A Sunday afternoon Dish

So during training today I got inspired to cook something a bit more elaborate.  I decided on an Indian/Afghan inspired chicken dish with Roti bread.  So to start in a giant cast iron pot I started to saute some onions and peppers and cooked down some spinach in an olive oil and pork fat (I render the pork fat whenever I cook pork) with some onion and garlic along with some brown rice cooked in chicken broth and pork fat.  Also some cayenne pepper, a ton of curry and cumin...

Next to grill the meat, some organic chicken breasts and chicken sausages:

Once both were cooked time to mix and throw in the oven covered for an hour:

Once it was all cooked time to cook the Roti-Chapati bread on the griddle:

And put it all in a dish before it goes in my belly, GET IN MY STOMACH!

Happy Dining!

Venice Ristorante - Restaurant Review

Wow, nothing like last minute...Around 4:30 pm the lovely wife said hey see what you can find for my birthday tonight.  The thought was to hit a Restaurant Week restaurant.  Restaurant Week in Denver is 2 meals for $52.80 ( remember the mag was called 5280 from my original project for this blog, 5280 feet is the elevation of Denver).  Feb 26 started restaurant week.

Anyway all of our top choices were full on short notice.  So I went to the always reliable Yelp.  Since we were trying to eat early, I limited the choice to our neighborhood area (South Denver), and I picked Italian since she wasn't really picky.  Lo and behold Yelp advised Venice Ristorante.  I quickly secured a 5:45pm spot through Open Table.  We got dressed relatively quickly in a bit dressier apparel than normal for Denver as the site said "dressy".  On the way Dana briefly thought maybe she wanted sushi, which happened to be near our reservation, but when we arrived I suggested perhaps dressy would be better served at our original choice versus the neon sign Rice Bistro & Sushi.  Happily she agreed, on we went.

This was a very quaint white table cloth styled restaurant.  It was quite surprising given the nondescript exterior presence.  We were promptly seated even though we were about 10 minutes late for our reservation (the sushi debate).  We sat and quickly began perusing the menus.  Dana decided on the house Cab and I ordered a diet coke and a bottle of San Pellegrino bubbly water.  For our appetizer we decided on the Antipasto:

Quite good, the small crab cakes were all crab, the mozzarella with prosciutto and the other with tomato was delish.  The calamari was not over-breaded and Dana enjoyed the bruschetta.

For dinner I went with the Cioppino Tuscano seafood stew:

Wow this was really good, mild sauce spice wise but tons of flavor.  The clams were very tender and flavorful.  The fish and shrimp were great.

Dana went with the Kobe beef ribs.  Both of us ordered off of the night's special menu.  Neither of our dishes are featured on the website.

The dish reminded me a bit of pulled pork but more tender with less fat.  It was definitely good, hard to see the ribs under the onions.

For dessert we went with the chocolate lava cake ala mode, awesome:

So overall I would give this a rating of A-.  I don't have any complaints, I just was not overwhelmed (that's a high bar to achieve) by the food, though it was great.  The beauty was this place was cheaper than any 5280 restaurant night, which is the value we thought to expect moving from NYC to Denver.  I did not check out the restrooms (downside of just water and a diet coke, no wine).  But the rest of the place was very clean and well laid out.  It had that small, quaint European restaurant feel inside.  Most importantly the birthday girl was happy:

Happy Dining!

From 5280 to Home Cooking

So my wife and I lived in NYC for 4 years and ate out a lot!  It's about twice as expensive as Denver.  So the 150 dollar Denver meal is equivalent to 300 in NYC.  I never had a questionable $300 meal in NYC, but the number of $150 questionable meals in 9 trips to 5280 restaurants was shocking and disturbing.  We loved getting out but the value was not there.  So that's it, project dead.  Oh I was notified that 5280 rated restaurants pay for the privilege.  Makes sense.

Now when I say project is dead, I only mean the blog schedule and trying to hit all restaurants in 52 weeks.  We will hit some and I will review them when we do.  I love the critique process.  I also think it help my own cooking immensely.

