Lynn noticed North Shore Hawaiian opened up in the location formerly occupied by Santa Fe Cafe a couple of weeks ago. I made a mental note to try them one day, which worked out to be last week (when they had our apartment complex give out their menus with the apartment newsletter).
We went there and the dining room has been spruced up since it was Santa Fe Cafe. Everybody was friendly, and they even changed the tv channel to football for us. I wanted to try the barbecue so I opted for the barbecue combination plate (beef, short ribs, and chicken), and the curry chicken katsu caught Lynn's eye. I also had some sort of passion fruit juice that was a lot more subtle than I thought it would be, and quite tasty.
We were brought salads that were primarily iceberg lettuce. They weren't bad, but I still prefer lettuce with some nutritional value. They then brought out two very large platters with our food. I keep forgetting that a lot of Hawaiian barbecue is a variation on Korean barbecue, only not as good, but after this meal it'll be a while before I forget that again. The beef (aka bool kogi) was tender, but the flavor was very mild. The short ribs (aka kalbi) were also tender, but they had even less flavor. The chicken was the most flavorful of the bunch, but there was also something about the flavor I didn't like. The entire time I was eating the barbecue I just kept thinking how much I would have enjoyed it if was Korean barbecue instead.
Lynn's dish was a lot better. The katsu chicken was crispy, and actually thick enough that it didn't dry out when it was fried. There were a couple of fatty pieces of chicken in there, but they were easy to spot and avoid. Too bad they don't make tonkatsu (the pork version). The curry that came with the chicken was a yellow curry that was odd because it had a thick texture and the flavor was sweet in addition to being a little spicy (Lynn didn't get the hot curry). It was too weird for me at first, but after I got used to it I thought it was pretty good (of course that might have been in relation with how much I didn't like my food). I was hoping the katsu chicken would be served with Japanese curry, since it was a Japanese dish, but the owner said people liked the Thai curry better. That wasn't like any Thai yellow curry I've had before, but I might like the spicy version better. The portions were very large; even though both of us ate Lynn's food we still didn't manage to finish it all.
North Shore Hawaiian seems like they have potential, and I know Lynn liked them because she already wanted to go back.
There are a few things you should know before you read my opinion about "The Phantom of the Opera". First, I think musicals are a form of torture. I just don't relate to shiny happy people singing about fixing a wagon, and I don't find it entertaining. Second, I've never seen the stage production of "The Phantom of the Opera" so I have no idea what it's like in person. Third, "Chicago" is the only musical turned movie that I've actually enjoyed. Of course the reason I liked it probably was because it wasn't about people who were happy. It's a wonder I liked it all because besides being a musical I didn't find one character sympathetic, which is normally pretty important to me. I also appreciated the twisted sense of humor (like the scene where the women sang about why they were each in prison).
Murray sent me the preview to "The Phantom of the Opera", and it looked pretty good so I didn't mind the idea of seeing it. If only the movie was as good as the preview. I just couldn't get into the story of a girl torn between a psychopath and a rich guy, and the lyrics sounded like they were written by a twelve year old. I would have left in the middle of the movie if I could've (I've only ever done that once before), but that wasn't possible since I was there with three other people. The movie seemed to also go on for an inordinate amount of time; at times I was so bored that I almost fell asleep, but the stadium chairs at the AMC theater were too damn uncomfortable.
If there's one thing I liked about the movie it was that I learned I hated the story for "The Phantom of the Opera" without having to pay theater ticket prices. Naturally Lynn wants to drag me to see the stage version sometime, but I'll only go if she's paying. And even then I might not go.
My fantasy football season is thankfully over. Now I don't have to spend my Sunday's watching football and tracking my players (not that I had to watch football, but it gave me a sort of vested interest). Both of my teams finished in sixth place, which is pretty miserable. It figures that both teams that opposed me were the top scoring teams this week. Oh well, it doesn't really matter because the difference between fifth and sixth place is negligible, and neither position wins money.
At least Lynn did much better by taking second place in our league. She can't wait for next year, and honestly, neither can I.
A few weeks ago Lynn wanted to eat dinner at Atlas Bistro, and I wasn't about to disagree. I was impressed the first time we had dinner at Atlas Bistro so I was really looking forward to our next meal. Last time the owner mentioned that the menu was going to change, but when we got there it hadn't. I was disappointed because there wasn't much on the current menu that sounded interesting to me. Lynn had the calamari, and I had a nightly special of grilled skewered pork with saffron aoli. The pork needed salt, and anything else that might have given it flavor. The saffron aioli didn't taste like anything, which didn't help. At least the calamari was well seasoned and still had that unusual meatiness about it.
Lynn and I both ordered the same entree, the expresso coated filet mignon with mole and butternut squash orzo, which I wouldn't have done except that it was the only entree that sounded good to me. I'd never had expresso on beef before and quickly discovered that I don't like expresso on beef. I also didn't think the mole was a good match for beef. (Given that I didn't think the lamb with mole I had at Kai was a good match either I think it's safe to say that mole and red meat is probably a combination that'll never work for me.) Lynn thought the mole had an Indian flavor to it, and liked the beef with the mole. The only thing I liked about the dish was the butternut squash orzo, which seemed like a masterful combination. That's twice I've liked the side dish better than the entree at Atlas Bistro.
For dessert Lynn ordered the vanilla-almond creme brulee, and I had the chocolate-expresso panna cotta. The creme brulee was alright, and not one of the better creme brulees we've ever had. The panna cotta was so rich and chocolately that I wouldn't have known it was a panna cotta if I had to guess. I thought the panna cotta was excellent, but it was too rich to eat very much of it.
I had high hopes for Atlas Bistro taking Cafe ah PWAH's place, but I found our meal really disappointing. I'll still go back there sometime, but I hope they change their menu before then.
[correction: Lynn and I were talking about the creme brulee we just had at John Henry's, and she mentioned that it was similar to the creme brulee at Atlas Bistro. Honestly I didn't remember much about Atlas Bistro's creme brulee (I wrote what I remembered, which is I didn't care for it) so I asked Lynn for details. Normally Lynn doesn't remember these sort of things, but apparently their creme brulee left an impression. She said that the sugar wasn't caramelized properly and the custard had an eggy flavor. Once she mentioned it, I remember actually hating it. I should have written that their creme brulee was terrible. It was also the start of a trend of bad creme brulees; three recent creme brulees I've had (from Atlas Bistro, Quiessence, and John Henry's) have all been terrible, and the one from Va Bene was very close to bad. I'm amazed that all of these professional dessert chefs are willing to serve something that tastes like it was made by a complete novice; even an amateur could tell from a cursory glance whether the sugar is properly caramelized or not. They should all be ashamed, or at least be forced to eat their own creme brulees.]
A long time ago Murray and I tried to go to The Farm Kitchen when we discovered that Quiessence (The Farm's fine dining restaurant) existed. We promised ourselves to return some time, and when we did their dining room was closed. The day before our Christmas vacation Murray and I were looking for some place decent (decent meaning better than the usual hole in the wall places we eat at) to eat lunch. I was all set to introduce Murray to Va Bene when Murray remembered that we wanted to try Quiessence. Va Bene would have been good, but Quiessence had been waiting for a while.
When we got to the restaurant it was completely empty; there weren't any restaurant staff or customers to be seen. I wondered if it was really open. We scanned the menu while we stood there, but I didn't want to take too long at lunch so I called out to see if there was someone around. There wasn't. Eventually someone showed up and seated us. Our table (which was one of maybe eight) was located in their enclosed patio, and the view of the garden and lawn was relaxing.
We started with lemonade that was quite sweet, but not too bad. The only appetizer that sounded good to me was the wild mushroom tart (mushrooms, sauteed spinach, leeks, and ricotta) and mixed greens so Murray and I split it. I don't know why, but our tart took about 15 to 20 minutes to come out. It was a quarter of a large tart and tasted like beef stroganoff without the beef. I ate it, but I'd never order it again. The mixed greens were decent.
The two entrees that looked good to me were the New York strip steak sandwich (with all sorts of toppings, like blue cheese and caramelized onions, that sounded good to me) and the three cheese baked orecchiette pasta. For some unknown reason I went for the pasta. The pasta was covered with bread crumbs that I quickly learned were best scraped off. The flavor was decent, but it was flat and needed something. I told Murray that the next time I want to order macaroni and cheese that he needs to smack me. Murray got the cioppino which was a combination of scallops, shrimp, crab, some sort of firm white fish (halibut?), and salmon in a tomato broth. I got to taste the scallops and shrimp, and both were well cooked. The tomato broth had absorbed the flavor of the various seafood, and it was all around tasty. The only thing that was wrong with the dish was the inclusion of salmon, which has a strong distinctive flavor that doesn't make it fit for this type of dish. (Salmon also has the bad habit of tasting fishy when cooked with other things.) I asked Murray about the salmon, and he said if there were only a few pieces it would've been a nice change of pace, but there was too much salmon in the dish. I noticed that the only thing left when he was finished with his cioppino was about six pieces of salmon. Murray insisted I try one of the pieces of salmon, even though I didn't want to. I humored him and tried it. It was fishy, and the salmon flavor didn't seem to really meld with the flavor of the tomato broth. I like being proven right.
We had ordered desserts when we ordered everything else because I wanted to expedite lunch a bit, especially considering how long it took us to get seated. Murray was thinking about the apple crisp dessert, but they didn't have it. I tried for the Napoleon (which sounded intriguing with its fresh fruit, almond shortbread, basil syrup, and balsamic vinegar), but later found out they didn't have that either. Murray's second choice was the butternut squash creme brulee (which is something I'd normally order), and mine was the pecan pie. I'd had the pecan pie from The Farm Kitchen before, and it was pretty good, but it didn't sound nearly as exotic as fruits with basil syrup and balsamic vinegar. I had them add butter-pecan ice cream to the dessert to make it a little less disappointing. When my pie arrived it was thicker than any pie I'd ever seen before. It was a bad sign because pecan pies need to be in proportion. Since I feared disappointment I tried the ice cream first. It had a nice butter-pecan flavor and a creamy texture. It reminded me of the butter-pecan ice cream from Marble Slab because theirs is also creamy, and has a good flavor for a butter-pecan without pecans. The pie had too much filling for the amount of pecans on top. They should have just used a regular pie dish. I tried Murray's butternut squash creme brulee, and I thought it was terrible: the sugar wasn't caramelized properly so the sugar was gritty in the custard; the texture was odd, more eggy than creamy; and the worst offense, while the butternut squash had a mild flavor the creme brulee didn't taste like anything. I kidded with Murray that the two best desserts on the menu were the ones we wanted but couldn't get.
The cioppino convinced me that Quiessence has some definite potential, but it's not a place to eat at if you have to be somewhere.
This week's theme wasn't intentional.
"Zhou Yu's Train" wasn't a bad movie so much as a movie you would never be able to figure out after the first viewing (which could arguably qualify it as bad). The movie was nonlinear so it didn't start at the beginning, or stay in the same time period throughout. It didn't even give you any hints as to when you were watching. The only part easy to understand was that the movie ended at the end. I might have got the deeper meaning of the movie if I watched it a second time, and I almost did, but I found it too easy to procrastinate and avoid watching it.
When I was a kid the high point of any weekend was probably staying over at my cousin's house and watching ninja movies late at night. Ninja movies were incredibly cheesy even to my twelve year old mind, but they were a lot of fun too. I think the makers of "Red Shadow" forgot what makes ninja movies great, which is ninjas doing ninja like things. Techno music, bad fighting, and lots of introspection definitely isn't it. I'd never seen ninjas getting in touch with their feelings before, and I never want to see it again. 'Nuff said.
Another restaurant I have a difficult time getting Lynn to go to is Da Vang: Lynn claims she doesn't like Vietnamese food, although she seems to like the Vietnamese dishes at Cyclo just fine. We both had the barbecue pork bahn mi, and they were excellent. I wanted to try something new so I scanned the appetizers and found banh xeo, a fried crepe with shrimp, pork, and bean sprouts. I thought it would be like the crispy rice noodle dish I had at Cyclo, but it was completely different; it was a large crepe studded with bits of pork and shrimp that was folded in half and filled with bean sprouts. It also came with the usual assortment of herbs, lettuce, and fish sauce. True to Vietnamese fashion it was brought out after our sandwiches even though it was an appetizer. I couldn't figure out how to eat it, since we didn't have forks and the crepe didn't look like it was meant to be eaten with chopsticks, so I just grabbed a piece of lettuce and used it to tear off a piece of crepe. The crepe tasted like a combination of oil and melted plastic. I tried two more bites to make sure, but they were equally as awful. Needless to say I'm never ordering that again at Da Vang.
