Memphis

If you're reading this, you've probably noticed 2 reviews have popped up from Memphis. I had an amazing experience in Memphis this past weekend. More to come...

Beer Review: Blanche de Bruxelles

Last night I visited The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium in Memphis, TN. It's a beer-lovers dream. I started off with a lovely Hoegaarden on draft, which is not available in my neck of the woods. Following that, I ordered a beer I'd never had - Blanche de Bruxelles - which may just be my new favorite beer.

Similar to Hoegaarden, Blanche de Bruxelles is a Belgian witbier, produced by Lefebvre Brewery in Quenast, Belgium. The beer was served on draft and poured into a classic Belgian-style beer glass. The beer was a cloudy yellow with a little white head.

The aroma was sweet and enticing.

The mouth-feel was incredibly smooth. The taste was light and luscious. Very mellow with low-medium spices and faint orange flavor. I could drink many of these beers.

Blanche de Bruxelles would certainly be an excellent spring/summer session beer. I can only imagine what this would taste like with a bowl of curry mussels and pommes frites. This beer is highly recommended.

Restaurant Review: Restaurant Iris

Bryan and I went to Restaurant Iris this past Thursday. I found it on Yelp, but ultimately decided to go there after we learned Restaurant Iris Chef Kelly English is a semi-finalist for a 2010 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast and was named one of Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chefs of 2009. The 5/5 star average rating on Yelp and reasonable prices for such a restaurant ($29 average entrees) didn't hurt, either.

Check out my complete review on Yelp.

The bottom line - Restaurant Iris is unbelievable. The food is amazing and the the service is absolutely out-of-this-world. Possibly the best service I've ever had...

Restaurant Iris - 5/5 stars

---

2146 Monroe Ave.

Memphis, TN

901-590-2828

http://www.restaurantiris.com/

Dinner Last Night

Created a fabulous meal last night with Brandy, Bryan, and Danielle.

Here's a couple of shots....

Juicy Pan Roasted NY Strip Steak with Rosemary & Thyme

More steak with Danielle's Potatoes and Pan Roasted Carrots from Tom Colicchio's Craft of Cooking

Restaurant Review: Town House

TOWN HOUSE - 5/5 Stars

We visited Town House, an exciting molecular gastronomy restaurant located, oddly enough, in Chilhowie, VA, on a snowy Tuesday night in early February. The "excuse" for this extravagant meal was my not-so-exciting 26th birthday. Woo Hoo! 26! (In all honesty, we'd wanted to go for a while.)

This meal was really challenging for me. Almost none of the flavors or textures were familiar. And although I can't say the food at Town House is something I'd want to eat everyday, I can certainly appreciate its excellence.

Oh, I shouldn't fail to mention that Charlie Berg, sommelier, took us back to meet Chef John B. Shields and to see the kitchen upon completion of the meal. Awesome, right?

Here is a photo of the menu.

We went all-out and ordered the 10-course menu plus wine pairings. It actually ended up amounting to 16 courses (as several surprises came out from the kitchen) and probably 10 different wines over 3.5 hours. Unbelievable.

Check out my complete review on Yelp.

You can see photos of some of the dishes we had at Town House Blog and The New York Times Dining & Wine article on Town House.

Dinner Tonight

A pre-birthday dinner celebration tonight with:

• Charlie Trotter's Darjeeling Tea & Ginger Cured Smoked Salmon with Cream Cheese, Cucumber, and Water Crackers
• Caramelized Sea Scallops from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home
• Risotto with Corn
• Falesco Vitiano Umbria 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Sangiovese Merlot

Charlie Trotter's smoked salmon is available locally in Knoxville at EarthFare for approximately $8.00. It might just be the best smoked salmon I've ever had.

The caramelized sea scallops entree was my first attempt at a recipe from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home, one of my awesome birthday presents. Pretty simple, but I need to practice to get the perfect sear.

We enjoyed the Vitiano wine with our new Riedel O wine tumblers, another birthday present.

Wine Review: Chappellet 2005 Napa Valley Merlot

I recently received a bottle of Chappellet 2005 Napa Valley Merlot as a thank-you gift. This was the second time I've had wine from Chappellet - the first being a Cabernet Sauvignon at Boulud Brasserie in Las Vegas.

This particular Merlot is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc.

Aroma: succulent med-rare red meat with pepper, dark chocolate, smoky oak, alcohol underneath

Color: blackish purple, little-to-no no red tones, dark and opaque

Taste: grilled/smoked meat/BBQ, fruit cobbler, med-high tannins, high alcohol, full bodied

We drank this wine with pappardelle with vodka sauce and parmesan cheese. The "meatiness" of the wine helped round out this relatively simple dish.

I believe this wine is priced around $40. I don't typically drink merlot (except when its part of a red blend), but I would definitely seek this out again.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Dinner Last Night

Last night we made Pappardelle with Vegetables and Lemon-Parmesan Sauce. This is a variation on the Tagliatelle with Baby Vegetables and Lemon-Parmesan Sauce recipe from the April 2009 issue of Bon Appetit.

We normally use tagliatelle, as the recipe calls for, but this time we tried pappardelle - a large, broad fettuccini-type noodle that is bigger than tagliatelle. They were really excellent. Look for Bionaturae's pappardelle at EarthFare in Knoxville.

We substituted asparagus for baby green beans and used normal zucchini instead of baby zucchini.

This is a really quick, easy dish to make a a normal weeknight after work. The key to this dish tasting great is using freshly-grated (not shredded!) Parmigiano-Reggiano. This pre-grated stuff does not melt as well. Also, it's worth spending the extra money on the real stuff every once in a while. Domestic parmesan just doesn't have the intense, nutty flavor Parmigiano-Reggiano has.

Enjoy!

Baconfest 2010

If you haven't heard about Knoxville's own BaconFest 2010, make sure to check it out:

http://www.knoxbaconfest.com/

I will unfortunately be out of town for this year's event (which is produced by Mockingbird Events), but I recommend going if you can.

TasteSpotting

We came across this website in the latest issue of Saveur.

Check it out under "Other Cool Websites."

McDonald's Mac Snack Wrap - Revisited

So, I keep seeing these advertisements for McDonald's Mac Snack Wraps. And I keep seeing TV shows and articles on the web about all these awesome burgers. And then I folded. I got a McDonald's Big Mac for the first time in years. It was awesome. Just don't do it too often...