Hit the Road, Jack

I spent most of this past week on the road dreaming of recipes, but really only able to eat out. My only decent chance at a meal was at a spot in Philly called Alfa.

While the chef's credentials seemed impressive enough (he worked underneath Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto), my first impression of the restaurant was that of one that was simply trying too hard. A glance at their website, which reads more like that of the city's newest club hotspot, should give you an idea of why I agree.

For instance, the "Bruschetta Trio of tomato onion marmalade and cambozola cheese, spiced walnuts and fig jam, and wild mushroom and herbed cheese" tasted just as confusing as it sounded. And by "confusing" I mean "bad."

I had a pepper crusted scallop with truffled mashed potato, a saffron infused orange jus, crisped mixed cheese, and a sauteed baby carrot. The only of those adjectives that happenned to be accurate were "crisped" and "sauteed." I know truffled and I know saffron and I can tell you that neither of those showed up in any substantive way on this plate. While the scallop was indeed cooked perfectly, the cheese was overpowering, and the mashed potato was nothing I couldn't have made at home. The orange jus was the only thing that made the plate edible from beginning to end.

And since I only got three scallops with mild additions, I wasn't nearly full at the end of my $17 entree. So I ordered some $6 sweet potato and russet potato french fries. These were actually pretty good, although inconsistent from fry to fry.

I will say, the martini (or three) I had was absolutely fantastic. Vodka, apple pucker, pomegranate juice, and a touch of cinnamon. Why do all my favorite martinis always end up pink??

More...

It really has been a long time--I forgot about a good number of other experiments from the last couple of months.

• Ceviche Summer Rolls: These were...interesting. I'll start by saying I think I have a good idea here, but they weren't as well executed as I would have liked. I used bay scallops, shrimp, avocado, rice noodles, and a bit of napa cabbage. The ceviche was lime juice, olive oil, cayenne, and cumin. The scallops needed more time, and the avocado wasn't exactly ripe. And they don't keep well overnight. This is worth a second look, it needs something to counter the acidity of the ceviche. All that being said, we ate them all. Can't complain too much about that...
• A Bit of Vegetarian Fare: This one's for you, pops. My girl Rachele doesn't eat none of that meat stuff, but I wasn't gonna let that stop me. Roasted Zucchini with just a bit of olive oil, kosher salt, and black pepper goes fantastic with a drizzle of sweet soy reduction of soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, and black pepper. Served it with a mushroom and three cheese risotto topped with slices of portobello mushrooms blanched in white wine and vinegar and seasoned with salt. I have to be honest--didn't miss the meat in this dish at all.

Tomorrow Alyse and I are getting together to cook, so you should get another update pretty soon. Stay tuned!

Two and a Half Months

Wow, so I've really let myself go...

The last few months have been, as always, the stuff wild rides are made of. A couple of trips to New York, broken televisions and laptops, travel for work, dance rehearsals and performances...it just wouldn't be my life if it weren't non-stop.

But yes, I did have some time for a little food here and there.

• Trip to New York, Episode 1: So during the season of Next Food Network Star, I became friends on MySpace with the show's profile. During one of my weekly logins to MySpace, I noticed a bulletin for an open casting call in NYC. So I did it--headed up to NYC for just one day, waited in line for 5 hours, and met with the Casting Director. How did it go? Well, how could I really say? I felt charming enough--she laughed, and I was called "cute" twice. She also said my food sounded "interesting." But, of course, there were 150 other people just at this call. So don't think you'll catch me holding my breath. It was super fun, though, and I met some really cool peoples.
• T discovers Chilean Sea Bass: I've definitely found my favorite new ingredient--one of many seemingly common proteins/ingredients I've neither eaten nor cooked...at least until about a month ago. Chilean Sea Bass was made to be pan seared/blackened, and serving it over a risotto is just fantastical. Speaking of seafood, I finally rocked out some Maryland Blue Crabs. Now, the crabs were good--the stock I made from the crabs is better. If only I could figure out exactly what to do with it...
• T has a new favorite wine of all time: Alain Corcina's 2005 Pinot Noir from Bourgogne. Inexpensive+phenomenal.
• Halo 3. Xbox Live. Nuff Said.
• T butchers a duck: Well, not a live duck. But figured out yesterday how to quarter a whole duck from Whole Foods. Removed the breasts and the skin and cooked the skinless breasts faux sous vide--tightly wrapped it in plastic wrap with some soy sauce, liquid smoke, salt, pepper, rosemary, and rice wine vinegar and then poached for about a half hour in steaming, but not simmering water. Then took the breasts out, seared them on each side for just a minute or two Took the skin off the duck and crisped it in some butter and olive oil, and made a sauce of concord grapes, white wine, allspice, and bay leaves. Served the duck over rainbow chard, topped with the crisped duck skin, the grape sauce, and a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds. See Nat? Don't you ever claim I don't cook for you...
• Almost forgot, the first course yesterday was a salad of frissee, fennel, snow crab meat, and pan-fried tilapia dressed in a bit of butter and lemon juice and served in half a yellow bell pepper. A nice, clean first course. Nothing life changing, but a wonderful summer dish. Sigh, yes. I still wish/think it's summer.
• And now, one more stock goes into my freezer/fridge--Took the rest of the duck meat and bones aside from the drumsticks, thighs, etc., and made a stock over the last 24 hours or so. Alyse has suggested using it as a base for some sauces or stews. Now that's some cold weather for ya.
• Visiting NYC, Episode 2: Decided to make my annual NYC vacay over Columbus Day weekend, and made it chock full of good food. First, I visited Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill for lunch with my boy Josh. I ordered this 16-spice chicken that was, bar-none, the best preparation of chicken I have ever tasted. Yes, even better than this. I also ate at Perilla, the restaurant run by Harold Dieterele, who won the first episode of Top Chef. Top notch meal here, too. I had pork belly with porcini mushrooms and a gastrique that was absolutely out of this world, and Wild Boar Milanese with arugula and shaved parmesan for my main course. The dessert was a peanut butter parfair with chocolate shortbread and a raspberry sorbet--described as an upscale play on a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. Best PB&J everrrrr.

I'm feeling a bit gourmet again. And my mom is sending me the family's olddddd digital camera, so hopefully I'll be back on the block soon.

The blog is back...sexy sexy.

Oh ohhh!