We were about to leave when I saw a waiter bring another table a banh xeo. (I noticed they had ordered soup, and they were almost done with their soup by the time it came out. At least the service is consistent.) I wanted to see the proper way for eating one of those things so we waited around a couple of minutes, but they never touched it. As we left they were saying something to each other in Vietnamese, which Lynn and I assumed was a conversation about how they were all too full to eat it. Oh well, I'll ask Long about how to eat it the next time I see him since he'll probably know.
This is from the last time I was at Lotus, which was about a month ago. I'd eat at Lotus more often, but Lynn doesn't really like their food, which makes it tough to eat there as often as I want to. Since there's so much time between visits it seems like every time I go there there's something new. This time it was combination plates. The only thing better than one dish that I have no idea how it tastes is three dishes that I have no idea how they'll taste. Since the only thing I know Lynn likes at Lotus is the beef curry, which is too spicy for her, I was glad to see a combination with vegetables with peanut sauce, fried chicken (one of my favorites), and mild beef curry; something for Lynn and something for me. I also went for my favorite appetizer, the corn fritters.
I learned that corn fritters don't travel well; they steam themselves soft in the container. I had a feeling that would happen, but I really wanted some corn fritters. The ingredients in the vegetables with peanut sauce were green beans(?), bean sprouts, and boiled egg. The peanut sauce was actually a little spicy and overall the dish was pretty tasty. The fried chicken was just as good as always, and the mild beef curry had a mild heat without sacrificing too much flavor. I preferred the regular version, but the mild version was still worth eating. Lynn didn't like it though since she wasn't happy with the quality of their beef.
I much prefer eating at Lotus to take out, but I didn't have a choice that night. Next time Lynn doesn't have a choice.
[Previous visit to Lotus Asian Cafe & Grill]
Recently I've been doing some behind the scenes stuff on the web site rather than writing about restaurants. Most of it will probably go unnoticed, so it's not worth mentioning, but something that is worth mentioning is the fact that I finally got around to adding a search engine. If you've ever wanted to find something specific on my site (and I know I have) it's very handy. Enjoy the long overdue new functionality.
I like to eat somewhere special on New Year's Eve, but I didn't have any plans for this year (without Cafe ah PWAH I've been short one favorite restaurant, and haven't found a replacement yet). I got lucky because I received an email from Cowboy Ciao advertising their seven course New Year's Eve dinner and wine pairing. The menu looked great, and interesting, and so did some of the wines. I made our reservation, and I was impressed business wise by their New Year's Eve policy, which is prepaid and nonrefundable. Now they don't even have to care if I show up because they already have my money.
Of course the next day Lynn checked her email and there was an email sitting there from Christopher's Fermier Brasserie about their five course New Year's Eve dinner and wine pairing. She would have preferred Christopher's to Cowboy Ciao, but that's what she gets for not checking her email often enough.
Last night I wanted to go to Jong Wah, but it was too late for their weekday hours. Luckily I was able to get lunch there today, but I had to get it to go. Lynn didn't know what she wanted so after I read off a few menu items she chose the chicken lettuce wraps (which were very good last time). I was in the mood for vegetables so I tried the sauteed green beans. The last time we were at John Wah Lynn had ordered the scallops in garlic sauce, and our waitress said if we liked it we should try the scallops in XO sauce. I think that proved my hypothesis that while garlic sauce is great it shouldn't be anywhere near scallops. This time I got the scallops in XO sauce (even though I should have known better because the radiant heat of the dish in the carry out container always causes them to be overcooked).
The chicken lettuce wraps were good. The sauteed green beans were also good, but a little subdued. At least I didn't have to deal with tiny dried shrimp in the sauteed green beans like at Tao Garden (I like those green beans too so don't get the wrong idea). The scallops were overcooked, but that was to be expected. They weren't terribly overcooked though so they were still eatable. The XO sauce was complex, and very spicy. I totally dug it, and thought it was an excellent match with the scallops (unlike garlic sauce). I'll be sure to only order scallops in the restaurant in the future though.
John Wah hasn't made me forget about Lin yet, but it is a nice change of pace, and I enjoy more there than Tao Garden.
Only a week or two after the first time I went to Cherryblossom Noodle Cafe I took Lynn there for lunch. I started with a glass of mugicha [roasted barley tea], and it tasted really weak. I drank it anyway. The second glass they gave me was better, but still weaker than the version I'm used to from Arai Pastry. I still wanted to eat through the menu so I ordered two appetizers: the tuna tataki and vegetable tempura. The tuna tataki was the typical seared tuna with ponzu sauce, but it wasn't especially tasty. Normally I'm a big fan of tuna tataki, but this version lacked life. The vegetable tempura was well fried, but the tempura sauce needed to taste better. I'm always amazed how rare good tempura is.
For our entrees Lynn had the chicken udon while I had the tonkatsu [panko coated fried pork]. The tonkatsu was crispy, and the katsu sauce was tasty. The only problem with tonkatsu is it's the same flavor over and over unless you have something else to eat with it (besides the white rice). Lynn liked the chicken in her soup, but she hated everything else about it. I tried the udon noodles and didn't understand why she didn't like the soup. I then tried the broth and understood perfectly: the broth tasted like a combination of soy sauce broth, miso broth, and pork broth (which are their own distinctive broths), and the combination was nasty. It was severely disappointing.
Since the only dish I enjoyed was the tonkatsu, which I knew was good because I tasted it on my previous visit, it curbed my enthusiasm for Cherryblossom Noodle Cafe. I know I'm fickle.
Tonight was my final exam for my bar management class. My teacher was great, I enjoyed the class a lot, learned a lot, but I'm glad to get my Wednesday night's back.
This week has apparently been foreign film week because I've three already.
When I saw the "God of Cookery" at the video store I had to rent it. It's hard to resist a title like that much less a cover with someone dressed like a Chinese god wielding a flaming wok. I didn't even notice that it was starred, written, and directed by Stephen Chow (who also starred, wrote, and directed "Shaolin Soccer"). "God of Cookery" was absolute silliness Iron Chef style. Anything that has cooking, operatic Chinese singing, (horror of all horrors) a gay Shaolin monk, and "pissing beef balls" has to be fun.
"Malena" was a story about a boy's coming of age in Italy during world war two. The great thing about it was it revolved around Monica Bellucci, but the story was very sad.
Long told me to watch "Sound of the Sea". Now that I've seen it I'm not exactly sure why he recommended it to me. The movie starts well, but I eventually come to hate the main characters. I suppose Long thought I'd appreciate the erotic scenes, but my disdain for the characters kept me from enjoying most of them.
Even though "God of Cookery" was the only movie I really enjoyed all the films were well made. I dig foreign films.
Saturday night Lynn, DJ, and I went to Na Zdrowie, the Polish restaurant that moved into Peruanitos old location. The interior was almost the exact same as Peruanitos except for the Polish flag. I looked at the appetizers with anticipation, but most of the the appetizers were typical bar food. Practically only thing that wasn't was the Polish platter (two chicken pierogies, two cheese and potato pierogies, kielbasa, and sauteed cabbage), which is what we ended up trying. I thought the potato pierogies didn't have much flavor, and were only alright, but Lynn liked them. Both Lynn and I thought the chicken in the chicken pierogies tasted odd. DJ seemed to really like them. The kielbasa was grilled, and extremely tasty; one of the best sausages I've had in a while. It made a compelling argument for the kielbasa entree. The sauteed cabbage had smoked ham in it, and Lynn and I devoured it. It reminded me how much I love sauteed cabbage.
For my entree I had the Hungarian style goulash which was a huge crispy potato pancake with beef and a tomato based sauce. The potato pancake in the sauce had a very good flavor. The beef was tender, but it had an odd flavor that kept me from enjoying it so I avoided the beef. Lynn had the beef stroganoff, which is something I'd never order since I'm not a fan of beef stroganoff. Na Zdrowie's beef stroganoff was dry, which wasn't an improvement over the saucy version I was never crazy about to begin with. Lynn and I both thought it was only ok. DJ had the stuffed cabbage, which came with a choice of mushroom sauce or tomato sauce. He was a little indecisive about which sauce so they brought out both on the side. I didn't get a chance to try the mushroom sauce, but DJ said it was pretty good. I did get to try the some of the stuffed cabbage with the tomato sauce. The stuffed cabbage tasted good, but it was hard to tell since I thought the sauce ruined it. I tried the sauce by itself and it had a flowery flavor with a sort of menthol nasal clearing effect. It tasted very similar to the tomato sauce we had in Innsbruck, Austria that Lynn figured out had ground anise in it.
The cheese blintzes sounded good so we got them for dessert. What was cool is the chef lit a couple of sugar cubes on fire and lowered the lights when the dish was brought out so we could see it. Someday I'll have to try lighting a sugar cube on fire to see if they're flamable without adding anything. (If that works I may one day build a sugar cube sculpture and light the entire thing on fire.) I thought it was great that the chef was having fun with the presentation, but I was even happier that the blintzes were really tasty. The cheese was sweet (without being overly sweet), and the pancakes were crispy. It's a good thing there were three of us there too, because two blintzes were just enough.
For our first experience with Polish it wasn't too bad. Some things were bad, but some things were very good too. I hope Na Zdrowie is around for a while so I can eat through the other dishes on the menu (especially the kielbasa).
Today was the office holiday party. If there's one thing I can't stand it's office holiday parties. I've never been a big fan of forced socialization in general, but when you add the festive holiday mood I really can't take it. Today I decided to just say no, and skipped out on the gift exchange because I didn't need to be involved in the tradition of picking a present and having it stolen from me (unless of course the gift really sucked).
I went to Target last night to look for something for our little gift exchange, but I didn't find anything interesting. I was really disappointed in Target because I'm not a big fan of Walmart, but Walmart has like two entire aisles dedicated to gift baskets. I think it's genius because Walmart realizes that there are probably far too many people who are forced to buy presents for gift exchanges (or at least need an easy gift that doesn't require much thought) and cash in on it. I tried to give my money to Target instead of Walmart, but they missed a golden opportunity.
Someone sent me spam that appeared to be from the email address iamjacksalternateego@yahoo.com. I thought that was a little creative; too bad it was wasted on spam.
Friday night I had a difficult time figuring out what I wanted for dinner so I went with my latest recent favorite, Va Bene. I told Lynn I'll probably want to return there until I get something bad. Friday night they insured another return visit.
We started with the shrimp wrapped in basil and prosciutto with a roasted pepper cream sauce. The prosciutto was cooked crispy, and they somehow managed not to overcook the shrimp. The overall flavor was pretty good although the shrimp were a little overpowered by the prosciutto. The sauce was tasty with everything, prosciutto or shrimp, so I'd order it again.
I had the regular mista salad, which is normally a little better than your average mixed green salad because of the tomatoes, but it tasted like they salted it a bit. I like salt in a lot of things, but I've never been a salad salter. Lynn had the tomato-basil soup again, which surprised me because I didn't think she was crazy about it the first time she had it. Well she apparently digs it, which is cool because so do I.
I was torn between the tenderloin, lamb chops, and the excellent gnocchi before the waiter listed off the specials, but after he said the specials I had to have the lamb special (rack of lamb with spinach risotto in a garlic-rosemary demiglace). Lynn also went with one of the specials, the beef tenderloin with roasted potatoes in a garlic-shallot brandy sauce. My lamb was excellent; it was well seasoned, perfectly cooked, and the sauce was full of flavor without the rosemary being overpowering. The risotto was undercooked, and I would normally let that go at a restaurant I wouldn't return to, but since I like Va Bene I felt I had to get the risotto straightened out, even if it wasn't that tasty. The waiter quickly brought out an order of risotto that was cooked enough (it still had some crunchy bits, but I didn't want to give the guy a complex), and while it was the exact same spinach risotto that I had on my last visit, it did taste a little better because of the onion in the risotto (which I didn't remember tasting last time). Lynn's tenderloin was excellent, but mostly due to the sauce. I have to give credit to whoever they have doing their sauces, because I haven't had a mediocre one yet. The roasted potatoes were decent, but they didn't add anything to the dish.
I was in the mood for dessert, and so was Lynn. Of course we couldn't agree on a single dessert that both of us could eat so I had the creme brulee and Lynn had the chocolate mousse. It turns out that desserts are Va Bene's weakness. There was too much sugar on top of the creme brulee so the uncarmalized granulated sugar made the creme brulee taste gritty. There was also a lemon flavor that I didn't expect, which was disturbing at first, but not too bad once I got used to it. I could still only stand the creme brulee enough to eat half of it though. Lynn's chocolate mousse was unbelievably thick (like a pot de creme), gritty, and had an odd flavor; I don't think either one of us one of us ate more than two bites of it before we decided it wasn't worth the effort. The waiter noticed that Lynn hardly touched it and asked if it was ok. Lynn wasn't going to mention it after the risotto thing, but since he asked she told him exactly what was wrong with it. He took it away and took it off of our bill. We both felt sorry for him because he was having a bad night, and it was due to the food coming out of the kitchen (which he couldn't help). Even though it seems like Va Bene will occupy more of the regular restaurant rotation than most places, it's doubtful I'll try another dessert there.
