Tomato Soup

Wahoo Grill

While Ecco was my idea, my mom was determined to take me to one of her new favorites, the Wahoo Grill in Decatur. We went there with my Aunt and sat outside on the packed patio. The outdoor seating is really fantastic- warm and rustic.

We started with both the tuna tartare:

And the fried green tomatoes:

The Hawaiian Ahi tuna tartare came with cucumber citrus slaw, wasabi cream, and basil oil toast points. All of the accompaniments were tasty, but I prefer to eat my tartare without toasts. The tartare had a nice spice to it, but it was overwhelmed with vinegar and the chunks of tuna were largely cubed, which I found to be kind of unpleasant in my mouth. I like better the texture of thinly sliced sashimi, or very finely chopped tuna.

The fried green tomatoes were tasty, but my Aunt thought that hers are better! I've never tried hers, so I thought that these were pretty delicious. I did agree with her criticism that the breading wasn't fried enough, but she thought the addition of red sauce on top was strange, whereas I thought it was a really great element to the dish. The tomatoes were also at just the right peak of ripeness.

For my main, I had to have the grill's namesake, the Wahoo:

The texture was that of a thoroughly cooked piece of tuna. It is meaty and not at all flaky, like salmon or sea bass. These wahoo medallions were served with salsa verde, buttermilk mashed tomatoes, and sugar snap peas. This was the first time I had ever had wahoo, and it was nice to have something completely different in a fish dish. I found the taste relatively mild, but it was complimented well by the light salsa verde and the extremely creamy mashed potatoes. The sugar snap peas were also unusually memorable. Normally, a "vegetable of the day" doesn't grab me, and instead serves as a boring plate filler. But these snap peas were an exception. They were dressed with a light, peppery vinaigrette and then grilled until they were infused with flavor and slightly withered on the outside.

My mom had the salmon blt with crispy potato cakes (which I didn't try):

And my Aunt had the rainbow trout:

The rainbow trout was cornmeal dredged, topped with pesto butter and sugared pecans and had white cheddar grits and those yummy sugar snap peas. This was a very southern dish, with a little bit of a modern twist with the pesto. The pesto mixed well with the sweet breading on the trout, and I think this should be another signature dish of the Wahoo grill!

Then we all split the blackberry cobbler:

I wish the cobbler had had more topping (because, not so secretly, the softly browned top of a cobbler is always my favorite) and, I must admit, it definitely needed more sugar. In things like apple pie and apple cobbler, I think less is more when it comes to sugar, but because blackberries are so very tart, more sugar is the way to go. Or, there should be a lot of topping because that helps to balance the tartness as well.  I preferred the desserts my mom and I made the next day, which I'll be writing about shortly!

Ecco

Before I headed to the south to visit my parents in Georgia, the first question my mom asked me was "where do you want to eat?". This, obviously, was a very important question. The problem is, I only know bits and pieces about the Atlanta dining scene via blurbs in Bon Appetit, Food and Wine Magazine, and online articles. The one restaurant that I heard about from all of these sources was Ecco. I offered the name up to my mom and she was quick to tell me that she loved it and that she'd been there three times already. At first, I thought this meant she wouldn't want to go and would prefer to try somewhere new, but luckily her reaction was the opposite. She was excited to take me there and thought it would be a perfect feature on my blog.

We went to Ecco on a Monday night and it was pretty full, which I took as a very good sign considering it was a Monday. They were also having one of their monthly wine dinners in the back of the restaurant, which turned out a crowd of about 40 people for the 4 course menu with 5 wine pairings. If we had known about the wine dinner, we might have participated, but I saw enough delicious things on the main menu to make me okay with missing out.

Ecco offers an interesting mix-and-match menu with make your own charcuterie plates, "taste & share" tapas sized plates, appetizers, pizzas, and full-sized entrees. While the charcuterie choices looked promising (Saucisson Sec and Cabrales!), my parents knew that I wouldn't want to miss out on several of the tapas and appetizer options to start.

