While visiting my brother in Dallas, we ate at a restaurant called Urban Tapas. They have a drink called a Hummer, which contains Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur), Godiva white chocolate liqueur and a splash of vodka.

Liked it so much I bought the ingredients.

Any places out there with great drinks or food that you liked so much you decided to make it at home?

IIRC I first had a Negroni at a restaurant/ bar. Liked it so much that it is a regular drink now.

Many bartenders do not seem to be able to make a decent Sidecar. I absolutely cannot drink it if made with Tom Collins mix. Fresh lemon juice is key to this cocktail.

Many years ago, a very fine New York restaurant called La Tulipe made a drink with champagne and Chambord (I think they called it a Negresco) that I liked so well I tried to replicate it at home. I've also attempted Bellinis but with somewhat less success.

So funny that this post comes up today.

Last year I went to the Mall of America on a shopping weekend, and had a wonderful, unusual salsa at the Odyssey Restaurant there. They offered it free at their happy hour, and my sister in law and I went nuts over it. It's a cucumber salsa made with roma tomoatoes, red onion, yellow peppers, black beans, ginger, garlic, cilantro, sugar, white wine, sweeet chili sauce and chili oil.

It's pretty elaborate for a salsa, and a bit of a pain to make (involves chopping, sauteeing, deglazing)....but boy is it fantastic. They served it with their homemade garlic chips.

We sheepishly asked if they would give us the recipe or sell us some to bring home, and they said they get many requests for it, and already had a card printed up.

I've made it on special occasions and it is great. I serve it with tortilla chips or Carrs Water Crackers.

Just took the recipe out again last night so I can make the salsa to bring to a BBQ this weekend.

(PS- For anyone who loves any "fast food" type specialties, there is a website called www.topsecretrecipes.com that duplicates many of them.)

OK, let me tell your the ones that I have "pinched" or been given the receipe for by chefs at their restaurants.

Oranges with praline sauce

Hot Strawberries with Creme Chantilly

Tagliatelle with lobster and tomato sauce

After Eight Sundae (Mint Ice Creme with Creme de Menthe and hot chocolate)

Chicken Breast stuffed with Chirozzo

Maitre d'hotel butter

Cherry Tomato Soup (cold served in British Airways 1st Class when the crew hadn't snaffled it all!)

Twice baken cheeze souffle


Cannot think of any others at the moment!




PG

PG
How about posting the strawberry and tagliatelle recipe.

campari with anything

pasta with smoked chicken, roasted corn and peppers in a cream sauce from cafe alma (RIP) in Vancouver

chile relleno tart from santa fe cafe

fig raspberry tart from chez panisse

flyerwife and PG, please post/forward recipes!

When I used to visit SEA, I would stop by Anthony's Grill (located beneath Anthony's Pier 66). One time, I spied a halibut with cream sauce and it sounded sooo good that I blew my per diem. It was! Unfortunately, they would not give out the recipe (but the server did tell me the ingredients). I went home and recreated it with good results - Halibut, sour cream, capers, red onions, etc. - I'll send it to anybody who wants it.

Many years ago we arrived at the docks somewhere on Tortola on a Sunday afternoon to board our sailing vessel at 5 PM. All the shops were closed and it was hot and humid outside so we went into Pussers to cool off. Since their claim to fame was their Pain Killer drink, I had to have a few and they were excellent. Later at home, I'd found a bottle of Pusser's with a recipe for their famous concoction and bought the rum and all the necessary ingredients. Oh, what a disappointment. Must be something about the islands that was missing in the drink. Even when I tried one elsewhere, it just never measured up to what they served at Pussers.

Warm, Soft Chocolate Cake

4 oz. butter, plus more for buttering the molds
4 oz. Valrhona chocolate
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
¼ c. sugar
2 tsp. flour, plus more for dusting

Use a double boiler to heat the butter and chocolate together until the chocolate is almost completely melted. While that's heating, beat the eggs, yolks, and sugar together with a whisk or electric beater until light and thick. Beat the melted chocolate and butter together; it should be quite warm. Pour in the egg mixture, then quickly beat in the flour, just until combined. Butter and lightly flour four 4-ounce molds, custard cups, or ramekins. Tap out excess flour. Divide the batter among the molds. (At this point you can refrigerate the desserts until you are ready to eat, for up to several hours; bring them back to room temperature before cooking.) Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Bake the molds on a tray for 6 to 7 minutes; the center will still be quite soft, but the sides will be set. Invert each mold onto a plate and let sit for about ten seconds. Unmold by lifting up one corner of the mold; the cake will fall out onto the plate. Serve immediately with a scoop of your favorite ice cream. We suggest Vanilla.

Cucumber Salsa

1 cup cucumbers, peeled and diced
2 cups Roma tomatoes, diced
3/4 cup red onion, diced
1 Tbsp. cilantro, cleaned, stemmed, chopped
1/4 cup yellow bell peppers, diced
1/2 cup black beans (canned), drained
1 tsp. fresh grated ginger
1 tsp. fresh minced garlic
2 tsp. garlic oil
1 Tbsp. sugar
3 tsp. white wine
1/8 cup sweet chili sauce
2 1/2 Tbsp. Chili Oil

Mix first six ingredients together in a bowl.
Heat garlic oil in saucepan, add ginger and garlic and saute' til golden brown
Add sugar and caramelize
Deglaze the pan with white wine and reduce heat
Add sweet chili sauce and chili oil
Add remaining ingredients, mix well and chill


If you have difficulty finding the sweet chili sauce or chili oil, check in the Asian food section of your larger stores.