One final note, Va Bene was completely full when we got there, and the service was slow because of it. It was also very loud. While I like the food quite a bit that's not the sort of environment I like to be in so I'll probably stick to visiting them Sunday through Thursday (which will probably make the restaurant owners happy since the restaurant seems to either be full or empty).
A couple of different situations today reminded me how much I hate people sometimes. It also reminded me that I probably shouldn't be involved in any business that requires I deal directly with customers, including a wine shop. Maybe I'll feel differently tomorrow, but there are times I'd love to live in some remote wood somewhere where I don't have to deal with other people. At least until I got tired of cooking for myself.
Yesterday I drove by Peraunitos to find them no longer there. I'll really miss a couple of their dishes. It's looks like they've been out of business for a while because there's already another restaurant open in their location; it's a Polish-American place that intrigued both Lynn and I because we've never had Polish before. Hopefully we'll get a chance to try them soon (like tonight).
I didn't care for the original "Blade", but I liked "Blade II" so I was really looking forward to seeing "Blade: Trinity". What a disappointment; I should have remembered that sequels should stop at one. When was the last time the third movie in any series was worth watching? Not "The Matrix Revolutions" or "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (which wasn't bad, just a let down after "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"). One of the few exceptions to this is "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", which continues that series' trend of getting better with every movie.
In the first movie Blade (the half human, half vampire main character) acted like he had a stick up his ass. The reason I liked the second movie much better than the first was that they added a little humor to Blade's character so he was a little more sympathetic. In the third movie they went back to the old Blade (with the stick up his ass), and the movie suffers for it. It wasn't just the change to Blade's character that made the movie suck though, it was almost everything. The movie felt like watching a cross between a comic book, a music video, and a commercial. There were a lot of shots with the heroes walking around with pensive looks on their faces (I expected all the those scenes to end with them repeating the word obsession [a la a Calvin Klein Obsession commercial] or seeing some advertising for Levis). The cinematography had a high contrast, weird high key look to it that was irritating (what's with all that light in a vampire movie?). The main bad guy is the original vampire, Dracula, who's supposed to be the badest of all the vampires, but this Dracula didn't look menacing in the least; he looked more like a goth poseur who would menace 13 year old girls. Finally, Jessica Biel should have been eye candy in the movie, but whoever designed her costumes seemed to have forgotten that the role of the sexy kick ass chick should dress sexy. Pity.
The movie did have one point though, and to my surprise that was Triple H (of WWE wrestling fame). The interaction between him and Ryan Reynolds was pretty much the only entertaining part of the entire movie.
The day after Thanksgiving I was looking for a late lunch, and not having any luck. Va Bene (my first choice) was closed for the day, and Tomaso's (my second choice) and Barcelona (a hesitant third choice) were both closed after 3. Lynn mentioned On the Border, and since I was starving and remembered them being halfway decent I thought they sounded alright. That was a mistake; I believe all restaurant chains eventually aspire for mediocrity (some start with decent food, but their quality drops while others are so terrible that mediocre would be a compliment), and it seems On the Border passed halfway decent on their decent a while ago.
Lynn started with the queso dip, which she normally loves. This time is had a funny flavor that reminded me of soap. Lynn didn't taste soap, but she thought it was off too. She wasn't feeling very hungry so she got the chicken tortilla soup, which she wasn't happy with because it was pretty bland. I couldn't remember what I liked at On the Border so I got a combination plate with a beef hard taco, beef empinadas, and a shrimp and spinach enchilada. The hard taco wasn't a store bought taco shell, and the beef was seasoned, but it seemed to be missing something. It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't order it again. The beef empinadas were filled with beef and cheese, but somehow managed not to taste like anything. Even while starving I couldn't bring myself to finish one of the little tasteless things. The shrimp in the shrimp and spinach enchilada tasted old (shrimpy) so I tried to eat around them, but the enchilada wasn't worth it; it made me miss seafood enchiladas at Barrio Cafe.
I would say our lunch at On the Border was very bad. They were never a favorite of mine, but I never remembered their food being bad either. It seems they've made an impression now though.
Last week I was at home unable to do anything so couldn't wait to get back to work. Now that I'm back at work I wish I had some vacation time so I could stay at home and do some personal stuff (like work on trip reports, edit pictures, or catch up on other writing stuff). Oh well.
The other day I stopped at The Original Hoagie Shop for a cheese steak, and got a cup of the Italian wedding soup too since I hadn't had an Italian wedding soup in forever. The cheese steak was excellent, just like last time. The perfectly seasoned beef, sauteed onions, and cheese was great, but if they used better bread the sandwich would be perfect. The Italian wedding soup was greasy, and had an odd green flavor to it (it really made me miss the Italian wedding soup from Raimondo's). I'll have to try one of their other soups someday to see if the Italian wedding was typical or an aberration for The Original Hoagie Shop.
One day Lynn and I must have been on some sort of insane genius jag because we decided that watching "Siu lam juk kau" ["Shaolin Soccer"] and "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" on the same day would be a good idea. The worst part was that it was a good idea. Both movies are terribly cheesy, completely predictable, and entertaining as hell. We started with "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra", a tribute to really bad old sci-fi films. This film had everything: aliens, a monster, scientists (one mad), bad dialog, stilted acting, and a talking skeleton (who had some really great lines). It's amazing how brilliant the bad dialog was though; you got the feeling a lot of thought went into making it that bad. The movie shot for campy, and actually hit it. "Shaolin Soccer" is a movie about ex-Shaolin monks who use kung fu to play soccer. Could there be a cooler movie concept? If you think there is, then this probably isn't the movie for you. What's amazing is both movies avoided the problem with movies that are written, directed, and starred by the same person, which is they usually suck. Stephen Chow and Larry Blamire both deserve a lot of credit for not ruining their own movies by starring in them.
A week or two ago I finally got around to eating at Famous Dave's in person (Lynn had brought me leftovers from there that were less than impressive). I'm used to barbecue places being hole in a wall type places, but at least they seem genuine. Famous Dave's is a corporate hole in a wall which just seemed cluttered and loud. Our waiter (who had to yell) introduced himself as "Famous [something]". Bleh.
I was feeling the need for vegetables so I got a ceaser salad, and Lynn had the chicken and rice soup. The ceaser salad wasn't bad, but the main reason I order it is because I know it won't be made with iceberg lettuce. Lynn's soup was thick, and very hearty; it was almost a small meal. It could have used some flavor though.
For our entrees Lynn had the beef brisket, and I had the sparerib combination plate with roast chicken. Lynn's brisket was way oversmoked; it was more than I could take. Lynn thought it was too smokey too, and she didn't remember the brisket she had there being that smokey (her leftover brisket tasted oversmoked to me though). With how much Lynn's friend raved about the roast chicken I was really looking forward to it. I've had better roast chicken from Fry's supermarket. This chicken had a pleasant smoke flavor (which you don't get from Fry's), but there wasn't any other kind of flavor, and the skin wasn't even somewhat crisp. The spareribs actually had a pretty good flavor, and they were tender enough. I'd order them again assuming I could stand the experience of Famous Dave's dining room again.
We finished our meal with the Kahlua brownie sundae. The brownie wasn't the chewy variety I like, but it had a good flavor. I don't remember if the ice cream was any good or not, but the overall dessert was decent.
I don't like the idea of corporate barbecue, but I live with it (as my occasional visits to El Paso Barbecue Company can attest). Famous Dave's seems to be the epitome of what I don't like about corporate barbecue though; their dining room feels synthetic, and they put out some truly terrible barbecue. Of course almost every barbecue place puts out some bad barbecue, but they usually make a couple of really great things that more than offsets it; Famous Dave's just doesn't do enough well.
When I felt decent enough to eat out for the first time I had a serious craving for green chile. Since I don't trust the green chile at Mi Casita anymore that left Si Senor. I got the green chile plate and Lynn got the green chile steak. The green chile tasted exactly like the green chile salsa they give you with the chips (which I fully expected and appreciated) with tender pieces of beef in it. It was exactly what I wanted, but my appetite still wasn't normal enough for me to finish all of it (and it wasn't a huge portion or anything). I tried some of Lynn's green chile steak, and the beef wasn't salted before it was cooked so it tasted pretty nasty. Lynn liked the sauteed green chiles, onions, and tomatoes that topped the steak, but she had to put a lot of salt and black pepper on the steak to make it eatable. I wish restaurants would learn that salt after the fact doesn't make up for a lack of salt before cooking.
The sopapillas were crispy this time instead of doughy, but they didn't taste right. Neither one of us finished ours, but we were both still sick.
Si Senor was decent if you cancel out the really bad steak with the very good green chile. Hopefully I'll find something else there that I like besides the green chile.
After the lunch Lynn picked up from Mi Casita I was a little reluctant to return there, but I had to give them a chance to make things right. Lynn got a carne asada taco (which we'd never had before), but I wanted something I knew I liked so I went with the green chile fry bread. The fry bread was still perfectly fried, but the green chile didn't have any flavor. The meat was so overly tender that the meat just fell apart and didn't taste like anything either. I didn't bother finishing my fry bread. The carne asada taco was just beef and a corn tortilla. The corn tortilla was kind of crispy and tasted pretty good, but the beef tasted unseasoned. I thought the taco was terrible, but Lynn liked it.
It seems to me that Mi Casita has fallen off already. They used to make great food, but the last couple of times I haven't finished anything I've gotten from them.
This morning my fever broke. Today's the best I've felt since Sunday. Eventually the doctor's office called and said it wasn't my appendix. They don't know what it is so I'd have to take more tests to find out. My feeling is that if the fever broke on its own then the rest of the symptoms should go away on their own pretty soon too. Of course if the problem reoccurs then I'll sure to jump on it quickly so it doesn't become chronic.
My cough is getting better too.
I haven't been writing because I've been sick since Sunday. It wasn't like any sickness I've experienced before, but I gave it until Wednesday to clear itself up. That didn't happen so I went to see the doctor to find out what's wrong with me. As of today they still don't know exactly what the problem is, but it's most likely an appendicitis and I'll have to have my appendix removed. I always thought your appendix was either healthy or it exploded. That just goes to show what you don't learn by watching tv or movies (like all cars on fire explode [I've seen plenty of cars on fire, and not one of them has exploded, but they do look really cool]). Mine is the barbecue grill variety of appendicitis, slow and low. It's been warning me with a low level fever, zero appetite, excessive drowsiness, and stomach pains long enough to convince me that having body parts removed is preferable to waiting for this to get better (I hear it happens, but then it's possible for it to reoccur) or it explodes (quite a bit more likely, and a lot less fun than just feeling bad). If it is my appendix I hope they can get me scheduled quickly so I can start my recovery.
Incidentally, Lynn also got sick on Sunday from something completely different (a respiratory infection). It's been real fun at our apartment.
I think I've also caught a respiratory infection. I'm sure that'll make things needlessly complicated.
We've been meaning to try Roaring Fork for forever, and a couple of weeks ago we were actually in the neighborhood at dinner time (since they aren't open for lunch). They didn't have any tables available for an hour and a half, but we managed to find an available table at the bar just after someone left. We couldn't decide on two entrees so we ended up ordering nothing but appetizers. We had the pork green chile stew and tortillas; chicken tortilla soup; lamb chops, butternut squash, and pistachio bread with fondue; and seared scallops and spinach salad. The pork green chile tasted more like pot roast than green chile, and there wasn't any heat or green chile flavor. It was pretty disappointing. Lynn thought the chicken tortilla soup was ok, but could have used some heat. I didn't think it was good enough for me to even bother with. Luckily the lamb chops and fondue was much better than the other two appetizers. The lamb chops had an excellent crust, and they were well seasoned. I'd go back to Roaring Fork for the lamb chops alone, and even Lynn liked 'em (she's a reformed lamb hater and still quite picky about which ones she doesn't hate). The fondue was cheesy with an assertive heat. It was great with the pistachio bread, which they don't give us enough of, and compelling enough to make us eat it with the squash (which wasn't the best match in the world). When we finished even the squash I was tempted to use the tortillas from the pork stew to finish off the fondue. I couldn't tell if we were supposed to dip the lamb in the fondue, but we never tried it. The seared scallops were seared, but didn't tasted like they were spiced. We both dug the salad with the supposed jalapeno vinaigrette (it wasn't hot, but it was tasty).
We wanted dessert, but we couldn't agree on one dessert so we got two: the apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream, and the chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. The cobbler part of the apple cobbler was made with cornmeal, and the cobbler was dry. It sucked. The chocolate cake with a ganache center was served cold which made the mediocre dry cake taste even worse. The best aspect of both desserts was that they came with vanilla ice cream, which was only decent, but superior by comparison.
