Category: chocolate

Katz’s in Austin

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

I enjoyed many of the restaurants in Austin while I was in town for SXSW, but I particularly enjoyed Katz’s. I went there a couple times and, as an all-night deli, it fit in well with our schedules.

I had a cheeseburger one evening, but only after ensuing that I could get it with blue cheese ;). The burger arrived quickly and they weren’t stingy with the blue cheese — there was about a cue-ball sized mound of crumbled blue cheese on the side.

I had trouble piling on all the blue cheese, but I was only too pleased to have such a problem. The patty was moderately thick and warm (though it could have been a touch hotter). Upon taking a bite, I was delivered a massive blue-cheese-and-beef sensation. It was incredibly delicious and among the top three burgers I’ve ever had.

On another occasion, I was in more of a sandwich mood and I went with a turkey club (with avocado, natch). The turkey was succulent and piled high, and the bacon — an often overlooked component — was well cooked with a satisfying crunch.

It was a tasty sandwich, decidedly above-average as club sandwiches go, but the bread didn’t seem to live up to its potential. It was wheat, I believe (a good thing), but it tended to slightly dry out my mouth. Usually, mayo or other condiments in the sandwich would counteract this effect, but not so much this time.

And, just last night, I went after the DFWBlogs / H-Town Blogs Cocktail Event. I wasn’t counting on fitting in a proper dinner that evening, so I had a few protein bars earlier in the evening (Zone bars, specifically).

Nonetheless, I was a tad peckish by the time we arrived (which was close to midnight, if I recall). On previous visits to Katz’s, I had eyed their dessert menu but I hadn’t had room — but now was my chance.

At first, their ice cream / brownie caught my eye, but it had both vanilla and chocoalte ice cream. Not being a fan of chocolate ice cream, I crossed that off my list. Though I don’t like chocolate ice cream, I’m still a raging choco-fiend in general — so, I went in search of other chocolatey items.

Quickly, I narrowed it down to two chocolate cakes: “Chocolate Eruption” & “Death by Chocolate”. A food’s texture lends to its enjoyment for me, but that’s where both of those fell a bit short…

The Chocolate Eruption was described as chocolate-cream cake with nuts and chocolate shavings, while the Death by Chocolate was made up of white & dark chocolate mousses. Chocolate can be delicious in many forms, but I never had much of a hankering for squishy chocolate (well, except for ganache, I suppose). Really, a chocolate cake would have been perfect.

Of the two, I settled on the Chocolate Eruption; I figured that the crunch of the nuts would play well off the soft chocolate cream. The slice arrived and, though it was tasty — I had no trouble finishing it — the creaminess was almost overwhelming. Of course it was probably no creamier than most other chocolate-cream cakes, but that evening I had a yearning for a Real Cake cake which this slice didn’t entirely fulfill.

With so many good dishes, Katz’s is probably one of my favorite restaurants in Austin. I look forward to eating there again next year.

Recipe: Triple Chocolate S’more Pie

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I was watching the awards show for Emeril’s Chocolate Contest which featured four finalists: Chocolate Turtle Martini, Chocolate Ice Cream, Chocolate Mousse Cake, and Triple Chocolate S’more Pie. Of those, Sarah Benner’s Triple Chocolate S’more Pie was voted best and I tend to agree — it not only seems choco-licious, but easy to make as well:

Triple Chocolate S’more Pie

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup melted butter
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1 1/2 cups sweetened condensed milk [Really, 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk, three times —Alex]
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract [Like the condensed milk, this is really 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, three times. — Alex]
  • 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Preparation:

For the crust: Preheat the oven to 375° F. Spray the inside of a 9-inch pie pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press mixture firmly into sprayed pie pan, covering bottom and sides. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.

For filling: In a microwave safe bowl, combine milk chocolate chips, 1/2 cup condensed milk, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Microwave for 2 minutes on medium (50 percent) power. Alternately, combine all ingredients and melt in a double boiler. Stir until all chips are melted and pour into bottom of cooled crust. Set in refrigerator while preparing second layer.

For second layer, repeat above process using the vanilla chips. Pour over milk chocolate layer. Set in refrigerator while preparing third layer. For third layer repeat above process using the dark chocolate chips. Pour over white chocolate layer.

Preheat the broiler. Evenly cover top with miniature marshmallows. Place under broiler for a few minutes just until marshmallows are lightly browned. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

  • Yield: 16 slices as small pieces are sufficient for even the most devoted chocoholics
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Inactive Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Difficulty: Easy

I might be inclined to substitute a premade graham cracker crust but, other than that, I’d be tempted to try this sometime.

PS: I generally enjoy most of the shows on Food Networks, but I have a small gripe about Emeril’s show in particular. The recipes often look tasty and, Emeril’s over-caffeinated personality aside, it’s also inconvenient that Emeril never mentions the ingredient-amounts (neither out loud nor on-screen).

So, you’ll have Emeril saying something like “And now, I’m going to add some butter to the mixer … and then some sugar…”. So, an archive of the show is no longer suitable as a “visual recipe” — I would have to refer to both the recording and the website every time I wanted to make one of the recipes from his show :-/.

