Exotic Ethiopian

There are four different Ethiopian restaurants within 3 miles of where I live - no exaggeration. Three of them are at the same intersection, too. And yet, I have been to an Ethiopian restaurant only once in the last 11 years in Atlanta. That was a long time ago, when I was a really picky eater. Not surprise that that I didn't like it then... But now, I love trying new things, so I decided to give Ethiopian one more chance, with Snooki as my partner in crime.

When it came to deciding where to go, our thought process went exactly like this: (1) Which places have Scoutmob? (2) Which of the two options has the better reviews on Yelp? The result was Meskerem, and that's where we went. I wish looking at the menu had been part of the thought process, though. Snooki and I were hoping to see some kind of sampler platter, but there weren't any :( The closest thing we saw was a mixed lamb/chicken dish with two vegetable sides - we chose the lentils and split peas. We also got the beef spare ribs because I (goren tibs) because I thought it might be like Korean-style spare ribs. And they both came with the traditional Ethiopian sponge bread.

My first impression of the goren tibs was really got. It was brought to the table in an iron skillet and sizzling, similar to fajita filling. But unlike fajitas, the beef then was poured over the sponge bread. I guess that was good. I didn't even get a chance to burn myself on the hot skillet ;) However, once I tried the beef, I was rather disappointed. It didn't have any of the flavor of Korean beef. It didn't have any Ethiopian spices either. Instead, the only seasoning it had appeared to be salt! The char on the beef was really nice, but that's the only good thing I can say about the beef.

Snooki, with her mixed meat platter, had many more options of what to eat. Both the lamb and chicken were covered in a tomato-based sauce. Somehow, though, they tasted completely different. The chicken was bland, but the lamb was so flavorful! I definitely wish I had ordered it. The same thing happened with the lentils and peas too. Peas: blahhhh. Lentils: spicy goodness :)

I don't know how the things in the platter could be so different. I wish there was a little more consistency in tastes. This is one place where "hit-or-miss" appears to be the best description. The things that were good were really good. But unfortunately, getting those is all about luck. Overall, not a good place to just try new things.

As a post-script, here are some random notes. The Ethiopian bread is definitely very different. It's very moist (almost soggy), with a slight acidic flavor. I kind of like it, though. And note 2: we weren't even offered regular silverware. We had to eat everything with the bread and our fingers. That was OK while we were eating, but became a problem later when we were trying to pack up the leftovers to go. It was a pretty messy ordeal. I'm all for having an authentic cultural experience, but some things are a little hard to pass over (for example, utensils) when you're used to them since birth.

Brunch on the patio

The beginning of summer is the time of the year when we all flock to pools, parks, and patios. [Ha, they all start with a "p"] It's not too hot yet, and we're sick of spending time indoors. Well, it's been a tricky summer here in Atlanta, raining pretty much every single day for as long as I can remember. But Snooki and I had a deal for brunch, so we chose a not-too-rainy Sunday to use it. And yes, we chose to sit on the patio :) What could be better to start a Sunday that fresh air, coffee and a nice breakfast at half the price :)

The aforementioned brunch deal was for Olmsted, a relatively new restaurant in Midtown. The deal included bread and a meat platter to begin, one mimosa or bloody Mary each, and an entree. Unfortunately, we didn't think ahead and went there early on Sunday morning when you can't buy alcohol. That's the South for you... Well, the server was nice enough to let us use our cocktail credit for coffee drinks. And well, that was one of the few things about the service. It took forever to order and get our food even though the restaurant was pretty much empty when we got there. Also, we never got silverware when we were seated. We had to ask for it after the food was brought to us. By the time we started eating, it was already getting cold.


So now to the main point, the food. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything special either. I was very disappointed by the bread platter that we were supposed to share. I expected several types of breads/muffins/maybe cornbread/scones. Instead, we got four dainty pieces of zucchini bread. The meat platter was ok. It had sausage, ham and bacon. But it's really weird to eat greasy meat by itself. It would have been much much better with some bread.

For the entree, I got the Yet Another Shrimp and Grits, Snooki got the Eggs Savannah, and her boyfriend (BrayBoy) ordered the fried chicken. Yes, "Yet Another Shrimp and Grits" is the name of the item on the menu, and that's exactly what it was. I have definitely had much better shrimp and grits before, and I can make better ones myself. There wasn't any flavor on them. I was hoping that the name was just a joke, but unfortunately it wasn't. Snooki's  dish was good, at least. The crab and shrimp cakes weren't overflowing with flavor, either, but there was a good amount of crab meat in them. The hashed potatoes were crispy, as they should be. BrayBoy was happy with his dish, though. It was definitely a guy's portion, with a huge chunk of cornbread that was the size of half a loaf. On the bright side, he had leftovers.

