El Xuco Xicana en Houston, TX

Summertime in South Louisiana isn't much different than summer in Houston.  Heat.  Humidity.  Afternoon thunderstorms.  Desperation for football season to get here.  The biggest distinction, from best I can tell, is the quality of the Mexican food.  For some reason it seems that authentic, delicious Mexican cuisine has trouble traveling an extra 300 miles to Baton Rouge.  Not one to worry too much, I easily solve the problem by feasting on frijoles whenever I'm in the "Bayou City" of the state to our West.

El Xuco Xicana's Milletes topped with Fried Eggs

A recent trip found me setting up a visit to Chef Jonathan Jones's El Xuco Xicana.  Chef JJ, who came to fame under his Beaver's name, recently took over the kitchen at the establishment formerly known as El Patio.  Wanting to revamp the cuisine to reflect that of authentic interior Mexican superiority with a Texan twist, Chef JJ started massacring the menu and putting his flair all over it.  His "Comida Texano" menu made my mouth water before I could even order the signature blue margarita that reflected back to the El Patio days.

The Famous Blue Curacao Margarita from El Patio

I was joined by an excellent cast of characters for an early afternoon Sunday brunch.  We had my dear friend Amanda, high school pal Chad and his wife Ashley, Alvin and Jason from MasterChef on FOX along with Jason's bad ass lady friend, Sara Jackson and a friend of hers who are working on some food based television productions with kids in the Houston area, and a fella named Jay, who on Twitter goes by @GunsandTacos (clearly fits in well with my @BiteandBooze mentality), with his wife.  We gathered and ordered drinks.  Soon enough, Chef JJ's right hand man at XX, Chef Kenny Pullin, came out to the table to greet our crew and drop off our first round of grub.

Battered Stuffed Toast at El Xuco Xicana

The Milletes made me happy to be alive.  Proclaimed on the menu to be a "REAL Mexican brunch food," the milletes featured bolillo bread toasted and topped with refried black beans, queso Chihuahua and chorizo.  Then I had the option to add a fried egg on each half of the open-faced sandwich.  As you can see, I couldn't resist!  The milletes combined classic flavors into a brunch dish that I'd eat over and over again.  Then came the battered stuffed toast.  Dear Lord.  Heaven.  And Hell.  In every bite.  The dish is constructed by stuffing Texas toast with Dulce de Leche, coating that in a Grand Marnier cinnamon batter, dropping it in a deep fryer, then topping the sandwich with ancho-maple syrup, sauteed apples, and Chantilly cream.  Each bite let me know I was alive while assuredly slowly killing me.  I didn't mind.  I took another bite.  It tasted that damn orgasmic.  

El Xuco Xicana Mojito 

Ceviche at El Xuco Xicana

The beverages at El Xuco Xicana also provided plenty of punch.  Chef JJ warned me about the strong margaritas.  After I began with the blue margarita I noticed the rest of the table drinking amazing mojitos.  I needed to try one for myself.  It did a splendid job of being thirst quenching and intoxicating.  Meanwhile, Chef Pullin brought out the signature ceviche.  One thing that I like about the menu is that it warns the diner that the ceviche changes depending on the freshness of the seafood and availability of produce.  There is no set recipe, but rather a rotating and seasonal ceviche.  Ours had a gulf drum marinated in loads of citrus.  I thought I tasted lime, lemon, and the something a little different like a grapefruit.  It also had jalapenos, watermelon radishes and avocado.  The bottom line is that the concoction used fresh ingredients and tasted equally refreshing on a hot day.  The blending of sweet, sour and spice worked magnificently.

El XX Hot Wangs

The feast concluded for me with the El XX Hot Wangs.  The wings were fried naked then tossed in a special blend that includes Jalisco Chili de Arbol vinegar hot sauce, toasted sesame, cilantro and queso fresco.  They were served with "cucumber and jicima con chili y limon".  The "wangs" were certainly different than a traditional Buffalo style hot wing with celery and bleu cheese.  That being said, I loved them!  I thought the twists were pretty ingenious and I'm a sucker for an inventive wing.  Bravo, El Xuco Xicana.

