Reservation update

I have been speed-dialing for a half-hour, and the line has been busy the entire time. In between dials, I have attempted making a reservation online for each of the nights we'll be in Northern California—and for any hour, as early at 5:30 p.m.

Can you sense my anxiousness?

T minus seven minutes—and counting

Today is the day on which I am allowed to make a reservation for my October birthday meal at the French Laundry. According to the restaurant's website, you can make a reservation no earlier than two months to the date you wish to dine, which in my case was August 6. When I phoned on August 6, a message informed me that the French Laundry was observing their annual summer vacation, which is very civilized and I applaud them for being so French.

Wish me luck, I'm calling now...

Lucky 13

Over the weekend, Hambone and Spice celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary—that would be the lace wedding anniversary if you follow the traditional gift table, or leather or fur if you’re on the modern track. Long ago Hambone and I decided to relieve the pressure of another gift-giving occasion by opting not to buy each other presents for our anniversary. Instead, we treat ourselves to a lovely meal in a restaurant, where we gaze into each others’ eyes. Just as we did in 1994 while on our honeymoon in Bariloche, Argentina.

While we love to do a little reminiscing, we’re also very cognizant of enjoying the moment, which found us celebrating at a two-top in the midst of a bustling, cozy restaurant—Muffuletta’s in the Park.

Hambone and I had eaten at Muffuletta’s over ten years ago. I’m remembering that we had an okay meal, but nothing about it made us want to return. In fact, until I received some reports from friends who’d eaten there within the past year, I hadn’t realized Muffuletta’s was still in business. It’s amazing how a new chef can inject just the right energy to transform a place. In addition to the word of mouth, a little research turned up solid accolades for chef J.D. Fratzke’s local- and seasonal-driven menu.

I always enjoy an opportunity to visit St. Anthony Park, the wooded St. Paul neighborhood where Muffuletta’s is located. The little shopping area has an upscale clothing store, a Carnegie library in a spectacular brick building, a hardware store, a Post Office branch, a wine shop, a Finnish bakery, and an independent bookstore. So, when my mother and sister were visiting in June, we headed over (actually due north of my St. Paul neighborhood) for lunch. My meal was fantastic, and I couldn’t wait to return with Hambone.

After Hambone and I were seated, we were treated to a basket of house-made flatbreads accompanied by a garlic puree. We also were given an amuse-bouche of basmati rice on flatbread—a little odd, basically a pile of rice on a cracker, but tasty.

The menu is written with great care, describing not just the food preparation, but sources for raw ingredients—farms and fields and streams. An obvious dedication to local and seasonal foods goes beyond what I’m accustomed to seeing on menus around town, and it made me very happy.

Here is a sample from the August menu:

Farmer’s Markets, Ballparks and Beer—Though July and August in Minnesota tend to take us on a roller coaster ride of wet blanket heat and humidity, sudden severe downpours and everything in between, Muffuletta’s crew rejoices as the season kicks in to high gear and spills a cornucopia of ingredients grown by our friends in the sustainable agriculture community.

Vendors like Hidden Streams Farms, the Southeast Minnesota Food Network, Tim Fischer and Thousand Hills Cattle Company supply us with the best fresh and locally produced ingredients that will help us sing the praises of our great state’s outdoor culture. Influenced by our love for everything from Boundary Waters canoe fishing and Metro Area Farmer’s Markets to softball tournament tailgating outside of Pipestone, the fruits, vegetables and proteins supplied us by the aforementioned producers will take top billing and help us celebrate the good life we lead in L’Etoile du Nord.

Our dinner was superb. We shared a caprese salad (thick slice of a Minnesota-grown tomato topped by a thick slice of fresh mozzerella and adorned with a sprinkle of rose salt and a swipe of a balsamic reduction) while we read the menu.

Here's what we ate:




Spice started with salmon rillettes (wine-poached Scottish salmon and Nova Scotia smoked salmon folded into creme fraiche and aioli, served with toasted crostade and tossed greens)


Hambone started with cornmeal-crusted calamari with preserved-lemon aioli



Spice's main: gnocchi with roasted tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and a pistachio-almond pesto



Hambone's main: fresh tagliatelle with preserved lemons, green olives, and seared ahi tuna.

Wine: Croix du Verre, Crozes Hermitage, 2001 (redolent of black currant, dark berries, and a bit of spice)

I have two tiny quibbles. First, portions are too big. Neither of us was able to finish our main course, and we had to pass on dessert. Which is just wrong. Last, the wine list had far too many familiar bottles, which made the mark-up hard to take. That valpolicella on the wine menu for $36 costs $11 at my local wine shop. It’s a good wine, but we also drink it regularly when we grill burgers. When I’m at a restaurant, I want to stretch my palate, trying new wines or drinking something special that I can’t get at my wine shop.

Items on the menu remain—a German-style sausage platter and beer cheese soup caught our attention, so we’ll be back. I look forward to seeing the kitchen’s fall offerings!

