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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

The Tea Party Cafe - Ottawa Ontario

I got a groupon for high tea for 2 a few weeks ago, and had the opportunity to use it when Mom and I were in Ottawa the other weekend for some shopping.  Now, mom and I really enjoy having tea, and considering that she lived in England for 2 years, we consider ourselves quite the experts.  We have yet to have a better scone experience than in Sierra Madre, CA, a small town just east of Pasadena.  Now, I know that it doesn't bode well to start a review with a comment on my favorite place for the same meal, but I did want to give a shout out to one of my old haunts.

This place is right near byward market and an easy walk if you are in that area for some shopping.  The cafe is on the first floor of a brownstone on a beautiful tree lined street.  After placing out order, we had the daunting task of picking our tea flavor.  There is an entire wall of loose teas which range from the classic british varieties, to fruit teas, to asian flavors.  There is something for everyone.  I went with a favorite and picked a plain vanilla.  It smells wonderful, it's warming but light and not too deep like a traditional black tea. 

The high tea includes 4 different types of finger sandwich and 4 different sweets.  There was the classic cucumber and cream cheese, along with a lettuce and cream cheese.  There was also a pesto and tomato sandwich which I did really like.  The pesto had a ton of flavor and texture.  The tomato gave the sandwich a touch of acidity and substance with the thick slices.  The final sandwich was a roasted red pepper and feta.  Now, I do enjoy feta cheese in salads and sometimes I like roasted peppers in a dish, but I would never eat them on my own.  Let's just say that this sandwich wasn't up my alley.  Mom and I traded her pesto sandwich for my red pepper and feta. 

On the top of the tier are the sweets:  a turtle bar, a scone, a brownie and a chocolate chip shortbread cookie.  The scone was good, not great.  It wasn't flavored and didn't come with cream/butter or jam.  I thought it was a bit boring, although moist and crumbly.  I didn't really like the cookie, it was just kind of flat in flavor.  The chocolate aspects of the dessert made up for it though.  The turtle bar was definitely not big enough.  It was caramel and dark chocolate over chocolate crumbles, so it was gooey with crunch.  yum yum yum.  The brownie was amazing as well - moist, rich and gooey on the inside while having that slight crispness to the crust. 

An interesting place to stop for soup, salad, high tea or just a glass of tea.  Good service and an interesting menu (other than the high tea). 


The Tea Party on Urbanspoon

Monday, August 15, 2011

Next Door Bar&Grill - Rochester, NY

I am going to include Rochester in this blog as a potential component of the North Country - Rochester is certainly part of the Northern/Central NY region that those in NYC consider "up there."  I also really thought this was an interesting restaurant.  Mom and I stumbled upon it after Rochester for a wedding errand for the afternoon. We were looking for an easy but interesting place to eat an early dinner, and at first I was excited to just go to Wegmans (I LOVE Wegmans) and get something from the deli section there...  but then I found out that not only was there was the flagship Wegmans down the road, but there is a restaurant owned by them across the street.  I was intrigued.

The menu was a bit all over the place but had some very interesting options.  There's a mix of European appetizers and entrees along with pizza and then there's a sushi bar and Robata grill (a Japanese technique which uses a special charcoal).   There are a lot of interesting options on the menu and they also have some options for hosting parties there.  They have a test kitchen where one can host a party and have cooking demonstrations.  They have have smaller private dining rooms for smaller private parties too.  This would definitely be an interesting place for an adult birthday party or other celebration.  

They have a weekly fixed menu suggestion which did look very interesting, but we were looking for a lighter meal than the 3 courses recommended. This place is actually a great option for a lighter dinner as you can order appetizers (I think I could have been excited for half of those options), sushi or one or two things from the grill.  I think the Robata grill is intended to have you pick a few different protein and vegetable options, but each individual part is small (my mother actually ordered the scallops - the serving consisted of 3 grilled scallops on a skewer), but I can see how it would be an interesting meal with the veggies on the side.