I essentially got a full meal by sampling an assortment of brunch and appetizer selections.  Truth be told, that is one of my favorite ways to experience a restaurant.  Sometimes the most creative dishes are appetizers and daily specials.  The food at El Xuco Xicano was worthy of any trip to Houston.  I have no doubt that I'll be back when I get a Mexican craving that my local establishments can't handle!

The New Orleans Brunch Experiment

The Food Experiments originated in Brooklyn, NY, but it didn't take them long to begin a national tour with stops at major culinary destinations across the country.  The food competition involves creating a themed dish to be passed out in individual servings to the numerous attendees.  For the April 3rd tour stop in New Orleans, brunch served as the inspirational theme for each team of chefs.

I partnered with Jeremy Wells of the blog Faire Les Courses to enter Team Bite and Booze into the New Orleans Brunch Experiment.  We thought, strategized, and planned for hours on our experimental dish, and finally came up with what we thought could be a winner.   We conceived a Southern-style biscuit loaded with homemade boudin, topped with cane syrup and bourbon marinated Louisiana strawberries, and served with thin-cut cinnamon apple frites.  Every biscuit and a cauldron of Cajun boudin were made from scratch.  I could tell you all about it, but it's easier to just show the video!

Jeremy and I weren't the only team to travel to NOLA from Baton Rouge.  The Louisiana Culinary Institute had a couple students represented in the competition, and Team Brunchcakes also made an impression.  Actually, that would be an understatement:

In the end, Jeremy and I were really happy with the whole event.  We felt like we did our dish justice, and despite not winning, we still had a great time.  We also rolled out the Bite and Booze carpet for this one, so it couldn't have been too bad!

After the competition we had a ton of extra boudin.  However, it tasted far too good to let it go to waste.  Stop number one was a visit to Theo's Neighborhood Pizzeria in Mid City where my buddy Andrew made a boudin pizza complete with a little buffalo sauce, pepper jack, and mozzarella cheese!

Bite and Boudin Pizza at Theo's

When I got back to Baton Rouge, I met back up with Nick Huftt, owner and operator of Curbside Truck, to discuss more boudin ideas.  It didn't take long to come up with the Bite and Boudin Burger: Curbside's special burger patty topped with my housemade boudin, black beans, divine swine cracklins, a hint of Nick's tasso aioli, and finished with an Acadian sweet heat sauce which consists of a "butter garlic hot sauce cajun spice concoction sort of a thing."  Yes please!

Curbside Truck's Bite and Boudin Burger

I love it when experiments go right!

Thanks to curbsideNICK for almost all these pictures.  Thanks to Brandon Brown for help with the video!

Ninja Snowballs / Bite and Booze Submit a Flavor Contest: ROUND 3

SKY BLUE BRACKET (ROUND 3):

Submit Your Flavor Contest - Round 3 from Contrast Films on Vimeo.

Find more information about the Ninja Snowballs/Bite and Booze Submit a Flavor Contest HERE.

Rama Thai Cuisine

Sometimes, well, a lot of the time, I'm in the mood to find authentic hole-in-the-wall restaurants that make Baton Rouge such a great food town.  The Red Stick doesn't get enough credit in the culinary world due to all of the national chain signs that you see while driving down the interstate and New Orleans being only another 60 miles down the road.  However, if you hop off the freeway and hit a side street, you'll find some locally owned eateries with some exceptional flare.  One of these quaint places is Rama Thai Cuisine.  The Perkins Road Overpass area Thai restaurant is one of the forgotten gems in Baton Rouge, and it is time I give it some respect on Bite and Booze.  Eusebio and I dined at Rama a little while back, and we couldn't have left more satisfied!