Easy Friday Nights

For the past few months, Hambone and I have chosen to inaugurate the weekend with Friday night cocktails, which has become a very civilized way to wind up the work week. Beyond the beverage at hand, we try to pull together a substantial nibble that we inevitably call supper. Once we start to sink into the cushions of our porch furniture, drink in hand, it's a very slippery slope to complete relaxation. And after that, who needs a proper meal?

Tonight we celebrated the beginning of tomato season by chopping up our farmers market haul, which we then drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with kosher salt, and mixed with minced garlic and basil chiffonade. While this mixture came together at room temperature for a bit, Hambone whipped up some Beefeater gin and tonics. We cranked up the Budos Band; took our bruschetta topping, a goat cheese crottin, and our cocktails out to our patio; and offered up a toast to many more gorgeous August evenings.

Thursday Local Round-up

Dara Moskowitz reports in the City Pages that Steve Brown has a new kitchen. She hasn't even eaten at Harry's, Minneapolis' newest gastropub, but feels pretty confident that it can be nothing short of outstanding. Quite frankly, I'll eat at Harry's knowing only that Steve Brown, former chef at now-defunct Levain, is at the stove.

Both of the local newspapers highlight single ingredients from Minnesota's summer bounty. The Star Tribune offers green bean recipes and the Pioneer Press showcases melons.

Also, this Strib article about noteworthy restaurants in small southeastern Minnesota towns is worth filing in your travel folder. I see some road trips in my near future.

Welcome Home Pizza

Last night Hambone and Spice celebrated Alpha's homecoming after spending twelve days with his grandparents, part of which included driving to Montana from South Dakota. During his three days at 7,000 feet in Big Sky, Alpha tried his hand at fly fishing, did some hiking, and took a daytrip to Yellowstone—lucky, lucky boy.

Astonishingly, he didn't eat any pizza while on his trip. So upon his return, and at his request, we made homemade pizza together—homemade in so far as it was assembled and baked at home. I am not at all ashamed to say that I purchased our raw ingredients from Cossetta's, our favorite Italian deli—all authentic and high quality and utterly delicious. I picked up disks of dough, tubs of rich red sauce, creamy balls of fresh mozzarella, a hank of bulk Italian sausage, and countless other goodies that went directly into my handbag's zippered compartment.

Now, Hambone and Spice have tried our collective hand at pizza from scratch many times, and we have yet to hit upon a dough recipe we like well enough to use regularly. I thought we'd found a serviceable tomato sauce in Lidia's Italian American Kitchen—basically blitzing a can of San Marzanos in a food processor with garlic, olive oil, and salt. But, too often the sauce turns out thin and salty, almost to the point of being briny.

Recalling that Cossetta's had ready-made pizza dough (which, by the way, comes in a plastic bag with enough flour to toss down on your counter), I decided to test it out. The result: two of the best pizzas we've eaten in a very long time.

The boys' pizza was a traditional cheese number, while Hambone and I doctored our crust (pictured above) with Italian sausage, red onion from the farmers market, roasted red peppers, and fresh mozz. Cooked on a pizza stone at 475 degrees for 15 minutes, the crust was crispy outside and tender with air pockets inside, which is an affect we strive for but have never been able to achieve. The sauce was tomatoey and perfectly seasoned.

Swinging by the shop on my way home from work was easy and the results were very satisfying and the price so right—each disk of dough, for example, was $1.59—that I may never again bother making my own dough.

Why I Like Wednesdays

Wednesday is a great day to be a foodie. It's the day that the New York Times publishes a food section, Dining Out. And it's the day that Dara Moskowitz's food column appears in the City Pages, the Twin Cities' alternative weekly paper.

Dara, quite simply, rocks. She is a passionate, creative writer, as well as a keen observer, which certainly brings restaurant reviewing to a whole new level.

(Aside: For the record, in these parts, she only has one name. Foodies and fans ask each other, "Have you read Dara yet this week?" Or say things such as, "I wasn't a huge fan of that restaurant, but Dara loved it." However, if you look at her byline, you'll notice she's recently added a name, Grumdahl. So, mazel tov! Dara.)

I haven't always love Dara. At times, I have felt that her cleverness dominates her writing to the extent where the column becomes all about Dara and hardly about the restaurant—or even about food. Also, she can occasionally slather excessive praise on restaurants that neither need it or deserve it, but I've learned to take that with a grain of salt. A few years ago, however, I read a piece that was without pretention, converting me from an occasional read to one who can't go a week without.

My friend Tracy and I always compare restaurant notes, inevitably bringing Dara's opinions into our conversation. Often it serves us well, such as the time we ate at Azia and Dara advocated sticking to the appetizers and innovative cocktails. After eating a misguided fusion curry among other items ordered widely from the menu, we can both attest that we should have heeded her advice.

Clearly, her style has evolved and matured in the 10 years she has been the City Pages' food critic. And, I'm not alone in the Dara love. The James Beard Foundation has nominated her for awards in two separate categories this year.

