Atlas in the Springtime

I had to start this post with this picture. It was so springy and fresh. It is the new pasta for the Spring menu at Atlas which begins on May 7th. It is, I must add, as delicious as it looks. The raviolis are made by La Pasta just for Atlas and have fresh tomato, basil and mozzarella in them. The sauce is light and the vegetables are perfect. Topped with a bunch of basil and served with our new Macrina bread, this is what a spring evening deserves. Or maybe it is this:

That is a Ginger Blossom Mimosa. The house brewed green tea concentrate and shaved ginger root really make the freshness pop in this wonderful drink. The best part is watching the ginger float around in the bubbles. It is sort of like watching a lava lamp.

Tied with the beautiful spring ravioli for the staff favorite was Chicken Under a Brick. It was well loved by all the staff, but for me it had special meaning. This tasted just like a dish my grandmother made (we called it mustard chicken) only if my grandmother had been a professional cook.

This is a chicken breast which is grilled and galzed with a Dijon sauce. Served with Pommes Anna and green beans. Very tasty.

Ahi at Atlas

Last week I got the chance to taste the upcoming “Wild About…” menu, which is the ever stellar Ahi Tuna. The menu is a beautiful mix of the traditional and the new. As usual, of course, we have the special swimmer available breakfast lunch and dinner. Ahi for breakfast doesn’t seem like as much of a stretch as some of the other early morning fish fun we’ve had, but you can’t have been expecting something this spectacular.

There she is, the Ahi Benedict. Aside from being beautiful, it tasted refreshing and delicious, more over it lacked the heaviness general associated with Benedict. No ham or hollandaise in this house.

At lunch we’ll be serving up a classic that we didn’t even want to mess with. Nicoise Salad doesn’t need any adjusting to fit into the rotating monthly menu, as it tradtionally comes with tuna.

Totally traditional, totally delicious. The dinner items follow in a similar vein, with two raw ahi appetizers, one and Asian tartare and the other a poisson cru. For the entrees, Emily will be serving up a spiced ahi on warm potatos and an amazing Ahi pasta with prosciutto.

The 5 Spot goes Summertime in the Florida Keys

The 5 Spot is heading for the sun this summer with a menu featuring food inspired by the Florida Keys. Entirely by coincidence (I swear!) our menu will be starting on April 23rd, which just happens to be Conch Republic Independence day. More on that later, though.

For now, let me tell you about the food. This summer salad was a huge hit, fresh baby arugula dressed in a tangerine cream vinaigrette and loaded with fresh mango, bell peppers and goat cheese.

Given the location of the Keys, seafood was obviously on the menu. A staff (and personal) favorite was the scallops. Grilled and laid over mango sauce, these had just a perfect bite of sweetness. Served with yellow rice and green onions, the vegetables were great–sauteed asparagus and peppedew peppers.

The summery feel continues through out the menu, with another big hit being the Mojo de Asada. Grilled skirt steak is sliced over a lemon dressed arugula salad tossed with fried cuban sweat potatoes and roasted red peppers topped with a mojo sauce made from lime, garlic and herbs.

Come taste summer at the 5 Spot starting April 23rd.

Rome Menu Comes to Coastal Kitchen

“But Rome isn’t on the coast!” We are already expecting to here from all our customers. Really guys, it is like 5 miles. It is nearly on the coast and their food is Coastally inspired, as you’ll see on our menu. The first tasting was yesterday and it was delicious. There were a few classics–Linguine con Vongole e pommodori–that is Linguine with clams, and a few amazing treats–like house cured fish. Some of the dishes were takes on the classics like our Wild Boar Amatriciana, which is made with slow-rendered boar bacon, and others were our own inventions, inspired by the food of the area, like the Halibut Spinaci. What dishes wowed the crowd, though, you ask?

This was the Calamari Fra Diavolo. Literally “brother devil squid”. It is just lightly grilled and served cold, so it has a texture similar to al dente noodles, it was mixed with Mama Lil’s peppers and kalamata olives for a spicy, salty kick. It was a perfect spring appetizer–I bet it would match perfectly with a hefeweizen or other light beer.

In a rare twist of fate, the platter turned out to be the staff’s favorite dish. Packed full of tasty dishes there is no reason it shouldn’t normally be, but this is the first time I remember that happening. Which is cool, because it was a truly great dish.

A wonderful spring medley, this platter has an artichoke up top, filled with lemon pepper aioli, moving clockwise is mussels with orange gremolata, white wine sauce and fresh fennel. Next up is swordfish saltimbocca–meaning it is topped with prosciutto and sage butter. The pasta there is artichoke ravioli with fresh tomato and basil, roasted asparagus with roasted portobello mushrooms and finally roasted lame and potatoes, with creamy polenta in the center. Each flavor was perfectly done, and it all melded together wonderfully. This is made for two people two share, so don’t be intimidated by the size. Just grab a friend and order up.

The Rome menu will begin at Coastal Kitchen on April 23rd.

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!

Opa! To the Hi-Life

The Hi-Life’s Greek tasting last week had a bit of a buzz around it. It doesn’t start until February 20th, but Greek food is commonplace here in America and much loved by many of the staff members. The challange that Chef Robin faced was to transform those classic Greek comfort foods found all over the world into dishes that reflect the individual style of the Hi-Life. She did a wonderful job, each dish was presented to oohs and ahhs of the staff. Flavors that we knew we certainly present, but each dish was a journey from island to island.

