The Pumpkin Éclair

I have a habit to stop by the Bryn Mawr Farmer’s Market on Saturday after my morning workout for a scone from the Wild Flour Bakery stand as a post-workout snack.

On this particular Saturday, they didn’t bring any scone to sell but lots of bread, pumpkin pies, etc. Amid my disappointment, I saw out of the corner of my eye the biggest éclair I have ever seen in my life. “Is that an éclair?” I asked. “Yes, it is…with a pumpkin cream filling,” came the reply.

Let’s put things in perspective. That’s the éclair on a 6 inch plate in the picture. That’s a quarter next to the plate. The éclair is like one normal size éclair sitting on top of 2 others lying side by side on the bottom like perky cheerleaders forming a pyramid cheer to get your attention.

The pastry was airy yet retained the right amount of elasticity and moisture. The pumpkin crème filling carried a slight hint of spice, was not over-sweetened, and had the consistency of a smooth semi-liquidly pie filling. Eating this éclair was like eating a pumpkin pie that was melting in the mouth! Except for the creamy cheesy (never figured out what it actually was) thing on top that I didn’t care for too much, this creation was over the top outrageous!

Now THAT’s a Cookie!

In the movie Crocodile Dundee, a punk kid pulls a knife on Dundee and his girlfriend while trying to rob them. Dundee looks at the kid, “That’s not a knife….Now THAT’s a knife,” while he pulls out his super-sized HE-MAN hunting knife.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Levain Bakery on the Upper West Side only makes four cookies, chocolate chip walnut, dark chocolate chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and dark chocolate peanut butter chip.
 

The walnut pieces in the chocolate chip walnut cookie give it a nice bite of textural contrast and taste. The dark chocolate chocolate chip is like a dense smooth brownie. The oatmeal raisin is refreshing and lovely. The dark chocolate peanut butter is just a sinful delight. None of the cookies is overly sweetened and each has its own unique character that can make anybody develop an addiction.

My friend said to me, “You gotta try one of these, they are the best cookies I have ever had.” “Sure, I’ll take one of each,” telling the shop girl behind the counter. What I didn’t expect was the weight of the bag when I tried to pick it up. With each cookie weighting in at 6 oz. each, the bag was 1 ½ lbs!  I wasn’t paying attention at its bulk until I looked into the bag staring at the cookies each about the size of a fat hamburger patty…Now THAT’s a cookie! 







Levain Bakery
167 West 74th St.
New York, NY 10023
http://www.levainbakery.com/

Heart and Soul

We celebrated the Día de los Muertos in San Antonio last year. We admired the locals’ makeshift memorials to honor their dearly departed, we watched the parade and became part of the parade….

This year, we celebrated this Day of the Dead holiday at Xochitl with a special “Heart and Soul” menu

A bowl of guacamole and corn chips with our margaritas at the bar when there was a delay with our table. Xochitl used to make this table side with drizzle of truffle oil, but this one was just handed to us across the counter already made, sans the truffle oil. Nevertheless, the guac was still quite good and it did a decent job of holding our hunger pangs in check while awaiting our first course

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Piel (Skin)

 

A simple dish of chicharrónes, salsa verde, with julianne stripes of apple. The nicely seasoned fried pig skin broke apart with a nice crackle in the mouth with the matchstick sized strips of apple providing a refreshing sweetness contrasting the texture and taste of the skin and the salsa.

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

Higado (Liver)

 

For a while, we thought the restaurant had lost its heart and soul as we waited aimlessly for our next course. Eternity ended when the piping hot foie gras and duck confit empanada with shaved hubbard squash and pomegranate-chipotle salsa finally made its way to our table. Biting through the crunchy crust of the empanada unveiled the soft squishy but succulent foie gras and duck filling. There’s certainly nothing additional needed for this wholesome pocket of goodness but the pomegranate-chipotle salsa with its fastidious spicy kick had surely elevated this dish to a different dimension.

Sangre (Blood)

Morcilla, beets, fennel, and walnut-tequila vinaigrette. The spices in this blood sausage from D’Angelo’s gave a nice fiery kick to the overall flavor of the dish while at the mean time it was nicely balanced by the cooling effect of the snappy biting beets. For extra flavor and dramatic effects, shaved walnuts were sprinkled on top of the morcilla.

 

 

 
 
 
 

Corazon (Heart)

 

 

“If I didn’t know beforehand, I wouldn’t have known that this is heart,” said the Tourist Tree. Although appearing on the slightly overcooked side with the burn on the edges, the earthy flavor of this meat was intoxicating. This beef heart taco was accompanied by foraged mushrooms, garnished with a cilantro sauce and completed with an over the top fried bone marrow that oozed into your mouth like hot jello after biting through the properly battered and seasoned deep fried crust. What seemed to be a simple taco was indeed a complex dish of flavors and textures interplaying for maximum sensation.
 
