Something For My Veg-Heads

Made myself a roasted veggie and hummus sandwich tonight.  Came out pretty damn tasty if I do say so myself.  I tossed some zucchini, yellow squash, portabello mushrooms, red onions and asparagus in olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano and marjoram.  Then roasted them for awhile.  Toasted some good Italian bread with a little of my honey/chipotle compound butter and then slathered on a nice layer of homemade chipotle hummus.  Sprinkled a bit of Parmesan cheese over the veg and stuffed my face.

Henry's End II - The Search For More Food

Henry's End II – The Search For More Food

I'd been to Henry's End in December for my birthday and had a fantastic time. It was a great meal with great company in a very comfortable setting. But sometimes I'm a lazy ass and it wasn't until May or so that I finally got around to writing about my experience there. I wasn't really thrilled with how the review came out. I felt like I short-changed the place a little. (I posted that older review yesterday for anyone interested.) When an invitation to join my friend Blake and his lady Paula for dinner there I jumped at the chance. I knew I'd be in great company, Blake is one of those 3 favorite eating companions I've mentioned in an earlier post and Paula is always fantastic to be out with. I knew I'd have an excellent meal. And hopefully I'd turn out a better review of this restaurant.

Let me start by saying there's nothing pretentious at all here. There's just a very homey vibe. I could've worn shorts to dinner with no problem, I think. But Paula overruled me and we all listen to Paula. There should be a “Henry's End” in every neighborhood. A place to have some excellent, soulful food and drink. The staff are all friendly, happy and very helpful. There's a pleasant buzz all around the dining room. Every set of diners seems to be engaged in conversation but it's never so loud that it distracts from your own. Something I noticed was that I didn't see anyone messing with their phones rather than actually being present with whomever they were with. I really liked that.

To start with we ordered the Corn Crab Cakes which were pretty good with a nice bite from the cayenne. Shrimp with Andouille sausage, the Creole mustard sauce was excellent but the shrimp themselves were a touch bland. The West Indian BBQ Shrimp were fantastic. The shrimp were cooked perfectly and seasoned with cumin, curry and cayenne and the BBQ sauce was magnificent. I'd have gladly licked it off the table, though Paula would likely have had me executed if I did. We also had the Viennese Liver Pate, very tasty, especially on the hearty bread they provided for the table and dipped in the Creole mustard sauce.

For entrees Paula had Sole Citron. Very fresh and light but I thought the fish was slightly eggy from the breading. Blake went with Blackened Lamb Sirloin. I've never seen that on a menu before and was quite curious. The piece I had was excellent. Succulent and tender and a perfect medium rare. Apparently at Henry's End they know how to rock out the BBQ sauces because this one was fabulous too. Hints of cinnamon, cumin and nutmeg gave it a great “island” flair. I'll be having that sometime soon. I had the Southern Fried Chicken and was completely blown away by how good it was. This is a completely unfamiliar familiar dish. The breading was crunchy and immensely flavorful with much the same flavors as the BBQ sauce from the lamb. The chicken itself was moist and tender from thigh to breast. If I could bread my hands in that mixture and smother them in the BBQ sauce I'd gladly gnaw them off to the wrists. We also shared a couple of orders of Sautéed Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta. Do I really need to tell you this was good? It had pancetta, of course it was good. Diced shoe leather would be good with pancetta and Brussel sprouts are better than shoe leather so this was pretty damn tasty.

Despite our kingly feast we managed to get to dessert. I'd had both desserts that Paula and Blake had the last time I was here. The Persian Lime Pie is tart and fresh. Chocolate Confusion is an evil brownie/bread pudding combination. Rich and delicious and probably illegal in 7 states because it's just that decadent. This time around I tried the Apple Strudel. It was very good but it didn't make me jump up and say “wow”.

I'm really looking forward to making another visit to Henry's End to see what else from that menu makes me smile from mouth to stomach. I'm going to have a hard time ordering anything but that amazing fried chicken. But I'll be strong for you all and keep trying new things instead. Maybe I'll just get the chicken to go next time. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Henry's End

44 Henry Street

Brooklyn, NY, 11201

718-834-1776

http://www.henrysend.com/

Henry's End...The First Time We Were Just Getting To Know Each Other

This is something I posted about my first visit to Henry's End on Facebook.  I made a return visit on Monday.  Be on the lookout over the next day or two for what else I have to say about this fantastic place in Brooklyn Heights.

