Chewing through life

Potato Leek Soup.......Yeah, it's basic but it's really good on a cold night

2011-11-22T22:04:00.000-05:00

So in the 16 years that I've been married one of the many things I have learned is that when the wife says I want something, it's probably in your best interest to satisfy this request. This fact holds true for the positive and negative in your future endeavors. It will be remembered if it was done and if it wasn't done. Your most likely to be in a better position if you do it.

So my dear wife said last weekend, "I would love a bowl of Potato Leek Soup". So off I went to the market to get my usual groceries for the week and looked for Potato Leek Soup. I didn't find anything worth buying so I looked on my phone for recipes and they all came back very busy. How difficult could it be? really? it's potato and leeks. There is the creamy factor but I wanted to stay away from Dairy. So I bought a 2 lbs. bag of small baby yukon Gold Potatoes, 4 Leeks. I knew I had crushed garlic at home and got some Chicken Broth.

So home I went. I cut off the dark green leafy portions of the leeks and cut off the end part. I split the four leeks in half lengthways and ran them under cold water to get them nice and dirt free. Then I chopped them up real fine and put them aside.

Then I boiled up those baby potatoes till they were soft. I'd say about 20 min.

I went downstairs to my fridge and got a very healthy (or unhealthy, depends on how you look at it) spoonful of bacon fat.

May I step away for a moment and make a request of all of you people who enjoy cooking. The next time you have Salsa that is in a glass jar, clean it and save it. then when you cook bacon, take the drippings from the pan and pour the in this glass jar and put them in the fridge. Then use it when you want to add a little kick to your dishes instead of butter or oil. Trust me. You'll be happy you have this jar of gold.

Ok, so I got my spoonful of bacon fat and put it into my stock pot and let it quickly melt away. When it got good and hot, I added my leeks and sautéed them till they were nice and soft. Then I added the garlic and sautéed them for another minute or so till it was fragrant.

Pretty huh? and it smelled good too. So all the veggies were nice and soft. I added 2 quarts of Chicken broth and brought it to a boil.

When it was good and warm, I added the potatoes and let them get warm in broth. When all was good and warm I brought out the magic wand. I love this tool. I ground up all the potatoes and leeks till it was nice and almost smooth.

I was looking for a thick soup but without the cream and without the gritty feel. So I broke out my sieve. I spooned soup from the pot it was in through the sieve and into another pot. I made sure I got out as much soup as possible.

What I had below the sieve was a silky smooth soup that actually shimmered a reflection off the top. Very cool to look at. But I wanted it thicker. Now many recipes call for milk, cream, half and half at this time. But i wanted the creaminess without the cream. So the soup was filled with starchy goodness from the potatoes so I just simmered it till it reduced to a nice consistency. remember to keep stirring the pot and scrapping the bottom so that you don't burn the soup.

When your all done there is so much you can do here. We chose to just eat it as is. But you can drizzle olive oil or flavored oil on top. you can add a protein like shrimp or lobster to it. Put what in it you want to have. Sky is the limit. oooh maybe some thick bacon pieces next time. Yeah, now I'm thinking .

Hope you enjoy yours.

Fun at a German Beer Haus

2011-10-28T00:45:00.000-04:00

I'm not going to deny it. This might get long and wordy but I hope it will entertain and make you laugh. The photos are crappy but the story should be worth the read

I'm here in Munich to show a machine to a customer and they are all gone and I'm alone for the night as my flight is tomorrow. I'm staying near the airport and even though the city of Munich is only 35 min away, I'm exhausted and want to stay close to the hotel for dinner. I had been to the hotel restaurant for three meals already and I don't want to be here with its very limited but German influenced menu. So I go to my goto website trip advisor.com. Most of the time is works great for me and did tonight.

About 15 minutes away from here is a small town called Freising. I found on the website a good many reviews for a Beer hall called Weissbrau Huber. So I programmed the GPS and made my way. All along the woman in the car who had led me to everywhere I went had been saying that there is an obstruction in the route. On the final turn supposedly only 1/2 a Kilometer away she still reminded me. As I got onto the last road where the place was, the road had changed from asphalt to decorative stone bricks laid in patterns all over. It occurred to me that there were also lots of people walking and riding bikes on this road and not another car in site. No one looked at me funny but an eerie suspicion of my driving on pedestrian road had poured over me. This is fabulous, I'm going to spend my final night talking my way out of a ticket for driving on a pedestrian street. Don't' panic, get off the road quickly. But as I passed my dinner restaurant I only saying get out, GET OUT NOW!!!!

I made my way off the road and circled till I found a place to park. Walked to the restaurant and noticed out front were tables lined up with many chairs that I picture begin packed with patrons in the warmer weather. Beer flowing and people laughing and talking is the common site I'm sure.

Upon walking into the restaurant I see many people sitting at communal tables of all sizes. Stark wood table tops and lots of beer on them. I go up to the counter and say to the person looking at me "Spreken Ze English?" "Of Course" he responds. I am walked over to a large table that looks like it will fit about 8 to 10 people and two gentlemen are sitting there. I sit and the end and we exchange nods. I'm handed a menu that is made for foreigners that consists of about 4 different languages. The specials are laid out in front of me and are only in German. The server talks me though them and mentions a veal dish, a venison dish and a few other things. He says them quickly so I can't really remember them all. I look at the menu and I want to try so many things but don't want to be a pig or look like one.

So I order my favorite when I'm here first. Pils. or Pilsner. Personaly I prefer a lighter type of beer and Pils are my drinks of choice. The beer is from a brewery called Graf Ignaz. When you are served beer here, you get the beer in a glass with the specific brewery on it as well as a small paper doily with the name on it to catch the beer drips that come down the side of the glass. It was delicious and light with a creamy head on top. Yes the photo doesn't show the head because I couldn't resist diving into it.

I had decided to start with two sausages that are popular in the Bavarian area with a pretzel. The Sausages were delivered to me in a soup terrine filled with hot water. The pretzel was in a basket with small packages of mustard. These sausages are white and to tell you the truth, I have no idea what is in them. I'm assuming pork and spices. I was told the casings are not to be eaten so I peeled them and dove in. Meaty and hearty I could have eaten 1/2 a dozen easily. The pretzel had these great mustards with them. Gritty and grainy with a hint of sweetness. Sorry for the crappy photo. again, I was a strange man in a strange land and didn't want to cause anymore attention to myself then my clumsiness usually does.

I ordered what I thought was the Veal. When I asked another server to repeat what the specials were he mentioned Veal when it really was Venison. When it came to me I was told venison and said no worries and in reality it was the best mistake I have made.

The Venison was served in a brown stroganoff type sauce with a side of purple braised cabbage and these two balls on the plate. What were these balls? They didn't look like meat balls. They didn't look like vegetables. They looked like Matzo balls but drier. There was also this white cream with red speckles on the plate as well. I tried that first and tasted strawberries and cream and wondered what it was doing on my plate. I'm not a strawberry fan so I didn't go back to it. The Venison was tender tasty and had a texture of brisket. It was amazing and hearty. This meal belongs in the heart of a cold winter day. The cabbage was soft but not mushy with a nice peppery bite. What were those balls? It was time. I cut into them and it was again like a Matzo ball. When I bit into it, I recognized the flavor but couldn't put my finger on it right away and then it hit me. Have you ever had Stuffed Derma? Stuffed Derma is a dish my mother and grandmother used to make but it was also served in many restaurants where you would have a large Jewish population dining there for traditional dishes. Stuffed Derma is in all practicality a bread sausage. The skin of a chicken is stuffed with matzo meal or breading, some sort of fat or chicken stock and spices and cooked. Then it is sliced and commonly served with a gravy. This tasted just like that but without the skin. It was stuffed derma balls. I wanted more. We don't eat this dish that often because well it's not really the healthiest but when you get it, you make all gone.

What a meal. it was such a great scene and would love to be there with a group to just hang out and shoot the shit and have some great food and beer. I paid my bill and walked out on to the beautiful stone street. it was quiet and quaint.

But I had to go to the side to get out of the way of the bus. Ok, I'm a little neurotic.

Rack of Lamb Recipe.............Oh so easy and oh so good

2011-08-06T21:27:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I've decided I've been on Hiatus too long and thought I'd jump back in with a recipe.

I love Rack of Lamb. I love to get it at restaurants but I really love to make it at home. Problem is that Anita doesn't like Rack of Lamb so I don't get the opportunity to cook it that often. Well Anita went away for the weekend so I had the opportunity to make a great meal for myself. It makes me crazy when people say "Oh I don't like to cook for just myself or just for two".

WHY THE HELL NOT!!!! You know what you like. you know what you want. So make it. I love cooking for a meal with Anita and I and I also love cooking for a crowd. But I can truly find the pleasure in cooking for one. Tonight will be starting off with Steamer and a nice Oakey Chardonnay. Then Rack of Lamb with Grilled Portabellas and Vidallia's accompanied by a lovely Shiraz. Yes it would be better to share this with someone but I do just fine.

So you want to make Rack of Lamb do ya!!!

Well here is what you need to do.

Prepare your ingredients:

2 Tablespoons of minced Rosemary
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Kosher Salt
4 cloves of Garlic
3/4 cup of Dijon Mustard
1 tablespoon of White Balsamic vinegar (regular would be fine here)

in a food processor, put in your rosemary, salt and garlic and process the heck out of it. try to get it as minced as possible. maybe a minute.

Add Mustard and vinegar and process for 1 to 2 min.

Put your Rack of Lamb in a roasting pan and with the ribs curved down.

cover the entire rack with the Mustard mixture and let it sit at room temp for 1 hour.

Have some wine. have some steamers, have a beer. Heck, do the jig if you want.

When your hour is almost up, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Place Rack in the oven for 25 minutes for medium rare. 30 minutes for medium.

After the time has passed, pull the lamb out of the oven and tent it with Aluminum foil and let it rest for 15 min.

then Dive in.

Let me know how you did.

The Boiling Crab..........Another Spicy Crustation Adventure

2011-03-21T14:33:00.000-04:00

I remember first hearing about The Boiling Crab when i was looking up information about Hot and Juicy Crawfish in Las Vegas. Many people wrote a review on Yelp.com saying it was very good but not as good as The Boiling Crab. So naturally I looked it up and discovered it was located in LA at 4 different locations. As luck would have it, I was not far from one Last night. The problem was I had to resist going for Korean Food instead. But I stayed strong, that is after I walked in and out of a specialty Korean restaurant.

Ok, so I'll first say the reasons why you shouldn't go to The Boiling Crab.

Don't go to the Boiling Crab IF:

1) You don't like Shellfish
2) You don't like Garlic
3) You don't like to get messy
4) You don't like using your hands
5) You are on a first date (unless he or she really loves garlic so much that they don't care how it will make them reek. if that is the case, never let them go. that person is a keeper)

Now the reasons that you should go.

The menu is made up mostly of market priced shellfish. Clams, 4 different types of Crab, Shrimp, Oysters and Crawfish. Your first task is to choose which shellfish you want. Then you choose the sauce. There are 4 sauces to choose from. Rajun Cajun, Lemon Pepper, Garlic Butter or The Whole She-Bang which is a combination of all three. then you choose non-spicy, mild, medium or XXX spice level. They also have baskets of fried versions of the shellfish as well as corn on the cob and french fries. They also serve Gumbo which many of you know, I'm a sucker for.

So I decided the table next to me had a great idea with 1/2 a dozen oysters raw on the 1/2 shell.
They tasted as good as they looked.

As it was at the place in Las Vegas, the food comes in bags but delivered in tin buckets. I ordered 2 lbs. of Crawfish and 1 lbs of clams. The clams came in the butter garlic sauce medium temp and the crawfish came in the Whole She-bang sauce Medium also.

The clams were great. so great, I ordered another pound after. Now before you all start calling me a pig after you have done the math and said I ate 4 lbs of shellfish, remember that the shells make up over 3/4 the weight in the shellfish. The clams all sat in the silky buttery sauce and they all just popped right out of their shells. I could have drank the liquid it was sitting in.

The crawfish came at the same time as the clams so after quickly eating the clams, I moved onto the Crawfish. They were very tasty but I have to admit, they were a bit dry and the meat was difficult to pull out. Normally when you eat crawfish, you rip the tail from the head and suck out the juice in the head. Yes, you're sucking out the guts. But when they are filled with juice, it's really tasty. These were all really dry. either they sat to long in the cooker (which is what I think it did) or they didn't use enough sauce. The tails required work to get them out of the shell. When cooked properly, you squeeze the tip of the tail, and the meat pops out. These required ripping the shells apart to get a small nibble of meat. After doing that for 30 min, it does get a little old. it was spicy which is what I like, but not juicy. one of the best parts was that there was a 1/2 piece of corn that sat in the liquid in the bottom soaking up all that juice. If I didn't have to see customers, or other people in general the next day, I would have taken a spoon to the garlic that was floating around in the sauce. They probably had 5 heads of chopped garlic in this bag. Not 5 cloves, but 5 heads of garlic. I probably ate a head of garlic myself, so I'm sure I had some stink floating around me when I left. But it was good stink.

After getting the additional pound of clams, I had to try the gumbo. I love Gumbo and have a hard time not ordering it when I see it being served. I have to admit, I still like mine best. Many of you have tried mine and have mentioned how good it is. This place had a good batch. It was crab, sausage and Okra Gumbo. We don't get a lot of Okra by us, so it was a real treat to have this much. Plus I really love the stuff.

All in all, the boiling crab is a fun place to eat. Every table was filled with people and I left at 9:00 and there was still a line out the door. I think the bigger the crowd you go with, the better.

The Boiling Crab has 4 locations in LA and you can see where they are as well as the menu online at www.theboilingcrab.com/index.php

The Bazaar by Jose Andres in LA.........It's a restaurant, it's a store, it's a show!!!

2011-03-13T20:20:00.001-04:00

I had a great opportunity last night. I got to spend an evening with a very good friend of mine over a fabulous meal. My friend Roger lives here in LA and fills me in on all the off beat hot spots in area here. He is a big fan of the craze in the Food Truck industry in the area and fills me in on all his adventures. Business has taken me to LA so I asked Roger to join me for a meal at a place I have been wanting to go for a long time.

Jose Andres hails from Spain and is mostly based in Washington DC. In 2008 he opened The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel in LA and has been going strong since the doors opened. When we arrived, we accidentally walked into the SLS hotel area and it is bustling with a high end well to do scene. Beautiful people emerging from beautiful cars lined the sidewalks going into the Hotel and Restaurant. You could set up a chair on the side and spend hours watching the people.

We got into the restaurant with about 10 minutes till our reservation. With time to kill we walked around to check out the scene. To the right were glass cases filled with anything from Stuffed Bears to Baccarat Glass. Everything in this area is for sale. The coolest thing about this area is while your looking around shopping or window Shopping as it was for us, there are tables for two or four people set up all over. So you could be looking at a set of dishes for sale and a couple is next to the display having dessert. They are both part of the scene and watching the scene.

We checked in and were advised our table was not ready yet and we should wait in the bar. I didn't need an excuse to get a drink and people watch, so we went to the back of the bar. The bar mise-on-place had some fun things at the bartender's disposal to make the most intricate libation. The item that caught my eye were the Jalapeño and Serrano peppers. I mentioned to the bartender that I love peppers and Vodka. She proceeded to make me a drink that I hope to enjoy back home. She muddled sliced Jalapeños and sliced cucumbers in glass. After they were good and macerated, she added Vodka, lime juice and simple syrup. put it all in another glass with ice and shook it all up. Strained it in a glass of ice and topped it off with a splash of club soda. Really Great drink.

We were seated towards the back of the restaurant so we got to pass lots of tables and saw lots of great food. The decor is really cool and every table and chair is different. It's set up like your seated in a living room of a house. Our chairs were so comfortable. If they didn't have the pillow behind you, you would be forced to sit back and sink into them. Our server explained to us that the restaurant is all Tapas style so we were encouraged to share. Not an issue with me at all. She explained that some of the dishes were priced per piece and those we were not to share so if you wanted one each, you had to order two. Two of our dishes were per piece and she was right.

What I loved most about the experience is that it was a non rushed one. We ordered our dishes a few at a time. I love that. It doesn't make you committed at the beginning of the meal and it gives you the opportunity to see what others are ordering around you.

We started with the Olives, both modern and traditional, Jicama wrapped Guacamole and Cotton Candy Foie Gras.

The Olives were a very popular dish in the restaurant as well as at our table. They come two ways. The traditional olives are split, pitted and stuffed with anchovies and topped with Basil. Olives in general are full of flavor to begin with, but the addition of the Anchovies added a twist to this normally salty bite. It was served in small fish tin as well and held together with and easy to grab toothpick.

So as you can guess, this was the traditional version of the dish. The modern version is really wild. They take the olive, pit it and liquefy it. Then the way they described it to us, the drop tablespoon of the liquid into a calcium bath that makes a gelatin like coating around the briny liquid. So when it is served to you, you see a very elegant looking green sphere that looks very much like an olive. Served on small spoons these morsels are meant to be eaten with the spoon. Picture a water balloon but the balloon is made of a softer geletin like substance that would resemble a soft capsule you'd find in a vitamin E pill. But it's much more pliable. when it bursts in your mouth, it's as if a small water balloon as exploded and the liquid olive spreads all over your mouth allowing all your tongue senses to be bathed in olive flavor. The gelatin dissolves as soon as it bursts. Exciting in both experience and flavor.

Our next starter was the Jicama wrapped Guacamole. When the dish comes, the plate looks so good you don't want eat it. 5 elegantly wrapped presents sit on a plate. The Jicama is thinly sliced and topped with creamy guacamole mixed with ginger, cucumber, mint and corn chips. Yes, corn chips. The first surprise was when you look at it, you think the Jicama is going to be crisp but it's actually very soft. The texture is both soft and crunchy as the corn chips adds a great crunchy contrast to the smooth guacamole.

The third starter we got was really a popular item. You saw these being served all over the restaurant. Now normally Roger is a very conservative eater and he had a lot of faith and trust in me that I wouldn't steer him wrong. I don't think you can get more obscure here than this dish. Vanilla cotton candy surrounded a skewer of corn nut crusted foie gras. The contrast of sweet and salty with the texture of soft and crunchy makes this part of the meal a course on it's own.

Next came the cheese plate. We ordered three but accidentally got two of the same and she brought us the third that we were looking for. The cheese that we got two servings of was the Manchego. I know. Shame we got two of those. The Sheep's milk cheese was firm and buttery. Idiazabal is also a sheep's milk cheese and is very similar to the Manchego with a smoky flavor. The last one that was left out, and also left out of photos was the Valdeon. It is a mix of Cow and Goat milk cheese that is a very strong Blue Cheese.

The best part about the Cheese plate which as you can see is served with nuts and quince paste, is that it is also served with Tomato bread. I took a class on Spanish cooking last year at the Culinary Institute of America. The instructor talked a lot about this tomato bread. Its amazing that something so simple could taste so good. It's literally toasted crusty bread with fresh tomato spread on it. I'm told that this bread is very commonly served at breakfast but is also eaten at many different times in the day with other dishes. As is the case with us for the Cheese plate. The tomato is skinned and macerated but not to a puree. It is then spread onto the toasted bread. Again, something so simple. I was eating this alone without the cheese and could eat an entire baguette this way.

The dishes just keep on coming. This is why I really enjoy Tapas. Lots of little bites to try and share and many are so different from the next. Our next dish was called Japanese Taco. cooked eel sat upon thinly sliced cucumber that acted like the taco shell. It had wasabi to add more Japanese flavor but ground up Chicharron on top to add crunch and a salty flavor. For those of you who don't know what Chicharron is, it's pork rinds.

Three vegetable dishes came next. Carrot Fritters laid in a pistachio sauce came first. The carrot fritters has a sweetness to it that came from apricots that were mixed in with the batter. Keeping with another Japanese theme, Asparagus tempura was an other vegetable dish. Instead of salt or ponzu that comes with traditional tempura, Romesco sauce was served. This tomato based sauced was slightly peppery and went really great with the asparagus.

The third and final vegetable was one that took a bit of pushing on my part to get Roger to accept. Beets have been a favorite of mine for the past few years and I always get a dish with them when I see it on the menu. Roger has only been introduced to beets of the canned variety. While there are some canned versions that are good, fresh is always best. These small tri color beets were served with grapefruit selections, pistachios and goat cheese. While Roger was skeptical when the dish arrived, he enjoyed the dish as much as I did. Again, sweet and salty come into play here with a little sour from the grapefruit.

Our final dish is a specialty of the house. Jose Andres' "Philly Cheesesteak". Air bread is served with Cheddar cheese and thinly sliced Wagyu beef is topped above the bread. When we first looked, it was like nothing we have seen before. Where was the cheese? As you bit into it, the football shaped bread is hollow and layered on the bottom is melted sharp cheddar cheese. This dish was a bit messy as the cheese is hot and melted inside. But so delicious. There was some miscommunication as after we paid the bill, another two of these came out. when the server brought them to us, we said we didn't order more and have just paid. He said, do you want them anyway? Who are we to turn down another order of these unique dishes.

This restaurant is not for dinner. It is for an evening. We got there at 7:30 and left at 11:00. If we both, mainly me, weren't so tired, we would have stayed for 2-3 more hours. We left very satisfied. Most people would have tried the desserts and we had thought about finding one of Rogers dessert trucks but it was just too late.

If you would like to follow Roger on Twitter to hear about all things happening in LA with food trucks and anything else that is on his mind, follow him here: http://twitter.com/#!/roger_meyers I think that is the link.

If you have the chance to go to any of Jose Andres' restaurants, I highly suggest it. I would love to try more of them in Washington DC.

The Bazaar is located on 465 La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048. 310-246-5555 and online at http://www.thebazaar.com/

In N Out Burger..............review of a fast food place?

2011-03-12T21:24:00.000-05:00

Yes, review of a fast food place. I have been coming to LA for many years now. Everyone is always talking about the best burgers are In N Out. I have never gotten one as I thought I would always want something better than just a fast food burger. Well an opportunity had come up where a fast food burger was just what I needed.

I called my good friend Roger for some advice on what to get as I was about to pop my cherry. Roger recommended the Double Double with onions. For you folks not familiar with that order, it is basically a double cheeseburger. Roger said to me that he does not recommend that I eat this in the car as it is a messy burger and the 5 min. I am taking to eat it there is well worth it.

Roger is a wise man.

The burger is a griddled burger with melted cheese and smothered fried onions. Topped with crispy cool lettuce, a dressing that is similar to thousand island and buttery bun. Messy it is and delicious is not doing the burger justice. We tend to go to the mainstream McDonalds and Burger King back home and I'm now seeing a real appreciation for some of the upper end fast food burger joints. This is fast food, but it's fast food to order. so you don't have a stack of stuff sitting drying up under heat lamps. The other popular item they have are fresh cut potato fires. You see them peeling them and shoe string cutting them in the back before they bathe in hot oil and dressed in some light salt. I noticed that some people had cheese and chili on their fries but I didn't see it on the menu. Roger said there are a few secrets to the well informed that the novice like myself would miss out on. There is always next time.

