b.e.d. Miami

Months before our trip to South Beach, Ms. M was kind enough to make reservations for dinner at b.e.d. (beverage.entertainment.dining.) I was definitely curious about how exactly it would work. I mean how do you enjoy your meal when your table is your seat? Well thankfully they knew to serve our meals on personalized trays. Upon reviewing the menu I was surprised by how many items I actually wanted to order. Then I narrowed it down to the ceviche and the stuffed lobster tail. The nerve of the waitress to tell me neither item was available! Apparently they had a busy Friday night. I was extremely unhappy. She did tell me they could still make the lobster tail but sans crab meat. I reluctantly agreed and started by ordering the Crab Cake appetizer. Serves them right that I forgot my camera so these are the best images I have.

It was really different than the crab cakes I usually eat. This one was in phyllo dough which was wildly good. The crab chunks were huge and really tasty. The other appetizers also looked great. Ms. K ordered the Shrimp and Grits.

It was made with cheddar and sprinkled with bacon. She loved it and it inspired the elder Ms. K to order one too! Ms. S ordered the Seared Scallops.

It was served with a chorizo corn medley and a creamy BBQ sauce. She was loving it so much that Ms. M ordered it too - sans chorizo. Eventually our entrees started to arrive. Ms. S ordered the Grilled Sesame Tuna.

That was one good looking tuna. It also tasted amazing! The seasoning was perfect. I usually expect sesame tuna to have a strictly Asian taste but this had some Caribbean flavors. The elder Ms. K ordered the Australian Rack of Lamb.

Wowed quite the presentation. It was served with Parmesan regiano risotto sautéed mushrooms and a cognac thyme Demi glace. It looked amazing and according to her it tasted even better than it looked.  The popular item that evening was the Chilean Sea Bass.

Both Ms. K and Ms. M were delighted to order this dish. It was served with haricot vert white truffle and Yukon mashed with vermouth cream sauce. I had a bite and it was very rich - almost overwhelming but just under that level. That dish was creamy goodness at it's best. I compromised on my desire and accepted a different version of the Lobster stuffed with crab meat.

When I dug in, I realized it was actually stuffed with crab meat which is not what the waitress said so that was a pleasant surprise. The penne was not an adequate substitute for the black fettuccine.   Shrimp scampi just should not be served with tubular pasta! Luckily the flavor was right so I wasn't terribly offended.

We finished our delicious meal with the Cloud 9 souffle. When I saw souffle I mistakenly assumed it would be chocolate. Imagine my surprise when an inflated pot of Dulce de Leche arrived! Don't get me wrong this dessert was heavenly. I just wasn't ready for it. It is definitely made for sharing. Incredibly rich and sweet there's no reason one wouldn't love this! I certainly did.

We finished our meal at b.e.d. and decided to stick around for the rest of the night. It turned out to be quite a marvelous one. Congratulations Ms. K - I'll never look at Miami the same.

Hungry yet?

ZIngerman's Roadhouse

It feels like eons ago when I first met Ms. H her freshman year of college. After some dillydallying after undergrad, she made her way to law school. Although I had promised to visit her in Ann Arbor, three years flew by and I never made it! So when her graduation rolled around I had no choice but to attend. My first night there we had an amazing dinner but I forgot my camera so it's as though that meal never happened.

Luckily, I was well equipped for the main event. A graduation dinner for Ms. H and a few co-graduates at Zingerman's Roadhouse. This one started out right because one of or appetizers was Sweet potato fries.

These are the biggest fries I've ever seen. They looked like the potatoes were cut into quarters, lightly fried (to the point that I was starting to think they might have been baked) and sprinkled with salt. I had to resist the urge to claim the shared basket as my own. I had a harder time digging into Ari's Pimento Cheese.

I mean you know how I feel about white stuff. This actually turned out to be pretty tasty. It was best when eaten with a combination of the celery and bread. after the graduates and their families arrived, it was time to place our orders. Some of the diners ordered the Cheddar & Ale Soup.

Beats me why anyone would order soup but they all loved it. Apparently the creamy goodness won them over. For my first course, I selected the Roadhouse Garden Salad.

It was pretty standard served with cider balsamico dressing. I was fine without it because I knew what the future held. Buttermilk Fried Chicken!!!

Spectacular! Whenever anything comes in a bowl or basket, I'm automatically excited. This hunkering basket of Amish free-range chicken was dipped in  buttermilk batter then deep fried. It was incredibly hot when they served it and I almost burned myself because I was so impatient. It was juicy and tender I couldn't contain myself. I did manage to take a few breaks so I could eat the mashed potatoes. 

