Happy Hour at Shanik

I recently switched to a new company (within my previous company), which meant a change of building (three blocks away). It's surprising what a difference a few blocks makes to your perception of some things. I'm now just across the street from Shanik- the much anticipated Indian restaurant that got pretty mixed reviews out of the gate, so I'd shied away. I'm trying to be better about thinking of ideas for our weekly date night on Wednesdays, so thought it would be a good chance for my husband to see my new office space, meet some of my coworkers, and try out a restaurant we've both tentatively had on our wish list for a while now.

They're only open for happy hour in the bar before 5:30pm, so when we first walked in they didn't seem open yet. I thought maybe only the 'Market' portion of the establishment was open, but Dan assured me he saw it on their web site. While we were checking our phones, the hostess came up and let us know they were open, and escorted us to the bar. (Unlike the layout of many restaurants, the bar is tucked in the back, and a screen blocks your view from the entrance, so it looks like an empty restaurant with an open door.)

The bar itself is very modern in style, but with vibrant colors and floral patterns repeated in several places (laser cut steel tables, wall covering, and window decals). I liked the look, and was suprised how comfortable the low, natural wood stools are - even with my bad back.

Along with waters we were brought small happy hour menus, listing various food items, but only one cocktail - the Bollywood 411 - which I asked about and learned was essentially a mango mimosa ($5), so I went for it. Dan opted for some wine. Then we ordered a few things off the food menu.

First was the Spice Encrusted Lamb Popsicle (normally $9, $7.20 each during HH). We were warned it was the price for one, so we got one each. They were super tender, cooked perfectly with a little pink inside, and with nice grill char and spices, as well as nice sauces.

Our second item was the Lentil and Potato Pakoras with Date Chutney (normally $6, $4.80 HH). They came with a mango dipping sauce as well as a mint chutney, both of which lent a lot of flavor to the little fried bites.

We ordered the Marinated Paneer Kabob, but they were out, so instead we tried out the Spicy, Mini Indian Crepes (Pura) (normally $6, $4.80 HH). They were vibrantly yellow from turmeric, and also paired with the same sauces. They were rolled and sliced in such a way that we could eat them with our fingers - perfect for bar food, I thought.

The lamb was hands-down my favorite of the three items we tried, and enough to entice us back to try more. The service was attentive without being invasive, and the space was very clean and comfortable. I'm eager to check out the entire menu, and maybe see a full drink menu. I always think not having a full drink menu on hand is a lost opportunity, but maybe I've been binge watching 'Bar Rescue' too much.

Food Truck Friday - Saffron Spice

The success of some food trucks eventually results in a physical location (or two), like Skillet and Marination. In fact, I'm excited to be heading to Marination Makai for the first time tonight. Other trucks, like Saffron Spice, are an expansion from an existing physical location. In their case, they have a booth at the Pike Place Market, and now have a bright yellow truck that visits South Lake Union regularly.







On my first visit, I went for one of their Rice Bowls, which they seemed to be pushing. In addition to basmati rice and a spring greens salad, you pick 2 items from the list. I went with Spinach (Palak) & Paneer and Lamb 'Kebab' w/ Mint ($8)





Although the Palak Paneer looked a little anemic, with just a few small pieces of un-fried paneer on top, when I tasted the spinach I was really pleased. It's full of flavors from a range of spices - probably the most flavorful spinach I've had at an Indian/Pakistani restaurant. The lamb was similarly flavorful, and cut into small pieces - making it easy to eat with a little rice in every bite, though not what I expected as 'kebab'.





Also, it seemed like you might get a drink w/ the rice bowl, but it wasn't written anywhere or clearly communicated to all customers, so I'm not sure.





I enjoyed the food on that visit, but my chief complaint is that the menu is confusing. To me, it's not a good sign for your business model if you have to have someone explain the menu to every customer. They seemed to be pushing the bowls, but the sign threw more than just me off. It says pick any two, but then some items have varying prices listed, and some don't have any. Turns out they charge the higher of the two prices of the two items selected, but that's not apparent. I would just go with a flat amount. If nothing else, I would add numbers next to each item, to streamline communication.







On my second visit, I decided to switch to the other menu of "Wraps 2 Go".





I went with the Bombay Chicken Wrap ($7.99, theoretically), which included Chicken Tikka, creamed spinach and garam masala, along with cucumber, and a cabbage/carrot slaw, all wrapped up in a whole wheat tortilla. Somehow, the branding made me think they were pre-made (2 Go suggests they're the quick grab-and-go option), but they were made to order like the rice bowls. And they're sizable. My wrap was 7 inches long and 3 inches in diameter. Just like my previous lunch, this one was really flavorful, with the garam masala (cloves, cardamom, cumin, pepper, cinnamon) very evident. It wasn't at all 'hot' spicy, but every bite was packed with spices.





My only complaint on this visit was that the menu listed what I ordered as $7.99, but I got only $2 back from my $10 bill. They decided, I guess, to keep that penny. If they don't want to deal with change, they should change the prices on the menu to avoid shorting their customers. It's just a penny, but still. Given the quality of the food, I'm sure I'll be back though.

