Katie Meadow
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Posts posted by Katie Meadow
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Ae Oche
Zattere Ponte Lungo
Dorsoduro
Il Refolo
Campiello del Piovan 1459
Santa Croce
Let me start my saying that my standards for pizza are disgustingly high because we've been making our own pizza about every other week for years, and thanks to some great suggestions on a pizza thread here we are closing in on that ideal crispy thin crust. Lacking that wood-fire taste we're doing as best we can.
So. I would say that at least 75% of all pizzas I had growing up in New York were better than Ae Oche. It's popular, I'll say that, mostly with the students in the Dorsoduro. The pizza was just plain bad. Soggy.
Il Refolo was better, and the little square by the canal was a pleasant place for lunch. The salad was run-of-the-mill. We chose a pizza with radicchio and buffalo mozz. Their technique was interesting--the shredded radicchio and the buff. went on after the pizza was done, so they were uncooked. Strange, but interesting. The crust was mostly crisp, and it was cooked well and was pretty tasty. Not great, but far better than Ae Oche. Maybe Venice just isn't a pizza town. I would have thought to see more seafood on pizza--like vongole or cozze pizza, but didn't see any.
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Ai Quattro Ferri
Calle Lunga S. Barnaba 2754a
Dorsoduro
I would not recommend this restaurant. It was a short walk from our hotel, and by the end of our trip my mother, who is 89, was really tired, so we didn't want to stray far in the evenings.
I had the verdura mista, and it was pretty good. The three of us shared a large branzino. They brought us the fish to approve and it did look very nice and fresh. Then they brought it out for us right after it was grilled, and it still looked good. Then, before I could say anything, they whisked it away. Ten minutes later it came back, looking like a big mess and no longer hot. For us stupid Americans they deboned and beheaded the fish. They weren't very artful about it and, to add insult to injury, they overcooked it as well. I saw an Italian table served a fish with its head still on, which is how I would have preferred it. This restaurant does not take credit cards and our fish cost 75 euros, which seemed steep to me for what we got. Dessert was also a mixed bag. It was sweet wine and cookies. The wine was rather nice, but the cookies were lousy.
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Da Alberto
(address etc upthread)
I loved this place. We easily made a reservation the day before for a Friday night dinner, but found ourselves in the neighborhood at lunchtime on thursday, so in we went. Only half the tables were full, but it was early.
This restaurant was definitely a great value. My mother had the grilled veggies, and with the exception of the peas, it was totally satisfying. The potatoes were divine--like the frites of my dreams. I wanted more Sarde en Saor, but could only get them as part of the mixed seafood antipasto, so my husband and I shared that. Very very good. The sarde was great, a bit different from the one at Sempione, but equally good. My mother and I both had the special, pasta with red sauce and mussels which was terrific. The sauce was clean and delicate, consisting of fresh halved cherry tomatoes, mussel broth and a little olive oil. The mussels were beautiful, tender, tasty. My mother spent half the trip trying to get "small" pasta instead of spaghetti, like capellini or linguini, and since this was served with a finer pasta resembling spaghettini, she was thrilled. And it was cooked perfectly. My husband, continuing his inkfest, tried the cuttlefish pasta, and it too was great. He spent a certain percentage of the trip with a black tongue. Luckily the goth lip thing fades quickly, since he isn't really the type. The house red at Da Alberto was the best house wine of the trip. I think we had tiramisu for dessert, in our attempt to duplicate the experience at Testiere, but I'm sure no other Tiramisu came close to that. Really lovely restaurant.
