Posts Tagged ‘Philadelphia’
remembering lolita
t says: The other day, a and v and I decided that we wanted to go to a BYO for dinner. We originally thought of the semi-BYO GTC … but they were just too busy/cool to seat us before 9:30pm. We were hungry and didn’t want to wait. Kanella was booked ’til 10pm. So what were we to do? As we wandered towards 13th street, either a or v thought of Lolita. While normally a place I associate with BYOT (bring your own tequila), they also don’t object to wine, either. I hadn’t been in a super-long time (i.e. circa ?2006?), but I was game – it was threatening to rain so I was happy to get indoors pronto. So off we went …
July 2012, Saturday Dinner, Party of 3. g was said she couldn’t make it – she was busy in NYC. We came, we sat, we ordered, a made an ATM run, and we ate. Here’s the dillio (sans pictures) …
a says:
-Tequila-Lime Smoked Salmon Tostaditas: I thought this was the best “bite” of the night. The salmon was very good and went better with the fresh veggies/fruit than I expected. The crisp of the tostada added another layer.
-Tamal De Humberto Con Huitlacoche, Pollo Y Mole Rojo: A crowd pleaser that has been on the menu for as long as I can remember. Well described as comfort food. The best part is soaking up the remaining sauce with the masa “hiding” at the bottom of the tamal.
-Carne Asada A La Lolita – Described as the best dish on the menu and I can say it is definitely a winner. The beef was cooked perfectly, had a tiny amount of heat, a nice cumin bite, and was cut nicely by the guacamole. I didn’t love the fried yuca “fingers” that provided the steak’s base but the sauce and plantain chip paired well. This is a very solid dish but I have the underlying feeling that something is missing.
-Vaca Con Budin De Papas – t thinks he won (t interjects: I don’t “think” I wont – I know I won …), and I would tend to agree (t boasts: Buzinga!). This dish had some great flavor (t agrees: Yea – it was a surprisingly well glazed, nice-and-tender hunk of meat – highly recommended!).
-Enchiladas Verdes Con Portobello Enchipotlados – v went vegetarian and was not disappointed… v jumps in: On my dish… the sauce was light…not creamy crap that most Mexican restaurants pile on dishes. The portobello mushrooms were fresh and flavorful. t echoes: Yea – it felt some comforting, but it didn’t feel “heavy” – quite nice!
back to a:
-Tres Leches De Coco, Chocolate Y Nueces – One of the best desserts in the city. If you haven’t had tres leches or love it, get there soon and save room for this. With a cafecito, this can’t be beat.
-Budin De Con Chocolate, Canela Y Nueces – An interesting take on bread pudding, this was solid but not knock-your-socks-off. Though there was no rum listed in the dish, I enjoyed what I thought was a rum-like quality. The tres leches is better but I still kept coming back to this for another bite. (v suggests: Eat the bread pudding when you are having a bad day!)
-The wines: We brought one red and one white – both that we had were solid, cut-above-the-rest table wines. The red was CMS (Hedges Family blah blah) and was a nice blend from Washington that makes no attempt at being complex. The Cabernet (C) gives it a cola punch, Merlot (M) good fruit, and Syrah (s) spice and richness. Take this to a dinner when you know there will be red meat but not much else. t, as become his M.O. of late, went for the esoteric. t pontificates: Yes – I brought this white pinot noir from Italy, inspired by a white pinot noir that we had in Oregon. It wasn’t sock-rockingly good, especially when compared to Erath’s, but it was fine. It had a Chardonnay richness without being Chardonnay. It was a good way to prepare us for our last bottle of that Erath sitting in my cellar – it’ll be making an appearance soon!
