|
No
small
potatoes
Yukon golds make
side dish shine in
Houligans dinner
Oct.
10, 2006
| If
You Go |
Name: Houligans Steak & Seafood Pub.
Established: February 2002.
Owners-operators: Chef Guy Logan and
general manager Jon Seybold.
Address: 415 S. Barstow St.
Restaurant hours: 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday
through Thursday; 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and
Saturday; closed Sunday and Monday.
Telephone: 835-6621.
Web site: www.houligans.net.
Wheelchair accessible: Yes.
Reservations: Yes.
Smoking: No.
Parking: On the street or in municipal
lot.
Prices: Chipotle Pork Loin With Yukon
Gold
Mashed Potatoes and Mixed Vegetables,
$16.99. Extra scoops of potatoes cost $2
each and can be purchased to go. |
We
went to Houligans recently in search of something
consoling. Something with heft and spiciness. Something
to help us face the loss of summer, the certainty
of winter.
Chipotle
Pork Loin, char-grilled, fit the bill: a slab of
boneless meat edged in hickory-smoked bacon, dusted
with several kinds of ground pepper and served beneath
a tumble of portobello mushroom slices sautéed
in chipotle-sparked butter.
Houligans'
standard mashed potatoes and some steamed fresh
vegetables — sweet red peppers, broccoli and
summer squash — completed a brimming plate,
$16.99.
As
is usual at Houligans, everything came expertly
cooked. The bacon was crisp but still moist; the
pork's beautifully grill-browned, salty crust encased
a juicy, tender, barely pink interior. The mushrooms
were pleasantly meaty, the vegetables enough past
al dente to be full of flavor.
The
chipotle butter lent smoke and moisture and a gentle
heat that built slowly, bite by contemplative bite,
but never overwhelmed us. Delicious.
And
those mashed potatoes? Amazingly, even when paired
with such dramatic tastes and textures, they stole
the show.
Houligans
routinely serves its mashed potatoes with each beef
and pork dish on the menu — and wastes no menu
words describing them.
We
say: It's time to treat these potatoes as more than
just a matter of course. They're the best mashed
potatoes we know.
They
feature buttery-sweet Yukon gold potatoes prepared
three ways. Start with tender, soft-edged, irregular
nuggets. Add little ribbons of their soft skins.
Fold carefully into an inspired mélange of
those same Yukons whipped together with just sour
cream — no milk or butter — until astonishingly
light, smooth and luscious. Stir in white pepper
and sea salt to boost flavors and add buzz.
Both
soothing and exciting, these potatoes match Houligans'
customary bold flavors strength for strength.
Discovery:
They're also quite wonderful as dessert.
Main
Course, the Leader-Telegram's restaurant review
column, runs the fourth Sunday of the month. Diners'
Notebook, a sampling of favorite restaurant offerings,
runs the second Tuesday of the month.
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