Bar Masa {Las Vegas}featured
When I first moved to New York as a fresh grad, all bright-eyed and dirt poor, I saved my pennies for pretty shoes and sushi takeout. I would read through my Zagat as religiously as my Vogue and Glamour, and file away dream meals at Per Se and Masa alongside dream shoes by Louboutin and Manolo.
I never would have thought that one day I’d be eating a meal personally prepared and handed to me by Masa himself. (I’m still waiting for Monsieur Louboutin to call me about those custom heels, but you know, one dream at a time).
The 150-seat Las Vegas outpost of Bar Masa, inside the ARIA Resort & Casino, is much larger than the Bar Masa in New York. And it is, of course, done up in high Vegas fashion with soaring, 36-foot, airplane hangar-esque ceilings and curvy red leather banquets. The food? Extravagant to be sure, but not in a haphazard hedonistic way. No, this meal at Bar Masa was elegant and poised and gracious, possessing a poetic lightness of being to it.
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Porchetta Sandwich + Q&A with RoliRoti’s Thomas Odermattfeatured
RoliRoti is a gourmet rotisserie truck that travels around to different farmers markets in the Bay Area every day of the week. They make a fine Roast Chicken (free range from Fulton Valley Farms), Rosemary Roasted Potatoes which are brilliantly cooked beneath the rotating spit, catching all the flavorful drippings from roasting meats above, and even Roasted Pork Knuckles on occasion. But the pièce de résistance is the Porchetta.
Perfect, juicy, tender, fatty slices of slow roasted porchetta layered with crispy crackling, piled high on a Ciabatta roll with spicy greens, sweet onion marmalade and a sprinkle of black pepper and coarse sea salt, to be exact.
RoliRoti’s Porchetta Sandwich is legendary. It is perhaps the #1 dish we craved while we were away from San Francisco. It definitely was in the “reasons to move back” column when we were discussing our return to SF.
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Salted Caramel Apple Pie + Perfect Pie Crustfeatured
I bet you thought you’d see a healthy, cleansing, post-holiday detoxifying recipe here today. Sorry, I’m just not ready for that yet. Don’t worry, it will come in due time. But first, pie. Because 2012 should start with something beautiful and homey and good. The new year should start with pie.
Learning to make the Perfect Pie Crust is a skill I sought early on in my quest for a delicious life. Flaky, buttery, and tender, perfect pie crust is the kind of thing that never fails to bring joy into a room.
My go-to recipe is Martha Stewart’s all butter crust (pate brisee). Here are a few tips for a successful pie crust I’ve picked up along the way:
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Tastiest Highlights of 2011featured
It seems like time is on turbo mode…but yes, it’s true, another year has come and gone. 2011 was full of change. It brought us back to the East coast, to a new city. DC welcomed us with a blistering cold winter…and then made up for it with cherry blossoms and cake. Our adventures continued abroad on a culinary dream trip through Italy, Greece, and France (still sifting through more pictures and stories than I know what to do with). And then finally, we arrived home. Back to this beautiful city by the bay. There was a lot of action in 2011. I feel like I’m still digesting it all.
End of years and new years tend to inspire reflection, goal setting…and all that jazz. I have a feeling about 2012. It’s gonna be a big one. But let’s just take it one bite at a time. Like always, I hope to do more yoga, drink more water, tame my inbox… I predict there will be less sleep in 2012, but I’m ok with that. What’s in your crystal ball? What kind of beautiful things will you manifest this new year?
As you ponder, let’s take a trip down memory lane. Presenting 2011’s tastiest moments:
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