And that’s how we wound up at Fish Kebab. 

Since I’d been eating at home right before he arrived, I wasn’t all that hungry and decided to just choose a bunch of things to nibble on.  Pita came with our mezze platter. 

Hummus, which was perfectly tasty but nothing mind blowing (I LOVE hummus, and have a favorite brand and all). 

The mezzes: from the front left clockwise, babaghanoush, tzatziki, garlic-potatoes, stuffed grape leaves, and … mmm… taramasalata.  I’m not a big eggplant person, so that dish was mostly ignored by me, but the tzatziki was very creamy and tangy… the potatoes were a bit of hit or miss with me, a little too stiff to be a dip and a little odd eating just like mashed potatoes.  The stuffed grape leaves were okay, and the taramasalata… oh, my.  I won’t say it’s the best ever, but I really liked how fishy this dip was, you would not mistake this for anything but a cod roe dip.  So good – I couldn’t stop stuffing this in my mouth.  We requested more pita, a request that was met happily. 

We also ordered a half dozen raw oysters because I was just feeling it.  I enjoyed these – super fresh, and super tasty, not like the ones I’d had earlier.  Shucked properly too, no need to pull them from the shell… ahhh. 

DLS ordered the seafood pasta, which sounded glorious.  Both of us assumed it would be mostly seafood tossed with the pasta, maybe clams and/or mussels in the shell, but when the server came over to put a bib on DLS, we both realized how wrong we were.  I took a couple of cute photos of him wearing the bib, but I don’t think he’d appreciate me putting them on the blog… so I won’t, boo   In any case, he seemed to really enjoy his pasta, though I declined to try any – half a lobster, mussels, shrimp, I think even scallops in there… maybe he’ll (finally!) comment and share his thoughts on something? 

As I said, I wasn’t particularly hungry, so I chose just the New England clam chowder.  The bowl was huge! and quite tasty.  Very smoothly creamy – mine sometimes comes out a bit lumpy, probably from my tendency to brown my roux, filled with lots of veggies and big chunks of clam.  I really enjoyed my soup, and didn’t feel any remorse at being unable to order a more substantial meal – I thoroughly enjoyed everything  I ate!

Yvo says: I’d initially worried this place wouldn’t still be there since it’s been literally over 11 years since I’d gone, but it’s clear why this place has survived the test of time: fresh seafood, a wonderful staff and just good food.  You can’t beat that.  The owners have a few places – this, the Shish Kebab place, a little market across the street, and a bunch of places that all sell this type of stuff – the little market sells the mezze we ordered individually by the pound, and even little mini picnic packs to take to the lake nearby to eat a nice picnic lunch… yes, we talked about that, you know how goofy I am!… Love how adorable it is.  Full disclosure: the same owners have or had another restaurant in the Source Mall, which is where I threw FeistySis’s baby shower for her first child… and I loved it, they were easy to work with, the price was awesome and the food was good (served buffet style), just a great overall place. 
highly recommended if you’re in the area

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: DLS, hummus, taramasalata

Recently, I was in the city tending to some business on the far west side.  When I was done, BF and I realized how hungry we were, so we walked around about a block before I realized… oh hey! It’s Kashkaval!  My friend Babydot told me about this place literally years ago, when I went to Artisanal, and told me how much she liked it, how it’s better and cheaper than Artisanal for fondue, and how much she just really thought I’d like the place.  With such a rave, it’s almost a wonder I haven’t gone before – but then, I’ve tried several times, only other places always wound up coming up first… 

The front of Kashkaval is set up like a deli, with seating in the back.  The dark wood interior makes it feel very cozy, with a long bar to sit and eat at if you wish, and lots of bottles of wines along the walls. 

We were seated quickly in a cozy corner table that forced us to sit next to each other, giggling and people watching.  BF wasn’t feeling fondue, so I opted to get a big mishmash plate of Mediterranean tapas.  The above was the large sampler plate – choice of six; I ordered it figuring I’d have leftovers.  I was right. 

Brussels sprouts; these were tender enough but not a standout.  Good veggie, I like brussels sprouts in general, but unless I was dying for vegetables next time, I wouldn’t get this again. 

Dolma, or stuffed grape leaves.  Not bad, but not wonderful either. 

