I enjoyed a sensational dinner at the Dahlia Lounge last week, and two of my favorite items featured Oregon Anderson Valley lamb. For an appetizer, my husband, Frank, and I ordered lamb carpaccio. I don’t think I’ve every had lamb prepared as carpaccio before, and it turned out to be even better than beef, at least when you’re eating lamb of this quality and freshness. Velvety textured rosy red paper thin slices of raw lamb scattered with bits of creamy sheep’s cheese, full flavored taggiasca olives, and torn bits of dried chile- all of which added up to exactly the right sensory punctuation for the dreamy, olive oil drizzled meat.
For an entree we ordered the “Anderson Valley spring lamb, braised leg, grilled loin, pickled tongue, ricotta dumplings, pearl onions, ramp vinaigrette.” That sounds like a lot of ingredients, but everything was so harmonious together, there wasn’t a single discordant note. The meat was juicy, tender, and succulent, and the pickled tongue added a fun element. (If you’ve never tried tongue, these tender pickled morsels make a good place to start.)
So I asked Dahlia’s Chef, Brock Johnson: what’s the deal with the lamb on the Dahlia menu right now? Here’s his response:
“The story on the lamb is cool. It’s from Oregon, and we’re getting whole animals. We break them down, into muscles for carpaccio, muscles for grilling, and the rest we braise. The tongue we purchase from the same vendor because one lamb tongue isn’t enough for all 30 orders we get from one animal.”
My suggestion? Head over to the Dahlia Lounge for dinner as soon as you can and order up some of Brock’s divine local lamb!
June 28th, 2010 | 2 Comments »
One day last week my roommate, Lewis, came downstairs to find me on the couch watching Law & Order:Criminal Intent before work. Looking like a kid on Christmas morning, he enthusiastically asked if we could go to Paseo for lunch so he could get his Cuban sandwich fix for the week. I’d wanted to go for a long time and decided to jump (off the couch) at the opportunity to mow down some slow braised pork. We got in the car and headed over to Fremont Ave, just south of Caffe Vita, and parked on a side street. There was a line out the door of the small, signless restaurant, but it seemed to be moving along quickly, and so we stood behind the last person in line and figured out our order. Lew informed me that their most popular sandwich is the #2, the Cuban Roast. We ordered two and waited outside with the other 20 people standing patiently, giving the crazy eyes to anyone that walked out of the building with a white sack full of sandwiches and pints of rice and beans. The guy behind the counter called our number, and as I watched Lewis walk up to the counter, I prayed he wouldn’t elbow a small kid in the throat to get to our food as quickly as possible. We were too impatient to drive home and eat and there were no benches around, so we sat in his car, the windows down, napkins lining our laps, frosty Cokes in the cupholders, and, in frightening silence, ravaged our sandwiches. Cruncy toasted baguette, slow braised pork butt (aka pork shoulder, it’s a confusing nomenclature, I know), pickled jalapenos, crunchy romaine lettuce, and garlicky mayonnaise topped with super thick cut caramelized onions….
In my personal opinion, this is one of the greatest sandwiches in the city of Seattle, and I know a lot of people that agree with me. Any place that sells out of EVERYTHING on their menu every once in awhile (check the sign next to the cash register) has to be pretty amazing.
Note: these sandwiches are messy, and there’s no attractive way to eat them. But luckily they’re so delicious that I didn’t care about the weird looks I was getting as I was hanging my head out the side of the car door, shoveling the last bits of pork and peppers in my mouth from the bottom of the sandwich wrapper.
June 26th, 2010 | 2 Comments »
(Note: Eva Tessaro in the photo)
June 24th, 2010 | 2 Comments »
One of my favorite new spots is the I Love New York Deli on Roosevelt in the U District. New York sports paraphernalia and signs hang everywhere, and most of their ingredients are brought over from the Empire State. I ordered a reuben on marble rye bread (they have quite a few types of rye to choose from). The beef was fantastic, perfectly braised and stacked at least an inch and a half thick. My mom had a knish that she found perfectly delicious. But the selling point for me was the Chock Full O’Nuts Coffee, which reminds me of my beloved Jersey diner coffee. Huge menu, very nice staff, great cheap coffee, and New York boiled bagels. I’m ready to go back. Now.
June 23rd, 2010 | 5 Comments »
Here it is, the very first recipe that Garrett Melkonian (pastry chef extraordinaire, previous TDR executive pastry chef, and, for now, our cookbook recipe developer) has developed for the Dahlia Bakery Cookbook which is now in the works. Here are some just-baked Cranberry Orange Muffins. Don’t these look divine? Wish I had one right now to go with the cup of coffee sitting next to me.
By the way, though this batch was baked with the pretty red paper liners the Dahlia Bakery uses, you could use any paper liners, and we baked these muffins in a regular home-style muffin pan purchased for this purpose at City Kitchens, not in the heavy-weight, professional muffin pans the pastry bakery uses. Of course, we baked them in our little home-style stove in the test kitchen, not in our professional convection ovens. These are just some of the ways we’re making sure the recipes we create will work perfectly in your home kitchen!
So exciting, we really are on our way…….!
June 19th, 2010 | 2 Comments »
The well prepared pastry chef sets up his mise-en-place! Which is the French term for getting all the ingredients you need for cooking or baking measured out, set up, and ready to go. Garrett is beautifully organized!
June 17th, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Tom, Alexis, Jackie, and I served up about 300 samples of roast rubbed salmon at the opening of the Greenwood Food Bank last Friday night. There was live entertainment, King 5, and delicious hot salmon that Tom is flipping in the air in the photo! And look at the lovely sidewalk art Cora and Cleo Tessaro made during the event!!
June 17th, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Ron, Jack and Schwarz served up a fabulous meal last week at Bell Harbor at the Evening of Hope dinner, benefitting the Alzheimer’s Association.
(Note: Ron in photo left. Schwarz, Jack, and Ron from left to right in photo right.)
June 17th, 2010 | No Comments »
We always buy and install a regular stove, not a professional restaurant stove, when we’re working on one of our cookbooks so that we can test recipes using the same type of equipment available to the home cook. Actually, most of our readers probably have a nicer stove than this basic, inexpensive model. Sean hooked it up today, and Garrett just now turned it on. Yes! We have heat!! Garrett spent hours cleaning and scraping this wooden worktable. Then, in the catering storage area, he found this lovely sheetpan half rack that no one else seemed to be using, and it fits so perfectly right under our worktable. Score!
June 16th, 2010 | 4 Comments »
So excited about this sweet new space right behind the Dahlia pastry kitchen that Sean Hartley (operations manager) and Garrett Melkonian have cleaned up, fixed up, and equipped for recipe testing! Garrett was formerly our executive pastry chef (a post which is now filled by Stacy Fortner) and we’re thrilled to have him back with the Tom Douglas team for awhile to work with Tom and myself on recipe development for the Dahlia Bakery Cookbook that’s now in progress. Let’s get baking!!!!
June 16th, 2010 | 17 Comments »
For an entree we ordered the “Anderson Valley spring lamb, braised leg, grilled loin, pickled tongue, ricotta dumplings, pearl onions, ramp vinaigrette.” That sounds like a lot of ingredients, but everything was so harmonious together, there wasn’t a single discordant note. The meat was juicy, tender, and succulent, and the pickled tongue added a fun element. (If you’ve never tried tongue, these tender pickled morsels make a good place to start.)
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