Recipes

Raos
Mesa Grill (2011)

Mesa Grill (2010)

Carnevino
Palazzo
3325 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109

March 4, 2011 Boston

Tiny Urban Tidbits #17 - Bryan Tries Puffer Fish!

How many of you have seen that famous Simpson's episode where Homer tries puffer fish?

I think for most of us, puffer fish is something that's exotic, far away, and not really something you would expect to see ever on a US menu.

On Sunday we visited one of my favorite Japanese restaurants in Boston, Oishii. Bryan saw fugu on the specials menu and really really wanted to try it. Fugu is the infamous puffer fish. It contains a lethal poison, tetrododoxin, which must be carefully removed before consumption. In Japan, fugu preparation is controlled by law and only licensed chefs (who train for 2-3 years!) can prepare and sell the fish.

Rumor has it that your lips "tingle" a bit when you taste it, allegedly from the tiny bit of residual poison. The poison works by paralyzing your muscles. Most victims die of asphyxiation.

And Bryan really wanted to try it???!!

Don't ask me why, but the risk of this dish is a large part of the draw of this weirdly exotic dish.True thrill seekers will actually flirt with death (and the law!!) by eating the liver, the most poisonous part of the puffer fish.

I continuously snapped pictures as Bryan tried his first bite.

One bite.

Chew chew . . . pause . . . . funny expression.

"It definitely tastes like a cross between lobster and squid sashimi. And there is a slight tingle."

Swallow. More pauses.

I think he's going to be OK.

Phew! OK . . on to dessert!

Valentine's Dessert at Oishii

In reality, these days the risk of dying from eating fugu is pretty low. In fact, between 1993 and 2006, only 23 incidents were reported, with only one occurring at a restaurant. All the others involved fisherman eating their catch.

Furthermore, the biggest risk is eating the liver (now illegal in Japan!), the ovaries, or the skin (not as much risk with the flesh).

Nevertheless, there's still this slight sense of fear and excitement at the same time when you're trying something like fugu for the first time!

Fugu

Valentine's Day
Though we eat out often, we actually chose to stay home on Valentine's Day proper. I seared a simple, sous vide prime steak and we paired it with some fresh pasta tossed with a little bit of butter, cream, and thinly sliced black truffles.

Simple, elegant, and totally relaxing.

What's up next?
Next week we wrap up the Las Vegas Series (three more restaurants, including the best steak Bryan's ever had in his life, Two-Michelin Stars, and a really famous chef from LA). After that? Look out for posts on some of Boston's most well-known burgers, several more giveaways, and a Tokyo Series!

Have a wonderful weekend!

March 3, 2011 Las Vegas

Serendipity 3

It was sooooo cold outside. Frrrrreezing!

In fact, it technically was freezing that crazy week in January when it briefly snowed in Las Vegas! It was so cold, area stores completely sold out of the season's winter coats to unsuspecting visitors who had shown up in the city assuming they wouldn't need jackets.

So why "frrrozen hot chocolate"? On one of the coldest days on record?

Hey, I'm from Boston. Bostonians love their iced desserts and will eat at anytime. Heck, our ice cream shops open all winter long and they are always crowded, regardless of how high the snow piles are or how cold it is outside. I am always happy to make and eat ice cream no matter what season it is!

So of course I was totally game. Plus, one of our friends had never been to Serendipity before and really really wanted to try it.

Serendipity 3, a restaurant that originates from New York, holds the world record for the most expensive ice cream sundae. This insanely opulent sundae must be ordered 48 hours in advance (probably so they can obtain all its exotic ingredients!). It contains five scoops of Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream (infused with Madagascar vanilla), rare Amedei Porcelana and Chuao chocolate, American Golden caviar, passion fruit, orange, Armagnac, candied fruits from Paris, and marzipan cherries. On top of that, there's real gold everywhere, from real gold dragées to the 23-carat edible gold leaf.
You even get to enjoy your sundae with an 18-karat gold spoon.

Absolutely nuts. Supposedly they sell about one per month. I wonder who gets these? I wonder if it even tastes that amazing . . .

Anyway, we didn't find out. Instead, we ordered their most famous dessert, the frrrozen hot chocolate. I got the Oreo one, which I loved. I have always loved Oreos, especially in ice cream, so it's no surprise that I would love the Oreo frrrozen hot chocolate. It had the characteristic dark bitterness of Oreos. The best part, it wasn't too creamy nor too sweet. I shared one with my friend, which was just about right.

Bryan got a peanut butter one, which was quite good too. In the end, I still preferred mine, thinking his was too sweet and rich. His was also an alcoholic version, though it was so huge and rich he had trouble finishing the whole thing,

Serendipity is located right outside Caesars Palace. Except for that crazy sundae, it's actually a reasonably priced restaurant. The menu has a variety of sandwiches, hamburgers, salads, and some main entrees as well. Of course, there is an extensive dessert section which includes various ice cream sundaes, cakes, and tarts. As for ambiance, the funky retro decor is fun, although the music's a bit loud for conversation and the service can be average. Nevertheless, it's not a bad place to stop by late at night for a little sweet tooth craving.

