Summer Food Adventures

Today for breakfast, I had iced coffee and a guava bar from Inversion Coffee.

I've been on a search this summer for the best iced coffee in Houston, and Inversion has tied for first with Dirk's. Dirk's is the Dietrich's across from the University of St.Thomas, inexplicably re-branded, and which some internet sources claim is a front for Starbuck's...which puzzles me, because Starbuck's iced coffee is beyond awful.

But I digress. Both shops have excellent iced coffee; Dirk's is incredibly mild, with chocolate/caramel flavors, while Inversion's is more acidic and robust. They tie because their coffees are both excellent, but completely different.

I also like Inversion for their guava bars- buttery cake-like bars with a quarter-inch thick layer of guava paste sandwiched in the middle. They're unique, and delicious.

So, where have I been?
Vacationing in rural New England and Washington, DC.



This is the lobster shack we visited, it's just past Two Lights State Park outside of Portland, ME. Sorry for the photo wonkiness, that's what happens when you drop your camera in the sand at the beach. It has since recovered.

I had a lobster roll plate for about $15, which consisted of lobster chunks on the typical split-top roll (for anatomy of a lobster roll, this site is a good primer), with a side of fries and coleslaw, and a strange, jam-filled cookie for dessert. It was good, and the view was awesome:



Another delicious meal of note was from Jonathon's Seafood Restaurant in North Conway, NH. I had the baked scallops lunch, which came with a nice salad, for about $10. The scallops were cooked perfectly, not at all dry or tough, and drowned in butter. So yummy. Jonathon's is a nondescript local place my NH family visits regularly; apparently, it was just sold to a new owner, but the food has gotten better, not worse. The waitstaff were all very sweet (despite the glass of water that ended up in my lap...), and the fish counter they run on the side looked delicious and inexpensive. I'd go back in a second.

My time in DC was more frenetic. I was looking for an apartment, thinking we'd move there for Jon's grad school, but we've since decided on school in St. Louis, so the whole thing was moot. I didn't have time to seek out interesting food, but I managed to eat some delicious things anyway.

I stayed with some friends in DC who have recently become vegetarian; their cooking is always interesting and delicious, influenced by the years they lived in Hungary. My dinner with them consisted of red sweet peppers and jalapenos, stuffed with kasha, brown rice, and a variety of seasonings, with a side of veggies and some red wine (maybe a garnacha?) from Spain's Rioja region. It was the perfect light summery dinner. I'm skeptical of most vegetarians (only because most use it as an excuse to load up on simple carbs, to cover up an eating disorder, or both), but this meal reflected the potential vegetarianism holds for people who know how to cook and know what they're doing. Well played, Stephanie.

My other interesting DC meal was Ethiopian food from Meskerem, in Adams-Morgan. I had missed Ethiopian food fiercely since leaving Denver last year. There is supposedly one Ethiopian place here in Houston, but we haven't been, and the menu sounds more soul food-ish than truly Ethiopian.

My friend and I debated going to Zed's in Georgetown instead, but reviews were mixed and this place sounded more our style. Definitely made the right choice- the atmosphere was far less stuffy, the food was perfect, and it was much cheaper than Zed's. We first ordered a bottle of honey wine and beef- and chicken-filled sambusas, which I'd never had before and sort of resembled samosas. They oozed grease, but in the best possible sense. The honey wine was also a new experience- I'd ordered it in Denver and truly hated it. The wine there always tastes vinegary and overly sweet, though I have no idea where it is from, or why it tastes so awful. This wine was produced in California in the style of Ethiopian honey wine, and was much, much better- semi-dry, with a light, lingering honey flavor, and reasonably priced at $22/bottle.

Our entrees were kitfo and special tibs. We ordered the kitfo raw, which was spicy and incredibly delicious. Just thinking about it gives me a massive kitfo craving; I'd had it before, but it was never anywhere near this amazing. The tibs were a little disappointing- my usual Ethiopian order is key wot, and Jon usually gets the special tibs. I wanted to try something different from what I usually get, so I settled on the tibs. They were tough and bland, and reminded me why I usually don't get them.

