Flashback Friday - Memorial Day Tapas

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on June 01. 2009.

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I don't know why I got it my head to make tapas for Memorial Day. Not exactly traditional, is it? I thought it would be a good excuse to get out the grill and cook up the leg of lamb that's been in our freezer for a while. Not that lamb needs excuses. Nor is tapas the most popular way to accompany it. But once I get something in my head....

Since Mr Minx had to fiddle with charcoal and all that, I thought it would make it worth his while to toss some chicken breasts on it too, to eat later in the week. Then I invited my brother, which killed the leftovers idea.

The spread consisted of grilled chicken and lamb (mingling on the same plate, both marinated in lots of garlic and soy, with tomato paste on the chicken and brown sugar on the lamb), grilled shrimp, potatoes and chorizo (from José Andres' tapas cookbook), endive salad with bleu cheese, tomato and herb salad (herbs freshly-plucked from the freshly-planted garden) with goat's cheese, marinated mushrooms, and "crab" balls. There was also some red pepper mayo for dipping, bread, and Marcona almonds. Oh, and a pitcher of sangria!

Cheap sangria: 1 bottle Sutter Home "white Cabernet Sauvignon" ($5.99), 1 orange, 1 lemon, 1/4 cup leftover cheap brandy, 1/4 cup cheap Triple Sec. Fruity and boozy and a fine accompaniment to my selection of eats.

I tried to get a good combination of textures, flavors, and temperatures going and think I was pretty successful.

The endive salad was pretty basic: sliced Belgian endives, bleu cheese crumbles, balsamic vinaigrette. I usually add walnuts, but bro is allergic to them, and anaphylaxis is a real buzz kill. The tomato herb salad had pineapple mint; sweet, Thai, and variegated basil; French tarragon; chives and chive blossoms; and some store-bought cilantro (it refuses to grow in my garden). And a couple gobbets of goat's cheese. The tomatoes were the "on the vine" type, which I've been having roaring success with recently. Don't know where in the world they were grown (nobody will ever accuse me of being a locavore) but they have been juicy, red, and sweet.

The potato recipe called for Spanish chorizo, which I could not find at Giant. Go figure. However, I always have Mexican chorizo in the freezer so used one of those. Being raw, they have a very different texture, and are flavored primarily with annatto. Unfortunately, the pimenton called for in the recipe was quite masked by the annatto. The potatoes were tasty anyway, but I will endeavor to make them with the proper chorizo next time.

The marinated mushroom recipe came from a little tapas cookbook called Tapas Fantasicas that I got for Christmas a couple years back. Sherry vinegar is very...pungent...so I was worried that the mushrooms would be too tart. I used a combination of baby bellas and shiitakes, and it really was quite delicious. I'd make them again.

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Marinated Mushrooms

1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
2 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
2 T sherry vinegar
2 T water
1/2 t dried tarragon
1/2 t brown sugar
dash Tabasco
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a small saucepan over low heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until softened. Add mushrooms and stir to coat with oil. Continue to cook for another minute or two. add vinegar, water, tarragon, sugar, Tabasco, salt, and pepper. Cover pan and simmer on low for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Remove from heat. Cool mushrooms in marinade. Eat at room temperature.

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As for the "crab" balls.... Remember the fish tacos I made earlier in the week? Weirdly, after I washed and dried the fish, my hands smelled like crab meat rather than fish. So I saved a piece of the cooked fish, for experimental purposes. I flaked it, added crab cake ingredients (Old Bay, bread soaked in milk, mayo) and made three small balls which I fried up for tapas. They fell apart, as my crab cakes usually do, but they tasted reasonably crabby. Because it had been sauteed, he meat was a little tough; if I try something like this again, I think I'll poach the fish so it stays soft.

