This is One Reason I Love My Friends

The following text is from an email sent to me by a friend this weekend. I love these kind of messages, in fact, emails like this were what nudged me towards starting my blog. Actually, it was my sister nudging me, perhaps because I sent one too many emails like this and she said "Start a blog already!" Anyway, it sounds amazing and I will always welcome emails of this nature, keep 'em coming!



Girl-


Yesterday, we ate out twice- once for lunch (Sofra) and once for dinner (Oleana). If for whatever reason you come to Boston, you gotta go to these places. Both places are owned by the same lady, who's big into North African-type stuff. The lunch place is a small cafe and makes some of the most beautiful baked goods you've ever seen. Everything is done with an expert touch, and you can tell just by looking at the pastries that you could basically order anything, and be happy.

For lunch, a lamb shwarma with pickled cabbage and this really good flatbread that they then grilled on some kind of Moroccan domed griddle- I forget what it's called. The lamb had been braised prior to being shwarma-ed. Simple and slammin.

But that's not enough to write you, right? The real reason was dinner. A 6-course vegetarian tasting menu at her fancy restaurant. Beautiful:

1. Meze plates with two preparations on each plate of standard meze fare- but everything was done to perfection. We each had different things: baba ganouj with dill, warm hummous w/tomato and olive confit, red pepper dip with spicy chiles, walnut pate (amazing), some kind of tomato conserve with other stuff, and I forget what the sixth was.

2. THIS. COURSE. WAS. AMAZING: Parsnip hummous with chickpeas on top and beautiful olive oil (or melted butter- I'm not sure), yoghurt, cilantro tabouli, and the best crisp flatbread ever. It's weird for me to be so hyped up about this course, because it was basically hummous and tabouli- nothing out of this world, but again, the beauty was in the preparation. On top of the hummous were just some plain old chickpeas, but I had to do a double take, because however they were cooked, they tasted so rich and milky- and I even asked the waitress to find out if they had been cooked in evaporated milk, because that's how prevalent the milky flavor was. She checked, but apparently that wasn't the case. I'm not sure if they were punking me, or what, because I swear to God I knew what I was tasting...

3. Spinach Falafel with micro greens, beet puree, fresh pickle on house-made flat bread. Lovely. Expertly executed.

4. Savory garlic pancakes served on spinach and some kind of creamy concoction. SLAMMIN.

5. Fideos and chickpeas cooked in a vanilla saffron broth with some other stuff that made the one spoon I ate heaven. By this point, we were all so stuffed we could only taste one bite- but the good news is that we packed it up and are having it for breakfast today with some omelets. HOLLA!!!

6. Three desserts: walnut tart with a walnut gelato and something else (the best!!!); chocolate frozen mousse or semi freddo or something with cocoa nibs (slammin); some kind of fruity floral frozen dessert with pomegrante granita and a rose cream, or something (lovely- but by this time I couldn't keep the ingredients straight, lol).

To accompany the meal, we all drank a beer created especially for this restaurant- it was lovely and crisp, but not overwhelming- and scented with the three Cs: cardamom, cumin and coriander. I could drink this stuff all summer long.

In short- it was slammin.

Holla!

Italy: Part One

So I was going to do this long, extended, several-part post on my magnificent trip to Italy this past fall and I just keep pushing it to the side. It was so monumental and filled with delectable morsels that I feared I would not do it justice by memorializing it in my usual, haphazard, bullet-point laden way. Now it's been over two months since my return and I've said nary a word, not so much as a peep. Well, before this year is over and my memory comPLETEly fails me, I am going to give it a shot.

I arrived in Rome on Wednesday morning after a long, long plane ride. I took the subway to our "B&B," which was less a bed and breakfast and more a rented closet in a crazy lady's apartment. It was odd to say the least but I'll touch on that a bit later. Anyway, Nicole was just finishing up breakfast and so I laid down my bags, took a quick shower and we were on our way! First stop was to pick up our Roma passes. We took the subway to Repubblica to that end and the way, we saw our first gelato place so we stopped for a quick taste. I got ciocolatto, Nicole got pistaccio and although in my now, less-euphoric state, I can admit it wasn't the best I've ever had, I swooned nonetheless. First gelato in Rome!

We hopped a bus to head towards a neighborhood known for pizza, cheap pizza at that. I should remember the neighborhood but I don't and this is an example of why I should have attacked this task two months ago. We weren't on for long when we jumped off to take pictures of this and that, Rome is gorgeous and crumbling and majestic and on and on. We found ourselves at a spot called PizzeriaRe and procured ourselves a table outside and, still giggling and mumbling in our imperfect Italian, managed to order some pasta dish and also a pizza. I don't know what we ate but it was marvelous; the pasta was chewy and had just the right bite, the pizza was light as air.






