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Learn about the Top 12 Restaurants I enjoyed outside Los Angeles in 2007, regardless of cuisine or price point. Since it’s an arbitrary number anyway, why limit myself to a Top 10 list? My chosen meals appear by date of consumption.
5. Stroud’s Oak Ridge Manor – Kansas City, MO – May 18, 2007
The original Stroud’s on 85th Street in southern Kansas City served their final chicken dinner on December 31, 2005, a victim of a Kansas City roadwork project. Thankfully, the country manor on the north side of the city remains, and they still use Helen Stroud’s original recipes. The menu was surprisingly large, but I didn’t fly to Missouri to eat broiled halibut. Stroud’s is “the home of P-A-N fried chicken,” and there was never any doubt what I’d order. Stroud’s family style chicken dinner ($12.50) included homemade chicken noodle soup, a choice of potatoes, green beans, pepper gravy and homemade cinnamon rolls. The portions could have fed three people, but I put up a good fight. Homemade chicken noodle soup contained thick strips of noodle, cubed carrots, celery and white meat chicken.
Stroud’s pan-fried three pieces of chicken to order: a breast, thigh and drumstick. The golden bird could not have been improved. The skin was crisp, locking in the poultry’s sweet juices.
Fluffy mashed potatoes were accompanied by incredible pepper gravy. When my friend John is on his deathbed, he wants the doctors to supply him with an IV drip of Stroud’s gravy. It took one spoonful to see why. The magicians in Stroud’s kitchen were even able to coax greatness from green beans. The warm cinnamon rolls were especially phenomenal. And since they weren’t drowned in sickly-sweet icing, they weren’t heavy. My waitress was even kind enough to give me a bag of four hot rolls to go.
6. Burma Superstar – San Francisco, CA – July 14, 2007
From the few examples I’ve managed to find in Los Angeles, Burma’s blend of Indian, Chinese and Thai cuisines has been more enticing in concept than execution. Thankfully, Burma Superstar is only 400 miles away, serving as a Stateside beacon of what the rarely seen Southeast Asian food can be. The restaurant is crowded at almost any time of the day, with good reason. Salads are a Burma Superstar specialty, and we split two different styles, both prepared by our waitress at the table. The Rainbow Salad is made using 22 well-balanced ingredients, including four types of noodles, green papaya, tofu, onions, dried shrimp, peanuts, diced tomatoes and a piquant tamarind dressing.
Tea Leaf Salad centered on a finely chopped mound of imported Burmese tea leaves, which impart a subtle tea flavor. This greens-based salad also included diced tomatoes, dried shrimp, powerful fried garlic, sesame seeds, peanuts, and split yellow peas.
Burmese Style Curry is a Burma Superstar specialty. We were given a choice of shrimp or catfish and chose the former. We spooned the rich, spicy Burmese Style Curry over a side of Coconut Rice, hosting toasted coconut shreds. Pumpkin Pork Stew featured fork-tender chunks of pig meat and pumpkin slabs. The waitress recommended a side of Big Leaf Pea Shoots, a broccoli rabe-like stir-fry of Chinese greens, wine and garlic that was surprisingly addictive. The big finish was the Classic Burmese Chicken Casserole with Cardamom Cinnamon Rice, an entire braised thigh and leg, baked in a clay pot with spice-topped raisin and nut biryani. The meat was fall-off-the-bone and the pea-capped rice had a nice blend of savory and sweet notes.
7. Jai Yun – San Francisco, CA – August 4, 2007 [CLOSED]
Nanjing native Nei Chia Ji specializes in Chinese banquet dining. He prefers to prepare whatever he finds on his daily strolls through Chinatown. Diners who reserve one of his six tables understand that their stomachs are in his hands. Our waitress offered us meals with price points ranging from $45 to $150 per person. We opted for the $65 option. Minutes after we ordered, the cold courses started arriving in four-plate waves. Our waitress announced each dish succinctly. “Cucumber, “Smoked Fish,” Jellyfish” and “Tofu.” She didn’t speak English, so we were left to extrapolate possible ingredients and preparations.
As part of Round One, Jai Yun serves razor-thin cucumber slices capped with a vivid maraschino cherry.
ROUND ONE included razor-thin cucumber slices, luscious slabs of smoked fish, ethereal whisps of jellyfish, and pull-apart sheets of fried tofu. ROUND TWO contained finely diced tofu tossed with cilantro and oil, thin-sliced beef with al dente baked beans, a heap of enoki mushrooms, and snap-fresh marinated lotus root. ROUND THREE centered around tiny marinated red radishes with nice crunch and a mild sweetness, relish with finely chopped green peppers and onions, crisp cabbage strands tossed with chile oil and julienned red chilies, and luscious sliced duck served on the bone. After 12 cold dishes, we finished with a dozen more HOT DISHES, highlighted by miraculously-tender abalone slices scrambled with egg whites; soy beans with razor-thin strands of tofu, greens and the tiny red Chinese dates known as jujubes; osso bucco-like pork leg with an inch-thick layer of fat protecting tender nuggets of hog meat; translucent flat noodles stir-fried with scallions and rich, thin-sliced barbecue pork; and eggplant cooked with brown sauce, sesame seeds and chile oil until crispy and caramelized at the edges. After twenty-four dishes, we were all impressed with Nei Chia Ji’s less-is-more approach, and how he deftly alternated rich and light, mild and spicy. Nei Chia Ji was so skilled that he even managed to convert me to tofu. Well, for one night anyway.
8. Seablue – Las Vegas, NV – September 10, 2007 [CLOSED]
San Francisco based Chef Michael Mina is currently in the midst of building Mina Group into a national culinary power. Mina owns four top-flight restaurants in Las Vegas alone, all with unique concepts. Seablue opened in the MGM Grand in 2003, specializing in Mediterranean seafood. Mina protégée Stephen Hopcraft delivered an unusually compelling take on house-made bread. A metal cone was overflowing with perfect naan – soft inside, crispy outside – brushed with olive oil and dusted with fenugreek, zatar and salt. The Indian flatbread came with three Middle Eastern dips: smoky roasted eggplant dip studded with roasted tomato, whipped feta spread, and spicy hummus blended with red bell pepper. The Raw & Marinated Tasting Trio included three dazzling tastes. “Tuna Kibbeh, Pocket Bread, Pinenut, Pomegranate” showcased flawless raw diced tuna crusted with crunchy pine nuts and bulgur. “Yellowtail ‘Jack’ Crudo, Shiitake Mushroom, Radish” featured silky yellowtail with Shiitake mushrooms. “Cured Salmon, Mini-Bagel, Summer Truffle” played on a New York classic: open-faced bagels holding rosy salmon, set on a vortex of chive-dill oil.
“Yellowtail ‘Jack’ Crudo, Shiitake Mushroom, Radish” and “Cured Salmon, Mini-Bagel, Summer Truffle” were in Seablue’s tasting trio.
Flaky Loup de Mer fillets were grilled over apricot wood until the skin was crispy. The plate featured garbanzo bean and lentil studded rice, green and yellow patty pan squash, broccoli rabe and five kinds of roasted mushrooms. For dessert, the Plum Tart was another Mediterranean triumph: sweet diced plum with a crisp kataifi disc, tangy yogurt sorbet, pluot segments and caramel port wine reduction. With my check, I received a little white cardboard treasure chest holding a curry-infused coconut macaroon, a single Madeleine and a cluster of black Mission fig, shaved almonds and pine nuts, bound with melted white chocolate.
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