Graduation Celebration at Charleston!

by Erin

Last week -- I can't believe I can say this -- I graduated from law school! Long-time readers will recall that when Xani and I started BCD, I had just finished my first year of school and I was in the middle of petitioning for journal. Ah, those were the days!

A while ago, Mom and Dad asked me where I wanted to go for my graduation dinner and I chose the Charleston Restaurant, arguably the best/most upscale restaurant in Baltimore. We had been to Charleston twice before, but not since 2007. We had always gone for Xani's and Mom's birthdays, and had therefore only been in the winter, so we were excited to go in the spring and see how Chef Wolf incorporated the delicious seasonal veggies.

After a hectic day of graduation festivities, we met up at Charleston, located in the swanky Harbor East area of the city. We had cocktails in the small but comfortable bar: Mom got a bellini, Dad got a scotch (JWB on the rocks with a twist), Xani got a mojito, and I got a champagne cocktail. After we finished our drinks, we made our way to our table, located in a small room with windows overlooking a quiet street. The decor at Charleston is cozy and luxurious, but not stuffy.



We sat down and the waitress brought us an assortment of breads: a dinner roll, a delicious corn-shaped piece of cornbread, and some other type of bread. Meanwhile we perused the menu, which was divided into "hot," "cool," "fish," "birds and game," "meats," and "cheese."



As many of you know, we LOVE to share and you'll often find us rotating plates even at the fanciest of places. This meal was no different, but we have wised up a bit in terms of our "sharing technique." While normally we would each get a different 4- or 5-course meal, and then eat a quarter of the dish, and pass to the next person, this resulted in a person getting approximately one spoonful of soup or one molecule of foie gras or duck, and it was a bit frustrating, especially if the dish was really good! So, we modified our technique where we basically have two 4- or 5-course menus, and two of us get one of the menus, and the other two get the other, so you only have to switch once per course. Granted, you only get to try 8-10 dishes instead of 16-20, but we are okay with this.

We challenged our wonderful waiter, Len, by telling him which 10 dishes we wanted, and let him arrange them into two 5-course meals. We also asked him to pair wines with everything. It is a testament to his and the staff's skills that he took on the challenge with only a slight wince and performed beautifully.

First we enjoyed an amuse bouche of...some delicious soup that I can't remember. Asparagus maybe? It was awesome - that's all I know. Then came the many courses! (Note that many of these dishes are still on the menu but a few are not, so I have tried to describe them from memory as best I can!)


First course (hot):

• Charleston Shellfish Bisque, Lobster, Shrimp, Tarragon Oil
  
• Shrimp, Andouille Sausage, and Real Grits
  

Shrimp and Grits

Shellfish Bisque

Second course (cold):

• Salad of Fresh Artichoke, Celery, Chives, and Lemon
  
• Asparagus with Goat Cheese

Asparagus with goat cheese


Artichoke and celery salad

Third course (fish):

• Pan Roasted Alaskan Halibut, Creole Sauce, Tabasco Scented Rice, Crispy Shrimp
  
• Seared Scallop with Citrus Supremes and Roasted Beets
  

Seared scallop

Halibut and shrimp

Fourth course (delicious offal - at this point they were mixing "birds and game" and "meats" so I have given this course my own title!):

• Pan-Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Yukon Gold Potato & Bacon Hash, Madiera Pan Sauce


• Sweetbreads with Roasted Cauliflower
  

Foie gras!


Sweetbreads

Fifth course (meats and birdies):

• Pan-Roasted Magret Duck Breast, Rhubarb Compote, Port Wine and Bing Cherry Reduction


• Grilled Colorado Lamb Chop
  

Lamb chop

Ze duck with cherries

What a meal!! So many of these dishes were outstanding, which we have come to expect of Chef Wolf - she is amazing! To avoid a lot of repetitive gushing, I will discuss a few of the tip top stand-out dishes.

