Pechluck, Author at Pechluck's Food Adventures

A Progressive Meal on Alberta Highlights: Grilled Cheese Grill, Mash Tun Brew Pub

December 21, 2010 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

I finally made it to the Grilled Cheese Grill, a cart that also has a bus so you can eat your melted cheese and bread inside the toasty school bus if you don’t want to sit on the benches. The bus has lots of interesting art to look at on the ceiling, and Trivia Pursuit cards on the table, that is if you aren’t already having fun looking at all the old school photos that are printed on the table and bar. The photos I took were parts of the ceiling by our booth that particularly caught my eye: panda mailbox with panda-man, a hummingbird with an owl with horns visiting on its lap while pet mice crawl around it, striped bear-things and no-faces.

Grilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, bus

I greedily ordered two sandwiches and ate half of each. First was “The Hot Brie”: Melty Brie, Red Peppers, Tomato, and Spicy Mustard on Sourdough. This turned out more greasy then I liked, with the brie and red peppers getting mushy and squishing out of the sandwich.

The Hot Brie, Melty Brie, Red Peppers, Tomato, and Spicy Mustard on Sourdough, Grilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, bus
The second sandwich, the “BABs”: bacon, Apples, Bleu Cheese, Swiss on Rye. A great mix of melty cheese with crunchy bacon and apples, I would get this again.
BABs, bacon, Apples, Bleu Cheese, Swiss on Rye, Grilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, bus

The next stop of our progressive eating (it started and ended at the Kennedy School, which is where we stayed for the weekend) was Alberta Co-op for snacks, and then Mash Tun Brew pub for a bacon bloody mary and some local beers. Our snack while we had our beverages was a pretty tasty “Tempeh Things”- fried tempeh, served buffalo or barbecue style (we asked for half and half as they weren’t too busy) with house-made veganaise. Both sauces were flavorful but in different ways- the spicy slightly drier buffalo, and the smokier, more sticky barbecue, and the crisp texture of the tempeh was a great vehicle, better then the traditional chicken wing since we could bite right in. The veganaise was not as good as a traditional ranch offering though, offering some of the creaminess but little more than that. Still, we were impressed how vegetarian friendly this brewpub was in providing a dozen decent options that weren’t just salads or hummus or a frozen veggie burger (they make their own veggie burger in fact here), and we wouldn’t mind coming back for a second visit to try a full meal.

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Food Carts Tagged With: alberta street, food cart, Grilled Cheese Grill, mash tun brewpub

Dim Sum in Toronto at Casa Imperial

December 11, 2010 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

I recently just returned from a whirlwind work trip that took me through Toronto, Philadelphia area PA, Austin TX, and Santa Clara and Sacramento in CA in one week. It was my first time in Toronto, but because the trip was occuring in December and my co-worker forgot to pack her coat, apparently one of the best things to do (walk around inside the city) wasn’t something that was going to be on the list this time. In fact, most of Toronto wasn’t going to be on the list. It turns out they have a similar experience with lake effect wind as Chicago does. It’s cold… and then the wind blows… and you realize how cold it *really* can be.

However, we did get in a few Toronto experiences. It started with a visit to Real Sports Bar and Grill right before a Maple Leaf Game (they play in the stadium across the street). This particular misadventure was unplanned since we were going for the Ducks vs Beavers game, and this was one place my sister, who had been to Toronto just a month before, had recommended and we were able to call to confirm we could watch the game here on a big TV. It meant driving around in circles trying to find non-price gouging parking, and entering a super packed place where it was a 2 hour wait for tables, but we were rewarded by watching the Ducks victory on a 2 story HD screen- definitely a big TV, and we were lucky to snag bar stools at least. We also got to admire, though not visit (… exactly like my sister’s visit) the CN Tower doing its light show thing at night.

Toronto, Canada

And, the next day, we returned to the downtownish area to visit the Christmas Market in the Distillery Historic District based on nothing but a concept drawing advertisement in a hotel magazine. It looked like a mix of old world with the outdoor wooden stalls for the various vendors, and pedestrian-only traffic only as we navigated the cobblestone paths within the complex, but mixed in with new world since it was in a district that really reminded me of the Pearl in Portland with its various art galleries and rehab of a factory space. This meant when it got cold for us, we could quickly pop into a gallery or browse a retail boutique to try to warm up.

