Seward's Folly

Almost a month ago I went to Anchorage to run a marathon on the summer solstice. I'm trying to run a marathon in all 50 states, so I thought I'd visit the nicer states first. Also, I've wanted to go to Alaska since I watched Insomniac with Dave Attell in 2003. It seemed like a strange place. Then, when I was in grad school in Western Mass, I watched every episode of Northern Exposure on DVD. I had to visit this very far away place.

I didn't have high hopes for food in Anchorage. Reviews of the best places on Yelp and Chowhound all ended with something like, "...considering it's Alaska, this place wasn't bad." After a disappointing sushi night, I decided to focus on carbo loading and eat in. 

I think this would have been one of my favorite marathons if it hadn't rained for the first 8-10 miles. In this photo I'm thinking, "It's raining. I really don't want to get out of the car. Why am I running another marathon?" But, my mother and I had made the trip to Alaska. The marathon was uphill the first half and downhill the second half. It cleared up a bit, but remained overcast. I ran a far-from-PR negative split. I enjoyed it and could walk the next day. After running nine marathons in nearly five years, it does become easier.

Anyway, enough marathon talk. After the marathon we drove down to Seward for a marine cruise. I was very excited to visit Seward, as I had written a paper about a woman, Queen Silver, who visited Seward in the early 20th century. I thought she was going to be the subject of my dissertation, but alas, no. It was fascinating to think about her visit to Seward in the teens. 

The guy cleaning up the trash on the touristy marine cruise asked me what I had planned for the solstice. I mentioned driving back to Anchorage and he said, "Oh, Anchorage. Go to Humpy's and have the halibut tacos and an Alaska Pale for me." I decided to follow up on that recommendation the next day.

The tacos look like a giant mess. Who doesn't love the 1990's squeeze bottle sauce presentation? It was halibut season and the tacos were the best food I ate in Alaska. I was not even offended by the flour tortillas. Looking back, everything in Anchorage seemed like it was from the 1990s: the architecture, the cars, the signage.

I also decided upon Alaska because my mother wanted to visit. Since it will likely be the only time she ventures to Alaska, I asked her if she wanted to take a plane to land on a glacier in Denali National Park. Denali doesn't seem like the type of park you can visit for one day. There's a whole bus system that (rightly so) limits vehicular traffic in the park. Sitting on a bus all day, after driving 4.5 hours, the day before a marathon, seemed like a miserable idea. Thus, I found the glacier landing. I would never do something like this. But, for my mom, I went with it. It was by far the best part of the trip. Landing on a glacier, with a view of Mt. McKinley, defies words. I felt like a giddy five-year-old when I stepped off the plane. It was other-worldly gorgeous.

I'm not sure that I would go back to Alaska. It is truly beautiful. It is truly far away. I might want to visit Fairbanks and drive north to the Arctic Circle or see the Northern Lights, but as long as I live on the east coast, Alaska is very far away folly.

Louisville Two

I’m trying something new. I’m blogging within days of returning home from a trip.

Last year I visited Louisville to read the AP US History Exam (they call it a reading, but it's grading). I was invited back this year and had another lovely time. 

It was much easier the second time around. I may have earned a reputation as “the girl who stretches during breaks.” On the plane back to Philly, surrounded by other readers returning home, a kind woman handed me my yoga mat from the overhead bin. She said, “I heard there was someone from Question 4 stretching during breaks. Was that you?” Yeah, I didn’t see anyone else stretching, so I figure it was me. Alright, I graded 1375 essays over the course of seven straight days. Doing ten to fifteen wall backbends twice a day was the only thing keeping me from terrible back pain.

While the reading was great, I made a few suspect food choices. I’m always torn between trying new places and sticking with what I know. When you add a year-long interim into the mix, I figure going to a place I’ve already been might be as risky as trying a new place. Unfortunately, I was probably wrong about that theory. 

I’ll get the failures out of the way. First, I went to Milkwood. Chef Edward Lee won Top Chef a few years ago. He has a James Beard Award winning restaurant called 610 Magnolia. Since, as far as I can tell, 610 Magnolia doesn’t have a bar, requires a credit card for reservations, and is off the beaten path, I haven’t been there. There was a time when I would sit alone at a table for two and enjoy a multi-course tasting menu. At this point, I think I can find food worth eating in a restaurant with a bar. Thus, I went to his other, co-run, restaurant Milkwood. I should have never eaten there. I should have left after my initial interaction with the bartender (they were out of the first two beverages I ordered, one being a cocktail). But, I stayed. The food was incredibly mediocre. Poorly-seared scallops, a boring salad, not crispy pork belly, room-temperature food. A waste of time.

