The Phil Vettel Game

Who wins?

I thought Phil had me on his review of Matsumoto. I mean, ethnic, interesting, obscure, expensive, difficult, who sez Phil's not earnin'. Still, this bugged me:

people simply demand more quality at this price range.

Now, I am not one who denigrates comfort, decor and atmosphere. I think they are important and they add immeasurably to the dining experience. On the other hand, I think at the end of the day, it's the food that counts. We have too many Arun's and such in this town that present fluff in the name of high prices. I'd prefer Mr. Vettel came down on the side of food.

(Remember you read about Matsumoto here first, where discussion continues.)

Save This Restaurant*

We walked into Mandarin Kitchen last night at about 6 PM. We walked out around 7:30. During that time, two other sets of customers arrived--for hot pots. Our table, however, was the only one to sample the Shanghainese and Northern Chinese specialties. A confidential source has reported similar sparse crowds. If Mandarin Kitchen cannot thrive because of this fallow patronage, it will be a real loss to our area’s eaters. When the un-interested make their usual banal, no good Chinese food in Chicago statements, the death of Mandarin Kitchen will inadvertently support their no-nothingness. This is a restaurant that does not deserve to die.

Already, I would say it suffered a bit from non-use. The salty vegetable and bean curd, one of my favorite of the cold appetizers, a fine mix of green something and tofu something that melds into a salty, vegetal bomb in the mouth, tasted tired. The thick and chewy Shanghai style round noodles seemed a bit too gloppy. The pond fish in spicy sauce did not taste fishy or off but my palate could tell that it was almost there. With Chinese restaurants you expect your fish to be not even close to this stage. Still, Mandarin Kitchen showed why it should matter to Chicago chowhounds and Chinese food mavens. It provides a menu filled with choices. All the standards of the Shanghai cannon, the soup dumplings and assorted items in chili oil like razor thin tendon, ten or so variations on bean curd, several items in the brown braising sauce almost equal amounts sugar and soy (with a few other ingredients to elevate). It is a rich, hearty food that should go well in Chicago. Perhaps because Shanghai food has not become “in” in Chicago, Mandarin Kitchen has been adding many dishes from Beijing, where the owners actually hail. A lot of this stuff is written only in Chinese but the menu now contains a few items like chicken and potato casserole that is more Northern than Eastern. As if ordering before was easy.

To tempt us towards this new direction, Aidee, the sly and attractive owner of MK grilled us up, on the house, some lamb kebabs coated in spices more Indian than Chinese (it seemed). Do order these when you help save this restaurant. We also ordered the Northern beef stew with crinkly sheets of dry tofu. A great rich dish (again highly desirable for our climate) that was somewhat marred by too much sterno underneath. Once we figured out how to cap the flame, we liked this dish better. More Shanghai was soft tofu cubes in a sweet dressing with plenty of contrast from a Chinese pickle. Our final dish was sautéed eggplant, than in the wonders of Chinese translations, was actually batter fried eggplant slices briefly stir-fried with a double handful of snipped chives. A dish of strong, inter-mixed flavors, salty, sweet and sharp, just another reason to return to the “New” Mandarin Kitchen.

I should add that before any of our dishes arrived; we got a bit of cabbage, slightly fermented and sneaky hot from several dried maroon peppers. We also got bowls of cabbage soup that tasted much like my Mom’s or Manny’s. At the original, Mandarin Kitchen, there was a crispy fried chicken known to eaters as gribenese chicken. Well, this soup would be a fitting match to that dish. The first Mandarin Kitchen did excellent versions of spicy, oily Szechwan style food. It was a shame it closed, but when it closed, there was still Lao Sze Chuan and Spring World doing equally good versions of this food (and subsequently, Sky). If the New Mandarin Kitchen leaves, there is really nothing else like it around. Save this restaurant!


The “New” Mandarin Kitchen
2143 S Archer
Chicago
(Chinatown)

*Feature stolen from Time Out Chicago

Final Market
Oak Park Farmer's Market - 10/29/05

It’s over. Or just begun. As I have paraded before you, with high degree of righteousness and sanctimony, I will be eating from a farmer’s market shopping cart even as Oak Park’s splendid market packs up for the year—does it not seem like the old time circus, it’s here, it’s all consuming, and then just gone. For the next six months or so, that parking lot at the Pilgrim Church*, on Lake near Ridgeland will be like any other parking lot. It will be hard to imagine the many stands with their fruit, their vegetables, their flowers, their cheese, their meat, their eggs, their vinegars, and their bake sales for various good causes will not be there. No one will hear the several guitars, banjos, mandolins, fiddles, a stand-up bass or two, and whatever else shows up, that combine into one complexly pure line of music. No one will take in the whiffs of donuts being made and Oak Park’s own Hayes, since 1789 (?!), coffee. No one will not run into their neighbors, kid’s coaches, co-volunteers, and Village residents who look vaguely familiar (most likely because you see them once a week at the Market). No dogs will be parked at the edges of the lot, tails wagging, waiting for someone to return. It will just be a parking lot.

