... cappuccino apple cider donuts from Cider Belly Doughnuts. Truth be told we also snacked on plain, cinnamon sugar, glazed, chocolate, and maple ones but our favorite so far are these coffee-flavored ones. They're light and fluffy with a crispy exterior with us enough sweetness from the glaze. They've especially tasty if you're lucky enough to get a few warm and fresh ones.
Not that we don't love the Capital Region food scene, but for my birthday weekend, I wanted an extra special culinary experience. One of our favorite places to visit and eat is Portland, Maine so we went on a little foodie tour. We packed a lot of bites into two days. Here a few highlights:
Pai Men Miyake
Ramen of the non-college staple kind. This Japanese noodle joint is some seriously good eats. I indulged in a bowl of Mazeman--a low broth ramen made with scallop and aka miso dashi, porchetta xo, yam croquettes, miso cured egg, uni cream, wakame seaweed, edamame, and menma bamboo shoots with a giant spoonful of salmon roe.
Holy Donuts
Would you believe that all these donuts are made with Maine potatoes? Plus they only use pure cane sugar and glazes are from fruit juices or vegetable dyes only; no artificial anything. The results are fluffy donuts much like cider donuts but Holy Donuts puts a spin on its flavors with unconventional glazes. We were big fans of the berry cannoli and coffee brandy flavors but the money bite was in a freshly fried cheddar bacon potato donut. Yup! As odd as it sounds, this savory bite totally worked!
Duckfat
Of course there's always room for more donuts. Not only are these citrus-scented doughnut holes fried in duck fat but they're served with a salted caramel made with duckfat. For good measure, we paired our doughnuts with duckfat salted caramel milkshakes. Can you hear our arteries clogging up? It was all worth it.
Eventide Oyster Co.
This joint is home to the best brown butter lobster roll in Portland but lucky for us also serves Sunday brunch. That meant starting my birthday off with a bloody mary oyster shooter followed by this magical bite: fried cauliflower and oyster with romesco, almonds, and a luxurious egg yolk. Heaven!
Benkay Sushi
We just couldn't leave Portland without more bites of lobster. In this case, in sashimi form with grapeseed oil and fine Japanese sea salt. By the way, even Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert have stopped by here, and for a good reason. It serves some of the best seafood.
...this crusty and chewy French baguette from TC Paris Bakery with gobs of salty butter. Tastes just like the ones from Montreal and Paris. Soon you'll be able to have this made into one tasty sandwich: https://www.facebook.com/TCBakery. Pick up something sweet while you're here too. The opera cakes and a sleeve of macarons come highly recommended.
...brown butter vinaigrette lobster rolls from Eventide Oyster Co. in Portland, ME. We drove here specifically for this piece of heaven on earth.
We've seen the light at the end of the Italian food tunnel and it's called DeFazio's Pizza. J and I have never really been satisfied in our choices of pizza and pasta in the 518, even turning to a certain restaurant chain (NOT of the unlimited breadsticks kind) just to satisfy a quick hankering for carbs, cheese, and sauce. Lucky for me, I started a new job that introduced me to DeFazio's. I've long heard about this gem of place but never made the effort to go in person until I had a bite of the wood-fired stromboli and pizza from the Empire State Plaza Farmer's Market. The magic was in the crust, even from a mini portable oven. One crackly bite later, I knew J and I had to hit up the small Troy storefront.
Upon sitting down at a cozy corner, a loyal customer couldn't help but brag about the hand-grated jars of parmesan, scratch-made pasta, and even hand-ground meats for the meatballs. I had tried the meatballs in the stromboli and had no doubt that the food was made with care and passion. I had a massive pasta craving and ordered the linguini with red clam sauce. This bowl of wonderfulness was more than satisfying. Fresh pasta made all the difference. The texture of the linguini was perfectly al dente. The clams were thankfully not overcooked and brought the dish a delightful briny seafood flavor while the light, bright tomato sauce just brought everything together. It was hard to share even one bite. I'm still drooling over the dish, particularly the pasta. Lucky for me I can find fresh DeFazio's pasta to take home from the farmer's market. I made the best chicken alfredo thanks to some fresh fettuccine and usually this Asian can't cook Italian well.
As intriguing as the General Tso's pizza was (Mozzarella Cheese, Italian Herb Chicken, Fresh Broccoli, Topped with General Tso Sauce and Spices), J went with a Brown's beer crust pizza topped with prosciutto. Good pizza needs a good foundation and DeFazio's delivered. The magic really was in the dough. The crust was delightfully crisp and charred from the wood-fired oven yet still chewy, tender and very flavorful.The ratio of sauce to cheese was just right and how could you go wrong with crispy prosciutto. It was a good balance of toppings to crust and just plain tasty overall. Now we know why DeFazio's Pizza was AOA's Tournament of Pizza champion. Can't believe it took us this long to stop by!
... HoppyPop Local NYS Craft-Beer Infused Caramel Popcorn from Kernel Cravings.
Sweet, salty, and crunchy with a subtle hoppy, bitter flavor.
Found at the Empire State Plaza Farmer's Market and eating by the handful!
I don't have a green thumb. My basil plant is barely surviving this summer. When it comes to gardening, I'd be happy to leave that to the professionals. When it comes to eating, we're pros but harvesting was a whole new adventure. We've gone apple picking before and that seemed easy enough; why not try berry picking? Samascott Orchards always has a beautiful farmer's market spread of fruits and veggies. When we heard they did pick your own, it was a chance to put on our foraging hats. Samascott Orchards is only a 30 minute drive to Kinderhook from Albany. Bring your own containers or bags for picking or it'll cost you a quarter for a couple of plastic bags or $0.75 for a cardboard container. Right now blueberries are flourishing and we were happily eating sampling for quality control along the way; they kind of discourage you from not eating before paying.
Sweet, plump, and still warm from the sun's kiss; it's so satisfying tasting what Mother Nature has to offer this summer. The best picking method? Cup your hands and pick with your thumbs and a bounty of blueberry jewels will fall into your palm. Sure you can easily stop by the Samascott Garden store on the way down but there's something to be said about working hard for your food. No sweat, no berries. There were still plenty of blueberry bushes awaiting ripening but strawberries and sweet cherries were at a premium and already picked over. We were able to find a handful of strawberries but it was more of a scavenger hunt. J grew up on sour cherries and while most people overlook these rubies, we appreciate its tart flavor and harvested a bucketful for a pie to be. But really all these berries are just as good, if not better, on their own.
A couple hours and a sunburn later, we walked away with $20 worth of blueberries, sour cherries, and strawberries. All the berries were priced at $2.00/pound, with the exception of black raspberries at $5.00/pound which we somehow missed. You can also pick for peas, squash, and cucumbers at $1.25/pound.
At weigh-in, you'll find a variety of homemade jams and jellies, cold apple cider, frozen meats, and cider donuts at the farmstand. We decided to end our pick-your-own trip on a sweeter note with a scoop or two of homemade ice cream. We topped scoops of raspberry and peach ice creams with our freshly picked prizes. Delish! As an added bonus, we stopped by Ninepin Cider for a bit of libation. Ninepin uses apples from Samascott for their cider so it was only fitting that we completed the full circle with a tasting and growler to go. This summer is shaping up to be pretty sweet!
