Chicago Foodies

Chateau Margene: An Incredible California Cab

I do not drink enough California Cabernet Sauvignon to be comfortable to have a conversation or even pick one out of a wine list.  That can be happily deferred to someone who actually knows what they're doing.  There is one Cab that I tried at a private wine tasting in Milwaukee nearly four years ago and continues to be a favorite:  Chateau Margene.  At the time I tasted the 1999 and fell in love.  Unfortunately it cannot be bought directly in Chicago, so I split a case with two relatives about three years ago.

For the Love of Chocolate Benefit: French Pastry School

On Saturday, February 9th the For the Love of Chocolate Foundation hosted a black tie benefit to provide scholarships to pastry students for the French Pastry School for the City Colleges of Chicago.  Many of the students in attendance appeared to appreciate the support to this event.  Cooking school can be very expensive compared to other types of schools, so the money raised went to a very good cause.  Needless to say, chocolate was everywhere.

Shanghai: South Beauty

*I'm in China this week and will be trying all sorts of things. Any suggestions about eating around Shanghai would be greatly appreciated.
Well Jet lag will certainly wake you up at 2am and keep you up so here's my first dinner in China. The place was called South Beauty which is a Chinese chain restaurant with 17 locations that started in Beijing. Don't get that wrong. It's a beautiful restaurant and in Shanghai if something isn't expanding it's being torn down. It is a really pretty restaurant with cut-out walls, lots of odd glass, multiple levels and plenty of fine grain wood that looks all the more fine grain in the different colored lights.

Remembering all the courses would be second only to correctly identifying them but I'll give it a shot since I've got nothing but Tsingtao from the mini-bar and pringles to keep me going. The restaurant serves Sichuan style or at least that's what we seemed to get.

Hagen's Fish Market

I was driving past. I was looking for lunch. It's the perfect storm. There was parking. There was a mural. It has almost epic potential. It's a mural of vikings fishing on the wall. There's neon, etc. everything but a phone number. I love the Fish Keg on Howard. Needless to say I went in for a bite and I ate it in my car.

Ordering lunch is always kind of odd in a counter environment. The good stuff is by the pound. You say you want lunch and get guided towards the sandwiches... which is what I went with before hearing that the cod (I think it was cod) comes in already breaded. It was okay. It was about $3.00. I won't go any farther into the sandwich because you'd go back for the smoking. 

Elephant & Castle: Proper British Pub Grub

Though a chain, Elephant and Castle is purportedly an English pub, and a good one at that.   Though it is very difficult to immitate a pub that's been around for 400 years, and it may not be worth trying, Elephant and Castle's now-third location at North Wabash does a wonderful job giving the pub atmosphere, perhaps better than their Huron St. location.  Fast expansion, as chains are prone to do, may put it at risk of not staying cool, but for now there aren't many places downtown that do a better job as an English pub. 

Cru Wine Bar: A second look

It has been almost a  year ago since I had reviewed Cru Wine Bar.  I love wine bars, and the fact that it is in the Gold Coast makes it an instant plus, especially since it is near one of our condo's.  With my wife's coupon in hand we decided to taste a couple dishes.

The first server nearly scared us off.   When my wife asked about what type of crab was in the crab and artichoke gratin, she barked "it's crab."  Her series of short answers almost caused us to walk out.  No hard feelings, of course, just that we made a bad decision.  Luckily she didn't serve us, and another person came, and she was more pleasant to deal with.

Baumann’s Bakery – Paczki Day

Walking into work today I had a horrifying encounter – at least two dozen donuts stuffed with creams and jellies and glistening with chocolate, strawberry and vanilla icing. I then learned that there was a special reason that these donuts appeared today to completely destroy my diet. These were not actually donuts. They were Paczki – Polish donuts eaten on Fat Tuesday.

Drink of the Week: Kostritzer Black Lager

When I was working in East Germany a few years ago, near a mid-sized town called Erfurt in the Thuringia region (somewhere between Berlin and Frankfurt), we loved the local beers.  One of them, Radeberger, a great pilsner is now more commonly available in the States.  Every night my co-workers and I would have a delicious glass (or glasses) with the foam forming a mountainous peak, and enjoy white aspargus in season, as well as delicious dumplings.

Great Spanish Bargain: Hoya de Cadenas

Every time I feel like I've exhausted wines from Spain, I find a new wine from an undiscovered region, and usually for under $15 to boot.  Spain has so many Denominación de Origen regions (72 according to Wikipedia) that I'd have to quit my day job to be an expert, and while I love Spanish wine I'm not prepared to subject the rest of my life to poverty, not to mention ruin my tounge in those rich Spanish tannins.

Adobo Grill – Old Town

I have a very hard time taking chain restaurants seriously. I’m barely even open to going to restaurants that have more than one location in the same city.  So I was extremely skeptical with a recent girl's-night-out that was set to start at Adobo Grill in Old Town (they also have locations in Wicker Park, Lombard and Indianapolis). That being said I’m a huge fan of Mexican food and can’t always afford to go stand in line at Frontera – which, in my opinion, is the holy grail of Mexican food.

Adobo was a surprising experience. The 10 of us fit comfortably in a very private table in the main dining area. Because of the large size of the group I was able to try many dishes on the menu and all of the dishes we ordered I found enjoyable and different than your standard burrito/taco Mexican joint.

Chicago Magazine Best Websites

Nice surprise to make it into Chicago Magazine's website issue. That Ronnie Suburban, what a geek. Looking through the magazine, in addition to Chicago Foodies, they mention seven other online food resources:

Lthforum.com
Skillet Doux
Hungry Magazine
Family Farmed
Gastronomic Bypass
Grub Hub
The Stew

Louis Jadot – Good $20 Burgundy

The more wine I drink, the more I go toward more subtle European styles.  This especially holds true for Spanish and Portugese wines, and to a lesser degree, Italian.  With France, I especially struggle when it comes to red wine.  I like Cotes du Rhone, and even Beaujolais, but struggle when it comes to Burgundy (that's regional French Pinot Noir).  Finding a good Burgundy is like betting a number on roulette--hopefully that 1 in 38 chance will come my way and I will win the jackpot. 

There is one wine, albeit widely available, that fails to disappoint:  Louis Jadot.  Though I wouldn't call it spectacular, and it definitely isn't cheap it's a nice balance of earthy French winemaking and Pinot Noir greatness.   This is one exception where I tend to favor a New World style – I don't know, even $70-a-bottle wines have failed to stimulate me, but Louis Jadot is dependable and risk free.

Louis Jadot Bourgogne (Blend) 2005
Most major wine retailers, Whole Foods
Around $20