Chicago Foodies

Northdown Cafe's Half Acre Brewery Night Tuesday 1/31, 6:00 p.m.

Always an inviting spot for a beer event, Northdown Cafe and Taproom is having Half Acre Brewery Night Tuesday the 31st at 6:00pm.

Before getting to that, note that I saw an outstanding film tonight, Maxwell Street Blues.   It screened at Transistor book and record shop on Lincoln Ave. as part of their free movie screening series (BYOB!).  Maxwell Street is a 1981 documentary about the dying Chicago blues scene on legendary Maxwell Street, a transient home to some of the all-time blues greats.  The focus is on the street bluesmen that time forgot, the ones not named Muddy Waters or Buddy Guy. 

This is a Land of Misfit Toys where the discards are weathered black bluesmen playing their last act, with withered fingers, leathery faces, and turquoise eyes blinded by glaucoma and cataracts.  It's vividly alive with brilliant music that in the span of a few strums will make you sad and make you laugh out loud.  Filmmakers Linda Williams and Rual Zaritsky deliver you a Chicago that's as real and tangible as that post-snow gunk you've been cleaning off your shoes.

Much-Anticipated Bar Toma and Slurping Turtle Open Downtown

Love it or hate it, you're going to be spending some time shopping downtown this month. In the consumer playground between Pearson and Hubbard, diners generally had to choose between two categories of restaurants: the generic tourist traps (here's looking at you, Pizzeria Uno!) and sceney lounges like Paris Club and Hub 51. Thankfully, homeotown heroes Tony Mantuano and Takashi Yagihashi bring two new casual restaurants to the area this week, just in time to save your holiday season sanity.

Uncommon Ground & Finch's Beer Company – Beer Dinner Oct. 27th

Uncommon Ground is hosting Finch's Beer Co. for a beer dinner Thursday the 27th.
Three courses, three beers... $25.

Uncommon Ground
3800 N. Clark St.
773.929.3680

 

Goose Island Beer Dinner at the Signature Room

After the Goose Island beer dinner I attended last week at the John Hancock Tower's Signature Room, I talked briefly with a rep from Goose Island about their beers and came to this realization:  these people love their beers.  Love them.  Kind of like the way Paul McCartney loves a melody he writes.  Or the way that Sammy Sosa used to love his home runs as he trotted the bases.  And you can understand the self-love, the mirror kissing.  As the beer dinner demonstrated, Goose Island has the mainstream clout and marketability to fetch a mega-deal with Anheuser Busch and they still have the guts to experiment with some of their higher end beers.  Under such a scenario, who wouldn't puff out their chest?   And the excitement is not unjustified.

Giuseppe Tentori's GT – Oyster-Briefing

The secret's getting out about oysters... here are some awesome clues, hints, tasting notes and pairing suggestions. Always respect the knowledge! (Could also call this the Blair Oyster Project)

Orange: Contemporary Brunch, with a Peel

With much anticipation, I finally got over to one of the Orange locations and tried out a bit of their menu. I went to the location in Roscoe Village. Orange is known for putting a modern spin on classic breakfast dishes. 

They have a nice, diverse menu with many healthy options. I opted to go with their special for the week which was a grilled chicken sandwich topped with provolone, avocados, and pesto mayo. Mixed greens with balsamic vinaigrette came on the side.

Kanela Breakfast Club

I recently tried the latest breakfast spot in Lakeview, Kanela Breakfast Club. Over the past year, this location has housed multiple breakfast joints. I have a feeling Kanela will stay.

Kanela has an inviting interior with tall-backed booths and an intimate seating arrangement. For those interested in grabbing a quick espresso drink, they also offer bar seating.

Their menu consists of gourmet breakfast and lunch options, as well as fresh squeezed juice and espresso drinks. Everything sounded delicious. I had a hard time narrowing my options down.

Is Fox & Obel On Their Way Out?

Chicago lacks really, really good grocery stores.  There are a few specialty shops scattered throughout the city that do a decent job of supplying hard-to-find items, but Fox & Obel is really it when it comes to good gourmet food.   They have an incredible cheese selection, a good bakery, and, in my experience, possibly the widest selection of charcuterie in Chicago in a retail store, save for maybe Paulina Meat Market.  You can get  jamón ibérico de bellota, white truffles, and caviar, and it also offers a great wine selection, as well as a deli and a restaurant where you can order wine from the supermarket.  

Unfortunately the Chicago Real Estate Daily has reported on late rent and vendor payments.  Hopefully the store will weather the current economic situation and emerge victorious in a city dominated by Jewel, Dominick's, and Whole Foods.

--Brian Ziegler

Local Option – Beer Lineup: One of The Best Ever?

Just want to give a quick blurb about a recent beer event I attended on Wednesday, March 16th, at Local Option pub on Webster Avenue.  The Option did a rare beer tasting headlined by rare Founders brews and some other gems from the U.S. and across the pond.  Word got out about the event early enough that the keg tappings, which were to begin at 6, played to an already packed house by that time. 