For what's supposed to be one of the best restaurants in Phoenix (awarded five out of five stars on AZ Central) there wasn't much to like. I do have one excuse for returning there (the lamb chop and fondue appetizer), but I can think of better restaurants to spend my time.
I finally got around to writing out the best and worst of our recent Monterey trip.
Category |
Lynn's Pick(s) |
Mario's Pick(s) |
|---|---|---|
Best Appetizer |
Sauteed mushrooms - Lugano (Carmel Valley, CA) |
Potstickers - Golden Gate (Gonzalez, CA) Four onion tart - Grasing's (Carmel, CA) Sauteed mushrooms - Lugano (Carmel Valley, CA) |
Worst Appetizer |
Grilled prawns with cauliflower mousse and shellfish broth - Peppoli (Pebble Beach, CA) |
Grilled prawns with cauliflower mousse and shellfish broth - Peppoli (Pebble Beach, CA) |
Best Soup |
Roasted red pepper soup - Grasing's (Carmel, CA) |
Roasted red pepper soup - Grasing's (Carmel, CA) |
Worst Soup |
Barley soup - Lugano (Carmel Valley, CA) |
Barley soup - Lugano (Carmel Valley, CA) |
Best Salad |
Mixed greens with smoked duck - Anton y Michel (Carmel, CA) |
Mixed greens with smoked duck - Anton y Michel (Carmel, CA) |
Worst Salad |
House salad - Lugano (Carmel Valley, CA) |
Fried goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes, pickled garlic, and mixed greens - Grasing's (Carmel, CA) |
Best Side Dish |
Risotto with grilled artichoke - Anton y Michel (Carmel, CA) |
Risotto with grilled artichoke - Anton y Michel (Carmel, CA) |
Worst Side Dish |
Artichoke "risotto" (Israeli cous cous) - Grasing's (Carmel, CA) |
Artichoke "risotto" (Israeli cous cous) - Grasing's (Carmel, CA) |
Best Entree |
Rack of lamb - Fresh Cream (Monterey, CA) |
Skirt steak - Grasing's (Carmel, CA) |
Worst Entree |
Ribeye steak - Peppoli (Pebble Beach, CA) |
Sand dabs - Lugano (Carmel Valley, CA) |
Best Dessert |
Lemon panna cotta - Peppoli (Pebble Beach, CA) Dessert assortment - Fresh Cream (Monterey, CA) |
Bananas foster - Anton y Michel (Carmel, CA) Chocolate molten cake - Grasing's (Carmel, CA) |
Worst Dessert |
Tiramisu - Lugano (Carmel Valley, CA) |
Tiramisu - Lugano (Carmel Valley, CA) Creme Brulee - Fish Hopper (Monterey, CA) |
Best Meal |
Anton y Michel (Carmel, CA) Fresh Cream (Monterey, CA) |
Anton y Michel (Carmel, CA) Grasing's (Carmel, CA) |
Worst Meal |
Peppoli (Pebble Beach, CA) |
Peppoli (Pebble Beach, CA) |
Best Atmosphere |
Anton y Michel (Carmel, CA) |
Anton y Michel (Carmel, CA) |
Worst Atmosphere |
Golden Gate (Gonzalez, CA) |
Golden Gate (Gonzalez, CA) |
Best Service |
Anton y Michel (Carmel, CA) Grasing's (Carmel, CA) |
Anton y Michel (Carmel, CA) Grasing's (Carmel, CA) |
Worst Service |
Fish Hopper (Monterey, CA) |
Lugano (Carmel Valley, CA) Peppoli (Pebble Beach, CA) |
Best Meal Experience |
Anton y Michel (Carmel, CA) |
The winemaker dinner with Paraiso at Anton y Michel (Carmel, CA) |
Worst Meal Experience |
Sending her overcooked steak back at Peppoli (Pebble Beach, CA) |
The chef standing at our table while I was chewing my somewhat overcooked salmon waiting to find out what was wrong with my meal at Peppoli (Pebble Beach, CA) |
Best Trip Experience |
Walking barefoot on the beach. |
Smoking cigars on our hotel room balcony at sunset. |
Worst Trip Experience |
Dinner at Peppoli (Pebble Beach, CA). |
Lynn's sudden outburst while we were driving through Gonzalez, CA because she wasn't feeling well. |
Best Wine |
n/a |
Thomas Fogarty "Late Harvest Gewurztraminer 2003" |
Best Winery |
Paraiso |
Paraiso |
Honorable Mention: our room and overall hotel experience at The Marina Dunes Resort (Marina, CA); Lynn's - our anniversary dinner at Fresh Cream (Monterey, CA); Lynn's - the heirloom tomato and feta salad at Brunello (Carmel Valley, CA); the bratwurst and rosti at Lugano (Carmel Valley, CA); Lynn's - the chocolate molten cake at Grasing's (Carmel, CA); the Great Wine Escape winery bus tour and all the great event volunteers.
I enjoy Wine Enthusiast magazine, and even have a subscription to it. I enjoy their industry coverage and their writing style so I have the magazine for the articles instead of the wine ratings, which have always seemed too arbitrary for my tastes (as every numerical rating system is for matters of taste). I still read the ratings on the off chance they've rated something I've tasted before so I can compare notes. In the last issue they actually rated two wines I've had before, the Taittinger "Blanc de Blancs Brut 1995" and Masi "Campofiorin 2001". The Taittinger "Blanc de Blancs Brut 1995" was an amazing wine that made me rethink (in a positive way) how I felt about Champagne. They even referred to it as "almost a work of art". What rating did they give it? 91 (out of 100). That sounds good, but when you take into account that nothing published is rated below 83 is doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment. That alone is enough to irritate me since I think the Taittinger is an elite wine worthy of a score better than 91. Lynn and I tried the Masi "Campofiorin 2001" a couple of months ago at a wine tasting at Sun Devil Liquors. When we tasted it it was a tannin bomb, but it had some pleasant flavors. I ended up buying a couple of bottles because they were cheap and I was interested to see how they developed. What rating does Wine Enthusiast give the Masi? 90, only one point below the Taittinger. I don't see it; one was a nice, above average wine while the other was outright great. It's possible I had the Masi on a bad day (I know more than just flavor affect how wines taste), but this is a perfect example why I hate wine ratings; they don't seem to have anything to do with reality (or at least my reality).
In "3 cheers for shops that know wine" Mark Tarbell talks about some of his favorite valley wine shops. The part of the article I found interesting was that a couple of the wine shops are planning on opening up new locations in 2005. We need to finish our business plan before things become saturated.
"Wine bars pour onto scene as sip becomes more hip" is an article about the burgeoning wine bar scene in Phoenix. I'm glad it's obvious that people are getting into wine, but I would like to have opened my wine shop/bar before it became obvious.
It would have been longer before I returned to Seoul Garden (I really wasn't happy with them last time), but today was an overcast rainy day that seemed to call for a spicy soup, specifically the kind of spicy soup made at Korean restaurants. The only Korean restaurant I know around where I work is Seoul Garden so that's where Long and I headed. I had their spicy beef soup and Long had their bool kogi bento box. First let me say that they weren't busy today. Second, we didn't both order the bool kogi either. The bool kogi still wasn't crispy like it was the first time I went to Seoul Garden! It irritates me that they never make it as good as they could to the point that I won't order the bool kogi again. Long's never had it crispy, and the meat did have a good flavor, so he dug it. My soup had shredded beef, cellophane noodles, and some veggies in a dubious red broth. The initial flavor had an odd beefiness that almost made me consider not eating another bite, but I got past it, and it tasted pretty good. I definitely liked the flavor of the broth better than the flavor of the beef, but I was disappointed that the broth lacked the usual Korean disregard for intestinal fettle. Despite the fact that Long questioned me on some of the soup's ingredients (I really don't want to know which part of the cow the beef comes from: years of eating Asian soups has taught me that a don't ask, don't tell policy is best for my squeamishness) the soup really hit the spot. Long said he probably wouldn't order it himself because he didn't think there were enough noodles in it to fill him up, and since he regularly eats entire bowls of pho I'm sure he's correct.
Today I learned that Seoul Garden is still a viable lunch option for me so long as I get something other than kabli or bool kogi.
The last time I went to the The Original Hoagie Shop Noah and I were working together (which was a very long time ago). I don't remember what I had, but it didn't make enough of an impression on me for me to bother returning. Friday Long and I went there to lunch because the last couple of times we've gone to Tokyo Stop the smell coming from The Original Hoagie Shop was too good to ignore. We had a cheese steak and a pastrami (which we split). The cheese steak had well seasoned beef and sauteed onions, and was probably the best one I've had locally. My only complaint about it was that I thought they should have toasted the bread. The pastrami was your basic pastrami and mustard, but it wasn't bad. It looks like The Original Hoagie Shop has made an impression on me now.
Before I had been to Va Bene Lynn and I had dinner at Naples (which I think qualifies as Lynn's favorite Italian restaurant). I'd been looking at the gorgonzola gnocchi with tomato-basil sauce ever since they added it to the menu, but I never wanted to eat it as an entree. This time I figured out a solution; I had the waiter bring it out as an appetizer. I've been trying to match wines to food these days (with varying success) so I got a glass of Villa Mt. Eden "Pinot Noir" because I thought a light red wine would match the light tomato sauce. The gnocchi were dense and didn't really taste like gorgonzola. I didn't think they tasted like much, and Lynn and I were both disappointed in them. On the other hand the tomato-basil sauce the gnocchi were served with was excellent. The sauce was very light and zippy, like an Italian version of salsa. The Pinot Noir seemed muted by itself, but the tomato-basil sauce did bring out the fruit flavors in the wine making it quite pleasant. We didn't finish the gnocchi so I tried it the next day, and the gorgonzola flavor was so strong that I found the gnocchi inedible. (Notice how different this experience was from the gnocchi at Va Bene.)
Lynn had the pizza cacciatore (Italian sausage, peppers, and onions), and I had the daily special, a crab and shrimp alfredo. Lynn didn't like her pizza cacciatore, and I understood why when I tasted it; the distinct flavor of cacciatore sauce didn't taste good on the pizza dough. Live and learn. Normally I like the seafood dishes at Naples, but the crab and shrimp alfredo was only ok. I could hardly taste the crab, and the alfredo sauce wasn't as good as Lynn's homemade sauce. It's been a while since I've had an entree I haven't liked at Naples so they're forgiven.
We finished our meal with a slice of chocolate mousse cake. It was tasty, but it needed something to keep it from being too rich. Too rich or not it was still worth ordering though.
As an aside, Lynn bought a little ten or twelve paged cookbook of Italian sauces for like $2 in some east coast tourist trap (Colonial Williamsburg I think), and the cookbook recipes for alfredo and marinara sauce are both excellent. (The other ones might be excellent too, but Lynn hasn't made them yet.) I just wanted to point out that sometimes you never know where you'll find something potentially useful.
[Previous visit to Naples.]
The night before Lynn and I went on vacation I had to return to Va Bene because they had too many interesting items on the menu for me to resist. We started with the scallops "Va Bene" (seared scallops with pesto and a mixed green salad), a seafood bisque, and a tomato-basil soup (a soup of the day). The scallops were perfectly seared, and they were pretty good with the pesto. The mixed green salad was decent, and made me feel better about getting a soup instead of a salad, but it wasn't as good as their mista salad. The seafood bisque had a general seafood flavor with a surprising spicy aftertaste. It wasn't good enough that I'd order it again though. Lynn's tomato-basil soup had a thick texture with a tasty creamy tomato flavor, and they weren't stringy with the basil that perked up the flavor in just the right way. I think I enjoyed the soup more than Lynn, but I'm a sucker for creamy tomato sauce.
Our waiter listed off about eight different entree specials, and most of them sounded great. I ended up with the lamb with spinach risotto and raspberry-horseradish sauce (one of the specials). Lynn went with the gnocchi alla vodka (gnocchi in a tomato cream sauce), which I almost got the first time I went to Va Bene. My lamb was perfectly prepared with a nice crust, and was excellent enough to make Va Bene my other restaurant for lamb (besides Citrus Cafe). The raspberry-horseradish sauce was unique and understandably tasty, but I'll always prefer a port demiglace for my lamb. I had high hopes for the spinach risotto, but it turned out to be completely bland. At least the roasted vegetables that came with the dish made up for it. Lynn's gnocchi was one of the best Italian dishes I've had in a long time. The tomato sauce had the bright, fresh flavor that I loved so much about New Jersey/Pennsylvania Italian. When I didn't think the sauce could taste any better I'd get a bit of the shallots in the sauce and be even more impressed. The best thing you can do with a great sauce is pair it other great ingredients, and the gnocchi fit that need; the gnocchi was light, and the potato flavor was the perfect compliment for the sauce. Lynn somehow managed to have some leftover gnocchi with both of us doing our best to finish the dish so we had it for lunch the next day and it was still great!
