Dining With Drs. Baltes

In an all-new special edition of Dining with Dr. Baltes, now there are two of us! My mother and I traveled today out to Connecticut for my sister’s graduation from residency. It’s an end to an era – my parents have ALWAYS had a child in some kind of class or training program – until now. I’m going to skip lunch because it was airport food and uninteresting. I had a steak and it was good. I had a salad with bleu cheese dressing. It was okay.

We had two ideas for dinner – Scribner’s and Bistro Basque. The first is a total seafood dive. Emily and I ate there when I moved her in (for the record, that was four years ago last week) and the lobster was fantastic. So we decided to try the other one.

Basque is a bilingual region located on the border of Spain and France, currently owned by Spain, but who claims independence. First – the wine. I wanted to order Grenache (because it’s my jam) but they were out. The closest I could get was a Chateau Neuf-du-Pape, but that only came as an entire bottle. So I got a nice Rioja. Earthy, I almost expected a little dirt to come out at the bottom of the glass.

Ceviche – I love love LOVE ceviche! This was about as simple as it comes: tuna, corn, cilantro, lemon. Crisp, clean, beautiful. I have always seen it served with some form of bread as a vehicle like crackers or toast or something. This required none of that!

Tapas:

1. Goat cheese served on a bit of toast topped with a roasted Spanish pepper. The consistency of the pepper and the toast was perfect so that each bite could come away clean.

   

   Important for ensuring you didn’t just eat the whole thing in one bite (possibly, but uncomfortable). Balanced. I just love the taste of goat cheese in spite of how I feel about the animals.

2. Cauliflower macerated formed into a ball, baked, and topped with a heavy cream sauce. This was topped with thin strips of ham that were fried so that they were stiff. Cauliflower is one of the most under appreciated vegetables and I was really happy to see someone give it its due. Normally, I

   

   don’t like heavy cream sauces because they’re part of what’s wrong with the US – empty calories that convey little flavor. But this was smooth and creamy and really brought the dish together in a way that the flavor of the cauliflower wasn’t lost. Also, it was used judiciously.

Roasted rack of lamb served with an au jus with garden vegetables and potatoes au gratin. The lamb was absolutely phenomenal. I continue to be lost as to why Americans have lost their palate for lamb. These chops were succulent and tender. I love a dish where, regardless of the fanciness of the restaurant you are not only permitted but expected to chew meat off of the bone. This is one of those dishes. The au jus was like purified and concentrated lamb juicy-goodness. It was heaven. The garden veggies were steamed and mostly boring EXCEPT THEY ALL GOT DIPPED INTO THE AU JUS. The potatoes au gratin were actually quite good. This is a dish that (sorry to keep belaboring the point) in America were make out of a box and cram just as much powdered cheese into it as our plaque-laden coronaries will handle. I sincerely believe that boxed au gratin is a clinical cause of angina. This was not that. White cheese was used and this was a mild white cheese. The top of the dish was cooked just to the point of burning but this was no mistake. This also got dipped in the au jus.

I wasn’t really finished, so we had some dessert (and a second glass of Rioja). Tartes des pommes – apple pastry served with homemade vanilla ice cream. I actually really enjoy gourmet ice cream, but I absolutely cannot tolerate the commercial grade garbage (keep in mind this is a Basque restaurant, so there’s an accent on garbage!). This was nice, but it was outshone by the second desert – bread pudding.

Apparently my father hated bread pudding so we never had it growing up. He grew up in an era (1950s and 60s) when American cuisine was first overtaken by monotony and he hated this. Meatloaf, bread pudding, jello salads with crap floating in them, Salisbury steak, Tony Danza: these are all things I grew up without (my father, driven the brink of madness by four irascible children, once implemented a rule that our house would forever be “Tony Danza-free”, and, honestly, we all just decided to self-enforce because who doesn’t want to live in a world without Tony Danza?). This was presented perfectly but was a little difficult to cut (required a knife, the pudding slid around in the dish like a wet bar of soap. Homemade whipped cream topped this off perfectly.

The fact that, as a society, continues to consume whipped cream in an aerosol can when we have machines that will literally make it for us in no time is a sad testament to our future. There is nothing like homemade whipped cream.

The dinner was really great. We were seated outside in a small area between two buildings with ivy growing up the one wall and no other customers. The owner came out and talked to us briefly with his thick accent. Everything was perfect: weather, ambiance, food, wine. This is the best dinner I’ve had since my last blogs from Seattle!

I would love to spend a week and try the entire menu.