Julian Serrano (Las Vegas, NV)

Julian Serrano, the eponymous tapas restaurant residing in the Aria Resort & Casino, provided the best of the meals I had in my brief four day stint in Las Vegas, NV, arriving on Friday evening and leaving on Monday evening.  This was where my friend Joe, his classmate Renee, and I went on Sunday evening.  They had just run a Tough Mudder race that day, and were in the mood for a good meal to celebrate.  After a little discussion over where to go, Renee suggested this, and I am extremely thankful she did. 

Our waiter recommended that we get two or three tapas each, but since we decided we wanted paella, we ended up ordering three tapas and a dessert.  The first we received was the Black Pig Pintxo, a traditional Spanish bar snack, consisting of a slice of crispy baguette topped with caramelized onions and cured, seared Iberian pork shoulder.  They offer the pork cooked medium rare to well, and, of course, we ordered medium rare, which was perfect, tender, with a perfect Maillard reaction from the searing, and a huge pork and pepper flavor.  We all loved it, and since it only came with two pieces, we were all left wanting more.

Second to arrive was the cheese plate, consisting of four slices of toasted baguette, four cheeses, and a truly delectable fig spread.  The cheeses were: a caña de cabra, which is a very soft, easily spreadable goat's milk cheese; a year old sheep's milk Manchego; a cow's milk Cabrales bleu; and a soft sheep's milk La Serena.  All were fantastic, with Renee preferring the Manchego, Joe loving them all, and my favorites being the Manchego when combined with the fig spread, or the caña de cabra, which was a little too delicate to combine with the spread.  The bleu was remarkable, and La Serena was perfectly mild.

Third to come were the Tuna Cones, consisting of a crispy wonton wrapper cone, with avocado in the bottom, topped by cucumber, and ahi tuna tartare, lightly dressed with ponzu.  The tuna flavor was strong, extremely fresh and high quality fish, and the avocado, which was extremely soft and smooth, added a nice flavor and texture contrast.  The cones were presented in a nice, very likely custom, holder with three slots for the cones.  This was my favorite tapa of the night, for its simplicity and classic flavors, presented in a clever, new manner.

Following the tapas came the mixed paella, a signature dish of Julian Seranno's, consisting of half a lobster tail, mussels, chicken, Spanish style chorizo, vegetables and of course the classic saffron rice.  Served in a paellera, this was the highlight of the night for all of us, with perfectly cooked lobster, and mussels that were cooked well, but a little dry.  The chorizo was great, a classic flavor that anyone who has had chorizo before would recognize instantly, but with a bit more depth of flavor than normal.  The rice was incredible, so smooth and creamy, with crispy bits around the edges that are the trademark of a proper paella. 

Last to eat were churros, served with Mexican chocolate.  Thin, crisp, and just slightly sweet, while the chocolate was creamy and strong, though lacking the spice that I was expecting both from the description and from the chile de árbol that was in it.  The combination worked well, but I think it would have been better with that added hint of spice. 

Along with our meal we had a bottle of Martin Códax Albariňo Rias Baixas 2010, a crisp, dry white wine that went perfectly with the tuna, cheese and paella, though it was not the perfect combination with the pork.  The wine had some nice floral notes, and was among the best white wines I have ever had.  I will be looking at my local wine shop for this, I can assure you of that.                                                                                                                      

Overall, this was a fantastic experience.  The waiter was great, attentive, knowledgeable, and unlike many waiters at finer restaurants, did not appear to be displeased be be dealing with a group of younger people who would not be spending several hundred dollars.  Speaking of cost, with a 25% tip, the meal cost us just under $200, exceptionally reasonable when you consider that over $100 of that was from the wine and paella.  While I can't guarantee that I would return during any future trips to Las Vegas, that is simply because there are just so many places that I want to try in the city.

