Local flair in Minneapolis

Wow, so many things have changed over the last several months: I defended my graduate dissertation, graduate from school and moved to Cleveland for a new job. All of these things kept me busy and made me neglect my blog. But things are finally slowing down, so I'm back!

Today I'll quickly catch you up on some of the most memorable dining experiences I had recently. I'll start with a trip I took last fall to Minneapolis/St. Paul to visit Pumpkin there. It was still the beginning of fall, the leaves on the trees were all shades of yellow and red, the air was crisp, but still warm - PERFECT! Pumpkin had to work during the days when I was there, so I was left to explore on my own. I didn't mind it, though, because I got to rest and do whatever I want. In between going to parks and museums, I grabbed a few meals. I had a lot of fresh local food at a small cafe next to a lake (can't remember its name :( ) and the modern art museum. But the best meal of the trip was at Butcher and the Boar. I don't often eat meat, but when I do it's something special - as at the restaurant of a James Beard Award semifinalist.

In addition to Pumpkin, her roommate also joined us for dinner. We decided to share the sausage sampler because the restaurant is known for its sausages. The platter came with a pork, beef and boar sausage each, which was perfect for the three of us. We also got the beer-battered fries on the side. All the sausages were amazing. They were juicy and flavorful, each with its unique taste. The pork sausage was especially juicy, with what looked like pieces of cheese inside. It was my favorite. The fries were also perfect: crispy on the outside and soft inside.




Finally, the other place worth mentioning is a local ice cream chain called Sebastian Joe's. I have newfound appreciation for ice cream, especially small family brands that still make the ice cream by hand. They use the best ingredients, and usually have some unique flavors. Sebastian Joe's is one of those places. After a lot of deliberation - and tastings ;) - I got a scoop each of the Pavaroti and Spumoni flavors. I mean, where else have you heard names like these?? The Pavaroti was caramel and banana ice cream with swirled caramel, banana pieces and chocolate chips. The Spumoni is almond, lemon and orange ice cream with dried apricots and almonds. Both types were absolutely delicious. And even though the Spumoni had so many flavors mixed in, they were all balanced for an overall great taste. 

Barcelona, Ole!

My roommate Snooki,
Being a smart cookie,
Passed her qualifying exam last week
Continuing on her way to become a science geek.
To celebrate, we went to Barcelona,
A place fit for her fancy persona.

Alright, alright I got carried away with the rhyming. And to clarify, neither Snooki, nor Barcelona are fancy or snobbish. But of the two, Barcelona comes closer, haha. But it was a special occasion, so we could go overboard a little bit.

Barcelona is a wine and tapas bar in the Inman Park area of Atlanta. Snooki and I walked by it one afternoon when they were making paella outside in a huge fan and made the decision to try it one day. It turns out that they don't serve individual portions of paella, but offer it only in large batches meant for sharing. We opted out for sharing the smaller and less expensive tapas instead. The menu wasn't as extensive as the one at Pura Vida, but we still had plenty of options to choose from. Everything sounded really delicious, but at the end we got the Patatas Bravas, Herbed Goat Cheese and Mushrooms and the Wild Striped Bass Ceviche.

Snooki and I have something of a quest to try as many patatas bravas from different places as possible. This obsession started at Loca Luna where we always get patatas bravas for an annual school dinner. The dish is simply amazing there! The potatoes are perfectly crispy and spicy. The aioli that they are served with also contributes a little spiciness, but the smooth creamy texture helps to balance out the heat. I've tried to make my own patatas bravas once, but failed miserably :( We also ordered them at Iberian Pig once. They were better than mine, but nowhere close to the ones at Loca Luna. Considering these failures, I was starting to think that we won't be able to find a place that serves patatas bravas as good as the ones at Loca Luna. Well, I'm happy to say that this has changed! The patatas bravas at Barcelona come very very close to the ones at Loca Luna! The crispiness and spiciness are definitely there. The only difference is in the sauce. The potatoes at Barcelona are served with a spicy aioli and ketchup. The aioli was ok, but the ketchup (which wasn't changed in any way) had no place on a great dish like the patatas bravas.