Gotta admit - Mahi from Trader Joe's is far cheaper than crab meat, and it's no less crabby than the flavorless non-blue-crab "jumbo lump" they sell at the supermarket.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Gnocco is Coming

Some might call the neighborhood Highlandtown (pronounced, in the local patois, Hollan-teahwn), and some might call it Brewer's Hill, regardless, the small but charming space at the corner of Eaton and Fleet Streets is now home to a restaurant called Gnocco.

We first met chef/owner Brian Lavin after he took over kitchen duties at Salt, in Butcher's Hill, and we featured a few of his recipes in our book, Baltimore Chef's Table. A bit later, he moved on to Fork and Wrench. Today, the talented Lavin has his very own place with which to leave his mark on Baltimore's culinary scene.

We were invited to Gnocco for a pre-opening media tasting and were quite impressed. The space is small, but bright and welcoming, with a long reclaimed-wood bar and glossy subway tile on the back wall. The menu is "Mediterranean-inspired," with touches of Italy and Spain in Lavin's simple and seasonal dishes. The items we tasted aren't necessarily going to be on the opening menu, but were a good indication of the style of food that will be served at Gnocco come opening day, June 21st.

Among our favorite dishes were oysters on the half shell served with uni, creme fraiche, and salmon roe (that reminded me of the late, lamented Pabu's "Happy Spoons" dish that I loved so much), and a lovely crostini of eggplant agrodolce topped with stracciatella (which will be made in-house).

There were also crispy stuffed olives with 'nduja (a spicy spreadable pork sausage) and boquerones (anchovies), beef tartare, and incredibly tender octopus.

We also tasted three entrees: a lovely house-made agnolotti stuffed with goat cheese and chives, with sauteed chanterelles and hazelnuts; a whole red snapper with yogurt and a cucumber and radish salad; and a perfect NY strip with grilled green onions and romesco.

Everything was really top notch. Simply looking at the photos makes me want to eat it all over again.

We think Gnocco shows great promise, and are looking forward to enjoying a full dinner there sometime later this summer.

Gnocco
3734 Fleet Street
Baltimore, MD 21224
http://www.gnoccobaltimore.com/



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Don't Let Paella Scare You

Paella seems like such a luxurious restaurant dish, doesn't it? Usually chock full of shellfish and meats and scented with saffron, this Spanish one-pot meal may be daunting to the home cook. But it really needn't be.

Making paella at home doesn't require any special culinary prowess. There are no fancy techniques involved. And while having a paella pan is a nice touch, you can make it in any large, shallow, flat-bottomed pan that's designed to be used on top of the stove. There are also some standard recipes for paella. The most famous, paella a la Valenciana, calls for chicken, chorizo, and several types of shellfish. But who is going to stop you from using completely different proteins? There is no Paella Police, and you won't get into any trouble if you don't feel like dealing with fresh, in-shell, shellfish, or if you'd prefer to use pork instead of chicken, or kielbasa instead of chorizo. Because it's going to be tasty anyway.

Now, I'm not advocating that you go crazy and stud your paella with chunks of tofu or tempeh or tuna (but hey, you can if you want--I won't be eating it). You also aren't stuck with using particular vegetables. Onion and garlic, of course, are the basis of any tasty savory dish, so they shouldn't be omitted, but you can use green beans, sugar snaps, or edamame in place of the peas, or add something else green, like the asparagus I put in mine. Artichoke hearts are great too, and fennel, but make sure to add these during the initial cooking.

As for seasoning, saffron is traditional, but if you don't have/can't afford saffron, don't worry about it (although it is delicious). If you don't have smoked paprika, use regular paprika. Stir in a handful of chopped parsley or cilantro at the end, even basil, if you have it. I used a bit of chipotle, too, because I wanted a little heat in the dish.

The only ingredient that you should be mindful of is the rice; it should be short grain. While special paella rice is hard to find, pretty much all supermarkets should have arborio (risotto) rice.

No matter what combination of protein and veg you use, follow these simple instructions and you'll have something delicious on your hands.