I liked Va Bene the first time I ate there, but now I'm enthralled by them; they serve the kind of Italian rarely seen in Phoenix and have a compellingly deep menu (and that doesn't include their numerous daily specials). Va Bene looks like they might actually displace Rigatony's as my favorite Italian restaurant.
[I did forget to mention that the first time I was there with Dan for lunch he recommended the rigatoni bolognese (rigatoni with your standard tomato based meat sauce). I've never ordered meat sauce at an Italian restaurant since I (or Lynn) can make a tasty meat sauce at home, but Dan ordered it, and I did have an opportunity to try Dan's. It didn't have much flavor, and it's probably one of the weakest items on the menu. I don't think that's much of a surprise.]
So we're back from Monterey, California. The food, wine, and scenery didn't appeal to me as much as Napa, but the volunteers did an outstanding job with the entire "Great Wine Escape" event, and we had a great time at the different events and on our own. We tasted a lot of bad wine the first day we were there, and it made me really appreciate Callaghan. It wasn't all bad though; Paraiso made a believer out of me. They were the best winery of the trip, and David Fleming (their winemaker) is a passionate nut about wine, and the industry in general. Paraiso's "Pinot Noir 2001" was my favorite Pinot Noir of the trip (followed closely by Chalone's Pinot Noir). While Paraiso had the best line of wines my favorite wine of the trip was the Thomas Fogarty "Late Harvest Gewurztraminer 2003", which had a nicely balanced sweetness with amazing fruit and spice flavors. I don't know when we'll be back to Monterey, but Lynn's told me more than a few times that she'd like to go back again.
I'm off to Monterey, and I'll be back Wednesday. Maybe.
In the building that used to occupied by Bangkok Express a new Mexican restaurant named El Buen Savor moved in. I tried them for the first time today, hoping they would help make up for the loss of my favorite Thai restaurant.
The interior of the restaurant was repainted (which seems to be a prerequisite for every new owner), but it looked almost exactly the same otherwise. The menu was the usual taco shop fare so I ordered my usual taco shop menu workout: a horchata, a carne asada torta, and three tacos (one carnitas, one pastor, and one green chile). The horchata tasted like water, and was one of the worst horchatas I've tasted. The carne asada torta had a single slice of really thin beef that wasn't seasoned on bread that wasn't toasted with lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayonnaise which wasn't even close to the carne asada torta at El Tlacoyo. The carnitas were crispy, and weren't too bad, but I don't know if I'd order them again. The pastor had a sweet fruity flavor that was completely unlike any pastor I've ever had before or hope to have again. I don't mind different takes on old favorites so long as they taste good, but their pastor was just weird. The green chile taco was the best item I tried at El Buen Savor, but it's unlikely I'll return there anytime soon.
Right now I have less than four hours of work left before I'm off for a week, and I'm having a hard time concentrating on work; I always get squirrelly right before vacation. Technically the vacation doesn't officially begin until Friday when Lynn and I go to Monterey, California, but I'm looking forward to a day or two of no real responsibilities.
Monday we'll be celebrating our first anniversary, although it feels like it's been considerably longer. My mom just reminded me today that it would be a good thing to get Lynn an anniversary present. Damn, I can't believe I forgot about that. I guess I do have one responsibility tomorrow. I don't mind though because at least I won't be at work.
Last week one of the guys at work (Calvin) picked up a pizza from Tessio's Pizza. He'd never been there before, but thought their pizza was pretty good, and offered me a slice. The crust was thin, but it wasn't Chicago style cracker thin like Oregano's, and the cheese was greasy without approaching Pizza Hut's level of excessive greasiness. I normally don't like greasy pizzas, but there's something about Tessio's Pizza that makes me overlook it. Maybe it was because Calvin had them mix their regular pizza sauce with their pesto sauce (something he had in New York)? I don't know how much it added to the flavor, but I dug their pizza. The only thing I didn't like about the pizza was their use of sliced Italian sausage, which never seems to measure up to old fashioned link sausage.
I didn't write about it last week because one or two good slices doesn't constitute a fair sample. Today I asked Calvin when he was going to get another pizza from Tessio's, and he said today (what a guy). He got the exact same pizza (except this was the 18 inch jumbo size), and I still dug the pizza. The jumbo pizza came with a couple of cups of pizza sauce, which had a lot of garlic but didn't have the bright tomato flavor I like so much in New Jersey/Pennsylvania Italian food. I'll probably stick with the combination regular pizza sauce and pesto, but next time I'll go for pepperoni and bacon (my favorite set of pizza toppings). If that's any good I may even try their gyro meat.
Lynn and I stopped at Cafe Poca Cosa for a late lunch Saturday. We didn't need to look at the menu because we already knew we were going to get two platos Poca Cosa (a sampler plate with three items: unusually one beef, one chicken, and one corn casserole). After we had ordered I commented to Lynn about how I just realized that Cafe Poca Cosa has to be one of the best restaurants in Arizona. I can't think of any other restaurant that offers as many interesting items (on a daily rotating menu no less) as Poca Cosa, and manage to have the vast majority of their food hover around the great mark. The only complaint I have about the restaurant is that they aren't located in Phoenix.
Lynn's only complaint about the restaurant is that she hates their mole chicken (their standard one with chocolate). She finally broke her streak of always getting stuck with it when the waitress brought out the two plates, and gave me the plate with the mole on it (the one dish you can always guarantee getting if you order multiple platos is the mole). Besides the mole chicken my plate also had beef with a tomatillo and chipotle sauce and corn casserole with mango. Lynn's plate had adobo beef, chicken with some sort of thick pistachio nut sauce, and corn casserole with mushroom sauce. Since it was around three in the afternoon the mole was quite good, but the chicken was dry. I blame it on the habit Mexican food falls into with not knowing how to cook chicken properly if it's not grilled. I would have preferred Lynn's chicken with pistachios, which was also a bit dry, but it tasted like pumpkin seeds, and reminded me of the the amarillo mole I had the last time we were at Poca Cosa. In contrast to the chicken my beef was tender. The tomatillo sauce was tasty, and the only indication of the chipotle chiles was the smokey flavor in the sauce. I loved it. Lynn loved her adobo beef, which didn't resemble any kind of adobo I've had, but it was excellent. Lynn pointed out that Poca Cosa is especially adept with beef. I had to agree. I had the corn casserole with mango the last time I was Poca Cosa so I wasn't surprised by it this time. The combination of corn, cheese, green onion, and mango sounds incongruous, but it somehow worked. How they even thought to try the combination I couldn't guess. It was far better than Lynn's corn casserole which tasted like it had Campbell's cream of mushroom soup dumped on top of it. Lynn wasn't surprised I hated it, probably because she liked it.
We finished our lunch with the chocolate mousse. I normally don't order the same thing over and over again, but I don't have the chocolate mousse often enough not to order it. Hell, the only chocolate mousse I can think of in Phoenix that compares is the pot de creme at Cowboy Ciao, and I don't eat there often enough to get sick of theirs either.
Saturday Lynn and I went down to Tucson to try the newly released reds at Callaghan Vineyards, and to see what's been newly released at Village of Elgin. We stopped at Callaghan first, and the place was packed. Thankfully it wasn't so packed that I wanted to leave. They had seven new reds to try, and it wasn't too long before we had to hit the cheese and bread. (The rosemary bread they had was excellent. I was curious to see if it came from Grasslands Cafe, which I've never really liked, but found out it was from Beyond Bread in Tucson. I need to find a good bread bakery in Phoenix.)
Of the wines Lynn's favorite was their "Pressings 2003", a unspecified blend of red grapes that made for an easy drinking wine. I thought the "Pressings" was pretty good too, but the "Mourvedre 2003" and "Buena Suerte Cuvee 2002" were my two favorites. 2003 seemed like it was a pretty good year for Callaghan because we didn't taste anything from that year we outright disliked (unlike 2002). The biggest surprise of the day for me was that "Claire's Spirited Selection 2000" tasted completely different than the last time I tasted it (which was only a few months ago). Before it was mildly fruity and very creamy. This time around is was assertively fruity and quite spicy. Not that it tasted like nutmeg, but it reminded me of Christmas desserts. We ended up leaving Callaghan with a mixed case of goodies.
When we were finished at Callaghan I didn't feel like going to Village of Elgin; I had too many big red wines to want to drink anything. That's probably the second or third time that's happened so I need to remember to stop at Village of Elgin first next time.
On the way back to Tucson we stopped at Grasslands Cafe to pick up a few baked goods. I got a couple of their "world famous" cheese danish, a peach cobbler, and a bratwurst and sauerkraut roll thing. The dough for the cheese danish was salty, which was fine with the sweet cheese to balance it out, but was disconcerting without the cheese. The peach cobbler was way too sweet, and neither Lynn or I could take it. I got the bratwurst and sauerkraut thing because I've never seen anything like it before so I wanted to try it. It was wrapped up in wheat dough, and the sauerkraut with the wheat dough was a very successful combination. Too bad the bratwurst didn't taste good; it had a dense texture that I didn't like, and was oddly seasoned. Lynn didn't like it either. I want to like Grasslands Cafe, but I haven't found anything of theirs that I like.
We got to Tucson and went to Cafe Poca Cosa for an excellent late lunch. After that it was back home to do nothing. It was a good day, and hopefully it'll prepare me for the massive amounts of wine tasting we'll be doing this weekend in Monterey.
Today I went to Va Bene, a restaurant I'd never even heard of, with Dan (who I haven't seen since my wedding). It was good to catch up with him. He told me where to find the place, and when I pulled up I asked him if he was sure it was open since the parking lot was empty. He said they always look dead. When we were seated we were given a basket of crusty bread and a bowl of compound butter. I like the idea of compound butter, but most of the compound butters I've had aren't actually tasty. This one was. I ended up almost eating the entire bread basket by myself.
I was in the mood for something green so I ordered a mista salad with my lunch. I thought it would just be a regular mixed green bag salad, but the addition of tomatoes and thin slices of red onion was quite tasty. The balsamic vinaigrette added just the right amount of sweetness to balance everything out. I had ordered the pork tenderloin with port sauce for my entree. The tenderloin was cut into medallions and came with mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables. The pork was tender, but not very flavorful. Thankfully the port sauce was very good, and gave flavor to the pork and mashed potatoes, which would have been dull otherwise. The roasted vegetables were still crunchy, and they had a good flavor on their own.
I was pretty happy with lunch so I picked up their to go menu. I looked at it later and they have more than a few items that sound good to me. Chances are I'll be back to Va Bene sometime soon.
What can I say about the election besides the fact that it's very disappointing. I just need to remember that four years is a long time, but it's not forever. At least I get to look forward to going to Callaghan Vineyards this weekend for their fall release of new wines. We'll also be catching dinner at Cafe Poca Cosa, which I don't get to eat at nearly enough. (Maybe I should get around to writing about the restaurants we ate at last time we were in Tucson?)
Mark Rubin (the ex-chef de cuisine at Cafe ah PWAH) was one of my favorite chefs, but after his break with Cafe ah PWAH I had no idea where he went. Every once in a while I do an internet search in hopes of finding him at some local restaurant. Well just now when I was looking up the url for NOLA I noticed that Neal Swidler (my other favorite chef) is no longer the chef de cuisine at NOLA. The last time Chef Neal wasn't at NOLA he was working as the chef de cuisine at what many say is one of the best restaurants in New Orleans, Emeril's Delmonico. He's not working there either. According to the Emeril's site he's not working at any of the Emeril's restaurants.
*sigh*
Where have my favorite chefs gone?
Lynn was in the mood to get dressed up and eat well last Friday. The first restaurant that came to my mind was Citrus Cafe (which was incidentally Lynn's suggestion too). The second was Atlas Bistro, which is where we both decided to go. Well Lynn decided to be helpful and make a reservation. At Citrus Cafe. I took the hint, and that's where we ate.
The menu was almost the exact same menu we had seen the last time we were at Citrus Cafe. I found it disappointing because I like variety in my fine restaurants, and without some sort of seasonal change I tend to get bored with them. Lynn knew she wanted the soup of the day, which was potato-leek, and none of the appetizers looked good to me so I had a small cafe salad. The cafe salad had greens, strawberries, shrimp, walnuts, gorgonzola, and a sweet balsamic vinaigrette. The combination of sweet, sharp, and crunchy was excellent. I absolutely loved the salad, but Lynn thought the gorgonzola was too strong. She preferred the strawberry-gorgonzola salad we had at the Marco Polo Supper Club. Her potato-leek soup was thick, and had a pleasant flavor, but the leek wasn't a large flavor component like you'd expect, and the flavor seemed dull. Lynn really liked the soup, but I thought it was only ok. My problem was that the potato-leek soup at NOLA in New Orleans demonstrated the potential of potato-leek soup, and anything less is disappointing.
