Review: Noema

25 April 2024

The advertised snowstorm didn’t happen, I wish it did. Because my last full day on this trip was dealing with the endless drizzle. Stockholm was still beautiful, but it was wet. I was wet. And I was tired. Now on day 7 of this trip, I’ve clocked over 90km (56.5 miles) on foot, often hilly and icy terrain.

Luckily last night’s amazing dinner at Brutalisten is fluelling me all morning. But I need to sit down, and I need lunch.

So I sought out one last opportunity to get something that’s not easily found back home in the US — a nice, old dairy cow steak. I found a place called Noema that serves mjölkko from Brålanda for lunch, so I headed there. I had that amazing raw dairy cow meat last night at Brutalisten, I had to have more!

The lunch rush was just ending, so it was a relaxing time. Sipping on some wine, I ordered my food and chilled – and pondered heading back across the Atlantic tomorrow. Sigh…

The appearance of my steak cheered me up. This was a delicious piece of meat, wonderful texture, beautiful taste, cooked perfectly. After several “top” Chicago steakhouses absolutely screwed up my steaks (I didn’t name and shame them, which I now regret…) recently, I fully enjoyed this to the very last bite.

The frites were quite good, and the nice bowl of tomatoes added to the total lunch experience quite nicely. Such a fine lunch, and I got to rest my legs for a little.

I was full and happy, so one little tipple and coffee and I headed out, refreshed, for a little bit of final exploration of this city that I’ve grown to really love over the decades I’ve visited it.

Noema
Birger Jarlsgatan 64
Stockholm, Sverige

Best Way to Do a Layover at CPH (Review #2: Mash)

19 April 2024

I was excited to start my very crazy, almost dizzying trip around the Nordics. I planned this trip when the nearly-bankrupt SAS offered an almost too-cheap-to-believe roundtrip to Europe, albeit with some twists. It was cheaper for some reason to have extra connections from/to Copenhagen before the transatlantic flight…so of course I took advantage of it.

I arrived at CPH after a relatively good red-eye flight. I had paid for a better seat, and the aisle bulkhead seat was the best one on the plane by far. Consider it was cheaper than a checked bag, that was money well spent.

I had about 3 hours at CPH before my connection, and we zapped through Schengen very quickly. So I had some time, and I headed to my usual at CPH, Mash. I’ve dropped in on many connections over the years since first doing so in 2014, enjoying their excellent Danish ribeye.

Alas I was a little early for their 12 midday opening, so I went to buy a discounted thin coat from shops trying to unload them as spring is here. I see in my itinerary some weather that may be worse than I had anticipated (I didn’t bring a jacket with me), so I bought one that was conveniently 50% off.

I headed up to Mash and relaxed with a much-appreciated cocktail overlooking the bustling terminal around the B gates entryway. I usually don’t like to drink or eat before a flight, but the next one is a quick one. Then not long after the good stuff arrived.

Yep, what I always get here, the excellent Danish ribeye. Lovely flavours, good temperature. Considering the plague of overcooked beef I’ve had in the US recently from “top” steakhouses, this was very welcomed!

A side of mushrooms, which is a change from my usual jalapeños, but it worked very well. A lovely lunch to have when you have a little time, and you almost forget you’re in an airport. Probably one of few places in an airport anywhere in the world I would be happy to eat at.

My flight is not far, so I decided to enjoy a last tipple and even a dessert…

Far bigger from what I usually have (especially as a non-dessert person), but this is the start of what should be a very fun trip, so i went with this nice combo. I was very happy and fuelled up for the second flight, and I thanked my excellent servers and walked down the stairs towards my gate for Bergen. What a great start!

Or was it? To be continued…

Mash
Københavns Lufthavn
Terminal 2
Kastrup, Danmark

Review: Lurra

11 October 2023

I left Copenhagen full but sad, as it was an excellent albeit short stay in one of the cities I’ve spent most time yet never lived in. Now off to somewhere I have indeed lived in, London. Not even the crappy, ridiculously long queues at Gatwick passport control and train station (my Oyster Card didn’t have enough value…) stopped me on my way back to this city where I have a love-hate relationship with.

