Primo!

My family contains several huge fans of the show "No Reservations." We loved the Maine episode--we could relate to it, a lot of it was filmed at places we have been, towns we know. They even filmed a bean supper, complete with red hot dogs. I loved that. How do you explain a red hot dog to someone who is from away? It's not like a Chicago "red hot." No. It's just a hot dog: a hot dog with a very, very unnatural hot pink casing. It's just red dye. True Mainers will usually swear that these taste better than regular hot dogs (well, until Jordan's closed). I have known several children who have pitched screaming, crying fits in restaurants when their "weird" brown hot dogs showed up at the table. "It's not right!" they scream. A hot dog, when you are from Maine, is red. And when you steam or boil it, the water should be a color that looks more like Kool Aid than anything else. 

I digress. One of the restaurants that Anthony Bourdain and Co. reviewed was Primo. Primo appeals to me for many reasons. It's on the coast, the chef/owner has won prestigious awards, the restaurant is lauded constantly, it's fancy-schmancy dining (which you can tell I enjoy). It took almost two years to coordinate, but earlier this year I finally picked a date, and told everyone who wanted to go that this was the date we are going--see you there.

It was a cloudy day in Rockland, just after Labor Day. Another digression. Primo is actually in Owl's Head, according to all GPS devices. Why say you're in Rockland? I felt the same way about Arrow's in Ogunquit--you're in York--everyone knows it. Telling customers that you are in a town where you actually are not may feel good for your ego, but it does actually finding you no favors at all. 

The meal started with some mixing up of menus and place settings, typical for large parties. But to bring 2 drink menus for a group of 11 adults? Hmm. I did like that they put us upstairs in an area that was like a private room for all of us, right off the bar; however, considering how slowly and infrequently drink orders were taken, you would have thought the bar was in....well, Rockland.

There were 11 of us for dinner, a big crowd for sure. For the most part, though, we are pretty easy to please. We were all so excited to be trying Primo (all but one of us for the first time).

The meal started with a very pretty amuse bouche of crab meat on fresh cucumber slices. 

It smelled fishy when it arrived at the table so I was nervous. It ended up tasting fresh, light, and delicious. The crab and the cucumber went perfectly together. 

My friend and I shared an appetizer of deep-fried squash blossoms, stuffed with goat cheese, on a bed of roasted veggies. This was absolutely fantastic. We did not share any of this with the other nine diners, who all were very generous sharing their food. Suckers.  

My next appetizer was a roasted beet salad with homemade ricotta. I was surprised when I got the salad because it had these succulent chunks of duck confit. This was not on the menu, which I considered an odd omission. It was a great surprise to me, since I am extremely carnivorous. Third YUM! 

A few people at the table got the charcuterie. No one could seem to remember what was on it, and I didn't try any of it. I just love how charcuterie looks.  

One of my sisters got these lovely corn and oyster fritters. I think this was my favorite dish of the night (second maybe to the squash blossoms). Thanks, Amy, for making me try this...mmmm, fresh corn and seafood... 

My main course was the grass-fed NY strip with roasted turnips and onions. The beef did taste good--it was grass-fed, and you can tell the difference--but nothing about this "wowed" me. At all. For a main course in an award-winning restaurant, I was very nonplussed about it, I have to admit. I should have gotten another appetizer. Initially, I considered getting a pasta dish as my entree but I was glad I did not do that; my brother-in-law got a pasta with clams that was so salty that three people at the table who tried it could not eat it. I have to add that part since I am always accused of being salt-sensitive (and I am).  

All the desserts were fantastic. This was a baked alaska and something....that I can't quite remember. I want to say it was a sorbet... 

Mine was a chocolate lava cake with chocolate chip mint ice cream. Delicious. The coffee was great, too (OH, and so were the several cocktails and wine that went around the table). 

So to sum up, the food was mostly very good with a few misses. The service was borderline bad. It was as if the waiter knew he was going to add the tip onto the bill so he really didn't care if we had drinks, liked our food, etc. He was also not the least bit personable. Overall, for this amount of money, I expected just a little bit more from Primo. All I can say is, Anthony Bourdain, I wish we had received the service you did. 

Le Bernardin

Le Bernardin Dinner Menu

When you get the chance to go to one of the best restaurants in the country or the world even, you don't say no. You find the money, find the time, and make it happen. I got the chance last weekend. Yay!!!

