PFM Chef in the Market with Jenn Louis of Lincoln Restaurant

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of hosting the Portland Farmers' Market Chef in he Market with Jenn Louis, chef and co-owner of Lincoln Restaurant, a gem of a local spot in North Portland on North Williams, and owner of Culinary Artistry, the wonderful Portland caterer. Jenn and I made Ribollita, a hearty stew-like soup with a name that means "re-boiled" and is perfect for cool fall days like today, with rich flavors of beefsteak tomatoes, summer squash, sweet onions, cabbage, and all topped with the infamous Redmondo cheese from Juniper Grove. It's the only hard cheese at the market, so we use it in what seems like EVERY demo... I didn't get enough of Jenn at the market, so my sister Casey and I stopped by Lincoln for dinner that night.


We had some great cocktails, including the Don Draper (Bourbon, muddled orange, brown sugar, and bitters - I'm going through a whiskey/bourbon phase) and the Rhubarb Pisco Sour (Rhubarb liqueur, pisco brandy, lemon juice, egg whites, and bitters) and some out of this world appetizers, as well as some truly tasty entrees. We got:

• Baked hen eggs with cream, castelvetrano olives and herbed breadcrumbs - Perfectly baked eggs with yummy green olives and grated cheese, perfect for dipping with their AMAZING french bread. Seriously, Lincoln's bread was so unexpectedly good it stopped both of us mid-sentence. How many times to you hear me say that about a slice of white bread?
• Bari cucumbers with oil-cured olives, mint and sheep’s milk feta - Ok, I'm going to admit it, Casey ordered this one and I was skeptical. Ten bucks for some cucumbers? Sure, they were fancy cucumbers, but still. And then I took a bite, and quite my snarking, because OH MY GOODNESS these weren't just cucumbers. They were so intensely spicy, sour, sweet, and just plain flavorful, I was actually sad when the plate was cleared. (Oh, and in case you're wondering, Bari cucumbers are those ridged, pale yellowish cukes at the market.) I would really love the recipe for this dish, and hope its on the menu next time we stop by.
• Malloreddus with rabbit ragu and chicken of the woods mushrooms - This was the ultimate comfort food dish... I kept trying to compare it to something, like my mother's spaghetti, gnocchi from Austria, mashed potatoes and gravy from Mimi's Cafe or IKEA, and in a moment of weakness, to Chef Boyardee. Malloreddus are these small, dumpling-like noodles, cooked in saffron broth and topped with this great, meaty sauce. I'd like to describe how fun this was to eat, but it involves describing kind of intricate tongue maneuvers that maybe don't belong on a food blog...
• Pork chop with crispy potatoes, rosemary, roasted peach conserva and vin cotto - This was the only "meh" thing we ordered - well, other than the ill-advised lemon and rosemary house soda. The potatoes were a bit underdone, and the pork didn't have a lot of style. It was kind of just a big hunk o' meat, which would be great for some people, but it overwhelmed the awesome peach sauce and greens.

All in all, a tasty meal. Jenn's husband and Lincoln co-owner David Welch sat us in a rather sad little corner table, and we didn't realize until we were leaving that Lincoln has a gorgeous open kitchen with bar seating that would have set the night over the top. I'm just happiest in a restaurant when I can see the action, talk to the chefs and staff, and generally be a part of the hubbub instead of it being hidden away. I made a mental tally of all of my favorite restaurants in Portland, and without exception all of them have quite visible kitchens, while the restaurants I love to hate hide the cooking "mess" from the clientele. Put me on a stool in front of a hot grill and I'm a happy, happy girl. A cute chef doesn't hurt either.

Oh well, next time we'll be sure to sit at the bar and order twice as many Don Drapers...

Though the weather on Saturday still had that summery heaviness to it, I'm writing this wrapped in blankets in my living room, looking out on the rainiest day this season, drinking hot chai with a cat curled up on my feet. It's perfect weather for a slow, flavorful soup full of end-of-summer flavors, but its hard to let go of the days of perfect tomatoes and basil salads. It seems that this time of year the weather is so unpredictable that I'm tempted to keep my pantry and fridge stocked with everything - ingredients for comforting, warm meals as well as light, no-heat meals - just in case the Portland weather gods decide to throw another heat wave at us. I'm headed down next week to Santa Cruz, California to my family farm, Camp Joy, for the annual Harvest Dinner. You can almost guarantee the weather will be deliciously warm, perfect for dinner outside with friends and family under the stars. I promise I'll take too many photos and notes to share with you, but until then keep eating well, and enjoy the rest of these photos of Jenn Louis and the Saturday Portland Farmers' Market.

