A beautiful sunrise in Gulf
Shores set the pace of a great foodie day for the OC Food Diva.
Perdido Beach
Boulevard is home to a number of condominiums and restaurants alike. During the
summer months, there are lots of hungry visitors to feed and The Ruby Slipper Café
definitely fills that need. The Orange Beach location opened in June 2016 and is
the 6th location with four locations in New Orleans and one in
Pensacola.
Since I was in Orange Beach for
the World Food Championships,
I found out that The Ruby Slipper Café’s own kitchen manager, Chef Edwin Vega,
qualified to compete in the World Seafood Championship. In the opening round, he
received some outstanding scores of 96.125 for his structured build and 96.25
for his signature dish. His final score for the round was 96.1875, placing him
#2 and just 1.5625 points away from #1. He went on to the Top 10 round and
scored 75.5. His final score was 83.775, placing him in 6th place.
Chef Edwin made his WFC
signature dish, Shrimp Cortez. It is a special that is served at the New
Orleans locations, but instead of grits, he used hushpuppies. In his qualifying
event, they had to use a Zatarain’s
product and their Hush
Puppy Mix called out to him. I can see why this dish pushed Chef Edwin into
the Top 10. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and had a good snap to them. The
sauce had a creamy creole flavor which works nicely with the shrimp and hush
puppies. The corn and tomatoes refreshed the palate with sweetness. The
artichoke hearts added a nice texture along with a little bit of acidity from
the vinegar that the artichokes are jarred with. The pork belly added a salty,
smoky touch. This dish will be one of the daily specials at the Orange Beach
location from time to time so be on the lookout for it. Rating: 5/5
Bananas Foster Pain Perdu is
a French bread-based French toast with rum-flambéed bananas and raisins, served
with Applewood-smoked bacon. This is unlike any French toast you’ll ever have! French
bread had more texture and absorbed more of the custardy batter than regular
bread. It also absorbed and encased the sweetness of the bananas foster sauce.
The bacon balanced out the sweetness with its salty, smoky flavor. This is great
for breakfast and/or brunch or even split this with someone as a dessert.
Rating: 5/5
“Close your eyes and tap your
heels together three times” and drive over to The Ruby Slipper Café!
About 2.5 miles east of The Wharf is a small cluster of buildings making
up Cosmo’s Courtyard, and the home of Cosmo’s Restaurant & Bar. The
restaurant itself is on the north side of the cluster with plenty of parking on
the outer edges of the buildings. Owners Brian and Jodi Harsany’s attention to
detail makes it a lovely dining experience from the kitchen to the friendly and
attentive staff in the dining room. Corporate Chef Jack Baker incorporates his
roots in Southern cooking with French cuisine and techniques. Executive Chef Rob
Benson is originally from Louisiana and interprets traditional Creole along
with seasonal game and vegetables. Sous Chef Rachael Golden is originally from
Pensacola and incorporates her love of the Gulf Coast into Southern dishes. All
their inspirations and influences are apparent on the menu.
Let’s take a look at some of
the menu items:
Crab Claws (Market Price, it
was $19 in November) can be “bbq” in a creole butter sauce or fried and served
with cocktail sauce. Since I had them fried at Wolf
Bay Lodge, I decided to try the “bbq”-style this time. The crab claws were
sweet and fresh just like I had them at the Olympic
Shellfish processing facility. The creole butter sauce added a nice
richness with a hint of creole spice similar to a crawfish étouffée. I know
this is an appetizer but this also be great as an entrée served with some rice
or pasta to use up all that sauce. It is like liquid gold! Rating: 5/5
Entrees are served with a
complimentary small house salad. The salad greens were so fresh. I love the
addition of fresh ground pepper and bleu cheese crumbles at tableside.