Rama Thai Cuisine on the Inside and Out

It only felt natural to begin my meal with some Thai beer, so I ordered a Singha and started to get my taste buds ready for some Asian flavor.  Singha is a fairly standard lager with that Asian bite that you'll recognize from other Japanese beers like Kirin Ichiban.  It is pretty tasty, but I'd rather get to the food.

Singha Lager Beer

To wet our appetites a little more, we ordered a couple of appealing appetizers.  First up were the fried wontons.  These were nothing too special but they were fried to a nice crisp and had pretty decent flavor.  We had the shrimp chips for second app.  The chips were light and delicate with a great shrimp taste.  They came served with a delicious peanut sauce to dip the chips in.

Fried Wontons and Shrimp Chips with Peanut Sauce

The next dish to leave the kitchen and make its way in front of me was the lemongrass soup.  This fantastic soup was sweet and spicy with a citrus flavor.  It came loaded with shrimp and mushrooms, and I ate every bite.  I love a good, simple soup like this!

Lemongrass Soup

For an entree I called on the Rama Duck.  This delightful half of a duck was seasoned with Thai herbs and spices, then roasted until fork tender.  Each bite of duck put a smile on my face as the flavors filled my mouth and tickled my tongue.  The duck still tasted like duck meat should, and was only complemented by the sweet and savory Thai seasonings.  Steamed vegetables were served with the duck, and they tasted alright, but the duck certainly highlighted the plate. 

Rama Duck with Steamed Vegetables

For dessert, Eusebio and I couldn't decide between the fried apples with ice cream or the fried bananas with ice cream.  So, we did what any good person should do: we got both!  These fried-fruit desserts each came with three scoops of homemade ice cream.  Rama offered a selection of ice cream flavors, of which we ordered all of them: vanilla, coconut, and durian.  Yes, that's right, that durian! 

Durian Fruit as eaten by Andrew Zimmern in Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel

Eusebio and I were a little nervous to try it as an ice cream flavor, but it was actually quite good.  The vanilla and coconut icecreams tasted pretty standard.  They were not very rich, but still had a smooth texture and the right amount of flavor to provide a condiment to the fried fruit and something sweet to end the meal with.  The durian icecream certainly had a unique flavor but it was nothing offensive.  I actually think I liked it more than the other two, even if it was just for originality alone.  I wouldn't hesitate to order it again next time I go to Rama, that's for sure!

Fried Apples and Banana Topped with Ice Cream, Durian Ice Cream on a Fried Banana

You can also check out the Cuisine Rouge post about Rama to see what they have to say about this little Thai Restaurant!

A Sneak Peek at the Parish Brewing Company

A couple nights before Thanksgiving I was invited to check out the brand new Parish Brewing Company near Lafayette, La. Andrew Godley, the owner and brewer, welcomed me and some of my select craft-beer-loving friends to his home where we were able to sample his brews and discuss his brewing knowledge and game plan for the brewery over dinner.  I brought Eric and Eusebio with me while Ben and Andrea met us at Andrew and his wife Rachel's house where Andrew has been home brewing since 2007.

The Group Talking About Parish Beer in Andrew's Garage

Andrew got the festivities started right away by pouring us all a glass of beer before talking about any of his brews or custom equipment.  We began with a tasting of the Parish Biere Blanc which is a dry-hopped pale ale using hops from the Pacific Northwest.  It had many of the characteristics of craft beers that you find in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington while still maintaining a crisp and refreshing taste throughout and not being overpowered by the delicious hops.

The Parish Brewing Company's Tasting Taps

Parish Primo Pilsner and Parish Oktoberfest

The next two brews that Andrew let us sample included his version of an American-style pilsner and his seasonal Oktoberfest beer.  The pilsner was lagered and had the taste of a typical "American" macro-brewed beer except that you could actually taste the malt and hops!  In some ways, it reminded me of what a Budweiser should taste like if it were not watered down due to mass production.  The beer still had the light and crisp characteristics and, I hate to say this, "drinkability," while also offering the extra flavor and beer notes that come with any good micro, or in this case nano, brews.  The Oktoberfest had a true beer flavor that you find in a lot of European beers and American Oktoberfest-style beers.  Brewed as an ale, the Oktoberfest blended together a wonderful combination of malty goodness and noble hops.

