What I Ate This Week

Happy 4th (5th) of July, everyone!  I hope you’ve enjoyed a rollicking & patriotic good time.  As usual, the weekend of the 4th brought me great joy, as we always have several of our good friends from in town and out (most from Michigan) and we have lots of fun little adventures.  In addition to the couple below, these included a fun night out at The Celestial and Terry’s and a lovely breakfast at the National Exemplar.  Oh, and while I’m talking about The Celestial, may I just put in a plug for their tremendous bartending staff.  I mean, they make a mean cocktail there and I enjoyed a few selections that blew me away.  But that’s another blog.

Northside Afternoon!

As we had friends in town, every year we like to show them a little bit they haven’t seen before, and this time out we took a trip up Hamilton Ave. to Northside.  Once there, we had an excellent lunch at Melt, the sandwich shop with swagger.  I had my consistently tremendous lunch of the Hoffner, which is a roast beef sandwich with swiss and horseradish mayo, along with their legendary roasted rosemary potatoes with curry ketchup.  Holy cow that was nice.

I should say, by the way, that the other folks in the party all had a little something different and they were all tremendous.  Is there anything these folks can’t do?  I’ve said it before and will say it again—if you like interesting home cooking & creative combinations—and ESPECIALLY if you’re vegetarian or vegan—GET DOWN TO MELT!

My semi-secret motive for going to Northside—well, apart from a stop at Shake It Records which netted me a cool 10 discs for $10—was to check out the new Picnic & Pantry “micro-grocery.”  It sounded quintessentially Northside (at least as far as Cincinnati is concerned!) and I was more than a little curious.

I’ll say this—for a space that was until recently a diner, they’ve done a tremendous job.  It’s a tiny boutique but they’ve got loads of interesting little offerings—lots of organic produce, several kinds of basic organic groceries, interesting spices and grains by the pound, and even a lovely-looking case of Jeni’s Ice Cream (I’ll definitely be back to try that!).  And the have several Melt sandwich selections ready for pick-up-and-go which is a nice and smart touch.  All-in-all, it’s a convenient, cute, and inventive little shop, even if buying all your groceries here would break your bank!  If you’re in the neighborhood or just looking for a little “organic retail therapy” it’s worth a visit.

And Finally… a little bit of party

I’ve written before about my once-a-year summertime bash I throw for friends, and this year we did the same thing.  In deference to the World Cup among other things, the theme was “American Safari” and included lots of classic American grillout dishes (such as ribs from Rendezvous in Memphis, burgers, brats, and some really nice-but-hot baked beans from a recipe in the new Good Stuff cookbook-really good by the way!) alongside some interesting African-inspired bits (such as delicious peanut-marinated “pepper meat” skewers and some interesting buffalo and camel sausages which were nicer in theory than execution).  All in all, a lovely time with just the right and crazy amount of food carnage.  And a week or so of delicious leftovers “in the bag.”  Thanks to my friends that made it a night to remember!

Everyone, enjoy your week (hopefully it’s a short one!) and here’s to more summertime food fun!

36 weeks, hard to believe.  Thirty six consecutive weeks of stepping out into our brave world and sampling the good, the bad, the strange, and the forgettable.  Thirty-six weeks of strange glances from dining companions and servers.   But this week’s different– I certainly have had some food “out” this week (including great experiences at Dewey’s Pizza in Oakley and National Exemplar in Mariemont, and a pretty terrible one at China Food in Silverton), but this week I write about MY cooking experience!

Every July for four years running now, I have hosted friends for a summer cookout.  It started as a way to cajole (guilt) my college friends from Michigan to come down and see me at least once a year, and it’s stuck.  The “theme,” is The Great American Cookout– every year it gives me a chance to get a little creative and source some of the best local, regional, and national foods to celebrate the birth of our great nation and the food it has created.  And may I say… it was an EXCELLENT shindig and the food made me so, so happy.  (That’s the thing about hosting a party, it’s a lot of work and damn expensive, but you serve what YOU want!)

