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Preparing Filet Mignon for Hot Pots

Dec 22, 2009 ·

This post is the second part of a mini-series anchored around the following post: A Culinary Tour of Hot Pots Throughout Asia.

Filet Mignon for Hot Pot?

Are you serious?

Yes I'm serious, and let me tell you. It's totally worth the extra cost. It is soooo delicious. It's got the most buttery and soft texture. You'll never go back to supermarket pre-sliced hot pot beef.

If people are willing to dip Kobe Beef into hot pot, then filet migon really shouldn't be a stretch, should it?

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I had recently discovered the amazing taste of filet mignon in Chinese hot pots. My brother-in-law first introduced this awesome idea to us, and we have been hooked ever since. The first time I served it to dinner guests, it was the most popular item of the night! They couldn't stop eating it!

Unfortunately for us, most Asian restaurants do not sell filet mignon pre-sliced into those thin slices that are ideal for hot pot. So, I had to take matters into my own hands.

It's virtually impossible to slice meat thinly when it's at room temperature. So, the first step is - freeze the meat. It's probably best to separate the meat out into manageable chunks before freezing. I accidentally forgot to do this, and I struggled a bit in the beginning to chop up that huge hunk of frozen meat (see above) into manageable sized pieces (ideally about 3 inches by 4 inches or so - sliceable chunks).

Once you have manageable pieces of frozen meat, take each chunk and, using a cleaver, slice away (see picture above). The result won't be as thin as what you'd get from a meat slicer, but it won't be bad, and it will still be better than what you could have done with refrigerated meat.

Finally, let it finish defrosting, and serve! There is probably a window of about 30-45 minutes in which you can work once you start defrosting the meat. If the meat gets too soft, it becomes hard to slice thinly. If it's too frozen, well, it's hard to slice at all. Use your judgment. Work relatively quickly, but don't fret too much - you do have some time and you should be able to finish with no problem. I was able to slice almost 3 lbs of Filet Mignon without having it get too soft.

Most important tip!
Don't cook this meat for too long in the hot pot! Don't EVER let it drop into the bottom of the pot and get lost (and then overcooked!) That would just be TOO SAD! Instead, hold onto your meat (either with chopsticks or with a wire mesh spoon), stick it in the boiling broth, and swish it around for about 5-10 seconds. Our waiter from Seryna in Tokyo taught us to swish the meat while chanting three times: "Shabu Shabu - Shabu Shabu - Shabu Shabu." Then quickly remove the meat from the broth, dip in your desired sauce, and enjoy.

Not sure if chanting is a foolproof method, but it's fun to do. In any event, the closer the meat is to being rare, the better it will likely taste. 🙂

Enjoy!

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: A Culinary Tour of Hot Pots Throughout Asia

Dec 20, 2009 ·

Oh the weather outside is frightful . . .

We just experienced our first major snowstorm of the season! Snow has been falling outside continuously for the past 15 hours. It’s times like these when I just want to stay indoors and enjoy a nice, warm hot pot with family and friends.

Although I've grown up eating hot pots Taiwanese-style, this past year I had the opportunity to enjoy hot pots from a variety of cultures and venues. Join me as I take you on a culinary tour throughout Asia, exploring various renditions of the hot pot.

What is a hot pot?
Well, most simply, it’s a hot communal pot in the middle of a table filled with a flavored broth. Diners cook their own food by briefly dipping raw ingredients into the hot broth. Ingredients can vary widely, but typically include thinly sliced meat, seafood, vegetables, tofu, fish cakes, and the like.

Culinary Tour Stop 1: Sichuan, China
It's hard to pinpoint exactly when the hot pot style of eating first appeared in China, although Chinese scholars have found evidence of people cooking and eating around a boiling pot of broth as far back as the fifth century B.C. However, it was not until the Ming and Qing periods (1368-1911), that the hot pot actually gain popularity. In fact, the imperial court of the Qing dynasty served hot pots both on the emperor's winter menu and also at the feast celebrating the new emperor, Jia Qing in 1796.*

What sets the Sichuan hot pot apart from typical Chinese hot pots is its classic spicy broth. This wonderfully flavorful, numbingly spicy broth gets its characteristic flavors from Sichuan chilies and Sichuan peppercorns. The chilies give the soup a fiery burn, while the peppercorns have an unusual numbing effect on the tongue. The Sichuan hot pot originated from the city of Chongqing, where street peddlers would sell "beef trip hot pot," a hot, spicy soup consisting of chopped up water buffalo innards cooked in a spicy broth filled with chilies and Sichuan peppers. In the 1930's, the hot pot became elevated to restaurant status with the opening of the first hot pot restaurant in Chongqing. It has been popular since.*

Dining Out at a Classic Chinese Hot Pot Chain

Because I can't just hop over to China for this post, I am taking you to the next best thing. Little Q is a well known hot pot chain in China and (lucky for me) migrated over to Boston a few years ago. It is the best example of Sichuan Hot Pot here in Boston. The mala (literally "numbing and spicy") broth is my favorite, and I like to order that one in conjunction with a non-spicy broth in a "ying-yang" pot (pictured above), thus allowing a balance of flavors. Little Q offers a variety of meat, vegetables, and all sorts of other hot pot sides, including exotic ones like tripe, intestines, beef tongue, and pig's blood. It's most fun to visit with a large group, as you will be able to enjoy a much larger variety of things. For more details on Little Q, please check out my previous post on this restaurant here.

Cooking@home

I also recently tried a home-version of the mala broth based on a recipe by Fuchsia Dunlop from her highly regarded book, Land of Plenty. Fuchsia Dunlop was the first foreigner to study Sichuanese cooking at the acclaimed Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine in Chengdu, China. ~~Stay tuned this week as I share~~ Update! Here is the recipe and a photographic tutorial on how to make your own spicy mala broth!

Culinary Tour Stop 2: Tokyo, Japan
The Japanese version of hot pot is called "shabu-shabu" and was invented after WWII in 1952 by Tadakazu Miyake, owner of a restaurant called Suehiro in Osaka, Japan. The story goes something like this. During WWII when Japan occupied Manchuria, Japanese soldiers had the opportunity to try “Syu Wan Yan Row,” a Chinese dish where lamb is eaten with sauces made from sesame seeds or soy sauce. Combining that with the traditional Chinese hot pot, Miyake perfected these ideas to open his first shabu restaurant in 1952. He named this new cuisine "shabu-shabu" because, one day, as he was watching his assistant wash towels in a large basin, he thought the swishing sound of towels in the basin sounded like the sound of raw meat being dipped and "swished" in the broth. His restaurant became so popular that he eventually trademarked the term "shabu-shabu".

Japanese shabu differs from traditional Chinese hot pot in a lot of ways. First, the broth is simple - a light dashi based broth made from kombu (Japanese seaweed). Unlike the Sichuan Hot Pot, which arguably does not need a broth because the soup itself is so flavorful, Japanese shabu-shabu usually comes with a few dipping sauces, such as ponzu, sesame seed sauce, and spicy sauce.

When Bryan and I went to Tokyo this past spring, we decided to treat ourselves to the most decadent shabu-shabu imaginable - Kobe beef shabu-shabu, truly the pinnacle of this once humble dish made with water-buffalo innards on a riverside! After doing some research, we found out that Seryna was the best known shabu-restaurant in Japan.

I must say, that the Kobe beef was incredibly decadent, buttery soft, and utterly delicious. Check out the fine marbling in the picture! It's insanely expensive (the meat is literally $1/gram) but totally worth it - at least once! An interesting difference we found between traditional Chinese hot pot and Japanese hot pot is that the Japanese are pretty meticulous about keeping the broth clear. A waiter would come by periodically and scoop out any stray bits that were floating in our soup. I find this greatly amusing because Chinese people couldn't care less about that. We think that the more stuff that's in there, the better tasting the rich broth!

~~Later on this week I will post a~~ Update! Here is the detailed description of our meal at this most fabulous and decadent shabu-shabu restuarant.

Culinary Tour Stop 3: Taiwan
I have enjoyed hot pots at home for as long as I can remember. In lieu of the traditional turkey dinner during Thanksgiving or the goose served during Christmas, my family has always enjoyed a hot pot. Here I will share with you how my Taiwanese family typically enjoys the hot pot. This past Saturday, as part of Foodbuzz's 24, 24, 24 event, I enjoyed a Taiwanese-style hot pot at my home with 9 other guests.

The Taiwanese version of hot pot involves various forms of thinly sliced meat, fresh seafood, and fresh vegetables.

You can typically buy thinly sliced beef, lamb, and pork at Asian grocery stores. These are perfect for hot pot because they cook quickly. Plus, it's hard to slice meat so thinly at home. Various forms of tofu are also very popular. The deep-fried tofu square are especially popular because they absorb the flavors of the soup very well. Various types of fish-cake type balls (fish balls, beef balls, shrimp balls) are also popular. Chinese fish balls are similar to imitation crab meat, which is also made from a similar type of fish product.

I recently discovered, thanks to my brother-in-law, that sliced filet mignon tastes absolutely fantastic in hot pot! You can pick up filet mignon for about $11/lb at Costco. This was definitely the hit of the night, and my guests could not stop eating it! ~~Later on this week, I will post a~~ Here is the tutorial on how to prepare filet mignon for hot pot!

Hot pot is typically pretty healthy because of the vegetables that you eat. You can use whatever you like. The most classic vegetable used in a hot pot is called "Tong Hao" (a green leafy vegetable, also known as edible chrysanthemum). Other common vegetables include watercress (upper left), enoki mushrooms (upper right), sliced lotus room (lower left - my favorite!), and shitake mushrooms (lower right). Napa cabbage (already in the broth) is also a classic - the sweetness of this vegetable flavors the broth really nicely.

The broth is typically made of a light stock, such as seafood stock or chicken stock. You can heat up chicken stock and just add some aromatic vegetables, like some Shitake mushrooms and napa cabbage, like I did in this case. For a Taiwanese hot pot, the broth flavor does not matter as much because the meat and vegetables added later will continue to flavor the broth.

Also, similar to the Japanese, the Taiwanese use a dipping sauce. The most popular dipping sauce contains a mixture of Satsa (Chinese BBQ Sauce), a raw egg, and soy sauce. The theory is that the boiling hot food from the hot pot will "cook" the egg briefly as you dip it into the sauce, thus preventing any risk of diseases from eating the raw egg. At our dinner party, almost everyone used the raw egg, although typically there are some that are squeamish (like me!) who choose to forgo the egg and cook it separately in the hot pot instead!

Interestingly, one of our guests' family was from Southern Taiwan. He mentioned that his family typically adds peanut butter to this mixture of Satsa, raw egg, and soy sauce. Several of our guests tried this concoction and reported that they liked it very much.

When it's time to eat, everyone can just starting throwing whatever they want into the pot! The hardest part is being famished and waiting for the water to boil again so you can eat!!

At the end of the meal, we add rice vermicelli noodles to the pot and end the evening with a nice bowl of noodle soup. At this point, people are typically stuffed, although it's hard to avoid hunting the pot to see if there are any treasures that were left unearthed!

Trying Your own Hot Pot
If you ever want to try your own hot pot, it's pretty easy. I usually use an electric skillet which I just plug into the wall. It keeps the broth boiling, and is wide and flat enough so that everyone can access the food relatively easily. Furthermore, they are inexpensive and work quite well.

There are also dedicated hot pots that are sold in Asian grocery stores. These are more convenient because the inner part of the pot can be removed for washing. With an electric skillet, you have to make sure that you don't get water on the electric outlet part!

Closing words . .
So our tour has finally come to an end. From a classic Chinese Hot Pot chain in Boston, to a high-end shabu restaurant in Tokyo, and then finally to a Taiwanese hot pot party in my humble home in Cambridge. I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Bon appetit!

*Land of Plenty by Fuschia Dunlop, pages 344-347

Beacon Hill Bistro

Dec 18, 2009 ·

Beacon Hill is the probably THE most expensive neighborhood in Boston. It's where Senator John Kerry and Todd English live. It's where John F. Kennedy lived before he became president. The charming intimate neighborhood is filled with brick and brownstone homes with real gas lamps lining the streets.

Not only that, this quaint neighborhood is in an awesome location. It is a short walk from the Public Garden, Boston Common, the Charles River, Newbury Street (high end shopping), a subway stop on the Red Line, and Charles Street, which is filled with cute artisan shops, locally owned restaurants, and a lovely little market.

Boston Bibb Lettuce, Heirloom Melon, Hearts of Palm, and Goat Cheese with Tarragon 9
Because rents are so high in Beacon Hill, it's natural to expect that prices, from a toothbrush at the local drugstore to high end dining, will be significantly higher.

I had to keep this in mind as we visited Beacon Hill Bistro. This restaurant sits on the first floor of the Beacon Hill Hotel right on Charles Street, the cute street lined with small shops, a local market, and restaurants.

Fresh Maine Crab over Heirloom Keener Corn Grits, with Oregano and Sorrel 14
We had a coupon from Restaurant.com, which lessened the blow.

Our over all impression? We thought some of the dishes were excellent, while others were mediocre and seemingly overpriced. I had the Boston Bibb lettuce salad (pictured above), which was fine. Nothing particularly special, but it was nice.

The fresh Maine Crab, on the other hand, was really good - definitely the best item we had that night. The sauce had a rich lobster flavor that went really well with the corn grits. Delicious.

House-Made Pappardelle, Braised Chicken, Bacon, and Brussels Sprouts, Olive Oil Toasted Breadcrumbs 24
I was quite disappointed with the pappardelle. I guess it was OK, but tasted pretty ordinary for the price tag. I really think it was not even as good as the pasta at Basta Pasta Enoteca or Bottega Fiorentina, which cost a lot less.

Special of the day: Pan seared scallops with zucchini in a white wine sauce
The scallops were pretty tasty and well executed. No complaints about this dish.

Looking back, I'm pretty sure the prices affected my over all impression of the place. If I feel that a meal is overpriced, I begin to think more critically (and often negatively) of the food. I adjust my expectations according to how much I pay for the meal. If it's expensive, I expect it to be really good. But, as I said earlier, I need to remember that rents are super high in this area, and thus I really should factor that into the prices of the dishes.

I guess if you're in the area, this is not a bad place to visit. The food can be quite good depending on what you order, though I would not call this a "destination"-worthy restaurant.

They do have a nice Sunday night special menu with pretty recession-friendly prices. They also have a fun "Wine & Dine Mondays" dinner where you can enjoy a prix fixe menu with 4 wine pairings for $55.

