Gastronomy Blog by Cathy Chaplin

Restaurant Review

15 Jan 2007

Alma de Cuba – Philadelphia

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Photos by ChrisinPhilly and Independent Camera

January 10, 2007
Cuisine: Cuban

1623 Walnut Street, Philadelphia 19103
At S 16th Street

Phone: 215-988-1799
Website: www.almadecubarestaurant.com

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Appetizer I: Fire and Ice Ceviche – fluke with preserved lemon, sage, hot garlic oil and crispy lemon rings ($12)

Appetizer II: Royal Palm Dates – almond stuffed dates wrapped in bacon with cabrales bleu cheese ($12)

Entree I: Tempura Avocado Salad – crab and grilled asparagus with watercress tossed with preserved lemon vinaigrette ($14)

Entree II: Sancocho De Pollo – coconut chicken broth with poached chicken slices, yuca, carrots cilantro green peas and a touch of lime juice ($9)

Entree III: Vaca Frita “Fried Cow” – twice cooked crispy skirt steak with onions and cuban oregano with black beans, white rice and tomato escabeche ($21)

Entree IV: Cilantro Honey Mustard Glazed Salmon – served over a banana lentil salad with fresh horseradish cream ($23)

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My friends the Marathoner v.1 (James) and the Marathoner v.2 (Paul) are leaving for Buenos Aires next week and will be living there for four months. We sat down for some much needed face time over a meal at Alma de Cuba. Alex Elkins joined us as well.

Unfortunately, Paul and Alex weren’t hungry, which made the Marathoner and I feel a bit funny for ordering up a storm. But we got over that pretty quickly.

One of my favorite things about Alma de Cuba is their complimentary bread; it’s simply incredible. The bread’s texture is dense and tastes mildly sweet. The bread is served with an oil-based dipping sauce, but I find it most delicious eaten plain. My friends enjoyed the bread as well.

The Marathoner and I ordered two appetizers. I chose the Fire and Ice ceviche because I had it once prior with Liana and loved it. The Marathoner ordered the stuffed dates because the combination of ingredients piqued his interest. The ceviche did not disappoint, it was refreshing and delicate. The fluke was tender and the crispy lemon rings were intense. Mmm. The stuffed dates were awesome as well and served atop a piece of endive with chopped red onions and a light vinaigrette. The salty bacon wrapped around the sweet date along with the pungent bleu cheese created a divine collection of flavors. Delicious!

For our entrees, Paul ordered a salad, Alex got the soup, the Marathoner ordered the salmon, and I got the vaca frita. Paul liked his salad except for the tempura avocado, he said it tasted a bit too much like deep fried butter. Alex enjoyed his soup after he discovered that it wasn’t cream-based.

The Marathoner’s salmon had definite highs and lows . The fish was fresh, the lentils were tasty (and cute), and the banana brought about an unexpected and welcomed sweetness. Unfortunately, the mustard seeds atop the fish along with the horseradish sauce were too strong for our palettes and took away from the dish overall.

I ordered the vaca frita in order to compare it to the version I had in Little Havana this past summer. The presentation at Alma de Cuba was much more beautiful than the one in Little Havana and the meat was of higher quality. The meat was wonderfully crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, and very flavorful. The onions and tomato escabeche were a bit on the tart side, but the rice and beans were good. The sides at Alma were decent, but not as tasty as the ones in Little Havana. Fried sweet plantains should always accompany vaca frita.

Restaurant Review

15 Jan 2007

Trattoria Marcella – St. Louis

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January 5, 2007
Cuisine: Italian

3600 Watson
St. Louis, MO 63109

Phone: 314-352-7706
Website: http://www.trattoriamarcella.com/

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Appetizer I: Fresh baked bread served with hummus (complimentary)

Appetizer II: Home-Made Toasted Ravioli – Slow Braised Seasoned Beef filled Ravioli, made the old fashioned way, by hand, lightly breaded and toasted, served with Tomato Sauce ($8.99)

Entree: Grilled duck breast served with sauteed wild mushrooms and farro risotto with butternut squash ($17.50)

Contorni I: Freshly made whole wheat pasta with white sauce ($5.99)

Contorni II: Baby greens, candied pecans, goat cheese, and beets with a balsamic dressing ($7.50)

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Growing up in St. Louis, my love of pasta and Italian food in general had not yet fully developed, so I failed to take advantage of many of the city’s wonderful Italian restaurants. Upon returning to visit, I was therefore excited to try some of the best that St. Louis had to offer. The heart of the city’s Italian community lives in a neighborhood called The Hill, but we finally chose a restaurant called Trattoria Marcella located several blocks away. It was an excellent decision–the Gastronomer is a genius at finding good restaurant advice on the message boards. The food was subtly flavored and ridiculously delicious, comparable to meals we’ve had in Philadelphia for twice the price. We’re still trying to figure out how St. Louis restaurants manage to make such classy food so affordable. Alabama should take notes. Anyway, we enjoyed it thoroughly while we were there.

While we waited for our food at Trattoria Marcella, we snacked on fresh bread with hummus. I’m normally not a big fan of hummus, but Trattoria Marcella’s was spectacular. The Gastronomer and I quickly consumed all of our bread and asked for more.

As a child in St. Louis, my favorite food was toasted ravioli. Legend has it that this local delicacy was invented when a cook at a restaurant on The Hill accidentally dropped some normal beef ravioli into a pile of bread crumbs. Inspiration struck, and instead of discarding the sullied ravioli he decided to deep-fry it, thereby initiating one of the great breakthroughs in culinary history. Trattoria Marcella had homemade toasted ravioli on the menu as an appetizer, so of course we had to order some. They were larger and more delicately constructed than the standard store-bought variety, but I couldn’t decide for sure whether I liked them better. In any case, it was an ideal start to the meal.

