“International Night” starting at Gordon Ramsay Steak – All Around the WORLD…

It’s Night #3… another day of lounging by the pool during the day and just being lazy.  After the club flop last night and the way too late dinner, we got our act together and got reservations to Gordon Ramsay Steak thanks to one of their chefs which W knew and helpd me get in contact with. I’m a crazy Hell’s Kitchen fanatic and this is the restaurant that they’re all trying to win over this season SO YAY.

Speaking of Hell’s Kitchen, who do you think will win? The top three right now are strong… I think Justin’s been pretty consistently awesome.  SO good at the blind tasting… and Christina is good too. Dana’s got kind of that annoying voice and talks like she’s reading a script and shouting all the time…. hahaha

Back to the restaurant… Too bad no Gordon sightings… I have a bit of a crush on him..

Wearing my little mini and the beautiful McQueen heels that W bought me for my bday <3

Check out my Vintage Chanel necklace.. it’s a looking glass that they used to use back in the day [Chanel jewelry makers] to inspect their jewelry… one of a kind piece. I LOVE IT.

On our way to the taxi line….. Our taxi? Hahaha… why sure!

And so begins our international night… we started in GREECE [Caesar's Palace]

Ending up in Paris…..[YAY We're in Paris!!!!..]

actually the first time I’ve been in the Paris Hotel/Casino.  It’s fun…. we couldn’t find a ‘street sign’ to the steakhouse but ended up finding it cuz it had a HUUUUUGE glowing sign over it HAHA.

BOOOOOOOOOBS!!!

Ate in London [hahahaha]

Everytime I see Beef Wellington I think of Gordon Ramsay in Hell’s Kitchen HAHAHA…..Everyone always fucks them up.

This was the Tasting Menu… comes with a free photograph…. tempting but I didn’t want everything on the menu…

The Meat Trolley <3 I’m in love…

Breads…. foccacia… a stilton roll, a truffle roll and just some cheesy french bread with nuts in it.  The butter had a delicious brown salt on top.  My favorite was the truffled roll. We are on a truffle ROLL in Vegas hahahah Get it? Get it? First Night Sushi. Second Night Polenta…  JOY

Kelly’s boozy cocktail… it was filled sorts of antioxidant juices and berries.. it was SO good…

I started with a glass of champagne and we got a delicious bottle of Argentian Malbec!!!

Appetizers

Sonoma Farms Foie Gras
pan seared foie gras, harry’s berries strawberry jam, english muffin, bacon bits

One bite, two bites, more bites… bread basket.. haha.. the foie was huge and good, but not amazing.. too overcooked so it started to get slightly mealy?!… the jam was really good.. the biscuit was meh.. I LOVE FOIE.  But I make it better, sorry Ramsay.

Kurobuta Pork Belly
braised swiss chard, candied kumquat, cauliflower puree
This was SOOOO GOOOD, just a really small portion.  Fatty, meaty. chewy skin but with a crisp to the top. ANNNNNND…

Chicharonnnnes…

Along with grilled peaches and crunchy hazelnut smooshy puree/blend.

AND THEN….Dinnnner time!!

Let’s start with the best sides ever.. aside from the Polenta from the other day… these were by far the happiest things I put in my belly. I FUCKING LOVE CORN.

Fire Roasted Corn
corn, chile, lime

Spicyyyyy and amazing.  With just a tiny bit of sour cream mixed in.. you didn’t even need it.. I ate most of this… inhaling it by the mouthful… SOOOOO GOOD.

Fingerling Potatoes
parmesan, truffle

You guys know I’m not a potato person – minus dirty mash and fries – but these were SOOOOOOO fucking amazing I have to curse.  Tender potatoes with a nice skin that was still intact and a POP when you bite in. Some were “smashed” but it was still OH SO delectable. I’m seriously gonna just start ordering ONLY sides and apps instead of entrees. AND OMG these have turned me onto potatoes again like no other. FINGERLINGS are my new fav <3

Roasted Bone Marrow

This was an addition to the steak.  I had some with the steak… but then ended up just licking them clean.  Kelly enjoyed, but not THAT much and gave me the rest of hers. HAHA. MORE FOR ME. YAY. JOY.