We had a few beers at the Mill St Brewery– which made us appreciate how great the beer available in Portland is. Despite the enticing list of beer so we tried a lemon tea ale, a raspberry beer, their cobblestone porter, a coffee porter, and a vanilla porter, the flavor profiles just were not as strong as we have become accustomed to in our microbrew capital city hometown. We didn’t eat during our Christmas Market visit though because we had earlier enjoyed dim sum at Casa Imperial, and that kept us quite full despite the many offerings that tempted us at the market.

Christmas Market, Toronto, Canada

Mill St Brewery, Toronto, Canada Christmas Market, Toronto, Canada

Casa Imperial is in the northern suburb like area of Toronto, where it seems a large population of Asian immigrants ended up settling. We passed strip mall after strip mall in the Markham area (where our hotel was and we executed multiple U-turns trying to find it and dinner the night before) with all the various signage in a mix of languages. Casa Imperial is different from the many dim sum choices in this area in that it is actually inside a historic estate. The atmosphere of British opulence (including waitresses deliveirng dim sum in polytester black and white maidlike outfits) in a Victorian setting but with rich high endish Chinese food that included a pretty teapot instead of the generic white kind from the restaurant supply depot gave it a bit of high end, Hong Kong feel.

Dim Sum in Toronto at Casa Imperial, Canada

The dim sum was rich tasting and nothing was greasy, and the service pretty friendly and efficient. Even at 11am, it was only a 30 minute wait for a table for 2 (there were about 20 other people in their foyer also waiting with us- though it seemed a lot were waiting for larger tables to seat their entire family from grandparents to grandkids), and the fact we were totally surrounded by people who none were speaking English made s feel like this was an authentic choice. They don’t push dim sum carts here- instead there is a regular menu to order from, and also a dim sum list that you select what you want almost like a sushi/sashimi list, and it is delivered from the kitchen to your table as they are ready. Given the tight space of this restaurant and how fresh everything was so it seemed like it was made to order rather than just sitting waiting to be picked up from a lot, I didn’t mind this.

I ordered the staples of course. You can’t have dim sum without shrimp and crab shu mai- here they were quite chubby, as were the shrimp har gow (though the skin was a bit too thick for the har gow). The steamed pork ribs here come with pumpkin, which was a nice added touch of sweetness- I ate the whole thing by myself. The pan fried turnip cake was not too dry or oily (but could have had more umami flavor). The rice rolls (I got one stuffed with egg tofu and snowpea leaf- I would recommend getting one of the other 6 rice rolls choices they offer which all have meat or seafood) was ok but I wish I had gotten the one with scallop XO instead. BBQ pork with honey sauce, a sweet though slightly sticky contrast to the rest of the richness, also was a great choice and is one of their specials on their dim sum checklist. We also got baby bok choy after we saw it arriving at a nearby table which was a bit of a clean palate break from the other savory dim sum dishes. The bok choy came from the regular menu, and took up 1/3 of our table, but was worth it, especially when you bit into one that had a garlic clove nestled inside!

Dim Sum in Toronto at Casa Imperial, Canada

My favorite dim sum dish were these abalone and chicken puff pastries I remembered reading raves about on chowhound- look and think of the rich savory flavor in there with chunks of chicken and abalone in a thick stewlike broth while the puff pastry outside was light and flaky without being oily at all

