Prep: 45 mins.

Ingredients:

Lamb: pan-seared Icelandic lamb lollipops (marinated with fresh garlic, garlic powder, black pepper, basil, rosemary, mirin)

Kale Salad:

• dinosaur kale
• minced raw garlic
• fresh squeezed lemon juice
• garlic powder
• mirin
• safflower oil
• pine nuts

Passion fruit Gimlet (Fresh thyme, vodka, passion fruit, lime juice, pineapple juice)

It’s hard to think about the restaurant Victor Tango’s without an image of crispy hot waffles, juicy chicken tenders with sweet syrup and gravy on a hot plate. When my friends and I last dined here, we politely fought for who would get the last chicken and waffle. Eventually, to salvage our friendships and to prevent a nice situation from gettin’ ugly, we just ended up ordering more. People who have not tried chicken and waffles cannot conceive of the idea that chicken and waffles could ever go together. Believe me when I say, it’s as if the idea had preexisted and God put the two under the category of all things that are eternally good.

Legendary Chicken and Waffles

The restaurant is located off I-75 and Henderson, in an area that seems to be the mecca for culinary adventures. Victor Tango’s in particular, ubiquitously known for it’s organic and creative cocktails, has an impressive menu that derives from it’s southern influences and new American cuisine. Another hit item aside from chicken and waffles is the lamb lollipops with balsamic reduction. They are juicy and surprisingly (for those who typically do not like lamb) not gamey at all. There’s a hint of tamarind sauce that goes so well with the meat.

No doubt Victor Tango’s is a great bar and you’re bound to see people hang out here after work and have a few cocktails but the food here is nothing like typical bar fare. The vibe is split between social bar scene and upscale (though not pretentious) dining.

Lamb Lollipops with honey balsamic

at a low simmer…
-R

unWine’d with a pour…

unWine’d with a pour…

Lamb Chops
I used garlic infused EVOO, crushed rosemary, kosher salt, cracked black pepper and minced garlic for the rub.  I let that sit in the refrigerator for several hours prior to grilling but let the chops come back to room temp before cooking.  I grilled them 4 – 5 mins on each side @ 450 degrees.  That produced a very nice med-rare.  The chops were as tender as a beef fillet but with a “slightly” bolder taste than beef.  Very good!
Lamb was purchased @ The Butcher Block in Franklin, Tn.
The Butcher Block

Sides:
Oven Roasted New Potatoes, Mushrooms & Brussel Sprouts

Vino:
’07 Luchador, Australian Shiraz <$20; dark fruit on the nose, not too tannic, some spiciness and a nice finish.  The wine paired well with the full flavor of the lamb.

Lamb Lollipops

I was in Leeds last Sunday. Very nice it was too. It’s one of my favourite cities, and I’ve never had a bad time there. After all, it’s home to some of the nicest people in the world.  This is why Leeds Festival is the best event in the north. Every year we’ve been there, friends have been made from the briefest of meetings and to this day I still laugh at the things we got up to.

But that isn’t happening for another fortnight and last weekend we were shopping. I don’t need to tell you how good Leeds is for that, but food is a different matter. In the past, we’ve had dodgy pasta (Bella Italia), decent pasta (ASK, Strada), good three coursers (Heathcotes, and more recently Olive Press), average Sunday Roasts (Malmaison) and a steak bake from one of the millions of branches of Greggs (I was drunk and it was open till 3am). Now Jamie Oliver has opened ‘Jamie’s Italian’ – a family orientated place, with ‘trendy’ music, nice decor and the opportunity to buy a branded tea towel with your steak. It’s basically Leeds’ answer to Planet Hollywood. But instead of framed memorabilia, the displays are mainly Jamie’s books and pieces of dried pasta.

They cleverly put pre-meal cocktails on the menu, so how better to begin a meal than with a liquid starter. Bellinis all round! This place are mad for ricotta and fennel, which excluded a lot of the dishes for me so I went for Lamb Lollipops. Everything on the picture above cost around £13. But no chips! If there’s anything that riles me in restaurants, it’s when chips aren’t included in a dish like that. We ordered a side of ‘posh chips’ for around £3, which arrived with shavings of cheese in something a little bigger than an egg cup. The portions are a little on the small side and I definitely had room for dessert afterwards, but it wasn’t offered (despite being on the menu) and a bill was slammed down shortly after I finished gnawing on the lamb bones. But apart from that, the ravioli looked fresh, the meat was good quality, cooked well and the presentation was fantastic. Like Jamie, it’s focus is on the family and if you’re after a small meal that’s big on banter, it’s definitely worth checking out.