Dinner Date with Dad

Zoe was at a lacrosse game and Mom took LuLu to diving practice.  After Mom texted me saying that Dad and I would be on our own for dinner tonight I knew we were most likely going to go out.  About 20 minutes after my conversation with Mom I was expecting a text from Dad asking where I wanted to go.  Not that my Dad doesn't like to cook, I just knew we would take this opportunity to treat ourselves.  And that we did...

At first we were going to go to one of our favorite date spots, Via Tribunali, the pizza/italian place on Capitol Hill.  Then, right before we left, Dad remembered a great Italian place also on Capitol Hill that he swore was better.  I trusted him and took the keys and drove us downtown.  He said I would be chauffeur for the night because he was exhausted from work.

Carciofi alla Giudia
Fried Artichoke, Pangrattato, Aïoli

Luckily we found parking and walked to Rione XIII, the somewhat new Roman style restaurant by Ethan Stowell.  I also want to try his places, How to Cook a Wolf, and Anchovies and Olives.  The inside of the restaurant is a mix of a pizza place with an urban tapas bar.  The high brick ceilings and open pizza oven give the place a modern, yet cozy feel.  

We started with two small plates, the fried artichoke (Carciofi alla Giudia) and fried risotto (Suppli al Telefono).  Interested in the direct translation of the descriptions on the menu, I typed them into google translate.  The Carciofi translates into "Jewish Artichoke".  When this first came up I actually laughed out loud, thinking that the translator made a mistake.  The dish actually comes from the Roman ghetto where it is served in Jewish restaurants.  Our Jewish artichokes were delicious.  My mom steams artichokes all the time, but I had never had them fried before.  The breading on the outside had a great light but crunchy texture.  The artichokes themselves were very flavorful and fell apart in my mouth.  The aïoli could have had a little bit more complex flavor (basically just tasted like sour cream), but I think that I was just comparing it to my mom's delicious aïoli-like dipping sauce. She's adds Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce and dried tarragon to spice it up.     

Suppli al Telefono are traditional Roman fried rice balls. Usually containing risotto, the can be served with or without tomato sauce.  Our 3 risotto balls came out of the kitchen piping hot.  As we broke into them with our forks, mozzarella oozed out and stretched in longs strands as we tried to transfer plates.  The breading was the same coating on the artichokes.  They kind of tasted like sweet mac n' cheese.  Although the menu says they are served in a beef ragu, I didn't even notice the meat in the dish.  The tomato sauce was rich and mouth watering.  I was not a huge fan of the dish overall, but my dad really liked it.  I'm not one for really heavy appetizers, I just like things to

Suppli al Telefono

Fried Risotto, Beef Ragu,

Mozzarella

whet my palate.  My favorite part of the dish was definitely the buffalo mozzarella.  I noticed on the menu they had a whole section devoted to tasting mozzarella.  I've seen my fair share of cheese tasting boards, but never whole section on a menu specializing in one type..  

For our main dish we went with the simple Margherita pizza.  My dad wanted to try the asparagus one.  It sounded good at first, until I noticed that it had fried eggs on it.  Personally, I only like eggs for breakfast, not on my burgers, pizzas, or other dishes.  The wait was a little long for a pizza that takes 60 seconds to cook in a wood burning oven, but it was worth it.  The crust was fluffy and slightly chewy.  Creamy and rich mozzarella was matched with the sweet tomato sauce.  My favorite part was the chili oil drizzled on top.  Although pizza is usually greasy enough on its own, this addition made it a pizza worth remembering.  The hot chili oil added a burst of flavor to every bite.    

Margherita Pizza
Buffalo Mozzarella, Tomato, Basil

I like how you can see my Dad already grabbing his stomach anxiously waiting to dig in. 

I wouldn't go as far and say that this pizza is up to par with Tutta Bella, my favorite Pizzeria of all time, but it is definitely up there.  I would love to go back to Rioni XIII and try their homemade pastas.  My meal here surpassed Serafina's, which I visited just earlier this week.  While walking back to the car, Dad and I passed a place crowded with people called Smith.  We looked at the menu and the Chicken and Waffles immediately caught my eye.  I'll definitely be making a trip back to Capitol Hill soon!

Bagel Lover

After waking up, my dad follows a very specific ritual each morning.  He goes downstairs and sits in front of our Apple computer on the kitchen table to watch his stocks go up and down.  This coincides with his two cups of coffee and bagel with cream cheese.  Although sometimes he may have some scrambled eggs, or on a special occasion, huevos rancheros, you can almost always count on a bagel popping out of the toaster.  This is then followed by him yelling "Gail, where is the cream cheese?", when it is on the first shelf in the fridge.  Now my family is very picky when it comes to bagels, bread bagels from the grocery store or Starbucks won't cut it.  Instead, we stock our freezer every week with fresh bagels from the Eltana bagel shop on Capitol Hill. They start by boiling the dough in honeyed water.  And then wood-fire them to perfection.  This gives them that sweet yet smokey taste. Their chewy and crunchy outer shell goes perfectly with simple philadelphia cream cheese any day of the week (and sometimes locks, when we have them).

The only bagels I have found to remotely enjoy since moving to cali are those from Western Bagels.  I've been to to the one in North Hollywood, and the location by my aunts house in Calabassas.  Western Bagels offers the original, but best, bagel flavors along with a few specials (I noticed they currently have pumpkin bagels and spread).  I've tried their cream cheese and lox, pretty good.  And their wild berry cream cheese, good when you're in the mood for something sweet.  Must say my favorite is still the everything bagel toasted with cream cheese.

Everything bagel toasted with plain cream
cheese and a Naked Orange Juice.

This weekend my mom and I stayed the night at my aunts house in Calabassas.  We had to wake up early to drive back to school for my dive meet on Saturday morning.  We stopped at the Western Bagels right by the freeway entrance and got our breakfast for the drive back down south.  Just hit the spot.  I was feeling like something salty rather than sweet, especially because I had my meet in the next hour.  Didn't want to load up on sugar.  I decided to get my favorite.  Although it was ready quite quickly, I would have liked the bagel to be toasted a little more. It was still basically room tenperature. They do glob on the cream cheese like you haven't had it in months. When I was younger I used to put half a container on one bagel, but I've leaned to use it more sparingly as I entered high school.   I definitely think this is ok every once in a while, but with a good bagel, you even need that much. Here's my pre-competition breakfast:

Whole Foods sells Western Bagels.  I will definitely have to start buying packs there because the bread bagels they give to the athletes for free aren't up to par.