**As a side note, the restaurant does appear to be very vegetarian friendly, if that's your thing 

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The Big E 2012 (West Springfield, MA)

The Big E, aka the Eastern States Exposition, is the "state fair" equivalent for the six New England states, as none of the six have their own.  Begun, according to the Fair's website, as an exhibition called the "National Dairy Show," it eventually morphed into what it has become, a massive fair visited this year by over 1.3 million people, a record.  It encompasses all the traditional aspects of a country fair, such as 4H and other livestock competitions, games, and, of course, food.  Especially food.

I had never been to The Big E until I was a sophomore in college, despite having grown up in Western Massachusetts, but I've always loved fairs, having frequented both the Franklin County Fair and Ashfield Fall Festival as a kid.  Back then I cared more about the games than the food (other than, of course, fried dough), but these days it's all about the food and the adorable furry animals. (See the adorable piglet and alpaca baby from 2011; I should have gotten a picture of the week old alpaca yesterday, but oh well)

In so many ways like other fairs, The Big E has one major unique feature, the Avenue of States, six scale replicas of the original statehouses of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Maine, each filled with a variety of tourism related booths, including merchants selling representative foods and objects from the state, such as lobster rolls and baked potatoes in the Maine Statehouse.  There are also State Troopers from each of the states, as the buildings are "sovereign territory" of each state, though obviously in practical terms this does not apply, but during the The Big E every year they sell lottery tickets from each at or outside their building.  The Vermont building includes Cabot cheeses, and they always bring a special Big E cheddar, which is aged longer than any of their other cheddars.

Like most fairs, there are also numerous small outdoor shops and food vendors.  These range from the typical corn dog and fresh squeezed lemonade to smoked turkey legs and fried vegetables (fried green tomatoes being my favorite, though I was far too full to end up getting them this time), but there are also a lot of specialty foods.  The Big E cream puffs are the most famous, though I'll admit to not being a huge cream puff fan, so I don't ever get these.  The Craz-E Burger, a cheeseburger with two glazed doughnuts standing in for the bun, has become popular over the last couple years, along with fried kool-aid and fried Oreo cookies.  Popular local burger joint White Hut has a spot, and this year offered a burger sandwiched between two waffles.  The star rookie this year, however, were EB's fried shepherd's pie balls, pictured above with a fantastic Spaten Oktoberfest draught beer (purchased from a real German, no less!), and they were exceptional.  I had them at the suggestion of a co-worker, and by god, he was right on.  The crisp, yet tender crust was perfect, the ground beef was succulent and juicy, and both the gravy that the ground beef was swimming in and that which was offered on the side (or poured over the top) were strong, but did not overwhelm any of the other flavors.  Lacking only the potato that traditionally comes as a part of shepherd's pie, the standard flavors were all there.

Of course I also had a corn dog, which was delicious if unremarkable.  They're my all time favorite, so despite the relative lack of ambition and creativity that goes along with them, they are an integral part of my fair experience, and I got one almost immediately upon arriving.  I also had chicharrones, which were great, though my buddy Jon, who is inexperienced in the eating of them, ended up with a piece of glass-like pork skin stuck in his gum for a couple hours, but otherwise enjoyed them.  A fresh squeezed lemonade was great, but a little overly sweet.

We wandered through the various buildings, including a farm building that had, among other things,a coop of chicks, and an incubator for eggs, from which supposedly over 2200 are hatched during the 17 days of the event.  This is also where the alpacas are, as well as llamas, typically some pigs (though I didn't see any this year), and some dogs.  There are a couple buildings with vendors selling everything from the kind of stuff you see on late night infomercials to beautiful hand-crafted Japanese silk embroidered pictures, and also a "Winter Wonderland" area presented by Kringle Candle, the newest creation of Yankee Candle founder Michael Kittredge.

All in all, The Big E is a great experience, a lot of fun, though it's rather more commercialized than the old time fairs in the area such as Ashfield's, or the Cummington Fair, but it's also better than the Franklin County Fair, which is really just a smaller version of The Big E at this point, though obviously a bit more locally focused.  I strongly recommend it to anyone in the area, or anyone who is interested in traveling to the area in mid to late September.

