Ledo Pizza

Ledo's Pizza (http://www.ledopizza.com), a chain restaurant, is good if you like sweet tomato sauce. It's pizza and spaghetti sauce is sweeter than other places I've tried. The pizza crust is thin and crunchy and the pizza comes out in squares. Don't order the garlic bread. It's a bit soggy and blah. The stromboli is ok, but it's made from the same crust as the pizza. I think that stromboli should have nice thick crust. It just doesn't work.

Sleepless in Seattle: Day 1

I went to dinner at Le Pichet (http://www.lepichetseattle.com). It was recommended by a foodie friend whose wine importer neighbors recommended it to her. Excellent and intimate, yet casual French bistro!!!!! The wine is cutely served in stone pitchers. I had an amazing salade au fromage (melted cheese on bread over greens and apples) and mussels with fries that came in an amazing curry cider sauce. My dining companions had the quail and black cod, both accompanied by amazing sauces. The cod was beautifully crispy on the outside. It was to die for, and it's no surprise that the place was packed when I walked by it on Friday night.

Sleepless In Seattle

Yeah. I wish I were. I just returned from Seattle from a conference. There's so much good food there that I wish that I could have used my sleeping time to eat. I'll detail in my next few short posts where I went. Seattle was one of the best food experiences I have ever had! I loved it because the restaurants (at least the ones that I went to) served high quality food but in a relaxed and casual setting. It was a nice contrast to the more corporate dining atmosphere in D.C. Oh, and I never had a bad cup of coffee when I was there. That's saying something.

Luna Blu makes me blue

So, if you haven't noticed, my reviews tend toward the melodramatic. I like to think that this is because I feel passionately about food. I went to Luna Blu in Annapolis (http://www.lunabluofannapolis.com) to celebrate a friend's birthday. The food actually did make me blue :( I don't think that I will give Luna Blu a second try. While it's not upscale fine dining, entrees go as high as the mid-twenties, and I really don't care to risk the money on going back to a place where the food was substandard. Things started off well, but then got progressively worse and worse. The bread, which I think was a ciabatta, was served warm with an oil/herb mixture, and was excellent. Sadly, it was the highlight of my meal. We ordered the four-course dinner special, which included an appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert. For appetizers, we ordered a baked brie and the eggplant napoleon. The baked brie was ok ('ve made better baked brie at home), and was garnished with mushy marinated strawberries. The napoleon was tasty and featured large slices of tomato, fresh mozzarella and grilled eggplant with a nice vinaigrette. We upgraded from the house salad, which sounded rather boring (standard greens in Italian dressing) to the Caesar. Sadly, it could have come from a bag. The romaine leaves were starting to brown, and the dressing tasted exactly like the bag dressing. Instead of nice shaved parmesan or romano, it was topped with dry grated parmesan (like in the bag). The croutons were stale. The main courses were the saddest of all. I ordered the rockfish, which came with pasta topped with crab meat. The crab/pasta was fine, but the rockfish was atrocious. I have never had worse rockfish. It was completely flavorless and ugly to look at. This is unexcusable for a restaurant in downtown Annapolis. Annapolis restaurants should be able to do rockfish! I ate barely any of my entree. My friend ordered the shrimp and asparagus risotto. While the shrimp was fresh and flavorful, the risotto, like the rockfish, was bland and flavorless. Desserts were so-so. I ordered an apple strudel that came in puff pastry. It tasted fine, but wasn't any better than a pepperidge farm oven strudel. All in all, one of my worst dining experiences in Annapolis.

Ice Cream Cake!!!!!

This is the inaugural picture for my blog! So, I usually don't write much about my own cooking, but I think that it's fun to mix things up occasionally. It was Eugene's birthday, so I made him his dream cake -- an ice cream cake with 3 layers of devil's food cake and chocolate mint chocolate ice cream. That's right, not mint chocolate chip ice cream, but chocolate ice cream flavored with mint with chocolate chips. I made the cake layers and the ice cream and frosting from scratch. I love making cakes and oftentimes consider quitting my day job to become a pastry chef. I hate mint chocolate chip ice cream or any kind of chocoalte chip ice cream that has hard chips. To solve the hard chip problem, I made a sturdy chocolate ganache and mixed little scoops of it in with the ice cream. It worked like a charm. The chocolate "chips" were nice and soft without being so soft as to be a fudge swirl. I also mixed in some York peppermint patties for good measure.

