Chicken Cheesesteak Pasta
1 day ago
Showing posts with label Brunch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brunch. Show all posts
17 September 2011
Brunch and Lotsa Perty Flowers
As it is with any Sunday when my wife and I travel, the first order of business was brunch. Our destination was Canteen which I’d read serves the best French toast in the city.
12 August 2011
30/66 Chicago: The Finale
The original plan (and original plans never seem to work out) was to get up early Sunday morning and partake in two separate breakfasts. Matt and I actually did manage to arise on time, but after dumbly staring at each other for 10 minutes we both went back to bed. There was an unspoken agreement that breakfast #1 was cancelled (it was supposed to be at Southport Grocery and Café in case you were wondering.) Luckily, the entire gang was up in time for our 11am brunch reservation at Nightwood. After an ass-blasting drive down Lake Shore we arrived right on time.
30 December 2010
Two Dorks, One Apple Day 2
The beginning of our second day in NYC landed us at Loncada Verde for brunch. I tossed around a few other brunch options (Shopsin’s and Public) but in the end I chose LV because I wanted to treat my brother to something a bit more elegant.
After braving the face-numbingly glacial blasts of TriBeCa we put our name in with the hostess and nabbed two spots at the bar just as another couple was paying their check. We pondered dining at the bar, but in the end we waited it out for a table of our own.
After braving the face-numbingly glacial blasts of TriBeCa we put our name in with the hostess and nabbed two spots at the bar just as another couple was paying their check. We pondered dining at the bar, but in the end we waited it out for a table of our own.
15 September 2010
1st Anniversary Road-Trip Day 3
We awoke Sunday morning with still-full bellies so we decided to pack everything up and prepare for our departure. I'd tossed around the idea of scrapping brunch in Montreal and just heading out for Quebec City, but once I started rattling off the few places I had in mind for brunch and what dishes they offered Mrs. Micro stopped me after I uttered the words sweet potato french toast. So apparently we were headed to Madre in Rosemont. This actually worked out well as we decided to walk there to work up an appetite. It would've been a great walk had it not been raining on and off the entire time. I did manage to get one great picture from the walk though:
11 August 2010
Mo'betta, mo'pain, mo'pork
This trip was planned, re-planned, evaluated, re-evalutated and ultimately just tossed up into the air. I research my food trips entirely too much. It's a fact. I seriously enjoy doing it, telling myself that it's always good to have options. Well, it is. But not this many options. I guess in the end it's not really hurting anything, I do feel like it is time well spent. It usually results in my consumption of some damn good grub too. Now about that grub...
Our bus arrived in NYC at 8:30am on Saturday. Our first stop was another trip to Shopsin's to see if it could blow me away for a second time. We got there at about 9:10 and it was empty so we walked across the street to use the restroom at McD's and by the time we got back all but one table was full with regular's and we had to wait in line. I didn't mind, luckily our itinerary for the day was pretty loose. Last time we were given a table out in the open dining area, this time we were fortunate enough to be seated in the cozy cubby right by the kitchen.
03 August 2010
Chillin' with my homies Shirley, Nielsen, and Sephiroth
As I do with all of my culinary adventures, I'd been planning this day for a while. The second I heard that Distant Worlds was coming to Wolf Trap I bought tickets. I didn't even think about it. It had to be done. And what a spectacular show it turned out to be. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, however. There was much eating and adventuring to be done prior to the show. Onward my gentle sirs!
Another thing I was eagerly anticipating about this day was having breakfast at Miss Shirley's in Roland Park. As soon as I read their menu online I popped culinary wood. Fried green tomatoes? Funky Monkey Bread? Creamy bacon grits? Yes, please. So after a short trip around 695 West and down 83 South we had arrived. Here's a tip for all of you potential diners: If you drive a block past Miss Shirley's there's free parking at Spaghetti Eddie's which is owned by the same folks. Hassle-free parking equals copious amounts of bonus points.
Another thing I was eagerly anticipating about this day was having breakfast at Miss Shirley's in Roland Park. As soon as I read their menu online I popped culinary wood. Fried green tomatoes? Funky Monkey Bread? Creamy bacon grits? Yes, please. So after a short trip around 695 West and down 83 South we had arrived. Here's a tip for all of you potential diners: If you drive a block past Miss Shirley's there's free parking at Spaghetti Eddie's which is owned by the same folks. Hassle-free parking equals copious amounts of bonus points.
