Chef's Table

Last night Jack and I went to eat at Chef's Table with one of his helicopter students and his family (to celebrate the student getting his Private License). I'd heard of this restaurant but had never been. The atmosphere was great - I liked the decor, and they had huge windows looking out over the valley. The service was also awesome. This is the type of place where they put your napkins in your lap for you, and sometimes the chef comes out and talks to people. The waitors were great - they were very polite and didn't linger.

This student's family is quite wealthy, so they ordered every single appetizer on the menu! Kind of crazy. I've never eaten out with people like this! So I can give my critique of each appetizer they have. :) Here's the rundown:

Coconut Crusted Shrimp - great. And I don't usually like sweet mixed with non-sweet.
New England Crab Cakes - Pretty good, but not the best I've ever had.
Marinated Tomatoes and Balsamic Roasted Artichoke Hearts - I didn't get any of the tomatoes, but the artichoke hearts and toast were good.
Bacon Wrapped Sea Scallops - These were small, but really good.
Wild Mushrooms in an Asiago Tuile - I didn't have any of this, but Jack's student really liked it.
Carpaccio of Beef Tenderloin - I don't think I had any of this, either, but I'm sure it was good since Jack got the beef tenderloin for his entree and loved it.
Thyme Roasted Duck in Phyllo - This was really good. Very tender, and tasted a lot like chicken. :)
Gulf Shrimp Cocktail - I don't think we got this. I'm looking of the internet menu, so this may not have been on the menu in the restaurant last night.

You can choose soup or salad with your entree, and I've heard their soup is really good. Jack and I both got the Cream of Broccoli soup, and it was really good. I ordered the Atlantic Salmon and Potato Gratin. Honestly, I was so extremely full at this point that I couldn't really enjoy the entree to the fullest. :) The salmon was good - the sauce on it was okay but not my favorite. I was disappointed with the potatoes - the preparation seemed dry. Jack got the Bacon Wrapped Beef Tenderloin, and he loved it.

THEN, for dessert we got the Creme Brulee. It wasn't great. I've only had this once before, so I'm not the best critic, but the people who took us were disappointed in it. The consistency was more like pudding than custard (according to them), and I thought it was a little grainy. It was still good, but I'm realizing I'm not a huge brulee fan. The layer on top tastes burnt to me.

This was quite the meal, and the people who took us were so kind and generous. I don't know if I'd go here if I was the one footing the bill (our meal - just Jack and I - would have been about $85). I think I like more down-home good food, and sometimes fancy food isn't my favorite. But the atmosphere was great, and it would be a good place to go if you had something to celebrate. I think I'll initiate a star rating system for restauarants now. :) So on a scale of five stars, I'd give this place 4 stars.

German Pancakes

I'v heard people talk about German pancakes (aka volcano pancakes) before, so I looked up some recipes on the web and we made a few last Sunday.

This is right after I pulled it out of the oven - it falls pretty quickly. We put powdered sugar on this one. So good!

This is the remains of our cheesy one. This was also very good.

Here's the recipe:


GERMAN PANCAKES

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
dash salt
dash cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. While oven is preheating, melt 1 tablespoon butter in 9-inch square pan by putting it in the preheating oven.
2. In large bowl, using a wire whisk, beat together: 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup flour 2 eggs dash salt dash cinnamon

3. Pour batter into 9-inch square pan that has the melted butter. Put it back in the oven.

4. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

5. Serve with powdered sugar or syrup. (Some people like to put lemon juice on it as well as the powdered sugar.)

I left the salt out of the sweet one we made (the one we topped with powdered sugar), and I added more than just a dash of cinnamon to the batter. It was really good. Then for the cheesy one, I didn't add any cinnamon and did more than a dash of salt. These are super easy and so good - it's a week later and I've got one in the oven now! :)

Surprise Chocolate Chip Cookies

For a date night last weekend, Jack and I picked out a dessert recipe from a cooking blog I like to get recipes from (Watcha Got Cookin'?), and then bought the ingredients and made the dessert together. We picked these Surprise Chocolate Chip Cookies. Here's the recipe:

Surprise Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 tubes of chocolate chip cookie dough
30 Snickers miniatures

Cut dough into 15 pieces. Place a Snickers bar in the middle of each piece and wrap dough around it, covering completely. Place on cookie sheets (I always put foil on my cookie sheet to prevent sticking, and I only bake one pan of cookies at a time). Bake at the temperature specified on the dough wrapper (I believe the temperature for Nestle dough is 375 degrees) for about 15 minutes.