We had the fried goat cheese with honey:

Piquillo peppers stuffed with mushrooms, sherry, and manchego:

And the roasted mussels with saffron and chilis:

The fried goat cheese should be added to every restaurant menu. It was one of the best appetizers I have had in a long time, because it took something simple and made it extraordinary. The soft, mild goat cheese was surrounded by a perfectly hot and crispy lightly fried breading- just enough to add a thin layer of texturally different boundary before your mouth met the goat cheese. Then the whole thing was rolled in honey and topped with big black cracked peppercorns. I love Ecco based on these alone. But, I don't have to love Ecco based just on the fried goat cheese, because the roasted mussels can also be added to my list of favorite appetizers. The mussels were tender, not chewy, and the broth had a delicate saffron flavor with a background of mild chili, and it had the perfect amount of salt. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the piquillo peppers. They were much, much to salty. Once my tastebuds could cut through the salt a little to taste the flavor of the peppers and the manchego, I was happier, but manchego is a salty enough cheese that almost no additional salt should have been added to this dish.

For entrees, we all went for something different. My dad had pizza, I had pasta, and my mom had a main.

My dad's pizza with San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil:

After taking a small bite of the pizza, my dad asked if it could be warmed up just a little bit more over the wood-fire, and instead, they cooked him a whole new pizza! It was an extremely generous and well accepted gesture by the chef, and it made me appreciate the dining experience that much more. The mozzarella on this pizza was the definition of perfection. It was creamy, not watery, and had a thick milky flavor that stood up to the powerful sweetness of the San Marzano tomatoes.

I had the chili-braised pork with garlic and homemade pappardelle:

The waiter informed me, after I gushed about the pork, that it is slow-roasted for about 34 hours. No wonder it was so flavorful! The pork was richly infused with chili flavor and it fell apart in my mouth and  mixed with the mildly spicy, tomato based sauce and a thin bite of pappardelle it was worth the 34 hours.

My mom, who usually gets the pappardelle, had the sauteed lemon sole with asparagus and capers:

I didn't try the sole, but I did try the big roasted tomatoes that are resting under the asparagus because my mom thought they were so good "you could write a whole blog about them!" They were quite delicious, and lived up to the standards that the rest of the food had set with their freshness and flavor.

 

But, the most interesting part of the night was at the end, when I sampled this simple looking dessert:

What looks like possibly a caramel ice cream is, in fact, a burnt-honey and gorgonzola ice cream. All of the dessert offerings had an interesting twist to them, but this ice cream I had to taste because it was unlike any combination I had heard of before. And I loved it. My parents were a little turned off by the gorgonzola, but I thought this ice cream was a winning combination of flavors. The burnt-honey was very sweet with a rich, almost caramel flavor, and the chunks of gorgonzola (yes, there were actually hunks of cheese)  cut through the sweetness  with a burst of  salty goodness.  Because the burnt-honey was the actual ice cream flavor, it helped to diminish  the strong blue-cheese taste of the gorgonzola so only the hint of saltiness and dense dairy came through. It is a bold dessert offering, and I applaud it!

After eating, we had the opportunity to speak to one of the wine buyers, Vajra Stratigos about Ecco's impressive wine list, and the interesting "favors" they hand out with the bottles. Ecco prints fun facts about each bottle of wine on a special bark-type paper. Vajra is responsible for the writing of these facts, and he said he sometimes gets carried away because he's not sure if anyone even reads them. He gave me a handful of his favorites so I could see some examples. My favorite is for a bottle of Querciabella Chianti Classico which reads "Riding the edge of international styles and Tuscan classicism, like an A10 on a foggy night over the midwestern woodside, this fetching bottle of fermented grape juice scored 1650 on the SAT and didn't even study!" Absolutely clever and enjoyable, just like Ecco.

A Homecoming!

After a year, I finally made it back to Atlanta, Georgia, where my parents live. I had some fantastic culinary adventures, but the best one was the home-cooked meal that greeted me the day I got in! My dad is the master of the grill, and his famous ribs are the pinnacle of that mastery. I crave them every time I come home and my mom always makes sure he makes them.

