Friday, July 13, 2012

Flying is so relaxing?

I love me some vacation time with my family.  My husband, Jon and I love to travel alone but there is a different kind of fun had when traveling with the whole fam and this time that includes my parents as well!  It has been a blast.  I loved watching my son on the plane (his second time flying).  The flight from Minneapolis to L.A. is 3 hours so I knew his antics would be fun to watch.  He ended up mimicking mommy and asked for my neck pillow and eye pillow put his head phones in and zoned out.  Love it!!

My son pretending to be a woman sipping tea but he really DID ask for my neck pilllow on the plane!

At LAX airport...Time to:
Re:Play
Re:Juvenate

On our shuttle ride to the Embassy Suites South in Anaheim we met Missy from Pittsburgh.  She rocked! She was so friendly and we discussed travel and food, both of which she loves as much as us.  I gave her my blog address so enjoy Missy! (Now you're famous LOL)  Anywho, I love hearing different perspectives on traveling and she was a great conversation partner for just that.  We talked about LA not having as huge a downtown as we thought it might.  Then that led us to our own theories.  Well, mine anyway.  I always have an opinion.  I figured NYC was full of high rises and skyscrapers because they were the first "big city" in US history growing up smack dab in the middle of the Industrial Revolution.  Growing man-made structures was the name of the game.  By the time we went west and settled California and created LA we were interested in space and land and urban sprawl.  So, downtown didn't get as huge and had skycrapers more out of necessity than design interest.  So, there you have it, my theory and everyone else thought it sounded good so we kind of ended the conversation there. HA.  I'd be curious to hear others' thoughts or even facts but theories are good for now.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

The Grey Plume

We had a new dining experience last weekend at The Grey Plume in Omaha's new Midtown Crossing.
When you walk in it appears small and European in nature.  Like a bistro in Italy.  The windows are tall and let  the daylight or dusk in.  The art on the walls is local and contemporary with an organic feel and theme.  The table settings and serving platters are also locally handmade.  For instance, the bread plates are made from melted down wine bottles.  The staff are happy to give you the card of the artist in case you want to have your empty favorite bottle of wine melted down into bread plates.  The serving platter for the Charcuterie board and some main courses are ceramic and also made by a local artist.  These platters are for sale, literally from table to bag to home.  After dinner when you try their delicious French Press coffee you will see on the dessert menu that their coffee is also for sale.  In this way, we took home a piece of our experience.  For the shopping, art, ceramics, and coffee lover in me, this was a splendid fit for me.  On to the food...



They start you with a palate cleanser of ginger and asparagus.  Then the Sommelier arrived at the table to offer a wine pairing or cocktail for the appetizer or entree of your pick.  We told her the wine we were in the mood for, an old vine Zin and she described a few wines they had on hand that might come close to what we like about the old vine Zins.  She nailed it AND gave us each a glass from a bottle they weren't even offering the whole restaurant that night as they only had one sample bottle staff was to try.  We were in a sense their guinea pig which we were fine with.

Next was the appetizer, we picked the Charcuterie Board and Diver Scallops that melted in your mouth.  The Board had a variety of meats and cheeses such that I have actually never tasted before.  How many ways can you cure meat or make cheese?! Evidently, an infinite number of ways in my experience anyway.  The Foie Gras and Duck Proscuitto were Jon's favorites.  The local goat's cheese melted in your mouth and paired with honey...it was a dream!  The Diver Scallops were a different story.  With the Scallops being well prepared their accompaniments were too prolific and melded tastes that shouldn't have comingled in our opinion anyway.  Jon wanted to dip his Scallops into one drizzle of sumptious flavor and he couldn't do so without running his Scallop chunk through a different flavor mixing the two in an unfavorable way.


Dinner for Jon unfortunately was a similar experience to the Bay Scallops.  His salmon came with shitaki mushrooms a favorite of his, but when comingled with pickled rhubarb took on the flavor of vinegar killing the shitaki mushroom flavor.  The salmon by itself, was well done however.  My Wagyu was good but not much to right home about.

Alas, our dessert was much like Jon's entree, overdone with flavor.  Too much of a good thing I guess can be a bad thing.

