Parts & Labor

We finally went to Parts & Labor. And I almost hate to admit that I loved everything about it.

Why do I hate admitting it? Well, for one thing, it's not much fun to write a review for a truly delicious meal. What else can be said other that dishes are delicious, amazing, tasty, well-prepared, outrageously good, and near perfect? And I can use all of those commendatory words for Parts & Labor.

For another thing, and I know I'm probably in the minority here, I think Spike Gjerde's restaurants are a bit pretentious. Like not serving lemons or soda (soda!) in cocktails at Shoo-Fly because neither are local products. (That policy has changed, due to public outcry. Sometimes you have to give the people what they want.) But Parts & Labor hits all the right notes--good food, good drinks, extremely pleasant service. We even got a table by a window, which made for good photos.

Charcuterie - smoked boar sausage, lomo, bastirma

Parts & Labor is very meat-centric, so vegetarians beware. The building, once a former tire shop, also houses the butchery for the Gjerde empire. Meat comes into the place whole (as in whole pigs and cows) and exits as sausage, charcuterie, and other meaty delights.

We started our meal with a selection of three items from the "salt house," aka charcuterie. There were six or so choices from which we selected a salami-like smoked boar sausage, lomo (a dry cured pork tenderloin), and bastirma, a highly seasoned air-dried beef. The latter, with it's curry-ish flavor, was the table's favorite, but all were outstanding.

Enormous lamb kielbasa

We tried the lamb kielbasa from the sausage selection of the menu. At $12, it was the most expensive selection on the list, but it's extreme deliciousness made it worth every penny. Plus, it was huge. The sausage's smokiness balanced the lamb's usual slight gaminess, and it was juicy and nicely seasoned. I think it was my favorite dish out of all, and we tried a lot.

Pork chop

My Dad is a bit of a fussy eater, and he likes his meat on the well-done side. It would have been a crime to order the restaurant's dry-aged beef well done, so we talked him into the pork chop, cooked to the well side of medium. It was moist and tender and even Dad enjoyed it.

16-oz rib eye

He wouldn't have enjoyed the rib-eye, which came medium-rare. Perfectly cooked and rested, the steak had a nice crust and added flavor from a topping of compound butter and bed of chimichurri sauce.

Korean short ribs, slaw

The Korean short ribs were a pretty close approximation of the kalbi one finds in a Korean restaurant, only, I think, more tender. The sweetness of the marinade was offset by a tangy slaw that would have been the only vegetable on the table had I not reminded our party that man does not live by meat alone.

Wood ash hominy

We tried a dish of hominy, which had a strong corn flavor and reminded me of the Southwest. At a book signing recently, someone lamented that hominy is seldom seen on restaurant menus these days, and to that I say...get thee to Parts & Labor.

Dirty rice with chicken livers, blood sausage, okra

I think the only dish that I had a complaint about was the dirty rice. While there was plenty of "dirt," in the form of chicken livers and blood sausage, I wanted it to taste even more funky.

Grilled potatoes

The grilled fingerling potatoes were buttery and perfect...

Hearth wok with swiss chard, banana peppers, turnips, mushrooms, fermented tomato, benne

...and the Hearth wok was a bowl of deliciousness. I guess I could complain that the serving was too small, compared to everything else on the table, but the combination of flavors was really nice. A little sweet, a little sour (but not agrodolce), a little salty.

After we pigged out on meat, we ordered dessert. It was, after all, my brother's birthday. He chose the chocolate lard cake. Don't worry, it doesn't taste of lard (maybe a bit disappointingly), just of rich chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

Chocolate lard cake

Dad chose the blondie topped with peach conserve and an intriguing salty ice cream. This thing was huge, definitely share-able by two or more people, so I helped him. I had ordered only a single scoop of goat's milk ice cream, which was pleasantly goat-milky.

One hot blondie with salty ice cream and peach conserve

Mr Minx went for a peanut butter and bourbon concoction. It was good, but my favorite part was the super coffee-y ice cream that had noticeable bits of ground coffee beans. I wished I had ordered that AND the goat's milk flavor, but I had plenty to eat with sampling everyone else's desserts.

Bourbon caramel Peanut tart with coffee ice cream

Yes, we made complete pigs of ourselves, and I suffered when the bill came. But it was a special occasion and worth the splurge. I think on future visits we'll limit ourselves to 5 or 6 dishes, rather than 9. And maybe skip dessert. Or maybe we'll just do it all over again.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

The Tavern Room @ Fleet Street Kitchen

The Bagby Group's white tablecloth Fleet Street Kitchen has added a new, more casual, spin to their dining experience by transforming the area just beyond the restaurant's large front windows into the Tavern Room. In this discrete space, the tablecloths and multiple tasting menus that may have intimidated some diners are gone. In their place are bare wood and an accessible menu of small and large plates. While lush multi-course meals of fine modern American cuisine are still the backbone of Fleet Street Kitchen, it's now also an attractive place to stop for a snack of bone marrow and a beer or a light supper of charcuterie and cheese.

