Tiffany Tastes

45 Degrees Outside? Ice Cream? Perfect!

A couple of nights ago, I asked my husband, "I know it's 45 degrees outside, but do you want to get some ice cream?"  And, if you knew my husband, you'd know that, for him, any time is a good time for ice cream.  Instead of going to Ben and Jerry's or Baskin Robbins like we normally do, we decided to try a little place that I had passed a couple of times but never stopped in.  We decided on Emack & Bolio's, the small chain with the strange name.  According to the website, the moniker stems from the names of two homeless men who were pro bono clients of the lawyers who founded the company.

At half past 8 on a weekday evening, my husband and I sought solace in ice cream at Emack & Bolio's in Cordova.  They have about 15 flavors that rotate on a regular basis.  I went for Grasshopper Pie (mint ice cream with oreos and chocolate chips) and Tom chose chocolate peanut butter cup.  We both had our ice cream served to us in waffle cones, but Tom's was dipped in chocolate with full peanut butter cups stuck to the side.  The ice cream is pure bliss, true super-premium, extra creamy and incredibly delicious.  Full from top to bottom with cookies, chocolate chips, caramel, or whatever add-ins your favorite flavor contains, I would feel safe saying that it's the best ice cream you can buy in town.  I'd stake my reputation (whatever that's worth) on it :)

Emack & Bolio's
1105 North Houston Levee Road
Suite 114
Cordova, TN 38018
(901) 755-0202

Operating Hours
Tuesday-Thursday 12:30pm-9:30pm
Friday and Saturday 12:30pm-10:30pm

Noodle Doodle and All That's In Between

I have more of an opportunity to go out to lunch with my new(ish) job in the Midtown area of Memphis.  Most people who know me, know that going out to eat with my friends is probably in my in the top three in my list of things I absolutely love to do.

Recently, I had the opportunity to go out to lunch on a weekday afternoon with my friends A & J, who love to eat almost as much as I do.  We decided to try out Noodle Doodle Do, which is the lunch time version of Do Sushi in the popular Cooper Young area of town.  If you hit up Do in the evenings, you'll find one of the most extensive and innovative sushi menus around.  If you stop by at lunch time, you'll find that, while they still serve limited sushi options, the menu centers around noodle bowls.  Seeing that I love anything noodle-y, this seemed like the perfect choice.

A, J, and I each started our lunch with an appetizer.  A selected crab rangoon, which was light and crispy, without being greasy and was served with the most wonderful sweet and spicy chile sauce.  J got the crispy tofu; it was a nicely-portioned block of tofu that was served with a salad and tamarind dressing.  The dressing was ridiculously tasty and had and the dish as a whole was a great combination of flavors.  I chose the egg roll (because fried is delicious).  Noodle Doodle Do's version has a lot of interesting items in it: daikon, long bean, tofu and pumpkin puree'.  I wasn't too sure that I was going to like the combination, but it was so very, very tasty.  It was served with a honey-based sauce that was a little too sweet.  But, I just dipped my egg roll in the sauce on A's plate, and all was well.

J and I decided that we were going to go for noodle bowls since, for all intents and purposes, we were at a noodle house.  A went for the sushi because he has no sense of adventure :).  I got the chicken pho which was huge pile of rice noodles (yay!) in a lemongrass broth which a bunch of tasty veggies and a whole bunch of delicious.  If you add a couple of spoonfuls of the mirin lime sauce, it takes it to a whole 'nother plane.  If they don't give you the option for the soup add-ins, ask for them.  The veggies still had some bite to them and the chicken was well cooked. Everything about this bowl of soup was absolutely delicious.  J chose the kobe beef curry noodle soup which is just an impressive bowl of food.  Egg noodles, veggies, tender slices of kobe beef in a spicy coconut curry broth.  The soup was very complex with layers of flavor, and it had just enough heat to be interesting but didn't light me on fire (I don't have a high heat tolerance, but there is some spicy chile sauce available if it's too pansy for you.) I don't generally care for raw fish, so I didn't taste A's but he definitely stared longingly at J and my bowls of soup. 

