Category Archives: Events

Salad of the Month

Posted on March 27, 2008 | 3 Comments

I’m not one for fancy salads. If it’s got (non-iceberg) lettuce, fresh tomatoes and a splash of tangy dressing, I’m usually a happy camper.

But sometimes a fancy salad surprises me. For example, the endive/apple/gruyere concoction served at Backals (Scarsdale, NY) this past Easter Sunday.

Maybe it was the setting – the upstairs private room – or the fact that it was taking so long for the food to arrive. Or maybe it was the pre-splitting of the salad into two portions. (I gotta say, I dig this new-found courtesy for notorious appetizer sharers like me.)

Whatever the reason, this super-crunchy combo of veggies truly hit the spot. This Belgian Endive and Apple Salad from Cooking Light is the most comparable recipe I could find, but it doesn’t capture every detail of the restaurant one. For instance, ours came with a surprisingly non-intrusive balsamic vinaigrette that added flavor but didn’t undermine the crunch.

Unfortunately, all of the good vibes built up by the salad were wasted by the tasteless chicken sandwich I ordered as a follow-up. Sometimes, the salad really is mightier than the sandwich.

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My Birthday (again) @ Nodding Head

Posted on January 30, 2008 | Leave a comment

This post is woefully late mostly because, well… I was drinking. Now, before you drive yourself into a tizzy (as my cherished elders would say), let me explain:

1. It was my birthday.

2. I was at a brewpub called Nodding Head.

I figured that since the fine folks at Nodding Head went through all the trouble of brewing seven different beers (on the second floor of row house in the middle of Philadelphia no less!), it would be just plain rude for me to not partake.

I’m not sure how often they change the brew (it may be daily, although I think it’s weekly), but all of the selected seven dominate the nationally distributed stuff in color, taste, texture and any other drinking category you can imagine.

There are a few standards that seem to never leave (including 60 Shilling Ale, Grog and IPA), some utility players (like Doc, 700 Level and BPA), and the rare experiments (such as the awesomely named Hoptimus Prime, Monkey Knife Fight and Lead Pipe Lager) that keep things lively.

As for the night… it was a lot of fun. We even had the dartboard all to ourselves for the last couple hours.

And, miraculously, no one was hurt.

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My Birthday @ Tinto

Posted on January 19, 2008 | Leave a comment

It still baffles me why Tinto, the second Philadelphia restaurant by Chef Jose Garces, is so much better than Amada, his debut restaurant that I gave a lukewarm review only a few months back.

Granted, I may be bias because Tinto is less than a hundred steps from my apartment. However, I think it also has some objective advantages:

1. It’s small. Although the construction next door seems to be an obvious attempt to increase the serving space, right now the restaurant is small and cozy, with mesmerizing views of the cooks in action (if you’re lucky enough to be seated on the main floor).

2. It’s new. It’s been open a couple months, but people are continuing to discover it. The menu is still somewhat fresh to the cooks and they probably put a little more effort into preparing the food. After all, it hasn’t been reviewed by everyone yet.

3. It’s subtle. Maybe this is also because of its size, but I like that the decor is bit more understated. I just don’t get that super-trendy vibe that Amada puts off. The concentration is on the food.

Our first time in the restaurant was the second night it was open. This time, it was my birthday, and despite the rain and a somewhat foul mood, my wife dragged me down the street to what would be an outstanding dinner.

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The Continental Midtown is not your friend

Posted on January 5, 2008 | 2 Comments

I just can’t understand why people go ga-ga for the Continental Midtown. For one, what’s with that stupid olive?

On the inside, tackiness is elevated to high art with all manner of overpriced martinis, chic seating arrangements and mediocre food.

Here are a few other reasons this place gets stuck in my craw:

  • The waitresses are made to wear these fugly uniforms consisting of blue & pink striped shirts and unforgiving mini-skirts.
  • The average drink price hovers around $10… and there ain’t much kick to ‘em.
  • The decor might have been hip and cool a decade ago, but its nouveau-diner charm has long since faded.
  • The clientele is (usually) so thrilled to just be sitting in a swank Stephen Starr restaurant that they’ll lay down double or triple their usual restaurant budget on a brand-name meal.

Unfortunately, since the Continental is only two blocks from my apartment and two and a half from my office, it will always be a perpetual part of my life.