Slashdot Meetup – December

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

This evening, I’ll be going to the Slashdot Meetup for Dallas. Like last month, it’s at Cafe Brazil this evening (the venues are chosen through voting, and it so happened that Cafe Brazil won both times).

I often order a make-your-own omelette, and I’m tempted to do so again. My favorite combination is sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, and chorizo sausage. The problem I run into — every time — is that I’m never sure how to pronounce “chorizo” ;). Is it SHOR-zio? CHORE-zio? SHOR-see-oh? shor-SEE-oh?

I’m also looking forward to the dessert options available. With a dessert menu like theirs, I don’t think I could resist ;). I’m a big fan of chocolate-enhanced baked goods (chocolate cake, brownies, and so on) so I decided last time that I would have chocolate cake.

Of course, Cafe Brazil has about half a dozen varieties of chocolate cake, so I asked our waitress, “Which of your cakes is the most chocolaty?“ I could almost visualize the gears slowly turning in her head as she attempted to deduce the correct answer. After a moment, she replied “Well, I think triple-chocolate layer cake would be.“ (apparently using the line of reasoning that, if “one-chocolate” is a baseline, then “triple-chocolate” must be super-chocolaty indeed).

The cake was delicious — don’t get me wrong — but it was a bit of a chocolate disappointment. The icing was chocolate-flavored, but not intensely so. And, the cake-portion of the slice was almost sponge-like instead of a more preferable soft-and-moist texture.

So, this time around, I may still venture for a slice of chocolaty goodness. But, I’ll either decide on my own or decide after consulting with my dining companions (though not with the wait staff, natch).

Korean Barbeque

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

I quite enjoyed the Korean Barbeque on Sunday. Min Jung was in visiting from San Fransisco, and she was nice enough to cook this great meal for us.

The core element of the barbeque was the barbequed beef — sliced similarly as to cheesesteak-beef. She made both spiced and unspiced varieties, for the adventurous and non-adventurous, respectively. I tried both, and actually quite enjoyed the spiced version.

There were also these rice-circle bits. It was a disc about the size of half-dollar made up of rice, chopped carrots, and scrambled egg (I think). I wasn’t sure how I’d like it, but it was surprisingly good (I think I had two or three). Still, I had to wonder what they might be like with avocado — the universal condiment, as far as I’m concerned ;).

Ed k brought along some “Mexican Chocolate Pate”. It’s a bit hard to describe, but it was like a half-molten chopped-pecan filled brownie, but with more sugar ;). I think I could almost feel the sugar granules with my tongue as I savored each bite.

It was hella-chocolatey (just how I like it) and I’m having trouble deciding whether Mexican Chocolate Pate or Chocolate Decadence is my favorite chocolate-based dessert.

Super Breakfast

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A couple weeks ago, Julie and I came up with the idea of a “Super Breakfast“ — like a potluck dinner, but with breakfast instead. Someone would bring pancakes, someone would bring sausages, and so on.

Since Julie and Leia were having a slumber party Friday night, they figured that the following morning could be a good opportunity for a Super Breakfast. Though the slumber party was girls-only, the Super Breakfast would be co-ed. In her invitation for Saturday morning, Julie phrased it that the scummy-boys would be making breakfast for the girls — I realize that she only meant it in jest, but I thought that was a bit odd. I would have preferred if the plan was for everyone to help with breakfast (and in practice, it worked out that way anyhow).

Since he’s car-less, I gave Bryan a ride to the house. He brought along his waffle iron and I brought along pancake-mix and a ladle (so that we could make waffles and pancakes, respectively).

Once at the house, everyone began making the breakfast. I combined the ingredients for the pancake mix, and began preparing those. Meanwhile, croissants and biscuits (the “with gravy” kind) warmed in the oven, someone made scrambled eggs, and someone else made bacon and sausage links. It was a very busy kitchen ;).

It worked out to be a very thorough breakfast. I had a couple pancakes, a waffle, some sausage links, and a croissant. I enjoyed the pancakes and the croissant with some butter-spread and sugar free blackberry jam. I also tried some blackberry (?) sauce with the waffle. It was very convenient in sauce-form (as opposed to a jam) as it nicely filled the square crevices of the waffle.

After breakfast (brunch?), I discovered some double-chocolate bundt cake in the fridge, which I quickly put to use. The chocolate icing was thin in texture and melted easily, so it was full of flavor. And, the cake itself was moist and chocolately. It was very tasty, and I always enjoy a good chocolate cake.

Earlier in the morning, I had placed the package of Ding-Dongs in the freezer, as I had read somewhere that they become even more tasty once frozen. And, post-bundt, I was ready to try one. At that point, it had been several hours since I had put them in the freezer, so they were mostly chilled.

Sure enough, they were pretty good. The cake-portion of the Ding Dong changed little from the freezing process. However, the chocolate coating gathered a pleasantly crispy texture. Best of all, the creme center of the Ding Dong took on a semi-solid state such that it almost resembled a fluffy version of the ice cream found in an ice cream sandwich. Hopefully, someone will bring Twinkies to the next Super Breakfast, as I imagine that those too may improve with the freezing process.

In all, I had a great time, and I really look forward to the next one.