Big Cork, Bluegrass, and a Casino?

My last post was pretty fancy, focusing on our elegant couples' birthday dinner at Volt. Today I want to post about the more low-key food adventures of birthday weekend. After our dinner on Friday we opted to stay in Hagerstown, MD, about 30 minutes away from Frederick, so that we could go hiking in Cumberland, MD, the next day for my birthday. Cumberland is about a 2-2 1/2 hour drive from our house, so rather than having to get up really early to go we decided to stay halfway.

The night was still young once we finished our dinner on Friday, so we opted to find a bar to hang out in. I've been dying to try the cocktails at The Tasting Room but their bar is really small so we have yet to be able to get in. One day! Our other favorite spot is Brewer's Alley for craft beer but they too were super crowded so we ended up at The Wine Kitchen. I had been wanting to go back to try one of their wine flights and chose the dry whites. My favorite was the Sauvignon Blanc.

Also while wandering around Frederick we made a stop in Zoe's Chocolate Company. Owned by a local Greek family, Zoe's has many options to choose from and we got a nine piece box of chocolates. Flavors are exotic such as Mediterranean Citrus and their seasonal Drunken Pumpkin. My favorites were probably the Fleur de Sel caramels.

Saturday we hit the road by 9am and made our way up to Lover's Leap, a gorgeous cliff face on the side of Wills Mountain, just outside of downtown Cumberland. Legend says that a Native American prince and princess from enemy tribes fell in love but weren't allowed to marry so they jumped off the cliff to be together. Morbid right?

Justin chose this spot because it conveniently looks over the Western Maryland Railway tracks, an old steam engine that goes out for excursions. It also overlooked the CSX line. Justin being the train nerd that he is knew exactly when the steam train would depart from the station so we could see it go by. I'm not going to lie, I enjoy watching trains too. My dad is a train buff as well as my grandfather and I've grown up with it. We've ridden on that train before but it was really cool to watch it from up on the mountain. Later we managed to get right next to it at a crossing on its way back. While up on the mountain we met a man who does the official hawk and eagle count for the Cumberland Gap and spent a few minutes birdwatching. Unfortunately all were saw were turkey vultures.

Once we came down from the mountain we made a stop at Charis Winery, located in the downtown area of the city. Their wines were great, my favorite being the Catawba that I purchased. After a failed hunt for a cupcake shop that seems to no longer exist, we looked for a spot to get dinner. There are very few options in Cumberland unless you love Italian or deep fried food, so I set my sights on the surrounding towns. Rocky Gap State Park opened a casino in the last few years and I discovered that they have 4-5 restaurants to choose from with the kind of food that Justin and I like.

When we got there we sat on the water for about an hour enjoying the scenery, then headed up to LB's Place, the more casual dining spot at the casino. We shared a sweet and savory appetizer of Brussels sprouts with bacon and maple syrup (I'm obssessed!). I ordered the rotisserie chicken flatbread, served with pesto and tomatoes, and Justin ordered the skirt burger. Neither one of us realized that the skirt burger meant a huge "skirt" of slightly burned cheddar cheese. Artery clogging but so good! My flatbread was very tasty but huge, so I took quite a bit of it home for the next day.

The food adventures continued the next day with a harvest festival at Big Cork Vineyards in Rohrersville, MD.  I've been wanting to visit this vineyard but their tasting room is still under construction. Since it's nearing completion the vineyard hosted this festival to taste their wines and celebrate their soon-to-be opened tasting room. Not only were the wines fantastic (my favorites were the Russian Kiss, Syrah Rose, and Vidal Blanc) but they also had several local food vendors. I first had #Juan Guacamole at the Taste of Linganore festival in August and it was just as good the second time around. We also had incredible smoked cheddar cheese from Buttercup Valley Farm in Jefferson, MD, and Mango Catawba wine sorbet from Misty Meadows Farm in Smithsburg, MD. Seriously some of the best sorbet I have ever had.

Later that night I had my birthday dinner with my parents at Bluegrass Tavern in Baltimore City. This place was listed as one of the Top 40 restaurants in Baltimore and I loved the southern style menu options. We shared two appetizers, Brussels sprouts with smoked bleu cheese and walnut oil, and crawfish hush puppies. Both were delectable, and my dad even asked for a third helping of the sprouts!

My entree was the Southern Fish Stew with whitefish, shrimp, mussels, uni roulli, and charred bread in a tomato and fennel broth. Out of all the restaurants I've been too this was one of my favorite dishes. The magazine had mentioned that this was one to try and they were so right. The broth was the right amount of thickness with delicious flavor and went well with all of the types of seafood. This is a must order!

My mother and friend Lee who also joined us had the catch of the day, trout with rice and mushrooms, shrimp, and seafood sausage with monkfish and swordfish. I had never had seafood sausage and tried some and it's actually quite good! It's slightly drier than regular sausage because of less fat content but it doesn't hurt the taste or consistency. My dad opted for the Bluegrass Salad with shrimp, apple cider mustard vinaigrette, lardons, red onion, baby heirloom tomatoes, and queso fresco. He cleaned his plate.

