Attman's Authentic New York Deli

I used to live in the city. I used to live on East Baltimore Street by the western edge of Patterson Park in Butchers Hill back when re-gentrification was first taking hold, and rats and addicts and undercover cops still wandered the alleyways. Shortly after I moved there, the city decided to help support the efforts of the well-intended yuppies homesteading in the neighborhood and engaged in some beautification. This included repaving the sidewalks and adding some very attractive brick inlay work. It also included placing giant potted plants on the corners. They lasted until sometime around bar time of the first night. At the time, my friends and I laughed at this with jaded cynicism. It was, however, the beginning of a significant change. I left the neighborhood before this change was complete, and am now amazed when I drive through it on my way out to my current home in the suburbs.

I used to spend Fridays drinking in Fells Point in the now defunct Miss Irene's, home to bikers, artists, Johns Hopkins residents from foreign countries, and other assorted oddballs. I used to wake up too early on Saturday mornings from a restless, beer-fueled semi-sleep with a rough edge. But I was still young and thought I had the cure for a hangover. My cure entailed throwing on a pair of shoes and a coat over my jammies and driving down to Attman's Deli for a fresh potato knish and a Dr. Brown's Cherry Cola. And, while Butchers Hill is now fully re-gentrified and Miss Irene's has become an upscale bistro, Attman's is blissfully unchanged.

Attman's is a staple of the Baltimore landscape. It sits alongside Lenny's Deli on a two-block stretch of Lombard Street that used to be known as Corned Beef Row as at one time it boasted a number of classic delis that were rumored to rival New York's finest. I can vouch for this claim as the pastrami Reuben I get at Attman's is still better than any sandwich I've gotten in New York. I took the hike up there for my Friday lunch this week and, as usual, was not disappointed.

I love that they even offer a pastrami Reuben. I find this to be superior to the traditional corned beef mostly because I find pastrami to be a superior cold cut. The peppery flavor adds a little zest to the sandwich, and the texture of the meat is more like actual meat and doesn't have that graininess of corned beef. And their cold cuts are cut on the meat slicer right in front of you as you order, so your sandwich comes to you with freshly sliced meat. The lady in front of me ordered her roast beef shaved, and she got to see a sample slice before her sandwich was made.

Attman's uses good Jewish rye bread. The slices are thin but substantial and can carry the weight of their meaty sandwiches, even the notoriously damp Reuben. They use a generous amount of Thousand Island dressing on both slices and nestle the still-crisp sauerkraut on the inside between two slices of Swiss cheese and all that fresh-cut deli meat. It even survived my five-block walk back to the office. Wrapped in deli paper and then foil, the sandwich was still warm when I got to my desk. And, the bread held together while I ate, without the almost inevitable sauerkraut downfall that has afflicted my other Reuben experiences.

Even though it's been years since I visited Attman's, very little has changed about the quality of their food. That consistency is comforting and a little reassuring when so much else about my former life has changed, or even disappeared altogether. Standing in the narrow space between their counter and their beverage coolers, I felt a little nostalgic for my early years in Baltimore that now seem so reckless in comparison to my current life. Sometimes you can go back home, and Attman's is proof that sometimes some things really don't change, and in this case it is a very good thing.

Attman's remains one of my all-time favorite lunch spots in the city, as well as a genuine slice of Baltimore culture. While Corned Beef Row may be a shadow of what it once was, Attman's continued to serve up quality deli meats and sandwiches to a packed house seven days a week with a brisk and personal efficiency that comes from 100 years of service. They also offer catering.

Attman's Deli is located at 1019 East Lombard Street within walking distance of the Harbor East, Inner Harbor, and Little Italy neighborhoods. Metered street parking is available.

Petit Louis Bistro: Total French Immersion

There are so many restaurants these days who are making the minimal effort at creating a space for people to dine and providing them with a decent meal. As we increasingly abdicate our responsibility to provide food for our families to these charlatans, the bar for what is worth paying for gets lower and lower. So often we are served up foot that resembles frozen dinners, both in flavor and craftsmanship, as if we should be willing to pay to have someone else do the cleaning up and count ourselves satisfied.

Then there are restaurateurs who are committed to their craft, who invest their efforts and creativity into building a dining experience that surpasses the ordinary, that is enjoyable and memorable and leave you feeling like the meal was a truly special occasion. For our 14th wedding anniversary, we wanted just that, and Chef Cindy Wolf provided it with Petit Louis Bistro.

