Bourbon Tasting
Guest Notes from Harry V
[Bourbon is one the preferred beverage choices of the Chowhounds, myself included. Through the encouragement of the poster ab, and extra efforts of AaronD, a tasting was arranged at Delilah's bar in Chicago. I could not attend to my strong regret, but I am lucky enough to be able to share Harry V's detailed tasting notes.]
If no one else cares to weigh in, I'll take a crack at describing the
tasting. Samples were 1.5 ounces (i.e., one shot), poured into
straight-sided glasses tall enough to capture their aromas. The lineup was
as follows:
1. GEORGIA MOON CORN WHISKEY. Mike Miller, owner of Delilah's and emcee for
the event, began with this whimsical selection so as to demonstrate the
flavor of 100% corn whiskey (of course bourbons, to be labelled as such,
must be made of more than 50% corn). It was the color of pale straw, to my
senses it smelled of weak tequila and tasted like very light rum. A ringer.
2. W.L. WELLER 12-YEAR BOURBON. The first three actual bourbons sampled
represent those in which corn is supplemented with wheat, rather than the
more usual rye. To me this one had a bright, pleasantly acidic aroma with
hints of honey, and a very wheaty flavor suffused with black pepper. Very
nice.
3. MAKER'S MARK. Another wheated bourbon, this long-time favorite (of mine)
had a nice woody aroma, and a more well-rounded flavor than the Weller, less
wheaty and a little more .. well, "fruity" is what I wrote down, even though
there's no fruit in the stuff. (Surely I was still sober at this early
stage?)
4. DELILAH'S 10-YEAR SINGLE BARREL UNFILTERED BOURBON. I believe Mr. Miller
indicated that this bourbon was derived from the Van Winkle line of bourbon.
This was the last of the wheated bourbons we tried, with an elegant, well
balanced aroma (i.e., it smelled simply like bourbon), with a flavor that
was less bright than the previous two, but richer, deeper, earthier and more
well-rounded, with a much longer finish than anything we tried all night
except the two Old Potreros at the end. Excellent.
Disclosure: the next seven whiskeys, all featuring rye rather than wheat
(and most of them very modest amounts at that), didn't do much for me. So my
comments on them should perhaps be taken with more than usual dosage of
salt.
5. OLD FORESTER BOURBON. Strongly alcoholic, turpentine-like aroma; very
middle-of-the-road flavor (it should not have followed the Delilah house
brand).
6. WOODFORD RESERVE BOURBON. Aroma of apples plus turpentine; flavor was
much like that of a youngish, indifferent Speyside single-malt.
7. BASIL HAYDEN BOURBON. This had a mild, "fruity," slightly sweet aroma;
very mild, smooth flavor. Aptly described by Mr. Miller as a "ladies'
bourbon" (Joan: his words, not mine).
8. VERY OLD BARTON BOURBON. Aroma similar to the Basil Hayden, but not as
sweet, a little more turpentine (due, I would assume, to a stronger proof);
flavor was exceedingly mild, akin to Canadian whisky.
9. BUFFALO TRACE BOURBON. The least successful whiskey we tried, in my
opinion (apart from the leadoff corn squeezins). I thought it had no smell
at all, with a watery, corn-whiskey-like flavor.
10. WILD TURKEY RUSSELL'S RESERVE BOURBON. This was a good one, with a
strongly malty aroma (first sign of maltiness in the tasting; but stay
tuned) and a dark, rich, buttery flavor, slightly reminiscent of a superior
dark rum.
11. ELIJAH CRAIG 18-YEAR SINGLE BARREL BOURBON. Sweet, appley aroma with a
mellow, slightly clove-like flavor.
Last came the two Old Potreros. Initially Mr. Miller planned to serve only
the Single Malt Whiskey (from toasted barrels); but in the middle of working
himself, and us, into an ecstasy of expectation while he described its
glories, he noticed that his assistant had poured out the other Old Potrero
(from charred barrels). After a parliamentary exchange of ideas between
ourselves and he, Mr. Miller eventually came 'round to providing a sample of
the toasted-barrel Old Potrero as well.
12. ANCHOR DISTILLING "OLD POTRERO" STRAIGHT RYE WHISKEY (CHARRED BARREL).
Not much finesse here but what a blockbuster! Intense aroma of pine cones
and pine forest; a rye plus black pepper flavor of intense fullness, depth
and length; kind of like drinking a liquid Ry Krisp (but better).
13. ANCHOR DISTILLING "OLD POTRERO" SINGLE MALT STRAIGHT RYE WHISKEY
(TOASTED BARREL). This, in my opinion, was undoubtedly the finest drink
tasted. A very well-rounded, sweet, fruity, piney smell (but not
monochromatically piney like the charred Potrero); flavor of intense
maltiness - sweet, rich and peppery - just great! (And strong!)
SUPPLEMENTARY TASTING
After the official tasting was over, a few of us decided we needed to
supplement (ahem) our findings.
S1. BAKER'S. Gary Wiviott's bourbon of preference entering the tasting,
Baker's was smooth with nice flavor, a fine all-around bourbon.
S2. EVAN WILLIAMS. Aaron's preferred mixer bourbon - and I can see why.
*********
Harry V
P.S. It's too bad Mike Miller did not himself participate in the tasting, or
else by the end he might have been willing to pass around shots from his
semi-legendary 1916 bottle of Old Mock. Maybe next time.
Friday, February 13, 2004
On the Same Page as the Chicago Tribune
Sometimes I do agree with the hometown news. From the lead editorial in today's Chicago Tribune:
..."Why a jurist of Scalia's extraordinary intellect won't exercise simple good judgment is a mystery. Maybe he has concerns about setting a precedent that could overly constrict other justices.
But as is, he risks being part of what many Americans will view as a tainted decision. That can only undermine the respect and trust citizens invest in the Supreme Court.
Without question, Scalia and Cheney are entitled to a warm and loyal friendship. Under codes of conduct in other courts, Lubet says, they still could spend time together and dine at one another's houses--even with Cheney's case before Scalia's court. But an elaborate hunting trip is too tight and valuable a bonding experience for citizens to discount as simple chumminess.
Scalia needs to embrace a basic axiom of public life. An apparent conflict of interest has one thing in common with a duck: If it walks like one, it is"
Sometimes I do agree with the hometown news. From the lead editorial in today's Chicago Tribune:
..."Why a jurist of Scalia's extraordinary intellect won't exercise simple good judgment is a mystery. Maybe he has concerns about setting a precedent that could overly constrict other justices.
But as is, he risks being part of what many Americans will view as a tainted decision. That can only undermine the respect and trust citizens invest in the Supreme Court.
Without question, Scalia and Cheney are entitled to a warm and loyal friendship. Under codes of conduct in other courts, Lubet says, they still could spend time together and dine at one another's houses--even with Cheney's case before Scalia's court. But an elaborate hunting trip is too tight and valuable a bonding experience for citizens to discount as simple chumminess.
Scalia needs to embrace a basic axiom of public life. An apparent conflict of interest has one thing in common with a duck: If it walks like one, it is"
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Eat Fire
Thai Avenue
When I was lucky enough to hook up with the LA hounds, I was most pleased with the restaurant choice proposed. Renu Nakorn. While no longer considered the most worthy of Thai restaurants in LA, it was still considered a top choice. More importantly, I eagerly anticipated my chance to eat fire. Food God, Jonathan Gold told me the Issan specialties at Renu Nakorn would sear my nostril hairs. I would eat fire. Oh how wrong he was. Renu produced a few fine dishes but not an overall great meal. And I did not eat fire.
Chowhound Zim, however, had been hot on the trail of a newish Thai place in Chicago, Thai Avenue. Zim sussed out that the people behind Thai Avenue were Issan. Well, I was convinced I could pull out of them, an entirely Issan meal. A meal that would burn down my goatee. During the course of a meal by me and a meal by the brilliant one, and several phone calls, I did manage to arrange a small banquet dedicated to eating fire. The brilliant one, though, added an especially interesting aside. While the owners of Thai Avenue were Issan, from the Northeast of Thailand, the cook was from the North. Our final menu was to include dishes both North and Northeast.
On our night of eating fire, Thai Avenue delivered three categories of dishes. Dishes on the English menu but sometimes not translated from Thai, dishes on a menu with Thai script and dishes made for us. A lot of the food featured heavy doses of red chile, but no one walked away from a dish crying. Eating fire served a bettor purpose. It woke us up to a full range of flavors, bits of sweet, near rancid, quite-pungent. Also, the fire came fast and furious early, so later in the night, as course after course came by, it seemed a something that never really happened.
From the menu written in English but not necessarily translated, we had the following spicy dishes: beef salad, exploded catfish salad, chicken laab, bamboo shoot salad, and papaya salad with preserved crabs. The crab gives the salad a taste almost of bilge water, but actually, unlike other times when having the dish this way, the sea did not overpower. Instead, looking like a bad case of measles, the papaya salad's cover of red chile made it too hard to focus on any other taste sensations. I really liked Thai Avenue's exploded catfish salad, Thai Captain Crunch as we have come to call this dish of crispy catfish essence. At Thai Avenue, the crunch seemed to float above the salad and dressing, so that you got both parts but at separate moments. I also liked the beef salad totally intertwined with fresh mint, a great duo.
From the menu written in English but not necessarily translated, we had the following non-spicy dishes: fried chicken, grilled pork neck and Issan sausage. Some of the other reports of the dinner on Chowhound say the meal was not really spicy. I think it was just the changing in dishes mid-meal. After so many dishes infused with so many herbs and spices, we took a big turn to dishes of fat and chew. All three of these things were fantastic, but I liked best, the pork neck. It combined the best features of pork, the fat of bacon, with a muscular chew of a good chop. The fried chicken, nearly all wings but a stray leg, was good but not quite as good as Spoon Thai.
From the menu written only in Thai script, we had a very interesting and different dish for me. Northern style laab, done with pork. When I ate this dish, I said, in a good way, it was weird. It really had a spicing I could not quite put my finger on. I looked in Thompson's book. He has a recipe for this dish. He notes that Northern Thai cooking uses a spice from the Ash shrub that gives a numbing flavor like Szechuan peppercorns, and he actually suggests Szechuan peppercorns as a replacement in the recipe. I wonder if Thai Avenue used Szechuan peppercorns to produce that "weird" flavor. The other characteristic of Northern laab is the lack of lime in the marinade. While people scoffed at me, I call this dish, Thai sloppy joes.
Finally, Thai Avenue cooked for us, a few dishes not normally on any menu. I prodded them into "kha-nom-jean-ngyow." This is a most typical Northern Thai dish. Served, I understand, mostly as street food. It was the last dish served that night, and because of that, it lost some pizzazz. It is something that could stand on its own as A meal, like some skewed Thai version of cassolet of something. The dish consists of three components. First, there is plain, bland vermicelli noodles, a base. Second, there are assorted garnishes included flash fried chilies, tiny shreds of preserved mustard, bean sprouts and cabbage slivers. Last is the dish itself, a large pot of alternating shades of red and reddish gray. Ground pork, rectangles of pork blood, squishy cut-in-half cherry tomatoes, and the chile soaked witch's brew that bound it all together. The overall taste was mostly sour notes, the pork chunks had tang, but also, each spoonful was dominated by whatever condiments you grabbed that time.
Pic by Gwiv
The other made for us dishes, were two nam priks or chile dips. One was green from roasted jalepeno, the other red nearly entirely of shrimp paste. The former dip was served with expertly carved raw and steamed vegetables including long beans and bamboo shoots; the latter came with small fishes. Vegetables with dips are a most standard part of Thai meals, Thompson's book has a whole chapter on them, but they are something rarely seen and ordered in Thai places in Chicago (at least). A few things, I believe, limit their availability on menu's. These are hard dishes to make. The require a lot of roasting and grinding and such. Then, I think eaters often just look at these dishes as basically crudites, party food, not as something serious. Last, these can be the most aggressive, hardest tastes to handle. While the green chile dip was surprisingly mild, the red was intensely stinky. For me, these dishes are really make the meal, "Thai."
Pic by Gwiv
We finished with two desserts, one hot one cold, as our waitress suggested. Thai Avenue brought us two large punch bowls. Cold was a mixture of red jello, water chestnuts and soon-to-be-watery condensed milk. Seemed easy, but it was surprisingly good. Hot was the classic dish of steamed taro balls in coconut milk, the balls possessing that, chomp- your-gums-many-many- times-texture, that I find about ideal.
Thai Avenue clearly joined the ranks of great Thai places in Chicago. Lots more reactions to the dinner can be read starting here.
Thai Avenue
4949 N Broadway
Chicago
773-872-2222
Thai Avenue
When I was lucky enough to hook up with the LA hounds, I was most pleased with the restaurant choice proposed. Renu Nakorn. While no longer considered the most worthy of Thai restaurants in LA, it was still considered a top choice. More importantly, I eagerly anticipated my chance to eat fire. Food God, Jonathan Gold told me the Issan specialties at Renu Nakorn would sear my nostril hairs. I would eat fire. Oh how wrong he was. Renu produced a few fine dishes but not an overall great meal. And I did not eat fire.
Chowhound Zim, however, had been hot on the trail of a newish Thai place in Chicago, Thai Avenue. Zim sussed out that the people behind Thai Avenue were Issan. Well, I was convinced I could pull out of them, an entirely Issan meal. A meal that would burn down my goatee. During the course of a meal by me and a meal by the brilliant one, and several phone calls, I did manage to arrange a small banquet dedicated to eating fire. The brilliant one, though, added an especially interesting aside. While the owners of Thai Avenue were Issan, from the Northeast of Thailand, the cook was from the North. Our final menu was to include dishes both North and Northeast.
On our night of eating fire, Thai Avenue delivered three categories of dishes. Dishes on the English menu but sometimes not translated from Thai, dishes on a menu with Thai script and dishes made for us. A lot of the food featured heavy doses of red chile, but no one walked away from a dish crying. Eating fire served a bettor purpose. It woke us up to a full range of flavors, bits of sweet, near rancid, quite-pungent. Also, the fire came fast and furious early, so later in the night, as course after course came by, it seemed a something that never really happened.
From the menu written in English but not necessarily translated, we had the following spicy dishes: beef salad, exploded catfish salad, chicken laab, bamboo shoot salad, and papaya salad with preserved crabs. The crab gives the salad a taste almost of bilge water, but actually, unlike other times when having the dish this way, the sea did not overpower. Instead, looking like a bad case of measles, the papaya salad's cover of red chile made it too hard to focus on any other taste sensations. I really liked Thai Avenue's exploded catfish salad, Thai Captain Crunch as we have come to call this dish of crispy catfish essence. At Thai Avenue, the crunch seemed to float above the salad and dressing, so that you got both parts but at separate moments. I also liked the beef salad totally intertwined with fresh mint, a great duo.
From the menu written in English but not necessarily translated, we had the following non-spicy dishes: fried chicken, grilled pork neck and Issan sausage. Some of the other reports of the dinner on Chowhound say the meal was not really spicy. I think it was just the changing in dishes mid-meal. After so many dishes infused with so many herbs and spices, we took a big turn to dishes of fat and chew. All three of these things were fantastic, but I liked best, the pork neck. It combined the best features of pork, the fat of bacon, with a muscular chew of a good chop. The fried chicken, nearly all wings but a stray leg, was good but not quite as good as Spoon Thai.
From the menu written only in Thai script, we had a very interesting and different dish for me. Northern style laab, done with pork. When I ate this dish, I said, in a good way, it was weird. It really had a spicing I could not quite put my finger on. I looked in Thompson's book. He has a recipe for this dish. He notes that Northern Thai cooking uses a spice from the Ash shrub that gives a numbing flavor like Szechuan peppercorns, and he actually suggests Szechuan peppercorns as a replacement in the recipe. I wonder if Thai Avenue used Szechuan peppercorns to produce that "weird" flavor. The other characteristic of Northern laab is the lack of lime in the marinade. While people scoffed at me, I call this dish, Thai sloppy joes.
Finally, Thai Avenue cooked for us, a few dishes not normally on any menu. I prodded them into "kha-nom-jean-ngyow." This is a most typical Northern Thai dish. Served, I understand, mostly as street food. It was the last dish served that night, and because of that, it lost some pizzazz. It is something that could stand on its own as A meal, like some skewed Thai version of cassolet of something. The dish consists of three components. First, there is plain, bland vermicelli noodles, a base. Second, there are assorted garnishes included flash fried chilies, tiny shreds of preserved mustard, bean sprouts and cabbage slivers. Last is the dish itself, a large pot of alternating shades of red and reddish gray. Ground pork, rectangles of pork blood, squishy cut-in-half cherry tomatoes, and the chile soaked witch's brew that bound it all together. The overall taste was mostly sour notes, the pork chunks had tang, but also, each spoonful was dominated by whatever condiments you grabbed that time.
Pic by Gwiv
The other made for us dishes, were two nam priks or chile dips. One was green from roasted jalepeno, the other red nearly entirely of shrimp paste. The former dip was served with expertly carved raw and steamed vegetables including long beans and bamboo shoots; the latter came with small fishes. Vegetables with dips are a most standard part of Thai meals, Thompson's book has a whole chapter on them, but they are something rarely seen and ordered in Thai places in Chicago (at least). A few things, I believe, limit their availability on menu's. These are hard dishes to make. The require a lot of roasting and grinding and such. Then, I think eaters often just look at these dishes as basically crudites, party food, not as something serious. Last, these can be the most aggressive, hardest tastes to handle. While the green chile dip was surprisingly mild, the red was intensely stinky. For me, these dishes are really make the meal, "Thai."
Pic by Gwiv
We finished with two desserts, one hot one cold, as our waitress suggested. Thai Avenue brought us two large punch bowls. Cold was a mixture of red jello, water chestnuts and soon-to-be-watery condensed milk. Seemed easy, but it was surprisingly good. Hot was the classic dish of steamed taro balls in coconut milk, the balls possessing that, chomp- your-gums-many-many- times-texture, that I find about ideal.
Thai Avenue clearly joined the ranks of great Thai places in Chicago. Lots more reactions to the dinner can be read starting here.
Thai Avenue
4949 N Broadway
Chicago
773-872-2222
Friday, February 06, 2004
It's not all chow
Even though someone who shares an abode with me wishes I'd take some of my rantings and ravings about politics and such to the Internet, to make for quieter breakfasts, I am highly resistant to talk too much politics. Still, I am really, totally outraged by the following, and I do not see how anyone else cannot, regardless of your political orientation.
Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia is hearing a case involving an individual, an individual who took Scalia on an extended hunting trip. How can Scalia, at all, not recuse himself. Where is the outrage?
The following is from the LA Times. The full story is here (registration required).
PATTERSON, La. — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia traveled as an official guest of Vice President Dick Cheney on a small government jet that served as Air Force Two when the pair came here last month to hunt ducks.
The revelation cast further doubts about whether Scalia can be an impartial judge in Cheney's upcoming case before the Supreme Court, legal ethics experts said. The hunting trip took place just weeks after the high court agreed to take up Cheney's bid to keep secret the details of his energy policy task force.
Even though someone who shares an abode with me wishes I'd take some of my rantings and ravings about politics and such to the Internet, to make for quieter breakfasts, I am highly resistant to talk too much politics. Still, I am really, totally outraged by the following, and I do not see how anyone else cannot, regardless of your political orientation.
Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia is hearing a case involving an individual, an individual who took Scalia on an extended hunting trip. How can Scalia, at all, not recuse himself. Where is the outrage?
The following is from the LA Times. The full story is here (registration required).