18 June 2010
Raging the Windy City à la Wind God Gau Pt. 3
After putzing around the city for a while we finally worked up the stomach room to sip a few beers at The Map Room. The sign out front was easy to spot from far off and looked like... Well, it looks like something, doesn't it?
It's not my imagination right? You see it too? Good, we're on the same page then.
It's not my imagination right? You see it too? Good, we're on the same page then.18 May 2010
NYC April 2010: Tapas Dinner and Bottomless Brunch
After our round of milkshakes at Stand we headed over to Union Square to get in line for rush tickets for the 8pm show of Fuerza Bruta. Yes, after hearing me rave about it so much my friends were very interested in checking it out for themselves. Well G was anyway, A proclaimed he wasn't much a fan of the performing arts. Little did he know that would change after the show.
After obtaining our tickets A suggested we see if there was a wait at one of his favorite restaurants in the city which just happened to be a few short blocks away: Pipa Tapas y Mas. Luck was with us that day as we were seated immediately. A had talked this place up quite a bit so I had some pretty high expectations, even more so since my favorite restaurant in Baltimore is also a tapas joint. I was very curious to see if Pipa would top Pazo. Unfortunately, in most cases, it didn't.
After obtaining our tickets A suggested we see if there was a wait at one of his favorite restaurants in the city which just happened to be a few short blocks away: Pipa Tapas y Mas. Luck was with us that day as we were seated immediately. A had talked this place up quite a bit so I had some pretty high expectations, even more so since my favorite restaurant in Baltimore is also a tapas joint. I was very curious to see if Pipa would top Pazo. Unfortunately, in most cases, it didn't.
11 December 2009
The Micro Family Does NYC Day 2
Let's cut the BS and get right to it. The first stop on our Saturday itinerary was Shopsin's located in a little corner of the Essex Street Market in the LES. After a bit of exploring we found it tucked away in the back and immediately I recognized Kenny Shopsin sitting in a chair against the wall taking a break.
I also immediately noticed that the place was full and there was already a standing line. So we busied ourselves perusing the unholy mammoth of a menu posted on the wall. I'd looked it over many times online but that didn't make the task any easier. I can't even fathom how a chef could commit all of those recipes to memory and have the ability to put out any dish on there at the drop of a hat. After physically being there and witnessing firsthand just how small the kitchen is I also cannot comprehend where he keeps all of the ingredients to make all of those dishes. There must be some secret passageway to a cavernous stockroom. Who wants to go spelunking?
I'd read online that the must-try items on the menu were the mac & cheese pancakes and the slutty cakes(more on those later). So I ordered a half order of the mac & cheese panckes for us to try and the slutty cakes as my meal. I recalled a rave review of the banana ebelskivers by chef Aarón Sánchez on an episode of 'The Best Thing I Ever Ate' on Food Network. I love banana so that was a natural choice for dessert. Nikki wasn't trying to eat very heavy because of the imposing culinary tour we had planned for the day so she ordered the Saxelby with avocado and bacon.
Let me take this opportunity to say that this is EXACTLY my type of food/cuisine. In my opinion the most rewarding aspect of cooking is when you take a bunch of ingredients one would never think to put together and make them work harmoniously in a dish. This has to be Kenny Shopsin's mantra because it is exactly what he does. I mean come on, mac & cheese pancakes? But oh sweet fancy moses they work and they're freakin' delicious.
I can't even begin to guess how they make these things. They're pancakes formed from a batter that I can only describe as a mash of spongy overcooked pasta and cheese. I managed to grab the monstrous squeeze bottle of house-made hot sauce I saw floating around and squeezed out a healthy pool onto the plate. It was freakin delicious. The hot sauce tasted like what Frank's hot sauce must've tasted like when he perfected the recipe in his own kitchen. It was fresh and potent and paired perfectly with the pancakes. But the best is yet to come. I speak of course of the slutty cakes, quite possibly the most delicious pancakes ever conceived by man.
Slutty cakes, slutty cakes, slutty cakes, slutty cakes, SLUTTY F'IN CAKES. I can't say it enough. It's like Kenny Shopsin telepathically read my mind and found out all of my favorite ingredients and put them into pancakes. Pumpkin? Yes. Pistachios? Yes. Peanut butter? God f'ing YES. These panckes could've been such a cop out. They could've been regular pancakes topped with these things, or with them smushed into the cakes. But no, the damn things were MADE of those things. The middle of each pancakes is a gooey mishmash of pumpkin, peanut butter, and pistachios. Fantastic. I wish I could post one of the pictures I have of the interior but they all turned out horribly blurry.
