Ice Cream!

Here's an overview of ice cream places in Chicago that I wrote in May, 2002. I've updated since, with dates. I have also deleted closed places.

Palazzolo's Gelato (Available at Pronto Roma River Forest Town Center Lake and Harlem, River Forest) - Even though Pronto Roma is Sophia's favorite place, even more fav. than Flat Top, I'll warn against it. The Al Gelato Pronto served was much, much better than the gritty, bland Palazzolo stuff. Oddly, Local Palate loves it. UPDATE: Had their ice cream on 8/6/03. They've fixed their freezer, soupy ice cream has been a problem. The flavors are strong, but almost too strong, like their is something un-natural about them. This stuff still reminds of a factory rendition of what gelato should be.

Grampy's Frozen Custard (1 W. Illinois, St. Charles) - Never tried, but I am instantly attracted to the words, frozen custard. Without employment from AA, I've had no reason to visit St. Charles until now. UPDATE: Still have not tried, anyone?

Freddy's (16th near Ridgeland, Cicero) - Yes. UPDATE: A few weeks ago, I had the nutella, the sweet cream plain based mixed with nutella. So good that I ended up eating about a pint in one sitting.

Cunis Candies (1030 E. 162, South Holland) - An old fashioned Margiesque place I NEED to try. South Holland? UPDATE: Still have not tried. UPDATE 4/29/04 - Paul Mollica, in scolding me for not getting to South Holland, states of Cunis, "Everything about this place speaks of quality and care: the ice cream, the sauces and the nuts all fresh and top-drawer. Fresh fruit ice creams in season and turtle sundaes anytime of year."

Sukhadia's Sweets (2559 W. Devon, Chicago) - Zim's commented on this, right? I do love the just frozen texture and ultra creaminess of Indian ice cream. UPDATE: Here's what Zim wrote in July, 03, "Unfortunately the kulfi (malai-cream, pistachio, and mango) now looks like its shipped in pre-made, I've got a couple in the freezer but haven't tried them out yet. But they also offer homemade ice cream. Most of the flavors are nothing special just good versions of something that might be in a Neapolitan brick, not gourmet ulra-fresh strawberry sorbet, but to satisfy kids. However, there's always a couple ringer flavors that are interesting and pretty good. Last night it was walnut. I'm not sure its a destination ice cream place, but if you're on Devon and feel like something cold you could do a lot worse." UPDATE 4/29/04 - Stirsy reminds me that Sukhadia is closed, perhaps to re-open. He suggests King Sweets for Indian ice cream on da'bomb. On Easter, the VI family visted the chaat shop that formerly held the Indian-Chinese place. Somewhere on the messy VI desk is its name, and at some point, I will do a brief report on this Bombay influenced place. UPDATE 4/30/04 - Zim reports that Sukhadia will re-open, and hopefully fix their chaotic ordering system. He also notes that for Indian style ice cream, right now, he'd suggest Rajbhog. He sez, "Rajbhog offers commercial stuff, made by the Rajbhog home base in NJ, but most of the places on Devon (including I think King sweets) are serving Rajbhog, so why not get it from their branch."

Penguin (2723 W. Lawrence, Chicago) - Famous chowhound discovery, proving definitively to me that I did not know everything about Chicago chow. Go for the friendly owners as well as the great ice cream. UPDATE The key thing at Penguin is too sample extensively. All those in the know, know that when the Penguin stuff sits around, it rots. Rookies occasionally complain that is not all its cracked up to be because they end up with a stale flavor. Try before buying.

Bittersweet (1114 W. Belmont, Chicago) - Ice cream's a new addition, but everything else is so delicious, I have high hopes. UPDATE: Sheila and I have had their ice cream a few times each summer. I never see anyone else order the ice cream when we go, nor do I remember too many comments on the board. Too bad. You can really taste the egg yolks in this stuff. A recent lemon verbena tasted like frozen pastry cream, and that is a compliment. Do try.

Homer's (1237 Green Bay, Wilmette) - I only get the Prairie Berry. Very rich ice cream. UPDATE: Interestingly, in 2002, we had one poster glorifying their hot fudge and another poster saying she liked everything BUT the hot fudge.

Oberweis (various locations) - Great, high fat ice cream, fair sundae toppings. Extreme right wing politics keeps Ms. VI away.

Soups and Scoops (2534 N. Clark, Chicago) - It promises homemade gelato, and the coupon offers 50% off the second scoop. Very close to Wiener Circle. UPDATE: Never did more than see an ad, anyone ever try. There's another place close by, see Ice Dreams below. Anyone ever try?

Zephyr's (Wilson and Ravenswood, Chicago) - Modern take on the traditional ice cream parlor. Full coffee shop menu as well as sundaes, soda's, etc. Their ice cream has a strong yellow tint that seems un-natural to me. Cathy2 is a bigger fan than me. She's written, "The whipping cream is made with a rich high-fat cream. They make their own ice cream. For years, we always got individual 2-scoop hot fudge sundaes until one day we ordered "War of the Worlds." You cannot beat a 10-scoop ice cream sundae with 4-toppings, slivered almonds, cookies, cherries and my special request of extra-extra whipping cream for $8.95. We always have someone who digs out their favorite ice cream flavor at an inconvenient location -- causing everyone to use their spoon to balance this monster sundae."

Sweeties (Clark, near Wrigley Field) - AnnieB mentioned this place in the last ice cream round up. I've never been, but here's what she said, "The owners are nice, Sweeties serves a good value of soup/chili/jambalaya in different sizes, a pasta of the day for around $5 (some of this stuff is only in winter) and a full array of ice cream, candies, and penny candy. The ice cream comes from someplace that is supposed to mean something to folks around here. Everyone I've been there with (used to work right around the corner) thought it was quite good ice cream. The berry smoothie things are good. The penny candy is a hoot. The ice cream cakes and pies look really good and I've heard that they're quite delicious. It's a nice change of pace in the area, fun with kids on game day."

