Blog - Grits in the City - discounts and faves

sunset special menu at firefly

September 19, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

Last week was filled with lots of sleep, early bedtimes, hours of hours of prime beach time, and footwear consisting of variations on sandals. The weather was gorgeous – few if any clouds in the sky, and no rain to be seen anywhere.

One day, we chose to head over to Panama City Beach from Destin, primarily in order to check out a restaurant called Firefly that my parents love. The trip was quick and, as I’d been warned, the restaurant was actually tucked into a generic looking strip mall. This place is supposed to be really nice?

Once I walked through the door, it was like a totally different world than where we’d just been outside. They have a portion focused on sushi off to the left of the entrance. You walk through the bar area before you reach the main dining area. In the center, there’s a grand magnolia tree, with branches extending over the surrounding tables. There’s additional seating bordering the main floor, slightly elevated with a great view as well of the twinkle-light adorned tree.

We came early for their sunset special menu, a menu I understand used to be offered 5-7pm – a window that’s since been reduced to end instead at 6:30. Entrees come with a house salad, soup of the day, a chicken, tomato & rice soup, or, for a small additional charge, you can get their she crab soup. Seeing as they’re known for the soup, I had to try it. It did not disappoint. The crab was in such small pieces that it almost melted into the creamy soup. You can even add a drizzle of sherry on top tableside, if you so choose.

For my main course, I tried their shrimp and crab newberg, which was shallots garlic, tri-colored peppers, and sherry cream over jalapeño cheddar corn bread. In hindsight, picking a cream-based dish to accompany a cream-based soup was probably not the wisest of choices. The dish was quite good though, featuring large shrimp and much more prominent chunks of crab than the soup. Other choices included sesame tuna, stuffed chicken, medallions of beef tenderloin, salmon, and crab cakes.

For dessert, my mom and I tried their white chocolate crème brûlée, which was actually fired table side. I’m not sure it made an actual difference in the flavor – perhaps it’s a mental thing, but I would have sworn it had an even smokier flavor as a result. My dad had their warm seasonal bread pudding, which looked delicious and was quite a healthy portion (read: perfect for sharing!).

Overall, it was a great first experience at Firefly and highly recommend checking them out should you find yourself in the area.

Firefly – 535 Richard Jackson Blvd, Panama City, Florida – 850.249.3359
Reservations Recommended

restaurant week dinner at benchmark

September 2, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

I almost missed out on the most recent round of Restaurant Week. I did manage to catch the final week and was excited to see Benchmark was on the list as participating. I’d been curious about Benchmark for quite a while, and was even more interested after seeing their menu for this summer. The cuisine is New American and the setting is casual yet nice enough for a nice date night out. Make it over before it cools down too much and you can sit in their front outside area, with a canvas canopy overhead. Romantic!

To start, I had to try the marinated steak and tomato salad, which featured baby arugula, spiced goat cheese, and a cilantro pesto. The steak was nicely flavored and thin, which worked well with the goat cheese and the cilantro pesto. It was interesting to lead the meal with red meat and then go back from there, but it worked as the salad was on the lighter side.

For our main course, we both had their East Coast Halibut, which was served with a corn and tomato succotash and a chilled asparagus broth. I really loved the mix of the veggies on this one. It was an ideal end of summer dish – fresh and light.

For a finale, there was the buttermilk panna cotta, served with local strawberries with a saffron gelato. While tasty, even this dessert lover had to admit that this wasn’t the highlight of the meal for me. The panna cotta wasn’t super flavorful, but I did really enjoy the gelato, which worked well with the strawberries.

I did take a peek at their normal menu, which oddly enough was basically completely different than the restaurant week menu. Interesting play for a restaurant. I can’t say I have seen another spot do that. I’d be curious to try it out again with their regular menu!

Benchmark – 339 2nd Street (at 5th Avenue) – Park Slope, Brooklyn – 718.965.7040
Reservations Suggested

homemade oatmeal cream pies

September 1, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

I had sinus surgery last week (fun times!) so I’ve been enjoying a pretty low-key several of days. Yesterday my sister and her boyfriend came over along with my boyfriend and my mom made the basic meatball from The Meatball Shop’s cookbook. Really, it was like the restaurant inside your own home – amazing. So good. We ate meatballs and polenta and watched the Alabama football game (Roll Tide!) and relaxed. I decided it was a good time to pick something and put my new KitchenAid mixer to work. Isn’t she pretty?