Petit Louis is a French bistro located in Baltimore's finest residential neighborhood. But, this is not some American dining experience dressed up like a caricature of the French. It is actually a fair replication of European dining. The host greeted us in enthusiastic (but not overpowering) French. The seating is close with a couple of thoroughfares for the staff to traverse the dining room. And, as a welcome departure from American establishments, there was no music playing, allowing the diners and the staff to create the atmosphere. I also enjoyed that on this mild May evening, we were not subjected to what is almost always too-cold air conditioning. Petit Louis has windows along the dining room that were open, allowing the fresh spring air and home sounds of the surrounding neighborhood to waft in.

Achieving the French atmosphere

The menu is fairly straight-up French and runs the gamut from familiar items like pea soup, smoked salmon, and grilled asparagus to things that only the French would cook, like escargot, confit, and sweetbread.

My counterpart started with the smoked salmon gravlax for his starter, followed by duck confit. I chose the straight French immersion experience and had the escargot for  my starter and the Ris de Veau sweetbread for my main.

The gravlax were lightly smoky, very buttery, and shaved paper thin. Served with a creamy cheese and the most amazing capers that reminded me of Italy. So often capers are mishandled in American kitchens that the acidulation they acquire from the preserving process overpowers whatever you pair them with. These were clean, earthy little berries that were the perfect accent for the dish.

Escargot in butter in the fore, gravlax in the back

My escargot were served shelled and nestled in the traditional sectioned plate with each little mollusk nested in its own butter-filled compartment. The butter was rich and herby with just a hint of garlic, while the escargot themselves were tender and slightly pungent tasting of seawater when bitten.

The duck confit was a generous leg with a crispy skin that snapped when my counterpart cut into it. The meat inside was dark and moist and tasted very strongly of duck. While confit is by design a fatty dish, this confit was not greasy or oily, but was very, very rich. Served on a bed of sliced potatoes, this was heavy, but flavorful, achieving a balance that is part of the artistry of French cuisine.

My sweetbread was a work of culinary perfection. Nestled in among sauteed mushrooms in a Madeira reduction, the organ meat was seared on the outside and tender on the inside without a trace of the bitterness that is so characteristic of this part of the animal. The mushrooms were cooked to perfection, and the rich reduction was a nice counterpoint to the livery flavor of the meat.

Sweetbread in the fore, duck confit in the back

Now, here's something I love about French dining. In addition to thinking one can cook things like snails and organ meat, or that it is somehow OK to leave your poultry in a kettle in the cellar for a couple of months, the French also believe that after a nice meal, one should have a little cheese. Petit Louis has a nightly cheese cart with varieties that range from a mild Spanish-style manchego to a potent little variety that had to be stored in its own separate box. While my counterpart ordered the former, I had to go for the latter, plus an aged goat cheese to round out the selection.

The very French apres dinner cheese cart

The manchego was tender and mild and a good choice after the confit.  The aged goat cheese had a thick rind that was only slightly bitter with a musky, chalky interior. And that little number in its own separate box? Overwhelming. The cheese itself was the texture of taffy with a flavor almost like aged brie that goes very sharp in the back of the mouth. It was surrounded by a crumbly orange rind that was so foreign and intense that I needed a second bite to determine that it was indeed too moldy even for my open-minded palate.

Assorted cheeses with toasted baguette

We shared a dessert that my counterpart has made at home with much success - pots du creme au chocolat. Served with a dollop of heavy, almost buttery cream, it was gratifying to experience how this dessert is prepared by an actual French chef. Dense and dark and rich, we were glad for the espresso we ordered along with it to help cleanse the palate (although when we were still awake after midnight, we were reminded that age alters what one is able to do in life, after-dinner coffee being among the simple things we really should no longer do).

Authentic pots du creme and the espresso that will lead to trouble later

The food was excellent, and this is easily the best meal I have had outside my own home. The service was polite and efficient with the right level of attention - no hovering waitstaff bragging about the kitchen, but rather competent,knowledgeable professionals confident in their work.

We will definitely be returning to Petit Louis.

Located at 4800 Roland Avenue just east of Edy's, Petit Louis Bistro is open for lunch and dinner Monday-Saturday, and brunch and dinner on Sunday. During the week, they provide a prix fixe menu, while on the weekend it is a la carte.

