Heights Eats

We've Moved!

2008-12-30T00:03:00.002-05:00

Heights Eats has moved to the Wordpress blogging engine and our own url! We will no longer add new content here.

Here's the new address:

http://heightseats.com

Taste

2008-12-21T23:38:00.006-05:00

Sarah and I picked up dinner from Taste on Lee Rd. tonight after Jonathan went to sleep. It's a relatively new establishment and, considering the chef recently cooked at a Michelin-rated restaurant in Paris, we were definitely excited to give it a try.

We started with the soup of the day--cream of potato ($6)--and the beet carpacio ($8). The soup was pretty good--Sarah described it as a bit like "rich mashed potato" flavor--and the parsley oil was a nice touch. The beet carpacio was more interesting as the counterpoints were bacon, goat cheese and spinach. The combination of sweet, pungent, and meaty worked well.

For our entree we split the scallops with creamy leeks, mango coulis and roasted (pureed) red peppers ($18). The dish was good, but the flavors seemed somehow too clean and not very complex. Perhaps this is characteristic of rustic French dishes; I'm not sure. My favorite element was the creamy leeks, which I couldn't get enough of because of the sharp, crunchy onion flavor paired with cream. Sarah didn't like them, though.

Our dessert was the tarte tatin (an upside down apple tart) with creme fraiche sorbet ($7). The creamy and icy sorbet was another highlight of the meal for me, but Sarah was not a fan of the dessert.

I tend to put French cuisine on a bit of a pedestal, but the meal didn't quite live up to my hopes. Based on our experience and on the menu, Taste seems to feature earthy foods and flavors such as potatoes, beets, carrots, cumin and cinnamon. Most of what we had, though, could have used a spark of some kind--citrus, thyme, cayenne, etc.--to elevate the tasting experience and counterbalance the earthiness. That said, we didn't try the dishes most recommended by other reviewers, i.e. the chicken spring rolls, rack of lamb and pistachio ile flotante. Moreover, our experience of the hot food (including the tart) was somewhat hampered by even four minutes of transport through five degree weather.

While we weren't thrilled with our meal, it was definitely interesting and promising enough to merit another visit--or, perhaps, another pickup trip, hopefully through better weather.

Triple Chocolate Wheat Cookies

2008-12-26T21:51:00.008-05:00

I've been meaning to try Bon Apetit's S'more Cookies for a while but never seemed to have the ingredients on hand. I finally just made them with what I had--white chocolate instead of marshmallows, clabbered milk instead of buttermilk--and they turned out great. They definitely don't taste like health food, but they're much more filling and satisfying than regular cookies.

I would have photographed a whole plate of these, but, after taking some to a party and eating a lot ourselves, there aren't a whole lot left.

We'll definitely make these again.

Triple Chocolate Wheat Cookies

(adapted from Bon Apetit)

3 cups white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups (packed) brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk (or 2/3 cup milk plus 1 TB lemon juice left to sit for 15 minutes)
1 tablespoon molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup chocolate chips (about 4.5 ounces)
3/4 cup chopped milk chocolate (4.5 ounces)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (3 ounces)
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 3 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda in large bowl. Whisk eggs, buttermilk, molasses, and vanilla extract in medium bowl; whisk in butter. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients, stirring until dough is evenly moistened. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing about 3 inches apart (about 12 cookies per sheet). Flatten with a fork if desired; the cookies don't flatten much in the oven. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until golden brown, dry to touch, but still slightly soft, about 14 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool.

Inexpensive Dark Chocolate

2008-12-24T14:40:00.004-05:00

So we've been trying to stick to a budget lately, and part of the changes we've made include shopping for various household necessities at Aldi's. Surprisingly, Aldi is a German company that owns Trader Joe's. There are plenty of good imported foods there, including German sourdough rye bread and chocolate. We've tried a few of their dark chocolate bars, with mixed results. However there was one stand out, Choceur Dark Chocolate, which is made in the Bavarian Alps. It comes in a red package and is about $1.29 for a 5.29 oz bar (note that the price online including shipping is four times this). The chocolate is dark, but has some milk added so it has a really nice texture and is not too bitter.

Bread Communion

2008-12-18T19:51:00.007-05:00

Sarah and I attended the Bread Communion at the Unitarian Universalist Church a few weeks ago. The idea of the service is that people bring bread that has familial or cultural significance and share both the bread and a few words with the congregation.

