ODG Eats

I decided to try out a new concept: plain seasoning on my food with a bold sauce to kick it up a few notches. I was thinking that a pretty boring salmon fillet with a super flavorful sauce would be a fun way to put food on the plate. Sort of a "oh, this isn't that great, but wait! There's more!" kind of deal. I just salted the salmon and poached it in olive oil. Meanwhile, I also made some mashed potatoes with some sautéed green onion and orange bell pepper mixed in. A little butter, a little cream, yada yada. The potatoes were great. The salmon was boring. So how about that sauce? I made myself a roux (butter mixed with flour), then added in some white wine, and I let that simmer while I cooked the fish and potatoes. Unfortunately, it thickened up a bit much, so I added some more wine. With the extra wine, it was too watery, so I dropped in some creme fraiche, all while repeating my Randy Marsh impersonation of saying, "creme fraiche!" That gave it a great ...

So I've gotten bored with circles. It seems like everything I cook is a  circle nowadays. There are so many shapes. Why is it always fucking circles? So I looked at a lot of minimalist, abstract, and cubist art, picked up some square and rectangle cookie cutters, and decided to play around a little bit. Granted, I started off with a circle. I used my circular cookie cutter to pull out some cylinders of tofu. I seasoned my tofu with some of that M9 seasoning I've mentioned a few times , then I seared it up in olive oil. Since I was doing vegan, that meant no butter, which made me sad. I'm sure it's probably marginally healthy or something, but goddamn I love butter. I started up a pot of rice while the tofu was cooking; I included some sautéed onion and mushroom with the rice, puffed the rice up a little bit by sautéing it in the oil, too, then dumped in some water seasoned with salt, turmeric, parsley, and thyme for it to steam. When the tofu was done, I swapped ou...

Look, I get it, okay? Edible foam was kind of kitschy even when it was the Next Big Thing On The Culinary Scene. As it's fallen out of fashion, it's become the butt of jokes all over tv, movies, advertisements, internet videos, books...just all of media, more or less. But still, to me, there's a kind of charm to the concept, especially if it's used judiciously and creatively. Having said that, I decided I wanted to try to make salmon foam, potentially as a dish for my upcoming Irish cooking stream. Unfortunately, what resulted was potentially a crime against humanity, and I'm just waiting for some jackboots from the Hague to kick down my bedroom door some night while I'm plotting new acts of culinary terror. First off, I didn't actually "research" the concepts of edible foam. I found a few instructional videos, decided it would be too much work to watch them, and opted instead to read the 3 line blurbs about a couple of them the night before I made...

Due to a strange combination of circumstances, I recently found myself at a menu tasting for a soon to open Polish food truck called Halinka's Polish Eatery . I'm about 99% sure I was the only person in attendance who wasn't already personally known to the owner/chef, Magda, but it was a good time. Got to meet some nice folks and eat free food, but then I had to give feedback in public in front of other people, so that kind of sucked. Like, really fucking sucked. Pretty sure my face my was red the entire time. This is the price we pay for food sometimes. Our first course was a cabbage and mushroom pierogi with a side of beets. Apparently when the food truck gets going, the pierogis will be steamed, then finished either on a grill or in a skillet with some butter. However, due to facility constraints where we were trying the dishes, Magda had to serve them just steamed. Anyway, to the food: the cabbage and mushroom pierogis were fucking amazing. There was a tremendous depth ...

 As I mentioned the other day, my Mexican restaurant closed down. Luckily, they opened up in a new space a couple of months later. Great new look, new name ("Lopez Grill"), they've got a bar, staff is expanded, and the place is always packed. Business seems to be going great. Now, this isn't just a rehash of my post about the 'Dolo. While the menu is largely the same, there have been a few changes, plus I'm going to share a few things I've learned eating there. On my first visit to the new location (which was opening day, right when the doors opened; yes, I was standing in line outside with the other faithful), Señor Lopez brought me a bowl of their new salsa. He called it "guacamole salsa," but it's a jalapeño-based sauce. It's got an almost creamy texture, but is dairy-free (I asked for my vegan friend). Being a jalapeño salsa, it's got some heat, but not nearly as overbearing as some capsaicin-phobes may fear. It is perfectly bala...

In case you don't remember (or didn't read it, you asshole), I once wrote about my Mexican restaurant . Now, this wasn't a Mexican restaurant that I owned; just the Mexican restaurant that I frequented. Unfortunately, they closed down in October (more on that later...), but a new restaurant opened it its place: Ragin Cajun Seafood and Po'boys. Just so you know, I'm no restaurant critic: I like eating food, and I like eating other people's  food to help expand my own ideas and find new inspiration. That's what restaurant week is about. I have only visited Ragin Cajun once, and that was within the first week of their opening, so keep that in mind. I usually like to give restaurants 2-4 weeks before really analyzing their food as it takes time for them to get into their routines. However, sometimes you just have to go when you're able. I started off my visit with their boudin balls with "creole mustard dipping sauce." The balls came dressed with s...