Mother’s Day Brunch at Bluacre Seafood

While im in Chicago working long hours I realize I have to make Mother’s Day Brunch reservations and have no idea how im going to make this happen with 4 days until the day.  I didn’t want the same old buffet and was luckily surprised to get us a table at Bluacre Seafood.  I have been wanting to hit it up for a while now and was quite excited to see whats up there.  So my lady and I meet mom and dad and we get started putting foods in our mouths.  The menu states “Crab and Shrimp Tater Tots..” no question, we will eat these, and we did, and I want more of them.  Then the menu whispered in my ear “Duck and Sausage Gumbo” yes I am eating this, and no I am not sharing.  My entrée did not contain eggs, but it did have a nice slab of Halibut topped with and artichoke crust, cauliflower puree, and olive-oil.  Popeye couldn’t make it.  I don’t usually put pictures of people on these posts besides Eliana, but how could I resist this cute excited face?  My Pops is stoked to devour his Cioppino.

One thing i noticed while posting these pictures... Doilies!  Doilies are still a thing?!



Drinks at Lot no. 3 and Dinner at Purple Cafe and Wine Bar

Im back from Chicago and looking for a long awaited NomNom meetup with my culinary school gangster partner.  It has been way too long since we met up, a couple years, so we decided it has just been too damn long.  So to make it convenient we decide to meet halfway between our abodes and end up in Bellevue.  Even more fitting, we choose Purple Cafe and Wine Bar, as I will soon be popping a RATIONAL Self Cooking Center in the event space, and our past culinary instructor is chef at the helm.  I purposely arrive early so I can get a tasty beverage at Lot no. 3, and build my own manhattan with chocolate bitters.  We were sat in our own semi private room either because we are so cool, or because we are so loud, or whatever.  I love when the server says "are you sure?  That is a lot of food" duh, whatever, lets eat!  Cheese plate please!  If you have met me, you know I cannot resist a golden crust on a duck leg confit.  Shortrib Rizzo Gnocchi with nommer shrooms and butt hair nut squash

The decision was made that culinary school gangster alumni must not wait so long to hang again.  Chef type people rule.



Chicago! Eating after long days of work.

I find myself in Chicago for work.  Luckily, I have been tasked with actually cooking during the National Restaurant  Show this year and am in Illinois for 9 days.  The first 4 days are where our company headquarters is, in Schaumburg Illinois.  So my food intake was pretty much bar grub for a bit.  But during prep, I did manage to cure a load of pork bellies.  Aren’t they cute?  These little bastards would then get an overnight wet roast and then at will, they would then be crackled until the lovely little logs reach a bubbly, golden crust.  I invented this log of meat, and im quite proud of it.

The show starts and because I was cooking I didn’t get time to wander the show and see what was in the spot, but I did happen to find a potato the size of a semi-truck.  I was quite exhausted so I left dinner reservations up to home-girl Brown.   Homegirl Brown did not disappoint and we were on a long one block walk commute to Aria where Chef Beverly Kim from last season’s Top Chef leads the menu. I got to meet Beverly and she is the cutest little sweetheart of a chef and all the shit that the other chefs talked about her on the show can get shove back in their asses.  Yes, she does cook Asian, but hey guess what dumbshits… she IS Asian!  And her damn food is good!  So we begin our meal with an amuse delivered by Chef spicy tuna roll, rolled in a nice knife skills lesson of cucumber.  I went for some  Sweet Pea Chawanmushi and tuna tartare.  I fucking love peas!  Here’s a shot of everyone at the table staring with open drooling mouths at their entrees.  I opted for the scallops with hazelnut polenta and wait for it… fresh peas!  How do you make Brussels sprouts even better?  Mix it with pork belly and top it with a runny egg!  Beverly was so cool, she wouldn’t take a pic with me flipping off the camera cuz she is such a sweetheart, but I did get a pic with her with our fists up.  I like her.

The next evening Homegirl Brown gets us a large table rezzy at Carnivale.   Good thing because my lottery pick of a rezzy at Aviary didn’t come to fruition.  Carnicvale boasts Nuevo Latino Cuisine and im very happy with the leg that greeted me on the way to our table.  I cant describe everything we ate because there was a lot, and I had exceeded the recommended amount of Caipirinhas one should consume in an evening.  We ate piles of appetizers and samplers of cheese, charcuterie, and sashimi.  Homegirl Brown gets the winner dish of the evening, Skirt Steak. Oh, theres a dessert menu that’s kinda ridiculous.  Anyone for a Doctor Suess type Cotton Candy?  Or Maybe a slice of cake for a family?  As I tried to pay for some pictures in a photo booth, I authorized my credit card to buy some shoes?  This is real and I have never seen this.  Ladies acutally buy shoes from a vending machine?