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Bacon, pickles, and beer (My Apartment)

This post is going to be short, but very important, so all you non-vegetarians pay attention: Bacon, dill pickles, and beer is the greatest snack combo ever. Really. I'm actually dead serious (and sober) as I write this; I ate dill pickles topped with strips of bacon earlier, washed down with beer, and it was perfect, truly perfect. All of it was local, too, which is a nice little benefit, harkening back to my appearance on a soap box, coming from:
Bacon:  Bostrom Farm
Dill Pickles:  Real Pickles
Beer:  High and Mighty Beer Company Pas de Dieux Saison

Bostrom Farm and Real Pickles are located in Greenfield, MA, and High and Mighty is from Holyoke/Easthampton, MA (I'm not actually sure which one), I heard they moved recently out of Holyoke.  All are fantastic, and Bostrom has a great meat CSA (community supported agriculture) share program, which I have a share in.  At $300 for a total of 40 pounds of meat, 10 pounds a month for four months of mixed pork and beef, it's a good deal, since the meat is so much better than I'd typically get in the supermarket, even a decent one like Big Y.

I bought the pickles at Pekarski's in South Deerfield, MA, a polish sausage company that is so damn good and popular they don't even have a website; they simply don't need one.  I also picked up some linguica and kielbasa, both of which are house made, while there, and both were incredible.  I have recently made a few meals that were entirely local, from local lamb bought at a farm stand in South Deerfield to potatoes, corn, and tomatoes in both Sunderland and South Deerfield.

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While I'm at it, a quick recommendation for the King Arthur Flour education center; for this most recent Mother's Day, my brother and I bought our mom a pass to a class there, and being the awesome son I am I agreed to go with her.  We took the "Yeast Bread Basics" course, making our own white bread loaves and shaping a loaf of semolina flour bread prepared ahead of time by the course instructor in about three hours.  The course was informative, and the instructor, Irene, was absolutely fantastic.  She was friendly, informative, and best of all, she was supportive of her students.  Instead of saying that things must be done her way, she told us to take what she taught us and then do what works for us; this was refreshing, as so often you get people teaching courses, whether it be baking or college class, or even trainings in emergency communications (my profession) who think their way is the only way.  At only $65 each, this was well worth the trip, and both of us had a lot of fun.

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Versailles (Miami, FL)

In the final installment of my Miami trip recollection, I will review the best restaurant I went to of the four, just beating out Sugarcane due to the fact that it's just such authentic Cuban and, thus, authentic Miami.  I'm not a fan of Florida as a general rule; it's too damn hot, too damn humid, and full of old people...not a good combo.  But, in my mind, Cuban food is enough of a reason to sweat like a whore in church and deal with the geriatrics.

Versailles is, according to my uncle and the internet, the most famous Cuban restaurant in the most Cuban place on Earth outside of Cuba itself, Miami.  When politicians come to Miami to woo the Cuban population (a necessity to win either the Miami-Dade County or statewide vote), Versailles, pronounced "vare-sigh-ace," is the place they go.  I don't blame them; Spanish was the primary language being spoken in the restaurant, including by my bilingual uncle (my aunt is from Honduras), and there was a distinct feeling of being in a community unfamiliar from my own, even at 6pm, much earlier than many of the Cuban families will come out on a Friday night.

