Acadiana - Louisiana style in DC

Restaurant week has come and gone and I'm just finally getting to this review on Acadiana. I just couldn't let these beautiful pictures go to waste or leave you hanging on how it was.

Walking in, the interior was pretty plain. A huge open room, with two levels. The upper level had two rows of seating raised up above the bar situated on the lower level. The lower area was larger and open, with seating along the window and in the middle of the room. At first they put us on the upper level, but we asked to move to a both along the window on the lower level. They were more then happy to oblige. The restaurant was appointed adequately, but uninteresting.. but who cares right, cause we're here for the food.

Or waiter was super nice, chatting openly and being friendly. Offered tips on the food and wine, which we took to heart.

They start you off with some fresh homemade biscuits, which people were all too quick to grab, as you can see. They were served with a sugarcane pepper jam over cream cheese, which was to die for. The combination was delicious.. we got a second basket!

I felt I could not claim to be a foodie if I didn't give frog legs a try. Deep fried and smothered in hot sauce, I figured if I would ever like them.. this would be the way. Boy, was I wrong. I found them to be very very chewy and not appetizing at all. I would skip these if I was you!

I started the restaurant week menu with the Roasted Corn & Crab Soup. It was hearty and delicious. Nice pieces of crab, that paired well with the corn and other ingredients, while letting the crab flavor come through.

 “grillades and grits”
sauteed veal medallions, creamy jalapeño cheese grits, wild mushroom pan gravy

I personally got the grillades and grits as I'm a sucker for a good mushroom sauce. The dish was excellent. The grits were cheesy and creamy, melting in my mouth and the medallions were cooked perfectly, tender and delicious. The mushroom sauce worked perfectly with the dish and should I return to Acadiana, this dish would be my top choice. I could skip all the apps though, as this is a really filling dish.

stuffed flounder special, crayfish and lemon butter sauce

My family went with a few other dishes, but since they were the night specials, I don't have the exact details. I probably should write those down if it's going to take me this long to post about them. Above is the stuffed flounder my wife had, and she was very happy with her meal.

cornmeal crusted catfish
fingerling potatoes, house made bacon, arugula, smoked tomato court bouillon

beef over a corn succotash with crispy onions

Another nightly special, which we can't recall exactly what it was... but we do remember it was delicious.

warm vanilla bread pudding
bourbon cream, praline crunch ice cream

I ended the evening with the vanilla bread pudding. It seemed strange that it looked like it came out of a cupcake mold, which took away from it's elegance in my opinion. It was very good, but not the best break pudding I've ever had. The praline crunch ice cream was delicious and transported me back to my childhood.

All in all, it was a delicious and successful evening. I would visit again, sure.. there was not a lot to complain about.. but with so many choices in this city.. it wasn't good enough to make me a regular.

In the mood for some classed up Louisiana style cooking.. give it a go sometime, they'll treat you right.

Acadiana Restaurant

901 New York Avenue Northwest
Washington, DC 20001-4410

(202) 408-8848

 Reserve online with Open Table

Cherry & Almond Galette

What the heck is a galette? I didn't know either.. but when I saw the picture of this desert in a magazine, I just had to try it out! Well, so it turns out a galette is basically just a big cookie and that's exactly what this turned out like. The crust was extremely delicious, conjuring one of my favorite cookies, shortbread, with a layer of fresh whole cherries and finely chopped almonds. The recipe called for nutmeg in the "filling" (which really is a topping in this case), but in bites without the cookie, I felt the nutmeg didn't really mesh with the cherries that well. Working with the dough after it was made was a little difficult, but I eventually got it into a form that I could put the filling on top and bake it. Everyone loved it, and I would definitely make it again. Here's the recipe if you want to give it a try.. you can thank Martha Stewart for this one, it's featured in her book "New Pies and Tarts".

Ingredients:

(For the crust)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten

2 to 4 tbs cold heavy cream or ice water

(For the filling)

1/4 cup plus 2 tbs. sugar

1/4 cup whole raw almonds, toasted and cooled

1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg (I would leave this out personally)

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 pounds sweet cherries, pitted

2 tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk, for egg wash

1 tbs. heavy cream, for egg wash

A neat trick for separating a yolk from the egg white is to break the egg in two halves and over a bowl, gently pass the yolk back and forth between each half of the shell. The yolk should fall down into the bowl and leave you with the yolk in one half of the shell at the end. Takes a little practice, but it's very handy! I have both halves in 1 hand just to take the example picture.. but if you can do it with 1 hand, kudos to you.

Instructions

For the crust:

 Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter, and pulse just until mixture resembles coarse meal. 

Add yolks and drizzle 2 tbs. cream evenly over the mixture; pulse just until dough begins to come together, no more than 30 seconds. If the dough is too dry, add remaining cream, 1 tbs. at a time (I ended up adding 1 extra myself). Pat dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour or up to 2 days.

