Small Bites

I am a little bummed this year. I had so many plans for Hudson Valley Restaurant Week 2010. I anticipated hitting at least 4 restaurants, but a viral infection derailed me for a week. I recovered in time to make it out to a short vacation to Colorado, and that turned into an extended vacation due to an ice storm. Instead of enjoying delicious cuisine in some of the nicest dining establishments in the Hudson Valley, I ended up munching on BBQ chicken sandwiches at the Denver Airport. All of this occurring smack dab in the middle of restaurant week.

I did manage to get to one restaurant, and I am glad that I did. I hit the Tap House in Tuckahoe.

We had reservations for 7PM and were sat right away. The restaurant week menu was a little small, but the selections were more then adequate.

For apps. my girlfriend ordered the carrot ginger soup with lump crab. I had the roasted beet salad, which consisted of field greens, haricot verts, walnuts, goat cheese, all dressed in a sherry walnut vinaigrette. Normally I would have ordered the soup, but I’m a sucker for anything with goat cheese.

The salad was tasty, predictably adequate and light enough so that I was still ready for my entrée. The soup was excellent, but I am glad that I went with the salad because the soup was a little on the heavy side. My entrée was going to be pretty heavy, so the salad was the best choice for me.

For dinner, I ordered the wild mushroom risotto with royal trumpet mushrooms and pea shoots. My date ordered the braised beef bourguignon, served with red barn vegetables and mashed potato. My risotto was cooked perfectly; I really enjoyed it and I was thoroughly satisfied when it was all gone. My date’s beef dish was even better. The beef was so shredded and moist; it had a texture and taste of a protein slow cooked for hours. I was really, really impressed and also slightly jealous. Had the real estate in my belly not been hosting the remnants of creamy rice and mushrooms, I would have snuck a few pieces of beef for myself.

Dessert was a no brainer for me. There were two choices, Peanut Butter Bomb and Double Chocolate Lava cake. The peanut butter bomb consisted peanut butter mousse layered with a chocolate crumb crust. Peanut butter and chocolate is my favorite combination of flavors on this planet.  The Lava cake is self-explanatory, and it was delicious.

All in all, this was an excellent trip to the Tap House. Their full menu is located here. I would highly recommend checking it out. I’ll go back to try out the full menu.

Guest blogger Larry checking in. You may remember me from my witty and amusing blog posts from Hudson Valley Restaurant Week 2009.

If you haven’t already seen the posts, check them out:

• HVRW 2009: Half Moon in Dobbs Ferry


• HVRW 2009: Casa Rina of Thornwood

My DVR is filled up with two types of programming: Anything mixed martial arts and food shows. My girlfriend likes to set my DVR to record the Food Network all day and all night.

One of my favorite shows on the Food Network is Good Eats with Alton Brown. I like the scientific approach he takes to making food, the background story he provides for commonly prepared dishes and tips to avoid pitfalls while preparing those dishes.

I was watching an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown was showing the television audience unique ways to use wine and beer as food ingredients. At some point during the episode, Alton used a 12 ounce beer as an ingredient to make some cheddar cheese beer bread. My curiosity was immediately piqued. I have never made bread, from scratch anyway, and the instructions on how to make this version were pretty simple.

So simple, in fact, that I was able to adapt the recipe and make my own version:

The result? Well, I might need your help. Check it out, after the jump.

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