B-night: Bourbon and BBQ that is...

Boston is known as Beantown and has some fabulous B-schools (business for those of you uneducated on the term, not B as in second tier), but BBQ and Bourbon are not 'B' terms usually associated with our hometown city on the water. Last week, Tremont 647 hosted one of their many yearly events, which have all become quite the popular Monday outing for Bostonians. This one was the annual BBQ tasting and Bourbon sampling event. We were super excited about our BBQ dinner and completely unaware of the Bourbon tasting, perhaps we neglected to read the fine print, as we often do, but it seemed like a great added benefit until we saw 4 poured shots per person sitting on our table!

Tremont 647 is known for its locally sourced cuisine ingredients and intimate setting, at address 647 Tremont Street in the South End (way to be real original with the establishment's name, Chef Husbands, way to be original). Anyway, Chef and owner Andy Husbands (who also owns and runs 647's neighbor to the right, Sister Sorel) is not new to the scene of high class cuisine, nor is he new to the BBQing scene. He won the World BBQ championships with the hog recipe he was preparing for us that tonight and his excitement showed when he squeaked into the microphone "I smoked the hog myself yesterday, its going to be awesome!"

We started the night with various appetizers including: fresh hush puppies, smoked trout remoulade over English pea cakes, and smoked chicken cakes. The hush puppies were to die for with plenty of corn kernels and moisture to spare in a golf ball sized, deep fried package. The chicken cakes were also delicious, but if you didn't stuff the whole thing into your mouth all one time, in one swift movement from serving platter to pie-hole, you were going to be walking on. The cake was very brittle and did not hold together at all, which is sort of a must if you are going to use it for a passed appetizer and thus it must be eaten sans utensils. Smoked trout was ok, I could have done without it though - a little to acidic for the people in my party.

Then we sat down for the bourbon tasting and just as Chef predicted, 1/2 way through it no one was paying attention to the girl hosting the tasting, because they were all drinking and feeling good. I, however, was pretty sickened by the bourbon. I would have rather drank urine - way to harsh for me - I almost did the head spin that Will Smith mastered for the intro to Fresh Prince of Bel Air, due to the stringency of it.

First course was three different kinds of ribs with matching coleslaw: America style, Jerk Style (read SPICY!!!!) and Chinese style. The ladies liked the Chinese style best probably because it was coated in brown sugar, the men, though they were crying and bright red, powered through the jerk ribs and even started in on seconds, proclaiming that it was their favorite. America was neither good nor bad, it was just kind of boring compared to the other two! All the ribs were tender, moist and flavorful, but the Chinese style ones were banging for sure!

Then we cooled off with a wedge salad: iceberg lettuce, pickled onions, BACON, and as one of my dinner dates proclaimed in excitement "FULL FAT DRESSING - THERE'S NOTHING LIKE IT!" It was a good break from the spice of the ribs and a nice cleanse before the family style main course. Paper boats of food covered our table minutes later, full of: blackened catfish, pulled pork, greens, beans, watermelon, potato salad, coleslaw, burnt ends, and honey covered cornbread. The Catfish had a little to much cayenne in it for me but it was cooked very well so that the integrity of the flesh was maintained and the moisture level was spot on. The beans were fabulous, slightly sweet with a touch of cumin, I could have eaten a whole bowl of those if I had room. The cornbread took a couple bites to get used to. It was very sweet from the honey and I am more used to a fatty hunk of cornbread due to high butter content. I liked the idea of it though, as it seemed to help the heat issue in the mouth after the catfish. Greens were good, no complaints - they just aren't my favorite option at the BBQ to begin with. I was truthfully expecting more from the World Championship winning BBQ recipe on the hog, but I was not disappointed - I guess I was just expecting fireworks. There was also potato salad and coleslaw neither of which I tried because I don't really appreciate mayo as a food item and I try to boycott it whenever possible. The burnt ends were fabulous though! Contrary to belief, they were not dried out and were so flavorful - LOVED LOVED LOVED them!

Dessert was a strawberry shortcake with a twist. They used home made vanilla wafer sugar cookies for the outside instead of biscuits and instead of strawberries with cream on the inside the two were blended together into more of a creme filling for the cookies. A few dark chocolate chips rounded it out. I would have liked a bushel of the cookies to take home - they were fantastic! Sweet, with more then just a hint of real vanilla bean - definitely no short cuts were taken in the recipe for those puppies.

You can take full advantage of all the events Tremont 647 and Sister Sorel have to offer by going to Tremont's website and joining their email list for first crack at all the goodies!