The both of the first hot courses were amazing and we've had them both in the past - obviously they are classics and are so loved that they haven't left the menu in over 2 years! The shellfish bisque is super-rich with lots of great seafood flavor in the soup, plus a generous portion of shrimp and lobster atop the soup itself. There is, as to be expected, a hearty helping of cream and some liquor (probably sherry?) in the soup as well, which make it even more exquisite.

The shrimp and grits were also wonderful and so flavorful from the spicy andouille sausage, the creamy grits, and the perfectly cooked shrimp. My mouth is watering as I type this!

Another standout was the foie gras, but how could it not be good? Foie gras + potatoes + bacon?! I have yet to meet a foie gras dish I didn't love and this one was no exception. We also loved the duck, which was perfectly cooked and was served with that awesome bing cherry sauce. I also recall the lamb being superb and again, perfectly cooked. I see a theme here!

One surprise of the evening (for at least Xani and Mom) was that the scallop was so wonderful. Normally they are not big scallop eaters but in this dish, the scallop was seared but still creamy on the inside, and had a subtle scallop flavor that played beautifully off the pine nuts, citrus, and yummy roasted beets.

After our meal, while discussing our favorites, Len brought up the subject of dessert. (Dessert, by the way, is included in any 3- to 6-course meal you select. Very classy, Charleston.) I was especially excited for dessert not only because of my sweet tooth, but also because our friend Joy is the pastry chef at Charleston! She is so accomplished and we are really proud of her.

I had told her we were coming for my graduation, but I really didn't know what to expect in terms of special (dessert) treatment, or if I should expect anything to begin with. But before we could even begin discussing dessert, Len brought out a beautiful cake made by Joy just for me! AND, it turned out that she and Xani had been in cahoots and had discussed what flavors it should be, and decided on a dark chocolate cake and a coffee filling - kinda like Black Coffee and a Donut flavored!! Amazing. How did I get so lucky??




The cake was chocolatey and coffee-y (love that flavor combo) and served with fresh raspberries on the side. Add a round of coffees and espressos and a glass of armagnac for the table, and it was a delicious end to the meal. Oh wait - there were little chocolates, a mini lemon square, and a macaron too! THANKS JOY for everything! You really made my night even more special!


And thanks to my wonderful parents and Xani, and to all my friends who supported and encouraged me (and talked me down) over these past three years. Only two more months of bitching while I study for the bar, and you'll be home free ;)

Congrats to my fellow graduates!

Happy celebrating,

EVP, J.D.

ps. Here are a few pictures from graduation:

Me and Xani at the Recognition Ceremony the night before graduation, where I received an award for my clinical work

Getting hooded by my favorite professor, Prof. Van Alstine!

All four of us had Prof. Keller for Income Tax, so we had to get a picture with him!

A shot of my awesome hood!

Family! Lots of lawyers

Great Eats at Great Sage

by Erin

Since drinking the Kool-Aid of "The Omnivore's Dilemma," I have not been eating that much meat, and when I do, I prefer it to be local and/or organic. (Don't get me wrong, I break my rules all the time, such as when I indulge my growing addiction to the Hilltop Carry-Out gyros.) Several of my friends (and Xani) are of the same mind and some have even gone vegetarian or mostly vegetarian. I met up with several of these girls (including Lauren, NYC friend extraordinaire) last weekend to celebrate our friend Lydia's birthday, and the birthday girl chose to have lunch at Great Sage in Clarksville, MD.

Great Sage is a vegetarian restaurant that uses organic produce and happily accommodates vegans as well. The space is open and sunny, and the staff was extremely friendly and accommodating. At the bar in the front of the restaurant, patrons on their laptops sipped coffee or munched on sandwiches.

We sat down and amongst our chit-chatting and catching up, we ordered the mango iced tea, a refreshing tea with a mild mango flavor. The menu had soups, salads, a few entrees, and a nice selection of appetizers. Many of the dishes had what I'll call "veg-meat," meaning usually soy-based products used to emulate meat in flavor and/or texture. I tried these fake meats in college when I would dine out with vegetarian friends (I'm talking about you, Jeff Fields!), and to be honest, that was enough for me. I prefer to eat either real meat, or no meat. Substitutions be gone!