Ribollita de Lincoln Restaurant
Recipe from Jenn Louis, Lincoln Restaurant
"Ribollita means re-boiled. Make this soup, put it in your fridge overnight, and re-warm to serve."

Ingredients
1 medium onion, small dice
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 bulb fennel, small dice
2 bay leaves
2 inch piece rosemary
pinch chili flakes
8 large beefsteak tomatoes, peeled and seeded
3 medium summer squash: zucchini, crookneck or patty pay, medium dice
16 oz shell beans, canned or fresh: cannellini, borlotti, or corona work well
1/2 medium green cabbage, sliced thinly
Fresh herbs: oregano, basil, parsley, roughly chopped

Directions

• Slowly sauté onion, garlic, fennel, bay, rosemary and chile until vegetables are soft, but not colored
• Add summer squash and continue to cook until squash is tender
• Add chopped tomatoes and their juices and cook over medium heat, until sauce starts to thicken
• Add beans and cabbage, cook until heated through and season to taste
• If needed, thin with vegetable or chicken stock
• Stir in fresh herbs when serving
• Finish with pecorino or other hard grating cheese, drizzle with olive oil, and serve with crusty bread, brushed with olive oil and toasted.

Chef in the Market with David Anderson of Genoa

Yesterday I had the pleasure of hosting a demonstration at the PSU Portland Farmers' Market with Chef David Anderson of the newly-reopened Genoa and its sister restaurant Accanto, and we had a really great time. This weekend's weather has been a bit confusing, starting off cool and cloudy and slowly burning off to a gorgeous sunny day, so our audience started a bit on the small side. Once people around the market started smelling frying pancetta and caramelizing apricots, however, we had quite the crowd. David was great, sharing stories from Genoa's past and present and explaining how the menu has been "traveling through Italy" as the seasons change in Portland.

Every month, the restaurant features a five-course prix fixe menu highlighting the specialties of a single region in Italy, and David selects the region based on the pairing of authentic ingredients with what's available in the markets in Portland. This month the menu features Chef David's interpretation of dishes from Abruzzo and Molise, a region nestled at the border of Northern and Southern Italy in the highland foothills of the Apennine mountains. The mouthwatering offerings include:

• Scamorze allo spiedo: Creamy scamorza cheese (a stretched cow's milk cheese similar to mozzarella) skewered on rosemary stems, pan seared and served with marinated baby artichokes and pickled asparagus.
• Farfalline con pisselli e fave: small hand-made pasta butterflies tossed in a savory San Marzano tomato sauce with Viridian Farms peas, fava beans, lemon zest and fresh sheeps milk ricotta.
• Pasta alla chitarra con ragu d’agnello: fresh egg and semolina pasta cut on a traditional chitarra or “guitar” tossed with a ragu of Cattail Creek lamb and sweet peppers.
• Scapece di salmone alla vastese: salad of wild Oregon Sockeye salmon marinated in champagne vinegar, white verjus (a very acidic juice made from pressing unripe grapes), saffron and aromatic vegetables served over baby spinach, sweet basil and Yukon gold potatoes.
• Dentice e calamari in purgatorio: Line caught pacific rockfish and calamari sautéed in a spicy sauce of onions, white wine, tomatoes and dried chiles.
• Coniglio alla grigliata misti: Mixed grill of rabbit; tender loin skewered with house made rabbit sausage and kidney served with airy potato croquettes and caramelized baby fennel.
• Lombatine pepate e fiamma: Grilled Pepper and herb crusted strip loin steak flamed with strega liquor and served with a saffron risotto stuffed pepper and a raw zucchini and mint salad.

David told us that he loves featuring regional cuisines because it gives him a chance to learn about the ingredients, culture, and history of a region, as well as pick up new techniques and traditional combinations. It's great to know that even Portland's top chefs continue to learn about food and regional cuisine long after they've established themselves as knowledgeable and skilled in the kitchen. There's so much rich food tradition out there that it'd be impossible to know everything before you begin - so get out there and start some hands-on learning. You're in good company.

