Guest Post: Russell House Tavern Review

For the first time in One Food Guy history I have a guest editor, Chad Lingle, professional eater, artist, photographer, and owner of the Real Estate and Property Management firm Artisan Properties.

Before getting to Chad's review of the amazing Russell House Tavern, let me tell you how we got here. Earlier this year J and I were at Coppa with Chad and his wife Leah, demolishing plate after plate of amazing food, fawning especially hard over the amazing charcuterie and beautiful might-cost-more-than-my-car Berkel hand slicer. While on the subject of the charcuterie, J and I gushed to them about how great the charcuterie is at Russell House Tavern and that they should go. Fast forward a couple weeks and I receive an email from Chad while I'm sitting outside a Starbucks in Frankfurt, Germany, sipping on a cappuccino, killing time before my flight to Bangalore, India. Side note - I abhor sitting in an airport for hours and hours on a layover so I hopped on the S-Bahn to downtown Frankfurt for a few of hours of fun. Chad tells me about this amazing meal he had just had at Russell House Tavern, really it was more of a short story than an email but it was a pleasure to read and he has graciously agreed to edit it for your reading pleasure.


When you're finished, go eat at Russell House Tavern.Seriously. Go. Or go now and read Chad's story later. Whatever you decide, just be sure to eat at Russell House Tavern. Maybe I'll see you there.

And now, Chad's Russell House Tavern Review:


I was really looking forward to eating at Russell House Tavern all last week and now it seems I'll be spending all of this week looking back and reminiscing! Visions of smoked pork loin are dancing in my head - seriously. So I actually have a lot to say about this place & since it is still fresh in my mind/belly & since you asked... here's my take:


Ok, so let me preface this by saying on the spectrum of good-to-great, there really can't be any disappointments. But since good was the worst the RHT seemed to be able to do, the only qualified disappointment of the night came at the very beginning of the meal with the Lamb Trio Cassoulet. Overall the meat was perfectly savory, but there just didn't seem to be enough of the dark lamb meat (belly/shoulder/sausage) to balance out the small abundance of white beans. It was like an NBA team photo in the 1950s.


The Crispy Pig's Head Cake (besides being fun to say) was awesome. It makes me want to write the word awesome with periods in between every letter. It's a super-inventive take on head cheese that's so distinguished it should rightfully spawn its own evolutionary branch of pig-food. It was served warm with a perfectly crispy, breaded, puff-pastry style shell with possibly the most beautiful poached egg I've ever seen plopped on top. Whoever thought to add the egg deserves a raise. The creaminess it added to each lightly fried breaded bite was godly. Plus there was some Maple syrup involved in the Aioli so, while it went perfectly well with beer and a 5 o'clock shadow, I think they may have created the most perfect breakfast food - ever.


Figs N' Blankets could alternately be called candy for carnivores. Little roasted figs wrapped in the RHT's house Guanciale were such an extremely good balance of salty and sweet that they definitely set the record for least time at the table. They lasted like 4 seconds.


I wouldn't have picked this place for raw bar offerings, but at the behest of one of my table mates, we ordered 12 (6&6) of their 2 oyster offerings. Misty Points and some other kind of Points (I was too busy with the Pig's Head Cake to pay attention to that part). They were sweet, a little briny - everything they were supposed to be. I even enjoyed their pickle mignonette but didn't order more, because I've heard oysters can be an aphrodisiac and I was at a table with 3 other dudes who probably didn't need any encouragement.


The stand out award of the night (sorry Pig Cake) goes to the Tavern Pizza with house-made Cotechino Sausage & house-made Ricotta. It was so perfect I don't even want to write about it. It must be eaten to be appreciated.


Next, the Crispy Long-Island Duck Confit and Ozark Heritage Pork Trio battled for space on the table. The Duck was perfect, & exactly what you would expect it to be. It came with a little side stew of pork belly, roasted chestnuts, and figs with some crispy sage. It was just some straight-up farm-style goodness. The Pork Trio included a smoky-tasting Loin (yum), already-fell-off-the-bone Butt, and some more Pork Belly. Unbelievably the most memorable part of the Trio dish was its pancake-shaped base of grits. The pale & creamy grits were nearly invisible against the white plate - hidden under a small salad of greens, but once we found it - whoa baby. I could have eaten a mixing-bowl full of 'em. Mmm...


With the first round of pizza-pie making such a good impression on us, we couldn't leave without digging in to some more of the cheesy stuff. So, we ordered (at our delightful server Maria's suggestion) the Andria. This concoction was so full of Very Local Buratta that it bordered on fondue. I'm told there was some sweet garlic and even more figs on there, but really it was just a lot, a lot of Buratta - which is a good thing really.


We rounded out the night with an order of their Redondo Black Serrano Ham which came with a torched square of Manchego. The cheese was topped with some caramelized honey which made for a crunchy top to one of my favorite cheeses. Along with little toasted brioche points... this was like some other-worldly deconstruction of the best ham & cheese sandwich of all time. I plan to begin reconstruction efforts at home asap.


