Portsmouth, NH & Kittery, ME

Portsmouth New Hampshire is a nice little town just over the river from Maine. Known for great shopping in its walking center and close proximity to the Kittery Outlets in Maine, we found it also has a lot of hidden culinary treasures. We arrived late in the afternoon and after checking in to our hotel headed out to find some dinner. After a few suggestions from the hotel staff we ended up at the Portsmouth Gas Light Co. This restaurant has several different facets to it. There is the street level restaurant, the third floor club, the outdoor patio, and Downtown Pizza, a brick oven pizza joint in the basement of the building.

Upon entering the bar area I felt like I was walking into any number of local pizza parlors from my childhood. Brick walls, a dark wood bar, and the smell of pizza and beer wafting in the air. We decided to sit at the bar and order a few drinks and a pizza. They offer a full menu of appetizers, salads, pastas, calzones, and pizza. We decided on the Isle of Shoals pizza. A thick crust brick oven pie topped with proscuitto, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, and mushrooms (we got it without the shrooms).

As soon as the pizza hit the bar I knew it was going to be amazing. The proscuitto was thinly sliced and torn into bits cooked to perfection with a little crispness to the edges. The saltiness of the procsuitto was complemented by the earthy flavor of the artichokes and the sweet taste of the roasted peppers. All the toppings were slightly melted into the cheese and sauce that covered the slightly crispy dough. Note: Yes, I am a thin crust guy but that wasn’t an option here. This was very tasty dough and was nothing like the buttery Greek style pizza dough one might expect on a pie like this.

Pizza of course goes great with beer. I’m pretty sure they were Samuel Adams Summer Ale.

Later that night while walking around downtown we got a bit hungry and stopped into an Irish looking pub for a small bite and a drink. It was dark and kind of loud. We sat in a small booth that resembled gothic church pews. We ordered some pub fries. They tasted just like they look. Kind of dry and not a heck of a lot of flavor. We accented them with salt, pepper, and malt vinegar. We didn’t finish them. But we were still thirsty.

Then we found Coat of Arms. It was a lonely little green door down a dark side street. It looked like a private club to us. Inside the door and up the stairs and I thought I had stepped into a pub in England. We had a blast but missed the kitchen. So, beers it was. We stayed until closing and had a blast.

The next morning we parked on a small side street and decided to walk downtown Portsmouth. We happened upon The Works Bakery and Café. It was a bustling little bakery with a rather large selection of breakfast choices. Having had a few drinks the night before we both decided on the bacon, egg and cheese on a freshly baked bagel. I had mine with some hot sauce on it. The bagels were extremely fresh with a crisp crunchy outside and a soft chewy inside. I did not get to watch the sandwiches being made but I’m certain the eggs were microwaved. The cheese was a sharp tasting cheddar so at least they didn’t skimp out on that. Accompanied by OJ, this made a good start to our day.

After walking around the city for a few hours and working up an appetite we were told we should try the Portsmouth Brewery. A few blocks away and we entered the brew pub. Their local microbrew menu was written on the wall in colored chalk. I wish I had written down what we ordered, but here they are.

And for lunch…black bean dip. This stuff was awesome. Layers of black beans, scallions, cheese, sour cream, and salsa all served with a side of tortilla chips for dipping. It was just enough to fill our bellies (along with a few beers) to get us to dinner.

Crap…we missed dinner. But we did get some late night wings. They smelled a lot better than they tasted. Chewy and fatty chicken. Blah, not worth it to write about. So we went back to Coat of Arms. I really wanted one of the Scotch eggs I saw on the menu the previous night. But we missed the kitchen AGAIN.

Before leaving on Sunday we headed over to Kittery Maine for some shopping. We didn’t buy anything but we did visit Bob’s Clam Hut. Serving fresh fried seafood since 1956. These had to be some of the best fried clams I’ve ever had in my life. I’m sure that eating them al fresco helped the whole experience a lot. Fresh clam strips coated in a crunchy coating that wasn’t greasy and didn’t just crumble away upon first bite, all on a New England style roll. The lobster roll left something to be desired. I’m in Maine; I want some fresh lobster smothered in butter on my roll. This was chilled and mixed with mayo. The lobster was fresh but they should specify the cold and mayo part on the menu.

