Pho Phu Thinh

Over the past few years of my life, Vietnamese cuisine has slowly become a bigger and bigger part of it. In the first couple decades of my existence, I had “next to no” experience with Vietnamese food, maybe a bowl of pho at a dingy noodle shop in Toronto and a side of Vietnamese spring rolls, but that’s about it.  I had some serious prejudices against Vietnamese restaurants, but as they say, “you’re only scared of what you don’t know.”  My blissful ignorance continued on for many years, but while I was at the New England Culinary Institute, a friend got me enjoying the flavors of Vietnam, on occasional trips to Montreal.  She introduced me to the basics and the fresh elements of the cuisine started appealing more to me.  Lemongrass, fish sauce, mint, chili and lime became acquaintances rather than the strangers they previously were.

Like my hairdo?

It wasn’t until I moved to Vancouver and met “Monk” did I start really understanding and appreciating Vietnamese cuisine to its full extent. “Monk’s” family is of Chinese descent, but have lived in Vietnam for a few generations.  “Nuoc Mom” and “all her offspring” were born in the homeland, except for “Monk” who was born in Newfoundland.  Wow, talk about a wild mix “Monk” is, she’s a newfie, Viet-Chinois; she’s like a bottle of Schreech, infused with lemongrass, fish sauce, ginger and soy sauce, a potent salty melange, a mixologist’s nightmare.  I better ease up making fun of her, I do have to live with her and her tolerance for my ethnically charged humor is minimal.  Sorry honey. Well over the years, she’s be exposing me to the intricacies of Vietnamese food and I’ve really started to grow fond of it. In fact, I now appreciate and crave certain elements of the cuisine.  In 2007, we toured Vietnam, backpacked our way north to south and “had a trip of  a lifetime.” Eating vibrant street food, while crouched on little plastic chairs, in the back alleys of Hanoi was game-changing.  The live soft shell crabs and the swimming fish in Saigon were epic.  The flavors and textures I encountered during that trip left an indelible impression on my culinary outlook.  Our varied food experiences were very eye-opening and I now consider myself “open-minded” toward Vietnamese cuisine.

Here in Vancouver, we eat at Vietnamese restaurants relatively frequently.  What’s more satisfying than a hot, tasty bowl of pho on a rainy Vancouver day?  I continually ask the “out-laws”, friends and acquaintances where the best Vietnamese restaurants are and have yet to find a clear winner.  Though I personally have pinpointed a few weaknesses in the overall cuisine, I enjoy it for what it is and love many different dishes.  A few months back, we were running some errands up by Coquitlam Center, noticed that a Vietnamese restaurant has sprung up, where there was previously a sketchy Japanese joint and we thought we’d give it a try.  Pho Phu Thinh [1175 Johnson St, Coquitlam, (604) 468-8686] is located in a strip mall behind Coquitlam Center and you’d probably miss it unless you were looking for it or you accidently turned into this strip of shops/restaurants.  Over the past few months, we’ve eaten there a half-dozen times; the food is tasty and consistent and the service is quick and friendly.  What more can one ask for?

Over the past few months, between “Monk” and I, we’ve sampled quite a few of the dishes on the menu. I still tend to be fairly boring when it comes to ordering in Vietnamese restaurants.  Monk is much more adventurous, but her tastes and mine are significantly different.  Of the dishes we’ve eaten at Pho Phu Thinh (PPT), I found the spring rolls (cha gio) consistently good, always fresh and crispy and not too greasy.  The salad rolls (goi cuon) were fair, though I much prefer the ones we roll at home.  I did like the dipping sauce, which often tends to be “a little sickly sweet”, but theirs had a nice amount of savoriness.  The fried chicken wings were tasty, but definitely not mind-blowing by any stretch of the imagination.  Well seasoned, hot and cooked nicely.  Most recently, “Monk” and I shared a banh mi with grilled pork; I’ve blogged about banh mi before and could go on for hours about the perfect Viet-sammy; let’s just say this one was fresh, nicely toasted and a good balance of all the ingredients.  Banh mi is not their specialty, but it was fairly good.  We’ve also tried assorted rice and noodle dishes, which all were very good and they all fell completely within our expectations.

