It’s anniversary week. No, not for this blog; Belly-Timber is still an infant, still puking spaghettiOs all over its bib and failing to sit up straight. It’s anniversary week for us. Mrs D. and Chopper Dave, married a year ago last Sunday.

And so, in the spirit of doing everything for each other (marriage is all about that, right? Right?), we’ve decided to tackle the Cook Next Door meme (having been dual tagged — ages ago, I might add…mea culpa! — by Chefdoc of A Perfect Pear and by B of Culinary Fool) in our own hopelessly romantic way: We will answer the questions for each other. Everyone, all at once: Awwwww…

What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?

Miz D sez:
Picture Chopper Dave, age seven, baking chocolate chip cookies with his grandma. A perfect Hallmark moment. Well, until the part where she takes off on an errand leaving him to his own devices. All went well until he had to check the oven to see how the cookies were doing (impatient for all that melty warm chocolate goodness, no doubt). He climbed on a chair to reach the upper deck of the double deck oven, leaned in… and in… and in… and… Well, you get the picture. He’s still got the scar on his chin from the fall. Six stitches.

Chopper sez:
Miz D was a very ambitious girl. She decided to try and take the world by storm at the tender age of eight by inventing the greatest cookie recipe EVER… Ok, I made that part up. But she was eight, and had decided to try and invent a cookie recipe. But, not understanding the idea of leavening, she used too much baking soda, or powder (she still doesn’t remember which… too traumatic). This resulted in what I coined a "Mookie" (no relation to Mookie Wilson of New York Mets fame) or, in her words "a puffy and disgusting chocolate muffin instead of a cookie." The flavor, obviously, fell short of expectation…

Who had the most influence on you cooking?

Miz D. sez:
Chopper Dave tells me wonderful things about his grandma, who I unfortunately never got to meet. His other influence? His step dad, who I have to say is a fine, fine cook. I love meals at his parents’ house when his step dad is cooking. When Chopper was growing up, they didn’t have much money so his step dad penny-pinched and cooked at home all the time — great, homestyle meals, seven days a week, can’t get much better than that.

Chopper sez:
Miz D had a problem with this one, no memorable cooks in her family. But, she did tell me of her mother’s curry, and tongue (yes… tongue). They also shared a tradition of baking special holiday cookies for Christmas. Though, she points out, her love of food and cooking was not truly inspired by those things. To quote, "this is going to sound really goopy and romantic, but it’s probably you." (Awwwwww…)

Do you have an old photo as "evidence" of an early exposure to the culinary world and would you like to share it?

Miz D sez:
We’re at my parents’ house now, so alas, no childhood photos of the Chopper. I could track down that picture of him in the powder blue tux from his sister’s wedding if someone bribes me with enough dark chocolate.

Chopper sez:
The same goes for Miz D (well, except the tux part, but I’ve got ones with 80’s hair…), though I would require good beer and/or single malt scotch.

Here, in a more recent than childhood photo, Chopper Dave convinces Mrs D to consume the terrifying concoction known as "wedding cake."

Mageiricophobia – do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?

Miz D sez:
Are you kidding? Chopper Dave is fearless. Chopper Dave would parboil fugu and unidentified mushrooms on a camp stove atop the Hillary Step if given half the chance.

Chopper sez:
Miz D is the cautious type, however, though her fears are mainly based around the unknown. That, and leftovers… I sometimes hear in my sleep, "is that still good??", "that looks overwhelming," and so on. I have slowly brought her further and further toward the culinary dark side (she recently tried uni for the first time… and liked it!). One day, her journey will be complete, and she will take her place at my side.

Together we will RULE…

Sorry…

What would be your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest letdown?

Miz D sez:
Chopper loves his knives. (As if there was any doubt.) Chopper does not like the fact that tartlet pans and meringue don’t go together.

Chopper sez:
Mid D laments to me about the juicer that continues to sit in our cupboard, unused. It’s not that the device isn’t useful, it’s that weighing the amount of time spent cleaning it after we’re done using it against what we get in finished product is, well, daunting. But, on the other hand, she’s incredibly happy about the new corkscrew we got last year for our wedding.

Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like – and probably no one else does!

Miz D sez:
Seven words to send fear into the hearts of dietitians everywhere: Peanut butter, marshmallow cream, and honey sandwiches.

Chopper sez:
Hey! Watch it, up there.

Miz D doesn’t indulge in much culinary kit-bashing. I think the cookie incident (see above) scared her straight… Gastronomically speaking, that is…

What are the three eatables or dishes you simply don’t want to live without?