I brought whole grain challah from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. Here's the bread before baking:

And this is afterwards:

It was 50% whole wheat, but it was as soft and satisfying as any challah I've had. I mentioned that challah always reminded me of my grandmother on my dad's side, who served challah with most meals she made us.

Other breads included beignets from someone who was from New Orleans and skillet cornbread. The woman who brought it admitted that she usually used mixes but made this one from scratch as her mother always made it that way. Other yummy breads included pumpkin bread, chocolate spice bread and a couple breads from On the Rise and Stone Oven. Everyone had a good story for their bread, including one woman's statement that the bread typifies them because they never have time to cook.

It was a beautiful service, and eating everyone's food was a great avenue to community and sharing other people's stories.

Whole Grain Breads w/ Peter Reinhart

2008-07-01T22:37:00.007-04:00

I took a class at the Loretta Paganini School of Cooking last week with award-winning chef Peter Reinhart. The focus was whole grain breads. Most people, as Reinhart pointed out, know very well that whole grains are good for them, but they've also discovered that they often taste bitter and not nearly as good as, say, a fresh baked Italian bread. To quote page one of his newest book, we will only eat whole grain breads "if they taste very, very good." The class delivered on this promise.

Reinhart's emphasis is on pulling out the flavor hidden in whole grains, which includes converting some of the starches to sugars. Reinhart's technique is to make two pre-doughs and combine them after a day or so of flavor development. He called this "the epoxy method," because, like epoxy glue, two substances that are relatively inert on their own combine to make something much more useful. Apparently Reinhart devised this method himself, and it is considered somewhat revolutionary in the field of breadmaking. Despite the numerous steps, the whole process ends up involving less labor than typical breadmaking because less kneading (and other labor) is required--time and the epoxy method create the flavor. Both of Reinhart's most recent books have won James Beard Awards.

None of this matters, of course, if the bread doesn't taste good, and it definitely did. Perhaps the most impressive recipe was the miche (pictured above), a bread originally conceived by French baker Lionel Poilâne* and considered to be the national bread of France right now. Reinhart's version is much easier than Polaine's, and Reinhart says his shortcuts would have gotten him "kicked out of Polaine's bakery." They result in a damn good bread, though. There's a definite sourdough flavor, and it essentially tastes like a heartier version of a good French loaf. It's supposed to be made with high extraction flour, which is a cross between wheat and white flour. One can appoximate this, though, by combining 25% bread flour and 75% whole wheat flour.

The other doughs we "made" were mash, spent grain, and vollkornbrot (whole grain German Rye). Because of the nature of Reinhart's breadmaking technique, we couldn't make anything start to finish. We combined the two pre-doughs (typically a "soaker" and a "biga") along with some other ingredients, kneading quite briefly in a stand mixer, and took home some of each dough to make on our own.

The mash bread was somewhat sweet and would be a perfect sandwich bread. A "mash" (which is more typically used in brewing) involves holding grains at a certain temperature, quite hot but below boiling, for an hour or more (the times and temperatures are important, but not nearly as exacting as in brewing). This extracts sugar from the starches.

The spent grain bread uses spent barley (or wheat) from the brewing process. This loaf was very hearty (but not too bitter) and would be good with a flavorful meal. The vollkornbrot was extremely full-flavored and almost black from the rye, molasses and cocoa added. It was basically a pumpernickel**. Reinhart said that it holds up against any accompaniment, and it would probably be great with some corned beef.

The class was very enlightening and enjoyable. The extensive theory behind the baking, which I've only briefly summarized here, sometimes became overwhelming, but I definitely felt like I learned a lot. Reinhart was extremely friendly and helpful, and even gave us his e-mail address to help us with any troubleshooting while we were baking.

I baked all four doughs at home (we also made yummy crackers, and hopefully that dough is still good as it's unyeasted and in the fridge). Each bread, especially the miche and vollkenbrot, was well-received by Sarah and her family when we had them over. We're still working on the spent grain and mash, and I'm looking forward to taking them to lunch with me tomorrow. I'll definitely try making a loaf or two on my own once these are gone.

*Bread making is so important in France that the entire country went into mourning for days after Poilâne died a few years ago in a helicopter crash.

**Reinhart told us that the term "Pumpernickel" supposedly comes from the the idea that this kind of bread was only good enough to be fed to a horse (one named "Nicolas"). "Pumper" may mean "to fart," referring to the high fiber content of the bread. Apparently the recipe has been improved since the time of the story.

