Molecular Gastronomy at Bin 555

Chef Jason Dady tweeted the other day that he now has liquid nitrogen to make food with. Of course, I had to be there to witness this. Melissa and I ventured out to Bin 555. When we came in, they seated us at the bar, which was great because that's where Jason Dady had set up the liquid nitrogen. That's him up there, making us some white wine sangria. It looked like a Slushie, but kind of melted immediately in your mouth. Like cotton candy.

Another dish I got, not made with liquid nitrogen, was the steak tartare. I don't normally like steak tartare, but I do when Jason Dady makes it. It had whipped cheese on top and was served with flatbread, a play on Philly cheese steak.

For the piece de resistance, deconstructed strawberry shortcake. The strawberry ice cream and some of the nuggets are made with liquid nitrogen. The rest is graham cracker crust, sour cream, and jam.

Someone said on Foodspotting that it doesn't look pretty, and food should look pretty. I disagree. In photos, it doesn't look pretty, but it is quite striking. I think, for most chefs, they want their food to be presentable and intentional on the plate. They don't want it to look thrown together. I don't think food always has to look beautiful, because that's so subjective. This looks really haphazard in this photo, but it looked very presentable in person.

Anyway. It tasted great, which, if you've ever had my food, always makes up for presentation.

Samwar's DUK

What can I say about Samwar's DUK that Kate hasn't already said?

I think I will let Kate say it all, because it was her DUK, at her apartment. I would just like to add some facts:

-Jason Dady wanted me to bring my puppy. But Kate told him Tuck would have utterly stolen the show. He is just that cute.
-Jason Dady called me "puddin."

-The server, Josh, cut himself on a glass, but kept working through the bleeding and the pain. We toasted him for his trouble.
-People draw lewd things when they're drunk.


-9 bottles of wine between 10 people will get you as drunk as 10 bottles.
-John is also now obsessed with getting a home immersion circulator, much to my dismay.

Restaurant Insignia Revisited

I heard through the grapevine (i.e. Twitter) that Jason Dady had changed up the menu at Restaurant Insignia. And I knew that one of the changes involved pork belly and pancakes. So on Saturday night, John and I and Sam and Kate all went to Restaurant Insignia.

We've been back a handful of times since the opening, and we invariably get the brisket burger and the San Antonio pizza. Those are our favorites. But this time, we started with two new apps: pork belly and pancakes, and mussels in saffron sauce.

I loved the pork belly and pancakes! I'm a sucker for any kind of pork. I haven't had a lot of pork belly in my life, but I am developing a taste for it. The blueberry pancakes were, as Kate said, the perfect size. She like them, and Kate doesn't even like blueberry pancakes.

The mussels were delicate in flavor, a little more delicate than I would have liked. But I'm not a big mussels person. The only downside with these mussels is that a few hadn't fully opened, which made it hard to open them. I liked the slaw, the crostada and the spicy sauce that came with it.

On to entrees! I got the salmon with white beans and chorizo.

I always like salmon, but the white beans and chorizo stood out to me. I wanted to lick the plate after I ate all my beans because the flavor was fantastic. It was subtle, but the flavor grew the more I ate.

John had the duck breast which he loved for the cherry sauce it came with. He also ate everything on his plate.

For dessert, we split a macademia milk shake. I am a sucker for a milkshake. The shake came with tiny straws, so John and I both busted some blood vessels trying to drink as fast as we could.

Insignia is one of my new favorite restaurants in San Antonio, but I've never been when it's very busy. San Antonio, why aren't you going here? It's downtown, but they validate your valet parking! There's an enormous dog in the lobby! The food is delicious, different, and reasonably priced! There's an extensive wine list! You can order chicken and waffles! Go eat here, already!

The Time We Tried to Go to Oktoberfest

Sometimes, John and I get all fancy and go to fundraisers and bid on things.

OK, not really. But when Kate told us she had some tickets to A Rhapsody in Blue: Arts & Eats 2009 at Blue Star. We couldn't say no. Five local chefs would be there. Plus, wine!

There was some great food there: lamb loin, foie gras, dessert mousse thing, mushroom crepes, cheese plate, and a savory flan. The chefs were churning out the food as 300 people lined up to eat it. I am literally waiting for him to cut me some lamb loin. I kept trying to take the plate and he kept stopping me, because he hadn't finished plating it.

They set up cooking stations right in the middle of Blue Star. I didn't think it'd be big enough for all the stations, chefs, and sous chefs, but it was.