Beacon Hill Bistro
25 Charles St
Boston, MA 02114

Roasted Fennel, Carrots, Zucchini, and Parsnips

Dec 17, 2009 ·

As much as I dislike anise, I was surprised to find out how much I loved fennel. Roasted fennel is sweet, mild, and delicious, and does not really resemble the strong, cringe-worthy (at least for me), scent of anise (think black licorice). Roast it with whatever other veggies you might have in the fridge, and you've got yourself a simple, healthy, and mouthwatering side dish!

If you have never seen a fennel bulb before, it's the white bulb-y thing with greenish stalks/hair sticking up in the photo above. It sort of reminds of me an onion in some ways, as it is white and has a lot of layers. This time, I happened to have some zucchini, carrots, and parsnips in the refrigerator. So, inspired by this post, I chopped up all my veggies and tossed them together with some olive oil, sea salt, and black pepper. I had some fresh rosemary on hand, so I crushed up the leaves a bit and sprinkled it throughout.

The larger your pieces are, the longer the roasting time. I was in a bit of a rush, so I cut up the vegetables into pretty thin slices (less than 1 cm thick) and roasted the vegetables in a single layer. Roasting in a single layer helps with the browning/caramelization. If the vegetables sit on top of each other, they tend to just steam.

Roast at 425 degrees for 15-30 minutes, depending on the size of your vegetables. I would open the oven once during roasting to stir the veggies. This smells really yummy while it's roasting!

Serve and Enjoy!

Note 1: Allison from Local Lemons says you can preheat the oven with the pans inside so they get hot as well. I imagine this would help the charring. I did not do this, but it sounds like a great idea.

Note 2: This recipe is very versatile! Substitute with whatever roasting-type vegetables you might have on hand. I would imagine that eggplant, potatoes, peppers, or squash would be delicious as well!

Cambridge 1

Dec 16, 2009 ·

I've always loved thin crust pizzas, and I've been so excited lately as we have been getting more and more wonderful options in our neighborhood. Cambridge 1 has actually been in Harvard Square for at least a few years. Started by the same guys who own Miracle of Science, Cambridge 1 is a smart, hip pizza joint that serves pizzas grilled over a coal fire.

arugula, shaved parmigiano, extra virgin olive oil, lemon ($8)

For the location and the quality of the food, the prices aren't bad. Typically Bryan and I will share the arugula salad, which is simple, fresh, and just plain good.

Maine lobster, corn, scallion, parmigiano, lemon butter ($13 half/ $24 whole)

Bryan always gets the Maine lobster and corn pizza, which is delicious. You really only need to get a half pizza (pictured above) - the portions are pretty generous.

tomato, fontina, romano, garlic, basil = $7 half / $13 full

I love the #1, the simple Marguerita-like pizza. The crust is nice and thin and crispy while the tomatoes provide a juicy contrast. I actually thought the crust for my pizza was better than the crust for the lobster pizza, which was slightly soggy and weighed down by all those rich ingredients! I love simplicity, and this pizza satisfies me everytime.

I really love this place, and so do many others. On weekends, you may have to wait before being seated. It's worth it though!

Cambridge 1
27 Church St
Cambridge, MA 02138

Æbleskivers and Takoyaki? Chinese egg cakes?

Dec 15, 2009 ·

There are certain types of food that transcend culture. A recipe that is so basic, it is adopted by virtually every cuisine. One example I thought of recently was the egg custard. Americans have custard pies, the French have their creme caramel, the Spanish have flan, the Japanese have their own version of creme caramel, and of course the Chinese have dan ta (egg tarts).

More recently, I discovered the Æbleskiver, a Danish pastry that is sort of like a round pancake popover cross-over. Chad, the owner of Aunt Else's (a family run business), was passing out fresh, hot Æbleskiver samples at the Tasting Pavilion. They were divine! I couldn't stop eating them! And they also reminded me of some Asian versions of this cake . . . but more on that later.

He offered to send me a free starter kit to review. I couldn't wait!

I received my starter kit about two weeks ago and I have been experimenting with it.

The first thing you have to do is to season the pan. As a cast-iron newbie, this was new to me. It's not too hard, though a bit messy. You coat the pan in a thin coat of vegetable oil and bake at 400 degrees for about an hour. Make sure to put a thin pan on the lower level to collect any stray oil drippings.

After an hour, the once dark gray pan becomes brownish and is considered "seasoned." It takes on non-stick qualities. You can handwash it, but don't stick it in the dishwasher. Of course, if this happens, you can always re-season by baking the pan again the same way.
Once you're ready to make the Æbleskivers, preheat the pan! This is really important!!!! The first time I tried this the pan was not hot enough and it was a MAJOR FAIL!!! And I had guests over too! It was so embarrassing. The batter stuck to the pan and became a goopy, embarrassing mess. My guests weren't too thrilled with the "bread pudding" that I set out in front of them. *sigh* Please learn from my mistake!

The second (successful) time, I put my electric stove at medium heat and heated the pan for at least 5 minutes, if not more.

The kit comes with a package of mix that's pretty easy to use. You just whisk together 3 eggs with 2 cups water. Then you stir in 2 ¾ cups of the mix. That's it. It's really easy. You don't even have to mix that hard - Chad says it's OK if the batter is a little lumpy.

Fill each hole with a dime sized pool of vegetable oil. (Actually, looking back, it's probably better to add the oil in the beginning before you preheat the pan).

And once you're pretty sure your pan is hot, add the batter. If it's hot enough, it should sizzle like it's frying and the batter should bubble a bit.

Let it cook for several minutes (at least 3 or so?)

The next step is a bit tricky, but Chad has a great video that shows you exactly how to do this. Use a chopstick or knitting needle and flip the half-cooked batter (the edges should already be cooked) ¼ turn (90 degrees).

Let it cook for another minute or so, flipping ⅛ of a turn each time part touching the pan starts to dry up. This definitely takes some practice, and I don't think I've mastered it yet, which is why my Æbleskivers are not as beautiful as Chad's yet!

The Æbleskivers are done when a toothpick comes out cleanly after being inserted in the middle.

As I was looking at these Æbleskivers, it dawned on me that these look just like Japanese takoyakis! Takoyakis are savory octopus filled cakes that are very popular on the streets of Japan.

After doing some research, I realized that the recipes for takoyaki is eerily similar to the recipe for Æbleskiver. Inspired partly from this recipe, I decided to try adapting it by using the Æbleskivers mix.

I replaced the water with dashi stock and filled the inside of the Æbleskiver with fish cake. Now, takoyaki is traditionally made with octopus (after all, tako means octopus in Japanese). However, octopus may not be that easy to come by in a normal supermarket, and Maki from Just Hungry says that you can substitute the octopus with other things, such as squid, fish cake, or even cut up hot dogs!

Takoyaki Recipe
2 ¾ cups Aunt Else's mix
3 eggs
2 cups dashi stock
optional (2 teaspoon soy sauce)
cooked octopus leg, cut up into small, 1 cm cubes

Notes
Depending on how salty your filling is, you may not need the soy sauce. I did not add any. Although it was a bit light, I thought it tasted OK. It also depends on how salty your dashi stock is.

I made my own dashi stock (I'll post a tutorial soon), but you can also use store bought hondashi powder and make stock that way. It's faster and more convenient, but most likely has MSG and more salt.

If you don't have the Æbleskivers mix, you can always use staple ingredients using this recipe.

Here's a picture of the takoyakis cooking with the kamaboko (Japanese fish cake) inside.

Success!

This pan is really versatile, and you can definitely use it to make either Æbleskivers or Takoyakis. I think the holes are bigger than those in a typical takoyaki pan, so you'd be making larger takoyakis. In any event, the finished cakes are delicious! Maybe I'll try those mini-circular Chinese egg cakes next! Again, another one of those foods that transcends multiple cultures. Popovers anyone? 🙂

The pans are made in Minnesota and have a lifetime warranty. The mix is all organic as well.

The Æbleskivers (or Takoyakis!!!) are best enjoyed hot, but can be reheated in a toaster oven to regain that beautiful crispy crust. I had them for breakfast this whole week. Yum.

Right now, Aunt Else's is generously offering a 10% discount to all Tiny Urban Kitchen readers if you fan or follow Aunt Else's on Facebook, Twitter, or Foodbuzz. You can also visit them at their Foodzie store here. To apply the discount, just type "Tiny Urban Kitchen" and the fan/follow option you chose in the "add special instructions to seller" box during checkout. Plus, right now, there is free Priority Mail shipping anywhere in the US for orders over $50.

Oven Roasted Kale "Chips"

Dec 13, 2009 ·

Kale is another one of those super-nutritious vegetables that I never know exactly how to prepare. Several years ago I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) for the summer. Every week we received a random assortment of crops from the farm. For some reason, the farm I joined grew TONS of kale. Maybe kale is just easy to grow in Massachusetts. I'm not sure, but I found myself just sauteing it with garlic Chinese style every week.

About a year ago, while perusing Joy's excellent blog, I came upon her post about kale chips. I was definitely intrigued. Not only would this be a new way of making kale, she said it reminded her of nori (dried seaweed) which I love. Furthermore, she was able to bring it as a snack to a baseball game!

This definitely sounded like something I had to try.

Oven Roasted Kale "Chips"
1 bunch of kale leaves, shredded by hand
vegetable oil to coat (or optionally, vegetable oil spray)
salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash and dry the kale leaves. It's ideal if you can dry the leaves as much as possible, since you will eventually need to desiccate them completely in the oven. I used an OXO Salad Spinner, which works quite nicely. Tear the leaves into "bite size" pieces (the leaves will shrink, so you can be generous with the size of your "bite").

Toss the leaves with vegetable oil to coat. I tried two trays with two different types of oil - olive oil and sesame oil. You can use whatever oil you like.

Alternatively, you can spray the baking tray with oil, lay out the kale leaves in a single sheet, and then spray liberally with more oil.

Salt lightly. This is important. If you are used to stir frying veggies, you might think there's a certain amount that is necessary. Add LESS than that!! These leaves will shrink significantly and most likely you will have added too much salt! I made this mistake!!!! Maybe about a teaspoon max for the entire bunch of kale!

Roast for about 15 minutes, checking at least once during baking to toss/stir the leaves.

Let cool and enjoy!

These were pretty delicious - just a bit too salty, which I think can be easily remedied. The texture was great, and it really is like Japanese nori - fragrant, delicate, and crumbly. It's good at room temperature and lasts for weeks. It's a great way to preserve kale if you are afraid of it going bad soon.

Daniel

Dec 11, 2009 ·

Oh New York, how I love thee, especially thy food.

This is truly the culmination of this five-part mini series on some of the amazing food I enjoyed in New York City during a short trip we took for my birthday. Of course, this pinnacle is Daniel, the three-star Michelin restaurant (one of only four in NYC) where we enjoyed an absolutely perfect evening.

There's something to be said about these three star Michelin restaurants. Every single dish is executed flawlessly. I almost never see that at any other restaurant. Usually, there's something I don't like. Maybe the dessert was just too boring, or maybe one of the dishes was over-salted.

Not here. Not only is the service impeccable, the food is incredible. From the amuse bouche to the courses to the desserts, every single dish was perfectly done. Immaculate presentation, perfectly paired flavors, and the right combination of textures.

The atmosphere at Daniel is really relaxing and incredibly enjoyable. They make you feel pampered without being stuffy or formal. The people that served us were warm, friendly, inviting, and even joked with us throughout the evening. We sat in a rounded cushioned bench facing the entire restaurant. Just that comfy sofa alone already made us feel infinitely more at ease (plus, that big bench is the perfect place to put down the big hand bag with the camera inside!!)

They were very attentive to our needs, and made sure we were absolutely thrilled with everything we had. And course after course, we were continually surprised and delighted by the food. Really, truly, probably the BEST overall dining experience, hands down, that either of us has ever had.

And the space! It's absolutely gorgeous.

Join me as I share with you, mostly visually, the incredible meal that we enjoyed. One cool thing about the chef's tasting menu here - Bryan and I actually got distinct dishes (from each other) for almost all of the courses. So, in some ways, it was almost like a 16 course tasting (since we had to try each other's dishes!). In fact, maybe a 20-course tasting is more accurate, since they throw in all these other freebies here and there.

Bryan absolutely loved his cocktail. I ordered a mojito, which I thought was too sweet. Bryan said, "mojitos are always sweet, and that's why I don't like them that much." I felt bad, but I didn't want to say anything since it's not really Daniel's fault. Nevertheless, the waiter noticed I was not drinking it, and offered to let me try something else. Their number one priority was to make sure I was happy. At the end of the day, they did not charge me for any of my drinks, calling it "birthday" on the receipt.

Amuse Bouche - this was a celebration of local seasonal ingredients. In this case, the star seasonal ingredient was squash - different kinds. I think the middle might be a pumpkin soup of sorts, and the one on the far right butternut squash with chorizo. Every single one was incredibly delicious. A perfect way to awaken the palate.

And then the courses began to arrive . . .

Pressed Duck And Fois Gras Terrine
Chimay Gelée, Chestnuts, Red Cabbage Chutney
R. Haart Riesling "Piesport Kabinett," Mosel 1999

Mosaic of Capon, Fois Gras, and Celery Root
Pickled Daikon, Satur Farms Mache, Pear Confit
The blocks of the "mosaic" are separated by thin films of black truffle.

Duo of Hamachi
Lettuce wrapped tartare with North Star Cavier / Vodka Beet cured with Walnut Pistou, Mache Salad
Sancerre, Franck et Jean Francois, Bailly 2008

Marinated Fluke with Seaweed
Pine Nuts, Radishes, Matsutake Mushrooms, Bonito Gelee

Fascinating cocktail with a fennel slice - delicious. The waiter brought me this after he took away the mojito that I did not drink. He continually checked up on me, asking me multiple times whether I was sure that I liked my new drink. He said "now are you SURE you're happy?" Smiling, he added, "if you don't tell me the truth, I won't bring you any dessert!"

Butter Poached Abalone
Yellow curry braised greens, crispy rice, chayote

Maine Sea Scallop "Rosette"
Fennel Marmalade, Orange, Saffron Veloute
Domaine de Terrebrune, Bandol, Provence 2006

Handmade Tallegio Agnolotti with Alba White Truffle
This was the BEST truffle I have ever had. The white truffle dishes were actually an optional addition, costing an extra $60!!!! But it was so worth it. Back in Boston, we had started wondering whether we really liked truffle. It seemed like every dish we tried with truffle shavings tasted bland and lacked a truly deep, truffle flavor.

Now I realize that we were probably not eating high quality truffles. These are white alba truffles from Italy, and oh man, they were heavenly. This was Bryan's favorite entree out of all of them.

Oeuf en Cocotte
White Truffle, Spinach, and Chanterelle Coulis
Meursault "Chevaliers" Joseph Matrot 2007
The truffle flavor in the eggs was a bit more subtle, but the flavor of this dish was still phenomenal. A barely cooked egg topped with white truffle slices and a light touch of sea salt. Oh my . . I could eat this forever.

