Taco Punk, you can do better than this.

My husband and I were so excited to go to Taco Punk tonight.  We enjoyed their booth at the NuLu Festival and thought they had a great concept and potential, which made tonight's dining experience disappointing.

Service:

-I ordered the Lucky Ducky and the Taj Ma-hell and was answered with "I'm sorry, you are NOT lucky today!"  It's understandable that the specials can run out, but there was no sign indicating this... It was only 5 pm and they're open until 2 am!  So I decided to order the Yucatecan style fish and the smoked chicken mole instead. 

-I thought the process would run quickly and smoothly as it's an assembly line, but after I was asked three times what I had ordered, the process became neither.  

-The server inexplicably switched my tortilla out after putting chicken mole on it...and put it back in the bin.  I'm still confused about this.

Food:

-The homemade tortillas were cold, thick, and slightly brittle on the edges.

-The fish was well seasoned and freshly grilled.  I was pleasantly surprised that cod could taste so good.

-The chicken mole was slightly spicy and barely smoked; good but not memorable.

-Our favorite was the BarBEERcoa; the meat was moist, tender and well marinated.

-The adobo chicken was also freshly grilled, but there wasn't much of an adobo flavor in my opinion.

-Chorizo and potato tasted bland.  We are not sure where the potato went---perhaps it was pureed with the chorizo...

-Lime chili mayo is awesome.

-The free fillings (shredded cabbage, pickled onions, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro) all added distinct flavors and textures that I found creative, colorful and most importantly, very tasty.

-The saffron rice was overcooked and completely flavorless.  Black beans were well seasoned--but again, not memorable.  

Value:

-This is somewhat expensive---four small tacos, two small sides, 2 drinks and about 7 tortilla chips apiece cost $25.

And now for some pictures:

 Top: chicken mole; Bottom: Yucatecan style fish

 Close-up of the Yucatecan style fish

Top: chorizo and potato; Bottom: BarBEERcoa with lime chili mayo

Chicken adobo 

Black beans and rice

Bottom Line: Yes, I realize that this is only day 3 of this restaurant.  I would be willing to return, but I have multiple reservations.

Good? Yes. The best? No.

Let's keep it short and sweet here:

    

 The St. Matthews

 The White Pizza

 Our pizza- The Brownsboro

The Clifton

• Crust- chewy on the edges and very thin, but soggy in the middle.  I expected a charcoal flavor since they boast about the 600 degree coal fired oven....but there was none.  
• Sauce- didn't miss it!  This was a pleasant surprise. 
• Toppings- tasty caramelized onions made the pizza memorable
• Value- decent.  After all, this is in St. Matthews. 
• Best pizza in Louisville?  No.  Would I try something else here?  Yes.
  

German fusion? Oh yes please.

We, along with two dear friends, decided to check out Eiderdown tonight.  I have been very curious about this place, mainly due to advertising at Sunergos Coffee and good word-of-mouth.  We looked at the menu beforehand and decided this wasn't true German food; it seemed like German influences mixed with American gourmet with local and seasonal ingredients to boot.

The atmosphere is nice--not too dark, but not too bright either.  Lots of happy people at the bar and at the tables.

We started with the 3 Pretzels appetizer (left) and the Bier Kase (right), which was gouda today.  The pretzels tasted very good, although they were a little greasy.  You can pick 2 house mustards with the pretzels, and our friend chose the Sweet-Hot and the Porter.  The Sweet-Hot was nothing but the latter!  It was worse than wasabi.  :-O  The Porter was mainly just sweet.  The gouda was delicious (but I am a sucker for gouda).

This is my Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier---1/2 a liter!  This was great, nice and smooth.  (Sorry....not a beer connoisseur.) 

My entree was the Gnadinger Pork sandwich with red cabbage slaw.  The sandwich was moist and tasted like pulled pork---it had the right, pull-apart consistency. The currants and pistachios didn't add much to the flavor, other than a slight background sweetness.  The red cabbage slaw was okay; not as tender as I've had before, but more raw.  It was sweet as well, but not as tart as I expected.  I still enjoyed it though.

Mr. S. had the Mood Indigo, a calf tongue, smoked blue cheese, & sauerkraut sandwich, along with braised collard greens.  The flavors of the sauerkraut and blue cheese shone through, and the bread was nicely toasted.  I typically detest collard greens, but I liked these more than my own side.

This was our friend's Saison Spaetzle, which included squash, zucchini, pearl onions, basil, goat cheese, and toasted walnuts.  She said that it was good, especially the goat cheese. 

This was our other friend's Homer's Daydream, pork ribs in sauerkraut with potatoes and apples.  He seemed to enjoy it immensely as well.

Verdict:  Our bill was $36 for 2 beers, 2 sandwiches, and an appetizer---not bad.  Would I return?  Yes.  I like that the menu changes, portions are reasonable, the atmosphere is cozy, and the food is comfort food at its fundamentals...but with a German twist.  

