Doin' Dallas (well mostly Fort Worth)

It's 9:30 pm and I'm hurtling down the freeway from Fort Worth to Dallas with AC/DC on the radio...who doesn't like a little "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"?    I love driving in Dallas, even in this crappy rental car--I can generally go as fast as I damn well please, because everybody else is doing the same thing...can't do that in Houston, because NO ONE IS MOVING on any of those freeways...which is why I always like going to Dallas over Houston any day.

I've just been to the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards District, full as the proverbial tick, and feeling the need to buy boots again...

I get that feeling every time I come to Texas...the "must buy boots" feeling...I have 2 pairs plus a pair of ropers and I don't exactly rope cows for a living, so why this feeling comes over me, I have no idea.  Blame it on the myth and mystery that is Texas.  I always waffle back and forth about them whenever I'm packing the rolling saddlebag for a trip to the Lone Star State.  Part of me says I need to bring them for protective coloration, and the practical side says "won't you be at your most attractive while hopping around Security trying to pull the damn things off in a timely manner?"  That's the voice that usually decides the fate of the boot packing.  Plus, it's not like I wear my boots on a regular basis anyway--guess I just sleep better knowing I have the right accessories for an impromptu rodeo or cattle drive.  (And, you know there is a fringed shirt hanging out in the back of one of my closets somewhere...that happened as a result of a little trip to Amarillo and a clearance sale.  And, you can go ahead and admit that you are secretly jealous that I own a garment with fringe...a garment that I can wear in public if I want...)

Anyway, let's round up the herd and get back to the point of this whole post in case you missed the part in the beginning where I said I went to the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro...that part...the tasty part.  (Be warned that the link to the website has music--the controls are on the bottom, close to the right side.)

I first saw Chef Tim Love on last season's Top Chef Masters, and every single thing that he prepared made me say "I'd eat that," out loud as I was watching, even when he was making food in a dorm room.  He's also competed on Iron Chef and spanked Morimoto--only the 7th person to do so, so take that Bobby Flay!  (Although, the secret ingredient on that episode was chile peppers, so that may have given the Cowboy Chef a small leg up on the competition...still, take that, Bobby Flay!)

Since I was about 35 miles away from Fort Worth, I headed to the Stockyards as soon as I finished my work day.  Once I arrived in the historic district and parked, I realized that slingbacks are not the optimal walking shoe for cobblestone streets.  I ducked into the first souvenir shop I saw, and I am now the proud owner of some bright red, white, and blue Texas flip flops, which will look great on the 4th of July.  I stomped around in my purty flipper flops for awhile, drooling over boots and wondering about the appeal of chairs made from horns...one of which looked like it was created for Satan's Jungle Room.  (It was in an art gallery, and I could not take a picture, darn it.)  It was similar to this one, but more pointy...if that could be possible.

The food at the Lonesome Dove is seasonal, regional, and local...all with a definitive Western flair.  He appeared on Iron Chef in a cowboy hat, and the appetizer chefs all wore them as well, in the restaurant.  The main menu changes daily, and I just wish I had been able to try more of it while I was there.  It's not an inexpensive restaurant...it's a per diem buster, but when you are in the vicinity, I think it well worth the dinero...although I haven't turned in my expense report yet!

The menu has 3 course--appetizer; soup/salad; entree--and I opted for 1 and 3, with the idea that I could slide dessert in if anything struck my fancy.  I started with a St. Germain Screwdriver, with vodka, fresh orange juice, and a dash of St. Germain elderflower liqueur.  It was the prettiest tasting screwdriver I've ever had, and I'm not talking about looks.  It had a very delicate, summery quality about it, and I resolved to grab some St. G when I'm at a liquor store that sells it.

Enough blathering--on to the food! (You will be proud of me that I took pictures of my actual meal, until the battery died at the dessert course.  And, I turned the flash off, so I wouldn't be so obvious, and the pics are not the best that I've ever taken.)

 First Course:  Elk Sausage sliders with seared foie gras and blueberry jam.  These little burgers were amazing.  So flavorful and juicy, with just a hint of sweetness from the jam and the Hawaiian-type sweet roll...they probably were King's Hawaiian's rolls, but they worked perfectly with this dish.

