It's Restaurant Week: Round 2

Technically restaurant week is over, except for those few places that extend their menus until Mid-September, but I did not feel like writing last night on my return from my latest reservation. First a bit of back story. This past Saturday I attended my first Pampered Chef party and had an awesome time hanging out with my friends, purchasing new fangled cooking tools (Can you say pizza stone?), and eating...eating a bit too much. As I have mentioned before I do Weight Watchers to stay on top of my weight and to continue to work on my healthy eating habits. For all those people who do not have the slightest idea of what WW is all about you are basically given a certain amount of food points per day based on your weight, age, and gender. My good intentions to stick to my points on Saturday were blown. What can I say...I over ate and messed up and gained the weight I had worked all week to lose. Now I know that this was my own fault but I was pretty bummed and was not the poster child for happiness on Sunday. So here I was with a reservation to Art & Soul and I just wanted to drop it. I mean it is a southern style restaurant which brings to mind fried chicken, fried okra, fried hushpuppies, etc. Boo hoo me!

What I needed to do was give myself a swift kick in the ass for being such a miserable mop and move on. I wish I could say I did that, but to tell the truth I was pretty down on myself all day. I didn't cancel my reservation to Art & Soul though. What I did decide was to not do the restaurant week prix fixe. The last thing I needed was 3 courses which would only add to the problem. Nope, I decided I would maybe spend a little extra money but have the freedom to choose an appetizer and entree that fit into my parameters of having good food while being conscious of the ingredients that were involved. And though I spent a bit more money, I was ultimately happier with this decision and did not add any more weight from my meal, which is a small success.

So let's get down to original business. Art & Soul is located in the Liaison Hotel near Union Station with Chef/Owner Art Smith at the helm. I honestly do not think he is in the kitchen that often but after seeing him on Top Chef Masters I really wanted to go to his restaurant. I began my meal with a grilled shrimp and succotash appetizer. 3 grilled shrimp came out on a skewer with a bed of peas, corn, and chili limon sauce. The shrimp were cooked well, but were difficult to remove from the skewer which was square in shape and very soft. It was quite an effort to slide a shrimp off with both utensil and fingers. The succotash with the chili limon sauce was just too sweet. Peas and corn are already sweet vegetables and really do not need much to bring out their beauty. I felt that the sauce was more for show, with it's vibrant green color and frothy consistency, than to to complement the succotash. Overall it was a decent appetizer but was nothing to write home about.

For my entree I had the grilled lamb loin with artichoke hearts, white bean puree, and romesco sauce. The lamb was cooked perfectly and just melted in my mouth, and the romesco sauce only added to the depth of flavors. Yet I did not feel like it was a Southern style dish, instead it reminded me of something I would order at a Mediterranean restaurant. It was delicious, do not get me wrong, it just did not seem to fit in with the other dishes as I compared it to the BF's Fred Flintstone size pork chop with stone fruit and onion broth.

I would definitely love to come back here and have the true Southern dishes that Art Smith is known for: fried chicken and waffles, hoe cakes, and crab and grits. Hook still wins as being my favorite restaurant week dining experience ever, but I would recommend that you go check out Art & Soul if you have a hankering for all things cooked in oil and butter.

It's Restaurant Week: Round 1

I would not be a good foodie if I did not participate in restaurant week.  I mean how else can I afford to go to some of these high class restaurants without a little help from restaurant week?  But first I have rules for this sacred holiday: 1) You pick restaurants that are in the $25 and above range.  What's the point if you can afford it on a regular basis. 2) Check out the menu early and compare it to the regular menu.  You want to order things that are on the more expensive side so you actually get your $35.09 worth.

With that said my first reservation for the week was Friday night at Hook, a Georgetown seafood establishment which believes in only serving seasonal and sustainable seafood.  That is something that I can support. I have wanted to go to this restaurant since it opened and out of the 2 reservations I made for restaurant week, this was the one I was most excited about.  Did it live up to all of my high expectations?  Did it provide a delicious meal and good service?  Yes & yes!  I would definitely return to Hook again and would say that of all the restaurants I have gone to for different restaurant weeks this was by far the best meal I have ever had.     

