Morimoto, Philadelphia

Regardless of preparation and technique the quality of the ingredients can make or break a meal.  This was most certainly the case at Morimoto in Philadelphia.  I had a conference in Philadelphia and we decided to capitalize and try Morimoto while we were there.

The restaurant is located right downtown on Chestnut St.  The entrance is a white stone façade which leads you to large glass doors.  As you enter you begin to get a sense of the über hip décor.  The hostess led us past a huge, abstract black sculpture into the long dining room.  The walls are a white stone, with sculpted curves which project slightly into the large dining space.  All of the dining space is organized into booths which are all connected to a lighting system.  The color of the lights is constantly changing from purples, to reds, to blues, to greens and casting a glow across the entire space.

Spicy, sweet chili

A friend of mine recently won a chili cook-off at a Chicago breast cancer fundraising event.  He shared the recipe which came in first out of 40 competitors (not bad for his first cooking competition!).  It seemed quite non-traditional and intriguing for a chicken chili given the use of sweet potatoes so I decided to try it.  It is delicious!  The base of the chili is quite spicy with both regular chili powder and ancho chile powder.  But, the sweet potatoes provide a sweetness which cuts the spice and also a heartiness to the overall dish.  The recipe makes quite a lot so you will have plenty of leftovers for the week or to freeze.  A great recipe just in time for the cold weather!

Kandas, Morrisville

G’s family was in town a few weeks ago and they love to go out for Indian food.  Since we haven’t established our favorite Indian place yet we did some research online and decided to try Kandas in Morrisville.  The restaurant is in a strip mall and is very basic in décor.  The menu is primarily focused on the North Indian dishes typically seen on restaurant menus.  They did, however, have a section of a few Indo-Chinese options.  We tried the Chicken Tikka Masala, which is chicken cooked tandoori style (marinated and cooked in a clay oven) served in a creamy masala sauce.  It was tasty with just the right creaminess.  We tried the Dal Tadka, which is a simple dish of yellow split peas spiced with cumin seeds.  It was very comforting and simple.  The Karaikudi Mutton Masala was a nice goat curry which was spicy and rich.  The Fish Moilee is a curry of sautéed fish flavored with turmeric, ginger, green chilies, mustard seed, fenugreek seeds and tempered with coconut milk.  It was a rich creamy dish with a flavorful sauce.  Overall, the food was tasty and well prepared but nothing amazing.  I was a disappointed in the minimal amount of meat in each dish.  I would like to try some of the Indo-Chinese dishes one day.  If it was closer to us, I could see it as a go-to for take out however, I am not sure it is worth the drive.

Kandas
kandasnc.com
10255 Chapel Hill Road
Morrisville, NC 27560
919-461-9930

The Pit, Raleigh

The Pit might be the area’s most famous barbeque place.  The chef, Ed Mitchell, is an ambassador for this southern food specialty with appearances on the Bobby Flay’s Throwdown (he won), the Today show and numerous articles in the likes of the New York Times and Gourmet.  He is also an advocate for traditional methods and process with his work through the Southern Foodways Alliance.  As is often the case with celebrity chefs, there is disagreement on how good the food is.  Some argue that The Pit is the best barbeque in the area.  Others argue that it is not authentic and too catered to the tourist.  With all of this controversy and press we just had to try it.

Settling in

Well, what can I say… we settle into our busy routines quite quickly!  While we did move to Chapel Hill, NC at the end of August we have already been to Boston three times, have taken a trip to the gorgeous Blue Ridge Parkway for leaf peeping and had some family visit.  With all of this we haven’t had too much time to try new restaurants but we have tried a few and explored some of the wonderful Farmer’s Markets and gourmet food stores around the area.  There is a great food culture in this area with many activities and a huge range of local produce and meat.  I have also discovered a vibrant local food blogging community and have linked to some of my favorites on this site.

O Ya, Boston

Rarely does a restaurant live up to the hype generated by the media but in this case it certainly did.  Since being named the number one ‘Coast to Coast, Restaurants that Count’ 2008 by the New York Times’ Frank Bruni, O Ya has been on my radar.  We had wanted to try it for quite sometime however, given the expense felt we needed an occasion.  We decided it would be a perfect place to celebrate our 8 years in Boston and the last night in town before we flew down south.

Farewell Tour

Over the eight years that we have lived in Cambridge, we have developed so many favorite places and in some cases specific dishes.  During the last couple of months in town we tried to enjoy as many of these locations and dishes as our stomachs (and waistlines!) could handle.  Instead of going into detail, below I list the places we returned to our favorite dish that we visited for in particular (in no specific order).