Saturday, December 31, 2011

Burgers


Happy New Year's Eve! I don't know if you all know this, but Super 1 gave everyone who cares about food in Spokane a little gift this holiday season: salt! A big, beautiful pile of specialty salts: fleur de sel, Hawaiian red salt, grey salt, black salt, and the list goes on. Take that, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods! 

In five beautiful, glorious days, I am leaving Spokane for a four month gig in Firenze. You may all commence jealousy; it is well placed. We have a beautiful apartment in between Santa Croce and Mercato San Ambrogio waiting for us, picked out at least partly because of its surprisingly new and large (by Italian standards) kitchen. Here's hoping we can turn on the oven and a burner at the same time in this one!  My plan is to once again turn this space over to a travel blog, so keep an eye out for new posts. 

Part of the whirl of getting ready for the trip is getting together with friends one last time, and that has brought up the question, what can I eat in Spokane that I expect to miss in Florence? There are some obvious answers: my Indian food. It seems highly unlikely that I'm going to recreate my Indian spice pantry in Italy. It would be expensive, even if it were possible. Good mexican food. Not a lot of burritos in Italy, in my experience. I hit Taco del Sol for lunch a couple of days ago. Their Mexicali taco combo is simply good eats. 

But the most important answer is: burgers. Sure, there are hamburgers in Florence. There's a McDonalds on Via Cavour. But I'm not talking about those flat, uniformly gray patties between two pieces of collapsable sponge that pass for burgers at fast food places. I'm talking about a thick, juicy, fatty, beefy, wonderfully unhealthy and possibly toxically pink-inside hamburger. I'm talking about high quality cheese and real mayonnaise and a bun that has just enough integrity to make it to the end. And that is a species of food the Italians do not understand. 

So, I've been thinking about burgers here in Spokane. Mentally, I split burgers into three categories: the fast patty, the messy, and the high end. I'm not going to talk about fast patties. They can be good, satisfying fare, but for me, one cannot achieve burger excellence if one is not willing to go pink. That leaves us with the messy and the high end. Both usually start with the "pub style" base, which means a thicker, rarer patty and bigger, heftier bun. The difference is in the intention of the toppings. In the messy burger, the toppings are the point, and the burger is simply a way to convey them to your mouth. It's the species of burger featured at Red Robin, and once you see guacamole, onion straws, or pastrami (when did that become a thing? Is it a thing anywhere not Spokane?), you know what you are dealing with. For my money, Waddell's on Regal does this style of burger really well, and the atmosphere is considerably more adult than Red Robin. Their truly fine sweet potato fries and lovely back patio area make them an easy choice for a late summer meal after an evening on the river. 

Really, though, the messy burger is just a toppings vehicle. To achieve true burger sublimity, I believe the focus must be on the meat. It needs to be juicy, fatty without feeling greasy, and it must taste of beef. The toppings must be there to enhance the meat rather than being an end to themselves. Sante attempts a high end burger on their lunch menu, and I've had it twice, and, honestly, I've been disappointed twice. Both times the middle seemed raw rather than medium rare, and that through the whole experience off. They also frequently have a kobe beef, foie gras burger for lunch, and it is better. The fat content is higher, which almost always means better, but I think the foie gras ends up burning while the beef is crusting, so the taste is off. Sante offers too many really exceptional options to waste one's time on their burger. 

For several years, I have publicly championed the Luna burger as the best in town. They had a beautifully cooked burger, topped with ham, a nicely aged cheese of some kind, and a lovely tarragon aioli. I've spent many nights, sitting in their wine bar (a far better, more casual space than their overly formal dining room), glutting myself on the burger. Alas, the last time I was there, the burger had mysteriously shrunk, the ham had mysteriously thickened and toughened, the tarragon had disappeared, and the whole thing was just not the same. A quick look at their menu reveals that the burger has slipped off it entirely, to be replaced by a lamb burger. Long live the Luna burger.

Fortunately, there is a better burger in town, at Wild Sage. It is described as a kobe beef burger from Snake River Farms (which means it is not really kobe, but technically wagyu). It comes with a choice of aged cheddar or blue cheese, caramelized onions and aioli on the side. One can choose to add bacon, avocado, or mushrooms. I had one last night, with blue cheese and mushrooms, and I feel entirely confident saying that it was the Mary Poppins of burgers: practically perfect in every way. The onions were caramelized down to a rich, deep brown, incredibly sweet and soft, nearly an onion jam. The mushrooms were a mixture of crimini, shitake, and I think some other varieties, and they too were beautifully sautéed to bring out their woodsiness, their natural sweetness, their richness. The cheese added just the right amount of salt and funk. All the toppings were clearly back up players to the beef, which was just so perfectly beefy. As great as the taste was, the mouth feel was almost better. Biting into this burger felt rich, decadent, even heady, without being overwhelming or exhausting the way some rich, intense food can be. This is a burger that is too good for bacon, which is usually necessary to add salt and fat, and way, way too good for avocado. 

In my last post, I lauded the nascent Spokane scene, and I fear I may have shorted the importance of Wild Sage. Wild Sage has the best service in town, and they are never disappointing -- which is saying a lot -- but neither are they particularly innovative, so I don't always have much to say about them. Well, there is nothing innovative about a hamburger, but doing one that is that good, that thoughtful, that carefully prepared shows true commitment to good food and a kitchen that knows what it is doing. Add to that really outstanding cocktails and those yukon gold taquitos, and I think you have a restaurant that is hard to beat. 

