Sip 'n Dip-licious!

Anyone that knows me, knows my family owns a couple laundromats in St. Cloud. My father decided his helicopter business was getting too expensive or perhaps he got a deal he couldn't refuse and somehow landed in the laundromat business back when I was in 7th or 8th grade. Across from one of our locations was this mom and pop donut shop. To be honest, I think I only went there once or twice while I worked for my dad (roughly a 6 year span). At some point an Asian family took ownership and my sister was recently raving to Marily and I about how great their donuts and croissants are. Since St. Cloud is an easy drive down Narcoossee from us, we decided to go check them out last Saturday. Oh man, oh man...THANK YOU DEBBIE! I honestly would have never thought of that place to satisfy my morning sweet tooth, so thank you for sharing this gem with us.

The Huss family has been rolling donut free for almost two years (minus the infrequent exception when we grabbed one from Publix). Why you may ask? Well, when Marily was about 8 months pregnant with Micah and on bed rest, we had a not so nice experience at the local Dunkin' Donuts. Apparently, you aren't allowed to go through the drive thru unless you already know what you want. Since then we've boycotted them out of principle. Now that Sip 'n Dip has entered our lives, we no longer have to live donut free. I'm sure this is not a good thing for our waistlines but hey they are delicious! We chose to pick up a dozen donuts in order to sample their selection and figure out our favorites.

From left to right, you have Boston creme, red velvet cake, two glazed, chocolate cake, glazed Bavarian creme, two maple, glazed cake, vanilla nut and two vanilla frosted red velvet cake donuts. This maybe represented 1/3 of the flavors available. The verdict? They are all phenomenal. Some of the highlights:

• The glaze donut knocks down Krispy Kreme glaze...not only is it fully glazed but it is thick and fluffy.
• All the cake selections were a-maz-ing! Not only are they an unbelievable cake donut, they are also fully glazed
• Chris's favorite: chocolate cake
• Marily's favorite: glazed cake
• Micah's favorite: anything sweet!!

Not only do they have all the wonderful donut goodness described above, but they also have awesome croissants...buttery and flaky (they are so good, Debbie usually buys two of these every time she stops by). We also got a bacon, egg and cheese (white American) croissant that was the bomb.

How can this get any better you may ask? I can think of two ways. First, for all the KeKe's fans out there...Sip 'n Dip uses the same brand of coffee (Royal Cup). Being a coffee connoisseur, I know how hard it is to get good coffee at a restaurant. All too often they are nothing more than weak cups of colored water. KeKe's and Sip 'n Dip serve Royal Cup which has a nice flavor that stands up to both your standard breakfast fare and sweet treats like donuts. Secondly, what Asian could own a business without selling something from their homeland? Guess what else is on the menu...egg rolls! Now, being Vietnamese-American, I am quite fond of egg rolls. No one makes a better one than my mom. With that said, I know there are different styles of egg rolls out there. The Vietnamese like to make them concentrated on the meat site (ground pork and crab) while the Chinese like to include more vegetables. Hm, I wonder if that is authentic Chinese or just a westernized version that we find in the restaurants? Well, in any case, the Chinese restaurant versions are hit and miss. These are pretty darn good and better than any I've had at a Chinese restaurant around these parts.

I don't recall seeing them on the menu, but there was a picture next to the register and it is all over their Yelp reviews so we asked. They are served at any time of the day as long as they haven't sold out. They will sell you them cooked or uncooked in case you want to take them home and make them fresh at a later time. Oh, I guess there is a third thing...they also have a lunch menu with a list of your standard subs. Since we were there for breakfast, we can't comment on those, but perhaps the next time I have mid day craving for donuts, I'll try some.

So, there go. Sip 'n Dip is CafeHuss approved. If you find yourself near St. Cloud or just want to take a road trip, check them out. There wasn't one bad thing about this place. Enjoy!