It seems so sudden because the market stayed so full this fall. In years past, the last few weeks were mostly a bazaar of snake gourds, bales of hay and corn stalks. All the things I hate for its uselessness (but have to appreciate for the way the farmer’s can make a few extra bucks pawning off their garbage). Usually by this time of year even the pumpkins look a bit haggard as all the good ones have been sold. The last market was about saying good bye and celebrating the run with a Styrofoam cup of stone soup. Inevitably, the soup kept you warm on a day that was a brutal as a Welsh summer. The metaphor for this year’s market was the fact that the stone soup was gone by the time we made it to the market (having a soccer game first), but we did not need the soup.

I will say that finally, the market thinned a bit. Nicholls’s Farm did not have any tomatoes, yet tomatoes, at the end of October! fresh tomatoes could still be found. There were also still raspberries but not enough for them to be there at 11 AM. We bought a ½ bushel of apples from Hardin Farms, under this year’s standing philosophy of sticking with the place I know. This should keep us in local fruit for a while, although we picked up a new blender the other day at Costco, and we should start mixing up smoothies with some of our frozen stuff this week. Because we gave Farmer Vicki a check for her fall CSA, we did not feel the need to over-buy vegetables. We still did buy. Skinny, leafy celery and skinny white eggplants from Nicholls; cabbage, cow’s head sized cauliflower and the remains of this years broccoli crop from The Farm (oh, and tomatoes too), lettuce and onions and potatoes and jalepenos to carry us over from Vicki’s Genesis Growers. Things cool that I passed on included sunchokes, parsley root and celery root from Nicholls’s (who uses parsley root?); fresh lavender from Vicki (smelled good though), and interesting radishes at Sandhill Organics, hand grenade-ish looking black radishes and another radish that when sliced was almost like those old-fashioned watermelon candies, green, then white then bright red. They looked like Middle-Eastern pickled turnips already pickled. As always, I admired the wild mushrooms at Nicholls more than I ever will purchase them. My favorite farmer’s, the Wettstein’s, made one their intermittent visits. We bought their brats, pork sausage and ground beef and promised to buy some eggs when they will be at Oak Park’s Buzz Café on November 19 (as like the soup and raspberries, the eggs were gone by 11). It just was like pretty much any week, plenty to buy, plenty we could have bought.

Like I say, our eating local will not stop when this week’s produce runs out. We have the CSA, which I will duly report. We have our freezer stock, our apples and squash and potatoes and onions waiting for us in the cold room. We will make a run to two to the Green City Fall market just to see what is there. Like I have also said, I believe what we eat daily in our house is as good as all but the best restaurants in Chicago. There are really great reasons to go local. Think of the effect on the environment when your produce is trucked in all the way from California, or worse, flown in from Holland, South Africa, and New Zealand. Or think of the difference between the one round stiff tomato found at Jewel and the many sizes, shapes and colors of tomatoes found at the markets when someone throws out the word biodiversity. Support the nearby farmer, not just for what they are doing but because how well they can help you eat.

See ya next year.

*The other notable shingle style, triangled roof building in Oak Park.

Why I Hate Johnny Apple

Link

What's Interesting This Week at Caputo's

Carrots, potatoes, grapes, apples. And what's interesting about them? All local (Michigan). It is possible to buy local produce at a convenient store (and at low prices!). You too can be local.

Why Chowhound.com Sucks

The greatest thing about the Internet food site, Chowhound.com, was it was there. In 2001, I found it (via a diary of site "Alpha Dog" Jim Leff in Slate.com). When I got there, some really smart foodies like Zim, ReneG, Seth Zurer, ErikM, and LeeK had already found the site. Over time, more great foodies like Hat Hammond, the Brilliant One, Aaron Deacon, MikeG, Cathy2, JiminLoganSquare, OurPalWill, GWiv (and hundreds more) all found the site. Except for Wiv who was kinda lured on to Chowhound from the decrepit Chi.eats, everyone else pretty much found Chowhound on their own. And we were VERY happy we found the place. We all learned so much about Chicago, about food, about people. Today, you will find none of us on Chowhound.com. And because we are all vanished from Chowhound, the site hardly offers much about Chicago, about food and about people.

Read this post to know why. The exact reasoning for Chowhound's laser-focus is what makes the site a failure as a database. If you cannot cultivate a local food community, you cannot expect to populate a board with useful tips and tidbits. Read Chicago's Chowhound board today. See what is there and what you can learn. Compare this to what was there a few years ago. Compare to LTHForum.com (or any split-off board like OA or Mouthfuls). If you cannot attract and interest great foodies, the Seth Zurers, the RSTs, the SteveZs, the Sazeracs (and all the other LTHForum posters I barely know now) of the world, how can you expect to attract great postings?

Detroit Breakdown*
A Regional Specialty That Failed Me

Poster MJM writes lovingly (with pic) of Lafayette Coney Island of Detroit here. The grand poohbahs of Roadfood, the Sterns, also write lovingly of Lafayette in their latest book (although there is no mention on their Roadfood.com web site). I've been anxious to try...

About 15 years ago, I tried Cincinnati chili for the first time. Before that moment, I had been reading about 5 way and all sortsa other regional specialties in the Stern books. Those books, of course, made me interested in the chili. Going into Cincy I thought I'd enjoy the experience of "trying", but I did not expect that much. I was surprised then in how much I really liked Cincinnati chili. It was good, really good. It set the standard for regional oddities over the years. And what I have found, with things like LA french dips, Central Texas BBQ, NY pastrami, Boston Indian pudding, [ed. italian beef?]etc., is that these things are not just interesting but exceptionally tasty. There is a reason they have become famous.

