Restaurant Review: Estragon, South End

The Tortilla Espanol

The other night I dined at Estragon in the South End. It was close to 9:30 and there was still about a 10 minute wait for a table. Usually this is a good indicator of what's to come but unfortunately on this evening, this wasn't the case. We were starving and after being seated, we quickly ordered 4 different items from various sections of the menu. It wasn't long before our food started to arrive and the Tortilla Espanol ($5.50) was the first to meet the end of my fork. Swimming in a puddle of aioli and served with a chill, the dense potato slices were the main attraction and the eggs were simply the glue that held them all together. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a snob when it comes to Spanish food and maybe I hold the bar a little too high, but these were a far cry from a real Spanish tortilla where there's more eggs and it has a lightness to it made richer with olive oil.

Croquetas de Jamon

The next to arrive were the Croquetas de Jamon ($10). Advertised as having a Serano ham filling, the golden exteriors revealed an unpleasant pasty interior where I had to hunt for minuscule bits of ham, that once found, offered little flavor anyway - a total fail. Next to arrive at our table was the Flamenquines ($11) which are four rolled, little sticks of fried pork, Serano ham and Manchego cheese that tasted like an under seasoned chicken cordon bleu (only with pork). It was served along with a wedge of lemon and a sauce that tasted of tomato paste, water and a just a hint of hot paprika. While the Flamenquines were fried well, they would have benefited greatly from a a couple of pinches of salt after being fried.

Flamenquines

The biggest disappointment of the evening was the Vegetable Paella ($22). The vegetables were grossly overcooked and almost grey in color. Additionally, they were not prepared properly and somehow the woody stems of the asparagus had made their way to our plate. The Paella rice was under-cooked and over-salted, not to mention missing that coveted crusty bottom that is so desirable. 

Vegetable Paella

To add insult to injury, while our waiter was clearing almost full plates from our table, and when declining to have the food wrapped to go, he never questioned us on how our meal was or asked if we were satisfied. Instead, we were given a smile and the check. After a meal like this, I couldn't help but feel duped and brimming with a lot of questions. How could the kitchen send food out like that? How could the waiter not ask us why we weren't eating? Was this just an "off" night or is this how the food is prepared? And if it was in fact an "off" night, is that acceptable when the customer is paying a pretty heavy price for the experience? While I can appreciate that it is difficult  to execute every dish with perfection, however, we ordered four different dishes and were disappointed by all. An evening similar to this happens every so often and it's frustrating. Where are the standards? 

Tres Gatos, Jamaica Plain, MA

It's hard to disagree with the belief that Tres Gatos was founded on, "sharing good food, music and books is essential to a happy life". It's also hard to disagree that these fundamentals are very apparent and are what gives Tres Gatos its charming atmosphere. Cozy and welcoming with music playing at a comfortably elevated volume, you'll be hard pressed to find a seat at one of the crowded high-top tables. On the night I visited, the crowd was lively with laughter and the music made it hard not to sing along to. Peeking into the kitchen, the two chefs looked like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. They were laughing and having fun while cranking out the food.

Having been to Spain, I was excited to try their Tapas menu and in particular, their Tortilla Espanola. The Tortilla, at its best, is delightfully fluffy with eggs and thin disks of fried potatoes. Round and flat, it is similar to an omelet and served a shade warmer than room temperature. The best part is the flavor; salty and somehow sweet and heavily laced with Spanish olive oil, it's not a flavor you soon forget, nor want to. The Tortilla Espanola ($6) at Tres Gatos is like a distant relative. Served as a tall wedge, it was stacked with thickly sliced and blandly seasoned potatoes and served cold with a heaping side of aioli. Sadly, it missed all of the details that make a Spanish tortilla so wonderful.

