A Weekend in Kennebunkport

Phew! It's been a whirlwind of a month. Lots of activity going on around here, which left little time for blog posting. There's lot to report, but for now, here are some pictures from my cousin Alison and her husband Gary's wedding from last weekend in Kennebunkport, Maine. You'll remember, not too long ago, we were only cake tasting. It was a beautiful weekend!

Groom and Groomsmen Entering by Sail Boat

The Bride and her Dad

Bride and GroomThe Gals

Beehive Brunch - Better left for Drinks and Dinner?

A recent trip to Beehive for brunch left me desiring more. The menu looked promising enough and the food, when delivered, looked delicious! But when tasted, the dishes seemed to be lacking something, flavor maybe?

The Poutine with Sunnyside Eggs sounded devilish. What could be better than gravy smothered cheese frites, topped with runny eggs? And I am a big fan of Beehive's frites alone, so the dressed up version sounded amazing. But I should have known better - there really is nothing compared to the original Quebecois version; the Poutine was disappointing at best. The meat omelet of the day likewise sounded appealing - steak with horseradish ricotta, yum! Nope, no dice - the eggs needed salting. Never a good sign for a chef.

The saving graces of the day? Well the company for starters. The bloody mary also really hit the spot. The rim of the glass was dusted with what tasted like Old Bay seasoning, which lended the perfect spice to the concoction. The yummy olive and peperoncini on top sealed the deal. The other saving grace was the Tomato and Farmhouse Cheddar Grilled Cheese. My husband could eat three of these, that's how much he loves it. Though I must admit that a bloody mary with dinner doesn't have the same punch as a bloody mary with brunch, I'd save Beehive for a return trip during the dinner hours, since both the bloody mary and grilled cheese are available off the evening menu.

The Beer Post

The past couple of years I've been getting into some new beers. I hadn't drank much by way of good beer prior to then - a good beer never went beyond a Newcastle. Now, I still appreciate a Newcastle from time-to-time, but the number of beers that have made their way into my good graces have expanded exponentially.

My most prominent foray into beer par excellance has been guzzling Dogfish Head. Oh, Dogfish Head, how I love the. If you want to read about where the wood comes from in the (now) famed Palo Santo brew, or if you just want to be able to impress your friends while you stick you pinky up tipping the bottle over, reading this New Yorker article is a must. Some of the tidbits are incredible just to see how much effort people put into what they love; for instance:

When they finally arrived, one of the millworkers pulled out a large cooking knife. “He said he was going to prove to me that these were palo-santo trees,” Gasparine remembers. “ ‘We’ll cut away the bark and you can smell it!’ Then he starts hacking away for five or ten minutes. Nothing. Can’t get through the sapwood. So the monster Carlos goes at it. The blade looks like a butter knife in his hand. Nothing.” After a while, Carlos turned to one of his sidekicks and sent him back to the truck. When he returned, he was holding a .38-calibre pistol. “Now I’m a little more than freaked out,” Gasparine says. Carlos took the pistol, swivelled it toward the tree, and fired a single shot from five feet away. The bullet struck with a dull thud, then fell harmlessly to the ground.

Its a little sweet for me, but certainly worth trying.

It goes without saying - but I'll say it anyway - that if you find a bottle of 120 Minute IPA laying around, buy it quickly. At 20% Alcohol by value - that's right, 20% - this isn't a guzzler. This is a sipper. But if hoppy IPA's are you thing - and they are for me - man is this some good beer. Uhh, just don't read how many calories you just drank. :D

The 90 and the 60 minute are well worth it too - just not in the same league. The Raison D'Etre is similarly heaven (though, like Palo Santo, a very sweet beer). I'm not sure there are any bad beers from Dogfish Head -- if you like big, bold, strong beer, you can't go wrong.

With summer fast (but not fast enough) approaching, I'm finding myself more and more in the mood for a light, pale ale. Local Brewer Cisco, from Nantucket, makes some very solid additions: Sankaty Light is what it advertises to be - a light, pale beer that is pretty good at a bbq where the beer slips into the background. You may not crave it, but when you want something light and easy, sitting outside at a bbq down the Cape or on the Islands with a Sankaty Light is exactly what the doc ordered. Similarly, the Whale's Tale is a good, light pale ale - crisp, and when chilled as cold as it can get, as refreshing as a pale ale should be.