I also loved the decor at this place. Very rustic!

The last treat of birthday weekend were cupcakes from Wicked Good Cupcakes in the Boston area. I usually don't order cupcakes because they're expensive to ship and can get ruined easily but these come in mason jars and are good for 10 days so I jumped on it. I ordered the Salted Caramel and Sweetie Pie, a sweet potato seasonal offering. I loved these. They were very fresh when they arrived, moist, and the frosting was some of the best. I'd order these again in a heartbeat!

The birthday shenanigans continue this weekend with dinner at The Food Market in Hampden tomorrow night with my fiance, his mother and boyfriend, and my parents, and on Saturday night it's girls night out at the Blue Hill Tavern in Canton. Look for more posts coming soon!

A Very Happy Birthday

The end of October is always crazy in our house. Justin's birthday is the 23rd, mine is the 25th, and in between on the 24th we have my parent's wedding anniversary. Not to mention surrounding those three days we also have the birthdays of several members of our wedding party. It's crazy town! 

Obviously one of my favorite parts of birthday week is getting to go out to eat. Usually we go out with our parents and we also pick a place to go to as a couple. This year's choice for us as a couple was Volt in Frederick, MD. 

Volt is a place that we have both been longing to go to for quite some time, but we have pushed it multiple times because of the cost. Volt is not cheap. Owned by chef Bryan Voltaggio, Volt is at the top range of a group of restaurants that includes Lunchbox, Family Meal, Range, and Aggio. We have eaten at Family Meal before and it was fantastic, so we had high hopes for our dinner at Volt. 

Before heading out to dinner, I made sure to call to check on a dress code for the evening. Volt does not have a set dress code (I was told by the young lady that answered the phone business casual is recommended but they want you to wear whatever's comfortable) but this is a place you're going to want to get fairly dressed up for. Justin wore nice jeans with a button down and leather shoes, I had on a dress and fancy flats. Anything less and we both would have been uncomfortable in the setting. 

Volt is located in a historic mansion on Frederick's Market Street. Big open windows highlight the front of the house. When you enter there is a bar/lounge area on the right and the dining room is on the left. Volt has several options for seating which include the main dining room, Table 21, and the Chef's Kitchen. The Chef's Kitchen affords you a view of the open kitchen while Table 21 allows you to sit directly in front of the chef and watch them cook. In the interest of keeping costs as low as possible we were more than happy with the main dining room. 

The restaurant's decor is very minimalist, modern, and white, lots of white. Our reservation was for 6:30 but we were able to be seated early at 6. As we were shown to our table I asked the hostess where the restroom was. She responded by saying she would take me there. As we passed people in the hallway a path cleared and everyone welcomed me to the restaurant. When I got back to the table it had been set and Justin said that the server had spilled a minute drop of water on his knife and immediately switched it out, even though he had never touched it (They change your silverware between every course even if you didn't touch it!). This kind of service was something we were not remotely used to and it was a little bit awkward to tell the truth. I felt like I had to whisper and sit extremely straight.

It is for this reason that there are no pictures of the food for this meal. It was not the kind of setting that is appropriate for taking pictures. I can tell you that there is as much attention paid to the plating of the food as to the taste and everything looked incredible.

There are two options for dining. You can choose to do the set tasting menu which is six courses and there are two to choose from as well as a wine pairing, or you can order a la carte. We ordered a la carte to keep costs down. Our server recommended that we both order from the same side of the menu so that all dishes came out at the same time. 

The first course is Fruits and Vegetables. I chose the huckleberries and Justin had the mustard green soup. The second course is Pasta and Grains. I had the lobster raviolo and Justin the calamari bolognese. The third course is Fish and Shellfish. I had the scallops and Justin the lobster. The final course is Meat and Game. I had the chicken and Justin the lamb. There is a fifth course that includes dessert but we opted to skip that. It's very difficult to describe the dishes as they are very complex with quite a few ingredients I had never had before like paw paw and rose wine vinegar. What I can say is that everything is exquisitely prepared and this was some of the best food I have ever eaten. I can also say that portion sizes are at a minimum so it is necessary to order as many courses as we did unless you want to leave feeling hungry. 

Aside from the main dishes, there were quite a few other treats to enjoy that were on the house. When we first sat down we were served crunchy thin breadsticks dusted with fennel pollen. Yes, fennel pollen. I had no clue this even existed but it's good. They also offer a bread selection of rosemary bacon, sourdough, and cheddar chive rolls, served with homemade butter from Vermont. Let me just say, everyone needs a little rosemary bacon bread in their life. OMG it was fantastic! I also loved the cheddar chive rolls, they're like a fancier version of Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay biscuits. Between the bread and our first course we were also served a foie gras macaron that dissolved on your tongue. This was not my favorite. The texture was weird and I just really don't like the taste of foie gras. Fortunately I had a delicious cocktail to get the taste out of my mouth! 

Even though we skipped over dessert rest assured Volt made sure we still had something sweet with which to end the meal. We were served a candy tray which included lemon curd macarons, duck fat truffles, grapefruit gumdrops, and brittle with pumpkin seeds. Our favorite was probably the brittle but they were all great, even the duck fat truffle! If you've ever had duck fat fries you know that it just makes everything crispier and more flavorful, or in this case richer. 