I do appreciate the farm to table idea, the Green certification this restaurant has, the knowledgable staff, the Sommelier and the atmosphere so all in all I would recommend and try this restaurant again.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Two Twins Cafe: Lincoln's hidden gem?

So Jon and I decide to go to lunch Friday at a totally new place we've never tried before.  Our go-to's are Granite City, Kinja, Green Gateau, and Venue for lunch and we were just in the mood for something different.  When we sat down to lunch we saw an advertisement for a Moroccan dinner that very same night.  When I read about the guest Chef I told Jon we should go check this out. 

This was on our table.
Chef Karim Chhibbane is from Marrakesh, Morocco.  He spent most of his formative years learning Moroccan cuisine in various kitches throughout his home country.  He then went to France to work as a chefin top hotels and prestigious restaurants.  With his passion for Morocco he returned home to further perfect his skill of Moroccan cooking.  He served as a private chef to top dignataries and celebrities including service as President Nixon'[s prviate chef.  He opened his own restaurant and served customers for 30 years.  He now teachs culinary arts at Santa Barbara College. 

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I should probably talk about the cuisine but I wanted to spend some time on the personality of the restaurant.  Anothy Ditton is the new owner.  He was walking the floor the entire night making sure people were enjoying themselves.  The turn out was not great but the restaurant isn ot being advertised.  It felt to us, like a hidden gem.  Anthony spent a large amount of time with us talking with us about the changes he'd like to make to Two Twins, his plans for more businesses in Lincoln and his background.

The new owner is a businessman and entreprenuer.  He's owned Connoisseur magazine and now owns a beauty and health company.  He began his entreprenuer path owning galleries.  He owned Anthonys Framing & Fine Art Gallery in Lincoln and began branches all over the world including L.A. where he currently resides and/or calls home-base where his wife and daughter currently live. 

Anthony got to know Chef Karim from his CA days and helped him with the business side of things when he went to open his restaurant.  Anthony said "he owed him a favor" and that is why Chef Karim came to Lincoln to be the guest Chef for two nights at the Two Twins.  It doesn't suprise me he would agree to leave California and come to Nebraska in the middle of March.  He is one of the nicest people you'll meet.  He truly cooks for people and enjoys cooking only as much as his connoisseurs enjoy the food and give him feedback.  He even invited us to call him if we ever come to Santa Barbara and he said he'll cook for us and take us to the best restaurants and to prove his sincerity he gave us his phone number!

Myself, Chef Karim Chhibbane, Jon


This conversation with both Anthony and Chef Karim is in part why we enjoyed our dinner so much.  Ah!  The dinner...

It began with a rose water wash for our hands and a choice from the special menu.  We went with the smorgasbord, give-us-all-you-got option.   We ate with our hands which is traditional in Morocco.  This was a treat for me because I lived in Sri Lanka for 6 months and always ate with my hands.  (I personally think food tastes better when you eat it with your hands).  First came the bread with sauce.  The sauce tasted a lot like salsa without the paprika, hot peppers or onions.  Two appetizers of lentil soup, which you drank or scooped up with your bread and a "wedding pastry" made with cinammon, powedered sugar and beef.  One entree each and of course, we got two different entrees and sampled each.  Chicken and steak kabob with cous cous which you could also scoop up with your bread.  To end we drank mint tea after another rose water wash for our hands.

During the meal we were entertained by not only Anthony's story and our own conversation but a belly dancer in traditional dress.  She went to each table to entertain for awhile with her dance.  All the senses were engaged!  My kind of eating experience!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Boiler Room in Omaha's Old Market features pre-prohibition style cocktails and so much more...

1110 Jones Street
The Old Market
Omaha, NE
402-916-9274

The Boiler Room is owned by Mark and Vera Mercer, the same couple who owns V. Mertz (named after Vera, Mertz was her maiden name).  Mark's father saved many of the warehouse's in the Old Market in the 1950's by buying them up, including the building where the Boiler Room is now from the Mayor of Omaha for $1.  Read more about the Boiler Room's history at http://www.theboilerroomrestaurant.com/history.html.

