Are the doughnuts gluten-free? And, I'm assuming there's just one Amish baker called Rise 'n Roll--these must be the same folks who have products at Amish Healthy Foods on Western?

Unfortunately they are not gluten free, but I'll be honest I did not feel too bad afterward. I was expecting to be a lot worse.

Not sure if they are the same, I'll have to do a little research. But whomever they are, they are great.

Roasted Red & Yellow Beet Salad with Arugula, Warm Goat Cheese, Candied Walnuts, and Vanilla Vinagrette at 33 Club last night. One of the best salads I've had in a long time - interesting flavors that came together with perfect balance (to my taste.)

33 Club
1419 N. Wells Street
(b/n Schiller St & Burton Pl) Chicago, IL 60610
Tel (312) 664-1419

For my birthday dinner at Bistrot Zinc in December, I had the best cassoulet of my life. It had lamb shoulder, pork sausage and duck confit. Each element of the dish was perfect - the white beans were creamy, with a slight tang from the small amount of tomato in the dish. The lamb was tender, the sausage was cooked perfectly (just enough bite through the casing) and the duck confit was a silky, slightly gamey flavor bomb. The dish as a whole was so aromatic I thought I'd pass out from sheer joy. I finished every last bite of it. Bookended with a hearty pate and chocolate cake, it's a meal I'll be thinking about for months - until I finagle another reason (like the sun rises) to make a reservation there.

The best thing I've eaten lately was the "Rudy's Special" deep dish pizza at Pizano's ( Rudy Malnati Jr.'s Place ) which consists of cheese, sausage, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, and a wonderful buttery crust. If you could take the best of the original Pizzeria Uno ( the sausage made by Anichini Brothers ) and the best of Lou Malnati's ( the buttercrust ), the end result would be the Rudy's Special at Pizano's.

On this pizza, Pizano's gets their sausage from Anichini Brothers, and their buttercrust is every bit as good as Lou Malnati's; but, what makes this pizza better is the fact that the ingredients are much more carefully prepared than both Uno's and Malnati's. At Pizano's, the pizza chefs thinly slice the onions, green peppers, and mushrooms, which allows these ingredients to compliment the pizza, rather than overwhelm the pizza. At Uno's and Malnati's, the above ingredients are served way to large which, unfortunately, allows them to overwhelm the pizza. Similarly, the sausage at Pizano's is cut into pieces, which prevents the sausage from overwhelming the pizza, as opposed to Uno's and Malnati's which serve the sausage in a large patty ( which overwhelms the pizza ). The end result is a very well balanced pizza over at Pizano's due to the very skillful preparation being done in their kitchen. Yes, it takes longer to skillfully dice up the ingredients at Pizano's, but that's what makes for a truly balanced pizza worth your money and time.

Finally, the cheese used at Pizano's is much more tasty than the cheese at Uno's, Malnati's, and everywhere else for that matter. My taste buds are not sophisticated enough to accurately identify what's in their cheese, but it's definitely not just the normal everyday mozz cheese being used everywhere else on deep dish pizzas.

After many, many years of eating way too much deep dish pizza from Uno's, Malnati's, Gino's East, Pequod's, Burt's Place, and everywhere in between, I firmly believe this is the best deep dish pizza in Chicago.

Good Eating,

deepdish

this dish has been on my mind since we enjoyed it for x-mas eve dinner @ Lao You ju.

Quite a bit of buttery pork marro to be sucked out through the straw, and more in the silky abalone sauce. At $4 I cant think of a dish with more bang for the buck.

The World #1 Ribs:



I enjoyed it so much we are going back to LYJ tomorrow night for more, hoping the "a" team is in the kitchen again.

Breakfast Poutine at Chez Ben in Manchester, CT.



Breakfast potatoes, scrambled eggs, cheese curds, gravy and bacon. Not the prettiest meal, but who cares when it's so delicious?

jimswside wrote:this dish has been on my mind since we enjoyed it for x-mas eve dinner @ Lao You ju.

Quite a bit of buttery pork marro to be sucked out through the straw, and more in the silky abalone sauce. At $4 I cant think of a dish with more bang for the buck.

