Category: food

pesce mediterranean bistro

I can’t believe I didn’t blog this place before.

Sometime over the summer (I think — it’s been a while), Snow and I had dinner at Pesce Mediterranean Bistro, which is tragically and criminally without a website. Snow is one of my favorite dining partners, because we both enjoy sampling as much of the menu as possible, and have similar (but not identical) tastes. Pesce’s extensive selection fit our style well, and that summer evening we constructed a meal entirely of appetizers and maybe a salad. Our server, Lenny, was not only accomodating but encouraging of this strategy, and helped us decide when we weren’t sure what we should order next. Everything we tried was delectable. Everything, and especially the seafood, was phenomenally fresh, and the flavor pairings — which came in both the traditional and innovative varieties — were well matched. It was one of the top dining experiences of my life.

Earlier this week, Snow and I made plans to have lunch together today. We exchanged several emails and had a long serious conversation about where to dine. There were many good suggestions made. We kept saying, “If we could know that Lenny would be our server, we’d go back to Pesce.” Finally we called Pesce and ascertained that Lenny was working, and that he could wait on us. And we were off.

Pesce’s lunch menu doesn’t have the extensive selection of appetizers the dinner menu does, but we were able to construct a wonderful shared meal anyway. We started with soup ($3 for a cup, $5 for a bowl) — some kind of lobster bisque for Snow, and a smoked butternut squash with goat cheese and toasted pumpkin seeds soup for me. Mine had more cream and less squash than I expected, but the taste still met my high expectations.

After the soup, we shared a baby spinach salad with crumbled blue cheese, candied walnuts, and some kind of vinaigrette ($6, I think). Lenny recommended it, and we were once again glad we took his advice. It was a little heavy on the dressing, but somehow, I didn’t mind because the flavors worked so well together. And I have been known to send back salads with too much dressing.

Our original plan had been to share a pasta dish and an entree, for maximum sampling pleasure, but about halfway through the linguine with clams, mussels, scallop, shrimp, and salmon ($9), I knew that there was no way I could enjoy another course. I ended up giving Snow part of mine, so full was I. The pasta also came with a cream sauce I could have done without (maybe a lighter version of it would have been better), but I was just as impressed with the flavor and succulence of the seafood as I was over the summer, and I was sorry to realize that I was growing full.

Not too full, though, for the dessert Lenny recommended. Unfortunately, after we’d ordered it, he came back to say that cheesecake he’d raved about was gone, and he wasn’t sure if the stuff that replaced it was as good. So, he said, just in case, this piece was on the house. I don’t know what the cheesecake he’d had tasted like, but what he gave us was very good. Not exceptional, but very good. Even better, though, were the blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries that accompanied it. Berries like that are hard to find in the summer; to have them in December was beyond my wildest dreams.

You should try it. Here are the details:

Pesce Mediterranean Bistro is on Eisenhower Blvd. I have no idea what their hours are, but they’re open for lunch and dinner. Our meal (2 soups, a salad, a pasta dish) was $22.26 and plenty large enough to feed both of us (even though I’d had only a piece of toast for breakfast and Snow’s not a small guy). It’s more expensive at dinner, of course, but still very reasonable. The atmosphere is casual but nice. Everyone’s extraordinarily friendly. And oh yeah, they have a bar, and a nice wine selection.

Lenny’s there Thursday nights, and…I forget what he said about the rest of the weekend. But I imagine the food’s great even when he’s not there.

koi

Biff and I have just returned to the homebase after having dinner at Koi.

Being a fan of Vietnamese food, I was looking forward to trying the new restaurant. I was especially intrigued by the idea of a finer dining Asian experience.

The interior of Koi is interesting. The walls are done in a kind of red Venetian plaster with a visually appealing texture. Two enormous chandeliers hang from the ceiling. Several glass cases of pottery and other art fill the front room. I had quite a bit of time to take this all in as we waited for someone to show us to our table.

Koi’s menu is small, but I thought this was encouraging, as I hoped it would mean they were very good at making what they did offer. Biff and I agreed we’d get a couple of appetizers and split an entree, to maximize our sampling capacity. We started with the summer rolls with peanut sauce (3 for $5) and an order of chicken satay, also with peanut sauce (4 skewers for $6).

