A Father's Influence

Today is my father's birthday; he's 72. This year has included for him a battle with colorectal cancer, producing a lot of worry for us kids.  He completed his last round of chemo last week and we're all so happy that he came through everything so well.

Dad has always been a big influence in my appreciation for exotic foods.  And by "exotic," I mean foods that wouldn't ordinarily be served in my Polish-American household.  I was almost five when my brother was born, and to get us out of her hair once in a while as she dealt with the new baby, my mother would send my father and I out on a "date." I remember vividly our experience at a hole in the wall 2nd floor restaurant, in what was then Baltimore's Chinatown, called Mee Jun Lo.  The stairwell was a little dark and intimidating, and the restaurant wasn't particularly well-lit itself, but I can still taste the wonderous salty-garlicky flavor of the shrimp in black bean sauce that Dad ordered for us, on my mind's palate. I've not had that flavor experience since, and I've given up ordering the dish in Chinese restaurants.

Dad also introduced me to Japanese cuisine, first with the thrilling spectacle of teppanyaki dinners at Nichi Bei Kai, and later to tonkatsu (fried pork cutlets) and tempura at home.  He cooked Chinese food for us too.  When my mother went into the hospital for three weeks in the early 80s, Dad bought a new wok and a Chinese cookbook and proceeded to prepare my brother's favorite dish, Chicken Ding, or chicken with almonds.  Later, I would use the wok to make tempura, which would scare the heck out of Mom who thought I was going to burn the house down.  But Dad had given me the confidence to prepare the exotic dish in my early teens.

I'm pretty sure I had my first taste of Indian food with Dad, when we tried out the new Bombay Grill on Madison Avenue. Thai food too, possibly, but I can't remember. Korean, definitely, as exactly once Dad took my brother and I to Purim Oak (before it was called that) in Towson.  We tried bulgogi cooked on little table top burners, and I remember being dismayed at the unsubtle taste of sugar and garlic and not much else.  Only later did I become enamored of the flavors of Korea.

Today we're having a simple spread of grilled meats, because chemo has effected Dad's tastebuds quite a bit.  I hope that someday in the near future, however, he will be able to join us in a customarily exotic meal, perhaps something we've never tried before.

Jill Snyder

The new season of Top Chef premieres November 12th at 10PM!

AGE: 28
HOMETOWN: Latrobe, PA
RESIDES IN: Baltimore
POSITION: Executive Chef, Red Maple
CULINARY EDUCATION: Baltimore International College
FAVORITE SIMPLE RECIPES: For spring: Grilled shrimp with pea tendrils and roasted baby beets
BIO: Born in Latrobe, Pa., Jill's culinary interests were sparked at an early age when she began helping on her uncle's farm, picking berries and baking cookies to sell at the local farmer's market. She didn't plan on becoming a chef, but counts her decision to attend culinary school as one of her best moves. After moving to Baltimore, Jill studied under the celebrated chef and restaurateur Spike Gjerde. She loves to create imaginative sushi rolls and unique desserts and the five ingredients she always keeps on hand are semi-sweet chocolate, sushi rice, micro-herbs, Banyuls vinegar and champagne. Her goal is to one day own a small resort that serves amazing food and features rides in her hot air balloon.

Baltimore Chef on Top Chef

I've heard rumors for a while that Jill Snyder of Red Maple is competing for the title of Top Chef this fall, and now the Baltimore Sun has confirmed it.

Jesse Wong's Kitchen - Revisited

Oh, I know I said I'd never set foot in this place again, but my father's girlfriend gave me a $60 gift card for my birthday last year and we just now got around to using it. Believe me now when I reiterate that I will never go to Jesse Wong's Kitchen ever again. Not even if someone else is paying for it.

Mr Minx and I decided to attempt their sushi, since the hot lunches we had eaten the last time were so miserable. The miso soup was standard, rather skimpy on the tofu bits. Vegetable tempura included three pieces of bell pepper, four pieces of carrot, and one asparagus spear. All but the carrot were limp and overcooked, the batter was not at all delicate, and the dipping sauce had no flavor whatsoever. Not exactly off to a good start. But wait - it gets worse.

We ordered three maki sushi: Cowboy roll with shrimp tempura, cucumber and eel; Yellowjacket roll with spicy yellowtail, avocado, scallion, and Japanese radish; and the Dynamite roll with crabstick, salmon, and asparagus, battered and fried, topped with mayo & spicy sauce. The rolls were heavy on the rice and light on flavor - I noticed no cucumber in the Cowboy, no scallion in the Yellowjacket, and no salmon in the Dynamite. The "spicy sauce" was tasty, but served in dime-shaped dollops on each slice, rather than drizzled over the roll.

We also got the Sushi Deluxe entrée, comprised of about six pieces of assorted nigiri, a "Neptune maki" which was just a variation of California roll made with flavorless Asian blue swimmer crab, plus three hand roll-type pieces topped with lobster salad and roe, just roe, and a itty bitty baby octopus. I enjoyed the lobster salad, and Mr Minx appreciated the freshness of the tuna, but everything else was just meh.

Full to the brim, we ask for our check. I put down my $60 gift card and a credit card to handle the few dollars balance plus tip. Several minutes later, I notice our waitress at the register, seemingly having trouble with the gift card. She called over the only Caucasian working in the place to help her out; he seemed to be the assistant manager, but he was merely a dolt. He comes back to our table, squats down (I hate when they do that - it's like "I'm being condescending to you but so it doesn't seem that way, I'm physically putting myself below your level.") and asks "how much is the gift card supposed to be for?" I told him the amount and handed him the little envelope in which the card came, sporting the number in orange marker. Dolt then informs me that the card shows no balance.

Ok, let's let that sink in. My $60 gift card was suddenly a worthless piece of plastic. I ate $60+ worth of food that I didn't even enjoy, and I was going to have to pay for it.

I told Dolt that we had a bad dining experience there before and the only reason we came back was to use the gift card. He said he was sorry, and I said he wasn't sorry enough. He went to call his manager, while I seethed. Had there been more than two other people in the rather large restaurant, I would have raised a very loud stink, but sadly there was nobody there to hear me, apart from our waitresses who looked genuinely apologetic.

Dolt comes back and says that his manager is going to call me in the morning. That if there's money on the card she'll find it. But they charged the full amount to my credit card and that was that. So, in essence, Jesse Wong's Kitchen is calling me a liar and a cheat, claiming in not-so-many-words that my gift card was used, or perhaps even stolen.

When in actuality, the f*cker who issued the damn card was probably too stupid to remember to put the balance on it to begin with.

UPDATE, 2:43PM I just spoke to the manager who apologized profusely and said she was waiting to hear back from the programmer who set up the gift card program. He can apparently retrieve any and all transaction data. I am supposed to hear back from them by Friday. I feel better. It's amazing what a little bit of sincere apology and pleasantness can do.