Bacon = Meat Candy
Bone Marrow = Meat Butter

We split an 8oz Kobe Rib Cap

It was delicious. I asked for medium rare since Kelly isn’t a bloody weirdo like me… but they came out really rare. which was FUCKING amazing to me. SOOOOO good…. buttery, tender… UGH, I died and gone to heaven.

More wine? YES PLEASE.

The best part of this photo is that I wasn’t even drunk.  Kelly has a way with taking REALLY amazing pic s of me looking drunk and wasted…

We were gonna head to the club, but was offered complimentary dessert.. soooo we got the

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Butter Ice Cream
YES BUTTER ice cream.  This was DIVINE.  If I wasn’t so full I would’ve had 10 of them.

Kelly is too proper, cutting a piece… I just dug in – no wonder my mother tells me to be more lady like. I guess that’s why I’m not married yet.

AFTER, we headed to PURE nightclub in Caesars.. W’s friend Cheri works there and not only is she HOT, she got us on the guestlist…

BACK TO GREECE…

Right after this picture…

I spilled my drink on some Chinese guy. Who said “YOU SPILLED YOUR DRINK ON ME.. now I have to buy you a drink” Off to his VIP table… Found out he was from Canada for a Bachelor party…  Kelly and I decided to call them Canasians.. after giving Kelly a cranberry juice and me a Vodka with a splash of cranberry… we got some tequila shots.. and they herded us like sheep. LIKE SHEEP. onto the dance floor — I saw a group of REALLY REALLY TALL cute big black guys eyeing us..

I said “Please save us!”

The biggest one said “Oh SHIT, I thought you guys were together”

I said “NOOOOOOOOO”

So we danced with them. YES SAVED.

“I THINK IT WORKKKKKKED”

And then Cute White German Boys stole us from them. One named Kim. Yes.  A cute German boy named Kim. HAHA.

But my feet hurt so after going to the rooftop and him wanting to dance again… we went downstairs, passed the exit and I said to Kelly “RUN FOR IT……..”

Where we ran out, and I took off my shoes IMMEDIATELY.

SO MANY STAMPS – guestlist. lady. enter. rooftop. return.

BEST PARTY NIGHT IN VEGAS THIS YEAR. BEST PARTNER IN CRIME. HEYOOOOOOOO…..

PORC OUT 2012

PORC OUT 2012 happened at Bourbon Steak DC the other sunday.  It was a rainy day but it didn’t stop pork lovers everywhere to show up.

Split Roasted Whole Pig * Buffet Style Dining * Oyster Bar* 

Grilled Corn on the Cob *Warm Jalepeno Cheddar Corn Bread *

Taco Stand * Home Made Soft Serve Ice Cream *

Warm “Everything Cookies *

and much more!!

Plate number one of many…
Delicious corn, ribs, roast pig.. mmmm pig skin!!!!

And the famous Pork Tacos!!!

I got mine with everything on it… MMMM…

And the dangerous vodka soaked watermelon.. I had endless slices… oopsies ;]

More more more… also had beer, wine, spiked lemonades and punches, etc.. SOOO GOOOOD..

They also had hot dogs in a cute OG hot dog cart outside in the rain haha – same ones we ate the other day.

Bourbon Blind Tasting…  how well do you know your bourbon?

Dessert Sundae Bar time!!! WOOT

Strawberry and Chocolate Ice Cream with an everything cookie, boozey Cherries, marshmallows and a Bacon Caramel! NOM

And since W and I got there a bit late we missed the oyster bar… so Chef Sobel was sweet enough to bring me out some :D NOM

YAYAYAYAY… can’t wait for next year :D  Went back home and slept off the booze.. only to go out drinking all night hahahaha - I love pig. Life is good.

