From all of us here at Trev’s Bistro, our hearts go out to the victims and loved ones of yesterday’s tragedy at the Boston Marathon. We’re all thinking of you, Boston. Stay strong and stay safe.
Boston, You’re in Our Hearts
“Beer” of the Week: White Chocolate Ale, Sonoran Brewing, Scottsdale, AZ
It’s not uncommon for a porter or a stout to present very noticeable chocolate notes. In fact, those two brew genres more often than not have the same repetitive duo in taste profiles: cacao and coffee. Yes, expert food and drink writers such as yours truly who can discern the most hidden of flavors, often vary how to express the cacao and coffee notes. Sometimes, the beer reminds us of milk chocolate and espresso. Other samplings, it’s woodsy 75% dark cacao nibs and single origin Rwandan beans.
Prior to a recent tasting at the O.H.S.O. Eatery and nanoBrewery (Outrageous Homebrewer Social Outpost) right at the border of Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona, I had never experienced fully a beer that truly tasted like chocolate, no strings attached. Literally. If a Godiva white chocolate truffle’s ganache were transformed into beer form, this would be the end result.
Carrot Cake: 3rd from right
Coconut Joe Coffee Stout: far left
Call it cold fermented chocolate or hop chocolate. This being the Valley of the Sun, who wants hot chocolate anyways? (If you’ve ever sat through a Spring Training rain delay in Arizona, you’d know it’s not always warm here…)
The Sonoran Brewing Company of Scottsdale, Arizona has somehow mastered the challenges of making both a white chocolate ale that makes wheat beer drinkable and a chocolate ale that isn’t an artificial, sugary mess.Continue reading ““Beer” of the Week: White Chocolate Ale, Sonoran Brewing, Scottsdale, AZ”
What’s in a Name? That Which We Call a Restaurant?
Shakespeare and restaurants? Wherefore art thou going for dinner Romeo?
Usually when we consider Shakespeare and dining, we think of going to the corner pub for a pint of bitter hard cider, or Falstaffian feasts, as in, “To finish a dish at Montreal’s Au Pied de Cochon, you must have a Falstaffian appetite.”
I’m no expert on Othello’s diet or Hamlet’s favorite foods, though that would be a fascinating research project to embark on.
However, yesterday’s unveiling of Chicago Magazine‘s annual list of the city’s best new restaurants caused me to think of a particularly famous Shakespearean quote.
Since I haven’t tried any of these restaurants in Chicago, I can’t use any Shakespearean references to exude my slings and arrows of disappointment, or my jocund jubilance over the list.
What I noticed was the creative and often downright strange names of the restaurants on the list. As Juliet once queried Romeo, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any name would smell as sweet.” There are no Capulets vs Montagues- sized rivalries or controversies with this list. In this case, the roses are restaurants.Continue reading “What’s in a Name? That Which We Call a Restaurant?”
Tuesday’s Project: Nicole Plue’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Gianduja
First things first, gianduja needs some clarification.
Gianduja is NOT Nutella. Nutella is a form of gianduja. Gianduja is the term for the Northwest Italy (Piedmont, Torino…) dessert specialty that combines chocolate with nut butter, most commonly hazelnut. The usual ratio for chocolate to nut butter in gianduja treats are 3:1, where the chocolate is the central narrative, accented by hazelnuts, almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, pistachios, or whatever nuts you so desire.
In simple terms, gianduja is a nut-enhanced chocolate. So, you hear about gianduja ice cream, gianduja truffles, gianduja cakes, and the list goes on. In a way those are factually correct. To actually be correct however, that gianduja ice cream flavor should be called “hazelnut gianduja” and the chocolate cake with almond butter is an “almond gianduja” flavored cake.
We understand though that the absolute majority of gianduja products are hazelnut-based, hence the connotation with that irresistible Italian hazelnut spread.
It’s a confusing term, sort of one of those “sure, why not?” cooking words that might have an official definition, but really has been used for so many slightly differing recipes that the term simply describes a concept now. That would be the beautiful sweet marriage of chocolate and nuts.
Oh, and you don’t pronounce the “G” or the “J.” It’s zh-awn (like Shawn with a “Z”)-DOO-yuh. I can’t tell you how many times when I went gelato tasting around Rome a few years ago, I would cluelessly obliterate the correct pronunciation. Continue reading “Tuesday’s Project: Nicole Plue’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Gianduja”
Plat du Jour Monday April 8, 2013: Remembering Two Icons, MLB Dining, and Louisville vs Ann Arbor, In Basketball and Dining
Happy NCAA Basketball National Championship Monday, always one of the most “un-Monday feeling” Mondays of the year. Hopefully tomorrow doesn’t deliver a delayed case of the Mondays.
