Monday, December 19, 2011

Guest Chef

One of our commenters alerted us to this brand new restaurant that just opened between Rikyu and our least favorite restaurant, The Burrito Shop. Guest Chef is a unique concept, this is from their website:

"Guest Chef is a fully equipped restaurant and kitchen incubator. If you have a specialty dish, a novel cuisine, or an experimental take on a classic, come and showcase your culinary skills to an audience of eager diners. Schedule your two week run and Guest Chef will become YOUR restaurant."

We went on December 17th, 2011. The chef that night was Paul Skrentny of Paul's Paella

Brussel sprouts with bacon AND prosciutto. This had a high meat to veggies ratio. We noticed Paul cutting the brussel sprouts straight off the stalk; you could taste the freshness. We love bacon (AND prosciutto) but sometimes dishes like this can be heavy or greasy. The sprouts were so lightly cooked and crispy that the whole thing seemed more like a salad than a pork soup.


Scotch eggs. These were amazing! It's a hard-boiled quail egg, wrapped inside chicken-basil sausage, dredged in Panko breadcrumbs, (wrapped in an enigma) and then deep-fried. It came with some kind of pink sauce that looked like thousand island dressing, but it wasn't. Whatever it was, we liked it a lot. Go eat these.


Chicken and chorizo paella. We figured the paella would be good, since it's kind of Paul's thing, and it was. Great seasonings, perfectly cooked rice, tangy olives, and bright green peas. It tasted as delicious as it looks. And it comes with a (non-edible) doily!


Flan. This was the only desert on the menu, and we didn't actually order it. Our neighbors at the table next to ours (who we struck up a conversation with during dinner) were too full to eat theirs and insisted that we try it (and take a picture). We're not huge flan fans but as flans go, this one was not too sweet and had a delicate consistency. We wouldn't say it was "flantastic" but it was certainly "fladequate".

The kitchen crew. That's Paul in the center. If you can make it to Guest Chef before January 1st, these guys will make you some awesome paella. If you go after that it will probably be completely different.

The restaurant itself is small and cozy with nice exposed wood beams in the ceiling. Service was great, and we're looking forward to trying Guest Chef again the next time there's an interesting sounding chef. We hope it's as yummy the next time as it was on our first trip! And no, we will not be going back every two weeks to review it whenever the chef changes.

We give Guest Chef (and Paul's Paella) 4 sabuys.








Next stop: Cactus Taqueria Twin Peaks Kitchen High Peaks Kitchen


Oliveto

We ate at Oliveto in august with our good friends Peter and Christa, but got too busy this fall (see previous post) to write about it. So, without further ado...

Grilled Sardinian-style sausage with sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and mint. With roasted Jimmy Nardello peppers and frisee salad. The sausage had interesting spices and the three parts all complemented each other.


Burrata cheese with Early Girl tomato mamellata, arugula, and charcoal-grilled crostino. We liked this.




Charcoal-grilled prime flatiron steak with Yellow Romano beans, Parmesan sformatino, and Yellow Finn potatoes. The sformatino is the little bit poking out from behind the potatoes on the left. It is like a cheese flan.


Tortelli of roasted pork with Early Girl tomato-vodka brodo. It was delicious, but tiny. You can fit 100 of these tortelli on the head of a pin.


Charcoal-grilled pork porterhouse with fresh Cranverry beans, oven-roasted Early Girl tomatoes, and pork sugo. This was a little smokier and gamier than we would have liked.

Pappardelle rosse with San Marano tomato-braised beef shoulder, hot pepper, and  oregano. Also tiny. Picture taken at 1000X magnification.

We have had great meals at Oliveto in the past but this wasn't one of them. Considering the crazy high prices, you expect it to blow your mind, but our minds were unblown. Oliveto gets three sabuys.



Next Stop: Guest Chef

Been gone for a while


So, we haven't posted in a few months because we've had... er... some other stuff going on. For the next 4.5 months the tiny person above will be attending all our reviews and Steve will be drinking for two (or three). We will try to get back to posting more regularly... until around May 30th.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Market Hall



We thought Market Hall was going to be an epic review since there are so many stores in there that serve food. But it turns out there are only three places in Market Hall that actually qualify as "restaurants" according to the rules of our blog.