I ate outside because being from New England, we have had a heck of a winter so dining Al Fresco is a real treat for me these days. I actually sat near where people put their orders in for drive through. It's great to hear how everyone takes their burger. I think about 15 people ordered while i was sitting there and each were different. But one of the cool things that the order takers ask is if they are planning to eat in the car. so I'm sure they have rigged up something to catch the potential mess that these juicy burgers can make.

If you see an In N Out burger and you are looking for a bad for you meal, go and enjoy. But remember to work out before or after.

http://www.in-n-out.com/

McKoy's Smokehouse and Saloon.........BBQ in the south

2011-03-12T21:12:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I do quite a bit of traveling which gives me the great opportunity to try so many places to eat. It's a wonderful part of my business that I really embrace.

So you also know, I'm a huge fan of BBQ. When I heard I had to go to North Carolina on business, BBQ immediately popped into my head. After doing a bit of research, I located a place not far from my hotel near the airport. Now, traditionally, the best places for BBQ are shacks or dives. I was pleasantly satisfied when I discovered McKoy's. I use trip advisor and Yelp for my research when I don't know much about an area and they both listed McKoy's very high.

When I got there and stepped out of the car, I was immediately drunk with hickory smoke. It bellowed from stacks above the roof line and filled the air surrounding the restaurant.

McKoy's is really a big bar. There is no major separation of bar and restaurant. The menu had all the things you would want in a BBQ Joint. Ribs, pulled pork, Chopped meat, Chicken and all the fixins.

One of the negatives with eating alone is the fact that you can only really order for you. When you are with others, you can try other dishes to get a feel for the place without ordering 2 or 3 meals for yourself. as much as you want to do that sometimes, it's just not economical.

So I like to search for the dishes that have a little bit of everything. And thank goodness, McKoy's had one. The called it LTD (Living The Dream) and dreamy it was. The dish had 4 Ribs, Pulled Pork, Pit Pot Roast (similar to brisket), Smoked BBQ Chicken and your choice of two sides. I had read that the Mac and Cheese was awesome, so that was easy. Up in New England, Okra isn't very popular so you don't see it a lot on menu's or in main stream supermarkets. So selection fried Okra was another easy choice.

The ribs were smokey and fell right off the bone the way a good smoke should make ribs. Pulled pork and the pit pot roast were tender and with the addition to the house BBQ sauce, it was southern BBQ at it's finest. But it scares me to say the Chicken was the best thing on that plate. It is rare that I order chicken when I eat out. I make a lot of it at home so it's not as much fun for me to order it when I go out. But this bird was so juicy that it needed no sauce at all. Pretty impressive for a smoked Chicken that it was a Juicy as it was. Must be the brine. The Sides I have to say were very disappointing. The mac and cheese was mushy and mealy and the cheese was goopier than melted Velveeta. The Fried Okra was very salty and took away from the vegetable.

McKoy's was very good. The staff was also very good. For you guys, the servers are very well endowed and real easy on the eyes. (sorry ladies, you got to be blind not to notice them). It's just a bonus. But by all means go there for the food. If you need a good BBQ place near the airport, this is a great one.

McKoy's can be found outside of the Charlotte NC airport. For more information please visit their website at http://www.mckoys.net/

Layla's Falafel.............A touch of Lebanon in Fairfield County

2011-02-20T12:42:00.001-05:00

For years now we have been going to Layla's for some great middle eastern cuisine and they continue to keep the great food coming.

The Layla's that I go to is located in a small strip mall on Black Rock Turnpike in Fairfield. The place is very small with only enough seating for about 15. You don't go there for the ambiance. You go there for the Shwarma.

Layla's has all the great middle eastern treats. Falafel, Baba Ghanoush, Tabbouleh and of course, Shwarma. For those of you who don't know Shwarma, basically either marinated Chicken or Lamb is set on a long skewer and place vertically infront of two heating elements that char the outside of the meat as it is rotating. Using a long knife, you cut down the charred meat and it is added to a piece of flat bread. There, lettuce, pickles and a garlic spread that my sister says you can eat like soup is all rolled up into rolled up sandwich.

I do have to admit that I got their Hummus and it really wasn't that great. Many of their items have a great amount of garlic. The Hummus lacked the rich flavor that I love in a good Hummus. It needed more garlic, salt and maybe some more olive oil. But please don't let this stop you from going there for the many other items.

If you need your middle eastern fix, this is the place. And there is not just this place. They have 2 locations in Stamford as well as Fairfield.

Layla's can be found online here: http://www.laylasfalafel.com/

Just for the PHO of it........PHO Saigon in Bridgeport

2011-02-17T22:19:00.000-05:00

I work in Bridgeport. My regular day job takes me to the east side of the city where a long time ago, I would read the Monday paper about all the stabbings and robberies and homicides that took place over the weekend. So of course I would never venture out of my way from the highway and back. Since then, the city has gotten safer and I have realized that the city really isn't all that bad. Its actually quite a melting pot of ethnic variety that has much to explore.

About a year ago a friend of mine was visiting from Phoenix and he asked me if I have been to Pho Saigon. I told him I never heard of it and he said if I like the Vietnamese soup Pho, then I will love this. Pho is basically a Vietnamese noodle soup. Served in a big steaming bowl, you will find noodles, and some sort of protein. The Most popular is a beef variety.

I found the address and made my way to Iranistan rd in Bridgeport. On the corner of Iranistan and Wood Rd is a house with small restaurant on the main floor. It's a simple place really that is basically one room with a kitchen off in the back. There are maybe 20 tables inside each with a stack of chopstick and Siracha chili sauce.

I have enjoyed Pho before but don't know all the ins and out of it. So I just ordered the first one on the list which was the beef Pho. Unfortunately I had to take it to go so I walked out with a square Styrofoam container and a quart size container of broth.

When I got back to my office I poured the broth into a big bowl and opened the Styrofoam. Inside was a large amount of rice noodles, bean sprouts and thinly sliced raw beef. In addition to that was scallions, licorice basil and another thin leaf. I threw it all into the broth to let it cook. I also got a side container of Siracha and chili paste and added a generous amount.

After only a few minutes, the beef had been cooked and the noodles were all warm and soft. The broth was very aromatic with hints of 5 spice and garlic. But the flavors went much deeper with the layers of chili paste and basil.

It's a huge amount of food and I said I can have this for lunch and dinner but my inner pig took over and I ate the whole thing.

I can't wait to go there again and eat there. While we were waiting there was one woman in the restaurant who was eating a dish that was very colorful with many different colorful vegetables. Looked awesome.

PHO Saigon is located at 1275 Iranistan rd in Bridgeport CT. I highly recommend it.

Diet Shmiet, I Gotta Eat!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-12-02T09:24:00.000-05:00

Salad, Salad, Salad. How much roughage can a person eat.

Don't get me wrong, I love salad. Nothing like a crisp refreshing crunch salad for lunch or even for dinner. How many times have you had a nice seared Tuna over crisp fresh greens with a full bodied soy based sesame dressing and felt so content that it was a good meal. Many times I'm sure. I know I have. But every extra that you throw on adds calories. When your trying to lower your calories, less is obviously more.

The craziest thing when dieting is the word Salad itself. You're out to a meal with some friends and everyone is ordering a burger, or a big sandwich and you say, I'm going to have a salad. "I'm watching myself". Ah the magic words. "I'm watching myself, I'll have a salad". Then you order a cobb salad. You might be having more calories than your friends with the burger. But its a salad right? I see all that lettuce right there. It's a big bowl of lettuce right? see it? It's right under the two whole eggs, mound of chopped bacon and pile of blue cheese. Looks a little dry, better add that Ranch dressing.

For three months now, my main meal for lunch and dinner has been a salad that consists of just lettuce, tomato and cucumber and a protein. That protein could be grilled chicken breast, grilled or baked fish, or even a can of Tuna. Plus a serving of dressing. Having that for lunch and dinner for months on end can wear on you. So you gotta change it up a bit. But I want to really get to my goal so how do I eat sensibly and get filled up on something other than cold salad? It's all in educating yourself on what to have and what not to have.

I've always loved fish and this recent changing in eating has enabled me to embrace fish again. I probably eat 5 portions of fish a week minimum. Mostly over salad. Now that it's getting cold here in the Northeast, having a warm meal is something I want to have more when I sit down for dinner.

One of my favorite pieces of fish is Cod. It's mild, flaky, meaty and just plain good. I like to have full tasting food and nothing is ever too spicy for me. The key is how to control the fatty lubricant so the meat doesn't stick to the vessel it's cooked on. Grilling is always great because when anything reaches it's optimal seared exterior, it just flips easily. But Cod is not good for the grill. So I prefer to bake it. I have discovered that oil, whether it be olive, canola or vegetable, it's still about 125 calories per tablespoon. That's a lot. Especially when I'm used to pouring on about 10 tablespoons on anything before I season it. So I've embraced the spray not stick solution. PAM. So here is my recipe for you.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Spray your baking dish with some PAM or any other non stick spray.
Mix up 1 tablespoon of minced garlic with 1 tablespoon or Sriracha sauce.
Squeeze the juice of one lemon onto the piece of fish. Coat both sides of the fish with the garlic paste.
Bake for about 7-9 minutes until the fish flakes.
When it's done, add another splash of lemon and add with steamed Brussell Sprouts. ( I just split and steamed them)

Then you have this:

That meal right there was probably 400 calories total. And it was delicious. Yes, there is no starch and no bread. And the spouts serving is rather large. Personally I love Brussell Sprout so that is no big deal for me. But it was hot and fulfilling.

It's very easy and you can put a spin on it any way you want with spices. Experiment and let me know how you like to prepare this dish.

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WHY HAVEN'T YOU WRITTEN?

2010-11-17T21:49:00.000-05:00

Hello.

I'm still here.

Yes It's been a while. But I've got almost 30 good reasons why I haven't been here. Yes, the "D" word. To all the foodies out there, you know that word. Yes. "D" equals "Diet".

For those of you who know me, my size is a presence. For those of you who don't know me, i'm 6'4" and when I first started writing, I was about 245 lbs. Big Boy!!!! But my height didn't make it look as bad as I really was.

I have struggled with my weight my whole life. I owe so much to my parents. They gave me my sense of humor, my vast music appreciation but most importantly, my love of food and cooking. Our lives were and are surrounded by food. Whenever the whole family gets together (all 5 siblings with kids and parents) every meal is an event and it ends with what are we doing for the next meal. Really. We eat lunch so we can plan for Dinner. My parents introduced me every ethnic food they were able to get their hands on and I tried everything that was put in front of me.

Unfortunately, I did eat everything that was put in front of me. But as many do, I ate with my mouth and not with my stomach. Every meal for me was until I was really full. If Chewing and tasting were a job, I'd be the CEO, CFO, COO and any other C initials that are involved in corporate america. So with all that eating, and really not enough moving, I gained weight. All my life I was always sort of out of shape. I tried all the diets. Liquid Diet, Low Carb Diet, Vegetable Diet and many of them worked. I lost weight, but with all failed diets, I eventually gained it back. Usually with some extra bonus weight. YAY!!!!

So after doing all these diets, it finally hit me. The only thing that really works is that you have move more and eat less. That's really it. But that is a really big IT. Especially for someone who loves to cook and eat as much as I do. Not only was it the mantra of eat less and move more, but for me, the diet is very much a mental obstacle. If my head isn't into it, there is no point in even trying. I feel like I'm just fooling myself if my head is not in eating properly mode. So it has to click in my head.

Well Click it did. My previous post to this one was for my trip to Taiwan. I was at the airport in New York getting ready for the flight. I have two hours to kill and decided to get something to eat. I was in the mood for a real juicy burger. There was a Chili's in the airport and said that is my burger. Now, in New York, it is now a law, and a good law, that all fast food and fast casual restaurants have to list the calorie content of their meals. Fast Casual for those of you who don't know are restaurants like chili's, Applebees, Red Robin, TGI Friday's and that sort. So I looked at the burgers and I think the one that had the least amount of calories was about 1700 for the whole dish. From eating my whole life as much as I did, I knew the average that anyone should eat is around 2,000 to 2,500. Or something like that. Add a beer to that meal and you have almost you whole day's worth of calories in one meal. I was floored. I'm a very visual person so seeing those numbers had an effect on me. Even the salads were high in calories. In the end, I had them make me a salad with Grilled chicken and dressing on the side.

In Taiwan I was e-mailing with my brother and he told me about an iPhone app called Loseit! I downloaded it and took a look at it. knowing that I was in traveling, it would be difficult to diet, I watched what I could. But really didn't start till I got home from the trip.

The app basically is a calorie counter. Its as good as you are honest with putting in the app what you put in your mouth. And that is what I did. You put in your starting weight and your goal weight. You then decide if you want to maintain your weight or lose up to 2 lbs per week by 1/2 lb increments. So I chose 2 lbs a week and a goal weight that the number began with a number "1". It was 199. let's not get carried away. I haven't been under 200 lbs since Anita, my wife, and I started dating. I think I even had a pair of spandex shorts then. sorry for that image and the mess you made in a bucket close by. What it does is it tells you a calorie count that you need to be under and you will lose that amount of weight each week if you stick to it. If you exercise, then you add calories to your daily intake. So exercise is good for your health and allows you to eat more.

So, It is now about two months later and I'm down almost 30 lbs. That included a trip to Vegas mind you. Yes I even didn't write about my trip there this time. I handled Vegas but working out almost 2 hours a day. Sensible breakfast and lunch and enjoying dinner. My weight loss graph had a bit of spike during that trip but I'm now back on the loss scale.

If you like Salad, then you can do pretty good with this diet. I love salad. one of the things that has really helped me with this diet has been salad. lots of it. Basically, lunch and dinner is only that. A large salad of lettuce, tomato and cucumber and a protein. If I really get tired of salad, I will grill or bake some fish and have some roasted or grilled veggies to go with it.

I have stayed away from almost everything high in calories which includes carbohydrates. The only real low cal stuff that I'm eating is low cal ice cream and low cal mayo for a dressing on a salad I make. Yogurts, cottage cheese and fruit. Lots and lots of fruit. grapes are a great nibble fruit.

As of today, I'm down to 215 and my goal was to be at 215 by thanksgiving. I'll be well ahead of that by next week. My next goal was to be by 210 for New Years and Honestly think that if I keep this up, I'll be at my goal by New Years.

That is where I've been. I know I'll be back again writing as I will always have food in my life. I still go out for dinner but watch what I order and eat. I just needed a step back. so I've stepped back and will have many fun meals ahead of me. I have an Indian restaurant reservation ahead of me this Saturday and I've offered to make Curried Butternut Squash soup for thanksgiving. Perhaps you'll see it here shortly.

Sorry for the delay but I hope you all understand.

If I don't speak to you, Happy Thanksgiving.

Dinner in Taiwan first night.........Been to this familiar place before and just plain love it

2010-09-18T15:42:00.001-04:00

Every trip to the southern town of Tainan always takes me to a restaurant that the owners of the company represent love to go. Bill and Olivia Shih who own the company are very friendly with Jennifer the owner and they take many people there from out of town.

This Loud Restaurant and bar seems to have floating tables in the middle as we found the table constantly moving to accommodate large parties that seem to come and go. As I mentioned in my previous post, the island's main source of protein comes from the fish that are caught close by. Most of the places have the seafood on display where before you go in to be seated, you look at what is available and decide which you want and how you want it cooked.

We were originally 5 people and then later on three others joined us. Which was a good thing because a 6 pack of beer arrived and we needed help drinking it. It's not just your average 6 pack. This was a 6 pack of 32 oz. beers.

We started off with some Edamame which was peppery and hot. We also got an order of Sashimi. I only had the salmon and it was very fresh. The flesh was firm and rich in oil which gave it some great flavor.

We were next served shrimp. I don't think I have seen shrimp like this in a long time. they were huge and salted. like most places outside of the United States, Shrimp are served with the head on. It's usually a very dramatic display having them on. Plus most of the time it adds to the flavor. That is Jennifer the owner in the picture with the shrimp.

I was told the next dish was a real delicacy but it was really just chewy. Stomach of black fish was served with green onions. They say it's seasonal and I told "Its good for the man to be strong". I can see why it makes you strong, because you have to really work your jaw muscles to eat it. it was good. just chewy

We were served a type of sweet and sour pork rib which wasn't in rib form. it was the bottom of the rib that have the small tough cartilage type bones. It was really sweet. As you will see in the photos, we had two kids with us and they like the sweet stuff.

One of my favorite dishes was the Squid with Thai basil and sliced Ginger. The ginger was peeled and sliced long ways so you got a real good bite of it.

The next dish I they had brought out was one I had eaten there before. It was bean sprouts with some sort of Minced pork on top of it. it was delicious and also challenging for my customer to eat with his chop sticks. Very amusing for me.

The final dish was the funkiest. it was a whole fried fish that was sitting in a shallow pool of brown gravy. inside the gravy were sautéed vegetables and chili peppers. The fish had a crispy outside and moist inside. I find that you can get this type of fish at home but mostly in NYC in Chinatown. Many people don't like to fight the bones and the people of Taiwan are very comfortable eating something and spitting out what is not edible. Its not the classiest way of eating but you get very comfortable quickly spitting things out on your plate while everyone else is. It's just as fun as making a ton of noise slurping up noodles at a noodle bar in the subway of Japan.

Next came a dish that was very unusual for me but one that I enjoyed. Everyone loves to pickle things. I thought I have seen everything pickled and now I have. small green mango's were sliced thin and pickled. it was a very unusual taste because it didn't have a mango taste or a pickle taste. What did it taste like? I don't know but it was good. I also understand at times like this i'm not a good judge because I pretty much like everything. But it was something I have never had before.

The last dish was also unique and guess what? I didn't like it. I'm not much of a sweet eater. This dish was chopped sweet potato that was covered in a sugary glaze. it came out as one solid mass. our host was wrestling with it to break it apart to put it in cold water. I got hit with some shrapnel when it was being broken up. the kids at the table really liked it.

Overall another very successful eating adventure in Taiwan. My only dissapointment is that i'm not sure when I will get out there again. But I know when I do, it will be a great time.

Below is a photo of myself with my customer and the company that manufactures the machine I represent in North America.

Taiwan again starts off with a bang.........Chinese food done in a familiar way

2010-09-13T07:03:00.000-04:00

So I'm back in Taiwan right now and I'm going to try my best to keep up with my meals here to share with you so I can remember them well. My main reason for being here is not for the food. That is a great side bonus but the real reason is for the final runoff of two machines I sold over a year ago. The machines ran great and the customer is happy. So all is good.

We had a successful morning so lunch was very relaxing and enjoyable. We went to a different place than what I have written before. The husband of the husband/wife ownership team was in China on business so the customer, Leroy and I went with the main salesperson Jinna and the wife of the husband/wife team Olivia. They took us to what they called a light lunch. Light it was not. But it was far different from the elaborate meals we have at the hall around the corner from the factory.

This meal was more like the chinese food we get back home. But it was lighter. At least most of the dishes were lighter.

For starters, we got sautéed onions and green vegetables in a very bright light sauce. They were so fresh and crisp and flavorful. It was a nice way to start the meal.

Next came a beef and onion dish that seemed very familiar to what we have at home. It was a stir fry that like the veggies above, it was lighter and fresher than what we get at home. The flavors were very bright and fresh.

Then came a dish had a lot of bite. Chicken with peanuts and hot peppers. I'm not one to shy away from peppers in a dish. This one as you can see is more red from the dried Chili Peppers. It was spicy and tasty.

We had rice last night so when asked, I wanted noodles over rice. Out came again another familiar looking noodle dish but again, it was lighter than what we do back home. I think if the people back home were able to cook like this, it would make Chinese food less fattening. Yes Noodles are noodles but it just didn't taste heavy.

Next came the only dish I did and didn't like. It was the only dish that was in fact heavy and very sweet. The sweet is what I am not crazy about. But it was Fried Tofu which I really like. I actually like all tofu. This dish was just heavy and sweet. I had a few pieces just to get a taste.

The second fairly heavy dish was the tomato and egg sauté. It was like a tomato sauce and fresh tomato scrambled egg mash. It was ok but it was mainly gotten for Olivia who is a vegetarian.

We had gotten a soup that was very light and common when we go out for lunch. Hot broth is simmered with pieces of pork to flavor the broth up. it was fairly bland and not exciting but for some reason people get it at most lunches. Its like a very light beef tea. I know, that sounds gross but its really like a light consumme.
The last dish was really great. Sauteed cuttlefish. This dish was cooked and topped with a mash of garlic and peanuts and green onions. It looked great but tasted better. The fish was light and flaky and the topping was almost like when you get a baked cod and the breadcrumbs are on top of the fish.

I know, it doesn't look that appetizing but it was really tasty.

Again, they called that a light lunch. The dishes weren't that big which was nice and for the most part, most of them were light. So we were able to have a good taste of many things.

Believe it or not, i'm off to dinner.

A Visit to the cousins in NJ and had a Hot Dog Differently than I ever had before

2010-09-10T17:58:00.001-04:00

So we were going on a family vacation in Delaware and decided to invite ourselves to stay at my cousin's place in New Jersey to break up the trip. My cousin Rob and Carole have always had a good sense of taste when it came to eating so we knew it would be a fun night.

I was promised the recipe for the char grilled Corn Guacamole that they first made. when I get it I will pass it on to you guys because it was fantastic. Nothing like fresh corn this time of the year. And why not put it in everything.

We had some great pomagranite margaritas to wash everything down and realized that unless you go to a real unique place, there will be no better margarita than one you make yourself. I have another restaurant report to write up about a New York City experience I had that had me drinking a Habanero Infused Tequila grapefruit margarita. Fantastic yes. But not something I want everyday.

So for dinner I was turned onto something I also had never had before. Western BBQ cut London Broil. I have never heard of this. When I look at it, it looks like a flank steak. But a thinner version of it. It is a real juicy cut that grills real nice. it also doesn't require a longer cooking time to make the meat softer. Rob threw a whole bunch of spices on there including, cumin, Chili powder, garlic powder and a whole bunch of other good stuff. Grilled over coals, the meat melted in your mouth. Look for this cut. you will love it.

But crazy as it sounds, the real treat came before the steak. Rob said, "i will make you a hot dog like you have never had before" He calls it a "Taco Hot Dog" and it is just that. Except you don't have the tortilla or the ground beef. Take a dog and a bun and then imagine it's a taco. so what do you add? Great Corn Guacamole, salsa, jalapeños, melted cheese. Eat and enjoy. Initially you look and think, all this on a Dog? But then you eat it and it is delicious.

Personally my favorite is a natural casing dog with deli mustard and sauerkraut. I can eat those everyday. But it's great to travel around an try different kind of dogs. Chicago probably has the best selection around. I've tried many different kinds there alone.

So I ask you my readers. All Three of you. How do you like your hot dog? My kids still love it with Ketchup and it makes me mental watching them.

Let's hear it. How do you like your dog? Grilled? Boiled? Fried? in beans?

Labor Day Seafood feast............And a mussels marinara recipe!!!!!

2010-09-06T11:50:00.002-04:00

I know I am behind in my writing and I have about 6 other things to write about before this, but this weekend we had a meal that I had to share. I hope that t inspires you to do the same one day.