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Osteria al Ponte "La Patatina"
2741a Calle dei Saoneri
San Polo
We happened on this little place by accident. We started our day at the mind-blowing fish market (where I got to see those baby crabs live and kicking) and were on our way to the Frari. My mother gets hungry on the early side and as we crossed over the Rio San Polo bridge she declared she needed to eat and there was this Osteria, only one table free. Many of the tables are common family style tables. There were no women inside, and all the men were clearly local working people. By one o'clock the working men were gone and a variety of people started filling tables, most speaking Italian. My mother had spaghetti with clams, which she found very nice, and I had a delicious steamed combo of mussels and clams with a nice broth (not too salty!) My husband had squid w/ink pasta, which was very good, with lots of tender squid, and we shared a vegetable-of-the-day, which was plain pristine spinach, served as usual with cruets of oil and vinegar on the side. They talked my husband into ordering the house tart, made on the premises. It was good, not fantastic. The price was right, food very good, atmosphere great.
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Alle Testiere
(address etc upthread)
My mother had to beg for a reservation and that was three weeks ahead! We managed to secure a 9:15, but had to wait almost a half hour outside before they could seat us. Meanwhile self satisfied (and all English speaking) patrons were leaving and none failed to reassure us it's worth the wait.
It was, in fact delicious. After reading the above testimonials I was thrilled to find they were serving those little crabs. They were serving them "en saor" (just my luck!) and they were kind of amazing. Only four though, just enough to make me wish I had about thirty more. I had a simple spaghetti with vongole for my entree, having decided that it's a dish that sounds easier to perfect than it is. Usually it's too salty or the clams aren't sweet enough. Anyway it was great. My husband hit the jackpot. For an antipasto he had mussels steamed in a very subtle ginger sauce. They were by far the most tender, delicious mussels I have ever eaten. Then he had prawns in some kind of cinnamon sauce, also very subtle but exotic and out of this world.
I'm not much of a dessert person, but we ordered tiramisu and it was the best I've ever tasted--just fabulous. 230 Euros for the three of us.
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Sempione
Ponte Beretteri, San Marco 578
No mention of this on the thread, and we wouldn't have gone there if we had not been invited out by an acquaintance who spent her childhood in Venice and who is a friend of the owners. No way to know if they pulled out the stops for us as a result, but our lunch was very good. Our friend claimed that it's a favorite of gondoliers, who supposedly eat in the back room that looks out over the canal, but I didn't see any working folk in the restaurant, nor were we invited to sit in the room with the view. Sempione started my week-long love affair with the Venetian specialty Sarde en Saor--sardines that have been cooked then marinated for three days with pickled onions and typically served as an antipasto. If you hate pickled herring you probably will not like it. Anyway, their version was delicious--clean and simple, the sardines were firm and the onions crunchy and refreshing. Our hosts and my husband had the polpe (octopus) salad, which was tender and sweet and lovely. My mother and my husband split a vegetable risotto which had great flavor but we thought the rice a little too al dente. My nephew had the branzino, and I thought it was very nice and tasted super fresh, but my two experiences with branzino lead me to believe it's a very bland fish, so if that's not what you are expecting you might be disappointed. I had grilled eel, which was straight-ahead but not fabulous, and not as tender as the freshly caught eel I had from the northern CA coast. Our host had the pasta in house sauce (seafood) and reported it excellent. No one had dessert. The espresso was one of the best we had all week. i didn't pay attention to the prices, but I am guessing gondoliers, unless they are very well paid, don't eat there regularly.
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Following up and many thanks! We have returned from our way-too-short trip to Provence (and Venice). The weather was fantastic, and in the small hill towns we had great picnics wherever we came upon nice charcuteries.
The stand-out meal was indeed lunch at Bistrot du Paradou. I love that place! I love that there are few choices and they just pick the wine for you. The starters were either a green salad w/lardons and a perfectly cooked egg w/ runny center, or a tart with artichoke and tomatoes. Both incredible. Also the bread: fantastic. Entrees were lamb or rabbit. My husband always opts for lamb, which I don't care for and he was in heaven. My mother and I had the rabbit--a beautiful crispy sauce and a bacon wrap--very simple. My piece was the leg/thigh, which was great. My mother's was the breast, and it was a tad dry, which was too bad. It was served with a nest of perfect buttered noodles and a swoon-inducing scoop of some sort of roasted tomato confit, which I could have made a meal out of itself. The cheese course was outstanding. My dessert was the best of the three, a fig tart with what seemed to be wood-fired figs. Actually there were some great figs all over Provence and I bought a variety I have never seen at the Aix market.
