Tasty Chicago

Homemade – Mussels with Pernod

Posted on October 2, 2007 by John

Did you ever pose a question like this to your spouse or significant other, “Honey, can you paint me a masterpiece today?”

Well, hopefully you were greeted ten hours later with something as beautiful as this. This is my wife’s culinary pièce de résistance. This is her Sistine Chapel…her 1988 National Championship.

You laugh? You think I’m kidding? Not so fast, my friends!

This is just another foray by Gail into the world of bouillabaise-like dishes. This is clearly her best effort yet.

First she debeards the mussels, which is somewhat stomach churning. The fact that I ate and enjoyed something that had to have its “black fibrous beard” pulled off is a testament to my complete trust in her culinary expertise.

I would tell you how she makes this, but it’s too complicated for me. My eyes glaze over when she talks about it. Besides “debearding,” she uses terms like “vegetable reduction” and says that “just the right amount of Pernod has to burn off.” I don’t get it, I just eat it. Write me an e-mail if you want the recipe and I’ll have her recite it.

I’m an idiot when it comes to complicated food like this. I look at it and say “wow, black and yellow, kind of like the Pittsburgh Steelers.”

But I don’t need to understand each step or know each ingredient to actually enjoy it. I don’t know what fennel looks like, but I know I like it. I couldn’t pick out saffron in a blind taste test, but I’ve had a lot of yellow stuff that tastes damn good so I know I like it also. And anise flavor is good in many things; you’ll never see me tossing out the black Jelly Belly Beans. C’mon, all that plus a sauce with garlic and onions, man, how can it not be good?

Note the slices of French bread in the background. That’s a perfect medium for soaking up the sauce and providing a platform for the mussel as it makes its way to my mouth. It’s pretty much perfect folks.

Posted in homemade | 1 Comment

Some Serious Reviews of Chicago Bars

Posted on September 26, 2007 by John

This guy Sean Parnell has been to a lot of bars, and he writes passionately about them. You can read his take on about 250 bars at The Chicago Bar Project.

These reviews are very involved. Parnell seems to have an endless capacity to write pages and pages on the food, atmosphere, beer selection, and clientele at all of the bars he visits. He seems like a regular dude with a boatload to say.

I have a lot of work to do tonight, but I don’t think much of it’s going to get done because I have a bunch of bar reviews to read through. Keep it up Sean.

Posted in food writing | 1 Comment

Swim Cafe Lemon Coconut Muffins

Posted on September 25, 2007 by John

You have to try the muffins from Swim Cafe. It’s one of my top places so I’m going to dig into it. You may recall this little food adventure, which was my first recorded experience at Swim Cafe. And check out this article by my main man Michael Nagrant, who gushes over Swim Cafe. I strongly suggest you make the trip, because it rocks.

Pictured are the lemon coconut mini-muffins. They’re about one third the size of a regular muffin, roughly. Very small. You see where I’m going don’t you? That means you get outside and inside in each bite. That’s right, you get baked, crispy outside and soft, tasty inside in every bit. Contrast this to one of those those big, honkin’ muffins that you probably bought his morning; once you peel off the top, all you have is a fist sized hunk of doughy death that gets boring at around bite number two.

When it comes to muffins, think small, and think Swim Cafe.

I want to meet Nagrant (I’m just going to call him by his last name because, after all, he is my main man). I have a feeling that someday I’ll run into him at one of the local places because he seems to be a West Towner. What would I say to such a food writing superstar? “Hey, have you ever met Rick Bayless?” Or maybe “Hey, are you concerned that thin crust pizza is taking over the city? What should we do?” Hmmm, I better get a spiel.

Posted in Swim, West Town, pastry | Comments Off

Wow Bao

Posted on September 13, 2007 by John

That word six-pack has a lot of connotations. One of my newest uses of the term relates to a pack of hot asian buns. I got a six-pack of baos the other day from Wow Bao in Water Tower Place. What you see above is 1,035 calories worth of baos; one vegetable, one chicken terayaki, two kung pao chicken, and two bbq pork. My wife and I shared them on a random bench in the mall and it was so romantic.