The second dish that I sampled was the Pork Empanadas ($8). Served as a trio of small fried dumplings resting on a bright green smear of cilantro-parsley sauce, the exterior of the empanada lacked the expected crispiness and while the pork filling had a nice flavor to it, it got overshadowed by the grassy taste of the sauce. Most disappointing was the portion size. After a couple quick bites, the dish was done. It's understood that the point of Tapas is to enjoy small bites, but to me, these bites were a little too small and overpriced.  After spending almost $40 on two little dishes, plus a glass of wine and a glass of Sangria (that ran only 2/3 the way up the glass and brimming with ice), it was time to move on. I'm certainly not expecting a local Tapas restaurant to compare to eating Tapas in Spain, however I'd hope that the prices would be a bit more reasonable, the portions a bit larger and the food a little more traditional.

Spanish Enchiladas

When life, or Tortilla Land as the case may be, sends you 144 tortillas, you make enchiladas. Well, okay, you don't have to make enchiladas but why wouldn't you want to? What's not to love...bold flavors wrapped up in tortillas and then sauced and baked until the edges get crispy and crunchy and the sauce seems to melt into everything, saturating it with flavor. Oh yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about..

When I received these tortillas, my first thought, admittedly, was what makes these so special? At first glance, they look like your average store-bought tortilla. I didn't pay much attention to the package, or instructions, and when I pulled them out, something was obviously very different - it was flattened dough! All it took was some love from a hot skillet and these tortillas were softened, yet developed pockets of little crispy bits. Without a doubt, these are way better than any store bought tortilla I've ever had.

As I previously mentioned, when I saw these, I immediately thought they'd make some pretty killer enchiladas, but I wanted to shake things up a bit and not go for the traditional Mexican-style route. Instead, I opted to make them Spanish, calling on smoked paprika, briny olives and sweet roasted red peppers to create a rich and flavorful sauce that was deep red in color. To fill the enchiladas, I made a quick rub for some pork tenderloin and then added some earthy spinach that I soaked in some of the sauce before wrapping it all up. To finish it all off, a couple minutes before serving I shredded some Manchego cheese on top and topped it all off with a dollop of smoky cilantro sour cream.

I really liked the Spanish twist on this Mexican classic and was reminded that I don't cook Spanish food nearly as much as I'd like to. The worse part is, I have no excuse. My bookshelf carries a respectable amount of Spanish cookbooks and heck, I've even been to Spain. Clearly, I need to fix this...Here's to more Spanish food to come!

Check out the recipe after the jump!

Cheesecake Flan

Cheesecake Flan

I remember the last time I had flan.  It was my last night in Spain and I was doing all that I could to soak in every last bit of that amazing country.  When the square plate of smooth and creamy white flan was placed before me, caramel sauce running over the sides of the sweet flan plateau, my breath couldn't help being taken away.  It was a beautifully delicious work of art and I was lucky enough to be holding a spoon.

To this day, I still remember the way the velvety texture of the flan seemed to take on a life of it's own, dancing and swaying in my mouth.  It was a rather poetic experience and I was saddened when the last bite had been taken.  It's funny.  The first thing that I do when I have a seemingly religious experience with food is I immediately think of how I can recreate it in my own kitchen, taking guesses and making tweaks until it's something delicious.  My mind didn't go there when I had flan.  How on earth could I replicate something like this?  I just didn't think it would happen, but I came pretty darn close.

When a Spanish theme had been decided for a New Year's Eve dinner, I was instantly brought back to Madrid and the how sweet that first bite of flan tasted.  Knowing I couldn't recreate it entirely, I at least wanted to attempt to create something similar.  After careful review of many recipes, I stumbled upon this recipe by Ingrid Hoffman for Cheesecake Flan.  This recipe stood out because I liked the American twist of adding cream cheese.  Afterall, flan and cheesecake? Together? It seemed perfect.