Nikki's breakfast sandwich was also quite good. The ingredients were fresh. Nice fluffy eggs, and crispy bacon. The use ciabatta is usually very risky but here it paid off. This was some of the lightest and softest ciabatta I had come across to date. She gave me a bite and I approved, but it was still slightly overshadowed by the sexiest sluts I've ever tasted.
The ebelskivers were a great way to finish off the morning carbo-loading. They were like doughnut holes with a custardy interior with a slight hint of banana flavor. The sugar dusting on the outside was a great touch and added a little crunchy texture. Here's an interior shot:
My final verdict? Shopsins is a monumental breakfast experience and could quite possibly be the first place in NYC I visit twice.
The next planned activity for the day was a trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Nikki had never seen the Statue of Liberty but I had on a previous trip to NYC years ago. So we decided to take in the sights and walk down to the southern tip of Manhattan through the streets of Chinatown. We randomly came across the awesome Mahayana Buddhist Temple on Canal St. and had to take the opportunity and check out the interior:
We also stopped in for a look at St. Paul's Chapel on Broadway:
XI Thou shalt not have erotic fantasies involving pancakes.
Forgive me father for I have sinned.
By this time the wind was really picking up so we happened across a street vendor selling hats and scarves and such and I picked up a banging cashmere scarf for 5 bucks. Just another reason to love New York. So we finally make it down to Battery Park and encounter a nice big sign that says "Crown tickets sold out". So in other words they were still selling tickets to go to the statue, you just couldn't go up into it. Nikki and I discussed this and decided there wasn't really any point in going if we weren't allowed to go up in it. All for naught!
We decided to walk up towards South Street Seaport until we decided what we wanted to do next. I'd been there before as well and it looks disturbingly similar to the Inner Harbor here in Baltimore (i.e. tourist trap). So we just passed it by. We spied signs for the Bodies Exhibit and I since I had raved about it so much after seeing it a few years ago Nikki wanted to check that out. It was no less impressive the second time around.
After all this walking and sight-seeing it was time to grab ourselves a little snack or two. I had our options all laid out for us so we headed for the LES and the much raved about Doughnut Plant at Norfolk and Grand St. Any normal being would be carbed out from breakfast, but not us. We live on carbs, baby. Bring on the doughnuts!
I'd been dying to go here ever since I saw this post on Serious Eats. I mean, who wouldn't want to go here after that much intoxicating food porn? The line exploded shortly after we arrived so we were glad we got there when we did. This shop was bustling with vibrant life in an otherwise quiet and empty block.
It angers me to no end that once again most of my pictures were plagued with blurriness. The damned camera has seen better days I guess. Nonetheless, it's all I got! We finally arrived at the counter so I ordered the peanut butter and jelly doughnut and the much raved about crème brûlée doughnut and sadly after the girl in front of us snagged the last pumpkin doughnut, Nikki decided to order a blackout doughnut. But our luck turned around as right after we received our food the window seat opened up right by the doughnut rack.
MMmmmm blurry doughnuts... Here is the one fantabulous picture I got of our order. Look how GD sexy these things are!
I, of course, went for the little guy first. This was one of the culinary highlights of the weekend for me. Simply fantastic. The crackly sugar crust on top created a doughnut experience that I'd never had before, coupled with the cool vanilla custard inside, wow. I wish I had taken a shot of the custardy interior, but I was too caught up in doughnut euphoria. Moving on to the peanut butter and jelly doughnut, where the crème brûlée doughnut was to be eaten slowly, savoring every bite, the PB&J doughnut was to be utterly devouring in a slobbery gluttonous orgy. The peanuty crust and the light cakey inside and the perfect amount of strawberry jelly filling made this another home run for the tastebuds.
That may look like a skimpy amount of filling but trust me, it was just the right amount. One can only imagine how this would've tasted had it been filled with our household favorite: black raspberry jelly. Maybe I should write a letter? Nikki gave me a bite of the blackout and it was good but nothing special. She took a few more bites and found a molten chocolate center that apparently didn't make it all the way through the doughnut. I took another bite and it was infinitely better with the gooey chocolate core. Here's a blurry picture of said goo:
I was discussing this trip with some friends here in Maryland and I remember someone saying "they were better than Fractured Prune?" And I just laughed. I think I responded with something like "these doughnuts are on an entirely different plane of existence than Fractured Prune". Don't get me wrong, I like Fractured Prune, but they're child's play compared to Doughnut Plant. I think in my letter I will include the offer of my body as a playground in exchange for the opening of a Doughnut Plant in Bel Air...
