series. Other posts include Soba Koh, Sylvia's Restaurant (Gospel Brunch), Torrisi Italian Specialties, and Ippudo.

I started eating hand-pulled noodles at a very young age.

At that time, I didn't even appreciate how awesome it was. We were fortunate, I guess. In the middle of Toledo Ohio, there was this Chinese couple (who grew up in Korea, interestingly), that opened a simple Chinese restaurant called Peking City.

Sure, the restaurant had its fair share of Americanized Chinese food (hello Orange Chicken!) and (oddly enough) Korean staples like Jja Jang Myeon. But the most beautiful thing? The husband knew how to make hand pulled noodles.

I didn't really appreciate the rarity of this treat until I moved to Boston. All of a sudden, I was living in a city where (at most) you might have one hand pulled noodle shop (if you're lucky) exist for a few years before shuttering (ah, Noodle Alcove, I miss you).

In desperation, I tried learning to make my own. I even took a noodle pulling class in Beijing to learn from the masters themselves (yes, check out the video of the class that I made!). When traveling to other cities, we continued to eat noodles - in Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, the Bay Area - even a place that Anthony Bourdain visited.

Thankfully, I need not travel that far for noodles. New York City is pretty close to Boston, and there are tons of hand-pulled noodle shops there. This past year, I visited my first hand pulled noodle shop in Chinatown.

Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles is your typical hole-in-the-wall in Chinatown. Tucked away in a small side street, the friendly, colorful sign beckons you into a reasonably cramped eating space with simple wooden tables and pictures of dishes on the walls.

One of my favorite things about this restaurant is that you can "custom-order" your noodles. You choose between "normal", "wide," or "fat" hand pulled noodles. You can also get knife-cut noodles (not hand pulled, but shaved off of a huge block into boiling water!). You can even order rice noodles (but why would you ever do that? They're not homemade!).

Of course we got a variety, opting for "normal", "wide", "fat", and "knife cut."

They asked us if we wanted to also get some veggies, like the house made pickles. I kind of regret bowing to the pressure at the time. These were frankly kind of average - I actually much prefer my own version.

The noodle soups, on the other hand, were great. The broths are pretty simple - bone-based, clear, and reasonably light. Those that are used to intense, flavorful broths may find this a bit "bland", but I thought it was fine and I didn't mind the "lighter" style soup. I think most of the offerings use the same basic broth, just with different combinations of ingredients.

How do you know if you have *real* hand pulled noodles? You'll have A LOT of trouble cutting your noodles in half. After all - hand pulled noodles derive from one loooooong noodle that gets pulled and doubled, over and over again.

We tried various methods of trying to cut the noodles, including this interesting "cut from the edge of the bowl using chopsticks" method. I guess it wouldn't be so much of a problem if you have your own bowl and you can just keep on slurping that one long noodle. However, we were with friends, and the four of us wanted to try all four noodle dishes that we ordered, thus the complexities.

I loved the super wide noodles, which had a great, chewy "QQ" bite to it.

That particular wide noodle was paired with a wonton noodle soup, which was pretty good.

The pan fried dumplings, although serviceable, were a disappointment overall. I've had much better dumplings, both in Los Angeles and in China. These were a bit greasy, not super crispy, and overall just a bit too heavy. I would stick with the noodles and skip the fried dumplings.

One of the best ways to enjoy the texture of handmade noodles is to have them in a pan-fried dish. At the end of the day, if you're not a super fast eater, you risk the soup softening the fresh noodles over time. This problem doesn't occur in a pan-fried noodle dish, which is why I often like to order pan-fried fresh noodles instead of soup noodles. [I'm also a particularly huge fan of knive-cut noodles in general, so perhaps I'm biased?]

These knife-cut noodles had awesome texture. In some ways, it almost didn't matter what specific other things came along with the noodles. I was just happy chewing away at the wide ribbons.

Alas, we ordered way too much food, but it was super fun to try so many dishes. Overall, Tasty makes great noodles. Skip the cucumbers and pan fried dumplings. Focus on the various permutations of what they make best - noodles!

