Madera

Come close, I have to talk quiet. I heard about a great place to get a deal. If you need to get some things for around the house at a reasonable price, go to Walmart. And if you want a huge selection of products to fix up your house, you should try the Home Depot. Last, and don't tell anyone, I don't want to get a call from the senate about insider trading, if you like baseball, there is a team in one of the New York boroughs that always seems to do well, they call themselves the Yankees.

Ridiculous, I know. That is what I feel it is like for me, someone who's had a handful of good meals in his life, to critique a restaurant that was awarded by the Micheline Guide. I can play one of two roles... the badass, "The food at Madera was overpriced and plain. I could have had a better steak Bob's Big Boy." Or the person completely infatuated with a product that is outside of his area of comfort, "The food was so challenging that it took the idea of a culinary experience to a whole new level... I never think I will taste again." (The second is probably closer to the truth).

I will try to be real, the food was great. I am trying to think how to say something better than great without going too far... really great. There are three or four meals I have had in my life that changed the way I view food, this was not one of them, but it belongs in the category right next to them. The food was terrific. I had a thick New York Steak with a Sweet Potato Gratin and bone marrow, yes bone marrow. (As a wannabe foodie I am ashamed to say this is the first time I have ever had the dish. But I had it, I liked it, and am looking forward to the next time I get to try it).

The steak was perfectly cooked, the potatoes were spot on and the marrow was really... neat? Most impressive was the service and the atmosphere. I really enjoyed my time at Madera. The view was great, the energy in the place was enough to keep you feeling good, but not enough to cause discomfort. And the bill at the end of the night was less than I expected. Sitting on one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the world, (the corner of Sand Hill Road and 280), I was expecting a bigger bill, (and they probably could get one without trying real hard). It did make me feel good to know that there were so many exceptionally successful people that have enjoyed the same food I ate tonight, and for the right reason. What makes Madera good isn't it's price tag or exclusivity, it is the quality of the food that is served. I hope I am lucky enough to eat here again. Until next week when I try to cook my own steak... NEXT ROUND'S ON ME

Chicago Style Pizza

This may be the hardest post I have written so far... and not for the obvious reasons. The food was good, and pretty straight forward so I wasn't totally confused during the cooking process. (It did take a lot more work than I anticipated but I will get back to that later). No, this post is tough because I have music stuck in my head and am having a hard time getting my own thoughts straight. I went to a Christina Perri concert last night and I continually want to write "you put your arms around me and I'm..." and then realize that no one reading this can possible be romanced by me writing a love song. (Although while writing this there is music in my head that go along with the lyrics).

Here goes, back to the pizza. In the past weeks I have been asked to spend more time talking about the process of cooking as well as the recipes. The recipes may be tough, mostly because I don't follow one specifically, and am not sure exactly what I put into the dish, but I will do my best to let you know how the dish was made.

The dough was simple, if anything too simple. Bring water up to 110 degrees, add yeast, let rest, add flour, vegetable oil, sugar and more of another type of flour I had never heard of. Knead together while adding more flour and bang! you got some dough. (Let sit for approximately 1.5 hours before putting into your pizza dish). I wasn't prepared for this much prep time so if you try this, give yourself an afternoon.

The pizza toppings themselves were also simple, and much better and more flavorful than the pizza from Blue Line. I took some advice from my cousin who suggested making large Italian Sausage patties and putting them on the pizza in place of ground sausage. By doing this you are able to get large bites of sausage and that great Italian flavor, I thought it was great. "It's easier for you to let me go..." Sorry, singing Christina again. I made what I thought is the best and most authentic Italian pizza; sausage, onion, mushroom and olive. I put a homemade pizza sauce over it, fresh oregano and basil mixed with garlic and tomato topped with a sprinkle of parm. Once cooled from the oven some fresh basil and I had an authentic Chicago Pizza. (Minus being from or in Chicago).

