The Tlacoyo
Los Cazos Restaurant

The full extent of Mexican food in Chicago never ceases to amaze me. There is always something new to find. Yesterday, I found the tlacoyo. At Los Cazos, a small restaurant on Fullerton near Austin I have been meaning to try for ages. I noticed a few things that made me want to try it, not so much the tlacoyos, but pambasos and homemade tortillas. But when I saw the sign, upon entering, for tlacoyo's, I was immediately drawn to that.

Our waitress did not have a huge command of English, so she just brought out an uncooked tlacoyo to explain. The best way to describe it as a cross between a huarache and a pupusa, but smaller. It is a small masa paddle with a filling of requeson, Mexican ricotta cheese, between the dough. It came topped with a choice of beans or cactus. I asked for beans but got cactus. Was it the best tlacoyo I ever had? Well, it was a bit dry, but like all these antojitos, still intrinsically great.

Actually, even greater, little sopes they gave us as an amuse. What is it about the sope that I find so enticing. I know the brilliant one will probably disagree, but I think maybe the sope is the greatest of the antojitos, all the Mexican snackish type things made from corn flour (i.e., tacos, gorditas, picaditas, huaraches, etc.). Keeping the masa thicker produces an array of textures from Wiv-crisp to toothsome. Moreover, this no fat added product tastes almost as buttery-flaky (or lardy) as a biscuit. I liked the amuse sope.

I was in a trying mood. I went with a taco al pastor--it seemed very D.F., they told me they were from Mexico City--and a pambaso, also very D.F. Good choices both. The pambaso, the bloody red sammy (bread dipped in a chile sauce) got griddled a while, and that really infused the sauce into the bread, anodized it. The sausage potato filling was fine, but it was really about the bread. The taco came out in a small commercial tortilla, not the home made tortillas. Luckily, we had a big stack of the homemade tortillas on the table, and I just tossed my filling into a real tortilla, a very good, large tortilla, almost as good as La Quebrada. The pastor was crunchy and good too. The Condiment Queen enjoyed her arroz con mariscos, which included, acording the menu, shark. It was a very passable paella really.

We were a slight oddity at Los Cazos, firstly for our intense interrogations of the staff (the Dona had to come out from the kitchen to check us out) and secondly, as I later found out, the place is also a hangout for Mexican heavy metal heads. Go for the food.

Los Cazos Restaurant
5945 W. Fullerton
Chicago, IL 60639
773-637-9456

It's like butta
(See it's food related)

Seem's like the divine Ms. Streisand has a blog too. Guess what, she does not like Bush. (Via Drudge)

Crappy Chef

I point out Happy Chef enough as a great option for home-style Cantonese fare in Chinatown, that I feel quite obligated to report, that our meal last night was far, far from the restaurant I tout. Aside from complimentary soups starting and finishing the meal, I have nothing much good to say about our meal. It was on par with some of the worst meals I have eaten in the stretch of Chicago between Cermak and 18th Street.

As Leonard Pith-Garnell would have said years and years ago, tonight's bad meal began with exquisitely bad shrimps, bad lobster, bad fish, bad noodles and dreadful eggplant. First to arrive at the table were the salt-peper shrimps. Normally, these large, head-on shrimps are superior eating. Between the spices and the flash cooking, the shell and head is rendered entirely edible, and you get the fullest flavor of shrimp as you crunch on everything but the tiny tail. Last night's shrimps were so mushy that the contrast between shell and meat was uncomfortable. Yet, perhaps, the shrimps exceeded the lobster with ginger and green onion. I highly suspect that lobster was pre-cooked and maybe even frozen in advance because the meat tasted water-logged and slightly frosty, like they did not finish it. (Plus, the lobster was small to boot!) And actually it just kept on getting worse. The sliced fish on tofu in black-bean sauce also seemed oddly old. The black-bean sauce had penetrated the fish fillets like it had been in the sauce for a long time. Stir fried rice noodles were as salty as a mouthful of accidentally swallowed beach water. Eggplant logs did have a wonderful shower of garlic-dots, but those logs had completely absorbed all its cooking oil, all its garnishing oil, and about all the other oils in the kitchen before it arrived at the table. It did not have any of that carmelized sweetness that Chinese eggplants usually offer. Except for the eggplant, the other dishes are all things we have had done very well before.

The gray mystery soup they provide is still interesting, challenging and satisfying in its own bizarre way. Yesterday's soup featured the usual curls of chewy conch and bits of meat that seem like left-overs from the morning's dim sum as well as a bunch of skins, rhizomes, nuts and berries that I recognized from packages at Chinese grocery stores as "soup mix". The dessert soup was new, the sweet tapioca broth colored orange by the inclusion of sweet potato chunks. It was highly delicious, not too sweet but still dessert. For a moment, I was happy, and I reminded Ms. VI of one of my favorite rules for restaurateurs: leave them with a great dessert.

I have had too many great meals (See here or here; plus here's a report from Zim from a meal we had with him and his family) at Happy Chef to write them off. In fact, I have written before of poor meals. When on, Happy Chef serves a wide variety of homey Cantonese fare that is also a great bargain with the soups and add a lobster/add a crab deals. You know I'll be reporting back soon.

Happy Chef
2164 S. Archer Ave (Chinatown Mall)
Chicago, IL
312-808-3689

Nibbles and Gulps

Smith and Wollensky
Wine week came and passed, so if you expected a warning from me, sorry. The Condiment Queen loved it so much last year, we went twice this year. I got the same thing on Tuesday and Friday, sliced steak sandwich. This is nothing if not a great deal ($15.50). You get a small portion of prime rib eye, about 10 ounces, too fatty really; plus prize winning french fries (well they should be prize winning), a small salad with cherry tomatoes, grilled sweet onions and a hunk of doughy bread. The steak could have used a better crust, but as I said, for the money a stellar deal. Wines on Tuesday were as inept as the service. Everything changed on Friday. We sat at the bar, where David remembered us and the kids from last year. It's amazing what a great bartender can do to the meal. Friday's Far Niete WAS worth the $10 and then some. At least on Tuesday, it was an excellent way to get buzzed. 318 N. State

Myron and Phils
Likewise, I have been to this steakhouse twice recently. Again, the experiences differed even as I ordered the same dish. Here, the difference is lunch to dinner not bar to table. Myron and Phil's is greater for what they give away instead of what they sell you. Two blue cheese burgers with burnt onions found me unimpressed. I am not sure if I have my finger on the curse of their burgers. It might be too lean meat, too much grinding or too much filler. Regardless, the meat, even when medium rare seems tough and dry. Luckily, dinner at least, is more than saved with some of the best pickles: cucumbers, tomatoes and red peppers in Chicago, plus a strong flavored chopped liver and an excellent bread basket. Lunch only gets you the sliced pickles, no liver and no tomatoes or peppers. Dinner on March 25 also got you a slice of Grampa Myron's birthday cake. I've circled the date for 05. 3900 West Devon Avenue, Lincolnwood

Tufano's
We only had one chowhoundita on Saturday and we stumbled for a while trying to figure out where to eat. Dad rescued the night by pulling his Palm Pilot worthy Tufano's out. Like M&P or Carson's, two other VI favorites, these are places where maybe not so great food is great. An iceberg based salad soaking in red vinegar vinaigrette, Mom's marina, I know plenty of hounds who sneer at Tufano's food. I find crappy food never tastes so good. There is one truly great dish here. The broiled lemon chicken with greasy-crunchy cottage fries. Yet, the pastas we had the other night, cavetelli with simple marinara and spaghetti with oil and garlic demonstrate the greatness of noodles. SethZ could easily eat exactly Italian here. With the either of our appetizers, nicely steamed clams in a red sauce or the above mentioned salad (featuring all sorts of features like chunks of provolone, marinated peppers, oregano dusted onion slices, artichoke hearts and more. I just wish they'd use better quality olives, but like I say, this is not a great place). Then, move on to those pasta's and finish with the chicken. 1073 W. Vernon Park Pl. (Cash only)

Artopolis
Since we were a month early for Taylor Street lemonade, we moved slightly north for dessert at Artopolis. Ms. VI and I both oogled a lenten special of fish salad, taramasalata, and lima beans, but sweets were in order. The kid had a sour lemon tart all to her self, Mom and Dad split an eggy creme carmel. 306 S. Halsted

Kukula Market
Small, recently opened Ethiopian market on Broadway across from Ethiopian Diamond (around 6100 N). Not a huge selection but all cool stuff. Niter kebbeh, the spiced clarified butter used to flavor many dishes, green coffee to do your own ceremony, injera and a few other things. Owners proudly showed us pictures of Ethiopia and shared as much as they could through limited English.