The restaurants we reviewed are: 
  1. The Pasta Shop
  2. Market Hall Bakery 
  3. Peaberry's Coffee and Tea
So we figured we could do all three in one trip. 

We will not be reviewing Market Hall Produce, or either of the butchers as they don't prepare food onsite. We will also not be reviewing Bloomies Flowers, sorry vegetarians!

The Pasta Shop


The Pasta Shop has fresh cut pasta, a deli counter, cheese counter, and a large selection of scoopable salads and other prepared foods.

We knew we were going to have pastries for dessert, so we opted for a light lunch. From top to bottom of the stack in the above left photo:
  1. Indian cauliflower - Briana thought this one was bland and gross. Steve found it bland but not that gross. Not a ringing endorsement. It sounded so promising! 
  2. Quinoa salad with sun-dried tomatoes, eggplant, red onions, and green peppers-  We both liked this one a lot. The texture was interesting, and the tomatoes were tart.
  3. Avocado salad with corn and lettuce - Another winner. Very fresh and light tasting. A great choice for a hot day (which it was).
  4. Meatballs in marinara sauce - How do you mess up a classic like this? The texture was just wrong, like they used bubble gum instead of bread or something. The sauce was also very Boyardeesque (TM).
  5. Picante Tuna Salad - This one was also great. Pretty similar to the avocado salad, but with tuna, and a teeny tiny hint of spiciness.
We give the Pasta Shop three Sabuys. The dishes we tried all could have used a little more flavor, but enough of them were good that we feel OK recommending this place. We probably only tried about a tenth of the things they sell in the salad section alone, so we know we're missing a lot of stuff here, for example, the pasta that the store is named after.

Market Hall Bakery

 

From front to back:
  1. Shortbread - Shortbread is shortbread. Briana loves it, no matter what. Steve is not a big fan. If you like plain old boring shortbread, you'll like this. 
  2. Chocolate mint crinkle - Steve LOVED this. Briana is not a big chocolate lover, but Steve loves chocolate... he loves it long time. We both agreed this cookie has a great texture, with a crispy, crinkly outside, and gooey, fudgy innards. The mint keeps the chocolate from being too overwhelming. 
  3. Carrot cake - Both of us generally love carrot cake, and we were excited about this one because it has so much icing (which everyone knows is the best part). But something was just a little off. The icing didn't have the awesome creamcheesiness that EVERY OTHER CARROT CAKE has.
We've eaten a lot of baked goods from this place, and went out of our way to try some new things this trip. Some of them weren't that great (we're looking at you, carrot cake) but everything else we've eaten there has been delicious. Their brioche, scones, tarts, morning buns, and tres leches cake (to name a few) are all stellar. So we're giving Market Hall Bakery 4 Sabuys based on previous experience. 

Peaberry's Coffee and Tea

 


It's a cafe. They serve coffee. Steve had a cappuccino, and Briana had a cup of plain ol' boring coffee. They were both fine. You can see from the photo that they do cool stuff with the foam, and IF you can find a table outside, it's a great place to sit and sip on a nice day. Sometimes though, people hog up all the chairs and won't move for hours no matter how close you stand and mouth-breathe on them.

Peaberry's gets 3.5 Sabuys.

And that's it folks! WE DID IT!

Next stop: Oliveto


Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Becky's Chinese

We had never been to Becky's Chinese, but we've always been intrigued by their decor. While the interior design may be somewhat modern and unique, the menu is classic "Americanized Chinese" cuisine, and sometimes the classics are all you really want:


We did this one by the book; we ordered all our favorite, predictable dishes:


 Spring rolls! Tasted like... spring rolls. Note to the vegetarians: these had meat in them (but we don't think it said so on the menu), so be sure to ask for the vegetarian spring rolls if you don't want meat.

Steve thought they were average, Briana thought they were sub par. Served with sweet and sour sauce (also just OK).
 Mushu Pork! No surprises here, except that they roll them up for you at the table, Benihana style. But they only roll your first one, and then you're on your own. These were also unremarkable, and as usual: not enough plum sauce. THEY NEVER GIVE YOU ENOUGH PLUM SAUCE!
 General Chao's (Tso's/Cho's/Zhao's) Chicken! This was actually pretty great. Spicy, with crispy breading, and less sweet than at a lot of places. Quite salty though, so be ready for that.
 Good to know.
Also good to know: Becky's does not supply each table with it's own soy sauce, rice vinegar, and chili oil. In our opinion, this should be illegal. We've talked before about the holy trinity of Chinese condiments. HOWEVER, if you ask for them at Becky's, they not only bring the holy trinity, but also spicy mustard sauce, which is a nice bonus. And that's... good to know.