When I think of Citrus Cafe the only thing I think of is lamb chops, and that was the only entree that sounded good to me. Lynn went with the pork scallopine schnitzel with onion fondue. My lamb chops were expertly prepared, seasoned, tender, tasty, and exactly what I wanted. I was surprised that I had enough of them that I was full by the end of meal. Lynn's dish was odd. The pork was pounded flat, and it was battered and fried like any other schnitzel, but neither one of us could taste the pork. I could taste the onion fondue (which I really liked), and the breading, but we could have been eating veal for all I know. Lynn didn't like the dish, and I know I'd never order it.
I was stuffed so I wasn't really up for dessert, but I had to try the frozen meringue topped with creme anglaise and raspberry sauce. That dessert sounded exactly like something Lynn didn't want to eat so she went with the white and dark chocolate cake. The frozen meringue was a unique combination of light and frozen (the only other dessert that I've ever had that was similar was the frozen creme brulee at Stella! in New Orleans). It was good, but I'd have to be specifically in the mood for it. Lynn hated it. Her cake was very rich and had a excellent flavor with the dark chocolate portion of it tasting more like an excellent ganache than the usual flourless chocolate torte. We'd both order that again.
I like Citrus Cafe a lot, but if their menu remains static then they're probably going to be relegated to a niche role restaurant for me (basically I'll only go there when I want lamb).
I'm sure you've heard all sorts of sources telling you to vote. Well let me be the first to tell you not to. If you've managed to live through these last four years without feeling passionate about the direction our country is going in then don't vote; the last thing this election needs is some apathetic undecided voter randomly choosing someone to be president.
This morning I was listening to the Diane Rehm Show and they was talking about the election (big surprise). One particular caller was talking about the voter turnout in her area, and when she was asked who she was voting for said she voted for Bush because her ballet didn't have an independent candidate on it. What a stupid excuse for making a random vote. She could have written in her candidates name if she wanted to, but she probably didn't even know any of the independent candidates names. Do you really want someone who doesn't even know their preferred candidates name negating the vote of some other decisive voter?
Just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should. If you're still undecided about who should be president it's perfectly ok to just leave that part of the ballot blank.
Lynn likes Outback Steakhouse (or more accurately their Outback Special), but I actively avoid the place (mainly because there are very few places that make a steak better than I can). Last weekend one of Lynn's friends was in town and he wanted to go to Outback for dinner. I wasn't in the mood for steak, or Outback, but it wasn't my call. I figured I could at least find some sort of decent seafood dish.
Lynn's friend wanted a bloomin' onion, but we had someone there who had to watch his salt intake so we also got the crab and lobster cakes. The bloomin' onion was an over-spiced fried onion that didn't even taste good despite all the seasoning. The crab and lobster cakes weren't actually bad; they had a good crab flavor with a little bit of heat to them to make them interesting. I've had far worse crab cakes at better restaurants.
I was in the mood for a salad so I tried their blue cheese chopped salad. It was little minced bits of iceberg lettuce, fried noodles, walnuts, lots of blue cheese, and a sweet dressing. At first I thought it tasted pretty good, but it didn't take too long for me to realize that there was too much blue cheese on the salad. Blue cheese is like salt, pepper, bacon, or any other seasoning agent; it needs to be used sparingly. My entree was the deep fried shrimp (I wanted fish, but the fish dishes didn't look good to me). The shrimp tasted shrimpy (as in old), and I wouldn't order them ever again. Lynn had the Outback Special (a seasoned sirloin) which was far better than my shrimp. I guess I should have known better than to go to a steak place and order anything other than steak.
Of course I'm still going to actively avoid going to Outback.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed I hadn't taken any pictures in a while so I picked up my camera (the G1 set up to take infrared) and walked all the way to the bathroom to take some. The light was great so I experimented with taking some pictures of Lynn in the shower. Some of the pictures turned out very well, but Lynn wouldn't let me post them because it was more of herself than she wanted to show. The most you could see was a siloette or a suggestive shadow, but it's her decision so I was only left with the two worst pictures of the ones I liked. Hopefully they aren't too bad.
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I like The BBQ Co., but the place is normally too busy for me to stop there very often. Because of that I tend to stick with my two favorite items (the Southwest burger [which is the best hamburger I know of anywhere] and the thick sliced brisket [which is just overly delicious]), and not try anything new. Well the last time I went there one of the new menu items, the Big "A" Bomber, looked so good I couldn't resist it. The Big "A" Bomber is a sliced tenderloin sandwich with sauteed onions, mushrooms, provolone, and feta cheese doused in a herb-butter sauce. The flavor was excellent; the combination of ingredients and the sauce tasted every bit as good as it sounded. It looks like I have a third menu option to consider every time I find myself eating at The BBQ Co..
Yesterday I went with Lynn and Steve to Rio Salado Brewing Company so they could take a tour of the brewery and try some samples. Before the tour I had a glass of their "Alt Bier", but I didn't really like it. It was far more bitter than I remembered it, and didn't have the toasty flavors that I liked so much. Tim once again conducted the tour, and this time he started with the beer sampler (this time 11 beers, one more than last time). The ten beers were the same as last time, and the eleventh beer in the sampler was the "Alt Bier" drawn from a nitrogen tap (similar to the Guinness draft system). The nitrogen makes a fine thick head on the beer that doesn't dissipate quickly, but it also affects the flavor of the beer. Tim said it should give the beer body and make the beer taste less bitter. I find that it makes the beer taste more bitter to me; I don't like Guinness on nitrogen, and I didn't like the "Alt" on nitrogen either. The "Alt" on nitrogen was a completely different beer than the "Alt" on carbon dioxide.
Lynn found five beers she liked, which is amazing considering she doesn't really like beer. Tim once again gave a great tour, and I still learned some new things (although the most useful thing for me is the difference between beer dispensed from carbon dioxide and nitrogen systems). At the end of the tour we ended up collectively walking off with a case of beer. One of the nice things about buying at the brewery is the ability to get mixed six packs.
[I was drinking an "Alt" when I started writing this, and I noticed it was still more bitter than the regular carbon dioxide dispensed "Alt" we tasted yesterday. I didn't know the cause, but I figured it out before I finished writing this; the beer warmed up and the bitterness dropped and toasty flavors came out. It's not often I like a beer better warm than cold, but some beers are like that.]
I was watching ESPN when they mentioned that the Washington Redskins home game right before the presidential election has successfully predicted the winner for the last sixteen elections. The way it works is if the Redskins win the incumbent party wins, and if they lose the incumbent party loses. The nice thing about this prediction is you don't have to wait long to see if it's accurate. My pick for the game before I had heard of its prophetic properties was the Greenbay Packers to win. Too bad I'm not as sure of Greenbay's win this week as I was last week.
Remember to vote Tuesday because predictions are nothing without action.
Remember everything nice I said about Seoul Garden the first time? I take it all back. Well, not really since they deserved whatever praise I gave them, but they do suffer from consistency problems. Long and I had lunch there today, and it was nowhere near as good as it was last week. We started with an order of the seafood pancake, which was larger and thicker than last time. The increased size was a detriment because it increased the proportion of dough to seafood and green onion. It wasn't crispy either. I was on my second slice when I bit into something that I didn't like to the point that I had to spit it out. It was a shell on, head on shrimp fat with shrimp roe. I'm not sure if it was the head or the roe that grossed me out, but it killed my appetite for the pancake.
Long and I had both ordered bool kogi, and neither order was crisp. Long commented that this place was like Bangkok Express [we loved the pork pad gaprow at Bangkok Express, but when more than one person ordered it at a table they cooked all the orders in the same wok, resulting in a lot less crispiness]. I thought it was because they were busy and were more concerned with cranking out orders then cooking them properly, but it's not a good sign either way. I didn't like the non-crispy version of their bool kogi, and the soft fat was kind of gross. Long liked the food well enough that he'd return (he wouldn't order the seafood pancake again), but I was disappointed enough in the food that it'll be a while before I return. I'll also make sure that it's not on a Friday.
Last week when I wasn't writing it was because I was mad at Lynn. At least this week when I didn't write it was constructive because I was writing about my Europe trip. Just thought I'd mention it.
A few weeks ago Lynn and I headed to Atlas Bistro to meet a couple of Lynn's friends for dinner. Before dinner we wandered around AZ Wine Co. to pick up a couple of bottles of wine for dinner. Marsha and Paul (Lynn's friends) got a bottle of Chateau Recougne "Bordeaux 1981" (which was suprisingly cheap) so I went with a bottle of French white wine, Michel Laroche "Chablis 2002". We were seated, and I noticed the covered folding chairs. They seemed cheap, but they matched the whole minimalist decor of the restaurant. I also noticed we weren't served bread. I don't have to have bread at a meal, but I've come to expect it from fine restaurants. The waiter poured our wine while we were busy perusing the menu. The Chablis had a fruity scent, light body, and overall I thought it was a pretty good wine. The waiter also opened up the old Bordeaux to let it breath. It was my first time tasting a really aged wine so my curiosity was piqued. The color was lighter than what you normally see, and the wine had a distinct cherry scent. The flavor was on the light side, and didn't make much of an impression on me. Paul was in love and Lynn really liked the wine too.
Everyone got the prix fixe menu (three courses for about $37) so there were plenty of appetizers to go around. I ordered the ravioli (a crab and corn ravioli and a bay scallop and caramelized onion ravioli topped with a tapenade) while Lynn got the chorizo and goat cheese tamale with roasted red bell pepper coulis. Marsha and Paul got calamari with Asian cocktail sauce and lamb albondigas with mint cous cous. The least tasty appetizer was the lamb albondigas, which didn't taste like much to begin with, and had too much mint in the cous cous for me. The most surprising appetizer was the calamari, which was tender and seasoned with something that gave it a meaty flavor. A couple of weeks ago I wrote something like, "When is calamari ever impressive?" Well the calamari was impressive at Atlas Bistro with or without the cocktail sauce. Everyone pigged out on it, but there was so much of it we couldn't finish it between the four of us. My crab and corn ravioli was decent, but the scallop one was very tasty combined with the tapenade. The tamale only tasted ok at first, but eventually the heat kicked in and made it more interesting. Lynn liked the tamale a lot more than I did.
Lynn and Paul forwent dessert in favor of the guava-chipotle soup. The soup had a sweet and spicy flavor, and quite a thick texture. The soup's pepper heat was too much for Lynn to handle. I thought the soup was very good, but I could never eat an entire bowlful because of its intensity.
Unlike the appetizers we pretty much kept our entrees to ourselves so the only entree I got to sample was Lynn's. I had the ginger-cured seared duck breast with wilted spinach and mushroom risotto while Lynn had scallops with crab Israeli cous cous. Apparently the ginger-cured nature of the duck didn't affect the flavor because it tasted just like regular duck breast. The fat did have a good flavor, but it wasn't quite the "duck bacon" flavor I got from Christopher's. The duck brought out a pleasant wood flavor to the Bordeaux. The wilted spinach tasted fishy, but that seems to be the running theme with most restaurant cooked spinach. The mushroom risotto was the best thing on my plate; rich and cheesy with chewy mushrooms. I couldn't shut up about how good it was or stop offering a taste to everyone at the table. The risotto also brought out an amazing coffee aftertaste to the Bordeaux that I loved. I drank most of my glass of wine while eating the risotto, and if my entire meal was only the risotto and that wine I would have been quite happy. Lynn's scallops were not seared, and they only tasted ok to me. Lynn liked the scallop dish a lot more than I did (which seems normal for us).
I was the only person who got a dessert. Marsha opted for the cheese plate. My dessert was a hazelnut creme brulee which was very creamy with a mild hazelnut flavor. It was completely different from the amped up hazelnut creme brulee at Citrus Cafe, but still very tasty, and something I'd order again. Marsha's cheese plate came with fruit, crackers, Point Reyes blue cheese, and a cranberry infused stilton. I wasn't in the mood for the Point Reyes, but the cranberry infused stilton was too unusual for me not to taste. It was like cranberry cream cheese with a little blue cheese thrown in. I found the combination of the two disturbing, but Lynn and Marsha both liked it.
I've been looking for a replacement for Cafe ah PWAH (my favorite restaurant in Phoenix) ever since they closed, and no other restaurants had come close. Atlas Bistro easily slides into that position with their tasty and exciting food (although sometimes they do get carried away with the seasonings). They have flashes of brilliance, and a menu that changes quarterly, that make me want to return often.
Last week Murray and I were thinking of some place to eat lunch. Murray suggested Korean Garden (which I hadn't been to since the last time it was sold). Murray said they had a different name these days so he thought it would be worthwhile to try the new restaurant. It sounded good to me.