1. Brown the meat and remove from pan
2. Cook onions in fat rendered from meat
3. Add rice and saute for a few minutes
4. Add non-green veg, seasonings, and stock and return meat to pan
5. When rice is done, add green veg
6. Eat!

Easy Paella

Vegetable oil
4-8 boneless, skin-on chicken thighs
3-5 links Spanish chorizo (I used D'Artagnan brand, which is delish)
1 onion, chopped
1-1 1/2 cups paella rice, or other short grain rice
1-2 cups cherry tomato halves
3-5 cloves garlic, chopped
Pinch saffron that has been soaking in a few tablespoons of hot tap water or stock (optional)
1/2 - 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder or 1 chipotle in adobo (optional)
1 - 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3-5 cups chicken stock, plus more
1/4 - 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
6-10 stalks asparagus
Handful chopped parsley or cilantro (optional)

Heat up 17" paella pan or other very large flat-bottomed pan designed to be used on a stove top. If all you have is a 12" skillet, then use the smaller quantities of ingredients. Put a small splash of oil to the pan, just enough to keep the chicken skin from sticking as soon as it hits the pan. Add the chicken thighs, skin side down, and cook over medium heat until well-browned. Turn and brown on other side. While chicken is cooking, add the whole chorizo and turn them occasionally. When chicken is browned, remove all meat from the pan and set aside.

Wipe out some of the chicken fat from the pan, leaving 2 tablespoons or so. Add the onion and cook until softened and slightly brown, 6-8 minutes. Add the rice and stir well to coat with the fat. Cook for a few minutes, until rice is starting to get toasty, then add the tomatoes and garlic. Add the saffron, paprika, optional chipotle, and salt. Stir well to combine. Pour in the chicken stock, then put the chicken back in, skin side up. Slice the chorizo and scatter around the chicken.

If you're using a large paella pan that fits over two burners, put them both on low heat. Cook until broth has evaporated and rice is no longer crunchy, 20 minutes or so. If the broth is gone and the rice is still crunchy, add more broth. Don't stir the rice during this time; you want some of it to stick and brown on the bottom of the pan. This crunchy layer is called the socarrat and some think it's the tastiest part of a paella. Don't worry if yours doesn't form a socarrat--it will still be delicious.

When the rice is done, add the peas and tuck the asparagus down into the rice. Cook an additional 5-10 minutes, to cook the asparagus (and give the socarrat another chance to form).

It's important that the heat be on low or medium low - you don't want the rice to burn.

Serve a big scoop of rice and veg and chorizo and top with a chicken thigh per serving.  Garnish with green herbs.

Serves 4-8.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Strawberry Gazpacho

I love gazpacho. There's nothing more refreshing on a hot summer's day than a bowl or mug full of chilled vegetable puree flavored with a bit of acid and garlic. And it's pretty easy to make, if you have a blender.

We bought one of those mega-packs of strawberries a couple weeks ago and I was worried that we might not be able to eat them all before leaving town for a few days. Then I got the idea to substitute strawberries for the tomatoes usually found in gazpacho. It looked pretty much the same, but the soup had a lightly sweet and definitely strawberry flavor. And boom! No more strawberries in the fridge.

Strawberry Gazpacho
If your strawberries are very sweet, you might not need to add any additional sweetener.

1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
1 pint strawberries, hulled and cut in half
1 red bell pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
Superfine sugar, to taste
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Combine cucumber, strawberries, pepper, and garlic in a blender and puree. Season with the vinegar and lime juice, adding sugar, salt, and pepper to taste.

Transfer soup to a bowl or resealable container and refrigerate at least two hours until the flavors have had time to blend.

Serves 2-4.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

José Andrés Foods

Most foodies know the name of José Andrés, the charming and amusing Spanish chef who started his U.S. restaurant empire in Washington, DC. Those who haven't eaten at Jaleo, Oyamel, Minibar, Zaytinya, etc., might know him from his PBS show (one of my favorites), Made in Spain. And those who don't know him at all may soon find him in the local gourmet shop or grocery store.