Rainbow Cone (9233 S. Western Ave) - This should have been an obvious choice for the Westernathon, but they were on vacation during our adventure. Amazingly, I have never had the famous cone in its home setting. I've only had it at Taste of Chicago. For those who are unfamiliar, the Rainbow cone is a combination of ice creams (and orange sherbet) on a cone. Perfect for those who cannot make up their mind. I know some people find the amalgamation of flavors counter-productive. Paul Mollica's sez, "I don't know why anyone would drive here for anything but a Rainbow Cone. You will not mistake this for a high-quality, riot-of-butterfat product; the sauces and whipped cream are run-of-the-mill; and they don't sell corn or yam flavored scoops. But try it anyway."

Massa (North Avenue, near Johnnie's Italian Beef, Elmwood Park) - Massa makes its own gelato, mostly from cans of base imported from Italy. The stuff is smooth and rich and mostly very good. Sometimes, especially during the summer, there will be true homemade flavors made from various fruits. Look mostly for the stuff with handwritten signs.

Village Creamery (two locations 4558 Oakton, Skokie and 8000 Waukegan, Niles) - Village Creamery is mostly famous for its various Filipino flavors including very purple (ube) yam and sweet corn. In addition, they do a variety of gelato-ish flavors using the same imported bases as Massa. UPDATE (8/15/03) I think Zim sez it best, "that quite a bit of the appeal to their ice cream resides in offering flavors unavailable elsewhere."

Scooters (1658 W Belmont, Chicago) - Scooters claims to be the only place in Chicago selling true frozen custard, custard in the style of Ted Drewes in St. Louis or Kopps in Milwaukee. Being pretty un-experienced with real custards, I cannot really place this place against the standards, but I found it plenty good. When I first went, I thought they swirled the ice cream instead of letting it fall into a bin for scooping. This led to a bit of controversy on chowhound, with Scooters vehemently denying it. On my second visit, they clearly were scooping. Scooping, for those who wonder the fuss, produces a much better mouth fee than swirling. Here's what the Ultimo, GWiv, said about Scooters, "The husband and wife team who own and operate Scooter's are very friendly and were quite open to my questions. No, they are not part of a chain, this is their only store, yes they have been to Kopp's in Milwaukee many times and think it is exceptional. Scooter's, while the same style as Kopp's, is 10% butterfat, as opposed to Kopp's 13.5-14%. I can say, having been to Kopp's just last Saturday, that Scooter's compared favorably to Kopp's though, as a Milwaukee native, Kopp's will always remain #1 in my book. The custard was a reasonable $6 per quart and when I asked for a cup of coffee they made a fresh pot using Intelligentsia coffee. Based on one brief visit I quite like Scooter's, though what's not to like about good custard"

Ice Dreams (2865 N. Clark, Chicago) - I have never been. Here's what Joan had to say, "a new ice cream place opened last week. they have gelato and American ice cream (their term). the 2 flavors of gelato i tried were very good. the mango tasted like it was made with super ripe fruit. the bacio (hazelnut and chocolate) was plenty nutty tasting and not overly sweet, which is my biggest problem with most ice cream. i actually prefer Eddy's frozen yogurts and light ice creams to most of the sweeter and more caloric ice creams i try in ice cream shops." UPDATE: 3/28/04 - Tried, sampling plenty of flavors. Tasted weak and overly soft. Apparently no base, but also extracts. UPDATE 4/29/04 - Shannon Clark disagrees with my assessment. He likes the place.

Snookelfriz (Green City Market, Clark near North Avenue) - Joan discovered this very interesting sounding ice cream being sold ONLY at the Wednesday Green City Market. Here's her comments, "There's some new and tasty ice cream in town, but don't get too excited unless you can get to the green city market, Wednesdays between 7am-1pm in Lincoln Park.

Margie's Candy (Western/Armitage/Milwaukee) - This is pretty much it when you are talking about classic ice cream parlors within the Chicago city limits. Cramped and sometimes suffering from surly servers, but still capable of glamorous sundaes and other treats. I loved my recent turtle sundae. Cathy2 presented a dissenting view, "I love whipping cream, thus my first spoonful was the whipped cream. Right there, I was disappointed as the whipping cream was lower on the fat scale, thin and not too pleasant. The ice cream wasn't outstanding. The hot fudge was a very generous quantity, which tasted like Nestle's semisweet morsels. I'm glad to have tried it for simply the experience."

Petersen's (1104 Chicago Ave, Oak Park) - You would think that I'd have more to say about a rather famous place in my home town, but I am not a huge fan of Petersen's. Their ice cream itself is good enough, just not really wow-ful. The hot fudge is very poor and reminds me mostly of Smuckers. Petersen's has two sides, a restaurant side and a counter side. I mostly stick to the counter which is for cones. Petersen's changed ownership about a year ago, and the new owner makes some excellent candies, especially the caramels.

Marble Slab (940 Church Street, Evanston/7154 Carpenter Road, Skokie) - I have never tried. Zim, who with Joan, is the primary scout of ice cream places had this to say in 02, "There are about 15 flavors, each very rich, but not assertively flavored (with the exception of the lemon custard I tried) because the shtick here is the mix-in on the slab and I guess if the flavors were stronger the mix-ins wouldn't go as well...A couple minor gripes: about those waffle cones, they offer a number of different dips and flavors, but they didn't on the ones we tried out have much real flavor to them and more annoyingly feature a large nickel-size whole in the bottom for your ice-cream to leak out of. Maybe because it was new and the line was long of folks who have never been there before and were tasting flavors and the staff hadn't had a chance to get into a groove of doing the mix-ins on the slab, the line moves glacially. I think it will get a little quicker as the newness wears off the but the slab mix-in thing ensures that it will stay a little slow. Also did i mention it's kinda steep for a waffle cone - $3.50"

Sweet Occasions - (4639 N. Damen, Chicago) - Has gotten some recent attention on the board. In 02, I said, "black raspberry truffle was their most popular choice...This IS their best. Smooth cream, toothsome chocolate pieces and strong fruit flavor...The chocolate also possessed a pleasing smooth texture. Chocolate flavor played a role, but it did not overpower. Butterfat also played a role, but also did not really get out there. I suppose in wine ratings, balance can be key, and this ice cream was balanced nicely between texture, flavor and richness, but I guess I want a little more than balance."

Hartigan's Ice Cream (2909 Central St., Evanston) - Mentioned in passing by Zim, who notes it serves cedar crest dairy ice cream from Wisconsin. Any other info?

