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Killington Day 2 – Santa Fe Steakhouse

Thursday, February 18th, 2010 by virginia

After a grueling second day of skiing (it was super icy and I was having boot issues), we were starving and looking forward to having a nice, relaxing meal. It was Valentine’s Day so the few restaurants we called in the area that take reservations were all booked up. There are many Killington restaurants though that don’t take reservations, but wait times were ranging from 1-2 hours. We decided to stay in for a while and watch some of the Olympics before heading out for a late dinner, hoping to miss the prime time rush. We ended up stopping at the closest restaurant to our condo, the Santa Fe Steakhouse, and were able to get a table right away.

Josh and I ate at the Santa Fe Steakhouse last year and found the food to be pretty good, which is why we recommended stopping there. The décor is a bit kitschy but the atmosphere is lively. There was live music playing from the lounge next door, which we could hear from our little alcove on the upper level. While we looked through the menu, our waitress came by to take our drink orders and informed us that they were out of several things, including the rack of lamb, which I had my eye on. I had eaten the lamb last year and it was nicely prepared and well seasoned, and after the bland food we had at Hemingway’s the previous night, I wanted something that packed a lot of flavor. I ended up choosing a steak from the specials menu, and after we placed our order we headed down to the salad bar that is included with all of the entrees.

The salad bar offerings

The menu calls it a Caesar salad bar, and while there is Caesar salad available, that’s not the only thing. There was also a big bowl of mixed greens, and an assortment of salad toppings such as tomatoes, onions, beets, beans, and cheese. It was actually a pretty good selection and makes for a great appetizer.

I ended up sticking with the Caesar salad, topped with a few grape tomatoes. The dressing was tangy and garlicky but there wasn’t enough of it. The salad was pre-mixed in a large bowl and I wish they had put some extra dressing on the side, as I really wanted more. Still, it was refreshing and all the vegetables were crisp and fresh tasting.

Caesar salad

While we munched on our salads, we also nibbled on the basket of rolls they brought. There were plain ciabatta rolls and some seeded rolls, all served hot right out of the oven. Though the interiors were a bit dense, they had nice crispy crusts and good flavor. We ended up polishing off several baskets.

Hot and crusty rolls

For my entrée, I went with the Mardi Gras ribeye, which was one of the specials of the day. It was a huge piece of meat and cooked medium rare as requested. The steak was coated in a lot of different seasonings, which gave it a nice charred crust on the outside. I think cumin was the predominant flavor and imparted a pleasant smokiness. Ribeye is a fatty cut but the meat surrounding the fat was tender and juicy. The steak was topped with a creole crab mustard sauce that was thick and rich, with little bits of crab mixed in. It was a delicious steak, and I’m happy that I ended up ordering it. The mashed potatoes and vegetables that came on the side were a pass though. The potatoes were over seasoned with a weird combination of spices, and the vegetables were limp, tasting mostly of chewy, tinny corn.

Mardi Gras ribeye

Josh ordered the pork loin, which our waitress said was one of the more popular dishes at the restaurant. The loin came thinly sliced and topped with a brown sauce, but the pork was completely overcooked. It had an unappealing gray color to it, and when I took a bite it was like chewing on sawdust. The chipotle demi glace sauce did nothing to help, and it was a disappointing dish overall. Josh ended up eating only one slice of the loin out of four, and I gave him half my steak (it really was huge) so that he could fill up.

Super dry pork loin El Paso

The other entrees ordered at the table were not quite as bad, but they were also just only passable. Jess had a tuna steak that was perfectly cooked rare, but it had a crust of blackened seasoning that was super spicy and totally overwhelmed the fish. Alice had shrimp scampi that was extra garlicky as requested, but nothing special otherwise. Lloyd’s duck with a Jack Daniels maple sauce was better than the duck we had at Hemingway’s, but nothing to write home about.

Fortunately service was great, as our waitress was very attentive, filling up our water glasses continuously and bringing us extra bread when requested. She noticed that Josh barely touched his meal and apologized, even though it wasn’t her fault. She ended up not charging us for the pork, and instead just charged him for a salad bar entrée, which was much cheaper.

Although we did enjoy the salad bar and the bread, aside from my ribeye, none of the other entrees were ones that I would order again. The food wasn’t terrible, but it just wasn’t great. Although entrees are a tad expensive, they do come with the aforementioned salad bar, so that helps to make the price seem a bit more reasonable. The annoying part about coming here, however, is that no one was answering the phone so we didn’t know what the wait would be. They had an answering machine message pick up that only gave the hours of operation, and then hung up. It was kind of frustrating, and not a good way to attract customers who don’t want to take the chance that there may be a huge line. I guess my advice would be that if you do come here, stick with the steak. It is a steakhouse after all, and they do cook a pretty good piece of meat.