Not gonna lie, the past few paragraphs were boring for me to write, and now I want to sing you a song... Jar of Hearts? No... really. My voice is great over the Internet... whatever. The dinner was good and fun. Tyler, my cousin from a town close to Chicago said that the pizza held its own. Everyone at the table agreed that the crust was a little dry and that I should do something to add flavor to the crust next time, but it wasn't offensive. Like all SilCratian meals the company was better than the food, but the food is pretty damn good. As a proud SilCratian I am happy with the dish.. what's SilCratian you ask, stick around, it is bound to come back and explain itself. I can definitely make some improvements on my Chicago Pizza, but I didn't embarrass myself. Come back next time... NEXT ROUND'S ON ME

Blue Line Pizza

I didn't do any research before going to Blue Line Pizza before we got there, which is good. Because if I had I probably would have created some serious stereotypes, and that would have ruined the whole experience. For instance, Blue Line Pizza is a trendy San Francisco pizza joint that is working its way around the Bay Area... spare me. The last thing the rest of the Bay Area needs is "trendy San Francisco treats." Here's another, the Blue Line is a popular train in Chicago where there are numerous pizza joints that serve "the best pizza in the world"... who cares. I don't live in the mid-west, really I don't think that I should base my food judgment off of anything in the mid-west. The only good thing about the mid-west is the snow, and it doesn't snow here. (This year it doesn't even rain). I went into Blue Line Pizza expecting good pizza, and it was pretty good, although not much better than your typical pretty good pizza.

It is hard to think critically about deep dish pizza for two reasons. The first, and most obvious, I don't know much about it. I have only had deep dish Chicago style pizza in Chicago twice. And truthfully, I don't really remember it that well. (It was years ago). The second reason deep dish pizza is hard to critique is bread and cheese are good. It doesn't matter how bad the bread is, or how old the cheese is, when you put them together it is good.

To answer the obvious question, yes... this deep dish pizza was good to eat. As far as the flavors, (take away the bread and cheese), I thought is was lacking. Take away one bite I took that was overwhelmingly spinach, I don't remember tasting much. I kept searching for the Italian Sausage to no avail. I couldn't really identify any flavors. I would have liked the pizza much more if they used a spicier Italian Sausage and fresh basil. Also, a little onion would have helped to give it a bite.

I would go back to Blue Line Pizza, but probably against my will. Not that I have anything against San Francisco or Chicago, but this style of food just isn't my thing. It is too easy to make something very ordinary taste great. (I may have spoken a week too soon). Come back next week when I try to make a deep dish pizza... NEXT ROUND'S ON ME.

Fried Chicken With Green Curry Sauce

Asian fusion is not distinctive, in fact it is so ordinary in the Bay Area that the fact that it is not distinctive makes it distinctive to everywhere else. You don't have to drive more than a city block anywhere around here to find a restaurant that considers its heritage some version of The Orient that caters to white people, and that is what makes "fusion" food so popular. There is an emotion that is connected to a food you remember, in this case fried chicken, and there is a certain excitement in tasting a flavor that is unique to the pallet, usually a combination of sweet and spicy.

This food is so easy to come by, and cheaply I may add, that it is hardly worth learning how to cook yourself. For six to ten dollars you can walk a block in any direction and get some protein served over rice that will make you feel good enough to come back. You usually do not know exactly what you have eaten, or even what flavors you tasted, but it is comfortable, and comfort is good.

I engaged in this weeks project with great anticipation strictly for that reason, I love Asian food. Let me be more honest, I love what I think of as Asian food. I like thick, syrupy sauces on dark chicken meat. I like pepper mixed with sweet sauces... and I LOVE rice. That's right, rice with whatever sauce is left over, and that includes everything edible, becomes my favorite part of every dish. So I figured all I had to do is make a good enough sauce, cook the chicken all the way through, and I would be satisfied with the dish, as long as there was enough left over sauce to put on my rice. I was right in so many ways.

The chicken was good. I do not have anything to deep fry the chicken in so I did a quick pan fry. Uncle Doug was over so he helped me prep the meat. He pounded the chicken, (we used chicken thighs), to about a quarter of an inch and then dipped them in eggs and Panko bread crumbs. We put the chicken in Vegetable Oil for about three minutes on each side and let them sit for a few minutes on napkins to cool down. I do think that the dish would have been a little better if I had the ability to deep fry the chicken, but I didn't so I am happy with what we got.