Beer Can Chicken

Anyone who fears roasting a chicken because it might dry out or burn, needs to fear no more! Beer can chicken to the rescue! You don't even need to worry about basting this bird- the steam from the beer will take care of the moisture and leave you with a juicy, earthy bird. Any ale or lager style beer works well for this dish, but it has to be in a can. A porter or stout is to rich and a light beer (read Bud/Coors/Michalob/Nattie or whatever other piss-resembling light beer you sissys drink) does not have enough body to impose any sort of nutty or roasted grain flavor on the meat.

1 chicken (about 5lbs)
1 can ale or lager style beer (16oz can works best)
salt and pepper
dried thyme, rosemary, sage

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees
2. Open beer can and pour out about 2-3 oz (or quality control that sample which ever works!)
3. Rinse and pat chicken dry - place chicken down on top of beer can so that the can goes spout side up into the cavity. Season with salt, pepper and dried herbs.
4. Stand beer can with chicken on top on a baking sheet covered with foil.
5. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes. Check temp in thigh meat if >155 chicken is done (temperature will raise another 5-10 degrees while chicken rests)
6. Remove from oven, let chicken rest for about 10 minutes. CAREFULLY remove beer can from cavity (CAN WILL STILL BE VERY HOT!!!). Discard can - serve chicken with your favorite sides.
ENJOY!!!!

Absolutely one NOT to miss!!

In an effort to 'get off the reservation' (as in the resort I am staying at for the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery), I hailed a town car and galavanted off to the Orlando neighborhood of 'Point Orlando'. My destination was Oceanaire, which came recommended by the concierge desk. Oceanaire flies its fish in fresh everyday and changes it's menu depending on the quality of items it receives, which, might make you immediately jump to conclusions of selling your first born to pay for a dinner date - not the case (entrees range from $25-40 which is expensive but I was invisioning a $50-60 entree when I was told about the fish freshness)! There are locations throughout the country: Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, San Diego, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and DC, so you don't have to be in MCO airport code area to nosh on this good stuff!!

On the outside, it looks no different then a Capital Grille or Legal Sea Foods, but on the inside I was transported back in time to a traditional oyster bar and seafood eatery on the wharf in downtown Boston. Waitstaff is dressed in white fish market jackets and their friendly, 'can-do' attitude was much appreciated. Details, right down to changing out my white napkin for a black one, so that white link would not rub off on my black outfit, to the dental clips (yes dental clips!!) to pin a bib around you for dishes such as lobster or cioppino, were always on hand. The meal starts with 1/2 boule of fresh bread and a relish tray - ohh yes, welcome back 1950 - relish tray. I was super excited to see Barramundi on the menu given my last encounter with the Australian version of bass, and I it wanted it Oscar style (ie topped with lump crab, asparagus and hollandaise), but because I am picky at times and have great disdain for hollandaise after having to learn how to make it, I replaced the hollandaise with Louie sauce (lemon-butter). My dinner mate ordered a pink snapper louie style which also had lump crap atop it with a side of rice. Since the menu ran slightly like a steakhouse the sides were A la carte and we settled on cheesey au gratin potatoes and a white anchovy salad for our sides.

The lump crab might just have been THE BEST crab I have ever sunk my teeth into. The quarter sized pieces of Maryland lump crab were cooked beautifully - tender and juicy with out any hint of canned or prepackaged flavor. Maryland crab is the good stuff - none of that Alaskan crab shit for me, and I really believe that these Maryland crabs hit the back of Oceanaire alive (like a lobster would) and were prepared freshly at the start of service that night, they had that much 'just out of the water' mouthfeel and flavor to them. The pink snapper was nice, it reminded me of a lighter version of swordfish. The barramundi, though not as thick as the fillet from White Dog Cafe, was full of flavor and complimented nicely by some lemon butter. The cheesey au gratin potatoes were laced with bacon and leeks. Now we all know I love bacon, so the chunks were a welcome addition to my favorite item (cheese - duh), but the slight onion flavor from the leeks gave the potatoes an interesting twist. This 'side' dish could have be shared by 4 people, so at $10 it was a fabulous purchase of two heaping portions and leftovers. We were in Florida so we had to order key lime pie for dessert, which could also have fed a family of four. I like my key lime pie a little tart and this one was just that - tangy with a thick, buttery graham cracker crust. It was also served with a steak knife and I have since proclaimed that if the dessert doesn't come with a steak knife, I'm not buying.

