Archive for January, 2007

What really makes up a pasta alla puttanesca? I think of it as a spicier, less loose tomato sauce, and recently I tried to make some, despite it not following the traditional recipe. Nevertheless, it was delicious.

• linguini
• parmesan cheese (parmesano reggiano)
• capers
• red onion
• garlic
• red pepper flakes
• extra-virgin olive oil
• pasta water
• red wine
• San Marzano crushed tomatoes (I strained them, with no tomato water)
• ground sirloin

I know, I know… meat? Yes, I did add meat. I was cleaning up left-overs, and had some in the freezer. It was all good, I promise. I am not sure of the amounts. The sauce got thick, and when the pasta was added, it stayed a good 8 minutes in the lightly bubbling sauce, with the addition of some pasta cooking water. Cheese was grated at plating time.

This was served with a generous portion of salad.

NiwanoHana is the reincarnation of HanaZushi, one of Richmond’s longest-running Japanese restaurants, located in downtown, Shockoe Slip. At my latest meal here, for lunch, I hadn’t detected big changes from my previous visits under “HanaZushi.”

For lunch, they offer many affordable options, including several bento boxes. For three diners recently, we each chose one, two of their chicken teriyaki, one of sushi.

Each compartment contains small portions of various favorite treats, from seaweed salad, to california roll, to two gyoza. Mine contained two elements I did not care for. One was the seaweed salad, served in a metallic/paper muffin paper. The flavor was too strong, yet I rarely enjoy seaweed salad. The crab stick sushi piece, too, was lackluster, being imitation crab. The rest of the fish and bento elements were good.

I can’t say that Niwanohana stands out for anything I sampled here for lunch. But good service, combined with affordable variety, it likely enjoys a good business for lunchtime diners. A more extensive menu awaits diners at dinnertime.

The Gray Bear has been around for some time, and I’ve always had good lunches there. But recently I had the opportunity to dine there for dinner, and was again surprised that such good food comes from a place far outside the city of Richmond.

For a starter, I tried their “tuscan” vegetable soup, which was flavorful and delicious. They also served Billy bread with a choice of both olive oil and butter.

For the entrée, I had their “Tasso-Cured Duck Breast over Wilted Greens with a Cranberry Rosemary Chutney,” as they describe it, which also included a copious amount of mashed potatoes. The duck was well-prepared, and the sauce with cranberries was delicious. The plate also came with more vegetables than advertised in the otherwise long-winded name.

The atmosphere here is simple, and not at all fussy or formal. Yet the food speaks for itself: creative twists on favorites done right. My only suggestion for improvement would be to warm the plates before service. After a few minutes of starting on the entrée, the potatoes had gone cold.

If you’re looking for good-quality cuisine done right, you might consider the Gray Bear Grille in Goochland County.

504 North Wells Street, downtown Chicago, Illinois

I recently celebrated my second visit to Sushi Samba in Chicago. My first trip to the city brought me there, a fusion restaurant with energy, color, and sound. This isn’t a place for haute cuisine, but it is for having fun, trying to flavors, and enjoying yourself.

This time around, it was busy on a Saturday night, loud, and the ambiance, electrified. I tried one of their tuna-roll specials, the Kobe beef appetizer, and their crab “Pacific” roll. Two of us had the molton chocolate cake for dessert. Other diners enjoyed teriyaki chicken and another fish roll.

I think to understand this place you need to take into consideration the ambiance and the environment. It’s dedicated to combining bold flavors, unusual food, and some good, flavorful offerings in a dynamic, hip space.

Their menu is divided up into several categories, such as aperitivos, small plates, samba rolls, large plates (entrées), and side dishes. All of these categories are nice in that you can pick and choose smaller items to put together a combination of things to your liking.

Reservations were easy to get, even 5 days ahead. A full bar, and a menu of flavors will likely entice many young adults who favor fusion cuisine amid loud music and a colorful, modern backdrop.

My Thai is located on Michigan Ave., in Chicago, Illinois across from the Millennium Park. This wasn’t a sought-out destination, but instead somewhere close to the hotel to stop for lunch.

MyThai offered a large menu, including what we ordered: spring roll with tofu and cucumber, fried egg roll, garlic chicken, and the ubiquitous pad thai.

The egg roll was a standard “chinese” style egg roll, deep fried, and over-stuffed with cabbage. The sweet and hot sauce was a nice accompaniment, but ultimately, it was disappointing. The fresh spring roll wasn’t the rice-paper, Vietnamese style, but instead was wrapped in a “raw” wheat-based egg roll wrapper. It was interesting, because the sauce was sweet and had a cinnamon flavor. It wouldn’t be a favorite, but it was different, for sure.

The pad thai was fair, mine came with tofu and lacked a lot of vegetables. It came with raw scallion, peanut, and a wedge of lemon. It tasted a bit sweet, and the lemon helped balance the flavors. It also had a red tinge to the sauce, which told me katsup was added.

The garlic shrimp came with a copious amount of carrot and snow peas, in a brown sauce. It was good, served with rice, but not especially outstanding.

MyThai offered quick service, but was not too busy on a Saturday at lunch time.