Archive for December, 2009

At my recent stay at the Hotel Valley Ho , as part of our package we got to have brunch at Cafe ZuZu the next morning.  Of course, I had already looked over the menu for brunch and was excited by so many unique choices. They also serve lunch, dinner and have a Monday Night Chef Table as well as other events. 

My husband chose the breakfast quesadilla ($10.0) since it include chorizo.  He’s a sucker for spicy Mexican sausage and will order it whenever he sees it on a menu. I didn’t try it, as I’m not a big fan of chorizo, but it looked delicious and he didn’t leave a crumb.  He also got a Zuzu smoothie ($5.75) which contains berries, honey, bananas, orange juice , and yogurt.  Boy was that tasty.. perfect sweetness for breakfast without tasting like a milkshake.  It was divine!

I ordered poached eggs benedict ($11.0) with Canadian bacon on a homemade english muffin.  I also ordered the cheesy grits ($3.25) per the waitress’s recommendation. The benedict was perfect, one of my favorite breakfast plates and Zuzu didn’t disappoint.  The eggs were poached perfectly with a yummy runny yolk to dip the bacon and engilsh muffin in.  I wasn’t too hot for their yukon gold roasted potatoes with stewed onions.  They were mushy and flavorless.  I know Arcadia Farms does their breakfast potatoes this way too, and I’m just not a fan.  I prefer a crispy fried potato much more than a mushy soft one.  Now, they could serve those bland potatoes for the rest of their days and I wouldn’t care as long as I had a side order of their cheesy grits!  I think they should be called “heavenly-creamy-cheesy grits of love!”  My mouth is watering just writing about these grits!  They are perfectly cooked and tender.  They are super creamy and have shredded cheddar cheese on top.  Add a few sprinkles of salt, per the salt lover in me, and you have the most delicious side ever created by man,  in my opinion.  Cafe ZuZu of course gets the Food-Tramp-Stamp of approval! In a future post I will be meeting up with chef Sean Currid in Cafe Zuzu’s kitchen to learn their special recipe so we can all make these yummy grits in the comfort of our own kitchens so stayed tuned!

Cafe Zuzu inside Hotel Valley Ho

6850 E Main St

Scottsdale, AZ 85251

480.248.2000

With a last minute decision for a staycation at the Valley Ho, my husband told me to pick where I’d like to go for dinner.  We were a short walk away from old town, so without hesitation I chose Metro Brasserie of course!  I had no camera, just my cell phone…so this is why I call it my mini review.  I will be back again with proper pictures next time, but this time I’ll just tell you what you shouldn’t miss on their menu

Upon arriving we were given water and bread with a fabulous herb compound butter. We ordered drinks, my fav there will always be their ginger martini, it is just so delicious!  We ordered the potato soup and shrimp cocktail as our first course.  The shrimp were ginourmous and looked super fresh.  The potato soup at Metro is pureed and always comes piping hot.  It contains lardons which, for me is like finding hidden treasure in every spoonful!

All Jeremy wanted was a big piece of meat, so he ordered the cote de bouef, which is meant for two people.  He happily ate the full 18 oz of rib eye with a bite for me of course.  The rib eye had perfect marbeling and was cooked to a medium temperature and was screaming with yummy beef flavor.  I wanted the poulet, which is not the chicken dish listed on their website, but let me explain it for you.  This was the most moist chicken breast I have ever tasted in my whole 29 years of living!  The server told me that some diners find it salty, but since i’m a salt lover I told him no big deal to me!  This chicken breast was boneless with skin on which was seasoned and seared to a crispy deliciousness which must have been the salty part, but it really gave the chicken a wonderful flavor. It was laid over a buttery potato puree with sauteed mushrooms, leeks, pearl onions and lardons with a brown butter.  OMG!!!! I really cannot describe in words how incredible this dish was, so all you food tramps in training will  just have to go taste for yourselves.