Anyway this blog will continue with my home cooking experiments.  I now have a kitchen that is about as big as our apartment was in NYC.  Big difference, given the kitchen there was like a closet.  So first up on my home food preparation is New Year's Day 2011, a nice Australian Leg of Lamb.

The pictures started nice and then got hosed, not sure why.  I'll fix that before my next effort (note I make efforts like this regularly but only photo and blog on occasion.  My goal is 6 hand prepared dinners per week.).

A nice rub of salt, pepper, thyme and fresh rosemary.

Make slits in the lego of lamb and stuff with whole garlic cloves (note on a broiler pan).  Rub the rub baby!

Under the broiler, sear each side for 3 minutes.

And this is the same side but the other picture sucks.

Then at 350 degrees with the whole tray wrapped in aluminum foil, let it cook for 105 minutes.  Place on a plate and slice thinly.

Take the drippings in the broil pan and add 1 cup of chicken broth, salt and pepper and 1/4th cup of flour to create a nice gravy.

Serve with a nice a green salad, a Chianti Classico, and candles.  Wow the 50 inch plasma looks small in the background pounding out some Whisperings Classical Piano from iTunes radio.

Happy New Years and Happy Dining!

Potager - Restaurant Review

Potager is a great concept in Locavore (source from local farmers).  And overall the experience was pretty fantastic.  Included is a menu with wine recommendations offered at bottle, glass and half glass (I have never seen half glass) for every dish on the menu.  BUT (and I mean Sir Mix-a-lot style), there were short-comings.

The food was great sans one dish.  The service was great until the final 45 minutes of a 2:30 evening.  Now all said and done we spent 360 for 4 people including tip over 2.5 hours, which works out to over 30 bucks an hour for our waitress.  IE, we were running a nice bill and service should have remained superb.  The dish, the steak, was the most expensive item on the menu and my wife ordered it.  It was awful.  I asked for a second bite thinking she gave me a bad piece.  Jennifer was disappointed as well.  Dana ordered it not sure what to order and figuring the steak would be safe.  She never contemplated sending it back.  That was my bad for not recognizing and taking control.  But either way that shit-bone piece of meat should not have left the kitchen.

The rest of the food was actually spectacular.  But the service dipped hard at the end.  Our waitress was friendly and interesting.  She wrote down nothing and remembered our orders, but she took a good 10 minutes to get Jennifer her Port for dessert.  Another 10 for Dana and I to share one.  And then 10 more for the check.  That was a half hour or more wasted.

On to the food porn:

WARM, TWICE BAKED MUNSON FARM CORN AND RICOTTA SOUFFLE with red wagon farm cherry tomatoes 

and basil 12.00

HOMEMADE GOAT CHEESE RAVIOLI with morton’s orchard peaches, corn and red wine syrup 12.50

INGRID’S MUSSELS wood fired in a cast iron pot with fennel, garlic, tomato, herbs and grilled bread 18.00

SALAD OF MORTON’S ORCHARD PEACHES, FRESH MOZZARELLA, PROSCUITTO with cracked almonds and fresh basil 15.00

4 Happy diners

 

GRILLED GRASS ROOT’S FARM GRASS FED STRIP STEAK with basil butter and a salad of potatoes, 

bacon, tomatoes, cucumber, buttermilk dressing and fried onions 29.00

 MOST EXPENSIVE ITEM ON THE MENU - GIANT LOSER, worst steak ever (Dana should have sent it back)

SEARED RARE TUNA NICOISE with green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, farm egg, olives and 

tomato-oregano vinaigrette 29.00

FOX FIRE FARM’S GRASS FED LAMB MEATBALLS tossed with tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, onion, peppers, 

goat feta, mint and yogurt dressing 25.00

JOHN LONG’S SPICY TOMATO BRAISED PORK RIBS with a peach-cucumber slaw and 

pickled watermelon rind 25.00

Cherry and other fruit crisp, Jenn and Bryan liked it.