The new DIY project

Anyone want to make tempeh?

This meat substitute can actually be quite tasty.  Mr. S. and I had some in a chili in Asheville, and it was surprisingly delicious.  We researched more about it and discovered that making your own requires a starter...and also involves growing mold in your own house.  Deliberately.  :-O

We hope to get some starter from this website: http://www.topcultures.com

And I will document this process soon!

Update:

-Pie was horrible.  Not due to the crust (yay tenderness!), but due to the fact that I can't make filling worth a damn.  Too much cornstarch.  :(

-Lobster Fest 2011 pics soon...although they're on Facebook as well.

-Chocolate bourbon scones are really good.

-I tried the last food truck in Louisville, Lil' Cheezers.  :)  Review for that coming soon too.  

Who knew that vegan food could taste good?

I'm kidding...I think.  The only vegan food I've had prior to tonight was a ginger cookie from Amazing Grace, which is now gone.

The presence of food trucks is not new at all to places like LA and Portland.  I'm pretty excited about this trend here in Louisville, though, and hope that it lasts.  There are three trucks now that I know of: El Rumbon (see my past review here) , Lil' Cheezers (grilled cheese sandwiches) and Louisville's Morels Food Truck, which is in its second week of business.

Mr. S. and I decided to go today due in part to being depressed about Owensboro's International BBQ Festival, which is apparently not international whatsoever.  :(

Entertainment while you wait for your food.  :D

Mr. S. and I bought the teriyaki slider burgers and the banh mi hot dog.  Both were excellent.  The burgers were moist and had a great savory teriyaki flavor.  The hot dog tasted like a regular one (no lips/lymph nodes, yay!) with pickled carrot & daikon, topped with a generous amount of spicy mayo.  

Bottom line: very reasonably priced and extremely tasty.  This gives vegan food a good name to omnivores such as myself.  I <3 food trucks!

Long overdue

Mr. S., our friend H. the bread chef, and I journeyed to Asheville, NC a couple of weeks ago for the Asheville Bread Festival.

(Not the best picture in the world, but it was the most beautiful drive I've done in a long time.)

The festival was delightful.  There were 10-15 vendors selling their wares, from all sorts of bread (of course) to flaky, buttery croissants, pastries, and the softest pretzels I have ever sampled.  Unfortunately, I left my camera battery at the hotel so no pics from the festival.  Peter Reinhart also posed for a picture with all of us.  :)

We returned to the hotel to admire and consume our loot.

 

I wish I could do this.  But I'm always so afraid of my bread burning, and furthermore, I do not have a hearth oven.

After resting, we attempted to attend a seminar on French ovens, but were stymied by poor directions and Mapquest.  (*shakes fist*)  Instead, we came early to Chef Reinhart's seminar.  He is very nice.  We tasted the sprouted wheat bread before the demonstration even started.  :D

 100% hydrated dough!  Can you imagine?

Sprouted wheat foccacia

Afterwards, I bought Chef Reinhart's American Pie and got to gush to him like a silly fangirl about how much I love his recipe for pane siciliano.  

And....I'm now a tester for his upcoming gluten-free, diabetic cookbook that will be published in April 2012.  I have tried two recipes so far.  That, of course, is another post.  :)

Happy first anniversary to The Hungry Panda!

I had to look back at the archives to realize it's been a year since I've started this blog.  So...what can you expect from me in the future, besides themed dinner parties, restaurant reviews, and silliness?  I'm very excited about some new cookbooks I've purchased, Rick Bayless' One Plate at a Time and Andrea Nguyen's Into the Vietnamese Kitchen.  With those, I hope to expand my repertoire of dishes beyond quick sandwiches and salads (which is sadly all I eat when I don't have time/energy for anything else).  The latter's blog is amazing, and of course I will explain why I think I need a Vietnamese cookbook.

Here's what I'm working on:

-pane siciliano (I've made this bread more times than any other in the past few months, so it deserves an entry.)

-Asheville Bread Festival (Yes, I went...where were you??)

-pie crust (Will I ever top my m-i-l?  A tall order, considering I did not grow up eating pie.)

-Wiltshire on Market review

Anyway, I made graham crackers on Monday night, just to say that I could.  (I doubt I'll be doing this again.)

                                      

Recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/graham-crackers-recipe/index.html

Changes:

- I used a total of 10.25 oz of graham flour; no all-purpose flour.

-Following other reviews, I substituted the molasses with 2 oz of honey.

-I used liberal dashes of cinnamon, but it really didn't make a difference in flavor.

-No whole milk in this house; just skim.

Thoughts:

-I couldn't roll my first batch very thinly, so it became a delectable crunchy cookie.  Mr. S. had better luck with rolling the dough out to the correct thickness with the second batch, but the crackers became slightly burnt.  Still edible though.