A happy food blogger

Asian Fusion at Ten Ten Bistro: The New Bahn Mi

Bagby's Ten Ten Bistro is rolling out some new items for their spring menu. One of the items they announced via their Facebook page is an Asian inspired Bahn Mi sandwich. Made up of Asian pork meatballs, slices of country-style pork pate, cole slaw, spicy aioli, and their own house-made pickles on a crusty roll, it sounded too interesting to not try.

The Bahn Mi sandwich as presented for carry out

Like all their sandwiches, this comes with a side of either a composed salad, house-made potato chips, or fries - regular or drizzled with duck fat. The sandwich itself was so impressively presented that a separate container was needed for my side salad. And this was a stuffed sandwich - three meatballs, two slabs of pate, a generous portion of cole slaw, plus sliced radishes and fresh cilantro inside a roll smeared with aioli orange with sriracha.

I sampled one of the meatballs first. The ground pork had a nice texture that was slightly firm with very little filler and a slightly braised exterior that gave just a little resistance when bitten. Slightly salty with a hint of soy sauce and something earthy, they were moist and tender but not greasy. The pork pate was similarly seasoned and was edged with a thin skin of bacon. Even though the flavors were very similar, the pate provided a variant texture that added interest to the sandwich while retaining a common flavor theme.

Pork meatballs and country-style pate with coarsely cut slaw and radishes

The cole slaw was creamy and coarsely cut into thick ribbons of green and purple cabbage mixed with a slightly sweet mayonnaise. The slaw was topped with equally course cuts of radishes.The bitterness of the radish, even in thick slices, was muted by the sweet slaw that allowed the zingy flavor of this much maligned root to shine through.

The sriracha aioli added a pleasant spiciness that worked well against the salty meat and sweet slaw. And the fresh cilantro provided a bright flavor that helped cut the salt, cleansed the palate and worked well with the more robust flavors showcased by this sandwich.

While the sandwich itself was quite pleasing both in flavor and mouth feel, the roll it was served in appeared to be chosen more for presentation than for anything else. It was light and flavorless and lacked the backbone to carry the weight of the sandwich. It dropped crumbs on my desk and quickly fell apart, even with the sandwich cut in half. This was not Ten Ten's best bread offering. The rolls they use for burgers and crab cakes are better tasting and solid enough to support something like this.

Overall, I remain a fan of the Ten Ten Bistro. They are experimenting with flavors and traditional bistro fare in an informed and artful manner. This fusion-based sandwich is another winner for them. Hopefully they will reconsider that roll. While it made for a beautiful photo, it also required considerable desk cleaning afterward.

Ten Ten Bistro is located in the courtyard of the Bagby Building at 1010 Fleet Street in Baltimore's Harbor East neighborhood. They are open nightly for dinner, weekdays for lunch, and Sundays for brunch.

Charm City Gourmet Delivers

Food is an essential part of our lives. It is nourishment to fuel us through our day. It is social as we often seek out friends to dine with. We build our lives around it, from grand traditions to daily routines. And some meals are so enjoyable that we shape our week around them, going out of our way for the unique satisfaction of a well-crafted dish. And then something changes, and that much loved meal is out of reach.

Many readers will remember my love of the original Silver Platter menu, and how my regular visits to that food truck opened a door for me to experience the mobile restaurant scene in Baltimore. I became fixated on the sweet chili baby back ribs and struggled to limit myself to one serving a week.

Then everything changed. When The Silver Platter revamped their menu, they also revamped their kitchen staff, and I feared I would never taste those tender, spicy-sweet ribs again. I have dreamed about those ribs during many dull 11:00 meetings, only to recall that they were no longer available, and a dismal despair would set in.

I should have known that those ribs, along with the other original menu items (including Maine Lobster Roll, Lobster Mac and Cheese, and the best  pulled pork and pit beef in town) would find another home. A year later, they have.

The Charm City Gourmet food truck is operated by the original chef of The Silver Platter. And he is selling the original menu that we all came to know and love last summer. When he parked outside my office and I realized what he was selling, there was really only one choice - ribs.

Now, sometimes when we are deprived of a favorite food for long enough, the memory of that food becomes such sweet nostalgia that said food item takes on a mythical quality, becoming not just a once loved meal, but The God of All Foods. And I've had a year to ponder those ribs, disdaining all other ribs out of a certainty that they will be sub par at best. So, when I had an order of those ribs that I remembered so well in front of me, did the reality measure up to the recollection?

