Restaurant Review: Casablanca Restaurant

Recently, I had dinner and drinks at Casablanca Restaurant’s downstairs dining room.  I was really intrigued by a couple of rattan loungers built for two in the bar area, which I heard from my dining companions, harkened back to Casablanca’s days as a more bar-centric venue.

EricAntoniou, Casablanca, 1980. This was Casablanca before

I found a picture by Eric Antinou of Casablanca in the 1980’s from Harvard Square: An Illustrated History by Mo Lotman.  It looks almost completely different to the space today.  The current dining room is bright, with lots of murals and comfortable seating.  You can still see some of the touches around the room that give a nod to the history of the space, but it doesn’t feel like an old bar.

With the differing medical opinions on grain alcohol in a gluten-free diet, I tend to order wine a lot, so the generous wine list provided plenty of options.  I did not see any gluten free beers on their menu, but maybe if I had asked they would have surprised me with something in the back (Charlie’s Kitchen, just down the street, did so the other week.   They stock Redbridge, Anheuser-Busch’s G/F beer).

When I mentioned my allergy, the waiter immediately knew what I was talking about and went back to the kitchen to confirm some options for me.  I can’t remember all the options I was presented with, but there were a number of choices; including the stuffed peppers, a vegetarian option.   I chose the heirloom tomato salad an order of grape leaves.  My dining companions both had burgers, which looked great.  Both got good reviews, one even saying that they were better than Mr. Bartley’s, which was shocking to me.

The salad was awesome; it was much more satisfying than your run of the mill deli / appetizer salad.  The dish was really well-balanced between the fresh ricotta, the sweet tomatoes, salty ham and peppery arugula.  The dressing was great, nutty and just slightly acidic.

The grape leaves were also good.  They had whole pine nuts in with the rice, which added nice flavor.

We got some salted almonds with our tea / coffee for dessert.  They had been blanched, toasted, lightly coated with (what I think was) olive oil and salted: very satisfying and light.  If you are looking for a quick bar snack, I would get the almonds.

Casablanca Restaurant is right next to the Brattle Theatre, which makes it the perfect place to grab dinner / drinks and a movie.

G/F friendly: 4 of 5

Ambiance in one word: relaxed

Food Taste and Quality: 4 of 5

Review: Au Bon Pain, Copley

I just grabbed a soup at Au Bon Pain in the Copley Mall.  I always try to hit up the Copley: it is one of the few locations with both a salad bar (including big baked potatoes) and a soup bar.  ABP does have a good selection of gluten free menu items.

Their soup bar has individual tags for each pot of soup.  In addition to the name and description of the soup, they also identify the allergens in each soup or its healthful attributes (ie – low sodium, low fat).   Today there were only two options for g/f diners on the soup bar: French Moroccan lentil and black bean.  I was disappointed that their butternut squash and apple soup contains wheat.  I used to really like that one.

I tried the French Moroccan lentil soup, which was ok.  It was not overly salty, but otherwise it was pretty bland and unremarkable.  The broth appeared watered down, with only a vague suggestion of the promised tomatoes and lentils.  Some cumin or other spices would have been a nice addition.  I don’t mind thin soups, but if it is going to be thin, give it flavor!

ABP is a good place for g/f diners.  Though the food is far from amazing, each ABP location I have visited has a nutrition binder or computer out on the floor for customer review.  In addition, allergen information is frequently copied over to display boards.

G/F friendly: 4/5

Ambiance in one word: utilitarian

Taste: 2/5

Recipe: Cinnamon Paprika Pork Chops with Cider-Ginger Cabbage

This meal takes about 35 minutes, start to finish: a good weeknight option.  Satisfying enough for my husband, light enough for me.

Cider-Ginger Cabbage

1 Tbs. unsalted butter

2 Tbs. fresh ginger, peeled and minced*

2 Tbs. apple cider (if you are out of cider, use white wine or chicken stock, something to add a rich flavor)

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

½ head of red cabbage (any kind of cabbage is fine in a pinch) quarterqed, cored and thinly sliced

2 carrots or 1 large apple, thinly sliced (I ran out of apples for this run and used carrots, which worked surprisingly well)  I use a peeler to get really thin slices.

2 Tbs. cider vinegar

dash of clove

1 tsp cinnamon

salt and pepper to taste

Left: peeled ginger, cut into pieces for freezing Right: Coring the Cabbage

*Tip for fresh ginger root: peel it and cut it into 1-inch pieces.  Wrap the pieces in foil and freeze them.  Ginger keeps for about 3-4 months in the freezer without losing its flavor.