The Boiler Room has created a fabulous dining experience by paying attention to detail and doing everything they do with a purpose.  Their food source is mostly local when possible (see the end of this post for a listing of farms) so the quality of the food is impecable.  They have experienced and knowledgable chefs to prepare the quality food in an excellent and creative way.  Their cocktails are all pre-prohibition style so if you ask me, are well made!  The servers are experienced and thoughtful and they boast a sommelier on staff to advise a wonderful pairing of wine with your choice of food. 

An interesting tidbit: The Boiler Room's pasta chef worked for a few weeks at famous restaurants all over the world to add to his skills in an apprenticeship fashion and now wows patrons with his creations!

READ ON for more information on the meal...
Pasta Chef's Housemade Bigoli - Jon enjoyed this for an appetizer
pulled amish duck sugo, grana padano, olio nuovo

Parsnip Sformato - my appetizer
farm egg, house duck prosciutto, sage powder
Although amazing in and of itself, I had to dip bread into the egg yoke in the middle as it was all very rich.  My skilled and attentive server also brought me a sample of their Burgundy wine to pair with this appetizer as it was the perfect pairing.  And it was!  After, sipping the Burgundy I would take a bite of the Sformato and couldn't imagine eating this appetizer any other way.  Bravo!

In between the appetizer and entree was the Cheese Board
sheep and cow milk cheese from France and Italy with smoked almonds
 and cranberry chutney

Honey Creek Farm’s Lamb - Jon's entree
potato gnocchi, winter carrots, braised shoulder, turnip

Majinola Ranch Wagyu Hanger Steak - my entree
acorn squash, spaetzle, roasted sunchoke, lobster américaine

Espresso with Steamed Milk to end 
I had to take a picture of it because it is the perfect example of how this restaurant does everything with purpose and pays attention to details.  They have truly "thought of everything."

Views of the Restaurant From Our Table

Wine Cellar

                                           
The blobs lit up on the brick wall are Terra Cotta masks created by owner Mark Mercer.  The bar boasts mixed drinks made exactly like pre-prohibition days.  The Manhattan was amazing and Jon's Bourbon sour was made with egg whites like back in the day.

Another view from our table, the dark mass in most of the right half of the picture are the stairs.  The upper level has seating and that is where you enter the restaurant as well.  We will try the upper level sitting next time.  This particular table was romantic and cozy but lacked in any kind of panoramic view of the restaurant.



Me

Jon

The menu changes daily at the Boiler Room
Below is the menu from the night we ate at the Boiler Room
January 21, 2012 at 4:44pm

Tonight’s Menu

˜house marinated olives
 house charcuterie
selection of house cured meats, pickles, mustard
housemade bigoli
pulled amish duck sugo, grana padano, olio nuovo
winter carrot bisque
oregon black truffle, bone marrow, radish
parsnip sformato
farm egg, house duck prosciutto, sage powder
crudo of lemon sole
lemon aioli, kohlrabi, english walnut, beet chips
braised wagyu shortrib
roasted polenta, red beet, cauliflower jardinière, “merguez”
     
main course
roasted pig’s head
cauliflower purée, roasted parsnips, shallots, house cured ham
florida golden tilefish
oregon white truffle, ricotta agnolotti, braised cabbage, fried cauliflower
plum creek farm’s chicken 2 ways
baeckeoffe, butter beans, confit leg, chicken liver sauce
 t.d. niche farms pork loin
silesian dumplings, boiled peanuts, oyster mushroom, braised leeks
honey creek farm’s lamb
potato gnocchi, winter carrots, braised shoulder, turnip
majinola ranch wagyu hanger steak
acorn squash, spaetzle, roasted sunchoke, lobster américaine

The Boiler Room proudly sources local meats and produce whenever possible and would like to give special thanks to all of our local grower/producer partners: squeaky green organics, rhizosphere, honey creek farms, shadowbrook farms, clementines p&p, bedford gardens, blooms organics, le quartier, madonna school, t.d. niche farm, majinola ranch, plum creek farms, sanders farms, birdsong farms, dakota harvest lamb.