Yes, and then some. The ribs were the same tender, falling-off-the-bone pork ribs smothered in the same sweet sauce that cuts right through tooth enamel the same way a good butter cream icing does. With just enough red pepper to give things a little kick, these ribs were exactly as I remembered, which made them all the more enjoyable. Still served on a nest of deep fried onion ribbons that catch the sauce, I am quite pleased that my favorite food truck meal is back.

Mmmmmm Ribs

To complete the trip down memory lane, I topped it off with an IcedGem. I chose the vanilla salted caramel, forgetting about the sugar level on those ribs. The caramel filling was the perfect balance of sweet and salty. Alas, the cupcake was just too much sugar after the ribs. While I could not make it through the cupcake, I thoroughly enjoyed what I was able to eat.

The inevitable cupcake

Lunch Will Never Be the Same

Though it was a four-day work week, by the time I woke up this morning, I felt as if I had already worked a full week. When lunch time rolled around, I knew in my heart that the only way I would make it through to the end was with a Bistro Burger from Bagby's TenTen and an IcedGems cupcake. It was a lunch reminiscent of former bad dietary habits and unfortunate weight fluctuations. But dammit I earned it.

I have indulged in the Bistro Burger a couple of times. It is indeed a perfect burger. It's a little large at 8 ounces. (That's, like, half a pound. And, every time, I'm, like, really?? Half a pound?? Remember when McDonald's launched the Quarter Pounder like it was a lot of meat? That was 30 years ago. What happened??) But it is local beef decked out with the classic trimmings of bacon and cheese from local sources; lettuce, tomatoes, and onions from their own farm, and an extra bite from their own crispy onions, lightly battered and fried on site. Plus they will cook it for you rare. Not medium. Not medium rare. Rare. Served on their amazing brioche rolls, this is truly the burger you must be worthy of. And today I ate the whole thing. Really.

They will also give it to you with a side salad if you like. This is usually the wise choice to avoid the afternoon drowsies as fries are the best sedative I know, especially when consumed in the middle of a hellacious day. The TenTen side salad is a thing pf beauty. Consisting of the standard side salad mix of lettuce, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, and tomatoes, theirs is executed in a manner that makes you realize why someone thought this combination was a good idea in the first place. The lettuce is a bed of mixed baby greens, including frisee and spinach (two of my favorites). The cucumbers, radishes, and grape tomatoes are cut into a manageable size. (Why anyone would drop a whole grape - or worse, cherry - tomato directly into a salad with nothing for the diner to manage with than a dull butter knife is beyond me. And don't get me started on the dreaded tomato wedge.) The salad is topped with a crown of freshly grated carrot that still snaps. Their house dressing is a light, tangy, brown vinaigrette. It balances out the salad and even makes the radishes taste good, one of the few veggies I have a long-standing negative food bias against. The TenTen house dressing tames the most offensive flavors of this root and leaves only a slightly bitter after flavor it its wake.

Dessert was obtained at the IcedGems truck, long a fixture on Fleet Street on Fridays, if now reduced to every other Friday due to their ever-increasing success. I got the Caribbean Coconut, a coconut cupcake with lime-flavored butter cream icing and a candy lime wedge. The cake was a very nice white cake with shredded coconut and a very natural flavor that was complemented by the tangy lime in the icing. But, after a few bits, I noticed that it was too sweet. 

Wait, what? Was it the icing that was too sweet? Maybe..... My preferred method of eating cupcakes is to separate the iced crown from the base. This makes the whole thing so much easier to handle, plus it provides the hedonistic pleasure of the dietary equivalent of mainlining the icing with very little cake to disrupt the direct delivery of butter and sugar into the bloodstream. So, I abandoned the crown, took a drink of water to cleanse my palette, and tried the base.

Yes, the cake that had tasted so refreshing just a few bites ago had become sugary-sweet. When I returned to the icing-coated crown - usually my favorite part - it was too much. I had to quit. Even the gummy lime wedge was too much.

This is nothing against IcedGems. I think I have been away from cupcakes for so long that I have lost my sweet tooth.