Start your culinary tour of Italy via Oregon's farm-fresh bounty with what may be the perfect summer salad: Crispy pancetta cubes, sweet and tart apricots with a perfect sear in butter and honey, peppery arugula and fresh basil leaves, and a sprinkling of the Oregon favorite, Marionberries, and fresh, creamy ricotta cheese. Chef David provides a step-by-step guide for making this delicious dish, which would make a great summer meal on its own, or serve as the starter for your next five-course supper party extravaganza. Eat well, or perhaps more appropriately, buon appetito!

Caramelized Apricot Salad with Arugula, Basil, Pancetta, Marionberries, and Fresh Ricotta
Recipe courtesy of Chef David Anderson of Genoa and Accanto, 2010
Serves six as a starter or four as a light meal

For the vinaigrette:
1 pound pancetta, cut into lardoons (bite sized chunks)
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar, preferably 12 year
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper to Taste

1. Place the pancetta and the olive oil in a small sauté pan and slowly bring up the heat to render out the fat. Leave over a low flame until the pancetta starts to color.
2. Drain the pancetta reserving the fat into a separate bowl. Keep the pancetta lardoons warm or at room temperature.
3. Put the pan back over the heat and add the shallots. Sweat for a few minutes until soft then deglaze with the balsamic vinegar.
4. Whisk in the reserved fat and taste for seasoning.

For the apricots:
6 apricots, ripe but firm, cut in half vertically and pitted
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons honey
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat butter slowly in a wide sauté pan. As soon as butter foam subsides add the aprictos cut side down.
2. Raise the heat and lightly caramelize the apricots. Add the honey and toss well. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
3. Cut into wedges and taste for seasoning.

For the salad:
3 bunches of fresh arugula, washed and stemmed
1 bunch of basil, stemmed, leaves roughly torn
1/4 pound fresh ricotta, crumbled
Reserved pancetta cubes
Marionberries
Apricots
Vinaigrette
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large mixing bowl toss the apricots, arugula, and basil with enough of the vinaigrette to coat. Taste for seasoning and garnish with pancetta, berries, and ricotta.

Naomi Pomeroy Shares Some Secrets at the Market

Here's a secret straight from the chef of Beast, one of Portland's most carnivorous restaurants: In her her "real life, Naomi Pomeroy doesn't eat a whole lot of meat. A regular shopper at the market on Saturday mornings, Naomi is passionate about fresh, local ingredients, and claims that, while the "meat kind of just does its thing," the vegetables can certainly steal the spotlight. "It's when you put the two together," Naomi said with a smile, "that's where the alchemy is."

She certainly focused on the veggies this morning during one of the rowdier Chef in the Market demos I've ever hosted, whipping up a farro risotto with wild porcinis from Springwater and shelled peas from Viridian Farms. We chatted about her recent James Beard nomination, her ironic attraction to the foie gras protesters outside her restaurant, her naughty revelations in the Portland Mercury's food and sex issue, the awesome time she had shooting Iron Chef America, and her plans for a classy viewing party for the (currently unannounced) airing of the show. She even hinted that she'd love to start her own high-end vegetarian restaurant in town, which would certainly be news-worthy. If any region could support a fully vegetarian menu year-round, it's definitely our little corner of the Pacific Northwest.

Try your hand at some beast-less Beast cooking with this recipe, and come check out the rest of the season's star-studded lineup of Portland chefs in the middle of the PSU farmers' market, every Saturday morning at 10 a.m. See you there!

Beast Farro Risotto with English Peas and Wild Mushrooms

(Serves 4-6)

1 cup farro (You may also substitute another starchy grain, such as carnaroli rice, aborio rice, or wheat berry.)
8 cups simmering water (The grain chosen determines the amount of liquid used. You may not use all 8 cups)
1 cup dry white wine
4 oz farm fresh butter
2 sprigs thyme
½ cup spring onions, chopped
3 cups cleaned wild mushrooms – sliced and cleaned (Porcinis are the best, but any variety will be great!)
3 cups shelled English peas
6 oz mascarpone cheese or crème fraiche
3 oz grated parmesan or other hard pungent cheese

1. Melt the butter in a sauté pan on medium heat. Add the mushrooms, and cook them until tender. Season with salt and pepper.
2. In a short stockpot or something with high sides, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the spring onion and sauté until translucent. Season with salt and pepper, and add the picked thyme.
3. To the stockpot, add the farro and turn the heat up to medium-high. Cook the farro until it starts to brown slightly. Turn the heat down to medium, add the white wine, and stir constantly until all the wine is absorbed.
4. Add the hot water one ladle at a time, allowing the grain to completely absorb the liquid each time.
5. When the grain is almost tender, add the raw peas, cooked porcini, and the cheeses. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

* For make ahead preparation, follow steps 1-3. Spread the grain out on a shallow pan to allow quick cooling and to stop the farro from further cooking. When you are ready, melt a little more butter, add the farro, and continue with steps 4 and 5.