As I said, I love Cuban food, so when my uncle asked if there was anything in particular I wanted I told him that's the only thing.  He immediately suggested Versailles, and I wasn't going to argue; it was the perfect end to a great, albeit short, trip.  When it came time to order I again left it up to him to decide, figuring he knew better than I, and he did not disappoint, ordering the pollo (chicken) versailles and, if I recall correctly, the fish filet with shrimps in creole sauce, which is among the "Chef's Specials," and both came with rice (seasoned in the case of the pollo versailles and white for the fish) and sweet plantains.  The platanos were probably my favorite thing of the day, perfectly cooked so they were sticky and sweet but without being cloying, almost glazed over but really retaining that powerful flavor you can only get from platanos maduros.  Just absolutely perfect.  The chicken was next, perfectly cooked, tender, almost falling apart but not at all dry, which is a difficult medium to find.  The rice was delicious, also perfectly cooked and really delicate, with a beautiful yellow color that I'm assuming was from saffron.  The fish and shrimp were both good, although they were slightly overcooked I'd say, but not so much that made it unpleasant.  The rice was, again, perfect, but a little boring in the way white rice is, though it worked really well with the creole sauce, which had lots of vegetables in it, primarily based around tomatoes, and which I spiced up a bit (at my uncles urging) with some Tobasco Sauce.

I can't write as much about Versailles as I'd like because it's been a few weeks and my memory has started to fade, but I cannot recommend it enough.  I'd fly to Miami just to eat their platanos maduros, and the rest would be one hell of a bonus.  Oh, and, ya know, seeing my family would be good too.  But mostly it'd be about the platanos!


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Garcia's Seafood Grill and Fish Market (Miami, FL)

This is a bit late in coming, but here is the third of the four places I went during my 36 hour trip to Miami a few weeks ago; my uncle, cousin and I stopped in here for a quick drink and ended up having a snack as well.

Garcia's Seafood Grill and Fish Market is located along a river leading to the Atlantic Ocean, allowing their customers sitting outside to experience a working commercial river while enjoying the bounty of the same.  Having a few hours to burn before catching my flight home, and being full from the meal I had just eaten at Sugarcane, my uncle suggested that we grab a drink, and since Garcia's is close to his office and offers a nice view, he figured it would be a good place to go. 

My cousin and I ordered mojitos, while my uncle went simple with white wine (nothing to really comment on there), and I think I made a good choice.  I love mojitos in general, whether it's the real thing like this or the mixes like you'll find where I'm from.  This was a truly great mojito, with just the right amount of rum and sugar, and with a strong mint flavor.  Instead of a straw, there was a stalk of sugarcane, which over the course of the time I was drinking absorbed the flavor of the rum, so at the end I ended up just chewing on it for a while, which was delicious. 

Even though we weren't particularly hungry, we ended up ordering some oysters (supposed to be half a dozen, but we ended up with 18 because our waitress screwed up...a happy mistake).  I'm used to oysters from Maine and Cape Cod, so these were disappointing in their size and sweetness, but still delicious.  The real issue was that Garcia's doesn't hand shuck the oysters, instead using a mechanical shucker, which opens the oyster but does not separate the meat, so you can't just slurp them the way you're supposed to, and instead have to use a fork to eat them.  I don't know why they bother with this, as quite honestly it's not faster to use the mechanical shucker compared to a well trained person, and it's a less satisfying experience.  Maybe that's how things are done in Florida, but as a New Englander, it was not what I was hoping for. 

With our drinks we were served some multi-colored corn chips with tuna salad that was quite simply tuna and a little mayo, and was actually really delicious.  We ended up having two orders of this, which was complimentary.  Kudos to Garcia's for that.

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Sugarcane (Miami, FL)

On Saturday I reviewed my lunch at Soyka, the first restaurant I went to during my short trip to Miami.  Today, I'll review the second, where I had lunch two Fridays ago.  Again, this restaurant offered (and I took advantage of) the "Miami Spice" option.

Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill is a great concept, encompassing three distinct kitchens into one restaurant.  First and foremost there is the actual raw bar, which I did not get to try as my grandparents, in their rather advanced age, are not the most adventurous of eaters, and I figured simplicity would be the rule of the day.  They also have a sushi bar, making what appears to be a blend of traditional and non-traditional Japanese dishes.  Secondly, there is the fish kitchen, preparing a variety of fresh and mostly local fish.  Lastly, there is the standard kitchen, which produces...well, everything else.  That includes some bar-b-que dishes, such as the pulled pork and smoked brisket that were offered as the entree options for the Miami Spice menu when I was there.  This is a place that I would absolutely love to go back to, and it really seems like a fun place to go either on a date or with a group of friends; it's a fun place, a little funky but without crossing the boundary into weird, with really fantastic service and some damn fine food.

