Chicago Foodies

Night of the Living Ales IV: Goose Island

On Saturday night, the Chicago Beer Society at Goose Island Brewery will present Night of the Living Ales IV.  It's already sold out, but this is one of the rare moments to give beer lovers the chance to enjoy cask conditioned ale.   Those who have spent time in England or Wales may rememberr the hand-pumped "warm beer" with low carbonation, low alcohol, and a taste unlike bottled or typical draft beer. Forty casks of real ale will be sampled in this event.

Free Hot Dogs at Portillo's - Saturday's Batch

They've given away 500 Friday and are doing another 500 today.

I spoke with them at 11:15 Friday and there were 350 remaining.

They ran out at 12:45 on Friday. We're projecting availability to last until 1pm Saturday.

Portillo's - Chicago, Illinois
100 W. Ontario
Chicago IL 60610
312-587-8910

The Fish Keg

I feel like I sold out a friend by including Hagen's Fish Market before The Fish Keg. It's nearly perfect. The first time I was there two 70+ ladies were trying to get their oysters double battered and were not making any headway with the young guy upfront. They asked for a gentleman in particular. If I remembered his name the story would gain in authenticity but I don't.

Let's just call him Harold.

Sushi Para II

My first warning probably should have been the "all-you-can-eat sushi" for only $16.99. However, my hole-in-the-wall-lovin' self worked up an appetite as we descended to a basement in Lincoln Park, revealing a small space adorned with wooden furniture and a sushi bar wedged in the corner.

I deliberated over the menu and like all my prior "all-you-can-eat" experiences, secretly vowed NOT to roll out of the door in discomfort by the end of the meal. Their menu had a decent variety of appetizers, nigiri sushi and their special rolls. My friends jumped on the appetizers as I carefully made my choices of the special rolls.

Restaurant Week: Primehouse

Looking around for reservations resulted in menus that seemed good to great. For some reason I went into Primehouse expecting one steak option and, I dunno, some fish and pasta options. The menu was fantastic. A choice between a bone-in filet and a Delmonico ribeye or Shrimp... sweet! The appetizer choices of a cold seafood plate– two shrimp and two oysters was terrific and the lobster bisque with a large lobster tempura crisp was consumed so quickly I didn't get a chance to even ask for a taste.

Medjool Dates

You go to certain restaurants and you start to notice patterns... Gunthorp Duck, blood orange reduction, etc. Everything needs a fancy variation, right? Justifies the price and your finickiness... dates are just dates, right?

Well, I have always secretly thought, "Yeah, they do look like little roaches." They have that crispy sort of papery husk of a skin and a mushy center. And they're a bitch to pit. Medjool is on the right and common date is on the left.

Medjool dates are hard not to buy at a glance. They're bigger and plumper. They don't look like dead insects and have a lovely purple hue to them, instead of the date-brown. They are a bit more expensive but honestly dates aren't cheap to begin with and you're usually using them for something fairly elaborate so the extra buck should be worth it for the visual benefits.

House of Glunz: Old World Wines in Old Town

I guess for many reasons, there are no wine shops left in the Gold Coast.  You can pick a few bottles at the Goddess and Grocer, and there's Treasure Island supermarket, but that's it.  Gold Coast's lack of wine shops bring me to Old Town where House of Glunz is located on Wells just North of Division.  In terms of aesthetics, it's my favorite shop.  The shelves are old wood, there are empty bottles going back generations, with old barrels of sherry and family heirlooms, and the dusty, worn feel reminds me of some of the older European wine shops.  Paintings of grapes and stained glass make it a cathedral of wine shops.

Lito's Empanadas

Lito's Empanadas is an extremely tiny place located on Clark St. in Lincoln Park, and it was love at first sight.  When I was on the bus on my way to getting my haircut, I thought I have to stop at this place.  Lito's sells nothing but eight styles of empanadas, including a choco-banana empanada for those with a sweet tooth.  It's a great place for street meat food at street meat prices, which range from $2.09 to $2.29.   

First Look: Sushi-X on Diversey

My wife, as an interior designer, was fortunate enough to get an invitation to get a sneak preview of Sushi-X. I admit I have not been to Sushi-X's original location, on Chicago and Milwaukee in East Ukrainian Village.  One of the first thoughts I had was that this is a bold move for them:  there are quite a few sushi places around Lincoln Park and Lakeview, anywhere from more "old school" styles with bright lighting and lots of bamboo to trendy, hip places.  Sushi-X aims for the trendy and hip segment of the sushi market, with its dark colors, dark lighting, Japanese anime, and techno.  Maybe this is good timing as there have been more of the "trendy" places opening around Lakeview, and surprisingly, a few signs around Lincoln Park as well.

Pimp My Spice Rack

Found a neat site where someone found a good way to solve the ever present spice rack problem. I have a spice cabinet and for some reason I can never find anything except achiote and cotton candy flavoring... damnit.

Follow the link to see how a magnetic dry erase board, some containers and a labeler gets you organized. I think you all can piece it together...

