Taste of Elegance, part II

I covered the top three entries in the Missouri Pork Association’s Taste of Elegance contest the other day. Here’s I’ll include the entries that didn’t place (ie, numbers 4-8) in no particular order.

One thing that became evident in the tasting is that the chefs were dealing with conventional, CAFO-raised pork, the hallmarks of which are whiter meat, a tendency to dry out easily and – absent brining and marinating – less flavor than their counterparts on real farms (like Greystone, JJR and especially, Newman Farm). I won’t get into the merits here too much, but the differences are worth acknowledging.

Note: We were scoring on appearance, taste, originality and repeatability (recipes that would be suitable in a busy restaurant kitchen), with taste being the most heavily-weighted.

Here we go…

Bangkok Peanut Pork Tenderloin, Couscous with Pignolis and Chicharrones
Chef Steve Henderson
Hy-Vee, Conley Road

Peanut-flavored applesauce on grilled pork loin. Couscous and fried pork rinds competing for most random accompaniment. It was cooked correctly, but I really don’t know what was going on here. Not a fan.

Trotter Cigars and Consommé on the Rocks
Trey Quinlan
Red and Moe

Trey tends to get a little “out there” with his contest entries, but this one takes the cake. A cigar of trotter molé sauce on an aspic “ashtray,” atop an encyclopedia with a glass of pork consommé “on the rocks” (ie, knuckle bones). It looked prettier in real life, and was fun. I actually thought it worked pretty well – it came in fourth on my ballot – but the other judges were less impressed.

More after the jump.

Dining healthy while dining out

I was on BXR for a few minutes this morning, talking about something decidedly ill-fitting given the weather: eating healthy while dining out. Snow or no, the show much go on.

First off, it’s much, much easier to eat healthy when cooking at home. Restaurants often fortify their dishes with extra butter and salt – more than you’d likely add at home (and often tastes better for it). You’re also less in control of portion size when dining out. It takes more willpower to stop eating and ask for the to-go box than to just serve yourself less at home.

Still, healthy is out there. Here are a few picks for places and dishes that’ll give you a better chance of sticking to your resolutions. It’s a short list and I have a selfish motive for asking for other recommendations: I’m looking to drop a few pounds myself. Anyway, here goes.

At: Main Squeeze Cafe
Try the: Buddha Bowl

At: International Cafe
Try the: Red lentil soup and hummus

At: Addison’s
Try the: Black Bean and Thai Peanut Wrap

At: Red and Moe
Try the: Pizzas, fresh pastas, small plates

At: Broadway Brewery
Try the: Polenta Plate, Summer Vegetable Sandwich, Curried Apple Chicken Salad

The Healty(ish) Splurge:
At: Cafe Berlin
Try the: The Starving Artist

4 Quick Notes:

Kampai Alley: I’ve really enjoyed the sushi here. Fresh, good selection of nigiri and sashimi, with plenty of inventive rolls to draw out the non-purists. The sukiyaki broth boasted little of the salty, sweet and sour flavors that normally mark this Japanese hotpot, however. Still, the interior is one of Columbia’s nicest as well and they now have Anchor Steam on tap as well. A nice addition.

Broadway Brewery: Mmm, the Rooster. This may be my favorite pizza there. Chicken, artichokes, creamy garlic sauce. Very nice. They’re also putting out some great soups, though they’ve yet to repeat any (leek and kale, please?). Bonus points for not dumbing down the kids menu. And for the Blonde Cream, which is refreshing and escapes the problems they’ve had with carbonation in other beers. 

Olive Cafe: My visits have been all over the map. But some folks I trust really like the place, so it could be bad luck and selection. What should I be ordering?

Der Essen Platz: The fried oysters utterly failed to impress, though the grilled sardines were nice. And I still can’t get into German beer. My the parents had great luck with entrees. I need to give them a full visit.

4 Quick Notes

Olive Cafe: Good, not great. I like the kofta (both plate and sandwich), which is as subtle and addictive as the excellent hummus. The chicken on the chicken kabob sandwich was tender but oddly flavorless and the pita isn’t as good as the stuff you can get in bags (and freeze!) at World Harvest. The temperature of the restaurant is out of whack half the time. In December people were wearing gloves inside; last night it was 85 degrees at least.

Sycamore Restaurant: Family dinner the other night was a treat. Gnoochi and a side of snap peas were a hit with the kids and my duck two-way (seared breast and confit of leg) was rich and tender (and fantastic left over). Mrs. SMEs’ halibut sounded good on the menu and looked good on the plate but didn’t taste like much of anything. On draft, the St. Gen. IPA is worth a taste; in bottles, try the Founders “Devil Dancer” Triple IPA.

Broadway Brewery: Go check out the new summer menu, which has greatly expanded and become a vegetarian’s wet dream. We ate very well the other day on grilled margherita flatbread, a fantastic kale soup and creamy polenta cakes topped with a stunning, punchy ragout of tomatoes and summer vegetables. Could have passed only on the chorizo and cheese dip. Bravo, Broadway.

Jazz: Um, yuck. How does this place stay in business? My gumbo was okay, but a platter of crawdads was nasty. Unfresh, no spice, just bad, bad, bad. And I don’t think it’d be possible to more comprehensively break a creamy Cajun pasta sauce than they did. Awe-inspiring, really.

You now have Sunday plans

Broadway Brewery – fast becoming one of Columbia’s best restaurants – and Slow Food Katy Trail are teaming up for a local food, local beer event that sounds, simply, amazing. Since Walker’s involved I know it’ll also be hilarious. We have our tickets; get yours here. Details and the mouth-watering menu here.

How is Broadway Brewery doing?

Jeff over at Make Mine Potato isn’t impressed – though he is trying to keep an open mind.

So what do you think? I’ve had a nice pizza and an amazing ravioli special on my two food visits so far. But grumblings – from Jeff and others – suggest quite a bit of room for improvement. If you’ve been, I’d love to hear your initial reactions.

Broadway Brewery

An sharp-eyed tipster pointed out that the website for Broadway Brewery is now up and running. I’ll say this, the menu looks absolutely awesome. If the kitchen does it right, this could be one of the best places in town.

Broadway Brewery

The long-awaited project of Walker Claridge, Kenny Duzan and others is – supposedly – nearing completion. When I wandered through the place with Walker last week, floors were being cleaned, tables and chairs were out and the beer tanks looked ready to get down to business. Only time will tell if the latest “two week” estimate holds, there’s a lot left to do (namely in the kitchen). Still, it’s going to be a great setup when they’re done.

Broadway Brewery update II

After a couple of beers downtown last night I ducked into the space that will become Broadway Brewery. Walker was pouring over blueprints with a contractor and – in typical Walker fashion – had been mixing cans of paint together and smearing it on the wall to see if he liked the color (no, I don’t know how he’d replicate the desired result either).

Anyway, the whole enterprise – slowed by goofy code enforcement – looks far from finished. When it’s done, it’s really going to be something else…I just wouldn’t bet on April.

Broadway Brewery

Walker Claridge, Columbia’s food pied piper (without that whole child abduction legend thingy), seems on track to open his brewery/local foods restaurant by late April.

Update: This opening date is very much still in flux. Seems there are a number of – go figure – confusing and contradictory city/county hoops left through which to jump.