How Foodie Kids Make Hamburgers

I have a reputation for making very good hamburgers. It all comes down to grinding the meat myself, and using appropriate meat - usually chuck. Of course the right helper is important too. There is no substitute for freshly ground meat in hamburgers. It is OK if the butcher does it, but the meat needs to be ground the same day the hamburgers are cooked.

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Loam vs Pearl, or Why I Drove 100km for Dinner while in Melbourne

I was fortunate over this past weekend to enjoy some serious eating in Melbourne (Australia).  On Saturday I had dinner at Loam on the Bellarine Peninsula and on Sunday I ate at Pearl in the Richmond neighborhood in Melbourne.  I will eventually post a detailed description of my actual meals, but I was struck by the different experience I had at each restaurant and was inspired to comment.  I should say I am traveling on business and ate alone.  I know eating alone changes my perception of my dining experience, and may influence how I am treated by the restaurant.

Both restaurants have won multiple awards and served wonderful food.  They are also quite different and some people may say it does not make sense to compare them. However, the area I found them to be most different was their style of service, and I think the difference in approach is relevant to every restaurant.   I am a very engaged food lover, and I was eating alone and really focused on my meal.   While the food at both restaurants was good, the level of attention and focus from the staff at Loam – and their sheer enthusiasm - was extraordinary and created a uniquely memorable experience. 

Loam is a relatively new restaurant located off a dirt road in the interior part of the Bellarine Peninsula, a hundred kilometers from Central Melbourne. No one will ever end up there by accident unless they are really, really lost.  Loam is a foodie restaurant, intensely focused on the provenance of ingredients.  Every item served by the restaurant has a story and people behind it, people who are known to the Loam employees. This is not to say Loam is rustic.  It was purpose built to be a fine restaurant, and the dining room is gorgeous.   Chef Aaron Turner worked at Noma in Copenhagen and he draws on their hyper local approach.  Loam uses the latest technology in the kitchen – sous vide for slow cooking and vacuum dehydration to create intense food powders, among other advanced techniques.  While Loam serves a lot of local Bellarine and Geelong food, they are not isolated from global brands (they make their cocktails with trendy Hendricks gin). 

Pearl in contrast is in the Richmond neighborhood in Melbourne, near the central business district.  It is close to residential neighborhoods but would not likely be a place someone would happen upon by chance.  However, it is in central Melbourne and does not require a big investment in time to visit.  Like Loam it has received great reviews and media attention. Pearl is older than Loam, having been around for ten years, but it is still vibrant.

Both restaurants aspire to excellence, and they are both expensive.   For one diner (me) Loam was $134.50 and Pearl was $174.20 including an after dinner cocktail.  At Loam I had the seven-course tasting menu, with wine for most courses suggested by my server (mostly half glasses).  At Pearl I ordered an appetizer, salad and main course off the menu, and wine off the menu.

At both restaurants, the kitchen execution was superb. Food was exquisitely presented, cooked perfectly and made from prime ingredients. Great care was obviously taken in the kitchen.

So what was different?

In a word, the 'front of house' was very different. This is restaurant speak for the host, maitre d’, wait staff, etc, i.e., the people the customer sees and talks with during their meal.

The front of house at Pearl was good by typical restaurant standards.   They smiled, greeted me by name and were attentive. But the people I interacted with did not give the impression of passion about the food, or about me as a customer.  Service was professional but perfunctory.  The wine menu was presented (on an iPad!) but no suggestions were offered on what might go with my food order.  I asked my waiter about the ingredients in the tamarind granita served with my oysters.  It was awesome, unusual and something I would love to eat again.  But the waiter had to go to the kitchen for an answer; he was not prepared with this information himself. After dinner I moved to the bar for a drink and to write. I asked about cognac and the host set three bottles on the bar without any description or explanation of the styles or differences.  (I later switched to a Manhattan, and the bartender came through with a lot of passion about the ingredients as well as perfect execution.)  I never felt my servers were trying to create a special dining experience for me. 

The hostess and my waiter at Loam were different. They were extremely well informed about the food and knew what they were serving, where it came from and why it was special.  They took plenty of time to share this information, never rushing to get to another table.  My interest in the food seemed to motivate them to explain in more detail what was being served and to suggest different alternatives in the food and wine. Not only did my server offer wine suggestions when I asked, he encouraged me to try specific wines when he thought they were the right complement to my food and even brought samples of these.  My dinner at Pearl lasted about two hours and my dinner at Loam about twice that. Obviously the number of courses was a big factor, but the time my server took at Loam to explain each dish, its ingredients and preparation were also a big factor. I had lots of questions about the food and I always felt they were welcomed and answered carefully.  Throughout all of this, I felt like my server and the hostess really loved what they were doing, and their enthusiasm for the food and for me as a customer contributed immeasurably to my positive experience.

