Do you know the pony?
Page 8 of 24
Eiffel Tower, after a spring rainstorm in wonderful late afternoon flight.
CVILLE-NOV-2007-6364, originally uploaded by minhi.
Friday is cupcake day at the Mudhouse–which is a coffee house on the downtown mall. I think it’s the best of the coffee houses there, and surprisingly there is no Starbucks on the mall.
Yes, that little bit of frosting is shaped like a chilli pepper because there is cayenne pepper in the chocolate frosting. I’ve had a spicy hot chocolate before (Jacque Torres, NYC, Dumbo location), and it’s good. It tastes like chocolate with a chaser of spiciness, wierd, but interesting and good.
I like the coffee better at Shenadoah Joe’s but the Mudhouse coffee is very respectable.
beet-gnocchi.jpg, originally uploaded by minhi.
I found this recipe through Mark Bittman’s “The Best Recipes in the World” show on PBS. You can find the recipe on his website. Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson’s Gnochetti with Roasted Beets, Swiss Chard, Horse Radish. Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson is the chef/owner at the Boulder Colorado restaurant Frasca. Incidentally if you’re near Boulder, make it a point to stop by there’s great food there.
In the original recipe he uses Swiss Chard, however if you want to keep things a little simpler and you buy good beets with the greens still on you can use the beet greens instead of buying chard. I’ve never made the gnochetti as i’m too lazy, i opt for frozen gnocchi or in a pinch the shelf stable gnocchi from Trader Joe’s. For the horseradish, you can get it at most ethnic stores, as well as Whole Foods. I usually leave it out as i always forget to buy it, same thing for the smoked ricotta (who the cheese person at Whole Foods told me does not exist, but it does). I use a nice parmigano for the saltiness.As you can see it’s really open you can substitute whatever you like for pretty much everything except the beets. The magic of this dish is in how the beets color the gnocchi, i’ve gotten more compliments for this dish then anything i’ve ever made. I guess people don’t eat neon colored food often. It’s a great appetizer/starter course, i find it gets a little heavy if you serve too big of a portion–the gnocchi is deceptively heavy. It’s also vegetarian friendly and if you can figure out how to deal with the butter sauce (you could try olive oil, or even a dressing of some sort) and leave out the cheese you could make it vegan.
As you can see from the pictures, you can use any colored beets you’d like to make it. The taste for either is basically the same.
As you can see from the pictures, you can use any colored beets you’d like to make it. The taste for either is basically the same.
Yellow One
Red One 
I’ve baked at least a dozen loaves of the Mark Bittman No Knead Bread. This is the first one that actually rised and came out to my satisfaction. All the previous ones were fine, but i always felt that they were too low and dense. The last few loaves i stumbled on something, previously i kept reducing the amount of water in an attempt to make the dough easier to manage. I created a dough that was less sticky and more like normal dough, but it never really rised as much in the oven and the crust was always a little too thick.
A few loaves ago i accidentally put in too much water (or it was humid) and it came out really wet. As wet as in the youtube videos, this makes for a completely unmanageable dough, it’s so sticky you can’t really form it in a ball, and you end up chucking it into the pot.
Well it seems counter intuitive but this resulted in the best loaf i’ve baked so far. As you can see this one is pretty high out the oven, and the crumb structure is nicely developed. Crust is nice but not too thick, the interior is moist but not as wet as my previous loaves. I really hope i can repeat this on the next loaf. The biggest change i made recently was to go for a wetter dough and i just switched to a bag of Pillsbury Bread flour. My previous bag was Gold Medal Bread flour but i did not get a result this good. I’d like to try the King Arthur Bread flour (even higher protein percentage) but it’s 50% more expensive so i’m still holding out on that.
I think this bread is perfectly acceptable as a replacement for store bought bread, I have not bought a loaf of bread in nearly a year. It’s a pain to wait 24 hours for the dough to rise and develop but i just plan ahead and average 2 loaves a week. I’m not sure why, maybe the extra moisture makes toasting it really nice, it comes out warm and steamy.
