Chicago Foodies

Chicago Public Radio's Chef Battle 2009

Last night, Chicago Public Radio hosted the first event of their new event series, the Chicago Chef Battle. Though most of the other events focus on literature, film or music, this one immediately caught my attention, since it not only required a low-level of cerebral commitment, there was also food involved. In an Iron Chef-esque showdown, three Chicago chefs would be preparing food using a key ingredient. Goose Island Brewery was listed as a main sponsor of the event, so it didn't take too much guesswork to figure out that the special ingredient was beer.

Studio 312's Jimmy Carrane served as the evening's master of ceremonies and he turned in a fantastic performance, livening up the audience and stoking the fires of competition. Or at least, he tried admirably. As he introduced Chef Jared Van Camp of Old Town Social, he slyly remarked, "You know, there's talk that Old Town Social is just a bar. What do you have to say to that?" Van Camp responded with a grin, "We're just a bar." Appropriately enough, Van Camp was dishing out an haute bar food item, a sausage made with Goose Island Matilda over cornmeal-bacon waffles with maple syrup.

Next, Chef Jill Barron of Mana Food Bar was presented. She explained that she would be serving a vegetarian chili made with chickpeas, black beans, corn, guajillo chili and Matilda, topped with an aged 10-year cheddar and scallions, with a wedge of cornbread on the side. When asked why she thought she was the strongest contender in the competition, she replied, "We made vegetarian food at a beer contest, you know it has to be good!"

Papples and Pawpaws

Tipped off by the blogosphere, I looked for Asian pear guru Oriana Kruszewski at the Green City Farmer's Market this weekend. As promised, Oriana had colorful baskets of Asian pears on hand, and was soon enthusiastically pressing samples into my palm. These pears are nothing like the Asian pears you see in stores; unlike their perfectly uniform and fleshy cousins, they are small, asymmetrical and blotchy. However, what they lack in size is more than compensated for with flavor. Though each varietal has a distinctive profile, these were unanimously bursting with clean, bright honeyed flavors. Without too much arm-twisting, I quickly snapped up a basket of Japanese and Korean variety pears and a pawpaw.

If you haven't tried pawpaw before, it is a native American fruit that tastes something like a cross between a banana, a mango and a papaya, with a delicate, creamy texture. Still, trying to describe the taste of a pawpaw is akin to reading about how to play the piano, so you should instead drop by Kruszewski's stand at Green City and say hi.

Oriana's Oriental Orchard at Green City Market
South end of Lincoln Park (Clark & LaSalle)
Wednesdays & Saturdays, 7 am-1 pm

Gourmet Chicago: Year Two

Chicago Gourmet is today and tomorrow. Last year the event had a special layer of fun because on top of a wonderful assortment of wine, there was very little food. So the rather large crowd really became lubricated and in spite of first-year issues, seemed to really enjoy themselves. This year should be better. The list of contributing restaurants is enormous and with an event of this size, a second year should run more smoothly from soup to nuts.

Tickets start at $150 so it's not cheap but it's a big event - Buy them HERE

Frontera Grill – Profeta de Tierra Ajena

Por Ernesto Adduci

Es notable lo del Chef Rick Bayless: un Americano muy americano, que supera a los mexicanos preparando su propia comida. Considerando la extension y variedad de la comida mexicana, esto es un verdadero logro. Cierto, ganar Top Chef Masters lo ha encumbrado a la fama a nivel nacional, sus libros venden y la gente mira sus programas de tv, pero nada de esto se compara al triunfo de cada una de sus creaciones culinarias.

Hace tiempo queria ir a Frontera Grill, el restaurant que se transformo en su marca bandera, pero no fue hasta hoy que logramos encontrar una mesa en el bar. Probamos tres “Platillos Pequeños”: las empanadas de puerco, los sopes rancheros y del menu de Topolobampo, las mollejas de ternera en mole verde. Pedimos las flautas de pato, pero se habian terminado. El tener una mesa en el bar resulto beneficioso, pues pudimos probar platos de ambos menus, incluidas las deliciosas mollejas de Topolo, el restaurant formal de Bayless.

