Whole and Kosher Food

Part I

We were thinking about fish for dinner and, as usual, our local Giant Foods seafood counter was bereft of anything remotely appetizing.  In fact, at 8:30 a.m., there wasn’t even a fishmonger at his station to receive our complaint.  So we crossed River Road to Whole Foods, where the fish is formally presented as if it were a real fish store.  Of course we know now that the fish presenters at Whole Foods have “lite” fishmonger skills because all the scaling and filleting is done at some central location.  You have to special order fish bones from Whole Foods if you want to make your own fish stock.

In any event, I was delighted to see that my favorite fish, Patagonian Toothfish -- I mean Chilean Sea Bass -- is not on the new Whole Foods list of politically incorrect fish to eat.  At $26/lb. I intend to take very small mouthfuls of this meaty flavorful fish, which will be pan seared for two minutes on the skin side and then baked for twelve minutes in a 450 degree oven.  I spied my favorite Vidalia onions, which with some sliced mango, diced yellow grape tomatoes, Thai basil, three small Thai hot peppers, lime juice, and 1/2 Tbs. of Thai fish sauce will make a delicious salsa to spread over the fish.

Part II

Having  planned dinner, I thought it would be fun to take a destination bike ride through Rock Creek Park to the Kosher Mart in Silver Spring.   At twelve miles from home, this would be the perfect distance to whip up an appetite for a pastrami sandwich on rye and a big kosher pickle.  Memories of great pastrami sandwiches flew through my mind as I pedaled from DC into Montgomery County on my way to lunch.

But the Kosher Mart turned my dream into a nightmare with its chewy tasteless meat,  Heinz yellow mustard poured into a Saval plastic bottle, pickles that must have been made from a Mormon recipe and cole slaw without any taste whatsoever.   Perhaps this could be redeemed by something chocolate, and I wandered over to Goldberg’s Bagels seeking to overcome the mistake I had made.  Their choices were limited, and I certainly was not going to opt for the recommended chocolate chip bagel, which seems almost Frankenstinian in concept.  We finally found a chocolate covered biscuit-like pastry with brownie filling and, after one bite, I realized that I had compounded my eating errors at the Kosher Mart.  It wasn’t calorie neutral, but the exercise was fun.

Bandolero Pop-Up

Our neighbors, Jonathan and Bethany Umbel, have teamed up with Top Chef Mike Isabella to bring a new Mexican small plate restaurant to Washington DC to replace  their former Georgetown restaurant, Hook.  Prior to the official opening at its M Street venue, the owners have opened for “spring training” in Cleveland Park at the former Tackle Box restaurant across from the Uptown Theater.

Last night we went with friends to try out this new venture.  We were warmly welcomed by the attractive trio of hostesses and escorted to our table upstairs, which was much calmer than the first floor. 

Dinner was prix fixe at $65 and included four different courses plus dessert, but not cocktails, wine or beer.  Although this was much more food than we would normally eat for dinner, it did give us an opportunity to explore the entire menu and get a good sense of what Chef Isabella was doing in the kitchen.

Our waiter reviewed the enticing list of cocktails, and I selected the Tamarindo, a margarita with curacao, lime and tamarind puree.  It was tart, complex and immediately replaced the caipirinha as my favorite latin cocktail.  The others chose the Our Way margarita (with and without salt) which was made with lime, blood orange, and Grand Marnier - and tequila of course.  It had great pucker and nice depth.

The first course for all of us was a smallish bowl of guacamole which had good flavor  but was a bit too smooth in texture for my liking.  In addition there was a salsa pasilla which had a deeper and slightly spicy flavor and “sikil pak” (a pumpkin seed dip), which was bland and tasteless. The accompanying chicharrones and chips were adequate, but weren’t worthy of a re-fill.

The second course consisted of taquitos, small crisp taco shells with various fillings, tuna ceviche, blue crab and beef tartare.  The presentation on a wooden board was clever as was the black bean paste “glue” holding the taquitos upright.  There did not seem to be enough tuna to give the taquito flavor; the beef tartare was bland; and although the blue crab filling was delicious it lacked any sense of a Mexican origin.

A word to the servers:  it was jarring to be served only one or two plates out of the four that should have come out together.  Perhaps we should have been told at the outset that the courses were served “tapas style”, if that was the intent.  Otherwise, it just seemed that the kitchen couldn’t get its timing right.  

The third course brought tacos, and we selected the mahi mahi, chicken, suckling pig and skirt steak versions.  We  all concluded that the seasoning was timid and the chef was big into bland.  Although the ingredients were excellent, the flavors were one- dimensional.  Indeed, the chicken taco seemed to have been conceived in the Graffiato kitchen with what I thought to be Italian flavors rather than Mexican.

Next came the “traditional” small plates.  The empanada has never been one of Mexico’s premier dishes.  Why put one on the menu and a fried one at that?  The sopes were fine, little corn flower cakes with minced lamb on top.  The enchilada verde did not distinguish itself, but the mole negro on top of short ribs was the best dish of the evening.

Finally came dessert, which unfortunately was not uplifting (or worth the calories).  No chocolate choice!  How come?  Mexicans love chocolate as do we. The tres leches parfait was nothing but a mass of whipped cream and other fluff.  Why try to improve on tres leches cake?  The spicy mango ice cream was fun, but avocado ice cream was tasteless.  Finally, the coconut flan seemed to have lost its coconuts and came topped with too much whipped cream, so the flan’s flavor was lost. 

Bandolero is clearly a work in progress.  I would recommend to the chef the KISS method - Keep It Simple and Spicy.

Zabar’s In-and-Out

It was early Monday morning, and we were on our way back to DC from Sharon, CT.  I asked Robin if she felt the same need I had for special NYC food.  She agreed, and since our Manhattan ETA was 10:30 a.m., we concluded that it would be too early for a pastrami sandwich at Katz’s followed by selective purchases at Russ & Daughters next door.

We hadn’t been to Zabar’s for some time, so that became our destination. We found parking on Broadway a block from the store; and though limited to an hour by the NYC parking meter, we thought we had enough time for targeted purchasing, but not the “museum tour” we had been planning.

A quick visit to the second floor, which is filled with kitchen and other home wares, enabled Robin to pick up some pastry gadgets which would be useful for pottery molds. We scanned the Zabar’s memorabilia shelf, and decided to pass on branded bags, oven mitts, baseball hats and the like.  On to the main floor.

We passed by the extensive cheese counter to the prepared foods section and were very impressed by the offerings. (Should Whole Foods send their chefs to NYC for take-home food training?)  Zabar’s “gourmet stuffed cabbage” is a favorite of ours.  We combined this with their tabbouleh salad, stuffed grape leaves and a tomato and basil tart.  Next we moved to the smoked fish environment and watched the countermen carving paper-thin slices of smoked salmon.  

We selected whitefish salad and chopped liver and moved to the bread counter where a loudspeaker had just told us that fresh rye bread was coming out of the oven.  Surprisingly, no tastes were offered, so no bread was purchased although we could not resist the cinnamon rugalah.  

As we passed the hot sauce, salsa and salad dressing shelf, Robin spotted a new brand of Japanese ginger dressing, which we added to our basket.  We ended by picking out two sandwiches for the trip home made with two different Eli Zabar’s breads (ciabatta and walnut/raisin bread).  We headed for the check-out counter quite pleased with our efficient effort.

All of this adventure for less than $100, and the meter had ten minutes left.