Chicago, Chicago You're My Kinda Town - Restaurant Roundup

I recently traveled to Chicago for a training at work and had enough time to take in some of the sights and check out some of the restaurants around the downtown area known as the Miracle Mile.

Armed with a new Android-powered phone, I was able to track down some pretty good grub in the short three days that I spent there. Let's start with the one that everybody knows about...

You probably recognize the Top Chef Master Season winner Rick Bayless - traditional Mexican fare is his niche and it all started with Frontera. On a Tuesday night the wait for a table was 1 hour, that's how popular this place is. We waited patiently for a spot to open up and the the bar; if it hadn't been for the kindness of a pair of British tourists who allowed us to claim their spot before they got up, we would've been waiting at least 15 minutes more.

A friend of mine and his wife regularly visit Chicago and always make sure to stop in here for a meal - in fact, he's the one who gave me the tip to forget the table and order from the bar...you'll get the full menu without the wait and the hassle. What you've got here is a good collection of Mexican flavors - the sopes, fried discs of masa dough topped with slow-braised pork were excellent - the spicy shrimp & corn soup was unusual and refreshingly spicy - in the foreground was a tortilla topped with black-bean mash, pork belly, avocado and a heap of cilantro..another contrast between deep, umami flavors with a clean, green & herbaceous finish.

The wait isn't for everyone and the crowds can be discouraging but the I'm glad we tried some of those flavor combos - it reminded me alot of a meal at Xochitl with attention paid to the layering of flavors.

The Publican!!! (located in Fulton Market) 

This place belongs in Philly. It's focused on three things....Oysters...Excellent Beer...and nose-to-tail cooking, preferably of the porcine variety. The restaurant itself is decorated like an upscale barn, with diners sitting in penned in booths like livestock or seated around large communal tables farm-style.  The lyrics for the Beatles song Piggies kept popping into my head when I saw happy diners tucking into massive plates of food

Everywhere there's lots of piggies 
Living piggy lives 
You can see them out for dinner 
With their piggy wives 
Clutching forks and knives 
to eat their bacon 

This wasn't bacon or pork belly or tongue or any number of interesting cuts on the menu - this is a lamb neck that is slow-braised then dusted and fry-crusted before being served in a broth alongside lemony potatoes & yogurt.  A little heavy for August, but unctuous and rich with flavor, a sweet dark meat being braised for so long right on the bone. 

This is my favorite fun dish of the trip...fried spicy pork rinds.  These were still hot from the frying oil and coated with a spicy, cheesy powder coating...think Cheetos meets chichirrones. I found out later that this dish was featured on the schlocky "Best Thing I Ever Ate" time-filler show on the Food Network...grrr...it deserves better.

I found the Purple Pig online in a search for tapas on the Miracle Mile. The website & menu looked pretty good and I'd even considered it for a dinner, but as luck would have it, we got to Chicago early so we chose to go there for a late lunch.

I was a little worried as we approached the place - what had looked like a gastro-pub/tapas bar online had all the appearance of a ladies-who-lunch/post-shopping trip wine bar - the kind that serves up $15 glasses of chardonnay to go with uninspired bruscetta.

The Purple Pig was somewhere in between the two expectations - the food was clever and had a few interesting flavors. I especially enjoyed the chorizo-stuffed fried olives.  Some of the food was on the edge of being too oily or salty.

Always looking to compare Chicago to Philly, we decided that the Purple Pig was similar to the small plates from Amis, albeit a cut below in terms of execution. This dish was the most evocative of Vetri's Italian tapas - a mousse of mortadella spread on delicious crusty bread and topped with pistachio, arugula and quality balsamic vinegar.

I'm glad we went there for a late lunch - I think I would've been disappointed with a dinner there as the menu seemed to promise flavors that never seemed to peak on the plate.

Speaking of ladies-who-lunch, another meal the next day took us deep into the so-called "Viagra Triangle" - a term for the high-end shopping/restaurant/bar district that sat just off the north end of the Miracle Mile. I'm guessing the large amount of middle-aged shoppers and diners strolling about contributed to the moniker.

Welcome to the Luxbar! Take away the D&G clad grannies pecking away at their chicken salads and you could see the bones of a decent gastropub here - a smattering of decent craft beers and options like truffled fries and sliders had me thinking I was back in Philly sitting outside Varga watching the the world go by and 10th & Spruce.

Objects on the blog may appear larger than they are on the plate! Luxbar had a mix of sliders to choose from - here's a lineup of the mini-dog, BBQ, Kobe and Fried Chicken sliders. Nowhere near as good as the Varga sliders - the Kobe was dried out and the BBQ was disgracefully sweet and without a smidge of heat or tartness.

Again, decent lunch option but I'm glad that we didn't spend an evening in the Viagra Triangle.

