Tag: Food

Linkblogging alert: Bourdain on Food Network’s new low.

(Oh, how I wanted to use <blink> on that red text.)

A couple Fridays ago, my friends and I returned to Montage. My primary mission was to try the chili chocolate cake.

Of course, I had to have a meal before I got to the dessert. I chose to have the blackened catfish again. It was even more excellent than the first time around, as the vegetables were the proper temperature. However, we didn’t get our drinks until after our meals arrived. Our waiter more than made up for this by giving me a half-bottle of wine to share with the table, even though I only ordered one glass.

The waiter also responded to my eagerness to try the chili chocolate cake by bringing a double portion. Each cupcake-sized portion of cake was served with copious amounts of whipped cream. The cake was crusty on the outside, but warm and soft inside. With the first bite, I was greeted with an unexpected blast of orange. Orange and chocolate is a combination that I don’t normally care for, but I was willing to give this a chance. After several seconds, I was feeling no heat and was beginning to wonder if they had brought the right cake. After a couple minutes, and one more bite, the heat started to kick in. Within another bite or two, the heat was significant. I was starting to understand why it came with so much whipped cream. By the time I finished the cake, my mouth was on fire. Only after dousing the flame with a good deal of wine did things start to calm down.

Overall, I was quite pleased with both the taste and the experience. The only thing I would change is to reduce the amount of orange so that there is more emphasis on the rich, bitter chocolate. However, this fault will certainly not prevent me from ordering this the next time I go to Montage, which should be quite soon. It’s on the list of places we must go when my sister visits in a couple weeks.

A few weeks ago, Jenn and I met Jeff and Nicole for dinner at Le Bistro Montage.

Jenn and I had difficulty finding it, considering it’s practically tucked under the Morrison Street Bridge. Once we figured out where it was, we had no problems finding parking, even though it was a Friday evening.

Upon entering, I was struck by the energy that filled the room. The volume of the conversation was already at a roar, even though the place was only half full. The eclectic wait staff were frenetically going about their business. A good deal of yelling could be heard coming from the kitchen.

We were immediately seated at one of the long communal tables. Not having eaten in such a setting, I was a bit apprehensive. However, I soon found it very comforting, as if I were sitting down to eat with a very large extended family.

Montage’s wine list was large and varied. However, I felt not enough of the choices were available by the glass. It’s possible that this was done to encourage sharing of a bottle at the table. Unfortunately, I was the only one in the mood for wine that night. I eventually settled on an Australian Shiraz-Cabernet. I can’t recall which winery it came from. To my surprise, our waitress brought the bottle to the table. The bartender had decided that there was not enough wine left to pour two glasses, so I got the remainder. Later in the evening, when I poured my second glass, I found that they gave me enough for nearly two full glasses. They could’ve easily gotten away with selling another glass from the bottle, but chose not to.

My salad was very fresh and crisp. The cajun caesar dressing was incredible. It seems like such a trivial thing to rave about, but everyone at the table was blown away by it.

Even though our dinners arrived relatively quickly, my vegetables were already getting a bit cold. But this was more than made up for by the perfect blackened catfish fillet. It easily the best catfish I’ve ever had. It had a good crust and was cooked completely through, without being oily or dry. The cornbread, served with honey, was also outstanding.

After receiving the dessert menu, it took only a few seconds for me to decide what I wanted: the chili-chocolate cake. (Regular readers of this site will know that I’m a big fan.) I was quite disappointed to hear that they had run out. My second choice was a very tasty mud pie.

Despite the three minor complaints described above, I had a incredible evening at Montage. The energy, communal atmosphere, well-prepared comfort food, good friends, and plentiful wine all contributed to a truly joyous dining experience.

In addition to the feeds I linked to the other day, I now have a feed of wine reviews generated from my Cork’d journal. I can’t guarantee that it will be updated very often, if ever. I’m really just doing this to try to force myself to stop buying the same wines over and over.

Jamie Oliver will start podcasting later this year.

You can tell whether a piece of fruit is grown organically by looking at its PLU code:

organically grown fruit has five and starts with a nine

There’s also a way to designate genetically modified produce, but it’s not manditory, so it’s rarely used.

A study has been done that shows that chocolate milk is at least as good as Gatorade at helping the body recover from exercise. Who am I to argue with science?

If you suspected that the chefs in Iron Chef America knew what the secret ingredient was going to be prior to taping the show, you were correct. Kind of. MSNBC gives us a look behind the scenes. (via Slashfood)

From the New York Times Magazine (thanks, Kottke):

I polled several chefs with young children to see what they fed them and found serious challenges to the notion that small people simply will not brook fresh vegetables, texture or spice. They serve their children pad Thai, which blends pungent seasonings like fish sauce and tamarind with noodles, eggs and peanuts.

So, why do we feed our children differently than we feed ourselves? It’s not really something you think about because, to people my age, it’s just how things are done. But it hasn’t always been this way. Ask your grandparents what they ate when they were children.

Isn’t it interesting that kids are getting fatter and having more health problems such as diabetes as they eat more pre-packaged food?

I’m not normally someone who craves sweets. But lately, I just can’t leave the grocery store without picking up a bar of Dagoba Xocolatl.

Yes, I know this post is relatively meaningless to my readers. I just needed to write something to get things moving again.