Henry's End

I know, I know...this has taken me nearly 5 months to get around to writing. For awhile there I guess I lost my juju for writing much of anything. This morning I was thinking about wanting to go back to Henry's End and remembered that I hadn't ever gotten around to writing about what I thought of this wonderful place the first time I went. I decided it was high time I rectify that oversight. Luckily, I had taken some notes and I still remembered this place pretty well.

I was lucky enough to have my friend Jenn take me here for my birthday last December. I'd been talking about going for quite awhile. I'd heard good things. They were all true. I was immediately comfortable when I walked in. There's a very warm feeling about the restaurant. There's something very homey about it. Our waitress was incredibly friendly and really helpful. I was amazed that the fantastic food came out of this tiny little open kitchen off to the side of the restaurant.

We ate supremely well. Jenn had turtle soup which she said was almost as good as she'd had in New Orleans. It made her do a little dance. I did get a lil taste. Quite good. My first bit of turtle. I had spicy sweet potato soup which was excellent. I could easily have eaten a gallon of it. Along with the soups we got a tortilla crusted shrimp appetizer. The guacamole it came with was kind of punch-less and the chipotle mayo was just “eh”. The shrimp themselves were pretty good but Jenn thought we could've gotten the same thing at Chevy's. She's probably right.

Being that this meal happened last year I sadly don't remember what Jenn had as an entree. Hey, I'm getting old and my memory isn't what it used to be as I spent a lot of time soaking my brain cells in alcohol and various other mind-altering chemicals. I do, however, remember what I had. They have something going on over there called the wild game festival and I was all over that. I had elk chops, venison sausage and wild boar belly all served with a pomegranate/pancetta relish type of thing. All of those things were fantastic. I've had venison before and this was a pretty tasty sausage. Wild boar belly was just a slightly gamier version of regular pork belly. And if you didn't know already, pork belly is GOOD! So was this. The star of the show were the elk chops. That was some good stuff.

I remember that I had a couple of decent Manhattans even if they were made with Maker's Mark which I generally loathe. We did have a dessert called Chocolate Confusion that was pretty fantastic. It was some sort of brownie/bread pudding kind of thing with ice cream and fudge that was insane. That didn't last very long. We knocked that sucker out.

I really need to get back there and try some more of their food. I've heard they have fantastic fried chicken and I'd really like to try the kangaroo there too. When we left I kept thinking that I wished this place was in Bay Ridge...I'd eat here once a week. This was the kind of restaurant that I'd be thrilled to become a regular and have the people there know my name. I don't think you can really give a place a much better compliment, can you?

*I do have to add this.  I stupidly wasn't able to remember what Jenn had when we went but she did and had this to say "I had the veal with capers and lemons and it was excellent!  I thoroughly enjoyed our dinner and would go back in a heartbeat, just say when."  There you have it folks.  She's ready to go back too.

Henry's End

44 Henry Street

Brooklyn, NY

718-834-1776

http://www.henrysend.com

Smutty and Rye

I guess this is loving my outer drunken adult rather than my inner fat kid but sustenance doesn't always come on a plate.  Sometimes it comes in glasses of different sizes.  This might be my new favorite boozy combination.  Bulleit Rye on the rocks and a cold pint of Smuttynose Brown Ale.  I'm looking forward to making an uppity boilermaker out of this.

Pimento Cheeseburger with Sweet Potato Fries

I've been dreaming this up for about a week now.  I'll put this burger up against any burger I've ever had.

Food Manifeasto

For about two-thirds of my life all I really knew was subsistence eating. My parents fed us almost completely from boxes. Hamburger Helper, Chef Boyardee, Idaho Mashed Potatoes, 8 for a dollar Ramen Noodles, Bologna and Cheese on store-bought, white bread are the things I think of when I think about my childhood food. There were never really any sit-down meals in my family, home-cooked or otherwise. I can't recall when the last time my family had dinner at a restaurant. I think it may have been after my graduation from junior high. I was never shown the communal aspect of the meal. It was merely fuel. Food meant nothing. So much so that an ex-girlfriend once made a beautiful dinner complete with roasted potatoes and vegetables and I scoffed at it asking “Why spend so much time and effort on food?”

