Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

And we thought it was impressive we are givin away a trip to florida! Little did we know, Endolyne Joe’s bartender, Ms. Trixie White, has a sister who is competing tonight to win a million dollars. Catherine, Trixie’s sis will be on tonight’s show, so root for her. She hasn’t told us what she won, so we’ll be glued to the tv while we drink mojitos!

What’s up with Oaxaca at Endolyne Joe’s

In a delicious foray into Mexico, Chef Janel and her crew served up a tasting last week. The menu, featuring food and appropriately paired wines from the Oaxaca region of Mexico will begin on March 5, but here is the down low from the staff tasting.

The appetizers showed terrific range starting with the simple but crowd pleasing tamales with mole sauce. The Chayote Salad was a huge hit, fresh, clean and wonderfully palate cleansing. Chayote, squash and coconut milk vinaigrette–who know these would go so well. Lastly, there was the staff favorite, the Botanas platter.

As you can see, this was an array of tasty morsels, starting with the fresh masa molotes, stuffed with chorizo and potatoes–they were similar to empanadas and topped with sour cream. Then there was a Oaxacan slaw, fresh masa botas stuffed with Oaxacan cheese (its a little like a delicious string cheese). The botas are topped with a warm beet and corn mixture, which gives a bright color scheme to the plate. The grilled nopales salad was fun, especially for those who had not had the cactus vegetable before. There are also the requisite chips and two salsas, all topped off with some spicy pickled jalapenos for that final zing.

Then came the entrees…We started with s skirt steak which was topped with a very vinegar-y salsa, which turned out to match the richness of the meat perfectly. They were served with garbanzo cowboy beans (by cowboy we mean ‘cooked with bacon fat’ Yee-haw!) and red rice. A delicious chile relleno stuffed with goat cheese was next. The crust was great, made of cornmeal for extra crunch, and goat cheese and mozzarella inside. Also, the Chile came with pozole and two salsas. This was a big hit with the staff.

A few other dishes that should get your mouth watering are the leg of pig–slow roasted, shredded and wrapped in a banana leaf, Chicken Mole Negro with the house made mole sauce, and a Veracruzana Rockfish.

Look forward to seeing you at Joe’s!

Brooklyn Menu Tasting at Joe’s

For me Joe’s Brooklyn menu is a perfect fit for the holiday season. All the foods that represent the various ethnic enclaves of 1940s Brooklyn were out in their full glory and we had a few bonus Joe’s twists too. Our first appetizer was the amazing Antipasto plate shown below. I couldn’t even take a picture of all the great things on it. In the foreground you can see the goat’s horn peppers, the cippolini onions, the proscuitto and salami. What you are missing out on is the fig and pinenut agro dolce, the mozzarella balls, the olives and the roasted garlic. The bread on top is from Macrina, and the whole thing is drizzled with balsamic reduction. A perfect share plate for three, or I could eat the whole thing for dinner!

 My personal favorite appetizer was the knish (“They only cost a nickel on the cart outside my school” –my mother), but the crab cakes wooed the crowd of staffers.

The entrees included the traditonal–a steak diane to the inventive. Shown here is the Arugala topped chicken. Stuffed inside that chicken is fig, proscuitto and a staff fav, goat cheese. Underneath is herbed gnocchi in cream sauce.

 

Other great dishes we saw were the latkes and the spaghetti and meatballs. I mention that there is spaghettin on the plate but the true star here was the enormous and amazing meatballs. Perfectly moist and full of flavor, these were not your mama’s meatballs.

 Dessert involved a Brooklyn homegrown favorite, Spumoni. I actually saw fighting for people to get at the pistachio portions! There was also a brownie drizzled with Fox’s (for those who know what it is!) and a classic New York Cheescake. Now that you’ve read the good news on our brand new Brooklyn menu, I give you the bad news: It’s not available to you until November 28th. Happy waiting!

Upcoming Tastings and Menus

So I meant to put this up a little while ago to give you some time to get jazzed about the upcoming menus that I will post tastings of as they come, but alas, here I am posting, and then tomorrow I will head to Coastal Kitchen’s tasting, but that just means you only have a day or two to wait for the pretty pictures and delicious descriptions.