Some may argue that their broth is a little less complex than other broths (Bryan still prefers the flavors of the noodle soups at his favorite LA haunt, for example). There's also less variety, as it seems like most of the noodle soups are based on this one broth.

Nevertheless, if you're just in the mood for a simple, well-executed, cheap and satisfying bowl of chewy, hand-pulled noodles (most dishes are $5-$7), Tasty does a fine job of it.

Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles
1 Doyers St
New York, NY 10013

August 1, 2012 Cambridge

Formaggio Kitchen Barbecue

We've had a gemstone hiding under our nose this entire summer.

Of course we've known about Formaggio Kitchen the store. How could we not? It's the most famous cheese shop in Boston and likely one of the best gourmet markets as well. It's not a surprise that Julia Child (who would have turned 100 this August) was a loyal customer of this market.

But Formaggio Kitchen is not just a store. On Saturdays from March to October, they serve a mean barbecue right outside the store.

Bryan and I decided to stop by one Saturday late morning (around 11AM) and were floored by how good it was.

There's tons of prep work that goes into all this fantastic food. Starting on Thursday, grill masters smoke the ribs and pulled chicken, pork, beef, and lamb over a variety of wood, such as apple wood chips. On Friday, whole chickens are split and marinated while the ribs begin their long 3 ½ hour slow cook. Meanwhile, the pulled meats begin an even longer 10 hour slow grill.

After the crazy 10 hours of cooking, the grill masters manually pull apart the meat (which can be quite labor intensive!) and cook everything in large pots with seasoning and sauce.

On top of all this, they are baking cornbread, stewing baked beans, making cole slaw, potato salad, and all the necessary sauces to go with the barbecue.

In short, for what they charge, it really seems like a ridiculously good bargain.

Let me tell you though, the lines can get really long. It may look deceptively short, but because there are only two people manning the entire grill, each order takes quite some time. The same two people take your order, (sometimes) quickly grill your item to heat it up, make your sandwich, pack it all up for you, and then handle payments as well. You can imagine how the line could get backed up really quickly.

See the picture above? That's where I was standing, and I waited about 45 minutes before ordering. I showed up around 11:20AM, which is pretty early (considering they open at 11AM).

When I finally got to the front of the line, I had a hard time deciding what to get!

Here's their huge tray of cornbread.

Homemade potato salad

Apple Jicama Cole Slaw
BBQ half chicken ($9) and grilled peaches

BBQ Pork Ribs (½ rack) for $12 (full rack for $24)

Texas Style Beef Ribs - $3 each

You can get various types of pulled meat sandwiches, such as pulled chicken, pulled lamb, pulled chicken, or beef brisket ($6 for a small, $10 for a large). All of these are served on Iggy's bread, which is grilled on the spot.

Check out these pots of gorgeous pulled meats, all of which have been smoked, cooked, and stewed for hours on end.

Everything is served in a takeout container, so you can conveniently take it with you wherever you need to go.

One of the more unique things they serve is lamejun, an Armenian flatbread topped with ground meat, garlic, and parsley paste. It's grilled on the spot and topped with cheese and a tomato salsa.

So What Did You Try?
It was really hard to decide (and we still ordered way too much food), but we finally settled on trying a pulled lamb sandwich, beef brisket sandwich, grilled corn, lamejun, and a beef rib.

The pulled meat sandwiches were fantastic. I was floored by their beautiful, melt-in-your-mouth tenderness as well as their rich, intense flavors. If you've never had pulled lamb and like lamb a lot, you'll love this sandwich. Yes, it was quite messy to eat (I think we used a fork and knife!) but so worth the cost!

The rib was nicely charred and flavorful but not exactly fall-off-the-bone. We thought it was definitely solid but it did not blow us away in quite the same way as the pulled meat sandwiches did. If we came back again, we would probably skip this one and try something different.

The grilled corn was great - solidly made with quality ingredients. I still prefer my own Taiwanese grilled corn (perhaps I'm partial to Asian flavors after all), but if you like corn with cheese, chili, and lime, you'll probably enjoy this.

