Feast Blog

Benu has been the most anticipated restaurant opening in recent memory. Without a question. I was pretty thrilled to get one of the first seats on its second night. Unfortunately, it was a 9:00 seating so I knew it was going to be a late night considering I was going in for the full tasting menu. Walking up to the restaurant, there is an array of light beaming from the kitchen as large panels of glass separate the kitchen staff from the street-side gawkers. An austere and elegant courtyard welcomes the visitor, with the interior of the restaurant clean and similarly somber in its muted, beige and cream tones. For future bloggers, be warned that the ambient lighting late in the evening is not conducive to great natural photography so I apologize for the darkness of the images.

Sesame Lavash – served in a specially carved box which separated out the dark, crispy thin rectangles. Black sesame and salt was the predominant flavor and it would be a precursor to the evening that sesame was one of the most-used Asian ingredients.

2008 Alzinger Grüner Veltliner – Showing a tremendous amount of mineral and spicy qualities, I enjoyed this wine tremendously, but found it a bit too strong with too many citrus components for the following two dishes.

Thousand-year-old quail egg, black truffle, ginger, scallion – Our first taste and somewhat disappointing. I could not detect any black truffle and the extremely texture of the egg masked its flavors. Moreso than any ginger or scallion, it was the flavor of citrus oil with predominated.

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One of my biggest challenges living in one of America’s most expensive cities has been to discover tasty, affordable eateries. As much as I enjoy dining out, there is no doubt that even those earning six-figures and above still enjoy a bargain. And my criteria for a bargain is the discovery of the $10 lunch; a lunch so ample as to provide left-overs for dinner or one so substantial as to make a later meal irrelevant. Café Zitouna is such a place for me. Located on the corner of Sutter and Polk, This is a little corner place with table seats for about 20 and counter seats for another six or eight. And on a Wednesday afternoon for lunch, it was packed with people waiting to get in — for very good reason.

My companion and I started with Breek (Tunisian crepe), listed as “Tissue-thin malsouka filled with potatoes, parsley, onions, egg, tuna and capers, fried in vegetable oil. Served with lemon.” For $3.95, it was a fabulous starter and I thought it a bit charming that the waiter looked at me with concern, indicating that the egg inside was raw and that I might not eat it. No problem, I assured him. Perfectly golden and plump, the malsouka is house-made and perfectly thin.

I instructed the chef to bring me whatever he thought I should eat and I was served the Vegetable Couscous, enough for two of us to share a separate platter of couscous is topped with a few roasted peppers with a side bowl of earthy, chunky vegetables in a seasoned broth. My companion ordered the Chakchouka Bil Merguez, sautéed fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, onions in olive oil with house-made merguez, eggs, and Tunisian sausages. For $7.95, this dish was a winner as I got a few bites from that dish and am looking forward to returning for a platter of it for my own. I saw a neighboring table get the $9.95 B’stilla which — while thick — looked a bit small (about 6″ round) for the price. But considering how great the rest of the food was tasting, I’m sure I will plunk down a sawbuck at some point in the future.

Dining alone, I will be sticking to the under $10 dishes or ordering a couple of appetizer or salad dishes (most priced in the $4.95 range), but we went a little above my ascribed budget with the inclusion of the Moroccan mint tea — a single 20oz at $1.95 and the large pot that we shared for $4.50.  The menu also includes a handful of Shawarma, Kebab, and Merguez sandwiches in the $6.50 range, to which one can add fries for $1.95.

We brought desserts homes; a moist pistachio-topped spice cake that had been soaked with orange blossom water and a second dessert, ladyfingers also soaked with orange blossom water, topped with a rich custard and ground pistachios. The bottom line is that Café Zitouna is all about taste and authenticity. The flavors are rich and aromatic, well-integrated, and enticing. The menu is extensive enough that I can easily see myself returning on a weekly basis to eat through the menu, always knowing I’ll be taking home left-overs. And I am quite happy knowing that when I get a tagine craving, I don’t have to do all the work myself for a solo diner.

My first night in Glasgow was blessed with a last-minute concert offering by a favored band, Zero 7. Because the show started at a surprisingly early hour of 7:30, I had to find a restaurant that could accommodate an early dinner. During my Kelvingrove museum trawl, I spied the menu at Two Fat Ladies and was already sold on returning there, happy they could seat me upon opening at 5:30. The restaurant was warm and inviting, painted in lush golden yellow tones with a frieze surrounding the room of a bas relief ocean motif. The thematic room provided a great atmosphere for the gastronomic delights that were to come. In my usual fashion, I ordered a handful of starters so as to give me to optimum number of tastes without filling up too much on a single entrée.

With only a waitress to serve and a single woman chef in the front kitchen (you can watch her from the outside window), I was very well taken care in my choices to eat as many tastes as possible Reading through the menu, I was unfamiliar with a soup known as “Cullen Skink” and the waitress advised me that it was very filling and hearty. I asked if it would be possible to just have a taste and they were very gracious in offering me a small teacup full. Essentially a chunky potato, leek chowder, this intensely rich offering was simply butter-sautéed leeks, potatoes, and smoked haddock in milk and cream (at least that is how I made it when I got home in a desperate attempt to recreate the lusciousness I fell in love with).

While I would have happily munched away at this soup for an entire meal, but too many other goodies awaited. First up with tuna carpaccio. Well, that is what they called it but but I am accustomed to carpaccio being thinly-sliced raw meat. Here, the slices were thick and generous – more sashimi like in their heft. Served with a caper-based dressed greens, thin slices of cheese and cracked pepper gave it all a well-rounded and balanced flavor.

From the waitress’ recommendation, the next course were three magnificently large Scottish langostines. With the same caper dressing, the only way to tackle the beasts were to rip them apart and gnarl in to extract out the sweet goodness. During my tuna course, a young couple arrived and sat across from me. She was unsure how to eat the langostines and I heartily recommended sucking out the eyeballs and making sure to get the brain material. Her boyfriend wasn’t sure she would but watching me do so, she gained some courage and chowed in herself. We were both rewarded with our hard work; the flavors in the eyes, the legs, the head, and the claws were all remarkably different and worth the effort to extract.

The final course was roasted scallops wrapped in bacon served with mushroom risotto and roasted vegetables. The difference in English bacon versus American bacon is width. Here, the smoky flavor of the thick ham-like bacon overwhelmed the delicacy of the scallops. I tasted them together, but opted to unwrap my succulent morsels to enjoy them in their naked splendor. The mushroom risotto slightly on the thick side, but I didn’t seem to mind. Coupled with the sweetness of the perfectly-grilled scallops, the rich flavor provided a great counterpoint of earthiness to the brightness of the sea.

Sadly, I had to dash to get to the concert, or I would have liked to stay to enjoy some cheese or dessert. But this meal was the definite highlight of my Glasgow trip.