Experimenting with quick pickling...several meals at Momofuku were the inspiration and the recipe comes from David Chang himself. However, our 1st attempt following the proportions for the brine (1 Cup hot water, 1/2 cup rice vinegar, 6 tbsp sugar and 2 1/4 tsp kosher salt) came out a bit too sweet for my palate. We'll try reducing the amount of sugar the next batch.
Monday, June 7, 2010
CSA's and Pickling
Its been a bountiful 1st few weeks of the CSA season...lots of kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, radishes, garlic scapes, spring onions, turnips, broccoli, Napa cabbage, bok choy, leeks, arugula, daikon, basil, dill, collards, chard, fennel and even a bit of summer squash. Thomas O'Neal of Signal Mountain Farms is an amazing local producer who has the most beautiful produce. Williams Island Farm is the other CSA we've enrolled in this year and they also are doing a terrific job.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Quick Notes
Great trip recently to see Monticello, Yorktown and Williamsburg. 3 restaurants worthy of recommending.
Best of the lot was Fat Canary in Williamsburg. Fantastic appetizers and a market based menu, with great prices on the wine list...a Copain Pinot that we bought from the winery for 50 dollars was 63 on the list. Why can't more restaurants take the European approach to wine pricing? Walking out of the restaurant to a healthy debate between three William and Mary students about religion...each standing on a step ladder!
Also in Williamsburg is Le Yaca which is French, but fairly casual with a 37 dollar 4 course tasting menu. Everything was superbly done except for a "sea bass" which did not seem to be of the Mediterranean variety....those that chose beef as their entrees were very pleased.
Finally, C & O was a last minute replacement for Taste of China (Peter Chang snuck out of town yet again the weekend before we were to eat there). It was generally very good. Here's a link to the latest in the Peter Chang saga
and it appears he may be headed back to Atlanta:
or maybe not:
And an April Fool take on Chef Chang:
Speaking of Atlanta, Chef Kevin Gillespie of Top Chef fame is at Woodfire Grill in Atlanta. We had 3 meals there in the late winter and 2 of the 3 put in the top echelon of fine Atlanta dining (though Atlanta has always had a dearth of top end restaurants...the generally accepted number 1 is Bacchanalia, but its always seemed a bit tired to us. The presentation at Woodfire Grill was sub par, but the flavors were excellent except at the third meal when Chef was out of town. I've since heard of another similar experience, so if you go, confirm that Gillespie is actually at the open kitchen.
If you are visiting Chattanooga the next few weeks, Erik Niel of Easy Bistro has Chesapeake soft shells in...he does them 2 different ways, and they are better than the Alinea version we had this time last year.
It appears that you will soon be able to mail order some of Townhouse Chef Karen Urie Shields creations soon. Hope those olive oil cakes & the onion breakfast tart are available, too.
Monday, March 22, 2010
McCrady's and Townhouse: America's Arzak and Mugaritz
Originally, I had wanted to do a post on a recent culinary swing we did last month through Savannah and Charleston but we only one restaurant worthy of recommending.
McCradys was so outstanding that we cancelled our next evening reservation at FIG to go back. All the other recommended/touted places in both cities were at best ok. Put Chef Sean Brock and his tasting menu on the short list of best restaurants in the US.
McCradys is a busy place...and a complicated one. I sense that Chef has to please both a traditional clientele, but has been given creative freedom with his tasting menu. Here is where the terrific experience lies....where imagination and creativity rule. Elements of molecular gastronomy(i've come to dislike this term.. it fails to explain the intellectualism and sheer artistry that go into this style of cooking) pervade these dishes.
Several specific items of note from these 2 dinners. First, I'm not generally a lobster tail fan...most times I find it texturally too tough...I'd rather have Crawfish most times. The tail meat is more tender and sweeter. The exception to this is the butter poaching technique championed by Thomas Keller...love it. So Chef Brock takes this technique but improves on it using foie butter and borrowing a technique for removing leg meat(which is inherently more tender than the tail) from Wylie DuFresne. Brock trumps Keller.
