Montreal Steak with Caramelized Shallots and Horseradish Mushroom Cream Sauce (Bring on the sun in Ithaca!)

This past weekend in Ithaca was a great one for Trish and I. First of all, Friday was Cornell's famous slope day, which meant that work was demoted to second priority and the day was all about fun! Secondly, my good friend, college roommate, and fellow lover of food Jon was in town for his first visit to Ithaca. Lastly (and perhaps least likely!), the weather cooperated, and we enjoyed beautiful sun all three days (Trish and I are currently basking in it as we update the blog!). On Saturday night, after already having taken Jon to some of Ithaca's restaurant offerings, we decided to do a home cooked meal. Since the weather was pleasant, we decided to break out the grill (charcoal), and buy some beautiful steaks and fresh vegetables to throw on the flame.

Garcia's

Restaurant Info:

344 Elmira Road

Ithaca, NY 14850-5104

(607) 277-3600

We went to Garcia's with our friend, Jon, who was visiting from Chicago on a Sunday, right at noon when they first open. Already, there were 3 parties seated before us. Mexican food (especially in upstate NY) can be a hit or miss, in our opinion. Some restaurants serve food that could easily be mistaken for Taco Bell styled-fast food with really simple dishes like tortilla chips in a bowl sprinkled with shredded cheddar. Yuck. Luckily there is Garcia's in Ithaca that offers authentic Mexican food at a very affordable price. It's too bad that a lot of Cornellians don't venture down Rt. 13 to discover this Ithacan gem. For sure, true Ithaca locals know that this is the a place where you can get great service, great food and atmosphere at a very affordable price. 

Dynamite Pork Sandwich

When you want a simple dinner, sandwiches are a great option. I get bored of the usual turkey club though, so I'm always trying to create new recipes. Hot sandwiches are excellent, because they function well as dinner or lunch. Last week, I came up with this Pork Dynamite Sandwich (I named it "Dynamite" for no particular reason, so just enjoy it!). The sandwich has salted pork belly (cooked to a crisp), spicy chipotle cheddar cheese, fried jalapenos, and herb-garlic butter, and.... raspberry jam! This might seems like a strange combo, but the smoky spiciness of the jalapenos and cheese play well with the tart sweetness of the jam and the super saltiness of the pork.

German Chocolate Cake with Coconut-Pecan Frosting and Chocolate Ganache

2 missions were accomplished today: baking a cake all by myself and tasting German Chocolate cake. This recipe is actually Bobby Flay's so I had some high expectations this will be good. The cake was so moist and flavorful, you'll love it.

His original recipe for the frosting called for a coconut-pecan cajeta which is a thickened syrup made by goat's milk. Unfortunately goats milk is not readily available in typical supermarkets, so I substituted it with whole milk.When I tried his frosting, it didn't turn out very well and the milk curdled really fast, so I opted for a different type of frosting with coconut milk with coconut and nuts (see below).
 
There are other substitutions that I made to help those bakers who do not have access to certain ingredients. Dutch processed cocoa is also hard to find at ordinary supermarkets. I did some research and found that you can Dutch processed cocoa is cocoa powder with alkaline to neutralize the acid in the cocoa. Thus, we can substitute this with regular cocoa but add an additional teaspoon or two of baking soda. To be more accurate, you want to substitute equal measurements of Dutch processed cocoa with regular cocoa and add 1/8 teaspoon per every 3 tablespoons of cocoa.

The other substitution is buttermilk. Unless you make quite often with buttermilk, you don't need to make the extra trip to purchase it. Just substitute equal amounts of buttermilk with regular milk and add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice per cup of milk. Let that sit for 5 minutes to allow the acid to react.

This modified recipe makes 2 9-inch cakes that will be divided to make 4 layers.

Bandwagon Brew Pub

Bandwagon Brew Pub

Restaurant Info:
114 N. Cayuga St, Ithaca, NY 14850
607- 319-0699

Siddharth heard about this restaurant down near the Commons through the actual restaurant's food blog, where the chefs design interesting 8 oz. burgers decorated with any ingredients on hand to challenge their friend to eat under 7 minutes. So far, according to the blog, the challenger has yet to come across a burger that he couldn't finish. The restaurant is also known for brewing their own beer in addition to serving many other American beers.

I made reservations on a Friday night for 7:30pm. One thing nice about this is you can make reservations in advance via email or call for same day reservations. There are several restaurants in Ithaca that do not take reservations and at most, you can call ahead. That can be quite annoying especially when you have already called ahead but there are still 10 parties ahead of you on a weekend and you're starving. We mistakenly arrived at Bandwagon Brew 15 minutes late and our table was given away. The host was deeply apologetic but we knew it was our fault. He suggested we wait in the lounge and have a drink at one of the two bars. We asked if we could sit and eat at the bar instead of waiting for another table and he said that was fine too.

We started with our meal by sharing an appetizer of breaded and fried pepper jack cheese with spicy marinara sauce. This is a twist from your typical mozzarella sticks, but better. Mozzarella doesn't have that much flavor in general and the taste is mostly dependent on the breading. But the pepper jack cheese is a better cheese to hold in breading plus it has its own flavor. 







For drinks, we decided to try one of BWB beers called Strawberry Cream Ale and also my favorite, Abita Purple Haze. Since I'm not expert in beers, I'll let Siddharth comment on them. They restaurant also served flights of beers which were pretty popular that night.

BWB offers customers several beer flights as well.

