Clambake Results

Yesterday, after attending a class on Italian wines, it was time to go to the special Clambake at Savory Tastes Cafe, cohosted with Harpoon Brewery. Like the prior special dinners hosted at Savory Tastes Cafe, this was also an excellent meal. Except for the fact that I dislike beer. I have never acquired a taste for beer so I won't really comment on the beer pairings. For me, the food alone was reason enough to go to the clambake.

We began with the Amuse Bouche, a Grilled Shrimp with Pico de Gallo. This was a tasty shrimp with a bit of spicy sauce. Definitely could have eaten plenty more of the shrimp.

The 1st Course was a Baccala Cake with Remoulade Sauce. This is a salt cod cake, with potatoes. It was thick, with a nice crispy exterior and a soft, tasty interior. An excellent dish and Chef Bell stated it would end up on his fall menu. Glad to hear that.

Next course was Fish and Corn Chowder. This has been on the menu before and is one of my favorite chowders at the restaurant. The chowder is chock full of fish and roasted corn. It is not an overly creamy chowder so it is a lighter dish. Lots of flavor we had a good-sized bowl.

Our salad courses was next, the Salade Fruits de Mer. This consisted of greens topped by Scallops, Countneck Clams, Mussels and Crabmeat. The seafood is obviously fresh and I really enjoyed the smoky Mussels. A nice mix of tastes which pleased everyone at my table.

There was a brief Intermezzo, some Lemon Sorbet. It was a bit tart, as expected, and was a good palate cleanser.

Our fourth course was the Steamed Lobster, Steamed Clams, Corn on the Cob, Potatoes Bravas & Coleslaw. A nice whole lobster with melted butter. The shells were actually fairly soft so it was easy to get at the sweet meat inside. The steamers were tender and tasty. The corn was sweet and the potatoes spicy. This was a large plate of food. Sure it was a bit messy but they provided plenty of napkins and wet-naps.

Finally, dessert was Homemade Bread Pudding. This was a superb dessert, made from croissants. I generally do not like raisins but this was made with yellow raisins which are very different from black ones. They were sweet and complemented the bread pudding. I definitely would like to see this available on this regular menu.

I did have a bottle of wine with my dinner, the 2003 Limerick Lane Zinfandel. I have had this wine before and always enjoyed it. It is a small production wine and definitely an artisan wine. Always a good choice.

Another excellent dinner at Savory Tastes. And I was told that they will be having another special dinner in September. Stay tuned for details!

Savory Tastes Cafe
601 Main St. (Route 28)
Reading, MA
Phone: 781-942-8287

Midwest Grill: Saugus?

The Midwest Grill in Inman Square in Cambridge is one of my favorite restaurants. It is a Brazilian rodizio restaurant, an all-you-can eat carnivore's paradise. Skewers of grilled meats, including chicken, sirloin, pork, sausages, lamb and much more, are brought to your table. Your server slices off the meat you desire and keeps bringing new skewers until you can't eat any more. They also have a couple buffet with salad, rice, potatoes and Brazilian sides. The food is absolutely delicious! Service is excellent and it is a good value.

Today, while watching the Phantom Gourmet, I was thrilled to hear that a new Midwest Grill will be opening in Saugus! That will make it even more convenient for me to visit. What great news. I don't have any more details at the moment. I don't know where it will be located, but it is possible it could be on Rt.1. There is a lot of construction work being done near where the Diplomat used to be located.

When I learn more, I will update you. I just can't wait!

Pure Flavor: A New Pacific Northwest Cookbook

Last year I visited Seattle and had an incredible culinary adventure in the Pike Place Market. I wandered around the Market, sampling delicious food from many different vendors. One of the highlights was a stop at Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, an artisan cheese shop, owned and operated by Kurt Beecher Dammeier. You could watch them making cheese, mixing it in a large vat. They also had a superb Macaroni & Cheese, one of the best I have had.

So, I was excited to see that Kurt Beecher Dammeier had written his own cookbook which was just recently published.

Pure Flavor: 125 Fresh All-American Recipes from the Pacific Northwest ($32.50) by Kurt Beecher Dammeier with Laura Holmes Haddad is published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House. Pure Flavor is a hardcover book with 256 pages. As the title indicates, it contains 125 recipes. It is broken down into nine chapters including Soups & Sandwiches, Salads, Pasta & Grains, Fish & Shellfish, Poultry & Meat, Vegetable & Sides, Sweets, Breakfast, and Basics, Sauces & Spreads.

The cookbook concentrates on local foods available in the Pacific Northwest region. The idea is that great local ingredients contain "pure flavor" and that recipes should showcase this pure flavor rather than conceal it. So, the recipes are generally simple, using few ingredients. These ingredients are intended only to enhance the flavor of the main ingredient. It is also important to select one's ingredients seasonally, to capitalize on what is fresh.

Shopping locally and seasonally for food is certainly a prominent idea in the culinary realm. In Massachusetts, we certainly have the opportunity to do so as we have many local products from which we can choose, from seafood to artisan cheeses, to an abundance of vegetables. So the concept of this cookbook certainly is appropriate.

This then raises the issue, is Pure Flavor only of value to those who live in the Pacific Northwest? No, it is not. First, plenty of the recipes use ingredients that can be found all over the country. Or minor substitutions can be made. Second, the cookbook actually provides a list of stores in the Pacific Northwest region, with contact information and websites, from which you can order foods and ingredients you might desire. Third, the cookbook contains more than just recipes.