Which meant that when lunch came around in downtown Detroit, I knew exactly where I needed to go. For once, however, the hype did not match the product. I cannot fully say "so what" because, as well described on LTHForum (link above), Lafayette Coney is a classic, the kinda of barely changed, Hopperesque place I live for. Still, the product just did not move me. At all. And when I tried for the sake of chow-science, All-American's coneys next door, I did not leave any more blissed.

The Detroit coney dog gets griddled and then condimented with chili sauce, mustard and onions (I skipped the latter). The dog itself is pretty good, well crusted from the griddle and a nice smokey flavor. The toppings, however, added nothing. Bland is not quite a word for chili, but I am not quite sure the word (Antonius, MikeG, Hammond, Desmond?) for something with flavors that still have little taste.

I passed through Detroit's Greektown a few times for reasons I cannot detail and rued missing the lamb with squash daily special. I did buy a some nice pastries at Astoria.

To end, I'll add that for someone like me, who fetishizes over old buildings (and old stuff generally), downtown Detroit is a fine place to hang for a day. I think I counted 3 skyscrapers built after 1985.

Lafayette Coney Island
(313) 964-8198
118 W Lafayette Blvd
Detroit, MI 48226

Astoria Pastry Shop
541 Monroe St
Detroit, MI 48226-2932
(313) 963-9603

*Who else misses J and the gang?

Local Challenge Challenge
Various Un-Reported Farmer's Markets

It’s what, one, two, three, four, five markets I missed blogging? I shopped at Oak Park pretty much weekly. I have allso visited Green City, Daley Plaza, Wicker Park, and 311 S. Wacker. Want to read no more: Loved 'em all.

More? I think last time we talked there was still a peach or two to buy. Incredibly, through all these markets, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers stayed. It seemed like there were as many eggplants today at Nicholls’s as there was six weeks ago, even if most of today’s were gray-white to match the cloud cover. Yet also, in a mimic of turning leaves, Nicholls’s sold tiny eggplants the hue of a good fall drive. Several weeks ago you would not have seen the wild mushrooms including elephant ear sized hen of the woods and expensive chanterelles as you would have today in Oak Park. Just because I have not been faithfully reporting does not mean I have not been shopping.

Shopping like a fool. As I noted when I tossed my hat into the Eat Local Challenge, eating local in the summer is pretty effortless. I said come back in a few months and see how things stand. And it is still rather effortless. For long periods I could rely on a very full market. I purchased varieties of plums, summer ending with the concentrated flavor of the Stanley plum, liquid prunes. Grapes and apples and raspberries, broccoli purple or green or white which we call cauliflower (almost) and all sizes and shapes of squashes have been here forever it seems and I filled up each week. On the other hand, most of the pear varieties made the briefest of appearances and I regret not buying more. Paying attention to the market (even if not putting it to bit and byte), I noticed how short the pear season was. Not as short as the Black Walnut. One week, my favorite fruit vendor, Hardin Farms, had quarts of these for $3. I jumped at it, as much for the uniqueness as its nuttiness. Good thing because these hard to crackers never appeared again.* I have been buying a lot.

Because soon it will not be so effortless to eat local. The challenge will challenge. We are gonna try our hardest to stay local all the way to the opening of the 2006 Farmer’s Market. I am sure I have admitted my exceptions, bananas and citrus fruits. Of course, I only mean fruit and vegetables. Price wise, we cannot afford to commit too fully to local meat and fish; while, other local stuff like Wilmot grains are just too esoteric to matter. On the other hand, we pretty much stick with local dairy products. This is the true local challenge, local off-season. Eating local when the Oak Park Farmer's Market tucks in for the year.

Accepting the challenge takes work. And a fair amount of freezer space. And learning. We are learning the hard way how to keep local. We are lucky we are not Little Home on the Prairie. Whatever mistakes and such we make, we will hardly starve come January. Our biggest mistake was not really thinking about the big picture until about September. It dawned on us, after recollecting once again on the especially delicious apricots this year that we should have dried some. Drying was well within our knowledgebase. As canning is not. Next year I am gonna try to convince Cathy2 from LTHForum to hold some canning classes. Until then, the Condiment Queen and I are still afraid we will kill the family if we can. The thing is though, for the first few months of the market we neither dried or canned or froze, the idiot’s method of preserving. None of those cherries we enjoyed, the ten versions of strawberries at the market, the limited offering of blackberries, the sugar-snaps and shell peas, the edamame, we just plain did not think to save any of those. We started in earnest in September.

We realized in time to pack away a bit of blueberries, plums and peaches. Mostly, we have been packing away grapes (the frozen grapes go about 1:1 between eating now and saving), raspberries, bell peppers and green beans. We have made a ton of tomato sauce and oven dried other tomatoes. We still have a gross or so of tomatoes to process. We have one more week of market to buy, and we will stock up on all of the above plus apples—the folks at Hardin say some of the kinds of apples will stay fine in the fridge for several months. I am not worried about stocking up on everything.

As I reported before, Farmer Vicki will offer a CSA all the way through December. I expect to get plenty of greens, potatoes, cabbage and onions and more, her stand, Genesis Growers has been quite full even now, each week from the CSA. Green City Market will also be in function for the rest of the year. It’s a pain to shop in the lion house, but once or twice I am sure I will make it. I am going into unchartered territory. I think the challenge has barely begun. See what I have to say in a few months.