They were fluffy and delicious. I was quite happy with my meal and I'm not sure why anyone would have ordered anything else, but quite a few did. Mr. N was very excited about the Pit-Smoked Spare Ribs.

From our table we could see the smoker where the Neiman Ranch pork ribs were cooked for 9 hours. He tore it up so I'm assuming it was delicious. Mrs. H ordered the Cornman Farms' BBQ beef.

The pasture raised beef was served with Alex's Red Rage Tomato BBQ sauce and a side of mashed potatoes and bacon-braised greens. Apparently the BBQ sauce was amazing and the greens had that extra happy flavor that only bacon can bring. The other Ms. H, my partner in fun for the weekend ordered the Pacific Gulf Red Fish.

It was sautéed and served with mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach. The fish was excellent. It tasted very fresh and the light seasoning was delicious. After stuffing myself silly and being unable to finish my chicken, my eyes got really big at the sight of cake...and my stomach made room! 

The carrot cake wasn't what I was after, though it did look good.

The chocolate cake and I were one by the end of the meal.

I mean look at it! Wouldn't you be in love too? It was fluffy and filing chocolate goodness. What's not to love?

It was such a pleasure to celebrate Ms. H's graduation with such a grand and delicious meal. The cake made it's way back to her apartment and we reacquainted ourselves again in the morning. Zingerman's you were wonderful. I didn't make it to the deli but if it's anything like the Roadhouse you can sign me up for next time! Hopefully my blazer will make it back, if not I'll be back in Ann Arbor sooner than I expected.

Hungry yet?

BBQ Chicken Wings

I'm still slowly sharing recipes from the dinner party.  It's been quite the hectic week so not only have I barely eaten, I definitely haven't had time to post!  I already wrote a couple of the entries it's just a matter of finding time to post them.  Anyway, here's the recipe for the magnificent BBQ Chicken Wings.

12 wing parts

½ cup BBQ sauce

2 tbs Siracha

¼ cup onions sliced

1 ½ tbs salt

2 tbs black pepper

2 tsp chili powder

 

Usually when I make wings, I buy the whole wing then cut into parts.  This time I was in a bit of a rush so I just bought a perdue wing parts 12 pack.  I like to let the flavors marinate for a while so I usually mix everything in a ziploc bag.  I dumped in the wings, then the BBQ sauce, squirt some siracha in there add the rest of the ingredients then close up the bag and shake it up.  

Make sure the chicken is well coated.  Then refrigerate for at least half an hour but no more than 24 hours.

 

After that I dump everything into a baking pan and put it in the oven at 375 degrees for 40 minutes if it's a tight squeeze in the pan, 30 if spacious.  

I like to pour the extra BBQ sauce mix from the bag over the chicken about 15 minutes into baking.

 

This is one of my favorite entertaining appetizers.  Easy to make and very little clean up.

Hungry yet?

Fifth of July BBQ

While there are plenty of benefits to living in NYC, there are definitely some downsides.  The biggest downside that I see is not having a backyard, especially in the summer! Sure there’s the deck outside my window, but we’re not allowed to use a grill out there!

Lucky for me, home is just a short ride away and going home was just what I needed today.  First I made a trip to the grocery store where meat and fish was so affordable it was unbelievable.  

After picking out a few items, I headed home where things were already happening in the kitchen.

My younger brothers were on a mission to make some great burgers.  I didn’t get any videos but I took several shots.

Yup they decided to throw some cheese in the middle and a dollop of BBQ sauce.  Looks like everything turned out fine.

Mama bear also decided to make some chicken skewers.  Not sure what she put on them but they were de-lish!  I made some BBQ chicken.  Seasoned for a bit in a Ziploc bags with salt, black pepper, BBQ sauce and chili pepper. 

Magic on the grill.  We also had some shrimp skewers seasoned in store bought jerk sauce that was nay the best, but it did its job.

I love going home, I love backyard BBQs, and I love food!

Hungry yet?

BONUS: I stopped by to say hi to Z&Z and was happy to eat the most delicious and moist piece of pumpkin loaf I have EVER had!  Courtesy of Ms. E’s mom. YUMMY!

Blue Smoke

I was fortunate enough to receive a dinner invite from Ms. H.  Her father, one of my favorite grown-ups, is coming into town!  I'll be in Virginia for the weekend so we made a 10:45 dinner reservation at Blue Smoke.  I was really excited to try Blue Smoke, especially since the menu looked SO GOOD!

Ms. H and I arrived on time and unfortunately it was evident Mr. H wouldn't be arriving for some time.  We decided we should order a couple of appetizers to get things going.