Courtesy of the internets, even if you don't live in Minneapolis or St. Paul, you can still read Dara's column weekly. Best, if you find yourself hooked, most of her articles since 1997 have been archived.

City Pages Best of the Twin Cities 07

City Pages, our weekly free newspaper, published their annual best of the Twin Cities list today. Always debatable, always funs. Here is a link to the restaurant list, compiled by Dara Moskowitz. I'd like to comment more when I return from NOLA. Until then, have fun reading. I'd love to know your opinion—feel free to leave comments here.

Resolutions 07: Eat Out

La Belle Vie

Generally considered to be the best restaurant between San Francisco and Chicago, La Belle Vie is pretty high on my to-do list. People used to drive from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Stillwater, about 30 miles away, to eat from this French-inspired menu. About a year and a half ago, La Belle Vie moved to Minneapolis and now occupies the grand 510 Groveland, site of the former 510 Restaurant.

Hambone and Spice have been waiting for the right moment to cross the river for our inaugural La Belle Vie meal—even the name of the restaurant sings (especially true if you call to make a reservation and hear the particular lilt with which the voice mail lady says "la belle vie"). And, we seized the moment when Alpha and Beta were on yet another of their whirlwind vacations with Spice's parents.

Good timing, too, as executive chef Tim McKee is a James Beard Award nominee in the category Best Chef Midwest (winner to be announced May 7). So, this was a highly anticipated meal.

We ate in an undeniably gorgeous dining room with high ceilings, ornate crown molding, and the requisite room-enlarging mirrors. Fashionable art punctuates the space between tall windows and French doors. The space was made for prom dates, wedding proposals, and business dinners, but was absolutely hushed on a Sunday night. Naturally, we would be seated next to a loud and obnoxious party of eight. While we've become fans of dining at popular restaurants on off-nights (i.e., not Friday or Saturday), it does come with a price in the midwest—you really miss the ambience that comes from a packed, lively dining room.

You can take a tasting menu with optional wine pairings, which is something we like to do, but nothing on this evening's menu intrigued us, so we went a la carte (not really a hardship).

Here's my meal in pictures:


To Start: chilled yellowtail jack with roasted beets, horseradish and flying fish roe
(The beets and horseradish were great together, but really obscured the vibrancy of the yellowtail jack. My biggest complaint was the temperature, which was beyond just chilled, not quite to frozen.)


Salad: mache and arugula with baccala, soft-poached egg, and salsa verde
(a traditional French bistro salad deconstructed—and with a twist, the salt cod replacing lardons)


Main: pan-roasted moulard duck with foie gras, red cabbage, and Alsatian spices
(I'm not sure what Alsatian spices are, but if I had to guess I'd say caraway. The duck was as tender and juicy as any I've eaten. The foie gras was divine if a little meager, though at it's best when it melted in the duck juices to enrich the sauce. The duck breast and the foie were grown in Minnesota. And, I loved the red cabbage, which was tender with a little crunch so you know the cabbage was transformed from a raw vegetable, and just ever the perfect amount of vinegar.)


Dessert: rice pudding tart, dried pineapple, pineapple sorbet
(For the most part, the tart shell served as a dish for the fine rice pudding. The dried pineapple was the real start, with very concentrated fruit flavors—I could find myself pining [pardon the pun] for it in days to come.)

Wine
Andrew Rich sauvignon blanc, which was selected from an extensive, but severely price marked-up wine list. This white had aromas of grapefruit and strawberry, and was pleasantly honeyed on the palate. We managed to stretch out one bottle over the course of the meal; skipping cocktails helped as did the wine/bourbon/scotch hangover.

Hambone had caramelized foie gras with porcini, sweet potato-chestnut gnocchi and marsala to start (the foie gras was shamefully veiny); warm goat cheese tart with tomato confit and tapenade vinaigrette for his salad course; sautéed arctic char with razor clams, squid ink ravioli, and bibb lettuce as a main.

Petit fours were a wonderful parting gift: coconut curry truffle, homemade marshmallow, frangipane, and pistachio biscotti. I wish I had a photograph of the petit fours plate because they looked like gems.

In all, I think the food was very good, the service was impeccible, and the dining room was gorgeous (if not a little overwrought), making it a complete package for fine dining. Does La Belle Vie deserve the hype? Absolutely not. Is it worth the extravagant price? No way. While I wouldn't hesitate to place it in my top five local restaurants, Hambone and Spice both found it a little pretentious. Would we return? Of course, especially to see the seasonal-food card played.

Resolutions '07: Shop

Yes, let's get this establishing fact out of the way—I'm the last American with a pulse to visit Trader Joe's.

Both Hambone and Spice knew of the store by reputation as being a great grocery store where food items prepared with a twist, often healthy and organic, and with low prices. We’d heard it described variously as fun, hip, cool, cheap. We know West Coasters who do all their grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s and rave about items, such as the pre-cooked, frozen rice, that makes dinner preparation so much easier. Of course, there’s the Two-Buck Chuck, but we don’t go in for swill. And, we’ve had intentions to visit this emporium of unique foodstuffs since the Twin Cities’ first location opened last year (shortly after New York City received their first Trader Joe’s outpost).