I went there recently as part of a Christmas thank-you lunch thrown by my boss. Of course, I couldn’t say no, especially since we were beating the lunch rush with an 11:30 reservation. When we sat, the two bored hostesses eagerly sat us, while the army of blue & pink zebras waited for their cue.

Our waiter (the only male) was nice enough, and the lunch menu was fairly diverse. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. We started with a seafood tempura appetizer which was fairly uninspired, but my lunch entree was quite tasty. Surrounding a not-too-gooey mushroom risotto (topped with some crunchy bean sprouts) were nicely seared slices of ahi tuna with a slight teriyaki flavor.

For a moment, I reconsidered my stance on the Continental. The food was certainly good, the service was reasonable and, during the day, the place didn’t seem as ludicrous.

But then the rush began in earnest and I felt trapped. Resorting to desperate measures, I uttered the two words I try never to combine while eating out: “No dessert.”

And just like that, we were gone.

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New Year’s Eve @ Bar Ferdinand

Posted on January 1, 2008 | 3 Comments

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Happy New Year everybody!

Since everything’s closed today and I’m recuperating from last night’s festivities, I thought I’d give you a quick turnaround review of Bar Ferdinand and their New Year’s Eve pre-fixe dinner.

First, a small disclaimer: I’m not usually in the habit of snapping pics of food at restaurants because 1. it’s kind of weird and 2. it takes away from the event and conversation. However, since we didn’t get our first course until nearly 11:00 pm and the place was packed with boisterous revelers, I decided a few extra flashbulbs wouldn’t hurt.

First Course – Pumpkin Soup

As you can see from their site, Bar Ferdinand specializes in Spanish tapas. However, for New Year’s Eve, they offered a six course pre-fixe menu. While the food took a long time to make it to our table (ensuring that our meal would straddle two separate years), I must admit I was very impressed. A lot of restaurants seem to dip in quality when they switch to pre-fixe, but I enjoyed almost every course. We started with the above pumpkin soup, which was delicate and creamy, offset with a scattering of crunchy pine nuts. It was garnished with a dollop of a creamy cheese (possibly goat) with a strong dill flavor. It was a good start.

Second Course – Arugala Salad

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Sorry for the over-flashed picture. The blindingly bright strips on top of the greens are apple. The salad also had some crumbles of roasted chestnut and a tangy vinaigrette. It was remarkably well-balanced and its huge crunch factor made for a good follow-up to the creamy soup.

Third Course – Croquetas

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There was a choice here between the roasted pork and cheese variety (which is pictured) and wild mushroom and goat cheese. I went for the meat (mostly because I don’t like goat cheese) and was slightly disappointed. While the pork was perfectly succulent, I was expecting a good dose of salty cheese to kick it up. The cheese, however, was barely noticeable, and thus I found myself eating a dollop of un-flavored roast pork in a pastry cup.

Fourth Course – Steak with Potato/Apple Gratin

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Once again, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by a steak dish that I initially assumed would be phoned in. The beef (which I want to say was short rib, but I can’t recall) was very tender and nicely complimented by the port demi-glaze it sat in. The potato/apple gratin had a very unique combination of flavors, making it very difficult to describe. I’m not sure it was the right match for the meat, but I appreciated the interesting flavor interactions.

Fifth Course – Goat Cheese Empanadas

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I can’t really comment on this course because I didn’t eat it. I know empanadas are one of the specials of the house, and with the blackberry currant, it looked very appetizing; but the goat cheese again scared me away. Also, I was looking forward to dessert and this course was brought out at an inopportune time – right at midnight. So, feel free to randomly judge this course by the picture alone.

Sixth Course – Chocolate Cake with Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

This was my first food of 2008 and, unfortunately, the least successful of the meal that had begun in 2007. While it looked like what you’d expect (sorry, no picture), the chocolate cake was simply unremarkable. It was not nearly intense enough and was possibly even a little dry. The ice cream was very good, but enough to make up for the cake.

Conclusion

Despite the awful wait and the disappointment of the dessert, I was ultimately impressed with Bar Ferdinand. The place itself is very comfortable, especially for big parties and adventure seekers, while the food was inventive and flavorful. The wines (of which we sampled three) were also excellent.

Let’s hope 2008 holds more good meals, both in and out of the house!

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A Cajun Christmas: Shrimp, Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

Posted on December 28, 2007 | 2 Comments

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I hope you all had a happy holiday break, whatever (and however) you celebrated. There’s a lot to catch up on, so let’s get to it.

