Miami: Captain's Tavern

My friends Bill and Henry Widen took me to one of their favorite local Miami spots, Captain's Tavern. Just as they warned me, the decor was clearly brought from the 1970s by time travelers. But no one seemed to mind---the restaurant was buzzing with people having fun.

Bill thought we should try some local specialties, so we got busy ordering. This is the conch salad. The conch itself has some tooth to it, which contrasts well with the tomato salsa. The accompanying herbs were very nicely done.

This is the yellowtail ceviche, one of the chef's specialties. If you haven't heard of ceviche, the fish has been chemically cooked in acid from plants, etc. Everything is done cold but we still get the effects we want from cooking: tenderness and doneness. Our waitress thought it would be very spicy for us but we thought the peppers added just a nice zing. However, Bill did also ask for the scotch bonnet pepper salsa, which lived up to its reputation for heat.

I had the Florida lobster tail. Bill said that Florida lobster is sweeter than the Maine variety and he was right. I've decided that I really like Florida lobster. Lobster can sometimes be boring without butter but the sweetness of this lobster tail really sold me.

We couldn't finish without tasting a little dessert, so we tried the banana cream pie. Everything in the pie was of very high quality. Too many restaurants scrimp but I knew this was a great pie when I tasted the whipped cream. The custard and crust were also excellent.

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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)

DCA: Cava Mezze Grill

Cava is a DC area chain with light Mediterranean food. Saibal encouraged me to try lunch at their airport location and I was very happy with the experience. I ordered falafel on SuperSalad with assorted other toppings. The falafel was tasty. The SuperSalad was light, flavorful, and very easy to eat. Overall, a healthy and enjoyable lunch, something you can't always say about airport eating.

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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