Living in Brookline, we are fortunate enough to live nearby a great deal of watering holes. For beer, though, and while my vote isn't universally accepted, I still like the relatively new Roadhouse BBQ. A good selection of 50-80 or so beers are usually on tap, good (but not gourmet, and the debate rages on its authenticity) smoked meat, a few TVs, a ton of tables, and now that the weather is picking up, outdoor seating -- all make this a great location to drink beer. And, really, isn't it all about the beer?

My largest problem with beer drinking is that I don't always remember what I've had. I'll leave the reasons to your imagination, but suffice to say, I remember a few good ones from Roadhouse. Three, especially, stand out.

Stone's Oaked Arrogant Bastard is some damn good beer with a damn good name. Walking in and ordering an Arrogant Bastard just makes me happy. But, the AB is good beer regardless of its name and a must have when on tap. Strong and oaky, you can't really follow this with some wimpy light beer. This is on its own with no where to go but up. Its cousin - the Double Bastard - is stronger (nearly 11% ABV) and more powerful, but not rounded the way the Oaked is. But, damn good beer in its own right.

Moving away from hop and strength to more malty Belgium beers, Allagash Black and White are great local finds. The traditional wheaty White is tasty, smooth and goes perfect with anything. The Belgiun stout Black is strong, chocolaty, and sweet - it overpowers wimpy food. Both selections from the Portland Maine brewer are well worth it.

Finally, speaking of local beers, the Mrs. went to Maine and brought me back a great selection of Shipyard brews the other week. While not as distinctive as their Maine counterpart, Allagash, these are good, strong, tasty beers. The IPA had a good amount of hoppiness to go along with an easy taste. Mmm. Beer.

At some point, I'm going to continue the local beer trend and get me some Pretty Things beer. (If the website is still down - not a good sign! - check out this post from the Beantown Bloggery.)

Another day, another reason to think that Homer Simpson was right: Mmm... Beer. Indeed.

Bestill My Beating Heart ... The Craigie Burger

Not too long ago, we promised you that we'd be back to Craigie on Main to sample Tony Maw's $18, 8oz., local, grass fed burger. Well, last weekend we delivered on our word and we would venture to say that it's the best, high-end burger, that we've encountered so far, in the metro-Boston area. Being so in lust, we had a lot of questions for our waiter.

According to our waiter, the challenge with working with local grass-fed beef is adding flavor. Though the meat is readily available, it is very lean and we all know that fat adds tons of taste. Apparently this really was no challenge for Tony at all, who seems to have mastered the secrets of making a flavorful burger from local grass-fed beef. Tony's secrets aren't so secret anymore though, as you can simply ask his waitstaff or read about them here (and see more pictures too)! Though we got a lot of great information from our waiter, we filled in the blanks with that article, which was very resourceful.

So what makes the burger so good? It's the love and attention that Tony dedicates to perfecting his burger. To greatly abbreviate the process, here are the general steps:

1. Start with three cuts of beef, brisket, short rib and flap meat.
   
2. Make up for the lack of natural fat by adding pure beef fat, a combination of suet and bone marrow. Pure genius. The fat content ends up being about 15% - surely not for the dieters among us.
3. Add "umami", essentially a flavor enhancer. For Tony, the perfect umami addition is dehydrated miso paste.
4. Cook in a steam-injected, pressure and temperature controlled oven, which locks the moisture inside. Yeah, we don't have one of these either.
   
5. Brown the meat on both sides.
6. Add accompaniments, black diamond cheddar cheese from Vermont, watercress, deep fried onions and mace ketchup.
7. Set atop a sesame seed bun and serve with crispy shoestring sweet potatoes.
   

We will definitely be getting the burger at Craigie on Main again. Personally, I did learn a couple of things though. Next time, I will ask for no cheese. The cheese was delicious, but I scraped most of it off, wanting only to pay particular attention to the flavor of the meat. Same with the bun. I only ate small portions of the bun. I will also be more careful with the shoestring potatoes - though yummy, they are a bit awkward and I ended up snapping a small portion off and watched as it flew into my left eye - causing a very painful encounter. Ah, the pain we will endure for food!