Just when you thought you had gotten everything out of the meal, our waiter served us fresh made and packaged coffee cake to take home! We ate them with breakfast the next morning and they were really good. But really did we expect anything less? 

Crockpot General Tso's Chicken

I love Chinese food but don't order it often in an effort to stay as healthy as possible. You may have seen my healthy version of shrimp fried rice in an earlier post, but tonight's meal is General Tso's Chicken. This recipe tastes so much like the original it's incredible! 

You will need:

Ingredients

1 package of chicken tenders
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup onion chopped (or 2 Tbs dried onion flakes)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
1tsp ground ginger
3 Tbs cornstarch

Cube the chicken into 1 inch pieces and place in a large Ziploc bag with the cornstarch. Shake the bag to coat the chicken with cornstarch.  

Add the remaining ingredients to the crockpot and whisk until combined. 

Then in a non stick pan add 3 Tbs of olive oil and preheat to a Med-Hi setting. Arrange the chicken in the pan and cook for 5 mins on each side. It’s okay if the chicken does not brown, it will cook the rest of the way in the crockpot. This step helps give the chicken some of the crispy outside like takeout. 

Add the chicken to the crockpot stirring the ingredients and turn the heat to Low for 3 hours.

To serve, top with sliced green onions. I absolutely love this dish and we eat it fairly frequently. It's foolproof and fantastic! 

Beers & Battlefields

Justin and I have long wanted to check out Battlefield Brew Works & Spirits of Gettysburg Distillery in where else, Gettysburg, PA. The only problem was they had fairly limited hours and we were unclear as to whether we could eat dinner there or not and we didn't want to drive up there only for drinks. Their website listed a pulled pork sandwich and we had heard through word of mouth that they also served a selection of sausages.

By chance while driving in the area a week or two before with my mom and mother-in-law, I happened to spot the Appalachian Brewing Company just outside of Gettysburg's town center and bingo! Problem solved since the brewing company is a restaurant. 

We headed up a night a few weeks ago to try both places out. The brewing company is pretty small, so I recommend getting there fairly early to eat, especially if you're going on a weekend night. 

Justin tried their pumpkin beer while I went for the wheat. Both were really good, but I think the pumpkin was the better one and that was my second order. He also tried one of their stouts. Below is my wheat beer. Love their logo!

As a starter we ordered the Coal Cracker Pierogies, potato and cheese sauteed with caramelized onion, garlic butter, and fresh herbs, topped with black pepper and served with sour cream. Oddly enough I had never had a pierogie and this is why we chose them as our appetizer. These were crunchy and the filling was soft and yummy. I'd definitely order pierogies again.

For dinner I chose the Honey Chipotle Pretzel Chicken, chicken breast coated in pretzel pieces, pan seared, and finished with a honey chipotle drizzle and extra sauce on the side. The sides were garlic whipped red skin potatoes and a vegetable medley. I really enjoyed my dinner. I had waffled between a few things on the menu before ordering but kept coming back to this and I was happy with my choice. I've made pretzel encrusted chicken before and have enjoyed it and the addition of the spicy but not overly so sauce was perfect.

Justin had the Sasquatch burger, topped with brown sugar caramelized apple wood smoked bacon, apple slices, caramelized onion, and cheese. Unfortunately for him though he had a decent cold when we went and couldn't really taste his food ;( Talk about major bummer. Poor guy had to take my word for it that the meal was good but he did say, and I agree, that his burger looked really good!

Despite the cold we went to Battlefield Brew Works anyway and it was so much fun! They're located in a historic barn that was once a Confederate field hospital during the Civil War and they also had a bluegrass band that evening that were excellent. Their food menu was a lot larger than we expected so we'll definitely go back to eat another time. My favorite thing was their hard apple cider.

Chicken Marsala

I've been on an Italian and pasta kick recently, so last night I made Chicken with Mustard Mascarpone Marsala Sauce. This dish is really easy and is great for the cooler weather. It is a little rich though so it's definitely a treat!

You will need:

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, each breast cut crosswise into 3 pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper2 tablespoons olive oil5 tablespoons butter, divided1 cup chopped onion1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced3 tablespoons minced garlic1 cup Marsala wine 1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese2 tablespoons Dijon mustard2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves, plus whole sprigs, for garnish12 ounces fresh Spinach Fettuccine (or other pasta of your choosing)

To start, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook on each side for about 4 minutes, then remove to a plate. 

Next, turn the heat down on your pan to medium-high. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter, then add the onions and saute under tender, about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and garlic and saute for another 12 minutes. 

Add the wine and simmer until it's reduced by half, approximately 4 minutes. Stir in the mascarpone and mustard. Cut your chicken into slices, then return to the pan to finish cooking at a simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce thickens. 

Stir in the parsley and season the sauce with salt and pepper, then add in the cooked pasta. Serve with whatever vegetable you like! As a side note, if you're having trouble finding cremini mushrooms they are also called baby portobellos.