College Park: The Pecan

Hyesoon and I had a very enjoyable dinner at The Pecan in College Park. It's in a storefront on Main Street that has been restored with an elegant interior. The service was very courteous and prompt without being the least bit pushy.

We started with fried wontons stuffed with shrimp, among other things. A bit of remoulade sauce was on top. This was a very rich and very enjoyable way to start our meal.

The bread basket had a two types of bread in mini-muffin form. I tasted the cornbread with pecans, which was just right.

I ordered oven roasted chicken, an update to the classic dish. I think that it had a pecan crust on it; the texture was very different from a standard flour crust and worked very well. The chicken was served on a bed of mashed sweet potatoes with some fried sweet potato strings and perfectly cooked green beans.

Hyesoon ordered the salmon. It was very moist and with great salmon flavor. It also came on a bed of mashed sweet potatoes with sweet potato strings on top.

We finished off the dinner with a superb piece of pecan pie. The pie was full of pecans---none of that little layer of pecans stuff here---and they were clearly very fresh with superb flavor.

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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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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

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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.

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

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