I was looking at cakes and cupcakes, but wasn’t feeling inspired. I then decided what I really wanted was oatmeal cream pies! Like the Little Debbie variety, but homemade (of course). I started looking through recipes online. There weren’t too many varieties. Some were gluten free. Some were making odd substitutions to make it super healthy (and I didn’t want to have to buy all of those additional ingredients that one required – too much money and hassle). Several also used marshmallow cream, which I need to look at the Little Debbie box, but that just didn’t sound right to me.

I ended up going with Martha Stewart’s recipe, because Martha usually knows best. The recipe was quite simple, although I always know going in that even though Martha says it’ll only take 30 minutes, that’s never the case for me.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon unsulfured molasses
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (not the quick-cooking variety)
1/2 cup golden raisins (I omitted this)
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. In a separate large bowl, beat butter, brown and granulated sugars, and molasses on high with an electric mixer, scraping down bowl, until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes). Then add the vanilla and beat until combined. Beat in eggs, one at a time. You’ll need to scrape down the bowl after each addition.

Next with mixer on low, add the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Using a rubber spatula, stir in oats (and raisins, if you chose to add them). Drop dough in 2-tablespoonful mounds, 2 inches apart, onto two baking sheets. I actually had to do in two batches since it ended up being too many for two baking sheets. Crowding them will squish your cookies a bit, and may make them take longer to bake. Bake until cookies are just set at edges and slightly soft in middle, about 11 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cookies cool on sheets for around 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool completely.

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar with a mixer until light for around 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. Use a small spatula to spread the filling on the flat (bottom) side of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies.

I thought these came out quite good! Recipe claimed it would yield 13 and I ended up with 12, so quite close to what I was expecting. These were close to the Little Debbie originals. The cookies were nice and fluffy. The filling is slightly different from the originals though (but tasty in its own way). I’d be curious to try out some of the other fillings to use with these cookies, but I think this cookie recipe is just about perfect!

And after a day of cooking and all this company, Dixie was ready to call it a day.

banana blueberry bread

August 31, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

When I went to the Farmer’s Market to get blueberries to make this blueberry cobbler, let’s say I was a bit off on the amount of blueberries I needed. As in off by a lot. I ended up putting some in the freezer, figuring I’d come up with something else to do with them. When JB mentioned she had a blueberry banana bread recipe she was crazy about, I figured I’d give it a go. It turned out to be a quick, easy way to put the blueberries to use, and I even had enough for two loaves!

Ingredients

3/4 cup nonfat or low-fat buttermilk
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1 1/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/4 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Coat your 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

Whisk the buttermilk, brown sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl. Then stir in the mashed bananas.

Whisk whole-wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in a separate medium bowl.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined (don’t over stir). Fold in blueberries. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

Bake until the top is golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Let cool for about 2 hours before slicing.

The first time I made this recipe, I didn’t have a wire rack (it got lost somehow in the move). Don’t underestimate the power of a good wire rack! I ended up with my bread not cooling enough. Half of it was put too quickly into a container and ended up having to be thrown out. No bueno. The second time, I had the wire rack out, let it cool for a while, and then sliced. I keep the bread in little Ziploc bags, perfect to grab and take into the office.

tasting menu at hearth

August 30, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

Back in July, I took T to Hearth to celebrate his birthday. I liked the low key feel of the restaurant, which was cozy but not the least bit pretentious. They were celebrating their summer of riesling, and all of the wait staff was wearing t-shirts supporting that fact.

We chose to go with the 7 course tasting menu. They started with a simple lentil salad with fresh pressed extra virgin olive oil. It might have been simple, but the flavors were quite expressive – and the olive oil was noticeably flavorful. This course was followed by a warm summer salad, with purple basil and pickled veggies. I’m not accustomed to warm salads, but this one was a nice contrast to the cool lentil salad that had preceded it.

The next course was Wild Florida Snapper with a bacon consume. There was something almost irreverent about fish and bacon. Is that legal? It was so good! The broth and sprinkling of bacon across the top was such a fun mix of flavors with the snapper. So fish and bacon? I say I’m a believer.

The next dish was basic comfort food done right. Hearth’s homemade macaroni with housemade ricotta was just solid goodness. The thick tubed pasta noodles were a fun variation, and the ricotta versus thick cheese layers made for a lighter, more summery spin on the classic. This was ricotta done right.

