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Chris Hennes

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  1. Sorry, that was just a copy-and-paste error, there should have been a comma... it was a bowl of very well-made squid ink fideos, and a plate of tortillas (apparently I was supposed to make tacos, but I got distracted by the plating and just ate it...).
  2. Well, Topolobampo was the centerpiece of course, and it being February in Chicago, we stayed at a hotel next door to them. With dinner not wrapping up until nearly midnight, the 12 deg F walk was mercifully short! After that I just did some reading and narrowed by walking distance to that hotel. Tzuco was maybe 6 or 7 blocks away. We walked very briskly last night!
  3. @Alex has predicted this next one: maybe not Topolobampo-level, but interesting nevertheless, we dined at Tzuco tonight. Aesthetically and sonically it could hardly be more different, but we enjoyed ourselves despite the frigid temperatures getting here. The decor is really interesting, I'd love to spend a sunny afternoon here with a camera: You'll be shocked to learn we began with a round of cocktails: I had "AZAFRÁN: Don Julio Reposado, saffron, Rosemary, lemon.": And my wife had "MIS RAÍCES: Tequila Reposado, licor de Elote, chile Ancho, mole.: The a couple of starters: I had "PULPO ENAMORADO: Guajillo roasted octopus, salsa macha, pickled carrot, pea, potato, tonnato aioli.: And my wife had "FRENCH ONION SOUP: A traditional French onion soup with a Mexican twist. Poblano peppers, Gruyère cheese, crostini." Four our mains I had "CHICHARRÓN DE PESCADO: Fried red snapper fillet, pickled slaw, peanut/chipotle aioli, salsa cruda, squid ink fideos tortillas." And my wife had "TIKINXIC: Achiote/ orange marinated Mahi-mahi, wrapped in a banana leaves, parsnip purée, habanero beurre blanc, tomato and avocado salad": And perhaps a Mezcal for dessert: I was sort of tickled by the name... "Peloton de la Muerte" .. "Peloton" meaning something entirely different in English these days!
  4. I've been to Topolobampo several times, and to get to the Topo dining room you pass through Frontera Grill. We've said to ourselves every time: "someday we need to eat at Frontera!" but there's always a crowd, and a wait. Well, not in the Coronatimes... Frontera takes reservations now, so we finally had the chance to eat lunch there. It's much closer to what someone in the US thinks of as "Mexican" food, though still not exactly "Taco Casa". It's a vacation, right? Lunch begins with a mezcal margarita... I've made the queso fundido from Fiesta at Ricks, and didn't care for it. So I felt sort of morally obliged to try it someplace where I knew the chef knew how to do it properly. I still didn't care for it! It thankfully came with the usual duo of Frontera salsas, a roasted tomato and a Chile verde, both of which are excellent: And here is your "action shot", the cheese as applied to a tortilla: I thought about taking video here to show my real objection to the texture: the cheese is just a bit too firm and gooey, and not quite melty enough. It also doesn't bring a lot of flavor to the party, I'd have rather had just the chorizo, poblanos, and salsa. So that was a lot of posting just to point out that I don't actually like "queso fundido" as it turns out. Probably not Frontera's fault. Now I've done my due diligence and don't feel so bad about not liking it when I made it homemade. Moving on to the stuff I did like... For my first course I had "GRILLED CAULIFLOWER, OAXACAN ESTOFADO Garlicky cauliflower steaks cooked over the coals, estofado (ancho, guajillo, tomato, pineapple, plantain, spices), pickled jalapeños". This was superb: really, really smoky, with a lingering heat that built up over time, and just the right sweetness from the pineapple. My wife had the "TAMALES DE ELOTE Sweet corn tamales, roasted poblano rajas, homemade crema & fresco cheese". I was allotted one bite, and one bite only! They were good, she wouldn't share anymore. For my main I had "MAHI-MAHI, YUCA AL MOJO, RED CHILE- PEANUT SALSA Grilled mahi-mahi, tender yuca with toasted garlic, velvety red chile-peanut salsa". This is served with great house-made tortillas and turned into fish tacos. It was delicious: again, very very smoky, but perfectly cooked fish and great flavor sequencing. My wife had "PUEBLA STYLE ENCHILADAS Homemade corn tortillas, heritage breed chicken, mole poblano, black beans" I wasn't even allotted a bite of this, I had to sneak a piece of chicken off the back of her plate. Mole is a winner at our house, and this was no exception, it was excellent. Somehow I squeezed in another drink, as well: the "Oaxacan Gold Margarita: La Gritona reposado tequila, Petunia espadín mezcal, manzano agave, pineapple, fresh lime, Angostura bitters, pineapple salt rim". Delicious.
  5. Its richness and balance: the stock base was amazing, and the soup overall had a perfect balance of acid and salt. Sometimes it's the little things. I don't remember: the chicharron was an exercise in textures more than flavors, and simply got eclipsed by the rest of the dish. Yes, that was the "corn husk-roasted black cod, garlicky kale, luxurious cashew pipian (guajillo & ancho chiles, peanuts, red wine, cinnamon, black pepper)." I'm still thinking about it this morning. The downside to a meal like this is it doesn't photograph well: many components were plated at the table, and of course a lot is then torn into bits and placed in tortillas. I wanted to eat, not take pictures, so I didn't give you an action shots. Oh well! Time to get ready for lunch...
