Chicago Foodies

Canibalistic Japanese Genitalia Cookoff…

If this doesn't get your attention, I'm not sure what else would. I'm not sure if it's safe for work but it certainly isn't appetizing. There have been some interesting articles about eating human by-products like the placenta and, more commonly, breast milk ice cream. That said I have never even considered a chef chopping off his junk – let's just say "soup to nuts" – and not only serving it to paying customers but charging them a premium for it. That's beyond one of our "Unique Dinners" and frankly illegal in the US.

I'm being a bit wimpy in the description but if you're curious keep reading and the link has pictures... go for it. That said, you've been warned.

Your Diet Woe Might Not Be Nutritional

Sitting at Caribou, looking at my "Daybreaker" breakfast sandwich which consists of a chicken sausage, egg, cheese on a bun with a cup of coffee, I really wonder if some of the bigger problems with our diets are behavioral more than nutritional. Quick meals need to be convenient and healthy, responsible meals as well. However if you're not making time for meals in the first place I would argue you have a diet problem.

You could zip through a drive-thru, stick to water and oatmeal, fruit and mixed nuts and while that might be good on paper, you're missing out on the familial aspects of a meal. You're depriving someone the opportunity to cook for you who in turn, without anyone to cook for, doesn't enjoy it or do it as much. Even more importantly, you may be depriving someone the opportunity to enjoy your company and cooking.

Because of convenience, we're missing out on good food. Instead of random veggie quiches using up whatever produce is left, or the eff'd up omelet which becomes a frittata. You end up eating a mass produced though geometrically sound breakfast sandwich. You know more about your ingredients when you are the one cooking them and can choose whole grains, small and local meats and produce, cut down on sugar, butter, fats when you choose to. When you choose convenience you sacrifice almost all of this. Sit think and eat. Don't rush. Fast is not healthy.

--Josh Brusin

Win Free Tickets to Wine Riot Chicago

We're giving away a pair of tickets to this weekend's wine tasting. Friday or Saturday- winner's choice. It's a great way to taste a wide variety of wines and better understand their similarities and differences. All you need to do is "Like" our facebook page and tell us on our wall what your go-to wine (region, varietal, etc) is for BYOB (& for extra points, feel free to mention the restaurant too!).

Wine Riot is a national touring wine tasting that stresses fun, hence the "Riot" part. Another cool part is that they provide you an app to keep track of what you're sipping and where to get it later. You can leave your pen and notepad at home. Granted I guess we'll all be on our phones the whole time, but at least it's related!

The event is in the Great Hall at Union Station and at multiple times over Friday/Saturday.

Tickets are available online HERE.

Easy Summer Citrus Salad

For some reason, there's a misconception that for something to be called a "salad" it must involve lettuce. Take a trip to your local Whole Foods and you'll have edible proof that this is not the case. Sometimes when you're in a pinch but would like a healthy, fresh element in your meal, a lettuce salad just isn't an option. And aren't you always digging through the greens to get to the good stuff anyways? 

This is a salad I put together with the only ingredients I had. For this type of salad, I like to have at least one fresh ingredient on hand to liven up the flavors. In this case, I chose an orange. Grapefruit would even work too. It's fast, simple and can accompany anything you throw on the grill. 

Craft Beer Week At The Norse Bar: Avery DuganA Imperial IPA

Chicago Craft Beer Week 2012 has treated me quite well as I've gotten to try some stunning offerings from local and out-of-town brewers. There have been quite a few high points, and I hope to touch upon some of them in this blog in the coming days.  Surely, one of the week's highlights was having Avery DuganA IPA on tap at The Norse Bar in Edgewater.  Norse, a quiet tap room behind a modest storefront in the 6300 block on Clark Street, has become one of Chicago's hidden craft brew gems.  They consistently offer terrific beers on tap, often pour unusual ones, and maintain clean lines.  Naturally, when I found out that Norse was hosting Avery Week featuring the top tier Boulder, Colorado brewer, I knew that my CBW travels would take me to the outer reaches of Edgewater at least once.  I'm a huge Avery fan and find their beer roster to range from good and solid to spectacular.

Craft Beer Week Special: Firestone Walker at Northdown

Chicago Craft Beer Week closes tomorrow but there are still a few highlights left, one being Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout at The Map Room Sunday afternoon.  It's going to be great, but will also be an absolute zoo, so I'm probably sitting that one out.  Also, an event that I won't miss will be Firestone Walker at Northdown Cafe & Taproom, starting today at 3:00 p.m.  

