fatkid

fatkid

Monday, April 25, 2011

Trummer's


Clifton, Virginia. Right smack in the middle of...well, nothing. I'm not sure why anyone would want to go here. I mean it's nice to look at. The serene, wooded landscapes, dotted with abnoxiously large dream homes along narrowly winding roads are what define the term "scenic route." So unless you're in the market for a 10,000 square foot mansion that no one will ever want to come hang out in, you're probably not going to spend a whole lot of time in Clifton.

There is however, one bright spot. Within the refurbished Hermitage Inn Restaurant on Main Street is Trummer's, where one of Food and Wine Magazine's best new chef's of 2010 Clayton Miller serves creative, modern American fare. The craft cocktails, the country-home-esque dining room, the endless/addicting rolls and the never-boring dishes are well worth the drive.

This was escargot with potato gnocchi in a chipotle-manchengo froth, topped with a parmesan crisp.

This was baked salmon over oysters and duck confit.

I'm now eager to try the tasting menu, as my server informed me that Miller creates this menu on the fly as each table orders one, with specific dishes he saves especially for this menu.

I honestly don't know what else there is to do in Clifton, so if you stumble upon this town, you need to check out Trummer's. I mean you really don't have a choice.

- Fat Kid








Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Asian Chipotle


Seeing how Chipotle rarely disappoints my occasional craving for a baby-sized burrito, I am extremely excited to learn that the owners behind this holy franchise have decided to open an Asian themed restaurant. Starting in D.C.

Shophouse Southeast Asian Kitchen is slated to debut in D.C. sometime this summer. They still plan on applying their fast-casual restaurant model using fresh, sustainable ingredients. However, they'll serving food representative of traditional shophouses found in countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

I really don't think they can mess this up.

- Fat Kid

Friday, April 15, 2011

Pasta Porn?


Here's a great way to kill some time at work on a Friday. The folks at Grub Street put together a list of the 101 best pasta dishes in America.

Here's to being productive.

http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/04/101_best_pastas.html

- Fat Kid

Thursday, April 14, 2011

I Am Not Thomas Keller


Among the others on the list of restaurants I must experience before I die, The French Laundry resides very close to the top and with good reason. Located in Napa Valley and long regarded as one of the best restaurants in the world, Thomas Keller creates a new 9-course tasting menu each day, in which no single ingredient is repeated throughout the meal.

I've never even been to California, which is a problem in itself, but when I do get there, I'm taking my ass to Napa and eating at this restaurant. So maybe eating here before I die isn't quite the best description. I need to go to California soon, which means I'll probably eat here within the next 5 years. And if I can't get anyone to go with me, I'll have a lovely evening with myself and my credit card.

Since I can't hop on a plane to Napa this weekend, I decided that buying the French Laundry Cookbook and imitating these often intimidating recepies was my best and only option. This is the best kind of cooking, as a lot of these recepies will take you all day to complete, which represents one of my favorite anti-social weekend activites. At the end of the day, my results were pretty good, but clearly no where close to the real deal.


Whipped brie with home made croutons, balsamic reduction and watercress. Success.


Crispy skinned halibut, spinach with orange zest, parsnip puree and a vanilla safron sauce. I fucked up the sauce as it completely fell apart on me, so it's basically melted butter with vanilla and saffron. Mild success.


I had more halibut, so I used it again for this recepie, served over parsley oil and this creamy orzo with mascarpone cheese and a parmesan crisp. Rock and roll.


Leftover parsely oil and balsamic reduction went into this roasted beet salad with pistachio crusted goat cheese.

The hours I put in to all this stuff resulted in a very rewarding payoff, but I really need to go to California already. I mean I can play rock-star-chef all day long in my little Fat Kid fantasy world, but in the end this was more Rolling-Stone-cover-bandish. Easily satisfying, but not quite right, leaving me wanting the real thing more than ever.

I'm booking plane tickets now.

- Fat Kid

Friday, April 1, 2011

Magic Pigs


If you don't like bacon, you're weird. Or a vegetarian. Which is also weird. But enough about that.

I love bacon. Not so much that I'd rock a bacon tuxedo like the kids above, but there probably isn't a more perfect natural food known to man. I don't really think I need to elaborate on this.

I've eaten lots of it, but I really feel a need to talk about this particular brand.


The bacon from Niman Ranch is by far the greatest bacon I've ever had in my life. It's kind of hard to explain. You really just need to experience this for yourself. This stuff has a superior flavor and texture compared to any other bacon out there. I know you're thinking, "It's bacon. All bacon tastes like...bacon."

No. It doesn't. This is different.

I swear this stuff comes from magic fucking pigs. If Jesus got bored in heaven and decided he wanted to adopt pigs as pets, it would be these pigs.

Magic-fucking-Jesus-pigs-from-heaven, producing the greatest tasting bacon on the planet.

I just took a bunch of pictures of it, because it's a beautiful thing.

 













This thick-cut-pork-magic crisps up perfectly while maintaining a slight chewiness, which is not something I've normally encountered. Not to mention the deep, almost bbq-like smoke flavor unlike any other bacon I've had. You can find it at Whole Foods.

Thank you Jesus.

- Fat Kid