Improv Night

As I was leaving work at 8pm tonight, I knew I wanted to make dinner, but I also knew that I wanted it quickly. The cafe had leftover brown rice and a couple veggie dishes that I grabbed. Buying a couple things for breakfast on the way out, I did a little impulse shopping in the Asian aisle, taking home some spicy kimchi and sake.

When I got to my home kitchen, I instantly grabbed onions, garlic, and ginger. I decided to go with the instincts that helped guide my impulses in the store. I chopped the aromatic vegetables and threw them in the pan with some oil. After a quick sweat, I put in a good portion of kimchi. Next came the sake, deglazing the pan and providing some nice acidity to the dish. I then added a touch of soy sauce and the brown rice I had from work. Thinking about the protein, I had poached some tuna in oil the night before, and I thought that this would be perfect. After the healthy dose of tuna and rice had heated through, I took the pan off the heat and added some chopped scallions and cilantro.

Overall, a successful dish. It was just what I was in the mood for. Adding the sake and the kimchi was ultimately inspired by the white wine, red pepper flakes, and tomato of a traditional Italian pasta sauce. The cilantro replaced some julienned basil, and the scallions, soy sauce, and ginger helped round out the flavor that I was looking for.

After a long day including a nine mile running workout in the morning and 8 hours of work, I was tired. Some friends of mine look at me like I am crazy when I tell them I am going home to cook dinner. I might hear something like, “Isn’t that what delivery and take-out are for?” But ultimately, I know what I want to eat, and I have fun making it. This is what I like to do. It excites me to not know what I am making even while I am making it. When the dish turns out well, that is all the more exciting. Maybe I can make it again, or maybe next time another idea will come to mind, making the dish even better.

A Single Pebble in Burlington, VT

I went here last night with a friend and family. There were four of us. I went very hungry, and was ready for a good meal. We started out by ordering a couple of appetizers. We ordered a soup, the Sea of China, with shrimp,  scallops,  squid, and a white fish I can’t remember. It wasn’t bad, but like the white fish, not memorable. I also had the salad of napa cabbage which was in a vinegar dressing and was fairly ordinary, probably cost 50 cents to make, and was sold for $7.50 or something. We had doule garlice brocolli, which again, was nothing to write home about.  That may have been the story of the meal, as the five flavor chicken left me with the same impression. The reason I would not give it three stars is that none of the dishes surpassed this, and a couple were not up to par. The Bejing Street Noodles were overpoweringly flavored with soy and were a little salty. My mom served herself some,  took one bite, and left the rest. I took a little bit to try, was very hungry for some starch, but decided to go home and have a bowl of cereal instead of having more noodles. We also had a seafood special with shrimp, scallops, and tilapia. The sauce on this dish was primarily white wine and garlic, lacking flavor and under-seasoned. The meal was not great overall. Most of the dishes were edible but not much more. We also paid about 30 dollars a person with one person getting something to drink, and you could get a better bowl of noodles on the side of the street for 5 dollars in most places.

10/04/2009

Kefi in New York City, NY

I read about this place, looked at the menu, and was staying on the upper west side, so this was an obvious choice for dinner one night. I was about twenty minutes from going to eat when I saw the chef’s name. I recognized the name, and I thought it was funny when I realized that he had been on Iron Chef. But the food?

The food was great. I got a relatively light meal with a friend. We got the meatballs for an appetizer, then I ate the pork souvlaki sandwich. The meatballs were excellent, an extremely moist mixture of beef and pork. The tomato sauce it came in was very flavorful and the tomato flavor was great. The one thing that I thought when eating that I wasn’t the biggest fan of was the number of olives. I think that with all of the olives, the dish was a little bit salty if you had too much sauce with a bite of meatball. If the meatballs are eaten with just a touch of the tomato sauce, it was up there with the best meatballs I have had. The pork souvlaki was great. The pita it is served in is soft and chewy in a great way. It is served with a light serving of veggies, including tomato and lettuce. The pork was not what I expected considering the cuts of pork that are rolled up in pitas in most city establishments. There are large chunks of pork tenderloin, not dry at all, with a nice slightly pink center. I will definitely return to try more of what Kefi has to offer. I had wanted to try the sweetbreads. I really wanted to try them, but my friend, who was providing me with a place to stay, did not feel like thymus gland. He did say that he may eat them another time if I get them and don’t tell him what it is. I will get them next time I eat here, hopefully within a couple of weeks. Obviously I enjoyed the meal, and I would recommend both things I ate, and my friend said the chicken souvlaki was fantastic as well.

09/30/2009

Green Peppers in Middlebury, VT

For such a small town, Middlebury actually has a couple of places to get good food at reasonable prices. This may be a little more expensive than the restaurants I would rather go to in Middlebury, but the few extra dollars is worth it. The decor leaves much to be desired, but I almost gave this place an extra star because of the nice people. The ingredients (veggies and meat) I had in a sub were not great, and a lot of their food is a little greasy for my taste. Fried foods can be good, but the extra oil that gives it a little shine is unnecessary. And with the  pizza with a greasy crust and veggies lacking a certain brightness,  there is a little something left to be desired. Something I don’t really understand is the place in their website where they mention their wood burning oven and the fact that pizzas in this oven take 25-35 minutes. Something about that just didn’t seem right to me, as I only have a pizza stone, and rarely ever have a pizza crust that cooks for more than 10 minutes.

07/22/2009

Bill’s Pizzeria in Newton Center, MA

I like Bill’s and I am a returning customer, but I do see how one could visit Bill’s and come away with a less than favorable impression. I looked at their pizza and decided that I would not be having it. The crust does not look like it has a nice crunch with a light, chewy interior. The crust shines with the oil from it that has surfaced. It is not a traditional pizza, and the quality of the ingredients to me just looked sub par. In spite of what the first review I saw said, I judged it to be over-cheesed. To me, a pizza is not dripping with cheese, but contains a good balance between crust, sauce, and cheese. But of course, I say everything about it because I did not order any pizza, and I probably won’t in the future.

Also, the staff may be hit or miss. I have been to Bill’s a few times, and most of the time have had no trouble. But one Saturday I showed up around 8:40pm. This did not seem too outrageous to me, since they close at 9. But apparently, It was getting a little late for the staff? We walked in, and the grill was turned off, and they were out of a couple of things that we tried to order. We finally found something for everybody to eat, and we sat down at a table (there was our table and one other still there). For the entire time we were there, we had a minimum of two members of the staff staring our table down from the register as if to say, “How could you choose to eat this food here? Don’t you know it is 9:04 on a Saturday night?”

That being said, there is a large menu, and a lot of it I think they do very well. I have ordered the Bangkok wrap, the Ultimate Veggie wrap with grilled chicken added, and a schawarma-esque Lam and Beef Gyro. The Bangkok wrap was pretty good with fresh vegetables and a good peanut sauce. The vinagrette I found a little unnecessary. The other two sandwiches I ordered I was very happy with. The Ultimate Veggie wrap is loaded with juicy, marinated grilled veggies. I found the marinated chicken to be a very nice addition. The marinade on both of these things is very good, and the chicken has been juicy whenever I have had it. The Gyro I got was also very good. There were fresh tomato, onions, and lettuce with a nice portion of a creamy tsatziki sauce. The spiced ground lamb and beef slices had good flavor, but I would be surprised if they did not get the meet from somewhere else. If they make it there, I would be impressed.

I will be going back to eat here, as my best friend lives up the street and they make some things that I like to eat. I think one can have a very good affordable meal as the sandwiches are large and not over-priced, but I also believe it will be important to order the right things. They do some things very well, but having a sub-par meal is not out of the question.

07/21/2009