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REVIEW | Meatball Shop

By on April 29, 2012 in Reviews, Travel Eats

Meatball Smash

Mangia Memoirs has transferred to the Big Apple and our first stop was to The Meatball Shop in Williamsburg.  A restaurant where the meatball is King. Different meat / non-meat varieties, as well as a spectrum of sauces, make this joint a place that all can enjoy.  Meatballs make people happy.

Our Mangia Memoir (what we’ll remember):  

After a whirlwind week of moving from Miami to NYC (like some real crazy fast shit), Weber and I took a break from the cardboard box graveyard known as our apartment, and ventured to Williamsburg for a St. Patty’s day celebration at the apartment of a friend of a friend (Have we lost you yet?).

Anyways, after knocking back a couple of green beers, meeting some new folks and dealing with the shocked expressions of everyone as we explained  “Oh, we just moved here….Ummm, yea about 3 days ago”, we could use a little comfort food. And what better comfort food than rolled up balls of meat?  Clearly, nothing.  As we walked back to the subway stop, The Meatball Shop lured us in.  I have  a feeling it won’t be the last time we go there!

Meat Grinder wall decor

My personal decor favorites:

  1. Meat grinders as wall art = legit
  2. Dry-erase menus that let you check the box to build your feast.  Brilliant.
  3. T-shirts with a giant cow/bull looking thing that says “We Make Balls” –classy and sassy
Dry Erase Menu
The Verdict:
4 out of 5 stars
  • FOOD: overall, the food was pretty good. The Meatball Shop let’s the meatball be king, where in most other restaurants they play a supporting role, usually to pasta.  The meatballs could have been a little warmer, but all of the flavors were good and the presentation was unpretentious.
  • SERVICE: They were definitely busy, but our server was friendly and on top of her stuff. Waters right away, answered questions, order in, bada-bing, bada-boom.
  • AMBIANCE: surprisingly pretty cool, in spite of an unassuming name like The Meatball Shop.  Meat grinders, old photos and warm lighting make the restaurant have a “feel”.
Items ordered:
  • Chicken Meatball Smash with Mushroom sauce: a solid choice.  Good texture on the chicken meatball, even though that’s not always the case and a flavorful robust mushroom sauce that can stand up to the meat. Balls could have been warmer.
  • Spicy Pork Meatball Hero with Classic tomato sauce: not as spicy as I thought or hoped it would be, but still pretty darn good.  Could also have been warmer.
  • Collard greens: no frou frou stuff here, just some good ‘ol collard greens.  Delicious. Could have eaten another plate.
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REVIEW | Sushi Cafe & Shilla Korean Restaurant

By on November 15, 2011 in mmm! - mini mangia memoir, Reviews
Korean BBQ Table

Grilling it Up!

Don’t let the sushi name fool ya! – it’s Korean grub!

What is more fun than sitting around a table of fiery flames grilling your own meat?  I mean, seriously….not much. Knowing our love for culinary adventures, Kelvin found Shilla Korean Restaurant that offers a Korean BBQ table that you get to man yourself!

Our Mangia Memoir (what we’ll remember): 

Driving our asses to Doral in the rain was well worth it for this meaty treat! Dan and his bf Andrew, Vince, Kelvin and Adam and I went back to our caveman roots, conquered fire and grilled our own meats. So much fun!  (Aside from being worried about cross-contamination of chicken juice into the beef and pork).    Did we mention they have Karaoke with a full band?!?  When we asked our waitress when they have karaoke, her response was “Karaoke? Oh we have Karaoke any time. You want to Karaoke?”.   Dreams really do come true.  Unfortunately, our crew was ill-prepared, but we WILL be back to dominate!

The Verdict:

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • FOOD: awesome. We got the Korean BBQ table and a Dolsot Bibimbab (traditional Korean dish).  The meat was seasoned well and our caveman instincts allowed us to cook the meat to perfection.
  • SERVICE: our waitress was the bomb.  She was prompt, made great recommendations and had an awesome sense of humor. We loved her.  Wish we took her name, so we could give her a “shout out”.
  • AMBIANCE:  has a very laid back, cafe feel.  Not pretentious at all. The decor is Asian themed, but there is sports paraphernalia in the  bathrooms, remnant of probably a former sports bar.  Definitely gave it some character!

Items Ordered: 

The BBQ table is meant to be shared, so we ordered a bunch of meat items and got grilled, forking out meat onto each other’s plates as it was finished.