Miz D sez:
Meat, meat, and meat. Chopper Dave would perish without meat. Seriously, he’d shrivel up and blow away in the wind. I would have to rescue him by launching 10 ounce Kobe tenderloins into the mesosphere.

Chopper sez:
By that same token Miz D would have a seizure if she ever heard the words "Mass Extinction" and "Mollusks" in the same sentence.

Any question you missed in this meme that you would have loved to answer? Well then, feel free to add one! (Miz D sez: we snagged a random bunch from other entries, courtesy of Nicky’s amazing Meme Tree where you can visit everyone else’s answers.)

Three quickies, added by Nicky of Delicious Days…
Your favorite ice-cream…

Miz D sez:
Rum raisin. It’s more about the rum than the raisin.

Chopper sez:
Miz D is one of the unfortunate souls out there living with one of the culinarian’s worst nightmares: Lactose Intolerance. But, she does indulge in good fruit sorbet. Her favorites are the Seattle Sorbet wine and berry varieties.

You will probably never eat…

Miz D sez:
Hah. Chopper Dave will eat anything. Did I mention before that he’s fearless? (That said, there are a few things he and I will probably never eat simply because we’d have to be in a seriously different economic class to afford them. See the Big Obnoxious 50 Things list from the UK Observer and hazard your own guesses.)

Chopper sez:
Let’s just say that Miz D would make a very, VERY, bad zombie. Her taste for brains and organs is somewhere below that of coarse sand.

Your own signature dish…

Miz D sez:
Chopper loves his chili. Beef, lamb, chicken, from light as summer salsa to mole negro midnight, from mild enough for Mom to Scoville-ballistic, Chopper’s chili kicks some serious ass.

Chopper sez:
Sometimes Miz D conquers her fear of fried food and makes amazing light batter cookies known as rosettes. Truly delightful.

Added by Chefdoc of A Perfect Pear…
Any signs that this passion is going slightly over the edge and may need intervention?

Miz D sez:
Other than the fact that my bedtime reading hour has been usurped by Chopper’s need to fall asleep to reruns of Iron Chef? No, no signs at all. Honest.

Chopper sez:
What edge? I don’t see any edge…

Added by Sam of Becks & Posh…
A common ingredient you just can’t bring yourself to stomach…

Miz D sez:
Chopper would walk a mile through ice and snow to avoid using margarine. Okay, I exaggerate just a little. He’d drive a mile, and the ice would have to be a bit slushy.

Chopper sez:
Anything Miz D has never eaten before … until she eats it. (Are we detecting a theme, here?)

Added by Clement of A la Cuisine…
Any embarrassing eating habits?

Miz D sez:
Pabst Blue Ribbon, and if Chopper mentions the treats I used to sneak out of my sister’s room as a small child, he’s toast I tell you, toast.

Chopper sez:
What "treats" do you speak of? Did you mean that dog foo… Oops *dives under his desk*

Miz D sez:
It was guinea pig food, dammit, not dog food. Dog food would be gross!

Added by Sarah of The Delicious Life…
Who would you want to come into your kitchen to cook dinner for you?

Miz D sez:
Ah, here is where our short lists agree completely. First, the zen master himself, Hiroyuki Sakai. Second, because we’re all about the science projects, Alton Brown.

Chopper sez:
How can I dispute that? Let’s give it a shot… No way! I’ve got to have Morimoto in my kitchen! I can hear Miz D now: "Oooo, he’s such a rock star!"

Added by Fatemeh of Gastronomie…
Which one culture’s food would you most like to sample on its home turf?

Miz D sez:
Indonesia. By sailboat. (Okay, so that’s more of a vacation than a brief culinary sampling, but I’m rather fond of the notion of Chopper Dave at the helm saying "hey, there’s another island! Let’s go try their sambal!")

Chopper sez:
Her further studies of the dark side have driven Miz D to give in to the bizarre temptation of Scottish cuisine, or as I call it "Fear Factor Food."

Added by Melissa of Traveler’s Lunchbox…
What’s on your all-time foodie dream list? (gadgets, destinations, restaurants, dishes to try…)

Miz D sez:
Too many to list. Short answer: Everything. Slightly longer answer: Chopper’s current fixation involves gadgets used to do interesting things with meat.

Chopper sez:
Miz D on the other hand wouldn’t mind owning a sea farm, just for the free mussels.

