Under the Table

A brand-new Mexican standout, or, What I Ate: Casa Hacienda Grill

Posted by G.A. Benton

From the exterior, it looks like an expansive Spanish ranch house; inside, it's distinguished by its ranch-y accents merging with an eye-popping proliferation of stunning Mexican tiles applied obsessively all over its rather huge and roomy space.

Like its hermanos, Casa Hacienda Grill offers a menu that's approximately the size of the Mexico City phonebook. Unlike its brethren, though, CHG makes its own fresh tortillas--and they are indeed special. I usually steer local diners toward corn tortillas, and CHG's version does not disappoint, but their handmade flour tortillas are so outstanding--flabby, dense and bearing toasty brown spots on them--that I highly recommend them, too. If you've never had 'em, great and freshly made flour tortillas are more like, say, chapati than those forgettable and tasteless burrito-style wrappers Americans seem to be so ponderously fond of.

Note: while CHG has margaritas, even the step-up "Cadillac" model is made with a so-so mix; therefore, I prefer drinking the tequila straight and augmenting my meal with nice Mexican beers.

Here's a look at a couple of dishes--expect a review in next week's Alive:

HG-mole

Cinnamony mole with a neat and cumulatively growing chili heat

HG-relleno

Chili Relleno with an authentically believable--and all-to-rare--eggy batter

Fantastic Foods to name-drop Proust and Fellini to, or, What I Ate: Last Week's Hog-out Highlights

Posted by G.A. Benton

The breakfast staples of bread, ham, eggs and cheese receive upscale upgrades at 3rd & Hollywood in these brunchy beauties that both, appropriately, make me think of famous artists.

3H croque

3&H's rich, crunchy and irresistible Croque Madame is a knife-and-fork sandwich masterpiece (FYI: it's a Croque Monsieur endowed with a feminizing egg-on-top; also, I once read the sandwich was first mentioned in the great "A la recherche du temp perdu") . Generously, it comes with a salad--ask for the the killer charred butternut squash, goat cheese and arugula number. Equally wonderful is their...

3&H vegetablestrada

...Winter Vegetable Strata (a sorely under-appreciated sorta savory bread pudding, its name always makes me think of "La Strada" and Zampano, the crazy strongman played by Anthony Quinn), which, like the Croque Madame, comes with salty prosciutto-like ham, organic local eggs and terrific Gruyere cheese.

More lunchtime love arrived via the unfairly generically named Cafe Bistro, a shopping mall oasis in Easton's Nordstrom. Pictured are...

cafebistro-steaksandwich

this juicy and terrific steak sandwich...

cafebistro-pizza

...and a very nifty mushroom pizza. For more descriptions, see my review in this week's Alive.

On the dinner front, the always-wonderful Cafe Shish Kebab provided me with...

shish-swordfish

...this expertly grilled swordfish kebab and...

shish-sultan

...this insanely delicious "Sultan's Favorite"--think Turkish shrimp-and-grits but made with cheesy mashed eggplant and tender, racy-tomato-stewed lamb. WOW!

I Like A Little Extra On the Side, or, What I Drank and Ate: Sidebar

Posted by G.A. Benton

They take their cocktails very seriously at the just-opened Sidebar--and after a visit there last night, I do too. Assuming the Downtown space vacated by the old Brownstone, this Dayton import makes some of its own bitters, squeezes its own fresh juices and uses fine hooches to produce excellent alcoholic quaffs.

Since Sidebar sounds so much like Sidecar, we figured we oughta order one of those classic libations, and that was a righteous decision--check out the lagniappe carafe on the side. Other terrific sips we tried were a Manhattan made with Wild Turkey Rye and a Negroni made with superior Carpano Antico vermouth.

SB-sidecar

Apart from great drinks, Sidebar offers a nice, dark and jazzy ambiance plus lusty, Latin-tinged vittles like...

SB-quinoa

...a bright and citrusy quinoa (a super-healthy South American grain) salad lavished with brochettas of spork-tender grilled beef and...

