Asian Persuasion: Darvish Restaurant

One of the ladies I live with, Miss Julie, is sick. It's nothing serious, just that time of year. But her throat hurts and nothing looks especially appetizing. So I suggested we three go out for dinner and Sunday night and find some nice, homemade soup for our patient. I also casually mentioned that it would be great if we could go somewhere Asian since Sarah's theme this month for Dine & Dish is Asian Persuasian.

After searching online and taking into account our various restrictions (nothing too expensive, nothing carb heavy for Miss Julie or fish-heavy for Miss Jess), we opted for Persian food, which none of us had ever had.

If, for some reason, you are lacking in geographical education, Iran (formerly Persia) is in fact in Asia, although I admit Persian food was not what I first thought of when I saw Sarah's Dine & Dish theme.

No matter. Darvish Restaurant, in Claremont, CA fit all our requirements and was where we went.

Because Miss Julie had dragged herself out of bed to come to dinner, we didn't want to order appetizers and make her stay longer than necessary. While looking over the menu we all stuck with ice water, since the beer selection comprised Bud and Heineken and the ones were all normal, unexciting California ones. After we had ordered, though, Miss Julie and I each got a glass of tea which was quite nice.

The menu consists of several pages and has long explanations and pictures of each dish. Many are variations on a theme (all different kinds of kebabs), but the menu is nicely laid out and accessible, especially if you have never had Persian food before.

Miss Julie finally decided not to order soup and instead chose the Kabob Barg, Filet Mignon skewered and charbroiled, served on a bed of fluffy Basmati Rice with Saffron and grilled Tomatoes. The meat was well-cooked and tender. It had been marinated in a delicious, slightly musky, slightly spicy dry rub which really separated it from any other Filet Mignon.

Miss Jess was most intrigued by a stew, Fesenjoon. This was by far the most exotic dish we'd ordered, a "delicious cooked mixture of Walnuts in Pomegranate Sauce and Chicken breast served with Basmati Rice," according to the menu. It was a lot of very strong flavors and could not be really enjoyed without the rice. The Walnuts proved the most prominent flavor, which was unexpected but rather a nice change.

Finally, I opted for the Adas Polo with Koobideh, Rice made with Raisins, Lentils and Dates and seasoned with Saffron, served with one skewer of Koobideh, either Chicken or Beef. Being such a meat-eater, I went for the beef Koobideh. The meat was treated with a similar dry rub to Miss Julie's filet mignon and was tender and equally tasty. The rice, too, was delicious. The Basmati rice was quite fluffy and the addition of Lentils and Raisins made it much more flavorful, especially since I'm not the biggest fan of rice. The dates were a little too sweet in general, since they were cut in such big chunks. Nevertheless, it really was a good dish.

All in all, this was a very good meal. The dishes were huge, so none of us finished our food (of course, Miss Julie also didn't touch her rice), though that was no reflection on its preparation. Will we go back? Very possibly, at least next time we want something a little "different."

Darvish Restaurant
946 W. Foothill Blvd.
Claremont, CA

Update: Sarah's given us a beautiful write-up of all our Asian meals! Go check it out.

Edible Birthday Goodies

Last Wednesday was my birthday. And, wouldn't you know it, the wonderful ladies with whom I live decorated our hallway with streamers! Actually, I wasn't allowed out of my room while the streamers were being put up. But I suppose that's a sign of love. At least, that's what they told me.

Also not surprisingly, I received food-related gifts, about which I just had to brag.


One of my ladies gave me this fabulous Creme Brulee Set, complete with Ramekins and a Blow Torch. She said they also had one with a pre-made Creme Brulee mix, but she decided her "foodie friend would want to come up with her own mix." Good thinking! Doesn't she know me so well? I promise to experiment with it soon and I'll be sure to post about the results.

My other "foodie" gift was from my other lady's boyfriend, who spends a fair amount of time with us, not surpisingly. From him, I received a bottle of Moet & Chandon Champagne, "Nectar Imperial," according to the side of the box. We're discussing when to crack open this beauty and with what to enjoy it. Again, tasting notes will follow.

Drink and Cooking and Presents and Holidays and Birthdays

Le Madeleine

Taking advantage of being back in NYC, a few nights ago, the Boy and I went out to dinner and the theatre. (Or, rather, the theatre and dinner so we could enjoy our meal at a more leisurely pace rather than wolfing it down so as to get to the show on-time.) We saw Harvey Fierstein in Fiddler on the Roof, a revival that I cannot recommend enough. Fiddler has always been one of my favorite musicals and seeing it on Broadway, with such a talented actor was a delight. Fierstein carries the whole show and makes you laugh and cry, playing, singing and dancing the whole way through. The sets are beautiful, making Anatevka look like a town any of us would want to visit. There are stars twinkling in the background and Fierstein completely fills the Minskoff theatre's grand stage. He's only in it until mid-August, however, so if you have a chance, run and get tickets. They're selling fast.