Ahhhhhhh!  Taramosalata, which I quest for every so often.  Not only was this available, but it was actually pretty damn good.  I’ve had a lot in various restaurants that are clearly just the jarred stuff, which has a tinny taste to it, and… that satisfies the craving, but it doesn’t quite get it right.  This one, however, has a good likelihood of becoming my standby… they sell it in the front at $5.99 or 6.99 a lb… mmm just drop by, pick this up with some pita, go home, and call it a night.  Yes, that’s how I roll.  Anyway, taramosalata is a salted cod roe spread, sometimes made with potato, or bread, and always lemon juice and olive oil.  When done right, it smacks lightly of the sea, with a nice refreshing brininess to it that is enhanced with lemon juice.  I love it.  I’ve bought jars of it, mixed it with pasta, spread it on sandwiches, and made my own approximation but slightly Japanese style (with tobiko or masago, mayo, and hot sauce)… oh so good.  I love it.  I love roe.  And this is a very, very good version. 

The hummus was serviceable, though nothing exciting. 

I enjoyed the tzatziki as well, between dips of taramosalata. 

But the surprise of the dish – which was even funnier given that I was deciding between this or the baked beets, but was convinced otherwise by our server – was definitely the artichoke dip.  Chunks of artichoke, held together by what tasted like a well-seasoned cream cheese, just perfect.  Salty, creamy, and chunks of artichoke… yum!  I need to create my own recipe for an artichoke dip! 

And all of thise was served with an abundance of pita bread, warm.  Yum! 

BF went with a meat and cheese plate, which started off with some stale French baguette.  I’m really picky about my bread, as is he – he prefers Italian bread/seeded semolina (and I prefer excellent baguettes), but we both agreed that this was felt like they’d cut it too early and then left it out to dry out.  Hmph.  Thankfully, though he’s picky and will comment on it, it won’t stop him from eating…

This is the picture I took of his platter – the smallest size they offer, by the way! – with a lot of lovely fruit scattered on top.  (Does anyone else experience this: you see a dried apricot, and it looks so wonderful, juicy, soft, and bright… and then you bite into it, and you’re like, DAMMIT TRICKED AGAIN I DON’T LIKE DRIED APRICOTS! … yeah, me neither.  We were talking about how good they look but how deceiving their looks are!) 

His cheese: smoked cheddar, which he carefully cut off the darker parts of each piece of cheese, and I happily gobbled up, loving the smokiness.  His meats: I know one of them was prosciutto, which he noted was a little sinewy and fatty – with that “string” of fat you sometimes find along a slice of prosciutto… the other meat, I didn’t hear any complaints as he ate them.  The fruits topping it were greatly appreciated to cut the fattiness of the meats and cheeses! 

Why is there a second photograph?  Because I took a photo, and he insisted that it was a terrible photograph and he wanted to take one with a better angle.  So… here is his photograph.  You decide which is the better photograph. 

Yvo says: Very cute place with a lot to offer anyone in the area just dropping in for a bite to eat, or lingering over some romantic fondue.  I am definitely going to go back and make sure it isn’t a few years before I return!  Reasonable prices as well, and lots of choices for small bites… yum!
recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Tapas

Before I left for Peru, ILILI began offering brunch in their spacious (I mean huge – I think the place holds 250 people?!) restaurant, and invited bloggers to come sample their brunch menu.  Despite brunch’s ill reputation as a service most kitchens hate to offer and as one of those things that many people just love saying “I’d rather make my own brunch at home and get exactly what I want without sitting on top of other people, I actually enjoy brunch out quite a bit.  It’s true that at the end of the day, what is so unique about brunch menus?  It’s usually the same stuff, eggs a few different ways, Benedict with some variations… (one of the ways I justify paying for this is that I do not wish to learn how to make a proper Hollandaise sauce, so will go to a restaurant and rely on them to make it for me!). 

Well, ILILI rocks the boat with its Mediterranean spin on the brunch menu.  Instead of simply offering Mediterranean twists on classic dishes, they also offer some truly unique dishes. 

The brunch menu is structured as a $25 prix fixe, which includes a ‘normal’ brunch drink (American coffee, orange juice, or grapefruit juice) and a choice of pomegranate cava, mimosa or bellini.  I chose the bellini, but wound up trading for the pomegranate cava, which was much bubblier and happier, suiting my mood better. 

We chose to add a bread basket ($9) to our selections, because we were feeling munchy and why not? 

