Big Mama's Rib Shack

Tonight, a few of us decided to try out Big Mama's Rib Shack in Pasadena for the first time. Although the location of this place was somewhat shady, according to Flip, I had an unusual craving for ribs and thought this place could satiate my appetite.

First of all, for all you folks who get the image of some rundown hole-in-the-wall, you're wrong. I'll admit, I had imagined the same thing, but boy was I wrong. Instead, this place had a small bar, had a host stand, pretty decent-looking booths, and even had a wine list. I could've mistaken this place for an Italian bistro or casual-contemporary Asian eatery. We were the last table to be sat, and unfortunately, had 10 minutes to order before the kitchen was closed. As someone in the 'biz', I hate having to be the last table to be waited on, mostly because I know what a drag it can be for the cooks in the kitchen. Anyhow, I looked through the menu and was a bit disappointed that there weren't more rib items. In fact, all I really saw were an option for Baby Back Ribs in the rack portion or portioned in slabs...which I really don't know the difference between. Other than that, all the other menu items were either Creole cooking or deep-fried seafood. I coulda had more options going to Tony Roma's for god sakes.

Skipping to the food, my first impression of the half rack of ribs I got wasn't very good. I guess you could say I was expecting more on my plate than some ribs sitting in a puddle of sauce. However, I was pretty full at the end of the meal, so perhaps my eyes were bigger than my stomach. The fried okra was good, but again, not what I had imagined. Nor did it come with any dipping sauces... The mac n' cheese was horrible...probably worse than at the Souplantation. It was terribly bland and hardly any cheese flavor at all, as if you couldn't tell by the pale color of the sauce. I tried a hushpuppy from my friend's plate and it was pretty good. However, my friend got grossed out by the fried oyster he had ordered...it was green in the middle and looked squishy and unappetizing from my view. Also, the cornbread muffins that we had weren't bad...they nearly crumbled once you bit into them. I did, however, have a problem with the size of them. They seemed a little too petite to be served for dinnertime. There was also a huge tv on the other side of the dining room which we couldn't see at all, but could certainly hear the entire time we were eating. I couldn't help but feel watched by the large portrait of "Big Mama" across the dining room from us. Now that I think about the decor of this restaurant, nothing seemed to match at all. The decor did not match the name of the restaurant, nor did the menus, and there were vases of fake orchids everywhere I looked that one would expect to find at an asian restaurant or contemporary bistro...not a restaurant that offers Southern comfort food.

The bill for 3 people was $60...which is too high for the kind of food I received. The service wasn't bad, but it could've been better. Even though they were closed and we were the absolute last table, I didn't feel as if we were being rushed at all. Our waiter even offered us dessert, which we politely declined. We did have to wait a few minutes for our bill to be closed out, seeing as how our waiter was too busy watching the ginormous tv. I will say that I haven't eaten much Southern food at all, so I am by no means an expert, but as a person working in the industry, I have certain expectations, albeit sometimes higher than the average customer, but expectations nonetheless and this place fell short.

Another note which is totally off subject and probably deserves its own blog, but which I am too lazy to start, I just received a copy of Nancy Silverton's Breads from the La Brea Bakery and now I feel inspired to bake some bread. Just thought I'd throw that out there... ;D

Young Dong Garden

So I know this particular blog doesn't exactly fit the title, but after a chat with a fellow coworker of mine, I decided to take a different route and share my experiences of eating out, since I do that most often.

Even though I am a pastry cook and don't technically "cook" at work, I find that I'm usually too tired to come home and plan a meal, run to the grocery store, cook, then clean everything up. Its not that I don't cook at home ever, I just can't muster up the strength to do it on a daily basis. That is why my boyfriend, also in the "biz", (and codename Flip) and I tend to eat out so often. Another major factor is that we live in a part of town where an abundance of restaurants and establishments have sprung up that has been appropriately called Restaurant Row. After 1+ years of living in this area, Flip and I have already singled out our favorite eateries, as well as the best places to go that cater to my odd cravings.

Tonight Flip had a craving for korean bbq. Instead of going to our usual place in Arcadia, we decided to try its 'sister' restaurant down the street from us called Young Dong Garden. Interesting name, and perhaps even more interesting was the building this restaurant was in. As we sat down in the extremely large booth, I stared around the room and began thinking "This looks more like it could be someone's house than a restaurant". Service was quick, but it being a Tuesday night, it didn't look like the place was booming either. I ordered the Galbi (flavorful korean shortribs) and Flip ordered the Bulgogi (marinated bbq beef). Our meal came with the appropriate accoutrements...some kelp, kimchi, pickled cucumber, marinated beansprouts, and some strange thing I had no idea what it was flavor or texture-wise. This, to me, is the best part of having korean bbq, getting a variety of pickled and marinated items that cleanse the palatte. I absolutely loved the beansprouts and pickled cucumber and ordered more right away. My shortribs were amazingly flavorful and tender and I gobbled the entire plate up almost immediately. Flip's bulgogi, however, looked quite dry, which to me, translated to unappetizing.
Total bill for the 2 of us came out to $39 with tip...a bit pricey, especially since our usual korean bbq place we like to go to is around $25.