The spring salad was garnished with cucumber wrapped quail eggs and fried potatoes, which gave it a richness that was cut through by the pickled red onions. For those of you who have had Kaseri flash-fried before, Robin took this to a new level, serving it with roasted red grapes and brandy flambeed figs, served up in a fried grape leaf (which makes for a tasty munch).

Of the small plates, my favorite was the Skordalia stuffed artichoke.

Half an artichoke is steamed, then stuffed with skordalia, a thick, garlicky mixture, then served with lemon parsley oil. For seafood lovers, in honor of Greece being an island nation, there is a small plate of squid two ways, which I enjoyed, one of them being grilled, the other being fried, all served with an olive and fried lemon salad.

 The large plates were equally impressive, featuring mountains of seafood, classic cuts of lamb and pork, and the crispiest, most delicious chicken in town.

Stuffed with mizithra cheese, golden raisins, greek sausage and pinenuts, this was amazing. An entire chicken comes on this, along with saffron rice, watercress and a red pepper coulis. As I mentioned to another staffer, the Hi-Life has an amazing way with chicken.

Cruisin’ Route 66 to the 5 Spot

That’s right…We’re cruising from Chicago to LA and stopping at Americana all along the way. Start the trip with a an Old Fashioned Tomato Soup and then make a pit stop in Texas for some Mega Onion rings. Both were staff favorites at the tasting yesterday. Updated american classics abound on the menu, and it was like going back to childhood and eating everything–only better, fresher version with locally sourced ingredients! Chicken and Dumplings was the best example of this. Made from the 5 Spot’s legendary biscuit batter, these blew the top off of those little doughy things you’ve had before.

The favorite that won our tastebuds, though was the New Mexico vegetarian entree. A chile relleno stuffed with ranchero cheese is paired with a chimichanga stuffed with chipotle rice. It was heavenly. Came with red bean chili and charred corn salsa. If you’re feeling a little meatier, check out the 14 ounce ribeye (yeah, that is Texas again) with delicious garlic red potatos.

Overall though, the staff was most impressed by dessert. And as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Peru Menu Tasting at Coastal Kitchen

So I could be a little biased, given that I lived in Peru for a while. And given that I pushed very hard for them to do this menu (Peruvian food? Really? Peruvian seafood? They asked). But I got to go to the tasting and it really was as good as I had hoped for. As has been pointed out, our rotating menus are not trying to be expertly faithful to the cuisines they feature, but rather to do food which evokes the essence of the area. Chef John did a terrific job of this, I was hit with waves of nostalgia as I dug into the ‘papa relleno’–a potato mashed and mixed with meat, then fried–appetizer. Other dishes were further from the fold, but all were excellently prepared and had me very excited for January 23rd, when the menu will begin.

Chef John went daring on this menu and served up a terrific “Pulpo al yerbe” octopus appetizer, but the staff favorite on the appetizers was hands down the peruvian cebiche.

A big mound of fresh albacore, tossed in a lime and cilantro marinade, it was served flanked by avocado as well as house made yam and purple potato chips. Delicious, fresh tasting, it was a huge hit with the staff.

Moving on to the the entrees, there were delicious tamales, potatos huancaina and other dishes which reminded me of my time in Peru, but there was one that made me giggle with delight as I remembered sitting around in dive-y chifas in Lima. Luckily the rest of the staff giggled too, them with delight at the tastiness of the dish. Again, a hands down winner with the staff.

A bed of our flavorful ‘Peruvian Rice’ is topped with steak, sauteed with onions and tomatoes in a classic Peruvian dish, inspired by the many Chinese immigrants and served everywhere in Peru. The sauce is soy, garlic and ginger and is quite tasty. Its topped with shoestring potatos.

It was a very tasty tasting and I can’t wait for it to start on January 23rd, so get your last Basque meals in and get ready for Peru.

Paris Tasting at the Hi-Life

When you say Paris it conjures up the image of street side cafes, of bistros and brasseries, food as a focal point in social life. It certainly lived up to that reputation at yesterday’s Paris menu tasting at the Hi-Life. Because of Thanksgiving scheduling, you only have to wait a week to taste this one, it will be going up next Wednesday, December 5th.

One of my favorite aspects of this menu was the downright winter-i-ness of it. Each item made you feel cozy and warm, which, as we in Seattle know, makes for a good end to a grey day. Obviously I can’t tell you about all the dishes but I’d love to point out some favorites. We have what is being called a “petite frites” which is basically a mini-steak frites. This was perfectly cooked hanging tender accompanied by the tiniest fries you’ve ever seen. A fantastic winter warmer appetizer was the Roquefort stuffed apple. Warm and creamy Roquefort (a high quality blue cheese) and walnuts areinside a perfectly baked apple–just soft, not mushy. As you can see below, this is served with a classic Paris item, a baguette. 

Moving onto our platters, there is a whole chicken that was, as the chicken always is, well recieved, but my personal favorite was the whole duck. The thighs are confit, and they flambe the whole thing and serve it in cognac cream sauce with potatoes and spinich. But I wanted to include a picture of the holiday color perfect buckwheat crepes. Ooozing with gruyere and sorrel, these crepes make for an excellent bite, but the dark of the buckwheat combined with the bright red of the beet chips was so beautiful. Combined with the white beans and the green of the kale, and this made for a holiday photo. The best tasting one I’ve seen in a while. 

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!