“For our purposes”, the two dishes I will focus on is the pho dac biet and the bun bo hue.  Pho dac biet is my staple go to dish at most Vietnamese restaurants.  It translates to special pho and is usually their finest pho offering.  To me it’s a bowl of noodles with hot flavorful broth and assorted meats including sliced rare beef, well cooked flank, fatty flank, tendon, tripe and beef balls.  This bowl of noodles is also accompanied by a plate of fresh herbs, bean sprouts, chilis and citrus.  The combination of the hot ingredients, with the fresh ingredients, the amazing textures, the contrast in temperatures and the overall warmth of the dish, makes this a classic to me.  PPT’s version is “spot on” in my opinion.  I’ve had it on three different occasions and it’s been the same every time.  In my opinion, consistency is the cornerstone of a successful restaurant and I appreciate it so much more than creativity and other “bally-hoo.”  ”Monk” complains that the pho dac biet is too meaty, but since I’m a “meaty kind a guy”, it’s right up my alley.  So if pho is classic and clean, bun bo hue (bbh) is a pho’s angry step brother.  I have no idea whatI’m trying to say, but I’ll just leave it at that.  Bbh is a lightly spicy noodle soup traditionally served with beef shank, pig’s feet, blood cake and pork balls.  Yes it’s noodle soup, but different noodles, different broth and different meats.  Over the year’s, I’ve been fortunate to have some exceptional versions of this dish.  Once, prepared by “Hair By Lena” here in Vancouver, an all day labor of love and the second time was in Hue, at a restaurant aptly named Bun Bo Hue.  Both of these versions were amazing and I now compare all others to these.  The one at PPT is good; it doesn’t have the exotic ingredients (pig’s feet, blood cake) that I truly love, but the flavors and the balance of all the ingredients make it very enjoyable.  At PPT, their version includes well done flank, beef shank, pork ham and chicken meatballs.  The flavor of the broth is very nice, not overwhelmingly spicy and again was perfectly consistent the two times I’ve had it.

Issues and concerns; I don’t really have any.  The service is always extremely friendly and on our last visit, I noticed the good amount of regular patrons they’ve already amassed.  They’ve only been in business since November and I feel it’s my personal obligation to support small independently owned restaurants.  When the food is good and the service is efficient and friendly,  it’s makes that task so much easier.  The food is consistently good, above and beyond that, the location is relatively convenient for us.  So, give PPT a try; it might not be the best Vietnamese restaurant in Vancouver, but it’s certainly becoming my favorite.

On my chef’s night out scale, Pho Piu Thinh receives 3.5/5 SOB(slices of bacon).

Alaskan King Crab

Alaskan King Crab (AKC)!  What can I say? “Loooves it!” Ocean Wise, delicious and a rare treat for people like me.  People like me; that’s a “whole big bag of hammers” isn’t it?  We recently had an amazing dinner featuring AKC cooked three different ways; we’re currently in the middle of “AKC Season” in Vancouver and many Chinese restaurants and grocery stores are offering AKC as a fantastic price.  By the way, I also love semi-colons and their improper usage.  Before my daughter get’s too much older, I will  have to learn what is right and wrong.

After our amazing AKC meal a few days ago, I started thinking about AKC and I started to get a little confused.  I realize I get confused quite often; some say it’s part of my charm, but I started getting “crabbier and crabbier” as I thought more about it.  First off, let me tell you about my history and relationship with AKC.  As a kid growing up in Toronto, AKC was a “once in a blue moon” treat.  For special occasions, my “Parental Units” would buy frozen, cooked king crab legs and serve them with thick T-Bone steaks as part of my favorite meal, “Surf and Turf.”  Good meat, good fish, not a vegetable in sight!  We also indulged on AKC at the odd fine dining restaurant and occasionally we would gorge ourselves on a cruise ship/resort buffet.  Sure, it was good, the luxurious aspect of it, the meaty quality of the crab, “the pure elegance,” but it was nothing, compared to AKC as I know it now.

