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What Details Make A Dining Experience Extra Special Or Extra Annoying?

July 6, 2014 / / 13 Comments

Des Moines author, columnist and blogger Wini Moranville recently wrote about “What to Look for Before You Splurge in a Restaurant,” which gave me some food for thought.

After I read her piece, I’ve pondered the little things that make a dining experience extra special or extra annoying. Of course, I notice different details depending on the restaurant’s price range, but here’s what’s generally on my list:

Annoyances

  • Serving asparagus with the tough, woody stalks. This especially bothers me if I’m at a more expensive restaurant. If Rachel Ray can remember to snap off the tough ends of her asparagus each time she prepares them on 30-Minute Meals, you can too.

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  • Serving wilted or rusting lettuce: This is just so lazy. Especially if the lettuce is part of a salad or hamburger garnish, where I know someone actually placed the blemished produce on my plate by hand.

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  • Not providing salt on the tables: I maintain my viewpoint that withholding salt is arrogant, no matter the chef’s talent. I wrote a whole post on this topic earlier this year.
  • Telling not-technically lies: Phrases like “freshly-baked,” and “hand-rolled,” lead customers to assume a product is house-made, but can often mean that the restaurant receives frozen dough or pastries that they thaw and bake or form in the store. It’s not that I won’t eat these foods, I just think restaurants should call it like it is.

Thrills

  • Offering prices on specials: I appreciate when a restaurant lists the prices of their daily specials and/or encourages servers to automatically state the price of the specials. That being said, the burden is still on the customer. ALWAYS ask for the price of a daily special and never make assumptions. I’ve gotten burned by assuming that a special would be affordable or feeling too embarrassed to ask for the price in fear that I’d be considered “cheap.” I’ll never forget how I felt upon discovering that my waterlogged, baked catfish fillet special cost $30. Don’t be bashful.
  • Making customers genuinely feel like family: The restaurants that truly make you feel like you are apart of their family are special, whether lowbrow or highbrow. Sincere hospitality fosters loyalty and regulars. For example, Jake and I visit a Mexican restaurant in town where the bartender always remembers who we are and what we typically order. For all we know, there’s a different Mexican restaurant in town with better food, but we’ll be darned if we cheat on our favorite staff.
  • Offering creative-non alcoholic drinks: I realize alcohol is a huge revenue generator at restaurants, but I appreciate the places that offer creative, non-alcoholic options. Not everyone can drink or wants to drink for a thousand different reasons. People who choose not to drink alcohol deserve to have nice things to drink beyond soda, coffee, O’Douls, Shirley Temples, and Roy Rogers. There are evenings that I might pay a premium price for a high quality, non-alcoholic beverage. Mezzaluna in Fargo, ND comes to mind because the bartenders are happy to whip up the most beautiful non-alcoholic drink if you’d like one.
  • Honoring requests for extra spicy: This is just a personal preference, but since Jake and I like spicy food, we are thrilled when a restaurant will actually make food extra spicy. This is especially challenging to find in the Midwest, outside of a larger metropolitan area. We’ve begged for our orders to be extra extra spicy to no avail. Our theory is that restaurants might be hesitant to add heat, because enough people who requested extra-spicy had ended up sending back the dish for being too spicy. I’ve finally seemed to crack the code by adding the phrase, “You can’t hurt me. I promise.” Two for two, ya’ll!
  • Automatically providing tap water: I’m always appreciative when a server automatically provides tap water when we first arrive at a restaurant. Oftentimes, customers need to ask for a glass of water, while others seem to assume that a customer doesn’t want a glass of water if he or she orders a drink. I’m not sure about the reasoning behind how a restaurant decides whether or not to automatically offer guests water, but it feels welcoming to receive water without asking.

What irks you about a dining experience or makes it extra special? Do you think I’m completely off base with any of these points? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Creamy Chopped Eggplant Dip

July 2, 2014 / / 6 Comments

I have a long-held fascination with eggplant.

It all started with food television. Growing up, I watched in awe as chefs prepared this strange, spongy vegetable. Sometimes they roasted it and sometimes they fried it. Either way, I just knew that someday I would love eggplant and I was right.

Eggplant just wasn’t a vegetable that appeared on my family’s table. . . or any other family that we visited’s tables. I didn’t see it at church picnics or soccer team potlucks. Maybe eggplant has become more popular in the kitchens of the Twin Cities’ southern ‘burbs. It’s so good and so versatile.

Earlier this year, I watched the episode of Trisha Yearwood’s (my childhood hero) cooking show on Food Network in which Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner were special guests. Nadia prepared this simple eggplant dip called Salata de Vinete that caught my eye. I whipped together this dip based upon what I remembered seeing her prepare during this episode.