My next failure was Hillbilly Tea. It is a beautiful place. Perhaps I should have had tea instead of food. It’s not worth detailing this experience. They did make a delicious bourbon and ginger cocktail.

Now, onto better food. I went back to Garage Bar. Last year I had insanely good turkey wings. I thought about these wings at least once a month. I still wonder why no one in Philadelphia is serving turkey wings. They were as good as I had imagined them all year. I also tried one ham: S. Wallace Edwards & Sons from Surry, VA. It was mind blowing and unforgettable. The flavor was so funky and basementy; it happily reminded me of a sour beer.

I also tried out Taco Punk. Less formal than everywhere else I ate, this is a laid-back, seemingly hipster-run place. I tried the Punk Platter with one shrimp in coconut sauce taco and one pineapple pork taco. The platter included a side (kale) and chips & salsa. With homemade tortillas, shredded cabbage, pickled onions, jalapenos and cilantro, these tacos were totally great. For $10.95 I felt really good about this place.

The greatest find of the trip was Rye on Market. Well, I didn't find it, but I discovered it on Instagram. I like to follow professional photographers who travel. With so many followers, when they ask where to go in a city, they get many replies. I saw that Rye on Market looked pretty awesome. And, indeed, it was so awesome that I ate there three times.

The atmosphere was distinctly gentrifying hipster. This is not a terrible thing. I enjoyed cocktails that were better than any cocktail I’ve ever had. As the cocktail list changes daily, I tried several different beverages. With regards to food, the small plates were best: Korean roasted shishito Peppers, golden beets & baby carrot, grilled zucchini, roasted cauliflower. Oh and the meat plate was amazing. The larger plate, a sweet corn agnolotti, was the weakest of all the dishes I tried. I can’t wait to go back next year. The whole bar experience at Rye is perfection.

In the end, it was a pretty good food trip. I should have gone back to Harvest and Eiderdown. I deeply regret not returning to Eiderdown. Hopefully, “there’s always next year." Every year there are rumors about the reading being moved to Salt Lake or Cincinnati. Based upon my two trips to Louisville, I'd be rather sad about eating and grading in either one of those towns.

Portland, Maine Revisited

It’s that time of the year again. It's the time when I blog about a place I visited months ago. It’s also the time when I imagine that blogging will get me into “writing mode.” As if “writing mode” is really a state of being that you can conjure or harness. I digress. Below is a post I drafted months ago, but never finished, on my New Years trip to Portland.

I have always had a certain affection for Portland, Maine. When I lived in Western Mass I would drive nearly three hours to visit for dinner. While Boston is closer, Portland offers more New England charm. Jeans and duck boots are formal attire. The seafood makes you wish you hadn’t eaten seafood anywhere south of the Maine/New Hampshire border. Far removed from the fast-paced world that many of us are used to, it seems as though you have to want to be in Portland to live in Portland.

I decided to revisit Portland over New Years. Yes, why not visit during the coldest time of the year. Venturing north after a blizzard, there were piles of snow everywhere and the sidewalks were icy deathtraps. Yet, there were no wind-chill warnings; frostbite-inducing temperatures are simply par for the course Down East. In spite of the frozen climes, Portland proved to be even more enjoyable than the last time I was there. With new restaurants and bars, Portland has quite a bit going for it.

I’ll give a quick rundown of all my stops:

1. Novare Res: If you’re into craft beer, you can’t visit Portland without a stop at Novare Res. It’s basement-y, dark, cold, and has fantastic beer. The Oxbow on tap was as fresh as can be. I didn’t eat anything there this time, as it was a pre-dinner stop. 

2. Fore Street: I have been to Fore Street several times over the years. They were doing farm-to-table before it was called that. Nearly as fancy as things get in Portland, it’s a gorgeous restaurant. My first visit to Fore Street was in 2007. Sadly, I have to admit that each subsequent visit has been less and less impressive. Nothing was terrible, but nothing was fantastic. Well, the oysters were fantastic. Quite honestly, with everything else happening in Portland, Fore Street may be best for a quick appetizer before venturing elsewhere.

