Monday, April 12, 2010
Austin Chronicle Restaurant Poll
Vote before April 19th in the annual Austin Chronicle Restaurant Poll! Do it now! :)
Makin' Bacon
Ahhh, the pig. What's not to love? And what's not exciting about the prospect of making your own bacon? Here's the tale of my experiment in makin' bacon.
When I was in Denver last week, we went to Savory Spice Shop, a local spice store. They had curing salt, also known as pink salt, which essentially is sodium nitrate, a natural preservative used for meat curing. (Celery is high in SN, and many natural hot dog & sausage makers will use straight up celery juice in their "curing" process... I think Applegate Farms is one.) I knew that I could buy SN online or at someplace local like Callahan's, but would probably have to buy a larger quantity than I would ever use in this lifetime. I was able to get 4 oz for about $2.....and I bought some extremely dark cocoa powder (smells like Oreos!), but we'll save that for another time!
The day after I got back, I went to Whole Foods for groceries, and while getting ground lamb for meatballs, I asked the butcher if they had any pork belly. He checked in the back, and lo and behold, he did! I asked for a pound, and asked if he had ever cured it before. He said he had cured other things, but not pork belly; he said you have to have a really sterile environment, and he has a separate fridge that he only uses for curing things. So I was slightly intimidated, but figured at only a pound of pork belly, I wasn't loosing much monetarily if I screwed this up. Furthermore, he looked high and low in all of his books, but couldn't find the proper code for pork belly, so he charged me only $1.99/lb..... I think the total was $2.14 for the little belly!
So got home and started Googling pork belly --> bacon recipes.... found out that for bacon, you really don't need the pink salt, as it was primarily used in the olden days to prevent botulism. I guess since the belly is cured, smoked, and then cooked in a skillet/oven, any chances of botulism are negated. However, if you're making various salumis, yes, use the sodium nitrate.
Looked at a variety of different recipes utilizing different techniques. After a few days, I just decided to go for it, and make it up as I went along, based on what I had read. So on Friday morning, I combined (again, just 1 lb. of belly here):
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. coarse ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. curing/pink salt (I decided just to use it anyway since I had it, it's certainly not going to hurt anything, especially at that small amount)
1/2 tsp. ground bay leaves
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
...and then proceeded to slather all sides of the belly, and pop it into a ziplock bag.
And into the fridge for the next 2 1/2 days! Turn the bag every 12ish hours or so to evenly distribute the seasonings and extruded juices. This also gave me time to ponder on how to smoke it. I don't own a smoker. I could have rigged one up with my gas grill or some other Alton Brown-esque method, but ultimately decided to go with a borrowed Cameron Smoker and some applewood chips. (I debated between applewood & hickory, but applewood came out on top.) If you're not familiar with Cameron Smokers, they're great home-kitchen devices! You can smoke ANYTHING in them -- fish, red peppers, meat, cheese... you name it! You can kinda tell from the picture below, it's a metal box with a drip pan in the bottom, and a rack on top. You place your wood chips beneath the drip pan, close up the box, and light it up!
And in my excitement to start smoking it, I forgot to take a picture of it on Sunday evening when it was done curing. It gave off about a quarter cup of liquid, which it's supposed to do (salt extracts liquid, remember?). So I rinsed it off and patted it dry, and let it sit on the counter for about 30 minutes.
I knew from my research, the internal temp of the belly needed to reach 150 degrees. So with the probe thermometer inserted, and it's control set to 150, I set up the smoker, closed the lid, and turned on the gas burner on my stove to a medium-low temp.
Thirty-five minutes later, it was beeping and ready! I was sort of surprised it was done that fast, but the thermometer doesn't lie! So it went onto a cutting board to cool down. About 20 anxious minutes later (it really didn't need all that time to cool down, but I just wanted to be sure), I was slicing it for BACON! I JUST MADE BACON!
Into the frying pan over medium-low heat -- you can't rush greatness! And a few minutes later, I was getting my first tastes of pig-fantastic! I MADE BACON! IT ACTUALLY WORKED!!!
Overall, I am ecstatic! Very pleased with the flavor, though I don't know that I am 100% sold on the flavors of the cure. I took some to my peanut gallery foodie friends this afternoon, and everyone loved it, and thought the cure was fine, not too sweet with balanced flavors. (Thanks, ya'll!) Might try a brown sugar and cayenne next time. Because there WILL BE a next time! And a time after that! In regards to the actual smoking, I used about 3 tablespoons of the applewood chips; I think 2 T. would have been enough for this size piece. Also, future batches should probably be smoked outside on the back porch, using a portable butane stove...a day later, my kitchen still has a lingering smoke scent.
