Dinner at the CIA

When someone asks you, would you like to go to dinner at the Culinary Institute of America, the correct response is, "Yes." For years, I've wanted to go, but given that it's two hours outside NYC and I don't have a car, the logistics never worked out, until my friend Paul organized a trip to American Bounty.

I'm not sure if the service was impeccable because we had a large group or because it's always like that, but it was. The waiter was knowledgeable about all the dishes and was able to make suggestions about pairings. I started with a blanc de noir at the bar - I was so excited they actually had one labeled as such on the menu! And even the rosemary bread was delicious.

I had the daily preparation of foie gras, which was served with a sweet potato puree. I had a taste of the foie gras to start and then took a taste of the sweet potato. Both were delicious, but it didn't work for me until I took the final bite and put them both on the spoon at the same time. I could no longer taste the special flavor of the foie gras - but the combination was spectacular.

I generally find entrees less interesting than appetizers and I'm afraid that was true of the simmer short ribs. I can only describe it as monolithic - tasty and well-prepared, but ultimately not particularly interesting.

I had the gingerbread cake for dessert, mostly because I wanted to see how the CIA did caramel. It was fine, although not quite as much of a knockout as the foie gras. Unfortunately, I think 4 hours round trip is a bit much for even that foie gras. Read More......

Orzo with barbecue chicken

I love living next door to Dallas BBQ. My Texan friend tells me it's not real bbq, but that's ok - why learn to roast chicken when I can have one at my door in <15 mins, for <$10?

Instead of using the last breast as a topping for a romaine and tomato salad as I usually do, this morning I ate it with orzo. I fried some onions and in the same pot, boiled water for whole wheat orzo. I bought the orzo once upon a time, thinking I'd replicate my favorite dish from Aux Delice, an orzo salad, but apparently cooking orzo is not as simple as I thought. I once tried it in a rice cooker - terrible idea, it turned into a tan sludge. This morning I followed the directions on the jar, cooking it like a pasta; the only difference was that there was a little olive oil and onions in the pan already. Unfortunately, the orzo turned out to be a little wetter than I wanted. On the other hand, the onions perfectly set off the chicken (and leftover barbecue sauce) to make a flavorful repast. Read More......

Lentil Soup At Last

I finally got my lentils, but I no longer had the original recipe, so I used Cook's Illustrated's "hearty lentil soup with fragrant spice" recipe. It was my first time cooking lentil soup, and lentils in general continue to be a mystery, so I want to get all the details down.

The recipe called for coriander, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne, but I think the soup would've been better without the fragrant spices. The bacon and the lentils themselves already had so much flavor, it seems a waste to use good ingredients and then mask them.

If the recipe were from anywhere but C-I, I'd be complaining about quality control: the recipe said to cook until the vegetables are softened - multiple times. How soft can a carrot get?? One step also calls for cooking until the lentils darkened - except they were already dark and speckled. Actually, I would argue the lentils lightened in the cooking process. Also, the recipe calls for 0.5c wine, 4.5c chicken broth, and 1.5c water. I like my soups less watery than most, so I left out the last; the final result was almost too watery for me even still. With that amount of liquid, I'd've assumed something in the soup was supposed to absorb water, but of course the lentils did not.

Despite the above complaints, I'm content with this batch of soup. It's warm and the nuttiness of the lentils is deeply satisfying. Read More......

Winter Soup

I consider soup to be the highest ROI food you can cook: it's filling and healthy, with a high tolerance for cooking errors. I'd been looking for a while for a black bean soup because they are so high in iron and once again, Cook's Illustrated had the answers.

I was unfamiliar with some of their techniques: they don't pre-soak the beans, but cook them with the ham steak for 1.5 hours, with the vegetables sauteed in another pot. I'm not crazy about having to wash multiple pots, but this was worth it. I substituted a smoked pork chop made with Berkshire pigs for the ham steak - it seemed like it would have more flavor. Combined with the cumin in the main recipe, it gave the soup a delightful smoky flavor, just perfect for a cold winter's night. Read More......

