Delicious History

My latest at the Daily Loaf includes a special recipe for mom.  I made it for her birthday, and it was appreciated.  I’ve made the same tomato soup recipe a half dozen times now, and everyone loves it.

Check it out here.

Just thought I’d share a piece i wrote about the nice food available every Sunday at the Tampa/Riverview Thai Buddhist Temple. There some nice photos as well. While the quality of the food varies, for the prices (and the cause), the Thai Temple is a sweet spot.

check out the article here.

my faves include the glazed sweet potato, banana, and taro deep fried and served in paper bags. if you can find them, the shrimp fritters, for lack of a better description, are awesome: small whole shrimp (heads, shells and all) clumped in batter and fried till crispy with a nice sauce studded with fresh cucumber. don’t forget the little coconut/green onion cakes/custards. The papaya salad is nice and hot, and in general i like to explore the offerings.

A restaurant review without photographs is like mediocre, overpriced Italian food.

I had a meal at Gio’s Italian Grille and was rather disappointed in the food for the price.  I their defense, my companion and I ordered a few things that are easy to bungle.

The fried calamari was innocent enough, with a pleasantly simple tomato sauce that seemed to be made from actual fresh tomatoes rather than some canned specimen.  The salt and sugar content were well below the norm, and in this case, it worked well.

The Caesar Salad was a disappointment, especially for $7.  The dressing was like an overly rich paste with no hint of anchovy or real flavor beyond the creaminess.  The croutons were crumbly, and the salad was a great big blah, with the only other ingredient being iceberg lettuce— water suspended in a leaf.  Glad we split it, as i didn’t eat much.

The eggplant parmasean was eq2ually disappointing: a stack of naked eggplant smothered in a heap of tomato sauce, mozzarella, and ricotta cheeses.  No pasta.  No vegetable.  And the thing cost $18.  What a joke.

The only highlight of the meal was the filet with black peppercorns and brandy sauce with a hint of cream.  The flavor of the steak and pepper pleasantly punched through the smooth, simple sauce.  The accompanying vegetables were fresh and cooked perfectly.   This was a treat, and the only decent thing we ate that night.

The bill for this muddle: $64 before the tip.  My only consolation was that we had arrived with a coupon that hacked $25 off the price, but $50 after tip, it still felt like a waste of money.

In these troubled economic times, restaurateurs need to level with us.  We catch on fast, and we won’t come back.

I should have taken the coupon as a warning sign.

I like to use pictures for this blog, but the luxurious, uncompressed photos were too much of a good thing.  So I will henceforth be using Flickr to host my image content.  I will go live with the Flickr account in the coming week or two.  It will make lavish visuals much easier to manage.

Ah, computers.  Having trouble importing media.  I hope to have the problem resolved by the end of the week.  Not sure if the problem is WordPress or what.  I may be making a big change.

I gave my signature sauce another try, using many of the same ingredients (peaches, chilies, rum, etc.), but took a much different approach. I wanted the flavors to be much bolder and more concentrated as I continue my continuing Quest for Sauce.

As a vehicle for my sauce, I chose country ribs. They can vary widely in quality, so I selected the best i could find. If none look good at the store, I get something different. When relying on likes of Publix for every day shopping, be flexible in the meat and produce departments.

I used a very similar rub as last time, 2 teaspoons each of brown sugar and hot paprika, 1 tsp each of coarse salt, black pepper, white pepper, onion powder, ground cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp ground cardamom.  The cardamom brings a fresh, aromatic quality to the rub.

Now for the sauce. I created my hot and sweet sides of the sauce separately. For the hot stuff, I roasted tomatoes, onions, jalapeno and serrano chilies after rolling in olive oil and seasoning with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and a touch of salt.  I added about a quarter of the seeds from the chilies.  Pureed, the vegetables turned into an excellent salsa.  To make a more concentrated sauce, this mixture would have to be cooked down.  On this occasion, I left it in its salsa consistency.

For the sweet side, I began with fresh peaches, peach preserves, diced onion, sugar, rum (Mount Gay this time— Barbados), a little cinnamon and salt.  I reduced it and pureed it, leaving a thick sauce.

Hot and sweet simmered side by side, leering at one another suspiciously. Would they get along?

To accompany our ribs, I sauteed carrots and cabbage and made some corn fritters, cooking them in a skillet with a little butter like pancakes rather than deep frying them.  They came out golden brown and tender.

Green onions and a little garlic powder sure taste nice in Jiffy cornbread mix.

The hot and sweet got along famously, but was more a salsa than a traditional sauce. It delivered a deep heat and peachy sweet to our aromatic ribs. I drizzled the fritters with a rum and honey butter, and the vegetables rounded out the plate perfectly. This attempt at the sauce yielded a wonderful salsa that I would make again. But I want something even more concentrated and spicy. I have a few ideas for my next Quest for Sauce.

I had the pleasure of attending Wazoo a couple weeks ago, a beer festival held annually as a fund raiser for Lowry Park Zoo. Hats off to the zoo for a great development idea. Tickets weren’t cheap: $65 or $70 the day of.  A friend obtained tickets, and I must say I’d consider buying tickets next time. There was a huge variety of beer, from Miller Lite to strange artisan brews.

There was also free food supplied by 20 restaurants. Shula’s proved to be the stand out, giving away steak sandwiches and jumbo shrimp. Five Guys Burger and Fries was the loser of the restaurants, as they couldn’t be bothered to give away fries. They only ran a basket at a time while the line to their booth lengthened. Their fries are not worth that kind of wait—- they’re never crispy enough. Besides, it was probably healthier to drink a beer instead.

