Adventures in Columbus' North Market

A. is way into food and was enthusiastic about showing me some spots in Columbus that I had heretofore not known about it. I know this is true because he had made a note on his iPad of potential places to take me. Warms my heart. In any case, K., A. and I got ourselves together after a lovely breakfast home and made our way to North Market. It's very similar in vibe and feel to Reading Terminal Market, but slightly brighter and a little smaller. We went in order to enjoy a lunch but also so I could potentially pick up a few above average cheeses for the mac n' cheese the family requested I prepare for Easter. There were so many interesting options as far as food was concerned. At first I thought I'd try some barbeque. Then I almost got waylaid by some truly delectable looking sub-style sandwiches. But in the end I chose to try out a han/pate banh mi sandwich from Lan Viet Market. Their pho was also quite tempting, but I decided it was far too crowded a day to try maneuvering myself and a big bowl of broth up to the seating area above the market's floor. The bread was nicely crunchy on the outside and yet soft on the inside. Could have had a bit more flavor on the whole, but a good meal nonetheless.

K. and A. were very interested in getting themselves some Jeni's Splendid ice cream, the line was just so ridiculously long they decided it made more sense to drive to the well populous location of the small ice cream chain. After trying a few different varieties, I ultimately chose a cup with a scoop of lavender berry and a scoop of lemon frozen yogurt, the combination of which was quite satisfying and palate pleasing.

Dinner c/o Marigold Kitchen

Since CP began pursuing her Master's, which involves commuting to Baltimore for a large part of the week, we haven't seen as much of one another. This saddened me greatly. So a while back I proposed some kind of dinner where we could catch up ... and I could cross another restaurant off the list. CP perused the remaining restaurants I need to frequent and chose three that were particularly appealing to her. Ultimately we concluded that a trek to West Philly for the culinary stylings of Marigold Kitchen was in order. I pretty much never ever go to West Philly. Like, really ever. And CP was pretty much in the same boat. In fact this turned out to be the first time either of us had taken the underground trolley. I feared we'd somehow get on the wrong one or in some other way mess up...but we didn't. We arrived at Marigold in one piece, and I finally got to see Clark Park. Marigold is located in a corner row house on a well maintained, nicely landscaped street. It's very unassuming, and if you didn't know to look for it, you could pass right by thinking it was just a really nice house with a funny name. We were quickly seated in the front dining room, and soon thereafter our prosecco was popped (it's BYO) and the first of oh so many small courses came our way. Let me take a moment to explain further. Marigold has a relatively small menu of appetizers and entrees, but in addition to those dishes, it provides its patrons with a number of 'amuse bouches' throughout the meal. So while we were still trying to determine our meals proper, we were given fried parsnips. Crunchy, earthy, with a light dusting of - if I remember correctly - confectioner's sugar?  Next up was another little treat. A mango pearl on a little bed of creamy custard. Or I think that's what the bottom layer was. That little orange dollop packed quite a mango punch. Its thin skin, once punctured, allowed concentrated mango magic to flow directly onto our tongues. It was surprising and clever and tasty all at once.
Then there was a little helping of chick peas. Simple, but not ordinary.
Then came little foie gras squares wrapped in caramel. Yes. Caramel. The richness of the foie and the salty sweetness of the caramel were a nice, and atypical, pairing. I was particularly fond of this dish.
This unassuming thing might make you think that it was a Combo unadorned. And, in a way, you would be correct. Only the cheddar filling of this cracker was anything but stale. It oozed. Oozed with joy at being so cheesy. I think it was a Cabot Clothbound cheddar. But maybe I'm making that up.
When this dish was explained to us I think both CP and I were a little skeptical about how much we were going to enjoy it. Looks like a cappucino, don't it? In actuality it's a cauliflower soup with ham foam. Yes. Ham foam. CP and I both took a spoonful predominantly of the foam and were at first a little less than enthusiastic. It certainly had the smoky ham thing going on, but it didn't seem all that anchored in any deeper taste or texture. This initial misstep was quickly righted by getting a better ratio of creamy cauliflower soup to light and airy ham foam. Once we properly balanced the two in our spoons, this dish really came alive. The  soup in and of itself was creamy, rich and delicious. But the added smoke/salt of the ham foam made it come further alive.
This was a ravioli filed with pea puree, and maybe a touch of cheese? I love everything pasta, and I have quite the penchant for peas, so this little treat was nothing short of happy making for CC.
We decided to be ballers and order both appetizers and entrees. The menu is a little pricy. But I think the cost of the appetizers and entrees takes all the small little dishes into account. CP chose to have the Hudson foie gras "Lunch Inspired". This turned out to be a piece of seared foie gras with a special foam (that I forget but hopefully CP can tell me soon) and a foie gras root beer float with fries that I suppose were probably fried in duck fat. The foie's texture was a little less smooth and fatty than many a foie I've had. And it had a slightly different overall taste than what I'm accustomed to, but it was still quite good. CP said the float tasted mostly like root beer, and that she didn't really pick up on the foie aspect of it.
I debated whether to go with the Blue Crab Mac and Cheese with Clothbound cheddar (so maybe that wasn't what was in the cracker), orzo, wild mushrooms, pickled jalapenos and herbed crumbs or the Chicken Gallantine Banh Mi. I asked our server what she would suggest and she endorsed the mac n cheese and so that's what I went with. It's very hard to go wrong with mac n cheese, and Marigold didn't get anywhere near wrong. The cheddar had a sharpness to it that I worried would overwhelm the crab aspect. But I worried in vain. It balanced. It worked. I also enjoyed the herbed crumbs. I don't really remember picking up on the jalapenos, and wouldn't have said this had any real spice or kick to it.
I believe this is a sorbet. I can tell you no more than that. Though I think I thought it did a good job of properly cleansing my palate.
For my main course I chose the Wild King Salmon with foraged wild mushrooms, fiddleheads, ramps, farm egg and a sauce verte. These more in depth menu descriptions come directly from their website, so I'm not sure if they are completely accurate to that specific evening. I say this because I don't really recall a sauce verte. In any case, the salmon was cooked perfectly. Still a little rare in the center. Flaky. Moist. I had expected a full egg, so I was a little surprised by the yolk crumbs that represented the egg. I can't say that I found them to add much to the dish. But the ramps and fiddleheads were great. 
CP chose the Wild Caught Barramundi with parmesan broth, english peas, bacon lardons, wild mushrooms and puffed skin. If I recall correctly, she was quite pleased. The broth was marvelous. Really, just marvelous. The fish, like the salmon, was cooked excellently. And the puffed skin was a fun and tasty texture change.
Next up were a series of little sweets. This was some kind of custard or pudding?
This was like a tiny little ice cream sandwich.
We went the whole hog and ordered dessert in addition to the amuses bouches. CP went with profiteroles filled with mint ice cream.
I chose the dish that had a number of different forms of chocolate...maybe chocolate seven ways? This included ganache, white chocolate ice cream, a chocolate snake, little chocolate pellets, and chocolate dirt. So rich.  I would probably suggest just splitting one dessert. Between the bigger plates and all the smaller ones, there was no way I could truly ravage this plate as savagely as it deserved. I was delighted by the white chocolate ice cream.
And that was our evening at Marigold Kitchen. It was totally worth the trek and the overall price tag. Definitely a 'special occasion' kind of place, with excellent and friendly service.

