Lamb Cheeks

Last night, I managed to cook up a meal that is near the top of all time in my view. Now, my wife was not a fan of this for flavor and texture reasons, so universal praise was not part of the picture here... But here's the scoop:

Sparrow Market, an Ann Arbor classic grocery and meat market, had lamb cheeks on sale. Now, who has ever eaten lamb cheeks? Well, I've had pork and beef cheeks, and I find the texture and strong flavors enticing, so I figured, what the heck, let's try this out. I didn't come home with any particular plan, other than figuring I needed to braise them for a couple hours. A classic sauce with a variety of lamb dishes is a Provencal style sauce--so I built on that theme. After browning the cheeks stove-top, I sweated mirepoix (onion, carrot, celery) plus garlic, added a couple tablespoons of tomato paste, and cooked that for maybe 5 minutes. I deglazed with white wine, added some lamb stock tossed in a bay leaf, a few sprigs of thyme and rosemary, supplemented with a dash of Aleppo Pepper. After bringing to a boil, the cheeks went back in, and the whole cast iron Le Creuset business went into a 325 degree oven for 2 hours.

Meanwhile, I needed a side dish--and risotto seemed the perfect choice. So, out came some chicken stock, some Arborio rice, a bit of butter and shallot and Parmesan cheese. This is such a yummy, but easy, rice dish, I don't know why people are so afraid of it. Yes, you spend 20 minutes stirring a lot. Yes, you add stock gradually, deciding when the rice is at a doneness you like. Is it technically hard? Not at all. No fancy knife skills. No balancing 8 pots cooking at once. Just a bit of patience and attention to what you're doing.

As the risotto finished up, I removed the cheeks from the cast iron, strained the sauce to remove veggies and herbs, and reduced it by about half. I finished it off with a pat of butter, rewarmed the cheeks in the sauce, and sat down to a delicious dinner. I got out a 2006 Tourade Vacqueyras to accompany. It worked pretty well, although I think the wine is in a bit of a closed, awkward phase right now--there's still a lot of structure, fruit buried under it, and I think it'll be a very pretty bottle in a couple years. Right now, it's not bad at all, but not showing gorgeously yet. So, 5 more bottles to watch over 3-8 years.

The Brinery

It's been WAY too long... Ann Arbor's "The Brinery" deserves a shout-out. These guys make naturally fermented products--sauerkrauts, kimchis, pickles, and the like. Each batch is unique based on inputs and conditions--and I love that about it. It's much like fine wine--not a mass-produced, factory processes food intended for uniformity above all else. Now, these are not $2 jars of pickles--if you want that--well, Meijer or Wal-Mart or your local mega-mart will take care of you. But the product is worth every $.

Today's newest offering is called "Mountain Elder"--a locally grown, locally fermented red cabbage with a nice seasoning of ajowain. It's got a citric, umami, smoky note that is unbelievable. It would be classic with Mediterranean and middle eastern yogurt sauces with grilled meats, I think--we'll know more later in the week. But more broadly, the krauts (at least 3 or 4 types most weeks--some green and some red) are all pretty amazing. The owner and fermentation master, David, adds various appropriate flavors--caraway, juniper berry, and so on--to varying types of cabbage. The creativity is amazing, and I've not had one bad offering.

The pickles are what good fermented deli pickles SHOULD be, but so often fail at. The texture varies from crisp to a bit softer, the flavors vary a bit each time, but the dill and the garlic and the salt always make for a wonderful experience. The pickled turnips are also a good standby.

For me, the kimchis are often hotter than I personally care for--but then again, so is most Korean kimchi. David often has one or more milder offerings in that realm too. The hotter varieties seem remarkably authentic, complete with the fermented fish sauce.

So, next time you get a chance--check out Ann Arbor's best fermented, pickled products--all from The Brinery

Graham Elliot

Graham Elliot is a relatively new top-flight Chicago restaurant. Young chef, good reviews, eclectic and creative menu, and a single Michelin star--in short, a good place. So, on a recent trip, we had to stop in to try it out. They have surpassed all expectations with their blend of creativity and courage with the foods and drink pairings, and provided one of the best restaurant experiences of my life. Now, within the last couple months I've eaten at two of Las Vegas's Michelin starred restaurants (Guy Savoy, a 2 star, and Le Cirque, a 1-star)--saving those comments for later. But suffice it to say, Elliot blew both out of the water with their creativity and daring, and equalled them in service. Now, I grant you, some of this is comparing apples and oranges. Both Vegas establishments are classic French places, so creativity could only go so far. But they leaned heavily on caviar, black truffles, and foie gras--all in classic style--to make a good menu. Well, with ingredients like that, not a whole lot to do, other than not screw it up. The wine pairings in Vegas were, of course, all French, and depended heavily on moderately well-known labels, albeit from tougher vintages often. Many were clunky, often served ridiculously young, and seemed more intended to impress with their label than to match the food exquisitely.

