A night out while staying in, Mel's Birthday Dinner

Yesterday was Mel's birthday. So seeing as we weren't going to be able to go out to eat, I cooked an 8 course meal for her. Here is what I made:

The first course was blistered cherry tomatoes, basil, brie sauce and crispy prosciutto. The tomatoes were blistered over charcoal on the grill. The brie was melted with cream and milk with thyme and rosemary. The prosciutto was simply cooked until crispy. The saltiness of the prosciutto complimented the tomato while cheese and basil are classic pairings with tomato. The rosemary sprig adds just a touch of earthiness to the tomatoes.

The second course was a take on the Catalan calcots, giant green onions charred over a hot grill (traditionally over old grape vines in Catalonia), then wrapped in newspaper to steam. It is served with romesco sauce. Technically these are cebolitas, as they were to closest thing I could find to giant green onion (sometimes they can be found at farmer's markets). The sauce was tomato, lots of garlic, almonds, bread, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and paprika. It adds a zestiness that contrasts the sweetness that comes through the onion when cooked. The bread is used to sop up the sauce or as a vehicle to eat the calcots.

  Third up was spicy Italian sausage dumpling in a miso-dashi broth. Go figure, Italian sausage marrying with a Japanese broth/soup. But it works. In the sausage was mild/sweet Italian sausage that was mixed with shallots and sriracha hot sauce. It was wrapped in wonton wrappers and then added to the broth to poach. It had this spicy, savory, sweet flavor that was (somewhat surprising) really well balanced.

This was a marinated chicken on "mashed patatas bravas." The chicken was marinated with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and dried Italian herbs in a zip lock bag with the air removed. It was then cooked in the bag in boiling water. The mashed potatoes were my patatas bravas mashed. I boiled then fried potato wedges and tossed them in my spice mixture. I added some cream and mashed them. The brightness of the lemon added a brightness that contrasted the heaviness and spiciness of the potatoes.

Fifth course was a lightly seared steak with a chocolate-red wine sauce and a parsnip puree. The steak was seasoned with salt and pepper, then lightly seared in my cast iron pan and finished on the grill over a low coal. The sauce was dark chocolate melted in red wine with some salt added. The puree was parsnips, a little potato, olive oil, salt, pepper. The brightness of the parsnips contrasted the deep tones of the chocolate sauce. The steak was cooked to medium rare (medium well for Mel). The flavors balance each other nicely.

This was a baked couscous with capers, lemon, mint, and tomato-chili sauce. The sauce was tomatoes, poblano chili, pine nuts, olive oil. The couscous was cooked in boiling water then tossed with the caper, mint, lemon juice and zest. The sauce was added to the bottom of the cocotte and the couscous added on top. It was topped with grated Parmesan and baked at 400. The sauce bubbled up from underneath as it baked and coated the couscous. It was missing a little salt when it was tasted, but once added turned the dish into a winner. The sauce is light, and the lemon and capers brighten everything up. The mint adds an interesting flavor that works well with everything else.

This is a white gazpacho. It is a cold soup. It is made with cucumber, white grapes, almonds, Greek yogurt, soaked day old bread, olive oil, red wine vinegar. It was blended in the blender and then strained through a mesh strainer and chilled in the fridge. It was a nice, light soup that was nice after the heavier, bolder plates in front of it. It really cleaned the palate to get ready for dessert.

For dessert was a blood orange sorbet with a raspberry sauce, frozen raspberries coated in sugar, chocolate grated over top with a little sugar sprinkled over top and a mint leaf. It was great finish to the meal. It was sweet and bright and the flavors blended well together.

So there you are, the 8 course, smaller plates, meal for Mel. It was a fun night and we had fun eating in. She really enjoyed all the courses. But best of all was we could do it together.

Anniversary Weekend

Last weekend Mel and I went up to Montague/Whitehall for a night for our first anniversary. We thought it would be fun to post about the couple places we ate at

The first place we ate at was Dog-n-Suds drive in. I had heard about Dog-n-Suds from my dad for a long time and have had their bottled root beer as well. So it was personally a big treat for me to finally eat at one.

 

It was fun to eat in the car at a drive in like that. Also, the food was pretty good. I got the BBQ pulled pork sandwich. It was pretty good, especially for a fast food place. The bbq sauce was tangy and sweet. It wasnt the best I have had but it was good. The fries and coleslaw were also good. Mel got the double bacon cheeseburger. It was outstanding. It was a little on the greasy side, but hey, it's supposed to be. It puts anything put out by McD's or Burger King to shame. Highly recommend it if you ever get to one. To top it off we both got floats to drink, which was perfect since it was in the upper 80's outside and we had been walking around.