On the way home, we came across a store advertising they had over 10,000 pounds of candy on display. We were like kids in a candy store, except adults and in a store with THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF CANDY!!! Yeah, we spent a bit of money here.

North Branford Potato & Corn Festival

North Branford is a tiny little town just in from the shoreline of Connecticut. It is mostly farmland with two main crops; potatoes and corn. Hence the Potato & Corn Festival. This is a small little festival with a few midway games, a couple of shaky carnival rides, and a handful of local arts, craft and food vendors. We arrived late on a Friday afternoon, walked around a bit, listened to a friends band play on the main stage, then headed straight for the food tent. First up was my wife’s favorite, fried dough.

It has recently been brought to my attention that elsewhere in the country people may not eat fried dough the same way we do. Powdered sugar and cinnamon seem to be the toppings of choice. But for us here in New England, sauce and cheese rule. A good grated parmesan cheese adds nicely to this dish, but good…no GREAT sauce is a must. If your sauce is more like hot ketchup then I’m not interested.

This is how fried dough should be. A little bit of a crisp on the outside and fluffy and doughy on the inside. These were the perfect size fitting nicely on a paper plate with an oasis of sauce floating in the middle. The proper way to eat New England style fried dough is as follows. You start from the outer edges tearing off a piece, dip it in the sauce in the middle, pop into mouth and do your best to avoid dripping sauce on your shirt. Once the outside is gone it’s a free for all. I like to fold mine up and try to eat it like pizza. It is inevitable that sauce will drip out. Where it lands in anyone’s guess.

Being a potato and corn festival, we next hit up the potato vendor. We had to wait since they were out of both corn and potatoes. We skipped the corn (I know…) but we both got potatoes with the works. Bacon, broccoli, cheese, sour cream, and butter. They were fresh out of the cooker so we had to let them cool for a minute. Once they were cool enough to eat, we dug in.

If you’ve never had a loaded potato like this it is an experience to be had. The fresh steamed vegetables mixing with the liquid cheese, coolness of the sour cream, and moist starchiness of the potato is a medley of flavor not to be missed. As I write this I think of the potatoes from the Eastern States Expo. The North Branford potatoes could hold their own against the Maine potatoes in my opinion.

Just after we finished eating the power in the food tent went out. We had more things we wanted to try. Maybe next year.

The Melting Pot - Darien, CT

It has been a while since the wife and I went out to a nice meal.  We were invited to celebrate the anniversaries of the Brother with his girlfriend and our friends Tim & Missy.  This was our second trip to The Melting Pot in Darien, CT and I was very excited about it.  Our last trip to this restaurant was to celebrate Valentine's Day last year with the Brother and his better half.

Upon entering the establishment we were greeting by a smiling host who I later discovered was the owner/manager James.  He had been our host during our prior visit as well.  We waited for our table in the bar with our previous bartender Neil.  The bar is an elegant long room with a black granite bar top and backed by large windows overlooking the quaint streets of Darien.  After our first round or two we were informed that our table was going to take a little longer than expected and if we didn't mind waiting drinks were on James.  So we waited.  And drank.

We were eventually seated at a booth in the dining room.  The set up of the restaurant is very unique as it is split up into several smaller dining rooms with only a handful of tables in each.  The smaller rooms and the dark wood decor give the feeling of being in an exclusive private dining club.  In the center of our table were two flat top burners.  We glanced over the menu and all three couples quickly decided on the "Big Night Out", an all inclusive four course meal for two.  Since we had two burners we were able to choose two different flavored pots for each course.  Our waiter Joe was very attentive to our requests and explained everything in great detail.

The appetizers we decided on were the Fiesta and Wisconsin Trio.  Our waiter Joe came over to our table with double boiler pots, cranked up the heat, and retreated back to the kitchen to retrieve the ingredients for our first course.  When he returned he created our cheese fondue right at our table.  The fiesta pot was a mix of beer, salsa, jalapenos, and a cheese mixture.  It was slowly turned in the hotpot until it was melted down into a smooth bubbling mixture.  The Wisconsin Trio was constructed in a similar fashion with Fontina, Butterkase, Buttermilk Bleu, white wine, scallions and a hint of sherry.  To dip into all of this were we given tortilla chips, chunks of white and pumpernickel bread, sliced Granny Smith apples and crudités.  

