Smart Kitchen

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Big Corn Means Big Budget Busting for Us All

P Chef — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 21:52:03 +0000

Forget GMO Corn and Worry about Big Corn Subsidies & Ethanol Mandates

Most of us are a little worried about GMO Corn but have not given much thought to its price.

Looking at our grocery bills recently, it is not our imagination that food prices are going up. Before we looked into it, we thought we knew the reasons, but the biggest reason rides on largely below the surface of the mainstream’s thoughts and news coverage.

It is a fact, food prices are up this year. Pork is up 15%. Poultry is up 8%. Beef is up. Sure there was a drought. Sure gasoline is up. Sure there is foreign demand for commodities from Brazil, India and China. None of these though are consuming 40% of our Corn crop.

Well-intended Federal regulations are the actual culprit. In 2005, Congress passed the Renewable Fuel Standard which mandated the use of Corn-based ethanol in domestic gasoline. Today, under the act, Americans must use 15 billion gallons of Ethanol a year. How much is that, a lot or a little?

Let’s judge it against all of the corn produced in the US. 15 Billion gallons of ethanol requires 40% of our US corn crop and this is the rub, Corn that is made into ethanol won’t feed livestock or be available in the produce section.

The original goals of the act were to reduce gas prices and to fight global warming. I can’t speak to the second point since there are reams of arguments to be made on both sides. I can point you to the gas pump to address the first point. Gas prices have not been reduced and are, in fact, near record highs.

Think of the Congress and the ethanol industry when counting out all those extra dollars.

P Chef

“The Smartest Way to Learn to Cook™”

Beckett’s Table

P Chef — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 13:18:30 +0000

Even Driving by Beckett's Table Looks Like a Scene.

We have been meaning to visit Beckett’s Table for about a year. In fact, since Beckett’s Table’s pre-launch (and launch) PR campaign has died down, we are usually reminded of our desire to dine with Justin Beckett by driving past his restaurant on Indian School on the way to someplace else. Two or three weeks ago, rolling down Indian School on the way to Crudo, we passed Beckett’s Table and noted, again, that we meant to go. That was probably our 4 or 5th time remembering we meant to go.

A quick detour away from Beckett’s Table here. Crudo is Cullen Cambell’s new award winning place. If you saw the cover of Phoenix Magazine with the chef wearing the pink fish tie, that is the place. We loved Crudo but did not blog about it yet because we plan to return in October with cameras for The Sour Ball put on for charity by Sweet’s Brands. Also if truth be told, after the Summer Food Drive 2012, I was not much in the mood for eating blogging-style with cameras and lights and questions and notes.

Sorry for the interlude, now back to our Beckett’s Table story. Mrs. P Chef has become more restricted in her diet for some health reasons. The process that used to be a simple read of a menu and then some ordering is now akin to a detective’s interrogation. Picture a young, excited, fresh-faced server being grilled (not literally) by Mrs. P Chef over the terms: ”Gluten Free,” “Soy-Free,” “Smoke-Free,” “Butter-Free, Etc.-Free,” etc. and you will have the picture. The restrictions are now a part of her, and by extension our, meal planning and menu perusing lexicon. It is not a lot of fun chowing down on a cola-braised, smoked, pork shoulder slider, in front of your scowling wife, and her salad, but sometimes it has to be done. Sometimes it does have to be, really, for work, honey.

Okay. With lessons learned, on “Date Night” we are now usually looking for restaurants that are both on the cutting edge of cuisine and on the cutting edge of making something from nothing. As you can imagine, places that fit both bills are few and far between. We imagined that Beckett’s Table would fit into the first camp and offer cutting-edge, fine-dining, comfort food. Mrs P Chef was a trooper in offering to visit there for AZ Restaurant Week 2012. We were both pleasantly surprised to find out that not only does Beckett’s Table serve up thoughtly constructed dishes, well-exectuted, but they are very sensitive about food allergies and food preferences and can be very accomodating.