Mango iced tea

For our appetizers, we ordered the Hummus Plate, served with carrots, celery, olives, and toasted naan bread, and Artichoke Spinach Crostini, an artichoke and spinach dip with parmesan and toasted crostini. Both appetizers were delicious and heavy enough to satisfy our hunger immediately, but not too heavy that we couldn't enjoy the rest of the meal. I especially liked the artichoke dip - it had lots of tartness in it and for a moment I wasn't sure what it was from, and then I took the cue from the garnish: a lemon slice! The lemon juice added brightness and cut right through the creamy cheesiness of the dish. Delish!

Spinach-Artichoke Dip with Crostini

Hummus with veggies and naan

For our mains, I ordered the Black Bean and Roasted Corn Quesadilla, with white cheddar and sour cream on the side. They gave me hot sauce on request (Rick Bayless's Frontera Grill brand - nice and spicy). It was a good quesadilla, a large portion, but not as great as the appetizers. The other girls got the Italian Pesto Panini, the Portabella Caesar Salad Wrap, and the Southwest Burger, and all got great reviews. Lauren's wrap came with amazingly tart and spicy pickles, and we were obnoxious and ordered a whole plate for the table!

Black bean and corn quesadilla

Southwest "Burger"

Italian Pesto Panino

Portobello Caesar Wrap with awesome pickle

The last course was dessert, and this was the biggest surprise of the meal because these desserts were KICK-ASS! First our waitress surprised the birthday girl with four very mini birthday cupcakes! It was a sweet surprise, and the cupcakes were excellent. The chocolate cake was moist and had a nice hint of salt, and the icing was not too sweet (it was a merigue buttercream so it was more butter than sugar) and there was a good proportion of icing to cake.

Surprise!

Next we got MORE dessert. As I've gotten older, I've noticed that I've been shying away from chocolate desserts and more often order fruit-based desserts, so my vote was for the fruit tart or fruit crisp, but I got outvoted. After heated debate, we ordered a molton chocolate cake dessert with vanilla ice cream on top (not on the menu, we got it special because the b-day girl knows a guy who knows a guy), and Sage's Famous Carrot Cake. I was hesitant about both. I never order carrot cake; I don't even think I had ever had it before since why would I want silly vegetables in my dessert??

The verdict? I was blown away by both desserts! The molton chocolate cake was rich and chocolatey, and the ice cream was a great accompaniment. (The waitress asked if we wanted dairy, soy, or rice-based ice cream - we went with dairy.)

The carrot cake, however, was RIDICULOUS. First, it was a gigantic portion. It was served ice cold, which normally I wouldn't like, but it totally worked. The cream cheese frosting was vegan so it did not have the same tanginess as traditional CC frosting, but it was still sweet and smooth. The cake was VERY dense (is that normal?) and there was a great cake-to-frosting ratio. Who knew vegan carrot cake would be so amazing??

What a meal! I was glad I was able to celebrate with Lydia and see Lauren and Sarah who were in town from NYC. Happy birthday, Lyd!

BFFs!

Happy organic/vegetarian/vegan eating,
EP

Back to Blogging....

by Xani

It's been a while since I've blogged. After my little accident, I had to put cooking and blogging pretty much on hold. Cooking was almost impossible (I almost cried when I realized I was unable to grind pepper one-handed) and maybe even dangerous (left-handed knife skills? Not so much), and typing one-handed was so frustrating, I pretty much gave it up except for when I absolutely HAD to, for work. It was a sad month. But now my splint has been removed, my bone is all healed, and it's been so exciting to be able to cook (and blog) again! Here are a few dishes I whipped up soon after getting my hand back-- and just as fresh, local produce begins to emerge!



Dish Number 1: Bastardized Panzanella

A simple dinner thrown together on a weeknight. Some pieces of roughly torn Italian bread, drizzled with olive, salt and pepper and toasted in the oven until they emerged as golden croutons. Meanwhile, tossed a small salad of parsley, and little grape tomatoes, minced or grated garlic, vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. When the croutons were done, I added them, as well as some adorable fresh mozzarella pearls to the salad, tossed gently, plated, and topped the whole thing with some fresh shaved Parmesan and a bit more olive oil. Light, easy, and tasty. Mine had a bit too much garlic, and as summer approaches with delicious heirloom tomatoes and basil bursting from gardens, I would certainly adjust the recipe to include these.


