Restaurant Review (Monterey Hill Restaurant) Part Deux

February of last year I wrote a review of the outstanding dinner service we had at Monterey Hill Restaurant in Monterey Park, California.

http://www.hyongbu.blogspot.com/2012/02/monterey-hill-restaurant.html

A few weeks ago I returned for lunch with some people from work.  This was the first time I'd been there during the day. 

When we arrived it didn't seem busy (in fact most of the table were empty) but we were left waiting about five minutes before being seated.  While standing there I noticed food sitting under hot lamps.  This is an immediate red flag for me.  Especially when none of the waitstaff picked up any of these meals during that time.  There also appeared to be no one in the kitchen expediting anything.  Not good.

The lunch menu looked pretty good.  A nice variety of appetizers, soups & salads, sandwiches & burgers, and pastas & entrees.

For my starter I ordered the French Onion Soup (made from scratch daily).

This was pretty good.  I liked the red wine they used along with a good sized baguette crouton and Gruyere cheese.  Some restaurants cover the entire soup bowl with the cheese, which I like better, but this was fine.  Or so I thought.

When cooking French Onion Soup you use Thyme sprigs and Bay Leaves.  After it finishes cooking you remove these two items.  Halfway through I realized they had forgotten to take the Bay Leaf out when I noticed a momentary pungent, sharp, and bitter taste in my mouth.

French Onion Soup is known to be on a salty side.  This one was on the edge.  I think I felt my blood pressure going up.  Still pretty good.  I finished it.

For my entree I ordered the Parmesan Crusted Chicken breast with tomato relish capers, garlic mashed potatoes, and fresh vegetables in season.  Sounded terrific.

Nice looking presentation.  But then everything really started to go off the rails.  I initially thought I had been served two chicken breasts.  It turned out to be one breast that had been sliced in two and apparently pounded with a meat mallet (and not the flat side) to about a ¼ inch thickness.  Similar to what you would do in making Chicken Cordon Bleu, only they weren't rolling it up with anything.  I just had two very think pieces of chicken.  I'm not sure why they did that.

The chicken was encased in Parmesan cheese that had either been fried or broiled.  Either way it had a slight burned taste to it.  Plus there was so much Parmesan I couldn't taste the chicken. 

The tomato/caper relish was very good in and of itself and the sauteed seasonal vegetables were nicely done.

If you take a closer look at the picture you might notice that my Garlic Mashed Potatoes were actually Potatoes Au Gratin.  I hadn't been told by the waitstaff that it had been changed.  And you know me, I'm always ready for some garlic.  Denied.  You do use both Grutere and Parmesan cheese for Potatoes Au Gratin.  In this case they did use both but not very much of either.  Or maybe my cheese taste buds were burned out from the chicken.

I'm afraid I have to give this lunch service a vote of "No bueno".

As a side note one of the young ladies at my table ordered the Crab Cakes with a Lemongrass Aioli.  She told me that the cakes were dry as a bone.  I tasted the Aioili and it was just grated lemongrass and mayonnaise.  I guess they didn't think it needed any garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, cayenne pepper, or Tabasco, which is how it's usually made.  But I'm just a home cook so what do I know.

All About Garlic

"Big Ol' Mess" Recipe

Here's something that easy to make, great for serving a large group, and always a crowd pleaser.  Plus, it's an entire meal in itself.

It's called the "Big Ol' Mess" because that's what it looks like when you're done.  But looks can be deceiving.  I got the recipe from the Marlboro Cookbook but have made some changes over the years.

It's a smoked sausage in spicy sweet sauce that can be cooked in the kitchen on the stovetop, outside on the grill, and even over a campfire.  The best place is a tailgate party.  The reason is you can cook it the day before and refrigerate it, then reheat in the parking lot.

I start with 3 lbs of sausage.  I usually will do 3 different types.  You can do all the same type if you want.  I like to mix it up so you get different flavors and textures when you're eating.

Here are some to consider.

Kielbasa: A smoked Polish sausage made with pork and/or beef and flavored with garlic, pimento, and cloves.

Louisiana Andouille:  A spicy smoked Cajun sausage that's used in jambalaya and gumbo.

French Andouille:  Similar to the Louisiana but much less spicy.  If you're worried about the heat this recipe might not be your cup of tea, but let's move on.

