Camacho Watcho

While visiting Chicago recently, I had the opportunity to check out Han 202, a tiny Chinese restaurant with an amazing meal deal. For $20, you have your choice of five courses: soup, salad, appetizer, entree and dessert. Better yet – it’s BYOB. I love that about Chicago!

All the food was fantastic, but I did have my favorites. For appetizer, absolutely do not miss the Salt and Pepper Calamari. Its crispy salty/peppery flavor is positively addicting in the best way possible.

Another of my favorites is the crispy beef with orange extract – a lovely orange flavor that is surprisingly balanced for what could be an overly sweet dish.

Last, but definitely not least, is the lovely, lovely dessert – vanilla ice cream with tomato mango sorbet. I am head over heels in love with it…*sigh*.

PS – Did I mention that this deal runs every day of the week?

After grabbing a drink at Prohibition, we headed to Sea Change for a late dinner reservation to ring in the New Year. To start, we ordered from the raw bar – amazing smoked salmon and oysters – and then moved on to the five course tasting menu which featured candied tuna, langostine ravioli, ocean trout, pork cheek and pine nut ice cream for dessert.

Happy 2010!!!

There was a time in the not so distant past when the thought of dining out alone would be cause for cold sweats.

What would people think? Would they stare at me? What do I do? What do I look at?

But, now…I’m over it.

I’ve come to think of this recently, as Kyle and I were eating out a week or so ago, when a solo diner was seated just a couple tables away. This normally wouldn’t catch my attention, except that this particular diner was clearly uncomfortable eating alone.

How do I know?

He talked on his cell phone the entire time. Okay, I get it if you enter the restaurant and you happen to be finishing a call. Actually, no, that’s rude and I don’t understand that either. But let’s say I did. This is a nice restaurant (cloth napkins…you know what I mean) – you just don’t do that.

His talking on the phone was so awkward that the server actually avoided his table for awhile, until it reached to a ridiculous level of avoidance. At that point, she apprehensively approached him to take his order. And what did he do?

He held the phone a couple inches from his ear while he ordered! He then continued talking once she left.

Um, Sir, you might rethink your next solo dining trip and just get take-out.

A friend asked me recently where I “go” when I close my eyes and lean my head back as I write about food. I had to laugh, because I didn’t realize that I do this. But thinking about it further, I realized that I am drawing on my memory of the meal; many times I can still taste it.

Some meals I have to strain to recall, but others stay with me and I can recall the flavors as if I was eating the dish all over again. A recent example of this, is the Orange and Cauliflower Gnocchi I ate at Bar La Grassa. As I type this, the fragrant orange and caramelized cauliflower flavors come rushing back and I can almost feel the gnocchi melting on my tongue.

Another recent memorable bite for me is the Billi Bi soup from the amusement menu at Meritage in St. Paul. I have to admit – so many of my recent food memories come from Meritage. Chef Klein serves such amazing food!

The soup arrived at our table served in the cutest little tureen along with the tiniest spoon. But despite the small presentation, the flavor was huge – a richly infused flavor of mussels, cream and white wine. And as if the creamy soup isn’t enough, floating inside was a huge mussel with just the right amount of chew and saturated in the creamy soup’s flavors.

I’ve eaten out a lot lately…

First of all, Sea Change is an amazing addition to the neighborhood. I have eaten there several times and everything has been perfect. The mussels in green curry (don’t forget to spoon up all that tasty broth) and braised short ribs are foods to dream about. I also recently checked out L’Ecosse, the new Scottish restaurant at 48th and Chicago – solid comfort food and creative dishes from a former White House chef. I even tried haggis…and liked it! Then this past week I tried Volnay Bistro in Wayzata, which was…well, not the best of dining experiences. I hope to see a turnaround from a restaurant with such an idyllic setting.

With all this eating out – I was looking forward to cooking a few meals at home. But to be honest, I’ve tried a few recipes recently that just haven’t been up to snuff. The corn risotto with seared scallops underwhelmed me. However, the leftover risotto, amped up with some additional seasonings and veggies, was pretty tasty stuffed into green bell peppers a few days later. Even pasta dishes that I normally love, just haven’t been as tasty. I blame the weather.