The herbed goat cheese and mushrooms also had a lot to live up to. I had had a dish of mushrooms sauteed with garlic and butter at Pura Vida in which the mushrooms were just perfect. I expected something similar from the dish in Barcelona, but was a little disappointed. The mushrooms tasted ok, but I wish there was a little more depth of flavor, maybe some garlic or herbs in the mushrooms rather than simply butter. Also, I thought that there would be a ball of goat cheese on the side to almost sere as a dip for the mushrooms. Instead, there was an amorphous dollop on top that didn't provide as much tangy-ness to the dish as I was hoping for.

Finally, the ceviche was great. I don't have much to say about it except that it was exactly what a ceviche should be: fresh-tasting and with large chunks of seafood. The citrus flavor was refreshing, but not overpowering. My only complaint is that there wasn't more of it ;)

At one point during the dinner we were pleasantly surprised by a complimentary dish of beets with walnuts and pesto. We still don't know why we received it, but we didn't turn it down... Even though Snooki doesn't like beets, we kept the dish. Of course, I ended up eating most of it, but Snooki at least gave it a try. The verdict: she still doesn't like beets. Well, I enjoyed the dish. I actually like the slightly sour taste of beets, and it went great with the blue cheese-based pesto on top.

It being a celebration, we also ordered drinks and dessert. Snooki is a big fan of sangria, so she tried the white wine one. Well, I can assure you she liked it very much and only two drinks were enough for her for the night. I tried the caipirinha. I was a little anxious when I saw that it came in a pretty small size (maybe 6 oz), but my mood completely changed only after a few sips. Man, this drink was strong! After only half a drink, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to drive home. Thankfully, the food and dessert soaked up the alcohol by the end of the night and we were able to get back home safely. By the way, even though the drink was strong, the caipirinha was easy to drink because of the refreshing lime taste.

As to the dessert, Snooki and I shared a chocolate hazelnut molten cake with coconut ice cream on top. The cake wasn't that great. I didn't taste much hazelnut in it either. However, the coconut ice cream was one of my favorite things. It reminded me a lot of coconut gelato I had had in Italy. I wish Barcelona sold it in cartons to take home ;)

By the way, Barcelona is also known for its wine list. Maybe we need to try some during a future visit :P

Warming up

This sounds crazy, but there was still snow and ice in Atlanta a week after it originally fell. Thankfully, the temperatures are above freezing now. Everyone's mood is also warming, and people are enjoying the outdoors again after a week of cabin fever.

Last Saturday I met up with several people for dinner. We decided to have Thai food again. Thai food just seems perfect in the cold weather. Well, I think it's perfect in any weather, too :P We went to Noodle in Midtown. It won some distinction from Creative Loafing, but I don't remember the specifics now... Anyway, I was excited to try it. It has a pretty cool interior: long tables for community seating in the middle, booths on the sides. The menu seemed amazing when you read through it. There were so many things I wanted to try. I eventually settled on Green Curry Soup with shrimp. It had egg noodles instead of rice noodles. Honestly, I didn't particularly care about the soup. The noodles were too dense and long; it was hard to eat them unless you slurped them. Nothing else about the soup was very flavorful, either.

Cashew got a dish that was supposed to resemble a bird's nest. I don't remember the exact name, sorry... I just remember it came with crispy noodles, and had everything else spooned on top. I think Cashew did like her dish. Her only complain was that there was too much filling on top and you couldn't clearly distinguish the next shape. Our other friends got pho soup and green curry with chicken and broccoli.

Even though we were all pretty stuffed after the dinner, we decided to get dessert. Missing the warm weather, three of us got ice cream: cinnamon flavor (Cashew), coconut flavor (me) and green tea flavor. Our other friend tried the coconut cake. The consensus on the table was that the cake was the best dessert. It was so light and fluffy with the perfect smooth cream between the layers. I also loved my coconut ice cream. The green tea ice cream tasted just like green tea, which is great if you love that flavor (which I don't, but my friend does). The cinnamon ice cream had a strong cinnamon flavor which was too overpowering, so no one enjoyed it too much... Poor cashew... And to top it all, the serving size were HUGE! Three scoops! At that point I was glad for the filling dinner because I was able to eat only half the ice cream, haha!