Time to Spare

La Buvette

511 S. 11^th St., Omaha

(402) 344-8627

www.labuvetteomaha.com       

I had not been to la Buvette in some time, but I had pleasant memories and was eager to visit again.  The ambiance is part of the charm.  Whether seated at bistro tables on the patio watching the Old Market traffic go by, or ensconced inside amongst the racks of wine, well worn plaster, and original wood floors, the feeling is very much European Bistro without being overly pretentious about it.  My beau and I went last Saturday around noon and I’m glad we did not have a defined time line that day.  While I am a big fan of a two hour lunch, I feel that a leisurely lunch should be patron driven rather than waiter driven.

I knew before arriving that I wanted to split the cheese plate and have a glass of wine.  The selections for wines by the glass that day were not anything to be excited about and most of them could be found at your local Hy-Vee.  Not to say that stopped me…

I will refrain from giving a timeline specific retelling of events.  I will instead just note that the service was subpar.  Our waiter forgot that we ordered meals to follow our cheese plate (all were ordered at the same time) and seemed to almost forget about us altogether.  He and a fellow waiter presented the attitude that it was the busiest shift they had seen in their entire lives.  My observation was that it was not, in fact, the busiest shift ever.

The food was delicious.  Our cheese plate had fair portions of three different cheeses.  The selection varies daily.  The tomato and cucumber slices on the side were fresh and fantastic.  I’m not the biggest fan of tomatoes but these were meaty and deliciously ripe.  We could have used more bread to accompany our cheeses.

After a significant wait, we received our lunch entrees.  He had the Salade Buvette and added goat cheese and chickpeas.  The salad covered a dinner plate and was comprised of mixed greens and the aforementioned cucumbers, tomatoes, and thin sliced rings of red onion all in a light dressing olive oil dressing.  The goat cheese portion was the size of a small plum, but the chickpeas were scant. 

I had the grilled sandwich which came with a small side salad.  This side salad was the same mixed greens, cucumber, tomato, and red onion.  My sandwich was an open faced baguette topped from edge to edge with an olive tapenade, then with a couple tomato slices, and finally covered with cheese before being set under the broiler.  One side of the sandwich would have been enough of a portion with the salad, but I was given both. 

I was tempted by the desserts but just didn’t have enough time to stay and indulge.  Plus, I was feeling like having a nap after all the wine and the food.

Overall, I still adore La Buvette.  Having a leisurely two hour lunch is my favorite pastime.  The food is good quality and the atmosphere is lovely.  The prices are fair (we paid around $7.50 each for our entrees and wine ranged from $4.50 - $9.50 a glass.  You may also pay a low corkage fee to enjoy a bottle.)  I am certain I will return to La Buvette, I will just have to embrace the service as part of the charm along with everything else. 

Pumpkin White Bean Lasagna

I love autumn foods and pumpkin is one of my favorites.  I find it to be a very versatile ingredient.  This last week I got it in my head that I wanted to make a pumpkin lasagna.  I toyed with the idea of playing with the flavors of butternut squash ravioli in a brown butter sage sauce.  I read half a dozen recipes for pumpkin lasagna and, diva that I am, was sure I could throw together my own recipe based on some of the ideas I read.  Here is what I came up with.  Since I didn’t measure anything, this is all an approximation, along with some notes about what I would change for next time.  Because I was just testing the flavor combinations, I didn’t go all out and I used canned products. 

1 Can White Beans (reserve the liquid or if you use broth like I did, save that water.)

I began by cooking these in vegetable broth to give them extra flavor

1-2 tbl. Butter

1 large white onion (I used only a half and it could have used more)

Melt the butter in a large skillet on medium high then sauté the onions until they just start to turn golden.

