Baltimore Restaurant Week: January 20-29, 2012

Parsnip maple bisque with roasted apples and a cardamom creme fraiche

Where: The Brewer’s Art, located in a beautiful, old townhouse in the historic Mt. Vernon neighborhood.

The Deal: a three-course meal for $30 per person.

Why: We’ve been to their bar/lounge and had a good experience. Why not try their fine dining for a change?

Roasted beet and blood orange salad

I do love restaurant week in Baltimore. I try to go to a different restaurant every time one occurs. It’s a wonderful way to experience the cuisine and atmosphere of restaurants you’ve been wanting to try, are a wee bit out of your price range, or you just want a good reason to go back to them.

The Brewer’s Art is famous for their award-winning beers (the most popular being the ‘Resurrection’) which they brew on their premises. Their bar and lounge areas are fun, chic, and comfortable and their dining room, simply elegant. The food is quick to get to you (and hot) although I wish the wait staff were a little more attentive. My glass of water was left empty several times for quite awhile. But that’s such a minor complaint for some delicious cuisine!

Utz crusted cod with horseradish potato mousseline, sweet
and sour red cabbage, and mustard sauce

For variety, we each ordered different items and shared (although everyone receives the same dessert for the pre fixe menu). Our appetizers were a parsnip maple bisque and roasted beet and blood orange salad. The bisque was amazing- sweet, creamy, and lightly spiced while the salad was colorful and flavorful.

For our main dishes, Nick had baked kabocha squash ravioli with root veggies, bitter greens, pears, chestnuts, and brown butter sage cream. The subtle flavors and textures of this dish melded well. I had a mouth-watering, Utz (the potato chip!) crusted cod. The fish was very tender and well matched with the red cabbage, mustard sauce, and horseradish potato mousseline on which the cod sits, beautifully presented.

Tres leches cake and a chocolate torte

The desserts were a rich, dense (but moist), chocolate torte with a drizzle of raspberry sauce and a tres leches cake with a custard sauce that was just simply delectable.

I will definitely have to eat there again!

Check out the participating restaurants for Baltimore Restaurant Week at:

http://www.baltimorerestaurantweek.com/

Chinese New Year

Xīn nián kuài lè! (Happy New Year!)

Yesterday, I held my Annual Chinese New Year’s Eve Potluck dinner. Everyone brought a tasty dish and we ate with gusto.



Spring rolls, dumplings, and various stir fries



Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, is one of the most important celebrations in China as well as in other countries. The New Year falls on a different date every year because it follows a lunisolar calendar. Generally, it begins on the second new moon after the winter solstice and ends 15 days later, when there is a full moon. The Chinese calendar also contains a 12-year cycle to which an animal is assigned (i.e. the Chinese zodiac). This year, January 23, 2012 marks the end of the Year of the Rabbit and the beginning of the Year of the Dragon. (RAWR!)

Traditionally, Chinese New Year is a time to celebrate the coming of spring, to honor deities and ancestors, feast like you’ve never feasted before, and reunite with family (and friends). Each day of the New Year’s celebration consists of a different set of rituals and traditions. Like all holidays, it has changed over time, but the overall essence is still the same giving a sense of togetherness and relaxation with family and friends as well as reflections on the previous year and new hopes for the upcoming year.

Homemade green tea ice cream with whipped cream,
chocolate sauce, and a chocolate fortune cookie

Food is an important part of any celebration and, for the Chinese, like in many other cultures, various foods have symbolic meaning. The New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day dinners are a chance to try to cook up symbolic dishes and foods which will aid you in the upcoming year. Several examples of symbolic foods include:

Longevity: uncut noodles

Fertility: eggs, seeds

Wealth: oranges, spring rolls, egg rolls, dumplings

For a Sweet, Rich Year: dessert

Prosperity: whole fish

Columbus Eats- Part 2

Hand painted ceiling tiles at the Blue Danube made by their patrons

This is a continuation of my previous blog entry containing mini reviews of Columbus, Ohio restaurants. Enjoy!

Chiles Poblanos from El Vaquero



Blue Danube

Located on N. High St., north of the OSU campus, ‘The Dube’, as it is commonly called, is a Columbus staple that’s been around for more than half a century. I’ve hit up the Dube since I was a teenager and continue to eat there whenever I’m in town. It draws a hodgepodge of people from teens, to college kids, to hipsters, and so on. They have a mean jukebox, are open past midnight, and serve up diner/greasy spoon fare. The food can be hit or miss. I’ve always been fond of the fried goodies such as fried cauliflower, mushrooms, and zucchini. I recommend their breakfast burrito (they have a vegetarian version now) but be forewarned- it’s the size of a burrito from Chipotle. I’ll admit that it’s a bit of a dive. But it’s a dive full of fond memories and crazy awesome ceiling tiles.

