Eataly's Birthday and a Steak Dinner

With Eataly being generally expensive AND in our building at work, I often overlook it as an option for food shopping outside of the quick coffee or snack. Their produce is always fresh and their cheese section is quite great I must note. And even though I don't usually go in with the intent to purchase dinner, there was quite the buzz outside. It is their big birthday celebration so I ventured into the aisles to see what the excitement was about.

I wound up picking up three 6oz filets for $2 each. They had great deals on a bunch of different products ranging from their fresh egg pastas to canned tomato sauce to Lavazza coffee...and even crazy deals at the wine shop.

I've decided to cook the 3 steaks three different ways. First up was blackened. Used some of my favorite spices* from Williams-Sonoma and prepped the little slab of beef. Then pan seared it for 5 seconds on the two main sides. After that, threw it on the grill for about 5 minutes per side. Done to perfection. And even Rufus watched patiently.

*I've come to learn that WS is no longer carrying their Blackening Rub. Bummer, it was good. Luckily its really easy to make your own.

in the kitchen

I love cooking. I love pretty much everything about it. researching the utensils, finding great cookware, and buying fresh ingredients. the combination makes the whole experience great.

as with most things obsessive you find yourself forming alliances with certain brands. For example, I'm strictly All Clad, you won't find any calphalon in my house. not that I don't think its good product, but I've made the commitment to be an "all clad guy" whatever that means. And I try to stick to the Stainless colleciton only, although for eggs is hard to beat a non-stick equipped pan. Knives - wusthof. Even though I had to get over the fact that their logo reminded me of a swastika at first, I just fell for their simplistic designs AND their more progressive stuff. but for some of the smaller things, I love Joseph Joseph. Innovations and bright colors in their Chop 2 Pot cutting boards were what hooked me from the beginning, but lately, I've been just staring at their adjustable Rolling Pin:



so where do you stand in this all? do you think about this stuff? Maybe you like Le Creuset.....maybe you have a few pieces of Alessi goodness in your drawers....