We started with the appetizer sampler (half a seafood pancake, two mandu [Korean gyoza], and fried shrimp and vegetables) which sounded too good not to get. I've never liked mandu because the filling always tastes weird at best, and the filling in this mandu didn't taste good. The batter on the fried items was the kind of fluffy egg batter you get at Chinese restaurants that's difficult to mess up, but never better than mediocre. The shrimp and vegetables achieved mediocre. The seafood pancake was a crispy pancake studded with bits of seafood and green onion. I liked the seafood pancake we had at Hodori, but this one was close to perfect. It was uniformly crispy and set off sparks every time I tasted it. I'd find it difficult to go to Seoul Garden ever again and not order the seafood pancake.
I got a kalbi bento box (which came with mandu, kim bob [a Korean version of a sushi roll], and a small salad) while Murray got the bool kogi bento box. We were also given about six different condiments. The kalbi was tender, but not very flavorful. The kim bob was average. Murray gave me a taste of his bool kogi, and it was excellent; not heavily seasoned, but thin and crispy with a great grilled flavor. It was different from any other bool kogi I've had, and more interesting because of it. The condiments weren't bad, and the shredded root vegetable with a sweet and spicy sauce was quite tasty.
There was a lot of average food at our lunch at Seoul Garden, but there were enough items to make it worth a few return trips. Besides, I need to find about three new restaurants to eat lunch at to make up for Bangkok Express closing.
My bar management class has been fun and educational. Not only have I learned about the bar business, but I've also learned things I never knew about alcoholic products (like an understandable explanation of the difference between acidity and tannin in wine; acid causes wine to taste dry while tannin causes wine to taste astringent).
Last week we went to Rio Salado Brewing Company for a tour of the facility. Tim Gossack, the owner and brew master of Rio Salado Brewing Company, was the one who conducted our tour, and he was very good. He is extremely knowledgeable, and he can actually articulate what he knows. We got to taste raw ingredients for beer (roasted barley, sweet wort, and the hopped wort), and even got to taste some of the final product (like 10 beers!). Tim's beers aren't very hoppy, but they don't lack for flavor (except for the pilsner, which is boring by definition). I enjoyed the dark beers best, and my favorite of the bunch was the "Alt Bier", which had flavors of toast, coffee, and chocolate. I'll have to go back soon if I want any more "Alt Bier" though since it's a seasonal beer that they stop serving around Thanksgiving. Hopefully I can get it in bottles, and since their bottled beer isn't pasteurized it should taste just as good as their draft beer (yet another thing I learned from class; draft beer isn't usually pasteurized while bottled beer usually is).
An interesting aside, Tim mentioned that aluminum beer cans have advanced to the point that you can't taste the difference between canned and bottled beer. I know the last time I had canned beer it was pretty terrible so I'm going to have to do a blind comparison someday to see if he's correct.
Some guy I used to work with told me about Si Senor a couple of times, so I finally got around to trying them last week. The interior of the restaurant reminded me of a New Mexican version of Olive Garden. We were seated and brought chips and three salsas: a green chile salsa, a creamy salsa, and red chile salsa. The green chile salsa tasted exactly like green chile, and if this salsa was any indication then Si Senor makes an excellent green chile. The creamy salsa had finely chopped jalapenos in it, and was spiciest of the three salsas to my tastes. It was pretty tasty too if you like creamy dips. The red chile salsa was a little spicy, and had a good flavor. Lynn liked it, but it was too hot for her.
I wasn't in the mood for green chile (which seemed like a sure winner), but something deep fried so I went with beef gorditas [thick deep fried corn tortillas]. Lynn tried the beef flautas. The gorditas were on the thin side, but the flavor of the shredded beef and the other ingredients was very good. Lynn's flautas didn't taste good to me, but flautas never do since the proportion of fried tortilla to meat is too high. Combination plates are pretty useless at Sonoran restaurants because the ubiquitous Spanish rice and refried beans usually aren't worth eating, and Si Senor's rice and beans weren't any different. The nice thing about their combination plates though is that they include a sopapilla for dessert. Their sopapillas are doughy, but I wouldn't turn them down.
The food at Si Senor was good, and they seem to have potentially great dishes on their menu. Next time I'll try the green chile, and find out.
Friday Lynn and I went to Village Wine Cellar for their free tasting of Cabernet Francs. We'd never been there before so I was curious as to how the shop was set up. They had five Cabernet Francs to taste, two French and three American. Lynn and I didn't care very much for the French Cabernet Francs, but it was interesting to see how much they differed from the American versions. Our favorite of the bunch was the Justin "Justification 2002" (a blend of 76% Cabernet Franc and 24% Merlot), which was excellent.
The selection at Village Wine Cellar wasn't huge, but I did like their selection, which had some unique wines, and a decent selection of high end wines. Lynn and I both liked Village Wine Cellar as it's similar to how we'd like our wine shop to be (selection wise).
[I forgot to mention that Village Wine Cellar was running a special (spend X amount of dollars and get a free Riedel "O" wine glass) so we got a couple of the Pinot Noir glasses for free. I thought the Riedel "O" line was cool when I first heard about it, but now that I've seen them in person I think they might be too wide to comfortably hold in your hand. We'll give them a try sometime soon and I'll write about the experience.]
Normally I love the food at Mi Casita, but the stuff Lynn picked up from them for lunch last week was terrible. We both had carne asada burritos with guacamole, and I had a beef tamale. The beef in the carne asada burritos was fatty (and not in the crispy fat edges sense, but big wads of flabby fat), and it didn't have much flavor to it. The tamale wasn't any better either; the masa wouldn't stick together because I suspect there was too much lard in the masa, but it might have been that the tamale wasn't fully cooked. The beef tamale filling was excruciatingly hot although it still had a good flavor. I barely summoned up the will to finish the burrito (sans the fat), but I couldn't take the mushy masa of the tamale. I don't know what happened last week, but I hope it's one of those rare occurences that never happens again.
[Previous visit to Mi Casita.]
I just finished reading "Iron Council" today. It had a depressing ending just like China Mieville's other two New Crobuzon books ("Perdido Street Station" and "The Scar"), but unlike those books I didn't care. The other books had characters I cared for, but this book was empty of any characters I could relate to or sympathize with. It was a good book, but it wasn't as good as China Mieville could write.
For my birthday dinner Lynn and I went to Christopher's Fermier Brasserie. We were seated and given some decent bread, and some tasty butter. There were too many things we wanted on the menu, so we just went with a pair of tasting menus (which was a choice of two appetizers, an entree, a cheese, and a dessert). We had a couple of glasses of Veuve Clicquot "Vintage Reserve 1998" to celebrate my birthday. I'd never had the "Vintage Reserve 1998" before so the sweet hazelnut flavor, combined with strong acidity, was a surprise. We both dug it.
Our first course was the wild mushroom and foie gras soup (for me), and the red pepper soup (for Lynn). My soup was rich with a kind of a whipped texture, tasty, and over the top. My favorite part of the soup was the sliced mushrooms in the bottom of the bowl, which gave it some meatiness and something to chew on. There was a slice of seared foie gras floated on the top of the soup, and it initially tasted good, but it had an odd aftertaste that kept me from eating more than two bites. My Champagne was well paired with my soup. Lynn's soup tasted thin to me and there was something about the bell pepper flavor that made it seem even thinner, but Lynn liked it.
After our first course we were given an amuse of smoked salmon with creme fraiche on little pastry spoons. The salmon started with a nice flavor, but like most smoked salmon it tasted fishy to me. The Champagne I had left didn't get rid of the fishy flavor either.
I had ordered the frisee salad (frisee, bacon, a poached egg, and sherry vinaigrette) because it reminded me of the tasty salad Lynn and I had at some creperie in Paris. The only thing that was different from the one I had in France was the dressing, and it turned out to be important. The sherry vinaigrette was good with the frisee, but the bacon and dressing were bad together (bacon shouldn't be sour), and the dressing with the egg yolk was completely gross. I always wonder how food that obviously bad gets put on menus, but I think it's because it's chefs probably only taste one bite of their food. Lynn had the tomato and mozzarella salad with mixed greens and roasted red peppers. The tomatoes were topped with fresh basil, and they were great. The greens and red pepper were both tasty, and the different combinations of everything was good, but it could have been perfect with better mozzarella (theirs was too chewy). We both almost finished the salad despite expecting three more courses.
For our entrees Lynn had a daily special (seared scallops with some sort of basil cream sauce) and I had the duck two ways: duck leg confit and seared duck breast with spinach and some sort of herb flavored sauce. The duck leg was crispy, salty (almost too salty), and very good. The fat on the duck breast was perfectly seared and tasty like bacon. I tried the duck breast without the fat and it wasn't as nearly as good. The sauce was odd, and the spinach tasted funny (which isn't unusual since most cooked spinach I've had at restaurants tastes funny). Lynn's scallops were well prepared although they weren't seared. The basil sauce was too weird for me, but Lynn enjoyed the entire dish (except for the Swiss chard which was too bitter for her).
The cheese course was a single cheese that they thought fit with our dinner choices. For me they chose a chevere [goat cheese] in extra virgin olive oil, and for Lynn they chose a tete de moine (a firm white cheese made in Bern, Switzerland that we'd never heard of before). The chevere had an overwhelming flavor of goat and hay, and it tasted like I was tonguing a goat's ass. I can easily say it was the worst goat cheese I've ever eaten, and that includes the brick of dried goat cheese we tried in France or the nasty manchego we had at 98 South. Our waitress noticed me turning green and replaced the chevere immediately. I wanted to get the Brillant-Savarin (a white cheese from Normandy, France) to see if it was a cheese I had before (I thought I might have, but I wasn't sure), but they were out of it. I ended up with the Cashel Blue (the only blue cheese in Ireland) which tasted a lot like roquefort. The tete de moine was a semi-firm white cheese with a unique flowery appearance (sort of like lettuce). It started creamy, but it finished very sharp. The cheese caused the edges of my tongue to tingle like I was having an allergic reaction. The tingling went away after a while, but it reoccurred every time I ate some of the cheese (although never as strong as the first time). Lynn actually did have an allergic reaction to the cheese, but she enjoyed the cheese anyway.
When Lynn made the reservation she told them it was my birthday. They said they'd write "Happy Birthday Mario" on the dessert plate in chocolate. Little did she know that they'd bake a pastry lattice that had "Happy Birthday Mario" baked right into it. They served it behind the chocolate souffle we ordered, and it blew me away. Our waitress poked a hole in the top of souffle with a spoon and poured chocolate into it. The souffle was very eggy, and neither one of us liked it. We also had the chocolate mousse tower which was milk and dark chocolate with chocolate mousse and an espresso flavored creme anglaise. It's their signature dessert and I can see why, it just amazing with the different chocolate flavors and textures, and the expresso creme anglaise to balance it out. It was one of the best desserts I've had in a while.
I was unhappy with my salad, but everything else was excellent. After my birthday dinner Christopher's has become one of my favorite valley restaurants.
[Previous visit to Christopher's Fermier Brasserie.]
So I did the math and we aren't going to New Orleans this December. It's depressing since I've gone to New Orleans the last six years in a row, and it's one of my favorite places to be around during the holiday season. What's worse is we probably won't do anything special at all.
At least November will be cool with our trip to Monterey. I also found out the other day that Callaghan is releasing their new red wines so we'll be headed down to Tucson too.
"I fear that I'm ordinary, just like everyone.
To lie here and die among the sorrows, adrift among the days.
For everything I ever said and everything I've ever done is gone, and dead.
As all things must surely have to end.
The great lovers will one day have to part."
-Smashing Pumkins "Muzzle"
A week or two ago I picked up food from Mi Casita for dinner. Lynn and I both wanted a carne asada burrito (with guacamole), and Lynn wanted a beef enchilada while I wanted to try their beef tamales. The carne asada was very good, but I noticed that the guacamole only tasted like avocado. I like my guacamole doctored up, but avocado and beef make for a good match anyway, so it was fine. Lynn found her enchilada too hot for her to handle. She thought it was hotter than normal, but it seemed like the usual heat level to me. The beef tamale's masa was too soft for my tastes, but the beef filling was excellent. Fluffy masa normally bothers me a lot (I'm very picky about the texture of my masa), but the beef filling might have been good enough for me to overlook it. Overall it was another fine meal from Mi Casita.
[Previous visit to Mi Casita.]
One day Lynn was in the mood for a hamburger, but not just any hamburger, a Fuddruckers hamburger. I'd never been to Fuddruckers before, I only knew that you dressed your own burgers there, so it sounded interesting. I got a Southwest burger (guacamole, bacon, and Monterey jack), a root beer float (made with tasty IBC root beer), and we split an order of onion rings. The Southwest burger was good, and all the ingredients seemed to blend together (which is my big problem with Islands because their bacon cheeseburger only tastes like meat, cheese, and bacon instead of a bacon cheeseburger), but there was something missing from it that kept it from being better. The root beer float was pretty good. The vanilla ice cream tasted like it was of good quality, but I know I have a problem distinguishing ice cream quality in root beer floats. The batter on the onion rings was crispy, and had a nice flavor, but I couldn't taste the onions. I think being able to taste the onion in onion rings is a requirement for great onion rings so I'd only rate them as very good.