The summer rolls came quickly, and were exactly what I was craving. These are raw rolls, wrapped in a rubbery rice shell and filled with rice vermicelli, shrimp, lettuce, cilantro, and mint. I would have liked some more shrimp, but was well satisfied with what we received, and eager to try the next dish.

Luckily I didn’t have to wait long, as both the chicken satay, our entree, the chicken curry in bread bowl dinner soup ($9), and the “salad” (a tiny plate of chopped lettuce, served with a dressing that made me wish the salad had been more substantial — or at least that the lettuce was in pieces sized to be fork-friendly) that came with the entree, arrived before we’d even made a dent in the summer rolls. The satay was excellent; the chicken tender, juicy, and flavorful.

The chicken curry arrived with only one spoon — an Asian-style broad based soup spoon — and I made eye contact with our server several times before Biff finally waved him over and requested another spoon. As it was, we may have been just as well off using our forks, as this chicken curry “soup” came with barely enough non-solid material to qualify as stew, let alone soup. It was comprised entirely of cubed potatoes, carrots, and a few pieces of chicken, slow-cooked in a thick curry sauce. I’d try to explain the flavor, but it’s one we’ve all had before — curry powder and salt. And a lot of both.

When we quickly ran out of broth or sauce or whatever it was in which to dip the copious amounts of bread supplied by the bread bowl, a server (not our own) asked if we’d like some more sauce. I thought then that our experience might turn around. But no, she came back several minutes later to inform us that we’d gotten the last of the chicken curry, but we could have beef broth instead. We accepted, and when it finally arrived, after Biff asking over and over, “Is she coming? Is she coming?” it tasted just like beef gravy from Grandma’s house. My grandmother uses gravy from a can.

I should say that the curry wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great, and I had much higher hopes for it. But Biff picked it out, so maybe if I’d been choosing we would have had better luck (this sounds horrible, but usually Biff just lets me pick, and it tends to work out well).

Still, when the bill came, I had to admit that the food we’d had was worth the $20 it cost. But will I go back? While I’d like to try the crab and rice vermicelli ($10), the grilled wasabi chicken ($14), and the smoked salmon sushi salad ($13)…Probably not, unless I hear that both the service and the food have improved. Too disappointing.

Fish On!

I’ve been meaning to blog this for weeks now, and I’m finally sick of seeing the business card on my desk.

Fish On! Restaurant in Lewes, Delaware is the bomb. The atmosphere is classy but relaxed, the service is friendly and gorgeous, and the food…Oh! the food!

I had the medium rare spice crusted grilled tuna with green beans, tomatoes, and smoked bacon. It was heavenly. The fish was sushi-fresh, the flavors complimented each other perfectly, and even the green beans, which I don’t usually like, were amazing.

My fellow diners were kind enough to share samples of their entrees as well, and they were equally fabulous. Just don’t ask me what they were.

So if you find yourself anywhere near it, I highly recommend stopping in.

***UPDATE***

http://www.fishon.bz/staffpoems.htm

I love these people.

Culture

Last night Kevin, Ben, Johanna, Jon, & I set out to get ourselves some culture, Harrisburg-style.

We began the evening at The Design Museum @ Fathom where they currently have a Chindogu exhibit. I like the idea of Chindogu. I enjoyed the exhibit at Fathom. The humor quotient was good. The art quotient was low. But if you need a bit of a chuckle and happen to be downtown on a Friday or Saturday evening, it’s worth the price of admission (which happens to be $0) and the few minutes it’ll take to peruse the items on display.

After checking out some of the crazy things the Japanese create, we headed across the street Miyako (nee Tokyo Express) to consume some of the wonderful things the Japanese create. While no sushi around here is of the blow-your-mind-delicious variety, Miyako is nearly as good as Sapporo East (my local favorite). They even gain a few points by being the only area sushi place I know of to also hold a liquor license. Despite the sluggish speed of the service we managed to dispose of an inordinate amount of fish and rice and left the restaurant ready to explode with culture.

The last stop of the evening was Shady McGrady’s where we took it upon ourselves to create some culture of our own. Meet Cigarette Man and his pet camel:

As you may or may not be able to see, he comes complete with argyle socks and curly chest hair. We’re artists, I tell you. Full of culture.

Would you like some tofu with that?