Ras Dashen
The service here has been oft criticized on Chowhound. It was hardly better on a Sunday afternoon. Still, we did not have wait endlessly for our bill to come as others have. We enjoyed the mad dash of flavors. Doro (chicken) alicha tasted nearly sweet from its long cooked onion and featured an ideal just hard, hard boiled egg. After buying a homemade sauce from grilled meats at Kukula, I needed the grilled zilzil tibs at Ras Dashen just for sauce. Luckily one of the daughters wanted that too. The other daughter ate two helpings of the green bean/potato side. I love the way the coffee jug leans preciously, supported by a woven thread ring. The first pour was surprisingly watery, but not for long. Second and third cups left me with the clarity of George Bush. 5846 N. Broadway

Ice Dreams
I've been meaning to try this gelato place for a long time. Like the first cup of coffee at Ras Dashen, the ice cream tasted weak and watery. Unfortunately, time did not help. Trying as advised at the Penguin, I sampled (and sampled). I finally ended with the strawberry-chocolate because, well at least it was not really bad like the dulce de leche. 2865 N. Clark

Marketing Director Needed



ISO, Marketing professional, ideally with experience in viral marketing and other non-traditional go-to-market tactics. Equal2 is a California-based company with an innovative approach to online consumer-to-consumer transactions. Currently in the process of first-round funding, we have a developed business plan and several investors. The business launches in July, 2004, and we need someone who can help build the market once site is fully operational. No need to relocate. Send questions, resume, or other responses to DHammond@equal2.com

Getting Bored +Gene and Jude's

I'm not one to eat often at high-end chef-centric places, and in my mind I belittle their attempts to re-create, revise and otherwise constantly re-interpret dishes. Conceptually, I believe if some one came up with a great recipe for pot au feau or whatever dish, why mess with it. Other diners somewhat disagree. For instance, the other day, a poster on an Internet site bemoaned his meal at a fancy place in Florida because the menu had not changed in a year. Now, I find it hard to imagine anything wrong with having the same exact great meal once a year, but I do actually find sympathy with the notion of getting bored with food. I get bored.

Four years or so into being away from Argyle Street, that heady source of pho, take-away Thai, Chinese BBQ meats and such (and missing it dearly), I find it hard to believe there was a time that I grew tired of such fare. Yet, the Condiment Queen is always willing to remind me that yes, come Saturday mornings, I became no longer willing to have our usual noodles and iced coffee yet again. As good as something can be, I do grow bored. For a long time this school year, the VI family was making a Wednesday routine. The chowhounditas did yoga at the local library. Ms. VI luxuriated at said library with 60 minutes of peace, and when they were threw, they'd pick me up for the short trek to the World's Greatest Hot Dog Stand, Gene and Judes. Then, wham, I had my fill of Gene and Judes.

Yes, I no longer wanted to eat my favorite food at my favorite place for such food. It is certainly not that hard to see why someone could tire of Gene and Judes. There is probably no place else in Chicago more focused, more singular in its being. I marvel the place's supply chain management. Their entire inventory is probably 15 items--and I love how you can see them all neatly stacked behind the counter. It is a simple place. They give you two tastes, two tastes alone. First, there is primordial sausage. Unlike more classic Chicago hot dogs, you focus nearly exclusively at Gene and Judes on the hot dog, on its intense, beefy, snappy meat. Second, there are the french fries, fresher than fresh, seconds out of the fryer, occasionally improperly made leaving them too raw, but always tasting foremost of the spud. One must take a strong shot of pop, maybe even a fruit drink from those fast fading swirling plastic contraptions, to relieve the mouth of these gustatory prods. As ideal a Chicago meal as it is, it can get to be too much.

Not too much for the rest of the family. They cried each week as I suggested some other option come Wednesday. Yesterday, I relented. A month away from Gene and Judes was enough. We luckily entered Gene and Judes right before a rush. I have postulated that Gene and Judes hot dogs are so good because of the rapid turnover. I have come to learn, that with the french fries, their best product comes when the place is emptiest. Too crowded, they sometimes rush the fries out, leaving them excessively limp, and as noted above, sometimes raw-ish. Yet, when they time it right, this is a great french fry. The fries are as preternaturally tan as George Hamilton, as all the sugars within the potato become carmelized. They are never "Wiv crisp", more like hardened sticks of mashed potato than super-stiff sticks some prefer. Once again, come Thursday morning, my tongue remains zinging from those tag-team jolts.

Who Runs the Kitchen?

I've been pissed at Chicago Magazine's Morsel's column ever since I thought they were taking things from Chowhound without attribution. (Peggy insists that she found the Chicago Little Italy site JUST as I was posting on it, or something kinda like that.) Still, I try to read Morsels each week. This week's Morsels brought up the story of another chef leaving his primed pasture, ostensibly to walk the Appalachian Trail. The restauranteur here noted he had a new chef in the works and everything would be the same. I have no idea how this place Pil Pil will hold up because I never tried it under the first regime, and I do not in any way knock the skill of the owner, Jack Weiss to run his place with new chefs. Still, I wonder if the Chicago dining scene suffers because it always appears to me that the chefs are not in charge.

Compare and contrast to New York. There, the leading restraunteurs to a large extent, are chefs. Mario Batali, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Thomas Brennan, Danny Meyers, and Tom Colicchio all own and run multiple places. Are there any equivalents in Chicago. Does this make for better dining. I am not sure, but my gut sez yes, New York has it better.

Guest Post by MikeG
La Luce

Among old school Italian places, La Luce has never seemed to get much Chowhound attention compared to La Scarola a few blocks away, or other spots like Bruna's.

(photo of the movie-perfect awning under the El)



But I always heard good things about it, even including lavish gifts of free wine to a newly engaged couple and so on, from my friend Wyatt and his various friends. So tonight I made him go there with me.

Charming old Victorian building with tin ceiling, wooden meat locker with milk glass front, and so on. Food was generally simple but not screwed up-- big scallops lightly breaded in a lemony sauce were light, almost Chinese food-like grilled calamari was exactly what it should be.



Homemade "8 finger" (whatever that means) cavatelli in a vodka cream sauce was an argument for the metallic trumpet blast of San Marzano canned tomatoes as superior to the fresh kind.



The only non-Old School note was the total absence of Frank music as we walked in-- but then we realized that The Sopranos was on over the bar, so that made sense.

Anyway, I didn't experience the lavish hospitality on this quiet Sunday night but the meal was satisfying and I'd go back on a busier night for the full effect...

By the way, all these food shots I keep taking have inspired me to put them all together on a page. Go there and you'll also see some interesting Japanese product packaging that Wyatt picked up at Mitsuwa, and some wonderful vintage shelving from an old fish shop in Winnetka that probably won't be around forever (judging by the age of the owners).

Mike's chow photos-- now a blog or something, resident on a friend's site that has open server space

Blue Cheese at Jimmy's

Jimmy's Place in Forest Park is a well documented Chowhound favorite. For instance see here, here, or here. Has anyone, however, fully documented Jimmy's skill with blue cheese?

First, of course, there is their finger cramping stunt of getting the blue cheese into the olives to accompany their superior martini's. Besides those olives, Jimmy's shakes up about my favorite martini, having pretty much what I want and need: extreme cold, extreme pour and any top shelf liquor like Bombay Sapphire for the respectable $7.50 (especially respectable as 1 drink sets up well for the entire night). Second, Jimmy's offers for the splurge of an extra dollar, the ability to spew blue cheese all over their house salad. A simple salad, but their house dressing, strong of garlic and vinegar combines ideally with the blue cheese to make a stinky, strong statement, that I suppose goes ideally with those martini's. The rest of the food is generally good. Fried calamari the other night were better than sometimes--occasionally too dry, but I was most pleased with my blue cheese dinner.

Jimmy's Place
7411 Madison
Forest Park, IL
(708) 771-7476

Cool Office Space

My friend Paul Kampf has some un-used office space. It's especially attractive if you have an artistic bent.

Breadline Theatre Group will be making two spacious offices available for rent in our Center for the Performing Arts on May 1. The Center has many amenities including daytime space for workshops/small meetings included in rental price, as well as affordable rental for such spaces on the evening and weekends as well. Common kitchen area, two restrooms, DSL/Heat/Electrical included in monthly rental price.
The office complex currently holds an actors training center, as well as a voice/presentation skills specialist, and one theater company. This is a casual and fun environment with a unique combination of businesses with an artistic edge.
Office 1: 12’9” X 13’ 2” (includes large erasable board on one wall, installed counter/desk tops, some shelving units) - $950.00 monthly.
Office 2: 19’ 7” X 9’ (includes large erasable board on one wall, track lighting) - $950.00 monthly.

Rental inquiries please email: breadline@breadline.org

Morning Toast
Liborio Baking Company

How much does crust matter to you? On the other hand, how much bread are you willing to waste to get a slice. Liborio is one of the 20 or so breads sold daily at Caputo's in Elmwood Park. It's a massive, well loaf is hardly the term for it, bread blob is more likely. Freddy's in Cicero, another favorite bread of mine, has a version that essentially looks like two round loafs smooshed together. This bread is almost like that, except that the two sections are barely distinct, one large bread blob. Large bread blob surrounded by a teeth cracking crust, almost an inch thick at some points. Inside, like most Italian style bread in Chicago, is an airy, dry crumb. Likewise, there is a faint sour taste. Because it is thick and dry, I give it the lightest of toastings. I've read that exercise early in the day gets you energized, and the work my jaw gets from this toast surely sets me up well.