It took two tries for me to eat here. The first time i was out-ranked on the restaurant choice. The second time i was eating by myself. I took the “El” in from Midway airport (my hotel location). Easy to get to the loop, as it’s the only place that line really goes. I took the Washington and Wells stop and it was a 15 minutes walk. If you come from Randolph and Wabash (near Millenium Park) it’s maybe a 30 minute walk and a little over 1 mile walk.
I sat at the hostess station at the end of the bar (last seat available). The space is modern with blonde wood accents in a long rectangle with the bar running down one side looking into the open kitchen. The best seat is at the far end of the bar right in front of the stoves. The other side of the room has a long bench with tables throughout. The seating is communal so you’ll be sitting next to strangers (unless you bring a full table of 6). They do not take reservations so be prepared to wait. The room is also very loud, with hard surfaces and one long room it amplifies the noise. The crowd is quite young and hip looking, if you have to wait you can have drinks on the sidewalk outside. There is valet parking, and there is limited street parking.
The menu is on their website (Avec Restaurant Chicago), it is divided into small plates and large plates. Let me warn you up front that the large plates are too big for one person. I ordered the chicken and even without the first course i could not have finished it alone. For the small plates i think 2 would feed one person fine, for 2 people 1 small and 1 large or 2 smalls and 1 large would be fine. From the prices you can see it is not expensive to eat here, their portions are large.
As far as my take on the food, the chorizu stuff dates wrapped in bacon taste just like it sounds. The dates you can make out a little bit but it’s salty spicy porkiness. The red-pepper sauce is really addictive and the portugese roll is great to soak up the sauce. As a warning it’s a touch spicy.
The chicken was cooked well, in that it was not over-cooked. Oddly the chicken was warm but not hot (whereas the dates were temp hot), the garnish was a roasted butternut squash (a little soft), shaved apples (nice crunch) and roasted cippolini onions (a nice change of pace).
My server picked the wine on my only pre-condition (a white, it was hot. a red would’ve suited the first course but i think white was better for the chicken), it was very drinkable, which is really my only want in a wine. As a warning i thought the wine prices looked a little high only after drinking some of it i realized that it’s 250ml, which is more then a single glass. I had to leave some there as i could not finish it. It comes in a small carafe so you can share it if you like.
My only complaint about service is that I had about half my food uneaten (and untouched), but the person that took my food away did not offer me a box. I did not neccessarily want them but considering how much food was on the plate they should’ve asked me.
I would eat here again, it’s an asset to the neighborhood to have such a good value. My only complaint is with the noise level, it is so loud that i would not come here if i was in the mood for someplace a little more quiet. I guess in that situation i would think about the sister restaurant next door, Blackbird.
nandos-receipt.jpg, originally uploaded by minhi.
Apparently Nando’s Peri-Peri is a beloved chain from South Africa, mention this chain to any South African or someone that has spent time in SA and they will gaze longingly in the distance. They will also quickly point out that it is grilled (not fried) chicken and that it is classier then KFC. The chain has locations in the UK but the first one opened in DC over the summer, check out their classy web site.
I took someone over the weekend, she had been to Nando’s in SA many times, her first impression was that it was the nicest Nando’s she’s ever been to, apparently Nando’s is not quite as fancy in SA. From the receipt you can see it’s a little upmarket, more expensive then Boston Market or Chicken Out, but less expensive then a full sit-down restaurant.
It’s actually hybrid fast-food/casual dining, you are seated but you have to go to the counter to order and then they bring you your food. It’s pretty quick turnaround, you get your food in 10-15 minutes so you can get out in an hour.
How’s the food? Well, i thought it was ok, it tastes different then other chicken places in the area. And the SA perspective was that it did in fact taste the same. My chicken was a touch dry and the medium spicy is not spicy at all, just a hint and almost bland, get the hot. The first order of chicken livers they brought was extra hot and that was too hot for me. The second order was medium and that was spicier then the chicken but edible. I thought the livers had a funky finish, not bad but a little off-putting. My side of butternut-squash and corn seemed like a good idea but it was cold and didn’t really meld together. It was basically squash sprinkled with corn. The grilled cheese was really satisfying. The tea also tasted like fresh tea.