Fuddruckers wasn't bad, so I wouldn't avoid the place if Lynn gets an urge for them again, but I'm not going to be the one suggesting the place either.
Following my usual trend of returning to restaurants immediately (if I can help it) that I liked the first time, Lynn and I returned to Cyclo for dinner fairly recently. I wanted the crispy rice noodle appetizer with shrimp, but Lynn wanted to try the black pepper shrimp. I noticed that there was also a crispy noodle entree so we got the black pepper shrimp. When it came to our table there were six decently sized shrimp on toast smothered in some sort of brown sauce. After tasting it I decided it was a Chinese version of New Orleans barbecue shrimp because the sauce was a cross between tasteless Chinese brown sauce and hoisin sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce and butter. I got a tiny bit of heat in the first bite that I didn't get for the rest of the dish. I wouldn't order the dish again, but Lynn would. I do have to give them credit for being original though (I was expecting salt and black pepper seasoned shell-on fried shrimp).
Lynn wanted to get the wokked beef the last time we were at Cyclo, so she got it this time. I had the crispy rice noodle dish. Lynn's wokked beef came in a bowl served on top of rice vermicelli, cucumber, and bean sprouts. It looked like the typical Vietnamese barbecued beef, but its flavor was far from it; the flavors were bold with kaffir lime and chile. I dug it. Lynn was a little apprehensive about the fish sauce that came with it, but she still poured it into her bowl when Justina (the owner) mentioned that that's what it's for. The fish sauce combined with the beef seasonings and made the rice vermicelli quite tasty. I was also surprised how well the bean sprouts complimented the vivid flavors. My crispy rice noodle dish came with beef, shrimp, scallops, broccoli, and bok choy. The vegetables were crisp, and there was a brown sauce on everything that made the crispy noodles taste toasty and kind of meaty. It was good with the meat too. Both entrees were impressive in their own ways, and well worth eating again.
I wasn't really in the mood for dessert, but Lynn had to have Justina's pagoda again so I tried the fried banana dessert with vanilla ice cream. Fried bananas with vanilla ice cream is extremely similar to one of my all time favorite desserts, fried bananas with Thai coconut ice cream, but it wasn't nearly as good. Ripe banana in won ton wrapper didn't seem as natural as banana in rice paper, and the lighter Thai coconut ice cream is a better match for fried bananas than vanilla ice cream.
In the two meals I've had at Cyclo I've been impressed their food and consistency. Lynn even likes the place too.
I thought keeping Democrats and other possible "trouble makers" from George Bush campaign rallies was deplorable and completely unAmerican, but the President seems to have sunk to a new low. Read "You Call That a Major Policy Address?" to see what I'm talking about.
I finally got around to seeing "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" this week. I didn't like it because the movie was too deep for me. There are some subjects I don't mind thinking about, but I find the whole "What does it mean to be human?" theme boring. I wasn't a huge fan of the original Ghost in the Shell, but there was plenty of action to get me through the sporadic philosophical discussions. "Ghost in the Shell 2" was mostly philosophical with some unsatisfying action sequences. Some of the computer generated backgrounds were impressive, but that alone didn't make the movie worth watching for me.
The week started with lunch at one of my favorite sandwich places so it seemed appropriate that my week should also end at one of my favorite sandwich places so Rikki and I went to Pane Bianco for lunch on Friday. I like Pane Bianco, but my one problem with the place is their lack of selection (four regular sandwiches, and one market sandwich that changes daily). I was in the mood for something with meat, but the market sandwich didn't have any so that left the soppressata, which I didn't remember enjoying. I wished I could just walk out, but I got the market sandwich, which was goat cheese, roasted pepper, and arugula instead. (Of course when I looked back to the time I had the soppressata I was impressed with the sandwich; I really should read some of my old stuff before I go to restaurants I've been to before.) I also got the market focaccia since it sounded better than the sandwich (olive oil, tomato, basil, green onion, and some sort of cheese).
The goat cheese on the sandwich was mild, and was a nice match with the sweet roasted peppers and the peppery arugula. The sandwich still tasted like it needed something, like bacon, but that was probably due to my craving for meat. The focaccia was actually better than the sandwich. The cheese was crispy, and the olive oil, tomato, basil, and green onion tasted great together. The only problem I had with the focaccia was that it was salted, which wasn't necessary because the cheese made the focaccia salty enough. Overall lunch was still pretty good.
[Previous visit to Pane Bianco.]
Today Steve, Ken, Rikki, and I went to Uncle Tom's Broasted Chicken & Pizza for lunch (it's nice to have friends in central Phoenix). The good thing about going there for the first time in a group was we got to try a couple of different things. We got the eight piece chicken dinner (which came with coleslaw, deep fried potato wedges, and garlic bread), a pepperoni and bacon pizza, and a dozen "challenger" hot wings.
The owner (I believe he was the owner) was telling us that he made the challenger sauce himself, and it was really hot stuff. When the wings came out they smelt hot. Rikki said they were hot, but it didn't stop him from eating a few of them. Steve tried one, and he had to stop eating it because his mouth was on fire. The owner told Steve that putting sugar in his mouth would stop the burning, and gave him some sugar. I thought it was funny so I had to try the hot wings for myself. I had one bite, and thought it wasn't that hot. Little did I know that the heat was progressive; it kept getting hotter in my mouth, and didn't let up for at least 10 minutes. I eventually took a second bite (dipped in ranch dressing), but the wings were too hot for me. Ken tried a little bit of the hot wing sauce, and decided it was too hot for him to even attempt to try one of the hot wings. I'm sure if Rikki didn't get the hottest wings they had we probably would have dug them.
The pizza was greasy, and it didn't taste good enough to make up for it. I wouldn't order the pizza again. The fried chicken was golden brown, crunchy, very moist, and well seasoned (although some would say it was too salty, and sometimes I'd agree). The broasted chicken was one of the best fried chickens I've had around Phoenix (along with Lotus Asian Cafe and Soul in the Hole [which I unfairly haven't been to in far too long]). Too bad the side dishes weren't as good. The coleslaw had black pepper in it, and the black pepper was actually pretty good in the coleslaw, but occasionally it tasted salted too, and the salt just tasted strange in it. The potato wedges were on the dry side, and were only ok. The garlic bread was the best side we had, and the only one I'd bother eating again.
I was happy with the chicken at Uncle Tom's, and I'd be back for that. I'm sure you probably want to know what the whole "broasted" thing is about; it's just a copyright for their style of chicken (marinated, breaded, and fried in a pressure frier). Not very exciting huh?
Today Rikki and I went to Sonora Brewery Brewhouse for lunch (it was Rikki's choice). Since I had a wine tasting to look forward to later for class I wanted something substantial so I got a NY strip steak. Rikki got a beer so I thought I'd try one too; I got one of Sonora Brewery hefeweizens. I like hefeweizens because the style tends to be mellow, but this hefeweizen was amazingly bland. I couldn't even stand to finish it, but when I saw that they make their own root beer I got one of those. The root beer looked under-carbonated, and it also didn't seem to have as much flavor as it should've. My steak came with a salad that was mostly iceberg lettuce. The mild blue cheese on the salad made it worth eating, and for some reason the dressing brought out all the flavor in the root beer. Maybe my tastebuds were off today? Whatever the case the steak was actually pretty tasty; it wasn't fancy, just well salted and doused in a some compound butter. The accompanying mashed potatoes were made with a healthy dose of sour cream, and tasted pretty good with the melted compound butter. There were some steamed vegetables that also came with the steak, and actually weren't overcooked. Rikki had some cask ale of theirs (I didn't catch the name) that smelled of orange blossoms and had a creamy orange flavor. We both thought it was worth drinking again. Having found a beer of theirs that I liked I could see myself eating (and drinking) at Sonora Brewery Brewhouse again.
Today Ken, Rikki, and I went to lunch at Cherryblossom Noodle Cafe. I had heard the place was good, but not much more than that. It turns out that it was a Japanese restaurant that also specializes in noodles (including Italian pasta). Looking at the menu I noticed a half dozen things I wanted to try like agedashi tofu [fried tofu in dashi (much tastier than it sounds)], tonkatsu [fried panko coated pork], beef chap chae [Korean spicy beef with rice noodles], yakisoba [the Japanese version of lo mein], and udon soup. I decided on chap chae since I'd never had it before. Ken and Rikki went with the tonkatsu (which I don't think they've had before).
We were brought a basket of dinner rolls and zucchini(?) bread. I didn't try the dinner rolls, but the zucchini(?) bread was excellent, and even better slathered in room temperature whipped margarine. The chap chae came with a mixed green side salad topped with a pungent dressing; it was pretty good stuff. The chap chae was on the spicy side, and the beef had a good flavor. I liked it, and I think Ken and Rikki liked it better than their tonkatsu. I think I wasn't impressed by the chap chae like they were because it tasted a lot like the chicken yakisoba at Tokyo Stop with a couple dashes of sriracha (and I've had that more than a few times). I thought the tonkatsu was excellent; moist and crispy served with a tasty tonkatsu sauce. Lynn and I make a great tonkatsu, but this was just as good without filling the entire apartment with hot oil. I've got to bring Lynn to Cherryblossom.
This week I'm in XML training so it means I get to eat lunch in downtown Phoenix. That's probably the best perk of training, besides actually learning something. It also means I'll probably smoke too many cigars this week, and read too much of China Mieville's new book "Iron Council" instead of getting any of the writing I should be doing done.
Today I went to J.P. McGurkee's Sandwich Shop for lunch, and it looked like they're still working on the interior. I took one of my coworkers with me (it was his first time there), and he liked the place, but said the interior looked like a coffee shop. I'd agree.
Tomorrow's lunch will either be at either Pane Bianco or Big Wong. We'll see.
[Previous visit to J.P. McGurkee's Sandwich Shop.]
[Previous visit to Pane Bianco.]
I'd been meaning to go to Cyclo ever since I found out the place existed. Khai Hoan [previous visit to Khai Hoan] in Tempe is the only Vietnamese restaurant I know of that actually makes good Chinese food (in addition to Vietnamese), and Cyclo is owned by the same person as Khai Hoan. It's actually close to our apartment too. Every time I tried to get Lynn to go to the place she'd say she wasn't in the mood for Vietnamese food (the reason being because she hates Vietnamese food.) I kept telling her it's not a Vietnamese restaurant, but it never made a difference. Well I'd heard too many good things about Cyclo to let Lynn's reluctance stop us from eating there so this last weekend I finally just forced Lynn to try it.
Even though Cyclo is located in a strip mall the interior was unique, and very cute. Throughout the meal I felt like I was in Portland or some other city with hip little restaurants. We started with the spicy beef salad and pork short ribs with Thai basil (which I hadn't had since Mika [previous visit to Mika] went out of business). The beef salad was somewhat hot, spicy, and pretty decent unless you had it with green onion, which made it a lot better. Lynn liked it more than I did because there was something about the texture of the sauce on the beef I didn't like. The short ribs were tender, very flavorful, and almost as good as the ones served at Mika. Lynn didn't like them as much as I did, but she doesn't really like pork.
I had the only Vietnamese dish we had during the meal, a seafood soup with thin rice noodles, shrimp, scallops, and crab. Lynn had the pineapple curry. The soup had decent sized shrimp and crab still in the shell, and the flavor was typical of any malony soup I've had before. The shrimp were overcooked, but I don't know if it's possible for shrimp sitting in steaming hot water not to get overcooked. It was a pain in the ass getting the crab out of the shell, but that's why I stopped eating crab in the shell. The scallops were rather nice, and somehow they weren't overcooked. I enjoyed the soup, and so did Lynn although she'd never order it herself. Lynn's pineapple curry was sweet, fruity, and a little spicy. She liked it, but it wasn't my sort of thing.
I saw the jasmine creme brulee on the dessert menu, and had to have it since jasmine and creme brulee sounded like a perfect pairing to me. Lynn saw that Justina's pagoda had chocolate, strawberries, and whipped cream, and that sounded like a perfect match to her. The jasmine creme brulee was light, creamy, and tasty. If there was a jasmine flavor I didn't notice it, but I did enjoy the flavor of the caramelized sugar for once (due to the jasmine?). Either way I'd order it again. Justina's pagoda was a Napoleon type dessert with layers of thin fried won ton, dark chocolate, diced strawberries, and whipped cream. The whipped cream had just the right amount of sugar to taste sweet without being too sweet. The dark chocolate was a nice match with everything, but the dessert would have been better if the strawberries were ripe. Lynn dug the dessert, and she'd order it again.
Lynn and I were both very pleased with the food at Cyclo, and Lynn already has plans for what she'll order next time we go there. I told her it wasn't Vietnamese, but maybe she'll grow to like it with enough exposure.
