• About Dante’s Inferno
  • Contact
  • Cooking Classes
  • Dessert Towers

dantes kitchen inferno

~ parties • instruction • dessert

dantes kitchen inferno

Tag Archives: Cocktails

Progress Around Morriston

03 Sunday Jun 2018

Posted by danteskitcheninferno in cherry, chickens, Food, Gardening, orchard, recipie, The Finger Lakes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

barn cats, bloomfield ny, chicken coop, chickens, Cocktails, comfrey, compost, currants, family farm, finger lakes, Gardening, herb garden, homestead, kittens, mint julep, new farm, raspberries, rochester ny, rooster, summer project

We accomplished a lot over the past couple of weeks and I’m finally starting to feel like I don’t have to freak out on a daily basis. The gardens are loaded up and growing – I’m on to doing battle with the rabbits and making sure the chickens can’t help themselves to the plants.

I am grateful for friends and family members who helped me watch the kids, burn up brush and pull out roots in preparation for some raspberries! We managed to plant some cherry trees, and the currant bushes I planted last fall are starting to fill with fruit. I was excited to find a large patch of comfrey growing by the burn pile. Comfrey is an awesome plant to have around a homestead – it has powerful medicinal properties, and is also great for activating your compost. It’s a nitrogen fixer, and I will definitely use it as a chop & drop mulch in the orchard. I’ll talk more about it when I get around to transplanting it.

The chickens are getting big and brave. They’re getting acclimated to their new home and starting to venture out in search of the best weeds and bugs. Rather than cramming themselves into a chicken blob under the nest box shelves, they are beginning to feel safe getting comfortable and falling asleep on their own. Hilariously, Harvey (the dominant rooster) is now trying to crow. I let them out first thing in the morning – he rushes from the coop, bursts forth from the barn ahead of everyone else, musters all his breath, and goes “aaaaa!” Rather uninspiring but incredibly funny. Teenage chickens.

The kittens have reached a size that allows them to escape their box, and wander willy-nilly through the basement. It is therefore time to put them in the barn. I’ve been putting them outside with their food every morning with the chickens, and feeding them dinner/putting them to bed at the same time as well…so they’re plenty used to the outdoors. But last night their bed was in the barn instead of the basement, which they did not appreciate. Bing escaped at some point and waited on the porch for us to wake up, and Toothless is just tuckered right out, but they’ll get used to it. Think yer traumatized now kittens, just wait till you meet the vet!

A good portion of the work around here is not interesting. It’s weeding, mowing, trimming, thinning, weed whacking, cleaning up after animals and kids. It’s masses of excessively dirty laundry, pest control, pruning, tune-ups and sweaty work. We spent the day yesterday just cleaning up around the land. The burn piles had become so large, they couldn’t just be lit, they needed breaking down. Our barn demolition adventures had left our driveway littered with scrap wood and metal, and the newly lovely weather has spurred the growth of weeds.

This coming week, I hope to finish up my rainy day cutting board project, plant my last cherry tree and side dress the fall planted garlic crop. I’m super excited for this garlic because I planted several new varieties last year, which will obviously need taste testing.

The sun is out, the herbs are up, it’s time to make a julep and enjoy the process!

Mint Julep

8-9 fresh mint leaves

+/- 1 tsp simple syrup, agave or honey

5 count (Apx. 2 shots) your favorite bourbon

Crushed ice

I know it’s a pain to bust out your blender, but don’t skip on the crushed ice. It’s really what makes this drink. In a julep cup or rocks glass, bruise your mint. Add your sweetener and bourbon and give it a stir to distribute the sugar. Fill the glass to the top with crushed ice. Enjoy your whiskey slushy!

Advertisements

Restaurant Review: ButaPub

16 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by danteskitcheninferno in Dinner, Food, Restaurant Review, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Asian Food, Asian Fusion, Buta Pub, Cocktails, fried rice balls, German House, Restaurants in Rochester, Southwedge Restaurant

Wow, I’m just really disappointed.  All of the other reviews that I read said such nice things about this place, and I was really excited to visit, but my experience was really not that interesting.  If you’ve been in the basement of the German House before, you may agree that it’s really not a great venue for a restaurant.  Some good photojournalism made me believe they had really spruced the place up, but there really weren’t very many changes to this space.

Beginning with my first contact, calling for a reservation, the gentleman who answered the phone just about laughed at me when I asked to reserve a table.  Not knowing exactly how casual the place was, I thought I was being totally reasonable by reserving a table at 7:15 for a Friday night.  Apparently, he had no expectations of packing the place out, and informed me that they only took reservations in half hour increments, but if I wanted to show up at 7:15 it would be totally fine.

