Paleo Orange Chicken with zucchini!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Modern, but what was I thinking!
Andrew and I recently traveled down to the Orange County area to see some friends and visit his family. Sunday before heading home we went to a restaurant, Stacked, with a new modern way to do service, the iPad waiter.
So the whole concept was derived around the idea, that the customer can order what they want, how they want it, and when they want it all from the touch of an iPad. The iPad drove the process, but there were still kind concierges greeting us, checking in, and delivering food so it wasn't all computers.
We started out, browsing the menu on the iPad and the visual image of each dish made it a hard decision everything looked so good. First we ordered drinks and then SENT TO KITCHEN by a simple button. Next we each selected and customized our dishes by passing around the iPad and selecting all the options, SENT TO KITCHEN.
So you are probably thinking what a cool new experience, but I decided to take this new experience to the next level and order the Turkey, Cranberry, and Brie pizza. Did you just puke in your mouth, I didn't I thought wow, it must work they have it in their menu. Never again will I make that assumption, it was really bad, like really BAD. Sorry, this is really my fault, what was I thinking! Not only were the toppings funky, there was a strange taste in the pizza dough.
So I cleansed my pallet with a slice of pepperoni pizza (something normal, but still had a strange taste in the dough) and an ice cream cookie sandwich... Yes the pictures and the idea of creating my own special sandwich totally got me! Here it is, creamy vanilla ice cream between a peanut butter cookie and a chocolate chocolate chip cookie. Now this was delicious, pretty hard to mess up.
While I love the idea of the techy and modern concept... I think Stacked needs to work on their food and I need to work on my ordering!
So the whole concept was derived around the idea, that the customer can order what they want, how they want it, and when they want it all from the touch of an iPad. The iPad drove the process, but there were still kind concierges greeting us, checking in, and delivering food so it wasn't all computers.
We started out, browsing the menu on the iPad and the visual image of each dish made it a hard decision everything looked so good. First we ordered drinks and then SENT TO KITCHEN by a simple button. Next we each selected and customized our dishes by passing around the iPad and selecting all the options, SENT TO KITCHEN.
So you are probably thinking what a cool new experience, but I decided to take this new experience to the next level and order the Turkey, Cranberry, and Brie pizza. Did you just puke in your mouth, I didn't I thought wow, it must work they have it in their menu. Never again will I make that assumption, it was really bad, like really BAD. Sorry, this is really my fault, what was I thinking! Not only were the toppings funky, there was a strange taste in the pizza dough.
So I cleansed my pallet with a slice of pepperoni pizza (something normal, but still had a strange taste in the dough) and an ice cream cookie sandwich... Yes the pictures and the idea of creating my own special sandwich totally got me! Here it is, creamy vanilla ice cream between a peanut butter cookie and a chocolate chocolate chip cookie. Now this was delicious, pretty hard to mess up.
While I love the idea of the techy and modern concept... I think Stacked needs to work on their food and I need to work on my ordering!
Monday, May 28, 2012
Camping: Eat, Catch, Eat
Last weekend we went camping with our weekly dinner friends, and the food was top-notch camping food. I wouldn't have expected any less from our head chef, Scott Moitoza, and sous chef, David Henwood.
S'mores
Fresh Fried Catfish and Bass and Roasted Trout
Tri-Tip Dinner
S'mores
Fresh Fried Catfish and Bass and Roasted Trout
Bacon Burgers with Bacon & Cheese
S'more Smores
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Chicago!
Anyone who knows me/is friends with me on FB/reads my blog knows I was just in Chicago and we ate the heck out of Chicago. Sorry for telling the world, but this trip was AMAZING and spent with 2 of my favorite people in the world. I have so many stories to share, so I decided to break it up into 5 different blogs. You probably will want to take breaks between them.
Enjoy!
Chicago: Flavor Tripping
As a fan of Bravo's Top Chef, I was introduced to the art of gastronomy through two of the chefs on Top Chef Texas, Chris Jones and Richie Farina. They had quirky personalities and very interesting creations on the show, but I knew one thing if I was ever in Chicago, I had to eat at their restaurant! First only aware of Moto, I tried to get reservations, but there were none available. Open table provided a link to other suggestions, which brought us to iNG Restaurant owned by Homaro Cantu and Chris Jones, head chef, Nate Park. After finding out iNG was Moto's sister restaurant and reviewing the menu and prices I knew iNG was the place I wanted to eat. It was a more affordable meal, they use gastronomy, and they were wild and inventive with their dishes to create a flavor tripping experience. I could not have been more excited for this meal.