Let me keep going about AKC’s historical influence in my life.  When I started cooking professionally, AKC would cross my path occasionally.  A few different times, we got live crabs, poached them whole in a court bouillon, cooled them and saved the meat for amazing cold crab dishes.  If I was responsible for preparing the crab, a generous portion of the crab would disappear as I was cleaning it for service.  Quality control is a big part of a cook’s job!  My favorite preparation would be to use the misunderstood head fat/tamale/roe/brains and make a risotto or scrambled eggs or the most amazing, but ugly crab brain sauce.  I love taking the throw away parts and making delicious food out of it.  At Tapenade Bistro, this mantra is the cornerstone of our cooking and we use every part of the animal, waste nothing and in my opinion, it takes a skilled cook  to make humble and unappreciated cuts tasty.  We charged “mucho dinero” for these AKC dishes at the fancy-schmancy joints I used to work at in NYC and I’ve always considered AKC, to be one of the most luxurious ingredients  I got to work with.  The first time I tasted the crab brain risotto, it was paired with sea urchin roe, golden ossetra caviar and Lanson Champagne; probably one of my top ten food epiphanies of my life.  More recently, I would order AKC merus (frozen and cooked), which is the thickest part of the crab’s leg, extremely pricey, but the very best part of the crab.  I never get too adventurous with AKC, tend to prepare it very simply and let it speak for itself, dressed lightly with lemon, extra virgin olive oil and fresh herbs.  Occasionally, I would add AKC  and a lobster tail to the bouillabaisse at Tapenade and we would feature a very extravagant and pricey “Bouillabaisse Royale. ”  It’s been a while since I’ve offered it, so maybe I’ll feature this dish again soon.

In 2005, when I was cooking ‘Eye-talian” food, “a lumberjack veg cook” turned me on to the TV show, “The Deadliest Catch.”  Since TV is real and everything about life can be learned via watching reality TV, I became an overnight expert on AKC.  In fact, if it weren’t for my wife, I would have packed up a bag, flew to Dutch Harbour and looked for a gig as a “greenhorn” on a crab boat.  But seriously, this is where my confusion occurs.  I like the show and love how these blue-collar guys have become iconic TV characters.  According to the  show, AKC season takes place in the fall.  Most years, the season starts around October and based on basic economics, they catch their quota as quickly as possible and make their way home “toot-sweet” and burn as little fuel as they can.  Most AKC fishing is completed by December and at that point, a lot of crab fisherman are already getting reading for the January opening of opilio crab.   So here is the big question; why are we feasting on AKC in March here in Vancouver?  There’s no way they catch the crab, store them in tanks and keep them alive for months before selling the off?  I’m utterly confused and if someone can clarify this for me, it would be greatly appreciated.   Though I’m discombobulated by what seems like a AKC timing conflict, I still just want to get out there and eat more AKC.

Last year, 2010, was the first time I experienced the Chinese AKC feast.  Not being very Chinese or observant, I missed out on years of this dining experience.  I first moved to Vancouver in October 2002 and it took me 7.5 years to experience my first AKC feast in a Chinese restaurant.  I broke my AKC feast cherry at Yan’s Garden and it was life changing.  AKC cooked 4 ways complimented by, (don’t tell anyone), bottles of Moet and Chandon Champagne, Joie Farm Noble Blend and numerous other BC gews and rieslings.  What a fantastic and fun meal that was!

