What came first, the chicken or the grain?

Cooked a nice little meal with friends last night. A few culinary school friends and I decided to make some late night grub. It was a well rounded meal, covering some of the bases laid down by Nutrition class. The meal brought together people from six different states. Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, California, New York, and New Jersey all partook in the festivities.

Roast Chicken
skinned, oven roasted
Mustard Greens
hock stock
Lemon Rice
zest, thyme, onion
Chicken Sauce
chicken essence, butter
Carrots
stock poached
Chicken Skin
crisp.

The meal turned out well, wthin the parameters of time and value. The entire meal cost just shy of twenty dollars and fed six people. The leftovers were converted into chicken fried rice, which made for a good snack. Good people, good food; simple.

Cook Your Food

Testing, Testing...Grape, Two, Three...Vintage Post Two

Excuse the simplicity, while I dip my toes into the blogging waters. Just going to throw out some ideas and see if anything sticks or comes back.
Cheers


Twist
4720 Route Nine
Hyde Park, NY 02532

2008

Ambiance/Decor
The appearance of the restaurant was not good, I had passed by it several times earlier thinking it was a free-standing building; it is in a strip mall. Once over the initial shock of dining in a strip mall, I deflected my initial thought by knowing two things: one, that the chef/owner was a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and two, it came highly recommended by my colleagues at the Institute. Entering the restaurant you are hit with a bright, open space. Not bright in the sense that the lighting was overwhelming, but the art work on the walls and smiling faces of the staff resonated an amber glow. The Decor was, after taking it all in, sophisticated, taking a person far away from the Amish Market parking lot strip mall, and transplanting them into a hip midtown Manhattan space. The key was the open kitchen, it showed confidence of chef’s abilities in both him and his staff, allowing a transparent view of where the food is coming from. The same space without an open kitchen would feel cheesy and overly modern in a dorky way, but the openness brings it all together. One need I had was in regards to the structure of the high tables, I believe you need not only a rack to rest feet on your stool, but also a foot rest on the table itself, just my opinion.
Atmosphere
I felt at ease walking into the space, greeted by the chef’s wife we were not hurried to make a decision of tables, instead of hastily choosing a booth close to the back of the restaurant, we opted to have a glass of wine at the bar and wait for a two top to soon open along the large windows. It was a very comfortable feel, flowing into the restaurant, then perched at the bar, and finally taking reign at a high table overlooking route 9. Lighting was also comfortable, with brighter lights coming from the kitchen, it put the spot light on the people translating raw ingredients into the meals presented to us as diners.
Cleanliness was to the affect of noticing not a speck of dirt, although admittedly my cleanliness barometer is not adjusted well being born and raised in New Orleans, where you can have a great meal and not think twice if a rat runs through the dining room. I can say I witnessed the bus person, use a sanitizing solution in between guests instead of the standard wet towel.
Service was good for what it was, I am a leisurely dinner and do not mind waiting or even receiving bad service, as long as I have a beverage and some good conversation a lot can be looked over. It was relaxed in the sense, that dishes were allowed to remain on our table for several moments after we were obviously finished. We were questioned about the wine selection, assuring us that the wine we ordered was a second label chateaux and not the first, having lived through this misunderstanding before, the server did not want to make an unneeded trip to the basement if it was an errant trip.
Food was good, consistent and fresh. I started with the crab and lobster cake, served with a curried aioli type sauce, and a fennel and apple thinly shaved salad. Next I moved onto the Caesar salad, good, very spicy with garlic, but served with fried corn tortilla chips in Lew of croutons. The strips cut the acidity of the overly chopped garlic and made for a nice dish now, but bad breath later. Moving on, I had a 10oz Fillet served with an ancho chili compound butter. The Filet was good quality meat, and temperature was correct at table. The butter proved to be my favorite part of the night, although chef might have taken the steak of the grill a tad sooner, then placing the meat in the salamander with the butter on top taking the chill out of the butter and melding the two incredible components into one, but the flavor of the butter was outstanding, smoky from the ancho, crunchy from a good salt, and butter, nuff said. We finished off with a lemon custard and some framboise from bonny doon. The Bonny doon and developed a little acidic flavor from temperature change, my guess is they do not move through enough of it and it was probably the same bottle from last weekend. Overall, the food was exciting and predicatable with the peaks of consistency and butter out weighing the valley’s of easily overlooked service errors.
Hospitality was welcoming and genuine. We were greeted by a host who had a vested interest in our level of comfort. The relaxed feel led to a great experience. I would recommend the restaurant to others as a dependable meal, if I lived in the area this would probably be a default location, meaning that when wanting a consistent meal with good atmosphere at a place I know appreciates my business, it is a default decision, Twist. We had called the restaurant earlier in the afternoon to make reservations, the employee on the other end assured us we would not have a problem and was correct. He gave a laid back feel in the sense, that I could walk right over to a friends house and have a good meal.
Price and value were sufficient and expected. Prices were consistent with using the appropriate ingredients in the right season, it is a little more to eat at a place using local purveyors, but feel the overall experienced deserved the amount of money we paid.
Totally Satisfied with my dining experience. It was not the best food I ever had, but the accompanying variables(CIA, Chef/Owner/Local Ingredients) made the meal very enjoyable and satisfying. I would recommend the restaurant to friends and family as a consistently good restaurant for a relaxed meal, where your dollar goes directly to the individual cooking my meal assuring his idea of food was met by each plate that went out.