In all, I think that Lolita had some surprisingly-good food – it was better than I remember! True, it doesn’t get a ton of love in the press nowadays, but I’m happy that a and v have convinced me to put it back on my radar. If you haven’t been to Lolita recently, definitely give it a whirl – it’ll make you forget all about your previous reservation at GTC …
little fish dominates summer sundays
t says: So I had to work the night shift for a week. I have to say that it was the weirdest experience because to me, it felt like one extremely long day with some short naps interspersed throughout (i.e. I’d wake up and there’d be light outside, and I’d go to sleep and there’d be light outside). I did well on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. Friday night was the hardest – I just couldn’t keep up my usual enthusiasm and focus. But Saturday … Saturday I was gung-ho. Why, you might ask? Because Saturday night shift meant that I was going to leave work on Sunday morning … and Sunday was date night! To celebrate, g and I went to Little Fish, one of our favorite places to go for seafood. Armed with a chilled bottle of Alexana Riesling we had picked up from Oregon, we hopped into a cab and rode off to 6th and South-ish …
July 2012, Sunday Dinner, Party of 2. Oh Little Fish. Your restaurant is so cute and quaint. It’s not quite Bibou-small, but it’s pretty darn small. And it’s relaxed, too. The servers donned their tattoos and strutted about with an air of “home” (and they were on top of their shiznit, too!) – it’s just what I needed to make me feel at ease after the week. I glanced at the menu (i.e. the chalkboard on the farm wall) and prepared myself for the series of dishes. OH – I forgot to mention – when you go to Little Fish on Sundays, there’s only one option: a 5-course, $33 fixed price meal. If you don’t like it, then get out. They have two seatings – 5:30 and 8 (?or is it 8:30? I forget). Even if there was something on the menu that I didn’t particularly want to eat, I’m pretty sure I would have lacked the oomph to get out of my seat and seek out another last-minute Sunday dinner option. Fortunately, the menu looked pretty good:
And now, on to the food:
My first leafy green in weeks …
So we started with a pretty simple salad. On one hand, it was a simple as simple could be (arugala, tomato, cheese), but on the other, it was really the first green thing I had eaten in at least a week, if not longer – so for me, it was like a plate of some sort of exotic vegetable I had never seen. So yes, it was tasty (plus, arugula tends to have that pepperiness to it – so it is more exotic than romaine after all). Was it blow-your-face-off-good? No. But when’s the last time arugala+cheese+tomato blew your face off?
fluke
Now THIS dish, on the other hand, blew my face off. Seriously. I was not expecting it. I figured, “ok, well, they’re going to have to have some sort of raw fish preparation, and chances are that it’s going to be whatever leftover fish they had from the week (from what Kitchen Confidential has told me, Sunday fish in restaurants are suspect because no one delivers “fresh fish” on the weekends), so I set my expectations pretty low … but this was magic. It was sweet (watermelon), spicy (tamari), fresh/zippy (scallion), savory (brown sauce … soy?), and it was all perfectly balanced with the briney essence in raw fluke. Wonderful. As I sipped our Riesling (which was also wonderful), I remembered how Little Fish doesn’t screw around with namby-pamby flavors. Thank goodness.
scallop
This was the second dish to blow my face off (i.e. if I still had some remnants of a face after the first dish). So it started with a perfectly cooked scallop (an absolute requirement for any place trying to bill itself as seafood-centric). Check. Add a richly flavored corn-essenced gravy. Check. Toss in some mushrooms that were so good that even g ate them. Check. Add some green beans that were cooked-yet-crisp-yet-deeply-flavored as well as some cornbread croutons. Check. The result was this weird concoction were something as light as a scallop was made to feel so rich and earthy that it almost made me wonder what sort of mysterious grass-fed, hoofed beast these scallops must have come from. To borrow some language from some of my favorite people [of which to poke fun]: amaze!
tuna
But alas … the meal wasn’t perfect – but not because chef failed at cookery – quite the opposite, actually Above you see a perfectly cooked piece of tuna … and nearly-perfectly cooked chickpeas (I prefer them a little softer) … and a perfect mix of cucumber/onion/some-kinda-sauce … but they were assembled in such a way that for the life of me I could not taste the tuna at all. GASP! Nooooooo! <Ok, I’ll stop being over-dramatic.> I think that after the previous two courses, this one came out the weakest – and it really had to do with the balance. Despite the size of that healthy slab of tuna – it just couldn’t lend enough flavor to compete with the quantity of sauce and other stuff on the plate; it got lost in the jumble. I’m sorry Little Fish. You were so close!
chocolate cake
So, after we remembered out experiences with the coffee cake the last time we were here, g and I knew that we shouldn’t underestimate their dessert prowess. But unlike “coffee cake”, this dessert seemed like it was going to bring in a new twist: chocolate and beets. I was skeptical. Don’t mess with my chocolate by putting crap in it it doesn’t need (citrus, berries, and bacon are acceptable). I am glad to report that this dessert was awesome. Not – it wasn’t as sensational as the coffee cake, but it was a nice, filling dessert with moist chocolate cake (as moist and fluffy as a boxed cake, but not as sweet), with some creamy whipped topping (I forget what it was flavored with) and that beet sauce that turned out to be a wonderful accompaniment (kinda like how raspberry+chocolate works – this works in the same way – the beets came off as kinda-fruity, which was great!). So in the future I might flirt with chocolate+beets some more.
