Airport food - Chicago & New Orleans

I don't travel as often as I used to, but it is often interesting the types of food you can get en route.  Of course there are the ubiquitous Rotten Ronnie's, BKs, and Tim Hortons, but it's the local food I look for.  I've seen jamon sandwiches and rum drink boxes (Cuba), awesome burritos (at Andale in San Fran), Korean BBQ (sadly, gone from the local terminal at Honolulu International Airport), ramen (Tokyo), etc.  I love that feeling of being able to squeeze one last meal into a trip!

I rtecently passed through O'Hare in Chicago.  I checked out a tapas place that the stewardess had mentioned, but passed on the drab menu.  I ended up, sadly, at Wolfgang Puck's Express - which was interesting years ago when it first opened but now seems a tired.  After eating a rather dull sandwich, I came across this sight. 

OMG!  Tortas?!?!?! by Rick Bayless!?!?  I've been a fan of his PBS series and cookbooks as a champion of authentic Mexican cuisine.  Frontera just opened in February 2011 and has already been named one of Frommer's top 10 airport restaurants in the US.  The menu for Frontera was mouthwatering, and high point for his ingredients sourcing.

 

With a heavy heart, and full stomach - I read the menu... then decided I had to eat SOMEthing.  I knew I wasn't flying back through ORD... so I had the tortilla soup...

Pretty challenging flavours - earthy, oily, intense chili flavours.  Next time, a torta....

On our way back from an epic trip to New Orleans, we ended up in the Louis Armstrong International Airport (MSY) and found the Creole Carvery.  Great staff and even greater menu.


A little lagniappe (a little bonus, New Orleans style): a fun website of airline food! http://www.airlinemeals.net/ 

Cochon in New Orleans!

                                        

One of our favorite meals on our trip to New Orleans - Cochon, Donald Link's restaurant celebrating cajun food.  Great energy, packed to the gills with locals and tourists like most restaurants we visited here.  As we entered, we met some friends who warned us we were in for quite a meal...

Mmmmm....  soft, sweet rolls - brought back childhood memories of the '70s for some reason...

 The 4 of us shared three appies - the wood-fired oyster roast (served on a bed of rock salt), crawfish pie with a corn salsa, and the fried alligator with chili garlic aioli.  The alligator was particularly delicious - the garlic and spices melded into a salty-savoury-flavour hit...

 Stephen had the grilled redfish "fisherman style", and declared it "the best fish I've ever eaten".  We all had a taste - perfectly cooked, oozing with flavour...  Here's the recipe - so easy, and you will be speechless when you take your first bite.  

Donald had the rabbit stew with dumplings.

 

                                         

Alison and I had the restaurant's signature dish, Louisiana Cochon. Smoky pulled pork formed into a patty, breaded, fried, served with a lovely jus on top of a bed of turnip and cabbage.  Oh, and of course, with a couple of crispy, salty cracklins on top.  Oooooooh baby.......

                                    

We had to have desserts - shared the Black Bottomed Brown Butter Banana Cream Pie and the Upside-down Pineapple Cake with Coconut Lime Sherbet (another '70s throwback). 

All in all a fabulous meal - we rolled out of there happy and full, trying to burn off a few calories walking home down quiet streets in the warm spring air.

C5 - Dining in the Royal Ontario Museum

 The Royal Ontario Museum, Canada's largest world culture and natural history museum, was built in 1912. Walking down Bloor street, it is impossible to miss the "Crystal" growing out of the front of the ROM - addition designed by Daniel Libeskind in 2007. 

On the 5th floor, the elevator opens to C5, a sleek bright restaurant run by executive chef Ted Corrado.  We went for Sunday brunch, and started with mimosas as we checked out the great views of Toronto.

The menu is drool worthy - hard to decide... so why don't we make it easy and try a bunch of these dishes?



Basket of patisseries and the charcuterie plate



Deconstructed huevos rancheros - fried eggs with Brezain cheese, a salty chunk of pork belly, chicharrons (pork rinds), black bean taco, a strip of guacamole, and two salsas.

Lobster english muffin: a lobster omelette with pea meal bacon, emmenthal and gruyere cheeses, with cucumber and celery slaw

Cumbrae's fried chicken, Beemster biscuit, perfectly poached egg and kohlrabi slaw

And don't forget the Bacon Menu!  Mmmmmm... bacon...

Wonderful meal, eye-rollingly tasty, great company, fantastic wrap up to a quick trip to Toronto!

Thanks Myrna for a wonderful brunch and visit!

Enlightenment & noodles....

I haven't been to Toronto in 10 years - what made me go?  Well, the Dalai Lama doesn't stop by every day, so we went to visit him (along with over 17,000 other of his close friends) at the Rogers Centre - a wonderful afternoon chat.

Yes, the CN Tower is still there, but we found some other interesting places to visit.

But what I was really in search of was a real bowl of Japanese ramen - those lovely chewy noodles so poorly represented by Cup-Noodle and the plethora of fried/dried/compressed instant noodles you can find in any grocery store now...

Chowhounds led us to Kenzo Ramen, on Dundas Street West, tucked away along a nondescript streetscape, but with a red ramen sign (in Japanese of course!) luring us in...

