Spring Has Sprung at Seasons 52

Seasons 52 opened in the summer of 2014 as one of the new shops and restaurants in Columbia Mall's outdoor extension. A national chain in the Darden Restaurants group (which also owns Bahama Breeze, Capital Grille, and Olive Garden, plus a few others not in the Baltimore area yet) Seasons 52 is all about "what's good now." Their food is seasonal (but not necessarily local) and designed not to bankrupt anyone's calorie budget for the day/week/month. That's not to say that they serve diet food - not at all! But you won't find a deep fryer in the kitchen, or french fries anywhere on their menu. Instead, entrees tend to include something starchy and something vegetal and average around 580 calories or so.

We were invited in to Seasons 52 to sample selections from the spring menu, with wine pairings; the multiple courses of deliciousness were a treat.

As we waited for the rest of our party of local food bloggers to arrive, we sampled two of the restaurant's seven flatbreads. New for spring are the lobster and fresh mozzarella (with roasted sweet peppers, scallions, and lobster sour cream) and the crispy prosciutto and asparagus (with Camembert and chervil). They are true flatbreads, with a very thin and crisp crust, and not just oddly-shaped pizzas. Toppings are generous and flavorful, with the lobster flatbread's creamy drizzle having a particularly pleasing lemony kick.

With the flatbreads, we enjoyed a Chartogne-Taillet Cuvee Sainte Anne, a lovely floral champagne.

Once we were seated, we received a spoonful of an intensely flavored chilled asparagus soup with lemon chantilly cream, paired with lightly effervescent Aveleda Vinho Verde.

Next up was a spinach salad dressed in a white balsamic vinaigrette, tossed with spring strawberries, toasted pine nuts, nuggets of Gorgonzola, and fresh pea tendrils, and drizzled with some 15-year aged balsamic. I felt the delicate greenness of the pea tendrils (also called pea shoots) was lost in all those assertive vinegar flavors, but sweet strawberries + toasty nuts + funky cheese are one of my favorite flavor combos.

(The salad was huge, and at 250 calories, when paired with an under-500-calorie flatbread, the combination would make a lovely lunch for two. Just a suggestion!)

With the salad we enjoyed a Tilia Torrontes redolent of jasmine, honeysuckle, and rose.

We then received two appetizers. The first, Meyer lemon ricotta ravioli with brown butter, roasted peppers, and English peas, was an actual appetizer. With it we drank a Robert Sinskey Los Carneros Pinot Noir, the earthiness of which worked well with the rich brown butter and overall sweetness of the citrussy ricotta filling.

The second "app" we sampled was actually an entree. Six handsomely-sized scallops with lemon risotto, English peas, and roasted asparagus won me over. I've complained many a time about the insane cost of scallops in a restaurant. You're lucky to get three puny ones for $30. Seasons 52 serves six big babies, perfectly cooked, for $23.50. The accompanying risotto was delightfully creamy and Mr Minx and I found ourselves fighting for the last morsels on the plate.

With the scallops we drank a Mer Soleil Chardonnay, which, while delightful on its own with its unusual almost-sweet butterscotch and apple flavors, didn't work so well with the scallops. The wine made them fishy on my palate. YMMV, of course. The wine is generally recommended for seafood.

We also sampled two entrees, the Asian-glazed Chilean Sea Bass with organic black rice, snow peas, shiitake mushrooms, and micro wasabi. I loved it. The somewhat sticky black rice positively oozed with heavenly brown butter flavors, and the fish was ultra fresh and very moist. The sauce, which could have erred on the too-sweet side, was just right to my palate. Mr Minx and I also finished every last drop of this dish, along with the accompanying Selbach-Oster Kabinett Reisling, apple-vanilla sweet with nice lime-y acidity.

Our last savory dish was the wood-grilled rack of lamb with spring vegetables (including English peas, asparagus, fiddlehead ferns, pearl onions, carrots, and mushrooms), Yukon Gold mash, and shallot jus. The chops were cooked to a juicy and well-rested medium-to-medium rare, and all the veg were crisp-tender. With them we drank a smooth Cab blend from South Africa, the De Taren Fusion V, with flavors of berries, licorice, and spice.