Good Things

2008-12-10T19:48:00.005-05:00

Here are some things food-related (and one not) that I've enjoyed lately:

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron - This is probably the best Dogfish beer I've had, and I've tried a lot of them. The flavor is complex, with plenty of sweetness, roasted malt flavor, hardwood (Palo Santo refers to the barrels), hops and carbonation. But, with all this going on, the beer is extremely well-balanced. Ratebeer.com gave it 98/100. I was a bit sad I'd bought only one of these.

Lilly Handmade Chocolates - I found the Palo Santo at Lilly, along with plenty of other interesting and hard-to-find beers and wines. The Vietnamese cinnamon and apple truffle I had for dessert was so intense that I'm glad I gave it more than one bite. And it went perfectly with the beer.

An Obsessed Chef - This blog is filled with philosophical musings and well-written stories of life "from behind the stove." Chef Eric's recent post, "Eleven O'Clock Has to Come Sometime" shows how a chef's trials can be applied to anyone's life, while "Perhaps?" gives us insights into the unique paradoxes of running a restaurant for a living. While this blog isn't local, Chef Eric's restaurant, The Cook's House, is in my native Northern Michigan. I'll definitely visit the next time I'm up there.

Free Will Astrology Horoscopes - Rob Brezny is worth reading even if you have doubts about astrology. His horoscopes for the week of December 11 include references to Seinfeld, Alan Watts and surveillance camera counts for London and Beijing. While the forecasts for various signs in most horoscope columns seem virtually interchangeable, I've often reacted Rob's advice with the thought "How did he know that?"

We've Been Tagged!

2008-12-05T11:13:00.005-05:00

Sarah and I were recently tagged in a blog game by Simone of World Eatz and Past The Line.

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Here are our six random things:

(1) Sarah's great grandfather built Belvoir Rd.
(2) Jonathan gets excited about finding rhyming words.
(3) Ben bartended in England after college on a work exchange.
(4) Sarah and Ben met on Yahoo personals.
(5) Jonathan loves retro cartoons, i.e. Boomerang network.
(6) Sarah’s nickname for Ben is Benny Crocker.

And here are the six bloggers we've tagged:

Benjacat
Dine O Mite!
Life, Liberty & Pursuit of Your Boyfriend
Fun Playing With Food
Ka-Ka-Ka-Katy
TimMcNulty.com

In the original version of this post, I stated that we'd been tagged before because Sarah once talked about our doing a post with six things about us. Actually, Sarah noticed everyone else being tagged. We never did the post because we figured we should actually be tagged first. Thanks, Simone :-)

Food Music

2008-12-04T21:47:00.001-05:00

I was listening to The Hives this morning and noticed how appropriate they seemed for my mood after drinking a lot of black coffee and started to think about food / beverage and music pairings.

Black Flag would be another good coffee band, but Jack Johnson would be better with breakfast.

Killdozer (don't click if kids or employers are in earshot) and Morphine would go well with a burger and fries, and Cleveland's own Death of Samantha describes a good pick me up in the afternoon.

A beer before dinner would pair well with The Jesus Lizard, but Sam Beam or The Replacements would be better for wine.

Kimya Dawson would be good with some locally grown produce for dinner, with some fruit salad on the side.

Grinderman seems appropriate for after dinner drinks (specifically "a liter of cognac").

If you feel hungry but don't really want to eat, P.J. Harvey would be a good choice. But the Donnas would be better if you have late night munchies.

And no list like this would be complete without "Weird" Al.

*************

If anyone else would like to suggest some food and music pairings, I'd enjoy sampling them.

The above list probably stems from my former life as a college D.J. stretching to tie together similarly themed songs.

Tree Country Bistro

2008-12-02T20:53:00.015-05:00

Sarah was in the mood for sushi the other night, but I was more up for some other kind of Asian. Tree Country Bistro provided the perfect answer to our dilemma.

Located in the old Que Tal space on Coventry, Tree Country features Sushi, Thai and Korean dishes. The Korean is what really pulled me in as I don't know of any other Korean places, at least in the neighborhood.

The use of the space is much improved from the Que Tal days. The restaurant is cozy but very tastefully and colorfully decorated. And the window onto Coventry feels much better utilized than before. It's as if the space got a Gordon Ramsay-style makeover.

We were very happy with everything we ordered. We decided to try the fresh steamed edamame for an appetizer as we had only had frozen before. Fresh is more tender and flavorful. Even Jonathan really enjoyed them.