Last night, we finally ate at Feast here in Houston. I'm still pondering that experience, but will post on it in a few days.

Indian Nachos at Home

For lunch, I had a big bowl of mango dal with butter beans and tortilla chips.

We've had a bunch of vacuum-packed Indian meals sitting in the corner of our kitchen for months; one of the Indian groceries in town had a huge sale, and we completely forgot they were there.



I've used all my cool HMart groceries, and we're going to New Orleans this weekend, so I didn't want to buy more. Moreover, we are moving in August, and I have a pantry full of things I don't want to have to move. Butter beans looked more appetizing than the corn (Jon has a canned corn addiction), black beans, "okra and tomatoes" (wtf? also a Jon thing), sardines, or fruit cocktail.



I've wanted to try the mango dal forever. It looked too substantial for a side dish, but not enough for a meal, so it's been sitting around for months. I decided to mix it with the beans and see what happened.



It looked repulsive. The little black dots in the mixture are coriander seeds, and the color was akin to Kraft Mac n' Cheese. Mango was the primary ingredient in the dal, but mango flavor was completely absent. It tasted instead like a very spicy hummus. I ended up dipping tortilla chips in the mixture, for a different yet tasty lunch. It would have been better with a little melted cheese on top, but we only have Kraft parmesan in the refrigerator. I can desecrate many things with sprinkle cheese, but Indian food is going a little far.

Guinea Pig Weekend

No, I did not eat cuy this weekend- Jon would never forgive me...

Our friend Charlie bought a smoker, and wanted to get the hang of using it by experimenting with different meats and smoking chips. We were very, very happy guinea pigs all weekend long.

Friday night, he smoked chicken breasts, bratwurst, and some sort of spicy crawfish sausage, all from Pete's Fine Meats. I've always noticed the shop, but never checked it out. My mistake. It all took about two hours to cook in the smoker with some relatively light chips (peach and pecanwood, I think), and turned out great. We supplemented it with beans, potato salad, and a wide variety of Mexican and American beers.

Charlie's Saturday project was baby back ribs. He rubbed them with a pretty typical spice blend- brown sugar, salt, chili powder, and some other stuff- then let them smoke for hours on end in mesquite and hickory. He finished them with some honey bbq sauce at the end. Best ribs EVER. They were nice and crispy-sweet, with incredibly tender meat inside. I could hardly stop myself from eating the bones.

That dinner was accompanied by the same sides, more beer, and some ice cream I made. It was loosely based on this recipe for brown sugar & sour cream ice cream. I really wanted to make creme fraiche ice cream, but creme fraiche was super-pricey, and I mistakenly thought I could make it with sour cream. Turns out, creme fraiche is buttermilk + cream, NOT buttermilk + sour cream. Hence, the weird ice cream. I added a pound's worth of pureed and strained strawberries to the recipe, along with a little corn syrup. I froze the blend in my ice cream maker, then left it in the freezer for almost three hours. Happily, it didn't over-freeze (the sour cream probably helped; more fat=softer ice cream). It was refreshing and delicious, but tasted like frozen yogurt because of the tangy sour cream.

My biggest mistake of the weekend was not bringing my camera- we had a lot of fun, and it was so very Texas. I'm sad I don't have photos of Charlie, in his "Keep Austin Weird" t-shirt and UT hat, tending the smoker. Maybe next time. I like being a food guinea pig...

Leftovers

Mmmm, skate.


Skate, as I learned this afternoon, is a stingray-like creature. I bought some yesterday at the H-Mart because it was a nice compromise between the boring fish (tilapia) and the weird/scary seafood (snails, monkfish heads, LIVE tilapia), and I remembered my Bouchon cookbook has a few skate recipes in it.

This afternoon, went to cook it, only to be overwhelmed by ammonia. Considerable internet research allowed me to conclude that it (*probably*) won't kill me, and that soaking it in lemon for an hour will help.