We give Becky's Chinese 2.5 Sabuys. What can we say? It's a Chinese restaurant that's a lot like a lot of other Chinese restaurants. The food was fine, but we probably won't be coming back.









Next stop: Market Hall Eatstravaganza!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Ben & Nick's

We are sorry for the long break, we just moved, but we did go to Ben and Nick's and we ordered a bacon cheeseburger with curly fries and chicken strips and delicious beers (Steve had a Downtown Brown and Briana had some kind of amber ale that we can't remember the name of), everything was pretty good, and next time we promise to take better pictures and not write our review as one long run-on sentence, now here are some pictures of food:





Ben and Nick's is good bar food, and they have a good selection of beers (and some cocktails), we give it 4 Sabuys, OK bye now!

 Next stop: Becky's Chinese!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Crêpevine

There are over a hundred restaurants called Crêpevine in the United States. So as a public service, we will now provide a list of alternative crêperie names:
  • Planet of the Crêpes
  • Crêpe Canaveral
  • The Crêpes of Wrath
  • Date-Crêpe
  • Oops, I crêped my pants!
Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about the food:


Briana ordered the "Kyoto" crêpe, which contains Marinated grilled tofu sauteed with spinach, bell peppers, shiitake mushrooms and peanut sauce. It was a little bland. Not bad or anything, just kind of boring. It could have used more spices... or some meat.

Steve ordered the "Santa Rosa" scramble with spinach, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms and cheddar. It was similarly bland, but totally edible. We disagreed on the salad dressing. Steve thought it was pretty good, Bri thought it tasted like mayonnaise. 

Say, "Maaaaaaaayo!"















Good to know: Crêpevine has self-serve water with lemons! Quelle fancy!

We give Crêpevine 3.5 Sabuys. The food isn't great, but the prices are decent, and the outdoor patio is a pleasant place to eat brunch and watch people push their strollers around.









Next stop Ben & Nicks

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Pasta Pomodoro

As a rule, we try to avoid large chain-restaurants, but we're eating at every restaurant on college avenue, and that means eating at places we don't really want to go to. So, with out further ado, onto our review of Pasta Pomodoro, or as we like to call it, "The Yuppie Olive Garden".

The first thing we noticed after being seated at Pomodoro is that they print the calorie content of every dish on the menu. This was a real bummer for us. If we knew the food was going to be delicious we wouldn't care how many calories were in it, but since we had low expectations anyway, we ended up ordering the healthiest items and skipping dessert. We figured, why waste 1500 calories on a dish that will probably taste like it came from a mall food court anyway? Bad move, Pasta Pomodoro. We would've eaten way more food if we hadn't known how bad for us it was.

The one thing they don't tell you nutrition info for is this complementary bread and olive oil dip thing. This was probably the best thing we had at Pasta Pomodoro. The bread was warm focaccia, and the stuff in the bowl is some kind of lemon, olive oil, and pesto concoction; we have to admit that it was totally great. The lemon added a nice tangy flavor that may not have been authentic, but was definitely yummy.

Best part of all: zero calories (we assume).


Verdure with grilled chicken: 462 calories. This was not very flavorful, but we were impressed that the veggies tasted fresh and not overcooked. Pretty boring, but at least it was healthy and filling.
Pollo Griglia: 698 calories. What you see is what you get. It's grilled chicken and a side salad.

Fun fact: the side salad at PP is exactly the same as the side salad at Filippos.










Good to know: We went on a Wednesday, which is "Wine Wednesday" at Pasta Pomodoro. All bottles of wine are half-price. So you can get a bottle of wine that would cost eight dollars at the grocery store for only eighteen dollars! Bottoms up!

Needless to say, we went home and ate ice-cream without looking at the nutrition label.

We give Pasta Pomodoro 2 Sabuys. If they hadn't scared us off with their scary menu, we might have tried some of their pastas or pizzas, which are probably more fun than what we ordered. But at least it was better than the Burrito Shop.









