Portland, Maine

I am just back from my not-long-enough trip to Maine. Of course, food was a central part of my trip. I started out by planning my itinerary and looking for recommended restaurants in my trusty Fodor's Maine Coast travel guide. One thing I have to say about Fodors is that by and large, the restaurants that get the best reviews are usually the expensive ones. So for all of you traveling food lovers out there, it pays to look at blogs or ask locals for recommendations. Our flight was delayed several hours (boo!), so we didn't arrive in Portland until about 10. I did a quick search for late-night dining in Portland, and saw that Vignola, located in the Old Port, was open until midnight. The only reason we went there was because we were in a pinch, but I'm glad we went! I love restaurants like Vignola, which specialized in cheese and charcuterie. Sadly, both unpasteurized cheese and charcuterie are off limits for me right now, so I had to pick two pasteurized cheeses, one of which was a Cabot clothbound. It wasn't that special (almost like a standard cheddar). However, the other cheese, whose name now escapes me was great. The menu had a choice of several different accompaniments for the cheese. We chose fig bread and truffle honey, which was nice and raw with a detectable truffle flavor. The cheese came with greens topped with what appeared to be stewed cinnamon apples. I thought at first blush that the apples were weird, but they ended up being fabulous! We also ordered a simple pasta dish with red meat sauce, which had a great texture -- not watery, and was flavorful because of the ample amount of meat. We stayed at the Inn at St. John, which for the most part only offered pre-packaged food for breakfast. We forewent the free breakfast and went to the Porthole for breakfast, which got really good reviews. I was sorely disappointed. Don't order the creme brulee french toast. It's sour tasting and boring and can only be saved by a generous portion of syrup. The other standard breakfast items were blah, and the balls of sausage were dry and tough. The decaf was watery and weak. The standouts, though, were the whole wheat toast, which tasted homemade, and the fact that breakfast was served outside by the water. Before leaving town, we went to the Standard Baking Company, because of all of the hype. I am happy to report that it lived up to the hype. We bought molasses cookies, a brownie, and a brioche roll. All were excellent, and kept exceptionally well. The molasses cookies were nice and chewy with a perfect balance of molasses and spices and a thoughtful dusting of granulated sugar. They were just as chewy and moist almost a week later, even though I had been carrying them in my purse in a plastic sleeve closed with a twisty ties. The brioche roll had nice pieces of big, opaque sugar on top and a light texture and buttery flavor, and the brownie, was well, your good standard brownie. I'm glad we stopped here to get our road snacks!

New in the Hood: Changes in the Crofton Asian Food Landscape

So, Kwong's Hunan in Crofton Center unfortunately changed ownership and is now "Fusia." As you can probably guess from its name, Fusia is a pan-Asian restaurant. Generally, I'm not into pan-Asian restaurants because they lack authenticity. It's all about breadth instead of depth, and the food is usually ok, but nothing special. Sadly, Fusia is no different. Wasn't impressed and was depressed that my favorite Chinese restaurant has been taken over by the misguided fusion craze. Of note, there is a new Vietnamese restaurant in the Gambrills/Crofton area -- VN Noodle House, located at 2299 Johns Hopkins Road in Gambrills. Much better than Saigon Noodle House. We ordered spring rolls, fresh rolls, pho, and beef clay pot rice. The pho can actually compete with the pho from Viet-Thai Paradise in Annapolis, which has amazing broth; I still say that the spring rolls are better at Viet-Thai, though. My only beef with VN Noodle was the beef in the clay pot beef. It just tasted a little bit off -- like the beef wasn't high quality or something. It might have just been a little off that night, though. I'd definitely go back, and would love not having to go to Annapolis to get decent Vietnamese food. I'll keep you posted!

Fried Rice

I have been fighting a battle with fried rice for at least 10 years. I have tried numerous recipes and messed with numerous ingredients but have never been able to achieve the flavor of fried rice that is served up in Chinese restaurants. I think that I am finally coming close! I know that the big secret is having a super-hot wok, but I have a crappy electric range. This time, I preheated the wok and then added oil to the hot wok and let it heat up for awhile. The rice didn't stick and the flavor was almost right. The only thing missing was that the rice was a little too fresh and clumped.