In Aix we had a very good meal at La Chimere, which, by about 10 pm was jam packed with French people and very few English speakers. I had the best snails ever, very traditional garlic sauce to die for. My entree was grilled tuna and it was cooked just right--nice and rare in the middle but still warm thru. It was sitting atop a wonderful gratin of thinly sliced potato and artichoke layers; the chokes still had good bite and were really flavorful. My husband had venison, of all things, served in a rich dark sauce with mushrooms. It was rather amazing, but too rich and gamey for me.
We also had a very good lunch of soup au poisson with the traditional rouille at the Bastide du Cours on the Mirabeau, mob scene and all.
Aix gets the prize for best patisserie. Hands down it won best cookie on the planet. All three of us were in shock. I can't remeber the name, but it's on a well-traveled street. Also, just below the main attraction of the Cathedral St.-Saveur and Musee du Vieil is a little take-out joint that is a french cook's interpretation of Vietnamese food. It's terrific and makes comparatively inexpensive lunch. It's across the street from a very popular wagon that sells a variety of exotic fresh juice concoctions and crepes.
One thing we learned too late: look for the boulangerie that boasts "feu du bois." That wood fired oven makes the difference. On a crossroads in a not very scenic town on the road from Aix to St. Maximin-la-Ste Baume we stopped at a bakery that made a croissant like no other I ever tasted. A little smoky, a little char on the bottom, no touch of grease.....completely amazing.
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I'm back from my trip to Provence, my main regret being that I didn't have more time there. My one mini-regret was that I missed my only chance to have Bulot. Our first day in Aix I spotted it on the menu but really wanted the fish soup, which was very good. Guess I assumed I'd have another chance, but in eight days in a variety of places I never saw it again. I did have snails in Aix and they were fabulous. I saw bulots at the Aix market and in the Venice fish market as well, but never on the Venice menus. Next time.
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By way of thanks and a follow up....we just returned from a great trip to Provence and thanks to this thread I was thrilled to see Salade de Museau in a small and very sweet little charcuterie in the town of Goult. We bought it along with a slab of pate de campagne and both were excellent. The salad was as described, thinly sliced with a delicious bold dressing. Great picnic material. Saw it again, looking beautiful, in an amazing charcuterie in Aix-en-Provence. That place was hopping, and we waited (w/no other English speaking tourists) on line for almost a half hour to buy our picnic supplies.
I looked for eels but never saw any cevettes on the menus. I saw some eels at the Aix market and more in Venice (live ones there) but not little ones.
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When making a big pot of soup or stew I adore my Le Creuset. It's big enough for soup but not for stock, since I like to make a max amount of stock in order to freeze some. So when I make stock I use a really large high-sided stainless steel pot that can accomodate a whole chicken, extra feet and various types of bones, etc. It seems to me that the weight of a 20+qt. LC (or even a 15!) would be prohibitive with stock in it. I haven't noticed any substantial difference in the quality of stock made in a light-weight stainless pot vs enameled cast iron. I saute bones, if I'm using them, in basic cast iron and then transfer them to the stock pot. I would have thought that a simmer is a simmer, and all the great attributes of cast iron aren't really crucial to making a stock. I'm curious...can anyone testify to a difference? Am I making crock stock without a proper stock crock?
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If some dried spices should be aged beyond being totally dry, that's news to me. If I open the jar and don't smell a nice strong pleasing aroma, or if the color is dry and dusty, out it goes. I buy the tiniest amounts of spices that I can, unless it's something I use all the time. I don't use ground ginger very often, so that's one that often has to get replaced. Making gingerbread with anything but fresh spicey ground ginger seems like a waste of time and energy.