This year, we knew what was coming, so a couple of nights ago, I felt the hankering for AKC, made a reso at Yan’s Garden and “Monk”, “Jazzy,” “Nuoc Mom”, “Godfather,” The Girl and I went to dine on our first AKC feast of the year.   I keep mentioning Yan’s Garden [9948 Lougheed Hwy, Burnaby, (604) 421-8823]; it’s a pretty nondescript Chinese restaurant in a strip mall on the border of Coquitlam and Burnaby.  It holds a special place in our heart because we held “Jazzy’s” birth banquet there and it’s less than 8.37 minutes from our house.  We’ve become good regulars at this humble restaurant and they always provide excellent food and excellent service for us.  This time around, we had a 10 pound beauty, cooked 3 different ways; steamed with garlic, knuckles fried with spicy pepper salt and a fried rice, baked with all the crab brains in the crab’s shell.  We also gilded the lily with a platter of fried Fraser Valley squab, a dish of sautéed pea tendrils, wok-roasted yee-mein and finally a baked coconut tapioca pudding.  The first course was so delicate;  the taste of steamed fresh AKC with garlic is amazingly pure and now one of my favorite things to eat.  It’s so sweet, succulent and ethereal; it just tastes like the sea and makes me smile.  The taste, the aroma, the texture!  Yowza!!!  In fact, the broth left over in the platters were reserved and spooned over a noodle dish later in the meal.  The fried knuckles were amazing as well and a great contrast to the first course.  The fried rice was good, but would not compare in any way to the caliber of the other two dishes.  Squab, very good, pea shoots same.  Noodles, OK on their own, but amazing with the leftover crab broth.  The dessert is one of our favorites and we always pre-order it when we eat dinner there.  Tasty.  Overall, an unbelievable dinner and I think we’re going to have to eat some more crab this month.

Well, thanks for reading, I just felt like rambling about AKC.  Listen, I need some answers, so if you can figure it out, let me know.  BTW, I’m ordering some AKC to feature next week at Tapenade Bistro.  Peace be on to you and go eat some crab.

Insadong Korean BBQ and Seafood Restaurant

Two weeks ago, “Monk” and I were hankering for some Korean BBQ.  Grilled marinated meat.  Hadn’t had it ages, love the interactive nature of it; we rarely crave the same food and even more rarely at the same time, so the stars must have been aligned just that certain way and we had no choice but to go satisfy our cravings.  We also figured that since we live so close to North Road, the border of Burnaby and Coquitlam, with the plethora of Korean restaurants in Burquitlam, it was time to start figuring out “The Best of the Best” and learn the ins and outs of Korean cuisine.

Me and Korean food have had a love hate relationship for many years.  I’ve dabbled in Korean cuisine all my life, but have had some horrific Korean meals in my time.  Fundamentally, I like it, but most recently, I end up eating the same dishes, cooked more or less the same way, with the same flavors, at the same restaurants.  I want to eat what Koreans eat and understand the nuances and the delicate nature of the cuisine.  Inquiring minds want to know!  I’ve got to go befriend some Korean people and learn the real deal about Korean cuisine.  Maybe I should hire a Korean cook, just so I can get a culinary tour guide…  Well, I haven’t figured out the intricacies of Korean chow on my own, but maybe I’m over-thinking it a bit.  If it tastes good, eat it right?  BTW, if you’re Korean, like to eat and like to take long walks on the beach; just kidding!  Also, if you’re interested, I’m still enthralled with semi colons.

So we headed out to Insadong Korean BBQ and Seafood Restaurant. [403 North Road, #301, Coquitlam, (604) 936-3778]  It’s literally down a hill and then back up a hill from our home in the burbs, no more than 9.3 minutes away.  I’ve eaten there about half a dozen times in my lifetime and have enjoyed relatively good meals there every time.  This time around, “Monk,” “Jazzy” and I were on a specific mission; Korean BBQ.  As we settled in at our table, I quickly perused the menu and since it was only the three of us dining, we thought we’d keep it simple and order the set menu for 2-3people.