Things only got better from there. The Gastronomer and I spent quite a while deciding what to order; we felt we ought to try one of the special homemade pasta offerings, but the Gastronomer was having difficulty finding the perfect dish. Fortunately, the pasta side dishes came to the rescue. Every restaurant should offer this menu option–I believe that a good meat dish could almost always be improved by the addition of pasta. We ordered the homemade whole wheat fettucine with white sauce. It was excellent; the pasta tasted quite wheaty (in a good way), and I always appreciate a creamy white sauce. To supplement the pasta, the Gastronomer ordered a salad with beets, pecans, and goat cheese, thus initiating a beet-eating streak that would continue for three consecutive days. I passed on the beets, as I disagree with her assessment that they are “pleasant.” However, I did find the candied pecans, greens, and goat cheese to be delicious.

For my entree, I chose the grilled duck breast served on farro risotto with butternut squash. The dish came with a generous helping of mushrooms that I cheerfully handed over to the Gastronomer. The duck itself was awesome. It was incredibly tender and wonderfully flavored, and the risotto complemented it well. I loved the sweetness of the squash mixed in with the other flavors. It all came together to create one of my favorite meals in recent memory. Both of us were stuffed from gorging on bread, so we didn’t order desert.

In summary, Trattoria Marcella lived up to its billing as one of the top restaurants in St. Louis, offering possibly the most bang-for-buck that we have ever experienced at a restaurant. We enthusiastically recommended it to my family when they came to visit St. Louis the following weekend, and they had a similarly delightful experience.

Restaurant Review

08 Jan 2007

Eleven Eleven Mississippi – St. Louis

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January 6, 2007
Cuisine: Tuscan, Californian

1111 Mississippi
St. Louis, MO

Phone: 314-241-9999
Website: http://www.1111-m.com

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Appetizers:
Oak Oven Baked Flat Bread – Shrimp & Portobello creme fraiche, rosemary & smoked gouda ($9.50)

Butternut squash soup w/ creme fraiche ($4.95)

Entrees:
Honey roasted duck breast w/ ginger-cilantro vinaigrette & wild rice pilaf ($19.95)

Braised lamb shank w/ natural braising jus & saffron risotto ($21.95)

Stuffed pork chop w/ smoked gouda, mushrooms, raspberry veal reduction & yukon gold garlic mashed potatoes ($18.95)

Eleven Eleven “BLT” bourbon apples, maine lobster, thyme remoulade & watercress with a side of potato salad ($11.11)

Side:
Beet and butternut squash risotto with goat cheese ($5.25)

Dessert:
Gooey butter cake w/ ice cold glass of milk ($4.95)

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Prior to visiting St. Louis I did a bit of research to find the best eateries in town. I stumbled upon an online publication called Sauce Magazine devoted to all things food in St. Louis. The folks at Sauce voted Eleven Eleven their Favorite Restaurant, Best Place to Recommend, Best Business Lunch, Best Place for a Large Group, Best American Cuisine and runner-up in a number of categories including Best Chef and Best Wait staff. As if that weren’t enough, their prices were unbeatable (especially coming from the East Coast). The Astronomer and I took his grandparents to Eleven Eleven on our last night in St. Louis.

The decor inside Eleven Eleven is a cross between warehouse, wine cellar, and trendy lounge. I really liked the soft lighting and concrete floors. We were seated on the restaurant’s second level, right next to the staircase.

We were served some fresh foccacia with olive oil and parmesan cheese while we were perusing the menu. The olive oil was especially flavorful. I love quality olive oils.

We started off our meal with a flatbread course because Audrey Claire taught us that they are delicious. I picked the Portobello and shrimp because it sounded like a unique combination, plus I love smoked Gouda. The Astronomer’s grandfather ordered the butternut squash soup as a starter. As predicted, the flatbread was amazing. The chef’s did not skimp on cheese and there was also plenty of shrimp and mushrooms. The flavors were all mild and thus worked together nicely. However, the Gouda could have been a bit smokier. The Astronomer’s grandfather cleaned his bowl and enjoyed the soup’s sweetness, which he was not expecting.

For our entrees I split the BLT with the Astronomer’s grandmother and ordered a side of the risotto. The BLT was phenomenal, everything about it was perfect! The bread was toasted well, there was a hardy portion of fresh lobster, the apples were just the right tartness, the thyme remoulade was creamy, and the watercress was mild and crispy. Yum! I don’t think I can ever go back to a regular old BLT. The Astronomer’s grandmother thought the sandwich was superb as well. The BLT came with a side of potato salad that tasted like pure bacon fat, which was pretty great but a bit too strong to be paired with the lobster.

The beet and butternut squash risotto was also outstanding, but it was difficult for it to compete with the BLT. I took most of it home to enjoy the next day. Reheated in the microwave, the goat cheese melted beautifully and I was able to enjoy it without the BLT competing for my attention. It was so delicious! Beets are my new favorite vegetable.

The Astronomer ordered the braised lamb shank and thoroughly enjoyed it. To his delight, the meat was so tender that it fell off the bone. I had a piece of the meat and thought it had a classic, rustic taste. The saffron risotto was very mild as intended.

The Astronomer’s grandmother shared a bit of her honey roasted duck breast. The meat was tender and flavorful. The Astronomer’s grandfather ordered the stuffed pork chop and commented that the mashed potatoes were particularly good.

For dessert our waitress recommended a St. Louis classic: Gooey Butter Cake. The gooey butter cake tastes a lot like a pound cake, but much gooier in texture, hence the name. It was served with some blueberries and strawberries and a glass of milk. The cake was very sweet, but I like that quality in a dessert. The Astronomer wished that the cake was served with more fruit to balance out the sweetness.