See ya next week at the market. It’s the last one in Oak Park.

*When we bought the black walnuts, they warned us they would break a nut cracker. And how. The thing is, not only does it take several wakes of a hammer to crack these nuts, it takes some strong work to get the nuts out of the shells. I know this is gross, but they remind me of my daughter’s Cesarean birth, the nut is like the baby held tightly in place. It is worth the work. Unlike any other nut. I would say they taste almost like grapes, with a winey, musty flavor as well as being much sweeter than you expect nuts. I am glad I was there the week the nuts were (don’t insert any jokes…)

Not Like Chicago
Tallahassee, Florida

Yea, Tallahasse aint like Chicago, but specifically, when I finished up the bit of business I had in Tallahase yesterday, I said to one of the people I was with, well, the standard Chowhound question: "got any good suggestions for dinner?" We went thru the usual process of trying to match needs and wants. They asked me, what was I looking for, and I said "not like Chicago."

I had already had lunch not like Chicago. Sonny's is a franchised BBQ chain, but it arose in Florida, so I felt reasonably authentic stopping there. More important, Sonny's symbolizes the difference between Q down there and up here. You just cannot seem to combine a place that smells real with a restaurant that is real up here--and real I mean with menus, tables, pop in glasses, etc. Yea, Sonny's is a bit cute the way most Southern BBQ restaurants these days are cute, but like I say, they are actually smoking stuff.

Smoking stuff well? As a tourist, I had to sample, and forsake the lunch specials for a Pig 3 Way special with pulled pork, sliced pork, and spareribs. Of these, only Sonny's original, the sliced pork, truly stood out. The pulled pork was mushy and watery (is mushy by its nature, watery?); the ribs had a nice hickory flavor but were way to mono-dimensional in flavor. The slice pork was exactly what you cannot get around here, meaty, porky, moist, with real flavor that did not hide when your squeezed some sauce over it. In the pantheon of great BBQ, you will not find Shorty's, but for a boychick in town, it was not like Chicago in the best of ways.

And I wanted more. The original dinner suggestion was Bonefish Grill. I am sure that was the safe, we do not wanna scare the boychick suggestion. I feigned interest. I was thinking these are just not foodies, and no form of pressing would get me anywhere. I figgered I'd thank them for the Bonefish Grill, pretend like that was a good choice and just skedadle. I have other sources you know...Luickily for me, they read through the falsity in my, "mm Bonefish Grill, sounds fine..." The said, what about Seineyard, in Woodville? I was not convinced 'til they said, "at Bonefish you get real plates, Seineyard gives you paper plates."

Well what kinda guy like us does not race out with a hook like that? Yet, I never did eat at Seineyard (and it turns out it probably would have been a good meal.) I rode past Seineyard a bit too early for dinner. I decided to drive around and find a hotel for the night nearby (which turned out to be useless both because there are no hotels in Woodville and I ended up flying back last night). A bit past Seineyard I passed Register's Country BBQ. This was in some ways, less a Not Chicago BBQ place, as our classic local Q places are shacks without tables, etc. Still, no one in Chicago is cooking their BBQ outdoors.

I had a bit of conversation with the folks at Register. They told me that Florida did not allow true pits anymore, that you had to have some kinda walls around the smoker. So, his barrall smoker was in a porch surrounded by a four foot fence. Fans blew the smoke AWAY from the store, which I guess is a sign of confidence. He let me try a bit of rib tip while he fixed up my chopped pork sammy. What a rib tip, crusty, fully of flavor, yet not the least bit greasy. The sandwich was marred by the fact that he nuked it. He regaled me with a lot of local lore. It only takes about 5 miles south to not only be Not Chicago, but Not Tallahasse either. Not too far from Woodville is a civil war battle site, where I was told the Rebs whipped the Yanks, one of the few victories for that side in that part of the world. In honor of this event, the locals do a re-enactment every year. They like the winning part. I hope this gives you a sense of his sentiments, sentiments discussed in other BBQ threads. Of course, of course, of course, go for the food.

Pretty much filled up on Q, I continued to explore. I did not realize until my discussion, how close Tallahassee is to the water. I decided to visit the coast (so to speak), which is quite bayou like. I wandered the town of St. Marks Florida where boats outnumber cars and where there are quite a few seafood markets. I asked around and was told to go to Nicholl's. The menu at Nicholls looked good, but it was early and I was stuffed. But by then, I was also on a 7 PM flight back to Chicago, and I knew I had to eat soon. Early dinner for me.

Fried shrimps, fried mullet, hush puppies, cheese grits, I was blissfully not in Chicago. I'm not much of a mullet expert. Mine last night was a fishy-fish, almost like mackeral. It grew on me as I ate it. The shrimps, well, shrimps just do not taste like that around here, so fresh. Best of all to me, the carb guy, however, was the sweet hushpuppies.

I do not have the addresses for any of the places but they are all along Woodville Highway (Florida 363) heading South from Tallahasse, first Seineyard, then Register (both on the West side of the road) and finally Nicholl's when you get near the end of the road.

What's Interesting This Week at Caputo's

Olives. Yea, yea, Caputo's always has olives. This week they have fresh, awful-tasting, fresh olives. Cure your own!