3. Standard Baking Co.: Okay, this bakery is amazing. It’s attached to/below Fore Street. Somehow, I never visited before. While their bread is served at Fore Street, I never realized that there was an amazing bakery offering tasty treats just below. All of the breakfast pastries were great, while the baguette was just okay. The country loaf, or whatever they serve at Fore Street, achieves a level of goodness that you can't find in the Philly area.

4. Maine Beer Co.: Maine Beer Co. has been a favorite of mine since their bottles arrived in Philly and Western Mass a few years ago. Their newly constructed brewery is a short drive north of Portland in Freeport. I was able to try the Lunch on tap. I’ve never had the chance to sample it in Philly, as it seems to be the most limited of their releases. All the beers were great. The tasting portions were perfect. Oddly, the bottles were more expensive at the brewery than they are at my local Whole Foods. 
 

5. Eventide Oyster Co.: The standout of the visit was Eventide Oyster Co. Relatively new, Eventide Oyster Co. resides in the space that was one of my favorite cookbook stores: Rabelias. I suppose the best ode to that cookbook store (since relocated to Biddeford, ME), run by a husband and wife for years, is an amazing restaurant. Everything here was perfect. Oysters from Maine, Razor Clam with Uni butter, a green salad, a lobster roll, a fried oyster roll, sashimi, more oysters. We wanted to order the entire menu. Well, we pretty much did. Everything was light, fresh, enticing, and perfectly seasoned. I can’t recommend this place enough. Eventide is one of the best restaurants I’ve visited in a long time.

 

6. Miyake: For New Year’s Eve we went to Miyake. The omakase was pretty great. Sitting at the sushi bar watching Chef Miyake work was perhaps as interesting as the food. He maintained his serene composure as the restaurant filled up for a busy holiday service. The highlight of the night was Maine Uni. I can’t say that I’ve had Maine Uni before this meal. Compared to west coast Uni, it’s definitely less creamy and more salty. Chef Miyake smiled at us when we became visibly excited about the Uni. Lovely.

7. Portland Alpine and Hunt Club: This bar is relatively new to Portland. I’d like to write a Yelp review that begins with: “I don’t know why everyone on Yelp hates on this place…oh wait, I do. Because everyone on Yelp loves to hate on everything.” The bartenders were not rude, as Yelp would have you believe. I didn’t try any food, but it looks like a nice, simple menu. There is nothing wrong with this bar. If anything, it’s too modern and slick for Portland. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, Portland probably needs a cocktail bar that does it right. If I lived in Portland, I’d be there as often as I would be at Novare.  

Once again, Portland didn’t disappoint. While my wintry visit didn’t exactly make me want to move there, it did remind me of everything I love about Portland and, perhaps reluctantly, New England.

Reading & Eating in Louisville

One of my dreams came true this last month. Junior year of high school I took the AP US History Exam. I remember my teacher giving us advice before the exam: "Listen, the people who grade these exams are miserable. They are stuck in a convention center all day, reading the same essay a hundred times. They hate their lives. Get to your point right away and be clear." Of course, this was good writing advice. But, this speech also inspired me to want to become one of those miserable people. Yeah...this says a bit about me at sixteen. Anyway, thirteen years later, six of them spent studying and/or teaching history, I am qualified to grade the exam. And, it wasn't a miserable experience. In fact, I loved it and I hope to be invited back next year.

For the past several years, the AP US History Reading has taken place in Louisville. I wanted to make the most of the all-expenses-paid (not all of this food) trip to Kentucky. I did what I always do on my solo vacations: eat and drink. Thanks to advice from Twitter people, I managed to have three excellent meals in Louisville.

The first good meal was at Harvest. This farm-to-table restaurant in the "NuLu" East Market District was a short fifteen-minute walk from my hotel. From what I gather, the neighborhood has improved quite a bit in the last three years. The area was quiet with nice restaurants, galleries, and boutique shops. It felt like Old City, without the annoying night life and Jersey crowd.

I wasn't sure if I was going to take pictures so I missed the appetizer. Honestly, I had a few bad restaurant experiences in Louisville and didn't think I was going to eat anything good. But, the Fried Chicken Liver appetizer was gluttonous perfection. I had a little chat with the bartender and ordered the Harvest Steak as an entree: a 28-day, in-house dry-aged strip with sweet-potato mash and onion ring things. The steak was also perfect. I found that farm-to-table is a real thing in Louisville; it's everywhere in a very authentic way. Every restaurant lists their farms and producers or has a map on the wall of the restaurant. None of it feels contrived.