The service bears special note here; like at Soyka, my party included my cousin and my grandparents, which again presents an opportunity for a business to either shine or show that it cares less about customer service than the bottom line (things that, one would think, would be intertwined).  My waiter, DJ, was utterly fantastic.  Upon arrival I was distinctly concerned that my grandparents would not be able to find something to eat at this restaurant, only to find out from my cousin that they'd been there before, and enjoyed it immensely, but only on weekends for brunch.  As such, they're big fans of the eggs at Sugarcane, but didn't really see anything that appealed too much to them on the lunch or Miami Spice menus.  DJ almost immediately offered to ask the chef if it would be possible to whip up some eggs for them, which the chef was amenable to, and both ended up having a plate of (perfectly) scrambled eggs with a side salad and a side of french fries that were just ridiculously well made, and which my grandparents didn't want, so they were left for me and my cousin.  Throughout the meal, DJ was attentive, friendly, and helpful, and was great to have as a waiter.

Unlike the entrees, which were pretty straightforward, classic southern food, the Miami Spice menu offered some very different, and rather original, appetizers.  My cousin had a strawberry gazpacho, which, despite my general disdain for cold soups, I absolutely loved.  It was sweet but not cloying, very bright and a great summer offering (in a place that is perpetually in a state of summer, at least by my calculations), with great strawberry flavor.  I'd have been extremely happy with that as my appetizer ordinarily, but I had ordered a dish that is a true stroke of genius.  A toasted piece of bread, topped with a small amount of greens, a sauce of some variety that I can't recall well enough now to describe, these little fried things that looked like homemade funions, and a perfectly fried overeasy egg on top.  Those little funion things confused me at first, because what I had ordered didn't include them, and I was also confused by the fact that the pork liver pâté that was supposed to be there wasn't...until I realized that what I had mistaken for funions was the pâté!  What a genius concept!  Rolled into little strings, lightly battered, fried, and piled onto this piece of bread, this pâté was among the best and most creative things I have ever eaten, and a technique that astounded me once I figured it out.  I normally hate the idea of creativity just to be creative, but this method, which is really completely unnecessary, since the flavors could be accomplished more simply, is just brilliant; it's fun, it's exciting, it's sexy, and if I ever meet the chef who came up with it, he or she is going to have to beat me off with a stick to get me stop hectoring them about how they came up with it.  The best part of the meal, without a doubt.

This remarkable appetizer was followed by smoked brisket, which both my cousin and I ordered.  It was well made, tender, still reasonably moist, and flavorful; my only complaint is that it was also ridiculously fatty.  And I don't mean around the edges; I mean that half of some pieces of the brisket was fat.  That's not what brisket is supposed to be like; rather, the fat should have had enough time to simply melt away, basting the meat in a delectable wash of beef fat.  The beans on the side were a bigger hit, a not quite right (aka, they weren't Boston style) serving of baked beans that had a ton of meaty flavor and a nice texture, soft but not mushy, with just a hint of sweetness.  Alone or mixed with the slightly spicy side of corn (grilled?) the beans were my favorite on that plate, with the bar-b-que sauce coming in a close second, as it was spicy, sweet, sharp, and acidic all at the same time; in other words, exactly what I go for in a sauce that is not based on vinegar.

For dessert, my cousin again went with the sweetest thing she could find in southern Florida, a "s'more" that looked interesting, but not interesting enough to try, though the toasted marshmallows on top were tempting.  I had the trifle, which is among my favorite desserts of all time, and this was no exception.  Losing out only to a truly original appetizer, this would ordinarily have been the best part of the meal.  Homemade sponge cake, a perfect custard, little bits of crisp fruit (I think it was peach, but again my memory fails me) that provided the perfect contrast to the softness of everything else in the dish, and topped off with homemade whipped cream.  I was in heaven.  This was not my step-mom's trifle (which I'd take over any dessert ever made), a far more refined option, and fantastic for it.