Anyone reading this ever try this? Any suggestions for a great cure? I am open to them! Very excited about it, and it really was pretty darn easy! I WILL be doing this again! Soon! All hail the very tasty pig!
When I was in Denver last week, we went to Savory Spice Shop, a local spice store. They had curing salt, also known as pink salt, which essentially is sodium nitrate, a natural preservative used for meat curing. (Celery is high in SN, and many natural hot dog & sausage makers will use straight up celery juice in their "curing" process... I think Applegate Farms is one.) I knew that I could buy SN online or at someplace local like Callahan's, but would probably have to buy a larger quantity than I would ever use in this lifetime. I was able to get 4 oz for about $2.....and I bought some extremely dark cocoa powder (smells like Oreos!), but we'll save that for another time!
The day after I got back, I went to Whole Foods for groceries, and while getting ground lamb for meatballs, I asked the butcher if they had any pork belly. He checked in the back, and lo and behold, he did! I asked for a pound, and asked if he had ever cured it before. He said he had cured other things, but not pork belly; he said you have to have a really sterile environment, and he has a separate fridge that he only uses for curing things. So I was slightly intimidated, but figured at only a pound of pork belly, I wasn't loosing much monetarily if I screwed this up. Furthermore, he looked high and low in all of his books, but couldn't find the proper code for pork belly, so he charged me only $1.99/lb..... I think the total was $2.14 for the little belly!
So got home and started Googling pork belly --> bacon recipes.... found out that for bacon, you really don't need the pink salt, as it was primarily used in the olden days to prevent botulism. I guess since the belly is cured, smoked, and then cooked in a skillet/oven, any chances of botulism are negated. However, if you're making various salumis, yes, use the sodium nitrate.Looked at a variety of different recipes utilizing different techniques. After a few days, I just decided to go for it, and make it up as I went along, based on what I had read. So on Friday morning, I combined (again, just 1 lb. of belly here):
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. coarse ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. curing/pink salt (I decided just to use it anyway since I had it, it's certainly not going to hurt anything, especially at that small amount)
1/2 tsp. ground bay leaves
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
...and then proceeded to slather all sides of the belly, and pop it into a ziplock bag.
And into the fridge for the next 2 1/2 days! Turn the bag every 12ish hours or so to evenly distribute the seasonings and extruded juices. This also gave me time to ponder on how to smoke it. I don't own a smoker. I could have rigged one up with my gas grill or some other Alton Brown-esque method, but ultimately decided to go with a borrowed Cameron Smoker and some applewood chips. (I debated between applewood & hickory, but applewood came out on top.) If you're not familiar with Cameron Smokers, they're great home-kitchen devices! You can smoke ANYTHING in them -- fish, red peppers, meat, cheese... you name it! You can kinda tell from the picture below, it's a metal box with a drip pan in the bottom, and a rack on top. You place your wood chips beneath the drip pan, close up the box, and light it up!And in my excitement to start smoking it, I forgot to take a picture of it on Sunday evening when it was done curing. It gave off about a quarter cup of liquid, which it's supposed to do (salt extracts liquid, remember?). So I rinsed it off and patted it dry, and let it sit on the counter for about 30 minutes.
I knew from my research, the internal temp of the belly needed to reach 150 degrees. So with the probe thermometer inserted, and it's control set to 150, I set up the smoker, closed the lid, and turned on the gas burner on my stove to a medium-low temp.
Thirty-five minutes later, it was beeping and ready! I was sort of surprised it was done that fast, but the thermometer doesn't lie! So it went onto a cutting board to cool down. About 20 anxious minutes later (it really didn't need all that time to cool down, but I just wanted to be sure), I was slicing it for BACON! I JUST MADE BACON!
Into the frying pan over medium-low heat -- you can't rush greatness! And a few minutes later, I was getting my first tastes of pig-fantastic! I MADE BACON! IT ACTUALLY WORKED!!!
Overall, I am ecstatic! Very pleased with the flavor, though I don't know that I am 100% sold on the flavors of the cure. I took some to my peanut gallery foodie friends this afternoon, and everyone loved it, and thought the cure was fine, not too sweet with balanced flavors. (Thanks, ya'll!) Might try a brown sugar and cayenne next time. Because there WILL BE a next time! And a time after that! In regards to the actual smoking, I used about 3 tablespoons of the applewood chips; I think 2 T. would have been enough for this size piece. Also, future batches should probably be smoked outside on the back porch, using a portable butane stove...a day later, my kitchen still has a lingering smoke scent.Anyone reading this ever try this? Any suggestions for a great cure? I am open to them! Very excited about it, and it really was pretty darn easy! I WILL be doing this again! Soon! All hail the very tasty pig!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Food & Photos
And, from today's NY Times, an article on people who photograph their meals.... in many cases, EVERY meal! Well, I don't do that! Just some of my meals! I am not totally OCD....yet!