He starts with baby back pork ribs, a pressure cooker, and at some point KC Masterpiece bbq sauce, and that's about all I know about his secret recipe. He has all of his other additions, spices, and tricks that I don't even think he could write down if asked. He just starts making the ribs and recites the process from memory. And they come out looking like this:

He also made a batch that he slow cooked for hours, and he tried a new sauce on them- a little bit thinner and spicier. I loved the tenderness of the meat on the slow-cooked ribs, but nothing beats the familiar flavor of the ribs I've been eating as long as I can remember.

And nothing beats eating those ribs with a huge side of my dad's potato salad:

He loads the potato salad with raw onions, celery, and pepper and tops it all with his signature layer of paprika and "fancy" fork spirals. I can't imagine this dish being served any other way, or really in any other dish than this one, which I believe my mom has had since they were first married in the 70's.

I am going to have to add both of these dishes to my list of things that I must learn how to cook, so that these food traditions can continue. It always amazes me, when I eat a meal like this, how many great memories come flooding back!

Nice Slice

Thayer Street has no lack of pizza places, and while Andy and I's hearts are with Gourmet on Hope Street, it doesn't offer late-night dining. So, one late night when we were craving pizza, we decided to try Nice Slice.

Andy ran into the place and ordered up three different kinds, pepperoni, mozzarella and basil, and buffalo chicken:

And all of them were pretty delicious. The mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil one was my personal favorite because I think fresh mozzarella adds something extraordinary to pizza. The buffalo chicken was my least favorite because I thought there was way too much cheese and not enough chicken or buffalo sauce. But I do applaud Nice Slice's inventive pizza selections, because it's always nice to try something other than the standard cheese and pepperoni!

Nice Slice

267 Thayer Street

Providence, RI 02906

401-453-6423

Scott Howard's

For Andy and I's last meal in San Francisco we decided to try Scott Howard's because we had heard about their $31.98 three-course tasting menu, and it seemed a perfect way to end the trip. The restaurant was already packed at 6:15 when we arrived, so we assumed that the tasting menu (which is only offered until 6:30) was quite good and worth more than it's inexpensive price tag. We both ordered three different items so that we would be able to sample 6 different dishes.

I started with the Chilled White Corn Soup with smoked extra virgin olive oil and chives:

This was phenomenal. I am usually not a fan of chilled soups, but this dish cold allowed the flavors to really pop. The light olive oil mixed with the creamy soup and crunchy chives redefined the way I look at soup.

Andy started with the Ahi Tuna Tartare with piperade, chorizo, avocado, esplette and vanilla bean oil. It came out much prettier than this, but before I had the opportunity to snap a photo, the waitress muddled all the components together because she said it tasted best that way:

She was right about all of the flavors needing to work together to make the dish, but even with all of the unique ingredients (especially the vanilla bean oil) the tuna was still the dominant taste- making the dish taste like most other tartare's I've had. The vanilla bean oil only crept up at the end leaving a strange cake frosting aftertaste.

For my second course I had the Saffron Linguine with maitake and baby shaitake mushrooms and heirloom tomatoes:

This was pretty bland. I couldn't taste much saffron- the sauce tasted like plain chicken broth to me. There was nothing exciting about this, and the presentation certainly didn't award itself any points either.

Andy had a much better second course with his Parmesan Risotto with lobster mushrooms and chives:

This dish had the flavors and the wow factor that we had been looking for when entering the restaurant The risotto was creamy and perfectly cooked, the broth was buttery, and the lobster mushrooms were the unique touch- both flavor and texture wise- that elevated the dish.

Sadly, the risotto didn't lead way to more fantastic dishes, and our third courses left much to be desired. I had the Sous Vide short Ribs with spring onions, baby carrots, and shiitake au jus:

Andy had the Scottish Salmon with baby bok choy and carrot, orange, and ginger jus:

Both dishes I thought I could make better at home. They were simple, basic dishes that didn't please in their simplicity. We were both disappointed, but we decided to get dessert anyway- hoping maybe that would give us the fantastic end we were looking for.

We went with the chocolate ice cream sandwich:

Good, but again, nothing exciting. The cookie itself was too airy so none of the chocolate flavor captured itself in the pastry, and the ice cream was left to fend for itself as the star of the dish.