Tomorrow I am heading to Coastal to taste the menu featuring foods from the Basque region of Europe. If you are unfamiliar, the Basque are a unique people living in a mountainous region of Spain and France (their area stradles the border). With the Sea to one side and a fertile valley to the other, Spain to one side and France to another, the Basque cuisine draws from a number of different sources for culinary inspiration. I can’t wait to taste what chef John Mehl (formerly of Atlas Foods) has come up with for us.

 Next week, I will be zipping across town to check out the New Orleans menu at the 5 Spot. General Manager Dave has been working his butt off getting this menu not only up and running, but also totally integrated with a number of philanthropic events. If you have ever wanted to donate money in a unique and exciting way to help out Katrina victims and re-enliven this oh so lively city, Dave will have many ways for you to do that.

Two weeks after that I will be off to West Seattle to explore my own families culinary heritage at the tasting for Endolyne Joe’s Brooklyn menu. With a mother who grew up on Eastern Parkway, I have eaten my fair share of knishes and brisket in my life and can’t wait to taste the versions chef Janel comes up with.

Looking forward to supplying all of you out in blog land with pictures and descriptions to get your mouths watering. Questions? comments? suggestions? Leave ‘em for us!

Setting the Prairie Table at Endolyne Joe’s

Yesterday at Joe’s, our General Manager looked like she had tears in her eyes from the excitement of putting on the Prairie Table menu this fall. Raised by Oklahoma transplants, she told us her memories of tornados and one pot meals, bringing out the inner praire child from all the transplant staff (I’m from Minnesota! Wisconson here! Iowa! Me  too, no way!). Sure enough the foods we ate were the ones that any midwestern child will smile at the memories of and that Coast residents might scoof at, but only because they haven’t tried the Joe’s version.

We started with an appetizer of a pickle plate, because canning and pickling your own crops is a prairie tradition. Similarly, we pickled this all ourselves!

The entrees were equally reminiscent of dinner with the family, back in the day. A one-pot pot roast dinner was a big hit, as was the swedish buckwheat pancakes. My personal favorite (being as I am, a coast dweller) was the Duck on Wild Rice.

This menu will befin on September 12th, so get those taste buds ready!

We Cain’t Say No to Endolyne’s

A while back we had our famous sing for your supper event at Endolyne Joe’s, and two wonderful women not only sang for their supper, but wrote there very own song in honor of Joe’s. When I recieved it here in the office, I felt that everyone else ought to learn the lyrics to. So thank you, Ladies, here is your masterpiece:

We’re just two grilz that c’aint say no.
We’re in a terrible fix
We always say ‘one more to go’
Just when we oughter say nix

When we’re at the bar at Endolyne’s
We always say that we’ll just have a snack
But the menu there at Endolyne’s
Makes us eat as if we were on crack!!!

They say that they’ve ‘home cooking’ there
but at my home, no one can cook like that!
It’s all because of Endolyne’s
It’s THEIR fault that we’re so doggone fat!

They’re breakfasts are so hard to beat
Or course we like their lunch and dinners too
We used to be size eight or ten
Now we’re inching up to twenty-two!

Blame Endolyne’s for our excess
How can we stay looking svelte?
When we must have the tuna melt?
We’ll have to loosen our belt!
We C’AINT say no!!!!

Tasting for Brazil Menu at Joe’s

This here is the grilled pork skewers, a staff favorite from yesterday’s tasting of the Brazil menu which will be coming up on the menu on June 20th. Like much Brazilian food, these included a bit of tropical fruit, with grilled pinapple on the skewers and a chutney-like mango sauce with a hint of spice. Aside from tropical fruit the menu had a lot of traditional Brazilian elements such as heart of palm, yucca (also known as cassava or manioc) and of course some gaucho style steak.

Brazilian food takes inspiration from the native people, the Africans brought there as slaves and the Portuguese settlers, which all combine to delicious and varied cuisine. Additionally the wine list for this menu draws from all of these regions. We tasted an amazing Torrentes wine from Argentina, La Yunta, a unique South African wine, and a few from various areas of Portugal.

 Be sure to check out the new menu June 20th!