Denver
A long weekend in Denver to see one of my best friends (K), her husband (C), their 6 month old baby (adorable!), and their new house! It was a nice getaway and time away from work! Here's a brief rundown of the food stuffs.
Dinner Thursday night was a fabulous home-cooked meal of Thai (panang curry) made by C, who particularly enjoys Asian foods. For breakfast the next day, we made ebelskivers, little Danish "pancakes" (think golf balls) that can be filled with jam, chocolate, or made into savory snacks with cheese & herbs too. I had never had them before, but rarely have I met a bread-y substance I didn't like! These were great, and fun to make. We did batches with raspberry & blackberry jams, and also nutella, and sprinkled them with powdered sugar.
After breakfast, we all headed just outside town to Red Rocks, a gorgeous, natural sandstone formation in a huge bowl shape, upon which an amplitheatre was built in the early 1940s. No it's not exactly edible, but I really loved it, and feel compelled to share some pictures of it!
We ventured back into town, and had a late lunch at Buenos Aries Pizza, a spot just a few blocks from Coors Field (home of the Colorado Rockies baseball team), that my friends have been to before. We split appetizers of papas fritas a la provencal (french fries w/ garlic & parsley) and higos envueltos (bacon-wrapped figs in BBQ sauce); both were delicious! The fries were nice & thinly cut with just enough seasoning on them, but were also great with their chimichurri sauce. The saltiness of the bacon & the sweetness of the figs really complements each other; the BBQ sauce on them was actually a bit too sweet, and if I was going back, I'd ask for it on the side.
While we were tempted to order one of their specialty pizzas, we each got a couple empanadas; I had the beef picante and the corn. What I appreciated the most about these pastries was the crust. It was the right balance of dry & flaky with a decent crispness to it. To me, the dough that often comprises the sweet Mexican empanadas like pumpkin, is way too soft of a dough without the appropriate flakiness. I particularly liked the beef one, it had some of the traditional elements with the ground beef -- hard boiled egg, green olives, and raisins or currants (I now can't remember which,but they give just a hint of sweetness). The corn one was good, but I think the addition of a little potato may have helped it. My friends say their pizza is very good, and you can choose tomato sauce or just olive oil underneath your toppings.
Friday evening, K and I did a stroll through the Santa Fe Arts district which was having open houses; neat to see, but can't afford the items I like! For dinner, we ended up in the Highlands neighborhood on 32nd Street at a place called Venue, which turned out to be spectacular. We got primo parking along 32nd, and figured we'd walk around to see what looked appealing, and about one door down from the car, a signboard on the sidewalk caught my eye. Specifically, the words "pork belly" caught my eye.....hhmmmmmmm. The small dining room was crowded, but they had one table for two right by the door, so we took it.
We started with a cheese plate with cheeses purchased from a local shop; Taleggio (soft-ripened washed-rind Italian cow's milk; creamy & mildly pungent), Montasio (semi-hard Italian mountain cheese, also cow's milk, fairly mild), and Rogue River bleu, an Australian blue with a nice creaminess and spreadability. The bleu, coupled with the slices of Granny Smith apple and toasted nuts was hands-down the best of the plate. Also on the plate though were some pickled green beans & onions, which K totally fell in love with. She asked our waiter about how they were made, and he actually returned from the kitchen with a pickling recipe written out from the chef! Granted the recipe makes like five pounds worth of beans, but it was extremely gracious of them to share it! (Venue was very dark inside, and my Droid phone has no flash, so sorry the pics are a bit dark & blurry.)