Serendipity 3
3570 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109

This post is part of a larger Las Vegas series. Posts in this series:

Raos

Mesa Grill (2010 trip)

Giveaway Winner!
Congratulations to the first Flavors of Malaysia cookbook winner - bunster10! I'm still giving away two more books! Click here and here to enter!

March 2, 2011 Asian

Char Kway Teow (Chinese Stir Fry Rice Noodles)

Welcome to Day 3, the final day, of our three part Malaysian Food Series! Check out Day 1, Hainanese Chicken Rice and Day 2, Spicy Water Spinach (Kangkung Belacan).

Char Kway Teow, which stands for "stir fried rice flat noodles" is a very popular street food in Malaysia. It consists of these flat rice noodles stir fried in a very hot work with prawns, cockles, greens, bean sprouts, and eggs with dark soy sauce and spices!

Historically, fishermen and farmers would sell this savory, flavorful dish at night in hawker stands to supplement their daytime incomes. Traditionally, you stir fry the dish in pork fat, which makes it quite a rich dish (though I'm sure it's really really good!)

These days, most people have switched to using vegetable oil. Many versions include a fried egg as well, which adds back some of the flavor lost from the lard.

If you have all your ingredients ready to go for this dish, it actually doesn't take too long to cook. The frying step has to be quick and done in a really hot wok! You want there to be a char with the noodles - that's what makes this dish stand out!

I ended up buying sheets of rice noodles because I could not find pre-cut ones. I was able to find mine in Boston's Chinatown at Sun Sun Market, though you can probably find it in a lot of places. Cut noodles into ½ inch strips.

The rest is pretty easy. If you are experienced with the recipe and all your ingredients are ready to go, you should be able to cook this up reasonably quickly. In our case, since it was our first time and we didn't really know what we were doing, we took a little longer than normal.

We eventually felt like we had to take the shrimp out otherwise they would overcook. So, if you want to be safe, you can take the shrimp out too after you think they are done. Overcooked shrimp is rubbery, hard, and, frankly, can ruin the dish.

This dish is really like a normal stir fry, so it's not too hard. It's important to have a really hot wok or skillet (cast iron would be great!). In our case, I think our wok was not quite not enough, and thus we didn't get as much char as we would have liked.

The flavors were all there though, and my Singaporean friend blessed and approved the recipe. 🙂

Giveaway!

Flavors of Malaysia: A Journey Through Time, Tastes, and Traditions
This Malaysian series was inspired by a free review copy I got of Flavors of Malaysia by Susheela Raghavan. You can read a more detailed account of my thoughts regarding the book here. The publisher has been kind enough to provide me with THREE books to give away! I will be giving one away per day during this series - one for each dish I cook from the book!

The other two Giveaways are at the Hainanese Chicken Rice post (ends Wednesday, March 2, 2011!) and the Spicy Water Spinach (Kangkung Belacan) post (ends Thursday, March 3, 2011!).

For this giveaway, comment below and tell me your favorite Asian noodle dish!

Man, this is too hard for me. I love glass noodles (like Korean Chap Chae) and rice noodles (like Char Kway Teow or Thai Drunken/Crazy Noodles). Finally, I LOVE glutinous rice cakes (like Chao Nian Gao 炒年糕) and, of course, hand-pulled noodles!

Giveaway ends Friday, March 4, 2011 at midnight! I reserve the right to pick another winner if I pick the same winner twice during this three-part giveaway series.

Char Kway Tweo

from Flavors of Malaysia: A Journey Through Time, Tastes, and Traditions

Ingredients

2-3 T cooking oil

1 T crusehd garlic cloves

8 oz (about 1 cup) shelled and deveined shrimp or thinly sliced chicken

2 T double black, thick, or sweet soy sauce

2 T regular soy sauce

1 teaspoon finely pounded white peppercorns, or ½ teaspoon finely ground white pepper

½ to ¾ teaspoon white granulated sugar (use less if using thick or sweet soy sauce)

6 to 8 ounces Chinese flowering cabbage (choy sum) or Chinese cabbage (bok choy), or Chinese Mustard Greens (gai choy), stalks and leaves separated and washed to remove dirt

14 ounces fresh, flat rice noodles, already cut or cut into ½ -inch wide strips, rinsed in water

2 eggs, beaten

1 ½ cups (4 ½ ounces) bean sprouts, rinsed or blanched

Spice Paste

6 whole dried red chilies, steeped in hot water for 5-8 minutes and then deseeded; or 1 to 1 ½ T of cili boh or ½ to ¾ T bottled sambal oelek

Optional: 1 ½ to 2 teaspoon dried shrimp paste (belacan) toasted at 400 ° F for 15 minutes; or whole dried shrimp, soaked in hot water for 5-8 minutes until soft, then drained

¼ cup water

*for pictures of sambal oelek and belacan, check out the water spinach post

Garnish

⅓ cup sliced Chinese chives or spring onions

1 or 2 fresh red chilies, sliced

1. Process Spice Paste ingredients to a smooth paste and set aside

2. Heat 1 T oil in a wok or skillet and saute garlic for about ½ to 1 minute, till light brown and fragrant. Add Spice Paste and remaining oil and saute for about 4 to 5 minutes, till fragrant (adding more oil if necessary)

3. Add shrimp or chicken and stir-fry for about 3 minutes for shrimp or 6 minutes for chicken, till cooked.

4. Stir in soy sauces, white, sugar, and Chinese cabbage stalks, and stir for about 1 to 2 minutes. Add noodles and coat well with sauce for about 2 minute. Add Chinese cabbage leaves, cover, and cook for about 1 minute, till greens start to wilt.

