Outer Limits sent me an awesome four pack of their hot sauces to try out: Habanero, Jalapeño Habanero, Jalapeño Lime and Serrano Cilantro.
My favorite is the Habenero sauce. It’s really great for things like tacos or for spicing up pasta dishes. The heat is a nice up-front pop that doesn’t linger or kill your taste buds.
If heat isn’t your thing, then go with the Serrano Cilantro sauce. It delivers a nice, fresh, herby green kick without any of the sweat that you normally get from a hot sauce.
I had heard mixed reviews of this place before going in for a burger, but I have to say: the old timey, class American diner look of the place really drew me in. How can you say no to an exterior like this:
They’re serving all grass fed beef in their burgers, so I was skeptical.
I probably should have ordered medium rare to avoid the slight grainy texture that I experienced, but over all this was a really tasty burger.
The special they were slinging for the few days that I was in town was a romesco burger, topped with romesco sauce (red pepper and pine nuts), smoked mozz, and basil. Very nice Italian style burger.
My wife had a bowl of potato soup, as she was feeling a bit full still from our prior evening of BBQ food, but I added a birch beer float to the mix. Incredibly delicious.
See that? They even have a jukebox in the background (CDs -not vinyl), and they round out the 1950’s theme with some old hamburger ad signage too.
I tried some smoked wings and a burger at this joint in Hudson. The wings were pretty good, but had more of a tomato and red pepper sauce on them as opposed to something more traditional like Buffalo sauce.
The burger needed a bun upgrade, but was otherwise pretty great. Standard double patty style with “special sauce” that was reminiscent of Thousand Island dressing.
Breakfast at this bakery-slash-restaurant joint was pretty fantastic.
I had an amazing lobster BLT sandwich that must have had a pound of good lobster claw meat on it.
My wife’s “little breakfast” was just $9 and had a ton of food on the plate.
The only downer was the side order of truffle fries. They were more like roasted potato wedges, not too crisp, and I think they were simply hit with some truffle oil to give it an aroma.
I built this cool hibachi grill using some clay pots that I picked up at Home Depot.
As you can see, the first thing I cooked on it was some thick cut bacon. That’s lamb bacon, by the way. Really nice.
I lit the coal brick with a blowtorch.
This baby made my apartment really smokey because the fat drippings were hitting the hot coal. Otherwise, if there was no fat dripping, the hibachi was relatively smokeless. The cooking itself was more like a slow roast. I think, since I only used one brick, that made the process take longer. Next time I’ll try with two or three.
This past weekend I went all in and made a Sunday roast out of some Strassburger Steaks sirloin that I butchered myself at a butchery class. I had it netted/trussed so that it held its shape during the cooking process (that’s why it has lines on it).
First I rubbed it with some delicious Botticelli extra virgin olive oil. I really love that stuff. It’s the best olive oil I’ve had, and it doesn’t take on a bitter taste like some extra virgin oils do.
Then I seasoned with kosher salt, pepper and garlic powder. After that, I sealed it up in a sous vide bag with a few sprigs of rosemary. I left it in the bath overnight for 12 hours, set to 128 degrees.
After I pulled it from the bath, I poured out any meat juices into a cup for using later.
I let the meat cool own to room temperature before searing it in a pan with some butter and the rosemary. I spooned the excess butter over the top as I cooked it, and ensure that I got a good sear on all sides.
Always let your meat rest before slicing. I rested this roast for about 15 minutes. While you do that, you can pour the meat juice into the melted butter that’s left in the pan and reduce it gently into a brown gravy sauce.
I served with a big salad and some roasted potatoes. But man, oh man. That beef was so delicious.
Oh and speaking of Botticelli Foods, they happened to send me and my wife a nice package of stuff to try out here at home.
I just used the EVOO with my roast, but my wife used almost everything here and baked these awesome little farfalle muffins – a take on my spaghetti pie, but with prosciutto cups, bow tie pasta, roasted red peppers, mozz, eggs, parmesan cheese and spinach. Insanely delicious.
My wife and I stopped in here for a quick sip of tea and a bite of some desserts when we were up in Hudson, NY.
The cookie had a tasty and soft center, and the banana cream pie was really smooth. Not too rich, so I liked it.
We sampled a few teas (green and black), and I slammed the pink lemonade. I really liked the green tea, because for once in my life it was sweet and not bitter.