Coffee Chicago/Double Rainbow (Broadway and Berwyn, Chicago) - This coffee shop sells this brand of ice cream, reputably famous in SF. When I lived nearby, I never remembered it being anything special. In 02, Harry V wrote, Strangely they did not have the only ice cream flavor I really like -- vanilla. I had the butter pecan and my girlfriend had strawberry. Both were authentically, overpoweringly flavored -- disagreeably so in my eyes, but likely to win plaudits from most, I suppose. I'd prefer ice cream to taste like cream, some sugar and vanilla are also nice. I'd bet Double Rainbow's vanilla would be excellent, based on the lovely richness of the ice creams we tried." See also Brown Cow below.

Double Rainbow on Southport (?) - In July, 02, Zim mentioned a Double Rainbow outlet on Southport that was quite crowded. I do not know if this branch still exists, nor do I have any idea of its quality. Any comments?

Chocolate Shoppe (5337 W Devon, Chicago) - A converted Baskin Robbins in the under-explored Edgebrook area. GWiv noted, "The ice cream, which I have only had once, was good, though not exactly to my taste. I can't really describe why I wasn't thrilled, maybe I wasn't in the mood for ice cream at the moment...Chocolate Shoppe hails from Madison, Wisconsin and is practically a Madison institution, to the extent they had a spot on Food TV's Food Finds. The Devon location is a pleasant place, friendly service, chairs inside and out to relax and directly across the street from the Chicago Public Library, Edgebrook Branch."

Evanston Creamery/Chocolate Shoppe (1301 Chicago Ave, Evanston) - Also took over a Baskin Robbins in Evanston. Zim sez, "usually I'm not a big fan of store bought chocolate ice cream as their is little discernible darkness to the flavor, this was really pretty nice, not too sweet, good chocolate flavor and with good texture as well." Note, Chocolate Shoppe ice cream is also served at Sweet Pea in Highwood (Sheridan) and Miami Sweets (see below).

Sugar Shack (630 W. 26th St, Chicago) - Hot Dill Pickle threw this place out as an example of decent soft serve ice cream in Chicago. CMC disagreed. See below.

Hole in the Wall Custard (901 1/2 N. Oak Park Ave Oak Park) - A very good soft serve. This may not be custard like Scooters makes custard, but I am always happy getting a cone here. In fact, I get a kid's cone because that is all I ever need to be satisfied. Of course, I always get it dipped in Chocolate.

Toots Drive Inn (4354 N. Central Ave Chicago, IL) - Old Shack serving soft, possibly tastee freeze, ice cream. I have wanted to try for ages. Anyone? UPDATE 4/29/04 - Paul Mollica comments, "The main attraction is sitting at the corner of Montrose and Central on a hot summer day and having ice cream melt down your hand. "

Buffalo's (Arlington Heights Rd. and Lake-Cook Rd, Buffalo Grove) - Pretty much everyone agrees that the original Buffalo's on Irving Park and its subsequent incarnation in Skokie were great. Whether this local greek in Buffalo serves anything like the original is open.

Dave's Ice Cream & Italian Ice (1451 W. 18th St, Chicago) - This place does not look like much, but Zim reported in 02, "the tamarindo Italian ice on offer there was really very good, dark brown almost black, with strong not washed out flavor and no cloying sweetness."

Cold Stone Creamery (Various locations including 1533 N. Wells, Chicago) - Franchise'd chain trying to take over the ice cream world with the old Steve's formula of mixing in things into plain ice cream, but with the gimmick of doing it on a sub-zero slab (the cold stone). I tried once to sample the Old Town location, but the line moved so damn slow, I gave up. UPDATE: 6/5/04 - Damn corporate, but the ice cream was pretty damn good too. In a way, the mix-in detracted from the good ice cream that straddles traditional USA ice cream with softer, more intense gelato or Euro style ice cream.

Hershey's Ice Cream Premium (5723 Dempster, Morton Grove) - Zim once noted that this place had halo-halo and Hawaiian Ice Cream. The Ultimo, being the Ultimo, once tried to try, but could not find it. No one else has done a report as far as I can tell. UPDATE: According to Kenny from Rogers Park, this place is now a branch of Village Creamery.

UPDATE: Mario & Gino's in Roscoe Village, next to the excellent Village Tap and down from Hot Doug's, JeffB sez, "which serves the very good Al Gelato and the pretty good Double Rainbow"

UPDATE (8/12/03) - Gayety's Ice Cream (3306 S. Ridge, Lansing) - Formerly on the SE side of Chicago, moved to Lansing. Mags Thomas, who brought the place to my attention on chowhound had this to say, "Homemade ice cream and truly fantastic homemade chocolates, specializing in dipped fruits, nuts, and all the standards one would expect. I don't know what's in their chocolate recipe, but it's out of this world...oooh and their hot fudge."

UPDATE (8/12/03) - Swiss Gourmet (Clyborn and Webster, Chicago) - I forgot about this place where we took four of Hannah's friends for her fifth birthday. I really do not remember the ice cream as anything special, so perhaps this comment from chowhound rings true: "Very, very disappointing. Low butterfat content, all the way down in the "ice milk" category. All style, and no content. The service was mediocre too, in the best "I'm just working here for the money, but I'm really an artist" tradition."

UPDATE (8/14/03) - Mitsuwa Food Court - Adam Stephanidies notes that there is a place in the food court selling ice cream in various Asian flavors. Adam sez, "[they have] plum wine, yuzu (described as "Japanese citron"), and calpico (not sure what this is; the server told me it was a popular Japanese drink), along with more conventional flavors. I had the yuzu and the calpico; both were very good." UPDATE 4/29/04 - Paul Mollica makes the worthy reminder that "There are two ice cream vendors, the one in the food court and another at Hippo Bakery (on the north wall). Both sell different products and are equally worthwhile." UPDATE 4/20/04 - Zim adds, "Mitsuwa, to make things even more confusing-both ice cream stalls are now called pastry house hippo, only one is in the actual bakery - that's the one I like, but it has far fewer selections. specially good were the black sesame and the ginger, the calpico is at the other stall in the actual food court, there I liked the plain "milk" flavor the best, the sesame being overly grainy."