5. Uncover, push noodles towards edge of skillet/wok, add a little oil in center, add beaten egg and let set 1 to 2 minutes, then lightly scramble the egg till cooked and blend with noodles so egg coats noodles.

6. Toss in the bean sprouts, blend well and stir fro another minute or two. (Don't overcook, as noodles will get mushy if cooked too long)

7. Garnish with Chinese chives and chilies and serve hot

Enjoy!

Disclaimer

Time to time I receive free products, meals, etc. as a food blogger. I do not receive any payment for blog posts/reviews nor am I required to write a post when I receive free products, meals, etc. The views expressed in this post are completely my own. I was given a free review copy of the book.

March 1, 2011 Asian

Spicy Water Spinach (Kangkung Belacan) + Giveaway!

Welcome to Day 2 of our three part Malaysian Food Series! If you missed Day 1, Hainanese Chicken Rice, you can check it out here.

If you are Asian, you're bound to have heard of water spinach, or hollow heart vegetable (空心菜). Even though I don't know Southeast Asian food well, I instantly recognized this vegetable because we also eat it in Chinese cooking. In fact, the water spinach is so prolific in Asia, it does not even need soil to grow, profusely thriving in marshy wetlands, rivers, and streams. In parts of the US, it has become so prolific that the USDA has official designated it a "noxious weed." It grows THAT easily.

Malaysia's version of this dish is called kangkung belacan. It is served all over Malaysia, from casual food courts to upscale hotel restaurants. Traditionally, this is a peasant preparation of the dish, though it has gotten trendy in recent years.

Let me tell you, if you are unfamiliar with Malaysian ingredients, it might be a bit frustrating the first time you go grocery shopping in a Chinese market. To be honest, I don't know how easy it is to get all these ingredients. I stumbled around Boston's Chinatown for quite some time, only to turn up relatively empty-handed. I was able to find Sambal Oelek (left) in the Chili Section, but it was hard finding everything else.

In fact, the belacan (dried shrimp paste pictured on the right) is from a store in Southern California. I have no idea where to get it in Boston. I seriously think it may just be less intimidating to buy all your ingredients online. At least you can just search for your term and order it!

Finding the ingredients was really the hardest part of this dish. Once you have everything, you just make a sauce by blending together aromatics, spices, and shrimp paste. Saute your vegetables with the sauce, add a few spices, and voila, that's it!

The belacan definitely adds a deep and flavorful umami to the entire dish that's really different from the Chinese version. Just a word of caution about belacan - this stuff is really really potent! It's got a really strong smell - definitely vent the place and maybe even open some windows especially if you plan on toasting it. Your toaster oven will smell like belacan for a while afterwards. We opened the windows even though it was below freezing outside!

The smell of the belacan lingered in our tiny little apartment for days.

Neverthless, the dish itself is still delicious and quite authentic. Our table of diners polished the whole dish off in no time.

Giveaway!

This Malaysian series was inspired by a free review copy I got of Flavors of Malaysia by Susheela Raghavan. You can read a more detailed account of my thoughts regarding the book here. The publisher has been kind enough to provide me with THREE books to give away! I will be giving one away per day during this series - one for each dish I cook from the book!

The first Giveaway is still going on: Click here if you want to enter that one as well.

For this giveaway, comment below and tell me your favorite Southeast Asian restaurant! If you don't know any Southeast Asian restaurants, just name your favorite Asian restaurant.

For me, I woefully have very little exposure to Malaysian food. In fact, I think the only restaurant I've tried is Penang (in both Harvard Square, Boston Chinatown, and New York City!). In all three cases I thought the food was delicious!

Giveaway ends Thursday, March 3, 2011 at midnight! I reserve the right to pick another winner if I pick the same winner twice during this three-part giveaway series.

Spicy Water Spinach
from Flavors of Malaysia: A Journey Through Time, Tastes, and Traditions

Ingredients
2-3 T cooking oil
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
⅛ teaspoon turmeric powder or ½ teaspoon chopped fresh or frozen turmeric root (¼ inch to ½ inch piece)
1 teaspoon regular soy sauce
1 T tamarind concentrate or tamarind juice extracted from pulp
1 small bunch (about 6-8 stalks with leaves, 8 ounces) water spinach, bottom stems trimmed about 1 to 2 inches and washed in water, swirling a few times to remove and dislodge dirt and sand
Optional: ¼ teaspoon salt

Spice Paste
¼ cup sliced shallots or onions
1 heaping tablespoon sliced garlic cloves
½ teaspoon sliced ginger or galangal
1 to 3 fresh red chilies (cayenne, Fresno, jalapeno, Serrano, Thai, or cherry), sliced
½ teaspoon dried shrimp paste (balacan) toasted at 400 °F for 15 minutes or 1 heaping teaspoon of dried whole shrimp, soaked in hot water for 10 min to soften and then drained
¼ cup water

1. Process Spice Paste ingredients to a coarse paste

2. Heat 1 T oil in a wok or skillet and saute Spice Paste for about 5-6 minutes, till fragrant, adding 1 to 2 more T oil if needed. Add ground coriander and turmeric and stir for another ½ to 1 minute.

