Restaurants: Redbones

Redbones is my favorite neighborhood hangout. The food is delicious and dirt cheap, and they are serious about their beer. The best time to go is definitely during lunch, in my opinion, as it can turn into kind of a madhouse at dinner. I also love sitting at the bar when possible.

They were actually open on Sunday during the hurricane, so we walked down there for lunch. We stuck to some of our favorites from their diverse beer list: Matt got a Brooklyn Brown and I got a Sixpoint Bengali Tiger.

We always order way too much food and can hardly ever make a dent, but I love getting a variety. The portions are just so big! This time, we started with the fried pickles and jalapenos, which were served with a homemade ranch dipping sauce. They’re always perfectly crunchy (which can be tricky with fried pickles) and well seasoned.

Matt is a vegetarian, so usually gets some assortment of sides and fried things. This time, he got the hushpuppies as part of his meal. They are basically puffy balls of delicious fried corn bread with scallions and garlic, served with a vinegar sauce.

He also got the corn fritters, which I always have to sneak a bite of. They taste like corn doughnuts and are served with real maple syrup. They could definitely pass as dessert.

We always get one of each of their sauces: sweet, hot, mild, and vinegar. My favorite is the sweet, but they’re all worth a try.

I often opt for their sliders rather than one big sandwich so I can have more variety. However, each slider is honestly enough for a meal. This time I got two (for the blog, of course): jerk beef (above) and pulled chicken (below). Each is served on a soft little bun with coleslaw and a pickle. The jerk beef just melts in your mouth and has a great kick. The tender beef with the soft bun, crunchy pickle, and creamy slaw is the perfect little bite.

The pulled chicken slider is similarly assembled, but the chicken is much sweeter. I like to put the sweet sauce on the jerk beef, and the spicy sauce on the sweet chicken.

I should mention that the ribs are also fantastic even though I didn't get any this time. The St. Louis style is my favorite, but you can’t go wrong with any of them.

Since the sliders don’t come with any sides, I ordered some potato salad. Their potato salad is one of my favorite things on the menu. It’s almost like a hybrid between potato salad and mashed potatoes – how can you go wrong with that? It’s creamy, but also tangy, and is downright addicting.

We often order a side of the atomic corn relish to go with everything. It stays true to its name – this stuff is seriously hot. I am a huge fan of anything spicy, and I can only tolerate the smallest bit of this relish on my food. However, it presents a nice challenge! It is also surprisingly flavorful, if you can tolerate the spice.

You have to save room for at least a bit of pecan pie at Redbones. They just have a really good, classic pecan pie with that sticky-sweet filling topped with the crunchy pecans.

It was the perfect end to another great meal at Redbones.

Redbones
55 Chester Street
Somerville, MA 02144

Eggs In Purgatory

I’m not sure how the name Eggs in Purgatory came about, but it’s basically eggs baked in tomato sauce. It’s also my new favorite brunch dish.

The dish is very basic and starts with a good tomato sauce. My go-to tomato sauce is the Rich Tomato Sauce from Marco Canora’s Salt to Taste. The recipe calls for cooking crushed cloves of garlic in olive oil until soft, then adding good canned tomatoes. You cook the tomatoes for about 30 minutes and then puree, adding in chunks of cold butter to make it a little bit creamy along with some fresh basil. I just love how simple it is, and it always comes out great.

I make a lot of variations on Marco Canora’s sauce, so I made a slightly spicy version of it this morning with fresh oregano instead of basil. We had a version of eggs baked in tomato sauce from Posto recently that was very heavy on the oregano, and it was delicious! I also upped the olive oil and garlic a little bit and omitted the butter, thinking that the eggs would provide enough creaminess in the dish.

Once the sauce is ready, the rest comes together quite fast. We used the eggs in purgatory recipe from Serious Eats as a guide for how long and at which temperature to cook the eggs. We also cut and toasted some thick slices of bread to put the eggs on.