When it was time to order our entrees, Siddharth was torn between 2 dishes, the shrimp, andouille, spinach,  and cherry tomatoes in red pepper-chili sauce over cornmeal waffles or the roasted duck with orange-ginger-parsley sauce over mashed sweet potatoes with steamed broccoli. After careful consideration, he chose the shrimp and andouille.

I chose the local maple-horseradish pork chops with BWB's own bbq sauce, mashed sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Here is a full review:

Four Seasons

Restaurant Info:
Four Seasons
404 Eddy Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-277-1117

We recently ate at Four Seasons. Tricia's parents were in town, so we took them along. Four Seasons is a Korean place that Trish and I actually go to fairly frequently. It is one of 3 Korean restaurants in Collegetown (along with Koko's and Dasan-J), and it is our favorite of the lot. The dining area is a small space, and it is nothing fancy at all - just your typical college neighborhood eatery type of decor.

 We love to get appetizers when we go out, and on this past visit, we ordered the kimchi pancake and the fried calamari. The kimchi pancake is fried until crisp on the outside (but soft through the depth), and of course has lots of spicy kim chi in it. The calamari is battered in tempura and then served with a sweetish dipping sauce. This was in addition to the bowls of miso soup and the traditional Korean snack items that you get automatically with dinner. 

Tempura Fried Calamari

Kim Chi Pancake

Fish Strips (one of the snacks)

For entrees, both Tricia and her mom tried the dolsot bi bim bap - a rice dish served in a hot stone vessel with beef and fresh vegetable and a fried egg on top. The best part of this dish was that it was served in a smoldering stone bowl which allowed the rice to cook and even crisp up. Tricia's dad on the other hand went for noodles and ordered japchae. Japchae is a dish made with noodles that are made from sweet potato flour and served with meat and freshly cooked vegetables in a sauce that has strong sesame flavors. When cooked, these noodles are almost transparent and not starchy at all. Siddharth wanted to have some spice (as always!), and opted for the ojingoh dolsot bi bim bap, which is also a sizzling hot rice dish in a stone pot, except cooked with fried squid and lots of Korean red chili paste (Korean chili is spicy, but it is always mixed with sugar, giving a very distinctive sweet and hot taste).

Our review is below:

 [from left to right: Dolsot Bi Bim Bap, Japchae, Ojingoh Dolsot Bi Bim Bap]

Lemon Sparkler

This is a refreshing drink that can be enjoyed with brunch and is nice way to enjoy the summer sun. Here are the ingredients:

- Juice of 2 Lemons
- 1 tsp of sugar
- 2 shots of mid-range vodka (e.g. Smirnoff, Skyy, etc.)
- 1 bottle of Asti Spumante (~$8-12 at your local wine store)
- Around 300 mL of Limoncello (from Italy, use a brand such as Pallini) [this is a little less than 1/2 the bottle]


Dissolve the sugar in the lemon juice. Add vodka, stirring to mix. Next add the limoncello and top with ice. Finish by adding the Asti (it's a very sweet sparkling wine) to provide the bubbles. Garnish with some lemon slices and serve in flutes. Cheers.

Note: Italian sparklers work nicely in this drink because they are cheaper and lighter than French Champagne. You can substitute Prosecco, another Italian sparkling wine for Asti if you'd like. Prosecco is dry, unlike the sweet Asti, so if you do use Prosecco, you can double the amount of sugar added.

Crispy Cantonese-inspired Noodles

India and China. Two ancient Eastern civilizations. Two emerging world economies. In the context of The World Tasters: two of the most famous culinary traditions on the planet and... the cultural heritage of Siddharth and Tricia (respectively)! As modern foodies, the two of us are lucky to come from some of the places that started perfecting the art of cooking millennia ago. We're also lucky that both of us like to try both Indian and Chinese cuisine. In this recipe, I (Siddharth) try my hand at crossing the aisle and making Chinese-inspired food. I maintain that it is "inspired" and not "authentic," but I try my best to keep the spirit of Chinese cuisine alive in my dishes. See comments below to check what Tricia thought of it! Maybe someday, I'll get Trish to try doing Indian food...

In any case, this is my recipe for crispy noodles. It took me a while to figure out how to make crispy noodles, so hopefully this can help those of you interested in doing at home too. The Cantonese-inspired part comes from the fact that I use hoisin sauce (a sweet sauce that is favored in Cantonese cooking) and Hong Kong-style pan fried noodles (Chow Mein).

Tricia's Magic Bars

Magic bars are composed of 4-6 layers of goodness. The most common type of Magic bars consist of a graham cracker crumb base followed by layers of coconut, chocolate chips and nuts. Here is a modified recipe that consisted of all the sweets that Siddharth and I like. This is a VERY simple and easy recipe that pretty much anyone can do because it does not require any preparation (no cooking, no measuring, or extensive mixing). It is all about what you use for your layers- the order of the layers doesn't even make a difference (except the coconut and nuts layer which I will discuss later). You can also add more than 6 layers if you desire, then it would be almost a sweet lasagna!

CT Bento Cafe - boxes and boba galore

CT Bento Cafe

Restaurant info:
335 Elmira Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850

607-277-7017

This restaurant had its grand opening a few weeks ago, taking the place of Smart Monkey Cafe. The restaurant is quite big, holding about 20 tables and a take out counter as well. Siddharth and I wanted to try it because we love Japanese food and especially bubble tea, which this cafe does as well. Unfortunately Bento Cafe hasn't advertised too much so when we arrived for a very early dinner (5:30pm) it was completely empty. I'm sure during the summer and during proper meal times, the restaurant will be filled.