Our next course was the heartiest – lamb with a chickpea and feta salad and a chickpea purée. The lamb portion only looked small. It ended up being more than enough. The lamb was perfectly cooked. The sauce was not overwhelmingly heavy, but just enough to make a statement. The chickpea purée might not have photographed wonderfully here, but it was quite tasty in person (I promise).

When I saw dessert come out for course six, I had to smile, since that meant not one but two dessert courses! First up was a marscapone cheesecake with candied sunflower seed and golden raisins. I really liked this one. The marscapone made for a lighter cheesecake and the candied sunflower seed, something I’d never had, was a nice salty contrast to the dish.

I don’t know if it is because I have not been eating much chocolate these days, or if it was the six preceding courses, but I was a bit done by the time the final dish appeared in front of me at the table. It was quite good, though on the heavier side for a dessert. It was a dense Valherona chocolate accompanied by coconut gelato, hazelnuts, and a chocolate mousse. The mousse along with the gelato was my favorite part.

And for T’s finale, there was strawberry shortcake, complete with a happy birthday note.

Overall, the meal made for a wonderful way to celebrate the occasion. I’d wanted to visit for quite some time and was glad to see it lived up to the hype!

Hearth – 403 E 12th St (at 1st Ave) – 646.602.1300
Reservations Required

tackling guinness pancakes

August 13, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

Several weekends ago, I felt compelled to try Guinness pancakes at Alchemy in Park Slope. It was the first weekend after we returned from Dublin and when I saw them, it seemed like they were there just for me.

When the server brought them over, hey seemed nice and fluffy. They were perfectly cooked to a light golden brown and were topped with fresh fruit. When I took my first bite though, I found them to be dry. As for the flavor, the Guinness was barely detectable at all. If I’d not ordered them myself, I don’t think I would have caught that they were even flavored. (Side note – I hear Alchemy is great for dinner, so I’ll definitely be back for another visit.)

T and I started talking though and decided that the weekend after his birthday, I should give them a try. I found that the Internet loves to *talk* about Guinness pancakes, but only a select few actually share a useable recipe. I grabbed the one that seemed like it would work the best and was curious to compare the end result. The recipe makes around 12 4″ pancakes. Allow approximately 10 minutes prep time (can be prepared and left in the refrigerator overnight) and about 20 minutes cook time.

Ingredients

2 tsp. lemon juice
¾ cup milk (¾ cup buttermilk can be substituted to replace both the milk and the lemon juice)
1 cup flour (I tried just regular all purpose)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 egg
½ cup Greek yogurt (plain, vanilla, or honey – I used vanilla)
¼ cup butter, melted
½ cup Guinness Draught
1 tsp. vanilla (I substituted 1 tsp. maple extract)

Stir the lemon juice into the milk. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and cinnamon. Add the egg, yogurt, and butter into the bowl with the dry ingredients and whisk gently. Add Guinness, vanilla, and milk mixture to the batter. Whisk until blended.

Heat a griddle, or you can also use a frying pan. When it is at the right temperature, drops of water will sizzle when dripped onto the surface.

Use ¼ cup of batter per pancake. Let the batter sit for about 2 minutes before flipping. I’m not sure the location of the blogger I found the recipe from, but my “pancakes” came out more like crepes. Not bad at all, but was not what I was expecting. With a bit of care and skill, I was able to get them to flip without breaking. I also realized very quickly that the darkness of the pancake does not indicate it being burned. I panicked after a couple turned out on the dark side but was able to confirm with a quick taste test that everything was just fine. One very important note from the recipe is that due to the carbonation in the beer, the pancakes will bubble more than normal pancakes, so you won’t be able to use this to determine when to flip the pancakes.

Cook the pancake on the other side for about a minute. Remove from heat and repeat prior step with the next 1/4 cup of batter until all batter is used. I followed their tip of keeping the pancakes warm while cooking others, put them in a 200°F oven. Serve immediately.

These were actually quite tasty Guinness crepes. The recipe did state that if you like thicker pancakes, that substituting self-rising flour may make sense. They also recommended divide the egg, incorporating the yolk to the dry ingredients as usual. Then beat the white on high for thirty seconds until it is frothy. After the Guinness, milk, and vanilla have been added and the batter whisked, you would fold the egg white is folded into the batter. Worth a shot!

farmer’s market & blueberry cobbler

August 5, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

Since moving, I’ve become slightly obsessed with my local farmer’s market. To round out the end of T’s birthday week of fun and tasty things, I picked up what (accidentally) turned out to be a lifetime supply of blueberries to make blueberry cobbler. The best thing about the recipe is that it reheats quite well, as unless you’re entertaining a crowd, it makes more than you’ll need for just one meal.