I had a hard time photographing this meal, so please forgive the image, the restaurant is rather dark.  Mom was nice enough to share her appetizer (especially since she couldn't share mine due to a shellfish allergy) since it was very interesting.  She ordered the seaweed salad quartet.  On presentation, this dish was somewhat disappointing as it was supposed to be 4 different seaweeds, and there were only 3 on the plate.  I think ideally, if a dish isn't going to be as advertised on the menu, the customer should be informed and given the option to change the order.  My mother was not given that option, and considering she was super excited to try several different types of seaweed (we love seaweed salad when we go for sushi), she was pretty disappointed to be missing a quarter of the dish.  Given that, the dish was interesting.  I've only had basic seaweed salad (which was one of the seaweeds on the dish), but there were two other kinds - one was a redish twig kind and the third was a dark green thicker seaweed.  The red twig one was kind of firm and almost too fibrous in texture, although it did have a little crunch.  The green one was more like pasta al dente, which is a texture I like, but it didn't really have a lot of flavor.  The dish came with a sesame vinaigrette which did add some subtle flavor and creaminess.  Overall not a hit of a dish, and certainly only for adventurous taste buds. 
I got a watermelon and crab salad.  I thought this was such an interesting combination and was super excited about trying it.  It came with a drizzle of truffle oil and black sea salt.  How decadent does that sound?  I thought it was very chic.  Well, I never realized how fragrant truffle oil is, I am sad to say this was my first experience with it.  It was a fairly powerful smell, although none of the other ingredients really have an odor.  The watermelon was nice and fresh, moist and sweet.  The crab was tender and succulent, and was piled high with a bit of arugula on top for crunch and texture.  It was fun to be able to experiment with all the different components on the plate since the oil and sea salt were drizzled around the edge.  I think my favorite bite was watermelon, crab, arugula and a small amount of the truffle oil.  I did think the sea salt was a it overpowering since the pieces were a bit large.  I think a bit of the flavor permeated the truffle oil though.  To be honest, I think I'd like to try some truffle oil in another context.  I think it doesn't quite go with the watermelon and the crab.  Those two ingredients are so delicate and light and fresh, the truffle oil in contrast is decadent and rich.  However, I still cleaned my plate and had a great time experimenting with components.


Lastly I got a sushi roll.  This was a new one to me:  tempura shrimp, asparagus, cucumber, roe and spicy mayo.  I loved the crunch of the tempura and the little bursts of saltiness of the roe.  The asparagus gave it an earthiness and depth of flavor.  It was a great sushi roll.  I think the sushi is something they really do well here.

Overall an interesting experience, worth another trip to try some new things and expand the palate.  I guess the words of advise are to make sure you know exactly what you're getting as the menu is diverse and a bit out of the ordinary.

Next Door Bar and Grill on Urbanspoon

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Windfall Bar and Grill - Cranberry Lake, NY

For my fiance's Grandmother's birthday, we went out to dinner at a little hidden treasure in the Adironacks near Cranberry Lake.  This is a very unassuming restaurant, with a small bar in the front along with a pool table and alcove for a live band.  They don't have a long wine list, but it's diverse with some good local (finger lakes) options.  They also have some great draft beers on tap - we love blue moon and long trail (shout out to VT breweries).  The service is friendly and efficient, and if you think it's taking awhile to get your read with dinner - don't fret because they're actually baking it to order!  Can't beat that.

We shared an order of steamed clams - but wait, this wasn't your average plain steamed clams...  this is more the clam version of steamed mussels with a wonderful white wine, herb and olive oil broth that you can dip the clams in.  Sometimes when clams are steamed, they can be a bit chewy, but these were tender and super flavorful and moist.  They were almost falling out of the shells.  When we were done, we actually kept the bowl of left over broth to dip bread in.  And then came out the bread - a little after the appetizers, but worth the wait as it was fresh out of the over.  Crunch on the outside and soft on the inside it was very good bread.  I did also get to taste the french onion soup.  The soup was full of onions!  Just packet!  It was a bit salty, ut otherwise had good flavor.

I got the tilapia which came with a basil aioli.  Now, normally I ask for sauces on the side since I think in general most dishes are over sauced, but I forgot today.  The aioli added some creaminess of the fish.  The tilapia was super moist and fresh with a very clean flavor.  now tilapia is a fish easily dried out with cooking, so I was very impressed with that.  I did think there was too much aioli, but that could be brushed to the side.  This meal came with a side of carrots which were also well cooked - not mushy as carrots can be, but beautifully cooked with a little bit of butter and herbs.  These hadn't been sitting there for hours and I bet were freshly cooked to order.  The fish also came with a side of sweet potato fries - again obviously home made!  And I can tell you this since sometimes I make sweet potato fries from scratch and sometimes from frozen - these were uneven just as they are when hand done, with the charbroiled taste of fries not fried!  A definite winner.

