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!

New Adventures in Eating

I was back in Georgia for a few days for field work a couple weeks ago, and while the field work can only be described as unpleasantly hot, humid, rainy, sticky, buggy... some of the food was rather revelatory. My field site does not have inexpensive hotels nearby, so that meant we needed to find housing--in the outer suburbs/exurbs of Atlanta. As it happened, we picked an extended stay place in Suwanee, which has a large Asian American population. The nearest grocery store is the Super H Mart, a wonderful Korean grocery. And it is situated in a plaza filled with Asian restaurants--a tofu place, a sushi place, a noodle bar, and so on...

Naturally, this meant I had to explore all these options I could. So, my first night in town, I had some sashimi at the sushi place. I went for dinner early, and it was a Sunday night, and stormy, so the restaurant was quiet. I sat at the sushi bar, the only patron up there initially. Started talking to the sushi chef as he prepared my basic sashimi platter. For the uninitiated--sashimi is the raw sliced fish with no roll, no rice, just good, unadulterated sliced raw fish. This is the one thing you do not order in a crappy sushi place that keeps its fish too long. Well, the plate came with generous portions of flounder, yellowtail, salmon, and tuna. All was good, each showed such uniqueness and freshness in taste--none of that slight fishiness or, God forbid, ammonia, that comes off of subpar fish. As a result, I used very little soy sauce or ginger, and left the wasabi alone--didn't need it, and could better enjoy the fish without it. So, this is very good. But the chef noticed I was appreciating the fish and it so happened the owner was in for his 'special meal', and it allowed him to share a couple slices of another type of flounder with me. Didn't tell me the details, just said, "Try it". It was amazingly briny, seawatery, a bit of iodine, and incredibly firmer than the other piece. in fact, it almost seemed like the piece was trying to "bite back" as I ate it... As it turned out, it was LIVE fish--the fish had just come out of a tank in the store, its heart was still beating. Now, is this a bit macabre? Yes. Tasty? Oh my, yes. What a difference! The texture was, in fact, the muscle tissue still contracting in reaction to such a novel environment. A few minutes later, over comes another few slices--this time, live blackfish. Again, briny, chewier, and thoroughly delightful. I don't know if I'll get another shot at this sort of food in the near future. I hope I do.

My second outlandish food experience was a fruit I've been dying to try, a durian. Now, this is a fruit that is large, 8-10 inches or more in diameter, spiny, tough, dispersed by tigers, native to Southeast Asia... And, did I mention--it smells like rotten meat? (that's one of the least colorful descriptions of this smell--running the gamut from stinky gym socks left for a year in your locker, to "French kissing your dead grandmother".) So, why eat it? Well, for many people, it has an incomparable flavor of mixed fruits, nuts, custard.... I was quite trepidatious about tapping into that thing, with the odor it was giving off, and the reputation. But, as I had two students with me, I had to simply dig in and brave it. And, when I did....

out came the most amazing combination of flavors and scents. Yes, there was the rotten putrid smell; but it was part of an amazing bouquet of banana pudding, creme brulee, custard, almond, hazelnut, macadamias, lychees, all brought together with a slightly fermented note of brandy. And that does NOT do it justice. I really cannot think of another comparably complex food that I've eaten, particularly a completely unadulterated fruit. The complexity and beauty of it all was most reminiscent of a fine, well aged wine... all produced directly by nature, with no real help from humans. One of my students shared my interest in the fruit (or at least pretended); the other was utterly revolted and ran from the room to avoid being ill.. . sad for her, but more for the rest of us... :-)

Sure, there were other good foods--some nice noodles, Korean grilled ribs, kimchi, gyoza, and some rather mediocre barbeque from a chain restaurant near the field site... but none of the rest was that incredibly enlightening.

When living in Georgia, we had previously shopped at Super H Mart, so I knew what to expect. But it's still a shocking panoply of foods... amazing produce in great quality, great price, and amazing selection--8 types of basil, dozens of different chilis, 4 types of bananas, plantains, burdock, banana flowers, lotus roots.... and on and on... Then freezer cases full of meats of all types... 3 kinds of tripe, tendon, bull penis, testicles, pork belly... rabbits, poultry of all kinds--black chickens, pheasants, quail, capon... and a fish case with live fish of many types.... flounder and fluke prepared as you shop, snapper, conch (in shell and out), live crabs, more kinds of shrimp than.... yeah... wow...

