Chicago Foodies

Fresh Pesto

When I'm on the road I stay at a room with a kitchenette and boil up pasta with pesto sauce.  By far my favorite pesto is called Sauces 'n' Love, which Whole Food sells.  It's a refrigerated pesto and neither has the bitterness nor the staleness in jar pesto and other refrigerated brands.  Today, though, with a week off the road I decided to make homemade pesto.  My wife and I went to Lincoln Park's Green City Market and bought some fresh basil from Growing Power, a favorite spot of ours and bought some Italian basil.   With some pine nuts, garlic, Parmigano-Reggiano cheese, salt, pepper, and olive oil, and a blender or food processor and shazam!  Pesto is done in 10 minutes.  I still haven't been able to match Sauces 'N' Love but believe I added too much garlic and didn't take some stems and leaf-ends, which added bitterness.  The recipe came from Ruth Reichel's Gourmet cookbook, but I also found the online link to share.  http://www.ruthreichl.com/?ID=3&page=8#recipe

However you make pesto, hopefully you will find it's much, much better than what you find in most supermarket shelves.

Top Restaurants... Gayot's List – Top 40 USA

Gayot printed their top 40 restaurants for 2007...  I wonder if that's Bowles Avenues or post-Bowles? In either case I have been told that it's still more than up to par...

List after the jump.

Ian's Pizza By the Slice

Ian's Pizza By the Slice has found an appropriate home in the middle of often loud and bustling Wrigleyville. With eyebrow-raising menu items such as the Mac n' Cheese pizza or the Lasagna Marinara pizza, Ian's has managed to keep the attention span of the Millenials frequenting the joint.

Beijing Street Food – A Different Kind of Olympics

When I was in Shanghai I didn't see anything this weird. Not to say I would pass on it, I just never had the chance.  I got an email with some odd pix and saw the same pix at the Daily Mail's website:

There is a Cantonese saying that the Chinese eat everything that flies, except aeroplanes; everything with four legs, except tables; and everything that swims, except submarines  -  and visitors to Beijing's fast-food market during the Olympic Games will be left in no doubt of that.

A stroll among the food stalls of Wangfujing Snack Street, not far from Tiananmen Square, reveals delicacies of every conceivable kind.

en•Thai•ce – Ya get it?

I've driven past en•Thai•ce several times and shaken my head. It always reminded me of a hair salon's attempt to be funny. In any case months later I ended up getting delivery and it was terrific.  

Bratwurst Over Yonder

This is reprinted with minor changes from October 15th 2006 so if it seems familiar thanks for the continued reading! As Pre-WSeason starts this weekend I figured it would be relevant especially since brats are brats)

So the Bears are down and the Pack is up but w/o Brett.  The rivalry's still so far out of balance that a Ditka jersey north of the border isn't even offensive. So there's no better time to take a quick hour drive to stock up on meats for the rest of the season.

And what more could you ask to go with a fall/wintry football game than a Brat. It legitimizes canned beer. It's one of the only ways to get some guys to eat cabbage. Where could you get this tasty treat? Surely not at your local grocery store...

I suppose. But in this case it's worth a trek to get something really good. It's the only tough part of the process.

Cooking a brat is pretty easy. The more simplistic you can be the better your brats.

Canned beer is a wonderful thing. Old Style was on sale so it fit the bill but High Life, Miller Light, Leinies... any Wisconsin beer would be more appropriate.  Slice up some onions, any kind, and add them to the boiling beer (Beer and sme water is okay if you're running low on beer. Just don't go less than half and half unless you've already put away the rest of the beer–make do with whatever you have). If you're a saurkraut fan cook some up in a different pot. You could use the same but I like to separate the onion and the kraut and prefer the beer/onion combo.

Food Quotes

There are many great food quotes...

I am not a glutton – I am an explorer of food.
Erma Bombeck

Taste of the Nation Chicago

Bruce Sherman from North Pond is getting this year's Most Sustainable Chef Award. But you get two seasons of Chicago's Top Chefs: Stephanie Izard and Dale Levitsky in addition to sampling food from some of Chicago's best restaurants. Not to mention wine and assorted cocktails.

It's all for a good cause:
Greater Chicago Food Depository ~ Illinois Hunger Coalition ~ Near North Health Service Corporation ~ Vital Bridges

Taste of the Nation
August 11, 2008
6-9pm
Trump Hotel
401 North Wabash
$150 a ticket

McPhat Kids (but with an f)?

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, CSPI, published a report letting us know that kids who eat at fast food restaurants are eating poorly. No kidding. Why is this news? Where is common sense? The conclusion is to get the apple slices instead of French fries... that's stupid. Let's go to the liquor store and get a milk chug before the ball game. Let's bring rice cakes to the movies and sit next to the large bucket of popcorn. Let's go to the steak place and order the fish... (Okay. I've made that mistake). Here's what you do. Walk out of the fast food establishment and eat at the grocery store. Most groceries have seating areas, not to mention Starbucks, prepared foods, etc. and buy your kid a real apple. And It's cheaper. Just avoid the prepared fried chicken. That's too tasty for you to handle.