Out of Town Eats: New Haven - Bar

Welcome foodies! As the Foodie Finders NYC Crew continues our food filled road trip, we stopped off at Bar, known for their mashed potato pizza.    

This unique starch-on-starch combo was excellent. Only available in full pies, customers are encouraged to customize their pizza. The most common creation is a white pizza, topped with mashed potatoes and bacon. Of course, that is what we ordered. I would recommend this thin crust specialty to anyone looking for a pizza topping twist. I'm looking forward to mix it up even more next time - I'm thinking a sprinkle of cherry peppers sounds like fun!

-Mike

Out of Town Eats: New Haven - Geronimo's

Hola foodies! The Foodie Finders NYC Crew is on the road again, and this time we are visiting some college food hot spots. The Yale University area is chock full of good eats. Today, we stopped off at Geronimo's for some great southwestern fare - which is worth the trip for the guacamole alone. 

The guacamole was the clear star of the meal. If you want to take it to the next level, add roasted corn and Applewood smoked bacon. Sometimes I find that when it comes to guacamole, add-ins can get a little gimmicky, but in this case I couldn't be more wrong. The bacon and corn perfectly complimented the fresh and creamy avocado. With the bacon craze taking over the food community, It makes me wonder why more people don't add bacon to guacamole. 

Another great offering was the selection of Navajo Frybreads. I really enjoyed the Chorizo and Fig Frybread. Flakey dough, sweet fig puree, and smokey sausage add up to an excellent appetizer. 

Next up, nachos! More specifically, pork pibil nachos. Pork pibil is generally a slow roasted pork preparation, originating in the Yucatán Peninsula. This version had a rich sweetness that juxtaposed the spiciness of the raw jalapeños on top.  Overall, it was a delicious dish. 

Lastly, we ordered the Smoked Buffalo Brisket Tamales. The buffalo meat was very salty on its own, but when eaten with the pickled onions and tamale, the flavors meshed together well. 

Time for something sweet! The Tres Leche cake was a great creamy and moist option. 

Geronimo's was a fun stop on this road trip. My number one recommendation is to order the roasted corn and bacon guacamole (and get some pork pibil nachos while you're at it!) 

-Mike 

Buddakan - NYC Restaurant Review

Hi foodies! I recently enjoyed an awesome meal at Buddakan. Below I have featured the best dishes of the night. Enjoy these beautiful photos! 

Edamame Dumplings

The savory edamame dumplings was a clear standout dish of the meal. They taste even better than they look.

Hoisin Glazed Pork Belly

What is better than a doughy steamed bun? A doughy steamed bun filled with sweet pork belly topped with spicy shallots for a subtle kick.

Szechuan Pork Dumplings

I love dumpling that explodes in your mouth. The rich meaty broth from these pork dumplings really hit the spot.

Chilled Udon Noodles

During an amazing meal, it is always nice for a change of pace to enjoy a cold savory dish. The chilled udon noodles served that purpose well - which only gets better when the lime sorbet on top melts into incredible peanut sauce.

Glazed Alaskan Black Cod

To restore some heat in this meal, I enjoyed the Glazed Alaskan Black Cod. The sweet and nutty miso glaze really made this a spectacular dish. 

Passion Fruit Meringue

The creative architectural layout of the Passion Fruit Meringue is an excellent reflection of unique flavor and texture of these dishes. This is an absolute party for the taste buds.

Almond Bread Pudding

This "hot mess" of a dessert is a rich and warm way to end of spectacular meal. The fresh bananas cut through the rich caramel sauce perfectly. 

I hope you enjoyed this review. I highly recommend Buddakan to anyone ready for a flavorful adventure. Happy holidays and happy eating!

-Mike

Happy Thanksgiving 2014!

Thanksgiving weekend is coming to a close and the supply of leftovers is starting to run low. At this time, I wanted to take a moment to share my Thanksgiving menu.

This year, my Roast Turkey is inspired by a cooking class at De Gustibus with the Scotto Family. They made their turkey by using an herb butter mixture and rubbing it between the skin and the meat. In addition to making great tasting turkey, the left over butter is absolutely delicious on a toasted piece of bread. 

 Every year, I struggle to find a delicious gravy. This year I made a Bacon-Shallot Gravy from Food & Wine November 2014. It was very good, but not the best. I think next year, I will try another recipe in pursuit of the perfect gravy. 

Yet another must-have dish is Tyler Florence's Roasted Sweet Potatoes w/ Chorizo. The hardy potatoes and the smokey chorizo is an undeniably sensational combination. 