For $60, you get assorted banchan, daikon seaweed roll, beef salad, chap chae, seafood and tofu soup and an assortment of meats and seafood to grill table side.  The service was extremely efficient and there was food on the table within minutes.  First the banchan arrived and though there was nothing overly exciting about any of them, they were all very tasty and made good accompaniment to the rest of the meal.  The daikon seaweed rolls arrived shortly after and I thought they were delicious.  Fantastic texture, great balance of acid and sweet and definitely a bite of food that I have not experienced before.  Essentially it was thinly sliced daikon radish with seaweed, radish sprout and cucumber wrapped inside.  Extremely fresh, bright and appetizing.  Following these rolls, we tucked into a seafood and tofu soup; the exact polar opposite of the daikon rolls.  Dull, luke warm, unbalanced, un-fresh tasting and bland.  Whatever, no big deal. I pushed it aside and kept going with the rest of the food.

By this point, they fired up the grill and our server started grilling our meats in different waves.  She started our BBQ portion of the meal with galbi; marinated short ribs.  She threw the meat on, I cooked the meat to our preferred doneness and let me tell you, they were delicious.  A very flavorful marinade and a nice balance of savory, sweet and char flavor.  Combined with the Korean bean paste and kim chi, I thought it was spot on.  The server then switched our grill and put on the bulgogi (marinated beef rib eye).  Again, delicious and this routine of a new grill and new ingredients continued on until we were finished cooking the raw meat.  The meat and seafood for grilling included the galbi and bulgogi as well as chicken, spicy marinated pork, oysters, prawns, mussels and a little veg.  All the meats were tasty and tender, but the seafood was not my cup of tea.  Tiger prawns, pre-cooked frozen mussels and small, metallic tasting oysters.  I won’t say much more about the seafood, but the meat was generous and very tasty.  The spicy pork was not overly spicy and had a good balance of heat and sweet.  Unfortunately, too spicy for “Monk”, which meant more for me!

During the BBQ interactivity, the chap chae and beef salad arrived as well.  Chap chae is sweet potato starch noodles stir fried with beef, egg and assorted vegetables.  The beef salad was poached beef slices with dressed greens, vegetables and fruit.  The chap chae was nice; absolutely love the texture of the noodles, but the dish was like most chap chae I’ve eaten before.  The beef salad was fair, a melange of overdressed vegetables, but the presence of pineapple was a bit of a surprise and I actually enjoyed the poached beef with the banchan.

Issue and concerns; a couple of food misses with the seafood soup, the seafood meant for grilling and the beef salad.  On the plus side, the service was extremely efficient, especially considering the restaurant was full on a Monday evening.  The daikon seaweed roll were wonderful and the BBQ meats were very good.  They had lots of live seafood in tanks, including lobster, crab and ling cod, so I’m looking forward to returning and trying more of the menu.  By the way, I wrote this post in 37 minutes.  A little slow I know, but my brain is still fried from a server arguing with me during service on the weekend at Tapenade Bistro.  Forgive my lack of eloquence.

On my chef’s night out scale, Insadong Korean BBQ and Seafood Restaurant receives 3/5 SOB (slices of bacon).

Alvin Garden

I haven’t written any restaurant reviews on Chef’s Night Out in close to a year. It’s not that I haven’t been dining out, I just haven’t had the time or felt the desire to share my dining experiences on the ol’ blog. I’ve found Twitter’s 140 character allure to be overwhelming and the odd iPhone snapshot uploaded to Twitpic.com, to be a satisfactory recap of my meal out. I’m not sure where my recent desire to start reviewing restaurants again stems from, but I’ve decided to get back into the swing of things and document a few recent and upcoming restaurant meals. One restriction that I’ve applied to my restaurant posts is a time limit. I want to get my point across, describe the meal effectively, but I can’t afford to sacrifice too much time doing it. Where I might usually spend significant time proof reading and styling my words, I’m going to try and “bang out” these posts. I guess that’s also one of the indirect joys of blogging and social media. Poor grammar, bad spelling and improper use of punctuation has almost become the norm, particularly in my case. Hey, in the words of Anthony Bourdain, “I write like I talk.”