Halibut cheeks, St. Joseph blanc

Whole Foods has halibut cheeks in stock this weekend. You seldom see these in stores, or even good fish markets. After all, there are only two on every fish, and they are not big. And fishermen and fishmongers tend to like them for themselves. But with the halibut season underway, what a great opportunity! These are much firmer in texture than typical halibut filets, and more flavorful. And, as they were quite fresh, I didn't even have to cover any "fishy-ness"! So, a pan fry in a mix of olive oil and butter for about 2 minutes a side on the cheeks was about right. I did a quick pan sauce with a bit of wine, the juice of a lemon, and some capers. Served with some simple white rice cooked in chicken stock and some sauteed spinach on the side, it was delicious.

But, paired with a Philippe Faury 2004 st. Joseph blanc, it was just magical. The wine is amazing--showing some age with honeyed notes, still showing oak--a surprising amount, actually. And tons of lemon, some stone fruits, some nutmeg, wow!!! it's a great wine. And a nice price. And it just paired beautifully with the fish--nutty/oaky, acid to mesh with the sauce, a bit salty almost, to match with the fish. In all, an amazing meal!

Valentine's Day: Dinner out, or eat at home?

Valentine's Day is a bit of a special occassion here. Julie and I started dating on Valentine's Day a number of years back, as well as it being a classic Hallmark holiday. In short, it's really not simply a day of 'hate and rage' for us. :-) So, that means a nice dinner. Some years, we've gone out for dinner. The experience of dinner out on the holiday has been decidedly mixed, however. In Georgia, we did have a wonderful 5 course dinner at Five and Ten one year--well worth it, in spite of a rather exorbitant price tag. More commonly, dinner out on the holiday has been more hit or miss. One year, we went to a nice place (by reputation); during dinner, we managed to have a glass of wine spilled on us by our server, our wine selection rather poorly judged by the server because it was a screw cap (it was an Oregon Pinot that sold for around $55/bottle--not a crappy wine by any means, aside from the inappropriateness of the comment.), and we ate rubbery over-cooked, fishy smelling scallops and a rather forgetable rabbit ragout. While that might have been the worst, most dinners out on Valentine's Day (and other major holidays) are just rather disappointing. Restaurants are inevitably slammed, so they're stressed out. They don't take the time on either the service or cooking side to make sure everything is perfect--simply do NOT have the time. The menus, when "special" prix fixe, are often unimaginative and usually simple to prepare.

As a result of all of this, we decided this year to spend less, eat better, and do so at a more leisurely rate, while cooking at home. Now, for a lot of folks, this might be stressful. But I love cooking, so I didn't mind at all. And, I must say, in spite of a few missteps along the way (spilled water, spilled egg whites, slightly over-blanched pearl onions) , it came out quite well. I decided on a 4 course dinner--simply skipping the sorbet/granita course. We did wine pairings with starter, salad, and main, as well, though since there were just 2 of us, kept with the same wine for starter and salad (two people, three bottles.... not so smart).

So, what did we do?
1. Seared Foie gras with cherry-marsala reduction and baguette.
2. Asparagus-haricots verts salad with blood orange and lemon-olive oil vinaigrette.
3. Blanquette de veau.
4. Chocolate creme brulee.

Wines:
L. Mawby Blanc de blancs sparkling Michigan wine (with 1 and 2)
Domaine Romanin 2007 Pouilly-Fuisse "Terroir de Fuisse" (with 3)

So, how was it cooking these things? Pretty straight-forward, not too bad.

1. Foie Gras: Simply took a handful of dried cherries, soaked em in marsala for a couple hours. Took foie gras, sliced it, and seared it in a jet-hot cast iron pan for about 30 seconds. Plated it, deglazed with the cherries and marsala. The wine cooked down very quick making a thick sauce, which poured over the foie with the cherries. Sliced the baguette thin, used bread to soak up the sauce and to hold the foie. Very yummy, rather fatty, a bit sweet. Wine was very acidic, lemony, so it cut through the fat and sweet cherries very well. Wow!