Eggs in Purgatory

¼ c. extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
½ tsp. red chili flakes
1 28-oz can tomatoes (we like Trader Joe’s brand)
Fresh oregano
4 eggs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional)
Thick slices of bread

Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat and add the cloves of garlic and chili flakes. Cook for about 5 minutes until lightly golden and soft, adjusting the heat if necessary. Meanwhile, preheat the overn to 375 degrees. Add the tomatoes, crushing them a little bit with a wooden spoon. Season with a little bit of salt and pepper. Simmer for about 30 minutes.

When it’s ready, the tomatoes will be broken down and the oil will kind of separate and be on top of the sauce.

Add some fresh oregano (a sprig, more or less) and puree using a hand blender. Taste, and then season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Transfer some of the sauce to an oven proof casserole dish. There will be sauce left over, but it never goes to waste at our house. Crack four eggs into the casserole.

Cook the dish in the 375 degree oven for about 12 minutes. Toast the bread in the oven in the last five minutes of cooking time. To ensure that the yolks stay runny, take it out right as the whites begin to set and all turn white. They might not look quite done, but they will continue to set after you take it out of the oven.

Dip the bread right into the dish, or spoon the eggs and sauce right over the bread. You can also top it with a little bit of freshly grated parmesan cheese and/or some flaky sea salt. It’s such a simple but incredible combination.

Restaurants: Trattoria Delia

Matt and I checked out Trattoria Delia last night. Yelpers rave about this place, calling it the best Italian food in northern Vermont. I’m always skeptical about places hyped this much, but I went with an open mind.

The interior was very old-school (not in a good way), with the big wooden door, dark walls, and fancy tablecloths. I was immediately turned off when we sat down and our waitress placed a bottle of wine on our table. I’m pretty sure this is a technique the Olive Garden uses to sell more wine. I guess they think that if you see it, you’re going to buy it. Sure enough, they swiftly took away the original bottle when we ordered our own bottle of wine. I thought this was really tacky.

A few things on the menu struck me as odd. Almost every pasta dish had cream and sounded extremely heavy. Don’t get me wrong – I wasn’t coming here for a diet meal – but their combinations just sounded too rich. Also, random words in their menu descriptions were in Italian, which were italicized to show, I can only assume, how “authentic” the restaurant is.

“Wood-grilled fish of the day served with a marinata of olive oil, garlic, lemon, parsley and black pepper.”

None of these things would really matter to me if the food was good.

We started with the bruschetta. The first piece I tried had so much garlic that it actually burned the roof of my mouth. I couldn’t even taste the tomatoes. The second was lighter on the garlic, but still lacked flavor. I was at least hoping for some basil, but instead we got a few leaves of wilted arugula and a couple of sad olives

Matt ordered the Orecchiette con Fricone, which was described as a fried tomato sauce with crushed garlic, red pepper, and arugula. This was probably the most successful dish of the night, but it still wasn’t great. The pasta was cooked inconsistently and we both expected there to be more tomatoes.

I ordered the Gamberoni, which were blue prawns coated with bread crumbs and then grilled over a wood fire. It came with parsley infused olive oil and so-called “grilled vegetables.” The shrimp were overcooked and the olive oil didn’t add much flavor. The vegetables were a definite afterthought. The green beans were mushy and unseasoned. The carrots tasted like they were honey glazed (yes, like the kind people eat on thanksgiving). For $25, I was hoping for some fresh, grilled summer vegetables.

I’m not sure why, but we stuck around for dessert hoping things would get better. We ordered the Profiteroles. The pastry was dry and rubbery and the gelato was flavorless. To cover up the quality of the profiteroles, they were drenched in a syrupy chocolate sauce.

I have to attribute all of the good reviews to the fact that there aren’t many Italian restaurants in the area. For what we paid for our meal here (a lot!), I really cannot say good things about Trattoria Delia.

Trattoria Delia
152 Saint Paul Street
Burlington, VT 05401

Restaurants: Firebird Cafe

My 3 month stint working in Burlington, VT was made totally worth it when I discovered Firebird Café. Lunch at this bright little sandwich shop always makes my day.

