MickeyRay’s BBQ Opens Second Restaurant In Boise

05 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by Bob and Robin in BBQ Restaurants, Boise, Buy Idaho, Ethnic Foods, Grillin' and Chillin', Locavore, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Restaurants, Special Information, What's For Dinner?

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lb beef brisket, lb catfish, prime rib dinner, restaurants, texas smoker

Yes, another BBQ restaurant in Boise. This one is locally owned and operated with two locations in Boise and one in Eagle. (See the graphic) I had a short, but very interesting, visit while I was there and I was impressed by the operation. This new Boise location is located where the Macaroni Grille was, at 980 Milwaukee by Staples. You can see their website at MickeyRay’s BBQ. There is also a link in the sidebar. Be sure to check these links for complete menus and the like. Let them know you saw the information here on the Boise Foodie Blog.
It was interesting to hear that they use only local maple for their smoking process in a Texas made smoker, one of only two of this type located in Idaho. There is a photo below. They try very hard to use only locally produced products, the smoker being one exception. The menu is extensive and complete, with specials on Thursday – MickeyRay’s Big Ol’ Beef Rib ($16), Friday – 3/4 lb. Catfish Fillet and Hush Puppies ($15) and Saturday – Complete Prime Rib Dinner ($18, $23 and $29) and I believe an everyday special, it takes that long to eat it, The Trough – 1 lb. Chopped Pork, 1 lb. Beef Brisket, 1 Full Rack of Ribs, 1 quart Beans and 1 lb Fries. And all for $60! That’s over 4 pounds of vittles! They have kid’s menus, sandwiches, rib plates and much, much more. (I’m getting hungry!)

MickeyRay’s BBQ on Milwaukee in Boise

They were kind enough to let me photograph their Texas Smoker – it is BIG!

Let’s have a party some evening and meet at MickeyRay’s BBQ and try their fare out. Dutch, of course. Let us know. And if you get there before we do, let them know that we suggested it to you and let us know how you like it. Cheers!

Awesome Swordfish Dinner

30 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by Bob and Robin in Buy Idaho, Locavore, Meatless Monday, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Seafood, What's For Dinner?

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brussels sprouts, dinner, fingerling potatoes, food, rice family

The other day, while my computer was at CastleRock Computers here in Boise getting a severe upgrade, I came across swordfish at a good price and the quality was superb. The photo here is the swordfish getting ready to be placed under the broiler. Here is what me made.

Broiled Lime/Orange Swordfish
Herb Roasted Fingerling Potatoes (Rice Family Farms, ID)
Balsamic and Current Reduction with Brussels Sprouts

Idaho Fingerling Potatoes getting ready to be roasted. The herbs were all fresh ones from our garden.

Dinner is plated!
Broiled Lime and Orange Swordfish
Herb Roasted Idaho Fingerling Potatoes
Balsamic and Current Juice Reduction with Brussels Sprouts

Thanksgiving Dinner Prep

21 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by Bob and Robin in Anniversary, Captain's Shack, Cooking Styles, Dried Corn, Holiday Menu, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Prep Work, Special Dinners, Thanksgiving, What's For Dinner?

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cranberry relish, dinner, food, vegetable stock

Yes, one must prepare for this dinner. This year we will have 10 over for dinner. Maggie, Tessa and Madison Hyland, their mother Deanna, Chris (goes with Madison), Mac, Marnie, Sophia, Robin and me. Let’s see ….. That’s 10! We started today, this morning, with the prep. Here are some photos. Enjoy and don’t forget to Left-Click to see these full screen.

No, we are not making this. But wouldn’t it be delightful to place as a center piece?

Robin making her cranberry relish. Check out those ingredients.

Brioche cubes for stuffing.

Dried corn soaking. Remember – One must taste, and taste and taste and adjust and taste and taste and taste …….

Making vegetable stock to fortify the gravy. Yup! Those are oranges and limes in this stock. Great citrus overtones.

The turkey is thawing and the stuffing has all dried ingredients mixed in. Sweet potatoes are prepped. Tomorrow will be Bedlam, but exciting and fun. Maybe a small helping of 10 year old Laphroaig will help. Probably. Cheers!

Thanksgiving morning started at 7:00am. Here’s what’s cookin’!

Orange and Onion Green Bean Casserole, Apple and Herb Stuffing, Sweet Potatoes

The turkey is stuffed and ready for browning. 19 pounder should be just fine. I need a larger oven, though.

Robin’s Pineapple Upside Down Cake

19 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Bob and Robin in Dessert, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Recipe By: Robin Young, Recipes, Things To Do, What's For Dinner?

