Chomp!

By Ron Aiken
June 28, 2013

Columbia’s Most Under-Appreciated Dishes, Vol. I

Back in April, Chomp! wrote about Two Items Your Sushi Chef is Most Proud of That You Never Order. It was a thought-provoking piece (OK, because I know you’re thinking about it and not paying attention, they were the cucumber roll and tamago. Happy? Good. May I continue? Thanks!), and it got Chomp! thinking about what are the dishes on Columbia’s best menus that its chefs are most proud of that people just for the life of them don’t order like they should?

SO, Chomp! asked some of our fair city’s best chefs that very question, and here’s the first edition of what top local chefs are shocked you’re not ordering, written in their very own words. Enjoy! Oh, and go order these dishes ASAP, OK?

Chef: Alex Suaudom du Monde, Baan Sawan Thai Bistro
Dish: Veal Heart Satay
I love to play with underlying principles. In other words, if a classic Thai flavor profile is hot-sour-salty-sweet, I like seeing what happens when I mix and match ingredients within that profile. It’s still Thai, but the familiar now has a twist. This is what I did with my Veal Heart Satay, which recently saw a rather modest run. I believe the well-exercised muscle groups in general (and organ meats in particular) often have the richest flavors and textures. So when I got my hands on some veal hearts, I was thrilled with its beefiness and tenderness. To highlight the texture, I seared skewers of thin slices on the grill. Then, I paired it with our garlic-pepper-coriander sauce, instead of the usual peanut sauce, which gave it a kind of Steak au Poivre-ness. I’m still quite pleased with it, and those who ordered it really dug it, but I do wish I’d been able to move more of them than I did.

Above Photo: Sam Saudom, Jr., co-owner and beverage director, and Marshall White, assistant beverage director, proudly hold the delectable veal hearts.

Above Photo: This photo, courtesy of Chomp!’s gal pal The Shop Tart, is of the veal heart satay in its elegant magnificence.

Chef: Ricky Mollohan, Cellar on Greene, Mr. Friendly’s, Solstice
Dishes: At Cellar on Greene it would definitely be the Lobster Mac & Cheese. Surprisingly, it’s not a big seller for us. And although a lot of restaurants do their own version, ours is different because it’s made to order, not baked in a big pan ahead of time and heated up. Essentially it’s a pan-sautéed mac-n-cheese that we make by reducing heavy cream with a little bit of a light roux, adding the mac noodles, parmesan, manchego, salt, pepper, a little garlic, the lobster claw and knuckle meat, and fresh basil. It’s always creamy, always hot, always dee-lish!

Above Photo:  Fact: You have not had lobster mac-n-cheese until you have had Cellar on Greene’s.

At Solstice I’d have to say its our Burgers at Lunch. Granted we aren’t nearly as busy at lunch as we are at dinner, but since we’re in the midst of a Burger revolution these days, I seriously doubt ANYONE is doing Burgers like these! We house-grind our Ribeye & Beef Tenderloin trimmings after we cut our steaks, and it yields about a 60/40 ratio of meat to fat, all in a monster sized 12oz. Patty that is out of this world when cooked a nice medium. It’s easily the biggest burger in town. It’s the juiciest. Maybe it’s too big? Maybe it’s too juicy and sweet and??? Heck, I don’t know. We offer it a few different ways at lunch, and it’s $10, but it’s worth every penny IF, AND ONLY IF, you like a truly handmade Burger. not one of those pre-charbroiled well done patties.

At Mr. Friendly’s I’ll go with FRIED CATFISH in general. For whether it’s at lunch or dinner, it’s a staple on our menu that often gets overlooked. It’s our most-inexpensive regular menu fish on both menus. And it is without question the thing I personally eat more than anything else on our menu. We use a farm-raised North Carolina catfish that is one of the most consistent products we have. And just as we have for over 15 years, we recommend it cornmeal-fried, as frying catfish really helps it cook evenly, while the crispy cornmeal breading holds the juicy, sweet white meat intact. Maybe folks have a bad memory of catfish? I know my mom said the first time she ate it was on a farm where they had catfish heads floating in a giant pot. Sounds great to me, but i digress…it’s about as local of a fish as can be served, too!