Bratwurst:  A chunky German farmer's sausage.

Bockwurst:  A mild German sausage made with veal, pork, milk, and eggs, and seasoned with chives and parsley.  Another one for the faint at heart.

Mexican Chorizo:  Fresh pork mixed with lots of spices. 

Italian Sausage:  A pork sausage that's flavored with garlic, fennel seed, and crushed chile peppers.

Let's get to the cooking.

I start with a large aluminum foil pan. The size depends on how many people you're cooking for and how hungry they are.

I have 1 lb of Kielbasa, 1 lb of Mexican Chorizo, and 1 lb of Italian Sausage.  I cut them all into bite-sized chunks and put all of them in the pan.

Now come the 6 medium sized Jalapenos.  I do a medium dice on these and leave the seeds in.  Again, if you're making this for the first time you might take the seeds out.  Into the pan they go.

3 Bell Peppers.  I like one green, one yellow, and one red.  With these you do take the seeds and the white ribs out.  A medium dice and into the pan.

3 sweet onions, medium dice, into the pan.  By now you might have noticed how easy this recipe is.  Everything's going to cook down so you don't really need any fancy knife work.

6 ears of corn on the cob.  Remove the husk and silk, quarter each one and add to the pan.

2 lbs of small fingerling potatoes, quartered and into the pan.

In a mixing bowl pour in 30 oz of Kikkoman Sweet and Sour sauce and

1 ½ cups of Tabasco sauce.  Give this a stir and pour it over everything in the pan. 

Open two 12 oz cans of Budweiser beer (not the light stuff).  Set one aside and pour the other one into the pan.

Now take a large mixing spoon and give the mess a stir.  Seal the pan with heavy duty foil and crimp around the edges.  Put the pan on a medium heat.  You want to get it up to a good simmer (but not a boil). 

Sit down and start drinking the other beer.  I told you it was easy.  And when this gets going the smell will have the neighbors coming out of their houses to see what's cooking.

Total cooking time is 45 minutes.  Every 10 minutes open the foil and give everything a stir.  We don't want anything to stick to the bottom.  Seal it back up and continue cooking.

Once it's done take it off the heat and remove the foil.  It should look something like this.

Give it one more stir and put it on the table.  I serve it with a couple of loaves of French baguettes and soft butter.  You could put it over steamed white rice if you want to.

Have everybody open a beer and dig in.  You can drink a red wine with this but it's really, really, really good with beer.

Restaurant Review (Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que)

If you don't live in Southern California, Arizona, or Nevada you are missing some pretty great BBQ.

The story goes that after World War II Lucille and her husband Joe opened their first restaurant in Long Beach, California using Lucille's grandmother's recipes.  And these recipes knocked me out.

www.lucillesbbq.com

We headed out with the family to the restaurant in Temecula, California.  When I got out of the car I could smell the smoke from the parking lot.  And it was calling to me.

When we walked in I saw a giant smoker in the middle of the restaurant.  I want one of these but my wife won't let me put one in our house.

And when they open the door of the smoker the smell permeates the place and is unbelievable.



We started with an appetizer called "Lucille's Onion Straws"

These are a mound of buttermilk battered deep fried onions that come with a BBQ ranch dressing.  You could almost make an entire meal of these with a beer.  But I was looking for some ribs.

The way to tell if ribs are done is you take hold of the bone and lightly pull the meat.  It should come off of the bone easily (fall off the bone done).  And that's the way they do it here.

I ordered the beef ribs.  You can order either 3, 5, or 7 ribs.  I went with five thinking we could all share.  That didn't really happen.  I picked these guys up with my hands and got medieval.  What?  Eat ribs with a knife and fork, you say?  You've got to be kidding me.

Their beef ribs are prepared with a proprietary spice rub, slow cooked with hickory smoke, then covered with Lucille's BBQ sauce.  You can order them dry with the sauce on the side but that's a little too dainty for me. 

They have three different sauces you can choose from.  I went with the original which is a Carolina style (tomato based with molasses, cider vinegar, and a secret spice blend). 

They also have a Hot & Spicy (it's Lucille's original but with big doses of garlic, hot sauce, and hot peppers) and a Memphis style (onions, garlic, cider vinegar, dark brown sugar, molasses, and Worcestershire).