I wouldn't go back to Scott Howard's on a next trip to San Francisco. When I go out to eat, especially to a restaurant that has received much praise for it's innovative cuisine and "sophisticated style", I expect a little bit more. It was fun to try so many dishes, I just wish they had all been as exciting and delicious as the risotto.

Dim Sum and a Snack

This is the second to last post about California, and I'm sorry it has taken me so long to cover this trip- it was quite the culinary whilrwind! The last day of California is going to be written in two parts, so this just covers the afternoon eating.

We started with dim sum at New Asia in Chinatown, a place I have never missed on a visit to San Francisco since I was about five years old. Andy was skeptical at first because New Asia is a little overwhelming. It is one large room that houses hundreds of people, there are dozens of food carts skirting all around the place, and the noise level is high. I thought that he would be eased once he started to eat the delicious food, but he was even more freaked out and we only lasted a couple minutes (and I only managed to get a couple bites) before we had to leave.

We tried two kinds of shrimp dumplings- the first were made with mushrooms and baby shrimp:

The second, which were not nearly as good, were made with jumbo prawns:

Then we had my absolute favorite, pork sticky buns:

And just an okay egg roll:

I can see why the San Francisco dim sum experience in Chinatown is a little intense, but I think that is part of the whole experience. I like being submersed in the hustle and bustle and trying to figure out what all the food is passing by on the carts and the pork sticky buns are worth all the craziness. I love biting through the soft, warm dough to get to the piping hot middle filled with sweet roasted pork.

Since we only took some small bites of dim sum, by the afternoon we were ravenous. Luckily, we were walking along the upper Haight so there were no lack of places to grab a quick bite. Even better, we were visiting a good friend of mine from my days living in Portland and she informed me that our favorite pizza place in Northwest Portland opened a branch on Haight, Escape from New York Pizza (which somehow isn't represented on the website, but I promise it is the original!):

This was a taste of home. A big slice with a nice thin crust, sweet sauce, and lots of bubbly cheese. It was just what we all needed after an afternoon of walking around!

Exploring San Francisco

One of the things I was most excited to check out during our trip to San Francisco was the Ferry Building. It had been remodeled in 2003 and is now a marketplace with gourmet food shops and restaurants. They also have a Farmers Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays- but those both happened to be days I wasn't going to be in the city. But that didn't mean I couldn't wander through the building and eat a gourmet lunch! After much deliberation (there are about 15 available choices), we decided to go to the San Francisco Fish Company stand because their daily specials sounded too good to resist.

Andy had the mahi tacos:

Complete with a delicious tomatillo sauce!

And I couldn't resist the lobster burger:

It was a huge sandwich- it had two fried lobster patties, some sort of special sauce (a mix of ketchup and mayonnaise and some spices), onion, tomatoes, lettuce- all on a square sourdough bun. I wish it had been slightly less fried because all of the oil muddled the taste of the actual lobster, but it was still rich and I didn't mourn my decision too much (although I wish I had had room for a second lunch so I could've gotten a noodle bowl at Out the Door!).

After much walking, it was time to eat again, and I knew just the place to go- a place that reminds me of my childhood and is a must-stop in San Francisco. Because, even if it's a tourist trap, the hot fudge is still worth it at Ghiradelli. Andy and I strayed from the original sundae and went a little more decadent with a Cookie Bottom Sundae with dark chocolate hot fudge:

It looks pretty perfect, but I must admit that there wasn't enough ice cream! It was an ice cream sundae, and almost every bite I took had nothing but cookie and hot fudge in it. Now I know a bite of cookie and hot fudge isn't the worst thing in the world- but it certainly got much too rich towards the end. The ice cream is crucial in a sundae like this because the vanilla ice cream helps cut the saltiness and intense flavor of the chocolate. We still ate the whole thing, though. And I was still sad when it was all gone...

