It's Getting "Chili" in Denver

Nothing says fall and food quite like piping hot chili and ice cold beer.  Welcome to the Denver Supper Club, friends!  Sunday night's theme was "Chili Cook Off" and the results would be perfect for tailgating, relaxing on the couch and cheering on your favorite team, or hunkering down while the snow starts to fall outside.

We started off with fresh chips, served with dip and guacamole.  Down goes the first bottle of beer.

Our first course was a white chili and it was a hit.  It was bold but not too spicy, and a squeeze of lime perfectly complimented the flavor.  In fact, this was our pic for posting a recipe*.  Down goes the second bottle of beer.

Next up was a green chili.  Full disclosure: this one was bought, not home made, but dangit if you put it in a crockpot and don't tell anyone, they won't know!  Schlereth's Stinkin' Good chili is exactly that.  It comes in mild, medium, and hot.  We tried medium and it had quite a kick - which means we gotta try the hot next time!  The flavor was certainly spicy, in a Tex-Mex, Chicken-Tortilla-Soup kind of way. 

Down goes the third bottle of beer.

The last course was a red chili, made by following a family recipe of one of our members.  There were a variety of spices mixed within each bite: sometimes tomato-y, other times a bit spicy, and sometimes with a slightly sweet finish.  Aaaaaaand down goes the fourth bottle of beer.

Because no meal would be complete without dessert, we threw down this cake and a boatload of cupcakes (not pictured because our resident photographer overloaded on beer.  It happens.). 

Happy Halloween!  Be safe and eat well!

* White Chili

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 2 stalks celery, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 3 medium poblano peppers (about 4 ounces each), seeded and white ribs removed, finely diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, more to taste
• 1 pound ground white meat turkey
• 2 (15.5-ounce) cans white beans such as cannelini, preferably low-sodium, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 (15.5-ounce) can hominy, drained and rinsed
• Salt
• 1/4 cup nonfat plain Greek-style yogurt
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• Lime wedges

Directions

Heat the oil in large pot or Dutch oven over moderate heat. Add the onion, celery, poblanos, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander and cayenne and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the ground turkey and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until the meat is no longer pink about 2 minutes. Add the white beans, broth and oregano. Cook, partially covered, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes.

Add the hominy and salt and more cayenne pepper, to taste, and continue cooking, partially covered, 10 minutes longer. Ladle into individual bowls and top each serving with 1 tablespoon of yogurt and 1 1/2 teaspoons of cilantro. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Per Serving:

Calories 320; Total Fat 6 g; (Sat Fat 0.5 g, Mono Fat 2 g, Poly Fat 1 g) ; Protein 31 g; Carb 37 g; Fiber 9 g; Cholesterol 30 mg; Sodium 310 mg

Excellent source of: Protein, Fiber, Thiamin, Vitamin C, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus

Good source of: Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin K, Potassium, Zinc

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/white-chili-recipe/index.html

Fly the (Foodie) Friendly Skies

On a recent trip from Hong Kong to Singapore, I was able to fly on the illustrious Singapore Airlines.  I had heard such awesome things about it - great safety ratings, unbelievable service, and good food.  Wait, what?  Good food in an airplane?

Um, yeah.

It bears mentioning that I was seated in plain old Economy class.  No business class, no extra legroom, no exit row.  No perks.  We were 100% in cattle car mode.

As we boarded and made ourselves comfortable, the staff walked up and down the aisles passing out warm, scented hand towels.  Not the disposable kind; real towels.

I sighed and settled back into my seat.

After we leveled off in the air, I could hear gentle questions from the aisle,

"Red or White?"

"Hello sir!  Red or White?"

My mouth started watering.  Sure enough, they were passing out complimentary wine.  And more warm hand towels.  I was waiting for the offer of a massage or perhaps a facial when a woman handed me this booklet:

You better believe I snuck this menu off the plane with me.  Hello, culinary souvenir.

It was a menu.  A menu booklet.  For Economy class.

The introduction says, (italics mine):

"Welcome aboard Singapore Airlines.

As you settle back to enjoy your flight, we are pleased to offer World Gourmet Cuisine, a sumptuous selection of dishes created under the guidance of our own chefs.

Using fine quality produce, the menu features authentic Asian flavours derived from traditional recipes, as well as Western cuisine with an inspired, modern touch.

To further delight the palate, complement your meat with a choice of fine red or white wines carefully selected by our esteemed Wine Consultants.