Of course, the food was not the draw—- the beer was. And the beer did not disappoint. I mostly avoided the beer I was already familiar with. I also avoided all beers that are brewed with sweet fruit. Call me old fashioned, but beer should be liquid bread, and the fruit and vegetable groups have no place in my mug. That said, I find it acceptable to garnish certain beers with fruit. Blue Moon sure tastes nice with orange, and lime with Corona is refreshing. I approach beverages the same way as food: I’m not a snob, there is a place for cheap stuff, I appreciate the finer things, but high prices do not impress me.

It was easy to get drinks, as the beer was so spread out that long lines tended to be for food rather than beer. I probably sampled 50 or 60 brews, and I took pictures of my favorites. I would buy or recommend any of these beers: Red Sky at Night, Loose Cannon, Saranac (which i was already familiar with), Fire Rock, Long Board, and Ephemere.  There were many other worthy beers.

At one point in the evening, I stood at a urinal thinking that WaZoo is as much a pissing festival as a beer event.  I took many a Wazoo that night, but I also paced myself. The event organizers build two very important caveats into the evening. First, it only lasts three hours, right about the time that drunks become obnoxious. Second, they made a deal with a local taxi company to provide people with free rides. Through a little hustling, I got a cab at 10:30, the festival’s end and the height of demand.

They say flying isn’t fun any more. It wasn’t much fun in the first place, but what the talking heads mean to say is “flying isn’t fun for the airlines anymore.” They’re losing money, and we pay more for an inferior experience.

If I must fly, I bring supplies. You never know how long you may be delayed, and most of the food in the airport will either kill you or your wallet. Bring fruit, trail mix, crackers and firm cheese, sandwiches, whatever. Then sit back and dream of the great food you’ll have once you get to your destination. Chowhound.com’s message boards are a wonderful resource when planning travel.

I flew to Anaheim a couple weeks ago for business and pleasure. I gave a speech at the annual summer conference of the American Library Association about podcasting. I’ve been pretty busy lately making films at work. You can find them easily in ITunes U or You Tube. Aside from the conference, I visited Shane, a good friend and musician, in San Diego.

We started our visit with some wonderful Japanese food. This pork and tofu ramen was especially memorable: spicy, strangely sweet broth, with the firm ground pork, soft tofu, and slick noodles. Shane described Chopstix on Convoy St. as working-class Japanese food. That part of town is packed with Asian restaurants of every stripe, and the cramped competition fosters great food.

We missed a planned trip to Hash House A Go Go, but my breakfasts are satisfying. I like to scramble eggs with salsa. I cook the water from the salsa out and add butter and the eggs. Much better than watery eggs. Shane needs a toaster. I was too hungry to use the oven.

The Horny Toad Chili struck again in Sand Diego! Here’s I’m cooking the veggies and letting the cooked meat cool off.

Aww, shucks. I used a little bacon grease to start the chili, and crumbled the crispy bacon onto the cornbread before baking. It is a nice treat without adding much grease. Besides, it looks cool.  Next time I’m stuck at the airport, I’ll imagine this meal.

I can’t go for very long without visiting Peter Chen’s wonderful restaurant, China Yuan. It is easily one of my all time favorites. He specializes in Cantonese cuisine, particularly Hong Kong barbecue. The only real contender in Tampa is the Yummy House down the street.

On a cold rainy night in 2002, I drove down Armenia and craved hot soup. I decided to try a restaurant that had once disappointed me– China Yuan. I didn’t know at the time that Mr. Chen had taken it over and vastly improved the food. I was immediately hooked, especially because i lived just a mile away.

I interviewed Mr. Chen several years ago and learned that his uncle had owned a Cuban Chinese restaurant in Tampa years ago. Chen’s recent expansion and renovation project makes for a very attractive restaurant with live seafood and roasted meat on display. I highly recommend it.

These days, China Yuan is a favorite of my family. We especially like sharing the food via the table’s lazy Susan. Begin with hot tea and the honey roast pork.  Shrimp wonton soup is light and abundant with fresh Chinese cabbage. The wontons hold ground shrimp and a nice punch of garlic.

We ordered the General Tso’s chicken for the kids, and found it was the best version we’d even tasted.  The Orange flavored beef was similar, but with the aroma of fried orange rind.  The walnut shrimp are my mother’s favorite, with candied nuts and a creamy glaze. Women in general seem to like this dish, including my aunt, who didn’t like Chinese food until we brought her to China Yuan.

The beef chow fun with black bean sauce is one of my new favorites. The broad noodles have a wonderful tender, chewy texture. The beef is perfectly cooked, the vegetables warm but crunchy, and the “dry” black bean sauce offers a wonderful briny kick.

Be sure to order vegetables, especially snow pea tips or Chinese cabbage. Mr. Chen grows the produce on his own farm in Plant City. The stir fried snow pea tips with garlic are the best greens in the world. I will have to get a picture another time.

For dessert, there is a nice Chinese bakery in the same strip mall. I prefer the walnut cookies and flaky almond bark. The savory buns are an ideal snack when traveling. The neighboring Din Ho market is among the best Chinese groceries in Tampa, along with Oceanic downtown, which is bigger.

I once took friends to China Yuan to celebrate some forgotten occasion, and announced I would pay the bill. This is usually a safe thing to do, as the prices there are so reasonable— most entrees average around $8-$11. We decided to order a fresh lobster. Mr. Chen brought it to our table, a huge specimen of writhing spines. When i asked how much it cost, I thought i heard him say seventeen. I was amazed, and couldn’t quite believe the price. When i got the bill, I confirmed that the beast cost $70. My friends had a laugh and I happily paid the bill— stir fried whole with vegetables and a light sauce, it was some of the best lobster I’d ever eaten.