A Night in Tuscany (on a student budget.......)

I got lucky. I got reservations to a special themed event "A Night in Tuscany" at Creo on April 6th. Executive Chef Eric Sell together with wine aficionado Joe Armstrong wove together an inspired dinner that carried me all the way to Italy in a flood of flavors that left me feeling loved.

And I loved right back.

We started with a Del Professore Vermouth Blanc - not Tuscan but in the spirit of - sweet and smooth and enticing like a possible date, it didn't need ice or lemon or gin to make it wonderful. Nice start.

The pourings were delicious and well considered - BRAVO!

The first course was a fettunta - crispy hard rosemary bread rubbed with garlic and topped with chicken liver pate, capers, and anchovies. The flavors just about blew my cover they were so strong, rich and salty - served, interestingly enough, with a dry, light, floral, even grassy white, San Quirico Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG (certified organic - nice touch). Puppy thought that a red would have been a more intuitive choice, but the pairing was a great date.

First course: Zena's cover is almost blown by the strong flavors of the fettunta

Next was Ribolita - bean soup with bread topped with fresh kale, laced with smokey ham and tomato, this was earthy and wintry, with reminders of summer in a hearty winter bowl of happiness. This with an Altesino Rosso IGT 2014 (Joe explained that this one was made from 80% Sangiovese grapes and a 20% mixture of Merlot and CabSav) - dry, rich bodied, and tasting of cherry - gently holding hands with a simple but tasty dish.

Ribolita - simple and tasty, with kale, which I can do without

A Wild Boar Ragu served with house made fennel parpadelle was a good idea but not as well executed as it could have been (I wanted more of that delicious sauce and the pasta could have spent another minute in the pot), but it got a quick kiss from a Valdipiatta Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG that was delicate and velvety smooth. TBB, sitting to my right, just sipped and smiled.

The Wild Boar Ragu was tasty but fell short so it got kissed by the Valdipiatta Vino Nobile

The best part of the meal was the Bistecca all Fiorentina - a thick cut of porterhouse from Kilcoyne farms hugged and held close with olive oil, salt and pepper - buttery, powerful beef, served rare and tender with a side of garlicky broccoli rabe. The wine was Pratesi Carmignano DOCG - robust and hearty - together this pairing was certainly like an all nighter - I'll never forget that beef - ever.

Chef presenting the bistecca - rare and tender (the meat, not Eric, or maybe he is, I'm not sure, but he was very nice)

We wrapped up with Zuppa Ingles, layers of cake flavored with liqueur and custard, topped with berries and cream, and a Vin Santo dessert wine that was cold and sweet and refreshing, like a hot date that ended well, leaving you full and happy, petting your own belly. I had to skip the Biscotti and Poli Moscato Grappa digestivo - too full by now to do much more than roll over and close my eyes and remember my amazing night in Tuscany.

No way I could eat all my  dessert but I took a few might big mouthfuls and closed my eyes with joy before I called it quits

Tuscany, on a student budget:  per person the meal was only $40 plus tax and tip. I got lucky. I love these events - such creativity and passion went into everything. Grazie e buona notte.

Zena, Goddess of Fire

The Brunch Bunch at Creo

Woo hoo!!! It's the weekend!

So I stay up late fighting the forces of evil (it's coming into zombie and vampire season so I've been busier than usual lately), then I spend all the next morning at the gym because I have to stay fit and I need to get a life, and end up starved and grumpy.  You too???  What was that? What did you say?? Did someone say brunch???

The space is modern, bright, and airy. 

Zena, Goddess of Fire, was invited to take on the new brunch menu at Creo, located at the corner of Stuyvesant Plaza on Western Avenue in Colonie. I showered, tried to make myself presentable (no tights or cape), grabbed a friend, zipped over to the restaurant, and settled into what was one of the most wonderful Saturdays I can remember in a really really long time.

For starters the staff were lovely - we were greeted at the door, shook hands, and were settled into a cozy booth. The restaurant is lovely - bright, light, clean, airy and chic. OK I felt that way too - it's nice to be treated as a guest of honor. Grumpy Zena had just exited the building.

For starters again I was immediately informed that they have a brunch special: $15 for unlimited Bloody Marys. If you've been paying attention you all KNOW I'm totally all over that idea, but I declined (this time).  The Bacon Bloody Mary ($10) was heady with horseradish, spicy, and smooth with just a hint of bacon in the drink. I was told that a shot of what I think was Mama Walker's Bacon Liqueur was in there - total weirdness, but it was very very tasty.

