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Zipping back into Cleveland Heights for a quick bite, we stopped by one of our favorite restie Lemon Grass.
Lemon Grass in Cleveland Heights
various patrons dining at Lemon Grass
Started with a quick order of Stam Rolls which were perfectly G-B-D (Golden-Brown-Delicious).
Stam Roll
Stam Rolls – $5.95
G-B-D for shiz
Although the 6 rolls were thin, we found them to be delicious! Delicious with a light drizzle of the sweet chili sauce.
Inside the rolls
Insides were perfectly cooked and texturally awesome.
Easy order rolls again #crunchamuncha
Our typical order of Pad Thai sounded like an easy winner.
Pad Thai: the most famous thai noodle dish rice noodles stir fried with chicken, shrimp, egg, ground peanuts bean sprouts, scallions and thai spices – $9.75
Pad Thai
A bit heavy on the egg this time, but still delicious as always.
Wish they had more bean sprouts and green onions-thus providing more crunch and temperature differences. Fresh crisp and hot and spicy.
Easy order again too.
Since we’re heavy on the starches, we opted to try some fried rice (my death row meal).
House Fried Rice: Shrimp, chicken green peas, baby corn, red peppers, onion and tomatoes served with a cucumber and a wedge of lime – $11.50
House Fried Rice from Lemon Grass
Meh, OK.
I wasn’t quite sure about the cucumbers or the lime.
To me, the only “sour” taste that should reside in fried rice should come from fish sauce (if you even use it).
The char siu, green onions, etc…seemed to be cut by a blind guy.
Rough chop means chopped by a blind guy
Or maybe they just seem to like really rough chopping stuff.
Seemed like there should be more volume for $11.50 right? After all, it is the “house” version.
Well, maybe the chef lives in an expensive house.
We also ordered the special of the night, which was described as Drunken chicken noodles w/ vegetables – $10.95.
Special dish: Drunken chicken noodles w/ vegetables
Don’t remember how much this was, but to us, it seemed like a pretty typical chow fun dish w/ veggies.
After finishing this dish, I wasn’t drunk either.
Though, I guess kinda Thai w/ the addition of basil.
Overall, pretty typical busy night here at Lemon Grass.
Crowd swelled during the classic 6p dinner hour and then subsided post dinner hour during our weeknight visit.
Typical Lemon Grass night
Service was standard and our waters got filled regularly.
Overall, a great restie to dine on a weeknight in Cleveland Heights.
Also stopping off at Big Fun before AND after dinner is awesome too.
Reporting live from QuarryLaneFarms…
So we decided to serve Peking Duck.
That’s right…we said it. Peking. Frickin. Duck.
Wipe your mouth cause I know you just drooled.
Step-1: Like any good NE Ohioian-we opted for the West Side Market.
One 5.5 lbs duck preeze
Step-2: Rinse duck. Make sure you clean out the gizzards, giblets, etc…No waste-use those nasty bits for stock in soups.
Cold water rinse for ducky
Step-3: Dunkadunka in hot boiling water for a few minutes.
A quick blanching
Step-4: Let rest/sit on a stand. #ouch
Poultry stand...in the butt
Step-5: Setup improvised hanging system…and by that we mean get two metal clothes hangers, bend it like the illegitimate abortion clinic, and slide it through the duck carcass. Rig it up so it can hang.
If McGyver can do it, so can you!
Step-6: Hang up and set fan and timer for 12 hours….room temperature. No seriously…hang at room temperature.
The initial hanging of duck
After 12 hours, you may see some bleeding. That’s good because your duck is exsanguinating all the moisture from inside. By the skin tightening, it intensifies the flavors of the duck. #muncha
Ewwwwwww
Skin should be tightening up all over and slowly drying out. Get the memo cause it’s clearly enhancing the flavors.
Duck neck fat...awesome
Step-7: Meanwhile, start to prep your “sauce” which should consist of water, thick soy sauce, honey, vinegar, and salt.
Rolling boil of duck glazing sauce
Step-8: Glaze/pour over duck.
Bath x4 preeze
We’d recommend four baths in the sauce.
Grab your rubber duckie cause it's bath time!
Step-9: Fan on and hang for another 12 hours.
Breezy ain't it?
Step-10: After 24 hours of hanging and fan drying, you should start to see a nice golden brown tan setting in. Skin should be slightly tight. This is good.
Hanging out again...
Step-11: Preheat your oven at 375.