In the end, g and I had a superb meal. Sure, there were a few mis-steps, but when you consider consider how reasonably priced it was, it’s one helluva-deal! Our mouths were happy. Our stomachs were happy. Our wine was empty. It was a great night. Thanks Little Fish!
Supper’s fried chicken shows promise
t says: So I recently talked up Supper’s Fried Chicken Tuesdays to some friends, thinking that it’d be a great deal … even if it only half lives up to the Food & Wine hype. But perhaps it was foolish of me to make mention of the “deal”, as I, myself, had never had this mysterious “pastrami-brined/seasoned” fried chicken. I began to fear that maybe Supper would make me eat my words … so the FTC got together on the first convenient Tuesday and did some top-notch investigative reporting …
July 2012, Tuesday Dinner, Party of 4. kp kinda-sorta-forgot to show, so we were down to 4. While we missed kp, we knew that we had to soldier on … for the sake of the blog! We’d have to raise a drumstick in honor of our night-shift-working friend …
veggie teaser
Feeling that perhaps we needed some veggies to blunt the inordinate amount of fried chicken we were about to consume, we decided to go for some appetizers. Above, you see the pickled veggie tray. First allow me to draw your attention to that egg-salad-looking-concoction in the center. That, my friend, is their house-made ricotta with some olives. Let it be known that this stuff was surprisingly good, with a creaminess and lemon zing that reminded me almost of a lemon curd (but not as sweet). Good stuff for sure. As for the other pickled veggies, they weren’t bad. I can’t say they were at all that mind-blowing, but I guess it is nice to get exactly what you ordered: well-executed pickling of tomatoes, beans, okra, and rhubarb.
a also ventured the gazpacho. As gazpachos go, it was a pretty impressive with surprisingly bold vivid flavors for a cold soup. We discussed it a bit, and it seems like everyone had comments about it, but I’m not sure there was a single conclusion on what was successful/lacking. For instance, I found the acidity to be quite refreshing, but v felt that maybe it was a bit too harsh. a wondered whether the bacon was necessary, but of course, in my opinion, bacon is always necessary. I found the corn flavor (“corniness” as I called it) to be quite a pleasant surprise, whereas I feel like others appreciated it but were not-so-surprised. In the end, I think we all liked one thing or another about it, so I suppose that makes it a successful dish?
bring on the chicken (on a very large plate) …
… and the sides: slaw and smokey potato salad
Don’t be misled by the pictures above – there was actually a substantial amount of food – all of it just happened to be served in ridiculously large plates/bowls (much to my chagrin – all that wasted space!). I firmly believe that there was plenty of food for two people, so the two orders was more-than-enough for the four of us (I only shot a picture of one order above). So let’s dissect the chicken first. The skin was hands-down amazing. Super light, super crisp, firmly adherent to the chicken, and full of that pastrami seasoning that really brought a complementary element to the chicken. Beautiful. The chicken, itself, was “ok-to-good” at the least and “good-to-very-good” at the best – I think it depends on which cut you happen to pick up. The white pieces were a smidge over-cooked (kinda like how every piece of chicken I cook at home comes out), while the dark ones remained nice and juicy. Thus, the chicken, like the appetizers, was also controversial. While I felt that the skin could more than make up for the chicken cookery, g felt quite the opposite, as no amount of fried magic can distract her from the meat, itself. a and v fell somewhere in-between g and me.