Perennial – Restaurant Week Wraps-Up

So as a last minute addition to our gastonomic-calendar we snagged a table at Perennial. The menu seemed at a glance fairly common. Pork Belly, short ribs, scallops... nothing dissimilar to more than a couple other restaurants. But at the same time it gives one a point of comparison.

While I've been to Perennial for a few drink-focused events, I haven't enjoyed a meal there. I was encouraged to see that several of the Restaurant Week menu items are on their regular menu as well. Also as it's restaurant week, it's hard to tell if the crowd was typical. It seemed to be a great date spot for the younger Lincoln Park crowd.

Lillie's Q - Best of Chicago BBQ

I don’t know what it is about real, down and dirty BBQ that gets Chicagoans so fired up (pun intended), but in the last few years grilling up some of the South’s favorites has been all the rage. It’s hard to say who’s at the BBQ forefront with favorites like Honky Tonk and Smoque, but the relatively newly opened Lillie’s Q is quickly making a name for itself.

Located at North Ave and Wolcott, Lillie’s Q is owned and operated by Chef Charlie McKenna, formerly of Tru and Avenues. All about keeping it in the family, the Lillie’s Q team is made up of himself, his father, and his two friends, and is even named after family members (Lillie referring to his grandmother who tough him Southern-style cooking, and Q referring to his father, Quito).

Longman & Eagle – Comfort Food on the Hottest Day of the Year

A steamy hot day has never instilled in me a hunger for platefuls of meat and glasses of whiskey. But maybe that will change. It was, as the title suggested, a hot night– in the nineties even though it was raining. I have been so overdue to checkout Longman & Eagle that I agreed to go. I further broke tradition and went to a popular restaurant on a Friday night. This meant suffering through a wait of over an hour at the bar which would have been better if I were up for more drinking. The cocktail menu was very nice and the bourbon and whiskey selection was extensive. The bartender, Nathan, mixed a couple of dark and stormys and also chatted up the new Maker's 46 and a couple other options (Cabin Still). This made the wait seem shorter.

In a very loud back room we ordered, and received, duck rillettes where the mustard lived up to the meat and Ricotta gnuddi, a word that makes small children giggle, which were more delicate than I expected and though good, didn't compete with the rillettes. Next came the English pea agnolotti - truffle butter was cheating as the pea filled raviolis were sweet and creamy-rich on their own.

Pour Drinks & Eats - Lakeview's Primo Patio

We Chicagoans have an unequivocal obsession with outdoor patios and rooftop bars – from the swanky Loop hotspots to the neighborhood 4-table patios, we’ll take ‘em all. One patio that really nailed the outdoor ambiance we yearn for is Pour Drinks & Eats in Lakeview. Located on the 3300 block of N. Ashland, Pour has a cocktail menu that that is dressed to impress. Spiked lemonade muddled with strawberries and basil topped our list – but one can’t go wrong with a cocktail menu loaded with infusions of ingredients like basil, brown sugar and Cava. 

Underground Dining v2.0 – Iliana Regan's One Sister

Forget underground supper clubs… Iliana Regan, who has had stints with Grant Achatz at both Trio and Alinea and more recently with Michael Carlson at Schwa, has something bigger in mind.

Typically, underground dining is all about the mystery. It's called underground for a reason. You have to know someone who knows someone as it's rarely advertised. With one club in particular named 'Clandestino' you get the idea. Eating in a strangers home with other strangers is, what else, strange. But in this case it's more than the novel experience. It's about the food.

Here the Chef is also the farmer/forager/gardener. Iliana hand-forages morels from a location she seriously wouldn't talk, even remotely, about. She hand-gardens and farms greens (when possible). She owns One Sister Inc. where in addition to 'shrooms, she sells  "pierogis, sprouts, pastas, decorative and edible flowers, berry plants, baked goods, soups, and preserves." Many chefs have gardens but not many depend on them for their meals. In this case it certainly seems to be a major part of her inspiration.

This all results in some seriously wild flavor combinations throughout a dynamic 12-course tasting menu. She does her resume justice. That she can even do this in an ordinary residential kitchen is really a feat. The best news is you can try it for yourself. The method is simple, a group of nice folks and a suggested donation and this email. You get an address, a time and a suggestion for what kind of wine to bring. In this case one of Alinea's ex-sommelier's was a stand-in (a ringer I tell you!). 

After 12 courses you see what's important to the chef. Whimsy is a word that is used often with molecular gastronomy and tasting menus, and while there's some of that what struck me was intensity of flavors. The dishes were very focused and while the flavor intensity was up there the subtlety of them all working together so well was special.

The details after the jump.

