Memorial Day Cookout - Meats on Sticks

Memorial Day is a time to pay honor to those that have served before us and for those that currently do everything that they can to protect and serve our great country. However, the holiday does mean one more thing and this is cookouts. It is the "official" start to the summer cookout season. All across the country grills were fired up and meats were smoked or grilled to perfection. My house was no different on this Memorial Day.

This year I decided to go the meats on sticks route and went with beef and chicken kabobs. A good kabob is a thing of beauty and will leave you plenty satisfied. Some like to put their meat and veggies on the same skewers, but I choose to have the meat on their own and the vegetables on another. Only reason for this is because of the cooking times. Everything was marinated in the same Gourmet Warehouse of Hilton Head's Low Country Marinade. This stuff goes great with anything and played perfect with this selection of meats and vegetables.

As for the rest of the meal, I decided to make a pasta salad and then bought some potato salad from Publix. Just wasn't in the mood to make the potato salad this morning and the red skin homestyle one at Publix is pretty darn good. The pasta salad was just pasta, peas, onions, garlic, cherry tomatoes, feta, and Newman's Own Light Lime Dressing. Just a little of this goes a long way and this salad was perfectly dressed. A few hours chilling in the fridge gave the pasta salad time to get to the right serving temp and for the flavors in the dressing to work their way into every bite of the salad.

Nothing tops off a cookout quite like fresh ice cold watermelon, and this cookout was no different. Seedless might be on the label, but I don't think I have ever run across a watermelon that was 100% seedless. This was pretty close, but still no cigar.

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day holiday weekend.

10th Annual Taste of Downtown in Savannah

Each year the Chamber of Commerce puts on a great event for its members, and the public, called the Taste of Downtown. It is a great way to get out and sample something special from the local restaurants here in the Savannah area, as well networking with fellow chamber members. This years event was held in beautiful Johnson Square and had plenty of variety for everyones taste buds. From casual to fine dining, it was there. Below is for the most part the best of the best that I ate. Some vendors were there that I didn't try just because I eat in their restaurants so often or the fare they were offering just didn't excite me enough to want a bite.

You can watch the news feature at the end about this event, in which I make a guest appearance in a drive by shot.

First up I tired the Braised Short Rib Slider Topped with Shrimp from The Olde Pink House. This was quite possibly the best dish I ate of the night and it was the first one out of the gate. It set the bar pretty high for everyone to match and only their sister restaurant, Garibaldi's, came close with their stuffed fried shrimp entry. This one was so good that I ended up coming back around for seconds.

Everything else was pretty good. The duck wrap was a nice bite. The ribs from a chef in Richmond Hill were excellent. The crab dip from another restaurant was spot on. The steak sandwich from Ruth's Chris was decent. But one other thing stood out...the cupcakes from Gigi's.

Gigi's has been one of our favorite guilty pleasures since they opened here in Savannah a couple of months ago. Bethany, the owner, has done an amazing job with her shop and these works of art are something to behold, and eat. Last night they had an amazing sampling of the mini cupcakes for everyone to enjoy at the event. These were far and away the best desserts of the night, and it wasn't even close. Every time I turned around Bethany was roping me back in and she let me know that the regular cupcakes would be arriving shortly. She gave me a couple for the road to take home to my wife, that is what you see pictured below. The one on the left is the Italian Wedding Cupcake and the other one is the Cherry Limeade Cupcake. Sadly only one made it home as I lost the Cherry Limeade one on a sharp turn. The cupcake went rolling onto the passenger side floor for the rest of the ride home.

For those that have never had a cupcake from Gigi's, find a location near you and get one today. You won't be disappointed at all.

Super Bowl Sunday Grub

I tired to keep this years Super Bowl feast simple but still with some good elements involved. The menu included:

Some easy to pop in the oven stuff:
TGiF Potato Skins & Cheese Sticks

Pre-made cold dips:
Cajun Krab Dip
Hummus
Salsa & Sour Cream

Hot Dip:
Buffalo Chicken Dip

Dipping Materials:
Tostitos
Wheat Thins
Pita Chips
Fritos
Celery

Meal:
Grilled Flank Steak (Marinated in Italian Dressing)
Grilled Veggies (My own Balsamic Marinade)
King Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

Dessert:
Publix Super Bowl Cupcakes

Drinks:
Crown & Ginger

Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (10 ounce) can chicken, drained(or equivalent rotisserie or freshly-cooked, chopped chicken)
1 cup ranch dressing
3/4 cup red hot sauce
shredded cheddar cheese, you decide how much
Frito corn chip, scoops

For this recipe I chose to boil 4 breasts of chicken and then diced them into bite size pieces.

Directions

1 Beat cream cheese, ranch dressing, and red hot sauce.
2 Fold in shredded chicken.
3 Spread mixture into pie plate sprayed with Pam.
4 Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
5 Add cheddar to top and bake an additional 10-15 minutes.
6 Serve hot with Frito scoops.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/buffalo-chicken-dip

Main Course: Flank Steak & Grilled Vegetables

New Years Eve Surf & Turf Dinner

Steak & Lobster, does it really get much better? 2010 was dismissed in grand fashion with these 2" thick ribeyes and lobster tails.

The steaks were seasoned in a little olive oil & Chicago Steak Seasoning. Ignore the char on the steak as they were medium well inside and tasted amazing.

The lobsters were split on the underside and I carefully separated the meat from the shell. The meat was then basted in drawn lemon butter with garlic. These were then grilled a couple of min on each side until the shell turned red and the meat was no longer translucent.

For sides I grilled up some zucchini that I marinated in balsamic along with some secret spices. We then baked some potatoes and the plan was for them to be loaded with butter, sour cream, cheese, scallions, and bacon bits. The Crown & Ginger was going down very easily last night and I forgot to pull the scallions & bacon bits out of the fridge. Oh well...it was still good.

Dessert was cannolis from The Fresh Market.

Miyabi Japanese Steak House & Sushi

Cook in your face Japanese is always good and there is always enough food to feed an army. This didn't disappoint on either level. The show was pretty good with a couple of large fires, a rice Santa, and many failed shrimp tail tosses. The latter must be a running joke in there since shrimp tails were flying all over the restaurant. There were also plenty of birthdays going on through the night, so the drums were constantly being played and everyone was having a great time.

The traditional meal starts off with the Miso soup & salad with ginger dressing. From there the cooking started and we received a few appetizer shrimp along with our vegetables. Next onto the plate was the "Wall of Rice". We were only 4 adults at the table with 2 small children, but the rice portion was enough for a full table of adults. He then quartered off the portions and we were each given a piece of the wall. The steak was next to make its way onto the plate and was quickly followed up by the teriyaki chicken.

I feel like I hardly made a dent into this meal and had plenty to take home for leftovers. We also were able to get the "Early Bird" pricing which made me very happy.