After our meal at Doughnut Plant we still had room for another snack, so we made our way to Houston Street for some sexcellent salmon and bagels at Russ & Daughters.
We went inside and it was pretty crazy. There were lines here and there and everyone was being helped by a different associate. We loved the old world feel of the place. We made our way to the back where the salmon was located and were presented with a plethora of options:
I had no idea which to choose, as my smoked fish experience is mostly limited to the stuff my dad gets at Costco, which is damn good I might add. Luckily I witnessed a girl tasting samples so I followed suit. I tried a few but none of them really hit the mark, they were either too light or too salty(Belly Lox!!) and I was just about to settle when I decided to try one more, the Irish organic smoked salmon. This one hit the perfect balance of flavor.
I overheard another patron mention scallion cream cheese so that sealed the deal on that front. My order? Sesame bagel with Irish organic salmon and scallion cream cheese.
As you can see they didn't skimp on the salmon. The flavor combination was stellar. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it. The bagel was light and fluffy and while it wasn't anything amazing it was more than satisfactory. The scallion cream cheese was super fresh, the scallions adding a nice brightness to the sandwich. My wife concurred. This was one badass snack:
She lovingly left the last bite for me. What a lucky glutton I am.
I think I will leave you hanging here. We have our Saturday night dinner and a show to report on plus our Sunday adventures in Flushing, the highlight of which is without a doubt the lovely dish known as 'liang pi'. You'll just have to keep checking back for all of the juicy details. As always, thanks for reading.
I also immediately noticed that the place was full and there was already a standing line. So we busied ourselves perusing the unholy mammoth of a menu posted on the wall. I'd looked it over many times online but that didn't make the task any easier. I can't even fathom how a chef could commit all of those recipes to memory and have the ability to put out any dish on there at the drop of a hat. After physically being there and witnessing firsthand just how small the kitchen is I also cannot comprehend where he keeps all of the ingredients to make all of those dishes. There must be some secret passageway to a cavernous stockroom. Who wants to go spelunking?
I'd read online that the must-try items on the menu were the mac & cheese pancakes and the slutty cakes(more on those later). So I ordered a half order of the mac & cheese panckes for us to try and the slutty cakes as my meal. I recalled a rave review of the banana ebelskivers by chef Aarón Sánchez on an episode of 'The Best Thing I Ever Ate' on Food Network. I love banana so that was a natural choice for dessert. Nikki wasn't trying to eat very heavy because of the imposing culinary tour we had planned for the day so she ordered the Saxelby with avocado and bacon.
Let me take this opportunity to say that this is EXACTLY my type of food/cuisine. In my opinion the most rewarding aspect of cooking is when you take a bunch of ingredients one would never think to put together and make them work harmoniously in a dish. This has to be Kenny Shopsin's mantra because it is exactly what he does. I mean come on, mac & cheese pancakes? But oh sweet fancy moses they work and they're freakin' delicious.
I can't even begin to guess how they make these things. They're pancakes formed from a batter that I can only describe as a mash of spongy overcooked pasta and cheese. I managed to grab the monstrous squeeze bottle of house-made hot sauce I saw floating around and squeezed out a healthy pool onto the plate. It was freakin delicious. The hot sauce tasted like what Frank's hot sauce must've tasted like when he perfected the recipe in his own kitchen. It was fresh and potent and paired perfectly with the pancakes. But the best is yet to come. I speak of course of the slutty cakes, quite possibly the most delicious pancakes ever conceived by man.
Slutty cakes, slutty cakes, slutty cakes, slutty cakes, SLUTTY F'IN CAKES. I can't say it enough. It's like Kenny Shopsin telepathically read my mind and found out all of my favorite ingredients and put them into pancakes. Pumpkin? Yes. Pistachios? Yes. Peanut butter? God f'ing YES. These panckes could've been such a cop out. They could've been regular pancakes topped with these things, or with them smushed into the cakes. But no, the damn things were MADE of those things. The middle of each pancakes is a gooey mishmash of pumpkin, peanut butter, and pistachios. Fantastic. I wish I could post one of the pictures I have of the interior but they all turned out horribly blurry.