A Shout-out to San Diego:

I recently went to San Diego, so thought I would share my stand-out eating experiences: Burned into my memory was Swadee Thai, in Coronado. So often, I have gone to restaurants where extra spicy disappointingly turns out to be mildly spicy. I want my food to make me cry, and Swadee Thai did that. The servers ask about the level of spice you prefer on a scale of 1 to 10. Based on my past experience, I requested a 10, but was warned off of it. And I am glad that I was. We ordered a papaya salad, which was an 8 and it had some real fire that required me to take a break while eating and made me gulp a lot of water. For my entree, I ordered a whole fried fish with fabulous chili sauce. A definite winner. I also visited the Mission for breakfast. It had a nice vibe, delicious, freshly squeezed orange juice, and a decaf capuccino that was so good that it made me wonder whether it was decaf at all. Finally, I wish I could have spent more time in Kearny Mesa. We found our way out there because we were trolling for a late night meal, and consulted an awesome late night dining guide, available here. There was a ramen shop open until 2 am, so we went. We jumped at the chance because of the dearth of noodle houses in the DC area. Surrounding the noodle shop, we noticed a lot of other promising looking Asian restaurants, including a tea house that I'd like to hit up if I'm ever back in the area.

Weary O'Leary's

My husband and I were cheese-olicious this Valentine's Day and decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner out. We went to O'Leary's Seafood Restaurant in Annapolis (Eastport). I can't say that this was an inspired pick. It had V-Day reservations available the evening before the big day, and didn't have an outrageously expensive "special" Valentine's Day menu. I have no idea why restaurants think that people think that it is romantic to pay more money for less menu selection, but whatever. In keeping with the winter Olympic season, I would have to say that O'Leary's would not win a medal for best restaurant; if it were competing in a discipline where it would have to qualify to make the finals, it would be one of the bottom qualifying competitors, if it qualified at all. It simply made too many mistakes. I could have overlooked the fact that we had to wait at least 10 minutes to be seated despite having a reservation if the rest of the dining experience had turned out well. It wasn't terrible; it just wasn't good. It started out well, but like many athletes, couldn't sustain, and got tired toward the end of the meal. I liked the fresh lemonade, and the black bean soup with crab had a really nice flavor without being too heavy like some black bean soups can be. It needed a trifle more salt, though. My husband ordered the crab and lobster cake, which had a nice fresh flavor that let the crab and lobster meat stand out. On one hand, the server gets props for noticing (even though we didn't) that the cake was a lot smaller than it should have been; on the other hand, she said that she would bring a basket of bread, which never came. Main courses were disappointing. They took a long time to arrive after the appetizers. I ordered mahi-mahi, served with a Thai bbq glaze, rice, a pineapple salsa, and three jumbo cornmeal battered shrimp. The highlight of the entree were the shrimp, which weren't really anything to write home about. The fish, while fresh, was bland, and not even the salsa and the glaze could save it. The rice was inappropriate. It should have been stickier and of a finer grain to match the rest of the entree theme. It also tasted like the rice in rice pilaf that you would get at, say, Denny's. My husband said that the tuna was good, but that the soy-based sauce was too salty. His fish also came with shrimp, which appeared to be tempura battered. They were really good -- better than the cornmeal battered shrimp. O'Leary's dessert menu is uninsipred. Bread pudding, creme brulee, cheesecake, carrot cake, mousse, and coconut cake. Sometimes I wonder if there is a secret restaurant code of conduct that requires that there be creme brulee and cheesecake on every menu. It just gets old after awhile. I picked the coconut cake because the menu said that it came with blackberries, which I love. I was looking forward to the blackberry-coconut combo. Sadly, the cake came sans blackberries, and while good, was again, nothing special -- your standard coconut cake. Would I go back? No, but it's not a terrible place and has a nice atmosphere, so don't be dissuaded from checking it out. I think that our dining experience suffered somewhat from the fact that the restaurant was overwhelmed on Valentine's Day, and because we had a reservation on the later side. But, any gold medal restaurant would be at its best for any time that it accepted reservations.

