Kevin72
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I think Feast is a pretty unique dining experience and not something you see everywhere so it's definitely worth checking out if not for a dinner then lunch.
Reef just got named best new seafood restaurant by was it Esquire? Anyways that's something to check out.
Hugo's, Ibiza, or Catalan is someplace to consider also. I haven't been but Voice comes very highly recommended.
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I would think there might also have been a perceived conflict of interest in this particular episode since Batali and (judge) Bastianich were business partners. But I suppose all of that stuff is worked out ahead of time.
I was thinking that too. But it seems like there's been some some other shady judging pairs in the past, no? If I recall correctly, there was a minor quibble with Bakhoum being a judge since she'd worked with one of the ICs before (Flay?). Ted Allen was also a judge on the panel with the Rathbun brothers and Tre Wilcox were challengers and of course Ted and Tre had dealings on Top Chef (not that that would be a bias in Tre's favor but I found it odd to still have Allen there.)
Nothing as overt as a Bastianich/Batali pairing would have been though, you're right.
Oooh, how I'd love to see a Lidia/Batali battle.
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This store, very much in the Central Market mold, opened in the Woodlands back in November. Got a chance to check it out over the holidays.
Highlights:
Friendly, eager to please but still on the learning curve staff
A meat aging locker between the butcher and seafood cases: steaks being hung and dry-aged with dates in and out on them. I thought it was fascinating but I wonder how appealing the more, ah, ripe specimens will look down the line.
Guanciale in the deli section!
Shelled and peeled hazelnuts--I've not seen toasted and peeled hazelnuts anywhere else, normally you still have to roast and rub the little bastards yourself. Wonder if they go rancid quicker though?
Very nice cheese case with a passionate and knowledgeable staff
Lowlights:
It's still wobbly and trying to figure things out. Some fine tuning needed across the board.
Seafood section is pretty woeful.
Wines seemed a little pricey.
It's a pretty big gamble putting a place like this out there and most of the rest of the shops in that area aren't even up and running yet so it's kind of out on its own. For the longest time I kept hearing rumors of a new CM going out there but they finally just put up one of their high-end HEBs instead.
Unfortunately where my parents live it's equidistant to go here or into town to CM and Whole Foods and the latter two will win. Still for those closer to the Woodlands area I think it's a good draw and nicer alternative to going an hour+ into the city. It's got its heart in the right place and I certainly think it's worth pulling for.
ETA Address: 24 Waterway Avenue, The Woodlands 77380, Phone: 281.203.5600
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Thanks for the info.
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It is weird that there was so much ado about fried green beans--you can get them at TGI Friday's, for crying out loud.
One last Mario gripe: that's two back-to-back IC eps where the challenger was steeped in Italian cooking and yet neither took the opportunity to go up against Batali? Weird. Maybe he was tied up promoting the ill-fated Spain show at the time of taping . . .
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I thought it was a solid episode. Good call on sending two home and yes, much as I liked Gene, he had flamed out too many times not to go. Fitting also that 2 of the three bottom contestants from the last ep were let go; it really drove home the point of them just not learning their lessons.
Fabio may soon take the Gene spot in turn (meaning I'm pulling for him but he's not making it easy). I continue to not see Stefan as a bad guy or even a loose cannon; arrogant and sure of himself yes but still utterly professional.
The new judge wasn't nearly as annoying as I thought he'd be.
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Sometimes Marcella amazes me. Most people I know think the marrow is the whole point of ossobuco, and risotto alla milanese requires marrow all the time, not just when you have ossobuco. Marrow was banned during the mad cow crisis, and I'm not sure whether it was ever restored.
Well, to be fair, this is from her first cookbook in the 70s.
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If you do get the marrow out, Marcella Hazan recommends using it in the risotto milanese in place of pancetta.
Chris I don't have the exact temps down for oven braising that I'm sure others here do but I typically do it in the 350-325 F range for a couple hours. The sauce reduces very nicely at that rate.
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Thanks for the shoutout to our group project Chris!
As for thickness there's also traditional recipes for serving the entire shank, slow roasted or braised. I know there's a dish Mario Batali made with a whole veal shank from Rome but I believe there's recipes for it in the far northern states as well.