Was it a good party?  Yes… despite attempts to keep the place clean, the morning-after carnage is a clue:

Say a prayer for the morning after...

Here’s a rundown of what I served– I’m detailing this not to induce jealousy or wax poetic about my cooking skills (this is a grillout, not exactly the highest test of culinary preparation!).  I AM sharing this level of detail perhaps to inform and inspire you– these are all foods from high quality, non-chain purveyors and you can get all of this near here or via mail-order!

Appetizer

It started with what I called “Meat and Three… Cheeses” (a little play on the Nashville Meat & Three tradition that I love).  Basically, it’s a glorified cheese plate with some amazing things I got down at Krause’s at Findlay Market– the meats are (clockwise from top) Spanish chorizo, Italian soppressata, and spicy capicola ham, all just fantastic.  The cheeses are a St. Andre triple-creme brie, Manchego, and Appenzeller Swiss.  On any other night in my life, this is the highlight!

Mmmmmm, burgers...

Of course, the meat is the main attraction!  Center stage this year are the burgers.  Most of my main-course meats came from Avril-Bleh butchers on Court St. in Cincinnati– they are a tremendous German (and more) butcher and I’ve never had a bad meal from there!  I made up some stacks of (left to right in the photo) lamb, beef, and turkey burgers and grilled them up with some wonderful 2-Year Aged Cheddar from Zingerman’s, the often-quoted-in-this-blog Jewish deli in Ann Arbor, MI.  I served them on what are for my money the BEST toasted Keiser rolls in this universe, those from Cincinnati’s own Shadeau Bakery on Main St. 

THIS is summer...

Avril-Bleh also was my source for the “original” German franks on the upper left of the grill as well as the cheddarwurst and mettwurst in the center.  Just tremendous.  Flavorful as all get out– the natural casing gives it that snap that so little home grilled meats have!

Rrrrrrrribs

I also ordered in some amazing ribs from Rendezvous, probably my favorite BBQ restaurant in the world (competing with Cozy Corner, both down the street from each other in Memphis, TN).  They came well-seasoned and par-cooked, so they were heated up on the grill, basted, and served with house dry rub.  They came off really, really nicely, a little chewy but not too much, zesty from the rub, and totally without need of sauce.

My main meal

As for me, I nibbled a bit here and there as I cooked/grilled, but what I ultimately had was a beef burger with cheddar, some applewood-smoked bacon from Nueske’s in Wisconsin (ordered via Zingerman’s mail order), sauteed onions and some Rendezvous barbeque sauce.  I called it (pun alert, guys!) the Red, White, and Blues Burger.  And it was awesome.  I take no credit.  Good beef, great bun, and most importantly of all, great bacon!  I also had a cheddarwurst with some mustard I recently got on a visit to Paris from Maille (hot!) and some sauteed onion.

In case you are wondering, yes I made homemade sides too, although for some reason I didn’t take pictures of any of them.  Barbeque beans, mustard dill potato salad, cole slaw, homemade salsa and guacamole for chips… these were all very nice and something I’d be proud of any other day of the year.  (It’s a good thing because I’ll be eating leftovers for a while!)

Delicious crowning achievement

And I finished with something I’d never made before but had out many times.  I made from-scratch dark chocolate chip cookies and made some ice cream from some vanilla I got in Mexico earlier this year, and put them together into adorable little ice cream sandwiches.  The trick?  Pour the ice cream into muffin tins while they are still malleable, freeze them, then pull out the discs, slice horizontally and put the discs on cooled cookies, then freeze the whole thing.  If you can wait that long before stuffing them into your mouth (which is the natural temptation!).  Of all of the hard work that went into making this dinner, the ice cream was DEFINITELY my favorite.  Oh, sweet tooth…

Because of the sheer amount of food I made, it enables me to have leftovers for at least a week afterward in a king’s bounty of eating, a kind of reward for the hard work.  You know how when you’re hosting a party you never really have time to fully soak in a meal?  That’s what next-day leftovers are made for– especially when you can have three consecutive meals and not repeat the same proteins!