1. Heat a lidded skillet or saucepan over medium heat.  Add the butter.  Once the butter has melted, add the ginger.  Sauté until fragrant: about 1 to 2 minutes.

Steps 1 and 3

2. Add the onion, cook until soft: about 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Deglaze the pan by adding the apple cider and stirring.  Lower the heat slightly and add the cabbage and apple (or carrot, as shown in the pictures).

4. Add vinegar, clove, cinnamon, salt and pepper.  Stir to combine.  Cover with lid, checking and stirring occasionally.  The cabbage should take about 15-20 minutes, however, the longer you leave it cooking, the more the flavors will develop.

Cinnamon Paprika Pork Chops

1 ½ lbs. lean, boneless pork chops

olive oil

1 Tbs. salt

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. pepper

dash of clove

dash of ginger

Left: cooking the pork chops Right: the cabbage cooking down

1. Heat a grill pan or skillet over high heat.  Remove the pork chops from the fridge.  You want to take the chill off the meat so it doesn’t get tough in the pan.  I would go for at least 10 minutes on the counter.

2. To create the rub, combine the salt, paprika, cinnamon, pepper, clove and ginger in a small bowl.

3. Dry the pork chops by patting them with a paper towel.  Season one side with the spice rub.

4. Brush or drizzle the pan with olive oil.  Put the pork chops on the grill, seasoned side down.  Season the other side.

5. Cook 8 minutes on one side.  Flip and cook another 5 minutes. You may need more time if the chop is really thick.  Sometimes you just need to cut into the pork chop to see if it is cooked all the way through.

Voila!

Plate the pork chops and add the cabbage.  Normally, I try to make my own applesauce, but hey, it was a weeknight and Trader Joe’s makes a mean jar of applesauce.

Recipe: Lemon-Thyme Scallops with Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus

Asparagus and Potatoes

1 lb asparagus

2 large russet potatoes

Making the potato sit flat.

1 shallot

3 large cloves garlic

salt and pepper

4 Tbs olive oil

1. Heat the over to 450 degrees.  Cover a sheet pan with foil, if you are trying to be more eco-friendly, don’t worry about the foil, it’s just there to make clean up a snap.

2. Cut a thin strip off the bottom of each potato, this will make them lay flat, which makes it easier to slice the potatoes.  Thinly slice: the potatoes, shallot and garlic.

Slicing the potatoes, garlic and shallot

3. Place on the pan and coat with 2 Tbs. of olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

4. Put in the oven, on the center rack.  Cook 15 minutes. Start prepping the scallops, recipe below.

5. Chop ½ inch off the ends of the asparagus (or more, if the ends are really tough).

6. Remove the potatoes from the oven, turn the potato mixture.  Place the asparagus on top.  Drizzle 2 Tbs olive oil and season the asparagus.  Return to the oven for another 15-20 minutes (depending on the size of the spears, the thicker they are, the longer they should cook).

Seasoning the potatoes and adding the aparagus

Scallops

1 lb scallops

2 Tbs fresh thyme leaves, stripped from the sprigs

about 1 cup dry white wine

1 lemon, zested and juiced

salt and pepper

1 Tbs and 1 tsp butter

1 Tbs olive oil

1. Pat the scallops dry, salt and pepper one side.  In a large, 10 inch skillet, heat the 1 tsp butter and the olive oil.  Butter adds more flavor, but burns more easily than oil, so I use a little of each.

stripping the thyme leaves from the woody stem and getting the scallops in the pan

2. When the oil and butter start to bubble, add the scallops, seasoned side down.  Salt and pepper the other side.  Allow the scallops to cook 4 minutes on one side.  If the pan starts to really dry out; add few Tbs of white wine.

3. Turn the scallops.  Cook another 2-3 minutes.

Left: Cooked scallops resting on a plate Right: making the sauce

4. Remove scallops from the pan onto a dish.  In the same pan, add ¾ cup wine and the lemon zest.  Whisk together.  This deglazes the pan and adds lots of flavor.  Allow to simmer and reduce, about a minute.  Add lemon juice, butter and thyme.  Whisk.  Allow to reduce slightly, about 2 minutes.  Add scallops and any juices that may have run out of the scallops, back into the pan.  Cook for 1 minute.

5. Plate, spooning some sauce over the scallops.

Voila! Dinner is ready.