Just had my first Al's beef. Giardiniera was bit weak, but that beef is f'ng lovely.

Congrats on breaking your Al's cherry. We were actually en route riding bikes from the planaterium when we detoured to Panozzo's on S. Michigan for a superb sandwich of Gunthorp Farm fried chix breast w/fresh mozz, tomato, brocoli rabe and red wine vingaigrette (ask them to heat it). W/a side of roasted potato salad, it was as the title to the thread almost says the "best thing I've eaten lately". Pressed on to Mario's for a one-two punch that is all that's good about summer in Chicago.

I made myself a great breakfast sandwich: a hard-fried egg, ham, and cheese, on a buttered toasted English muffin. If I make it at home, it is virtuous (except to vegans). If I drive a mile away and buy it from someone who makes it for me, it is evil.

Heirloom tomato salad with miso spoonbread from Yusho. A special on the night we went and a fabulous start to the meal. A really successful balance of textures and flavors, the spoonbread was tender and the tomatoes beautiful. Can't ask for much more.

Labor Day weekend in Chicago was wonderful makes me temporarily forget all the studying I should be doing...


David Burke's Primehouse Friday ice cream pop-up: salted caramel ice cream, mango chile sorbet, key lime cream, caramelized mango.


Piccolo Sogno's spaghetti neri: homemade black spaghetti, mussels, clams, shrimp, calamari, san marzano tomatoes, red pepper flakes.


Hand rolls and nigiri at Kuni's, Evanston.


Sunda's crispy pata: confit pork shank with garlic-foie scented gravy.


Cheese popovers at David Burke's Primehouse.


David Burke's Primehouse homemade banana split sundae: salted caramel chocolate ice cream, caramelized bananas, brandied cherries, spiced pecans, roasted pineapple. They worked the ice cream atop one of the himalayan salt blocks.


La Colombe bottled pure black iced coffee.


Sweet potato fries and parmesan truffle fries at DMK Burger Bar.


Patty melt at DMK Burger Bar.

Anteprima: quail, swiss chard, roasted peaches, balsamic.

Simple, or so it seemed.

Delicious.

Halved ripe figs with a teaspoon of goat cheese nestled into each and topped with a salted almond, run under the broiler for a few minutes, and finished with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and honey. Couldn't be easier, but tasted amazing!

White Pizza at Giuseppe's in Vernon Hills.

http://www.giuseppesvernonhills.com/

1220 E Rt 45 Unit 500
Vernon Hills, IL 60061

Scotch egg at Masa Azul.

boudreaulicious wrote:Scotch egg at Masa Azul.

Ditto

Aha! That's the one. The dish itself was really good too--especially the chewy, slight crunchy wild rice. They should have those Scotch eggs on the menu as a bar snack. So good!

Cold Pizano's sausage and mushroom pizza at 2:45 AM after the David Byrne show at the Chicago Theater, alongside a vodka and cherry Kool Aid in a highball glass that I "accidentally brought home once" from a restaurant I used to work in. Maybe it's the fact that I was 86'd liquid Kool Aid and had to rely on the ice cubes of Kool Aid that I had made earlier in the day, or maybe it's the David Byrne, or maybe it's the illicit glassware--nope, it's the butter crust.

I'm embarrassed to write this since it took me so long to get up there, but I ate at Vincent in Andersonville last night and it was fantastic. It represents itself as a "Danish bistro" but I'm not sure what that means. I had the Little Gem salad. It had poached egg and bacon, so I thought of it as a lyonnaise, and it was awesome. Delicious dressing, tons of slab cut bacon, unbelievable red onion. My only complaint about the salad was that it was so good and so large, I was getting full by the time my mussels came. Vincent serves 5, yes 5, different kinds of mussels and none of them are labeled as "Dutch style". I had the sambal mussels which included lime and some sort of pepper. They were excellent. If you're into gin, they offer gin flights and must have 15 different boutique, local gins listed on their menu. If you aren't, I'd give the beer list a solid B+ - lots of interesting looking imports, which I always assume are going to be stale, and a few tasty local beers. Best part about Vincent, though, was the wait staff. It was large, universally unpretentious and very knowledgeable. I'll be recommending Vincent right along with Bistro Campange when my friends ask for a great place on the north side.

jordanshields wrote:It represents itself as a "Danish bistro" but I'm not sure what that means.

Not trying to be pedantic but Dutch, no? I have friends who live near Vincent and love it. I've never been.

=R=

The french fries from Scofflaw. They are extremely addicting and amazingly complemented by the pimento aioli. Between 4 of us we downed 4 orders of the fries the other night.

Meatballs and abundant olives in a ham tomato sauce with grilled bread at Telegraph. Kale and heirloom tomato salad not bad either!

Several items...will post pictures when I get some time.