Bon appétit!"

Needless to say, I was in love.  This was a day flight, we had two lunch menus to choose from: International or Oriental selection.

Each meal had 4 courses:  appetizer, main course, light bites and dessert.  These were served alongside complimentary beverages (even the alcohol was complimentary).  They were served with real silverware on real dishes - no plastic, no saran wrap, no cold rolls hard enough to use in a baseball game.  This was the real deal!

A sample of one lunch menu option.

The Oriental Lunch consisted of the following:

Appetizer:     Asian slaw with roast duck and sesame dressing

Main Course:     Deep fried fish in sweet and sour sauce, seasonal vegetables and steamed rice

Light Bites:     Chinese snack

Dessert:     Ice Cream (Haagen Dazs)

From the Bakery:     Roll and Butter

Hot Beverages:     Chinese Tea

I'm not saying this is the best meal I've ever had.  But I am saying that it is a rare treat these days to get such quality food and service in the cattle car of an airplane.  The food was hot and flavorful; it didn't taste plastic or MSG-filled or, well, like it was being served at 35,000 feet.  The attention to quality and detail that Singapore Airlines put into their product was evident.  Now if I could just fly Emirates, or perhaps Korean Airlines.  For comparison purposes, of course.  :)

Vegas Recap! (You Wynn Some, You Lose Some)

As our five year wedding anniversary approached we knew we wanted to take a quick trip to celebrate, but the question was where? There were so many options, but after a lot of research, we decided to head to Las Vegas! It’s a super quick trip from Denver so we wouldn’t waste a lot of time travelling, and we love to eat and drink wine, what could be better!

After searching for deals we found that the best prices can often be found through the hotel websites. We found an amazing deal from theWynn for airfare and three nights for $800, so we snatched it up. We were so excited to stay at the Wynn, we had heard so many good things, and were looking forward to a relaxing and luxurious trip!

We left early on a Sunday morning and took a quick cab ride to the hotel after arriving in Las Vegas. We walked into the Wynn and were just amazed...it’s gorgeous!

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There was no line to check in and we were actually able to get into a room right away; it was 9:00am on a Sunday morning so we were shocked. Our room was beautiful with a view of the strip.

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We headed out to grab some lunch and walk the strip. Our first destination was Public House in the Venetian. After making many wrong turns and meandering through the massive Venetian, we finally stumbled upon it. We chose Public House because my husband is a beer connoisseur and this restaurant has the beer equivalent of a sommelier, so we knew they would have a great beer list.
The restaurant has a gastro pub vibe and they have so many beer selections the menu is on a tablet. We both found something we wanted to try and enjoyed what we picked!

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Our meal started with a beet and chevre salad.  It had wonderful flavors, but didn’t come with any bread to sop up the sauces (which we fixed!). Our main dishes were actually two appetizers:  a duck confit poutine and a pork belly dish. They were both amazing, but the winner was definitely the poutine. As this dish has grown increasingly popular, we’ve enjoyed it at different restaurants, but this was the best we’ve ever had!

After lunch we continued to walk and ended up at The Bellagio. I had heard about the Jean Philippe Patisserie and wanted to stop in for something sweet. We were exhausted by the time we got there (our two year old had kept us up most of the night before we left, so we were working on almost no sleep), and we were disappointed with what we found.

 

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The chocolate fountain is pretty amazing, but I was expecting a patisserie like in Paris, and that’s absolutely not what was there. They had very little pastries, but a huge gelato case, which is what most people were lining up for. So we skipped the sweet stuff and hopped in a cab back to our hotel.

That evening we had dinner reservations at Sage in the Aria hotel. The chef had previously worked in Chicago at Spring and Green Zebra, plus the restaurant has gotten wonderful reviews on chowhound and is on the Las Vegas Eater 38 list. We arrived a little early for our reservation, so we decided to have a drink at the bar. The bartender quickly shared that they had a Rioja on sale so we both ordered that, and he also offered to have an appetizer portion of the scallop dish created for us as a starter. Before these items came we had an incredible amuse, which I can’t remember what it was (thanks, Rioja!), but it was really, really good! The drinks and appetizer arrived and they were all incredible, so at this point we were very much looking forward to our dinner. After a run-in with another bar patron who thought we’d like to partake in some absinthe with him (no thank you), the hostess showed us to our table.