About a month ago, “Monk”, “Jazzy” and I were doing a little shopping at Metrotown. A casual Monday off for me and the wife, our family of three cruising the mall, pockets full of accumulated holiday gift cards; “Jazzy” needing a new pair of kicks and her dad eye-balling a couple of shiny, heavyweight cookbooks. After a morning of mall marauding, we were in need of lunch, but we also had an early afternoon doctor’s appointment for Jazzy’s 18 month immunization shots. I knew Alvin Garden [4850 Imperial Street, Burnaby, (604) 437-0828] was in the neighborhood and I had heard a few good things about it. I knew relatively little about the restaurant, except they had an award-winning pork heart dish and Hunan cuisine was “the name of the game.” I threw it out on Twitter while we were shopping and a few trusted sources responded clearly in the affirmative, so off to Alvin Garden we went.

As we pulled up to the restaurant, I started to feel a little anxiety. Firstly, the parking looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years and secondly, though I know nothing about Hunan cuisine, I know it’s supposed to be fiery and “Monk’s” tolerance for heat is less than minimal. Regardless, we plodded on; we ordered quickly due to our upcoming appointment and our lunch order consisted of spicy pork ear, 5 spiced pork heart, tea smoked duck, spicy wontons and braised beef rice noodle soup.

Over the years, my desire and tolerance for spice has been increasing and I now actively seek out heat in dishes as long as it adds flavor instead of masking it. The pork ears arrived first; exactly as I would expect, great texture and taste. Definitely too spicy for “Monk”, but a perfect balance of heat and savory-ness. “Is that even a word?” Next up was the tea smoked duck. The duck was smoked perfectly, with the flesh still being a touch pink. The meat was juicy, well perfumed with the tea smoke and the seasoning was spot on. I believe this dish has won an award in the annual Chinese Restaurant Awards and it was well deserving. Truly, one of the best duck dishes I’ve had in any Chinese restaurant. The dish I was most looking forward to was the award winning 5 spiced pork heart. Being a chef who believes in using all the parts of the animal, offal such as pork heart is very appealing to me. I was a little suspect when the dish arrived and the slices of heart were gray from being cooked all the way through, but again, I found the flavors and textures to be captivating. My naivety toward this style of food is obvious, but the flavors were really working for me.

By this point, “Monk” was completely overwhelmed by the heat of almost all the dishes, so she order scrambled egg and tomato on rice for her and “Jazzy” to fill up on, while she gave me her blessing to continue on my heaty quest. Spicy wontons, were OK, nothing special about the dish; in fact I’ve had much better versions at other restaurants. In this dish, the heat was overwhelming and there were no other factors to balance the heat. The final dish we ordered was the braised beef with rice noodle and while I have had versions of this dish many times, the Alvin Garden dish was decent, but not special. In fact, the broth was overly oily and spicy, while being under-seasoned at the same time and the beef was stringy and a touch tough.

Issues and concerns; apart from the filth strewn parking lot and the worn dishware and interior, I was very pleased with our dining experience. The service was quick and attentive. They tried to provide solutions for “Monk’s” spice issues and the food was tasty, the service was fast and I look forward to returning. Next time with some of my cooks, who appreciate “Hunan heat” and I look forward to sampling some more of the menu. BTW, I just knocked out this restaurant review in 23 minutes. Mission accomplished.

On my chef’s night out scale, Alvin Garden receives 3.5/5 SOB (slices of bacon).

La Quercia

For quite a while, I’ve been waiting patiently for a good opportunity to go have dinner at La Quercia. [3689 W 4th Avenue, Vancouver, (604) 676-1007]  Since the restaurant opened a couple years back, all I’ve heard is good things and I’ve been a fan of Adam and Lucais (chef/owners) since their days at La Buca.   I was a regular diner at La Buca, sent all my staff and a bunch of my guests over the years.  Back in the day, when I worked for the “Count of Calabria,” Adam mentioned years back that I met them when they came to do a stage, but my terrible memory and early stage Alzheimer’s does not recall a thing.  Well, it was finally my opportunity to go check out  La Quercia and I hoped that my high expectations were not setting me up for disappointment.