The Chipotle Chicken Wings were FANTASTIC! Seriously, I must say they even beat out the wings from a few weeks ago.  Sorry PIC! They were juicy, drenched in spicy deliciousness and the perfect appetizer!

I was less than impressed with the Deviled Eggs.  They were a little salty and while they had a little kick to them, it wasn't anything special.

After a short while, Mr. H arrived and BOY were we excited!  It was great to see him after so long (and it meant we could finally order our entrees!)

I went with the Applewood-Smoked Organic Chicken with Mashed Potatoes.  I skipped the Crispy Onion topping, just wasn't interested.

Sad to say but I was disappointed with the chicken.  Maybe it's because the wings were so good.  The chicken required too much work.  It was dry-ish so I had to pour on the BBQ sauce.  I don't go out to eat so I have to do the work.  While they're BBQ sauce was better than the Kraft sauce I used last week, IMHO my chicken tasted better.  There.  I said it.  The mashed potatoes were good, but again I'd go with my potato wedges anyway.

To wash away the disappointment, I ordered a Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae.  Warm brownie with vanilla ice cream topped with hot fudge and whipped cream.  Unfortunately, I didn't notice that the menu said it was served with toasted walnuts.

I mostly ate around them, but even if the walnuts weren't there, I don't think I would have enjoyed it that much.  The brownie was good, but not great.  I was happy it was served warm though.  Few things as good as a warm brownie with cold ice cream.  Mmm Mmm Mmmmmmm!

Apparently, it wasn't as good as the Banana Cream Pie that Mr. H  and Ms. H shared.

Look at them diving in!  They cleaned the plate.


Blue Smoke was good, but not great.  Perhaps if I ate beef or pork I would have enjoyed it more.  Ms. H loved her ribs and remarked on how great they tasted.  Mr. H also looked satisfied with his Hamburger.  As a poultry and fish girl, I was impressed that there were so many options on the menu.  Chipotle Chicken was delicious the Smoked Chicken not so much.  While not the best meal I've had, I would go back and I'd definitely recommend it for those with a wider range of protein options.


Hungry yet?

BBQ, The Very Best and Black Nature @ The Independent

One of Mr. G’s college friends lives in the SF area.  He invited us to a Memorial Day BBQ at the house of a couple of his colleagues.  Upon entering their home on Broderick, I realized that San Francisco has amazing homes.  Although I’ve heard it’s just as expensive as New York, if not more so, I have noticed that the spaces are much larger.

On to the food...Mr. H was working that grill.  

Although I don’t eat beef, I was very impressed to see that he made blue burgers (hamburgers with blue cheese in the middle).  They looked very juicy and Mr. G, as well as many other BBQ attendees, noted that the burgers were amazing.

I stuck to the BBQ chicken.  Wowee! Very well seasoned and grilled to perfection!  It was still juicy, which isn’t always the case when you get food off the grill.

Mr. H also hooked it up with corn.  It was very sweet and did not require any condiments.  

The chill started to set in and the party was dying down so Mr. G and I headed to Café Abir on the corner of Divisadero and Fulton.  The Cafe is very chill and it's the kind of place where you can have one cup of tea or coffee and then stay and work for the rest of the day.  I saw a lot of people with laptops and even a couple of people studying frantically for the bar exam.  Eeek!  The cafe is also connected to a wine shop and sushi restaurant.  We stayed in the Café area.  I was very happy with the black tea with honey.  It warmed me up just right for the walk to The Independent.

Mr. G scored concert tickets to The Very Best (TVB) at The Independent.  I had never heard of them, but was down to try something new.  We arrived while the opening act was still on.  I’m not certain, but I think their group name was Black Nature.  The lead singer is from Sierra Leone and definitely enjoyed hopping and dancing around the stage.  He had a pretty good voice and the band sounded very energetic.  Great stage presence.  They had a slightly Bob Marley-ish reggae sound, but obviously not as great as the man himself.  

Next up TVB!  The lead singer Esau is from Malawi.  The DJ and the man in the dredlocks may or may not have been part of the band, it was unclear.  I wondered how they got together, thankfully there’s Wikipedia.  They definitely have a following and there were many people who were very hyped to be there.   I was quite shocked that most of the lyrics were not in English yet so many people were about it.  The band sounded great and it was like a big dance party.  At one point, they invited people on stage.  I of course decided to go up there, I mean why not?!

The band closed out with a song that used the song from Free Willy.  You can’t go wrong if you close out with Michael Jackson.  Everyone loved it and I was happy to be a part of such a feel good atmosphere.  I will likely be listening to the many tracks featured on their My Space page.  Enjoy!