Fallen Souffle

Back before the holidays I was treated to a dinner at Bin 54 in Durham. This is most definitely a special occasion restaurant. In fact, I was rather shocked when I walked through the restaurant and saw a family with their teenage daughter in a hooded sweatshirt, to each his own I guess but this is a place to get dressed up for.

Bin 54 boasts an extensive wine list and the sommelier will visit your table to check and see if you have any questions. I honestly don’t remember what we ordered but I know it was very nice. Upon reviewing the menu, we were confused as to how to order. All steaks and sides are served a la carte, traditional steakhouse style we were informed. However I have been to very few steakhouse that included no sides with the steak. Regardless, we were told that each side serves about two people so I felt a little better, but it is still very hard deciding between all of the scrumptious sides.

We started with an appetizer of tuna tartare served with wasabi crackers and creamy soy. The soy didn’t carry much flavor but I don’t think it was needed as the crackers pack an initial punch of wasabi and then once they melt a bit you can taste the fresh tuna. I really loved this combination.

There are a variety of steaks to chose from ; porterhouse, hanger, and even hamburger and french fries (seafood is also available, but come on, go with the steaks). We both chose the small filet mignon seared to a medium rare temperature. We each chose a different “sauce,” red wine and a bleu cheese butter. After much toil, we chose sauteed spinach and arborio risotto as our sides. Our steaks were cooked perfectly, tender and juicy in the middle and a crunchy sear on the outside. I think we both agreed that the bleu cheese butter was the best of the two, not to say the red wine sauce was bad. The sides were very generous, so much so that neither of us were able to finish them completely but they were both perfect accompaniments to our steaks.

Against my better judgment, I ordered dessert. I was full as it was but how much damage could a trio of sorbet do? We were presented with a cranberry, caramel and green apple sorbet with a few butter cookies. (Caramel was the best!) It was the perfect ending to the meal, not at all a disappointment like some other places.

Overall, this was a fantastic experience. The service, atmosphere, and food were right on and it is definitely a place I would recommend for a really special dinner.

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One of the best things about having a food blog is being able to connect with other food bloggers and being inspired to try new things. When I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen I had to make it. Now, granted its been 3 months and this produce isn’t exactly “in season” but that’s what Trader Joe’s is for right? My sister recently moved home after graduating from college (yey!) and while we were in Greenville celebrating her graduation I was able to clean our her pantry :). Since she is vegetarian this meant lots of black beans, chickpeas and pasta. So now I am faced with an even more bulging pantry so it was time to get creative. I could easily make some roasted red pepper hummus but I really need to be in the mood for that, otherwise it just sits in the fridge. So I was looking through my book marked recipes and saw the ingredients for this recipe I knew it would be perfect. I quick run through the produce department and I was set to go.

This is a really filling meal, I just had one pepper and was full. So I wrapped two up and froze them for lunch later on, hopefully they will be as good I also had leftover filling as I only bought a few peppers, but actually ate the filling as a regular cold salad. So good! You could even heat it up a bit for a different change of pace.

I am going to link to the original recipe, as my changes were very minor. I used all zucchini and left out the fennel seed, because I really don’t think I like fennel seed. Ahh the beauty of cooking for yourself

So check out this recipe for a healthy, filling, vegetarian meal!

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