Busy Nothings

I have often remarked to myself that there was no restaurant in the Fargo-Moorhead area that I thought was in completely in line my likes and dislikes.  To be sure, there were restaurants that I enjoy in this area, namely, Grazies, Jade Dragon, Passage to India, Sammy’s Pizza, and Sushi Time.  But while all of these restaurants have good food, they weren’t places that I really wanted to go to more than once or perhaps twice a month.  I enjoyed them but there was not a true synergy between myself and the restaurant.  That is, there wasn’t a place in town that I felt that if I were to open a restaurant, this is just how I would like it to be.  I think this feeling is gone now that I’ve enjoyed John Alexander’s in downtown Moorhead. 

John Alexaner’s is part of the burgeoning Fargo-Moorhead restaurant empire that includes Juano’s and a Latin themed bar.  It has been open since January of ‘08 and it has a delightfully small and focused menu.  It offers a number of appetziers, a few saldas, some burgers, a couple of pastas,  grilled cheese sandwiches, steaks, and a Kentucky Hot Brown Sandwich.  The idea, which I think is brilliant, is to take familiar dishes and elevate them slightly to the point where they become just about fine dining.  In doing so, the restaurant manages to skirt the lines that separate fine dining and American casual dining. 

The interior of the restaurant echoes this “skirting” theme by being sleek and cool enough to pass off as a nice dining destination while maintaining a casual atmosphere with details like paper napkins. 

As far as the food quality goes, I thought it was spot on.  The first thing I tried was the beer battered cheese curds.  Here’s how they served them:

They were very, very good.  The breading was crisp and just a bit bitter from the beer.  The cheese inside was perfectly gooey and full-flavored.  I really can’t think of having any better fried cheese curds in my life (and I’ve lived in Wisconsin before).  The accompanying sauce was called a “white ketchup” which, to my palate, meant that they mixed ketchup with mayonnaise.  The first bite seemed a bit odd because it tasted (unsurprisingly) a lot like tartar sauce but as I ate more of it, I began to see why the sauce was chosen.  It was to be a milder ketchup as the cheese curds, while being pretty flavorful, just wouldn’t stand up to a full blast of tomatoey ketchup.  Hence, the cutting it with a blander ingredient-mayonnaise.  It was a very good idea and indicative of the care the restaurant takes in its dishes.

My entree was a duck breast covered in a port suace with dried cherries, apples, and mint.  It was served with asparagus and mashed poatotes.  Here’s a picture:

This was a very good but not quite perfect dish.  The duck was nice and was served just under medium-well.  One could have hoped for a bit more crisp on the skin.  The sauce was a fascinating combination of flavors.  The port reduction was nice match with the fruits but the mint was, well, a wow ingredient.  At times, I loved it and at times, I really didn’t care about it.  The chef placed full, fresh mint leaves in the sauce which presented a texture contrast (nothing is quite like chewy leaves) and a very big flavor punch whenever one of the mint leaves hit your mouth.  It did finish the sauce intelligently as it balanced out the acidity and strong flavors of the port but it seemed to come at a pretty high cost.  If anything, mint was too aggressive of a flavor for this dish, especially in the amount given.  But, I really am nitpicking here.  I really did enjoy the dish.

The sides were good and great.  The mashed potatoes were the great part.  Made of red potatoes, they were silky smooth and exceptionally buttery.  Major kudos to the kitchen for that.  The asparagus was just too crisp tender for my liking but not very far off the mark. 

I really look forward to my next visit to John Alexander’s.  The prices are great, it has a nice, affordable wine list, and the bartender’s are knowledgeable and helpful.  Exactly the kind of place where I would be happy to spend some well-earned dollars. 

John Alexander’s address is 315 Main Avenue, Moorhead, MN 56560.  And it’s phone number is 218-287-5802. 

ADDED:  The Fargo Forum has an online review of this restaurant. 

This is a great, simple way make a grilled pizza.  And the results is tremendous.  Here’s the recipe:

Grilled Pizzas with Caramelized Red Onions and Blue Cheese, from Let the Flames Begin by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby

One recipe E-Z Grill Bread

Extra virgin olive oil

3 red onions, peeled and sliced into thick rings

Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

1/2 cup crumbled Maytag or other good-quality blue cheese

1/4 cup parsley, chopped (optional)

Prepare the E-Z Grill Bread.  Just for quick refence, it needs about 2 1/2 hours to complete.  When it is finished, divide it into four equal portions and roll out into rounds 1/8 inch thick. 