Foodie Knowledge

One of the biggest arguments on Chowhound, perhaps what linguists might call the Ur-argument, is over secret menu's. There are essentially three positions, with variations within. First, there is foodie knowledge, as best exemplified here. A chowhound, ErikM meticulously and endlessly researched Thai food before finally arranging this dinner. Those in attendance felt very well rewarded. Second, there is the counter-position, argued here, that "the ritual of having to ask for [the secret menu so] many times [is] frustrating as a customer". Chowhound poster in exile, Harry V, feels any place forcing you to ask for a secret menu is unworthy of patronage. Now, there is a third, snarky school out there that might like the stuff on the secret menu's but would rather mock people's efforts to find it. Some have argued that it is just a game of one-upmanship or macho eating and that it has no real connection to what is on the plate. I firmly reject the last two positions and remain a starch believer in foodie knowledge.

It does not bother me in the least that I have to attain foodie knowledge to get better treatment at a restaurant. I think someone like the near-mythical food poster, Cabrales, would argue that foodie knowledge matters as much (if not more) to accentuating your meal at a top-line place as it does at a neighborhood place. Moreover, knowledge and understanding are accepted as components in understanding other things put in the mouth, like wine as well as other things experienced with the senses, like art. Do people really walk away from the Art Institute saying, "I paid $5 to see a bunch of paint thrown on a canvass, and no one told me about the secret book that would have helped me understand Pollack?" The great thing about foodie knowledge, as I have argued before, is it's awfully fun obtaining. To me, more fun than art history.

I find little sympathy when someone goes into a Thai place, orders two rather similar dishes and then explains the food was not varied enough. The resources out there in Chicago to learn about food, Chowhound, the LTH listserv, Culinary Historians, those mushroom freaks, the writings of Monica Eng, even the flawed bits in Chicago Magazine, well, foodie knowledge is surely no guarded Templar secret. Yesterday, I was talking briefly with Gwiv, the Ultimo, on this topic, and we noted that eaters could easily go along for the ride, take advantage of the hard work and (what over-the-top) foodie knowledge of guys like the Brilliant One or ErikM. Within the last few weeks, there have been dinners at Penang, the Malaysian restaurant; Ed's Potsticker House, a rare in Chicago, Northern Chinese place; TAC, the Thai restaurant linked above and an extensive insider tour of rib joints. Gwiv famously sussed out Spoon Thai's greatness without a secret menu. It was just about knowing what to ask for and engaging the people there. Anyone can do that. Foodie knowledge is there, boy, so if you do not want it, stop harping at those who do.

Getting Gorrila Gourmet Web Site

I posted the Gorilla Gourmet thing earlier today without remembering to put a link in for their web site--buy your own DVD! Well, in case you do not want to scroll down to my link list, go here to learn more.

Gorrila Gourmet Airs in Chicago



What Gwiv sez on Chowhound:

In a special Oscar presentation David Hammond and Mike G, of Gorilla Gourmet Maxwell Street Mexican Fame, were presented an..........

Ok, now that I have your attention. Maxwell Street Mexican, first in a continuing series of Gorilla Gourmet's by David and Mike, will air on Chicago cable television Sunday March 21, at 7:30 pm, Channel 21, and again Thursday, March 25, at 10:00 pm on Channel 21.

This is a chance to see real live, well mostly live, Chowhounds eating interesting food, including Cathy2's Pork Chop sandwich tutorial, Seth Z's Braintastic Empanada, Mike G on Mexican Coke and David Hammond reciting Carl Sandburg. Not to mention your's truly chowing down on an eyeball taco.

Tape the show, you will want to watch it again. (smile)

Enjoy,
Gary

Think Global Eat Local
Johnson's Door County Fish and Shrimp

A few weeks ago, I threw out on Chowhound, the bold statement that New Orlean's food writer, Tom Fitzmorris's 33 best seafood restaurants in New Orleans were 33 better than anything in Chicago. Of course, someone had to challenge me on that statement. While I concede that there are seafood oriented restaurants in Chicago, especially Japanese, that would be as good as anything in New Orleans, I stand by my statement in the sense of seafood. No matter how much air freight and such exists these days, seafood in Chicago cannot match seafood in New Orleans. Blessed with access to all sorts of water, New Orleans teems with local seafood: shrimps (multiple varieties), crayfish, frogs, oysters, crabs, snapper, pompano, catfish, etc., etc. Who needs arctic char, farm raised salmon and Chilean sea bass when you have that.

Yet, seafood restaurants try and try to compete, flying in all sorts of stuff that at times seems fresh, but never quite equals truly fresh--eat seafood on the coasts if you do not believe me. Why fight this fight. How 'bout glorifying local fish? In Europe and Asia, fresh water fish is prized, more than respected. In France, especially in say Burgundy, you would well expect pike and their perch on the menu (as well as frog legs). Can anyone remember a time that Trotter, Trio, Tru and on down put a freshwater fish on their menu? Yes, there are obvious health and logistical issues. It seems hardly that long ago when they told us we'd pretty much die from eating lake fish, and because of environmental factors, the commercial fishing fleets in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana have been ditched. Charlie cannot go to some local dock and purchase fish right off the boat.

Great Lake fish still comes to town from Canada. Johnson's Door County Fish and Shrimp once owned a fleet off of Gills Rock, Wisconsin. Today, they rely on those Canadians for pike, perch and whitefish. They fry and broil the fish but stopped using their smokehouse in 1979. They told me that some of their vendors provide the fish fresh and some frozen, but they actually prefer frozen as they do not fully trust the transportation network of Great Lakes fishing fleets. Perhaps if we all raise the demand for our local fish, we can improve the sourcing.

Fresh water fish is a taste. It is classically fishy when people think of fishy. The taste is often described as dirty. Plus, the texture of lake fish can be soft, verging on mushy. But think of this AS taste, strong, pronounced, real food. It stands up well to heavy frying or simple broiling. Both the Condiment Queen and I liked what we had the other day at Johnson's. I had the perch, several strips with a heavy coating of breading, presented grease-less. She had whitefish, dusted aggressively with black pepper, that stayed very moist after broiling.

Oddly as a Chicago foodie can tell you, distant shrimps seem as much a part of the local fish realm as anything. On Chowhound once (et seq.) there was a fruitless quest to figure out why. Johnson's offers fried gulf shrimp, breaded AND lightly breaded. I've yet to try either, but seeing how good Johnson's fried the perch, I am pre-disposed to liking them.

Good home-made, celery seed heavy cole slaw, so-so fake skin on french fries.

Johnson's Door County Fish and Shrimp
908 E. Roosevelt Road, Lombard, IL
630-629-6520

The Sublime at the Ridiculous
Stocking up for Morning Toast at Marshall's (plus Artopolis and Fox & Obel)

Thanks to Chez Pim, I am now fully hooked on morning toast. I always liked morning toast, but Pim gave me an excuse to really like it. Now, I spend my waking hours shopping, scouting, thinking about and otherwise preparing for the next round (or shall I say slice). It's a good hobby because it can be fulfilled pretty easily. Whether I am oohing and ahing at the selection at Fox & Obel or killing time while a chowhoundita is at a birthday time at Marshall's with the Condiment Queen, I am likely to find basis for next morning's toast.

Like most Chowhounds, I mostly go to Marshall's, the close-out specialist and discount clothing store, for the food. Some of the Belgium chocolates have probably seen better days, but the jams, Marshall's does a fine job. I just keep close eye on the expiration date, for a product that has an awfully long shelf-life, these jars can get pretty close to D-day. From the other day, I got a pear with dried apricot and honey from Le Temps des Mets, a small producer in Provence; grapefruit marmalade from European Provender Company and an organic raspberry from Crabtree and Evelyn. I've only opened the last, as we have a rule in the house about having too many open jars--in fact there is usually a rush to finish one JUST so we can open another. This raspberry is quite intense, with almost the texture and flavor of dried fruit.

Bread, that's one thing I splurge on, because the price per quality for great bread is so small. The other day, I picked up a whole country bread from the Greek cafe and bakery, Artopolis. A little too much decorative flour marred this bread but only slightly. A course crumb, very nutty it definitely tasted different than the French style breads I mostly have been toasting. Still, I have nothing against those French style loaves, and no one in Chicago bakes a better bread than Fox & Obel's large round sour-dough "peasant" bread. I swear I remember the crumb of this bread to be slightly finer, more cake like, yet it remains sublimest of sublime. Both moist and crusty as the force-field crust engages and holds tight all the moisture used to form the dough. My desire to reduce my mid-section keeps me from eating as much as I want each time.

