So my wonderful husband took me and darling son and daughter to Giovanni's in Detroit. You drive through a manufacturing not-quite-hellhole/Mordor--vestiges of the manufacturing empire that's been Detroit.
And, ah, you reach an oasis of hospitality and wonderful food! A well-priced and varied wine list, warm and professional servers (our lovely server has worked there for 23 years and it was like she was serving us at her home.)
I had the pesce Francesa --a huge amount of delicate fresh lake perch filets in a flavorful sauce of butter, lemon and capers --the sharpness of the lemons and capers a great foil for the delicate fish. An herbed risotto could have been hotter but was textbook texture.
Darling daugher had a subtle, gorgeous brodo with pasta and amazingly flavorful meat cannellloni --sauce was so tomatoey! Son had ravioli with boursin cheese and sun -dried tomatoes in a wonderful lemony sauce with lucious chunks of crab meat. He said it's the best ravioli he had in his life.
Husband had a great charred pair of tournedos on pancetta risotto with wine reduction.
Steak was good, but not memorable as our other dishes; pancetta was deeply flavorful and rich, a good accompaniment for the steak (other option was polenta).
Hallmark was flavor, texure and excellence of ingredients. And the warmth of the staff, the owner visiting us.
As we celebrated our daughter's coming semester in Rome, this meal set the stage for the heart and soul of Italian food and sharing it with the ones we love.
This is what food made with integrity and love can do.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
More Small Plates
A very pleasant outing with the family to Small Plates again in Royal Oak. I was surprised that we had no problem calling at 7:30 on a Friday night and secured an 8:00 reservation. The place as pretty full at 8, but there was no line of waiting diners and by 9:30 when we left, the place was 1/3 empty.
Food was very nice. We all shared ribs (with a modestly sweet/sour sauce) and fries, Asian lettuce wraps with chicken chunks and a soy-based sauce, crab cakes, Caesar salad and a margherita pizza. The ribs are good - not greasy, falling off the bone. The crab cakes were very nice - crispy outside, tender crabby interior with a minimum of filler so they just barely held together.
The pizza was quite tasty. It has a nearly cracker-thin and -crispy crust. The four cheeses and the tomato were lovely. The basil was pretty sparse - I could barely taste it.
This is getting to be a favorite spot just because the sharing and comparing is fun, but, yikes, we've eaten most of the menu by now.
Food was very nice. We all shared ribs (with a modestly sweet/sour sauce) and fries, Asian lettuce wraps with chicken chunks and a soy-based sauce, crab cakes, Caesar salad and a margherita pizza. The ribs are good - not greasy, falling off the bone. The crab cakes were very nice - crispy outside, tender crabby interior with a minimum of filler so they just barely held together.
The pizza was quite tasty. It has a nearly cracker-thin and -crispy crust. The four cheeses and the tomato were lovely. The basil was pretty sparse - I could barely taste it.
This is getting to be a favorite spot just because the sharing and comparing is fun, but, yikes, we've eaten most of the menu by now.
Bagger Dave's
Little need be said about this new Berkley establishment. Pleasant site, pleasant service, terrible food. I'd like another good, casual restaurant in my hometown. This aint it.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Small plates, big pleasure
We certainly enjoyed an outing to Small Plates the other evening - the new branch in Royal Oak. We got a table with no reservation on a Friday night, but we got there early, just before six.
The idea is that the entrees are small - you order a couple and share. We ordered the Caesar salad, goat cheese empanadas, the cheese and olive plate and the ribs. All of it was nice, none of it spectacular. But the experience was quite pleasant overall, perhaps assisted by a very nice Oregon Pinot Noir (I forget the winery - it's the only PN on the menu.)
The space is attractive and comfortable with plenty of room between tables. The music is louder than it needs to be, but not terribly irritating.
Small Plates has only been open in RO for a couple weeks and their inexperience showed. Things were pretty disorganized - no service for a while, menu items not available or misdescribed. The empanadas, for example, were advertised as having chicken and black beans. They didn't. We ate them, the waitperson took them off the bill and all was fine. In truth the disorganization was completely ameliorated by the cheerful waitperson who apologized for the problems and handled them well.
All in all we enjoyed it a good deal - the experience is fun and the food is more than decent. Next time we go we'll bring a few more friends - the more to share.
The idea is that the entrees are small - you order a couple and share. We ordered the Caesar salad, goat cheese empanadas, the cheese and olive plate and the ribs. All of it was nice, none of it spectacular. But the experience was quite pleasant overall, perhaps assisted by a very nice Oregon Pinot Noir (I forget the winery - it's the only PN on the menu.)