3. Add soy sauce and tamarind juice and stir for about 1 minute.

4. Add water spinach and stir for about 4 minutes, turning the leaves over often and coating well with sauce, till leaves wilt and become bright green with stems still retaining their crispiness. Add salt if needed.

Serve!

Disclaimer
Time to time I receive free products, meals, etc. as a food blogger. I do not receive any payment for blog posts/reviews nor am I required to write a post when I receive free products, meals, etc. The views expressed in this post are completely my own. I was given a free review copy of the book.

February 28, 2011 Asian

Hainanese Chicken Rice + Giveaway!

I almost never ate chicken growing up.

My mom doesn't like chicken, and thus we hardly ate chicken at home. Furthermore, there just aren't nearly as many Taiwanese dishes made with chicken. Chicken wasn't nearly as available in Taiwan as, say pork, which is an essential ingredient in so many Taiwanese dishes. In fact, Bryan's dad talks about how in Taiwan, his family ate chicken only once a year as a treat, on his father's birthday.

For most of my life, I didn't love chicken because I also associated it with the dry and bland meat that you see in a lot of places. It wasn't until recently (for example, when I started playing around with sous vide), that I realized chicken can be just as juicy, tender, and flavorful as any other meat.

The other day, a Singaporean friend came over and we cooked up a bunch of Malaysian dishes from a new cookbook that I recently received. Hainanese Chicken Rice is one of Bryan's favorite Malaysian dishes, so I immediately opted to try that recipe.

What resulted was seriously one of the best (and simplest!) chicken dishes I have ever made.

Before I go on with the recipe, let me just say a few things about the book. I received a free review copy of Flavors of Malaysia: A Journey Through Time, Tastes, and Traditions about a month ago.

I have very little experience with Malaysian food, so I invited my good friend Chia Chi, who is from Singapore, to come over and cook some dishes with me. Aside from her lovely company and wonderful cooking skills, Chia Chi gave helpful insight regarding the authenticity of the recipes in the book.

The author, Susheela Raghavan, was born and raised in Malaysia and gives a lot of background about Malaysian food culture throughout the book. The book is full of information, over 300 pages filled with all sorts of Malaysian recipes, personal stories, and cultural insights. As Raghavan says herself in the introduction to her book, "This is not just a recipe collection, but a cultural and gastronomical journey through the centuries."

Accordingly to Chia Chi, all of the classic Malaysian favorites are in this book. You've got a bunch of Indian-style recipes as well as Chinese-style recipes. There are all kinds of dishes, ranging from snacks, soups, salads, sauces, noodles, to all the various meats. There are separate sections for desserts and fusion cuisine, as well as sections highlighting certain festivals. The center section includes a collection of beautiful color photographs, all taken by the author herself.

The flavors of the dishes we made are pretty authentic, although the author herself says that she has toned down the spice levels to accommodate western palates.

Overall, we found the recipes to be very easy to follow. The book is organized neatly with the recipe amounts listed on a separate column from the rest of the text. Her measurements are often given in ranges, which is very typical of Asian cooking (my mom never measured ANYTHING!). As an inexact cook myself, I appreciate the ranges. It tells me which parts of the recipe are more flexible and frankly, it makes me a lot less relaxed when I'm measuring stuff!

Chia Chi and I had no trouble following this recipe, and the Hainanese Chicken and Rice came out beautifully. The chicken was juicy and flavorful. Everyone who was there (even Bryan, my harshest critic!) thought the chicken was delicious.

The chicken rice was also fluffy and fragrant, although one diner commented that it did not have as strong of a chicken fat flavor. I think that's mostly because I purchased an organic free range chicken which does not have as much fat as a typical supermarket chicken. On the flip side, the flavors of the poached chicken were very nice. I seriously think you get what you pay for when it comes to the inherent flavor of the chicken - organic free range has an edge.

GIVEAWAY!
The publishers of this book were kind enough to give me three books to give away! I will be hosting a new giveaway for the next three days (one book per day!) as part of a three-part Malaysian Food Series. Each day I will describe a different dish I made from the book.

To enter the Giveaway
Please leave a comment below telling me what your favorite Malaysian dish is. If you are not familiar to with Malaysian cuisine, tell me your favorite Southeast Asian dish, or Asian dish of you are not familiar with Southeast Asia.

Me?

My favorite dish is Popiah, a fresh spring roll filled with pork, cilantro, peanuts, sugar, hoisin sauce, vermicelli, bean sprouts, cabbage, and carrots. I first had it at a food stall in Singapore and fell in love! It wasn't until years later that my mom taught me how to make my own!

You may submit comments until midnight, Wednesday March 2, 2011, at which time I will do the drawing.

Update! Congratulations to the first Flavors of Malaysia cookbook winner - bunster10!

bunster10 said, "I've only had a few opportunities to try Malaysian cuisine. I think the last time I did was on a trip to Hawaii. We decided to try a Malaysian restaurant. I don't remember what the dishes were but they were all very tasty!"