The mixed feelings persisted when evaluating the sides. I quite-liked the smoky potato salad, but g felt the potatoes to be undercooked (g held no punches today). Meanwhile v was quick to point out that while she enjoyed the sides and the chicken, she just couldn’t quite justify this particular combination of flavors. In retrospect, I kind of agree – I felt that each component was good on its own (the chicken, the slaw, the potatoes), but it’s not like putting them together resulted in a symphony greater than the sum of its parts … but maybe we’re being too picky? I mean, come on, it’s two-people’s-worth of food for $25 – that’s a good deal, right? <Insert a moment’s pause while I stroke my fake beard and ponder this question> Hmmmm. <Insert squinty eyes and a cocked eyebrow.> I’ve decided: “a conditional yes”. FedNuts has better chicken, but not-as-devilishly-crisp skin. “Pastrami” is not one of their flavors, but I’m sure that if they put their mind to it, they could get a similar taste with a juicier product. However, Fednuts lacks the sides. However, they have donuts. However, they’re far away. So, three howevers later, I guess it’s a tough call … but surely as soon as FedNuts opens a closer branch, they will completely eclipse Supper’s chicken in my mind (I prefer donuts to sides – you may feel differently … but I doubt it). Perhaps a better comparison would be between Supper and Rotisseur, as they both do “normal” sides. Right off the bat, Rotisseur has better chicken, but lacks the skin-advantage because it’s not fried. Supper has better sides. Rotisseur is BYO. Supper has more seating. Agh! It’s too hard to declare a victor! You know what would settle all of this? Simple. Make a time machine and go to Meritage circa 2010 for their Korean Fried Chicken – still my favorite fried chicken of all time. Actually, I wonder if Chef Colle (or her sous Anne Miller – actually, is she still sous at Meritage? No idea.) still does Korean fried chicken every now and then. If it’s the same as it was two years ago (and if the sides are still as good as they were back then), then they could totally out-chicken all these guys. Oh well … I guess you’ll just have to go to all these places and decide for yourself.
the rotisseur pork belly banh mi
t says: After reading about it on foobooz, I was disheartened to find that I’d have to miss out on Rotisseur’s pork belly banh mi (I just couldn’t fit it in my schedule). And now, after some time has passed (hopefully so they could perfect the recipe), I was psyched to finally try it!
pork belly banh mi sign at Rotisseur
Having had many-a-banh-mi, this one had a twist! Actually it had two twists: the mango slaw and “fresh peaches”. As my brain tried to put the flavors together, it eventually crashed, as I just had no idea how it would turn out …
here it is!
As you can see, this doesn’t feature big hunks of belly, rather, thin slices. I was intrigued at how thin they were! And then look at those peach slices! The guy making the sandwich took great care in arranging the peaches so that they’d look pretty. I appreciate that. This was going to be another take on the banh mi for sure …
But how did it taste? You know I love Rotisseur, but to be honest, this was kind of underwhelming. The sandwich wasn’t bad by any stretch (and the side of kale is still pretty killer!), but the flavors just weren’t as bright or as deep as in other banh mis … or even Rotisseur’s own chicken sandwiches! (which is surprising given the meat they’re using). The other flavors of the sandwich were nice, with the togarashi playing well with the peach. That said, it kind of made me long for their chicken instead … Oh well – sorry guys – I’m just going to have to stick with your chicken-based stuff from now on …
a cross between Tiffin and a night club …
t says: g and I love Indian food – or at least – we think we do. It all started when we first had chicken korma at Tamber’s/”Nifty Fifties” in Baltimore. While probably not the most authentic example of Indian food, we were hooked, and ate there (or did take-out) quite frequently. Now that we live in Philadelphia, our favorites for Indian are Ekta and Tiffin, both of which deliver (of which Ekta is probably the better of the two). As far as Indian restaurants go, however, we just haven’t quite found one we like (although I have to confess that we haven’t been to many). Bindi has long since closed (the owners citing lack of interest in Indian food as the primary cause) despite smn and dz liking it – sorry guys! So now enter Tashan, an upscale Indian dining venue owned by the same guy in