UPDATE (8/18/03) - Miami Ice Cream and Sweets - New shop on Division specializing in tropical flavors. Claim to be homemade, although some of the gallons had factory labels! (UPDATE 8/24/03 - A visit to Chocolate Shoppe sourced a lot of those suspect flavors!) On the other hand, the chocolate chip I had was clearly homemade. Lots of interesting flavors in the Village Creamery realm. (UPDATE 4/28/04) Stirs-the-pot got an early start on the ice cream season, saying of the just opened for the summer, Miami Sweets, "The banana was ultra creamy, full of fresh banana flavor and the Dominican chocolate had a dark, dusky, earthy cocoa flavor."

UPDATE 9/20/03 - Maggie Moos - A Cold Stone Creamery, mix in place with a location in Lincolnshire. Do not know of other locations. The ice cream was rich, pure and intense. I'd skip the mix-in next time.

UPDATE 4/28/04 - Brown Cow - Madison near Circle, Forest Park - Brand new storefront on the Forest Park strip. They told me that after many samples, they decided to offer Double Rainbow from San Francisco. Chowhound LO sez, "Creamy, not too sweet/sugary, and very fresh tasting. We had the white pistachio and sampled the strawberry. Such a difference from the overly sweet and bland stuff at Petersens' and Oberweiss nearby. They said they rotate their flavors weekly or biweekly, I can't remember. Service was very friendly and prompt. The setting is cute -- an "old fashioned" ice cream parlor."

UPDATE 4/28/04 - Australian Home Made - Wabash side, Marshall Fields - da Loop - Jeff B sez, "I had a cone and a truffle yesterday. The ice cream was pretty good, a light chocolate with dark chocolate shavings mixed in. Very fatty, so not like gelato, but also very smooth and soft (almost like custard), so not like American ice cream. The flavor was good, surprisingly not very sweet, letting the chocolate dominate. However, I was disappointed by how airy, that is, not dense, the ice cream was. UPDATE 4/29/04 - JeffB notes a second Australian Home Made stands ready to open near the Brown Line El Station on Southport (between Belmont and Addison). And if you cannot get there or there, John M notes that neighborhood scuttlebutt has an Australian Home Made opening in Edison Park at Northwest Highway and Oliphant, where the Fannie May used to be.

UPDATE 4/28/04 - Cafe Borgata - 455 N. Northwest Hwy., Park Ridge - Michael M. sez of gelati sampled, "The nocciola was the best, but overall I was underwhelmed. But the thrill of gelato, to me, is the texture due to low overrun and egg yolks and the fresh vivacity of the dairy flavor supporting the intensity of the main ingredient. This was fine as gelato goes, but not amazing."

UPDATE 4/28/04 - El Condor - 2349 N. Milwaukee - Not ice cream but sorbet on a stick, intense fruit bars, served with the sticks at a jaunty angle. Note, while I am including El Condor, I cannot possibly catalogue all the palateros, coco de nieve and other assorted street vendors found around Chicago. If they have bricks and mortar, however, I will include them.

UPDATE 4/30/04 - Culver's Custard - Cathy2 sent out an e-mail on frozen custard. It reminded me that I should include Culver's on the run-down. It may not be Kopps or Ted Drewes, but it can be satisfying enough. This web site lists Culver locations in Illinois, some not in the Chicago area as well as a few other frozen custard stands.

UPDATE 4/30/04 - Kabul House (3320 Dempster St, Skokie, IL) - I know a lot of restaurants make their own ice cream, but unlesss you can go into a place JUST for a scoop of ice cream, I doubt I will include them in this summary. I am, however, including Kabul House. Because while one can find around town, double diget butter-fat ice cream, fany flavor gelato, tropical specialities and frozen custard, is there any place offering Persian ice cream? Well, Zim reports that Kabul House is. Zim thinks they might bet it from Mashti Malone of California. Zim plugs the rosewater, noting it is not the overpowering rosewater sometimes encountered. Maybe they will serve you just a scoop.

La Quebrada Update

I've written long and hard on La Quebrada on Chowhound, for instance here, here, here, and here. I told the Slow Food people it was the single greatest restaurant in Chicago, but few believed me. I'm not sure why. Nevertheless, I try to post only occasionally on the place.

Thankfully, I have a new reason to post. They've updated their menu. Gone is the desk-top publishing disaster. Gone, the eye straining squiggles and lines and no-contrast reds and blues. In place, a laminated color menu that almost sez Denny's. Gone also, are a few of my favorite dishes. Gone, the filete de res Acapulco combination that allowed for a great sampling of Quebrada fare: steak, unearthly-good quesadilla and picadita; gone the combination Ahuehapan, the un-pronounceable grouping of meat, cactus, pico de gallo and guacamole; finally, gone, Ms. VI's favorite, calamari in spicy sauce. In place, the dish I had on my very first visit, steak india--think Aztec curry. Also in, a few dishes "Campestre" with a "special sauce". I am anxious to learn of this special sauce. For all its fans, barbacoa de chivo estilo Telolapan remains. In summary, somethings have left, somethings have returned and somethings new are here to try. It still may be the best restaurant in the Chicago area.

Note, on Chowhound, there was a question of whether various restaurants called La Quebrada were related, primarily 'cause a lot of people think of the Cicero mothership as a meat place, but the Tribune called the Aurora location a seafood restaurant. Well, the new menu shows five La Quebrada locations:

4859 W. Roosevelt
Cicero
708-780-8110

3818 W. 63rd
Chicago
773-585-9943

5100 S. California
Chicago
773-737-4575

2906 W. Cermak
Chicago
773-277-7198

723 S. Broadway
Aurora
630-896-2535

John Kass seeks the Ultimo, Gwiv, for rib advice

The fame of the Joel's rib team spreads:

The Chicago Tribune's neo-Royko writes, "With summer fast approaching, I finally have come to a sad conclusion: I am in desperate need of a bone doctor. So I called the barbecue aficionados who are hunting authentic Southern-style joints in the Chicago area. After much whining and pleading, they agreed to intercede with another member of their group, barbecue master Gary Wiviott."

Read the rest here. Free registration required.