Step-12: In roasting pan w/ water bottom and chunks of garlic (cause who doesn’t like garlic). Water bottom will also assist in regulating your oven temperature too.
Prep before the oven...
Step-13: Duck in rack breast down for 60 minutes. You should see lots of the duck fat drippings into the water below. Without the water in the bottom of the drip pan, you’d likely have flareups and set your home smoke detector off. Always practice safe ducking.
Quack
Step-14: Flip in rack to breasts up (heh heh) 60 minutes. (Bonus points for using rack and breasts in the same sentence).
Quack Quack
Step-15: Flip in rack breasts down for 20 minutes
Quack Quack Quack
Step-16: Flip in rack breasts up for final 20 minutes.
Quack Quack Quack Quack
Step-17: Hang the duck back up.
Preeze hang your duck back up
No seriously….Hang your duck back up. You’ll need to be hands free for the next step involving lotsa fire.
It's about to get crazy...
Step-18: Break out your best blow torch (We’d recommend your best torch from Harbor Freight or a roofer flamer thingy from Home Depot. Each is about $35-$50).
Just one example of necessary blow torch
The bigger the flame, the better (That’s what he said).
hhhaaaaaayyyy
Step-19: Blow torch your duck.
Blow torch the duck...That's an order!
I’m sure there are a few Doubting Debbies out there because this part involves the use of a blow torch indoors. Well, we don’t exactly have a 3000-year-old Han oven to roast duck…so this would be a good option for modern houses.
Blow torch is essential to the crisp savory skin
You MUST crisp the skin to get that G-B-D (Golden-Brown-and-Delicious). It should slightly bubble and pop when moving your blow torch over all outsides of the duck.
Crisp skin - candy shell-like: G-B-D
And yes, the skin should be thin and crispy. I’d say almost candy-shell-like. Best test method? Tap it with your fingernail.
The Peking Duck skin is THE savory candy
Step-20a: Observe your local fire department extinguishing your house which was on fire from your bazerker torching.
or
Step-20b: Marvel at your beautiful Peking duck.
Step-21: Let duck rest for 15 minutes.
Service? Well, there are a ton of options.
Some Chinese (mostly rich ones) love to serve just crispy crunchy skin, green onions, and hoisin sauce on mu shu wrappers.
Roll em
Some Chinese (Cantonese) love to serve skin, duck meat, green onions, and hoisin sauce on a traditional steamed white bun (our preference).
Or you can just serve the duck w/ hoisin sauce and rice.
Or serve it with cake noodle…aka”dack neu-dole”.
Or you can use ALL the parts of the duck to make other great Chinese dishes too.
So, what did we learn today….Sorry, too much No Reservations (@NoReservations). No matter how you serve it, Peking Duck is truly fit for a special occasion because of the prolonged prep time. Do yourself a favor Wang Chung and channel your inner Sun Yat Sin to make a Peking Duck. And yes, it will also get you some blow torch time too.
Reporting live from QuarryLaneFarms…
All this cold weather? What happened to summer?
Now…..what could we smoke that reminds us of summer?
As one of our signature dishes, our ribs are an easy winner everytime…easy like your sister’s phone number to remember.
Hot lines are now open
So in honor of our Summer Fall, we decided on some classic smoked keawe pork ribs. Onolicious right?
Step-1. Pork ribs
Step-2. Dry rub (we prefer the Bronzeville Rib Rub from the Chicago Spice House @TheSpiceHouse )
Step-3. BGE
Step-4. Presoaked keawe wood chips.
Step-5. Maintain temp between 250-275 (low and slow)
Maintain temp: Low and slow (like your mom)
Step-6. Rack the Ribs and start your timers.
15 minutes in the smoker. Looking good so far
30 minutes in...and we're starting to see some of that bark...
45 minutes in, nice bark forming...turning to G-B-D!
60-minutes in, bark holding well. Deep rich beautiful crust
75-minutes in and Keawe woodchips/smoke performing well. Almost there....
90-minutes and done. Check out that Keawe wood smoke penetration!!???!!?
Oh, you mean "succulent and sexy"
Juicy, perfectly cooked...awwww yeah!
The combination of bark and juicy keawe smoked ribs is a perfect fall....ahem....summer time gathering
See, don’t you want some ribs now?
C’mon by and place your orders!
Its Aloha Friday…No work till Monday…
Reporting live from QuarryLaneFarms…