The World #1 Ribs:



I enjoyed it so much we are going back to LYJ tomorrow night for more, hoping the "a" team is in the kitchen again.

Jim,as you and Harrelson like to say.....MERCY !!!!!!!

local597 wrote:Jim,as you and Harrelson like to say.....MERCY !!!!!!!

lol, I am pissed @ myself for not going to LYJ last night and getting a couple of these for a snack.

At Macku tonight...white asparagus and crab soup with a kimchi dumpling a foie gras. One of the best soups I've had in a while, and the highlight of what was a pretty excellent dinner.

A grilled Taylor pork roll sandwich on Wonder
bread with mayo made by Evil
Ronnie when he got home
a little while ago.

I've been a fan of Mizu yakitori on North in Old Town since it opened and always enjoy a meal there but last night's stop includedva special of Beef Short Rib yakitori - six lovely little bits with bone on the plate - and it was so very very good. I had started with other items but would go back happily and order several of these tasty morsels - super rich beefy bliss.

Hamburger steak with grilled onions and double hash browns at Valois. Chopped steak cooked through but still juicy, nicely seasoned, with the simple but well-executed hash browns sopping up the glorious drippings--all in the most neighborhood-y restaurant I've ever encountered.

Ham & Clam chowder @ Toon's.

Just had a small, cup, but it was great, creamy, perfectly cooked clams, poppin' with flavor.

These folks make some of the best soups, gumbo's in the city week in and week out.

mtgl wrote:Hamburger steak with grilled onions and double hash browns at Valois. Chopped steak cooked through but still juicy, nicely seasoned, with the simple but well-executed hash browns sopping up the glorious drippings--all in the most neighborhood-y restaurant I've ever encountered.

That's a blast from the past. I don't think I've been to Valois in over 15 years. Used to date a guy in "West Hyde Park" back when no one would ever imagine a president from Kenwood.

Really great molasses cookie from Sweet Mandy B's. Big, chewy, with a touch of crispness around the outer edges and finished off with lots of cream cheese frosting. One of the best baked goods I've had there.

Last night I made my maiden voyage to New York's famous Katz's Deli. It was about 12:30am, and I was very inebriated. In order to fortify myself for another three or four hours of self-destruction, I decided to order something disgusting. Chopped liver, tongue, (extra fatty) brisket, on one sandwich. The counter guys laughed their asses off as I blurted/pointed my way through this terrible order, claiming no one had ever done it before (BS).

It was freakin' delicious. Nevermind that I woke up today with a beefy, mineral-y taste in my mouth that lingered until just recently. What a delicious freakin' mess. What condiment would I like on my brisket and tongue sandwich good sir? Liver. Yeah liver mush. All over it.

I can't wait to go back (sober).

We'll have to take your word for that one, Habibi! Liver as a condiment!

Thinking about the conglomeration of tastes/flavors here, though, I'm wondering- wouldn't the chopped liver taste completely overwhelm the subtlety of the tongue and brisket?
You'd certainly get the textures of the meats, but wouldn't that be about all?

Please advise, as I'm not about to try this one...

sandman wrote:We'll have to take your word for that one, Habibi! Liver as a condiment!

Thinking about the conglomeration of tastes/flavors here, though, I'm wondering- wouldn't the chopped liver taste completely overwhelm the subtlety of the tongue and brisket?
You'd certainly get the textures of the meats, but wouldn't that be about all?

Please advise, as I'm not about to try this one...

Corned Beef/Pastrami and chopped liver are a glorious and classic combination and they work beautifully together, especially with some nice yellow mustard on good rye bread. I'm sure with tongue, it would be every bit as wonderful. You have to determine the exact right level of chopped liver for yourself because yes, it can be overwhelming if over-applied.

I was drooling when I read Habibi's post!

=R=

Habibi wrote:Chopped liver, tongue, (extra fatty) brisket, on one sandwich. The counter guys laughed their asses off as I blurted/pointed my way through this terrible order, claiming no one had ever done it before (BS).

