L'Espalier

Went to check out L'Espalier's new space in the Mandarin Oriental last night. It's a very nice, modern-looking set of rooms, but doesn't quite have the charm of the old townhouse. We opted for the chef's tasting journey (at a whopping $185 per person, and an additional $110pp for wine pairings).

Hors d'oeuvres were mini smoked salmon napoleons with creme fraiche. Yummy, but not particularly exciting.

Amuse of oxtail salad with cucumber, filo shell, truffled carmelized onion, and sriracha.

Island Creek Oyster with jam and caviar, paired with Duvel Leroy champagne.

Sole with apples, crisp apple skin, caviar, radish, maitake mushroom puree, paired with a 1989 white rioja (really nice pairing)

Butter poached lobster with chestnut pear soup, brussels sprout leaves, caviar, and truffle oil. Paired with an Italian wine from Alto Adige (Kerner was the varietal, I believe), like a very floral riesling.

Monkfish with candy cane beet, butternut squash sauce, and a white wine I don't remember

Seared foie gras with sweet potato and cranberries. Very good, but not the best foie ever. Paired with a really yummy sauternes. I think the wine was better than the food for this course. It was ridiculously good.

Herbed gnocchi with mushrooms, white truffles, and beef shin broth, paired with a Barolo. The gnocchi were soooooo good, and I'm glad we got to try the white truffles, because now I won't have to wonder what they taste like. They are good, but not spectacular, so I won't end up spending a ridiculous amount of money buying them.

Lamb with the tiniest puy lentils known to man, with a delicious mustardy sauce; squab with celery root puree, and buttery garlicy carrot and turnip, topped with a mustard green leaf, paired with a Margaux. The meats were fantastic.

Very nice cheese course--six completely different cheeses with a red banyuls.

Dessert of chocolate log, cranberry souffle, something that was supposed to be a pate sable (more like a stick of butter--ugh), and a meringue-like thing. As expected, paired with the Banfi brachetto d'aqui. I think the dessert was too rich and didn't sit very well with me.

Overall, a very good meal, but way too expensive in my opinion. I'd much rather have no caviar (it really didn't add anything) and an extra course instead. I think if I were spending my own money, I'd go to Clio 9 times out of 10 (probably 10 out of 10, really). The wine pairings were really nice, though, which I think is the biggest thing that Clio lacks.

Cooking

It's great to know a bunch of quick dishes for the days you don't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Here are a couple good ones:

Broccoli rabe with sausage. Here we added some tomato paste and red bell peppers, and served it with couscous (another super easy and quick side)


Pan roasted brussels sprouts with fish sauce and chili garlic sauce


When I have a bit more time, I like making things that will keep a few days, for example asian slaw.
Here I had red and green cabbage, cashews, and a sauce made with lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, and rice vinegar:


and I love potato salad (this one with onion, red pepper, mayo, spicy mustard, tarragon and thyme:


Finally, the fastest way to get food on the table is to have someone else make it! My husband made corn cakes with red pepper sauce, and a sausage (yeah, I know it looks like a giant turd).

Weekend breakfasts

Growing up, I ate cereal for breakfast pretty much every day, even on the weekends. No omelettes, pancakes, or anything that required cooking. Maybe occasionally I'd make french toast, but that was rare. Now, I love making a leisurely breakfast on the weekend.

Last weekend, we had scrambled eggs with local shitake mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and scallion, topped with scamorza cheese.


Today we made salmon and potato patties, topped with a fried egg. Served on some cucumber and pepper strips lightly seasoned with rice vinegar and salt.

Old Cambridge Haunts

Went to East Coast Grill for dinner last night. We hadn't been in a while, and last time was for Hell Night. We had the fried calamari, which was really good, especially with its accompaniment of mint, cilantro, and chili garlic dipping sauce. Fried chicken livers were also good, if a bit overdone. They came with a delicious mix of chard, orange marmalade, and lime (and probably some other ingredients). It was a great sweet and sour dish. Mussels were also very good in a ginger lemongrass sauce, and the grilled sirloin was fine, but nothing special. We sat in front of the oyster shucker, who was very friendly.

Afterward, we met some friends at the Cellar, another Cambridge spot we hadn't visited in quite some time. I forgot how cheap it is compared to other places in Boston--at one point we ordered a round of 8 drinks and it was $37!!!! I love Cambridge!

Comfort food

Even in the summer, sometimes comfort food really hits the spot.