Turbot Baked on Himalayan Salt
The presentation of this dish was dramatic as they brought out the huge chuck of sea salt (which is pink!) on which they cooked the fish. A waiter then gingerly cut apart the fish into two heart-shaped pieces and presented them to us (see next picture).

Turbot Baked on Himalayan Salt (plated)

Brussels sprouts, Parsnip Chip, Ommegang Abbey Ale and Gingerbread Sauce

Chehalem, Pinot Noir "Three Vineyards" Willamette Valley, Oregon 2007
The fish, of course, was perfectly cooked. Soft, just cooked enough to be done but still very tender. The accompanying Brussels Sprouts slivers were surprisingly delicious. Full of a rich flavor that must have come partly from the fish. Bryan never thought he even liked Brussels Sprouts until he tried them here. And I love the attention to detail, like the perfect single Brussels sprouts cup on the side.

Elysian Field Farm Lamb Chip
Garbanzo Bean Fricasse, Chorizo, Rutabaga, Chickpea Tendrils
La Rioja Alta, "Vina Ardanza", RIoja, 2000
Typically in these multi-course chef's tastings, I am usually so stuffed by the red meat course that it's a struggle to eat. For some reason, that did not happen here. The portion sizes were small enough and spaced out far enough that it was just perfect. I was perfectly satisfied and I felt good.

Bosquet des Papes "Cuvee Grenache" Chateauneuf du Pape 2001

Amused that I was taking so many pictures of the food, one of our waiters setsthe wine next to the floral centerpiece and lined it up with the candle. He told me he was trying to set up a nice shot for me.

Fois Gras Stuffed Scottish Grouse
Celery, Caramelized Salsify, Beets, Wanut-Calvados Jus

Wild Scottish Hare "A La Royale"
Porcini Marmalade, Sunchoke, Chestnut Ravioli

Duo of Fruit and Chocolate Desserts
Reisling "Trittenheimer Apotheke" Beerenauslese, Weingut Boch, Mosel 2006
After the hare, I told Bryan, "I really crave something citrus-y right now. To cleanse the palate. I wonder what's next?"
I was shocked and delighted when the citrus fruit dessert arrived. I almost started wondering whether there was a secret device recording everything I was saying. How did they know?

And then round 2 of dessert! A candle and a special plate! 🙂

I usually find that it's rare for a restaurant to both have excellent food and excellent dessert. This was definitely an exception. The desserts were outstanding here. Every single one.

And then the post dessert "snacks." These were tasty, though not quite at the same level as the desserts. They were less complex, each little "snack" having its own monodimensional flavor (e.g., truffle chocolate, vanilla macaron, or fruit "tart"). Still, it was a nice treat.

And of course, my favorites - the madeleines!

And then it was time to say good-by. Good-by to a fabulous evening where everything was just right. We had been there for four hours . . if you can believe that. And yet, we never felt at any moment that the evening was dragging on. Instead we felt relaxed, and genuinely just happy.

At the end of the night, they gave us personalized menus that spelled out exactly what we had enjoyed that night.

Here's to a wonderful night and a fabulous birthday trip.

Other posts from this mini New York Series:
Le Bernardin
Sushi Yasuda
H&H Bagels
Ess-a-Bagel
A New York Birthday
Me Peche (Momofuku Midtown)

Daniel
Upper East Side
60 E 65th St
New York, NY 10065

Le Bernardin

Dec 10, 2009 ·

Le Bernardin holds a special place in my heart because it was my first three-star Michelin experience ever.

And, oh my goodness, it was truly the best meal I had ever eaten. Right at that point I decided Le Bernardin was my favorite restaurant in the world (heh, I hadn't tried Kyubei at that point yet!)

It's possible I'm slightly biased. I absolutely love seafood, especially when it's raw. Le Bernardin specializes in seafood, and man, the food is amazing. It's rare that every single course of a 10-course tasting is a "wow" dish. At Le Bernardin, every single dish was absolutely incredible. I really think you can't go wrong. Order anything on the menu. It will be good.

On this trip, we decided to try lunch at Le Bernardin. Before we even looked at our menus, they set down before us a lovely free amuse - a simple salad of chopped salmon tossed with mayonnaise and herbs. It tasted wonderful with the bread and the rice crackers.

Because we did not really have time to do an extensive tasting, we opted for the three course lunch ($69), which includes a first course, main entree, and a dessert. I love the names of their first courses. You can choose from either the "Simply Raw" section or the "Barely touched" section. This is my kind of seafood place! Why cook fish?

Kampachi Tartare; Marinated Japanese Cucumber; Aged Citrus Vinegar
Of course I chose something from the "Simply Raw" section and I loved it. The raw kampachi was deliciously flavorful, reminding me of nice fatty pieces of yellowtail sashimi. The citrus-y vinegar cut the richness of the fish perfectly - making it an overall light and refreshing dish. A great way to start the meal.

Sautéed Calamari filled with Sweet Prawns and Shiitake Mushroom; Calamari Consommé
We had sampled this dish last year during our Chef's tasting and we couldn't stop thinking about the amazing consomme. We even had friends visit the restaurant later on in the year and they too, raved about the consomme. The consomme somehow captures the intensely rich umami flavors of the calamari and the prawns. It's clear and light, yet intensely flavorful at the same time. Perfectly executed.

Baked Wild Striped Bass; Corn "Cannelloni"; Light Perigord Sauce
Bryan ordered this as his entree and thought it was delicious. The chefs here are experts at cooking fish, and even their cooked fish is super soft, never overcooked, and exquisitely flavored.

Pan Roasted Monkfish; Hon Shimeji Mushrooms; Turnip-Ginger Emulsion; Sake Broth
I loved loved loved my dish, despite the fact that it was actually cooked. The surface of the monkfish was perfectly seared to form a thin, uniform crust beautifully infused with fragrant flavors. The mushrooms added a lovely, earthy depth to the dish, and the surrounding Sake broth was beautiful. Everything was so good.

Yuzu parfait, meringue, green tea biscuit, and ice cream
The dessert was solid, though perhaps not in the same league as the seafood. My dessert was tart and refreshing, which is the way I liked it.

Dark chocolate, peanut, and caramel tart; Meyer lemon puree, peanut powder, praline citrus sorbet
Bryan actually could not decide between two desserts, so the waiter was kind enough to bring both to us without charging us for the extra dessert. Three star restaurants have a way of making you feel special and treated well. What service!

And of course, the classic free baked madeleines at the end of the meal. I love these, and I think we ate the whole basket!

What can I say? This is one of only four three-star Michelin restaurants in New York. Of course it's an incredible restaurant, and definitely a wonderful place for a celebration, especially for a seafood lover. One thing I really like about Le Bernardin (compared to almost any other place), is that the chef's tasting is not overwhelming because it's all seafood. For me, I am often so full by the time the heavy red meat entrees come around, I struggle to eat them. At Le Bernardin, the nature of the food is less heavy, and therefore you just feel so much better at the end the meal. Deliciously satisfied but not stuffed. The perfect place to be.

We love this place so much, this was actually our third time in two years! And we don't live in New York!

Other posts from this mini New York Series:
Daniel

Sushi Yasuda
H&H Bagels
Ess-a-Bagel
A New York Birthday
Me Peche (Momofuku Midtown)

Menus
Lunch prix fixe: $69
Dinner Tasting menus: $138 or $185

Le Bernardin
Midtown West
155 W 51st St
New York, NY 10019

Sushi Yasuda

Dec 9, 2009 ·

There's plenty of hype surrounding this New York Sushi institution. It has won numerous awards, received high ratings from prestigious institutions, and has been muttered, more than once, in the same breath as Kyubei in Tokyo. While doing internet research for sushi restaurants in Japan, I repeatedly observed comparisons between top Tokyo sushi joints and this place.

Of course, "this place" is Sushi Yasuda.

The interior is bamboo colored, relaxing - almost zen-like. The sushi chefs are very serious about their craft - which is really like an art.

We start off with a small "amuse" on the house - a tiny deep fried croquette of sorts in a light umami broth. Delicious.

We then order the "omakase" - essentially letting the chef decide what to feed us. The waitress asks about preferences and the dietary restrictions. I tell her, I prefer raw fish, and I'm not a huge fan of cooked shellfish, although uni is OK. Oh, and I LOVE toro.

A beautiful tray of sashimi arrives ($38.25). The waitress gives us a description of each fish. Sadly, I can't remember the details anymore (and it's not on my receipt!) All I can remember is that each piece of fish is wonderfully fresh, deliciously sweet, and amazingly good. Fresh, well cut, and simple. Nothing fancy. Just good, solid, delectable slices of fresh fish.

The waitress teaches us the proper way to enjoy sashimi. DO NOT put your wasabi in your soy sauce! Instead, put a tiny bit on top of the sashimi, and then lightly dip the fish in the soy sauce (shoyu). Bryan typically loves wasabi and usually his soy sauce looks more like a thick green paste with hints of soy sauce. Here, he relents and agrees to eat sashimi the recommended way.

Our next course is the sushi. With sushi, you should not put ANY wasabi in the soy sauce. If the chef thinks wasabi is needed, he will have already put the perfect amount inside between the rice and the fish. No need to add more!

Here is what we enjoyed (from left to right starting at the top):

Netoro Maki: this fatty tuna maki was sooo rich and delicious. Toro is probably my favorite sushi of all times ($9 a roll)

Toro: I love love love toro, and this was no exception. The rich fatty flavor of the tuna belly just cannot be surpassed. Absolutely heavenly. ($8 each)

Maguro: Although not as rich as the Toro, this tuna still had very good flavor and texture. ($4.50 each)

Coho: This salmon is the state animal of Chiba, Japan, which is where sushi Chef Yasuda is from. The fish was surprisingly lean yet still soft and flavorful. ($4.50 each)

Shima aji: Striped jack - long considered a luxury fish in Japan, this white fish is reminiscent of yellowtail ($4.50 each)

Sanma: A type of mackerel, this fish was rich, buttery, salty, and just really deep in flavor ($5 each)

Hotate: Raw scallops - these were amazingly sweet with absolutely no hint of fishy-ness ($4 each)

Uni: Raw sea urchin - I had never liked this until I tried some in Japan and realized how sweet uni can be. It's not always stinky like I thought! The uni here was very good, though still not as good as Kyubei ($5 each)

Shirayaki: grilled eel - tender, fragrant, delicious ($5.50 each)

Dessert: mixed mochi ($8) - green tea and red bean. It's OK - nothing special, probably not the best mochi ice cream I've had. I'll stick with the sushi.

Our Thoughts
Over all, we think the food is fantastic here. The sushi and sashimi are all incredibly fresh. The rice in the sushi is also perfectly cooked. Really good texture. Definitely one of the best sushi places I've visited in the US.

Having said that, we both agreed that Sushi Yasuda does not even come close to our experience at Kyubei in Tokyo. At Kyubei we were given our own sushi chef who entertained us for the entire evening, teaching us about each fish and preparing each morsel one at a time. The service was incredible and the experience unique and really fun. Furthermore, the fish at Kyubei is truly top notch - Kyubei is right down the street from Tsukiji Fish Market.

At Sushi Yasuda, even though the food was very very good, the experience felt more normal. A waitress came and brought us our dishes and we ate our food. And that was it.

But then, it's really not fair to compare Kyubei with Sushi Yasuda. Kyubei cost us over $400 USD while this meal was closer to $200.

I still stand by my opinion that this is one of the best sushi places in the US. However, if you ever make it out to Japan, you have to try a place like Kyubei!

UPDATE - 2011
As suggested, I returned to Sushi Yasuda and sat at the sushi bar by myself. I completely agree that the experience at the sushi bar is much more intimate, fun, and more similar to the experiences I had in Japan.

I was also able to get out of there with a total bill of "only" $34 by ordering one of the set-menus (instead of the omakase) and then supplementing with additional pieces that I wanted to try. The sushi was still absolutely fantastic, and I walked out of there a much happier person, having only spent $34 but enjoying one of the best sushi meals I'd had in a very, very long time.

Other posts from this mini New York Series:
Daniel
Le Bernardin
Sushi Yasuda
H&H Bagels
Ess-a-Bagel
A New York Birthday
Me Peche (Momofuku Midtown)

Sushi Yasuda
Midtown East
204 E 43rd St
New York, NY 10017

H&H Bagels

Dec 8, 2009 ·

Bryan and I love bagels from New York, and we always pick up a few dozen and freeze them whenever we visit. While we have tried several, H&H is still our favorite. We love their fresh bagels, which, of course, are freshly made on the premises. The bagels are warm and crispy on the outside and nice and chewy on the inside.

Of course, the store also happens to be located conveniently close to our aunt's Upper West Side apartment (where we stay every time). Aren't we lucky?? 🙂

One of our favorites is the Everything Bagel, which smells intoxicatingly fragrant when you pick it up. That mixture of garlic, onion, sesame, poppyseed, etc. smells soooo good! It's really hard not to eat a couple right on the spot (heh heh, that's about 600 calories please). We also love the Sesame Bagel, which smells really delicious even toasted at home.

The place is very simple. Nowhere to sit, nowhere to relax. Essentially, there's this huge space in front dedicated for the crowds of people who line up each day to get their bagel fix. Rows of refrigerators on the left side of the store are filled with drinks and tubs of bagel accompaniments such as cream cheese, lox, white fish spread, etc.

Without fail, we always order a dozen Everything Bagels (you get one for free when you order a dozen!) and a dozen Sesame Bagels. We then proceed to eat at least one bagel each immediately before heading back to Boston, usually on the $25 bus! It's hard not to eat another one while sitting on that bus, especially with the sweet aroma of the freshly baked bagels beckoning the entire 4-hour ride.

According to a recent Serious Eats article, "[a] bagel's half-life, untoasted and unadorned, is no more than half an hour." Serious Eats tried to do a blind test of New York City bagels, only to find (in their first experiment), that the freshest bagel from a relatively unknown local bakery won the title of best bagel, while well known bagels from far far away fared quite poorly. It was all a matter of how old the bagel was.

Alas, it will always be debated and likely never resolved who makes the best bagel in NYC. Since we don't live there, we have not had the luxury of trying out that many places. However, you can be sure that, wherever you go, make sure that the bagels are made fresh on the premises, and that you enjoy one right away! You really can't go too wrong if you just do that.

Of course, if you happen to be near an H&H, do check it out! You won't be sorry. 🙂

-------------------------------------------------------------
Update: Thanks for the reminder Bryan! (see comment #2) Of course, it's totally OK that H&H does not have a huge variety of bagel accompaniments because Zabar's is right next door. This market is fun, unique, totally crowded, and full of incredible food including an amazing selection of bagel spreads that you can schmear to your heart's content.