Marshall's - Various locations

Artopolis - 306 S. Halsted, Chicago, IL - (312) 559-9000

Fox and Obel - 401 E. Illinois Street, Chicago - 312.410.7301

Stoking the flames - Brasa Rosa

I've blogged about Brasa Rosa before. Generally, I try not to write too quickly about a place again. Unless, of course, I have a good reason. And I do. To remind everyone that Brasa Rosa is an outstanding value.

As I have noted, Brasa Rosa is related to another Colombian restaurant, El Llano. What I especially like at El Llano are 2 combination dinners. One is a mixed platter of grilled meats, called picada, the other a mixed fry (sausage, ribs, chicharron, etc.). They make great group meals. Recently, I volunteered to arrange a group meal for some friends, and I wanted to have a picada (if nothing else, it makes for easy check splitting), but I wanted to have the picada at Brasa Rosa because, as I have said, the use of live coals for the grill makes for better meats. Because Brasa Rosa does not have a picada on its menu (an accident they told me), I did a bit of schmoozing with the owners to set one up.

I actually arranged for 2 picadas, which is really for 8, but it turned out we had only 6, and we ended up with a much better plan, credit to the Condiment Queen, 1 picada and 1 whole roasted chicken. To gnaw away slightly at hunger as our meats carbonized, I ordered 3 Colombian empanadas. Unlike Argentinean empanadas, Colombian empanadas have a crisp corn crust, think almost a deep fried tamale. Inside is a mixture of potato and shredded meat. It kept us at bay just long enough for our table to fill with Dr. Atkins' wet dream.

Now, I was sure that I had said one picada, but it seemed like 4 or five. Three platters filled with all of the cuts of meat of the house got presented to us: pounded thin steak, chicken, veal, brisket, lamb chops, rabbit quarters, and nuggets of short ribs. It was so much food, that it was only later when the bill came, did I get full confirmation that they did not give us more than we ordered.

All of the meats are grilled very through so do not go expecting otherwise, and the house is heavy with the salt. The steak alone, actually, was a bit too saline. Still, both house salsas, the spicy aji and the oily-garlicky chimichurri diluted the effect. The chicken remains fully tasting of the flame. Brief relief from meat came from sweet plantain, very plain potatoes and arepas, both stuffed with cheese and plain (Colombian hockey pucks).

So much protein demands dessert. Luckily, Brasa Rosa complies. I found the body-built flan one of the best around, and the trashy canned figs with cajeta have their own cheesy appeal. With a generous tip, it came to $20 per person. Besides, BYOB made it even cheaper, and a cheap bottle of Norton Cab 2002 went extremely well with the food.

Roasting chickens at Brasa Roja. Pic courtesy of MikeG

Upcoming Culinary Historian Meetings
Cathy2 provides this heads-up:


April 17th, we have Chef Fergus Henderson's whose cookbook, "The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating" (Ecco, $19.95, softcover) first published in Britain, is due in the U.S. at the beginning of April.

Fergus was featured in the Chicago Tribune Food Section last week. We will be having a book signing, with the proceeds going to a scholarship fund. If you are interested in a signed book, then contact me directly and I will reserve a book. Cost will be $20 + book rate mailing fee. I'm the book lady for CHC and occasionally ChicaGourmets, so I will be ordering books this week.

May 15th: Donna Pierce, who wrote the Trib article on Chowhounds, will present a lecture on Soul Food.

May 22nd: Joint meeting with ChicaGourmets at the University Club, Michael Batterberry of Food Arts magazine.

June 12th: Patricia Wells, who wrote for the New York Times and International Herald Tribune, will lecture on foods of France. I just learned Patricia is originally from Wauwautosa (sp?), Wisconsin. I followed her articles for years in my Moscow apartment dreaming of better food just a plane ride away.

July 17th: A FFP (Formerly Fat Person) will discuss eating disorders ... (I'm interested to see what this has to do with culinary history)

October 16th: Marcella Hazan is penciled in. The grand dame of Italian cookery.

November 13th: 18th Century Cuisine

Membership is $40 year for individuals. Individual meetings are $10 per head.
Their website is here.

Jim and Pete's with Art B.
I lunched today with one of the smartest mobologists out there, Art Bilek. As I have advised before, go buy his book on the St. Valentine's Day Massacre (The St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone, with co-author Bill Hemmer). If you are having trouble finding the book, Art said that Borders put it in the True Crime area not with the Chicago books. And also, if you have any connection to the book business and can pass on the word of this book, let me know...

Jim and Pete's: Over the years, they've expanded and expanded, but the linoleum floored front room gives you the real Jim and Pete's. I must confess that my favorite thing at Jim and Pete's is the oil dip for the bread. Mild yet rich olive, whispering of garlic and hot pepper, gritty from grated cheese, it is highly addictive. I actually believe they should use it to dress their salads or as a pasta sauce. Actually that salad dressing is pretty good too. Jim and Pete's peaks with the first tastes and then moves slightly down. I've had a few things there over the years that have been fair or even less than fair, but also a few good things too. Today's lunch special of pork chops diablo, thin chops in a mess of oil, giardinara and potatoes was just the kind of messy food I love. Finally, finishing just as strong as they start, Jim and Pete's wraps their food about as good as any restaurant, with plastic mummifying the styrofoam containers and keeping all the food away from where it does not belong.


7806 W. North Ave.
Elmwood Park, IL 60707
(708) 453-5204

Todd & Holland

It's kinda neat having one of the leading tea purveyors in the USA practically down the street. The Condiment Queen decided to give up substantial coffee drinking (something I would never do), and take up tea connoisseurship. She got hooked at Chado, a nice tea store and cafe in Los Angeles, but shops extensively at the close-by Todd & Holland.

If you have any interest in tea, you should check this place out. I hardly have the fanaticism of my wife (and surely prefer coffee), but as a foodie, I still love going to T&H. First, there is the intense depth of product there, how can you not appreciate it. Second, there is Bill Todd. As he told me the other day, "I'm willing to talk tea with anyone for as long as they want to talk tea." Whether its something as mundane as how to know how to get your water at the correct temperature (i.e., 185 for green tea) to various micro-estate teas, he can converse on the level you need. If you cannot make it to River Forest, much information can be found on their web site, and you can easily order from there.



7577 Lake Street
River Forest, Illinois 60305

Morning Toast

I took a quick foray around Chicago's leading (pretty much only) gourmet emporium, Fox and Obel yesterday. I'll do a report at some point. I've been praising their bread a lot of late, and if nothing else, I wanted to get one while I was downtown. They were out of the big round, what I was calling country but turns out it is called peasant bread, when I stopped by. Seems they only bake a few a day, but the person in the bread counter insisted they made a pointed loaf from the same dough. I was duly impressed when she had to bring the bread in back, to a special slicer, because the crust was too hard for the regular slicer. But you know what, while I nibbled on that bread a fair amount yesterday, I stuck with my Whole Foods bread for morning toast. And while maybe the crust is not as impressive, the interior of my Whole Foods bread makes better toast. What I did find at Fox and Obel was butter. Pim's comments in the comments yesterday, of course, had me thinking of butter all day, and it was high serendipity that I ended up at F&O, with its collection of butters. Organic from California, English, Irish, multiple versions from France, Catalan, what did I buy? Czech. A purely utilitarian foil wrapper appealed to Ms. VI. She figured reverse marketing, if they would sell this butter with such cheap packaging, no shelf appeal, it must be special. Maybe, but the spread today, jelly (or should I say jam lest any of my British readers think it what we Yanks call Jell-O) rather overpowered the butter. I used Zentris tart cherry from Germany. Zentris can be found at a lot of ethnic markets in Chicago. It is a strong jam, very sweet and very fruit forward. It is a mid-range jam, not the most expensive we have in the house, but not the cheapest either. Still, jam provides one of the best cost to deliciousness ratios out there, and even those things we pick up at close-out at Marshall's can make for great morning toast.

Mil-WALK-ee (Seth's great name!)

MikeG, in the comments for the upcoming Milwaukee Ave. Walkathon (April 17), n/k/a Mil-Walk-ee, wonders if we should go NW, pick up cars, and extend to "Niles where Polish meets Middle Eastern and Korean-Asian with some Italian thrown in. We would of course be literally recapitulating the move of Polish immigrants from Milwaukee in the city to Milwaukee in the burbs." I'm not really hep on this plan, but I am open.

The problem with this approach is where would the cars come from? We park them for later use? My thinking actually, anyways, was to walk SE, towards the city center. There are a few reasons for this. I think early on when are legs are fresh and our appetites wider, we can cover more distance, but as the day wears on, it will make more sense to be able to just drop in on whatever is in front of us. I am not even sure how we should do this. My instinct and desire right now is to have no set itinerary, just go with the flow. The whole point of being on foot is maximum flexibility, but it also does impinge on the ability of people to move in and out. But that is also, again, one of the reasons I want to go IN. We work towards more transportation options not less. If we ended up north, its a lot harder for people to hook up. Finally, as obvious in any athon, do not over fill the day, a lot gets left off as things proceed. Anyways, I am not set on anything here.

