Cherry Tomato Pizza Margherita

It was a day of 10s, but what did you expect on 10-10-10?

Well, the day’s Star pick came from the appetizer course, a small pizza for two, but filled with big taste. Below, I have up-sized the recipe in order to serve four…

… Unless you don’t want to share any of it! Now, where is my Chianti?

- Chez

• 1 frozen pizza dough
• 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, stemmed
• 1 garlic clove, pressed
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 1 4-ounce ball fresh mozzarella in water (ovoline), drained and cut into chunks
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves plus small leaves for garnish

Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 425°F. Roll dough on heavy large baking sheet; pull to about 14-inch disk, pinching any tears to seal.

Heat large skillet over high heat 2 minutes. Add oil and garlic and sauté for 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until tomatoes are charred and beginning to break down (about 6 minutes). Transfer to large bowl and mix in fennel and crushed red pepper. Using a potato masher, crush tomatoes in bowl leaving some chunks intact. Return to skillet and cook over high heat to drive off excess liquid (2-4 minutes).Season mixture with salt and pepper.
Ladle sauce evenly over dough, coming to within ½ inch of edge. Scatter the 1/3-cup of the basil over the sauce and add the cheese, leaving some space between the chunks. Bake pizza until crust is crisp and brown, 25 to 30 minutes.

Loosen pizza with metal spatula and slide onto board. Garnish with remainder of basil leaves and serve.

Ratatouille Stuffed Bread (serves 8)

For the 46th Anniversary Weekend of the invention/discovery of Hot Wings at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, one would expect a killer Hot Wings recipe to mark this day... or perhaps a tangy, new version of a blue cheese dressing. But as far as Chez is concerned, it is the new addition to the Anchor Bar Lunch menu that earns the coveted distinction of Star for the Week.

Chez has taken a few liberties with the 'official recipe', and added a few tasty items that enhance the savory nature of the dish, but it is still true to the spirit of The Anchor Bar. Good job, Ivano Toscani, Executive Chef and Host at the Anchor Bar.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 large Spanish onion, peeled and sliced
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tbs ground black pepper
• 1 small/medium eggplant, sliced into rounds about ½ inch thick
• 1 small zucchini, trimmed and sliced into coins
• 1 yellow squash, trimmed and sliced into coins
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 small red pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced
• 1 pint button mushroons, roughly chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed
• ½ tsp granulated sugar
• ½ cup hot wing sauce (If you want to be true to the recipe, use Anchor Bar Medium Sauce, but any wing sauce will do just fine. http://www.anchorbar.com/catalog/sauces/.)
• 1 tbsp shredded fresh basil
• 1 loaf frozen bread dough
• 1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
• 2 tbs butter, melted

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok. Add the onion, salt and pepper and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until softened, stirring often.

2. Add the remaining vegetables, mushrooms the garlic, sugar and hot wing sauce. Stir well. Cover the pan and cook over low heat for about 25 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender but still retain their shape. Stir gently from time to time.

3. At the end of cooking, drain mixture into colander, reserving ½ cup of liquid. Check the seasoning and sprinkle with the shredded basil. Toss to combine and set aside to cool to room temperature.

4. With a prepared dough ball that you have thawed in refrigerator overnight. Let rise, punch down and roll out into 9x5inch piece. Set aside.

5. Mix two cups of the cooled ratatouille mixture with cheese. Add back enough of the reserved liquid to maintain a moist mixture.

6. Place the mixture down the middle of dough. Brush all edges of dough with a small amount of water. Fold top flap onto bottom flap about 1in from the bottom. Press and seal with your finger. Lift bottom inch and fold over top and seal with your finger. Fold in both ends and press with your finger.

7. Apply melted butter to top of dough. Bake in a 350°F pre-heated oven for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Country Captain Soup (Serves 6)

Chez commemorated the Battle of Chickamauga from an all Southern perspective and for the brunch, Chez picked Country Captain Soup… a zesty soup that is based on a chicken and curry stew popular in the South. The origin of its name is unclear, but according to one account, it was brought to Savannah in the early 1800s by a sea captain who traveled the spice route from India. Give it a try but stick to the recipe. All of the ingredients are important and bring something to the dish, even the apple and the currants.