A couple of days before ”Monk” and my 4^th wedding anniversary, we decided to celebrate with dinner for two at this tiny Italian neighborhood spot.  I wish I could say it was a smooth and easy road to dinner at La Quercia, but it was not even close.  I originally booked a reservation through Opentable and since there are now a lot more factors to consider before dining out, many issues had to be discussed and resolved.  After arguing with “Monk” about the logistics of dinner, I finally confirmed a reservation for 6pm and pre-ordered the 9 course alla famiglia menu.  The evening of our anniversary dinner, I picked up “Nuoc Mom” at the skytrain station,  after yet another “Lost in Translation” moment, rushed her home, passed on the “Jazzy” details, while a fully dressed “Monk” and I snuck through the “man-cave,” “hopped in the hybrid” and got on our merry dining way.  Traffic going downtown from our house in the burbs was a fricking disaster, so we called the restaurant and let them know we were going to be considerably late.  Through my stellar driving ability and creative route management, I eventually got us to the restaurant only 25 minutes behind schedule.  By the way,  I hate being late, I hate people who are late and punctuality is a very big deal to me.

When we walked in, I felt (who says I don’t have feelings) a weird sense of déjà vu, since the restaurant completely reminded me of La Buca.  As we stood there waiting for someone to greet us, I started getting a little nervous, when no one talked to us for a couple of minutes.  I uneasily watched a server assistant (who was a dead ringer for Crispin Glover in Charlie’s Angels) ignore us, meticulously set, fiddle with and reset a table.  Eventually, a server greeted us, sat us at our awaiting table and I quickly empowered them to do whatever they needed to do, to get us caught up on the 9 course menu.  They had told me days before that they would need our table at 8:30, so because we were late (have I mentioned I hate being late???), I was more than happy to play by their rules.

While I was taking a quick peek at the wine list, “Monk” and I started off with a glass of rose bubbles for her and a Campari and soda for me.  Since I was driving, we decided to pass on a bottle and order a glass of Valpolicella for “Monk” and a Barbera for me.  I don’t remember the details of what the wines were; I’m terrible with Italian wine and as much as I love drinking them, I seem to have a real learning disability when it comes to remembering anything about them.  The one thing I do remember was the server speaking into my bad ear, me not hearing her well, me not asking her to repeat herself, but me hearing her well enough, to hear her describe my wine as leathery on three separate occasions.

Within a few minutes, our aperitif arrived, some bread and butter was served and we both started to relax.  We took a big pull from our drinks, started reminiscing about the “salad days of yesteryear” and “waxed poetically” about simpler, but less fulfilling times in our lives.  Becoming parents has changed our lives considerably and just as I was going to get way too sentimental, our first course of veal tongue salad arrived.  The salad was simple, not garnished in any way, but perfectly dressed and nicely seasoned. It was a salad of curiously chopped endive and baby lettuce, tossed with a simple olive oil vinaigrette and a few slices of veal tongue.  It was super tasty, super simple and a super way to start the meal.

A few minutes later our second course of fritto misto arrived.  Again, the plate was very simplistic and was basically a plate of fried seafood with a remoulade/tartare sauce and a few pieces of “frizzled basil.”  The pieces of scallop, halibut cheek, mussels, squid and assorted bits were fried well, could have been a touch crisper, but overall, very nice.  It could have used a little more salt and the remoulade was a little boring, but who doesn’t love a good plate of fried fish?  Next up was an aged Parmigiano-Reggiano soufflé.  It was served with a  couple of dressed leaves of baby arugula and some 8 year old balsamico.  I haven’t had a cheese soufflé in quite a while and found it very nice.  “Monk” really liked it and insisted I make one for her at home in the not too distant future.  I can’t remember the last time I had a cheese souffle at a restaurant and it’s definitely one of those things that most guests will really appreciate.   The fourth course was Dover sole with a caper and brown butter sauce.  Not exactly Italian regional cuisine, but the fish was well-cooked, the sauce was tasty and the simple garnish of sautéed zucchini was the perfect accoutrement to the dish.  By this point, we were both really getting into our meal, everything was portioned appropriately, the taste of everything was very good, the service took a huge turn for the better and I was really enjoying the meal and the vibe of the room.