Santa Fe Steakhouse
3501 Killington Rd
Killington, VT

Tags: Pork, Seafood, Steak, Vermont
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Winter Restaurant Week 2010 – Aureole

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 by virginia

In addition to the reservation we had made at A Voce Columbus on the first day of Restaurant Week, we had also managed to nab a prime lunchtime spot at the Bar Room of Aureole on the very last day of Restaurant Week. I was hoping to get some last minute reservations at a few places in between as well, but I wasn’t able to find the time to take a long lunch, as it was a particularly busy time at work for me. Josh ended up going to DB Bistro Moderne with a few of his coworkers but he didn’t seem too impressed by his meal there, so I didn’t feel too bad about missing out. I was really looking forward to our meal at Aureole, however, and couldn’t wait for the end of the week to finally arrive.

Aureole recently moved from the Upper East Side to the new Bank of America building at One Bryant Park. We had never gone to the old Aureole but I was kind of surprised by the casual décor at this new space. Granted, we were seated in the Bar Room at the front, and the dining room in the back did seem to be a bit more upscale. The front room was very bright, with lots of tall windows, and a huge, modern chandelier. There was a large bar that took up an entire wall, and a giant array of wine bottles behind rounded glass windows.

The Bar Room in front

What I didn’t really like was that the tall windows faced onto 42nd St., and you couldn’t help but be aware of all the people walking down the street and the cars driving by. Plus there was some very unattractive scaffolding across the street, and I kind of feel it was a bit distracting. The more formal dining room, however, is set back behind some glass and the décor was a bit more subdued, with a predominately brown and beige color scheme. And while the tables in the dining room were covered in gleaming white tablecloths, the tables in the Bar Room were bare, with the exception of some place mats.

After we were seated and had placed our orders, we were brought a wooden bowl filled with slices of baguette, and a small ramekin of creamy butter topped with crunchy kernels of salt. The bread had a nice crispy crust and an airy, chewy interior. It was pretty tasty, though I wish it had been warmed up a bit. However, I must admit that I did get a bit jealous when I saw that in the dining room, there was a bread man walking around with a basket offering five different kinds of bread. To add insult to injury, the wooden bowl that held our bread was severely cracked on both sides and looked like it was about to split in half. We were both surprised that they would let a bowl like that out of the kitchen, as the cracks really were conspicuous.

Tasty slices of baguette but served in a cracked bowl

Moving on to the actual meal, it wasn’t too hard for us to pick which dishes we wanted to try from the Restaurant Week menu, as we simply avoided the vegetarian options in each course (salad in the first course and winter vegetables in the second course). As per our tradition, we each started with a dish and then swapped plates halfway through so that we could taste both offerings. I wound up with the potato leek ravioli first, which featured bacon, caramelized onion, aged cheddar, and a chive creme fraiche sauce. There were three small but plump raviolis in the bowl, bursting with a tasty potato leek puree. The filling was well seasoned on its own, but when eaten with the accompanying toppings, it was a great mix of flavors and textures. Both the bacon and caramelized onions are very assertive ingredients but complemented the raviolis perfectly, with no one component standing out above the others. I found the dish to be very comforting, kind of homey, yet still refined and beautifully presented.

Potato leek ravioli

Our other first course was the wild striped bass ceviche, which was marinated in citrus juices and topped with red onion, avocado, smoked paprika, cucumber, red pepper, microgreens, and popcorn. The striped bass was sliced thinly, kind of like a crudo, and the citrus marinade was very light. I liked that the dish wasn’t overly acidic, and the freshness of the fish really shined through. The accompanying garnishes were chopped into tiny pieces so that they provided a textural contrast without detracting from the delicate flavor of the striped bass. Although this was a very elegant version of ceviche, I thought the popcorn on top was a playful nod to the traditional way the dish is usually served.

Wild striped bass ceviche

For the main course, Josh started out with the spotted skate wing, which was topped with cauliflower, golden raisins, toasted almonds, and a caper curry brown butter. The skate was pan seared perfectly so that it had a nice golden brown crust on the inside, yet was still tender and flaky. The curry in the brown butter sauce was very mild but combined with all the other ingredients, it was an intriguing combination of flavors and textures. Every bite highlighted a different component, from the sweet raisins to the savory cauliflower and tangy caper berries. There was a lot going on yet it all worked together very well.

Spotted skate wing

Our other main course was braised pork belly with apple, brussels sprouts, cornichons, dijon mustard jus, and roasted pearl onions. The pork belly was fatty and luscious, just as it should be, but it was served in one long piece that was a bit hard to cut neatly. I ended up separating the fatty top from the rest of the meat by accident and couldn’t get a thin enough slice of both that would just melt in my mouth. I think the restaurant should have sliced the pork belly up for us rather then leaving it for us to deal with on our own. That aside, the dish was a great mix of sweet and savory, highlighted by the apple sauce and shaved brussels sprouts. While it wasn’t the best pork belly we’ve ever had (that honor belongs to L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon in Las Vegas), it was definitely near the top of the list.