There are still two books to give away. Click here and here to enter!

If you are interested in Malaysian food in general, check out Malaysia Kitchen for the World, a global initiative of the Malaysian government that aims to educate and inform consumers about Malaysian cuisine and Malaysian restaurants throughout the world.

Hainanese Chicken Rice
from Flavors of Malaysia: A Journey Through Time, Tastes, and Traditions

Chicken
1 4/12 lb whole chicken
1-2 T finely crushed fresh ginger
2 heaping T finely crushed garlic cloves
½ cup chopped scallions or spring onions
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
12 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 teaspoon regular soy sauce

1. Rinse chicken and pat dry. After removing the "innards" pack, stuff the cavity with 1 T each of ginger, garlic, and scallions. Rub the whole chicken (including the cavity) with white pepper and salt. Set aside.

2. Bring 13 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Lower heat and add remaining ginger, garlic, and scallions. Simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Place entire chicken into the pot, making sure it is fully submerged. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 45 minutes. Turn off heat, cover, and let steep for an additional 15-20 minutes.

4. Remove chicken from the pot, reserving the stock.

5. Allow to cool to room temperature (about 30 minutes). Alternatively, if serving cold, plunge the entire chicken into ice water and let sit for 20-30 minutes.

6. Brush the chicken with sesame oil and soy sauce. Set aside. Before serving, cut up the chicken into pieces.

Rice

1 T cooking oil

1 T sliced and crushed garlic cloves

1 heaping tsp crushed fresh ginger

Heaping ½ cup finely chopped shallots or onion

1 cup Jasmine rice, washed and rinsed

1 ½ cup reserved chicken stock

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 Pandan leaf, tined with fork and tied into a knot

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan. Saute garlic and ginger for about ½ to 1 minute. Add shallots/onions and saute 1-2 minutes.

2. Stir in rice and saute until translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Add 1 ½ cups reserved chicken stock, salt, sesame oil, and pandan leaf (see photos above for how to tie)

3. If you have a rice cooker: put the contents in a rice cooker and cook until done.
If using a stovetop: Bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes (until all liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked). Remove from heat and let rice cook in its steam for about 10 minutes.

Soup
4 cups reserved chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt
¼ to ½ finely ground white pepper
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon chopped garlic cloves (optional)
1 teaspoon chopped or crushed ginger (optional)

Place all ingredients in a pot, stir and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Garlic with scallions and serve.

Dip #1: Savory Chile Sauce / Sos Lemak
½ cup chicken stock
6 fresh red chilies (Fresno, jalapeno, Serrano, cayenne, THai, or cherry peppers), finely chopped
1 heaping T chopped or crushed garlic cloves
1 T chopped or crushed ginger
¾ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon white sugar
1 ½ teaspoon freshly squeezed or bottled lime juice
2 teaspoon cooking oil or fat skimmed from boiled chicken stock

Dip #2: Pounded Ginger in Flavored Oil
4 heaping T chopped or crushed ginger
2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 tsp freshly squeezed or bottled lime juice
1 teaspoon regular soy sauce
¼ cup cooking oil

Dips
Combine all ingredients together and mix well. Let stand 30 minutes before serving.

Put it All Together
Serve with chicken, soup, and the two dips.

February 24, 2011 Greater Boston

Taza Chocolate Factory Pop Up Restaurant

They've been one of the hottest food trends lately. Pop up restaurants, made popular by Celebrity Chef Ludo Lefebvre in Los Angeles, are starting to appear in other cities (like Boston!) as well. The concept is simple. A chef sets up a temporary restaurant in a vacant (often unusual) space for one night and serves a dinner there.

Usually, the dinners are prix fixe, reservations are required, and the menu is ever changing. More often than not the meals are creative, upscale, and multi-course experiences. In general, it's difficult to score a reservation. Seating is often communal, so be prepared to socialize, meet some new friends, and enjoy a different sort of dining experience.

People have dined in banks, sandwich shops, basements, and . . . in this case . . a chocolate factory!

I had the privilege of trying out my first pop-up experience at the Taza Chocolate Factory over Valentine's Day weekend.

I had a blast.

I first visited the Taza Chocolate Factory over a year ago when they had opened it up for tours. They have since upgraded most of their equipment, so all of this was brand new to me. I must say, there's something very, very cool about walking around inside a chocolate factory. How fortunate are we to have something so unique and interesting right in our backyard in Somerville?

A chocolate factory is not set up for cooking, by any means, so Will Gilson had to bring a lot of his own stuff. They set up shop in the "kitchen" area (which had a fridge). Will brought his own immersion circulator (yay sous vide!) and a mini-oven. It's pretty fascinating how he is able to creatively make use of what he has to produce such an interesting meal.

Since it was Valentine's weekend and we were in a chocolate factory, naturally the theme was chocolate. Will Gilson definitely took a very creative and whimsical approach in how he carried out that theme. Case in point: the first course? A HUGE "kiss"! What was inside?

Spice roasted butternut squash kibbeh “chocolate kiss” with pistachio, buttered leeks and braised duck
Well, there was no chocolate, but there was a lovely flavored kibbeh (typically a Lebanese dish made from bulgar wheat) that reminded me a bit of cous cous but with a chewier texture. The flavors were fantastic, and you can't beat the presentation.