The Green Salad w/ Basil Green Goddess Dressing is also something I have never made before. This dressing from Ina Garten is excellent, but I must confess I am partial to anything with anchovy paste. 

The Sour Cream Corn Bread is another recipe from Ina Garten. Not only is it amazing on its own, but is great the morning after, totally smothered with jelly. 

Everybody has cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving, so why not mix it up? This Roasted Cranberry Sauce w/ Herbed Candied Pepitas is a unique interpretation of this holiday classic. The pepitas (pumpkin seeds) provides an awesome sweet crunch to the tart dish.

No matter how much turkey you eat, there is always room for dessert. And of course what is Thanksgiving without pumpkins? Martha Stewart's Pumpkin Bread is a delicious way to end a meal.

Apple Pie is always a classic, but this year it was time for a little change. The Cranberry and Apple Cake was excellent. My only complaint was that there were too many cranberries and not enough apples. Next time, I would add more apples to counteract the tartness.

If you would like any of these recipes, leave a comment or email me at foodiefinders@ldsllc.com. I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving! 

-Michael Crawbuck

Floyd Cardoz on Non-Oxidizing Avocados, Bacon Dust and More

Floyd Cardoz, executive chef of North End Grill and winner of Top Chef Masters Season 3, brought a wealth of culinary knowledge to De Gustibus Cooking School last week. Chef Cardoz kept the audience captivated by both the smells from his creations up on stage and with the interesting tips and stories from his years of experience in the kitchen.

De Gustibus service and ambiance was on par, as usual. But more importantly, Floyd's food was incredible. Among the highlights of the demonstration was the Albacore Tuna Melt. On top of this Tuna Confit with mayonnaise and chili sauce was bacon dust. This dust is an amazing concept used to incorporate bacon flavor in a new way. To make bacon dust, you just render the fat out of a good chunk of bacon and then grind it up.

Albacore Tuna Melt

The Crab Cocktail with Pumelo and Avocado was another delicious dish. I believe the number one cooking tip from this demonstration was related to avocados. When making guacamole or just slicing up some avocado for a salad, have you ever worried about it oxidizing and turning brown? Most cooks have run into this problem, but Floyd shared his solution that has yet to fail him. By taking an avocado and rubbing off the outer green layer until you see yellow, an avocado will not turn brown for hours. He learned it by watching one of his cooks use this method, and no one knows how or why the avocado does not oxidize.

Crab Cocktail with Pumelo and Avocado

And now enjoy some mouth watering photos of this awesome meal!

Kale Salad with Spelt and Apple

Slow Cooked Halibut

Roasted Chicken with Warm Bread Panzanella

 

Roasted Chicken with Warm Bread Panzanella

 

Butterscotch Pot de Crème with Chocolate Streusel and "Single Marshmallow"

 

 

Most of these dishes are either served at North End Grill now, or will be featured in Floyd's next cookbook. Also, if you find yourself at North End Grill soon be sure to ask to go up top to their roof top garden, with a great view of 1 World Trade Center as well as The Statue of Liberty.

Happy Holidays!

- Mike

Hiroko Shimbo and Chikara Sono's De Gustibus Cooking Class

Welcome foodies! Less than a week ago, I experienced a Japanese Kaiseki meal, thanks to the culinary duo of Hiroko Shimbo and Chikara Sono. Hiroko -- who shares a striking resemblance in appearance and in spunky personality to Edna Mode from Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles -- is a cookbook author whose most recent book is Hiroko's American Kitchen. Chef Sono works at Michelin starred restaurant Kyo Ya.
So what exactly is a Japanese Kaiseki meal? Best compared to a tasting menu, it is a meal with a series of small portions. Traditionally, it is prepared in the order of an appetizer, a sushi roll, a soup, a grilled fish, a simmered dish, a dish with rice, and a dessert. For the purpose of this cooking class, the meal was shortened to a meal of a sushi roll, a grilled fish, a simmered dish, a dish with rice, and a dessert.

The sushi course was made by Chef Sono. He prepared Salt Cured Tasmanian Salmon Trout Sushi in a Bamboo Leaf (Tasumania Samon no Sasamaki-zushi). The star of this dish was the unique and exotic rice in the sushi. It was seasoned with a vinegar mixture, pickled ginger, white sesame seeds, and shiso leaves. To bring this dish to the next level, he wrapped the sushi up in a banana leaf -- a perfectly packaged present for the taste buds.