Next, parking, difficult.  There really isn’t that much room here.  This is to be expected in the city, and I have no problem with it, I’m just letting you know.

IMG_1339The lighting is horrid.  We sat in a booth along the wall.  The can lights from the previous establishments are still in place and they are just so bad (actually, there are very few notable changes). They are all in the center of the room; so there is no lighting whatsoever over the booths that line the walls, which casts a huge shadow if you’re at a booth, and causes the place to look like exactly what it is – a poorly lit basement.  At the same time, if you’re sitting in the middle of the room at a table, it’s very bright.  I also have a very serious aversion to drop ceiling tiles.  I don’t understand why we should stop considering aesthetics once we reach the tops of walls.  In addition, while there was no music, there was a concert going on upstairs in the German House; so it was still quite loud in an indistinguishable base sort of way.  This might be at the core of the problem with each attempt at this basement business over the years.  It’s really just not a good place for a restaurant when that large of a distraction is taking place during the times when you are supposed to be doing the most business.  I realize that many people will not be bothered by this, but if you are a stickler for atmosphere, this is not the place for you.

IMG_1330I ordered a cocktail which was called “the thistle.”  I cannot complain at all about the size of this drink or the amount of alcohol it contained.  It wasn’t as complex as the ingredient list led me to believe it would be, but I suspect this might have been due to the small and quick melting type of ice cubes used.

IMG_1334On to the dishes.  We ordered a few things, starting with the pork belly steam buns which sounded so nice, but in reality were almost completely devoid of flavor.  The combination of the soft steamed bun, lightly cooked fatty pork and mayo made for a mushy texture throughout.  The “togarashi mayo” was the most interesting element of these mini sandwiches.  IMG_1333You can see that the presentation leaves something to be desired as well (the lighting makes it worse).  Next came the fried rice balls with similar results.  The equally exciting list of ingredients including kim chi, cheese, spicy pork and garlic mayo left me feeling cheated.  I will give them that they were fried perfectly.  The texture was lovely, the appearance, the crunch was wonderful.  The complete lack of flavor once you bit into them caused us to almost not believe our taste buds. We kinda look at each other and ask “really, that’s it?”  We then ordered some chicken wings on the IMG_1338recommendation of our server.  They were good.  They were crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside and the sauce was decent (we tried a couple kinds and both were pretty good – very sweet but not really spicy), unfortunately they didn’t wow me, and by this time we were asking ourselves why we should spend any more money there, which is when we left to go have another drink elsewhere.

The service was very good.  Our waitress was polite, prompt and attentive.  The bartender was quick as well, but sadly, we dropped over $60 on a pretty unfortunate atmosphere and food that did little more than fill us up.  Sooooo, I’m sad to say that we probably won’t be back here.

I rate my food experience:
Buda Pub rating

 

 

Restaurant Review – OX & STONE

19 Tuesday Jan 2016

Posted by danteskitcheninferno in Dinner, Food, Restaurant Review, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bamba Bistro, Cocktails, East End Restaurants, food, Latin Food, Mole, Ox & Stone, poutine, Rochester NY Restaurant, Rochester Restaurants, Spanish Food, tacos

Last week I went to the Ox & Stone for a birthday dinner with some girlfriends.  Previously the Rio Bamba and then the Bamba Bistro, I was a little disappointed to lose the Bamba at first.  But I love tapas and I hoped to become equally attached to this new edition restaurant – we were not disappointed.  It was a Saturday night, we had made a reservation and were seated right away.  There are only a few obvious changes to the decor, the lighting is nice, and the atmosphere is generally pleasant.

IMG_1262We ordered drinks first – wine and beer all around and a craft cocktail to taste.  We chose what we thought was the most bad-ass one on the menu:  the Spanish Harlem.  Let me preface this by saying that these lovely ladies enjoy whiskey of all kinds and generally drink it neat, so the issue here is not toughness.  We thought – rIMG_1263ye, mezcal, vermouth, lemon – awesome, what could possibly go wrong?  Unfortunately only 2 of 5 liked it enough to have more than one sip and 0 of 5 would order this again.  The words “cleaner,” “gasoline,” and “bacon” were used.  I was happy with my malbec, but there are plenty of other options.