2. Asparagus/Haricots Verts salad: A cinch to make. Steamed the veggies for a few minutes, just to al dente, and shocked in cold water. Plated with wedges out of a blood orange. Dressed with a home-made dressing of lemon juice and olive oil, with a bit of salt and white pepper. Simple, tasty, refreshing after fatty foie. Was too acidic, vegetal, to work well with the wine. Would use a sancerre, maybe, instead, or a rose.

3. Blanquette de veau: (aka, veal stew with mushrooms and pearl onions in cream-lemon sauce). This is a complicated, sort of futzy thing to cook, but it's not hard at all. Start with veal stew meat, or breast or shoulder meat, cut into large cubes. Add to pan with stock or water or mix of the two, an onion studded with a few cloves, a carrot or two, and a stalk of celery, as well as some herbs (thyme, parsley, bay leaves). Cook this for about 2 hours. Meanwhile, in two other pans cook pearl onions and quartered mushrooms in stock or water with butter, and salt. Cook until stock almost evaporates, making almost a glaze on the veggies. After the 2 hours is up, pull the veal pieces out of the cooking liquid. Strain the liquid out into another pan, tossing the "stock" veggies, but keeping the liquid. In yet another pan, make a light roux with flour and butter. Gradually work cooking liquid into the roux. Add cream. Add lemon juice. Add an egg or two, tempering it in. Season with salt and more white pepper as needed. Meanwhile, cook up some plain white rice to serve this over. Put veal and veggies back in sauce. Serve stew, meat, veggies, and sauce over white rice.

The dish is admittedly heavy, rather complex to make, but oh so tasty. This classic French stew was beautiful with the just slightly oaky, very acidic, lemony Pouilly-Fuisse. Yum.

4. Finally, creme brulee: Again, a classic, albeit heavy dessert, made of eggs, cream, sugar, turned into a custard, cooked in a bain marie in the oven. Cocoa powder and vanilla extract, with a pinch of salt rounded this out. Finished by sprinkling sugar on top of the finished custard, and torched with a propane torch. The hard, caramelized top contrasts beautifully with the creamy custard below. Nothing says indulgence like that first spoon whack cracking the sugar layer on the creme brulee.

So, was it better than dinner out? The food was every bit as good. We ate it all over a period of about 3 hours--longer than we'd have been able to command a table at a restaurant. If we'd have eaten out, the meal would have easily cost in excess of $250 or $300. We paid a fraction of that, I got to improve and use my culinary skills, and in all, a fun time was had... so, restaurant reservations next year? I doubt it. We managed to eat two rather controversial foods, a remarkably high fat, high calorie meal. Clearly, this would not be an every-day meal--weight annd arteries would not stand it. But as an indulgent, wonderful holiday meal, oh yeah.

A special wine

A few days ago, we opened up a bottle of slightly older wine--a close-out from our local wine store. I knew the producer's reputation, but I hadn't had this one before, and it was from a rather hot vintage and as a close-out, might or might not have been wonderfully stored. So, expectations were not all that high... well... it was one of the most memorable wines I've had in a long while.

So, what was it? A 2003 Domaine Puech Chaud Coteaux du Languedoc. The producer is Rene Rostaing, better known for his northern Rhone wines. But this had many of the same notes as northern Rhones, probably because the cepage was heavy on syrah--but blended with grenache mourvedre, and other grapes. The wine had many of the classic notes of the heat of the 2003 vintage in the Midi. It had great dark fruit flavors, slightly stewed in nature from the hot year, though mellowed by age, great garrigue and anise herbaceous notes. There was a classic syrah peppery note, some oak hints, roasted meat and maybe even bacon. Moderately rustic-earthy in style, it brought a surprisingly decent amount of acid for the vintage, and good minerality and tannis. There was an unusual combination of subtle complexity and power in this wine--something all too rare in wines, and just blew me away. It was drinking just beautifully now, and I think it probably has a few years on it yet--maybe 3 or even 5. That I got the bottle for $16 really made the day for me. It drank far better than many wines 3 times the price. My only regret--that I only was able to get the one bottle. Wish I had a case.

Christmas Eve Dinner

So, my wife is suffering from pneumonia this holiday break. So, there is no travel for us. Making the best of it, we are celebrating Christmas Eve at home (and Christmas day with some friends). I had been planning an earlier celebration of the holidays one evening this past week for Julie and me, but we decided to move it to Christmas Eve.