McDonald’s super-size fries, and drinks going bye-bye

The title of the article says it all. McDonald’s has announced plans to phase out their super-size options. I’ve heard a lot of reactions to this, but the predominant attitude seems to be that this is a favorable thing. While I first thought that this was in response to the legal action that was taken against them last year, when families claimed that McDonald’s was responsible for their obesity, it appears that the legal threat is actually all but non-existant. Congress is even considering a bill making that type of suit illegal. Instead, it appears that this is mostly a PR move for the company, which is an interesting twist.

Were this a decision based on legal concerns, I would be disgusted — it’s each individual’s responsibility to decide what they are going to eat, and they need to accept the consequences for that. One person I spoke with said the current and projected obesity levels are just too much of a drain on the healthcare system, but if we focus on further privatizing healthcare (which I’m pretty sure I believe we should) then that shouldn’t be a concern. If McDonald’s is doing this because they believe it’s what the public wants, though, and that it will help their bottomline, then my reaction is different.

I don’t ever super-size things, unless I’m going to be sharing with at least one other person, so it won’t change the way I eat at McDonald’s. The only thing I don’t like about them getting rid of the option is that I’d like to see, as I mentioned earlier, people take responsibilty themselves — but if McDonald’s really does think that this is a wiser financial move, maybe it’s a barometer that people are being more responsible. Clearly the gained revenue from the larger sizes isn’t enough to offset the positive PR they’re getting from this decision.

On the other hand, maybe they’re just hoping that now people will get two orders of fries.

There he stands behind the register

I was in love with the McDonald’s boy. This was not a Barenaked Ladies-esque infatuation with his innocent smile and I had no delusions that he was an angel in a polyester uniform, but I was in love.

I’ve gone to McDonald’s every morning before work for the last 3 weeks for a number 10 — a Sausage, Egg, & Cheese McGriddle Extra Value Meal with a small Coke. I think about the McDonald’s boy as I pull into the drive-thru line, my window down in eager anticipation of his voice crackling through the speaker. I crane my neck as I pull around the side of the building, straining for a glimpse of him through his smudged glass cage. He is not an attractive man, and really, is just barely a man. He isn’t ugly, though, and he operates with such a clean efficiency that I start to think I could sit and watch him work all day. I admire his ability to multi-task, taking orders and collecting money, handing out change while he confirms the next customer’s number three Extra Value Meal. I love the way he hands me my change with two hands, one cupped gently under mine to make sure I don’t drop anything while the other firmly presses the bills into my hand. I love that, this morning, when I placed my regular order but did not specify the size of the drink, he knew it was me and verified that I was getting a medium rather than my usual small. I thought maybe he loved me back.

While I normally leave thoughts of my love under the golden arches as I drive away, secure in the knowledge that he will be waiting for me the next day, on this cold morning I allowed them to warm me for the rest of the drive to work. I thought about what exactly it was that had captured my fancy, about what I could write about him to do him justice. I raced down the concrete stairs of the parking lot into my waiting cubicle and unpacked my white bag. Inside, I found not my usual McGriddle, but a Steak, Egg, & Cheese Bagel sandwich. Frantic to excuse my McDonald’s boy, I searched for the receipt, hoping I’d been given the wrong order, that somewhere, someone else had my food, that it was not his mistake but the mistake of the sullen girl at the second window. But no, there was the receipt with the “#7 Steak Bagel EVM” totaling the exact amount I’d paid.

The heartbreak was audible. I sat, stunned, staring at the faded purple ink, my mind racing to find some excuse for him. None came. Outside it is gray and bitter, cold winds littering fallen brown leaves across the ground and bringing tears to my eyes with their sting. Inside, it is much the same.

Vietnamese Food

Thanks to Snow for introducing me to some excellent Vietnamese food at Pho Pasteur on 29th. I so enjoyed our Wednesday lunch that my mom and I went back for dinner the next day. Vietnamese bears a resemblance to other Asian foods, most notably Chinese and Thai, but is less greasy than Chinese and a little bit simpler than most Thai flavors I’ve had. Snow says he goes for the soups every time, but I very much enjoyed my chicken, onion, and ginger stir fry — with large quantities of hoison and chili sauces. The shrimp and pork rolls, ordered sans pork, were also interesting and delicious, encased in a rice paper with a consistency somewhere between rubber and flesh, but in a good way. Anyway, I highly recommend it!


[ Yahoo! Maps ]


Map of
Pho Pasteur
560 S 29th St
Harrisburg PA 17104