I decided to order two appetizers, the baby beet salad, and surprise!, the pork belly; K got the duck confit, and we were both incredibly happy. My baby beets were roasted, and served with cashews, goat cheese & an orange vinaigrette. Clean flavors that work well all together. The Kurobata pork belly was nice & crispy, and came with a side of a spiced apple compote (the quenelle looking thing on the left in the bottom photo) and a slaw with a nice vinaigrette, so sort of a play on pork chops and apple sauce. Play or not, the flavors together were fantastic. I know I go on about liking sweet & savory together, but when you eat something like this, how can you not?! K's duck confit was tender and succulent, but I had a hard time getting that pork out of my mind. (I think they haven't updated their online menu, because the listing for the pork belly has it paired with roasted winter vegetables & crispy cauliflower; glad I got my version!) For dessert, we split the chocolate tart and the bread pudding. I didn't care for the crust on the tart (too mushy), but it was a very rich, bittersweet chocolate, and the thin pieces of almond toffee accompanying it were great (they didn't stick to your fillings!). The bread pudding was really more like a piece of well-cooked French toast, so it was nice and crusty & seared on the outside. This boded well for me, being a French toast lover, and generally a disliker of bread pudding because I find them too mushy, but their's is certainly not what I'd call a traditional bread pudding. K has proclaimed Venue her new favorite place in Denver, and we were both sorry that C missed it, as he was home with the baby. Prices were reasonable and the service was good. The bathroom was also rather small, but a whimsical note, the poem The Owl & The Pussycat (kids poem, look it up if you don't know it!) was printed on the wall. We asked one of the wait people, and she said the owner just liked the poem and wanted to put it up in there (no deeper meaning than that, apparently!).
Saturday morning, we ventured out to Waffle Brother's for what else? Waffles! It's kind of a goofy spot, but they specialize in a Belgian-style waffle, made on waffle irons from the other side of the pond. They put a special kind of imported sugar on the waffle iron that gives them a nice little caramelized crunch when you bite into them. The combos are seemingly endless, but I opted for the Full Monty, which is the waffle with cinnamon, powdered sugar & whipped cream, for $3. K & I were happy with ours, but C's was a little more undercooked, so perhaps the key next time is to ask for a well-done waffle. The place was very family friendly and equipped with Wi-fi. 
After some more Denver-area sights, and tending to the very well-behaved baby, we decided on a dim sum place called Star Kitchen for lunch. Always a good sign when it's teeming with Asians, and you have to wait for a table. After about 15 minutes, we got a table, and began the parade of carts. Not even sure where to begin... Chinese broccoli, chicken dumplings, shrimp shumai, egg cream buns, a beef noodle dish from off the menu, shrimp-stuffed fried wontons, pork buns, sesame balls.... and a couple things I can't remember! All fairly good. Maybe not the very best dim sum I've ever eaten, but certainly not bad.
Saturday night, K and I went to the Pepsi Center, and the Denver Nuggets vs. LA Clippers basketball game. She was able to get half-price tickets through her workplace, and it was "family night" so free food to boot. As we wandered off in the second quarter to get our chicken fingers & fries, the Clippers had a commanding lead, but the Nuggets fought back, and eventually won the game, even without their most charismatic player, "Birdman," out with a bad ankle. :(
For Sunday (Easter) brunch, we had reservations at a place called Duo, where K & C had had dinner before. It was a decent enough brunch, but I don't think either of my companions totally loved their different eggs benedict dishes. I was torn between biscuits & gravy and French toast, and opted for the former, along with a side of cheese grits. The biscuit was good, and it was a flavorful chorizo gravy over it. The pre-portioned grits had been sitting under the Salamander a bit too long, so were a bit tough on top; the bottom half of them were better, more creamy. A cute touch was the laminated paper placemats, with some recipes from kids on them -- I got a kick out of them!
We opted to skip dessert here (actually, the waiter brought the check without asking us if we wanted anything else {pet peeve!}, but we had already discussed going elsewhere), and have ice cream at Little Man, one of C's favorite spots. Unfortunately, by this point, my phone/camera battery was low, so I couldn't take a picture (see their website), but the building is a giant old-fashioned milk urn! I had mint chocolate gelato, and K discovered that the baby LOVED the strawberry ice cream! (You're creating a monster!) We did an early dinner at Vina Pho & Grill on Sheridan in Edgewater (no website that I can find, so the link is to the Yelp page) before I caught my plane. My friends had driven past it, but hadn't gone, and we were all pleasantly surprised. C got the beef & brisket pho, which had a fairly good, fragrant and flavorful broth. He proclaimed it to be one of the better he's had in Denver. K & I both got vermicelli noodle bowls, mine with grilled pork, and hers with grilled shrimp. Both got two thumbs up! We also observed a dish that other diners had -- a huge platter of greens & meat to create your own do it yourselves spring rolls. It looked fun -- dipping your own spring roll wrapper in water, and making your own concoction. I think K & C found a new (and relatively inexpensive) place that's not too far from them!
Denver's got some nice hidden gems. I am fortunate that K & C are big food people too, and had some places in mind to take me to; we're also fortunate to have stumbled into places like Venue and Vina. I've got to watch that baby grow up and be a strong eater, so I know I'll be back!
