Philadelphia: Ristorante La Buca

The Schlessmans, Jason and Celia, introduced me to an excellent Italian seafood restaurant, Ristorante La Buca. When they mentioned Italian, I assumed that they were taking me to the South End, but this is in Center City Philadelphia. The restaurant has a more European feel. It's located in a below-ground location, like many fine older restaurants on the East Coast. It's tastefully decorated and the service is formal but friendly.

We shared a tomato and mozzarella salad, which was served with fresh basil and roasted peppers. It was very refreshing and light.

For my main course, I went with the tuna, which is one of my favorites. It was lightly blackened and cooked medium rare. It was served with roasted potatoes. That meant that I didn't get to try their pasta, but the potatoes were the right accompaniment.

For dessert, I had to try the tiramisu, which was served from their dessert cart. One of the most interesting aspects of this dessert to me is that the liqueur makes it dense without feeling heavy.

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Eating Around Georgia Tech: Ecco

Our Texas Instruments colleague Cathy Wicks was gracious enough to host several of us at Ecco tonight. This is one of those restaurants that has been on my list for a long time. Even though it is within easy walking distance of Georgia Tech, I hadn't made it there until tonight. The menu is a combination of Italian, Spanish, and French that make use of some local Georgia ingredients. The combination of those three countries is sometimes a little forced, although the georgia ingredients (fruit, cheese) were all great and perfectly appropriate. We started out with a meat and cheese board. This actually reverses the French tradition, where cheese usually follows the main course. Everything was excellent. The Georgia cheese was a big hit, as was the French cow/goat cheese. I thought the sauscisson was very subtle and very good. The waitress said that the roast pork pasta was their signature dish, so I had to try it. It had traditional broad pasta (fresh, of course)

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Pressure Cooker Candied Ginger

I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b

Atlanta etc.: Marilyn Wolf's Food Blog and Restaurant Blog

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