charge of Tiffin. His shtick: “modern Indian cuisine”. His location: some building on Broad south of South street. His menu: kind of pricey. Nevertheless, at least one person likes it (although I disprove of the accusatory tone he adopts in his post). Fortunately, kp also felt that the food was good, having been there for multiple happy hours. We figured, “well, kp is Indian, and he cooks extremely well, so if he says it’s good, then it’s gotta be good” … but we still just never got around to it … until now: I saw that Mondays are BYO nights at Tashan. Boom. Done. We made a reservation (even though the hostess initially messed up and denied BYO Mondays – she and her manager both called back to confirm its existence) and ventured to Bella Vista (sadly it wasn’t an FTC meeting, as a and v were busy preparing for a trip) …
June 2012, Monday Dinner, Party of 3. We’ll try to keep it short. First, the setting: it’s kind of huge! There’s a ton of space – this is no small BYO for sure. It’s also evident that someone spent a lot of money, time, and effort trying really really hard to make this place cool/hip. The result is a kind of like what would happen if you put a restaurant in a space that was meant for a night club. It’s just trying so hard to be cool, but to be honest, it’s not like anything in there is actually cool – and that’s coming from me, who is pretty much a sucker for anything sleek/modern (that, and I still think that Adidas samba sneakers are cool). Sorry Tashan, I just don’t think that all of those renovations were worth it …
The service could also use some improvement. The waiter was very well-mannered and pleasant, but his actual serving performance was straight-up bad. He’d say that he was bringing wine glasses but not bring them until 10-15 minutes later. He’d say that he was bringing the wine, but not until 10-15 minutes later. The pacing of the meal was all over the place (25 minutes before our orders were even taken, and then a bizarre 25 minute gap after apps). At least he had a winning smile to go along with his enthusiasm for “his favorite dishes” when we asked his opinion. My advice: is you’re going to say you’re going to do something, then actually do it.
And now on to the real matter at hand: the food. I can say that everything was at least “good” … which isn’t bad (actually, I’d say that every dish but one was “very good”)! Indian food can be very hit-or-miss for me depending on the level of spice and the level of cream/fat in the dishes. To be blunt – I’m not a fan of dishes so spicy that I can’t taste anything or dishes so rich that my tongue can’t clear the hydrophobic coat. Tashan had none of those problems.
The best dish of the night was probably the lamb “lollipops” (that’s our name for them, not Tashan’s):
it doesn’t look appetizing in the photo, but trust me – it’s ridiculous
The lamb was impossibly tender and smothered in a flavorful combo of spices that I’m sure I’ll never be able to parse. The “green stuff” was a lively addition. (Actually, I went so far as to even say out loud, “damn, there’s just no way I could do this at home!” kp smiled, but didn’t say much. This was kp being coy. I called him out on it, asking him directly if he could cook a lamb like this. He pretended to think for a few seconds before admitting that he was sure that he could. Result: FTC at kp’s before the summer is up – Battle Rack of Lamb. Stay tuned!) Nevertheless, the three of us enjoyed our lamb, deciding that they are a must-order for the future.
Butter Chicken and Saag Paneer!
When g and I try a new place for Indian, we stick with some basics to really test ’em. Enter the Butter Chicken and Saag Paneer you see above. We’ve had these dishes from Ekta and Tiffin (as noted in the face-off linked to above), ultimately deciding that Ekta was the winner. I have to say that Tashan’s are probably tied with Ekta. They’re not as boldly flavored as Ekta’s, but really allow the underlying components to stand out – there’s a certain amount of subtlety there that kept me coming back for more. If you want spice and wiz-bang, stick with Ekta, but if you want to taste something a little more elegant (as “elegant” as spinach/paneer or tomato are), go for Tashan.
We did try other dishes (the sausage was fantastic! – but very spicy), which showed us that chef knows how to cook. The only miss of the evening was the goat cheese taftaan – it was interesting, but not in a good way, rather, an “overly fussy, why is this so hard to eat, and why does it taste like the ingredients don’t really jive together” way. I’d avoid it in future outings.
