Marengo on Union
On Tuesday I just happen to be on the bus headed out to get some ramen at Japantown when I was checking eater and found out that a new slider place was opening down in the marina called Marengo on Union. I checked out the menu and decided to change my eating location to this place. Boy was I happy I did. Located at 1980 Union st. at Buchanan it was an easy walk from the 22. I arrived slightly after the place just opened up so I was the third person inside. As you enter you are greeted by a large bar at the front where they do all the cooking. Nice to see your food being cooked while you wait, it makes me all the more hungry. The restaurant is nice an airy in design, with lots of windows, and skylights to bring in a lot of light, warm woods give it an elegant, but inviting feeling. There are two distinct spaces that are available for seating, the front with the kitchen bar, and the back room with a regular bar.
The menu consists of a selection of appetizers, salads, and the main event sliders. There are 8 savory sliders priced at $3.95 each, and two dessert sliders at $3.00 each. Each slider is about 2oz of meat which gives you about 3-4 bites of food. So a selection of 3-4 would probably satisfy the average eater. I started off by trying three different ones, the all-american, crispy chick, and the coconut shrimp, then followed it up with the porky's and the staring.
The first slider I had was the crispy chick, which is a crispy chicken, corn relish, romaine lettuce, and ranch dressing. The chicken was moist and flavorful, but it seemed like it was lacking the the crispy department. I was expecting more of a crunchiness to the batter, but it was more of a softer texture. The corn relish was slightly bland, and it seemed like it was missing the lettuce and couldn't even taste the ranch dressing. The star of the slider was the chicken, but the other cast of ingredients seemed to have disappeared in background.
Next up was the coconut shrimp. This was a fried shrimp with mango pico de gallo. Again there was a similar issue crispy chicken, in that the batter on the shrimp was not crunchy, resulting in a soggier skin. Despite that the batter was flavorful and the shrimp and mango pico de gallo worked well together. Giving it a tropical vibe.
The all-american is just what it sounds like a beef patty, with lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese, special sauce, and caramelized onions. The beef was cooked to a nice medium and was juicy and flavorful. Each bite of this slider was just like eating a great burger, as it should be. All the elements in this burger worked together nothing overpowered it.
The next slider was the starling. This was ground lamb, with grilled halloumi cheese, tomato, cucumber, garbonzo tahini. The lamb had a bunch of herbs and spices added into and was cooked to a medium well. The seasoning reminded of me middle eastern kebabs and the ingredients as a whole reminded me of the region. Each bite of the lamb was packed with flavor, but it didn't overpower the other ingredients, the tahini came in boosting the flavor of the dish, and then the tomato and cucumber worked to cool off the the flavor. The grilled cheese added another mild component to the dish, and I think if it weren't for the cucumber, it might have been lost in the slider.
Finally I had the porky's which is a pulled pork shoulder, with tangy & spicy BBQ sauce, coleslaw and blue cheese & cider vinaigrette. Slathered in BBQ sauce the pulled pork was tender and delicious. The sauce itself had a little kick which complimented to coleslaw. What I was trying to identify was where the blue cheese was coming in, I never got that flavor profile as I ate. It also seemed like a vinaigrette might night be needed since the BBQ sauce is already tangy as is. I think it would be nice to to have blue cheese on it.
Rating
Crispy Chick: 7.5/10 - The chicken is the star, but it overwhelmed all the other components. Wanted a crispier batter.
Coconut Shrimp: 8/10 - Good combination of mango, coconut, and shrimp. Again, batter could have been crispier.
All-American: 9/10 - A perfect example of how a well made burger should taste.
The Starling: 10/10 - Packed full of flavor, but nothing overpowering each other.
Porkys: 9/10 - Excellent pulled pork, nice coleslaw, missing the blue cheese.
Overall: 8.5/10 - This is place is definitely on my radar now, and I will be going back. Sadly I didn't have enough room to try the appetizers or salads which all sound good too. The level of attention they put to each slider is amazing. The only concern I have is will they still be able to maintain that same level of attention when there are packed with orders. I was the only one getting sliders at the time, so I'm interested to see if they can keep it up when they have other tickets up. I will be back to find out though.
Coconut shrimp
Crispy Chick
All American
Porky's
The Starlin
Surf and turf, Japanese Style
Beef and seafood are two I strongly associate with Japan. Both have a quality that is on another level compared with products from anywhere else that I have been. While there is seafood at can rival that found in Japan, no one has ever been able to match the beef. It has never been replicated.