Shortly after we finished with our cheese we were served our salads.  I love a good salad, but it was not the highlight of this meal.  I ordered a Caprese salad and a few others got the Caesar salad.  Both were good, but unless my salad is my main course it’s usually nothing to write home about.  So, moving on…

Following the clearing of our appetizers Joe returned with two fondue pots filled with steaming broths, placed them on the burners and raised the temperature to a higher level.    We had ordered two different pots to cook our main course in.  The first was the Mojo Style which we had tried during our last visit.  This flavor is a Caribbean style broth with just the right quantity of garlic and citrus flavors.  In my opinion it was best with seafood and pork but not heavy enough to impact the flavor of beef.  The other pot was a Coq au Vin style broth with fresh herbs, garlic, mushrooms and burgundy wine.  This was a much heavier broth and paired perfectly with the meats although it was a bit overpowering for the light seafood.  The Coq au Vin pot is pictures below.

I mentioned previously that our meal was an “all inclusive” meal and that is not a stretch.  We did not have to choose what type of meat we wanted to eat as we got a plate with it all.  The Melting Pot offered three levels of main course for their Big Night Out.  Two couples ordered the Fondue Fusion which consisted of a single split lobster tail, Filet Mignon Florentine, Limoncello Balsamic Sirloin, Shrimp Diablo, Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken, Orange Fennel Pork, and Porcini & Portabella Sacchetti.  This was the middle option.  The higher option included a second lobster tail and the lower version did not include the tail at all.  All three came with a plate of vegetables which included mushrooms, squash and potatoes.  Every piece of meat was meticulously trimmed to the perfect size for fondue cooking and there was not a trace of unwanted fat to be seen. 

To put it simply, everything was delicious.  As I mentioned before my favorite pairings were the lobster, shrimp and pork in the lighter Mojo style broth and the beef and chicken in the Coq a Vin.  Not to say the chicken wasn’t tasty in the Mojo style, because it was.  And the mushroom sacchetti went well with both.  The method is simple.  As Joe explained to us, everyone is given two color coded fondue forks.  Stab your desired piece of food, place it in the pot, and wait approximately two minutes.  Vegetables and shrimp take a little less time than beef and pork do.  Once your food is cooked you place it on your plate, stab your next piece of dinner and enjoy the cooked morsel while waiting for the next to cook.  We were also offered a plethora of dipping sauces including a curry yogurt and sweet and sour (both great on chicken and pork), a teriyaki and a bleu cheese sauce (perfect for the red meat), herb melted butter for the seafood, and something called Green Goddess for our vegetables.  The last one was a mixture of cream cheese and fresh chopped herbs if I heard Joe right.  

If you’re not drooling yet, you will be soon.  Because after dinner we decided that we all wanted our own dessert pots.  Since we were limited to two burners at our table we asked Joe is we could move to the bar for dessert.  He made arrangements for that to be set up and we moved our party back to Neil.

Everything on the dessert menu sounded extremely decadent.  Milk chocolate, white chocolate, half and half, all mixed with various liqueurs.  The wife and I chose the pick your own of milk chocolate and Chambord.  My brother and his girlfriend ordered the milk chocolate with Kahlua and our friends ordered the Bananas Foster, white chocolate with bananas, brown sugar and cinnamon.  These were all mixed right in front of us.  All the desserts were served with an assortment of sweets to dip including strawberries, bananas, Rice Crispy squares, cheesecake, brownies, and marshmallows covered with toasted coconut and chocolate crumbs.  I doubt I need to explain how good all this was.  The chocolate was silky smooth with the hinted flavor of the liqueur.  Paired with a glass of my favorite cordials (DiSarrono on the rocks) it was the perfect ending to one of the most unique, mouth-watering, and memorable meals I’ve had in a long time.  