OH and most importantly, in order to order the burger, which is on Craigie's bar menu, when you make your reservation, request to sit in the bar area. The bar menu is only served in the bar area. No worries, the full regular menu is also available there as well. Bon Apetit!

Fresh Fish Direct From the Ocean to your Table!!!

A few months back we heard some grumblings about Community Supported Fishery, which is similar to the CSAs that we've talked about, but with fish instead! By cutting out the middlemen, fishermen can make more money on their catch while consumers get local, sustainable, fresh fish, direct from the ocean to their tables! CSFs also tend to keep our ecosystems and our fisherman more safe. You can read more about it here.

As avid fish eaters, Josh and I were excited to learn about CSFs, but were disheartened that the closest CSFs were in Maine. Though the Gloucester fisherman were rumored to be starting a CSF by Spring of 2009, a Gloucester pick-up still wouldn't be close enough for us to participate. So, when we learned that Cape Ann Fresh Catch (CAFC) would be offering a CSF to the Boston area, we were ecstatic! For $180 (half share) or $360 (full share), you get weekly deliveries of fresh fish for 12 full weeks. The price per pound of fish works out to be approximately $3.00. Such a great deal!

For a share, you get some variety of haddock, cod, flounder, hake, dabs, grey sole, monkfish, pollock, and redfish, and possibly other seafood such as clams, lobsters and scallops too. The fish will be cleaned and gutted, but not filleted, and packed on ice. At the beginning of the season, all CSF members will be given a free demonstration on the art of filleting fresh fish and how to cook whole fish. Drop offs are to include locations in Gloucester, Ipswich, Marblehead, Hamilton, Concord, Salem, Cambridge and Boston. We just signed up, join the bandwagon!!!

Gaslight Brasserie and Drinks at Drink!

With friends Garin & Chris in town, we needed to find a suitable location to host a group of about 30 people for after work appetizers and cocktails. As it turns out, Gaslight in the South End was the perfect location - it was great for groups and there was no food and beverage minimum. We had all of the cafe tables reserved just for us.

Oysters (above), Cheese Plate,

Fried Mussels and Steak Tartare (below)

With such a large group, it was great to order and share a bunch of different appetizers. The cheese plate, shrimp cocktail and fondue were good, but were not the "standouts". On the other hand, the oysters were delicious and priced just right at $2.25 each, the fried mussels the perfect blend of juiciness inside and crunchiness on the outside and the steak tartare was delicious with the runny egg on top. The steak frites and roasted mushrooms are also worth ordering.

After a night at Gaslight, our group headed over for after-dinner cocktails at Drink. Though there weren't a ton of seats at the bars, it was surprisingly uncrowded for a Thursday night. As you may remember, we were quite impressed with the mixologists the last time we went. This time we got a round of champagne to celebrate our friends' engagement, an "original martini", made with gin, sweet vermouth and orange bitters, as well as an "Old Monk Daiquiri", Old Monk Rum from India mixed with fresh lime juice. Drink remains on our list of fun bars to frequent and seemed to be a big hit amongst our friends. Cheers!

A North End Treasure

So this week has been and promises to continue to be a whirlwind. Our friend Garin and his new fiance, Chris are visiting from Tokyo and we have plans to spend lots of time eating out! There will be lots to post about this week. On Monday, we definitely started the week off right with a wonderful dinner at Prezza in the North End. Prezza is the ancient Italian town where Anthony Caturano, the chef/owner's grandmother grew up. The concept of the restaurant is to take the peasant foods native to that region, pork, polenta and vegetables and to enhance the old-world style.

Shrimp & Pasta Course
Our table had a variety of appetizers, including the Crispy Shrimp with Italian slaw and cherry pepper aioli, Tuna Tar-Tare with citrus vinaigrette, crispy oysters and herb salad, Fried Zuchini Flowers on a bed of polenta and a side of wood grilled asparagus with pecorino cheese. For the mid-course, we were lucky enough to have the Manager send out a complimentary dual plate of the hand-cut Tagliatelle “a la Bolognese” with porcini cream and pecorino cheese and the Spring Pea Raviolini with ham and mascarpone. For our entrees we had Ricotta Ravioli, Osso Bucco with saffron risotto cake and the Rotisserie Special of the Night which was a huge pork chop. Finally for dessert, the table got an order of the Limoncello cheesecake and the Fried donuts with honey.