 

Alma (Soul)

   

The pan de muerto is a traditional sweet soft bread that is eaten during the weeks leading up to the Día de los Muertos. This Xochitl version had a rather dried hard outer crust with a pillow soft inner. I enjoyed eating this not so sweet bread by itself but also by dipping into the unique tasting goat cajeta which was just goat milk and sugar boiled down very very slowly into a very light syrup. This was a dessert I liked very much since nothing on the plate was particularly sweet except the couple pieces of quince paste on the side with its dense fruity sweet intensity.

 

Completely aware of Tourist Tree’s allergies throughout the dinner, our waitress brought her slices of fresh fruit, with a few pieces of quince paste on the side. Tourist Tree was relieved that she did not get the usual allergy sufferer special: sorbet.

 
Except the unexpected eternal wait for our second course during the dinner, everything was enjoyable and delicious for the evening. I was particularly impressed that the kitchen had stepped up and produced a remarkable dinner with items not frequently served on the more sedated regular menu, amid a full house for the evening. We were also impressed that our waitress was totally on the ball with Tourist Tree’s allergy without any reminder at all throughout the dinner and took initiative to make sure that she was able to eat everything put in front of her. It was nice to see the restaurant was still vibrant and putting out quality products despite the earlier departure of the much talented original chef and the renovations that followed which usually spell the doom for any smaller restaurant.
 
http://www.xochitlphilly.com/

Korean Fried Chicken

My Korean friend told me that the only fried chicken she knew of in Korea was the KFC. Ironically, she loves the Korean fried chicken she has had in New York and was totally interested in finding out from me where she could find this “American” invention in Philly.

I have heard a lot about the Korean fried chicken at Meritage. I have had Korean tacos there before and it would only be logical to have the fried chicken as the next progression.

The chicken is only available on Thursday nights as a dinner special for two. We received one wing assembly (wing, winglets, mini-drumstick), 2 drumsticks, and 3 pieces of bone-in breasts. The pieces were coated and fried to a mouth watering crispy crunch and coated lightly but evenly with the special house-made Korean sauce that had light hints of the fragment/pungent doenjang, soy, hoisin sauces and spices.

Biting through the snappily crunchy exterior revealed a perfectly fried chicken with moist soft meat. The flavor from the juice conveyed a piece of chicken sourced most likely from a quality (organic?) source. It tasted so unlike the industrialized hormone grown bland atomic chicken so mass-used in the market. This was a quality fried chicken with a unique twist of Koreaness.

In keeping with the Korean theme, the fried chicken came with several banchans: a refreshing coleslaw that’s neither creamy nor soggy but with crisp thinly julienned vegetables; lightly pickled carrots and cauliflowers; and a very satisfying tasting potato salad.

It may not be something that you would find in a traditional restaurant in Korea, but this shot-gun marriage of the best of American fried food and the best of Korean flavoring has hit all the right notes. Don’t be fooled by the “for two” moniker; you don’t want to share this and you will not have any problems finishing the plate.

http://www.meritagephiladelphia.com/

Domesticated

A first look at JG Domestic

We paid the Iron Chef’s newest venture a visit only a few weeks after its opening. We started with a few drinks at the bar which has a limited but decent beer list and a fitting variety of wines by the glass.

With cocktails in hand, we ordered the Salt and Vinegar Kettle Chips with Malt Vinegar Aioli for snack. The delicate, almost translucent chips came in a small bowl with the aioli on the bottom. The chips were small and so was the size of the order. They were delicious except I expected them to be at least warm and not looking like they had been sitting around for a while. The aioli was very tasty and befitting to the texture of the chips. This is a perfect bar food but for $4.00 an order, I expected a) a bit more chips than a small child’s handful; and b) fresh off the fryer hot.

We were seated in the “outside” portion of the restaurant by the wall of herbs and plants since we wanted to have dinner at a table. The restaurant is “interesting”. The entrance is via a not too wide opening on either side of the hostess station with an immediate left or right turn to reach the “outside” dining room. For some strange reason, I had the urge to reach into the pocket for my SEPTA token approaching the narrow passageways into the restaurant until I realized that the turnstile was missing and hostesses behind the counter were a lot more attractive than the stern face emotionless SEPTA employees.

The restaurant is spread out with “outside” and “inside” sections with tables, booths, communal tables spread out in both areas and the open kitchen straddling the middle. Sitting in the “outside” of the restaurant is sitting in the open atrium lobby of the Cira Centre, except with a few decorative pergola and lattice work overhead. “You are outside…but you are not…”(cue the Rod Sterling music)

We felt a bit discarded to the Siberia wilderness when we were seated at a table along the outside edge of the “outside”. We were closer to the revolving door that leads to the street than the bar. Fortunately, that feeling melted away when our waiter, Nathan, showed up at the table. His warmth and friendliness made us feel welcome and we appreciated his efforts in making sure the kitchen could understand and accommodate Tourist Tree’s food allergies.
 