In contrast, Graham Elliot calls themselves Chicago's first "bistronomic restaurant", with a goal of serving great cuisine in a creative, accessible manner. They do that to a tee. And then some. Not only is the food fun, it makes you think about food, not just consume it. On the table when you arrive is popcorn with parmesan and truffle oil. Good, but not great--only because it wasn't quite as crispy and hot as you'd hope, but great flavor. But the smell of truffle to wake up the taste buds in incomparable. We started with one of their classics--a foie gras mousse lollipop coated with watermelon pop rocks. Playful, dancing in the mouth, playing on the classic combination of foie gras and fruit, with a decidedly lighter interpretation. The pairing was a sparkling Alsatian wine--a blend of pinot blanc, pinot gris, maybe riesling, and who knows what else--point is, it was somewhat sweeter, certainly more fruit driven than champagne, but still with tons of acid cut--and it paired exquisitely with the foie gras. Champagne may well have lacked the fruit and body to pair with the foie. Great kudos ot the beverage staff. That was followed by an amuse bouche of granny smith jelly with Wisconsin cheddar on a housemade cracker--a tasty bite. Then, a deconstructed Caesar salad--a block of quality lettuce with an anchovy on top, beside a fried mascarpone stuffed brioche "Twinkie", tied together with a more or less classic dressing. Wow. What a creative approach. And, paired with a fairly grassy/chivy 2009 Graves blanc, they brought out each other's herbal nature, and cut through the oil in the dressing and fish and crouton. Spot on. Then, on to a deconstructed chicken soup--with a veloute (nearly a gravy) poured into a shallow bowl tableside from a classic lab flask. In the bowl: A mix of thyme tagliatelle, a carrot marshmallow, I think a slice of chicken sausage, and other goodies. Tasted much like chicken soup. On steroids. Wow. And the beverage pairing was a fascinating goose island pepe nero, a dark beer brewed with black pepper, and a large piece of lemon rind in it--all served in a chemistry beaker. Nice. Creative. Outside the box.

Now, onto the protein: First, a black bass with a smoked leek cross section, served with almonds, tomato marmalade, a leek reduction, a vinegar reduction, tomato powder. Very nicely done, maybe a bit "much" going on, but I honestly don't know what I'd have not put on the plate, and it was SO tasty. Here, the wine pairing was positively out of the box--and perfect. A 2000 white Rioja from Spain--very old school, oxidized (intentionally) flavor, big, bold, and ideal with the Spanish nods to the dish. That was an inspired, and bold pairing if I've ever seen one. Then, a small course--razor clam with pernod-licorice foam and a hint of dill. Just 2 or 3 bites, great to cleanse the palate coming into the meat course. Again, wow. Then, meat time--wagyu beef flank steak, medium rare, with truffled trumpet mushrooms, a slice of roquefort panacotta, and salsify fries--a real play on steak frites, with nearly a nod to tournedos rossini (just missing the foie gras). It was a great play on teh classic pairing, too, of beef, earthy mushrooms, and bleu cheese. And, most sommeliers would haul out the bordeaux--probably too young of an age, or worse, a California cabernet. But no. A 2006 Lucien le Moine Bourgogne rouge. "Just" a baseline burgundy--and who ever heard of pairing any pinot, much less AOC BURGUNDY, with steak? Well, it sure worked. The acidity in the wine cut through the fatty richness of the dish, refreshing after each bite. The earthy mushroom notes of the wine amped up the truffles and black trumpets. The acrid Roquefort played with the natural funk of the wine. In short, WOW.

Then, on to the sweeter stuff. A light granita of grapefruit and campari--great acidity and flavor to once again, clear the palate, refresh things for a big dessert. Which was a cocoa cake crumble with a cardamom creme, vanilla salt, cinnamon gelato, a cinnamon tuile, just complex as could be. Tasty, and interesting. And paired well with a 10 year Tawny port from Quinta de infantado. What a dinner!