Leftovers supreme

Anyway, I hope that somewhere out there, someone stumbles onto this posting and gets inspired.  I’m including links to all of the fine food purveyors that made this meal possible– frequent them.  These are independent retailers who know their stuff and are here to help you eat well and feel good about it!  Now get out there and fire up that grill!

Well, hello from snowy Cincinnati.  Second straight work-from-home today.  Chaos!  But a beautiful world outside my window:

(Second) snow day!

Hail to the chef...

The finished product (minus Chef's bite!)

Time for sleep...

Well, this was one hell of a fast week, eh?  It’s Sunday and I remember last Sunday like it was… well, something a lot less than a week ago.  But here we are nonetheless.  Another week, another memorable meal.  Like many in recent memory, it’s a nice Saturday experience.  I was on my way to Jungle Jim’s in Fairfield OH (a true holiday gift emporium for the culinarily-minded!) and it was lunchtime.  I had remembered hearing about a great Mexican bakery up that way, so I thought I’d hit it on the way home, but as I approached it I saw that it was attached to a hole-in-the-wall Taqueria.  Real Mexican sounded good, so I pulled in…

Making a run for Cincinnati's northern borders...

I love real Mexican food.  This place had all the signs of greatness, starting with a clientele and waitstaff that were, myself excepted, 100% Mexican.  It was bustling, even at 1pm.  Diners were enjoying the weekend menudo and birria (goat) stews.  And I didn’t see a dollop of sour cream in sight.  Right on!

When it comes to trying Mexican restaurants I haven’t visited before, I always (ALWAYS) order one of three dishes that can tell me a lot about a place:  tacos al carbon, tacos al pastor, or chile colorado.  If these go well, you can ensure I’ll be back!  So on this day it was the tacos al carbon, three of them with beans and rice.  Ordered in Spanish, acknowledged in Spanish.  (Another positive sign.)  While I waited, I enjoyed the people-watching and the kitchen-watching.  This place was humming right along.  At the back of the dining room was a check-cashing counter, an extremely common sight at Mexican-American community centers.  (Fairfield, as so many towns these days, has a very sizable Mexican-American population.)

Tacos without flour, sour cream, or green peppers. Viva la Mexico!

A few minutes later, the tacos came out, and I knew at a glance I had something good going on.  The verdict?  Really good.  The tortillas were fried just right, and the blend of grilled meat, fresh onion and cilantro, and a squeeze of the lime– oh so harmonious!  I love it when a plate comes together.  I will admit that the meat was a little tough and in my opinion a little underseasoned.  However, a squeeze of the tomatillo salsa added just the kick I was looking for.  Delicious!  I will definitely be back when my travels bring me back north for foodie stuff.

The Panaderia Trio

By the way, I did stop at the panaderia next door and picked up a trio of Mexican pastries.  They were all nice, but the churro was a standout.  Earlier this year I had fresh-made churros from the “Churro lady” in Brooklyn (at the subway station)– this brought back the fondest of memories!

Drunk cook concocts idea-- house of jelly rolls!

What I Made This Week:

  So this week’s experiment was a Charlotte Royale in baking class.  I must admit I’ve NEVER understood this dessert.  Make a jelly roll (speaking of desserts that are hard to comprehend), slice it into 1/2″ wide slices, stuff the bottom and sides of a charlotte mold with them, fill the mold with pastry cream (!), and top with a layer of sponge cake.  Refrigerate to set, flip, glaze, refrigerate again and… serve as a pie?  Well, I’ll admit I don’t get it.  It came out looking nice, but I’ll never order (or make!) one of these again.  Ah, classical food!

Well, another exasperatingly long week has come and gone in southern Ohio, and with it has arrived the snow–  a month or so before usual, reminding me of home in Michigan!  Both Friday and Saturday night were good reminders of my neighbors’ laughably poor driving skills.  (Not my literal neighbors… I haven’t seen them drive anywhere!