The remoteness further faded away when the bread arrived in a warm cast iron skillet with a light coat of melted butter and sea salt sprinkled on top. The accompanying whipped butter was an excellent match for the light-as-a-cloud soft moist bread. I particularly enjoyed the apple thyme jelly that was made with apple cider and fresh thyme.

Market Crudité

With Tourist Tree’s allergies in mind, Nathan brought over a mason jar of farm fresh vegetable for her while I was busy stuffing my face with the warm soft bread. From my perspective across the table, this concoction looked like a V8 Bloody Mary minus the liquid. I have never tasted a goddess before and have to say that the Green Goddess Dressing was… interesting. Tourist Tree was thoroughly enjoying her daily USDA vegetable requirement while I wondered if that’s $10.00 that Aiiyah would pay for rabbit food.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hudson Valley Potted Duck

A three layer construction of shredded confit on the bottom, foie gras mousse in the middle and orange geleé on top. I found the vertical arrangement of the ingredients intriguing despite that I didn’t like the fact that I had to dig my food out of a jar. Each layer was delicious. The combination of the layers was fascinating. Spreading the mixture on the crostini was a highlight in flavor and texture. For $9.00, I would eat this cholesterol bomb everyday over the colon cleansing $10.00 veggies in a jar market crudité.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Smoked Chestnut Soufflé

Eating this $9.00 soufflé was like snuggling in a warm blanket in a comfy soft bed in cold winter. This perfectly executed dish was made with smoked chestnuts and roasted spaghetti squash with braised golden raisins sprinkled within the creation. It was sweet; it was moist; it was the perfect comfort food; and it was delicious. We were glad that we stopped the server from pouring the maple butter sauce into the soufflé when it arrived at the table. The sauce had a nice rich taste of maple syrup without being overwhelmingly rich or heavy, but the soufflé was fine just without it. We enjoyed it without the sauce masking its true flavor and turning it into a semi-dessert.

 
 

Elk

Game meat is a delicate issue. Cooking it wrong results in tough, gamey, dried out protein. Fortunately, this kitchen turned this $24.00 elk tenderloin into a soft, juicy, medium-rare, nicely seasoned tasty treat without much of a trace of the wilderness. The accompanying huckleberry sauce and celery puree were a good compliment to the meat, however the flavor and texture would have been more apparent if the meat were warmer. This elk had lost its heat roaming from the kitchen to the outerbanks of the dining room.

Kabocha Squash, Black Kale, Candied Squash Seeds

A decent vegetable dish with the squash being the highlight that balanced out the bitterness of the kale. It would had been a more interesting dish if the sheep milk cheese from Otterbein Acres were present but it was left out to accommodate Tourist Tree’s preference. At $10.00, it was a pretty expensive vegetable dish in a tiny side dish portion.

Green Village Suckling Pig, Garlic, Rosemary, Natural Jus.


This was the dish under the Whole Animal category on the menu ($26.00). The suckling pig was first braised in Yuengling Lager and then its different parts were done with different preparations.

The ribs were glazed with a sweet sauce with the meat tender, moist and falling right off the bone. The meat from the roasted front leg was delicious and succulent. The sautéed rear hind leg came with an addictive sauce that matched the characteristics of the meat nicely. The tenderloin was cooked perfectly with the meat soft and supple. The belly was uncharacteristically like a tenderloin with not much fat in it. The interestingly done headcheese had a heavier seasoning that could have been less aggressive to show the delicate flavor of the meat.

Pear

A Tourist Tree safe dessert with a poached pear, cranberry pear sorbet, marjoram sabayon. Unlike poached pears at some places that were boiled to a sugary mush, these little pieces were firm with only a light touch of sweetness. The cranberry pear sorbet was also done in a subtle note of flavor that was not overpowering with sweetness.

Tourist Tree devoured this $9.00 dessert happily with a glass of 2007 Pac Rim “Vin De Glaciére” late harvest Riesling ($16.00) from Columbia Valley, Washington.

Pumpkin

This was a play on the traditional PB&J sandwich. Pumpkin cake layered with pumpkin peanut butter with swirled pumpkin and sour cream ice cream on top. It did look and taste just like a PB&J when dipping the bread in the grape jelly sauce on the plate. The pumpkin confit pieces on the side were also wonderfully done. A very righteous dessert ($8.00).

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Concord Grape Square and Chocolate Almond Truffle

We were very impressed that the staff and the kitchen were quite up to speed already since the restaurant had only been open for a few weeks. Our server Nathan was enthusiastic, positive, very polite, and went out of his way to make us feel welcome and to tackle Tourist Tree’s food allergies. When we inquired about the wines, he brought us several different tasting glasses to sample until we decided on the Sean Minor Four Bears cabernet that would go well with our dinner selections. The kitchen did not skip a beat in getting the food out and making the special request dishes correctly. There were a few dishes that, although very good, were a bit over priced. However, on the other end, there are dishes that were just spectacular, regardless of price.