Braised pork belly

There were only two options for dessert so we got one of each. The first was a caramel corn sundae with vanilla chantilly, bananas, and salted peanuts. This dessert was so incredibly playful that it just put a huge smile on our faces. It tasted just like cracker jacks, but better. The refreshing popcorn(!) ice cream was topped with sweet vanilla cream and streaks of caramel, and biting into the pieces of banana and salted peanuts were like finding little prizes in the sundae. The kernels of caramel corn just put the whole thing over the top.

Caramel corn sundae

The other dessert was a bittersweet chocolate ganache tart with blood orange creme. This was the polar opposite to the caramel corn sundae, as it was dark, rich, and very intense. The ganache was very dense but delightfully creamy on the tongue. The creme had just a hint of citrusy flavor to it, and was a nice complement to the dark chocolate. It was a good dessert on its own but couldn’t compare to the light and whimsical sundae.

Bittersweet chocolate ganache tart

Lastly, they brought us a small plate of cookies to finish off our meal. There was a thin and crispy sandwich cookie, a hard and crunchy biscotti, an intriguing salted chocolate chip cookie, and a classic shortbread cookie with jam on top. We were stuffed after our lunch but couldn’t resist having a few nibbles.

Platter of mini cookies

Overall Josh and I both loved this meal. We thought that it was one of the best Restaurant Week lunches we’ve ever had, certainly the best of winter 2010, and we were really impressed with all of our courses. While I didn’t love the atmosphere of the restaurant’s new location, service was exemplary. Our waiter explained each of our dishes to us as they were served, and when he noticed that we swapped plates during the first course, he made sure to help us with the swap during our second course. More importantly though, I thought the dishes we had were bold and innovative, as well as fun and imaginative. This meal was absolutely a highlight for us and definitely made us interested in trying some dishes from the regular menu. We sincerely hope that Aureole will be participating in Summer Restaurant Week this year, and will be offering yet another stellar menu.

Aureole
135 West 42nd St. between 6th Ave. and Broadway
New York, NY

Tags: Ice Cream, Midtown, Pork, Prix Fixe, Restaurant Week, Seafood
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Consistent Delivery from Pearls

Friday, January 22nd, 2010 by virginia

After our successful first time ordering in from Pearls, we hit them up once again the next time that I had a craving for Chinese food. We considered trying one of the super unusual entrees but I wasn’t feeling so adventurous and the dinner combinations were too good the last time for me to pass up this time.

We decided to get two combinations, plus one more entree. We both chose the hot and sour soup, which was still tasty. It’s not too thick or gloppy, and has a nice balance between the sourness and the pepperiness. It’s chock full of assorted vegetables and I like the different textures.

Hot and sour soup

The egg rolls that were such a hit last time didn’t disappoint this time either. They were freshly fried, still piping hot, filled with veggies, and had a nice crispy and flaky outer shell.

Egg roll innards

For the entrees, we tried the pork in garlic sauce. I’ve mentioned before that this is one of Josh’s favorite dishes, and one that we get almost every time we have Chinese food with my parents since they know how much Josh likes it. When I first opened the container, it didn’t look like any pork in garlic sauce that we’ve had before. The pork was cut in large chunks, not thin strips, and the dish typically doesn’t have snow peas or carrots in it. I was a bit apprehensive but after tasting a piece of pork, I was pleasantly surprised. The pork was tender and the garlic sauce was flavorful. It wasn’t spicy, but it definitely packed a garlicky punch and wasn’t just a standard brown sauce.

Pork in garlic sauce

Our second combination entree was General Tso’s chicken. I have to say that I really didn’t like this dish. Too many filler veggies (carrots, baby corn, peppers), not enough chicken, and the sauce was too sweet. The chunks of chicken were large but also a bit fatty. I vastly preferred the sesame chicken from last time to this dish.

General Tso's chicken

In addition to the two combination specials, we got an order of moo shu pork. The pork and veggie mix was ample and was stir fried in a nice tangy brown sauce, but the dish only came with two pancakes. Two pancakes! That’s really stingy, and nowhere near enough for all the filling they give you.

Moo shu pork and pancakes

We ordered four additional pancakes, at 50 cents a pop. Kinda steep, but in the general scheme of things it was still pretty cheap overall. I actually liked the dish a lot and would definitely order it again, with the extra pancakes.

Moo shu pork wrapped in a pancake

I thought this meal from Pearls was still pretty good the second time around. Is the food amazing? No, but it’s tasty and familiarly comforting. Prices are extremely reasonable, and the delivery arrived in 30 minutes. Everything was hot and freshly cooked. If you have a craving for Chinese food that needs to be satisfied quickly, this is the place for you.