Just before Thanksgiving every year I notice my dry sage is hopeless and I have to buy more. I believe I use dry sage once a year, exactly. I haven't paid close attention, but I am guessing some dry spices last longer than others. In my experience cinnamon seems to have a long shelf-life, but maybe heavy-users disagree? I also think that when spices like paprika and cayenne get brown or dull in color the flavor gets dull or bitter as well. My guide is to trust my senses. Yeah, in a pinch I'll use a pinch, but then it goes on the shopping list.
If I am buying in bulk and am forced to purchase twice as much as I actually want I give the extra to my neighbor who also cooks a lot so she can restock her supply with fresh.
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It's been several years since I was in Zihuat. I happened on Casa Que Canta by accident and poked around uninvited. Those beatiful walls, the wooden stick showers, the stacking salt-water pools...if money was no object I would stay there!
Fun town! The best food I had in Zihuat was on the beaches--Las Gatas, La Ropa, and on the far side of a little island you reach by boat from Ixtapa where the snorkling was great and there were almost no other people. Worth the trip there even if you have to pass by the golf courses of Ixtapa. That local bus ride is an eye-opener. Even the town beach had some good mojo de ajo shrimp, if I am remembering right. Every time we ordered grilled fish it was perfect; really fresh, crispy skinned, succulent. On the main drag in town there was also a wonderful bakery where we picked up the next day's breakfast--cornitos (the horn shaped ones--sp?) to have with black tea liberally sweetened with the requisite condensed milk. Just right!
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I love Hamlyn's Pinhead steel cut oats from Scotland. They seem to cook a bit faster than McCanns...perhaps the cut is finer? The cooking instructions on the can are completely bizarre, so I don't follow them; the oats would be practically raw in the time they allow. My way: for 2 portions bring to a boil 3 cups water with a pinch of salt, add 2/3 c oats and turn down to a modest heat. Simmer 20-25 minutes or to taste, stirring well toward the end. I find 20 minutes is good, then I turn off the flame, cover and let sit a few more minutes.
Of course I'm attached to the can, too, with the Hay clan tartan and the somewhat off-kilter (sorry!) implication that there's a relationship between the Hay clan and this oatmeal, without saying what exactly it is, other than the name of Hay.
I like it with butter, maple syrup and/or sometimes molasses, a splash of cold half & half and maybe peaches or berries.
It never crossed my mind to look for steel cut oats at TJ's, but I will definitely try that, since yes, imported canned oats are pricey.
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I think taking an empty 16 oz or 24 oz spring water bottle is better than bringing that expensive Nalgene bottle - just in case. Not to mention that if you're a regualr water drinker like me you'll have the bottle out next to you while you're waiting for the plane. On more than one occasion I have jumped up to catch a boarding flight and inadvertently left my water bottle on the floor or on the seat next to me. No big deal if it was an empty bottle that was destined for the recycling bin sooner than later anyway.
I am 100% sure that my husband, who is a risk taker (big and small), will vote for trying it with my REI bottle. Note that's MY bottle. I predict we will try going through with two bottles.
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So I went to the TSA website and carefully searched every list of permitted and prohibited item. Nowhere is "water bottle" mentioned, only that 3oz of liquid in any given container is allowed. So I called them. Here is what they said: if you don't find it on any of our lists it is up to the discretion of the security personnel working the shift. On a whim they can decide whether or not to confiscate your bottle, be it hard, soft, big or small, w/3oz or empty. The person I spoke with confirmed that water bottles are up for grabs. That's the official rule!
As you would expect there are huge numbers of irate and often very funny rants on a variety of sites about this practice. An empty Sippy-Cup was confiscated from a two-year-old. A woman was required to drink her own expressed breast milk so she could keep the bottle, etc. Some airport personnel are more cranky than others, and some airports have reputations for being more lax. Sea-Tac is known for confiscating all kinds of stuff. JFK is easier. Sounds like a crap-shoot and I could easily end up having to replace my perfect bottle. I'm thinkin' about it. It'll cost me a trip to REI, the cost of the bottle AND four dollars for a cheesy bottle of stale tapwater purchased after security. But I will be wide awake.
