North Carolina Wineries

Over Labor Day weekend, David and I flew to North Carolina to visit my mom and to meet up with my dad, who was preparing a presentation for some of his colleagues at Duke. David and I hadn’t been back to North Carolina since last Thanksgiving, so we were both excited for the short trip home. My mom suggested that David and I take my dad to some wineries in North Carolina since it would be a nice drive and we might find some fun wineries to visit, so David and I decided to make a day of it. The first winery we visited was Childress Vineyards, owned by the race car driver Richard Childress:

The tasting room is really large and feels newly built and people actually say that the grapes used in the wines made at Childress are actually shipped in from other states. I could see it since there is no way the grapes on their property could produce as much wine as they sell. Some pictures from the Childress vineyard:

Very sour grapes:

My dad and I by the water:

A little picnicking area by the grapes:

After Childress, we drove to another winery, Westbend Winery:

Westbend Winery was relatively quiet to Childress, but they’ve won numerous awards for their chardonnay. After Westbend, we drove to the final winery of the day so David and I could take this picture:

All of the wineries are kind of spread out by 20 or 30 miles (not like Napa where everything is pretty close together). We had a fun day driving around, but the wines weren’t that great. It’s a fun and scenic drive and since North Carolina vineyards are pretty new, they have fun festivals and activities to draw people out.

Craft

A while back, Chris and I tried out Craft, Tom Colicchio’s restaurant. I really like him on Top Chef because he seems very calm, cool, and collected. I was even lucky enough to meet up at the James Beard awards show last year. My picture with Tom:

We were both excited for dinner and started off our meal with a small shooter of creamy mushroom soup:

Smooth and creamy. A good way to start our meal.

The kitchen also sent over some cold cuts:

Chris and I weren’t huge fans of the dish, but appreciated the generosity.

We ordered the crispy bacon based on a lot of recommendations and positive reviews:

The bacon comes with a creamy buttermilk dressing and is absolutely amazing. Huge chunks of bacon with a little extra salt:

Our next dish was dayboat monkfish:

The fish tasted very meaty due to the fact that it was wrapped in pancetta. I probably would pass on this dish if I ever came back because the flavors of the fish were masked by the pancetta.

For our main course, we ordered the braised short rib:

The meat was supposed to “melt in our mouths” but instead, got stuck to our teeth. The exterior of the meat was very sticky; the glaze must’ve either been glue or sugar. Either way, I was picking my teeth trying to get out all of the gunk from the short ribs.

We also ordered a side of brussel sprouts and gnocchi:

The brussel sprouts were delicious, but the gnocchi was overcooked and not flavorful enough. I don’t think we had a great dinner at Craft, but the couple next to us definitely enjoyed themselves. In fact, they enjoyed themselves so much that they started making out in the middle of the restaurant while everyone else watched in horror. The waiters didn’t know what to do, so they just let the couple be. Awkward.

Our dinner was good, but definitely not anything great, especially from a Top Chef! I haven’t given up on Tom Colicchio – I love his sandwich creations at Wichcraft, especially the tuna sandwich that I just had last night! Also, I’m not sure this is still going on, but there is a “halfsteak” deal that I’m interested in trying some time. So many meals…so little time!

Aerogarden: Week 7

Sorry for the delayed Aerogarden post this week (did you notice that I didn’t post anything about the Aerogarden on Tuesday like usual?) I was in North Carolina for Labor Day and landed on Tuesday morning, so I didn’t get a chance to update, but I also wanted to wait until I found a new spot for my Aerogarden before I updated.

I mentioned that the basil was growing too fast and causing me to raise the arm of my Aerogarden in my post from last week. I clipped the basil so it was the same height as the other herbs, but it grew out of control again and I raised the arm before I left for Labor day because I didn’t want the basil to get burnt again. Here’s how big it is now:

It seems like the herbs on the right are doing a lot better than the herbs on the left. I wonder if this is because of the way I placed my herbs to begin with? A breakdown of individual herbs:

Oregano isn’t going to be ready anytime soon, especially because some of the leaves turned brown on me over the weekend. I clipped them off after taking the photo and hopefully they will do better during the weekend.

The thyme is out of control, but it’s really tangled and part of it is a little brown because the basil is covering up the back end of it, causing it to lose a lot of light. I want to make something with thyme this weekend, but I’m not sure what I’ll make yet….suggestions?

The mint has grown significantly, but I plucked a leaf the other day and surprisingly, it did not taste like mint at all. Actually, it didn’t really have any taste whatsoever. I was too scared to try another piece, but will try again once the leaves get larger.

The basil has grown a lot even though I keep pruning it, but the leaves aren’t enough to make a pesto…yet. They also don’t grow fast enough for me to keep some in the fridge (trust me, I tried it and it did not work out so well). I looked up some lemon basil sorbet recipes and will hopefully have enough basil for the sorbet this weekend.

The dill looked pretty healthy yesterday, but this morning when I checked on it, it was falling backwards (slightly). I’m worried about the dill because it hasn’t grown that many leaves, but hopefully it will do better because I just got the light to add nutrients.

The chives are two strong stems and hopefully there will be more as the week progresses.

Since I extended the arm for the Aerogarden again, I had to find a new home for it as well. Placing it in the living room is out of the question because it’s too bright, but I have a small rolling cart in the kitchen and I placed the garden on the edge of the cart, leaning against the wall. Originally, I had my stand mixer on the cart, but since it’s a little shorter than the Aerogarden, I’ve switched spots and now the mixer is back on the kitchen counter. The Aerogarden seems to be doing well on the cart (next to my blender) and hopefully I can keep it there since there are no height restrictions.

