Filed under: Restaurant
I had to take a picture of these eggs from the farmer’s market.
It’s just a camera-phone pic because my big camera was in a curling accident. Anyway. I’ve bought eggs at the farmer’s market before, but they were always one color. These are so pretty in their shades of cream, pink, even green. The varied eggs almost seem more personal, makes me think of the chickens as individuals.
Speaking of eggs, the exec chef at one of my top 3 favorite Providence restaurants, Tini, was on the Martha Stewart show yesterday making an egg dish and talking about his chicken farm. He brought Martha similarly colored eggs. I was just at Tini a couple of weeks ago and heard him talking to a customer about raising chickens for eggs and I thought it was so cool. Nice to see our little city getting big attention.
(And I just missed Emma Watson. Apparently she was eating dinner right before I got there; guess she likes to eat with the senior citizens)
Filed under: Restaurant
And now for a break from the “budgeting” focus of this blog, in favor of extravagance. For Brian’s birthday, he asked that his gift be a tasting dinner @ Gracie’s. Ah, that is why I love this man.
You can choose from a 5 or 7 course menu, with or without wine pairings for each course. We chose the 5 courses with wine. The pours weren’t full glasses, they were more like half or 3/4 of a normal glass and it was mostly white wines. The food is a surprise until it comes to the table, but they do ask you if you’re allergic or strongly dislike anything. I didn’t take any notes, so I’m just going from memory here:
Giant ass Pocky, next to my hand for scale. Seen @ Black Ink (?) in Beacon Hill, Boston.
“Instant” maki kit, seen @ Whole Foods.
For $4.50, you get a bowl of rice that cooks in the microwave, one sheet of nori, and a packet of soy sauce. It makes “10 pieces” (aka one maki roll). But you have to prepare and make your own filling so it’s not even that convenient! If you’re going to do half the work, you might as well do it all. A whole package of nori (probably 10x what’s in this kit) costs about $3 at my Asian market, and a bowl of rice is pennies. I also thought instant sushi in a box was really funny.
I don’t know how I let almost a month pass without posting, because I’ve still been cooking, and I’ve always got ideas about things to blog about. Witness all of my food adventures since I last blogged: (more…)
I suppose it was only matter of time before I found a dud restaurant. I had one super amazing meal, and one truly awful one.
Super Amazing: Haruki East
I’m not a very good judge of sushi. I know that the crap that you get prepackaged in cafeterias and grocery stores is crap, and most restaurant stuff is good. And I know not to judge contemporary-wacky-California-style sushi places by the same standards as more “Japanese” sushi places . And admittedly, I’m still not very good at telling the difference between types of fish; I just know that I like sushi. Given all of that, Haruki East redefined sushi for me!
When I saw that their menu didn’t have too many of those “crazy” modern maki rolls, and didn’t have much else on the menu besides sushi, I thought “Wow, maybe this place really cares about the fish in its true state.” I chose a nigiri combo. Brian was ordering a few kinds of nigiri, and the waitress said “We have otoro today, would you like some?” My eyes lit up and I told him he needed to get some! Neither of us had ever had toro. Oh man, it was beautiful. It was thick, redder than a piece of beef, and so buttery it looked it like it would slide off the rice as soon as you touched it. He only gave me half a piece. 
My nigiri was also yummy though. Too often, I’ve had nigiri where maybe they cut the fish too thick, or it was too chewy and I felt like I have to rip it apart with my teeth. But every piece I had was the perfect thickness and they were all extremely soft and tender. Rogue’s Morimoto beer was also a perfect pairing for the meal.
Oh, I also got a tuna-guacamole thing as an appetizer. It was a mild guacamole with chunks of raw tuna in it. It felt kind of decadent eating so much avocado & tuna. It was served with some spicy freshly fried tortilla chips for dipping, but I thought there was way too much seasoning on the chips. For dessert, we had coconut ice cream with fried bananas. It was so-so, but I was still high on toro so I didn’t mind. I want to go back, like every day, but I have so much more eating to do!