SB-croquettes

...crusty, golden brown croquettes of mashed potato punctuated with chicken bits plus...

SB-lamb

...a heap of succulent and silky lamb shank that, with its spectacular tomato, wine and mirepoix-powered flavors and its Risotto Milanese-like accompaniment, was a delicious riff on osso buco.

Expect an Alive review soon

Sushi Rolls and Logical Positivism, or, What I Ate: Aoi

Posted by G.A. Benton

At first blush, it was hard to get a read on this newish (two-month-old) sushi joint with the solid pedigree (it's a sib of Genji/SanSu) and the blunt and curious name of Aoi.

My first impressions were head-scratching. It was semi-swanky and mood-settingly dark in there, but cheesy dance music was playing and the unmistakeable whiff of cooking oil infiltrated my nostrils. The smallish, primarily Japanese menu was skimpy on "specialty roll" descriptions (I'd find these later on the sushi menu) yet it highlighted several (specialty-roll-heavy) "combo meals" that called for deep commitments of time, money and stomach space. And then there was the totally flummoxing "all you can eat" pasta section (?!?). It'd be fair to say confidence wasn't coursing through my veins.

Things got even odder--but not in a bad way--when I was handed an iPad replete with pretty photos of sushi rolls (if still no descriptions) and on the wall over my shoulder, I spied a surprising quote by Bertrand Russell, the brilliant English philosopher. (Here I began re-scanning the menu for punny menu items: Deep fried Karl Poppers anyone? Or how about a chilly Witgen-Stein of ice cold sake?)

Then the food started rolling out...and it was absolutely beautiful and absolutely delicious--really, really impressive!

I loved this starter duo of ceviche salad with pleasingly bitter notes and rich, ultra-fresh fatty tuna; and the starkly spare silky tofu trio (each topped with a different relish) was a delight for the eyes and fun to wrangle.

AOI-lobsterroll

This lobster roll had great potential for catastrophe but it was terrific with its generous amounts of sweet meat ratcheted up by Kewpie mayo

AOI-lollypop

Lollipop, lollipop, I loved these lollipops! Clever cucumber rolls bursting with juicy vegetal/fruity bites were the gateway to delicious salmon, tuna and crab stick (I decided not to hold a grudge against the latter element since the entirety of the lovely lolly was so utterly fun and wonderful-tasting)

AOI porkbelly

And I was tickled how this impossible-to-resist pork belly had a hard candy-like shell and physically mimicked sushi rolls (or petit fours, for that matter)

Expect a review in Alive soon.

Breakfasts worth waking-up for, or, What I Ate: Sabich and Hum-shuka

Posted by G.A. Benton

I grew up hating breakfast. Mostly this was because, even as a kid, I was a thrill-junkie, and that predictable routine of bacon, eggs and potatoes just seemed eye-rollingly boring. I suppose on some level (to an inherent if helplessly unintentional non-conformist), that All-American platter of grease, salt and blandness spoke to me of unimaginative--and flavor-challenged--herd-feed. No, I preferred things like garlicky leftovers or, say, cold pizza with banana peppers on it--something with in-my-face flavor.

Actually, I've come around on the old standard dinery a.m. fare--certainly the result of the positive effects felt from ingesting it in its best setting: late night/early morning after overindulgent idiocies.

Still, I always prefer something a little different, something resonating with uncommon flavors, something that engages my mind as much as my cud-chewer.

sabich

This kinda looks like a smiling mouth saying "Good morning handsome, how about a smooch?". Well it is, but it's also a most unusual and most delicious--and damn cheap!-- breakfast sandwich called a Sabich

hummus ful

And I'm a fool for this other friendly morning face of a dee-licious meal: the Hummus Ful Breakfast

OT-shakshuka

And finally, the insanely great Hum-shuka

See you at the Olive Tree (Note: breakfast is offered Sundays from 10am to 2pm)