I just added nutrients after I took the pictures so I’m excited to see what the herbs look like next week. Stay tuned!

Kyotofu

Over the weekend, my dad, brother, and I went to Kyotofu to try out some of their newly introduced savory items. You might remember Kyotofu from our Cupcake Cagematch back in August. While they weren’t a crowd favorite, they really impressed me with their delicious chocolate cupcake. Michael Brel, one of the co-owners, invited me to do a tasting and I couldn’t resist.

The space is small but efficient – the kitchen is on the right when you first walk in and you can watch the chefs prepare flights of desserts and small savory items. The dining area is in the back and almost seems like a club; a little dark, loudish music, and a couple of booths along the walls. We started off by trying some of their new items:

(Clockwise from the top left: red snapper, curry risotto with panko crust, chicken and tofu slider, and assortment of beans with yuzu sauce)

My favorite of the bunch was the assortment of beans with yuzu sauce, which (surprisingly) reminded me of a chicken dish from Sakagura. The red snapper was an okay choice (although I thought the rice was too flavorful and overpowered the snapper), the curried risotto was a little dry, and the chicken and tofu slider was okay, but not memorable. Next came the macaroni and cheese:

The macaroni and cheese was really tasty (gruyere and sharp cheeses topped with a panko crust) but a little oily and the macaroni was a tad overcooked. The salad was a nice refreshing side with the mac and cheese.

After our savory dishes, we ordered a tasting of the dessert menu, which is what Kyotofu is really known for. Have you ever eaten tofu for dessert? If you’re Chinese, you’ve probably had had something called tofu hua (a literal translation is tofu flower). It’s served at dim sum places and sold on the street by women scooping up freshly made tofu and pouring a special sweet ginger sauce on top. My mom really likes the dessert and we ate it quite a lot as kids; you can also add boiled peanuts, other beans, or just eat it as a savory dish. I haven’t had tofu hua in a while, but I went to dinner with my dad and brother at Kyotofu the other day and tried their signature tofu (part of the KAISEKI):

And my dad scooping some up:

The owners actually went to Japan to learn the art of tofu making from a family that has been doing it for generations. The signature tofu dessert was tender; the black topping on top of the tofu tasted kind of like a grass jelly drink but is actually kuromitsu, which is a black sugar syrup. The signature tofu dish was probably my favorite thing I ate at Kyotofu.

Next came our other desserts from the tasting:

(Front to back: strawberry-rhubarb cobbler, warm miso chocolate cake, and tofu cheesecake).

All of the second round of desserts were delicious, but my favorite was the warm miso chocolate cake, which was topped with a miso ganache. So many awesome desserts made with soy – quite an interesting concept.

Our last dessert was a sample of soft serve:

Ginger and chocolate – the ginger was very spicy and sweet.

I’m definitely returning to Kyotofu to try more of their desserts but will probably hold off on ordering savory items for a bit. The desserts were really delicious and are really interesting. Kyotofu also sells their stuff at Dean and Deluca (in New York) and also ships their stuff nationwide! I recommend the cupcakes!

Gotham Bar and Grill

I’m not a huge fan of restaurant week in New York, especially because I feel like you end up spending a lot of money on wine (waiters are super pushy for you to order wine with your meal during restaurant week), the menu is usually the cheaper stuff that is easier to prepare, and I usually walk out thinking I should’ve just gone and ordered off the regular menu. Also, the better restaurants participate for lunch (the price points are $24.07 for lunch or $35.00 for dinner) and they’re usually in areas not close to my office. However, I decided to give restaurant week another chance – I made a reservation at Gotham Bar and Grill because Sara raved about it (she said it was one of the best meals she’s had in NYC) and it was close to our old office, so I could sneak out for an hour to enjoy lunch.

I started off with the lobster chowder:

It’s funny because for Restaurant Week, portions are slightly smaller. Why wouldn’t you use a smaller bowl instead of just filling up this large bowl to the halfway point? The soup was creamy and there were large chunks of lobster. Not too heavy – a good start.

Chris started off with the pear, walnut, and frisee salad:

The consistency of the pears were a little too mealy for me and I am definitely still not a big fan of mixing savory with sweet. It was a simple salad that was dressed well.

White Fish:

Another shot of the fish:

Alfred Portale, the chef at Gotham, is known as the “father of stacked foods.” Back in the 80’s (when Gotham was THE PLACE to eat), Portale would present his dishes with the food stacked very high. I think it was so popular in the 80’s that it was even mentioned in American Psycho. The fish was cooked well, but I think the presentation was better than the taste.

Chris ordered the rigatoni with duck:

A little on the salty side but probably the better main course from the Restaurant week menu. The rigatoni was cooked al dente and the duck was flavorful but a tad salty.

For dessert, I ordered the macadamia nut tart:

I thought it tasted very similar to the macadamia nut tart at Union Square Cafe. Crunchy, sweet, and definitely a treat.

And Chris ordered the chocolate cake with poppy seed banana ice cream:

Neither of us were huge fans of the poppy seed banana ice cream, but we both enjoyed the rich chocolate cake.

Gotham was packed with Restaurant Week patrons – even though our exact menu isn’t available now, they do have a really good deal for lunch everyday. I’d go back to Gotham after Restaurant Week; the waiters were a little rude and tried to rush us while we were eating and then completely ignored us when we were trying to wave them down for our check.