I tried a bit of everything and found myself enamored of the lemon almond blondie, dense and moist, very lightly sweet.  To be honest, though, my dining companion and I found ourselves with near exactly opposite opinions on each item; he didn’t appreciate the almond blondie, nor the dark corn-muffin-looking piece which boasted a hint of maple, slightly smokey and to me, yummy, while the croissant had an herb mixture I found displeasing to my palate, and the crumb-topped apple muffin – containing real chunks of apple within – wasn’t to my liking, but he enjoyed both greatly.  The scone was a toss-up for both of us; in the end, it worked out well for us both, as we didn’t have to fight for anything in the basket. 

I’d asked a friend what I should order here, and he’d mentioned that though there are the standard eggs benedict (two different kinds – one even with truffle hollandaise), I should really try the more unique offerings.  I’m glad I did – above is my order of the chakchouka cocotte, which turned out to be basically eggs baked into a spiced tomato sauce.  It was so good – the tomato sauce dollop atop it boasted a lovely sweetness, while the eggs were fragrant with the spices used to cook it (which I can’t exactly name for you – these are not spices common in my pantry, so I certainly can’t name them offhand).  The nuggets of hashbrown dumplings were amazing – crisp, crisp exterior with a super chewy (like mochi!) interior, but when I questioned the extremely talented John Shim, a chef at ILILI, he said it was simply grated potato and onion, much like a latke, and fried properly.  SO good. 

I was impressed with the eggs being baked in this sauce and yet not overcooking whatsoever – my yolks remained liquid gold and delicious.  (Yes, I love raw egg yolk, and have since I was a small child… mmm)

For my side, I opted for the grilled beets with aleppo honey butter.  The aleppo was slightly spicy, but unevenly spread across the beets, which proved a bonus point for me.  I enjoyed this dish greatly but honestly, I love beets so you could probably feed them to me nearly any old way and I’d love them. 

My dining companion ordered the veal bacon.  Speaking to Chef Massoud after our meal, we mentioned to him how much we adored the veal bacon – and he explained its existence was partially out of deference to the many non-pork-eating people from the area which this cuisine represents.  Smoky, but not overwhelmingly so, the meat on this bacon was so tender, you could pull it apart.  Oh my, this was simply fabulous.  I think I could eat this every day for the rest of my life and not feel guilty; it wasn’t particularly fatty or oily, which is nice so early in the day. 

Wanting to try more of the menu, we opted to add on hommus, which is, in all honesty, a pretty standard dish from this part of the world as well.  However, this was anything but standard.  Fluffy, creamy, with absolutely no graininess nor contrasting texture – which, in this case, worked – I was blown away by the hommus.  I’ve eaten a lot of hommus in my life, and this was simply fabulous.  I asked Chef Massoud what his secret was, but he told me that it was simplicity.  Nothing fancy to this hommus, with very few ingredients.  If memory serves, it contained about 3 ingredients (chickpeas, tahini and lemon juice).  And it was amazing. 

This was served with very airy and hot pita – each one was puffed up like a pillow! – that we could have had replenished, but nearing that wall, we declined politely.  I could have spooned that lovely hommus straight into my mouth and consumed it that way, quite honestly… and been very happy. 

Another dish my friend had recommended was the katayef, or a Lebanese pancake.  We opted for the fresh fruit one, topped with strawberries, lots of almond slivers, and a mound of (yes, there’s something in the center of that ball!) what we thought was cheese (think it is called ashta, and a quick Google doesn’t really tell me much).  Since I’m not a fan of crepes, I only had a teeny bite, but my dining companion seemed quite taken with his choice.  The ‘cheese’ spread nicely all over and was very tasty, he said. 

It also came with a small dish of what he said was rosewater (but really, orange blossom) syrup.  He used this sparingly on the katayef, and still enjoyed it thoroughly. 

I have to say, I was impressed that without fail (minus that croissant/herby thing in the bread basket), I enjoyed each and every single one of these dishes.  (Yes, I told Chef Massoud this to his face, and he laughed at my bluntness… I think.  Or me.)  It isn’t often that I absolutely adore everything in a meal with no exceptions, and coming pretty close is also not an easy feat.  I guess I always find something to complain about or dislike, but this time, I am really hard pressed to tell you that I disliked anything – even the herby croissant wasn’t bad, per se, just not pleasing to my palate – someone out there likes how that tastes. 

