October 18 — Phood Phanatic Ramblings
I was able to venture out to Philly for the World Bridge Championships last week. We know it is the home of the cheese steak but I found when you are with the Jabba Twins cheeze whiz with overcooked beef on a dried out bun being served to you by authentic surly Philadelphians won’t work for ten days. Thus I bring you, the Philly Phood Phanatic tour.
Even though the “World Bridge Championships” were in full swing (players from more than 50 countries participating) the locals seemed to be focused on the opening night of the Philadelphia Bullies Hockey team, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Phillies baseball team (as a Mariner fan I didn’t realize they still had playoffs). Philly is a bit parochial in perspective but what do you expect from a fan base that threw snowballs at Santa Claus?
Our room at the Marriott was across the street from Reading Terminal (pronounced Redding and yes it is of monopoly square fame). There are about a hundred shops in the terminal from chocolate to Amish bakery goods; from cheese steaks to jambalaya; from roasted turkey to scrabble (extra values if you can eat it.) Local wine (yipes) to Bath and Body Spirits (didn’t drink these but they may have compared favorably to the wine.)
Our goal was to go to a different place each day at the terminal between bridge sessions (we had about an hour break each day) and then to a local eatery each evening for dinner. The market started as outdoor markets in 1859 (farmer’s market and Ben Franklin market — Ben sure was influential). In the early days the stores hade 200,000 pounds of meat in their lockers, 50,000 crates of eggs, 20,000 boxes of poultry and no latte stands. By the end of the depression and the second world war there were only 10 of the original stands still open and the market was all but closed when the trains were re-routed away from the markets. In 1990 a revitalization started and it is once again one of the jewels of the city.
Our first venture was to Salumeria’s — home of the hoagie We had the 12 inch Italian (you can get a six inch one or a Jabba size 18inch) which included several Italian salamis, provolone cheese, roasted peppers special house dressing, lettuce and an oregano salt mix. I am told that Paesano’s is the place to go but we didn’t have time to make the $10 taxi trip to a crowded lunch spot (but probably will on another trip). Salumeria’s sandwich was well worth the wait in line.
For dinner we decided to go with the guru from Iowa City. Having been displaced from India many years ago we count on him to pick out an Indian dining spot. After listening to the choices we decided to go to the spot I picked out, Tiffin. (gurus aren’t always right).
Tiffin is located near Temple University. We thought we had arrived when we walked into the downstairs dining room but we were quickly escorted out and told to go upstairs. The dining room upstairs held about forty people and I always get a little nervous when I see a knotted rope next to a window that faces a brick wall. It seemed to be the only alternative exit.
We started with the Aloo Chop special appetizer. Potato rolls with fresh ginger, green chili, roasted cumin and fresh coriander dipped in a gram flour and fried. They were served with three chutneys –mint, mango and tamarind. There were four chops –one for the guru, one for me and one for Jabba 2. We also ordered Tandoori Chicken as an appetizer. It appeared to have been cooked the same evening (one of my biggest complaints is that you get left over tandoori chicken on the luncheon buffet steam tables and it is often very dry.) This chicken was crisp on the outside with a nice flavor of yoghurt and tandoori mix and very moist on the inside. The guru and I (did I mention the guru weighs less than many good size chickens?) ate half and Jabba 2 devoured the other half. Gu and I were amazed when we didn’t see any bones on his plate but we were polite and didn’t mention it.
The first main course dish was a butter chicken. The Murgh Makhani dish is from Punjab. The origins of the dish can be traced back to Mughal Empire. It was served with rice and naan. One of the guru’s earlier life’s included eating this dish during the Mughal period (1504-1760 sort of) with Babur in Kabal. The guru said it was even better at Tiffin than it was in the deserts of India. Although eating with a celebrated cartoon elephant must have been interesting.
Our next dish was Lamb Chettinad from the TamilNadu area. It is known for its spicy dishes.
Lamb Chettinand
The lamb leg is baked and then sauteed with onions, tomatoes and masala spices (cloves, cinnamon, onion, poppy seed, peppercorns, red chilis, dhania,cumin and fennel). We ordered it spicy and it was terrific. the guru didn’t eat this but he said he could tell by the sweat that it must be very good.