So, first off, let me just say that my biggest hope in going to Le Bernardin was that I would get the chance to meet Eric Ripert. I knew my chances were low, but what can I say, I like the guy! Well, spoiler alert--I didn't get to meet him. I still had a great time.

I'm sure I won't remember all the details here as I try to explain all the food we ate--we ate a LOT. There were 4 people, 4 courses, an amuse bouche and petit fours. How could I possible remember it all? Also, it was so dark in there, and so fancy, I didn't dare to use my flash so my photos aren't great. I'll try to explain what we had.

1st course, amuse bouche

From left to right: sauteed bok choi with a ginger soy sauce, salmon with horseradish, watermelon soup with feta and langoustine. I thought the bok choi was just so-so. There was nothing bad about it. The salmon was delicious--fresh and the horseradish was a great compliment. The watermelon soup was NOT for me. I do not understand how watermelon and feta together do not taste like vomit to people. Everyone at the table (except me) liked it though.

It was served with a spork.

Appetizers

Oysters on the half shell from ME, OR, and Canada.

Tuna tartare

Seared Albacore Tuna Confit "En Salade", Bibb Lettuce, Deviled Quail Egg, Liquid Black olive, Preserved Tomato and Pepper

Cured Wild Salmon; Pickled Sunchoke and Heart of Palm, Cardamom – Ginger Vinaigrette

All of these things were absolutely delicious. I wish I could find fault with any of them but it's not possible. Around this time, men started floating around the room carrying big baskets of bread--sourdough, pretzel rolls, parker house rolls, rosemary breadsticks, raisin walnut bread...with fresh butter, of course. I had several parker house rolls and they were wonderful, every one of them!

Time for finger washing!

Second appetizer:

 Flash Marinated Sea Scallop; Sweet and Sour Grapes, Extra Virgin Olive Oil-Yuzu Vinaigrette

  Charred Octopus "a la plancha"; Green Olive and Black Garlic Emulsion, Sundried Tomato Sauce Vierge

 Grilled Baby Sepia; Sweet Pepper Jam, Red Wine-Squid Ink Sauce

Warm Lobster Carpaccio; Ruby Red Grapefruit and Heart of Palm, Verjus Sabayon

Again, everything was so good, fresh, flavorful. Am I full yet? Oh, of course not.

Main Courses:

 “Ultra-Rare” Arctic Char; Truffled Peas and Favas Butter Lettuce-Tarragon Emulsion

 Baked Lobster; Stuffed Zucchini Flower, Sake-Miso Sauce

Roasted Monkfish; Wilted Mustard Greens-Daikon “Sandwich”, Adobo Sauce

 Steamed Halibut "Borscht" Style, Golden Beets and Horseradish Crème Frâiche


We pretty much all agreed that this was the best fish/seafood we have ever had, and that we'd never be able to recreate the perfected cooking methods, the flavorful sauces, or anything like them at home. Happy but we're not done yet!


Desserts

 Banana bread, Caramel Sauce, Chocolate Mousse, Vietnamese Cinnamon Ice Cream

Light Chocolate Ganache, Vanilla Marshmallow, Hazelnut Ice Cream

Ice cream: Vanilla, hazelnut, earl grey tea, chocolate

Madagascan Chocolate Ganache, Peanut Mousse, Salted Caramel Ice Cream

Ok, ok, delicious. And yes, we're full. Cocktails, 5 courses, countless rolls, 2 bottles of wine, then they bring this:

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Chocolate& mystery fruit truffle, lemon poppy seed cake/gelee, raspberry macaron, and I simply cannot remember the last bite.  It was a cake, obviously, and I feel like it was fruit flavored. If it comes back to me, I'll add it as a comment.

This, as you can see, was an amazing meal. Worth every single penny. I didn't get to meet Eric but it was so much fun, so delicious, and such a great experience. Even the bad photos speak for themselves!!!

Grocery Store Week, pt. 3

Shaw's - Groceries, Coupons, Weekly Ad, Recipes and Pharmacy:

http://www.stopandshop.com/

I think it's safe to say that I can lump these two together, since I don't have much to say about them, and I have the same praises/complaints about both.


Shaw's and Stop and Shop, especially the new ones, are nice and big. I love how wide the aisles are;  I can easily veer around that family with four screaming kids to get to whatever I'm getting.


