Ordering seafood at a restaurant shouldn't feel like stepping up the blackjack table at the nearest reservation casino.  It shouldn't, but here in Rochester, it unfortunately does.  So, as good as this seafood platter or "psarkia" platter at Mykonos (274 Goodman St N, Rochester, (585) 271-5510) sounded, we were very torn, especially the day after a holiday.  We decided to do the sensible thing and ask about the seafood.  The professional and competent, if not overly personable, waiter assured us without hesitation that they get all of their seafood fresh every morning, so we decided to go for it. 

I won't attempt to write a full review of this place here as Adam Wilcox over at City Newspaper has already written a good review that, for the most part, I agree with.  In fact, his review inspired us to try this place that I had avoided for a couple years because of a stupid bias against the space.  He's also a much better writer than I.

As for the seafood, we rejoiced at the fact that it did indeed taste as fresh as advertised.  That being said, we found the preparation of the various offerings (kalamari fried and grilled, grilled salmon with capers, broiled shrimp and scallops, charbroiled octopus tentacles) good, but a bit underwhelming.  The grilled kalamari stood out with a great smoky flavor.  The low end was the octopus.  I've never had octopus before, but I'd like to think it shouldn't have the texture of beef jerky, maybe I'm wrong.

I think I'm being fair in my assessment of the seafood, but it may be tainted by the contrast with the appetizer we had just before the seafood.  Adam Wilcox says, "I'll take Mykonos's eggplant puree, melitzanosalata, over baba ghanoush, but it isn't quite the rapturous experience of the same dish at Olive's."  I'm forced to disagree here as I also just had the counterpart of Mykonos's melitzanosalata at Olive's last week.  I was blown away by the exploding flavors here and would have to give Mykonos the prize.  I loved this dish, and, despite the unexciting seafood, I loved this restaurant. 

There are a few thoughts that go through your mind when you embark on a journey to spend Christmas with your family and end up having to have some kind neighbors help push your car out of the snow not once, but twice, before leaving the block.  I won't repeat those thoughts here.  But when a good nor-easter exposes you for the snow-tire buying procrastinator that you are, and you end up right back where you started hauling armfuls of presents back into the house and explaining to your parents that, yes, the snow really is deep here, one of the repeatable thoughts that enters your head is:  Comfort Food.  And since making it to the grocery store was pretty much out of the question, we had to work with what we could scrounge up.  Thus, unto you this day was born this pantry pot roast.

I'll just highlight the key points instead of listing a detailed recipe since I will be more prepared next time I attempt a pot roast:

• Liquid consisted of various quantities of red wine, store bought beef stock, porcini mushroom re-hydrating liquid, Worcester Sauce, and store bought pasta sauce (Since this was the only tomato product in my pantry and I felt that the tomato flavor was a must)
• Veggies included quartered onions, halved carrots, canned green beans, porcini mushrooms, cannelloni beans, and a bit of barely salvageable celery.  Various fresh and dried herbs were added.
• Meat was half of a frozen beef roast of unknown origin from the freezer.  Probably about 1 1/2-2 lbs. 
• Roast was pierced in several locations and stuffed with prosciutto and halved garlic cloves
• Meat was seared with salt, pepper, and paprika.  Dutch oven was deglazed with wine, and then everything except the 2 beans was thrown in and slowly simmered for 2 1/2 - 3 hours.  Beans were thrown in for last 20 minutes.  Meat and vegs were scooped out and sauce was thickened with a little arrowroot and water.   Meat was sliced and everything was served over mashed yukon golds with butter, cream, and garlic.

Tasting notes:

• The sauce was awesome.  The procini liquid added a subtle level of earthiness and complexity.
• The carrots and cannelloni beans were great.  The onions would have been better if added later in the process. 
• The meat was tasty (I think the prosciutto helped), but quite dry :(  I'm amassing a pretty poor braising track record.  I don't know why it ended up so dry.  I was hoping for it to be falling apart.  Please leave braising tips in the comment section if you have any help.
• Of course, the potatoes were great, thanks Laura.

I've just experienced a validation of the raison d'être of this silly website.  I'm referring to the "not forgetting the recipes and experiences of things I made" raison d'être, not the "showing off" raison d'être ;)  I was looking through some old directories of digital photos and stumbled upon this Beef Bourguignon that I made and forgot to post to the website.  I now realize that I vaguely recall it tasting good, but have no idea where I found the recipe, or what alterations and mistakes I made.  I also realize that "Bourguignon" is one of those words that's so hard for me to spell that I had to try a few times before Google would even make a guess at what I was looking for.  Anyone else had that experience? 

