The Family Restaurant

So here we are on a snowy Saturday night.  I'd like to pretend that I did something amazing tonight but if I did, I wouldn't be here typing this blog.  The day started off great because Eco was cancelled.  I like Eco but this was a stressful week.  I needed to sleep in today.  I woke up and saw no snow- even better!  I had a great morning- went to Pop's for breakfast, completed all my errands, made some chocolate chip cookies, and was just heading out to church when it began snowing.  I was hoping to go out to dinner tonight but DJ wimped out, so I went out with my family instead.  The roads were a bit slick while it was snowing.  We didn't want to drive far for a crummy little dinner so we decided to go to The Family restaurant, formerly Eats and Sweets, in that Savin Rock plaza.  We've gone there for breakfast a couple of times.  It's pretty good.  Your basic diner-type place.

When we walked in, an older couple was just paying.  After they left, the place was empty.  I didn't really expect it to be crowded because it was snowing and it's never really busy, but I thought maybe some other church-goers would be there.  I was curious about the dinner foods.  They leave a menu on the table at all times of the day.  I've been curious because they apparently deliver.  They sell pizza and calzones.  Who would've thought?  It's so close to where I live and work, I should think of it more often.  If anyone reading this works at City Hall- give them a call and see if they'll deliver a lunch order.  I would suggest it to my Washington co-workers but unfortunately, we never order out.  (Thinking of Haley.. sniff sniff)  Their menu is pretty basic; they have sandwiches, club sandwiches, wraps, salads subs, some diner-type entrees, pasta dishes, pizza, and calzones.  A nice array of food if you ask me.  They had a few specials tonight.  My mom and I ordered the tuna melt which came with either a cup of soup or fries.  We both ordered a cup of chicken and rice soup.  The soup was piping hot- just the way I like it!  It was good.  It wasn't overly flavorful but nothing that a little s and p couldn't cure.  There were a few chunks of white meat chicken, white rice, carrots, and celery.  I enjoyed it.  The tuna melt was also good.  The tuna salad tasted good.  It was served on rye bread, which I don't really care for, but that was a minor detail.  My mother, who loves rye bread, loved her melt and soup.  My dad got the cheeseburger club with fries and a cup of the chicken and rice soup.  He ate all of his dinner and said that he liked the club.  My brother had a cheeseburger and fries.  He said the fries were excellent and his burger was juicy.  We ordered a couple of sodas and we were done.

It was a simple meal and it fit the bill.  It cost us $35, which I thought was pretty good.  When I went to Chip's with my mom and brother on the snow day I believe it cost the same amount.  The booths look old and it's somewhat dark in there, but I think it's very clean.  I could see the cook sweeping the kitchen floor while we were there.  That made me feel good.  I mean no one was there.  He could have just sat there and no one would know,but he didn't.  I really want to try the pizza.  I think I've complained about the lack of pizza places in a previous post.  It's not just pizza places.  It's the lack of restaurants.  I mean what has happened to all of the nice restaurants that used to be around?  We are being overrun by chains!  I can't take it!  There are no more independent steakhouses.  Let's just think... Food and Beverage- long gone.  Captain's Galley- gone.  Chuck's- burnt.  The Gathering- gone.  Lorenzo's and Biagetti's are good if you're in the mood for Italian, but other than those two, what is a nice restaurant in West Haven?  Jimmies is good, but rundown, I feel.  I love their salad and let's face it, it's the only fish restaurant in West Haven.  And don't even say Turk's.  I love Turk's just as much as the next Westie, but they don't have a tank of lobsters.  They don't have crab.  The only fish dishes they have are either deep fried or it's broiled stuffed sole.  I wish I had more money and more business knowledge because I would love to open my own restaurant.  I don't know if it would be a fish place but it would be nice.  Sorry, just went on a tangent.  