José Andrés Foods line of extra virgin olive oils and sherry vinegars, seafood tapas (including sea urchin roe), olives, and potato chips (yes, potato chips!) will be hitting the shops soon. I got to try several items from his line at the Fancy Food Show in July.

The Galician mussels come in a simple sauce of olive oil, red pepper, onion, and tomato, and are tasty hot or cold. I had to stop myself from sucking down two or three. I also enjoyed the potato chips, which are very thin, light, and crisp. I'm sure he includes them in his line because they'd be perfect in his cheater's version of tortilla espagnole. Commonly made with sliced, fried potatoes and egg, the version in Andres' Tapas cookbook uses potato chips. There are also olives, capers, four different extra virgin olive oils, more seafood including white tuna, and sherry vinegar.

Right now, his products can be ordered from his Web site. They're not cheap ($6 for 6.7oz of chips!) but I feel they are definitely worth a try.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Paella

The July issue of Bon Appetit featured a recipe for grilled lobster paella that turned me on so much, I immediately ordered a paella pan and a bag of rice. My original plan was to make the dish for Labor Day and invite my dad and brother over to dinner, but as we got closer to the holiday, the forecast called for rain. Rather than forcing Mr Minx to risk getting soaked just so I could try a recipe, I decided that it would be best to cook the paella on the stovetop. Since we had to scrap the whole grilling idea, I also opted to make a more traditional paella with chicken and seafood and save the lobster version for another occasion.

I was a bit nervous, as this was my very first paella. I've only ever eaten it once, in the form of some leftovers from a Tio Pepe Restaurant Week lunch; that paella was simply horrible, but I figured a well-made one had to be better. Prettier, too.

See? Pretty.

I used the recipe that came with my pan, omitting the bivalves and substituting sugar snap peas for regular peas, and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it all was. Basically, one browns chicken in some olive oil, adds chopped onions, garlic, smoked paprika, and soft chorizo to the pan to cook for a bit, and then pours in chicken stock that has been infused with saffron. At that point, any stirring must cease in order for a crust of rice to form on the bottom of the pan. This is called the soccarat, and is the real goal of the paella cook. Once most of the stock has been absorbed, shellfish and vegetables can be added to the pan. When the shrimp are pink and bivalves are open, the paella is ready to eat.

Seasonings, rice, and stock added and bubbling away.

Like magic! Completed paella!

Cooking the chicken was a bit problematic. I had a hard time getting it to brown, and then, even after sitting in bubbling stock for half an hour, it didn't cook all the way through. I'm going to blame this on the fact that I used skin-on, bone-in thighs and legs. Next time, I'll use boneless skinless thighs. Other than that, the paella was perfect - there was even a bit of soccarat on the bottom - especially with a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Everyone had seconds, so it was a hit that will be repeated sometime in the future.

There's no one recipe for paella, and the dish's relative simplicity lends itself to all sorts of variations and experimentation. Expect to see some flights of fancy from me on this blog in the future. :)

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Pie-ella*

My dad happened to be downtown last Friday and stopped by Tio Pepe, for old times' sake. There he was remembered by a veteran member of the staff who talked Dad into having lunch. It was restaurant week, and $20.10 seemed like a good deal for three courses. Dad always spoke highly of the place, but I've never been. I thought if Dad enjoyed this meal then perhaps Mr Minx and I should pay a visit to this Baltimore institution.

