Drink - Eat - Blog

BBQ Tri-Tip Sliders

2010-03-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

What's this? I have a food blog I've been ignoring for a year? Well, let's try getting it started up again with a recipe for a party-sized serving of BBQ Tri-Tip Sliders. I came up with this for a potluck birthday celebration I attended a few days ago, and all who tried it there loved it.

What you need:
* 2 Tri-Tip roasts, about 2 lbs (+) each
* 2 sweet yellow onions
* 1 bulb garlic
* 3 packages (36) Kings Sweet Hawaiian Rolls
* Dry rub spices: salt, black pepper, ground mustard, garlic powder, cumin, paprika, chile powder, white pepper (or your own mix, to taste)
* Toothpicks

Rub your roasts till well seasoned, top and bottom, with your dry rub and place in pan. Set aside for at least 30 minutes before cooking.

Cut the onions into large chunks and remove the cloves from the garlic bulb, place them around the meat in the roasting pan.

Heat your oven to 375 and cook for about 50 minutes to medium rare. Yes, I called them "BBQ" sliders and then I cooked them in the oven. Sue me. Or do yours on the grill. On the day I made this for the party I ran short on time and made it in the oven. Nobody's perfect.

While the meat is cooking split the rolls and place bottoms only on your serving tray. Have a beer and chill out for a few minutes.

When the meat is done, set it aside for at least 5-10 minutes for carry-over cooking and to let the juices set before slicing.

While the meat is sitting, scoop out the cooked onions and garlic and put them in your blender or food processor. Cover them with your favorite BBQ sauce and give them a rough chop - three or four short pulses of the blender should do it.

Slice your meat and cut the slices in half (the rolls are small, you know).

Put the meat down on the roll bottoms, add one spoonful of the onion-garlic-BBQ relish on top of the meat, put the tops on the buns and secure with a tooth pick.

Bring the trays to the party and wait for everybody to tell how incredible your dish was.

(For video of the party, click here...)

Grill 'Em - "Our Grill * Your Rules"

2009-05-22T21:31:00.000-07:00

Along Bascom Ave. in Campbell, just a few blocks south of the Pruneyard shopping center is the Grill 'Em Steakhouse and Bar. Just a little over a year old, Grill 'Em has established itself as a fun and delicious way to spend a night out with friends - at least, judging from the crowd there tonight.

Grill 'Em is a steakhouse with hook: your steak is always cooked exactly the way you like it, because you do the cooking. Choose from a Sirloin, NY Strip, Rib Eye, or Filet Mignon, and they bring it to you raw and lightly seasoned. You then bring your meat up to the grilling station, where additional seasonings are available from black pepper and lemon pepper, to garlic powder and season salt, to several spice mixes. Wet seasonings, like A1, Worcestershire, and a couple of BBQ sauces, are also on hand.

The grill is a great area for socializing with neighbors and other patrons. Instructions for achieving your desired level of doneness are posted clearly, but most self-respecting guys wouldn't be caught dead reading it publicly. The garlic bread (included with each steak) is also served raw for you to bring to the grill for crisping.

For those who don't care to cook their own meat a "We Grill 'Em" menu section includes several sandwiches (Chicken, Pulled Pork, Portobello Mushroom) and a grilled chicken salad. Appetizers and side dishes are also prepared and cooked for you in the kitchen.

A full bar mixes all sorts of drinks, beers on tap or in the bottle, and a small, but respectable, wine list.

So, now you know what it is - but how is it?

Fantastic. Of course our steaks (we each had the Rib Eye) were done perfectly, because I know what I'm doing, but the selection of cuts and level of freshness are a tribute to the chef. And the side dishes (we had corn on the cob, garlic fries, and onion strings) were sinfully delicious and each large enough to share between at least two or three people.

Friendly and helpful service and a clean, well designed environment put comfort and fun as top priorities.

My first experience with a "grill your own" steakhouse was back in 1996 on Kauai. I enjoyed it then, and appreciated having the control over my own steak that I have at home, but without having to worry about lighting coals, going shopping, or (worse) cleaning up after. Grill 'Em takes that concept I first encountered in Hawaii and does it so much better.

If your looking for a fun evening of meat and drinks for a small group of friends, and you're not afraid to step up to the grill in front of your peers, definitely give Grill 'Em a try.

Grill 'Em is located at:
2509 S. Bascom Ave.
Campbell CA
(408) 371-8729

Crimson Gets it Right

2009-05-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

As Tom Petty once sang, "Some days are diamonds, Some days are rocks." And then, there are those rocky days when somebody tosses you a diamond just as you're about to give up all hope. Yesterday was one of those days. Upon returning home, tired and sore, I got an email from the folks at Crimson with the subject line, "Got Lobster? Prime Grade T Bone? For 25$? Hmm?"

Their Prix Fixe special for the day was a three course meal featuring choice of Asparagus Soup with crispy shallots and Meyer lemon oil or Grilled Castroville Artichoke with roasted garlic aioli for starters, 22 oz T-Bone Steak with caramelized onions and blue cheese served over mashed potatoes, Pan Roasted King Salmon over seared polenta cake and citrus basil sauce, or half of a 1-1/2 pound Maine Lobster with pasta pearls for dinner, and Tiramisu or homemade Strawberry Sorbet for desert.