I'm not going to even try to replicate the Wild Sage burger at home. However, I do make, if I say so myself, a mighty tasty lamb burger. Here's the recipe:

Three or four lamb t-bone chops
Two lamb shoulder steaks
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cucumber
1/2 small red onion
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
mayonnaise (preferably homemade) or yogurt
buns of your choice

Take the bones out of the lamb, cut into cubes, and put in the freezer for 1/2 hour. While you are waiting for the meat to firm up, peel and slice the cucumber very finely, and put in a strainer with a tablespoon of salt to drain. . Slice the red onion very finely, and place in a bowl with the vinegar, salt and sugar. If you are using yogurt, place a half a cup or so into a cheesecloth lined strainer to drain. When the meat is firm but not completely hard, run through the finest setting of your meat grinder twice (the Kitchen Aid attachment is one of the best gifts I have ever received, and totally worth the money if you don't have one yet). Add the spices, garlic, and ginger and salt to taste to the meat mixture, and form into thick patties. 

I think these work best on a grill, but they can be broiled or cooked in a cast iron skillet. Keep them pink on the inside. Rinse and squeeze the cucumbers, and drain the onions -- these are your toppings, along with mayo or the thickened yogurt. 

Friday, December 23, 2011

Signature Taste of Spokane


You may recall that I have pondered before about whether or not there was such a thing as an Inland Northwest cuisine, whether there was something about our food that makes it distinct from the cuisine of Seattle on one side and Montana on the other. If there is such a thing as a Spokane taste, it would have to be considerable less urban and urbane -- not to mention seafood dependent! -- as Seattle, without sliding into the self-conscious rusticity of Montana's cowboy cuisine. We would value local, fresh, and sustainable ingredients, although perhaps not as zealously as the Portland foodies do, so our dishes would feature local wheats, lentils, and farmstead cheeses, as well as game and freshwater fish like trout and steelhead. It would have a healthy dollop of Italian cooking, perhaps some Russian influence and a hint or two of Mexican flavors. And it would, no doubt, put my beloved Rueben front and center. 

It is premature to try to describe an Inland Northwest cuisine. I realize this. However, I do put forth the proposition that we have a young but respectable, even exciting food scene here. I know some of you may scoff at the idea; after all, denigrating Spokane's cosmopolitan credentials is nearly a contact sport around here. My eyes were opened earlier this fall when I helped organize and host a small, regional academic conference. Everyone raved about how lovely Spokane's downtown was, and everyone talked about how good the food was. A friend from San Francisco announced that the celeriac potato soup with parmesan and truffles at Italia should win an award it was so good. Friends from Vancouver said that they didn't have anything like Sante back home. A couple from Victoria said they were thinking about taking a getaway weekend trip to Spokane sometime, they loved it so much. Really? From Victoria? 

But, think about it. Sante thrives, offering high end, in-house charcuterie and an ever changing seasonal menu. Italia Trattoria I would put up against any Italian restaurant in the Northwest, and would beat most of the restaurants I ate at in Rome easily. Wild Sage has always had the best service in town, and their food (which seemed to me to take a little bit of a dip in innovation if not quality) is now solidly good. Mizuna has kicked up their game considerably. Madeleine's is about to open a second location. Rocket Market is a mecca. We can get good bread from Bouzie's, good pho, good street tacos, great cheese, great wine. We have three worthwhile farmer's markets, one of them year round (top that, Portland!). There are Russian, Korean, and Indian groceries. I surprised myself by passionate championing Roast House Coffee over Stumptown to a Portland-born student. Regal Street seafood even made me the most beautiful and delicious platter of oysters on the half shell last week for a party. To me, that constitutes a scene. 

You don't have to take my word for this (although you probably should). My friend and current hero, Nicole Manganaro, has "co-authored" Signature Taste of Spokane, a cookbook featuring recipes donated by over one hundred restaurants from all over Spokane. All proceeds from the book are donated to firefighter charities. I called it a cookbook, but it is actually a good deal more than that. One of the epigraphs in the book describes the project as "a culinary postcard: a celebration of the city itself," which is not a bad description. Every restaurant featured gets a quotation from the owner and a photo, in addition to their recipe. The recipes, like the restaurants, vary widely, from the high end Truffle Steak Penne from Twigs, to the homey, one might say basic, Traditional Egg Salad from the Garland Street Sandwich shop. Like the Spokane food scene itself, it is pretty hit or miss. I can't wait to make the Poblano Artichoke dip with Blue Corn Crackers from Wild Sage; I doubt I will ever make sausage gravy with Italian sausage, as the recipe from The Flying Pig suggests. Nothing against The Flying Pig. I've never eaten there. It may be great. 

I put scare quotes around the word "co-authored," because this book is all Nicole. It was Steven Siler's idea and money, but the work for this volume (Signature Tastes of is a series) was all hers. I don't believe Mr. Siler even had to set foot in Spokane, because she handled everything. She contacted the restaurants. She edited all the recipes to ensure they were complete, follow-able, and do-able in a home kitchen. She made and troubleshot many (if not all) of the recipes. I was lucky enough to be there when she tested the "buckets o' love" spiced chocolate cakes from Latah Bistro, and the Basil Strawberry Martini from Bistango. She copy edited every word. She handled the layout. She took all the photos but about six. She took the photos! This book, as Siler says, is a tribute to Nicole's determination, but also to her care, dedication, love of cooking and love of Spokane. She did such an amazing job that Siler put her on the Signature Tastes of Seattle project.

At the moment, I would argue that no one knows the Spokane food scene better than Nicole. She has talked with nearly every chef and restauranteur around. When I asked her my question about what makes Spokane's food distinctive, she had a very simple answer: "Honesty. When I called up the owner of Waffles Plus, he gave me his recipe for waffles. That's his livelihood. And he shared it with me without hesitation." I'm not sure what honesty tastes like, but I have over a hundred recipes to go through to figure it out. Now, if I could just figure out what "waffle flour" is . . .