If you are not familiar, Firestone Walker is a superb brewer out of Paso Robles, California, and they brew an array of excellent everyday and specialty brews across the spectrum of beer styles.  They are an undeniable contender for best U.S. brewer, easily top 5.   Among other things, Northdown will be tapping the Double Jack double IPA, Parabola stout, a rare bourbon Parabola called, ahem, Velvet Merkin, and the Reserve Porter. 

Do This Today (or tomorrow)– Molé de Mayo

There are few things that are better than a good Molé and we have to thank La Oaxaquena for our introduction to that back in 2005. So when there's a fest in this town focused on Molé, we're all in.

The lineup seems to showcase molé poblano and molé rojo with DeColores adding in a molé blanco and a molé verde.

It's on Peoria between 18th and 16th Street.

And there's music & Mexican wrestling!

Here's the lineup & sorry for the late notice but go anyway.

Free Admission.

The Best Way to Use Leftover Beer

There's nothing better than cracking open a cold bottle of locally crafted beer on a warm Chicago day. Well, except eating it. If you can drink your beer and eat it too, why not? If you're craving a simple savory bread, you can whip up this parmesan honey beer bread in just a few easy steps. It's hearty, flavorful and has a wonderful crunch on top.

If you like some extra spice, grated pepperjack would make a perfect substitution. I'm sure you would get a much different flavor depending on what type of beer you use. If you want a milder flavor, use a lighter beer. I went seasonal with some of Goose Island's Summertime beer, and I thought it was the perfect beer for the job. Just be very careful not to overmix this dough at all, or your bread will get heavy and dense.  

Why Are Vanilla Beans So Expensive?

I recently purchased vanilla beans for the first time ever. It's not because I lack any dedication to quality ingredients when I bake. It's because I'm a cost-conscious consumer. Vanilla beans are really, really expensive. If you've even baked something as simple as some chocolate chip cookies from scratch, you've probably noticed that pure vanilla extract is even an investment. 

This is because vanilla beans are the most labor intensive crop grown in the world. It can take anywhere from just over a year to 3 years to produce the plant. The beans have to stay on the vine for 9 months before they're harvested - just like a little baby. The beans are then cured and dried, and they have to rest before they are available for purchase. Although not all vanilla beans are labeled "organic", most of the process itself is organic. After all, this is a job done by human hands, not machines. 

Craft Beer Week Meet the NATO Summit...

Apparently several people were arrested in Bridgeport due to possession of either home-brew equipment or stuff to make Molotov cocktails. Now I like high-ABV beer as much as the next guy but since when do you need bottle caps and stuff from a beer making kit for a highly explosive molotov cocktail-type thing. As far as I know even Tactical Nuclear Penguin won't catch fire.

Then again, they'd be smart to masquerade as friendly homebrewers. If they were attempting something nefarious and stupid, we'd assume it would be obvious. From the Tribune:

Police have so far declined to discuss or even acknowledge the arrests, and the details of the alleged raid are murky.

Police reports obtained by the Tribune show that nine people were arrested Wednesday in the 1000 block of West 32nd Street for allegedly making or possessing Molotov cocktails.

Four of those arrested were released without charges, said Sarah Gelsomino from the People's Law Office. They stood outside the Harrison District police station on the West Side Friday morning after their release but none of them agreed to talk.

As many as seven others were being held in the station's lockup, Gelsomino said.

If they're in the klink and missing beer week, that's a bummer.
If they were making bombs then they're busted and good riddance.

--Josh Brusin

 

High Glycemic Index – The "Comfort" in Comfort Food.

Judd Nelson in Breakfast Club said, "Being bad feels pretty good." In this case eating bad feels pretty food because of the way our bodies process carbs, specifically high-glycemic, carb-driven, comfort food. Bread, pasta, mashed potatoes. Remember the baked potato craze? People were considering that a vegetable and a healthy part of their diet. From the Statesman Journal website comes a pretty straight explaination:

Refined or simple sugars and their cousins — high-glycemic carbohydrates (think white bread and potatoes) — cause the pancreas to produce high levels of insulin, which cause the body to store excess sugar not used for energy as fat. The liver in turn is induced to produce cholesterol. We love high-glycemic carbs because they make us feel good by spiking our blood sugar. But what goes up must come down — with a thud. When our blood sugar inevitably plunges, we feel tired, ornery and hungry — and we repeat the cycle.