Dim Sum in Toronto at Casa Imperial, Canada

I would definitely recommend this. I know there are a lot of dim sum places to select from in this area, perhaps some that boast better food (particularly soup dumplings at Ding Tai Fung, and Lai Wah Heen downtown doing contemporary as well as traditional interpretations of dim sum were others I considered) . But the beautiful atmosphere is something which is unique here, and worth a visit. Does it compare to actual Hong Kong dim sum? Well no, though the food overall is pretty good there was a miss (the rice noodle, the thickness of the dough in the har gow) and average (turnip cake). But, I appreciate saving the long flight overseas, and not having to aggressively fight for my little plates as is typical style during 11am primetime dim sum. I didn’t find anything here pretentious unlike the Yelp reviews (which ironically is what brought this to the top of my dim sum list after building the initial candidate list from Chowhound) but it is a departure from the regular experience. Because of its location in a house, it also doesn’t have the loud, hurried feel most dim sum meals have, and we were able to enjoy our food on tablecloths with chandeliers at a normal speaking volume and while the staff hurried to get our food or check, they never hurried us, attentively refilling our teapot without us ever asking. And I value that, even though it definitely gives a different energy to the dining experience, just as long as I won’t be completely sacrificing food quality or taste for it.

My last meal in Toronto was at the airport- drinking more Canadian beer, while having a lot of mustard (as I learned from the menu, Canada is one of the worlds largest producers of mustard) while having a “grilled cheese” that had Canadian Cheddar and Canadian bacon. Topped with a Canadian flag. And gravy with the fries. And… that’s my extent of knowledge of Canadian cuisine.

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Travel Tagged With: Casa Imperial, chinese, dim sum, Toronto

Thanksgiving 2010- a Vegetarian Version of Thanksgiving

November 27, 2010 by Pechluck 2 Comments

This year it was all about My Thanksgiving Battle Plan. My Plan was a strategic and tactical thorough scheme. The overall concept- a Vegetarian Version of Thanksgiving.

My Plan, which I had carefully been considering for 2 weeks so that the ingredients I purchased would all be wholly used, so

I picked recipes that together would result in using overall packaged amounts of ingredients that came in pints and 16 oz and such,
planned for post-holiday meals that would finish them off too,
made sure to include the calculations to reduce recipe portion sizes while also accounting for how many leftovers I wanted for the long weekend
while everything would of course play well with each other for the initial Thanksgiving meal and leftover meals for the rest of the week.
My Plan would be settled in advance, which meant I bought everything the weekend before at Trader Joe’s, Fred Meyer, and Safeway.

Well, actually the main course for Lobo and Mew was purchased at Petco. Because My Plan included the pets’ thanksgiving experience.

Lobo was soooo excited his face was in the bowl vacuuming the food before I had put half the can into the two feeding bowls (I had to use two since Lobo’s head was in one and Mew couldn’t even see what was going on). Overall, Mew was more on the confused side of what was this stuff, and not so interested it turned out (he licked it for flavor but didn’t really eat much of it at all). So Lobo needn’t have eaten like a pig stuffing his face so fast we were afraid he was going to choke inhaling it all as if he didn’t eat it all ASAP Mew would get it.

First course. Ever since I took that Hip Cooks cheese class, I can’t help but want to make my own chevre as an appetizer if I happen to be in Trader Joe’s, one of the few places you can buy the necessary goat milk. I started the cheese on the Sunday before Thanksgiving because I wanted to give it time to age, like the last batch. However, this batch did not use a culture or rennet like the last one (the recipe I learned at Hip Cooks), just citric acid and the other instructions by Urban Cheesecraft.

The result was still a fresh light tasting cheese, but it wasn’t as creamy- it was more crumbly and firmish closer to a soft feta- and would have been better topping a summer salad then as an appetizer- I let it marinate in a pinot noir jelly and served it on oven toasted 10 grain bread. Their recipe was easier though, so maybe I would try their cheese recipes on something harder like the mozzarella.

We started snacking on the cheese while tasting a 12 oz Hair of the Dog Matt Commemorative Ale as we were waiting on the potatoes and “meats” and souffle. Matt was just released during Hair of the Dog’s anniversary last Saturday, and is made with two Munich malts, two Smoked malts and two types of Belgian candy sugar then aged in Kentucky Bourbon and Apple Eau de Vie barrels from Clear Creek distilling.