I really liked the lamejun, which was quite unique and not something you would typically find at a BBQ joint. It turns out that the owner is from Turkey, which may have influenced the decision to offer some Mediterranean foods on the menu.

The lamejun come from Eastern Lamejun Bakers in Belmont and are grilled and topped with Formaggio's own cheese and salsa. I'd never had one before, so it's hard to compare it with others, but I will say that I loved the balanced contrast between the crispy flatbread, savory meat paste, and bright salsa on top. It was also a nice "break" from the heavy barbecued meats we were eating.

Thoughts
I absolutely loved the barbecue here. My favorites by far were the pulled meat sandwiches and (surprisingly) the lamejun. The ribs were fine, but I don't think they were necessarily the best I've had. Similarly, the corn was solid but nothing particularly spectacular.

Is it worth the wait? Well, depends on the weather, I think. 45 minutes is quite a long time. Bryan sat at one of the outdoor tables (there are a handful of seats) while I waited in line. We would text each other periodically throughout the wait as we tried to decide what to order. If you're short on time, you're arguably much better off heading to Blue Ribbon in Arlington and getting barbecue that's still pretty darn good.

I think it's sort of a chicken and egg problem. If the weather's bad, less people will come out, and then the wait isn't so bad. I think it's better to come either really early (like right at 11AM), or pretty late, like at 2PM. However, if you come late you risk them running out of certain items.

You can order ahead, which might alleviate the line problem. Also, outside is cash only. If you don't have enough cash, you'll have to go inside the store and wait in another line to pay.

In short, it has become one of my favorite barbecue places in the city, and I'm not the only one who thinks this. They won Best Street Food by Boston Magazine in 2007 and Top Ten Best New BBQ Spots in the US by Bon Appetit magazine.

And all this is just a 12-minute walk from my home. How awesome is that?

Formaggio Kitchen Saturday BBQ
menu
244 Huron Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138

July 31, 2012 Ice cream

64 Pints of Ice Cream Delivered

It was around 9AM when the doorbell rang.I wasn't surprised. After all, I had been expecting a delivery. 2nd St. Creamery had contacted me a couple weeks before asking me if I wanted to sample some of their premium ice cream. They were about to enter the Boston market, and wanted to give me a chance to taste it.

How could I say no? Ice cream is one of my all-time favorite foods, and I'm always on the lookout for new premium ice cream.

They said they would send me 8 pints so that I could hold a small party and share it with friends, family, or coworkers. I had given myself about 15 minutes in the morning to put the ice cream away before heading out for a work meeting in the morning.

I opened the door.

There stood the delivery man, holding a box about the size of a small freezer.

"I got one more in the truck for you!" he chirped as he ran back towards the truck.

I stood at the door, stunned.

He soon drove away, leaving me with two huge boxes at the base of the staircase leading up to the kitchen.

They were so heavy, I could not lift them by myself. I pushed them up the staircase to the living room area where I opened them up.

Why would 8 pints require such ridiculous packaging?

Whaaaaaaattt??!!

They had accidentally shipped me eight 8-pint packs.

Yes indeed. I had SIXTY-FOUR pints of ice cream and just a normal-sized refrigerator at home.

What's a girl to do?

At this point I knew I was going to be late for my work meeting. There was no way I could put all these away in 5-10 minutes.

Seriously, how does one deal with 64 pints of ice cream?

I emailed the person at work and asked for a reschedule, which he kindly obliged.

Meanwhile, I tried pushing the boxes up to the level of the kitchen. I eventually was able to get some of the ice cream pints into the freezer. I left the rest in the styrofoam box (filled with dry ice) knowing the ice cream would last at least one day.

Later on that evening, after desperately calling a few friends and giving away about 15 pints of ice cream, I managed to squeeze the remaining 50 or so into my freezer.

Yes, I had to throw away a bunch of old stuff and move other stuff into the refrigerator, but I somehow managed to get it done.

A couple weeks later, as promised, I had a party at my house for about 30+ people who all sampled the three flavors that were sent to me.

