Avanza Supermarket

As I mentioned in my seminal blog post, Ecuadorian Quinoa Chowder with Sweet Corn, if you want to create authentic cuisine, it's vitally important to find good ethnic supermarkets.  Nothing against Hy-Vee, but I'm pretty sure they have to outsource the ingredients for their own Chinese buffet...

So where should you go if you want to find cactus (for when okra just isn't slimy enough) or tomatillos that don't look like turn-of-the-century English orphans?  Well, Avanza Supermarket would probably be a good start. 

When is the last time you saw that many tomatillos in the grocery store?  Unless you grew up on a tomatillo farm/grocery store (which, according to Blogspot's overly specific user data, represents about half my readership - the other half are bots originating from former Soviet Bloc nations), I'm guessing it's been a while.  The point I'm trying to make is that Avanza has a tremendous selection of (affordable) vaguely ethnic foods that seem to get neglected in most major grocery stores.  I can appreciate an Old El Paso taco seasoning packet as much as the next guy, but your girlfriend's abuéla (five years of Spanish, people) may disagree.

 Oh, and here's a wall of tortillas.

 

Much like the Great Wall of China, Avanza's famed Tortilla Wall can be seen from space.

In case I haven't made it clear, go to Avanza.  Be adventurous and support a less well-known ethic supermarket.  You can still go ahead and buy your Doritos at Hy-Vee if you're concerned about their financial solvency.

And, yes, Avanza does have Takis.

 

Time Out Foods

I'm highly skeptical of "Best Of" lists.  Lovely as they may be, suburbanites tend to be a little over-represented ("Subway has just the best sandwiches!  And those pizzas!  Somebody start the van, quick!").  For this reason, I tend to go by word of mouth when finding new restaurants.  Sometimes - as is the case with Time Out Foods - that mouth just happens to belong to a restaurant critic as part of a "Best Of" list.  This is starting to get confusing, so let's just move on to the food, shall we?

The Omaha World-Herald called Time Out Foods the best place for fried chicken in Omaha.  I'm no fried chicken expert (I tend to get chicken fingers when I find myself at a Popeye's.  I really have no business running a food blog...), but I'm inclined to agree.  When I opened up my box, it was like the Ark of the Covenant scene from "Raiders of the Lost Ark".  Only instead of my face melting, it was like my mouth had melted...because of the drool...Is that making sense?  I feel like I'm not expressing myself well tonight.

Is your face and/or mouth still intact?  I hope so, because you'll need your strength for what is coming next...

  

Boom.  Now that is some delicious chicken.  What makes it so delicious, you ask?  Other than its perfectly crispy skin, Time Out's chicken has a delicious undercurrent of spice.  Not something as boring as cayenne, mind you.  The chicken isn't spicy, per se, it's just seasoned with various spices.  I didn't ask what spices, because that seems pretty rude and I'm frankly a little disappointed that the thought even crossed your mind.  Let's just move on to dessert and forget that this whole thing happened.

Mmmmm, sweet potato pie.  

Make the trek to North Omaha and get your hands on some of Time Out's chicken.  I respect The Colonel and his service to our county as part of Kentucky's Fast Food Army, but he needs to keep his greasy hands off of Omaha's "Best Of" lists.

Time Out Foods, for your efforts, I award you a dancing chicken.

Congratulations.

Ponzu Sushi & Grill

I'll be real; I'm not a big sushi guy.  If I wanted to eat cold fish for dinner, I would have been born a seal (or maybe a dolphin, but that's probably a discussion best left for another post).  So why would I go to Ponzu, a fairly well-regarded Omaha sushi place in Aksarben Village?  Well, two reasons: (a) my wife loves sushi and (b) fried calamari.  I suppose it also could have been the Groupon, but that kind of makes me sound cheap...

But that's enough build-up.  How was the food?  If you must know, it was pretty good!  From a visual perspective (and let's be real, we eat with our eyes), you would be hard-pressed to do much better.  Take a look at this calamari...

It tastes every bit as good as it looks.  For any "This American Life" fans out there, I should mention that I have no reason to believe that this calamari was actually pig rectum.  For any non-NPR listeners out there, I'm very sorry for the preceding sentence.  Please, continue to enjoy your meal.

For my entree, I went with the teriyaki chicken and coconut jasmine rice.  I'm not going to bore you with a detailed description of the individual rice grains or the pleasing char on both the asparagus spears and chicken.  All I'll tell you is that it was delicious and served to immediately relieve me of my guilt in ordering something as boring as teriyaki chicken (hey, at least I didn't get fish and chips like the poor schmuck at the next table).

Oh, and here's some sushi.

It was good.  There, I said it.

I have not yet developed an official rating system for these restaurant reviews, but let's go ahead and give Ponzu three Ball-Bouncing Seals out of four.

(Yeah, I'm sure this system will have some staying power...)

Ecuadorian Quinoa Chowder with Sweet Corn

 

What business does a German-English hybrid have making Ecuadorian cuisine?  None whatsoever.  That's why Jose Garces is an Iron Chef and I help facilitate low interest loans to large corporations.  But I'm not here to debate the relative merits of our respective career paths...

This dish is delicious and hearty, thus fulfilling the two basic requirements of any good chowder.  Once you get past the minor obstacle of finding achiote paste (Pro Tip: Don't go anywhere other than a Hispanic grocery store - you'll just end up looking at a bunch of taco seasoning packets otherwise), this recipe is tremendously easy to make.  If you don't believe me, just take a look for yourself.

Source: Jose Garces, as shared in InStyle (and as purchased by my wife)

Ingredients

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 onion finely chopped
2 tbsp minced garlic (4 - 6 cloves)
1 tbsp achiote paste
1 cup tricolor quinoa
1 1/2 cups white sweet corn kernels
6 cups vegetable stock or broth
1.5 cups 1% milk (substituted for heavy cream)
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp minced flat-leaf parsley
2 tbsp scallion (minced)
1/4 lb (about 4 slices) of bacon, cut into strips, cooked until crisp, and drained
sliced avocado for garnish (optional)
matchstick potatoes for garnish
hot sauce for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Heat butter and olive oil in stockpot over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic, stirring occasionally until translucent, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in achiote paste; cook about 5 minutes. Stir in quinoa and corn, and cook, stirring often, until the grain is lightly toasted, about 5 minutes.
3. Add stock and milk (which has been thickened slightly with a roux); bring to a boil. Decrease heat to medium low; simmer uncovered until the quinoa is very tender and the liquid is reduced by one quarter.
4. To serve, fold in the parsley, chives, bacon, and matchstick potatoes. Season to taste with salt and hot sauce.  

See?  That doesn't look so scary, right?  You don't need to be an Iron Chef in order to exorcise the demons of your German-English heritage and bring the tastes of Ecuador home for everyone to enjoy.

Now let's see if Jose Garces can prepare a passable Non-Recourse Indemnification Agreement.

Probably not, given that I barely can.  I guess we're still even, Jose...