PATTERSON, La. — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia traveled as an official guest of Vice President Dick Cheney on a small government jet that served as Air Force Two when the pair came here last month to hunt ducks.
The revelation cast further doubts about whether Scalia can be an impartial judge in Cheney's upcoming case before the Supreme Court, legal ethics experts said. The hunting trip took place just weeks after the high court agreed to take up Cheney's bid to keep secret the details of his energy policy task force.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
The Good Word
The big spread in the Chicago Tribune (registration required) surely has a bunch of people saying to themselves, hey that's me. As DougK once famously put, I've found my tribe. Not all of the people, in the tribe, however, like to shout their tips. My friend and neighbor, Mark, has been reading Chowhound for a while. He follows suggestions. He he's eaten at El Barco, Islas Marias, Garden Buffet, etc., and he has his own tips too. He turned me on to La Piazza in Forest Park. A great tip.
I've only been once, for lunch, but I can already tell it is a welcome addition to the greater Oak Park food scene. If nothing else, Piazza plays as well to parents as it does to kids, something nearby kid friendly places like Pronto Roma and Leona's cannot claim. For the kids, make your own pizza's. You start with a slab of dough which you stretch and toss; then sauce, cheese and your choice of toppings. They bake it for you, and viola, it is good too. Really nice pizza with a crust both crusty and pillowy soft--at least the way the chowhounditas made it.
Mom had a rolled and stuffed eggplant with house made pasta. Fresh mozzarella and a short cooked tomato sauce expertly garnished the dish. Dad had a sammy of chicken Milanese on fresh baked foccacia. Not a sandwich to grab. Too big and sloppy. I needed to deconstruct the chicken and its toppings, basil and above average winter tomatoes, but I still enjoyed it. Piazza breads their chicken breast with something coarse--almost like corn flakes (hey do not laugh, in yesterday's New York Times, (registration also required) it was reported that super chef David Burke coated foie gras with corn flakes). I liked the crunch, but I would have preferred a slightly thinner, pounded chicken breast.
Dinners are more expansive, not the sandwiches. I think the kid's pizza option is always there.
La Piazza
410 Circle Avenue
Forest Park, IL 60131
708.366.4010
The big spread in the Chicago Tribune (registration required) surely has a bunch of people saying to themselves, hey that's me. As DougK once famously put, I've found my tribe. Not all of the people, in the tribe, however, like to shout their tips. My friend and neighbor, Mark, has been reading Chowhound for a while. He follows suggestions. He he's eaten at El Barco, Islas Marias, Garden Buffet, etc., and he has his own tips too. He turned me on to La Piazza in Forest Park. A great tip.
I've only been once, for lunch, but I can already tell it is a welcome addition to the greater Oak Park food scene. If nothing else, Piazza plays as well to parents as it does to kids, something nearby kid friendly places like Pronto Roma and Leona's cannot claim. For the kids, make your own pizza's. You start with a slab of dough which you stretch and toss; then sauce, cheese and your choice of toppings. They bake it for you, and viola, it is good too. Really nice pizza with a crust both crusty and pillowy soft--at least the way the chowhounditas made it.
Mom had a rolled and stuffed eggplant with house made pasta. Fresh mozzarella and a short cooked tomato sauce expertly garnished the dish. Dad had a sammy of chicken Milanese on fresh baked foccacia. Not a sandwich to grab. Too big and sloppy. I needed to deconstruct the chicken and its toppings, basil and above average winter tomatoes, but I still enjoyed it. Piazza breads their chicken breast with something coarse--almost like corn flakes (hey do not laugh, in yesterday's New York Times, (registration also required) it was reported that super chef David Burke coated foie gras with corn flakes). I liked the crunch, but I would have preferred a slightly thinner, pounded chicken breast.
Dinners are more expansive, not the sandwiches. I think the kid's pizza option is always there.
La Piazza
410 Circle Avenue
Forest Park, IL 60131
708.366.4010
Next Culinary Historian Meeting
(Tell 'em VI sent ya)
“A Valentine Day’s Menu of Culinary History”
presented by Chef Fritz H. Sonnenschmidt
Author, and Culinary Dean (retired), Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park New York
Saturday, Feb. 14, 2004, 10 a.m. to Noon at The Chicago Historical Society, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, Illinois
Please join us as the distinguished Chef Sonnenschmidt shamelessly regales us with his four-course menu of culinary history spiced with the kind of love and lore our organization allows only on Valentine’s Day:
1st Intercourse: History of food and how it relates to our food thoughts.
2nd Intercourse: Food legends and belief of sexual powers.
3rd Intercourse: Involvement of food in the rise and fall of nations and empires.
4th Intercourse: Food and the biggest love story of the century.
Certified Master Chef Sonnenschmidt was employed at the CIA from 1968 until his retirement in 2002. He served as a faculty member, department chair, associate director of Continuing Education and Culinary Dean. He began his culinary career as a teenage apprentice in his native Germany. He has won many awards in his long career, among them: The Escoffier Chair for Culinary Excellence; The Jerusalem Gold Medal for Culinary Excellence in Jewish Cooking; and several gold medals representing the U.S. in the Culinary Olympics.
Chef Sonnenschmidt is also the author of several books, including: “Dining with Sherlock Holmes;” “The American Harvest,” and “Taste and Tales of a Chef,”’ the latter of which he will be signing at our meeting. In addition, Chef Sonnenschmidt has appeared on PBS in two series: “Cooking Secrets of the CIA,” and “Grilling Maestros.”
This program is hosted by the Culinary Historians of Chicago.
Cost of the program is $10, $5 for students, and no charge for members of the Culinary Historians. To reserve, please call Susan Ridgeway, CHC treasurer at (815) 439-3960. Or e-mail your reservation to: rsvpchc@yahoo.com.
Please leave your name, telephone number and the number of people in your party.
(Tell 'em VI sent ya)
“A Valentine Day’s Menu of Culinary History”
presented by Chef Fritz H. Sonnenschmidt
Author, and Culinary Dean (retired), Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park New York
Saturday, Feb. 14, 2004, 10 a.m. to Noon at The Chicago Historical Society, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, Illinois
Please join us as the distinguished Chef Sonnenschmidt shamelessly regales us with his four-course menu of culinary history spiced with the kind of love and lore our organization allows only on Valentine’s Day:
1st Intercourse: History of food and how it relates to our food thoughts.
2nd Intercourse: Food legends and belief of sexual powers.
3rd Intercourse: Involvement of food in the rise and fall of nations and empires.
4th Intercourse: Food and the biggest love story of the century.
Certified Master Chef Sonnenschmidt was employed at the CIA from 1968 until his retirement in 2002. He served as a faculty member, department chair, associate director of Continuing Education and Culinary Dean. He began his culinary career as a teenage apprentice in his native Germany. He has won many awards in his long career, among them: The Escoffier Chair for Culinary Excellence; The Jerusalem Gold Medal for Culinary Excellence in Jewish Cooking; and several gold medals representing the U.S. in the Culinary Olympics.
Chef Sonnenschmidt is also the author of several books, including: “Dining with Sherlock Holmes;” “The American Harvest,” and “Taste and Tales of a Chef,”’ the latter of which he will be signing at our meeting. In addition, Chef Sonnenschmidt has appeared on PBS in two series: “Cooking Secrets of the CIA,” and “Grilling Maestros.”
This program is hosted by the Culinary Historians of Chicago.
Cost of the program is $10, $5 for students, and no charge for members of the Culinary Historians. To reserve, please call Susan Ridgeway, CHC treasurer at (815) 439-3960. Or e-mail your reservation to: rsvpchc@yahoo.com.
Please leave your name, telephone number and the number of people in your party.
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Regional foodfest
I've said before, that unlike Chowhound, I am more than happy to give people a place to post good things. Cathy2 sends this quick bit of info on a foodfest near the Mississippi River--I cannot vouch otherwise for the event.
Kaiserhof Annual Jagerfest
Wild Game Feed
Feb. 8, 2004 12pm-8pm
170 West Main
Bradford, IL
All you can eat
Kaiserhof Restaurant
(309) 897-2505
I've said before, that unlike Chowhound, I am more than happy to give people a place to post good things. Cathy2 sends this quick bit of info on a foodfest near the Mississippi River--I cannot vouch otherwise for the event.
Kaiserhof Annual Jagerfest
Wild Game Feed
Feb. 8, 2004 12pm-8pm
170 West Main
Bradford, IL
All you can eat
Kaiserhof Restaurant
(309) 897-2505
Guest Post - MikeG
NOW THEN! ON TO THE BEST GUATEMALAN RESTAURANT IN NORTH AMERICA! Or
at least, Logan Square.
I promised yesterday that I would go eat something new and report back
today. Actually I think the place I went has at least been mentioned
before, as a Guatemalan bakery, Delicias Guatemaltecas Bakery, 2901 N.
Kedzie. However, I noticed some new signage on it including a new name
(La Luna del Xelaju), which suggested perhaps new ownership and/or a
fuller menu, and decided to see what they had.
The menu behind the bar was a typical all-things-to-all-people mix--
carne asada, Cuban Sandwiches, cheeseburgers and hot dogs. Instead of
ordering off it I told the lady of the establishment that I had eaten
at the Guatemalan restaurant (El Tinajon) on Roscoe but wanted to know
what they had that was different and better. That turned out to be the
best question I could have asked, not because she immediately told me
what to have but because she then gave me the full story.
El Tinajon, she said, makes city food (I assume meaning Guatemala
City). They are from Xelaju, a rural area on the Pacific coast, 90
miles away, and so their food is quite different. Initially they had
just been a bakery, making typical Mexican bakery-looking stuff, but
they had added Guatemalan and Mexican food over time, in their region's
style, and now they were about to get a complete menu change, hopefully
by this weekend if the printer finally finishes the new menus. It
would have considerably more than the menu has now, but even now it
represents a good sampling of their regional choices.
She talked me through a number of dishes but I decided to try multiple
smaller, more peasanty dishes to increase my odds. (By the way, oh
fans of sausage at Brasa Rojas and such places, there is a Guatemalan
sausage platter to be had.) I ordered a cheese pupusa (they also have
chicharron), a chicken tamale in their style, and a pache with pork,
along with a homemade limeade.
The first to come was the pupusa, accompanied by a goodly amount of
cortida (is that how you spell it? I only know it by sound from the
Maxwell St. video). My first bite seemed a bit too crisp, I would have
liked it a bit fluffier, but then she turned up again from the kitchen
with a salsa-- and what a salsa! A brick-red salsa as deep in color as
an artist's mixed oils, full of chunks of different shades of tomato
and pepper, seeds and black bits. I wept at the beauty of this salsa,
in which I could almost taste the instant that igneous mortar scraped
against volcanic pestle and released all the honesty and truth of
Mesoamerica's most noble vegetables. Any qualms about the crustiness
of my pupusa vanished in an instant, and it was only by conjuring up
thoughts of the dishes yet to come that I didn't leap up, race into the
kitchen and yell "Five more pupusas!"
(By the way, later on when she was talking about their clientele, I
asked her about the cortida. She said what I had today was the
Guatemalan style, but on the weekends they get more Salvadoran
customers and so they make it Salvadoran style, which has oregano in it
but is otherwise the same. Did anyone know that? I thought there was
a little cinnamon in the Salvadoran, but oregano?)
The next dish was the odd one out. It was a tamale, with a whole
chicken leg in the center, a very hot red pepper salsa mixed into it
and wrapped in banana leaf. But the stuff around the chicken leg was
closer in texture to the custard in banana leaf at Spoon Thai than to
the Oaxacan tamals at Maxwell, for instance. Clearly not masa, unless
it was whipped with a tremendous amount of egg or something (but no
corn flavor). I thought it might be potato (but the next dish was
supposed to be potato-based). So I asked-- it's rice flour. To be
honest, it was interesting to try but I found it too bland and slightly
icky after multiple bites (maybe because I suddenly realized it was the
exact consistency of my kids' first solid food, a rice cereal). It
needed the toothiness and flavor of something like masa, this was just
mush.
The next dish, a pache, which is basically a tamale made with potato
instead of masa, more than made up for it. The prep was largely the
same-- mashed potatoes with the red pepper salsa, chunks of pork and a
jalapeno, all boiled in a banana leaf-- but the savoriness of the
potatoes, plus a little squeeze of fresh lime over the pork, made this
outstanding. (And even better when I added the salsa.)
So, nice folks trying hard and growing in ambition, artisanal
Slow-Food-worthy homemade salsa, solid regional variations on a lot of
things we know folks 'round here-- this place is a winner and looks
likely to get better yet before they're done, if I were Cheap Eats I'd
jump on it and hand over at least three forks, maybe four pronto. (All
of the above came to the whopping sum of $8.50, by the way.) Check it
out, write it up, let's pack it, they deserve it.
Mike
NOW THEN! ON TO THE BEST GUATEMALAN RESTAURANT IN NORTH AMERICA! Or
at least, Logan Square.
I promised yesterday that I would go eat something new and report back
today. Actually I think the place I went has at least been mentioned
before, as a Guatemalan bakery, Delicias Guatemaltecas Bakery, 2901 N.
Kedzie. However, I noticed some new signage on it including a new name
(La Luna del Xelaju), which suggested perhaps new ownership and/or a
fuller menu, and decided to see what they had.
The menu behind the bar was a typical all-things-to-all-people mix--
carne asada, Cuban Sandwiches, cheeseburgers and hot dogs. Instead of
ordering off it I told the lady of the establishment that I had eaten
at the Guatemalan restaurant (El Tinajon) on Roscoe but wanted to know
what they had that was different and better. That turned out to be the
best question I could have asked, not because she immediately told me
what to have but because she then gave me the full story.
El Tinajon, she said, makes city food (I assume meaning Guatemala
City). They are from Xelaju, a rural area on the Pacific coast, 90
miles away, and so their food is quite different. Initially they had
just been a bakery, making typical Mexican bakery-looking stuff, but
they had added Guatemalan and Mexican food over time, in their region's
style, and now they were about to get a complete menu change, hopefully
by this weekend if the printer finally finishes the new menus. It
would have considerably more than the menu has now, but even now it
represents a good sampling of their regional choices.
She talked me through a number of dishes but I decided to try multiple
smaller, more peasanty dishes to increase my odds. (By the way, oh
fans of sausage at Brasa Rojas and such places, there is a Guatemalan
sausage platter to be had.) I ordered a cheese pupusa (they also have
chicharron), a chicken tamale in their style, and a pache with pork,
along with a homemade limeade.
The first to come was the pupusa, accompanied by a goodly amount of
cortida (is that how you spell it? I only know it by sound from the
Maxwell St. video). My first bite seemed a bit too crisp, I would have
liked it a bit fluffier, but then she turned up again from the kitchen
with a salsa-- and what a salsa! A brick-red salsa as deep in color as
an artist's mixed oils, full of chunks of different shades of tomato
and pepper, seeds and black bits. I wept at the beauty of this salsa,
in which I could almost taste the instant that igneous mortar scraped
against volcanic pestle and released all the honesty and truth of
Mesoamerica's most noble vegetables. Any qualms about the crustiness
of my pupusa vanished in an instant, and it was only by conjuring up
thoughts of the dishes yet to come that I didn't leap up, race into the
kitchen and yell "Five more pupusas!"
(By the way, later on when she was talking about their clientele, I
asked her about the cortida. She said what I had today was the
Guatemalan style, but on the weekends they get more Salvadoran
customers and so they make it Salvadoran style, which has oregano in it
but is otherwise the same. Did anyone know that? I thought there was
a little cinnamon in the Salvadoran, but oregano?)
The next dish was the odd one out. It was a tamale, with a whole
chicken leg in the center, a very hot red pepper salsa mixed into it
and wrapped in banana leaf. But the stuff around the chicken leg was
closer in texture to the custard in banana leaf at Spoon Thai than to
the Oaxacan tamals at Maxwell, for instance. Clearly not masa, unless
it was whipped with a tremendous amount of egg or something (but no
corn flavor). I thought it might be potato (but the next dish was
supposed to be potato-based). So I asked-- it's rice flour. To be
honest, it was interesting to try but I found it too bland and slightly
icky after multiple bites (maybe because I suddenly realized it was the
exact consistency of my kids' first solid food, a rice cereal). It
needed the toothiness and flavor of something like masa, this was just
mush.
The next dish, a pache, which is basically a tamale made with potato
instead of masa, more than made up for it. The prep was largely the
same-- mashed potatoes with the red pepper salsa, chunks of pork and a
jalapeno, all boiled in a banana leaf-- but the savoriness of the
potatoes, plus a little squeeze of fresh lime over the pork, made this
outstanding. (And even better when I added the salsa.)
So, nice folks trying hard and growing in ambition, artisanal
Slow-Food-worthy homemade salsa, solid regional variations on a lot of
things we know folks 'round here-- this place is a winner and looks
likely to get better yet before they're done, if I were Cheap Eats I'd
jump on it and hand over at least three forks, maybe four pronto. (All
of the above came to the whopping sum of $8.50, by the way.) Check it
out, write it up, let's pack it, they deserve it.
Mike
Monday, January 26, 2004
The Best of the Best
Making subs at Riviera -- How do you?
Just below, I talk about the great sub at Riviera. After reading this, a Chowhound poster, Ponzu, mentioned he was anxious to try--thank Will not me. As I noted, there are no standard subs at Riviera. You just invent. So, I am interested to see what Ponzu invents, and I am curious how others get their subs made at Riviera.
Making subs at Riviera -- How do you?
Just below, I talk about the great sub at Riviera. After reading this, a Chowhound poster, Ponzu, mentioned he was anxious to try--thank Will not me. As I noted, there are no standard subs at Riviera. You just invent. So, I am interested to see what Ponzu invents, and I am curious how others get their subs made at Riviera.
Kalbi in the air
Garden Buffet
There has been much talk about Korean grilled meats on Chowhound of late. See here and here et seq. Totally independent, we've been planning a trip with some friends to the Korean buffet, Garden Buffet. We had a very nice dinner on Saturday.
I think, perhaps because Garden Buffet is, well a buffet, it might rate much higher on the hip-o-meter. I for, though, never sneer at all you can eat. Still, no sojutini's, just big bottles of OB beer that made a fantastic accord.
I really think a buffet format accentuates this form of eating. At non-buffet places I sometimes find myself begging for more lettuce, a mysterious hot sauce at another table or some other accoutrement. At Garden Buffet, you just help yourself. More lettuce, more scallions, more chunks of raw garlic, just grab. Which hot sauce, try 'em all. Mix and match the sesame oil, vinegar, soy, and salt-mixture to a 101 slurries. Want to try one piece of Korean chitlin', toss it on the grill. If the panchan or meats are not quite as elegant, these other features make up.
The other key features about Garden Buffet: excellent ventilation and tongs. The lump wood charcoals are ventilated down not up. Your table remains relatively smoke free, and the next day, aside from the garlic burps, you may not realize as much where you ate. I am reasonably adept with chopsticks, but I find it so much easier to work the grill with the tongs. So, good ventilation and easy handling of the food make Garden Buffet a great place.
I never touched any of the sushi at Garden Buffet the other night, but the selection was more than usual. I tried one fried wing, but it tasted too much like a McNugget. Mandoo (dumplings) did look good, but I was too full by the time I got to them. I do very much like the traditional close to Korean BBQ, the cold soba noodles with the do-it-yourself saucing.
I'll give Garden Buffet, because of all user-friendly features, a 5.4 on the hip-o-meter.
