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Everyday Gourmet at Roundabout Bistro |
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Written by Sayuri Yamane
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Monday, 03 November 2008 |
The Roundabout Market and Bistro is a labor of love, in more ways than one. The owners, Colin and Marybeth Smith, actually met and married in the making of this “everyday gourmet” market and restaurant.
“I was opening the market, and I hired Colin as a consultant to help set our menu and interview chefs. He never left,” Marybeth says with a smile.
The Roundabout Market opened in July 2007, and the couple married three months later. Dinner orders at the market quickly escalated, and the Smiths decided to open their restaurant right next door to focus on serving guests, as well as catering events big and small. The Roundabout Bistro officially opened its doors in August 2008.
“We were doing so much restaurant-style food in the market that it just made sense to open the bistro,” says Colin, who serves as executive chef. “The response has been really strong, drawing diners from all over Reno.”
Chef Smith describes the Roundabout Bistro as a “scratch house.” In other words, nearly every ingredient is made from scratch right there in the restaurant.
“We don’t go out and buy ingredients—we make them,” he says. “We do all the baking fresh and make all our own pastas.”
Popular plates at the Roundabout Bistro include the pan-seared halibut on a mosaic of beluga lentils, topped with sun-choke salsa; the lobster and rock shrimp orzo, with vanilla, corn, leeks, mascarpone and spinach; and the 36-ounce Tomahawk rib eye steak, served with shoestring potatoes and braised wild mushrooms.
Chef Smith has a rich background in the culinary arts, working in kitchens for the past 26 years. His grandfather was a chef, and Colin started taking a paycheck in exchange for tasty plates as early as age 14.
On top of growing up in a food-focused family, Colin attended the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and spent more than a year as a professional apprentice in the kitchens of European chefs throughout the Bay Area. He has since worked in fine restaurants throughout Northern California and Nevada.
“I truly enjoy honoring a tradition of extremely high quality,” Colin says. “When I was growing up, and throughout my education and career, there’s just so much discipline that goes along with being a chef who really cares to make a difference on the plate.”
Marybeth calls each plate that leaves the kitchen at Roundabout Bistro its own “work of art.” Fortunately for diners, these works happen to be edible as well.
Brandi Schlossberg is a Reno journalist who enjoys cooking, eating, and writing about food.
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Baby Bacon and Balsamic Apples with Walnuts
• ½ cup sugar
• ¾ cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons bacon, cooked and chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced walnuts
• 2 apples, melon-balled in small balls
• 6 rosemary sprigs
1. Make a simple syrup out of vinegar and sugar by bringing to a boil in a small saucepan and then simmering for three minutes until sugar dissolves. 2. Skewer apples with rosemary sprig, dip in syrup, then roll in walnuts and bacon.
Succotash
Part 1
• 1 cup wild rice
• 4 cups chicken stock
1. Cook rice in stock until tender.
Part 2
• 1 butternut squash
1. Cut in half, peel half and dice. Save other half of squash to use as a serving bowl.
Part 3
1. Sauté (over med-high heat) the following ingredients, and add to cooked wild rice.
• 1 cup diced leeks
• 1 cup diced butternut squash
• 2 tablespoons butter
• ¼ cup chicken stock
Part 4
• ½ cup dried apricots
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
1. Add all the above ingredients together, heat in microwave, then add to hollowed out squash bowl and serve.
Goat Cheese Tart
• 4 four-inch puff pastry rounds
• 4 ounces herbed goat cheese
• 2 ounces olive oil, 2 ounces lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper whisked together as dressing
• 2 tablespoons whole pistachios
• ½ cup pomegranate seeds
• 2 cups arugula
1. Roll a ball of herbed goat cheese, and place in the middle of each pastry round. 2. Bake goat cheese tarts at 425°F for eight minutes. 3. Remove from oven. In a separate bowl, toss arugula, dressing, pistachios, and pomegranate seeds (saving a few for garnish). 4. Place arugula in center of plate, place pastry on top, and garnish with additional pistachios and pomegranate seeds.