I was the only one who got dessert (but are you surprised?). I went for the black sticky rice pudding, because I like rice pudding and have never had it with black rice.  This dish had some kind of sweet and salty sauce on it that offered a very nice contrast in flavor and some toasted crumbled nuts (Brazil nuts maybe?) on top for texture.  The purplish tinge to the custard was a bit weird at first, but it didn't stop my spoon.  I shared a little with A & J, but for the most part, I took care of it myself.

Final Impressions: Despite the fact there doesn't seem to be a website for Noodle Doodle Do or any other of Memphis restauranteur Karen Carrier's eateries (and you can read about that pet peeve here), you can info about Noodle Doodle Do on Urban Spoon (which is where the link below will take you) or Yelp and here, of course :) If you go for lunch, do yourself a favor and get one of the noodle bowls.  You can get sushi any old time.

Tiffany's Favorite: This is tough...I'm going with the chicken pho.

Tiffany's Rating :) :) :) 1/2 out of :) :) :) :)

Noodle Doodle Do (Do Sushi)
964 South Cooper Street
Memphis, TN 38104 (901) 272-0830

Average Appetizer Price: $4-$6
Average Salad Price: $6-$10
Average Soup/Noodle Bowl Price: $7-$10
Average Dessert Price: $4-$6

Operating Hours (Noodle Doodle Do)
Tuesday-Saturday 11:30am-4:00pm

Congrats to a Rising Star

We want to give a huge congratulations to Chef Kelly English of Restaurant Iris in Memphis TN for his selection as a regional semi-finalist in this year's James Beard Foundation awards.  A list of finalists will be made public on March 22 and the winners will be announced on May 3.  This comes after he was named Best New Chef by Food and Wine Magazine in 2009

It's a Dirty Job...Part 2

In my previous post, I compared the red velvet cupcakes at Muddy's Bake Shop and Gigi's Cupcakes with Muddy's being the slight favorite.  In this edition of "It's a Dirty Job" the hubby and I take on Muddy's and Gigi's chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting, named the Prozac and Texas Milk Chocolate respectively.

As with the red velvet competition, Gigi's (left)  clearly dominates Muddy's (right) in the size department.  Twice the size and twice the price.  Gigi's cupcake are also more decorative with the chocolate sprinkles and the fondant heart. 

The color of the cake and frosting in this case are much closer than with the red velvet versions. 
While both cupcakes had some positives, there was a clear winner.

Muddy's: The Prozac wins on flavor of cake and frosting.  It was sweet and rich, but not overly so; 3 delicious chocolatey bites.  The Prozac also wins on the texture of the cake; moist, light and fluffy.  Where Muddy's chocolate on chocolate version lost a couple of points was on the texture of the frosting.  It was a little too soft, almost as if it was melting.  Otherwise, it was perfect.

Gigi's: The only way that this cupcake was superior was the texture of the frosting.  Everything else was subpar.  The frosting wasn't as rich or as chocolatey as its Muddy's counterpart.  The cake was dry (I honestly think that the size of Gigi's cupcakes prevents them from being as moist or as light as the smaller Muddy's versions. It's possible that they dry out because it takes some much longer for them to bake through).  Another issue was the flavor of the cupcake.  Instead of biting in to rich, chocolate bliss, the Texas Milk Chocolate cupcake has the strange addition of cinnamon added to the cake batter.  For a cupcake that is described as "milk chocolate cake topped with milk chocolate frosting," the presence of the cinnamon was quite jarring.  I found the description to be a bit deceiving. After a while, I didn't mind the cinnamon so much, but the hubby didn't care for it at all.  And, again, it seemed like there was just way too much frosting for the amount of cupcake.

The winner of this round and of our competition overall is Muddy's Bake Shop. Even though the cupcakes are smaller, Muddy's wins on the taste and texture of their cake.  It's true that Gigi's gives you more, but more doesn't always mean better.

It's a Dirty Job...