Garden Buffet Restaurant
5347 N Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625-2307
(773) 728-1249
Garden Buffet
There has been much talk about Korean grilled meats on Chowhound of late. See here and here et seq. Totally independent, we've been planning a trip with some friends to the Korean buffet, Garden Buffet. We had a very nice dinner on Saturday.
I think, perhaps because Garden Buffet is, well a buffet, it might rate much higher on the hip-o-meter. I for, though, never sneer at all you can eat. Still, no sojutini's, just big bottles of OB beer that made a fantastic accord.
I really think a buffet format accentuates this form of eating. At non-buffet places I sometimes find myself begging for more lettuce, a mysterious hot sauce at another table or some other accoutrement. At Garden Buffet, you just help yourself. More lettuce, more scallions, more chunks of raw garlic, just grab. Which hot sauce, try 'em all. Mix and match the sesame oil, vinegar, soy, and salt-mixture to a 101 slurries. Want to try one piece of Korean chitlin', toss it on the grill. If the panchan or meats are not quite as elegant, these other features make up.
The other key features about Garden Buffet: excellent ventilation and tongs. The lump wood charcoals are ventilated down not up. Your table remains relatively smoke free, and the next day, aside from the garlic burps, you may not realize as much where you ate. I am reasonably adept with chopsticks, but I find it so much easier to work the grill with the tongs. So, good ventilation and easy handling of the food make Garden Buffet a great place.
I never touched any of the sushi at Garden Buffet the other night, but the selection was more than usual. I tried one fried wing, but it tasted too much like a McNugget. Mandoo (dumplings) did look good, but I was too full by the time I got to them. I do very much like the traditional close to Korean BBQ, the cold soba noodles with the do-it-yourself saucing.
I'll give Garden Buffet, because of all user-friendly features, a 5.4 on the hip-o-meter.
Garden Buffet Restaurant
5347 N Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625-2307
(773) 728-1249
More OC Books
My friend Art Bilek who knows a LOT about organized crime in Chicago, recently published a book on the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. While those interested in more current affairs of the Outfit may think the events in this book too ancient, it is amazing how much this criminal action affected the entire history of Chicago criminal enterprises. Much of the current Outfit holds its ties to the old Capone gang, and knowing this history lets you understand a bit better, what is happening today. You should really give this book a shot.
My friend Art Bilek who knows a LOT about organized crime in Chicago, recently published a book on the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. While those interested in more current affairs of the Outfit may think the events in this book too ancient, it is amazing how much this criminal action affected the entire history of Chicago criminal enterprises. Much of the current Outfit holds its ties to the old Capone gang, and knowing this history lets you understand a bit better, what is happening today. You should really give this book a shot.
The Best?
Riviera Italian Foods
I and a lot of people have been intrigued over the last several months about the idea of the "best." I cannot speak to other's motivations or inspirations, but I clearly got thinking about the idea after being confronted with about 12 breads any time I shopped at Caputo's in Elmwood Park. Which of the breads was truly the best? Eventually, this question morphed into the bread tasting party. The bread tasting failed on a couple of levels. Mostly, it failed because only a few breads came even close to the consensus winner, Melissa's home baked/ancient starter country loaves. It also failed because, confronted with too many things including such non-bread things as excellent Wiv-cured gravlax, we kinda lost our tasting rigor.
Dickson coordinated the next search for the best, a survey of several Italian beef stands. Dickson imposed some structure to the process, and it produced, if nothing else, a more scientific outcome, even if I felt that the scientific approach ever so slightly caused us to value the parts over the whole. I mean try it. See how different a beef sandwich can taste when you eat each part separate. Finally, the tightly focused crowd have done a huge and exhaustive survey of Chicago BBQ. See here and here for the results to date. Taking an opposite approach from the beef tasting, the rib tasters have generally provided singular opinions of places tried. Perhaps it is easier with BBQ to settle in one opinion vs. Italian beefs, where people seemed to have assorted ideas. All in all, I enjoy all these quests whether participating in the process or not.
Still, the best is a problematic issue. My biggest problem with the quest, is that I am too often happy with what I know to be great, compared to the effort to be comprehensive. Every so often, you hit a place so, so far better, so special, so great, you know it is the best. The question of best Italian sub comes up fairly often on Chowhound, and I have been highly unfamiliar with some of the sub contenders in Chicago. I have been wanting then, to visit Riviera ASAP. Best?
I did. On Friday. Can we cancel the contest? I find it hard to imagine a greater sub than Riviera. The Riviera sub gets so great possibly, because when you enter the store, there is NO indication of subs offered. But this means a purely custom sub. First, you pick exactly which roll you want. One of the choices is Mazza's, pointed at both ends, wide in the middle, thing, my favorite of this kind locally. Only great bread can produce the best sandwich. Second, you pick whatever else in the display case you want inside your sandwich. It is a not exactly easy process. How do you know which of the fresh and tasty looking meats and cheeses will work best together. OurPalWill suggests this combo. I, almost randomly, picked an intense looking capicolla, one of those 12 inch diameter mortadella, silky prosciutto and fresh mozzarella. Luckily, it worked. For garnish, I took both the house's home-made eggplant salad and the house's home-made hot giardinara. Since it would be a while until I ate, they packed both accessories separately for me. The house giardinara is surely one of the ways that makes this the best. On the deli counter, always stand several jars of what they have canned, including the made with jalepeno's, hot giardiana. It looks so raw, so pure, so real, I know these are the best, and any sandwich with them, is the best. All of this, less than $3.50.
Before picking up my sub, I grabbed an espresso at Bar Nazionale next door. The coffee was OK, say slightly behind a decent pull at Starbucks. I found it excessively winey with no heady coffee aroma necessary for a great cup.
On the other hand, stopped for a cup yesterday at Caffee Italia, also on Harlem, but more south, and this remains, by far, the benchmark espresso in Chicago. Rich, dense, and as Steingarden expresses so well, actually achieving a taste close to that of the gorgeous coffee aroma. This place, with its intense haze of smoke, its groups of men gathered around various tables speaking in a 100 languages and its most real espresso around, is like a worm-hole to Europe.
Riviera
Imported & Domestic Italian Foods
3220 North Harlem Ave.
Chicago, IL 60634
773-637-4252
Riviera Italian Foods
I and a lot of people have been intrigued over the last several months about the idea of the "best." I cannot speak to other's motivations or inspirations, but I clearly got thinking about the idea after being confronted with about 12 breads any time I shopped at Caputo's in Elmwood Park. Which of the breads was truly the best? Eventually, this question morphed into the bread tasting party. The bread tasting failed on a couple of levels. Mostly, it failed because only a few breads came even close to the consensus winner, Melissa's home baked/ancient starter country loaves. It also failed because, confronted with too many things including such non-bread things as excellent Wiv-cured gravlax, we kinda lost our tasting rigor.
Dickson coordinated the next search for the best, a survey of several Italian beef stands. Dickson imposed some structure to the process, and it produced, if nothing else, a more scientific outcome, even if I felt that the scientific approach ever so slightly caused us to value the parts over the whole. I mean try it. See how different a beef sandwich can taste when you eat each part separate. Finally, the tightly focused crowd have done a huge and exhaustive survey of Chicago BBQ. See here and here for the results to date. Taking an opposite approach from the beef tasting, the rib tasters have generally provided singular opinions of places tried. Perhaps it is easier with BBQ to settle in one opinion vs. Italian beefs, where people seemed to have assorted ideas. All in all, I enjoy all these quests whether participating in the process or not.
Still, the best is a problematic issue. My biggest problem with the quest, is that I am too often happy with what I know to be great, compared to the effort to be comprehensive. Every so often, you hit a place so, so far better, so special, so great, you know it is the best. The question of best Italian sub comes up fairly often on Chowhound, and I have been highly unfamiliar with some of the sub contenders in Chicago. I have been wanting then, to visit Riviera ASAP. Best?
I did. On Friday. Can we cancel the contest? I find it hard to imagine a greater sub than Riviera. The Riviera sub gets so great possibly, because when you enter the store, there is NO indication of subs offered. But this means a purely custom sub. First, you pick exactly which roll you want. One of the choices is Mazza's, pointed at both ends, wide in the middle, thing, my favorite of this kind locally. Only great bread can produce the best sandwich. Second, you pick whatever else in the display case you want inside your sandwich. It is a not exactly easy process. How do you know which of the fresh and tasty looking meats and cheeses will work best together. OurPalWill suggests this combo. I, almost randomly, picked an intense looking capicolla, one of those 12 inch diameter mortadella, silky prosciutto and fresh mozzarella. Luckily, it worked. For garnish, I took both the house's home-made eggplant salad and the house's home-made hot giardinara. Since it would be a while until I ate, they packed both accessories separately for me. The house giardinara is surely one of the ways that makes this the best. On the deli counter, always stand several jars of what they have canned, including the made with jalepeno's, hot giardiana. It looks so raw, so pure, so real, I know these are the best, and any sandwich with them, is the best. All of this, less than $3.50.
Before picking up my sub, I grabbed an espresso at Bar Nazionale next door. The coffee was OK, say slightly behind a decent pull at Starbucks. I found it excessively winey with no heady coffee aroma necessary for a great cup.
On the other hand, stopped for a cup yesterday at Caffee Italia, also on Harlem, but more south, and this remains, by far, the benchmark espresso in Chicago. Rich, dense, and as Steingarden expresses so well, actually achieving a taste close to that of the gorgeous coffee aroma. This place, with its intense haze of smoke, its groups of men gathered around various tables speaking in a 100 languages and its most real espresso around, is like a worm-hole to Europe.
Riviera
Imported & Domestic Italian Foods
3220 North Harlem Ave.
Chicago, IL 60634
773-637-4252
Tapeheads go legit
I ran across an interesting item in yesterday's Sun Times(note, the Sun Times Web site is rife with pop-ups, do not execute this web site without a very good pop-up killer). A company called Pirate Entertainment is doing real time recordings of Buddy Guy concerts while he does an extended stay at his namesake club. You can walk away from each show with a souvenir. In addition, on the Pirate Web site, you can view set lists of past Buddy Guy shows, and I believe over time, other artists.
I have seen Buddy Guy several times, but have not visited any blues club, probably since the birth of the chowhounditas. Just hard to have the baby sitter stick around to 2 or so in the morning. I am intrigued by this product as much for the set lists as for the actual recordings. Buddy Guy is widely known for his eclectic tastes and over-the-top showmanship. His mimicking of other's style and techniques, especially rockers and his extensive shtick--I mean, I bet, having not seen him in 7 plus years, he's still stopping his show at some point to have someone bring him a glass of cognac--keeps Buddy low in the eyes of purists. Yet, he is exactly what people want when they want to be entertained. Just seeing the set lists give me enough vicarious thrill I need.
I ran across an interesting item in yesterday's Sun Times(note, the Sun Times Web site is rife with pop-ups, do not execute this web site without a very good pop-up killer). A company called Pirate Entertainment is doing real time recordings of Buddy Guy concerts while he does an extended stay at his namesake club. You can walk away from each show with a souvenir. In addition, on the Pirate Web site, you can view set lists of past Buddy Guy shows, and I believe over time, other artists.
I have seen Buddy Guy several times, but have not visited any blues club, probably since the birth of the chowhounditas. Just hard to have the baby sitter stick around to 2 or so in the morning. I am intrigued by this product as much for the set lists as for the actual recordings. Buddy Guy is widely known for his eclectic tastes and over-the-top showmanship. His mimicking of other's style and techniques, especially rockers and his extensive shtick--I mean, I bet, having not seen him in 7 plus years, he's still stopping his show at some point to have someone bring him a glass of cognac--keeps Buddy low in the eyes of purists. Yet, he is exactly what people want when they want to be entertained. Just seeing the set lists give me enough vicarious thrill I need.
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Rapini Run
(Paying for the blog)
Last week I mentioned Bertucci's, the barely discussed Italian restaurant in Chinatown. The post got Seth's mouth watering. Now, everything right in this blog (surely the things not prone to argument) are the handiwork of Seth. He's cleaned up a lot of bad HTML on my part and even gave me permalinks (waiting patiently for someone to use). Lunch at Bertucci's seemed the only way to express my gratitude.
And I guess I am pretty darn happy with this whole system. I loved Bertucci's. We benefited greatly from some name dropping by Seth. Much to my chagrin, my highly touted recommendation of veal with rapini was not on the lunch menu. But Seth threw out the word Mayor, and given the high population of city workers there, is it our fault that Mayor's were confused? When, I did agree to pay the dinner price for the veal, they agreed to make it.
This may be my favorite plate of food in Chicago. No one else combines the things I like so expertly like this. Divide the plate into thirds. One third gets a flat, crisp circle of breaded veal, much better than your local greek, not quite provimi; another third gets thick discs of fresh made cottage fried potatoes, a little greasy and a little crunch less than ideal; the last third gets the memory inducing rapini. All thirds get drenched in garlic. I suppose it is not on the lunch menu to protect those on their way to meetings. The magic of this trilogy is that each of these flavors and textures blends into the one next to it, similar but different, complimentary yet distinct.
Bertucci may be wholly cool, but it is not perfect. Baked clams were too soggy, and some of the clams chewy. Too much dressing drowned the salad (even if I smiled at the non-canned olive). Still, do you really expect or need a place like this to be perfect? With a couple of waitresses asking youz guys what you want, a variety of entertainment machines to occupy you if you got bored and this much garlic, who needs perfect.
(Paying for the blog)
Last week I mentioned Bertucci's, the barely discussed Italian restaurant in Chinatown. The post got Seth's mouth watering. Now, everything right in this blog (surely the things not prone to argument) are the handiwork of Seth. He's cleaned up a lot of bad HTML on my part and even gave me permalinks (waiting patiently for someone to use). Lunch at Bertucci's seemed the only way to express my gratitude.
And I guess I am pretty darn happy with this whole system. I loved Bertucci's. We benefited greatly from some name dropping by Seth. Much to my chagrin, my highly touted recommendation of veal with rapini was not on the lunch menu. But Seth threw out the word Mayor, and given the high population of city workers there, is it our fault that Mayor's were confused? When, I did agree to pay the dinner price for the veal, they agreed to make it.
This may be my favorite plate of food in Chicago. No one else combines the things I like so expertly like this. Divide the plate into thirds. One third gets a flat, crisp circle of breaded veal, much better than your local greek, not quite provimi; another third gets thick discs of fresh made cottage fried potatoes, a little greasy and a little crunch less than ideal; the last third gets the memory inducing rapini. All thirds get drenched in garlic. I suppose it is not on the lunch menu to protect those on their way to meetings. The magic of this trilogy is that each of these flavors and textures blends into the one next to it, similar but different, complimentary yet distinct.
Bertucci may be wholly cool, but it is not perfect. Baked clams were too soggy, and some of the clams chewy. Too much dressing drowned the salad (even if I smiled at the non-canned olive). Still, do you really expect or need a place like this to be perfect? With a couple of waitresses asking youz guys what you want, a variety of entertainment machines to occupy you if you got bored and this much garlic, who needs perfect.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Bohemia Returns to Berwyn
Chicago experts know that the only thing Bohemian about Pilsen is the name. Further West in Little Village, one might, every once in a while, see a stalwart who never moved. But they almost all moved. West to Cicero-Berwyn. Yet today, these two suburbs are bleeding Bohemians [ed. I changed that from Bohunks, not sure if your choice of words is PC] as well. Places like Klas, Jim's Market, and Vesecky Bakery remain out there, but these suburbs are mostly Mexican these days. The dribbling of recent Czech immigrants seems more centered on Northwest side of Chicago, with places like Operetta and the Czech Bakery. I was not expecting a more "modern" Czech place in Berwyn, but it's there, the relatively new, Bohemia Deli.
If you are aware of the inventory of Czech Bakery in Chicago, you will mostly know Bohemia Deli. In fact, as I later noticed from their business card, the two places are related. There is a range of serve-yourself baked goods, kolachy, stuffed crescents, different kinds of rolls. You put what you want on small styrofoam plates, and they wrap it in plastic. There are also larger loafs of bread including a two ton rye. Like Mexican bakeries, the stuff is so cheap, you can afford to be generous in your purchases. There is a small deli case with slab bacon, ham, and other Czech sausages. There were skinny Bohemian wieners that they will steam for you for an absolute bargain at 99 cents. Finally, there are a bunch of pre-made Czech dinners. At first I thought these were no great shake, about $7, but then I realized each package contained a LOT of food, I realized what a deal they were. We picked the Czech version of the pan-Slavic, cevacipi over mashed potatoes (and appealing to me because it had pickles too) and noodles with farmer's cheese.
This is not overwhelming food. It tasted like maybe good cafeteria food, for instance the mashed potatoes were quite thin (with enough imperfections to convince me that they were real). Yet, since it was Bohemian cafeteria food, it did have some appeal. The cevacipi were much moister than the versions found further south in Europe, they were more like meatballs instead of sausage. The noodles were very sweet, hard to eat them for dinner.
I do not have the exact address of Bohemia Deli, as their business card only gave the location of their Chicago store, 3113 N. Central. The Berwyn branch is on Cermak near East Av., Berwyn.
Chicago experts know that the only thing Bohemian about Pilsen is the name. Further West in Little Village, one might, every once in a while, see a stalwart who never moved. But they almost all moved. West to Cicero-Berwyn. Yet today, these two suburbs are bleeding Bohemians [ed. I changed that from Bohunks, not sure if your choice of words is PC] as well. Places like Klas, Jim's Market, and Vesecky Bakery remain out there, but these suburbs are mostly Mexican these days. The dribbling of recent Czech immigrants seems more centered on Northwest side of Chicago, with places like Operetta and the Czech Bakery. I was not expecting a more "modern" Czech place in Berwyn, but it's there, the relatively new, Bohemia Deli.
If you are aware of the inventory of Czech Bakery in Chicago, you will mostly know Bohemia Deli. In fact, as I later noticed from their business card, the two places are related. There is a range of serve-yourself baked goods, kolachy, stuffed crescents, different kinds of rolls. You put what you want on small styrofoam plates, and they wrap it in plastic. There are also larger loafs of bread including a two ton rye. Like Mexican bakeries, the stuff is so cheap, you can afford to be generous in your purchases. There is a small deli case with slab bacon, ham, and other Czech sausages. There were skinny Bohemian wieners that they will steam for you for an absolute bargain at 99 cents. Finally, there are a bunch of pre-made Czech dinners. At first I thought these were no great shake, about $7, but then I realized each package contained a LOT of food, I realized what a deal they were. We picked the Czech version of the pan-Slavic, cevacipi over mashed potatoes (and appealing to me because it had pickles too) and noodles with farmer's cheese.
This is not overwhelming food. It tasted like maybe good cafeteria food, for instance the mashed potatoes were quite thin (with enough imperfections to convince me that they were real). Yet, since it was Bohemian cafeteria food, it did have some appeal. The cevacipi were much moister than the versions found further south in Europe, they were more like meatballs instead of sausage. The noodles were very sweet, hard to eat them for dinner.
I do not have the exact address of Bohemia Deli, as their business card only gave the location of their Chicago store, 3113 N. Central. The Berwyn branch is on Cermak near East Av., Berwyn.
Yum Thai data
When I reported on Yum Thai last week, I mentioned a delicious yellow curry, but I could not find my annotated Thai menu for its name. Well, I have been cleaning my office in anticipation of a couple of things, and I found the Yum Thai menu.