I did not need my XRay vision to see the horseradish in this Bacon Bloody Mary

The menu is very creative - think American gastro with a touch of world fusion. A few popular carryovers were there (e.g., the Smoked Trout Salad, the Creo Burger, Kung Pao Calamari, etc.) but most everything else is new. The major changes to the old include more pancakes (including chocolate and peanut butter), more gluten free plates (such as Grilled Kielbasa, a Lobster Omelet, and Tostados), and some reorganization ("Small Plates" are now "Shared Plates"; "Mains" are now "Lunch") that made perusing the offerings much easier. Our server brought a basket of small, tender corn muffins (sweet, soft, not too crumbly, fresh, warm) along with some cranberry sage butter (amazing!), and a few slices of nutty, crunchy-top cinnamony coffeecake to nibble on while we decided what to have.

Lemony, interesting - the Paillard of Chicken was a bright surprise

My friend TBB went all Paleo on me and ordered the Paillard of Chicken - lemony grilled chicken topped with frisee, grapefruit, and almonds. We both loved the slight char on the meat, which was still tender and moist, the scent of butter, a salad combo that clean tasting yet still complex: a wonderful combination of flavors and textures that held together like a well written chorus.

Just a bit too much jiggle to the eggs in this Eggs Benedict, but it was still very good.

I decided on a classic brunch offering - the Eggs Benedict. It was good, nothing amazing -  a rich plate, silken and salty and comforting. I think the eggs could have set a bit longer, the Hollandaise maybe needed a bit of zing, and the potatoes were simple, but they started with what I think were best quality ingredients, and so it was all good. And it went nicely with a Bloody Mary.

The Tostadas are so good you may have to fight off your friends so you can eat in peace. 

The kitchen surprised us with a dish of their Tostadas, an assemblage of over easy eggs with chorizo, chili, crispy homemade corn tortillas, cheddar cheese and salsa roja topped with a hit of sour cream and greens. Colorful, crunchy, spicy and fun, this is a dish that would make any gringo happy: be prepared to fight off your friends because they WILL want you to share! I may go do brunch solo some day soon just so I can eat one all by myself.

Instead of errands and shopping and yard work and paying bills and doing the wash and toting the kids around and getting out winter clothes and ordering wood and cleaning the chimney and fixing the door and washing the windows I HIGHLY RECOMMEND instead that you gather yourself up a brunch bunch of friends and go spend a couple of hours in the middle of the day on any given Saturday OR Sunday OR both talking, laughing, sharing, telling stories, eating well, and eating really wonderful food at Creo. The rest of the day, and the rest of the week, will be SO much better in the afterglow.

Thank you to our host for treating us to brunch. I think you are all wonderful.

Zena, Goddess of Fire

PS:  It felt good to feel almost human again.

Local Lamb With the Farmer and the Professor

On a recent cold winter night I found my way to Creo to meet with a Goddess of Fire and about 50 other folks who signed up for the 2015 Lamb Dinner. Dee Woessner brought her lamb to Chef David Gibson and we all got to enjoy the results.

As well as eating local I got to drink local since the bar had Hudson Rye from Gardiner New York's Tuthilltown Spirits in a positively lovely Manhattan cocktail.  So by the time we were escorted into our group's dining area I was in the mood for a really great evening.  I wasn't disappointed either.

Dr. Gary Kleppel, the author of  The Emergent Agriculture: Farming, Sustainability and the Return of the Local Economy  biologist and a farmer himself, kicked off the evening by emphasizing the importance of the knowing the people who produce our food, and introduced our farmer for the evening, Dee Woessner. 

Dee gave us a sketch regarding the farm and how the lambs are raised, and Chef Dave gave us an introduction to the first course.

The Lamb Agnolotti  was topped with a bright tomato jam and sat on a bed of white beans.  It was a beginning that promised a skilled hand at lamb dishes. The sauvignon blanc was a bright and crisp complement.

Zena did that goddess thing she does and we sat with Brian White and his mother and two other couples that made up a great table.  Have her use this superpower when you go out with her and you'll be assured of superb conviviality.

After the first course had time to settle and we were ready to try something new the Lamb Loin and Rib Chop course was brought to the table.  Chef Dave wanted us to taste the lamb with no special seasoning, which took the shape of the lolly pop shaped chop, right alongside a marinated loin made utterly delicious with garam masala and dusted with fennel pollen.  All this on a chick pea pancake. A beaujolais  beautifully brought out the savory goodness of the simple and complex lamb pieces.  Zena had to use her super powerful fingers to actually get at the loin, which had tough silverskin that she couldn't pierce easily with a knife.  We have to think that the kitchen overlooked this during  moments of rare carelessness in preparing the  meal.