All three are terrific and my beef ribs are gone.

On the other side of the table were two full rack of baby back ribs.  Now mind you I had just put away 4 monster sized beef ribs (yes, I ordered five but I sent the fifth one around the table for everyone to taste), but I had to give these a try.

The baby back ribs are also slow cooked with hickory smoke and smothered in original sauce.  Again the meat fell off the bones and now I not only have even more BBQ sauce on my face but the juices are running down my arms.  There are not enough napkins to contain it.  Luckily they folks who work here know these things and show up with hot towels.

I'm not usually big on dessert but I decided to try the "Chris' Famous Bread Pudding" and I'm glad I did.

This bread pudding is done with sourdough bread, peaches, pecans, sweet custard, and topped with a warm bourbon sauce.  I had to remind myself that it's okay to pick up the ribs with your hands and eat them but I shouldn't pick up this plate and lick it.  I didn't... but I wanted to.

I suggest you give Lucille's a try if you can.  And just in case you're not into ribs (I can't believe I just said that) they also do a smoked BBQ half chicken, Texas style beef brisket, BBQ Tri Tip, pan blackened catfish, grilled or smoked salmon, Angus beef New York steak, marinated sirloin, Jambalaya... you get the idea.  Something for everybody.  They even have a gluten free menu. 

So what are you waiting for?  You know you want it.

Tea Smoked Duck

More and more I'm all about smoked meats.  Recently someone mentioned tea smoked duck and I thought I'd give it a go.  I've never cooked duck before but  I've had Duck a l'Orange, so I wondered if I could someway infuse the orange into the ducks without having to make the sauce.

First things first, I need a couple of ducks.  Ducks are usually 5 to 6 lbs so I thought I'd start with two.  That's because if it turns out good we'll all eat a lot.  The other reason is that if a screw something up hopefully one of them will be salvageable.

So I send my wife off to the local Chinese market.  And talk about fresh, these guys were killed, gutted, and defeathered while she was waiting.  Now that's service!

They were both right at 6 pounds.

That's my best duck face.  Now, off with their heads!  How French is that?

I planned to do an overnight brine.  I brined them separately using plastic trash bags tied in a knot.  They wouldn't fit into zip lock bags.

In each bag went:

1 tbs kosher salt
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp black pepper
4 fresh thyme sprigs
2 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs
1 small white onion (cut into 8 wedges)
1 cup of Madeira wine
1 cup of chicken stock
1 chopped carrot
1 chopped celery rib
4 oranges halved
1 pint of orange juice.

Into the refrigerator they went.

The next day (about 14 hours later) I took them out of the brine and put them on the counter to come up to close to room temperature.  I scored the skin with a fork.  This is to give the rendering fat a place to exit.  I was careful not to cut into the meat because that can make it very dry.

I didn't have enough room to hang them in the smoker so I used my beer can chicken colonoscopy stands.  Instead of beer I had the cans filled with orange juice.

Instead of being smart and buying loose tea I bought 3 boxes of tea bags.  I'm such an idiot.  So there I was cutting each tea bag open to get the tea out.  60 bags later I had enough to start with.

I put the tea in a small aluminum loaf pan with just enough water to make it damp.  I use the same pans when smoking with wood.  They hold up to the heat and after you're done and it's cooled off you can just throw them away.

So the charcoal is up to 250 degrees and we're off to the races.  The tea put out an amazing volume of smoke... but only for about 10 minutes.  That's when I switched to apple wood that had been soaked in orange juice.  Any type of fruit wood will work.

Because I have a side smoker I rotated the ducks about every 20 minutes.

At about 4 hours I had 150 degrees on an instant read thermometer.  I doubled the charcoal and got the heat up to 475 degrees real fast to get the skin good and brown.  15 minutes later they were at 170 degrees and done.

It was a hit.  The skin was crisp and the meat succulent.  The scoring helped render out enough fat so it wasn't greasy.  I was afraid that I had over done it with all the orange components but surprisingly enough there was just a very mild orange/apple taste to it.

I served with with baked white asparagus wrapped in center cut bacon and mashed potatoes.

There were no left overs.

I plan to do some other recipes using duck but from now on I'm only going to buy breasts and legs.