The first thing that I liked about Hook upon perusing the menu is that most of the regular items were put onto this prix fixe menu as well.  You will see so many restaurants take away their best items, dumb an entree down, or put it on there with an $5 charge to try it.  What is the fun in that?  And I think that this completely defies the purpose of restaurant week.  To Hook I say thank you for allowing the masses to try some of your best dishes without extra fees.  

I began my meal with the grilled calamari with a fennel/spring mix salad.  The portion was amazing.  4 (head an legs!) gorgeous squid was set before me with alight salad on the side.  I was actually amazed to see that the head of the squid still had their little rutters attached, as I had never seen one this way before.  The calamari were smoky and still had a satisfying chew to them that set my palette off into a happy dance.  I literally closed my eyes and may have even let out a little moan of satisfaction.  It was so simple and clean, and yet it set off a complex set of emotions of satisfaction, desire, and need.  To put it bluntly, this dish will turn you on! 

For my entree I had the bluefish with polenta, carrots, green beans, and pesto.  Bluefish is an oily, flaky white fish which played well against the simple unfussed sides.  No heavy sauces., which would have drowned out the richness of the fish, just a perfectly crispy salted skin with  the flesh of the fish giving away easily to my fork.  I have never thought of seafood as decadent, but this entree changed my mind on that. There were definitely contented sighs and affirmations of "I must come here again", because it was that good.

 Dessert was a rich chocolate pudding topped with whipped cream and chocolate hazelnut biscotti on the side.  I wanted to make my bed in that bowl!  Curl up next to one of those little chocolate balls inside and never let go!  It was a rich, but manageable portion size and man was it good.  The perfect ending to this meal that blew me out of the water.  Get it? Water? Seafood?  HAHAHA.....okay it may have been funnier in my head than it is written down.   

Hook:

3241 M St., NW

Washington DC, 20007 

202.625.4488 

Sidebar: Whenever I read about Hook I think of the movie with Robin Williams and start chanting "Where's the hook?!" and "Rufio!".  Although hook is in reference, in this case, to what is put on the end of a fishing pole. :)

Joe's Noodle House & a poached egg

This past Saturday I was in Frederick, MD for a meeting that the BF had to attend. Okay, so I will just say now that I am scared of the burbs'. Track housing, strip malls with nothing but TGIFriday's and McDonald's, kids running around willy nilly....these things bring chills down my spine. What can I say? I love the city environment, it's more my style. But since I was heading out to the MD burbs I decided we should make the most of it. So the plan was to see Frederick (check!), head to the Sugar Loaf Winery for a lil wine tasting (fail! winery lost power in a storm and could not do the tastings.), and then head to Rockville to return to a Chinese restaurant that changed all my assumptions of Chinese food (delicious, salivating, wish I could have more CHECK!).

This moment of self-discovery in what Chinese food can be happened last year at Joe's Noodle House. A friend took me there and I fell completely in love. I have never gone back because I lack a car and Joe's is not very metro accessible, so when I realized we would go through Rockville to return home I demanded a stop for some delicious Chinese food. And let me tell you, it only got better.

This is a place where 75% of the clientele is speaking some form of Chinese and are eating things that most Americans have never seen before, always a good sign. In this nondescript restaurant, where the sign only says noodle house below Chinese characters outside, you will find real Schezuan cooking where the number of chilies outnumber the protein content, savory pork dumplings, salty crispy shrimp that you eat with their shell and head still on , chicken gizzards, and oh the list goes on! This time around we had lamb Tibetan style with cumin, rice noodles Singapore style in Curry, pork dumplings, and a scallion pancake. To all that is holy.....Thank You! Spicy, savory, tongue tingling, want to keep eating when you know you should stop DELICIOUS. If you are ready to go beyond sweet and sour pork and orange chicken then you should take the time to come here. Not only is it great food, the prices are reasonable as well. All that food I just mentioned...under $30. Yes, we could have ordered less as it was two if us, but what is the fun in that. And there was plenty of leftovers that were just finished the other day which makes everyone happy.