Rather than a verbal review, Dad did us one better - he gave us his doggie bag that contained half a portion of paella. And now we know there's no reason to dine at Tio Pepe's (which is what I've suspected all along). I've never had paella, but I know it's a saffron-hued rice dish with meat and/or seafood and a crusty bottom. (Ok, that part doesn't sound good, does it? But I'm imagining a crust like the one at the bottom of a portion of dolsot bibimbop). The stuff that constituted Dad's entrée was yellow-colored rice with a vague bell pepper flavor, a few green beans, and hard, arid chunks of boneless, skinless chicken breast (BSCB, for short). If it wasn't for the bell pepper, I doubt there would have been any discernible flavor at all. And the BSCB really pissed me off. I hate that restaurants feel they have to pander to the dieting masses who would rather eat a lot of something that has low fat and less flavor than to eat a small portion of something that actually tastes good (because fat = flavor). Chinese restaurants that serve orange chicken made with chicken breast also annoy me - it's fried for God's sake! How many calories does eating cardboard really save? But I digress (as usual).

So my first taste of paella, if you can call it that, was a huge disappointment. Dad said the first course, a black bean soup, was "nothing to write home about" and his flan dessert didn't seem to thrill him, either.

Has anyone been to Tio Pepe recently and had a good meal? Was this lunch an exception, perhaps due to Restaurant Week? (And if that's the case, the restaurant should have been embarrassed to serve that food. It's certainly not going to make repeat customers out of the first-time curious.)

*mispronunciation courtesy of Toby Young

A Tapas Feast

The last tapas feast I prepared was so successful, I decided to do it again, this time in honor of my brother's birthday. Once again I made the potatoes with chorizo (this time using the proper Spanish chorizo) and the marinated mushrooms:

I also made a orange and red onion salad (top left), a simple endive salad with chopped scallion and a fig vinaigrette (top right),

a tomato and avocado salad (top left) and some roasted purple potatoes (top far right). Then I got ambitious and baked up some empanadas...

...and made romesco sauce.

Ordinarily, romesco is made with vegetables roasted in olive oil and bread fried in olive oil. At least by José Andrés' recipe. But I put together a batch that was as easy as tossing stuff in a blender by using pre-roasted veg. It tastes amazing, so I can't imagine my changes violated the spirit of the sauce in any way.

Romesco Sauce

1 small onion, chopped

2 jarred roasted red bell peppers, torn into chunks
1 15-oz can chopped fire roasted tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, crushed

¼ cup blanched slivered almonds
1 ounce white bread, toasted, crust removed
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon pimentón (Spanish sweet paprika)
olive oil

salt

Sauté the onion in a bit of olive oil until lightly browned. Place in blender with next seven ingredients and purée, drizzling in olive oil until a thick sauce is formed. Add salt to taste.

Yield: 2 cups of sauce.

As for protein, we had boneless leg of lamb, pork tenderloin, and shrimp skewers, all marinated overnight in some variation of soy, Worcestershire, vinegar, garlic, and mirin. Mr Minx cooked them over charcoal and wood chips and the results were pretty fine - tender, juicy, smoky, and garlicky. Can't beat that combination.

Oh, so you want the empanada recipe as well? Hmmm...well, I just tossed stuff together to make a kind of picadillo. I used a pound of ground pork, chopped onions, chopped dried apple (in place of the usual raisins), chopped green and black olives, and garlic, seasoned with pimenton, cinnamon, and S&P. For the crust, I used Wegman's house brand all-ready pie crusts (I tend to avoid Pillsbury brand anything because it all has a very distinctive Pillsbury flavor. Generic doesn't seem to have that problem.) which I cut into squares and filled with the picadillo and some chopped scallions, brushed with an egg wash, and baked for about 25 minutes at 350F until nice and golden brown.

They were a huge hit and were just as delicious eaten cold on the train on the way to New York a few days later.

Although this was quite a bit of work, I spread it out over three days so it wasn't so intense. And it was worth it to see my family gobble everything up and ask for doggie bags of empanadas and chocolate chip cookies (which we baked instead of a cake). I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Memorial Day Tapas

I don't know why I got it my head to make tapas for Memorial Day. Not exactly traditional, is it? I thought it would be a good excuse to get out the grill and cook up the leg of lamb that's been in our freezer for a while. Not that lamb needs excuses. Nor is tapas the most popular way to accompany it. But once I get something in my head....