Vegetarian Breakfast Burritos, from the Blue Danube,
stuffed with eggs, peppers, onions, mushrooms,
hashbrowns, and refried beans and topped
with enchilada sauce and cheese

Lavash Café

Lavash, located on High St., in Clintonville, dishes up heaping mounds of Mediterranean cuisine. Lavash has everything going for it- it’s relatively cheap, the food fresh and flavorful, it’s in a good location, and they have vegetarian and non vegetarian options alike on their menu. The only drawbacks: they give you a lot of food that you have to pick up, on a tray at the counter, which, when you’re eating with others, makes for zero room at their small tables.

http://www.lavashcafe.com/

Vegetable stew with almond basmati rice at Lavash Cafe

El Vaquero

Strangely, it can be a bit difficult, at times to get vegetarian cuisine at a Mexican restaurant without meat (for many restaurants, even the refried beans are cooked using pork), but El Vaquero, on Olentangy River Road, has a decent selection of veggie options on their menu. Here, you can get the norms of tacos, enchiladas, and the like and the wonderful complimentary chips and salsa that just keep on coming.

http://www.vaquerorestaurant.com/

The 'Lavash Combo' with spicy black bean hummus, tabbouleh,
falafel, and stuffed grape leaves

Columbus Eats- Part 1

Szechuan pickled turnip with shrimp at Fortune

Earlier this week I came back from my hometown of Columbus, Ohio where I spent nearly two weeks seeing friends and family and eating, virtually, nonstop. I really do love my hometown. I know what you’re thinking, “You miss Columbus? Really!?!?” but Columbus has moved away from its image of being a ‘cow town’ (although the OSU College of Agriculture does still have fields of cattle). It’s no New York City but Columbus has its own quirks and areas of interest without the hustle and bustle of big city life.



Tater tots and 'Beano' a vegeterian hotdog with refried beans,
diced tomatoes, mustard, and cheddar from Dirty Frank's

Columbus has a diverse and growing food scene. I’ve lived there for most of my life (minus the past 6+ years I’ve lived in Baltimore) and have traveled, relatively, extensively in and out of the United States, and I can tell you, from experience, that Columbus has more restaurants (and fast food joints) than any city I have ever been to. Naturally, this makes it hard to pick a restaurant to go to, but it’s wonderful that there are so many choices and the variety of different types of cuisine, in equally diverse and interesting neighborhoods, is outstanding. So for the next two posts, I will be doing mini reviews of several of my favorite restaurants in Columbus, Ohio. If you’re ever there, give them a try for some local flare!



Clay Pot with tofu from Fortune



Dirty Frank’s Hotdog Palace

Dirty Frank’s is not your average hotdog joint. Located in downtown Columbus, Frank’s serves up unique hotdogs. Now, the hotdogs themselves are just your average hotdogs, but the toppings are fun and different. Have you ever had a hotdog topped with crushed potato chips? What about cream cheese? Coleslaw or Sriracha mustard? Well, you can at Frank’s. For you vegeterians out there, Frank's will substitute a veggie dog for the all beef hotdog. Also, their tater tots and funnel fries are well worth a try. Avoid karaoke night at all costs- the place is small and they crank up the volume...

http://dirtyfrankscolumbus.com/



'Funnel Fries' a fry version of funnel cakes complete
with cinnamon and powdered sugar
from Dirty Frank's



Fortune Chinese Restaurant

Fortune is easy to overlook. It has an unassuming façade and is located in a strip mall near the OSU campus. They recently underwent new ownership and the current dishes (many are Szechuan), I must say, are remarkably tasty (although slightly greasy). If you are one that gets irritated, like I do, when you go to a restaurant and order something medium or hot and you get Americanized heat, then you will not have a problem here- the spicy dishes are spicy. My friend, Katie, ordered the dan dan noodles, without pork, so I could try them- simply amazing. Fortune surpasses your common strip mall Chinese restaurant in flavor and quality. And you leave happy and full without breaking the bank.

Christmas Cookies



Top to bottom: Mocha Logs, Almond Cookies, and Orange Chocolate Chip

Since I was all by my lonesome this weekend (Nick left for Ohio on Saturday), I made good use of my time, by finishing my Christmas shopping and watching movies, back to back, while making a massive amount of Christmas cookies.

When it starts getting cold out, all I want to do is bake, which is not something I have the luxury of doing in the summer when it is 100+ degrees in my 3^rd floor apartment. However, I do love to bake and when it begins to get cooler outside, my kitchen heats up with breads, cakes, cookies, rolls and the like, popping out of my oven whenever I feel like making something (which is pretty darn often).

My grandmother passed away a few years ago. She was an excellent cook and, luckily, I have copies of her recipes. I spent a portion of my weekend making her orange chocolate chip and mocha log cookie recipes, while reminiscing about sitting in her kitchen, on numerous occasions, when I was growing up, devouring cookie after cookie, laughing and being merry with my Italian relatives. Eating and food was what grandma loved and it showed in the enormous feasts she prepared when we visited.