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The wine list was expensive, but there were some of our favorite bottles (that were way out of our price range) on the list so we figured the wines would be good. After speaking briefly with the sommelier, we ended up ordering two half bottles (at $50 a pop, ugh!), which I should have written down. But they were both mediocre. The first bottle was from Pride, which is one of our favorite producers, but now we know why we’ve never had one of their whites. It was almost undrinkable, which is not something that happens to me very often. The second wine was a red and it was just so-so, nothing special.

The remainder of our food that night was incredible and we were very impressed. If only the wines had been better...we were so confused about how they had been so bad with such a wonderful list. Our conclusion was that our tastes and the sommelier's tastes must have been on opposite ends of the spectrum.

The next day of our trip was the six year anniversary of our engagement. We were lucky enough to be engaged in Paris at the base of the Eiffel Tower, so we always celebrate that day with something French. Where else would we have breakfast but at The Paris Hotel! I had done a ton of research on TripAdvisor about restaurants, and the hands down favorite was MonAmi Gabi at the Paris Hotel, and that’s where we headed.

 

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We were seated on the patio with a beautiful view, right across the street from the Bellagio fountains and underneath the Eiffel Tower. Sadly our food was seriously worse than the view. I don’t know how so many people love this restaurant; it’s definitely not French food, but even for an American breakfast it was awful! My omelet was anything but light and fluffy (heavy and dense) and my husband’s short rib eggs benedict was just so-so. And the fresh squeezed orange juice? Definitely not, maybe at a factory somewhere, but not on site. So that was a pretty disappointing way to start our day!

After breakfast we walked the rest of the strip and then went back to the hotel to play a little craps and relax by the pool. We had drinks at the pool for $15 apiece, and they were pretty good, definitely a good amount of alcohol. Our lunch by the pool was a simple ceasar wrap, nothing special, but not awful either. The pool itself is beautiful though, very relaxing and quiet.

We were headed to a show that night, so we had an early dinner at the wine bar on the Wynn property, La Cave. This was one of our favorite meals all weekend – the wine and the food were amazing! The restaurant is a small plates concept so we were able to try 5 or 6 items, and we didn’t have anything bad. This was probably our favorite restaurant at the Wynn!

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That night we saw the Cirque du Soliel show, Zumanity. It’s their cabaret show and it was very entertaining, and a little frightening as they flew around the stage!  After the show we went back to our hotel to play craps. Since we had such an early dinner we were hungry around 10:00 and wanted a quick snack. They only had one restaurant open at that time and there was an hour wait, what? We were shocked there weren’t more options for food, especially since we would have kept gambling if our bellies had been full, so we went to our room and ordered room service. For $50 we had a wonderful burger and plate of cookies, ouch!

The next day we had decided to just stay at our hotel. It wasn’t worth the cab fees to get off the property, and we were sure their restaurants were top quality, especially after our meal at La Cave the night before. We started our day with breakfast at the Terrace PointeCafé. The food was leaps and bounds better than our previous breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi, but the service was lacking. However, their fresh squeezed orange juice was definitely fresh and we had a beautiful view of the pool while we ate.

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We spent the rest of the day at the pool and walking around our hotel. We went to the Parasol Down bar overlooking the Lake of Dreams in the afternoon. We found a table with a beautiful view of the lake (which doesn’t really do anything until after dark) and ordered some drinks. The drinks we had there were expensive, but so, so good!

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We had reservations at one of the fine dining restaurants, Lakeside Seafood, that evening, but had some time to kill and decided to have a quick appetizer in the sushi restaurant Mizumi beforehand. We had wanted to try the restaurant, but their prices were so exorbitant we knew we couldn’t get out of there for less than $300, so we had chosen to not have a full meal there.

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We sat at the sushi bar and ordered two glasses of wine, a roll and some sushi pieces. The sushi was incredible, the best I’ve ever had! But the service was pretty awful; once our waitress figured out that we were going to be a small ticket, we were pretty much ignored. We even had to flag down a busboy to get our check, and there were only two other people sitting at the sushi bar.  Ridiculous!

When I made our reservations for dinner at LakesideSeafood, I confirmed a 7:30 reservation on the patio overlooking the Lake of Dreams show. However, when we arrived at the restaurant for our reservation, we were seated at a table inside. The hostess told us that patio seats are first come first served and they couldn’t guarantee patio seating. So that was a pretty big let down to start the meal.