Second, we had a crispy pork terrine that seemed similar to Daniel Humm's Eleven Madison Park version. Chef Brock again made his better.
Third, the guy makes his own molasses. This is a dying art. Several years ago we were invited to a friend's family farm to watch/participate in the process of making molasses that this family had done for 3 generations...they grew the cane and had a hillside gravity flow operation...it took all weekend- a very labor intensive process. The family informed me recently that due to lack of interest among the new generation of family members, they were forced to discontinue this tradition.
Fourth, he's taken the concept of sourcing local to heart, starting a large garden for the restaurant.
Chef Brock is one of the new generation of chefs that is taking American cuisine to the next level. The Keller generation has largely become restauranters- Keller admits in a recent Wine Spectator article that he no longer cooks in his restaurants. The fact that Brock can succeed in pleasing both a more traditional clientele and one looking for more creativity is a monumental accomplishment. Wow. You wonder what Chef Brock could do if the constraints came off and he was able to explore his creative bent. Still one of the best meals in the US right now.
Townhouse in Chilhowie VA is the most under appreciated dining destination in the United States right now. It is the best meal in the United States, if not the world. It is an example of what happens when a pair of chefs are given total creative freedom. The owners, Tom and Kyra Bishop, are visionaries. It is the style of food that appeals most to us these days. The last couple of years have been an epiphany for us, beginning with 2 trips to Spain in 2008 and 2009 (and a terrific meal at Noma in Copenhagen preceeding that), followed by a couple of trips to Chicago last year where we were able to experience several of our country's greatest talents. For this style of cooking, look to Chicago not New York. (Schwa, however, has remained an elusive reservation for us).
John and Karen Shields food appeals to you cognitively...it drives you to consider each element of the dish. It appeals to you emotionally...you can't help but be moved by the supreme effort, the love and the care that goes into each creation. It appeals to your right brain, realizing the artistry of the presentation. It appeals to your palate, pushing you to experience new flavor combinations. Some chefs are combining savory and sweet these days, but few to the effect that the Shields do. There seems to be an incredible attention to details like melding a dish texturally. And I can honestly say that the John has only improved since the 1st meal we had there last May.
We ate there for a third time Saturday, completely on a whim, after seeing a photo 2 days previously of a dish representing Spring rain, which included banana ice cream, avocado, peas, nasturtium and our favorite legume, favas. No dish repeated anything we'd had previously...a pair of tiny tacos with pork belly and kaffir were the new amuse bouche...an amazing bite. Many of the dishes are pictured on the website of the restaurant at http://townhouseva.com/ (see the link to the blog http://townhouseblog.blogspot.com/. We had the oyster, the shrimp dish, the squid risotto, the hearts of palm, the morel dish, the Valencia orange, the scrambled egg mousse, the scallop, a horse mackerel, and a couple of Karen's wonderful desserts. Terrific wine service by Charlie Berg. Best meal of our lives.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Peter Chang at Taste of China Charlottesville, Va
He can run but he cannot hide!
2 recent links to articles about the elusive, on the move Peter Chang, and the hunt to keep up with him!
New Yorker, Calvin Trillin Article can be found here:
IMHO, a better article can be found here:
We are off to Charlottesville in a few weeks for a try. Of course, Townhouse in Chilhowie, VA is on the way! townhouseva.com
Monday, January 25, 2010
Quito Ecuador
We spent a couple of days here as a staging point for a Galapagos trip...my advice would be to skip Quito if you can. Its a strange city that becomes deserted at dark...really kind of eerie. You are told to take cabs door to door even if its a couple of blocks, and security (armed guard types) is everywhere. Though we never had any problems, its uncomfortable realizing you can't just go for a walk.
Having said that, if you find yourself in Quito, you must go to the Quito branch of Astrid y Gaston...this is better than the original Lima location...infinitely more creative and lighter style of food. I'll post some photos soon. Everywhere else we dined seemed so tired and touristy...
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