I used the devil's food cake recipe on the cake flour box, which I like a lot. I substituted some extra light olive oil for part of the butter for optimal moistness, and used Dutch process chocolate instead of the regular cocoa because I like dark chocolate better (and so does Eugene).

Once, I tried to make an ice cream cake, which ended in disaster. Despite being cool, the cake layers melted the ice cream. This time, I froze the cake layers overnight (before sandwiching the ice cream in) and was able to avoid the melting problem.

The cake is frosted with a Cool Whip/chocolate pudding cocoa frosting, which had a great consistency for the "cloud" effect that I was going for. It almost reminds me of chocolate cake batter in flavor. Yummy! It's also surprisingly durable. It doesn't melt if it sits out too long, and it does beautifully in the freezer.

I topped it off with some crushed candy cane which added a perfect crunchy finish to the cake.

Proof: The Battle of Charcuterie

I went to lunch at Proof (http://www.proofdc.com/) where "food is the focus. wine is the passion." Unfortunately, I didn't get to partake in the passion because I went there during working hours. While some can handle drinking during the day, I'm not one of those people. I liked it. It offers cheese and charcuterie boards, which I love. I usually go to Sonoma (http://www.sonomadc.com/) on Capitol Hill (SE) for that sort of thing, but it's inconvenient from my office location. So, I was excited to find a restaurant that offered it that was closer by. The meat and cheese selection was good. We ordered speck (pork) and bresaola (beef), gruyere and pipe dreams (goat cheese). It was tasty and came with raw honey, apple puree, and wine-soaked raisins, all of which complemented the cheeses and meats well. I must say, though that I prefer the presentation at Sonoma. It comes out on a nice butcher block and is accompanied by a heartier amount of yummy grilled bread and more interesting accompaniments -- like red and white wine jellies, nuts, truffled baby peaches, and delicious mustard. I also like the atmosphere at Sonoma better. It's less corporate than Proof, although that's to be expected given its location. Enough about Sonoma... I chose the shrimp burger for my main course, and was not disappointed. It irks me when I go to a restaurant and order a chicken burger only to discover that it's not a burger at all, but a chicken breast on a roll. It was like a big burger-sized lump of shrimp toast (fried minced shrimp), which was pleasantly crispy on the outside. It was topped with jalapenos, cucumber, and cilantro -- remniscent of bahn mi, the Vietnamese sandwiches that I love so much. For dessert, I ordered the mini chocolate bundt cake. Not too adventurous, but nice nonetheless. I liked it because it was real cake. I hate ordering cake at shi-shi restaurants and getting a piece of cold, flourless crap. It was a real cake and was served warm with ice cream. Parting notes: (1) I liked the "bread" basket. The bread wasn't bread. It was more like long, crispy crackers served with a refreshing yogurt dip, which is probably a lot healthier than butter; and (2) The coffee was decent. French press and typical for an upscale restaurant. The verdict? I would go back for lunch during the workweek, but probably wouldn't go out of my way to go back for dinner. Sonoma on the other hand....

