Voodoo Doughnut - Portland, OR

Posted by Unknown Monday, August 23, 2010 10:16 PM 0 comments
Labels: , ,


Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I likely may not have believed it.  But, yes, you are reading correctly, there is a place called Voodoo Doughnut and it's in Portland, OR.  It's a great place for your morning coffee and doughnut fix or to pick up a doughnut voodoo doll to curse whatever or whomever ails you.  Complete with a gothic sense of humor, this landmark institution has three locations in Portland.  They also do weddings believe it or not!

 

The maple bacon doughnut was probably the most
unique one we had other than the voodoo doll doughnut.

Tilth - Seattle, WA

Posted by Unknown Saturday, August 21, 2010 10:15 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , ,

While on vacation in the Pacific Northwest, the first night of our trip we had an opportunity to eat at another restaurant famed for the chef having been on Iron Chef America and beaten the Iron Chef competitor.  Maria Hines was on just a few weeks ago and beat Morimoto.  Inspired by her victory, we had to eat at her restaurant in Seattle.

Tilth features New American cuisine prepared with certified-organic or wild ingredients sourced from as many local farmers as they are able to support.  The executive chef and owner, Maria Hines, is a James Beard Award winner for Best Chef of the Northwest as well as one of Food & Wine Magazine's 10 Best new Chefs of 2005.  In 2008, the New York Times deemed Tilth one of the best new restaurants in the country.  Tilth received its organic certification from Oregon Tilth, an unaffiliated organization that promotes sustainability.

Great food, great wine, family, and lots of laughter made this an evening we'll remember for a very long time.


Tilth is a modified Arts & Crafts home turned restaurant.


We sat outside on the deck for dinner.


Chick Pea Soup with Black Olive Compote


Broccoli Soup with Cucumber

Drink in the background is The Monk,
rye whiskey, benedictine, yellow chartreuse


Chilled Billy's Gardens Tomato Soup
basil, grilled cheese sandwich, heirloom tomato

paired with

2009 Triennes, Rose, Vin de Pays du Var, France


White Corn Flan
nasturtium, corn kernel, pop corn shoot


Mini Duck Burgers
fingerling chips, housemade ketchup, hot mustard


Watermelon Carpaccio
french melon, wild mint, feta

paired with

2009 Gobelsburger, Gruner Veltliner, Kamptal, Austria


House Made Pappardelle
fava bean, cipollini, sous-vide egg

paired with

2008 Pieropan, Soave, Italy



Pan Seared Wild Alaskan Halibut
artichoke barigoule, picholine olive, fregola

paired with

2009 Adelsheim, Rose, Willamette Valley, Oregon


Strawberry Lemonade
the best we've ever tasted



Pete Knutson's Sockeye Salmon
tomato water, currant tomato, romano bean

paired with

2008 Joseph Drouhin, Macon-Villages, France



Grilled Eel River Ranch Sirloin
fried green tomato, cheesy grits, chow chow

paired with

2007 Palacios Remondo, 'Vendimia', Rioja, Spain



Vino



Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam Cheese
truffle honey, truffle salt, cracker

paired with

2005 Domaine de la Fontainerie, Vouvray Demi-Sec, France



Single Origin Dark Chocolate Sorbet
shaved chocolate, holmquist hazelnut



Strawberry-Rhubarb Shortcake
strawberry chip, rhubarb coulis, chantilly

paired with

2008 Rosa Regale, Brachetto d'Acqui, Italy

Good Eats: Atlanta, GA

Posted by Unknown Friday, March 05, 2010 11:11 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , ,

While attending a conference, I had the opportunity to eat at two very good restaurants in Atlanta, GA. One I sought out as the Chef competed with his brother on Iron Chef America (more on that later). The other came as a recommendation from a friend. Both are excellent restaurants with fantastic food. I would highly encourage you to go to one or both the next time you are in Atlanta. I will certainly look for an excuse for a return visit.