Schwa

I could begin this piece with ample amounts of whining about getting a table through one of America's most difficult reservation processes, but in all honesty, the process was fairly straight-forward. For several days, I called Schwa around the clock whenever I had a free moment. Each time, the voicemail box was invariably too full to record my message. After four days of wondering whether anyone was alive back there, the voicemail box was magically cleared and I gleefully left a message with my name and number. Then I waited. And waited. And woke up in a cold sweat from a nightmare that I'd left the wrong phone number. About three weeks later, just as I had given all hope of a call back, the phone rang. "Hey, what's up?" said Michael Carlson. "So I hear you want to come by for dinner?" And with that, I picked a date and was temporarily the owner of a table at Schwa.

If you are wondering why the reservation process is so drawn-out, the answer lies somewhere between Schwa's limited size (26 seats and a tiny kitchen) and owner-chef Carlson's stalwart resistance to technology (Alan Richman's profile of Carlson suggests that he is "inept at anything involving electronics"). Plus, the restaurant is staffed on a skeletal crew of just three chefs and an intern. There is no maitre d', no host, no servers, no bartenders, and conspicuously, no women. In the same article, chef Jonathan Ory said wryly, "We're like a pirate ship, man." Though it may not be the most profitable way to run a restaurant, this idiosyncratic approach is very good at filtering out diners who don't genuinely want to be there.

Recipe: Potstickers

The more foods become globalized, the more they seem to take on similarities across cultures. Take, for instance, the concept of filling inside dough. You have the American apple dumpling, the Italian ravioli, the Polish pierogi and on and on. Now, in my inexpert opinion, the genus of Chinese dumplings has the most diverse evolutionary branches of the dumpling family. You have the wonton, the pork shumai, the xiao long bao soup dumpling, the shrimp har gao, the related ha cherng shrimp roll, and of course, the jiaozi potsticker.

Ah, potstickers. Whether steamed, boiled or fried, meat-filled or vegetarian, served from a cocktail tray or out of street vendor cart, the potsticker is always a crowd-pleaser. These days, you can pick up packages of frozen potstickers in almost any grocery store, boil some water and voila, dinner is ready. However, for an even more rewarding experience, it is actually quite easy to make dumplings yourself. You can make dough from scratch and roll it out, but I recommend picking up a package of dumpling wrappers as a shortcut. After all, even with pre-made dumpling skins, it does take a significant block of time to make, fold and cook the potstickers. Therefore, I recommend roping in additional hands to speed up this labor-intensive process, particularly if you aren't picky about how the neatly the potstickers are pleated. (Hint: host a potsticker making party.)

Nightwood - Brunch

Nightwood is a relatively recent addition to the neighborhood of Pilsen, brought to you by the owners of Logan Square's Lula Cafe. With a market-driven contemporary American menu that changes daily, the restaurant has been hailed as a diverse bite in a sea of tacquerias. Their Sunday brunch service is an even newer phenomenon, having been around only since mid-August.

Located on an otherwise quiet stretch of Halsted, Nightwood attracts a trendy crowd of discerning locavores and fixie-riding hipsters. On this particular visit, I arrived bright and early at 10 am, out of fear that Nightwood would be swamped with Bongo Room-esque lines. Much to my happy surprise, we were able to get a table without a wait, but I expect the crowds to build in coming months as the secret gets out. In the meantime, there is ample street parking near the restaurant.

Top Chef Cactus

Chicago restaurants are the gifts that keep on giving. Top Chef is the show which reinforces that. Tonight chefs were challenged with cooking cactus. Not only have I f*ed up cactus in the kitchen a few times, (purchased 2 blocks away at the Devon Market for literally 2 bits) but I've had it at several Mexican restaurants, ordered usually by mistake.