Main Course:  Since I'm in Texas, I felt the need to have beef.  There were several options for prime hand cut steaks, but I opted for the Prime Skirt Steak, Fried Salsify, and Citrus Broccolini.  The skirt steak was cooked perfectly medium-rare, with just the right amount of crusty bits.  Since times are few and far between that I get the opportunity to have a Prime piece of beef, I tend to forget just how damn good prime is, and how it can spoil you for other beef for awhile.

I apologize for the fuzziness of the picture; however, if you can see the cross bars of what appear to be French fries, that's the Fried Salsify.

For some reason, I thought salsify was a green leafy herby sort of thing, but it's really more like a parsnip.  It's known as the "oyster plant," because its taste has been likened to that of an oyster.  I'm not remembering a really pronounced "oystery" taste, but those were some darn good fries!

Dessert:  There were 2 dessert offerings that caught my eye, and the Warm Ancho Chile Chocolate Cake with Salted Almond ice cream won the battle.  I love, love, love me some spicy chocolateness, and while the cake had a really great deep dark chocolate flavor, it was not very spicy...not anything like the amazing spicy Chocolate Mole milkshake I had at Flip last year.  (That would be "mole-lay" and not a milkshake made of garden-based rodents...can't figure out how to put in accent marks.)  The Salted Almond Ice Cream really made this dish...it was the perfect blend of sweet, salt, cold, and nuttiness.

I was there with a co-worker, and she ordered the House Made Mexican Donuts (churros to you and me) with 3 dipping sauces.  The presentation was very cool with this dessert--there was a little bucket with the churros and three little dipping sauce bowls.  The sauces were chocolate, raspberry, and cajeta (caramel).  I tried the caramel and raspberry, and let me go on the record right now and say that the caramel one was ranking right on up there in the "better than sex" category, vying for a place on the "better than sex with most people" podium in either the bronze or silver category.  Conceivably, if I had a whole bucket of those churros and that caramel sauce for myownself, I would have cast my vote for gold.  There's gold in them thar churros!  (Wait...wrong state.)

And, now I'm going off to spread out my bedroll and contemplate the need for red cowboy (girl) boots...I think there's something sassy about red boots, and I'm feelin' sassy all of a sudden!  (And, fringe!  Lest we forget about the fringe!  Would fringed boots be too much?)

Kickstart

A couple of weeks ago, I got to spend a lovely weekend in DC as an add-on to a business trip.  I stayed with my friend C, who I've known since the 7th grade, and her family.  Saturday morning, we send her son, A, off to attend a couple of birthday parties and realize we have about 5 hours to ourselves to play in the city.

Yeah, we could have done something cultural and expanded our minds but instead, we opted to boost the economy (shopping) and expand our bellies.

We had a lunch at 2 Amys, and quantities of cured Italian meats, cheeses, and beer.  We also had  these lovely deviled eggs, with a bright and fresh pesto sauce with anchovy...normally, I won't touch the furry fish with someone else's taste buds.  I try them every so often to see if my taste buds have changed, and the verdict is always NO.  I've come around on a few things--I'll eat Brussels sprouts  (with bacon, of course), and I'm working on lamb.  Still not feeling the love with canned tuna (like tuna raw and seared) or liver & onions, and probably won't ever...this actually might be a good diet plan,  Nothing to eat but canned tuna and liver = not going to eat = starve to death or at least my goal weight.

Anyway, these eggs and the sauce were wonderful, and we scraped the plate to get all the sauce...which may play into a later story. We retrieved A at some point and met some friends of C's for dinner at Palena, and had the most wonderful hamburger I think I have ever put in my mouth.  It was voted one of DC's top burgers and I can understand why.  They grind their own meat and bake their own buns, and it was juicy and meaty and I wanted it to never end.  I may never eat another fast food burger ever again--not that would a bad thing, according to Supersize Me.  It was burger nirvana, and I miss it. I made C promise that we would go back there whenever I come to town again.

Palena also serves a fry plate with shoestring fries, onion rings, dauphine potatoes, and fried lemon slices.  The dauphine potatoes are these wonderful little potato puffs that melt in your mouth...and that fried lemon slice was a real eye-opener.  It was lightly breaded and deep-fried, and it was crunchy, salty, tangy, and bitter all at the same time.  It was sort of like a Southern palate cleanser...'cause you know how much we like to deep-fry things.