The Melting Pot and its do-it-yourself style of fondue cooking is a great culinary experience.  Will I return to The Melting Pot?  Without a doubt.

Newport, RI

I haven’t been to Newport since I was in high school.  The wife and I decided to take a little overnight trip there and see how much had changed in the [redacted] years it’s been since we’d last seen it.  At first glance of the downtown area not much had changed.  As we walked Thames Street we realized there was one huge difference.  We were 21 and could drink in any of the bars we wanted.  Late in the afternoon we started eating our way through downtown.

Our first stop was Busker’s Irish Pub.  It was a dark looking place from the street and upon wandering in the front door realized it was pretty dark inside as well.  We sat at the bar and ordered a few beers and an order of Irish fries with gravy.  What are Irish fries you ask?  They are simply thick cut fried potatoes.  Some would call them French fries or Freedom fries.  But we were in an Irish pub, so…Irish fries.

The fries were freshly cut and twice fried leaving a crispy outside and a soft steamy inside.  They were served with a side of beef gravy that was to die or.  Made in house (or the absolute best jarred gravy I’ve ever tasted) the gravy was thick enough to hold onto the fries for the trip to my mouth.  After one bite I turned to the wife and said “I could only imagine a big beef sandwich smothered in this gravy.”  She had hers with some malt vinegar.  It took us two rounds of beers to finish the basket.

The second beer I ordered was a Bellhaven Scottish Ale.  It was a very creamy beer with a color slightly darker than Killian’s Irish Red but a much smoother and creamier texture. 

 

After we finished up there, we headed further down Thames to Sambar, a Brazilian tapas bar.  Here we had to ask several questions about the menu items and ended up with Portuguese Calso Verde (a soup of chicken broth, chorizo, and kale) and some sort of marinated chicken that was then fried and served with a creamy dipping sauce.

The soup was a delicious blend of salty broth, slightly spicy sausage, and earthy kale all mixed into one.  There were a few chunks of potatoes in the mix as well.  The wife and I sat there trying to figure out what the seasonings were.  We came up with sausage.  It seems as though the flavor permeated the entire soup but was not over powering.

The chicken was marinated in a blend of spices including garlic (it’s the only one I remember) then deep fried.  It was not coated in any kind of batter or bread crumbs and it was still on the bone.  Being on the bone it was still very juicy and very flavorful.  The sauce seemed to be a seasoned sour cream based sauce and paired very nicely with the slightly sharp marinade on the chicken.  

We also ordered a few more beers.  This time I went with a local brew Newport Storm.  As you can see the wife had a Stella.  The Newport Storm was very tasty and had a mild fruit flavor to it.  It hinted at apples or even a cider-like flavor.  About this time we met a nice local couple, Pat & Maggie, who told us about a few other places we should try.  They were nice enough to drive us to the next few locations.

The next stop on our eating tour was Perro Salado, a Mexican place just off the main strip.  Here we considered indulging in a pitcher of margaritas.  Instead I went with the Brooklyn Lager, a crab and goat cheese empanada, and pork tacos with a habanero salsa (made in house). 

I’m not a huge fan of crab.  I love crab legs drenched in drawn butter but other crab dishes tend to have a fishy flavor to me.  These empanadas did not.  They had the slight flavor of the sea paired with the creaminess of the goat cheese in a golden flaky crust pocket.  It was like a gourmet Hot Pocket.  We had fresh home made guacamole on the table as well.  I’m not sure if it was for the empanada or not but I put some on and was happy I did.  The freshness of the avocados and tomatoes added nicely to the already layer flavors of the crab and cheese.  

The pork tacos were some of the best I’ve ever had.  The meat was stewed with seasonings and cooked until it practically fell apart.  It was smoky and juicy and full of flavor.  Sandwiched in soft taco shells and topped with habanero mango salsa made fresh in house, this was a treat for the taste buds.  Next time I’m in Newport, I *will* be getting these again.

Everything after this point in the night is kinda fuzzy.  I know we ended up at Cappy’s Hillside Cafe and beat some locals in billiards.  I smoked a cigar on the walk back to the hotel and ended up with a half eaten pepperoni pizza in the room.  