Located several blocks away from the Triangle and closer to Loyola Law School was the strangest Spanish restaurant I've ever eaten at - Cafe Iberico.

Now, don't get me wrong, I really wanted to like this place but everything about it was cringe inducing to the poor sucker like me whom after reading several online reviews, was expecting something closer to Amada or Washington D.C.'s Jaleo.

Was it the laminated accordion-like menus that displayed a washed-out photo of every dish on the menu? Was is the cavernous interior, designed to simultaneously feed 300+ people in one sitting which made me worry about the attention to quality that inevitably goes out the window when you're hitting that many covers a night? How about the TVs on an endless loop of sports-news-weather, just like the airport terminal we'd left behind at O'Hare?

Well, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. This was tuna cannelloni, tuna wrapped in pasta and topped with a thin 'white wine' sauce which resembled yogurt.  Assembled together, it looked pretty much like more of the same goofiness we'd witnessed, but the taste was actually spot-on...the tuna was flavorful, not a mushy paste, and the tomatoes were fresh and vibrant in a dressing of olive oil and lemon.  Looks like a case of the sum of the parts being greater than the whole here.

This dish just had me in stitches - I chuckled when our served delivered the Pulpo a la Plancha - a pile of grilled octopus & french fries...yes, french fries....about as Spanish as the french fries you find at Chinese buffets. I joked with Elizabeth that this was Sandra Lee's recipe from some never-aired episode...a 'Spanish Siesta' complete with a paella made with Uncle Ben's and kielbasa braised in Sunny Delight.

Again, the saving grace for Cafe Iberico was that I'll be darned if the octopus wasn't cooked perfectly. And the fries, also perfectly done, actually worked in the dish. When I asked the waiter about the dish and the odd inclusion of fries, he kind of sighed and said 'American-style'. I was not lying when I told him that I enjoyed it and the octopus was perfect.

So to summarize - Cafe Iberico is a great deal for decent food...like a chips&salsa on-the-table 'Mexican' restaurant for Spanish themed dishes.

OK, if you've made it this far, you really must be interested in some of the dining options in Chicago so I've saved the surprise favorite for those of you that have scrolled your way through to here.

We arrived at Quartino very late in the evening, just as the restaurant was winding down. having been hopping from place to place all night, we were in the mood for a late-night snack before headed back to the hotel and I had notived Quartino came up in nearly every search I did on the Droid for wine or tapas.

We had a seat at the bar and chose from an excellent selection of charcuterie and accoutrement - we opted for some olives, speck, and a slaw of pickled fennel. 

In another Philly comparison, not only is the menu similar to the Garces Trading Post, but the decor also has the same retro butcher/soda fountain/general store feel, with white subway tiles, reclaimed wooden timbers and a gargantuan bar.

The polenta fries were over the top in late-night bar snack - served piping hot, still crunchy and without any gumminess, these were another one of those dishes I hope will appear on a menu in Philly sometime soon...perfect replacement football-friendly finger foods like fried cheese sticks. We had them, along with a marinara veal meatball slider.

Looking back on all this great food I suddenly feel the need to take the stairs instead of the elevator at work for the next 2 months. Overall I was impressed with Chicago and I look forward to going back for more good stuff as we missed out on a few places due to the the timing of the trip.  The problem with having an early-week trip is that many of the restaurant were closed Monday & Tuesday...so plan your trips accordingly.

6th Annual 'Good Food, Good Beer and the Rest is History' at Headhouse Shambles

Time for the 6th annual 'Good Food, Good Beer and the Rest is History' at Headhouse Shambles

What could be more beautiful than a flower? Free craft beer!

Fork restaurant was serving up a wax-bean, scallop summer salad - the crushed nuts that topped the salad gave it some great texture and the simple dressing let the scallop flavor come through.

East P'unk Italian dynamo Le Vitru was serving up their pork 'lasagna' - I know that there's a more accurate term for this dish but basically it's assembled from hand-made noodles like a lasagna with a sausage & cheese filling. Just as delicious as last year.

Speaking of sausage, Noble was serving up a well-seasoned sausage with peppered tomato sauce and a dollop of polenta; the polenta & sausage felt a little out of season but it tasted wonderful and went great with some of the craft brews being poured by Earth+Bread Brewery.

Another newcomer, Wishing Well on 9th and Christian put in an appearance with a straightforward chicken taco - well spiced and served with a salsa, this was a decent contribution to the food offerings, although with Wishing Well's southern-leaning menu, I was hoping for something a little more interesting. I will give them credit for having one of the most tightly run stalls at the event - dishing out tacos at breakneck speed, once the food ran out they were packed and away in half the time it took me to finish a half-pint sized beer.

Speaking of 'bringing it' Southern-style, here's our nomination for 'Best in Show', the Swarthmore Food Co-Op's BBQ pork sandwich.