The next day we ate at a little sandwich place called Pekadills. It has sandwiches and ice cream... yum. I got the Peka Deli sandwich. It had ham, turkey, roast beef, jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. The star was the cheese which really added something overall to the sandwich. The bread was good as well. Mel ordered the chicken salad croissant. It was good as well, with the croissant buttery and flaky and the chicken salad dead on. We sat back in a little garden area behind the store which was absolutely beautiful. We then finished with some ice cream, Mackinac Island Fudge for Mel, and Twisted Tennessee Toffee for me. I also recommend this place if you are ever up in that area.

The weekend was fun, being able to get away for a night and hang out and eat some surprisingly good food. It's been a great first year and I know there are many more to come.

Beer City USA

I would like to congratulate the City of Grand Rapids and its Breweries for being voted Beer City USA for 2013. (Just a few of the many logos from around town)

                               


      

In the 616

Last Friday, May 3rd, Mel and I went out to eat at SixOneSix, located in the JW Marriott downtown. It was our first time going and it was for a special occasion. I just passed my CSCS exam. I liked the way the restaurant looked. It was open with a glass wall facing the river, and a unique combination of retro cool and modern sleekness. Service was pretty good. Our server was knowledgeable on the menu and wines. Service was prompt for the most part. They even accommodated Mel when she changed her mind about what she wanted to drink with out any problems. Without further ado, here is what we ate.

 After we had ordered our appetizers, we were brought out a basket of bread and butter. A minute later these two small dishes of shrimp were brought to the table. They were butter poached shrimp with cucumber and basil oil (I believe). I was pretty surprised. The shrimp tasted fresh, without the toughness and rubberiness that frozen shrimp usually have. So I don't know if they were frozen or not. But the shrimp were perfectly cooked. They were tender and sweet, served chilled . The cucumber added a nice lightness and freshness that complimented the sweetness of the shrimp. The oil added just a hint of herbal flavor. It was a pretty nice start to the night.

For our appetizer Mel and I split the Crispy Veal Sweetbreads. In case you are not aware of what sweetbreads are, they are not bread. They are either the thymus gland or pancreas. Usually they are soaked in milk and the membrane removed before being fried. This was the first time I had sweetbreads. I couldn't wait to try them. Mel was a little more apprehensive, but she jumped right in with me. The sweetbreads were fried perfectly. They were crispy on the outside while the inside was not overcooked. They were somewhat sweet, but also reminded me somewhat of pork. In short, they were absolutely delicious. They were served on a celeriac (celery root) puree with maple bacon and micro arugula. The saltiness of the bacon worked well with the sweetness of the sweetbreads and the peppery arugula. The celeriac puree, with pieces of celeriac in it, added a nice lightness that really lifted the dish and contrasted the more intense flavors of the other ingredients. I really liked this and would order it in a heartbeat.

Mel ordered the Otto's Chicken. It was served with cranberry beans, arugula, and andouille sausage. The beans were ok. I didn't think they were special. The arugula added a little bit of green to the plate. The andouille was pretty good. It was better than most I have tried up here, but not as good as the best I have had in New Orleans. The chicken was good. It was pretty juicy and had a nice grilled flavor. For me it was ok. It was chicken with beans and sausage. Don't get me wrong, it was a good dish. Maybe I was just expecting a little more. 

I ordered the Maple Leaf Farms Duck. On top was a crispy duck breast. Below the duck breast was a confit of duck leg. This was on a leek fondue with potatoes. The duck was perfectly cooked. The skin on the breast was crispy and delicious. The leg was buttery and could be just pulled apart. For as rich as duck is (it has much more depth of flavor than chicken or turkey), I thought the fondue would be a little overkill on the heaviness factor. That was not the case. The leek and the fondue actually lifted and lightened up the dish, completely to my surprise. The greens added a little freshness. The potatoes added a much needed starchiness to help cut the heaviness of duck. It was a very successful dish in my opinion. It was surprising how all the components really went together well. My only real complaint was the shape of the bowl. It made it hard to cut through the duck breast. That was about my only complaint. It was very good

For dessert Mel got the Chevre (goat cheese) cheesecake. It was one of the best cheesecakes I have ever tasted. The slight saltiness of the goat cheese really revealed a lot of flavors in it. It also had a hazelnut brittle that added texture and nutty flavor to the cheesecake. It only let down was the seasonal compote. It was heavy on the rhubarb, and Mel was not a fan of that. The cheesecake though was awesone. 

I chose the champagne blood orange sorbet. It was so refreshing with the slightly acidic nature of the blood orange. It was also sweet and the champagne added a nice lightness to the actual sorbet. It came with a little shortbread cookie. I loved this dessert. A perfect end to the meal.

Sorry for the crappy pic. At the end our server brought out these little chocolates. I don't remember what he called them, but it was white chocolate, almonds, and something else. It was a nice little send off to the meal. 

Overall I was pretty happy with SixOneSix. The only real let down, in my opinion, was the chicken. Everything else was at or above what I expected. I definitely recommend dining here. Service was good and the foot was delicious.