The description from the brewer was that the taste profile would be “deep and lush with notes of apple, chocolate and smoke”. We both thought it was a great beer, though thicker and more chocolatey than we anticipated. But, worth $15 for each bottle? Not so sure about that, though we also have some bottles to age

Main and Side courses. I had made some cornbread on Wed in anticipation of making the stuffing. So on Thursday around 11, and for the next four hours, I made the rest of the meal, minus the mashed potatoes and chestnuts. First up based on oven temperature needs after toasting the bread was the Green Bean and Portabella Mushroom Casserole (topped with crispy onions and parmesan) and Cornbread stuffing with onion, carrots, celery, Thai chili peppers and diced “ham”. Both of these would also emerge super hot from the oven, and could stand a little cooling off while I finished the rest of the dishes. I started the stuffing first since I needed time to sweat the vegetables, and as soon as that was done I started on caramelizing the onions for the casserole.

This was only my second foray into green bean casserole. Last time I had made Campbell Soup’s green bean casserole and was not a fan: however the Trader’s Joe’s recipe features mushroom more because not only is a mushroom broth used but it called for sauteed onions and mushrooms as equal part to the green bean inside the casserole. I am a big fan of mushrooms and caramelized onions, and then add all these crispy fried onions and parmesan on top and this turned out great for my tastebuds. I also thought the texture was much more balanced- not just mushy green beans and crispy onions, because the portabella mushrooms still had a bit of soft shape to give just a slight bit more structure to the dish.

Meanwhile, the cornbread stuffing. I modified a recipe I had seen on Michael Symon on Food network. For some reason I had watched him make this in an episode- unusual because I don’t watch him at all- but what I saw was so intriguing for a stuffing I looked it up to print his recipe.

As mentioned, the cornbread I had made from a mix the day before, but when it came to the smoked ham I used a smoked veggie version, and for the vegetables I replaced his call for red peppers with Thai red chilis (though obviously in less quantity), and removed the corn (I thought there was enough corn in the cornbread which had kernels already in it, and also the fact I had a corn souffle) so also reduced the amount of cornbread because of that. I also did a lot of winging on the seasoning. I’m not a fan of parsley and cilantro, so I went with dill, sage, and rosemary. Rosemary is such a holiday time appropriate seasoning.

The stuffing turned out visually quite pretty, and was even better the next day as a leftover. The “ham” even in the veggie version gave it a hint of smokiness, and the Thai red chilis a bit of extra zing.

Most of what I made used the stove, and by the time he was entering the kitchen to prep these, the range was completely free. Actually, until he entered the kitchen, I had even done a pretty good job of cleaning up dishes and pans and utensils as I had gone. During the rest of the prep for the recipes following this sentence though is when the sink started to stack up. I’m not sure why the photo shows it a bit greenish- these were the last to the table so it was already getting a bit darker by then. The mashed potatoes, not prepared by me, were made with garlic, skim milk, and skin still on red potatoes. No mentions by me about how there was leftover cream in the fridge still would yield any changes.

What’s Thanksgiving cooking without some misadventures in the kitchen? This time around, it first appeared while baking the corn souffle, following a recipe I had cut out of some newspaper several years ago and don’t even remember which newspaper was. It was taking longer to cook than anticipated because the middle was still wet. There were a lot of little toothpick holes suffice it to say as I kept maniacally checking it because I also didn’t want it to be overdone.

Meanwhile, the higher oven temperature required for finishing the souffle was also throwing off my meat cooking temperatures and times. Also, I had used a Food.com recipe for Almond crusted chick’n breasts drizzled with rosemary dill lemon butter (well, hers was basil butter but I was sick of basil after this summer. And I like dill.)- and the chick’n wasn’t picking up the flour and egg dredge well so the almonds didn’t stick as well as hoped. I got all 10 fingers messy in trying to somehow cover up those cutlets with almond on both sides- every place I can fit an almond I tried to.

I don’t usually eat chick’n so I’m not sure what it tastes like normally, but to me the whole thing turned out dry, though that might have been a characteristic of the chick’n and if I had used real meat chicken (or perhaps not Quorn brand chicken cutlets) this might have turned out better. Another option might be pan frying the chicken so I can season more flavor then drizzling the rosemary dill infused butter offered.