Chicken tandoori is a dish that consists of chicken marinated in yoghurt and tandoori masala (chilis, tumeric and spices) and then cooked in a tandoori clay oven (the naan is also cooked in these ovens.) Thedish is credited to a man name Gujral who had a restaurant called Moti Mahal in Peshawar before the British divided up the country. (Those brits did a good job, look what they did for Iraq, made it from three separate states into a really congenial one nation state). Nehru served Tandoori chicken to President Kennedy. I used to go to a restaurant in Victoria called Moti Mahal. Doesn’t add anything to the story but I didn’t want you to think that I starved when I went up there to visit the Butchart Gardens.
Our main vegetable course was Baingan Bharta which was composed of smokedn eggplant sauteed with tomatoes, onions and spices. this dish also has its origins from Punjab. Bharta dishes usually are “mashed” in their sauce (like “creole” are simmering dishes). The eggplant is charred before it is put in the sauce. I noticed the guru filling up his plate several times with this recipe.
One last note. The streets were filled with people as we traveled to our destination. The city was having block parties for the Phillies. It looked like a festive group and some of them might have had the special “Indian” pizzas that were being served downstairs. The outlet was serving “street” pizzas from India like tandoori grilled chicken or boti kabab (grilled lamb with roasted tomatoes and mozzarella pizza or a seasonal tandoori subzi roasted vegetables.).
It was a full day at the tables and a successful one. When we got back to the room Jabba 1 had just returned from Alma de Cuba. I didn’t make it there on this trip but Mr. Jabba liked it so well he went twice. He recommended the Maine Diver Scallops and Panela Chilean Sea Bass. I think the Cohiba Mohitos were a major factor in his culinary decision.
Next Stop — a modern Israeli restaurant and more lunch food from Reading If you stop you owe me $10 rent.
October 19
franks A-lot
We only have an hour between the morning and afternoon sessions at the bridge tournament and the line for Starbuck’s is twenty long (that’s a long wait for a $4 latte and a sold out case of muffins) so we are wandering over to the Reading Terminal to try different foods. At Frank’s A-lot you can choose from the all beef dog ($1.65) with roasted peppers, sauerkraut and/or onions to the Italian Meatball with cheese and sauce($4.85). I will have to admit I do enjoy kosher dogs with chili or sauerkraut but the thing to get here is the home made kielbasa, knockwurst or Italian sausage with provolone, onions, grilled peppers and/or sauerkraut. A bottle of Pepsi or water costs more than the hot dog and almost as much as the sausage ($3.00) so if you are going to stay a few days you might wander up to the CVS store and buy a rack of soda for $3.00 and make use of the ice machine in the hotel. At Frank’s you can get sides of pierogies, bacon & cheese, chili & cheese. Not sure if it is the creation of a heart surgeon but I imagine they would like an email list of Frank’s customers.
Sunday night in Philly proved to be a bit of a challengem. Many of the restaurants closed early or weren’t open at all.
Bon Appetit, Gourmet Magazine and Food & Wine were all high on chef Michael Solomonov’s restaurant, Zahav. They praised the upscale Israeli restaurant as one of the best Middle Eastern spots in the nation. (Solomonov worked with Marc Vetriwho won the best new chef award in 1999 and is owner of Vetri –best italian restaurant in the country?.) The trick at Zahav is to take ordinary middle eastern food (let’s call it bland), and use spices & preparation to make the dishes come alive. The meal starts with the fresh baked Laffa bread and then you order the beets, eggplant, cauliflower, etc and see what the results are. Here is what I found.
We went for the Salatim which was a selection of different salads and vegetable appetizers. First, they bring you a dish with several different condiments including a sumak/oregano salt and a harissa (chilies) paste. One appetizer consisted of cauliflower florets, fried until they were caramelized and served over a dill infused lebneh (creamy youghurt) for dipping. We chose the Turkish hummus which was served warm with butter and grilled onions. The selection also came with hummus-tehina which included sesame paste, garlic, lemon,olive oil, cumin and parsley. We had a crispy haloumi– sheep’s milk cheese, apple, pomegranate and serrano. The fig salad had bulgarian feta, sumac vinaigrette and figs. We had sable fish with challah, fried egg and green garlic. The moussaka had eggplant, kashkaval cheese and potato. The grilled lamb tongue was served with barberries. The cumin carrots and the beet dish were both unusual and made you search your memory bank for what kind of spice was that? (the tasting menu and the portions were ample for two people — Jabba 2 kept licking the food that got caught in his mustache. I always find this as a sign that he liked the food. The alternative to using his tongue to clean his face is smearing the bristled food on his napkin. This is not a pretty sight and often makes you consider not having dessert.) For the main course of the tasting menu we had a ground duck with almonds and galushka (a Hungarian type of dumpling. Solomonov is part Hungarian) and a ground beef and lamb patty with cumin, peppers and carrots.