Guests munched on ice cream while I asked them their opinions about the three flavors.
Tons of Brownie
This first flavor is a simple vanilla based ice cream with "tons of brownies" mixed in. Those that liked it enjoyed the generous chunks of brownies that were relatively evenly spread throughout. Out of the three flavors, however, this one was the least popular. More than one person thought the brownies did not give the overall ice cream enough of a deep chocolate-y flavor. Several people found the ice cream too sweet.

Personally, I also found the overload of brownies a bit too sweet for me. The brownies did not necessarily contribute much of a deep, quality chocolate flavor to the ice cream. Instead, it mostly added unnecessary sweetness.
Copper Kettle Caramel
This second ice cream was pretty popular with the guests. More than one person liked the surprisingly "pop" of caramel flavor you get when you bite into the chocolate covered caramel pieces. People liked the rich, creamy texture of the ice cream overall. Some guests also found this ice cream to be overall a bit too sweet.

Personally, I had expected to like the Copper Kettle Caramel the best out of the three because I'm a huge caramel/burnt sugar fan and typically love anything made with those ingredients. Surprisingly, although I thought it was reasonably tasty, I also found this flavor to be a bit overwhelming. I think the generous amounts of chocolate covered caramels inside the ice cream was too much, causing a sort of in-your-face saturated sweet experience that didn't quite suit my preferences.

I may be in the minority here since I am quite sensitive to desserts that are very sweet. The types of people who love desserts that are full of sweet and gooey chocolate-y and caramel-y chunks of stuff may really enjoy this (and there were definitely guests who picked this as their favorite).

Black Hills Strawberry Rhubarb
The Black Hills Strawberry Rhubarb was a clear winner out of the three that we sampled. It was by far the most popular ice cream served that night. The strawberry ice cream had an authentic and solid strawberry flavor. The small pieces of pie crust mixed throughout the ice cream added a complex, cookie-like texture that I liked. It also tempered the sweetness of the ice cream. There were frozen bits of jam spread throughout the ice cream - something I was not a huge fan of because, again, it made the ice cream a bit too sweet. Interestingly, no one could actually taste any rhubarb flavor in this ice cream (though, to be fair, most people admitted to not knowing exactly what rhubarb tastes like).

At the end of the night, I gave each guest a pint to take home. Almost everyone requested the Strawberry Rhubarb, and I actually ran out of that one before all the guests had left.

A funny comment became, "if you want the Strawberry Rhubarb, you should leave the party NOW before it runs out."

General Thoughts
Second Street Creamery is making some unique flavors of ice cream, many of which have cute, personal stories attached to them.

The ice cream is reasonably dense and quite creamy. It is definitely better than your average supermarket ice cream (e.g., Hood, Breyers, Dreyers, Edy's, etc), although it do es not quite reach the level of the highest level premium ice creams, such as Haagan Daaz, Ben & Jerry's, and any of the local artisanal brands.

In general, the flavors are good, but not as refined and subtle as the best premium ice creams I've had. They seem to achieve "bang" from intense, bold flavors such as the chocolate covered caramel pieces, large chunks of brownies, or a mish-mash of strawberry jam, frozen strawberries, and pie crust.

The biggest consistent feedback is that the ice cream is a bit too sweet, at least for the Asian palate. At the same time, most of those same people told me they thought the strawberry rhubarb ice cream was very good - the least sweet of the bunch.

Would I buy this in a supermarket? Depends on the cost. I think if they price this somewhere in between the super premium ice creams and the more "ordinary" supermarket ice creams, they will do quite well. However, if given the choice between 2nd Street Creamery ice cream and Haagan Daaz or Ben & Jerry's, I might still pick one of those brands. Of course, these days I usually make my own or get them from my favorite ice cream place.

In any event, it's still a perfectly fine ice cream. As I said, my guests absolutely loved the strawberry rhubarb ice cream, and several really liked the other two flavors as well. If you have a sweet tooth, you may not think these ice cream flavors are too sweet at all. You may, in fact, think they are perfect.

Epilogue
I'm so relieved. I now only have 10 pints left in the freezer. I'm thrilled to get my freezer space back.

Thanks to all my guests for happily eating the ice cream and each taking home a pint to enjoy! You've all helped me immensely!

Scenes from the Ice Cream Party