After such an exciting night at the theatre, I was worried dinner wouldn't live up! Luckily, though, it did. We ate at Le Madeleine, a restaurant in the Theater District that's been around forever but that we've never gone to. It calls itself a "modern French Bistro," and it was, for New York standards. By that I mean we never forgot ourselves and thought we were in Paris, but it was good, creative French food and we enjoyed ourselves greatly.

The restaurant is quite dark and, at 10.15 at night, there was easily room for us even though I had made reservations. There's an outdoor garden, but we sat inside, in a small room. Surprisingly, however, even though there are a lot of tables, it doesn't feel crowded and we sat in a small private corner. The service was friendly and attentive (our water glasses were never left empty for long), but not overbearing.

Since it was so late, we didn't want to go for the full three-course prix-fixe. In fact, we were going to only get main dishes, but I had read about their mussels, one of their specialties, so we split an order as an appetizer. These Prince Edward Isle Mussels "Basquaise" were perhaps the best mussels we had ever had. They are cooked in a meaty tomato sauce, similar to a bolognaise, with chunks of spicy merguez sausage and saffron. It was really delicious; I would never have thought of adding meat to mussels. The mussels themselves were plump and sweet.

For main dishes, we were boring and both ordered the same thing, but we weren't disappointed. A Spice Crusted Duck Breast, it was meltingly tender, perfectly cooked to medium-rare so it was bright pink inside the dark spiced outside. I'm not sure what the spices were, but there was a significant bite to it. It was served with a little pile of spinach, and exquisite endive marmalade that I ate plain, only putting it on one piece of duck, and a savory dried fruit bread pudding. I was curious how a fruit bread pudding could be savory, but it was spicy and the dried fruit blended right in, adding a chewiness to the soft bread pudding.

We also had a half-bottle of an unmemorable Shiraz--the only bad part of the meal.

All in all, this was a delicious restaurant, one to which we will certainly return. My only problem? It seems a little gender-confused...

(Madeleine is a feminine word, meaning La, not Le.) And that's the French lesson for the day!

Le Madeleine
403 West 43rd Street
New York, NY

La Rochelle

We just left La Rochelle and we miss it already. It was definitely our favorite place so far. It was also absolutely filled with wonderful culinary experiences.

Our first night, we arrived at 9 PM on a Sunday so by the time we trecked to our hotel with all our bags, we were exhausted, hungry and worried about missing dinner. We tried two restaurants I'd read about and both suggested we go to Food and Bar, just down the street, which serves until 11 PM. We followed their suggestions (could two delicious-smelling restaurants be wrong?) and were certainly glad we did!

The Boy was worried it was "too trendy" for him, and it did seem that way, with the waitstaff dressed entirely in black. But we soon overcame our trepidation when we tasted the food and admired the menu. Unfortuately, I neither took good notes nor asked for a menu, so I can only offer what I remember (meaning what we ordered).

I began with a Sticker de Tourteau de Plein Mer, a deep-sea turtle pot-sticker. This came as a long egg-roll filled with turtle meat and drizzled with a slightly-sweet soy-type sauce. It was truly wonderful, though I wonder if perhaps it was crab and not turtle? I know the word Tourteau in French is used to describe both.

The Boy had a Pate au Lapin et Truffes, a rabbit and truffle pastry. The rabbit was ground and wrapped with truffle pieces in filo dough. It was accompanied by two extremely long chives, most likely onion, that added a hint of spiciness to the rich dish.

For my plat, I had Veau au Caramel, thick slices of veal with a sauce of rich caramel on the side to be drizzled all over. It also came with a side of lentils with thick slices of what tasted like Parmesan cheese. While caramel and veal sounds like an odd combination it was really great. The caramel was definitely sweet but, applied with a gentle hand, it perfectly complemented the delicate Veal.

The Boy enjoyed Cochon Noir, black pig. While not actually black, it was accompanied by mashed potatoes and had an Asian taste.

We also enjoyed a bottle of Pinot Noir, Tres Noir, suggested to us by the sommelier.

Other highlights of La Rochelle:
Marche open every day.
Le Comptoir des Voyages, a restaurant on the same street as Food and Bar.

Food and Bar
Rue St-Jean-du-Perot
La Rochelle.

Next: Bordeaux.

WBW #9: Cotes du Rhone Rose

Cotes du Rhone Rose, bouteille pleine

If I had to pick a favorite wine since I've been out here, it's Cotes du Rhone. A glass of red Cotes du Rhone is always the cheapest glass of wine at the bar and, in my opinion, the most reliably good. I recently discovered that there is also a white Cotes de Rhone, which was good, but had nowhere near the body of a red.