ROAST: Detroit just got SO much better, thanks to Iron Chef Michael Symon

Finally found a great place in Detroit aside from Slow’s and W’s cooking haha… and W’s cooking doesn’t count since it’s not really THE restaurant but HIS food hahahaha anyways… we’re also both lazy creatures of habit so we like to eat at the same places over and over again… as you can tell by my Detroit posts we eat a lot IN the hotel restaurants, the food court in the hotel, room service, Slow’s BBQ and the diner at Motor City.

We headed to the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit Hotel which is the home of Roast, something I didn’t know about until W mentioned it to me just a few days before….  I’m a fan of Iron Chef Michael Symon and have wanted to go to Lola in Ohio for AGES…. anyways, I had reservations at 9 and we were promptly sat at a nice big booth tucked away near the bar and by the wine case…

We were greeted by the nicest, most well informed waiter, who actually used to be working at Lola…  we ordered – the booze list actually came on an ipad haha… and we were quickly served

Bread + Soft Creamy Butter

Pork Crackling 

sea salt, lime, chili powder

SO good we got some to go.  Squeeze of lime, slight bit of grease, tons of crunch and a nice heat to it.  Delicious spices and amazing.  These were like CRACK.

Soon we were out :[ Sad

I was so sad I looked at it upside down and the paper and crumbs fell all over me.  I may or may not have yelped like a puppy. OOPS.

A beautiful Chilean red wine we ordered.  It was on the Somm's list AND it wasn't pricey at ALL - the others were $$ and this was not only on the low end of the price spectrum, it was Chilean, I looove Spanish&Chilean wines!

Miguel Torres, Santa Digna, Cabernet  Sauvignon, Central Valley, Chile 2009

A darkly pigmented wine with an intense, full and very fruity aroma. The palate is majestically structured - velvety, meaty and with elegant body. Its smooth, fine tannins, outlined by new oak, ensure a long evolution in the bottle.

Produced exclusively from Cabernet Sauvignon, that king of red varieties, which achieves its fullest varietal expression in the privileged climate of the Chilean Central Valley. This is a great example of the heights to which Cabernet Sauvignons produced on the Pacific coast can rise.

It had a bit of a bite to it but got creamier as the wine opened up, like most Cab Sauv's...

Our first three courses...

Today's Charcuterie Plate

A lot of everything.. headcheeses.. lomo, prosciutto and such.. everything was delicious and fatty and perfectly delicious.  There's nothing like a bad charcuterie plate, but this was a really good one!  This was the plate for ONE too... since we got so much other food.. I could've had more :] FO’ SHO’

BBQ Pork Belly

apple, watercress, almonds

The Pork Belly completely melted in your mouth and not just the fatty areas… okay it says apple on the menu but W said it was peach, but whatever.. the slight tang, the slight sweetness.. a bit of crunch with all the veggies and a TON of creaminess…

Beef Tartare

cold poached egg, avocado, lime & crostini

W mixed it all together and it was surprisingly good.  I was iffy about the cold poached egg but it was quick yummy.  Usually, as you hear me say in the video, I only have raw yolk in my tartare… but this was delicious.. esp with some added greens and avocado – which we didn’t mix in just added it with the crostini in each bite.  We DID end up putting some grainy mustard in from the charcuterie plate to add a bit of tang/spice to the tartare. YUM.

Grilled Octopus Salad

basil jalapeno pesto, cucumber, mint, kalamata olive

Super tender and delicious. Tons of tentacles which I loved and a nice char to them.  There was a slight heat and a slight tang to the dish.

Bone Marrow

sea salt, oregano, capers & chilies

The chilies was put on as a form of salsa verde. Delicious.  The charred herbs and the fatty marrow… SOOO GOOD and there was SO much of it!  I didn’t actually taste capers so not sure if they changed it on me from the menu but it was really good and perfectly seasoned.. super creamy and just divine, as ALL bone marrow should be and is.

Southern Fried Sweetbreads

slaw, spicy buttermilk and garlic sauce

It was on a creamy bed of homemade ranch with a beautiful veggie slaw that was tangy and sweet.  The sweetbreads were SO super creamy and dissolved on our tongues into an orgasm.  This may have been the best sweetbreads dish I have EVER had. I love love love sweetbreads and while I’ve had MEH ones I’ve thankfully never had a bad one.  These were ones that I’ll dream of. PLUS….. RANCH?! I’m not even a fan of ranch, but this was SO GOOD.