Many hours and more walking later, it was time to eat again! On a recommendation from Andy's father, we went to a small sushi place called Tsunami in the Lower Haight. The place only serves beer and an impressively large stock of sakes (the list is probably 6-10 pages long!) so Andy and I decided to start with a sake cocktail called "Tsunami's Wrath":

The drink was a mix of sake and plum wine sangria and went down like juice. It was incredibly well mixed and the light sweetness complimented the sushi meal very nicely. We had miso soup:

And 4 maki rolls:

Clockwise from the bottom left we had the Tsunami, Five Sisters, Mama San, and Tempura Shrimp rolls. Along with the salmon, tuna, and unagi sashimi we had- this was the absolute best sushi I have ever had in my life. The sashimi was fresh and smooth and melted in my mouth, and the rolls were fresh, inventive, and packed with so many different levels of flavor the process of chewing was an adventure. Every time Andy and I took a bite of a roll all we could do was shake our heads in disbelief at how incredible it all was. The Tsunami roll was our favorite because of the thinly sliced salmon, flash fried asparagus, and mounds of tobiko. It was spicy, crunchy, warm, and cold all at the same time. There were so many textures and flavors that every time I ate one I discovered something new. To make the experience even better, we were treated very well. Towards the end of the evening Andy and I wanted to order one more cocktail (and informed our waitress) but because of training issues, it took her over 15 minutes to come back to our table to take our drink order once we'd decided. But the minute she returned, she was apologetic and upset and so gave us a complimentary dessert along with our drinks. The dessert was an ice cream mochi-  puff pastry outside, red bean ice cream inside, and a dusting of macha powder. Phenomenal! I would recommend this as a must eat in San Francisco, and I will also note that it was very inexpensive as far as fancy sushi goes. Each of these rolls were about $8-10 and they were huge!

4 Meal Days

There was a lot of food to be eaten while I was in California, especially San Francisco, so it wasn't too shocking when Andy and I found ourselves eating four meals a day (breakfast was never anything exciting because we always woke up around 11 and went to lunch shortly after). I decided to make these days all one post because eventually I'll be anxious to get back to some Rhode Island food writing.

Our first day in San Francisco started out with sushi at Sanraku:

Sanraku was downtown near our hotel so we stopped in for a quick lunch bite before the exploring began. We had a nice light meal of salmon, tuna, and unagi sushi along with a crunchy shrimp tempura roll. The salmon was the only thing Andy and I left questioning- it was too tough and chewy.

Then we hopped on the bus and took it all the way (about a 35 minute ride) to the end of Fulton to Ocean Beach. I had never been to the beach off Golden Gate Park, but we figured it would be a good start to the trip. We lasted maybe two minutes standing on the actual sand before we got distracted by a big sign saying "Beach Chalet Brewery" and thought that maybe drinking some beers would be an even better way to kick off the trip:

So we each had the beer sampler that consisted of 6 Chalet Ales all "fresh brewed where the Park meets the Pacific". From lightest to darkest we tried: VFW Light, California Kind, Presidio India Pale Ale, Ocean Beach Ocktoberfest, Riptide Red, and Golden Gate Park Porter. None of these would I have again. They were all very bitter with a lot of unnecessary hops. The only one that tasted smooth going down was the VFW light. Anyway, we couldn't drink all that beer without something to munch on so we had some sourdough bread:

And an heirloom tomato salad with mozzarella and basil:

Both felt perfectly appropriate as we looked out at the beach from the top of the chalet and toasted our mini beer glasses.

After the beach adventure we got right on the BART to Berkeley to meet up with some of my friends who live nearby. On the recommendation of a close friend of mine who is a Cal grad, we went to the tapas place César (which is right next door to Chez Panisse! How cruel it was to walk right past that restaurant!). Unfortunately, the food all came very fast and my friends were all very hungry, so picture taking was difficult. I managed to get a photo of the gambas al ajillo:

Very tasty, with lots of garlic shavings and hot, buttery sauce that we kept on the table throughout the whole meal so we could soak up the leftovers with bread. We also had the yellow and green bean salad with cherry tomatoes and mustard vinaigrette, and here is a picture of my portion:

The salad was served warm and the vinaigrette happily covered all of the vegetables. I could have eaten an entire plate of this with some fish and it would have made a fantastic meal. Then came the bistec con trufa de mantiquilla which I quickly put on my plate with some pimientos de pédron :

The hangar steak was tender and juicy and the truffle butter just melted right into the meat and potatoes. A very decadent dish! The grilled peppers with sea salt were fun to eat, some were spicy some where not at all but they all burst in your mouth with a wonderful grill flavor and large kernels of salt. We also had the halibut a la plancha, fried almonds, fried, thinly sliced potatoes with herbs and sea salt. All were delicious and had unique flavors to bring to the palate. We had a nice rotation of dishes as well, none of them were like the previous. My only complaint is that the service was much to fast and the tables and very, very tiny. The table we sat at, apparently for four, would have been comfortable for two people. We had our plates crowded all over the place so that there was no room for our silverware or barely our sangria and water glasses! If we had had only one dish on the table at once it would have been perfect, but the tapas was not well timed. They were lucky it was so tasty that we didn't have time to complain because we were too busy eating!