- Chez

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 6 skinless boneless chicken thighs (about 1 1/4 pounds), cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 4 cups (or more) canned chicken broth
• 2 cups canned diced peeled tomatoes with juices
• 1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup orzo (rice-shaped pasta; also called riso)
• 2 tablespoons dried currants
• Fresh cilantro
• Sour cream

Heat oil in heavy large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper and garlic; sauté until vegetables soften, about 5 minutes. Add chicken, curry powder, ginger and crushed red pepper; stir 2 minutes. Add 4 cups broth, tomatoes and apple and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before continuing.)

Stir orzo and currants into soup and simmer until orzo is just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with cilantro and dollop of sour cream.

Sweet Potato Chips (8 Cups)

We had this on NFL Kick-Off Sunday for dinner and found these super-simple treasures to be a real 'keeper'. Unfortunately, we mated this with the wrong dip, but that doesn't decrease the Star Status of this dish! Give this one a try and see if you don't agree that this is a great alternative to to 'plain old potato chips'... and they're healthy too.

- Chez

What you'll need:

• 2 (about 1 3/4 pounds) sweet potatoes or yams scrubbed clean
• 2 quarts canola oil for deep-frying
• coarse salt to taste

How you'll use it:

With a mandolin or knife cut the potatoes into 1/16-inch slices and pat them dry with paper towels.

In a deep fryer or cast iron Dutch Oven. heat enough oil to measure 2-4 inches to 380°F and in it fry the potato slices in batches, turning them, until they are golden brown.

Transfer the chips with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain and sprinkle them with the salt.

Carrabba’s Italian Grill of Canton, MI

Our last evening in Canton, MI brought us to Carrabba’s Italian Grill, conveniently located in our hotel parking lot (I do so love it when I don’t have to strain myself too much after a meal!) and while it is true that Carrabba’s is indeed a chain (and Chez tends to shun chains), it is also appropriate to note that Chez has done reviews of chains before… so the precedent does exist. On to the review!

We begin with what must be the most outstanding attribute of this particular establishment… namely the service. From the time we entered into this enterprise we were warmly welcome, made to feel at home and treated like an amalgamation of royalty and family. From our entrance and greeting by our hostess to our ‘adoption’ by the bartender (whom we later found out was the proprietor – Kim Janes, who mixes a mighty fine Dirty Martini, mind you) the ‘anticipation’ bar was set very high for the evening.

As already mentioned, Sheb once again chose the aforementioned martini, I went for the Vodka Tonic with lime and my daughter went for the Watermelon Martini. Sheb loved hers (I had no worries there), I found mine quite refreshing but Jenni thought that hers was a bit too sweet and way too ‘watermellon-esque’. Well, such is to be expected with frou-frou drinks. Stick to the old standards, is what I say.

Our dining started with the simple and the sublime. Carrabba's (well at least this Carrabba’s) has an excellent bread and oil herb dip. The bread, served warm, is a slightly dense white bread with a hard (but thin) crust. It a word, delicious! The herb mix with the oil was a great combination and while it was on the slightly salty side, the two complimented each other quite well.

Our appetizer course was the Antipasti Plate, composed of breaded and fried Calamari, Bruschette and Fried Mozzarella with Marinara. I found the calamari to be done quite well, with neither the excessive ‘breadiness’ nor the rubbery texture that I have been accustomed to. Great job on this one! The Fried Mozzarella was acceptable but I thought the marinara to be a bit bland… and as for the bruschette, well this one gets a big ‘thumbs down’, for it was far too oily for my tastes.

My dining partners then delved into the land of salads (a house salad for Sheb and a Caesar for Jenni) but I went forth and sampled the Tomato Basil Soup. The soup had a good tomato-tang, as I was expecting but what it didn’t have was that ‘basil punch’… in fact, I failed to note any basil at all, save a few flakes floating in the sea of red. In all, good… but not GREAT!

Main courses for us were composed of Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (Sheb), Lobster Ravioli (Jenni) and Baked Manicotti with a side of Italian Sausage (Chez). Sheb greatly enjoyed her dish and the rich, robust flavor of the dish was offset by the al dente of the pasta. If there were a negative (and I am not saying there was) it would be the lack of artistry in the presentation of the dish.

Jenni’s choice of the Lobster Ravioli had both flavor as well as the aforementioned ‘missing artistry’ and was a joy to behold, both for the palette as well as the eye. You can’t go wrong with a creamy white wine sauce. The Baked Manicotti with Italian Sausage (my choice) was also flavorful but it too was missing a certain flair that would have garnered it more presentation-points on Iron Chef America. Suffice it to say that in the taste portion of this competition it scored very high and there were no left-overs.