After that, we took a stroll through Campo di Fiori and across the river to Trastevere. As soon as we came upon the Tiber river with its tree-lined boulevards and ancient bridges, I just fell in love. I fall in love all the time so perhaps you may think this wasn't noteworthy but just wait til you see it for yourself! Still stuffed from our magnificent lunch, we decided to skip dinner and just have gelato.

Friday Night on the Town

My friend Kat and I decided we needed a little upgrade in our social lives so we decided to hit a gallery opening on Friday evening, followed by a late dinner at a restaurant in Allentown I've been meaning to check out.

I adore gallery openings, not because I'm all that cultured but more that I'm a sucker for free wine and cheese. The last few I've attended made you PAY for wine, how ghastly, so I didn't have high hopes. But yes, there was free wine, although I opted for water, and some delicious cheese. Oh, and I was wearing a fabulous new dress and shoes, very Sex and the City, if you will. I hobnobbed with the artists and even bought something, is that a sign that I am finally a real adult?

The opening was lovely but we were hungry so we headed downtown for dinner at Sample. I love the decor; it's in an old music store with tin ceilings and such and the recent renovation included a loft-space and a sweetly circular little bar. I walked in and was immediately greeted by a familiar face and kindly proffered a specialty beverage (the face was Brendan, the drink was a roasted pineapple mojito, thank you Brendan!). After trying to catch the attention of several bored-looking servers, we were seated.

Now, let me tell you a bit about the concept here. Sample, as the name indicates, serves wee bites of food that you order in pieces, like sushi. While I like the idea, couldn't we do something a bit more inspired than mini fish fry or mini bbq chicken salad? Really? Anyway, Kat and I decided to order the flight, which offers a taste of each menu item.

-We were served an amuse-bouche that our server called a vegetarian rice ball. I would call it arancini if it were good, which it wasn't, so instead I'll call it salty fried ball with even saltier soy poured all over it. Kat and I said "Well, it was nice of them to bring something extra, even if it wasn't all that."

-Next we were served the cheese board, including a cheese fondue with pesto, fresh ricotta and pineapple salsa, panini with some cheese and pear something-or-other. And some stale-ass bread hard as a rock. Really, I couldn't even break it and I lift weights. The gluey fondue was saved by the pest0, the panini was whatever and the ricotta was fine.

-The next round was our Mediterranean plate with oilve tapenade (ho hum), hummus (lemony), cucumber salad, pickled onions blah blah blah, I was very bored. The pita was nicely toasted though.

-BBQ chicken salad sandwich, french onion soup and something else unmemorable. Let's just say this; we cut the french onion "soup" in half and there was no spillage. What the hell? Still, Kat and I laughed and carried on.

-Roasted corn bisque, poutine, mini beef on weck. The bisque was very nice, heavy on the cumin with a yogurt-swirl. Poutine, we all know how I love poutine, but if it's not with cheese curd, it's just fries with gravy. As this was. And beef on weck, a seminal Buffalo classic, should never be served without horseradish. For shame!

-Gnocchi in a zucchini puree, steak and fry or some other such nonsense and a mixed green salad with poached pears and blue cheese. This is where I start to get mad. Do not mess with my gnocchi, or more accurately, DO NOT SERVE ME A TATER TOT AND CALL IT GNOCCHI! I have had some bad experiences with gnocchi in restaurants but I have NEVER eaten a deep-fried potato puff served unappetizingly drowning in what looked like Gerber pea-and-carrot puree. Unbelievable. Also, the entire salad, greens and fruit, tasted like the refrigerator. And not a particularly clean one. We didn't even bother to pretend liking any of said items.

-At this point, I was thinking we'd get a crappy dessert and book but no. We had one more plate of unappealing treats. A mini fish fry that was all fry and no fish served on a burnt waffle fry with coleslaw that tasted like it was made in 2006 and had been sitting out since then. I can't remember what other abomination was served with it but it wasn't good.

-Jesus Christ. Did we have to get dessert? Well, at this point, we were considering it a form of entertainment. Rice pudding with honey, chevre and pine nuts was actually nice in flavor but the undercooked rice did not make for the greatest texture. The blueberry cheesecake was glue-like and again, tasted like refrigerator. The mini-smore and mini-coconut whatever included hard, candy-like pieces that were impossible to break, split or chew.

OK, so the food was definitely not memorable but the company was marvelous so we'll just have to try again to erase the memory of such foul food.