[CORRECTED TO NOTE THIS IS JOEL'S RIB TEAM NOT JOE'S. VITAL INFORMATION REGRETS ITS SLOPPY TYPING.]

Your teeth and Honey 1 Ribs

JoelF, in the comments asks what kind of "chew" one gets at Honey 1. My reply is below:

You need your teeth for Honey 1, but as I say, your teeth will quite enjoy themselves. There is no gnaw to the ribs though, yet they are hardly "falling off the bone." To be more exact, your teeth will first encounter a "wiv-crisp" layer, about one millimeter thick. This will provide just enough resistance to let you know you have encountered wood grilled meat. Then, your teeth will sink into a gorgeous depth of lubed up pork meat where they will stay for a few seconds. Finally, you will pull away, not with a struggle but with a happy force and take the meat down your gullet, where it will leave your entire tract coated with smoke and fat. Repeat until stuffed.

The hardest issue with BBQ is having it in the right state. The maximum Honey 1 experience will come from calling Mr. Adams and knowing the time YOUR ribs will be ready.

As to sauce, a lot of people have raved about Honey 1's sauce. I've found it nothing special. I was very happy with the meat plain. I am anxious, however, to try the ribs and tips with my favorite local sauce (and perhaps the best tip ever to come from Chowhound) Tapatio hot sauce. I did find the peach soda sold at Honey 1 to be a great accord with the meal.

After decades of rough going, 90-year-old blues legend Pinetop Perkins has finally gotten his act together

"He's had one arm sliced open in a bar brawl and the other broken in a collision with a train. He has performed his music at cockfights and played for a U.S. president. He has survived poverty, abuse, grief and alcoholism. He's an unsung forefather of rock 'n' roll and a living legend of the blues. As 90-year-old Pinetop Perkins is fond of saying, "I come up the hard way."

You can read the rest of the story here, but you should really find a copy of today's Tribune's Tempo section for the glorious color picture of Perkins and his fellow bluesman, Bob Stroger.

Blame it on Joel
Honey 1 BBQ

Chowhound JoelS may, just may, ignite a whole new BBQ explosion in Chicago. You see Joel organized a BBQ vanguard, with a dangerous agents scouring the city for potential and wily old masters lending their wisdom. And believe me, Bastille has been stormed. We will soon all thank Joel for his cause. Already, The Reader is being taken over as their reporter, Mike Sula, fights house by house on the pages of his newspaper. Lobbing his bombs of slow cooked and wood against the regime of grill and gas. Soon, we might even turn on our evening news and see such food. Such food you will no longer be able to get to bed. And like any revolution, this one has a shrine, a gathering spot.

I paid my homage today. Meeting the partisans at Honey 1 Ribs, 5135 W. Division in Chicago. Two hours later, my mouth, the inner cells of my cheek, the entirety of my soft palate, well down into my esophagus, remained coated in a lucious film of pork fat. See, while Honey 1 gets a nice veneer of smoke from a mix of hard woods, mostly oak, and a thin Wiv-crisp crust, and even a hint of seasoning, these ribs are all about pork fat. Not fatty let me say. They taste nothing of bacon, only of ribs. Yet, these ribs are strikingly different from the other rib stands around town. The Chicago rib tastes mostly dry. I always think of the meat as striated, as it seems to break into long thin spikes. Honey 1 ribs does not do that. Instead, it provides you a pillow to sink your teeth. Really, it is flat out fun to eat these ribs. Of course it is flat out fun to eat their rib tips and hot links too. The tips ARE fatty, but only in the best of ways. Robert Adams, the pitmaster of Honey 1 has been working on his link method, and his practice is paying off. He's slowed the heat down but also decided to cook the links less. The result is snappy and, well can I say lucious again in this report? These links are coarse but no where as coarse as other Chicago links. You are getting a fully emulsified sausage, no chunks of fat, no bits of gristle, but tons of spice, not many kinds of spice but many handfuls of one spice, cayenne pepper. Mr. Adams has no weak spot.

As has been well noted on Chowhound and the Reader, Robert Adams and his son, also Robert Adams, enjoy cooking their stuff as much as you will enjoy eating it. If you care, they will willingly engage you in Q-ology. And Cubs fans too!
Join the revolution.

It has been well noted on Chowhound that ribs are not necessarily there at Honey 1 unless you call in advance (773-626-5436). Do. Although you can still be quite happy with the tips or links.

Get Your Own BBQ Pit

One of the things I managed to acquire on the Mil - Walk - ee was a price list from Belvin J/F Sheet Metal Co. for Chicago style BBQ pits.

The pits ranged in size from 3 x 5 feet to 4 x 8 and could be had in standard black or stainless steel. Prices started at $1,650 and went up to $5,650. Fabrication and installation takes 3 to 4 weeks

312-666-5222

Mil - Walk - ee II

Note, below, I've added some photo's from MikeG and SethZ. Both sets of pictures capture the event well. See here for Seth's and here for Mike's.

Based on SethZ's list, here's a bit more info on places I forgot to mention as well as a few names where my mind was drawing blank:

Gonnella Bread Factory - Chicago and Milwaukee

We tried to cajole a tour, all we got were hairnets.

Johnny's Snack Shop - Milwaukee near Concord
Looks rather normal on the outside but quite Algrenesque inside with full range of long forgotten Wicker Park characters. Chickened out on ordering as it was really a sit down place. This after one of the cooks (owner?) yelled at us several times to sit down.

The name of the bar with the charming old Polish tender, where we enjoyed our Okocims and sausage was called The Padalhie Club.

I forgot we stopped at the deli part of Staropolska, near Belmont, for dry sausage, and I mean dry as a descriptor not as a style of sausage.

SethZ sez we stopped at some place called Michaels, but right now, I cannot remember it for the life of me.

The place with the home made huaraches and quesadillas was called El Gallo #2.

Talk Better When You Talk the Talk
Think About Taking a Class with Voicescape

Upcoming Workshop...One Shot Deal to enhance your business communication skills. Thursday, May 6, 2004


How do you present yourself to others? Using creative techniques from the world of actor training, VoiceScape's one day workshop will enable you to find your best business voice, postures, gestures and mindsets for use in meetings, presentations, speeches, interviews and more. We offer fun actor-training exercises and mindsets that are easily transferable to all kinds of business scenarios: speeches, client pitches, videoconferences, interviews, networking events and more! Spend a day away from the office with us learning presentation skills with a theatrical spin, and then applying new techniques to a final short presentation. Includes videotape analysis and feedback. Keep your 40-page workbook as a reference tool. Lunch is provided.