Finally in January, when Spice’s parents were visiting, her father expressed a desire to visit Trader Joe’s. Seizing an opportunity to cross something off her food resolution list, H & S piled the little boys into the car on the coldest day of the year and convoyed with Gpa Ron and Gma Margaret from St. Paul to St. Louis Park, by way of Lakeville (the scenic route).

Located in a chaotic, suburban condo complex, the tiny store was packed on a Saturday with yuppies and grups, almost every one of whom was cranky, owing to the unbearable cold weather or, possibly, the inability to find a parking spot. This location has, seemingly, fewer than 50 spots, which, I’ve read somewhere, is part of the Trader Joe’s experience.

When we finally got our bearings, I realized that we were in snack and prepared food heaven. You can get any manner of wonderful cereals and granola bars, seasoned nuts and chocolate-dipped items, including but not limited to sunflower seeds. You can also find frozen meals in bulk—lobster ravioli and other exotic pastas to name a few. But where is the life-sustaining, rejuvenating real food? The stuff that has naturally occuring fiber and built-in vitamins and protein? Nowhere to be seen.

The produce section was shameful. The meager selection of fruits and vegetables looked pathetic or were suffocating in plastic bags. No meat, fish, or deli counters exist. How do people do all their grocery shopping here? More to the point—who are the people who have the time or energy to do two-stop shopping?

I get the fuss about Trader Joe’s, especially if one’s diet is restricted to prepared foods or snacks. And, how can you deny the pick-up-able nature of Joe’s packaging and their zesty marketing. Hambone made me promise that I wouldn’t insist we trek across the city to visit the store again. He might change his mind, though, after he tries the milk chocolate-dipped banana chips. The chocolate-covered pretzels were tasty enough (though not as good as Nestle’s), but I can’t stop eating the banana chips and I normally loathe banana chips, picking them out of granola and trail mixes when they deign to appear.

We also purchased chili-lemon pistachios (slightly reminiscent of those we picked up at the Berkeley Farmers Market, but Trader Joe’s version was neither as redolent of chili or lemon nor as fresh), Trader Joe’s signature Thai lime-chili cashews (again, the nuts tasted a little stale under their powder coat), frozen chocolate-dipped bananas, some organic free-trade whole coffee beans (only superficially roasted, yielded a less than full-bodied coffee), and honey-sesame cashews.

While we had fun with our purchases, at the end of the day—because, honestly, who doesn't like high-quality snack food?— I wouldn’t drive twenty-five miles for any of this stuff. For years, we’ve buying authentic Asian snack foods at United Noodles, and nothing Trader Joe’s offers holds a candle to the chaat or the shrimp chips or the frozen potstickers and shumai, to name a few diverse and delicious snacks.

Doug Flicker gets a new kitchen

As reported in this morning's Star Tribune, Doug Flicker will be the new head chef at Mission American Kitchen, the posh restaurant that took over the Aquavit space in the IDS Center.

Hambone and Spice are huge FOFs—fans of Flicker. Earlier this year, Flicker announced that he would, after almost 10 years in business, close his restaurant Auriga, which I found devastating. H&S were a little late to the Auriga dance, but when we arrived, we couldn't get enough. Some of my recent favorite meals were eaten here, and we looked forward to more of Flicker's innovative cooking featuring high-quality ingredients. I ate my first Kumamoto oysters here, which were a revelation, and had an outstanding pear dessert that serves as a standard-bearer of what a good dessert should be.

krispy kreme introduces whole wheat donut

Riddle me this—what is the point of a glazed whole wheat donut? Is it to assuage the guilt of eating ungodly amounts of trans fats in each morsel?

Chicago issues first foie citation

And the unlucky recipient is Hot Doug’s, the edgy “encased-meat emporium” in Chicago. Certainly Doug Sohn’s reputation precedes him, but he was recently featured in a tantalizing piece on Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie. In addition to the Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Sauce Moutarde and Armagnac-Truffle Chicken Mousse— the culprit of the $250 fine—Sohn also serves a three-chili wild boar sausage with chipotle dijonnaise and emmental cheese, a corned beef sausage with a reuben treatment, gyros sausage with creme fraiche tzatziki, and a Catalonian pork sausage with saffron rouille and manchego cheese, to name just a few mouth-watering selections.

For the record, I’m against the foie gras ban for so many reasons, chief among them: we have bigger issues to solve as a society—poverty and child mortality rates and education funding cuts and the war in Iraq to name but a powerful few. Legislators and city councils are wasting energy on the foie gras issue.

I’d like to pay Doug’s fine in exchange for foie gras sausages for all my friends.

old standby: easy risotto

At the end of the day, I want to put a hearty, warm meal on the table for my little family. And some times that simple goal is easier said than done.

Our day starts early and runs long. Neither Hambone nor I are home before 6 p.m., at which time, Alpha and Beta only want to reconnect by giving us lots of physical attention. So, Monday through Thursday, we’re rarely very ambitious about trying new or involved recipes, which allows us to spend more time with our little darlings.