Fish Fry Update

It just occurred to me that I was supposed to be spending the winter eating wings at various joints and reporting back on my findings. I've done a lot more fish fry eating than I have wing eating so I need to get back on track with that.

In any case, my mother and sister joined my father and me on an adventure out to Tonawanda this past Friday. If you know me, you are probably aware that I don't like to trek too far from home for shopping, dining and so on. But I heard that this place, Squire's Tap Room, still served a yellow pike fish fry. Intruigued, we decided to give it a try.

We arrived right at 5pm and the dining room was packed! I know fish fry night means early dining time but my goodness! Within a few minutes we were seated and had our orders in. I was disappointed that the yellow pike fish fry was only a special on certain nights so I wasn't able to try that. They do offer a mini fish fry, which actually wasn't mini at all, becasue the regular fish fry had two large pieces of fish! It was one of the best fish frys I've had around town; the battre was crunchy and not too thick or overdone, the fish was flaky and moist and the sides were all delicious. For the four of us, dinner was a whopping $27.90! I love this place and next time, I might order the Warrior Combo, which is 5 wings and beef on weck. How do you love that, Buffalo?

Dining a la Mode

Last Friday, I had the honor of going to dinner with my dear Domma and his lovely friend who was in town as a guest singer with the Philharmonic. So highbrow, I know, hmmm. We tried going to Toro but alas, Friday nights are a lot more busy than I anticipated. We ended up at good old Mode, in the former Le Metro location. I like Mode for brunch, for late-night cocktails and dancing but I rarely seem to make it there for dinner.

So I got to try a whole new array of dinner dishes and overall was quite pleased. We decided to order a whole bunch of things and sort of do a tapas-style dinner. Hey, if we couldn't eat at Toro, we could still emulate their style, no?

Our server brought our some FANTASTIC bread and olive oil for dipping. It was really superb, I couldn't stop eating it. The oil was so flavorful and must have been infused with garlic and aromatics. We ordered an appetizer special of grilled shrimp over new potato salad and topped with a quail egg. The shrimp were fresh and tasty but they were no prawns and at $14 for three shrimp, a wee bit overpriced. The potatoes were dressed with a hint of mint, very refreshing. We also had Medjool dates, stuffed with gorgonzola and wrapped with proscuitto, which combines three of my favorite things but somehow it wasn't all that tasty. It was, however, garnished with some greens that had a really great spicy-sweet dressing. Our final appetizer was tuna nicoise. The tuna was black sesame seed crusted and lay on a bed of greens, olives, greens beans and egg. Tuna nicoise is a dish that is high on my list of good eats but I rarely order it becasue for some weird reason, people think it's ok to bastardize it with tuna from a can. Blecch. We also ordered a roasted pear salad that never came but we weren't charged for it and after sharing all that, we still had an entree of duck breast to share. The duck was fantastic;, meaty and rich, crisp skin and placed atop sweet potato-duck confit and braised swiss chard. The accoutrements were a bit salty, and I like salt, but overall really quite good.

I have to admit though, I'm sick of swiss chard and sweet potatoes. I want delicate asparagus and butter-soft fresh lettuce. Hmmm, sigh, spring is just around the corner, hurry up!

Bistro on a Budget

A few months back, I read an article about O'Connell's American Bistro, formerly the old Hourglass on Kenmore Avenue. It piqued my interest because, well, the food sounded amazing, and because they offer a 2 course lunch for $12 and a 3 course lunch for $15. On Tuesdays, the 2 course lunch is only $10! So, as a belated birthday lunch, N. took me there on Tuesday for lunch.

The menu offered 5 starters and several main courses, all very tempting. I decided to start with a spring mix salad with poached pears, gorgonzola and a green fairy dressing. N. opted for the french onion soup. My salad was nicely composed and the green fairy dressing ( a cousin to green goddess?) had nice, lemony kick. N.'s french onion soup was earthy and delicious, a fry cry from the version we ate a while back at Gabriel's Gate. I had a hard time choosing an entree but went with the gnocchi with braised veal cheeks. I know, it's not PC but it sounded damn good. It was phenomenal. The veal was meltingly tender and, I don't know what a veal cheek even is but it flaked apart beautifully, sort of like a pot roast. The sauce was UNBELIEVABLE. It was made with the veal braising liquid, wine and heavy cream but there was a depth of flavor that belies the short list of ingredients. I don't think the gnocchi was housemade but the sauce was so good that I really didn't care. N. had steak frites, which was served cooked as ordered and dripping with an herbed butter. His was good but mine was stellar.