Nikki's breakfast sandwich was also quite good. The ingredients were fresh. Nice fluffy eggs, and crispy bacon. The use ciabatta is usually very risky but here it paid off. This was some of the lightest and softest ciabatta I had come across to date. She gave me a bite and I approved, but it was still slightly overshadowed by the sexiest sluts I've ever tasted.
The ebelskivers were a great way to finish off the morning carbo-loading. They were like doughnut holes with a custardy interior with a slight hint of banana flavor. The sugar dusting on the outside was a great touch and added a little crunchy texture. Here's an interior shot:
My final verdict? Shopsins is a monumental breakfast experience and could quite possibly be the first place in NYC I visit twice.
The next planned activity for the day was a trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Nikki had never seen the Statue of Liberty but I had on a previous trip to NYC years ago. So we decided to take in the sights and walk down to the southern tip of Manhattan through the streets of Chinatown. We randomly came across the awesome Mahayana Buddhist Temple on Canal St. and had to take the opportunity and check out the interior:
We also stopped in for a look at St. Paul's Chapel on Broadway:
XI Thou shalt not have erotic fantasies involving pancakes.
Forgive me father for I have sinned.
By this time the wind was really picking up so we happened across a street vendor selling hats and scarves and such and I picked up a banging cashmere scarf for 5 bucks. Just another reason to love New York. So we finally make it down to Battery Park and encounter a nice big sign that says "Crown tickets sold out". So in other words they were still selling tickets to go to the statue, you just couldn't go up into it. Nikki and I discussed this and decided there wasn't really any point in going if we weren't allowed to go up in it. All for naught!
We decided to walk up towards South Street Seaport until we decided what we wanted to do next. I'd been there before as well and it looks disturbingly similar to the Inner Harbor here in Baltimore (i.e. tourist trap). So we just passed it by. We spied signs for the Bodies Exhibit and I since I had raved about it so much after seeing it a few years ago Nikki wanted to check that out. It was no less impressive the second time around.
After all this walking and sight-seeing it was time to grab ourselves a little snack or two. I had our options all laid out for us so we headed for the LES and the much raved about Doughnut Plant at Norfolk and Grand St. Any normal being would be carbed out from breakfast, but not us. We live on carbs, baby. Bring on the doughnuts!
I'd been dying to go here ever since I saw this post on Serious Eats. I mean, who wouldn't want to go here after that much intoxicating food porn? The line exploded shortly after we arrived so we were glad we got there when we did. This shop was bustling with vibrant life in an otherwise quiet and empty block.
It angers me to no end that once again most of my pictures were plagued with blurriness. The damned camera has seen better days I guess. Nonetheless, it's all I got! We finally arrived at the counter so I ordered the peanut butter and jelly doughnut and the much raved about crème brûlée doughnut and sadly after the girl in front of us snagged the last pumpkin doughnut, Nikki decided to order a blackout doughnut. But our luck turned around as right after we received our food the window seat opened up right by the doughnut rack.
MMmmmm blurry doughnuts... Here is the one fantabulous picture I got of our order. Look how GD sexy these things are!
I, of course, went for the little guy first. This was one of the culinary highlights of the weekend for me. Simply fantastic. The crackly sugar crust on top created a doughnut experience that I'd never had before, coupled with the cool vanilla custard inside, wow. I wish I had taken a shot of the custardy interior, but I was too caught up in doughnut euphoria. Moving on to the peanut butter and jelly doughnut, where the crème brûlée doughnut was to be eaten slowly, savoring every bite, the PB&J doughnut was to be utterly devouring in a slobbery gluttonous orgy. The peanuty crust and the light cakey inside and the perfect amount of strawberry jelly filling made this another home run for the tastebuds.
That may look like a skimpy amount of filling but trust me, it was just the right amount. One can only imagine how this would've tasted had it been filled with our household favorite: black raspberry jelly. Maybe I should write a letter? Nikki gave me a bite of the blackout and it was good but nothing special. She took a few more bites and found a molten chocolate center that apparently didn't make it all the way through the doughnut. I took another bite and it was infinitely better with the gooey chocolate core. Here's a blurry picture of said goo:
I was discussing this trip with some friends here in Maryland and I remember someone saying "they were better than Fractured Prune?" And I just laughed. I think I responded with something like "these doughnuts are on an entirely different plane of existence than Fractured Prune". Don't get me wrong, I like Fractured Prune, but they're child's play compared to Doughnut Plant. I think in my letter I will include the offer of my body as a playground in exchange for the opening of a Doughnut Plant in Bel Air...