Other posts from this mini New York Series:
Daniel
Le Bernardin
Sushi Yasuda
Ess-a-Bagel
A New York Birthday
Me Peche (Momofuku Midtown)

H&H Bagels
Upper West Side
around 80st and Broadway
2239 Broadway
New York, NY 10024

Ess-a-Bagel

Dec 7, 2009 ·

I had heard great things about this bagel place (Midtowners hail it as the best bagel in NYC) but had never visited it, mostly because it is much further away from my aunt's place than H&H Bagels. My aunt lives in the Upper West Side, so we invariably pick up bagels from H&H every time we stay with her.

This time, we were staying in Midtown, so there really was no excuse not to visit Ess-a-Bagel.

The first thing I noticed when we walked in was the amazing spread of bagel "accompaniments" that are available! This FAR trumps H&H, which just has some refrigerators along the wall with tubs of spreads.

Here, the deli counter is full of good stuff. Various smoked fish, different spreads, salads, cream cheese, etc. You can really make any kind of bagel sandwich you want, including fixings such as lettuce, onions, tomatoes and the like. This place is much more like a full service bagel sandwich shop, not just a bagelry that solely bakes bagels.

Since we would be enjoying a special lunch later in the day, we saved our appetite by sharing one sesame bagel "schmeared" with smoked whitefish, a very classic spread. Yum. The bagel was quite good. It was fresh, decently chewy, and the smoked whitefish was delicious. The bagels at Ess-a-Bagel are significantly smaller than the bagels at H&H, which is good for weight control but maybe not as much for your wallet.

In the end, we both agreed that we liked H&H better, but that might just be a personal preference issue. H&H bagels are chewier and denser, which is something we both love.

All the bagels are freshly made right on the premises. I snapped a picture of the huge vat in which they boil all the bagels.

Over all, it's a great place to get a bagel if you're in the neighborhood. There's a decent amount of seating (unlike H&H), so you can actually sit down, relax, and enjoy your bagel sandwich as you people watch. It's pretty fun to see the various types of people who stop by to get a bagel early in the morning.

Postlude
I must confess, right before we left NYC, we took a special subway ride to the Upper West Side just to pick up two dozen H&H bagels to take home . .like always.

Other posts from this mini New York Series:
Daniel
Le Bernardin
Sushi Yasuda
H&H Bagels
A New York Birthday
Me Peche (Momofuku Midtown)

Ess-a-Bagel
831 3rd Ave Ste 1
New York, NY 10022

A New York Birthday

Dec 6, 2009 ·

Oh New York, how I love thee, especially thy food.

This begins a five-part mini series on some of the amazing food I enjoyed in New York City during a short trip we took there during my birthday. I won't give away all the details yet, but I can give you a hint of what is to come. I'll be comparing two very well known bagel establishments in New York and our thoughts about them. I will also discuss my experience at one of the top sushi restaurants in New York City and how it compared to my amazing sushi experience in Japan. Finally, I'll share TONS of detailed photographs from incredible meals at two different 3-star Michelin restaurants. Stay tuned!

Today, I'd like to just share some random photos from this amazingly diverse and rich city (including a glimpse of some food shots!)

Mosaic of fois gras

My Melody in midtown.

Hello Kitty in Midtown. If you love Sanrio or cute Japanese characters, you'll have to check out my Kyaraben on Steroids post where I make a bunch of Sanrio and Totoro characters from sushi!

The proper way to use wasabi.

Grand Central Station

Kampachi tartare

The High Line at Chelsea Market

Bagel with smoked whitefish salad

Update:
Other posts from this mini New York Series:
Daniel
Le Bernardin
Sushi Yasuda
H&H Bagels
Ess-a-Bagel
Me Peche (Momofuku Midtown)

Italian Biscotti

Dec 4, 2009 ·

I love a nice cappuccino paired with a lovely biscotti for dipping. Unfortunately, I am a bit picky when it comes to sweets. For some reason, I don't particularly enjoy whole nuts in my desserts, and I really don't like the taste of anise (black licorice).

Imagine how disappointed I was when I bought biscotti from the North End. Every piece either had whole almonds inside or was doused with anise extract.

It was time to make my own.

I love this version from The Joy of Cooking. It uses lemon and orange zest and has absolutely no nuts! Furthermore, it's low fat, with each serving having only 2g of fat! And finally, most importantly, it's delicious!

Ingredients
Dry Ingredients

3 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ ts salt

Wet Ingredients
¼ cup corn or canola oil
1 ¼ cup sugar
2 large egg whites
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Whisk together the dry ingredients thoroughly. In a separate bowl, beat the wet ingredients together with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. You can zest the lemon and the orange with a small grater, like I did in this post.

Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until well blended and smooth. Shape the dough into two even shaped logs, about 11 x 1 ½ inches. The dough is a bit sticky, so you can either use plastic wrap or use lightly floured hands.

Arrange the logs far away from each other, as they will expand. Flatten each log. Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove the logs from the baking sheet and let them cool for about 10 minutes on a cooling wrack (if you have one - I didn't have one for years, so I just let them cool on the baking sheet). Carefully move the log (trying not to break it) onto a cutting board.

Slice diagonally into ⅜ inch slices.

Lay the slices sideways on the sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the slices over and the bake for another 5-10 minutes.

Let cool and serve!

Enjoy!

Winter Melon Soup

Dec 3, 2009 ·

With the cold weather fast approaching, I find that I am craving soup a lot. Winter melon soup is a great, healthy soup that taste light, cleansing, and satisfying all at the same time.

It's really easy to make. You need stock, winter melon, and salt + pepper to taste. You can optionally supplement with other soup flavoring agents, like I added some dried squid for fun.
To prepare dried squid, just use scissors and cut a few small pieces (about 1-2 cm squares) to add to the soup at the beginning.

That's it!

I decided to use pork neck bones to make stock similar to the method I used for daikon pork bone soup. Of course, you can easily use chicken broth, or even vegetable stock.

Getting a Clear Broth
Quickly boil the neck bones in boiling water for about 5 minutes. The initial boiling releases blood bits and other unsightly particles that would appear in your soup later. Rinse the bones with some water to make sure all particles have been washed off.

Refill the pot with clean water, about enough to cover the neck bones. Add the chopped winter melon, bring to a boil, and then simmer for about 30 minutes.

Flavor with salt and pepper and garnish with cilantro. Enjoy!

A Tour of a Chocolate Factory?

Dec 3, 2009 ·

This is exciting! A chance to tour Taza's chocolate factory this weekend! I've never seen a real live chocolate factory - only in the movies! 🙂 If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you'll know that I'm a big fan of their chocolate. I especially love stone ground chocolate with Mexican Guajillo Chilis. SO GOOD!

TAZA "Stone Ground Organic" Chocolate Factory's Open House Event

Saturday, December 5th from 10AM - 6PM

FREE! Open to the public!

You can take the tour and learn what a winnowing machine does, see their red Barth Sirocco roaster, or check out their vintage Mexican molinos. If you are short on time, you can at least stop by and taste the free chocolate samples! There will be hot chocolate too. Of course, there is a gift shop where you can purchase your own chocolate to go. 🙂

Even if you can't make it in person, you can visit their website and get 10% off orders all day on Saturday. Or, of course, you can wait for my blog post and salivate at all the pictures of the chocolate. 😉

Taza Chocolate Factory
561 Windsor St.
Somerville, MA

Shangri La

Dec 2, 2009 ·

In the Chinese community, word of mouth is potent, and if a new delicious and authentic Chinese restaurant enters the scene, EVERYBODY knows about it immediately. Good Chinese restaurants never need to advertise because word travels like wildfire. Lines are predictably long, yet people are willing to wait.

Shangri La in Belmont is definitely one of those restaurants. Unlike most of the restaurants in Chinatown (which are more Cantonese-style), Shangri La specializes in Sichuan and Taiwanese cuisine. Their special weekend Taiwanese brunch is especially good.

Come any Saturday around lunchtime, and be prepared to wait at least 20 minutes for a table, if not more. The place is teeming with Asians. The food is excellent here, and everybody knows it.

We went on a Saturday around 12:30 and had to wait about 25 minutes before being seated. The restaurant is super crowded, and it's hard to wait inside the restaurant. There just is not enough room to accommodate all the people waiting. We eventually walked to the Middle Eastern store next door and bought some snacks to kill time (and the hunger pangs!).

It was worth the wait. The weekend brunch menu is fabulous. Almost all of the dishes are generally excellent, with several outstanding dishes and just a few mediocre ones. Here's what we got and our thoughts . . . .

Salty Soy bean milk (咸豆浆) unsweetened soy bean milk is "curdled" with the addition of vinegar, giving this soup the consistency of really soft tofu. Chopped up fried crullers and pickled vegetables are then added to the mix, making this taste like a salty soybean soup. It was OK here, but definitely not as good as the one at Mary Chung in Cambridge.

Fried Cruller (油條) A Taiwanese breakfast classic, this was good. Typically you dip this into the sweet soy bean milk (甜豆花), which we also ordered.

Scallion Pancake 蔥油餅 ($4.25): These were fried to a nice, crispy consistency, and we not too greasy, which was nice. Solid, definitely solid.

Beef Noodle Soup (牛肉麪) This was AMAZING!!! One of the best beef noodle soups I've ever had in Boston. The soup had a rich, beef flavor that was just spicy enough to have a slight kick. The beef was soft and tender, as if it had been stewed for a long time. Bryan said he preferred the one at Mary Chung (which is excellent!) because it is spicier. Although I love the one at Mary Chung, I liked how the spice in this dish did not overpower it, but instead added a subtle kick that was just perfect. If only they had fresh handmade noodles. Everyone agreed at the table that this dish was one of the best out of the ones we ordered. If you come here, definitely try this!

Taiwanese Stir Fried Vermicelli 炒米粉 ($6.95): This dish was fine, though nothing extraordinary. The best fried vermicelli I've had in Boston is from Chung Shin Yuan in Newton.

Cattle Tendon ($6.95): I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dish and can never stop eating it whenever I order this dish. I swear there's some salty addictive agent in it (heh heh, maybe MSG) that just keeps making me come back for more. The tendon has the perfect chewy texture and a great spicy aroma that comes from the tendon being tossed in a mixture of sesame-oil and chile oil. Another one of my favorites here.

Beef wrapped with Sesame Pancake (牛肉夾餅) This was excellent (sorry you can't see the beef in the picture). The sesame pancake was flaky and crispy; the beef inside had great flavor. The scallions gave a nice, sharp contrast to the heavier, meaty flavors.

Pork Belly and Pickled Mustard Greens Bun (刮包)
This is another MUST GET dish. I bet David Chang's signature Momofuku Pork Belly buns are inspired from this traditional Taiwanese dish. Pork belly and pickled mustard greens are topped with sweet ground peanuts and cilantro in a steamed bun. The resultant flavor combination of the rich pork belly, the salty pickled mustard greens, the sweet crunchy peanuts, and the crisp cilantro and incredible. Really delicious. Definitely a must-try.

Pan fried Rice Cakes 炒年糕 ($6.95. This was the only dish that I found to be VERY mediocre and not worth ordering again. The rice cakes were doused in this generic brown sauce, and this dish was more reminiscent of Americanized Chinese food than an authentic pan-fried rice cake dish, which, frankly, needs more oil and less goopy sauce.

Nevertheless, despite this one pitfall, the rest of our dishes were either very solid or absolutely delicious. This is definitely one of the best restaurants for Taiwanese dim sum in Boston, and it's easy to see why people are willing to line up.

In conclusion, if you go, you should definitely try the beef noodle soup, the beef wrapped with sesame pancake, and the pork belly buns. If you are willing to try tendon, then you should really get the cattle tendon as well. If you've never had dim sum, the sweet soy milk and the fried cruller are worth getting, just because they are such a classic part of the Taiwanese breakfast experience. Oh, so are scallion pancakes!

Note: several of the menu items described above are only available on weekends during their special weekend brunch. Their normal dinner menus is still excellent, but you will not be able to order all of the Taiwanese dim sum dishes.

Shangri La
(617) 489-1488
149 Belmont St
Belmont, MA 02478

Beets: Part II - Beet Greens

Nov 29, 2009 ·

This post is part II of a two-part series on beets. The first part can be found here:

Most people have had beets in some form or another, even if it's not freshly roasted beets. However, many people are unaware that the beet greens can be eaten too. In fact, beet greens are more nutritious than the beet root. They not only contain higher amounts of the same vitamins found in beet root, they also contain high amounts of other minerals, such as iron. In fact, beet greens have more iron than spinach!

When you purchase beets with the greens attached, make sure to remove the greens and cook them relatively soon after purchase (3-4 days). Otherwise, the leaves will continue to suck water and nutrients from the beet root, resulting in, eventually, a shriveled and not so pretty beet root. If the greens are removed, beet roots can last for several weeks in the refrigerator.

You can treat beet greens like any other greens. I just sauteed mine with some garlic and vegetable oil, Chinese style! For some "Chinese style" ideas, check out these posts:

Sauteed Hollow Heart Vegetable
Mustard Greens with Garlic
Sauteed Pea Tendrils with Garlic

Enjoy!

Beets: Part I - Oven Roasted Beets

Nov 29, 2009 ·

There's something amazing about fresh roasted beets that I love. Tossed with just a bit of balsamic vinegar, fresh California nuovo oilio olive oil, and coarse sea salt, it's absolutely delicious. Beets are also really healthy. Many people who juice for health will choose to add beet juice as part of their diet. Beets are chock full of vitamins A, B1, B2, B6 and C and bioflavenoids. They also have other minerals, such as chlorine, folic acid, iodine, manganese, organic sodium, and potassium.

As a vast majority of the Farmer's Markets in Boston are now closed, I went to my local Whole Foods market and picked up 6 beets + stalk!

Preheat the oven to around 400 degrees. I scoured a bunch of recipes, and oven temperature ranged from 350 to 425. My guess is that it doesn't matter that much, so I picked a nice in between number, which worked fine.

Cut off the stalk (save it!) and scrub the beats clean. I used a vegetable brush, which makes the job a lot easier!

Toss the beets with some olive oil.

And wrap tightly in aluminum foil. Roast in oven for about an hour. The time will vary a lot depending on how big your beets are. Mine were pretty huge, so they actually took over an hour before they were done. You can pierce with a knife - if the knife goes in pretty easily, then the beet is done.

Remove and let cool.

Some people like to remove the skin at this point. This makes for a smoother surface. I didn't think this was necessary, and I really didn't feel like getting my hands all beet-y red, so I just left the skins on.

Chop, season toss with a balsamic vinegar, salt, and olive oil to taste. If your beets are not super sweet, you can also add a bit of sugar. You can optionally add some cheese, a strong cheese to offset the beets, such as goat cheese or blue cheese, will work best.