In a large saute pan, heat a bit of olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions, and reduce the heat to medium-low.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until well caramelized.  This could take up to an hour or longer. 

Build a fire in your charcoal grill.  This recipes assumes a 22-inch kettle style grill.  Adjust your grilling technique accordingly for other types of grills.  (Apologies to gas grill owners, I don’t own one so I can’t give any advice as to how this would be done on a gas grill.)  When the coals are ready, bank them off to one side of the grill, leaving one side completely coal-free.  Let the fire go until it is medium (you can hold your hand above the coals for 4 to 5 seconds). 

Brush one side of the dough with olive oil.  Place two rounds of dough (oil side down) over the coals and cook just until toasted.  This shouldn’t take more than 2 minutes.  While it cooks, brush the other side of the bread with olive oil.  Watch it carefully as it goes from perfect to burnt pretty quickly.  Then flip the bread over and add the toppings.  When the other side is toasted, move the pizzas to the cold side of the grill and clamp on the lid.  Cook about 3-4 minutes or until the cheese has almost completely melted.  Remove from the grill and sprinkle with parsley, if desired.  Cut and serve immediately.  Repeat with the remaining two pizzas. 

This pizza highlights the combination of sweet, caramelized onions with the creaminess and the slightly acidic sharpness of really good blue cheese.  It’s quite a dynamite combination.  The flavors are so boldly good that its very easy to overeat.  Here’s how my pizza turned out:

A few notes:  1)  I used about double the amount of cheese on my pizza than the recipe calls for.  I decided to place the reipce’s recommended portion because I think it would work better.  As much as I love blue cheese, it is very strong tasting and less cheese probably would have been more in this recipe.  While delicious, the blue cheese did dominate the dish.  2)  I used Maytag blue cheese and it was amazingly good.  It had an exceptionally creamy texture with wonderfully strong flavor.  I would suggest using the same as there isn’t anything to mask a cheese that did not taste good in this recipe.  Enjoy!

This salad is study in contrasts: Sweet and salty, crunchy and tender.  Here’s how you make it

Asparagus Salad with Sweet Balsamic Dressing, based on this recipe from Epicurious

2 lb asparagus, woody ends trimmed and cut into thirds

1/3 cup good quality balsamic vinegar

1 T Dijon mustard

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp minced garlic

3 T extra-virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil.  Separate the asparagus tips from the rest of the asparagus.  Place all of the asparagus, except the tips, into the boiling water.  Cook for one minute and then add the asparagus tips.  Cook for an additional 2 minutes.  Drain and immediately place in a ice water bath.   Remove the asparagus once it is completely cool.  Drain and then place on some paper towels to dry off any excess water. 

Meanwhile, bring the balsamic vinegar to a simmer and gently reduce by half.  Remove from the heat and place into a small bowl.  Whisk in the Dijon mustard, basil, and garlic.  Add the olive oil, a tablespoon at a time, whisking each tablespoon until completely incorporated.  Add freshly ground black pepper to taste.  Do not add any salt!

Assemble the salad by gently tossing the asparagus, dressing, and walnuts in a bowl.  Place the salad on plates and sprinkle with the coarse sea salt.  Serve immediately. 

Here’s what it should look like:

The salad should be sweet from the balsamic vinegar reduction but salty from the salted water in which you cooked the asparagus and the addition of the coarse sea salt on top.  The garlic adds a nice little bite and the sea salt and the walnuts add a nice crunch (a very nice contrast to the tender asparagus).  It’s very pretty and sharp little spring salad.

A few notes about the recipe:  1)  Do not skip the two-tiered cooking process of the asparagus.  Use the fact that this salad uses asparagus pieces to your advantage.  Asparagus tips cook faster than the rest of the stalk so any time you can cook them at a different rate, you should do it.  By cooking them for 1/3 less time than the rest of the asparagus, you should end up with perfectly tender (and al dente, if you will) asparagus tips and stems.  2)  Correctly season the water in which you cook the asparagus.  Taste the water after you add the salt, it should taste salty; like the sea, if you’ve had that pleasure.  3)  The coarse sea salt isn’t absolutely necessary to this dish-you could use kosher salt instead-but I find it added such a nice crunch and concentrated saltiness that I really wouldn’t do it any other way.  It finished the dish perfectly by adding both a texture and flavor contrast.  I used this salt from Penzey’s. 

Enjoy!