It’s drifted towards the latter over the years, to be perfectly honest…

But I dropped my bag off in my old Bayswater neighbourhood, where I lived in 1996, and headed out for a very long day of trekking. Skipping lunch, but fuelled by that excellent dinner at Iluka last night, I managed another crazy amount of steps. I was spent by the time I got back to my hotel in Bayswater, but I need to turn around and head out soon again.

I was meeting a friend for dinner at Lurra this evening. I was hungry for a proper Basque txuleta, so made this reservation. I preferred another place out in East London, but this place was easier location-wise for the both of us. I was a little apprehensive because I had a terrible experience at their flagship restaurant Donostia when it first opened, but that was 11 years ago so I’m hoping for a good experience.

A busy night in London, I’ve forgotten how loud this city is indoors. A table in the back, and my friend arrived as I was sipping at a glass of wine. We ordered some drinks and a bottle of wine and caught up, which was the best part of the evening. Soon the starters began to arrive.

The anchovy was pretty good, as you would expect. Then we have a corgette flower…

We split it, and it was also good, stuffed with manchego, and cooked well. That got us ready for the main dish, which arrived soon.

A Rubia Gallega ribeye, always a treat to enjoy the meat from a very senior cow (16 years old). Lovely stuff, which is not for everyone as it is fatty, but it was excellent. Not the best I’ve had, but quite good. We managed to destroy it pretty easily.

Sadly the piquillos were not very good and ridiculously overpriced, cooked poorly as well. Oh well.

But the point of the night was to chat with a friend, so that went totally to plan. Honestly this was good, but could have been better. I think the Donostia experience from 2012 stayed in my head and influenced my dinner, to be honest. I kind of wish we went out east for this dinner, but it worked well enough.

A good night, considering everything. And I’m absolutely knackered…

Lurra
9 Seymour Place
London, England

Still Not Sold on Sous Vide – Review: Smoque Steak

25 May 2023

It was a long day at the office and I was planning an early Memorial Day weekend getaway, but my flight wasn’t until much later. And as I would be arriving at my destination about midnight, and I do not like eating at airports, I decided to make a stop somewhere en route to O’Hare.

Smoque Steak is an offshoot of the popular Smoque BBQ, which I have reviewed many many moons ago (actually back in 2015, before I ever thought I’d move here) and where I’ve dropped by once in awhile for some food to go. Althought they had a soft opening already, this was actually their second day in full operations. I’m glad I got a table for an early dinner.

It’s a very laid back space, very different from the “Chicago steakhouse” feel. I can see it’s meant to move quickly, as there’s a large service team armed with hi-tech ordering systems. I was led to a table and I relaxed, looking over the menu. Quickly my server appeared and as quickly I ordered a cocktail, giving me time to go through the menu. I knew what I wanted, but I sense this is a place where the food will come out lightning quick compared to the seemingly-understaffed bar.

The cocktail was nice and refreshing, and eventually I ordered a starter and a glass of wine. Guess which arrived quicker?

A pretty nice shrimp cocktail, good quality shrimp. That’s all you really want, and a nice sauce that gives you a little zing. The wine soon came and I caught up pretty quickly. Then I also ordered my main and also the wine for it. And guess which arrived quicker?

When I first read about this place, I was hesitant, as I am NOT a sous vide fan at all. Although this ribeye was good, it did nothing to change my opinion about this technique. Food is so much more than the temperature, it’s also how you arrive at it.

Think of this analogy. If teleportation is around, you’ll go from Point A to Point B, no fuss. Maybe you’ll get a nice visual of something nice on the trip (like the seared finish of the steak). But if you take the train, it takes longer, but you get all the natural visuals from the experience. Some like optimal, some like process. I like process.

The steak was tender, but it didn’t feel like eating steak. Also, the smoking was not as apparent as you may think, but that’s also due to the process changing the meat too much. So they got a good in-between solution.

Oh, but the star of the dinner was this mushroom side. When places usually do mushroom dishes advertising multiple mushrooms, they usually just do some standard ones. This was a good selection, and done very well. You can taste the mushrooms very distinctly, which I love.