They called it the 'Three Little Pigs  - what you're looking at is a pork loin, stuffed with a sausage....

...and then topped with pulled pork meat from a set of slow-cooked ribs...

...and then stuffed into a potato roll.  

Served with a dollop of slaw, this was hands down the most delicious thing we had all evening, and the swarm of people around the stand was steady until the last of the pork was served up. This sandwich was so appealing that random people asked me 'Where did you get that?" and a few of the other vendors even ducked away from their stalls to procure a sandwich of their own,

The Restaurant School of Philadelphia was on hand serving up the newest craze in desserts, macaroons.  Nearly every color of the rainbow, these little treats were also going fast. 

We ran out of tasting tickets before discovering their presence (yes, I NEEDED that second pork sandwich) but other folks were scooping them off the trays that lined the table.

All in all, we really enjoyed ourselves this time around - last year we arrived about a hour after the opening bell and fund that barely half the vendors had food left. We stayed for a bit enjoying the great local beers as well - my favorite was the darker offerings from Earth+Bread Brewery, whereas Elizabeth was hooked on the Prima Pils from Victory.

Southern Science - Adsum Opening Weekend in Pictures

Adsum, the new gastropub that opened in the old Coquette on 5th and Bainbridge, has been getting quite a bit of good press lately for its sous vide Southern-fried chicken.  We were on-hand opening weekend and saw several plates of the dark-brown fried chicken bits leaving the kitchen and they looked as good as they sound.

The space itself is very similar to the old Coquette, with much of the old, dark wood finish and wall-length mirrors preserved. We avoided the crowded dining room and grabbed  a table alongside the bar to order a few appetizers.

First up on the must-try list for us was the Grilled Octopus with black pepper caramel glaze - basically BBQ Octopus as the sweetness of the caramel and the peppery-ness of the the glaze gave the impression of a BBQ lacquer. On octopus though? Excellent...if the octopus had not been cooked properly this could have been a different story.

The chicharrones, on the other hand, were a complete miss.  The irregular sized nuggets of fried pork skin & fat were still a bit soggy and served at room temperature. Some were cooked thoroughly enough but many were still not fully rendered out. A quick glance at the menu and you could see the pork belly that I suspect these little bits of fried skin were attached to at one point - can't knock the kitchen fr being frugal, but I've had way better chicharrones...the best being those we had on a recent trip to Chicago at the Publican - Spicy Pork Rinds...shown here in all their glory.

[ UPDATE - We recently returned and noticed the chicharrones were gone from the menu..I wonder if other people had a similar experience with them ]

Damn the arteries and full steam ahead...

Next up on the must-try list was the Tater-Tots, Whiskey, Bacon & Green Goddess dish.  The potatoes used to make these monster tots were of a great quality, sweet and flaky. The bacon wasn't in evidence but it wasn't missed, while the Green Goddess sauce was a wonderfully trashy take on Ranch dressing that I recall people dressing their baked potatoes with when I lived south of the Mason-Dixon line.  Despite the resemblance to Patatas Bravas ala Dixie, the dish was very comforting and disappeared beneath a flurry of forks.

Here's a snapshot of the 'Whiskey' component - tiny gelatinized pearls of whiskey...a nod to the molecular gastronomy vibe that seemed to be featured here.  The flavor they imparted to the dish was minimal, so don't fear them if you're not a fan of whiskey. Did I mention that they bring out the wine in science lab beakers to ensure a measured amount? That, along with the vintage apothecary feel that the decor evoked made me wonder if a foam wasn't lurking somewhere in our future.

We finished with yet another spin on the southern classic of pickled watermelon rind, although this featured the flesh of the watermelon 'pickled' in Kool-Aid. Garnished with a sprig of tarragon, I thought it was a great dish, tart and sweet, the perfect summer dessert.

It's refreshing to see some great Southern renditions redone with some obvious thought as to how to amp up the flavor - next time we visit I hope to make it down to the entree section and those KFC Sweetbreads.

UPDATE:

We went back about a week ago and made it into the large plates...here's the highlights -

Fried oysters were deliciously crispy but lacked the creamy insides...maybe a plumper oyster would've yielded up more liquor. They definitely have nailed the crunchy/crispy coating though.

"That's right bad biscuit...you sit in the corner and think about what you've done!"

The much-talked about fried-chicken was also crispy & delicious...

...but the biscuit was TRAGIC. Granted, Elizabeth hails from a long line of Southern cooks who know their biscuits, so she may be a little biased, but even a suburban-raised Yankee like me can tell that something way off. The consistency was like something from a tube in the grocery store...cakey, dry and hard...lacking the requisite pillow, flaky softness that you would expect to accompany chicken & collards.