The Green Curry sauce had more ingredients but was just as easy. Lemongrass, ginger, scallions, garlic, jalapenos, fresh cilantro and basil, cumin, fish sauce, brown sugar, coconut milk and I am sure a couple ingredients I can't remember right now and I was done. Stick them all in a blender and push a button. It was so easy my two year old niece could do it. (Literally, she wanted to help so I let her push the button). The sauce turned out great. Everyone at the table liked it. I put an extra jalapeno in to "kick up" the heat and could hardly taste it. If I do this again, and I will, I would add more spice. Unfortunately I did not have anymore jalapenos in the kitchen, and after my second glass of wine, I can only cook with what is in the kitchen. Anyways, back to the curry, I liked it, and couldn't believe how easy it was.

This is a dish that I think I will make again. It was easy, good and quite frankly... affordable. Although it is easier to walk down the street for a quick dinner, it is impossible to recreate the atmosphere and conversation that comes with a kitchen being used. I'll chalk this one up as a success, come back next week... NEXT ROUND'S ON ME.

Pan Roasted Duck Breast 2

If you scroll down a couple inches you will find the same picture, with no words. A painfully obvious example of the fact that I am playing with a technology that I don't understand... I am sorry for the premature post, (I pushed a button that I was not intending to push).

To the duck. Today was a good day, a damn good day. It was a day that was significant in my life as a cook. (Alright, I'm not a cook. It was significant in my life as a person who prepares food). I prepared duck, for the first time. I am not going to make this sound more romantic than it was, I was intimidated. When I think of duck on a menu I think of a chef that is so confident in his cooking that even if the duck didn't taste good, no one would have the balls to tell him. What I mean is... you only find it at restaurants that don't care how they get reviewed. You know the saying when there is no price on the menu, "If you have to ask... it's too much." My version, "If you're going to critique my duck dish... go **** yourself." Because duck isn't for the average diner, it isn't for the average food connoisseur... duck is for the food eater.

With that said I went "all for broke." I got some advice from my chef cousin about how to prepare the duck breast and did it as close as I could to what I remembered. Scored the skin and fat, rendered off the fat, roasted in the oven and then finished by braising the breast in its own fat. The sauce I could have done better. The taste was amazing... I LOVED it. It was a Blueberry Green Peppercorn Chutney that I thought was fantastic. The only problem was the texture. I cooked the sauce down for about an hour but the peppercorns were still too tough. If I had it to do again I would definitely put the Chutney into a blender and purify it before pouring it onto the duck. A rookie mistake, but I am still a rookie.

The dish as a whole was terrific. I was proud of myself. I thought the duck was cooked great and would serve it to anyone with pride. I will work on my sauces and presentation, (they both need a lot of work), but that is what this whole project is for... to get better. I had a great time with duck and am looking forward to next week! Come back... NEXT ROUND'S ON ME!

Pan Roasted Duck Breast

Oryza Bistro

Asian fusion... as I watch cooking shows on t.v. it seems to be getting more and more trendy. The nerdy looking Chinese guy (who is actually Korean), mixing a chicken dish into rice and pretending there is some true ethnicity left in the dish. The food is always pleasant enough, but never great enough to really care, it's worth about six bucks for a quick lunch.

So why would I be particularly excited about a new restaurant with the same 'ole credentials. Truthfully, I'm not. Growing up in the Bay Area and then spending a brief time in Hawaii, I can honestly say I have had some great, and authentic, Asian food. The most telling sign of a great Asian restaurant... the smell. The first few times you walk into a restaurant like this it is offensive, but soon enough you will grow to appreciate what it represents... fresh fish. And if you ever walk into an Asian restaurant and they don't recommend a fish, the food is meant for white people, so accept it for what it is, but don't get your hopes up.

Oryza did not smell like fish, in fact, it was barely Asian. It is advertised as an Asian fusion but it is very "Chili's." All of the food is good, in fact, the food was very good. If someone wanted to go there for a quick lunch I would look forward to it, but it was not a culinary experience. There was not a lot of what I would call "true ethnicity" in the dishes. They all tasted like what you would expect when you went to any box restaurant, but maybe a little more flavor. Of all the Asian flavors it was probably closest to Thai, because of the use of curry, but their fried chicken reminded me more of Roscoe's in Pasadena than 99 Chicken in Santa Clara. (Roscoe's is a chicken and waffle stand that focuses on "soul food." If you are ever in the neighborhood I would HIGHLY recommend it. Nonetheless, it is not Asian). At the end of the day, I would go back, but I wouldn't be in a hurry. See where I go next week, remember... NEXT ROUND'S ON ME!