One of my goals is to find restaurants that do things differently than the restaurants back in Spokane. (I know this is a great challenge but sometimes these big cities are able to do that). Zahav is certainly one of those places. If I had three nights in Philly I might choose Bibou, Modo Mio and Chifa but with a week Zahav is certainly worth putting on your alternate list amd of up craving hungarian infused middle eastern food then you might put them on your starting lineup. (it is baseball playoff time)
October 20
We ventured into “The Original Turkey” for our lunch today. You have a choice of seven different roasted turkey sandwiches and it is a delight to see them slicing the meat off the roasted turkey for your sandwich. Jabba 2 ordered the turkey Cranberry. I had the special with a russian dressing and coleslaw. The platters looked good but a bit difficult to carry out in a paper bag. One of the regulars told me not to waste my time on the sides, the turkey is the thing. So, I can’t tell you about the sides (I always listen to the regulars) but I can tell you the turkey was moist, the sandwiches were huge (Jabba 2 wasn’t staring at my sandwich while I ate it. He is always hoping that I will leave part of my food behind) and the lines aren’t nearly as long as they are at Dinic’s or Spataro’s. I would ordinarily go for the hoagie first, the cheese steaks second, Dinic’s pulled pork third but if you like turkey, you might want to put this place on your list and there is nothing wrong with having a turkey sandwich at high tea between lunch and dinner if you need to find another time to fit in the experience.
Being of Czech descent I wanted to have some Eastern European food. Jabba 2 is of Polish origins, that explains a lot of things. It was our goal to find a night out to celebrate our heritages and we landed at the Warsaw Cafe — on the surface a Polish restaurant, inside the menu you get a variety of Eastern European specialties. It has been in operation since 1979 and is owned by the Jarzemski family. Mother Marie and her son Marion are the inspiration behind the gourmet Czech/Polish restaurant. My mother used to make golabkis, stuffed cabbage leaves, and pierogies. My mission was to find a place that put these dishes on a pedestal and Warsaw was that place.
We started with the Borscht. This red beet soup with a sour cream and dill mound has been featured in Gourmet magazine and called the best Borscht in America. (That title seems to fit something at every restaurant — lots of titles going around.) It had a little more root to it than sweetness which was great.
They had a special hand made polish sausage and cheese pierogy with a cream sauce to start. Lots of work goes into making those must try appetizers. We also ordered the smoked salmon crepes with a red beet caper relish, scallion cream cheese on black bread with a caviar topping. There were three pirogies on the plate and Jabba 2 grabbed it from the waiter and split all three into 2/3 – 1/3 portions and gave me my three portions. That would be one pierogy for me.
For the entrees we had to have the Stuffed Cabbage leaves. They used ground veal, sausage, onions, rice mushrooms and special spices, baked it in a tomato sauce. Our second entree was a Transylvanian Casserole. A ground veal, eggplant and spinach concoction layered with filo dough.
Throughout the dinner our waiter would go off into the corner table (this place had room for about 30 people, less when one of the tables was used as a computer stand) and type in messages to someone. I can only think that his heritage included people who went into small restaurants in the Czech Republic or Poland and handed off notes to comrades during the war.
Here is the Borscht recipe from the Warsaw Cafe.
Marie’s Borscht (Serves 6)
3 lbs. frsh red beats ¼ c. vinegar 2 tbls. Sugar 1 medium onion finely chopped 2 fresh garlic, chopped 2 bay leaves ½ tsp. nutmeg pinch dried thyme ½ tbls. Butter 2 stalks celery chopped 2 carrots chopped Apprx. Qt. canned or homemade chicken stock 2 tbls. Corn starch ½ lb. fresh or dried mushrooms sliced
salt, pepper and fresh lemon juice tro taste Dollop of sour cream and fresh chopped scallions for garnish. 3 or 4 sprigs fresh dill chopped
Step 1. Out roots and tops from beets and wash well. Place beets in pot and fill with enough water to cover beets.