Pearls
732 7th Ave. between 48th and 49th St.
New York, NY

Tags: Chinese, Delivery, Midtown, Pork
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New Years Banquet at Zen Peninsula

Sunday, January 10th, 2010 by virginia

After we got back to the Bay Area, Claire and Sean dropped us off at my godparents house, which was about 20 minutes away from their apartment. I was thrilled to be able to meet up with my godparents for dinner before our flight from SF back to Newark. I hadn’t seen my godmother since our wedding in May 2008, and my godfather since the last time we were in California, in October 2005. They graciously arranged for us to have a New Years banquet dinner at a Chinese restaurant near their home called Zen Peninsula.

The restaurant was a pretty big and grand space, perfect for large banquets and wedding parties. It was decorated in similar style to restaurants in NYC Chinatown such as Jing Fong and the Golden Unicorn. There were 10 of us dining altogether so we had a big round table with a lazy susan in the middle. The meal started off in typical Chinese banquet fashion, with a platter of assorted meats sliced into small pieces. There was juicy bbq pork, slices of either pork or duck (Josh and I couldn’t agree on it but I still think it was pork) with super crispy skin on top, compacted tofu skin, and jellyfish.

A little taste of everything - jellyfish, compacted tofu skin, roast pork or duck with super crackly skin, and bbq pork

Funny story about jellyfish – if you’ve never tried it, it kind of looks like long, thick rice noodles, and has sort of a gelatinous, crunchy texture. For our wedding rehearsal dinner, we had a big banquet at Jing Fong where our meal started off with a similar platter of meats surrounding a huge pile of jellyfish. Most of Josh’s family and friends had never eaten or seen jellyfish before so they all thought it was noodles or some sort of vegetable, and gobbled up the entire serving. It was only later when they found out they had eaten jellyfish that they denied liking it, but the empty platter doesn’t lie!

Back to our dinner at Zen Peninsula, our next course was shark fin soup. It was served in a mild, clean-tasting, yet rich soup. The pieces of shark fin had a soft, loose texture, a bit similar to shreds of scallop or stingray.

Shark fin soup

Next was one of my favorites, peking duck. The pieces of duck were served with soft steam buns, scallions, cucumbers, and hoisin sauce.

Peking duck in a steamed bun

I was shocked when I saw the size of lobster in the following course. It was huge! It must have been at least five pounds, and was chopped up into large pieces that were battered with salt and pepper and deep fried. The meat was still moist and tender.

Giant lobster head

We also had a large dungeness crab that was battered and deep fried. I snagged one of the legs, which was sweet and flavorful.

Fried dungeness crab

A dish of vegetables followed, filled with bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, tofu skin, and what I think were ginko seeds. They’re the yellow round things and had a soft texture and a mild nutty flavor.

Assorted vegetables

Then we had a big platter of poached chicken surrounded by a bitter green vegetable. It was a simple dish but the meat had a very concentrated and deep chicken flavor.

Poached chicken with a bitter green vegetable

Next we had even more lobster, this time in a ginger scallion sauce.

Lobster in ginger scallion sauce

Then fried rice with pork and shrimp.

Pork and shrimp fried rice

Our last savory course was something that I’ve never had before, a braised lamb dish in a hot pot with assorted vegetables. The lamb wasn’t very gamey but the whole dish and a really interesting and complex flavor that was kind of hard to describe. Our waiter would come by every so often to reheat the pot and add in a few more vegetables.

Braised lamb in a hot pot

For dessert, we had mango pudding, which was the best mango pudding that I’ve ever tasted. It was like a thick and rich jello consistency, and the mango flavor was really intense. It actually did taste like mangoes, which surprised me since most other mango puddings have an artificial taste to them.

Delicious mango pudding

Then we had some Chinese petit fours, which were a small roasted bun with a sweet paste filling, a square of mochi covered in coconut, and a small, dense almond cookie.

Roasted bun with sweet paste, mochi covered in coconut, almond cookie

Last but not least, we had a traditional New Year dessert, nian gao, which is like a sticky crepe made with rice flour and was filled with crushed peanuts. It was sweet and salty with lots of interesting texture to it.

Sticky dessert crepe with crushed peanuts

After the feast, I went to look at the fish tanks in the front that held some of the fresh seafood we had eaten during our meal. There was a tank full of ginormous lobsters.

Ginormous lobster in a tank full of ginormous lobsters

And one with huge dungeness crabs.

Dungeness crabs

King crabs with super long legs.

Live king crabs

Some freaky and scary looking eels.

Scary looking eel

And some giant prawns that were bigger than my hand.