Our friends Jim, Judy, Michelle and our kids all met at Bill and Rachel's house for a seafood feast that we had all dreamed about all summer long. We originally talked about going to a place on the water in CT called "The Place" where you get to enjoy a real New England down and dirty lobster bake. But it is close to an hour away and I said we can do it better. We not just did it better, we knocked it out of the park.

While the kids were running all over the yard we nibbled on some chips and salsa and had a great selection of beers and probably one of the best bloody mary's I have had in a long time. We also had a great drink made with lemonade, cucumber infused vodka and fresh mint and lime juice. Very refreshing on a late summer night.

The meal started out with steamer clams. For those of you outside of the New England area, steamer clams are a soft shell clam that has a stem sticking out that allows the clam to propel itself when it's in the water. To cook the clams, you take any vessel you have that steams and add water, olive oil and lemon juice. But in reality, you can add anything. Even a little beer.

After steam starts to lift from the top of the pot, put the cleaned clams inside. There is no science as to when the clams are done. After all, many of us love raw clams on the 1/2 shell. But I kept them in there for about 10 minutes. many of them open up when they are done. but there is a thin membrane that keeps many of them open but not widely open. So after they are done, you take them out and then you take out the broth and place it in a bowl next to a bowl melted butter. this night we added some sprigs of fresh herbs to flavor the butter. As if butter needs more flavor, but it was a nice touch. After opening the clams and peeling the membrane off the clam, clean them in the broth and dip it in the butter and enjoy.

We took a nice small break after the steamers and I heated up the mussels marinara. This is a great dish that anyone can make. You can even take jarred sauce and add mussels to it and you have the dish. But I like to make my own from scratch.

Start off with one cup finely chopped onion and 1/2 a cup each carrots and celery. For my usually marinara sauce I don't add celery and carrots but for this I did. At first I thought it was a mistake because the carrots added a lot of sweetness to the sauce but in the end it was ok.

Take a large pot and add olive oil to it and warm it up. when it's warm, add the onions, carrots and celery and saute till they are all soft. I made a large batch so it took time. When the veggies are all soft, add a table spoon of chopped garlic and saute till its very aromatic.

At this point, add in a 28 oz. can of either chopped tomatoes, puree, or sauce to the mix. Now all of those ingredients are very acidy. So you have to add some sort of sugar to balance it out. I usually add a 12 oz. can of diet cola. Then add 1 Tablespoon of salt and 1 Tablespoon of Oregano. Mix all together and let it cook for about an our uncovered so it reduces and thickens. After about an hour, add the mussels and keep them simmering for about 15 minutes. This will allow the mussels to open up and cook in the broth.

Now as you can see, I have a lot more than what I listed above. We had 8 adults so I multiplied the recipe accordingly. After 15-20 minutes, place the mussels in a dish and serve with crusty bread. With any leftovers, take the mussels out of the shell and either freeze or put in a container for the next day to serve over pasta.

After we took a break from that, we boiled up some water and cooked up some Lobsters. At that point, I didn't take any more photos because well it's just lobsters in water and I was getting busy cracking open shells.

We cleaned up and we enjoyed the meal we just had. it was a great feast but it wasn't over yet. Anita had made a cherry pie that was just teasing us from the kitchen inside. Rachel made fresh whipped cream and brought out some ice cream. Under candlelight and the stars, we finished our meal perfectly.

These are the meals that make summer great. Great Friends, great food and great memories. I hope you all get a chance to make great memories too on this Labor day. Enjoy the last days of summer my friends. Fall is right around the corner. Soups, Short Ribs, Stew's are all on the Horizon.

LeFarm in Westport CT.......I'm finding new favorites and enjoying older ones

2010-08-23T22:52:00.000-04:00

I know many of you know I write more about leFarm than I do any other restaurant. Yes, I'm friends with Bill and Rachel who own the restaurant. I like to support my friends. But it's such good food!!!! It's Creative, Fresh, and rather satisfying. And I'm not alone with my thoughts. The night I was there was a Tuesday night. leFarm is closed Sunday and Monday. Tuesday was jammin!!!!!!

So this Tuesday was the one night that we were able to put together with two other couples. One were friends of ours who had moved to London last year for what we are hoping is only three years. The others were the owner's of Marly's in Wilton (which is another great local place). This one Tuesday night in July, yes I'm running behind in my writing, was the only night that we were able to get together.

The first thing I noticed when I came into the restaurant is that the bar in the back that separates the dining room from the kitchen is covered in Tomatoes. I mean covered. All sizes and colors. Cherry, grape, beefsteak, cherokee you name it, it was there. It was a fireworks display of color. yellows, reds, purples, oranges and everything in between.

When we sat down and looked at the menu, I noticed that the appetizer section was a lot larger than what it used to be. Since the 6 of us all really love to eat, we decided to share 5 different appetizers.

Here is what we got:

The first one was a new dish to Anita and I. Battered Fish Bait. We had to ask because we had no idea what it was. I still don't remember what the name of the fish was, but it was a small thin fish that was battered and cooked whole. it was so small that you literally ate the whole thing. Bones and all. The fish was light and mild and the batter had a lot of the crunchy flavor you like in a fried fish. It was served pickles and nice roasted peppers.

Artisan Burrata was placed in front of us next. A large generous portion of creamy firm cheese was served with a pesto and fresh cherry tomatoes and a slice of the olive bread. we had to ask for more bread to accompany the dish.

The Kale and Beet salad is a dish we can't get away from. I have become a huge fan of beets and it still remains to be one vegetable that I have never made. I have heard that they can be boiled or more popularly roasted. But for some reason I have steered clear of them. I don't know why. Besides the Portobella mushroom, the beet has to be the "meatiest" of the vegetables around. But they are crisp and fresh tasting and oh so earthy. I really have to get some of these in my kitchen.

As it was tomato season, the plate of tomatoes with onions and Pearl Cous-cous was a nice addition to our selection. All I can say is that there is nothing better in the summer than fresh picked tomatoes.

The last appetizer is one that has become my personal favorite at the restaurant. When we first tried the Octopus, we were told it was a special and Frank our server brought us out a dish to try. Since then, I have always ordered it. I know I have written about it before, but h the way Bill cooks it, make it so soft and uncommon than most other chewy octopus dishes I have had. But the key to the dish is the Harissa dressing he makes. Bill posted a picture recently on facebook showing a kitchen accident while making the dressing. it was everywhere. I told him I would have volunteered to clean it up. I just needed some loaves and bread and it would be gone very quickly.

Our main dishes as usual didn't disappoint us. We had some similar orders but had some nice new dishes to try.

The Bronzoni was a piece of fish that we had gotten in the past. Bill serves this fish with an assortment of fresh summer beans and his tomato marmalade. If you can look back on Martha Stewart shows, you'll find he makes this on one of the shows he was on. Really bright flavors here.

Sweet breads were also ordered and they were as good as the last time I had tried them there. Made with fresh peas, carrots and onions, the dish sits in a light mushroom broth and dotted with bacon. Oh, I so love bacon.

We had two pasta dishes a the table. Both of them were 1/2 orders and it was a good thing because the desserts were plentiful. The first pasta dish was the Cavatelli. It was served with squash and a bean pesto, then topped with thinly sliced Prosciutto.

The last dish was the one that Mike and myself had gotten. It was a good think he ordered first and asked for the 1/2 order. otherwise I would have made a real pig of myself. The Buccatini Carbonara was served with onion, peas, bacon (oh joy), and topped with fresh shaved Parmesan. Fabulous dish.

The table was a group of Dessert fanatics. Not that many people are not but this group really loves their sweets. We got two orders of the fresh raspberries with melted chocolate on them. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate on fruit but this just looked so beautiful.

I can't resist Bills Corn Bread and candied Bacon. (OK, I can see I have a problem here)

Last and newest dessert was one that had to be preordered because it takes 15 minutes to make. Fresh fruit compote was on the bottom of a ramekin and topped with a pastry that can only be described as a cake of pancake. I know they described it differently when I was there a month ago and I have to admit, I just don't remember. But this dish was served with Basil ice cream. The combination was terrific and the cake in the first ramekin was soft and moist. It's worth the wait.

Another great meal and another great entry for me in the blog. This place is always easy to write about. Please go and say hello to Bill. Tell him I sent you.

leFarm can be found in Westport and on the web at www.lefarmwestport.com

PRET in NYC..............Impressive small sandwich shop

2010-08-22T10:01:00.000-04:00

I know I usually don't write about convenience places or fast food places but this is a place worth mentioning. My good friend Wendy had mentioned this place to me once and I had never heard of it. As I now know, it's a fairly large worldwide chain. They are also located at airports for a quick bite on the run.

There were a number of things that I really liked about this place. The first one was the selection. They stay away from the traditional sandwiches and kick it up a notch. All the items are done in a healthier manner. All the ingredients are delivered fresh everyday and nothing is from the previous day. They literally open each shop everyday with no ingredients on the shelves or in the refrigerators. At the end of the day, anything left over is given to shelters that are associated with that store.

The second reason I really liked this place is the philosophy behind everything they seem to be doing. Besides the fresh ingredients and the charity they subscribe to, the packaging is multi useful. They have a vast menu of sandwiches and if each sandwich had its own wrapper, there would be a large amount of packaging material made that is only made for that one item. They package each wrap, baguette, and salad in the same packaging but placed in it's on selective area. So a ham and Brie baguette is wrapped in he same wrapper as the king prawn and avocado baguette. There is less packaging to store on hand which not only keeps the cost down for the store but it also allows the items to be multi useful.

The selection is vast and like I said before, the ingredients are not only fresh but healthier than your average store. They have salads and lots of little nibble sides that I really liked. when I was there, I got a small container of grapes. Right by the counter they also sold little brownie squares for a little bit of sweet to end the meal.

If you see one do yourself a favor and stop in, you'll find you'll look for them when you want a quick bite of something good.

PRET has multiple locations all over the world. Go to www.pret.com for locations, menu's and nutritional facts.

Omanel in Bridgeport........Brazilian cuisine lives large in Bridgeport

2010-08-22T09:32:00.001-04:00

In both Bridgeport and New Haven, lies home to many Brazilian families. And where you have a large gathering of a specific ethnicity, you will have local eateries that cater to those people to give them the comforts of home. In Bridgeport, Omanel's is such a place. This Brazilian restaurant has been around for many years and while I had been there when I first moved in 1992, I haven't returned since.

We had gone there for lunch from work one day because we just needed a day out for lunch. The four of us are all eaters so we were excited for something different. Omanel's has a menu that is strong is seafood dishes and they had a nice lunch menu. We looked around and saw many dishes served in large Pewter crock pots. When I glanced at the lunch menu, there were 4 dishes of Bakala (salted cod fish) and a few other heavy rice dishes.

We decided to get some appetizers to share first. We got one order of Chorizo Sausage and two orders of Garlic Shrimp. The Chorizo came out to us in a dish that had the sausage on fire. Not like your Saganaki cheese you hear "OPA" yelled at when it is burst into flames, but literally on fire. It created a crispy outside to go with the smoky inside.

We decided to get two orders of the shrimp because we knew it would be extra garlicy and there would be a good amount of mopping to be done on the dish. Make sure you ask for extra bread for this dish. you'll send it back with just the shells and the lemon ring.

Our main dishes came out and I couldn't believe the portion sizes. these Pewter pots were massive. Salted Cod was swimming in the pot of rice. The cod was on the bone which add some deep rich flavor to the broth that the rice had absorbed. But make sure you're prepared for bones because there is some work involved. also because of the heavy salt, I was able to only eat a little bit of it. I have found since I've cut back on salt, I've become sensitive to it. The portion was so big, that I was easily able to bring home 1/2 of it.

Omanel's can be found in Bridgeport at 1909 Main Street. Their phone number is 203-335-1676.

Alliger's House of Wings.........25 different flavors of wings. what could be better?

2010-08-11T20:33:00.001-04:00

Some of the best comforting meals have been in dives. You know its true. Sitting at the bar in a Honky Tonk town eating a juicy burger that was served with melted cheese, bacon and onions that was all cooked on the same griddle. Not there for the ambiance but usually the company and the brew. But there are times that the food shines better than the rest.

For years I have been traveling to Sayre Pennsylvania which is where Anita grew up. For almost 20 years since I made that first trip there, we make a right turn past a small bar by the name of Alliger's House of Wings. Every time we pass it I make the comment, we have to go there one day. Anita says she had never been there and she enjoys wings. There was one time that I had purchased their sauce that I had seen in the local market there. I don't remember the flavors but I remember they were good.

Well the time had finally come that my job of a salesman had crossed over and allowed me to sell the idea of having lunch there this past weekend. And it was worth the wait. I couldn't decided which wings I wanted to try. They sold them by the dozen or the 1/2 dozen. From Fruity sauce to Nuclear. sauce 1 was Hawaiian with sweet with pineapple and 25 was Nuclear. As I rarely utter the words "that's too spicy for me" and I usually stay near the top of the Scoville scale when it comes to heat. For those of you who don't know what the "Scoville" scale is, the Scoville scale is an index of the level of capsaisan that is found in each pepper. Capsaicin is a chemical compound that stimulates chemoreceptor nerve endings in the skin, especially the mucous membranes. The number of Scoville heat units indicates the amount of capsaicin present. (The previous italicized comment is from Wikipedia) For example, a bell pepper has 0 on the scale, a jalapeño is rated between 2,500 and 8,000, a cayenne pepper is rated at between 30,000 and 50,000 and closer to the top is the Habanero which is rated between 100,000 and 350,000.

So we went to the bar and ordered our food. I got the kids their dishes. They both like wings but there were other kids there so their attention was taken away from the food and was preoccupied by playing around.

So for Anita I got her the hot and spicy garlic. It had a really nice heavy garlic flavor. At times that could be taken as spicy but it was really rich in flavor.

I ordered 1 1/2 dozen. I wanted to try two different ones. The 1/2 dozen was the Singapore flavor. It was an asian flavor but not like a teriyaki. it was less sweet than that and did have some heat as it was probably number 19 on the list. The dozen that I got was the Kamikaze flavor. It was 23 on the list. So I was expecting heat. the flavor was nice but the heat was not as high as I thought it would be. Yes I got the burn on the lips after you eat 6 of them. The heat came at the end and lingered which was nice. But I didn't get the sweat. I love the sweat you get from a real dose of spice.

All in all it's a great place to go for some wings and a beer. I know Sayre PA, isn't the place that many would find themselves but if you find yourself on route 17 in New York and see Sayre, consider stopping by there for lunch.

Alligers can be found at 201 Spring St., Sayre PA 18440. phone 517-888-9805.

Chicken Feta Burgers............Nice Alternative Burger

2010-07-27T17:21:00.001-04:00

Who doesn't love a good burger? Nothing like a drippy juicy burger to satisfy a good food craving. I love bacon on mine. but then again, I love bacon on everything.

Last Saturday Anita said our friend Wendy's Sister Lori sent her a recipe for Feta and Herb Grilled Chicken Burgers. After looking at the recipe I said, this looks like a damn good burger. Then after eating it I can concur that it was. So here for you is the recipe. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Feta & Herb Grilled Chicken Burgers

1 lb ground chicken

1 egg lightly beaten

1-½ teaspoons bottled minced garlic

½ cup breadcrumbs

½ cup chopped mixed herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme) I used fresh herbs here but you can use dried. I think it actually might have called for dried.

¼ cup chopped sun dried tomatoes not packed in oil. I got these from the olive bar at Stop and Shop

1 Tablespoon Lemon juice

½ cup crumbled feta cheese

salt & pepper

olive oil

4 slices of block feta cheese

4 hamburger buns

½ cup diced or sliced jarred roasted red pepper

1-cup arugula

Combine first 9 ingredients (ground chicken to salt & pepper) and shape into 4 patties.

Lightly brush olive oil on both sides of each patty.

Grill for 5-7 minutes per side. In the last minute of cooking, place one slice of feta on each burger and lightly toast the buns.

To assemble burgers, place patty on bottom bun and top with hummus or tzaziki sauce (sour cream, grated cucumber, lemon juice & oregano), add roasted red pepper and arugula .

Some notes. you might look at this recipe and say "Oooh Chicken, it's got to be lower calories". Well I'm thinking with all that Feta Cheese your almost equal to a beef burger. So if your calorie conscious, you might want to cut down on the feta considerably. It will be just as tasty. I know next time will put about a 1/4 of it in the burger and a very small sliver on top.

I also never made Tsaziki sauce before. I just winged it and of course added too much dried oregano. but it was a cool combination with the hot burger.

Again, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Marly's of Wilton......Another Great Meal and a movie.

2010-07-26T12:28:00.001-04:00

Had a great meal last night at Marly's in Wilton CT last night.

One thing that I want to make sure that people know is about Sunday nights. At Marly's, Every Sunday Night is movie night. They have a small room off the main dining room where they put in a projection TV and at 6:00 they show a movie for kids older than 4. They have tables in there where kids can order a meal off the kids menu then move to the "Theater" where they have comfy chairs and get to eat popcorn and watch a movie. All this is happening while you are in the main dining room eating a great meal.

Speaking of which, we had a great meal in that dining room. We were with another couple who we started off by sharing appetizers with. We had started with Chicken Spring Rolls with a tangy sauce that I think was Mango. I should looked again right? Next was their Chicken Wings. They were very tasty and meaty. I prefer my wings to be more saucy but the flavor was on. Last was a Tuna Tartar that was done really well. it was served in a round shape that sat on top of mashed Avocado. The Avocado was chunky so it kept with size consistency of the Tuna. it was served with sliced cucumbers or potato chips. It was a real refreshing appetizer.

Next were the Main Dishes. The other couple had gotten a Cobb Salad which was big enough for two people. Their daughter came out in time to take on of the hard boiled eggs that were on the salad and there was still a whole other egg there for the salad.

They also got the codfish which I was going to get. The fish was seared beautifully and served on top of a be of garlic risotto. I'm a big fan of garlic so this was not a show stopper for me, but for someone who isn't a garlic fan or on a first date might want to stay away. but it was really tasty.

Anita got the Scallop Spinach salad that had a lot of plump and juicy Scallops. Soft bacon flavored the balsamic dressing nicely covering the generous portion.

I had the Stick to your ribs Rigatoni Bolognese. Sauce was meaty and creamy with out a heavy cream feel. But it was stick to your ribs. Again a very generous portion had to be taken home. I especially enjoyed the dollop of ricotta cheese on top that I could scoop up a little with each bite.

For dessert we shared what they call the peppermint patty. A warm cakey brownie served with peppermint ice cream and whip cream on top. I'm not a major dessert fan but this was really tasty.

Again I want to point out that Sunday nights are movie nights and are really a great opportunity for you to come out with your kids but have a date night as well. They have outdoor seating that is obviously weather permitting.

Marly's Bar and Bistro is located at 205 Town Green in Wilton Ct. Phone is 203-834-2000
They have a facebook page that i will get on their ass to update more regularly than they do now. go there and friend them at: Marly's facebook page

Chili Cook-off results

2010-06-18T14:21:00.000-04:00

Well as predicted, a good time was had by all. This year there were only 16 chefs. I have become friendly with two of the other chefs of the competition as we have all competed for the past 6 years together. We all said that this year, the promotion and organization left much to be desired. I actually had to hunt down the person who ran it last year so they could give me the info for who was running it this year. Everyone said it was really poorly run this year.

As I said, it was a fun time. They actually had burners set up this time so that we can keep the chili warm instead of the double boilers from the past few years.

Since the weather was a tad overcast the crowd was smaller as well. But the usual faces showed up and everyone was in Chili Heaven.

The first year I participated, there were three judges who would give a first, second and third place finish. There was also a peoples Choice award. That year, my friend Chris who you see two photos up, took second place and I took Third. I also took Peoples choice that year. After that year, they switched it over to a people's choice only with a first, second and third place based on votes from the patrons. Last year I took second place. It was also coincidentally the year that most of my family and friends came around. Coincidence that I took second place? I don't think so.

When I was standing there serving, I saw many people make a b line to this years winner. I would say, hey your passing right by me. They would say, they will be back as they want to say hello to someone.

Personally I thought I had the best chili I have ever made. I changed up the cut of meat as well as added bacon fat to sauté the onions in. It was really great. But in the end, I didn't have many friends there and it showed in the awards. I don't know what place I came in but it wasn't first second or third. I spoke to Chris and he agreed that we need some sort of unbaised judge to come to do the judgeing rather than it being a popularity contest.

I don't want to come off as being bitter here. The winner's chili was very tasty and real unique. But everyone that tried mine said I stood out from the others because my chili had chunks of meat rather than ground beef. That was a comment that was said by most. Most people would go for a piece of meat rather than ground beef. I know many times you just want a burger, but given an opportunity to have a steak or a burger, most people would go for the steak.

It was again a fun day and I really love talking to people and see the great reaction they get when they eat what I have made. it's one of the things that keeps me cooking.

Plus I had my boys help me.

Cooking the Chili

2010-06-12T19:49:00.000-04:00

Well I know for many of you, there are much better things to do other than cook chili. But for me, this time of the year is great.

I'm taking a small break after prepping a ton of ingredients including 15 pounds of meat. it's a meat lovers dream and a vegetarian's nightmare.

Attached is a photo of my Mega Mise en Place.

That is about 5 times the amount I usually make when I make a batch. Two things different in this batch. Bacon and two different types of meat.

Come down to Georgetown tomorrow to give it a taste.

Al

Georgetown Day 2010........Chili Cook-off here I come

2010-06-10T11:04:00.000-04:00

The time has again come for the annual Georgetown day festival in Georgetown CT. Georgetown is a small section of rural Redding CT. It's basically a one street town. For one day a year in June they close the street and have vendors, bands, kids events and of course, a chili cook-off.

I have participated now for about 6 years and each year it's a blast. The cook-off is basically a popularity contest. When I first joined it, it was a cook-off with judges for 1st 2nd and 3rd place. Plus there was a people's choice. That year I took 3rd place and people's choice. Since then it's been a people's choice only award. You come and pay $10 and get a cup and spoon and go from Chili to Chili trying each and vote for your favorite. Each chef has their own group of people that come to support them which usually weighs heavy on the voting. But the bottom line is that its fun. it's fun interacting with the people, it's fun interacting with the other cooks.

So if you want some Chili and want to have a good time please come out to Georgetown this weekend. I can certainly use your vote.

For more information please click here: http://www.georgetownct.org/gday/gday.html

Taiwan trip day one. Let the feast begin.

2010-06-04T22:04:00.000-04:00

So I arrived in Taipei Monday night and was exhausted. Anyone would be after a 24 hour journey. Had a crappy night sleep as I always do but the thought of good business and great food lifted my spirits to start the day.

One of the things I love about Asia is it is never unusual to eat anything at anytime. There are your traditional meals at the specific meal time but it is common to see salad at breakfast and fried eggs at dinner time. Since I'm traveling and staying in International Hotels, The breakfast buffet is very common.

My first morning had nothing to do with your normal American breakfast. And I loved it.