As both the entrees were so rich, we didn't order dessert although my friend, Chef Roo, who works in the kitchen makes the world's best creme brulee. Really, after a meal like that I probably didn't need to eat for another few weeks. We eneded with some tea and coffee even with that and tax, our meal came in well under $30. For a two course, gourmet lunch, I'll be back for sure.

The Week in Review

Oh my, a whole week has gone by? Well, six days, excuse me. I have a lot going on at work, I had two birthdays in one week and I'm training for a race so I'm busy!

I didn't make anything remarkable this week and by that I mean microwaving a sweet potato was the highlight of my culinary expression. I did have a very good Indian feast at my mother's house on Tuesday that included chicken curry, vegetable biryani, several chutneys, raita, mango lassis and this most incredible pie. My mother said she was making a chocolate pudding pie and in my head I thought "where the hell did she get that idea?" I had a vision of chocolate pudding out of a box, slapped into a frozen pie shell and topped with Cool Whip. Not my thing and definitely not my mother's. So I was blown away by this dessert, appropriately dubbed the dessert of the year by Bon Appetit magazine. The crust was of the chocolate graham cracker variety, the top was a mound of creme fraiche but the inside, oh, the filling!!!! It was like biting into the inside of a truffle; dense and so intensely flavored of chocolate that it almost gave me a headache. But I can handle the pain for the reward, which was so sweet. Marvelous dessert, very bad name. Nothing that amazing should be called a chocolate pudding pie.




Thursday night, we went to North, a restaurant that recently opened in the old and infamous Hotel Lenox. I felt kind of like I was entering a speakeasy after descending a few steps to go through a tiny door. After passing through the bar area, which is large and scattered with booths, we were seated in the back dining room. The company was wonderful and the food, while inexpensive, was not noteworthy. We also received some of the worst service I've had, if not ever, then certainly in a long time. Halfway through the meal, N. remarked that he felt like we were in a David Lynch movie. The decor, the characters, the odd soundtrack, the old-style powder room outside the bathroom, it did all create an interesting ambience. Weirdly, although nobody's meal was particularly good, I'll probably be back, perhaps just to sit in one of the bar booths and eavesdrop on the conversation between the bartender, the pimp and the accountant.

I Like to Eat Fried Things on Friday

I don't have a standing appointment with my father on Fridays but frequently one of us will call the other for a Friday fish fry date. When we're feeling lazy, we head to Boomerang's on Niagara, just around the corner, for a perfectly acceptable fish fry. Other times, the feeling of adventure strikes and we try a new place. Last night was just one of those adventurous nights so we headed to the wilds of Riverside to try out Viking Lobster Company. From what I can tell, this establishment was open in the 70s, closed down and has seen several other restaurants in its place, as well as many years of plain vacancy. The corner of Tonawanda and Austin streets is not where I expect to find any restaurant, much less one that flies in lobster fresh each day.

We entered the unassuming building and found ourelves in a quaint foyer, complete with lobster lamp and chalkboard featuring daily specials. There seems to be a series of small rooms and we were ushered into the front, a warm area with lots of cozy dining nooks. Our waitress (whose mother was working in the kitchen, I loved this) was very pleasant and rattled off a number of very affordable lobster specials, inclduing the lobster bake with a lobster, mussels, clams and corn for $29.95. They also have what's called the Viking Seafood meal, which inlcudes a lobster, crab legs, shrimp, mussels and clams or the Ultimate which adds a chicken breast and a rack of ribs to that mess. Whoa. I'd have to starve all day to be able to eat that.

The specials were appealing, but I was there to check out the fish fry. Their version comes with a choice of soup, I went for the clam chowder over the french onion. It was very tasty, but more like clam soup than chowder. It didn't seem to have any milk or cream but instead was thickened simply by the potatoes. The fish fry itself was fantastic: no beer batter here but was coated with a batter lightly seasoned with cornmeal. The fish was tender and fresh and cooked perfectly. Their coleslaw, while homemade, was just okay. Some coleslaws are much too wet, even mushy. This coleslaw suffered from the opposite problem; the thick wedges of cabbage did not have enough moisture to break down a bit and so it was too dry and very crunchy. I prefer thick-cut french fries, these were of the shoestring variety but pretty good anyway. We ended with coffee (included in our $9.95) and that was surprisingly good too. It was strong and even lightly scented of almonds.

This would be a great place to get a group of hungry friends together, slide into the roomy, wrap-around booth and feast on mountains of seafood. I'm surprised that I haven't heard much about this place by word of mouth but I'm doing my best to get the word out!

Kuni Ku Ku

Kuni's, the famed Elmwood sushi spot, quietly reopened last year on Lexington, doing a brisk business in takeout only. This works fine for me since I was never able to get a table at the old place anyway.