Giant prawns

Overall I really enjoyed the banquet meal that we had at Zen Peninsula. The food was delivered at an even pace, and all of the dishes were hot and freshly prepared. Seafood is obviously one of their specialties, based on the dishes we had and the large tanks they had out front. My favorite courses of the evening were the two lobster courses (who doesn’t love good lobster?) and the peking duck. The best part of the meal, however, was being able to catch up with my godparents. I get to see them so rarely and each time is a wonderful treat. I feel so honored and thankful that they held off on their New Years banquet for a few days because they knew that Josh and I would be in town that weekend. It was a great end to a really great trip.

Zen Peninsula
1180 El Camino Real
Millbrae, CA

Tags: California, Chinese, Crabs, Lobster, Peking Duck, Pork, Seafood
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Heavenly Skiing

Monday, January 4th, 2010 by virginia

We had an awesome time in South Lake Tahoe, spending our days skiing at Heavenly and our evenings hanging out in the hot tub and doing lots of eating and drinking. It was my first time skiing out on the west coast and boy, were the conditions awesome. Even though there were signs warning of “early season conditions,” there was more snow on the trails than I’ve ever experienced on the east coast. In fact, there was almost too much powder for me! There were very few patches of ice, and the weather was simply gorgeous. The views from the top of the mountain were breathtaking, and we really had a great time overall. Claire and Sean enjoyed it so much that they bought season passes!

We skied at Heavenly for three straight days and had lunch at a different lodge each day. The food is pretty standard for any ski resort – average and overpriced. Inside each lodge there are sandwiches, grill options, soups, etc., typical of any cafeteria. The lodges get pretty crowded during prime lunch hours but the lines weren’t too terrible.

California Lodge

On the first day, we ate at the California Lodge, which is at the base of the mountain. We split some pulled pork sliders, which came three to an order. They were actually pretty decent, with tender porky goodness covered in a slightly sweet, mild bbq sauce. They gave us regular bbq sauce on the side as well but the sliders were tasty on their own.

Pulled pork sliders

We also shared a bowl of chili, which was chock full of beans but not a whole lot of meat that I could discern. I only had a few pieces of tri-tip, which was stringy and tough. The seasonings were also a bit off I thought, and it didn’t really satisfy my chili craving.

Beef and bean chili topped with chopped onions

We also had french fries, of course, since I needed all the carbs I could get. Skiing at Heavenly is extremely tiring due to the elevation, and the fact that I’m terribly out of shape. They were crispy but had that weird floury coating, which makes them taste a bit fake. Not my favorite kind of fries but not terrible.

Skinny, floury (or are they soapy?) fries

Lakeview Lodge

On the second day, we ate at the Lakeview Lodge, which is next to the Tram and the Gunbarrel lift. It was kind of snowy and foggy that day so we didn’t have a great view of the lake, unfortunately. I had an order of chicken fingers, which came with a biscuit on the side. The chicken fingers kind of looked like big pieces of fried fish but they were actually pretty good and surprisingly meaty. The biscuit was fine, similar to the kind that you get at any fast food restaurant.

Chicken fingers, honey mustard, biscuit, butter

Josh had a cheeseburger with swiss, which was topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, and a thousand island-like sauce. He wasn’t a fan of the sauce so he wiped it off, but the burger itself was fine. It’s not cooked to order but had decent flavor and wasn’t too dry.

Cheeseburger with swiss, california style

And of course, we also had fries.

Cups of carbs

East Peak Lodge

On our last day at Heavenly, we skied over to the Nevada side of the mountain and had lunch outdoors at the East Peak Lodge. The sun was shining and it wasn’t too cold outside so we sat at the picnic tables by the taco and burrito station.

Eating in the great outdoors

Josh and I split an order of blackened mahi mahi fish tacos. One order came with two corn tortilla tacos and a side of fried tortilla chips. The pieces of fish were crusted with seasonings and they were topped with cabbage, red onion, cilantro, and a mayo-y kind of sauce. Not the best fish tacos I’ve ever had but they were decent, and a nice change from the standard cafeteria food.

Blackened mahi mahi fish tacos

The tacos were kind of small so I thought the chicken burrito was a better value and more filling. The large flour tortilla was stuffed with chicken, rice, refried beans, red onion, and cilantro. It also came with a side of fried tortilla chips, which we dipped into salsa and pico de gallo from the sauce bar.

Chicken burrito

Overall I thought the food at Heavenly was mostly decent but way overpriced. Lunch for two averaged about $35 each day, which is pretty expensive considering what we got. Even soda costs over $4 each – ridiculous! Obviously you don’t have much choice but to pay these prices, unless you bring your own food. For people who come often, that is probably a better option. Otherwise, I would suggest trying some of the more unusual ski resort offerings, like the tacos/burritos, rather than the standard cafeteria food. Regardless, you go to Heavenly for the awesome skiing/snowboarding, not for the food.

Tags: Burgers, Fries, Mexican, Pork, Tahoe
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Havana Central

Saturday, December 5th, 2009 by virginia

For Josh’s sister’s birthday celebration with her friends, we joined the party at Havana Central in Union Square. The restaurant has quite a festive atmosphere but it was hard to converse with everyone, as we were seated at a long narrow table in the center of the room so people at either ends couldn’t hear or talk to one another. We still had fun though and the alcohol was definitely flowing.