A good dinner. Not sold on sous vide at all, but they did as well as you can imagine with this technique. So if you like sous vide, you’ll love this ribeye.

I just don’t feel like I had a steak…

I was quite full so not sure why I got a dessert…

Oh gee this was excessive. The drunken chocolate cake nearly killed me. Way too much before the airport! I somehow finished the solid parts but had to abandon most of the sauce. I bet some folks would actually just keep scooping it up like some dessert soup…

I thanked my server and had a good chat with the manager as well, so I’m sure they’re gonna see success. The place was packed and the service almost too fast, so they can handle quick turnarounds.

Again, if you like sous vide, you’ll love this place. For those of us who loves the process, it’s still a hard sell. Now off to Kentucky!

Smoque Steak
3310 North Elston Avenue
Chicago, Illinois

Good, But Almost the Price of a One-Way Ticket to Donostia – Review: Asador Bastian

4 May 2023

I was already in River North in Chicago, after a long work day and running an errand at a nearly phone store, I wanted to have a nice dinner having skipped lunch. I heard about a new Basque-style steakhouse in the area called Asador Bastian, and decided to give it a go.

I took a seat at the bar area. A bit dark, my eyes not adjusting well from the blazing sun outside. But all that was relieved with a very strong martini. I looked over the menu and it looked impressive. Let’s just see how it turns out. I ordered a starter and finished my drink, switching to a much-needed wine before my snack arrived.

Nice jamón ibérico de bellota, although not too thrilled about these extra long slices. Lovely flavour, deep and rich, way better than the mess of an ibérico dish at Washington DC’s Taberna del Alabardero…

Slowly enjoyed this treat…it is a treat, after all. Now I feel pretty good, so it’s time for some meat. I placed an order. Pricey as heck, but hopefully it’s worth it. I relaxed with some wine, chatting with the bartender, before my main dish arrived.

This is the “galiciana” grade beef from the Vintage Beef Company in Australia, cooked medium rare. It was quite delicious, but I will be honest – this don’t match up with the txuleta I had at Brücken in Köln a few years ago. But it was delicious, so that was nice.

A side of piquillos, and this was a good dinner. Although it was big, I took care of this quite easily. As I was finishing my wine, I was talked into a dessert by the bartender.

Gazta-tarta, the burnt Basque cheesecake that I’ve not had for ages. It was a good end to the dinner. Not totally genuine, but it did as well as it could. So I wish you can get good beef from the Iberian peninsula here, but we’ll have to do with the Australian stuff for now.

A healthy pouring of calvados and I was happy. A good chat with some fellow patrons at the bar, I was ready to go. A good, if not expensive, night. Good once in awhile, but all it does is make me miss Europe even more, where you can have a night out like this, if not better, for a third of the price…

Still, very recommended. Excellent crew too.

Asador Bastian
214 West Erie Street
Chicago, Illinois

* Only think that ruined the evening was a brain-dead rideshare driver who made a simple ride so complicated by being extremly unobservant…

Review: Brazen Open Kitchen

12 March 2022

My stress level has been at an all-time high, with so much going on. Ukraine breaks my heart and hurts my soul on a minute-by-minute basis. Whether it’s me studying Ukrainian at college in 1994 or playing a small but symbolic role in Estonian-Ukrainian relations in 1996, the country — it’s culture, language, traditions and people — have always remained an important part of what makes me tick. And I am ticked off beyond any normal sense of the word…

Throw in work stress from my day job, I needed to detach myself for a day. And yes, I do count my blessings I can escape from all this for 36 hours unlike my friends in Kyiv, Kharkiv and elsewhere…

I decided to just head north in my car, driving smaller state highways and other roads, avoiding traffic on an extremely cold day. That means black ice at points, but still better than the annoyance of the Interstate system. I snaked north through the north-west corner of Illinois, jutted into Wisconsin for a bit, and eventually crossed the Mississippi River and arrived in Dubuque, Iowa.

It’s been a few years since I’ve been here, but it’s nice to be in a most hilly part of stereotypically flat Iowa. I found my quirky but intriguing B&B, the historic Richards House. I’m usually not a big fan of B&Bs, since I like privacy and don’t eat breakfast. But this place had the best location and seems very unique. And I was right. The proprietress was a gem.