I am not mentioning any of this looking for sympathy at all. Merely to illustrate where I came from so as to better portray where I am now. Over the last 10 years I've come to recognize the importance and power food and drink hold in our lives.

Nearly all of the relevant relationships in my life have come to bloom and flourish over food and drink. There's a depth and honesty of conversation and interaction between people you don't see any other way. Some of the finest nights of this past decade have happened in dimly lit rooms with a small group of people I love, over charred flesh and smoky whiskey. Obviously, it doesn't have to be that setting or that menu. I've also had plenty of fantastic times sitting on a deck eating grilled burgers while drinking beer. Or wings and chips watching the game. Or terribly unhealthy fried stuff and whatever creations we come up with while sitting around with the “fellas” watching grown men in tights roll around with each other on pay-per-view. It's sometimes with 4 people or 6 people. Sometimes with 20 people or 2 people. The point being; it's moments like these that have allowed me to realize why some of the extraordinary people in my life are so extraordinary. It's not just sharing a meal...it's briefly sharing life.

Cooking is an entirely different animal, but for me it's one that's become just as important. Not everyone can do it. So you can't really judge someone by how they cook. But for those of us that do cook, we generally give a piece of ourselves with the food that we serve. I know when I cook, it's a means of expression. I'm not talking about subsistence cooking. When I can barely stand after a torturous day of work and I heat something up or haphazardly toss together a salad. I'm talking about when I start with some sort of idea and nurse it along from concept to plate. When the intention is to eventually serve that idea to someone other than just me. There's an artistry there that I hadn't recognized until I started to cook that way myself. There's a tremendous amount of excitement and trepidation when I present something I made for the first time to someone else to try. I can't wait to see the eyebrows raise and the corners of their mouth lift to reveal a smile of satisfaction. At the same time I dread seeing their foreheads wrinkle when they're searching their minds trying to find something nice to say about the awful dreck I've just had them put in their mouths because they don't want to hurt my feelings.

There's this wonderful back and forth to be shared between people that love to cook. I've had so many interesting conversations with people about cooking with folks I might never have even spoken to had we not had that in common. Bouncing ingredients and ideas off of someone that also sees a vision in food is one of my favorite things in the world.

Basically I just figured I'd give folks a bit of a reason as to why food has become an important part of my life. It's not just the carnal and sensual nature of some meals (although seriously, that's a big plus). It's that food brings people together. Food isn't merely fuel. It's a uniter. It's a vessel for sharing. So I want to share with you. I've got a few years of restaurant reviews stored up that have been posted in various other places that I'll get around to posting from time to time as I got through them. I may feel the need to go back and revisit some of the places if I feel I didn't do a good enough job in representing them. I've got some recipes that might be worthy of sharing and maybe some opinions on food matters that I want to express. An article here or there that I've stumbled upon that I think is worth sharing. I do warn you ahead of time, I have a tendency to get a little wordy. You may have noticed that reading this lengthy soliloquy. I hope someone gets something out of what I share. I hope some people feel the urge to share with me. As the man who taught me the most about what I know about food might say...let's all go find some Good Eats.

Visiting History One Bite At a Time

     I have been to Delmonico's before. But to be fair, I don't really remember the meal particularly well. I was a little overwhelmed. You see, I've been a little bit obsessed with the place ever since I'd read The Alienist by Caleb Carr. The story takes place in turn of the 20^th century NY and Delmonico's was already about 65 years old and featured prominently in the novel. After reading the book I went researching and checking out this restaurant. As it turns out, Delmonico's was the first “a la carte” restaurant in the United States. That means it was the first eatery that you were able to order your meal piece by piece...appetizers, entrees and desserts by your choice from a selection rather than just whatever the chef prepared that day. This is the place where Lobster Newberg, Oysters Rockefeller, Baked Alaska, and for all you brunch lovers, Eggs Benedict were invented. This place is culinary history, folks. Up until then restaurants had their patrons seated at long communal tables rather than having a table for each party. This was a restaurant that served Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Charles Dickens... Obviously, I was a bit enamored. So when Doreen surprised me with a trip here for my 30^th birthday dinner, as I said, I was a little overwhelmed. It was like being 12-years-old and waking up Christmas morning to see a wrapped gift in the shape of the bicycle you've been wanting all year and then once you opened the present there was the Nintendo you never told anyone you wanted but had been dreaming about for months. Yes, I was THAT excited. When I walked between those columns my heart nearly beat out of my chest. So, the details of that visit got somewhat blurred in my amazement that someone thought of me enough to take me there and that I was actually there.