Taking the Stage: Creating a Dynamic Business Presence
Presented by VoiceScape, Inc.
with VoiceScape President Kirsten D'Aurelio
For information/registration, visit http://www.voicescape.com or 312.339.9555

Mil - Walk - ee
Summary

I will write a longer and better on the Mil - Walk - ee, but until then, here's a quick rundown on the places we visited.  Amazingly, as you will see below, right now, I do not have particularly accurate information on all the places.  Luckily, with the blog, I can update as I remember stuff (or otherwise get the better info).

Moving SE to NW

Blommers Chocolate Factory - We poked around, tasted the samples and then, with heavy guilt, left. 

Podhalanka - Polish diner on Division, just off of Milwaukee

MikeG sez, "menu sets time warp tone."

VI sez, excellent renditions of homey food.  It was good that we had a bit of walking under our belt.  Learned the secret behind white borsht (fermented flour), enjoyed the potato pancakes and sour cream.  No beans Breton style to try.

Big Tony's Pizza - Between Division and North/Damen - Looked lousy, tasted lousy

Artemio's Bakery - Between Division and North/Damen - Too sour guava "squashed pie" but excellent chewy macaroon.

Red Hen Bakery - Just past North/Damen - Did not try but others did.

Margie's Ice Cream - Armitage/Western -

All the kidz got cones: chocolate, NY cherry and strawberry.

Campeche Fish Stand - Between Western and California

Seth asked for ceviche, got cocktail, and an extremely ketchupy version therein.  Inside, there was fresh fish that can be cooked to order, and extremely fresh versions therein.  Worth a return visit.

Maroon van, now periwinkle van - Just south of California -

MikeG eats famous fare from no longer maroon van.

A wide array of stuff, none of it especially great: fried taco's with assorted fillings; soft tacos with potato, chicken, beans and chicharron; sopes with potato chunks; shrimp cocktail quesadilla.  Skipped the various atoles. 

Cafe Mariano - 2246 Milwaukee - Pretty good, not great cafe cubano, pretty, pretty good steak sandwiches, still chaotic ordering as it took SethZ two tries to get his order (for MikeG) across.

Blue van, still blue but absent the word's greatest sopes - Several people including the chowhounditas got the chunks of fresh fruit dressed, al gusto with lime, salt or chile.  A shame they had no sopes 'cause I was not so impressed with the Maroon van sopes.  The blue van sopes are crisper on the bottom, making for a wonderful contrast of textures. 

Mega Mall - 2502 N. Milwaukee

No one tried the Casa de las Gorditas, but Seth had a liquado.

El Condor - 2349 N. Milwaukee - This was the best food I ate during the day.  We got the house plate: roast pork, simple boiled hominy ("mato"), fried corn kernels and an excellent orange hot sauce.  Also, incredible house-made popsicles from assorted fruits.  These would be worth it just for the jaunty angle they come out of their aluminum cups, but even more worth it for their intense and real flavor.

Islas Marias - Nayarit style seafood - Dickson or others can fill in as I did not eat any until well after it cooled down.

Kurowski Sausage/Polish bar on Oakdale (I cannot think of its name)/- 2976 N. Milwaukee -

Would you know what to order?

This place smelled incredible.  SethZ did a grand job of buying sausages, bread, butter, herring (for me) and a few other things that we took over to the bar on Oakdale for a dark picnic.  Everything tasted great, but the taste that stood out the most was the super-fresh Clarendon Hills butter.

Polish Bakery - Slightly north of Kurowski with great curved glass window - Polish speakers kept on getting served ahead of us, should have taken the hint as most of this stuff sucked.

Mambo Club - 3336 N. - Ask ErikM how the cafe cubano was

Peacock Lounge - 3394 N. - Not a lot of drinking interest, but ErikM and I quaffed a quick buffalo grass vodka

Tobacco Room - 4020 N. - Good prices on cigars.  I got a Punch Rothchild for a quick fix.

Mexican place in Jefferson Park (around Lawrence) - Really, really good hot sauce with chunks of avocado in it.  This is how I'd prefer my guacamole.  Handmade huaraches and quesadillas, but the stuff was a bit chunky and artless. 

Superdawg - 6363 N. - Only Rich, Bob and I approached Superdawg, like pilgrims visiting Jerusalem on foot, but that's for another post. They gave me black bread for my whoopercheesie about 3 days past its prime. Still everything else they gave me tasted super. Too super. I wanted to stop eating the fries, as well as you can see, I ate a fair amount already, but I could not stop until I found no more in front of me.

Roast Beef
Hot and Bloody, Cold and Bloody and Tough and Tough

We eat a lot of roast beef in the USA. I aint gonna do no research, but I would guess we Americans eat more roast beef than anywhere. In fact, absent all those Italian beefs, beef-on-wecks, cheesesteaks, french dips, Manhattans, etc., what does the rest of the world do with their hunks of beef. [ed. what about those fine joints served in the UK?] I've sampled three roast beefs this week.

Hot and Bloody - Manny's
I took the chowhounditas and Ms. VI to Manny's this week, for a lunch organized by the author of the well blogged and critical favorite play, The Mayor's Mouth, SethZ. I did not diddle-dawdle like others over the corned beef and pastrami. I held up the line as I waited for one of the Manny's hand sliced and expertly trimmed roast beef sandwiches. It is worth holding up everyone behind you. Give the slicer a dollar for his efforts.

(Go here for some Manny's pictures and videos.)

Cold and Bloody - Fox and Obel
Equally gorgeous is the house roasted beef at Fox and Obel. While your eyes might zero in on the broad swath of crimson centered within the meat, my favorite part is the salty crusty surface. Belying F&O's snazzy image, this roast beef costs no more than other grocery stores and is actually less than Whole Foods.