We started off with pitchers of sangria and mojitos. Both were tasty, if a bit generic. What I didn’t like, however, is that they fill the pitchers with a lot of ice. One full pitcher of mojito only poured four highball glasses, which are tall but much thinner than a pint glass. Considering a pitcher of beer will pour four pints, the ice makes a significant difference. And at $40 a pitcher, it’s not exactly cheap.

We shared a few appetizers, including a few orders of empanada samplers, plantain chips with avocado salsa, and some fried yucca with chimichurri sauce. I think I also saw some ceviche floating around at the other end of the table but it didn’t make it all the way down to us. The empanadas though were my favorite. We cut them up into little pieces so that everyone could try a few different kinds. The beef picadillo was nicely salty with little bits of green olives, the chicken sofrito was a bit milder in flavor, and the Cuban had classic Cuban sandwich fillings of ham, pork, swiss cheese, and pickles.

For my main course I ordered the Cuban sandwich with seasoned potato wedges. The sandwich arrived nicely pressed with crispy bread on the outside but when I bit into it, it was very tough, dry, and bland. Thinking that maybe I didn’t get all of the fillings on the first bite, I took another, but it was the same. I gave Josh a bite, and he thought it was pretty terrible as well. There was no flavor at all, and since I know how a Cuban sandwich should taste, I decided to investigate the fillings. It turned out that the sandwich they had given me was the pernil (roasted pork) sandwich, not a Cuban sandwich. That explained the missing flavors but boy, was the sandwich bad in general. The meat was tough and hard to chew and totally lacked seasoning. Pernil should be tender and juicy, not dried out and stringy. I definitely would not recommend ordering the pernil sandwich here.

Dry, bland pernil sandwich

Obviously I sent back the pernil sandwich, explaining that I had ordered the Cuban sandwich. The server looked a bit confused but he took it back without any issues. Unfortunately I was stuck watching everyone else at the table eat while I waited for them to make a new sandwich. In the meanwhile, I picked at the side orders of maduros and tostones we got. The maduros were sweet and fine, if a bit oily.

Maduros (sweet plantains)

The tostones were much better, with a nice crunchiness and saltiness to them. They came with a chimichurri sauce for dipping that added the garlic flavor I love so much with tostones.

Tostones with chimichurri sauce

I also stole a few bites of Josh’s entrée, chicken in garlic sauce. When I think of chicken in garlic sauce, I think of what you get at most Spanish restaurants, which are big pieces of chicken simmering in delicious garlic oil that you just want to dunk an entire baguette into. This was nothing like I imagined, with flat boneless chicken breast barely covered in a white-ish slightly garlicky white wine sauce. It didn’t taste bad, but it was much blander than I thought it would be, plus Josh’s chicken arrived stone cold. It did come with a nice big pile of rice and beans on the side, but the chicken could have been much better. He was a bit disappointed with the dish.

Chicken in garlic sauce

After everyone else at the table was halfway through his or her entrées, my Cuban sandwich arrived. And they very clearly threw it together in a rush. While I appreciate their hurry, despite the fact that it still took a fairly long time to get to me, I wish they had done a more careful job with it. It was a really silly way to handle the situation. Look, you already screwed up my order, and I didn’t make a scene or put up a huge fuss about it. I just asked that you replace it with the dish that I actually ordered. So I know that you wanted to get me a replacement as quickly as possible, but didn’t you also want to serve me a spectacular version of the dish I ordered so that I would be impressed and forget about the earlier gaffe? Instead, what I received was a sandwich haphazardly thrown together, and it wasn’t even pressed. The bread was cold, limp, and floppy, and the filling was also ice cold. They didn’t even attempt to melt the cheese in the sandwich, so what I ended up with was basically a cold bad deli sandwich with ham, cheese, and pickles, and few dry pieces of pork thrown in for good measure. It was awful – the worst Cuban sandwich I have ever had.

A very sad attempt at a Cuban sandwich

The only saving grace on the plate were the seasoned potato wedges. I do have to give them points for giving me a hot, fresh batch instead of transferring the ones from my old plate to the new plate. The fries are crusted with tons of seasoning, giving them a nice crispy outer shell, and they’re just thick enough to have a soft potato filling but not too thick that it’s too much potato on the inside. I ended up eating mostly just the potato wedges and packaged up the sandwich so that I could heat it up at home and press it myself, which I did the next day. Better, after the bread was crispy and the cheese was melted, but still pretty meh in flavor.