Dinner Thursday night was a fabulous home-cooked meal of Thai (panang curry) made by C, who particularly enjoys Asian foods. For breakfast the next day, we made ebelskivers, little Danish "pancakes" (think golf balls) that can be filled with jam, chocolate, or made into savory snacks with cheese & herbs too. I had never had them before, but rarely have I met a bread-y substance I didn't like! These were great, and fun to make. We did batches with raspberry & blackberry jams, and also nutella, and sprinkled them with powdered sugar.
After breakfast, we all headed just outside town to Red Rocks, a gorgeous, natural sandstone formation in a huge bowl shape, upon which an amplitheatre was built in the early 1940s. No it's not exactly edible, but I really loved it, and feel compelled to share some pictures of it!
We ventured back into town, and had a late lunch at Buenos Aries Pizza, a spot just a few blocks from Coors Field (home of the Colorado Rockies baseball team), that my friends have been to before. We split appetizers of papas fritas a la provencal (french fries w/ garlic & parsley) and higos envueltos (bacon-wrapped figs in BBQ sauce); both were delicious! The fries were nice & thinly cut with just enough seasoning on them, but were also great with their chimichurri sauce. The saltiness of the bacon & the sweetness of the figs really complements each other; the BBQ sauce on them was actually a bit too sweet, and if I was going back, I'd ask for it on the side.
While we were tempted to order one of their specialty pizzas, we each got a couple empanadas; I had the beef picante and the corn. What I appreciated the most about these pastries was the crust. It was the right balance of dry & flaky with a decent crispness to it. To me, the dough that often comprises the sweet Mexican empanadas like pumpkin, is way too soft of a dough without the appropriate flakiness. I particularly liked the beef one, it had some of the traditional elements with the ground beef -- hard boiled egg, green olives, and raisins or currants (I now can't remember which,but they give just a hint of sweetness). The corn one was good, but I think the addition of a little potato may have helped it. My friends say their pizza is very good, and you can choose tomato sauce or just olive oil underneath your toppings.
Friday evening, K and I did a stroll through the Santa Fe Arts district which was having open houses; neat to see, but can't afford the items I like! For dinner, we ended up in the Highlands neighborhood on 32nd Street at a place called Venue, which turned out to be spectacular. We got primo parking along 32nd, and figured we'd walk around to see what looked appealing, and about one door down from the car, a signboard on the sidewalk caught my eye. Specifically, the words "pork belly" caught my eye.....hhmmmmmmm. The small dining room was crowded, but they had one table for two right by the door, so we took it.We started with a cheese plate with cheeses purchased from a local shop; Taleggio (soft-ripened washed-rind Italian cow's milk; creamy & mildly pungent), Montasio (semi-hard Italian mountain cheese, also cow's milk, fairly mild), and Rogue River bleu, an Australian blue with a nice creaminess and spreadability. The bleu, coupled with the slices of Granny Smith apple and toasted nuts was hands-down the best of the plate. Also on the plate though were some pickled green beans & onions, which K totally fell in love with. She asked our waiter about how they were made, and he actually returned from the kitchen with a pickling recipe written out from the chef! Granted the recipe makes like five pounds worth of beans, but it was extremely gracious of them to share it! (Venue was very dark inside, and my Droid phone has no flash, so sorry the pics are a bit dark & blurry.)
I decided to order two appetizers, the baby beet salad, and surprise!, the pork belly; K got the duck confit, and we were both incredibly happy. My baby beets were roasted, and served with cashews, goat cheese & an orange vinaigrette. Clean flavors that work well all together. The Kurobata pork belly was nice & crispy, and came with a side of a spiced apple compote (the quenelle looking thing on the left in the bottom photo) and a slaw with a nice vinaigrette, so sort of a play on pork chops and apple sauce. Play or not, the flavors together were fantastic. I know I go on about liking sweet & savory together, but when you eat something like this, how can you not?! K's duck confit was tender and succulent, but I had a hard time getting that pork out of my mind. (I think they haven't updated their online menu, because the listing for the pork belly has it paired with roasted winter vegetables & crispy cauliflower; glad I got my version!) For dessert, we split the chocolate tart and the bread pudding. I didn't care for the crust on the tart (too mushy), but it was a very rich, bittersweet chocolate, and the thin pieces of almond toffee accompanying it were great (they didn't stick to your fillings!). The bread pudding was really more like a piece of well-cooked French toast, so it was nice and crusty & seared on the outside. This boded well for me, being a French toast lover, and generally a disliker of bread pudding because I find them too mushy, but their's is certainly not what I'd call a traditional bread pudding. K has proclaimed Venue her new favorite place in Denver, and we were both sorry that C missed it, as he was home with the baby. Prices were reasonable and the service was good. The bathroom was also rather small, but a whimsical note, the poem The Owl & The Pussycat (kids poem, look it up if you don't know it!) was printed on the wall. We asked one of the wait people, and she said the owner just liked the poem and wanted to put it up in there (no deeper meaning than that, apparently!).