Morning Toast

"The latte is homemade, from Francis! Francis! X5, using Illy espresso pod (yes, I am a pod person). I’m not sure if Melkor will approve of my foam though. The bread is Delle Frattoria’s Pain Intégral, bought at the ferry plaza farmer’s market on Saturday. The butter is Strauss Family Creamery lightly salted butter. I always use salted butter to eat out of hand, unsalted is, to me, only for cooking. The jam, or ahem, confiture, is from the grande dame of confitures, Christine Ferber. The one on the bread today is Reine Claude d’Alsace" So Pim inspired me to pay more attention to morning toast. [ed. do you know Jim Leff also makes a point of eating toast each morning?]

If words do not do it, see the pic:



Now, the first thing I had to do, per Pim, was get myself some lighly salted butter. Now, I am both cheaper and way less world-traveled than her. Thus, I got my lightly salted butter at Costco (Cabots). We are, however, always buying jelly and honey, and in fact sometimes we eat one just to finish it and justify opening another. So, I was well covered in that area. Bread, well I've talked about that before. Of late, I have actually been very impressed with the baked on premise breads at the Whole Foods in River Forest. Pretending I am European, I pick up a new bread every day or so.

Today, the bread was Whole Food's round, white "French" bread, very heavy in crust, fine crumb if not nearly as close to a piece of cake as Fox and Obel's superior version. Because I've been partaking a bit too much in that lightly salted butter of late, I used only a miser's share today. Drizzle was Buram Turkish honey, a honey with a decided tannic flavor that makes it seem winey. Coffee was merely the French Press, beans Costco too.

His clutter can be your clutter!
My friend Mike Wells, computer guru, has decided to give up most of his worldy possesions and take his 2 kids and lovely wife on a world tour. How inspirinng. Hopefully as they travel around the world, he'll pass on some food tips to the blog.

Anyways, Mike's looking to ditch all his stuff. Go to HIS blog to see what's for sale. Me, I got my eye on the cherry night table.

Walk down Milwaukee Ave.

Monica Eng's excellent article today on the Polish sections of Milwaukee Avenue reminded me that I have been remiss in setting a new date for our walking tour down Milwaukee. How's April 17th?

This will be the first athon attempted strictly on foot--with the idea that walking will give us an especially keen way to study the unique happenings along Milwaukee Ave. I am not quite sure where we will start. Part of me thinks Superdawg, but that would make the total walk a bit long and include a long stretch up there that is somewhat fallow-chow wise. I am sure with consultation with CMC and others, we will come up with a good plan.

If interested, please e-mail me.

My Guy
"My name’s St. George. Dragon sent me.” There are few things I’m prouder of.”

So writes Terry Sullivan in last week's , Chicago Tribune Magazine, re-telling his ultimate matching of his guys.

Networking is pretty cool. Cathy2 recently mentioned how happy she was that her networking, via Chowhound, enabled her to eat ant eggs twice in one week. As Sullivan explained, have a guy. Great article.

Gloria's Colombian Chicken

I've always been a huge fan of the Colombian chicken place on Fullerton just to the east of Kimball, but oddly, it has never gathered a huge swell of Chowhound support. There's not much to the place besides chicken. OK, chicken and a few odds and ends starches like twice cooked potatoes (why more placed do not do the baked then fried potato thing I do not know either) and sweet plaintains. This place never even had a killer salsa like El Llano. Still, who needs more when you have nicely marinated chicken roasted over giant hunks of mesquite charcoal?

This is axiomatic roast chicken. Ideal roasting leaves the skin taut over the meat, neither too crisp nor too slimey and the meat inside well lubricated but well free of any fat. The table green stuff provides some perk when you need it, but this chicken is such an ideal marriage of smoke, marination and pollo-liciciousness it hardly needs any sauce.

And this chicken place that I love so well, well it recently changed hands. The new owner is Gloria, hardly conversant in English, makes sure the roaster continues to turn out the same awesome chicken. Chicago has no large chicken culture, no mini chains of Polla a la Brasa or even Pollo Tropical like other cities, but we do have a few places doing a mean chicken. Gloria is one of them.

Culinary Historians Goes Irish (Tell 'em VI sent ya!)

“It’s a Great Day for the Irish”
Look forward to St. Patrick’s Day with a bit ‘o Irish lore, cuisine and music.

presented by

Siobhan and Brendan McKinney
Proprietors, Chief O’Neill’s Restaurant & Pub, Chicago

Saturday, March 13, 2004

10 a.m. to Noon
at The Chicago Historical Society
1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, Illinois


Even the Chicago River will turn green with envy when it finds out who our speaker is for this pre-St. Pat’s program. Siobhan McKinney will tell tales about Ireland’s culinary history and customs. And with her husband and partner, Brendan, she will provide us with a taste of specialties from the Emerald Isle.

The couple opened Chief O’Neill’s Pub and Restaurant in 1999 as a place that would bring people together to experience a traditional Irish pub in the heart of Chicago; a place where one could enjoy the music of Ireland, its song, dance, food, fine wines and great beers. Siobhan had the entire interior imported from Ireland along with many of her family’s artifacts.

Siobhan is one of ten children, raised on a farm in a rural area in Kerry, known as Sliabh Luachra. There they grew their own vegetables, made their own breads and raised their own livestock. At a very young age Siobhan was relied upon to cook many of the family meals. This is where her love of cooking started, and by age 15 she was proficient with many of her mother’s prized recipes. Siobhan received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Crawford College of Art, Cork, Ireland, and a Master’s in Fine Art from Chelsea, London, England. She has been named the All Ireland Champion for Traditional Slow Airs on the Irish Flute.

In addition to her discussion about the food of Ireland, Siobhan along with Brendan plan to entertain us with a few traditional tunes from the heart of Sliabh Luachra.

* * *

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.

Thai Ideas

My friend Pim recently cooked up a marvelous sounding (and looking) Thai feast for some people in SF. You can see for yourself here.

There are a couple of dishes she made that I am especially keen to see if Spoon or another local place can do. First, there was something called "Sreng-wah, Pla-foo" You can see the picture on her blog. It is our beloved exploded catfish salad topped with a salad of shrimps and herbs. How's that for gilding the lily. She also has hoa mok with crab meat instead of catfish. No ant eggs for sure, but more appealing to me at least. Finally, she made "moo wan", caramelized pork belly. That definitely sounds good.

If anyone has tried these dishes or knows where to get them at a local Thai place, I'd love to know.

Jerry's Sandwiches

I've never been to this place, but I am quite impressed nonetheless. For one thing, when you go to their web site, you find this bit of startling honesty:

We love sandwiches. We've eaten them at delis in Philly and New York, cheese steak stands in Philly, hoagie shops in Pittsburgh, barbecue stands in Tennessee, various New Orleans muffuletta & po boy locales, Zingerman’s great deli in Ann Arbor, bars in France, and we've eaten exotic sandwiches in restaurant kitchens. That said, we find good sandwiches hard to come by in Chicago (excluding of course outstanding Italian beef and hot dogs). Being long-time cooks, and with available space at the front of our catering kitchen, we thought we’d give it a try.

That's a credo I can admire. Then, even more impressive, I learned from Chowhound RobS that Jerry's put this on their mailing list:

From the Wednesday "Jerry's Specials of the Day"...
"Mark has made several visits to the chowhound.com favorite source for
Italian subs, Riviera Deli on Harlem just north of Belmont. ($3 for a sub
featuring assorted Italian cured meats. Sheesh.) As a result of these
culinary archeological expeditions, we've added fine versions of the above
two meats. You'll see them in the deli case. We now carry salami,
prosciutto, coppa and soppresata. Mortadella is a possibility for the
future.)"

As RobS so accurately puts it, "Cool, a restaurateur who not only reads chowhound but uses it to improve his
fare!"

JERRY'S SANDWICHES, 1045 W. Madison, Chicago 60607, 312.563.1008 / 1009 fax

Bread in Chicago

Because it is pretty close to us, my wife and I shop fairly often at the Caputo's in Elmwood Park. One of the most interesting and vexing things about Caputo's is their selection of breads. On any given day, one can find at least ten versions of Italian style breads baked in Chicago. In order to help me know which ones to regularly buy, I decided to have a bread tasting. This morphed into a Chowhound bread tasting party. The bread tasting party turned out to be one fine time but a lousy attempt to scientifically taste. Mostly, we had too many breads, too many other things to eat, and too much damn conviviality to pay long attention to the ins and outs of each loaf. So, I remain interested in figuring out the best bread in Chicago.

One leading contender would be Red Hen Bakery, one of the first places to bring a semblance of artisanal breads to Chicago. In the past, I have liked their breads. They make the ideal Thanksgiving bread, a sweet potato pecan crusty loaf. Still, I was there just the other day. I purchased the oddly (and dumbly named) "Italian Country Boule". It was not as good as stuff found these days at supermarkets with an especially weak crust. It paled compared to the bread at Fox and Obel. Their large round country bread HAS to be the best bread in Chicago. It features a bullet proof crust that protects an inside surprisingly moist that it almost tastes like cake. As Wiv would say, you weep from eating it.