This all changed when I made the Herbed Ribeye with Mustard Sauce, which I topped it with crispy fried sweet onions and served on a bed of roasted green beans and onions. Oh, yeah…that satisfied.

Herbed Ribeye with Mustard Sauce
adapted from The Best of Food and Wine 1986 Collection
serves 2

1/4 c dijon mustard
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 TBSP creme fraiche
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp rosemary, crumbled
1/4 tsp tarragon
1/8 tsp coarsely ground pepper
2 6-8 oz ribeye steaks

1. Combine the mustard, Worchestershire, ginger and clove in a small bowl. Cover and set aside.
2. Mix all the herbs in a bowl – basil through pepper – then press mixture evenly onto both sides of steak. Grill or broil steaks as desired. Allow to rest 5 minutes, tented with foil.
3. Stir creme fraiche into mustard sauce, along with any meat juices that have accumulated on the platter. Serve sauce on top of steak.

The roasted green beans and onions were tossed in olive oil with salt and pepper at 375 for 20-25 minutes and the fried onions were thinly sliced and fried in vegetable oil (without any batter) until crisp. Drain onions on paper towel then serve on top of steak.

For the long 4th of July weekend, we headed out to Oregon. The first couple of days were spent on the coast and then we headed inland to Portland to visit our friends Jeff and Lisa. A beautiful coastline, great weather (it was unseasonably hot) and plenty of great food and drink made the trip a fantastic getaway.

The trip started on the central coast where we stayed in the small town of Manzanita. I loved this little town – great shopping, expansive beach – but the food in the area was a bit lacking. Actually, we struggled to find good food on this leg of the trip at all. It seemed every restaurant we had previously researched and heard great reviews about was closed, so we were left winging it. We drove up to Cannon Beach one evening and ate at the Wayfarer. It had a perfect sunset view but, besides some tasty clam chowder, the food was pretty standard. We also ate at a new Mexican restaurant in Manzanita (not worth even mentioning the name here) and the Manzanita Seafood and Chowder House, which served up a decent order of fish and chips.

The highlight of our coastal eating was actually a breakfast spot in Nehalem called Wanda’s Cafe. We actually ate there twice and I got the same breakfast both times (my usual order of two eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast). I did try a bite of the French toast and the breakfast quesadilla as well, which were very good. The best part of my breakfast was the thick-sliced, pepper-crusted bacon. Crispy goodness!

We also found some good eats at the Tillamook cheese factory. After taking the self-guided tour, which allows you to look down into the huge facility where the cheese is shaped and packaged, we tried a few small samples of cheese (fantastic cheese curds and extra sharp cheddar) and then headed down to get some ice cream.

Overall the ice cream was extremely creamy and very good. We enjoyed our cones, but it definitely seemed that these kids, who were there for a birthday party, were enjoying theirs much more.

On to Portland…

The first place we ate at in Portland was a neighborhood spot called Meat Cheese Bread (1406 SE Stark Street). Locally sourced ingredients are featured in creative salads and sandwiches like the popular BLB (bacon, lettuce and beets) sandwich and the flank steak with pickled red onions and blue cheese. My favorite, however, was the sandwich I ordered – asparagus, hard boiled egg and bacon relish (yes, you heard me right…bacon relish) on a chewy baguette.

Next up in Portland was to hit The Waffle Window in the Hawthorne neighborhood. After walking around the neighborhood’s cute shops, Jeff led us around a corner to the small window opening at the end of a long brick wall where these treats are made. Although there are many sweet and savory waffle variations, we decided on two sweet flavors – one with strawberries and another with blueberries and lime curd. The toppings were fantastic and the waffles were also very good, although more cakey than the typical fluffy breakfast variety.