  • Bibimbab: stone pot creation with fresh vegetables, rice, meat and a fried egg on top.  Very delicious and our waitress was kind enough to mix it all together for us table-side.
  • Korean BBQ items:
  • Daiji Bulgoki: shredded marinated pork
  • Bulgoki: shredded marinated beef
  • Another Beef Dish which happened to be our favorite!!  I wish we remembered the name.
  • Dak Gui: marinated chicken
  • Fried Dumplings
  • Complimentary Sides – include a lot of veggies, like kimchi, marinated mushrooms, sprouts, broccoli, etc.

 

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RECIPE | Spicy Chicken Cannelloni

By on October 11, 2011 in mmm! - mini mangia memoir, Recipes

Spicy Chicken Cannelloni

Happy Birthday to Tony! This was made with L-O-V-E!

I don’t know if it was like this in your house growing up, but when your birthday rolled around, that meant you got to pick your “Birthday Meal”.  I can tell you my husband’s —pork chops, apple sauce, Mrs. Weber’s famous Mac & Cheese, and baked beans. BAM! And who says I don’t listen!

Well, I’ve also heard Tony’s.  And Tony’s is a pain in the ass.  He always wanted either homemade spaghetti and meatballs (nothing like rolling raw meat for a good 2 hours) OR he wanted stuffed cannelloni (nothing like trying to fill a tubed pasta and having the damn pasta break).

I decided it was worth the hassle for my dear friend, especially since I will be out of town on his actual birthday.

Our Mangia Memoir (what we’ll remember):Irmaliz kneading homemade dough

Tony was closing at JCrew and Adam was out of town, so Irmaliz and I decided to have a little girls night in.  I mentioned that I wanted to surprise Tony with a pre-birthday meal and she was down for some fun in prepping it.

I made the spicy marinara before Irmaliz got here, so we could concentrate on making the homemade pasta.  Yes, the old way. We did the infamous dough “well” and used a pasta crank that is older than God. Irmaliz was quite the kneader too.  She even managed to look super fine while grinding the hell out of dough.

It was fun to make everything from scratch.  I’d never made fresh pasta sheets (like lasagna size) before. We usually just make the dough and it turns immediately in to ravioli.  It was pretty scary.  The sheets just kind of undulate in the water, folding and unfolding –almost dancing.  Beautiful.  But beware, when you take those things out, they are hotter than hell, especially when you are trying to get them to lay flat on the paper towels.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb cannelloni store bought or homemade
  • Spicy Marinara sauce store bought or homemade with addition of red pepper flakes
  • 1 lb shredded chicken
    • 1 tsp garlic powder
    • 1 tsp paprika
    • 1 tsp cayenne
    • black pepper to taste
    • salt to taste
  • small container of ricotta cheese
    • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
    • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
    • 1/2 cup parmigiano
    • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
    • black pepper to taste
    • salt to taste

Directions

  1. Have the sauce pre-prepared and simmering.  Take the cooked shredded chicken and add to the simmering sauce, so it soaks up the flavor.
  2. If you are making homemade pasta, prep the dough and let it sit for 20-30 minutes.
  3. In the meantime, prep your ricotta cheese with the seasoning above. Be sure to mix well.  Let sit for half hour.
  4. If making homemade dough, roll out the dough into lasagna style sheets.
  5. Strain chicken from the marinara sauce (be sure to reserve the sauce), then add the seasoning above and mix well.
  6. If using homemade pasta sheets, cook in boiling water for about 30 seconds or until al dente.  If using, store bought, follow box instructions.
  7. Line the pasta sheets out on to damp paper towels and start assembling the cannelloni.
  8. Add the spoon full of chicken, followed by ricotta and roll the lasagna sheet 1-2 times to create a tube shape, then cut the tube from the rest of the dough sheet. Place tube into casserole pan seam side down and repeat for remaining.
  9. When casserole in filled with tubes, laddle spicy marinara over the top and shred a layer of parmigiano on top.
  10. Bake in over 350 for approximately 30 minutes.

 

 

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REVIEW | Yardbird Southern Table

By on October 5, 2011 in mmm! - mini mangia memoir, Reviews

boiled peanuts and fried green tomato blt from yardbird

Southern-style cooking finally hit South Beach at Yardbird

Yardbird Southern Table & Bar just opened on South Beach.  This is something we had long anticipated.  For months, they’d had their storefront windows covered with brown paper — teasing phrases like “Run Chicken Run” and Southern lingo.  Miami can get to be a bore, so seeing something on it’s way that looked “different” than the usual swanky ultra lounge was exciting.

Our Mangia Memoir (what we’ll remember):"run passion run" cocktail at yardbird

Tony and I arrived (without a reservation) and waited at the bar until Jillian arrived.  Luckily, we weren’t in any hurry, because we waited well over 2 hours.  Goes to show everyone wants t o be the first to try a new spot!  This little blessing of extra time at the bar allowed us to try out their signature cocktails –one of the highlights of the evening.  Each is rooted in Bourbon…a nice change from the usual “mojito” flare of Miami.