I got settled in and strolled the short distance into downtown. I parked myself at a bar called Hops & Rye, and had a wonderful time chatting with the staff and owner. The nicest people, good drinks, what else can you ask for?

But I had a dinner reservation so I headed out for the short walk to Brazen Open Kitchen. It got some attention recently with a James Beard semi-final designation…and if you’re a regular reader you know I’m not a fan of JB-hyped places.

I happily took a bar seat so they can give away my two-top on a busy Saturday night. Good, because lots of folks were waiting on tables. I enjoy sitting at the bar. A good cocktail in hand, and it quickly became the continuation of an already good night.

I decided on having something I usually don’t do at chef-driven places, but it looked so good on photos so I went with it. A half-bottle of red appeared, and my dinner arrived…

An excellent ribeye, thick and flavourful, cooked absolutely perfectly. High quality meat, wonderful execution, what else can you ask for?

It was extremely filling, so I just enjoyed a closing cocktail before I thanked the crew and headed out. For now, my James Beard curse has been broken…well, until another over-hyped place disappoint me down the road, of course. But Brazen is a solid kitchen that’s for sure, with friendly service and a wonderful bunch of fellow customers to chat with as well.

I would very much recommend not just Brazen, but Dubuque in general. It’s such an amazingly friendly town. If you ever want the stereotypical “Midwestern nice” town, this is it. And do check out Richards House and Hops & Rye for excellent accommodations and drinks.

Thanks, Dubuque, it was exactly what I needed! Now back to the distressing reality…

Brazen Open Kitchen
955 Washington Street #101
Dubuque, Iowa

* Of course I returned to Hops & Rye for several rounds more, with some excellent cocktails courtesy of the wonderful Allie.

** And of course I had a massive hangover, not helped by losing an hour (damn that daylight savings time…), but helped by a ridiculously huge and excellent breakfast at The Richards House. Mushroom quiche and poached pear to start, what?

Imaginary Trip — Day 2: Warsaw (Part 1)

10 April 2020*

So yes, the #imaginarytrip continues. After that wonderful first imaginary day in NYC, I did the red-eye and arrived in beautiful Warsaw the next morning. Despite being drained (and hungover) from a busy first day in NYC, I was happy to be “back” in Europe.

Warsaw is always one of my favourite cities, having visited several dozen times over the last 26 years. Plus, I get to use the Polish I learned in university, and for most of the day here I will happily communicate po polsku. Mam nadzieję, że wciąż pamiętam…

Chopin/Okęcie is so convenient now with the train to Warszawa Centralna, and I zoom into town and head to my hotel two blocks away. So good to be back, to hear the language, to feel the history. But also, to eat. I’m hungry, and I need to have lunch soon on this day 2 of my imaginary trip.

When I am in Warsaw there’s 2 places I often choose for lunch. I have one imaginary day here in town, and for proximity reasons I choose one over the other. So I sadly I will have to leave the excellent Folk Gospoda and their excellent and hearty Polish fare to next time…

For today’s lunch it’s Butchery & Wine, one of the best beef joints in Central Europe. Over the years I’ve come to really appreciate the European steakhouses, especially when they source their beef locally. And one of the joys of eating at Butchery & Wine is you can have excellent Polish beef. But first, a starter, and what a starter…

I love mangalica pork in any case, and this belly is just divine… There is something very special in the flavour of the fat from mangalica pigs. Goes well with the bottle of surprisingly good Polish red I’ve ordered. That’s another thing, Polish wines are starting to get quite good. Then my steak arrives…

I’m not fond of places taking noticeable trims on rib steaks, but the beef quality is so good here that didn’t matter as much as 99% of other places. Lovely quality beef, juicy and flavourful. Local Polish beef is so much better than you imagine, when beef taste like beef and not some industry-contrived idea of what beef tastes like (this is why so many people can’t tell between beef and faux beef these days in North America). So good.

I finish my bottle of wine and enjoy a nice glass of vodka to close and a rare dessert…

What a lovely lunch, easily fuelled me for the rest of the day — which I will need as it’s my only “day” here in Poland on this imaginary trip.