In just a few moments, the Louisville Cardinals and the Michigan Wolverines will tip-off the Championship Game from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. With the 2013 baseball season also just under way, Trev’s Bistro is in a particularly sporting mood today. For this edition of the Plat du Jour, we’ll look at some of the most impressive dining options across Major League Baseball, in addition to our usual city vs city Championship Dining match-up, with Ann Arbor taking on Louisville, Big Blue vs Big Red.
But first, a few food world notes. Continue reading “Plat du Jour Monday April 8, 2013: Remembering Two Icons, MLB Dining, and Louisville vs Ann Arbor, In Basketball and Dining”
Cocktail of the Week: Beet Yuzu Gimlet at Crudo, Phoenix, AZ
Is there anything more virtuous sounding than beet juice? Just think of the ills of the world that could be solved by drinking beet juice. So many nutrients could be acquired to brighten up so many days by pressing the violet juice out of those ugly, gnarly root vegetables. It seems like you could go run a marathon or start tackling bikram yoga when you embrace the power of beet juice.
Then, the sound effect of polluting such pristine, vitamin laden juice with spirits could be fingernails attacking a chalkboard. It’s almost a crime. What would be the perfect food pairing with beet juice? Quinoa and heirloom Nantes carrots?
O.K., enough on the fact that beet juice is very representative of yoga cuisine. Beet juice can be incredibly enjoyable, whether you practice yoga or ride Harleys.
In the other corner, yuzus evoke virtuous thoughts as well. The Mandarin orange-like citrus, common in East Asian cuisines (in particular Japanese), is treated with reverence in the hands of chefs and bartenders. Tender, petite yuzu segments carefully toe the line between sweet and sour, much more delicate to the palate than any other citrus. A few years ago on a trip to Tokyo, bartenders (known in Tokyo as “masters”) at some of the world’s most exalted cocktail dens, including Star Bar Ginza and Bar High Five, asked me if I would like to try a yuzu cocktail since they were in prime season at the time. I figured they knew best. What surprised me was how the yuzu cocktails each created were virtually identical and essentially pure yuzu juice. Spirit driven cocktails these were not. With a little Gin and sugar added, these were essentially a classic Gimlet with yuzu in place of lime juice.
Halfway across the globe, I found myself on the patio of the gorgeous Jade Bar at the Sanctuary on Camelback, a spa- driven resort nestled at the northern base of Phoenix, Arizona’s iconic mountain. It must have been the coldest night of the year in the desert, causing us tourists to curl up next to fireplaces as if this were Alaska, not Arizona. A Hot Toddy would have been an appropriate cocktail.
Always on the lookout for the unique cocktails of a menu, I gave the Beet Yuzu Gimlet a chance, a perfect representation of a health-forward cocktail at a health-forward bar at a resort focused on your well being. I had seen classic cocktails re-interpreted to vastly differing results. Beets and yuzu? We’ll see about thatContinue reading “Cocktail of the Week: Beet Yuzu Gimlet at Crudo, Phoenix, AZ”
For Your Weekend: Congratulations Scripps College Olive Oil and the Beltre Burger
It’s first weekend of April and the first weekend of the baseball season (Let’s Go Red Sox, Let’s Go Giants!).
Here are a pair of amusing notes from the food world to chew on while watching the Final Four or getting your garden ready for the warmer weather.
A very big congratulations go out to Scripps College, 30 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles, yesterday becoming the first Los Angeles County olive oil maker to win the Los Angeles Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition in its 14 year history.Continue reading “For Your Weekend: Congratulations Scripps College Olive Oil and the Beltre Burger”
Plat du Jour Friday April 5, 2013: Would You Like To Make A Reservation For Your Reservation?
A few weeks have passed since the restaurant world’s hot button issue du jour revolved around the supposed “tyranny” of tasting menus, where the writer Corby Kummer accused chefs in the February Vanity Fair of killing the liberty in the ¡a la carte restaurant experience. It was an intriguing accusation and one many diners understood. Yes, we love to choose what we eat. Ultimately, it disappeared as most of us food writers advocate for the chefs to follow their creative license. If the chef wants a tasting menu, have a tasting menu. Nobody forces Spielberg to make a comedy for his next film or convinces Belichick when to blitz. They might listen, but they don’t have to (unless you’re the big boss of course).
Now the focus has shifted from what is on the plate to getting the opportunity to sample what is on the plate. Instead of talking about tasting menus, we’re wondering about how we can even get a table to experience the tasting menu.
The question about reservations in restaurants is certainly not a new one. For decades, restaurateurs and diners have debated this question with the never-ending vigor usually reserved for issues in the House and Senate. Should restaurant accept reservations? Should they accept some reservations? Should they be walk-in only? Should they have a call-ahead list? The list goes on. The real answer is by trial and error, each restaurant is unique and will find the “correct” reservation system over time, or they will have to shutter. That answer for Restaurant A will differ from Restaurant B. There are so many factors, from foot traffic to cuisine genre to size of restaurants that make it so there is no “correct” formula as much as we’d all love one.