It goes without saying that we got beignets for dessert.  These came with a vanilla creme, raspberry, and chocolate ganache dipping sauces.  The beignets had the perfect texture, cooked wonderfully with lots of yummy confectioners sugar sprinkled all over..it was hard not to eat all six myself!

Metro is such a consistent, delicious, and fun place to wine and dine.  Every time I’ve been, I’ve had top notch service and the bartender there is fun and very knowledgeable…next time I’ll have to get his name!  This place definitely gets the FOOD -TRAMP- STAMP OF APPROVAL !!!

Metro Brasserie (At Southbridge)

 7114 E Stetson Dr ste 105

Scottsdale, AZ 85251

480.994.3663 for reservations

Now don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of organic food and local farming used in restaurants;I don’t mind the extra time it takes for an extraordinary meal.  Using Breadsmith bakery for their bread and Queen Creek Olive Mill for their oil, as well as Seacat, McClendon, and other local farms; they really do have a great thing going on.  However, on my visit on December 15th, 2009, the lack of service is what really brought me down.  Allow me to explain. 

I get there at 5:30 and my dining partner was running a little behind, so I went to the bar for a drink.  The bartender was very nice, attentive, and gave me a wine list and explained happy hour to me.  I ordered a sauvignon blanc ($4.25 HH price) and sat down and waited.  I asked if we could cash in on the happy hour specials in the dining room but was told it is only in the bar.  So, when a bar high top opened up I grabbed it for Kristi and I, knowing we would in the very least have a few more drinks and do our appetizers during happy hour.  This is where it starts to get hairy…

So, my friend arrives and gets her first glass of wine from the bar and sits down with me at the high top.  Their high tops are long, so you’ll most likely be sitting next to other people dining down the table from you,  as we were.  I saw servers and bus boys, and even the FOH manager many times.  However, for 15 minutes not one person  acknowledged us, said hello, or brought us menus.  So I got up, walked towards the entrance, and told a bus boy that we needed a server and menus please and informed him where we were seated in the bar.  Okay, this is good, right??? Nope, still about ten more minutes went by with not a single soul to help us.  Next, we asked the bartender if he could help us out…still no server.  I finally had to get up, go talk to the manager and explain to him that it has been over 30 minutes with no acknowledgement and that we were about to leave.  Wow, this has NEVER happened to me, especially in a fine dining atmosphere.

So, finally a server comes out and brings us menus, bread, and apologizes; takes our drink order as we were seriously in need of more wine at this point.  Kristi and I were both forgiving of the snafu and figured, now we have a server and this dinner should go great. 

mozzarella with peppers and balsamic reduction

Autumn Maccaroncello

For appetizers we got chef Payton Curry’s hand pulled mozzarella ($14.0, not on HH menu) that is said to be made fresh daily.  I have to say it was delicious indeed!  We also got the Autumn Maccaroncello ($7.0, HH price) which was a homemade penne pasta tossed with butternut squash, honey, toasted pepitas, pecorino cheese and pumpkin oil.  It was good, but very very sweet.  I figured that the pecorino and pumpkin oil would give the pasta a nice contrast to the sweet honey and squash, but I didn’t get that at all when I ate it.  The pasta, however was cooked perfectly.

At this point, the server saw our notebooks and cameras and figured out that we were doing a review, so we now figured we would not have any more troubles for the rest of our meal.  Entrees were difficult to choose as they all looked amazing on paper.  We choose the Maine Diver scallops($26.0) and the short ribs tortelloni ($18.0)

short rib tortelloni

Maine scallops

The scallops were served with a delicious potato puree, braised leeks, puffed capers with a brown butter.  For the ($26.) entree we only got two scallops.  They were large, but still I feel two is a little pretentious when the service is not superb.  They were excellent scallops..not a huge fan of the puffed capers though. To me, they just tasted like burnt capers and had no salty flavor left which is signature to a caper.  The short rib tortelloni ($18.) was very good as well.  It had a delicious cheese fondue sauce and the pulled short ribs inside were very tender with a  pure beef flavor.  You get six tortellonis in this dish which I think is fair for the price.