Overall I have to say that I was really disappointed with the food we had at Havana Central. I’ve been to this location before and have even held one of my own birthday parties here, and while the food was never mind blowing or spectacular, it was passable. Kind of like a generic chain Cuban restaurant; I’d compare it to TGI Fridays. The food is ok but not authentic, and you don’t go expecting much. But this time the food was pretty atrocious, and service was laughable.

Any time we needed something it took as at least five minutes to flag down the waiter or another server, whether it was to replace my sandwich or to get another pitcher of mojitos. I know the restaurant was really busy, as it was prime time on a Friday night, but they should know by now how to get their act together. The festive atmosphere means that people usually go there in large groups, and they should be prepared for that. While the food is at least reasonably priced, though drinks are a bit expensive, I still don’t recommend coming here with a lot of people. It’s really hard to hear everyone and carry on a good conversation. I don’t think I’ll be coming back any time soon.

Havana Central (multiple locations)
22 East 17th St. between Broadway and 5th Ave.
New York, NY

Tags: Cuban, Pork, Sandwiches, Union Square
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Homemade Cuban Sandwiches on Amy’s Bread

Sunday, November 29th, 2009 by virginia

Josh was on an Amy’s Bread kick one week and would stop there every day on his way home to pick up a nice baguette or some tasty baked treats for noshing. One night he picked up a rustic Italian peasant bread with a sturdy crust and we decided to make toasted Cuban sandwiches using some boneless pork chops that I had been marinating in the fridge.

My method for marinating pork chops is really simple. I liberally sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of two boneless pork chops and place them in a quart sized Ziploc bag. I drizzle some extra virgin olive oil into the bag, enough to coat both chops. Then I use a garlic press and squeeze two medium sized cloves directly into the bag and add the leaves from one small sprig of rosemary. I seal the bag with just a tiny bit of air inside and squish everything all around for a minute or so, making sure all the seasoning and herbs are dispersed evenly on both pork chops. Leave for a few hours or overnight in the fridge.

Marinating pork chops

To cook the pork chops, simply put them on a skillet that has been heated on medium high heat. Cook through on one side, then flip over and cook the other side. The olive oil from the marinade is enough to prevent the pork chops from sticking, so you don’t need to add more oil. The resulting pork chops are seasoned throughout and perfectly juicy from the marinade permeating through the meat.

To make the Cuban sandwiches, we cooked up the pork chops and sliced them into thin strips. I slathered some mayo on one piece of sandwich bread, and yellow mustard on the piece. Then I piled on deli ham, salami, the pieces of pork chop, sliced pickles, and swiss cheese. I closed the sandwich, pressing down hard so that it would hold together, and brushed some olive oil on the outside of both slices of bread.

Constructing the Cuban sandwiches

We don’t have a panini press in our apartment so I simply heated the oven to 375 degrees with my pizza stone inside. Once it was heated, I put the sandwiches directly on the stone, topped them with a piece of aluminum foil, and placed a heavy cast iron griddle on top, pushing down hard on the sandwiches. If you don’t have a griddle you can use a heavy pot or a cookie sheet weighed down with a few oven safe pots/pans.

Once the sandwich was nice and toasty and the cheese completely melted, we were ready to eat. The Italian bread was a nice change from the usual Cuban bread, though it was a bit harder and crunchier in texture.

Heat up the sandwich so that the bread gets nice and toasty brown

Make sure the bread gets nice and toasty brown

I drew my inspiration for the fillings from Margon, as salami isn’t always a traditional ingredient. For a homemade version of the Cuban sandwich, I thought it tasted pretty good and was really quick and easy to make.

Autopsy shot

Amy’s Bread (multiple locations)
672 9^th Ave. between 46^th and 47^th St.
New York, NY

Tags: Cuban, Pork, Sandwiches
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NC – Smokey’s BBQ Shack

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 by virginia

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We arrived in Raleigh early Saturday morning the day before Alexander’s baptism. Not wanting to deal with sub par airport food again, we had skipped breakfast so we were pretty hungry by the time we got to my brother’s house. After settling in and having some quality nephew snuggling time, we headed out to Smokey’s BBQ Shack for an early lunch.

Smokey’s is the Carolina barbecue place that my brother wanted to take us to the first time we were in Raleigh but it was closed that weekend for Labor Day. The hours of operation are pretty sparse, as the restaurant mostly caters to the work lunch crowd. They do usually open on Saturdays from 11-7 so we were in luck this time.

The restaurant is basically a little shack/hut on the side of the road that has a lot of character. There are lots of funny signs posted everywhere, as well as some interesting decorations on the walls.

Just some of the "character" of the restaurant

We ordered at the counter in the back, got some soda from the dispensers, and settled at a table to wait for our food. It came pretty quickly, as the meats are smoked for hours beforehand. Josh and I both got the Smokey’s Sampler because we wanted to try all the meats offered. The sampler came with pulled pork, beef brisket, chicken wings, and a large rib.

Chicken wings and pulled pork

It also included hush puppies (the same kind that we had last time I think) and a side dish.