As they cleared away our plates and empty glasses, our glasses of wine including my “leathery Barbera” were brought to the table.  The beginning of our pasta courses were starting and a saffron risotto was placed on the table.  It was a plate of vibrant bright yellow risotto, garnished only with a little grated parm.  The risotto was supposedly cooked to order and though it was probably the most boring looking plate of food I’ve ever seen, I was in a state of bliss after the first bite.  The rice was cooked perfectly, flawlessly al dente, was seasoned faultlessly, the moistness of the risotto was spot on and clearly the rice was the star.  I hate undercooked risotto, I hate overcooked risotto, and though there is only a little room for error, I love a properly cooked risotto.  “Monk” didn’t like the rice dish one bit; she found the rice to be way underdone for her liking and the saffron flavor was not completely up her alley.  That’s OK, you can’t please every one and it meant more for me and my gluttonous appetite.  Next up was a linguine puntanesca (spicy whore sauce).  I don’t think they made the pasta in-house, but it too was cooked brilliantly.  I prefer dry pasta when it comes to long skinny noodles because you get a true al dente mouthfeel.  This pasta was tasty, the linguine was appropriately dressed (not swimming in sauce) and the taste of the olives and anchovies was outstanding.  “Monk” found the pasta to be undercooked, but again, I win again!  Our final pasta course was rustic porchetta ravioli.  Unfortunately, the sage butter sauce glazing the ravioli was a little split, but these ravioli were wicked tasty.  Though they were not the most beautiful ravioli I’ve ever seen, the texture of the pasta was fantastic and the filling was clearly secondary to the noodle.

After the pastas, they reset the table for our meat course and brought us Tagliata di Manzo.  Seared flatiron steak, dressed roccolo, pinenuts, parmesan, balsamico and olive oil.  What can I say, except it was very good too.  The meat was roasted and seasoned well, the greens were dressed nicely and this dish is a classic expression of Tuscan flavors.  Minus the pinenuts, I do the same dish and refer to it as my version of “Bisteka alla Fiorentina”

After the savory dishes were done, dessert was served.  We were served a platter of three dessert including a baked chocolate custard, a rhubarb strudel and a spiced cake, which I do not remember the details of.  In my opinion, the desserts were tasty, but not outstanding in any way.  Unfortunately, the ice cream and sorbets were too warm/melting and the taste of the desserts were not overly memorable.  The best of the bunch was the baked chocolate custard; the texture was very nice and I appreciated the controlled amount of sugar.  After a little grappa and a little apricot wine, we ended our spectacular meal, headed home to our house in the burbs, appetites satiated, another year of marriage under our belts with our beautiful daughter waiting patiently in our front picture window. 

Issues and concerns; the room is very tight.  For a “plus size gentleman” like myself, I would like a little more room around me.  I prefer not to rub shoulders with the table of four ladies next to me as I elegantly use my steak knife.  I love the simplicity of the food, but for my own personal taste, I would like just a touch more complexity.  I respect simplicity and the restraint and confidence a chef needs to have, to execute unadorned simple food, but just one more component or flavor or garnish, could quite possibly elevate their already excellent dishes.  Most chefs over-complicate things for no good reason; I’d like to see these guys complicate the food just one little smidge.  I am very pleased with my experience at La Quercia and though there were a few tiny mistakes, I now consider La Quercia one of my favorite restaurants and look forward to my next visit.  As a treat, I was thinking of taking the boys from Tapenade down and maybe I could be so bold to request them to cook 12 courses for our voracious appetites.

On my chef’s night out scale, La Quercia receives 4/5 SOB (slices of bacon).