A strong contender for the best pizza I’ve ever eaten (I struggle giving it this full title given my love for Wig and Pen pizza in Iowa City) can be found at Apizza Scholls. This gem of a pizza place makes their dough fresh daily, then opens up for business at 5:30pm. The masses patiently wait their turn to be seated, as they know what is to come…beautifully chewy, yet crisp-crusted pizza pies.

We ordered two pizzas – one pie with pickled red peppers and sausage and the other pie with half ‘Margo’rita (their version of the margherita with red sauce, two types of mozzarella, pecorino romano, garlic and basil) and half Tartufo bianco (mozzarella, pecorino romano, truffle oil and sea salt). The pickled peppers on the sausage pie and the truffle oil on the bianco were absolutely delicious! This place is a must. And if do want to try it out, be sure to get there early. When the fresh dough runs out, they simply close up shop for the day.

Saturday morning of our trip was perhaps the craziest breakfast morning ever. The day started with Voodoo Doughnuts. Awhile back I had seen an episode of Man v. Food on the Travel Channel where Adam visited this doughnut shop – home to the voodoo doll doughnut and the bacon/maple doughnut. I didn’t get the chance to visit the shop, but Jeff was kind enough to go pick up a box of doughnuts for us to sample while we got ready for the day. He chose the following flavors: Tang, voodoo doll, bacon/maple, and Butterfinger.

The bacon/maple (oh, that crispy bacon and super sweet maple frosting!) and voodoo doll (with raspberry filling) doughnuts were the favorites. As for the Tang and Butterfinger varieties? We could have done without them – the toppings were too powdery. The overall consensus was that for novelty, Voodoo Doughnuts is a must…but a high quality doughnut should not be the expectation.

After our light breakfast, we headed to the Portland Farmers Market. This busy market is chock full of beautiful produce vendors. Ranier and bing cherries were in season – $3.75/pound! The artichokes and berry boxes were my favorite displays. But we were on a hunt for hot food – biscuits and tamales.

Pine State Biscuits has a restaurant in Portland and, recently added a vendor booth to the farmers market. Fluffy buttermilk biscuits with rich toppings make up the menu – I couldn’t resist ordering the Reggie topped with fried chicken, bacon, cheese and gravy. We also got a plain biscuit that we topped with their marionberry jam. Absolutely amazing!

We also ordered tamales at a Mexican stand in the market. Huge tamales stuffed (and I mean stuffed!) with either chicken or vegetarian options like artichokes and cojita cheese. A surprise to me, I preferred the vegetarian tamale – the creamy cheese with the artichokes was a winning combination.

Our last meal in Portland was another extremely decadent breakfast at the Screen Door. Sunday mornings, this neighborhood restaurant opens its doors at 9:00am to a lengthy line of people in need of coffee and some Southern food. By 9:15, all the seats are filled (indoor and out), yet the line continues down the sidewalk. We were lucky to be in the first seating and put in our order right away. An obvious choice for a breakfast appetizer (yes, we ordered an appetizer, much to the confusion of our waiter) was the praline bacon. Three crispy slices of bacon with a crunchy topping of brown sugar and pecans – oh my god! Yes, it was that good.

As for our main course? At first, we thought of going the more subtle route; perhaps just an egg scramble and toast for me and french toast for Kyle. But, when the waiter approached, we changed the plan. Our order? The Fried Chicken and Waffle – a fluffly sweet potato waffle topped with three boneless pieces buttermilk-battered fried chicken. The order was quite large, but a great bargain for $12.95 (we split it and still had a piece of fried chicken left). I don’t know that I would need to order it again (it is a bit of an absurd breakfast entree), but it was certainly a great meal.

And that was how we ate our way through Oregon. Yes, it did make us thirsty (thank goodness for Portland breweries!), but that is for another post.

Driving through Wisconsin on I-94, we stopped for gas in Osseo and came across Moe’s Diner. The signs were so intriguing we almost had to stop there to try it. But it had been a busy weekend and we just wanted to get home. Maybe next time…

Has anyone tried it and can give it a recommendation? Does it live up to its (almost) world famous title?

I’d like to think this wasn’t my fault, but I walked into the storm last Thursday with full knowledge of the consequences. There is no one to blame but me.