I am wondering how they will compete against all the chicken places in the suburbs but i guess that’s not their competition. The first location is in Chinatown and their next location is Dupont Circle so it’s a different market that they are shooting for then the value/budget crowd. They also have wraps and sandwiches if you don’t want grilled chicken. For dessert they have unlimited serving soft serve! As well as some cheesecakes, ice cream and a portugese tart.
The last comment my dinner companion made was that she would be laughed out of SA if they knew how much we just paid for two at a Nando’s. In her defense I paid for dinner and she will remain nameless.
Tofu for Obama, originally uploaded by minhi.
I think this sums out how i feel about the whole Obama support. If Tofu could vote, don’t you think they’d join the fervor for Obama? I got this from http://chriscreatures.etsy.com. It looks to be sold out but give them an email, they’re really nice.
Ah, WD-50. I’ve wanted to eat here for the last 3 years and never could find a person to take. They are somewhat vegetarian unfriendly in that the menu is experimental so you don’t always know what to expect. Hard to plan for people with diet restrictions. But I finally made it, here’s our dinner menu
Now how was the food? I can pretty much guarantee that every dish will make you raise your eyebrow. Raise your eyebrow when it arrives, raise your eyebrow when you smell it, raise your eyebrow when you taste it! You will also keep repeating that ‘it’s wierd, but it works’ to yourself.
If i were return i would approach the menu a little differently. The fun part of eating here is the wow factor of each dish and that really works for the appetizers but i found the entrees abut too much. What was wow initially become a drag to eat. Even the Wagyu with coffee gnocchi (not that wierd) with coconut cream (yeah it’s wierd) that Frank Bruni from the NYTimes loved, i found a little tiring about halfway through it. On a return visit i would just order a few appetizers and dessert. Dessert is definately the most approachable part of this menu. You can even do a 3 course tasting menu for a slight discount.
Obviously the prices are a bit high, we did not drink, though the drink menu is equally interesting. The tables are pretty close to each other and everyone is friendly in a ‘what did we get ourselves into?’ kind of way. You will be looking over at other tables trying to figure out what people have ordered so be ready to be social! On the prices keep in mind this is New York city, that’s actually not that expensive, there are better values out there but the entertainment level/food theatre is extremely high here.
One funny thing about the neighborhood, i visited this street about 2 years ago and figured the gentrification would radically change it. Well not so much, if anything i thought it was even seedier then before! And to prove my point, Tatum O’neal was arrested for trying to buy crack a few streets over (on the other side of Houston) right as we were sitting down to dinner! What’s the street coming to!!
Tallula_receipt, originally uploaded by minhi.
Brunch at Tallula. Ok, so for the last few years i’ve become a bit of a brunch snob. It’s not like i try to be, i never go to brunch alone when i’m in DC. I will go alone when I’m travelling for work, but it somehow seems less creepy and desperate in that case. But in the last few years I’ve had brunch numerous times in NYC–what i consider to be the proto-typical (for good or bad) brunch. Clinton Street Bakery, Good Enough to Eat, Jane, Fairway (yes the Fairway does a great brunch), and numerous others i can’t even name. I can’t tell you exactly but there is a certain something about NYC brunch. And now I’ve found it in northern virginia. For 3 years I lived down the street from what is now Tallula, it use to be a divey/greasy bar called “whiteys” with half-price burger nights (tuesday?). When I arrived at Tallula i was pretty shocked at all the work they did. It’s a little haphazard in the sense that the design is an amalgamation of lots of different elements.
Now for the food, my brunch companion ordered the Graham Beck which is some sparky wine from South Africa that is rarely seen on American menus according to my frequent SA visiting companion. The ricotta cherry pancakes were succesful, if a little lite on the cherries. The bacon didn’t quite hold up to NYC standards for thick cut bacon, it was surprisingly ordinary actually but satisfactory. The pastrami hash was excellent, a little too nyc in that it was quite refined, a fine dice of house-made pastrami and crispy potataoes.
Overall I liked it quite a bit, unfortunately as you can see from the receipt, this brunch also has NYC style prices! I think the food would hold it’s own against a NYC brunch, but it’s not cheap. If you’re interested here’s a tip, get there when they open at 11AM or make a reservation. Reservations? ok so they’re not quite new york city yet.