But wait kids, that's not all! We were also served desserts. Just about all of them. As part of Seasons 52's reasonably caloried meals, desserts are wee parfait-style treats that range between 220 and 370 calories (and if they have that many calories, just think of what a full-sized slice of pie a la mode is worth!). We sampled pecan pie, strawberry cannoli, key lime pie, Belgian chocolate s'mores, mocha macchiato, chocolate peanut butter torte, and a tiramisu-style concoction that came with a pipette of amaretto. All rich and tasty; the cannoli, chocolate peanut, and key lime concoctions were our faves. We had another nice Selbach-Oster Reisling, a Bernkasteler Badstube Auslese, with dessert.

It was an excellent meal, all said, with the strawberries, pea shoots, asparagus, and fiddleheads adding happy hints of spring here and there. Seasons 52 is certainly worth a visit, not only for the lovely food, but also the great selection of wines. (The 52 in the restaurant's name indicates the 52 wines available by the glass. One hundred are usually available by the bottle.) Just don't fall in love with any of them, because, as is almost always the case for us, few if any are available in local stores (the Mer Soleil being an exception).



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Chicken and Waffles

When we agreed to be brand ambassadors for Kahiki Foods, we received a shipment of various products, including bags of tempura-crusted chicken nuggets in two flavors. We devoured one bag of chicken with its accompanying honey sauce, but decided to use the other one in a different way...as the chicken component in chicken and waffles. Why not? without the accompanying sauce, it's just fried chicken--crusty, crispy fried chicken.

What got me started down this path was the bag of blue cornmeal I purchased at the grocery store last week. Blue cornmeal makes me think of Bobby Flay, and Bobby Flay makes me think of chipotle peppers. (Or, as he pronounces it, "chi-poh-ta-lay.") What could I concoct with blue cornmeal and chipotle peppers (both in the pantry) and whatever protein I had in the freezer (myriad)?  Every time I opened the freezer, I saw that bag of tempura chicken, and sometimes it even fell out on my foot. Why not use it, sans the bag of orange sauce (which I might be able to use for something else in the future)?

Once I decided on chicken as my protein, chicken and waffles seemed appropriate. I incorporated the chipotle into the cream gravy.  Once I added it, with a little extra smokiness from smoked paprika and a nice pinch of cumin to continue down that Southwest flavor path, the sauce tasted like queso. Even without any cheese. So I added cheese, too. Just a little, because I didn't want the sauce to end up being too thick.

It turned out really well. There are a ton of extra waffles though, which will be called into duty for breakfasts during the week. A nice bit of extra sauce, too. The leftovers will definitely get another handful of cheese, and maybe some sauteed chorizo. I hear a pile of tortilla chips calling its name.

Blue Corn Waffles with Fried Chicken and Chipotle Cream Gravy

For waffles:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 ½ cups 2% milk

For the sauce:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 cups 2% milk
1 chipotle en adobo, minced
2 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Pinch smoked paprika
Large pinch cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

To serve:
Fried chicken or chicken nuggets
Chopped scallions for garnish

To make waffles: Preheat waffle iron. Preheat oven to 250°F and place a baking sheet in the oven.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, beat the eggs, then whisk in the milk and butter until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until combined.

Spoon batter into waffle iron according to manufacturer’s directions. Cook until golden and crisp.

Place cooked waffles onto the baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. Repeat until all waffle batter is used. Makes 12-14 waffles, depending on the size of your iron.

To make sauce: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute without browning. Slowly whisk in the milk and stock. Raise the heat to high and continue whisking until the sauce begins to thicken and the raw taste of the flour has been cooked out, about 5 minutes. Add the chipotle and scallions. Whisk in the cheese and seasonings, adding more or less to taste.

To serve: Top waffles with chicken pieces or nuggets and spoon some sauce over all. Garnish with scallions.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats.



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Roy's Eat Creative Media Dinner

It's no secret that Mr Minx and I are big fans of Roy's and have been semi-regular patrons of the Baltimore branch since it opened 13 years ago. And while we're very happy to pay for our food at Roy's, it's even more fun to go when the food is on the house, as it was during a recent media dinner. The occasion for the dinner was to celebrate the launch of Roy's renewed culinary focus called Eat Creative, which showcases the very best of Pacific Rim cuisine.