Throughout it all, the service was as near "perfect" as any I've ever received. The sommelier was knowledgeable, excited to talk wines. The waiters explained dishes well, but were not intrusive at all. Best of all, after dinner, we were invited to a quick kitchen tour--mid service on a Friday night. Whoa. These guys are good. THey know how to impress. And I will be back--to try out the new menu in a few weeks, or to try out the "bigger" 9 or mroe course dinners. These are deadly serious people when it comes to their food, but they have so much of a flair for playing with it, making it fun and creative. And, in the process, they really do make you think about what food is all about. And, best of all, they have a beverage program that doesn't give two craps about what the label is, but about how the food and beverages taste together. They think seriously outside the box, and as a result, the diner gets a meal that really works together, where nothing is an "afterthought". Because we were doing a tasting menu, I did not get to discuss the wine list at length with the sommelier. But based upon his ability to pair wines, at a reasonable price point, with challenging foods, he is clearly a rare talent. The wine list is an amazing blend of named labels and eclectic, off the beaten path, producers and appelations. I know I would love to taste through some wines with this guy--I think we'd have a lively conversation, to put it mildly.

I would not say that this is an inexpensive restaurant, but a five course (that was what this was considered) tasting menu listed at $75/head. The wine pairings were $40. For this level of restaurant, for this kind of food and wine, it's a bargain. Is it everyday dining? Not for most of us mere mortals. In fact, for most of us, it's a bit of a splurge. And, probably, it shouldn't be everyday dining for anyone. No one should take such an exquisite approach to food for granted. Will this restaurant get a 2nd or 3rd Michelin star? I don't know. Their food departs remarkably from the classics, and they take a lot of risks. I happen to like that--even love it. For me, this is one of the most memorable meals I've had in a very long time, and I hope these guys keep up the phenomenal work, and keep taking the risks.

Julie's Birthday dinner

Tomorrow is my wife's birthday, and I've agreed to cook a nice (5-course) dinner for us, including having Julie decide ahead of time what she wants for each course (I have done surprises before, but this way, she gets more or less exactly what she wants). I've been working since Saturday to get the pieces of it done--from shopping at the farmer's market, to prep and early cooking. So, here's the menu:

Appetizer: Mac and Cheese Croquettes

L. Mawby Blancs de Blancs Michigan Sparkling wine

Soup: Thai Curry Squash Soup

Lucien Albrecht 2006 Gewurztraminer

Intermezzo: Pear-honey sorbet

Meat: Beef Wellington, scalloped potatoes, and roasted Brussels sprouts

Rex Hill 2000 Seven Springs Pinot Noir

Dessert: Tres Leches cake

Since I work all day, and Julie's birthday is on a Tuesday... as in tomorrow... most of this is already made at least in some form. The mac and cheese is made, just needs to be cut into little shapes, breaded and fried. The soup needs to be warmed, have some coconut milk, fish sauce, and lime juice added, garnished with some fried ginger, and served. The sorbet simply needs frozen, scooped, maybe garnished with a slice of pear and drizzle of 18-year-old balsamic vinegar. The cake is baked, but needs the milk added, then the topping on. And, of course, the main mostly requires me to work on it tomorrow. Not bad, though--I should be able to manage that without too much trouble.

The thing about this menu is that most of it is really easy cooking, in spite of the fancy names and so on... Mac 'n cheese from scratch is easy--boil water, cook the pasta, make a roux (butter, flour in equal portions), add dairy, add seasoning, add cheese. Combine, bake for ~ 30 minutes. Sorbet is simple, too. Peel and chop pears, add to mix of sugar and liquid--in this case, a mix of white wine, brandy, water, and honey. Puree, chill, then freeze. The soup is bit more complicated, but not much. I wanted extra "squash" flavor, so I roasted the squash before adding to the soup. But the soup started as a typical base--a couple onions, sweated in butter and oil, added carrots, finely chopped. Then, the Thai take--a mix of Thai Red Curry paste (yes, from a jar), and a spice paste I made from ginger, garlic, galangal, turmeric, lime zest (just the outsize green stuff), and palm sugar. These are added to the butter adn veggies and cooked a bit. Then, in goes the squash, then a few cups of stock, a can of coconut milk, and cook for a while. Puree with a stick blender to desired texture. Finish with more coconut milk, fish sauce, and lime juice; garnish with fried slices of ginger, if you like. Dessert starts with a pretty typical cake--flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder, vanilla... Then add the "tres leches"--or three milks--condensed, evaporated, and cream, let it soak into the cake for a few hours. Then frost/glaze the cake with a powdered sugar frosting. Not so bad, eh?