Family Dinner at Bar Avignon

Last weekend, I donned a silly black cardboard hat and a dour wizard cloak and received a piece of paper with shiny gold lettering from the President of Reed college. Today, I'm staring up at the ceiling fan in my parents' Southern California home, with absolutely no responsibilities, plans, or job prospects to my name, save impending oral surgery on Monday (grumph).



I anticipated this moment, and brought with me an arsenal of novels, magazines, photo equipment, and recipes to try, but I haven't been able to peel myself away from the self-contemplation and worry that hits me after big life moments. No. More. School. Ever. Unless I decide to do more... but still. I don't even know how to wrap my mind around this. So instead of trying, I thought I'd share some photos of the amazing dinner I had with my family at Bar Avignon last Sunday.







I had the pleasure of hosting Avignon's chef Jeremy Eckel in the Chef in the Market demonstration last weekend. I like to make it a point to visit the restaurants of the chefs I meet, especially when my family is in town and I don't have to pick up the tab. Hey, need I remind you of that "no job prospects" thing? But I digress. We were seven for dinner, which can be a bit of a quagmire when the restaurant of choice is, quite literally, a bar. So imagine our extreme pleasure when we walked into Bar Avignon, ready to sit at different tables scattered around the place, to find a near-private wine room with a huge wooden table practically calling our names.

It was idyllic, to say the least, and the food was amazing. At the Farmers' Market, we had made three vegetable salads for spring BBQ's (because Portland is Portland is Portland) so I knew Jeremy had some local-produce tricks up his sleeve, but was absolutely floored by the quality of every dish, cocktail, and desert we tasted. Every meal in my family becomes a "family-style" meal - we coordinate our orders so we are able to try almost everything on the menu, forks and plates are passed around like a game of Hot Potato, everyone tastes every dish (except for my little sister, currently a vegetarian who looked stricken with every word of praise over the chicken, pork, and steak), and desserts are shared with mathematical precision. Oh, and every gamely puts up with my snapping photos of each dish before they get to try them.

It's a bit crazy, coupled with our loud conversations and even louder laughter, but it was a great time. Avignon's delightful owners Nancy Hunt and Randy Goodman were more than amazing, and it is always a pleasure to spend time with the raucous group of characters I have the joy to call my next of kin. I may be completely listless, jobless, planless, and scared, but my family is the wind in my sails.

The Great Pumpkin Event!

Every year around Halloween, the Portland Farmers' Market throws one hell of a party. Dozens of pumpkins for carving, vendor costume contests, kid's costume parade, really fun kid's music, and two, count them TWO chef demonstrations hosted by yours' truly. I had the pleasure of cooking a green tomato and celery root soup with Scott Dolich of Park Kitchen, and a great arugula and butternut squash panzanella salad with Jenn Louis of Lincoln and Culinary Artistry catering. They were both fantastic, and two more reminders of how much I love the Portland chef community.



When I was walking around with Scott shopping for our demo, he, like most chefs I've had the pleasure to meet at the market, seemed to know just about everyone. Every Portland-area farmer seems to know pretty much every Portland chef, and vice-versa, which makes sense because they have such a mutually beneficial relationship. Also, people who I would normally view as other shoppers like myself were suddenly revealed to be chefs of well-known restaurants, specialty shop owners, food writers, and other notable characters. It's such a treat to glimpse into that close-knit community, like a carrot dangling in front of me luring me into the Portland food scene. I suppose I already have a couple toes in that door, thanks to the market and blogging, but I've got a long way to go.



This year's bash was extra special because the event fell on Halloween proper, which I believe compelled a few more people to dress up and brave the rain for the festivities. Creative (and warm) costumes were everywhere, from an adorable stop light complete with light-up red, yellow, and green circles, to more princesses, butterflies, monkeys, monsters, and zombies than you could keep track of. No one cared too much that the rain speckled our costumes, but it's safe to say that when the sun peaked out around noon, smiles were considerably brighter.