Depressing: 3 Steeple Street Bistro
Dinner @ La Laiterie in Providence
Me: “Grilled Cheese” made of Fig Jam, Goat Cheese, & Mixed Greens; Polenta Fries w/Aioli; House Pickles ($12)
Him: Chicken with Risotto of Mascarpone Cheese and Chantrelle Mushrooms ($?)
I want to share with you all of the cool things I get to eat, but I think I’ll do less “critiquing” about it. I always feel like I come off sounding like a pretentious ass.
I adore “bistro” dining. I wanted to be a little bit daring that night, and almost considering trying foie gras (never had it before) or the pig heart appetizer. Yes, pig heart. But I stepped back a little and chose the Grilled Sardine with Black Pepper Honey & Grilled Lemon as my “adventurous” appetizer. What thrills me most about “bistro” and small plates dining is the way that they mix flavors together that I could never do at home, and the way that there are only a few bites of food that pack in so many different layers. The salty sardine with the black pepper honey together were yummy, but give it a dip in the lemon and it was… complete.
I think this will be one of my favorite places in town. They also have two shops that sell artisanal cheeses & house-made charcuterie stuff, which they also serve at the restaurant . Did I mention I also heart cheese? Then there’s the events/classes such as “Scotch ‘n Cheese” and “Stinky Cheese & New England Beers.” It is a very nice place to take a date; just avoid the stinky cheeses and that garlic aioli.
Filed under: Restaurant
I don’t review every place I eat at, just the places that stand out or are unique in some way. There are a lot of places I end up at that may not be bad but I don’t feel like reviewing them because… well, how many American bar & grill places do I want to write about? Read more for mini-reviews.
Filed under: Restaurant
I had a few noteworthy meals this past month that I forgot to write about. I’ve been reading up on the Providence food scene, and we’ve been checking out some of the popular places first.
1) CAV
CAV (pronounced “cahv” like the french word for cave) is mentioned in just about every article about places you should go in Providence. It’s tucked away in an almost deserted, quiet warehouse district. Inside, the place looked like the home of an old, wealthy person who sailed his way around the world and collected artifacts from various countries. Or like that store Bombay at the mall, except their artifacts are truly hundreds of years old, and you too can buy a 14th century Chinese bust for $12,000. No lie.
On weeknights, they have a “bistro menu” that includes a salad and a smaller portion of about 4 entree choices for only $17. I chose the bistro menu and my entree was rolled pasta stuffed with chicken, spinach, walnut, and herbed cheese mousse and cream sauce, then sprinkled with sun-dried tomatoes and garnished with a parmesan cheese cracker. This smaller portion came with I think 3 or 4 of these canneloni-like rolls, and it was plenty. In fact, I didn’t even finish it. It was yummy and very rich. What a great value!
My date had Sesame-Crusted Tuna with a Wasabi Aioli, which also came with a cucumber & carrot maki, and pickled cucumber salad ($27). The tuna was served rare, but not rare enough for the way we prefer our tuna. Thumbs up nonetheless. The wasabi aioli was much milder than I expected. I want to slap some on a sandwich one day.
Dessert was Mascarpone Mousse, with shaved chocolate and amaretto cookie crumble ($6.95). And an Irish Coffee for me! My only complaint was the absence of whipped cream on the coffee.
2) Julian’s
Julian’s is known for a hip atmosphere and wild menu. Their online menu only partially reflects the amazing creations that were on the specials menu. I regret losing the slip of paper that I wrote my dinner descriptions on. I had a really hard time choosing what to have because everything on the (long) specials menu sounded awesome. Eventually, I went with Curry-Crusted Tofu with Sesame Sticky Rice Balls and Beet Carpaccio. (That’s beet, not beef) I think that this item was from the selection of Appetizers/Lighter Fare. The plating was really pretty: on a rectangular platter was a landing strip of thin slices of beet, then 5 little triangles of tofu, each triangle topped with a black sticky rice ball and a single leaf of arugula. I tried to take a picture but it was too dark. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this dish. The tofu was heavy on the curry spices but the rice balls were also very heavily spiced with Indian flavors. It just wasn’t for me.