After our meal at Doughnut Plant we still had room for another snack, so we made our way to Houston Street for some sexcellent salmon and bagels at Russ & Daughters.
We went inside and it was pretty crazy. There were lines here and there and everyone was being helped by a different associate. We loved the old world feel of the place. We made our way to the back where the salmon was located and were presented with a plethora of options:
I had no idea which to choose, as my smoked fish experience is mostly limited to the stuff my dad gets at Costco, which is damn good I might add. Luckily I witnessed a girl tasting samples so I followed suit. I tried a few but none of them really hit the mark, they were either too light or too salty(Belly Lox!!) and I was just about to settle when I decided to try one more, the Irish organic smoked salmon. This one hit the perfect balance of flavor.
I overheard another patron mention scallion cream cheese so that sealed the deal on that front. My order? Sesame bagel with Irish organic salmon and scallion cream cheese.
As you can see they didn't skimp on the salmon. The flavor combination was stellar. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it. The bagel was light and fluffy and while it wasn't anything amazing it was more than satisfactory. The scallion cream cheese was super fresh, the scallions adding a nice brightness to the sandwich. My wife concurred. This was one badass snack:
She lovingly left the last bite for me. What a lucky glutton I am.
I think I will leave you hanging here. We have our Saturday night dinner and a show to report on plus our Sunday adventures in Flushing, the highlight of which is without a doubt the lovely dish known as 'liang pi'. You'll just have to keep checking back for all of the juicy details. As always, thanks for reading.
26 July 2009
Sunny Sunday Gluttony
This day began with me not knowing anything about where we were going or what we were doing. My fiance Nikki opted to plan a day for us together instead of purchasing me a gift. I liked the idea since it would give me a chance to generate content for my shiny new blog. After a long GPS-guided jaunt through the ghetto we ended up at the first stop of our day: Rocket to Venus.
This hipster-laden Hampden joint gave off a nice welcoming vibe. We opted to sit outside since this was probably the nicest weekend weather we've had all year. Throughout the meal the wait staff was constantly waving to locals walking and biking by. It was a really great feeling and one that is pretty much non-existent around Bel Air. I ordered a sangria and nikki ordered a mimosa and we opted to try the hummus plate as a starter.
The sangria was a nice white but a bit on the bitter side with apple and lemon chunks bobbing on top. I did order a second glass, which was sweeter and closer to what I expect in a white sangria. Maybe it was due to the fact that oranges had replaced the lemons. I pondered if Rocket to Venus employs a local mind-reader. Or a cyborg. I think I saw a guy behind the bar with blender hands. The mimosa was just what a mimosa should be, sweet and fizzy with a nice tart edge.
The hummus plate was terrific. My first bite of cheese and olive generated a moan that turned heads at every table. When I dine out, its usually Mexican or sushi or barbecue so I rarely get to sample decent olives but I realized today that olives and cheese is probably one of my favorite flavor combinations. Or maybe its just that since I don't eat them that much they have a greater impact on my palate. The hummus was probably some of the best I've had. It hit the perfect consistency between smooth and chunky and it wasn't too tart from a heavy handed use of lemon. The pita was great as were the fresh veggies and grapes that rounded out the dish.
For our meal I ordered the steak and eggs (medium rare and over easy) accompanied by sweet potatoes and a nice poblano gravy and Nikki ordered two eggs sunny side up with bacon, hash potatoes and white toast.
My rib-eye was cooked perfect and had a great charred taste to it my only complaint being a tough spots of gristle. The poblano gravy was the real star of the dish. It married well with the classic combo of steak and eggs and it also added a nice savory heat compliment to the sweet potatoes. I did feel that a bite of potato, eggs, and steak with the sauce didn't really come together. Separate, they were great. Overall, we left the table very satisfied and feeling about 3 months pregnant.
I dozed off into a sangria induced coma and awoke as we were pulling into a parking garage in downtown Annapolis. Apparently we had arrived at our next destination. Nikki lead me by hand as I stumbled along trying to deglaze my contacts from my eyeballs. The weather was gorgeous, complete with picturesque billowing white clouds and a light cool breeze from the water. Some sort of festival was taking place with live music and a beer and wine tasting tent, among other things. We walked down by the dock and watched the boats come in. We walked around long enough to build up an appetite for dinner and decided we were in the mood for sushi. We decided to head into Joss Cafe and Sushi Bar after seeing the Zagat rated sign in the window.