The dish in question was "gaeng som pladyyk tawd" translated as "orange curry w/fried catfish, sour from tamarind, not too thick". Well, not too thick was quite the understatement as this is more of a soup than a curry. Also, when I had it, the catfish was shrimps--no big deal for me to be fooled. If it matters, I suppose ask first. Note, this dish is listed under the section of the menu called "Gaeng (Curry). As always, ask for this secret menu to fully enjoy Yum Thai.
When I reported on Yum Thai last week, I mentioned a delicious yellow curry, but I could not find my annotated Thai menu for its name. Well, I have been cleaning my office in anticipation of a couple of things, and I found the Yum Thai menu.
The dish in question was "gaeng som pladyyk tawd" translated as "orange curry w/fried catfish, sour from tamarind, not too thick". Well, not too thick was quite the understatement as this is more of a soup than a curry. Also, when I had it, the catfish was shrimps--no big deal for me to be fooled. If it matters, I suppose ask first. Note, this dish is listed under the section of the menu called "Gaeng (Curry). As always, ask for this secret menu to fully enjoy Yum Thai.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Taking a Pole
Halina's is that Good
We used to eat Polish food about twice a year, but lately, we have found ourself returning quite often to a small cafe on the far West side of Chicago called Halina. We never much set out to find Halina. Rather, Halina found us. Most people associate the process of eating Polish food in Chicago to be all about all-you-can-eat CHEAP buffets. Halina taught us otherwise. Few people at Halina, especially the staff, speak English well, but they all try to make your dinner enjoyable, and they food coming out of the kitchen helps too.
While I do not go wildly exploring the menu at Halina, like I have never attempted anything not translated, I have never found a poor choice. Mostly, I make my choices with the soup. I am not sure anyone has polled a top ten soup listing, but Halina surely laddles out some of the best soups in Chicago. Some soups are thin yet flavorful, the chicken noodle the kids always get, and the peppery red borsht, but others are wildly thick and murky. The latter soups all seem to balance expertly vinegar sour with creamy richness, ideal soups. I find myself at Halina ordering soups I would never touch in a million years. Would you ever try a hot cucumber soup. Delicious. Tripe, from the fattier gooier part of the guts, delicious. The only thing that sometimes clouds up my decision making process, the chance to get the "eggroll" that comes with the red borsht. This is a meat filled pancake noodle, breaded and fried looking, well like an eggroll. So, yes, occasionally I pick my soup based on side.
I like to center my ordering at Halina by side too, side order. Some but not all dishes come with the "side order", a plate of cold, sour salads. You pick from beets spiked with horseradish, yellow sauerkraut and white cole slaw. I always go for mix, a bit of all three. Some of the things that I like that come with the sides include Chicken Kiev with rock solid crust, rainbow trout with head but without bones, and ground pork patties. If I can stand to skip the sides, I focus on the large potato pancake encassing beef gulash (a/k/a Hungarian Pancake). Pierogi are not the most ideal, truly perfect pierogi would get a final saute in butter, crisping up one side, but these just boiled dumplings with assorted stuffing do just fine for the kids or as a side dish. Desserts are not worth ordering but the appetizer heerings are, if you can find a bit of spare gullet space.
Halina is BYOB, but I rarely see people drinking hard stuff there. Instead, most of the customers (and nearly all the customers are Poles), drink a pink fruit drink called Kompot. The ultra sweetness does cut the rich food, but a liquor store across the street will supply you with Polish beer that cuts the food even better.
Halina's
5914 W Lawrence Ave
Chicago, Il 60630
773-205-0256
Halina's is that Good
We used to eat Polish food about twice a year, but lately, we have found ourself returning quite often to a small cafe on the far West side of Chicago called Halina. We never much set out to find Halina. Rather, Halina found us. Most people associate the process of eating Polish food in Chicago to be all about all-you-can-eat CHEAP buffets. Halina taught us otherwise. Few people at Halina, especially the staff, speak English well, but they all try to make your dinner enjoyable, and they food coming out of the kitchen helps too.
While I do not go wildly exploring the menu at Halina, like I have never attempted anything not translated, I have never found a poor choice. Mostly, I make my choices with the soup. I am not sure anyone has polled a top ten soup listing, but Halina surely laddles out some of the best soups in Chicago. Some soups are thin yet flavorful, the chicken noodle the kids always get, and the peppery red borsht, but others are wildly thick and murky. The latter soups all seem to balance expertly vinegar sour with creamy richness, ideal soups. I find myself at Halina ordering soups I would never touch in a million years. Would you ever try a hot cucumber soup. Delicious. Tripe, from the fattier gooier part of the guts, delicious. The only thing that sometimes clouds up my decision making process, the chance to get the "eggroll" that comes with the red borsht. This is a meat filled pancake noodle, breaded and fried looking, well like an eggroll. So, yes, occasionally I pick my soup based on side.
I like to center my ordering at Halina by side too, side order. Some but not all dishes come with the "side order", a plate of cold, sour salads. You pick from beets spiked with horseradish, yellow sauerkraut and white cole slaw. I always go for mix, a bit of all three. Some of the things that I like that come with the sides include Chicken Kiev with rock solid crust, rainbow trout with head but without bones, and ground pork patties. If I can stand to skip the sides, I focus on the large potato pancake encassing beef gulash (a/k/a Hungarian Pancake). Pierogi are not the most ideal, truly perfect pierogi would get a final saute in butter, crisping up one side, but these just boiled dumplings with assorted stuffing do just fine for the kids or as a side dish. Desserts are not worth ordering but the appetizer heerings are, if you can find a bit of spare gullet space.
Halina is BYOB, but I rarely see people drinking hard stuff there. Instead, most of the customers (and nearly all the customers are Poles), drink a pink fruit drink called Kompot. The ultra sweetness does cut the rich food, but a liquor store across the street will supply you with Polish beer that cuts the food even better.
Halina's
5914 W Lawrence Ave
Chicago, Il 60630
773-205-0256
Trading tips with the Reader
El Chimbombo
I am pretty sure that a long ago Chowhound poster, HLing first discovered eyeball tacos at the Maxwell Street Sunday market--and you know what I mean about discovering them. Since the first postings on Chicago Chowhound, they have been a bit of a myth and a bit of an insider reference to the eyeballs. It is one of the least found foodstuffs in Chicago. At various houndly tours of Maxwell Street, there came a time when some would take up the eyeball challenge. Ultimately, no one could keep their eye off of G Wiv when he took his turn swallowing the ocular for the camera's in the Gorilla Gourmet Maxwell Street production. You would think when the Reader chose to write about the eyeball taco vendor, they would acknowledge this mania. Still, I would suggest reading the article on El Chimbombo in this week's Reader.
Me, I freely thank the Reader for sending me to the eyeball ball guys' brick and mortar stand in Berwyn (sin ojo) for some very delicious tacos. Smugly, I might suggest that I had this place, not too far from me, on my to-eat list. A much nicer than the rest of the street, painted terra-cotta facade, and signs advertising flor de calabaza (zucchini blossoms) and tortillas heco a mano (handmade tortillas), already caught my eye. With extra inspiration from the Reader, I have made two visits to El Chimbombo.
The Reader article should have done a better job of warning the eater. Not to eating there, but getting to eat there. El Chimbombo presents no English on their menu, and some of their items are going to be unfamiliar to most of the Reader's readers, and the servers also spoke limited English. The menu basically offers two types of food. First, they offer a huge series of fillings including beef cheeks, tongue, brains, rajas con queso (peppers with cheese), tripas, etc., (but no eyeballs). These fillings go in any number of containers including as tacos, quesadillas, huaraches, sopes and gorditas, The second kind of thing to get at Chimbombo is the alambre. I am not sure of the history or tradition of the this dish, but I know from other places in this part of town, that the alambre appears to be a favorite of Cicero-Berwyn. Chimbombo makes an alambre by chopping up your choice of meat(s) with cheese and pepper, and perhaps onions and bacon if you are going for the more deluxe version. The menu notes a version for hungry diners ("para muy ambrientos") where you can get three heapings of meat. The alambres come with a rich broth filled with beans and bacon, essentially the juice or jugo of carne en su jugo. On the visits, the alambres were as good as they sound.
I have also worked my way through six of the taco versions: al pastor, barbacoa de borrego (steamed lamb), cesina, cochinita pibil (a dish of baby pork steamed in banana leaf, but I highly doubt they do that here), lengua (tongue) and chuleta adobada (marinated pork). All have been far better than average with a few really standing out. The cochinita pibil lacks the traditional pickled onions, but it made up for it in other ways. The stewed meat gets re-heated on the griddle (a la plancha). It crisps up the sides while leaving the inside feathery and light. I liked this more for the texture than the out front flavors. They cut their pastor from the vertical spit, like a donor kebab or shwarma. This form of cooking leaves the meat moist from dripping fat, yet not actually that fatty. What really made the pastor, however, were its onions, onions cooked beyond carmelization but just before carbonization. Finally, I loved the meaty, soft lengua.
Besides the tacos and alambres, I have tried a few other things. There is the gooey, yummy, bring out the kid in you melted cheese dish, queso fundido, with a choice of three toppings. There is the intense, meaty broth from the making of barbacoa, consome de Canero--great but needed a couple of doses of lime to cut the fat, and there is flan. I asked if the flan was made in house. No, I was told, the owner makes it at HIS house. Like everything else at El Chimbombo, it comes more than one way. The other day, three, corn, coconut, and pecan. The one we tried, corn, tasted like someone made it in their home, a high compliment indeed. I should warn that sign or not, the tortillas are commercial. The other soft gripe, some really awful tomatoes marring a few things. On the other hand, El Chimbombo cooks up four different and distinctive table salsas. It is near impossible to settle on one.
So far, I am quite glad the Reader reminded me that what catches my eye is often worth writing about.
El Chimbombo
6725 W. Cermak
Berwyn, IL
708-484-9430
(And Sundays selling eyeballs and other goods at Maxwell Street.)
El Chimbombo
I am pretty sure that a long ago Chowhound poster, HLing first discovered eyeball tacos at the Maxwell Street Sunday market--and you know what I mean about discovering them. Since the first postings on Chicago Chowhound, they have been a bit of a myth and a bit of an insider reference to the eyeballs. It is one of the least found foodstuffs in Chicago. At various houndly tours of Maxwell Street, there came a time when some would take up the eyeball challenge. Ultimately, no one could keep their eye off of G Wiv when he took his turn swallowing the ocular for the camera's in the Gorilla Gourmet Maxwell Street production. You would think when the Reader chose to write about the eyeball taco vendor, they would acknowledge this mania. Still, I would suggest reading the article on El Chimbombo in this week's Reader.
Me, I freely thank the Reader for sending me to the eyeball ball guys' brick and mortar stand in Berwyn (sin ojo) for some very delicious tacos. Smugly, I might suggest that I had this place, not too far from me, on my to-eat list. A much nicer than the rest of the street, painted terra-cotta facade, and signs advertising flor de calabaza (zucchini blossoms) and tortillas heco a mano (handmade tortillas), already caught my eye. With extra inspiration from the Reader, I have made two visits to El Chimbombo.
The Reader article should have done a better job of warning the eater. Not to eating there, but getting to eat there. El Chimbombo presents no English on their menu, and some of their items are going to be unfamiliar to most of the Reader's readers, and the servers also spoke limited English. The menu basically offers two types of food. First, they offer a huge series of fillings including beef cheeks, tongue, brains, rajas con queso (peppers with cheese), tripas, etc., (but no eyeballs). These fillings go in any number of containers including as tacos, quesadillas, huaraches, sopes and gorditas, The second kind of thing to get at Chimbombo is the alambre. I am not sure of the history or tradition of the this dish, but I know from other places in this part of town, that the alambre appears to be a favorite of Cicero-Berwyn. Chimbombo makes an alambre by chopping up your choice of meat(s) with cheese and pepper, and perhaps onions and bacon if you are going for the more deluxe version. The menu notes a version for hungry diners ("para muy ambrientos") where you can get three heapings of meat. The alambres come with a rich broth filled with beans and bacon, essentially the juice or jugo of carne en su jugo. On the visits, the alambres were as good as they sound.
I have also worked my way through six of the taco versions: al pastor, barbacoa de borrego (steamed lamb), cesina, cochinita pibil (a dish of baby pork steamed in banana leaf, but I highly doubt they do that here), lengua (tongue) and chuleta adobada (marinated pork). All have been far better than average with a few really standing out. The cochinita pibil lacks the traditional pickled onions, but it made up for it in other ways. The stewed meat gets re-heated on the griddle (a la plancha). It crisps up the sides while leaving the inside feathery and light. I liked this more for the texture than the out front flavors. They cut their pastor from the vertical spit, like a donor kebab or shwarma. This form of cooking leaves the meat moist from dripping fat, yet not actually that fatty. What really made the pastor, however, were its onions, onions cooked beyond carmelization but just before carbonization. Finally, I loved the meaty, soft lengua.
Besides the tacos and alambres, I have tried a few other things. There is the gooey, yummy, bring out the kid in you melted cheese dish, queso fundido, with a choice of three toppings. There is the intense, meaty broth from the making of barbacoa, consome de Canero--great but needed a couple of doses of lime to cut the fat, and there is flan. I asked if the flan was made in house. No, I was told, the owner makes it at HIS house. Like everything else at El Chimbombo, it comes more than one way. The other day, three, corn, coconut, and pecan. The one we tried, corn, tasted like someone made it in their home, a high compliment indeed. I should warn that sign or not, the tortillas are commercial. The other soft gripe, some really awful tomatoes marring a few things. On the other hand, El Chimbombo cooks up four different and distinctive table salsas. It is near impossible to settle on one.
So far, I am quite glad the Reader reminded me that what catches my eye is often worth writing about.
El Chimbombo
6725 W. Cermak
Berwyn, IL
708-484-9430
(And Sundays selling eyeballs and other goods at Maxwell Street.)
Monday, January 19, 2004
Always Happy at Happy Chef
Cantonese food too often gets dismissed, associated unfortunately with all that crappy stuff long unpopular: chop suey, chow mein, moo goo gai pan, etc., etc. Yet, the real thing, the real Cantonese, presents one of the most delicious brands of Chinese food. Few spices play a role in Cantonese food. Instead, Cantonese style Chinese food emphasizes clean preparations, where you can see the underlying food. Seafood, popular in all aspects of Chinese food, is especially important in Cantonese food. It is expected that Cantonese food is all stir fried, but great Cantonese food uses a bunch of preparations including steaming, baking and cooking in casseroles. I fully expect a good Cantonese meal to wow me from all sides of the kitchen, and one kitchen that always wows me is Happy Chef.
I had the good fortune of dining with a very large group at Happy Chef the other night. As always, it was a great meal. Too much food, so I have to run through the list pretty quickly, what we ate. All meals at Happy Chef start with complimentary soup. Perhaps my sucker-ness for freebies influences my love of Happy Chef, but the soup always puts me right for more to come. Since the soup contains a few spare chicken feet and other odds and ends, I always jokingly call it leftover dim sum soup. Actually, the dominant feature of the soup is big chewy, whole pieces of conch, looking very much of the shell. Not a pretty soup, but a nice soup.
Did I say quick run? I'll try again. Crabs AND lobster stir fried in ginger and green onion and impossible to eat with chop sticks; green beans dry cooked with sliced pork, straying to the mainstream; pea shoots with more conch, getting back to the more authentic; tofu stuffed with shrimp paste in hot pot, the blander course; clams in a tiny wok of broth; beef in sizzling platter with too much black pepper and thin pork chops in a honeyed brown sauce, both dishes belying the notion that Cantonese dishes are all plain; soft boiled chicken with a dressing of ginger and green onion; and finally, Peking duck served in 2 courses. The meal ends with a second soup, red bean with sweet balls. A soup I like better for its complimentary nature than its succor.
I love Happy Chef so much that I can safely say that a couple of things were not perfect. I really dug the clam preparation. It left the clams soft but with integrity, but the clams themselves were overly gritty. Great dish that could have been greater. The pancakes for the duck were not the usual rubbery moo shu things. Rather, smaller discs, studded with seeds, breadier, but also dry and flour-y in parts. Because it was such a large group, service was a non-factor. In past visits, I have always felt comfortable at Happy Chef. It is easy to order here without any language skills.
Happy Chef fits into all the stereotypes of no nonsense Chinese eating. Decor would be the tanks with live seafood. Lighting makes no woman look pretty. Best (worse?), the tables are covered in a mille feuille of plastic. When one table finishes, the staff rolls up everything not worth keeping, ties it into a knot, and prepares for new eaters.
Happy Chef
2164 S. Archer Ave (Chinatown Mall)
Chicago, IL
312-808-3689
Cantonese food too often gets dismissed, associated unfortunately with all that crappy stuff long unpopular: chop suey, chow mein, moo goo gai pan, etc., etc. Yet, the real thing, the real Cantonese, presents one of the most delicious brands of Chinese food. Few spices play a role in Cantonese food. Instead, Cantonese style Chinese food emphasizes clean preparations, where you can see the underlying food. Seafood, popular in all aspects of Chinese food, is especially important in Cantonese food. It is expected that Cantonese food is all stir fried, but great Cantonese food uses a bunch of preparations including steaming, baking and cooking in casseroles. I fully expect a good Cantonese meal to wow me from all sides of the kitchen, and one kitchen that always wows me is Happy Chef.
I had the good fortune of dining with a very large group at Happy Chef the other night. As always, it was a great meal. Too much food, so I have to run through the list pretty quickly, what we ate. All meals at Happy Chef start with complimentary soup. Perhaps my sucker-ness for freebies influences my love of Happy Chef, but the soup always puts me right for more to come. Since the soup contains a few spare chicken feet and other odds and ends, I always jokingly call it leftover dim sum soup. Actually, the dominant feature of the soup is big chewy, whole pieces of conch, looking very much of the shell. Not a pretty soup, but a nice soup.
Did I say quick run? I'll try again. Crabs AND lobster stir fried in ginger and green onion and impossible to eat with chop sticks; green beans dry cooked with sliced pork, straying to the mainstream; pea shoots with more conch, getting back to the more authentic; tofu stuffed with shrimp paste in hot pot, the blander course; clams in a tiny wok of broth; beef in sizzling platter with too much black pepper and thin pork chops in a honeyed brown sauce, both dishes belying the notion that Cantonese dishes are all plain; soft boiled chicken with a dressing of ginger and green onion; and finally, Peking duck served in 2 courses. The meal ends with a second soup, red bean with sweet balls. A soup I like better for its complimentary nature than its succor.
I love Happy Chef so much that I can safely say that a couple of things were not perfect. I really dug the clam preparation. It left the clams soft but with integrity, but the clams themselves were overly gritty. Great dish that could have been greater. The pancakes for the duck were not the usual rubbery moo shu things. Rather, smaller discs, studded with seeds, breadier, but also dry and flour-y in parts. Because it was such a large group, service was a non-factor. In past visits, I have always felt comfortable at Happy Chef. It is easy to order here without any language skills.
Happy Chef fits into all the stereotypes of no nonsense Chinese eating. Decor would be the tanks with live seafood. Lighting makes no woman look pretty. Best (worse?), the tables are covered in a mille feuille of plastic. When one table finishes, the staff rolls up everything not worth keeping, ties it into a knot, and prepares for new eaters.
Happy Chef
2164 S. Archer Ave (Chinatown Mall)
Chicago, IL
312-808-3689
More Upscale
Smith and Wollensky
Below, I discuss the nature of upscale ethnic eateries, the difficulty in labeling and the difficulty in achieving. What about the question of upscale non-ethnic. Not so much fine dining, but upscale comfort food, or more as I would think of it, upscale "American" food. Smith and Wollensky is pretty much categorized as a steakhouse, but I always think of it as an American restaurant, as upscale comfort food (comforting in the sense that it is my food).