Over the years, we’ve honed a few meals that we can whip up without referring to recipes. These are nourishing and hearty, usually one-dish, meals that can be put on the table in relatively little time. This past week we made our cheater risotto, which we adapted from a recipe in Bon Appetit over ten years ago. I say “cheater” because, although this dish absolutely looks and tastes like risotto, the method lacks the hot stock and Arborio rice, as well as the constant stirring required by authentic versions.

I do love to tinker over a risotto, and I know that they’re really not that time consuming, so when I want to perch on a stool by the stove with a good book and stir for the better part of an hour, I turn to more time-honored practices. But on weeknights, after working a full day at the office and sitting in rush-hour traffic, I turn to this equally creamy but quicker form—and savor it all the same.

Easy “Risotto”
1 T. butter
1 shallot, minced
1 c. long-grain white rice
1/2 c. dry white wine 1 (14.5 oz.) can broth (I use chicken, but vegetable is good too)
1 T. olive oil
3 links Italian sausage, casings removed
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup feta cheese
Salt and pepper

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add minced shallot and sauté until soft, about 1 minute. Add rice and stir until coated, about 1 minute. Add wine and boil until liquid is almost absorbed, a few minutes. Then, add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer with lid on for 12 minutes. Rice should almost be tender; a little liquid should remain.

While the rice is cooking, prepare the sausage mixture. Heat oil in sauté pan until hot. Add sausage to pan and cook until browned, breaking up pieces as it cooks, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, mushrooms, and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until mushrooms are soft and browned. Add the sausage mixture and feta cheese to rice. Stir to incorporate and serve.

Note: This recipe is very versatile. The rice part is the basic technique. Shrimp, corn, and tomatoes is an awesome combination. And of course, you can always stir in parmesan cheese and butter to finish. Pictured above is a sausage-corn-zucchini-tomato version.

Kids in the Kitchen: Flourless Chocolate Cake

Simply put, Alpha and Beta love to hang out in the kitchen.

Our galley kitchen is separated from the dining room by a peninsula with a granite countertop. The kids love to pull up to the eating counter and hang out while we cook dinner. But, when I am baking, they grab their aprons, pull up stools, and roll up their sleeves. They are both well versed in the rhythms of turning dry ingredients into wet ingredients, mixing them gingerly until a batter emerges. Pancakes, cookies, and muffins are well within their abilities.

So recently, when I decided to make a birthday cake for their Uncle Nik, I should have known the boys would want to help. Alpha and I had looked over the cakes at the grocery store earlier in the day and agreed that we could do better at home. We decided to make a recipe from Everyday Food that I’ve done a number of times. It’s a quick, easy flourless cake.

While I melted semisweet chocolate chips and butter in a double boiler on the stove, Alpha studiously separated eggs. I demonstrated how to transfer the yolk between shell halves, allowing the white to fall to the bowl below. Alpha is a quick study and insisted on trying it right away. He declared, “Wow, that’s so cool.” He proceeded to carefully separate four more eggs, beating them with a whisk before adding the cooled chocolate/butter mixture.

Meanwhile, Beta held the hand mixer and beat the egg whites to soft peak. Then he dumped in the sugar, and we continued beating until the egg whites were glossy. Alpha, who assured me he had folded ingredients before, set about incorporating the whole mess. While his folding technique desires refinement, he did manage to thoroughly blend the whites and chocolate.

Then, because their collective attention span is as big as a gnat, I poured the batter into a springboard pan and tended the oven, checking for doneness every five minutes after the allotted baking time. Needless to say, the boys enjoyed eating their cake as much as they enjoyed making it.

Flourless Chocolate Cake
Everyday Food (January/February 2004)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for pan
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or 8 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate)
6 large egg yolks
6 large egg whites
1/2 cup granulated sugar
confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F, with rack in center. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Place butter and chocolate in a large bowl. Microwave in 30-second increments, stirring each time, until melted; cool slightly. Whisk in yolks.

2. In another bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar; beat until stiff and glossy. Whisk 1/4 whites into chocolate mixture; gently fold mixture into remaining whites.

3. Pour into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake until cake pulls away from sides of pan and is just set in center, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Serve dusted with confectioners' sugar.