Pure Flavor has numerous sidebar articles on a variety of foods and stores. You will find articles on such matters as Cheese Substitutions, Tomatoes, Crab, Framed vs Wild Fish, Natural Foods and more. There are also articles on local wineries, food markets and artisan food makers. Contact information for all of those is provided. All of these articles are very interesting.

What about the recipes? Generally these recipes are simple to prepare and cooks of any experience level should have no problem preparing them. Each recipe is easy to understand and there are plenty of colorful photographs of some of the recipes. One interesting part of many of the recipes is the "Make Ahead" section. This section tells you how long you can make the recipes ahead of time, and how long they will last in the refrigerator. This is certainly a time saver.

I have found a number of recipes that I would definitely like to try. They have their recipe for their World's Best Mac & Cheese. The cheese sauce in this recipe is versatile and you can use it in many other dishes as well. There is a recipe for Butter-Steamed Clams. As we often can obtain local clams, this would be an good recipe to make. There is also the Lemon-Harissa Chicken, Lamb Stew, Rustic Blue Cheese Mashed Potatoes, and Apple-Pecan Stuffing. All definitely enticing. For dessert, there is the Giant Snickerdoodle. I love Snickerdoodles so this may be one of the first recipes I try. Though I am torn by the Deep-Dish Cinnamon Buns. There is an excellent photo of these which makes my mouth water.

I do recommend Pure Flavor. It is easy to use, has plenty of intriguing recipes, contains some interesting articles and is visually appealing.


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Disclosure: I received a review copy of this cookbook from Random House. I was not under any obligation to actually review it. And if I did review it, I was under no obligation to say anything specific about this book. Everything was solely at my discretion.

2002 Whitman Cellars Narcissa Red

Whitman Cellars was started by John Edwards and Larry & Sally Thomason in 1998. The name of their winery derives from Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, a brave and idealistic young couple who traveled west to set up a Christian mission amongst the Cayuse people in the 1830s. Narcissa was one of the first women to cross the Rocky Mountains and make it to Walla Walla. The Whitman's unfortunately brought disease with them which killed many Cayuse. The Whitmans were killed and their mission was destroyed.

Whitman Cellars makes traditional Bordeaux and Rhone style wines. They currently produce Viognier, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, a port, and three proprietary blends called "Narcissa", "Killer Cab", and "Del Rio Red". Fruit is sourced from 19 different vineyard blocks in the Walla Walla and Red Mountain appellations. These appellations offer a wide range of flavor profiles which are used in their blending. They only produce about 5,000 cases a year.

The 2002 Whitman Cellars Narcissa Red ($24) is a Bordeaux style blend made of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, and 3% Cabernet Franc. It was aged for 18 months in French, American and Hungarian oak. I first had this wine last year while vacationing in Seattle. I very much enjoyed it and bought some to take home.

The Narcissa is very much a Bordeaux style wine. It has a nice, aromatic nose with a tinge of violet. It is a powerful wine though not a fruit bomb in the least. There are some rich dark fruit flavors but also some black pepper and cocoa. It is a smooth wine, with mild tannins, and a lingering finish. There are layers of complexity making this an excellent value for the price. A fine expression of what the state of Washington can do with wine.

A highly recommended Drink & Buy.

Icarus

Boston Restaurant Week ends today, though a few restaurants will continue their special menus for the rest of the month. I went to Icarus this evening, a restaurant I have never denied at before. Located on Appleton Street, just off of Tremont St., it is easy to find and they have valet parking.

When you enter the restaurant, there is a small bar at the front and then a dining room, basically split in half by a divider. The room is elegant and very stylishly decorated. Definitely the type of place that would impress a date.

They had a limited menu for Restaurant Week, which is in effect until August 26, though. There were about 5-6 choices for appetizer and entree, and 3 for dessert. The menu had many interesting choices. You could also get half glasses of wine with each course for $15 more, or full glasses for $30. The wine selections were pre-chosen for each course.

I began with the Corn Chowder, Crispy Bacon and Scallops. This was a very good chowder, with smoky bacon pieces and tender scallops. My wife has the Crisp Polenta, Braised Azuluna Veal Breast, Black Truffles, and Parmesan. This was a supern dish. The veal was very tender, and had a different flavor than the veal I am used to. Azauluna veal is from milk-fed, free range calves, a more humane way. The polenta was moist and crisp and all of the flavors went very well together. I would order this as an entree. A good way to start our dinner.

I did not get the wine pairing but instead ordered a glass of the Verdad Rose. I like this wine and it was very good, and chilled properly. My wife did get the wine pairing and had a Benzinger Chardonnay. A bit oaky, my wife still enjoyed the wine.

For her entree, my wife ordered the Pan-Fried Sunburst Trout, Pecan Brown Butter, and Bright Lights Chard. Another excellent dish! A large piece of moist fish with a delicious sauce and lots of pecans. This dish came with a Cooper Mountain Pinot Noir which was a fine Pinot, more of a Burgundian wine with nice fruit on the palate.

My own entree was disappointing. I had the Roasted Berkshire Pork Loin, Corn Pudding & Watermelon Salad. There were two small slices of pork. It was ok, but nothing you could not get anywhere or even cook at home. The corn pudding was also ok, but nothing special. And the watermelon salad consisted of sweet chunks of watermelon but mixed with peanuts. That is not a good pairing. Very strange. I was hoping for a much more exciting entree.

I also had a glass of their red Sangria. It also was just ok. It had a strong alcohol flavor.

Service was excellent. Our waiter was courteous, personable and he was not overbearing or pushy.

Overall, I enjoyed this restaurant and I would return. I would not order the pork loin again, but would order any of the other dishes we had. Especially the veal.

Icarus
3 Appleton St.
Boston, MA
Phone: 617-426-1790