Sarah ordered the Cucumber and California Maki Rolls($4.50 each), which held up well against the other sushi in the area. Everything was fresh and tasty, and the butterfly-shaped cut carrot was almost too pretty to eat. The wasabi is particularly potent here, so use it with caution.

While Asian restaurants aren't typically known for their kids' menus, Tree Country Bitros's really shines. Jonathan's dinner consisted of spring rolls, pork dumplings and rice.

He repeatedly stated that it was "the best dinner ever!" I felt sad that being a bit beyond the "10 and under" limit, I won't ever be able to order from this menu, which also includes a few other options. The kid's items are generally $7 each and were posted on a board separate from the regular menu.

I ordered the Kimchibokum ($13.95) from the "Korean Specialties" section and was very happy with it.
The dish consists of spicy pork, kimchi (fermented cayenne spiced cabbage) and tofu. The flavors are very unique and difficult to describe, with overtones of sweet, sour and hot. Some online reviewers complained of overly mild spicing, but they're happy to season your food to order. I was told that the Kimchibokum was "medium" spiced and requested that they make mine "hot." They were happy to oblige. The dish also comes with an excellent Miso Soup.

The prices at Tree Country are generally good, especially for the Thai dishes, but beware of the 22 oz. Sapporo. While mine went perfectly with the meal, I was a bit shocked upon receiving the bill to see that it was $8.95. This is about twice the cost of 22 oz. of premium draft beer across the street at the Winking Lizard and about the same cost as a six pack of Sapporo at the store. I have no idea if other beer prices are more reasonable as they're not listed anywhere.

Both the food and the service at Tree Country were excellent, and we'll definitely visit again!

Cheap Eats at Bar Cento

2008-11-08T21:33:00.007-05:00

I convinced Sarah that we should go to Bar Cento tonight. An excellent meal there can easily be cheaper than eating at a mid-priced chain (e.g. Champps, Friday's, etc.). Here's what we ordered:

The Pizza Bianco with Cheese ($8): Super-simple, but extremely good. Fresh garlic, olive oil, sea salt and a bit of cheese on a super-crispy but still chewy crust.

Pommes Frites w/ Belgian Mayonaisse ($7): Fresh cut thick fries with three different flavored mayos and ketchup. Jonathan loved these. The waiter pointed out that these are a better bet than the French Fries ($5), as you get a double portion plus mayo for only $2 more.

Mushrooms ($5): Local mushrooms sauteed in a very flavorful combination of oil and herbs.

On our waiter's recommendation, I had a New Holland Cabin Fever Brown Ale ($6), which was very thick, flavorful and almost stout-like. It went well with everything.

For dessert we split the Chocolate Ganache Cake ($5), which looked and tasted a bit like a fudge brownie. Despite its small size, it was rich enough to merit splitting three ways. It had a nice hazelnut flavor complementing the chocolate and was drizzled with vanilla sauce.

We all really enjoyed our dinner. As far as the title of this post is concerned, Sarah wasn't sure $43 for two adults and a child including tip counts as cheap eats. Considering the quality of the food and that our bill included a beer and dessert, though, I'd doubt you could get a better meal for the money anywhere else in town.

Rocky River Brewing Company

2008-11-28T15:00:00.005-05:00

We recently visited the Rocky River Brewing Company, which used to be one of our favorite restaurants when we lived on the west side. The place has a really nice feel to it. The lighting is just dim enough to be comfortable but light enough to see your food and for kids to feel comfortable. The prevalance of hardwood and brick all around and the visibility of the brewing kettles add to the atmosphere as well.

We ordered the beer cheese soup as an appetizer. It's one of our favorites and is rich without being too heavy and very well balanced between beer and cheese flavors.

Sarah ordered the Pierogi appetizer for her meal which, once I'd tasted it, I wished I'd gotten as well:

The pierogies were really brought to life by what tasted like a reduction sauce, and the bratwurst was excellent too.

I ordered the Pacific Beach Tacos, which were a little disappointing. The mango salsa was very good, but the fish appeared to be cajun blackened and pan fried rather than deep fried which seems more typical for fish tacos. The combination of flavors didn't work too well. The tortillas were also flour rather than the more common corn (which I think work better for the flavor / texture of the tacos). The lack of apparent authenticity was particularly perplexing that the rice and beans was completely identical in both composition and flavor to those I'd gotten with pretty much every meal I'd eaten during a weeklong trip to Costa Rica.