2007 Food Resolutions

1. Shop
~Midtown Global Market, an indoor farmers market with myriad multicultural restaurants, opened to great fanfare, but early this year, the Star Tribune reported that many vendors aren’t turning a profit.
~Mill City Farmers Market
~E’s Cheese in Mendota Heights, Premier Cheese Shop in Edina
~Clancey’s Market for Greg Westersteen’s house-made sausages; Broder’s for Armandino Batali’s salumi
~Trader Joe’s, the metro’s first opened last summer, but we’re still Trader Joe’s virgins

2. Eat out
~La Belle Vie—generally considered to be the best restaurant in the metro area
~Peninsula—Malaysian curries
~Town Talk Diner—upscale blue-plate specials (Moskowitz rave, so does foodie friend Tracy A.)
~Craftsman—posh American, just over the river from where we live
~Heartland—posh American, specializing in game and regional specialties, just up the hill from where we live
~Cue—Lenny Russo’s (Heartland) new restaurant in the new Guthrie Theater
~Spoonriver—Brenda Langdon’s (Café Brenda) new restaurant
~Cordon Bleu cooking school restaurant
~Alinea (Chicago)
~Zuni Café (San Francisco)
~Chez Panisse (Berkeley)
~French Laundry (Yountsville, CA)

3. Eat in
Cook from each of the cookbooks we own, especially the following:
~Sunday Suppers at Lucques (Suzanne Goin)
~A Tale of 12 Kitchens (Jake Tilson)
~Kitchen Diaries (Nigel Slater)
~Cooking of Southwest France (Paula Wolfert)
~Silver Spoon
~Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet (Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid)
~The French Laundry Cookbook (Thomas Keller)
~The St. Paul Farmers Market Cookbook

4. Make at home
~use the gadgets/appliances (pasta attachment on KitchenAid, raclette maker with crepe griddle, rice cooker, fondue pot)
~gnocchi
~spaetzle
~poached eggs
~five master sauces (béchamel, veloute, espagnole, hollandaise, tomato)
~duck confit
~cassoulet
~souffle
~Paula Wolfert’s panade
~Judy Rodgers’s roasted chicken

2006 in review, part 2

It’s been quiet here at Hambone and Spice, a little bit because Spice is having a hard time letting go of 2006, but also because we’ve been busy cooking and eating and drinking wine. We’ll get to those details in due course, but first, I need to get off my chest all the blogging I failed to do last year. Forthwith, some cooking, eating, and drinking highlights from 2006:

~drinks
mastered a mean margarita with fresh-squeezed lime juice, tequila, triple sec—shaken, not blended. I ask you Who needs mixes?

~grilling
burgers—Hambone makes the best burgers and they’re especially good grilled
Syrian kabobs—ground beef with cinnamon, cumin, allspice, and cloves
pork tenderloins and whole chickens thrown on the grill to capture the residual heat after we’ve grilled dinner
calzones—the grill is about as close to a pizza oven as you’ll ever get at home, so calzones done this way have a crispy exterior and a chewy interior, plus the filling is ooey and hot. When done build-your-own style, these have the double advantage of being fun for the kids and easy to serve vegetarian friends.
sausages—sausage (teriyaki chicken with pineapple was my favorite among many) and mustard fest with the Harrisons

~sauces
chimichurri—Deborah Madison’s recipe, with parsley or cilantro and parsley and cilantro
romesco—New York Times’ majorly labor intensive version, enough to feed an army
sage-walnut pesto—to top pumpkin ravioli or butternut squash gnocchi—or eat straight from spoon

~guacamole
I made guacamole so often in 2006, I’m pretty sure I can make it blindfolded. Sure, it’s great with chips, but it’s awesome on burgers

~bechamel
Again, I made this white sauce so many times in 2006, that I’m pretty sure I can make it blindfolded, adding cheese for “Thomas Jefferson” (as the kids call it) mac and cheese, cauliflower gratin, croque monsieur, or croquetas.

~deep frying
croquetas—béchamel with Serrano ham, green onions, and manchego cheese; chilled; dipped first in beaten egg, then in panko; fried. Crispy and creamy perfection.

~chopped salads
oranges, blue cheese, pine nuts
dates, apple, manchego, caramelized walnuts
pears, crisped prosciutto, toasted pecans
cantaloupe, prosciutto, sherry and smoked paprika vinaigrette
hard-boiled eggs, avocado, cherry tomatoes

~foie gras
ate a lifetime’s supply while in France

~typical Costa Rican breakfast
rice, beans, eggs, farmer’s cheese

~wine
Gruner Veltliner (drank my first)
vino verdhe (slightly effervescent “green” wine from Portugal)
malbec (drank our way through all the Argentinean vineyards we could)
pinot noir (fell in love with Claudia Springs pinot noir, small Mendocino County vineyard)
Ascheri Barolo, 1996 (Hambone’s birthday bottle, which we probably opened too soon)
Heitz Cellars Martha’s Vineyard, 1970 (one of the California wines put up against French wines in the historic 1976 Paris tasting)

~cookbooks
New Spanish Table by Anya von Bremzen—croquetas and other tapas
Sunday Suppers at Lucques by Suzanne Goin—fig tart
Cooking of Southwestern France by Paula Wolfert—squash soup with crisped ham
Indian Home Cooking by Suvir Saran—lamb biriyani with orange and whole garam masala
Zuni Café by Judy Rodgers—cauliflower pasta with capers, anchovies, and garlic
Appetite by Nigel Slater—an extremely versatile fish soup

Speakers good enough to drink

Stereo speakers have never looked—or sounded—as sexy and smooth as when they have been crafted from old whiskey barrels. According to the folks at Pioneer, malt mellows sound. These speakers are made using oak has been snuggling up to the golden liquid for fifty years.