So, what did I make? Well, of course, a roast goose. Coated in a citrus spice rub, with onion and lemon in the cavity. Into the oven until done, started at 425, down to 350. Did a cherry-brandy-port sauce to accompany it. Came out absolutely beautifully--crispy skin, juicy meat, and the sauce worked wonders. Since roasting a goose produces seemingly cups full of fat, it provided opportunities for nicely roasting some fingerling potatoes. Of course, a dressing is a must--did it with dried bread, plus pork-cherry sausage and poultry style seasonings. Gravy i a must, too. But the real hit were the Brussels Sprouts and roasted chestnuts--par-cooked and roasted first, respectively, then sauted in a bit of goose fat and finished with a bit of cream. It was absolutely delicious. In all, it was a most delicious dinner, and even Julie, sick as she is, enjoyed it.

But the real coup de grace was the wine pairing. I picked a 2005 Oregon Pinot Noir--Patricia Green's single vineyard bottling from Four Winds Vineyard. This wine comes from a rather coastal part of the Willamette Valley--west of Yamhill, even. There is not a lot of Pinot growing around this vineyard. But there sure should be more. It's one of the most burgundian, earthy, rustic Oregon pinots I've ever tasted. While it's definitely unique--very acidic, decent cherry fruit, balanced by tons of minerality and integrated tannins, violet flower nose, and tons of earth--leather, truffle, forest floor, it is perhaps most reminiscent of some Gevrey-Chambertin. The acidity cut through the fat of the meal beautifully. The fruit notes mirrored the cherry sauce well, and the rustic, gamy notes worked well with those flavors in the goose. As far as I"m concerned, this was perhaps the best new world wine I've had all year, and one of the best pinot noirs (Some from Bourgogne still eclipse this, but not by that much). The pairing was one of those things that just worked gorgeously--that rare moment where the pairing isn't just good, but where the food and wine really combine to make something far better than the parts alone. I love it when that happens-far too rarely for my personal liking, but what a treat when it does!

Cooking Marathon

Put mildly, yesterday was a cooking marathon for me. I generally think our cookware collection is excessive--we have more Staub and Le Creuset Dutch/French ovens than most people would need, and likewise, merging two households meant multiple stockpots. Now, I was thinking, gosh, we should really part with some of these. Yesterday convinced me that maybe it's not time for that.

This grew out of a combination of a half bushel of tomatoes, two chicken carcasses, and a lovely beef brisket. So, the planned main meal was a beef brisket carbonnade--essentially, a piece of beef braised in beer with a bunch of onions. This worked nicely--the sweet onions combined with a bit of balsamic, some mustard, the beer, and the beef to make a wonderful stew. Cooked in a dutch oven, in the oven, just large enough for the brisket, it was served with egg noodles cooked in a stock/pasta pot stove top.

Then there was the stock. I make my own stock--in this case, from the carcasses of two chickens--one broken down and made into a white stew, the other roasted, each over the last couple weeks. The bones, plus veggies, cook on low for hours on a back burner with filtered water, all in a big stock pot. Simple, tasty, great base for soups, stews, etc.

Finally, the "big picture"--the tomatoes from farmers market. We've just had a hard freeze, so this is pretty much it for getting a big batch of cooking tomatoes. Earlier in the year, I'd made batches of tomato sauce, and some tomato soup. But this was a really big batch. so, naturally, I made not one, but two, soups. The first was a spicy soup combining roasted jalapenos, poblanos, roasted tomatoes, and roasted garlic. Roasting makes peeling tomoatoes relatively easy. Onions, of course, served as a base for the soup, along with stock and some white wine. The result is a spicy soup that is enhanced by a dollop of sour cream, and perhaps a squeeze of lime. This is a truly fun soup to make.

My second tomato soup first involved peeling tomatoes after a dunk in boiling water. The soup then was built on a base of bacon and red onions. Sweet red peppers were used, along with thyme. The tomatoes cooked in stock and wine, and were again pureed. In the end, cream and milk brought added complexity. In all, very yummy! And a rather sweeter version than the first soup.

So, this all led to a big chest freezer full of soups and stock, set aside for the winter. A long tough day in the kitchen. But worthwhile and fun.