Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Reuben Ready

Tristan
55 S. Market Street, downtown
(843) 534-2155
www.tristandining.com

Tristan's prix fixe lunch was instituted about a year ago and has evolved into lunch event dining at its best. Fancy lunches are a strange rarity downtown, especially in the bustling Market area which is surrounded by banks, corporate offices and legal firms. These guys (and gals) have to eat, too, and power lunches are frequently the order of many a professional's midday trappings. Thus, Tristan's move was a smart one, indeed. The 3-course, $15 lunch includes a bevy of elegant options served in the cool elegance of Tristan's linen-lined, colorful, glass-splashed dining room and includes endless helpings of the restaurant's remarkable housemade potato and manchego cheese rolls served hot out of the oven.

So, on a recent sunny day, I visited Tristan with the precise intent of spoiling myself with the prix fixe indulgence. However, my outstanding server almost adamently stated: "We have the best Reuben in town". She proceeded to describe how the kitchen staff sautes fresh cabbage for the sandwich ($8) instead of the more traditional marinated variety which often tastes a tad medicinal. I bit. Big time! The sandwich is phenomenal and easily lives up to her heartfelt endorsement. The brisket is shaved thickly and tumbles out of the sandwich, the portion is so hefty. Fresh, marbled bread swirled prettily above it like a cloud and swiss cheese brought a mild bite and an appealing ooze factor to contrast with the just-crunchy cabbage. Served with a pert salad or fries for the more indulgent, it also comes with those remarkable rolls.
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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Tasty Treats of the Week
April 3, 2007 - April 10, 2007

Unforgettably FIG

FIG
232 Meeting Street, Downton
843-305-8900
www.eatatfig.com

A recent nomination by The James Beard Foundation singles out chef Mike Lata as one of the Southeast's best. Lata's not letting that go to his head. I checked out his latest offerings with a visiting college pal last week only to find that FIG's braised short ribs, roasted beet salad, chicken liver pate and, farm-fresh deviled eggs from Green Grocer farm's happy, free-range world, are as heavenly as ever. Attention to detail and passionate kisses of produce handling restraint seal the deal on some of the best food in town. Service staff worked in tandem to sweeten the meal even further. Check out FIG's new ice cream offerings. When we visited, Lata and crew had put together a creamery fresh version of toasted pistachio ice cream with their new "$700" ice cream machine. Delicious as can be, Mr. Lata felt it could be better and was tweaking with sugar content and the possible addition of a fig compote garnish. You can bet it will be award-winning, just like the chef himself.

Falafel Fever

Charlie's
Charles Grocery
1 Jasper Street, Downtown
(843) 853-03510

Low and behold, just when I thought the only respectable falafel provider in town was Pita King, a realtor friend turned me on to the virtues of Charlie's. In seven years of sampling Charleston's offerings, I never even knew this somewhat tattered looking, brick red corner grocery existed, let alone turned out New York-worthy falafel. A father and son grocery affair dappled with canned sausages, Sunbeam white bread and other collegiate staples, it also showcases a small made-to-order deli counter. Falafel are prepared by the fetching young son who chatted affably while he hand-rolled several chickpea balls and spoke of his dreams to open his own restaurant in the near future. In the meantime, the fresh-from-the-fryer falafel were insanely delicious, especially when topped with hummus, crackling-fresh lettuce shreds, banana peppers and Charlie's special hot sauce. Wrapped in fresh pita pockets, these gems sell for just $2.99 and will keep anyone's appetite satisfied for several hours. The memory will last a lifetime, especially for Southern transplants hungry for the authentic, international offerings of larger cities such as New York and Chicago.

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Culinary Cost-Cutting 101

Coupon Crazy

When I was a little girl, I marveled while watching my Great Aunt Frances sitting at her linoleum-topped kitchen table, cutting coupons from the daily newspaper in the tiny Kansas town she lived in until she was nearly 100 years old.

It seemed like such a waste of energy in order to save a few pennies on, what I thought, were probably things she wouldn't normally buy anyway. But, I was naive. She, a thrifty survivor of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, had her coupon system down pat and it's probably one of the reasons she made it through a long life of hard times, many of them spent alone.

The latest bout of monetary unpleasantness, however, has created a market for New Age couponing systems. The internet now has a number of hot coupon sites (I like couponmom.com) which provide free, brand-name coupons and more if you select to register as a member. They're just a click, a printer, and five minutes away. In addition, many grocery stores' websites offer lists of daily specials. And, here's the kicker. Many provide selections from the kind of items you usually purchase, anyway. That was it for me. The last straw supporting my long-standing anti-coupon mindset finally broke its resistant back.

Harris Teeter's online specials shopping list became this list-hater's new best friend. I dipped into it with reckless abandon. With a little practice and increasing knowledge, I'm slowly forming my own semi-profitable coupon system. By combining the free manufacturer's coupons from sites like couponmom.com with a daily special shopping list constructed from Harris Teeter's web site (harristeeter.com) , my handy VIC card, and an extra dose of concentration at the grocery store, I have scored some serious savings.