It’s economics for the restaurants. It’s psychology, too. It’s sociology. It’s logic. It’s math. There might even be some astronomy thrown in too (nights with the full moon differ from nights with a quarter crescent…).
This constantly simmering question recently hit a boiling point when the (terrific might I add) Los Angeles restaurant Red Medicine started tweeting the names of no-shows on its Twitter feed. That’s right. A restaurant started going so far as to actually revealing the names of the diners who never showed up for their dinner reservations. The idea mainly is: “So, Frank Anderson and your party of 4 at 7:30 last night, what were you doing while we were losing money?” How do you feel now Frank?Continue reading “Plat du Jour Friday April 5, 2013: Would You Like To Make A Reservation For Your Reservation?”
Tasting Notes: Drakes Brewing, San Leandro, CA
Despite living in the San Francisco Bay Area nearly all my life, I had never been to the town of San Leandro before this recent craft beer tasting excursion. I had heard of San Leandro. It was always one of the exits along Highway 880 when I would be en route to or from an Oakland A’s game, or dining in Berkeley or Oakland. San Leandro was always somewhere…around here-ish. At least that’s what a sign on the highway said.
Delving deeper into San Leandro, there isn’t really a “Downtown,” but more the classic commercial stretches here and there, with a mega mall next to the highway. There, as you weave your way around shoppers through the parking lot, then behind the Wal Mart and Sports Authority, you’ll find one of Northern California’s most important and oldest craft breweries. You will get lost at least twice trying to find it. Google Maps is worthless in the final three directions.
Here in the heart of San Leandro resides Drakes Brewery and its Barrel House tap room, now an essential stop on a beer tour of the Bay Area. While Sonoma County might get the headlines from Russian River, Bear Republic, Lagunitas, and co., and San Francisco’s beer history ranges over a century from the classic Anchor to today’s Speakeasy, Magnolia, and numerous nano-breweries.
Roger Lind started the Lind Brewing Company in 1989 at this former construction equipment manufacturing powerhouse in San Leandro. Over time, the name “Drakes” replaced “Lind,” and Lind’s beers soon took on a name motif of buccaneers and pirates (“Jolly Roger” and “Sir Francis Stout” for example). In 1998, Lind pursued a teaching credential and sold his beloved brewery to the Rogers family who operated a next door coffee roasting company. Then in 2008, the Rogers handed the reins over to John Martin and Roy Kirkorian of the Triple Rock- Jupiter Brewery in Berkeley.
By comparison, the 23 year old Drakes is much older than the 16 year old Russian River Brewing Co. Of course, Anchor takes the prize as the veteran of the Bay Area brewing scene, crafting steam beer since 1896.
Today, Drakes is a cult favorite of fervent craft beer drinkers nationwide. Though its regular lineup receives no shortage of attention and accolades, it’s the barrel aged specials, the unique sours, and the IBU maximum defying strong IPAs that have made Drakes such a highly sought after label these days. If a recent visit to the Barrel House on a recent, classic California 60 degree and sunny winter day proves anything about how Drakes is doing right now, business must be as strong as that barrel aged stout. A good time was being had by all, whether two legged imbibers or four legged sunbathers. Continue reading “Tasting Notes: Drakes Brewing, San Leandro, CA”
Joyeux Poisson d’Avril!
Oh, it’s April 2nd. April Fools?
You must forgive Trev’s Bistro for being a day late to the table because your’s truly was in transit and spent much of the day in a lovely airport and airplane(s).
Do we in the United States have any annual April Fools dining traditions? I often spend it making a certain chocolate cake for a certain somebody’s birthday that happens to be on the same day. That’s not an April Fools joke. Just good timing.
When I lived in Paris a few years ago, I remember the importance of fish with the day. No, not a certain John Dory filet with beurre blanc or saumon fumé that every family served for the occasion. April Fools Day is called “Poisson d’Avril” in France, also known as “The Fish of April.” Young students and flirtatious couples across France slap paper fish onto the backs of people and shout, “Poisson d’Avril.”
Go fish.
How fish became such a fixture on April Fools Day in France I have no idea. It’s a fun, whimsical way to celebrate the silliest of holidays, a skill not often associated with French culture.
When spending the holiday in Paris with lots of fish taped to my back, I researched potential traditional April 1st recipes in the countries and found nothing. It’s a special day for the kids, not the cooks. Besides, everyone was freezing as in early spring in France, so a boeuf bourguignon sounded much more tempting than tuna Provençal style.
Yet, I found this quirky sweet and savory cookie that perfectly fits the holiday. Sardines and brown sugar in a shortbread- like cookie dough, then a layer of frosting, and cut into fish shapes. I can’t vouch for the taste. If you love sardines and cookies like myself, how can it not be great? Pourquoi pas?
That’s no April Fools joke, either.
Trev's Bistro 