I ended up cutting the recipe in half (mainly due to the fact that I only have 8 ramekins and I knew that having something like this just hanging around could be very dangerous.).  If you attempt this recipe, make sure you use full-fat versions of all of the dairy products because you'll end up with a creamy and rich flan cheesecake.  Although this recipe put a little time to pull together (the toughest part was making the caramel sauce.) the results made it well worth it.  One thing to also note, my caramel sauce inexplicably got rock hard in a matter minutes.  I attributed this to too high heat and I think I was swirling the pan too vigorously (SBK = 0 points, Science = 1 point).  If this happens to you, just turn down the heat a bit and add a little water to the sugar and break up the sugar crystals with a fork.  Bonus of this mistake? You end up with more caramel sauce to drizzle over your cheesecake flans...

For the full recipe, click HERE.

A Spanish New Year's Eve Dinner (in pictures)

Happy 2011! It's finally here! A new year and a fresh start.  I just love that sense of newness that comes with the start of another year.  It's sort of like staring at a crisp white blank sheet of paper while holding an inky black pen, ready to start filling up the page with all of the events and happenings of another year of life.  Possibilities seem abundant and hopes are high that this will be a great and memorable year.  To help welcome 2011, I had some friends over on New Year's Eve for games, adult beverages and of course, food.....

Sangria got the party started!

We dined on Spanish food because cuisine from that region tends to be bold and packed with bright and exciting flavors, which seemed to be a fitting way to start the new year.  Also, a meal of pork served with beans is said to be very lucky to eat on New Year's Eve.  (Pork is said to signify prosperity and well-being and beans are said to symbolize wealth.  Finger's crossed, right?)

Fiona made out-of-this-world pork belly lettuce wraps

Served with corn and black bean salad and homemade spicy tomatillo salsa

I made a veggie paella-inspired rice 

Sarah made awesome cheese stuffed peppers with herbs and aged sherry vinegar

And for dessert, Cheesecake Flan

Sweet, creamy and cool..recipe to follow tomorrow

Happy 2011! May you're year be off to a great start!

Happy Spain Day!

It's Spain Day!  And what exactly is Spain Day?  Let me tell you..It's a day that was set aside to celebrate my trip to Spain, which began one year ago today.  While in Spain, my traveling buddy/former college roommate and I made a pact that we would make a formal holiday out of the one year anniversary of our trip.  We planned to celebrate by playing hooky from work, eat Spanish food and reminisce about the best two week vacation that I've ever taken.

We started the trip in Madrid, then were off to Sevilla, headed to Barcelona and then back to Madrid.  I loved every single second of it:

the culture

the buildings, architecture, sights and sounds

and of course, the food.  Oh the food....(and the sangria and wine)

I loved my trip to Spain and miss being there but I know life will find me there again. Until then, I have Spain Day to keep reminding me of this fantastic country.  Ahhh Espana, te amo.  

So what's on tap for today?  We'll be bouncing around the city, enjoying the weather, eating tapas and just talking about how awesome our vacation was.  It's my personal philosophy that life's too short not to celebrate each and every minute of it.  Even if you have to take time away from whatever else is going on in life and create a silly little holiday.  

Feliz Dia de Espana!

Tapeo: A Little Bit of Spain On Newbury St

Last summer, I took the opportunity to travel around Spain.  I went with one of my college roommates and it was two weeks of meeting amazing people, seeing breathtaking sights, train trips, flamenco shows, salsa dancing, getting lost and then of course, eating our way through the beautiful country.  It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life and to me, it was a true adventure.

Before my trip to Spain, I had never really given Spanish food a second thought.  Sure, I liked tapas as much as the next guy, but Spanish cuisine never stuck out to me until I got the chance to experience it first hand.  Paella, tomato rubbed bread, Spanish omelet, fresh salads, manchego cheese and of course, Spanish ham. Now, I'm a true convert and seek out places that remind me of those memorable two weeks and Tapeo certainly does just that, remind me of Spain.

If you weren't paying attention, you might miss this little spot on Newbury Street.  There is only a small sign above the doorway of a set of stairs that open up to a dimly lit bar.  Traditional and ornately detailed Spanish tiles line the walls.  The dining room upstairs is half golden walls and half Spanish tile and dotted with trinkets.  I had the pleasure of sitting in front of the fireplace, underneath a giant set of flamenco dancer's legs that were protruding from the wall.  It seemed a bit odd and out of place but I guess they were trying to incorporate elements of Spain.