Next stop: The Edible Complex Crêpevine

Friday, April 22, 2011

Enoteca Molinari

Ooops! We did it again! We are the worst bloggers ever. We went to Enoteca Molinari back in March, and our lazy asses just got around to writing a review. If anyone still reads this, we're sorry.

This was the second time we've had to double back because a new restaurant opened up on a section of College that we've already been through.

Enoteca Molinari specializes in wine and small plates:

We don't remember which wines we tried, but we liked them a lot. We won't say much more than that because we're both pretty ignorant about wine, but if you're into that sort of thing, you can see their wine list here.
 "Insalata di lattuga" is Italian for lettuce and croutons. It was pretty good in general, but the croutons were amazing. We think it was something about the olive oil they used.
 Bread and butter available upon request. Scoring major points with Briana who will basically boycott any restaurant that doesn't give you bread and butter.
Panissa fritta, chickpea fries with chimichurri sauce. The fries had an awesome texture, but not much flavor on their own. The sauce was killer; light, tangy, cilantrotastic. Together they work really well, although we would have liked to see a higher sauce to fry ratio.

Also, you can play Jenga with the fries to decide who gets more sauce. 


Bistecca con rucola e Parmigiano - Piemontese top sirloin beef with arugula and Parmigiano. The steak was simple and nicely cooked. There wasn't a bunch of sauce marring the flavor of the meat. The cheese and lemon brought out really nice flavors with the arugula when you got a little of each in one bite. It was a pretty filling small plate item.
 We can't remember what this was called, but it was mushrooms in sauce over polenta. The sauce was really rich (in a good way) and the mushrooms were fantastic. The polenta (like all polenta) was polenta. Despite how this picture looks, this dish was tiny.
Molinari was out of the one dessert that looked appealing to us, so here is a picture of the inside of the restaurant that we took as we were leaving to go get frozen yogurt. We sat right there at the bar, which was quite pleasant.







We give Enoteca Molinari 3.5 Sabuys.







Next stop: Pasta Pomodoro

Friday, March 4, 2011

Hudson

This is a very special review for us. This is the first time we've had to double back (see rule #5) because a new restaurant has opened up on College Ave. at a place we've already eaten. Hudson recently opened up in the building where Garibaldi's and Marzano used to be. Same owner, new name, new menu. 

We liked Marzano and Garibaldi's, but we're not at all disappointed that they're gone, because out of the ashes of those two fine dining establishments two phoenixes (phoeni?) arose and combined like Voltron into a bionic new restaurant called Hudson. They've rebuilt the restaurant and made it faster, stronger, and more deliciouser. 


Pizza with fontal, wild mushrooms, and caramelized onions. In case you were wondering, fontal is fontina. Same cheese, different name. Everything about this pizza was perfect. The mushrooms were amazingly tender and aromatic. The onions were juicy and succulent. Briana is concerned that Steve may leave her for one night with this pizza. We hope we're not over selling this pizza, it was pretty good, you know, whatever. 
Fried artichokes and lemons with meyer lemon aioli. This was also ridiculously good. Imagine fried calamari, but with artichokes and lemons instead of squids. We've always said, "the artichoke is the squid of the field." And it's true.
Grilled pork loin chop stuffed with wild mushrooms, sage and fontina. Served with parsnip puree, kale, and cipolline onion rings. As delicious as this looks and sounds, it was even more delicious than that. The pizza was concerned that Steve would leave it for this pork chop.
 This is a cappuccino. 
We don't remember what all these are (we forgot to steal the dessert menu). We're going to try and guess. Ok, that looks like some orange slices at the bottom there. Next to that was some kind of fried milk thing. Then there's a little cup of brown stuff. Um, we think the middle things are fried banana and peanut butter cake/sandwich type deals. We dipped those in the brown stuff, and it was great. Finally there were some little fried dough balls. All of it was good, but we think we liked the peanut butter banana thing the best.











We've already been to quite a few fantastic restaurants on College Avenue (and some real bummers) but Hudson was the best yet. Everything we ordered was better than we expected it would be. Hudson gets our highest rating yet, a flawless FIVE SABUYS!







Next stop: We double back again for Enoteca Molinari