The menu is marked with (gf) for Gluten-Free, and the vegetarian items are marked as well. Having worked in the kitchen, our server, Brandon, was well-versed in the detailed preparations of the items and their ingredients. He was also extremely patient as we had a mini-seminar, breaking down the most likely dishes for Mrs. P Chef.

In the end, we ordered and hoped for the best. We used to have an inside joke that I always ordered the best thing between us when we went out. I say “used to” because it was a lot more amusing before Mrs. P Chef was kicked down to the equivalent of the Freshman ordering team by her dietary restrictions. Trouncing her Trout Almandine selection, or Sauteed Vegetables, isn’t the same game.

Ultimately, Mrs. P Chef’s options were good enough to leave her smiling (not scowling at the dishes of your’s truly) and a successful dinner was achieved. She was starving as we arrived and got started right away with the Oven Roasted Organic Beets to sustain her for the negotiations ahead.

The Combination of Flash & Flashlight Made These Organic Beets Glow.

I typically have a hands off policy with regards to her limited menu options but I did sneak a single Golden Beet, off her plate (for work) while she was visiting the powder room. It was flavored with Crow’s Dairy Feta, herbs and pecans, making for a tender and earthy dish that was a very good choice for either of us.

My first dish was the gluten-free, Achiote Citrus Poached and Chilled Shrimp with black bean salad and avocado puree. It was acceptable to both of us and a really good example of “Flair,” the 4th of Smart Kitchen’s 4 Levers of Cooking.™

Attention to Detail Raised this Dish from the Ordinary

Without it sounding too bad, a lot of the appeal of this shrimp dish was in the visual presentation. Arriving at the table, it looked like it should have been on a pedestal at the Phoenix Art Museum. The looks set up some great taste expectations. The great expectations were ultimately not met by the dish as a whole. The shrimp, which our brains knew were poached and chilled, turned out to be poached and chilled. It was a much more subtle flavor and experience than that advertised by the visual presentation of the fresh, succulent shell fish sitting on a black bean salad.

Now, Mrs. P Chef loved the black bean salad, but I thought it was reminiscent of the black bean salad at Chipotle, as if a master chef had slipped into the burrito place and prepped it that day, making a sexier, older cousin of Chipotle’s normal black bean fare. It was tasty and delicate but the similarity to faster food ruined it for me. Mrs. P Chef loves Chipotle (and their black bean salad) and loved this one, too.

The avocado puree was a beautiful painted green flourish but fairly inaccessible since none of the other items on the appetizer plate were soft enough or absorbent enough to take it up. All-in-all, the chilled shrimp read like a masterpiece on the menu, arrived like a star and ate like a pretty-good jumble (to me). Mrs. P Chef would probably criticize my take on it, as she ended up with the lion’s share of the dish and a happy “cat-who-ate-the-canary” expression.

Mrs. P Chef ordered from the regular menu and got the Gold Canyon Flat Iron Steak with fingerling potato salad, aioli, & Rocket (a leaf veggie like a milder spinach) for her entree.

An Umami Work of Art on the Plate

The Flat Iron Steak was a great, though pricey, dish. My one small bite was sultry and succulent with accents of butter and umami. I wanted a bit more but left Mrs. P Chef to it because she is not getting as many choices theses days. She cleaned the plate and was a very happy and satisfied spouse.

Cola Braised Pork Not Exactly Like Your Momma's

I ordered off the restaurant week menu for my entree and got the Cola Braised Pulled Pork that came with a Bacon Cheddar Biscuit, the Fingerling Potato Salad and Carolina Cole Slaw. It was not exactly like your Mama would have made (in a good way). This difference from Mama’s cooking is the essence of what I came to like about Beckett’s Table. The items are comfort food, like Mama might have made, but re-imagined as though Mamma were a culinary professional with some serious chops. The pulled pork was tender, moist and flavorful. Examining the plate with a jaded eye, I actually thought that there were some margin enhancing games being played at the center of the plate. I saw how the pork was laid alongside the bulk of potato salad, slaw and biscuit and expected chicanery. Lifting the slaw and potato salad with my fork to uncover the plating ruse, revealed only more pork instead. The revelation made me both happy and wrong and cynical all at the same time.