Low-glycemic foods (think apples and collard greens), on the other hand, release energy at a steady, less-dramatic rate, and our blood sugar stays reasonably level. Less sugar means less insulin means less fat means leaner bodies means better health.

Now tying the glycemic index to sugar can be confusing. From a chart found on the "For Dummies" website. A Snickers bar has a low GI number of 43 where a baked potato is a super high 98. This might be a real reason why Snickers "really" satisfies. It manages your blood sugar better.

Logan Square Kitchen to Close After Valiant Battle with City Regulators

Logan Square Kitchen, a shared-use kitchen on Milwaukee, has been the incubator for many of the local food artisans the city has come to love (and yes, that's the proper use of the word artisan). But while LSK and owner Zina Murray have helped launch Tiny Cakes and Katherine Anne Confections, they've also had to spend quite bit of time wrangling with city bureaucrats.

When the kitchen first opened its doors in 2009, the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) was alreading making headaches for its owners, according to a press release LSK sent today. Regulatory issues followed, including troubles with licenses and inspections. As of today, LSK has announced that they can no longer operate, and will close on June 28. In the meantime, they will try to help find alternate spaces for their artisans to operate.

It's sad to see that the city and one of its culinary gems couldn't compromise in a way that would keep these small businesses open. To follow the full saga, read this post on LSK's blog, and wish best of luck to all the businesses displaced by the kitchen's closing. --Kate Bernot

How To Navigate Chicago Craft Beer Week, May 17th - 25th

The craft beer market in Chicago has simply exploded.  Local breweries are popping up like dandelions on your lawn in the springtime.  Out of town craft brews have staged a full-fledged invasion.  It seems everyone is or knows someone who is homebrewing.  Lagunitas and, probably, Three Floyds are opening breweries in the city. Beer pairings have become common at posh restaurants.  It has become nearly impossible to keep up with all of the new developments and try all of the new offerings available.  It's almost overwhelming.

To celebrate this maddening, apocalyptic uprising, Craft Beer Week is once again returning to Chicago.  I don't have an exact number but I would say there are 3-4 times as many more events this year than last year. Everyone is getting into the act, from neighborhood taps, to Wrigleyville sports bars, to exclusive restaurants.  So, with well  more than 100 events on the schedule, how does one navigate such a week?  I'd have to write a full media guide of information to break it all down for you.  You'd be crazy to read such an epic and my eyes would dehydrate staring at the screen that long typing.  They already are after perusing the schedule.

Chicago Blog Lottie + Doof Wins Saveur's Best Cooking Blog Award

Every year, Saveur.com dishes out its blogger awards for everything from best baking blog, to best food photography, to best single recipe. It seems like sort of a toss up because every blog nominated is so utterly incredible that each can singlehandedly distract me for hours. There are always some of your typical big names (Smitten Kitchen, Joy the Baker) whom I follow regularly. But this year a local name popped up on the list, and I didn't even realize it until they won. 

Lottie + Doof picked up a much-deserved award for best cooking blog. It's written by a man (gasp!) who takes beautiful food photography and provides an incredibly sophisticated range of recipes. You'll find dressed up classics like mac and cheese, brunch classics and some mouth-watering seasonal sweets. 

If you are a foodie and a Chicagoan, which you most likely are, you should definitely check out this blog. I did my own take on a classic garlic soup awhile back and got the idea from a recipe posted on Lottie + Doof. You're going to want to read this blog now - just not while you're hungry. 

Check out the full list of Saveur's 2012 Food Blog Award winners here. 

Heirloom Plant Sale This Weekend at the Peterson Garden Project

How many of these tomato-types have you tried?

⎯    Box Car Willie
⎯    Big Rainbow
⎯    Green Zebra
⎯    Grandfather Ashlock
⎯    Stupice
⎯    Prudens Purple
⎯    Black Krim

We're tomato-naive but not for long...

Now's the time to explore the many heirloom tomato options at the Peterson Garden Project. Check out the heirloom plant sale Friday, May 11 through Sunday, May 13, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. daily. The sale is a fundraiser; all proceeds benefit The Peterson Garden Project, a 501c3 non-profit organization. Items for sale include organic, heirloom herb and vegetable seedlings, all priced under $5.There is no cost for admission.