Umm... Could this little thing be any cuter? I think not.

On the home front, I'm moving this week! Which means kitchen stuff might be living in boxes for a few days, and I'll be making a lot of salads. At least I like salads. I'm moving into a friend's house while he and his band go on tour, and then who knows... a world of domestic possibilities. As long as there is a kitchen, it's a home. Why I decided to move (a few times) in the middle of writing my thesis is quite complicated, but it's exciting. It also gives me something to think about other than writing and food. Hmmph. Like I need anything else.

Happy Halloween! Eat well!

Risotto-Style Farro with Winter Squash and Aged Goat Cheese

Fall is here in Portland. Nowhere is this more evident than at the farmers market. What with the crisp breeze, the golden sunlight at a slightly new angle, and the smells of roasting peppers, not to mention all of the amazing new fall produce, everyone seemed to be in autumnal spirits. It's getting to be the time of year when scarves come out and hot apple cider seems like a great idea.

This morning I had the pleasure of doing a cooking demonstration with Grace Pae of Artemis Foods, an amazing Portland cafe and catering company that specializes in beautiful local, sustainable, and seasonal gourmet food. They've received a couple of awesome awards for their sustainability practices, and they only use the best local, organic, and whole ingredients, all while making really phenomenal food. Grace was a total sweetheart, and we couldn't have had more fun making a delicious dish of farro with butternut squash, fresh cannellini beans, and Fraga Farms Aged Rio Santiam Goat Cheese in a sort of risotto-style mush, if I'm allowed to call something so tasty and pretty a "mush".



Farro is totally making a comeback. Also known as emmer wheat, it's an ancient grain native to the Mediterranean and Near East, and some nutritional anthropologists think it ranks among the oldest domesticated foods. It fell out of favor after the fall of the Roman empire because new crops, like barley and spelt, were a lot easier to grow and had bigger yields. For thousands of years it's been a relic crop in the Mediterranean, but it's experiencing a bit of a revival thanks to the growing interest in heirloom foods, grains included. One of the healthiest grains around, it's related to wheat and spelt but has its own unique character. It has an amazing nuttiness and holds its shape really well in recipes that can tend to get mushy. A perfect example is this almost-risotto, that features my absolute favorite fall treat, butternut squash. Not to mention really awesome aged goat cheese and a good amount of butter!

We used organic farrow from Bluebird Grains with the hull on, which preserved its nutty flavor and chewy texture. You can find their stuff at Portland-area stores or online. I also got a great tip about peeling butternut squash. You know how it can get kind of sticky or slimy and start rolling around the cutting board? Grace says if you chill your squash it is a good deal easier to peel. I'll have to try that next time! Another great thing about this recipe is that it uses fresh beans, which are popping up all over at the markets these days. You can eat them raw, in salads, but in a hot preparation like this they get deliciously creamy and tender. The dish uses chicken stock, but you could totally replace that with veggie stock to make it veg-friendly.



I love doing chef demonstrations, and if I could make a living talking about delicious sustainable, seasonal food in front of an audience, I would be a very, very happy girl. Keep your ears open for an opening on the Food Network for me, ok?

Here are some shots from the market today. Gorgeous!

Farro with Butternut Squash, Fresh Cannellini Beans, and Aged Goat Cheese

Ingredients
8 oz. Farro, cooked in boiling salted water until tender, drained
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1-2 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup yellow onion, minced (you can use a food processor)
2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
2-3 teaspoons fresh thyme and.or sage, savory, or any combination
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes
1-2 cups fresh, shelled cannellini or lima beans
1/2 cup dry white wine
1-2 cup chicken stock (or veggie stock)
4 cups cubed butternut squash, roasted (simply toss the cubed squash in olive oil, salt and pepper and place on a baking sheet in 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and tender, stirring a few times)
2-3 ounces Aged Goat Cheese

Directions
1. Prepare you ingredients first by cooking the farro in enough water that the grain can roll in the pot as it is cooking. For example, 8 ounces of farro will expand by 3 times in volume, so you will need a pot about 3 times bigger than that, or at least a 2.5 quart pot.
2. Have the squash cooked as well as the other listed ingredients.
3. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter and olive oil together and add onions, garlic, herbs, and spices.
4. Sauté ingredients for 3-4 minutes or until onions are translucent and garlic and herbs have become aromatic. Do not let garlic brown.
5. Add the farro and the beans, the wine, and about a cup of stock and let the ingredients simmer together, stirring frequently for 3-4 minutes.
6. Add the butternut squash and heat through ust until hot. Add more stock as needed to maintain a moist consistency. Add the cheese and mix well.
7. Adjust for salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat. Garnish with shavings of cheese.