Food Guy's Gumbo

I love Creole cooking.  I love the boldness of the flavors and the earthiness of the spices.  I’ve been making gumbo for a few years now, and I think I’ve finally gotten the hang of it.  Everyone makes gumbo different.  This is my version. 

1 cup oil
1 2/3 cup flour
1 cup chopped celery
1 medium chopped onion
1 large chopped bell pepper (red or green)
1 lb Andouille sausage
1 lb chicken (cut into chunks)
1 lb crawfish tails
1 Qt chicken stock
1-2 bay leaves
Palm full of fresh parsley & thyme chopped
Salt & Pepper
File Powder (optional)
Hot sauce (garnish)
Scallions (garnish)
Rice (cooked)

I start in a large pot (a Dutch oven would be best, but I don’t own one yet).  The first step is to make a roux.  You can do this ahead of time, but I always make it fresh.  Heat to medium-high.  Add 1 cup of vegetable oil and 1 2/3 cup of flour.  Constantly stir with a wooden spoon.  You may need to adjust the heat of your stove because you can’t let this burn.  If any black spots appear, you’ll need to start over.  As you stir you’ll notice the roux thicken and start to turn a darker shade.  I look for a dark peanut butter color before I move on to the next step.

On the side, brown the sausage in a nonstick skillet. 

Once the proper color is achieved in my roux I add in the trinity (onions, celery & peppers).  Stir in and cook for 5 minutes.  After the vegetables are slightly tender add stock slowly and stir while adding it as to avoid roux chunks.  If using low sodium stock add some salt at this point.  Also add the bay leaf and a few grinds of black pepper. 

Bring the stock to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.  Add the browned sausage (it’s a good idea to pat the sausage dry if it looks greasy).  Simmer on low for 45 minutes until broth reduced and thickens.  About half way through this I add the thyme. 

Once reduced by about 1/4 add the chicken.  I use all white meat cut into chunks.  Add parsley.  Simmer for 8-10 minutes or until chicken is cooked all the way through.  Then add the crawfish tails.  I use frozen tails that I thaw out slightly before adding to the pot (it’s all that’s available in New England).  Since these are cooked, they only need to simmer until they are hot all the way through.  

Serving suggestion:  I like to serve my gumbo in a bowl with a large scoop of rice in the middle.  Then I sprinkle on some fresh scallions and a pinch of file powder and add a few dashes of hot sauce.

Victoria Station - Salem, MA

We travelled to Salem, MA for a couple of days to check out the sites, see some witches, and eat some good food (hopefully).  It was a short trip.  We arrived Friday night and left Sunday morning.  Since we got there so late Friday night I had already eaten.  However, I did find a street vendor selling dirty water dogs.  Though they were insanely overpriced, I got one.

It was actually rather good.  That’s a foot long with processed cheese and Tabasco sauce.  None of my pictures seemed to come out good that first night.  What’s there to say about a hot dog purchased from a random street vendor at 10:00PM?  Anyone who’s ever had one has tasted this.  When it’s late at night and you’re having a few alcoholic beverages, nothing beats the dirty water dog.

The next morning we ate breakfast in our hotel.  They had a nice spread of pastries and danishes along with a waffle maker (but they were out of batter), some fruit, bacon, sausages, potatoes, powdered eggs, and an omelet station.  I went with an omelet with onions, peppers, cheese, and again a few dashes of Tabasco sauce (I love that stuff). It turned out to be your run of the mill buffet omelet.  The potatoes however were interesting.  They were red bliss potatoes baked in an oven with rosemary and thyme and a light coating of olive oil.  They tasted more like oven fries that I make at home and serve with roasted chicken than home fries that you would expect with breakfast.  

Later in the day after walking around the city we worked up an appetite and we came across Victoria Station, a restaurant right on the waterfront in Salem.  This was only a few blocks down from the famed House of the Seven Gables and the world’s oldest candy store, Ye Olde Pepper Companie.  Most of the food here was obviously prepared (i.e. jarred sauce, salsa, etc…) I started with the French Onion soup.