The portions are HUGE. Why did we order so much? Only because everything looked SO good. We did go a little crazy. We ended up taking nearly all of the entrees home, but they sure made for tasty leftovers the next day! Also, if you are a wine enthusiast, you must check out Prezza's wine list. They boast of 8,000 different bottles and over 900 labels.

Tuna Tar-Tare

Rotisserie Special and Osso Buco

While Prezza is definitely not wallet friendly (the bill for the 4 of us came to nearly $350 including tax and tip with two bottles of wine, and excluded the complimentary pasta course), it was definitely a worthwhile experience and a great way to kick off a celebratory welcome with our friends. We will definitely go back and try to spend less $$$, which we can totally do, so long as we choose not to order nearly the whole menu!

Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage

I think we are just now coming down off of our glorious meat high from this past weekend. A Cambridge landmark since the 1960's, we discovered Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage while in college and never looked back. To this day, it is our go to location for 70z. of fresh ground, choice beef. Kitsch, long lines, scrounging for parking, cash only, snarky staff, no liquor, no bathroom - it's all worth it for what Bartley's has to offer; No frills, efficiency, greasy diner, good ol' burger yumminess.

Choose from a list of quirky, fun named burgers, all with different toppings and condiments, grab one of their thick malted frappes and you're good to go. Oh, don't forget to try the onion rings, they're delicious. If you can't decide between the fries or the onion rings, get the Burger Deluxe, it comes with both! My most recent try was the "Dice K", with garlic and teriyaki sauce. It had such great flavor, I am going to try to duplicate it at home. Not great for the breath, but no worries, Bartley's offers sprigs of parsley at the front counter just for freshening up the breath!

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates ...

You never know what you're going to get? The thing is ... with Taza Chocolate, you absolutely do! Yesterday, just in time for Mother's Day, Taza hosted an open house for chocolate tastings and tours of its factory. As a fan (since its debut in 2006) of Taza's chocolate, we were interested to learn more about this innovative company. We knew Taza was a local company, but we had no idea what a cool business concept it really is.

Taza is a small, local producer of 100% stone ground, organic chocolate (the only producer in the US of this type of chocolate). Taza's co-founders, Alex Whitmore and Larry Slotnick's business model focuses on socially and environmentally responsible chocolate making and centers on direct trade and organic sustainability.

Cacao Pod

Marketing itself as a bean-to-bar company (one of only 25 in the U.S.), Taza purchases all of its cacao beans directly from a small Dominican Republic cooperative called La Red Guacanejo and handles the entire process itself. By working directly with the farm, Taza ensures that it is getting the best quality beans, and by cutting out the middleman, farmers are ensured fair wages, far superior to Fair Trade pricing.

Bean Roaster

Once the beans arrive, Taza begins its unique chocolate making process - everything is done in house. First, the beans are roasted in Taza's antique (they guestimate it hails from the mid 50's) rotary roaster, which Taza's founders miraculously found in Italy. It was in complete disrepair, had to be refurbished and then sent to Massachusetts. Originally, when they first started out, Taza roasted their beans at J.P. Licks! But that quickly got old and they needed to find their own roaster. Anyway, Taza prefers to roast their beans at a lower temperature and for a longer time than most roasters, as it brings out the flavor of the beans to a greater extent. After the beans are roasted, they are "winnowed" in the, you got it, Winnower machine. Like with everything, there is a really cool story behind Taza's winnower, which, also antique, was found in an old Dominican Republic candy factory that was slowly selling off its machines. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time, for sure. Once winnowed the beans are ready to be made into chocolate!

Eventually, the beans are hand ground in the authentic Mexican style with Molinos, Mexican stone grinding mills. The hand grinding creates the unique texture and flavor that Taza chocolate is known for, while maintaining the integrity of the cacao. This process differs greatly from the traditional European style of making chocolate which produces the smooth, creamy chocolate most people are familiar with. The sugar used in the chocolate is sourced from The Green Cane Project, a Brazilian company that is as green as it sounds, using the spent cane fiber to power the entire factory and the nearby town!