Dish Number 2: Soft-boiled Eggs with Asparagus

This dish seems almost British to me-- why is that? Did I see Nigella Lawson make it long ago on the Style Network? Perhaps. Anyway, it seemed a perfect vehicle for the first local asparagus of the season, which EP and I picked up at our beloved Emily's Produce stand (which reopened for the season just the day before!), on our way home from a brief visit to Blackacre. Hungry for brunch the next morning, I brought some salted water to a simmer, and in went the asparagus and eggs. Four minutes later, the spears were crisp tender and the eggs were perfectly soft-boiled (although at this point I realized I don't have any egg cups or other dishes that effectively hold an egg- add those to my wish list!). I served the eggs and asparagus alongside some toasted thick bread to soak up the yolks, and lots of coarse salt.

Dish Number 3: Calzones from Scratch, Two Fillings

After spending a few nights in Philadelphia for work (and getting a killer migraine that ruined my dinner at Cuba Libre and left me incapacitated for 18 hours) I arrived home to a fridge full of veggies needing prompt attention, and a package of pre-made pizza dough I picked up at the grocery store. My grill is currently being taken over by ivy (seriously, my backyard is like a JUNGLE, and while some think it looks "magical", I bet my neighbors don't. My "I only have one hand" excuse is no good anymore, so I guess it's pure laziness at this point-- it's on the To Do list, for sure), so grilled pizzas were off the table. But calzones seemed like the perfect solution. I invited EP over for a study break, and got started on making the fillings.

Kale-ricotta filling (a twist on traditional spinach ricotta): I didn't have any spinach, but I did have kale, which I blanched in boiling salted water, shocked, drained and chopped. Then mixed with some sauteed onion and garlic, ricotta, one egg, Parmesan, fresh mozzarella, and salt and pepper.

Veggie tomato filling: Another twist on a classic, I omitted the sausage from a traditional sausage, pepper and onion filling and added mushrooms and asparagus to the sauteed onion, garlic, and red, yellow and orange mini-peppers. Once all the veggies were nice and tender, I added about half a can of (GASP) prepared tomato sauce, along with red pepper flakes, oregano, and salt and pepper, and let the whole thing cook together for about half an hour until it had formed a nice, thick sauce-- almost like a ragout.


Once the fillings were done, I started trying to stretch out the prepared pizza dough-- emphasis on the word "trying." I guess it had been sitting in my fridge for too long, because this stuff was a MESS. Unbelievably sticky no matter how much flour I added, wouldn't hold shape, etc. But I already had the fillings all made-- I was screwed!! Or was I...?

Behold: my latest purchase/obsession. Ratio, by Michael Ruhlman, is a fantastic book about how many of the basics of cooking can be reduced to simple ratios. Bread dough (including pizza dough), for example, is 5:3, flour to water. The book stresses how simple it is to make great bread with just a few ingredients (flour, yeast, salt), and I thought this was a perfect opportunity to try out the technique... what else was I going to do with all that filling!?

My other new favorite toy-- digital food scale!

In retrospect I didn't time things quite right-- the dough should have rested a lot longer between initial kneading and stretching into the calzones... lesson learned for next time. The dough wasn't really very elastic and hadn't developed the gluten in a way that gives pizza dough it crispy, chewy texture. But hey, I made dough, and formed it into calzones, and they didn't fall apart or explode or taste half-bad. In fact, they were pretty damn good! EP and I ate well that night. The kale had a really interesting flavor, and the veggie ragout was delicious with the melted mozzarella and Parmesan. All in all, a BIG success.


I'm so glad to be two-handed again. I promise to do lots more cooking (especially with the farmers' market open again as of this morning-- EP and I almost drowned getting there in the today's monsoon, but it was so worth it) and blogging. I've got a few in the pipeline that I'm sure you'll all enjoy. Until then...


