Weekend fooding
Mon, May. 22nd, 2006 02:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterYesterday we went to a trendy Vietnamese-inspired fusion restaurant. Thankfully, it was less trendy than the last place, which meant the noise levels were conducive to actual conversation. Since I had to wait for a table and since my dad apparently likes perusing the wine lists even more than perusing the menus, I got to order for the entire table.
We ended up getting the appetizer sampler (I adore appetizers! I wish there were restaurants with nothing but appetizers, though I suppose that's what a prix fixe menu is supposed to be), which included the standard Vietnamese spring rolls (my favorite thing ever), Vietnamese fried spring rolls, this little sausage type thing wrapped in what seemed to be a lotus leaf, and a lovely little salad of marinated strips of some vegetable -- I thought it was something resembling daikon, but my mom thought it was papaya -- topped with very, very dried beef that had apparently been cured with tea leaf or something. That was actually my favorite, despite the always wonderful Vietnamese spring rolls, just because of the lightly marinated, crispy, vinegary veggies and the salty tanginess of the beef strips.
Then there was a seared Ahi tuna salad with avocado and shreds of ripe papaya on top of "micro greens." I think "micro greens" are really just dark greens. Anyhow, it was lovely, and it was lightly dressed with a mix of ginger, soy and yuzu (I don't know what that is), and I loved how there was the occasional saltiness of soy and the occasional fresh fruit mingled with the slight bitterness of the greens.
The more traditional dish turned out to be crab and mung bean noodles. As you know, Bob-people, mung bean noodles are fairly common in Asia and have a delightfully springy, elastic, chewy quality that's very different from semolina-based pasta. It's even springier than rice-based noodles. And they cook clear, which startled my college roommates! Anyhow, the noodles were actually brownish because of the soy sauce and had lumps of crab meat at the bottom of the giant clay pot, all seasoned with pepper and a bit of garlic. Alas, the garlic was too raw to be eaten, though my dining companions were probably grateful for this fact.
Then we had sliced duck breast with pomegranate sauce, though I couldn't actually tell it was pomegranate. I feel it should have been a beautiful ruby red, but sadly, no. Also, it was a little too thick and a little too sweet and just slightly overpowered the duck. The duck was on braised brussel sprouts, which still arne't my favorite vegetable, despite my great fondness for childhood abominations like broccoli and spinach. There were also lamb chops, which I decided on last minute because I saw another table having them and couldn't resist the side of sweet potato fries. I almost always end up getting things because of the sides! I adore sweet potato fries! The lamb chops themselves were pretty good too, and nicely medium rare, though the sauce was also a little too sweet and thick, but the baby bok choi they came with were really, really tasty and weren't overwhelmed by the sauce.
And for more vegetables, we had a stir fry of sugar snap peas, gai lan (Chinese broccoli?), cabbage, bok choi, shiitake mushrooms, baby corn and carrot slices, which was very tasty, and I ended up eating nearly all the sugar snap peas, which are the best things ever. And for dessert, there was chocolate lava cake, which is that dense, chocolatey cake with a molten interior and soooooo good!
Sunday morning, I dragged my mom with me to the farmer's market, despite the gray skies and the occasional drizzle. Loot includes: three cartons of blueberries (first of the season!), one of raspberries, approx. 4 lbs. of sugar snap peas, which are sadly getting too old and too starchy, carrots, a sweet baguette, olive bread, cherries, green beans, onions, dumplings, and truffle mousse. The truffle mousse, baguette and cherries were for the Napa trip. I also saw that the first English peas of the season are out, and they're delightfully tiny and surprisingly sweet, and I was so mad that I got the sugar snap peas before seeing them! I shall have to get some the week after Wiscon and hope that the Madison farmer's market will have English peas, because I'll just eat them raw.