Ultimately, the food is a nice mix of traditional Indian and not-so-traditional Indian, with both approaches yielding delicious dishes. As a result, I think that Sheehan was right: Tashan is definitely one of the best restaurants that we’re not going to (along with Cochon). However, unlike Cochon, Tashan has real, legitimate reasons for people to not want to go (while we still can’t figure out why Cochon isn’t getting as much love as it used to) … Tashan’s service needs some help. Furthermore, we foresee that the location is going to be a problem, indeed. Passers-by in that neighborhood aren’t exactly the type to drop that kind of money (i.e. it’s not Rittenhouse), which means that they’d probably like to be a destination dining establishment – but do they have the chops for that? I think of the places that we go out of our way to go, and I realize that Tashan just doesn’t have the outrageous food like Bibou/Fond, the friendliness and ridiculous desserts/cheese of Talula’s Garden, the intimate BYO feel (and BYO price-tag) of Melograno/Mercato/Modo Mio. And, unlike Jamonera and Barbuzzo, this atmosphere is actually not hip/cool, no matter how many dark interior finishes you put in there. So what’s it gonna do? kp is going to keep on going for happy hour, hoping that his efforts alone can keep them from going under. As for me, I’ll go if other suggest it, but I wasn’t so blown away that I’m rushing back (well – maybe on a BYO night …). I hope for their sake that they find something that keeps them afloat – some kind of off-the-hook dish (the lamb was good, but it’s not Bibou pig’s foot) or special dining events or something. We wish them the best of luck, though – it would be tough for Philly to lose yet another “upscale Indian” place.
mch says: Ditto on Tashan. Service was “meh”. We were definitely impressed by some of the appetizers. The quail was tasty and unexpected since not traditionally what I think of as Indian. Main courses to us seemed fine – but not necessarily better than a neighborhood Indian place. If we went back, we might just order appetizers and naan. We’ll probably go back to try it again at some point.
Chloe and Wedge+Fig make us smile
t says: continuing the a + v dinner series …
a says: First, Chloe …
We’ve been a fan of Chloe for awhile and visit it every few months… if they decide to open. We’ve also wanted to bring my parents there since it is convenient and delicious. Everything came together a few weeks ago for what was our best meal there, yet. It’s no wonder they have lasted this long (over 10 years) and earned a reputation as Old City’s best bistro.
April 2012, Friday Dinner, Party of 4. We ordered almost exclusively from the specials menu which mainly consisted of appetizers and small plates. We find the appetizers to be stronger at Chloe, plus we get to try more items. Standouts included a well executed potato leak soup that had great potato flavor without any mealiness. The leak could have been more pronounced and the Vichyssoise at GTC still owns the top spot for potato based soups. (side note to GTC: Why, oh why, did you take this off the lunch menu? [g interjects from nowhere: Yea! The first time I noticed it wasn’t on the menu, I was SO sad! t joins in: She was almost in tears … g fights back: Shut up!]) A luscious gnocchi in a venison and pork ragu hit all the right notes along with my entree, halibut with a potato, bacon, and lobster hash – I’m pretty sure that’s all the “bait” you can fit in one cohesive dish. I’d say this is one of my favorite entrees from the past few months though nothing about it was nuanced, just damn satisfying. v’s salad with grapefruit, avocado, and fennel was fresh, interesting, and more subtle than the other dishes. If you find yourself in Old City, consider Chloe for inventive, modern American cuisine… just pray they’re open. (n.b. They do not take reservations and are byob.)
Next, Wedge + Fig … x 2 …
April 2012, Brunch, Party of 4. Still one of the best places to enjoy a bottle of wine (byob) while enjoying the outdoors. We went with the cheese board special of the day which introduced us to some interesting takes on old standards. I had the “Jawn” sandwich (butter-fried turkey, pork roll, cheddar, jalepeño-dijon aioli, and red onion on pretzel bread) and can honestly say it was that jawn: A great take on what makes a sandwich uniquely Philly while not being heavy or overpowering. The saltiness of the pretzel bread is a nice touch but I think the pork roll could have had more oomph.
v takes over from here: May 2012, Brunch, Party of 3. On our most recent visit, the service continues to improve as does the decor, chairs, and most importantly, the food. The portion sizes are a bit bigger than when the restaurant first opened. As temperatures continue to rise, Wedge + Fig has made some subtle changes to ensure comfort in the back garden. This is one of the quietest, most relaxing places in Philadelphia. The sound of the small fountain and the high walls block any ambient noise that may come from the bustle of the city. As for the food, it just keeps getting better and more satisfying. I ordered my favorite brunch dish at Wedge + Fig, the lox and cream cheese. It is one of freshest, lightest versions of this classic I’ve had at any restaurant. Not surprisingly, a ordered the panini of the day (PoD) – dubbed the “John Wayne” – buttermilk blue cheese, ham, bacon, fried egg, apples, and whole grain mustard on rustic white bread. This was one helluva breakfast sandwich, not for the faint of heart. The cheese was extremely creamy, the apple cut the richness of the cheese, and the fried egg brought everything together. As always, we left Wedge+Fig content, happy, and above all, relaxed.