Well, not entirely. I still like the caramel sauces I get at home. But maybe that's it for me now. Maybe this is the natural progression of things. Back in 2009, as my father lay dying and I comforted myself with Ferrero Rocher conveniently provided by a niece, I realized I no longer liked chocolate. Not just Ferrero Rocher, but almost all chocolate. Except for what I get at home. Maybe it just doesn't taste right to me unless Gareth makes it. Maybe this is true for all sweets. This is a revolutionary concept for me and one I will explore in greater detail at some point in the future.

The only other remarkable feature of today's lunch is the introduction of my new phone. I finally gave up the iPhone for a Samsung Galaxy Note. Yeah, that's that big phone that's half-way between a phone and a tablet. I used it for my Honey Pig post, and our 17-year-old Korean busboy said it was cool, so I feel as if I have some sort of street cred on this. It also has an 8 MP camera with a flash and actual depth perception. I'm quite pleased with it. Here are the shots of today's lunch.

Is that the project file for my 1:00 meeting under there?

Depth perception

A close up of that burger

The Honey Pig

When my mom comes to visit, we try to show her a good time. We let her relax. We feed her well. And we take her someplace local for an experience she can't get at home. This year, we took her to The Honey Pig in Ellicott City.

The Honey Pig is a 24-hour Korean barbecue restaurant located on Route 40. It has a sparse, warehouse look inside with corrugated steel siding and posters for other Korean businesses. It is such a cultural experience that walking through their front door feels a bit like leaving the U.S. As near as I can tell, they are always busy. And why wouldn't they be?

They do the traditional table-top grill and offer a variety of spiced beef, pork, and organ meat that is cooked at the table and served with the usual accompaniments of kimchee, sliced fish cake, picked daikon, spicy green beans, and sliced raw peppers and garlic. They tend to direct foreigners like us toward more pedestrian items, but this is most likely from hard-learned experience. The Korean palate is used to much more flavor than the typical Marylander can abide.

With my mother along for her first Korean barbecue experience, we let the waitress talk us out of the spicy pork bellies, but ended up with a good mix of bulgogi - seasoned beef - unseasoned pork belly, and beef tongue, a personal favorite of mine so long as it is not prepared by white folk.

The tongue was sliced thin and was very tender. It needed little seasoning and was quite good on its own. The pork was also sliced thin and took the special Korean hot sauce very well. This I ate with the raw garlic and peppers, wrapped in a little lettuce for the flavor explosion that makes Korean barbecue so enjoyable. The bulgogi was cut thicker and was marinated with sliced onion. It was a flavorful spicy rather than the heat my counterpart was looking for. Even so, we were all extremely satisfied with the experience.

The service is un-American in that once they have cooked the meat for you, they let you enjoy your meal, even allowing you to digest before presenting you with the bill. This is saying something for an establishment that perpetually has a line out the door. The Honey Pig is about the Korean dining experience. Patronized by ex-pats, immigrants, and guest workers, and filled with bouncy Korean pop music, they deliver just that.

Waiting for our table

A quick Facebook Mobile lesson

Pork belly on sale tonight

Preparing for our gastronomical adventure

The usual accompaniments

Fire up the grill

Beef tongue

Pork belly

Bulgogi

My counterpart enjoying his barbecue

Spicy tofu soup

Everyone is a member of The Clean Plate Club tonight

After dinner

A parting glimpse

Vino Rosina Returns to Greatness

Vino Rosina has been an understated fixture in Baltimore's Harbor East for about as long as I have. They opened to little fanfare in 2010, about 18 months after I joined Laureate Education, located a block away. My coworkers and I have been regulars these last few years, due as much to their proximity as to their impressive wine collection.  The interior is wood and exposed brick with an open bar area and decorative wooden wine racks separating it from the dining room, creating a comfortable space. I also enjoy their food menu and have been watching it evolve.

Every so often, the menu is revamped. The base menu theme of flat bread pizzas, bistro sandwiches, and hearty salads remains the same, but the appetizers and bar menu are updated regularly to reflect a new emphasis. I recently learned that the menu overhaul is in part related to a corresponding kitchen overhaul as every spring, they acquire a new head chef.