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We moved on and placed our order with the server. Our first course of calamari arrived fairly quickly and we could immediately tell by looking at it that it was overcooked - the breading was dark and the squid looked dry.  After taking a bite, we knew it was absolutely overcooked: completely rubbery and chewy. We informed the server and he immediately took it away. After seeing a couple other orders of calamari come out to the dining room, we asked our server if they had fired another order of calamari for us, and he seemed surprised that we wanted it replaced. The second order of calamari arrived shortly after that conversation, and it was again horribly overcooked. We again informed the server and he took it away. On the way to the kitchen I saw him say something to the manager, so I know he was now aware of the issue. Not once did we hear the word sorry, which would at least have been appreciated. The manager didn’t even take the time to come apologize or check in with us. He was too busy supervising tables being set up for large parties. To add insult to injury, when our bill arrived, the calamari was still included! The server came back five minutes later having realized it was still on there and he removed it, but it was a slap in the face.

The other crazy thing is that they were constantly moving around tables and chairs to accommodate different sized parties; we even saw tables being carried at least twice throughout the dining room over the heads of the guests. I’ve never seen that at any other fine dining restaurant.  In face, La Cave (the night before) was categorized as a "casual" restaurant and yet was far more "fine dining" than Lakeside! We left our dinner supremely disappointed and felt like we had wasted our time and money on what should have been a nice anniversary dinner.

{After these experiences I sent a letter off to the hotel’s customer relations department, and I felt like they brushed us off. All they’d do was give us a free meal at the same restaurant – Lakeside Seafood. The thought behind the offer was that they wanted to make up for the experience, but we gave them the chance that night and I’ll never, ever go back to that restaurant again.}

One overall note about the food and wine on our trip. It was RIDICULOUSLY expensive! We’re used to fine dining restaurants and the prices that go along with them, but this was above and beyond anything we have experienced. We weren’t able to get a glass of wine for less than $18 anywhere; because of this, we felt a little gouged! It does seem like a lot of foreigners are coming to Vegas to spend their money, so I’m wondering if the pricing is targeted at their deeper pockets. Unfortunately, their money goes further than our American money does, and I’m sure there are lots of expense accounts roaming around out there.

So our last day at the Wynn was a little disappointing, but our overall trip was pretty amazing. The Wynn is an absolutely beautiful hotel, but I don’t know if we’d stay there again.  They had some pretty serious customer service stumbles that I don’t know if I can get over. But they have an amazing wine program; every glass of wine we had there was spot on. The other bonus, which we didn’t take advantage of, was that every restaurant on site has a Vegan and Vegetarian menu. Steve Wynn himself is a Vegan and brought Tal Ronnen in to create these special menus (which I didn’t find out until later). We also loved gambling in their casino, it was so clean and the dealers were all very friendly. After having walked through other casinos we definitely loved coming back to the Wynn for a little more refined gambling!

If we go back to Vegas, there are other luxury hotels we decided we’d like to stay at. We really liked the Aria, and they had a lot of wonderful restaurants we wanted to try (but it was at the complete opposite end of the strip, so we didn’t make it there much). There are so many other places we’d love to visit, but Vegas is a quick indulgence, so who knows when we’ll be back!

How Do You Say "Meh" in Italian?

Last night a couple of us had a leisurely dinner at Panzano.  We had previously met there for lunch and were so impressed with the menu variety and flavors of the dishes that we thought a long dinner with a few drinks would be a good idea.

Not.

All levels of service were excellent.  Our waiter was friendly and knowledgable (and gave very good wine recommendations) and attentive, but didn't hover too much.  Other servers were quick to fill water glasses and remove dishes and silverware when we were done.  Panzano was very busy last night, as it was during our lunch there, and the hostesses remained friendly.  The environment is open, nicely decorated and well-lit.

All signs pointed to Go!  Until the food...

We were presented with a complimentary amuse-bouche style appetizer that they were practicing before putting on the menu.  While this was a nice touch and presentation, it wasn't flavorful.  It tasted like an upscale tater tot, topped with parmesan cheese and served with an (impressive) balsamic sauce.  We thought it could have used more seasoning or perhaps a more developed stuffing of cheeses or sausage.

For our appetizers, we ordered Panelle e Olive Frittes, described as "crispy chickpea and olive batons with whipped feta, roasted red peppers, micro basil and balsamic gastrique."  It was dense and did not have hints of olive or any other flavors.  We did not finish it and would not order it again.

