Family Meal
Welcome to Family Meal, a blog that examines all things new and noteworthy in the world of food, wine, and dining.
At family meal, otherwise known as staff meal, there’s no hierarchy; you’re breaking bread with your friends. For those 30 minutes, everyone is equal- and hungry. Family meal is our version of the water cooler- but with better food.
I’ll be sharing my thought, tips, and observations, and, in the spirit of family meal, I’ve invited our creative, energetic staff- everyone from line cook to bartender to bookkeeper- to have a say. I hope you’ll add your own comments and join in the conversation.
Tom Douglas
For the Dahlia Lounge family meal chicken pot pie recipe, published in Bon Appétit.
South Seattle Community College has an annual fundraiser which we always try to be involved in. This year Brock, Chef of the Dahlia, cooked a Balinese styled dinner for 20 lucky guests. The hit of the night for both our guests and our culinary interns was the Nasi Campur, which as a literal translation is mixed rice. The rice itself isn’t the star, but the accompaniments are. Our Nasi was saddled up next to a whole pig that Brock roasted at the event. The students were excited to see such an undertaking as most had never seen this done before.
My highlight, however, was Brock’s soup course. He made some spicy shrimp dumplings that were poached in a lemongrass and coconut water broth. each delicate flavor could be tasted with no one flavor dominating over another. My type of dish.
February 8th, 2010 | No Comments »
I celebrated my birthday dinner last night with my favorite guy, Frank, at my favorite joint outside of the Tom Douglas Restaurants- Mark Fuller and Marjorie Chang Fuller’s Spring Hill. We had the best table in the place- a ringside seat right across from the kitchen where we could watch Mark and his crew plating each dish under the heat lamps (photo top right). (The downside- if you can call this a downside- is that both Frank and I are now thoroughly bewitched by the Spring Hill burger after watching so many of these plump beauties come out of the kitchen dripping with cheese and piled high with fries! Must order a burger next visit!)
For our first course, with a glass of champagne, we shared the steamed clams with razor clam sausage and tomatoes, drizzled with aioli and topped with croutons, served in a big white bowl (photo second from top left). Sublime. One of my favorite dishes at Spring Hill is the “vegetable tasting.” In the summer, Mark features home-grown produce from his own backyard here, but, surprisingly, this wintry version of the dish (photo 2nd from top right) was just as inspired: a silky smooth little bowl of potato celeriac soup with a crisp leaf of kale, two little potato blini topped with pickled apple slices, two crostini topped with hen of the woods mushrooms, and caramelized cauliflower with aged provolone soubise. Even the flatbread was fabulous- perfectly marked on the grill so you could taste a little char with every bite.
We almost skipped the sweetbreads for fear of getting too full but… well, it was my birthday, right? Mark makes the BEST sweetbreads- crispy, light-as-a-feather nuggets that are soft and moist inside (photo third from top left). The garnishes were not just for show. Pile your fork with a chunk of sweetbreads dredged through a little buttermilk mustard sauce, topped with a tiny piece of honeycomb and a bit of razor-thin julienned kohlrabi slaw. That is a divine bite of deliciousness!
For my entree, I ordered another appetizer- beef steak hot & cold (photo 3rd from top right). A neatly shaped square of steak tartare sits on a pool of egg yolk. Next to it are slices of seared rare Wagyu sirloin. A little pile of “potato crisps” are good for scooping up the tartare which tastes almost buttery rich. The charred edges of the sirloin contrast with the rare center of each slice for another riff on beefiness.
Frank had super tender sliced duck breast served with a rich, cheesy spaetzle, Brussels sprouts, cranberries, and apple choucroute.
Garrett Melkonian, who very recently left his Pastry Chef position here at Tom Douglas Restaurants is now working with Mark, so we could not stint on desserts. After a light and refreshing intermezzo of jasmine ice orange julius topped with a pouf of milk mousse, we had both the popcorn hushpuppy and the whole wheat carrot cake, paired with a glass of 20 year tawny port. The hushpuppy (photo top, left), with its molten caramel center, scoop of brown butter ice cream, and morsels of caramelized popcorn, is just as good as everyone thinks it is. But I enjoyed the carrot cake just as much (photo bottom). Little squares of buttery, moist, light-textured cake paired beautifully with piña colada ice cream. Piña Colada ice cream may sound like retro culinary silliness (grasshopper pie anyone?)- but that creamy little scoop was packed with marvelous flavor.
A perfect meal and a perfect birthday- thanks to everyone at Spring Hill!
February 7th, 2010 | No Comments »
My favorite things:
Veggies planted in a truck at Crops for Clunkers (photo left)
Pygmy goat at the Farm in the City (photo middle)
Robyn Wolfe, Marketing Maven, at our Rub with Love Booth!! (photo right)
You have 4 more days, including today, to come see us at the Flower Show!
February 4th, 2010 | No Comments »
Assistant White House Chef and Food Initiatives Coordinator, Sam Kass, shows the Today Show’s Al Roker and students from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington DC how to prepare a healthy breakfast. Watch the video here.
February 4th, 2010 | No Comments »
If you missed last Sunday’s New York Times Travel section, you’ll want to read “One Noodle at a Time” by Matt Gross here. This delightful article explores Tokyo’s passion for ramen which is shared by Japanese and tourists alike. How much do the Japanese love to slurp their noodles? “Well, combine New Yorkers’ love of pizza, hot dogs, and hamburgers, throw in some Southern barbecue mania, and you’ve still only begun to approximate Tokyo’s obsession with ramen,” says Gross. This is must reading if you’re interested in Japanese cuisine, or David Chang’s restaurants, or for anyone who’s recently watched the movie Tampopo for the first time. (Katie O, we’re talking to you!)