The final lamb course was Lamb Leg with figs, foie gras, fingerling potato and tarragon jus. Zena's not a fig fan, but I relished the combination of the beautifully tender lamb and the rich gentle sweetness of the figs. The rioja made it the perfect mediterranean course.  By this time we were telling our life stories to each other and enjoying every moment.

The blood orange trifle with pistachio brittle was a light and fitting finish.

Such special dinners are an ongoing series at Creo and are happening more and more frequently at regional restaurants.  They give chefs the opportunity to explore beyond the restaurant's daily menus in a setting that provides diners an opportunity to meet new people while sampling special and unique preparations.

What I hope to see is more nights like this that celebrate our region's fabulous producers and their delectable products!

DOING DISHES: Capital Area Calamari

calamari. n. (Cookery) squid cooked for eating, esp cut into rings and fried in batter. [Fr. Italian, pl of calamaro squid, from Latin calamarium pen-case, referring to the squid's internal shell, from Greek kalamos reed]

PUBLIC NOTICE:  Cephalapods, probably Loligo and Ilex squid, are invading the Capital Region!!! Please don't be alarmed - Zena, Goddess of Fire, is here to help!!! I will start (along with my courageous friends) by eating my way through a bunch of calamari to try and reduce their population. It's a tough job and not for the faint of heart. If you feel there is still a squid emergency at the end of all this, no worries: I'll go out after dark and use my laser beam vision to do some squid-jigging (as required).

Goat Island Squid

It seems like EVERYONE has calamari on their menus - the Italian joints, Mexican restaurants, Pan Asian options and even seafood restaurants. I have NO idea why. It's ugly (think tentacles), has almost no flavor, and, if you screw it up, chewier than a Barbie doll head (not that I would know). I think they think that, like ahi tuna, if they put it on the menu it will sell.

OK OK - it's pretty healthy (high in protein, low in fat, low in mercury) before you add the batter and deep fry it and cover it in sauce. Oh, and it enjoys a healthy wild population here in the northeast, so its also relatively inexpensive compared to many other seafood options (more than half or our squid comes from Rhode Island), and that's good too. It IS mild and firm for something slimy looking, and that's also very good. 

But is it delicious? Versatile? How in the name of Zeus are we even going to whittle down this long list of places that serve it down to something manageable? We couldn't so we started with what was in or around downtown Albany and worked our way out.

This is what we found, with a score as follows:

5 - Excellent (Laughing Squid)
4 - Very Good (Baby Squid)
3 - Ordinary (WTF Squid)
2 - Poor (Is that a squid in your pocket?)
1 - Inedible  (Dead Squid)

Garden Bistro 24: Friday November 7, "happy hour" - A normal size appetizer ($10) of Crispy Calamari tossed in a tarragon chili aioli over a bed of lettuce. It was NOT served on a bed of lettuce, rather garnished with a sprinkle of microgreens, and we didn't taste any tarragon, but it was delicious. The squid (hand cut in-house, including tell-tale-tentacles) was crisp, with a nice tasty batter, and the sauce had a good balance of sweet and hot. My lips were tingling and greasy at the same time - divine. The sauce was VERY rich - a bit overwhelming maybe - so it was good to go splits on this one.  Next time - and there will be a next time! - I'll ask for the sauce on the side.  SCORE: 4.5 - Great but too much sauce.

NEXT TIME: I went back a second time on Friday December 12 with a couple of my favorite Bar Babes to ask them to "deconstruct" this dish for me. Alone this deep fried squid was flavorful, (especially with an added dash of salt), and very crisp and rich. The batter was a bit more traditional/heavier than many others I've had in the area. The dish was better this time because it wasn't drenched in that delicious sauce. Oh, and this time there was a bed of greens underneath.  SCORE II: 4.75. TBB pointed out that the crust was thicker than she might like.

Crispy Calamari with tarragon aioli at Garden Bistro in Colonie, NY - November 7

The same dish at Garden Bistro "deconstructed" with the sauce on the side - December 12

Tesoro's Italian Restaurant: Sunday November 9 "happy hour" - A generous antipasti of Calamari Fritti ($8.95), freshly prepared in a batter of (just milk and flour) served with a gravy boat of simple marinara sauce on the side. The squid was very plain but nice and crunchy, and the sauce was bright (almost lemony) and not too thick or gooey. The dish was served hot with a large fresh lemon wedge on the side. A classic. SCORE: 3.75 - Very good but the fish could use a bit more salt/other seasoning.