Chef: Kristian Niemi, Rosso
Dish: Our Wood-Grilled Heritage Pork Chop with Peach Mostarda. This is just a no-brainer as far as we’re concerned. Brined heritage pork grilled over a hardwood fire served with the sweet-savory-spicy mostarda (which is kind of like an Italian chutney) is a simple, yet perfect combination. It’s rustic, yet elegant, and goes beautifully with bright, fruity reds OR bigger-bodied whites OR crisp, fruity rose’. People love it when they order it, but it just doesn’t have the popularity we’d expect. 

Above Photo: Who wouldn’t order this? You, apparently! Go order this now!

Chef: Mike Davis, Terra
Dish: Movie Night (dessert)
The dish that we thought rocked the most that the guests did not order was a dessert that we called Movie Night It was a house made peanut butter cup with caramel popcorn, popcorn coulis, and pretzle crunch. So it was like all the goodies you would get on a trip to the movies on one plate. I know popcorn sauce is a little out there, but folks dug the popcorn ice cream so it morphed into that. We really liked it, but it did not sale, so we took it off the menu. I used to give them away, and people would dig it, but we never sold more than two or three a night when it was on the menu. I always thought it was a smart, tasty, salty sweet dish but it was a flop.
 
Picture: There is no picture, sadly, because YOU did not order Movie Night enough. There is no emoticon yet invented to describe the tragedy this is, but until then, I will use this one:

Why Aren’t You Pickling Your Watermelon Rinds?

Seriously. Why aren’t you pickling them? I know you’ve been eating watermelon. It’s clear from the juice on your cheek and shirt, from the smile on your silly face. So why are you throwing those delicious rind quarters away, especially with so many on hand as we celebrate the Fourth of July?

Next to okra, watermelon rinds are about the best thing in the world to pickle. And trust me, I’ve pickled a few things in my day (not a word out of you, liver).

I first should confess that I am an avid pickler in general. I typically keep a bowl of fresh pickles in the refrigerator as a snack. It’s healthy, I love cucumbers, it’s inexpensive, I love cucumbers, and it’s a way to eat cucumbers, which I love, in a healthy, inexpensive way. All you have to buy is the white vinegar (also inexpensive) and the lovely ready-made container of pickling spices from your grocer. Kick in a couple extra bay leaves, crush some garlic cloves if you’re funky like that, add your cucumbers and YOU JUST MADE PICKLES!

So, same procedure with those rinds. Gather them up after you’ve cut your watermelon meat free, then take off the outer skin to expose the moist, light-green rind. Leave as much or as little of the red meat as you like, and that’s it. Put them in your pickling bowl with your vinegar (if you can find it, I’m told raspberry vinegar is best, but regular vinegar is fine) and your spices and HOLY COW YOU JUST MADE PICKLED WATERMELON RINDS.

You will be so pleased with yourself that other people may not be able to stand you for a while, but they’ll get over that, because you have pickled watermelon rinds and they don’t. So be as insufferable as you please, which you will have an overwhelming urge to do once you taste what you have made (like anything pickled, the longer you can hold out to eat them, the better the pickling joy). What really sets them apart is the bit of lingering sweetness from the watermelon contrasts spectacularly well with the vinegar. It is so good you will close your eyes and weep, and if you don’t, well, the fault is yours as you’re probably a stifled person. But, oh closed-off one, it will come, because after all you’ve made pickled watermelon rinds, so you’re clearly on the path to enlightenment and I for one congratulate you on your efforts.

It’s also just extremely cool anytime you can utilize all parts of a food, especially such a large part of the fruit that so many people just throw away. Believe me when I say once you’ve had them, you’ll never throw another watermelon rind away, and what’s more, because you’re now emotionally set free, you will cry when you see others doing this and try to rescue them from the bin. It’s OK when this happens. You’re a different person now – you’re a pickler. Embrace it.

So get to it! Go visit a local produce stand, buy the first watermelon you see, eat that watermelon and pickle them rinds. Bonus – if you send me a picture of your pickled rinds ([email protected]), I will run that picture. Go!

 
Above: Step 1: Get a watermelon! They look like this. (The penny is there for comparison and because it is a lucky penny that I found earlier in the day.)

Above: Step 2: Eat the red part! It looks like this.

 

Above: Step 3: Pickle the rinds! They’ll wind up looking something like this. (though don’t eat the bay leaves; they’re yucky-tasting.

 

Follow Chomp! on Twitter @RonAiken and on Facebook. Email Chomp! at [email protected]. He even answers his phone sometimes: 803-200-8809. Cheers!

 

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