The TSA website is kind of amusing. They tell you in detail all about the 1 Qt bag that you can fill with little 3 oz bottles, but that you must take it OUT of your carry on and put it in the basket. Then they tell you to remember: the more "allowed items" you bring, the more you hold up the line and make life miserable for everyone else. Thanks for that! Let's make sure to blame our fellow passengers before we even get on the plane.
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Thanks to all... perhaps I will try to wrap bread separately and figure out how to take small toss-away containers of PB etc. I don't usually think to take chocolate, but maybe some nice bitter stuff will help my mood? Those Gourmet on the Go as per the NYT sound good--maybe I'll see if they have made it to the West Coast yet.
Wattacetti: re water, you are not allowed through security with more than 3 oz of it, but I had no problem a few months ago taking an empty plastic bottle through. I put in a few oz of tap/fountain water as soon as I was through security. Then I filled it with more during the flight. This time I plan to take my favorite rei hi-tech plastic bottle so I can have it on my whole trip.
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There's almost nothing I want to eat on a plane, and I'm cheap. Even when the flight is long enough to get served a meal, I end up giving practically all my food to my husband. Rarely do I want to spend the money on the plastic-housed salads or the airport restaurants. I am very happy with PB and Marmalade on good bread that I can make the morning of and dole out to myself as desired, but next week I will be overnight in a hotel before my first flight and then in one airport or another for about 20 hours. The sandwich thing seems improbable, given it would have to sit in foil for so long. I would eat a 12 hour old sandwich, but that would only get me through breakfast, with 18 hours to go!
So....one idea is some nice hard cheese that travels well, crackers, some apples. Almonds or other nuts. I'm not too keen on dried fruit. I take energy bars, but more out of desperation; I imagine I will want them if the plane makes an unscheduled stop on the side of a mountain. When I fly I am basically low-level queasy the whole time and prefer things that are not too greasy or salty. I don't have a sweet tooth.
Anyone have suggestions for good travel food? Are there any little tins of tasty healthy stuff people like? Filling, healthy, not too messy or complicated, easy to do in small portions, you get the idea: I'm a terrible flier AND a fussy eater!
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I'm only posting because your post was lonely, I saw it by accident, and I'm surprised no one else chimed in to sing the praises of these crackers. They are indeed fabulous. I don't buy any other crackers anymore. My favorite, and my staple is the Original. My next favorite is the Fennel--very subtle. Even the whole wheat was really good. I prefer them to baguette for any cheese that isn't super runny. I too love them for Middle Eastern or Greek type spreads like babaganoush or lentil meze. Totally yummy with a rustic pate! And yes, they are expensive. But count yourself lucky; I've never seen them under $5.99 a pack here in CA.
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I'm almost afraid to ask...how would they be prepared/served, live or cooked? It's all about what you're used to, no? If it sits there quietly on the half-shell I'm the first in line. If it wiggles, I'll meet you in the parking lot. If it looks like a loaf I'll slice it, but if it looks like a nose on spode, give me the car keys.
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Civelles are really delicious (and very expensive too) but I think the garlic dressing does most of the job.
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There's info on the web, so check it out. From what little I gleaned, Maine is where whelk farming is underway. Supposedly Whelk is sold in Boston and New York markets, but I am not sure whether these critters are bi-catch, harvested or if the farming thing is a going concern yet. Were you in Brittany? Sounds like the main whelk beds in France are on the Brittany coast. I will be in Provence and the Cote D'azur and Venice in a couple of weeks; now that I know they are called bulot, I will take notice if any are lurking about on the south coast.
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Yes, geoducks do live on the northern CA coast. Did you used to catch them? And did you use them for chowder?