Alpha and Beta's Adventures in Eating

Early in the summer, in anticipation of our family trip to France, we inaugurated the Adventures in Eating series for our kids, then age four and six. The goal was to get them to try more foods, especially foods that they may never have eaten before, in a setting where they need to use their manners and sit at the table.

Here’s a recap of Alpha and Beta’s Adventures in Eating:

Greek: It’s Greek to Me
Our first meal out was an enormous success. The boys loved pita, of course, as well as souvlaki and calamari, but were a little freaked out by the flaming saganaki.

French: Margaux
With his head on the table, Beta slept through the meal, which, unexpectedly, proved to be training for France, where he slept through almost every meal. Alpha discovered his love for steak frites.

Spanish: La Bodega
The tapas were very expensive and entirely mediocre, but, knowing we could do better, Hambone and Spice were inspired to throw a tapas party to celebrate the summer solstice. We ate croquetas (potato and cheese), calamari, albondigas, pincho de pollo (grilled chicken), tortilla de patata, Russian salad (peas, eggs, tuna, homemade mayonnaise, black olives), white asparagus (marinated), and flan. H&S loved the sangria!

Vietnamese: Mai Village
Disaster. The kids wouldn’t even touch the egg rolls. Never let a bridge over a koi pond trick you into thinking the restaurant will be fun for the kids.

Japanese: Saji-Ya
An outstanding sushi meal with Beta, at which he devoured the fried shrimp heads from our ama ebi.

Indian: Tandoor
Beta discovered Indian chicken nuggets (chicken anointed in chickpea or lentil batter and fried) and chutneys (his favorite was the date variety). Tandoori chicken and naan went down well after much encouragement.

Chinese: Yummy
This meal marked significant milestones for both boys. We ate dim sum at this restaurant a year ago at Christmas at which time we couldn’t get the kids to try anything—not dumplings, not shrimp, not even egg rolls. Finally, one of the dim-sum ladies brought the boys special plates of Chinese hotdogs (hotdogs wrapped with a sweet bun), which were quickly devoured. Needless to say, when Hambone and I proposed dim sum for a special end-of-year meal, we reminded the boys of the awesome Chinese hotdogs. We even invited friends to join us—friends whose kids are picky eaters—and lured them with the promise of Chinese hotdogs. Guess what? Yummy no longer serves the Chinese hotdogs. The children were forced to eat dim sum—and they embraced the moment, especially Beta, who reveled in pointing at little treasures on the cart, which were unflinchingly handed over to him.

We ordered a lot of food that day—all good: pork shumei, sticky rice with Chinese sausage in lotus leaf, squid curry sauce, chive dumplings, chicken with basil, Chinese broccoli (I love this, so green and fresh), salt and pepper shrimp (Beta was naturally drawn to these perfectly seasoned prawns avec tetes), pan-fried turnip cake (I didn’t love the turnip cake), mixed pork dumpling (fried and crispy), pot sticker, tofu dumplings, fried tofu and shrimp, shrimp dumplings, pork and watercress dumplings, pork buns, and bean-paste-filled buns (another of Beta’s favs).

The boys truly grew as eaters this year, and Hambone and Spice are so proud of them. In the new year, Alpha and I share the goal of finding the best French fries in town (Margaux's were very good, better than many we ate in France, in fact). We will most certainly eat dim sum again. Maybe we’ll even take out a second mortgage and treat the boys to the spectacular tapas at Solera. I’d even like to try Vietnamese again. And, while I don’t think we’re quite ready for Ethiopian, we could take them out for Italian, Mexican, Thai, and more French and Italian and dim sum.

2006, food in review

Hambone and Spice ate so well in 2006. We enjoyed many fantastic and memorable meals near and far from home—at a resort while on vacation in Costa Rica, in restaurants while on vacation in France (in both Paris and Reims), in restaurants on our home turf, and, most important, in our own home.

Here’s a recap of some of our great restaurant meals in Minneapolis-St. Paul (previously unmentioned in the blog):

Restaurant Alma (with Dorothy and David, January)
Hands down, Alma is one of my favorite Minneapolis restaurants, so it was a pleasure to take Hambone’s mother and her husband here when they visited us in January. The food is unpretentious, but innovative—a delicate balance to strike.
To start: duck confit with onions on mixed greens
Pasta: light, fluffy ricotta gnocchi in a fennel sauce with capers and brown butter
Main: pheasant with rosemary pain perdu, savoy cabbage with bacon and apple
Dessert: oatmeal stout gingerbread

A Rebours (with the Harrisons, January)
This is, quite possibly, the only charming St. Paul restaurant, decked with dark wood banquettes and mirrors, in the historic Hamm building. A Rebours (French for "against the grain") is an off-shoot of the now-defunct Bakery on Grand.
To start: mixed greens with toasted hazelnuts and blue cheese
Main: cassoulet replete with duck confit, pork belly, and beans, which were a little on the crunchy side
Dessert: skipped, which is something I never do, as a rule