Well, it was romantic until she got sick of me saying “I like to chow on a kung pao bao.” Go ahead, say it, it rhymes. I like to chao on a kung pao bao. Yeah, Gail didn’t think it was very funny either.

If you wondering what it looks like inside, here’s the cross-section for the Kung Pao Chicken:

The pastry surrounding it is fluffy and moist. I wouldn’t mind a little more kung in the kung pao (I wanted it spicier), but it’s still damn good. Each one is about 1/2 the size of your fist and takes about 5-6 bites to get down. The filling is strangely evenly distributed in the bun, which is a marvel of culinary science. I can’t find a seam in it anywhere, it’s wild.

It’s like a sandwich, but no mess because the filling can’t fall out of the side. You’re probably thinking that they got the protein to starch ratio all wrong because there’s so much more bun than filling. But that’s not how it seems when you eat it because the pastry is pretty light, so it doesn’t overpower the filling.

I’ll tell you what they need; they need some dessert baos. How about a strawberries and cream filled bao or a Nutella filled bao? If they did, I would get a six-pack of four savories and two sweets, then top it off with a cup of coffee. Man, that would be good.

Posted in Mag Mile | 2 Comments

The Kerryman

Posted on September 7, 2007 by John

When I hear Shepherd’s Pie I think to myself, I don’t want some shepherd making my pie, I want the shepherd out in the field, making sure nobody steals my sheep; I want grandma making the pies.

Make sense?

So no, I didn’t order the traditional Irish dish and instead opted for the Kerryman salmon sandwich. I got a lot of heat for this decision. My buddy ordered the Shepherd’s Pie, three shots of Jameson (you can see two glasses in the background), and two Guinness pints. Now don’t you think that’s a little excessive? Don’t you think an Irish person would be offended by such blatant pandering to their culture?

As an American, if I were sitting in McDonalds over in Dublin and some Irish fellow ordered up two Big Macs, a super-sized fry, two Cokes, and and a chocolate shake, I would be insulted. Only a few people in America really do that. That’s a caricature of the excessive American fast-food diet that’s really only accurate for about 75% of this country. Many Americans, of course, would get the Diet Coke.

So yes, I got the salmon sandwich. I did so because it was actually called The Kerryman Salmon Sandwich, so I figured it had some Irish roots. It was a huge, grilled salmon filet with cheese and a dill cream sauce, on toasted bread. Wow, was it good. I haven’t had a thick and meaty non-fried fish sandwich like this since my grouper sandwich in Florida.

The bread it was served on was a toasted Italian-style white bread (but a little more dense), which was perfect because it fit the elongated nature of of the salmon like a glove. Also note the thickness of the salmon filet, which converts to about a one-to-one protein-to-bread ratio. That’s right in my wheelhouse baby, you know that. Finally, check out the flecks of dill in the sauce. I’m not a heavy user of dill-specific sauces and I don’t know much about them. I was just glad not to have a standard tartar sauce served with it.

The Kerryman was busy on a Thursday night. It’s at 661 N. Clark Street so it’s close enough for a little bit of a downtown crowd, but also attracts some of the Rush Street set. The outdoor patio was packed, but finding a seat upstairs was not a problem. My buddy loved the Shepherd’s Pie and the fries were good. Just another fine, Irish Pub-style experience in Chicago.

Posted in Irish Pub, Near North | Comments Off

Soldier Field

Posted on September 4, 2007 by John

What’s a guy to eat at a Bears pre-season game? How ’bout a Johnsonville bratwurst and some chili cheese fries? Yep.

It was decent. It about lined up with expectations. But keep in mind, unless I’m going to US Cellular, I go in with low expectations. All the other parks in town feel like burger flippin’ rookies compared to the fine chefs at the Cell.