Step 2. Add vinegar and sugar and cook on a low heat until beets are almost tender.
Step 3. Remove from heat and let cool.
Step 4. Set aside liquid and remove beets and peel off the skins.
Step 5. Either grate coarsely or chop beets. Set aside.
Step 6. Add chopped beets, mushrooms, carrots, thyme, bay leaves, nutmeg, celery, onion, garlic, butter, and chicken stock to the beet stock. Bring to a slow boil.
Step 7. Add cornstarch to ½ cup of water. Once beet stock is at a slow boil, add cornstarch to the soup. Season to Taste.
Step 8. Serve with a Dollop of sour cream, dill and sliced scallions.
This restaurant is tucked away on a side street somewhere near the arts district. Our cab driver was from Haiti and he had never heard of it. Figuring he must be fairly knew to the area I asked him if he had relatives in Haiti during the earthquake. He swerved up on the sidewalk as he got out his cell phone from the floor board on the passenger side. He maneuvered around the mail box and back onto the street as he turned the phone on and handed it back to me. I could hear screaming as I looked at the phone. It was a movie of the earthquake while it was happening and showed his young cousin being crushed in a house and people running in panic. Quite a shock back to reality that all life is not pierogies and Borscht.
October 22nd
Di Nic’s is the place to go for slow roasted, Italian-style pulled pork sandwiches (or hoagies or sausages.) The portions are Jabba size. The pork sandwich is served with provolone cheese and broccoli rabe. I watched the pulled pork chef make sandwiches. You called out an order and then they started working on it so things are fresh and you get a chance to see them slice through the meats and occasionally a small finger. The rather experienced eater in front of me ordered a sausage sandwich. Four fingers cut the bun in half and pulled a grilled sausage out of the pan and put onions and peppers on it. An ample sandwich. Then he pulled another sausage out and put it on the other half bun and filled it up with onions and peppers. Two sausages, one sandwich!
There is often a line and sometimes it goes fast and sometimes the 20 year veteran is having a little trouble making change. I think you have to forget about fast food service in the Reading Terminal. If you have to catch a trolley then make sure you are there early instead of expecting a person who works 6 or 7 days a week to miraculously speed up their paste. We do have some responsibility to manage our own time rather than expect the person on the other side of the counter to change. I remember reading the Ugly American while I was on the road in the 70’s and started calling myself a Canadian. (Of course it was the 70’s and we had a few other reasons to keep our profile low when traveling.) You just have to look at the cook sweating into your sandwich to know that they are trying to accommodate everyone quickly. They aren’t trying to ruin your experience (but if you have the wrong attitude it wouldn’t make them feel bad if you left disgruntled. You would just be another ugly tourist). I also think that mumbling about a sandwich maker when he has a french knife in his hand slicing your meats is really an unwise thing to do. One slip and your finger could be in the next stew.
Somewhere on a street called Passyunk in a South Philly neighborhood you suddenly are thrust into a three block menagerie of restaurants and specialy shops. We had found our way here because Le Bec Fin (closing in Spring of 2011 after 20 plus years) was unable to accommodate us on this trip so I went searching for “displaced le Bec fin chefs.” I often find that some of the best new places are chefs who think they can make it on their own so they leave the confines of their star restaurant to make a name for themselves. They usually think the old restaurant will immediately fold without their expertise and that their restaurant will flourish. Five years later the old restaurant is still on the top ten list and the disgruntled worker is at the Ridpath cooking eggs Benedict with canned hollandaise sauce. However, if you hit it just right you will get an incredible meal. What surprised me when I found FOND was that the former employees still said good things about where they worked (Le Bec Fin and Lacroix) and that on opening night the chefs from both Le Bec Fin and Lacroix came to support their former employees. (Chef Perrier at Le Bec Fin and Chef Lacroix) I was excited when the taxi dropped us off for our dinner at Fond. (partly because I was anticipating the dinner and partly because driving on streets wide enough for two cars (which were parked on both sides of the road) our taxi driver sped down the streets. i wasn’t sure what all the bumps were about (whether they were human or not) but none of them seemed to bring us to a halt although I know now why so many cars in Philly have broken side mirrors or no side mirrors at all.