I thank the excellent staff and head out, and smile as I walk next to this lovely display of their inventory… Oh the joy of this excellent beef.

I enjoy a long afternoon walking around beautiful Warsaw, still amazed compared to the first time I visited in 1994. I always feel so comfortable here, and within a few hours my Polish is starting to flow much better again.

Po południu odwiedziłem Muzeum Narodowe. Niestety, ostatnim razem kiedy odwiedziłem, Sala Matejki była zamknięta… But this time, for this imaginary visit, it’s open…

The glorious works by Jan Matejko fully enjoyed, I wander the museum for the remainder of the afternoon. As much as I usually enjoy strolling through cemeteries, I also adore art museums, and this is one of my favourite in the world.

The lighting in the Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie is quite good, as they are keen to ensure as little bad reflection from the oils as possible — something many major museums fail to manage.

It’s easy to get lost in this museum for hours…

Such lovely works by artists such as Piotr Michałowski and Marcin Zaleski…

And of course, they also have a lot of works by another Polish painter whose work I really enjoy, Henryk Siemiradzki.

That was a good afternoon. It’s so good to be back in Warsaw, to spend a day in one of my favourite places in all of the world. Beautiful art, lovely people, excellent food, a true sense of history. What’s not to love about this place?

Then there’s dinner, of course…to be continued!

Butchery & Wine
Żurawia 22
Warszawa, Polska

Review #2: Ward’s House of Prime

9 May 2019

I woke up on this final day of this tiring trip tired, unsurprisingly. It was time to say goodbye to Madison, a city I’ve had a soft spot for many years. I’ll miss this town, especially the always-reliable Forequarter…

With the weather still not very pleasant, I started the crawl east, making a few stops along the way and dipping into northern Illinois. I had to make a stop at Belvidere as I eventually made my way to Waukegan. The sun was coming out, but the oversaturated ground was still a muddy mess…I had to change my shoes at this point…

I headed north and arrived in Milwaukee. My flight was not until dinner time, so I had a few hours to kill. Made a few stops, one of them was for lunch. I headed into the construction-addled downtown and dropped into Ward’s House of Prime — one of the best prime rib joints in the country. I had an excellent meal last time here, and decided to have a nice big lunch, since I probably won’t have the chance to eat anything but a nibble at the airport later.

It was a late hour for lunch, so there were mostly customers finishing up. I ordered my food and chilled out with a glass of wine, knowing it wouldn’t take very long. And voilà, here is my side of mushrooms…

It worked well with the main item, my prime rib…

Just lovely. Nice jus, but the meat was done so well it really didn’t need it. Lovely crust, perfectly delicious meat inside, glorious in its richness.

A beautiful piece of prime rib, so good… So few prime rib places left, so I’m glad to be able to enjoy this treat here. I’m not quite keen on their “monster-sized” prime rib eating things, since I really find that an un-enjoyable way to eat (and taste). It’s like people swallowing oysters…what’s the damn point if you don’t chew and taste it? Anyway, that was delicious, and I had room for a wee dessert…

Sadly the pistachio gelato was a bit pasty, but it did the job alongside the coffee. I thanked my now-somewhat-absent server (I was the last customer so I don’t blame her) and headed out. I’m glad this trip ended with a nice meal, but I’m so ready to head home after all the trials and tribulations this past 8 days or so…

Ward’s House of Prime
540 East Mason Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

* OF COURSE those trials and tribulations would continue…courtesy of a quickly-deteriorating Southwest Airlines. Having already flown on a un-mothballed antique 737 (due to the grounding of the dangerous 737-Max) earlier this trip, I was dismayed but not surprised this final flight home was delayed by over 3 hours due to maintenance — and we did not land until after 1am. This trip from hell just had to end on a crap note…

Review: Brücken

15 October 2018

I sadly left the Faroe Islands early in the morning, fighting a hangover from a good night and also lack of sleep due to the non-stop partying across the street from my hotel room; in fact, when I headed to the airport, there were still revellers wandering nearby…