Overall, this was a great restaurant, one I'd highly recommend to anyone finding themselves in Miami and in need of a good dinner; expect innovation and originality, and you will not be disappointed in the least.

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Soyka (Miami, FL)

I had the pleasure last week of visiting some family in Miami for a (very) short time, arriving in Florida at about 9am on Thursday, and leaving at 9pm on Friday.  In that time, however, I had the opportunity to eat at four restaurants, ranging from good to great.  Two of these were with my grandparents and cousin, and two were with my cousin and uncle.  During July and August, many restaurants in Miami are offering a "Miami Spice" menu, which is a three course prix-fixe menu, with a few options for each course.

Soyka, which was our lunch choice on Thursday, features a mix of American and Italian influenced flavors, from the classic cobb salad to fiocchi alle pere, at fairly reasonable prices.  The atmosphere is friendly, a little "stuffy," maybe, but welcoming in general.  It's close enough to downtown that we were surrounded by bankers and lawyers when the restaurant started to fill up, but it never felt like we were underdressed for not being in business clothes.  The food itself was tasty, with my grandparents each getting a "California Omelette," featuring bacon, avocado (which was apparently lacking, since my grandmother asked me at one point "wasn't this supposed to have avocado?"), and monterey jack cheese.  Both enjoyed it, but my grandfather vastly preferred the salad that came with it, which was a simple, but exceptionally fresh looking, garden salad.  My grandmother had sweet potato fries as a side with her omelette, at my cousin's recommendation, but I was disappointed; while they were fairly crisp for sweet potato fries, they lacked salt, and thus flavor.  Well made, but not well seasoned.

That same description would work for the fried calamari that my cousin and I each got as appetizers; very well made, with the right texture and a nicely crisp, but not brittle crust, but lacking in salt and seasonings.  The marinara sauce it came with was fantastic though, and added a nice slightly sweet, slightly acidic flavor that was necessary.  My cousin and I also both ordered the fiocchi alle pere, a tortelloni like stuffed pasta with pear, ricotta, and mascarpone, in a thick, heavy parmesan cream sauce.  The sauce itself, while delicious, was a little too heavy for my taste, and by the end of the entree I was wiping as much sauce off each piece of pasta as I could.  The pasta itself was good, I suspect homemade, and soft but not mushy; I couldn't really taste the pasta itself because of the heaviness of the sauce, so I can't say if it had the right flavors or not.  The filling was incredible, sharp, tangy, sweet, and the little pieces of pear had just the right amount of crunch left to add a bit of "tooth" to the dish.  I would love to have it again, but with a sauce that doesn't overwhelm quite so much.

Despite the heaviness of the entree, and the fact that I was stuffed, I eagerly awaited my dessert, the "sticky date pudding" with a warm toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream.  This was remarkable; not too sweet, with a lovely, puffy, airy texture, tasting slightly of date, but not hugely so.  The toffee sauce was good, but a little oversweet for me (not that that's too hard), and the vanilla ice cream was delicious.  My cousin had the brownie dessert, which also came with ice cream.  She raved about it, as did my grandfather, who tried a bite (or two...he's diabetic and not supposed to eat much in the way of sweets, but we let him try it, and he managed to sneak a second bite before we could stop him; at 94 he's still all about the food!) and had a grin on his face that stretched ear to ear.

The food was good, but the service was really great.   As I said, my grandfather is 94, and my grandmother is 86, and neither are in the best shape.  The wait staff was very accomodating, holding doors for us on the way in and out as my cousin and I helped our grandparents in and out of the restaurant, and even providing a pair of reading glasses for my grandmother since she forgot hers.  In fact, they had a box of several pairs for her to choose from!  That kind of thing is very much appreciated, and was the sort of service that was repeated the next day for lunch as well.

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