Black Truffle and chestnut soup with white chocolate
The second course was probably the most unique dish of the evening. This was Will Gilson's spin on cream of mushroom soup. Normal mushrooms are replaced by black truffles, while the "cream" has been replaced by white chocolate. The soup was interesting. It wasn't bad, but it was quite weird. You could definitely taste the sweetness of the white chocolate, yet at the same time the umami of the soup was quite strong. The way one person put it, "if this soup were just a hair sweeter, it would taste like dessert."

Winter greens and herb salad with crispy speck and guaca “mole” dressing
The salad's chocolate link was the guaca-"mole" dressing. Mole is traditionally a Mexican sauce that contains chili and chocolate (among other spices). Will Gilson took a creative spin on this by using traditional mole spices (sans the chocolate!!) and mixing them with avocados to make his own version of a green goddess dressing. Speck, sort of like prosciutto, is cured ham (knowing Will Gilson, he probably made it himself). It added a nice crunch and saltiness to balance out the creamy dressing.

Marinated lamb with cocoa nib jus, whipped potato, French curry and cabbage dolma
The next course was sort of a take on lamb in two different ways. One piece of lamb was marinated with cocoa nib jus and cooked sous vide in the immersion circulator for hours. The other piece was ground lamb mixed with spices and wrapped in a cabbage leaf. Bryan and I both agreed that the cabbage dolma tasted much better with its flavorful, juicy meat. The marinated lamb was OK, but both of us would have preferred something a bit more rare. In this case, although it was soft and tender, it was basically cooked all the way through.

Mexican Hot chocolate tasting
Warm chocolate espuma, chile and chocolate terrine, and dulce de leche
The dessert was where we finally got to see some true chocolate! Of course, the chocolate was Taza Chocolate. Will taught us now to make dulce de leche (so easy! just boil a can of condensed milk for an hour). I always love the combination of chili and chocolate (the Taza disc with guajillo chili is my favorite!) so it's no surprise I enjoyed the terrine, especially with that tiny sprinkle of salt on top.

Every so often curiosity got the best of me and I would sneak into the kitchen to see what was going on. Will had a small team of people helping him out both with plating the food and serving it.

Before each dish, Will would come up with Aaron (the organizing mastermind behind this whole event) and explain the dish. It made the whole evening a bit more personal, communal, and fun.

At the end of the evening, the people who had been serving us all night came out. There was a big round of applause.

Community
A big part of these events is the communal dining aspect of it. You sit at these longish tables next to people you've never met. Bryan and I ended up sitting with a bunch of folks who worked at Taza Chocolate, which was super fun. I met Stephanie (sales), Mike (the original chocolate maker!!), and Sarah (the "pulse", social media, marketing person).

We asked them all sorts of interesting questions, like "what is it like to be a chocolate maker?" or "what new flavors have you tried making?" or "how often do you get to take chocolate home with you?"

Several of the employees had been with the company since close to the beginning, and it was really cool to hear stories of how Taza has grown through the years.

I even asked them whether they could make the chili chocolate disc with a darker chocolate (currently the discs are around 55%, and I personally love 70%). I was thrilled when they told me that they are actually coming out with those really soon!! Hot off the presses!

Heck, I don't think they've even told anyone else about this yet! So, BREAKING NEWS! Coming soon: new chocolate flavors at Taza will be orange, chipotle, and ginger. These will be available with the 70% chocolate.

The factory now has a store, which is a great place to buy interesting small-batch "research" chocolates that never make it out to normal stores. Examples of some recent pieces include chocolate with pieces of candied ginger as well as chocolates with cashews.

Male Models

Ha ha, got your attention, didn't I?

Mike, the chocolate maker, is actually the guy posing in all of Taza's promotional postcards. The other two Taza employees, Sarah and Stephanie, somehow convinced Mike to pose with the postcard in his hand. That's the picture on the left.

On the right? Will Gilson showing off his awesome eat tatoo.

Would you ever find stuff like this in a normal restaurant?? 😉

The Details
This pop up meal was $80 per person inclusive of everything. Considering that you get a 5-course dinner, unlimited wine (provided by Bear Flags Wine), full service, and a gift bag full of goodies at the end (including Taza Chocolate discs, locally made Elaine Hsieh Chocolates, and I <3 lamb stickers), it's really a good value.

Granted, there are some limitations on the quality of the food mostly from the fact that the chef is quite constrained in a makeshift kitchen. Still, Will did an admirable job of executing a very delicious and enjoyable dinner in a really unique environment.

In the end, the food is only one aspect of this entire dining experience. The pop up experience is unique and fun because 1) it's a one-time event in an unusual space 2) the chef creates a very personalized dining experience for you and 3) you get to meet all sorts of interesting people.

Of course, all this is even more fun when there's excellent food involved (which, in this case, there definitely was).

Highly recommended.

Next Pop Up "Mothers Day In March" at the BCAE
Will told us during this event that his next pop up will be benefiting his mom, Jodie Gilson, owner of J. Gilson Greenhouses, a wholesale grower of herbs and perennials. Sadly, all of his mother's greenhouses collapsed under heavy snow this past winter. These greenhouses are her livelihood and it's crucial for her to be up and running in time for the spring season.