Lo Mein, dumplings, kim chee, pork sausage, and salted cod. Ok, the salted cod can be seen on some breakfast meals from time to time. The great breakfast meal I always get when I'm in Asia is Porridge. Now in the states this is not very common but in Asia it is. Its basically a hot cereal made mostly of rice but it s more soupy than your normal hot cereal. You can add salty or sweet items to the dish to enhance it to how you like it. I like mine with nori.

Yeah I couldn't get the photo to flip but you get the idea.

Lunch time was a lot of fun. Most meals in China and Taiwan are family style like you would get in most of the Chinese restaurants back home. Big dishes on a lazy susan spinning around for all to share. When we sat down, we had edamame and a tofu like appetizer that was firm and spicy. Cut up into small bits it made it easy to grab a bite as it spun by.

As many of you know, Taiwan is an island so much of the protein that they get is from fish. Many of the restaurants show off lots of fresh and freshly caught fish on display for you to see. You select from the display and tell them how you would like it cooked. The shimmery and colorful fish offer a great feast for the eyes.

Our main dishes started to arrive. the first to arrive were the shrimp. They were boiled complete with heads an all. They were served aside a clarified butter as we would have lobster. They are basically peel and eat shrimp but with a head.

Next came a rice noodle dish with fresh corn in it. but the corn was almost creamed and smoothed. It added a nice texture and flavor to the noodles. They were a big hit among all of us. Also because they were pretty easy to eat for those that were chop stick challenged.

My favorite dish came next. it was my favorite because it was so simple and clean tasting. It was a summer leafy vegetable similar to a mix of celery, lettuce and bok choy. It had a great crunch and was served in a simple broth like sauce that had hints of ginger and garlic but neither were too overpowering.

There is always some sort of soup served at meals here and this one was a great one. Basically it is a Fish base soup. This soup had dumplings and fried tofu in it. It was a delicate flavored soup with nice chunky bits.

The final dish was a small fish cooked whole. I'm not sure what kind of fish it was but it was tasty. Toasted ginger, onions and garlic were sautéed with this fish and it came to the table whole. Everyone had their own fish to nibble on and spit the bones out from. There is so much slurping, spitting, snorting going on during this meal that it's a symphony of gastric noises.

This rounded out day one. We were too exhausted to go for dinner that night so we called it a night.

The next day we ended up going back to the same place. The owners of the company we represent really get treated well there, it's close to the factory, and it's really good food. The meal was basically similar to what we had before and I didn't take photos but should have. There were two dishes that really stuck out as so unique that I never thought i'd ever have a dish like this before.

The first one was shrimp. I think I have had shrimp in every way imaginable. And almost every way I have had it, I have enjoyed it. I have found one I didn't enjoy. I can't imagine anyone enjoying this. I should have taken a photo because you won't believe me when I describe it. Imagine boiled shrimp like well....... Cocktail shrimp. Nice round plump shrimp. Next take vanilla frosting. Yes vanilla frosting. Put it in a pastry bag so you can squirt it in a line form and make lines back and forth over the shrimp. Not my cup of tea. But wait.......theirs more. Top it off with Rainbow sprinkles. Boom, your done. I was waiting for someone to start singing happy birthday. But no singing happened. I did like most things, try it. As I thought, it was awful. But the people I was with loved it. Hey, to each their own right.

The next thing was calamari. Well not calamari. Squid. Baby squid. little tiny squid not cut up but whole. About the size of your thumb. In a pile on a plate looking at me saying eat me. Well I didn't want to but I'm always up for an adventure. It was short lived. I thought I was on the show Fear Factor and someone was going to jump out and make me next walk a tight rope over bubbling lava. I grabbed one with my chopstick and looked at it. The Frightening thing was that is was looking back at me. So with one brave moment, I put it in my mouth. That then got my gag reflex going and started to mildly panic. All I thought about was how bad this could turn out. So I chewed through it and got it down quickly followed by a nice small glass of beer.

That ended my trip in the southern town of Tainan. Well I had one more meal in my hotel but I didn't pay attention because I had to actually pay attention to the conversation.

But the next day was fun. Read on to the next post to see what happened next.

Match in South Norwalk.......This place lights up

2010-05-13T22:41:00.000-04:00

Last weekend found us in South Norwalk CT (SONO) dining with our good friends the LeBeau's at Match. Executive Chef Matt Storch has put together an excellent menu that has had him at his current location for almost 10 years. We have been there a few times before and enjoyed the meal each time and this visit was no different.

It was a nice night out so they had the large doors open in the front which had some small tables that spilled out onto the side walk for a little alfresco dining.

I wasn't able to take photos that evening so my words will have to do for this review.

The LeBeau's (who own the wonderful Marly's in Wilton) are good eaters like us so we enjoyed perusing the menu. It was pretty obvious that the menu was strong with the appetizers so we quickly decided to have a completely shared meal.

We started off with some drinks. I don't remember what the others got but I got the Cucumber lemonade Vodka martini. It was ridiculously smooth. Served in a chilled glass I looked like the complete idiot drinking it. There is no masculine way to drink out of those glasses. No matter what is inside the rim, men look like schmuck's drinking out of them. But after two drinks, who the hell cares what you look like, right?

So our first round of plates came out. Short rib nuggets were served first. The menu describes them as glazed with pomegranate, orange and 50 cloves of garlic. Now you put 50 cloves of garlic into anything, it's going to be a strong tasting dish. It was strong tasting but not from garlic. The glaze was delicious and the meat was tender.

The second dish was the spicy sausage pizza. In the back of the dining room is another bar area that houses a large wood burning oven specifically designed for pizzas. They have Five pizzas to choose from and we made a good choice with the Spicy Sausage. Jalapeños and chili oil give the pizza the heat. It would be good as a lunch portion of to share as an appetizer as we did.

The third dish was Tuna Tartar Cracker. Three large crackers had two generous scoops of raw tuna. Onions and capers added some excellent flavor to the dish. Again, the portions were very generous here so sharing was very easy.

The last of our first round was the Scallop Special. Three large Sea Scallops were seared to perfection and served over a salad of Frissee lettuce that had a lemon vinaigrette. If this ever comes up again, please get it. it should be put on the regular menu it was so good.

Next came two salads that we ordered to split up the meal. Both salads were also very generous so it gave each of us an ample amount of roughage to share. The first salad was the Arugala salad. The best part of this was the large pieces of shaved Parmesan cheese. The second salad was the Steakhouse salad. huge pieces of bacon and feta cheese covered a nice hunk of crisp and crunchy iceberg lettuce. The balsamic dressing was drizzled all over the salad and mixed nicely when you dove in to get a big bite of everything. Again, portions very generous.

Trying to figure where to go from here, we went with two orders of the sliders so that each of us had a little burger. The menu calls the Banh Mi Sliders which is Vietnamese for a pulled pork sandwich that was topped with Hoisin sauce, spicy mayo and cucumbers. The buns were soft and the sweet potato chips that accompanied the dish were excellent. I have a soft spot for sliders. Something so cute about a little burger. it's like going to a seafood restaurant and getting that little fork. I could eat a whole meal with that thing.

The last dish as the Forest Pizza. Sautéed mushrooms with spinach and garlic topped with Mozzarella and goat cheese. It was a perfect way to end the meal.

Well almost the perfect way. We got a dessert sampler that was pretty good too.

Match can be found in South Norwalk CT and can be found here: http://www.matchsono.com/index.html

Rao's in las Vegas.........The Last Supper from this latest Las Vegas trip

2010-05-11T22:30:00.000-04:00

I put together a group of friends for our final meal in Las Vegas and we all decided after a few suggestions to go to Rao's. This was the same group pretty much that went to Mesa Grill so I knew we all would have the opportunity to try many different dishes.

The New York Famed eatery is located in Caesar's Palace on the strip and is decorated from what I'm told, similar to the New York landmark.

We had all heard about the famous Meatballs and the simple order of 6 went out. These massive meaty spheres came to us bathed in their famous sauce. Top it off with some fresh grated cheese and you have an appetizer worth oohing and aahing about. I think at that point was the quietest our table was the entire evening.

After we devoured the meatballs and mopped up all the sauce, we waited patiently for the mains. Two of us got the Chicken Scarpariello that had tender chunks of Chicken laid next to hot and sweet sausage.

My friend Roger had mentioned to me when we talked about coming here that Uncle Vincent's famous Lemon Chicken is supposed to be really great. I'm not one for ordering chicken when I go out for a meal just because I make it so much at home. But this Chicken was so delicious. It had a refreshing flavor that wasn't sour which is what you might expect from lemon chicken. Charbroiled chicken sat in a shallow layer of lemony broth that kept the whole dish moist. If you are a chicken fan, you must try this.

One of the things I really love about a restaurant like this is that if there is something that you want and don't see it, just ask and more times than not, you'll get it. Such was the case with the Veal Piccata that made it to our table. Not on the menu, the caper dotted dish was a welcome addition the well rounded selections that we had chosen.

One of my friends who had come here a few days later said that the Osso Buco was over the top. And I had to agree with him because it was my dish. Problem is with this dish is that you really need a completely empty stomach to finish this dish without feeling over full when you finish it. The problem is that it tastes so good that you don't want any of it to go to waste. leaving any of this dish not eaten is food abuse. The fork tender veal sits on top of risotto which is bathed in a veal reduction sauce. Yeah, it's a little rich.

Finally I'm sorry to say that I didn't take a photo of the Veal Parmesan. This dish is the most popular and after trying it, I can see why. The door mat size of pounded Veal came to the table hanging over the plate. This is not an exaggeration. It was huge. As was the flavor. Next time I'm here, that is what I will get.

If you love old school Italian food and happen to be going to Las Vegas, make a reservation and prepare your stomach for a great meal.

For information about Rao's and to see the menu please go here: Rao's Las Vegas

Mesa Grill...........The Southwest Grill Master finds his home in Las Vegas

2010-05-06T21:17:00.000-04:00

Bobby Flay as many of you know specializes in southwestern cuisine. His Charismatic dance around the grill makes you want to be his best friend.

Bobby found his Las Vegas home at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and is showing everyone that visits that he knows what he is talking about when you see him on TV. His menu is all southwestern with a good mix of burgers, steaks, salads and anything grilled. We went there for lunch and were at a table that expanded from 5 to 7 as we were joined by our friends.

I started out with a drink that turned into two as it was delicious. I'd love to learn how to make the Cactus pear margarita. It was sweet but not too sweet. It went down way too easy as I said I had two.

We decided to get some apps to start our meal and with the help of the server at hand, we decided on the Queso Fundido which is basically cheese dip. But not any cheese dip. Goat Cheese dip. For many, goat cheese is not tops on the list. For me, it is. I have really learned to love the stuff. As you can see below, it's served with blue corn chips.

The other Appetizer that we got was a Shrimp Tamale. I'm also a sucker for Tamales. When they are done right, there is nothing more comfort food like. It is hearty and warming and you can sit in front of a fire with two of them and be so satisfied. Instead, I was surrounded by 6 close friends. Fire has nothing on that.

The great thing about our group was that we all really enjoy food. I think everyone got to try everyones dish. forkes were being passed around with things to try. we were all oooh-ing and aaaah-ing over the meal. A big surprise in the lunch was the pressed Cuban burger. Tender burger topped with ham and swiss cheese with a pickle. It was really delicious. The Mesa burger was also really good as it was served with Vidalia onions and a horseradish sauce.

I don't know why I can't turn the picture. turn your head. It tasted as good as it looked.

There were three of us that got the lamb cobb salad. Instead of the traditional turkey, we got grilled lamb. The lamb was so good. It had no gamey taste that you sometimes get with lamb. The best is that it sat along side two thick slices of hardwood smoked bacon. I just can't get enough of that stuff.

If you have ever watched him on TV and said, "I'd love to try what he cooks" you would be happy if you went to his restaurants. Bobby Flay does a good job of creating a great atmosphere and a fabulous menu. I looked at his Dinner menu and it looked great too.

Mesa Grill can be found at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. For more information go to www.mesagrill.com

SW Steakhouse.............You will Wynn when you dine at this Wynn location

2010-04-30T19:01:00.001-04:00

As much fun as i'm having here in Las Vegas at my Machinery Dealer's convention, I have been taking advantages of any meal opportunity I have been given to me.

Last night was a smart move on my part to join my parents and two other couples that we are friendly with. The SW Steakhouse is located downstairs near the lake of Dreams. When you take the circular (yes circular) escalator down in front of the small lake, you have SW on one side and Daniel Boulud on the other. The Space is very Steakhouse like with a lot of dark colors but very well lit.

The Menu was also very Steakhouse like with your usual raw bar selections as well as some high end additions like a Caviar plate and Kobe beef Carpaccio. They had an excellent selection of Salads. Two of us got Caesar Salads, two of us got the Roasted beet salad, and the best looking salad was the chopped salad with Avocado topped with crisp thin potatoes. I got the Beet salad and it had an excellent amount of these tender morsels. there were three different vibrant color beets to choose from as well as it being bathed in a hazelnut dressing and sliced hazelnuts mixed in.

Most of us ordered the steak as well that is what we came for. Both my father and Susan (one of the women with us) don't eat meat, so they ordered fish. My father got the Halibut and I got to try a small piece before he completely devoured the dish. It was juicy and flaky and just down right delicious. It was soy glazed before the sear so it had a nice sweet flavor. It mixed well with the miso lemongrass sauce it was sitting in.

I ordered the Bone in Rib-eye. I'm always a big fan of a bone in rib-eye because the bone adds so much flavor. Both my mother and I got that dish. Now I know I often talk down about steakhouses because....well, there isn't much to it and they don't differ really from one place to another. the steak that is. What you need to make a good steak is first good quality meat, and freaking hot ass broiler. Many of the high end steakhouses have a line to top brands and quality of beef. The ovens on the other hand does the magic. If you had an oven that can produce a heat of 1250 degrees, you too can make a great steak. That super high heat will char the outside while leaving the inside nice and pink. That char is where you get all the great flavor.

One of the people with us, Frank, got the Tomahawk Filet. A rare selection to find and if you do, please get it. Yes, it's above the top when it comes to pricing it. At almost $80, you best enjoy steak. The Tomahawk cut is a bone in Filet Mignon. It gets the name from.......well take a look:

I normally don't get the Filet because I find the rib-eye is much more full of flavor. But this steak was awesome. I got to taste a little bit and really enjoyed it.

Now what really sets a steakhouse apart are what it offers in addition to the steak. The side dishes were fantastic. We ordered a very regal Black Truffle Creamed corn. Very rich in truffle flavor and the right amount of creaminess to it. We also got Balsamic glazed Chipoline onions and jalapeno peppers. The bite of the jalapeno against the sweet balsamic was an excellent mix.

For dessert we pre-ordered a chocolate soufflé. I'm not a big soufflé fan, but I had a taste of it and it was very good. the accompaniment of sour cherries I thought was an excellent touch as well as it looking beautiful

All in all a great meal and I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for a good steak house out here in Las Vegas.

SW Steakhouse can be found in the Wynn Hotel or online at www.wynnlasvegas.com

Day one in Las Vegas again..................Lunch for two....for one at Carnegie Deli

2010-04-28T21:00:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm back in my favorite city again. This will be the last time I'm here till November. This was a unique year for me as I was able to go to Las Vegas so often in such a short time. I belong to two business organizations that move their yearly conventions from one place to another. both of them coincidentally had them here.

So I got in met up with a fellow machinery dealer who I have been friends with now for many years. We each got in early today (Wednesday) to have a little bit of extra fun. We started off the day by going to the famous New York eatery Carnegie Deli located at the Mirage Hotel.

It is smaller than the original but the taste was the same. As you walk past this place the smell draws you in. You can't beat true New York style Corned Beef and Pastrami. Yes a stumbling block for my low salt diet but I have been super good the past few weeks and felt I can afford a cheat. I wanted a corned beef and pastrami combo. it's called the "Woody Allen". It should be called the meat towers. It was ridiculous. As were most things coming out of the kitchen. This place takes portion control and annihilates it. The sandwich is so big that it is held together with Skewers. I took a photo but it was blurry. But I can easily say, it was stacked about 10" high. A true Dagwood.

The Pastrami was juicy and peppery the way pastrami should be. The corned beef was very lean and therefore dry in my book. I like a fattier piece of corned beef. I think my mother and I are the only ones who order corned beef fatty.

We both ended up controlling ourselves and eating just 1/2 the sandwich and taking the other 1/2 back. I think I can make three sandwiches with what I brought back.

If you go to any type of New York Style Deli, bring an appetite.

Carnegie Deli can be found on the Strip in Las Vegas at The Mirage Hotel. www.mirage.com

leFarm in Westport Ct...........Farm to Table food has never tasted this good

2010-04-18T11:17:00.000-04:00

Anita and I had the pleasure of dining at leFarm again last night. And I mean pleasure. His inventive farm to table cuisine puts it at the top of our favorite dining locations.

Now I know I have said in the past that I wouldn't take photos of the food at the restaurants but I draw exception to the new rule with Chef Bill. He said he has no problems with me taking photos of the food and I could take as many as I wanted. While I was tempted to walk through the restaurant and photograph patrons and their meals, I decided not to. For Anita's sake.

So for those who don't know leFarm, the rustic barn interior of the space seats around 30 but feels bigger than that with high ceilings and light tones and mirrors on the walls. The appetizers are quite diverse including a selection of cheeses, Long Island Fluke Crudo (served raw), many salads, and small fish plates and of course my favorite the roasted bone marrow. I usually get the bone marrow but told Chef I wanted something different. I noticed that there were Sardines on the menu. No one locally makes Sardines as I think they have a bad reputation of being the sibling of the Anchovy. I think that they are a sibling and personally I see that as a good thing since I love Anchovies. But not many people do. Sardines are similar in that they are small fish, but they have much different flavor. Chef said they are excellent and decided to get those. And he was right. The small filet's are paired with a unique type of grapefruit that is sweeter than most. it also looked like it had a hint of green color. It also had cucumbers and slivered onions and the entire dish was circled with a harissa sauce which added some nice heat to the dish.

Anita wanted a salad as Chef Bill always makes strong vibrant salads. We always steer towards any of his salads that have beets in them. That is one vegetable that I want to start to use more. I think they too have a bad reputation as been a heavy red colored vegetable that is only associated to Borscht and Greek Salads. A lot of the Beets he gets are so colorful and rich in flavor. Her salad had yellow beets and lentils but what really crunched up the dish were the pecans. They were sweet and crunch and worked great with the thinly sliced and salty La Quercia ham. I have never heard of this kind of ham but I loved it. It was similar in texture and taste to Prosciutto but not as strong a flavor.

Our Server Frank, who we have known for years, had gotten upset with us because we didn't hear what the special was this evening for the appetizer. Frank knows us and knows that we enjoy almost everything and said we would enjoy it so he brought us out a dish. It was octopus that was grilled and also had some harissa mixed into the sauce. The dish was served with scallions (I think) chorizo (I know) and shaved Fennel. Octopus normally has a chewy texture but Bill did something to it that made it soft. The perfect bite was a bit of fennel, chorizo and octopus. If you ever see this on the menu, get it.

leFarm's main dishes have a selection of pastas that can be ordered as an appetizer or a main dish. His bolognese is really great. Other main dishes had something there for everyone. His Chicken dish is always on the menu and everyone always talks about it. personally I have never gotten it because there are so many other amazing ones. Last night they ran out of the Lamb meatballs that is served over polenta. His Pork belly dish is one I usually get but again wanted to go down a different road last night. I asked Bill what he thought and asked if I liked Sweet Breads. I have to admit, I have never had Sweet Breads as I have sort of been turned off to what they were. Which is not really like me. But he said they make them real well and I should give it a try. For those of you who don't know, Sweet Breads are a gland in either a calf or a lamb. Bill said if I didn't like them, that the rest of the dish is a meal in itself. I have to say I'm now a fan of Sweet Breads. Bill made them Asparagus, ramps, smoky bacon in a rich meaty sauce. The Sweet Breads themselves reminded me a little of a really extra firm Tofu but had a meatiness to them. I also had tried ramps for the first time with this dish and they were delicious. Ramps are a short seasoned leek or green onion that have a nice subtle onion flavor. I'm sure a nice dish of these just sautéed in olive oil would be great.

Anita loves the way Bill makes his Halibut and he delivered last night. It was a real big piece of fish that sat on a bed of white coco beans and spinach with chunks of chorizo. Yes lots of chorizo last night. I really hate when that happens. The fish was topped with a romesco sauce that was delicious.

While we sat and enjoyed out drinks, Frank dropped off a dessert menu that listed many sweet treats. I'm not a major dessert fan but I love Bill's cornbread. It is topped with Maple ice cream and candied bacon. Its so good.

Yes I started in without a photo as you can see but I couldn't resist.

If you live in the Fairfield County Ct area I highly suggest you come here. Reservations are highly recommended and they are open from Tuesday through Saturday. If you go, tell Bill I said hi when he is walking around the restaurant. He enjoys mingling.

More information can be found online at www.lefarmwestport.com

Being Married to a Woman who bakes has it's advantages

2010-04-17T15:09:00.000-04:00

Both Anita, my wife, and I love to cook. Well let me rephrase that. I love to cook. She loves to bake. The funny thing about how we look at both crafts are that they are easy. I personally think that if you know how to read, you know how to cook. Obviously there is more too it but that is the basic necessity. You just need to follow a recipe and there you go. Food.

There are differences between cooking and baking. The major one is the ingredients and how you use them. What I mean by that is that with cooking, you can add more of something on the fly just for kicks. With baking, the majority of the ingredients must be exact. You almost never substitute something in baking. That is for the most part. Yes you can change certain acids and certain bases and get similar results, but everything stays the same for the most part.

So as I was saying, whipping up something for Anita and I is pretty easy. For example, this morning Anita realized we have no cookies in the house. Her signature cookie is the Chocolate Chip. I personally like them frozen with a very cold glass of milk. With each holiday, she whips up something appropriate. Ruggalah and Bobbka for the Jewish High Holidays and Pecan Meringue's and coconut macaroons for Passover. She is also known to make a fabulous Cheesecake at a moments notice.

Back to today, she made up a batch of Chocolate Chip cookies and peanut butter cookies. Take a look why I'll never be known as slim.

Yeah, waking up or just sitting down somewhere close by can be so rewarding when these are being baked. Really. In the back you see the signature chocolate chip cooling down before being placed in a baggie and then put in the freezer. In the front are her peanut butter cookie. Playfully done with a Hershey's Kiss in the middle.

I've been messing around with photographing some of the food I make so hope this makes you water.

I made sure I have milk tonight when I get home from Dinner.

Reading Labels to watch Salt and discovered I was reading them wrong.......Are you reading them better?

2010-04-15T23:11:00.000-04:00

As many of you may know I have been putting in a better effort to lower my salt intake. The FDA recommends 2 to 2 1/2 grams ( 2000 to 2500 mg ) of salt (or sodium) a day. I've been trying real hard to stay below that as well as help my family stay below that as well.