The tricky part will be the main. Of course, scalloped potatoes are easy--slice the taters, add some onion and garlic to cream, and scald it, pour it over the layered potatoes and cheese. Bake for an hour or so. The Brussels sprouts should be easy--cut in half, coat in olive oil, season, and bake. Add ground nuts if desired. But Beef Wellington is, well, futzy. It's a hunk of tenderloin, coated in a pate of foie gras and mushrooms, wrapped in puff pastry. You have to brown the meat before wrapping, and then finish it to desired doneness in an oven. Not terribly hard, but futzy, and challenging to make it look right and have good texture. Getting those, and hte veggies, all done at the same time--that iwll be the one real challenge, other than doing the copious dishes resulting from such a project.

Slight Change in plans...

OK, the soup posting is coming, I promise. But I've had a couple recent dinners that just required a post.

1. Spanish lamb shanks with fried potatoes. I'd picked up some lamb shanks from Hannewald Lamb at our farmer's market, knowing I'd enjoy them on a chilly fall day. Well, that day came yesterday. Now, these don't cook in 5 or 10 minutes--they take 2-3 hours to get good and tender. So, I figured I'd brown em and get them started braising soon after I got home. I hadn't really decided exactly how to fix them when I started--I just knew they'd need 2-3 hours of wet cooking, low and slow... The classic is probably a Provencal preparation--with onion, carrots, tomatoes, herbs de Provence (rosemary, thyme, etc.)--and I figured I'd do something along those lines. Chopped up the onion, and went for carrots--to discover we were out. But I found a couple red peppers (sweet variety) that needed a use. And the Spanish smoked paprika happened to be out on the counter. So, I knew we were going Spanish style. After browning the shanks, I sweated the veggies (peppers, onions, and garlic) for a bit, added a can of tomatoes (here is one place canned is actually better, or at least much easier, than fresh), and deglazed with some inexpensive but tasty (fruit driven) Portuguese wine. Back into the pot went the lamb, and into the oven for 2.5 hours. As the meat neared completion, I parboiled some waxy blue potatoes from the market, then fried them in goose fat (rendered from a large stewing goose from the market--more on that in the soup post). Along with a Spanish onion, and a hit of paprika, yum. The gelatin had cooked out of the lamb, making for a thick, beautiful sauce, and the tomatoes and onions and garlic and peppers just merged into a massively flavorful part of that sauce. It was true cold weather food. Paired iwth a 10 year old Spanish tempranillo from Valdepenas, it made for a great dinner.

The other recent amazing meal really was just a way of approaching steak--did up some home-trimmed strip steaks, and topped them with a couple market quail eggs each, fried so the yolk was still runny--made for a great sauce--and a batch of shiitake mushrooms, also from the market, fried in olive oil and finished with a splash of soy sauce. The steaks themselves were actually not all that high quality of a meat--but grilling them added some flavor, and the accompaniments over the top made for a great flavor profile. I should say that these steaks come from strip subprimals that I can get from time to time at a great price--which is nice--but it also means 12-14 steaks arrive at a time, and even when frozen, you end up eating steak fairly often (and inexpensively, at under $4/lb.) So, it's good to have some alternative ways to eat them, to keep from getting bored. And this was one that worked. Paired with a mixed mash of rutabaga and potatoes--not bad at all.

harvest season...

It's getting cold in Michigan, we're likely to have our first frost soon... and it's been an incredibly abundant harvest season. As I've been woefully inadequate as a blogger much of this year, I'll attempt to catch up with a couple harvest-related topics tonight. Our main farmers market is on Saturday mornings--and it's HUGE (yes, we're spoiled with probably 80 or more vendors, plus at least 2 other weekly markets that we can and often do attend). But this season has been especially warm, and a decent amount of rain--which means GREAT tomatoes, and lots of 'em. I've been eating Heirlooms sliced with mozzarella cheese, cherry tomatoes in my salads, fried green tomatoes (the one way my wife likes them), and ht elist goes on... but as the Roma's have been coming in, it can only be sauce-making time. We've been buying them by the half bushel or more (that's a LOT of tomatoes) and I've been cooking them down into a wonderful sauce--seasoned with basil, garlic, onions, carrots, and cooked for hours low and slow, then run through a food mill. Then we divvy it up, and freeze it for the winter. Now, it's not hard, but it is fairly time-consuming, and as anyone who has made this stuff knows--it's messy, as it spatters a lot. But I did the math--it comes out to about $0.55/cup--about 1/2 the cost of grocery store bottled stuff. And it tastes SO much better, and I know exactly what went in it, and I've supported a local farmer (or two or three) in the process.