Dinner c/o Sampan

The Saturday after our wondrous Modo Mio meal was spent largely in prone positions. I went out in the morning and bought a few breakfast goods (and about $30 worth of juice because I was sooooo thirsty) and returned home to start frying up bacon. After we enjoyed our bacon, eggs and Three Peckered Goat coffee, I created something I have since dubbed 'Afternoon Slumber Party' time. This basically consisted of me bringing out the air mattress, inflating it, lying down on it after having placed the computer on the television console and pressing play on Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. Oh yes, and closing the curtains so the living room became a cave-like space perfect for Kevin Costner, Alan Rickman, Christian Slater and Morgan Freeman to shine through. M. cozied up with Zul on the sofa, and even my roommate came out to watch a bit of it. Once the movie concluded we went to the museum. But what I really want to talk about is the dinner we had that night. Sampan had been on my list, and I've been following the restaurant's twitter feed for a while, so that is where we ended up going. It's a very neon lights, bumping music, attractive waitstaff, 'let's be a scene' kind of place. But not necessarily in a bad way. At least not where the food is concerned. We decided to go the tasting menu route: 7 courses for $45 per person. We could choose two small plates, one kind of satay, one dish from the 'cold/hot' section, one meat, one fish and one side. And boy were there some tough decisions to make. One decision that was a little bit easier to make was what to drink. We went with a carafe of the white snow sake. As for the meal. It began with hamachi ceviche with tempura flake, soy and truffle. For such a tiny spoon, there was so much going on. It was the perfect opening to the meal. Really fresh, the tempura gave it a little crunch and the dab of truffle oil made the whole thing have this wonderful after mouth glow.
Next up were the General Tso's Soup dumplings with chicken, soy and ginger. I've long wanted to try a soup dumpling and expected the meat to liquid ratio to be slightly more in the liquid's flavor. Good, juicy, flavorful, but not quite as exciting as I had expected.
We had a moment's deliberation when it came to the satay, I alternately leaned towards the lamb or the Kobe beef, but in the end we decided lamb was the way of the winners. And win we did do. The cilantro element and 'citrus crust' were nice, but it was really the meat in and of itself, nice and pink, that made me the happiest about this dish.
For the hot/cold option, we went with their special of the night, which was some crazy dumpling with foie gras and something else fancy, but I forget what. I liked the crunch of the dumplings, and the pickled cauliflower that accompanied them, but it didn't have that melty rich taste that I most associate with foie gras. Still good. No complaints.
We chose the kim chi fried rice with egg for our side, which M. did a great job of stirring up while I was taking photographs of some of our other dishes. Not the spiciest or most pungent of kim chis, but this place isn't exactly a bastion of authenticity (and that's not a bad thing) so it was all good. I also think that I've just never really understood the appeal of fried rice. Give me the choice of any noodle or rice, and I'll go with the noodle nine and a half times out of ten. The one exception being, perhaps, risotto.
For our fish course we chose the seared tuna with chilled soba noodles, avocado and tomato. M. loved this course a bit more than me. Again, I think this is less about the quality of the food and moer a matter of my own foodie preferences. That or maybe it needed a little extra burst of flavor in the form of citrus or vinegar. That said, the tuna was well prepared and the presentation was delightful.
I was a much bigger fan of the crispy Szehuan chicken with Chinese greens, sesame, garlic and delightfully pickled slivers of cucumber. Perhaps not as 'exciting' a dish, but it was so much better than your corner store takeout Chinese store's version. And those cucumber slices were a nice cooling touch.
And then there was M. For dessert we were given two mini cones of soft-serve ice cream they make in house. One was chocolate chocolate chips ahoy (I think) and the other was Capt'n Crunch flavored. M. especially enjoyed the Captain while I was more drawn to the chocolate chip.