Joe's Noodle House: 1488-C Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852-1414

Now I am going to take a moment to just toot my own little horn. I poached an egg! Woo-hoo! I know there are people out there who just don't see the big deal, that can poach blindfolded and with 7 eggs in the pot, and to you I say congrats; but for me, lowly beginner cook, this was a momentous feat. So maybe the first egg didn't work out, but the second one I slid into that pot turned into a floating white little orb that topped my dinner salad and brought me back to France. Okay, it was not quite as good as that salad in Lyon, but it brought those memories back to the surface and made me so very content and happy.

Peanut Butter Cereal Chicken: Round 2

Okay...this time I did a baked version using the same concept that I tried last night.  Flour, egg wash, and breading made from peanut butter cereal, cilantro, chile powder, and red pepper flakes.

Right now I am just at odds with myself.  Although this was a more successful effort in that I did not pull my hair out and had perfectly cooked chicken, I missed the crunch factor that the frying provides.  Yet with frying I was not able to cook a consistently good product.  I think that when I try frying again I need to further research what can be used for breading. The cereal that I used just may not have enough fat in it to withstand the oil, as it would just char within a minute.

It was still a delicious dinner, but I see future frying endeavors in my future.

Peanut Butter Cereal Fried Chicken: A lesson in humilty

Last night I decided to try my hand at what I thought would be a simple fried chicken recipe that I had conjured up. I had read in one my many food blogs I follow a version that used honey bunches of oat and I was immediately intrigued. My mind immediately thought of the peanut butter cereal that sat on my counter and wondered if I could somehow make my own version using it. I envisioned a thai style chicken where it is not unsual to use peanut sauces. Onward I went and bought some chicken breasts and cilantro that I would add to my cereal mixture. (I also added chili powder, red pepper flakes, and salt to give it some heat and depth)

On my counter I mounted a Ford-style assembly line with flour, eggs, and the crushed cereal mixture and proceeded to heat some vegetable oil to do a lil' frying. This is where things started going down hill. You see I've never fried anything in my life. I actually tend to avoid fried food and massive amounts of oil as I am a proud WW member and these are things that just start dwindling my points allowance at a rapid pace. But hell! It was Sunday and I was going to try my hand at it.

I dunked my chicken in some flour, removed excess, then dunked it in the egg, removed excess, and then into the cereal mixture it went. Oh my gosh, I thought, this is not too bad! HAHAHA, the little devil on my shoulder was thinking, as he waited in anticipation to see my downfall. Into the oil we go. I flipped and what I saw was a blackened mess. Yikes! Crap! What?! Awww...sh**! I let it cook on the other side and took it out. What I stared at was a blackened, crispy something that even myself who is a carbon fan would not enjoy. And to make matters worse it was completely raw inside.

The tears began. (I am brought easily to tears when trying to cook.) And the frustration and anger began to mount to "get out of the way she is about to blow" on the temper meter. The BF said I should cut the pieces thinner since it may just be too thick. This in fact was a correct assumption, but at that moment his advice was just adding some kindling to the flame. Mr. Hyde may have made an appearance, but I'm not really sure as I completely blacked out and came to a few minutes later. After my griping of not knowing how to properly cut said chicken I proceeded to do a paltry, though effective job of it. I was thinking I should just bake this chicken so that it would cook through and not burn to an utter crisp, but the BF wanted me to try again. Him being the absolute darling that he is cleaned my dishes and cleaned the pan of the dirty vegetable oil so we could start again.

I wish I could say it got better from there. But by this point I was a complete maniac and was just making things more dramatic then they needed to be. We fried up half of the chicken, smoked up my lil studio, still had some pieces burnt beyond recognition, and I was left feeling emmasculated and wondering why I was so inept.