Bacon Creamed Corn

Super creamy and super sweet corn.  This was SOOO GOOD and DUH you add bacon and everything becomes better!

Roast Beast of the Day: Suckling Pig

Deeeeeelicious… soft, tender with nice crisp skin and some pickled onions and parsley.. and methinks a nice light salsa verde.  I mainly had it as leftovers the next day but this was SO good.  Needs to be a MUST on the menu.

Beef Cheek Pierogie

horseradish & mushrooms

“Pierogi (Polish pronunciation: [pjɛˈrɔɡʲi]; also spelledperogi, pierogy, perogy, pierógi, pyrohy, pirogi, orpyrogy; juvenile diminutive form: Pierożki Polish pronunciation: [pjɛˈrɔʂki] also in use) are dumplings ofunleavened dough – first boiled, then they are baked or fried usually in butter with onions – traditionally stuffed with potato filling, sauerkraut, ground meat, cheese, or fruit.

[...]

While dumplings as such are found throughout Eurasia, the specific name pierogi, with its Proto-Slavic root “pir” (festivity) and its various cognates in the West and East Slavic languages, shows the name’s common Slavic origins, predating the modern nation states and theirstandardized languages, although in most of these languages the word means pie. In English, the word pierogiand its variants: perogi, pyrogy, perogie, perogy, pirohi,piroghi, pirogi, pirogen, pierogy, pirohy, and pyrohy, are pronounced with a stress on the letter “o”. The Turkish word börek for a kind of pie or stuffed pastry may be a borrowing.

Pierogi are small enough to be served several or many at a time, so the plural form of the word is usually used when referring to this dish. In Polish pierogi is actually the plural, pieróg being singular. In Czech and Slovak pirohy is also the plural, piroh is singular. In Germany, this type of dumpling is called Pirogge in the singular and Piroggen in the plural, although sometimes the Polish name Pierogi is simply used.”

Ah yes.  Peroigies always reminded me of when I dated a Polish guy, I mean what other kinds of peoples loves white bland food and potatoes so much?! Hahaha, I kid.  But I do remember the one and only time I ever really ate ANY Polish food or learned about it was with him HAHA. This is SO not what I remember. Sooooooooo tender.  The skin was super doughy and almost potato-y like….. they were like gnocchi dough as skin hahaha…. and a bit undercooked.. at least the ones I ate were… but sooooo good..

The beef cheeks were super tender, like they should be, super flavorful.. and while the sauce they were in were a bit on the sweet and rich side.. the bland super doughy skin totally counteracted it. MMMM stuffed gnocchi.. that’s totally my next experiment. W beware.

Me in a obligatory bathroom camwhore shot!

The next day for lunch, while I worked, I feasted on leftover cracklings, creamed corn and suckling pig.

DEEEEEEE-LISH!

The best part?…. W cooked for me the following night… and while we both LOVED the dinner at Roast together, I freaking fell in love with his food all over again when he cooked for me the next night…. sorry suckling pig.. even if you weren’t leftover, you still can’t beat my baby’s cooking ;D

Mangalitsa Dinner at Telepan

Before I begin… I had an awesome blog written for this.  It was long and hilarious and had a really good intro. This was yesterday. Somehow from yesterday to today it has vanished into thin air. SAD. So ya’ll will have to make-do with a second draft from memory… or just re-written actually since I kind of write as I think. Who knows, maybe this one will turn out better than yesterday’s.

I heard about this Telepan dinner through Serina, she had just visited the restaurant and heard about the Mangalitsa dinner. SO armed with green eyeshadow [it was St. Pattys Day afterall] We had reservations at 7 and I was meeting Z there after work [both of us coming from different locations]  Weaving through traffic with a road raged taxi driver is a little freaky… but it got me to the other side a lot faster than I expected.

