Well, this one isn't a new place. I've been going to Portofino for years. The chef, Brian, is a good friend of my younger cousin Vicki, and he catered both my cousins' weddings. That having been said, this review is way overdue.
Craig and I went there again tonight. He ordered his favorite appetizer, the carpaccio. As always, it was perfect: rare rare rare beef, beautifully dressed with olive oil, capers, shaved parmesan, and lightly dressed spring greens (or maybe arugula?). My appetizer was OMG duck wings. DUCK WINGS! With a chipotle-maple glaze. Absolutely fantastic. Crispy duck skin with a fantastic sweet-hot sauce. Lovely.
Salads were perfectly dressed, not drowned in dressing. Fresh baby greens, grape tomatoes, carrot shreds, and house-made garlic croutons.
Entrees. Oh, my, entrees. Craig had the pulled pork with hand-cut french fries, cornbread, and broccoli rabe. The pulled pork was absolutely AMAZING. It was moist, flavorful, a bit sweet and spicy, and not overpoweringly smoked. The fries were served on top of the pork. They were very flavorful and crisp. The cornbread was of the savory type, with real corn kernels throughout. The broccoli rabe was deep-fried, and its bitterness made a perfect contrast to the rich sweet/spicy/porky goodness of the pulled pork.
I had the linguini carbonara. Pancetta, prosciutto, peas, roasted garlic, red onions, parmesan, tossed in a cream sauce with the linguini. It. Was. Awesome.
Dinner (without drinks or dessert) was about $54 (before tax). If you go there, try the gnocchi. Brian makes the best I've ever had - light, fluffy, and absolutely wonderful.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
restaurant review - Palace Dumplings in Wappinger Falls
Craig and I have driven past this place with its neon "DUMPLINGS" sign for a while. Finally, I decided to check teh Intarwebz for information about it. I saw a bunch of reviews, virtually all of them positive. As I am a HUUUUUGE fan of all dumplings, we decided to check it out.
Side note - every ethnicity has dumplings of one sort or another. Pierogies, ravioli, what have you, I loves them all.
We started out our meal with soup. I ordered the egg drop soup and Craig chose the hot and sour soup. Which is the reverse of our usual choices, but what the hey. My soup was very light, not the usual thick bright yellow concoction I'm used to. It was excellent! Craig's was pretty much the same soup but with added rice wine vinegar, hot chili oil, and some tofu. It was an excellent and different version of the traditional hot and sour soup.
Next was our "salad" course. I ordered completely randomly - flavor green beans sheets. It was a bit weird, but it grew on me. It was tagliatelli-sized strips of a very chewy noodle-type thing with strips of cucumber, shreds of chicken, and maybe parsley dressed with a sweet rice wine vinegar dressing. The noodles were perfectly clear, similar to konjac noodles. I was a bit taken aback at first, but the flavor was so amazing that I just kept eating them. They are really, really, REALLY hard to eat with a fork, though. Chopsticks are kind of necessary.
Craig's salad course was the horseradish cucumber, which was very tasty and not too overwhelmingly horseradishy, even for weenies like me.
The dumplings. OMG the dumplings. There are twenty-five different kinds, vegetarian included. We ordered the pork and scallion dumplings and the beef and onion ones. Both were absolutely wonderful. Thin wrappers with lots of filling. There were a few choices of sauces on our table - straight soy sauce, something labeled dumpling sauce (garlic, rice wine vinegar, maybe Chinese mustard), another labeled sweet dumpling sauce (soy, sugar, rice wine vinegar), and a hot chili paste.
Our total bill came to $28.
There is nothing on the menu that is typical of what we think of as "Chinese food." No egg rolls, no fried rice, no sweet and sour pork. This is northern Chinese food, and it's absolutely wonderful. Highly, highly recommended.
Side note - every ethnicity has dumplings of one sort or another. Pierogies, ravioli, what have you, I loves them all.
We started out our meal with soup. I ordered the egg drop soup and Craig chose the hot and sour soup. Which is the reverse of our usual choices, but what the hey. My soup was very light, not the usual thick bright yellow concoction I'm used to. It was excellent! Craig's was pretty much the same soup but with added rice wine vinegar, hot chili oil, and some tofu. It was an excellent and different version of the traditional hot and sour soup.
Next was our "salad" course. I ordered completely randomly - flavor green beans sheets. It was a bit weird, but it grew on me. It was tagliatelli-sized strips of a very chewy noodle-type thing with strips of cucumber, shreds of chicken, and maybe parsley dressed with a sweet rice wine vinegar dressing. The noodles were perfectly clear, similar to konjac noodles. I was a bit taken aback at first, but the flavor was so amazing that I just kept eating them. They are really, really, REALLY hard to eat with a fork, though. Chopsticks are kind of necessary.
Craig's salad course was the horseradish cucumber, which was very tasty and not too overwhelmingly horseradishy, even for weenies like me.
The dumplings. OMG the dumplings. There are twenty-five different kinds, vegetarian included. We ordered the pork and scallion dumplings and the beef and onion ones. Both were absolutely wonderful. Thin wrappers with lots of filling. There were a few choices of sauces on our table - straight soy sauce, something labeled dumpling sauce (garlic, rice wine vinegar, maybe Chinese mustard), another labeled sweet dumpling sauce (soy, sugar, rice wine vinegar), and a hot chili paste.
Our total bill came to $28.
There is nothing on the menu that is typical of what we think of as "Chinese food." No egg rolls, no fried rice, no sweet and sour pork. This is northern Chinese food, and it's absolutely wonderful. Highly, highly recommended.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Mexican Chicken Casserole
I've been asked to provide this recipe, so here it is. This is exactly how I made it this past weekend. There are cheaper substitutes at the end.
Mexican Chicken Casserole (serves 8 generously)
3 cups of cooked chicken, diced
1 tub Knorr chicken stock
1 package Uncle Ben's Ready Rice Cajun flavor
1 package Uncle Ben's Ready Rice Santa Fe flavor
1 eleven oz. can Mexicorn - it is a mix of corn, beans, and peppers
1 sixteen oz. jar of garden salsa - it has corn in it. I used medium.
1/2 of a twenty-one oz. can of Bush's Fiesta Black Beans
2 cups shredded four-cheese Mexican cheese blend
2 tablespoons Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning
optional topping:
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a small dish, dissolve the Knorr stock with the liquid from the canned Mexicorn. Combine all ingredients in a casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes. You can also microwave this until the cheese is melted rather than baking it.
If you are using the optional sour cream topping, mix the sour cream, Mrs. Dash, and salt. Chill while casserole is baking.
To make this less expensive, you can substitute 4 cups brown rice for the Uncle Ben's.
Mexican Chicken Casserole (serves 8 generously)
3 cups of cooked chicken, diced
1 tub Knorr chicken stock
1 package Uncle Ben's Ready Rice Cajun flavor
1 package Uncle Ben's Ready Rice Santa Fe flavor
1 eleven oz. can Mexicorn - it is a mix of corn, beans, and peppers
1 sixteen oz. jar of garden salsa - it has corn in it. I used medium.
1/2 of a twenty-one oz. can of Bush's Fiesta Black Beans
2 cups shredded four-cheese Mexican cheese blend
2 tablespoons Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning
optional topping:
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a small dish, dissolve the Knorr stock with the liquid from the canned Mexicorn. Combine all ingredients in a casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes. You can also microwave this until the cheese is melted rather than baking it.
If you are using the optional sour cream topping, mix the sour cream, Mrs. Dash, and salt. Chill while casserole is baking.
To make this less expensive, you can substitute 4 cups brown rice for the Uncle Ben's.
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