My next stop was Eiderdown in the Germantown section of Louisville. Germantown is three miles southeast of downtown and I would have had to take two buses to get there. I decided to take a cab and it was worth it just for the conversation. I stepped into the cab and asked if he would take me to Germantown. He said yes, where and why? I mentioned the restaurant and he was curious about how I found out about the place, as "no tourist ever asks to go there." I have to thank a Twitter friend of a friend for this recommendation.

Germantown is a neighborhood of shotgun houses and the restaurant seemed like just another house. The experience was intimate and homey, the beer list was awesome (Three Floyds' Arctic Panzer Wolf!), and the food was spectacular. I wanted to eat everything on the menu. I did the best I could and ordered four courses. First, the Scallop Crudo with navel orange soup, rhubarb, fennel frond, shiso and sesame was on point. I don't know how else to say it. Perfect crudo with a not-too-overwhelming broth is a great start.

Next I had the Grilled Asparagus, calf's tongue, capriole sofia cheese, garlic confit, balsamic and oil. Dude! I was seriously impressed by the cheese. As soon as the plate arrived I thought it was Humboldt Fog. However, it's from a forty-year-old farm in Southern Indiana. The goat cheese was awesomely developed. It looks like a weirdly presented dish, but the tongue, cheese, and asparagus altogether in one bite was great.

For an entree I ordered the Milk-Braised Rabbit Leg and fried front leg, baby carrot, cippolini onion, and parsley potatoes. I love rabbit, but sometimes it can be prepared in a disappointing fashion. This rabbit was ridiculous (good)! The two different preparations of the rabbit made the dish continuously intriguing. The broth and the vegetables were also fantastic. Finally, I had dessert. I mean, let's face it, if you're a girl sitting by yourself at the bar, and you've already had three courses, just get dessert. I had the linzer torte with raspberry jam, vanilla creme fraiche, and hazelnut honey. I didn't finish it (I swear), but it was really excellent.

After dinner I walked to the Highlands section of Louisville to explore. I was told that this was the hipster section of town. However, I found it to be a mix of the worst of South Street and Northern Liberties. There are about four big Irish Bars, a few fast food restaurants, and some weird shops. Because of all of this, the feel of the main street, Bardstown Road, just wasn't for me. I took the bus home without partaking in this bizarre environment.

For my final awesome dining experience, I returned to the NuLu neighborhood. I went to Garage Bar just down the street from Harvest. The open-air restaurant has outdoor ping-pong, picnic tables, and a very trendy feel. I stopped there on First Friday and it was packed. The bar was full, but they had seating at their "ham bar" in front of the kitchen. That was okay with me and I proceeded to order a ton of food.

The server understood that I was there to eat and really helped me pick through the large menu. First, the place is known for it's wood-fired pizzas. Well, basically, I'm not ordering pizza anywhere, anytime soon (see: pizzeria beddia).

So with that off the table, my server helped me order from the snacks and small plates portion of the menu. I started with ham: Benton's Country Ham from Madisonville, TN. Amazing! Then I had Carmelized Cauliflower with capers, shallots, cilantro, curry, and chilis. The cauliflower was very good with nice heat. I also had the Turkey Wings. They were in a sort of spicy General Tso's sauce. This was one of the most amazing "snacks" I have ever had. I can still taste them right now. Someone in Philly needs to make this dish.


And, because I wasn't full yet, I ordered the Pork Meatballs. I probably didn't need them, but they were also good. I really enjoyed all of these dishes at Garage Bar because they had great, memorable flavor. None of it was timid; each dish was spicy, vibrant, and striking.

After eight days in Louisville I explored as much as I could without a car (ie. why I didn't make it to any distilleries). I'll end this with a few drawings from the AP Reading. There is a whole culture of traditions at the Reading. One guy creates cartoons from student quotes and posts them for everyone to see. Since I saw many people posting these on Facebook, I don't feel too bad putting them up here.

Harvest Restaurant 

624 East Market St. 

Louisville, KY 40202

Eiderdown

983 Goss Avenue 

Louisville, KY 40217

Garage Bar

700 E Market St
Louisville, KY 40202