The lamb dish was very tasty, rich with spicy lamb sausage cause drizzled over perfectly cooked slices of lamb loin. I loved the green chickpeas - half spring pea, half chickpea.Thumbs up on this dish.

Summer Dinner - Seared Tuna & Tomato Water

Facing an excess of tomatoes and 98 degree weather, we decided on a light & refreshing fish dish - seared tuna served in tomato water and garnished with diced cucumber & heirloom tomato.

Tomato water was made by blending together a peeled cucumber and three large tomatoes with a pinch of salt. The resulting soup is then strained through a fine-mesh strainer that has been lined with a dampened paper towel. I had tried this recipe before without the paper towel and the water wasn't a clear as it was with the towel. The mix yielded about a cup of tomato-tinged broth, which is then simmered down by about half.

The tuna was portioned and flash-seared, then placed in the broth to rest and soak up the flavor.

Garnished with a fine dice of cucumber & tomato, then dressed with a splash of olive oil and a few cilantro sprigs, the dish was a simple and clean way to enjoy summer flavors.

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Fresh Tomatoes, 00 Flour & Handmade Pasta

Our tomatoes have started to arrive from our container garden and along with some extra tomatoes from Blooming Glen's stand at the Headhouse Market, we picked some herbs from the garden to make a simple pasta dish that incorporated handmade noodles.

I've never been blown away with our earlier attempts at handmade pasta - it was always OK but it seemed a little too soft, despite attempts to cook it al dente.  I had heard that using the right kind of flour can make a big difference, so we picked up a bag of 00 flour from Claudio's and made some dough using the standard 1 egg to a generous 3/4 cups of flour.

I noticed that the dough itself was a little firmer, less elastic than when we're used regular All-Purpose flour. I was a little worried when we began rolling the dough as it tended to jam up a little more than usual. However, we didn't need to use nearly as much flour to keep it from sticking to the roller bars and once we got down to the smaller sized rollers, the dough was looking beautiful.

The pasta cooked in under 5 minutes and retained a firmness that seemed to be lacking in previous attempts with AP flour.  We served it up with a tomato sauce and some tiny veal meatballs.

Alongside the pasta we enjoyed a green heirloom tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella salad.

Although the bag wasn't cheap - $5 for about lbs. - if you're going to go through the process of homemade pasta, it's worth the extra $$. You just need to be a little cautious about using the right amount of flour; my dough was a little too dry and hard to work with when I used the same amount that I normally would with AP flour.

Zucchini Blossom Tempura

Sunshine & Stuffed Blossoms - Perfect afternoon dish with a cold, crisp glass of white wine.

Another variation on the fried blossom - this one is stuffed with goat cheese, then dipped in a tempura-esque batter of flour, a touch of baking powder and sparkling water - you'll know it's ready when the slurry that forms is just enough to coat all the tines of a fork. I was talking with a friend at Headhouse market this Sunday and he mentioned his never-fail batter of 50/50 flour & cornstarch...next time I've got cornstarch in the pantry I'll give it a go.



The trick to keeping the cheese from exploding into the frying oil is to really twist & pinch the tops of the blossom before immersing them in the 375 degree oil.



On a side note, we've begun harvesting the first of our crop of Roma tomatoes from the container garden.

Gardening for Garnish Garlic Scape & Soup

Here's a snapshot of Elizabeth's parents nursery back in Virginia during high Spring. We were visiting at the end of their growing season and as always, on the hunt for interesting ingredients and flavors to take back to Philly.



This is the main growing greenhouse - you can see the tables filled up with pots of herbs and the odd ornamental plant. Earlier in the season, this house was choked with blooms, covering nearly every surface.



Growing just outside the greenhouse, at the edge of the field, was a huge patch of garlic with numerous garlic scapes poking out from the leaves.




We grabbed a knife and cut off several garlic scapes to take back home with us - having missed alot of the Spring veg at the market, these scapes offered up a remote opportunity to put in a few Spring-inspired dishes before Summer arrived.

We also harvested nearly 3 pounds of fresh asparagus from the garden - we settled on fixing a soup with all the garden offerings.



Back home, we slit the scapes down the center, reserving the pungent bulbs for another use.



Then I flash-fried the scapes into a crispy pile.



I sliced the tips off the asparagus and halved the spears. The rest of the asparagus I boiled until slightly soft in a broth of vegetable stock, along with a diced single small potato, then blitzed the mix a food processor.




The trick to keeping this soup velvety smooth was to push it through a fine-meshed strainer - here you can see the resulting liquid and solids have been separated.




The finished soup was dressed with three or four butter-poached shrimp and then topped with the crisped garlic scapes.



Another variation of the dish used fried bits of thick bacon, fennel fronds, a dollop of Greek yogurt and the asparagus tips to season the soup. Served with a crunchy bread topped with Pecorino cheese, it was a hearty Spring soup plucked straight from the garden.