Best Bites of 2011 #1-5

As I mentioned in my previous post, 2011 was a busy year, focused primarily on culinary school.  And the best part about going to culinary school is that "studying" and "working" translates to eating and cooking.  Thus, it stands to reason that when I look back on 2011, many of the best moments I will reminisce about revolve around food.

That said, I present to you the first FIVE of my...

BEST BITES OF 2011     


Lunch with a Lesson.  It was just a simple bowl of French Onion Soup, yet suddenly it was the most complicated dish I had ever tackled.  I had caramelized onions many times in the past but this time I found myself second-guessing my every move -- is the heat too high?  Is there enough butter in the pan?  Why is it taking this long?  Am I stirring enough?  Am I stirring too much?

French Onion Soup.  Photo from here.

Ultimately, for fear of burning my onions, I coddled my pot on a timid heat.  As a result, the onions did not get a chance to develop enough color and my soup was pale and too sweet.  My classmate's soup, on the other hand, was dark and bitter from too aggressive a heat and not enough stirring.  The perfect French Onion Soup needed to be the right balance of both bitterness and sweetness and we had landed on either end of the spectrum.  On this day, I realized firsthand how the simplest technique can have profound impact on the complexities of flavor.  And thus began my first day and first lesson of culinary school.

A Piece of Pi.  When I lived in LA, I remember when the food truck revolution hit, starting with the Kogi BBQ truck (serving Korean-Mexican fusion like bulgogi tacos... genius).  After initial difficulties getting customers despite parking in the busiest sections of LA, they started reaching out to food bloggers and posting their location on Twitter, becoming what Newsweek later called "America's first viral eatery."  Since moving to DC, the same revolution has transported itself here where food trucks of all shapes and sizes can be found roaming around the city as well as the interweb.

Food Trucks @ L'Enfant Plaza

Which is why one beautiful fall morning, I rode the metro into the city to meet Patrick for lunch specifically with food truck fare in mind.  We met at L'Enfant Plaza, not far from the Capitol and a popular parking spot for food trucks around lunchtime.  The day's selection included empanadas, Korean food, and Mexican food, but ultimately we opted for a deep-dish pizza truck called Pi on Wheels.

While nothing can compete with the deep-dish pizza from Chicago (Gino's East anyone?), this pizza was delicious with crispy corn-meal crust and a nice layer of fresh tomato sauce on top.  On a scale from 1-5, I give it a 3.14159265...

Three's Company.  Lately cooking at home is comprised of just me and my thoughts and oftentimes I miss having another presence in the kitchen.  Which is why I was kind of ecstatic when my sister Mikala came to visit last year with her boyfriend Kyle, both of whom share my love of cooking.  And luckily we had Kyle's impressive camera/photography skills to capture some of it.

Together we re-created the following dishes that I learned from culinary school:

Seared scallop napoleon with corn-jalopeno blinis, 

sauteed spinach, and crispy mushroom garnish.

Goat cheese and sun-dried tomato stuffed artichokes

Chocolate and Grand Marnier Souffles

Food for Thought.  Cooking falls under several categories depending on how you look at it - an art form, a science, a family tradition, a chore, a basic need of survival...  For our last class at L'Academie de Cuisine, we explored Molecular Gastronomy (aka Modernist Cuisine).  Here science meets creativity as you use precise measurements, fancy tools/machinery, and ingredients like liquid nitrogen, lecithin, and maltodexterin to push the boundaries of what we call food, resulting in interesting concoctions like liquid mozzarella balls, bacon-flavored powder, and foams.  Many restaurants have been embracing this concept, like Alinea in Chicago and The Minibar in DC and needless to say they're doing quite well for themselves.  In class, we played around with a few of these techniques.  For example, here is a potato ball made from mashed potatoes that is solid on the outside but creamy on the inside (and then coated in fried onion crisps)...

And here we have slow poached quail eggs that were poached inside the shell using the sous-vide method, brioche bread which we made in the microwave using a paper cup, and bacon-flavored powder...

And for dessert, a dehydrated strawberry covered in white chocolate foam...

OK, it may not feed your hunger very well, but it definitely feeds your curiosity.

Burger Infidelity.  When it comes to burgers, Patrick and I (and millions of other Americans...) love In-n-Out.  But let's be honest, there's not one in our area and the long distance relationship hasn't really been working out.  With the help of a Living Social deal, we found an amazing burger joint not too far from our place called Elevation Burger.    This place serves burgers made from high quality ingredients, including beef that is USDA certified 100% organic, grass-fed, and free-range, for under $5.  Also, the meat is ground on-site, which means unlike some fast food places that will remain unnamed, you're not consuming meat mixed from like 80 different cows.  The burgers also come with real cheddar, fresh produce, and their own elevation sauce:

Also, their fries are cut right in front of you and cooked in 100% olive oil.

Oh, and did I mention they are delicious?  I won't say whether or not they are better than In-n-Out.  But I will say, it's definitely an affair to remember.  

And with that, I am officially hungry again!  Stay tuned for the second half of my Best Bites of 2011, which I will post next week :)

oo,