Cocoa & Fig

http://www.cocoaandfig.com/

A coworker brought in goodies from this bakery, located in Gavidae Common in downtown Minneapolis. Addiction has already set in.

The bakery serves a variety of things, from many types of exquisite cupcakes, to scones, housemade granola, french style macarons, and cake pops!

The macarons were a delight to me and something I have never had before. Essentially, they are a thin, sugar wafer with cream and flavoring in the middle. There are many flavors, most common being chocolate, raspberry, and my fave pistachio! These are unique in that you bite into them and you get immediately a slightly crumbly texture from the wafers breaking up a bit, followed by the creaminess, and then an unexpected chewiness afterward, which you wouldn't expect after the crumbly. These are VERY GOOD and not overly sweet. A must if you visit.

The cake pops are another interesting find. They are covered in EXCELLENT chocolate, and the cake inside is so moist that it just melts in your mouth. They come in chocolate and vanilla. I have had both and I must say that I prefer the vanilla, but both are grand.

The cupcakes are also really good, with a lot of interesting flavors that vary by the days that you visit. Very beautifully designed as well. These would be great for a fancy party.

This place is excellent. Go. Eat macarons. Be thankful you are alive!

Home made Red wine vinegar, Attempt 1: FAIL

I tend to have ends of wine bottles left over after I open them, and I am always sad to dump in down the drain! So I thought I would save them and try to make red wine vinegar with the dregs.

I used the method from here:
http://www.wine-tastings-guide.com/how-to-make-wine-vinegar.html

However, instead of a vessel with a leathery, shiny mother, I got this!


The only thing I can figure out that I did wrong is adding sweet wine. Would that cause this? Any ideas?

Tom Reid Hockey City Pub (St. Paul)

My mother and I went to this restaurant last week and had one of those most disgusting meals that I have had in a long time.

It was a busy night, so I think they had an abbreviated menu, of basic pub style fare for the most part. I ordered a buffalo chicken salad, and my mother ordered ribs, which came with fries.

My salad would have been good but for the sauce. The way it came out was all the greens on top, then a grilled chicken breast, which they then proceeded to DRENCH in buffalo sauce right on top of the salad. It ruined the salad because there was WAY too much of it.

My mother's ribs were "squishy" and the fries were so oversalted with seasoning salt that they were inedible.

I do not recommend this place. Stay home and eat a frozen pizza.

Campiello

Last week was restaurant week. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, one week every march has many of the top restaurants in the Twin Cities offering 3 course prix fixe menus for a low price. Its organized by Minneapolis-St. Paul magazine, to promote visiting a new restaurant.

We decided to visit Campiello, an Italian restaurant located in Eden Prairie.

What I had:
Pasta e Fagioli Soup
Roasted chicken with spinach and mushroom risotto
Black Walnut bread pudding with cinnamon gelato

Pat had:
Fried calamari with basil aioli
Hanger steak with yukon gold potatoes
Tiramisu.

The food was wonderful!! The soup I had was flavorful, yet simple. Rich, but not so much that you can't finish. Great with the fresh baked crusty bread they brought.

My entree was orgasmic. The chicken is roasted over a wood fire, so it has a smoky flavor along with the perfectly cooked, juicy chicken. And it was a whole half chicken, so a decent portion! The risotto was perfectly cooked, but a little too buttery for my taste. I like a little more cheese in my risotti, but it was still really good.

But the dessert was the capper. The bread pudding was good, but the cinnamon gelato.... omigod that just set it off so well. Gelato is a richer type of iced dessert that takes on the flavor of what its mixed with so much better than regular ice cream(IMHO), and it is softer than regular ice cream. That part was so good I could have been satisfied with just that!!

Pat enjoyed his meal as well. The calamari were crispy, but not tough, and the batter had a slight kick to it, likely a bit of cayenne pepper that tasted really good with the basil aioli. The steak was perfectly cooked, but what he really enjoyed were the potatoes, which were creamy and cheesy. Tiramisu was adequate.

For restaurant week, these meals were affordable. However, to go to this restaurant on a regular night will be a mite expensive. Perhaps save this for a nice evening out, but I wholeheartedly recommend this restaurant.

Brasa!

http://www.brasa.us/

To begin this post, I must say:

GET YOUR SHOES ON AND GO HERE NOW.

Pat and I visited the Brasa located in Northeast Minneapolis this week, and it was AWESOME.

Brasa is a place that serves homestyle latin american food with barbqued meats. You can order individual plates, or larger portions served family style.

You have your choice of five different meats and a variety of excellent side dishes. I chose an individual plate with the pulled chicken, with fried plantains and a corn and cheese cake. NOM! The chicken was tnder and juicy and delicious, with a light sauce that didn't overpower, but just added a nice zing to the chicken. The fried plantains were a surprise. These were sweeter than other plantains I have had, closer to a banana. However, they are served with a green sauce that is sort of salty/creamy/vinergarey/herby that cuts the sweetness and gives a great tangy flavor. I could eat about 10 pounds of these! The corn-cheese cake is a flat corn disk that is covered with cheese, a hot sauce, and fresh cilantro. Very nice. I like the crunchy with the smoothness of the cheese.

Pat had the pulled pork and red beans & rice. The pulled pork was smoky with a citrus-chili marinade to enhance it. The beans and rice were also both perfectly cooked, but a tad bland.

Go here for food, but not atmosphere. This is not a place to go for a fancy dinner. Its a place to go for stick-to-your-ribs food that will leave you more than satisfied. Its a community style place that is great for people watching as well.

Finally, one of the best things about this is that they try to cook as much local food as they can. Its a way to enjoy great tasting nosh and to support local businesses as well. Everybody wins.

The most disgusting soup I have ever had

So I was at work today and decided that I wanted a little bit of warm soup with the salad I brought for lunch. In my building (LaSalle Plaza, Mpls), there is an Erbert and Gerbert's. I decided to run down there.... Once there I ordered the blanco chicken chili.

Now, I know that this is a fast food type of place, and expectations are understandably low. However, there are several similar places downtown where you can get a decent, if not great, bowl of soup.

THIS WAS NOT ONE OF THEM.

The soup broth reminded me of pot pie broth in color, but like phlegm in consistency. It also had only a few random beans in it, and very little chicken other than a huge chunk of gristly stuff that I didn't dare put in my mouth. On top of that, the soup was simultaneously WAY oversalted and had too much pepper. So my brain kept going back and forth between both unpleasant sensations.

Overall, a complete waste of money and a meal. I will never darken the door of that place again.

Beajolais Nouveau est arrive!

Its Beajolais Nouveau time!!

What is that you say? Beajolais is a red wine that is only shipped from France to other parts of the world once a year. In fact, French law requires that the wine be released on the third Thursday of November every year. The wine originates from the Burgundy region, where there are about 3,600 Beajolais growers.

The wine is made from 100% Gamay grapes, which have a thinner skin. This produces a lower tannin level. (Tannins are what give red wine that sort of "bite")

Wine experts are especially excited about it this year because it is expected to be the best vintage in the past 50 years, as all growing conditions were perfect! That said, this is generally not a wine to be aged. It is generally recommended to drink this wine within 12 months of bottling. There are some exceptions to this for some of the Crus.

Serve this wine slightly chilled to bring the young, fruity flavors forward.