More S'mores Please

Only your’s truly could venture into dessert land…..because it was included on the Restaurant Week menu. At least, that is how I attempted to assuage Mrs. P Chef, who was actually happily sated from her big portion of steak, and able to hear me. The re-imagined S’mores dessert, called Bacon Chocolate Smore’s, was really interesting. There were a lot of different tastes and textures and a number of combinations to try to determine which method was the best eating. It was like a new culinary playground on the plate that was tasty, engaging and interesting. It was a very flavorful, playful way to end the meal.

As the check arrived we both agreed that we were glad we had visited and liked the experience. The rub was that we were not so sure that we would be rushing back. I think our reluctance stems from the focus on a fusion of fine dining & comfort food. Beckett’s Table is good but neither fish ‘nor fowl. Every dish we had was good, even really good in its way, but none of the dishes that we had (so far) were “crave-able,” like the hatch green-chili burger at Le Grande Orange, or the pork at Bryan’s BBQ in Cave Creek, or the oxtail at Atlas Bistro. There won’t be a mental linchpin of craving to remind us to return.

Vegans & the Soiled Dialogue

P Chef — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 11:49:17 +0000

Recently we passed around an interesting Opinion Piece by Dan Barber Executive Chef of Blue Hill Restaurant in NYC and the Blue Hill at Stone Barn in Pocantico Hills, NY. Dan also runs a sustainable farming program at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills.

Dan Barber of Blue Hill

Dan is one of the sage & sane voices in the “locavore” movement and needless to say, he knows quite a lot about sustainable farming and preparing farm products for the table. From the buildup, you’d expect him to be a raging, rabid Vege-a-holic, but is he? And what was Dan’s interesting opinion?

His opinion was that there seems to a certain growing cult-like, messianic devotion to Veganism, including a smugness and self-righteousness about shunning Meat.

Veggie Activists (photo courtesy of The Daily Free Press)

Dan was urging vegans, “Vegans (with a capital “V,”) & VEGANS (all caps) to reconsider mounting their high horses. He suggests that perhaps they should dismount, get close to the ground and speak to a farmer to learn something more about the soil and how production functions on an actual working farm. I remember personally hearing the following come out of the mouth of a Vegan on a visit to Southern California, “Why do we still need farms? I get all of my food (vegetables) at the store.”

Well the vegetables come from someplace and require a lot of hard work to produce. Ignorance about farming doesn’t reduce the importance of soil care and soil management. Deplete the soil and you “break” the farm. Vegetarians don’t seem to realize that, and I quote Dan, “vegetables are actually more costly from a soil perspective than grazing cattle. “Vegetables deplete soil. They are extractive. If soil has a bank account, vegetables make the largest withdrawals.”

The soil depletion by vegetables begs the question of who will make the necessary deposits (no pun intended). Domesticated animals are natural fertilizer factories and have been part of the vegetable life-cycle on farms for thousands of years. It is pretty tough to have one without the other, oh unless you resort to truck loads of synthetic petro-chemical fertilizers, which can’t be better than Ol’ Bossie, Lamiekins, or Charlotte.

It is not kind to kill but eating meat is also not a battle of good versus evil. It is life. It is a cycle we were all thrust into. It existed before us and will after us. Nutrient dense soil produces deeply flavorful, and healthful vegetables. Without a market for the whole animal (including Meat) no fiscally sane farmer will raise cows, sheep or pigs, which in turn can fertilize the soil. Draining the soil will eventually sicken us all.