What am I getting? Well, at these stores, I promise you, I am only getting things that are on sale. The biggest problem with both of these stores is that if the item is not on sale, I promise you it is more expensive than anywhere else in town. ALSO, in both of these stores, you need to have the "customer card" to get the sale price on any item. This is such a terrible way to treat customers. The only time I go to either of these stores, clean, shiny, and pretty as they are, is when there is something I am need and they are the only stores open, or they are having a deal I can't resist, like four 12-packs of soda for $10.


In both of these stores, the produce and meat are hit-or-miss, and very very expensive. The deli is so expensive at both of these stores, again, I don't see how anyone can afford with a family can afford them unless they only buy what is on sale. I will say that Shaw's fruit has been better in the last few years than it used to be, but the prices have not improved with the quality. Also, and I have absolutely no basis for this, I do not trust their store brands. 


I used to shop in a Stop and Shop in CT that was, pretty much, the dirtiest, cheapest, lamest "supermarket" I've ever been to. That always struck me as funny because it was adjacent to a really rich town. But it was really dirty. And old. And the fruit was almost always rotten. 


So, again, if you can be bothered to have the customer loyalty card, and only buy what is on sale, go to these stores. Or, if it's midnight and your niece needs contact solution and it's the only store near your house, go ahead and get it there but know you're paying a lot more than you would anywhere else.

Grocery Store Week, pt. 2

Hannaford | Supermarket, Grocery, Coupons, Pharmacy & Recipes | Hannaford:

Hannaford is my "go to." There are lots of reasons for this. Probably the biggest reason is that when I was a kid, the grocery stores all around me were "Shop and Save" stores. Hannaford bought out the chain and so it is the store I have known my whole life and trust. 


Hannaford is not the cheapest grocery store. I will say this, though. For the quality of the produce and meat, it is the best deal in town. One of the things I keep my eye on (price-wise) is Chobani Greek Yogurt. Now, come on, this product makes a huge profit. Everyone should know that. And there is absolutely no reason why a 6oz cup of this product should cost more than $1. You can imagine my disappointment when Hannaford recently raised the price of it to $1.19. Come on, Hannaford. That's an unreasonable price. Half-gallons of organic milk are reasonably priced in the store, but the greek yogurt no longer is. And I KNOW that part of the reason for this price point is to increase sales of its store brand. But really.Come on. What else can I say about this.


Also, recently, Hannaford has been promoting their new "100% sustainable fish/seafood" policy. Again, my inner cynic...I don't like this. I feel it's misleading. I don't think there is any way a grocery store can actually enforce this policy, what with so many suppliers in the chain. Secondly, for example, in the fish counter today, all the shrimp was from Thailand. I will admit that I am not the most educated about sustained fishing but I did hear an article recently about the affect of shrimp farming on Thailand's ecological system...so, who is this "sustainable" for?


To say that my opinion of Hannaford has been sullied recently would be accurate. I used to claim this store as my favorite. I have to remember that times change, and maybe being absorbed by a large conglomerate (Delhaize) changed the general philosophy of the brand. Again, a big company more concerned with making profits and saying the right thing rather than looking at the best interests of its customers. 

Grocery Store Week, pt. 1

Grocery shopping. I have found that there are two types of grocery shoppers--people who do it out of necessity and people who relish it. I happen to (usually) be the latter. I LOVE to check out a new grocery store. When I move somewhere, I make it a point to check out all the grocery store options. I'm not the kind of girl who typically is loyal to only one store in town; I'll find the best quality for the best price on an item, and get it there. For example, I am one person living in a small townhouse, and I eat out a LOT; however, I still consider three different grocery stores my "regular" shopping stops. I just want what I like; if I have to go three different places to get it all, that's ok with me. So here, in no particular order, is a rundown of most of the grocery stores I would consider myself pretty experienced with. If you happen to have the chance to go into any of these stores for the first time, you can trust that my opinions here will put you on the right track (I have put a LOT of research into this!). Friends and readers, I bring you Grocery Store Week!