The owner is always there, cooking and taking orders. The menu consists mostly of sandwiches and breakfast items, some with a Mexican flair. Everything is fresh, made to order, and the sauces seem to all mostly be made in house. There are usually only a couple of others working in the open kitchen, all very friendly. Even though it’s an order at the counter and take your number kind of place, someone always carries your food to your table and comes around to make sure everything is good.

Matt drove up to spend a few days in Burlington this week, so we met up at Firebird for lunch.

I usually get their iced green tea to drink, which is always delicious and refreshing.

Matt ordered the Supremo Burrito, which has eggs, red chipotle sauce, avocado, sour cream, and salsa. It came with a side of pico de gallo and home fries. It was simple, fresh, and flat out good.

They give you the option to get any sandwich as a wrap or a Panini. I usually choose wrap, but I switched it up today and got the Orchard Panini. It had smoked ham, brie, granny smith apples, and honey mustard. It was a simple combination of excellent ingredients. I particularly liked that the brie got perfectly creamy but the apples stayed crisp.

I snapped a not great picture on a different occasion of one of my favorite wraps on the menu. The Apollo has marinated and grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, cilantro, avocado, and chipotle mayo. Yum.

As you can tell, I love coming here. I would love to eventually own a place just like it!

Firebird Cafe
163 Pearl Street
Essex Junction, VT 05452

Rigatoni with Grilled Eggplant, Buffalo Mozzarella, and Mint

I had pretty much been through all of my standard food magazines last week, so I reluctantly picked up a copy of Martha Stewart Living at the airport. I was skeptical, but I got a pretty amazing recipe out of it: Pennoni pasta with grilled eggplant, burrata cheese, thai chilis, and mint. It looked pretty incredible, so I used it as inspiration for my dinner the next night.

Whole Foods was out of burrata, so I used buffalo mozzarella to get a comparable creamy texture. I also couldn’t find a Thai chili in my quick grocery trip, so I used a serrano. Finally, I went with rigatoni instead of searching out the Pennoni pasta shape. I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table!

The grilled eggplant gave a great charred flavor, but also turned nicely creamy when mixed with the pasta. The combination of the eggplant and buffalo mozzarella made a luxuriously creamy sauce. The mint gave it some brightness and the chili gave it a nice kick. Another bonus - the dish came together extremely fast.

Rigatoni with Grilled Eggplant, Buffalo Mozzarella, and Mint
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living
7 oz. rigatoni
Extra virgin olive oil
1 medium eggplant
1 serrano chili
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½ tsp. lemon zest
½ tbsp. lemon juice
Fresh mint, thinly sliced
3 ½ oz Buffalo mozzarella
Salt and Pepper

Heat the grill to high. Cut the eggplant lengthwise in ½ - ¾ inch slices and brush with olive oil. Grill, turning occasionally, until soft and cooked through.

Transfer to a cutting board and let cool. Chop coarsely.

Heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic until golden. Add the chili about halfway through cooking the garlic. When the garlic is cooked, add the cooked eggplant. Season with salt.

Cook the pasta to al dente, reserving some pasta water. Add the pasta to the skillet, along with a small ladle of reserved pasta water, the lemon zest, and lemon juice. Keep adding pasta water until the sauce reaches the consistency you want. Season with salt and pepper.

Finally, remove from the heat and stir in the burrata and mint.

Black Spaghetti with Shrimp and Chorizo

My mom recently came back from a three week trip to Spain. The trip was to chaperone a school trip, but she was luckily able to spend a lot of time with a lot of family friends who live in Madrid. Her friend Nieves sent her back with, among other things, a package of squid ink dried spaghetti.

My only experience with squid ink in pasta was the amazing squid ink spaghetti dish with sopresatta, rock shrimp, and jalapeno pesto that I had at Babbo last year. I’m a huge fan of any pork and shellfish combination, and clearly love spicy food, so this dish was practically made for me. We found the actual recipe posted in Babbo’s recipe archives.

We used the recipe as a guide using what we had available. Since we don’t have Mario Batali’s means to buy fresh rock shrimp, we used medium sized regular shrimp from our trusty fish monger. We also had some spicy, cured Spanish chorizo that we used in place of the sopresatta.