Nacional 27 Prix Fixe for $27

Though the recession is probably over at this point, good deals still abound for those still willing to eat out at restaurants, particularly at off-peak hours. At Nacional 27, I stumbled across a $27 prix fixe dinner that looked worth investigation, and included 3 courses plus wine or sangria. The catch is that it is available from 5-6:30 pm every day, and your party needs to be seated by 6:15 pm. No matter, I can eat at pretty much any hour of the day, and if anyone can make the early-bird special sexy, it's Nacional 27.

If you are unfamiliar with Nacional 27, it is named for the 27 Latin American countries south of the border. Their mission is to take traditional Latin dishes and serve them with a twist. This means your steak may be covered in a Malbec reduction, and your guacamole served with taro chips. Popular Chicago mixologist Adam Seger helms the bar offerings, and regularly teaches classes featuring his cocktail recipes. The restaurant also serves as a part-time dance hall, with complimentary lessons, salsa competitions and DJs spinning Latin rhythms after 11 pm on weekends. This is contemporary Latin with a flair for theatrics.

BOKA: Second Annual Chicago Chef Week

I finally got over my post-Restaurant Week blues only to relapse with the Second Annual Chicago Chef Week. My cohort and I searched for a resto where we had not yet been, and could be a good deal for Chef’s Week (rather than choosing a restaurant where you can eat all three courses for close to the $30 price). We decided on BOKA, and, needless to say, Executive Chef Guiseppe Tentori (Food & Wine Best New Chef in 2008) did not disappoint.

The dimly lit restaurant was chic and timeless – with a strapping young group of staffers greeting you upon arrival. The food was delish – as was the wine. There were two choices per course on the Chef’s Week menu, and it was tough to decide between them.

Phoebe's Cupcakes in East Lakeview

Sometimes stores or restaurants open up and serve incredible food initially, but then over time the quality fades, perhaps due to cost-cutting, the crowds disappear, and suddenly there is an empty storefront.   This happened to the beloved Cupcakes on Briar off of Belmont, which started out making fantastic cupcakes that had the richest frosting and the densest cake dough--probably my favorite even today.   There was a line out the door, and the place had an appealing indie-kitsch charm.    The last few visits, though, were increasingly disappointing, there was a change in ownership, and finally the place folded.  

Restaurant Week: Topolobampo

With a PBS series, several cookbooks, multiple James Beard awards, and a prolific Twitter account under his belt, Rick Bayless is an undisputed elder statesman of Chicago's culinary scene. Despite my best intentions though, I never made it to either of his flagship restaurants, Frontera Grill or Topolobampo. There was always some new opening to see, another hole-in-the-wall to discover. Then last September, Bayless won Top Chef Masters, the lead time to get a reservation increased exponentially, and I put it off visiting some more.

But, strange things happen when you decide to move out of town. My normally procrastination-friendly mindset has evaporated and I am suddenly scrambling to check off items from an ever-growing bucket list. Should I be trying new restaurants? Revisiting old favorites? Should I be embarrassed that I've never eaten a burger from Kuma's? Is it really worth waiting in line for 4 hours at Great Lakes just to say I've tried the "best pizza in America"? I think I've covered a fair amount of territory already, but there are certainly missing Legos. Where would you go if you had two months left in Chicago? Anyway, the combination of impending deadlines and Restaurant Week was sufficient motivation for me to make a reservation at Topolobampo, 6 weeks in advance. And now that I have finally tried the Mexican maestro's work, I am upset that I didn't haul myself here earlier.

Ricobene's: Breaded Steak Sandwiches

Ricobene's is a long-time Southside institution, with a sign proudly trumpeting its opening in 1946. Though Bridgeport has been playing host to an eclectic melting pot of eateries lately, Ricobene's is no flash in the pan, but a stalwart of old school Chicago dining. Think Manny's, but less Jewish and more Italian.

Framed black and white photos hang on the walls decorated with the classic checkboard motif. A closer inspection of one picture revealed a signature from Mayor Daley. This is, after all, the neighborhood which has served as the home of five of the city's mayors. If political clout isn't enough for you, Ricobene's is also a popular cop hang out. No less than four of Chicago's finest walked through the doors during my last brief visit.

Ria and Balsan at the Elysian Hotel

After months of anticipation, delays and rumors, the Elysian Hotel finally unveils two new restaurants this week. Ria is an upscale dinner-only concept with a focus on seafood, while sister restaurant Balsan is more casual, featuring a raw bar, wood-fired oven pizzas and housemade charcuterie. Both restaurants are on the third floor of the sparkling (literally) new Elysian Hotel, whose elegant European courtyard entrance is worth a detour by itself. Executive Chef Jason McLeod leads the helm for both restaurants, and has ample amounts of luxury hotel experience under his toque from San Diego's Grand Del Mar resort and Four Seasons. He is also wont to walking around with a cast-iron skillet of sizzling sausages. The rich, meaty smell was making heads swivel like a turntable.

So, were the restaurants worth the wait? Are hotels finally shedding their reputation for overpriced, stodgy dining and leading the way with revolutionary new restaurants? I dropped by the media preview on Monday night to check out the action.