Stone Molino and Packaging

After the chocolate is molded, each bar is individually hand wrapped with care by a Taza employee, ensuring the utmost in quality control. The result is 100% USDA certified organic chocolate. There are no artificial flavors, colorings or sweeteners used, nor are any pesticides or herbicides used on La Red Guacanejo's farm. Containing no dairy, lactose, soy, soy lecithin, wheat or gluten, Taza Chocolate is also vegan friendly and totally eatable by those who are lactose intolerant or who suffer from soy allergies or Celiac disease.

Because Taza does not use any dairy, all of their chocolate is considered "dark", there is no milk chocolate. So, to like Taza's chocolate, you have to like dark chocolate, but in my mind, that's the only way to go! Taza's chocolate is definitely an acquired taste and the gritty texture from the hand grinding does take some getting used to. My favorite flavor is the Chocolate Mexicano - Guajillo Chili (which Taza recommends using in the below recipe) and the Chocolate Mexicano - Salted Almond. For bars, I prefer the 70% Dark Stone Ground Chocolate Bar.

Another really interesting fact? Since the bars are made in such small batches, each batch has slight variations. Check online to see exactly how your batch was made here. Are you hungry now? We'll leave you with a yummy recipe that we picked up from the Taza factory - "Iced Chocolate":

Ingredients:
6 oz Taza Chocolate Mexicano (any flavor)
1.5 tbsp sugar
1.5 c milk
3 cups ice
whipped cream and chocolate shavings, for garnish

Directions:
Chop chocolate into small pieces and melt in a small heavy saucepan, or in the top of a double broiler over simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted. Add the sugar, stirring constantly until blended. Remove from heat and slowly add .5 c of the milk, stirring until smooth. Cool to room temperature. In a blender, place the remaining cup of milk, the chocolate mixture and the ice. Blend on high speed until smooth and the consistency of a frozen daiquiri. Pour and top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Enjoy!

Union Bar & Grille - The Perfect Bridal Shower Locale!

As the matron (gosh that sounds so old!) of honor in my cousin's wedding, I, along with the bridal party, had the privilege of hosting the bride's shower this past Saturday at Union Bar & Grille in the South End. Over the past couple of months, we worked very closely with Union's General Manager, Mary Grand. Mary was fantastic and handled all of the details meticulously.

Though Union does not have a private room, the restaurant is well set up to host "private" events. Our party basically took up the rear 1/3 of the dining room, the entire banquette along the rear wall, the round booth facing the banquette and the four top next to the booth (for the cake and gifts). Though we were situated in the main dining room, we felt like we had our own private space. The staff was gracious with us for the entire 4 hours that we were there and was quite tolerant of us blocking the aisle and of our mess while opening the gifts.

Tables all Set Up

For the food, we selected the Saturday brunch special, which comes with a slice of coffee cake, choice of entree (Omelet with porcini mushrooms, cheddar cheese, sausage and peppers, Smoked Salmon Scramble or B-52 French Toast), a glass of fresh orange or grapefruit juice and tea or coffee. We were very surprised that Union honored the brunch special for such a large party; It made having a classy and elegant event in the City quite affordable. The bride's aunts were nice enough to splurge on champagne to make the event extra special and to add a little morning "kick" to the brunch.

Salmon Scramble and Omelet of the Day

The food was served quickly and was delicious. All of the guests seemed very pleased with their selections. After brunch, dessert - a cake made by Kristen, whose confections I have featured in the past, was served. Luckily for us, in addition to offering the Saturday brunch special, unlike many other restaurants we considered, Union did not charge a cake cutting or plating fee for bringing in an outside cake, nor did they charge a room fee or require a minimum head count. In the end, all of these considerations, along with Union's flexibility, were the deciding factors in selecting the restaurant that would host the bridal shower.

Shower Cake and Gift/Cake Table

Customized Menu - an extra special touch

The shower was absolutely perfect and went off without a hitch. I would unconditionally recommend Union as the place to host your next special event!