Chili made with ground buffalo and kidney beans, served over polenta:


Cheesy garlic bread--this is possibly the best thing ever invented. A mix of cheese, garlic, scallions, mayo, butter, and cream cheese baked on good bread:

Updated liquor cabinet

We've had a bunch of additions over the last couple years so it's about time to take inventory again:

Whisk(e)y:
Thomas Handy Rye (our of our favorites for sipping, barrel proof)
Rittenhouse 100 Rye (great for mixing and sipping, so cheap)
Old Overholt Rye (mixing only)
Sazerac 18 year (my favorite!!)
Red Hook Rye
Old Portrero 18th century style whisky (100% rye, too assertive for sipping, not our favorite)
George T Stagg Bourbon (great for sipping, barrel proof)
Maker's Mark Bourbon (good for mixing)
Oban 14 year
The Balvenie 10 year
Buchannan 12 year blended
Southern Comfort
Compass Box Peat Monster
Talisker 10
Caol Ila 12
Lagavulin 16
Dewar's White Label (for mixing)

Gin:
Hendricks
Tanquaray
Junipero
Corenwyn Ginever
Plymouth
Boomsma Oude

Rum:
Ron Zacapa 23 Anos
Bacardi 8
Old Monk (Indian rum, butterscotch flavors)
Khukri (Nepalese, tastes like molasses)
Mount Gay Eclipse (light rum)
10 Cane
Malibu coconut rum

Tequila:
El Tesoro Añejo
Herradura Silver

Vodka:
Vermont Gold
Luksusowa
Green Tea infused
Szechuan pepper infused
Earl Gray infused
Vanilla infused
Zubrowka bison grass
Aalborg Jubilaeums Akvavit

Brandy:
Laird's Applejack
Laird's Straight Apple Brandy (100 proof, really great stuff)
Laird's 12 year old rare apple brandy (nice for sipping, probably wouldn't buy it again)
Bas Armagnac Marie Duffau Hors d'Age
Christian Brothers VS (for mixing)
Calvados Mozin Hors d'Age 15 year
La Captive Calvados

Fruit flavored things:
Luxardo Triplum (triple sec, really good)
Marie Brizard Triple Sec
Marie Brizard Apry (so good)
Marie Brizard Poire William (sweet pear liqueur, we're not really sure what to do with this)
Marie Brizard Parfait Amour (perfumy, citrusy, really sweet)
Mandarin Napoleon
Bauchant Napoleon
Cherry Heering
Luxardo Maraschino (awesome)
Cassis de Bordeaux
Midori
Peach Schnapps
Creme de Banane
Blue curacao
Sloe Gin (now Plymouth instead of the nasty crap)
Mirto

Other Liqueurs:
Benedictine
Green Chartreuse
Yellow Chartreuse
Strega
Galliano
Amaretto
Pims
Creme de menthe
Creme de cacao
Bailey's
Kahlúa
Buttershots
Sambuca
Absente
St. Germain
Zirbenz Stone Pine
St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
Rothman & Winter Creme de Violette

Bitters:
Fernet Branca
Luxardo Fernet
Amer Picon
Punt e Mes
Campari
Averna
Luxardo Amaro
Nonino
Fee's orange bitters
Regan's orange bitters
Fee's peach bitters
Fee's old fashioned aromatic bitters
Angostura bitters
Peychaud's bitters
Underberg
Fee's Whiskey Barrel
Elixir Vegetal

Wine base:
Vya sweet vermouth
Noilly Prat dry vermouth
Cinzano M&R sweet vermouth
Dubonnet Rouge
Lillet
Carpano Antica Formula
Barolo Chinato

More on SF

Okay, so if you haven't had enough of San Francisco, here's some of the food we ate.

First, the Slanted Door.

We started with grapefruit salad with candied pecans, really refreshing and intensely flavored:


Kona kampachi--possibly my new favorite fish, although I'm not sure it has replaced a great piece of yellotail:


Clams with basil and chilis. Mmmmmm.


Hamachi collar--this was probably the best one I've ever had. A ton of meat, perfectly cooked with a crispy exterior and tender, juicy, melty interior. Came with pickled papaya and a great soy dipping sauce. So so so so good.


Pork with rice noodles:


We had a great bartender who was from Boston. Drinks were really tasty, and went really well with the food. In particular, we liked the Indian Summer (gin, elderflower and grapefruit juice) and the Hotel Nacional Special (Barbancourt 8yr rum, lime, pineapple gomme, Orchard apricot brandy).

It was so good, we went back the next day for lunch:

Turnip cake:


Cellophane noodles with crab (tons of fresh crab meat, soooooooo yummy):


We also had a salad with shredded green cabbage, chicken, and rice noodles. Good, but not as good as the grapefruit salad. An order of the hamachi collar was just as delicious as the day before.

"Pimms" cup with homemade "Pimms". A really pretty, interesting, tasty drink.


For dessert, cherry tomatoes and buttermilk sorbet. A really nice light dessert.


The Slanted Door was not at all like we expected--it had a much more modern feel, great food and drinks, and very affordable. We loved it.