Anyway, I'm gonna try to blog as much as I can on bread in Chicago. Here's a source of inspiration. Please give me suggestions and other input in the Comments. If you need a list of places to try, start here.

The Ever Growing Chicago Chinatown

Those who know me and read me, know of all my bugaboos, perhaps my biggest is false claims about Chinese food in Chicago. I know we are not Vancouver, the San Gabriel Valley or even San Jose, but I also know we have some good enough Chinese food. Places like Happy Chef, Ed's Potsticker House, Lao Sze Chuan and Spring World have been keeping me well fed for years. It is only getting better. Dragon Court is a new option, another modern Cantonese place, in the same mein as Happy Chef (without the plastic table clothes!). Chicago Magazine called it the most authentic in Chinatown. Chowhound Critical1 did a report here and noted its late night menu here. I am anxious to try.

A couple of other newer places in Chinatown I have either tried or at least scoped out included Happy Cafe and Seven Wives. Like Dragon Court, they are on Wentworth, showing that after several years of development coming pretty much only in the Chinatown Mall, action is moving back to the main part of Chinatown. Both are small, HK style cafes serving a variety of seemingly odd plates. Happy Cafe is a rather plain room with a ton of lunch options under $5. Most of the dishes can be served over rice, rice noodles or pan fried noodles. Seven Wives is suprisingly nice on the inside, not posh but far from a dump. They have a range of choices by the hour including breakfast, lunches and happy hour snacks. If you ever wanted to try a Hong Kong style breakfast--say toast, stirred egg white with mushromm and ham, and two supreme smoked sausages + coffee or tea ($3.25!), this is your place.

Dragon Court
2414 S. Wentworth
Chicago, IL
312-791-1882

Happy Cafe
2351 S. Wentworth
Chicago, IL
312-842-1818

Seven Wives
2230 S. Wentworth
Chicago, IL
312-842-7888

Chicago Hot Dog Primer

Strangers may think pizza the archetypical Chicago food (in its pan format), but locals know the true Chicago food is the hot dog. When asked, the local will describe the Chicago hot dog as thus: a chubby, beefy, slightly spicy sausage manufactured by the Vienna company, taunt from its natural skin, boiled, served on a steamed poppy seed bun and widely garnished with mustard (smooth, yellow, mild), relish (Halloween green), dill pickle spear, chopped onions, tomato, sneaky hot "sport" peppers and a shake of celery salt. The leading source for all things hot dog remains Hot Dog Chicago, a 1983 frank field expedition by two Loyola professors, Rich Bowen and Dick Fay. The fact that conventional wisdom is best represented in a twenty year old book demonstrates the current state of Chicago wieners. (Although in 2001, Rich Bowen claimed that 75% of the places reviewed still existed)

It is my contention that for all its connection to and glorification of, the Chicago hot dog is a fading star. The claim that Chicagoans do not seek dogs often can be epitomized by the fact that within the Loop, the central business district, where tens of thousands of workers need lunch daily, nary a decent hot dog can be found. Ten years ago, the Loop had fine standard bearers in Irving's, U Dawg U, Michael's and Little Louie's. These are all gone. There remain a few outposts in places like Union Station, combined with a Popeye's, and such, but nothing great. And it is not just central, a rather spontaneous hot dog survey produced a lot of so-so results (here and here ). Other reports of decline can be found here ( the mediocre Polk and Western). No one captured better possible state of the Chicago dog than Harry V's take on the Bunny Hutch.

But let us not mourn the Chicago hot dog's decline. Let us lead a revitalization. Let us eat hot dogs again! After all, we have been eating them since the 1893 Colombian Exposition when two immigrants offered a sausage with the flavors of Austrian Hungarian empire. A few years later, these brothers formed the Vienna Sausage Manufacturing company, named after their inspiring city. Today, Vienna claims that over 80% of Chicago's hot dog stands serve their product. A heavy majority, but not a monopoly, GWiv points out some of the other hot dog brands, prompted by John Fox, a New Jersey hot dog freak who brings this topic up every so often. Interestingly, I've had a hard time getting specific information on the history of the other two definitive aspects of the Chicago dog. I do not know when or why Chicago dogs were served boiled and not griddled or charcoal grilled as you find most other dogs around the USA. In addition, for a long time, I did not necessarily know who started dressing Chicago dogs in the classic manner or why they did it as such. Still, as described below, I think I may have an answer to the dressing issue. The Chicago dog, of course, does not include ketchup or kraut (see here for some ketchup discussion). The Chicago hot dog vendor also does not operate from the street .

One subtext of the Chicago hot dog that is seldom spoken out loud is that the Chicago hot dog is Jew food. The Vienna dog is not kosher, but it is all beef, "kosher style." For many years, Vienna's chief rival was the Kosher Zion hot dog produced by David Berg. (For a while, Vienna owned their rival, but David Berg as a competitor is alive and well). No hot dog stand stands more for Jewishness of the Chicago dog than Fluky's, a Jewish owned establishment serving food to Jewish customers in the very Jewish neighborhood around Maxwell St. Fluky's followed the Jews south, Blackstone and 63rd, west (Roosevelt and Central Park) and finally north (Western and Pratt). My hunch is that Fluky's created the MRPOTPCS configuration. When I first start researching this, I could not confirm this, but via a link by the ever astute ReneG, I found an article by Leah Zeldes. In this article, she claims that Fluky's did in fact start dressing the dogs the Chicago way:

The “banquet on a bun” had its origins in the Great Depression, when greengrocer Abe Drexler decided his 18-year-old son, local sports hero Jake “Fluky” Drexler, needed an occupation. That was in 1929, when jobs were hard to find, so Drexler converted the family's Maxwell Street vegetable cart into a hot-dog stand, and began offering the “Depression Sandwich,” which sold for a nickel. “He built it like a vegetable cart would do it,” says Fluky’s son, Jack. (Also called Fluky, he likes to say he was “born in a bun” and is today proprietor of three North Side and suburban stands.) “It was an instant success.” The only change since 1929 has been the relish, which turned its distinctive “nuclear green” color in the 1970s.

The Jewish connection can also be seen in the fact that good hot dogs remain in the Jewish suburb, Skokie.

Fluky's long ago left Maxwell Street, Chicago's version of the Lower East Side, but the hot dog remained a Maxwell Street staple. Until misguided urban planning and a greedy University destroyed the Maxwell St. area, hot dog stands operated on and around the intersection of Halsted and Maxwell. The Maxwell St. stands became more known, however, for an offshoot of the hot dog, the spicier, "Polish" sausage (not necessarily related to true Polish sausage, i.e., kilbasa). The polish sausage inverted a lot of the rules. The thing gets griddled, producing a greasy, unctuous sandwich ("a tiny thrill in the gall bladder" they say in Hot Dog Chicago). Sharing the griddle with the Polish sausage are piles of soft onions. A healthy portion of onions becomes the dominant accessory to the Maxwell St. Polish. The heavier, zestier Polish, SOULFUL, Polish, appealed to the later day denizens of Maxwell St., African Americans. Ironically, Maxwell street operators added to their menu's, that most un-Jewish of foods, the pork chop. Several places following in the Maxwell tradition have popped up around Chicago, pretty much entirely in areas with African American populations (here here and here).

For a while, there existed a strong counter-school to the Chicago dog, what I call the "tastee" school centered on the now defunct Tast-e Hast-e. The tastee dog differed firstly by the base and then secondly by the toppings. The meat in the tastee sausage comes from Leon's Sausage Co., a dog both squishier yet spicier than the Vienna hot dog. The soft base supported a full garnish. More than the usual topping: lettuce, green pepper, cucumber with the other toppings, called a garden on a bun. Because the Leon's sausage textually seems like a pork wiener, even an Oscar Meyer "kiddie" dog, I always associated this school of hot dog as the "gentile" school. Today, I appreciate an occasional Leon's dog (although I skip the lettuce). They are, however, hard to find. A very fitting lesson on Chicago politics can be found in this post on the closing of Wally's, a tastee place (). My report on one of the few remaining tastee place can be found here. Byron's (several locations including the original at 1017 W. Irving Park) serves a Vienna dog with the tastee garniture.

Even though I speak somewhat pessimistically about Chicago hot dogs, they remain, probably my single favorite food to eat. The greatest hot dog in Chicago is still Gene and Judes (2720 River Road, River Grove). The Gene and Judes dog ignores the rules willy-nilly. It is skinny and minimally dressed (no tomato, pickle or celery salt), but the dogs are cooked absolutely to perfection. Perfect (almost always) fries add to the experience. Eat two or three. Another favorite of mine, Wiener Circle (2622 N. Clark). Don't believe me, read what some other chowhounds say.

A place that sounds worth visiting for many reasons is Jimmy's (4000 W. Grand). ReneG captures it well. Rene also does an authoritative take on hot dogs (3425). Seth gives a good perspective from someone who grew up eating another style of hot dog. Andy O'Neill gives an impassioned defense of Chicago hot dogs here . Another outsider, John Fox, mentioned above, has weighted in a few times on Chicago hot dogs. Finally, for an idea of what a Chicago hot dog stand should look like, see this post by Gary .