Rewind eight days to researching how to make jucy lucys for this Heavy Table video. I’ll skip the details, but let’s just say that I managed to eat four jucy lucys in five days and had drawn up the white flag in surrender. No more jucy lucys for a while…or so I thought.

The Thursday after making the video, Kyle and I attended a wine tasting at Sorella Wine and Spirits. We love Sorella and had heard of a South American wine tasting class put on by the Wine Company, a representative of which had recently returned from a trip to Chile and Argentina and would be sharing his experience and some wines from those regions. I had been to wineries in Chile and Argentina when in South America in 2007, so I was looking forward to it, knowing it couldn’t possibly live up to the actual experiences, but was hoping to at least be introduced to some new wines from those regions that are available in the US. The class was mediocre, but we did try a few wines that we liked – Bianchi Torrontes, Errazuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay (my favorite), Bianchi Malbec and Errazuriz Cabernet Sauvignon – so we were pretty happy about that.

The problem is, when it comes to tasting wine…I don’t follow the rules. I know you’re supposed to just taste the wine and then pour out the rest, but nine times out of ten I don’t. I just drink it. So, after tasting ten or so wines that night, I was getting a bit pickled. Not to mention ravenous.

The Blue Door Pub

At that point, we decided to hit up The Blue Door Pub. We thought it was about time we stepped up to the plate to try their Blucy Lucy. I had read so many great reviews about this burger here and here and here and, despite my previous four lucys that week, I decided I was hungry for more.

As expected, The Blue Door Pub was packed when we arrived so we waited a bit in the crowded room for a table – ordering a couple beers to tide us over. When our table finally opened up, we barely glanced at the menu (although it is quite an extensive listing of juicy blucy offerings) and put in our order. I went with their signature Blucy Lucy (stuffed with garlic and blue cheese) and Kyle hit up their special, the Merriam Park Lucy (stuffed with blue cheese, garlic and bacon and topped with red currant jelly).

Let me first talk about Kyle’s burger. It was a little on the underdone side, unfortunately, but it was tasty. We agreed that the red currant jelly on top was the perfect sweet accompaniment to the salty burger, but wished the bacon had been crisp and that there had been a little more cheese inside. Overall a great tasting burger with a ton of potential with a bit of tweaking.

As for the Blucy Lucy? Honestly, I know it was partly due to the combination of all the wine, beer and lack of water I had had that day, but that burger truly rocked me. The amount of blue cheese stuffed inside the half pound burger was insane – and it didn’t taste like cheap blue cheese but was creamy and dry. The garlic was the perfect background flavor to it, not overpowering but definitely present. Overall I really liked this lucy – it was my first experience with a lucy outside the traditional American cheese version – but, it dominated me. I finished it, but was cowering inside as I did. Beer was left on the table and fries were left in my burger basket…and I pled for mercy.

The Blue Door Pub will definitely be on my list to try again, after a short jucy lucy detox period, of course. With proper training (hydration), I think I could hold my ground with the Blucy Lucy. I still prefer the traditional American cheese version of the jucy lucy best – The Nook and Matt’s rock this scene – but The Blue Door Pub is a nice twist on the Minnesota favorite.

The Blue Door Pub
St. Paul, MN

Restaurant Week 2009 came and went with minor fanfare for me. I had hoped to make it to three new places last week (I loved my two visits last year), but managed one – Barrio Tequila Bar. Although it was only one place, the tasting menu for $30 was exactly what I had hoped for.

But before I get to the food, I need to take a step back. You can’t go to a tequila bar and not drink a little tequila (or, maybe that’s just me). And my choice? Of course, I immediately ordered the Macho Camacho margarita. Up until l I changed my last name, I was asked on a frequent basis if I am related to Hector Macho Camacho. But, no, I’m not related to Hector or any other boxers (unless you count my dad who did a little boxing in college). Regardless, I was excited to try this margarita that shares my maiden name. And this drink did not disappoint – a citrusy blood-orange beverage that came just shy of a puckery knock-out.