Anyway, I feel a little better about wasting so much time on this venture now.

When is the last time you were able to try a new food that you didn't even know existed before?  I recently had this experience with some little red pepper like things that appeared in the olive bar at Wegmans.  From what I can figure out, they're called Peppadews, or rather, Peppadews(tm).  They're sold by this company from South Africa, which touts them as:

"The first truly new fruit to be launched on the world market since Kiwi Fruit 26 years ago, the story of the Peppadew™ Sweet Piquanté Pepper is as intriguing and endearing as its taste...."

I don't know whether to believe this marketing or not, but I've certainly never seen them before.  I think they're basically pickled small sweet peppers.  Whether they invented them or not, the things are delicious, and I can't go into Wegmans without picking up a couple spoonfuls.  If anyone else has had these or knows anything about them besides what is one their web site, please let me know.  Also feel free to share any experiences you've had with "new to you" foods.

hmmm... I bet that title will generate a few interesting hits from google.  But it would have been too wordy to describe it as a caramelized onion, goat cheese, portabella mushroom, orange bell pepper, jalapeño, rosemary, balsamic vinegar, and prosciutto  tart.  I've had some real failures in the past trying to blend so many flavors, but this worked really well with nothing overpowering the other ingredients.  I wanted just a little bit of a bite to this and the jalapeño really did the trick even though it may seem like it doesn't quite fit with the other ingredients.

Tart Crust Dough
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Large Red Onion, sliced
1 Large Yellow Onion, sliced
6 Ounces Mild Goat Cheese
1 Large Portabella Mushroom Cap, cut in 1/2 inch slices
1/2 Sweet Bell Pepper, sliced
2 Tablespoons Jalapeño, minced
3-4 Tablespoons Fresh Rosemary, chopped
3 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
1-2 Thin Slices of Prosciutto

Preheat oven to 375F

Roll out pastry dough and fit into tart pan.  Run rolling pin over edges to cut of excess.  Poke holes in bottom with a fork.  Cover with foil and weigh with rice.  Bake 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-8 minutes until brown.  Remove from oven and pre-heat broiler.

While baking tart crust, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy skillet over med-high heat and add onions.  Add some salt and pepper let them cook for about 25 minutes stirring frequently until caramelized. 

When the onions are nearing completion, heat remaining oil in another skilled over med-high heat and sauté mushrooms and peppers.  When mushrooms are just softened add some rosemary, jalapeño, salt, and pepper.  Sauté for an additional minute then deglaze the pan with the balsamic vinegar.  Stir well until mushrooms are coated with herbs and vinegar and take off the heat. 

Place onions in the bottom of the tart crust.  Top this with crumbled goat cheese.  Top this with the mushrooms and peppers.  Tear prosciutto into bite-sized pieces and put these on top.  Cover edges of crust with foil and put tart under broiler for about 5 minutes.  Until the prosciutto starts to crisp and the cheese bubbles a bit.

There are two reasons Charlie's Frog Pond (652 Park Ave, 271-1970) tops my list of great breakfasts in Rochester, frittatas and mimosas. It also helps that they're about two blocks away.  For those of you who don't know, a mimosa is a cocktail of Champagne (sparkling wine for the anal or French) and Orange Juice, and it's difficult to think of a better way to start the day.  In New Orleans, they call these morning cocktails "eye-openers". 

As far as the frittata, Charlie's version is an broiled indulgent mass of egg, mild Italian sausage, onion, and pepper.  The presentation's not pretty, but it's impressive. 

Laura had an omelet with lox, capers, and cream cheese.  It sounded really great, but unfortunately we thought they overdid the capers a bit and they overshadowed everything else.  They're not perfect, but the breakfast menu has great variety that's hard to find at a diner.  It includes a few gems that I like even better than the frittata, like the Charlie's french toast.  The decor's funkadellic and the room is really small and cramped, giving you that authentic NYC feel.  With the Mimosas our breakfast bill was about $25 pre-tip.  A little more expensive than a regular diner breakfast, but you can't tell me you're not a little bit jealous :)