Pacific Rim Cosmotini
(photo credit: Roy's)

We started the party at the bar with a round of Pacific Rim cosmotinis, a combination of blood orange, passion fruit, and ginger flavors with vodka. Once at our table, we were presented with a couple of the restaurant's new appetizers, including the misoyaki butterfish lettuce wraps, a twist on both traditional chicken lettuce wraps and the restaurant's famed misoyaki butterfish entree. We also got a taste of the new ebi roll, which adds coconut and cream cheese to the familiar tempura shrimp and avocado maki. It's served with dabs of habanero aioli and nitsume (eel sauce). We also sampled two items from Roy's bar menu, starting with the crispy pork belly buns, tender steamed Chinese bao containing crispy bits of pork belly, green apple slaw, and the sweet bbq-like Red Dragon sauce. While I think the buns themselves were a bit too large, the flavors and textures were appealing. Finally, we had bites of Roy's new Wagyu burger. A simple affair of juicy meat, caramelized onions, truffled mushrooms, a fried egg, and togarashi aioli, this burger is a contender for the Best in Town crown. Perhaps truffled mushrooms and eggs don't seem particularly simple to you, but none of the burger's toppings stood in the way of the main event: the meat itself. The accompanying onion rings, however, were, in a word, meh.

Misoyaki Butterfish Lettuce Wraps (photo credit: Roy's)

Close-up of Ebi Roll (photo credit: Roy's)

As an intermission, we each received our own Maui Wowie salad, a classic Roy's dish that was created at the Baltimore restaurant and served chain-wise.

Full-sized Lobster Pot Pie (see slide show for size we received) (photo credit: Roy's)

Alaea Salt-Crusted Bone-In Ribeye (photo credit: Roy's)

We then received an embarrassment of riches in the form of entrees: the 14-oz Alaea salt-crusted bone-in ribeye with peppercorn shoyu brandy sauce; a Maine lobster pot pie with potatoes, peas, honshimeji mushrooms, and pearl onions; and a tempura-battered whole snapper with a sweet chili sauce. And there were sides, too: truffled bacon mac & cheese with Thai basil bread crumbs; spicy Korean chili fried rice with scallions, cilantro, sesame, and egg; and a selection of over-sized tempura vegetables that included asparagus, broccolini, carrot, and shiitake mushrooms. The steak was a beautiful thing, pink, juicy and perfectly rested, with great flavor. I've always said that Roy's does land-based proteins as well as (or better than) the seafood for which they are most famous, and I stand by that. The lobster pot pie had a decidedly Thai twist with its coconut milk-based "gravy," and the proportion of lobster to everything else was generous. Also generous was the portion size, which we were surprised to find was a mere fraction of the normal portion size of this dish. In fact, all three of the entrees were on the huge side, which makes them particularly good for eating family-style with one's own ohana. The sides, also sized for sharing, were uniformly good. The mac and cheese was not the overly-decadent cream-fest that so many highfalutin' versions of this dish can be, and while I couldn't see the bacon, I could taste it. The tempura was light and crisp, and broccolini was a nice change from the usual common broccoli. My favorite was the Korean fried rice, which would have made a lovely entree on its own if topped with a fried egg.

Finally, dessert, which we wanted in theory but not in practice - we were so full! The classic melting chocolate souffle and pineapple upside down cake were as delicious as ever, and always a fine way to end a meal at Roy's.

During the evening, we also had the opportunity to meet the new Chef Partner at Baltimore's Roys, Matt Ellis, who comes to us from various Roy's in Florida. He's stepped into the big shoes of Opie Crooks and Rey Eugenio and seems to be filling them well. We also had a chat with Managing Partner Bryson Keens. He revealed something big that I think we all wish we had known earlier: Roy's offers shuttle service from your home to the restaurant and back. For locals as well as tourists! This means no worrying about parking or driving home after having too many Hawaiian martinis or Mai Tais!

The photos in this post are not ours, sadly, but the work of a professional photographer. The lighting wasn't the best that night (Roy's is on the dark side) so our photos aren't of the best quality. But you can check 'em out in the slideshow below.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Pabu

A month or so ago, while perusing the Four Seasons Baltimore Web site for more information on Michael Mina's restaurant Wit & Wisdom, I noticed a blurb about an upcoming restaurant called Pabu. "Pabu," a Japanization of the word "pub," was going to be an izakaya-style restaurant, a joint venture between Mina and Sonoma County sushi master Ken Tominaga. I immediately got excited. While I love sushi and am happy that it's plentiful (particularly in Towson), I've long felt that Baltimore needed a Japanese restaurant that served kushiyaki (skewered things), chawanmushi (a custard dish), and the other interesting tidbits that are customarily consumed with sake.

