Marco Frattaroli is our food guide

Marco Frattaroli is a funny guy — both funny haha and a wee bit odd.  He is Italian — which explains a lot!  He’s also a gifted food guy.  He’s big on meals that taste good, an expert on ingredients, and exceptional with his cooking techniques.  He’s the perfect guy to ask about where to eat – so we did, and this is our first installment of Where Marco Eats.  Marco is quite opinionated which was the genesis of this column.  He suggested that HE really knew where to go for authentic, out of the ordinary, quality, delicious dining and that he would be  kind enough to share this information with us and our readers. We were delighted!  So we picked a date and headed out for lunch.  Since Marco runs a restaurant and is a parent, he often has to work or spend time with his family at night, so the best time to plan a meal with Marco is lunch.  He likes to eat late — 2ish and he likes to experiment with Asian dining options.  On our first installment of Where Marco Eats, Marco decided to introduce us to Cantonese food at Ocean City Seafood Restaurant. www.oceancityportland.com

Ocean City is an authentic Cantonese restaurant located on SE 82nd along a corridor of great Asian dining establishments. According to Marco, Cantonese food has gotten a “bum rap” in the U.S. because it’s not very spicy or flavorful.  They work with very few spices and very few herbs.  They try to cook by showcasing the primary ingredients. The lobster tastes like lobster and the squab tastes like squab. Most of the techniques and preparations that are used in Cantonese dining are used throughout most of SE Asia.  They use lots of combinations of cooking techniques including frying and steaming.

We decided to order fresh lobster, which was brought to our table, still alive, for us to meet prior to eating.  The lobster was used to make dumplings and salt and pepper lobster.

SQUAB
Before the lobster came out, we enjoyed squab.  The squab is served with all of the body parts including the head and beak.  The head is Marco’s favorite part and he chomps right in.  The squab is lightly steamed and then roasted.  Like most Cantonese food, it is lightly flavored.  It comes with salt that is ground with fivespice.  You can actually eat everything including the bones, but not the beak.

STIR FRY
There are all kinds of delightful ingredients in a Cantonese stir-fry.  There are little fried fish called fish bait, which are fried in hard wheat flour and rice flour.  There is dried squid and fresh squid, sea cucumber — sliced very thin — a little bit of jelly fish, and Chinese celery — a thin, aromatic celery.  So, lots of great flavors and a variety of unknown ingredients too.  Spring onions, two or three types of different mushrooms, and you can ask for it to be prepared a little bit spicy.  Marco explained that stir-fries done well have vegetables that are more delicately cut, thinly sliced — shredded rather than chopped.

Stir Fry

SALT AND PEPPER LOBSTER
Coated in a batter, deep-fried and then sautéed again with chili pepper, spring onion, garlic, salt and pepper.  Very simple and very good.

Salt & Pepper Lobster

XO BITTER MELON
Using the bitter melon, a common melon of Canton, the melon is stuffed with dried scallops.  The scallops are dried and then cooked until they are soft, made into a paste and then stuffed into the center of the melon.  The dish is then topped with a glaze made of house special oyster sauce.

LOBSTER DUMPLINGS
These delicious concoctions are made with wheat flour that is mixed with water.  The dumplings are sealed with a knife and a bit of oil. The lobster is then rinsed with salt water.  It is served with yellow chive.  It’s very light and a little bit sweet.

STEAMED FISH
Our final dish was delightful fresh fish from their on-site tanks, the famous tilapia — a fresh water fish. It has flakey, wonderful flesh and can be fried, steamed, or sautéed. Our dish came with a very light sauce — a sauce that has peanut oil, small amount of caramelized sugar, fresh shredded ginger, spring onions and cilantro. It’s very simple and very good

Steamed Fish

As lunch was winding down Marco began to philosophize on the state of the food world.  Marco feels that if we are eating wild food that we should eat a wider assortment of items so that we don’t deplete one stock of halibut or whatever. Being aware that something was once living and now was providing your nourishment is very important…deep thoughts from Marco Frattaroli.  Check out Marco’s restaurant, Bastas, on NW 21st.
bastastrattoria.com