Recreating the National!

This is my rendition of the grilled romaine lettuce appetizer at the National!  I grilled the romaine with a little olive oil, and dressed the plate with an onion siracha vinaigrette.  According to Chopped, every plate needs a sauce!  I topped the romaine with crispy capers and onions, and then some grilled mushrooms and caramelized onions.  Below, I also added a grilled pork chop to complete the meal!

Second Chance at the Farm!

Recently, I decided to give Farm 252 a second try at winning me over.  I was thoroughly pleased with the meal!  I had the bbq pork loin, bone-in, and it was seared with such a nice crust, yet moist inside.  You always have to be cautious of ordering pork products at a restaurant.  The chef needs to know what he/she is up to when it comes to pork.  Underdone = pink and sick.  Overdone = dry and left with an unsatisfactory customer.  Farm 252 cooked the pork perfectly!  The bbq pork loin was topped with picked watermelon rinds!  Such a refreshing contrast that cuts the good fat of the pork loin!  Creamed green peas (looked like green black-eyed-peas) with the most delicious okra I've ever had accompanied the pork loin.  I think the okra was simply cooked with olive oil, salt, and pepper!  They weren't stringy, which is often the case when it comes to okra.  Some places stew okra with tomatoes, which is not the best combination.  Other places fry the okra, which, I mean, is the best way to cook anything!  But Farm 252 pan-seared this okra to perfection, and I definitely want to see if I can repeat this meal myself!

For dessert, yes, of course I had dessert, I had 3 scoops of ice cream!  What?  It was a better deal than to get one small scoop!  I had a scoop of pretzel, coffee, and black cardamom!  The coffee tasted like any other coffee ice cream.  The pretzel tasted more like vanilla ice cream with a hint of salt.  The black cardamom ice cream intrigued me the most.  It tasted like a savory ice cream with a hint of smoky bacon and licorice.  It was still cool and refreshing too.  I'm undecided as whether or not I liked this black cardamom, but it was definitely a powerful play of flavors on my tongue!

Overall, I highly recommend Farm 252, and I would definitely return!