Hey, look who it is!
Jason Dady! We chatted with him a bit about the marathon, how much foie gras he brought with him ($1100 worth), Hawaii. He said when I walked up, his sous chef said, "Is that ohmypuddin?" Ha, I'm Internet famous! My life is complete. He also yelled at Sam, "HEY SAMMY!" Ha!

So one of the items in the silent auction was a stay at an apartment in Berlin. John and Sam were really interested in it. They kept talking about what a good deal it was and how the four of us could all go for Oktoberfest next year. So I told them to go bid on it, if they wanted to. And they did!
See John's bid there? I was kind of freaking out now, thinking that we were committing to paying thousands of dollars on a trip to Berlin while we were very intoxicated on wine. I like to think about things a little more, and the spontaneity of this was freaking me out. Fortunately, I just drank some more wine to calm myself.

And then, we were outbid with a bid of $2500. John and Sam decided that they wouldn't go higher than $2000, so we lost that Berlin apartment. Part of me is sad we lost, but part of me is relieved we didn't get it. We can always go to Berlin sometime, but maybe we can think about it for more than 5 minutes, and sober.

So that's the story of the time we tried to go to Oktoberfest. Even though we didn't win that auction, it was a superfun night and I got to play one of my favorite games, Pretentious Art, and I got to eat great food and drink great free wine and wear tights and see people wearing some crazy outfits. Also, I ran a half-marathon and got an iPhone and it's Dinner Club tonight and I'm having dinner with Melissa tomorrow and bottling some wine on Saturday and seeing Nicolette at Casbeers playing with the Melissa Ludwig Band and then it's my birthday on Sunday and then Lyla and Stephen are coming on Monday to take their engagement photos here and then we go to Cincinnati for Thanksgiving. So it's been a pretty awesome week and it just keeps getting better! It's like a whole week of birthday for me!

Restaurant Insignia at the Fairmount

So we went to Jason Dady's newest restaurant, Restaurant Insignia at The Fairmount Hotel downtown. Because John and I like to take our friends to eat bone marrow with us, we asked Kate and Sam to come, and newlyweds Jarret and Casey, who have not eaten at home for more than a week. Kate and Sam's friend Faith was in town and staying around the corner from Insignia, so she joined us.

I forgot to get pictures of Luke, the Fairmount dog. Luke is enormous! And, as Kate said, like a grandpa. He lets you rub his tummy while he sleeps. He opened his rheumy, red eyes to look at us and immediately go back to sleep. He was slayed out on his back and was easily the size of a small pony. Oh, Luke, never change.

Now, on to Insignia!

The menus are in file folders, like a doctor's office. Sam and I discussed our ailments: intense hunger and extreme lack of bacon. RX: Insignia.

We had some fun with the decor. At Tre Trattoria and Insignia, they put wine bottles of water on your table. We all had a silent moment of panic when Sam poured himself some water, because we thought the bottle was filled with wine.

Cocktails! Insignia has a whole page of signature cocktails. This is Jarret's coconut drink and Casey's cherry soda. I had the soda too, which was fruity and sugary and delicious. I could drink many more of those. Faith and Kate split a bourbon drink with egg whites (interesting) and Sam had a pear cocktail. It smelled exactly like a pear and tasted like one too.

Cornbread is merely a receptacle for butter, right? I mean, you eat it because you want to eat some of that whipped, creamy butter, but society forbids you from just eating it with a spoon. So you eat it on cornbread. Obviously.

OK, so this is where the food gets freaky-deaky. Bone marrow pudding, shredded beef and brioche. Freaky, but delicious. Seriously, so good. Just don't talk about bone marrow until AFTER you eat it. We learned that lesson.

I dared Sam to eat the marrow by itself, and he did. Which surprises none of you, I'm sure.

The San Antonio pizza, with avocado and barbacoa. So good! We were starting to get full at this point, so I didn't eat as much of it.

Chef Jason Dady everyone! We also saw his daughters when we came in. They are adorable. He is our new best friend, in that we try to be best friends with him by going to his restaurants and he perhaps finds us a bit stalkerish. That's OK though - we ARE a bit stalkerish. But in a good way. We just like food, OK?

Pork chop with grits and mustards. One of the best pork chops I've ever had. I was so full, I had to keep stuffing myself with food. The perfect bite was pork chop, the onions, grits and mustards all together. Seriously delicious and tangy and sweet all at once.

Chicken and waffles! Haha! I've only ever had chicken and waffles at Roscoe's Chicken 'n Waffle House in LA, and it was not as good as this fried chicken. This was good fried chicken, y'all. Jarret says it's the best fried chicken he's ever had.