We think moderation is important and don’t advocate a total meat diet. In fact, we suggest that you eat less meat, but eat better meat. If consuming meat infrequently, you can maximize flavor and enjoyment by procuring better USDA Grades of meat, even Heritage Breeds, and better Portion Cuts. As a special occasion meal you can take your time with the dish and make it shine. If you don’t know how to maximize your meat recipes, learn how. Smart Kitchen is one affordable option, but there are lots of ways to learn.

Dan goes into more detail in his piece but he makes a nice summation statement: “there is no such thing as guilt-free eating.” We’d like to second that and remind everyone in the debate that stress is a killer too.

We invite the vegans, Vegans and the VEGANS to stop preaching and take it down a notch and just share. If we dialogue, then we can all hear each other agreeing that vegetarianism is a good and healthful option.

P Chef

“The Smartest Way to Learn to Cook™”

Click here for more information and to enter!!

Contest: Who is YOUR Kitchen Idol?

P Chef — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 14:14:28 +0000

We’re excited to announce the launch of our new contest: Kitchen Idol! We know you have a home cook in your life that is your true “kitchen idol.” They make the perfect side dishes, outrageous main courses or delectable desserts. We want to hear all about it!

To enter, simply nominate your favorite Kitchen Idol! Tell us what you would like to learn from your Kitchen Idol and we’ll enter both of you to win a year of online cooking classes from Smartkitchen.com and a brand new Kindle Fire!

Winners will take cooking classes from the comfort of their own homes, courtesy of Smartkitchen.com. The Kitchen Idol nominee with the most votes (and their fan) will win. One vote per Email ID.

The Drover Steakhouse – Summer Food Drive 2012

P Chef — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:08:21 +0000

Last year on our Summer Food Drive 2011, I was super excited to visit Gorat’s Steakhouse in Omaha. We were writing our Beef Topic (it ended up running 800 pages in doc format) and Gorat’s was voted one of the Top 10 Steakhouses in America by Saveur Magazine and they had a reputation for a great dry aging program and it was one of Warren Buffet’s favorite places. Wouldn’t a man who can buy everything, (I mean anything) get the best steak in town?

One would think, but the problem was that whenever I mentioned my excitement to Nebraska based foodies, they invariably said “oh,” like they were talking to their slow cousin Norman. An “oh” wasn’t promising for a once-in-a-lifetime, steak- visit to Omaha, NE the home of the nation’s feed-lots.

If you can believe it, the 3 Nebraska folks I spoke to before the trip were not raging fans of Gorat’s. They all spoke of this other place in Omaha: The Drover.

Even While visiting cattleman Dan Morgan who runs Morgan Ranch in Burwell, Nebraska, which is one of the leading Wagyu Beef operations in the country (Kobe Beef is made from Wagyu Cattle), The Drover came up. Dan was gracious enough to show us around his ranching operation and to cook some steaks with us in 2011. Dan’s favorite steakhouse in Omaha, NE was The Drover. In fact, everyone I bumped into and spoke to about Omaha steaks mentioned The Drover as their favorite for corn-fed Nebraska Beef. They felt that Gorat’s had passed its prime (no pun intended) and was a bit long in the tooth.

In 2011, I was booked and still excited for Gorat’s (had a great visit) but had to footnote The Drover so it could on the agenda for another Summer Food Drive. This year, 2012 was the year.

From my earlier conversations, I imagined The Drover as a sprawling, country-style ranch property near the stockyards. All of the pictures of the Drover on the Internet (even ours) seemed to confirm the ranch motif. I fantasized about big burly butchers in their spattered white coats and construction helmets, just walking over with the best cuts; a Filet here, some Sirloin there. “Oh you say there was run on Porterhouse? Just pop over next door and re-load the larder.” It was some fun imagery and I have to contain myself to stop from going on and on.