We were honestly in awe of how well this dish turned out. The pasta itself was very midly fishy, as if there were just a touch of fish stock in the sauce. The jalapeno pesto was a little harsh on its own, but mellowed out nicely when it was briefly fried in olive oil and tossed with the hot pasta. With the addition of the sweet shrimp and the spicy, instense chorizo, it was just perfect.

Black Spaghetti with Shrimp and Chorizo
Adapted from Mario Batali’s Recipe

1 lb. black spaghetti
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced
6 oz. fresh shrimp
1 c. sliced cured chorizo
4 tbsp. jalapeno pesto (see recipe below)
1 c. scallions (green parts only)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the pasta until just barely al dente. While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and cook until just cooked through. Remove the shrimp and set aside.

Turn the heat down to medium and add the garlic and chorizo.

When the garlic is toasted (but be careful not to burn it), add the jalapeno pesto and the cooked shrimp.

Drain the pasta and add it to the pan. Toss it with the sauce and cook for a minute or so longer until the pasta is al dente.

Jalapeno Pesto

3 c. jalapeno peppers, roughly chopped
½ c. sliced almonds
½ c. red onions, chopped
Salt
½ c. extra virgin olive oil

Puree all of the ingredients in a food processor.

It doesn’t look pretty, but I promise it’s good!

Restaurants: The Farmhouse Tap & Grill

Unfortunately, my pictures of the best restaurant we tried all weekend didn’t come out very well. We ate dinner at The Farmhouse Tap & Grill on Saturday night and loved it so much that we went for lunch again on Sunday.

On Saturday night, we started with the Roasted Mushroom - Walnut Pâté, which was served with grilled bread, whole grain mustard, and pickled green beans. It was earthy, nutty, and had the great texture of a pesto. It was delicious spread on the grilled bread.

The waiter brought over the condiments served with every meal: root beer barbeque sauce, garlic aioli, whole grain mustard, and ketchup.

Matt ordered the Nitty Gritty Corn Griddle Cakes. They were served with roasted mushrooms, wilted greens, and buttermilk herb vinaigrette on top. I forgot to take the picture before Matt dug in, so it looks a lot messier than it really was. The griddle cakes were like normal pancakes but with cornmeal. The sweet pancakes went really well with the mushrooms and bitter greens. Matt was very pleased that he was able to get away with having pancakes for dinner.

I ordered the Venison Burger topped with arugula, tarentaise cheese, and preserved lemon aioli. I asked them to add some pickled jalapenos as well. This was definitely the best thing I ate all weekend. It was cooked perfectly (on the rare side of medium-rare) and was incredibly juicy considering how lean venison is. The cheese was incredible – creamy and nutty – and the preserved lemon aioli was to die for. There were actually small chewy pieces of preserved lemon that in the aioli. The bun was just the right amount of toasted hold the burger without getting soggy. This burger was just a special that night, but I hope they put it on their permanent menu!

We split the blueberry pie for dessert. The slice was enormous and packed with fresh blueberries. I would have preferred if it were warm, but it didn’t need much help since the berries were so fresh.

Now, onto lunch the next day…

Matt ordered the Farmhouse Veggie burger, which I believe was lentil based. It was topped with kimchi, arugula, and house pickled jalapenos. Matt opted to have a fried egg added on top, which was obviously a great decision. I stole a bite and it was a pretty amazing combination.

I decided on a veggie burger this time as well – the Smoky Portobello White Bean Burger. It was topped with fresh mozzarella, local tomato, arugula, and basil aioli (which I ordered on the side). Again, I added the pickled jalapenos. Anyone who says they don’t like veggie burgers needs to try a homemade one. The white bean patty was rich and creamy with a nice crust on the outside. The cheese on top even got a little caramelized. I would order both of these burgers again.

The Farmhouse Tap also has a great beer selection and beer garden in the back. I’m in love.

The Farmhouse Tap and Grill
160 Bank Street
Burlington, VT 05401