Before I got on this kick, I had purchased some things that are not on board with my new lifestyle. Not many items but one in particular was a bowl of Japanese Udon Noodles. I don't get into a habit of buying stuff like this but thought it might be good for something hot and filling and real easy to make. So after I said Sayonara to sodium, I looked at that label and was shocked. Take a look at the sodium count

No your not misreading. It does say 1520 mg. click the photo to make it bigger. You'll see it. That is almost a full day of salt in one bowl of noodle soup. Why I didn't throw it away right then and there I don't know. But I kept it in the pantry.

When shopping at Trader Joe's I came across some of these noodle bowls which looked smaller and I looked at the label and thought these were not great but better than the big bowl I had in my pantry. So I bought some. Look at the difference in the sizes.

Packaging plays a huge part here. The bowl on the right looks huge compared to when you remove the bowl from it's packaging on the left. Anita pulled the bowl on the left out of the pantry and I told her to take the one on the right and throw it away because it was high in sodium. She looked at it and was as shocked as I was when she saw that 1520 number. She looked at the smaller bowl and said, like I did, not great but better than the other one. But then she looked closer. She said did you know that the smaller bowl contains two servings where as the bigger bowl contains one. Here is the label for the smaller bowl

It has 970 mg of sodium for each serving. Times two that is 1940 mg. almost a whole days worth of salt in one small bowl. Take another look at the serving size on top. The big bowl is 221 grams in a serving and the smaller bowl has 85 grams for serving, 170 grams total.

So in this situation, the smaller bowl of soup was actually worse than the bigger bowl. One thing that I know I won't buy anymore are these quick fix bowls. I think I'll make my own and freeze it for my quick fix.

I have heard that the FDA is now talking about changing the way manufacturers make their labels so it clearly states what the entire portion contains. For example, an idiot like me won't have to worry about looking at the label and seeing that the small bowl actually contains two servings vs. one.

I hope that this has helped you to look closer at labels as it has for me.

Dinner for one?............... Easier than you think.

2010-04-14T21:50:00.000-04:00

The one thing I hear the most that makes me nuts is when people tell me that they would love to cook but if it's only for one person (themselves) what is the point. In my opinion, that is the exact point!!!!

What better a crowd to cook for when you want to experiment than just yourself. You can make as much as you want or as little as you want. You can try something new you saw in a cookbook one day and didn't have the time before. You can experiment. If you screw up, who will know?

I do love to cook for a crowd. I also love to cook for just Anita and I or another couple. But I also love to cook for myself. I don't have to worry about if a person doesn't eat pork or shellfish. Allergies? I have none!!!! I can strategically round out a meal with a protein, vegetable and starch. Or just load up on protein like when I did Atkins. Or go for a mega salad with only veggies. You can do what you want and you're not out to impress anyone. You just want for you. Yes it sounds selfish and self centered. I can see that. Don't get me wrong, if given the choice to cook for more than me, I would jump all over it. The pleasure I get from seeing a person enjoy a meal I made is very fulfilling to me.

Tonight for example, I'm making Tuna steak. Now usually I go with the easy safe bet of marinating the steak in low sodium soy sauce, fresh grated ginger and fresh grated garlic. But since I'm trying to go real low sodium, I didn't drown it in Soy. Instead I broke out the food processor and threw in three cloves of garlic, a whole bunch of parsley, a bunch of cilantro, mustard powder, garlic powder ( I like Garlic) and ginger powder, and a dash of low sodium soy. Turned it on and drizzled in Olive Oil to emulsify the entire mixture. Put it in a baggie and let it chill for about 1 1/2 hours.

On the grill it goes. 5 minutes or so on each side and it is done. Squeeze a little lemon on it and your good to go.

Now If I were eating with Anita, I wouldn't make this because she isn't a fan of Tuna. I love Tuna. I got two pieces of Ahi frozen at Trader Joe's so I made them both. I'll have one for dinner tonight and I might have the second one for lunch tomorrow. Or for dinner tomorrow. So it's dinner for one, two times with one time of the cooking and prep.

And by the way........It was delicious.

Matzo Brie (pronounced Bri) gives me a true Salt test

2010-04-12T22:43:00.000-04:00

So it's a week after the Passover Holiday and I had no dinner. I was thinking omelet but then I remembered over the past holiday I had no Matzo Brie. But what is Matzo Brie you say. I'm glad you asked.

You start off with a bunch of sheets or squares of Matzo and crush them in a bowl. Wet down the crushed bits with water till they are soft but not a bit of mush. Take some eggs and scramble them in a bowl then mix it in with the bowl of Matzo. In case you need specifics, I used 4 sheets of Matzo and 3 eggs. I was hungry back off. Now the bit issue here for me personally is salt. I have been trying and succeeding to cut down my salt intake. I have pretty much cut it out completely in my cooking. Usually I add a a bunch of salt to the mixture and then it goes in a hot pan but this time, just a little salt. (back off Roger, just back off, it was a little) Then it goes into the pan and you cook it up like you would Scrambled Eggs.

You know when it is done when you know scrambled eggs are done. I like mine on the more well done side. In the past I would actually add more salt to the dish so the flavor was well salty. Many people add syrup to the top like they would to pancakes or waffles. I'm not a syrup guy so I never have it that way.

So if you want to try something different, give Matzo Brie a Try. ( I didn't plan the pun)

Bob Chinn's Crabhouse..............Crab's in Chicago? I didn't know Lake Michigan had crustaceans

2010-04-11T13:40:00.000-04:00

About 12 years ago I was introduced to Bob Chinn's. Bob Chinn's is located in Wheeling Illinois about 20 minutes north of O'hare airport. It's a huge place that seems to go on forever. When you arrive, you are placed in one of three lines. Parties of 4 or less, 5-8 people, 8 or more. From there you are escorted to about a 1/3 of the way into the seating area where you are met by yet another hostess who then seats you at your table.

Years ago when I was first introduced, the menu was hand written on both sides everyday. All fresh fish was flown in every day and posted on the top of the menu. Obviously the main feature was crab. All sorts were to be had there. King, Dungeness, Jonah, Snow and even blue.

Today, similar handwritten typeset is on one side of the menu only but it does change everyday. Insuring that all the items on the menu were delivered fresh that day.

I'm a sucker for Dungeness Crab because it's pretty much native to the waters of the San Francisco Bay area. Its getting more and more popular and you see it more on menus so if you do see it, get it. Aside from King Crab, it's real easy to eat. Big meaty knuckles allow large chunks of flesh to come out easily. So when I saw that on the menu this time, I knew what I'd be having that night, But what to start with .

I saw they had Gumbo on the menu so I started with a cup of the soup. It was very good with large chunks of green pepper and Okra. It had a little spice to it which was nice but not too spicy for those who are sensitive to it.

I also had some Oysters on the 1/2 shell which were real nice. Only argument was the fact that they really weren't shucked well. the oyster was still connected to the shell so if you were to just try to scoop it into your mouth, you would rip the mollusk in 1/2. Since this happens more times than not, I always get into a habit of checking this first before I don them with horseradish and cocktail sauce.

One of the great things that I forgot about Bob Chinn's are the rolls. Ordinary rolls are served in a basket topped with a garlic parsley oil mixture. You see people licking their fingers all over the dining room eating these. I broke my rule and took a photo:

Now for my main dish of Dungeness Crab, I had the choice of having them served cold, steamed, with garlic and oil or Ginger and onion. The ginger and onion sounded good but in reality, I should have gone with one of the other three. One large crab was cooked and covered in a syrupy sauce that I guess had ginger flavoring. It lacked the flavor.

But when you got through the sauce, the meat was tender and delicious. The only negative with a meal like this is that it is work. You can't just dive in with silverware and eat. you have to crack, and poke and scoop to get the meat out. You do risk a slight cut when handle the crabs but that is a risk I just love to take.

When you eat like this, you are bound to get a bit dirty. At many places, you get a nice little wet nap. At Bob Chinn's, you can go to any sink that is strategically located throughout the restaurant. They are shaped like old wooden barrels and they are constantly being used.

So if your in the Chicago area and are close to O'hare airport, give Bob Chinn's a try. Everyone knows the place there and you'll have a great meal.

For more information about Bob Chinn's Crabhouse, go to:http://bobchinns.com/

Vegas Trip in March...............Quick trip and good eats

2010-04-06T18:59:00.000-04:00

It was supposed to be a nice long weekend. Part fun, part work. My original plan was to go out on Friday night and just Chill Saturday and ½ day Sunday before my convention started. The convention was to take place at the Ritz Carlton in Lake Las Vegas from Sunday night to Tuesday night. I didn’t want to stay 30 minutes away from the strip as that is where all the action is. So I chose my usual Bellagio location and for the first time rented a car to drive back and forth. Taxi’s would have cost $70 each way so the car was the cheaper move by far. I had made a reservation at L’Atalier de Joel Robuchon where I enjoyed a fabulous meal in November ( search through here and you will see what it was like and why you should go). I made a reservation for 4 just in case I was able to find some people who were going into Vegas Early for some fun and wanted to have dinner with me.

All that fun and planning came to an abrupt crash when two weeks before my trip on the first run of a beautiful warm ski day, my 6 year old hit a jump and came down hard breaking his femur in two. Long story short, got to the hospital where we eventually had to wait till 7:00 pm before he could go into surgery to repair the break. Over a month later he is doing amazing now and will probably be running around like nothing happened in 6 weeks or so.

But then, I had all the plans to cancel my trip. My wife had said I shouldn’t and to take one day at a time. Which I did. Since he and we were doing great up to when I was leaving, I changed the trip to go out on Sunday instead of Friday. I canceled L’Atalier and made another one for Monday.

Sunday night found me on the old strip of Las Vegas’ Freemont Street. Our convention started at the Golden Gate Hotel, home of the original $ 0.99 Shrimp cocktail. One of the members of our organization is now the owner of this hotel and hosted a cocktail party out in front of the hotel on the now pedestrian only street. I haven’t been there since they first put the cover on the street and closed it to cars. Back then it was cheesy and dirty and not anywhere near as flashy as what the new Vegas had become. Now it boasts the world’s Largest HD TV in the world. The canopy that covers the street is a huge TV. How huge? How about 4 blocks huge. At 7:30 and every hour after that the screen fills up with music and videos from the Doors, to CCR and Kiss. One of the cool video portions was a rocket that started at our end of the street and went all the way down to the far end. I have to admit, it was real cool. Derrick the owner, said that they (meaning everyone who has properly on the street) have done a lot to bring people back to this area. Including three concert stages with great acts. I’m told that year round, Friday and Saturday nights are similar to Times Square on New Year’s Eve. I’m glad I went not just for the business end but to see what Old Vegas has done. I would say I would probably come back one day.

Now at a cocktail party like that, I don’t tend to eat a lot. Even though there were some good food being passed around, I try not to eat so that I can pay attention to conversing with others. Plus I would hate to talk and all of a sudden I’m spitting food on someone that I want to sell a quarter of a million dollar machine to. So I sip my drink and talk. After a few hours of this the crowd dispersed for everyone to go their own way. I went back to the Bellagio where I found myself hungry. I walked around and decided to go to Fix. It is located near the stores that lead you over to the Caesar’s. It is also located across from a very popular sushi place called Yellowtail. The place was bustling so from where I sat across from there, I had a great view of some very beautiful people getting ready for a late Sunday night frolic. I think it was stripper night at the night club there because the last time I have seen so many tight outfits propped up on 4” heels was at a strip joint.

So at Fix, I just wanted a little nibble, so after my drink came, I ordered the Kobe Beef slider appetizer. It was three small sliders done up with caramelized onions on small buns. They were very tasty but I have to admit I think the “Kobe” is wasted on sliders. Because the burgers are done small, there is a tendency to overcook them. Now the onions and ketchup bring moisture back to the burger, you don’t get it from the beef at all. I have had regular Kobe beef burgers that needed no condiment on them at all. The interlaced fat retains all the delicious juicy flavor that you need. I have had one at Burger Bar at Mandalay and it is spectacular. So after my burgers and $100 donation, I went to bed early.

Monday was meetings and golf all day and I couldn’t find someone to join me on the strip for dinner that night. Most people wanted to stay local, so I went back and tried to figure out what to do. I cancelled my L’Atalier reservation because I didn’t know if I wanted to get in a taxi. The beauty of the Bellagio is it’s location. I can walk to Caesar’s, Mirage, Planet Hollywood, Paris, Bally’s, Harrah’s, Imperial Palace, Flamingo, the Orleans, and the Venetian. There is lots to see and lots of places to eat all within a 15-20 min. walk. I was in the mood for Steak or at least I thought I was. I first went to Jean-George Vongdericten’s Prime in the Bellagio. It was now 8:15 and the first table for one would be available at 9:30. Monday night with a long wait like that, I was happy to see Vegas is coming back. But I didn’t want to wait. So I know there are a few places in Caesar’s. So I make my way over the bridge and into the Palace. While walking around, I noticed the famed New York Eatery Rao’s. I glace over and it looks like they have availability, but at that point, steak was still on my mind. I made my way to the forum shops of Caesar’s where it is home to many shops and restaurants. At the end on the 3^rd floor is BOA Steakhouse. I walk over and notice it’s a dark looking place and as I get closer, aside from the hostess, the place is empty. Not a good sign. I didn’t even stop to glace at the menu. So I took the circular escalator, yes circular it’s really cool, down to the first floor where it is home to Joe’s Steak and Crab. This is satellite restaurant from the famed Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami. If you have never been there on south beach you have to make it there one day. I hope to get there again soon to write about it but better yet, to eat there.

The location where Joe’s is, is mostly out in the mall area. While it’s good for people watching, the location isn’t very good for high traffic and I wasn’t in the mood for a brightly lit area while eating. So what do I do? Should I make my way back to Prime and wait another 45 min. at this point? I remember Rao’s. I walk back there and see that I could just come in so I glance at the menu outside. It is classic Italian fare but I have heard done better than anyone else can do it. So I go up to the front and was seated in a minute. The menu looked great. All Classic Italian dishes. My problem was what to try. I changed my plan from Steak to Veal. Yes I know it’s the same animal but we all know it’s different. All veal dishes looked amazing and I was really having a hard time deciding. I saw at the last minute that there was Osso Buco on the menu and that was a heavy contender. Glancing at the appetizers I saw Clams Oreganata. When done right, the clam is left whole and the topping is a breading mixture of oil, clam juice, lots of finely chopped garlic and parsley and then topped with even more butter. It is baked and then broiled for a minute to crisp up the tops. Growing up in Long Island, there were lots of Italian places that did these right. We used to get an extra loaf of bread to mop up the juices. The plates would literally come back stark white. Not clean mind you, but stark white. But in Connecticut, I am yet to have a clam done like I did growing up. Yes they have the clams casino and the big heavy stuffing chopped up baked clams. But a Clams Oreganata done right is probably the best thing you can put in your mouth.

Just a short story about Clams Oreganata. Our entire family plus spouses had gone to my grandmother’s unveiling of her cemetery stone in Long Island a year after her death. There is usually a small ceremony and that is it. After, being that every fairly large event in the Jewish religion revolves around food, we decided to go eat at La Parma. Another classic New York Italian family style eatery. There were 10 of us all together. I think we were all drooling at the idea of the clams as they do them fabulous there. When the waiter came, we ordered 6 dozen. Yes 6 dozen for a group of 10. Normal families usually have 1 or two clams as a morsel to start the meal. We don’t believe in morsels. We asked for many loaves of bread to so we can mop up the juice when we finished the clams. If there were professional clam eaters, my family would be champions. We devoured these clams so that there wasn’t any bits of mollusk or bread crumb left. There were noises coming from our table that would sound like it was meal in the medieval days. One of us was facing the servers who were watching all of us and noticed one of them saying to another, “look at those pigs”. We were all hysterical. But we were happy and we were together so they could have called us whatever we wanted.

So knew I was ordering the Clams, but what to have for the main. As I usually do, I ask the help of the server. He said if this is your first time, it has to be the veal. I said I was only looking at the Veal. He said then the choice is between the Veal parm or the Osso Buco. I said the Osso Buco it is.

The clams arrived and they sat in an oblong ramekin in a bath of butter. The tops were browned perfectly. But they were scalding hot. So I had to just wait a moment before diving in. The crumb topping was perfect with just the right amount of seasoning and moisture that you would expect in dish. I would say I have two gripes with the way they prepared the dish. One was that the clams weren’t shucked so if you didn’t eat them right, you would have to take two bites, one with all the topping, then another with the clam. The way to get the most out of the dish is to have them together in one smooth motion with your front teeth acting like spoon removing it from its shell. Then you can go after and get any last remaining bits. So this one required some work with a knife and fork. But in the end it was still worth it. My second gripe was the fact that none of the topping spilled over into the dish for mopping. The bottom of the dish was basically clarified garlic butter. Delicious yes, but not for mopping. Would I order it again, I’m not so sure If I would for two reasons, one it’s $17.00 for 6 clams. And two there are probably other things on the menu that are amazing.

The main dish came and it looked pretty as a picture. I still kept in my new no picture policy at restaurants and this one I should have broken the rule. This massive bone in Veal shank sat atop a bed of saffron risotto and looked so beautiful. I was given a steak knife and I don’t know why. It was so tender, and when it is done right it should be, that you only needed a fork to remove the meat. The dish was cooked in a veal reduction sauce that enhanced the flavor that much more. The sauce mixed in the risotto making it creamy and rich in flavor. The portion was huge. I didn’t finish the rice but I did finish the meat. And yes, I did get a small spoon for the buttery marrow inside. Truly a decadent dish. I would highly recommend this to everyone.

No dessert as I was filled to the gills. I had a nice walk back to walk off the meal. I am looking forward to another visit there.

My final food experience was at a place I went to the last time I was there. Hot and Juicy Crawfish. I really went there for a t-shirt because they didn’t have my size last time I was there. And sure enough, they didn’t have it this time as well. But I got an amazing meal of spicy crawfish for lunch. They were just as good as the first time and I guess I’ll be back for that shirt in a few weeks when I return.

I’m not sure where I’ll eat then but I’ll be sure to let you know.

Papaya Thai.........Taste of Thai done locally good.

2010-04-03T21:46:00.001-04:00

Last weekend (yes I need to catch up) my youngest sister Emily had surprised us by saying she had nothing to do Saturday night so she ordered us out on the town while she watched the boys.

So Anita and I took off to Norwalk to Papaya Thai where we haven't been to in a long time. We were quickly seated but moved due to the chill near the door. We settled in and looked at the extensive drink list. I don't remember what Anita got but my drink was called the Mind Bender. Tequila with Lime Juice, and another juice that I can't remember. Guess it bent my mind.

They have a great menu but we always seem to get a bunch of small plates to share. So we stuck to our plan and each ordered Tom Yum Goong which has shrimp and mushrooms in this amazing broth. It had some heat to it but not too much. It would be awesome to make this soup one day. It would be great with on a really cold day. We both really enjoyed the soup.

The first of the small plates came which was Larb Gai Lettuce Cups. A spin off of the lettuce cups from P.F. Chang's but less mass produced tasting. Flavor was good and served in red leaf lettuce instead of Iceberg.

Our next dish was one of my favorites, Beef Short Rib Satay. But without the Satay. It is a piece of short rib, off the bone that must be marinated and grilled. The meat is so tender as a short rib should be cooked. But the taste is really what gets you. I could have had two of these.

The last dish we got was the Curry Sampler, which is a small portion of three different curry dishes. This I would personally pass on next time. The sauces were each too watery for me. I picture a curry dish to have a thicker sauce that these had. They weren't bad. Don't get me wrong. But I would get another Satay or starter to nibble on.

Its a fun place to go to and in the summer they have outdoor seating.

Papaya Thai can be found in Norwalk across from the Maritime Aquarium. You can learn more about them by going here: www.papayathai.com

Marly's of Wilton......Fun for Family, Great for Dates

2010-04-02T22:34:00.001-04:00

Just finished a great meal at Marly's in Wilton CT tonight.

Now I want to preface that I'm going to change the way I write about restaurants here. I've seen in a bunch of cooking shows that talk to the chefs or the owners and most of them have said that they really dislike that people take pictures of the food. They said it takes away from the experience. I tend to disagree but I have seen enough of the shows to make me think that unless it absolutely requires a photo, I will try to refrain from taking photos at restaurants. But I will torture you with stuff I cook.

So onto Marly's. The location is tucked away in the center of Wilton Center CT. The space is handsomely decorated and in the warmer months, outdoor seating is available.

The menu is a terrific blend of everything. Appetizers include two types of chicken wings, fried calamari which you would find in many places that are safe bets. But Marly's kicks it up a bit by adding P.E.I Mussels and a Pan seared Scallop dish. They also offer two different kinds of sliders. Kobe beef and Pulled Pork.

On the same side of the Menu were 7 different kinds of salads. Some of which I'm sure would be big enough for a whole meal. I was in the mood for Caesar Salad and order theirs as my appetizer. The romaine was crispy and fresh and the dressing was not too heavy. It had great salty flavor to it but the best part about it was the long pieces of shaved Parmesan.

On the right side of the menu were the main dishes. Your choices go from Burgers to Steak and everything in between. The burgers are not just simple burgers though. You have your choice of 8. I have had the pleasure of trying three of them in a previous posting and let me tell you, it is difficult to choose just one. You can also choose to go lighter and select one of five different sandwiches. Other main dishes included steaks, a few fish dishes including Salmon, Tilapia and Cod. They also have a number of pasta dishes that you can order 1/2 order of if you want it as an appetizer or just a lighter dinner. I chose the Buccatini pasta and clams. The sauce that it came with was a red sauce that was rich and bold. It was also quite spicy. Just how I like my meals. The clams circled the pasta when it arrived so there were plenty. I enjoyed the sauce so much I had to get more bread for mopping.
Anita ordered off the specials menu tonight which was seared Scallops over an Arugala Salad. The Scallops were very big and the dish was very pretty and colorful.

We had our kids with us tonight and a friend of theirs. The kids menu comes on the kids activity book to keep them busy. All the kids dishes were either $5 or $6 which is perfect. And the fries were perfect. One of the greatest things they do is on Sundays. For families, they have movie night. in a smaller section of the restaurant, they set up a TV and show a movie. Kids also get served a meal while watching the movie. So while they are enjoying a movie and dinner, you can have a little alone time with your loved one.

Oh, and I know I started by saying I wouldn't take photos at restaurants again unless they are real special. Well I couldn't resist.

Marly's can be found on the web at www.marlysofwilton.com

Passover Feast.......There is no slim way to do it.

2010-03-30T23:07:00.000-04:00

The Passover Seders are now over. And thank goodness. Yes,I know. What the hell am I whining about. Two days of some incredible Jewish Soul food. It's exhausting. There is so much stuff that you want to have that you end up eating yourself silly.

I remember when we would have those marathon Seders at my Grandparents, we would all sit and rest after the soup just to make some space.

So I'll start by letting you know how the Pastrami Salmon turned out. It was bad. But bad in a weird way. You see after the siting in the salt/sugar/cilantro/parsley/shallot wet rub for two days, it has in essence cooked. So you take all that stuff off and give it a rinse. Then you dry it off and pour on a mixture of molasses, cayenne ( lots), and coriander. It then goes back in the fridge overnight. This is what it looks like:

Then you take it out and slice it. I put it out on a nice plate and it looked real pretty, see:

Even the flesh looked good:

But the topping was weird tasting. And Spicy. I didn't mind the heat but it had a strong molasses flavor. Maybe with less molasses it would have been better but it still wasn't pastrami tasting. I have to find the recipe that I used many years ago and make it again.