As I headed down Mercy Road with its malls and strip centers in Omaha in the ‘Smart Kitchen’-mobile I wondered where they were going to hide a ranch amid the urban landscape. My “Culinary Sense” wasn’t tingling that a stockyard was near.

You Can't Take a Picture of the Homey Entrance and the Office Park

It turns out that they do sprawl but not on a spread. The Drover is a wide-open, sprawling ranch house on about a half a block of land surrounded by office buildings and very near a hospital. The Internet illusions, seen above is really just a fortuitous real estate development history and a bit of photographic framing. No stockyards, no butchers rushing to and fro. I was a bit disappointed after all of the raves from first hand, knowledgeable, sources. I bucked up though when I saw a major hospital across the auspiciously named “Mercy Road,” in case my set-to with so much beefy cholesterol went horribly wrong. In this day and age, beef eaters probably need mercy more than they need proximity to a stockyard.

Entering The Drover, is like entering a “speak-easy” for “beef-a-holics.” One step into the dark entry way and I forgot all about the warm summer day outside or anything else. I gave myself over to the cool, dark, Vegas-like home of grain fed beef. The Drover may be the bad boy, newcomer in Omaha, NE (according to my sources) but it still feels like your parent’s restaurant (in a good way). The salad bar (and presumably the whole place) has been there serving customers since 1968 with those magical ice-cold metal plates. I can’t recall exactly what I was eating in 1968 but it was probably made by the Gerber’s Company.

A Bronze Plaque at the Salad Bar Explains that the Drover has been serving Salad this way since 1968

The Drover’s layout and feel is pretty basic by today’s standard but it isn’t tired or played out. Instead it felt like a restored CLASSIC, sort of like the ’57 T-Bird or ’72 Eldorado of steak houses. And it is getting current media attention. It turns out I missed Man vs. Food’s Adam Richman’s visit by only a week. I had met Adam in Scottsdale this past spring and few culinary people are as current as Adam. After my visit, I am looking forward to watching The Drover episode of Man vs. Food Nation to get his take.

To place my order, I had a choice to make. Whiskey Steak or the Grilled Prime Rib. The Drover is famous for its Whiskey Steak (a secret whiskey based marainade), and I had been thinking of an Omaha, corn-fed Steak for over a year, yet I had always thought of Prime Rib as a Roast. I had never considered cooking a big cut of Prime Rib like a hefty steak. Where they on to something here? When you are just passing through it is hard to come back and try both. What to do? I used a lifeline and conferred with Mike “Spike” Sabin (managing The Drover for 38 years) about my options. His years of restaurant experience came into play. He told me that the Wednesday lunch special was the $17.49 Prime Rib Steak, Whiskey Style. I am not sure if he was pulling my leg and artfully bending the rules, but my problem was solved. There is nothing like a true restaurant professional. Thanks Spike.

The Prime Grade, corn-fed, Nebraska Prime rib is Roasted at 225° F for 4 hours and then Held Warm until it is Sliced as needed. The steak-cut slice is then Marinated in The Drover’s secret whiskey-soy sauce a few minutes before hitting the char-broiler and being Finish Cooked like a steak. The Prime Rib is available until they run out.

As I waited for the my order, I observed the lunch crowd. They ranged from an unlikely table of 4 college girls to business men to the old couples that had been frequenting The Drover since 1968. All sorts of business discussions were taking place. I overheard words like “designated agent” and “ROI” along with foreign place names like “Shanghai” and “Frankfurt.” There was a vibrancy and sense of youthful energy here that I did not see at Gorat’s. It feels like The Drover is replacing their aging customer base and actually they are doing better than ever.

You Can't Argue with the Simplicity of The Prime Rib "Whiskey-Steak-Style"

The Drover’s Prime Rib, “Whiskey-Steak-Style” was a dream. All the buttery goodness of Prime Rib with the Browning and Caramelization of a perfect steak. This is not a “Classic” preparation of Prime Rib, but a classic example of good old fashion American ingenuity. I didn’t ask Spike how it came about but I imagined a re-enactment of the argument.