So last night, in preparation for Think Pink! Wine Blogging Wednesday, hosted by the delightful Sam at Becks & Posh, I headed to Nicholas, the chain liquor store near me and noticed, to my delight, that not only are they having a special on Cotes du Rhone, but there was also a Cotes du Rhone Rose for only 5,20!

This bottle is from Domaine de la Berthete. It says on the back of the bottle (I just found out that wine bottles often say things on the back!):

"Situe dans la plaine du Plan de Dieu, le Domaine vous invite a deguster ce Cotes du Rhone rose aux aromes fruites; rose de saignee elabore a partir des cepages: cinsault, grenache et carignan."

"Situated in the plain of the Plan de Dieu, the Domaine invites you to taste this Cotes du Rhone rose with fruity aromas; this blood-colored rose is particularly special because of its vines : cinsault, grenache and carignan."

Without food, and pleasantly chilled, this rose had a clean, crisp flavor, slightly sweet and almost no aftertaste. This makes it an excellent aperitif. Unfortunately, it works less well with food. In fact, the duck leg I served it with over-powered it so much that my Best Friend and dining companion refused to finish his wine until after the meal. Cherries didn't work well with it either, making the wine taste bitter and overly alcoholic. However, it might work very nicely with something lighter and savory, such as fish or chicken.

All in all, an excellent wine for an aperitif if not necessarily for a meal.

Les dessous de la robe

After having cooked the past several nights, we decided to go out for dinner Thursday night and last night. Unfortunately, last night was not terribly memorable. However, Thursday's dinner, at our favorite neighborhood bistro/wine bar, was, as per usual, divine. We first read about Les dessous de la robe in a Michelin guide and have since returned there four times. What first attracted our attention was that the menu changes according to what's available at market, though there always seems to be a special fish, a pasta, a tuna, soup, foie gras and steak.

Thursday night, we both started with Soupe du moment, which was cauliflower, actually more of a creamy puree than a soup, generously sprinkled with Piment d'Espellette, our current favorite hot pepper. It was warming and delicious. Our only complaint was that it was a healthy portion and surprisingly filling, so we had no room for dessert!

I followed the soup with the Entrecote de Salers. Salers beef is said to be the best in the world, coming from a breed of cow native to the Auvergne region in the south of France. This was possibly the best piece of plain beef I've ever had, accompanied by crispy oven-cooked potato chips. The boy had Axoa de veau au piment d'espellette, a veal stew with sesame seeds, hot pepper and a wonderful mystery vegetable which I think was a kumquat (I know, not a vegetable) and which the boy thinks might be something related to a potato.

This was all accompanied by a fantastic bottle of wine, Causse Marines--a spicy, rich, slightly fruity red wine perfectly recommended by our waitress.

As usual, the service was marvelous, the food delightful and the wine worth a trip in itself.

Les dessous de la robe
4, rue Bertin Poiree
75001
M: Chatelet

Couscous gratuit!

I was in the midst of deciding what to make for dinner, which proved more difficult than normal as my biggest pot is in the fridge with my left-over Jarret de veau. I decided I wanted something spicy, perhaps Middle-Eastern or Indian, so I was all prepared to head down to an awesome spice shop near home when I got a Texto on my phone from Kym, a Canadian friend from my acting classes (which start again on Monday!). "Couscous gratuit ce soir," it read. Free couscous? On a Friday night? With friends? That satisfied all my requirements and more (except that I couldn't go to the spice store, but ah, well).

After many more Texto's, we agreed to meet two other girls and Kym's sister at a Metro Station where Marie (who actually told us about the couscous in the first place) would lead us all to Free Food. Kym, her sister and I were late, then Marie, the only Parisienne, got us lost (it was in the 11e, which is a quite confusing area). Finally we saw a bar with a small blackboard outside reading "Couscous gratuit, vendredi et samedi soirs." We went in, waited for a half hour and then finally, after much shuffling around, settled down at two small tables pushed together. We ordered drinks (necessary for free couscous, apparently) and waited for a food.

While not the best couscous I've ever had, and without serving the superfluous amounts of grain the Boy and I are used to, it was surprisingly good. It came with a big ceramic bowl of vegetable stew and a plate of stewed mutton--a little stringy, but I liked it. Needless to say, we cleaned our plates. I actually wouldn't have minded a little more food, but, for couscous gratuit, it was perfect.

There was live music behind us and a not-bad bottle of wine. Also, The Mummy (the new one) was being projected onto a wall, mute with French subtitles. In general drinks at this bar are cheap (2,50 for a kir although by 22h00 last night they had run out of white wine) and there are fun faintly Middle Eastern lamps hanging from the ceiling (which Kym kept banging her head against). All in all, a very enjoyable evening.