San Diego

I am back from California! Andy and I had quite the trip, which started in San Diego for my sister's United States wedding reception (you can read all about the French one here), and ended with a 4-day trip to San Francisco. I only had one blogging opportunity in San Diego, as the rest of my time there I spent laying by the pool and eating hotel food. Luckily, the one meal I had was quite a grand one. Andy and I went out to dinner with my parents in La Jolla at A.R. Valentien in the hotel The Lodge. We had been running around all weekend for wedding festivities, and we were ready to relax and eat some rich, delicious food, and the restaurant at The Lodge seemed appropriate. You walk into the hotel and you immediately feel like the beginning of winter is approaching, and there is nowhere you'd rather be than curled up in front of a fireplace burning warmly scented wood. It was quite ironic, considering the San Diego temperatures rose to almost the 100's while we were there!

We all started with an appetizer, and here is the round up:

My mom and I both had the warm Maine lobster salad with summer vegetables and a saffron vinaigrette. The lobster was succulent and the beans, snap peas, and heirloom tomatoes paired well with both the seafood and the vinaigrette. They balanced the richness of the lobster to make the appetizer lighter than I had originally anticipated.

Andy had the heirloom tomato salad with "green goddess" dressing:

The dressing was a type of balsamic and avocado vinaigrette complimented by massive, colorful tomatoes. It was nothing entirely extraordinary, but while they are still in season, an appetizer of fresh tomatoes still hits the spot for me (and for Andy).

My dad had the charcuterie plate:

I took a picture of the menu so I could remember all of the things presented on this plate. There was chicken liver pate, duck pate, and a short rib terrine served with house made pickles and various mustards. The duck pate was the winner of this plate because the rest didn't have enough flavor. Everyone at the table agreed, except for Andy, who will not try the stuff.

For the main course, I had the swordfish on a bed of crushed heirloom tomatoes accompanied by shaved fennel, artichokes, and olives:

Admittedly, I don't like shaved fennel, so I tried a small bite but left the rest of the pile alone. It worked out well though, as the swordfish was more than enough to fill my stomach and I couldn't stop eating it. It was the first time I'd tried the fish, and the experience was positive. It was perfectly tender and the consistency of the crushed tomatoes complimented the more firm fish. I did think it was a tad salty, but not enough to turn me off of the dish.

Andy had the Alaskan halibut with chanterelles, spinach, cranberry beans, and lemon:

I had one bite of the fish, and Andy had one bite of the swordfish before we both decided that mine was better.  It was too plain. But I did love the cranberry beans. I had never had a cranberry bean before, but its taste and texture are a cross between a lima bean and a navy bean, but it is apparently most like the Italian borlotti bean.

My mom had the roasted duck breast with hazelnuts and huckleberry jus, but the picture came out too blurry. I didn't try it, but she requested that it not be cut into rounds and when it came out as the whole breast, she was happy and enjoyed eating it.

My dad completed his super-rich meal by following the charcuterie plate with the Niman Ranch pork loin with braised belly and fennel:

He ate the belly first because the chef recommended that it was best eaten nice and hot. He ate it quickly and called it "the finest bacon you'll ever taste". But I didn't taste it, so I wouldn't know. It certainly smelled delicious and the pork looked tasty next to the pretty grilled nectarine!

Several more California posts to follow!

 

 

Beer Tasting

Like beer? Then check out my article for Motif Magazine (here or in print all around Rhode Island) all about some great beers that deserve a little more attention...

And an Irish pub that deserves a little more attention too- the East Ave Café in Pawtucket!