Walk down Milwaukee Ave.

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

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

If interested, please e-mail me.

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

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

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

Gloria's Colombian Chicken

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

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

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

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

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

presented by

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

Saturday, March 13, 2004

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


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

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

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

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

* * *

This program is hosted by the Culinary Historians of Chicago. Cost of the program is $10, $5 for students, and no charge for members of the Culinary Historians. To reserve, please call Susan Ridgeway, CHC treasurer at (815) 439-3960. Or e-mail your reservation to: rsvpchc@yahoo.com Please leave your name, telephone number and the number of people in your party.

Thai Ideas

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

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

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

Jerry's Sandwiches

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bread in Chicago

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

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

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

The Ever Growing Chicago Chinatown

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

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

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

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

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

Chicago Hot Dog Primer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As Matt Drudge would say, Developing....

Talk Better!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gorilla Gourmet Impressario, MikeG passes on the following info:

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

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

Thursday, 3/25, 10 pm, Channel 21

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

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

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

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

Yum Thai "Secret Menu"

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

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

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

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

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

New Chocalte Kid Coming to Town

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Googling and the Limitations Thereof

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thoughts on Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bourbon Tasting
Guest Notes from Harry V

[Bourbon is one the preferred beverage choices of the Chowhounds, myself included. Through the encouragement of the poster ab, and extra efforts of AaronD, a tasting was arranged at Delilah's bar in Chicago. I could not attend to my strong regret, but I am lucky enough to be able to share Harry V's detailed tasting notes.]

If no one else cares to weigh in, I'll take a crack at describing the
tasting. Samples were 1.5 ounces (i.e., one shot), poured into
straight-sided glasses tall enough to capture their aromas. The lineup was
as follows:

1. GEORGIA MOON CORN WHISKEY. Mike Miller, owner of Delilah's and emcee for
the event, began with this whimsical selection so as to demonstrate the
flavor of 100% corn whiskey (of course bourbons, to be labelled as such,
must be made of more than 50% corn). It was the color of pale straw, to my
senses it smelled of weak tequila and tasted like very light rum. A ringer.

2. W.L. WELLER 12-YEAR BOURBON. The first three actual bourbons sampled
represent those in which corn is supplemented with wheat, rather than the
more usual rye. To me this one had a bright, pleasantly acidic aroma with
hints of honey, and a very wheaty flavor suffused with black pepper. Very
nice.

3. MAKER'S MARK. Another wheated bourbon, this long-time favorite (of mine)
had a nice woody aroma, and a more well-rounded flavor than the Weller, less
wheaty and a little more .. well, "fruity" is what I wrote down, even though
there's no fruit in the stuff. (Surely I was still sober at this early
stage?)

4. DELILAH'S 10-YEAR SINGLE BARREL UNFILTERED BOURBON. I believe Mr. Miller
indicated that this bourbon was derived from the Van Winkle line of bourbon.
This was the last of the wheated bourbons we tried, with an elegant, well
balanced aroma (i.e., it smelled simply like bourbon), with a flavor that
was less bright than the previous two, but richer, deeper, earthier and more
well-rounded, with a much longer finish than anything we tried all night
except the two Old Potreros at the end. Excellent.

Disclosure: the next seven whiskeys, all featuring rye rather than wheat
(and most of them very modest amounts at that), didn't do much for me. So my
comments on them should perhaps be taken with more than usual dosage of
salt.

5. OLD FORESTER BOURBON. Strongly alcoholic, turpentine-like aroma; very
middle-of-the-road flavor (it should not have followed the Delilah house
brand).

6. WOODFORD RESERVE BOURBON. Aroma of apples plus turpentine; flavor was
much like that of a youngish, indifferent Speyside single-malt.

7. BASIL HAYDEN BOURBON. This had a mild, "fruity," slightly sweet aroma;
very mild, smooth flavor. Aptly described by Mr. Miller as a "ladies'
bourbon" (Joan: his words, not mine).

8. VERY OLD BARTON BOURBON. Aroma similar to the Basil Hayden, but not as
sweet, a little more turpentine (due, I would assume, to a stronger proof);
flavor was exceedingly mild, akin to Canadian whisky.

9. BUFFALO TRACE BOURBON. The least successful whiskey we tried, in my
opinion (apart from the leadoff corn squeezins). I thought it had no smell
at all, with a watery, corn-whiskey-like flavor.

10. WILD TURKEY RUSSELL'S RESERVE BOURBON. This was a good one, with a
strongly malty aroma (first sign of maltiness in the tasting; but stay
tuned) and a dark, rich, buttery flavor, slightly reminiscent of a superior
dark rum.

11. ELIJAH CRAIG 18-YEAR SINGLE BARREL BOURBON. Sweet, appley aroma with a
mellow, slightly clove-like flavor.

Last came the two Old Potreros. Initially Mr. Miller planned to serve only
the Single Malt Whiskey (from toasted barrels); but in the middle of working
himself, and us, into an ecstasy of expectation while he described its
glories, he noticed that his assistant had poured out the other Old Potrero
(from charred barrels). After a parliamentary exchange of ideas between
ourselves and he, Mr. Miller eventually came 'round to providing a sample of
the toasted-barrel Old Potrero as well.

12. ANCHOR DISTILLING "OLD POTRERO" STRAIGHT RYE WHISKEY (CHARRED BARREL).
Not much finesse here but what a blockbuster! Intense aroma of pine cones
and pine forest; a rye plus black pepper flavor of intense fullness, depth
and length; kind of like drinking a liquid Ry Krisp (but better).

13. ANCHOR DISTILLING "OLD POTRERO" SINGLE MALT STRAIGHT RYE WHISKEY
(TOASTED BARREL). This, in my opinion, was undoubtedly the finest drink
tasted. A very well-rounded, sweet, fruity, piney smell (but not
monochromatically piney like the charred Potrero); flavor of intense
maltiness - sweet, rich and peppery - just great! (And strong!)


SUPPLEMENTARY TASTING

After the official tasting was over, a few of us decided we needed to
supplement (ahem) our findings.

S1. BAKER'S. Gary Wiviott's bourbon of preference entering the tasting,
Baker's was smooth with nice flavor, a fine all-around bourbon.

S2. EVAN WILLIAMS. Aaron's preferred mixer bourbon - and I can see why.


*********

Harry V

P.S. It's too bad Mike Miller did not himself participate in the tasting, or
else by the end he might have been willing to pass around shots from his
semi-legendary 1916 bottle of Old Mock. Maybe next time.

On the Same Page as the Chicago Tribune

Sometimes I do agree with the hometown news. From the lead editorial in today's Chicago Tribune:

..."Why a jurist of Scalia's extraordinary intellect won't exercise simple good judgment is a mystery. Maybe he has concerns about setting a precedent that could overly constrict other justices.

But as is, he risks being part of what many Americans will view as a tainted decision. That can only undermine the respect and trust citizens invest in the Supreme Court.

Without question, Scalia and Cheney are entitled to a warm and loyal friendship. Under codes of conduct in other courts, Lubet says, they still could spend time together and dine at one another's houses--even with Cheney's case before Scalia's court. But an elaborate hunting trip is too tight and valuable a bonding experience for citizens to discount as simple chumminess.

Scalia needs to embrace a basic axiom of public life. An apparent conflict of interest has one thing in common with a duck: If it walks like one, it is"