While Rocky River's beer is always very good, I was a bit sad that they were out of the Pumpkin Ale and had neither their Stout nor their Zeus Juice (my two favorite beers there). I ordered the Cooper's Gold, which was satisfying but seemed more suited to warmer weather. Then again, I could have been adventurous and ordered one of their Belgian beers, which probably would have suited both my food and the weather.

Jonathan got the Chicken Fingers and fries. The fries at RRBC are wonderfully battered and crispy and could almost be a meal on their own.

We'll definitely return to Rocky River Brewing Company again when we're on the west side. They probably have their Christmas Ale on tap now, which I'd definitely be excited to try.

In Defense of Food

2008-11-27T09:32:00.004-05:00

I finished reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
a few weeks ago. I definitely planned to blog on it but had no idea where to begin. The subtitle is "Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants." These directives are much trickier than they initially sound, hence most of the book being devoted to them.

"Eat Food" is perhaps most central, because Pollan does not consider much of what we consume today to be food. His first directive is "Don't Eat Anything Your Great Grandmother Wouldn't Recognize as Food," which eliminates a huge portion of what's in the middle of any supermarket. One's great grandmother, he points out, might look at Go-Gurt and ask "Is it a food or toothpaste"? (148)

Another useful adage is "Shake the hand that feeds you" (160) i.e. buy from farmer's markets or CSAs. The low quality of America's soil (due to a focus on maximizing short-range yields) has led to less nutritious produce, which agribusiness has actually argued is a good thing, because people will need to buy more vegetables to feel satisfied. Would a farmer you were friends with ever think this way?

Pollan spends a large portion of the book critiquing the idea nutritionism, i.e. the idea that food can be reduced to an analysis of its vitamins, fats, minerals, etc. Whole foods (i.e. unprocessed foods) provide a healthiness that no processed food can, despite massive fortifications of vitamins, fiber, etc. Ironically, some of the worst foods to buy are those with health claims.

Pollan's book is highly informative and deeply disturbing about what we generally eat, what fills our supermarkets, and the basic limitations of what food science can accurately tell us about what we eat. He admits at times that he himself falls back on such reductionism, though, but I don't think he sees the full extent to which he does so. His final pieces of advice, "Not Too Much. Mostly Plants" both break down based on his own critiques.

In our culture the advice "Not Too Much" probably elicits instant agreement. But the phrase itself is tautological. If you're eating "too much," then obviously you shouldn't be doing so. More importantly, though, he tends to view obesity as a problem rather than a symptom of "The Western Diet." While these may seem similar, a disease itself is clearly a problem, but a symptom may or may not be an indicator of a disease (e.g. diabetes, cancer, etc.). Obese people have a lower mortality rate for surgery and overweight people survive illness better than "normal" weight people. How can we explain this? Pollan cites Bruce Ames, a Berkeley biochemist, as hypothesizing that "a body starved of critical nutrients [i.e. one that subsides on processed foods] will keep eating in the hope of obtaining them" (123). Pollan sees this as problematic because it leads to both malnutrition and obesity. He doesn't look at the possibility, though, that an increase in eating may be somewhat successful in obtaining these nutrients, particularly if a person eats both healthy food and "junk." Just as reducing a good diet to the consumption of certian micronutrients is deeply flawed, so is reducing it to a prescribed weight or level of food consumption. Pollan repeatedly tells us that what you do eat is more important than what you avoid, however.

Then again, Pollan's directive towards the "Slow Food" movement and to eat like the Italians and French, savoring every morsel of intensely flavored food rather than gorging, is extremely appealing. Our hope of acheiving this is somewhat undermined by the following passage, however:

...you have to wonder whether it's realistic to think the American way of eating can be reformed without reforming also the whole American way of life. Fast food is precisely the way you'd expect a people to eat who put success at the center of life, who work long hours (with two careers per household), get only a couple of weeks vacation each year, and who can't depend on a social safety net to cushion them from life's blows (195).

It would be great if some of this changed under Obama, but, in the meantime, I'd be more comfortable with the directive "Eat lots of plants." I find myself continually strapped for time and, especially as part of a family with children, fully escaping from convenience meal planning is virtually impossible. And I don't think it's necessary or even desirable to try to completely renounce American ways of eating.