Farmer Vicki Contact Info

I should have included this in the post below. Those interested in Farmer Vicki's Fall and Spring CSA's should contact her at genesis_growers@hotmail.com

Greetings from Farmer Vicki

Not only is there a plug in here for my daughter's school, but as we've been talking about, here's a way to keep local past the market season. I hope to post more resources like this soon.

What a wonderful season! The cooler weather is refreshing and the new crops are loving it. This morning I was out early looking things over and had to rejoice in the beauty of the land. It was very foggy and the dew was heavy. The land was covered with cob webs that were moist with dew. In the early light it was like a myriad of diamonds across the land. How often does nature present us with such beauty and we fail to notice because we are so busily on our way here or there? It pays to stop and enjoy the wonder of creation. What I felt was a combination of awe, inspiration, joy and peace. It caused me to stop to look and listen. The corn stalks were rustling, the leaves in the cottonwoods were murmuring and the roosters were crowing. Then I saw a toad hop off on his way to find a yummy breakfast treat. A few grasshoppers pinged their way across the field and a wooly caterpillar wiggled his way to who knows where. A lady bug sat quietly on a leaf drinking in the dew and waiting for a tasty treat to come its way. There is so much life around us. A whole world exists under us and around us. When the school kids were here a couple weeks ago they were more interested in the insects than they were anything else. Perhaps we should take a lesson form the kids at Hatch and take the time to enjoy the little things.

The fall crops are coming along very nicely - both inside and out. We have new little peppers and tomatoes in the greenhouse. I am amazed at how fast they are growing. We are prepared now to plant greens and such in the ground in one of the greenhouses, but the outside crops are doing so great in this weather that I am just thrilled. The guys hoed and cultivated everything this week and it looks beautiful. We should have a nice variety available for the fall/ winter CSA. The location and day for pick up have been arranged and are as follows: The Oak Park Children's School, located at 124 N. Kenilworth. It is located in a large, green house called Gale House, just south of Unity Temple. There is a large, covered porch where the boxes can be stacked. I will deliver on Wednesdays by approx 9:30 AM. The school asks that people not pick up during the time that parents would be picking up their children to reduce traffic stress. To sign up, just let me know and make payment either at market or by mail. A couple of folks have indicated that they would need to pick up after work and I will find out if that is workable. Ask me at market and I will let you know. The cost is $140.00 for the season. Then I will take January and February off and will hopefully begin again in March or April with a Spring share.

The picture is of the guys out picking greens. Don't those greens look great? Hope your lives are filled with as much joy and wonder as is mine. Famer Vicki

Suggest-A-Meal
More La Quebrada

I've been twice of late to La Quebrada, so I guess that's what's inspired two posts. Still, the meal I had last night is about fits the model for the Suggest-A-Meal, a concept originated by ChiNola on the LTHForum.com

For the table - Nachos - Nachos ARE Mexican in the sense that they were first conceived and served in Mexico, but for food historians, I think they are kinda Mexican in the same way Caesar salad is Mexican. In other words, more of a dish associated with Mexican restaurants in the USA. Well, La Quebrada's in the USA and they make great nachos. These are not the loaded 10,000 calorie, seven layer, nachos that can be sit in the dark and listen to Brittney Spears, guilty pleasure good. Instead, they are near minimal nachos. Some of the chips barely have a coating. Yet, it's great, like all melted Mexican cheese, great cheese, very fine guacamole, some crema, some beans, some pickled jalepenos, it stems any hunger pangs while the rest of the meal comes.

For Daddy and daughter to split - Several tacos de cesina (see previous post) and a carne asada campestre. In anticipation of this post, I asked the staff yesterday what was in the oily, spicy campestre sauce. They laughed at me. The dish is Quebrada's benchmark arranchera under a coating of queso fresca, charro beans, and nopales and soaked in this mystery sauce. I go through several tortillas just mopping the sauce.

For someone - Chiliquilles en salsa verde con cecina. It does not take a genius to realize that the best chiliquilles will come from the best tortillas. With the contrasting cecina, it is a great dish of textures and strong flavors melded against a soft background.

For the other person - A dish. Here's your chance to explore the 50 or so dishes on the Quebrada menu. Chances are, anything but the soups will be good. A lot of people have liked the chicken legs, although I have never tried. The enchilladas are boring but good, tostadas de ceviche and seafood cocktails can hit the spot when the moods is right.

There's some flan in a case but I never get around to it. If it is early enough in the day, zip over to Cermak and try some candy at Old Fashioned Candy.

Foodfirst!

I'm about six months too late in pointing out this new blog, but my new blogging motto will (soon) be, better late than ever. Since, a little brilliant one has been whispering in my ear all week, I figger now's as a good as time as ever to make things right and mention this blog.

The writer of this blog has a special place in the annals of Chicago Chowhounds. Once upon a time, our palates were shaded, shaded by our menu limitations. We knew a place as simple as Yum Thai in Forest Park seemed to offer treats beyond its stated choices. In fact, there was a secret menu, but a menu no one could actually read. Awfully hungry, we posted the menu on the Internet, seeking the kindness of a stranger who would tell us what to eat. e.e. cumming's like foodfirst came to our rescue. From the across the sea, she translated our Yum Thai menu and then later Spoon Thai's. It's been fun eatin' every since. Of course ErikM has had the advantage of visiting the restaurants and ironing out certain terms, but foodfirst did it first.