To sum up, The Family Restaurant in the Savin Rock plaza may just be a hidden little treasure.  If you're looking for a breakfast place, a local diner, a place to get affordable food, give it a try.  I didn't try the pizza yet but if I do, I will be sure to write about it.  A small pizza with cheese was $5.95.  Can't go wrong.  And now here I am, sitting here at 8:30, bored, and thinking about food.  That might be the end of me fitting in my dress.  Until my next bite.....  well, probably not my very next bite because that might be sooner than we both think, but until my next restaurant bite...

Sausage and Peppers

Sausage and peppers is the perfect dish for any event.  I like it like a sandwich, in sauce on a sub, and over pasta.  Just delicious.  Even though it's a simple thing to make, it can easily be ruined.  First, you must start off with a good quality sausage.  I'm never really fussy over brands except when it comes to a few things: sausage, hot dogs, and canned Italian tomatoes.  If you want to have delicious hot dog, Hummel's is the only way to go.  Canned Italian tomatoes can make or break your sauce.  I always like to pick a brand that has tomatoes imported from Italy.  There will be a sticker on the can.  We usually use Cento, Sclafani, or if in a pinch, Luigi Vitelli.  Sausage MUST be Longhini.  There is no other sausage that can compare.  Lamberti's is okay if that's all that's available, but always try for Longhini.  Certain things in life you can skimp on.  You can get a store-brand box of cereal or a store-brand can of vegetables, but certain things you must pay attention to the brand.  It makes all of the difference in the world.

So here's the way to make fantastic sausage and peppers.  Get a big, rectangle pan that is somewhat deep.  Cut up an onion in slivers.  I would've said slices but I don't mean the circular slices that you put on a burger.  Strips, I guess.  Throw the onion in the pan.  Cut up the peppers into strips.  I know the red peppers are more expensive but they are the ones that add the flavor.  Even if you have less red peppers in ratio to your green peppers, that's okay.  You just want to have some mixed in.  Sometimes red peppers go on sale for like $1.99 a pound.  Whenever you see that in the grocery add, plan on making sausage and peppers.  I like to use red peppers and cubanelle peppers (those are the smaller, light green peppers).  I'm not a fan of a green bell pepper.  They have no flavor and contribute nothing to any dish.  It's nice to use orange and yellow peppers when you want to get fancy for a party, but those peppers are usually quite expensive, so save those for special occasions only.  Mix in your pepper strips.  Then I like to cut my sausage links in half so they cook thoroughly.  This is very important in my book.  First of all, sausage is made from pork.  I know that now the cooking shows tell you you can have pink pork now, but certain things I still like cooked all the way through.  A pork chop with a little pink doesn't bother me, but a pink sausage certainly does.  Not only does the pinkness weird me out, but so does the texture of the sausage.  If it's not cooked enough, then you can really taste and feel the casing chomping around in your mouth.  I don't want to spend 20 minutes chewing my sausage. Sometimes I use chicken sausage.  Longhini makes the MOST DELICIOUS Italian chicken sausage in the world.  I think I may like it better than regular pork sausage sometimes.  Most recently, I used 2 packages of chicken sausage with 1 package of pork sausage.  So in that case, you really need to make sure that it's cooked through.  Nothing worse in life than pink poultry.  Put the sausage in the pan.  Drizzle some olive oil on the top, sprinkle salt and pepper, and sprinkle just a bit of oregano.  Mix everything together with your hands and spread to flatten out the top.  Put in the oven at 350 or 375 degrees uncovered for a good hour or hour and a half.  Make sure that you stir it every so often so that it cooks evenly.  When you're done you should see beautifully browned sausage, tender peppers, and plenty of flavorful juice on the bottom of your pan.  My favorite thing to do is to buy some bakery hard rolls, put a spoonful of juice on the bottom of the roll, cut the sausage so that it's butterflied, and top with peppers.  Take  a bite and let the juice dribble down your chin!  That, my friends, is how you make sausage and peppers.  I've had sausage and peppers in the past that just taste like they're sitting in water.  It baffles me that something so simple could be so easily ruined.  Try it that way and tell me you can't notice the difference.