Oh the sacrifices I make for you, my faithful followers. A few months ago, I did a post about Muddy's Bake Shop, a bakery in East Memphis that offers assorted treats such as puddings, pies, cookies and most importantly...cupcakes.  For a while, this was the only shop of its kind in East Memphis.  A few weeks ago, a little competition came to town in the form of Gigi's Cupcakes, a shop that is a part of a small specialty chain that sells, wait for it, cupcakes.  So, I've decided that it is my supreme responsibility to sample cupcakes from both establishments to give you my official opinion about where to buy the best cupcakes in town.  I enlisted my husband to help me (and share the calories).  So we stopped in each of the shops on a busy Saturday afternoon, grabbed some milk, and got to it.

We decided to try two different kinds of cupcakes in order to get a sufficient sample size.  I selected the red velvet cupcake and the hubby wanted to sample chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. 

Gigi's red velvet offering is called Scarlett's Velvet and Muddy's named theirs Frankly Scarlett.

Gigi's version is on the left and Muddy's is on the right.   Gigi's rendition has more decoration, while Muddy's took a simpler route.  As you can see, Gigi's is much larger than Muddy's but at twice the price ($3.00 for a Gigi's cupcake and $1.50 for a Muddy's cupcake) there needs to be something to justify the large price tag.

Just based on appearance, in addition to the obvious size difference, the Muddy's version is way more red; the Gigi's version is darker.  Gigi's cupcakes also have a crap-load more cream cheese frosting.  There's almost more frosting than cake.  Gigi's utilizes a vanilla cream in the center of their red velvet cupcake.

As far as taste goes: I found the flavor and texture of Muddy's cupcake to be far superior to that of Gigi's cupcake.  The Gigi's version seemed a little dry, even with the cream filling.  I found the inclusion of the cream filling to be a little odd, especially since it added absolutely zero flavor to the cupcake overall.  It made the inside of the cupcake just seem weirdly damp. However, I preferred the flavor of the frosting on Gigi's red velvet cupcake than that of Muddy's.  It was a little creamier, a little sweeter, and the crunchy sugar crystals on top offered a nice textural contrast.  But, there is way, way, way too much frosting on Gigi's cupcake.  More is not always better.

Tom, on the other hand, really enjoyed the cream filling in Gigi's cupcake. He said that it reminded him of a cream-filled doughnut, and felt that Gigi's cake was better overall, but he preferred the flavor of Muddy's frosting.

For me, Round One goes to Muddy's (by a slim margin).  Stay tuned for the results of Round Two (chocolate on chocolate) in my next post.

A Taste of Something Different

I have a new job in the Midtown area of Memphis, so I'm trying new places that are a bit of a trek from my East Memphis residence.  A few days ago, I met some friends for lunch at Cafe Eclectic, a hip eatery near Rhodes College.

We sat down at 1:00pm, but the place was still plenty crowded.  (That could be attributed to the free WiFi, since most of the patrons were sipping coffee and working on laptops).  A waiter came over promptly to take our drink orders.  I went for a Mexican Coke (which, if you're not familiar, is made with sugar instead of corn syrup and only comes in glass bottles).  For my entrée I had the chicken pot pie, which my server told me would be the best restaurant version I would ever eat.  While, I think he may have been stretching it just a tad, it was still pretty good, and the crust was very flaky.  I chose a side salad for my accompaniment, and it was decent, nothing special.  My dining companions A and J ordered the chicken pot pie and the BLT&A with side salads respectively. A agreed that the pot pie and salad were decent, nice and filling especially on a cold day, but he'd had better.  J really enjoyed his BLT&A (a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich with avocado). The bacon was crispy, the avocado ripe, and the whole sandwich tasted fresh and delicious.

For dessert, the three of us split the Charlie Brown Bar and the bread pudding.  The Charlie Brown Bar is a super rich peanut butter and oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips and a more peanut butter on top.  It was extremely dense, and while I liked the flavor, the texture was a little off-putting.  The bread pudding, however, is top notch.  It's made from croissants, full of raisins, and covered in a rich butter sauce.  I LOVE bread pudding, but that being said, I'm also quite picky about them, so trust me, you can't go wrong with Cafe Eclectic's superb version.

Final Impressions: Cafe Eclectic is a cool place to hang out with your laptop and a cup of java, or to grab a bite to eat during the work day.  The bakery case has several treats to choose from, and they even have ice cream and an old-fashioned soda fountain.