Many of the hot dog places around Chicago have become Mexican places. The taco and burrito in many ways are the spiritual descendant of the Chicago hot dog. Yet, this being Chicago and America, there is surely a Mexican hot dog. These days, even chef's are taking over hot dog stands. Some reaction to Hot Doug's can be found here (positive) and backlash. MikeG in his superb guide to Chicago Chowhound lists Superdawg as his hot dog selection, but not everybody likes it. But how can you not like a Chicago hot dog!

UPDATE: In going through a big rash of Chowhound listserv mail, I came across this bit from Cathy2. She reports that her friend and hot dog historian, Bruce Kraig "claims it was Greek street vendors who developed the concoction know as the Chicago Hot Dog in an effort to please various ethnic groups. I.E. Germans favoring sausage and mustard ... which may explain why ketchup is considered heresy in this region."

As Matt Drudge would say, Developing....

Talk Better!

My friend Kirsten D'Aurelio runs a company called Voicescape. She is a trained actress and uses theater techniques to help people, well talk better (and give kick-ass presentations). She helps you improve on things that are highly important to nearly any career. Her web site is here.

She told me that she has a couple of slots remaining for the upcoming Tuesday evening presentation skills course, which begins next Tuesday, March 2. It's a 5-week course that runs throughout the month of March.

Carson's Ribs
Can a rib place be great without great ribs?

Well, how about this, can I believe Carson's ribs are great even though I know they are not great ribs? I have had great ribs. Great ribs in Bowling Green, Kentucky; Birmingham, Alabama, even the far south-side of Chicago (Lem's). These ribs all achieve the ideal mix of smoke, spice, porcine flavor, and a texture neither smooth, soft, tough or stringy. Carson's ribs lack some key elements, especially any twinge of hickory. Still, the ribs, in their own way, are very good. Way too good to be dismissed because they do not follow an ideal-type. These are PORK ribs. I am sure some maven like GWiv can explain to me and you how and why Carson's ribs just have so much more meat between the bones. And the pork meat tastes good, special. We appreciate a good steak without seasoning, with any interference, why cannot we appreciate a fine bit of pork without it being long smoked? Do not sneer at the overly sweet sauce either. Just as French chefs have known historically (say duck a l'orange) and recently (1001 foie gras treatments), a sweet sauce expertly compliments something rich and fatty. So, right away, I am not conceding that Carson's is good, but.

But everything else about eating at Carson's makes it so damn enjoyable. It remains one of the premier total packages in town. First, you nosh a bit more than you need on chopped liver of the proper, read not too smooth, consistency and a cheese spread that is so well processed that I do not feel the least bit guilty for liking it. For whatever reason, I always find Carson's spritzy old-fashion goes so well with these openers. Second, well once upon time, second would have been digging your knife into this wonderful, sexy glob of butter and doing up a few rolls. Now, that the butter comes in safe, sanitized packages, the allure of this course is gone. I do not even know if the quality of the rolls is the same. Third, there is salad, excessively dressed but with ultra-bold flavors or the slightly oniony coleslaw. Fourth, the ribs. Fifth, a choice of deluxe potato options. Sixth, if there is possibly gullet space, the trademark gold brick sundae.

Carson's deserves room in the pantheon just for those deluxe potatoes. I could easily eat here just for the potatoes. I long for the Carson's potato buffet. Nearly always, I cannot budge from the molten blend of cheese and potato chunks that is the au gratin, but the crisp and thick skins, the archaic twice-baked and the jumbo baked all make excellent sides. When you combine these sides with the ribs and salads, you have a meal that far exceeds any other rib place in Chicago, even Lem's.

Besides, the service remains top-drawer. If you need, they will make you a little dish of chopped liver, parselyed onions and rye bread to accompany your drinks. When a coke was proffered instead of a diet coke, the server did not argue as so often the case these days. Instead, she said, regardless of what happened, my mistake. And she handled 4 tired adults (two going on 3 hours of sleep from an all-night poker game) and 4 tired kids (all us coming off some rigorous hours of ice-skating) with aplomb. I know better ribs exist, even in Chicago, but I nothing will keep me from loving
Carson's Ribs.

There are few less Carson's than there once were, and the restaurants are not nearly as crowded as before. We went to the Wells Street location (612 N.). Decor wise, it was getting a bit long in the tooth. They'd be better off keeping the lights dimmer to hide the wear. More info on Carson's and their locations can be found here.

Watch Gorilla Gourmet Eat Maxwell Street
Will Be On Soon in Chicago!

Gorilla Gourmet Impressario, MikeG passes on the following info:

Got back from vacation to find a letter from CAN TV, which handles
public access programming for all Chicago cable franchises. Gorilla
Gourmet: Maxwell Street Mexican will air (so to speak, since this is
only cable) at the following gorilla-times and gorilla-stations:

Sunday, 3/21, 7:30 pm, Channel 21

Thursday, 3/25, 10 pm, Channel 21

And it only took them losing the tape and all the forms once!

If you don't know what I'm talking about, go here (shortly to be
updated with the above info):

http://michaelgebert.com/gorilla
http://www.dchammond.com/gorilla

And if you don't get cable at all, and still want to see this fabulous
program starring many of the folks here (well, a good dozen and a half,
anyway), as well as some of the best food and most interesting vendors
on Maxwell, use the above link to find where you can shell out money
for your own copy on VHS or DVD including DVD-only bonus scene! (Did
everyone who has a DVD already find the DVD-only bonus scene?)

Yum Thai "Secret Menu"

One of the first secret menu's exposed on Chowhound was Yum Thai, a seemingly typical Thai restaurant in Forest Park. While many of the items on the Thai menu seem the same as items on the American menu, in reality it is all different. Different and better. Pretty much everything ordered from the Thai menu tastes MUCH better. Try for yourself.

Translating the Thai menu at Yum Thai into English was not quite as easy as expected. Finally, our distant friend foodfirst did the trick. Just as important, Zim took her translation and matched against the Thai words on the menu.

You can get your own copy of the Yum Thai secret menu here. Thanks to GWiv for hosting another menu.

More Great Reporting from the Chicago Sun Times
(Corruption in Chicago, who knew?)

As noted on this page before, the Chicago Sun Times has been doing a fantastic job in identifying corruption and organized crime influence in the City of Chicago's "Hired Truck Program". Here's the latest. (Use a VERY good pop-up killer before going to the link.)

New Chocalte Kid Coming to Town

A friend of mine is friends with Todd Moore, owner of the Chicago Chocolate Company. My friend passes on the following on the company (which I apologize, I have yet to try).

There's an excellent potential supplier for you or your company I am writing to make you aware of.

The Chicago Chocolate Company (CCC) opened in the fall of 2003, but it draws from over 14 years of excellence.

Eric and Todd Moore, long-time friends of mine, own CCC with Mark Tarner, who founded South Bend Chocolate Co. in 1989 and now has 20 chocolate cafes in IN, MI and OH.

They will eventually be placing a store in Downtown Chicago, but actively do business today on their website, www.chicagochocolate.com

The customer service is solid and all types of chocolate, which are made in South Bend are GREAT --I'm a toffee crack head.

Our company recently used CCC for all our client holiday gift giving. Pricing is very competitive, but what made it a home run for us is they uploaded our dist. List onto their secure server and now we can access it quickly for future gift giving. I hope CCC can be of benefit to you, especially with the closing of Fannie May. If you have questions or want to talk to them, call:


Todd Moore
The Chicago Chocolate Company
(773) 230 1602
todd.moore@chicagochocolate.com

Googling and the Limitations Thereof

Sunday's Washington Post had a good article on the ever-more omniscient Google. As the article notes, "to google" has entered the lexicon. "People keep finding new ways to use Google. It is now routine for the romantically savvy to Google a prospective date. "Google hackers" use the infiltrative powers of Google to pilfer bank records and Social Security numbers. The vain Google themselves." Still, the article points out some limitations to Google, and blogger Kevin Drum shows how searching remains an art as much as a science. Finding vital information requires more than googling.

WHY GOOGLE
There is no doubt that Google changed the way that people gathered information. The WaPo suggests that university library circulation dropped 20% since the advent of popular Internet search engines (how the heck anyone could really know that, I gotta wonder). Google did it three ways. First, it created a good algorithm, a way of getting more exact results from a search. This is usually the reason most ascribed for Google's success, but I think this reason is much less important than the other two reasons. So, second, Google's getting a LOT of stuff in their database. All search engines are only as good as the data obtained by their "spiders." The WaPo article states that, "Google initially searched about 20 million Web pages; the company's home page now boasts that it searches 3,307,998,701 pages." It is in those 3 billion+ (and growing) pages that Google finds what you want. Very often, within all those pages, only a couple of sites have your words. Thus, which page comes first hardly matters. Last, Google is good and people use Google. As Yogi Berra would put it, everyone uses Google because everyone uses Google. Once people realized they could easily search, well they did. The question stands, how good are their searches and should they be turning their backs on the library stacks.