I had a very long day in Copenhagen, as I had a lot to do but limited time, throwing in a very bad quick dimsum lunch at somewhere that used to be pretty good… A long afternoon, then ran to the airport and had quite a good local aged côte du boeuf at one of my usuals when I pass through Kastrup, Mash. I somehow made it to Düsseldorf no thanks to the comedic ineptitude of Eurowings/Germanwings…

A long day running around both Bonn and Köln, I made it back to the latter just to run into that hostage crisis at the tran station. As my hotel was right next to it, it was a nightmare getting back. Thank goodness I talked my way through the cordon (my German is better than I thought…) with a police escort to my hotel. I chilled out as I watched them eventually re-open the always-busy area.

Having walked several dozen kilometres in both cities, I was knackered. No lunch means I am hungry. And I’m so glad for my dinner destination at Brücken not too far away. When I was doing research for dinner, I found a small, local Greek place that looked okay, until I saw that they also specialise in txuleton — or txuletoia — from one of the Basque region’s meat gods, Imanol Jaca. So I immediately booked, agreeing to the minimum size of 700g old beef…

I got there just on time as I wasn’t too delayed from the earlier chaos. I relaxed and ordered a nice bottle of wine, and was presented with a tasty salad. Greeks do know how to do good salad. But I was extremely hungry and impatient for my steak, which obviously takes a while…

See why? I enjoyed more wine as I tried not to listen to a group of multinational academics that were driving me crazy…oh, I wish for earphones sometimes when I dine out. Then it arrived…

Oh my… Last night’s steak was good, but this is another category altogether. Wow… So flavourful, rich and strong like old beef should be. Look at that crackling! Nothing like the boring beef you get at some of the “top” steakhouses especially in North America. This even blows the Argentina places away. The flavour is hard to describe unless you have it, it’s like an improbably mesh of mellowness and intensity all somehow rolled into a singularity each bite… And it’s huge!

Lucky I have a whole bottle of red! I worked on it diligently until it was basically spent…as was the wine…as was I! What an amazing piece of beef!

The proprietor was impressed with my performance, especially when I also managed a crème brûlée afterwards…

That earned me some free ouzo. I relaxed and chatted with some friendly folks on the next table before I finished up. This was a fine reward for a very, very long day of trekking.

Oh my, this is very, very recommended!

Brücken
Johannisstraße 79
Köln, Deutschland

Review: Kreis’ Steakhouse and Bar

26 March 2018

Well, it’s been an adventure since I headed out of Japan. I had a quick stop in the LA area, but had to fly out of Ontario at some ungodly hour — after already being time-zone-challenged with the trans-Pacific flight. Then a few days in Phoenix to unwind, I headed to Missouri for my last stop before home.

I had to go to Mizzou for something, so the long drive from St Louis, where I landed in the early evening. Barely made it thanks to an argument with a clueless and rude rental car agent…this city… I headed back the next afternoon via the rarely-visited capital of the state, Jefferson City, and was basically running on fumes. I needed a good meal.

Dinner this evening was at Kreis’ Steakhouse & Bar, which is one of the more old-school places. When it comes to steak I prefer them old school. I got there and they put me at a really awkward table. In fact, the dining room was so squished with these square floating tables that it made it rather uncomfortable for everyone. I don’t know how many times my chair was kicked by a passing server…

Anyway, a martini in hand, I relaxed… Not bad. I didn’t bother with a starter as I knew what I wanted. And just as I drained my martini and asked for some wine, it arrived…

A big ol’ prime rib. Not bad, bone in, temperature was right. But it may have been sitting around a little, as this is a relatively late hour for dining in the Midwest. So it could have been much better, but it was good enough. With a side of veggies, I finished off this beast with the help of a few glasses of red.

I was full, but for some reason I went with a rare dessert, and tonight’s choice was apple strudel.

Well, bad choice. Was talked up by the server, but was pretty ordinary. A coffee and a whisky later, I thanked my server and headed out. I really need to catch up on some sleep, but got another long day tomorrow…

But damn, I miss Japan already…

Kreis’ Steakhouse & Bar
535 South Lindbergh Boulevard
St Louis, Missouri