It was really nice outside that day, sunny and pretty warm – I got there with a few minutes to spare. Woooo!!! This picture was taken after the dinner :]

But it all started with this:

SURPRISE!!! Z surprised me with a cute cupcake!!! Yep, a delicious super cute St Pattys Magnolia cupcake. It was a tasty amuse to our meal ;D I feel bad, I’d been cheating on them since their popularity boom back in 2003 or so from Sex and the City… with Sugar Sweet Sunshine and Buttercup Bake Shop. All which are delicious, but now that I’ve come back to Magnolia I realized that they’re not as sweet as the others – really fresh and fluffy :] I like I like. And I got a cute green [ring] edition to add to my St Pattys Day outfit.

MMMMMM so many dishes showcasing the beautiful hairy Mangalitsa. SO, for all of you who don’t know what a Mangalitsa pig is – MAN-GA-LEEEEET-ZA – it’s this fat hairy ugly [well actually kind of cute in the ugly sort of way] pig. It’s hair is curly and resembles a sheep – tee hee…

Photo Source: Village Voice

Cute right? So this big was originally bred to be a lard pig. Basically, a pig to fatten up just for their lardo. But since people don’t use piggie fat as much anymore, it’s considered more “rare”.  It’s got really little lean meat so it makes it super juicy, tender and fatty. SO delicious….. :D There, now go get some Mangalitsa in your belly NOW!

Breads/Rolls - 7 grains, semolina anddddd something else… heheheheThey were cold and okay…. not very fluffy hahaha – I asked the bread guy for THREE for us and he freaked out.. but what’s wrong with THREE for EACH of us?!?!!.. but it we split the three for both of us. Wait that makes sense right? NOTHING wrong with eating a lot of bread tho… I’ve done it over and over and over again…. remember Maze?

After trying numerous tastes of different bottles of wine we finally settled on this one, a safe bet. We tried everything from Italian to Australian to Spanish.. sigh* They all tasted sort of bleh and icky to me… especially their reccomendations [oops, I'm wine picky] but this was good :] Yum, but better WITH food.

bacon infused bourbon sour [with real egg white]
Really smoky flavor and really strong. Didn’t taste the bacon but just the smoke to it. Tasted better with the amuses.. a bit too strong for me on it’s own :] Altho I had half leftover after I ate all of my amuses, so down the hatch it went anyways. Gulp :D

Amuse Quartet

donut with lardo, insider & out; fried tete; split pea soup with hock; crispy bittys

My eyes were alll about staring at that cute little glimmering donut.

donut with lardo, inside and out

They even spelled it the right way [New England girl at heart, Dunkin Donuts lover, doughnuts will be forever spelled D-O-N-U-T-S :D] Yes, you heard me right a muthafugging LARDO DONUT!!!… Lardo INSIDE, fried IN lardo with a thin gorgeous layer of lardo on top. HEAVENLY. I’ve had Mangalitsa lardo before [Z and I bought some at Eataly awhile back] and it’s hardcore stuff. This was amazing.

fried tete

I’m sorry. But. This was the worst head I’ve ever had [that's what HE said, snicker] okay but seriously.  I LOVE pig’s head. Tender, juicy, melt in your mouth. This had a sort of off-taste and it was really dry. You don’t need to fry tete, it’s beautiful on it’s own. I think the frying and breading sort of covers it up as well…. I will always go to Chef Bobby for my piggie head [speaking of which I had it Sunday at brunch!!!]

split pea soup with hock

I have a confession, I’ve never ordered split pea soup before. I’m not even sure if I’ve ever really had it. [Same with tomato soup, altho concept wise I'm more of a tomato soup fan] This was salty, dense… and well… wasn’t my thang. It was too thick, I tend to like clear soups unless it’s my beloved New England Clam Chowdahhh… but I liked the salty hock bits, so bacon like, so I ate those, had a few licks of the soup [so not sippable] and called it a day.