  6. The main event tonight was Topolobampo's Mexican Vinters and Distillers menu. If you've never eaten a Topolobampo, it's probably the US's premiere Haute Cuisine Mexican restaurant: akin to something like Pujol in Mexico City. There are not a lot of burritos and chimichangas on the menu here . Actually, there's no menu at all. Tonight's dinner was a Tock ticketed pre fixe menu, and it was superb. It was also a 3 hour meal so I'm going to forget some things, and it's midnight so I'm also fading fast. Ask questions, I'm happy to answer tomorrow... you can see the "official" menu here: On arriving, a pre-seating hors d'œuvres menu (and some extra cocktails, because... why not?): A Mezcal-based Negroni on the right, and a Mezcal sour on the left, with a float of a Mexican red wine. Accompanying the zeroth course (served at the door, basically: a hightop we were escorted to prior to being seated): the course was a rice "chicharron", a squash empanada, and the best tortilla soup I've ever had. Also, a beautiful oyster with a tuna ceviche and American sturgeon caviar: After perhaps 15-20 minutes we were escorted to our table: generously spaced from the rest of the room, and the main meal began... Course 1: Shrimp, octopus, and mussels, in a bright vinaigrette: maybe the best mussels I've ever had... Then the soup, with its black truffles: After the soup was an unadvertised secret taco course... beef shreds on guacamole, served with mini tortillas and a Chile sauce (maybe pasilla?) Anyway, delicious: The next course was served with tortillas (not pictured), but certainly the most interesting fish tacos I've ever had, boldly served with red wine, which worked beautifully: Next up, the meat course, with a small piece of short rib, impeccably cooked: melting inside, crispy outside, with a delicious Chile sauce, and again served with tortillas: Finally, drifting into sweeter side, an Edam cheesecake with sour cream ice cream and cherries, excellent and not too sweet: Then a salty/sweet mouse with a chocolate sauce, served with a more aggressive mezcal that captured all of my attention: And a homemade marshmallow and truffle finish: I'm now now going to curl into a small ball and sleep for a dozen hours to recover.
  7. "Good" ... maybe. But like this? No. Coming up... Topolobampo.
  8. Tortas has two guacamoles, “naked” and “loaded”. Needless to say, that one was loaded. It would be better if there was a plate or big bowl to spread it out on, so the toppings could be distributed more evenly. That said, the toppings (mostly bacon and pepitas) are nice adornments when you’re in the mood for something more that plain guacamole.
  9. You’re going the wrong direction! I just got off my OKC to Chicago flight for a weekend of Mexican food. I’m not too keen on heading to Mexico City at just this moment, so Chicago it is. We have a 9pm dinner reservation, so engaged in a little pre-gaming at Tortas in O’Hare, one of the best airport restaurants there is. And O’Hare is sort of a food desert, so I’m glad this Bayless outpost is here. Just some chips and guacamole to hold us over for a few hours…
  10. Pizza Rossa (inspired by Chris Bianco) (KM p. 294) The pizza uses the artisan crust, and is topped with Parmigiano, rosemary, red onions, pistachios and olive oil. This time I remembered to take the dough out of the fridge in time . As I mentioned above, sauce-free pizzas aren't my favorite, but in this case I think it was more successful than the previous go. It's absolutely the sort of pizza where if you were out with friends and you'd ordered a half dozen pizzas, you should make sure to snag a slice of this one. On its own, though, by slice three I'd had enough. Still, that first slice was great. I did struggle to get the crust dark enough -- without the sauce to slow things down, the cheese browns pretty early, I would have liked the crust a bit darker.
  11. Cal-Italia Pizza (inspired by Tony Gemignani) (KM p. 295) Asiago cheese and pizza cheese baked on an artisan crust, topped at the final minute with gorgonzola, and after baking with fig jam, prosciutto, and balsamic vinegar glaze. I made a serious tactical error in this pizza, forgetting to take the dough out of the fridge early. So it was baked too soon and too cold: the crust was not great, but that was 100% my fault. That said... I actually didn't like this topping combo. On paper I thought it sounded good, but the fig jam just didn't do anything for me, and only served to detract from a spectacular prosciutto, applied in great abundance. I also am not really a fan of pizza without sauce. This isn't a repeater for me.
  12. "Favorite" is a tough call -- if I'm in the mood for a "normal American pizza" that's the one that delivers. I really like the Modernist version, with one day of age on it. It's still good at zero days and at two days, though, so I just make full batches and get three nights of pizza out of it. Like any medium-crust pizza it's versatile, and can take either minimal or maximal toppings. Not that you'd ever go max, mind you . But I also like a couple of their thick crust variants (with modified cooking times because I think the listed times are simply wrong). And of course Neapolitan-style pizza is its own animal. As is the crispy Brazilian thin crust, which I also think is a great exemplar of that style.