In the meantime, a little food blogging about things Gen ate in the recent past:

[EDIT: skate=fail. It cooked beautifully, and I was so excited to try it. I'd sauteed some oyster mushrooms in butter rather than follow Keller's recipe, and it made a nice sauce. I lifted the first forkful of fishy goodness, and was (again) overcome by the smell of ammonia I thought I'd eradicated. It was too strong for even me to try. Lunch was sauteed mushrooms, boo.]


Crab.

This is the leftovers of a fabulous meal I made from scratch on Sunday. Homemade crabcakes on arugula with some goat cheese. I also made lemon-goat cheese biscuits (not pictured) as an adaptation of the biscuit recipe from my new cookbook, Beard on Bread. They froze really well.

Also in recent eating news:

Dolmades

Being the weirdo I am, I had this for breakfast a few days ago. Vegetarian dolmades from Phoenecia, with arugula and a poached egg. Like most normal people, I suck at poaching eggs. I was excited about the concept, dreaming of velvety poached eggs from brunches past, only to fail, again. I followed the procedure described in my circa-1960s Joy of Cooking, but got only watery egg drop soup. I tried again, with slightly better results, but had to fish slippery egg chunks out of the pot for my salad.

Finally, Mai's. I was really annoyed with their refusal to let me try anything interesting on the menu the last time I went, so it had been months since we'd visited. They did it again. I almost walked out when the waiter refused to let me order the salty limeade I wanted. We argued for several minutes, and he finally relented. I LOVED it- it tasted like lemon-lime Gatorade, or maybe Mountain Dew, but made with real juices. Sooo good after a hot day in the sun. After seeing me enjoy it, our waiter didn't even blink when I ordered the jellyfish salad.


It was the PERFECT summer food. I'd been craving jellyfish for weeks (I'm not kidding- it's actually delicious), and it was very different from the Chinese-style jellyfish salad I was used to, but it was awesome. It had jellyfish, tons of crunchy veggies, peanuts, spicy sauce, and fresh fried shrimp crackers. So now I actually like Mai's. But I wonder how much more business they would get if they would let their waiters let customers be adventurous without a fight.

Desperately Missing the Mediterranean

Tonight, I had sardines and baked eggplant for dinner, with a glass of Lebanese wine to drink.

I've been wanting seafood-heavy Mediterranean dishes for weeks now. I didn't discuss it here, but I had an unfortunate baby squid cooking incident a few weeks ago- basically, I was at the local Korean market, and they were handing out samples of the baby squid that was on special. The woman cooking made them taste amazing...even though I hate squid. It was awesome. So I bought two pounds of baby squid, and attempted to recreate it. Did not go well. Squid carnage:


I should have learned my lesson about non-traditional protein sources and ethnic markets, but no. Today, I found myself out at Phoenicia, the amazing market whose name I still cannot spell without help, again. I've been eying their fish for a long time. They sell inexpensive, underrated, but fabulous fish such as sardines, smelt, and the like. I bought a pack of large six sardines. They're perhaps six or seven inches long whole. I assumed they'd been gutted, but I got a fun surprise upon my return home...

I used to fish with my grandfather, but he always killed and gutted the fish for me. I dredged up whatever I remember from those experiences, plus the knowledge I've acquired from my habit of using cookbooks as leisure reading, and commenced the carnage. It was pretty gross, but logical. I always thought the fish blood and guts had to be removed quickly after death to prevent spoilage, so I hope I don't get ill.

I dusted their little carcasses with flour, and pan-fried them in a butter/olive oil blend. They turned out fine, but the little bones were distracting, and the cooking method added to their fattiness.

To complete the Mediterranean experience, I roasted some eggplant slices with Parmesan cheese. I was so overwhelmed with foodie joy at the visit to Phoenicia that I failed to actually plan for the eggplant, so my dish was rather sad- just cheese and eggplant. And the cheese? Let's just say that my cooking adventures have taught me Kraft sprinkle cheese is far more versatile than one would think.