Oh, and those beet greens! Don't forget about those! Stay tuned for Part II of the beets post! Here's Part II of the post, which discusses how to cook this nutritious vegetable!

Enjoy!

Sel de la Terre (lunch)

Nov 28, 2009 ·

We visited Sel de la Terre in Natick back in June to celebrate a friend's graduation. While we thought the food was pretty good for the suburbs, we were not that impressed over all. However, we had heard that the Boston location was better. Furthermore, Will Gilson from Garden at the Cellar told me it was one of the places he likes to frequent.

So, since we were doing some Black Friday shopping in the neighborhood, we decided to check it out. We both were intrigued by the value of the prix fixe, which offered a two-course lunch for only $14.

Course 1: Tuna tartine on crostini and a mixed green salad
The tuna tartine (i.e. tuna salad) was enjoyable. The flavors were decent, though nothing particularly exciting. The mixed green salad, on the other hand, was rather over-salted. I was a little disappointed.

Course 2: Duck Confit risotto
The duck confit risotto was pretty good. There was some sort of wine reduction on the side that gave the risotto a nice deep flavor. The parsley that decorated the dish also gave a pungent kick to the creamy, cheesy rice dish. Over all it was solid, and a pretty good value, price-wise.

But you know what was the most enjoyable dish?

Along with the truffle fries at Garden at the Cellar and the rosemary fries at Sorrelina, these are amongst the top fries available in Boston, at least in our humble opinion. Texture-wise, they were almost identical to the ones at Sorellina. Narrow cut fries that were airy, light and crispy on the outside yet moist and potato-ey on the inside. Some fries near the top were slightly over-salted, but not too badly. I still ate most of them! And the ones at the bottom were fine.

Over all, I think it's still premature for me to gauge this restaurant based on one prix fixe menu and a basket of fries. So far, I think it's only OK, but I do think I need to come back and at least try the dinner menu before really giving an over all assessment.

For now, I think the lunch menu is rather reasonable, with all sandwiches under $10 and most main entrees $15-$16. If I come again, I'll try something other than the prix fixe just to get an idea of what some of the more expensive meals taste like. I remember trying the cheapest "Neighborhood Menu" at Craigie Street Bistrot years back and not being wow-ed the first time I went. It wasn't until I tried the Chef's Tasting Menu that I realized how amazing a cook Tony Maws really is.

As a general rule, it's true. You get what you pay for. 🙂 Don't order the budget menu if you want to see a chef at the top of his or her game.

Sel de la Terre
774 Boylston St
Boston, MA 02199

Foodbuzz Festival Day 3: Good-by Brunch at Lulu

Nov 28, 2009 ·

It has been so long since the Foodbuzz Festival that this post is really a bit late. Nevertheless, for completeness, I am wrapping things up.

This post describes the morning of Day 3 of the Foodbuzz Festival. For the Day 1 Street food Fair, please click here. For Day 2 morning , please click here (olive oil tasting) and here (Ferry Building Marketplace) and Day 2 afternoon (Tasting Pavilion) click here. For Day 2 evening (Community Dinner), click here.

We enjoyed a delicious brunch sponsored by Nature's Pride. Lulu restaurant took Nature's Pride bread and made various breakfast dishes, such as French Toast and grilled cheese sandwiches, out of Nature's Pride bread.

I met some more great people. Here I met Shannon from Tri 2 Cook, who is also a Boston blogger, just like me!

Jaden from Steamy Kitchen is super friendly and just as funny and witty in person as she is in her blog.

Rachel from La Fuji Mama and Marc from No Recipes. I had met Rachel earlier at the Tasting Pavillion and we really hit it off. Marc is a fellow East coast blogger, from NYC, and was really friendly as well.

I had a fabulous time at the Foodbuzz Festival this year, and I really can't wait until the next one! The best part was meeting so many wonderful people. Of course, the food was fantastic as well.

Thanks Foodbuzz for all your hard work in planning this fabulous event!

An Asian Thanksgiving Feast

Nov 27, 2009 ·

We enjoyed a fabulous meal at Bryan's aunt's home last night. It was one of my first times ever eating a Chinese style Thanksgiving hybrid meal.

Even though Bryan's family is Chinese, they typically eat American style turkey for Thanksgiving. This is partly because Bryan's mom learned how to make turkey from an American family in Utah when she first moved to the States. Her turkey is fabulous, and her fixins are beyond amazing (below is a pic from last year).

Thanksgiving 2008

My family never ate turkey partly because my mom hated turkey, and partly because we were Taiwanese. Instead, we would always enjoy a hot pot during Thanksgiving.

Thus, it was quite interesting to see what another Chinese family does during Thanksgiving. In this case, duck replaces turkey, Chinese sticky rice replaces the stuffing (inside the duck!), and other traditional sides, such as corn and sweet potatoes, are given an Asian twist. Check it out!

This spread of cold appetizers is popular at Chinese banquets as the first course. This particular spread includes marinated jelly fish in the center, soy sauce braised eggs (similar to tea eggs), 5-spice dried tofu, and soy sauce marinated beef shin.

Twice Cooked Pork with peppers and dried tofu

Pork Belly with Pickled Mustard Greens

Yams with Chinese beef sauce. Bryan thought this was a funny twist on the traditional sweet potatoes. It was delicious, and one of the most popular dishes of the night.

Sauteed baby bok choy. This is a classic Chinese dish and always a favorite. For the recipe, click here.

Another twist on an American Thanksgiving classic. In this case, corn is stir fried with ground pork and Chinese seasonings. This was really good.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts. Hee hee, they actually made this after seeing that the meal was quite meat heavy and knowing that I LOVE vegetables. These were delicious. Roasted with olive oil and a bit of salt at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Yum.

The duck! Unlike a traditional turkey, this duck was filled with sticky rice!

They really stuffed it with TONS of sticky rice! This dish was also delicious, and the other most popular dish of the night. I think we ate the whole duck with no leftovers to spare! The skin was nice and crispy, and the meat moist and flavorful.

Dessert was purely American. Bryan's cousin made an awesome apple pie from locally picked apples.

And of course, the vanilla bundt loaf that I brought.

All in all, a truly excellent meal. I'm thankful for relatives away from home who can adopt us during the holidays.

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving as well!

Happy Thanksgiving

Nov 26, 2009 ·

I love quiet mornings when I can just wake up at my leisure and enjoy the peace of the morning. Because I usually play music at church on Saturday and Sunday mornings, I almost never sleep in. I do love playing music at church, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. However, once in awhile, it's nice to just relax and feel like there's absolutely nothing that needs to be done.

This morning was nice, quiet, and relaxing. I put the finishing touches on my Hi Rise Vanilla Bundt Cake to bring over to Bryan's aunt's house later on. If you're curious, I put the equivalent of two loaves worth of batter into one bundt pan and it worked out nicely. I did have to bake it for about 1 hour and 10 minutes total.

I spent some time reflecting on the bountiful things for which I was thankful. God has truly been gracious and good. I don't deserve one bit of it.

I hope you all have some time to reflect on this past year.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I can't wait to eat this cake!!!

Chinese Sticky Rice (Nuo Mi Fan)

Nov 25, 2009 ·

I love love love Chinese sticky rice. I used to love it whenever my mom made this dish while I was growing up. There's something about the chewy texture of sticky rice that just makes me want more. Plus, it just reminds me of home. It's homemade Chinese comfort food at it's best.

And what better time to enjoy good Chinese comfort food than during Thanksgiving when you're with your family? When a friend recently asked me for the recipe for sticky rice because she wanted to make it for Thanksgiving, I happily obliged - by writing a post, of course!

The basic concept for this recipe is pretty simple. Basically, you need dried black shitake mushrooms, sticky rice, and an aromatic flavoring agent such as dried shrimp, dried fried shallots, ginger, and the like. Meat is optional, but Bryan always insists on meat, so I usually add pork, but you can omit it or substitute it with another meat or with dried tofu. I've included two versions of the recipe below. The first one is a bit more traditional (uses dried shrimp), the second one can easily be made vegan if you omit the pork (uses ginger as a flavoring agent instead).

Chinese Sticky Rice (traditional)
Serves 4
Prep time: excluding rice soaking time, 45 minutes
Recipe inspired by Chinese Cooking: Favorite Home Dishes (Wei quan cong shu)

Important: Soak 2 rice cups of sticky (glutinous) rice in water for at least 30 minutes but preferably several hours (I actually just soaked mine overnight). Note: a Chinese rice cup is about 25% less than a traditional US "cup" measure.

The Rice
2 cups rice
1 ½ cup water
1 T soy sauce
1 T vegetable oil (you can use sesame oil if you like its strong flavor)

In a rice cooker, combine the pre-soaked rice (drained), 1 ½ cup water (or just fill it up to the level written on your rice cooker for 2 cups), 1 T soy sauce, and 1 T vegetable oil. Cook rice according to the rice cooker's instructions. The above picture shows you what the finished product will look like.

The "Goodies"
½ lb (225g) pork (I used pork loin) thinly sliced [can use more or less based on preference]
3 T fried shallots
2T dried shrimp
5 dried shitake mushrooms, sliced

Flavoring Agents
½ T cooking rice wine
2 T soy sauce
½ t salt
1 t sugar
1 T sesame oil

Soak the shitake mushrooms in hot water for about 10-15 minutes, until soft. Slice into thin strips. Heat 2 T oil in a wok. Add mushrooms, dried shrimp, and deep-fried shallots. Stir fry until fragrant (1-2 minutes). Add the pork and cook until the pork becomes opaque, about 2-3 minutes.

Add the "flavoring agents" (rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, salt, and sesame oil) and stir to mix well. Set this aside until the rice is done in the rice cooker. Once the rice is done, combine everything together and garnish with cilantro (optional, but Bryan love cilantro so it becomes a garnish for everything . . actually, he even eats it like a vegetable sometimes. Yeah, seriously. Like full stalks).

Enjoy!

Note: Some people are really turned off by dried shrimp. If you are one of those people, here is a modified recipe that works pretty well. This modified recipe can also be used for a vegetarian or vegan version of this dish - just omit or replace the pork with something like 5-spice dried tofu.

Chinese Sticky Rice (Ginger-based)

adapted from Homestyle Cooking of Taiwan by the members of NATWA

2 cups rice
5 dried mushrooms
10 slices of ginger
¼ to ½ lb of pork (optional)
1 ¼ cup hot water
2 T soy sauce

Crush the ginger slices in a plastic bag with a rolling pin to release the ginger "juices". Heat 2 T sesame oil in a wok and brown the crushed ginger in the oil. Once browned, remove the ginger slices. Now saute the pork and mushrooms in the ginger flavored oil. Add soy sauce.

At this point, you can either add the cooked rice made from the above rice cooker method or add the soaked (but not yet cooked) rice to the wok.

Rice cooker method
Combine the cooked rice with the "sauce" (pork, mushrooms, etc) and serve.

Wok Method
Add the soaked rice to the wok, stir to combine ingredients, and add ½ cup hot water. Cover wok and cook at high heat for 2 minutes. Stir again and add the remaining ¾ cup of hot water. Continue stirring until rice is cooked. Cover wok and cook at low heat for an additional 10 minutes. Serve.

Enjoy! This one's for you, Jess!

Basta Pasta Enoteca

Nov 24, 2009 ·

We have been long time fans of Basta Pasta in Cambridge. In fact, when they first opened in our neighborhood (circa 2007), we used to eat there every week. The place provided tremendous value, both in terms of quality and quantity.

After going weekly, we got to know the owners, brothers Reno and Altin Hoxallari. They are good, honest hard workers, and have really become successful through their dedication and hard work.

A tiny bit of background . . . Reno spent about 10 years working in some of Boston's well known high end restaurants before finally deciding to branch out on his own. Though the original Cambridge restaurant looks like a casual pizza joint, just take one bite of one of Reno's specials and you'll know that this is not a random pizza joint.

Imagine our excitement when we found out that the Hoxallaris were opening their second Basta Pasta! This new one, in Quincy, has a full bar, full service, and also offers a wider menu selection that includes several seafood dishes, dessert, and coffee.

They finally opened in October, and we FINALLY had a chance to visit last week.

We had a fabulous time.

Antipasto with Grilled Fennel, Roasted Red Peppers, and Italian Cured Meat. The vegetables tasted great and the cured meat was fine. I'm not a big cured meat fan, so I only thought it was OK. Bryan said "the salami is pretty good!" I actually do not know if this is on the menu, but Reno treated us to this starter to welcome us to his new restaurant.

We tried four appetizers. Upper left: Sauteed calamari with garlic, capers, olives, and tomato sauce ($6.95) Upper Right: Sauteed Shrimp and Clams [this was a special because they had run out of PEI mussels, which are usually on the menu] Lower Left: grilled shrimp and arugula salad [this was the special of the day], and the Mini Arancinis ($5.50) - deep fried rice balls stuffed with Fontina cheese.

We have had the Sauteed calamari and Mini Arancinis many many times in Cambridge, and they both tasted the same here. The calamari has great flavor, and tastes especially good with the grilled flat bread that comes with the dish. The Mini Arancinis are really good too. Eat it quickly though! I waited too long to eat mine and it had turned cold and soggy. It's delicious when it's fresh! We thought the shrimp was just slightly overcooked in the Shrimp and Arugula salad, although it was perfectly cooked in the Sauteed Shrimp and Clams, which we all agreed was the best appetizer. The flavors in this dish were beautifully fragrant, with that aromatic broth you can only get from seafood. Long after the shellfish was eaten, we continued to dip bread into the broth because it was THAT good!

They make their own homemade fusilli, which has an incredibly delicious chewy texture. It's totally worth the extra $1.95 to get fusilli as your pasta option.

I ordered the special of the day: Butternut Squash ravioli in a Brown butter Sage sauce ($18). These were clearly homemade, and the texture was incredible. I couldn't stop chewing it! The mushrooms were also very flavorful, having absorbed much flavors from the sauce. The arugula added a nice peppery balance to the dish. I really loved it. Yum. Reno is an excellent cook and I have always loved his specials at the Cambridge location.

One person ordered the Frutti di Mare with Linguini ($18.95), one of the several dishes that is unique to this location. The seafood was fresh, and the flavors were delicious. Furthermore, the portions are large and generous - we both took a significant amount of pasta home with us.

Another person ordered the Orrechiette with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage [this was another special of the day]. I've had this at the other Basta Pasta before, and it's pretty good. The pasta was cooked to a good al dente texture and the ingredients were fresh.

Bryan ordered the Frutti di Mare with Fusilli (same as above but with fusilli) - $18.95 (plus $1.95 for the fusilli).. This dish was an excellent value. The portion size was generous and there was a lot of seafood.