Present

Present is such a fitting name for the Vietnamese restaurant in Falls Church, Virginia, that we went to on Saturday evening. The food was a present to my mouth, and it paid for us to be present at the restaurant when we were. Let me explain. We were meeting up with friends who recently moved to Fairfax for dinner. We had tried to get reservations at several restaurants, but ended up not being able to, since we didn't try to settle on a place to eat until 6 on Saturday. Not a good idea. I had heard about Present through the Washingtonian's list of the areas top restaurants, and thought we should give it a try. Just so you know, you definitely need a reservation here. However, we arrived at about 6:45, and there were a few big tables in the back being held for an 8 pm reservation. We were told that we could be seated at one of the tables if we could be done by 8. By virtue of being present at the right time, we were seated without a wait on a Saturday night. This is perhaps one of the best Vietnamese restaurants I have tried. And yes, I have been to Four Sisters. The menu seemed a lot more varied and creative, and I was much more impressed with the food, even though Four Sisters was good. For appetizers, we ordered the Green Parasdise spring roll, a cold roll with shrimp and vermicelli and pork in rice paper, which is actually called a summer roll at other restaurants. I feel like these are generally all created more or less equal. We also ordered the Silken Shawl Imperial Autumn Roll. FYI - you can order half orders of these puppies. It was a fried roll wrapped in a lacy rice noodle paper, which comes with lettuce to wrap it in. I wonder if the lettuce or the lacy rice paper is the "shawl." I loved the idea of wrapping the roll in lettuce; it was something different than what's offered at other restaurants, and it was a nice contrast to the crispy roll. It may be one of the best fried rolls I've had at a Vietnamese restaurant. The main courses were excellent as well, and truly memorable. I ordered the No. 61, aka the Open Field in the Sunset, which the menu describes as a sweet and sour soup with pineapple and green vegetables. It can be ordered with either fish or shrimp. The server recommended the fish, so I went with that. The soup was awesome. I wish that I could do it justice with words, but I can't. It came with two decent size non-fishy white fish fillets and was chock full of veggies. The broth was sublime. The only other dish I tried was the spicy beef soup, which my husband ordered. It had a nice kick, and the noodles were thick and round; they looked like thick white spaghetti noodles; not the thinner vermicelli. I can't wait to go back. I am dying to try the whole fried fish, but need to go with someone who is into the whole fish thing. Just a few parting random parting thoughts. If you're looking for traditional pho, don't go here because they don't have it. They have a lot of other great soups, but no pho. Also, the prices are imminently reasonable; presentation is beautiful, and they're nice to kids there.

Different Uses for Kitchen Gadgets

Although I love to cook, I can't say that I'm a big kitchen gadget person. I like nice kitchen stuff, but get annoyed at kitchen tools that have just one use. Kitchen gadgets should have to earn the space they take up. I feel like it's a waste of space to buy say, a strawberry huller, when it's just as easy to use a knife and is only used for strawberries. Recently, I learned of new ways to use the melon baller and the vegetable peeler, which in my mind, already earn their keep in the kitchen. There are lots of different types of melons to be balled and lots of different types of vegetables to be peeled! I made an apple pie the other day, and used the melon baller to core the apples. I found that idea somewhere on the Food Network website. It worked really well, and left more of the apple intact than doing it the old-fashioned way. I learned from my sister-in-law that the vegetable peeler is a great way to shave cheese. I hope these tips help!

HomeGoods? Home Great!

I was in the market for enameled cast iron cookware. I went to Williams-Sonoma and looked at Le Creuset, but just couldn't spring for it so close to Christmas. I decided to go to the Waugh Chapel HomeGoods to check out what it had since I had seen enameled cookware there before. It had a good selection -- several different brands, including Le Creuset at discounted prices; the Le Creuset cookware were "seconds," which to me, meant that there may have been something substandard about it. I decided not to get it since it was still three times more expensive than the Oster pot that I bought. But the real highlight was the cooking oil! I really like walnut oil. It's great for salad dressing. I bought a 33 oz. bottle by La Tourangelle (the same brand sold in Williams-Sonoma and grocery stores) for $9.99, which is a steal since a bottle half the size costs about the same if not more in some grocery and specialty stores. I also found some Mexican vanilla, which was pretty reasonably priced, and saw a big selection of balsamic vinegars. From now on, I'm going to get that sort of thing at HomeGoods and save myself a few bucks.