Needless to say, her blog justifies the revelation we hold her in, in Chicago.

Save the Ramova Theater

This came in the mail box, but it's pretty cool/worthwhile:

The following is some info on TheRamova Theater in bridgeport, the 'sister' theater to the north side Music Box Theater. There is a current push to save the interior of this historic old theater - currently developers want to gut the interior, which is very similar to the music box. Also threatened with emolition is the Ramova Grill, to which I have never been, but some of you may have.

If any of you have an interest in signing the petition to save this theater or want to get more information, please check out the website listed at the bottom of this newsletter...

The Chicago Sun-Times ran a great two- page article by Misha Davenport (thanks Misha!) in the Wednesday October 5th paper, page 53. You can see the online version of this article by clicking here. The photos are the first pictures published of the theatre's interior in 20 years...and while they're not pretty scenes, they definitely don't show the total devastation we were repeatedly warned to expect.

It looks to us as if that damage had to have been in place at the time in 2002 when the City published their Request For Proposals that spelled out their preference for a theatrical use for the building. So no matter what happened to the building while it was in care of the city, the city agrees: it can rehabilitated to be used as a theatre, even in its damaged state. To see that original DPD RFP, visit our new blog by clicking here.

Doing My Part for Chowhound.com

Last week Chowhound.com let everyone know that it's broke. Now, you won't find me sending them any money as I am infrequent user of their site. But I will help. I was putting together post today and I realized that I had never blogged on Hugo's Frog Bar, one of my favorite places to eat in Chicago. So, I decided to re-post my Chowhound Hugo's posts. This way, you can read the stuff on the blog and save Jim Leff the bandwidth costs by engaging his servers. I hope to re-post more stuff soon and save Chowhound even more money.

Hugo's Post #1

It has been a good few weeks, providing vial information to manage risks, so feeling a bit flush we made a beeline to the place we love to drop our wad. Of course, we could have spent less money and had been in the wonderful company of the Chilean chowers, but sometimes, a mayor and his consort have to do their own thing.

We got to Hugo's pretty much on time for our reservation, the place was just filling up, but we got plunked in one of the gosh darn worst seats in the house. A comfy, circular banquette that was too close to the kitchen door. Every time it opened, we got serenaded by the crash of dishes and other assorted work-in-progress noises. They moved us easily, but it still rankles me a bit, why did WE get that booth? The new booth was just as comfy and circular and built for canoodling and before long all thoughts of noise were gone.

The Condiment Queen expressed pleasure she had been served pretty much her ideal repast: shrimp de jonge, the crab cakes with hot pink mayo and a veggie combination platter that included asparagus, broccoli, sauted mushrooms, creamed spinach and sauted onions.

The shrimp de jonge was true revelation on this Chicago classic. Very large shrimps not in the least mushy or possessing that certain cooked shrimp taste I do not like--imagine that poor rendition of shrimp creole you once ate. The twelve or so shrimps were covered in the de jonge, a mix of butter, garlic and breadcrumbs. It was a dryer mix, almost a paste, but I liked it better that way. The crab cake was still terrific although perhaps because I have spent some extra time with Evil Ronnie, I was a bit more discerning on it. I did not seem pure jumbo lump, rather a mix, with only nuggets of lump interspersed. I cannot say whether this is a trend or if it has always been that way, it is only recently that I have taken this keener approach to crab cakes.

Hugo's does a very fine job with the smaller things. Not too many people whip up a better blue cheese dressing, and that effusive hot pink mayo works awfully well. The three kinds of bread on the table were even better. We resisted mightedly before meal, just nibbling on the raisin, but faced with a plate of spare de jonge, we went carb crazy. We liked all the vegetables. The simple ones, broccoli and asparagus, prospered without treatment. The more fancy spinach was just as good, tasting of spinach and cream but not too much else.

Hugo's Post #2

On Saturday night we decided to spend a fair amount of money for dinner. Deciding to put my money where my mouth is, we picked Hugo's Well, first of all, we succeeded in spending a lot of money. With tax and tip and one drink, we hit a cool three figures. What did we get for that amount of money? Did we validate my constant call?

They push the seafood. Soon after sitting down, in an alternative to the morton/gibson's meat display, they bring a fish display. This is not necessarily good marketing. I mean it would work if they brought by sparklingly fresh, whole species with bloody red gills and ultra-clear eyes, but dragging an oxidized slab of fish meat to each table, what does that prove. I mean no one wants the fish they show. Still, the menu descriptions sounded good.

I was spoiling Ms. VI and I went along with two fish dishes, forsaking the lake perch deal I really wanted. For newcomers to Hugo's, I would highly advise on the perch. Instead, we got the giant slab o'tuna and a black grouper with wild mushrooms. On the side we ordered a big helping of greenbeans and to start, the crabcake appetizer with the hot pink mayo. Everything worked with its minimal garnish. When you offer high quality stuff, why muck it up anyway with sauces. The primo dish, as always was the crab cake. I know of no better version outside of Baltimore. Ms. VI's on an anti-carb thing, and she initially shied away from the cakes. No worry, barely any bread-related product in these crab cakes. The tuna came purely rare with just the right skin of crust. With the wasabi and soy sauce offered, it was like slicing your own sushi. The other fish had a very grandma like coating of paprika type spices, but underneath was perfectly done grilled fish. The greenbeans straddled expertly the line between trendy under-done and old fashioned mushiness.