Will's next pop up has an impressive line up of chefs, including Colin Lynch (Menton), Jamie Bissonnette (Toro/Coppa), Joanne Chang (Flour), Ian Grossman (Russell House Tavern), and Will himself, (Garden at the Cellar) of course. See the entire list here.

The dinner will be Saturday, March 5, 2011 at the Boston Center for Adult Education. You can buy tickets here.

February 23, 2011 Las Vegas

Rao's (Caesar's Palace)

Update: I have updated this post (originally posted January 2010) with some additional comments and photos from my second visit in January 2011.

This post is part III of the larger series: Celebrity Chef Dining in Las Vegas. Other posts in this series include Part I: Mario Batali's B&B Ristorante and Part II: Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.

Is it worth the hype? Does it really have the same menu as the New York establishment? What’s the food like?

These were all questions running through my mind as I considered what our meal at Rao’s would be like.

Just a bit of background. The original Rao’s is a tiny Italian restaurant in New York City and has been there for decades. It is soooo popular at this point that it almost seems like you have to know someone to get a reservation. The tiny restaurant, which only has ten seats, only seats one reservation per evening. Worse yet, seven of the ten seats are already reserved for regulars, many who have been coming for decades. This leaves exactly three seats a night. No wonder it's virtually impossible to get a reservation.

Two years ago, Frank Pellegrino, co-owner of Rao's, decided to open a new outpost in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace. This second location is run by Frank Pellegrino Jr., the owner’s son and his wife Carla, who is the executive chef. Update: Carla Pellegrino left Rao's in November 2010 and will be starting her own new Naples themed Italian restaurant called Bratalian in Henderson, NV sometime in March.

Supposedly the menu is very similar, with many of the most popular dishes from the NYC establishment also available in Las Vegas.

I was very, very curious.

When you first enter, you see a copy of the original NYC façade. You feel like you are in a fake “outside” walking up to the entrance of the restaurant.

We were seated in the back “patio” section, which was actually surprisingly pleasant. It really felt like we were sitting in the outside patio, oddly enough. You could see the brick outside of the “restaurant” and above us vines hung throughout.

We enjoyed a very good 2006 Tuscan Tignaloto (sp?) wine highly recommended by the sommelier ($195). It was a delicious (albeit expensive!) wine. No complaints there.

The service was a bit spotty in the beginning. It took us FOREVER to receive our drink menus and even longer for the waiter to come by. The timing of things was a bit weird. The bread came super early, and then the sommelier tried to serve the wine at the same time the waiter was describing dishes to us. A bit weird, but our waiter was so nice (after he eventually came) that we decided we could forgive the hiccupy service at the beginning of our meal.

And the food? Oh man, the food is really really good.

We ordered two starters. The Frutti di Mare is classic, and one of their most famous dishes in the NYC restaurant. This was really delicious. First off, the seafood used was very fresh and cooked perfectly. The shrimp was juicy, succulent, and “popped” the way properly cooked shrimp should. The calamari was soft and tender, and the lobster was absolutely divine. The seafood salad was tossed in a very light dressing of oil and mixed with some chopped celery, kalamata olives, and parsley and finished with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Even though it sounds so simple, the combination works perfectly and the final product is addictively good. The portions are surprisingly generous, and I was half full after our appetizers.

We also ordered the deep fried mozzarella with tomato sauce, which was very good. Bryan thought the mozzarella was very high quality, and it was perfectly fried. Although it was solid, it was less of a “WOW” dish compared to the frutti di mare.

Fore our entrées, Bryan ordered the veal chop with cherry peppers, which was recommended by our waiter. He also got a side of the special, which was pasta with proscuitto and peas in a light cream sauce.

The veal chops were AMAZING!!!!! Oh my goodness, it was definitely one of the best meat dishes we have ever had at an Italian restaurant, and that unfortunately includes all the restaurants we have tried in the North End in Boston. The combination of the juicy grilled veal chops with the tangy and spicy cherry peppers just worked incredibly well. I don't know how else describe it except that you have to try this one. A must-try.

The pasta with proscuitto and peas was good, although I thought they over-cooked the fresh pasta. A far cry from the super chewy amazing pasta at B&B Ristorante the other night, the pasta here was a tad soggy, not unlike the texture of the pasta of the lobster fra diavlo at Prezza. Neverthless, the flavors of this dish were solid, though nothing particularly exciting.

I ordered the marinara pasta because I really wanted to taste the quality of their tomato sauce. WOW. San Marzano tomatoes really do make a difference! I have had Rao’s jarred tomato sauce and their version of marinara is the best commercial jarred tomato sauce I have had.

This was many times better than the jarred version. Slightly spicy, this sauce had a deep rich tomato flavor that was sweet from the tomatoes themselves, not from the addition of sugar. I loved it - I felt like I could eat it forever. Unfortunately, the fresh pasta, again, was slightly overcooked. Still, the sauce was so incredibly beautiful that I didn’t care and ate the soft pasta regardless.

We tried the following two dishes on a return trip to Vegas in 2011

The lemon chicken is one of the famous dishes at the restaurant, so we ordered it on our return visit in 2011. The chicken is nicely broiled, the meat is tender, and the lemon flavor is quite pronounced. After all the hype though, I think we were slightly disappointed. I mean, it was good, but part of me doesn't see what makes it so incredibly famous.