The space is attractive and comfortable with plenty of room between tables. The music is louder than it needs to be, but not terribly irritating.
Small Plates has only been open in RO for a couple weeks and their inexperience showed. Things were pretty disorganized - no service for a while, menu items not available or misdescribed. The empanadas, for example, were advertised as having chicken and black beans. They didn't. We ate them, the waitperson took them off the bill and all was fine. In truth the disorganization was completely ameliorated by the cheerful waitperson who apologized for the problems and handled them well.
All in all we enjoyed it a good deal - the experience is fun and the food is more than decent. Next time we go we'll bring a few more friends - the more to share.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Weekend in Stratford
We were looking forward to good food as well as good theater when we planned to go to Stratford from Detroit this weekend. Following some suggestions from chowhound.com, we ate pretty well. Saturday evening, between plays, we ate at Down the Street, 30 Ontario St.
Overall opinion, good food, and exceptional service. This is a bit funky but very convivial and warm restaurant. The owner knew we were new (who new?) and we were taken care of well, with concern and humor.
Appetizers included bruschetta and pork pot-stickers. The bruschetta was OK - the toasted bread was light on the garlic and overall nothing great, the tomato/basil mixture was fresh and bright, but a little watery. Bruschetta doesn't require cheese, but DTS's version includes a small pot of goat cheese - which my co-diner hates. I sort of enjoyed slathering a bunch on the bread before applying the tomato mixture. The pork potstickers came from the "100 mile menu" - all items on it are organic and sourced within 100 miles. Anyway the potstickers were very nice - crispy fried packages of a tasty mildly-spicy sausage-like mixture of local pork But, there were three for $9..way over priced.
My beef ribeye was perfectly cooked and nicely charred on the outside and very flavorful. The accompanying caramelized shallot and mushroom was sweet and lovely, but for some reason was served cold atop the steak. We were told it was supposed to that way. The potato gratin with goat cheese was kind of OK, nothing bad, but not very exciting and not particularly flavorful.
My companion had the crispy duck, also from the 100 mile menu. Skin not so crispy, but lovely flavored and huge hunks of duck. The kimchi slaw was crispy and flavorful with a slow heat. And the pho jus was very pho... which is good. The millet cake was....our first millet cake. I guess it was sort of interesting as an experience - lots of folks around the world eat millet regularly.
We also tried our first Niagara wine - Henry of Pelham Baco Noir. A sturdy, quiet strong wine that supported the steak nicely.
It's not cheap, in fact a bit pricey, but it's a wonderful experience in hospitality and and good food. We'd go back on another trip, and understand it's even better after the plays.
Breakfast the next morning was at Tango, also on Ontario near Downie. We liked it. As at Down the Street, the staff was friendly and helpful as can be. Tango also is proud of their pork - the bacon was thin and little crispy on the edges, the sausage links particularly were really porky - though we aren't sure what that means. They were meaty, not spicy and not particularly fatty. The home fries were crispy chunks, a little spicy and soft and warm inside. Excellent.
One other note - we arrived at the Arden Park Hotel later than we expected, less than an hour before the King Lear curtain. Could they manage a quick lunch for us? They did - a nice club sandwich with real turkey breast chunks was on the table in 5 minutes. I wouldn't have expected a lot from a small hotel dining room. It wasn't the most imaginative menu, but the food was well-prepared from good ingredients, served by cheerful, more than competent staff.
All in all, a nice experience in Stratford. Oh, and Brian Bedford as Lear was truly something special.
Overall opinion, good food, and exceptional service. This is a bit funky but very convivial and warm restaurant. The owner knew we were new (who new?) and we were taken care of well, with concern and humor.
Appetizers included bruschetta and pork pot-stickers. The bruschetta was OK - the toasted bread was light on the garlic and overall nothing great, the tomato/basil mixture was fresh and bright, but a little watery. Bruschetta doesn't require cheese, but DTS's version includes a small pot of goat cheese - which my co-diner hates. I sort of enjoyed slathering a bunch on the bread before applying the tomato mixture. The pork potstickers came from the "100 mile menu" - all items on it are organic and sourced within 100 miles. Anyway the potstickers were very nice - crispy fried packages of a tasty mildly-spicy sausage-like mixture of local pork But, there were three for $9..way over priced.
My beef ribeye was perfectly cooked and nicely charred on the outside and very flavorful. The accompanying caramelized shallot and mushroom was sweet and lovely, but for some reason was served cold atop the steak. We were told it was supposed to that way. The potato gratin with goat cheese was kind of OK, nothing bad, but not very exciting and not particularly flavorful.