So I served that along side Egg Salad with mushrooms. Just some good stuff to nibble on while everyone arrives and gets settled.

We then took to the table to do the ceremony and story telling of the holiday. I like to really breeze through this and enjoy the wine along the way. The traditional Seder has you drinking 4 glasses of wine throughout the meal. Some of us did that before the meal started. We were all laughing a lot. It was a great night.

I suggested to Anita, my wife, that we use the soup we had in the freezer for the night. I'm all for fresh soup but this was a time saving tactic. We had three gallons frozen that we really needed to move and it was one less thing we had to make. Fresh Chicken soup is wonderful and Anita makes it really great. But it takes almost a whole day to really get it right. So we went with the Frozen stuff that tasted just as good as it was made that day.

Our main meal was next. I originally wanted to make two chickens on the rotisserie but Anita said we would need three for our crowd. My rotisserie will only hold two chickens so I needed another plan. How can I cook three whole chickens on the grill at the same time without having to constantly watch it and flip it. I already had the oven doing something so the Grill was it.

Did I hear someone say Beer Butt Chicken? that is right sir. Beer Butt chicken is the way I went. Now before any of you hardcore Heebs out there start in on me about not being able to drink beer during Passover, I'll have you know, I drank the beer the night before and only used the cans.

For those of you who don't know Beer Butt chicken, listen up. This is such an easy and fun way to cook a chicken on the grill. You just need a grill, a can of beer (or any beverage in the average 12 oz can) and a chicken. The idea is you open a beer, drink 1/2 of it and set it aside. Then you make a rub for the bird and rub it all over the chicken. Take any leftover rub and put it in the can. Then you place the chicken's cavity over the can of beer so that the chicken looks like it's sitting on a tri-pod. Can of beer and it's two legs keep it from falling over. I made a mixture of Olive oil, lots of fresh squeezed lemon juice and lime juice, ginger powder, garlic powder and rubbed sage. I think mixed it all up in a bowl and took a turkey baster and filled up the cans 1/2 way. I then took the birds and dipped them in mixture coating all the sides and placed them on each can.

when you put it on the grill, you need to cook it indirectly. That means there is no flame under it. I used the two outside burners and preheated the grill to 325 degrees. I then placed the birds in the middle of the grill and it looked like this:

Don't they look awesome!!!!!

After about 1 hour, then come out like this:

Now if you want, you can put a drip pan under the bird or birds to catch the drippings so that you can make a gravy from it. I forgot to do that but in the end, I didn't need any gravy. It was even juicy today for leftover lunch. The idea of the can is used for two reasons. One is that it provides a good sturdy base to hold the bird. Second is that when the mixture gets up to a steaming point, that steam provides moisture for the bird. the moistness and the flavor is worth it. I highly recommend cooking it this way.

The other item we made was brisket. I don't know why we don't make this dish more often. We have three great recipes but we have found the one we made this night is our favorite. You sear the meat on both sides for 5-7 min. to get a good outside to the meat. then you cover the meat in a mixture of ketchup, onions, dark brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper. The mixture looks like this on top of the brisket:

After covering it up, it goes in the oven for 2 hours. After two hours to you take out the meat and when it's cool enough to handle, you slice it into 1/4" slices. Then back into the pot for another 2 hours. You cut it 1/2 way because if you wait till it is all the way cooked, the meat just shreds apart. After cooking, it looks like this:

'The sauce was sweet from the ketchup and the meat was so tender, a knife would be there just for show.

The Main dishes were accompanied by a potato dish called potato Kugel. It is made from a mixture of potatoes, matzo meal (like corn meal) eggs, and salt. You put it all into a food processor till it get to the consistency of a potato pancake batter. It is placed into a casserole dish and cooked for about an hour.

The other side dish was baby organic veggies roasted with honey and cumin. The veggies were Patty Pan Squash, baby multi colored carrots, baby Vidalia onion, baby zucchini, and fennel. It was really tasty and so simple.

After a short break, the final portion of the meal is served. Anita makes some of the greatest desserts. She made her staple cheese cake that was so good this time. Where she really excels are her cookies. She made Pecan meringue's and coconut macaroons. The meringues are so light and fluffy and sweet. They are the crowd favorite.

the platter of cookies is always so impressive. take a look:

Well I hope you enjoyed seeing how we celebrated the Passover holiday. The crazy part is that we did it all over again the second night. Its truly an exhausting few days but there is no better way to make yourself tired.

I'd be more than happy to share the recipes that you see here with anyone. if you would like the recipe, send me a comment and I'll be sure to send it to you. Or you can send me a message to alanharitonblog@gmail.com

thanks for reading and enjoy every meal you can.

Passover is here........Bring on the Soul Food Part 1

2010-03-27T10:07:00.000-04:00

Now for those of you who don't know me, I'm the farthest thing from a religious person. But what I really enjoy about the holiday, any holiday, is that it brings family and friends together. Usually around a meal when it comes to me. Now the time has come for the Jewish holiday of Passover.

Small History Lesson:

Passover is the holiday where Jews around the world celebrate the exodus for the evil Pharaoh who kept the Jews enslaved to build the pyramids. During this time of escape, the Jews had no time to wait for their dough to rise for their bread. So the bread that they had to eat resembled what we have today as Matzo. So for 8 days we eat nothing (or try to eat nothing) that is made of flour or rises. That list includes: bread of any sort, crackers, rice, pasta. The first two nights are called the Seders. These nights are meals that are served around a ceremony that really tells the story about how the slaves escaped Egypt. Growing up and going to my grandparents who are Orthodox Jews, our ceremonies there would last sometimes up to 5 hours. The ceremony at my house lasts about 15 minutes then onto the eats.

History lesson Over.

For me, this is a time when I have an excuse to entertain. So this is what I have planned.

As a good entertainer does, I will have nibbles out for people to nosh on while we wait to start the dinner. I have decided to make my egg salad with mushroom and a Pastrami Salmon. I had made the Pastrami Salmon once a while ago and it was a huge hit. So making it again I thought would be great. I searched high and low for the recipe and couldn't find it. So I found another one from the chef David Burke and thought I'd give it a try. It calls for taking a 2 to 2 1/2 lbs piece of salmon with no skin on it and curing it with salt and herbs to sort of cook it. So I have a 2 lb. piece here.

I kind of mauled it a little when I was taking the skin off. My original goal was to go to Costco and get their Salmon because it is perfect for this. Boneless and skinless.

So the recipe calls for 1 cup of salt and 1/2 a cup of sugar to be covering the entire piece of fish. Then in a food processor puree 1/2 lb. of shallots, 2 bunches of Cilantro and 1 bunch of Parsley. Coat the entire fish in the puree and let it sit for two to three days.

My fish will sit for two days. Then I'll mix a mustard, molasses, coriander seed, cayenne, and bay leaves and let it sit for one more night before serving it sliced. With my new low salt diet, i'll be having very little of this but it's very dramatic when served right. I hope it turns out ok. You'll see the results either Monday or Tuesday.

For the rest of the meal, we'll be serving traditional Matzo ball soup which Anita makes the best I've had. I'll be making for the main dish, Brisket, and three chickens done on the grill beer butt style. our sides will be Broccoli, roasted red potatoes with rosemary and a vegetable medley consisting of Patty Pan Squash, baby organic carrots that are all sorts of beautiful colors, baby Vidalia onions, and baby zucchini. If it turns out right it will be both beautiful and tasty. I'm going to season it with honey and cumin. We will also make a potato dish called kugel which takes almost the same batter as a potato pancake and makes it in a casserole dish.

As usual, Anita will out do herself in the dessert category. She's got one Chocolate cheesecake made and is currently cooking a regular cheesecake. we'll have coconut macaroons, and meringue cookies.

it will be a great feast that I'm looking forward to sharing with all of you. I hope you enjoy reading about it as much as I have enjoyed both writing about it and preparing it.

I'm Back

2010-03-25T13:43:00.000-04:00

I took a small break and I'm now back. I have some exciting things to share especially with the Jewish Holiday's coming up, i'll be sharing some good Soul food.

Plus I just got back from Las Vegas so I have one new place to mention.

All in all I'm happy to say that since I got rid of salt in my cooking, my ticker has been much better. I've also dropped a little weight and hope to drop more.

I want to mention that I got rid of the salt I used to use. I still have it in somethings but I don't use it anywhere near where I used to use it. I don't go so far as getting low sodium everything. I get low sodium soy sauce and low sodium chicken stock but I don't go beyond that.

I'll be in touch again shortly with some past places I have eaten and some things I've made to try to help my diet.

In the meantime, enjoy what you eat and try something new all the time.

The Start of the Low Sodium Life....A wake up call.....And hey look, there's Fish

2010-02-05T12:57:00.000-05:00

So I went for a physical this week because earlier in the week my body was talking to me. My body wasn't saying good things either. It was saying, your grossly overweight and you use too much salt. So if you can't see that on your own, i'm going to make your heart beat to the theme of Hawaii Five-O.

Well as you can imagine I heard the music. Went to see the doctor and got a few x-rays and some blood work. I don't know what the blood will tell me but I know it won't be smiling. So that was it. I had gotten back on the exercise routine a few weeks ago so I knew I had to continue that. But the real issue for me is Salt and portion control. As you know from reading, I like food a little too much. Even my doctor said that having this blog is a bad idea. But I find writing it to be therapeutic and now that I have to change my eating habits a bit, I could use all the therapy I can get.

So the Doctor said to me since I know how to cook, I should know how to cook without salt. Truth is I really don't. Every thing I read and watch, everyone seasons everything with salt and pepper. Everything!!! So I have to be clever with flavor because I like my food to be full flavored.

So last night I decided to try to cook without salt. I went to the market and got two pieces of Captains cut Cod. I like the Captains cut because it's a meatier cut and it's mostly the same size all the way through. So that allows it to cook evenly. Regular Cod is equally delicious but sometimes I find that you need to cook it so the thicker part is fully cooked and that in turn dries out the thinner parts.

So I started out with about 1/4 cup of minced Shallots and about 6 cloves of garlic that were rough chopped.
I sauteed them till they were fragrant and they were soft. I took it off the heat and let it cool a little bit. I added about 1/2 a tsp. of oregano to the mixture as it cooled.

I then placed the fish into a casserole dish and turned up the oven to 400 degrees. I put some olive oil on the fish to coat it. Now from the photo it may seem like a lot but it was less than I usually put so it was a step in the right direction.

I then took the cooled shallot/garlic mixture and coated the top of the fish and then sprinkled some red pepper flakes on top.

I baked it for 10 minutes until the tops got a little brown and the fish started to flake, and also till the kitchen smoke went away from something I guess I had cooked earlier that spilled on the bottom on became ash.

Overall the taste was very good. Could it have used some salt? Of course it could have. But that will be my job to figure out how to tweak it just a little bit more to get the full rounded out flavor that personally I need.

This dish was finished with some steamed brocolli so all in all it was a very healthy meal. And a step in the right direction.

Now the real trick is to see how I do tonight when I go out to dinner with my friends. We are going out for Thai so I have to really be careful.

Please don't yell at me me when you read my review on it.

Taqueria La Michoacana...........No, your not dreaming, you've stepped into a Taqueria in Mexico

2010-02-04T17:36:00.001-05:00

My regular job is located in Bridgeport CT which is home to the largest city population in the state. With that many people, there are hungry mouths to feed. There is a large population of Latin residents and therefore a fair amount of Latin Food.

When you look at the store front, you know you are in a place that caters to the local crowd. There is not a lick of English anywhere. The space inside is a narrow almost Pizza joint feel with tables on both sides, a TV in the corner and a Juke box in the other. Sergio the owner is almost always at the counter waiting to take your order.

The Menu shows that they serve everything from Breakfast to Dinner and everything in between. Fortunately or Unfortunately, at my office we have only gotten one thing there. Tacos. The Tacos that they make here are like you would get when you are down in Mexico. They are simple and they let the natural flavors of the meat and salsas do the talking. And they don't really talk. They Scream!!!!

We usually get a mix of the Chicken and the Pork Tacos. But they offer so much more. They have Beef, Tongue, Sausage and a whole bunch of other organ meat for the brave. They serve three home made salsas that are fresh made everyday. Plus they have a pickle mix that includes Cactus which is full of flavor. When we get the tacos, we ask to have extra grilled spring onions and Jalepenos. Served in two flour tortillas, with a squeeze of lime takes you to a local stand in Mexico City.

Their other dishes include Burritos, Grilled Chicken Dishes and Pork Dishes, and a Mexican soup called Posole which I saw one day. Looks like a meal rather than a soup.

Go visit Sergio. You'll be glad you did.

Taqueria La Michoacana can be found at 1914 Main St. in Bridgeport. 203-366-6590.

Luc's Cafe & Restaurants............An Ultra fine Bistro in Ridgefield

2010-02-02T21:56:00.001-05:00

So thanks to Facebook, I have met up with an old friend of mine that I hadn't seen in almost 20 years. We had gotten together a few times with other friends and we discovered that we actually lived very close to each other. As a matter a fact, we both lived 10 minutes from Ridgefield CT. So after meeting a few times we decided it was time to introduce our better halves. My friend Scott had said they have been to Luc's Cafe and had the best mussels there.

So as we were so close to there, we decided that would be our meeting place. Luc's Cafe has been in Ridgefield since 2001 and is just off the main shopping section in the downtown area. The space is bigger than it looks from outside as it takes up the lower area or even basement of a larger building above it. when you walk in, your invited to a cozy bar area that is tight for guests to stand if there are no seats. I say cozy because both my wife and I clocked the head of a sitting patron twice. Yes we both hit the same guy at different times.

Now as I said we were in the basement of this older building and you know it when you are seated. The foundation is part of the decor of the space. Many old buildings didn't have the nice smooth walls they have today when laying a foundation. It was piled rocks and you see them and feel them as they surround the room.

Luc's menu is primarily French with staples as Salad Nicoise, Escargot, Steak Frittes, and Cassoulet. But what brought us here are the Moules. or Mussels as we call them here.

We started off with Salads and my favorite Escargot. The snails were served in a traditional Escargot plate which housed the succulent little morsels sans shells. The buttery sauce each snail is submerged in has just the right mix of garlic and spices. My dish was practically ready to be put back on the shelf as I used a good amount of bread to mop up the extras. My friend Scott's wife Corrie had never tried Escargot so I insisted she try. I think I might have created a new fan.

For the Main dishes three of us had gotten Mussels and my wife had a craving for Duck. Her Duck was served Confit in a port wine sauce and served with Mushrooms and shallots. They use a fancy word for the mushrooms and shallots but I think you get the idea. I had a taste of the duck and it was tender and juicy and a good choice if you want duck.

The rest of us got the Mussels. they cook the mussels in a round dutch oven and serve it to you in that same pot. They are served two ways. In a white wine sauce with multiple herbs and a tomato and garlic sauce. Now I'm usually a big fan of the white wine sauce and Scott and I got the white wine sauce. Scott's wife Corrie had gotten the garlic and tomato and it was a winner of a decision. Not that mine was bad, it was delicious. The garlic and light tomato sauce took it to another level. We asked for more bread for the mopping which was great and absolutely necessary. The side of Pomme Frittes (french fries) were crispy on the outside and steamy on the inside. A perfect fry indeed.

Luc's Cafe & Restaurant is located at 3 Big Shop Lane, Ridgefield, CT 06877. 203-894-8922 or you can go here to see the full menu /www.lucscafe.com/

The Hariton's are going Green………..Or at least really trying

2010-02-01T18:58:00.002-05:00

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Married to a wonderful woman Anita who does more for others than she would ever do for herself. It’s a great quality in a person and she is often looking to do the right thing. For whom at times is at question but for the most part her actions are purely genuine.

So this time she said, “look at all the plastic bags we use. We must go through hundreds of bags a week on our kids snacks for school a month”. She was right. We have two boys 8 and 6 and we have to pack them snacks and lunch if they don’t want to buy lunch at school. Thankfully they both decided they would buy lunch every day and this so far has lasted about two months. I say thankfully because those of you readers who have to do this, know that packing lunch for your kids everyday can get a little monotonous at times. And costly. I’m not sure if there is a cost savings with the kids buying lunch. But I can tell you when you don’t have to do it every day, it’s worth it. For snacks, we would take a quarts size plastic bag with their name on it and fill it with a drink which would be a milk box or another drink box or water. Then we would have two little snack size baggies with a fruit and a salty snack like pretzels or Pirates booty. So for each snack you would have three bags. And for our youngest son Jacob, 4 of the 5 days he would have 2 of these snack bags. You do the math. That’s a lot of bags.

So Anita says, “ we need to do something different with the kids snacks”. So different we did. We started out small because well, it’s better that way for the kids. We said to Jonah, our oldest son, “If we pack you a spoon, can you remember to bring it home so we can clean it and use it again?” He said sure. Now he’ll say sure to many things and then 5 minutes later have no idea what he said sure to. But he agreed and that was good enough for us. So the next day we packed him a fruit cup and said “don’t forget to bring home the spoon ok?”. He said OK and off he went. Now before all of you who are so green that you are practically Forest Green you’re so green that you will say, “why would you pack one of those disposable fruit cups in with a metal spoon if you’re trying to be green?” To you people, I say back off. He’s 8 and we are new to this so baby steps people, baby steps.

Later that day, Jonah comes home with his spoon. It was a successful test. It was then that we thought we could move this thing over. So we had their lunch boxes (not really boxes but reusable sacks I guess you can call them) that were just sitting there. Those were to be our new snack bags. We even had another smaller reusable bag so that when Jacob needs two, he can have two. We then got those smaller reusable plastic containers for the snacks and they each picked out an aluminum bottle to refill every day.

And you know what? It worked. The kids didn’t think anything of it. They went to school, and came home with the stuff we sent them with. It’s so great. They love it and we have less waste.

I have even bought an aluminum water bottle that I keep with me. When I travel for work I always buy a bottle of water for the flight after I clear security. I buy one because you only get a cup of beverage when you fly and you get it when they choose to give it to you. Then you have a little table to keep it on for when are done. The water bottle has a top and therefore you can put it anywhere and it won’t spill. So now I carry my own bottle through security and find the nearest water fountain and fill it up. It’s so simple I’m embarrassed I haven’t done this sooner.

So I ask you my readers, all three of you, look around at your lives and see how something simple like getting an aluminum water bottle or a reusable snack bag can make a huge difference.

Ok, I’ll get off my soap box now and write more about food.

Westville Restaurant in NYC..........Fresh and good done so well

2010-01-31T11:53:00.000-05:00

On my trip back from Michigan I decided to meet my brother and sister in NYC to have dinner and see a friends band play in Greenwich Village. I haven't seen my brother for 4 months as he was away during this time to discover South East Asia. His adventures can be found here.....www.elistravels.com/. check it out because its a real good read and it has some very entertaining photos.

So the three of us met in the West Village in Lower Manhattan for dinner before the show. Eli had a list of places he wanted to eat at when her got back and Westville was one of them. He used to live in the East Village and there was a Westville located there as well so that I how he knew about this place.

The location on the west side is a very small location.. It was very rustic on the walls with lots of tables for two that could be put together for more people. But you there was probably room for no more than 20 people at a time. One of the things Eli said is that they do Vegetables really well. 1/2 of the specials on the menu were vegetables done in various ways. I was told that they get everything fresh that day and that is how they decide the vast specials menu. There were so many great vegetable dishes to choose from and we wanted to try them all. So we decided to share 4 of them as an appetizer. Thanks to Bill Taibe at Lefarm in Westport, I have found my lost love for beets. One of the four dishes was roasted beets with goat cheese. The second veggie was roasted asparagus with grated fresh Parmesan cheese. The third dish was zucchini with heirloom grape tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. The final dish was roasted baby Bok Choy with garlic and ginger. The dish was so pretty when it came out as you can see below. Everything tasted as bright as it looked. I could have done another 4 veggies to see what else they did with the Vegetables.

It's beautiful isn't it? It did taste as good as it looked. Everything was so fresh and so good.

For our mains, Eli said he had been eating like a pig so he went lighter for dinner and ordered a salad with grilled salmon on it. I tried the salmon and it was very good and the lettuce was very crisp against the soft flesh of the fish.

My sister Emily went with the grilled Chicken that had been marinated in lemon and garlic. While it looked a little bland, it made up for it in taste. it was fresh and bright with flavor. But even better were the baby carrots that were sautéed in a pan with Cumin. The carrots were very fresh and earthy with taste of cumin commanding top billing with each bite.

While my brother Eli was eating like a pig lately, I felt like eating pig that night. I went with the grilled pork chop that was smothered in Onions and Mushrooms. I was also given an opportunity to get an additional side of Vegetables so I went with the roasted Brussel sprouts. For some reason I'm really drawn to the mini cabbages lately and I can't get enough of them. They get such a bad rap. But they were so good for me that night. The pork chop was thick and juicy and well you can't go wrong when it's smothered in Onions and Mushrooms right?

All in all a fabulous meal at Westville. I highly suggest you go there to enjoy some really great food. When we left, there was a large amount of people waiting to get in so be prepared to wait or at least leave you name and come back.

Westville has two locations. We went to 210 W. 10th St. between Bleeker and 4th St. 212-741-7971, or you can go here......www.westvillenyc.com/

Julie and Julia........Wonderful film

2010-01-31T11:20:00.000-05:00

Last night I had the pleasure of watching the movie Julie and Julia. I'm sure you all know its a true story about a blogger and her love for Julia Child. As a foodie and a fan of Julia and a fellow blogger the movie was right up my alley. Now I don't have anywhere the same following as she, not that I don't appreciate all three of you readers :-), but it's nice to see what a blogger looks like when they are doing what they are blogging about.

I just did a search and obviously I'm not the only one who has recently looked this up. It came up very quickly. Julie/Julia project

I navigated to the beginning of the blog so that you can read along with her. I started to read a little bit and it's looks like it's fun.

And if you haven't seen the movie, please go rent it. If you like food, and you like blogs, you will like this movie.

Bon Appetit.

Ollie's in Dearborn Michigan

2010-01-31T11:04:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know it, Dearborn Michigan is home to the largest settlement of Middle Eastern Descendants in North America. It is filled with so many different types of Middle Eastern Delicacies you have trouble picking just one.

A few months ago, I stumbled upon a small place on Ford Rd. called Ollie's. It has a big open space that holds a large dining room and a bar. The cool thing about the bar is that is houses an oven where they cook fresh pita bread all day long. That is the first thing you smell when you walk into the restaurant.

I was fortunate to have gotten there right before the real lunch rush came in. It's right near the Ford Headquarters so you have a lot of people there that I'm sure know about this place.