Steak houses in the U.S.A. are becoming somewhat of a cliche. Most have good, although predictable, food and atmosphere. You have your chain restaurants like Morton's, Ruth's Chris, Capital Grille, etc. You also have your one-stop shops that emulate the aforementioned national chains. Decent food, good steak, reasonable wine collection, but boring and unimaginative nonetheless.
Kevin Rathbun Steak is not one of these places. I sought out this steak house as I knew Kevin had competed with his brother Kent (Abacus) on Iron Chef America. In that competition, Battle Elk, they beat Bobby Flay. No small feat and the staff at Kevin's restaurant now call him the "Flay Slayer".
The atmosphere of the restaurant was fantastic. A beautiful bar complete with copper ceiling to mirror the darkened bar. The brick walls gave it that industrial look. We ate at the bar (which is full service) as it was packed the night I was there and we didn't make reservations ahead of time. Sampling many of their dishes, below are pics of the ones we had that night. Among the other libations consumed, we ordered a 2007 Elizabeth Spencer Cabernet to go with dinner. An excellent wine that paired well with all the dishes we had.

Baked Escargot
w/Parsley Garlic Butter & Crispy Shallots
Lobster Fritters
w/Lemon Zest Honey Mustard


Japanese Wagyu Beef
Grade A-5, 8-10 BMS
Maple Leaf Farms Duck Breast
Roasted Root Vegetables, Quince Mostarda


Smoky Braised Greens
w/ Kentucky Hog Jowl


Elbow Mac & Cheese Tart
w/ Truffle Crumbs


Caramel Brule


Baked Alaska
(Before Fudge Pour)


Baked Alaska
(After Fudge Pour)


Scott and Kevin




Billed as "Southern Farmstead Cooking", I also was told this was a place to get traditional southern soul food. I'm now positive about the former and not so sure about the latter. I've never had soul food like I had at JCT. Whatever the case, the bottom line is that it was a fantastic meal. JCT takes the southern cooking style and ups it several levels with creativity, wonderful plating, and rich flavors. I chose a 2007 Henry Estate Pinot Noir to go with dinner. This worked fine for the lighter dishes. But, in retrospect, I think a fuller wine would have been better. A fruity California Cab or spicy Syrah would have stood up fine to the bolder flavors on the menu without overpowering the lighter fare given the richness in flavor of those dishes.



"Angry" Mussels
w/Peppered Bacon, Serrano Chile & Onion


Foie Gras & Chicken Liver Mousse
w/Apple Butter and Wood Grilled Bread


All Night Braised Short Ribs
Local Gouda & Sweet Potato Gratin,
Mushroom of the Moment, Thin Beans


Crispy "Duck & Dumplings"
Duck Leg Confit, Duck Meatballs,
Potato Dumplings, Local Greens,
and Crusty Bread for Sopping


Benton's Bacon Wrapped Georgia Rainbow Trout
Creamed Corn & Local Vegetable Succotash,
Crispy Farm Stand Okra, Pork Jus


Sweet Corn & Georgia Goat Cheese Filled Pasta
Parmesan, Preserved Tomatoes,
Brown Butter-Veal Jus


Wood Grilled 1/2 Chicken
"Almost Boneless", Duck Fat Crisped Heirloom Potatoes,
Lacquered Pork Belly, Local Honey


Georgia Apple & Pecan Fried Pies
w/ Cinnamon Ice Cream, Brown Butter Caramel


Warm Chocolate Truffle Cake
w/ Pistachio Ice Cream


Ginger Bread-Pudding
w/ Meyer Lemon Curd


Meyer Lemon Doughnuts
w/ Espresso Ice Cream

Scharffen Berger Chocolate

Posted by Anonymous Monday, February 22, 2010 9:17 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , ,

While I'm on the subject of libations and other guilty
pleasures, dark chocolate came to mind tonight as Cindee and I were enjoying her membership in the Benziger wine club. We get two bottles shipped to us quarterly. Tonight, we were enjoying the Benziger Oonapais 2006 which is a particularly excellent Meritage (Bordeaux style blend). Benziger is one of our favorite Sonoma based vineyards and we enjoy everything they send us.

The Oonapais is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot.

To finish off dinner, I often enjoy pairing a wine like the Oonapais with dark chocolate. My favorite dark chocoloate at the moment is the Scharffen Berger Mocha. A 62% dark chocolate with freshly roasted coffee infused throughout, you get a wonderful coffee flavor with the dark chocolate. Combined with the rich velvety touch of a balanced red wine (pick your poison - Meritage, Bordeaux, California Cab, Syrah, or Zin - they are all good), and much like the martini you have a match made in heaven. A great way to wind down after a long day at the office!