On to the food, which we ordered a lot of.  We started with the warm spiced olives, sizzling shrimp and chef’s board.  Yum, yum and yum.  The interesting choice of cilantro on warm olives turns out to be brilliant.  Each bite tasted fresh and pleasantly surprising.  The shrimp was cooked perfectly.  It was tender, not overdone or chewy at all, and despite being basically an olive oil confit, did not seem greasy (in fact I kept dipping my bread in the shrimp flavored oil).  I forgot to ask what kind of olive oil they used.  The chef’s board was beautifully arranged and included a lovely variety of cured meats, cheeses and vegetables with toasted bread.  And finally – the Spanish poutine?  Yes, I couldn’t resist trying.  A hearty mix of potatoes, chorizo and queso fresco served in a mini cast iron skillet, I wanted to crack and egg over it and call it breakfast.  It was yummy, but I wouldn’t call it poutine.

IMG_1266  IMG_1264  IMG_1268

Round 2 included the fish tacos, which were underwhelming.  The “Rio Gulf Sauce” was very nice, but was also the strongest flavor on the dish. The hand made tortillas had a nice texture, but left a strange, sort of processed aftertaste.  The Mole on the other hand, was delicious.  The chicken still had its own flavor even though it was swimming in dark, rich, molasses flavored sauce.

IMG_1267Our suspender-wearing server was knowledgeable, polite, prompt and sufficiently indulgent of 5 women more interested in talking that focusing on the menu.  All of the food plus 6 drinks ended up costing us each a little under $38 plus tip, which I thought was very reasonable for the experience we had.  I will not order another Spanish Harlem, but I will go back.

Cheers, Ox & Stone.

Restaurant Review: ORBS

23 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by danteskitcheninferno in Dinner, Food, Restaurant Review

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Cocktails, fish fry, meatballs, orbs, Rochester Restaurants, southwedge

Orbs.  A restaurant that whimsically relates everything to balls.  okay, okay.  We decided to go see what everyone was talking about.  Orbs is a small place on South Ave. in the wedge.  They have uninteresting outdoor seating, but since outdoor seating in Rochester is at a premium, I’ll just mark it down as an option for next time I’m wishing for it.  We sat inside to get the full effect.

insideThe first thing that I noticed is the front of house staff – females apx. 26-33 years of age, resplendent in facial piercings and Urban Outfitter apparel. No male staff other than the one fellow who seemed to be in charge which gave me a sort of Charlie’s Angels impression.  Of course that may not be the usual.  I would like to clarify that this is just an observation, I’m not finding fault.  The floor is small, but the atmosphere is pleasant – not super loud, but not so quiet you could hear the next table over.  The lighting was great – hanging lights over the bar and some house lights, but the amount of natural light from the large curtain window overlooking the street is what does it.

After a comprehensive explanation on drink specials, balls and dinner specials from our server we settled on some old favorites.  They did have an interesting list of beer cocktails available that we did not try this time, opting instead for the reliable local Rohrbach’s Scotch Ale.

ballsFor this outing, we decided to order together and share everything.  We started with the “Bits and Pieces,” it being a meatball themed restaurant and all.  This is an appetizer plate of Buffalo chicken meatballs with blue cheese, beef meatballs with Asian style BBQ and pickles, and Falafel with tahini and kale chimichurri – back to that in a second.  The falafel were nice on the outside, but on the mushy side within.  The other meatballs were good, the sauces were nice.  I wasn’t wowed, but they were good. Back to the kale chimichurri – best thing on the plate. This unassuming compliment is outstanding – really brightened up the whole plate and could completely hold its own in a larger role on a main dish.  Yum.

We followed this with the beet salad which was good – arugula is delicious and underutilized in my opinion and the yogurt was a nice change.

menuAs charming as the whole ball idea is, having already consumed several meatballs for an appetizer we tested the often tried, but rarely well executed Friday fish fry.  This is one of the better fish fries I’ve had.  They have the batter nailed – its just the right thickness, crunchy, golden, it doesn’t fall apart.  The fish was a smidgen overcooked for Matt’s taste, but perfect for mine. French fries – average, expectations met french fries. Fennel slaw – interesting, different.  I’m often disappointed in fish fries because you can taste that the fryer oil is old.  This was very good, I’d buy it again.

Our lovely server did a fine job.  She made sure to ask if we’d ever dined there before and gave us the low-down for our first dinner, relayed all of the specials and was prompt and courteous all evening.  The restaurant was appropriately staffed so it seemed that everyone was getting the right amount of service.  The survey we were issued with our check is a clever way to keep your staff accountable – I hope they’re also willing to survey the satisfaction of employees on occasion.  Issuing the one without the other is like saying the beatings will continue until morale improves.

Reasonably priced.  we spent $45 on 2 drinks, an appetizer, salad and entree.

I think the thing that impressed me about this place is that they didn’t mess anything up.  Every time I go to a restaurant I can easily find something – usually multiple things to find fault with.  …and while this is not Michelin star type food, everything was good, everything was hot, the prices are reasonable and the service was good.  I would bring guests here, and I’ll definitely be back next time I’m wishing for a fish fry.

