CELIA'S

It is a never ending quest to find the ultimate Chile Verde dish. We have traveled near and far to quench our desire of the green chile stew of porky goodness. Today's travel brings us to Celia's located in Antioch California. Celia's is a chain restaurant that has about a dozen locations throughout the Bay Area. This location in Antioch is very popular among the local population. On the weekends the bar is packed with margarita and tequila enthusiasts. They usually have a Mariachi band to entertain the restaurant patrons. Our visit brought us on a Saturday afternoon. The place was pretty quiet. The interior still looks festive with all the murals on the wall. We were promptly seated and the complimentary chips and salsa were brought.

The chips were fair and the salsa mediocre. The salsa was made from canned vegetables and was fairly mild. The chips had probably seen better times. I ordered the Chile verde and Ms. Goofy ordered some type of combination. We did not tell the waiter our quest. I think he could tell by the saliva dripping from my mouth. The food was brought faster than we could sing 'Cielto Lindo'. This Chile Verde looked delicious.

Looks can be deceiving. The pork cubes were tough like shoe leather. The meat was dry and tasteless. The green sauce was flat. No heat, no seasoning, and no Love. Ms. Goofy was also sad with her dish. This dish had just received a shot of nuclear blasting. The sawdust filling of her enchilada was hotter than the sun, temperature wise. The beans had shriveled from this atomic blast. There is one bright note to this disaster, The beer was ice cold!

Celia's is a fun, bright and cheery place. The bar has a local following that is entertained with Mariachi music. Come for the margaritas but leave for dinner.

Celias

523 W 10th

Antioch Ca.

925-724-1355

WOOD FIRED BACON WRAPPED PORK LOIN

Hey, wait a minute, that is an Amaryllis. This image was a lot prettier than the final image of the pork loin. The Amaryllis may be beautiful but it will not compare to the taste of this bacon wrapped pork loin. The wood fire oven was stoked with almond wood to cook this hunk of pork love. Some bacon that was imported from Butlers will cradle, protect, and baste the loin from the intense ring of fire. Our good friend, Reverend Biggles has always preached on the salvation of a meat trivet. He was preaching to the choir because we used a trivet consisting of cubed potatoes. This will elevate the meat from the bottom of its cooking vessel. "Let the Fire Fall!"

The pork loin was cleaned of all silver skin. It was then seasoned generously with salt, pepper and some mild chili powder. The bacon was wrapped around the roast and tied with string. A russet potato was chopped into large cubes. We left the skin on. Salt & pepper, and a whole lot of olive oil was rubbed over this potato trivet. A thermometer was inserted through the center of the roast. The trivet and roast was placed into a ceramic vessel. The fire was built and we relaxed.

The wood fire oven does not have a temperature control. It takes a little practice to get your fire to the proper cooking heat. I have had a tendency to build too big a fire. The thermometer is our saviour. The roast was placed in the oven and the door was closed. Ten minutes later, Ms. Goofy smelled a burning aroma. Some tin foil was placed over the roast and all was well. When the temperature hit 144 the roast was removed to the kitchen for a 15 minute rest.

The roast was perfect, juicy and delicious. The bacon sacrificed itself to the ring of fire to protect the roast. It was a sort of burnt bacon jerky. The potatoes were crunchy on the outside and tender inside. They were basted with the bacon and pork juices. This trivet served its purpose and delivered a heavenly side dish. You know, We are having a lot of fun!

JOEY CHESTNUT

It took 10 minutes for Joey Chestnut to devour 8.7 pounds of deep fried breaded Asparagus. This was just enough for Joey "Jaws" Chestnut to regain his title of "World Champion Asparagus Eater'. We were privileged to witness this gastronomical feat. This contest took place at the 25th annual Asparagus Festival held in Stockton California.

It was a beautiful sunny day. A wild and crazy marching band snaked its way through out the festival to celebrate this joyous celebration of the 'Spears of Spring'. Bubba Paris was so happy that he signed autographs for a fee. Martin Yan demonstrated how to cook Asparagus in his amusing presentations. All these jubilant events worked us into a ravenous state of hunger.

We headed to "Asparagus Alley and ordered some deep fried breaded Asparagus. We could not duplicate "Jaws" record, but we did our best. I am not sure if this booth was selling Turkey or Vulture legs.

It was a beautiful day to celebrate Asparagus. 'Blue Oyster Cult' took the main stage and rocked the house. They probably could of used a little more 'cow bell'. This is an event that entertains. We are all ready thinking about next year.

DOUBLE DOWN

You know you have been waiting for this. Two deep fried chicken breasts coated with the Orignal Colonels secret spices, cradling two strips of bacon, jack & pepper jack cheese, and held together with the special Colonel's sauce. Who could ask for more? I could not resist. This was consumed for a review of "Kung-Fu Monkey Brand Red Dragon Sauce". You know, sometimes we all need a little guilty pleasure.

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TEE-OFF BAR & GRILL

It is Thursday night. What a great excuse to go to the 'City', grab a bite and see a show. We won free tickets to see 'Sandy Hackett's Rat Pack" at the 'Marines Memorial Theater'. We had a big decision of which one of the hundreds of great restaurants to eat. Guy Fieri of 'Diners, Drive-ins and Dives' helped us with our decision. He visited a great Dive Bar located in the Outer Richmond district of San Francisco. The Tee-Off Bar & Grill is a local watering hole that just so happens to serve some fantastic grub. We watched the clip below and it was a done deal.

I still have not learned my lesson about bringing a back up camera. After taking a not so good opening shot the battery died. Luckily this clip will show you exactly what we ordered. The pork chop and mac & cheese were even better looking and tasting then the show. The pork chop plate was a symphony of colors and tastes. The yellow corn, green asparagus, achiote red with black hatch marked pork chop, multicolored apricot relish was all placed around a mound of white garlic mashed potatoes. This was a taste explosion. The mac & cheese was a cheesy gooey plate of comfort. This was washed down with some tasty micro beers. The prices were unbelievably reasonable. This was a true find!

Tee-Off Bar & Grill



Our bellies were bursting with comfort and joy while we watched the Rat Pack work their magic. It was a wonderful Thursday night. Next time I will bring a back up battery.

ASPARAGUS FESTIVAL 2010

It is that time of year to head to Stockton California for the Asparagus Festival. The weather is forcasted to be in the high 70's. This will be the perfect temperature for Joey 'Jaws' Chestnut to regain his Asparagus eating crown. Joey lost last year to Patrick Bertoletti's consumption of 7 pounds 5.81 ounces of deep fried Asparagus. This contest will be held at the Main Stage at 12 noon, Saturday.

Our friend Martin Yan will be demonstrating his celebrity cooking skills at various times of the festival. We definitely will be watching and standing by in case Martin needs a hand in his demonstration. There will be plenty of Asparagus treats at 'Asparagus Alley'. Pete Escovido, Blue Oyster Cult, Loverboy and Sha Na Na are several of the scheduled music performers.

Hope to see you there!

25th Annual Asparagus Festival

April 23-25 Downtown Stockton, California

P.S. I do not think the Ross Sisters will be performing, but I sure wish they were.

PIEDMONTESE BEEF

Piedmontese is a breed of cattle that looks like beef and tastes like beef but with the cholesterol and fat content of poultry or white fish. The Piedmontese cattle originated in the Piedmont region of Northwestern Italy. They are 100% grass fed, chemical free and 100 percent organic. This beef has a reputation of superior taste and tenderness. This will be our question of the day. Does this beef live up to all the hype?

It took a little searching to find this beef. We found it at a specialty butcher shop at the Café Rouge. We purchased the chuck roast because we wanted to make Chili Colorado. This meat looks so very good. It is a deep dark red color. There is very little fat, but there is a lot of marbled fat striated through out the meat. It smelled beefy. We purchased four pounds at six dollars a pound. Let’s go to the kitchen.


The beef was cubed and seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. A large enameled cast iron pan was used to render some bacon for the fat to brown the meat. Once the lard was rendered the beef cubes were browned in batches. We just seared and caramelized the surface of these cubes of meat joy. Some onions and leeks were chopped. These were gathered from the garden. Some home canned tomatos and a mixture of several chili powders were added. I will refer you to a previous recipe here. This pot of Red was simmered for two hours. The house smelled delicious.



We purchased some fresh masa to make some grilled tortillas. A fire was built in the Weber and the tortillas were formed. A little Jumbo Asparagus made it to the grill also. You know I had to get the grill in here somehow. The meal was ready for the ultimate decision. The meat was tender. It almost melted in your mouth. It had a beef flavor that was unreal. The flavor of the beef was the star of the show. I would say it had a little gamey flavor in a good way. It was so tender and had a flavor that needs to be experienced. Piedmontese beef is a protein that I would recommend. We definitely will be purchasing different cuts of this beef for experimentation. Who would of thunk that I like grass fed beef?