These were super easy, and they turned out to be pretty good. I might make them again if I want an easy treat, or if I had a little kid that wanted to help make something. But these aren't to die for or anything.

There were lots of other dessert recipes on this blog that I want to try out: Chocolate Truffles, Ribbon Ice Cream Pie, Crater Cake, and Strawberry Whipped Sensation. And The Deathly Dessert sounds awesome, but you'd need lots of people to help you eat it. Looks like I've got some ideas for future date nights!

Moab Restaurants

I was excited to try out some good food places in Moab when we went there a few weeks ago. I'll be honest: I was pretty disappointed. We did have some good food, but I guess after Hawaii and New York I had some pretty high expectations! Here's where we ate:



1) Buck's Grill - This place has a well-known chef and is supposed to be pretty nice. I tried out a locate favorite: Buffalo Meatloaf. I wanted to get something different and really get a taste of what this restaurant is like. The meatloaf was okay - a little too sweet for my liking, and not as good as I thought it might be since it's a local fav. Jack got ribs, which were really good. His fries were also great! Then we got dessert: cheesecake brulee. Jack absolutely LOVED this stuff. One of his all-time favorite desserts. I thought it was good but wasn't freaking out over it. Overall, I'd say this restaurant was pretty good. The service was great and you can tell the food is good quality. I'd recommend this place to anyone going to Moab.



2) Zax - I actually really liked this place, though from looking at reviews online I can tell lots of people don't. Anyways, I got some sort of garlic parmesan pizza, and it was really, really good. Jack got a sandwich (I can't remember what kind), and he liked it. We got dessert of course - a chocolate cookie with ice cream on top. It was really good! Not as good as Oregano's pizza cookie, but close! I'd also recommend this place, although I don't know how the buffet is. We just ordered from the menu.



3) Eddie McStiff's

Ironically, this is the only place I got a picture of, and it's also the worst place we ate. It was our last night in Moab, and we were a little sick of eating out. We'd been thinking about going to Center Cafe, but it was pretty pricey and I sometimes am hesitant about fancy, expensive food - it's just not that great. Plus, honestly we didn't want to spend tons of money. So we decided on Eddie McStiff's, and I just did not like it. I got a steak/shrimp combo, and Jack got a sandwich I think (again, I can't remember what kind). My steak was pretty good, but the shrimp was probably the worst shrimp I've ever had. There was hardly any seasoning, and the seasoning it did have tasted like burned food rather than a char-grilled flavoring. The water tasted gross, and our waitress did a horrible job. We pretty much ran out of water, and some other waitress was kind enough to come fill our glasses. Needless to say, I would NOT recommend this place.

4) Moab Creamery - This was a small little place right by Eddie McStiff's. I was a little disappointed because their menu listed sweet crepes (cinnamon sugar, fruit, nutella, etc.), but when we tried to order this we were told they only serve these until 3pm every day. Boo! So we just got ice cream cones, which were good. I got chocolate chip cookie dough, and Jack got cherry chocolate chip. He doesn't even like cherries! But he said none of the other flavors looked good, so he went with this since the people there recommended it. Jack said this flavor was okay - the best an ice cream with cherries could be. :) This place was pretty good overall, but next time I'd like to get crepes. Ever since those awesome crepes and gelato at Expressamente Illy in Vegas at the Palazzo, I'm sold on crepes!

To try on my next trip to Moab: Center Cafe, crepes at Moab Creamery

Hawaiian Dinner

We made the banana pancakes with coconut syrup tonight, and it was so good! Very sweet, but good. It's a nice tropical treat - everyone should try it!