We started our dining adventure out with cocktails and beer tasting. I sipped on each, and passed them around so everyone could taste. They were all very good beer. The Mad Hatter reminded me of Andrew's home brewed: Mystery Double IPA. The last two were my favorite, the Brother Thelonious and Dragon's Milk , both very rich dark beers, with spicy flavors. One of the waiters told me to wait to drink all of the Dragon's milk until after the first dish, because with the Miracle Berry, it tasted like spiked chocolate milk. It really did! Andrew was very jealous!
After our drinks we started our Flavor Tripping menu of plates and drinks.
Dish 1: Strawberry Rhubarb. My favorite! This was a salmon arugula salad with strawberry rhubarb, orange, and ginger. The dressing came divided into the mustard spread already on the plate, and a the strawberry vinaigrette was in a chemistry pipet. The drink pairing was a Lambic Vodka, Green Chartreuse, cherry, lime, and sour ale. We were asked to taste everything separately, and then once ready to "Trip," we bit into the chip with Miracle Berry powder. Once it started to kick in, all of the bitter flavors turned savory and the sour flavors turned sweet. The drink was very bitter and sour before the berry, but became very a enjoyable fruity cocktail after.
Dish 2: The Thaw. This was a pork belly, kombu, maitake soup. This was very interesting, the broth of the soup was a strange combination of sweet and sour, not sure if it was the miracle berry influencing the flavors, but it kept me coming back for more, until my entire bowl was empty. This was paired with a Brouwerij Van Steenberge, Atomuim, Pale Ale from Belgium.
Dish 3: Baozi Gyro. This was 3 lamb gyros, one with hummus, one with tzatziki, and one with tabbouleh. This dish had the least influence of gastronomy or flavor tripping, but it sure was tasty. My favorite was the tzatziki, I just like anything with tzatziki. Paired with Abbaye de Leffe a Brown Ale from Belgium.
Dish 4: April Showers. This was a deconstructed pot pie. The meat was capon, a rooster who has been castrated to improve it's flesh for food (Gruesome, glad I just looked that up now), resembling a soap bar with iNG printed on it. It was very tender and flavorful. The "soap" sat in a bed of miniature veggies and was covered in foam the flavor of buttery crust, very weird, but cool. The server added some "shampoo" of spinach and mushroom sauce and "conditioner" of garlic sauce. Finally, a "sponge" of bread, was added to create the crunchiness of the crust the foam did not create. Paired with J. Hofstatter, Lagrein, Alto Adige from Italy 2010.
Dish 5: May Flowers. This was a beautifully potted plant of dessert! Yes it was the first of 2 desserts, which made me very happy. In the pot was layered hazelnuts, then lime curd, then some vanilla cream, and topped with crumbled tea cookies. When you first taste this dish it resembles the flavors of Key Lime pie. Then half way through, you take a "shot" of the miracle berry, bite the lemon for some sweet lemonade, then go back to enjoying your potted dessert. Now that the miracle berry was activated, the dessert tasted like an orange creamsicle. Delicious. But the best part was that the chef told us one of the purposes of using gastronomy with cooking is to find ways to remove sugar and bad elements of food without removing flavor to make it healthier. That is exactly what I wanted to hear as I was about to enjoy dessert #2!
Dish 6: Easter Egg Hunt. This was a Chocolate Forest Cake in cake form and drink form. On the plate was a solid egg of chocolate forest cake, coated in chocolate, and then accompanied by some crunchy hay. Also on the plate was a cracked egg filled with little pieces of chocolate and a cherry sauce drizzled. They tried to also get the same flavors into our drink pairing. They used whiskey, Kirsh, and chocolate to create a drink that also brought out all of the Chocolate Forest Cake taste. And to end it with a bang, we were lucky to receive an extra special drink tasting of.. umm I wish I knew what it was but it was a delicious liqueur.
As we ended dinner, the host of the night, offered us a tour of the kitchens at iNG & Moto (2 doors down), meet the chefs, and see their new garden. This was one of my top 5 dinners of all time, not only was the food amazing, the experience was just as amazing and I am so happy I was able to experience this with 2 of my best friends!
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| iNG Kitchen Pool Table |
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| iNG Kitchen with the Chefs and the birthday girl |
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| Behind the Lab Table |
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| Chris Jones |
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| Dining in the Lab |
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| Secret Garden |
Chicago: Sharing Time
Small dishes for the entire table to share are becoming the new social way to eat and drink! Spain has been doing this for much longer than the states and I am glad we finally opened up to the idea because tapas are so much fun!