Once our thirsts had been quenched, we could concentrate on the food. The tasting menu was actually a great value. We started with housemade guacamole, a trio of salsas (ancho chile, salsa verde and habanero) and queso fundido with crab. The best of these were the salsas, especially the salsa verde (I just love tomatillos!). I liked the guacamole but it could have used a kick and the queso fundido was good but I didn’t think it really needed the crab. These were all served with the tastiest of tortilla chips – honestly, so good…we went through three baskets and could have taken down more.

The next course was the pork posole – their version of this brothy soup consisted of a piece of tender pork shoulder served with lettuce, radishes and jalapenos. After stirring in a spoonful of their salsa verde, it was my favorite dish of the evening. Last, we were served a trio of tacos – steak, fish and pork. Again the pork reigned as the best of the bunch, as the steak taco was served on a fried tortilla shell and the sauce for the fish was a mask of mayo.

The downfall of the evening, however, was the service which can be only be described as unprofessional and uncoordinated. Do they really think it’s okay to hold a beer next to my face while I’m taking a bite – trying to get my attention to hand a fresh beer to my dining companion sitting kitty-corner to me? No – walk around the table and hand it to him yourself. And did they really think it was acceptable to bring my friend’s entree (who did not order the tasting menu) as she was eating her salad and while we were still on our first course (of a four course meal)? Absolutely not – we sent it back and had them remake it 45 minutes later when we were done with salads and appetizers and the entire table was ready for entrees. These incidents were singular events among numerous occasions of being asked by servers to hand them a dirty plate from across the table or having them try to take dishes away before they were finished. It’s unfortunate that these incidents happened, but it’s even more unfortunate that this doesn’t seem to be a one-off experience, as others have relayed similar experiences to mine.

Despite the service, Barrio is a great addition to the downtown scene with its sleek yet western throw-back vibe. And although it’s not my first choice for a casual neighborhood spot, I have a feeling that an ice-cold Macho Camacho and chips with salsa verde are in my very near future.

Barrio Tequila Bar
925 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN

Last Sunday I was craving a burger, but of course, not just any burger…I wanted a jucy lucy. My first inclination was to head on over to The Nook or Matt’s, as I know how much I love their lucy’s. Instead, in the spirit of trying new things, I decided to hit up Adrian’s instead.

To be honest, I had never heard of Adrian’s. I had even eaten in that neighborhood at Pepito’s and Cafe Levain a few times and had never even noticed the sign before. Given that it isn’t spoken of much in jucy lucy circles, I should have been prepared. But I went in with high hopes…just looking for a grease fix.

We arrived right at noon (opening time), so of course we took them by surprise by immediately ordering up some beer, burgers and fries. We were told we’d have to wait on the burgers, as they were just getting going for the day but that the beer and fries would be right out. No problem. I didn’t mind the wait – the beer was cold and the fries were crinkle-cut and crisp. With the addition of a little salt and my mustard-ketchup mix, I was appeased for the time being.

My jucy lucy was served a short time later with the standard warning to wait before eating, for danger of being burned by the cheese. I used the time to size up the enormity of this burger. The largest jucy lucy I’d ever been served, this was two massive patties of beef, a tall bun and cheese melted on top (not standard issue in the lucy world). At this point I figured I had waited long enough so I tentatively dug in.

Let’s start with the bun which was dry and dense and really didn’t complement the juicy burger in the least. One of my biggest complaints about burgers is the bun, and for good reason…it’s rarely done right. As for the patties? They were cooked perfectly – medium – but unfortunately there was just too much burger and they were packed so dense (maybe needed a higher fat content in the beef?) that, while the cheese was plentiful, the balance was totally off. This did explain the extra slice of cheese melted on top, an attempt to balance out the cheese to meat ratio, but it just didn’t make up for the overload of beef contained in the sandwich.

Overall, I was not impressed with Adrian’s jucy lucy. In the future I’ll be taking my jucy lucy cravings elsewhere.

Adrian’s Bar and Grill
48th and Chicago Ave. South
Minneapolis, MN