I had looked at the menu and remembered I had gotten the hummus and Chicken special the last time and I wanted that hummus again. The menu has a good mix of Lebanese cuisine from Shish Ka Bob's to all kinds of salads. I wanted to try the Baba Ghanooj this time. They had a starter combo that included the Baba Ghanooj, Hummus and Tabbouli. I figured I can't go wrong with that one. The Hummus was creamy with the right amount of garlic and paprika. If you wanted, there was a small pitcher of Olive oil on the table to richen it up. The Baba Ghanooj was good but not great. It had too smoky a flavor to it that needed to be toned down in my opinion. The Tabbouli was fantastic. It had a great amount of mint in it to freshen everything up.

I don't know why the photo is turned on it's side here but turn your head to get an idea of what it looks like. Trust me when I say you won't have to do this when you eat it one day. You can keep your head exactly how you like it.

Now as I was in the mood for a salad, I chose the small Fattoush salad. Which was basically your average salad but with fried pita chips that were fried in Garlic. Oh, so good. I had it topped with meat Shwarma. For those you who don't know the name Shwarma, you have seen it before. It is basically any kind of meat that is stacked on a large skewer and placed vertically next to a heating element to caramelize the outside of the meat skewer. Then it is rotated so the outside is cooked evenly. A person then slices off meat vertically so that you get a nice caramelized piece of meat with every bit.

As you can see the salad also came with a whole bunch of Feta cheese on top. Bummer right? Well I hope I don't dissapoint but there was no way I was able to finish both of the dishes. Very filling and very generous portions are given here. I saw some Shish Ka Bob's brought out all over so I have to try them next.

Ollie's can be found in Dearborn Michigan at 16351 Ford Rd. 313-253-1010. or look for them online at www.olliescuisine.com/

Tbar Steak and Lounge in NYC......Come for the bar scene but stay for the bite.

2010-01-15T17:37:00.000-05:00

I had a great opportunity last week to meet up with three old friends from Long Island where I grew up. New York City provided a good central location for us since we all lived about an hour from there. One of us works in New York City and was told that Tbar is a good bar and lounge to go with a group of people.

We met on a Friday night and our reservation was for 7:00 pm. Early Prime time for NYC. When we walked in, the tables were all full so that is always a good sign.

We were seated and had a great time catching up since it was April when we all saw each other last.

The menu had a great selection to choose from. We decided to get a few apps to start off. The Spring roll came out first which was a little heavier than your usual Chinese spring roll. It came with a nice Chili sauce on the side.

Our second appetizer came which was buffalo Mozzarella the a tomato basil salad. In reality this dish was their version of your traditional ensalada caprese. It was done excellently. Slivers of basil swam through cut grape tomatoes piled high next to an equally high pile of fresh Mozzarella that was in a pool of Balsamic Vinegar. The vinegar really brought the plate together. It was rich and full and had the slight consistency of syrup.

Tuna tartar was next. This is a popular dish as well as our other two and Tbar did a great job with it as well. The Tuna was real fresh and the portion was fairly generous. It was seasoned with Sesame oil and ginger and packed full of flavor. A frisee salad accompanied the Tuna as well as sliced baguettes. It was really delicious.

We also got a Caesar salad which was served like a chopped salad. The dressing was creamier than I would have liked but it had lots of Parmesan which you can never go wrong with that. There were no anchovies and really only one large crouton on top. It was tasty but everyone has their own favorite place for Caesar salad.

For the main dishes one of us got the Penne with the shrimp and it looked good. Light cream sauce covered the noodles and as you can see from the picture below, they were generous with the Shrimp.

The three others including me got burgers. We got the Amish Turkey Burger and the Lamb Burger. Personally I got the Lamb Burger and it was delicious. It was topped with a cucumber mint yogurt sauce which as you can imagine goes well with lamb. All three burgers were served with French fries placed in a chinese take-out box. very clever plating and if you didn't finish them, you have your to go box.

Tbar can be found in New York city on 3rd Ave. between 73rd and 74th. You an also get there by going here: http://www.tbarnyc.com/

A Trip to Mecca.......The Culinary Institute of America

2010-01-07T21:20:00.001-05:00

A year ago when I turned the young age of 40, I was given a gift from my Sister and Brother in law of a day at the CIA. I had taken a class there a few years earlier and it was not the greatest experience. The teacher I had for the class of Cocktail parties and finger foods was a bit drab and bland. He encouraged us to take one dish and really concentrate on it and do that as your dish. What kind of class is that?

So what class would I take? I really wanted to take a class that I was going to be able to take something more than one dish away with me. So what kind of cuisine has lots of small dishes? Spanish tapas. The class I took was Spain and world Cuisine.

The class started out as any classes start, in a classroom. I was in a group of 16 people from all over the New York area who was either given the class as a present as I was or came with a sibling or significant other. The teacher was Chef Carol Murphy Clyne who was there to teach with her husband. Chef Carol had a real grip on Spain and how the people there eat. We discussed the foods that were native to area there as well as sampled some Cheeses from the area like Manchego. We also tried two different types of Olive oil.

After the brief discussion we got a look at the list of items we would be cooking for the day. 16 dishes total were going to be made that day. The group was to be split up into four groups of 4 so there is a chance that some people wouldn't get to cook what they wanted to. But as it turned out, the group split up perfectly with everyone getting to cook what they wanted to do. My group consisted of a mother daughter team Monica and Virginia and a Robert from New Jersey. We chose to cook the following:

Alaskan Scallops on Serrano Ham and Lentil Salad
Grilled Lamb Chops with Salsa de Pasitas Rojas and Fennel Salad
Manchego Croquetts with Quince Sauce

So we donned out aprons and our toques (that's the big silly hats they wear in the kitchen) and went into the kitchen where we were to be cooking. All the ingredients were located at the stations that we picked. The greatest thing about the group I was with is that we all wanted to do everything so that we could learn as much as we could. Plus we all wanted to help each other. So first started the prep work. Chopping, dicing, slicing, mixing so that we can be ready. To be honest, we had less than two hours to prepare the three dishes and we were all slightly overwhelmed. But we all looked at the instructions and dove in.

I saw a cheese cloth being loaded with herbs and tossed into a pot with the lentils to cook while we did more prep work. I cleaned up and sliced the fennel for the salad under the Lamb Chops. Virginia prepared the potatoes and Monica cut the cheese. For the potato and Manchego Croquettes of course. what were you thinking? (ok, I was thinking it too and I just couldn't help myself. Monica I apologize). Rob was cleaning up the Scallops and working on the Lentils. I don't know why but I went to work on the Salsa which ended up being super cool. First of all, take any idea that you currently have of salsa and throw it away. This is called Salsa but not like you and I would know it. It was more like a sauce made from cooking up some stuff and completely blending it till its smooth and silky. It had Raisins, Almonds, Black Olives, anchovies, garlic, Chili's, Balsamic vinegar and some other stuff. Does that sound like any salsa you've ever tasted? Nope, but it is one you would want to. The cool thing about the sauce is that you could put it on any protein.

So after a lot of the prep work was done, we started the cooking. Rob prepared a pan of oil for the Scallops only to have another group steal it. I was next to him with another pan of oil to fry up the croquettes. Below is a photo of Rob and I at the stove.

While we were doing that, the girls were at the grill firing up the lamb chops. I believe Monica came back to the stove area to fry up the Serrano ham for the Scallops.

In the end, we plated 3 amazing dishes. Some of the other teams finished early and had a chance to work on the other additional dishes that were open to anyone. One of them were Churros with Xocopili Hot Chocolate. Now, I'm not one with a sweet tooth so I kind of steer away from dessert things. When I heard Churros, I immediately think of Disney World and people walking around with the 2' long sticks of fried dough. So I wasn't too excited about it when I heard they were being made. The hot chocolate isn't really hot chocolate but more of a bowl of thick melted chocolate to dip the churros in to. The batter was made and put into a pastry bag and it was then squeezed out into hot oil. The batter cooked quickly on one side and flipped to the other to completely cook the churros in about 2-3 minutes. After it was cooked, it is immediately tossed into a big bowl with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. You then took this Churros and dipped it into the Hot Chocolate. Now for the person who has a sweet tooth, this dessert is heavenly. I figured I would try a small bite just to try it. I expected such a deep rich sweet heavy flavor but what I got was a soft, light and fluffy, sweet cinnamon-y cake that was so delicious, I wanted many more. I was thinking this is going to taste so heavy but it was exactly the opposite. Dipped into the Chocolate brings it to another level of delight.

After we were done, we all placed out dishes onto the long table for everyone to observe. Below are our dishes that we made.

They are from right to left, Croquettes, Lamb Chops and Scallops. We all got a chance to explain what each dish was so that we all knew what each dish looked like from the descriptions we read earlier. After that, we all got in line and had a mega buffet lunch. Everyone got to try everything that we made. When we sat down, a few of us from different teams got to discuss the dishes that we made and how it was easy or challenging to make the dishes.

After were were done, we all got an opportunity to take home some leftovers. Then we got back to the classroom to discuss how each of us made out dishes and how we would change it in the future to tweak it to our own palates.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience and one I will never forget. Especially since I bought a Sweatshirt from there and it has become my favorite one to wear these days. If you have an opportunity to take a class there, I suggest you do. Yes, it could be hit or miss with the teacher you get, but with so many amazing cooks that have graduated from this school, odds are you have a better chance than not that you will have a good teacher.

If anyone wants the recipes for any of the dishes we made, I can send them to you. Just send me a message.

Happy New Year

2010-01-04T08:57:00.000-05:00

I hope you all had some great holiday feasts over the past Holiday week. I know mine was filled with lots of amazing food.

My Week of great food intake started out Christmas eve when my family was invited to the Italian Christmas Eve tradition of the "Feast of the Seven Fishes". Traditionally there are seven seafood dishes served at this holiday meal. Since it was a small group, there were only five. Awe shucks. Only five different seafood dishes for a seafood lover. Poor me right? What a meal!!! We started out with Linguine topped with Lobster sauce. The Lobster started off alive like most crustaceans do before cooking them. The Lobster is Quartered (which is slightly barbaric when you think about it. You have to quarter it alive.) Then it is sautéed in some oil and garlic. After it gets that nice rich red color, crushed tomatoes are added. That's all. Just simmer it for about 30 minutes you have lobster sauce. It was so delicious.

Next we had both Shrimp and Scallops fried in oil with just a simple covering of flour for color and flavor. Also served was Baccala which I believe is a salted cod. This fish has to be soaked in some sort of liquid to wash off all the salt. when that is done, it is simply reheated and served. If you like salt, you will like this dish. the final dish was a seafood salad that had Octopus, Calamari, and Shrimp in a pasta salad. it was very refreshing but you have to like the chewy seafood proteins of the octopus or calamari.

It was great experiience for me and my family and I was so grateful to have been invited to this tradition.

A few days later the family went up to Vermont to join the Christmas Eve family at the home of our friends. Since we are all foodies, we each took a night. the first night was Italian Ragu night. The very thick sauce that layed atop fresh Cavatelli pasta was made with three different cubed meats cooked down and added to a crushed tomato sauce. this is a true meat lovers dream. The sauce was rich with flavor as you tasted sausage, veal and beef. I would like to try to make this one day since it's so hearty.

The next night was mine so I went with the Mexican theme. first we made the kids tacos with chopped meat and all the fixins, For the Adults, I had marinated skirt steaks for Fajitas. As the kids were eating, I sautéed peppers and onions and grilled skirt steaks. I made a crucial mistake of not adding salt to the marinade so it was lacking in flavor. with a few hits of salt it helped the dish but it was still sub par. I had made fresh guacamole and had a few assortments of salsas. All of this was washed down with two different types of Margarita. One your easy margarita mix and tequila and the other we looked up was equal parts of Tequila, triple sec (we used grand mariner) and fresh lime juice. Those really kicked our butts.

The final meal together was New Years Eve. We started out with a drink I discovered over the summer that we have called Koo-Koo Juice. It's a mix of Passion Fruit Juice and Rums. Have two big glasses of this and you will live up to the name. Dinner was the elegant Filet Mignon. Our host does a simple covering of olive oil and crushed garlic and the roast goes on the grill and cooked indirectly. The simple garlic and oil coating is all this tender steak needs. But our host kicks it up with a fresh made Bearnaise sauce. Personally I'm not a fan of sauces on steaks but this one is good. He served the steak with a great potato dish. Red potatoes were roasted with sliced onion and everything was tossed in a ground mustard sauce he made. Very Tasty.

All in all a great week of eating as the holidays usually are. I hope each of you had a great holiday week and got some great gadgets and tools for your kitchen creations.

Carmine's in Times Square....Now that's Italian

2009-12-23T17:49:00.000-05:00

If you have never been to Carmine's in New York City, then you haven't really experienced the pinnacle of family style Italian food. This place is an absolute Landmark in Times Square. We decided on a whim on a Saturday to battle New York City at Christmas time to see the tree and sites.

I have been to Carmine's before and know it to be a madhouse to get a seat. So I thought I was smart and called at 9:30 am to make a reservation for that night. I thought since we were seeing a show, an early dinner of between 4:30 and 5:00 would be a possibility but I was dead wrong. The earliest reservation they had available was 11:00 am. So we had done a trick once before and it had paid off this time. We walked in and looked at the bar area. The bar area is fairly large but packed. There are many bar stools along the very long bar and about 10 tall small tables. These tables are really designed to hold drinks while waiting for a table but for many it could hold dinner. The trick is all placement and timing. First move is to scope out a table that has people eating on it. The tables with drinks could last forever. But with food, you know you can see where they are at in their meal. These tables are meant for eating and leaving. you won't find people sitting there for a long time talking because it's really loud and pushy. So once you find your table or tables with food, you see where they are at with their meal or blatantly ask. We scoped two and then asked both of them. One of them was not leaving anytime soon and the other was finished. Cool, no one else laid claim to it as it would have been identified at first look. It's New York remember? I'm Waitin' Here!!!!

The table cleared out maybe 5 minutes after talking so the timing couldn't have been better. A reservation wouldn't have gotten seated faster. All menu's are on the wall. All your classic Italian dishes are served from Baked Clams Oreganata, Hot Antipasto to all the pasta you can think of. All the dishes are meant to be shared. Now when I say shared, a single dish can feed probably six. So be ready to eat. We started off with the Carmine's salad which was a mix of fresh greens, olives, pepperoncini's, and dried tomatoes in a light vinaigrette. You can't go wrong with this other than getting scolded by some real Italians saying you have that at the end of the meal.

We also got the Fried Calamari since it is a favorite of my kids. The batter it was fried in was not a super heavy fried batter and the marinara sauce for dipping was delicious.

For our main dishes we wanted one pasta dish and one meat dish. So for the pasta dish, we saw the Lasagna from the previous diners and it looked amazing. So we decided to order that. Normally we get just meatballs and spaghetti or something like that so this was a change for us. Again the portion is huge. We only finished 1/2 of it but it was really good. For Lasagna Lovers, this is a winner. Again the Marinara sauce that is used is so tasty. Bits of oregano and spices float in the gravy as it is layered in soft noodles, Ricotta Cheese and Chopped meat.

The meat dish we chose was Chicken Parmesan. A staple in Italian cooking. Plus again we didn't want to get too adventurous with the kids because if they didn't eat it, we didn't have room or space for another dish. Again, this dish was done so well. Carmine's takes the tender Chicken Breast and pounds it so thin that it must cook through on contact. Topped with the Marinara sauce and Mozzarella Cheese makes this dish complete. I highly recommend it.

Eating in the bar area comes quick so we were done in less than 40 minutes from when we sat down. No sooner were sitting back did we feel a tap on the shoulder. A woman was there asking if we were finishing soon. And the cycle starts over again.

Carmine's has two location. One on 44th street off Broadway and the other is on Broadway uptown near 91st street. For a loud fun family style meal, you won't go wrong at Carmine's.

For More Information please visit them on the web at www.carminesnyc.com/

Baldo's Lunch in Brownstown Michigan

2009-12-22T17:56:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned in previous entries that I travel for my work. One of the things I try my best to do is to find non chain restaurants. Not that I'm knocking chains. For lunch or a quick bite or even a meeting place, it's something familiar to people and for that they are great. But I like to find non chain places to go to when I can. Especially when I'm on the road.

One of the places that I frequent is Michigan. Motor City. Personally I love the Detroit Metro area. It has so much to offer and it's a real shame it gets a bad wrap.

On my last trip out there, I visited with a customer of mine with my father and we all went out to lunch to a place called Baldo's Restaurant. They seem to specialize in Ribs but we didn't get a chance to try them. The restaurant has a diner or expanded Pizzaria type of atmosphere. It is well lit and the place is very comfortable. I think it would be a great place for a large group or a meal among friends. They have a large menu that has everything from Italian options to steaks and BBQ.

For lunch the four of us started out with a cup of Minestrone soup which was very hearty. Nice vegetable broth and hearty chunks of veggies and beans. Next we all split an antipasto salad that had lots of meats and cheeses on top of it which was great.

My father got for his main lunch spaghetti and clam sauce which was real good. The sauce was a light tomato sauce with clams. Not as garlicky as I would like it but a good dish. The other three including myself, shared a pasta and sausage dish. The light tomato sauce carried over onto this dish that was like my father's but the real key to the dish was the sausage. It was a real good Italian Sausage that had lots of garlic and fennel. The combination of the sausage and the fresh sauteed peppers really made this dish a winner.

If you are looking for a good place to eat for lunch or dinner and want something casual, look for Baldo's. It's located in Brownstown MI, which is just south of Taylor MI near the airport.

For more information about Baldo's please visit them on the web at www.baldos.com

leFarm is again leFabulous

2009-11-29T11:50:00.001-05:00

Saturday night after Thanksgiving was a special one for me this year. I usually don't like to make a big deal over my birthday other than I want a good meal. And a good meal was had by the hands of the teamwork at leFarm. Rachel Golan, who is the wife of Chef Bill Taibe managed to squeeze us in for Saturday night. Since the opening 2 months ago, the place has been very busy.

We were greeted by Rachel who told us our table would be ready in a moment, which gave us an opportunity to sneak into the back and give a hello to Chef Bill. We were seated and offered the choice of still or sparking water both of which are filtered right in house. We were looking at the dishes that were leaving the kitchen as we sat there trying to decide what to get. Everything as usual looked amazing.

Anita, my wife, started out with Marinated Beets, Fuji Apples and Womanchego cheese salad. The beets are selected from Holebrook farm in Bethel CT and were the highlight of the dish. Both red and white-striped beets were served and they were delicious.

I on the other hand had a hard time deciding what to eat. Since I have tried many of Chef Bill's dishes I wanted to re-live some of them as well as try something new. So I decided to re-live the appetizer of the Roasted Bone Marrow. As before it was a large bone cut lengthwise and roasted to soften up the marrow till its at a spreadable texture. It was then topped off with parsley and shallots and served with Parsley Mustard. The dish is served with olive bread that you could make a meal of alone with a bit of butter. But this bread had other plans for this evening.

For the Entree's Anita had gotten another appetizer as it struck her eye. Soft Polenta and salted Codfish came out in a bowl with sauteed scallions and topped with freshly shaved pecorino cheese. The dish also had a soft boiled egg mixed in which really smoothed out the texture.

When I asked my server Frank, who has been with Chef Bill from restaurants in the past, what he thought about the lambsteak, he had a good answer for me. He said, its not something I recommend to everyone since its not a popular cut of Lamb here. The problem that some people have with this particular cut of lamb is that there are a few large bones located throughout the steak that you have to surgically negotiate through. Since he knew I was a bit of a foodie, I would personally have no problem with the dish. And he was right on all accounts. The bones were located differently than you would find on let's say a bone in Ribeye which runs along one side of the steak. But what you get in return is more flavor in the steak due to the fact that you have more bone to meat surface. It just needs a little extra time with the knife but when your out to a meal at Lefarm, your not in a rush. The Lambsteak is served upon a bed of soft Polenta and speckled with roasted broccoli. The dish is pulled together with the sofrito which is a sauce traditionally made with small diced onions and tomatoes. If you like lamb, I highly suggest getting this dish.

Usually I stop there when I go out for a meal but when Frank listed off the desserts, one of them sounded so unique I had to try it. I have had Chef Bill's cornbread before but not like this. He served the cornbread with drizzled Honey and a quenelle of maple cayenne pepper ice cream and topped with Crumbled candied bacon. WOW is what I thought and WOW is what I said after I ate the whole thing. It was amazing. The cornbread is great on it's own but with the ice cream and candied bacon it just made it a savory dessert that I would get anytime. I have heard of candied bacon before but getting to try it was a real treat. It has the extreme flavor contrasts that you get with a chocolate covered pretzel. Extreme salt and extreme sweet. It worked great with this dish since it accented the cornbread rather than taking it over.

Anita had just experimented with pumpkin cheesecake over the Thanksgiving holiday and it came out great. Since it was her first foray into this type of cheesecake, she was anxious to see what others tasted like and ordered a slice this evening. The flavor of the cheesecake was very good and it was a lighter fluffier consistency. It was served with Maple ice cream and a nice smear of nutella.

Again, another fabulous meal at leFarm. If you haven't tried it yet, you have to get in there. Make sure you check them out on the web at www.lefarmwestport.com
Also Check them out on facebook where you will see specials of family style dinners. This is where they put all the tables together and for a nominal fee you get a constant flow of food and wine mixed with people from all over.

Smoke Em If You Got Em..........Delaware Delicacies.. in Hancock, NY

2009-11-28T16:17:00.001-05:00

Down a long dirt road, past the transfer station off of Route 17 in Hancock NY, lies the home, smokehouse, and store of Ray Turner. I have seen the signs for Delaware Delicacies for years while traveling the road from our place to my Mother-in-law's home for some time now. I have always wanted to know more about this place and finally remembered a few months ago to look it up. It was worth reading about this place but even better going there to see it.

You literally are in the middle of no where when you drive on the dirt road to this place. The signs along the way comfort you because without them, you would turn around because you wouldn't know what exists at the end of the road.

Inside this small building is a large refrigerator, 6' display case and a smoker out back. Ray greets me and I feel like I'm talking to someone who tried out for the ZZ Top Band and decided to go another route in life. All over the walls are pictures of Ray with fish, eel, birds and many friends. Out in back of his house lies the Delaware River where Ray gets a lot of his product. His main product is river eels and trout that he catches himself with nets. I enjoy eel and have for years only had it done from Japanese restaurants so I was curious to know what smoked eel tastes like. But it looks like I'll have to wait another day as Ray informed me that all the local restaurants cleared out his entire supply earlier this morning. So this leads me to believe, this guy has something good going here. He showed me his display case that housed a bunch of smoked delicacies. Two types of salmon, both hot and cold smoked. He had a good amount of smoked Cornish game hens, and small chickens. His trout was smoked whole with skin on. I asked him why since I have had smoked trout before and it was the filet's only. He said when you do it with the skin off, the outside gets brown, which is true but doesn't bother me. He says when you do it with the skin on, it stays nice and white. He also had whole slabs of bacon that he gets from a local source. Ray said they make it so good, there is no reason to do anything else but to eat it or sell it. So he does both. Then on the top rack are two things I have heard about from previous blogs. Shrimp and cheese. The shrimp are hot smoked with the shell on and the cheese was of the Mozzarella variety. He says the cheese takes a while to make. 36 hours of smoking at a temperature of 65 degrees. I don't think I can get my smoker that low. But would love to try it one day.