Many people are under the impression that baking is very complicated. I won’t lie- it can be. But the average person isn’t going to go and make a chocolate gateau or spend all day making rustic Italian bread. There are certain baking rules that must be followed, of course, but baking can be easy, relaxing, somewhat meditative, and rewarding. My advice: If you are not a baker but suddenly feel inspired to bake a little something, don’t choose an overly complex recipe. Read through the recipe carefully and note the ingredients and directions. I think people get turned off to baking because they choose to make something too difficult for their skill level then become frustrated and disappointed in the results. Baking should be fun not a chore.

Ok, I know it's not cookies, but here is my origami forest!

Weekend of Non-Stop Eating

Christmas Street  (34st Street in Hampden- Baltimore, MD)

Acting goofy and ready to dip!

Two Ohio friends of ours, Adam and Katie, came to Baltimore for the weekend and what better way to experience a city then through its food and culture? We took them to the Lexington Market (a 200+ year old market), Edgar Allen Poe’s grave, the Waverly Farmer’s Market, and also to the overly bright and fantastic 34^th Street in Hampden, i.e. ‘Christmas Street’, which takes Christmas to the extreme (http://www.christmasstreet.com/). It was a little bit too cold and windy to do outdoor activities, mostly, so it was inside we stayed, playing games, and eating the time away with gusto!

Photo by Katie

The weekend highlight was Nick’s 31^st birthday. We held an ugly sweater and fondue party for the occasion, on Saturday, which turned out wonderfully. Everyone donned an ugly sweater and a friend and I made two different cheese fondues (a white wine and Swiss fondue and a cheddar beer fondue) and a chocolate amaretto fondue for dessert. Two fondue pots were set up at each end of the table and friends brought the dippers. There were sides of Sriracha devilled eggs (made by Adam), salad, cheese and crackers, and potato salad. We ate until we all felt like we were going to pop, while 70s music and funk blared from the stereo.

And, finally, the restaurants we attacked this weekend with our friends:

Pete’s Grill (there is a previous review of Pete’s in my blog)

Papermoon Diner

Cinghiale
Golden West

Me enjoying my cranberry ginger pear bread pudding at Papermoon Diner (Photo by Katie)

Papermoon Diner is one of my favorite places to take out-of-towners in Charles Village. It’s good diner fare in a kitschy, multicolored atmosphere, where your menus come to you within recycled (and modified) old children’s books and toys cover everything. And I do mean everything! It’s a vegetarian friendly restaurant. They have decent prices and give you a ton of food that is not your usual diner fare (although they do have the traditional stuff too).

Bruschetta sampler from Cinghiale (Photo by Katie))

For more upscale dining, we feasted at the Italian restaurant Cinghiale at Harbor East. Three of the four of us opted for the three-course meal option for $29, which includes several types of bruschetta for the appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert. Katie had squid ink farfalle and grilled calamari. The dessert, a brown sugar bonet (think flan) with candied bourbon pecans was amazing. Unfortunately, Cinghiale has very few vegetarian options on their menu, but they are willing to modify their dishes to suit your needs (we had both the waiter and manager come over to assist us in vegetarianizing our order).

Teriyaki Brussels Sprouts with a black bean burger and garlic fries at Golden West Cafe (Photo by Katie)

I’ve never been disappointed in Golden West Café in Hampden. The food is a hodgepodge of different types of cuisine. Although it mostly resembles Mexican cuisine there are also American style foods on the menu as well as Asian. Their garlic fries are outstanding. They’re like a garlicky version of carnival fries. And I even got my husband, Nick to try the teriyaki Brussels sprouts. Even though I didn’t order it this time, the Aztec Burrito is definitely worth trying.

Mexican Fare and Lighted Boats

To Christmas it up further, the husband and I went to the Baltimore waterfront, on Saturday, December 3, 2011, to watch the Parade of Lighted Boats on one of the piers in Fells Point. The parade is sponsored by the Fells Point Yacht Club. It was actually pretty darn fun. The boats came up to the pier, blaring music (some had choirs on board singing carols), one boat threw candy to the crowds on land, and all were showing off their flashy lights and decorations. I was amazed at how many boats participated.

After the parade, we stopped at Arcos for dinner. Arcos is a Mexican restaurant located on Broadway in Fells Point, in a somewhat sketchy area. I’ve been there once before, when I ate meat and enjoyed the experience. We thought we’d go back and try some of their vegetarian options this time around.

What we ate: quesadillas and vegetarian chile relleno (each dish came with a side of rice and refried black beans)

As far as Mexican food goes, Arcos was just average this time around, although their refried black beans were quite tasty. The quesadillas were, well, just quesadillas. They were stuffed with cheese and vegetables. Nothing fancy. Chile relleno is a roasted and fried, stuffed pepper, usually a poblano, which is stuffed with just about anything, but one of the most common fillers is cheese, or cheese and potatoes. At Arcos, the poblano pepper was stuffed with cheese and mixed vegetables. It was almost like eating a vegetable stew. Different, but not bad.

If you’re ever in Fells Point, I’d give them a try. But Fells is known for their many authentic Mexican (and other Hispanic) eateries, so you can try any place and it would be just as enjoyable.