Anemonie (February)
This sushi and oyster bar is adjacent to Azia, a fusion Asian place that had its fifteen minutes in 2005. H&S ate here not long after Anemonie opened, and, much to our surprise (given the popularity of Azia) and dismay, the restaurant was empty. The sushi was pretty mediocre and very overpriced.
To start: baked green mussels
Nigiri: bachimaguro (big-eye tuna), hamachi, aji, unagi, salmon
Rolls: crunch roll (tempura-coated California roll), spicy yellowtail (mayo bound), mountain roll (shiso, yam, tuna)

Ristorante Luci (March)
I can’t remember the last time we ate here, but friends who had eaten at Luci recently reminded us of this wonderful neighborhood place. Years ago we got off to a rocky start with Luci, but she almost always gives us a solid meal.
To start: prosciutto di casa (soft, creamy, salty house-cured pork loin served with mixed greens)
And: chunky, peasant-style split pea soup with tomato and taleggio
Pasta: lasagne di zuccha (paper-thin fresh pasta with butternut squash and sweet gorgonzola cream)
Main: perfectly cooked lamb t-bone chops with potatoes and green olives
Wine: Avignonesi Montepulciano ’02

Auriga (with Jack and Bev, May)
Hambone and Spice had an outstanding meal at Auriga for Spice’s birthday in October 2005, and we were pleased to share the spot with Hambone’s father and his wife on their annual visit.
Start: Catalan stew (mussels, shrimp, fish, saffron, smoked paprika, carrots, celery, and almonds)
Main: New Zealand venison (with baby artichoke hearts, raisin reduction, and risotto)
Dessert: mocha mousse cake (12 amazing layers of thinly sliced cake, a slab of chocolate, chocolate sauce, coffee gelato, cappuccino foam, and chocolate crunch)
Wine: David Bruce petite syrah ’04

Five (October)
We were under the impression that Stewart Woodman was doing some molecular gastronomy at Five, but were faced with a straightforward menu when we ate here for Spice’s birthday celebration. The food was incredible so we weren’t disappointed, and the location (the former Fifth Precinct station) was a treat. I’m glad we had an opportunity to eat here before Woodman bowed out in December.
Start: duck breast (sliced and plated over duck confit, which sat on top of a creamy, tangy celery root slaw, yuzu soy butter)
Main: lamb loin in yogurt-cilantro sauce on orange-scented jasmine rice (“Bhopal style,” essentially a refined, but deconstructed, Indian curry, which is to say the lamb was sliced and placed on spinach, which was draped over the rice, with a moat of sauce)
Dessert: lemon crème brulee with pink peppercorns, lemon shortbread-like cookies (one of the most unusual and refreshing desserts of the year)
To end: Housemade mini donuts, an homage to the building’s original purpose, came with coffee

Restaurant discovery of the year: 112 Eatery
Chef-owned 112 Eatery is one of the most difficult reservations in town. Booking six to eight weeks out, Hambone and Spice made a decision, based on our first fantastic meal there, to do just that. We now have a standing reservation every six to eight weeks. Every meal has been a delight—from the marinated olives and sweet-spicy almonds that serve as nibbles while perusing the menu to the cardamom popcorn that comes with the check and everything in between. Hambone and Spice love the space (it reminds them of NYC neighborhood joints), and they love what chef Isaac Becker is doing in the kitchen—nothing short of totally innovative, approachable fare. While it's no surprise that the City Pages crowned this the best new restaurant 2006, Food and Wine loves 112 Eatery too, selecting the lamb scottadito (chops with goats milk yogurt) as a “best restaurant dish of 2006.” And, 112 Eatery has a well-edited wine list with something interesting for every budget.

July
Start: duck and radicchio salad (a true revelation with miso dressing, scallion, sliced eggs, and fresh bread crumbs)
Main: swordfish with harissa, coriander, turmeric, and shaved fennel with tiny, handmade pasta)
Dessert: chocolate pot de crème
Wine: Novellum Languedoc chardonnay (’04) and the Anton Bauer "gmork" gruner veltliner

September (Steve and Lisa)
Start: duck and radicchio salad (again, because I am going to try to make this at home)
Sides: gnocchi (pan-fried, ethereal, I can’t stop thinking about this dish)
Main: Berkshire pork tenderloin and golden chanterelle hash (very, very good)
Dessert: chocolate pot de crème (again)
Wine: Robert Picota ’03 syrah and Mark West pinot ’05

October (Steve and Lisa)
Start: stringozzi with lamb sugo (a handmade pasta with a rich lamb sauce)
Sides: cauliflower fritters, braised escarole (meltingly good)
Main: barrimundi with avocado butter (and corn, beets, couscous)
Wine: Marquis Philips cab ’05 (Australia) and Chateau d’Oupia (minervois) ’04 [sheepy]
Dessert: banana tart (surprising), tres leche cake (best dessert of the year), pot de crème

It will be very difficult to top the restaurant meals in 2006, so we may not even try (wink, wink).