How this classic New Orleans dish has evaded my blog for so long is a mystery, but yesterday my friend Ann took me to an oyster bar and asked if I would share a plate of oysters rockefeller with her, and I was delighted to say yes. These are oysters that have been baked on the half shell in creamy mornay sauce with a green topping, in my case spinach and parmesan cheese. The spinach still had texture, which I appreciated, and a squeeze of lemon for acid was perfect. When it came to taste, I found these shells to be more about the topping than the oyster itself, but who can argue with perfectly cooked spinach and real parmesan cheese? These oysters were savory and cheesy. I enjoyed the oysters with an Estrella Damm, a beer I became familiar with in Barcelona, Spain, where it's made. This was the first time I saw it on a menu in the United States.
Location: Ruben & Ozzy's, 241 E Taquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, California. Date: June 2, 2023.
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The menu just said that this appetizer came with jalapeňo cream cheese and pineapple medley. It turned out that the zucchini came as cups, as in one to one and a half inch zucchini pieces half hollowed out and stuffed. The cream cheese had the flavor of jalapeňo but no real spicy bite. The pineapple medley consisted of crushed pineapple with cilantro, crushed pepper, and olive oil. This was the topping on the zucchini, and it was grilled. The zucchini still had a bite to it, it was juicy, and the bites were quite delicious. The four bites were served with shredded cabbage, sliced radish, and a micro green. When I ordered this I didn't know that the zucchini would come as stuffed cups, but just the day before I was thinking about making cucumber cups and stuffing them.
Location: Low Desert, 1775 E Palm Canyon Drive, Ste 405, Palm Springs, California. Date: June 2, 2023. Stilton is an English blue cheese, and Sally Lunn is a brioche type of bread that originated in the English city of Bath. Here in Oak Glen, which is apple country in the mountains not far from where I live, the Stilton was presented as a hot creamy dip, and the dish came with tart green apple wedges. I thought that the Sally Lunn bread would be a bit sweet, but it wasn't. It was toasted crispy on the outside, but the inside was still fairly soft. The sour apple cut the richness of the cheese dip, and with a dry hard apple cider, not to mention the beautiful mountain scenery, this appetizer plate, eaten outdoors, made for a very pleasant lunch.
Riley's Farm, 12261 Oak Glen Road, Oak Glen, California. May 27, 2023. I love appetizer meals like the Middle Eastern Meze, Spanish Tapas, and Chinese Dim Sum. This was only my second real dim sum experience (the first was in Hong Kong a long time ago), but I was with a friend who knows dim sum, and he helped me order. We got steamed pork dumplings, shrimp dumplings, soup dumplings, shumai (which is a ground pork filling in a thin pasta-like wrapper), and bamboo sticky rice (rice wrapped in a bamboo leaf with sweet beans). All were delicious, but I think my favorite was the soup dumpling. You make sure it's not too hot, and then when you bite into it, soup squirts into your mouth. It's amazing! My friend ordered hot mustard, like they have in Japan, so we could spice up our soy sauce based dipping sauces.
Location: Cie Sichuan Cuisine, 45682 Towne Street, Indio, California. Date: April 8, 2023. This was meat, beans, onion, spices, and chiles surrounded by tortilla chips. The chile was a little sweet, the ground beef was tender and smokey, and the gravy was nice and savory. The kicker was the amount of fresh white Nicaraguan cheese on top; that's what made this chile Nicaraguan. Their own brand of smoked habanero sauce added more heat and smoke. It's a whole meal for one, for sure, but almost begging to be an appetizer with friends.
Location: D'Humo Smokehouse, Leon, Nicaragua. Date: February 20, 2023. Some food pairings are classic, and prosciutto and melon is one of them. The salty and nutty taste of Parma ham with the juicy sweetness of melon is a perfect match. The melon in this case was cantaloupe, but at the perfect peak of ripeness. The dish was also served with homemade Italian bread with olive oil. The last time I had this dish was in Panama, and they served it with the ham wrapped around green melon. Here, across from a beach in Nicaragua, the ham and melon were served separately, but since the owners of this restaurant are Italian, this is probably more authentic. In both cases, the dish was delicious.
Location: Puesta del Sol, Playa Las Peñitas, Leon, Nicaragua. Date: February 19, 2023. Sometimes simple is best. How about homemade Italian bread grilled crispy, smeared with butter, and topped with anchovy fillets and garnished with chopped parsley? Across the street from a beach in Nicaragua? The couple who own this restaurant (and B&B with swimming pool) are Italian, and this antipasto took umami to the next level!
Location: Puesta del Sol, Playa las Peñitas (near Leon), Nicaragua. Date: February 16, 2023. There were fourteen shrimp and it was February 14. Coincidence? The creamy cocktail sauce definitely had whisky in it, a first for me, but it was delicious. It didn't taste like the alcohol had been cooked out, but it really worked here. The sauce was a little sweet, tangy, salty, and alcoholic. The shrimp were perfectly cooked, and the dish came with a celery leaf garnish. This was my Valentine's dinner, and I fell in love with it! The restaurant itself was beautiful. I sat on the patio with lots of potted green plants and a small fountain. The smokiness and maltiness of Lado Oscuro, a Nicaraguan artisinal dark beer by Moropotante, went well with the whisky flavored cocktail sauce. The beer's label claimed notes of coffee and chocolate, which there were, but I also detected a slight fruitiness. So far, this is my favorite Nicaraguan beer. I love it!
Location: Carnivorio, Avenida Central (2 blocks from the central plaza), Leon, Nicaragua. Date: February 14, 2023. For my trio of street tacos, which are defined by small corn tortillas, I chose Al Pastor, Grilled Shrimp, and Vegetarian. Because I was there at lunch, I got a free side. The bartender said that the corn was his favorite, so that's what I got. The Al Pastor was adobo pork with pineapple chimichurri, the Grilled Shrimp was marinated in chipotle and served with cabbage, pico de gallo, and chipotle mayo, and the Vegetarian was finely chopped portobello and shitake mushrooms, squash in chile pasilla, tofu, tomato, onion, and panela cheese. The Al Pastor was amazing. When I bit into it, the tangy pineapple chimichurri splashed all over my shirt. I love it when that happens! The Grilled Shrimp was a bit disappointing as I failed to detect much chipotle. The Vegetarian was interesting. I could taste mushroom, even though I couldn't see much, and the panela cheese came as a thick slice that had been grilled. The corn side dish also came with grilled panela cheese which lent smokiness. I may give the shrimp a pass next time, but I'll definitely be back for the juicy Al Pastor.
Location: Low Desert Modern Mexican, 1775 E Palm Canyon Drive, Ste 405, Palm Springs, California. Date: February 4, 2023. This vegetarian version of tatar consisted of a small tower of yellow and red chopped tomato enhanced with shallots, capers, cilantro, white balsamic vinegar, fresh thyme, extra virgin olive oil, alfalfa sprouts, and kalamata olives. The dish was served with whole wheat toast points, and they were definitely the real deal. There was a touch of sweetness from the pickled shallots, brininess from the capers, and saltiness from the olives. This was a refreshing dish that went well with a glass of pinot grigio and fresh ground black pepper.
Location: Willie's, 69830 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage, California. Date: December 9, 2022. |
AuthorChef Roland has been a legal resident of seven countries and has travelled in over thirty, documenting food along the way. He currently resides in the desert in Southern California. Categories
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