The food was okay.  In my opinion, a little pricey for what you got and really, I felt like you were paying for that atmosphere and of course, the Newbury St. address.  Frankly, I think this is an awesome place for a change of pace happy hour and a couple of bites (might I suggest the roasted red pepper, manchego cheese and olives plate?)  but for dinner, it probably wouldn't be my first pick.

Dear Saturday Morning,

I think I'm in love with you. Always on time, you arrive with the added pleasure of late sleeping and spare time to linger in pajamas over a cup of piping hot coffee. I particularly enjoy welcoming your weekly arrival by creating a hearty homemade breakfast while I tune into the Phantom Gourmet and TV Diner. Without the added "tomorrow is Monday" stress that your pal Sunday morning brings, Saturday morning, I just wanted to thank you for being you.

Love always,
Your biggest fan

On this particularly chilly Boston morning, I woke with a craving to start my day with something warm and comforting. Naturally, I went to my Saturday morning default, which was inspired by this past summer's two week journey through Spain. Upon arriving in Barcelona this past July, my friend Andria and I found this cute little tapas place that served up some amazing food. As the Spanish observe a mid-afternoon "siesta" or long break from their day (which by the way, I am hard-core lobbying for in the states) there was little open for our still-wanting-lunch-stomachs except for this place. We were famished and sweaty from the hot Spanish sun after a morning of sightseeing our way through the city. We quickly (and happily!) entered this air-conditioned place and ordered what I remember to be at least half the menu rounded out by an ice cold bottle of Cava (Spain's take on champagne). Among the cluttering of various dishes that we ordered, the real star was the Spanish Omelet. It was so simple yet so very delicious. A puffy disk of egg and potatoes fried in olive oil, it kept us coming back. Literally. Looking back, I'm actually embarrassed to reveal how many Spanish omelets I had here. It was just that good.

Upon arrival back home, I couldn't wait to get into my kitchen and recreate my own version of the omelet that I had in Spain. With wafer-thin golden potatoes fried in olive oil until they brown and get a little crispy, this dish is not only a satisfying Saturday morning treat, but can also be a quick weeknight dinner as well. The best part about this dish is its versatility. Below I have just given my basic recipe but I encourage you to play around with different combinations. You can make it light by adding in some spinach and mushrooms or you can thicken it up a bit with some sausage or prosciutto and Manchego cheese. Really, the options are endless here. The real secret here is in the crispy potatoes. I don't peel them first so they are still cloaked in their natural skin and create a nice surprise of a crust to the bottom of the omelet. Whatever you do, don't leave them out!
Spanish Omelet
- 3 eggs (I like my omelets to be light and fluffy so I use one full egg and then the whites of the other two eggs)
- 1 baby white potato
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Assorted herbs and seasonings (for this one, I used dried chives, truffle salt and oregano)
- Assorted fillings (for this one I used some goat cheese)


Crack the three eggs into a bowl. Add the herbs and seasonings and whisk together until well combined. Set aside. With a sharp knife, very thinly slice the potatoes and spread them out into a non-stick omelet pan with some extra virgin olive oil. Fry the potatoes on medium heat. Don't flip too often or they won't get crispy. Fry them until they start to really brown and then arrange them in a tight thin layer on the bottom of the pan. (See the above picture) Gently add the egg over the layer of potatoes and jerk your pan back and forth, taking breaks in between to swirl the pan. This ensures that the eggs will cook evenly. Let the eggs sit for a couple of seconds and then swirl the pan around again. Once the eggs have somewhat stopped being watery, add the fillings right down the middle of the pan and on top of the potatoes. With a rubber spatula, gently loosen up the edges of the pan and fold over one side of the omelet and repeat with the other, creating a blanket. Let it sit on the heat for a minute or two so that the cheese has a chance to melt. Top with and additional garnishes (I like to top mine with a bit of coarse sea salt and extra chives).