At this point in the meal I noticed our server got a large table and the fear set in!  We did order dessert.  Originally we ordered their triple berry cobbler which was on special.  Later we were notified that the last two cobblers just went out.  We opted for the bread pudding ($9.0) with vanilla ice cream.  The pudding came, it was very dry and needed either more butter rum sauce or more ice cream to moisten it.  We only had two bites as we weren’t too impressed.  So, we were finished and it was now 8pm, two and a half hours later.  We chatted, finished our wine, had our plates pushed aside as a cue to the server that we were finished. Check was dropped off.  Fifteen minutes went by…no server.  Not AGAIN!!  After thirty minutes I was done!  Done waiting, done with poor service, just done.  I could understand completely if he had come up to us and explained that he just got a ten top, but he didn’t. So, I got up again, this being the third or fourth time I had to get up during my meal for help.  I ended up going outside actually to the hostess with our bill and our forms of payment and explained our server had been MIA for around thirty minutes.  We finally got our credit card slips and an apology from the server.  Then we parted ways not too sure what to even think.

I guess the moral of the story is that some restaurants can be quite delicious and worth every penny with great service.  Or, like us, you can go have a great dinner food wise,  with poor service and then not feel so good about paying over $100. for it.  I may be back to Boa, or I may not.  It won’t be anytime soon, I assure you.  I’d like to go back in a few months and see their service improved and then I can  re-write this review and feel good about it.  We shall see!!

Caffe Boa

398 S Mill St

Tempe, AZ 85281

480.968.9112

Okay folks, we’re comin down the wire here! Only 10 days until Christmas and I haven’t even baked my normal Christmas cookies yet!!  However, it will all start tomorrow along with pots and pots of strong coffee to keep me alert thru the next 10 long, long days and nights trying to make sure my children have a very memorable Christmas this year! And, of course to make sure we all have enough yummy cookies to eat.  I keep my list to only these four recipes as they each offer their own distinct and delicious flavors.  The most moist and simple butter cut-out I’ve ever made; classic thumbprints where you can choose your own favorite jam filling; a very simple yet decadent toffee; and my personal favorite, the Russian tea cake…the lightest, most delicate and sinfully sweet cookie I have ever tasted!  For now I will simply post the recipes, as I start this endeavour tomorrow I will add the pictures as I go.  Just wanted to give you all a chance to try these recipe gems out!

 Butter Cut-Outs

350 degree oven

10-12 minutes

 yeilds- A LOT of cookies, I’ve had this recipe for years copied down from my grandmother and I never wrote down the amount

 1 cup unsalted butter

4 egg yolks

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups sugar

5 cups flour

1 tsp salt

 Cream butter and sugar, one by one add egg yolks, then vanilla and sour cream. Add flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder together in separate bowl. Slowly add flour mixture until a dough is formed.  wrap in parchment paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  Roll out onto lightly floured surface until 1/8 thick.  Cut out and bake, decorate with your favorite royal icing and decorations

 Chocolate-Almond Saltine Toffee

 makes 2 1/2 lbs

 1 1/2 cups sliced almonds (6ozs)

approx 60 saltine crackers (enough to line a cookie sheet)

1 1/2 cups of sugar

3 sticks unsalted butter

2 tbsp light corn syrup

1 bag semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips

 Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and completely cover with saltine crackers in single layer. In a saucepan combine butter, sugar, and corn syrup on low heat until sugar is dissolved. Raise heat to med-high and cook undisturbed until the sugar mixture starts to turn golden, around five minutes.  Keeping the heat pretty high, insert candy thermometer and stir occasionally with wooden spoon.  Leave cooking until a deep caramel color forms and until it reaches 300 degrees.  Pour hot toffee over saltines, using a rubber spatula to spread.  Let sit for two minutes, then sprinkle bag of chocolate chips on top.  Wait another few minutes, then with the rubber spatula spread the chocolate evenly over the toffee.  Dust with almonds and place in freezer to harden.