The recipe was quite easy. I wasn’t sure before, but the comparison that 1 pint container is the equivalent of 2 cups of blueberries is in fact accurate. I’m sorry I ever doubted you Internet.

Lara Ziobro - NYC Lifestyle Blogger - Food Photographer - Food Blogger

Mixing the sugar, lemon juice, and those beautiful farmer’s market blueberries

Because I’ve recently become obsessed with it, I ended up choosing to substitute coconut palm sugar for 2/3 of the overall sugar in the recipe. It made it come out a bit darker in color, but I loved the flavor. This recipe was quite simple and is a great way to incorporate whatever seasonal fruit strikes your fancy. The original recipe referenced blackberries. I used blueberries. Next time, perhaps peaches or mixed berries!

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups, white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter
1/4 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line your baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Mix the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/4 cup boiling water just until the mixture is evenly moist. I went ahead and used the whole amount this time around, but monitoring more than I did is probably the smart way to go.

Dissolve the corn starch in cold water in a separate bowl. Mix in the remaining 1 cup sugar, lemon juice, and blueberries. Transfer the mixture over into a cast iron skillet and bring it to a boil, stirring often. Drop the dough into the skillet in small spoonfuls, placing them spaced out across the skillet. Then place the skillet on the foil-lined baking sheet.

Bake 25 minutes, until the dough on top is a golden brown. Serve with ice cream, if you are so inclined. (The simple vanilla bean from Turkey Hill made for an inexpensive and excellent addition when I made this!)

dining in dublin

July 25, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

Continuing the theme of July 4th vacations, this year T and I left NYC behind and took off to Dublin for the majority of the week. If we thought we would be missing out on all of the red, white, and blue, we were wrong. We found many Irish bars decorated for the 4th and even restaurants offering special deals day of on their American wines. So kind of you, Dublin.

I was curious about what I would think of the food, clearly something I find quite important. Most often compared to the UK, I wasn’t expecting to really love the cuisine. I have to say though we managed to find a nice mix of foods and overall, I have to say Dublin was quite tasty.

At the strong recommendation of some friends, we found ourselves at Gallaghers Boxty House. What’s a boxty, you ask? It’s a thin savory pancake – think crepe, but thicker. I couldn’t try their signature version as it has mushrooms, so I instead went with their chicken and smoked bacon boxty. So good and not the least bit heavy. Finish off the meal with their bread butter pudding. Delicious. Our friends let them know we’d be coming in so they recognized us actually came over and said hi. What hospitality!

Looking for something sweet on-the-go? Gino’s on Grafton Street is exactly what you want. They’re not open super late – 10 or 11pm – but work them into your schedule. Fabulous variety of gelatos at a reasonable price. A scoop of their Guinness gelato combined with caramel gelato was perfection.

For some standard pub fare (and a large variety of their own craft beers), the Pourhouse is a great option. Their burger was fabulous (as well as fabulously massive), and they also did a great fish and chips. Two perfect pub fare options.

We also managed to check out a couple of nicer local restaurants I’ll share about separately – Ely Wine Bar and The Exchequer. Overall, I have to say we managed to find some pretty tasty spots in the friendly city of Dublin.

jam & stir-fry

June 18, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

I spent this past weekend in Vermont with a wonderful group of people as a part of Alejandra Ramos‘ Sweet Escape, a long weekend filled with culinary and crafting activities at Good Commons in Plymouth, Vermont. I knew I was in from the moment I read about the concept. I love Vermont, and this sounded like a perfect way to get out of the city for a long weekend (and the idea that we would be enjoying Alejandra’s amazing cooking all weekend definitely didn’t hurt). I’ll be sharing more about my experience there in the coming days/weeks.

My main goal for the weekend, aside from relaxing and disconnecting (as much as possible) from social media was to get some inspiration to start cooking more. I have a big move coming at the end of the month. I will be moving into my own place, which means a kitchen all to myself and, oh yes, full responsibility for all of the bills! Let’s just say cooking in home might be featured here more prominently, with restaurant reviews still here, but less frequently.