And then for the best dish of the night.. which is funny since it was the simplest

crispy bittys
What is crispy bittys you say? Looks like rice krispies cereal from afar, no? Why it’s fried piggie skin!!! Yep!!! A bowl of pure heavenly salty crunchies…. think smashed FRESHLY made pork rinds… yep… IN LOVE

crispy bittys aka piggie skin cereal ♥ swoonI could eat a bowl of this everyday. Who woulda thunk that the BEST dish at a Mangalitsa pig dinner would be this… simple and sweet. But then again, why wouldn’t it? Fried skin is amazing!!!!

sausage tasting

bratwurst, blood pudding & kielbasa

bratwurst

I think I liked this one most out of the three, Z liked the kielbasa the best… but the overall spices and texture was good.

blood pudding
As you guys may have noticed by now, I can eat almost anything. Even with goat cheese, I dislike the stuff but I eat it. Lamb, not a fan but I’ll still try it and have enjoyed some of it. Yep, two biggest enemies. But I love blood, adore blood sausages… I freaking eat/drink blood soup and eat cubes of blood and grilled blood cakes… but this was seriously disgusting. I don’t remember the last time I spit something out…

kielbasa

I would say this was my favorite sausage of the night but the sausage texture itself was off – the flavors were banging though.  It was a bit on the dry side… come on man, fatty piggie needs fatty sausages :D

breakfast

scrapple, canadian bacon, sunnyside egg & maple

This was another one of the favorites of the night. I love breakfast, I love perfectly fried eggs and I love sweet and salty foods.  Perfectly balanced. Oh I also love maple syrup… hahaha.. the canadian bacon was kind of flimsy but thumbs up to the scrapple [which is the cut off discarded scraps and trimmings of a piggie... add some flour and cornmeal and then congealed, sliced and panfried] This was all atop a fluffy pancake soaked in pig juices and maple syrup NOM!

bolognese bianco

strozzapreti, greens & robiola

Strangely enough this wasn’t that great. The best part of the dish was, well, the pasta, NOT the pig. Which is sad because the meal was supposed to showcase the pig.  The pig was a little dry and almost gamey tasting [which I kind of expected but didn't since it was the special Mangalitsa]

pork belly confit

monkfish, red wine, & white beans

This was amazing. The frisee and the tangy red wine vinaigrette balanced perfectly with the super fatty piece of pork belly underneath the monkfish. Monkfish itself is delicious…. it was cooked amazing and paired beautiful with FATTINESS <3 I’m a HUGE fan of pork belly and eat it at home [mommy makes it SO good...] at least once or twice a week – I know it’s SO bad for my cholesterol probably… good thing I’m super ADD/active

roast pork

roasted potato, sunchokes, scallions & roasted skin sauce

The pig was soooo tender it reminded me and Z of a veal… the sauce was a bit salty [but I always think things are too salty, I'm getting used to it..] but the meat was delicious. What the freak is roasted skin sauce? I don’t care, it’s delicious.

my one gripe, aside from saltiness… the potatoes were WAY overcooked *shame*

apple pie crescents

cinnamon caramel, bacon ice cream & bacon bits

This was delicious. I wanted more apple in my crusts but it was a great way to end the meal. The ice cream was bacon-y and heavenly. Memories of Baconfest 2010 and excitement for the 2011 coming up in April got my heart a flutter while I had this. Perfection.

And of course ending the night with some complimentary, but delicious, macaroons :D Always have room for dessert… ALWAYS!!!

All in all it was a good meal.  I just wish that the pig was more of the main focus.. I think they weren’t trying to go super hardcore [like my Foie dinner at Primehouse] with the piggie… but come on… it’s all about the pig man.. especially having gone to so many main animal focused events/dinners this was a little disappointing. [s]wine Dinner at Resto was amazing. And I will never forget Baconfest 2010 and that pig’s head and piggie tails from Craigie.

We ended the night celebrating with … people who were still functional and semi-sober for St. Pattys day :]

Head towards the red flame for good food…

This sunday boyfriend & I headed to Red Light to participate in the 3 Sisters Event… it was a delicious brunch with a lot of chefs from some amazing restaurants around Chicago.