Wegmans: I thought about putting this at the end of the list, sort of "saving the best for last," but let's be honest here: 1. I am all for instant gratification, and 2. By the time you get to the last, you are usually already satisfied with whatever you are in-taking, and the last seems redundant, too much, "no thanks, I've already read about seven other grocery stores (not like I was going to go to any of these anyway), I don't need another" so I didn't want you to miss this one.  IF you are lucky enough to have a Wegmans within an hour of you, go to it. It is the best grocery store I have seen in the US. People ask me why--Is it more like a Trader Joe's, more like a Whole Foods? The only answer I can ever come up with is, it's EVERYTHING. Wegmans is family-friendly. It has the bulk chicken legs you need and the pop-ice you know you want. It has a great store brand that is always good, consistent quality. It is organic produce. It is bulk sale. I like that I can weigh and tag my own produce to get through the check-out a little faster. At Wegmans, you can get artisan bread, cheese, and chocolate, but you don't HAVE to. You can get grass-fed, organic beef, or you can get irradiated ground beef in plastic tubes for $1.19/lb (I have been in both financial situations). 


There are at least four different places in Wegmans to buy cheese, including their own shop in the middle of the store. Try the Israeli feta. Try the Parisian Feta. Once you do, the feta that comes in the tubs with Greek font will never measure up again. Some have a little wine shop in them. Some  have little florist shops. They also have tons of seasonal things that seem out of place for a "grocery store" (I'm sure right now it is lawn shop and bbq goods) and a kitchen section that sells cute dishes and small appliances. 


One of the rows I'm allowed to go in but not buy anything is the bulk candy aisle. It's like one of those mall candy shops where they have every candy imaginable by the pound. Except it's Wegmans, so it's bigger than the mall store and therefore has more candy.


There are aisles of food that are imported from all over the world--India, Mexico, Europe (even a UK/Ireland section...go get your salad cream or spotted dick at Wegmans!)


To sum up--not more expensive than any other store, very fresh produce, great selection of everything (did I mention the shelves and shelves of Kosher baked goods?), and I didn't even get to the food court, which, in the newest store in MA rivals the size of a shopping malls with much better food, this is no secret. Wegmans openings draw record crowds for a reason, and if you can go anytime other than the weekend, you should!

A Quickie

Just surfing the net late at night and came upon this. I have to be honest, if I paid $450 for dinner and got some Jackson Pollack smears on a table for dessert, I would be inconsolable. This is utterly ridiculous.

How to NOT Run a Bakery

I like to check out reviews of local places on Yelp and Chowhound and then pick a place randomly. A few weeks ago I (once again) tried to find a good bakery here in Manchester. I'm not going to name the place I ended up trying because maybe it's not fair to, I'm not sure. Anyway, here's what happened.


The bakery only had a few reviews that I could find but they were positive. I ventured over. It was a pretty small place. It had one small bakery counter that served as the check out, order counter, etc. but it was so cluttered with pamphlets, cookies, etc. that there wasn't much room for transactions. That's ok, I like cozy.


The first thing I noticed that put some doubt in my mind was that more than half of the goods there were already packaged. For me, when I go to a bakery, I like to see things that look fresh--on trays, in bakery cases, looking right-out-of-the-oven fresh. What I found here was bagged bread (only), plastic-wrapped (only) cookies, whoopie pies, and brownies, individual cheesecakes in plastic to-go boxes. This gives me the impression that none of this was probably made that day, as it was still before noon when I arrived. To me, the word "bakery" should imply "fresh" but I did not get that immediate impression.


I also have to mention here that I'm not a terrible baker (I'm nowhere near a pro of course) and also I have some great bakers in my family. When I go to a bakery I like not only something fresh but something that is otherwise labor-intensive; something I wouldn't make for myself. While I was chatting with the very pleasant lady in the shop, someone in the back brought out something that looked fresh--puffed pastry layered with some sort of creme and raspberries. I asked the lady what they were and she responded, "Oh, those are our raspberry napoleons, they are our best sellers!"  Fresh? Best-seller? THAT is what I want.


"Do you make the puffed pastry here?" I asked


"Actually, that is the only thing in the whole bakery we do not make here. We have an excellent supplier," she responded.


At this point, my faith in this bakery is completely lost. Their "best seller," it turns out, is something they don't even actually bake. AND it doesn't have any pastry creme in it (which is the definition of a napoleon), it has flavorless whipped cream in between each manufactured layer of puffed pastry, AND....AND....to top it off, the raspberries are terribly unripe and sour. And there were exactly four in each huge layer. The unripe, green flavor of the raspberries with the overly sweet, thick, overwhipped cream was like a war in my mouth.


I'll give them this--they coat the top layer of the pastry with a little butter and cinnamon sugar before they bake it, that was nice.