An izakaya is basically a bar that serves food, but unlike the one we visited in New York, Sake Bar Hagi, Pabu is no mere watering hole. While the New York restaurant is dark and cramped, Pabu, located at the far end of Aliceanna Street across from the Marriott, occupies a space that is bright and spare, with lots of blonde wood and large windows. Shelves of large, nearly-identical, pottery sake vessels act as dividers that help break up the room. The bar is immediately in front of the entrance; across the room, its long shape is echoed by the sushi bar, behind which is an open kitchen.

We were seated off to one side, beyond the bar, and had a good view of the room. Because this was a media dinner*, we were presented with a special menu of the restaurant's choosing, an omakase. But before the food came, our eager and knowledgeable server suggested we try various things from the spirits menu, of which the restaurant is justifiably proud. Their sake collection is so vast (the largest in the area), it requires a special sake sommelier to keep things organized. The staff is all very well-trained, too, so feel comfortable allowing your server to make suggestions, as we did. We first tried two of the signature cocktails: the Japanese whisky-based Yakuza, with chamomile tea and yellow Chartreuse; and the Lemongrass Sour. Both were quite good, the Yakuza was surprisingly light, and easy to drink. Later, we were brought two different sakes to sample as well as a couple of special Japanese beers, one of which was made with rice, the other with sweet potato.

On to the food.

Jako - tiny minnows, ginger, shiso, goma

Seaweed salad - san baizu, creamy sesame

"Happy Spoons" - oyster, uni, ikura, ponzu creme fraiche

We started off with three "cold small plates," jako, seaweed salad, and the "happy spoon." Jako is a dish of tiny minnows - teeny, bitsy, weensy minnows even - that are cooked until they become dry and chewy, not unlike jerky, and flavored with sesame, shiso, and ginger. They're fairly salty and make a good bar snack-style accompaniment to beer or sake. The seaweed salad was a lot like the kind to which we're accustomed, with the addition of a creamy sesame dressing, and the "happy spoon" was something else entirely. A small oyster, salmon caviar, uni, and tobiko rested on a bit of creme fraiche flavored with ponzu. It was meant to be eaten in one bite, and just as I popped mine and began to chew, I was distracted by someone who appeared at our table to introduce herself, and in the confusion and haste to swallow, I forgot to taste what was in my mouth. My impression, however, was of fresh brininess, and I'd love to try this bite again.

Later in the meal, Chefs Michael Mina and Ken Tominaga came over to say hello. I was thrilled to meet them, and commended them on bringing the izakaya concept to Baltimore. At least, that's what I think I said; it may merely have been starstruck gibberish. :)

Maitake & seasonal vegetable tempura

Maryland crab okonomiyaki - bonito flake, benishoga, karashi mayo

Next came two warm plates, a selection of tempura vegetables that included eggplant, asparagus, lotus root, winter squash, and a maitake (hen-of-the-woods) mushroom. Honestly, I could eat tempura all day and particularly enjoyed the mushroom; maitakes are much like savory clusters of flower petals and make for particularly delicate tempura. The other plate was okonomiyaki, a savory cabbage pancake topped with an over-easy egg. This dish would make a delicious breakfast.

Tsukune, Muniniku, Hudson Valley foie gras

We then received three examples of kushiyaki, or skewered meats, that had been cooked on a charcoal-fueled robata grill. The tsukune, or chicken meatballs, were served with a jidori egg yolk that was meant to be whipped and used as a dip. The meatballs themselves were amazingly tender and juicy, with a crisp shell. So good. We also enjoyed wee lozenges of nori-wrapped foie gras dabbed with tangy umeboshi plum. The third skewer, of chicken breast, was merely ok. (There's only so much one can do with chicken breast.)

Miso with nameko mushroom, miso with fresh tofu, scallion, wakame

Our next course was soup, a classic miso with freshly made tofu and a rich, almost beefy, miso with mushrooms.