As we were enjoying our meal, Reno stopped by and excitedly told us about the new brick oven they had at this place. Check it out! We tried a simple Marguerita Pizza ($11.95). It was fantastic. The brick oven really makes a difference, and this pizza is actually BETTER than the ones made in the commercial ovens at the Cambridge location. The pizzas range between $12 and $13 and are personal sized.

This location also has dessert, so we had to try all of them. We tried the Homemade Cannoli ($4) and the Homemade Tiramisu ($5). Both are solid, though not as good at the ones you can find in the North End. The cannoli has a pretty good shell - solid with a hefty crunch. The filling was pretty good and not too sweet. Each order comes with 2 cannolis, so I shared an order with Bryan.

We also tried the Homemade Tiramisu, which definitely had a strong rum flavor (maybe just a tad too strong). I thought it was OK - there are lots of tiramisus that I like better than this one. It could be a matter of personal preference, I'm no sure. This tiramisu is still not bad, just nothing special.

We enjoyed a few espressos with the desserts.

Over all, we think this place is a great addition to the Quincy dining scene, and personally I'm more than just a little jealous of people who live in Quincy. I would love to have a restaurant like this near me. We have always wished that the Basta Pasta in Cambridge sold alcohol and seafood. Furthermore, Reno's an amazing cook, and he's cooking full time in Quincy now.

We're going back next week!

Basta Pasta Enoteca
150 Hancock St
Quincy, MA 02171-1706
(617) 479-7979

Ma Peche (Momofuku Midtown)

Nov 23, 2009 ·

I just came back from a wonderful trip to the Big Apple. While I was there, I enjoyed a great lunch with some New York City based food bloggers - Andrea from High/Low Food/Drink and Cindy from Chubby Chinese Girl, Michelle from Taste As You Go and Christine from Fresh Local and Best. We met at Ma Peche, the new midtown restaurant by David Chang of famed "Momofuku."

I guess the actual restaurant is technically not open yet. However, they are serving a limited menu full of $10 lunch specials at the mezzanine level of the Chambers Hotel in midtown. For $10, you get a choice of a lunch entree and a drink. You can add a cookie from the Momofuku Milk Bar for an additional $1.85.

The space is nice although definitely not designed to be a restaurant. You sit in couches and enjoy your dishes slightly hunched over a coffee table. Although I found the couches extremely relaxing, I can see how it might be awkward to enjoy a full blown meal in that setting.

Cindy and I shared two dishes. The bun du riz is a sauteed rice noodles dish with pork ragout and saw leaf herb. I thought the flavors of this dish were great, and the rice noodles had a nice and chewy texture. The dish was not huge, though I actually prefer the smaller portion size because I could finish it with no problem. Plus it wasn't too greasy, which is often characteristic of these types of noodle dishes. Michelle especially enjoyed the deep fried shallots because they provided a crunchy, contrasting texture. Definitely a good choice.

The Goi Calamari is a squid salad with fish sauce, Thai basil, and greens. This dish was nice, light and refreshing. It was a bit on the tart side, which makes it an excellent summer salad. Cindy thought it was good but not wow, more like a papaya salad, sans papaya. I think having it as the starter and then finishing with the bun du riz was the perfect idea.

I have never been to any Momofuku restaurant before, but apparently the Banh Mi is pretty well known. The Banh Mi Maison (of the house) consisted of three different types of terrine with cilantro and diakon. The Banh Mi Poulet (chicken) had chicken, lemongrass, lettuce and mint.

I did not try either of these, but Christine was rather pleased with her sandwich, and Andrea says if you're a pate lover, this would be your choice.

Of course, we all got to enjoy the incredibly delicious cookie. Definitely get this if you go! It was a peanut butter cookie that had some sort of toffee inside. It was SOOOO GOOOD!! I still can't stop thinking about it.

In summary, this is a great place to go if you are in midtown during lunch. The $10 price tag is very reasonable and a great way to sample a bit of Momofuku without spending too much money. Definitely arrive early. We arrived right at 11AM (opening) and had no problem finding a table. By noon, almost all of the tables were filled up.

Thanks again gals for a wonderful lunch in New York City!

Ravioli Rumble

Nov 22, 2009 ·

Last Sunday (November 14, 2009), Dante in Cambridge held a "Ravioli Rumble" where local Boston chefs competed to create the best gourmet ravioli dish. For only $20 a person, we sampled unlimited amounts of raviolis made by some top chefs in Boston. We then all voted for our favorites.

The following 5 descriptions refer to the picture above

1. Jason Santos, Gargoyles - BBQ pork "ravioli" with a side of cucumber kimchi

This "ravioli" tasted basically like a badly made Chinese dumpling with Chinese BBQ roasted pork (char siu) inside. You could taste the fatty bits of pork, which was a bit distracting. The skin was also thick and unrefined. Not a good way to start this tasting.

2. Will Gilson, Garden at the Cellar - Pork Belly "ravioli" in kimchi broth

I think Will Gilson is a fantastic cook, but I think this was a fail. The kimchi soup was relatively bland, and the pork belly dumpling was ordinary. I know Will can make excellent pasta dishes, so I'm not sure what happened here. Perhaps because I am Chinese, my dumpling standards are higher than average. I still have not found anything in Boston that comes close to my favorite dumpling place in the world.

3. Andy Husbands/Isadora Sarto, Tremont 647 - "Stick to your Ribs" ravioli with mushrooms in a tomato based sauce

I found this ravioli to be way to salty, and thus not enjoyable at all. I was starting to wonder whether this meal would be worth the $20 I spent on it.

4. Evan Deluty, Stella - chocolate and ricotta fried dumpling

Finally! Something that tastes good! This dessert "ravioli" was pretty tasty, although it's hard to imagine any deep fried chocolate ricotta dumpling tasting bad. Several members of my party wished it had more chocolate. I thought it was good, but not particularly creative. In response Bryan said, "when have you ever seen a chocolate ricotta ravioli?"

5. Colin Lynch/Ralph Fiegel, Barbara Lynch Gruppo (includes No. 9 Park) - lamb with pine nuts, raisins, and EVOO

This ravioli was really delicious with an excellent blend of flavors. The deep, rich flavors from the lamb, the sweet raisins, and the really fragrant olive oil came together really nicely.

Louis DiBiccari, Sel de la Terre - "T.V. Dinner"

This was an interesting creative idea - they decided to put a T.V. dinner inside of a fried ravioli. I thought this dish was quite greasy, but one member of my party really liked the unique fried shell, and went back for seconds.

Rodney Murillo, Avila - butternus squash ravioli

This was DELICIOUS, and I almost voted for it as the winner. The texture was really unique. It was soft, chewy, sweet . . . really good. The entire ravioli had an unique chewy texture that was almost like soft mochi, which I love. The ravioli was served in a sweet cream sauce. I loved it and I went back for seconds. Hmmmm . . I wonder if he serves this in his restaurant. . ..

Anthony Caturano, Prezza - meat ravioli with brown butter and black truffle

Another one of my favorites - anything with truffle is already going to be pretty tasty. In this case, the ravioli, which was filled with a tasty meat sauce, was solid. Of course, the truffle added a nice earthiness to the dish and made the dish even better.

Josh Ziskin, La Morra - braised beef ravioli with butter and sage

I was really impressed with the texture of the ravioli "skin". In terms of texture, it was definitely one of the best, with that chewiness that can only come from fresh homemade pasta. Unfortunately, the filling was only OK, and thus he did not get my vote.

Mark Orfaly, Pigalle - Chicken cacciatore with chicken sausage

Again, this dish was fine, but did not wow me in any way, and thus was hardly memorable.

Mary Dumont, Harvest - chestnut ravioli with duck confit

I thought this ravioli was too sweet and could have used a bit more saltiness from the duck.

The Final Verdict
So which one did I vote for? I really liked the raviolis from Anthony Caturano (Prezza), Colin Lynch/Ralph Fiegel (Barbara Lynch Gruppo), and Rodney Murillo (Avila). In the end, it was a toss up between Lynch and Murillo, but I ended up choosing Lynch because I thought the flavors were a bit more complex.

And who won? Well, I'm not positive, since I did not stay until the end, but from my brief research on the internet, it appears that Anthony Caturano (Prezza), Colin Lynch/Ralph Fiegel (Barbara Lynch Gruppo and Andy Husbands/Isadora Sarto (Tremont 647) won. I guess I'm not surprised at the first two (I almost voted for them myself), but I thought Tremont 647 was wayyy too salty.

Heh heh, oh well, it was fun, and definitely a fun, cheap way to try a lot of different raviolis in a nice, outdoor setting. (Did I mention the weather was unseasonably warm that day? It was great!)

Foodbuzz Community Dinner

Nov 20, 2009 ·

This post describes the evening of Day 2 of the Foodbuzz Festival. For the Day 1 Street food Fair, please click here. For Day 2 morning , please click here (olive oil tasting) and here (Ferry Building Marketplace) and Day 2 afternoon (Tasting Pavilion) click here.

Foodbuzz partnered with Outstanding In the Field to provide an incredible meal for all the Foodbuzz attendees. We took a bus into a random ware-house-y part of San Francisco (many people cautioned us NOT to walk around there by ourselves!) to enjoy a delicious meal made by executive chef David Lee of Namu and his team.

It really was in a vegetable warehouse!
Our bus driver got lost while trying to get us to the warehouse, and the whole bus sort of freaked out as we meandered around the not-so-safe parts of San Francisco, at some points even venturing down the wrong way on a one-way street!

When the bus driver picked up his cell phone and started talking rapidly in Chinese, we knew we were in trouble!

Fortunately, iphone carriers on our bus were able to direct the driver safely back to the warehouse!

Here’s the incredible meal we enjoyed!

Rows and Rows of mushrooms soup

Mushroom dashi, maitake, shimeji, enoki mushrooms
I really enjoyed the lightness of this soup, and I love mushrooms. The small, crunchy pickled vegetables (possibly daikon) was a bit unusual but not too bad.

Udon, grilled Monterey calamari in a browned butter ponzu reduction, cucumber, kaiware, frisee & yellow pear tomato with chojang & sesame vinaigrette
I thought this was delicious. The calamari was perfectly cooked (not too hard and chewy), and the flavors were excellent.

Mushroom Risotto with koshikikari rice, crispy maitake mushrooms
I loved the mushroom-y earthiness of this dish. I think I went back for seconds on this one. . .

Roasted Brussels sprouts, ponzu fried garlic, guanciale, bonito flakes
Yum . . these are among the best Brussels sprouts I have ever had. I think the super umami aromatic flavors coming from both the guanciale (unsmoked Italian bacon) and the bonito flakes (dried fish flakes) plus the fried garlic made this dish incredible.

Soy braised beef cheeks and oxtails, baby carrots and fingerling potato, OB Beer and denjang demi
These were soft and tender and had lots of nice flavor.

And of course, what do you expect at a food blogger's festival?

A little Bit of Spain in Iowa, Poor Girl Eats Well, and Noodle Fever.

Foodbuzz Day 2: Tasting Pavillion

Nov 19, 2009 ·

This post describes the afternoon of Day 2 of the Foodbuzz Festival. For Day 1, please click here. For Day 2 morning, please click here and here.

The Foodbuzz Festival was seriously an event full of eating, eating, and more eating! On Day 1, we enjoyed San Francisco street foods at the Ferry Building. On Day 2, I got up bright and early to taste olive oil at 9 AM! It was definitely an odd experience! The rest of the morning, I explored the Ferry Building Marketplace with various new blogger friends I just recently met.

In the afternoon, we all congregated at the Sony Metreon Building and spent the afternoon samplings various different foods from various vendors. Here are just a few highlights. Enjoy!

Kerrygold butter from Irish grass fed cows. This butter had a much yellower natural color than normal supermarket butter. It was quite tasty.

479 Popcorn is a local popcorn company that makes the most interesting flavors. One of my favorites was this one: black truffle + white cheddar. It was sooooo truffly and soooo good.

Gorgeous handmade chocolates and marshmallows from Gâteau et Ganache. I loved these passion fruit ganache filled chocolates. The passion fruit gave a nice citrus-y kick which offset the dark chocolate nicely.

Aunt Else's Æbleskiver The Æbleskiver is a Danish pastry "similar in taste and texture to an American pancake, but light and fluffy like a popover" (according to their website). This stuff was incredibly delicious - moist and eggy with a ton of the crispy outer "edge' that I love - I kept coming back for more. I'll be doing a more in-depth review soon on these delicious pancake-like bombs and the cool 9-hole pan!

Hong and Kim from Ravenous Couple (who just got engaged!!!! Check out the story here and here) were Nature's Pride Ambassadors and prepared fried Halloumi cheese toast.

I met some other great people whose blogs I have admired for awhile now. From left to right, Diana from A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa, Rachel from La Fuji Mama, and me. We had such a great time, and spent tons of time chatting during the Festival. It's too bad we live so far apart!

Coming up next, one last Foodbuzz Post:
Community Dinner + Good-by Brunch

Craigie On Main (the bar)

Nov 18, 2009 ·

It is my birthday today. Last year for my birthday, I went to Craigie On Main with a couple friends and enjoyed an absolutely exquisite meal. This year, I am in New York City soaking in the dining scene here. Yesterday we enjoyed a meal at Sushi Yasuda, and tonight we had the chef's tasting at Daniel. Tomorrow I will have lunch at Le Bernardin, and finish with dinner somewhere downtown (any suggestions?).

I would love to post pictures, but alas, my pictures are stuck in raw format in my camera until I go home to upload them. So, for today, please enjoy this post about my recent trip to the bar at Craigie On Main.

I first discovered my love for Tony Maw's cooking back when his restaurant was actually located on Craigie Street in Harvard Square. That man can cook, and that was one of the best meals I'd ever had in my life.

Back then, in that little townhouse on Craigie Street, they didn't really have room for a bar. Thus, experiencing the bar menu at Craigie on Main is almost like trying a brand new restaurant. Or at least, a different style of food.

Here's our interesting bar meal. Oh, but before I begin, I should talk about the drinks themselves! The drinks here are spectacular. You have to try the flip (left), a cocktail made with an entire raw egg blended in. Delicious! Our favorite is the Florentine Flip. Even if it's not on the menu (they like to rotate), they'll be happy to make it for you. I tried a cucumber lime cocktail, which was also refreshing and perfect - not too sweet - just the way I like it.

Potato Galette with Salmon Roe

"If I liked roe, I would love this dish" - crunchy galette was fantastic. I only wish I loved salmon roe more.

The infamous $18 burger. Tony Maws incorporates bone marrow into his grass-fed beef burgers, a fascinating way of making lean, grass-fed beef juicy and moist. Delicious burger and cool super-thin fries (basically potato strings). These were good, but my favorite fries are still the truffle rosemary fries at Garden the Cellar.