The bartender, Joshua, was super friendly and obviously very “in” to what he does.  You could sense the passion he had for what and how he created the signature drinks on the menu.  He even offered to make us something “off the menu”, something he called “Run Passion Run” (omg, delicious…ask for it!)  Tony and I merrily sipped our cocktails, as our eyes moved from one piece of their Southern decor to the next.  It was like being kids in a candy store.  Every single glass, light fixture, tables-cape was part of their intricately designed creative staging for the restaurant.   Kudos to the peeps that implemented that. All of the attention to detail really created an atmosphere, rather than just decor.

My personal decor favorites:

  1. The bar tap handles.  J’adore!  They were rustic items like a fork, knife, hammer, etc.
  2. The lightbulbs covered with glass jars
  3. The chicken-wire in the storage cabinets by the bar
  4. The tiny flip-top glass containers and glasses they used to store their fresh herbs at the bar
  5. The canning jars filled with actual fruits and veggies along the walls
  6. BONUS – try to find the bathroom… there is no door handle, just a blank wall (see photo)
For detailed descriptions of menu items, check out their drink menu & food menu.
The Verdict:
4.5 out of 5 stars
  • FOOD: awesome flavors, lots of options, great menu.  Now the UGLY – though this mama loooves the whole concept of “Family Style/Southern style sharing”, their take at this time is very misleading.  The portions, both the “small shares” and the “big shares”  were way too small (especially for the price).  Upon recommendation of the waitstaff and explanation of the menu, we definitely didn’t order enough for our hearty appetites.  May just be because we have roots in Ohio and have lived in the South, but when a restaurant says “fit for sharing”, we expect sharing size portions and not tapas styles “sharing”.  I think we would have been fine with it, if our expectations weren’t BIG.
  • SERVICE: bar service was great! waiter was fine. chef came out and apologized for the wait on our brussels sprouts, and gave us the cracklins which was a super plus.  hostess was courteous, but something was off — we waited well over 2 hours, while other people that came in after us (without reservations) got seated before us.  Luckily we weren’t in a rush and not in a pissy mood.
  • AMBIANCE: perfect. Rustic atmosphere, but still clean and put together.
Items Ordered: 
(get comfortable, this is gonna take a while!)
Drinks
  • Run Passion Run – AMAZING if you like savory/salty. Still a nice amount of sweet, but it has a kick (Sriracha hot sauce in it!)
  • Smoked Pear – smoky little piece of heaven
  • Porkchop – good, but way sweeter than I was expecting.  With a name like Porkchop, I was expecting something heartier
  • Southern Peach – light & refreshing
Food
  • Fried Green Tomato BLT – delicious, wish there was more.
  • Brussels Sprout Leaves – to die for. give them to me now.
  • Shrimp ‘N Grits – creamy, savory, perfect texture and shrimp with a nice bite to them – not overcooked
  • Mama’s Chicken Biscuits – we loved you, but there wasn’t enough!
  • Farmhouse Casserole – good flavor, but if I had to choose, this would be my least fave.  Probably because there is no meat!
Other
  • Boiled peanuts (on the house) – a nice touch.  very meaty and well flavored.
  • Pork cracklin’s (on the house) – naughty and amazing. we tried to figure out what the distinct citrusy/vinegary flavor was on top, but to no avail.
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mmm! | Welcome Home Cocktails

By on September 22, 2011 in mmm! - mini mangia memoir, Recipes

 

Negroni Cocktails

Find out what a Negroni is.  It might just be your new favorite cocktail!

Our favorite Italian friend, the infamous Vincenzo Gregorio Modugno (say that 3 times fast) has been working in Sante Fe for the summer, so when he finally resurfaced in Miami for a cameo appearance before heading home for a visit to Chicago, we threw an impromptu dinner to celebrate.  Gracious as ever, Vince came equipped with his own little surprise… a new signature cocktail.

Negroni Sbagliato by Vince ModugnoVince’s World Famous Negroni Sbagliato

  • 4 parts Prosecco
  • 1 part Campari (Italian bitters)
  • 1 orange slice
  • 2 Cerignola olives skewered
  • Pour prosecco over rocks, add Campari and stir gently.  Squeeze a splash of orange in, then rim glass and garnish.  Add skewered olives and serve

Negronis in general can be an acquired taste.   Campari (Italian bitters) are, well… quite bitter, so having the squeeze of orange is great, especially for beginners.  You can also substitute Campari, for it’s cousin Aperol, a sweeter version.