So no, there were no grilled onions left for my brat. And no, there was no corn on the cob. And yes, the mustard was watered down. But plant my buttocks next to my wife in section 445 on a clear, 72 degree night in August with about a full moon and view of the lake – well, you could shovel dirt in my mouth and I would say “mmm, what’s for dessert?”

Dessert was actually a vanilla shake at the Ghirardelli Chocolate shop on the Mag Mile. Hey, we walked from Soldier Field, so we needed some carbs!

I don’t know about you, but if I’m attending a sporting event, I plan my meals around it. I time the meal previous such that it’s about 5 hours before the event. I like to eat either in the parking lot or in the stadium. Grabbing dinner at a restaurant before or after is not an option if you’re hanging with me. If it involves a game, I would rather eat cold cuts in the parking lot than hot food done perfectly in a restaurant. I think it relates back to my childhood when my parents would take us to the race track in my hometown and we would get hot, shredded chicken sandwiches. It defies explanation, but the sandwich tasted better with the roar of the stock cars and a dusting of dirt. Mom just couldn’t duplicate that atmosphere at home, no matter how much TLC she put into the shredded chicken and mushroom soup concoction. Mom, if you’re reading this, did I just give away your recipe?

Posted in stadium | Comments Off

Trattoria 225

Posted on August 24, 2007 by John

I just can’t seem to break the cycle of thin-crust, Neapolitan pizza. I used to love Chicago-style pizza, but in my old age I prefer to eat pizza that’s wafer-thin and heated in a brick or charcoal oven at about 800 degrees until the crust gets crispy and burnt. This style of pizza is just not for east-coast liberals that summer in the Hamptons anymore. No sir, even Chicagoans (and suburbanites) can enjoy it.

Pictured is just such a pizza from Trattoria 225 in Oak Park. This one is called The Goat and has roasted red pepper, spicy fennel sausage, goat cheese, basil pesto, and house-blend cheeses.

What a great combination. I just like the chef to choose the combination for me. That’s part of my loss of interest in the standard Chicago-style pizza joint; you have to choose what ingredients you get on your pizza. That’s not fun, I always end up getting frustrated and saying, “pepperoni.”

This is a great example. Even though I love goat cheese and I love spicy fennel sausage, I would never have thought to put them together on a pizza with roasted red pepper and basil pesto. I’ve said it before, the chef in the kitchen is an artist and for the most part, if he/she says “eat it,” I will eat it. I always order off the menu, never make changes, and rarely season my meals. Would I have told Van Gogh to use roses instead of sunflowers? Would I have told Jane Austen to let Elizabeth Bennet die a spinster? No and No.

This is another fine addition to one of my top 5 suburban downtowns. Heck, get on the elevated train and spend a day in Oak Park, you’ll love it.

Posted in pizza, suburbs | Comments Off

Wishbone

Posted on August 17, 2007 by John

Yes, I went a little crazy with the syrup. But that’s just how I roll. That’s the kind of death-defying, selfless act that it takes to get you, my fans, the best information on Chicagoland food and drink.

And fine food it is, this is the Crunchy French Toast from Wishbone (West Loop). Gosh I love Wishbone. I also love Southern comfort food. I’ve been lucky enough to have traveled a little in the south and they eat my kind of food down there. I like sugar, cream, and hot stuff (not necessarily together), and they just have more of that down there; more donuts, more blackened stuff, more bread pudding, and more hot sauce. I like it. When I’m south of the Ohio River, I feel like I’m with kindred food spirits. Didn’t I feel kind of the same in Greek town? Am I just flinging loads of bullcrap or what?

It’s crunchy because they dip it in ground corn flakes after it comes out of the standard French toast batter. This addresses one of my major gripes with French toast (aka, eggy bread for those in the UK). Often, when the battered toast is drenched with prodigious amounts of syrup, the toast gets saturated with syrup and loses its bread-like consistency. It turns into a runny mess actually, especially if the batter-master missed a portion of the bread and allowed some bare bread to peak through the coating. Not good. Comfort food blasphemy in fact and I will not tolerate it.