There was much to-do about Top Chef contestant Jesse Sandlin taking the helm. Ms. Sandlin had earned a reputation prior to her stint on Bravo's cooking competition, working at fine Baltimore establishments like Pazo and the now defunct Abacrombie Seafood. She brought more game meats to the menu, including a melt-in-your-mouth rabbit terrine that I was quite fond of. Under her watch, the hummus was smooth, creamy and flavorful, and all the appetizers could be easily paired with the appropriate wine to create a superlative gastronomical experience that left the diner satisfied and pleasantly buzzed.

Then last spring the menu changed. The kitchen latched onto the unfortunate sliders trend that lasted all of a nano-second. The bold flavors that Ms. Sandlin created were replaced with those annoying little patties, including the 16-legged Slider, a combination of beef, bison, lamb, and venison ground into hamburger that managed to taste like just that - hamburger. Turns out the new menu was the creation of a new chef. With Ms. Sandlin's departure early last year, her sous chef Sanjin Renae was promoted, and the hit-or-miss menu suddenly made sense. Renea's background seems to be more high-volume, with experience at places like PF Chang's and The Loew's Annapolis. There were still some strong items on the menu, but the synergy between food and wine was diminished, and I frequently resorted to the cheese platter - always a good choice at a wine bar but not necessarily what I was going ot Vino Rosina for.

A few weeks back, Vino Rosina unveiled their new spring menu. The so-called comfort food is gone, and the restaurant appears to have returned to the holistic approach of the Sandlin reign in which the vast selection of wines is taken into account when creating each new dish. While the questionable sliders are still on the Happy Hour menu, the 16-Legged Slider has been replaced with a more reasonable lamb patty. More flavorful meats like duck and waygu are appearing on the new menu as well. All of this is the work of new chef Devlyn Ray.

I visited Vino Rosina for lunch this week to check out the new menu. I inquired about the soup du jour and was pleased to learn it was a red pepper bisque, usually a nice, flavorful soup that won't cause the afternoon sleepies. Nonetheless, I passed and ordered the Blackened Shrimp Cobb Salad. I got an appropriately-size portion of chopped Romaine lettuce generously spiked with a creamy Gorgonzola cheese and two large shrimp cooked to perfection.

Now, here is where I need to digress for a moment and discuss Maryland's love-hate relationship with shellfish. They love it here. But they love it drenched in Old Bay and cooked to the point of rubbery disaster, reflecting the regional fear of undercooked food. Crabs, lobster, shrimp, oysters, you name it - if it's in a shell, this is the default presentation. Why do that to seafood?

Which brings me back to the shrimp I had yesterday. They were seasoned with actual blackening, not the Old Bay that is so di riguer. They were also cooked to a tender, delicate perfection. Nestled atop the greens and drizzled lightly with avocado dressing and tossed with a scant smattering of finely chopped prosciutto, it was just what I had been looking for.

I am pleased with the changing of the guard at Vino Rosina. With a new chef and a return to a more elegant dining experience, they are back on my list of favorite restaurants.

Why can't all shellfish be served like this?

A Return to an Old Haunt

We discovered The Golden Szechuan Inn about 10 years ago when we first moved to Harford County and were living in a rental townhouse at Seven Oaks off Hansen Road in Edgewood. Back then, there was still a Blockbuster Video nearby. Back then, it was the only Blockbuster that carried DVDs. Ten of them. Times change.

We have been regular if infrequent customers for most of our years out here until our niece had an unfortunate experience, and we stopped going in solidarity with her. This was about three years ago. Now that she is in San Francisco, the ban has been lifted, and we had our Friday night dinner in our old haunt.

The menu has remained mostly unchanged. They still serve the Ginseng Chicken Soup I favor. The clear, light broth has an earthy flavor from the ginseng and often has a little gingery zing. There are also four our five modest strips of white meat chicken, but they neither add nor detract from the soup, and I quite frequently end up ignoring them.

My counterpart is partial to egg drop soup in general, and their egg drop soup in particular. It is thicker and richer than just about everyone else's. Plus there is an added depth of flavor that we believe comes from a little sesame oil.

There was one welcome addition to their offerings - a modest selection of Vietnamese noodle dishes that appeared to have  Thai influence, including pad thai and a number of basil dishes. I ordered rice noddles with chicken, basil, and tomatoes in a red curry sauce, anticipating something similar to Drunken Noodles. The sauce was flavorful but not as in your face as many of the curries I've eaten in Baltimore. The basil was whole and very forward, tasting almost like mint. The noodles were perfection. Topped with white meat chicken and fresh bean sprouts, this was not what I was expecting but was still highly satisfying.


