Deep-fried crunchy pork-fat goodness

So, I ate at Doc Crows today for lunch and the meal was great (full-post coming), but the clear star of the show for me were the fresh pork rinds. Pork rinds, cracklins and chicharrones are very similar in that they are made of fried pork skin with varying degrees of fat and cooking techniques. Essentially, they are like the identical triplets of the culinary world: oft-confused and you can tell them apart because one's a little chubbier than the other two.

I digress. I loved these pork rinds so much that I ate them twice today... as in I ate them at lunch and ordered two to-go boxes full of them for later. Cinnamon-sugar and the traditional kind with a kick of heat. I wanted to save them for an after-work snack ("gorge" may be the more appropriate term).

Only problem is I accidentally left them at work and got all the way home without them. So I did what any other FKS-stricken person would do. I drove all the way back to work to get them.

Hello? Top Chef finale and fresh pork rinds? Duh, winning!

(The End)

Planning my next work trip around food... typical.

One of the major perks of work travel is that I can use them as an excuse to try new restaurants I've heard or read about. Usually I've got a handful of options in the holster in case I get the inevitable, "Sarah, what would you like to eat for dinner?" question. Or, if I'm by myself, its even better... I don't have to feel bad about driving 30 minutes out of the way in order to try something no one else wants to eat.

I'm heading out to Sac-town next week and was super excited to catch an episode of triple D's featuring all Sacramento restaurants. I have to try the Dad's burger at Dad's Kitchen. It does something awesome with burgers that I've never quite seen before. They take what looks to be a 4 inch ring mold and layer in the burger toppings with the meat, smashing them into basically one thick burger patty. And they layer in yummy goodies like bacon and blue cheese.

hard to see that bacon crust, but it is there

A patty that is one side ground beef, one side crispy flat-top-cooked bacon and cheese?

Yeah, I think I'd drive out of the way for that.

A stoner's dream...

Packaging frozen pizza AND chocolate chip cookies all in the same package?

What took them so freaking long to think of this?!

genius!

Only thing that could make this any better is if this wasn't DiGiorno... which happens to be my absolute least favorite frozen pizza. Don't get me wrong, I've eaten a lot of it, but only after experiencing extreme inebriation while finding myself at a friends house at 4 AM and having absolutely no other choice. Not the fat-kid pizza of choice for me.

P.S. Didn't know Nestle had bought Kraft's pizza business this year... if they keep this up it will be a long, happy marriage!

Props: The Impulsive Buy

Favorite dish... of the day!

Do you have a favorite dish? The one that would serve as your proverbial "last meal?"

My problem is that I have, like, 30 favorites dishes. I swallow my tongue when people ask me the question, "what's your favorite food?" Deer in headlights! I could go a million different ways.

One of those ways is chicken-fried steak. Seen here on my first attempt to make it at home, with garlic-parm skillet potatoes and a fried egg. I don't like frying in my home, but I was craving this one day and whipped it up. The chicken wasn't as crispy as I liked, but my scratch-made sausage gravy* always delivers.

What would your last meal be... sweet or savory? One, simple dish or one of everything?

*FYI... sausage gravy would probably make my top 10 favorite dishes on its own. True love.

This is why I love America (Corbett's)

It's hard to not like a restaurant with the words "An American Place" in the name... especially a fine dining restaurant. Why? Because this means all of the home-grown foods that we love, that were created or "fine-tuned" in this great country are turned up a notch. Or two.

B.Blaze and I took our parents to Corbett's: An American Place for their 30th wedding Anniversary/V-Day (on another note, 30 years? that's a damn long time to be married kudos to them!). The goal of the evening was to just eat everything and anything that looked good. Can't decide between two apps? Get 'em both. Everyone wants their own dessert? Who the hell cares... why not get two each?! I love these dinners - they become tasting marathons more than they are dinner sometimes. Where people are so full, that they are more than willing to share, which, if you know me, does not happen often. (Side-bar: I hate sharing food; I must have skipped that lesson in pre-school. If you want some of whats on my plate you should have ordered it. That is unless you have something equally as good to barter with!)

mushroom and short rib ravioli

The food at Corbett's was amazing, as expected, from my *first* app (foie, of course), to salad, to my entree, to cleaning up my mother's, or basically my second, entree. My dad had sweetbreads, which were so tender and delicious and a very well portioned* entree of pork tenderloin, chestnuts and cherry glaze. B.Blaze had a yummy sea scallop dish with parmesan grits. I had the ravioli, filled with marscapone, mushrooms, and short ribs, topped with shredded sweet potatoes and fried sage. But my mom's entree stole the show for me. She had the sea bass special - and while I normally do not order fish when I eat out (not when there is red meat or pork!) - this fish was cooked perfectly, with the most amazing crust, and tender - oh so tender - on top of lemony, mushroom risotto. Seriously kick ass, sea bass (see what I did there?)! Best fish I have. Ever. Eaten.

yummiest fish ever

Ultimately, Corbett's passed every test, except for maybe our (three!) desserts, which, despite being comped (thanks Nirm!), just left me wanting another piece of sea bass.
_____
Corbett's: An American Place
FKS Scale (1-10): 9

Pros: celebrating my awesome parents; beautiful setting and ambiance; great food; foie gras; sweetbreads; short rib ravioli; kick ass, sea bass; free dessert(s)
Cons: having to drive home fighting through my food-coma; dessert not quite my fav; wishing I had ordered sea bass
*I'm always worried my Dad won't get enough food. He's 6'8" 250. Big boy. And while I love exposing him to new food, I'm afraid sometime when we eat out that he'll think the food is too, how do we say, "fairy" for him. That's a direct quote. Love when we find a place that is interesting, pushes his boundaries, AND still gives him enough food to fill his belly.