Seafood chowder, Barefoot Cay Resort, Rotan, Honduras - rich, creamy, delicate, packed with morsels of perfectly cooked, local, fresh seafood, made with coconut milk and a touch of lime. I could eat this every day.

Biscuits with Debris Gravy, Big Jones. Wow. Beautiful light biscuits swimming in an almost pot roast like gravy, topped with poached eggs and served with voodoo greens. Absolutely luscious.

Chorizo Flatbread with cucumber, cherry tomato, raita, and topped with a fried egg, The Publican. So many layers of flavor, just when you think you know the Publican, they come up with something like this and surprise you.

Orzo with braised venison and pork belly, topped with a fried egg, Nightwood. Blew me away - the orzo was plump and perfectly cooked, redolent of venison, the pork belly was falling apart tender, the fried egg was definitely gilding the lily. Just another example of fantastic seasonal cooking from Nightwood.

"Special Hong Kong Steak" at Kow Kow in Lincolnwood......really nice rare T-bone (mostly sliced into pieces off the bone...but bone included too for knawing on!) yummy sauce....

Washed down with CHEAP old school cocktails (hello $4 whiskey sour!)

And of course, the amazing egg rolls...and musty old school ambience!

Also...Seafood Papardelle at RL....plus fantasitc service, great room, pretty people!

Girl & the Goat's mushroom ragout with sweet potato agnolotti, mushhroom creme fraiche, & capers.

fropones wrote:

The french fries from Scofflaw. They are extremely addicting and amazingly complemented by the pimento aioli. Between 4 of us we downed 4 orders of the fries the other night.

Hmmmm. I'll have to give these another shot. The one time I had their fries, they were so overly salted that they were inedible.

--a perfectly cooked trout filet special at Socca w/ a crisp skin and--as promised by the waitress--a "buttery" interior, sauteed in a light tomato-basil-caper sauce;

(My wife's truffled risotto that lay beneath her steak--sucking up its juices--probably also would've qualified if I could've persuaded her to give me more than a tiny bite.)

Oh yes, on a crowded Saturday night it is awfully noisy inside, but Socca still remains, I believe, one of the best restaurant choices in the immediate vicinity.

3301 North Clark Street
(773) 248-1155

Biscuit from Big Jones.
Wow, almost like a fluffy pie crust. Gotta get some leaf lard.

I seldom post in this thread, but I would be remiss if didn't alert you to the robata-grilled Santa Barbara prawn at Arami. Not everything I had at Arami was noteworthy, but this prawn was probably the single best thing I've eaten in the last month . . . maybe the last few months. It was a single whole prawn, gently charred, dressed lightly with a miso butter, and just incredibly delicious. There's one per order - I wish I had ordered an extra. I love shellfish, but I can't remember having ever eaten shellfish any better than this.

Grilled Alaskan salmon from Uncommon Ground. Salmon was cooked perfectly to medium and was served with grilled bok choy, basmati rice and a tomato vinaigrette. Found the dish to have a nice balance and that the vinaigrette tied the dish together nicely. Excited to go back and enjoy this dish again soon.

My father's pork chop with creamed corn was also notable.

Last night's foie gras dish offered at Nightwood was divine. The slab of foie was sprinkled with chopped almonds and set on a thin layer of fish sauce mixed with ginger. After the foie was devoured, the remaining sauce was happily sopped up with a chunk of piping hot bread. Yum.

Golden beets bought Saturday at the Dane County Farmer's Market in Madison. Boiled, peeled, cut in small chunks, mixed with butter, cracked black pepper, and a small drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar from Olive Tap. Very sweet, peppery, with a little tang. Excellent.

A half pound of greasy french fries with scrambled eggs and spoonfuls of salty, biting harrissa stuffed into the crustiest baguette I've ever had, from a small stand in downtown Algiers. Don't underestimate the oft-maligned french fry sandwich.

Oh, and love the numerous references to Franz Fanon in Algiers, no surprise of course. Street names, schools, restaurants, all carrying the namesake of the famous brother-philosopher-revolutionary who stood resolutely behind the Algerians in their struggle against European barbarism and colonialism (fear not those sensitive to Euro-critique, the Algerians entered their own period of barbarism a few decades later, but as always, the numbers pale in comparison to the violence inflicted by our continental friends).

The DLT (duck confit, lettuce and tomato sandwich with garlic aioli on toasted sourdough) followed by Millionaire Pie (pineapple, pecans and coconut in a cream base) with the thickest graham cracker crust ever at HoneyPie Café in Milwaukee. Fantastic. I think I'll have to make another trip...maybe tomorrow.

http://www.honeypiecafe.com

The banana cream pie at Cavanaugh's (53 W. Jackson). It was rich but the filling was so fluffy, like it was made of kittens. Could have skipped the Hershey's syrup, but wow.
Their bruschetta is nothing to sneeze at, either.