We got seated in the narrow hallway right by the kitchen and asked our server if we could move to the back of the restaurant, sitting in the hallway we felt very out of place. The front of the restaurant was very lively but the back was virtually empty, which was nice because the front was pretty loud. We ordered the tuna carpaccio seaweed salad as an appetizer.
This dish was very pretty and reminded me of the tuna sashimi at Bonefish Grill but better. I love seaweed salad, I could eat a bucket of it. The tuna was a gorgeous red and the sauce was nice and fresh, the roe really popped. Our first dish set our expectations pretty high for the sushi. I ordered the spicy yellowtail sashimi, a bagel roll, and after a suggestion from our server, the Urumaki which was smoked eel, shrimp, cucumber, avocado & tamago inside w/flying fish roe, scallions & eel sauce outside. Nikki ordered a spicy california roll with real crab and roe and a tuna avocado roll.
The spicy yellowtail was my first bite and immediately two things hit me: the bizarre texture of the sushi rice, and the off-putting spice. The major glaring issue was the rice. This was probably some of the worst sushi rice I’ve had to date. The grains were long and fat and al dente. It was like ricearoni sushi. The mouthfeel was terrible. In regards to the spice Usually spicy sushi has a nice indefinable heat to it. This was like someone dumped a bunch of cayenne powder on the fish and wrapped it up. I’m not saying it was too spicy, there are very few dishes I consider too spicy, but this spice was just not complimentary to sushi in any way. On the other hand each roll was topped with nicely toasted sesame seeds, which is always a plus. Also, the flying fish roe was some of the freshest I’ve had. It popped on every roll. The urumaki was too sweet. The flavors did work well together but the sweetness of the egg overpowered the other components of the roll. The bagel roll had way too much cream cheese. It should’ve been called the cream cheese roll. This was the first time I’ve ever left uneaten sushi on my plate. Ever. I’ve dealt with some epic stomach cramps in order to finish my sushi in previous outings, but Joss just didn’t do it for me. I didn’t get to try any of Nikki’s rolls, but later she said that it wasn’t great and she’s rarely one to complain. While I was waiting to use the restroom I noticed the Zagat ratings on the wall opposite. Zagat gave his place a 28 in last year’s edition. 28 is a very good score and I don’t think a single component of our meal justified a score that high. Now I do realize that Zagat isn’t the end all be all of food guides, but it is a decent base of comparison. Sushi Hana in Towson is one of my go-to places closer to home for decent sushi, not even great sushi, and it was better than this. It's got a Zagat rating of 23! We left thoroughly underwhelmed and hungry. I love sushi. Most sushi is good sushi in my opinion. Hell, I eat sushi at the local buffet in Bel Air all the time. But Joss just didn’t do it for me. Maybe this was just a bad batch of rice. Maybe we just didn't order the right thing. Unfortunately, aside from the tuna carpaccio seaweed salad, I didn't taste anything that justified such a high score from Zagat. Luckily, there’s practically an ice cream joint on every block and after a nice tall strawberry malt from Kilwin's Chocolate the disappointment had already started to fade. A long nap on the ride home completed an overall great day. Good times.
This hipster-laden Hampden joint gave off a nice welcoming vibe. We opted to sit outside since this was probably the nicest weekend weather we've had all year. Throughout the meal the wait staff was constantly waving to locals walking and biking by. It was a really great feeling and one that is pretty much non-existent around Bel Air. I ordered a sangria and nikki ordered a mimosa and we opted to try the hummus plate as a starter.
The sangria was a nice white but a bit on the bitter side with apple and lemon chunks bobbing on top. I did order a second glass, which was sweeter and closer to what I expect in a white sangria. Maybe it was due to the fact that oranges had replaced the lemons. I pondered if Rocket to Venus employs a local mind-reader. Or a cyborg. I think I saw a guy behind the bar with blender hands. The mimosa was just what a mimosa should be, sweet and fizzy with a nice tart edge.
The hummus plate was terrific. My first bite of cheese and olive generated a moan that turned heads at every table. When I dine out, its usually Mexican or sushi or barbecue so I rarely get to sample decent olives but I realized today that olives and cheese is probably one of my favorite flavor combinations. Or maybe its just that since I don't eat them that much they have a greater impact on my palate. The hummus was probably some of the best I've had. It hit the perfect consistency between smooth and chunky and it wasn't too tart from a heavy handed use of lemon. The pita was great as were the fresh veggies and grapes that rounded out the dish.