The Anti-Brown Bag

I've been having a bad week, and yesterday was particularly bad, until I thought to call my friend Patrick for lunch. Despite the recession, Bar Americain was packed and could not accommodate us for an hour, but his favorite restaurant, Redeye Grill, had a table available.

I wasn't all that hungry: I mostly needed to be taken care of, and some good company. Ever since reading Taras Grescoe's Bottomfeeders, I've been trying to eat more oysters, but I don't know much about them, so I let Patrick pick. I got 3 each of the Blue Island and Pearl Point oysters. The former were large and salty, and tasted particularly good with a teensy dab of cocktail sauce; the latter were creamy, as if they were covered in a thick white sauce, and were even better with a little lemon.

Patrick's also great at picking wine, so I didn't bother looking at the list. He chose a pinot noir and we had a long discussion of why that would taste good. In a wine tasting class, I learned that proper pinot noir should taste like wet carpet, so I've avoided it since. Patrick pointed out that it tastes good with food and then glared at me when I commented that oysters taste like wet carpet too.

He had diver scallops. I protested loudly that I don't like scallops when he put one on my plate and he laughed when I went from complaining to nom nom-ing.

After the Esca experience, I wanted to get the goat cheese panna cotta, but it wasn't available ala carte. Instead we had white chocolate mousse in a milk chocolate bag, which was rich and sinful and sent me back to work in a cheery if indulgent mood. Read More......

RW Winter 2009

This was a very low-key Restaurant Week for me. Early in the week, my parents and I had theater tickets, so we ate at Blue Fin. I was somehow less impressed this time: my mother's tuna and fluke chirashi was an interesting presentation, but nothing to come back for, and her wild striped bass amounted to fish with tasty mush. I had a craving for oysters, so I had their "east & west" selection, of which I enjoyed the east. The crispy skin salmon also amounted to fish with tasty mush; I ordered it specifically because I wanted to try their brussel sprouts, but can't remember it, which probably says it all. This was the meal that made me realize I'd rather eat my own home cooking than go out, at least some of the time.

I've already mentioned how Esca fixed that misconception.

In years past, I've never been able to get a reservation for Asiate for RW, but when we went on Friday, it was half empty. The service was good and the views magnificent, but the food was adequate for the environment. The first taste of the chestnut puree? soup? made me gasp, it was so delicious, but there were so many mushrooms and the duck confit somehow didn't integrate well. My companion had the tuna tartar starter, which seemed to involve a salad, which he left. We both had the beef tenderloin - does it always come with two different cuts of meat, prepared differently? I chose the creme caramel for dessert, mostly because it came with citrus and I was curious how that would work, but I think my uncle's flan is better. I was jealous of my companion's raspberry chocolate cake, but I'm not convinced it was much better. I was initially excited to hear they are continuing the RW menu for the rest of the year, but I'm not inclined to go back, unless circumstances bring me to the neighborhood. Read More......

Esca restores my faith in great food

I'd started to think that maybe going to restaurants was a waste of time, money, and calories. Restaurant food is always less healthy and more expensive, and I've been getting pretty decent at cooking basic things for myself. 'course, it helps if you have great ingredients. Last weekend, I was running errands in Little Italy, when I found myself in front of DiPaolo's. I'd heard about it on Chowhound, but never been. I didn't actually need anything and the wait was long, but I bought parmiggiano reggiano, speck (smoked prosciutto), focaccia, and broccoli rabe ravioli. The speck was so good, dinner that night was just a few slices on the focaccia with some olive oil. Mmm...

Then I went to Esca for lunch on Friday and was reminded why we go out. The amuse boche was a white bean and tuna focaccia. They had four choices for the Restaurant Week appetizer: the crudo was tempting, but I had the crispy smelt. The entree choices were pasta with a mix of seafood or amberjack; my companion and I both had the latter. I wish I could do justice to the delicacy of the flavors and how well they integrated, but I can't. I was ready to declare we should come to Esca for every Restaurant Week, when they brought the sublime dessert: orange blossom panna cotta with winter citrus and candied pine nuts. I usually find panna cotta a little boring, but it was the perfect palate cleanser at the end of the meal. This is what a great restaurant meal should be. Read More......