The best yet happened last week. Granted, it was a big sales day at the downtown Teeter. The store was offering buy one get one, two or even three, all over the place on big ticket items like beef, coffee and wine. Since I'm expecting company in a couple weeks, I decided to stock up on these and other staples. The net result was a whopping $67 total savings. In essence, I bought three weeks-worth of groceries for less than I usually spend in one week!

My heart raced with anticipation as I watched the basket cave with the weight of my cache and the numbers creeping slowly higher on the cash register. Then, as the cashier started calculating in the selected coupons, the numbers amazingly started going down. It was like getting on the scale after a week of gorging Haagen-Dazs only to find you'd lost five pounds. I was beaming. She was beaming and said, "You did good today!"


Admittedly, a follow-up trip to replenish the fresh vegetable drawer just one week later only yielded $10 in savings, but next time I'll do better. I'm on a coupon-crazed mission. Intelligent use of coupons and smart shopping add up to saving a lot more than pennies. And, I'm not in Kansas anymore.

One Plucky Chicken, Four Marvelous Meals

With grocery costs rocketing to the stratosphere, it’s imperative to save wherever you can at the supermarket without eliminating taste. In addition to reaching for reduced daily specials, what you buy and how you put it to use in your kitchen can happily translate to huge savings with bodacious bite.

In this era of grocery gouging, chicken can become your new best friend for just pennies per four ounce serving when paired with practical pantry staples like pasta and veggies. Low in fat, high in protein and exceptionally versatile, chicken marries equally well with the exotic (think truffles or saffron) to the humble (think roasted potatoes and rosemary).

For these reasons, it’s a regular menu guest at my house, where I pride myself on transforming a single, four pound chicken (preferably organic and purchased at a reduced rate) into four fabulous feasts for a group of four. That’s sixteen meals, folks! A four pound chicken runs anywhere from $6-$10 (depending on where and how you shop), throw in a little change for ingredients to flesh it out into a meal (4X), and you’re looking at less than $20. A night out for a family of four at any fast food favorite will set you back the same amount or more faster than you can say “heart attack”.

Gotcha? Let me tell you how it’s done!

Meal #1: This is the launching pad for the meal plan event(s) – a whole roasted chicken. Since it’s going to be transformed several times, keep the seasoning simple – ground pepper, a nice crust of coarse salt and a rub down with olive oil. Roast at 425 until done (about 20 minutes per pound) and top it with a few love pats of butter to sink deeply into the bird. Allow the roasted chicken to rest and re-absorb its juices. Cut the both legs and thighs away from the chicken (reserving warm). Cut the breasts away from the rib cage, cool and store in your refrigerator for later use. Serve both legs and both thighs with steamed vegetables and roasted potatoes for a satisfying, nutritional meal. Go ahead and prepare a pan gravy with a little roux, white wine, chicken stock, Dijon mustard and fresh tarragon to dress things up, but hold on to the carcass!

Meal #2: Start this after the roast chicken dinner to prepare for tomorrow’s old-fashioned and DELICIOUS chicken noodle soup. With a sturdy chef’s knife, cut up the reserved carcass remnants – the rib cage and spine – into four or five coarse chunks and put them in a two quart soup pot with a quartered onion, carrot, celery stalk and a clove or two of garlic to make an impromptu stock. Add a few peppercorns, a bay leaf and fresh thyme for added flavor. Bring it up to a boil, reduce to a slow simmer over low heat and forget about it for three to four hours. Allow to cool and refrigerate, covered, overnight.
About thirty minutes before you’re slotted to serve dinner, skim off any accumulated fat off the top of the stock, strain it, discarding all solids except any bits of chicken flesh. Finely chop an onion, carrot and celery stalk and sauté them in the same pot with a tablespoon of olive oil until softened. Season, return the strained stock to the pan and bring up to a boil. Add reserved chicken and about ¼ pound of dried pasta (flat noodles, spaghetti, linguini – your choice) and cook until tender. Serve with a drizzle of fresh herbs (parsley, tarragon, or thyme will do) and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. A small, fresh salad and warm baguette make this a meal.

Meal #3: Chicken Salad Deluxe! This is where you can really have fun with chicken’s flavor/texture marriage versatility. Cut one of the reserved breasts into chunky, ½” cubes and toss in a bowl with coarsely chopped dried cranberries (or another dried fruit like figs or currants), coarsely chopped roasted almonds, fresh herbs, a dollop of Dijon, a dash of mayo and vinegar, salt and pepper and you’ve got a meal in minutes over a bed of greens. Other flavors that work in tandem with chicken include curry, paprika, cinnamon and almost any fresh herb imaginable. Make this your own!

Meal #4: Chicken Sandwiches Supreme! Again, versatility and imagination set the stage for show-stopping chicken sandwiches prepared with freshly roasted chicken breast. Go for the best quality bread you can find, from baguette to whole grain, and fill it with thinly cut slices of the remaining breast and toppings. One sliced breast will handily complete four sandwiches. Zip up mayo with fresh basil and Dijon mustard for a fresh, personalized sauce, top with a slice of red onion and crisp romaine. Go whole hog and add a few pieces of browned bacon and a slice of avocado if the mood moves.

Chicken never tasted so good for so little.