New York Diner (Orlando) Review

Here we are again. I feel like I am writing my first blog entry since it has been so long. Our poor, neglected blog has so many digital cobwebs I wasn't even prepared to write a post (translation: no pictures). With all the time that has past, I didn't want to let another opportunity pass us by, so here we are.

As the title reads, New York Diner located near the Orlando International Airport on Semoran (436) is the subject of this review. The restaurant is located in a new building which also includes Bonefish as an anchor. When you walk through the front doors, you are greeted by a large aquarium with a custom New York skyline inside. Pretty cool design, which I'm sure would make any New Yorker proud. As cool as it was, it seemed to be lacking in the fish department, perhaps they were sleeping. The concept of the restaurant is "taking the 24/7 idea of a diner and adding a more international, upscale flair." It certainly doesn't look like any diner I've been in before (which is probably a good thing). I think now would be an appropriate time to interject that I have only been to New York once and that basically consisted of a late night border crossing from Jersey where I was attending a banquet for my fraternity back in my college days. So, this review is purely on the food since I don't have "New York Diner" experience to compare to.

Now to the important part...the food. The menu was quite large but expected for a diner. Being overwhelmed, it took Marily and I a while to come to a decision on what to order. We finally ordered the beer battered onion rings as an appetizer (after we were told our first choice was not available...tikka masala wings). The onion rings were tasty with an actual hint of the beer in the fried batter. We both went with burgers for our entrees as suggested by our server based on the 8oz patties being made of chuck, brisket and ribeye. Marily chose a standard bacon cheeseburger and with chili cheese fries and I chose a Loco Moco burger which was a burger with a fried egg topped with brown gravy. I upgraded my fries to pomme frites. Those fries turned out to be the best thing we ordered. They were crispy fries tossed in truffle oil, parmesan cheese and parsley. The $11 burgers didn't live up to their hype. My order came out wrong twice, first as a plain burger and secondly without the brown gravy. Even once it was corrected, the burger was overcooked (clearly medium well and not medium like I requested) and really didn't have the quality beef flavor I was expecting. I would rather eat a burger from a food truck (The Crooked Spoon comes to mind) than the one I had before me. The New York Diner also features Juniors Famous Cheesecake and desserts. Unfortunately, we didn't make it that far but they did have several enticing options that were calling get out for us but some how we refrained. Maybe next time!

 Our server was very nice but was either not very good at her job or was simply a rookie server. First issue, she didn't offer us any beer & wine options (typically the first question once you sit down). By the time we noticed others enjoying adult beverages around us, we already had our Pepsi at the table. After a long week, mommy and daddy like to enjoy something better than soda but didn't even know it was an option since it wasn't on the menu. Second issue, no stinking refills were offered. This is my biggest pet peeve with servers. Third issue, even though we elected to skip on dessert, she gave us the check without even asking if we wanted it. I've never worked in the restaurant industry but I'm pretty sure the goal is to get the check as high as possible in order to increase your tip potential.

 Overall, I think the New York Diner has potential. It is 24/7 and has a diverse menu. I'm going to chalk up the issues with the service and kitchen as new restaurant kinks that need to be worked out. I will give them another try in a few months and see if thing improve. Let us know if you try them out and have a different experience.

Confit of Veal Breast

A day removed from another holiday and I feel great with my accomplishments!  Holidays are perfect excuses to enjoy the company of friends and family as well as finding exciting new dishes to cook (at least that is the way I see them)!

Last week, in preparation for Easter, Marily and I sat at the kitchen counter wondering what we were going to make this year.  We already decided on a pot luck gathering...but had no idea what to make.  A traditional ham...ugh, too boring.  A roast lamb or lamb chops....mmm, sounds good, but I've made that before (delicious, grilled toasted curry lamb chops with a shallot vinaigrette, yum).  No, neither would do...I needed something different...something new.

