BurGR

Hey!

     Welcome back friends check out some of my Vegas eats over this past week. This is my third time eating here and I of course highly recommend this place.  I am pretty sure everyone would recognize this chefs restaurant.  Gordon Ramseys BurGR,  see the capital GR which represents his initials,  so witty!  Anyways its not just wit that this place has, they also have some serious eats to back up the name.  The atmosphere is great with an open kitchen so I personally feel I could hold them accountable for anything they put out.  Table was touched by 3 different servers which is always rare.  The Food is just dang good so check out some of the pics below.

Chanterelle Burger

This one is my favorite but I am partial to chanterelles.  The buns have black sesame seeds as well which I really think makes a big difference in the toastiness and flavor of the grilled bun.  The hand ground burgers are fired over applewood grill and basted with butter..... yes I needed all those dots and the burgers are treated just like a prime cut steak when cooked.  Some nice sauteed chanterelles and hint of truffle accompany the burGR which still have a bit of chew to them so not braised to mush which I appreciate.  This is then finished with some fresh wild arugala and figgy onion jam to cut the richness.  SO GOOD, just a simple yet not so simple burger.  Earthy, sweet, rich, aromatic.  Try it!

Gooey Fries and Honey Sriracha Apps

Not only are these burgers good but the apps give me the same kind of excitement.  The gooey fries weren't on the menu the first time I went.  These wedge cut fries had a smoked gouda sauce with herbs and salami (they had me at smoked gouda).  They throw the cone on a plate table side and top it with an over easy egg table side as well.  This was devoured shortly after this picture was taken.  The wings were great as well, so juicy yet so crispy on the outside even after they were sauced.  My guess is they were brined before breading and the sauce was more sweet and tangy than spicy which my was right up my wife and in-laws alleys.

Pork Belly Pig in a Blanket and the Little Man

I guess one down side to the restaurant was there was no kids menu and I understand that this is the demographic they were going for.  So after careful delliberation the mother and I chose these ramped up pigs in a blanket, and I have to say the best of this type of dish I ever had.  I must have downed half of these myself.  The center was some nice pork belly, wrapped with puff pastry.  This came with curried ketchup and pickled mustard seed.  The mustard seed was like little popping bits of caviarish like goodness.  Gave it a good acidity to balance out the pork belly.

     All I can say is good thing we did not order a side of truffle fries because I went into deep deep food coma after this one.  The burgers hover around 17 to 20 dollars which I know is pretty high for a burger with no fries.  You always have to take a step back and realize the care that goes into some of these dishes, then you realize the food is worth the money.  Great place so yall go try it ya hear!

Wildberry Chicago

Whats up!

Another review of a popular breakfast joint the cuzzos took us to on out Chicago vacay.  This place stomps broken yolk easily,  nothing gourmet just some down good homey breakfast/brunch items.  

Florentine Benedict with side of Buttermilk Pancakes

Simple classic dish and one of the bosses (wifes) favorites.  Huge english muffin, correctly poached eggs, and loads of sauteed spinach.  Hollandaise was made from scratch thats always a plus.  Great breakfast.

Apple Carmel Pecan  Pancakes

This was an upgrade for my side of pancakes.  Great choice if I may add.  Creamy.carmel and sweet crunchy pecans for texture and the spiced apples lended a great acidity to balance the sweetness.  Yum!

Cornedbeef Hash Skillet

Huge portion of housemade cornedbeef hash.  A nice melty cheese blend topped with some runny yolk.  Gotta have the runny yolk.   Can get a bit one note but I was feeling corned.beef.

Anyways great spot with great service and best of all fair prices!  Im glad I finally got to try this place because all of the families German cousins keep raving about Wildberry!  

Tkb (The Kebab Shop)

     Get ready for this one.  I can honestly say one of the most pleasantly surprising meals I've had in a while.  I've frequented this place many times as there is one so close to my work in Poway, but never seemed to have ordered this until one day I just decided to try it out.  Now I've heard in the past from the workers "would you like that California style" and never really thought anything of it.  Thankfully I decided to give it a try and behold this awesomeness!