  After the dough settles for an hour: On lightly floured parchment paper, roll out dough to a 16-inch-long oval, about 1/4 inch think. Transfer the dough and parchment to a rimmed backing sheet. Refrigerate until firm about 30 minutes.

Making the filling: 

 In a food processor, pulse 1/4 cup sugar, almonds, nutmeg (if you like), and salt until almonds are finely ground. Gently toss mixture with your pitted cherries.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spoon cherry mixture over dough, leaving a 2 inch border. Dot with butter. Fold in edges, pressing gently. Refrigerate until firm, another 30 minutes.

Egg wash:

Whisk egg yolk with cream and brush over edges of the crust. Sprinkle entire surface of the galette with remaining 2 tbs. of sugar. 

I didn't have much room left after I put on all my cherries.. so I couldn't fold the edge over much. If you can fold more and cover some of the cherries, that will look really nice.

Bake until golden, 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, let cool completely.

Enjoy!

Smoked Brisket

Broke out the old smoker last weekend during a break from this rainy weather, to put a good smoke to some beef brisket. Turned out delicious! Feast your eyes on these tasty pics!

Step 1: Dry rub the heck out of the brisket, especially on the side that doesn't have the fat cap (that big hunk of delicious white fat)

Step 2: Wrap it up good and tight in some foil, and maybe bag it in a plastic bag, just in case juices start to run all over. Let it sit overnight in the fridge, to really get that flavor in the meat.

Step 3: Brisket takes roughly 1 1/2 hours per pound to smoke, so 1 hour before the time I want to start it, I take it out of the fridge, still wrapped in the foil, I wrap it in a towel and put it in an empty cooler with the lid shut. This gives it an hour to slowly drop closer to room temperature, allowing the meat to start taking on the smoke flavor right away, and help shorten the cooking time some.

Step 4: About 20 minutes before you're ready to smoke, fire up your smoker, put in your wood chunks, fill your water pan (I use apple juice) and try to get the internal temp around 225.

Step 5: After it reaches temp, the smoke should be flowing or close to it, so it's time to put on the brisket. Put the fat cap facing up, so that when it melts it flavors and jucifies your meat! Yes, I just invented that word, Jucifies!

Step 6: Every 30-40 minutes your wood chucks will stop producing smoke, carefully, and with some fire proof mitts dump out the old coals and put in some fresh wood chunks.

Step 7: I like to pull my brisket at an internal temp of 190, wrap them in foil, then in a towel and put them back in the empty cooler with the lid shut. This will keep them warm and trap all the juices inside until you're ready to eat.. if you're not already ready!

If you get sick of waiting, you can wrap them in foil and finish the cooking in the smoker or in the oven if you want.

Step 8: After it's done, remove the fat cap, and slice against the grain and you're ready for some excellent eats!

Some equipment I use that really helps with smoking.

Taste of Georgetown - Oct 15

 Taste of Georgetown

So many events, so little time! Taste of Georgetown is on the horizon and looks like October is becoming a full month of goodies for foodies with events all 3 of the first weekends. 

Georgetown has many fine restaurants attending the event along with a wine pavilion. 

Pricing on the food tickets:
$5: One Tasting Ticket
$20: Five Tasting Tickets 

One tasting ticket is good for one tasting. 

Not much info on the wine pavilion yet, check their site for future updates!

See you out there!

Taste of DC - Oct 8, 9, 10

The Taste of DC

A lot more information has been added to the Taste of DC site (link above).

Bands like Big & Rich, Styx, and Rusted Root will be playing.

They're starting to build the lineup on the Culinary Stage: Culinary Stage

Bands and the Culinary stage might cost money to get into, it's a little confusing...  guess we'll see when we get there... 

Ticket prices are out and a chart explaining what things will cost:

Food & Alcohol Tickets are 10 for 15 bucks or 20 for 25 bucks.

Taste of Bethesda - Oct 1

22nd annual Taste of Bethesda scheduled for Saturday, October 1, 2011!
Bethesda's famous food and music festival, brings over 55 restaurants and four stages of entertainment to Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle. Each year, more than 40,000 attendees sample the delicious restaurants, enjoy the live entertainment and visit the kid's corner for face painting and arts & crafts. 

http://www.bethesda.org/bethesda/taste-bethesda

Taste of Bethesda is coming up Oct 1st from 11am to 4pm and though I've never been, I'll definitely be checking it out this year, just so I can Blog to you all about it and have a great time. Looks like fun and it's a good way to taste a lot that Bethesda has to offer!

Taste tickets cost $5 for 4, and food cost 1 to 4 tickets. From what I've read of last years, there are some great deals to be had on taste of local favorites.

Let me know if you're interested and come out and join me!