Last dinner play date.  Homegirl Brown hooks it up again with the Chef’s Table at Telegraph. With an award winning chef and somellier, I was in as soon as I saw “whipped Foie Gras” on the menu offerings.  And you know me likey runny eggs, and they put one on top of a beef tongue.  And I ate it.  Here Fishy Fishy.  My favorite dish of the evening, squid ink papardelle with fresh peas.  Did I mention I like fresh peas?  Now we ate a load of other foods, but I was a bit caught up with eating to take pictures.  Im not a big dessert freak, but they got it going on here for dessert.  I grabbed a glass of sauternes and munched on a chocolate cake with a fresh mint puree on top, that redefined mint chocolate chip cake.  Finish the evening off with a smoked cheesecake, sweet at first taste, then savory like a mofo at the end. Nom.

9 Days in Chicago, im ready for home.  But thanks Homegirl brown for showing all of the team some grub that chefs can be happy to have enjoyed!



The Most Incredible Dining Experience in Portland, OR; Castagna

Death week continued. The MiddleGeorges have survived the first four nights of death week and we find ourselves at the night of our last supper. I have been living the week under strict advise of my lawyer, from food to drink, to the next stops on or adventure, he was in charge. All I could do was follow his lead. So as directed by Lawyer Schmank we made reservations for a tasting menu at Castagna.

I have never eaten at Castagna, I have only heard stories of the exciting meals. I have eaten in the Cafe, but that is like a regular restaurant. I look back on the history of my friendship, I recall a time before we were friends and I have only heard things about this mysterious culinary instructor. I remember sitting at the bar in Cafe Castagna with the Baldschwabs and spotting Schmank running around in the kitchen of Castagna. "Fucking stage." Eventually my Lawyer and I have become buddies and I have learned that not only has he staged at Castagna but he also spent a period of his life staging at WD-50 in NYC under Wylie Dufresne, and alongside the chef of Castagna, Justin Woodward. I was half dead (dyingfrom death week 2012) but excited to indulge in the tasting menu, along with the insider knowledge I would get from my lawyer. So again, as directed by my lawyer, I got somewhat dressed up, and met up with Schmank, who was looking dapper himself with a tie, blazer, and fur covered shoes, and we were off to our last supper of Death Week 2012.

We have the dining room to ourselves, for now, and after we finish our first bourbon beverage I am back to life and ready to be killed again with food. Chef Justin comes out and greets us and I watch as he and MiddleGeorge make funnies. We will have the 10 course tasting menu with wine parings please. Then the snacks begin. A ball of buttermilk puff filled with grapefruit roe arrives on a piece of slate. Oh shit this is going to be fun! This little poof ball was stuffed with little caviar like balls of grapefruit juice. Then came a couple pieces of smoked guanciale placed into a serving vessel of a charred log. We agreed that we could both sit on the couch and eat these all day erryday. Next we were presented with a bowl of translucent potato chips (I assumed to be potato starch) and a squirt of BBQ purée sitting atop a stone. This stone may or may not have been licked clean by somebody. But we also may or may not have scratched the rock with a butter knife to make it look like nobody actually licked it. Snacks keep arriving, and we get to munch on crispy puffed beef tendons dusted in vinegar powder and topped with rosemary flowers. These delicious little chicharone type tendons almost melt as they touch your tongue. I am having a lot of fun right now. More food comes out on slates, not plates. Next course lands and is apple infused with parsley water with lemon balm and yogurt. Now in most restaurants, people don't take pictures of the rolls. But you kinda have to when you taste the texture of these house rye rolls with lardo, churns butter, and sprinkled with brown butter solids. As I use the restroom, I am instructed my my advisor to glance at the lights in the bathroom. Legend has it that the lights pulse as the immersion circulators pump in the kithchen. And the lights are pulsing! Now we are actually finished with snacks and beginning our courses. Schmank is excited by the incoming green almonds, and we dive into them with bay shrimp, eucalyptus and lime. I have never had green almonds before, and they are mom and crazy interesting as their insides are a translucent jelly of goodness. Next up is dungeness crab with crab head gelee. So I grew up in Hawaii in a Filipino family, and when we eat crab, we dump rice into the yellow guts of the crap to sop up all the goodness. At first bite, I decided that this dish needed to be eaten slowly and savor every last bit of culinary boner this gelee of crab brains and guts was giving me. As I took my second bite, I looked over as Schmank frowned with sadness that he had inhaled his crab course. Eat your veggies! Three textures of cauliflower with a hidden gem of an oyster. As we dove into our next culinary delight of spring vegetables with cured beef my lawyer exclaims "this dish is like eating a forest". Then came another mind blowing mouth experience in the shape of the most perfectly cooked piece of halibut ever to enter my mouth hole... along with potatoes in the shape of cylinders and the bright color of saffron (which I told chef I am definitely going to steal).  Oh, hey, theres a meat course! Ribeye with Beets a la Plancha.  Thank Jeebus, its time for desserts... Lemon Curd with meringue and Hefeweizen.  More dessert, Goat Milk Ice Cream, Caramel, and Dried Cream.  Last course arrives and its a chocolate Hockey puck that oozes when your fork touches it.  Nom.  oh, then there were gummy bears made of fruits and chocolate dusty balls. "I need a break, i want to run a marathon"  Im Sooooo Fuuulll"

