Rudy's

I know you're wondering when I had time to go to Belgium (which I would love, love, love to do), but this is actually a picture from the other night at Rudy's bar in New Haven. They serve frites with all kinds of sauces (too bad they one let you pick one for free). We did the curry ketchup, which was nice, but I could have done quite an extensive sampling!

I'm also super-psyched because I got this Belgian trappist monk beer-- Westmalle. It's from only one of seven trappist monastery breweries in the world. And it was delightful with the frites-- soft and creamy with a little fruity-hoppiness. Proof that beer can really be better at food pairings than wine.

Rudy's is a fantastic dive bar (despite the fact that they only have one ladies' room) so it's not limited to just Belgian-wish-fulfillment.

New England Night

It was a very Red Lobster-esque New England Seafood Feast at our house last night. Littleneck clams steamed in white wine broth, Atlantic salmon, purple asparagus, and roasted potatoes and onions with rosemary.

While obviously Southern food is clearly my absolute favorite type of regional cuisine, I must admit those Yankees in New England have some really great food. Especially of the maritime variety. Last weekend's visit to the Connecticut coast was like a never-ending all-you-can-eat seafood buffet -- but with delicious (and fresh) offerings. I had lobster, clams, scallops, shrimp, and scrod. And it was still not enough. So we tried to take care of that last night.

The littleneck clams, like all mollusks, are super-easy to fix. Start with garlic and butter in a large pot (there may have been onion thrown in there too). Add in some chopped parsley and sage, but save some to add in later. Then some
white wine, the rinsed-off clams, and top off with more white wine. Let it cook for about 10 minutes on high heat until the clams just begin to open up. Once most of the clams are open, discard the ones that aren't, and scoop up as much broth as possible with the good ones. Some bread may also be required to maximize garlicy-wine-butter-broth absorption.

As for the salmon, I marinated them in a glass baking pan with some soy sauce, orange juice, ginger paste, cracked black pepper, brown sugar, and a teensy bit of orange marmalade. I love how improvisational marinades can be, yet they always turn out pretty fantastic. Left it to marinate in the fridge about an hour, but up to 4 hours is better. Wrapped them in foil packets and threw them on the grill on low heat. Took about 12 minutes to cook. It normally salmon takes more like 8 minutes or less, but we were cooking slow and they turned out so....creamy? In a good way. Just watch until the middle is opaque and it starts to flake off when poked with a fork.

Oven roasted the asparagus and the potatoes and Vidalia onions on 450 for about 15 minutes. The potatoes will take longer than the asparagus. Also, the purple asparagus just turns green when cooked unless you use lemon juice (same for purple peppers). By the way, purple asparagus is a little sweeter than the regular green, and can even be eaten raw. White asparagus, on the other hand, is made by a process that seems like plant-cruelty-- forced albinism. Basically they are covered with soil so they never get light, hence never produce chlorophyll. It makes them milder and more tender than their colored bretheren. Shudder. Too many comparisons to veal for me... I'll stick with green and purple, thanks.

History of Beer Cans

Found this interesting post about the history of beer cans on Weburbanist. Key points: PBR was the first (of course), a bar in Virginia was the first place to sell cans (the South hearts beer cans), and in the 70s there were briefly push-button opened cans (ah, the kooky seventies).

Since no glass is allowed at Bonnaroo (which is less than 2 weeks away!!), I am glad to see that craft beers have started to make the move to cans. There will definitely be some Dale's Pale Ale in our cooler!

Frank Pepe's

Hey kids, the only thing I really have time for on this catch-up post-holiday very-Monday Tuesday is a quick post about Frank Pepe's in New Haven.

It is the best pizza ever. It can make you fly, open the doors of perception, make you invisible, transport you through space and time, basically make you shovel giant delicious mouthfuls of it into your mouth without noticing your immediate surroundings. Until you are so contendedly distended that you roll down Wooster Street in semi-comatose glee. The end.