Crispy hush puppies

The sauces are served in squeeze bottles on the table and included a Carolina vinegar-based sauce and a slightly spicy barbecue sauce. We found that mixing both sauces together was the best way to go, as it made a smoky, sweet, and tangy combination that we doused all of our meats with.

Smokey's bbq sauce

All of the meat was tender, a little bit smoky, and very very good. My favorite was the rib, which was falling off the bone and had just the right amount of fat mixed in with the meat to make it really succulent.

Meaty and fatty rib and tender brisket

For our sides, we opted for macaroni and cheese, which was pretty standard. The sauce was rich and thick but I missed having a crunchy topping to provide some textural contrast.

Macaroni and cheese

Our other side dish was Brunswick stew, which was a much better version than the one we had at Danny’s BBQ. This version actually had meat in it and was much thicker and richer. It had a nice tomato base and didn’t have any of the canned quality that marred the previous version we had.

Brunswick stew

I definitely thought that Smokey’s BBQ was far superior to the other Carolina barbecue we had, and I liked the casual home-y atmosphere. It’s just sad that the hours are so sporadic, but it’s worth the effort to get there while it’s open. Portions are generous and nothing costs over $10, making it a pretty good bargain. Though the menu isn’t extensive, it covers all the basic barbecue items and sides, and the food they produce is well prepared and comforting. I definitely recommend coming here if you’re ever in this neck of the woods.

Smokey’s BBQ Shack
10800 Chapel Hill Rd.
Morrisville, NC

Tags: BBQ, North Carolina, Pork, Ribs
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NC – Super Wok

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 by virginia

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One of Josh’s favorite Chinese food dishes is pork in garlic sauce. He even knows how to say it in Mandarin, so that if he doesn’t see it on the menu, he can still try to order it. Whenever we go out to a Chinese restaurant with my family, my parents always make sure that it’s one of the dishes that we get. With that in mind, my brother suggested going to Super Wok for dinner, a Chinese restaurant near his home that serves really good pork in garlic sauce.

The restaurant is also located in a strip mall and kind of looks like a hole in the wall takeout joint. It was pretty packed though, which was a good sign. We ordered a bunch of different dishes to share, including the touted pork in garlic sauce. It really was a very tasty version, with tender shreds of pork and a nice thick, spicy garlic sauce.

Pork in garlic sauce

The stir fried spicy tofu homestyle, however, was a complete disappointment. It looked pretty good, with triangles of fried tofu mixed with broccoli, carrots, baby corn, snow peas, mushrooms, and other vegetables. Unfortunately, the flavor was totally off. It was sour and very weird tasting, nothing like other versions of homestyle tofu that I’ve had, and it wasn’t just different, it tasted gross. None of us enjoyed this dish.

Very weird tasting homestyle tofu

Another disappointment was the fried fish cut like a squirrel tail in sweet and sour sauce. It looked neat, with two fish filets cut so that it cubed and curled, kind of like squirrel tails. However, it was either over fried or just had too much coating and not enough fish, as it was very hard on the outside and not very meaty on the inside. The sweet and sour sauce was standard, but I couldn’t get past the bad texture of the fish and the hard crust.

Fried fish cut like a squirrel tail

A much more successful dish was the intestine hotpot, which had chewy but tender pieces of intestine stewed with assorted vegetables in a ceramic hotpot. The dish was a little spicy and a nice mix of textures. There were a lot of bamboo shoots in the hotpot, which normally I don’t like, but it worked well with the rest of the components. Even Josh enjoyed this dish, and he typically doesn’t eat intestines or tripe or anything that’s super chewy.

Intestine hotpot

The stir fried squid with scallion was also not too chewy, which was a good thing. It had kind of a pleasantly bouncy texture, and the squid was slightly peppery in flavor.

Stir fried squid

Last but not least, we had peking style pork chops. It’s similar to General Tso’s or sesame chicken, with crispy pieces of pork covered in a sweet and sour sauce, but it’s not overly sweet and cloying. This is a dish that I grew up with so it’s one of my comfort foods. The sauce is great for spooning over rice, and it has kind of a barbecue/orange flavor to it.

Peking style pork chops

Overall I thought the food at Super Wok was hit or miss, with very high highs and very low lows. The pork in garlic sauce and the peking style pork chops were some of the better versions that I’ve had but the homestyle tofu was pretty bad, as was the fried fish. However, we really didn’t try that many things from the menu so I don’t know whether the restaurant excels in American style dishes or in more authentic Chinese dishes. From what my brother tells me though, good Chinese restaurant choices are limited in his area. So if anyone has a recommendation for a good Chinese place near Raleigh, let me know!

Super Wok
Chatham Square
1401-L SE Manyard Rd.
Cary, NC

Tags: Chinese, North Carolina, Pork, Seafood
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