Since Mr Minx had to fiddle with charcoal and all that, I thought it would make it worth his while to toss some chicken breasts on it too, to eat later in the week. Then I invited my brother, which killed the leftovers idea.

The spread consisted of grilled chicken and lamb (mingling on the same plate, both marinated in lots of garlic and soy, with tomato paste on the chicken and brown sugar on the lamb), grilled shrimp, potatoes and chorizo (from José Andres' tapas cookbook), endive salad with bleu cheese, tomato and herb salad (herbs freshly-plucked from the freshly-planted garden) with goat's cheese, marinated mushrooms, and "crab" balls. There was also some red pepper mayo for dipping, bread, and Marcona almonds. Oh, and a pitcher of sangria!

Cheap sangria: 1 bottle Sutter Home "white Cabernet Sauvignon" ($5.99), 1 orange, 1 lemon, 1/4 cup leftover cheap brandy, 1/4 cup cheap Triple Sec. Fruity and boozy and a fine accompaniment to my selection of eats.

I tried to get a good combination of textures, flavors, and temperatures going and think I was pretty successful.

The endive salad was pretty basic: sliced Belgian endives, bleu cheese crumbles, balsamic vinaigrette. I usually add walnuts, but bro is allergic to them, and anaphylaxis is a real buzz kill. The tomato herb salad had pineapple mint; sweet, Thai, and variegated basil; French tarragon; chives and chive blossoms; and some store-bought cilantro (it refuses to grow in my garden). And a couple gobbets of goat's cheese. The tomatoes were the "on the vine" type, which I've been having roaring success with recently. Don't know where in the world they were grown (nobody will ever accuse me of being a locavore) but they have been juicy, red, and sweet.

The potato recipe called for Spanish chorizo, which I could not find at Giant. Go figure. However, I always have Mexican chorizo in the freezer so used one of those. Being raw, they have a very different texture, and are flavored primarily with annatto. Unfortunately, the pimenton called for in the recipe was quite masked by the annatto. The potatoes were tasty anyway, but I will endeavor to make them with the proper chorizo next time.

The marinated mushroom recipe came from a little tapas cookbook called Tapas Fantasicas that I got for Christmas a couple years back. Sherry vinegar is very...pungent...so I was worried that the mushrooms would be too tart. I used a combination of baby bellas and shiitakes, and it really was quite delicious. I'd make them again.

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Marinated Mushrooms

1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
2 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
2 T sherry vinegar
2 T water
1/2 t dried tarragon
1/2 t brown sugar
dash Tabasco
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a small saucepan over low heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until softened. Add mushrooms and stir to coat with oil. Continue to cook for another minute or two. add vinegar, water, tarragon, sugar, Tabasco, salt, and pepper. Cover pan and simmer on low for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Remove from heat. Cool mushrooms in marinade. Eat at room temperature.

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As for the "crab" balls.... Remember the fish tacos I made earlier in the week? Weirdly, after I washed and dried the fish, my hands smelled like crab meat rather than fish. So I saved a piece of the cooked fish, for experimental purposes. I flaked it, added crab cake ingredients (Old Bay, bread soaked in milk, mayo) and made three small balls which I fried up for tapas. They fell apart, as my crab cakes usually do, but they tasted reasonably crabby. Because it had been sauteed, he meat was a little tough; if I try something like this again, I think I'll poach the fish so it stays soft.

Gotta admit - Mahi from Trader Joe's is far cheaper than crab meat, and it's no less crabby than the flavorless non-blue-crab "jumbo lump" they sell at the supermarket.

Three Duck Weekend - Bolo

Because my dear husband and I had marvelous meals at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill in both New York and Las Vegas, we thought we'd give Bolo a try. Until recently, I had never been particularly interested in Spanish cuisine, but the tapas trend has got me hooked.