When I make sausage and peppers over spaghetti it has to be slightly changed.  I suppose you could use the oven but I think it's just easier to cook the sausage and peppers in a frying pan.  I don't like to cook the sausage with the peppers.  It takes longer for the sausage to cook through than it does to soften the peppers.  The peppers over the spaghetti will have more crunch than the baked ones.  I would cook all of my sausage with onions and then remove them from the pan.  Then add the pepper strips (you may need more oil, you may want to add more onions or onion salt, depending on your preference).  Let the peppers get soft, add back in the sausage.  Blend up your tomatoes, pour them over the sausage and peppers, add salt, pepper, basil, a twirl of wine, and a splash or two of red pepper flakes.  That's it.  I don't like overly herby sauces.  Sometimes people feel like they need to overdo it and add all crappy spices and sugar!  Good sauce does not need much.  Just give her some time to simmer on the stove and you're all set.  In my regular sauce I don't use onion, just garlic.  Onion in meat sauce, garlic in all others.  If you want to you can add a dash of garlic powder to the sausage and peppers sauce but that's all about preference.  Just remember Oil, garlic, tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, and wine.  Perfetto! Spaghetti is my favorite stringy macaroni.  Let all of the sausage, peppers, and sauce cook and bubble together for a while.  Boil up your ronies and then add them right to the pan with the sauce.  Mix it all up yummy and good and just dig in!

This week I plan on making "Ina's Perfect Roast Chicken," carnitas, and salmon.  As for the other nights, I'm not sure.  If I happen to eat something/somewhere I haven't blogged about yet, I will be sure to let you know.  Until my next bite!

Subzero Soups

The cold weather has inspired me to write a little about my favorite food - soup.  There's a little trivia for you- my favorite food is soup.  I am yet to meet a soup I didn't like.  I say soup is my favorite food because I have a hard time saying no to soup.  When I go out to eat at a restaurant, I'm always choosing the soup over the salad.  I made soup for dinner tonight, which I will share with you, but I think I'll also use this blog to discuss good restaurants to find soup and good recipes for various kinds of soup.

Tonight I made a recipe from one of my favorites- Ina Garten.  I made her version of lentil vegetable soup.  Absolutely delicious!!  I love lentil soup.  Pop's Restaurant in Milford makes a mean lentil soup.  I believe their soup had beef in it as well.  I've tried the Progresso sausage and lentil soup and that was just terrible.  I want to like soup from a can but so far the only kinds I actually like are Progresso's Chickerina and Campbell's Tomato soup.  The traditional chicken noodle soups in cans are gross.  Where do they get that disgusting little pink cube aka the chicken?  Back to my lentil.  It was a very simple recipe and I have a tip that made it that much easier to make.  My dad will never ever eat anything with lentils involved, so I knew if I wanted to try this soup, I'd have to make it on a weeknight.  Then I started to worry that I wouldn't have enough time to chop, put together, and let cook all on a Monday night.  So Sunday I cut up all the vegetables, put them in a large Ziplock bag, and cut my time in the kitchen!  The recipe calls for 3 large onions, 2 leeks, 3 garlic cloves, 8 stalks of celery, and 6 carrots.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find any leeks at Stop and Shop or Adam's, so I improvised.  A leek looks like a large scallion and gives off an oniony-type flavor and because of this, I chopped 3 scallions (the white and light green part).  I also decided to chop up 2 parsnips as well.  I suppose you could add or subtract any vegetables you'd like.  Be careful, though, the pot does get quite full.