Tough and Really Tough - Berghoff
The other night we found ourselves near the loop at the magic moment, just 6 PM. For about 240 seconds, a bunch of parking spots exist in the loop. Snap one up and you can enjoy a pleasant dinner and one of my favorite places, the Berghoff. Just avoid the German pot roast. Did I say tough? Incredible, bathed in butter, mashed potatoes well made up for it, and a cameo visit by the Mayor of Berghoff, El Panzone, made for an even more fun night.

Catch the Mayor's Mouth Segment on The News Show @ the Neo Futurarium

This is your big chance to see Chicagoland’s fastest growing live theatrical cooking segment. On April 28th at 8:00 PM, one night only, the Neo-Futurists will be reprising their “The News Show: Chicago” featuring 7-9 minutes of the most riproaring hilarious politico-culinary beef stew prep you ever saw, embedded in the middle of 80 minutes of hilearnious news-style coverage of the ins and outs of our fair city.


It’ll be a lot of fun, and some lucky audience member will get to sample the Mayor’s favorite beef stew! It could be you!

!!!!

Here are the details:

The News Show: Chicago
Wed April 28th at 8PM.
The Neo Futurarium
5153 N Ashland (@ Foster)
http://www.neofuturists.org/news/newsshow.htm
$8 Students/$12 Everybody Else

Paging Harry V - Poisonous Review Needed
Spizzico, Elmwood Park, IL

Back in the day, one "Harry V" could rip a restaurant with the best of 'em. Like an aspiring critic for the Village Voice, Harry knew that if there was something bad to be said, that could be said well, with style and panache, well go ahead and say it. Harry's vitriol got him the distinction of getting kicked off of Chowhound not just once but twice. His opinions, always, have been sadly missed (well by me at least). And God damn, I need Harry.

I need Harry to destroy Spizzico. Make you understand how truly bad this place has become, to prevent you from falling into the trap I fell into, "we have a coupon honey...." Spizzico might yet convince me that Chicago DOESN'T have good pizza. Because the pizza that showed up at our home the other night was so bad, so wretched, that I have become nearly delusional with fear that good pizza could even really exist (in Chicago). Please Harry, take me out of my misery. Order from Spizzico. Report back.

See if your pizza comes half-smooshed, like the delivery man got rear ended on his way to the bungalow. See if your crust is so light and grainy that it reminds your of a movie at the Museum of Science and Industry on paper making. See if your pepperoni resembles in taste, texture and odor, almost exactly, of what was in the special treat lunchables we purchased for the chowhounditas a few weeks ago (daughter to dad that evening, "I did not like the pepperoni in my lunchable, it tasted like sausage"). Please make literature of this swill.

Sadly, Spizzico did not always deliver such coupon inducing slop. They used to be exactly the kinda place you wanted nearby. Even though Spizzico is across the street from one of the premier Italian beef shops, and undisputed best smelling restaurant in Cook County, Johnnies, I had plenty of reason to eat at Spizzico. Really, not just tables, heat and a bathroom. I liked a lot of stuff at Spizzico. Breaded steak sammy's, fried shrimps, even cheese drenched parmesans tasted fine. Liked, however, is the operative word. I like nothing anymore at Spizzico, and I'd like only to be a better hatchet man.

Everybody Watching
The 16th Annual Bailiwick Directors Festival: Adaptations and Translations

My friend Kirsten D'Aurelio is one of the featured actors in this play based on the high school drama career of James Dean.

From the short story "Everybody Watching and the Time Passing Like That" by Michael Martone. Directed and adapted by Doug Long.

Dates: May 3 & May 4 ONLY 8 PM - Bailiwick Repertory, 1229 W. Belmont, Chicago www.bailiwick.org

Tickets: $10 To reserve tickets call Bailiwick at 773.883.1090

Executive Salad - Club Lago

Kudos to JeffB for alerting the world to the executive salad at Club Lago. Lunch there the other day with Jeff, Steve Z and the Condiment Queen has me convinced this is the coolest place in Chicago. One of these days I gotta try the yankee pot roast.

Club Lago
331 W. Superior St., Chicago
(312) 951-2849

Mike G Chow Pics here

Mil-Walk-ee Open Thread

Please post in the comments, any suggestions, ideas, insight or advice on where we should stop on our walk along Milwaukee Ave on April 17th, 2004.

Odd comment by Chowhound Mod's on Decor

This thread on Chicago Chowhound dealt with restaurant suggestions based on decor. Soon, the "Chowhound Team" came along and said that, while discussion of restaurant architecture or decor was fine, the posts HAD to also include mention of the food. Otherwise, splat, a victim to laser-focus. What the heck?

One of the criticisms typically thrown at hounds is that the grungier the place, the happier they become. That they take immense pleasure in dining in hovels. Now, perhaps there ARE people like that, but I do not know them. People simple mis-understand the desire for great (or at least interesting or unique) food and the willingness to get it regardless of the circumstances as a desire for masochistic eating. Decor, atmosphere, service, noise level, these factors all effect the dining experience, and they seem quite worthwhile for discussion. I mean under the logic of the moderator's call here, one could not discuss the quality of service if one did not throw in a mention or two of the food too. That's absurb. Restaurant discussion should include all the factors.

And that makes for help in finding places to eat?

Drooling Over Seoul

The Condiment Queen's good friend, who has found herself expatriated to Seoul has pointed me to this great web site. Fantastic pictures.

Oy Vay!

"And, much to his chagrin, they replaced fresh pasta with the frozen kind...In his 38-page counterclaim and response filed yesterday, Mr. DiSpirito, 37, told his side of the story. He said he was being unlawfully squeezed out of his 50 percent interest in Rocco's on 22nd Street, that his partners were abusing his name while benefiting from his notoriety, and that they have impaired morale at Rocco's. In addition, Mr. DiSpirito said his business partners failed to provide financial expertise and damaged the restaurant with "repeated and manifold breaches of contractual and fiduciary obligations."

The rest is here.

Mil-Walk-ee

There's been 2 e-mails sent out on the event since Monday. There are tons of logistics to work out, and we need everyone's participation and ideas. If you are signed up, you should have received them. If not, please let me know.

Chicago Pizza Club (?) - This was on Chowhound today, but I doubt it will last. Anyone know more?