Another thing I noticed at our table, was a notice stating that you had to ask for water because of California's Water Protection Act. This was the first time I've seen something like this at any restaurant and I couldn't help but think that maybe it was just an excuse to save on their water bill. Anyway, on a scale of 1-10, I'd rate this place a 6 and think I'll just stick to my usual korean bbq spot.

Sicilia

So the first cake in Paco Torreblanca's book looks really elegant and refined, yet simple. From far away, my boyfriend said it looked like a piece of tile one would put on their floor or bathroom wall..haha! It looks like the entire cake has been dusted heavily with powdered sugar, but I'm guessing that is not the case, since there was no mention of 10x anywhere in the assembling of the cake. My guess is that the light cream of goat yogurt (which sounds interesting) gives the cake its rough-looking texture. Paco mentions in this book that he usually makes his cakes between 3cm-3.5cm high and no more and that the first centimeter is the cake itself, the 2nd centimeter is the cream, and the last centimeter is the mousse. He believes this is "...not only for aesthetic purposes, but for practical order and pure logic as well."

As a garnish, there is a fresh thyme sprig, a hole in upper left-hand corner of cake which is filled with red fruits jam, and a single cube of sicilia fruit cream. I only wish I could import the picture in the book to this blog because this cake is breath-taking.

While I'm reading the recipes, a few thoughts and questions come to mind, which I will try to wade my way through on my own.

• What is Fruits of the Forest puree made up of? Dessertprofessional.com lists fruits of the forest puree as containing strawberry, raspberry, black currant, and blueberry

• What the heck does q.s. stand for? This I couldn't find on the web so I asked my pastry chef and he says it is a immeasurable unit that stands for "to taste", such as salt or pepper would be in a called for in a recipe

• What is NH pectin and its properties? Better used in watery or fruit substances, gives a firm shiny gel with a pleasant texture, coating made from this is re-usable and can bear many successive remeltings and gelifications while preserving its quality (cuisine-french.com)

• What is a Rhodoid sheet? Created by Rhone-Poulenc in 1936, it is a plastic containing acetate, transparent, smooth, and fireproof, name is contraction of Rhone-Poulenc and celluloid (speedylook.com)

• Is there a difference in the baking properties and/or flavor of organic white sugar as opposed to granulated cane sugar? This was a toughie...all I could find was that organic white sugar is unprocessed sugar made from sugar cane or beets (terencelau.com)

• What is type 45 flour??? I felt like a dummy cuz I eventually found the answer to this in the glossary. This is pastry flour...French flour type numbers are a factor 10 smaller than those used in Germany because they indicate the ash content (in milligrams) per 10 grams of flour. The ash test is to determine the amount of mineral elements present in the flour, thus indicating the amount of bran still remaining in the flour after the milling process. ASH: this is determined on a 4gm sample in a silica dish which is incinerated overnight at 585 C. After cooling, the dish and ash are weighed , the ash brushed out, the dish re-weighed and the weight of ash determined by difference. Results are reported as a percent. (thefreshloaf.com)

• Why does the recipe call for mineral water specifically? This I have not found the answer to yet...but if anyone knows, I'd love your input.
  

Inspired

My inspiration to create my own blog to record my thoughts and adventures thru the pastry world came from my pastry chef and another blog I happened to stumble upon one day: Bonbini.

I was searching for unique flavors for french macaroons and came across her black sesame w/ red bean paste macaroon, which I had never heard before. As I continued to peruse her blog, I found the contents of her blog, especially the pastry and dessert ones quite fascinating. I found myself going back to check for new pictures and recipes every week. There is something so refreshing about the way she experiments with recipes and I rather liked the concept of a blog devoted to her love of culinary arts.

My pastry chef also has inspired me to create my own blog, unbeknownst to him, by giving me a book of his to read and study: Paco Torreblanca. He loaned me his book quite awhile ago, and it is only now, 2 months later, that I have finally begun to pick it up and decipher the contents. I began taking some handwritten notes of what I was reading, because my memory is shit and I know I won't remember half the stuff I've read a month from now. Then I thought it would be quite easier to computerize my thoughts and notes as Bonbini has done. I had also grown weary of the long nights in front of my computer playing trivial games and vegging out in front of the tv on a daily basis. My chef has tried to instill the importance of reading on me in the hopes of trying to make a pastry chef out of me and I think I've finally caught on to his words of wisdom.

And so, with that said, this blog will become a journal of notes and thoughts of me and my career as a future pastry chef.