B and I went to Sibling Rivalry in the South End last night for dinner. For those of you who have not heard of it, it’s a restaurant owned and operated by two chefs who happen to be brothers – Chef Bob and Chef Dave. The menu is comprised of ingredients, and each chef/brother prepares a dish – be it an appetizer or an entrée – that showcases that ingredient. I had heard about this place before, and in my head I thought it was an Iron Chef-type concept. If you ordered the beef, you would get two different preparations of the beef and get a taste of each chef’s style.
Well, I was wrong. You basically order an appetizer and an entrée, and you only get one preparation of each ingredient (unless, of course, you order both versions). So, if you don’t order a whole bunch of food, or if you to stick to one ingredient (since each chef doesn’t necessarily choose to prepare the same course for each ingredient), you don’t get a sense of how the two styles differ.
Once I got myself straightened out (the prix fixe menu threw me through a huge loop – it was very confusing, especially when I didn’t fully get the concept at first), B and I decided to pick the same two ingredients and to each stick to one chef. I got Chef Dave, and B got Chef Bob. We ordered as follows:
• Green spring onions (tuna tartare appetizer from C for me, and halibut entrée for B)
• Beef (bone in ribeye steak entrée for me, and steak tartare appetizer for B)
We couldn’t compare them head to head, but we still decided to rate each course and make one chef the winner.
So for the appetizers, we had to decide which preparation of raw protein was the best. Both were good, and I tend to really like both tuna and steak tartare but will always prefer steak over tuna. B thought the tuna was best, but given my preference, I couldn’t bring myself to agree. I did think that both seemed a little too “room temperature” for my comfort level. I tend to like my raw protein cold. I like the comfort of knowing that it was stored at the proper temperature before being served to me. I’m just saying.
It was easy to identify the key ingredient in the steak tartare (beef, duh) and the preparation certainly brought out the flavor of the beef. But the tuna tartare was supposed to highlight green spring onions. I couldn’t identify any spring onions on that plate. Unless green spring onion is code for chives and not scallions. There were some visible chives in the dish, but I couldn’t taste them.
Victory went to chef Dave, because B liked the tuna better and I didn’t think I could provide an objective vote.
Next up: the entrée, and spring onion vs. beef once again. I ordered my ribeye medium rare, instead of rare, because B and I were going to share it. The steak did a pretty good job of focusing on the beef, and it was served with potatoes that were roasted in duck fat. Oh, yeah, they were quite good. Interestingly enough, there were some spring onions on the plate. Were we confused or were the chefs confused about which dishes were supposed to feature the spring onions?
Now onto B’s halibut. It was served on a bed of risotto. B thought both the halibut and risotto were overcooked. I thought they were fine. We long ago established that he has a way more educated palate than I do. While he can taste more things than I, I guess I get the pleasure of not knowing when things are overcooked. (Therefore B is far more likely to be disappointed with something than I am. I suppose that’s a decent trade off for the lack of a palate.)
As with the tuna tartare, we couldn’t really find the green onions in this dish. I thought about giving B the ones that came with my steak, but that would have been cheating.
I didn’t particularly like my steak. It was a very fatty cut of meat, and it isn’t one that I would typically order. As with the first course, B preferred Chef Dave’s dish over Chef Bob’s. I definitely liked Chef Bob’s better.
I guess Chef Dave wins by default. Although, the true winner was whoever prepared that lemon vanilla crème brulee. I’m becoming a huge custard fan, and definitely have to start experimenting with making my own. With my birthday coming up, I think I may ask for a crème brulee torch. If I get it, I should probably start lining up a new place to live since it’s more than possible that I will burn down my kitchen with the tiny torch. (Let’s not forget what happened when I got my new knives. But let the record show I’ve been knife accident free since then. Knock on wood.)
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B and I were supposed to make a skillet roasted chicken for Sunday dinner tonight, but the day got away from us and we ran out of time. We’re hoping to make it tomorrow night after work, so look for a mid-week update. The method – and recipe – was featured on a recent episode of America’s Test Kitchen.
The countdown has officially begun for our trip to Paris. Less than two weeks until we leave, and 15 days to my birthday! We have plans to eat at Le Jules Verne in the Eiffel Tower (my birthday dinner), and I’m definitely going to make sure we get to one of Joel Rubichon’s restaurants. We’re taking a day trip to London, and have reservations at St. John’s. I can’t tell you much about the place, but I read recently that Anthony Bourdain said it was the restaurant he most wanted to be eating in. I can’t wait!
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