BIG brunch punch : Sabrina's Cafe

JAR 1.11.13

We were supposed to have a third, but it was once again a party of two. My sister was going to join us for brunch. It was all planned, and then it was not. She even picked the place we would indulge in. When she could not go, she told us to still go, saying something about hearing it is the best.

So we went.

Sabrina’s Café (one of their locations) is a sweet little place in uptown Philadelphia, near to the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel campuses. The restaurant shares the ground floor of what was a University building. It once was a large Victorian home, many twists and turns and rooms. Some of this could have been modernization and re-purposing, but it felt old and lived in.

The menu had some of the classic brunch essentials, like french toast, scrambled eggs and omelets. But it was the daily specials sheet that had some of the more interesting offerings, from the savory end to the sweets. Because of the number of items on the regular menu, and that brunch special menu, it was extremely difficult to decide. We, like always, called on our server for help.

RER 1.11.13

I ordered a breakfast wrap, filled with fried white fish, scrambled eggs with black beans, topped by a pineapple salsa and a mound of sour cream. The spinach wrap was almost obsolete. It was impossible to pick up like a sandwich or a wrap, so the tortilla was aesthetic, binding for something that could not be contained. I was not thrilled with the seasoning within the brunch wrap. Some spice (Cumin maybe) did not blend well with the rest of the flavors. The white fish was breaded and fried. I believe it was one of the spices that was in the breading that put the whole dish off kilter for me. The fish on the inside was perfectly cooked, flaky and moist, but its crunchy exterior felt one sided. Black beans were burrowed within the fluffy scrambled eggs, formed like an omelet and folded complexly to fill the spinach wrap. The eggs, though, were a little over cooked to me, brown and almost dry. They were fluffy but flavorless and lifeless.

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The plate was definitely overwhelming.  It was a lot a lot of food. On top of the giant breakfast wrap, there was a healthy mound of hash browns on the plate. These were delicious. The potatoes were just crisp enough on the outside, and just soft enough on the inside. Each cube still had some of the skin on it, and large enough to be almost two bites. There were translucent strands of sautéed onion weaving throughout the potatoes. It was nice and salty, seasoned, and hearty. I wanted so badly to focus my belly on the wrap, the eggs and the fish, but my fork kept returning to the hash browns.

JAR 1.11.13

My dining companion also opted for one of the special breakfasts, called Leo’s King Size Brunch (most of the dish names had some association to astrology and the horoscopes). This was a complete mix of the midday meal and breakfast. This lion sized meal included two poached eggs, a fried pork cutlet, and a resounding mound of root hash. This was all drizzled with a mustard mushroom gravy. It is even a mouthful to say. When I first looked at the description of this meal, I was not sure how all these disparate elements could combine and be cohesive. I had never really thought of eggs going well with pork, and pork going well with rutabaga, or mushrooms going well with mustard, but somehow, in the end it worked.

JAR 1.11.13

Each of the different parts was just as delicious on its own as with the other components. The poached eggs, though beautiful in concept, were a bit over cooked, thus limiting the delightful over spill of runny yolk. We were imagining the deliciousness that would have ensued had the poached eggs been just right. Runny yolk mixing with the colorful hash, coating the different roots and marrying the gravy… but it was all a dream.

JAR 1.11.13

The cutlet was much more tender than it looked, as the outside was crunchy and brown. The meat almost melted in the mouth and was flavorful, instead of grey and bland. Somehow the mushroom mustard gravy vanished on the meat and amongst the cubed root vegetables, though a mushroom would appear here and there, but no precise taste of the sauce was present to me. The rainbow of roots was just as delicious as the regular hash browns served at Sabrina’s café. Though some of the roots I was not enjoying, the combination and mixture was innovative, colorful, and hearty. These roots were just the right base for a king sized meal.

JAR 1.11.13

Because of our need to try it all, we ordered yet another menu item, this, though to share. After discussing our concern and qualm with our server when we were initially ordering, she eased our worries, and gave us a half order of the stuffed french toast. We were unsure about it since we were ordering other things, but she told us that the stuffed french toast is the reason why people come there. And she was right, it was pretty delicious. But, I am not sure if 1. I could eat a whole order on my own voluntarily and 2. If I really needed to have it again. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious—two thick slices of Challah, eggy and custardy, fused with a heavy dose of sweet cream cheese filling, topped by a fair dusting of powdered sugar, rounds of banana and sticky sweet syrup. But like most everything else, it was a lot.

Honestly, it was a great brunch spot, busy, friendly and satisfying. The portions were large, the combinations were different and varied, and the atmosphere was homey and quirky at the same time. Unfortunately, my innovative and interesting sandwich did not match its potential for me, and it makes me think that I should just stick to the basics if I ever visit Sabrina's Cafe again (which I would... mostly for a half portion of the stuffed french toast).

RER

1.11.13

RER 1.11.13

MangiaMore: FISH tacos

RER 7.9.12

I love taco night, and I always have. When I was younger (well even still) it included ground beef, taco seasoning packet, cheese, refried beans (for me), chopped lettuce and tomatoes, sour cream and mounds of salsa. But now, it has evolved. Ever since I ventured into the little tiny restaurant, spawning from a truck, Taco Truck in Hoboken (check out my review here), I have been mildly obsessed with fish tacos. Ok, maybe it is not a mild obsession. I have tried fish tacos at a few other places (Turtle Club and MAE), but none were quite as great as the ones from the Taco Truck, until we tried to make them on our own. And with that adventure, came success.