"Mostly plants" makes great sense as general advice in our cultural context. If you eat the corn and soy fed animals widely available in supermarkets, then, yes, you definitely need to cut down on meat. The animals have been eating empty calories and the lack of nutrition is passed along to you. If, however, you eat only grass (or other vegetable) fed, properly cared for animals, you're probably in good shape even if you eat a lot of meat. Pollan mentions a lot of cultures that thrive on mostly meat. Today, however, eating mostly healthy animals would be prohibitively expensive. And, as Pollan and many others have pointed out, the level of meat we consume is not environmentally sustainable.

Perhaps the most basic advice I got from Pollan's book is that every time you go shopping and look at the price of something, you should think "Why is this so cheap?" or "Why is this so expensive?" With the exception of cross-continent transportation costs, the price of something is often an indicator of its health. Processed foods filled with bleached flour, sugar and "healthy" additives are cheap because they are easy to produce and never go bad--but they have almost no value to your body. Produce from a farmer's market, a CSA or even Whole Foods may cost a lot more per calorie, but the health benefits (AND TASTE!) you get from such food is more than worth it. The one exception to this rule, as far as I can see, would be beans, which are very cheap but, prepared well, are highly satisfying and nutritous.

"Not everyone can afford high quality food in America," Pollan writes, "and that is shameful; however, those of us who can, should" (184).

Crispy Cheese - an easy way to make dinner yummy

2008-11-20T13:11:00.003-05:00

Last night I had the opportunity to cook dinner, but I had no recipes in mind. So I came up with the following to add to some simple sauteed chicken breasts and kale.

Ingredients:

goat cheese or cream cheese approx. 4 oz
handful of sliced almonds or other kind of nuts chopped (optional)
handful of dried cranberries or other kind of dried fruit
last few crackers & crumbs or any kind of bread/cracker crumbs
olive oil 1-2 swishes around the pan

Directions:

mash up goat or cream cheese in a bowl with nuts & fruit
pre-heat olive oil in a medium fry pan
shape one spoonful of the mixture into a patty like shape, then roll it around in the cracker crumbs
repeat until all cheese mixture is gone
when olive oil is hot enough drop the cheese patties into the oil, cook for about 30 seconds then flip and cook another 30 seconds. Don't cook too long because the cheese will start getting to soft.
serve with salad, chicken, or what ever you want.

Even Jonathan ate the goat cheese, which he normally does not like. He even polished off his Kale so he could have seconds on the cheese.

How well do you know Cleveland restaurants?

2008-11-14T12:24:00.011-05:00

As part of a school project using Flash, I had to create an interactive quiz. I took the opportunity to create one for our blog. So here it is, enjoy!

Food Dance

2008-10-17T23:48:00.020-04:00

We visited Food Dance on a recent visit to my brother Ethan and his wife Maura in Kalamazoo, Michigan. My brother basically recommended it as the best place to eat in Kalamazoo, and, based on our (admittedly limited) experience, we definitely agreed.

The vibe is simultaneously homey (lots of hardwood) and slightly upscale, a bit like Crop Bistro in Cleveland. We ordered the Cheese Board and Curry Dusted Chickpeas to start and were very happy with both. The cheeses included blue, sharp Cheddar, hard Monterey jack, and Gouda along with some rustic crackers and excellent olives. The deep fried chickpeas had an almost overwhelming curry aroma but were actually mild enough for even Jonathan to enjoy.

To drink Ethan ordered a mojito. Most mojitos I've had at restaurants are cloyingly sweet, but his was perfectly minty and fairly dry. Both Sarah and I ordered the Short's Soft Parade, a four berry rye beer brewed in Bellaire, Michigan. One wouldn't immediately think of pairing berries and rye, but they balance each other perfectly to make a strong, dry but distinctly fruity ale. I'll definitely look for this in Cleveland. My second beer was a Dark Horse Crooked Tree IP A with an excellent floral hop flavor. Food Dance had six other beers on draft as well, including a couple from Bell's Brewery.

For dinner Ethan and Maura split the Crab Pasta, which included a "sherried tomato dill cream sauce," and they were both very happy with it. Jonathan had pizza from the children's options (not listed on the menu) and Sarah ordered the Grilled Chicken Dance sandwich:

It included bacon, melted cheddar, caramelized onions and chipotle mayo. As Sarah pointed out, it had "every yummy thing you could want on a chicken sandwich" and tasted very, very good.

I ordered the Carnitas Soft Tacos, which included farm cheese, slaw and black beans:

The locally farmed pork was tender, sweet and smoky. The cilantro crema on the tacos was a perfect combination of rich sour cream and sharp herb flavor, but I would have liked a little more of it. The beans were generously portioned and richly spiced, rounding off an excellent entree.