The smoked salmon with cream sauce tubular pasta that we ordered had much better texture than our previous pasta experiences at Rao's. This pasta was beautifully chewy, had a wonderful creamy flavor, and was overall quite enjoyable.

For dessert we split a ricotta cheesecake. I was curious how it would compare to the ricotta pies we have ordered at Mike’s Pastry in the North End.

Well, it was good, although I prefer the ricotta pies from Mike’s Pastry.

Over all, it was an excellent meal. There’s something to be said about a restaurant when everything is either good or amazing. Really, except for the slightly spotty service and the overcooked pasta, everything else was great.

If you go, definitely order the frutti di mare appetizer and the veal chops. I absolutely loved the tomato sauce as well, although maybe it’s not worth ordering the fresh pasta since they seem to over-cook it. Or, maybe order thicker, more tubular shapes, which can stay chewy longer.

Yum . . wish I could try the one in New York. Oh well, at least we "Plebs" get a chance to try many of the dishes in Las Vegas.

This post is part of a larger Las Vegas series. Posts in this series:

2011

2010

Mesa Grill

Note: originally published 1/27/10 at 2:04 AM

Caesar's Palace
3570 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 731-7110

February 22, 2011 Las Vegas

Mesa Grill (Bobby Flay)

Ancho Chili Duck

There is one place that Bryan always visits without fail whenever he travels to Las Vegas for business.

Yep, it's absolutely no surprise that this million mile world traveler, who loves hot chilies and Mexican food in general, gravitates towards Bobby Flay's bold flavors at Mesa Grill.

Mesa Grill earned a coveted Michelin Star in 2008, only to lose it by the 2009 edition. Michelin did not publish a Las Vegas Guide in 2010, so we won't know until 2011 whether Bobby Flay will get that star back.

This doesn't appear to have affected business at all. Mesa Grill is still one of the most popular destinations inside Caesars Palace. Its combination of excellent food, casual atmosphere, and reasonable prices (by Vegas standards), seems to continue bringing people back for more.

Blue Corn Pancake
Barbecued Duck + Habanero Chile-Star Anise Sauce 15

If it's your first time here, you must get some of his signature dishes, which are all excellent. The blue corn pancakes are a must-get appetizer. It's sort of like Bobby Flay's spicy interpretation of the traditional Peking duck wrap. I love it and I tend to order it pretty often (sometimes even as my entree!).

Tiger Shrimp and Roasted Garlic Corn Tamale: Corn - Cilantro Sauce 16

The shrimp tamale is also incredibly good. It's rich, for sure, but the sweet corn works beautifully with the plump and juicy shrimp. This is another classic that we order over and over again.

New Mexican Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin
Bourbon - Ancho Chile Sauce, Sweet Potato Tamale, Crushed Pecan Butter 36

We tried this dish our first time at Mesa Grill and absolutely loved it. The medium-cooked pork (yes! it's still quite pink!!) is succulent, juicy, and covered with a deliciously spicy and flavorful Bourbon-Ancho Chili rub that is out of this world. If you can only order one entree, I would definitely recommend this one!

Rough Cut Tuna "Nachos"
Mango - Habanero Hot Sauce + Avocado Crema 18

I should have learned the first time around that I don't love Bobby Flay's interpretations of raw fish. I guess my standard is kind of high when it comes to raw fish in general, and I don't think they use very high quality tuna in this dish. For some reason, I think the strong sweet and spicy flavors overwhelm the tuna. This dish was only so-so and I would not order it again.

Pan Seared Squid
New Mexico Chile, Toasted Garlic, Tangerine 15

Lamb Shank Posole
Red Wine - Red Chile Broth, Cabbage, Hominy, Cotija 36
Bryan got the lamb shank and thought that it was pretty good, though probably not something he would order again. In the end, it did not stand out and wow him the way other dishes have done so in the past.

Green Chile Cioppino
Jumbo Prawn, Scallop, Grouper, Mussels, served with Blue Corn Stick, Scallion Butter 40

Sixteen Spice Chicken
Mango-Garlic Sauce, Mango - Green Onion Salsa, Cilantro Pesto Mashed Potatoes 30
The chicken cane with a wonderful mix of sauces that gave the fried chicken a complex yet delicious kick. The dish tasted the best when your bite included a bit of each sauce (mango garlic and mango-green onion).

General Thoughts
Alas, I dined here with a large party and did not have a chance to sample everyone's dish, so I cannot give as detailed comments on each dish as I normally do! Nevertheless, I've come here enough times to say that I highly recommend this restaurant. If you like interesting, bold, and spicy flavors, you will love Mesa Grill. Sometimes the wait can be long if you show up without a reservation, so I would definitely recommend calling ahead!

Bryan has already told me that he plans on going to Mesa Grill again during his business trip to Las Vegas next month. What is he going try this time?

The famous burger! Can't wait to hear what THAT tastes like!

Cinnamon and Anise Churros with Chocolate dipping sauce

This post is part of a larger Las Vegas series. Posts in this series:

Raos

Mesa Grill (2010 trip)