Great menu - drool inducing photos - I was ready...

We ordered the King of the Kings ramen, which was spicier than I thought - with 5 toppings (wakame (seaweed), soft boiled egg, fish roll, green onions, and pork).

As it was getting really chilly, and we were coming down from our Dalai Lama high, AND I was starving - the warm spicy broth and chewy noodles filled me with joy - slurp slurp!

Donald ordered yakisoba - stir fried noodles and veggies in a sweet/savoury sauce - House-of Parliament-ish.  I think they use tonkatsu sauce...

He also insisted we try the Tako yaki - or octopus balls!  A chunk of octopus cooked into a pancake globe, topped with more tonkatsu sauce and bonito flakes...  I've never been much of a fan, and this is always better eaten from a street stall in Japan on a chilly day - but it did bring back memories!  Note the nice disposable wooden boat it is served in.

Great atmosphere - always a good sign when an Asian restaurant actually has asian clientele!

Overall, we really enjoyed our meal, with a beer - warmed us to the core, and brought us to a more contented state - enlightenment NOW!  

Farm to Table @ Savana Cafe

On a chilly November 1st evening, Savana Cafe hosted their first Farm to Table meal with local produce provided by Mariposa Farm and wines from Prince Edward County's Rosehall Run.

Tucked away in a Victorian home on Gilmour, we entered the Carribean-inspired restaurant to experience a very different meal prepared by Savana's chef of 1.5 years, Michael Radford, former sous chef at Ei8hteen.  We started the evening off with a fruity rum cocktail as the restaurant filled - a sell out.

First course:  Butternut squash soup with an  Allegreto cheese foam, served like a cappacino, dusted with a pepita cocoa nib sambal on top.  Amazingly complex flavours - and we were rewarded by the surprise of chunks of duck crackling with each spoon...  very hard not to lick the bowl clean!

The soup was paired with this oaky 2008 Chardonnay cuvee county that beautifully matched the intense flavours.  Donald gave this one 5 stars...

 

 Second course:  Scallop crudo nestled on a strip of laquered pork belly, with radish watermelon and tomatillo chunks.  Wow!  The scallops delicately firmed up by the lime marinade - with the salty pork to balance the acid.  And what's that on top?  Yes, foie gras snow....

 This was paired with a chardonnay musque - not an oak tree in sight - almost sauvignon-blanc-like - fresh and fruity. Donald's rating = 4


 Third course: Beef shortrib ravioli, with beets, bleu Benedictin cheese, beet veal jus, truffle oil and chives.  Unbelievable flavour, from the salty beefy ravioli to the tiny purple skinned turnip on top - loved the veggies in that beet jus...  This was paired with Rosehall Run's Cabernet Franc = Donald's least favourite = 3.

 Fourth course: On to the main (!!?!?!) course - duck 4-ways!  Sherry glazed duck breast, foie gras du canard, duck confit bathed in a salty delicious duck sauce.  The foie gras was served on a slice of heirloom corn bread, with greens, blue potatoes, fried plantain and apple balancing out the plate.

 A lovely pairing of Rosehall's 2008 Pinot Noir - we were all very very happy with this dish. And the wine : 4.

Fifth/dessert course: Any room left?  Dessert was a candied ginger cake, topped with sweetened creme fraiche, with malted milk ice cream, apple compote and pumpkin pudding.  Lots of tropical spice flavours here.

Rosehall Run's Dan Sullivan and Mariposa Farm's Ian Walker.  Spent lots of time with us talking wine and food in Ottawa.

 Ian and chef Michael Radford - looking forward to trying more of his creations.

Here we are before it all happened... we hope this is the first of more evenings like this!

Restaurants in Ottawa's Byward Market

I often get asked for restaurant recommendations for the Byward Market in Ottawa. It's a very special part of Ottawa, and perhaps that's its downfall - as in many touristy areas, there are always loads of mediocre restaurants that live off the tourists that only come to Ottawa once in their lifetime...

The list was made for a meeting, so the choices are quite varied, but we avoided smaller places that were on the outskirts of the market (see some additions at the bottom). These lists are in no particular order.

Decent affordable restaurants :

• Haveli’s: indian $$
• Khao Thai: $$
• Vittoria Trattoria: italian $$$
• Metropolitan: french $$ - $$$
• Milestones: roadhouse $$
• Lapointe’s Seafood $$

Good but expensive ($$$ - $$$$):

• Murray St Bistro: homemade charcuterie a speciality - won a spot on the 2009 best new restaurant list in En Route magazine
• Navarra: spanish nouvelle cuisine
• Domus Café: high end canadian regional cuisine
• Sweet Grass Aboriginal Bistro
• Play Food & Wine: Beckta's resto in the market, but can be inconsistent
• Kinki: fusion sushi

Small venues:

• La Botegga: my all time fav - lunch counter is a hidden gem
• Ahora: mexican fast food
• Benny’s Bistro: cute little bistro with consistently interesting dishes - great brunch

My favs are underlined. Two favorites that are missing are:

• Casa do Churrasco: portuguese food - very home-y, with parking!
• Chez Lucien: A great little pub - great value, but difficult to get into.