We ordered a feast on Saturday night. I have never had their wasabi shumai and they were outstanding. I love wasabi and always add it bit by bit to my soy sauce. It's never enough and then I always make the mistake of adding just a bit more and completely ruin the balance. Well, the wasabi in these little dumplings achieves that perfect balance of nostril-flaring heat without subsequent head throbbing.
My other two favorites were the spicy tuna roll and oddly, the avocado roll. I always thought the avocado roll was so boring, avocado and rice when I can have three kinds of fish, tobiko, unagi and sprouts all in one? In my older age, I have come to appreciate that less is sometimes more and when less means perfectly ripe avocado with sticky, well-seasoned sushi rice, then I'm all about it. We also ordered just a fillet of a salmon, grilled, nothing extra and it was golden-crusted on the outside and moist and tender inside.

I hear their lunchtime bento box special is the way to go so anyone looking for a lunch date, let me know.

LaNova, You're Losing Your Touch

I have never been a big fan of LaNova pizza, I'm more of a Mr. Pizza kind of girl. But I must admit, LaNova BBQ wings are the last word in my book. Tossed in that sweet, tangy sauce and then thrown on the grill fo a few minutes to produce a light char, they are magnificent. So we wanted to order some wings and pizza and thought it might be kind of ridiculous to order wings from one place and pizza from another. I have to say I was disappointed. LEt's rate the wings using my scorecard.

1. The wings were of normal size, not those nasty mutants.

2. We got an order of medium and one of BBQ. The medium couldn't even be considered mild, they had no flavor and worst of all, they had lots of undercooked, fatty bits. Wack. The BBQ was good but not remarkable.

3. THe blue cheese was terrible but at least I anticipated that and had Marie's easily accessible. Incidentally, Nicole put in a vote for Rootie's blue cheese. I'd like to do a blind taste test but we were too lazy to leave the house to pick some up.

4. The pizza was edible but also unremarkbale. I had to doctor it up with some banana peppers and blue cheese. LANova pizza, as usual, is just too goddamn doughy. And they don't offer the variety of flavored crusts. My favorite is still Mr. Pizza garlic crust with hot peppers and sausage. The non-meat eaters wanted mushrooms and although I love a good fungus, on pizza it just doesn't do it for me.

Anyway, I'm still on my quest for the perfect wing. I'm starting to suspect that it's in my very own kitchen.

Chicken Wing Scorecard

I had a staff gathering on Friday night at Pearl Street Brewery and it occurred to me, as I lapped up the wing sauce, that I should create categories for scoreworthy components of a delicious chicken wing.

In a previous post, I had mentioned making it my winter's work to scour each and every wing joint in the WNY region. I will probably just limit that to Erie County unless there are some strong contenders in the far-flung Southern Tier. But I cannot just rush into this blindly. I must methodically document and reason, throughly research and create a standardized assessment through which I can objectively choose the superior chicken wing.

Incidentally, I liked the wings at Pearl Street. I thought their pizza and onion rings were pretty weak but the wings were mighty fine. So I will rate the Pearl Street wing by the categories I have devised. If I am missing a category, or you have some input on modifying my already-existing ones, let me know.

1. Size: Some people complain about small wings. I personally find the huge, hulking ones pretty creepy. I feel like they came from some genetically-modified, hormone-high chicken. Plus, I like a high skin-meat ratio. Not enough surface area on those big ones. So these wings were right in the middle, just fine by me.

2. Crisp: Underfry a wing and they are a soggy mess and those nasty veins are much too flaccid. Yuck. Overfry a wing and you have something that resembles a pork rind more than a chicken wing. They must be perfectly fried to avoid either one of those outcomes and be able to soak up the sauce and still retain a bit of that crispy exterior. Pearl Street did this marvellously.

3. Wing Sauce: It has to be Frank's Red Hot and butter, people! Cannot skimp on the butter. And oh my, they did not.

4. Blue Cheese: First of all, does it come with blue cheese? If not, they are not wings! Second, is it laden with blue cheese chunks? Is the mayonnaise base redolent with garlic? This isa downfall of most places, I often have to resort to bringing an emergency container of Marie's Extra-Chunky Blue Cheese. OK, I really get the light, which is pretty good too. Anyway, Pearl Street did not receive high marks in this category. The blue cheese was middle of the road, few chunks and had a sort of nasty, bulk mayonnaise taste.

5. Carrot/Celery: I don't think this category carries as much weight as the others but it's part of the experience. Many wing joints skimp here too, throwing a few anemic-looking celery sticks and dried out carrots on the plate. Kudos to Pearl Street; the vegetables were fresh and ample.

