Dinner at RA

After Dragon.Con we stopped off at a restaurant downtown for a late dinner. I chose a place down the street from where I work called RA, a sushi bar. It has a great theme and layout, and the staff is very friendly, even if not always super attentive. I got a cocktail called a “Dragon Bite” which was very bright and refreshing, but could have used a double shot of Bacardi Dragonberry. S. ordered a Tuna Tataki starter dish of thinly sliced, seared ahi tuna served with an onion soy vinaigrette. Then she ordered a King Crab Roll with king crab mix, cucumber & avocado, rolled & topped with king crab, all served with an Asian pesto sauce which I think was predominately ginger and cilantro. She also had the Salmon Asparagus Roll which had kani kama crab mix, cucumber and asparagus rolled, all topped with raw salmon slices.

I had the house’s signature dish, the Viva Las Vegas Roll, which had kani kama crab and cream cheese rolled in rice and seaweed, lightly battered with tempura, fried and topped with spicy tuna, kani kama crab mix & sliced lotus root chips and finished with a sweet eel sauce and spinach tempura bits. Very good. I also had the Gojira (Godzilla) Roll, which had shrimp tempura, kani kama crab mix, cream cheese and cucumber rolled and topped with spicy tuna and spinach tempura bits served with sriracha & spicy mayo sauce.

The vibe was cool but the music was a bit off the mark. The in house DJ could not seem to settle on a particular decade to play from. Maybe he was trying to make everybody happy. But when you try to make everyone happy… Our server was a hottie, so that forgave the few minor sins we had to put up with, and it was a holiday weekend and a Saturday night. Overall we were very pleased. It is a little on the pricey side, and I’d like to see what the lunch offerings are. But, it is Midtown so expect to dig a little deeper.

The photo is from www.sincerelytrulyscrumptiousxoxo.com because mine turned out too dark and blurred to use.

Comida Sencilla and Happy Birthdays

I almost never stop for lunch during the day at work.  As a result, my prep person almost never stops, either.  I don't make her work through lunch.  I encourage her to take a break (when I remember).  She demures and just keeps working.  The other day I felt guilty because I caught her furitively sneaking bites of a banana while working.  So I took a couple of minutes and knocked together a quick meal for us both.

Since I was working with chicken thighs, I set a couple aside and rubbed them with salt, pepper, garlic and whole grain mustard.  I grabbed some leftover asparagus from the evening before and laid them inside the thighs, along with some shredded Swiss cheese, some shredded Asiago, and a wedge of brie, and rolled them up.  I seasoned with paprika and sea salt and gave it a quick sear in a skillet, then tossed it in the oven to cook through.  While it cooked I boiled some rice and tossed in some diced peppers and scrounged up some pickled onions, olive tapenade and balsamic glaze.  Took about 15 minutes and we had a hearty meal to sustain us through the next few hours of prep.  When I brought her the plate, Dulce laughed and thanked me.  She said it was very good, but she had to add some jalapenos to it.  But, she puts jalapenos on everything, so...  Bottom line: we both cleaned our plates.

Saturday was Mina's birthday.  She's a member of our marketing staff and a real sweetheart.  Off-handedly I said I would make a cake for her.  Saturday night Erika came into the kitchen and asked me when I wanted to bring the cake up to the office.  I must have had that look on my face, because she asked if I had made it.  Of course not, but I told her I was working on it.  Mina would be in at 9pm, she said.  No problem, I said.  Immediately my staff chefs and I began putting together quick cake ideas that could be ready in 1 hour.  I put them to work on an expresso cake that they promptly messed up.  I was going to make them throw it out, but they promised me they could fix it.  Unconvinced, I began my own cake, and the whole situation turned quickly into a chef competition "cake-off".

For my part, I made a chocolate sponge cake that baked up in about 15 minutes, then made a Kahlua-chocolate frosting and a brandy whipped cream.  I cut the sponge cake into three layers, then took a cookie cutter and cut circles into the cake layers and layered the frosting on the layers.  I reassembled the layers and filled the cut circles with brandy whipped cream, then frosted the outside, finishing with dollops of whipped cream on top.  While waiting for the other chefs to finish their bungled cake repair, I made some pink icing and swirled it around the plate, topped with some edible gold glitter, and for good measure set a shot glass of brandy on the side.
The other cake came out after 30 minutes, and the chefs covered it with thick chocolate ganache, layers of sliced strawberries, and more ganache.  We both finished within the hour and I took the cakes up to Mina's office.  When she came in she gleedfully knocked back the shot and cut into my cake first.  Her eyes rolled with decadent delight.  She told me later that both cakes were completely consumed before the night was out.

Lemon Oil Poached Salmon

For this dish I shaved some Meyer lemon peels and black peppercorns into some olive oil and let it set for a day.  The next day I lightly salted my salmon filet, let it set for about 20 minutes, put my probe thermometer into it, then submerged it in the lemon oil and covered it with foil.  I put the small pan with the fish and oil into a double boiler and put it on low heat on the
oven, with the temp alert set at 130F.  Then I cleaned, chopped, and boiled some parsnips, made a quick tomato, caper, mustard relish, sauteed my kale with shallot and cranberries (fresh, not dried), and sweated some blueberries in bourbon-maple syrup.

When the parsnips were tender I creamed them with some cream and the leftover fennel beurre blanc and pureed until very smooth.  I took the blueberries and spooned them over our desserts, which was an eggnog flan.  I caramelized the peeled Myer lemon slices for garnish, and squirted a little juice onto the kale.

This is the look I'm going for on this dish

The temp alert went off at 130F, but the fish carried over to 140F and that was far hotter than I had planned.  Although still moist and flavorful, the salmon was cooked through 100%.  I'm thinking that in order to get the kind of look and texture I want, I need to seep it longer, but not let it go over 100F, and hopefully not carry past 115F-120F.  There was nothing wrong with it, except that it lost it's rich orange orange color, was too flakey to make a good presentation, and had those little white fat spots all over it.  But it was still good. 

The sweetness of the parsnips was offset by the bitterness and sharp tang of the kale and cranberries, and everything was spiced up by the tomato/caper/mustard relish.  The eggnog flan and blueberry/maple topping was just the right dessert, too.  Finished with some Graham's 10 Year Tawney, and it was quite delicious.

New Year's Day Dinner

Began 2013 with a simple yet tasty dinner featuring Steamed Lobster Tail atop Caramelized and Curried Cream-Roasted Fennel, with Sauteed Spinach and Mushrooms, Toasted Corn, and Fennel-Cream Beurre Blanc Sauce.  We had a fair sparkling Moscato to go with it.