For  other variations of the Negroni cocktails, including the original version that has gin and sweet vermouth, check out this very informational blog post.

Our “Mangia Memoir” (what we’ll remember)Welcome Home to Vince

Vince walked in the door, with that beautiful hair of his, all smiles.  Hugs were had and moments later, it felt like he had never been gone.  Everyone resumed their  spots and did the usual -  ate, drank, laughed and told stories.  Welcome Home Vince!

The Meal: Rosemary/Lemon Chicken Quarters and Homemade Pesto

The Details: We seasoned the chicken with garlic powder, salt, black pepper and a squeeze of lemon, then oven-baked. We also placed a sprig of our garden rosemary beneath the chicken before placing it onto the baking pan, in order to infuse the rosemary flavor through the chicken while cooking.  We garnished with a lemon slice for individuals to add at their liking.  Pesto was just some of the frozen walnut pesto we made a while back.

Lemon Rosemary Chicken

The Verdict:

  • 4 stars
  • It was nothing “special” but definitely a solid meal. One of those meals that you plan and execute in a matter of minutes that turns out to be pretty darn good.
  • Chicken quarters are so much less expensive than chicken breasts and maintain so much more flavor, so if you have a crowd that is willing to do a little work cutting, they are perfect.
  • Would You Eat It Again?: Yep.  We didn’t have any leftovers, so we’ll take that as a good sign.
  • What Would You Change? Nada.  It turned out just fine!
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COTFN | Chicken Cutlet Arugula & Parm

By on July 21, 2011 in COTFN - Clean Out the Fridge Night

Chicken Cotoletto

Sometimes glorious meals come from the scrap you have in the ‘fridge.  And that is what happened here.

The Meal: Chicken Cutlet, aka “Cotoletto” topped with fresh arugula and shaved parmigiano reggiano.

The Details: thinly sliced (or butterflied) chicken breast, pounded out as thin as you can get it (while still being chicken and not mush), dipped in flour, then egg, then panko bread  crumbs (for the crunch) and pan fried.  Top with a handful of fresh arugula and squeeze with lemon.  Shave slices of parmigiano reggiano for intense flavor by the bite.

The Verdict:

  • 5 stars
  • Don’t you feel like crap when somebody asks “What’s for Dinner?” and the immediate response in your mind is “Well, hell if I know!”.  I feel like that a lot. Tonight was one of the nights I looked in the fridge and thought….”Ok, what do I have in here that I can piece together?  And what ingredients do I NEED to use before they go bad?”.
  • The chicken breasts I had bought for a meal that never happened were about to expire and the arugula looked like it had about 1-2 days of life left in it.  Soooo, chicken and arugula it was.  I also realized that I had just enough panko left for 2 cutlets.  I would make the sacrifice (though reluctantly) to have a cutlet dipped in regular breadcrumbs :( EEE—OR  Weber and Tony–that right there is L-O-V-E.
  • Because we had nothing else in the house besides some rouge boxed “Pasta Sides” that have been in there for 2 years (they are shelf stable, right?), I decided I’d pound out the chicken extra extra thin, so it took up the full circumference of the plate and seemed like a huge portion.  We eat with our eyes, right?
  • Weber and Tony didn’t even realize or complain that their wasn’t a starch with dinner and both were stuff, satisfied and happy gents.
  • Would You Eat It Again?: Yes, in a heartbeat.  How about tomorrow?
  • What Would You Change? Really try to have  a spare box of panko, because I’m tell you that stuff really takes it to a whole new level.  Also, having 3 frying pans that can fit a full cutlet would be awesome.  That way, in my house of three, each would be finished at the same time, instead of intermittently.
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mmm! | Copycat Trulucks

By on June 10, 2011 in mmm! - mini mangia memoir

Ever eat something at a restaurant that was so damn good, you had to try to make it yourself the next day? I have.

The Meal: Buttermilk Chicken Tenders & Truluck’s Hot House Tomato Salad

The Details: chicken tenders marinated in seasoned buttermilk, breaded in panko bread crumbs and pan fried to crispy perfection.  Whole tomato (sliced in half) covered in buttermilk dill dressing, topped with thick-cut bacon and thinly sliced onion.

The Verdict:

  • 5 stars
  • All parties agree, it was delicious.  The copycat Truluck’s salad wasn’t exact, but damn close! We have a lifetime to perfect it. Because the chicken was thinly sliced tenders and dipped in panko, rather than regular breadcrumbs, they crisped up reeeaaal nice.
  • Would You Eat It Again?:  Unanimous, hell yes.
  • What Would You Change?:  When making chicken tenders, always make more.  For some reason, people chow down on them a lot faster, and in way bigger quantities. Continue Reading →
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