Desserts! As if we weren't full enough, out came the desserts. We ate them all, like greedy, glutinous animals. This is the key lime pie in a glass. You'll see it again later in this post.

Nutella mousse and dark chocolate cake with jam. It's like the one at The Lodge, but with jam. I feel about jam like I feel about bacon and butter - when in doubt, add more.

Crostada! Kate loves the crostada at Tre Trattoria, so of course we had to have this one too. Flaky and hot inside, mmmmmm. Tastes like autumn.

The tres leches cheesecake was my favorite dessert. I love tres leches and it was even better and tangier in cheesecake form.

I could not bear to let the key lime pie go to waste. I don't like wasting delicious food, and I deeply love pie. So I tried to chug the pie, with mixed (read: messy) results. A cook watched me, seemingly disgusted. This happens to me a lot. People being disgusted, I mean.

It was a great, delicious, fun night! I had a great time trying all of the food. It was one of those nights that remind me of how much I love San Antonio: it's an easy city to get around, where I can actually try all of the different restaurants and meet the chefs. I can go to a nice restaurant like this one in jeans and get chicken and waffles. San Antonio is fun and low-key and small in a good way. There's enough kookiness that it never gets old.

It helps that Insignia is here now too. Go try it! Also, they'll validate your valet parking at the hotel if you spend more than $25. Which you will, because you will want to eat everything on the menu.

The Lodge at Castle Hills

On Saturday, John and I went to The Lodge at Castle Hills. The Lodge is Jason Dady's first restaurant. It's in an old mansion, just like the name implies. The Lodge is more about tasting menus and New American food.

We started with a bottle of wine, of course. We got there a little early and drank some wine. Right after we sat down, we saw our old DUK friend, Josh, who had been our waiter for DUK. We said hello and asked him a bit about Insignia, the next Jason Dady restaurant in The Fairmount. I've never been to The Fairmount, but I follow them on Twitter (twitter.com/TheFairmount) just to see photos of their resident dog, Luke. Once Insignia opens, I can go eat and see Luke! That may not seem like a good time to you, but I love both food and dogs, together (though not together on a plate).

Anyway. Where was I?

Oh yes. The Lodge. Hey, don't you like our new haircuts? We both got our hairs cut on Saturday. We felt especially good-looking on Saturday. Hopefully that comes through in the photo.

Crap, I have to stop with the tangents. OK, The Lodge. We got a bottle of Shiraz because we love bold red wines. The evening started with a palate cleanser cocktail, strawberry and basil with fennel seeds on the rim. Nice and refreshing. Then there was salmon and pumpernickel, which tasted like lox and cream cheese. In a good way.

(I forgot to take photos of the first half of this meal, so please just envision the food in your head.)

Bread!

Then came a scallop on brioche. I love buttery brioche and scallops. John and I discussed how it is the scallop's fate to always be on the menu, because they are one of the few seafoods that are both delicious and headless. Poor, poor scallop.

Next was a turnip and yukon gold bisque with a dollop of marscapone in it. Creamy and velvety, this bisque was delicious and had a nice tartness from the turnips.

Then, duck confit with oriechette and parmesan. Oriechette is John's favorite pasta. I like it too, even though it reminds me of tiny diaphragms. Or tiny sailor hats. We;ll go with sailor hats. This pasta was surprisingly light, given the duck. I love confits of any kind.


OK, here's where I finally started to take some photos. Doesn't this look good? Foie gras with strawberries and basil, dots of balsamic vinegar and more brioche for spreading. So creamy and delicious! I could eat this every day, diets be damned.

Dark shot of rabbit wrapped in bacon, surrounded by mushrooms and carrots. The waitress explained that the carrots and mushrooms are there because that's what rabbits eat. How clever is that? I tried not to think too much about the idea of an animal being surrounded by everything it eats. I only hope that rabbit was satisfied with being united with carrots and mushrooms in my stomach. This dish tasted like autumn to me, because of the meaty, warm flavors.

Quail with salsa on a bed of "farrotto," which is farro cooked like risotto. See, this is why I like Jason Dady's food. He's always experimenting with foods, offering different menus, trying out different flavors, challenging his customer's palates. Would you have thought to cook farro like risotto? I wouldn't.

The farrotto was cooked with bleu cheese. I love all cheese and bleu cheese in particular. Some people don't like the way bleu cheese punches you in the face with the flavor and pungency, but I love it. So I was surprised at how subtle the bleu cheese flavor was. Delightfully subtle.