GOOD SEARCHES REQUIRE GOOD WORDS
Drum notes that the success of your search depends mostly on your ability to put in the right words. I believe I am a very good researcher, and two of the biggest skills I bring to each research project are knowing what words to put into any search and then knowing how to adjust my search based on the results. Whether it is Google or more quaint databases like Lexis-Nexis, it takes the right words to get the right results.

WHEN WORDS FAIL
The WaPo article points out that googling can lead now where:

Hendler explains the problem this way: If you type into Google the words "how many cows in Texas," Google will rummage through sites with the words "cow" and "many" and "Texas," and so forth, but you may have trouble finding out how many cows there are in Texas. The typical Web page involving cows and Texas doesn't have anything to do with the larger concept of bovine demographics. (The first Google result that comes up is an article titled "Mineral Supplementation of Beef Cows in Texas" by the unbelievably named Dennis Herd.)

This is the other big trick of research, not just knowing which words but where to put the words. Google as good as it is, is not the end-all. One must go to the right source that has the available data. Finding data still requires knowing which source to use and which document contains the right information. Google gets you close but not all the way.

Thoughts on Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises

Someone from outside of Chicago asked me about a couple of LEYE places that were opening up near him. Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (LEYE) is the dominant restaurant group in Chicago. They are well known for creating more than just restaurants but restaurant concepts. Like Disney, LEYE attempts to assault your inner and outer mind in such a way that the experience is much more than it seems. In my e-mail on LEYE, I made a few comments about LEYE that I thought were worth blogging. I would be interested in comments.

First, do not count me AT ALL as a basher. Some of their places are too cutesy, too much concept over substance, but others work just right, both as concept and as food. Moreover, I do not buy the theory of some, like my friend GWiv, that the clone is always inferior. I think at times LEY has duplicated places quite well. It does not always happen, but it is not impossible.

My biggest complaint I guess with Rich Melman is that he fiddles too much. Obviously, he has reasons, both the keep places fresh, and because he has the data of what sells, but I rarely approve his adjustments. Quite contrary, I like the way he starts. Melman, like me, seems to have a huge fetish with old fashioned dining, especially kind of a 40's-50's era archtype--e.g., that is the decor and style of Shaw's. Often, he will pepper the opening menu's with odes to this era, but as the longer the places are open, the more he seems to replace the classics with dumb contemporary style dishes. Think salmon and pasta. I wish he would stick to his convictions. Also, I believe he has had a mixed record in his re-vampls. I like Mon Ami Gabi more than Un Grand Cafe and I suppose Tru is much better than Avanzare even if I have been to the latter not the former, but I much liked Hat Dance over National 27 and Bones over L.Woods.

Valententine's Day at Ixcapuzalco
Upscale Mexican in Chicago Lives On!

Valentine's Day is not supposed to produce such exquisite eating is it? Like New Year's Eve, it is a night for diners who do not necessarily go out, and a night for restaurants to most take advantage of its customers. When we arrived at Ixcapuzalco and saw the prix fixed menu, we braced for the worst.

We were already bracing. One chowhound warned us before going, to expect good food but poor service. A very sloppy and artless greeting seemed to confirm this view of the service. And our suspicions only deepened when our server explained the drink program this night: or two glasses of wine. What wine I asked (Ms. VI was fine with the night's special drink, passion fruit margarita). Our server fumbled, "Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Grigio..." Painful, as she raked her memory, and I held off asking for any details that were obviously not coming. But she then, almost offhand, mentioned a Rioja, even a producer (who gosh darn right now I cannot remember), and not only did it seem better, it seemed right for the night. A few minutes later when that very large pour of Rioja came, and my mouth filled with its pleasant fruit and earth flavors, I was quite ready to enjoy the night. As it turned out, the service hardly improved, but since they consistently delivered such outstanding food to us, we hardly minded.

The "Valentines [sic] Celebration Dinner, 2004" contained appetizer, soup, entree, dessert and a mug of hot chocolate. As mentioned above, the meal included 2 drinks, either wine or some form of margarita, including the cliche passion fruit. For $55, my wife and I found it a fine value. One problem with special occasion, set meals, is that you usually feel restricted by the choices. Hardly the case at Ixcapuzalco, the menu gave us enough to fight over. Neither of us though, had the guts to get the dish more appropriate to the night, "Laura Esquivel's infamous quail in exotic rose petal sauce." Besides, we quickly and easily zeroed in on key dishes.

Of the group of appetizers, we both wanted the seviche, but foodies in good standing that we are, we need to try something else too, so the other got the enchilada de champandongo. How fortuitous! This turned out to be the best dish of the night, AND the filling came way too cold. Ixcapuzalco takes two of their fresh made tortillas and stuffs them with a mixture of shredded pork and beef. It then bathes the folded tortillas in a savory red mole. My first bite contained jarringly cold meat, so cold, I had to hunt down the server to see if they erred. But here's a bit of a secret, as I waited, I continued to nibble. I tried to do it in such a way to disguise my efforts, you know who can return a mostly eaten dish, but my intention was partially to just get more tortilla and mole. Granted, it was not all chicanery, the inside did seem wrong. The waitress, however, explained that the filling was supposed to be room temperature and I did not want at all another dish. I just kept the taken out of the refrigerator too late dish. Anyway, this was a dish all about the sauce. It should not have even had a filling, just tortilla and sauce. Maybe the best thing I can say about the mole is, even now, thinking about the dish many hours later, I cannot really name the ingredients. I mean I know the ingredients of a red mole, but a list of ingredients would be meaningless to this mole. A sauce blended into one homogenous, balanced, vivid (and quite spicy) whole that no ingredient stood out. The seviche, by the way, was pretty darn good too and featured a fresh tasting, fruity green salsa.

After so many flavors in the first course, you would think the soup would notch things down, give the palate a breather. Hah! Unlike the appetizers, we more easily divided on the two soup choices. The Condiment Queen moved towards the sopa azteca, long a favorite of hers, I the oxtail. I much preferred my choice. The sopa azteca tasted good, but I found it too thick, almost a liquid mole. I find such soups excessively filling (and this soup with all its garnishes of chicken breast, avocado, and tortilla strips was nearly a meal). My soup, the oxtail was an amazing bowl of flavors and textures. On the surface it was a bright consommé, typically Mexican, very reminiscent of the goat soup at Maxwell Street. Underneath, an array of items that spoke well to its chefly origins. For instance, swimming at the bottom of the bowl were perfectly cooked multidimensional onions and other ingredients, a masterful sofrito. The small piece of oxtail was likewise masterful, soft, beefy and tight on the tooth without being stringy.

Within ten seconds of menu glancing, my wife knew her entree, chiles en nogada. A classic Mexican celebration dish, one requiring true kitchen skills and either a lot of time or several sous chefs. Mixing so many elements, fresh poblano chile, rich pork stuffing, intense spiced-cream sauce, bursting pomegranate seed, it was the kind of dish expected at a restaurant like this. The outcome met and exceed all expectations. My grilled duck breast could not come close in terms of history or complexity, but it sure tasted delicious. They left the duck just red enough to truly mimic red meat and the sauce described on the menu as a "swarthy guajillo" had fine bitter tones that complemented the richness.

While I chickened out of the rose-petal quail--partially because I am not much of a quail guy either--I wanted the sides for that dish, wild greens and baby potatoes. I asked for a substitution. They would not comply. I was no worse the wear though as the mashed potatoes with my duck could accurately be described as butter, bound together with a bit of potatoes. I should add that the chiles en nogada came with a small (well can I keep on using the word perfect in this overly long report?) perfect dressed salad of exotic greens.

It is hard to wrap things up quickly. Tres leches cake, one of the few common denominators of Hispanic cooking, is a favorite of mine. While I am gonna like nearly any such cake, Ixcapuzalco's was nothing particularly special. On the other hand, after so much artistry above, the simple cake made lots of sense. Besides we ended the night with more flavors. We had to remind our waitress to serve us our hot chocolate, but again, it was worth the nudge. Made, I am almost positive, traditionally, with water instead of milk, the mug of spiced accented liquid chocolate was the PERFECT close to a gorgeous meal.

One final, final note, getting back to the wine. A certain amount of conventional wisdom says that only a few white wines stand up to spicy foods, but this was patently not the case last night. The Rioja, not very sweet, but very fruity and with tons of body, stood up to and well accentuated the food. I have, historically, been very skeptical of the "wine+food=sum greater than the parts" notion, but of the few times where I know the wine made the food even better, two of them have been with a Rioja. And speaking of conventional wisdom, it would suggest that a Valentine's dinner should be less good than typical. I do not have enough experience with Ixcapuzalco to say how this meal compared with others, but if this their version of banquet food, I am quite eager to return for the normal menu.

Ixcapuzalco
2919 N. Milwaukee
Chicago, IL
773-486-7340

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.

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"