Banana Leaf Wrapped Fish
(Market Price, it was $31 in November) is their chef’s selected fish (at this
time, it was sea bass) rubbed with a special blend of herbs and seasonings,
wrapped and baked in a banana leaf, and served with their house rice and
vegetable selection. I Love Alabama
Food named this dish as one of “100
Dishes to Eat in Alabama”. This dish reminds me of something you would see
in the tropics, like where I am from in Hawaii. We use banana leaves and ti
leaves to wrap meats, vegetables, etc. using it as a cooking vessel along with
imparting flavor final dish. The sea bass was cooked perfectly as the succulent
fish came apart in layers and the natural fats in the fish melted and rendered
during the baking process. The vegetables were beautifully sautéed with a crisp
texture. The rice was similar to a pilaf but more herbaceous. Overall, the presentation
was beautiful. Unwrapping the banana leaf was like unwrapping a gift from the
food gods. Rating: 4.5/5
When you are in Orange Beach,
take a ride off the beaten path to Cosmo’s Restaurant & Bar for a refreshing
take on Southern cuisine and seafood!
Since I didn’t have
to arrive at The Wharf until 10 a.m., I got
to sleep in a little and make a quick breakfast sandwich at the Hampton
Inn. I still had a LOT of Whole Foods Market
leftovers. I made a sandwich with a brioche bun stuffed with an egg salad made
with hardboiled eggs and avocado topped with bacon strips, bleu cheese, and
diced tomato. After protein-packed sandwich down the hatch, it was time to get
myself ready for the Bacon World Championship Top 10 round at the World Food Championships.
While we waited to
get into Kenmore Kitchen Arena, I spotted my good friend, Big Moe Cason.
You may know him from competing and judging on Destination
American’s BBQ Pitmasters. You may have also seen him on my YouTube channel
when I covered the Horse Town Brew N’
Que last year. He is the nicest guy in BBQ!
Jodi Taffel, a.k.a. The Fabulous Bacon Babe, made her
way through the opening round and now it’s time to test her skills on infusing Olive and Sinclair Chocolate with Hormel
Black Label Pecanwood Thick Cut Bacon. Olive and Sinclair’s Southern
Artisan 67% Chocolate is made with single-origin beans from Ghana, along with
red stone fruit, brown butter, and sorghum molasses. The Southern Artisan Sea
Salt Chocolate starts with a 75% cacao bean base and is speckled with flaked
sea salt.
Before the start of
the competition, Jodi’s station was plagued by electrical issues. First, the
oven would not turn on. Jodi didn’t want to take all her food and supplies out
in case she had to move. WFC personnel worked on it and managed to get the oven
working before the start of the round. When it was time to start melting the
chocolate for the mousse, the microwave was not working. As the WFC personnel
worked on the problem, Mary, Jodi’s sous, used a microwave in an empty station
to get the chocolate melted. It turned out that the microwave was broken and
they swapped it out for a new one. David coined the motto, “Adapt and overcome.”
WFC Cooking Tip: You
can’t buy liquor in a grocery store like you would in California. Per Alabama
Alcohol Laws: “Alcohol can be purchased any day except for Sunday. Spirits and
wine with an alcohol content of 14% or higher are sold in ABC stores, also
called package or state stores. Table wine (less than 14% alcohol) and beer
with less than 6% alcohol content is available in groceries and convenience
markets.”
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Jodi’s entry was a Chocolate
Espresso Mousse topped with balsamic bourbon pecan marmalade, bacon infused Chantilly
cream, raspberry coulis, chocolate pearls, and pecan bacon tuile served in a chocolate
tulip cup. The chocolate tulip cups came all the way from California and the
helpful flight attendants kept them safe during the flight over.
Jodi made me my own
tasting portion. The Olive and Sinclair Chocolate really makes a rich chocolate
mousse with luscious texture. It is silky and melts just right on the tongue.
The balsamic bourbon pecan marmalade complements the rich chocolate mousse with
tangy, sweet, salty, smoky, and nutty notes but not too strong to overwhelm the
chocolate. The bacon flavor in the Chantilly cream was subtle adding a nice
creamy flavor and texture. The chocolate pearls, fresh raspberry, and mint leaf
on top tied in the chocolate tulip cup for the presentation. This dessert
flavor and presentation is worthy of a fine dining restaurant. If I had judged
this dish, I would have scored it: E – 10, A – 10, T – 10. The judges scored
her an 84.6667, moving her up to #5 with a final score of 86.05002. Just
1.69998 points away from #1!
I am so proud of
Jodi, showcasing her skills as a great cook as well as her organizational
skills in the kitchen to deliver perfect dishes (in my opinion) at the World
Food Championships! I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us this
November!