As the dessert cart made its way to our table we asked ourselves, “Do we really need more?”
Well, as you might have guessed, the answer was in the affirmative!

For Jenni it was all about the Limóncello Bread Pudding; a baked Brioche bread pudding, topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with a Limóncello liqueur sauce. Jenni found it a bit too lemony and a bit too ‘boozy’ for her tastes. I can respect that point of view since Limóncello is an aperitif that one must tread softly with, since the line betwixed too much and not enough is a very thin one indeed and one should always err on the side of caution. In this case, the chef erred in the opposite direction and a lower rating was the result.

For Sheb and myself, we went with ‘the old standard’, Tiramisú. Having it presented to us freshly prepared and ‘homemade’ rather than recently thawed and store-bought was a most pleasant experience and the addition of dark rum rather than Marasla was an interesting albeit non-traditional presentation. Rather than the coffee/cocoa dusting, as is also traditional, Carrabba’s garnishes this dish with shavings of milk chocolate… which I at first scoffed at, but then came to enjoy.

The two criticisms of this dish (small ones that they are) would be that I did indeed miss that coffee-flavor and I wish it could have found its way into the dish more prominently. As for the chocolate… call me an elitist but I think that a very dark chocolate (70% cocoa) shaving rather than milk chocolate would have better served the dish.

In closing, the evening at Carrabba’s was a pleasing dining experience, made all the better by the personal touches provided by the staff. Our server (Emily) was engaging, interesting and personable, with a gift for conversation and an abundantly cheerful attitude. Emily, you are hereby forgiven for forgetting my lime!

So, would Chez go back? Most certainly!

- Chez

O'Sushi of Canton, MI

Another long weekend (this one in observance of Labor Day), and another opportunity to get out and explore our ‘options’… This time we went ‘East’ and ventured to Canton, Michigan to visit our youngest daughter and our oldest grand-daughter, delve into the world of the Michigan RenFaire and of course dine at a few local hot-spots.

Our journey began in the ‘culinary far-East’ with a trip to O’Sushi, an eatery of Japanese roots despite the somewhat Irish sounding name. As we entered the store front establishment I was surprised how cramped it was. To call it cozy is to take great liberty with that word and for any groups of four or more, well… seating is a bit more than problematic. Since our party was five adults and two children (high-chairs) I think we taxed the proprietor to her limit and our accommodations (despite our previous reservations and forewarning that out party consisted of seven) was a hastily assemblage of tables and chairs close to the door. This resulted in harried wait-staff and a poor first impression. Not a stellar first act but I am open-minded, so on to the feast!

We opened our flavor-excursion with the appetizer round, consisting of traditional Edamame, Agedashi Tofu – a fried tofu in Ginger Bonita sauce, and according to the menu an Ahi Tune Tartare. The edamame were good but it hardly rates high praise, the Agedashi was excellent with just enough ‘tang’ to keep it interesting and the tofu’s creamy inner texture was in perfect balance with its crunchy outer skin.

The tuna tartare on the other hand was a bit of a disappointment. To begin with it wasn’t a tartare at all but planks of tuna done up in a ceviche. It would have been marginal at best had it been what was ordered but it certainly wasn’t what was advertised and in truth… the quality of the tuna was lacking. It struck me that in this dish the proprietor had found a place to use the sushi tuna that was no longer at its prime.

Our sushi course was also composed of three parts; a traditional sushi sampler platter of sashimi and nigiri (but sadly no maki), a vegetarian sushi platter and an interesting assemblage called Sunday Morning Sushi – a tempura coated maki with a spicy sauce. All three dishes were good, with plenty to go around. The only negative on any of the dishes would have to be that the carrots on the vegetarian sushi were on the wilted side and not very palatable.

So… what is the final verdict? Well, O’Sushi is a fair, (not good & certainly not great) addition to our dietary repertoire, but I don’t think I would venture back.

- Chez

Moroccan Carrot Soup (serves 4)

The motion picture 'Casablanca' was the theme for the meals served the last week of August and that meant an all-Moroccan day. The soup served at this day's brunch, Moroccan Carrot Soup, brought the best attributes of this hearty root vegetable... from the earthy tones of the root to the enigmatic notes of roasted cumin and finishing with the bright flavors brought by the yogurt. Give this soup a try.