6. Double vs. Single: I don't know how else to describe them. You know, there are the wings with one bone and then the double-jointed guys. I used to favor the drumstick-like wings, now I think I prefer the doubles. I'll eat both but some people are fanatics about only eating one type or another. Cast your vote please.

I just read something about Swannie House wings being the world's greatest. That may be my next stop. If you'd like to join my on my adventures in chicken wing scouting, please let me know. Also, I'd like comments on your personal preferences and secret haunts.

New Haven vs Buffalo: A Fish Fry Showdown

When in New England, one must eat New England clam chowder, right? N. got a tip that good place to go would be one Captain's Galley in West Haven. It was located on a meandering road that overlooked the water, good sign. As we walked in, we saw a staff member pouring out some murky-looking liquid into the trash, bad sign. We walked past an old bar filled with crusty regulars hugging the waitresses and I bet if I walked up and ordered a Tom and Jerry, the bartender wouldn't have batted an eyelash.

We both ordered the fish and chips. First, I had to see how a New England fish fry compares to a Buffalo one. Second, it came with a choice of soup! One point for New England! I chose the Rhode Island clam chowder. Rhode Island is in New England, correct? The basic difference is that the soup is not dairy-based so it was a clear broth with chunks of potatoes, celery, carrots and CLAMS-complete with shell and grit so I knew they were not from a can.

The fish fry was goddamn ridiculous. I think the Buffalo-style, fish fillet falling off the plate is silly but this trumped it. Four enormous pieces of fish towered over a mound of french fries. It must have been two pounds of fish. It came with an extra-large vat of tartar sauce, one more point for New England. There was no coleslaw or macaroni salad or German potato salad, score one for Buffalo. The fish was good-flaky and tender-and it had a bit of a cornmeal dusting in its fried outer sheath. I like that but I prefer Buffalo beer-battered. I think that makes the two even. For the first time ever, I ate more than N., although to be fair, he was sick. We carried two, very full to-go containers home that contained enough fish to feed at least three more hungry adults. I had plans for a fish sandwich the next day.

If you ever wonder if leftover fish fry is worth bringing home, please wonder no more. I'll eat it, but that's because I hate waste. I'll eat it cold and pick off the fried bits. Is that disgusting? Oh well. N. mentioned how he loved a good fish sandwich so the next day we put the fish in the oven to reheat and retain the crisp crust. I sliced some really great ciabatta with olive oil and kosher salt, lightly toasted it and slathered each piece with tartar sauce, very thinly sliced red onions and lettuce. We added some scotch bonnet hot sauce and that was one messily perfect sandwich. I liked it better than the actual fish fry. It brought to mind the Junkyard Dog sandwich, made famous by the Taste of Buffalo Festival. It's a fish fry all wrapped up in some flatbread, fish, fries, coleslaw and all. Mmmm. My eyes just went all misty.

Final verdict: I like the two styles of fish fry; they both have their merits. As long as I have some leftover to make sandwiches the next day, I don't really care!

I'm Back!

I ate the last of the pizza in the car on the way to New Haven. Thank God that's over. I got to New Haven at just about dinner time. N. wanted to go to "this Japanese restaurant that's pretty good." We went to Miya on Howe Street and it was quite the adventure. I am usually turned off by inattentive staff, long waits and the inattentive staff's inability to make these long waits slightly less uncomfortbale. This was no exception. We probably would have left except that we were perusing the menu while waiting and there was no way I could have left at that point. There was a roll called "Tiger, tiger burning brightly in the forest?" The menu read like poem and the chef clearly enjoyed playing with different ingredients as much as he did words. There were rolls with sweet potato, brie, cranberries, chocolate and so on. It was actually a bit overwhelming.

We were finally seated and some time later, our inattentive waitperson arrived and we ordered miso soup and vegetable gyoza to start. The miso soup-to reflect the season-was a pumpkin miso soup. Mmm. I liked the soup and although I didn't really taste pumpkin, it was a richer color than it usually is. It also had little pieces of asparagus in it, which was good but odd considering that asparagus is not at all a reflection of autumn. The gyoza were delicate green bundles, well-seasoned and ginger-laden. For rolls, we had the Water Piglet, with seared tuna, goat cheese and cranberry. Delicious but I could do without the name. We also had Ebibabe, which was a roll of potato skins, stuffed with havarti and doused with a creamy dill sauce. My favorites-hmm-it's a tossup between the Peekytoe crab roll with avocado and curry mayonnaise or the Very Crunchy Hamachi Roll. I'm a sucker for spice and crunch. Oh, and avocado. We did not order the Thousand Tender Kisses, which was scallop sashimi with a garlic sauce that sounded marvelous. Actually, I was relying on looking at the menu online so that I could recall some of the more inventive combinations and quirky names but alas, Miya is not online. I think they should remedy that. I also think that each piece was too darn big and I can't enjoy the food when I have to try and stuff the whole piece in. Do I just have a small mouth or is this a problem at many sushi places? Don't be a showoff and roll obscenely large rolls! Maybe the chef has little man syndrome. Anyway, it was a gastronomic experience for sure. As with my sushi outing a few weeks ago, this is not really the place for traditional sushi but more for the daring, the unique and the experimental. Fortunately for me, I like both styles.