That success led me to try an experiment--homemade ketchup. Similar process, except add vinegar, brown sugar, and tons of spices--cinnamon, cloves, ginger and the like... I hadn't had homemade ketchup since we made it when I was a little kid with our extra garden tomatoes. What a fun and tasty experience. I can't say it's cheaper than Heinz, and although it tastes pretty different from Heinz, I don't even know if it's better, per se--after all, what IS ketchup SUPPOSED to taste like? But fun, and a nice thing to share with friends at a party or two.

Next up... soup--from zucchini to minestrone, from goose to vichysoisse.

Pittsburgh

I've been in Pittsburgh for the last few days for a conference for work. This has had the disadvantage of keeping me out of my kitchen, but the joy of trying many new restaurants with old friends and colleagues, many of whom I've not seen for a year or more. It's been an interesting experience so far. Now, when I think of Pittsburgh, I don't particularly think of a foodie destination city or a lot of high quality dining. So, I've been surprised at the large number of quality establishments in the city, as well as at the sometimes relatively high priced food of the downtown area.

Let me start with the real gem: Bona Terra. It's a 42-seat, BYOB, market fresh restaurant with a menu that changes daily to reflect the freshest available ingredients, an incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, effective staff, and the food chops to back it all up. Three colleagues and I joined up for dinner; I brought some bottles from the cellar at home to share. We were greeted with a complimentary amuse bouche--essentially, micro-diced fried potatoes, done up with some wonderful herbs and spices and peppers and an incredible sauce. Nice start. Meanwhile, we dug into our first bottle--a somewhat aged Duval-Leroy champagne. It was showing nicely, although it did not have the time to chill to "proper" sparking temperature. It's already got a great bottle bouquet of yeast and toast, but it's not covering up fruit. We then moved on to our appetizers--I had mussels with a tomato infused white wine broth that were just amazing, and a nice portion size--even almost large for appetizer, and would have been share-able. Many reflected considerable creativtiy, but all had a nod to classic continental cuisine, and were executed flawlessly. As we waited for our mains, an intermezzo cantaloupe sorbet came out--not too sweet, and in fact, probably without any added sugar. It was frozen perfectly, with no larger crystals. Nice! The mains were the real attraction, though, and each had a creative combination of flavors and ingredients. I had a duck breast, seared and cooked to medium rare. It was covered with a healthy seasoning of salt and pepper, nicely crisped skin, and no soggy fat! It came topped with a cherry compote--so far, a classic combination--but then a curried lentil and zucchini combination to pair with it spiced it up a bit, and moved it to a next level. The combination worked great, in spite of being a bit outside the traditional realm of flavor pairings. A friend had pork chops, a heritage breed--amazingly, cooked to a medium doneness. That was a bold statement of faith of this restaurant in its suppliers and the quality of ingredients, and a respectful treatment of great food. We had both a 98 Fourcas-Hostein Listrac-Medoc and a 99 Rex Hill Pinot NOir with the mains. Unfortuantely, the bordeaux was mildly corked, so suffered from a wet cardboard tinge on the nose, but it was borderline acceptable, and loved by some. The pinot noir was quite a contrast--showing well, aged nicely, but rather New world in its heat, fruit, and flabbiness. If it weren't poured next to the bordeaux, it probably would have been very nice; for me, it simply came off as over ripe and rather one-note. I am again reminded--go to the wines you really love, not just those that are good. Dessert took me back to sorbet--a trio of beautifully executed, not too sweet, rather acidic fruits--a mix of mango, pineapple, and strawberry actually worked well together, surprisingly enough. The restaurant's one potential drawback is its location--it's about 5-6 miles from downtown, requiring me to retrieve my car, and navigate the horribly marked streets of town. We got rather hopelessly lost en route, finding our way through a combination of iPhone and helpful restaurant staff. It's located in "downtown" Sharpsburg, which seems to be a suburb or village taken over by the bigger city. It's a decidedly working class area, but there was on street parking, free, right across the street from the restaurant, and our car was still there, and intact, when we left! This is a place i'd return to gladly any chance I got, and would most highly recommend.