G Buttonthumbs up botton    greater than button    scales button

Restaurant Review: TRATA

14 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by danteskitcheninferno in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Black Button, Burger, Cocktails, Culver Rd. Armory, Scallops, Trata

Tonight Matt and I went to Trata at the Culver Rd. Armory (tratarochester.com) for dinner. I didn’t go when it first opened, because of some negative reports from my friends. But I’m over it now and here to see for myself. I’ve made plans to come here 3 times and they’ve all been canceled. Finally, ages later and under new management as I understand it, I think we’ll get a fair cross section.

For starters, this place is way larger than I expected, and at 7:00 on a Friday night, absolutely packed. Love all the exposed brick & large windows. High ceilings relieve some of the crowded feeling. The lighting is well done and there are smaller dining spaces beyond the bar area – I was glad when we were seated in a smaller section and could actually hear each other. The trendy industrial style interior is deceiving thought, because the menu is not nearly as interesting as the decorative effort implies…

…And I didn’t quite know what to make of it. Take the appetizer section – you can get chicken fingers – or you can get a duck confit quesadilla with Gruyere, rosemary and cranberries topped with crème fresh. What does this mean? You can’t make all the people happy all the time right? You don’t expect much if you order a steak at Denny’s right? But we have complete faith in their ability to drop frozen things in a fryer. So a menu like this where nothing matches and there is no theme makes me think that the chicken fingers ought to be exceptional but I’m skeptical of the duck quesadilla.  Head about to explode and I haven’t even considered my cocktail yet. So of course we get the duck thing (as opposed to an extremely expensive version of something incredibly ordinary) and to my great surprise it was really good. FullSizeRender They didn’t skimp on the duck meat, the tortilla was greasy like anything duck, but still crunchy, the flavor and textures were surprisingly, really well balanced – sweet, savory, creamy, crunchy. And the crème fresh which I thought would be an overkill of creaminess turned out to be perfect. Thumbs up on that.

Back to the cocktail – Trata has a short craft cocktail list. I ordered the “white whisky crush” which is made with the local Black Button moonshine, muddled orange, & a little black cherry. The flavor of this combo is really nice and refreshing, however, there is no way that there was a shot of moonshine in that glass. I ordered a shot separately to taste it by itself so I could find it in the drink’s flavor. After tasting it (delicious in moonshine world I thought, so cheers to Black Button) I ended up pouring the rest of the shot into my drink to turn my juice into a cocktail.

Specialty burger list: Matt ordered a burger which was very good. Gate House did this first though so no points for originality – but a good burger none the less. Cooked the way he asked, it was tender & delicious.  The toothpick that identified the burger as medium-rare was a nice touch.  Actually, the most ingenious element of the collective evening was just a sidekick – the smoky honey flavored sauce that came with the burger. I stole more than one sweet potato fry (some of the better fries I’ve ever had) to dip. They should find other ways to use this on meat.

On the other hand, after quizzing our waitress on the bacon in the bacon wrapped sirloin, I decided on the scallops. Mistake. This dish is just wrong and I’m amazed it’s on the fixed menu. The scallops were burnt and chewy, which is not the fixed menu’s fault, but the bed of vegetables it sat in just didn’t go together at all – chucks of mushroom, gnocchi and grape tomatoes were each gnocchi-sized, and meant either taking a huge bite to taste the combo or having a buffet of little bites.  FullSizeRender_2FullSizeRender_3

The texture combination of gnocchi and scallop is really strange together and the sauce, which would have been good in its own, ends up way over complicating everything. This is probably the strangest combination on one plate I’ve ever had in a restaurant. No seasoning, no salt left the tomatoes bitter, and the red pepper in the red pepper/shrimp sauce didn’t carry over to any other element of the dish. Sauce is good – put the gnocchi in the sauce, throw a few grilled shrimp on top, sprinkle some salty cheese on top and walk away.

Our server did a very nice job. Friendly, knowledgeable about menu and drinks, offered specials without reading off of a card and was willing to stay and answer questions without seeming to have one foot on to the next task. Everything was delivered in a timely manner, ice was still ice, food was still hot.

We spent $81 & change + tip.

Overall, I can see why my food snot friends weren’t crazy about the place. It’s a hip place to gather, so kudos to the architect but get a burger if you’re hungry, and stick with beer and wine. You can always, and probably should, buy your own Black Button (blackbuttondistilling.com).

TRATA RATING

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 95 other followers

Follow dantes kitchen inferno on WordPress.com
Advertisements

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy