stevez wrote:Little Three Happiness. I usually get them topped with duck or pork or both, but here they are in their naked glory.

Naked Glory indeed, I believe I am becoming ever so slightly

G Wiv wrote:

stevez wrote:Little Three Happiness. I usually get them topped with duck or pork or both, but here they are in their naked glory.

Naked Glory indeed, I believe I am becoming ever so slightly

WOW - what do I order to get a plate of these?

Gary's post has either a missing word or an extra "be".

cilantro wrote:Gary's post has either a missing word or an extra "be".

LOL, I think he was just too transfixed by the picture to maintain coherence!

=R=

zoid wrote:

G Wiv wrote:

stevez wrote:Little Three Happiness. I usually get them topped with duck or pork or both, but here they are in their naked glory.

Naked Glory indeed, I believe I am becoming ever so slightly

WOW - what do I order to get a plate of these?

Say the following words, "Crispy wide rice noodles, extra crispy...and please be sure they are crispy."

Our current banner quote, which may be different by the time you read this, are words to live by, "Sometimes you have to be firm with servers about the importance of crispness"

French Kiss oysters at Balsan. Never had these or even heard of them, but wow. Seriously life changing oysters.

Are you free for lunch next Saturday?

- Goat, Pork, and veal sugo @ Girl & Goat. This dish was made for my tastes, simple, rustic, magnifico.

- goat belly from the sauteed skate dish @ G & G, skate was ok, goat belly was simple and brilliant. Tender, and flavorfull.

Pork blade steak with honey and nduja at The Purple Pig. I watched the Bannos' make this dish at Chicago Gourmet over the summer, but I had never actually eaten it in the restaurant. Fantastic dish. The honey and the nduja are perfect compliments to each other and the wonderful piece of pork. I shared this dish with two out of town visitors last night, and it literally made the giggle with delight (and one of them hardly ever eats meat). You can't ask for much more than that from a plate of food.

The Halvah dessert offered on Chef's week menu at Hot Chocolate.

This composed dessert captures the essence of what is good about halvah, without the grainy texture that turns many folks off. The dessert was two slabs of lovely, cool, tahini influenced flavor, served with a chocolate meringue, chocolate stout ice cream, a chocolate/malt/tapioca sauce, and the best chocolate brownie I have ever tasted. It was "to die for!"

...to Mindy Segal, please keep this on the menu! If you do, I promise to visit more often!

The deviled eggs @ Sable. Best deviled egg I ever had. It was amazing that such a simple dish, that I normally am not even a fan of, could be so well made.

jimswside wrote:- Goat, Pork, and veal sugo @ Girl & Goat. This dish was made for my tastes, simple, rustic, magnifico.

- goat belly from the sauteed skate dish @ G & G, skate was ok, goat belly was simple and brilliant. Tender, and flavorfull.

A big slice of lemon coconut cake from Cookies Fresco bakery in Elmhurst. Unbelievable....and this is coming from a die-hard chocolate fan!! Can't wait to order again!


www.cookiesfresco.com

Brisket from Austin BBQ in Wheaton. Succulent, fatty, juicy and full of salty crispy bark. It really is phenomenal.

Double Cheeseburger, fries and a Vanilla Malt from Kopp's (near Milwaukee)

The Halvah dessert offered on Chef's week menu at Hot Chocolate.!

I love Hot Chocolate. It's a hit everytime, and they are always very accomodating when I drag my two kids (3 and 1) in. Oh, and HC's brunch is fantastic. Hot Chocolate deserves some more love from LTH!

The eggrolls at Lao Sze Chuan, Downer's Grove. Hints of cumin and other spices inside. Best I have ever had.

Two dishes at Girl and the Goat tonight:

1. Wheat bread with hunkahunka burnin' love butter. This is butter made from peanut butter, bacon, and bananas. Served with honeycomb to drizzle on top.

2. A special of lamb tartare with a spring pea tapenade. Rivals L2O's lamb/ebi tartare for the best lamb preparation I've ever had. If you go in the next few days and it's still on the menu, get it.

jesteinf wrote:2. A special of lamb tartare with a spring pea tapenade. Rivals L2O's lamb/ebi tartare for the best lamb preparation I've ever had. If you go in the next few days and it's still on the menu, get it.

I've only had raw lamb a few times and the flavor seems cleaner than raw beef. Raw beef, in particular the fat, seems to leave a slight linger of mouth coating film, just the merest hint. I never really noticed until I had raw beef and lamb kibbe side by side. Raw lamb, in comparison, is clean, crisp, less diffused flavor.

I wonder if lamb and beef fat have different melting points which might account for the way they react in the mouth.

Thanks for the pointer, I might try to get over to G & G for the lamb tartare. Spring pea tapenade sounds tasty, is it anything like the pea puree on crostini Avec used to do?

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:Thanks for the pointer, I might try to get over to G & G for the lamb tartare. Spring pea tapenade sounds tasty, is it anything like the pea puree on crostini Avec used to do?

Not sure if I ever had that. G&G's involved lots of small, delicate peas mixed with chopped nicoise olives. It made for a really nice combination with the lamb.

Butternut Squash Apple Soup with Pumpkin Oil at Sable Kitchen ... at lunch today, soon to shift off menu with the new Spring offerings, this soup has made me smile so many times. When they began offering it, I almost didn't try it since I'm not a big squash fan but now I've had it every time I go to Sable - which is often.

Now I'm wondering what the next yummy soup will be ...

G Wiv wrote:I wonder if lamb and beef fat have different melting points

I believe that's true. Unsaturated fats melt at lower temperatures than saturated fats, and a lower percentage of the fat in lamb is saturated than the fat in grain-fed beef (36 percent versus 60 percent, my googling indicates). Grass-fed beef, though, is lower in saturated fat (only 10 percent?) than either lamb or grain-fed beef.

My whole meal at Geatano's last night. Everything was great. Lots of raw fish. yum!

Lithuanian bacon buns at Sprout, as a first course of our brunch today (along with silky whipped foie gras deviled eggs). Heavenly. Everything was solid, but the buns were absolutely delicious. I could have eaten a dozen with nooooooo problem. Highly recommended.

Sprout
1417 West Fullerton
Chicago, IL
773.348.0706

While this is not in Chicagoland:

A primavera pizza at Via Trubunali Queen Ann in Seattle. Probably one of the best Neapolitan pizzas I have eaten. Sat at the bar, watched them load pizzas into the wood fired over and was amazed at how quickly and perfectly they came out. I basically finished the whole 'za except for one piece which I finished as soon as I got back to my hotel. I could not stop.

Simple bruschetta--hefty slice of Humbolt Fog cheese, caramelized cippolini onion jam, and lavender honey on what may well be house-made toasted bread--at Sono Wood Fired on Sat night.

yum.

The "house special" pizza (F/K/A the around the world) at
Vito and Nick's on Saturday. Mmmm

The brussels sprouts at Owen & Engine. My first time there was tonight. It was listed as a side, 'Nichol's Farms Veg of the day' or something like that. I didn't care what the veggies were, I would have gotten them regardless, but I asked the bartender if the veggies were cooked (its a Crohn's thing, raw veggies in abundance are painful). He told me yes, they were cooked and that today's veggies were brussels sprouts with orange zest. They were awesome. I pride myself on my roasted brussels sprouts- I totally got schooled and I was happy for it. Very tasty!

The Muffuletta sandwich at
Italian Superior Bakery
933 S. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL 60612
312.733.5092
http://www.italiansuperiorbakery.com
Hours: Tues. - Sun. 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Lunch specials: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Fruits of the Forrest gelato at Freddie's.
I can't drive by that place and not get it.