i didnt die, but i was nearly killed by food fun.  after 4 years of having this job of traveling, this was my first time experienceing the adventure through a tasting menu at Castagna.  It only happened because i was under the wise advise of a wise, wise, attorney.  if you are ever in portland and have a few hundred bucks to blow on food adventures that your work WILL NOT pay for... you need to eat this.  Since Matt Lightner left as the chef, all we read about Castagna is that Justin Woodward is continuing and filling Matt's shoes... I have to say that Chef Justin is ballin outta contro with skills and passion that shine through in amazing perfection.

Im So Full

Thanks Schmanks.  Bee Tee Dubs... what is your favorite island?

Death Week 2012; As your lawyer, I advise you to…

For reasons undisclosed, Shmank Middlegeorge names my weeklong visit to Portland, Deathweek 2012.  He gave  himself a goal of killing me by the end of the week, by means of food, drink, and fun.  In the style of “Fear and Loathing” (in Portvegas), I agreed to follow any advice my lawyer had in store for me.  Along many of our stops for food was a new gem of food an beverage, Shovin an Acre… I mean Oven and Shaker. The joint is so conveniently placed footsteps from our home base, Teardrop Lounge, we popped in for some grub.  Our visit began with a tequila based manhattan topped with a salami wrapped cherry.  Me like this.  Fried balls of various fillings; Arancini  Pork Belly Pizza Kale Salad, and a plate of various meats opened our eyes and tastebuds to a new fave spot.  We ended up revisiting the spot again later this week.  Middlegeorge actually logged in a hat trick of visiting this week! 

As if there was a theme to our eating habits this week, we arrive for my virgin adventure at Park Kitchen and begin with a plate of fried balls of salt cod. Park Kitchen has been on the list of places to go for a while, but something else always came up.  I cannot believe I haven’t been here before.  The spot has been open for ten years or so and they are not fucking around with food… its really damn good and I am going again, soon.  Then Chef Scott gifted us with a salad of mung bean sprouts, carrot puree and pimento vinaigrette with whole grain mustard.  Holy freaking damn delicious salad.  Something I would probably never order blew our taste-buds out of this world.  Then came the most tender octopus I have ever put in my mouth= love this octopus  Top off the meal with beautifully prepared lamb. 

Im dying… need sustenance.  Hey, I know what will bring us back to life!  After an actual work meeting, we stop for lunch at Little Big Burger for some healing in the form of fatty goodness.   Ahhh Cheeseburger and truffle fries.  Life.

I love Octopus and I want more.  So my lawyer advises me to meet him for happy hour at Andina.  Keep in mind that the following foods are our appetizers!  My lawyer and I know Chef Hank there, so super nice guy Chef Hank sends out a gift of nom… smashed taters with shrooms and pretty sauces.  Mmmm, oysters.  Must have at Andina: Octopus Skewers with smashed taters.  Eat your veggies!  Beet Salad.  Then after chomping down some beef hearts, we are presented with another gift of caramel cookies from Chef Hank.  Thanks Chef!

The rest of death week will be continued on another post, as the last supper must be documented on its own. 

So anyway, I live through death week and my lovely wife arrives in Portland to spend a couple days with me.  I say goodbye to my lawyer and go back to normal life. But I have reservations at Paley’s Place for an exciting evening with my wife.  As we sit in the front window seat at Paley’s Place, we are presented with an amuse bouche.  Really?  Kampachi Crudo topped with Uni?  For shizz this is going inside me.  Along with our Mussels and Frites, Chef/Owner Vitaly Paley stops by and says hello with a gift of asparagus with Lardo, and frisee salad with duck egg.  I freaking LOVE presents!  Hey Gimme those sweetbreads dammit!  Did i mention that i like to spaetzle?

After Cirque Du Soleil, I need Brunch.  Irving Street Kitchen’s  menu left me stuck with 3 choices for my breakfast… I ultimately ended up with a pleasing waffle topped with braised pork belly and runny egg.  Nommeriffic. (notice in the background that i also killed a bowl o grits).  Wash that shit down with a brunch Negroni and I’m ready for whatever Mrs. Truby wants to do around PDX.  Well hey guess what?  Wifey wants to go to the Portland Farmers Market.  Guess what I found?  Spring is here and im taking fiddleheads black trufflesMorel mushrooms and Tails and Trotters Pork Chops home with me!  I turned it into this mess of loveliness to put in my face to end death week. 

It’s a good thing ive been going to the gym.  Stay tuned for the next post, cause its kinda mind blowing.