I usually fudge a bit on the ingredients, adding more cukes, yellow peppers and beans, and less tomatoes and onion (personal preference).

The restaurant served them with garlic type tortilla chips. I find that the Scoops tortilla chips work very well, as this is a very chunky, less watery salsa. They can also be served with any other tortilla chip or cracker.

Thank you flyerwife! ^

This is the halibut recipe I recreated:

Anthony’s Pier 66 Halibut w/Sour Cream, Dill & Red Pepper

Sour cream topping
8 oz sour cream
1 Tbsp minced dill
1/4 cup finely minced red onion

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl
Spread on top of halibut fillets

Bake in 350 degree oven for 15 min. until fish is flaky.

*Liberally sprinkle grated parmesan or asagio cheese on top of the sour cream mixture on the fillets before baking for a richer flavor and color.

Hot Strawberries with Creme Chantilly

Serves 4

500 gm Strawberries trimmed but not hulled
250 ml fesh orange juice (I cheat and use bottled fresh squeezed if I'm pushed)

100 gm sugar

50 ml fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon green peppercorns

1 tablespoon Brandy

100 ml whipping cream

20 gm vanilla sugar

Before dinner prepare the sauce by combining orange juice, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan (a microwave will not do) and bring to the boil and reduce until just syrupy. Put to one side until you are ready to make the desert.

Beat your cream with a whisk or an electric beater (if like me you have better things to do with your time) until it is thick and spoon in the sugar. (more if you prefer).

When you have wowwed the guests with the meal so far - reheat the sauce, flambe the brandy and add that to the sauce, add the peppercorns and make sure the suace is hot. Put the bowls ready on the counter. Add the strawberries to the sauce and turn the heat down (off it is electric) and turn and turn for no more than 40 seconds so that the strawberries become hot but do not go mushy.

Serve - add the cream. Forget low fat use proper cream - low fat will separate too easily.


Taglitelle.

You need to make a tomato sauce (real trade secret here) add three tins of peeled tomatoes to a saucepan add salt and 6 cloves of garlic and a little olive oil. Leave over the gentlest of heats stir it when you think of it.

When it is ready portion and freeze what you do not need.


for 4


500 gm fresh or dried tagliatelle

2 small frozen lobsters (or fresh if you're rich!) Don't get big as they get too tough

250 gm fresh cherry tomatoes

1 tsp basil

1 tsp Rosmary

Salt and Freshly ground black pepper

I small tin of Lobster Bisque

A glass of white wine
Thaw your lobster and take every bit of meat out of the body, claws, and legs (if it is a hen lobster keep the eggs - but mash them in a pestle and mortar).

Cut your cherry tomatoes but do not peel as you want the tomato to stay slightly intact, add them to the tomato sauce together with the wine and the herbs and the tin of lobster bisque. Bring to the boil but do not let it boil.

Boil 1 litre water and add salt. Put in your tagliatelle and bring to the boil. Cook until al dente and then drain immediately. Pour a little olive oil over the pasta so it does not stick. Serve on to heated plates and add the sauce with chunks of lobster.

Hope this helps




PG

The first thing I do when I get off the plane in Tokyo is head to a Indian resturant In Shin Uryasu (1 stop past Tokyo Disnyland on the JR) called Gungroo for Butter Chicken. I have tried a few times to recreate it at home and have made a totally ediable dish but it is just nit the same. Also I can't recreate the Nahn bread without a tandor oven and the nahn is really a big part of the exoperience. I have tried other indian resturants all over the world and this is, hands down, the best.
To find it make the first left into the little shopping mall right after the turnstiles. There is a little drug store and a coffe shop, head back down the hall way so you are right under the train platform and you will see it on your left.
Everyone I have ever taken there is a total addict now.

Swordfish with pineapple-pepper salsa from Sinclair's in Jupiter.

Just made it for friends last week to break in my new grill and they were raving.

A brew pub in Sacramento used to have something called Cowboy Pasta on the menu. It's wagon wheel pasta, barbecue sauce, red onion, chard and anaheim pepper topped with some gruyere. It sounds weird, but I love it and we make it home now.

We also copied one of the rum drinks from the Bamboo-something bar on Anegada.

A restaurant in Thailand a friend took me too served an appetizer where you put various foods - peanuts, those tiny peppers, coconut, ginger and a few other ingredients - into a leaf and fold it up and eat it. I'm working on that one. We also started making lemongrass iced tea after having that at the same restaurant. That's easy - just chop fresh lemongrass, let it brew and then strain it out.

LH just served some great appetizer roll ups in intl F that I also want to copy. They were tomato tortillas filled with feta and olives and topped with a light salsa. I plan to try that one.

I also make lemoncello after first having that in Italy years ago.