FoodieCuisine.com

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

Sea Bass with Mushroom Risotto

The Tommy Bahama brand is famous for their clothing line but they also have several restaurants around the country.

The other day I had dinner there with several business associates and enjoyed a wide array of appetizers including Chicken Lollipops, Coconut-Crusted Crab Cakes, and Macadamia Nut Encrusted Goat Cheese.  For my entree I ordered the special of Sea Bass with Mushroom Risotto.

The appetizers were all good with a special emphasis on the Coconut-Crusted Crab Cakes.  I really enjoy a light crab cake and the restaurant did not disappoint.  It was lightly pan-fried and full of lump crab meat.

Sea bass can be difficult to cook as people tend to under-cook it but my entree was cooked perfectly with the sea-bass slightly firm throughout.  The mushroom risotto was a bit on the gummy side but the mushroom sauce itself was rich, creamy, and packed with mushroom flavor.  I especially enjoyed the grilled vegetables on the side and look forward to making the dish myself at home soon.

I do not normally care for chain restaurants but Tommy Bahamas had great service, a nice atmosphere, and good food.  You cannot ask for much more in a restaurant and I will be back.

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

Ciao's Crab Cakes

On the way to take the kids to an event the other night we stopped at Ciao’s Italian Restaurant in Downtown Little Rock for a quiet dinner.  Ciao’s has been around for 24+ years and used to be a place I frequented for lunch with my mother when I was near Downtown (she used to work in Downtown.)

Given the age of the restaurant I was admittedly hesitant as many restaurants do not evolve with the tastes of the community.  Luckily, their menu has evolved and the food was quite good!

My son ordered the  Omaha US Prime Steak Special, which is served only Medium Rare, and I had the Maryland Crab Cakes.  For my starter I ordered the Mushroom Soup, and for the table we ordered appetizers of Focaccia Bread and Fried Ravioli.

The Focaccia Bread is served warm and comes with sides of pesto and an olive-oil mix.  It is tasty and a nice precursor to the meal.  The fried ravioli on the other hand reminds me of the fried ravioli you buy at the grocery store from the freezer section.  Hopefully it is not homemade, as someone is wasting their time if so.  It is tough, over-fried, and lacks any flavor.

The Mushroom Soup comes out next and has a strong mushroom flavor to it.  I wish it had larger chunks of mushrooms in it but is tasty nonetheless.  The Maryland Crab Cake entree comes out and surprises me at first as I had envisioned flat crab-cakes, not fried crab-cake balls.  They are lightly fried though and pack a lot of flavor.  I especially enjoy the steamed vegetables and the side of pasta and marinara is a nice touch.  Overall I am happy with the crab-cakes and would order them again.

Everything but the fried ravioli was good and the service made up for any appetizer short-comings.  The staff is very friendly, attentive, and I have nothing but compliments for them.  I look forward to going back.

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

Smoked ribs this last weekend for 9 hours and served them with a homemade sauce from habanero, jalapeno, aleppo pepper, chilis, garlic, onion, tomatoes, sugar, salt, and other spices.  I dry rubbed them and basted with malt, butter, and spice.  Very tasty.

By Todd Barron @ Foodiecuisine.com

Charcuterie Plate

I can count the number of real delis I have been to in the United States on one hand and that is not a good thing.  The skills learned over the last thousand years are slowly but surely being replaced by factories and robo-butchers.  No longer do you go down to the corner-butcher to pickup homemade salami.

Today you get deli meats from a vacuum packed plastic bag at the grocery store with the name of a pig’s cranium on the cover.  The product tastes like the care that went into making it as well.  For the most part, the “deli” meats from the grocery store resemble the food I had in the lunch line when in grammar school, plasticy and tasteless.

Cochon Butcher in New Orleans bucks the trend by making all of their meats in-house.  They make their own salami, porchetta, corned beef, and many other items.  Everything follows the traditions passed down over generations and the resulting flavor is amazing.

I ordered the Charcuterie Plate ($14) along with the “Gambino” Sandwich ($12) while vacationing in the French Quarter over Spring Break.

The Charcuterie Plate comes with a variety of house made meats, olives, and some vegetables.  It both looks and tastes great.  I especially like the dried beef.  The Gambino Sandwich is made also with a mix of house meats and reminds me of other Italian sandwiches I have had, only better.

Overall the meats were all very flavorful, with a deep earthiness to them, and left me wanting to return for more.  I highly suggest trying out Cochon Butcher!