I flew home on Sunday, and had an impromptu Oscars party at the house about 2 hours after I landed. Usually, when we do this, we sort of potluck, but since I was just getting in, we opted to order Chinese take-out.  In retrospect, this was a bad idea...especially after I work up at 5 am and embarked on a long day of spending "quality" time in  my bathroom.

The thing about having food poisoning is that you start wishing for death immediately, because your body is busy trying to expel whatever is poisoning it in any manner that it can...often violently...very violently.  About 2 hours into my ordeal, death could not have come soon enough, and I continued to feel that way for most of the day.

I won't bore you with all the details about the food poisoning, but the upside is that I lost 8 lbs.  I realize it was a little dehydration thrown in there, but it was enough to make a little kickstart in my brain and make me think about getting back on the diet track.

Late night television is just bizarre sometimes...we've all seen the "krazee" commercials, infomercials, and the things said and done in the name of religion.  However, it's sometimes good television, as in the case of the late re-run of Good Eats.

Somehow, over the last year or so, Alton has lost about 50 lbs., and he's done a show called "Live and Let Diet," that entails some of his thinking and methodology.  I finally started paying attention when he kept smacking these giant lard blocks, a'la Oprah and her red wagon of fat, and thought to myself that maybe AB might have something important to say, or at the very least, different about how he lost the weight.  And, we all know he's scientific about it, too.  So, I sat up and took notice.

Essentially, he's got 4 lists--things he consumes every day, things he consumes at least 3 times a week, things he consumes only 1 time per week, and things that he NEVER consumes.  You can find all the particulars all over the internet at this point, but if you get a chance to watch the show, you really should.  He starts his day with a fruit smoothie with some purple fruit, which he tells you is chockfull of antioxidants and other important things, bananas, other fruits and a little soy milk.

Other items on the everyday list include nuts and green tea, which wouldn't be too hard to eat/drink.  Then, the 3 times a week list, well hell, let me just show you the lists and I won't have to type nearly as much...am lazy like that:

Include Daily
- Fruits
- Whole Grains
- Leafy Greens
- Nuts
- Carrots
- Green Tea

3 times a week
- Oily Fish
- Yogurt
- Broccoli
- Sweet Potato
- Avocado

Once a week
- Red meat
- Pasta
- Dessert
- Alcohol

NEVER!
- Fast Food
- Soda
- Processed meals/frozen dinners
- Canned soup
- "Diet" anything

And the number one AB rule seems to be:  Eat breakfast every day, no exceptions.

He never really prescribes a diet plan, and is rather quick to say that he's not proposing the hot new diet trend, blah, blah blah, but I totally can see him becoming the next big thing in dieting...that cult of celebrity chef thing, you know.

Anyway, I thought, what the heck?  Why not try some of this out?  Listening to the program and watching him talk about the science behind how he created the lists really started to make sense...no matter that it was 2 am and bloody EVERYTHING makes sense at 2 am.  (How else do you think those geniuses at Taco Bell thought up "Fourth Meal?"  You know it had to come out in some drunken 2 a.m. ramblings.)  Plus, I wanted to buy a new blender.  A red one.

So, I trotted off to Target and got a new blender...I wisely opted not to spring for the $150 Waring bar blender even though I really, really, wanted one, just in case I decided after 3-4 days to chuck this whole morning smoothie idea and only really use it to make fruity drinks on occasion.  (Besides, it wasn't red, and I can always upgrade later.)  And, then stopped by Publix on the way home and got frozen fruit and some soy milk.  I am so not sure about this soy milk business.  I tasted it once, and it was just blecch.   I am committed now, with a new blender and a bunch of frozen fruit, so we'll see how it goes.

Day 1 - made smoothie...blender did not vortex as well as AB's, but it did seem to crush up the frozen fruit with no issues.  The smoothie is a huge amount, and someone out there in the Internetland said they figured it to be about 340 calories and practically fat-free, depending on how much soy milk you used.   I also ate a salad for lunch, and made Pineapple-Glazed Chicken with Cilantro-Lime Sweet Potatoes, plus a little steamed broccoli, for dinner.  No butter on the broccoli...am amazed at self.  I did not manage to get in any whole grains, nuts, carrots, or green tea, but I figure this is going to be a "work up to" project. 