I don't know if I really love it but as you've maybe read the post about pulque, I'm always into something different. I was secretly hoping someone would do a cactus-salt shot with tequilla... not quite a dish but what's the worst that would happen? You don't get fifteen grand? Well, okay I guess.

La Oaxaqueña (and you think XOCO is hard to pronounce?) has a good grilled cactus appetizer – nopalitos. I often order it confusing nopalitos, or nopales, with with En Nogadas style relleños... the creamy walnut/pomegranate Mexican Independence Day dish.

In any case I find myself shaking my head. First there was that British food critic who never had mole...? I mean really. It's the best sauce this side of Moghul cooking! But then again have the British been renowned as foodies? They did occupy India and that obviously was for the food so 'I say!' I guess you have Gordon Ramsay but he's always shouting about undercooked wellingtons or overcooked john dory. Simple ingredients is so 1995.

Flossmoor Brewery

In the mood for some quality craft beers? Itching to get out of the city for the day? In search of hoppy times, I recently took a trip to Flossmoor Brewery for a summer diversion.

Flossmoor Brewery is set in idyllic downtown Flossmoor, an easy 45-minute Metra ride from the loop. If you go over the weekend, the weekend Metra pass will set you back a mere $5. Once you arrive in Flossmoor, the brewpub is immediately adjacent to the station, marked by its distinctive train station decor. Behind the main restaurant is the Old Caboose Ice Cream Shoppe, a charming ice cream parlor built in an authentic caboose car, perfect for your (inner) child.

We started off with the meal with an appetizer of fried green beans, battered in Zephyr Golden Ale tempura. The coating was crisp and well-seasoned, and the bright burst of green bean flavor inside made me feel like this was semi-healthy. If only all vegetables could taste this good.

Aloha Kitchen Challenge – Roy's

This is the second time that I've been invited to an event at Roy's and it's the second time I walk away appreciating how involved this restaurant is on a local level.

The Aloha Challenge is a contest where culinary students partner with professional chefs to create dishes which comprise three of a 5-course tasting menu.

It was great to see Roy and Art Smith in the same room after their Top Chef Masters appearances. It's also very nice that he works to foster the development of young chefs. Roy has over 35 restaurants around the country and I was told that he tries to host events like this locally in each city.

It's the 8th anniversary of Roy's in Chicago and even though they're part of a national chain they act locally, not to mention serving up some very good food.

Roy's
720 N. State St.
Chicago IL
312-787-7599

Crepe & Coffee Palace

Tucked away in an unassuming storefront on Clark, Crepe and Coffee Palace offers a unique ethnic eatery to Lincoln Park: the Algerian creperie. For those of you who live further north, an additional sister location in Andersonville might fit the ticket.

The restaurant offers both sweet and savory crepes, but the savory options are the real stars of the show. These are served with a cup of soup, your choice of either sweet potato or chicken cilantro.

If you are accustomed to thinking of crepes as dainty dessert items, you will be pleasantly surprised at the robustness of the Algerian dinner crepe. Pictured here is the Crepe Iberica, which came stuffed with housemade olive tapenade, ricotta, pistachios, pineapple, cilantro, and mixed greens. On another occasion, I tried the Crepe Marrakech, filled with raisins, cream cheese, carmelized onions, almonds, sundried tomatoes, and baby spinach. Though most of the filling ingredients are not specific to North Africa, there are a couple of items (merguez and rosewater) that you can incorporate for an Algerian accent.

Chilam Balam: Local, fresh interior Mexican food

Only open for over two weeks at the time of this writing, Chilam Balam is an East Lakeview gem situated on the cellar floor of the former  La Tavernetta.  The brightly colored walls and exposed brick make for a very intimate feel that a lot of restaurants strive for but seldom live up to.  Co-owner Soraya Rendon greeted us, and her brother took care of our order.   We were instantly charmed by the friendliness and enthusiasm, and even the details, such as the menu that appeared to be wrapped in something like corn husks, were a welcome part of the atmosphere.

Tweets Week in Review 8/29 - 9/4

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