It was really a great meal. Definitely a good deal for the amount of food. And while not all courses took me away into foodie nirvana, enough did that I definitely want to go back and try a completely different combination of dishes (well, that hamachi ceviche I would have again). And, as the blog continues, you'll see that I actually have made it back, albeit more for drinks than food.

Sound and Lighthouse and Uncle Eddy's Frozen Custard

In the afternoon we went to the sound side of the island. I was a jerk and forgot to take any photographs or ask my father to take any photos of C. and I shuffling ever further outward in the remarkably shallow waters. Others at the particular spot we visited had coolers and chairs pulled into the water and were making a day of it. C. and I both expressed interest in coming back, but we never got around to it. Afterwards we ended up at the Hatteras light house. It was too late in the day to go up, but here it is from below.
Afterwards we had frozen custard c/o Uncle Eddy. I went with coconut chocolate and pumpkin. Really good. There were parrots inside the place, and a tiny little mini golf course.

Chai and Chocolate c/o Capogiro

On a Monday or a Tuesday - or some other day altogether, I can't quite recall - I met up with L. and we walked to Capogiro. This time around I went with the chai and a chocolate. I forget the exact details about the chocolate. Though I liked the chai sample, the full amount of it wasn't 100% as awesome as I might have hoped. Good to catch up with L.

Walk WIth Reward c/o Capogiro

On Friday I walked into Center City after work. I did this because it was a beautiful, warm day. I did this because I needed to move my body a little bit. I did this because the reward was gelato. It's always a hard decision to make when it comes to flavors at Capogiro, but I ended up with the limoncello and thai coconut flavors, as I thought the tart would balance the creamy sweet of the coconut. I was correct ... because I am a gelato genius.

This Burger Changed My Life

Last Sunday I went to Bubbles and got my hair cut. The same woman cut it as the time before, which made it very consistent and good. Though I think maybe I'll let it be a little longer in back while still short in front and the sides. Does that necessarily describe a mullet? I am not hip, I do not want a mullet. Whatever. After the cut I was in Center City and I felt like I should be doing something interesting, but hadn't come up with any plan. So it was to my relief to get a text from L. asking me if I had any interest in meeting her at Village Whiskey for lunch. We agreed on a time and I wandered around the Rittenhouse Square artists fair looking for interesting prints of chickens. I almost bought a tiny little illustration of a penguin jumping off of a cliff, but held myself back. Once we met up, I ordered the De Rigeur: rye, aperol, grapefruit, lemon, honey and mint. It was magical. I want to drink it all the time. Of course drinking a $12 cocktail all the time would get expensive but...oh I savored it.

I had originally thought that I'd just have a cocktail and try their pickles, but when the table next to us were served delicious looking burgers I adjusted my plan. I ordered the burger medium rare with mushrooms.