Gareth ordered summer rolls for us as well. Pork, shrimp, lettuce and thin noodles wrapped in thin rice paper and served with the requisite peanut sauce, these were a refreshing substitute to the deep-fried egg roll that so often hit my belly with all the subtlety of a greasy torpedo.

We were very happy to find even a small menu of well-executed Vietnamese cuisine so close to home. I think we will  be visiting more frequently.

The Golden Szechuan Inn, like many Chinese restaurants in our area, also serves sushi. Their rolls are a generous size and are well-wrapped. The variety ranges from basic standards like California Roll and Salmon and Avocado to a selection of house specialties. They are located in Bel Air at the Great Intersection of Strip Malls at Routes 1 and 24 behind the Chili's.

A Salad Named For an Emperor

So many foods taste so much better when prepared properly. This is especially noticeable with Caesar salad. It's easy to just toss together a half-assed Caesar salad like so many restaurants do. With romaine, croutons, a little hard cheese, and an egg-based dressing, a basic Caesar is fairly minimalist. But a good Caesar - that is minimalist art. Today's lunch included such a salad.

I did not pack a lunch for today, and ended up at the incomparable TenTen Bistro, my new favorite lunch hour haunt. I deviated from my usual Powerhouse Wrap and got a soup and salad combo. While this isn't actually a combo on their menu, it should be. Even so, when purchased a la carte, they cost the same as my usual sandwich.

This week's soup is a Spring Minestrone that I paired with their Caesar salad. And what I got was Caesar perfection. The server who packed up my to go order said that the greens were picked fresh on their affiliated farm just this morning, and that I could not get a fresher salad in Baltimore today. I thought it was just talk. It wasn't. I've heard of lettuce so fresh and tender it is almost sweet but have never experienced it before today. The mix of red and green romaine with a little arugula had that nice vegetably sweetness similar to really fresh carrots and no hint of bitterness that so quickly creeps into greens after they are picked.

The hard cheese was a mild Parmesean shaved into long, thick, crumbly ribbons. The croutons were small nuggets of buttery baguette and not so large that they overpower the salad and become the focus. These were small enough to mix with the rest of the salad and hide under the lettuce until the surprise of discovering them in your mouth.

And, atop the salad was the crown of any true Caesar - anchovies. People get weird about anchovies, mostly because so often they are an oily, salty affair that dominates whatever dish they have been added to. The anchovies on this salad were oily, but creamy and very lightly salted so that they actually tasted like fish. I haven't had anchovies like this since I visited Milan. My only issue is that there weren't more of them.

The dressing was presented on the side, but I used it all anyway. Eggy, cheesey, creamy, and gently peppered, it was the perfect complement to the rest of the salad.

Salad Perfection

Which brings me now to the Vegetable Minestrone. I did not photograph the soup as it did not look like much. Turns out, it did not taste like much, either. I'm reluctant to criticize anything that emerges from the TenTen kitchen as they really are the best thing going on in Harbor East. From the crab cake to the Cobb salad, everything I've ordered has been so far above and beyond anything else in the area, I want to say only good things about them. They are genuinely making an effort to produce good, well-crafted meals.

Which is why the minestrone was such a disappointment. It had all the component parts - white beans, a little orzo pasta, and a variety of vegetables. What it didn't have was a distinct theme. The vegetables were a mix of fresh bell peppers, grated carrots and sad, slippery mushrooms with stewed tomatoes that felt and tasted canned. The flavor of the broth was a little off as well, tasting not of hearty Italian herbs, but with the dreaded soapy taste of ill-used cilantro. A single blemish on an otherwise exemplar kitchen.

babo: a market by sava

You know you've made it when you can open a market with your name in it and people come. This is the case with Sava Lelcaj, owner of Sava's State Street Cafet in Ann Arbor, and now babo: a market by sava just down the street at Division and Washington. I visited babo on the weekend they received their liquor license to sell wine and beer, and it was a flurry of activity. The staff was busy, but remained warm and friendly.

 First, a little about Sava for those outside the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area. While I was unable to meet the woman herself, she has a reputation in the area thanks to the appeal of Sava's State Street Cafe. She worked her way up in the restaurant business from busing tables in high school to managing in college. After college, she used her experience and expertise to help other restaurateurs get up and running until she opened Sava's State Street Cafe, which later moved across the street into an expanded space.