Day 2 - began again with the smoothie and coffee...am not giving up coffee, which is not listed on any of AB's lists, thank the gods.  For lunch, I tried the Sherried Sardine Toast recipe.

Yes, I actually ate sardines voluntarily...which is something I thought I would never do, after my adventure with the fresh ones.  And while the fresh ones didn't work out, the thought of actually consuming ones in a can was nowhere in any of my brain cells.  I remember my dad eating them with crackers and thinking that "man, you got me to eat a raw oyster and like it, but that is the absolute extent of gross things that I will eat for you, period."  And, my dad could create and put away some really icky things.  I remember coming home from college once to do laundry, and opening a cabinet in the kitchen to find a snack...and the man had begun pickling his own eggs...looked like some sort of alien larvae floating around in a large jar.  Scared me witless.

AB's recipe was actually not bad, but I thought it was a lot of work to make, nothwithstanding how much I like avocados, and I think I might be able to actually eat them straight from the can.  Weird, I know.  I did try one from the can, and it wasn't nearly as fishy as I remembered it being.  I think the key is to get the brislings in the 2 layer pack with olive oil.

Anyway, I'm not doing everything that AB is doing--baby steps, people, baby steps--but I have been making the smoothie every day, and I've managed to keep 10 lbs off, so we'll see.

Born in Arizona..."Flipped" to Babylonia

Okay, the title makes no sense unless you 1) remember "King Tut" by Steve Martin, and 2) understand that I went to the King Tut exhibit in Atlanta this past weekend, AND 3) ate at Flip Burger Boutique, Richard Blais' newest restaurant adventure.

Let's chat about Tut first...I gotta say that I'm torn between thinking that the "Tutlanta" logo is cool or extremely goofy.  After all, the Boy King's stuff did travel 3500 years and across the ocean to be gawked at by the masses, so shouldn't we show a little more respect?  (Confession time...I did get a Tutlanta shirt, because they were on sale for $9.95...that sort of cheapens my moral stance, doesn't it?)

Atlanta is into "peachifying" everything they can lay their collective little hands upon...it's not enough that there are a gazillion streets with "Peach" or "Peachtree" as part of the name, which will drive your GPS insane, but everything else has got to have some degree of "peachiness."  Sometimes it works, sometimes...not so much.

The exhibit was good...too short, I thought, because I want to see EVERYTHING that Howard Carter dragged out of the pit.  Unfortunately, Egypt won't let the gold death mask and many other iconic Tutankhamun items out of the country any more...and who can blame them?  Tut's coffin might end up at one of those "home gold parties" that seem to be all the rage now.  Plus, there is a concurrent Tut exhibit in Dallas, which has a different set of artifacts.  However, some of the Tutlanta artifacts have never been out of Egypt, either, so it all works out...and is cheaper than traveling to Cairo. : )

(You can actually see a fairly faithful replica of the tomb and the artifacts at the Luxor in Las Vegas.  It looks a lot like it did in the photographs from when Howard Carter opened the tomb...without the dust/sand and there's an exit into the gift shop.)

I think what was so amazing to me was standing there looking at a carved frieze or a statue and taking in the level of detail that has lasted for close to 3500 years.  Some of the items looked as if they could have been carved yesterday.  And, there is a golden death mask of another pharaoh, so you get an idea of what Tut's looks like.

(The Man and I looked for the Stargate, but that must be part of the special private VIP tour...alas.)

(And, when you Google "condo made of stone", you get this from www.lovelylisting.com, a website of real estate ads gone terribly wrong.  Browse awhile...it's lots of fun.  You know...the Stargate could very well be in the master bedroom of this place.  Hmm...things to ponder.)

After we tromped through the sands of ancient Egypt, The Man suggested that we have lunch at Flip Burger Boutique.  Hell yes! I say, if we can get in on a Sunday afternoon.  So, off we go...

Flip is hip!  Flip is cool!  Flip is very noisy and a little on the pricey side, but Flip was good!