Since I didn’t like my dinner, I had to get the dessert. A Chocolate Pound Cake with Homemade Vanilla Marshmallow and Caramel and Chocolate Sauces. The hot cake was crunchy on the outside, and oozy gooey on the inside. The marshmallow was the real star though! A giant homemade marshmallow rolled in toasted coconut was sitting on top. This experience redefined my notion of “marshmallow”! For the first few bites, I thought I had misunderstood and that this was marshmallow ice cream because it had a similar texture to ice cream without being cold. I liked it so much that when I later saw some fresh vanilla marshmallows at Whole Foods (for $5, ouch!) , I got them and we finished them in about 3 days. Now I’m thinking about making my own.
I don’t know why their website says that they are open “9 am – 5 pm”; that’s just silly. We were there around 9 or 10 pm on a weeknight, and we still had to wait for a table. Julian’s has an awesome selection of vegetarian food (way more than stir fries or pasta primavera!) and a really good beer menu. Brian had a Creme Brulee Stout that tasted like liquid candy. I could smell the caramel-iness from across the table. They are also known for their homemade ketchup. Even though I didn’t like my dinner, I definitely want to go back and try a bunch of the other things on the menu that sounded good.
We just cooked our last meal in our current apartment. We’re actually moving next Monday, but we’ll be too busy to cook from now on. Our final meal? Blue cheese and roasted red pepper polenta, topped with tomato basil sauce. It sounds so fancy, I can’t believe we made it at home. It was delicious. I don’t think I’ve ever even eaten polenta, let alone make it. Actually, Brian made it and I navigated directions. The polenta was lengthy, requiring constant attention and stirring, but we made it the night before to save some time. Today all I had to do was cut it into squares to saute, and make the sauce which was super easy. The polenta by itself had a really strong blue cheese flavor and was rich, but the tomato sauce and strong basil flavor balanced it out perfectly.
I’ve been cooking with that basil all week. I’ve ever made basil last through so many recipes. Usually I just make pesto with it, throw it in the freezer, and call it a day. We bought it on Saturday and made steak sandwiches with blue cheese and basil. Sunday, we made scallops with pasta, tomatoes, zucchini, and basil. Monday, salmon with basil topping. Tuesday (today) the polenta. I would make pizza with it tomorrow, but there’s still a ton of polenta left. Hooray for basil!
Someone took me out to lunch today. We went to the highly overrated, “This is where college kids bring their parents” restaurant called Judie’s. I ordered half of a fried soft-shell crab, on top of a mini-burrito stuffed with goat cheese, black beans, and carmelized onions and the whole dish was topped with fruit salsa. It was decent but just too… much. Too loud, kind of generically salty tasting. Judie’s is kind of like the dining version of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. They just throw a bunch of crap together, call it “premium” and sometimes it’s appealing in that trashy way. Don’t get me wrong, there wasn’t anything exactly wrong with my meal but people talk about this place like it’s amazing, but you can get much better food for the same price right across the street. My crab lunch cost $15, which is the same as the lunch entrees at Chez Albert. But if I had suggested lunch at “The Chez,” people would’ve been like “ooohhhhhhmygosh that’s tooooo expensive.” Well good. Let those people go to Judie’s and leave the tables at The Chez open for me.
**edit** The next day for breakfast, I fried up some polenta and topped it with a sunny-side up egg, salsa, and hot sauce. I don’t think there’s any breakfast place in the Valley where you could get something like that.
Filed under: Restaurant
I didn’t go grocery shopping this week and cooked once. This is the reason. The 30th was dinner out, the 31st we visited my parents so ate there, then ate out 2 more nights for restaurant week, made the curry soup as planned and ate leftovers from dinners out. Tonight I think I’ll dig out stuff from the freezer but maybe we’ll go shopping after dinner.