But Osso Bucco alla Milanese is a study in perfection. Everything works and why mess with it? The gremolata, the rich risotto milanese under it to catch juices (one of the few times you see what's traditionally a primo served with the secondo).
Last time I made this was several years ago and I keep meaning to break it out again, this sounds like a good excuse. It was also my first experience with oven braising something and hooked me on it ever since.
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I'm making my way through season 1 myself and have an ep on deck for tonight. Sadly I'm also planning what drink to serve with it to get me through the day.
All of the little modern no-nos they manage to throw in each episode always get me: the constant drinking, the smoking, but also no seatbelts in cars, there was one scene of kids playing with plastic bags over their heads, the pregnant neighbor drinking and smoking along with everyone.
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Houston, please stop kicking so much ass.
Broken record at this point: another Houston place I've wanted to get to and managed to try over the holidays and once again it didn't disappoint.
Crab Shooters
Sliders
Snapper Carpaccio
Mussels
Split the main: redfish "on the half shell"
Cheesecake and gelato
The crab shooters were a crab leg with a knob of meat at the end stuck in a shotglass with a spicy, briney cocktail sauce. Perfect way to get the juices going.
The sliders were the showstopper here. How weird that a seafood joint damn near perfects them. These are pretty ample, about fist-sized, with a generous amount of patty, cooked rare. Caramelized onions and a sea salt-crusted bun top it off. Worth the trip for these alone. Telltale sign of awesomeness: a trail of grease that runs down the side of your hand and drips off your wrist after the first bite. Apparently Casswell-backed two standalone slider joints are in the works for Houston.
The snapper tartare was perfectly balanced: a fruity olive oil, grainy sea salt, a dab of mint, and the fish itself practically melted when you tasted it.
The only real misfire of the night was the mussels: they come in a Shiner Bock and Ancho broth that was pretty flat and one note. Needed an acid (lime juice maybe) and an herb to balance things out. But the mussels themselves were huge, fat, and sweet. Pity.
The redfish on the half shell comes by its overly gimmicky name for them leaving the scales on and then grilling the fillet skin side down, crusting it over and then you scoop the flesh out. Stunning use of spices here on the fish: it tasted like a tandoori fish (personally I think it should be even called "Tandoori Redfish"). There was a gob of Chinese broccoli on the side and its bracing bitterness cut through the spices of the fish nicely. Finally a deep fried cube of mac-n-cheese. I guess I can't rationally or logically justify its presence on the plate but damn it was good.
Didn't try much of the dessert but I liked the gelato more than the cheesecake.
Very reasonably priced wine list.
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Got the beautiful cookbook for Christmas and have been slowly reading through it ever since.
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Yes, it physically pained me to see all those varieties of seafood and not to be able to get a chance to cook any of them. Those sweet, sweet cannoche, the brown shrimp, the tiny softshell crabs the size of a quarter . . .
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From The Onion AVClub's (great site, BTW) comments on this episode, the judge next week is Toby Young, author of "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People". On his Wikipedia Page, it also has an updated entry saying he is joining TC as a judge.
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What were your favorite Texas restaurants this year? What about other foodie-type experiences? Food trends? Improvements on your local dining and food scene? Let 'er rip.
Favorite Texas Restaurant Meals 2008:
1) Omakase at Zen Sushi (DFW)
2) Stephen Pyles (DFW)
3) Feast (Houston)
Food Trends:
It's geeky but I love the "Salt Bar" additions on at CM Plano.
Farmer's Markets and eating locally appears to be gathering steam across the board.
Not suprisingly the story of the year will probably be the economic downturn and the heavy toll it took on the restaurant scene. I can't find the source now but one of the local papers says 64 restaurants have closed in Dallas this year.
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Five Stars again from the DMN.
Is this Addison's swan song as restaurant critic?
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I think Stefan's still the clear frontrunner, though I'm pulling for Fab.
I was really impressed with him at the start of this episode: even though he was on one of the winning teams last ep, he knew that his dish (the terrine) was one of the worst-regarded and seemed to be taking it to heart and knowing that he had to improve. Plus, despite attempts to make him this year's Hung, he clearly cares about other people on the team. He was consoling Radhika after her duck went bad and trying to talk Gene down when he was getting wound up after judges' table.