     

     7 years later, I made my return with Gina, one of my 3 favorite eating companions in the world. The conversation is never stilted, we laugh a lot and we eat a little less than we laugh. You can't ask for any more. I'm sometimes chided about how central food seems to be to me. Well, this is why. Food produces nights like these. There's a bond made between people that share a great meal together that isn't made any other way. It may have come to me late in life, but I've learned to respect that power.

     

     Oddly, I was still pretty damn excited to be going there. Now I know it's not the same exact place as the restaurant that had that name 175 years ago. But it's the same space. They serve some of the same menu. And those columns were there nearly 2 centuries ago like aging sentinels watching over the name of Delmonico's. Kind of like that ancient knight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade watching the grail. Much like Indy did...we chose wisely. This time around I was better able to take in, or at least better able to process, how elegant it is inside. The beautiful murals on the walls. The impeccably tuxedoed wait staff. Hell, even the Delmonico's emblazoned steak knives and plates. I was really tempted to steal a steak knife but it seemed too much like something a blue-haired old lady would do.

     Now if you're going out to enjoy what is supposed to be a reverent and fantastic meal...go out with someone that absolutely loves to eat. The only way to top that is to go out with a woman who is 5-months pregnant that loves to eat. So that's exactly what I did. Although honestly we didn't really indulge any more than we normally would have. Which isn't to say we didn't eat a lot. It's just to say that we normally eat a lot when we go out like this.

     To start with we went with; Crab cakes which had bits of chili and pineapple in them. They were pretty damn tasty. Not fantastic, but tasty. Oysters “Diamond Jim Brady”, which is basically a stepped-up, more indulgent version of Oysters Rockefeller. These wonderful bivalves come topped with spinach, Champagne cream and pancetta. Absolutely fantastic. We also had Grilled Spanish Octopus. I love me some eight-legged sea creatures but sadly these were a bit of a let down. The octopus was somewhat over-cooked and a little bland. The salad it came on with chorizo and somekind of roasted peppers was pretty good though. A very nicely made Manhattan made me a happy camper as well.

     When in a steakhouse, you've got to eat beef. Otherwise there's really no point in being there unless you're a regular and you want to try everything on the menu. We went for cow. Yummy, yummy cow. 16 oz T-Bones for us. With that lovely char and the beautiful red color in the middle. They may have fed the cows these steaks came from nothing but butter for years because that's how buttery this meat was. For sides, we didn't go with the usual fare of creamed spinach and such. I don't really know why actually. I guess because we didn't want to order absolutely everything on the menu and have them need wheelbarrows to get us out of there. So we went with roasted mushrooms, which were excellent. The summer version of Delmonico Potatoes, which were pretty good but missing the hints of nutmeg I remember from the version I had 7 years ago. I liked the winter ones better. And how can you not order something called King Crab Macaroni and Cheese. This was some seriously decadent mac and cheese. It didn't have as much crab flavor as I would have liked. I think maybe the crab was a somewhat overwhelmed by all the cream and cheese. It was excellent macaroni and cheese...just not really very crabbish.

     With most folks, we go to dinner and never make it to dessert. By the time we get to that point in the meal we can barely manage a cup of coffee and some groans and grunts of satisfaction. When I'm out with Gina, that's never the case. There's always room for dessert. I don't know what it is about sharing a meal with her but somehow my stomach expands just a little bit more. Maybe I just know what's expected of me when she's sitting across the table and my body adjusts accordingly. So Gina got a really good hazelnut chocolate cake that came with amazing vanilla ice cream. And since I've never had it, and they're famous for it, I tried Baked Alaska. It was OK. The meringue wasn't my favorite thing in the world. But once you got past that strangely textured stuff the walnut cake and banana gelato underneath were pretty damn good. Especially with another Manhattan. I really should've asked what they used in their Manhattans because they were fucking excellent.

     I'm really glad I went back to Delmonico's for a 2^nd time. The first time was a fantastic experience. The second time was a fantastic meal. I would definitely go back for a 3^rd time.

Delmonico's

56 Beaver Street, NYC

212-509-1144

http://www.delmonicosny.com/