Yet, in that mess there were some specimens that came off browned and juicy, with a great crust that was peanut buttery delicious. It took me some time to recognize a small success in that fact but all I could do was dissect what went wrong and what I could do to fix it. There was no satisfaction because of my less than stellar behavior and I completely own up to that.

I realize I am still learning and have a long way to go. That to learn we must make mistakes and be willing to make an utter catastrophe so we can figure out how to make something delicious. And that when you are cooking with fire the fiery temper needs to be left outside. BLAH BLAH BLAH... I know! Trust me, I am working on it and recognize that I have one of the most patient men in my life to put up with my ridiculousness and come out of it unphased.

So in an effort to learn from my mistakes I am trying to do this recipe again tonight. There will indeed be baking instead of frying, which I think will benefit the flavors and texture that I am trying to achieve; but I am going to make this idea of mine work. I will put up some pics of the final product and will update everyone on how it turned out. Until then, happy eating friends.

Random Thoughts on a Monday

I am 28 and have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. Is it bad that I do not consider myself a grown up? Does anyone ever truly figure it out?

I love food, talk about food, and think about food more than is probably healthy.

Anthony Bourdain = HOTTIE!

Me and my BFF from college used to obsessively watch Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen movies. We would call each if they were on, dissect plots, rank our favs (Paris for sure!) and wish for more. God, I wish I could watch one right now.

This time last year I was in Morocco. Hopefully this time next year I will be somewhere equally exciting.

It is starting to get darker earlier, which means summer is almost done. What even happened to summer? It just flew by and I feel like I did not accomplish much.

I live on Capitol Hill in DC, but have yet to actually go and tour the Capitol. This makes me feel bad and unpatriotic.

Iphones scare me. I don't like the idea of being "connected" everywhere I go. It is fun to get lost and be able to get yourself around without being dependent on technology.

I have a book club meeting in September on "The Poisonwood Bible" and just can't get into it. I start to read and just fall asleep. This also makes me feel bad and unpatriotic.

I am joining the Julia Child craze. I figure there are worse people to buy into and any woman who can reinvent herself at 37 is worth reading up on.

One of my favorite words is discombobulated. Perhaps it is because that is how I feel most of the time.

Recipe vs. Reality

I love when my Bon Appetit shows up in the mail. I become giddy and so excited to check out the amazing recipes with vivid pictures that accompany them; it's what we foodies call food porn. And boy oh boy do I love some good food porn. :) Most of the time I look at my magazine, ear mark some recipes, but never actually cook anything. I mean it is intimidating, but this time I decided it was my moment to make a recipe into reality.

In the September issue of Bon Appetit there is an article that is called "Top 10 Chicken Recipes" and on the cover is a gorgeous picture of a roasted chicken. My mouth was watering and I decided to check it out. This particular recipe is from Sfoglia restaurant in NYC, and it was not a complicated 20 ingredient, chiffonade this, mince that kind of recipe. Ingredients were fresh, easy to find at the grocery store, and was just a good approachable recipe for a beginner cook like myself.

A brick or heavy cast iron skillet is required to weigh down the bird while in the oven, and this was the most complicated thing for me in preparing for this culinary adventure. I headed to the local hardware store and was able to get a heavy brick for 70 cents. Not a bad investment for future poultry adventures. The chicken also needs to be butterflied, and as I am not very confident in my knife skills (and did not want to kill the chicken even more than it already was) I went to the butcher and asked them to do their magic. For my sanity it was well worth seeking out the butcher.



I was amazed at the ease of putting this meal together. I have always just bought the roasted chicken at the deli in my market, but no more I say...NO MORE! I was able to cook a bird twice the size of the market chicken for just $2 more. It was able to provide dinner tonight, and plenty of left overs for the week. (You will see me eating some of my left overs at Screen on the Green tomorrow night!)

