Chef Kris Wessel's mango jam with mystery surprise inside...
Goes well with a Narragansett tallboy...
...but then what doesn't...
As I find myself without any wheels to speak of, the stroll along Biscayne Boulevard and NE 79th St has taken on an added cosmopolitan air, as I mingle with the tourists and the local working girls and assorted skells. Still don't really see many people doing the flâneur thing, but having walked Wynwood, the Design District, Downtown Miami (my next stomping grounds, I can feel it), and even bicycled those parts in and out of the rain, although of course it has rained every day since I turned in my car (the lease was up). I am not exaggerating-it's nuts! But back to the Boulevard-I do a short stroll sometimes-a glass of good, inexpensive red at Casa Toscana, maybe some pasta (veal meatballs?). Who does not long to be fed by an Italian? Chef Sandra Stefani never disappoints-with her food, or with her sense of humor.
A beer or two or seventeen at Kingdom, where the sports on the flat screens battle the Sports on the sidewalk (remember Harvey Keitel as Jody Foster's pimp in Taxi Driver? His name was Sport. Use it.). Ver-Daddy's Taco Shop seems to be crowded all the time-glad they made it. And Anise seems to be steaming along. Still gotta get back to Moonchine-maybe Karaoke on Wednesdays? But the night is not complete without a stop at Red Light and a confab with chef Kris Wessel. The guy always has something cooking in that wacky brain of his, and the other night it was 'oyster-green leek soup with an absinthe floater'. Four juicy oysters in a very creamy liquid leek soup, with some crunchiness, and some absinthe ($7). Could be the New Orleans connection, but then maybe he'd use Herbsaint? A lot of great taste, texture, and something intangible about the lanky one's cooking-could be those charming 'ideas'.
A little nightcap at Boteco, a $6 Caipirinha, in fact, then off to bed. Well, off to the kitchen, where I put to bed my 'Potatoes Barbaton', a recipe from Paul Bocuse. I hate to say this, but sometimes my local Publix really surprises. I found Smoked Jowl Bacon (Italians have something similar which is cured, not smoked, called guanciale), and had to make this dish, where you fry up cubes of the jowl bacon (I love saying that), then add in some stock (I use Maggi-which is great for the MSG) and some potatoes, some nutmeg, salt and pepper, some parsley and some bay leaves. After 15 minutes, a stir, then 15 more, you leave it until it reaches room temp, then put it away for the next day. Before serving, add some butter.
Bacon and butter-good thing I'm a flâneur...
Raw ingredients...
That's the jowl...
Jowl Cubes...
Cooks up very thick...
Made some picadillo, too, what the hell, I'm walkin' here!
...and the tabby that followed me home...