Feeling cordial, full and friendly (a few glasses of Old Rasputin Imperial Stout @ 9% ABV will cause friendliness) we actually spotted an old pal who, as it turns out, is now the GM of the place. A real blast-from-the past... He stopped by the table to say hello before heading off to the awaiting company party at RedLine. So we say our goodbyes and send him off to his fête but he finds out it is my table mate Alex's birthday and proceeds to send half of the dessert menu over to our table.


Round 2's first victim was the Flourless Chocolate Chili Cake with chili salted caramel and Mexican chocolate ice cream. Now, chili-spiced chocolate can sometimes walk the fine line between artfully decadent dessert and some overweight tourists' "look what we brought back from our trip to Cancun" disaster. What the kitchen (more specifically Jessica Pelletier) at RHT produced was sublime. A dense but not fudgy; sweet (without being cloying) little chocolate mini-cake with just the perfect amount of spice to let you know it was there.


Another great take on a traditional favorite was the Carrot Cake Bread Pudding with raisins, toasted walnuts and a cream cheese swirl. Wowsers... I mean, has there ever been a concoction so excellently suited for bread pudding as carrot cake. I think not.


Finally we make it to our last dish; the Layered Ginger Spice Cake. The thing was big. Layered with a coffee buttercream and an espresso reduction - this Ginger definitely had a soul. The buttercream alone was enough to curl your toes and by the time we got down to deftly scraping the espresso reduction off the plate with our spoons I was in heaven.


So I went there with a few friends with the simple intention of doing some hearty eating. I left the place that evening with the distinct feeling that I was somehow a better, happier person than the one that had walked in a few hours earlier. It could have been Old Rasputin whispering in my ear, but I do know that I left thoroughly impressed with the restaurant & I hope to return soon.

A Valentine's treat in the form of Chocolate

For some, Valentine's Day is a special day. For others, it's just a silly little Hallmark holiday. And for just about everyone, it is an excuse to eat chocolate. Chocolate truffles, chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, and in my house this Valentine's Day, flourless chocolate torte! While sitting on my couch this past Friday morning, Chef Emeril Lagasse's chocolate episode of The Essence of Emeril was airing on The Food Network. I knew at that moment that I would be designing Sunday's Valentine's Day menu around dessert, the flourless chocolate torte that Chef Lagasse taught me to make on Friday morning.

After consulting with my number one customer, I put together a shopping list for my Valentine's Day menu. I would be cooking filet au poivre with a cognac mushroom sauce, served with horseradish mashed yukon gold potatoes and garlicky spinach. Dessert is the aforementioned flourless chocolate torte served with a dusting of powdered sugar and fresh raspberries.

The star of the meal was definitely the flourless chocolate torte. Who doesn't love a rich, dark chocolately torte with powdered sugar and fresh raspberries? It was relatively easy to make and worth every minute I spent in the kitchen melting, mixing, pouring and baking. Follow my kitchen journey in pictures, then see the recipe below. Happy Valentine's Day!

Flourless Chocolate Torte

Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

* 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus 1/2 tablespoon

* 1 pound semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

* 1/4 cup amaretto

* 8 large eggs

* 1/4 cup sugar

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* Confectioners' sugar or cocoa powder, for garnish

* Fresh raspberries, for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Using 1/2 tablespoon butter grease a 9-inch springform pan and line bottom with a parchment round. Cover pan underneath and along sides with foil and set in a roasting pan. Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil.

Combine the chocolate, butter, and amaretto in a metal bowl set over simmering water or in the top of a double boiler. Melt the mixture, stirring constantly, until smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes; reserve. Make sure the chocolate mixture has cooled at least five minutes before adding to egg mixture, else the eggs might scramble.

Meanwhile combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until frothy and almost doubled in volume, about 5 to 10 minutes. Fold 1/3 of chocolate mixture into egg mixture using a rubber spatula. Repeat this process 2 more times - until all of chocolate mixture has been folded into egg mixture.

Pour batter into prepared springform pan and place in the roasting pan. Pour enough boiling water into the roasting pan to come about halfway up the sides. Bake until cake has risen slightly and edges are just beginning to set, about 40 to 45 minutes. Remove cake from roasting pan and cool on wire rack to room temperature. Remove foil, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Remove cake from refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving. Remove springform pan sides, invert cake onto a large plate, and peel away the parchment paper from bottom. Reinvert cake on another large plate or serving platter and garnish with confectioners' sugar or cocoa powder immediately before serving.