Now for a look at the Parish Brewery original home brew kettles and the new equipment to enlarge the brewery's capacity.

The old home brew kettles made with retired stainless steel half-barrel kegs.

The new boil and mash pots.  The are actually stainless steel 55 gallon drums.  The wood is for insulation and decoration.

Jay checking out the new line of stainless steel drums.  Photo courtesy of Eric Ducote.

Parish's electrical relay switches followed by the new fermenting tanks which will replace the 5 gallon carboys

Parish Pumpkin Patch and Parish Canebrake

Now we should return to the beer before moving on to dinner.  The final two Parish beers that Andrew poured for us were the Parish Pumpkin Patch and the Parish Canebrake.  I would venture to say the Pumpkin Patch won the evening as the beer that is most ready to go to market and needs no further tweaking of its recipe or process.  The best thing about the Pumpkin Patch is that it is a beer first.  Many vegetable and fruit beers add extract that overpowers the actual beer.  A lot of times this is taken advantage of by the brewer making a relatively crappy beer and then masking it with sweet flavor.  That is no good.  The Parish Pumpkin Patch is just the opposite... and excellent beer with just enough pumpkin flavor and spice (which comes from real pumpkin added into the process, not just flavoring afterwards) to make it feel like the Fall has arrived.

The Parish Canebrake is a the beer that I'm looking most forward to Andrew perfecting.  It has potential to become Parish's flagship label as it is brewed with Louisiana sugarcane!  The light, crisp, and refreshing beer will finish sweet on the palate with lingering hints of molasses.  The version that we tried was a little lighter on the sugarcane than I think he should go with.  I wanted a little more pure cane flavor to stay on my taste buds after each swallow, not to the point of overpowering the malt and hops, but enough to make me realize what I'm drinking.  I have no doubt that Andrew will play with this recipe and get it right just in time for Crawfish Season!  Mais cher, dat'll hit da spot, yeah!

The Grill Fired Up with Glorious Assorted Meats

Andrew lit the barbeque pit and began to cook a feast for us while we continued to drink Parish beers and talk about brewery related topics.  He hit up a local specialty meats store and picked out some wonderful meats for us to dine on.

My Glorious Plate of Food at the Parish Brewing Company

My platter featured several perfectly cooked bacon wrapped duck breasts.  They were tender and juicy on the inside, and everything is even better when you add bacon!  Above the duck breasts on the plate are three stuffed mushrooms.  Two featured a seafood dressing and the third came stuffed with a spinach mixture.  Both varieties were extremely tasty but I'd give the edge to the seafood dressing.  On the left side of the plate is a broccoli salad that was really a slaw of sorts with broccoli mixed in.  I'm usually not a cole slaw fan, but this salad hit the spot and supplied a bit more greenery on the plate.  Finally, the top of the post features a locally created chicken and apple sausage.  The apple added just a hint of sweetness to the chicken to create a really great encased meat.

The Final Beer of the Night: Maharaja Imperial Pale Ale from the Avery Brewery

The Maharaja is one of the finest and hoppiest IPAs that I've ever tasted, so a very big thank you to Andrew for breaking his bottle out and letting us try it.  The great thing about beer geeks is that they know good beer when they taste it, and the aren't afraid to promote what other brewers are doing well.  That is the case with Andrew when it comes to this IPA from Avery.  Every sip was a hop explosion on the tongue, though the malt was still present and obvious on the palate, unlike some double or triple IPAs.  The Maharaja ended the evening of craft beer and food fantastically.  I'll be very excited in the coming months when the Parish Brewing Company begins to be fully functional and the beer starts to flow through South Louisiana.  I highly recommend that everybody give them a try and taste a bit of what Louisiana craft breweries have to offer! Cheers!

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