Last week, the Business section in the New York Times ran an article called “Beef Bowl Economics” which speculates that the price war going on between Japan’s biggest beef bowl restaurant chains may be the harbinger that another cycle of deflation is in store for the country. This is sobering news because deflation “hampered Japan from the mid 1990’s, after the collapse of its bubble economy, to at least 2005.” Everyone loves a bargain, but there’s also a dark side when prices are too cheap too much of the time. As the influential economist, Noriko Hama, says “when you buy something cheap, you lower the value of your own life.” Food for thought indeed!
On the topic of food and travel, today’s Dining section of the New York Times has an article called “If Meals Won Medals,” by the Times’ food reviewer, Sam Sifton, listing restaurant recommendations for Vancouver, BC, for those who will be traveling to the city for the 2010 Winter Games. “Vancouver is among the best eating towns in the history of the Winter Games,” says Sifton, and we’re happy to see he Included some of our old faves like Vij’’s and Tojo’s on his list.
Posted by Shelley Lance, Blog Editor
February 3rd, 2010 | 1 Comment »
This is the Dahlia crew at the Diamond Knot Brewpub in Mukilteo enjoying a fine assortment of brews and eating lunch that comes out on a searing hot square stone. It’s some crazy Aussie process that’s called Stone Grill. After a tour through the “production facility,” aka a tiny warehouse, we went down to their Alehouse and had lunch with the Brewmaster.
February 3rd, 2010 | No Comments »
We had a lovely dinner with friends at Nell’s last night, right in my Greenlake neighborhood. I’ve always liked this intimate, elegant, chef-driven place, owned by my friend Philip Mihalski (who long ago cooked with us at the Dahlia Lounge). Every single time I’ve dined here, Philip has been in the kitchen. We were given a table by the window where we could look out over the dark lake and twinkling lights. Another thing I like about Nell’s: the room is reliably quiet enough to really talk to your friends.
First off we enjoyed some well-made cocktails, a Negroni for me and bright, refreshing Lillet cocktails for the others, with a platter of icy cold oysters on the half shell with lime-ginger vinaigrette. Because Philip has added “Ten $10 Plates for 2010- Welcome to the Next Decade,” alongside his a la carte menu of starters and entrees, his menu is much bigger now. I love the fresh energy the small plates section adds, and it gives you the flexibility to order a starter and two small plates for example, if you feel like it, instead of the standard appetizer, entree, etc.
With 4 people and all these choices, we sampled quite a few items so I’ll describe just a few favorites. Saleh’s calamari with parsley salad and aioli (photo top left) is the only item remaining from the hallowed days of the old Saleh al Lago which used to exist in this spot. I still think this is one of the best calamari dishes in town: pan-fried, never greasy, with a suave pool of aioli for dredging each bite of tender squid. My husband, Frank, ordered perfectly panfried crispy veal sweet breads with lentils, spinach, and sherry jus. We also ordered the gently-flavored grilled octopus with garbanzo beans in herb broth (photo top middle) and melting off the bone duck confit with celery root puree (photo top right). Frank couldn’t resist the calf’s liver with fingerling potatoes as his entree, perfectly cooked and delicious (photo bottom left). I enjoyed my peppery seared venison tenderloin with bosc pear churney and potato gnocchi. For dessert we shared a huckleberry creme brulee with vibrant, flavorful huckleberries- almost the last of the foraged berries in his freezer, Philip told us. Our service was both professional and charmingly sweet. I look forward to my next visit- maybe all small plates next time because there’s so much to try!
February 2nd, 2010 | No Comments »
Blue C Sushi right downtown has great sushi! Before going to a movie or shopping, you can pop in and instantly eat great food. As food scoots by, you just pull off the items that you want, and they charge you per color-coded plates.
I had the broiled eel (unagi), seared tuna (maguro), and also a spicy tuna roll. Fun atmosphere, music, paintings, and videos. High energy of Tokyo!
February 2nd, 2010 | No Comments »
Dahlia Chef, Brock Johnson, was one of 15 chefs to participate in the fundraiser Gifts from the Earth at South Seattle Community College. Brock prepared a 4-course meal for 20 of the 300 people attending and roasted a pig in a box as the main entree. Brock’s pig was delicious and a big hit! Thanks Brock and Micha (Brock’s server) for the awesome job last Saturday night!
February 2nd, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Last March, Valerie Easton, garden writer for the Seattle Times, approached me with her idea for a “cook’s garden” article. The photo shoot took place in my backyard late last July. I had no idea when the article would finally appear in Pacific Northwest Magazine, but here it is at last, hooray! After you follow the link to the article, click through the photos in the slide show to the right. Photos # 5, 6, and 7 are my backyard.
Logically, I know we have several weeks of winter ahead. But emotionally, I feel like spring is just around the corner. Yesterday, I noticed the ornamental cherry trees outside the Greenlake branch of the public library were blooming. Also, the vegetable seeds I ordered from John Scheepers catalog have arrived. There are always hits and misses in the garden. This year I want my best vegetable garden ever!
And of course, the NW Flower and Garden show is just next week. We’ll be there selling Rub with Love spice rub and passing out some delicious tastes. Come by and say hello.
January 31st, 2010 | No Comments »
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