Tiffany's Favorite Part: two words- Bread Pudding

Tiffany's Rating: :) :) :) out of :) :) :) :)

Cafe Eclectic
603 N. McClean Boulevard
Memphis, TN 38107
(901) 725-1718

Average Breakfast Price: $4-$10
Average Soup/Salad Price: $4-$7
Average Sandwich Price: $7-$9
Average Entrée Price: $7-$9
Average Dessert Price: $2-$6

Operating Hours
Monday-Wednesday 7:00am-10:00pm
Thursday-Saturday 7:00am-1:00am
Sunday 9:00am-10:00pm

Comfort Foods

With the recent cold snap, we've been spending a lot of time indoors, cooking rather than going out to eat.  I would love for you, faithful readers, to tell me about your favorite comfort foods.  Ideas, recipes, share it all! I want to hear from you.  Below, I give you a recipe for one of my favorite comfort foods. 

Spicy Tomato Soup
(This is adapted to my tastes from a recipe that originated with Paula Deen.  You can find her version here.)

8 tablespoons of butter, divided
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
3 cups canned chicken broth
1 (29-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (29-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice
2 dashes hot sauce 
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

In a 4-qt heavy bottom sauce pan, melt 4 tablespoons of butter.  Saute' onions and garlic, over med-low heat, in the butter until translucent, about 3-4 minutes.  Add remaining butter to the pan along with the flour.  Stir until flour is smooth.  Cook 2-3 minutes.  Slowly add the chicken broth, 1 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition and allowing the soup to thicken slightly before adding more broth. When all the broth is added, add the tomato sauce and the diced tomatoes, 1 cup at a time, stirring well and allowing the mixture to thicken before adding more. When all the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes have been added, season soup with hot sauce, honey, dill weed, pepper, chili powder, basil, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder and Worcestershire sauce. Allow to simmer over low heat for about 45 minutes so that the flavors can blend. Stir frequently, as the soup will stick to the bottom of the pot.

Happy Cooking!

Andrew Blair's- Redux

A little while back, I asked you if you thought that I should re-review restaurants if I revisit them after my initial review.  You said yes, so here it goes.

A little over a year ago, I brought you a review of a restaurant all the way in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Andrew Blair's Comfortable Dining is a casual eatery with an upscale menu and reasonable prices.  A few weeks ago, I found myself back in Charlotte and back and Andrew Blair's.  I give you this update.

For my appetizer, I had the spinach artichoke dip.  It was a good rendition of a standard staple.  It was creamy, well-seasoned and was great with the salted lavash that was served as an accompaniment.  Unfortunately, this is where the positive part of my meal begins...and ends.

I chose the Madison Park Chicken (a house specialty) as my entree'.  It is advertised as a grilled chicken breast stuffed with feta, topped with artichoke, capers and tomatoes and served over risotto.  In my mind, this sounded like a tasty and satisfying dish, and if all of the elements had been well-executed, my prediction would have been correct.  However, my chicken breast was extremely dry and desperately needed salt.  The feta filling was bland and had an unpleasant texture.  The artichoke/caper topping was unpleasantly bitter and while the flavor of the risotto was decent, it was cold and the texture was gummy.

Hoping to end on a positive note, I finished my meal with the creme brulee.  This may not have been the best choice; the custard was runny, bland and grainy and the sugar topping was burnt in some places and completely untouched by heat in others.  It was a complete failure of a dish that is usually fairly simple to execute.

Final Impressions:  The service was pretty good, and I'll admit that our group was large, but there is no excuse for the quality of the food that was served.  On the upside, drinks are potent and well-crafted and the cornbread and hushpuppies that are served with every meal are delicious.

Additional Notes: My original rating of :) :) :) out of :) :) :) :) does not apply for this particular visit.  I'm not sure if it was my menu choices or if the food has really fallen this far in the last year.  While the atmosphere is still cool and chic, I would suggest that if you do visit Andrew Blair's Comfortable Dining, come for the drinks, not the food.