I read about the history of the location. It used to have a restaurant called Clementine’s that went out of business and was replaced by a new restaurant, Lynda’s Mediterranean, which lasted three weeks. Now my general philosophy is that location is sometimes the death knell of a restaurant and my alternate philosophy is that the location sometimes attracts people who aren’t going to be around very long.
Disgruntled employees, bad location, failed restaurants, side view mirror splinters — a perfect Philadelphia evening so far.
Le Bec fin’s former pastry chef, Jessie Prawlucki and former sous chef Lee Styer (veterans of the culinary institute) teamed with “captain” Tony (the former front guy for Lacroix –anothergreat restaurant in Philadelphia) — No room at the Inn, Tony said, they were booked for six weeks. I told him how important we were and how much Jabba ate. He promised to call back if there was a cancellation and a few hours later we got the call from the bullpen, FOND it was.
The name comes from the caramelized bits that stick to the bottom of a pan before it gets deglazed. The flavor.
As we were beginning to find out a lot of these smaller restaurants don’t have any alcohol so if you don’t bring your own, you don’t have any with dinner. They don’t charge corkage (I think they aren’t allowed to charge) so it makes for an affordable dinner sans the wine markup. However, we didn’t bring any wine and Tony was sorry he didn’t mention it on the phone. Soon a bottle of wine arrived from somewhere. When I asked what we owed he saidhe wasn’t sure how it came to be at our table but he couldn’t accept any money for it. Now it wasn’t Latour but it was a decent California Chardonnay. Did I mention it was given to us to make our experience better. This underground food railway in Philadelphia was amazing.
We started with an Amuse bouche which was a small bruschetta bite while we perused the menu. They brought us three breads made by the pastry chef/owner. Sourdough, rosemary garlic and an olive bread.
J and I started with the yellowfin tuna crudo — perfect tuna with a thai red curry marinade, topped with pickled pineapple, jicama and cilantro.
The crispy veal sweetbreads were served with melted onions, creamy roasted pepper sauce and topped with a fried egg. I’m not an incredible consumer of sweetbreads but this was excellent.
Hard to bypass Foie Gras for me so we tried their seared foie gras with a creamy bean ricotta, a baked apple served on a thin pie crust.
We were then given a tall shooter glass (about two ounces) of a creamy mushroom soup served at room temperature. Mushroom soup shooters.Three kinds of mushrooms, an excellent woodsy flavor.
You can get things like harpoon-caught swordfish with a saffron nage or octopus stew with chorizo, fregola sarda, preserved lemon and fennel. (Fregola sarda issupposedly of Northern African origin but the people in Sardania claim it as their pasta. It is a coarsely textured pasta that is dried and toasted. Often served in broth. Let’s call it the North African version of Saltines or if you are in Sardania, whatever they want you to call it.)
but we opted for the nightly special:
Duck with duck confit with duck au jus with duck trimmings. The duck breast was served with a caramelized shallot tarte tartin, swiss chard and did I mention duck jus? I would order this dish again. Maybe as an appetizer to I could try that octopus stew.
We also had the beef hanger steak with crispy polenta, roasted maitake mushrooms and bordelaise sauce. The hanger steak is becoming popular. Restaurants really like fads and rather than a steak with bordelaise a hanger steak if much more fashionable. It comes from the underside of the cow between the rib and the loin — it is part of the diaphragm. Now I wonder who is out there checking to make sure the tough piece of meat is not chuck? However, it does have an incredible taste and if you cook it in a moist environment (I’m talking about he pan, not the rain outside) it becomes an incredible entree and FOND was perfect in their preparation.
They brought us a coconut sorbet to cleanse our palate. I wanted to order a scoop.
We started with warm apple cake topped with brown butter ice cream, walnut candy and a butterscotch sauce.
Then we had a Ginger Chocolate torte with pumpkin madeleines, spiced cheesecake mousse and hazelnuts served with earl grey ice cream.