Sushi and Seviche at Sushi Samba

It should be clear by now that I love sushi, and one of my all time favorite places to eat sushi is Sushi Samba in New York City. This restaurant is a Japanese Peruvian fusion and it is outstanding. There are two locations in Manhattan, one on 7th Avenue South which has super high energy and outdoor seating and the second on Park Avenue South which has a sultry lounge called Sugarcane attached to it. Whether you choose to eat at the 7th Avenue location or the Park Avenue location, you will always be guaranteed great food! There are also Sushi Samba locations in Miami, Chicago, Tel Aviv, and now Las Vegas.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to be in New York and convincing enough to persuade my friends to go to Sushi Samba with me on Saturday night. We started off with a round of cocktails, I had a caiparinha, Brazil's national drink made from cachaça, sugar and lime. Next up was an order sawagani, also known as Japanese river crabs. The little guys can be found swimming around most fresh water streams in Japan, and you can see them swimming around when you enter the 7th Avenue location. Once they enter the kitchen, though, they are flash fried, salted, and arranged single file on a long white plate. The crabs are extremely crunchy on the outside with a soft, velvety crab texture inside. This is definitely extreme eating - just pop them in your mouth whole, and crunch!



Following the river crabs was a sampler of four amazing seviches! A yellowtail sashimi seviche with ginger, garlic & soy, a lobster sashimi seviche with mango and lime, a tuna sashimi seviche with grapefruit juice, jalapeno & almond, and a king salmon sashimi seviche with guava, carrot & mojito splash. Each seviche was amazing and bursting with flavor. They were fresh, fruity, and simply delicious. If you go to Sushi Samba and only order one thing, order one of these!


While we were all drooling over the seviches, our platter of sushi arrived. We ordered three Samba rolls plus the Sushi and Sashimi deluxe platter which came with the Green Envy Roll. Picture from the left are the green envy roll with tuna, salmon, asparagus, aji amarillo-key lime mayo & wasabi pea crust, a special Samba roll with tempura rock shrimp, a Pacific roll with king crab, avocado, Asian pear, soy paper & wasabi-avocado crema, and a Rainbow Dragon Roll with freshwater eel, red bell pepper, cucumber, mango & avocado. The sushi and sashimi that came with deluxe platter included tuna, salmon and yellowtail sashimi plus unagi (eel), ebi (shrimp), hirame (fluke/halibut), and maguro (tuna) sushi. Each of the Samba rolls except the Rainbow Dragon came with a special dipping sauce and each were excellent. This was a seriously good platter of sushi, some of the best we've ever had.


After we devoured the platter we wanted to see what the sushi chefs at Sushi Samba were really made of, so we asked the chef in front of us, we were seated at the sushi bar, to make us something special. What he came up with was creative, visually appealing, and incredibly delicious! The chef took a a wooden form mold and started building something great. He put down some rice, topped it with unagi (freshwater eel), avocado, and red jalapeno, and then more rice on top. He them put a top onto the form and pressed down, creating something akin to a sushi sandwich. The picture of his creation is below, but it's a little blurry. He took his creation out of the form, cut it into triangles, topped it with a little eel sauce and orange tobiko, and set it down in front of us. It was so good and such an honor for us to have had the chef make this just for us!


Finally, we finished our meal with a dessert sampler which ended up being on the house; maybe because we gave the sushi chef the honor of creating something special? Anyway, this dessert sampler contained a flan like dessert, a dish of seasonal fresh fruit, berry sponge & yuzu sorbet, a soft Japanese rice cake filled with ice cream, and a warm chocolate banana cake with maple butter, banana chip & vanilla rum ice cream. The yuzu sorbet (back right) was sprinkled with Pop Rocks!! What a surprise that was!


I can't wait to get back to New York City so I can eat at Sushi Samba again. I have never had a bad meal there, in fact, every meal I have ever had at Sushi Samba has been amazing. The sushi is always fresh, the seviche is always creative and bursting with flavor, and the cocktails are always great.

The next time you find yourself in New York, or Miami, Chicago, Tel Aviv or Las Vegas, make it a point to go to Sushi Samba!

A Homemade Anniversary Dinner with Store-bought Desserts

When you need to make something special for someone special, consider making lamb, rack of lamb! It's fairly simple to make and has a big wow factor if done right with sides like the ones I chose to serve. I served the rack of lamb with some garlicky sauteed rainbow chard and some fancy roasted red new potatoes and I made a quick sauce from reduced balsamic vinegar. If you look at the picture below, you might be wondering how I prepped those beautiful potatoes? My food styling might not be that great, but dinner certainly was! Keep scrolling...

To create the beautiful roasted potatoes pictured above, take a wooden spoon and place a small potato in the depression. With your knife, make thin, parallel slices in the potato until you hit the edges of the spoon; the spoon will prevent your knife from cutting all the way through and keep the potato 'chips' held together. Repeat for each potato, toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and chopped fresh rosemary, then roast in the oven until cooked through and crispy - about 40 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

Having spent all my time preparing and cooking dinner on this night, I totally cheated on dessert. I bought a few of the pre-made tarts at Whole Foods, one blueberry crumble, one key lime pie, and one chocolaty, caramely, nutty turtle-like tart; they were all very good.