Add minced together seasonings:

·         8 sage leaves

·         Rosemary

·         Thyme

·         A little Ginger

·         3 cloves garlic

Heat about 30 seconds.  Reduce heat.  Add about half the beans to the skillet.  Moosh them up.  Add the other half of the beans, leave them whole.  Add some of the liquid (or whatever was in the can) because you’re making a sauce.  You might want to add more later.  Heat about a minute or less.  Add:

1 can pumpkin puree

Mix this all up.  Taste and season as needed.  Salt, pepper, more of the seasonings from earlier, etc.  Heat about three minutes.  Then add the following:

¼ - ½ cup Apple Cider Vinegar

¼ - ½ cup White Wine

Stir together.  Taste again.  Add more liquid if necessary.  I wish I had made mine more liquid-y to bake into the noodles.

Preheat your oven to 350.

Make your cheese filling.

16 oz. Ricotta

2 eggs

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

A handful of shredded mozzarella

(I like to add a little garlic and Italian seasoning too)

Layer your lasagna with no boil noodles

A little sauce to cover the bottom of your casserole, layer in noodles, top with 1/3 of the sauce, then half the cheese mix.  More noodles, 1/3 sauce, other half of cheese.  More noodles, remaining sauce.  Top with generous mozzarella and parmesan cheese.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake 15 more.

You might consider some additions to your lasagna such as lightly sautéed mushrooms (remember they are going to bake so don’t overcook them) or some spinach.  Either would make a nice layer between the sauce and cheese.  Otherwise, a fresh spinach salad would be a lovely accompaniment.  Especially with some freshly toasted pumpkin seeds!

Little of this and add some that.

Ingredient

www.ingredientrestaurant.com

3201 Farnam St., Omaha,  (402) 715-4444

I’m not sure whether giving an indecisive person so many options is a good thing or a bad thing.  I find myself often wishing at restaurants that I could tweak things just a little bit.  Meals are not often packaged just as I want them.  On the other hand, allowing me to assemble my dream list of ingredients may present me with too many options.

I was unprepared for Ingredient when my beau and I went there a couple weeks ago.  We were starving and likely to order the first thing we saw without fully evaluating our options.  Which is what he did.  I tried to show restraint and put together something tasty.  My hunger was distracting though and we rushed the process.  Especially as we didn’t really “get” how it worked.  For your benefit, here is how it works:

Ingredient offers a menu of salad, pizza, soups, sandwiches, and wraps.  The salads and pizzas are largely up to your own imagination from the extensive list of ingredients, or you can get a little assistance from a short list of “Customer Creations,” salad and pizza combinations someone else has come up with.  You choose your greens, up to 5 ingredients, salad dressings, and extras (if you want) such as salmon, chicken, tofu, steak, etc.  Pizzas give you the choice of sauce, three ingredients, and additional cheese.

My beau picked one of the customer creations of a Salmon Caesar salad with pine nuts, avocado, and who knows what else thrown in.  I managed to blurt out three ingredients to top my garlic oil pizza: balsamic onions, roasted red pepper, and ripped basil with gorgonzola cheese in addition to the cheese blend that comes on top. 

The preparations were well done.  The fault really was with us.  The fatty creaminess of Caesar AND salmon AND avocado needed to be cut with something acidic.  They just weren’t flavors that went well together.  The pizza was good, but the toppings were chopped smaller than expected.

I think this is a great concept and I am looking forward to returning, more informed this time.  The list of ingredients is enticing and salads toppings range from traditional (peas, mushrooms, eggs, olives, ham) to more adventurous (many fruits, sundried tomatoes, roasted beets, spicy cashews) to almost exotic on a typical salad (honey ginger carrots, fontina, hummus, plantain chips, glass noodles.)  All told, you have over 60 choices to top your salad and about 20 choices for pizza.

I plan to go back and give it another go with more thoughtful choices.  The many options are tempting.  Also tempting are their breakfast options.  Thirty wide ranging omelet ingredients; fifteen ways to mix up your oatmeal; fifteen choices to top your waffles or warm donut holes.  Mmmm…