Our server was very friendly, knowledgeable and attentive. We would definitely enjoy a return visit to Food Dance the next time we visit Kalamazoo!

Pulled Pork Enchiladas

2008-11-01T21:09:00.006-04:00

I made Steve Raichlen's Pulled Pork last weekend and, even serving six adults, had a lot of leftovers. So I decided to make some pulled pork enchiladas:

The smoky flavor of the pork somehow came through even more strongly in the enchiladas than in the sandwiches we had over the weekend, perhaps because of the cheese counterpoint. They came out really good.

I used Mark Bittman's enchilada sauce from (ironically) How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. While you can get it canned, it's much better if you make it yourself (in this case, using Spicehound's dried Ancho chillies). Another tip (from Bittman again) is to lightly fry the corn tortillas in oil to soften them before filling.

Once you have your sauce and filling ready, these are pretty easy to make. Layer some sauce on the bottom, fry the tortillas, fill them with cheese (and whatever else), and top with more sauce and cheese. I assembled the dish on Sunday and cooked it a couple days later, for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. The pork was from the West Side Market, and the rice pilaf and refried beans were basically Bittman's recipes.

I discovered the hard way last weekend that smoking is a lot slower in cold weather. The pork took over 8 hours in the smoker, at which point I ran out of wood and charcoal. And, after a couple more hours in the oven, it was really good but even then didn't quite get to the 195 degree internal temperature recommended in the recipe.

Photo Essay: West Side Market

2008-10-24T12:33:00.002-04:00

Best Cheese in Cleveland?

2008-10-19T10:16:00.004-04:00

We recently were asked for suggestions for great cheese in Cleveland, below is our list (not in any particular order).

Where do you like to buy your cheese?

Whole Foods - University Heights - There is always at least one person manning the cheese counter and they seem pretty knowledgeable. They also have a decent variety both at the cheese counter and in the nearby cheese cooler. They have Manchego cheese as well as some higher priced and hard to find cheeses.

West Side Market - there are a number of cheese stands with varying degrees of variety.

Shaker Heights Farmer's market - Goat cheese (Mackenzie Creamery) and non-pasteurized cow milk cheese - sounds sort of weird, but tastes delicious.

Trader Joes - great prices, moderate selection. if you like brie this is the place to be!

Heinen's & Zagara's - depending on the location they have a generous selection in their cheese island. Zagara's has aged goat cheese and various Spanish cheeses.

Out of town, but worth the trip if you love cheese:

Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, MI. This is a foodie paradise of all things cheese, cured meats, olive oils and breads. At the very least sign up for their holiday mail order catalog, it is fun to look at. You can order cheese from their website as well.

Food, Waste and Poverty

2008-10-15T12:38:00.006-04:00

This post is for Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty.

What is your first thought on hearing the phrase “dumpster diving”? Is it “Yuck! That’s disgusting!” Or is it “I feel so bad for those people?” or “How can I help?”

Our knee jerk reaction is to judge and pity people who do this. Why don’t we instead wonder why so much good food is thrown away?

There are in fact many somewhat well-known essays defending dumpster diving. One is “On Dumpster Diving“ by Lars Eigner, which is in the commonly used essay anthology The Writer’s Presence. And the story “The Tao of the Dumpster” by Dirk Jamieson, on the author’s father’s penchant for bringing perfectly good feasts from the dumpster home to his family, was recently broadcast on “This American Life.”

We throw away around 27% of our food in America including fresh produce, milk and bread. Who are we to judge others for taking advantage of this situation?

Why is there no shame in overspending and over-consuming to the point of near-economic collapse (see recent headlines) while scavenging for discarded food caries a deep stigma?

Jaipur Junction

2008-10-08T07:30:00.001-04:00

Recently Ben and I stopped in to Jaipur Junction on the west side for lunch. We had not been there in years, but remembered that they had great Indian food at great prices. The restaurant itself is pretty small and you are served on plastic plates with plastic silver ware. Ben ordered the vegetarian lunch plate, and I ordered the non-veg lunch plate. Ben's was $5.99 and mine was $6.99. We were both served two Indian dishes, saffron rice, papadams and naan. My entrees were curried chicken and chickpeas while Ben's were a spinach & chickpea curry and a mixed vegetable curry with peas. While my chicken was quite good, Ben noted that one definitely doesn't miss the meat in a vegetarian Indian meal.