For our meal I ordered the steak and eggs (medium rare and over easy) accompanied by sweet potatoes and a nice poblano gravy and Nikki ordered two eggs sunny side up with bacon, hash potatoes and white toast.
My rib-eye was cooked perfect and had a great charred taste to it my only complaint being a tough spots of gristle. The poblano gravy was the real star of the dish. It married well with the classic combo of steak and eggs and it also added a nice savory heat compliment to the sweet potatoes. I did feel that a bite of potato, eggs, and steak with the sauce didn't really come together. Separate, they were great. Overall, we left the table very satisfied and feeling about 3 months pregnant.
I dozed off into a sangria induced coma and awoke as we were pulling into a parking garage in downtown Annapolis. Apparently we had arrived at our next destination. Nikki lead me by hand as I stumbled along trying to deglaze my contacts from my eyeballs. The weather was gorgeous, complete with picturesque billowing white clouds and a light cool breeze from the water. Some sort of festival was taking place with live music and a beer and wine tasting tent, among other things. We walked down by the dock and watched the boats come in. We walked around long enough to build up an appetite for dinner and decided we were in the mood for sushi. We decided to head into Joss Cafe and Sushi Bar after seeing the Zagat rated sign in the window.
We got seated in the narrow hallway right by the kitchen and asked our server if we could move to the back of the restaurant, sitting in the hallway we felt very out of place. The front of the restaurant was very lively but the back was virtually empty, which was nice because the front was pretty loud. We ordered the tuna carpaccio seaweed salad as an appetizer.
This dish was very pretty and reminded me of the tuna sashimi at Bonefish Grill but better. I love seaweed salad, I could eat a bucket of it. The tuna was a gorgeous red and the sauce was nice and fresh, the roe really popped. Our first dish set our expectations pretty high for the sushi. I ordered the spicy yellowtail sashimi, a bagel roll, and after a suggestion from our server, the Urumaki which was smoked eel, shrimp, cucumber, avocado & tamago inside w/flying fish roe, scallions & eel sauce outside. Nikki ordered a spicy california roll with real crab and roe and a tuna avocado roll.
The spicy yellowtail was my first bite and immediately two things hit me: the bizarre texture of the sushi rice, and the off-putting spice. The major glaring issue was the rice. This was probably some of the worst sushi rice I’ve had to date. The grains were long and fat and al dente. It was like ricearoni sushi. The mouthfeel was terrible. In regards to the spice Usually spicy sushi has a nice indefinable heat to it. This was like someone dumped a bunch of cayenne powder on the fish and wrapped it up. I’m not saying it was too spicy, there are very few dishes I consider too spicy, but this spice was just not complimentary to sushi in any way. On the other hand each roll was topped with nicely toasted sesame seeds, which is always a plus. Also, the flying fish roe was some of the freshest I’ve had. It popped on every roll. The urumaki was too sweet. The flavors did work well together but the sweetness of the egg overpowered the other components of the roll. The bagel roll had way too much cream cheese. It should’ve been called the cream cheese roll. This was the first time I’ve ever left uneaten sushi on my plate. Ever. I’ve dealt with some epic stomach cramps in order to finish my sushi in previous outings, but Joss just didn’t do it for me. I didn’t get to try any of Nikki’s rolls, but later she said that it wasn’t great and she’s rarely one to complain. While I was waiting to use the restroom I noticed the Zagat ratings on the wall opposite. Zagat gave his place a 28 in last year’s edition. 28 is a very good score and I don’t think a single component of our meal justified a score that high. Now I do realize that Zagat isn’t the end all be all of food guides, but it is a decent base of comparison. Sushi Hana in Towson is one of my go-to places closer to home for decent sushi, not even great sushi, and it was better than this. It's got a Zagat rating of 23! We left thoroughly underwhelmed and hungry. I love sushi. Most sushi is good sushi in my opinion. Hell, I eat sushi at the local buffet in Bel Air all the time. But Joss just didn’t do it for me. Maybe this was just a bad batch of rice. Maybe we just didn't order the right thing. Unfortunately, aside from the tuna carpaccio seaweed salad, I didn't taste anything that justified such a high score from Zagat. Luckily, there’s practically an ice cream joint on every block and after a nice tall strawberry malt from Kilwin's Chocolate the disappointment had already started to fade. A long nap on the ride home completed an overall great day. Good times.
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