Food Truck Friday - 314PIE

For today's installment of Food Truck Friday, I tried out a food truck with a logo that caught my nerdy attention while eating at Athena's last week: 314PIE.



Featuring a selection of savory and sweet pies inspired by New Zealand and Australia, 314PIE drew me in by revealing that the numbers 314 - the first three digits of the mathematical concept Pi - spell PIE when viewed in mirror image. 314PIE puts this to good use in their logo. And when you're parking next to buildings full of analysts and software developers, I'm pretty sure that's a selling point.







I tried one of the specials - a Lamb & Potato Pie ($8). Baked & served warm in a 5 inch diameter aluminum pie pan, it had a wonderfully flaky crust that somehow avoided being grainy, despite clearly including whole wheat flour - no easy feat. Inside was an incredibly flavorful mix of lamb, potatoes, carrots and peas. It wasn't overly gooey as some pot pies can be, but was moist and so delicious.









Despite (theoretically) being on a no-sweets anti-binge right now, I decided it was important to try a couple things, so also ordered a Caramel Apple Pie ($4). This was served cool in the same sized pan, but as a single crust pie. It had much more apple flavor than caramel, but I liked the balance that kept it from being cloyingly sweet. My plan to eat a slice and then share the rest quickly disappeared, as did the pie.







Beyond the excellent pies that I've already recommended to coworkers, one of the greatest perks about 314PIE is that there's no waiting. Walk up, order your pies, and by the time you're done paying the pies are in your hands and you're lunch break can be spent eating and relaxing, not waiting in the street for your food. This may well be the genius of their business model, making throughput incredibly high versus other trucks that must prepare food a la minute. That, and their amazing pies. Did I mention the great pies?

A Whole New Kinda Kebab @ The Berliner

After my first lunchtime run, I found myself wandering the streets of South Lake Union trying to decide what to grab for lunch. There are lots of options, but not all of them seem like the kinda place you can get something quick to go. Then I stumbled on The Berliner.



Apparently, at some point, there was some amazing cross-culture coordination between Turkey and Germany, resulting in the Döner Kebab: slow cooked meat on a big spit, that's then shaved off and put in a hollowed out fladenbrot (flatbread) and grilled in a panini press.

I went for The Fiery Kreuzberg Döner with Lamb on Fladenbrot. It came with just enough chili yogurt sauce, plus peppers, cilantro, tomato, cucumber, red cabbage and onion. The fladenbrot itself was coated with seeds - which I failed to capture on camera (not realizing I had it upside down until I picked it up and dug in).

If you give The Berliner a try - and I strongly suggest you do - be sure to be prepared with the answers to three questions:

1. Which Döner do you want? (You can order by number, to avoid trying to speak German.)

2. What protein do you want - Chicken, Lamb, or Tofu?

3. What type of bread do you want - Fladenbrot, Ciabatta, Pita, Spinach Wrap or Wheat Wrap.

(You'd be surprised how many people didn't know the answers to these questions after standing in line for 10 minutes listening to every single person ahead of them order.)

Memento Meal - Penelope's Ancestry Edition

Tonight, Marcy & James hosted the latest edition of Memento Meal at their Tacoma home. The theme this time around was the ancestry of their daughter, Penelope - with each course representing one of the nationalities that make up her heritage.

Our gracious hosts whetted our appetites with some charcuterie and cheese, and plenty of wine, of course, before introducing the first appetizer.



Accompanied by Marcy singing the Luxembourg national anthem, the course was a hearty serving of Mussels in a wine sauce with onion, shallots, thyme, and tarragon, accompanied by a bowl of creamy potato & leek soup. A very decadent, rich start to the meal.





Next up were the guests for this round - Lyssa & Andrew - with a tribute to French Canada. These two really brought it - with music of Quebec in the background while they served us Bootlegger's Lemonade - a pink lemonade spiked with homemade ginger syrup and a bottle of gin (passed around the table so each guest could control the amount of gin in their cocktail).



Then the plates arrived, with crisp, gluten-free homemade crackers perched across the plates, stacked high with maple baked beans, slow roasted tomatoes, bacon, and basque salt. The flavors were really wonderful, each standing out and marrying together with the others simultaneously. The baked beans seemed to strike a familiar note with a lot of folks, Dan included - reminding them of baked beans of their own childhoods.



Dan & I then served our Italian "Salad" course. Italian Salad said one thing to Dan & I: Insalta Caprese - the classic salad of sliced tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, often drizzled with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt & pepper. Dan had the great idea to reimagine it as a chilled soup, something like a gazpacho... and then I got involved.



I placed some orders with Le Sanctuaire and Amazon.com for a variety of food grade chemicals and additives, to enable a molecular gastronomic take on a chilled caprese soup. My thought was that since the original inspiration is a deconstructed dish to begin with, I'd maintain the integrity of that by making the soup deconstructed - also adding in the element of interactivity as the guests combine the components together to create the soup on the fly.

