SF Eats - French Laundry, By: V

On my most recent trip to visit my sister in San Francisco, we made another trip to Napa Valley. What can I say, we love the place.   The rolling countryside and amazing miles of vineyards legitimately makes you feel like you're in Italy, or what I imagine Spain to be.  Gorgeous, and the temperatures are often warmer than in the city of San Francisco.  About an hour drive north of San Francisco, Napa Valley is offers visitors a variety of restaurants and fine wines to try.  

I'll get more into the wineries and stops we made on our trip to Napa, but I wanted to put up this quick post about our experience having dinner at The French Laundry.  Yes, THE French Laundry, one of the top rated restaurants in the world.  N happened to land reservations to this elite restaurant, and while she did say "I don't think we're ready for this dining experience," we decided to press on anyway.  Now, I'm sure many of you are wondering what she means by that, but this restaurant offers an extensive Chef's Tasting Menu with all these amazingly delicious, high quality food, all in this fancy environment that we were just not ready for! But, I have to say it was a once in a life time kind of experience, that was absolutely worth it.  

AND since it was N's birthday, I thought it was a great way for her to celebrate!!! They even brought over a tray of profiteroles with a candle for her to maker her birthday wish, and some sparkling cider to wash it all down.  I thought that was nice of them.  Now, get ready for visual stimulation with these pictures of all of the seven courses we had, but first here's a picture of The French Laundry clothespin, get it? laundry? clothespin? And, a picture of N in front of The French Laundry - I mean this momentous occasion had to captured on film.  

"Oysters and Pearls" - "Sabayon" of Pearl Tapioca with Island Creek Oysters and White Sturgeon Caviar.  This was our favorite course of the whole meal!

Hudson Valley Moulard Duck Foie Gras "Terrine" - Poached Brooks Cherries, Caramelized Cipollini Onion, Preserved Black Winter Truffle and Wild Arugula.

Sauteed Filet of Mediterranean "Loup De Mer" - Violet Artichokes, Cerignola Olives, Garden Basil and Spicy Tomato Broth

Alaska King Crab "Poelee" - Sacramento Delta Asparagus, English Peas, Crushed Capers and "Bearnaise Mousseline" 

Wolfe Ranch White Quail - Garden Cauliflower, Sicilian Pistachios, Watercress and Aged Balsamic Vinegar

Charcoal Grilled Snake River Farms "Calotte De Bouef" - "Choucroute Dumpling," Nantes Carrots, Garden Dill and Red Cabbage Essence 

Andante Dairy "Contralto" - Garden Turnips, White Peaches and English Walnuts

For dessert they provided an assortment of macarons, ice cream and truffles.  They even sent us off with a box of truffles on the house.  What a nice treat to head home with!

D.C. Eats - Ocopa and Masa 14, By: V

Tuesday night Mirona, Sonia and I met up at a new restaurant in the H Street NE neighborhood, Ocopa.  Ocopa offers fine Peruvian cuisine, but definitely at a substantial cost.  This isn't the Peruvian Chicken styling of all the delicious "pollo" restaurants you find scattered in northern Virginia, no no, here at Ocopa they truly do offer fine cuisine.  While the food was good, and the dessert in particular had excellent flavors - think honey ice cream, dark chocolate ganache and pearls, and fried quinoa -- I'm not certain I'll be making a trip back.  

We shared two Cebiche dishes, which were good, but not anything super amazing.  Then we shared the Lomo Soltado, which is a filet of beef served with potato confit (fries in some oil) and some delicious tomatoes that were grilled till a softened, smoky flavor.  If you want to have upscale Peruvian cuisine, this is probably the only place in D.C. that offers it, so go for it!  It is a new experience after all! 

This Sunday Sachin and I headed to brunch with my roommate, Shelly, and another friend and her boyfriend for an unlimited tapas brunch at Masa 14.  Asian-Latin Fusion restaurants, Zengo and Masa 14, are both Richard Sandoval Restaurants in Washington, D.C., and home to some delicious and unique cuisine.

Hands down the Smoked Chicken Hash was the table favorite.  We ended up ordering quite a few rounds!  The based of the Hash are Masa 14's famous Wok-Fried Home Fries, which are absolutely delicious and soft.  The dish is then tossed with caramelized onions, chilis, yucca and topped with a poached egg and creamy chipotle hollaindaise. Incredible!

