Monthly Archives: April 2017

French Fry Corndog? Challenge accepted.

25 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by in Lunch, Miscellaneous, Review

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As a fan of Madison Social (especially their brunch), I’ve been curious about their new restaurant Township, whose menu seems to be perfect “gastropub” drinking food, honestly. Meats on a stick? Check! Salty breads with cheese dip? Check!

I knew I needed to make a plan to visit when they posted a pic of the most ridiculous hot dog, crusted in french fries and topped with beer cheese and Sriracha.

Township is located right across the street from MadSo, and also looks out on the FSU Intramural Fields and Doak Campbell Stadium. It is a great space with high ceilings and a very relaxed atmosphere. The menu is straight forward, divided in the categories of Cones, Bowls, Sticks, Buns and Feasts.

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For the beer lovers, the selection was widely varied and had some intriguing options.

I was able to sit for a minute in the garden area, waiting for my friend. So relaxing!

Thank goodness I could recruit @wakullawriter to assist me in sampling the menu. Below is the Mac N Beer Cheese Cone and the Shrimp Ceviche Tacos. Both delicious.

My fave was the Pork Belly Bites Cone, each bite had a lovely, caramelized glaze and were perfectly cooked (where they weren’t too fatty.) The bites were topped with a fresh and spicy kimchi.

And here is the monster…this “corn” dog was delicious. I was surprised that it wasn’t heavier, the potato crust was actually a great complement to the dog.

This was a great lunch, but I need to come back when I can sample the great drinks and hang out for longer.

I am continually jealous of this generation of college students for having such amazing food at their hangouts. (Sorry Guthrie’s!) But glad I can access them now that I can actually afford to have more than just fast food.

Easy Peasy Pita

21 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by in bread, Dinner, Recipes

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Time to see how much making pita bread is! AND I actually remembered to take pictures throughout the process for you. 😉

The recipe I followed for this post was the Serious Eats: Perfect Homemade Pita Bread recipe.

First you add all of the ingredients to your mixer or your food processor (in the processor, I would add the dry ingredients first (pulse) and then add the wet ones.) Or you can do this with just a wooden spoon (like the recipe above.) I really like the combo of the white and wheat flour, but you can use what you have on hand.

Once it comes together, keep the machine going for a couple minutes to “knead” it. Then place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl.

Let rise for an hour or two. I like to put my oven on its lowest setting, and then turn it off before putting the covered bowl in there to rise. It gets nice and puffy. At this point, I put my griddle in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees.

I then separated into fairly equal balls – I weighed the dough and divided by 3 ounces (for each ball.) Cover the balls of dough with a kitchen towel and let them rest.

 

Then I roll each ball out to a circle. The dough bounces back a little bit, but try and get it pretty thin. Then cover the circles with the towel so that they don’t dry out.

Throwing the circles on the griddle can be a little tricky, but the ugly pita tastes just as good as the pretty pita. Most of them will puff up nicely and give you a lovely pocket for your sandwiches.

Flip and let brown for a couple seconds, and then take out and place with the rest – wrapped in a towel.

So pretty, and they really are delicious. Since they do not have any preservatives, keep them in the fridge if you still have some left after a couple days. You could probably freeze them as well. Happy Pita making!

Off the beaten path, but worth it: Backwoods Crossing

04 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by in Dinner, Review

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One of my weaknesses is a solid (and verifiable!) farm-to-table restaurant. There are three main challenges with these type of businesses. If they really are farm-direct products, the cost is generally higher. “Farm fresh” doesn’t guarantee good flavor/cooking technique. And it can be very difficult to confirm that the food is from a local farmer.

We needed a good place to take my Dad for his birthday that was out closer to their side of town (East Side!), and I had heard great things about Backwoods Crossing a local “farm-to-table” restaurant. I figured it was a handy occasion to try them out (and to use family to sample more dishes.)

Backwoods Crossing seems to have accomplished the trifecta – verifiable fresh, local food, high quality and reasonable cost. With one garden immediately outside the building, you can see what is ready or harvest, and then those options are directly reflected in the vegetable options and the specials.

To start, the house salad was fresh and simple. The balsamic vinaigrette had a good balance, and the meal started off on a solid note.

Daughter #1 got a sandwich with grilled chicken, apple and brie. Really a lovely combination.

My mom got the fried catfish over stone-ground grits and sautéed greens with corn. This was a huge portion, and straight-up delicious.

Daughter #2 got the Hog in a Henhouse – chicken breast stuffed with pulled pork and fried with a crispy crust over béchamel-sauced broccoli. Holy moly! Another large portion and the chicken was perfectly cooked. I think this was my favorite.

My dad got the Seafood Heaven entree with blackened shrimp and cream cheese/blue crab nuggets over creamy grits. Yum.

Trying to be somewhat health-conscious, I got the seared tuna over roasted brussels sprouts, garden beets and potatoes. )I can’t believe that as an adult I have discovered a love for beets. Who knew?)

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All of the food was impressive, but even more surprising was that our bill (for six people) was around $100. Really loved this place, and my parents, who live on that side of town, were thrilled.

Backwoods Crossing is on Mahan Drive out by the I-10 exit and is in the building formerly inhabited by Stinky’s Fish Camp (RIP!) across from the Tallahassee Automobile Museum. (You can also find them on Facebook!)

We are already planning our late spring visit so that we can see what’s in their garden.

(And sorry for the weird camera angles, the fam was rushing me and messing up my shots so that they could start digging in!)

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