First, I always slightly hate myself for liking S&W so much. It is both a New York import and a very corporate place (in several meanings). If half the point of its appeal is that it is my food, well should not my food come from Chicago and in a much more cool setting ? Yet, they do it so well, so much as I like it, that I must ignore its invader status or its chain nature. Second, I confess to a slight bit of non-objectivity. I have been provided an insider tour of the place, spending so much time in the dry aging-meat locker that I got a cold. Knowing all the effort they put into their food, and such secrets as how the meat gets a dip in melted suet, does make me that much more inclined to like the place.
And I love it. Not for the steaks. I almost never get one of those steaks, one of the few (perhaps only) dry aged steaks in Chicago. Instead, I love the rest of the menu. It speaks tradition to me. I feel like I am eating roughly the same meals as Diamond Jim Brady, and while I know Diamond Jim never tasted "Angry Lobster," I believe he would have loved it if given the opportunity. I also love their casino service. You know where there are several layers of management all on the floor, each with responsibilities and each making sure someone else follows theirs.
More than 2/3rds of the time at S&W, I order and eat the roast beef hash. A cast iron skillet holding a bunch crisped bits of trimmings from the dry aged meat mixed with potatoes. The white hot pan crisps the potatoes for extra. The whole thing gets lubricated with the fat of an egg yolk AND hollandaise. Plus, the bite of chive. I am not a chive/raw onion person at all, but in this dish it works so well. Surely not an everyday dish but an always enjoyable dish.
The other day, I strayed from the hash to another standard, the burger. Yes, a better burger with delicious blue cheese, and even at $8.75, a bargain. We also got the Friday fish fry, and here more than the burger, S&W showed how they are just a better diner. Nothing exotic about this dish, no tempura batter or panko breading or anything at all modern. Just fried fish as could be found in any supper club, but with pristine fillets, nary a bit of extra grease and with a perfect homemade tartar sauce. The tartar sauce tasted both light on the tongue but heavy in flavor. Siding both dishes (and for me just another reason to avoid the plain steak) are some of the best fries around (again better than any diner). Slightly limp instead of brazenly crisp, the way I prefer, what really set these fries apart was their salting. I am not sure if the salt was something really upscale, a Breton sea salt, but it was something a bit special, a grain larger than table salt but flatter than typical kitchen salt (i.e., Kosher salt). I should also add that the Condiment Queen loved a lobster cocktail with a smooth and herby green sauce, priced way too reasonably at $7.75 (partially offset by the fish special at the not that cheap at $18).
All around at S&W, I saw more American food. Whole roast chickens sliced tableside. A meatloaf that put the loaf in meat loaf, no modern embellishments either, really looked good. I have in the past, gone gaga over their mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, fried onions and fried zucchini. I always like their salads. The Caesar the other day was just as expected. As with soups at Halina's, I am fairly confident ordering anything on the menu here. S&W comes about as close to an ideal restaurant for me, one I could, if I had the budget and office location, eat at daily.
Smith and Wollensky
Below, I discuss the nature of upscale ethnic eateries, the difficulty in labeling and the difficulty in achieving. What about the question of upscale non-ethnic. Not so much fine dining, but upscale comfort food, or more as I would think of it, upscale "American" food. Smith and Wollensky is pretty much categorized as a steakhouse, but I always think of it as an American restaurant, as upscale comfort food (comforting in the sense that it is my food).
First, I always slightly hate myself for liking S&W so much. It is both a New York import and a very corporate place (in several meanings). If half the point of its appeal is that it is my food, well should not my food come from Chicago and in a much more cool setting ? Yet, they do it so well, so much as I like it, that I must ignore its invader status or its chain nature. Second, I confess to a slight bit of non-objectivity. I have been provided an insider tour of the place, spending so much time in the dry aging-meat locker that I got a cold. Knowing all the effort they put into their food, and such secrets as how the meat gets a dip in melted suet, does make me that much more inclined to like the place.
And I love it. Not for the steaks. I almost never get one of those steaks, one of the few (perhaps only) dry aged steaks in Chicago. Instead, I love the rest of the menu. It speaks tradition to me. I feel like I am eating roughly the same meals as Diamond Jim Brady, and while I know Diamond Jim never tasted "Angry Lobster," I believe he would have loved it if given the opportunity. I also love their casino service. You know where there are several layers of management all on the floor, each with responsibilities and each making sure someone else follows theirs.
More than 2/3rds of the time at S&W, I order and eat the roast beef hash. A cast iron skillet holding a bunch crisped bits of trimmings from the dry aged meat mixed with potatoes. The white hot pan crisps the potatoes for extra. The whole thing gets lubricated with the fat of an egg yolk AND hollandaise. Plus, the bite of chive. I am not a chive/raw onion person at all, but in this dish it works so well. Surely not an everyday dish but an always enjoyable dish.
The other day, I strayed from the hash to another standard, the burger. Yes, a better burger with delicious blue cheese, and even at $8.75, a bargain. We also got the Friday fish fry, and here more than the burger, S&W showed how they are just a better diner. Nothing exotic about this dish, no tempura batter or panko breading or anything at all modern. Just fried fish as could be found in any supper club, but with pristine fillets, nary a bit of extra grease and with a perfect homemade tartar sauce. The tartar sauce tasted both light on the tongue but heavy in flavor. Siding both dishes (and for me just another reason to avoid the plain steak) are some of the best fries around (again better than any diner). Slightly limp instead of brazenly crisp, the way I prefer, what really set these fries apart was their salting. I am not sure if the salt was something really upscale, a Breton sea salt, but it was something a bit special, a grain larger than table salt but flatter than typical kitchen salt (i.e., Kosher salt). I should also add that the Condiment Queen loved a lobster cocktail with a smooth and herby green sauce, priced way too reasonably at $7.75 (partially offset by the fish special at the not that cheap at $18).
All around at S&W, I saw more American food. Whole roast chickens sliced tableside. A meatloaf that put the loaf in meat loaf, no modern embellishments either, really looked good. I have in the past, gone gaga over their mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, fried onions and fried zucchini. I always like their salads. The Caesar the other day was just as expected. As with soups at Halina's, I am fairly confident ordering anything on the menu here. S&W comes about as close to an ideal restaurant for me, one I could, if I had the budget and office location, eat at daily.
Friday, January 16, 2004
The Hip-O-Meter
Upscale Ethnic
You know what's even more contentious on foodie forums than the secret menu dilemma, the upscale ethnic eatery answer. At one extreme, you have people who only want to experience ethic eating as a "concept," in a well-traveled neighborhood, with decor and adequate service and a decent drink card. At the other end, are people who are only happy with, well the opposite. The closer they get to zero on the hip-o-meter, the better for them. I suppose people exist in both of these camps, but all the eaters I know roam somewhere in the middle (to varying extremes). Still, this remains the most vexing of issues.
It starts with semantics or a working definition of what a nice restaurant means. I look at it as three ends of a triangle, with the triangle defined as fine dining. One point stands at what I would call the ethnic-ethnic upscale. These are places conceived for an ethnic community as their source for better dining. Some of these places serve an executive eaters market, others a source for celebrations or date night. Oddly, these places while quite authentic, often serve food considered "dumbed down." For instance, the stellar example of Korean fancy-schmancy, where Korean businessmen congreagate, Woo Lae Oak, has only teflon coated gas grills for the meat. Let us not stink up our suits with burning coals. Another aspect of this form of ethnic upscale is a group's slight disdain for their own food. Restaurants catering to European immigrants often replace their native foods with classic "continental specialties" like beef stroganoff. Like hot dog buns with dim sum, and Japanese spaghetti sauce, we get the authentic-inauthentic. Thus, one point, upscale as the ethic group perceives upscale.
The second point would be its opposite. Upscale as the American diner perceives upscale, or maybe said better, upscale as perceived that the American diner perceives. Several ideas drive this school (and these ideas are exactly what drives away serious eaters). First, is the idea that Americans do not want to stretch too deep into the repertoire. That they will eat grilled thin beef, but not slightly thicker grilled short ribs. That too much fish sauce, shrimp paste and chile peppers will make them run for cover. Second, there is the idea that Americans want their food in courses, that Americans only expect to eat this way. This modification does not harm the food the same way, but it does upset the pattern and effect of many cuisine's. Many Asian meals are about a balance of flavors across several plates of food. When you divorce the, eat at one time/share all plates, you distort the whole experience. The food will not taste as good because it will not be balanced. Third and fourth are the areas where these places really get into trouble. Third, is the idea that Americans expect certain familiar dishes, best exemplified by the Chinese war horse, beef with broccoli. Here is a dish that is always better than chop suey, but in its common productions never matches a "real" version. Related to this are magical versions of unknown food, lamb vindaloo, Hunnan anything. Places like PF Changs and Ben Pao contain menu's filled with these classic dishes that should never had been made classic in the first place. Finally, there is the idea that the trained and skilled chef can improve on, add to, modernize and otherwise enhance the ethnic eating experience. Yes, certain traditional methods of cooking are hidebound, too unhealthy and otherwise susceptible to change, but generally who has a better idea of how to cook a cuisine, the chef or the culture. Don't answer because the preponderance of modern restaurants might not agree with you. Still, even as we disdain this point, we appreciate parts of it. Parts called comfort. Comfort can add to a meal. This point is not totally worthless.
There is one last way to conceive upscale ethnic cuisine, royal or imperial cuisine. This point on the triangle looks not just to fancier surroundings and finer cooking but to a range of ingredients and preparations associated with the Emperor or the Muraja or such. On one hand, not many people are clamoring to eat roast peacock these days, on the other hand, smart people are seeing imperial food as an antidote to the conundrum. The problem, at least in Chicago, is finding honest examples of this cooking. Arun's the so-expensive Thai place on the NW side claims royalty, but discussions of their menu never seem to back this up. A place just opened up in Chinatown, Dragon King, that purports to offer the food of God on earth. Several chowhounds have signed up for a try. It will be interesting to see what happens. So, it is hard to say much about this point because it remains untried.
We cannot forget that with upscale ethnic dining, there exists, I believe a shadow triangle. At least a shadow world that influences and affects these places, and that truly limits or enhances fine dining a la ethnic. I think the biggest issue out there is that our money is being misspent. We do want better quality ethnic food, or we would also enjoy ethnic food in a better setting. Instead of paying for chef's recreations and over-the-top decor, why not apply the funds toward organic produce and fresher fish. I declared how I would pay more money for Thai food here. I think the same idea holds for Mexican, Chinese, etc. Let's see if we can raise the bar on the hip-o-meter.
Upscale Ethnic
You know what's even more contentious on foodie forums than the secret menu dilemma, the upscale ethnic eatery answer. At one extreme, you have people who only want to experience ethic eating as a "concept," in a well-traveled neighborhood, with decor and adequate service and a decent drink card. At the other end, are people who are only happy with, well the opposite. The closer they get to zero on the hip-o-meter, the better for them. I suppose people exist in both of these camps, but all the eaters I know roam somewhere in the middle (to varying extremes). Still, this remains the most vexing of issues.
It starts with semantics or a working definition of what a nice restaurant means. I look at it as three ends of a triangle, with the triangle defined as fine dining. One point stands at what I would call the ethnic-ethnic upscale. These are places conceived for an ethnic community as their source for better dining. Some of these places serve an executive eaters market, others a source for celebrations or date night. Oddly, these places while quite authentic, often serve food considered "dumbed down." For instance, the stellar example of Korean fancy-schmancy, where Korean businessmen congreagate, Woo Lae Oak, has only teflon coated gas grills for the meat. Let us not stink up our suits with burning coals. Another aspect of this form of ethnic upscale is a group's slight disdain for their own food. Restaurants catering to European immigrants often replace their native foods with classic "continental specialties" like beef stroganoff. Like hot dog buns with dim sum, and Japanese spaghetti sauce, we get the authentic-inauthentic. Thus, one point, upscale as the ethic group perceives upscale.
The second point would be its opposite. Upscale as the American diner perceives upscale, or maybe said better, upscale as perceived that the American diner perceives. Several ideas drive this school (and these ideas are exactly what drives away serious eaters). First, is the idea that Americans do not want to stretch too deep into the repertoire. That they will eat grilled thin beef, but not slightly thicker grilled short ribs. That too much fish sauce, shrimp paste and chile peppers will make them run for cover. Second, there is the idea that Americans want their food in courses, that Americans only expect to eat this way. This modification does not harm the food the same way, but it does upset the pattern and effect of many cuisine's. Many Asian meals are about a balance of flavors across several plates of food. When you divorce the, eat at one time/share all plates, you distort the whole experience. The food will not taste as good because it will not be balanced. Third and fourth are the areas where these places really get into trouble. Third, is the idea that Americans expect certain familiar dishes, best exemplified by the Chinese war horse, beef with broccoli. Here is a dish that is always better than chop suey, but in its common productions never matches a "real" version. Related to this are magical versions of unknown food, lamb vindaloo, Hunnan anything. Places like PF Changs and Ben Pao contain menu's filled with these classic dishes that should never had been made classic in the first place. Finally, there is the idea that the trained and skilled chef can improve on, add to, modernize and otherwise enhance the ethnic eating experience. Yes, certain traditional methods of cooking are hidebound, too unhealthy and otherwise susceptible to change, but generally who has a better idea of how to cook a cuisine, the chef or the culture. Don't answer because the preponderance of modern restaurants might not agree with you. Still, even as we disdain this point, we appreciate parts of it. Parts called comfort. Comfort can add to a meal. This point is not totally worthless.
There is one last way to conceive upscale ethnic cuisine, royal or imperial cuisine. This point on the triangle looks not just to fancier surroundings and finer cooking but to a range of ingredients and preparations associated with the Emperor or the Muraja or such. On one hand, not many people are clamoring to eat roast peacock these days, on the other hand, smart people are seeing imperial food as an antidote to the conundrum. The problem, at least in Chicago, is finding honest examples of this cooking. Arun's the so-expensive Thai place on the NW side claims royalty, but discussions of their menu never seem to back this up. A place just opened up in Chinatown, Dragon King, that purports to offer the food of God on earth. Several chowhounds have signed up for a try. It will be interesting to see what happens. So, it is hard to say much about this point because it remains untried.
We cannot forget that with upscale ethnic dining, there exists, I believe a shadow triangle. At least a shadow world that influences and affects these places, and that truly limits or enhances fine dining a la ethnic. I think the biggest issue out there is that our money is being misspent. We do want better quality ethnic food, or we would also enjoy ethnic food in a better setting. Instead of paying for chef's recreations and over-the-top decor, why not apply the funds toward organic produce and fresher fish. I declared how I would pay more money for Thai food here. I think the same idea holds for Mexican, Chinese, etc. Let's see if we can raise the bar on the hip-o-meter.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Buying a rug in Chinatown
Moon Palace
There are two interrelated issues that appear again and again in food forums. They revolve around the question, why did I not eat what you ate. On one side of the issue are the positivists, seeking to learn how to get a better experience than you. On the other side, their enemies (so to speak), pissed that they got a worse meal. Bleeding heart that I am, I sympathize a bit with the latter group, but my desire to eat as well as possible puts me well in the former. Which is how I found myself today buying a rug.
I like oriental rugs. I like the craftsmanship and style of them--and preferring the hard wood floors too, and I also like that decaying WASP look. Either way, I am happy laying out an oriental rug. While we have a few now, in the bungalow, I have never really bought one. And I want to. I want to not so much to get another rug, but I want to do the oriental rug buying thing. I want to sip through several glasses of mint tea (in glasses I can barely hold in my western tea hands). I want to hear about the exploits of all the proprietors children, and I want to be shown many, many rugs with un-goddly prices before we settle down to some good natured but aggressive haggling. Would it be just as fun for Chinese food?
OK, Moon Palace does not require you to follow a maze of alleys in the souk. It is right there on Cermak in Chinatown, next to the Fire Station. And really, you can just order off of the menu. But we had to bargain. We were bargaining not so much for lunch today, but for a dinner in about a month. Negotiating via that maze of non-translated and off menu dishes. One of the Chowhounds decided to organize a very late Chinese New Year dinner, done Shanghai style at Moon Palace. Our prize then, to produce a grand and authentic Shanghai meal.
Moon Palace's opening salvo, the cheap rug that even an untrained eye could see, was a crispy fried fish fillet done in the standard suburban gloppy "Hunan"sauce. We were not buying. We used our only currency, pestering, name dropping, endless cups of tea (not bad) and the presence of the brilliant one. We countered with pork belly. Give us something too damn fatty, and throw in a couple of chitterlings in the dish (the pork belly over intestine was the one dish that stood in my mind from a previous visit). Oh, no tummy for your tummy, they countered, and we compromised, as all hagglers do, on something in the middle, a pork hock, braised in a maroon sauce, heavy with vinegar but trailing sugar. Tofu skin and large chunks of fresh bamboo added texture to this pretty good dish. We worked our way through two kinds of soup dumplings. The staff appreciated our second order, with crab meat, but truth be told, these tasted a bit like cat food to me. The ante got upped. Moon delivered a lotus leaf package with sticky rice and a log of pork tenderloin, amazingly even this cut of pork was fatty. Standard Shanghai lunch meal we were told. We ate it quickly. Finally, we went for the heart of Shanghai food, the slippery one, eel. Moon Palace did this river creature, frozen in China and de-frosted in their kitchen, proud. A preparation of equal julienne's of mushroom, eel and ginger, in a clear sauce with a black pepper kick, it played really well in the mouth.
OK, the house gave in. The chef would cook us a total Shanghai meal. Only Shanghai specialties. In fact even he did not even know what he was planning to cook, but he knew it would be special. Now, like the best of the omikase chefs, he did not even want a price tag. Well, that condition we declined. We did give him an upper limit. We sealed the deal with sticky rice balls filled with a grainy black something. We would have joined the owner in the back with martini's, but none of us spoke Shanghainese. I'll report back after the dinner.
Moon Palace
216 W Cermak Rd
Chicago, IL 60616-1914
312-225-4081
Moon Palace
There are two interrelated issues that appear again and again in food forums. They revolve around the question, why did I not eat what you ate. On one side of the issue are the positivists, seeking to learn how to get a better experience than you. On the other side, their enemies (so to speak), pissed that they got a worse meal. Bleeding heart that I am, I sympathize a bit with the latter group, but my desire to eat as well as possible puts me well in the former. Which is how I found myself today buying a rug.
I like oriental rugs. I like the craftsmanship and style of them--and preferring the hard wood floors too, and I also like that decaying WASP look. Either way, I am happy laying out an oriental rug. While we have a few now, in the bungalow, I have never really bought one. And I want to. I want to not so much to get another rug, but I want to do the oriental rug buying thing. I want to sip through several glasses of mint tea (in glasses I can barely hold in my western tea hands). I want to hear about the exploits of all the proprietors children, and I want to be shown many, many rugs with un-goddly prices before we settle down to some good natured but aggressive haggling. Would it be just as fun for Chinese food?
OK, Moon Palace does not require you to follow a maze of alleys in the souk. It is right there on Cermak in Chinatown, next to the Fire Station. And really, you can just order off of the menu. But we had to bargain. We were bargaining not so much for lunch today, but for a dinner in about a month. Negotiating via that maze of non-translated and off menu dishes. One of the Chowhounds decided to organize a very late Chinese New Year dinner, done Shanghai style at Moon Palace. Our prize then, to produce a grand and authentic Shanghai meal.