Jake and I liked the dip so much that it’s already gone. After we enjoyed it for dinner, I polished off the leftovers for breakfast and am contemplating preparing a second batch.

Creamy Chopped Eggplant Dip
Adapted from Nadia Comaneci’s recipe for Salata de Vinete. Use as many eggplants as you like. I’d recommend small-medium sized eggplants so they’ll roast faster and have smaller seeds, but use what you have. 

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Ingredients:
Eggplant
Olive oil
Salt
Onion, finely diced (as much as you like)
Garlic, powdered or freshly grated
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Mayonnaise (can substitute greek yogurt or sour cream).
Lemon juice, to taste
Dill, dried or fresh
Smoked paprika or my favorite – half sharp Hungarian paprika, a dash or two

Instructions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400℉.
  2. Wash eggplants. Prick several times with a fork or knife so they don’t explode while baking. Rub with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
  3. Roast eggplants until they are soft inside and blistered outside. Flip a few times during cooking. This will take about 40-minutes for small eggplants and longer if they are larger.
  4. When the eggplants are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and remove the stem. Let any liquid drain away from the eggplant.
  5. Chop into small pieces. If you want a smoother texture, chop finer.
  6. Combine chopped eggplant with red onion and a couple dollops of mayonnaise. Start with a little bit of each and add as needed.
  7. Season with garlic powder or grated garlic, paprika, salt, pepper, dill and lemon juice, to taste.
  8. Serve with toasted pita bread.

Taste Test: Shelf-Stable, Prepackaged Indian Foods

June 29, 2014 / / 1 Comment

Indian food is one of my favorite comfort foods.

It’s not a cuisine that Jake and I grew up eating, but one we’ve sought as adults. Our mothers’ casseroles and wild rice and chicken soups will always taste like comfort food, but we also seek solace in spicy Indian foods like saag with paneer and vegetable korma.

When you think of Fargo, ND, you might not think of Indian food, but we routinely visited the city’s two Indian restaurants that stacked up against our favorite in the Twin Cities. Both restaurants served dishes in the most complex and compelling sauces and honored requests for “extra-spicy” and we loved them for it. There were also a couple of stores that sold Indian spices in big bags that I’ve brought with me to Iowa.

There isn’t an Indian restaurant or grocery store in Mason City (yet), so I’ve tried to make a few dishes at home. They taste flat compared to what we remember ordering, so I need to keep practicing.

We’ve tried a few brands of shelf-stable, prepackaged Indian foods available at our grocery stores. They’re far from homemade, but sometimes taste better than my attempts at Indian food and are decent meal options for when I don’t want to cook. I serve them with steamed basmati rice, pita, and yogurt sauce I make from combining plain or Greek-style yogurt, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, lime juice, cucumber and grated carrot.

Here’s what we thought:

Indian Food Collage.jpg

Tasty Bite Jodhpur Lentils & Punjab Eggplant: I picked-up these bags for $2.96 each from the clearance end cap at Target. Of these three brands, Tasty Bite struck me as the least spicy. Both Jake and I liked the Punjab eggplant the best out of all four products. I liked its creamy texture and the flavor didn’t become one-note. I thought the lentils were just ok.

Jyoti Dehli Saag: I’ve found the JYOTI cans in the natural food sections of many grocery stores. They cost between $3-4 and typically cost a tad more than the other brands. I’ve tried a couple other varieties of dishes from this brand and find them to be more intensely flavored than the other brands.

This spinach and mustard green saag was the most intense of the four products. It also tasted the most salty so I diluted it with some water. I liked its kick of heat, though the Kitchens of India Mashed Vegetable Curry may have tasted a tad spicier. The mustard greens in the saag lent a funky flavor that I struggled with through the meal. We have yet to touch the leftovers.

Kitchens of India Mashed Vegetable Curry: This was our second favorite product. We liked the shimmer of spicy red oil. The ingredients include potatoes, tomatoes, green peas and onions, though it was difficult to identify exactly what we were tasting since the curry’s texture was like a thick sauce. This curry avoided having a one-note flavor and we finished the pouch.

All of these were products cost between $3-4. As positives, these products contain a surprisingly short list of ingredients free of strange chemicals and preservatives I can’t pronounce. As negatives, all of the products have pureed textures like baby food. Have you ever tried shelf-stable Indian food? Which ones do you consider hits and misses?

A “Thanks for Reading” Giveaway

June 27, 2014 / / 28 Comments

Dear Readers,

Thank you for connecting with me through my blog and social media channels. I appreciate you for taking the time to read my posts and banter with me.