It was typical French Onion with a salty beefy broth containing sweetly stewed onions and a rather large crouton and huge glob of melted cheese topping the crock.  The soup was lacking the density of onions I like but the flavors were well balanced and not too salty as onion soup tends to be.  The wife had New England clam chowda and our friend Nick had something that was obviously delicious though I can’t recall what it was.  

Then we moved on to our appetizers.  We ordered Eggplant rollatini, fried artichoke hearts, and nachos.  

The eggplant was OK.  It was a bit over cooked which greatly affected the texture and kind of turned it to mush.  The cheese filling was tasty and slightly salty with a mixture of ricotta and mozzarella seasoned with a touch of black pepper and fresh parsley.  The sauce was not made in house as was apparent by the flavor.

Anytime I receive a plate like the nachos on my table I get excited.  It is such a fun food to eat with a group of friends.  Someone doesn’t like the jalapenos?  That’s ok, more for me.  There was a nice mix of cheese, salsa and sour cream dotted with jalapenos, black beans and scallions.  

The artichoke hearts were…unique to put it nicely.  They were canned whole artichoke hearts dipped in a flavorless batter and deep fried.  I’m not sure if the boiling liquid that squirted out of them upon first bite was natural juices, leftover water from the can or oil.  I’m pretty sure it wasn’t oil as that would have actually added some flavor to the dish.  The only thing that had any flavor on this plate was the remoulade it was served with.  The remoulade was actually the only thing that tasted like it was made in house.  

Overall this was a good meal.  Upon reading the back of the menu I learned the history of this restaurant.  There used to be something like 100 of these across the country in cities and towns that had “historical” areas.  Now the one in Salem is the only one left.  It was a nice building with a great view of the harbor and some really cool décor and an awesome bar.  The bar was one of the neatest bar coolers I’ve ever seen.  Of course I ordered a beer instead of taking a picture.  However, the bar was the highlight of the meal.  Would I go back to Victoria Station next time I’m in Salem?  Sure.  But only for drinks and I’d sit at the bar or on the outdoor patio if it were warm enough.

Grilled Chicken Quesadillas

I haven’t eaten out much lately, but the Wife and I have been revisiting some of our old recipes using new tools, spices, or techniques to try and change things up a bit.  Recently we made grilled quesadillas.  I worked at a Mexican restaurant for many years as a cook and learned the basic technique of building a good quesadilla.  In my mind the perfect quesadilla has tender juicy meat, fresh slightly crunchy vegetables, a crisp tortilla, and tons of flavor.  Here’s what we did this time. 

I started out with three trimmed skinless boneless chicken breasts.  I seasoned them with a mixture of salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, ancho chili powder, and a dash of habanero flakes.  A store bought mixture will work just as well, but go for something smoky and slightly spicy.  Those were grilled on our outdoor grill (Yes, I grill in the winter).  

Using my new found favorite grill toy…I mean tool, I cut up a red and green bell pepper and a sweet yellow onion.  They were lightly seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper.  I like to keep my veggies simple.  Those too were grilled, but not too much.  I like my veggies to still have a crunch to them when they are cooked and not turn into vegetable mush.

After the food on the grill was cooked, it was time to assemble and finish the meal.  After letting the chicken rest for a few minutes, I cut it up into manageable sized pieces.  I then take an 8” flour tortilla and add chicken, vegetables, and some shredded cheese.  I like to use pepper jack, but you can use anything you want.  I would suggest staying away from cheddar as it tends to be oily when it melts.  I then fold the quesadilla in half and finish it on my Panini grill (not pictured).  I could finish it on my outdoor grill, but then I’d have to go outside again, and it’s cold in Connecticut in the winter.  

After the cheese melts and the tortilla has a nice crisp to it, I remove it from the Panini grill, cut it into 4 pieces, and plate with a dollop of sour cream and some salsa.  In the past I have made a side dish of rice to accompany the main course, but this time I was out of rice.  

There are several variations to this meal that you can adjust to your own tastes.  Use beef instead of chicken, or a flavored tortilla.  Even use more vegetables such as yellow squash or mushrooms.  The possibilities are endless.