Archive for April, 2009

I so loved this book when it came out. I’ll be seeing this movie.

I had the pleasure this week at dining at Le Yaca, a French restaurant located in Williamsburg, Virginia. It’s located in a shopping center, and while it was pretty empty at night (the shopping center), Le Yaca is alive and well.

I’ve eaten lunch here a number of years ago, enjoying some delicious crab crèpes. For dinner, I took one of their spring menu selections, Le Choix des Gourmets, a combination of scallops and filet of beef. Both were appropriately sized and delicious. The scallops were served atop crispy potatoes, and the beef was dressed in a robe of peppercorns and a delectable sauce.

The halibut entrée was equally, if not superlatively delicious.

Their baguette is soft (not too crusty) and delicious. Their opening soups and salads were simple yet wholesomely delicious. And their chocolate marquis dessert with crème anglais was not too much after a fine meal. It was rich and chocolate-ly but at just the appropriate size.

My only complaint about Le Yaca is the size of their wine glasses: too small for proper swirling.

The interior is simple at Le Yaca with a touch of refinement. This isn’t a fussy place to eat, but the quality of the cuisine likely demands the appropriate attire. I look forward to another visit the next time I’m in Williamsburg.

A scrumptious dinner can be had with not a lot of fuss, should you decide to take the advice of one radio host, Mrs. Lynne Rosetto Kasper.

This evening I made her chicken with tarragon and buttered leeks (absolutely a real treasure) and her almond-topped turmeric potatoes. Every bite was heaven. From the lemony-tarragon herbed notes of the chicken to the earthy comfort from the Yukon Gold potatoes, I can’t recommend enough these recipes and the book from which they come.

Mama Cucina is located at 4028 Cox Rd in Glen Allen, VA in the “Shoppes of Innsbrook.” I’ve probably been there now 7-9 times, and my last trip pretty-much summed up my experience with them over the years. Each visit has been surprisingly consistent.

MC seems like a place you might dress-up for, but it is positioned next to a Dairy Queen, and you’ll see everyone from “business casual,” to shorts, and folks who actually put a new fresh button-down shirt going inside. During our visit on a busy Saturday night, we were able to wait outside for 15 minutes while a table opened up, sitting next to those eating banana splits from the DQ.

I’ve never figured out MC’s menu, per se. The portions are gargantuan. But not in the sense of what you’d find at Maggiano’s Little Italy. M’s is about eating big, and sharing. I’d like to go to M’s with a big crowd, where we can share a number of dishes, and pile out plates with all of our favorites.

Instead, MC just serves giant portions. What I don’t like is the surcharge for sharing. I really dislike restaurants who want to charge you $3 or more dollars for the privilege of having your own plate. I ordered their Veal Margherita which was not very tomato-y at all. It is served in a pink cream sauce with black olives and artichokes.

My dining companion ordered a giant bowl of penne pasta with red sauce and mini meatballs. They must have put close to a pound of pasta into that bowl. The bowl it comes in looks like something you’d be served when someone announced “this is your last meal.”

Service was okay, except that the soft drinks come in small glasses, watered down (cokes look like iced tea, and iced tea looks like dirty water). Getting a refill was possible, but only after very measured and calculated mini-sips had run their course. The atmosphere was noisy. They do fit a lot of folks into a small space. I never felt crowded, however the noise level on a busy evening might be off-putting to some.

My entrée came on a “silver platter,” likely something you’d pull out for a cocktail party. A bed of farfalle pasta (not indicated on the menu) lined the large platter, and 3 or 4 pieces of veal were spaced evenly across this bed. The black olives (no more than 10) looked nice on the plate, but they lacked flavor. The sauce, it lacked flavor. It was cheesy and there, but even copious shakes of the salt shaker couldn’t coax flavor from that sauce. The veal was cooked well, and the artichokes offered a nice texture, but the platter, as as a whole, was disappointingly bland.

MC serves a “family style” salad - dressed in a wooden bowl - with their entrees. I like the salad, but it was ultimately too small. For such “appropriate” portions of salad, why are the entrées 3 times the volume? It was “just enough” salad. The same for the bread. They served an oil and herb-doused two slices of toasted bread alongside their signature flavored olive oil. The olive oil dipping setup is delicious - yummy in fact. But the bread was already so greasy that one pull of it from the two slices that hadn’t been adequately sliced left my hands belittered with crumbs and an oily coating that even their thick cloth napkins couldn’t wick away (to my ultimate satisfaction). I considered going to the restroom to wash my hands, except that after 10 wipes with the napkin I’d given up and decided I could proceed without soap and water.

The dessert course was tiramisù. Their version is light, but again, long enough for three diners to consider it a full and robust dessert. The chocolate sauce on top seemed rather un-authentic, and despite its refreshing lightness, it was a tad too sugary. It was the highlight of the meal, perhaps, after too small a salad, too greasy bread, too small a beverage, and too bland an entrée had already passed over our table.

I’ve had better meals at MC but this one kind of did it for me. Some may argue that their prices are a steal for the amount of food you get. I took a giant portion of my farfalle home, and when it was dressed with a more flavorful mushroom and tomato sauce, it was a winner upon re-heating.

Restaurants like these likely are considering two things: flavor vs. authenticity. I’m guessing MC is trying for authenticity, but I can tell you, I doubt any chefs in Italy are using a plastic bottle of chocolate sauce on top of their desserts. MC has a good formula: giant portions, included salad with a good dressing and dynamite tasting bread. If they only focused a bit on the flavor quotient and up-size their drinks to match the entrées, they’d be great.

Crab Omelette

Beat eggs with a few teaspoons of water and white pepper together, and add to a nonstick pan with melted butter. Create an omelette. No not scramble the eggs, let them come up to heat slowly by shaking the pan.

Add minced red peppers, and when eggs are set, lump crab meat, salt, and grated Gruyère cheese. Fold, and serve.