Underground Dining Club X-Marx to Debut Flour and Bones at Dose Market

Underground dining clubs have been operating around the city for years, hosted in chefs' basements, friends' apartments, even outdoors. They're fun and creative, but kind of a logistical pain for diners who would like to just, you know, show up and eat dinner.

X-Marx, a four-year-old established group in the underground dining world, is finally making the leap to the big time with a new restaurant, Flour and Bones, slated to open late this summer in Logan Square. They're quick to point out that though it shares some trendy trappings-- communal table, open kitchen-- this is not just another ampersand-ed Logan Square gastro-fill-in-the-blank.

Like much of X-Marx food, Flour and Bone will have an Asian spin. The 30-seat restaurant will serve an omakase menu in addition to a la carte offerings and a beverage program. To get a better peek at the menu, show up to this Sunday's Dose Market, where Flour and Bone will serve some preview bites like smoked tofu, lapsang tea eggs, hand-cut noodles, and ube cupcakes. And if you make it to Dose on Mother's Day, you'll also be rewarded with a preview of Pecking Order, chef Kristine Subido's forthcoming chicken-centric restaurant. We hate to say it, but those are two good reasons to ditch Mother's Day brunch early. --Kate Bernot

Update: Decoding Your Egg Carton

Marly Schuman wrote a fantastic post here back in January outlining some of the terms you may see on your grocery store egg carton: organic, brown, cage-free, etc. It got a lot of us talking about where we buy our eggs and what we look for on the packaging.

Rodale, the company that publishes Men's Health and Organic Gardening, among others, has a handy post about some other egg labeling terms like "pastured," "certified humane," and "omega-3 enriched."

It's worth clicking through to see which terms are actually third-party verified and which are just marketing claims. But it can also complicate the matter, because even third-party approval might not guarantee all the health or humane benefits that we imagine it does. For example, most eggs could be labeled "United Egg Producers Certified," but all that means is that the eggs were "certified" by a group created by the egg industry itself, and the chickens could still have been treated with antibiotics and kept in battery cages.

So let's get the discussion going again: Do these terms mean anything to you? Is it worth your time (and maybe extra money) to search for eggs from antibiotic-free, pastured, humanely raised hens? Or are all these labels just chicken scratch anyway? --Kate Bernot

Spring Orecchiette with Shrimp Recipe

Seasonal pastas are often a challenge because we can get into a rut. That jar of tomato sauce just looks so tempting and familiar! I like to take inspiration from the restaurant dishes I love. I couldn't stop thinking about the orecchiete at Balena. The orecchiete, or "little ear" in Italian, is just so adorable, and those nooks are the best vessel for a chunky sauce or vegetables. 

It's the perfect time of year for spring peas. Even if you only have access to frozen ones, throw some into this dish. The sauce is light and fresh, not to mention easy to make. And I'd definitely recommend using fish or shrimp to finish off the dish. You might even want to double this recipe. 

Seventh Time's the Charm for Chicago James Beard Nominees

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. That's sort of the Mindy Segal story at the James Beard Awards, where the Hot Chocolate chef/owner had been nominated six times for Oustanding Pastry Chef before finally taking home the award last night. Also revelling in his just desserts was North Pond's Bruce Sherman, who won Best Chef- Great Lakes after six years of nominations.

Of course, this waiting game doesn't apply to Grant Achatz, who won Best New Restaurant for Next within a year of its opening. A big congratulations to all who repped Chicago so well on the national stage. --Kate Bernot

Carnitas Uruapan Restaurant –Minimalism at Its Finest

I now work on the South Side of Chicago.  Well, not really the South Side, but certainly the near South Side, just south of the South Loop. It's a different environment from a restaurant perspective.  Well, it's different in many perspectives.  But, after years of working downtown and having lunchtime and happy hour accesss to various Loop, River North, and West Loop spots, a smorgasboard of new possibilites has presented itself, across an area ranging from Bronzeville to Pilsen to Little Little Italy, Chinatown, and University Village.  Except on occasion, I'm far too busy to get out for lunch, but have visited a few spots that are reasonably close to the office.  Sometimes my visits to a new-to-me place have been on the way home.  My explorations have inlcuded new establishments, such as Davonti Enoteca, small bistros toying with food trucks, such as Flavor 180, and mainstays, such as Joy Yee Noodles.  Quite a few spots have been rewarding.