Chocolate Mousse (death by chocolate Dana called it)

So highlight ideas.  The mussels are just mussels (Dana's interpretation).  I just wanted mussels.  The lamb deal was basically a gyro, but it tasted awesome and made me want another bite.  The death by chocolate was great.  The restroom was clean with the roller towels (bounty, or whatever is on the roller, i hope i am remembering this right, we went to another restaurant with this right after), but this is a good thing.  We were close to an A- but the steak was a big negative and then the dip in service pushed Potager to a B+.

Happy Dining!

Opus - Restaurant Review

A little late writing this.  I think we went here about 3 weeks ago, but with Ironman and everything, I have been a bit busy.  This will basically be a food porn post.  The restaurant was spectacular and the bill was our highest to date.  It seems that the 5280 list is very highly correlated between price and quality so far.  This is good in that you don't get ripped off, but the flip side is there are no screaming deals.

An amuse-bouche from the chef, Salmon Tartar:

Crispy Pork Belly
baked rhubarb, ginger froth, phyllo napoleon

Crab Duet: Hot and Cold

pecan crab cake, hollandaise foam, jumbo lump crab, tomato gelee

Pan Seared Goat Cheese Gnocchi

prosciutto broth, Rocky Ford melon , prosciutto chips

Pan Roasted Black Cod “Butterfish”

nori, watermelon, miso butter, summer radish

This is the Lamb Tenderloin special that was not on the menu

The following are 3 different desserts

The service was spectacular, the restrooms were clean.  The waiter was also very wine knowledgeable.  If this restaurant was downtown Denver, it would probably be one of the best known restaurants in Colorado.  I give this dining experience an A+.  Best place I have tried so far.

Happy Dining!

The Kitchen - Restaurant Review

The Kitchen probably has the lowest bar of any place we have been.  Dana and I went here with Barb and Randy after a 70 mile bike ride from Boulder to Ward and through Lyons back to Boulder.  Needless to say we were famished and this was for brunch.  The 4 of us ordered 6 entrees.  They were kind enough to actually split them for us too.

The food was delicious.  Dana and I shared the lamb burger, the trout and an omellete.  Randy and Barb went with the farmers special (ham and eggs), french toast and the eggs benedict I believe.  These dishes had fancier names but you get the gist.  The server was very accommodating and friendly.  The people who brought the food looked surprised at all the food, two small chicks and two not very big guys.  We cleaned our plates!

Dana also enjoyed a Bloody Mary

The atmosphere was chic casual but being Boulder we were fine in our grungy half bike gear, half normal clothes.  The bathroom was clean and had white cloths for drying your hands, very eco-friendly.  The food was delicious and well prepared.  The cool thing about this restaurant is it is farm to table, so ingredients are locally grown.  I would go back here easily for brunch.  Some day I would like to try dinner here and see how they deliver on fancier fares.  I give this restaurant an A- as a brunch establishment with similar hopes for dinner.

Happy dining!

Venue - Restaurant Restaurant Review

So Venue is a restaurant up in Highland, a trendy neighborhood on the northwestern side of Denver.  We were joined at Venue by new friends Dan and Cassandra.  This was a new neighborhood in our Denver dining voyage and close to there home.  The evening was tame and enjoyable the night before my half marathon.  Dana and I also had a big ride planned Sunday and Dan had hockey.  A simple but diverse menu:

Ricotta Dumplings

Kurobuta Pork Belly

Dan and Cassandra had the Parmesan Gnocchi, the sauce was delightful.  That white thing is a poached egg on top.

Dana had the Oxtail Cassoulet, very lean and clean tasting.

Norwegian Salmon, was my choice and was very perfectly done, tender and moist.

A light, custard and berry pastry, this might have been my favorite.

This restaurant was very cool, in a nice setting.  The service was spotty at times, with them seeming slightly understaffed.  The wine list was very simple, we had some Brut, Sauvignon Blanc and some Pinot Noir, which were simple and enjoyable.  The bathroom was a bit small and only one for the restaurant.  The food was quite good.  Overall I give this restaurant a B+.

Happy Dining!