The kids were getting antsy and I had to make my selection. I could have stayed all day and talked to Ray as he is a real interesting guy to meet. So I decided on a whole slab of Bacon (duh, i'm gonna pass on that) smoked Mozzarella, two whole trout, a dozen shrimp, and a jar of Pennsylvania sauerkraut.

When I got home, I had to try the shrimp. Well I had to try two :-). The shrimp are smoked with the shell on and after peeling them, the smoky smell emerges. The flesh was firm and delicious but the outside in certain spots were a little soft. The taste was very smoky and if you have ever had smoked shellfish before, it has a unique taste to it. Its very strong and briny which I know is not for everyone. I like fishy fish and seafood so for me it is good. But I don't see this as tops for everyone's list. It has inspired me to try to smoke shell fish in the future. I will try to smoke shrimp both with shells and without. I have also eaten Sea Scallops that were smoked and they had the same strong smell and taste but I loved it. I will try it one day and report back to you.

In the meantime, next time your driving through Hancock NY, it's worth a trip to see Ray. He told me to call ahead when I'm passing through to see if he has eel in stock. I have already added him to my phone numbers.

Ray has no presence online other than blogs like mine. So if you want to see him, here is how you do it.

Delaware Delicacies Smoke House
420 Rhodes Rd.
Hancock NY 13783
607-637-4443

He is off of route 17 at Exit 87A

Via Sforza Westport......A little bit of Tuscany in Fairfield County CT

2009-11-28T15:49:00.000-05:00

I was very happy to have gotten home from my trip and had an opportunity to go to dinner with just Anita, my wife. We decided to to go to Via Sforza in Westport CT which is located on the Westport Norwalk Border. The outside looks like something you would see in Tuscany Italy (not that I've been there but I've seen photos) with it's round stone facade and rustic wood door. Inside when you walk in, your greeted by the Brick oven that is roaring to cook all the pizzas that are so popular.

Since we had pizza earlier, we decided to get some of the other things on the menu. Anita had started with the Insalate Principe which was an elegant mix of Endive, Arugula and Radicchio. The dressing was bright and refreshing like the rest of the salad. A great way to start a meal.

I am a big fan of seafood and love Mussels. So I ordered the Cozze in Brodo which is Mussels with white wine sauce. The sauce had a good amount of garlic and parsley and it was excellent with the rustic country bread that the restaurant served to mop up the sauce. I think I returned the bowl dry.

For the Entree's Anita ordered Pappardelle il Forno, which were wide broad noodles that were served with Porcini mushrooms, sausage, peas, in a light creamy tomato sauce. When it cam out I personally thought it looked heavy but after tasting it, it had a nice balance. The sausage had a nice bite to it which went great with the sauce.

I ordered the Pasta a la Vongole. Which is Pasta with Clam Sauce. Its a personal weakness for me. I love Linguini and white clam sauce and have a hard time resisting it when I see it on the menu. Plus I have had it there before and it's real good. The dish comes with capallini noodles which i'm not a fan of. I requested linguini and they had no problem with the change. There was lots of garlic in the sauce and the clams were cooked to perfection. A great meal indeed.

Via Sforza can be found on the Post Road in Westport on the Norwalk border. You can get more information here as well: www.viasforza.com

MIX in Las Vegas.....The Vegas trip ends with the Big Bang

2009-11-25T14:17:00.001-05:00

MIX is located on top of the The Hotel at Mandalay Bay Casino and is the Genius that has been created by famed French Chef Alain Ducasse. I personally have gone here about 5 times and it never gets old. First if you come here you have to stop off at the lounge to get a drink. The Lounge has a view that is next to none of Las Vegas. From this angle you can see the entire strip all the way up to Freemont St. After getting a drink, and I know this will sound weird, go to the bathroom. The Bathrooms have floor to ceiling windows that allows you to do your business like your sitting on the edge of building. If your constipated for some the view will scare the crap out of you. And what a better place right? Come on, you knew it was coming.

When you walk from the Lounge to the dining room you pass the very large open kitchen where you can see the magic happening. Then you come to the dining room, you see that the room is surrounded in almost floor to ceiling strings of glass balls of different size and shape creating the look as if your jumping into a glass of Champagne. The five of us were seated and given the menu's to glance over.

While sitting and waiting, we were served a selection of warm breads that were excellent. But what made them great was the butter that was served. One one side was a rich and creamy butter and on the other side was a fresh peanut butter.

We talked about sharing some appetizers and most of us did. Two of us got the Bigeye Tuna Tartar with Mango Chutney and taro chips. The tuna was fresh and bright tasting with hints of pepper. They were great when you used the taro chips as an edible spoon. The mango Chutney added some nice sweetness to the dish but it would have been fine without it.

Another one of us got the seared Duck Foie Gras with warm Lentils. I have to say, this is one dish I will definitely try again. The outside of the Foie Gras was caramelized so well that it had such a different flavor from the inside of the liver. It was like having two different dishes in one.

Also on the appetizers were Potato Gnocchi with pumpkin and crispy bacon. Unfortunatley I was too involved in my Tuna to try this and my cousin said I was an idiot for not paying attention. He said they were really great and adding the bacon made the dish, as bacon will do with just about anything.

The last appetizer that was ordered was the Chicken/coconut Thai Soup. It smelled and looked amazing. I was told it was as good as it looked.

Now come the Mains. I'll list them in the order in which you see the photos below. I didn't get to try them but I can say they looked better in person than they do here. Beef Tenderloin was done traditionally "Sauce Au Poivre" (pepper sauce) with mixed Vegetables, Pork Loin & Belly (my favorite) with grits, swiss chard and BBQ Sauce, Salmon with Apple mustard and Jasmine Rice and finally the Rack of Lamb with Japanese eggplant and tomato. I had the lamb and it was done differently than I have had it before. In the past I have had it served in the traditional way that had about 6 ribs with the bone frenched. This way was served just the medallions. I had ordered it medium rare and it was so tender. It obviously made it easier to eat since you had no bone to deal with, but that also takes the fun out of eating the last bits off the bone. But perhaps they was what I looked like when I was there last time gnawing on the bones like a Labrador retriever.

To round off the mains, we got Asparagus spears which were great but I wanted to call attention to the mac and cheese. yes mac and cheese. This is a side that I get every time I am here. If ordered as a main dish, you wouldn't be able to eat the whole thing because it's so rich. Elbow macaroni is swimming among a rich cheesy bechamel sauce that is dotted with small cubes of ham. You would be doing yourself injustice if you didn't get this with your meal.

The dessert menu had a good selection but the item that has been there the most is the Mix Candy Bar. I'm not sure exactly what is in it but the photo that you see below didn't last long. Minutes later the plate was bare.

I highly recommend going to Mix if you have the opportunity. If for nothing else, go to the lounge and order a cocktail and drink in the view. it will be well worth it to step back and admire the lights dancing below.

Mix can be found at The Hotel at Mandalay bay. For more information, go here:
http://mandalaybay.com/dining/mix.aspx

Craftsteak at MGM Grand.... Top Chef's Head Judge cooks up a winner

2009-11-21T18:16:00.000-05:00

MGM Grand is full of some great names for dining. Emril Lagasse has his fish house there, Joel Robuchon has two places there and so does Michael Mina. But if your looking for a good steak at that hotel, you stop at Craftsteak by Top Chef's head judge Tom Coliccio.

Craftsteak is set up among the long hallway in the back of the casino with the other restaurants. As you walk down the aisle from the casino, it's lays dead ahead. Like most steakhouses I have been to, it's all ala carte. One of the specialties the Chef Coliccio has in his menu is the Wagyu beef. He has an assortment of cuts from USA Wagyu and Japanese Wagyu. I've had Wagyu beef in Japan on some of my trips there and it is heavenly. Supposedly the beef is massaged and the steer is fed beer and the finest of grains. The meat melts in your mouth. It even tastes better when someone else flips the bill so there was no Wagyu melting this evening. Come on, 1/2 of the cuts were over $100 and the Japanese Wagyu topped off at $240 for an 8 oz. steak.

So this night, we went the cheap road. Well not so cheap. I'm yet to go to a steakhouse where the average steak is less than $40. And let me tell you, this was real good. I can't imagine that the Wagyu was worth paying double because the steaks that we had were phenomenal. Let me walk you through our evening.

My cousin Mike and I were accompanied by two very good clients of ours who like us, were craving a nice steak. We were seated in a very comfortable round booth and figured out what we would order. One of us started with a Shrimp Cocktail that looked like the size of a small fist. You heard the flesh snap as he bit into it. We ordered two salads for the table. One Farmers Market Salad and the other was Arugula and Preserved Lemons. Both were excellent and bright tasting. The portions for both were enough for all four of us.

The main dishes consisted of really two types of beef. two of us got the 10 oz. Filet Mignon and the others got the 16 oz. bone in Rib Eye. The Filet's were served to us in cast iron skillets and the Rib Eye's were served to us in Copper pans. It was certainly an impressive display as the meat comes out this way. I had gotten the Rib Eye and it was very tender. The great thing about having the steaks served to us this way was that you can cut a piece and dip it in the juice that came with the pan.

The Filet was even more tender as that is the general nature of the cut. One of the guys we were with had me try his since he was getting too full. His steak was ordered medium well which is not the way I generally get my steak. It was funny when he ordered it as he told the server the chef will hate him for what he was going to do to his steak. But even cooked Medium well, the steak was so soft and tender and full of flavor.

Now as great as the steak's were and the way they should be, the sides were really spectacular. One of our four said he really wanted the Sweet Potato Puree. I'm not a real sweet potato guy so I ordered the Yukon Gold Puree. We also got the chantrelle mushrooms and the asparagus to round off the sides. The Asparagus were cooked perfectly and real soft and had some sprinkled Parmesan on the top.

The Chantrelles were a bit disappointing as they really lacked flavor. The Yukon Gold Puree was really great and there is nothing better than mashed potatoes with a good piece of steak. But the shining star for the sides were the Sweet Potato Puree. As I mentioned before, the Sweet Potato is not one of my favorites. But these were incredible. They were cooked with Maple Syrup, brown sugar and fresh chopped thyme. If you go here, you have to get the Sweet Potato Puree.

We also got the Maui Onions that were almost as sweet as the Vidallia onions we get in June.

We were almost full at this point. But when we saw the dessert menu, there were too many things not to pass up. So here is what we got.

The most unique dessert was the Orange and Basil Sorbet. It was savory and sweet and just really delicious. we also got an assortment of Sorbet's and a Chocolate cake that had the rich chocolate ooze out when you cut into it. It looked so good, the only thing that got in the way was the plate.

This was truly a memorable steak dinner. The atmosphere there as well as the servers were all excellent and always available for any questions or requests that you might have.

Craftsteak can be found at the MGM Casino. You can get more information here: http://www.mgmgrand.com/restaurants/craftsteak-steak-house.aspx

Hot and Juicy Crawfish……..Get Ready To Get Down and Dirty Naw’lins Style

2009-11-19T22:31:00.001-05:00

In a fairly tone down strip mall a few miles west of the strip, lies a restaurant whose bold flavors should make the roof blow from the top. Hot and Juicy Crawfish is located on the edge of Las Vegas’ Chinatown. It’s spaces is decorated very mildly with a few beer posters hanging on the walls. Tables in rows are all covered in White plastic and each table has a paper towel roll and holder on each of them. I had read this is a place you don’t go for the décor. You go for what goes on the table.

I had heard about this place also from the show Man V. Food on the Travel Channel episode of Las Vegas where I learned about a place called Hash House A Go-Go. I had written about that earlier in a previous entry you should see below. The show talked about how with an eclectic mix of herbs and spices they make a sauce that tops the boiled up Crawfish that is so full of flavor that your mouth will thank you for months.

I had done some reading on other blogs that had said, in addition to the crawfish, we should try the shrimp and the Dungeness Crab. I love Dungeness crab and it’s not common for me to see it on menus other than locations on the west coast. Native to the San Francisco bay area, Dungeness crabs stay mostly on the west coast unless you find a few other places with an appreciation for it. When we inquired about it, we were told they were out of the Dungeness for the day. Bummer, but I’m sure I’d find something else to replace it. We decided to get the Crawfish, the Shrimp, and the King Crab. We asked about sauces that can be put on the seafood. You had a choice of Louisiana style, Juicy Cajun, Garlic Butter, Lemon Pepper, or the most popular Hot and Juicy Special. We were told that the Hot and Juicy Special is basically all the others combined.

You also had to select a level of spice for each of the sauces you picked. You had Mild, Medium, Spicy and Extra Spicy. My cousin Mike who was with me is more human than I am when it comes to spice. It is very rare that I say that something is too spicy. For me, the more heat the better. But not everyone is like that. Our Server Noemy, who was on the show, told us that their spices are hotter than most and to order one level down from what you would normally order. So we ordered Mild for the shrimp, Medium for the Crawfish and because Mike doesn't like crab, I got them Extra Spicy.

The Crawfish came out first. All the food is served in a plastic bag that holds the seafood with the sauce.

The crawfish comes with two pieces of Corn and two red bliss potatoes which are also in the bag. When you look inside, you see the crawfish swimming in this rich bold sauce and they are speckled with fresh garlic. When you open the bag up, your table is overwhelmed with the scent.

We then reached in and grabbed our first of many crustation. Now for those you not fortunate to have seen a Crawfish, it’s basically a small lobster. But the only thing worth working to eat for are the tails. Yes there are some where the claws are big but the shells are so thick that its difficult to break it open to get the corn kernel size piece of meat. So as you know, the shell is not edible but the entire is covered in the incredible sauce. So watching others in the place found me putting the entire head into my mouth to suck off all the garlic and juice that was layered in it’s legs. (sounds really barbaric doesn’t it). As you remember, we ordered this dish with medium spice. It was hot but not to the point that you were reaching for your beer. The rich flavor was enhanced with the heat and the heat didn’t over power at all. But I was thinking if this was Medium, I might be in trouble with the King Crab ordered Extra Spicy. Then keeping in “Conan the Barbarian” form, you tear the tail from the body. You suck out the juices from the head portion, (yes, you’re sucking on all it’s guts at this point. But it’s so good!!!!! Then you squeeze the tip of the tail so the meat pops out of the top of the tail. With your teeth, you pull the meat from it’s shell. How much meat do you get? Well its probably equivalent to a piece of meat a little larger than a cashew nut. Yes that is right, all that work for that size meat. But that is why you get lots of them and you get other things.

Like Shrimp which came out next. So when you finish a crawfish, you have the body and the tail shell left over. We asked Noemy what we do with the shells, she said that is why the tables are covered in plastic. Just put them on the table. So we did.

The shrimp were ordered in Mild spice. It too came in a plastic bag. The shrimps were cooked whole meaning, they had the heads on them as well. The sauce was much thinner than the Crawfish and because the shell on a shrimp is much smoother than a crawfish, the sauce didn’t stay on the shrimp so well. You take the shrimp and obviously remove the head. The inside of the Shrimp isn’t filled with the juice as well as the crawfish so you don’t suck the heads of this one. But you peel the shrimp as you would in any peel and eat shrimp and dip the shrimp back into the sauce. I found without the heat it was more buttery tasting but had a nice mild flavor. And was a good change from the medium heat.

Then comes the king crab. Noemy said that she was worried for me because not many people order the extra spicy because of it’s mega heat. So I opened the bag and sauce was much deeper in color than the crawfish. Plus the chunks of garlic were much darker as they absorbed all the sauce into them.

I grabbed some meat from the Knuckle which had a good amount of sauce in it. Here goes, I said to my cousin as he watched and waited for the burning reaction to my stupidity. The flavor of the sauce was much much richer than the medium. The heat was there like the medium and we both waited for my hair to melt from my head. I made sure to identify where the beer was incase I was suddenly blinded from overwhelming heat that was going to put a hole in my tongue. We waited. Hair remained on my head, no hole in my tongue, lips were not on fire and of course there was no sweat on my brow. So I dove in. Noemy can over to see how I was coping and she said, you’re not sweating. I think she was disappointed that she didn’t see a sweaty blubbering mess at the table.

By the end of the meal, it looked like the aftermath of a Viking meal with carcasses thrown astray on the table. It was really a funny sight. Now you look at the photo and you think, well Al is officially a disgusting pig and we should question what he things is good or not.

But when you look around at the other tables, you see the same pile of shells everywhere. But the best is watching them clean up. Lift the plastic from the corners and ball it all up for the trash. Wha-la.

If you like seafood and you like with bold flavors, you will love Hot and Juicy Crawfish. It’s worth the 15 min. taxi ride from the strip.

Hot and Juicy Crawfish can be found at 4810 Spring Mountain Rd in Las Vegas. 702-891-8889. You can also see them online at www.myspace.com/hotnjuicy_crawfish

Sushi Samba at the Palazzo…..Tri –Cultural, Try Everything

2009-11-19T22:17:00.000-05:00

Sushi Samba is a Tri-Cultural mix of Japanese, Brazilian, and Peruvian Cuisine’s all wrapped up into one distinctive menu. You have your Sake’s and Sushi selections from Japan, Churasco’s (meat selections) form Brazil and Seviche’s from Peru. Sushi Samba has locations all over the country. New York, Miami, Chicago, Tel Aviv, and of course, Las Vegas.

This is a type of meal that is best when you have multiple people so you can try a whole bunch of great food. And multiple people is just what we had. In total, our party was 6 which meant some good eats coming out way. Now for many, trying an eclectic mix of non-common cultural foods is over whelming, but our group was pretty strong in trying new things.

Being that its got a strong Japanese influence, we asked for some edamame to nibble on while we figured out our meal.

Both my cousin and I have been to Sushi Samba before and we are both very adventurous eaters. So for us, we just look at the menu and say "Yes Please" and we are done. But we did have others with us. Our server saw that were were pretty undecided and suggested that she put together something for us. We just needed to tell her what we were interested in. She made sure that we had enough of each dish we called out so that everyone could get a try. Some of the sushi wasn't on the favorite's list for a few people so the server made sure that she didn't over order the raw items. So this is what we got:

We started out with Tuna Tataki which had some tatsoi leaf and crunch hearts of palm in it. This dish was very tasty and was easy to eat in one bite.

Next we got Berkshire pork Gyoza. As you can see in the photo below, Gyoza are dumplings, and you can put pretty much anything in them. The pork that were inside was so tender that it literally fell apart when you took a bite out of it. The sauce that was in the dumplings were rich so more than just one might be too much. They were a bit slippery so those of us who were chop stick challenged provided us with some amusing moments with this little suckers.

Next came the Seviche's. (that is how they spelled it. I thought it was with a C but what do I know) Both my cousin Mike and I are a huge fan of these refreshing plates and made sure we ordered both the shrimp and the lobster seviche. The Shrimp was made with passion fruit and had some cucumbers and peppers that balanced the sweet fruit with a nice bite at the finish when you eat it. On top of the Shrimp were fried plantains that you could use to scoop up the Seviche to add a nice sweet crunchiness to the taste. The lobster was also made with fruit but had Mango instead of the Passion fruit. It also had hearts of palm mixed into it giving the crunch in your mouth. Both Seviche's were very tasty but it is my understanding that a Ceviche (how I know it to be spelled) is seafood that is cooked only by the acid in citrus fruits as it marinates for over 24 hours. Both the shrimp and the lobster were cooked with traditional means in these dishes. Don't get me wrong, they were delicious but not true Ceviche's as I know it. Maybe that is why it's spelled differently.

Next came the Sushi, but not just any sushi, someone else's sushi. I have learned that someone else's sushi should taste much better than your own. I say should because when we have eaten 1/2 of it and asked the server what it was, they say not yours, it's free. Now that alone should make it taste better right? In my opinion these two sounded good on paper but lacked the fresh bright bite you get with sushi. It was a bit bland but the non raw fish eaters enjoyed it. On the right was the Pacific roll which had king crab, avocado, and asian pear wrapped in soy paper and was with wasabi-avocado crema. It just lacked the fresh taste you get with sushi. The left side was the Rainbow Dragon. Eel was inside with avocado red bell pepper and topped with mango. I think the Mango was too strong for the eel and you couldn't really taste it. The good news was that some of the others at the table really liked the strong mango flavor so when our order of sushi came out, we had one of these rolls on it.

Next up were the warm dishes. Duck breasts was first with a ginger soy glaze. Two breasts were grilled and glazed with a sweet soy. Really great flavor.

Next was the pork belly which lately I have a hard time not ordering when I see it on the menu. This was cooked in a butterscotch glaze that balanced the saltiness that pork belly can have with the sweet soy glaze.

Finally the last warm dish came out. Chilean Sea Bass was cubed and put on skewers and covered with a miso glaze. This tasted sweeter but similar to the duck. But the really cool addition to this dish was the Peruvian corn. They were very large very starchy kernals of corn that tasted almost like potato. They were fun to just nibble on.

Lastly our Sushi came and for me unfortunately, I felt that it really wasn't the best part of the meal. It wasn't bad it just wasn't as good as I thought it could be. But that aside, there is a big menu to go through that makes up for the sushi in my opinion. Its a great scene with a great lively environment. It's worth the visit. Oh, and if you like Sake, they have many, if not the biggest selection of Sake's in that town.

Sushi Samba can be found at the Palazzo hotel on the Strip in Las Vegas. For more information, go here: http://sushisamba.com/index.cfm/id/14/id2/44.html

Pink's Hot Dogs... Famed L.A. eatery done Vegas Style

2009-11-15T21:14:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't enjoy a great hot dog. Whenever I'm having a BBQ at my house, a hot dog is an unspoken appetizer that is always served. Now being from New York, there is really only one way to have this delicacy. Mustard and Sauerkraut. Ok, maybe that's the Jewish Bronx version but it's what I know as an authentic dog. It kills me to see my kids put, dare I admit this to my readers, Ketchup on a dog. But they eat it and at this age, I'm happy when they eat anything. As I have traveled all over I have had the opportunities to try different dogs done in different ways. The Coney chili dog in Detroit, the famed Chicago dog with neon relish and peppers and so many more.

I have been meaning to go to Pink's on my past trips to L.A. but never had the opportunity until now. Pink's is located at Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino in las Vegas. They have a large list of hot dogs to try there. Their signature dog is a Chili dog but I'm not a fan of chili on anything other than a spoon. But there were others that looked interesting. I ordered the Brooklyn Pastrami swiss cheese dog and the big man dog.

The Brooklyn Pastrami Swiss cheese dog was excellent. Melted Swiss cheese was on the bottom of the bun and the hot dog put onto the cheese. Peppery lean pastrami was placed over the dog and yellow mustard topped it all off. the second dog, the big man dog, was a hot dog with tomato and onions and I asked them to put sauerkraut on it as well. All of this was served with some great deep fried onion rings.

I've never met a hot dog I didn't like. But still to this day, I like a good natural casing dog with spicy deli mustard and hot sauerkraut the best.

Pink's is located outside the Planet Hollywood hotel on the strip in Las Vegas.
http://www.planethollywoodresort.com/din_pinks.php