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brown sugar mixture, cast iron skillet, dessert, food, ground cardamom

Robin found and made this awesome Pineapple Upside Down Cake, after she “tweaked” it a little bit. The original recipe says that the run is “optional”. Yea! right! She also added pecans in between the pineapple rings. I remember growing up (that assumes that the goal was net), my Aunt Peggy making this cake. Robin’s is just as good if not better! This was an awesome finish to a good BBQ Ribs dinner. Enjoy!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Source (Adapted): Robin Young
Ingredients:
¼ c Butter
¾ c Light Brown Sugar
2 T Pineapple Juice
3 T Dark Rum
½ small fresh Pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced
½ c Butter
1½ c All-Purpose Flour
⅛ t ground Cardamom
½ t Salt
2 t Baking Powder
½ c White Sugar
1 egg
½ c cold Milk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C)
Melt ¼ cup butter in a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium-low heat. Stir in brown sugar, pineapple juice, and dark rum. Cook over medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture is bubbling, about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and spread pineapple slices in a layer over the brown sugar mixture, completely covering the mixture. Set skillet aside.
Melt ½ cup butter in small skillet over low heat until the butter begins to brown and release a nutty fragrance, about 5 minutes. Watch carefully, butter burns easily. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
Whisk together flour, cardamom, salt, baking powder, and white sugar in a large bowl. Whisk in egg and cold milk until just combined. Pour in melted butter and stir to mix thoroughly.
Pour batter over the pineapple slices in the skillet; spread evenly to cover. Optional maraschino cherries and/or pecan halves between pineapple slices. Bake in preheated oven until the cake begins to bubble around the edges, the top is browned, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool in the skillet for 10 minutes.
Loosen the cake from the skillet by running a knife around the inside edge of the cake. Invert a large plate over the top of the skillet and flip over, releasing the cake to show the pineapple slices on top.

Entertaining at The Buzz In Boise

14 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by Bob and Robin in Bistro, Party Time, Photos, Photos By: Bob Young, Restaurants, Special Events, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food

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chocolate walnut, food, restaurants, sparkling wine, wine club, wine selection

Such a great dinner at The Buzz for the November Wine Club Dinner. Cristi did an awesome job in presenting wines that went along with the theme of The Art of Entertaining. Here are some photos from last night and the wines that we had. Really a super dinner and wine selection. Be sure to look at the photos full screen and grab a fork. Enjoy! We did. See you at the next event. Use the link above and call The Buzz for reservations. The best $15.00 you’ll ever spend!

BLT Slaw
Simple Stromboli
2010 Franco Serra
13.0% alc. superfine wine with these dishes, went best with the slaw [19]
This was a great opening dish and wine. Great choices!

Beef and Barley Stew
2011 Les Trois Couronnes Cotes du Rhone
14.0% alc another good pairing of wine and food. [19]

Chicken Wellington
Cranberry Cabbage (delicious!)
Broccoli (Yum-O!)
2010 Meadowcroft Chardonnay
14.5% alc. In my opinion – the best wine of the evening. It went so very well with everything on the plate. [19]

Chocolate Walnut Bread Pudding
Honeybun Cake
NV Renwood Port
I did not particularly like this port as well as some otheres I have had [17]
NV Almond Sparkling Wine of Veuve du Vernay
awesome with tyhese desserts. Loved it! [19]

One of the wines we had tonight.

Another wine we had.

BSU Football Tailgate Food

10 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by Bob and Robin in Beans, Beer and Ale, Belhaven Scottish Ale, Bronco Nation, BSU, Comfort Food, Gameday, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, What's For Dinner?

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food, green tomato relish, nathan hotdogs, onion mustard, sports

Watching the BSU – Hawaii game. BSU leads at Halftime 35-7. But we made this comfort food “tailgate” food.

Gameday Menu
Adjusted Baked Beans
Nathan Hotdogs
green tomato relish, diced onion, mustard
Belhaven Scottish Ale

If you have never tried this ale, I strongly recommend it. This was a Yum-O comfort food dinner. Cheers!

Boise Food Truck Rally and Dolly’s Bar Grand Opening

09 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by Bob and Robin in Boise, Boise Adventures, Party Time, Photos, Photos By: Bob Young, Special Events, What's For Dinner?, Whole Foods

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An exciting time tonight with, at least for me, two special events going on. First was the November Boise Food Truck Rally held in the parking lot of the brand new Whole Foods Store, that is actually not open until next Wednesday, November 14. Here is some of the crowd that fought the cold winds and light snow. Yes, it did snow lightly! Enjoy these photos! It was good to see my friend, Yvonne, at the Brown Shuga Soul Food truck.

The Whole Foods booth. Glad to have you in Boise!

Great to see Tammy and Mike McClure of Indian Creek Winery. Their spiced wine was great. Glad to hear that harvest went well for you Mike.

Then there was the Grand Opening of Dolly’s Bar at 1108 Front Street in Boise. Small, but cozy! Thanks Karyn for inviting me to attend your opening. I do hope the business goes well and grows. Here is the sign that was out front along Front Street. Rather difficult to see at night. It should stand out during the day.

This is the patio at Dolly’s Bar.