While we ate dessert they brought us French Press coffee. The waiter talked to us while he one handed the French Press coffee pot. I was impressed. If I tried that I would have French Press coffee on my shirt, yelping in the middle of the conversation from the scalding beverage.Tony talked about other options for dinner in Philadelphia. It felt great to be part of an underground food railway — Tony suggested our next stop be Modo Mio, an Italian gem on Girard Street. We were still trying to get into Bibou but Charlotte told me to call her back on Wednesday. She was going to try to make room for us.
Here was our table at Fond. Small aisle and row of similar tables on other wall (The room was about 10 feet wide). Seats 32.
Fond — Philadelphia
October 24th
Our first cheese steak was at Campos. It is always suspicious to me when the first paragraph of a website talks about how close your place is to Liberty Bell rather than the ingredients of your sandwich but the tour guide, who I found out later gets free cheese steaks at Campos, said it was the place to go. One of the things that I liked about the place was it recognized the bakery — Sarcone’s in South Philly– as an important ingredient. Campos has been around since 1947 so they have been doing something right and the elderly lady busing the tables looked as if she could have been there the whole time. She didn’t say a word but she did stare at some of the tables that had been occupied a bit too long considering the line at the counter. The proper way to get a cheese steak is say,, “Cheese steak, with provolone, peppers and onions.” If you start to ask questions the portion of meat gets smaller, the cheese gets pulled from the stack on the right (some say the stack is from the floor), the peppers might have the stems attached. Time is money and they are charging you for asking questions. They had two great hoagies — the Campo’s Italian special had Dilusso salami, ham capacollo, peppered ham, pepperoni, prosciutto with provolone or you could go with Mama Mia which included prosciutto, sopressata, capocolla, sharp provolone, hot and sweet roasted peppers. The Arch Street Meeting house which goes back to the late 1600’s had an interesting interpretation of the Afghan war from the perspective of the local artists in Philadelphia and then about thirty pictures drawn by Afghan children. It will be coming to California next year.
Modo Mio (My Way) Cash Only
In the Underground Restaurant Railway (URR) we found that many restaurants are cash only, bring your own beverage and a great deal. At Modo Mio you can order ala carte or Menu Turista (the best way to go if you are ordering several courses).
First they gave us a taste of the Bruschetta Modo Mio (garlic bread mozzarella with fig) while we contemplated our culinary fates. (I also found that the people in the Underground had very knowledgeable staff — partly because the one of the owners often waited tables or greeted you at the door).
Jabba 2 had been craving something crunchy so he went with the Sformato –a crab ricotta cake with sweet red pepper and pecorino gauzetto. For crunch he ordered the shells on the side. I excused myself and went to the bathroom when he picked up a claw and opened his mouth… I think of gauzetto with mussels –a type of tomato sauce the mussels are simmered in. Modo Mio has expanded my gauzetto experience. I couldn’t do the crab but they also had brussel sprout gauzetto. For Modo Mio it was about the preparation — pan fried with a hint of acid (lemon in the brussel sprouts, hot sauce in the crab cake).
The next appetizer we had was the Lingue — braised calf’s tongue on top of a crispy potato with a salsa verde and tomato mostarda. Lots of flavor, a bit unique but I’ve always wanted to know where the phrase, “Calf’s got your tongue” came from.
For the pasta course I tried the Gnocchi. Potato dumplings with a Bolognese sauce. They served us small gnocchi. I don’t like the big golf ball size gnocchi you get in some restaurants. Fresh tomatoes, Italian sausage, fennel, olive oil and peppers for the sauce.
A special for the night was sweetbread lasagna in a bechamel sauce. I’m not a big orderer of sweetbreads but this dish got rave reviews from our server and it was outstanding. The consistency was more of a melted mound than layers. I would order it again if they had it on the special sheet.
The first entree was Maiale Siciliana – a lightly breaded pork loin, aged provolone, soppressata with a lemon caper. Think a blend of veal piccata and veal saltimbocca except an incredibly moist pork loin with better cheese and a more interesting salami with a fantastic sauce. The second entree was a Bistecca Diavlo — spicy grilled skirt steak, white beans, broccoli rabe and tomato. (Most of the tomatoes here were peeled and seeded.) I thought you might need a skirt steak to cover up the steak that hangs out but I was told it was from the lower disphragm (where the hanger hangs out) and can be tough unless properly cooked. (sound familiar) Maybe it is just a thinner sliced hangar steak. No matter, they did cook it perfectly and the white beans with broccoli rabe were laced with olive oil and spices.
