MEOW.
these pussies are hungry. see you tonight, supper clubers.
May 16, 2012
A Meal for Real
A new purpose in life
Dear A Meal For Real blog,
Amanda & I were talking about all the kool kreations people make on their spare time and how sometimes we would post about them. Maybe, since S Club isn’t really being documented anymore we could repurpose this blog.
The members of S Club could post photos of their everyday creations on here for he whole internet universe to view.
Does that sound good to you?
Love,
Ege
Dear Supper Club,
I just wanna make you a fine, full course Turkish dinner someday!
But I doubt I have the skills and stamina to do so.
Love,
Ege
Holy Hamburger
Just, yum. Chef’s Table in Iowa City. Go there. Get the burger. Eat it. Game over. This beautiful beast is a custom blend of bison, wagyu beef, pork belly, and something else wonderful.
Burmese food in Lisbon, IA. Believe it. Also, remember Sutliff?
Kyi Kyi in Lisbon, IA
Imagine, if you will, the lovechild of pita bread and a croissant. Think about filling that with tender chunks of beef surrounded by a sauce that hints at mole. Pretend like you just topped it off with a salad of onion, cucumber, and cilantro, and are about to take a bite. So…how do you feel? The correct answer is “this visualization exercise ended at the worst possible time”.
For some mystical reason, there is a Asian/Burmese restaurant in Lisbon, Iowa. Lisbon? Oh yes it IS that inferiority-complex-of-a-town that borders Mount Vernon to the east and has no curbs. READERS, please try to patronize this place! It’s family-run and just getting started, with many odds against it. It’s only about a 30 minute drive from Iowa City.
My suggestion for Supper Club is that we just seriously order like one of everything, take it to Gables, and have a sampling feast.
, IA.
Baxa’s Sutliff: A Special Iowa Summer Place.
(Cue Chad and Jeremy “A Summer Song”)
washed away : ( #IowaRuins
AUGUSTA (Oxford, Iowa)
I Love you, Hamburger. So The Lincoln Cafe has the lean, sophisticated, and unparalleled everyday burger, and Augusta has the luscious, too-big-for-the-mouth occasional indulgence burger. I love them both dearly, and both kitchens can almost always be trusted to not overcook their meat. Short’s, in Iowa City, has a kinda fun menu, but Short’s, I have some advice for you: if you are ONLY SERVING BURGERS, and if you put soft fried eggs on some of those burgers….well…guys….you really shouldn’t be fucking those things up now should you? Call ME crazy. I have a message to you people in these kitchens: you can always throw a burger BACK ON THE GRILL if someone wants it cooked more. It DOESN’T WORK THE OTHER WAY. Seldom do I feel bitchy enough to send an overcooked burger back; it just seems kinda wasteful and not worth the time. However, I do usually feel bitchy enough to audibly complain just a bit without openly scoffing….maybe cut it open and show it to my tablemates….take a picture and mention my blog… because like many females, and many midwesterners, a mastery of passive-aggression is just inborn, perhaps to our collective evolutionary disadvantage. Or not. We’ll have to see how this next century pans out.
While the Lincoln burger is essential, manageable (it actually fits in your mouth), and understated, the Augusta burger is a quaint tower of immodesty, showing up on a scrappy, homemade bun, dwarfing it in the most adorable way:
Doesn't this thing look like it could talk? #anthropomorphicburger
This baby is JUICY. I know the beef is from Iowa, and I’m guessing it’s not strictly grass-fed, because this grind is seriously rich and creamy. I guess they could add butter to their patties, but by the way the rare part of mine clung together in the middle, I’m thinking it’s just made of straight-up, unadulterated marbly BEEF. Yes.
(no words)
And guys, their deep-fat frying IS. IMMACULATE. As in, perfectly clean oil, perfect temperature, perfect timing. What comes out of that vat, be it the crabcakes (below) or the fries, or the hand-breaded tenderloin, is perfectly light, crunchy, and golden without feeling grease-laden. The only other place that fries stuff this well in the area is The Leaf Kitchen (those popcorn chicken bites omg!!). It’s really a delicate art. I myself have never perfected it, and I greatly respect those who do. This is why we need to have that frying party. TO LEARN.
So let’s talk about this crabcake:
The freshest, and the fluffiest!
Now, I like crabcakes as much as the next person, but I’m always kind of unimpressed with them, as dense, boring versions seem standard on lots of menus. But these little friends are different. The crab is not reduced to mere shreds, and its fresh, subtle flavor dominates the cake (as it should), which somehow is almost light and airy! The homemade white remoulade is nice, but the cakes themselves are executed with enough grace to render it perfunctory.