Swordfish skewers $14

I used to tell one of my friends "I don't like swordfish" because it was dry and tough. I now realized I never had tried properly cooked swordfish. These skewers were marvelously flavored and amazingly soft and tender! Perfectly cooked! I had no idea swordfish could be so buttery and soft! It was absolutely delicious, although the portion a bit small.

The guy next to me ended up getting a salad after finishing the small swordfish skewers (presumably) because he was still hungry.

Simple Salad

He asked for simple mixed greens, and they gave him this slightly fancier version with some onion strings on top. He was nice enough to let me take a picture of his salad, but I didn't actually taste it.

Duck fat Brussels Sprouts

I love Brussels Sprouts, and the added duck fat made these quite delicious, although probably not as healthy!!! I think I still prefer the Brussels Sprouts from the Foodbuzz dinner by David Lee of Namu, but these were pretty good.

Tony Maws is a super talented cook, hands down, and he's created a pretty nice bar menu. I wish there were more dishes that could serve as meals (most people would think the skewers are not big enough, and frankly, besides the burger, there's not much else you could order as an entree and be full).

Nevertheless, the atmosphere is great, the DRINKS are amazing, and the food is really good. Just be prepared to spend a little more than you might have thought, since one "appetizer" is probably not enough for dinner. I think we spent around $100 total for 2 (including drinks + tip).

Craigie On Main
853 Main St
Cambridge, MA 02139

Ferry Building Marketplace

Nov 16, 2009 ·

The Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco is truly a Food lover's paradise, especially on weekends when the awesome farmer's market also comes full force. I enjoyed a fun morning roaming these markets with Hong and Kim from Ravenous Couple and Cindy from Chubby Chinese Girl. If you are ever in San Francisco on Saturday morning, you just have to check this place out! And come hungry! There are many free samples to try!
Outside: The Market

Incredibly beautiful yellow oyster mushrooms, baby corn (with the husk still on!), and gorgeous strawberries with stem - these were super sweet! I tried a sample. There are tons of free samples here! I also tried the pineapple guava (not pictured), which I wrote about a few days ago.

There are also some amazing vendors selling delicious food outside. Together with Hong, Kim, and Cindy, we shared some great street dishes such as a pizza with a real cornmeal crust (delicious!), tamales and pork sopes from Primavera Tamales, and a refreshing pineapple celery drink which was incredible (and also incredibly expensive at almost $4 a pop!).

Inside: A Foodie's Paradise
Inside the Ferry Building are more mouthwatering shops. Everything from ACME's freshly baked bread, to Blue Bottle Coffee, to Boccolone's "salted pig parts" and more. I highlight just a few here.
Boccolone: Tasty Salted Pig Parts

Cindy, who loves meat, was totally set on checking out Boccolone, a shop that sells various sorts of pork-themed cured meats. Hong was somehow able to convince the store owner to let him handle the blade and cut some meat!!! He did a fine job and cut some beautiful samples (see pic above) for us to try. Yum . . . . the meat here is pretty good.

Here is Cindy super happy because she got her "cone" of cured meats. Funny enough, they also sell caramels and cookies made out of lard! I believe Cindy actually purchased a few lard cookies. Carolyn from Food Gal has written a funny post about these porky baked goods.

Chocolate Covered Paper Thin Pears

I really really really really wish I had bought these. They were sooooo good. They are super thinly sliced pears covered in dark chocolate. They were super expensive - $23 for a small box of a handful of chips. But looking back, I keep thinking about them. That one free sample I had was sooo good. Oh well, next time!

Blue Bottle Coffee

Finally, I really really wanted to try this coffee. I got in line with 15 minutes to spare (before I had to catch the bus to the Outstanding in the Field dinner (more on that next post!). Alas, that was not enough time. I didn't know it was typical to wait 15 minutes in line for coffee here! And yet everyone says it's worth the wait!

Sad . . on the bright side, I picked up a few ACME loaves of bread instead, which were fabulous.

I guess I'll have to try Blue Bottle coffee the next time I'm in SF. I'll be sure to allot plenty of time to wait in line.

Mochi Sushi Part II (Maki)

Nov 13, 2009 ·

This post was originally published as a guest post on Just Bento.

This is part II of the Mochi Sushi Series. You can find Part I here:

Part II: Maki Rolls
Maki rolls are just a bit trickier than the nigiri mochi sushi. It helps if you have some experience making normal sushi rolls.

These maki rolls are made with soy wrappers by the company Yamamotoyama. You can either buy a variety pack with various colors (5 sheets), or buy bulk packs (10 sheets of a single color). All soy wrappers are naturally colored, spinach for green and paprika for orange one (and I think beets for pink, but I did not buy the pink one). The small amounts of coloring agents do not affect the flavor. I bought my soy wrappers online at Asianfoodgrocer.com, which actually has a pretty good price for the bulk packs (unfortunately they do not carry the variety pack, but you can get that on Amazon).

Make mochi according to the microwave recipe described in Mochi Sushi Part I. Now, instead of taking out small chunks like we did for the nigiri, try to lift the entire sheet with a spatula and gently lay it down on a soy wrapper. I divided the sheet I had made into two pieces so I could lay it across the soy wrapper.

Fill with your filling of choice. In this case, I used some leftover mung bean soup I had made. You can also use fruit (see pictures below using mango), red bean paste, black sesame paste, or crushed peanuts. Roll as you would normal sushi. With the soy wrappers, you need to use a bit of water to seal the roll.

Slice with a wet knife and serve! I used the end pieces to make the stand up maki pieces with the blackberry on top.

These taste the best when they are freshly made. I tried refrigerating them, but they become a bit harder and lose that nice, chewy texture. The soy wrappers have a very mild hint of soy flavor. I would recommend using a strongly flavored filling to mask any hint of the soy aroma if it bothers you. The wrappers do lose this aroma over time. I noticed that I did not smell the soy flavor after keeping the maki in the refrigerator overnight.

Enjoy!

Mochi Sushi Part I (Nigiri)

Nov 13, 2009 ·

This post was originally published as a guest post on Just Bento.

This is not what you might think it is. Yes, it looks like sushi - almost too similar. In fact, it's mochi! It's mochi with various fruit pieces posing as fish.

Mochi is surprisingly easy to make. And you can actually make this dessert with kids, it's so easy and fun. The nigiri are especially easy - just cut up various fruits into squares to put on top. For the rolls, I used soy wrappers (see tutorial here).

Basic Mochi Recipe
¾ cup Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour (glutinous rice flour)
3.4 cup water
2-4 T sugar

Combine the mochiko flour, water, and sugar in a microwave safe container and stir until completely incorporated. I find that 2 T makes a pretty light mochi, which might be preferable if you plan on adding a sweet filling. If you plan on eating it plain, I would add more sugar.

Cover with plastic wrap tightly and microwave for 2-3 minutes. This depends on your microwave strength. Check after 2 minutes to see if it's done. The previously liquid mixture should be solid now. Typically the plastic wrap will expand while heating (creating a bubble on top of the container) and then it will shrink and become concave once you take it out (due to the rapid cooling air inside the container).

I like to use a glass Pyrex container with plastic wrap for microwaving because I know it will retain the moisture inside. I once tried making it with a plastic lid and I think too much moisture was released, resulting in a hard, rubbery mochi.

Below I provide Part I of this two-part series on Mochi Sushi. You can find Part II (Maki) here.

Part I: Nigiri
Once you have microwaved the mochi, scoop out a small lump with a spoon (see bottom left picture above) and dump it into a bowl of corn starch. Use your hands to lightly shape the piece of mochi so it looks like an oval, similar the rice shape of a nigiri sushi.

Cut pieces of fruit into rectangles about the size of the fish on top of the sushi. You can use any fruit you want. I used mango (for tamago/egg), strawberry (for maguro/tuna), and blackberries (for some sort of caviar I guess!). You could also use cantaloupe for salmon, honeydew for cucumber, and watermelon for tuna. Be creative!

Lay the fruit on top of the mochi, and you are done! If you want, you can lightly sprinkle some sugar on top, but this is totally optional.

For fun, you can make marzipan wasabi, like I did in this post.

Enjoy and serve!

Olive Oil Tasting

Nov 13, 2009 ·

We've probably all been to a wine tasting . . . but an olive oil tasting???

According to my dear local SF friend who hosted me while I attended the Foodbuzz Festival (thanks Christine!), olive oil tastings are pretty common in the Bay Area. As an East Coaster, I had never experienced an olive oil tasting before, so I found this whole experience quite fascinating.

We were told that the proper way to taste olive oil is to . . uhh . . drink it. Well, slurp it like you would for a wine tasting .,. slurp in a way that the air can travel over the oil and bring the aromas down deep into your nose and throat. Ha ha .. don’t choke now.

Of course, before you taste it, you should really warm it a bit in your hands. Olive oil tastes best at around 70 degrees F. And don't EVER do a tasting with bread. "All you taste is the bread" says Chef Michael Tuohy.

The Four S's
Here's Chef Michael Tuohy, founder of Woodfire Grill in Atlanta and currently executive chef of Grange in Sacramento. He taught the class. They also provided us with Granny Smith apples soaked in Citric Acid as palate cleansers.

According to Michael, after warming the oil in your hand, the next step is to follow the 4 "S"s:

Swirl: swirling releases the flavor molecules (esters)

Sniff: inhale and think about what you smell!

Slurp: this spreads the flavor of the oil throughout your mouth and brings the aromas into your nasal cavity and into the back of your nostrils.

Swallow: Note tastes, especially at the back of your throat. Some will cause a peppery or stingy feel.

It was really weird drinking so much olive oil at 9AM on a Saturday morning!

We sampled six different olive oils that ranged in price from $18/bottle to $40/bottle. Some were single varietal oils while others were blends. We sampled around the world, from Spain, to Italy, to California.

Interestingly, more astringent olive oils will irritate the back of your throat when you “slurp” it. Inevitably, a roomful of people sampling an astringent olive oil will break out into coughs soon after the slurping. It was funny, because it totally happened to us.

The more astringent ones, at least according to the experts, are more desirable. However, the general public seems to favor the milder, more buttery and less astringent olive oils. Sooooo . . there’s still a disconnect there.

Olio Nuovo
One of my favorite olive oils from the tasting was the new press of 2009 from California Olive Ranch. Known as "olio nuovo," or "new oil" it's the first extra-virgin olive oil off the press that season. The flavors are fresh, intense, and sadly, transient. You are supposed to enjoy olio nuovo quickly because the fresh, vibrant oil will start to ferment into off flavors after a few months. Common in Italy, olio nuovo is much harder to come by here in the States, as most of us don't have the luxury of living right next to an olive producer!

The olio nuovo that we tried from California Olive Ranch had a really deep and rich, olive-y essence. I am not an olive oil expert, so I can’t really describe it beyond that. Some people in the room said it had the essence of flavors such as tomato, brined olives, butter and bread, etc. I just thought it was intensely fragrant, deep, and delicious.

And you know what's really cool? This one was the best value bottle! $18 a bottle!

Not only that, they gave us each a free bottle of it! I enjoyed the oil with a few lovely slices of ACME sourdough bread, which I had purchased in the Ferry Building Marketplace (love that place and really LOVED the bread too!!)

Cook’s Illustrated, one of my favorite magazines, rates their Arbequina olive oil as one of the best domestic olive oils around, really giving the European olive oils a run for their money.

I love this olive oil. Too bad olio nuovo only comes once a year!

Feijoa (pineapple guava)

Nov 11, 2009 ·

When I was in college, my boyfriend told me about these magical and mystical fruits you could find in California, the Promised Land of Milk and Honey. Being a naive and sort of sheltered girl from Toledo, Ohio (the Industrial land of Glass and Jeeps), I believed everything he told me about this wonderful place called California.

One day, he described this mysterious fruit called the Pineapple Orange that LOOKED like an orange but TASTED like a pineapple!

I was so enamored. I eventually married this guy.

And then one day, years later, we were in California and I excitedly asked him to show me the mysterious pineapple oranges. We went to the market and looked and looked and looked. Albertson's, Ralph's, Ranch 99, Seafood Palace . . .

And we kept looking and looking and looking. Finally, dejected, he pulled out his iphone and tried to convince me that the fruit indeed must exist because he saw it on the internet.

To this day (and we've been married for eight years now) I still have yet to see a pineapple orange. I'm starting to wonder if they really exist or not. You know what they say about believing everything on the Internet . . .

He still insists they're real and he's had them. I won't believe it until I taste it.

On the other hand, these beautiful guava pineapples (also known as feijoas) DO exist. I saw them at the Farmer's Market in San Francisco at the Ferry Building on DAY 2 of our Foodbuzz Festival.

I've never tasted anything quite like this before. Yes, it reminds me of a guava, but juicier and sweeter on the inside and more tart and bitter on the outside. The inside is fleshy, sort of like . . . a pineapple, I guess, while the outer ring is characteristically grainy, just like a guava.

Apparently most cultures do not eat the skin, and instead scoop out the sweet, inner flesh with a spoon. I personally love the tartness and bitterness of the outer ring. I think it balances out the fruit nicely. So I chopped up these babies and ate them WHOLE! Yum yum yum.

I guess even if pineapple oranges don't exist, these guava pineapples are pretty yummy, and frankly, I'd probably like them better than any orange that tasted like a pineapple. 🙂

Foodbuzz Festival: Day 1

Nov 11, 2009 ·

First off, my apologies for not posting so regularly the past few days! As I mentioned before, I was in San Francisco this past weekend attending the first ever Foodbuzz Festival. What an incredible weekend. I was able to meet so many bloggers in person after having admired their blogs. It was also great meeting so many new bloggers.

We spent the entire weekend eating, eating, and more eating!. It was a blast! We sampled food from a variety of sources: everything from small, local, artisanal vendors to large corporations with a focus on natural, sustainable foods.

And oh my . . there are some really cool vendors out there selling some really cool stuff. I will need to spend several days sharing with you the highlights of this trip . . . so much to talk about!

For this post today, I’ll share with you our adventures on Friday night – the kickoff of the Foodbuzz Festival.

Street Foods of San Francisco

The Ferry Building in SF is a large building right next to the water filled with a wonderful array of bakeries, coffee shops, local meat vendors, and other interesting local eats. On our first night, we enjoyed a mock up of a night out on the streets of San Francisco where we sampled some amazing street foods from the San Francisco area.

Tacolicious

As an East coaster, I have always thought that the west coast had better Mexican food. My opinion still holds true after this visit to the west coast. I sampled the potato chorizo taco, which had a wonderful mix of flavors over a traditional corn tortilla. Delicious.