Now, the opposite experience, and my largest "thistles" imaginable go to... the "Original Fish Market" restaurant, located off the lobby of our hotel. OK, I should know better than to eat at a hotel restaurant--but it was where several senior colleagues gathered after our afternoon symposium, so I needed to go. And it was relatively well reviewed. I cannot imagine by whom. From the start, when we tried to get our group seated together, it was impossible to bring together tables. We ended up adding chairs to four tops, but the staff took three tries just to get a silverware roll for the addons. Then, as we prepared to order, one in our party asked how the server recommended preparation of his fish--"Blackened", said the server--for HALIBUT!?!? Really? What were they trying to hide? Sadly, I, too, had ordered the halibut--seared, as it should be to show off the nice, subtle flavors. Except, there were no such flavors. The filet, not only was tiny in size, but it managed to be soggy in texture, falling apart from overcooking and a bit dried out (at the same time as being soggy!!!). It was served with an ice cream scooper full of rice--still formed beautifully into a horribly sticky, glutinous ball of rice (which it was not intended to be), and an overcooked blob of spinach that reeked of spoiled fish. All this for $30! I also ordered a Pennsylvania local wine from the "by the glass" menu--one of few that wasn't from California--it was supposed to be a sauvignon blanc. Somehow, it managed to have no acidity, little fruit, tons of flab, and no varietal character. I think it had been open for a few days, to be honest. How this seafood restaurant has managed to have almost no old world wines escapes me--why were there no Meursaults or white bourgogne? Why no Muscadet? Had I not been sitting with the intellectual leaders of my field, my entire dinner, wine and food, would have gone back. It was that bad. On top of that, service was slow, not terribly friendly, and missed even on the most basic of points. I can only recommend this restaurant for closing.

The other spots have been more mid-stream--neither amazing, nor horrific. Lidia's, a Bastianich Italian restaurant, was a great stop for our first night in town. The food was good, if not spectacular, the wine overpriced, but at least marginally Italian. The service, though, was impeccable. Our waitress knew her food, was spot on in presenting it and describing the menu, and was just amazingly friendly and kind. And, when we inquired about their moderately extensive grappa list, which she didn't much about, she sought out someone who did. The wine steward/sommelier who came over was passionate about the grappas, suggested an amarone based one as a starter--which we did. It was smooth, beautiful, oak aged, easy drinking--none of the rocket fuel that drives a lot of grappa. He brought a 2nd grappa over later for a free taste--the Bastianich brand from a variety of grapes. Honestly, it was probably their baseline grappa--but it had the grappa grip--tons of firey notes, but also nutty, and a bit of olives, and a long wonderful finsih. I actually liked it a bit better than the amarone one. So, for service, five stars, for food, more like 2 or 3. It wasn't that it was bad--it just wasn't all that.

Another night, I ended up at a tapas bar, whose name escaped me then and now. It was rather bizarrely laid out, intneded to be way trendier than I am, and yet failed miserably at that in the end. It was self-seat, and it took nearly 10 minutes to get service in an almost empty restaurant. Once we ordered, we found out that they were out of one of the things we wanted, and soon found out they also didn't have the replacement. Not encouraging. When we inquired about sushi, the waitress highly recommended the spicy tuna roll--enough to send me away from teh raw menu at lightning speed--nothing like spicy sauce to hide old fish. The wine list was decent--had a good white rioja--which is something you seldom see on a restaurant list, or for that matter, anywhere else--and it wasn't even Muga! The dishes were mostly acceptably, competently made, but to be honest, two days after eating there, I can't say that more than one or two sticks with my memory. The serrano ham wrapped asparagus was decent, but who can't make that at home in a flash? The olives were good, the almonds overspiced, the manchego quite good--but probably again, none of it was even made there. I could open those jars and slice the cheese as well as they did. :-) The chorizo was decent, the balsamic reduction a bit of a nice counterpoint to the spicy sausage. the smoked fish wiht strawberries and tomatoes skewered together was just plain weird--especially since the fish was coated with sesame seeds! Who pairs strawberries and tomatoes anyway???

So, I'll leave Pittsburgh with a great food experience, some very nice service, and a real dud of a place. There's one more night in town, so, we'll see what tomorrow brings for food. May it be as good as tonight's was!