Seems like every season there's a "they're not as good as last season" moment, but I think that there still hasn't been enough people eliminated. Once it's down to less than 10 the personalities have more time to emerge and you get clear villains and heroes.
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I thought for sure Ariane was going to get ripped a new one for the "grilled" tenderloin for a one-pot meal. No one got called out on it.
The xmas stuff was cheesy but didn't bother me. Didn't they do it one season where it was shot over Christmas or Thanksgiving and just aired a few weeks later?
Interesting to speculate who would've gone home. Jamie's dish seemed pretty egregious but Gene is in an attitude downward spiral and didn't do himself any favors at the judges' table. He seems to have his his ceiling: he keeps doing ceviche/sushi time and time again.
I'm such a sap because I liked that they all pitched in together and the "reward" was no one going home. As I read on another board, somewhere Hung was scoffing.
**Next week's preview spoilers:**
I like that it looks like they're doing a reset: cook whatever you want. Gets everyone back on the same page after the subpar showing. But they should probably send more than one person home if they're given a challenge like that and still whizz it.
And Fabio's now my hands-down favorite to win for his "This isn't Top Scallop!" remark when it looks like Jamie will AGAIN be cooking with scallops. She's steadily morphed into the villain this year.
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Gene has been someone I liked -- especially the quick-thinking charcoal pit move -- but I don't think he's built to last. Got way too testy and rattled talking to Stefan at the apartment, and his entire concept for that dish was ridiculous. Can't believe he didn't simply re-cook the rice, for one.
Top contenders right now appear to be Stefan, Fabio, perhaps Rick. I would throw Jamie in there sometimes but I'm not rooting for her.
I'm blanking on which one's Rick . . . ?
I totally agree on Gene. I've been (and still am) pulling for him as a dark horse but he's pretty rough around the edges. He seems like a great soldier but hasn't quite made that leap into being a leader yet. And he does seem to have pretty thin skin. There's been a couple instances where someone hugs him or gives him a head rub and you can see this momentary "don't touch me, man" flash in his eyes.
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It almost seems to me like the judges are avoiding the oft-criticized habit of just eliminating team leaders if there's a disastrous outcome. That's twice now where they grilled the hell out of the leader (Gene in this ep and Jeff a few weeks back on the Foo Fighters) but then rooted out the one most responsible for the bad dishes and axed that one instead. Maybe it'll change on Restaurant Wars but I'm glad to see Gene around for a little longer at least over the buffoon.
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Good to hear. The hearts were a close second on what I wanted to pick.
That's a good point about the review. It's hard to know what to do about that. On the one hand people should probably be prepared to see those things on the menu (and that's the appeal for a small but hardcore subset of the dining public) but how to do it without turning them off from the place altogether? What makes it so great is that they have the balls to serve things like, um, balls on the menu. I gushed about it to my parents but I can easily see them being unimpressed or not quite "getting it". If you love meat, if you love animal fat and skin and all that, then this place is for you. But that's pretty opposite of where most of the dining public is, unfortunately.
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Yeah, as mentioned above, I find it a little odd that there would be such a gulf between the three judges finding it one of the best three items prepared and it being so unpalatable to everyone else that it had to be spat out. Completely classless.
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Yeah, Nancy Nichols at D Magazine has been all over it:
It's really a pretty interesting and kinda murky case. Then in today's news on the D-Mag blog she hints at rumors that it's not settled yet. Possibly maybe. Gotta make sure I keep things ambiguous too.
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Potentially closing or closed: Olea Mediterranean Bistro.
My wife just got the following email from them:
"After much thought and consideration we made the tough business decision to close the doors of Olea Mediterranean Bistro.
We appreciate your business and friendship.
We invite you to visit us at
LAVENDOU BISTRO"
Dammit. I really liked that place. Some rough cooking spots but a lovely patio and nice place to have a leisurely and different dining experience.
Ossobuco -- eG Cook-Off 44
in Italy: Cooking & Baking
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I'm looking to go the WF route as well when I make this. But urgh, that price!
It's a white that you braise with but I think this kind of meal screams for a nice red, and you've got a good choice between Veneto and Piemonte, on either side of Lombardia. But if you want to go the white route you've got another neighbor, Trentino-Alto Adige which has many reputable whites as well.