Calamari

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: The Pounds & Ounces Experience 2013

Pounds & Ounces 1

Written by guest reviewer Ron Ron.

Location: 160 8th ave south east side of 18th street in Chelsea, Manhattan.

Pounds & Ounces 2

Feeling hungry, thought I’d stop for a quick bite and brew at this trendy Chelsea bar restaurant. It’s an attractive bar with impressive carved wood back bar. I was all set for a beer or two and a quick bite, but uh oh a little trouble getting the bartender’s attention. Afterall this is Chelsea…more interested in fraternizing with co-workers and texting than being attentive to patrons.

I stay patient being cool knowing that sending a bad vibe could result in a longer wait time! Bartender finally gets to me and I order a Blue Moon bottle and a glass. Decided on the calamari w chilli sauce and another Blue Moon.

The calamari came out quickly enough but the portion was on the small side. Despite this they were crispy and tasty with a good presentation. I liked the lemon slices arrangement with the calamari. Finished the calamari but still hungry…wait…the bartender is still texting. May I see the menu again? Bartender stops texting long enough to give me a second look. Thank you.

I order $12 Sliders but no sides. Ask for it cooked medium well and substitute cheddar for the blue cheese. Not a fan of blue cheese. When my sliders came, once again, trendy presentation. Surprisingly, the sliders underwhelmed. You would think for a place called “Pounds & Ounces” they would have quality meat. Instead the beef was grissly.

Time to get out of here and head to my wed night sports spot. There I get my bartender who knows how to take care of patrons. Still waiting for the bartender here to finish texting. Uh yeah check please?

When the check arrives I leave over a 20% cash tip while I pay the bill on my card. I get barely a thanks from the bartender as I exit. Overall impression is food is hit or miss. Calamari was good but poor quality meat used in their sliders means they’re definitely not up to par. The interior design is very nice but service is lacking. Overall was ok but nothing to write home about.

Pounds & Ounces 3

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Dinner at Home – Whole Wheat Fusili and Seafood & Vegetable Cream Sauce

Today I was thinking that I have a lot of pasta I haven’t used yet and could try my hand at making my own cream sauce to boot. After checking the fridge for what I would need I decided to make a quick stop at the supermarket and pick up some needed items for my Cream Sauce. Once back from the supermarket I set up the ingredients

Ingredients for my Vegetable Seafood Cream Sauce:

1 pint of Heavy cream

1 half cup Coconut water with pulp

3 tbsp Oregano, 2 tbsp Cayenne Pepper, 1 tsp Black Pepper, 1 tsp Habanero Pepper, Sea Salt

2 finely chopped Garlic Cloves

1/2 Red Onion finely chopped (or whatever onion you have)

1 can Green Peas n Carrots, 1 can Green Peas

3 tbsp All purpose flour

1 1/2 cups shelled deveined uncooked Shrimp

1/2 cup Calamari

3 hard boiled eggs

I poured the heavy cream and coconut water w pulp into a sauce pan or pot with medium low heat. Next in went the spices and canned peas and carrots before I stirred in the chopped garlic and red onion. In a small bowl I mixed the 3 tbsp of flour and just enough water to dissolve the flour and have no lumps. The dissolved flour was then added to the sauce and let simmer.

In a separate skillet I added some canola oil and heated the pan to medium heat. Once the oil was fast in the pan, I added the Shrimp and Calamari pieces one at a time to the pan and allowed them to cook on both sides before removing and placing on a plate with paper towel to drain excess oil. I did two styles where I used Panko breadcrumbs and an egg yolk bath to coat some of the Calamari and Shrimp and some I fried without any breadcrumbs just in oil. Both ways I cooked the shrimp ended up in the cream sauce and were equally delicious.

Next I took the yolks from the 3 Hard Boiled Eggs and sliced them in halves before adding them to the sauce.

After a gentle stir of the Shrimp and Calamari and Egg Yolks into the sauce, I added Sea Salt to taste as I could tell the coconut water had made the sauce a tad sweeter than I intended. Once the taste was just right I let it simmer until sufficiently thickened. The heat was turned down to low. Next turned my attention to putting a pot of water on to boil before adding the Fusili pasta to it.

I let the Fusili boil for about 8 minutes till al dente then drained them and set them aside while I tended to the cream sauce which was almost done. Next I grabbed a mixing bowl and whipped together a quick Garden Salad with Mushrooms, Grape Tomatoes, Spinach and Shredded Carrots. Below is the completion of my efforts.

Dinner is finally served…

Just when I thought I’d take my first bite I realized I wanted to add some Parmesan Cheese and so…

Now for the first bite of Shrimp

I have to say for my first time throwing together a Cream Sauce this turned out to be quite good. The Cayenne Pepper and Habanero Pepper heightened the flavor and gave the sauce a little kick. Next time I’ll have to experiment making this using Shrimp stock in the sauce. Till next time this has been Dinner at Home another report by THEJNSREPORT.