Added by Santos of The Scent of Green Bananas…
Have you ever poisoned/sickened anyone with your cooking? Was it deliberate?

Miz D sez:
There was that time with the Thai coconut soup. We found this old can of chicken broth in the pantry, see…

Chopper sez:
Hey, one time. Just one time. Let it go already.

Added by Moira of Who Wants Seconds…
What is your biggest kitchen pet peeve?

Miz D sez:
I think Chopper knows what mine is but I’ll see if he figures it out. His? Losing track of ingredients that should be sitting right in front of him on the counter.

Chopper sez:
Miz D gets pretty nutty when there’s more than one mixing bowl on the counter. Clutter is her bane. Watch out when the cutting board gets full, the vein in her forehead starts actually glowing.

Miz D sez:
Ahah! See, he didn’t know! When will he ever learn the meaning of the phrase "Refrigerate After Opening?"

And ours… Added by Mrs D of Belly-Timber…
What’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten and actually liked:

Miz D sez:
The day Chopper came home from culinary school and waxed rhapsodic about consuming sweetbreads was a dark day in our household, indeed. Yuck.

Chopper sez:
I will also refer to an earlier answer. Miz D had the opportunity to try uni for the first time not long ago, and she really enjoyed it. She would go on to describe is fresh, oceany flavor, going on about its delicacy. My continuing efforts find reward…

Miz D sez:
And, I might add, that Chopper’s answer clearly reiterates his all-encompassing culinary theme: Nothing grosses him out. Nothing at all. Anyone know where I can order a tin of chocolate-coated baby bees?

Chopper sez:
Mmm… I’d like to try some of those…

Taggity tag tag:

(if it’s not too late to keep the meme alive…)

Biscuit girl of You Gonna Eat All That?
Kevin of Seriously Good
Owen of Tomatilla!

(editor’s note: It appears that while I was away, not sleeping atop the warm PC tower, that hyperactive furball managed to locate my feline/human translation matrix and reconfigure it to canine standard. And here I thought she was a dumb puppy. Come to think of it, I’m certain she is a dumb puppy. Perhaps she had help; I hear raccoons can be bribed with the shells of recently-shucked oysters. At any rate, while I am decidedly NOT amused by this turn of events, I have, in the interest of keeping the peace (or rather, keeping that beast away from the counter and MY food dish), agreed to leave the furball’s post intact… though I will not refrain from inserting the occasional editorial comment as I see fit. –The Cat.)

Hellooooo! This thing working? Yes! Yippee! New people to talk to! People people people! Are you nearby? Can you come visit so I can lick your faces? Oh, pleeeeeease!
Okay, okay okay, I’ll try to calm down. Promise. But, but PEOPLE! Whee! This is so exciting!
Okay, deep breath. Gotta say stuff before the cat comes back because … Oooooh, Cat! Must Chase Cat. Must … Oooooh…

Okay, back now. Cat in hiding, hahah!

(ed’s note: She has no idea of the extensive network on in-house hiding places I’ve got… no idea what so ever.)

So, PEOPLE. Who wants to play with me? I’m great at fetch. Really. I do try VERY HARD not to turn fetch into keep-away. Promise. And I love the beach. Can we go to the beach? I wouldn’t be asking, but see, my pack has deserted me! Can you believe that? I mean, it’s not like they’re gone all the time, but it feels like all the time. They both have to be gone in the mornings now THREE WHOLE DAYS A WEEK, AND they’re gone in the evenings a bunch of days too because Beta Mommy has to go with Alpha Daddy and do things like answer phones and seat people at tables and — oh I could just cry — BRING PEOPLE FOOD! Big HUGE steaming hot, fantastic plates of Italian food, and even when they bring home their shift meals afterwards I hardly ever get any. I mean, how can I be a Platelicker when all the food comes in to-go boxes, I ask you? Huh? HUH?

(ed’s note: To-go boxes, left atop the kitchen counter, I might add. Oh how vewy sad for da poowr fuwrbawll…)

And then … then… half the time they have to go on trips and stuff, back to our boring house in Portland, where I have to be on a leash outside, and there aren’t any deer to chase, and they spend the WHOLE ENTIRE TIME cleaning and packing furniture. OH, the incaninanity of it all!

(ed’s note: Is that a word? Please tell me that’s not a word. Good grief, I never whined so much, even when I didn’t get that lamentable dairy dessert.)