Alas, Marily was paging through the newspaper ads and came across one for Sedano's supermarket:  Veal breasts, 99 cents/lb.  Perfect!  First, we are trying to be more budget conscience and second, I've never made a veal breast.  A few minutes with Google at my fingertips and I found an intriguing recipe: Confit of Veal Breast.  I've watched plenty of cooking competition shows and at some point one of the chefs always bust out with a confit of something.  Now was my chance.  This recipe was found on The Splendid Table website and was originally from The Rosengarten Report.


We were cooking for 10 adults and 3 kids, so I basically doubled the recipe found at the link above.

Ingredients

• (2) 4lb slab of bone-in veal breast
• 2 cups of low sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups of beef stock
• 1 1/2 cups of dry white wine (I used a Frontera Chardonnay from Chile, only $5 and actually decent)
• 6 shallots, peeled
• 2 heads of garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
• Bunch of fresh thyme
• 4 bay leaves
• 3 teaspoons of whole black peppercorns
• coarse sea salt (to season veal breast)
• fresh cracked black pepper (to season the veal breast)

Cookware

• Deep roasting pan
• (2) cookie sheets
• Heavy duty aluminum foil

Preparation

1. Prepare and measure out all your ingredients.  Nothing makes cooking more enjoyable and easy than preparing all your ingredients ahead of time.  Chef's would call this mis en place
2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees (I used the roast setting).  Position the rack about midway
3. Place veal breasts into roasting pan and generously season it on both sides with the coarse sea salt and fresh cracked pepper
4. Roast the veal breast for 20 minutes.  This gives the veal some color as the outside crisps under th heat and starts to render the fat
5. Remove the veal breast from oven and reduce temperature to 300 degrees
6. Add the shallots, garlic, thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns to the roasting pan.  Pour in the chicken broth, beef stock and wine...hell-oooooooo braising liquids, nice to meet you!
   
   
   
   
   
7. Cover the roasting pan with a double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil and return to the oven to cook for another 3 1/2 hours
8. Remove and let cool slightly.  Your braising liquids should be a rich brown color and your kitchen should smell amazing!
   
   
   
   
   
9. Line one of the cookie sheets with aluminum foil.  Carefully transfer the tender veal breasts to the cookie sheet.  Remove the bones and connective tissue (as much as possible without tearing the meat apart). Depending on how tender the meat is, you may need to use a combination of your hands and a sharp knife.  Be care, that veal is HOTTTT!  Cut each veal breast into even pieces (as much as possible) and then place on top of each other (creating 2 layers).  Place any loose meat (that you don't eat) in between the layers.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. Wrap the entire cookie sheet in aluminum foil and then place the second cookie sheet on top.  Place both in the refrigerator and use canned food or a 12 pack of soda/beer to weigh it down.  This compresses the veal breast together, kind of like making a giant veal panini.  Refrigerator overnight
11. Strain the braising liquids into a clean container and let cool for about 30 minutes before refrigerating
12. When ready to server the next day, use a sharp, serrated knife to cut the pressed veal breast into approximately 2 1/2 inch square pieces
13. Skim the top of the refrigerated braising liquid and pour into a sauce pan
14. Bring the liquid to a simmer and reduce to concentrate the flavors
15. Heat a pan with some olive oil and add the veal breast squares.  
16. Cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side or enough to heat the inside and crust the top and bottom of the square
17. Pour the sauce over the veal breast and serve

Unfortunately, I was totally in the zone and neglected to take pictures as I finished up the dish.  I think I need to employ Marily as the official photographer to make sure we don't miss out on any pictures in the future!

This was an amazing dish which received rave reviews from our guests and my wife, my most important critic!  The veal was full of flavor but not overpowering and reminded some of a roast pig or pernil.  It takes time to prepare this dish, but most of it is either in the oven or the refrigerator, so it's not very difficult.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Heck, at about a dollar per pound why not?  I know I'll be making this again!

Confit of Veal Breast...Done!