Hell Point Seafood: Not hell, but not heaven either

I went to Hell Point Seafood downtown Annapolis for dinner the other day. It occupies the space down by the Harbor where Phillip's used to be. I had been dying to go, because it is owned by Bob Kinkead, of Kinkead's in DC, but the food is supposedly one-third the price. It's about one-third as good, too. Don't get me wrong. I'm not being too critical; Kinkead's is pretty good. I actually have a quasi-mathematical justification for the one-third figure. I had three courses, so one might think that only one of three were good. However, one would be wrong. The soup and dessert were both good, but the main course was eh. I think that the main course should be weighted more heavily especially at a restaurant that specializes in seafood, so it should count for two-thirds. The highlight of dinner was the tomatillo soup. It had nice large chunks of tuna in it and a really nice spice, which was surprising. I don't remember the soup being described on the menu as spicy, but it was; not truly spicy, but spicy in comparison to what passes for spicy at most restaurants. The runner-up course was dessert, an apple tart tatin. It was good, but not the most imaginative thing in the world; certainly no tastier than a good homemade apple pie. I had flounder for my main course. The crabcakes were over $30, so I didn't want to spring for them. I didn't get tuna; although I like it a lot, it's so commonplace, and like scallops, it's one of those things that's usually good as long as its fresh. The flounder was disappointing. It was encrusted in cornmeal, I think (can't remember). It wasn't particularly flavorful or moist without the sauce (which I'm having trouble remembering now). Everyone else seemed pleased with their entrees (tuna and scallops), but I was expecting better given the Hell Point's relationship to Kinkead's, especially because seafood restaurants in Annapolis need to bring their "A" game, since Annapolis is a coastal town. Lest I forget that part of this blog is about coffee, I will note in parting that the coffee was almost bad. It was extremely strong, which I like, but tasted like it had been burnt or sitting for awhile. I probably won't go back because the food didn't impress me enough to justify the expense.

DC Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show

How much you would appreciate the DC Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show depends in part on your eating habits. If you like using mixes or pre-made foods rather than toiling from scratch, you would love the show. It was replete with vendors selling all sorts of pre-packaged products, like pasta and barbeque sauces, pesto, and appetizer dips to name a few. That was the disappointing part of the show for me. I don't like using processed foods, especially those not commonly available in grocery stores, which comprised many of the products at the show. I have a fear that I may find something I really like, but then run out and not be able to find it again.

The highlight of the show was the knife skills class. It wasn't just a demonstration. The class provided cutting boards, knives, and vegetables to cut. I was shocked that the cooking show provided 25 unscreened people with honed chef's knives. It all ended well. No knife-wielding maniacs. I learned that I had been using my knives all wrong and have gotten a lot faster at chopping! Still not as good as my in-laws who frighten me with the speed and sharpness of their knives. The lowlight of the show was Paula Deen. For an extra fee, attendees could go to a demonstration by a celebrity chef. The seating was horrible and only a select few had a good up-close view of Paula. Also, her demonstration was like a big advertisement for Smithfield pork products, chefs that she promotes on the Food Network, and her products, like her new seafood dip. She barely did any cooking and didn't use hardly any butter, which was my reason for going to the show because her "butter is the answer to everything" approach cracks me up. I'm glad that I got discount tickets through Groupon and only paid a total of $25 for the show and the demo.

Original Pancake House

After running the Army 10-miler, I treated myself to brunch at the Original Pancake House in Falls Church, Virginia. It's a chain that I'd return to. It has locations spread across the country. It wasn't out-of-this world, but there are so many creative pancake varieties on the menu, that I want to go back and try them. Most importantly, it has really decent coffee. Courtesy of my friends sharing, I tried three different types of pancakes. Gingerbread, pumpkin, and wheat germ with pecan. My friends preferred the wheat germ pancakes, which were packed with pecans. I thought that they were fine, but liked the gingerbread ones the most even if they were a bit tricky. How can a pancake be tricky, you ask? Well, I thought that a gingerbread pancake would be dark and molasses-y, but these pancakes were more just ginger-flavored pancakes. Really tasty, but not like any gingerbread I've ever had. The pumpkin pancakes were "fine." Other observations. The bacon is nice and thick and crispy, but the eggs were a bit weird. I ordered them fried over hard and they came in this unnatural looking omelet form; they reminded me of Waffle House eggs. Don't get me wrong; Waffle House has a special place in my heart, but there's something about the cooking spray it uses that makes the eggs taste a little off. I want to try the apple pancakes and the Dutch Baby pancakes and the crepes!