Some of the standouts from all of our eating out:
“Fava Bean Ravioli with Ricotta Salata and Mint with Curry Oil”
@ Circa
57 Center Street
Northampton, MA 01060
(413) 586-2622
The ravioli was great; the fava beans were pureed very finely, like the texture of mashed potato. Unfortunately, the pasta seemed undercooked. Now, I’ve never had ricotta salata so I was excited to try it. I looked it up beforehand, and that is not the cheese that came with the dish. I was disappointed. Unless they meant that it was in the filling? Oh the curry oil! It was subtle but still fragrant and tasty. I want to put curry oil on all sorts of things now. The mint was also a great contrast to the curry flavor.
Dessert was a vanilla bean panna cotta with rhubarb syrup. I didn’t like the syrup, I thought it tasted too sugary sweet, like a lollipop or pink hard candy. But Brian pointed out that for some reason, the syrup bought out the vanilla bean flavor even more and I think he was right.
It’s one of my favorite restaurants in Northampton. They feature a lot of local ingredients, and the dishes always sound simple yet are packed with complex tastes. However, the restaurant was sadly empty for a Friday night. I wonder how much longer it will last?
I don’t have more pictures from here on because the restaurants were too dark for good pictures.
@ Del Raye Bar and Grill
1 Bridge St.
Northampton, MA
At Del Raye, the winner was the Sweet Potato Clam Chowder. It was thick and sweet but not too much, and the seafood was fresh. It was also very silky, probably due to the addition of tons of heavy cream. My entree was “Pacific Coast Salmon with Sweet Potato-Corn Tamale Cake, Bourbon-Pecan Sauce, Crispy Okra.” They must have ran out of okra because the dish came with green beans instead. I don’t think I had ever had pacific salmon before, and I think it had a much better texture than Atlantic salmon. They put some of the sauce as a glaze for the salmon, which made it a little carmelized and crispy on the outside. The tamale cake was crispy on the outside, firm and dense on the inside. The tamale cake and pecan sauce had the risk of being too sweet but they weren’t at all. They were subtle and the addition of molasses helped give them depth. I was glad because I’m not really into sweet sauces.
Dessert was Creme Caramel. My favorite dessert is Creme Brulee, so naturally I also enjoy its cousins – panna cotta, flan, and creme caramel. Wait, are flan and creme caramel technically the same thing? If they are, then this one was all wrong. There was way too much egg in it. Not only did it taste “eggy”, but the texture was not silky or smooth at all. The piece of homemade almond brittle was really good though. Two of my friends had the chocolate mousse for dessert. One person’s mousse was melting and a liquidy puddle was starting to form, while the other person’s looked fine. Gordon Ramsay wouldn’t have let that leave the kitchen!
Del Raye was one of the few finer dining places in town. Now it’s changing to become a “Tavern”. Boo. Maybe it’s true that Northampton can’t support fine dining. And by “fine,” it’s entrees that cost $20-$30, so it’s not “fine dining” by big city standards.
We also went to Zen, I just had nigiri and sashimi and don’t think I have enough of a palate for sushi fish to really critique it. I can’t describe raw fish other than to tell the difference between tuna and salmon. It was a thumbs up dinner though.
I was in St. Louis over the weekend and tasted a couple of new foods. I tried toasted ravioli. I’ve had them before; just frozen stuff and filled with cheese, but since this was the motherland of Toasted Ravioli, I had to see what “real” ones would be like. Beef is the traditional filling for St. Louis Toasted Ravioli, but the ones I had were filled with braised beef which I was told was quite different. They were pretty good but not spectacular.
While grocery shopping, I saw in the cheese aisle a container of cheese that looked like spaghetti. The next day, we went out to dinner and my salad course was topped with that very same cheese. I called it “spaghetti cheese”.
It turns out that it’s called Provel Cheese, and it’s a St. Louis delicacy. It’s more like a “cheeze product”. I think it’s a mixture of swiss, provolone, and cheddar. Personally, I think it tastes a lot like Laughing Cow cheese. ‘m glad that I stumbled on it and the opportunity to taste something different.
Then on Monday, we went to a winery/restaurant where I was so amused by this sign in the window:
Welcome to St. Louis!