Nigiri - mebachi meguro, madai, kohada, katsuo

Sashimi - chutoro, aji, hotate

Ken's Roll - shrimp tempura,avocado, spicy tuna, pine nuts,
chili garlic furikake, eel sauce

Finally, we received selections of nigiri and sashimi, including chu-toro and a scallop that had been alive just seconds before serving. It was so fresh, it only needed a squeeze of lemon to bring out its natural sweetness. The maki was "Ken's Roll," a combination of shrimp tempura, avocado, spicy tuna, pine nuts, chili garlic furikake, and eel sauce. While the ingredients seemed pretty typical of American-style rolls, the result was far more sublime. The eel sauce (the real deal, btw, made with actual eel trimmings) was dribbled on the plate and not on the roll, so the diner could choose to have that extra bit of sweetness, or not, and the furikake had a real kick to it.

Finally, we had the best dessert imaginable: four dishes, two light and citrussy, two with a bit more heft. When combined, they offered the perfect combination of salty, tangy, creamy, and sweet. The salty came in the form of miso caramel under a bit of mochi-wrapped ice cream. A quenelle of green tea sorbet in a lemongrass broth with a brunoise of pineapple and melon was refreshing and so fragrant, I wanted to dab it behind my ears. The honey panna cotta topped with little pearls of yuzu gelee was both creamy and tangy, and the sweet white chocolates were filled with a whisky sauce that filled the mouth with sweetness.

Dessert omakase

Altogether an outstanding meal full of interesting textures and flavors. While not exactly the Saki Bar Hagi type of izakaya (dirt cheap, noisy, and crowded), we feel Pabu is a much needed - and delicious - addition to the Harbor East landscape.

Pabu
725 Aliceanna St.
Baltimore, MD 21202 (410) 223-1460
http://michaelmina.net/restaurants/locations/pabu.php



* We received free food and beverages during this visit, however, all opinions in this post are ours alone and not that of the restaurant.

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The Rusty Scupper

The venerable Rusty Scupper, a fixture at the Inner Harbor since 1982, will be 30 this year. To celebrate the momentous occasion, we were invited to partake in a sampling of their menu classics; I must say I was happy for the opportunity to eat there again. I hadn't set foot in the Scupper since 1998, on a date that would have been forgettable except for one thing: it was then I had my first taste of raw oyster.

Let's just say that part was a bit too memorable.

When I was younger, my family dined at the Scupper every once in a while, since we all loved seafood and the view was the best around. And now that everything at the Inner Harbor has been so built up, the view is even better. I dare say the only better view is probably seen from Tom Clancy's apartment in the Ritz Carlton next door.

View of Harbor East from our table.

The interior of the restaurant is a lot more elegant than I remember. There are still timbers on the high ceiling, which makes me feel like I'm dining in an ark, but there are also crisp white tablecloths and live piano music in the background. Our recent dinner there would have been quite romantic, except for two things: 1) I was there with my Dad; 2) inelegantly-dressed tourists. Shorts and white table cloths do not match.

Food-wise, we were pretty happy. We got to choose selections from a four-course prix fixe menu. We started off with a shared appetizer of coconut fried shrimp that came with a spicy Chinese-style dipping sauce. Dad loved it, and I thought it was pretty good, too. Then came my favorite course of the evening - soup and salad. I had the chopped salad, which had a generous portion of bacon and a slightly sweet herb vinaigrette. It's the kind of salad that I can consume in large quantities and be very content. Dad's cream of crab soup was lovely - a warm ivory concoction flavored with sherry, containing lumps of crabmeat. One of the best cream of crabs I have eaten in years. So many of them these days are just flavorless wallpaper paste, you know?

For our entrées, Dad had the 7oz filet mignon. It was cooked to well (Dad had requested medium-well) but as the steak was so thin, it was probably hard to cook it anything other than medium-rare or well-done. Doesn't matter - it was fork tender and very nicely seasoned, with a nice grilled flavor. I had to try the crab cakes, which were small but meaty, broiled and topped with a mustard butter. I am a bit of a crab cake snob these days, but I rate the Scupper's crab cakes as being firmly in the top-middle of the pack. Both entrées came with chunky mashed potatoes and perfectly cooked green beans with thin slices of carrot.

For dessert - my second favorite course of the evening - Dad had the upside-down apple pie, which was buttery and fantastic. I had the sweet potato cheesecake, which had a lush, dense texture and combined the best of both sweet potato pie and cheesecake. It was quite evil.

Service was professional, yet friendly. Our waitress seemed always to be right there whenever we needed her, but never in the way. We had a good time at the Rusty Scupper, loved the view, and look forward to going again in the future.