Apparently Alton Brown has a similar contraption but don't we all...

Alinea Wins an Ivy

Restaurants and Institutions Ivy Awards aren't as well known to Chicagoans as the James Beard Award is. Especially since it seems that at least Rick Bayless gets one every year. Now in addition to his past employers, Trotter's and The French Laundry,  Grant Achatz seems to have taken the mantle. Congrats. Per Se also gets one as well as Bartolotta's Vegas restaurant. For a closer bite check out their Milwaukee restaurant, the Lake Park Bistro.

Laschet's Inn: German Comfort Food

German food seems to have very slowly fallen out of favor, and every once in a while there will be news that a German restaurant or pub is closing.   Maybe I'm wrong, or maybe I don't see a trend in the opposite direction, and to be fair there have been a few German-themed bars, such as Prost, in Lincoln Park, opening.  But for the most part the German places around town generally tend to be older.  One of these is Laschet's Inn, which until very recently was run by Germans.  The current owners have vowed not to change anything, except add tables in front during the summer and a biergarten in back.   

Booja-Booja Organic Chocolate Champagne Truffles

My vegan friends in Vermont sent my wife and me some delicious vegan chocolate champagne truffles, and they were so good I felt compelled to write.  Made in England, these delicacies contain nothing but dark chocolate, coconut oil, corn syrup, champagne, along with a cocoa powder coating.   It's a quirky brand with not only organic and vegan labeling but also a "never sold in supermarkets" tag.  These truffles can be bought online at their website http://www.boojabooja.com.

Tagine Home Cooking

Over the holidays, a friend of mine who loves to cook turned me on to a very affordable tagine from Sur La Table. As a fan of cooking and experimenting with new foods, I thought a tagine would be a perfect addition to my kitchen-arsenal and I figured for the price (~$20), it would be a great idea for my Christmas list. Sure enough my husband bought one for me but unwrapping the gift was just the start of my adventures in tagine cooking.

Terragusto: Wonderful Homemade Pasta at BYO Prices

Honestly I had not heard about Terragusto until two days before I ate there. We received a recommendation from someone I just met, and it was convincing enough for us to want to go there. The fact that the restaurant was BYOB made it very easy to consider, and I promptly went to one of my favorite wine shops, Que Syrah on Southport, and picked out a traditional Italian dolcetto (a red wine from the Piedmont region).   It seems that lots of people know about this place, too.  I was told that 5:00 dinner on Saturday was impossible so I had to settle for Sunday.

Carnivale: Pan Latin Food in a Theatrical Setting

Though we've never been, for Valentine’s Day my wife and I went to Carnivale as it's had received good reviews.  When we walked in right away we felt the place was over the top, yet awe-inspiring with generous use of primary colors, high ceilings, Cuban music, and lots of energy. Coming in there was someone handing out free samples of Spanish olives.  Carnivale is mostly pan-Latin but does throw in Spanish dishes like manchengo and zamarano cheese as well as the ever-tasty jamon Iberico.  The other thing we noticed was the people patronizing the establishment,  were very eclectic and perhaps not a typical West Loop club crowd.

 

2001 J Russian River Valley Vintage Brut

For Valentine's Day I decided to open a bottle that had been hanging out in the house a couple years, none other than from J Winery in the Russian River Valley appellation of Sonoma County.  I don't drink a lot of champagne and defer to others with much more expertise on the topic, but J seems to exhibit a lot of the Champagne characteristics.  It has a sort of yeasty mustiness that I quite enjoy in French champagne, and it has characteristics of green apples and a hint of lime.   I bought it direct from the winery but found a Non-Vintage (NV) at Sam's for $31.99--I cannot comment on the non-vintage but the 2001 is superb if you can find it in Chicago.  The 1999 wine is for $42.50 on their website (www.jwine.com)

Sarah's Pastries

Today when I ordered my coffee, I couldn't resist buying a delicious fresh store-made macarons from Sarah's Pastries & Candies.   Macarons (sometimes spelled Macaroons) are credited as being a regional specialty of a town in Northeastern France, but are popular throughout France.   

Cheese of the Moment: Fleur des Alpes (Reblochon Style)

This week I picked up from Whole Foods a delicious, creamy reblochon.    With similar characteristics to Brie, it is an edible rind, creamy cow's milk cheese.  A bit more yellowish in color, runny, more full bodied, and more buttery than Brie with just a hint of stink this would make a fantastic cocktail party cheese.    According to cheese web sites, this was a response to create a cheese in the style of reblochon but still passes the U.S.'s raw milk ban for young cheese.

Fleur des Alpes
$15.99/lb.
Whole Foods 

Txomin Etxaniz: Txakoli from the Basque country

Don't ask me how to pronounce the wine producer, but I can tell you that the varietal is Txakoli (or I've heard txakolina), and it is pronounced "chocoli", like chocolate.  For $16.99 it's an unusual variety in that it is a lightly sparkling off-dry whitewith hints of green apples and a minerality to it.