Saturday morning, we ventured out to Waffle Brother's for what else? Waffles! It's kind of a goofy spot, but they specialize in a Belgian-style waffle, made on waffle irons from the other side of the pond. They put a special kind of imported sugar on the waffle iron that gives them a nice little caramelized crunch when you bite into them. The combos are seemingly endless, but I opted for the Full Monty, which is the waffle with cinnamon, powdered sugar & whipped cream, for $3. K & I were happy with ours, but C's was a little more undercooked, so perhaps the key next time is to ask for a well-done waffle. The place was very family friendly and equipped with Wi-fi. 
After some more Denver-area sights, and tending to the very well-behaved baby, we decided on a dim sum place called Star Kitchen for lunch. Always a good sign when it's teeming with Asians, and you have to wait for a table. After about 15 minutes, we got a table, and began the parade of carts. Not even sure where to begin... Chinese broccoli, chicken dumplings, shrimp shumai, egg cream buns, a beef noodle dish from off the menu, shrimp-stuffed fried wontons, pork buns, sesame balls.... and a couple things I can't remember! All fairly good. Maybe not the very best dim sum I've ever eaten, but certainly not bad.
Saturday night, K and I went to the Pepsi Center, and the Denver Nuggets vs. LA Clippers basketball game. She was able to get half-price tickets through her workplace, and it was "family night" so free food to boot. As we wandered off in the second quarter to get our chicken fingers & fries, the Clippers had a commanding lead, but the Nuggets fought back, and eventually won the game, even without their most charismatic player, "Birdman," out with a bad ankle. :(For Sunday (Easter) brunch, we had reservations at a place called Duo, where K & C had had dinner before. It was a decent enough brunch, but I don't think either of my companions totally loved their different eggs benedict dishes. I was torn between biscuits & gravy and French toast, and opted for the former, along with a side of cheese grits. The biscuit was good, and it was a flavorful chorizo gravy over it. The pre-portioned grits had been sitting under the Salamander a bit too long, so were a bit tough on top; the bottom half of them were better, more creamy. A cute touch was the laminated paper placemats, with some recipes from kids on them -- I got a kick out of them!
We opted to skip dessert here (actually, the waiter brought the check without asking us if we wanted anything else {pet peeve!}, but we had already discussed going elsewhere), and have ice cream at Little Man, one of C's favorite spots. Unfortunately, by this point, my phone/camera battery was low, so I couldn't take a picture (see their website), but the building is a giant old-fashioned milk urn! I had mint chocolate gelato, and K discovered that the baby LOVED the strawberry ice cream! (You're creating a monster!) We did an early dinner at Vina Pho & Grill on Sheridan in Edgewater (no website that I can find, so the link is to the Yelp page) before I caught my plane. My friends had driven past it, but hadn't gone, and we were all pleasantly surprised. C got the beef & brisket pho, which had a fairly good, fragrant and flavorful broth. He proclaimed it to be one of the better he's had in Denver. K & I both got vermicelli noodle bowls, mine with grilled pork, and hers with grilled shrimp. Both got two thumbs up! We also observed a dish that other diners had -- a huge platter of greens & meat to create your own do it yourselves spring rolls. It looked fun -- dipping your own spring roll wrapper in water, and making your own concoction. I think K & C found a new (and relatively inexpensive) place that's not too far from them!
Denver's got some nice hidden gems. I am fortunate that K & C are big food people too, and had some places in mind to take me to; we're also fortunate to have stumbled into places like Venue and Vina. I've got to watch that baby grow up and be a strong eater, so I know I'll be back!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Odds & Ends
One of the great things about turning older is celebrating with friends over food. And of course, I love food! Happen to love my friends too, and another thanks to all of those who have celebrated with me over the past few days! :)
Here's a brief recap over the past few days' meals:
Monday night, went to Your Mom's Burger, which as of Monday, had been open 16 days! Whoo hoo! They have relocated from above a bar on Red River to their own stand-alone place on East Ceasar Chavez. We walked in and were immediately greeted by Ryan, who I am fairly certain is one of the owners. Throughout our time there, Ryan and the guy on the grill (unfortunately, I didn't catch his name) were super-nice, kept checking on us, made sure we were enjoying the burgers, etc -- GREAT hospitality! I had the Willie Nelson burger & my friend the Frida Kahlo. The Willie has bacon, American cheese, BBQ sauce & an onion ring on it. It was a gooey mess to eat, but totally worth it! The cheese kinda all oozed out the back, but you can make your own cheese fries with it! The Frida is with pepper jack, chorizo & a fried egg on top! My friend said she hadn't eaten a (beef) burger in almost 9 months, but she ate just about every bite. Rumor has it their fried pickles are delicious. Must go back and find out!