One of our sessions about midway through the weekend focused on making jelly. Not just any kind of jelly. Wine jelly. We were lucky enough to get to spend some quality time with Nancy, the master of all things jam or jelly at The Potlicker Kitchen. She walked through the basics of making and canning jelly, as well as her fascinating story about how she got into doing this full time. Her line of jams/jellies is quite extensive and unique. She had a small sub-set of the selection with her, ranging from oatmeal stout to strawberry habanero to carrot cake to knotweed. I’ll admit, I was amused at the varieties and initially was wondering how many varieties I really needed with my biscuits – until she started to talk about how to possibly use them in recipes. Reduce over heat and, logically, you get a sauce. Brilliant!

She went onto describe how the pineapple habanero jam worked great in stir-fry. This popped into my head when I was getting ready to leave work yesterday afternoon, and I decided to keep the momentum going from the weekend and head into the kitchen. I found a quick recipe for stir fry for 1, which I modified a bit to the below, and doubled. I’ll admit, I was a bit antsy. Modifying recipes isn’t something I’ve done a bunch of, and I wasn’t sure if I could figure out just what to do in order to make this jam into a sauce of sorts – so I opted to try this one for myself before sharing with anyone else. I was relieved to find how easy it really was to do.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons cider or red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 pound chicken breast, cut into 1/4-inch strips
1/2 cup broccoli florets
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup diced green or sweet red pepper
1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts
4 green onions, sliced
6 tablespoons beef broth
2 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons pineapple habanero jam
Hot cooked rice

The recipe claims this takes 25 minutes. I will not say how long it took me, other than that I did not end up doing any packing last night. Ooops. Anyhow, it’s easy enough.

In a large resealable plastic bag or shallow glass container, combine the first four ingredients. Then add your chicken and make sure to turn to coat. Seal or cover and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes. I did this with a container and feel like the plastic bag might have better coated the chicken.

In a skillet (or wok, if you should you have one), stir-fry the broccoli in the oil until vegetables begin to soften. Add chicken and marinade (don’t forget the marinade – I didn’t remember to put it all in, and it made my chicken end up a bit dry). Then cook on medium-high for 3 minutes. Add green pepper, and water chestnuts and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes or until the vegetables are crisp-tender. Next add the onions.

Combine broth and cornstarch until smooth, and add to skillet. Bring to a boil. At this point, I added in the jam to make sure that it didn’t cook too long, but yet had time to reduce. I would recommend incorporating it a bit earlier to make the flavor more distributed. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened, and serve over rice.

Remember to start cooking your rice well before you start all of the above (or use microwaveable rice), or else you’ll end up with crunchy rice like I did… Overall though, the recipe was great and the jam was a great way to add a bunch of flavor using only one convenient ingredient. Love it!

If you’re interested in ordering some of Nancy’s jams and jellies, they’re available here online, I bought one other one this weekend and will share how that works out once I figure out how I’m using it!

checking out the new franny’s

May 13, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

I’d been curious to see how the new location of Franny’s would compare to the original, as it’s been one of my Brooklyn favorites. The new spot opened on April 8th, and promised more seating, a larger menu, and even a separate downstairs dining space for private parties. Accustomed to arriving to a group waiting just outside or inside the door, we were amazed to find the new space much more open. The pizza oven space is much more spacious, as is the bar area.

We decided to sit at the bar, happy to have caught them still serving dinner at almost 10pm (their posted hours are actually until 11:30pm). We ordered several appetizers as well as a pizza, which ended up being a perfect amount of food. The first dish to come out was the pea shoots with lemon and pecorino rossellino. The fun ribbons of cheese were a nice balance to the slight bite of the greens.

This freekeh salad was my favorite out of the starters. It included some tasty parsnips, almonds and pecorino ginepro.

I was not sure if it would be too heavy, but this wood-roasted pork sausage with mustard greens was a perfect addition to the line-up, adding just enough protein to the starters we tried. The greens were nicely done – not too bitter with excellent flavor.

And of course, it’s not a visit to Franny’s without a pizza. This time we went with the prosciutto cotto, spring onion, olives, chilies and caciocavallo pizza. The thinly cut proscuitto was flavorful. The chiles added a bit of spice and it was a nice change from the standard mozzarella for them to use the caciocavello (a sheep’s milk cheese).

For dessert, we tried their latte gelato and the salted caramel. The latte was more of just iced milk – made me almost think of making snow ice cream growing up. Put the two together, and the flavor was quite good. Yum. Verdict? New Franny’s still equates to the varied goodness of the original.

Franny’s – 348 Flatbush Avenue (b/w Stirling Place & 8th Ave), Brooklyn – 718.230.0221
No reservations, except for parties of 8-12