The wine was also pretty good. It is labeled "Petit Noir", from Cave Kouroum in Lebanon, about $7/bottle.I'm not sure if "Petit Noir" is Lebanese for "Pinot Noir"? Google isn't helping, but it tastes heavier than a Pinot to me. It's also darker in color. Not bad, just a very dry, fruity red.

More Denver Food. Plus: Snotty College Students Ruin My Coffee

One of the new places I was excited to try was this place. Denver has a lot of unexpectedly good fast ethnic food places- notably Tokyo Joe's- but Indian fast food fell flat. Bombay Bowl offers a variety of bowl options for proteins, sauces, toppings, and sides. There is something to be said for a fast-casual place that will dump tons of steamed veggies on your food, but it's Indian food like Fazoli's is Italian food- not as appalling as Taco Bell's interpretation of Mexican food, but bad. I ordered a tofu bowl with veggies and korma sauce, with a side of naan and a mango lassi. The korma was very thin and depressing. I'd also ordered some vindaloo sauce on the side after the person working couldn't adequately describe to me how hot it was. It wasn't. At all. The crispy bread resembled Native American fry bread more than naan, but tasted good, and the lassi was nice. Unfortunately, India imports some very tasty vaccuum-packed dinners that taste far better and are far cheaper, so I won't be back.

I also had lots of coffee. I love Pablo's. We were regulars, and haven't been able to find any coffee consistently on par with Pablo's here in Houston, so many visits were necessary. They have good pastries and bagels, too. Everyone who works there and hangs out there is strange, but in the normal coffee shop sort of way. It is the natural habitat for such regulars as the barista with a huge breastplate tattoo; the ponytailed guy who moodily doodles in his journal with Prismacolors; the middle-aged man with not-quite-ironic black nerd glasses and a pseudo-intellectual entourage; the college professors and their very hip three-year-old kid...I love it. I walked into Stella's- which serves coffee made with Pablo's beans- on a whim, however, and it was downright scary. The place is huge, for an independent coffee shop, and no one, in any of the six or seven rooms was talking. We walked outside, and there was another group talking very quietly, so we chose to sit out on the patio. We proceeded to have a very enjoyable, but loud, three-hour conversation, while everyone openly stared at our table. We got some seriously dirty looks on our way out, even though we were sitting outside. My friend thought they might be DU students in the middle of finals preparation, but that's no excuse. If talking bothers you, maybe you should be studying at the library. Stella's demographic was decidedly less hipster than Pablo's, but I'll take my coffee shop weirdos over Stella's stuck-up DU students any day.

Denver Food

I went to Denver last week. Among the highlights were:

-A huge Greek omelet from Pete's Gyros Place on Colfax. Pretty tasty Greek diner food- a huge omelet filled with feta, tomato, and gyros, with a side of hash browns, pita, and tzatziki for dipping. The coffee was a little off, but I'd missed the huge platters, career waitresses, and typically charming Colfax atmosphere. I also like the Greek bakery two doors down, Omonia.

-Graham cracker ice cream from Lik's. I had a bizarre craving for their "Tabasco" flavor, but they didn't have any. They did have a "Caramel Cayenne" flavor that tasted similar, so maybe it's replaced Tabasco. In any case, the graham cracker ice cream was compelling- finely ground graham crackers and hard toffee chunks. The combination was unique, but the flavors played off each other really well. Lik's seems to specialize in creating subtle flavors that one wouldn't think work well together (ie, Tabasco, peanuts, and caramel), but do. Another favorite is their Guinness ice cream, which combines Guinness, caramel, and chocolate. The flavors are subtle, but perfect.