First you brown the onions, scallions/leeks, and garlic- about 20 min. with salt, pepper, fresh thyme, and cumin.  Then add the carrots, celery, and parsnips.  Let that cook for a bit.  Then add a heaping tablespoon of tomato paste- mix together.  Add 3 quarts of chicken stock and the lentils.  Before adding the lentils, put in a bowl with a strainer and cover with boiling water.  Let sit in the water for 20 minutes.  Once everything is combined, cover and let the stock come to a boil, uncover and reduce to a simmer.  Let an hour go by and HEY! Now it's time for some lentil soup.  Delicious!  There is nothing quite like hot soup on a cold, damp night.  This soup was flavorful, filling, healthy, and piping hot!  Just the way should be!  As the winter continues, I'll be sure to put up some other soup recipes that I have or try out.

Homemade soup, of course, is the best, but here are some wonderful soups to check out when you're eating out.  As I have mentioned, the lentil soup from Pop's is dynamite.  As a matter of fact, all of the soups I have tried from Pop's are divine.  Chicken orzo, beef barley, Manhattan clam chowder to name a few.  I love a good wonton soup.  There's nothing worse than biting into a wonton and getting this al dente, ball of death in your mouth.  The best wonton soups are from Bao's (you can tell when a different cook makes it so it's not always good) and China Pavilion.  I've had the hot and sour soup from China Pavilion as well.  That soup wasn't really my cup of tea but if it was the only soup left on Earth, I wouldn't complain.  Let's talk chowda now.  There are three types- New England (creamy), Rhode Island (clear), and Manhattan (red).  The best New England clam chowder used to be from the old Chuck's Steakhouse in West Haven.  I can taste it right now just thinking of it. I guess that's another soup I'll never have again. *Side track alert* The Chuck's chowder and Gianotti's pancakes are the only two restaurant foods that I can recall the taste of and will never be matched.  Whatever happened to Gianotti's?  Remember it?  Tiny little breakfast place that used to be where Dive Bar is now.  Suddenly, I hear Barbara Streisand in my head.  Back on track... the New England clam chowder from Chandler's Tavern (at Yankee Candle in Mass.) is, hands downs, the BEST currently bubbling NE chowder.  Perfect balance of flavor and not so creamy that you're gagging while you're trying to swallow it.  Stowe's had good NE chowder too.  NE is not my favorite of the three.  My favorite is Rhode Island.  That's real soup.  All of the flavorful clam broth!  I just love it.  West Haven is home to many great RI chowders.  Turk's is my favorite, though that can depend on the cook as well.  Sometimes it is chock full of clams and potatoes and vegetables.  Other times, you get 4 hard pieces of potato and 1 little inappropriate piece of clam.  When the good cook is on- Turk's is the best.  Jimmie's has great RI clam chowder as well, though I'm upset that you can't order RI chowder as your soup choice with your meal. You get the choice of chicken or corn crab chowder.  If you order the clam, you have to pay extra.  Let's not be ridiculous here people!  The joke is on them though because the crab is fantastic!  Duffy's also has fabulous RI clam chowder.  I have a hard time choosing any other type of soup when I eat at Duffy's.  Savin Rock Roasting has pretty good chowder as well.  There's only one type of RI chowder that I don't like- and that would be one that has very tiny cubes of potatoes and a lot of bacon flavor.  It's not supposed to taste like bacon.  It's just used for a little smokiness and bite, it's not supposed to be a bacon challenge for that "fat-ass versus food."

This is turning into a long post so I'll just list some good soup/restaurant combos.  Pasa -te (can't spell) from Biagetti's, Tortellini soup from Lisiano's (I know- I will never go there again- but good soup), Meat tortellini soup from Gabriele's, Chicken and Rice soup and French Onion soup from Turk's, Asparagus Soup from Roly Poly, Various soups from liquid lunch, Chicken and Beef barley soup from Water's Edge, and believe it or not, every soup from Duchess fast food restaurant is delicious.  It's the only fast food place I know of that makes soup.  So nice to go through a drive-through and get soup.  Duchess Diner in WH and the Athenian Diner in Milford has great soup.  I can't seem to think of any others right now, but this will be soup season, so I plan on keeping you informed of where you can find the best soups around.  

Until my next slurp .... (Insert Mrs. White and Professor Plum from "Clue")