OH YEAH, FOOD

Veritas

This was the most enjoyable meal I have ever had in College Station.

I ordered the Omakase Six Ways (Chef’s Tasting Menu, 6 courses) - $75 a person

You really don’t have to order such an expensive meal as me. Their entrees vary around $20, with small plates that cost around $12.

1st Course - Oyster on Half Shell (blue point oysters, cucumber and onion relish, tobiko)

The relish was very refreshing. The slight acidic flavors really balanced out the seafood’s natural taste. The tobiko (caviar) gave a slight crunch in contrast to the very slick and fresh oysters. A wonderful starter.

2nd Course - New England Razor Clams (razor clams from nova scotia, served with a butter sauce and greens, grounded sea salt, and garlic)

Served really simply and that was a great choice. The clams were very fresh and the slight salt and garlic flavors really helped the natural flavors of the clams to shine through.

3rd Course - Diver Scallop (mano de leon diver scallop from baja california, sauteed spring mix with golden tomato, maple syrup infused with citrus miso sauce)

A pretty big scallop, cooked to perfection. Those tomatoes, I’m not even exaggerating, were the best tomatoes I have ever had. The maple syrup was such a wonderful addition to this dish. It gave the scallop a perfect sweet crust that didn’t overpower the dish but rather added to it.

4th Course - Pork Tenderloin (served on top of orzo and mixed veggies, with a rosemary ajus)

An Italian dish with an Asian twist, the rosemary ajus was served as not only the sauce but also meant to be eaten as a soup. The first real entree of this set was wonderfully done, but not my favorite in this set. Better suited for those who really like dishes that pack a lot of varying flavors. The brussel sprouts were surprisingly enjoyable. Soaked in the savory ajus, they were undoubtedly the best brussel sprouts I’ve ever had.

5th Course - Australian Wagyu Steak & Foie Gras (seared hudson valley foie gras, bordeaux red wine reduction with wild mushroom, goat cheese, and bacon layered polenta)

This cut of meat was amazing. My favorite part of the dish was the foie gras. I’m a little reluctant to tell you what that is, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that it’s amazing. The polenta wasn’t as good but that’s ok.

6th Course - from left to right: Cheesecake Beignet (white chocolate sauce, raspberry coulis), Pistachio Gelato, Spanish Almond Basque Cake (milk toffee, vanilla chantilly)

Every dessert here was great. The cheesecake was served warm and went really well with the crunchy pastry wrap. The pistachio gelato had actual pieces of pistachio in it and the flavor really shone through. My favorite was the basque cake. It was perfectly sweet and the crust crunchy while the cake was fluffy and soft. I wish I had more right now.

Side Dish - Truffle Mac & Cheese

This was the only part of my meal that I wasn’t completely wowed by. There wasn’t enough truffle flavor. Although the mac&cheese was pretty good, it was a decent dish that didn’t live up to the expectations that all the previous amazing dishes had set.

Overall

Veritas was amazing. The restaurant itself is very classy and modern. It was surprisingly small. There was a very large bar in the middle of the restaurant, but there weren’t many people when we were there so there weren’t any problems with noise or anything. Our waiter was very knowledgeable and definitely added to our experience positively. I highly recommend Veritas. I believe it to be the best restaurant in College Station and a must go. 

View Larger Map

Madden’s

Warning: I want to say right off the bat, don’t expect a raving review from me. My partner and I did not enjoy our meal here, nor would we recommend this restaurant to anyone.

Now on to the specifics:

• Overall Aesthetics: We had problems immediately entering Madden’s.

Turning down the lights, does not make you a fancy restaurant.

It was way too dark, I have this “strange policy” about wanting to see my food while I eat it. Then there was the one light that shone directly onto my partner’s face. So while it was excruciatingly bright for her, it was overwhelmingly dark for me. The table we were seated at, was large. Meant to seat four comfortably, it sat two awkwardly. For a romantic date, the large table was a definite miss. Our server wasn’t very knowledgeable. He made many serving faux pas like taking away dishes without asking if we were finished.

• Appetizers:

I ordered the Seared Crab Cake with greens tossed in smoked tomato sauce in a wine butter sauce for $8. First of all, my crab cake was seared, but what happened to cooking it? It wasn’t hot as a freshly cooked/seared crab cake should be. The greens on top didn’t compliment the crab. Adding in a smokey tomato sauce was even worse, Madden’s has a weird obsession with tomatoes and seafood, not really a winner combo. The only redeeming factor of this dish was the wine butter sauce. At least it made a good dip for the bread they gave us at the beginning.