The first dish up is a huge, hardy gumbo, made once again from a recipe appearing in Bon Appetit. I don’t remember exactly how I arrived at this Cajun stew for a Christmas potluck party, but, then again, there were a lot of drinks that night.

Gumbo is a dish of huge proportions in every aspect: volume, prep time, expense and taste. Be prepared to spend upwards of $40 or more to put together all the ingredients (including some not-so-easy-to-get items like clam juice and frozen okra). You’ll be in the kitchen at least an hour (including a huge amount of chopping time) and will be doing a load of stirring.

For a party of upwards of 20, I halved the recipe and still took almost half home at the end of the night. I made six cups of cooked rice to accompany it; I would suggest more like 10 cups for the halved recipe.

It may be a lot of effort, but you’ll eat like a king for days. The stew has amazing resiliency and really does taste better in the days subsequent to its marathon preparation.

As for substitutions, I did use some pre-cooked chicken sausage from Trader Joe’s instead of the andouille (in order to appease my favorite vegetarians). Just remember that since they are pre-cooked, you should only add this kind of sausage at the very end to warm it up. The same rule applies if you’re using already-cooked shrimp, as I did.

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Potluck Thanksgiving

Posted on November 25, 2007 | Leave a comment

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Welcome back, constant readers. Or semi-constant readers. Or even first-time readers. Or whomever you are.

I’m sure you’re all dying to know how the pizza appetizers turned out. In a word: excellent. Everyone seemed to really dig them… although it was a particularly sympathetic audience.

Next time, however, I’m going to do some things differently. Because the cuts were so sloppy (making for big pieces), I’m going to chop up the pre-cooked crust into smaller pieces, and then top each piece separately. I think this will make them easier to handle and more like true hors d’oeuvres.

As far as the rest of Thanksgiving dishes (made and assembled in various kitchens), here’s how it broke down:

  • Turkey with gravy (natch)
  • Mashed sweet potato (in hollowed-out orange halves)
  • Corn bread
  • Stuffing (made by a butcher, with nice pieces of sausage)
  • Zucchini pie (made by Mom)
  • Apple/cranberry crisp casserole
  • Cooked corn

And for dessert:

  • Carrot cake (another Mom specialty, pictured above)
  • Pumpkin cheesecake
  • Macadamia cheesecake
  • Pumpkin/ginger mousse (a Mom experiment that didn’t really come together)
  • Pecan/chocolate chip pie

Good stuff.

I hope your holiday was just as tasty!

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A very dry run

Posted on November 18, 2007 | Leave a comment

For this year’s Thanksgiving festivities, I was given the plum assignment of making an appetizer. Having not made an proper appetizer in, well… forever, I started rifling through a few cookbooks, some magazines, and my own brain for something unique. I narrowed the choices to:

  • a seasonal salad
  • stuffed mushrooms
  • a cheese and bread combo

I quickly decided against the salad because of the obvious lack of finger-friendliness. I then jettisoned the mushroom idea, when I realized that quite a few people don’t like the friendly fungi. This left the third option and yet another recipe (Blue Cheese and Caramelized-Onion Squares) from Bon Appetit.

I was already digging the idea of using blue cheese or gorgonzola, and so, took the fact that this recipe came from a section called the Thanksgiving Workbook: What to Bring as a sign.

I decided to do a test run last weekend. It didn’t exactly go well.

First of all, I couldn’t get the dough right. The mixture was so wet, I had to virtually double the amount of flour to make it look anything like a cohesive ball. The caramelized onions turned out great, but took a good twenty minutes longer than expected. And then there was the finished product.

These things tasted like the Sahara Desert. It didn’t matter how well the cheese and onions went together; the crust was so dry as to completely suck the saliva from inside my mouth. I may as well have been eating salted, toasted flour itself. I guess this shouldn’t be considered an unexpected turn of events, considering how much flour I did end up using, but the experience pretty much sank my idea for Thanksgiving.

Therefore, I’m changing things up a bit for the actual event. First, I’ll be using pizza dough. Second, I’m going to try and add pears to the mix, as they really go well with the other two flavors. And finally, I’m going to make a second pie, with cheddar, apple and bacon.

I’m not sure exactly how they’ll turn out with the fruit, but at least my relatives won’t be gagging. And, in the end, isn’t that what Thanksgiving’s all about?

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Il Portico (Tappan, NY)

Posted on November 13, 2007 | 3 Comments

The occasion was my grandma’s 90th birthday and the scene was Il Portico Ristorante in the small town of Tappan, NY. The cousins (save one) were in attendance, the boomer generation was in full force, and, of course, the guest of honor beamed among her friends. It was a fantastic afternoon of memories, tributes, and good humor, as only a grandma could inspire.

But what about the food? Did it live up to the occasion or dampen the celebration? The answer was decidedly mixed.

Appetizer – Grilled Shrimp with Italian White Bean Salad

We had a choice from among four appetizers, including this one, a tomato & mozzarella salad, a scallop entree and beef carpaggio. I didn’t see the carpaggio, but the scallops looked great. The tomato & mozzarella salad was a little underwhelming (this dish is one of my favorites but should be reserved for the late summer when beefsteak tomatoes are at their peak) and my plate was just ok. The shrimp were a little tough, but the beans were comfortably filling.

Entree – Ricotta Gnocchi with Mushrooms, Peas and Prosciutto in a Marsala Cream Sauce

I can’t remember the other entrees in detail, but there was a salmon, a chicken and something else. I went with the pasta (as I usually do at Italian restaurants) and was slightly disappointed. The gnocchi had the right consistency but the flavors, which should have really worked together, didn’t come together the way I was expecting. I hate to say it, but the dish was fairly bland; I had to add plenty of salt and pepper, even on top of the sprinkle of Parmesan. With such an all-star list of agreeable ingredients, this should have been a more satisfying dish. A bit more spice might have helped.

Dessert – Midnight Chocolate Cake & Chocolate Mousse Pie

Oh. My. God. The chocolate cake (if you even want to call it that, considering it tasted like a slice of dark chocolate itself) was amazing. I’m not sure if they made the desserts on premises, but kudos to whomever put that concoction together. Naturally, my opinion is biased since I’m a (not interested in recovering) chocoholic, but this was one of the better heart-stopping artery-cloggers I’ve had in a while. On the other side of the plate was a slice of grandma’s birthday cake, which just couldn’t stand up, literally. While structurally deficient, the chocolate mousse was fluffy, light and sweet. A nice complement to the sinful dark stuff.

Other desserts included a raspberry tort, a lemon cheesecake and some other things that were not chocolate.

In summary, the restaurant has work to do on some food elements, but I’d definitely go again. The wine was great, the service was awesome, and you can’t beat the small town ambiance. Seek it out if you can.

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Iron Chef: Phoenixville

Posted on November 7, 2007 | Leave a comment

This past Saturday night, the wife and I were invited to the ‘burbs for a local Iron Chef throw down between my friend Lou and his boss Darcy. It was pretty much the best thing ever.

The Battle

For more than an hour and a half, the food war raged in the well-stocked kitchen of Darcy’s immense farmhouse. There were dogs, there was wine, there was even a soundtrack countdown, alerting both participants and audience to how much time was remaining. And the humble pine nut (the night’s special ingredient) was everywhere.

When the dust settled, each chef had three dishes.

Appetizer Course

Darcy presented a salad of greens, prosciutto, cooked red onion, shaved Parmesan, pine nuts and dressing. All of the flavors really went well together, making for a nice, light introduction to the meal.

Lou made a signature pizza with pesto sauce and goat cheese, accompanied by pear slices, Gruyere and blue cheese, and honey. Despite my not liking goat cheese, the pizza was solid. And, of course, you can never go wrong with fruit and cheese.

Entree Course

Darcy made a pasta dish combining farfalle, sausage pieces, mozzarella, and pine nuts. I’m sure there were other ingredients , but whatever was there worked. It was a warm, hearty dish.

Lou presented grilled lambchops, over couscous made with apricot, mint, pine nuts and other flavors. I don’t know how he did it (considering pieces were flying this way and that), but the lamb was cooked perfectly and the couscous was refreshing and complementary.

Dessert Course

Darcy sauted figs in a port and spice concoction, and drizzled them with melted Nutella. She accompanied this with cold marscapone custard covered with pine nuts and fresh whipped cream. I’m not usually a port or fig fan, but everybody raved about this combination.

Lou, using a machine provided by yours truly, prepared a honey/pine nut ice cream, garnished with mint. Although it was a bit melty, the ice cream was still a sweet ending.

The Verdict

Too close to call. I was pleasantly surprised that every single dish was successful, and I couldn’t find a soul to disagree. It almost makes me nervous that, some day, my cuisine may not reign as supreme.

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