I saved room for dessert - as I always try to do.  There was something on their menu I've never seen before - fried dessert wantons.  I was intrigued.  They're almost like crab rangoons but sweet with a pear, pecan and red wine filling.  Before you think aout that combination, let me tell you that they don't taste like alcohol from the wine, and the filling is thick and rich - almost like a preserve or compote.  They aren't overly sweet, especially with the savory aspect of the wanton fried.  One could actually do something similar as an appetizer with also a bit of brie in the center with the nut/fruit filling.  There was a bit of a raspberry sauce drizzled over it, which did make it more sweet as a dessert, but I think it would have been even better with a pear sauce since that is the fruit in the wanton - it would have brought out the subtle pear flavor better.

Overall, a great little place in the mountains - excellent after a day on the water in summer or snowmobiling in winter.

Windfall Bar & Grill on Urbanspoon

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Julian's - Brunch!

I felt that the brunch menu for Julian's was sufficiently different from the main dinner menu to warrant its own review.  As you may remember from a previous post, I do enjoy Julian's as a relaxed dining option with high quality food without an unreasonable price tag.  This is the second brunch experience we have had there, but I think the better of the 2 meals.

The brunch menu does include some more lunch-type options, but I am a huge fan of breakfast, so even though we arrived a little after 1pm (they only serve brunch until 2pm on Sundays), I was sure to stick with a combination of sweet and savory breakfast options.  We did start with some interesting drink options - I ordered a passionfruit bellini and my fiance got a mimosa.  The bellini was not as I was anticipating, but was yummy.  The bellinis I have had in the past were a 50:50 combination of pureed fruit and champagne.  This was more 10% fruit and 90% champagne.  Don't get me wrong, this was certainly more of a bang for your buck alcohol wise, but just not as strong in fruit flavor as I was anticipating.  It was almost more of a passionfruit mimosa.  There was a sugar rim to the glass, which was an interesting touch for texture and a stronger punch of sweetness.  My fiance got a mimosa - very traditional, no surprises there.


I actually couldn't choose between sweet and savory for this meal, so I got both.  I ordered the spinach and goat cheese omelet with whole wheat toast on the side.  The omelet was very good, although it may have been a it heavy on the goat cheese for my taste.  The egg part of the omelet was very thin and tender.  I've never had an omelet where the eggs were so thin - almost crepe like.  They were light in color, making me think that there was less egg yolk in it than normal, but I don't know if that was the case.  I am definitely going to have to attempt to replicate this.  The goat cheese provided a wonderful creamy texture with that hit of tang in the background, warm and rich.  The spinach was tender with an earthiness that grounded the dish.  Crunchy and hearty, the bread was also excellent.


My Fiance got the eggs benedict.  Now, he hammered this before I even got a real bite to comment on it.  The one interesting thing to comment on this dish about was that the eggs are on corn bread instead of the traditional english muffin.  While this adds some texture to the meal with the grains of the corn meal, it did mean that it was a it more messy to eat as the corn bread breaks up much more easily.

My mother got the smoked salmon omelet with feta, onions and capers.  Now, this was an interesting combination.  To me, smoked salmon and eggs are a pretty classic combination, but the feta, onions and capers are a twist on the traditional.  I'm not a big fan of capers or onions, but they were good in this dish.  The onions gave some crunch and the capers were little bursts of saltiness.  Now, I think this dish was a bit heavy on the salt factor - the smoked salmon and capers are both salty and the feta also have a bit of saltiness.  The feta did provide the creaminess that cream cheese normally has when paired with smoked salmon, but the additional tang took a it of getting used to.  Overall, an interesting twist on some classic flavors.
The crepes were my side dish, and an excellent addition to the meal.  The crepes were super thin and tender, much better than the last time I got this dish.  Now, the interesting thing about ordering this dish was that it came out with a pool of whipping cream (not whipped cream) as it had all fallen with the heat of the crepes.  now, I find this to be odd, since wouldn't they have found a solution to this problem previously?  Mine can't have been the first set of warm crepes to have the whipped cream put on top and then melted.  Maybe they could start putting it on the side since then the warmth would not affect the volume of the whipped cream.  However, they were still yummy and full of tender, summer ripened fruit.  A definite repeater, maybe with the whipped cream on the side to keep it intact.
I have one comment on service.  There was only one waitress in the dining room for this meal.  When we arrived, there were two other tables finishing up their meals, and after they left, we were the only table.  The service was remarkably slow considering the lack of other customers.  I had the feeling this waitress was still getting into the swing of things - maybe she drew the short straw of working Sunday morning because she was new.  We gave her the benefit of the doubt, but the meal just did not run smoothly.

Julian's Restaurant on Urbanspoon