We started with ramekins (a nod to the dish that would follow us), and filled them half-way with a simple chilled gazpacho of peeled & seeded vine-ripened tomatoes, garlic, onion, salt and white pepper. We topped that with an espuma of basil created using my Isi charger and the help of soy lecithin and xanthan gum. (Oddly enough, an ingredient also found in the dish preceding us - in the crackers.) The ramekin was then covered by a balsamic tuile (a sweet, crisp, thin cracker), again mimicking the next dish of the night. On top of the tuile was a pile of powdered olive oil (made using tapioca maltodextrin), and then a sphere of liquefied Buffalo mozzarella created using 'reverse' spherification via calcium lactate and a sodium alginate bath.

Somehow I failed to get a shot of the full dish, or the dish after each guest broke through the mozzarella sphere and the tuile to mix all the components together. The bright pink of the tomato and the brilliant green of the basil were set off nicely by the brown, cream and white of the other ingredients, and beyond being beautiful, it turned out to be tasty, too. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but if I ever make it again, the mozzarella sphere will be bigger (or there will be multiple), as there just wasn't enough mozzarella for more than "one perfect bite".

Accompanying our dish was a bubbly Prosecco wine.



For the first entree course, Anna & Jason took us to Ireland.



We started with a Black & Tan, and were presented with a placemat made especially for the occasion, depicting the "Irish Food Pyramid".





Then a gorgeous and delicious plate of food arrived, featuring a lamb shepard's pie (a family recipe), soda bread, orange marmalade, and homemade butter topped with sea salt (and in the shape of flowers, with little raspberry drupes.





Next up were Gerald and Robyn with a tribute to Penelope's Germanic roots - in the form of homemade veal and pork sausage, braised in beer (of course), and served with saurkraut and homemade spaetzle topped with orange zest, plus a honey mustard for dipping. I ended up eating all of mine, plus half of Carolyn's sausage, and licking the mustard bowl clean.





As the meal wound down toward it's finish, Carolyn and David served up decaf in three French Presses, accompanied by fresh whipped cream.



They had run into challenges with their Spanish dessert course - possibly the most challenging combination, given none of us could think of a dessert that epitomized Spain. But the end result of the difficult process was wonderful.



Visually, it appeared to be a dense, crisp dish, but when I cut off a piece and put it in my mouth, the airiness of their Almond cake with orange reduction blew me away. Made using whipped egg whites, it was akin to a angel food cake in consistency, but to a French macaron in flavor. It was served with a dollop of almond whipped cream, as well. It was a perfect light finish to a meal that took us all over the map, in many senses of the word.



Watching the proceedings from her perch on high was one of Marcy & James cats, who it turned out was eagerly awaiting her own dinner.



In preparation for the next Memento, Dan and I put together some packets to inspire our fellow chefs.



A few Memento meals ago, the idea came up of a Science Fiction theme - which Dan & I loved. I measured out 5 gram quantities of 8 different food chemicals, put in small food grade zip lock bags, and all placed in mylar food grade envelopes. On the front, I put a Star Trek logo with a whisk added, and altered the classic opening voice over of the original Star Trek show with a more culinary version:

Food: The Final Frontier. These are the dinner parties of the Supper Club Memento. Our June 25th, 2011 mission: To explore strange new ingredients, to seek out new techniques and new flavors, to boldly go where no chef has gone before.

(though now I realize it had a typo)



I'm excited to see how our friends intepret "Science Fiction" in their dishes. Despite my Star Trek leanings, science fiction is a broad concept - from post-apocalyptic dystopia scenarios like Mad Max, to space drama like Stargate, to things like Lost - and is as much a literary genre as it is a film and TV genre. Each dish could really represent something very, very different. We'll just have to wait to see!



Mozzarella Spheres
220 g Buffalo Mozzarella
150 g Mozzarella whey (the liquid from the tub)
5 g Calcium Lactate

Combine well with an immersion blender.

1 L Purified Water (with little or no mineral content)
5 g Sodium Alginate
5 g Sugar

Warm on stove an blend with immersion blender.

Using a large measuring spoon or a ice cream scoop, spoon balls of the mozzarella mixture into the sodium alginate bath, and let them sit for 5 minutes, turning once gently with your fingers. Remove from the bath and rinse gently with cold water. Store in a airtight jar of water in the refrigerator.

Olive Oil Powder
80 g olive oil
60 g tapioca maltodextrin
3 g sea salt

Whisk to combine, adding tapioca maltodextrin until a powder forms. If a finer powder is desired, press through a chinoise. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Balsamic Tuile
30 ml balsamic vinegar
30 g organic sugar
10 g butter
40 g flour

Preheat oven to 350°F. Blend all ingredients together well. Spoon onto a silicon baking sheet lined sheet pan, and spread with the back of a rubber spatula until thin and in the desired shape. Bake until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

Basil Foam
500 ml water
1 bunch basil
5g Lecithin
5g Xanthan Gum

Blanch basil in boiling water for 30 seconds, then shock in ice water. Pulse in blender with enough of the blanching water to create a paste. Strain the paste through a chinoise back into the blanching liquid, pouring some of the liquid over the paste to extract as much of the flavor and color as possible. Chill. Add liquid, lecithin and gum to Isi and charge. Keep chilled until serving.