Top 10 Things I Put In My Mouth in 2011

As 2011 sputters to a close, it's time for a little retrospection of what has come to pass.  I've done some serious dining.  Some of the food I had was so good that I actually get misty when I describe it to people.  Some of it, not so much.

What I've assembled here are the top ten dishes I had the presence of mind to photograph this year.  If you click on the pictures they will expand to show you the big shot.  Where applicable, I've posted a link to the blog entry giving you more details.

Strangely enough, I went through and picked out my favorites from all the items I shot pictures of in 2011 and they were all in fairly distinct categories.  I didn't have to choose between favorites in the same category, which is nice. 

Let's start with dessert first:

Best Dessert 

RJ Cooper, owner and chef of Rogue 24, sent this to our table towards the end of our 24-course tasting menu.  The flavor combination here was astounding.  Everyone in our party gushed.

Best Freebie on the Table 

This is the truffled pop-over from Kevin Sbraga's eponymous restaurant in Philly.  Crispy, tender, flaky, warm, and stinking of truffles.  Don't get me started.

Best Counter Service Chicken 

Outstanding Peruvian chicken is hard to find.  A lot of it is good, but there are only a couple that are superlative.  Super Chicken is the winner in the DMV.  The customer service is great, the sides are not an after-thought as they are in most other places like this, and the chicken is so good it makes you drop the knife and fork and pick it up with your hands.

Best Appetizer....by far 

Fiola,  Fabio Trabocchi's restaurant in DC, is a quiet return to some upper-end dining.  The bar can get lively, but I think of this place as a temple to this dish.  This is all I want when I go there.  Fois Gras, perfectly seared, over a buttery brioche.  There was some fruity element and a balsamic glaze.  This is not on the menu anymore, but I'm sure there will be another iteration of it there soon.

Best Pasta

The person who created this occupies 20% of my top 10.  Chef Mike Isabella.  The is the sweet corn stuffed agnolotti which he was showcasing when the restaurant first opened.  I've posted twice about this restaurant.  The first was here.

Best Pizza.  Ever. 

It doesn't matter who I'm with or what else we're having:  If I'm at Graffiato after 5:00pm I have to order one of the Countryman Pizzas.  Here is a link to the second post I did about this restaurant when I had the pleasure of trying the tasting menu.

Best Comfort Food 

Comfort food doesn't have to be Mac n' Cheese.  That's American comfort food.  Other cultures have comfort food too, and it doesn't have to be full of fat and cheese.  Not that I'm knocking fat and cheese, but I loves me a #12 at Pho 75 on Rockville Pike.  I checked my stats on Foursquare and Yelp, and I've been here, for this dish, over 40 times in 2011.  Crazy.  My neighbors and I live 10+ miles from this place, but we run into each other there.  We like it that much.

Best Side Dish

I'm not sure how else to describe the Palak Chaat dish properly. Vikram Sunderam pulls together many flavor and creates this wonder at Rasika.  I could go there, have a plate of this, and leave satisfied. 

Best Cheese Course 

I miss this dish, and the man who created it, Roberto Donna.  I'm hoping to see him back at work somewhere soon.

  The Budino Parmiggiano.  This was a different presentation than the one in my original post, but it made a better picture.  Sublime.

Best Home Cookin' Feature 

As readers of my blog know, I sometimes take on a home cooking project and post about it.  This was the tastiest adventure of the year.  Shrimp and Grits, using a recipe posted by RJ Cooper on StarChefs.  I made it for a party my wife was attending and this was the test run.  Salty/creamy with layers of acid and flavor.  One of my best, if I do say so myself.

It was a good year for food and restaurants in the DMV.  2012 should prove exciting as well.  Please be sure to stay tuned for more posts on this and my other blog, POSmelson where I post information about the issues, tools, tricks, and technology behind and involving restaurants.  As always, your comments, forwards, retweets, and emails are appreciated.

See you next year.

True Grits

My wife got invited to an Oscar Party. The food theme is "Food Having Some Relation to The Pictures Nominated for Best Picture".
Being as lame as I am I have seen very few of the pictures mentioned above, so I had to think fast.
I saw Inception. The only food I remember from that was Ken Watanabe eating something slimy looking in the opening scene. Forgive me if my memory is unclear as to what it was.
I finally caught another last night named Winter's Bone, and the only food they ate in that was fried squirrel and venison stew. I don't think Cheryl's friends would appreciate the squirrel, and though I do like venison, I decided to go a little more main-stream.
The first thing that came to mind while perusing the list of nominees was Grits....via True Grit. It took me about 15 seconds to find one of RJ Cooper's recipes on the web from Share Our Strength. http://strength.org/recipes/sauteed_shrimp_and_grits/
A couple of things struck me about the recipe as I was working through it, so I improvised a little. Actually, enough that I can now call this recipe mine!
The first thing I noticed was that there was absolutely no pork content. How could this be?
I texted RJ and asked him about that. His response? Add Tasso.
Tasso is a spicy, dryish smoked pork tenderloin usually found in cajun dishes. The last time I'd thought about it was when I worked at Trahan's in Lexington, KY. They used tasso in the family style pasta dishes we'd share before service. Unfortunately, the chef had some bad habits that bankrupted the place, including a GM who would offer the waiters shots of Louis XIII for naughty favors....but that's a story best told elsewhere.


On to the recipe:
24 fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 lb tasso in 1cm cubes
1/2 cup white old fashioned grits
1 Vidalia onion, sliced
1-1/4 cup heavy cream
1-1/4 cup milk
4 Tbsp. butter
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tomato, peeled and chopped
6 ounces lager beer
salt & pepper

1. Bring grits and milk to a slow boil. Cook the grits as you would risotto, cook with the milk until just about dry, then add the cream and butter and 2 tsp salt. Simmer for 18 minutes total, stirring frequently.
2. In half of the olive oil, sauté onion until golden brown. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
3. In the remaining olive oil, sauté shrimp with a pinch of salt and pepper, then add the tasso. Add chopped garlic and beer.
4. Squeeze in the lemon juice and simmer for one minute.
5. Finish sauce with fresh thyme, (reserving some for garnish), remaining 2 Tbsp. butter and the chopped tomato.

When you plate up, put the grits in a bowl or on a plate and surround with the shrimp/tasso mixture and sauce. Put the tomatoes in the middle and sprinkle with thyme leaves.

The acid from the tomato and lemon makes this a dish that will knock your socks off.

As to my modifcations from RJ's recipe, I halved the amount of garlic, added the tasso, changed the method on the grits, and reduced the salt called for from 2 tablespoons to 2 teaspoons. Hopefully he won't hold this against me.

I am very much looking forward to him opening Rogue 24. As readers may remember, I had reservations for my birthday dinner at Table 24 in Vidalia, but had to change my reso to Proof as RJ decided to leave Vidalia a couple of weeks early.

As always, thank you for reading.
Should you have any questions/comments please feel free.