Downtown Dining Dish

It's one of my favorite weeks in Milwaukee: Downtown Dining Week. Every year at this time, a number of downtown restaurants participate, offering three-course meals for $10 at lunch and $20 or $30 at dinner. It's an awesome way to try new places, and it's given me an opportunity to eat at a lot of restaurants I probably wouldn't have thought of before. In the past few years I've been to Umami Moto, Swig, the Cafe at the Pfister, Charro, Libiamo and almost a dozen other places for Downtown Dining. And I've been back to almost all of them since!

This year, Bill and I decided to try Kilawat (I had been for lunch, but never for dinner) on Thursday. Then Tiff, Steph and I chose Zarletti for dinner last night (Bill came, too, but didn't participate in the restaurant-selection process). Both had bright spots, and I'm glad we got to try them.

I had a hard time making up my mind at Kil@wat because there were several delicious-sounding things on the menu. I debated between bacon-wrapped dates or soup, and was tempted by both the braised short rib and polenta cakes. Luckily, Bill made it easy ... I got bacon-wrapped dates and he got soup, and I got the braised short rib and he got polenta cakes.

I think it's pretty well-known that I love anything involving bacon. And these bacon-wrapped dates were no exception. They were the perfect combination of salty and sweet, crispy and chewy. And if Bill liked dates, I would totally be trying them at home! Bill's roasted red pepper soup was tasty, and he claimed it was the best soup he'd ever had, but I think that was the beer talking. I'm completely confident that I could make a roasted red pepper soup just as delicious (and in fact, I just might try it). So course number one was a winner.

Course number two didn't rank quite as high. Both of our entrees were perfectly good, but they lacked the wow factor. My short rib was tender, but not super flavorful. The mashed potatoes were good, but not delectable. And it turns out I don't like collard greens. Bill's polenta cakes were good (and I loved the fig and mushroom salad), but they went WAY overboard on the rosemary. When they called it a Rosemary Polenta Cake, I was expecting the rosemary to be much more mild. Instead it was overpowering.

For dessert, we both had the ice cream sandwich. And I wish I had taken a picture to remember it by. OMG, was it delicious. Vanilla gelato sandwiched between two chocolate chunk cookies with a side of hot fudge (the menu claimed it was chocolate-caramel, but I didn't taste any caramel ... it was just delicious, warm, gooey fudge). By far, the best course of the three.

We had a pretty amazing meal at Zarletti last night with Stephanie and Tiff. None of us had ever been there, but had wanted to try it. I actually attempted to go there for lunch during Downtown Dining a couple years ago, but it was packed and we couldn't get in. After that experience, I was sure to make reservations for last night. Turns out that wasn't necessary (downtown has been almost eerily quiet the last couple times I've ventured down there). It wasn't quite as difficult to choose from the menu, mostly because I love osso bucco and it's on my recipe wishlist (I swear, someday I really will make it). Bill decided not to order from the Downtown Dining menu because he wanted halibut (which was actually quite good ... and I'm not a big fish eater). Stephanie, Tiff and I stuck to the Downtown Dining menu.

The appetizers weren't anything to write home about (really, what's there to say about soup and salad?), but we all had a different delicious entree: Steph chose swordfish, Tiff had the ragu di funghi, and I chose osso bucco. We all agreed that our entrees were awesome. In fact, my osso bucco was better than the osso bucco I had at Mario Batali's Carnevino in Vegas. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so surprised by that, but I actually am shocked. It was super tender and flavorful, the sauce was rich and tangy, and the risotto was a nice, creamy complement. (But while the risotto was good, I think I make it better. Mine is less sticky and dense than this was.)

For dessert, all three of us picked the torta al limone. (Bill had a banana semifreddo, which was good, but super duper banana-y.) It was delicious, but WAY tart. I think we all preferred the lime curd I made for my Super Bowl cupcakes, which was a bit sweeter than this.

So overall, this year's Downtown Dining Week was a big success. I'd go back to both Kil@wat and Zarletti ... Kil@wat for the dates and dessert, and Zarletti for an amazing entree. I can't wait to see what we get to try next year!

Loca for Saltimbocca Part II

So the last time I made saltimbocca, it was with chicken and I went easy on the sage. I recently found a recipe for pork saltimbocca in my Best of Cooking Light cookbook and decided to just go all in. Turns out that fresh sage leaves aren't as overpowering as I thought they were, and the technique used in Cooking Light totally trumps the technique suggested by America's Test Kitchen (surprising, since they're notorious for testing, re-testing, and testing again).

While the chicken saltimbocca was very good, I strongly suggest this recipe instead. The pairing with the polenta was amazing, and the sauce was so much better!

Pork Saltimbocca with Polenta
Ingredients:
2 boneless pork loin chops
2 very thin slices of prosciutto
2 large fresh sage leaves
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 tablespoon fresh sage, thinly sliced

Directions:
To prepare pork, place each chop between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet. Arrange a slice of prosciutto and a sage leaf over each chop. Fold chops in half to sandwich filling. Sprinkle both sides of pork chops with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour.

Heat oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chops and cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chops from skillet; cover and set aside.

Add wine to pan, scraping up the browned bits. Cook until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cook until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Stir in sliced sage. Reduce heat to medium. Return chops to skillet. Cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

For the Polenta:
1 2/3 cup water
1/2 cup milk
Salt
1/2 cup polenta
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Pepper
2 oz. grated Parmesan cheese

Add the water, milk and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Slowly add the polenta while whisking constantly in a circular motion to prevent clumping.

Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring often and vigorously, until the poletna is soft and smooth, about 10 to 15 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the butter and cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve chops over polenta with sauce spooned over.


I thought my chicken saltimbocca was pretty yummy, but this dish FAR exceeded it. I think the secret was pounding the pork super thin and folding it over to sandwich the filling. This enabled me to get a perfect crust on the pork, which was really flavorful. With the chicken saltimbocca recipe, there was no folding involved, so you got a sear on the prosciutto layer as well (and it was kind of tricky because you had to flip it in the pan without separating the prosciutto and sage from the chicken). That approach made the prosciutto more bacon-y (which isn't necessarily bad), but the folding makes it more cordon bleu-y (which is awesome!).