Moon Palace's opening salvo, the cheap rug that even an untrained eye could see, was a crispy fried fish fillet done in the standard suburban gloppy "Hunan"sauce. We were not buying. We used our only currency, pestering, name dropping, endless cups of tea (not bad) and the presence of the brilliant one. We countered with pork belly. Give us something too damn fatty, and throw in a couple of chitterlings in the dish (the pork belly over intestine was the one dish that stood in my mind from a previous visit). Oh, no tummy for your tummy, they countered, and we compromised, as all hagglers do, on something in the middle, a pork hock, braised in a maroon sauce, heavy with vinegar but trailing sugar. Tofu skin and large chunks of fresh bamboo added texture to this pretty good dish. We worked our way through two kinds of soup dumplings. The staff appreciated our second order, with crab meat, but truth be told, these tasted a bit like cat food to me. The ante got upped. Moon delivered a lotus leaf package with sticky rice and a log of pork tenderloin, amazingly even this cut of pork was fatty. Standard Shanghai lunch meal we were told. We ate it quickly. Finally, we went for the heart of Shanghai food, the slippery one, eel. Moon Palace did this river creature, frozen in China and de-frosted in their kitchen, proud. A preparation of equal julienne's of mushroom, eel and ginger, in a clear sauce with a black pepper kick, it played really well in the mouth.
OK, the house gave in. The chef would cook us a total Shanghai meal. Only Shanghai specialties. In fact even he did not even know what he was planning to cook, but he knew it would be special. Now, like the best of the omikase chefs, he did not even want a price tag. Well, that condition we declined. We did give him an upper limit. We sealed the deal with sticky rice balls filled with a grainy black something. We would have joined the owner in the back with martini's, but none of us spoke Shanghainese. I'll report back after the dinner.
Moon Palace
216 W Cermak Rd
Chicago, IL 60616-1914
312-225-4081
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Having Impact
In my last post, I bemoaned my lack of influence on the Chicago eating public. What is interesting, generally, that the Chicago eating public refuses to be influenced.
HungryHoward brought to attention today, a story on NPR (click here to listen). Susan Stamberg told of The Grocery, the small, 13-table restaurant in Brooklyn that Zagat named as one of the city's best. Apparently, the restaurant scored a food rating of 28. And, as anticipated, things at the restaurant haven't been the same, with the exception of the quality of food/service. It was discussed on the listserv if something comparable could happen in Chicago, and someone throught of La Quebrada as Chicago restaurant for similar notoriety.
What is interesting, however, is that La Quebrada has had its 15 minutes of fame. Having received a pretty glowing review in the Chicago Tribune, it has never seen itself packed to the brim. The only true phenomenon of neighborhood eating that has ever truly gone big is Arun's (and this happened many, many ages ago). No other place reviewed in the Trib, the Reader, Chowhound, etc., has really benefit all that much from the publicity. OK, yes a lot of places benefit in small and big ways from mentions in any media source, even something as humble as this blog. Still, what's become famous?
I have always wondered if Chicago is just not a food town, that the vast amount of people really do not care about cool places. Today, I got to thinking maybe the answer lies more with the food media. No, this is not another rant (per se), but I think part of the problem is that no food writer in Chicago really holds a following. All the major media spread their pieces out too much, so there can be no clear champion. For what I have in mind, I clearly point to Jonathan Gold in LA. He has tons of street cred, but he is also hugely respected in foodie circles. He has stature. We need stature.
In my last post, I bemoaned my lack of influence on the Chicago eating public. What is interesting, generally, that the Chicago eating public refuses to be influenced.
HungryHoward brought to attention today, a story on NPR (click here to listen). Susan Stamberg told of The Grocery, the small, 13-table restaurant in Brooklyn that Zagat named as one of the city's best. Apparently, the restaurant scored a food rating of 28. And, as anticipated, things at the restaurant haven't been the same, with the exception of the quality of food/service. It was discussed on the listserv if something comparable could happen in Chicago, and someone throught of La Quebrada as Chicago restaurant for similar notoriety.
What is interesting, however, is that La Quebrada has had its 15 minutes of fame. Having received a pretty glowing review in the Chicago Tribune, it has never seen itself packed to the brim. The only true phenomenon of neighborhood eating that has ever truly gone big is Arun's (and this happened many, many ages ago). No other place reviewed in the Trib, the Reader, Chowhound, etc., has really benefit all that much from the publicity. OK, yes a lot of places benefit in small and big ways from mentions in any media source, even something as humble as this blog. Still, what's become famous?
I have always wondered if Chicago is just not a food town, that the vast amount of people really do not care about cool places. Today, I got to thinking maybe the answer lies more with the food media. No, this is not another rant (per se), but I think part of the problem is that no food writer in Chicago really holds a following. All the major media spread their pieces out too much, so there can be no clear champion. For what I have in mind, I clearly point to Jonathan Gold in LA. He has tons of street cred, but he is also hugely respected in foodie circles. He has stature. We need stature.
Getting a Woody
Colombian food at Brasa Rosa
Granted I irk easy, but I'm irked. Irked at the sudden attention devoted to Colombian food, particularly the El Llano spin-off, Brasa Rosa. Pretty much from day one on Chowhound, I sung the praise of the simple (simply) delicious food of Colombia and its fountainhead in Chicago, El Llano. Pretty shockingly to me, my posts created no groundswell of interest [ed., I guess I was right in ditching that line on your masthead, "Chicago's most influential food poster."] Even after showing off El Llano with what I thought was an outstanding Chowhound dinner, people did not seem to be clamoring for steak and potatoes South American style (extra salsa de aji for me). Still, I am very glad Brasa Rosa has received a bit more attention (follow embedded link to Brasa Rosa article in Chicago's Reader). Ate there for the first time the other day. As I imagined, I liked it.
Brasa Rosa, true to its name, improves on El Llano with the addition of a brazier, a device to cook wonderfully marinated chickens over live coals. More important, they also use live coals in their kitchen for the grilled meats. Chicago seems so overwhelmed with gas grills, flame broiling in the school of Burger King. Yet, I know no single item that more improves the taste of food than live coal cooking. So many of those kebabs, shasliks, satays, churasco's around town could be so much better if their makers followed the folks at Brasa Rosa. Brasa Rosa uses this grill for an assorment of meats including rabbit, pork chops and brisket as well as the classic thin steak. Unlike at El Llano, they do not offer a mass-meat fest called picada.
Granted, I believe, from El Llano, they start from a high base. It only gets better at Brasa Rosa. I actually liked best, a chicken breast pounded to double its size, marinated but not over marinated, and cooked not a second too long on the real grill. The roasted chicken tasted a bit too charred because of a method they use. You cannot possibly time the production of roast chickens. To adjust, Brasa Rosa takes the cooked chickens, hacks them and then places them in a grill basket nearly on top of the charcoal fire for a warm-up. It puts a flavor in the chicken almost charred, ashy instead of smoky. The fine, spicy green sauce does cover up some sins. A smaller dish of even hotter, green chimichuri came with our "matrimonio", that above mentioned chicken breast and an equally spread out, equally good steak.
Any skill the kitchen used to develop sauces, create marinades, and man the grill were not exhibited in the side dishes. With the meats come exceedingly plain things. That does not mean that I did not enjoy eating the half roasted/half boiled potatoes, the bring out the sweetness ripe plantains, and the extra starchy yucca sticks. Only the dry unfilled areapas suffered from plainness.
Meat and potatoes. I am glad it is now a trend.
Brasa Roja
3125 W. Montrose
Chicago, IL
773-866-2252.
Colombian food at Brasa Rosa
Granted I irk easy, but I'm irked. Irked at the sudden attention devoted to Colombian food, particularly the El Llano spin-off, Brasa Rosa. Pretty much from day one on Chowhound, I sung the praise of the simple (simply) delicious food of Colombia and its fountainhead in Chicago, El Llano. Pretty shockingly to me, my posts created no groundswell of interest [ed., I guess I was right in ditching that line on your masthead, "Chicago's most influential food poster."] Even after showing off El Llano with what I thought was an outstanding Chowhound dinner, people did not seem to be clamoring for steak and potatoes South American style (extra salsa de aji for me). Still, I am very glad Brasa Rosa has received a bit more attention (follow embedded link to Brasa Rosa article in Chicago's Reader). Ate there for the first time the other day. As I imagined, I liked it.
Brasa Rosa, true to its name, improves on El Llano with the addition of a brazier, a device to cook wonderfully marinated chickens over live coals. More important, they also use live coals in their kitchen for the grilled meats. Chicago seems so overwhelmed with gas grills, flame broiling in the school of Burger King. Yet, I know no single item that more improves the taste of food than live coal cooking. So many of those kebabs, shasliks, satays, churasco's around town could be so much better if their makers followed the folks at Brasa Rosa. Brasa Rosa uses this grill for an assorment of meats including rabbit, pork chops and brisket as well as the classic thin steak. Unlike at El Llano, they do not offer a mass-meat fest called picada.
Granted, I believe, from El Llano, they start from a high base. It only gets better at Brasa Rosa. I actually liked best, a chicken breast pounded to double its size, marinated but not over marinated, and cooked not a second too long on the real grill. The roasted chicken tasted a bit too charred because of a method they use. You cannot possibly time the production of roast chickens. To adjust, Brasa Rosa takes the cooked chickens, hacks them and then places them in a grill basket nearly on top of the charcoal fire for a warm-up. It puts a flavor in the chicken almost charred, ashy instead of smoky. The fine, spicy green sauce does cover up some sins. A smaller dish of even hotter, green chimichuri came with our "matrimonio", that above mentioned chicken breast and an equally spread out, equally good steak.
Any skill the kitchen used to develop sauces, create marinades, and man the grill were not exhibited in the side dishes. With the meats come exceedingly plain things. That does not mean that I did not enjoy eating the half roasted/half boiled potatoes, the bring out the sweetness ripe plantains, and the extra starchy yucca sticks. Only the dry unfilled areapas suffered from plainness.
Meat and potatoes. I am glad it is now a trend.
Brasa Roja
3125 W. Montrose
Chicago, IL
773-866-2252.
The Media Speaks - Giveth and Taketh Away
A true sign of growing up Chicago, is to know intimately, what the letters WGN mean. Ray Rayner in the morning, Cubs after school and the easy voice of Wally Phillips guiding Mom all the time. One connection remains to that WGN, the real WGN, the pre-WB network WGN, Milt Rosenberg. Mortimer Adler disciple, quote spewer, ever correct pronuncer, Milt has held sway nightly for over 30 years. A few times a year, he dedicates a show to eating in Chicago. I rarely listen to Milt, but I happen to run across his show listing yesterday, and luckily, I learned that Monday was that restaurant show of the day day. I heard so you do not have to.
The food "media" got represented rather adequately, by Penny Pollack, food editor of Chicago Magazine, an outlet with major sway, and by Don Rose, an ostensible "critic" who seemed to have written his last reports when Jean Banchet stood highest in Chicago's food pantheon--Rose was found blathering such classics as there are good Chinese restaurants in the Chinatown Mall, I just cannot name any, and citing as a good Indian restaurant something gone at least ten years. Pollack, confident in her role, hammered the idea of Chicago Magazine as the arbiter of eating in Chicago.
And she revealed an upcoming story. Chicago discovered that yes, one could eat well in Chinatown. It seems that Chicago's chief critic, Dennis Wheaton, got himself his own RST and dug into some secret menu's. Penny sez they found 8 destination spots in Chinatown. I look forward to the report, although I strongly contend that one can eat well in Chinatown without significant language skills.
Actually, the whole exchange on Chinese food in Chicago brought out the first of the laughable exchanges of the evening. Moderator Milt teased the audience before a commercial break that they would soon be talking Chinese. Old school Rose scoffed, it would be a short chat. As noted above, Penny took them by surprise with the assertion that maybe one could eat good Chinese in Chicago. How bold. Of course this left Rose babbling about the nameless places in the mall. Nameless became the theme of most of the rest of the program.
When they opened up the discussion to callers, the critics did a fine job. Asked about any Afghan places in Chicago they found none (hint there are at least 3). Well, maybe they knew better when Penny later brought up Kabul House as a possible Persian place--geographic wiz, Milt immediately seized on the missing Afghan issue, but the experts remained stumped on any place Persian, suggesting, shockingly, Andy's. Too bad none of them reads Chowhound to see the current discussion of Noon-O-Kebab. Yet, Noon-O-Kebab is hardly shy to the media.
Read Chowhound? Chowhound actually came up during the night. Penny indicated that Spoon Thai would soon get a report in her magazine. Praising Spoon, she wrongly put it on Broadway. An e-mailer (not me!), contacted the station and mentioned our home. Milt then asked about Chowhound. One panel member dismissed it as a "grubmeister site", the other, rather famous for stealing things from the site, called it "a man on the street thing." No mention of its connection to Spoon followed. And they went on their way, insisting no Chicago restaurant serves authentic Indian food...
A true sign of growing up Chicago, is to know intimately, what the letters WGN mean. Ray Rayner in the morning, Cubs after school and the easy voice of Wally Phillips guiding Mom all the time. One connection remains to that WGN, the real WGN, the pre-WB network WGN, Milt Rosenberg. Mortimer Adler disciple, quote spewer, ever correct pronuncer, Milt has held sway nightly for over 30 years. A few times a year, he dedicates a show to eating in Chicago. I rarely listen to Milt, but I happen to run across his show listing yesterday, and luckily, I learned that Monday was that restaurant show of the day day. I heard so you do not have to.
The food "media" got represented rather adequately, by Penny Pollack, food editor of Chicago Magazine, an outlet with major sway, and by Don Rose, an ostensible "critic" who seemed to have written his last reports when Jean Banchet stood highest in Chicago's food pantheon--Rose was found blathering such classics as there are good Chinese restaurants in the Chinatown Mall, I just cannot name any, and citing as a good Indian restaurant something gone at least ten years. Pollack, confident in her role, hammered the idea of Chicago Magazine as the arbiter of eating in Chicago.
And she revealed an upcoming story. Chicago discovered that yes, one could eat well in Chinatown. It seems that Chicago's chief critic, Dennis Wheaton, got himself his own RST and dug into some secret menu's. Penny sez they found 8 destination spots in Chinatown. I look forward to the report, although I strongly contend that one can eat well in Chinatown without significant language skills.
Actually, the whole exchange on Chinese food in Chicago brought out the first of the laughable exchanges of the evening. Moderator Milt teased the audience before a commercial break that they would soon be talking Chinese. Old school Rose scoffed, it would be a short chat. As noted above, Penny took them by surprise with the assertion that maybe one could eat good Chinese in Chicago. How bold. Of course this left Rose babbling about the nameless places in the mall. Nameless became the theme of most of the rest of the program.
When they opened up the discussion to callers, the critics did a fine job. Asked about any Afghan places in Chicago they found none (hint there are at least 3). Well, maybe they knew better when Penny later brought up Kabul House as a possible Persian place--geographic wiz, Milt immediately seized on the missing Afghan issue, but the experts remained stumped on any place Persian, suggesting, shockingly, Andy's. Too bad none of them reads Chowhound to see the current discussion of Noon-O-Kebab. Yet, Noon-O-Kebab is hardly shy to the media.
Read Chowhound? Chowhound actually came up during the night. Penny indicated that Spoon Thai would soon get a report in her magazine. Praising Spoon, she wrongly put it on Broadway. An e-mailer (not me!), contacted the station and mentioned our home. Milt then asked about Chowhound. One panel member dismissed it as a "grubmeister site", the other, rather famous for stealing things from the site, called it "a man on the street thing." No mention of its connection to Spoon followed. And they went on their way, insisting no Chicago restaurant serves authentic Indian food...
Monday, January 12, 2004
Knowing the Mob
In the few spare moments I am not thinking about food, I might be found thinking about the Mob. My graduate thesis was titled, Organized and Organizing Crime, Making Money the Easy Way. Besides professionally, working with businesses to diminish the impact and risk of organized crime, I have an ever growing collection of books and other knick-knacks related to the Mafia and related.
I enjoy reading most of the books, but I very much ascribe to the notions put into print by Robert Lacey in his superior biography of Meyer Lanksy, "the vast corpus of secondary literature on organized crime is shot through with inaccuracy and exaggeration. The challenge is to separate the truth from the tissue of hearsay and folklore woven around it, and often this is quite impossible." Thus, it is rare to find a rather comprehensive OC book that is not shot through with myth and glory.
American Mafia: A History of its Rise to Power by Thomas Reppetto offers one of the Mob books out there. Reppetto has personal knowledge of situations in Chicago and New York, but does not fall into the trap of self-aggrandizement. He is looking at the Mob. You are not looking at him looking at the Mob. Give it a peek.
In the few spare moments I am not thinking about food, I might be found thinking about the Mob. My graduate thesis was titled, Organized and Organizing Crime, Making Money the Easy Way. Besides professionally, working with businesses to diminish the impact and risk of organized crime, I have an ever growing collection of books and other knick-knacks related to the Mafia and related.
I enjoy reading most of the books, but I very much ascribe to the notions put into print by Robert Lacey in his superior biography of Meyer Lanksy, "the vast corpus of secondary literature on organized crime is shot through with inaccuracy and exaggeration. The challenge is to separate the truth from the tissue of hearsay and folklore woven around it, and often this is quite impossible." Thus, it is rare to find a rather comprehensive OC book that is not shot through with myth and glory.
American Mafia: A History of its Rise to Power by Thomas Reppetto offers one of the Mob books out there. Reppetto has personal knowledge of situations in Chicago and New York, but does not fall into the trap of self-aggrandizement. He is looking at the Mob. You are not looking at him looking at the Mob. Give it a peek.
Guess words from MikeG
MikeG offers the following vital information:
Random notes from random meals:
1) Had a babysitter Saturday night, couldn't think of anyplace I badly
needed to go that wouldn't be packed, looking over the unpacked places
on Opentable.com I saw a name made famous on Chowhound: Sugar. Well of
course a dessert place would be easy to get into early in the evening.
But it was also a drink place, why not go and blow the kids' college
fund on $16 Gibsons before dinner somewhere else. At least we could
check out the scene before amusing crossed the line into desperately
overcrowded.
Well... apparently no one goes for drinks, either, before late late.
We had the MOD-like interior and the Eminem-dressed waiter to ourselves
the entire time until we left about 8:30. Now I realize some of the
people who go to these places are just waking up at 8:30, and I
expected it to be a shadow of its late-night self, but absolutely
empty? Just shows I'll never be trendy again, I go to bed too early.
Anyway, had a not-bad, not-too-sweet drink-- ice wine cut with Estonian
vodka, not sure why Estonian but the vodka did bring the sweetness down
to where you could drink a largish one; and a lime souffle which was
quite tasty; and managed not to say anything insulting when the waiter
described the menu's absurd literary-pretentious names and floridly
overwritten copy as "Shakespearean" ("You mean everybody dies at the
end?")
And it was only $60 or $70 for a couple of drinks and dessert! A
bargain! [ed. Of course nothing sez Sugar more than this post.]
One more amusing note-- the decor is a wild riot of colors and
patterns, suggesting a psychedelic breakdown in a thrift shop, but amid
all the ultrahip stripes and camos and Op Art, one table near us had an
unfortunate, utterly counter-hip association for me-- the thick red and
white stripes on it screamed "TGI Friday's!"