- Chez

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
• 1 cup chopped white onion
• 1 pound large carrots, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 2 2/3 cups)
• 2 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt, stirred to loosen

Preperation:

1. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add onion; sauté 2 minutes.
3. Mix in carrots. Add broth; bring to boil.
4. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes.
5. Stir cumin seeds in small skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes; cool.
6. Finely grind in spice mill.
7. Remove soup from heat. Puree in batches in blender until smooth.
8. Return to same pan. Whisk in honey, lemon juice,sour cream and allspice.
9. Season with salt and pepper.
10. Ladle soup into bowls. Drizzle yogurt over; sprinkle generously with cumin.

Beef and Guinness Pie (Serves 4)

The anniversary of the English Civil War provided Chez with an opportunity to look for fine culinary offerings from England… and this is no mean feat!

Despite the reputation that English food has, several potential Stars did in the end, show bright… but it was the Beef and Guinness Pie that won the day.

Unique, pleasing to both eye and palette and hearty as the day is long … what else is there to say!

Enjoy,

- Chez

• 2 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 cup Guinness or other Irish stout
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons drained brined green peppercorns, coarsely chopped
• 2 fresh thyme sprigs
• puff pastry dough
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon water

1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.


2. Pat beef dry. Stir together flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. Add beef, turning to coat, then shake off excess and transfer to a plate.


3. Heat oil in a wide 5- to 6-quart ovenproof heavy pot over moderately high heat until just smoking, then brown meat in 3 batches, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes per batch, transferring to a bowl.


4. Add onion, garlic, and water to pot and cook, scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pot and stirring frequently, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in beef with any juices accumulated in bowl, broth, beer,


5. Worcestershire sauce, peppercorns, and thyme and bring to a simmer, then cover and transfer to oven.


6. Braise until beef is very tender and sauce is thickened, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Discard thyme and cool stew completely, uncovered, about 30 minutes. (If stew is warm while assembling pies, it will melt uncooked pastry top.)


7. Put a shallow baking pan on middle rack of oven and increase oven temperature to 425°F.


8. Divide cooled stew among bowls (they won't be completely full). Roll out pastry dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 13-inch square, about 1/8 inch thick. Trim edges and cut dough into quarters.


9. Stir together egg and water and brush a 1-inch border of egg wash around each square. Invert 1 square over each bowl and drape, pressing sides lightly to help adhere.


10. Brush pastry tops with some of remaining egg wash and freeze 15 minutes to thoroughly chill dough.


11. Bake pies in preheated shallow baking pan until pastry is puffed and golden brown, about 20 minutes.


12. Reduce oven temperature to 400°F and bake 5 minutes more to fully cook dough.

Tinga Pueblana (Pulled Pork)

August 15 is the anniversary of the completion of the Panama Canal so as expected, Chez did an all Panamanian Day, and while the day gave us many surprises (all of then good) like yucca root, plantains and Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa)... it was the Tinga Pueblana that won the Star for today.

Viva la pig!

- Chez

• 3 medium or 2 large russet potatoes to equal about a pound, peeled and diced
• 1 (2 to 3-pound) pork loin
• 1/2 yellow onion, whole, plus 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 2 bay leaves
• 12 ounces raw chorizo, casing removed and crumbled
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo, finely chopped (seeded and ribbed for less heat)
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• salt
  

For serving:

• 16 corn or flour tortillas
• Lime wedges
• 1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 serrano peppers, chopped
  

Directions:
Place the potatoes in a large pot of cold water. Add the salt, bring to a boil and cook until tender, 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes and set aside.

Place the pork in a large pot of cold water. Add the onion half, the garlic, and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low. Simmer gently until the pork is cooked through and is no longer pink in the center, about 45 minutes. Remove the pork from the water and set it aside until it is cool enough to handle (discard the cooking liquid). Using your fingers or 2 forks, shred the meat into small pieces and set aside.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute crumbled chorizo until completely cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chorizo to a paper towel lined plate. Add the chopped onions to the chorizo skillet and cook until soft, about 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the shredded pork, the tomatoes, and the chipotle chiles. Cook until the tomatoes break down and release their juices, about 5 minutes. Return the potatoes and cooked chorizo to the pan. Stir in the vinegar, thyme, marjoram and salt, to taste. Continue to cook over medium heat until some of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes.

While the pork cooks, heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add a tortilla and warm for 10 to 15 seconds. Flip the tortilla over and continue to warm until the tortilla is pliable and heated through, another 10 to 20 seconds. Place warm tortillas in a tortilla warmer or on a plate, cover with a kitchen towel, and set aside; repeat with the remaining tortillas (or warm the tortillas in the microwave: stack them on a plate and cover with a damp cloth; microwave for 30 seconds and keep them covered until you're ready to serve).