Hendrick's Gin

Posted by Anonymous 8:10 PM 0 comments
Labels:

I am a fan of the martini.  Have been for a long time.  There’s something comfortable and soothing about the ritual of mixing gin and dry vermouth in a shaker full of cold ice, shaking it (don’t bruise the gin), and pouring the elixir into a martini glass with blue cheese stuffed olives waiting to soak up the juniper goodness heading its way.  I do like dry vermouth to soften the martini instead of a “pass the vermouth bottle by the glass” dry martini some prefer.  My martini for two recipe is five parts gin to one part dry vermouth.  Shake and pour over two blue cheese stuffed olives.  Rinse and repeat.
 
For the longest time I had a preference for Beefeater gin. I had nothing against other gins. I just preferred Beefeater for both the flavor (I like London Dry Gins) and an irrational loyalty to the Crown given I'm 1/2 Canadian. If that last part doesn't make sense to you, understandable. Canada is still considered a Commonwealth country and has an allegiance to the British throne. But I digress.

Perhaps true to my real roots (I'm German, Scottish, and Irish), I bought a bottle of Hendrick’s Gin which is distilled and bottled in Scotland. I was immediately converted. Not because it's Scottish (although that does help!), but because of the amazing flavor. The description on the back of the bottle sums it up best:

"This handcrafted gin is distilled from a proprietary recipe which includes traditional botanicals such as juniper, coriander, and citrus peel. The "unexpected" infusion of cucumber and rose petals results in a most iconoclastic gin."

I couldn't have said it any better. The nose of this gin matches the quality of the flavor on the tongue. Pair it with a nice dry vermouth and you have a martini made in heaven.

Enjoy!


Rhubarb Mojito

Posted by Unknown Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:31 PM 0 comments

I'm a big fan of Mojito's. Ran across this food blog from one of Cindee's coworkers and it looks awesome. Definitely going to try it once the weather warms up.




Bostwick Lake Inn

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, February 03, 2010 6:15 PM 0 comments

As I look back on our food blog, most of the entries are from really nice restaurants or of food we've cooked at home that was fun, a bit unique, and tasted great. But, I think I've been doing a bit of a disservice to some of the small restaurants that produce great food albeit it not at the level of a Moto's. One such restaurant is the Bostwick Lake Inn. The Bostwick is a great place for a couple of reasons. One, being situated on Bostwick Lake, they have a great patio that is a fantastic place to wind down at during the warm months. Often during the week, live music is played out on the deck, you can look out over the lake at all the boats, skiiers, tubers, etc. and have a really good meal to boot not to mention a cold beer. It's also nice in the cold weather as the interior in warm and inviting and the wait staff is always pleasant and friendly. They have a reasonably good wine list and offer wine sales in the restaurant if you end up wanting to buy a bottle of what you had with dinner.

One of my favorite dishes they serve is pictured below. It's a classic meat loaf, baked in a pastry crust, served with Zinfandel jus, seasoned smashed red skin potatoes, and seasonal fresh vegetable.

The Zinfandel jus is fantastic and coupled with the puff pastry really makes the meatloaf shine. A great twist on an old classic. A meal that definitely sticks to your ribs during a cold winter's night. If you are in the Grand Rapids area, I would definitely recommend checking it out.


New Years Even 2010

Posted by Anonymous Thursday, December 31, 2009 10:27 PM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

It's been several months since my last posting. While I've eaten at several nice restaurants the in the past several months, nothing has been "blog worthy" until tonight. As we close out 2009 and enter 2010, Cindee and I decided to have a culinary night for New Year's Eve as we ring in the new year. We made several great dishes and I decided they were blog worthy enough to share (despite my comments in my previous blog about being a so-so cook - I won't use the term chef). All of the courses we prepared were very good and our approach to the dishes was interesting and fun. We took several recipes and combined the best parts into what we ended up serving. This is what I would consider the start to becoming a better cook. Taking ideas, merging them with your own, and coming up with a new dish that doesn't fit a recipe found in a book and can be called your own.

Here is our menu for the evening (oh how good it did taste, too!)

Curried Mussels


Dijon/Herb/Panko Encrusted Lamb Chops with a
Frisee Salad with Maple Bacon Vinaigrette


The Aftermath - It Was Excellent!


Old Fashioned Cherry Pie

The appetizer is courtesy of a cookbook from one of our favorite restaurants in Ann Arbor called Eve. The main course and salad were combinations of recipes Cindee had from some of her cooking magazines. Dessert was plain old fashioned cherry pie.

Wines for the evening included:

2007 Rodney Strong Reserve Zinfandel
2006 Rodney Strong Reserve Syrah
The Black Chook Sparkling Shiraz

We wish everyone a Happy New Year and all the best for 2010!

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)