And since the dad was invited on some Napa Valley trip thing, me and my mom got to tag along as well! We had sandwiches in the limo, though I mostly passed on them, having had a four-cheese crepe (mmmmm goat) and a lemon and sugar crepe at the little French bakery after the farmer's market. Also, the ride was very jouncy and I was slowly turning a most unbecoming shade of puce. I did, however, have loads of cherries and a bit of truffle mousse on baguette. I kept trying to get my dad's colleagues to have the mousse on the baguette, because it was delightfully fresh, and really, there's nothing as good as fresh bread. Plus, it was a great texture for the mousse and the slight sweetness of the bread complemented it much better than the water crackers they were having!
Alas, most of them didn't listen to me, but that means I've still got half a baguette and a bit of cherries. I can't believe most of them passed on the cherries! Silly people.
Also, since there were so many people, we actually sat in a Hummer limo. They are fricking enormous! I felt so bad for the guy who had to drive it, because each turn took about five minutes to set up! Also, it had a gazillion champagne glasses and little fiber optic stars on the ceiling that changed colors, and I felt like I was going to prom with Veronica Mars. Except, you know, without the fancy dress and with a lot of people I didn't know.
We had lots of wine. I sadly have no nose or tongue for wine, and I can't really tell if they were good, although everyone else agreed that they were quite exceptional. I feel like I should develop a taste for wine, especially considering that my dad loves the stuff, which means I get some pretty tasty ones when I eat with him, but sadly, I just don't seem to appreciate it. I did, however, have a merlot that just melted into the piece of parmesan I ate right after, and the effect so impressed me that I ate about five more bits with sips of the wine! Finally! I can tell when a food goes well with a wine! I had a similar experience with port and chocolate cabernet truffle, though I suspect I would have appreciate the truffle even without the port. Still, it was really nifty having the rich plumminess of the port turn into dark chocolate, and oh, it was good chocolate!
We all had way too much wine, including a blind tasting. My dad and his friend, unsurprisingly, did quite well. The rest of us sat around, sniffed at our three glasses, and tried to look somewhat intelligent as my dad spouted off which ones were Californian and which were French and how old they were and etc.
Then, my favorite part! Fancy restaurant! I always get somewhat bored after a few hours of people sniffing wine, declaring that such and such wine smells of such and such, as I attempt to sagely nod and end up only tasting the alcohol.
I had:
- A tiny shot of fennel soup with a light sprinkling of chives on top, and apparently my nose is worse than I thought, because it smelled like vichyssoise, accompanied with a slice of pate fondant on stale bread. Mmmmmm. It's disturbing how quickly I've developed a taste for internal organs.
- Half a lobster tail poached in butter on top of a piece of crusty but still soft brioche and a layer of mooshed avocado, which was fresh and spring-like. And since the guy next to me ogled at it, I offered him some in return for his foie gras. So I also had:
- Pan-seared foie gras with poached rhubarb slices. The rhubarb slices were wafer thin (said with a horrible French accent, a la Alton Brown) and on top of a little flaky pastry thing, and oh, foie gras! It's just slightly seared, enough so the outside has a lovely brown crust that's extremely salty and dark and rich, and the inside sweet-bitterness of foie gras just melts on your tongue.
- Ahi tuna sashimi on top of marinated celery and fennel (I think... the menu just said "crunchy vegetables," which is no help at all), with a side of caviar on creme fraische. Um, yes. I got it just for the caviar on creme fraische. I love how it just works together every time, the salty and the sour, the slight crunch and the creaminess. Mmmmmm.
- My dad had onion-crusted halibut, braised radish, new onions, and fava bean sauce (must get fava beans next time at the farmer's market and resist the temptation to pretend to be Hannibal Lecter). This meant I got to steal some! The vegetables were delightfully springy and fresh, and I've decided fava beans are excellent, but sadly, the halibut was just a bit overdone.
- Then there was a little course of pan-seared scallops, sweetbreads, and baby onions with sunchoke puree. I have no idea what a sunchoke is, but I suspect it's odd-looking. Also, they taste good pureed. Also also, baby onions, best thing ever! With these fancy restaurants, I can never tell if I like the veggie sides better or the main bit. It's so hard to tell when the veggies are so fresh. The scallop was perfectly done, seared and slightly salty and crispy on the outside and nearly raw and firm and really delicate on the inside. The sweetbreads were made into a little disc about half the size of the scallop, and I couldn't tell if I liked it better or the scallop. Again, I am amazed at how quickly I have learned to love internal organs.