This blog has been my labor of love for all things food and writing. Since I began blogging in 2011, Jake and I have experienced a lot of life changes and lived in three different states. I’m honored you have joined me as we move around the Midwest. As a small gesture of gratitude, I am giving away two of my favorite things from my newish hometown of Mason City, IA where we’ve lived for almost one year.

One reader will win one 12 oz. bag of coffee beans (Alley Cat House Blend) from my favorite local coffee shop Coffee Cat and a mug made by the owner of Market 124, my favorite local gift shop that features Iowan products. I can have the coffee shop grind the beans upon request.

Giveaway Collage.jpg

Enter the giveaway below through the Rafflecopter box between today 06/27/14 and 07/05.2014 at noon.

The Rafflecopter box below will give you an entry for each action: Leaving a comment at the end of the blog post, following me on Twitter, and/or liking my Facebook page. Many of you have already done at least one of these things which gives you an easy entry or two. A random winner will be notified on Facebook or by email and must respond within 24 hours to claim prize or another winner will be chosen. I will ship the prize anywhere in the United States.

Thanks for reading and happy coffee-drinking (or tea),

Jeni

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by jenieats.com and is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or associated with Facebook, Twitter, Coffee Cat or Market 124. The giveaway runs from 06/27/14 – 07/15/14 at noon. A random winner will be notified on Facebook or by email and must respond within 24 hours to claim prize or another winner will be chosen. Open to U.S. residents only.All entries will be verified.

Beet & Goat Cheese Flatbread

June 25, 2014 / / 4 Comments

I love baking homemade pizza and homemade pizza is Jake’s favorite.

This week, I found beets at the farmers market and eagerly bought a couple of bunches. We ate the leafy beet greens right away. If you haven’t tried them, cook them like you would any other green. I don’t blanche the tops because they’re tender and wilt quickly like spinach.

Kale is the green everyone talks about, but we enjoy beet greens more. I toss them into sautéed onion and garlic and briefly wilt them in soy sauce and honey or maple syrup for a sweet and salty treat.

Beet Greens

For a special midweek treat, I prepared this beet and goat cheese flatbread. I baked my favorite, thin crust pizza dough recipe and spread it with goat cheese flavored with garlic scapes. Then, I sprinkled over diced beets and green onion. Beets and goat cheese is one of our favorite combinations and it brightened up our week.

Beet and Goat Cheese Flatbread
Makes two large but very thin flatbreads.

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How To Prepare the Garlic Scape Goat Cheese
Combine a large 10 oz. package of plain goat cheese with enough milk or cream to make it spreadable. Add minced garlic scape. The flavor of the scape is strong so I used a handful. If you can’t find garlic scapes, you could add minced garlic, green onion, chives, dill, and/or parsley.

How To Cook the Beets

Beets
I cook beets by simmering them in water because I first learned to cook them this way, though many prefer to roast. Be aware that beets will stain your cutting board. Here’s my simmering method:

  1. Clean the beets and remove most of the stem.
  2. Place them in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer until they are tender enough to easily insert a knife into the center.
  3. Drain and cool until they’re cool enough to handle.
  4. Gently peel off the skin and remove the stem and tails.
  5. Slice or dice however you wish.

Preparing the Flat Bread:
Adapted from the recipe Lahmacun published by Saveur. 

Ingredients:
1 package of quick rise yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup warm water
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions:

  1. In a small bowl, combine the warm water, yeast and sugar. Hot water will kill the yeast. Allow to sit and bloom until it bubbles.
  2. Add the flour and salt to a large bowl. If preparing by hand, make a well in the center of the flour and add the yeast mixture and olive oil. Gradually stir until the dough forms a ball. If using a stand mixer, add the yeast-water mixture and oil to the flour on low and mix with a dough hook until the dough pulls away from the sides and forms a ball. If it’s too dry, slowly stream in a little water. If the dough is too soft and sticky, add a little flour. Knead or mix at a higher speed until the dough is smooth and elastic and not too sticky.
  3. Form dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Loosely cover and place in a warm location until it’s doubled in size.
  4. Punch down and divide in half.
  5. On a floured surface, roll out dough and place on an oiled baking sheet. Stretch the dough towards the edges.
  6. Allow the dough to rise again for about 1/2 hour.
  7. Pre-heat oven to 400℉
  8. Lightly brush the dough with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
  9. Bake until the dough is cooked through and golden brown on the bottom.

To Assemble the Flatbread

  1. Spread the warm pizza crust with the goat cheese mixture.
  2. Sprinkle with diced beets, sliced green onion and any herbs you desire.
  3. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Slice and serve.
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