 

Lamb and Beef Doner Kebab "California Style"

 

      The down side to this meal is the add on is about 3 dollars bringing price to about 10 dollars for the Doner itself but this is more than enough to satisfy you and I have a pretty monster appetite so that is saying a lot.  What makes it California Style is the addition of French Fries and very good creamy Feta, reminiscent to what is added in a California Burrito.  I've always thought a basic lamb beef Doner was a great meal in itself because the Kebab Shop always has very fresh crispy vegetables and the amount of food is perfect but the additions certainly make it a different beast of a meal.  You get more texture and the rich salt creaminess of the chunks of feta are out of this world. Make sure you get extra garlic yogurt sauce with the your Doner and the addition of the sumac pictured above adds a mild smokey acidity to every bite.  At the end of your meal do not forget the "After Doner Mints".... Great Pun TKS!  Enjoy Peeps.

Bon"quiche"sha

Bonjour

     Posting up a completely scratch quiche I did for the fams about a couple weeks ago.  I know anything like hand made pie shells always make people double think that maybe this is to hard.  All you have to do is get your hands a bit dirty and it will be well worth the effort,  just like many things in life right?  Look how great this looks!

Arugula and Maple Sausage Quiche

For Pie Shell

AP Flour 2cups

Salt 1Tbsp

Melted Butter 1/2 Cup

Water 2Tbsp

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate.  Cover and let rest for 30 minutes for ingredients to absorb into the flour before rolling out.  Flour a work surface and with a rolling pin roll out a thin even circle of dough that will cover your whole pie tin.  Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and par back shell by using beans and parchment in the bottom of the shell to prevent rising for about 12 minutes.

For Filling

Eggs 4 Each

Arugala 2 Cups

Sliced Sausage 1 Cup

Sharp Cheddar 1 Cup

Julliene Yellow Onion 1/2 Onion about 1 Cup

Kosher Salt TT

Black Pepper TT

First scramble eggs then combine the rest of the ingredients and fold into the egg.  Pour mixture into the par baked pie shell then bake for another 10 to 12 minutes until eggs are fluffy and bouncy, be careful not to over cook the eggs.

Surprised even my 2 year old Jacob loved it.  Finished it with some fresh fruit and boom!  Easy but fancy!  Enjoy

The Laotian Spot!

    Much apologies for the long absence but I am back and with some pretty good content (not biased at all)!  This one will be a review of a restaurant in Murrieta called Noodle Land that I found on accident because of Mel's cousin Ryan and his wife Boonmee.  Shoutout Chicagoans!  She definitely schooled me in the magical wonders of Laotion food so without delay please feast your eyes on this lunch that I rave to anyone and everyone about.

Green Papaya Salad and Fresh Beef Jerky

     Now we had this with traditional Lao style sticky rice not the dessert kind with coconut and mango.  The sticky rice is made over a stove top in a cone shaped bamboo steamer allowing the natural rice starches to stay in the rice and produce a sticky translucent accent to the two dishes above.  The green papaya salad is a traditional Som Tam but Lao style which has a bit more acidity than the Thai style.  The Jerkey are thin strips of beef marinated in Lemon Grass, Garlic, and some secret ingredients I am not sure of then fried to order. You almost get a chewy cure type of flavor enveloped in a bunch of aromatics.  

     These three components together gave me a feeling I haven't felt in a long time which I can only describe in this sentence, "WTF ALL OF THIS WORKS TOGETHER AND TASTES SO GOOD."  I put the all caps because that's how it felt like I said it in my mind the first time I had this.  Boonmee and Ryan proceeded to eat with their hands using the sticky rice and making a perfect vessel to make the perfect bite with the rest of the food.  I would like to thank the Gube family especially Ryan for marrying Boonmee and letting me experience this type of cuisine which I have to fight the urge of spending all my money on for my meals everyday. 

     Everyone go out and try this place and order these three things,  I highly recommend it! 

     Disclaimer: I got a 5 out of 10 on the spicy scale on the papaya salad and Mel said her mouth was on fire so order accordingly.  Enjoy you won't regret it!

Playing w/ Food!

Good Day!

     So who doesn't love some French Toast?  That's what I thought!  So for good measure lets stuff this French Toast with some sweet salty creamy tart goodness.  This is the Cream Cheese and Lingon Berry French Toast.  You know those berries that Ikea puts on all their plates in their restaurant, well they go great in this dish adding some nice tart acidity to cut through the sweet batter of the French toast.  