2) Afterwards, started walking figuring we'd find somewhere to eat
dinner before we froze to death. Brasserie Jo loomed over us and we
said what the hell, hadn't been there in many years. For some reason
my one dinner there didn't do much for me ten years ago-- I remember at
the time liking Bistrot Zinc much better, which was too bad because
Susan had spent a fair amount of time in Alsace and liked the food. I
no longer remember why I felt that way but I was considerably more
impressed this time. Tarte flambee was just okay, mainly due to a
rather too generic crust that didn't strike me as the best a LEYE place
was capable of, but Tarte a l'oignon (not sure why we had to have both
of those-- well, yes I am, Alsatian nostalgia) was really perfect,
oniony and delicately eggy. A carrot soup with aioli was pungent, and
Beef Bordelaise was as comfy as an old leather chair. Not revelatory
or innovative food, but totally satisfying-- and it, unlike Sugar, was
packed before 10. Gee, maybe I shoulda gone back one time in the last
ten years and given it another shot.
MikeG offers the following vital information:
Random notes from random meals:
1) Had a babysitter Saturday night, couldn't think of anyplace I badly
needed to go that wouldn't be packed, looking over the unpacked places
on Opentable.com I saw a name made famous on Chowhound: Sugar. Well of
course a dessert place would be easy to get into early in the evening.
But it was also a drink place, why not go and blow the kids' college
fund on $16 Gibsons before dinner somewhere else. At least we could
check out the scene before amusing crossed the line into desperately
overcrowded.
Well... apparently no one goes for drinks, either, before late late.
We had the MOD-like interior and the Eminem-dressed waiter to ourselves
the entire time until we left about 8:30. Now I realize some of the
people who go to these places are just waking up at 8:30, and I
expected it to be a shadow of its late-night self, but absolutely
empty? Just shows I'll never be trendy again, I go to bed too early.
Anyway, had a not-bad, not-too-sweet drink-- ice wine cut with Estonian
vodka, not sure why Estonian but the vodka did bring the sweetness down
to where you could drink a largish one; and a lime souffle which was
quite tasty; and managed not to say anything insulting when the waiter
described the menu's absurd literary-pretentious names and floridly
overwritten copy as "Shakespearean" ("You mean everybody dies at the
end?")
And it was only $60 or $70 for a couple of drinks and dessert! A
bargain! [ed. Of course nothing sez Sugar more than this post.]
One more amusing note-- the decor is a wild riot of colors and
patterns, suggesting a psychedelic breakdown in a thrift shop, but amid
all the ultrahip stripes and camos and Op Art, one table near us had an
unfortunate, utterly counter-hip association for me-- the thick red and
white stripes on it screamed "TGI Friday's!"
2) Afterwards, started walking figuring we'd find somewhere to eat
dinner before we froze to death. Brasserie Jo loomed over us and we
said what the hell, hadn't been there in many years. For some reason
my one dinner there didn't do much for me ten years ago-- I remember at
the time liking Bistrot Zinc much better, which was too bad because
Susan had spent a fair amount of time in Alsace and liked the food. I
no longer remember why I felt that way but I was considerably more
impressed this time. Tarte flambee was just okay, mainly due to a
rather too generic crust that didn't strike me as the best a LEYE place
was capable of, but Tarte a l'oignon (not sure why we had to have both
of those-- well, yes I am, Alsatian nostalgia) was really perfect,
oniony and delicately eggy. A carrot soup with aioli was pungent, and
Beef Bordelaise was as comfy as an old leather chair. Not revelatory
or innovative food, but totally satisfying-- and it, unlike Sugar, was
packed before 10. Gee, maybe I shoulda gone back one time in the last
ten years and given it another shot.
Rapini
On Chowhound, several people are sharing their love for the rapini and beans at Jimmy's Place, a superb bar and restaurant in Forest Park. While I have nothing against these rapini and beans, I do not find them quite as axiomatic as some others. To be honest (as Hannah would say), when I think rapini, I still think one place, Bertucci's, on a side street in Chinatown.
Bertucci's, at least a few years ago, was one of Chicago's great hidden gems. Just being on the side/residential street satisfied one of RST's criteria for greatness. Plus, this very interesting crowd would satisfy most's taste for local color. And the rapini, you can find it with several plates. What I have always liked best, was the sauted rapini nestled next to a piece of panned veal--a veal somewhere between really fine milk-fed, but a lot better than the breaded veal found at your local Greek. If you think you like rapini, try this rapini.
Bertucci's
300 W 24th St
Chicago, IL 60616
312.225.2848
On Chowhound, several people are sharing their love for the rapini and beans at Jimmy's Place, a superb bar and restaurant in Forest Park. While I have nothing against these rapini and beans, I do not find them quite as axiomatic as some others. To be honest (as Hannah would say), when I think rapini, I still think one place, Bertucci's, on a side street in Chinatown.
Bertucci's, at least a few years ago, was one of Chicago's great hidden gems. Just being on the side/residential street satisfied one of RST's criteria for greatness. Plus, this very interesting crowd would satisfy most's taste for local color. And the rapini, you can find it with several plates. What I have always liked best, was the sauted rapini nestled next to a piece of panned veal--a veal somewhere between really fine milk-fed, but a lot better than the breaded veal found at your local Greek. If you think you like rapini, try this rapini.
Bertucci's
300 W 24th St
Chicago, IL 60616
312.225.2848
New Polish Cuisine
Michael Baruch
I have no problem with promoting, in my blog, worthwhile local products, authors and events. If you have something you want out, and I am comfortable with it, I will be happy to get it on the blog. I had a few exchanges with Chicago born author, Michael Baruch before I left for LA, and I have been meaning to put something up about his book. Polish food can be very damn enjoyable. I will be posting soon on a yet another great meal at Halina's. To take your own crack at Polish food, you might want to get Mike's book.
Michael Baruch
I have no problem with promoting, in my blog, worthwhile local products, authors and events. If you have something you want out, and I am comfortable with it, I will be happy to get it on the blog. I had a few exchanges with Chicago born author, Michael Baruch before I left for LA, and I have been meaning to put something up about his book. Polish food can be very damn enjoyable. I will be posting soon on a yet another great meal at Halina's. To take your own crack at Polish food, you might want to get Mike's book.
Friday, January 09, 2004
Yum Thai
Lunch?
Yum Thai is one of those places with a secret. A secret de-coded. Over time, I have learned the details of the Thai written menu, and I learned that to order the apparantly same dishes from this menu produced much better food. I think I might be on to yet another secret of Yum Thai, lunch.
I lunched at Yum Thai with the Condiment Queen yesterday, and ate very well. One of my previous best meals there had been lunch with G Wiv. Perhaps, without the intense-later-in the day take-out business that keeps this place going, they can put more attention into the mid-day meal. In fact one of the startling secrets we have been able to pry out of Yum Thai is that the "American" style dishes are mostly made ahead of time, while the "Thai" dishes are made to order. I wonder if the slower lunch time means even more made to order, even more attention so to speak.
Yesterday, my wife mostly wanted noodles and she got the sweet, spicy and chewy kee-mow (stir fried wide rice noodles). I had a soup-curry called, well I cannot say, I've searched high and low, but right now I cannot find my version of the translated secret menu. It is a yellow curry, sour and hot, with plenty of vegetables. foodfirst ghe generous and knowageable Chowhound who has translated Yum Thai's menu for me said this dish came with fried catfish, but yesterday my soup had shrimps. Whatever it was, it was very good. Last, we split a beef salad. This is one dish I am not even sure is on the Thai menu, but I tell them exactly how to make it. Grilled sliced beef in the lime fish sauce dressing with too many cloves of Goodfella thin garlic and too many slices of chilies--I just wish that yesterday's jalepeno's were not so dead. Still, boy did this dish crank. The beef got dressed right off the grill, gas grill as it may be, and the sauce got slightly absored, and then that embarrassing amount of garlic. I treasured that reek all day.
Right now, I am most confident with Yum Thai at lunch. And make sure to ask for the translated "secret menu" (i.e., the English version of the Thai menu, not the regular "American" menu.)
Yum Thai
7748 W Madison
Forest Park, IL. 60130
708-366-8888
Lunch?
Yum Thai is one of those places with a secret. A secret de-coded. Over time, I have learned the details of the Thai written menu, and I learned that to order the apparantly same dishes from this menu produced much better food. I think I might be on to yet another secret of Yum Thai, lunch.
I lunched at Yum Thai with the Condiment Queen yesterday, and ate very well. One of my previous best meals there had been lunch with G Wiv. Perhaps, without the intense-later-in the day take-out business that keeps this place going, they can put more attention into the mid-day meal. In fact one of the startling secrets we have been able to pry out of Yum Thai is that the "American" style dishes are mostly made ahead of time, while the "Thai" dishes are made to order. I wonder if the slower lunch time means even more made to order, even more attention so to speak.
Yesterday, my wife mostly wanted noodles and she got the sweet, spicy and chewy kee-mow (stir fried wide rice noodles). I had a soup-curry called, well I cannot say, I've searched high and low, but right now I cannot find my version of the translated secret menu. It is a yellow curry, sour and hot, with plenty of vegetables. foodfirst ghe generous and knowageable Chowhound who has translated Yum Thai's menu for me said this dish came with fried catfish, but yesterday my soup had shrimps. Whatever it was, it was very good. Last, we split a beef salad. This is one dish I am not even sure is on the Thai menu, but I tell them exactly how to make it. Grilled sliced beef in the lime fish sauce dressing with too many cloves of Goodfella thin garlic and too many slices of chilies--I just wish that yesterday's jalepeno's were not so dead. Still, boy did this dish crank. The beef got dressed right off the grill, gas grill as it may be, and the sauce got slightly absored, and then that embarrassing amount of garlic. I treasured that reek all day.
Right now, I am most confident with Yum Thai at lunch. And make sure to ask for the translated "secret menu" (i.e., the English version of the Thai menu, not the regular "American" menu.)
Yum Thai
7748 W Madison
Forest Park, IL. 60130
708-366-8888
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Kenny's Ribs Discovery
Several Chowhounds will shortly take off on an epic Q quest. The brilliant one wants to hit 30 places (ha!). I am sure they will make some great bbq discoveries, but I doubt they will make the discovery I made last night.
Kenny's Ribs offers one of the more average "authentic" style ribs and rib tips, but offers it from several locations, a chain of mediocrity. It is, however, one of the few places within walking distance of the bungalow. Plus, they provide a nice lunch deal that extends to the very non-lunch hour of 5:59. Thus, I find myself eating at Kenny's more than I need. Until yesterday.
I did not ask for my rib tips sauce-less. I asked for the hot sauce, like always. Kenny's sauce is actually not bad. Yet, with the sauce on the side, the rib tips shot up at least 80 points on the Q-o-meter. I tasted the charcoal. I tasted the meat. I tasted the luxuriously awful pork fat. Now, I did accent the meat. Accented with one of the all time great tips from Chowhound, the ability of Tapatio hot sauce to mimic Arthur Bryant's sauce. Kenny's rib tips, with Tapatio hot sauce, for $3.99, pure pleasure. Try it.
Several Chowhounds will shortly take off on an epic Q quest. The brilliant one wants to hit 30 places (ha!). I am sure they will make some great bbq discoveries, but I doubt they will make the discovery I made last night.
Kenny's Ribs offers one of the more average "authentic" style ribs and rib tips, but offers it from several locations, a chain of mediocrity. It is, however, one of the few places within walking distance of the bungalow. Plus, they provide a nice lunch deal that extends to the very non-lunch hour of 5:59. Thus, I find myself eating at Kenny's more than I need. Until yesterday.
I did not ask for my rib tips sauce-less. I asked for the hot sauce, like always. Kenny's sauce is actually not bad. Yet, with the sauce on the side, the rib tips shot up at least 80 points on the Q-o-meter. I tasted the charcoal. I tasted the meat. I tasted the luxuriously awful pork fat. Now, I did accent the meat. Accented with one of the all time great tips from Chowhound, the ability of Tapatio hot sauce to mimic Arthur Bryant's sauce. Kenny's rib tips, with Tapatio hot sauce, for $3.99, pure pleasure. Try it.
Question for Reader (or reader's)
I got around to looking at the latest issue of the Reader. Every week, the Reader lists about 20 or so places around a theme, with the pity comments of their reporters. This week's summaries, Uptown. I was highly surprised when Palace of China got called "strictly Szechuan Chinese."
C'mon guys, true? Last time I checked this place out, it was a rather traditional Cantonese place: salt and pepper shrimps, steamed fish, whole crabs and lobsters from a tank, that kind of stuff. Is my memory off or does the Reader need a fact checker?
For an idea of what strictly Szechuan means, I suggest perhaps the Reader's editors make a visit to Lao Sze Chuan or maybe the newly opened Sky in Chinatown. The other day the Sun Times' Pat Bruno stated matter of factly that "I have seen an erosion of quality Chinese food in too many of the restaurants in Chinatown (one exception is Phoenix, which is still the best dim sum and then some restaurant around)." I got to wonder do these critics actually eat in Chinatown or Argyle or do they just not know what Chinese food is?
UPDATE: Two quick things. First, since I wrote this on Thursday morning, you should know I was talking, really, already, about LAST week's Reader. Second, it got worse when I looked at it some more. The same restaurant list in last week's Reader, has Cantonese, Silver Seafood as "Mandarian." Hard to elevate the Chinese food discourse in this city if we hardly know what Chinese food is.
I got around to looking at the latest issue of the Reader. Every week, the Reader lists about 20 or so places around a theme, with the pity comments of their reporters. This week's summaries, Uptown. I was highly surprised when Palace of China got called "strictly Szechuan Chinese."
C'mon guys, true? Last time I checked this place out, it was a rather traditional Cantonese place: salt and pepper shrimps, steamed fish, whole crabs and lobsters from a tank, that kind of stuff. Is my memory off or does the Reader need a fact checker?
For an idea of what strictly Szechuan means, I suggest perhaps the Reader's editors make a visit to Lao Sze Chuan or maybe the newly opened Sky in Chinatown. The other day the Sun Times' Pat Bruno stated matter of factly that "I have seen an erosion of quality Chinese food in too many of the restaurants in Chinatown (one exception is Phoenix, which is still the best dim sum and then some restaurant around)." I got to wonder do these critics actually eat in Chinatown or Argyle or do they just not know what Chinese food is?
UPDATE: Two quick things. First, since I wrote this on Thursday morning, you should know I was talking, really, already, about LAST week's Reader. Second, it got worse when I looked at it some more. The same restaurant list in last week's Reader, has Cantonese, Silver Seafood as "Mandarian." Hard to elevate the Chinese food discourse in this city if we hardly know what Chinese food is.
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Curses, foiled again
I've horribly jinxed myself by bragging more than once in recent weeks, about my ability to recall meals without notes. I posted on Dinah's without remembering the banana bread or the giant bucket out front, two of the reasons this may be the best restaurant in LA. I forgot the dry beef flaky bread dish at Ed's (scroll down), probably because it was the only weak item, and I have totally, totally missed the best thing I ate in 2003.
Now, my excuse for not remembering this thing is because I am still eating it as we enter 2004. I am talking about my wife's candy pecans. Not only are these the best thing to have ever been prepared in the bungalow, they are probably the best dish ever prepared in Oak Park. They are so good, when I start nibbling at them, I almost have to force myself to stop, or otherwise my stomach would burst. I am like one of those rats with their brains hooked up that they get the jolt of pleasure that they cannot do anything else. I have tried hard to convince the Condiment Queen to go pro with these things, but she is resistant to the name I concocted for the business: Sheila's Nutz.
I've horribly jinxed myself by bragging more than once in recent weeks, about my ability to recall meals without notes. I posted on Dinah's without remembering the banana bread or the giant bucket out front, two of the reasons this may be the best restaurant in LA. I forgot the dry beef flaky bread dish at Ed's (scroll down), probably because it was the only weak item, and I have totally, totally missed the best thing I ate in 2003.
Now, my excuse for not remembering this thing is because I am still eating it as we enter 2004. I am talking about my wife's candy pecans. Not only are these the best thing to have ever been prepared in the bungalow, they are probably the best dish ever prepared in Oak Park. They are so good, when I start nibbling at them, I almost have to force myself to stop, or otherwise my stomach would burst. I am like one of those rats with their brains hooked up that they get the jolt of pleasure that they cannot do anything else. I have tried hard to convince the Condiment Queen to go pro with these things, but she is resistant to the name I concocted for the business: Sheila's Nutz.
Triple Crown Seafood
In one of their few lucent moments, the Chicago Tribune Cheap Eats did Triple Crown Seafood today. (free registration required). Sometimes people's attention get focused on the newer or more obscure Chinese food available these days in Chinatown, 500 item Szechuanese menu's, rare Yunnan treats, Dongbei, etc., but sometimes it is very comforting and enjoyable to eat the basics, well if not the basics, at least what has been more traditional in Chinatown.
Triple Crown (most of the time, it can be inconsistent) does fantastic versions of all the Hong Kong standards. Make your meal almost entirely of seafood treats: oyster casserole with pork chunks--an inspired combo, fried smelts over-run with bits of garlic and other things, clams in black bean sauce. For meat, try a basic Cantonese restaurant prep, displayed in the back like soy sauce chicken. I have also had great crispy skin chicken here, the Cantonese breadingless fried chicken. Finally, add at least one vegetable to the table. Triple Crown's menu features tons of vegetable dishes, all done well. Easy to be healthy here.
As noted in the review, at Triple Crown the prices all drop shockingly after 10 PM, and this becomes about the best deal in Chicago
In one of their few lucent moments, the Chicago Tribune Cheap Eats did Triple Crown Seafood today. (free registration required). Sometimes people's attention get focused on the newer or more obscure Chinese food available these days in Chinatown, 500 item Szechuanese menu's, rare Yunnan treats, Dongbei, etc., but sometimes it is very comforting and enjoyable to eat the basics, well if not the basics, at least what has been more traditional in Chinatown.
Triple Crown (most of the time, it can be inconsistent) does fantastic versions of all the Hong Kong standards. Make your meal almost entirely of seafood treats: oyster casserole with pork chunks--an inspired combo, fried smelts over-run with bits of garlic and other things, clams in black bean sauce. For meat, try a basic Cantonese restaurant prep, displayed in the back like soy sauce chicken. I have also had great crispy skin chicken here, the Cantonese breadingless fried chicken. Finally, add at least one vegetable to the table. Triple Crown's menu features tons of vegetable dishes, all done well. Easy to be healthy here.
As noted in the review, at Triple Crown the prices all drop shockingly after 10 PM, and this becomes about the best deal in Chicago
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Gosh darn, in my listing of everywhere and everything I ate in LA, I forgot a small yet very, very enjoyable nibble.
In the two block area that is "Little Thailand" on Hollywood Blvd, is a large Thai grocery store called Silom (after the famous street in Bangkok). In the parking lot behind the store, a couple were cooking up a famous Thai street treat. I mean being in the parking lot, it was almost like eating in Bangkok. These treats are semi-circles of coconut milk custard, accented Thai style with sliced green onions. It was a treat of textures and tastes. As ChefG tries, this dish featured a distict skin and then an an almost set interior and finally, a jarring, unexpected flavor. A dollar very well spent!
In the two block area that is "Little Thailand" on Hollywood Blvd, is a large Thai grocery store called Silom (after the famous street in Bangkok). In the parking lot behind the store, a couple were cooking up a famous Thai street treat. I mean being in the parking lot, it was almost like eating in Bangkok. These treats are semi-circles of coconut milk custard, accented Thai style with sliced green onions. It was a treat of textures and tastes. As ChefG tries, this dish featured a distict skin and then an an almost set interior and finally, a jarring, unexpected flavor. A dollar very well spent!