While I didn't take a picture of everything that was delicious, here are a few of the other table favorites:

- Seared Salmon Salad
- Cubano Panini
- Roasted Cauliflower

Whatever you do don't go for the mushroom frittata, truly disappointing.  But, everything else was phenomenal!

D.C. Eats - Taqueria Poblano

You may be wondering why things have been a little quiet around here the past week or so.  Well, I went to San Francisco and spent a full week with N.  Before I left we managed to celebrate her birthday with a nice trip to Napa Valley.  Of course we posted some pictures on our Instagram account, and don't worry, I'll have a post coming up soon covering the whole trip and all of our eating adventures.  For now, I thought I would post up this quick review of a local Alexandria, VA spot, that N and I use to frequent when she was still on the east coast.  

A few weeks back, when Sachin and I were debating where to get dinner, I thought 'Del Ray'!  This little neighborhood in Alexandria has a score of great restaurants.  Anything from sushi to barbeque to ice cream to tacos!  So, since Sachin is always so dissatisfied by our trips to Guapo's, I thought maybe checking out a small taco spot would be a good idea. 

When we got to Taqueria Poblano, the place was definitely packed, but as has always been the case here, we still managed to get seated quickly.  We decided to order the Duck Carnitas, Cumin Poached Chicken and Shrimp tacos and share the assortment.  

The Duck Carnitas taco is lime-marinated roast duck shredded and lay atop a flour tortilla, and topped with guacamole, cheese, pico de gallo and red onion escabeche.  Both, the Chicken and Shrimp tacos come similarly dressed.  But, our mutual favorite was the shrimp! The shrimp were so plump and flavored perfectly.  

As if this wasn't enough food, afterwards we managed to waddle over to Dairy Godmother for a scoop (or two) of ice cream. 

Now while these tacos were certainly delicious, just wait till my next post, 'SF Eats,'  where I'll go into more details about the amazing tacos I had out in San Francisco!! I'm still dreaming about them...

#319: Fish Pollichathu (aka Fish Wrapped in a Banana Leaf)

I can't take credit for this post, so I'll leave my contribution to the 'taste assessment' portion of this blog post, and say that Fish Pollichathu is just one of the many ways that I love having fish.  The fish comes out of the banana leaf, so perfectly moist and flavorful...it's unreal! It can be hard to locate banana leaves, but my dad managed to get them from the local Asian super grocery store.  I say 'super' because the place is HUGE.  So, try digging around and google-searching to see if you have one of these amazing stores nearby, and get yourself some banana leaves, to make this dish.

And, with that, here's the recipe from...my mom!! Enjoy guys!!

This method of cooking fish is a Syrian Christian specialty in Kerala called Meen Pollichathu.  With the wide availability of seafood and plentiful green plantain leaves this spicy and tangy fish side dish turned into a much sought after delicacy for tourists and all those who visit Kerala.

Ingredients:

Tilapia filets- 10

Plantain leaves to wrap the fish (you could use aluminum foil)

Red Onions- 2 chopped fine

Ripe tomatoes-2

Green chillies- 2

Ginger-garlic paste- 2 Tblspns

Coriander powder-1 tspn

Chili powder- 1 tspn

Lemon juice- 1 Tblspn

Fennel powder-1 Tblspn

Coconut Milk- 3 Tblspns

Curry leaves- 2 stems

Olive Oil, Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Wash and pat dry the Tilapia filets. Marinate with lemon juice, a little salt and pepper and keep aside. Add 1 Tbsp of oil in a saucepan and add the chopped onions and curry leaves and saute until it turns translucent.
2.  Add chopped tomatoes and keep stirring until the mixture turns mushy and soft.
3. Now add ginger garlic paste, crushed green chilies, dry powders and saute together for about 5 mins. Add oil if necessary
4. Turn off the fire, season with salt and pepper to taste and add coconut milk.
5. For an extra flavor, pan fry the fish without breaking each filet. The interior should be raw but gently fry the exterior to light brown.
6. Place the fish filets in the center of a piece of dry Plantain leaf. Make sure the leaf is big enough to cover the fish into a packet.
7. Now, place the onion spice mixture about 1 large Tablespoon of it on each filet+plantain.
8. Wrap the fish and spice package individually into small packets and place in a baking sheet and broil until the tops are crispy and the spice mix is browned inside the packet.
9. Remove carefully and serve in the plantain leaf.