Yvo says: I highly, highly recommend brunch here – I already want to go back.  Though you may initially think $25 is way too much for brunch, after you see what you get for it – after you eat it – you will realize that it is totally worth it.  The ingredients are top notch and everything tastes so good (we opted to add on the hommus and the bread basket, but you’d definitely be full just ordering from the prix fixe menu), you’ll find yourself wishing for extra stomach space so you can eat more stuff.  Especially the knafe dessert, which I was too stuffed to sample, but it has my name on it and I’m going back for it… oh yes indeed.  I will be back for that two-person-knafe… nom nom nom
highly recommended brunch

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Brunch

When I go there, there was already a line out the door.  Uh oh.

One of the owners was outside handing out menus and collecting coupons.  Apparently in addition to press/bloggers, they handed out free lunch coupons too. This caused some confusion as you couldn’t just walk up and get in line, at least not with being a little sneaky.

The line moved relatively quick. I got a chance to check out the decor.  Very nice and clean inside.  Notice the chick peas used as decoration(what hummus is made out of for those that don’t know).

In addition to the free wrap or plate, you could get a drink.  I chose Iced Tea.  It had some fresh mint in it and you could see the tea leaves on the bottom as proof of homemade tea.  It was sweet, but not overly so.

I decided to order the Hummus Chicken Wrap(all natural chicken breast, hummus, tahini, organic onions & greens).  The only sides they have are salads or hummus.  I tried to order their Organic Rice Pudding too, but was told only one item per person.  This was odd since it was an opportunity for people to try all the restaurant had to offer.

Luckily, they had their ordering system down pat, so it was only a short wait until your number was called.  No mass confusion that most restaurants usually experience when they first open.

The wrap was a good size.  Unfortunately, it was a bit dry and under-flavored.  I didn’t see any hot sauce offered and it could have used it.  The wrap also broke easily which made it a bit difficult to eat.  I will chalk up these problems to grand opening issues and the amount of volume they were processing to get everyone their food as quick as possible.  I will have to try again in a couple weeks to see how if all the kinks are worked out.  Thanks to Nanoosh for the complimentary lunch.

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Post tags: TT

My friend’s chicken something platter with hummus and a bulghur side with tomato.  While this was generally enjoyed, I believe the chicken was dry, but the sauce and hummus surely took care of that.

I really wanted to try the falafel sandwich, because that’s what I’d heard Alfanoose was known for.  But I also wanted to try kofta, because as I’ve mentioned a billion times before, I am looking for yummy kofta.  I asked if I could get just one kofta (it’s like a long meatball or a kebab with no stick), and the guy said OK but then tried to charge me $7 for it.  WTF?  So he saw my face and said “It’s only $1 more to make it into a sandwich,” and that is how I ended up with two sandwiches. 

I’d read about the falafel being pretty damn amazing.  I really like Sam’s Falafel, which is only $3 for a sandwich and is only a few blocks away, but this sandwich, at $8, better be amazing. 

It was… alright.  I mean, it was good, and had pickles in it, which brought another flavor to the game, but I don’t know about $8 good.  The sandwich IS big, but… still!  I think I’d probably pass on this next time, though I might try a platter… although those are like $13 or so.  No thanks!  That’s way above my price range for lunch (unless it’s a special occasion, in which case, table service! wow, I’m a brat). 

As for the kofte sandwich?  I unwrapped it later that afternoon to take a peek at it.  I wasn’t sure when I’d be able to eat it, since I had dinner plans that night.  So I, um…

opened it up… and began eating just the innards.

So, again, the combination of flavors on the inside was good.  The kofte itself could be a little softer, less overcooked.  Tasty.  But not the dreamy soft kofta I’ve been looking for… and I don’t know about the price, either.  I might be incredibly picky about that right now, but seriously, $8 for this sandwich isn’t really my thing. 

Yvo says: While everything was tasty, I just felt the prices were way too high for what you’re getting.  If they lowered their prices by just a dollar or two, I think I would find myself there more frequently.  Otherwise, I think I shall pass… unless I REALLY want what they offer.  *Note: there tends to be a bit of a wait as well, as they cook everything to order, including frying the falafel immediately as you order.
a little too expensive for my tastes but quite yummy otherwise

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