Chef 1: “Why can’t you cook Prime Rib like a terrific Steak?”

Chef 2: “You just can’t.”

Chef 1: “Yeah?”

Chef 2: “Yeah!”

Chef 1: “I’ll show you.”

The Prime Rib masquerading as a steak falls to the char-broiler. “Sssssssszzzzzzzz.”

Chef 2: “Hey its looking pretty good.”

Chef 1: “Just wait until its ready, Sucker.”

Chef 1 pulls the thick, beautifully marked steak from the grill.

Chef 1: “OMG”

Chef 2, his mouth watering, “Can I get a little of that.”

I also imagined a Reese’s Peanut Butter scenario where two chefs bump into one another and one chef’s roast landed on the grill and they decide that 2 great tastes can go together. OK, maybe I was a little punchy after such a long drive, but all I am going to say by way of explanation, is that sitting by yourself, 1500 miles from home, you have some time to day dream about different scenarios.

However, they came upon it, Grilling the Prime Rib struck me as a stroke of genius. They were not trying too hard, or loading the steak/prime rib up with bells and whistles, like some places. It was just a simple, epic, eye-opening dining / cooking experience. The sides (thick cut toast, cinnamon apple and cottage cheese) were supporting members of the plate. The dated, but welcome, sides also served to confirm that I was still, after all, in the Heartland of Nebraska.

Perfectly Cooked Rare Prime Rib / Steak

With my visit to Fiorella’s Jack Stack in KC just a few hours down the road, I did not even risk a look at the dessert menu.

Writing up my visit, has me almost ready to point the Smart Kitchen mobile towards Nebraska and drive as far as I need to go. If you are a beef eater and you have a chance to drop in, do. And do say “hi” to Spike.

P Chef

“The Smartest Way to Learn to Cook™”

Sticky Visit to Colt & Gray – Denver, Co.

P Chef — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 15:05:32 +0000

Colt & Gray is a place we have been dying to try since we heard about it on “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” in 2009 or 2010. Colt & Gray was called out for it’s Sticky Toffee Pudding. Sticky Toffee Pudding is hard to hate in the first place, but the best one ever sounded like something to drive for.

Despite the rearing horse imagery and the Western sound, Colt & Gray is named for Chef / Owner Nelson Perkins’ sons: Coulter and Grayson. Nelson is a native born high-lander who moved down to the flat-land of NYC to attend the French Culinary Institute, where he graduated with the Grand Diplome de Cuisine.

Urban Sophistication is the Feeling @ Colt & Gray

The training and local ingredients have been put to great use in a sophisticated, super-cool, avante-garde neighborhood bistro. Think of it as a reasonably priced (for what you get) high-end, non-Spanish, tapas bar or as a fine-dining, small-plates place. The love of food and preparation pervades the menu and the spirit of the staff. I was helped by Adam Condit (manager and server) who was a fount of knowledge about the menu and dishes which are a paen to the French Classics but built with local Rocky Mountain ingredients. The bar, which I admired without partaking, was also intriquing. On another slower trip, I could imagine spending a few hours there in an ad-hoc seminar on mixology. For example, they had an “Old Fashioned Grandma Cocktail (ramazzotti amaro, prunier l’orange, & peychaud’s bitters) that sounded interesting on a day I wasn’t driving another 200 miles after dinner.

A Lot to Recommend at Colt & Gray's Intimate Bar

The dishes I didn’t try, Pecan Crusted Soft Shell Crabs, Truffle Turkey Burger, Salad Perigourdine (gizzards, cured duck breast, foie gras, spring salad, & lemon vinaigrette) and Rockfish a la Nage, sounded almost as interesting as the dishes I did try and describe below. Nelson’s food philosophy is “to use the best available ingredients and treat them gently,” and we saw it in practice.