Her latest venture is babo, a specialty market and cafe. While there are several differences between a restaurant and a market, there are also a couple of key ingredients that Sava brings to her projects: fresh, local, hand-crafted food. In addition to a nice selection of imported gourmet items, babo carries local produce, as well as cheeses and preserves made in Michigan. There is no frozen food section full of pre-packaged, bulk-made, reheatable meals. Instead, she offers a deli counter where patrons can purchase sandwiches, sides, and entrees made by her kitchen staff. There is a small seating area to eat in. 

In another nod to a time of more civilized eating, babo breaks out the white linens and fine china every Saturday for Tea at 3. For $12, patrons get a pot of the tea of their choice and a plate of treats, either sweets from the bakery or savory sandwiches from the kitchen.

Creative Director Dave La Fave ensures that babo has a distinctive look, using anything and everything to create visually appealing displays, including a ladder and vintage kitchen appliances the weekend I was there. Photos from babo's opening include a window display that included a floating bicycle and baguettes and is the most unique and captivating display I've ever seen.

Sava Lelcaj has something truly wonderful to offer the Ann Arbor area - an approach to food as more than just sustenance but as a full sensory experience, a community activity, a social experience. As so much of America willingly accepts the marketing myth that we no longer have time to seek out local food, prepare our own meals, or even put down the smart phones to eat as a family, babo is a refreshing reminder that there is more to food than the act of eating.

 

Food Truck Sighting!

This week I was overjoyed to see the return of the GrrChe grilled cheese food truck to my work neighborhood. Turns out, they never really left. Neither have most of the food trucks. They have just moved further west of Central Avenue.

When I spoke with the operator of the GrrChe truck, he told a rather unfortunate tale of two groups who should be supporting each other for the greater good of the community but have a tenuous relationship at best, and sometimes downright hostility - the independent food truck operators who set up temporary shop in various neighborhoods throughout the city and the restaurant entrepreneur working to build a loyal following.

When the food truck rolls into my neighborhood, the block between of Fleet Street between Central and Exeter is prime real estate. There are two large office buildings on that block (including the one that houses my employer) full of corporate America looking for lunch. There is also one of my favorite local restaurateurs - The Bagby Restaurant Group. And it's a challenge to park on that block without ending up right in front of Bagby Pizza. If you were Mr. Bagby, what would you do? If you said "protect my investment", you're on the same page.

SouperFreak spent an abbreviated lunch hour on our block and has never returned. Last time I saw GrrChe, they were also in close proximity to the Bagby building. Now I heard this secondhand, but Mr. Bagby's alleged assertion is that the mobile food truck wins over customers - potentially his customers - without making the same financial investment in the neighborhood. Which is an interesting thought.

Which gave rise to another interesting thought. When I started considering lunch, I first visited the website for Bagby's TenTen Bistro to check the current menu and get a price check on their bison burger. When I stepped outside and saw the GrrChe truck parked on Central Ave, I made a B-line for the truck.

Did Bagby lose me as a customer? No - when I thought of lunch out, i thought of him first and will continue to do so. But why did he lose my business that day? Part of it is the food truck is a novelty. Many of them have a theme (like Haute Dog and the aforementioned SuperFreak) or an eclectic menu (The Gypsy Queen Cafe) that makes them unique. Plus they are mobile so when I see one in the neighborhood, I'm never sure when they will be back. And, with the impending snow already creeping into the air, what I really wanted was a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of tomato soup. This is not on Bagby's menu. And that's really the bottom line. GrrChe provides something the Bagby doesn't, and vice versa.

I strongly support both in their endeavors. I am also a regular patron of both types of business. I think they provide different services to the city. Their presence means a smaller market for The Cheesecake Factory and Hooters and Chipotle and other purveyors of culinary abominations. I'm sure there are loyalists in both camps, but I'm also sure there is a lot of crossover customers like  me. And, as any restaurateur can attest - people are fickle. I can change my mind in a moment. I did.

So while I continue to contemplate the state of the local food scene, feast your eyes on GrrChe's Grilled American on Sourdough with sliced tomato. It came with a piping hot cup of from-scratch tomato basil soup, a bag of Utz Kettle Crisps and the requisite deli pickle. It was, like my last GrrChe sandwich, cooked to perfection. And the gossip wasn't bad, either.