For those unfamiliar with this clam, they are very hard to catch, so they are not marketed regularly. They bury themselves quite deep in the sand, and you have to be very fast to grab hold of the long neck before they retract it. The necks can grow to be up to a yard long and a geoduck is considered to have reached old age at about 140 years! Where we stay on the north side of Tomales Bay early morning clamming trips (you gotta take a short boat ride) are advertised sometimes during low tides. I believe that locals who manage to catch them do use the necks for chowder. I've been offered locally caught eel (fabulous), but never geoduck, and I might hesitate to eat it, since I've been looking at the same giant geoduck clam pickled in a jar in the entryway of the general store for at least the last 20 years. That one must have been 200 years old if it was a day.
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From a quick visit to easily accessible websites, especially those designed by people in Rhode Island, the hard-shell clams we are talking about are all members of the same species, Mercenaria mercenaria, unbelievable as that may be. You guessed it, the nomenclature supposedly derives from the original value of the shells in trade.
The names of various clams are simply a shorthand guide to size: little necks being the smallest, then topnecks, then cherrystones, and finally the biggest, quahogs. On the chowder/chowdah cook-off thread there is a good photo of a quahog sitting on an open hand. From what I gather, you can legitimately call it a quahog if it covers your palm and you can't close your fist on it.
Hard-shell clams are most prevalent between Cape Cod and New Jersey, but the state of RI seems to have a personal sense of pride in being the home of the quahog, and every August they have a Quahog festival to prove it. All this research is only serving to make me a little homesick. In CA I can buy small Manilla clams, which I think are most often used in Clams with Black Bean Sauce, and sometimes ones that are a little bigger and work okay for Linguini a la Vongole, but I think these clams are less flavorful. I've certainly never seen anything here as hunky as a quahog. It goes without saying there are no long-neck steamers here, and that's truly sad.
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Yes, thanks. it's the whelk in the UK and here it's known as the Waved Whelk or the Common Whelk, or to Italian-Americans, Scungilli. When I looked at some pix I realize they are indeed common--you see those shells all the time on the beach. It's also clear that you wouldn't mistake one for a land snail on your plate--at least not if it was served in the shell a la escargot. There are lots of species of whelk, some being a foot long like the Lightning Whelk. The elegant tapered point of their shells is what they use to open their entree: clam on the halfshell. Whelk farming is happening in Maine as we speak, and it sounds like they are targeting the Asian market. There must be Whelk with Black Bean Sauce, don't ya think?
what is the deal with bulgur pilaf
in Middle East & Africa: Cooking & Baking
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My understanding is that bulgur is toasted cracked wheat. My husband uses cracked wheat once in a while when baking bread, soaking it first. I don't know how the toasting affects cooking time, but it definitely gives it a yummy flavor. Bulgur is usually specified for tabbouli, rarely cracked wheat. I make tabbouli by pouring the hot water over the bulgur, and that's a different process than just cooking bulgur. I guess cracked wheat can vary in size, just like steel cut oats can vary. We have bought our bulgur in bulk from the same source for years, but if the crack was larger I guess the cooking time would need adjustment and so would the ratio of grain to water. I cook my basmati rice the same way as below, with a 2/1 ratio.
I use a small saucepan w/ relatively high sides. Melt a small pat of butter (olive oil would work, I'm sure) and sautee 1 cup bulgur with a little salt over a moderate flame. Stir for a few minutes til it starts to smell toasty. Add 2 cups water, raise the heat til it comes to a good simmer, cover, then lower the heat to very low or so the bulgur is simmering gently. Cook 12-15 minutes without stirring or til all water is absorbed and the bottom is just starting to stick. Let sit another few minutes covered (left-over steam will unstick the bulgur if you have cooked it a bit too long) then fluff with a fork.
I don't see why the addition of onion, sauteed a few minutes before adding the bulgur wouldn't be nice. If you were adding lentils to the same pot I guess that would change everything a lot. I would be inclined to cook my lentils separately.
My husband recently cooked bulgur and I noticed he had turned the flame down so low that it wasn't even simmering. He was expecting it to take 20 minutes. His bulgur does frequently come out wet or gummy and now I know why.