Mr Minx and I were invited to participate in a media dinner to taste several of the Tavern Room's offerings. We were brought several share-able items from the "tastes" and "small plates" sections of the menu, and then each of us were asked to choose one large plate or entree and one dessert for our personal consumption.

Before I get into the food, I want to mention the punches, which are served exclusively in the Tavern Room area of the restaurant. Unlike the spiked ginger ale with rainbow sherbet we may have encountered in our youth, beverage director Tim Riley's concoctions are more exotic, and of course, more delicious. We snagged samples of the sublimely smoky "Cry of Delores" (which includes mezcal, apple brandy, sherry, smoked tea, and citrus), and the refreshing Kentucky Navy (with bourbon, rye, spearmint tea, black walnut bitters, citrus, and cider). We found them both to be dangerously easy to drink. While the punches come in large Mason jars intended to serve 2-4 people, it wouldn't be all that hard to guzzle more than intended. [hic!]

Now the food: we started out our meal with samples of the roasted bone marrow, which came with thin slices of baguette toast. I grew up eating bone marrow, and was pleased with this taste of my childhood, amped up with the flavors and textures of finely chopped mushrooms and fennel.

Bone marrow, roasted mushroom duxelles, fennel

The tasting plate called "pig face & pickles" had intrigued me most when I had originally perused the menu, so I was happy to see it come to the table. We had a portion of eye socket meat among the selection of moist porcine flesh that fans of pork belly are sure to enjoy. Acid from the pickles cut through the luscious fat, and sauce gribiche (a tartar sauce-like concoction made with hard-cooked eggs) added additional tang.

Pig face & pickles: Chefs choice of jowl, snout, chin, cheek, pork rind, tongue and ears, sauce gribiche 

Crisp-crusted blobs of soft pretzel encased aromatic bites of merguez sausage...

Merguez pretzel bites: Lamb sausage, fennel-fines herbes mustard 

...and a lip-smacking-good beef short rib glazed with a rich veal jus were also served. Additionally, we tasted the ocean trout crudo with creme fraiche and blood orange attractively arranged on crostini, and a plate of sunchokes glazed with hazelnut butter. While the sunchokes were, shall we say, not pretty, their artichoke flavor and potato texture made for an unusual snack. The crudo was fresh and light and a touch of summertime among all of the more boldly-flavored and earthy dishes.

Braised beef short rib, creamed spinach, red currents, veal jus

For his entree, Mr Minx chose the duck confit, which came with a medley of beans that pushed the dish in the direction of cassoulet. I know better than to ask him to share duck confit, but my husband did offer me a small taste of the tender meat and crisped skin.

Confit duck leg, heirloom summer beans, preserved summer tomatoes, mirepoix, bacon duck jus 

I chose the lamb neck, mostly because I had never eaten lamb neck before, but also because I love lamb. I'm trying to come up with an apt comparison to another cut of meat, but I'm falling short. I suppose the meat texture was a bit like braised short rib or brisket, moist and easily broken into stringy shreds. There was also a nice fat cap that covered almost the entire top of the meat. I rather enjoyed it. It was glazed with a thick and flavorful veal jus that had the sticky quality of a much-reduced stock--a sign that while this is "tavern" food, it's also being served in a high-end restaurant.

Braised lamb neck, glazed baby carrots, fines herbes, carrot beurre blanc, lime, veal jus

The desserts, by new Bagby Group pastry chef Aja Cage, were elevated versions of old favorites like chocolate pudding and eclairs. Mr Minx had the warm apple clafoutis, which seemed more like a sponge cake than the traditional custardy fruit-filled dessert, but it and its accompanying salted caramel sauce were terrific.

Warm apple clafoutis, apple chip, salted caramel, pink peppercorn ice cream

My trio of eclairs, which were freshly filled, had crisp choux pastry shells and rich innards. The chocolate especially was decadent. The orange filling was a bit lighter, and the pistachio (which seemed more like salted caramel to me) was somewhere in between.

Trio of eclairs: chocolate, pistachio, and tangerine

Honestly, as far as I'm concerned, the Bagby Group can do no wrong. We love Ten Ten, eat at Bagby's Pizza as often as possible, and have so far visited Cunningham's three times. And now, with the new menu of elevated-rustic goodies at the elegant Fleet Street Kitchen, we think that they have a new hit on their hands.

The Tavern Room @ Fleet Street Kitchen
1012 Fleet Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 244-5830





Posted on Minxeats.com.