Seven Days without Pizza Makes One Weak

I hardly ever eat pizza unless I make it at home. Not because I don't love it but I'm a girl on her own and a pizza would take me some time to plow through. I have to wait until friends come home for the holidays and need their wing-pizza-chicken finger sub fix or, in this case, a series of work-related events.

Last Thursday, we decided to have a staff lunch, just the five of us, very cozy. We haven't done this since adding two people to our staff, so I was excited becuase this time we got to order TWO pizzas and deviate from the usual Low-Cal Veggie. Devan had his heart set on Laura's Old Fashioned, which is extra-thick crust, ample sauce and topped liberally with cheese and thick-cut pepperoni. Bill favors the Low-Cal Chicken Veggie, with spinach and artichokes. It took Just Pizza forever to get here and when they did, I was irritated because Laura's Old Fashioned looked like regular old pepperoni with a fancy name and a higher price. Oh how I was wrong! I especially loved the thick slices of pepperoni that cradled lovely puddles of grease. You can wrinkle your nose in disgust but it was damn good. Low-Cal Chicken Veggie was tasty but unremarkable. Actually, I liked the veggies but could have done without chicken. If meat is going to be present on a pizza, please let it be in pepperoni or sausage form.

Yesterday, I had a long meeting here so I ordered lunch for the group. It amazes me how everyone wants regular old pepperoni when there are exciting choices, like Stuffed Banana Pepper pizza, which is topped with banana peppers, ricotta and sausage. Anyway, I got one of those and one of the old standby, cheese and pepperoni. Now the pizza was once again from Just Pizza and the difference between last week's Laura's Old Fashioned and this week's cheese and pepperoni was vast. The sauce was too sweet and the cheese kind of flavorless. It wasn't bad but it was unimpressive. The Banana Pepper on the other hand, mmmmm. The ricotta was very creamy, the sausage ample and the peppers adding the perfect amount of kick.

This is when the tale becomes a little embarassing. We ordered pizza at Tasty Tuesday last night. True, I had already eaten dinner (pizza leftovers) and didn't really partake. Actually, I wouldn't have eaten any had they not ordered the mysterious Mister Potato Pie from Mister Pizza. But I had to try this. Starch on top of starch? It reminded me of those glorious french fry po-boys with lots of gravy in New Orleans. The pizza included wedges of potatoes that were a cross between baked and fried and they were amazing. Of course, there was also bacon, chives, three cheeses and a side of sour cream. I just had a bite to satisfy my curiousity and now I can't wait to have it again. Suki and I were already emailing this morning to plan a slumber party as an excuse to order it.

Although I've had no chicken wings on my week-long pizza adventure, I was inspired this morning by an article by Calvin Trillin, that appeared in the New Yorker in 1980, entitled "An Attempt to Compile a Short History of the Buffalo Chicken Wing." It's an entertaining article but its pretty dated so I thought I'd make it my winter's work to update it. This will include sampling wings at all the old classics, as well as the newcomers. I'm going to need some assistance with this task, one can only eat so many wings, so drop me a line if you're interested.

Seabar

I hate the suburbs. I really, really do. I am spoiled too, since everything I want to do and all the people I want to see are located within the comfortable confines of my West Side neighborhood. Sometimes people will suggest a new restaurant and I'll ask where it is. On Niagara Falls Boulevard? Blecch. Out in the wilds of Williamsville? Even worse. However, I read recently that Mike Andrejewski, recently of the sadly defunct Tsunami, opened a sushi bar in Williamsville. My mouth watered but I wrote it off.

Moving right along in my story...My friend AB, originally from Buffalo but longtime resident of Seattle, descended upon Buffalo last night for her annual visit. She invited me out to dinner with her family and this is an event I always look forward too. Her pops and his wife have some incredible taste. Going out to eat with them is a treat; I get the inside scoop on the newest restaurants, I hear the gossip surrounding why the old ones closed, we enter through the back door, through the kitchen and have the owner comp our meals. Such is the life. God, I am really taking a long time to get to the point, forgive me. So they wanted to go to Seabar and I'm glad they decided to make the drive, not me.