-South Central II. I eat at a lot of restaurants with strange, nondescript names. Maybe it's because they're the best. SCII is a hole-in-the-wall Greek place across from Swedish Hospital in Englewood, with haphazard decor that hasn't been updated in decades. I am in love with the atmosphere, their food, and the fact that the waitress still recognizes me after a year away- she even still remembers we always get iced tea, and that my mother wants pink sugar with hers. Most of their daily specials are wonderful- the roast lemon chicken with potatoes and the lamb and noodles come to mind. They come with a tangy Greek salad and addictive homemade bread for about $8. We went on Monday, when the special is a weird-sounding pasta salad. As much as I adore them, it sounded boring, so I went with the vegetarian moussaka instead, which was delicious but incredibly rich. It had caramelized layers of eggplant on top of scalloped potatoes, covered with Bearnaise sauce and a noodly sort of layer on top. The homemade bread and salad were awesome, as usual.

-Mole de Pollo from the original La Fogata (don't be put off by their slightly cheesy website). The plate consisted of shredded chicken doused with homemade Mole sauce, tortillas, beans, and rice. It was good, but not as amazing as usual. Perhaps they stopped making their own sauce, or maybe they had a bad day.

-Sesame chicken at Palace Chinese Restaurant. This is the sort of restaurant I loved as a kid and now sort of hate. Super-formal dining room and service, really predictable Americanized (ie, inoffensive) menu. I'd had a craving for jellyfish salad, but my family took me here instead of the sort of Chinese restaurant that would actually have jellyfish on the menu. On the good side, their menu claims to have the "Best Sesame Chicken in Denver" and they actually do. Ultra-crispy, with a light and crunchy coating of batter, and a sticky coating of sugary sesame sauce.

More highlights next week, including the weird fast-casual Indian food that made me sick, creepy coffee shops, Denver's ugliest house, Polish food, gooey buns, Cajun food, and the tragic Ethiopian food failure.

Salad isn't always awful

For dinner, I had a summery salad with pizza. They were both from Whole Foods' prepared section. Maybe Whole Foods should hire me to blog for them, it seems like I don't eat anywhere else...

The pizza was ok. It was a personal pizza with goat cheese, mozzarella, and sun-dried tomatoes. I am quite possibly the least observant person alive, so I was halfway through my pizza when I fully realized why it tasted 'different' from normal- I usually get it with fresh tomatoes, not sun-dried. Not a fan of sun-dried tomatoes- too sweet, and they're usually dry and gummy. These were no exception, but I could deal with them.

The salad, however, was fabulous. I wanted a veggie to go with my pizza, and the asparagus-mozzarella-fennel salad looked interesting. I was put off at first by the fact that they used all the stalky chunks of asparagus they probably had leftover from making their roasted asparagus spears. I should probably be happy to see them using their produce efficiently, but god knows what their profit margins are on the $11.99 roasted asparagus already- why must they compound it by putting the leftover stalks into my ($9.99/lb) salad? In any case, the stalks were not woody, as I'd feared, and the salad was perfectly balanced- bright and acidic, with lemon and shallot. It was a little heavy on the onion, and they could've perhaps blanched the fennel to make it less mouth-numbing, but the overall effect was happy and sunny.

Polenta and Honey

For breakfast, I had hot polenta cereal at Empire Cafe.

I've always seen it on their menu and wondered what it was like. I've only had polenta a few times- covered in butter and salt, it's lovely, but otherwise not a favorite. Plus, virtually anything covered in butter is good. But polenta-as-breakfast, covered in honey and almonds, sounded very interesting.

It was a little goopy and gloppy, in the same way that grits are sometimes gloppy. Almost like they've mixed in a little egg. The polenta was pretty dull, but the honey creme drizzled on top was fabulous. The almonds should have been toasted, and there should have been more of both. It was served dry, so I trotted over to their self-service coffee area and sloshed maybe a quarter cup of whole milk over the top. Much better.

In other news, the wine I had with dinner (baked salmon with horseradish butter)smells like peanut butter. As soon as I opened it, I was seriously confused. Upon reflection, the peanut butter scent is mixed with strong, wet mineral and pine notes. It's the Petit Caprice 2007 vin d'pays. Very tannic Grenache/Syrah blend. I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about it. I always find it intriguing when wines (usually French wines) have an unusual scent or flavor. It didn't go with my salmon very well, but it's fun to puzzle through a wine every now and then that's not "drinkable" in the ordinary sense.