Dessert of nutella and dark chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse. John and I were quite full at this point, but could you pass this up?

Oh, and then a macademia nut chocolate truffle. Because we needed more food. Obviously.

All in all, it was a delightful meal and a delightful way to spend a Saturday night. The Lodge has been named one of the most romantic restaurants in San Antonio, and it's easy to see why with the small dining rooms, cozy accents, and lots of wine.

After all this food, I had to go lay on my couch and moan.

Thanks to our waiter Todd for keeping us wined and dined, Josh for saying hello, all of the other staff for doing what they do, all of the kitchen staff for the delicious food, and Chef Jason Dady for letting us explore our palates!

Underground Kitchen

WARNING: DELICIOUSNESS AHEAD
Side effects include intense hunger, envy, jealousy, and eating.

Friends, I will never be the same. I fear my life has reached its pinnacle already. I have peaked. Colors will never be as bright, birds not as joyful, food not as delicious, laughter not as loud.

Let me explain: Jason Dady cooked in my kitchen last night.

It all started weeks ago on Twitter. Jason Dady (@chefjasondady) said he was starting DUK, Dady Underground Kitchen, where he would come cook, in your kitchen, for you and 4 other couples. 10 people total. The menu would be a secret. We would provide the wine, a wine for each of the 5 courses.

So we assembled the DUK crowd - our usual dinner group (John and me, Kate and Sam, Casey and Jarret) and we asked our friend Beth and Jason, and Nicolette who brought her friend Vickie.

We cleaned the house. We bought fresh flowers. We gave everyone our address. And then we waited.

And then Jason Dady was here!


Here are some facts about Jason Dady: he has Tre Trattoria, The Lodge, Bin 555, and Two Brothers BBQ. He is really tall. He will give you a hard time. He makes magical meals.

Let's see him cooking again, shall we?


Jason Dady came with a helper, Josh. Josh didn't talk much, but he kept our glasses full.

Jason Dady announced that the first course would be out of things he found in our fridge. I was struck with fear, because we hadn't gone shopping the previous weekend because we were in Cleveland. I was afraid he would be forced to make something out of frozen bacon and pudding.

But he came up with a bruschetta with cheese, leeks, and peaches.

He also made some popcorn with butter and smoked paprika for a snack.

Then came more appetizers. This is chorizo with Nutella and olive oil. Gotta admit, we were dubious, but it was fucking delicious. From now on, that's how I eat chorizo.

Who doesn't love meatballs? If you count, you'll see that there are 12 meatballs for 10 people. I ate one of the extras, and Sam ate the other one.


Jason Dady gave us the menu for the night. I look insane here because I saw that it said "ohmypuddin" at the top. OMG, that's meeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

That's Josh there in the background, looking for some wine to pour.


FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGS!

With goat cheese, honey, balsamic vinegar, and proscuitto. Oh man, it was good.

Crusted scallop in a bed of forbidden rice corn and peas, and the most delicious tomato beurre blanc in the world. Seriously. I would leave John for that sauce. I love you, sauce!

I think this is when I started getting really drunk. 10 bottles of wine for 10 people. Cmon. I'm only 5'2".
Rabbit head-to-toe. Or, as Jason Dady calls is, head-to-fluffy-tail. Rabbits are adorable, and delicious. There's also some celery bulb puree and japanese eggplant.


Kate dreams about the crostada she had at Tre Trattoria. Dreams. Every day. Sam (not so subtly) hinted to Jason Dady that he wanted a crostada, so he got one. This is a nectarine crostada. Remember my onion goggles? Jason Dady wore them for me! ZOMG!

Also for your amusement:


No, I did not actually eat this butter. I only pretended to.


I am such a dork, I made everyone sign my menu. Jason Dady wrote, "Explore your palate!"

I would like to thank my fellow DUK-ers, John, Beth, Jason ("Pumpkin"), Kate, Sam, Casey, Jarret, Nicolette, and Vickie, for being awesome and enjoying this experience. Thanks to Casey and Jarret for watching Buster so he wouldn't go berserk, and for loaning us the table and chairs. Thanks to John for all of the cleaning we did. Muchos gracias to the internets and Twitter for facilitating this. Thanks to Josh, for being patient and helping Jason Dady.

And the biggest thanks of all to Jason Dady, for cooking us dinner, being cool, wearing onion goggles, telling us stories, not mocking the food in our fridge, and drinking wine with us. Will you come cook for me all the time? Pretty please?

More photos on facebook and flickr. And don't forget to read Kate's account of the night on her blog, Sincerely Yours, Kate.