Chicago Foodies

Pomegranate 7-Up: Drink of the Week

If you're looking for a boozy drink of the week just add vodka! Pomegranate 7-Up is a wonderful product as it seems like the longest single word you might find in the soda aisle.

It's also kind of funny to see them leverage this pomegranate phase without the benefit. Pomegranate is kind of good for you and soda is kind of bad for you.

Never-the-less it's tasty, a somewhat tart cherry 7-Up. It's festive? I'm not quite sure. Although as I mentioned it's well suited to vodka and at any large family gathering... call it holiday 'cheer' (always hated that).

Okay, so we covered off on the emergency holiday family vodka/7up pomegranate thing... here's the alternative:
2oz spiced rum
top off with pomegranate 7-Up
cin stick

Try it heated up! Think of the 50's and hot Dr. Pepper.
Enjoy!

Northside Chinese Delivery

It's ridiculous. It makes me angry. At least 4 times over the past 6 months I've tried a new Chinese restaurant for delivery. This time Pekin House after hearing from different people about their awesome egg rolls. I tried those as well as the hot and sour soup, kung pao chicken and schechuan shrimp. It was not good. The shrimp dish is not going to get eaten it's nothing but 5 shrimp in a dish of onions and a few huge green peppers and is unlike any Schezuan dish I've ever had. The kung pao chicken is entirely flavorless very much like chop-suey in arrangement but literally flavorless. Both had a large amount of corn starchy jelliness to them.
So I'm adding them to the long list of places that might not have all been bad but aren't going to be my "go-to place."

Jamón Ibérico: Found You Some

Brian wrote about his penchant for Jamon Iberico after some time in Madrid.

Unlike pink prosciutto jamón Ibérico is blood red, more chewy, and has a complex taste and texture.  Many of the tapas bars (which in Spain look nothing like Ba-Ba-Ree-Ba and instead are bars that serve a few basic snacks and sometimes meals) have a leg of ham hanging on a hook out in the open where someone can ask for a few slices.

It looks like his prayers are answered.

"El Bulliesque"

While watching Iron Chef America (Cora vs. Richards) judge Karine Bakhoum called a martini with chemical-caviar  El Bulliesque.  Is that pretentiousness or is it another new word?

Not to mention that Cat called cooking carrots in a Ziploc bag sous vide... I always thought that the vacuum seal was what made food's flavors concentrated. Isn't it otherwise a type of pressure cooking?

Mickey Mouse's HeadBurgers!?

Okay. They're Mickey Burgers! Now it's prudent to note that they are made of cow not mouse. Hopefully that's the only question that your child will have when confronted by this Mickey Mouse shaped patty.

A crying toddler convinced that once he's finished his meal Mickey will surely be gone for good is not gonna happen now is it?

I like the picture of Mickey cooking up his bun-sake on the grill that's pretty close to a Weber but not enough for a lawsuit. Hey anytime a burger comes with stickers... that's good eats. And no they don't have mickey shaped buns.

It's Mickey. He's in your grocer's freezer.

Hail the Celebrity Chef

I was watching a Saturday morning movie on basic cable and was interrupted by commercial after commercial featuring Serena Williams' clothing line and that new Nintendo DS gadget that lets you "play guitar." Maybe it was the 10 minutes of that Orange County Wives that soured me but it also might have been the week in Houston where malls ran into malls and Maggianos ran into Gran Lux and into the Chocolate Factory. I'm sure the menus run into each other as much as the wait-staff do. And they all go shopping on their days off.

I worry that what has happened in Houston could and will happen in Chicago. We've always had sports stars open restaurants – Chris Chelios and Ditka's not to mention Jordan's but they've always started car dealerships too.

Aigre Doux

Aigre Doux or Don't. I say do. My girlfriends and I were seated at a table near the kitchen which gave us a chance to see the entire restaurant; the décor was nice but my friend said not much had changed from its days as Pili Pili. I did appreciate the very pretty arrangements of fresh flowers on all the tables.

One reason I enjoyed Aigre Doux is their assistance with the wine. We were a group of five planning on eating everything from fish to lamb and were wanting a wine other than Pinot Noir. I suggested a bottle but asked our waitress for assistance. She conferred with her counterparts and came back suggesting a more appropriate, lower price wine. How often does that happen?  We ordered multiple bottles.