Lingon Berry and Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast 

(1 Serving)

2 Slices Texas Toast

1Tbs Lingon Berry Preserves

3/4 Cup Soft Cream Cheese

French Toast Batter

     2 Whole Eggs

     1 Cup Whole Eggs

     1 Tps Ground Cinnamon

     1 Pinch Ground Clove

     1 Pinch Ground Ginger

     1/2 Cup Confectioner Sugar (Save Some for Garnish)

     1 Vanilla Bean or 1Tps Imitation Vanilla

     Mix together French Toast Batter ingredients until well incorporated.  Dip a slice of Texas Toast until well soaked but not saturated (I know its an art!).  If you don't soak enough batter the middle will be dry because the bread is thick,  If you saturate the bread completely its can becom every dense so find the right amount to make a fluffy French Toast.

Dipping the Texas Toast

     Next you want to use a griddle if possible that way you get even heat distribution.  The hard part of doing it in a normal pan is the bread will most likely burn because it is hard to control the heat.  I would suggest and electric griddle with a thermostat to get a nice even color on the French Toast if you have trouble control heat on a conventional burner.  To start you want to cook one side of the soaked Texas Toast flip over then put in your fillings.

Stuffed French Toast on the Griddle

     You'll know you are done when the cheese gets melty (You can finish this in the oven if you want really bubbly cheese,  just place in a oven safe pan and bake at 300 Degress F for 10 or so minutes.  Assemble the 2 slices together like a sandwich and cut on the diagonal.  I suggest real 100%  maple syrup if possible.  Very easy dish brought to another level.  Enjoy!  My spoiled counterpart sure did!

Assembling the French Toast

Lingon Berry and Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast!

Sweet Potato Shrimp Fries

Konichiwa!

     Well I cant take all the credit for this dish because it was actually my attempt to recreate a great idea.  I have to give props to Saw Leaf Vietnamese Food in the Anaheim Packing District,  They had this dish on special and of course I had to try it myself.  It was about 4 dollars for a small sized french fry cardboard tray equivalent to an In and Out order of fries.  In my mind it seemed like all the flavors made sense and boy did they.  You get a sweet, salty, herby, spicy kick all in one as well as a crispy texture, whats not to love!

     Of course me being the constant chef minded guy I had to know how to recreate it myself even make it better dare I say.  Who am I kidding I automatically knew what to do to make it better!  Humble brag.  Anyways here is my recipe for my recreation and check out the platting below.  I served these family style and before I knew it they were all gone thanks to my staff.  The best part is this dish is so easy!

Sweet Potato Shrimp Fries (Serves 2)

Premade Sweet Potato Fries (Matchstick is the best to keep the crispy texture)

1lb 20/25 White Mexican Shrimp

1 Cup Diced Spring Onion

1 Cup Sriracha Mayonnaise

     1 Tbs Sriracha

     1 Cup Mayonnaise

     1/2 Cup Rice Wine Vinegar Unseasoned

     2 Tbs Toasted Sesame Oil

1 Lemon or Lime Whole

Kosher Salt TT

Black Pepper TT

Season defrosted shrimp with oil salt and pepper and char broil on highest setting being careful not to over cook the shrimp but getting great grill marks, about 3 minutes a side.  You want to look for a great char to add a smokey note to the dish.  Let cool to room temperature about 10 minutes and coarsely ground the shrimp with a knife or I used a robot coop or food processor.  Don't cut the shrimp when it is too hot or you will release the juices from the shrimp causing a dry product as well as steaming while you cut which makes the shrimp soggy and lose its texture.  In a food processor or blender (I prefer the food processor you get better emulsification I feel because it has a whipping motion more than a blend creating an airy sauce) combine the ingredients for the Sriracha Mayo and incorporate well.  Fry your sweet potatoes to your desired doneness I like it at 350 degrees for 6 minutes so they are pretty crispy but not burned.  Layer the fries first, then the Sriracha mayo, then the ground shrimp, finish with spring onions and salt and pepper.  Before eating squeeze the fresh acid over the fries and please be prepared with tissue to wipe away your tears of happiness. Buon Apetito!

Sriracha Mayonnaise

Grilled White Mexican Shrimp

Sweet Potato Shrimp Fries w/ Lemon Halves

Sweet Potato Shrimp Fries!