So, PEOPLE, please scold Beta Mommy and Alpha Daddy for me, because you know what else? They hardly ever have time to cook! Can you believe that? Okay, I mean they did do ribs a few times this last month, but then they stopped giving me the bones to gnaw on. It’s not my fault that I’m so hungry I want to eat the whole thing and then all the bits of bone get stuck in my throat and I puke all over the floor. I mean, really! It’s just a little barf. Give me more bones, PEOPLE!

(ed’s note: really now. At least when I have a hairball I have the dignity of giving them a 30 second warning…)

Now, they TELL me that things are going to be better next month. More trips to the beach, more time to play keep-away fetch, and more time to cook.

(ed’s note, and it goes without saying, more time to post about cooking!)

All I’m saying is that they’d better be right, or my inventory of chewable things in this house is going to get a whole lot bigger!

–Platelicker

Stay away from the food, and while you’re at it, hands off the cheap Chilean wine.

Chalk it up to “Island Time;” our habit of posting on the wire, or in this case, a full two weeks late. We had every intention of completing our entry for Dine & Dish #3: The Freshman by Monday, July 11th, but a long weekend of hard labor (packing belongings and moving furniture) followed by two double-shift work days and a heap-load of general domestic catching-up got the better of us. After that, well, I suppose the dog’s explanation is as good as any.

But, since we found such an appropriate candidate (first-time restaurant owner, brand new location, new, untested niche on this island), and since we snagged an inside look at the process for this Freshman venture, we couldn’t resist posting anyway. Tardy? You betcha. We’ll see you all after detention.

Steps, just two months old on July 13th, is tucked into an alley half a block from the ferry line in downtown Friday Harbor. You wouldn’t know what to expect from the street; this isn’t one of those places that announces itself to the world with massive signage or gaudy architecture. A simple banner hangs above the door, and the alley-side footprint is as narrow as an office cubicle. All in all, this is a most unlikely place for a high-end restaurant.

Inside, the first thing I always notice is the kitchen, exhibition style, brightly lit, and just a short walk from the door. The kitchen’s the focal point; your first glimpse of staff is as likely to be executive chef and owner Madden Surbaugh as it is a server or hostess.

To the left, a flight of stairs leads to a cozy second level with five tables, a row of balcony-rail bar stools, a server/barista station, and, along the west wall, wine, wine and more wine. I’m not surprised; Steps boasts one of the most extensive wine lists in the San Juans.

The décor is modern (some might call it chic), the music an eclectic range of techno to Tom Waits, and the lighting — including a mirror ball and digital wall art that mixes movie footage with live shots piped in from the various tiny video cameras secreted around the joint — is decidedly urban, not at all like the typical Friday Harbor meal-on-a-deck or meal-with-a-view.

One thing’s for certain: two feet in the door and I am not in a small island town anymore.

A restaurant should transport you somewhere, Madden told me when we stopped by for an interview early in July. Italian villa, British pub, seaside chowder house; it’s all about taking the patron on a journey.

For Steps (and this is me, the patron talking), it’s all about leaving the small town and heading for the city. This isn’t Friday Harbor’s version of fine dining; this is Seattle, Portland, San Francisco. This is high-end chic and it’s not something we’ve seen here before. “I was looking to rock the boat a little,” Madden said, “to get out of the safety zone and see how things pay off.”

Playing it safe would have been purchasing one of the several local restaurants for sale (we always seem to have at least two on the block), or starting another chowder house or moderately generic Mexican joint like the three we’ve got already. Not playing it safe? That’s starting from the ground up: new niche in an empty shell. More than empty, really. Last September, when the process began, this place lacked plumbing and floor drains, and the crew had to cut through sheet rock and steel beams to install the wiring.

When I asked Madden about that part of the process, knowing that there had to be at least one festering bit of construction hell to endure, he immediately nodded at the floor. “We were supposed to open on April Fool’s Day,” he told us. Instead, difficulties with the flooring delayed the opening a month and a half.

My guess is that the delay would not have been as long if this were a mainland venture, but when you’re dealing with Island Time and limited island resources, everything takes longer. The floor’s installation had to wait for a crew who could do it, and meanwhile, equipment, delivered to the island via ferry, had to sit at Friday Harbor Freight for a month. Not exactly a situation that keeps start-up costs down. It’s no wonder that most new restaurant ventures around here take over older restaurant spaces.

But enough about that. (Insert chorus of impatient food bloggers screaming: what about the food??)