I guess the best part of the meal was sitting outside. But once it started drizzling, we were ready to go and I don't think any of us would be going back.

Taste Test: Exotic Fruits

Despite my love for food, I refuse to drive for more than 5 minutes to go to a grocery store. That means that trips to the farmer's market, which is 20-30 min away, are a very rare occurrence for me. But when I go, I make it an occasion and buy a bunch of things I don't usually get. At my last trip to the Asian farmer's market in town, I decided to try fruits that I have never had before. I went all out and picked some things that I hadn't even heard of and some fruits that I have always wanted to try. My selection is pictured here:

Top (left to right): Thai guava, zapote, cherimoya
Bottom: dragon fruit, kumquats

The first to go were the kumquats. I don't know if the rinds are edible, but I did eat them. The kumquats did have a pretty acidic flavor, reminiscent of oranges, but a lot more acidic. The rinds weren't bitter. I found this fruit very refreshing and delicious. I loved how they little pieces exploded in my mouth after biting into them.

I was very curious about the zapote and cherimoya because I had never even heard of them. So, I cut into them the first day. The cherimoya was soooo good! I read that it's also called a custard apple, and I see how it gets its name. It is very soft and melts in your mouth. The taste is sweet, but not cloying. It does feel like eating pudding, but with even better, fresher taste. Unfortunately, I was kind of disappointed from the zapote. The one I had was half ripe, half too hard. I couldn't even cut into the unripe part, and the rest was on the point of being mushy. The taste was kind of bland too. But I made the best of it by mixing it with the cherimoya in a fruit salad :) The two different tastes balanced each other very well. In the picture above, the cherimoya is the white mush on the bottom, and the zapote is the orange pieces.

(Important note! I did look up all fruits before I tried them. Turns out the seeds in the cherimoya contain toxic compounds and are inedible. I made sure to remove all of them. If you do decide to try any unfamiliar fruit, please look it up before tasting it.)

At that point I was also anxious to try the dragon fruit. Just like I had heard, it looks pretty, but it has a very mild taste. It indeed is pretty, with its black seeds and bright magenta outer pulp. The texture has some bite to it, it's not all mushy and soft. So I added it to my fruit salad to add almost like a little crunch to the soft cherimoya and zapote. The final product was delicious!

A couple of days later I tried the guava as well. The Thai variety has white flesh, while the Mexican variety is pink. The Thai guava didn't impress me at all. It was very bland, with a slightly tangy flavor. I was hoping to something sweeter and resembling the guava candy they give out in some Asian restaurants. I just want to point out that my guava was ripe to the touch, so the lack of flavor is not due to it being unripe. But now I'm really curious to try the pink guava, which is supposed to be sweeter. Maybe I'll pick it up during my next trip to the grocery store, along with more cherimoya :)

Seafood Streak

Pumpkin was in Atlanta recently! And the only reason I was excited about that was because she had said she would go eat crawfish with me ;) I had restaurant.com coupons for both Crawfish Shack and Fontaine's Oyster House, so we made a seafood weekend out of it. We went to Fontaine's on Friday and Crawfish Shack on Saturday.

I've been to Fontaine's several times, but every single time I order the Hot combo platter. You get one pound of shrimp, one pound of snow crab legs, mussels and clams, and one dozen steamed Gulf oysters. Well, we always ask if we can get the oysters raw rather than steamed. Every time they say, Let me check with the kitchen. They have been able to accommodate our request every time :) But now to the food. My favorite thing on the platter are the shrimp because of the spices they are cooked with. Most pronounced of these is cumin (I think), and it gives them a flavor I normally associate with my mother's meatballs rather than shrimp. The crab legs are generally of great quality and taste fresh. I don't think Pumpkin enjoyed them too much because of how hard they are to crack. She needs more practice! And even though she was afraid that we didn't get enough food, we were both stuffed by the end. This platter is a perfect portion for two people.

