Solving The Mystery Of How To Cook Shrimp

Tonight we went to Dayboat Cafe in Irvington New York for dinner. It's a New England Style seafood restaurant featuring fresh fish, shellfish and chowders. The raw littlenecks were super fresh, fried oysters were plump and juicy and better than many I've had in New Orleans. Lobster Pot Pie was chock full of lobster meat. Overall a great find. However, the scallops were slightly overcooked; which had me thinking about how rarely I order shrimp and scallops at restaurants and how easy they both are to over cook. There is a fine line between succulent and "rubber ball" resembling the ones that we played with as kids during a game of jacks. But a little attention to details and the ability to make perfect shrimp and scallops is demystified! Anyone can make really succulent shrimp and scallops and it baffles me as to why chefs have so much trouble with them.

Shrimp are really easy...you just have to remember the "C" for "cooked" and "O" for "overcooked" rule. A shrimp's shape gives away it's level of doneness every single time. And this is a foolproof method. When a shrimp first turns pink when you are cooking it, begin to pay careful attention to it's shape. When it curves into a "C" shape the shrimp is done. Take it out of the frying pan or sauce pan right away. If you let the shrimp turn into an "O" shape" or pretty much curl into itself then it's "overcooked" and you've just produced a rubber ball.

Scallops are not quite as easy and take a little more technique because it requires you to know a little about texture (it's trial and error). When you sear a scallop to a golden brown on the first side, flip it and after a minute start to lightly push the center. If the center is soft, wait about 30 seconds and then take the scallop out of the pan. Ultimately you want to make sure that when you touch the center it doesn't bounce back. If it does the scallop is overcooked. Remember the 2nd side always cooks much faster than the first side.

Surviving Dessert For 2 Weeks Straight

I did it! I survived 7 days of Hudson Valley Restaurant Week meals...and I can still (barely) fit into my jeans! There were some new finds and some old favorites and a couple of spots that I must confess I only would go to for the HVRW bargain.

Without giving detailed reviews about each course at each place I figured the best thing would be to give a synopsis.

Red Hat Bistro in Irvington - Newly discovered by me...fun atmosphere, solid HVRW menu and a definite find because they have a rooftop bar in the summer and outdoor dining on the Hudson River. A great meetup spot!

Xaviars on the Hudson in Yonkers - I went twice in 2 weeks, the best red velvet mascarpone cake EVER! This was the best of the bunch for HVRW for food, selection, service and atmosphere. Highly recommended (see my March 24th post for more details on this spot).

Iron Horse Grill in Pleasantville- Possibly the best new find of the bunch! I made another reservation while I was still having dinner. This is an EXCELLENT restaurant with really creative food.

Equus at Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown- Perfectly executed food, but not creative...you go here for the ambiance not really the food. The staff was overwhelmed, clearly a situation where they don't get this many covers on an average evening. I don't see myself going there until next March.

Zuppa in Yonkers - good food, slow service and in reality not worth the price that you would pay for the regular non restaurant week menu...for $28-$32 dollars an entree you can go down the block to X20 for a much better meal...however that being said, the live band in the lounge is a nice touch, and so are the pizzas and free valet parking!

Restaurant 42 at the Ritz Carlton White Plains - this was the biggest shocker of all. Last year the food was mediocre at best, it was as if Chef Gonclaves felt he was above the RW experience and the menu was an afterthought...well this year he redeemed himself in a big way. The Salmon Tartare was extremely fresh and perfectly seasoned, and the caldo verde soup was smooth and flavorful...the star (in my opinion) was the lamb belly, braised for at least 6 hours until melt in your mouth tender, surrounded by root vegetables of a perfect al dente texture and creamy polenta. The food was so good that I'm going to treat myself to their $42 four course market menu as soon as I recover from the food coma that I've been in for the past 2 weeks...NB, Tuesday night a bottle of wine is 1/2 price! Pictures of dishes at Restaurant 42 are featured in this post.

All in all a wonderful 2 weeks at some wonderful places.

Hudson Valley Restaurant Week

So it’s my favorite restaurant time of year again…the Hudson Valley Restaurant Week! To me it’s better than the one in NYC, because most of the chefs really take the RW concept seriously and put impressive items on their menus. Of course there are a few that give you the tired chicken and vegetarian pasta and uninspiring fish but most, really go all out and it’s a great treat.

Tonight I went to X20 (Xaviars on the Hudson) – with my Meetup Group "Foodies on the Hudson" which is a restaurant that I frequent regularly and Chef Peter Kelly (who has been featured on Tony Bourdain's No Reservations and beat Bobby Flay in a Ribeye battle on Iron Chef) and his staff didn’t disappoint. The food was impeccable as always and they had additional RW menu items that weren't listed for all 3 courses. Rock Shrimp Risotto in Lobster Cream, (which I had and was DIVINE) 1/2 roasted duck with spaetzle, pumpkin panna cotta, and blueberry cobbler...I also had the salmon which was perfectly cooked with a wink and a nod to Japanese cuisine, the only dish that fell a little flat was the pork loin, a little dry, and the brussels sprouts were over fried so super bitter and charred...the Red velvet cake is the same delicious red velvet cake that is on the menu! Bravo to Peter Kelly for FINALLY putting that cake on the RW menu! (and yes I thanked him personally for it, because I've been asking for that to be included on the RW menu for the past 2 years) I tasted the Mushroom Custard and it was silky and wonderful, and the duck which was moist and crisp...the pork was a little dry and uninspiring (which was the only disappointment on the menu) and the pumpkin panna cotta was incredible. ...everything was great! Peter Kelly always does RW right, and doesn't make his guests feel like second class citizens.

I have a line up of 6 restaurants to try over the next 2 weeks…wish me and my waistline luck!!!!