Mil-Walk-ee Update
For April 17, 2004

It's only a few weeks until the next 'athon, a mass of chowhounds trekking by foot on the angle, across Chicago on Milwaukee Ave. Milwaukee is not the most international street in Chicago, it's no Devon (Da'bomb) by a long shot, but it's dense and diverse, ranging from hip to square, old Polonia to off the plane Polonia. Wicker Park, Logan Square, Avondale, Jefferson Park, and Gladstone Park, if Chicago is still a city of neighborhoods, we'll find out.

There's plenty of people signed up already, too many really. We have about 30 yes to the event. The sidewalks of Milwaukee will be hard pressed to fit us all together. And those tiny shops, we'd over-run them with mass. Still, people will walk at different paces, and people will have different interests of where to stop. Thus, we have 3 choices. First, we all start together, then let nature drive the event, with the knowledge that we end up vastly strung out. Essentially, the initial 30 will break into smaller groups based on apparent interests. Likely, but not positively, the smaller groups will be able to merge with each other as the day proceeds. Second, we can do the Union Pacific method. We split in two (or 3, 4, etc) and start at each end of Milwaukee (or within parts of Milwaukee) and move to meet somewhere. Third, we use a staggered start, with groups starting in intervals--maybe the smaller groups could be organized by specific interests, a deli group, a bakery group, a bar group. Of course, most of the 'hounds I know will not want to be limited to one aspect of Milwaukee. They wanna see it all. Related, we need to decided on stopping. How much walking, how much parking. Should we schedule meet-ups at a few places along the way for meals/drinks (makes sense). I need suggestions and further comments on how to do this.

I've done a bit of scouting. See below. I welcome and encourage more suggestions. If what you want to say is too big for the comments (i.e., over 1000 words) "e-mail me and I will get it in the blog:

Superdawg - Super (but slow) possible starting point. It does not open until 11 AM. Waited a looooong time for carhop service the other day, but was rewarded with a beefalicious Whoopercheesie that became an ordeal to eat as the relish dissolved the bread. 6363 N. Milwaukee Avenue

Produce Center - Groceries for various groups in Chicago. Nice selection of jellies and jams for morning toast. I had a soupy, sour cherry preserves from Turkey for today's (the last toast for the week). 5820 N. Milwaukee

Il Sogno Cafe - It said open, but was closed mid-day Saturday. If open, this tile floor cafe may be able to fortify us with a bit of espresso. Looks Euro at least. 5820 N. Milwaukee

Cafe Stoa - They say, "destined to become a great sanctuary for today's lifestyle." I say, odd but worth trying, extremely RST like place that specializes in this Greek Nescafe, frappe type of thing. Typically, opens at 1 PM, but they said they'd open early for us. 5760 N. Milwaukee

Gladstone Park Bakery - Great neon sign. See here. Other than that, the ware looked mostly tired. 5744 N Milwaukee Ave

Prohibition Club - Polish gangster hangout? See link above for a photo of their sign. 5600 N. Milwaukee

Great neon, in disrepair - 4950 N. Milwaukee

Krakus Homemade Sausage - Small but complete selection. Great facade. UPDATE: Herring in cream sauce was this/close to being too salty. 4722 N. Milwaukee

Ideal Pastry - Another great sign, but more special stuff inside. More well rounded than the name suggests with a large selection of cooked good like pierogi, blintzes, cutlets, etc. 4765 N. Milwaukee

Nice Terra Cotta Building - 4800 N. Milwaukee

Chris's Billiards - One of the last "real" pool rooms left, not just in Chicago, but anywhere. Best described on the Internet, "Chris' is nice, good tables (gold crowns). The bangers play in the back. The good players there are "clicky" and some are not s friendly, and some are seedy. Be careful." 4637 N. Milwaukee

Modern Tuxedo - Another great neon sign. Scroll down here to see. 4360 N. Milwaukee

La Pena - Ecuadorian. Mike G sez, "carbon-y, accompanied by a very odd thing calling itself a potato pancake in peanut sauce-- the reality was more like mashed sweet potatoes with a thin Thai peanut sauce on it, minus the coconut milk." 4212 N. Milwaukee

Tobacco Room - Smoke break? 4020 N. Milwaukee

Peacock Lounge - Wide variety of Polish liquor. Beer served mit juice. 3394 N. Milwaukee

Various stuff around Logan Square - See here and here.

Galleygirl's Website

Galleygirl, a Boston 'hound of high fame, has recently launced a website to showcase her great commercial art. Check it out!

The Blues

I used to consider myself quite the blues aficionado. I feel justly proud in bragging about seeing plenty of the immortals, with a few good friends in small clubs or with 1,000's of others at venues like Chicagofest. Included in my blues CV is a few shows by Zeus himself, Muddy Waters. When I had records, I had quite the set of blues records. I still have a fair amount of blues CDs, although I do not listen to them all that much. What has mostly disconnected me from the Blues is that triangle of married, with kids, and a job. Even when we have a baby sitter, I am hard-pressed to be catching a late starting set at one of the remaining Blues clubs. And...

Well, a long intro to a series I will be following this week in the Sun Times on the state of Chicago Blues.

Chowhound is Not Free

There is an incredible and highly inane thread on Chowhound's site talk board on paying for Chowhound. Ironically, the person most insistent on NOT paying acknowledges what others do not, that Chowhound does not consider itself free. As Chowhound "Big-Dog", Jim Leff, sez, " We are not a free site. We charge...on the honor system. And because a certain number of users don't shirk this system, the site is open today. Tomorrow I can't promise." While only a fraction of its users pay, Chowhound feels every user should pay. Frankly, people should understand and acknowledge this fact. [ed. you should make clear that this is VI's opinion not Chowhound's]

I do not post or read Chowhound nearly as much as I once did, but I still read it at least a few times a day. As a user, I am expected to pay. Thus, I sent in a Goodwill payment today. If you use Chowhound at all, to read or to post, you should pay too. At least that's what I think.

And another great blog - Loufood

Louisa Chu is a Chicagoan living in Paris. Bringing our sensibilities to them! Another well done blog.

'Nother Blogger in Town

Eatchicago.net is a snazzy, well designed blog providing more insight into our favorite topic: food in Chicago. Check it out.

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.