Rusty Scupper
402 Key Hwy
Baltimore, MD 21230
(410) 727-3678
selectrestaurants.com/rusty

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And All That Chazz

There's been a lot of buzz about the new Italian restaurant in town, Chazz: A Bronx Original, and Mr Minx and I were excited to receive an invitation to sample the menu. A partnership between actor Chazz Palminteri (The Usual Suspects) and local restaurateurs Sergio and Alessandro Vitale (Aldo's), Chazz specializes in coal-fired pizza but is much more than a pizza joint.

Mr Minx and I started out our meal with a couple of drinks from their list of signature cocktails. Mine was the tartly refreshing and possibly too easy to drink Al Fresco, made with strawberries, lime, basil and the locally-produced Sloop Betty vodka. Mr Minx, a sucker for a Manhattan, tried the Pikesville, a classic made with Maryland-produced rye whiskey. It seemed somehow lighter than the usual version, which made for a pleasant Summer sipper.

Al Fresco and Pikesville Manhattan

Because there are so many categories on the menu, it was hard to decide what exactly we wanted to sample. We were advised to try a cheese, a pizza, a pasta, and an appetizer, but the vegetable selections tempted us. As did the bruschette. And panini. And salads. We couldn't possibly have eaten one of each (ok, maybe we could have), so we went for things that sounded the most tempting.

We started out with Chazz's rendition of a Caprese salad, this one featuring a honkin' slab of Burrata cheese, with roasted tomatoes, pesto, and a balsamic syrup. Burrata is a fresh cheese comprising a shell of mozzarella filled with more mozzarella and cream, and Chazz imports theirs from Italy the day it's made. In other words, it's very fresh, and almost evilly luscious. The accompanying sweet little pesto-coated tomatoes added a bit of refreshing acid to the dish; all I needed was a loaf of crusty bread and I would have been quite satisfied to call it dinner all on its own.

Caprese salad with roasted vine tomatoes, burrata, pesto, and balsamic syrup

Because I am a real sucker for fried calamari, we tried Chazz' version. These were piping hot, perfectly crisp, tender, and well-seasoned. A fine example of the dish that has become an appetizer staple.

The fried calamari came with goathorn pepper aioli and
spicy tomato sauce (not pictured).

To be different (and pretend-healthy), we sampled two of the vegetable dishes: roasted Brussels sprouts with pancetta, and Roman-style artichokes. We loved the sprouts (because we love them in any form) with their chewy nuggets of bacon, but they are pretty well-cooked and might be too-cabbagy for some. The artichokes, served at room temperature, have an almost creamy texture and are accented with a bit of mint.

Top - roasted brussels sprouts with pancetta
Bottom - Roman-style artichokes

The veal meatball appetizer is a signature dish, but we chose to try the tender and juicy meatball sliced onto a NY-style pizza instead. Mr Minx is always on the search for a thin crust pizza that isn't too doughy and that has a nice cheese-to-sauce ratio, and I think he's found it. Leftovers were just as delicious two days later.

Veal Meatball NY style pizza with tomato and mozzarella

Besides the Burrata, my favorite dish was the spaghettoni, a thick spaghetti topped with a spicy tomato sauce containing guanciale (a bacon made from the jowl or cheek). The fresh pasta was perfectly al dente, and the sauce had a serious kick to it. We ordered a half portion which was almost hard for me to share, except for the fact that we had so much other food!

Housemade Spaghettoni All'Amatriciana with guanciale

Many of the Italian restaurants in and around Little Italy get their desserts from Vaccaro's, so we usually skip the middle-man and head directly to the Little Italy institution to gorge on cannoli and gelato. However, Chazz has an in-house pastry chef, Janae Aiken, who trained at the CIA; that made it imperative that we try desserts.

Sorry, Vaccaro's, but I gotta say Chazz's cannoli is some stiff competition, with a ricotta filling made extra-rich by the addition of heavy cream. My only criticism (of the entire meal, actually) is that there might have been a bit too much cinnamon in the filling.

Sicilian Cannoli

Lemon-honey ricotta cheesecake with shortbread crust &
warm lemon blueberry sauce

We also sampled the ricotta cheesecake and the chocolate espresso torte. What sold me on the torte was the accompanying scoop of raspberry lime granita - a bit of tanginess to offset the sweet chocolaty richness of the torte. The cheesecake was that perfect texture in between fluffy and dense, and I loved the tiny wild blueberries on top.