Not to worry here at Wishbone. The corn flakes add another barrier to syrup-saturation and add a crunchy texture to one of my favorite sweet breaky items. Crunchy-sweet is a great flavor sensation. Not quite as powerful as salty-sweet, but they could go toe-to-toe in my house anytime. How ’bout a battle royale between a frozen Kit-Kat and some Garrett’s cheddar cheese-caramel combo popcorn. It’s not necessarily a fair fight because the Garrett’s option is actually crunchy-sweet-salty, and that’s like the triple threat of flavor sensations…like the Carl Yastrzemski of sweet treats.

When was the last time you were at Wishbone? I was just looking through their lunch menu and they have Black Bean Cakes. Wow, that sounds good, I gotta get back there fast.

Posted in West Loop, southern | Comments Off

A Great Food Column That You May Not Know About

Posted on August 17, 2007 by John

Do you ever read the Newcity free mag? It comes out on Thursdays I think, about the same time as the Reader and The Onion. Well, if you like to read about Chicago restaurants, laugh your ass off, and have some serious discussions about Chicago-related food topics, then you need to go to the food and drink section of Newcity right now.

The main food writer, Michael Nagrant, mixes a warped sense of humor with a large reservoir of food knowledge. His articles are always relevant, very funny, and highly approachable for a foodie-hater like myself.

Just take a read on his last two articles and decide for yourself. Check out his tirade on the new wine legislation for Illinois. He mixes in some light political research with one of his food obsessions. Or how about this one about chain restaurants; he has a dirty little secret that will surprise you.

I don’t see a subscribe-to link or anything like that, so it’s not really a blog that you can stay updated on (I don’t understand why they’re leaving this on the table), so you have to stop back occasionally. I religiously grab the Newcity every week so maybe I’ll post links to his best articles as I come across them.

Posted in food writing | 2 Comments

Pegasus

Posted on August 14, 2007 by John

What’s happening to me? Two of the last three posts have had green vegetables combined with some sort of thin pastry. Am I turning into some sort of health-food nut? Have I lost the taste for the meat of a hoofed mammal? I think not, don’t worry. To be completely up front, my mom was with me at Pegasus this night and she always wants me to eat my veggies. What could I do?

So I ordered the spanakopita. Trust me, it’s not health food by any stretch. Which is probably why it’s so good. Mixed in with the spinach is lots of feta cheese, eggs, and oil, along with plenty of seasoning. I love feta cheese and the taste is strong in this dish. It’s a ton of fun to eat.

I was pleasantly surprised with the taste and texture of this green stuff. The spinach is chopped up but it still retains some it’s leafiness, which is a fine line to walk. It’s green and leafy but it cuts more like a lasagna-type of casserole. This is great because you get a serving of vegetables but it’s real easy to eat. I like the ease of eating with my hands (burgers, pizza), so sometimes it’s difficult to get my greens.

I find veggies tough to eat. One of the reasons that I don’t like salads is because I hate trying to get the forkful right. You know what I’m saying? The lettuce and stuff are always hanging over the edges of the fork and you have to try to fit the whole thing into your mouth before it starts falling into your lap. I guess I could cut it up, but I don’t like to take the knife to my salad because it just doesn’t seem right. It’s like cutting spaghetti, I just don’t do it. So my relationship with the salad has never gone anywhere. I’m not going to let it get me down because I can get green veggies elsewhere, as evidenced here.

As I’ve said before, I have some Greek blood in me. When I’m in Greek Town I feel like I’m amongst family. I walk in and they treat me like royalty. What a nice group of people. I wonder if non-Greeks get the same treatment.

The standard Greek fare here at Pegasus is always good. Plus, they have this outdoor, rooftop deck that has a killer view of downtown. It’s perfect for a summer evening of drinking and eating. Try it the next time your at Halsted and Monroe.

Posted in Greek Town | 2 Comments