We didn't wait as long as most do, mainly because this was Yale's commencement weekend and the only upside of that is that no one wants a table for two on such occasions. I've included the menu for Pepe's so you can get an idea of the scene -- pretty much unchanged non-ergonomic restaurant interior, and as the menu indicates, just pizza. You get pizza and soda or beer. Because that's all you need. Ever.

We got a large, half white with clam and the other half red with bacon and onions. I have trouble committing to a favorite topping combination, but not anymore so long as clam pizzas are available. That garlicy cheese bliss is all you really need. I won't bore you with a description of my eyes-rolled-in-the-back-of-my-head reaction. Though after taking down about 6 slices of the clam, I must say the bacon and onion made an impression as well. The fact that I could eat any of it all means it was far superior to all other pizzas previously consumed.

So why so great? I think mostly it has to be the crust- thin but with chewiness that allows you to savor it longer. But of course doing one thing really well means attention to quality and being able to replicate that. So the fact that the bacon was almost whole slices, not just bacos, and that the onion was chopped very finely and cooked beforehand shows you that Pepe's isn't just sliding by on reputation alone.

I must admit that after my no-holds-barred take-down of this pizza (a large with only two slices left to take home) I did go into a bit of a shame spiral. Moments of decadence can unfortunately have that side-effect. And thus I did not make it back over to Little Italy to try out Sally's. So the feud must continue without my weighing in. But we'll be back in New Haven soon. And I'm already training for another pizza.

More Like Whoopsie Pies

Making Whoopie Pies is all the rage in the blogosphere. And since Whoopie Pies originated in Maine, the birthplace of the Boy's dad, I wanted to try to make some when the parents came for a visit. When they came around Easter I tried, but with disasterous results. I blamed it on not having a good mixer, on refusing to use shortening, on my general imprecision in baking.

Well, now that we're visiting them this weekend, I thought I would renew my efforts-- with this recipe. All I can say is that it wasn't the mixer, and I used shortening. I really have no idea. They look so perfect here.

Last time they spread into one blob-- so I spaced them even further apart. Still a blob (see below). So I made the tiniest drops of batter. They came out nicely rounded, but completely flattened and a little bitter-burnt tasting. Which caused quite a consternation because the batter tastes great. I am still consternated.

All advice from skilled bakers is welcome. I may try again tonight before we leave-- I have a suspicion that maybe I put too much baking soda in because it kind of tasted like that.

You may have won the first two battles, WPs, but the war has only just begun. Best out of 5? Better make it best out of 7, because I haven't even tried to make the filling yet.

In the News

Charley Brown's has opened up in the former KC Tea and Noodles on Park Ave. (Not Charlie Brown's across from the Public Market. I see no evidence of this opening online, but I witnessed it with my own two eyes)

Also on Park, Dorado is now serving Sunday brunch

Chipotle will be in Henrietta in August

NY Times celebrates our favorite condiment

They also give props to 2006 Hermann J. Wiemer dry Reisling from the Finger Lakes

Good Luck has updated their seasonal menu (guess that means the third trip this month!)

Pork Tenderloin with Mango Salsa

Another weeknight, another excuse to grill. Jay and Kate came over again with teriyaki marinated pork tenderloin. As the purveyor of the sides, we tried to keep in tune with the flavor profile. But I shot down fried rice as just too blase and not in keeping with the exuberance we were feeling about the wonderful weather. We did end up keeping the same idea, but with more seasonal elements-- jasmine rice and a mango salsa.

For the mango salsa, the Boy chopped one mango, a tomato, a small onion, a half-can of black beans, some fresh cilantro, and some jicama (left over from the last grilling post). He threw in ginger paste, Sriracha, lime juice, fresh ground pepper and a pinch of salt.

Just threw that over the rice and it paired perfectly with the tenderloin, which was super-moist. Jay's ability to cook meats to the appropriate amount of doneness continues to amaze and delight. Especially when my meat thermometer was giving crazy 300 degree readings...

Oh and that brown blob is leftover peanut sauce (how leftover, you don't want to know).