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

Prosciutto wrapped scallops

It’s after 6pm, I’m in the Marriott Hotel by LAX, and we have no idea where to go eat dinner.  I have to wake up at 4pm to make my flight but after one more business call I have nothing to do.  Where to go?

I check with the concierge, who recommends some good places and some bad ones, but still am torn on which one to pick.  As experience has shown me, concierges can suggest horrible locations (it seems hotels are paid to suggest certain names,) so I use my phone to look-up places on Urbanspoon.

We settle on a place called Talia’s Italian in Manhattan Beach.  Using OpenTable we are able to secure a table at 6:30pm.  Perfect!

Google maps messes up and sends me to the middle of a neighborhood, but TeleNav saves the day and we arrive outside at 6:20.  The restaurant is small, very small, but is very welcoming with a fine-dining atmosphere.  We sit at the bar and wait for our table, which is ready in under 20 minutes.

I order the Burrata Caprese ($10) appetizer and the Fresh Diver Scallops ($26) for my entree.  Burrata, is a form of mozzarella cheese which includes mozzarella wrapped around cream.  It is very soft and does not keep long; hence, not being available in most stores.

Burrata is one of my favorite foods, so I am very happy when it arrives.  It’s soft, fresh, and quite tasty.  It is not the best Burrata I have ever had, but it is quite good.

The star of the show arrives later on into the dinner and looks great.  At first I cannot tell what it is but upon inspection I can see how they wrap several scallops in a ring with prosciutto, and hold it all together with a skewer.  They have been grilled and sit atop fresh polenta and spinach.  A lemon/butter/wine sauce fills the bottom of the plate and has been poured over the top of my scallops, with a single slice of lemon on the very top.

The Fresh Diver Scallops taste as good as they look.  They are perfectly seasoned and the char from grilling helps the prosciutto to have the right amount of crunch.  The lemon/butter/wine sauce has a bit of acid to it but is silky smooth from the butter.  I cannot say enough good things about the polenta as it is some of the best I have ever had.  The cornmeal is not grainy, but is smooth, and the spinach helps offset the acid from the sauce.  I love every bit of my dish and cannot wait to make it myself at home sometime!

I highly recommend Talia’s and cannot wait to go back.

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

Chicken Nachos

When in the French Quarter in New Orleans the first thing that comes to mind is not Mexican food.  In fact, the thought of it brings images of vats of grease to mind.  The French Quarter is “dirty” and most restaurants in the immediate area suffer as a result.  There are a few stand-outs but for the most part, Mexican food is something I would avoid.

My wife and I are leaving the Aquarium after  a pleasant visit there and my trusty Zagat application tells me there is a highly rated Mexican restaurant a block away.  Really?  Well, Zagat has been batting a thousand so far so why not?  We head down the street to Felipes Taqueria.

It’s clean on the inside.  That’s the first thing I notice.  I also notice the large sign on the wall telling me what I can pick from.  Felipe’s is not a fancy restaurant where you sit down and order.  Far from it.  You choose your items from the board, tacos, burritos, etc, and then choose your protein such as chicken, fish, or beef.  It reminds me of an upper scale Chipotles.

I order the fish tacos and my wife orders the chicken nachos.  We walk through the line picking out the toppings such as sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, etc. and pay for our food.  I find us a nice table in the corner, before the crowd shows up, and dig in.

The tacos are very fresh, with a lightly fried fish for the meat.  The lettuce is nicely shredded and everything has a great flavor to it, especially after I add the house-made chipotle salsa.  My wife’s nachos have heapings of shredded chicken on top and taste great.  One thing I notice while we are eating are the several locals who show up for lunch.  There are firemen, policemen, nurses, electricians, and various other workers from around the area eating at Felipes.  The food and the clientele all point to one thing: a great local restaurant with reasonable prices.  I will be back.

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

I bought four pork shoulders to smoke this weekend, each 8-11 pounds in weight.  I dry rubbed them all in a spice blend I make and injected them with malt soda (a trick I’ve used many times now.)  I put them in at 6pm on Saturday and here they are at 8am on Sunday.

Two of the pork shoulders were split to test versus cooking them whole.  Everyone like the “bark” on the meat and by splitting them, I hope to generate more barky goodness.

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

My wife and I had a wonderful week during Spring Break in New Orleans.  Here is some of the food I will be writing about in the coming weeks.  I hope you enjoy!