... of the country's (maybe world's) top restaurants, lunch carts, and everywhere in between.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The McCrady's Experience (Charleston 12/20/2008)

Some foodies had claimed McCrady's as a top ten restaurant in United States, but to me this was a total let down. McCrady's is situated in downtown Charleston, with its front door hiden in a dark valley. The insdie of McCrady was spacious and antique.

The Front Door of McCrady's




Butter and Olive Oil
Bread
Since it was our first time in McCrady, we went ahead and selected the tasting menu, and was told that we were the first customers who ever tried the menu. The bread was served at room temperature and the butter was cold.


The first course was "Wild Char Roe with Nasturtium, brown butter, and Passion Fruit". The dish did not work for me. The salt and the sweet did not come together. The brown butter powder is gummy insted of crispy.



"Sea Urchin with Cucumber, Ponzu, and Lemon Verbena"

As see you can from the picture, cucumber foam is covering ponzu ice with the sea urchin almost invisible. Taste wise, it is the same. The aroma of cucumber foam, the texture and sweetness of the ponzu ice totally overwhelmed the sea urchin. The chef could substitute the sea urchin with a piece of sea water gelee without me noticing any difference.

"Nantucket Bay Scallops with Cauliflower, Valet and Golden Beet"
The first two courses had tasted like amuse busches rather than main courses. The third course of the night were scallops cooked in sous vide(vacuum bags), complemented by ponzu chips as sauce. The scallops were too soft and got overshadowed by the rigid ponzu chips. The vegetables lost all their characters due to tiny cut size and overcooking.


"Local Grouper with Clams, Sunchokes and Pork Just"

The fish was quite dry, and I wished that the skin was left on.

"Beef with Creamed Ramps, Chanterelles and Smokey Hollandaise"
The beef was very tender and lean. The sea salt on the surface of the beef did not dissolve well, the taste was uneven.


"Banana Puddin"
The banana pudding was quite tasty, with the pudding having banna aroma and texture.
" Soft Chocolate with Toffee Ice Cream and Hazelnuts"

This chocolate mouse was chocolaty and the hazelnuts were crispy, very nice.

Mignardises
Overall, the meal was disappointing, although the desserts are better than the main courses. The characters of ingredients were missing in almost all dishes, and the whole dinner was lacking a theme. I regreted of being the first taster of the 2008 McCrady's tasting menu.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Victoria & Albert (Orlando 12/13/2008)

Victoria & Albert, situated in Disney Grand Floridian Resort, is the crowning restaurant of Disney .
We started our dinner with lobster Amuse Bouche which consisted four items: lobster susage, lobster spring roll, lobster in ghee, and lobster biscue. The lobster susage is creamy, reminds me of boudin blanc from Bouchon. The lobster spring roll is essenced with strong seaseme oil aroma, complemented with crispy springroll skin and spaghatti squash texture stuffings. The lobster in ghee(a sweet indian butter) is very firm. The butter around the lobster is sweet, but the lobster itself is sweeter. Last but not the least, the lobster biscue is very light and briny.


First course, we ordered dungeness crab cannelloni with cavair and mustard greens. The bitter greens are crispy and bitter, which helped to cut through the rich and creamy cavair crab combination.

Second course for me was elk tenderloin. The surface of the meat is nicely chared. The meat has a contained gaminess to it, pairing with bitter brussel sprouts, result in a pleasant surprise.


Their course is scallops with baby corn. When the dish was served infront of me, I was quite disappointted at how small the scallop were. However, they are extremely sweet with a nice firm texture. The baby corn and green broad beans are a bit boring.





For the main course I ordered japanese Wagyu beef lion steak which was accompanied with ox-tail jus, parsnip and carrot, and garlic mashed potato. The mashed potato is of the Robuchon style, i.e. infused with lots of butter. The parsnip and carrot is probably cooked with a sous vide method, so the crispeness and sweetness of the parsnips and carrots were perserved.
The ox-tail just has a higher viscosity than meat jus from other restaurants. A 3 inch sqaure of Wagyu beef is being cut into 3 pieces, with the back of the beef being seasoned with salt & pepper, and nicely charred. The Wagyu beef is not as tender as the Kobe beef I had in Le Bernardin, but is more flavorful due to the crust and burned fat.

For pre-dessert, I was served with whit chocolate gelato with almond shavings. The gelato is very smooth, while the almond shaving add both a nice aroma and texture contrast to the dish.

Last but not the least, the actual dessert is stunning and is the climax of the night. I was served with a trio of chocolate consists of : Tazana chocolate pyramid, Hawaii Kona chocolate souffle, and Godiva chocolate ice cream. The interplay of bitterness versus weetness, creaminess versus crispiness, hot versus cold, even overshadows the Wagyu beef I had and leaves me with a satisfied and calm emotion.

The wine we had was 2005 Sapphir Hill pinot noir, it has a grassy aroma, accompanied with a bit of spiciness. When the wine hit the back of the toungue, there is an overwhelming amount of bitterness, however, a hint of sweetness prevail as the bitterness got swallowed into your throat.
Overall, the quality of this dinner is very close to the meal I had in per se. The flavor is simple yet clear. The inclusion of a bitter element in nearly every dish is rare and ingenious. I enjoyed this dinner very much, and certainly believe that Victoria & Albert is the best restaurant in Orlando, if not the whole Florida.

About Me 关于作者

Well, It's should be more of a "About Us". Afterall, This blog is a combined effort of a group of foodie's attempt at partially capturing their experiences of exploring the dining cultures of various culture and cuisine. Our Team are as follows:

Trading Dweeb - A self-proclaimed bastard-ish trader who's interest in food often outshine work.
势利小人 - 职业股票操作者,也就是广东人口里的“扑街”。对食物的热情往往比工作要炽热。

Dr.T - A student of food.

TechMoGeek – An explorer of culinary delights who’s love for food is the sole motivation to be employed.
TechMoGeek -一個只愛美食,不愛江山的老饕