It was freakin' delicious.

Can't top Habibi for sheer delicious audacity, but todays Quesadilla de Chicarrones from Cemitas Puebla is an early contender for Best Bite 2011.

Quesadilla de Chicarrones, Cemitas Puebla

Giant Nigerian Prawns scampi style at Bob Chinn's. Big, meaty, cooked perfectly. For $28.95 a decent value IMHO. The early bird special of a dozen oysters for $4.95 were also delicious.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

sandman wrote:We'll have to take your word for that one, Habibi! Liver as a condiment!

Thinking about the conglomeration of tastes/flavors here, though, I'm wondering- wouldn't the chopped liver taste completely overwhelm the subtlety of the tongue and brisket?
You'd certainly get the textures of the meats, but wouldn't that be about all?

Please advise, as I'm not about to try this one...

Corned Beef/Pastrami and chopped liver are a glorious and classic combination and they work beautifully together, especially with some nice yellow mustard on good rye bread. I'm sure with tongue, it would be every bit as wonderful. You have to determine the exact right level of chopped liver for yourself because yes, it can be overwhelming if over-applied.

I was drooling when I read Habibi's post!

=R=

My reaction as well. I almost always order chopped liver, usually on the side to control proportions, with my sandwich at Katz's, Langer's, Manny's etc. Nothing that odd about "liver as condiment." At least not among Jewish delis and Filipino lechon slingers.


Which reminds me of something I've mentioned off and on for a long time: chopped liver at Gibson's is probably the best in Chicago (with Romanian Kosher's).

Skirt steak at Paramount Room. Perfectly portioned and cooked, lightly marinated, with a fried egg and fingerling potatoes, spicy arugla to top it off.

sandman wrote:We'll have to take your word for that one, Habibi! Liver as a condiment!

ronnie_suburban wrote:Corned Beef/Pastrami and chopped liver are a glorious and classic combination and they work beautifully together, especially with some nice yellow mustard on good rye bread. I'm sure with tongue, it would be every bit as wonderful. You have to determine the exact right level of chopped liver for yourself because yes, it can be overwhelming if over-applied.

JeffB wrote:My reaction as well. I almost always order chopped liver, usually on the side to control proportions, with my sandwich at Katz's, Langer's, Manny's etc. Nothing that odd about "liver as condiment." At least not among Jewish delis and Filipino lechon slingers.

Here's a handy illustrated how-to guide (from my last visit to Katz's):

Step 1


Step 2

Quail at Go 4 Food!

The "Montreal smoked pastrami" in a stall on the north side of the French Market at Ogilvie....tender.....juicy.....wonderful taste.....by far the best I've ever had....can't recommend it highly enough.

Is that Quesadilla de Chicarrones at Cemitas Puebla on the menu? I don't ever remember seeing that.

pnking wrote:The "Montreal smoked pastrami" in a stall on the north side of the French Market at Ogilvie....tender.....juicy.....wonderful taste.....by far the best I've ever had....can't recommend it highly enough.

Fumare?

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

pnking wrote:The "Montreal smoked pastrami" in a stall on the north side of the French Market at Ogilvie....tender.....juicy.....wonderful taste.....by far the best I've ever had....can't recommend it highly enough.

Fumare?
=R=

Yeah, that's it. Right next to Pastorale. I've bought good liver sausage from them.

boshow48111 wrote:Is that Quesadilla de Chicarrones at Cemitas Puebla on the menu? I don't ever remember seeing that.

Not sure if Quesadilla de Chicarrones con Jalapeno is a regular menu item, but they are there for the asking A delicious Lilly guild is roasted jalapeno as pictured below by masterful food arts photographer Ronnie_Suburban.

Quesadilla de Chicarrones con Jalapeno

Photo by Ronnie_Suburban

ronnie_suburban wrote:

pnking wrote:The "Montreal smoked pastrami" in a stall on the north side of the French Market at Ogilvie....tender.....juicy.....wonderful taste.....by far the best I've ever had....can't recommend it highly enough.

Fumare?

=R=

Yes.....that's the place.....I'm going there again today.....