Bolo has a four tapas for $16 deal that seemed quite reasonable, so we tried a few items we've never had before, like crispy frog's leg with mint & garlic and a salt cod fritter with parsley garlic sauce. Our choices were presented in a square plate with four individual compartments. Mr. Minx's carby choice of twelve layer potato with caramelized shallots was the best of the bunch, with meltingly tender potato, seasoned subtly with onion, and perfectly caramelized shallots. A big bowl of this would have made me very happy. The next favorite was a bit of pan fried duck liver with sherry vinegar, honey, & black pepper. This was not foie gras, but the more strongly-flavored liver of a normal duck, cooked lightly and dressed with a nicely acidic vinaigrette that cut the richness of the meat.

The salt cod fritter was largely potato, and it reminded me of an old-fashioned Baltimore coddie, sans mustard. Last was the frog's leg, which indeed tasted "like chicken," but with a touch of the sea. It was completely unremarkable, apart from its novelty value.

We sat at the table against the wall on the leftmost side of the picture.

Our salad course was the duck course for this meal. Since I had the duck salad the night before, it was my husband's turn to have it tonight. His preserved duck salad with tangerines, pomegranates, & spicy almond brittle consisted of a very generous confitted duck thigh, on the bone and with crisped skin, next to a little pile of white endive and other greens. The duck was meltingly tender, and the almond brittle was a lovely touch that added a bit of sweetness to a savory dish. Truly delicious. Never having tried merguez before, I was interested in the white chicory salad with spicy lamb sausage, poached egg, and mustard-toasted almond vinaigrette. It struck me as I was eating this that it would be a perfect breakfast dish. The sausage was definitely spicy, but the heat was tempered by the mildness of poached egg and the light dressing. The egg was a bit overcooked, as the yolk did not ooze gracefully over the greens but rather sat on top as a bright orange semi-orb. Regardless, the combination of flavors worked well and I did enjoy the salad.

The two entrees that were the most attractive to Mr. Minx and myself were the black squid ink risotto with grilled prawns, lobster, & green onion vinaigrette and the pork tenderloin with walnut romesco, oloroso sherry-fig sauce, & whipped green onion potatoes. The risotto was a gorgeous pile of glossy, jet black rice, topped with two head-on grilled prawns, and a ring of green onion vinaigrette around the very edge of the bowl. My first forkful tasted of chile, and my second of green onion, so I am guessing that Bobby Flay's famous squeeze bottles of chile and scallion oils were also employed on this dish (as they were on all of the tapas items). The vinaigrette gave yet another, tangy, variation of onion flavor to the dish. The bits of lobster were perfectly cooked, but one of the prawns was a little mushy. And the rice was softer than that of classical Italian risotto; still, I would fight over this dish. Not only was it beautiful, it was a festival of flavors.

Not so the pork tenderloin. I had the pork tenderloin at Mesa Grill and it was glorious; served medium, it was tender and juicy. The three large chunks of pork in the Bolo dish were sadly dry and overcooked, and the sauce was too darkly flavored, like burnt licorice. The potatoes were pretty, but did not have the flavor to stand up to the overwhelming sauce. And the walnut romesco went completely undetected. With better cooked pork, a lighter version of the sauce, and a stronger starch like sweet potato mash, this would have been an excellent dish as well. Perhaps it was merely an off night.

Finally, dessert. Mr. Minx chose the sherry-Robiola cheescake with fruit shortbread crust, citrus granita, and apple cranberry compote. (Robiola is an Italian soft-ripened cheese, similar to cream cheese.) The cake was topped with a bruleed sugar crust and was delicately flavored with sherry. The best part of the dish was the amazing granita that was both fantastically tart and sweet at the same time, and a perfect accompaniment to the creamy cake. My caramel apple date cake with warm toffee sauce and vanilla creme fraiche ice cream was also quite good, although the toffee sauce didn't taste of much at all, and the ice cream could well have been made with regular cream. Both desserts went well with the remainder of our 2005 Christopher Creek Zinfandel.

Although not quite as good as Mesa Grill, I still would go back to Bolo just for the risotto.