After stuffing ourselves with burgers, and a trip to SuperTarget (say it with me, tar-ghay), we found ourselves for dessert at Likkity's, a frozen custard trailer on far south Manchaca Road. It's actually a trailer with some built-in carport/canopys with ceiling fans & picnic tables. They always have vanilla & chocolate custard, and then a flavor of the day; Monday's was chocolate mint. So I had a small sundae with van/choc swirl and peanut butter cups, and my friend the chocolate mint with Oreos. Yum! The guy in the trailer was super nice, they use environmentally friendly plastic cups & spoons, and provide a recycling can for them as well. Oh, and they made their own real whipped cream as well as their chocolate sauce. After that burger, I couldn't finish the whole thing, but I sure tried!
Tuesday night, I got treated to Uchi. My companion this evening has been there a good number of times, and I pretty much let her order. She picked the Domaine Schlumberger Gewurtztraminer as our wine of the evening, and I think it went extremely well with everything we had. There were the tako pops (baby octopus), one of the tuna rolls, hama chili, scallop hot rock, pitchfork & spider rolls, kona kanpachi, brie ringo, & peanut butter semi-freddo. Our waiter, Chris, was great, bringing items out in random order, but saving the brie ringo for last, as it being fried brie with apple chutney, the sweetness of it lends itself well to a dessert lead-in. So as we are sitting there, I see a patron who looks an awful lot like Anthony Bourdain. I know from the Twittering that he's coming to town on Thursday for a gig at the Paramount, but is also supposed to be checking out some of the local food trailers. I was fairly convinced it was him at Uchi, and Tweeted my finding. I mentioned it to our waiter, who after a few minutes came back and said, no, it's not him (I still wasn't convinced), but his show No Reservations is supposed to film at East Side King tonight at 10pm. Why does the waiter at Uchi know this? Because ESK is run by Paul Qui, one of the Uchi sous chefs (remember that last name). Hmmmm....
So I get home from Uchi, and my friend from Monday night has seen my Tweet regarding Bourdain. We start texting: do you wanna go? kinda, do YOU wanna go? YES! I am on vacation this week and she doesn't have to be at work real early! YES! It's Bourdain for christ's sake! He's a ROCK STAR! Hells yeah!
ESK is a trailer in the back part of Liberty bar's outdoor seating area. You have to go through Liberty (okay, cranberry & vodka!) to get out there. Well, the bar was relatively empty, but the outdoor area was pretty much standing room only. At 10 pm. So we toddle over to the trailer and order a couple items (it's Asian-fusion inspired)... we can tell there are some light poles set up and a couple camera guys, and the staff seems to be rushing around a bit in wide-eyed anticipation. We order the Poor Qui's Buns (pork belly in a bun, which in this case, is like a soft, spongy taco.... and get it? Poor Qui's/Porky's) and the Beet Home Fries. They took about 30 minutes to arrive, but fortunately, in the meanwhile, we found some picnic benches to cozy up to. The buns are amazing -- roasted pork belly, kimchi cucumbers,w/ hoisin sauce. The beets are like nothing I've ever had before! Chunks of beets, roasted then fried, and served with a spicy Kewpie mayo. Heaven! So we ate and drank, and hung out, might have been filmed in some background scenes, and waited.... then the rumors started circulating from people in "the know" that Bourdain's NOT here. Not coming. Just the camera guys. Grrrrr. It got to be midnight, and we called it a night, our brush with fame, sniff, sadly at an end. But damn that food was FINE! TONY, you missed it!
And then I heard this morning No Reservations was going to film at Gourdough's at noon. I already had a lunch date to go to Red's Porch, but another friend went, and texted a bit after 1 pm that there was no Tony. And they're supposed to be filming at Odd Duck right about now, as I type this. Then, I saw a retweet posted from Tony's wife, essentially saying "haha, all you people who thought you saw my husband, he's right here next to me". So the bastard was still in NYC after all. I'd still do it again.