Chocolate espresso torte with raspberry lime granita

After gorging ourselves, we (and our doggie bag) went home quite full. And satisfied. I have to admit that we were impressed by the offerings at Chazz, a red-sauce joint that manages to be much more than that. By the time we left the restaurant, it was full of happy, noisy diners, some enjoying multi-course meals, and others who had just popped in for a pizza. While the overall feeling of the restaurant is fairly casual, the quality of the food would make Chazz a good special-occasion spot, too. I know we'll be back.

Chazz: A Bronx Original
1415 Aliceanna Street
Baltimore, MD 21231
www.chazzbronxoriginal.com
(410) 522-5511


Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Tangier's

Mr Minx and I were invited, as press, to enjoy a complimentary dinner at the new Moroccan restaurant, Tangier's. As one can probably tell by the name, Tangier's serves North African cuisine; as one can tell by the unnecessary apostrophe, the restaurant is in Baltimore. Located in Canton on the corner of Boston Street and Montford Avenue just south of the Can Company, you can't miss the now nearly neon red building that once housed Red Fish. Inside, the restaurant is painted with warm earth tones and sports a beautiful bar area in the front.

We were led to a table in the dining room behind the bar area and told to choose anything we wanted from the relatively short menu of twenty items, all mezze, the Eastern Mediterranean version of tapas. After a bit of discussion and a consultation with our server, we decided on: lentil soup; two of the cold mezze, tchouktchouka and spicy fried eggplant; chicken shish kebab; chicken bastilla; and the "Sabbath meat delight."

While waiting for our food, we sipped a pink-colored French Martini, redolent of citrus, and a glass of pineapple-y red sangria.

All of the dishes on Tangier's menu come from Casablanca-born owner Alan Suissa's family and are prepared on premises by his mother Nadia and his aunt Liliane. I love the "home-cooking" aspect almost as much as I love the fact that we now have some Moroccan food in Baltimore! Twenty or more years ago I had eaten at Marrakech, in Washington, DC, and I still think about the delicious food, particularly the b'stilla, or chicken pie with almonds. Tangier's calls their version bastilla, and serves it as clever cigar-shaped packages of cinnamon- and almond-scented chicken rolled in the filo-like pastry, ouarka.

The tchouktchouka, a thick stew-like mixture of roasted tomatoes and peppers, was a simple and hearty preparation that would have benefited from being served with some crusty French bread. Instead, we got squishy, bland, American rolls. Likewise, the eggplant dish, reminiscent of a favorite Indian dish called bengan bartha, cried out for a better starch on which to slather it. Both of these vegetable dishes tied for my favorite of the evening. They were rich yet subtle, and had just the right amount of oiliness without being unctuous.

Both the lentil soup and the Sabbath meat delight reminded Mr Minx and I of our grandmothers' cooking. The lentil soup had a nice proportion of broth to legume (often lentil soup is too porridge-like for me) and had a very homey, warm, subtle spicing. The meat delight, a mound of sliced meatballs served with stewed peas and celery, brought back Grandma's beef soup. I don't even like cooked celery and found myself enjoying the long-forgotten flavor of my childhood. Considering that Mr Minx's family was German, and mine Polish, this whole food memory thing seems a little odd, since clearly the spices used in the cuisines are vastly different. Chalk it up to the home-cookin' vibe of these specific dishes.

The last savory dish we tried was the chicken shish kebab. Although flavorful, the chicken breast meat was dry and tough. Thigh meat would be the way to go in this dish.

We finished our meal with a plate of assorted Moroccan pastries. Yes, these pastries are impossibly tiny and cute, but they were very sweet and the perfect size to follow all of that food. The flower-shaped, sesame-dusted chebakia had an intense honey flavor. There were also balls of pink zucre coco, a sweetmeat not unlike a coconut fudge, and a tiny triangle similar to baklava, with a nicely caramelized warka crust and a hint of lemon flavor.

If you're interested in tasting a bit of North Africa, check out Tangier's. Definitely go for the tchouktchouka and the eggplant. I'm definitely interested in trying out the merguez, the tagines, and the flounder.

Tangier's
845 S. Montford Ave
Baltimore MD 21224
410-327-0029