The food was excellent, and the price was beyond excellent. This is a great spot for take out or a casual lunch.

Crop Bistro: Sunday Supper

2008-10-03T17:31:00.006-04:00

This past Sunday Ben and I had the opportunity for a date night. So we decided to try some place we've never been - Crop Bistro. We have been interested in this place for some time, based on it's dedication to local farmers. We were excited to learn that they offer a special Sunday Supper menu on Sundays. The salad, side and desert are all chosen by the chef and you can select your choice of main entree from a short list. The price was right at $25 per person.

The restaurant itself is impressive. The decor is farily ornate, but classy. There is a lot of wood and gorgeous macro pics of veggies. The star of the place however is the chef's table that is towards the back of the restaurant. The table itself is like a bar. It is hard to explain, but there is a large ornate frame around the bar that creates a window into the kitchen. Unfortunately we did not sit there, but hope to on our next visit.

The food was excellent. We started with corn breadsticks that tasted rich and buttery. Our salad was a "fall harvest" salad served with white and red beets, peaches, roasted red peppers and a baby greens mix of lettuce that was tossed in a vinaigrette. We noticed that there was some fresh mint mixed in with the greens which added a pleasant flavor.

Ben ordered the diver scallops with soy wasabi reduction and I ordered the pork tenderloin with black beans and rice. The scallops arrived with a sesame crust, sitting with some baby bok choy and other veggies in the sauce. The scallops were nicely seared and the flavors were excellent. The sauce was a bit strong for the scallops but paired perfectly with the vegetables. The pork was sliced into 1/4" thick slices and rested upon some seasoned white rice and surrounded by some pleasantly spicy black beans and bacon. The pork had a slightly sweet glaze on it which contrasted beautifully with the heat from the beans. We both agreed that mine was the better choice.

For a side we were given a large plate of roasted butternut squash, potatoes and carrots. Ben liked these a lot, especially the carmelization from the roasting, but I didn't find them too exciting. Both of us noted how nice it was to dine at a place that included such a great variety of veggies with each course.

Desert was apple crisp topped with vanilla cream. Ben and I both polished off our plates and considered this to be a fabulous meal to welcome fall with. We are looking forward to making our own apple pie soon and the first pot roast is in the oven as I type this.

We heartily recommend the Sunday supper at Crop Bistro... it is a great value and excellent food.

Sun Luck Garden

2008-09-29T10:33:00.001-04:00

Sarah and I picked up food from Sun Luck Garden lately, which reopened on September 11th after Annie Chiu's Surgery. Ignore the website's announcement that they'll "reopen soon"--they are open.

Takeout is almost as fun as eating in at Sun Luck Garden. The host (who is a bit of a character) kindly offered me a table, gave me a Scene, and asked if I wanted water. Annie came out shortly and thanked me, followed by a third person who gave me my order. As I was leaving Annie was introducing a large table of customers to the extensive, yummy-sounding dessert options.

Sarah and I were very happy with our food. I started with the halibut spring rolls, which were fresh, crispy and spicy. Sarah ordered the Cantonese Special Chow Mein, which was rich, flavorful, and packed with vegetables, chicken and shrimp. I had the pineapple stirfry with chicken, which was also full of fresh vegetables and had a very distinct sweet and hot flavor.

We look forward to our next sampling of Annie's food. Maybe we'll try some of the desserts!

Date Night Reccomendations?

2008-09-27T08:18:00.002-04:00

Ben and I have a few date nights coming up in October... where should we go out to eat?

Mi Pueblo

2008-09-25T20:30:00.004-04:00

We've eaten a few times at Mi Pueblo on Euclid lately, and it's starting to become habit-forming. Their burritos ($5.50) are a great deal, very tasty, and offer far more variety than you can find anywhere else in the area. I usually go for the frijole (bean), which is filled with refried beans, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. And the picadillo (ground beef) is definitely not standard issue: the cooked carrots and potatoes add a lot of flavor and substance. You also can't go wrong with the mole enchiladas, the queso fundido (vegetarian, unlike most versions) or, for that matter, anything else we've tried on the menu. The pickled carrots along with the salsa on the table is also a nice touch.

Jonathan usually orders the kids' quesadillas, which have about a half pound of cheese each (we did take out once, and I weighed them).

I was a longtime fan of Mi Pueblo on the West Side when I lived around there, but the East Side location has often felt just a tad too far from us for regular patronage. After a few visits lately, though, we've decided that the extra mile or so is definitely worth it.