Home and Back Again

We're back in Atlanta after a great trip to North Carolina.  I loved catching up with family and friends and am really looking forward to returning for Christmas.  Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!

Miso Izakaya: the ramen is BACK

When we heard that Miso Izakaya was bringing back their ramen earlier this month, there was no hesitation. On November 8th, the first day Chef Guy Wong put it back on the late night menu we were there ready for it. Our previous visits hadn't been disappointments by any means, but missing out on the ramen had left us slightly downhearted. The ramen we had was a redemption. 

We arrived at 9:30pm, ready to order some starters as we waited for ramen. We kept our hunger at bay with the shoyu tomago (soy-marinated soft-boiled egg on grilled rice), a sampling of sushi, and assorted pickles. 5 minutes before 10 we placed our ramen order.

The ramen arrived, steaming, in deep beautiful brimming with flavorful broth, chewy noodles, and topped with fish cake, seaweed, pork belly, and a little bit of corn.

To give you an idea of our experience, I leave you with this clip from the 1985 Japanese classic Tampopo.

Moules frites and more; a homemade feast

What a weekend of eating this has been! We had a fantastic meal of dim sum today and a huge dinner last night. Just some preparation for Turkey Day right?  I'll post on the dim sum later but for now... last night's dinner.

We cleaned out the Dekalb International Market, starting the night with Blue Point and Apellation oysters with lemon and a pickle plate (in the background), composed of our friend Adam's homemade whole cukes and beets.

After a fresh and flavorful start to the meal, we fried things.

Many things.

I completely forgot to take a picture of the fried plantains we made, which I take only partial blame for as we were all complicit in eating them quickly!  Dipped in a homemade red pepper aioli and dusted with plenty of sea salt, they were delicious.

So were the fries, but we saved those for...

the mussels.

 We used Julia Child's steamed mussels recipe but left out the parsley (because 2/3rds of us were not fans of wet parsley clinging to our mussels) and subbed in apple juice with a splash of apple cider vinegar for the white wine because 1/3 of us is a nondrinker.  Guess what?  The drinkers didn't miss it, and voted the apple juice a fine substitute!

 To temper the richness of the meal, we made a salad.  But not just any salad; Thomas Keller's wedge salad from Ad Hoc at Home, a cookbook I've mentioned once or twice on this blog. Thomas Keller tops his iceberg lettuce with brioche croutons, bacon lardons, and a buttermilk blue cheese dressing that was the most complex thing we made that night.

It's my new favorite salad.

Gratuitous shot of a perfect fry.

Of course, no good meal is complete without dessert.  Since we were going all out with from-scratch dishes, and Thanksgiving is coming up, I decided to attempt a from-scratch pumpkin pie.

Here it is, in all its finished glory.  Was it labor-intensive? Yes. Was it worth it?  Absolutely. The pumpkin flavor was deeper and richer than any pumpkin pie I've ever had before. I even forgot to add cream to the pie filling and the flavor and texture was still amazing.  Of course, the cream ended up whipped on the side.

The perfect end to a perfect meal?

LA///Bouchon Bistro

If you've spent any time on this blog in the past few months, you've probably noticed my obsession with Thomas Keller, chef of French Laundry, Ad Hoc, and Bouchon fame.  When I realized there was a Bouchon Bar and Bistro in LA, I knew my trip would be a loss if I didn't go.

Bouchon is located in Beverly Hills, conveniently near the neighborhood I was staying in.  I dragged my cousin and some new friends there for Saturday lunch.

It did not disappoint.

gorgeous dining room

assortment of pastries

Bouchon jam

pork belly with egg in brioche

fingerling potato hash, dungeness crab, fried egg, hollandaise

We stopped by the bakery afterwards for some bouchons (they're the cylinder-like brownies pictured on the website) and macarons for later.

pumpkin spice and pistachio macarons

I left a very happy girl.

LA///

My weekend in Los Angeles was incredible. It was so good to catch up with old friends and explore a city I'd never seen!  We ate a lot of good food which I'll try and share later this week.  I'm already looking forward to going back.

Lilly Stands Corrected

We definitely had a pic of our Halloween garb. Courtesy of Smilebooth at the Scoutmob Goat Farm Party. Say that three times fast...




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