To Serve:
Place the pulled pork in a serving bowl or bring to the table in the cooking pot. Arrange the limes, avocado, and cilantro on a platter. Scatter the serrano on top of the pork. Pass warm tortillas so each diner can fill a tortilla with some of the meat and accompaniments. Squeeze lime juice over each serving.

Kyoto Steakhouse and Sushi Bar, Crystal Lake, IL

So, there we were in north-east Illinois on the second weekend of August in preparation to attend the second-helping of the Woodstock Mozart Festival. (Editor’s note: This is a MUST ATTEND for all Chamber Music aficionados out there.) With the pangs of hunger gnawing at our innards, we ventured to the Crystal Lake Region of Illinois to try out Kyoto Steakhouse and Sushi Bar. Sheb had had a hankering for Asian food for quite a few weeks and this place seemed like a safe place to sate those needs.

The décor was standard Japanese Steakhouse and nothing to get too excited about. The faux Japanese artwork, hibachi tables and shoji screens were in abundance but we hadn’t come to appreciate the furniture. Tonight it was about the food… so bring it on!

Round 1 –The Sake Martini: This one was a bit of a disappointment. Well, it actually was a bit more than ‘a bit’. When you order a sake martini you kind of expect sake to be the predominant tone but not in this case. Even on their second attempt, the sake was only a fleeting memory.

Round 2 –House Salad with Creamy Ginger Dressing: We were very glad that this was included in the cost of our main course because if we had been forced to pay for this we both would have been irate. Now in vegetal matters I tend to be more gracious than Sheb, but this salad was not good at all. The lettuce was wilted and flecked with brown age-spots that the chef had hoped to hide under a soupy abundance of cloy ginger dressing. So as my wife so aptly put it, “Ick!”

Round 3 –Sushi Appetizer Plate and Harumaki Plate: I refuse to go to a sushi house and not order sushi, even if it is just for an appetizer. Sheb on the other hand can refuse sushi 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Faced with this conundrum we each ordered our own appetizer, with Sheb going for the Haru-maki (Japanese Spring roll) and I venturing into Sushiville. Sheb was happy with her order and found the dish to be light, fresh and a good opening course. For her, it was the first ‘thumbs up’ of the day.

I found my choice as ‘just acceptable’. Why? Well one of the fine points of sushi is the artistry of the dish and in my view this was lacking. It appeared that the items were just piled on the plate… no flair, no eye for the dramatic. It was just raw fish and rice.

Round 4 –Miso Soup: Since it was not Miso Soup, I guess that this one doesn’t qualify for a grade in the Miso Soup course. Instead we were given an anemic version of Chinese Egg Drop Soup, which we both found tasty… however what that had to do with a Japanese restaurant still has us baffled.

Round 5 (Her) – Hibachi Chicken Teriyaki: Sheb thoroughly enjoyed the dish, while I thought the chicken was a bit dry… no doubt a function of the excessive cook-time that she had requested of our chef. Moresthepity, but it was her meal and she can have it any way she likes.

Round 5 (Him) –Hibachi Steak and White Tuna: I was disappointed that this was done with a ‘white’ Albacore tuna rather than a ‘red’ Yellow fin tuna. The subtle flavor of yellow fin would have complemented the steak portion of the dish better but alas, it was not offered, and while the steak was cooked to perfection I did find the dish in it’s entirety to be ‘only average’.

Honorable Mention: Bar none, the brightest spot of the evening was our chef… a Masaharu Morimoto look-alike who was also quite the comedian. We have seen the ‘standard show’ at Japanese steakhouses many times in our travels so the ‘initial flame-on, onion volcano and smoking choo-choos’ don’t hold our attention as much as they once did. Our chef, on the other hand, seemed to sense this and pulled out all the stops to make the dinner preparation the centerpiece of our evening. From his amalgamation of Spanish and Japanese to his self deprecation to his bumbling antics, he managed to salvage a mediocre evening and bump it up to ‘enjoyable status’. Thank you sir for a great show!

As for the restaurant as a whole… well, I am going to have to give this one a ‘Thumbs Down’. The food wasn’t special, the décor was cliché and I have to ask myself, “Is a Benihana-look-alike really the best we could have done?”

- Chez