My last post was a stop on the way to California over fall break. This time, I will be discussing some good cheap eats I had around LA and next time will be the fancy ones. Some of the places I ate at were a random Mexican stand at a street fair outside a Children of Bodom concert I went to, Chano’s, fig tree, Panini Café, Roscoe’s House of Chicken ‘N Waffles, and the famed In-N-Out Burger.

I love barbeque and have been hearing how good Dinosaur Barbeque is for a long time. Unfortunately, it has always been just a bit out of my reach until recently. On the way to the Syracuse airport, I made a stop to try the famed barbeque and was not disappointed in the least.

This time, I delve into a Catalan cookbook to try and create a notoriously difficult style of dishes. Terrines have long been the bane of many a chef, but ever since I read The Soul of a Chef, I have been tempted to try my hand at them. Here is my attempt.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of eating at one of my favorite restaurants in Ithaca, John Thomas Steakhouse. For me, John Thomas is my Peter Luger’s away from home. The meat is prime dry-aged beef, just like Peter Luger’s and everything from the steak sauce to the menu selections represent how a true American steakhouse should be. Though rustic and low key from the outside, the quality of food clearly demonstrates why John Thomas’ has been an icon in Ithaca for so long.

The exterior of John Thomas is quite plain on the outside and along with the overcast weather, paints a fitting picture of Ithaca.

JThomas_333

The night before I came back to Cornell, I had the pleasure of eating at Terrance Brennan’s Manhattan restaurant, Picholine. Though I had had an unpleasant experience there five years ago, complete with terrible service and even worse food, recent reviews had piqued my interest in returning. I was willing to give Picholine another chance and I was glad that I did.

From the moment I walked through the door, I could sense a distinct change in the atmosphere of the restaurant. Though the décor was still outdated compared to other bastions of haute cuisine, the proprietor had certainly made an effort to modernize.

I found this recipe for baked eggs with mushroom cream in Robuchon’s book, which I have mentioned in previous posts. He calls it oeufs cocotte à la crème de champignons. This particular dish is great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and is sure to impress guests. What is best about it is the soft texture of the egg and the vibrant colors that come from making the dish correctly. However, the timing can be difficult and it varies based on the size of the eggs, the equipment used, and even the placement of the eggs before baking. The ingredients for the dish are as follows.

2 tablespoons butter

2 minced shallots (I only used one, to place more emphasis on the mushrooms)

1/2 pound mushrooms

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Salt (I used fleur de sel)

Pepper

Eggs

Minced chives

Continuing with recipes from The Complete Robuchon, the next dish I made was a monkfish with garlic and fennel cream, which Robuchon called lotte à l'ail, crème de fenouil.

2 (10oz) monkfish fillets

5 cloves garlic

Salt

Pepper

3 tablespoons plus 1/2 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons butter, chilled

10 sprigs thyme

1 large onion (cut into 1/4 inch rounds)

1 large fennel bulb (cut into 1/4 inch rounds)

1 cup dry white wine

2/3 cup crème fraîche

Since I would be baking the fish, I wanted to stuff it with garlic so the meat would come out properly flavored. In order to do this I had to boil the de-germed garlic for 10 minutes first. To remove the garlic germ you first cut the clove in half.

I am exploring many of the recipes in Joel Robuchon’s 2008 book, The Complete Robuchon. What fascinates me the most is trying recipes for dishes that I normally only see in top restaurants like Robuchon’s L’atelier de Joel Robuchon. The first of such dishes I attempted was his rendition of pan fried foie gras slices, entitled foie gras en tranches, poêlé. The ingredients he recommends are as follows.

Seasoning blend (equal parts ground nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves)

Fleur de sel (French sea salt) and Pepper (4 to 1 ratio)

Foie gras slices (about 2oz each)

Howdy! My name is Eric Pearson and I have been an avid cook since I was four-years-old. Being from Manhattan, I was fortunate enough to have access to a wide variety of restaurants through which I could expand my culinary horizons. Ithaca doesn’t offer the variety of food to which I am accustomed and I often pine for my favorite Malaysian and Ethiopian delights, but to no avail. Luckily, the kitchen is a safe haven for food and in this blog I will expound upon a multitudinous array of recipes from a diverse set of cuisines including French, Italian, Spanish, American, and South American and where to find the ingredients for these dishes. I will also point out the flaws of most restaurant varieties of these dishes and how to avoid these mistakes.