Terry's Turf Club

So last night brought me back to a few weeks ago and that amazing burger at Red Steakhouse.  It was there that I most recently heard about Terry’s Turf Club.  It’s been one of those places spoken about over the past couple of years in the kind of hushed reverie that either means it’s the kind of place the neighbors are trying to keep secret because it’s so great… or a place that people get excited about because nobody attracts a crowd like a crowd.  But truth be told, I was hopeful to get a really really tremendous burger for something less than steakhouse prices.  So, despite the snow, I traveled with a dining companion down Eastern Avenue to Terry’s.

Snow Day?

Well, after a day of running errands in empty shops and on quiet roads, I think I figured out where everyone was!  Terry’s was hoppin’… we squeezed ourselves inside, grabbed some beers and just took a look around.  This isn’t a full-on restaurant review site, so I’ll spare most of the commentary, except to say that the place was full of neon and a touch of kitch– something that had me a little nervous (perhaps they’re trying too hard at the atmosphere?).  However, the specials on the blackboard were special enough, and about that beer– they’ve only got one tap, so they rotate through a seasonal selection.  I can dig that.  So what about the menu?

No second page needed.

Burgers.  Filet.  Chicken.  Grilled Mushroom.  Halibut.  Cod.  Shrimp.  Need there be more on the menu?  The server made apparent that one need only order the burger at Terry’s.  In fact, in the whole evening I think I only saw one non-burger order (for a chicken sandwich.)  So I ordered it up right.  In case it helps to know how I ordered it:  medium-rare with American cheese, grilled & raw onions, burgundry wine + mushroom sauce, lettuce, pickle, hot peppers (grilled) on the side.  With fries, please!

It’s not often in life you hear someone tell you, “well sir, that’s going to be quite a big burger.”  But those definitely aren’t bad moments. 

Sir, that IS a big burger...

And then it came, sitting aside a veritable pile of natural, hand-cut fries.  It was a sight for sore eyes, the kind of meal that makes you completely forget the long day you just endured, and the half hour of waiting to sit down.  Gone.  In a flash.

The verdict?  It was phenomenal.  Once again, and maybe only for the second time in my 10 years in Cincinnati, my medium-rare was actually medium-rare– blisfully warm (not hot), pink (not charred).  Right on.  So many flavors competing for my attention!  It was excellent, and was paired perfectly by those fries, which tasted like they were fried in peanut oil.  They actually tasted a lot like local chain Penn Station’s… but better.

So who wins?  Red or Terry’s?  For now, it’s a split decision.  The atmosphere at Terry’s is a hands-down winner, although I’ll be honest that I practically forgot where I was when I started eating– I was living in that sandwich!  I think I like the meat better at Red– both the quality as well as the shape of the patty (still living in my mind to this day).  I also like Red’s brioche bun– unlike Terry’s, it stood up extremely well to the juices that come from a med-rare creation.  When it comes to toppings and flavor profile, it goes to Terry’s– that burgundy sauce was extremely delicious and savory.  The mushrooms were sauteed to perfection, and they did onions right both ways– the sauteed had just a little bit of resistance and a lovely flavor, and the raw ones were cut the right thickness and had a fantastic fresh flavor.

At this point, I think my overall dinner experience was better at Terry’s but I enjoyed the burger more at Red.  In Terry’s defense, and with 24 hours of retrospect, I think I overloaded that burger last night.  To tell for sure, I’ll need to try again– it’s a hard life!  Next time, I’m thinking just swiss cheese, burgundy sauce, and raw onion.  That’ll do it.  What a week!

What I Made:  Chocolate Ganache Torte

99% done. And delicious.

This week’s class brought me an opportunity to make a chocolate ganache torte, pretty much ending two cake myths for me– first, that I don’t like coffee in a cake (there was some in here, but it wasn’t bad!) and second that a cake needs icing (this cake is iced with ganache!).  The cake itself came out beautifully, and I enjoyed garnishing the bottom with chocolate shavings and the top with chocolate transfer designs.  Awesome.  The only disappointment, and it was a big one, is that my ganache was too loose when it came time to decorate the top.  So it just got messy.  Too bad!  I’ve got a chance to do it right again, though, as I’m making it for my work holiday party Tuesday.  Wish me luck!