elaborating upon ela
t says: Since opening, Ela has received a ton of praise for the quality of food, with much love and adoration for Chef Cichonski’s incorporation of unexpected flavor combinations and a few cutting edge techniques. We here at adsz have been waiting patiently to go. Actually – that’s not true – we’ve been rather impatient with our waiting and have been trying our hardest to get there. And now … we finally did.
May 2012, Wednesday Dinner, Party of 3. g, g’s friend, and I rolled up into Ela for our reservation and found it to be kind of empty. We couldn’t help but wonder why this would be the case, that is, until we realized that it was a Wednesday evening. Right. That’ll do it. The decor keeps it warm and inviting – lots of browns, yellow light (courtesy of “artisanal light bulbs”, right?), and nothing super-flashy (no goofy chandeliers, no pointless splashes of color). It puts you at ease, right away. As I eyed the wine preservation system behind the bar, I looked forward to seeing what values they might have to share.
We were greeted, seated, and had the menu explained to us – including a $45 fixed price lobster “tasting menu”. At first, I eschewed the fixed price menu, figuring that I wanted to choose each course for myself. But then, while perusing the real menu, I kept getting lost. Everything sounded so good (or at least so interesting) that I just couldn’t put a combination together that I felt was superior to any other. As the waitress came around to get our order, I realized that I was spending too much time thinking – I needed to stop (I am on vacation, after all). So I caved – one tasting menu for me!
lobster lobster lobster!
g, on the other hand, manned up and picked out the courses she desired. With our drinks in hand (I went for the Trimbach Pinot Blanc while g and her friend went with some very well-crafted cocktails), we sat back and watched the show …
g’s first: pea soup + poppy meringue + mint + some-kinda-cured-meat
It’s hard to make pea soup look pretty in a picture – it looks like a puddle of green. At least we can say that it tasted for better than the photo makes it look. That poppy meringue and mint really livened up the deep pea flavors – it was a perfect accompaniment for a hot summer day (actually, I said at one point: “It makes me wish it was warmer in here just so I could really make use of how refreshing the soup is!”). It wasn’t life-changing, but definitely a solid start.
t’s first: lobster curry + golden beat + coconut ice cream
My first dish arrived and I was psyched – it’s been a while since I’ve had some good lobster. Scratch that – if you count the “lobster chicken“, then I guess I had it a couple weeks ago (but I’m not counting that). Let me start off by saying that nothing in this dish was bad – and as far as “curries” go, this was bright and lively, which I like. However, I felt that the lobster didn’t really have a place, as it was a little too subtle (I did get some lobster sweetness, but not much more than that) when compared to the punch of curry, the texture of the beets, and the cold of the ice cream (or was it ?sorbet?). The balance was a little off for my taste, as it felt more like a beet curry than a lobster one.
g’s second: gnocchi + cauliflower + filberts (hazelnuts) + unidentified ingredient
Welcome to the gnocchi. Not a visual stunner, but man-o-man, it was some mighty-fine, mighty-interesting gnocchi. The pasta was light and fluffy and kind of fun to eat with the similarly shaped cauliflower (you never knew what the cauliflower:gnocchi ratio was going to be), and the cheesy/creamy sauce/foam with the sweet, earthy hazelnuts was amazing. My tongue didn’t know what hit it. It’s got to be the dish of the night!