The very next day we were ready for more food at Crawfish Shack, and Snooki tagged along as well. Of course, we got crawfish (3 lb of it!). Snooki wasn't too eager to eat the whole crawfish, so she opted for a shrimp po-boy.  The coupon I had required us to spend at least $45, and we made up the balance by loading up on sides: Cajun fries, sweet potato tots, herb-roasted red potatoes and corn nuggets. The crawfish was fresh and spicy - just the way it was supposed to be. The "Cajun" fries, though, had NO seasoning on them, not even salt, let alone Cajun spice. Well, maybe a tiny bit of salt, but you get my point. They were so plain, they were impossible to eat. But we were too lazy to return them and had plenty of other things to make up for the fries. The roasted red potatoes were also rather plain. The only seasoning they had was a little butter on the bottom of the dish and hard to get to. The sweet potato tots, though, were just what I expected from them and still retained their flavor after frying. What I was really impressed by were the corn nuggets. I LOVED them. We couldn't imaging what they would be before ordering, but I'm SO glad we got them. They remind me a little of arancini balls, but with corn instead of rice and flattened. The corn kernels are still whole inside and so sweet when you eat them. And overall, all the fried sides did help to counteract the spicy crawfish :) 

IP restaurant week: part 5 + 6

Yup, it's that time of year again: Inman Park restaurant week!!!! You have no idea how excited I get about it. As before, I went to TWO restaurants :)

First up: Pure Taqueria. The main reason I wanted to go there was the ceviche appetizer. I was so nervous they might run out of ingredients to make it, we went there on Monday night - the first day of restaurant week - at 6 pm. Well, it paid off because I did get the ceviche :) Like all the Pure ceviches, it had an innovative presentation with both a tortilla and a plantain chip. The ceviche was a little salty, but very refreshing.

For the entree, I ordered the trout with corn cakes and guacamole. It had too many things I love to pass over: corn and guacamole. The salty theme continued on the trout, but the cakes and guacamole were perfect. The trout was crusted in chile, so there was a little bit of heat to the dish, but it wasn't overwhelming.

Finally, I had the pineapple flan for dessert. It was soo soo good! Sooo smooth, you couldn't even feel it. At the same time your tastebuds detected a rich flavor of pineapple with a hint of nutmeg. The nutmeg was really a great addition. The topping of caramelized pineapple also went great with the dish. Somehow, the rich syrup cut through the flavor of the rich custard to make for a great combination that did not feel cloying at all. This flan was one of those desserts where you say "no, I'm too full, I can't eat any more," but then you have one bite and the rest is gone before you even realize it.

For the second installment of restaurant week, we went to Rathbun's. Note, this is different from Kevin Rathbun Steak. It had been a long time since I'd gone there, but I quickly remembered why I love the place. I love the atmosphere of a remodeled industrial space (read: cold concrete) and Southern hospitality meet to form a sophisticated, but warm place. And the modern American menu is always exciting and unique. I started with the pork and fennel crepinette (sausage) with mashed potatoes and arugula salad. The sausage was probably the best, moistest sausage I have ever had. It was delicious. However, I could not taste the fennel in it at all, which is surprising because fennel has a pretty strong flavor.

The choice of an entree was very difficult, but I settled on the tri tip steak with potatoes. Expecting a square meal? Thing again. The steak was perfectly tender and seasoned. It was topped with a chimichurri-like sauce that also went very well with the herbed potatoes. I guess I liked the steak so much, I forgot to take a picture of it...

For dessert, I continued the custard theme and got the sour cream creme brulee. I was convinced it would taste just like any other creme brulee, but I was happy to be mistaken. I could actually detect the sour cream in the custard - it gave an interesting tartness to the creme brulee that was very unexpected, but wonderful. The cookie on the side was just blah, though. I could have gotten a better chewy cookie at many other places. In the background of the picture you can also see my co-worker's chocolate cupcake with coffee oreo gelato. I loved the rich cupcake, and he was also very happy with the gelato.

Yet again, I wasn't disappointed with Inman Park restaurant week. Now I can't wait for the fall to do all of this again!

Chirashi Cravings

Despite living right next to a sushi restaurant, I can go for months without having sushi. Then, all of a sudden, I go on a sushi binge. This time, I didn't simply crave sushi, but chirashi. Do not confuse it with sriracha! Sriracha is the Asian hot sauce, and chirashi is a fish-and-sushi rice dish. The reason I love chirashi is that you get plain fresh fish without any sauces to hide its taste. If the fish is not the best quality, you'll notice it right away. And I prefer chirashi to sashimi or nigiri because you do get some fix-ins in terms of vegetables. Plus, there's plenty of rice to fill you up if you're really hungry.

In the last couple of weeks I had chirashi from two different places: Zuma at Toco Hill and Sushi Itto. I've been to Zuma multiple times, trying many of the rolls and the bento box, but this was the first time ordering chirashi. It came in a HUGE bowl with the sushi rice completely covered by lettuce and then the sashimi on top. The fish selection consisted mostly of tuna and salmon, with a few pieces of white fish mixed in. While the fish was fresh, eating it was a little challenging because of all the lettuce.