At Loam I felt like I was treated as a valued participant in a wonderful food experience.  I was welcomed to engage deeply with the restaurant staff in the enjoyment of the food, almost like eating a meal prepared by close friends who were proud of the meal they were sharing. At Pearl I was a member of the audience, treated to wonderful food, but not encouraged to engage with the staff about the food in a way that would educate me or make me a more informed consumer of the food and wine.

My different experience at these two excellent restaurants reinforced for me how much the knowledge and enthusiasm of the staff, and their interest in engaging with their patrons, enhance fine dining.  Not every restaurant customer wants to be 'engaged' - but many do.  I would visit either restaurant again if I was in its neighborhood, but I would drive the 100km to get to Loam's neighborhood.  (Not to mention that Loam was a bargain for the experience it provided.)

Bras, Ducklings and Kangaroo - A Visit to Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne

Queen Victoria Market is a 'must visit' spot for any trip to Melbourne.  It is a huge indoor/outdoor market selling all manner of food and dry goods.  I say dry goods for lack of a better term to encompass clothing, kitchen wares, tools, linens, crafts and whatever else the vendors can fit in their trucks.  QV Market was founded in 1878 and is open five days a week, three weekdays and Saturday/Sunday.  Unlike the US where farm markets are usually a complement to the local grocery store, QV Market *is* the grocery store for many people in Melbourne. It is adjacent to the central business district, so it is easily accessible.

The food divides into indoor and outdoor, with the indoor halls selling meat, fish, fowl, cheese, bread, pasta, teas/coffees, wine, beer, oils etc. Outdoor vendors sell fruits and vegetables of all types, plus various livestock, flowers, eggs, honey and other things I don't remember.  .

I especially like the indoor food halls; they make me wish I had a kitchen here or that I could take meat on the 24hr flight home (and get it past the customs beagles).  I only know of a few butchers in metro Washington, DC and they generally have a limited selection.  There are more butchers at QV Market and they sell every cut of meat I have ever seen or heard of, and of course the meat sources go beyond the common beef, pork and lamb to include kangaroo and other exotics.  In addition to fresh meat, the cured meat is fantastic and diverse.   I loved the Polish sausage vendor, and bought a delicious garlic sausage that went perfectly with my pear cider.   For almost every kind of food I saw, there were at least a couple (and usually more) vendor stalls in competition.

The produce is good and diverse.  Temperate fruit from Tasmania and tropical fruit from the north are relatively close to Melbourne.  The huge ethnic diversity of Australia, and the almost universal interest in food and openness to new types of food creates an environment where food diversity thrives.

I visit QV market every time I come to Melbourne and find something new each time.

Driving & Eating My Way Across The Bellarine Peninsula

I spent a long day yesterday driving from Melbourne south west to the Bellarine Peninsula, having a great lunch and dinner, exploring several small towns and then returning to Melbourne at 1:00am (when the Melbourne streets were still packed with Saturday evening revelers, such is Melbourne).

There will be a couple of detailed foodie posts coming out of this expedition.  I had lunch at Oakdene Vineyards, which deservedly won an award for best restaurant at a winery in all of Australia.  I had dinner at Loam, which opened in 2011 and won three different categories in The Age 2011 Good Food Guide.  I have four pages of notes from my dinner at Loam, it was one of the best restaurant experiences I have ever had (sadly without Cathleen to join me). 

I visited several little towns and just wandered around.  Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale are at the south eastern tip of the Bellarine, looking across to the Mornington Peninsula.  Ocean Grove is on the southern coast, facing the open ocean.  Portarlington in on the north coast.   These are all small rural towns, and even on this holiday weekend did not feel overrun with tourists.  (Quite the opposite.) 

I took a lot of photos, some of the more scenic included here.  I took picture of most of my food, causing a child at lunch to wonder if I was 'someone who wrote about restaurants for the paper'.  I told her I had children at home who just like to see what I do on my trips. 

The first photo in this series was taken just up the road from Loam.  The sheep were not keen on me getting much closer.

The next photo is one of three from the beach at Point Lonsdale.

The third photo is the main street (I guess here they would say high street) in Queenscliff.  This is a great little town where I had black licorice ice cream and marveled that there were still 4 - 5 bookstores in the tiny town. 

The next two shots are also Point Lonsdale, the fisherman on the pier being one of my favorites.  Every little town seems to have a long fishing pier and they are well used. 

The next two shots were taken at the same spot in the central part of the peninsula, and give a sense of the pastoral feel of the area.  The fence post and hay bales being my attempt to be arty with my new wide angle lens.

The last photo was taken early in the day at the beach at Ocean Grove when it was still cool and overcast.  In spite of the weather there were lots of people swimming, thought the water looked very brisk. 

Bill Kirchen playing at the Torpedo Factory, First Night Alexandria

Master honky tonk guitar player Bill Kirchen and his band put on a fantastic show tonight in Alexandria. While I would call the music honky tonk, I think it's broader from full on country to rockabilly, etc. All with fantastic guitar playing. A great way to usher in 2011.

Via iPad