Stu Smith, Smith-Madrone Winery, Visits Boise

07 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by Bob and Robin in Cottonwood Grille, Main Dish, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Restaurants, Special Dinners, Special Events, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food, Wine Dinners

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food, napa vintners, restaurants

On November 6, Stu Smith from Smith-Madrone Winery and Vineyards, visited Boise and we were honored to go to dinner with him at the Cottonwood Grille. From the Smith-Madrone website, there is a link Here, we read that “Brothers Stuart and Charles Smith are the vineyard managers and winemakers of Smith-Madrone Winery. Their family lineage includes the Fetherolf family, German farmers from the Palatinate region, who came to America on the Good Ship Thistle in 1730 … He is an active member of the G.O.N.A.D.S. (the Gastronomical Order for Nonsensical and Dissipatory Society), founded in the early 1980s by a group of Napa vintners who meet for lively monthly lunches, chronicled in James Conaway’s books Napa: An American Eden and Napa: The Far Side of Eden … He enjoys barbecuing for guests at the winery; favorites are the (Smith-Madrone) Cabernet-marinated butterflied barbecued lamb and (Smith-Madrone) Cabernet Risotto (made on a camp stove as people gather around).” Here are some photos from the evening. Enjoy! We did. Be sure to Left-Click the photos to see enlarged. The photo here is the hearth at the Cottonwood Grille. Cheers!

Stu Smith and Robin

Cristi Takeda from The Buzz in Boise, joined us for dinner and a lively discussion. Thank-You, Cristi for being there.

Also joining us for the special event, were Peggy and Eric Behrens. Peggy helps out at The Buzz at their Monthly Wine Dinners. Glad you and Eric could make it, Peggy.

Stu was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the 2006 Fraser Vineyards (ID) Cabernet Sauvignon. We pulled these three from our cellar to have a comparison tasting with the Smith-Madrone 2010 Cab. All of these wines were awesome.

Stu brought with him the 2011 Smith-Madrone Riesling and the 2012 Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon. These were two excellent wines. Thank-You for sharing, Stu.

For appetizers, we each selected an appetizer we wanted and then shared it with the wines. Here is a cheese plate, CG Cheese Plate. An assortment of cheeses served with crostini, fruit, candied walnuts and crackers

And Crab Cakes, Fresh Pacific crab mixed with shallots and Pernod, cooked
crisp and served with lemon beurre blanc. We also had Croquetas, Traditional Basque fritters made with creamed béchamel and served with rumescu sauce

One of us had this Tomahawk Chop. Yum!

We also had North American Elk, Premium elk loin, sautéed, sliced and served with a green peppercorn sauce; Northwest Premium Buffalo, Fresh buffalo sirloin sautéed, sliced, and served with a rich Cabernet Sauce. It was over cooked. Lemon Roasted Chicken, All natural chicken roasted with rosemary and lemon pepper, served with a lemon scallion cream sauce. Different soups were also on out table. Overall, a good dinner, with few exceptions, and some terrific wines. Oh, almost forgot to mention. We opened the evening with a 2010 Pend d’Oreille Chardonnay from the Vickers Vineyard at Sunny Slope.

Dinner At Maggie’s Place

29 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by Bob and Robin in Chicken, Comfort Food, Main Dish, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Salad, Special Dinners, Things To Do, What's For Dinner?

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chef maggie, gastronomic delight, huckleberry pie, stella artois

A perfectly delightful evening at Maggie’s Place on Sunday night. Chef Maggie did an awesome job with the Chicken and Dumplings, again! And as always, she served up the perfect chalice of Stella Artois. And Robin chipped in with a great Huckleberry Pie. I feel so lucky to have two super-duper Chefs. Well here, you be the judge and look at these photos. Be sure to Left-Click on the photos and see a larger view. Cheers and Goot Essen!

A good German Sekt wine to go with the chicken. Not too sweet and a little frizant – bubbly.

A super great and delicious salad. Who would have thought that avocado and sweet red onion would go so well together. (Go full screen on this one. The colors are so delicious.)

And the star of the show! Maggie’s Chicken and Dumplings. Yum-O!!!!

Huckleberry Pie fresh out of the oven. Another gastronomic delight! It is not often that one can get huckleberries.

Yum!!!

So there you are. Such a treat. Such a joy! And if you clean your computer screen and go Full Screen to enlarge the photos, you could probably eat right off the screen. Try it. You’ll like it! Mikey would, if we could find him.

Comfort Food At Halftime

20 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by Bob and Robin in Bronco Nation, BSU, Captain's Shack, Comfort Food, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, What's For Dinner?

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bsu, Comfort Food, oktober fest, sports

It’s a great Fall day. Partly cloudy; 62 degrees F,; wind NW at 8mph. And a good BSU vs UNLV football game. At halftime, BSU 25, UNLV 0. Here’s what we had for halftime meal. Great comfort food. Left-Click to see full screen. Cheers!