We based our little homemade fish tacos on some of the tastes and components of those from the Taco Truck, but some research and creativity has landed us our own favorite recipes.

The parts for a great fish taco fiesta go something like this… remember, there are no exact measurements because these can be morphed into something your own. These are just general outlines, and they change for us every time we make them (which is pretty frequently).

RER 10.14.12

Pico de Gallo

Pico de gallo is like salsa; it’s fresh, chunky, mild, flavorful, and cooling. It has many of the same elements of salsa, but ends up being less saucy than many salsas we find in jars, and creates a staccato effect, interspersing bites of freshness in your taco. I like to make this first, because it gets much better with at least half an hour in the fridge to percolate.

All it takes is:

·      Chopped Tomatoes- I usually use 2ish smedium tomatoes which is just enough for 6 tacos, just add more if you want a larger portion

·      Chopped Red Onion- I generally use half of a small red onion, just because I am not crazy about it. But this can also be eyeballed; if it looks pretty it is probably right

·      Finely Chopped Jalapeño- This only takes a little bit so I would pick a little tiny one. Most times these peppers do not add much heat depending on the bite

·      A Few Sprigs of Fresh Cilantro- I take the leaves off and rip them directly on top of the other ingredients in the bowl. I am not crazy over cilantro (it tastes like soap to me, apparently it is genetic), so I deffo limit the amount of cilantro I use, but in the end I feel like it is necessary

·      A Healthy Squeeze of Lime- I usually use the juice of half of a lime

·      Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, and finely Chopped Garlic (fresh or jarred)- All of these ingredients should be to taste

Mix all the pieces in a bowl, stir it up, and throw it in the fridge to ruminate. I like to cover it too. When you take it out and uncover the bowl, the smells will be delicious.

Chipotle Mayo

Now this is a kicker. It is creamy and spicy, cooling and brings on the heat, all at the same time. This was one of the difficult things to pin point when we were chowing down on our fish tacos, but in the end, after research and playing around we got our own recipe.

All it takes is some chipotle peppers that have been canned with the adobo sauce, mayo, and sometimes some garlic powder and salt to taste. We deseed the peppers first and then cut them to a fine texture. Once this is done, add the peppers to the mayo. Usually it is about three large peppers per half a cup of mayo, but this also can be adjusted to taste or portion requirements.

Be careful it gets a little spicy.

FISHES

(really important part of fish tacos)

Picking the kind of fish to use was also based on the Taco Truck recipe (yeah yeah, we were trying to come close to replicating it). There they use catfish for the little fried fish nuggets found in their tacos, so naturally, we picked catfish nuggets that are sold at some grocery stores. Some other recipes recommend mild white meat fish, but also these recipes look to a beer batter kind of frying dealie. This we wanted to stay away from. We were looking for the kind of nubby grainy sandy kind of texture, just like our Taco Truck idols. But unlike the Taco Truck, we really wanted to taste the fish, not just its breading. This was one of our main goals in attempting the fish taco. Getting the largeish catfish nuggets we do get, creates a higher fish to breading ratio, so then it becomes the star.

Once again, this is a really loose recipe for the breading. I always find that it takes time to find the ratios that you like the best, and this is only my suggestion. At first we used the recipe for fish/seafood breader, on the package of the Indian Head Old Fashioned Stone Ground Yellow Cornmeal, as follows:

·      ¾ c cornmeal

·      ½ c all purpose flour

·      1 ½ t salt

·      ¼ t red pepper

·      ½ t black pepper

·      ½ t chili powder

·      1 t garlic powder

·      1 t onion powder

 But in the end we found that there was too much cornmeal for the breading, so we inversed the ratios, even adding more flour. We also do not end up using all the spices they suggest, sticking mainly to the salt, pepper, garlic and chili powder. Even with the spices we amp up the amount we use, so even without any of the other toppings the fishes are delicious.

Breading and frying the fishes also has taken some trial and error and experimentation. The cornmeal package says to dip the fish pieces in water, and then just to coat them in the breading mixture. We tried this, and we tried an egg wash mixture to help the breading to stick to the fish. But I think what tried the best was to dip the catfish nuggets in some flour then egg wash (egg and a little water) and then finally smothering the fish piece in our cornmeal flour spice mixture.

Deep frying the nuggets is not necessary. Most times we heat up just above a quarter of an inch of vegetable oil in our pan, and let the fishes cook for a few minutes on both sides. It is really easy to tell when the fishes are almost cooked through; when the catfish nuggets are about done, they curl up and turn hot white, and the breading gets a little golden brown.

I would once they are done, place each fish piece on a plate with a paper towel, to drain some of the grease.

RER 10.14.12

Assemblage

So, you have the chipotle mayo, the pico de gallo, the fishes…what else do you need or want on your taco? 

Tortillas are a must. Whichever kind you like. We just tried low carb tortillas, which were wheaty and pretty good. I would not try corn tortillas, mostly because I don’t like them. They are dry and grainy, but perhaps all the toppings would disguise that.

I like to put red cabbage on there, it cools the spice and the heat, as well as gives a different kind of crunch. The color is also really pretty, deep purple and mixes well with the colors of the pico de gallo. Also before putting the cabbage on the fish taco, I drench it (well about half a lime’s worth of juice) with limejuice. The tang adds something to cut the spice and help to unify the taste of the cabbage with the lime flavor in the pico.

I generally layer some of the chipotle mayo on the tortilla, then add my fishes, top that with pico de gallo and then finally the limey red cabbage. That’s how I like it, but it is up to you to make it your own!

RER

10.15.12

RER 7.9.12