Father's Day

If you are in need of a great idea for a dining experience on father's day, check out Opentable.com. They have some great places to chow and many of the restaurants have deals available only through Open Table. So make a reservation and ENJOY!

Chicken Burgers w/ Cumin-Garlic Tatziki

I made this last night at the cardiac rehab cooking demo. Grape seed oil has a great unsaturated fatty acid (think Omega 3) profile for heart and nervous system health but has a very neutral flavor so that the cumin, garlic and lemon can really shine through.

Cumin-garlic Tatziki (makes approximately 2 cups)
6oz Greek yogurt, non fat (I used Fage)
1 TB Dijon mustard
1 TB ground cumin
¼ tsp salt (kosher preferred)
1 oz lemon juice (about ½ lemon’s worth of juice)
¾ C olive oil
¾ C Grapeseed oil
1 garlic clove

Chicken Burgers
2# ground chicken
4 TB tatziki
1 each small, sweet onion, small diced

1. Combine yogurt, mustard, cumin, salt, lemon juice, garlic in food processor
2. Stream in oil while mixing so that tatziki emulsifies
3. In a bowl mix onion with tatziki with chopped onion and chicken. Don’t over mix or tightly pack
4. Grease grill and let heat up
5. Form chicken into 6 patties (each is about 1/3 of a pound)
6. Grill each side about 8-10 minutes until cooked through to 165 degrees.
7. Serve on a toasted ciabatta bun buttered with some more of the tatziki, with slices of cucumber, tomato and/or watercress.

ENJOY!!!

White Dog Cafe in Wayne, PA

What has become a yearly pilgrimage to the Devon Horse Show in Devon, PA has also turned into an exciting few days of dining each year. Devon is nestled among a few little communities: Berwyn, Wayne, Paoli, Malvern, among others, and in this affluent area, small eateries with high quality menus are bountiful. This trip I visited Alba, in Malvern, and White Dog Cafe's Wayne location. When a friend 'yelped' the restaurants in the area, these two were on the top our 'must dine at list'. When my foodie and wine expert uncle, Dennis, suggested he and his family meet us at White Dog Cafe, Alba became the stop with friends the night before.

You are either going to love or hate the decor inside White Dog. The walls are covered, and I mean COVERED, with portraits of canines, the chandeliers are made from empty wine bottles and the menus are wooden slabs with a paper boasting their offerings strapped on top. The rolls came out freshly baked, with a hard crust and pot of soft butter. Those of you who know me best, know that I judge the prospect of return to many restaurants based on their bread, and after the first dinner roll, this place was showing promise.

I ordered a spinach salad which came with house made croutons, hard boiled egg, smoked bacon and some vegetables. The croutons were slightly to salty for my liking and the consistency was oddly airy but interesting nonetheless. I would have liked for the bacon to either be crispier or for it to be cut into smaller pieces, but the size of the chunk in the salad and the chewy texture made it hard to negotiate.

For dinner I had the Barramundi. I have seen this Australian fish on menus before but never ventured into its waters. I remember when fisherman were first trying to break into the USA market with this one. There was a big article in the Boston Globe about 'The Next Big Fish'. They were actually considering calling it 'Next Big Fish' because they didn't think people would buy something called Barramundi - it sounded to mean/harsh, like the fish might have huge teeth and be really scaly. (Got to love how the marketing teams perceive the American intellect)

Anyway, I digress. At White Dog the Barramundi came with sides that I really wanted: truffle chive gnocchi, trumpet mushrooms and asparagus all over a porchini emulsion, so I thought 'what the heck!' Barramundi is more or less an Australian Bass. It is a white fish, slightly oily, sans strong flavor or smell, and with texture much like a perfectly cooked wild Norwegian salmon or Arctic char or Chilean Sea bass. The skin on it was crispy and of course I gobbed that up too. There is nothing better then a crispy, salty piece of skin to offset a piece of buttery, soft textured fish.

We also ordered a side of Parmesan truffle fries (yes we like truffle anything), which were fabulously fried, salty from the cheese and truffly at the same time!

I definitely give Marty (owner) and his crew two thumbs up for the quality at this place and it was a pretty fabulous suggestion by good ole Uncle D!

Cooking Demo

Ok demo on Thursday will be Chicken burgers with a garlic-cumin tatziki. Since every one is just getting a tasting of a chicken burger, I am going to make them into 1oz meatball size and cut them in half. They will be served on top of a cucumber slice for easy pickup! Dessert is going to be my peanut butter 'cheesecake' creation (recipe in a previous posting).

Recipes for all to follow :)