While the ambiance transports patrons far from Friday Harbor, the menu is all about strong connections to the local farming community. San Juan Island is rich with family farms and Madden takes full advantage, buying 70 to 80% of his product locally, from fruits and vegetables to beef and lamb, pork and eggs. I asked about local seafood as well, but it turns out he has his flown in daily from Seattle, preferring the quality and selection he can get from his contacts there.

One thing that stands out: the constantly changing menu. The actual menu — and here I can’t help but poke at the design a little; the text is laid out like a poem and for the life of me I can’t read it without putting in dramatic pauses — spells out Steps’ philosophy:

A bonus of small scale daily deliveries and the ever changing menu? Hardly any waste. I missed the exact details (while I was furiously taking notes), but Madden pointed to one small trashcan under his station at the kitchen and indicated they only had to empty it once at the end of each night.

As for the dishes themselves:

Of course everyone’s going to have a different definition of “breaking the bank” so what’s priced accordingly to some might be a tad steep to others. Me, I’m a bit in the latter camp, but then I’m not what you’d call a high-end kind of gal. If I’m going to spend close to fifty bucks on a meal, I want something to take home and call “lunch” the next day.

The menu’s divided into five sections: snacks (price range — on the day’s menu I snagged — $5-9), sides (priced $6-7), small plates and bowls (priced $11-13), large plates and bowls (priced $17-18), and sweets (priced $6-12)

On the nights we’ve visited, we’ve enjoyed black bean falafel cakes, grilled scallops, and goat cheese stuffed pattipans, picking always from the snacks and sides categories (as our bank takes a little less effort to break than the average high-end diner’s).

What’s stood out to me on our visits was the relative simplicity of each plate. Nothing we’ve eaten has had so many ingredients that we can’t pick out almost every individual component. This is not a place to go if you like complex, sauce-smothered dishes. This is more about tasting the squash, the scallop, the heirloom tomato. (And that’s the point, right? Why go nuts with buying local and organic, if the ingredients are lost in the chaos?)

Our last visit included one snack, one side, a dessert (an extremely delicious flourless chocolate cake), one glass of wine (it didn’t take long for me to pick from the huge list: Writer’s Block Syrah. How can I resist that? It was quite good, too.), One beer (Boddington’s, one of Chopper’s faves), and we got out of there with a $47 bill (including tax & tip). It was a light meal, better suited to the later evening hours, when what you really want is to just sample and sip.

As we concluded the interview (conducted during an afternoon prep as Madden and his sous chef stuffed squash blossoms), I asked the question everyone who’s ever considered starting a restaurant wants to know: What advice would you have for anyone crazy enough to do this? Madden easily listed off four points.

First, “make sure you have a solid crew,” he said, “to take the stress off and allow you to focus on what’s needed.”

Second, “find mentors.” No one should go into a venture like this without the support and advice of mentors who’ve done it all before. I’ve no doubt that Madden’s lengthy background (New England Culinary Institute plus years of work in the industry) provided him with excellent mentors to call upon.

Third, “trust your instincts.” An interesting note about that: Madden told us he was advised to make cuts in his budget; compromises he didn’t really want to make. Turns out in the end, with additional expenses (the flooring delay, for one), the final budget ended up exactly as he’d first projected, pre-compromise. This confirmed to him that his initial instincts were right on target.

And on that note, the fourth bit of advice: “stay true to your original vision.” “It’s easy,” he said, “to slip into the trying to please everyone state.” Patrons at new joints can gripe about the most insignificant details — the wall art is weird, the music too incongruous, and so on. At first Madden said he was tempted to listen. Now though, he’s more likely to remind himself of his original goals and brush off the commentary.

Steps is doing well right now, and Madden seems pleased with where he’s at. It’s tricky here, however, and though we wish him well and are impressed with his drive, focus, and infectious enthusiasm, the true test on this island is off-season; the winter months where tourists are scarce and locals tend to stick to their long-time favorites. Question is, will enough locals go a little stir-crazy and want to be transported to the big city in the dead of winter, or will they think I’m on an island, time for a beer and a bowl of chowder?

We’ll be checking in with Steps down the road a little to see how things continue to play out. Will this Victoria Falls sized bungee-jump of a Freshman leap pay off? Check back in a few months and we’ll let you know.

Steps is located on First Street in Friday Harbor, just across from the Pelindaba Lavender shop. Open 5:30pm, every day but Tuesday.
www.stepswinebarandcafe.com

Ah yes, I remember my old yard and my favorite spot, B.P.