We skipped any mondo desserts, but they are fun if you have a few more people.

1024 North Rush Street, (between Oak Street and Bellevue)
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 640-0999
http://www.hugosfrogbar.com/restaurant/homepage/

Eating at Home or Shopping in Chicago

As a unit, the VI family loves eating out. We do it often for convenience, for instance when Mickey's and its tasty Big Mickey's are right there between soccer games. We like the spectacle of a Todai or Fogo de Chao. We like the chance to dress up and feel like a high roller (like here or here). A lot of eating out I think comes from wanting to sample so many types of food. Indian today, Afghan tomorrow, Shanghainese during the week, Czech on weekends. Finally, I know some of it comes from the fact that no one in our clan much likes to clean up. So, we eat out a lot. But eating in, I am coming to realize, may be as good if not better.

For one thing, the ingredients available to the home cook are far superior to all but what the best restaurants are using. Granted, I am not buying Waygu beef briskets too often, but I do have great local sources. I will write soon (really) about what's in the Farmer's Markets about now. Today, I want to mention a few stores we have recently visited.

Caputo's Cheese Factory

When we started visiting this store in Melrose Park, owned by one of the Caputo brothers, it was truly a factory. Then, it sold mostly cheese and served up cheap lunches including chicken sandwich that managed to be both grilled and fried. Over time, the factory has moved out and the space taken over by more and more stuff. For a while, they tried to sell fresh produce but that did not take. Today, Caputo's is mostly about cheese with a smattering of great deals on other products. They make excellent fresh mozzarella, and we nearly always buy some. They are also especially strong in grating cheeses and provolone. It is near impossible to walk out without some of the ricotta decorated with ridges from its molding.

Argo Georgian Bakery

Or the place with the oven in the middle of the floor. It's hard to believe that for a while, I did not like this place, victim of a stale bread that I was too dumb to realize was a fluke. Now, we visit every time we hit Da'Bomb. The breads, either round or long and skinny are about as primal a loaf as possible. You really taste the flour and yeast. For the kidz, we buy up all the hatchapuri's on offer. These are a flaky pastry encasing a blend of cheeses--a blend made to simulate fresh Georgian cheese. The hatchapuris are one of the few things we know daughter number 2 will always eat for breakfast. See here for some great Argo pictures.

Elliott's Dairy

What's with the dairy thing? The milk department is nothing special. Elliott's is a supermarket that competed with Jewel and Dominick's in like 1957. As they grew, Elliott's stayed the same. If I lived in the neighborhood, I might shop for a few things. Overall, it is not that special of a store. Yet, what is worth stopping in for, are a few items. Mainly, the corned beef. Chicago, since the demise of Winklestein's, is not a town of great corned beef. It IS a town of very good corned beef, and oddly enough, one of the best sources is this store just outside of Chicago on Nagle. Maybe because they know what they do well, Elliott's is set up for the full corned beef spread. They sell very good Chicago style (i.e., not so sour) pickles from a quasi-barrel and Rosen's premier rye, one with an actual crust. They always seem to find some kinda condiments not seen at Costco. Yesterday they had Da' Coach's mustards.

Avenue's Supermarket

If Elliott's long ago stopped competing with other supermarkets around town, it has come of late that the biggies have been eclipsed as well. Chicago is, in my opinion, receiving a supermarket renaissance. Of course there is Whole Foods for Amish milk and good bread, but the real action is in the hoods, massive A&G with its extensive selection of offal along with canned goods from every corner of the map, sparkling Mexican outlets like Carneceria Guanajunto, the various "Fresh Markets" and a host of Polish markets well below most people's radars.

Avenues is a true supermarket, with aisles stuffed with stuff, several varieties of jellies and jams, a whole section of wild Polish mushrooms in cans, the requisite quasi barrels with pickles, and three kinds of sauerkraut. The deli counter is huge. I was not sure if I could manage it when the numbers were being called strictly in Polish. But the turkey looked especially good, so I managed. Once I managed to "hear" my number by watching the ticker, the staff spoke enough English for me. Most of the stuff in the cases is clearly marked, although there are all sortsa smoked sausages and smoked ribs without labels. At another counter we got herring in both vinegar and oil for only $2.99 /lb for each kind. Like all Polish stores, it is a great source for dairy--here the dairy bar name would fit, and we got a log of Amish butter as well as farmer's cheese and kefir.

New York Kosher

When I wrote the section on Da'Bomb for the Slow Food Chicago book, I lamented the state of the kosher markets remaining on Devon. New York Kosher is not what I would call a stellar store. It nearly makes Elliott's look like Zabar's, but they have a couple of neat things buried in the dreck. They make a "Persian whitefish". I am not sure what Persian Whitefish is, Google left me bare. What New York Kosher sells is a white fish, like cod or haddock, breaded with a coarse crumb, then fried. It holds up very well though as cold dish, and there is something in there, perhaps the Persian part, that gives it a neat taste. At times, there are other fresh things in the case worth buying including grape leaves, a potato salad with something red in the dressing and a good beet salad. My wife likes the ample supply of Mantiowoc Farms breads.