- My main course was bacon-wrapped veal loin (though for the life of me, I don't remember the bacon), morel mushrooms, English peas, Bibb lettuce and sweetbreads. Um, yes. Despite having had peas for the past two weeks and sugar snap peas for the past two dinners, I got this largely for the side. Also, I figure you can't go too wrong with veal. The veal was delicious and tender and less red than I thought it wouls be. Sadly, the sauce was a little too thick and too salty, so it made the morels and the chunks of sweetbread entirely too salty, and completely overwhelmed the lovely spring-ness of the peas. Why have English peas if you just drown out the flavor? Also, the peas I had last week were better. These peas were a little on the mushy side. Indeed, I am picky about my peas now. But! The surprise of the dish turned out to be the Bibb lettuce, which was chiffoned (is that right? You know, cut into teeny strips), marinated with something slightly vingary. The lettuce was surprisingly buttery, and the sauce was tart enough to bring out the flavor, and it contrasted wonderfully with the veal.
- My mom had beef and asparagus with daube ravioli, which meant I got some too. I have no idea what daube is, but it tasted like shredded dried beef, very similar to the dried and shredded pork in Chinese food. The asparagus was lovely. The beef was deep red and delicious, and I couldn't finish all of it.
- Then there was a little dish of brown sugar jelly topped with mandarine sorbet. The brown sugar jelly was, of course, very sweet, with a bit of burnt caramel flavor, and the mandarine sorbet was fresh, but I personally think they should have gone for a very, very, very tart lemon to cut through the sweetness of the jelly.
- For dessert, I had this chocolate mousse log with bits of praline in it and a hazelnut spun crusty thing on top, with creme fraische, and I had bites of my mom's sorbets (pineapple, green apple, and grapefruit, none of which were tart enough for me) and my dad's strawberry white chocolate Napoleon (very good). And we had this lovely dessert wine that was all tawny and sweet and peachy. I usually suck at comparing wines to fruits, but it definitely was peach nectar-y. imho.
And now, I must go to bed!
We ended up getting the appetizer sampler (I adore appetizers! I wish there were restaurants with nothing but appetizers, though I suppose that's what a prix fixe menu is supposed to be), which included the standard Vietnamese spring rolls (my favorite thing ever), Vietnamese fried spring rolls, this little sausage type thing wrapped in what seemed to be a lotus leaf, and a lovely little salad of marinated strips of some vegetable -- I thought it was something resembling daikon, but my mom thought it was papaya -- topped with very, very dried beef that had apparently been cured with tea leaf or something. That was actually my favorite, despite the always wonderful Vietnamese spring rolls, just because of the lightly marinated, crispy, vinegary veggies and the salty tanginess of the beef strips.
Then there was a seared Ahi tuna salad with avocado and shreds of ripe papaya on top of "micro greens." I think "micro greens" are really just dark greens. Anyhow, it was lovely, and it was lightly dressed with a mix of ginger, soy and yuzu (I don't know what that is), and I loved how there was the occasional saltiness of soy and the occasional fresh fruit mingled with the slight bitterness of the greens.
The more traditional dish turned out to be crab and mung bean noodles. As you know, Bob-people, mung bean noodles are fairly common in Asia and have a delightfully springy, elastic, chewy quality that's very different from semolina-based pasta. It's even springier than rice-based noodles. And they cook clear, which startled my college roommates! Anyhow, the noodles were actually brownish because of the soy sauce and had lumps of crab meat at the bottom of the giant clay pot, all seasoned with pepper and a bit of garlic. Alas, the garlic was too raw to be eaten, though my dining companions were probably grateful for this fact.