This Pig Trotter was Delicate and Flavorful

My first dish is likely one of Teaching Chef’s favorites from the Old Country: a Pig Trotter, which in Nelson’s imagination is a delicate combination of pulled pork (ham hock braised 6 hours) and Panko breading, flash-fried then topped with Frisee lettuce and served on a bed of stone-ground mustard. Colt & Gray’s pig trotter is very European in its presentation and flavor. It was a 3 bite appetizer and sadly no photos exist of the interior of this one.

Ciccioli (pronounced "chickey-holy" Platter

Colt & Gray makes their own Charcuterie which was a must try. After discussing Sunday’s offerings with Adam (Porchetta di Testa, Lardo, Ciccioli, Bresaola, Lomo, Lambvender and Nduja), I settled on Ciccioli, which is sort of like a pork pate. Sitting on Colt & Gray’s comfortable patio, flanked by pedestrian traffic, as the sun went down, eating Ciccioli, it isn’t much of a leap to channel a few bars of Edith Piaf, Gilbert Becaud or Serge Gainsbourg and transport oneself, mentally, to the Rue de Rivoli.

Grilled Beef Hearts Sliced and Served on Toast with Marrow Butter

I was brought out of my reverie (heavy on the French accent) by Adam offering to take me back to the kitchen to watch the cooking and plating of my entreé: The Colorado Grass-Fed Beef Hearts. Part of the theme of the Summer Food Drive is to expand the palate and try some of the best dishes being made in the country so that they infuse our instruction. Beef Hearts are not on my normal meal plan and I have never cooked them myself, so they were impossible to avoid ordering. It is kind of like telling a kid not to touch the fireworks. Eventually, there is a boom. Chef Jenna and her team in the kitchen made an admirable dish out of a tough ingredient. It is a testament to their skills that slices of beef heart on toast was a positive, perhaps repeatable, experience. I also learned a new term Mostarda which means an Italian condiment made of candied fruit and a mustard flavored syrup. The beef hearts came with a Rhubarb Mostarda and shaved Artichokes.

The Veggies were not Ignored

Perfect asparagus with Beech Mushrooms, Mint and Brown Butter and Poppy Seeds were my side. The beech mushrooms were so delicate and tender they could almost have been mistaken for seafood.

A Pretty Good Thing That I Ate: Sticky Toffee Pudding with Bourbon Ice Cream

Finally, it was time for the reason for the visit: the Sticky Toffee Pudding with bourbon ice cream and toffee sauce, as recommended in my memory by Alex Guarnaschelli of the Food Network, who my wife, Mrs. P Chef, constantly reminds me sang in Glee Club with her in high school. It turns out that all the mentions of Alex at home had damaged my hard drive and corrupted my data in favor of Alex. Claire Robinson had actually mentioned the Sticky Toffee Pudding as “The Best Thing She Ever Ate.” If my data remains unreliable, I may need to get some Carbonite for the old brain.

The presentation was terrific with the Staub Cocotte (which the unethical believe is a souvenir). I was excited to try the dish and to put to rest years of speculation. I am a fan of Sticky Toffee Pudding, especially of the product made by The English Pudding Company in Los Angeles. More than a few of our family holidays have been graced with a fabulous mail-order or carry-out pudding. They also sell at Whole Foods the last time I checked the freezer case.

Colt & Gray’s Sticky Toffee Pudding was good. It was near the top of the list of the ones I have ever eaten. Why wasn’t it the GREATEST? Perhaps there was too much build up? Perhaps it could have used a bit more sauce, or some more heft in the pudding itself? Perhaps it suffered in comparison to all the unique, impossibly-perfect items already served? It was really good but I could have walked away from it, if a crisis loomed. The truth is I did not walk away from it (probably should have) and I was so caught up in eating it that I forgot to photograph or video tape the interior of the item, meaning it must have been highly distracting. I found it best if all the ingredients were mixed together into a soft bourbon infused ice cream cake. My only excuse for eating the whole thing, besides its being sinful, was that my organic processor skewed my programming knowing that it would be 20 hours and a big hike until my next meal in Nebraska.