My companion had the crispy duck, also from the 100 mile menu. Skin not so crispy, but lovely flavored and huge hunks of duck. The kimchi slaw was crispy and flavorful with a slow heat. And the pho jus was very pho... which is good. The millet cake was....our first millet cake. I guess it was sort of interesting as an experience - lots of folks around the world eat millet regularly.
We also tried our first Niagara wine - Henry of Pelham Baco Noir. A sturdy, quiet strong wine that supported the steak nicely.
It's not cheap, in fact a bit pricey, but it's a wonderful experience in hospitality and and good food. We'd go back on another trip, and understand it's even better after the plays.
Breakfast the next morning was at Tango, also on Ontario near Downie. We liked it. As at Down the Street, the staff was friendly and helpful as can be. Tango also is proud of their pork - the bacon was thin and little crispy on the edges, the sausage links particularly were really porky - though we aren't sure what that means. They were meaty, not spicy and not particularly fatty. The home fries were crispy chunks, a little spicy and soft and warm inside. Excellent.
One other note - we arrived at the Arden Park Hotel later than we expected, less than an hour before the King Lear curtain. Could they manage a quick lunch for us? They did - a nice club sandwich with real turkey breast chunks was on the table in 5 minutes. I wouldn't have expected a lot from a small hotel dining room. It wasn't the most imaginative menu, but the food was well-prepared from good ingredients, served by cheerful, more than competent staff.
All in all, a nice experience in Stratford. Oh, and Brian Bedford as Lear was truly something special.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Serendipitous Asian Salad
So it was regular Costco visit...heavy on homekeeping goods, less on food items. But, the new Asian salad mix was intruiging. Large bag for under five bucks; finely sliced cabbage, chow mein noodles, dried pineapple, orange sesame dressing. Could have been cliched or blah. BUT, a trip to Trader Joe's yielded the new peanut satay sauce in a jar.
Oh, and we had just roasted two small, juicy chickens. The answer: mix up the Asian Chicken salad, adding some extra sunflower seeds, toss with dressing.
Heat the chunked chicken with the satay sauce--richly flavorful and a bit of heat. Toss the warm chicken over the cool salad.
This was a great meal! Proving you can cook great food, but also assemble great ingredients and make a hit. We all ate leftovers for lunch...it's good cool/cold as well.
I'll now try and make it without the mix...but it was a great "mentor" for an alternative to lettuce salad. The dried pineapple was really key, as were the sunflower seeds.
You can do it, too!
Oh, and we had just roasted two small, juicy chickens. The answer: mix up the Asian Chicken salad, adding some extra sunflower seeds, toss with dressing.
Heat the chunked chicken with the satay sauce--richly flavorful and a bit of heat. Toss the warm chicken over the cool salad.
This was a great meal! Proving you can cook great food, but also assemble great ingredients and make a hit. We all ate leftovers for lunch...it's good cool/cold as well.
I'll now try and make it without the mix...but it was a great "mentor" for an alternative to lettuce salad. The dried pineapple was really key, as were the sunflower seeds.
You can do it, too!
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
A new world of salads - scary? or exciting?
Great dinner tonight - distant family visiting, lovely rotisserie chicken from Holiday Market in RO, an interesting wine - Renaissance Reserve cab - Sierra Hills 1998 - perhaps past its prime, but it had the memory within of a decent bottle. The big treat - besides the family - was the salad variety. Start with the corn (fresh off the cob), red onion, chopped tomato, olive oil, balsamic and mustard. A simple salad to be sure but the fresh sweet corn provided a foundation of incomparable light and sweetness. Just perfect.
Now the potato salad is a different story. How to say this? Try this - I am a man of too many years as middle-aged. Can I learn something new still? I think I can. This potato salad included perfectly done spuds and the ideal PS herb - dill. The scary part is the buttermilk in the dressing. Can I handle this? I love buttermilk in so many things - pancakes, biscuits, even greens dressing. But b-milk on potatoes? I'm not there yet, but I will be. I can do this.
Now the potato salad is a different story. How to say this? Try this - I am a man of too many years as middle-aged. Can I learn something new still? I think I can. This potato salad included perfectly done spuds and the ideal PS herb - dill. The scary part is the buttermilk in the dressing. Can I handle this? I love buttermilk in so many things - pancakes, biscuits, even greens dressing. But b-milk on potatoes? I'm not there yet, but I will be. I can do this.
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