Woodberry Kitchen

Our friends came into town from NY a few weeks ago for the Marine Corps Marathon. Since we were picking them up at BWI, we decided to head into Baltimore for dinner, since we rarely ever venture out there. I picked Woodberry Kitchen (http://www.woodberrykitchen.com/), which is located in the Druid Hill area. The atmosphere was great. The two-level restaurant is housed in an old foundry space. The second level is open and overlooks the first, so the ceilings are high. The ambience are warm and woody in a hip way with a wall of windows and walls of brick accented by stacked logs and wine bottles. It reminded me of a toasty restaurant at a luxury ski resort. The menu, which has a wine bar aura, centers around organic and local meat and produce and is extensive. We had decided what we wanted only to later discover that we had overlooked an entire menu of specials. The menu is fun with a selection of appetizers and snacks, for as cheap as $1 (popcorn). There's just something special about being able to get anything at a restaurant that is not McDonald's for $1. We finally settled on the pear flatbread, which featured pears, of course, and blue cheese. While highly recommended, it was a bit oily and soggy for my liking and the pears seemed to be drowned out by the other flavors. The bread itself, however, was excellent. I ordered the hanger steak, which tasted like it had been infused with cinnamon or other fall spices. It was delicious and cooked exactly to my liking. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the chicken, which was highly recommended by the server. It came to the table undercooked, and when I say undercooked, I don't mean slightly pink. It was raw -- translucent raw. The the server was apologetic and offered to bring out a soup while the dish was re-cooked, but our friend who ordered it was full from the appetizer and his yummy side of cheesey crusty spaghetti squash, so decided to pass. Disappointingly, the server had to be asked to remove the chicken from the check. We splurged and ordered coffee and a slice of the pumpkin roll cake. It was like a pumpkin jelly roll cake filled with cream. Very tasty. The coffee, relatively decent, was the French press variety. It was presented in a unique way. The presses came to the table with a miniature hourglass to tell us when to push the press. I'd go back if I lived closer, but wasn't that blown away that I would make a special trip out there to go again.

Wow!

Why the wow? Well, two reasons. First, I am super behind in my reviews. I have reviews in the works for Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore, Proof and Co Co. Sala in D.C., and Patsy's Pizzeria, Bubby's Pie Company, Andrew's Coffee Shop, Ollie's Noodle Shop, Red Mango, and Chat'n'Chew in NY. Second, wow, I eat out a lot. I seriously need to rein it in. Granted, though, all of the NY reviews are from our trip this weekend, and who cooks in on vacation (unless you rent a beach house with friends or something)? Another justification? Some of the other reviews are from a long time ago, although I still remember the high points. So, you can scratch the second "wow" reason and stay tuned for the reviews. I don't have the heart to start on them tonight....

P.F. Chang's Annapolis

Before I get to the food part, I would like to warn you that this location doesn't have real parking except for valet, which seems a bit weird for a P.F. Changs in the Annapolis suburbs. Since the rest of the new shopping center isn't open yet, I'm not sure if the parking situation is permanent or if a lot will open. If the restaurant isn't going to have a lot, that could create a problem because we parked further away and walked, and parking won't be anywhere near as available once everything else is open. Now for the food. There's a healthy debate about whether P.F. Chang's (http://www.pfchangs.com) is good food. I know people who scoff at it because it's not authentic Asian food. My take on it is that it's all about attitude. You don't go to Chipotle expecting authentic Mexican food, but it's still ok fast food. Likewise, if you wanted authetnic Asian food, you would go to an authentic Chinese (or whatever ethnicity) restaurant and not a pan-Asian national chain restaurant. Of course, P.F. Chang's isn't authentic Asian food. Once you get over that hurdle, you can appreciate the food, which belongs in the Americanized pan-Asian genre. For appetizers, we ordered the chicken lettuce wraps and the spring rolls. The lettuce of the lettuce wraps is iceberg lettuce, and the filling is minced and seasoned chicken mixed with mushrooms and other veggies. The lettuce wraps are good enough, but every time I've ordered them, they don't come with nearly enough lettuce. Even if you were to stuff the lettuce wraps as full of filling as possible, there would still be some left over. C'mon now restaurant management people! The spring rolls were too greasy and therefore mediocre. I ordered the spicy chicken, and my companions ordered the beef chow fun and the wok charred beef. The spicy chicken was fine and flavorful, but I can't say that I was impressed enough to order it again. The beef chow fun was good with nice pieces of charred beef. I didn't try the wok charred beef. For the sake of the blog, I ordered coffee with my meal and was pleasantly surprised. It's billed on the menu as organic French roast, had a nice flavor and strength, and was well brewed. My only complaint about it is that it wasn't hot. However, we went to the restaurant at about 10:30, so chances are, it had been sitting in a caraffe so as not to burn.