All in all you would be hard-pressed to have such an elegant, enjoyable meal for $42. If I have the chance to go back I will. You should too. You will probably feed your hunger for both nourishment and knowledge.

P Chef

“The Smartest Way to Learn to Cook™”

Root Down, Denver – Summer Food Drive 2012

P Chef — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 11:01:00 +0000

We had planned a trip to Pinche Tacos (apologies if you are a Spanish speaker. It’s their name) in Denver with our colleagues and friends Chad and Danielle but Chad had already been to Pinche Tacos. Since they are Denver locals and since I had not eaten since Winslow, Az 30 something hours ago, I was persuaded to change the venue. I did insist that Chad pick someplace noteworthy and off-beat. He did not disappoint with Root Down. As he discussed it, early on a Sunday morning, Danielle opened her eyes and exclaimed “I’m up!, I’m up.” She wanted in too.

Even the name is off-beat. With a name like “Root Down” I imagined some kind of eclectic, skater-face-feed where the dudes munch down or root down on great food. It wasn’t that at all. In fact, it was kind of “Duh.”

With an Image the Meaning of Root Down is Obvious

Apparently Root Down is the kind of place where local ingredients like Radishes from the Pecos Street Community Garden are put to good, creative use.

Root Down Aims to Connect the Neighborhood to the Dining Experience

Even the architecture of the building screams creativity.

Comfy & Quirky; and Perfect in Denver

We had a 40 minute wait but were not disappointed with our meals. After a bit of the bottom-less Blood Orange Mimosas (virgin for me), we decided to use a modified Chinese – Family Style dining system and all have a bit of everything.

The Darker Virgin Blood Orange Juice and the Bottomless Blood Orange Mimosa Catch the Sunlight and Shout "Drink Me!"

The first dish out was a unique take on Egg’s Benedict: A Hollandaise & Balsamic Drizzle over Smoked Duck and Caramelized Onion all resting on a cherry waffle.

Smoked Duck Benedict with a Balsamic Hollandaise

It was delicious and a good conversation piece. The next item was another riff on the Eggs Benedict theme: The Root Down. I had never seen a Quinoa English Muffin, and with Mrs. P Chef and Little P Chef being Gluten-Free, I was in on that one dimension alone; but then there was also Iberico Cheese and a Sun-Dried Tomato Hollandaise Sauce. Taking a Mother Sauce to the next level is almost always an interesting idea.

Quinoa English Muffins in The Root Down

Next up was Chad’s Choice: a Pulled Pork Omelette with Smoke Mozzarella, Charred Scallion Sauce, Lime Crème Fraîche and pickled Habaneros. I was very glad we were sharing.

The Pulled Pork Omelette with Greens and Some Savory Potatoes

On the fork, the dish that played well in the mind, suffered slightly. For me, the pulled pork was a bit too sweet and sharp to perfectly compliment the eggs. It was as though it was trying a little too hard to be different and not trying hard enough to be fabulous. Finally, came Danielle’s favorite: The Veggie Burger Sliders.

The Veggie Sliders Did Not Perform as Danielle Remembered Them

At the first bite, Danielle’s look of anticipation turned to disappointment. They had CHANGED the slider of her dreams. And she wasn’t wrong. Apparently, the topping was switched out from a Tomato Jam on her last visit to a jalapeno spread this time. She was very unhappy about it. As for us, the veggie slider was just run-of-the-mill, not day-wrecking. Vegetarian Slider aside, the experience was a good one, as much for the vibe and hip crowd, as for the distinctive food. Thanks Chad and Danielle for the suggestion, the friendship, the visit and the business.

P Chef

“The Smartest Way to Learn to Cook™”