Calamari Fritti at Tesoro's in Guilderland, NY

Barcelona Restaurant: Monday November 10, lunchtime - From the Great Beginnings part of the lunch menu, this was a generous serving of Fried Calamari ($7.95 though it's listed online at $6.95). The batter was delicate and a very light golden brown but not as crispy as we would have liked. It was perfectly seasoned with salt and a sprinkle of fresh herbs. The sauce was thick and smooth, and served warm (which we loved!). We noted there was a "Special Salad Barcelona" that offered up fried or sauteed calamari so we may go back and try it. SCORE: 3.5- Nicely done but we wanted it to be crispier.

Fried Calamari at Barcelona Restaurant on Western Avenue in Albany, NY

Creo' Restaurant: Monday November 17, lunchtime - Kung Pao Calamari is on their list of small plates ($12.00), "crispy calamari tossed with a Thai sweet chili glaze". Having learned our lesson with the squid in sauce at Garden Bistro the first time, we asked for the sauce to be served on the side, which didn't do anything to pull this dish together with all it's disparate parts, but it did let us try the sauce separately from the fish. Good thing we did. The calamari (lots!) was nice and tender but flavorless; at least it wasn't greasy. The calamari was presented on a bed of those white fried rice noodles (the puffy ones) with a sprinkle of scallions, chopped tomatoes, and black and white sesame seeds - very pretty. But the sauce was way too sweet, barely spicy, and somehow on the cheap, so I asked the waitress to ask the chef was was in it and this was the reply: sugar, water, pickled red chili and garlic powder. After all that work to use a sauce like this is the type of crime I am here to save the world from. SCORE: 3.0 Work on that sauce!!!!

A very pretty presentation at Creo

Reel Seafood: Tuesday November 25, 6:00 pm - Three of us barely escaped traffic and entered the newly renovated space with a sense of awe and delight. The bar and dining room are really lovely, classy, and a welcome respite from the holiday rush. The Cantonese Calamari ($13) appetizer was another take on that fried squid tossed with a sweet/hot sauce that by now is getting to be old school. This one would be tossed with a bottled sauce called Mae Ploy: pretty tasty but still, to my super-senses, overly sweet and syrupy, so again I was glad that I asked for the sauce on the side. My dish, like at Creo, came "de-constructed" - with finely sliced purple cabbage and a bit of fresh pineapple presented in their own bowl. Alone the calamari (a very generous serving!) was tender but nicely brown and crispy - perfect actually, with a slightly heavier batter . No salt. (Wondering by now if the chef doesn't think to season calamari if it is being served "plain"). Together the combination was splendid. The fresh crunch of the cabbage, the juicy bright taste of tropical fruit, the heat from the sauce and the tender crisp calamari all came together and made me glow. SCORE: 4.0. A bit of salt is needed when a sauce is served on the side. Please, make your own sauce.

Deconstructed calamari at Reel Seafood.

Next: Milano Restaurant, located in Newton Plaza on Route 9 in Latham, NY. This was the first area restaurant that boasted an "open kitchen" - one where you can actually watch the chef do his magic from the dining room - and the layout is still true today, more than 20 years later. This time it was lunch on a cold December 8 (Monday) - not busy but enough tables to make it worth their while. I was seated so I could see some of what was going on with the cooking process. I heard the squid go down in the saute pan with a nice poof of steam, and I saw it being decorated with the fresh herbs, and then I watched it sitting there for our absent waitress for several minutes before being served- thankfully it was still nice and warm. This was Calamari alla Diavola, an appetizer-sized appetizer (for a change) - sauteed, not breaded and deep-fried, and for the first time I wanted the serving to be larger ($9.50). This was the most creative dish of calamari so far on my wild squid expedition, and instead of wrestling with it, I gave it kisses. Sweet, tender squid that tasted like squid, not batter, dressed with Kalamata olives and capers and topped with a nice handful of fresh basil, served with a side of warm Kalamata and caper infused marinara sauce that was spicy but not "hot" hot. Excellent!  SCORE: 4.75. Next time I hope I get a larger portion!

Calamari alla Diavola at Milano Restaurant

OK that's (6) and since I started this there haven't been any new reports of squid attacks (nothing major, anyway), so this must be working! I'm still concerned about the explosive squid population here in Capital Region restaurants,  so please know that I'm still fighting the good fight. I'll go try the calamari six more times in six more places and I'll do another entry, assuming none of those squids takes me out in batter. I mean battle.

Zena, Goddess of Fire

P.S. If you have a FAVORITE place for calamari please comment!!! We'll add it to our list and hope to get there eventually, unless of course it's an emergency, and then we'll get on it ASAP.