We ordered a medley of dishes to share. I will dissect them one by one for you.

1. Best Spicy Tuna Roll: That's what is was called on the menu. It was not the best. It wasn't spicy, not even a little bit. And I think using rice crispies instead of little, fried tempura bits is just plain corny.

2. Spider Roll: I love a deep-fried soft-shell crab married to a luscious avocado. You can't go wrong here.

3. Beef on Weck Roll: Yup, you read me right. Only in Buffalo. For those non-Buffalonians, roast beef on a kimmelwick roll, with coarse salt, caraway seeds and horseradish is local legend. I quite liked this roll, but mostly for its quirkiness. I probably would only order this once, just to try it.

4. Miso Caramel Crab Roll: Wow. This was so unique and quite tasty. I'd elaborate but it disappeared before I could really get a handle on it.

5. Unagi BLT Hand Roll: Clearly, they are taking liberty with what is actually sushi. Actually, I would argue that their sushi wasn't all that, it was their "dishes" that really toed the line of excellence. I felt the same way about this as I did about Beef on Weck Roll.

6. Calamari, Seared Ahi Tuna and Chinese Black Beans Over Rice: This is where it gets really good. The tuna was stellar. The Seattle-ites proclaimed it the best tuna they had ever had. This is in contrast to the "best" spicy tuna roll, by which we were all so overwhelmingly underwhelmed. THIS was the best tuna.

7. Foie Gras with Mango and Smoky Eel Sauce: Keep in mind we had an extensive discussion about what they do to those poor ducks to produce this succulent treat. We ordered it anyway. Let me first state the only negative. The foie gras wasn't cooked as I'd like it. The sear on the outside wasn't up to par. That said, the sauce was amazing. I really could have eaten just the rice drizzled with that sauce. I want that recipe. It also was served with tiny cubes of mango, tossed in a bracing and acidic dressing, perfect to cut the rich foie gras. It was garnished with a sort of fried wonton of seaweed, which I loved.

8. Crunchy Avocado with Ahi Tuna and Chili Mousse: What is crunchy avocado, you ask? My best guess is mashed up avocado, shaped into a cake, dipped into tempura batter and fried. I don't know if it could be that simple, considering its greatness. Then there were glistening chunks of raw tuna, tossed with sesame seeds, arranged in a semi-circle around the avocado cake, topped with tobiko and surrounded by dots of wasabi sauce and a chili mousse. I normally have no patience for foams, mousses and the like but this was truly outstanding. I had no idea what is was when I tasted it and the sequence of flavors that rolled across my tongue upon tasting was surprising and very pleasant.

Again, I apologize for the lack of photos. I am currently embroiled in a bitter battle with Casio regarding my camera. It's shame I couldn't get some pictures of dinner last night because each piece was visually stunning. I suppose you will just have to go there if you want to see.

Good News Cafe

I went to New Haven this past weekend to celebrate N.'s birthday with him and we went to dinner with the parents at a little place called the Good News Cafe in Woodbury, CT. No, there was no proselytizing and I'm still not really sure what the name refers to but anyway....
Owner Carole Peck is sort of the East Coast version of Alice Waters and the restaurant features all that is local and organic and altogether lovely. A sturdy bread was brought to the table and along with it came PAPPADAMS!. I haven't had a pappadam since working at Stickers Cafe in Portland. Peck also owns an estate in Provence, which provided the very flavorful olive oil we dipped the bread in.
I know myself and I cannot finish my entree if I have an appetizer, so I refrained, even though the offerings were tempting. N. had a spinach salad with tamari-roasted sesame seeds, tofu and roasted fruit. It looked bangin', even the tofu.
I had the special, grilled swordfish with a cranberry-squash cake and pomegranate sauce. The swordfish was grilled perfectly but surprisingly, the real standout was the squash-cranberry combo. It was fantastic, especially sitting in a pool of that tart sauce. There were some green beans and mushrooms too, but who really cares about that?
For dessert, I chose the Mile-High Coconut Cake that is supposedly famous. It was good, but Carole, it was a tad dry. Work on that. But really, anything with mango sauce drizzled over it, I'll eat. And eat I did.
Woodbury, CT is kind of out in the middle of nowhere but I was thinking about the next time I could get there as I pored over the extensive menu. You should check it out, if you enjoy making yourself salivate over menus as much as I do.