Eat well!

Market Day and Castagna with Elias Cairo

Yesterday's market was gorgeous. The weather floated around 80 degrees, lovely old-time music was provided by local group Boy and Bean, and the first strawberries were out! What's more, the Sol Pops guys and The Ruby Jewel gals (local, organic popsicles and fresh-made ice cream sandwiches) were set up in the sun, making kids and big kids really happy.

I had the pleasure of emcee-ing the Chef in the Market demonstration, with Elias Cairo of Castagna and Cafe Castagna (rhymes with lasagna). We made Asparagus and Morel tarts, with duck eggs from Deck Family Farms, crème fraîche from Jacob's Creamery, and smoked Gouda from Willamette Valley Cheese, Co. We had a good crowd - about forty people watching the Chef Du Jour make delicious pastry and the bumbling emcee ask silly questions (and be a tiny bit starstruck).

I had a lot of fun feeling a bit more on the in-crowd of chefs and farmers, and look forward to returning to the stage after a brief trip to California. The demonstrations start at 10 am, and feature a new chef each week. Come check us out, if for nothing than to meet me and get some awesome samples at the end.


In an exciting turn of events, I was able to eat dinner at Café Castagna, one of Eli's restaurants on 17th and Hawthorne. My roommate Dragonfruit is graduating from college this weekend, and her parents are in town, which means one thing: Dinners we can't usually afford! Ok, well it means a lot more than that, too, but nice food ranks up there. I didn't bring my camera, because I'm not hardcore enough to pull out a giant lens and snap photos of my appetizer in front of the chef I tried to impress that morning, and the parents I was trying to impress sitting across from me. Maybe some day I'll be able to get over that embarrassment, but for now I'll just have to describe the food. I love Castagna because their menu changes almost daily, depending on the availability of ingredients from their farmers. This keeps things über-Seasonal, super fresh, and exciting for the chef and the diners.

Here's what we had:
mâche and beet salad
marinated olives
monterey bay calamari with fideos (small bits of pasta) and aioli
fried cardoons (a member of the artichoke family)

roast chicken with herb butter served with chard-potato gratin and roast asparagus
lamb-almond meatballs in a chickpea stew
galacian white bean stew with rapini and house-made chorizo
halibut with asparagus and fingerlings

bread pudding with caramel sauce
chocolate pavé, a chocolate soufflé cake
chocolate pot de créme

And, of course, good beer all around.
My favorite of the appetizers was hands-down the calamari. Perfectly grilled in garlic, served with spicy arugula... Oh, this was a winner. I'd pass on the olives and cardoons. The former were nothing special, and the cardoons were far too salty, a bit like brined deep-fried celery. The beets were delicious, but if you have to pick one, go for the calamari. Looks a bit daunting (these aren't the deep-fired calamari rings you'd find in a bar, but pieces of exactly what they are - squid) but the taste and texture was meaty and sumptuous.

Bites of all the mains were passed around, and Eli's homemade chorizo certainly lives up to its reputation. I'm not a fan of rapini, but it set off the stew nicely with its astringent flavor. The meatballs were interested, really comforting, but the stew was oddly floral - I couldn't figure out the exact flavor, but it overpowered the intrigue of a lamb-almond meatball. The halibut was simple and pretty - the star of this was their tarter sauce, creamy and perfect. My chicken was good but not great, I'm a pretty tough judge of a good roast chicken, and it had an interesting smoky flavor that I couldn't fall in love with. The gratin was a wedge of mashed potatoes and greens, lacking in texture and arrived a bit cold, but had a fantastic flavor.

The desserts were great. Get the bread pudding. Don't consider anything else. Just get it. It's a brioche-based, custardy pudding with a crispy, caramelized top. Amazing. The chef came out and shook my hand, thanking me for the morning's adventure, which made me grin non-stop for the rest of the night.

All in all, a fantastic end to a great market day. Here are some more pictures from the market. Until next time, eat well!