  13. My cheese order has been delayed by the weather, so I'm still just throwing random toppings on before I resume testing the actual recipes from the book. Tonight I had another poblano, and added an onion to the mix. The sauce is pureed canned whole tomatoes and salt, and the cheese is a 50/50 blend of pizza cheese and Cabot extra sharp cheddar. The cheddar doesn't have as nice a texture as the pizza cheese, but it makes up for it in flavor; I love it with the poblanos. This is the last of this batch of Artisan dough. Baked at 480°F for three minutes, cooled on a rack for 20, and reheated for three minutes at 550°F. This results in a fluffy rim and crisp center, and is probably my favorite baking technique for this crust.
  14. A couple of recent Modernist Artisan-crust pizzas, at two different dough ages. In this one (topped with crumbled sausage and black olives), I made the dough in the morning and baked it in the evening: it was incredibly easy to work with, the dough-relaxer let me shape the pizza very quickly, and overall it was very good texturally. I do find that I missed the flavor development of older dough, though: In tonight's pizza (fire-roasted poblanos and a 50/50 blend of pizza cheese and extra sharp cheddar) I used the same dough, so it had 24 more hours of age on it. Better flavor, and still a very good texture. Nowhere near as easy to work with, I had to stretch and rest several times. The rim was really very nice on this one, among my better-textured final products:
  15. This is crazy to me -- I'd be setting off the fire alarm every other day if I didn't run my hood!
  16. Caramelized Carrot Pizza (KM p. 326) Shield your eyes once again, @weinoo, there is green on top of this pizza as well. (I'm sure that's your only objection, right? 😜) The green in question is a hot coconut chutney foam. Sauce is pressure-caramelized vegetable puree (kubota squash in this case -- the recipe calls for carrot, obviously, but I needed to use up the squash). Other toppings are pizza cheese and roasted carrots. Honestly, the foam was the highlight of this pizza -- without it I fear the pizza would have actually been inedible, and I don't say that about many pizzas! The pressure-caramelized puree is an overwhelming flavor bomb, and only the sharp mint-and-cilantro pop from the foam prevented the pizza from being terminally over-sweet. I can imagine this working with some curry spices, and a thinner layer of sauce, but for me it was not quite there. However, I'm keeping that foam recipe in the repertoire. I can think of a number of curries that would be delicious on.
  17. And speaking of dough quantities... this week I'm making the "Artisan" pizza a few times. I'm using the Modernist dough variant, which adds pectin to the base recipe for added rise. This is a relatively high-hydration dough, clocking in at 72%. The quantity of dough they suggest for a 14" Artisan pie is 360 grams: contrast this with the 400 grams they suggest of the New York style, and the 300 grams I personally use for a 14" NY-style. Tonight I stuck to the basics, and made a 14" Artisan pizza with 360g of dough as instructed -- toppings were crushed tomatoes, calabrese, pizza cheese, and arugula. Between the high hydration, the pectin, and the extra 60g of dough, this is a fairly thick medium crust pizza -- however, the crust was quite light and airy, with a comparatively open crumb, so I didn't think it was objectionable, just quite different from the NY style I was working on last week.
  18. I've found MP's dough weights to be fine for everything except the New York style, which I just think calls for way too much dough (I'm basically scaling their dough weight to 75%).
  19. Yes, still 300g for a 14" pizza, baked on a steel. So far so good on the All Trumps - the texture is definitely superior to the King Arthur in this application. I found a source for 25# bags, which are more convenient for me (it fits in a single 5 gallon bucket). I think they cost the same as 50#, of course!
  20. And day three of that batch of All Trumps dough -- texturally, starting to show its age, but still a good pizza. I went with just canned crushed tomatoes and salt as the sauce, which is also delicious, though I am still quite fond of the (more) cooked tomato sauce. I'm going to take a brief break from NY style this week, I've got an Artisan pie queued up for Tuesday, before returning to this exploration.
  21. I may need just a tiny bit more practice before I take that step... Tonight, calabrese and arugula, day two of the All Trumps dough. Actually I didn't find the All Trumps texture on the second day to be all that different from the first day, except I probably under-shot the rise on the rim a bit.
  22. All Trumps is in... Same strategy as the last two: par-baked, cooled, and reheated on a 550°F baking steel. Really excellent texture tonight: not quite the same as Joe's (my rim was a little softer, and I didn't have quite the same "shatter"-level of crispness), but again, I am getting closer. Toppings were sausage, green pepper, and onion, with the Modernist Cuisine NY-style tomato sauce and standard pizza cheese.
  23. Mixing things up on the sauce front tonight: this is the raw cherry tomato sauce from the book, which is another of my favorites (it's just cherry tomatoes and olive oil). It gives the pizza a different look, because this week's tomatoes from Imperfect were mostly the yellow ones. Texture-wise the dough was about the same as yesterday (just a touch too much chew, again as expected as the dough ages), though I did enjoy the crust's flavor more than yesterday.
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