Showing posts with label steak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steak. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Hump Day Happy Hour!

The food truck scene in the Capital Region has grown quite a bit within the past few years with a loyal fan base. I remember when Slidin' Dirty was just starting on the scene. Now their avocado fries have taken them all the way to Live with Kelly and Michael and lines have gotten longer, making the wait even sweeter. Not too long ago, we had missed the Food Truck Showcase at the Saratoga Eagle's Club and were pretty bummed out.  Lo and behold the kickoff of the Food Truck Showcase of Upstate New York's Hump Day Happy Hour at Shmaltz Brewing Company last Wednesday. It was the first warm and beautiful day of the summer, perfect for enjoying a few cold brews alongside our favorite food trucks.  
Naturally, our first stop was for beer. We were at Shmaltz Brewing Co. after all. $10 will get you a flight of 5 beers plus a souvernir tasting glass, even when the food trucks aren't around. Armed with a cold one, we were ready to hit the food trucks. J's been waiting to hit Slidin' Dirty since last summer. Sadly avocado fries weren't on the menu but we gladly substituted for jalapeno beef cheddar egg rolls. It's a fun twist on a favorite appetizer and tastes even better with chipotle cream dipping sauce. The beer, in this case a hoppy rye lager (David's Slingshot), paired great with the salty, crispy, and greasy eggrolls. We also shared a duo of sliders: The Dirty Soprano (beef slider with fresh mozzarella, pesto, balsamic glaze, and fried tomato) and The Avocado Bleu (opting for a fried tomato veggie substitute with blue cheese, arugula, crispy onions, and horseradish cream). As always, these are little bites packed with flavor. It might seem like a lot of ingredients for a little bun but it all comes together so well.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

The Illium Cafe

We're on the verge of a heart attack as we write this post but every bite of The Illium Cafe's Cajun Pork Belly & Crispy Prosciutto Panini was worth it. We've always been fans of The Illium and it's been our go to brunch spot after a visit to the Farmer's Market in Troy. Our favorite sandwich is the Surf and Turf Sandwich. It's a flavorful combo of grilled shrimp and marinated steak with blue cheese, roasted red peppers, and arugula on foccacia. But when we read about the pork belly panini on All Over Albany's Eat This! we knew it was one of those crazy concoctions that we had to try. 

Truth be told, this is the second time we've tried this sandwich within a three week span. We're gluttons but to be fair, J ordered his own last time while I got the Surf and Turf.  I devoured my own order this time around. I figured the pork would balance all the turkey from the Holidays plus I hadn't had any breakfast yet and we had a very late lunch. All justified.  

Be prepared to be unproductive for the rest of the day. The Cajun Pork Belly and Crispy Prosciutto Panini is an open faced sandwich made with a savory bread pudding with brie cheese, pork belly, and topped with a hefty mound of crispy prosciutto, fried egg, and hollandaise sauce. There is no shortage of pork here and it's all kind of magical. These are all rich and fatty elements but somehow it all works together. 

The bread pudding has all the familiar flavors of a classic Thanksgiving stuffing and is the perfect vehicle to mop the runny egg yolk and creamy taragon hollandaise sauce. Fresh elements of red onions and spinach helps break up the richness of all the other elements. Last time J got arugula instead of spinach, which I thought was the better of the greens. Love that peppery bite. Our version also differed a bit from Masticating Monkey's in that we got fresh spinach instead of sauteed. Plus instead of a brie sauce ours was a slice of grilled cheese with brie beneath the slice of savory bread pudding. I can only imagine that the cheese sauce would add another rich layer of flavor.  A touch of acid or something pickled would have helped cut the greasiness of the dish but when you're ordering a dish like this, you might as well go all in. Why else would there be pork belly AND crispy prosciutto. Over the top? Absolutely but so worth it. 

The pork belly is essentially a thick cut of bacon. My pieces were a bit tough and dry this visit and frankly I didn't really pick up on any Cajun flavor but it's ok. The mountain of crispy prosciutto more than made up for it. Crispy, crunchy, salty, and bacon-y. This sandwich is the ultimate comfort food. If you need to squeeze in some veggies, the dish also comes with slices of pickles and a side of potato salad or coleslaw. 

The Pork Belly Panini is a try at your own risk type of sandwich but since it's the holiday season, why not indulge a bit. You need some pork fat to warm up in this chilly weather anyway and it's fuel for all that Christmas shopping. 

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The Hollow Bar + Kitchen

This past week was Restaurant Week in Downtown Albany.  For those not from the area, or the blissfully unaware within the area, this is a week that restaurants advertise a three course meal for a low low price of $20.13.  As first-timers, we were afraid restaurants would cheap out on menu items and portion sizes. 

I feel like I've been the negative nellie on this blog, which is hopefully not a reflection of my real life attitude.  I do tend to be the one to write when we have a bad experience, for whatever reason.  Today, however, I want to tell everyone about a fantastic experience we had at The Hollow Bar + Kitchen in Downtown Albany.

The Hollow.  Though it failed to live up to its name in that we saw no headless horsemen--this is more disappointing to me than you'd think--the food, service, and hospitality managed to overcome this deficit.  Walking in the interior is fairly nondescript, with simple brick walls and white linen tablecloths.  The lighting is a little low, though I didn't have an issue reading anything (possibly because we sat near the window), and the music and atmosphere generally comes across as rock-indyish to me, but I may just be a cultural gorilla.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

What's Cooking?

Having a bad day? Stop by The Meat House and treat yourself to some of the best steak you'll ever have, if not THE BEST. Throw it on the grill and your inner carnivore will thank you for life. It's THAT good. We found a new found love for grilled steak thanks to The Meat House. The quality of the steaks are above and beyond that of your average supermarket's. The best steak is as simple as olive oil, salt, and pepper and that meat just melts in your mouth. *drool* In the past, we were always hesitant to spend a little extra on meat, but we've now seen the light at the end of tunnel and are addicted! As much as we love going out, sometimes treating ourselves to a good 'ole steak on the grill is just as good. 

The best steak sandwich we've ever made was with Meat House steak. The butcher gave us a sample of their house marinated steak tips and were hooked from that day forth. It was unbelievably tender, delicious, and flavorful. Add your steak tips to a grilled focaccia roll with a schmear of tangy goat cheese, pickled red onions (just soak slices of onions in some rice wine vinegar and sugar), and grilled shrimp and man will your belly be happy. This surf 'n turf sandwich is out of the world. Inspired by The Illium Cafe's own surf 'n turf sandwich (a combo of marinated sliced filet, grilled shrimp, blue cheese-garlic herb butter, roasted red peppers, and arugula on foccacia), our homemade version is just as kick-ass. Last night's version was made with a strip steak but we definitely recommend the marinated steak tips. The meat sweats have never been better. -R