I love Crispy Skins

Roli Roti Gourmet Rotisserie actually has a cart in the Ferry Building and sells these delectable sandwiches there. What you see is a huge piece of meat wrapped with pork belly roasted on a large stick until the skin becomes gorgeously crispy. Crispy potatoes roasted in the pork fat drippings serve as the absolutely to-die-for (and just may shorten your life a bit) side dish.

The sandwich, called a Porchetta sandwich, consists of roasted pork meat, chopped up crispy skins, onion marmalde, chopped cress, and fresh herbs. The resulting sandwich smells incredible and tastes heavenly. The crispy skins not only provided an interesting crunchy texture to the sandwich, they had an amazing salty porky flavor that made this dish an absolute "WOW." Definitely worth trying out if you are at the Ferry Building.

Mission Minis Cupcakes

Mission Minis is a local San Francisco cupcake bakery whose cupcakes are sold at a variety of shops and restaurants around San Francisco. These cupcakes were so cute, and definitely caught our eye as we entered the Ferry building. I tried the Ruby Red Velvet and thought it was tasty, but not particularly special.

The Pie Truck

The Pie Truck makes these mini-pies filled with various flavors such as zucchini-mushroom and steak & Gruyere. I found the pies to be a bit oily (they are buttery pastries!) but then I tend to like lighter foods, so I might be a bit biased. Everyone else around thought the pies were absolutely delicious. They do use fresh, local organic ingredients.

Thirsty Bear Beer

I am by no means a beer expert. I am a super lightweight and can’t even drink one glass of beer on an empty stomach. Nevertheless, I do enjoy beer, and it was fun trying Thirsty Bear's local brew.

I thought it was pretty good, though nothing particularly special. In general, I’m more of a fan of deeper, sweet and malty beers, such as artisanal Belgian beers or microbrews. To give you an idea of my taste, some of my favorite beers include Chimay, Duval, Sam Adams Boston Lager (on tap), Leff, Harp, and Sapporo. This beer was a bit light, but had relatively nice flavors.

Spencer on the Go

Spencer on the Go is a French Bistro on a cart, essentially. For this event, they had an organic beet salad with blue cheese and a wild mushroom truffle tart. I was getting full at this point, and unfortunately did not try the mushroom tart even though I typically LOVE anything truffle. I love fresh beets, and this multi-colored beet salad was fresh and delicious. It tasted like it came from the farm that morning.

Vegan Raw Foods

Alive, a San Francisco based catering company, specialized in vegan raw food, which is quite a challenge. As you may know, vegan foods do not contain any animal products. Strict vegans will even avoid foods that involve animals, such as honey. The raw food movement is based on the idea that heat destroys essential vitamins and antioxidants. Accordingly, raw foods cannot be heated above 118 degrees Fahrenheit.

We sample a vegan raw “cheesecake” (made from cashews and cococnut oil) and a few crostinis. The cheesecake wasn’t bad (although it did not taste like cheesecake), but I did not particularly care for it that much because it had a less-than-subtle hint of coconut. When you're expecting cheesecake and you taste coconut, it's just a bit surprising. Maybe a better name for the dessert would have been Passion Fruit Coconut Cream Cake, or something like that.

I thought the crostinis were delicious. The cracker had a hefty crunch and tasted very wholesome (which I love). The toppings were just fresh veggies marinated in various dressings. Delicious, and definitely something I would not be able to stop eating if I encountered it at a party.

Pizza Politana

I was actually really full by the time I got to this stand, but the crust looked so thin and the toppings looked so good (my favorite, Marguerite), that I just had to try a slice. Oh man, I’m so glad I did! This pizza has a super thin crust that was still crispy when I bit into it. Yum yum yum . . so good.

The sauce is made from San Marzano tomatoes, which, according to the vendor, are imported from Italy and have a deeper, richer flavor than any tomato grown in the US. This is due to the volcanic soil in Italy that filters the water, thus allowing the tomatoes to become sweeter and less acidic. I would have totally eaten a whole pizza if I had room – really delicious.

Hog Island Oysters

I am spoiled in that I live in Boston where we have access to some of the best oysters around. These small oysters from the SF bay were fresh and delicious, with a mild salty flavor from the sea. I still prefer Prince Edward Island oysters as my favorite in terms of flavor, but these were pretty good.

I had tons of fun sampling food with Cindy from Chubby Chinese Girl and Linda from One Scoop At Time the entire night. Linda has a funny picture of me photographing the Porchetta sandwich here. Check out their blogs for their takes on the Foodbuzz Festival!

Upcoming Posts:
Olive Oil Tasting
Tasting Pavilion
Community Dinner

1 Arrow Street Crepes

Nov 9, 2009 ·

Sorry for the dearth of posts the last few days! I attended the 1st Annual Foodbuzz Festival this past weekend. I had a blast, and I will share some thoughts (and pictures, of course!) from that conference once I collect and organize them!

The first time I ever saw a crepe was when I visited France in high school during one of those high school exchange programs. My friend and I were walking down a random street in Paris when we spotted a man standing behind a small street cart. He was making fresh hot crepes right on the spot.

He called out, seemingly specifically at us, "Les crepes! Les crepes!"

Then he winked at us. I was a bit scared, but also intrigued.

I don't think we actually bought any crepes from him that day, but I'll never forget seeing him make those super-thin pancakes and wondering how they would taste. Having grown up in Ohio with an immigrant family who mostly ate Chinese food, I had never had one before.

Man, that seemed like so long ago. At this point I can't even remember when I finally tried my first crepe. In any event, now I live next to Harvard Square in Cambridge, a city full of interesting ethnic dining options of all sorts. This includes my own local creperie just a five minute walk from my home.

Arrow Street Crepes is one of the few "French-like" places near my house. It is a fun creperie about a 5 minute walk from the Harvard Square T stop. I'm not sure if it would be considered fully authentic, as the crepes are filled with a melange of creative ingredients, some of which could only be called New American or maybe Californian. Nevertheless, they have a ton of options (including traditional crepe toppings!) and it's a great, fun little cute place for breakfast, lunch, and definitely dessert!

I enjoyed this breakfast-like crepe named The Eiffel Tower ($8.95). 2 eggs, mozzarella, baby spinach, tomatoes, scallions, red onions, & hot sauce. Delicious.

You can't really tell much from this picture (except that the crepe is nicely thin!), but this is the Californian which includes avocados, fresh mozzarella, basil walnut pesto, turkey bacon, tomatoes, field greens, and Dijon balsamic sauce.

Of course, you can't leave a crepe place without getting dessert! Carnivale ($8.25) which has dark chocolate or Nutella with fresh strawberries. Of course, without fail, this one was pure bliss. 🙂

1 Arrow St Crepes
1 Arrow St
Cambridge, MA 02138

Hi Rise Vanilla Loaf

Nov 3, 2009 ·

One of my favorite bakeries in Cambridge is Hi Rise Bread Company right outside of Harvard Square. They make excellent sandwiches and their breads are incredible. My all time favorite item there is their elusive vanilla loaf. This loaf is absolutely amazing. It has a gorgeous crust that I just can't stop eating. The sugar crystallizes a bit on the edges while baking, giving the loaf an amazing slightly burnt sugar buttery crusty edge. It's hard to explain, but it's oh so good.

When I wrote my wistfully dreamy post about Hi Rise Bread Company a few months ago, more than one person wrote to me telling me that an adaptation of the vanilla loaf recipe was available. I was so excited!

It took awhile to gather the ingredients together (especially the vanilla beans and the vanilla sugar), but once I had everything I couldn't wait to make my favorite loaf!

You will need 3 vanilla beans for this loaf, which makes this loaf relatively expensive to make. I was able to pick up vanilla beans at Costco for about $1 a bean (I had to buy 10). I also saw them at the local grocery store for $5 each. So, the prices do vary.

You have to plan a few days in advance for this bread, since one of the ingredients is vanilla sugar. This just involves splitting open a vanilla bean and putting it in a container of sugar (2-3 cups) for a few days.

For a printable version of the recipe, click here.
Adapted from Hi-Rise Bread Company in Cambridge, MA, via Amanda Hesser
(makes 2 loaves)
Ingredients

For the loaf:

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 ½ cups vanilla sugar

1 vanilla bean

1 T vanilla extract

8 large eggs, room temperature

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

For the syrup:

1 ¾ cups sugar

1 cup water

2 vanilla beans, split and scraped

Thickly butter two loaf pans and preheat oven to 325 Fahrenheit (Note - I halved the recipe because I did not have enough sugar!)

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (upper left photo). Scrape the first vanilla bean and get all the seeds into the bowl, along with the vanilla extract (upper right).Add the eggs one by one and beat to combine (lower left). Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and fold in, mixing minimally with a rubber spatula, until just combined (lower right).

How to split a vanilla bean

Divide the batter between the loaf pans. Bake for 30 minutes, then turn the pans and bake another 25-40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out almost clean.

While the loaves bake, make syrup. In a small saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the water over medium heat. Note: it takes a while to dissolve the sugar since the ratio makes a pretty concentrated sugar solution. Just be patient and keep watching the solution - don't make burnt sugar here! Add the vanilla beans and seeds and stir a little to loosen the seeds. Remove pan from heat.

When the loaves are done, cool them for 10 minutes in the pan on a rack, and then turn them out onto the rack.

Brush the loaves generously on all sides with the syrup. Repeat the brushing with syrup a few more times as the loaves cool. Note: I did not have a brush, but I was able to successfully spoon small amounts of vanilla syrup over the bread.

Enjoy!

Our Verdict
This loaf is delicious, but it's not the same as the Hi Rise Bakery vanilla loaf. This loaf is a little less sweet and less dense. It's fluffier - a bit more cake-like and less pound cake-like than the original Hi Rise version.

Considering that this recipe already involves 8 eggs and 3 sticks of butter, it's a bit scary to imagine what more must be added to make the denser and sweeter Hi Rise loaf!

In any event, this loaf is still very good and I still can't stop eating it. I've been having it every morning with a nice cup of espresso. The espresso is the perfect balance to the buttery, rich cake. This loaf still has the signature burnt sugar crusty edge that I love, and it has a deliciously strong, fragrant vanilla flavor.

Prezza (Updated Post)

Nov 2, 2009 ·

We went to Prezza again last week with the in-laws. After noting that my previous review had no pictures (gasp!!! . .forgive me, it 2007 when I just started this blog after taking the bar exam!) I decided it was time for an updated review.

Just a little bit of background. Prezza, named after the ancient Italian town where Chef Anthony Caturano's grandmother was born, is a modern Italian restaurant that focuses on local, fresh seasonal ingredients prepared with an Old World style.

Prezza has an incredible wine list, boasting over 8000 bottles from over 900 labels. Not being a wine connoisseur, I can't really comment much about their wines except to say that the wine the waiter picked out for us was quite enjoyable.

Prezza is definitely one of the more expensive and classy restaurants in the North End. Appetizers range between $15-$16, pastas are around $15 for an appetizer portion or around $30 for an entree portions. The meat entrees range between $25 and $44.

During our most recent visit, the food was excellent, as was the service and the ambiance. We purposely brought our in-laws here because they LOVE Italian, and we wanted them to experience the best in the North End (We also took them to Mamma Maria and Mike's Pastry while they were visiting Boston).

Please enjoy some pictures from our meal. 🙂

Fried Egg over roasted wild mushroom crostini with grilled onions $15
I absolutely loved this appetizer. The barely runny yolk, once broken, serves as a lovely, creamy binder that brings the entire dish together. The wild mushrooms had a wonderful, woody flavor and were flavored just right with a little bit of salt. The entire dish was fantastic.

Butternut Squash Arancini, lobster, mascarpone, brown butter and sage $15
An interesting, creative autumn twist on an old, traditional favorite. Well done.

Lobster Fra Diavlo- Saffron Tagliatelle with roasted tomato, fennel and lobster meat $18 ~ $36
The flavors in this sauce was incredible, although I was slightly disappointed with the texture of the fresh homemade pasta. In my opinion, it was just slightly overcooked - not quite al dente the way fresh pasta should be other. The dish was still very enjoyable because the sauce was so flavorful.

Potato Gnocchi “a la Bolognese”- Rustic meat ragout, tomato, porcini cream and pecorino cheese $15 ~ $28
This dish is classic and the meat sauce has great flavor. The gnocchi also has a wonderful, fresh, chewy texture that is so fun to eat. I always find that I can't stop eating the gnocchi pieces even though I am full. Bryan and I both liked this better than the rabbit pappardelle from Mamma Maria.

Paella - Lobster, fish, shrimp, clams, mussels, squid, chicken, chorizo and saffron rice $36
Bryan has ordered the paella several times here, and he attests to its quality. The seafood is all very fresh, and the rice, which absorbs all the fragrant flavors from the shellfish, tastes delicious.

Wood Grilled Venison, pumpkin risotto, braised greens, red wine-bacon glaze $36
This dish was cooked perfectly rare, and not too game-y. The sauce was gloriously deep in flavor. The pumpkin risotto was nice, light, and creamy - a good complement to the rich wine sauce that accompanied the venison.

Rotisserie grilled Wagyu beef, Broccoli Rabe, extra virgin olive oil, and pecorino cheese, Polenta with tomato, basil and Parmigiano
This was the special of the day. Wagyu is always delicious, even when cooked at home, and this was no exception. The meat was tender and super flavorful. Well executed.
Although we typically skip desserts in the North End and opt for cannolis at a bakery instead, we decided this time to order some desserts from Prezza.

Limoncello Cheesecake with biscotti crust and blueberries
What a great way to end the meal! This cheesecake was mild - not too sweet, not too tart. I typically love tart pies, such as key lime pie. However, the blueberries were rather tart, and actually ended up pairing perfectly with the sweet, mild, limoncello cheesecake.

The layered pumpkin cake and chocolate tort. Both solid desserts that tasted great with a small espresso. 🙂

Again, in conclusion, Prezza is truly an excellent restaurant, and definitely one of the best in the North End. If you want a taste of some of the best that the North End has to offer, definitely check out this place right off Hanover Street!

Prezza
24 Fleet St
Boston, MA 02113

Boston Restaurant Reviews Index

Oct 30, 2009 ·

This is an index of all the Boston area restaurants on this blog. If you're not super familiar with the neighborhoods and such, you may instead prefer to check out my summary of my favorite Boston picks first, just to get oriented.

My favorites are marked with **, and places I really like marked with *.

Harvard Square

Asian
Dumpling House Cambridge
Pinkberry
Le's (Formerly Pho Pasteur)
Wagamama
Yenching
*Cafe Sushi (2014)
*Cafe Sushi (2007)
Shabu Square (Now closed)
Om Restaurant & Lounge (lunch - Now closed))
Om Restaurant & Lounge (Dinner under Patricia Yeo - (Now closed))
**Berryline