We also ordered Caesar Griglia, described as "grilled hearts of romaine, anchovies, garlic, parmesan."  Their regular Caesar salad and this grilled one are A.I.W.F. Award winners.  This salad was presented nicely and tasted very good.  The lettuce was just barely grilled; it retained a smoky flavor and a bit of char on the edges, but the rest was still crispy and cool.  The dressing was light and all the components of the dish worked together well.  This appetizer would make the perfect business lunch.

There is no other way to described our entrees than disappointing.

This dish is Scallopini di Vitello, described as "grass fed veal scallopini with lemon, capers and sun-dried tomatoes, over mashed potatoes and spinach."  They tried to present it well but let's face it, this does not look appetizing.  Nor did it taste good.  Again - our observations over and over were "no flavor."

The other entree was Ragu di Cinghiale, described as "farro pappardelle tossed in wild boar Bolognese, topped with Grana Padano."  The pasta was cooked to perfection, but the dish was sweet.  Not the slight sweetness of a good marinara sauce, but an overpowering taste that drowned the other flavors.  The cheese helped balance the flavors but could not save the dish overall.

Dessert was the highlight of the night, and at least ended the meal on a good note.  We had Bombolini al Limone con Mirtilla, "lemon curd stuffed doughnuts over blackberry marmelatta with vanilla gelato and micro basil."  The doughnuts were baked well, a nice combination of doughy and light, and the sorbet cut the sweetness of the dish.

The other highlight was the Budino de Caramelo, "butterscotch pudding topped with salted caramel and whipped sour cream, topped with a rosemary pinenut cookie."  This dish was a wonderful mix of salty and sweet and complex.  It was delightful.

Panzano's menu offers an impressive variety of dishes, as well as wines, cocktails (interesting, for sure), dessert drinks, appetizers, and side dishes.  This is just a sampling of a few dishes, but we were underwhelmed.  That said, when we met for lunch, we enjoyed it quite a lot, as it was almost the opposite of last night's experience - which is to say lots of complex flavor.

Panzano might be worth checking out in order to form your own opinion.  Hopefully your food will taste better than ours did last night.  :)

Sushi Fix = Sushi Den

For your next sushi fix, head over to Sushi Den - you will not be disappointed.  I have been a couple of times for dinner and the place is usually packed, even on weeknights.  No need for a reservation on weeknights; seats are usually available at the sushi bar and there are plenty of tables worth a short wait.  On weekends, definitely make them though.

Highlights of my latest dinner included:

They have a good selection of Japanese beer.  This one tastes very similar to a Hefeweisen.

The Miso soup is incredibly flavorful and is served in the traditional Japanese style (i.e. no spoon).

Appetizer:  Lobster Tempora.  There are no words...

A sushi plate to share.  It goes without saying that the fish is incredibly fresh and impeccably served.

From bottom to top:  Rainbow Roll/Tuna Roll/Tuna Firecracker Roll.

Close up of the Tuna Firecracker Roll.

I have heard that Hapa is a great sushi restaurant as well.  Will have to check it out!

A Chocaholic's Dream

The desserts that incorporated macadamia nuts were a big hit!  If you like salty and sweet (mostly sweet!) this post is for you.  These would also be a nice touch during the holidays.

On the left is the Coconut Mango Macadamia Nut Bark.  The mixture of candied mango and ginger in combination with the smooth chocolate is unique and tasty.  The recipe is located here.

On the right is the Chocolate Dipped Coconut Candy.  The coconut nougat is incredibly rich and sweet, with a salty macadamia nut in the middle.  This is a family recipe that is prepared as follows.

Ingredients

*  1 lb of powdered sugar
*  1 can of sweetened condensed milk
*  10 oz of sweet chopped/dried coconut
*  1 small can of whole macadamia nuts
*  A small amount of candy wax
*  1 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips
*  1/8 lb of melted butter

Instructions

1.  Place the powdered sugar in large mixing bowl.  Create a well in the middle.
2.  Put butter, condensed milk and coconut in the well.  Mix slowly until well blended.
3.  Refrigerate the mixture until semi-solid.
4.  Form the mixture into candy balls with one macadamia nut in the middle.  Place on parchment paper and refrigerate for 1-2 hours (or overnight).
5.  Heat the chocolate chips and a bit of candy wax in a double boiler until melted.
6.  Dip the candy in the chocolate until well coated.
7.  Refrigerate 1-2 hours.