Happy eating (and cooking, and blogging),
X

Celebrating at Woodberry Kitchen

by Erin & Xani

The past few days have been great for the BCD girls. On the Xani front, the doctor removed her cast and she now has full typing abilities! Keep your eyes out for more regular blogging by the X-Factor. As for EP, yesterday she turned in her bar application and then had her last law school class ever! Also, after LOTS of hard work, her article was published in her law journal, and it's very exciting to see it in print after all this time.

So, to celebrate all this good news, we headed up to Hampden and went to Woodberry Kitchen. Xani had been several times and finally we got the chance to go together! WK has a strong emphasis on local, organic, and seasonal eating, and supports sustainable agriculture (very appropriate for Earth Day!). In other words, we HAD to get there ASAP.


The space at WK is an old renovated industrial space and it's super cozy with a wood-burning oven and an open kitchen-- its totally gorgeous. While WK's menu has a good handful of entrees, we decided to stick with their larger selection of small plates. It was so hard to choose only a few - we wanted to order everything!

We started with some celebratory cocktails. Erin got the "Birds and the Bees," comprised of housemade berry liquor, local honey, lemon twist, and cava (Spanish sparkling wine). It was similar to a Kir. Xani got an organic IPA.

Then it was time to eat! We started with the Kitchen Pickles and Olives, a small jar of pickled onions, green beans, and leeks, plus olives. A good light start to the meal. Then came one of the specials of the day, featuring the first local asparagus of the season! It was a salad with shaved asparagus, greens, smoked shrimp, and a vinaigrette with lots of lemon and mint. Very refreshing, interesting flavor combination with the shrimp, and great to enjoy the asparagus!

Also during this course we enjoyed the Chicken Liver Parfait, a mild pate of chicken liver served with crispy crostini, a berry sauce, and apples. Very nice dish.

Next we enjoyed another special of the day: local rockfish served sashimi-style topped with a salad of fresh greens and ginger. This dish was fresh and delicious, great flavor from the fish combined with the fresh salad. It was also a very generous portion, and when it comes to raw fish, the more the better.

The next course included two dishes that we were both very excited about: first up was the Pork Buns. When we read this, we figured these would be Asian-style pork buns: a gummy, fluffy dough filled with a little blob of pork. But no! These were mini pulled-pork sandwiches on mini pretzel rolls with a sweet onion relish - outstanding. And messy. The sauce on the pork was nice and acidy, not too sweet, sort of like NC-style BBQ, EP's favorite.

Also for this course was the Poutine! The only other time we've had poutine was at Victoria Gastropub in Columbia, where it's made with duck-fat fries, covered with duck confit, gravy, and gruyere cheese. And before last night, we thought this was the best poutine ever. Then we had WK's poutine. It was amazing and completely surpassed Victoria. This poutine was french fries covered in cheddar curd, house-smoked bacon (GIGANTIC lardons, if that's not an oxymoron?), and chicken wing gravy. A-mazing.

For the next course, we had one of the WK flatbreads, presumably cooked in their wood-burning oven. We selected a flatbread with lamb, ramps (first of the season!), and ricotta cheese. It was a nice bite, but we were so full by then, I don't think we could appreciate it fully. We also had broccoli raab with chili flakes, garlic, and a parmesan chip. Unfortunately, this was the weakest dish of the evening - it was very bitter and a little watery.

Despite our fullness, we pressed on and ordered dessert and coffee. The direct-trade Rwandan coffee came in a French press and was strong and delicious. For dessert, we ordered the Neopolitan Sundae, which was absolutely delicious vanilla ice cream, strawberry jam, and sugar-coated chocolate donut holes. PLUS, there was a malted cone on top. Um, HELLO?! Fabulous dessert.

The French press came with a timer so we would know when to press it

What an amazing meal! It was not too expensive either, which means we'll be back ASAP (especially as the weather continues to improve-- they have a great patio with a firepit). Who's got something worth celebrating? We'll take any excuse...

Thanks for a great meal, WK! See you soon!

E & X