Pork Chops & Chicken

A Quick Glance @ American Craft

I went to the new opening for American Craft last night in Brookline, Ma. David Ciccolo who owns the Publick House and Monks Cell as well as the Publick House Provisions, decided to revamp and go in a whole different direction with his former restaurant the Roadhouse.

David suffered set back after set back when it came to the Roadhouse. There was no luck for that place at all. From the bad chef who opened the restaurant (admittedly that was David's mistake), to the typical Brookline residents who couldn't be bothered to go to the planning meetings when David planned on installing a 4600 pound smoker, only to have the same residents complain and have it shut down 6 months later because was spring time. Who cares that it had been going for 6 months and that they ignored the planning meetings. It's spring time and they wanted their windows open.

Then there was the issue of the smoker being set up with a Jewish Center for Asthmatics right behind his pork-filled, smoke monster (true story). Next it was the Boston Globe writing an unethical review of the Roadhouse highlighting the good food from the new chef but making no mention of phasing out the old chefs bad food and writing about it without any mention of the change over. A terrible review without telling the whole truth or painting an accurate picture. Kind of like the typical Yelp review. And lastly being forced to change his menu due to a lack of a smoker from Texas-Style BBQ to a Tex-Mex style menu. I think the fans were as exhausted as Mr. Ciccolo was.

Finally David has come up with a realistic change to his restaurant. A concept that I think hits all the right marks at the right time. American Craft featuring only American craft beer, wines, and spirits. The menu has been kicked up 20 notches and simplified. The restaurant itself has been tweaked to feel worlds more comfortable.

My husband Todd, wrote a good write up from his point of view for a BeerAdvocate review. You can read that here.

I mostly wanted to highlight some of the food we had last night. It was so good. The duck hash was awesome, and not pictured, was the buffalo mozzarella cheese bites in marinara sauce. Delicious! The Stout Braised short rib was massive and so soft and tender. The potatoes were soft and creamy. I usually don't like mashed potatoes at all, but these were great.

Pulled Duck Hash: duck confit, root vegetables, and Yukon potatoes.

Burger: On a Challah roll with bacon, fried egg, spinach, and cheddar with hand-cut fries.

Stout Braised Short Rib: short rib with wilted spinach and whipped potatoes.

The beer selection is good. Let's face it, whether you liked the food at the Roadhouse or not, finding good beer in one of David's places has never been an issue. Now there is good wine too.

As many bumps in the road as there have been for David in finally getting this restaurant situated, I think it's finally safe to say that he has found his niche. This is the right concept at the right time.

I don't expect to see glowing reviews on Yelp with all the back and forth changes the Roadhouse has been through. I don't expect much out of Yelp in general. Or those who are on average hard to please. But you should see it for yourselves. American Craft is a much more comfortable place to hang out at, much more laid back atmosphere, and the food has kicked up, simplified, and fantastic. I liked it and frankly I am all that matters around here. It is my blog after all.

Thanks to my friend Caitlin, for allowing me to borrow her camera for these pics.

Creamy Chicken Pesto with Mushrooms and Sundried Tomatoes

This is the day I realized my camera was dying. The day I realized it's time to upgrade to a more professional type camera. Yellow pictures, blurry images with the setting set on still images. What a disaster, but I couldn't resist sharing this recipe.

I attended the 1st Annual FoodBuzz Blogger festival in the beginning of November last year. As part of the tons of swag we were given, I got a jar of this Mezzetta Napa Valley Homemade style pesto. Unfortunately it leaked all over my bag on the way home so I had a day or two use it.

I am not a huge pesto fan and I haven't really cooked with it before. So I searched the internet for a creamy chicken dish that I could add the pesto to. I found a very simple recipe from the FoodNetwork for Chicken in Parmesan chive cream sauce. This was the recipe I used for my base and then improvised the rest to make an awesome chicken pesto dish.

Forgive these pictures and pay attention to the recipe. You will want to make this. I cut out the chives and added a few different things to this recipe. Look for the asterisk to indicate what has been changed from the original recipe.

Chicken in Parmesan Cream Sauce by Robin Miller

1 tbls olive oil
1/2 cup diced shallots
3 cloves of minced garlic
2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
* 1/4 cup parmesan
salt
pepper
* 1 6.25 oz jar of basil pesto
* 10 large white mushrooms sliced
* 1 cup of sundried tomatoes chopped
* 1 pound of cooked bowtie pasta

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and garlic and cook for 2 minutes stiring with a spoon. 

Add chicken and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until golden brown on all sides.

Add thyme and bay leaves and cook for one minute, or until fragrant.

Add heavy cream and bring to a simmer for 1 minute or until sauce has thickened. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Add parmesan cheese and simmer for 1 minute or until sauce has thickened. Remove bay leaves.

Boil bowtie pasta and cook until pasta is tender. Drain the pasta and leave in pot. Add the entire jar of pesto, sliced mushrooms, and sundried tomatoes to the pasta. Pour on the creamy chicken from the skillet into the pot and stir well. Make sure all the pesto and cream sauce has coated everything.

Serve immediately in bowls with garlic bread.

The asterisk next to the parmesan is there because the recipe called for 1/4 cup, but I found that I needed a lot more than that. Start with the 1/4 cup and gradually add more as you need it. But allow it time to thicken before adding more so as you don't over do it. Just watch that you don't over cook the chicken while you wait for the cream sauce to thicken.