Ginger Apple-Cranberry Chutney
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 apple, diced
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• ½ red onion, diced
1. Sauté apples, ginger, and onion in olive oil over med-high heat for three minutes.
2. Add the following ingredients, and simmer for 30 minutes:
• 1 bag fresh cranberries
• 1 orange, zest and juice
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup port
• 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 cup sugar
1. Remove from heat and serve warm or let cool to room temperature. (Left-over chutney is great to add to turkey sandwiches!)
Asparagus and Cauliflower with Brown Butter Mushroom Hollandaise
1. Boil asparagus and segmented cauliflower in salted water until tender. 2. Shock in ice-cold water.
Hollandaise Sauce
(Cook over double boiler)
• 1 tablespoon water
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 dash Tabasco
• ½ cup clarified brown butter (butter that is melted slowly to separate the fats and solids)
• ½ cup cooked minced mushrooms (½ cup mushroom cooked with 1 tablespoon butter and ½ tablespoon of tarragon)
• ½ tablespoon fresh thyme
1. Whip yolks together with water, lemon juice, and Tabasco for three minutes over double boiler until frothy. 2. Remove from heat. 3. Then slowly dribble brown butter into yolks, season with salt and pepper.
4. Finish with cooked mushroom mixture, and brown under your broiler.
Sausage and Red Pear Stuffing with Sage and Fennel
• ½ pound Italian sausage
• 1 white onion, diced
• 3 ribs celery, diced
• 2 red pears, diced
• 1 cup fennel, diced
• 6 sage leaves
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons Italian seasonings
• 6 cups bread croutons
1. Sauté in butter the vegetables, pears, sausage, and herbs over med-high heat, and cook until tender (about eight minutes). 2. Add chicken stock, and make a soup. Add croutons until you reach the desired consistency. 3. Add more croutons for a drier stuffing, fewer croutons for a moister stuffing. 4. Salt and pepper to taste.
Roasted Rack of Pork with Apricot and Mustard Seed Sauce
• 1 seven-bone rack of pork
• 10 whole garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
• 1 tablespoon whole black mustard seed
• 10 cloves
• 10 juniper berries
• 2 cups apricot jam
• 2 cups pork or beef stock (demi-glaze)
1. Roast pork in a 375°F oven for one hour. 2. Remove from pan, cover, and set aside. 3. Add the remainder of the ingredients to the pan and bring to a boil. 4. Reduce to simmer and whisk together until it’s reduced to a glaze. 5. Remove glaze, and return roast to the pan. 6. Pour the glaze over the roast, saving some to serve on the side as a gravy.
Apple Galette with Rum Raisin Gelato
Puff pastry
• Granny Smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced (one-half apple per galette)
• 1 ½ ounces marzipan (per galette)
• rum raisin gelato
• mint leaves (to garnish)
1. Cut puff pastry into six-inch rounds. (Foster Farms makes a puff pastry that can be found in your grocer’s refrigerated section). 2. Ball up marzipan and spread into middle of puff pastry. 3. Fan apple slices around outside of pastry.
4. Bake at 425°F for 8-10 minutes. 5. Serve with powdered sugar and gelato with mint or your favorite topping (ice cream, caramel, chocolate syrup, etc.).
Pomegranate Raspberry Smash
• 1 ¾ ounces gin
• ½ ounce PAMA liqueur
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 ounces pomegranate juice
• 4 thyme sprigs
• 5 raspberries
• ½ ounces simple syrup (made by mixing one cup water with one cup sugar and bringing to a boil until the sugar dissolves)
1. Squeeze lime juice into mixing glass.
2. Add three thyme sprigs and raspberries. 3. Muddle and add remaining ingredients. 4. Pour into shaker. 5. Shake and strain over ice. 6. Garnish with one thyme sprig, raspberries, and lime wheel.
Pumpkin Crème Brulée
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 ounce vanilla vodka
• 1 ounce Frangelico
• ½ ounce pumpkin spice
1. Caramelize glass. Do this by dipping rim of glass in simple syrup and then dipping in brown sugar. 2. Melt the sugar with a blow torch until it drips down the side of the glass. 3. Heat cream, vanilla bean, and sugar over high heat until boiling, stirring continuously. 4. Remove from heat, add vodka and Frangelico. Allow to cool slightly. 5. Serve with ice and strain into caramelized glass. |
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