While I think they may have mixed up our cooking preferences (L. ordered her burger medium but it was much pinker than mine), that didn't really change the crazy, just out of control crazy, goodness of this burger. Like, for real. This burger. It changed me. I am a changed person because of how ridiculously delicious it was. The meat. The meat was some sort of magic meat. Some sort of combo of fantastic and amazing. The mushrooms were a nice extra taste and texture and even the dressing was special. Seriously. L. and I kept on sighing, groaning and looking at each other with eyes full of happiness and pain. Pain from how glorious the burger was, and how quickly it was being consumed into our bellies. I want to go have one right now.
Afterwards we went across the street and ordered gelati/o. I went with the lime and pineapple sorbets, so technically not gelato at all. The pairing of the tart and refreshing lime with the succulent sweetness of pineapple was a pretty good choice on my part.

Dinner c/o Tinto, Gelato c/o Capogiro

After we mastered the charcuterie plate at James it was time to go to our second destination for M.'s albeit quick Philly food tour. That destination was Tinto. We were a little early and a table wasn't yet ready for us, so we went to the teeny tiny bar area and ordered drinks while we waited. I had their cheapest by-the-glass sparkling wine (MaCabeo, Xarel-lo, Castell Roig, Brut, Penedès NV), which I thoroughly enjoyed. I commented to M. about the way taking photographs of champagne is sort of like taking photographs of fireworks (at least the way I do these things). Always comes out pretty, but you never know exactly what it's going to look like. That's bad isn't it? Hm. M. had a red wine with an X in it. Garnatxa, I don't know which one though.
We ordered a nice mix of things, some new, some familiarly goood. First out was the heirloom tomato gazpacho. These peppers were mild but delicious. Peppers, unless you know them they're kind of a mystery. Will it be spicy? Will it be sweet? Green for green light. Red for red light? Except when paired with duck? What?! Moving on. This was not your every day gazpacho. M. isn't a fan of this particular cold soup, but even she gave it a more than one taste.
Then cheeses. M. tried Manchego while I ordered Epoisses, which is so smelly, and pungent on the tongue, and yet awesome. How can that be? I don't get it.
This was the lump crab with soft scrambled egg peas and b-a-c-o-n, bacon! I've had it before, and I liked it, but I think this wouldn't be a repeat dish on my next visit.
M. was really interested in the kind of mushrooms we ate. I believe one of the three mushrooms was of the Chanterelle variety...because they are in season? Unless it was Morels? I'll need to check in with M. and see if she remembers.
When L. and I ate at Tinto I fell in love with the chicken skewers and the ridiculous garbanzo,truffle,meaty puree at the bottom of each glass. They did not disappoint. Skewers to a whole new level. Mmm.
This dish was artichoke and butter. There was so much butter. In a good and bad way.
After dinner we went across to Capogiro. I ordered a scoop of basil and coconut and the server was really nice and gave me a little taste of the concord grape sorbet. Having just had the real thing, I have to say the sorbet didn't capture 'concord grape-ness' essence as much as I may have hoped. The other two flavors, however, wer delightful. M. went with coconut.

Cheese, Quesadillas, Ice Cream and Silliness c/o J & J

On my last night in Philly before heading back to Nashville I drove over to J&J's for dinner. As always he-J had a nice spread of cheese and snacks to start the evening. This time I was introduced to a cheese with Dragon in its title that had a nice kick to it. I forget its full name. Dragon's Breath? Dragon's Fire? Dragon's Teeth? I think maybe it was Red Dragon. S. tried a bit and promptly spit it out; it was not a cheese for a four year old's (almost five I think) palate.
As has become the norm, soon after my arrival S. went up to his room and came back down in an entirely new outfit and persona. Who might this be, you ask? Well, obviously it is PAJAMA MAN!
For dinner he-J cooked up tasty quesadillas. One had shrimp and beans as well as cheese, the other mushrooms and cheese. I was especially fond of the mushroom version. It was delicious.
N. is seen here biting on something I think we were considering cookies.
S. made yet another clothing change...though only in the sense that the top-most outfit was changed, he still had the pajamas and maybe even his original outfit underneath. Only now he was a pirate chef. We heard the tell-tale sound of the ice cream truck and went out on their corner to flag it down. Ha ha. Get it? Flag?!
Same exact lighting conditions, two different color casts. Stephen Shore would be so disappointed with me.
Whilst waiting for the ice cream truck to appear, we sipped on he-J's always excellent homemade limoncello. Man, I love that stuff. I also tried a Japanese ginger beer.
You can't really see it, but she-J and he-J are dancing/jumping in the background.

S. asked for a spider man popsicle while N. had a cone. I abstained.
Something went awry with the foot of S. so we made preparations to cut it off. Not really.
Look how cute N. looks while I, on the other hand, give the camera my full-on crazy eye.
The sink.
I think my presence riled the kids up pretty fierce, which flatters me while making their parents' lives more difficult. I just love it when kids love hanging out with me. And I don't think I'm wrong in saying that S. and N. really do enjoy my company. God, what if they don't? Won't that just be the the biggest of all embarrassments? Hm. Well. Alas. Thanks, as always, goes to the whole clan for their food, libations and company.