t’s second: lobster croquette + pork belly + mustard + other sauces
Mmmmm. Pork belly. I’m a sucker for pork belly … and have had it pretty much every place I’ve found it – maybe that makes me kind of a pork belly “expert” (or at least I could play one on TV). So how was Ela’s pork belly? I’d give it a “good”. Tender? Check. Flavorful? Smoky barbecue – check. But I prefer my belly a little juicier – perhaps deeply glazed or smothered or sauced. In this preparation, the pork belly was kind of naked … but that’s so it can pair with lobster, right? Kinda. I’m down with a lobster-pig combo, but something was a little off in this dish. The croquettes were breaded/fried, meaning they had a decent amount of fatty richness, already. Then when you add on the fat of the belly, the dish comes off a little “heavy”. The smears of sauce just couldn’t cut through it well enough. My wine attempted to, but was outmatched by the fat content of the food. As for the lobster flavor? Once again – it was a little lost with everything else going on – between the pig flavor, the mustard, and the sauces. I like where he intended to go but feel like he was blown off course a little bit …
g’s third: scallop noodles + curry
So this is the fabled dish that everyone talks about – the scallop noodles. Now, I understand the novelty – it’s noodles that are made of scallop – so that’s fun. But I think we need to put on our thinking caps before we praise this dish up and down for being “soooo good”. If this was a curry with plain ol’ scallops, would it be considered good? I’d say probably not. If these were normal scallops, you’d want to see some caramelization on them to bring in some deeper flavors, and not just the flavor/texture you get in the middle of a scallop. The curry, itself, was fine, but the sum of flavors was a little underwhelming. So it’s clear that this the dish relies on the novelty of the scallop noodles … but now let’s go back to the scallop noodles. Are they super-cool? Kinda. there’s a bit of mystique attached to them … that is … until I burst your bubbly and tell you how they’re made (or at least how I think they were made) – it didn’t involve sorcery, fancy cutting equipment, or ginormous scallops! Now, I’m no Ela cook, however, I’m 99% sure they were created in a manner similar to how Wylie Dufresne (of WD-50) makes shrimp noodles: transglutaminase! In short, transglutaminase is an enzyme that can be be used to chain together certain amino acids in proteins (that’s an oversimplification)! So if you have one slab of meat and another slab of meat, you could [in an oversimplified manner] throw on some transglutaminase and glue them together (although “glue” is a little misleading for what’s really going on here). What I suspect Ela did was puree some scallop, mix it with transglutaminase, and extrude it into the pasta shape of choice (once again – oversimplified). If this is true, then it’s not magic – it’s science. (Of course, if this is NOT how these are made, then I’m completely wrong and stupid, and I apologize to the Ela team for spreading lies.) So I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you just get around the idea of eating scallops in noodle form, I think most people would feel like dish needs a bit more going on in the flavor department …
t’s third: lobster brick + lentils + peas + truffle powder
This was probably the best of the three lobster dishes. The hunks of lobster was nice – but to be honest, I thought he was going to meat-glue together some lobster so that the lobster would be presented as an actual brick (like Momofuku brick chicken). It wasn’t, but that’s ok. In this dish, I could finally feel the lobster taking center stage (or at least joining the front line with the other flavors), so I was happy. The lentils and peas still had a bit of bite to them, and the truffle powder was a great way to get the flavor onto the dish without overpowering the lobster or sauce – I’m a huge fan! My lobster was a wee bit over-cooked, but I was so happy to see an actual hunk of lobster that I didn’t mind.
dessert = chocolate + butterscotch + lemon + Asian puffed rice crackers
This was a wonderful dessert – it just took me a while to figure out how to approach it. The secret: mash it all up and stick it in your mouth. This multi-component dessert really needs a contribution from each to get moving. The rice crackers brought in a bit of heat and some of that “funk” (my college roommate called them “fart crackers” … he was a little culturally insensitive … but very funny …), and the lemons kept the palate springy and ready for the next bite. I really liked the surprise of this dish. The execution could probably use a little work (maybe some kind of intricately layered dessert that could be eaten more gracefully?), but I like where they’re going …
Ela had its fair share of highs and lows, and I’m afraid that I just can’t jump on the Ela bandwagon yet. Don’t get me wrong – the meal was good, and the three of us had a great time together, but I think that the dishes could use a little more refinement to really push Ela over the edge so that it can join the ranks of Bibou and Fond. Right now, I put it just under Talula’s Garden in my book – Talula’s doesn’t have as many “tricks”, but does a better job with flavor depth and balance (and its sweets and cheeses absolutely crush dessert every time!) But I’ll keep an eye out for Ela, as I’m sure Cichonski’s going places.
after dinner sneeze 