The rebellious food:

I also used a Kittencal recipe for the Parmesan Melt turk’y which I hesitated on adding the salt the recipe called for (not big salt fans) but did it anyway- and what do you know, it was too salty for our tastes. But I did love how much the turk’y round looked like a lot like turkey! The saltiness of the parmesan melt around it almost was like turkey skin in a way. And this Quorn fake meat version that was turk’y wasn’t dry like the chick’n, so some of that salt probably helped retain the moisture.

In the end, my Thanksgiving 2010 plate doesn’t even look like its missing out on options just because it is a vegetarian version.

Filed Under: Cheese, Cooking, Weblogs Tagged With: Almond crusted chick’n breast, coranbread with fake ham, green bean casserole, Parmesan Melt turk'y, recipe, thanksgiving, vegetarian thanksgiving

Colonial Food in Virginia Part 2… Dinner at Gadsby’s Tavern

November 10, 2010 by Pechluck 2 Comments

Our second colonial meal was at Gadsby’s Tavern. Gadsby’s Tavern is located in Alexandria, and has been serving food since 1770 where it functioned both as a restaurant and inn, and saw customers such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison & James Monroe and Marquis de Lafayette. George Washington twice celebrated a ball held in his honor here. Here’s a look at the tavern in daylight when we passed by it again the next day.

But our first look was at night. As we stepped in on Halloween night after slipping past costumed masqueraders on the cobblestone streets, we felt like we really did step back in time. Outside our window, only the occasional car headlights checked us on the time period- even the night revelers seemed to fit in since several ghost tours walked by with the tour guide waving a lantern in their hand. Inside, the staff was dressed in traditional colonial clothing, and a man dressed as Benjamin Franklin walked on his cane to visit and chat at various tables.

One question I was fascinated by was the painting above. Exactly what kind of dinner party was being portrayed in that painting over the mantle: what kind of colonial party involves people falling off their chairs while sharing a giant bowl of soup??

Unfortunately, the atmosphere was the best part of dinner. My appetizer of baked brie en croute in puff pastry stuffed with cardamom spiced apples and finished with raspberry coulis and sprinkles of cinnamon and sugar was nothing special. The bread was not necessary at all (and toasted too a point of being too hard) and the cheese barely warm and melted. His salad was spinach in truffled honey and cider vinaigrette with dried cranberries, toasted almonds, and shaved gruyere- it needed more dressing. His grilled vegetable napoleon with flame-roasted seasonal vegetables layered with imported brie and topped with a roasted red pepper puree and served with risotto was average except that the spinach in his napoleon was a little gritty from not being washed well enough!

I went with triple small dishes- a cup of surrey co peanut soup (chicken stock simmered with roasted peanuts, garlic, and ginger) , an appetizer of hot smithfield ham biscuits with mascarpone cheese and raspberry puree dip, and a side of corn pudding because honestly I was suspicious of entree size quality. The soup was not as good as what I had at Mt Vernon (which had the additional richness of chestnut), the biscuits were a little dry and the mascarpone not rich- but at least the corn pudding was moist. We finished with a very dense but not interestingly spiced rum and apple bread pudding with coffees that apparently don’t get refilled.

I couldn’t help but leave with a smile anyway after seeing this on the way to the bathroom at the end though. Later though, I was a teeny spooked how in between the two pictures, it looks like GW sent me a ghostly smile (as much as he can manage with his bad teeth and usual stoic look anyway)?? Can you see the difference in the two pictures?

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Restaurant Review, Travel Tagged With: Alexandria, Gadsby's Tavern, Virginia

Glimpses of Mt Vernon Estate

November 7, 2010 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

George Washington’s home is made of wood, but is built to look like a brick facade, how clever… and great backyard view of the Potomac River. The orientation and education center and museum had really great exhibits that told personal stories about GW, using both forensic science to recreate how he looked to detailed videos giving a modern view of his life, ranging from his military strategies to treatment of his slaves and his life with his family and his revolutionary peers. My photos were mostly when we were walking on the estate, since I didn’t take pictures inside the exhibits.