Then we had sliced duck breast with pomegranate sauce, though I couldn't actually tell it was pomegranate. I feel it should have been a beautiful ruby red, but sadly, no. Also, it was a little too thick and a little too sweet and just slightly overpowered the duck. The duck was on braised brussel sprouts, which still arne't my favorite vegetable, despite my great fondness for childhood abominations like broccoli and spinach. There were also lamb chops, which I decided on last minute because I saw another table having them and couldn't resist the side of sweet potato fries. I almost always end up getting things because of the sides! I adore sweet potato fries! The lamb chops themselves were pretty good too, and nicely medium rare, though the sauce was also a little too sweet and thick, but the baby bok choi they came with were really, really tasty and weren't overwhelmed by the sauce.
And for more vegetables, we had a stir fry of sugar snap peas, gai lan (Chinese broccoli?), cabbage, bok choi, shiitake mushrooms, baby corn and carrot slices, which was very tasty, and I ended up eating nearly all the sugar snap peas, which are the best things ever. And for dessert, there was chocolate lava cake, which is that dense, chocolatey cake with a molten interior and soooooo good!
Sunday morning, I dragged my mom with me to the farmer's market, despite the gray skies and the occasional drizzle. Loot includes: three cartons of blueberries (first of the season!), one of raspberries, approx. 4 lbs. of sugar snap peas, which are sadly getting too old and too starchy, carrots, a sweet baguette, olive bread, cherries, green beans, onions, dumplings, and truffle mousse. The truffle mousse, baguette and cherries were for the Napa trip. I also saw that the first English peas of the season are out, and they're delightfully tiny and surprisingly sweet, and I was so mad that I got the sugar snap peas before seeing them! I shall have to get some the week after Wiscon and hope that the Madison farmer's market will have English peas, because I'll just eat them raw.
And since the dad was invited on some Napa Valley trip thing, me and my mom got to tag along as well! We had sandwiches in the limo, though I mostly passed on them, having had a four-cheese crepe (mmmmm goat) and a lemon and sugar crepe at the little French bakery after the farmer's market. Also, the ride was very jouncy and I was slowly turning a most unbecoming shade of puce. I did, however, have loads of cherries and a bit of truffle mousse on baguette. I kept trying to get my dad's colleagues to have the mousse on the baguette, because it was delightfully fresh, and really, there's nothing as good as fresh bread. Plus, it was a great texture for the mousse and the slight sweetness of the bread complemented it much better than the water crackers they were having!
Alas, most of them didn't listen to me, but that means I've still got half a baguette and a bit of cherries. I can't believe most of them passed on the cherries! Silly people.
Also, since there were so many people, we actually sat in a Hummer limo. They are fricking enormous! I felt so bad for the guy who had to drive it, because each turn took about five minutes to set up! Also, it had a gazillion champagne glasses and little fiber optic stars on the ceiling that changed colors, and I felt like I was going to prom with Veronica Mars. Except, you know, without the fancy dress and with a lot of people I didn't know.
We had lots of wine. I sadly have no nose or tongue for wine, and I can't really tell if they were good, although everyone else agreed that they were quite exceptional. I feel like I should develop a taste for wine, especially considering that my dad loves the stuff, which means I get some pretty tasty ones when I eat with him, but sadly, I just don't seem to appreciate it. I did, however, have a merlot that just melted into the piece of parmesan I ate right after, and the effect so impressed me that I ate about five more bits with sips of the wine! Finally! I can tell when a food goes well with a wine! I had a similar experience with port and chocolate cabernet truffle, though I suspect I would have appreciate the truffle even without the port. Still, it was really nifty having the rich plumminess of the port turn into dark chocolate, and oh, it was good chocolate!
We all had way too much wine, including a blind tasting. My dad and his friend, unsurprisingly, did quite well. The rest of us sat around, sniffed at our three glasses, and tried to look somewhat intelligent as my dad spouted off which ones were Californian and which were French and how old they were and etc.
Then, my favorite part! Fancy restaurant! I always get somewhat bored after a few hours of people sniffing wine, declaring that such and such wine smells of such and such, as I attempt to sagely nod and end up only tasting the alcohol.
I had:
- A tiny shot of fennel soup with a light sprinkling of chives on top, and apparently my nose is worse than I thought, because it smelled like vichyssoise, accompanied with a slice of pate fondant on stale bread. Mmmmmm. It's disturbing how quickly I've developed a taste for internal organs.