We went for the chocolate budino pudding and a warm apple cake with plum sauce. The owner (Peter McAndrew) offered us a free shot of Sambuca (I like the licorice warmth that lingers).
We didn’t get a chance to try their sandwich shop Paesano’s but after eating their breads I would imagine it would be good if you happened to be in the area. This is another restaurant I would return to but when you look at some of the reviews you will see some over the top people who didn’t like the owner’s smoking or yelling when they walked in early before the restaurant open. It may be true and that would be sad but I sometimes wonder if it isn’t just a teabagger showing their expertise in the food world.
October 25th
Cajun — jambalaya and chicken/andouille etoufee at the terminal.
Bibou
Bibou is owned by Chef Pierre Calmel (from Loire France) and his wife, Charlotte (who runs the front of the house) Before coming to this 32 seat (and that would be very crowded) restaurant he was the executive chef at Le Bec-Fin’s. Before that he worked at Les Crayeres in Reims, France and Daniel in Manhattan. Lofty credentials to be sure.
The salad dishes are chilled; the hot dishes are warm for the entrees. Detail means a lot at this place but you don’t have to wear a tuxedo. The atmosphere is both frenetic and detailed in the cooking and service; casual and upbeat in the actual dining. This is the place to take one of your favorite wines that you have been saving for a special occasion (actually it is the place to take several of your favorite wines). We brought along a mundane Spanish wine but the people we were seated with had a 90 Suideraut which they shared with us during our foie gras. So, even better is to sit next to a generous person who brought good wine.
Foie Gras pan seared with blue hubbard squash, chutney and red wine rabbit jus. Below is a foie gras portrait.
Bibou Foie Gras
Wild hare terrine with a poached seckel pear in red wine. The hare was deboned and marinated. I didn’t get everything Chef Pierre was telling me but it sounds liek he used onion, bouquet garni (probably thyme, parsley and bay leaf), juniper berries and he kept whacking the air between us so I think they must have been smashed, peppercorns and “of course, you know, garlic” and white wine. He used the bones to make a jus that included cloves and stock stuff (celery, carrots, onions, bay leaf, peppercorns). The pate had the marinated lapine, some pork, probably veal, tradition would be pork belly and pork blood, perhaps cognac. Covered in aspic with cornichon pickles.
The Cassoulet was a special dish for the evening. Every French cook has their own cassoulet recipe. Bibou was serving a duck and boudin blanc cassoulet with haricot beans (white kidney beans). Pierre had made the sausage the day before (boudin blanc) and the duck was moist and crispy. I’m sure it must have been seared before putting in the dish. Some say that the origin of the dish is 12th century Arabic (like the tajines from Morocco) and a couple of French people think it was from the 14th century during the hundred years war and created in Castelnaudary. Some claim that Christopher Columbus brought the beans back from America but they also think he discovered America and that Lief Ericson and the Indians came later.
The second entree we had was pan seared, roasted partridge. The partridge was marinated in juniper berries and other spices. Seared crisp on the outside and then roasted in juices to keep the moisture on the inside. Served with roasted potatoes.
One of the best desserts I’ve had in a long time was the Apple tarte tatin. A thin, crisp crepe was topped with crisp apples and brown ice cream. Chef Pierre said it was very important to use crisp apples (Granny Smith or Northern Spy), not ones that had a lot of water in them so they hold up under the sauteing and caramelization. Lemon and butter and butter.
Our second dessert was something like chocolate speculation. It had chocolate mousse, ice cream, cookie-like square with drizzles of raspberry sauce.
I had to go to the bathroom where I naturally found another sensory stimulation. They had a decorative perfume vial with fresh sprigs of rosemary. I looked around for the rack of lamb to nibble on but I couldn’t fine one so I washed my hands with the jasmine scented soap and dried them in the herbal towels.
All of the desserts were served with a French press, dark roasted coffe.
When i got back the bill had arrived with four coconut madeleines.
Bibou was up for a James Beard award this year (as was the chef at Zahav and Chifa for restaurant of the year — The chef at Crush won the award for northwest regional chef o the year.)
Cleaning house today. I’m going to put some of my rosemary in the bathroom. Just hope Jabba 2 doesn’t eat it when he stops by later.