Here's a brief recap over the past few days' meals:
Monday night, went to Your Mom's Burger, which as of Monday, had been open 16 days! Whoo hoo! They have relocated from above a bar on Red River to their own stand-alone place on East Ceasar Chavez. We walked in and were immediately greeted by Ryan, who I am fairly certain is one of the owners. Throughout our time there, Ryan and the guy on the grill (unfortunately, I didn't catch his name) were super-nice, kept checking on us, made sure we were enjoying the burgers, etc -- GREAT hospitality! I had the Willie Nelson burger & my friend the Frida Kahlo. The Willie has bacon, American cheese, BBQ sauce & an onion ring on it. It was a gooey mess to eat, but totally worth it! The cheese kinda all oozed out the back, but you can make your own cheese fries with it! The Frida is with pepper jack, chorizo & a fried egg on top! My friend said she hadn't eaten a (beef) burger in almost 9 months, but she ate just about every bite. Rumor has it their fried pickles are delicious. Must go back and find out!
After stuffing ourselves with burgers, and a trip to SuperTarget (say it with me, tar-ghay), we found ourselves for dessert at Likkity's, a frozen custard trailer on far south Manchaca Road. It's actually a trailer with some built-in carport/canopys with ceiling fans & picnic tables. They always have vanilla & chocolate custard, and then a flavor of the day; Monday's was chocolate mint. So I had a small sundae with van/choc swirl and peanut butter cups, and my friend the chocolate mint with Oreos. Yum! The guy in the trailer was super nice, they use environmentally friendly plastic cups & spoons, and provide a recycling can for them as well. Oh, and they made their own real whipped cream as well as their chocolate sauce. After that burger, I couldn't finish the whole thing, but I sure tried!
Tuesday night, I got treated to Uchi. My companion this evening has been there a good number of times, and I pretty much let her order. She picked the Domaine Schlumberger Gewurtztraminer as our wine of the evening, and I think it went extremely well with everything we had. There were the tako pops (baby octopus), one of the tuna rolls, hama chili, scallop hot rock, pitchfork & spider rolls, kona kanpachi, brie ringo, & peanut butter semi-freddo. Our waiter, Chris, was great, bringing items out in random order, but saving the brie ringo for last, as it being fried brie with apple chutney, the sweetness of it lends itself well to a dessert lead-in. So as we are sitting there, I see a patron who looks an awful lot like Anthony Bourdain. I know from the Twittering that he's coming to town on Thursday for a gig at the Paramount, but is also supposed to be checking out some of the local food trailers. I was fairly convinced it was him at Uchi, and Tweeted my finding. I mentioned it to our waiter, who after a few minutes came back and said, no, it's not him (I still wasn't convinced), but his show No Reservations is supposed to film at East Side King tonight at 10pm. Why does the waiter at Uchi know this? Because ESK is run by Paul Qui, one of the Uchi sous chefs (remember that last name). Hmmmm....
So I get home from Uchi, and my friend from Monday night has seen my Tweet regarding Bourdain. We start texting: do you wanna go? kinda, do YOU wanna go? YES! I am on vacation this week and she doesn't have to be at work real early! YES! It's Bourdain for christ's sake! He's a ROCK STAR! Hells yeah!
ESK is a trailer in the back part of Liberty bar's outdoor seating area. You have to go through Liberty (okay, cranberry & vodka!) to get out there. Well, the bar was relatively empty, but the outdoor area was pretty much standing room only. At 10 pm. So we toddle over to the trailer and order a couple items (it's Asian-fusion inspired)... we can tell there are some light poles set up and a couple camera guys, and the staff seems to be rushing around a bit in wide-eyed anticipation. We order the Poor Qui's Buns (pork belly in a bun, which in this case, is like a soft, spongy taco.... and get it? Poor Qui's/Porky's) and the Beet Home Fries. They took about 30 minutes to arrive, but fortunately, in the meanwhile, we found some picnic benches to cozy up to. The buns are amazing -- roasted pork belly, kimchi cucumbers,w/ hoisin sauce. The beets are like nothing I've ever had before! Chunks of beets, roasted then fried, and served with a spicy Kewpie mayo. Heaven! So we ate and drank, and hung out, might have been filmed in some background scenes, and waited.... then the rumors started circulating from people in "the know" that Bourdain's NOT here. Not coming. Just the camera guys. Grrrrr. It got to be midnight, and we called it a night, our brush with fame, sniff, sadly at an end. But damn that food was FINE! TONY, you missed it!
And then I heard this morning No Reservations was going to film at Gourdough's at noon. I already had a lunch date to go to Red's Porch, but another friend went, and texted a bit after 1 pm that there was no Tony. And they're supposed to be filming at Odd Duck right about now, as I type this. Then, I saw a retweet posted from Tony's wife, essentially saying "haha, all you people who thought you saw my husband, he's right here next to me". So the bastard was still in NYC after all. I'd still do it again.
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