My partner ordered the sautéed black mussels with mustard-tarragon sauce, parmegiana reggiano and croutons for $7. I was immediately suspicious of the number of mussels this dish had, as many of the shells were just empty shells. We ended up counting the number of shells to the number of mussels. 17 shells to 11 mussels. I want to know what happened to the other 6. Did the chef eat them all to test the taste? Did the server sneak a bite? Mussels don’t just disappear. Taste-wise, they were pretty good. The mustard-tarrgon sauce, a cream sauce, was alright, but there were carrots in it. Which was really strange. They didn’t affect the dish taste-wise, but really… carrots?

• Entrees

For my entree, I ordered the blue crab tossed with house made linguine and white wine with roasted tomato sauce, greens tossed with aged balsamic vinegar, pine nuts and Parmigiana Reggiano for $25. I definitely expected fresh blue crab, did not get that. The shredded crab meat was similar in texture and taste to crab meat from a can. The linguine wasn’t thoroughly cooked. Large chunks of pasta were stuck together and I had to break it apart with my fork.  The pasta was tough to chew and for a dish that costs $25, they really should have used something other than lettuce as greens. I did not like this dish and I sort of want to stop talking about it because it still disgusts me so.

My partner ordered the duck breast schnitzel with spaetzle sautéed in brown butter, with arugula tossed with lemon vinaigrette for $24. When we ordered this, we weren’t expecting country fried duck, but that’s sort of what we got. The duck was covered in a batter mixture of bread crumbs and flour. It was fried quite unevenly. The duck wasn’t cooked all the way through and that’s always a risk when it comes to poultry meats. Not a great dish.

• In Summary

This meal cost us around $76 total. It was not worth a single cent as there was not a single one redeeming factor. I would not return to Madden’s in downtown Bryan, TX. I would not recommend it to anyone. I know many people from this area that highly recommend this restaurant… I honestly cannot begin to fathom why.

View Larger Map

Bottega Louie

This past weekend, I went to a super nice restaurant/patisserie called Bottega Louie in Los Angeles. Parking isn’t easy to find (it is Los Angeles though), but there was convenient valet parking next door for $6. On a Thursday around 8pm, the wait was around 15 minutes.

When you walk into Bottega Louie, you’re hit with a high vaulted ceiling and clean white lines. It makes the colorful pastries stick out all the better.

Dress nicely, I’m not sure if it was just Los Angeles or if this restaurant needs dressing up for, but everyone around you will look nice. 

$2 per macaron. Completely, absolutely worth it.

My favorite was the pumpkin one. Tasted like pumpkin, without it being too overwhelming. The earl grey one was also a contender for my favorite. Flaked with gold specks, it was a pretty pale blue. It was not too sweet and it actually leaves a bit of an earl grey tea aftertaste.

Delicious looking pastries, around $5-$6 each.

-

For an appetizer, we ordered portobello fries, $8. I was a bit disappointed with it. We had heard really good things about it, but I felt like it was too oily and the oil wasn’t exactly fresh. It left a strange aftertaste that usually comes with old oil.

-

One entree we ordered was the Clam Pizza, $18. A large pizza, could probably feed two generously. It was delicious. At first I was skeptical of the clam and pizza mix, but the clams weren’t overly salty and the mix of mozzarella with pecorino romano cheese was wonderful.

-

We also had the Hanger Steak Verdura, $20. The beef was fabulously cooked. It was super tender and juicy, the black truffle sauce was amazing, a tiny bit of sweetness really added some depth and flavor to the dish. I actually enjoyed the vegetables because of the sauce.

-

For dessert we had the Chocolate Souffle, $15. You need to allow 20 minutes of prep time, but it was so worth it. Everything a souffle should be, this was. The crust was perfectly crunchy, the inside was perfectly fluffy. The vanilla bean creme that they used wasn’t too sweet and soaked into the souffle so wonderfully.

-

All in all, this was a wonderful restaurant. The hostess was brilliant, she saw I was on a date and without prompting placed us at a table in the corner that allowed a bit of privacy. The server was wonderful and made the meal so much more enjoyable. The only downside to Bottega Louie was that it was a bit loud, perhaps the high vaulted ceilings act as an unintended noise amplifier. This restaurant was definitely worth the trip, time, and money.

-

View Larger Map

Menu, Hours: http://www.bottegalouie.com/

School.

So this is quite silly and I know I’ve been MIA for a really long time, but I still have tons of pictures/videos to upload about my time in China! 

If you guys can hold out for maybe a few days or until the weekend, I promise I will try to upload most of it!

Anonymous asked: i think silkworms taste like a popcorn))) dont you think? (Nick, Russian:D)

haha nick, only if the popcorn is rotting! D: