Bison, 101 Simple Salads

I lucked into a delicious dinner at Debbie & Stu the Wine Genius’ on Sunday night.  After a dry, dusty afternoon spent watching Little League baseball, it was oh-so-nice to sit in their lovely, shady backyard and sip a cool glass of white wine, ahhh.  Bill & Karla Forsythe were there as well, with their dachshund Sophie, joining Williams’ two dachshunds Margeaux and brand new Sophie (yes, two dachshund Sophie’s, ha).  All three girls are darling, but Puppy Sophie stole the show with her round, pink belly and happy napping.

While Sophie played musical laps, Stu grilled bison tenderloin and ribeye steaks.  I’ve eaten a fair amount of bison in my day, and certainly enjoyed it, but this version (from Whole Foods) was positively divine – tender-yet-beefy-beefy-beefy (despite being, technically, not beef), I imagine it tastes the way steak is supposed to taste.  I absolutely loved it and can’t wait to throw some on the grill, rarrr. Stu and Debbie plated the sizzling steaks alongside roasted potatoes and asparagus (I forgot my camera, and Stu hadn’t pulled his out yet, so I missed the gorgeous pic of all three piled on the same huge platter, set down in the center of the table, shame).  Stu poured a delicious Cote du Rhone alongside, Andezon 2004 – get this, it’s $10/bottle!

For dessert we dug into two pastries (pictured above) from divine Rustica Bakery – a chiffon cake and a berry tart, served with a scoop of melty vanilla ice cream, so good.  Thanks to Debbe & Stu for another fab meal and evening!

Francesco Tonelli for The New York Times

On another note…you must check out this Mark Bittman article titled 101 Simple Salads for the Season which popped onto the NYTimes website this afternoon.  What a jewel!  Completely genius, do not miss it – in fact, print it out (I linked to the printable version) and get ready to hit your farmer’s market this and every weekend for the rest of the summer.  Made my whole day – nice.