Thursday night at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba, Bailey and I enjoyed 2 pitchers of sangria and tapas while we waited for Christi to get back from school. We started with the Pintxos Platter of 6 bite sized tapas to share. This was the perfect sample platter. Then we ordered the bacon wrapped dates, goat cheese baked in tomato sauce, and scallops on spaghetti squash. Finally ended the night, with a free dessert, Thanks Yelp!, of dessert pintxos. These were awesome, small bites of sweet treats, including profiteroles, strawberry rhubarb sorbet, crema catalana, fruit pound cake, marcona almond tart, and a spanish brownie! This place is definitely one of my Chicago Favorites!!!
Chicago is famous for their happy hours. All the professionals downtown finish work and are excited for a drink to start the weekend. Friday afternoon, after a long day at "work" shopping, we retired to Hub 51 for some drinks. One of Christi's friends joined us and the 4 of us finished 2 pitches of cocktails. Cheers to Vacation and Chicago. One disappointment was the Happy Hour deals, in Santa Barbara HH means great deals on drinks and appetizers, this was not the case in Chicago.
The Purple Pig, a very popular restaurant in Chicago right off the Magnificent Mile known for their Mediterranean small plates. Our two favorite dishes here were the chicken skewers with tzatziki, I told you I love it, and the meatball sliders. As a huge fan of bone marrow I insisted we ordered the bone marrow smear here too. Unfortunately, it was not at the level of deliciousness Andrew and I experienced at Julienne. This one was a bit more clumpy and not as savory. I can't say I wanted to order another. We also ordered a potato salad and fried pigs ear, which were both okay, but was very oily, oh yes, we are at a Mediterranean restaurant. Aside from the food being hit or miss, the service was horrible! I hate to say this but the worst service we received all weekend, I don't think it was all the servers, but ours was rude and gave us no attention. I really wanted to write much better things about this place.
On Monday afternoon as Bailey and I sadly waited for our departure time, we stopped at Tortas Frontera by Rick Bayless for some margaritas and food. We ordered the fully dressed guacamole and it was pretty damn good, guac with bacon, toasted pepitas, sun-dried tomatoes, spicy roasted peppers, and queso cotija-fresco! Yes, FULLY DRESSED! I also ordered their Taqueria salad with Chipotle chicken for the 4 hour plane ride home. Good decision compared to airplane food.
Thursday night at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba, Bailey and I enjoyed 2 pitchers of sangria and tapas while we waited for Christi to get back from school. We started with the Pintxos Platter of 6 bite sized tapas to share. This was the perfect sample platter. Then we ordered the bacon wrapped dates, goat cheese baked in tomato sauce, and scallops on spaghetti squash. Finally ended the night, with a free dessert, Thanks Yelp!, of dessert pintxos. These were awesome, small bites of sweet treats, including profiteroles, strawberry rhubarb sorbet, crema catalana, fruit pound cake, marcona almond tart, and a spanish brownie! This place is definitely one of my Chicago Favorites!!!
The Purple Pig, a very popular restaurant in Chicago right off the Magnificent Mile known for their Mediterranean small plates. Our two favorite dishes here were the chicken skewers with tzatziki, I told you I love it, and the meatball sliders. As a huge fan of bone marrow I insisted we ordered the bone marrow smear here too. Unfortunately, it was not at the level of deliciousness Andrew and I experienced at Julienne. This one was a bit more clumpy and not as savory. I can't say I wanted to order another. We also ordered a potato salad and fried pigs ear, which were both okay, but was very oily, oh yes, we are at a Mediterranean restaurant. Aside from the food being hit or miss, the service was horrible! I hate to say this but the worst service we received all weekend, I don't think it was all the servers, but ours was rude and gave us no attention. I really wanted to write much better things about this place.
On Monday afternoon as Bailey and I sadly waited for our departure time, we stopped at Tortas Frontera by Rick Bayless for some margaritas and food. We ordered the fully dressed guacamole and it was pretty damn good, guac with bacon, toasted pepitas, sun-dried tomatoes, spicy roasted peppers, and queso cotija-fresco! Yes, FULLY DRESSED! I also ordered their Taqueria salad with Chipotle chicken for the 4 hour plane ride home. Good decision compared to airplane food.
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