Cocktail Time:
Templeton+Amaretto+bitters (i think?) Round, sexy, not too sweet, and almost licorice-y in the mouth. Niiiiiiiiice.
HOT.SAUCE.ICE.CUBES.in the.BLOODY.MARY. Also: pickles, okra, asparagus, olives. Nuff said.
BONUS PICTURE TIME:
The Bloody Mary Marathon sure ain't slowin' down, y'all.
A gleeful encounter between James and his roast beef po boy with sweet potato chips
Jovan enjoys some pickled asparagus.
HUH WHAT #NELLEDUNLAP IS GOIN ALL BLACK SWAN ON JOVAN. We have fun.
Kristin, Derrick, and Ellen are getting in on this Supper Club business.
China Garden, a previously unrepresented supper club past.
not a buffet without crawdaddies, amiright?
Jello Cube in Tapioca (modern art)
Formosa. That place has gotten *frat-nasty, but it's still fun.
*When the place opened, their business plan more closely reflected the Vetro aesthetic – japanese fondue, lychee martinis, sushi, all served up in sparse, corporate-mod environs. Now, the fondue equipment lies dormant, every sushi roll includes cream cheese or something fried, and their most popular cocktail involves a house-made “skittles vodka”, which is, to my great terror, EXACTLY WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE.
FOR THE RECORD:
(from www.augustarestaurant.net)
Reservations are suggested, but not required. Please call (319) 828-2252.
Wed, Thurs 11 am to 9 pm
Fri, Sat 11 am to 10 pm
Sun, 11 am to 8 pm
Closed Monday and Tuesday
I feel it necessary to mention, having been involved with Lincoln Cafe in its nascency, that it holds a dear place in my heart. But my tastebuds and pocketbook can only handle those beautiful and complex specials bimonthly. Mostly, I just want to be eating combinations of about five really amazing ingredients. Meat, bread, pickle, cheese, onion. Peanut butter, banana, butter, toast, milk. Croissant, marzipan, fruit, coffee, cream. Salmon, soy sauce, lemon, avocado, arugula. Oysters, saltines, hot sauce, beer, martini. Vegetable, olive oil, lemon, garlic. Fresh parsley on everything. Whatever, you get the point. This is why hamburgers are so important. Weekly hamburgers. Delicious weekly hamburgers. Forever.
Supper Club moonlights as Brunch Club
Tara has decided to leave us for the boys and oysters of the Pac NW (To be honest, I am actually describing why I would leave, but with regard to Tara, there IS a boy involved. She probably likes huge raw oysters, too, being the adventurous that soul she is)
ANYWAY. Ms. Atkinson’s departure date is set for Jan 10, 2011 (!!!!!!!), so we’re going to try and get us some together-meals in whenever we can before that date. Sunday, we went to the IOWA RIVER POWER COMPANY for brunch.
HUNGRY! Look Tara got a Bloody Mary in addition to her mimosa. I will miss this girl.
The surprisingly good things:
-Prime Rib with Jus AND horseradish sauce (not a surprise, maybe)
-The garlicky vegetable dip! It’s not the trickiest thing in the world to whip up, but housemade dressing just makes a huge difference.
-The coffee and mimosas are weak, but this is offset by the fact that you can have AS MANY AS YOU WANT.
-Cream Puffs and Red Velvet Cake (there’s a waffle hiding under all that whipped cream – good flavor, but would have been so much better had it been made to order – it was a floppy waffle)
-I heard the rolls were really fresh and delish. I unfortunately did not reserve enough stomach space.
-The sauteed veggies (carrots, green beans, zucchini?) were nice, mostly because they were cooked properly, and not drowning in oil.
-And what self-respecting midwesterner doesn’t love 3 bean salad????
I took the liberty of drawing the shittiest, most illegible, not-remotely-to-scale diagram ever, please enjoy:
My Own Private Supper Club
So I decided to crack into a Four Loko while I ate this delicious homemade chili. After about 1/3 of the can, my head felt like a fluffy cloud, so I didn’t finish it until way later, with help from Ellen. But seriously, stay-tuned, because I think Mexican food is happening tonight. And I think we might each need to put back at least one of these outlawed badboys. Amiright?
-Rachel
BANDANAS BBQ, formerly THE EDGE TAVERN
Sooooo this place was aight. Mall-barbeque, corporate-feel, contrived kitsch. So, y’know, fun! The service was mega-fast, and they have fried okra, honker’s ale on tap, really good coleslaw (put it on your sammy with the spicy bbq sauce!), and a huge bouquet of mini-tootsie pops at the host station. Anyway. Pictures:
These sauces were barely different. But that's not the point.
Ege was thrilled by the sauce "six-pack"