Next, chef Sono cooked a Miso Marinated Black Cod (Gindara no Saikyo-yaki). It was garnished with sauteed mushrooms and celery, a mountain berry, and chestnuts boiled in a simple syrup. The chestnuts provided a spectacular nutty nuance to this earthy dish.

The simmered course was prepared by Hiroko Shimbo. Her delicious Sake Braised Short Ribs with Winter Vegetables included cipollini onions, prunes, swiss chard, and fried sweet potatoes that were cut into the shapes of autumn leaves.

For the rice course, Hiroko also prepared Chorizo and Shrimp rice. For such an easy recipe, the dish was remarkably complex and sophisticated.  

For dessert, Chef Sono demonstrated how to make a Sesame Paste-Milk Kuzu Jelly with Strawberry Sauce (Mineoka Tofu no Ichigo Sosu). It was an interesting dessert, for the pudding itself was not too sweet, but it was offset by a pool simple syrup and an outstanding strawberry sauce. On the very top was a sake cream that added a refreshing punch to the dessert.

Hiroko Shimbo and Chikara Sono taught a wonderful De Gustibus Cooking Class. Both of them created an awesome meal, using each plate as a canvas for their culinary and artistic expression. 

Find more mouthwatering pictures on Foodie Finders NYC's Facebook and Twitter pages and be sure to leave a comment if you want any of these great recipes.

-Mike

De Gustibus Cooking Class with Gabrielle Hamilton

Hello foodies! It is always a joy to be at De Gustibus Cooking School. Each culinary adventure is unique, but one constant from all classes is wonderful feeling of being immersed by true food lovers. Every chef brings a wealth of knowledge and their own perspective on food. Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune brought her witty, down to earth personality to garnish her worldly preparation of food.

Gabrielle's menu was stunning, inspired by a few distinct regions that she has visited in her many travels.The amuse bouche was called Bagna Cauda. This preparation included oil and anchovies simmered with raw garlic added at the very end, to give the amuse bouche a sharp punch. Bathing in this oil was red cabbage, whole scallions, radish and endive. The Bagna Cauda was a great way to start this "Pruney" meal, as Gabrielle would say.

The next dish is among the best things things I have ever eaten. Black Fideos Sopa with Sepia and Sepia Ink. The Fideos Sopa was a beautiful balance of smokey and tangy flavors. This Spanish dish included fideos noodles in a smoked tomato mixture, topped with an aioli. Next to it was tender sepia (cuttlefish) in its own ink.The fideos noodles come in a variety of sizes. For this dish, Gabrielle used the smallest available option, #1. Other chefs and recipes say that if you cannot find these noodles, broken up vermicelli pasta is a suitable substitute. Gabrielle disagrees and feels that you should not replace the fideos noodles because there is a big difference between the fideos noodles and the broken up makeshift noodles.In making the sauce, she smoked the tomatoes. Being indoors with no smoker, she made her own smoker by putting wood chips in a pot and then covered it with foil. Next she placed her whole peeled tomato inside followed by the lid. This is such a great option for those who have no other way to smoke their foods.

The following course was The Warm Greek Salad. This dish was a step above a typical Greek salad. The dressing was blended feta cheese with a little water and oil. Mixed with the dressing was gently warmed green pepper rings, cucumbers, onions and tomatoes.

The main course was Pigeon with a Parsley Vinaigrette. This delicious pigeon was served along side of the roasted mixed onions and charred okra with onion butter. These veggies were awesome thanks to the onion butter. Prepared with ease, Gabrielle boiled the layers of red onion in water creating onion water, then added butter and reduced it. Yum!

As if the meal could not get better, Gabrielle Hamilton made Breton Cake. This slice of heaven was crunchy on top with a fluffy, moist inside. It was a long process of folding layers of sugar in this buttery dough. The love in between each layer was complimented with a subtle sweetness. I now know what I will be making for the holidays.

Gabrielle taught an amazing class and now I can't wait for my first visit to Prune soon!

Moreover, among the many interesting topics Gabrielle touched upon was food T.V. It was asked why she does not appear on television more often and she explained that she does not like the impact of these shows. Many people do not know difference between the job of a celebrity chef entertaining on television and the job of a restaurant chef cooking in a hot kitchen with horrible hours. There is a new food generation rising that will be will be very distinct from the former with new goals of being celebrity chefs. Do you agree? Is food TV sending the food industry into the wrong direction or is it sparking more food lovers with new potential and innovation? Voice your opinion in the poll on the right side bar of this page and tell us more in the comment section below this post. Vote now before the poll closes on December 14th!

For more pictures check out Foodie Finders NYC on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

-Mike