Caputo Cheese Market
1931 N. 15th Avenue
Melrose Park, IL 60160
708-450-0074
wisconcorp.com

Argo, Inc. Georgian Bakery
2812 w. Devon ave.chicago, IL 60659-1502
773-764-6322

Elliotts Dairy & Deli
4800 N Nagle Ave
Harwood Heights
(708) 867-9044

Avenues Supermarket
Somewhere west on Belmont, past Oak Park Avenue

Moshe's New York Kosher
2900 W. Devon
Chicago, IL 60659
773 338-3354

La Quebrada - New(ish) Menu

La Quebrada changes its menu nearly as often as Alinea. Perhaps like ChefG, the maestros at Quebrada stay up late seeing how they can stretch the envelope of salted dried beef (a/k/a cecina). Actually, the new menu seems all about trying to get the Quebrada customer to eat more. There are several combinations ranging from $8.99 to $35 mostly combing grilled meats, but there is also a combination Teloloapan, which is like a restaurant version of the famed Maroon vans, fried tacos and enchilladas in Guerenese sweet dark brown Teloloapan mole. I'd like to comment on these items more, but I have never tried them.

La Quebrada makes some exceptional sauces, the curry scented salsa India (no joke), the house warm molcajete, with roasted tomatoes and chiles (I believe guaijillo) and the extra spicy, one dimensional, but one brutally great dimension arbol. Still, I've mostly settled in, of late with the antojitos (tacos, sopes, gorditas, picaditas).

All the antojitos at Quebrada start with a mass of nixtamal or corn masa dough (but NOT instant!). One woman in the kitchen forms to order the masa into different shapes depending on what you want. Gorditas have a thick base and the thinnest of tops for their stuffings, I especially like to have them with the steamed goat (barbacoa de chivo). If you are feeling vegetarian, get the picaditas, think a gordita without its top. While a lot of places make gorditas and such from scratch, few places also serve their tacos on fresh made tortillas.

I have not found a better tortilla in Chicago than the ones La Quebrada makes, large and thick. Stack about five and eat them with maple syrup for breakfast. The taco de cecina is, with the tacos de barbacoa at La Ley, my favorite taco outside of Maxwell Street. The ingredients do not look like much, typical friojoles refrito, bits of drab cecina (a truly ugly product), a sprinkling of pico de gallo and a dab of guacamole. Because all of the materials, from the tortilla upward, are so well done, the taco is so well done. That's what sums up La Quebrada.

From the outside it looks like nothing special, certainly one of any of thousands of Mexican places around Chicago. Inside, they make the effort to make things better. Guacamole, salsas, pico de gallo are not difficult things to make, even tortillas are not THAT difficult, assuming ideal nixtamal, yet Quebrada coaxes the most out of these things. Over time, La Quebrada has spread. You have no excuse from finding your own location. Check the new menu because it may change soon.

4859 W. Roosevelt - Cicero
3818 W. 63rd - Chicago
5100 S. California - Chicago
2906 W. Cermak - Chicago
723 S. Broadway - Aurora

Lack of Posts

Sorry for the paucity in postings. Holidays and work combining against me. I have been to the Oak Park Farmer's Market the last two weeks, so I will post something on that soon. More importantly, the VI family is now scrambling to put away, so we can be local come November onwards. I do have one lead right now on a source for local vegetables for the winter which I will post on soon, any other leads in this area are appreciated.

The one great meal (although nothing compares with the Rosh Hashanah dinner made by the Condiment Queen) I've had of late was at Gene and Georgetti's. I'd like to say I am a long time regular there, but everyone has to start some time right. Good stuff about G&G, with some pictures and notes by moi, can be found here.

Cooking Skills, Present or Not

I'm sure everyone has certain odd memories that stick with them no matter what. One thing that has stcuk with me, is a drawing my friend Bobby Di did in 5th grade. He was one of the two or so "good artists" in our class, and I was always jealous with his ability to draw things that looked like they really were. So, I tried to pay attention to how he did it. One day, we were drawing hot dogs, that part I forget why, but I always remember how his hot dog looked so realistic, so life-like. He had added a few small lines at the end of the hot dog, showing the point where the sausage links come together. It gave the impression of bulk, of a hot dog. I realized that it was not so much a steady hand that made him the good artist, it was his ability to pick up on the bitsiest detail that made something look right. I could never draw like Bobby but I can cook.

Perhaps because I've eaten great food for so many years (thanks Mom, thanks CQ), I seem to instictively know how to make good food. I do not have a wide repotoire, and I avoid dishes that require precision. What I can make, most of the time, I can make very well. Like Bobby Di, I seem to know the right amount of seasoning or the right amount to cook something. I'm not bragging because I know a lot of people who can cook even better than me. I'm posting because, skilled as I may be, I have a real big problem in the kitchen. I cannot toss a salad.

I've written before on my love of big salads or chopped salads, usually a mess of cubed fresh vegetables with something leftover, like today, rotisserie chicken. I've become adapt at the chopping, make a great mustard vinegriette, season very aggressively especially with cracked black pepper. It all tastes great EVEN if all of the good stuff gathers on the bottom. I have tried several copied or observed methods to toss my salads. I've used tongs, spoons, fork and spoon, the flip (OK, I've not quite mastered that one). At the end of the day, I have lettuce on top, stuff underneath. I wanted total mixture so that each bite is like the last and each taste is such powerful combination of ingredients it tastes like nothing I have ever tasted before. Can anyone help