- Half a lobster tail poached in butter on top of a piece of crusty but still soft brioche and a layer of mooshed avocado, which was fresh and spring-like. And since the guy next to me ogled at it, I offered him some in return for his foie gras. So I also had:
- Pan-seared foie gras with poached rhubarb slices. The rhubarb slices were wafer thin (said with a horrible French accent, a la Alton Brown) and on top of a little flaky pastry thing, and oh, foie gras! It's just slightly seared, enough so the outside has a lovely brown crust that's extremely salty and dark and rich, and the inside sweet-bitterness of foie gras just melts on your tongue.
- Ahi tuna sashimi on top of marinated celery and fennel (I think... the menu just said "crunchy vegetables," which is no help at all), with a side of caviar on creme fraische. Um, yes. I got it just for the caviar on creme fraische. I love how it just works together every time, the salty and the sour, the slight crunch and the creaminess. Mmmmmm.
- My dad had onion-crusted halibut, braised radish, new onions, and fava bean sauce (must get fava beans next time at the farmer's market and resist the temptation to pretend to be Hannibal Lecter). This meant I got to steal some! The vegetables were delightfully springy and fresh, and I've decided fava beans are excellent, but sadly, the halibut was just a bit overdone.
- Then there was a little course of pan-seared scallops, sweetbreads, and baby onions with sunchoke puree. I have no idea what a sunchoke is, but I suspect it's odd-looking. Also, they taste good pureed. Also also, baby onions, best thing ever! With these fancy restaurants, I can never tell if I like the veggie sides better or the main bit. It's so hard to tell when the veggies are so fresh. The scallop was perfectly done, seared and slightly salty and crispy on the outside and nearly raw and firm and really delicate on the inside. The sweetbreads were made into a little disc about half the size of the scallop, and I couldn't tell if I liked it better or the scallop. Again, I am amazed at how quickly I have learned to love internal organs.
- My main course was bacon-wrapped veal loin (though for the life of me, I don't remember the bacon), morel mushrooms, English peas, Bibb lettuce and sweetbreads. Um, yes. Despite having had peas for the past two weeks and sugar snap peas for the past two dinners, I got this largely for the side. Also, I figure you can't go too wrong with veal. The veal was delicious and tender and less red than I thought it wouls be. Sadly, the sauce was a little too thick and too salty, so it made the morels and the chunks of sweetbread entirely too salty, and completely overwhelmed the lovely spring-ness of the peas. Why have English peas if you just drown out the flavor? Also, the peas I had last week were better. These peas were a little on the mushy side. Indeed, I am picky about my peas now. But! The surprise of the dish turned out to be the Bibb lettuce, which was chiffoned (is that right? You know, cut into teeny strips), marinated with something slightly vingary. The lettuce was surprisingly buttery, and the sauce was tart enough to bring out the flavor, and it contrasted wonderfully with the veal.
- My mom had beef and asparagus with daube ravioli, which meant I got some too. I have no idea what daube is, but it tasted like shredded dried beef, very similar to the dried and shredded pork in Chinese food. The asparagus was lovely. The beef was deep red and delicious, and I couldn't finish all of it.
- Then there was a little dish of brown sugar jelly topped with mandarine sorbet. The brown sugar jelly was, of course, very sweet, with a bit of burnt caramel flavor, and the mandarine sorbet was fresh, but I personally think they should have gone for a very, very, very tart lemon to cut through the sweetness of the jelly.
- For dessert, I had this chocolate mousse log with bits of praline in it and a hazelnut spun crusty thing on top, with creme fraische, and I had bites of my mom's sorbets (pineapple, green apple, and grapefruit, none of which were tart enough for me) and my dad's strawberry white chocolate Napoleon (very good). And we had this lovely dessert wine that was all tawny and sweet and peachy. I usually suck at comparing wines to fruits, but it definitely was peach nectar-y. imho.
And now, I must go to bed!
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Mon, May. 22nd, 2006 10:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, May. 22nd, 2006 10:41 pm (UTC)