I called my wife, still at work, and told her, "Don't come home. Meet me at Crimson." She didn't argue or ask any questions.

I'm nothing but trouble and substitutions, so I opted to start with a Caesar salad instead of artichoke or asparagus, the T-Bone, medium rare, substitute polenta for mashed, and the sorbet. My wife had the Asparagus Soup, Lobster, and Tiramisu. A couple of glasses of wine were also chosen.

The Caesar salad was yummy, of course, with just the right balance of garlic, hint of anchovy, and citrus. Well dressed, but not soggy and dripping.

The soup was creamy and rich and delicious. Considering it was something I was tempted to refer to as "Asparagoo" it was quite excellent - I even took a second small taste.

My steak was cooked just right, with plenty of juicy red meat, seared to perfection. Enough blue cheese (you don't want to overdo that), but if I could say one thing I'd like different it would be just a little more of the caramelized onion. The polenta was also wonderful. Crispy outside, soft, warm, and moist inside. Even the carrots on the side of the plate were good enough to eat every last bit of; cooked fully, but still with a nice crunch.

The Lobster made a wonderful dish with the pearl pasta and a nicely understated sauce that accented the lobster without overpowering it. As a lobster eating experience, it wasn't quite the same as having a whole two-pounder put in front of you with some implements to tear it apart. But as a well thought out, beautiful and satisfying dish, it was it hit all the right marks.

The deserts were each delicious (we ended up taking home most of the tiramisu along with half the steak and some of the pearl pasta).

The only serious complaint would be that the service was slightly off. Normally for a Tuesday night, they plan for a very small seating. The email, however, brought in far more people than they had staff to cover for. The waiter was clearly a bit nervous about this situation, but he still managed to take good care of us, and be there when we needed him. And, most important, the food did not suffer because of it.

While we usually only think of Crimson for "special occasions," the mid-week $25 prix fixe is a great lure to bring us in more often. It's no wonder that it's one of our favorite places.

Crimson is located at:
15466 Los Gatos Boulevard
Los Gatos, CA 95032
Phone: 408.358.0175

Heart O' the Mountain Winery

2009-04-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Last week my wife and I went up to Heart O' the Mountain Winery above Scotts Valley for a special wine tasting event. This is a relatively new winery that only does Pinot Noir, and has only had two publicly available releases (the '05 and the '06) but they've both been gold medal winners and very well received.

The wine is great, but the really cool thing about Heart O' the Mountain for me is that they're on the former Hitchcock estate. This was Alfred and Alma's weekend getaway from about 1940 to about 1970 or so (they sold it in '74, but hadn't been up for a few years before that due to declining health).

I'd actually gone in search of this house before, but not quite found it. Turns out, I was on the right path, and had identified the correct driveway, but that there were still two or three locked gates between me and actually seeing anything. As a life-long Hitchcock fan it was a great thrill to finally be on the estate property and see the house and courtyard, which is still pretty much the same as when Hitch was there entertaining Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, and Jimmy Stewart.

Unfortunately, none of the wine is from Hitchcock's vineyard, or the original 1881 vineyard. By the time this family bought the place in '78, those vines were all dead and buried, so they've had to replant the entire estate over the last decade.

We have now tasted some of their '04 (unlabeled and never for sale), the '05, the '06, and '07 from the barrel. All very yummy, and the progression is heading in a very powerful and flavorful direction. We've also had pairings of their '06 side-by-side with French wines from plants in the same family. The French version was beautifully dry and tannic. Heart O' the Mountain's had that, plus a full fruit body that was pleasing in all areas of the mouth.

Beyond the excellence of the wine, and history of the property, there is the Brassfield family. Robert is the winery owner and patriarch and his son Brandon is the winemaker. They and their wives are wonderful hosts and show great warmth and hospitality to all who visit to share their passion for Pinot.

Heart O' the Mountain promises to be a leading contender in Pinot Noir competitions for some time to come.

Winery not open regularly - Check website for calendar of special events.

Hello World

2009-04-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

What's this? I've started yet another blog? Against all common sense, yes.

Why? Because I like to drink. And eat. And blog.

What will you find here? Restaurant reviews, bar reviews, recipes, winery visits, bottles of booze, and lots of opinions on the above. Now, a lot of that is necessarily going to be local to me. So, a lot of Silicon Valley and Santa Cruz area restaurants. But I do get out occasionally, and I'll write about that as well.

I'm also a big fan of the Food Network, and if there's anything I've learned from The Next Food Network Star it's that you need to have a culinary point-of-view.

Mine can be summed up in a quote from Pauline Kael: "Movies are so rarely great art, that if we cannot appreciate great trash, we have very little reason to be interested in them."

Okay, I know. She's talking about movies, not food. But, for me, the same principal applies. Very few of the meals we have are great art, so if we can't learn to appreciate the very best burgers, pizzas, and fried chicken, what's the point in talking about it?

So here it is. The new project. Drink. Eat. Blog.