So let's compare and contrast:

I think I did a damn good job. The pic in the magazine has more burnt skin on the thighs of their bird, but they also have this fun thing called food stylists! When your sole job is to make people drool over a scantily clad chick you better bet they have some trick up their sleeves. Here is a close up of my lil diva who caused a stir in my apartment tonight:

Delicious. A poultry adventure of savory goodness! I think next time I will add some more garlic and not be scared to put some more salt before I begin cooking. It is still a learning curve right now, but it was still succulent and melted in your mouth, which is always the desired end result for your protein of choice. This episode of "Recipe vs. Reality" was a complete success and now I will be confident that I can take on more recipes in my lovely Bon Appetit magazine.

Bon Appetit: Chicken al Mattone

1 4-pound whole chicken, backbone cut away and discarded, rinsed and patted dry

4 tbsp. fresh lemon jucie

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

2 garlic cloves, pressed

Coarse kosher salt

1/4 tsp. dried crush red pepper

Chopped fresh Italian parsley

You will need a foil wrapped brick or heavy cast iron skillet

Day before you plan to cook:

1. open chicken flat like book and place, skin side down, on a rimmed baking sheet

2. mix 2 tbsp. lemon juice, 2 tbsp. oil, 1 tbsp chopped rosemary and garlic in small bowl (I blended everything in my food processor)

3. Rub mixture all over both sides of chicken (I whispered some sweet nothings to my lil chick while I did this. Figured I would give her a last hurrah before throwing her in the oven.)

4. Cover and chill over night

Day you plan to cook:

1. preheat oven 400 F

2. sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper

3. heat remaining 1 tbsp. oil in heavy large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat

4. add chicken, skin side down, to skillet and cook until golden brown, about 7 minutes. Do not turn over.

5. Place foil wrapped brick (or cast iron skillet) crosswise atop chicken; roast in oven 30 minutes

6. Remove brick and turn chicken over; return brick to chicken and continue to roast until juices run clear when thickest part of thigh is pierced, about 15 minutes longer (I had to get some assistance to flip over the chicken, and just remember that there is hot oil and juices so turn carefully)

7. Transfer chicken to platter and drizzle with remaining lemon juice and sprinkle with red pepper and parsley

This was supposed to be about Les Halles but my plans were changed a bit.

So I have been in Jersey City for a conference and the plan has been that on our free night a co-worker and I would head over to Les Halles so that I could prove to Tony that I truly do care. I am not just any stalker who is all talk, I am action my friends and will complete the circle that is my Anthony Bourdain obsession.

Anyhoo, we had a reception in Midtown and definitely enjoyed some wine and cheese, which in hindsight was just a silly thing to do as we were just too full for dinner. Boo to me! A pow wow was had and it was decided that Les Halles would have to be another time. Going to Les Halles is my pilgrimage and I want it to be a fun and joyful event.

As much as my heart was set on it, things actually worked out really well. It was a gorgeous day in NYC and we walked from 33rd and Park down to ground zero. That is a little over 3 miles, but I needed that after engorging myself on cookies, cheese, crackers, and all the usual conference fare that I make very bad decisions with.

For all my times of going to NYC I had never been to ground zero. It is not something I had really wanted to go to. For me it is a little hard to grasp as I never saw the Twin Towers when they stood there. Back on that fateful day I was in Cali, sleeping in (since my class was not until noon), and woke up to the sounds of screams and crying. I know that when those towers fell it was our, as a nation, collective tragedy. Yet I feel so far removed in my understanding of it all.

Looking at it now, at least what little you can see beyond the gates and cloth that enclose where the towers were, it is a huge crater. One that would be made by a special effects team for a sci-fi flick. It is one of the few places in the city where air and light permeate. It is shocking to see all that light coming in when you have been walking in the shadows of the "cement jungle" that makes up what we all think of as New York.

Seeing ground zero just put me in awe and made me wonder at the strength of this city. I love New York, I would like to live here some day, and I hope that if that happens I could show the same grit and determination.

After this impromptu journey we headed back up a couple blocks and found a great indian restaurant. I think we were on the border of Tribeca and the Financial District but I am not really sure. It was delicious, thats what I do know, and though it was not what I thought I wanted to do it ended up being a good end to a long day.