Best Chow Moments 2003
On the listserv, several people have offered up their best eating of 2003. Here are mine (in no particular order)
Italian beef tasting. As much for the sammy's as for all the great people met along the way.
The wine dungeon leading to the $27 Thai food extravaganza at Spoon Thai followed by several more hours of eating and drinking, all along Western Avenue, the longest street in Chicago.
Lemon chicken with Wiv at Tufano's (for the Palm Pilot).
Eating burgers with Sheila at the Come Back Inn, Melrose Park a mere 2 hours after she had lunch at Trio.
Spring World with RST ordering (Chinatown, Chicago).
Brisket at Black's BBQ, Lockhart, Texas. If reduced to one taste for 2003, this would be it.
My brisket smoked and eaten the next day at Beverly Shores, Indiana. Finally a full size brisket almost as good. I had made very good flats in the past, but my previous attempts with full briskets had met with mixed success.
Wiv's smoked corned beef, the best pastrami, by a long way, in Chicago
Lem's ribs with beers at Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap to commence the Allnighathon.
Rico huarache at Maxwell Street Market, Chicago
Donuts in LA
Joan's bouillabaisse
The third basturma, garlic spread and pickle sandwich at Erik M's. Two were great, but the third jolt of these intense flavors put me in such a food stupor Sheila had to drive me home.
Wine week at Smith and Wollensky
The world's greatest sope's, Milwaukee Ave, Logan Square (Chicago).
Rosh Hashannah roast chicken salad from the Zuni cookbook and Yom Kippur braised beef without a cookbook
Relishes made with relish by my mother for Thanksgiving
French toast and pie at DuPar's, Farmer's Market, LA
Hearts of lettuce, anchovy dressing, with a martini on the side, Musso and Frank's, Hollywood, CA. The most perfect accord.
I reserve the right to amend for at least a week!
On the listserv, several people have offered up their best eating of 2003. Here are mine (in no particular order)
Italian beef tasting. As much for the sammy's as for all the great people met along the way.
The wine dungeon leading to the $27 Thai food extravaganza at Spoon Thai followed by several more hours of eating and drinking, all along Western Avenue, the longest street in Chicago.
Lemon chicken with Wiv at Tufano's (for the Palm Pilot).
Eating burgers with Sheila at the Come Back Inn, Melrose Park a mere 2 hours after she had lunch at Trio.
Spring World with RST ordering (Chinatown, Chicago).
Brisket at Black's BBQ, Lockhart, Texas. If reduced to one taste for 2003, this would be it.
My brisket smoked and eaten the next day at Beverly Shores, Indiana. Finally a full size brisket almost as good. I had made very good flats in the past, but my previous attempts with full briskets had met with mixed success.
Wiv's smoked corned beef, the best pastrami, by a long way, in Chicago
Lem's ribs with beers at Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap to commence the Allnighathon.
Rico huarache at Maxwell Street Market, Chicago
Donuts in LA
Joan's bouillabaisse
The third basturma, garlic spread and pickle sandwich at Erik M's. Two were great, but the third jolt of these intense flavors put me in such a food stupor Sheila had to drive me home.
Wine week at Smith and Wollensky
The world's greatest sope's, Milwaukee Ave, Logan Square (Chicago).
Rosh Hashannah roast chicken salad from the Zuni cookbook and Yom Kippur braised beef without a cookbook
Relishes made with relish by my mother for Thanksgiving
French toast and pie at DuPar's, Farmer's Market, LA
Hearts of lettuce, anchovy dressing, with a martini on the side, Musso and Frank's, Hollywood, CA. The most perfect accord.
I reserve the right to amend for at least a week!
Fannie May to shut plant, putting 625 out of work
So reports today's Chicago Tribune. I resist mightily, the desire to toss political items into the blog--got it to keep it chow-centric no? but I HAVE to say something here.
It bothers me to no end, the deterioration of Chicago's business base. I see major corporations, Ameritech, Amoco, Quaker Oats, sell themselves off and then significantly diminish their presence in the Windy City. I see the massive Helene Curtis facilities near North and Cicero get wrecked. And the demolition companies must be soon at the gates of Brach, a couple of blocks south. Can we sum up Chicago's economic growth in recent years as the boondoggle of Millennium Park, a huge residential output in the South Loop and the luring of a 100 Boeing executives? At some point, people have to make money to live in all these units, and at some point the building boom will die. Then what?
So reports today's Chicago Tribune. I resist mightily, the desire to toss political items into the blog--got it to keep it chow-centric no? but I HAVE to say something here.
It bothers me to no end, the deterioration of Chicago's business base. I see major corporations, Ameritech, Amoco, Quaker Oats, sell themselves off and then significantly diminish their presence in the Windy City. I see the massive Helene Curtis facilities near North and Cicero get wrecked. And the demolition companies must be soon at the gates of Brach, a couple of blocks south. Can we sum up Chicago's economic growth in recent years as the boondoggle of Millennium Park, a huge residential output in the South Loop and the luring of a 100 Boeing executives? At some point, people have to make money to live in all these units, and at some point the building boom will die. Then what?
Monday, January 05, 2004
Ed's Potsticker Update:
1) I forgot a dish, a dry, well very dry beef with a sauce tasting like dehydrated peanutbutter in a nicely flaky pastry--you can see why I forgot this dish, and the idea of ten dishes sounded better anyway.
2) Here's a pic of the house's standout dish. Note, when had ours on Saturday, the sandwiches were already made for us. Go to this site for more pic's of Ed's. (Pic's courtesy of GWiv)
1) I forgot a dish, a dry, well very dry beef with a sauce tasting like dehydrated peanutbutter in a nicely flaky pastry--you can see why I forgot this dish, and the idea of ten dishes sounded better anyway.
2) Here's a pic of the house's standout dish. Note, when had ours on Saturday, the sandwiches were already made for us. Go to this site for more pic's of Ed's. (Pic's courtesy of GWiv)
Sunday, January 04, 2004
Ed's Potsticker House
Ringing in the New Year with Champagne and dumplings
The benefit of the listserv is that great special meals can be planned and executed with minimal effort. All it takes is an idea and an e-mail account. The brilliant one, RST, got the notion that we should kick things off, 2004, with a full range of helpings from Ed's Potsticker Northern Chinese snack menu, and to wash it all down, champagne, preferably champagnes from small bottlers.
I was last at Ed's in July, although for some reason it seems like last year (hahahahaha, no really it does seem like longer.) Our meal Saturday mimicked much of what we ate in July, although this time we excluded any "main dishes". All snacks or dim sum.
Honestly, as one of the chowhounditas likes to say, honestly, it was all great. A seemingly endless procession of Calvin Trillin inspired stuffed stuff. First, soup dumplings with an elastic and rather leak proof wrapper. Not too soupy, but good nonetheless. Second, the house signature dish, traditional Northern style potstickers, much different than your PF Chang version. Rolled, like the cigars served in Israeli restaurants, crisp all the way around, flaky, and just a touch greasy. Third, water dumplings, a thicker wrapper, more European, like a pierogi, to support the more vigorous cooking process, boiled versus steamed. Now, these dumplings pretty much all contained the same things inside, three similar items, yet all three possessed distinct and different skins. It focused you on the artisanship of the dumpling maker. Fourth, tiny bread bombs (typical Chinese steamed bread of "silver cake", steamed and then fried), with a bowl of condensed milk for dragging. Nothing much to say, huh? Fifth, sesame balls with bean paste, one of the few overlaps with traditional Cantonese dim sum. Ed's does a much tinier ball, and fries it longer. More crunch than goo, but I slightly prefer the goo. Sixth and seventh, two forays to Shanghai: rice cakes with bok choy and pork and thick round noodles. The carborama continued, just not as dumplings. Still about the contrasts in texture and what can be done with flour based on how it is worked and how it is cooked. I really liked the toothsome rice cakes, but the guy sitting next to me (MikeG) felt them too MSG-y. Eighth, back to dumplings, this one steamed and griddled on one side, like most people expect of potstickers, but filled with a kids pleasing cellophane noodle and chive. Ninth, the collective favorite, the crisp and flaky pancake filled, pita-like, with Chinese bacon--belly meat, rolled and slice so the filling was circles of pork meat and port fat. Tenth, soup, a much meatier and beefier broth than found further south, filled with, guess what, won tons (more dumplings). Ten ways to drive Atkins nuts and ten ways to have a great lunch. Eleven actually, we got chopped up bits of Chinese donut sticks, but the kids grabbed and ate these so fast, I cannot say more.
Those champagnes to accompany? Brilliant idea. Not only does Champagne go anywhere, not only did it extend the New Year's parties, but Champagne, with its mouth clearing properties, makes an excellent companion to this starchy food. Afterall, how many times has a champagne been described as bready or toasty. We had an assortment of bottles including some small producers--I'll get the details later, some Czech czampagne as we called it and some decidedly NOT small, Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin Vintage Reserve 1996 I bought on sale a month or so ago. To be honest, I have limited insight on the bubblies. I agreed to let Ms. VI sit with the adults, I took the kids over to a big table, where we joined Mike G, his two, and a very brave, very generous chowhound named Peter. My condition for this arrangement, I got to drink all the champagne I wanted. Soon, all the wine blurred together, even the highly sweet, a bit medicine like, Czech version.
Ed's Potsticker House is continued testament that Chicago is filled with fantastic Chinese cooking. Ed's serves roughly, the population in Chicago, not from the Southern states. Ed's gorgeous and charming owner, Brenda, hails from Beijing. Her chef from Dong-bei, the East. The menu, as noted above, takes in Shanghai dishes as well. To perhaps step over the line, but even in Hong Kong, non-Cantonese restaurants have a reputation for warmth and friendliness, but with a Northern style place like Ed's, you will not find some of the brusqueness, the refusal to serve dishes, the you no like, treatment, found often at Chinese places. The outstanding hospitality of all at Ed's only added to the pleasure.
After lunch, most of us took the short jog to Filberts, where for the first time in my life, they were bottling when I entered. Hungrier sorts continued south to Lem's ribs, but we need to get back to Oak Park.
Ed's Potsticker House
3139 S. Halsted St.
(312) 326-6898
Ringing in the New Year with Champagne and dumplings
The benefit of the listserv is that great special meals can be planned and executed with minimal effort. All it takes is an idea and an e-mail account. The brilliant one, RST, got the notion that we should kick things off, 2004, with a full range of helpings from Ed's Potsticker Northern Chinese snack menu, and to wash it all down, champagne, preferably champagnes from small bottlers.
I was last at Ed's in July, although for some reason it seems like last year (hahahahaha, no really it does seem like longer.) Our meal Saturday mimicked much of what we ate in July, although this time we excluded any "main dishes". All snacks or dim sum.
Honestly, as one of the chowhounditas likes to say, honestly, it was all great. A seemingly endless procession of Calvin Trillin inspired stuffed stuff. First, soup dumplings with an elastic and rather leak proof wrapper. Not too soupy, but good nonetheless. Second, the house signature dish, traditional Northern style potstickers, much different than your PF Chang version. Rolled, like the cigars served in Israeli restaurants, crisp all the way around, flaky, and just a touch greasy. Third, water dumplings, a thicker wrapper, more European, like a pierogi, to support the more vigorous cooking process, boiled versus steamed. Now, these dumplings pretty much all contained the same things inside, three similar items, yet all three possessed distinct and different skins. It focused you on the artisanship of the dumpling maker. Fourth, tiny bread bombs (typical Chinese steamed bread of "silver cake", steamed and then fried), with a bowl of condensed milk for dragging. Nothing much to say, huh? Fifth, sesame balls with bean paste, one of the few overlaps with traditional Cantonese dim sum. Ed's does a much tinier ball, and fries it longer. More crunch than goo, but I slightly prefer the goo. Sixth and seventh, two forays to Shanghai: rice cakes with bok choy and pork and thick round noodles. The carborama continued, just not as dumplings. Still about the contrasts in texture and what can be done with flour based on how it is worked and how it is cooked. I really liked the toothsome rice cakes, but the guy sitting next to me (MikeG) felt them too MSG-y. Eighth, back to dumplings, this one steamed and griddled on one side, like most people expect of potstickers, but filled with a kids pleasing cellophane noodle and chive. Ninth, the collective favorite, the crisp and flaky pancake filled, pita-like, with Chinese bacon--belly meat, rolled and slice so the filling was circles of pork meat and port fat. Tenth, soup, a much meatier and beefier broth than found further south, filled with, guess what, won tons (more dumplings). Ten ways to drive Atkins nuts and ten ways to have a great lunch. Eleven actually, we got chopped up bits of Chinese donut sticks, but the kids grabbed and ate these so fast, I cannot say more.
Those champagnes to accompany? Brilliant idea. Not only does Champagne go anywhere, not only did it extend the New Year's parties, but Champagne, with its mouth clearing properties, makes an excellent companion to this starchy food. Afterall, how many times has a champagne been described as bready or toasty. We had an assortment of bottles including some small producers--I'll get the details later, some Czech czampagne as we called it and some decidedly NOT small, Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin Vintage Reserve 1996 I bought on sale a month or so ago. To be honest, I have limited insight on the bubblies. I agreed to let Ms. VI sit with the adults, I took the kids over to a big table, where we joined Mike G, his two, and a very brave, very generous chowhound named Peter. My condition for this arrangement, I got to drink all the champagne I wanted. Soon, all the wine blurred together, even the highly sweet, a bit medicine like, Czech version.
Ed's Potsticker House is continued testament that Chicago is filled with fantastic Chinese cooking. Ed's serves roughly, the population in Chicago, not from the Southern states. Ed's gorgeous and charming owner, Brenda, hails from Beijing. Her chef from Dong-bei, the East. The menu, as noted above, takes in Shanghai dishes as well. To perhaps step over the line, but even in Hong Kong, non-Cantonese restaurants have a reputation for warmth and friendliness, but with a Northern style place like Ed's, you will not find some of the brusqueness, the refusal to serve dishes, the you no like, treatment, found often at Chinese places. The outstanding hospitality of all at Ed's only added to the pleasure.
After lunch, most of us took the short jog to Filberts, where for the first time in my life, they were bottling when I entered. Hungrier sorts continued south to Lem's ribs, but we need to get back to Oak Park.
Ed's Potsticker House
3139 S. Halsted St.
(312) 326-6898
Thursday, January 01, 2004
Eating LA
I'm gonna post more thoughts on the LA Chowhound board. Here's a quick re-cap:
El Gran Burrito - A bit edgy with great head meat tacos
Falafel King - Sentimental favorite still a favorite. Picking just a few salads too hard, made up by the fact that I can help myself to more than five kinds of hot sauces.
Stan's Donut's - Loved the banana peanut butter. This Stan guy is a genius. Not as crazy over the cheese/cherry combo. What was this Stan guy thinking?
Uncle Bill's - OK pancakes
Randy's Donut's - Great donut facsimile on roof
Border Grill - Not resting on laurels for sure. Nice kid's menu
Fatburger - Fast food that still allows itself to be greasy
Pink's - We like Chicago dogs better
Renu Nakorn - Except for all the special things mixed in--the garlic/chili sauce for the catfish, the crispy rice and the thorny vegetable with the pompano stew, things like that, Renu Nakorn did not make me say wow. And did not sear my nostrils as Jonathan Gold promised.
Donut Shop next door to Renu - Buttermilk bar blew away Randy's - Seek this place out, not just for donut tips, but the Thai born owner is quite the foodie, with opinions on a lot of LA places. Hint, he does not think much of Renu Nakorn.
Jay's Jayburger - Great hamburger not so great chili
Tommy's - Not so great hamburger, better chili--as a combo, better than Jay's
Dinah's Coffee Shop - Perhaps the finest restaurant in LA (I kid you not!)
Hollywood Farmer's Market- Fan-freakin'-tastic - Best pupusa's I've ever had
Roscoe's Chicken and Waffle's - Gower Street location even better than Pico. Amazing sweet potatoes.
Pie n'Burger - THE LA (area) burger. All the elements combine into the perfect burger. Lemon meringue pie pretty good and strawberry cake even better
Kuala Lumpur - Fine rendition of Malaysian food
Guelaguetza - Searched out the 8th street location to see if it was better. Answer, not really, but that did not mean it was not tasty. Although I have to say, the very LA, Mexican bakery run by Koreans across the street was even tastier.
Musso and Frank's - There is a reason it's survived since 1919. Loved everything but the prices. Hearts of Lettuce salad with anchovy dressing single best plate of food on trip.
Sushi Gen - Doing something right as it was packed with Japanese families on a Tuesday night
Woody's Smogersburger - Who can resist? Charred burger more special than the smogersburger toppings bar.
Du-Par's - Did I say Dinnah's was the best restaurant, well that was in Culver City, so Du-Par's is the best restaurant in LA. French toast is not supposed to taste this good, and that pie...sigh!
Primo's Donut's - Unlucky us. Most of the selections were gone as we stopped on the way to the airport. We still liked the meager pickings. No ability, however to rank it against Stan's.
I'm gonna post more thoughts on the LA Chowhound board. Here's a quick re-cap:
El Gran Burrito - A bit edgy with great head meat tacos
Falafel King - Sentimental favorite still a favorite. Picking just a few salads too hard, made up by the fact that I can help myself to more than five kinds of hot sauces.
Stan's Donut's - Loved the banana peanut butter. This Stan guy is a genius. Not as crazy over the cheese/cherry combo. What was this Stan guy thinking?
Uncle Bill's - OK pancakes
Randy's Donut's - Great donut facsimile on roof
Border Grill - Not resting on laurels for sure. Nice kid's menu
Fatburger - Fast food that still allows itself to be greasy
Pink's - We like Chicago dogs better
Renu Nakorn - Except for all the special things mixed in--the garlic/chili sauce for the catfish, the crispy rice and the thorny vegetable with the pompano stew, things like that, Renu Nakorn did not make me say wow. And did not sear my nostrils as Jonathan Gold promised.
Donut Shop next door to Renu - Buttermilk bar blew away Randy's - Seek this place out, not just for donut tips, but the Thai born owner is quite the foodie, with opinions on a lot of LA places. Hint, he does not think much of Renu Nakorn.
Jay's Jayburger - Great hamburger not so great chili
Tommy's - Not so great hamburger, better chili--as a combo, better than Jay's
Dinah's Coffee Shop - Perhaps the finest restaurant in LA (I kid you not!)
Hollywood Farmer's Market- Fan-freakin'-tastic - Best pupusa's I've ever had
Roscoe's Chicken and Waffle's - Gower Street location even better than Pico. Amazing sweet potatoes.
Pie n'Burger - THE LA (area) burger. All the elements combine into the perfect burger. Lemon meringue pie pretty good and strawberry cake even better
Kuala Lumpur - Fine rendition of Malaysian food
Guelaguetza - Searched out the 8th street location to see if it was better. Answer, not really, but that did not mean it was not tasty. Although I have to say, the very LA, Mexican bakery run by Koreans across the street was even tastier.
Musso and Frank's - There is a reason it's survived since 1919. Loved everything but the prices. Hearts of Lettuce salad with anchovy dressing single best plate of food on trip.
Sushi Gen - Doing something right as it was packed with Japanese families on a Tuesday night
Woody's Smogersburger - Who can resist? Charred burger more special than the smogersburger toppings bar.
Du-Par's - Did I say Dinnah's was the best restaurant, well that was in Culver City, so Du-Par's is the best restaurant in LA. French toast is not supposed to taste this good, and that pie...sigh!
Primo's Donut's - Unlucky us. Most of the selections were gone as we stopped on the way to the airport. We still liked the meager pickings. No ability, however to rank it against Stan's.
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