Tiffany's Favorite Part: Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Tiffany's (revised) Rating: :) 1/2 out of :) :) :) :)

Andrew Blair's Comfortable Dining
1600 Montford Drive
Charlotte, NC 28209
(705) 525-8282

Average Appetizer Price: $7-$14
Average Salad/Sandwich Price: $10-$16
Average Main Course Price: $17-$28
Average Dessert Price: $6-$10

Operating Hours
Dinner: Tuesday-Saturday 5:00pm-10:00pm
Bar Service: Tuesday-Saturday 5:00-until

I've got that strange feeling of...

Deja Vu is a small restaurant in the industrial section of down town Memphis.  Labeled as a creole and...vegetarian (and we don't get many vegetarian options in this city) eatery, Deja Vu has many traditional New Orleans options and the prices are extremely reasonable. Only open for about a year, Deja Vu gets most of its business from people working downtown. 

A popular lunch spot, this restaurant only has six four-top tables within its bright yellow walls.  Come early or arrive late to aviod missing one of these coveted spaces. The hubby and I decided to check out Deja Vu one weekday afternoon not too long ago.  We arrived right at 11:00am and were the first to arrive. 

I ordered the honey roasted chicken (dark meat, of course) with candied yams and oven roasted potatoes and Tom ordered the crawfish etouffe with smothered okra and citrus spinach.  My honey roasted chicken wound up being fried and the covered in a sweet, tangy honey glaze.  I got two legs and one thigh along with my two sides and a piece of cornbread for only $6.99.  The chicken was tender, juicy and the sauce was to die for.  I wish the potates were a little crispier, but the flavor was delicious.  The yams were standard fare, but didn't fall into the trap of being too sweet like some preparations can tend to be. 

Tom's etouffe had a nice spicy flavor.  It was incrediby well-seasoned, chunky and thick, like it should be.  It was served over perfectly cooked, fluffy white rice, and was well complimented by his choice of sides.  The okra was covered in tomatoes and onions and was a nice derivation from the usual fried option.  I found the spinach to be a bit bland, but he liked it a lot.

To finish off our meal, we decided on the bread pudding, which was my only real complaint of the entire meal.  While the bread pudding itself had a nice texture, the inclusion of unconventional fruit (pineapple and peaches to name a couple) were a bit off-putting and there was an overwhelming flavor of cinnamon and cloves that was just not tasty.  It tasted like tree bark.

Final Impressions: Go early to avoid the lunch rush, and avoid the bread pudding all together.  If you're jonesing for dessert, I hear the peach cobbler is very good. I will take that route on my next visit.  Otherwise, the food is well-prepared (cooked to order), well-seasoned and definitely authentic.

Tom's Favorite: Crawfish Etouffe
Tiffany's Favorite: Honey Roasted Chicken

Tiffany's Rating (With Bread Pudding) :) :) 1/2 out of :) :) :) :)
Tiffany's Rating (Without Bread Pudding) :) :) :) out of :) :) :) :)

Deja Vu Restaurant
936 Florida Street
Memphis TN, 38106
(901) 942-1400

Average Entree Price: $7-$15
Average Sandwich Price: $6-$9
Average Dessert Price: $4

Operating Hours
Monday-Friday 11:00am-7:00pm
Saturday 12:00pm-6:00pm

Healthy Sweets

Most people who know me understand that I love sweets.  My dad did a lot of baking when I was growing up, and dessert was a mainstay at my house.  I'm ambivalent about a steak, but I'll knock a sucker out for a brownie.  In my quest to lose a few pounds and live an overall healthier lifestyle, I've found many low-fat, store bought sweets to be lacking.  Sadly, there aren't many options for people who want tasty sweets that won't pad your hips. 

I was perusing the Fresh Market near my job when I ran across a new line of frozen treats from a company called Wine Cellar Sorbet.  Now, I love wine and I love sorbet. Win-win! Score!  I picked up a pint of Sangria sorbet and took it home to enjoy.  Let me tell you, it was worth every penny of the $5.99 price tag.  Tangy, sweet, and super refreshing, it was difficult to stop after only three spoonfuls.

With flavors like sake, mimosa, ruby port and pinot noir, there is an option for every type of wine connoisseur.  It's fat-free and low calorie, so it's also a good choice for those of us who are watching our figure.  I can't wait to try some of the other flavors.

Sangria Sorbet
Wine Cellar Sorbet
:) :) :) out of :) :) :) :)