The menu is burgers, of course, with a listing for beef and then the "Flip" burgers, which veer off into the wild side of pate, lamb, smoked salmon, etc. Prices ranged from $7-$7.50 average up to $35 for a Japanese Kobe beef burger with seared foie gras and shaved truffles. I had the Butcher Cut, with caramelized onions, blue cheese, and red wine jam. The Man had the Pate Melt of veal & pork, swiss cheese, cornichons, and lingonberry dijon. Yeah, it sounds like a bunch of weird and odd flavors, but they worked well together.

Nothing on the menu totally scared me off...well, maybe the Philly, because it actually has Cheese Whiz.  (No offense to the great city of Philadelphia, but what is up with using that fake orange stuff on a sandwich?  Yeah, I know it is traditional, but I much prefer the noveau method that involves lots of melted Provolone.)  One thing to keep in mind is that these burgers are not giant burgers--nothing like Ann's Ghetto Burger over off of Memorial Drive--more like large sliders.  If you only order one, plus a side, and a shake,  you will be full...a bit less flush with cash, but full.

The sides are all a'la carte, which drives the price of the meal up, ranging in cost from $3-$7.  The fries are very good fries...nothing fancy, just hot and crispy and potatoey.  We got the fries and the sweet potato (tater) tots, which I had high hopes for, but have to admit that they might have been the most unimpressive part of the meal.  Although, they came with this creamy, foamy blue cheese dip, which rocked with the fries.  (You may have figured out by now, if the cheese is blue, bleu, blau, whatever, it's mine!)

And, let's not forget the shakes...the Liquid Nitrogen Shakes!  Is $7 too much to pay for a shake ($9 for the foie gras one)?  In this economy--probably, but this meal is an experience.  It's not a meal that I would have every day, every week, or probably every month.  I sort of look at it as a "total dining experience"--the atmosphere, the celebrity chef, et cetera, et cetera...just not the normal run-of-the-mill fast food burger.  

(Speaking of fast-food burgers, somebody needs to do some sort of intervention with Padma Lakshmi.  WTH--Hardee's?!  Has she lost her mind?  Are her taste buds just gone after eating whatever slop some of the Top Chefestants throw her way?  And, that whole little close up of her sitting on the steps and eating the burger is just wrong on many, many levels.  Do not lick your own leg!  Let someone lick it for you.)

Back to the shakes...The Man opted for the Nutella + Burnt Marshmallow...sort of a high-end s'mores effect.  It came with a layer of torched marshmallows on top, and tasted like the best chocolate milk drink ever.  It was smooth, not too sweet, and not too chunky.  I could actually drink that shake every day...not for $7 a pop, but if Richard wanted to give up the recipe and a nitrogen tank and a blow torch, I'd cheerfully make my own.

I had the Spicy Chocolate Mole, which is made with a hint of hot peppers...the initial taste was smooth chocolate, but then there was a bit of a fiery afterglow at the back of your throat.  I thought it was great fun--something a bit unexpected...maybe a bit "flip"? Ha!

So, I'm chomping my burger, slurping my shake, stealing dips of the blue cheese stuff for my fries and generally thinking that my whole Flip experience would be complete if the man himself would walk in...and, I might have to start believing in the power of prayer or at least the power of wishing, because who do I look up and spy at the end of the bar counter?  The Blais himself, along with Mrs. Blais and the little Blaisling!

He's casually dressed--long-sleeved t-shirt and flipflops--fauxhawk on the rise, with some weird little thin elastic head band around his head...like he was getting ready to have a facial or something.  Maybe it's some metrosexual fashion statement that hasn't made it to the Rocket City yet...and probably won't.

He's a bit thinner in person than he looked on Top Chef, and he seemed friendly and relaxed while talking to the staff and tickling the baby.  He wandered around the restaurant for a few minutes and greeted a few people, and I managed to not fall out of my fancy aluminum bar chair when he walked past me.  I totally could not bring myself to snap a quick shot with my cell phone, because I thought it would be rude, but if he'd come by the table again, I probably would have thrown good manners to the wind.

As with every restaurant review, you get the experience that the reviewer had that day...some days are probably better than others, and I feel like my day was just fine.  It's a great little memory that I can hold in the wrinkles of my brain of a good meal and a fun experience...and it's good the way it is...don't have to do it again...unless you'd liked to take me back? I know how to get there...and maybe my presence is a good luck charm for Blais to appear.  You never know...so,  let me know when you're ready!  Hahahaha!