When I had the opportunity to some surf and turf in Japan I jumped at the chance. The place I went to was located in Akihabara. This surprised me at first because I have never come to associate Akihabara with good food. However, I was assured that this the place we were going was famous for preparing beef in a western style so my fears were partially assuaged.
They had various steaks as well as beef qualities as options. All beef was Japanese with high prices for higher grades. My eyes glazed over the pages as I saw picture after delicious picture of steaks. I locked onto one page that contained a piece of beef loin and a giant shrimp. This is the one I wanted, price was ¥6300, no big deal it was beef and I had to have it.
When it came to our table the meat and shrimp were on a heavy cast iron hot plate, the fat still sizzling from the residual heat. The portion of beef was puny compared to the cut you get at an American steak house. However, what it lacked on size it made up for in flavor. There was a nice beef flavor and richness that is hard to match. The marbling of the beef made it melt in your mouth. This combination made every bite a bit of heaven in your mouth and I wish for a bigger piece so I could eat more and continue to savor it. The shrimp was comparable in size to a lobster. It seemed like it was twice cooked, lightly boiled sliced in half and mayonnaise placed on top then grilled. The mayo gave it a tangy taste and infused it with an additional fattiness that one would normally get with melted butter. There was a lot of mayo for one which over powered the shrimp. I wasn't able to experience the sweetness of the seafood as much as I would have liked. However, the combination of the richness and tangyness of the mayo, with the sweetness of the shrimp went well together and it was a good combination. Overall the meal was fantastic and for the price I though was pretty reasonable. I would have liked a bigger piece of meat or even one from Matsuzaka, but that definitely would have made the cost of the meal exorbitantly high.
Hamburg Steak
Hamburg steak is a Japanese dish that has it origins in a classic western dish, Salisbury steak. Many may know of this dish from frozen dinners or school lunches, and this variation isn't much different. It also a component of another dish that I make called Locomoco which is a Hawaiian dish.
This version is made from a combination of ground beef and pork mixed in a 5/3 ratio. To this diced onions are added, I usually caramelized them before I mix them in. This gives the onions a sweeter more mellow flavor not as raw of a taste, plus the softer texture melds well with the meat. Next is a couple of eggs and breadcrumbs to bind everything together.
Beef Stew
If your looking for a meal that will fill you up, last for days, and tastes great even days later, try a stew. Stews are great dishes to do if you've got a lot of time on one day, but not a lot on the following days. If I am especially busy during the week I'll cook up a pot of stew, it usually last a couple days so no cooking dinner, and no fast food or frozen dinners either!
Stews are simple to make, but they take time. It takes me usually two hours of cooking time to make a stew. This is because I use a tough cut of meat that requires a lot of time to break down the connective tissue and make tender. For me they are also hit or miss on the viscosity, sometimes too thick others too thin. Reducing helps drop the liquid level, but it is still usually thin. To thicken it up I usually make a roux then add the stew liquid to it to help it thicken up.
Friday dinner: Japanese beef curry
For the first time in a while I made curry. Curry for me is one of those things that is good once in a while, but never more then once every month. The last time I made curry was when I still lived in SOMA. Recently I have had problems with my curry not tasting like curry, but tonight was the first time in a while that it actually tasted like curry. I'm not exactly sure what I did differently to make it taste okay this time. I have decided that it is two different variables that could have caused this changed. First I did a mix of beef and chicken broth this time, and I cooked the curry into the onions longer this time before adding the broth. It was not without its problems though. One problem that occurred was the potatoes were not cooked long enough. I think this could be related to the size of each piece. If i made them smaller I think I would have cooked on time. Secondly it felt too thin, I had to make a secondary roux to thicken and still it felt slightly too thin. I believe if i had made a roux 3tbsp instead of 2 it would have turned out better.
Monday dinner: stuffed meat loaf
Tonight I made dinner with my roommate. I prepared the meat loaf and she prepared the sides. I've done this meatloaf several times before, although each time has been a different variation. My consistency is incredibly lacking. The inside is stuffed with various vegetables and the outside is covered with bacon and a glazed made with brown sugar, ketchup, and cumin. The sides were a mixed wild rice and a zucchini onion dish. Overall for me the meatloaf was alright. The taste was there, but the vegetables seemed undercooked. I should have roasted them, did this step previously and it turned out rather well. Since they were roasted they shrank so I was able to fit more in there. One step I did this time was tuck the excess bacon underneath the loaf. I noticed this actually allowed it to hold its shape better and it seemed there was less leakage of juices.