 Russian Tea Cakes

 400 degree oven

ungreased cookie sheet

10-12 minutes

 1 cup unsalted butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

 Cream butter and powdered sugar.  Add vanilla, slowly add in flour/salt mixture, then nuts.  Wrap dough in parchment or plastic wrap and chill in fridge overnight.  Roll into 1 inch balls and roll in confectioners sugar.  Bake, then after they’ve cooled for a few minutes roll again in confectioners sugar.

 Jam Thumbprints

 350 degree oven

13-15 minutes

makes 20 cookies so double or triple this recipe if need be

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1 large egg separated

1 cup flour

1/8 tsp salt

3/4 cup of your favorite finely chopped nuts

1/2 cup favorite jam

 Cream butter and sugar, add egg yolk.  Slowly add flour/salt mixture. If needed, chill dough for an hour or so.  Roll into 1 inch balls and dip in egg white then roll into nuts.  Place on cookie sheet an inch apart.  Using thumb make an imprint in middle of ball.  Add desired jam then bake, cool and enjoy!

Are you ready for some football, I mean sushi, or how about both at a great price!!??  Well, wordpress is violating the food tramp tonight, so this is a direct copy and paste from their press release!  You know the food tramp will be there soon to do some taste testing of her own, tee hee hee. 

KABUKI OFFERS $1 GAME NIGHT SPECIALS ALL-NIGHT LONG DURING THE ARIZONA CARDINALS GAME on Monday, December 14^th

The Japanese restaurant will treat Arizona football fans to select $1 appetizers, sushi, rolls, draft beer, and bottles of sake

WHAT:              Due to popular demand, Cardinal fans can now head to Kabuki Japanese Restaurant in the Westgate City Center and Tempe Marketplace for a special NFL promotion during the Arizona Cardinals game this Monday, December 14, 2009. As an added bonus, the promotion will run for extended hours from 6 p.m. – close at both restaurant locations.

When guests order from the select menu of Executive Chef Masa Kurihara’s regularly priced sushi, rolls, and appetizers, they will receive the second order for just $1. Appetizers on the One-Dollar Menuinclude Mixed Tempura, Gyoza Dumplings, and Sesame Chicken. Sushi selections include Smoked Salmon, Halibut, and Fresh Water Eel. Featured rolls include Spicy Tuna, Yellowtail, Vegetable, and Dynamite. In addition, a variety of sake, beer, and wine will be available for guests to enjoy during the game festivities, all priced at $1 for the second order. Beverages include a Sake Bomb; Hot Sake; Cold Shochikubai Nigori Sake, and Gekkeikan Zipang Sparkling Sake by the bottle; alongside Cedar Brook Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Kirin Ichiban, Miller Lite, and Kilt Lifter draft beer are also available on the One-Dollar Game Day Menu by the mug. www.kabukirestaurants.com

WHEN:             Monday, December 14, 2009

6 p.m.-close

WHERE:           Kabuki Japanese Restaurant

                       Westgate City Center

                       6770 N. Sunrise Blvd.

                       Glendale, AZ 85305

623.772.9832

                       Tempe Marketplace

                       2000 E. Rio Salado Parkway

Tempe, AZ 85281

                       480.350.9160

ABOUT

KABUKI:         Kabuki Japanese Restaurant is a full-service, casual dining Japanese restaurant chain with locations in Southern California, Arizona, and Las Vegas. The restaurant is an innovator in its market segment, showcasing traditional and innovative Japanese cuisine, contemporary interior designs, and superior service. The menu is executed by a team of highly skilled sushi chefs who have each been individually trained by Kabuki’s Executive Chef, Masa Kurihara. The Kabuki experience appeals to both city dwellers and suburbanites, and offers a great dining environment for sushi novices, connoisseurs, families, and friends alike.