In contrast, the chirachi at Sushi Itto is exactly what I want from chirashi: mostly sashimi and rice, with a few vegetables for crunch. And look at how pretty it looked!! I almost didn't want to eat it. Almost ;) The fish (tuna, salmon, what I guess was tuna belly and white tuna) was sooooo good and fresh. It all just melted in your mouth. I don't love salmon, but I couldn't get enough of the salmon in the bowl. And despite it being sliced so thin, there was a substantial amount of fish in there. My only tiny complaint about this dish was that it was hard to squeeze the small lime slices. But who cares about limes when there's delicious fish to enjoy?!?!

So how exactly do you eat chirashi? I'm sure everyone has their opinion about what is THE right way. I say, stop worrying too much about being proper and just enjoy the dish. Unless, of course, you're trying to impress some native Japanese people for some reason ;) In which case, don't order the chirashi ;) Anyway, I like to mix all the ingredients, bipimbop-style. I also add some soy sauce to the rice. I don't spread the wasabi around the bowl because I can take wasabi only in tiny fractions. Instead, I add just a little bit of wasabi to a side bowl with soy sauce and use it for dipping any bites that might need a little more soy sauce. Another common way to eat chirashi is to alternate fish and rice bites, dipping each in a side bowl of soy sauce. Someone likened this way to eating Thanksgiving dinner: you don't shove turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes in your mouth all at once; instead you take a bite of each in turns. I guess I like the mixture of textures I get from mixing fish, veggies and rice, so I'll keep using my method :)

Sunday Supper, part 2

My first experience with Sunday Supper at JCT Kitchen came about a year ago. After saying a thousand times that I want to go again, we finally made it back there, using Bulgaria's Independence day as an excuse. Even though she's not Bulgaria, Snooki also tagged along.

As before, the table shared biscuits with apple butter and brown butter, a large salad and deviled eggs. And after what seemed like an eternity, we finally got our entrees. JCT Kitchen, you need to get your act together because it's not OK to make people 30 min after the salad to get their meals. I suspect our dished were just waiting on a counter somewhere because they were cold by the time we got them. Everything was still delicious, but I know it would have been a lot better if warm. Oh yeah, here's what we ordered: I had the pan-seared steak with mushrooms, Snooki had the pork tenderloin, my dad got the grouper with beets, and my mom ordered the fried chicken with cornbread. It's funny how it works out this way so many times, but I liked Snooki's dish (the pork) a lot more than my dish (steak). The pork was very tender and moist compared to my dry cold steak...  At least the mushrooms were great...

I think my favorite part of the Sunday Supper are the sides, especially the mashed sweet potatoes that we had last time. I've been dreaming about them! Well, day-dreaming ;) But they didn't have them on the menu this time! I'm outraged! Now I'll have to figure out how to make them myself. In the meantime, we had to choose something different and settled on mac and cheese, Brussels sprouts, and mushrooms with Parmesan. However, our not-so-good waiter brought us mashed potatoes instead of mushrooms. Thankfully, he let us keep to potatoes and brought us mushrooms in addition to that. So in the end, we got a free side out of it :) Plus, the mushrooms turned out to be different from what we expected. We thought that they'd be sauteed mushrooms with cheese on top; instead, it was a mushroom risotto with cheese. It wasn't bad, but not the deliciousness I was waiting for. As to the other sides, the mashed potatoes were good, albeit too greasy; the Brussels sprouts were cooked perfectly, not bitter at all, and the mac and cheese was spectacular - very, very cheesy and with huge chunks of pancetta. By the way, if my parents like the Brussels sprouts, they must have been good. My dad especially is not too eager to try new foods.



And at the end of the meal came the dessert - caramelized pear pie. We were all complaining (in a good way!) how stuffed we were after the side overload. I was even telling myself that I'll have only a couple of bites of the pie. But boy oh boy! This pie is one of the BESTTTTT things I've ever had. The pears were soft and gooey, they were fragrant with warm spices (cinnamon, etc.), there was a little bit of custard, and the pie was sooo flaky and soft to the fork. It probably took me all but a minute to devour a pretty huge slice! At some point I did remember to stop for long enough to take a picture... It doesn't look that impressive, but you all should be jealous that you didn't try it. Well, that pie made us all forget about some of the mishaps earlier during the dinner :) And yes, it's up there on my list of amazing foods, right next to the French Toast at La Boulange :)