Picoso Grill, et al

Well, I had a wonderful eating weekend. Starting on Friday, thanks to Binko's suggestion, I swung by Chickie's on the way to the airport to pick up a friend for some excellent Italian Beef. I would say I liked it at least as much as Al's on Taylor. Thanks to Jane and JLawrence for your suggestions as well.

Chickies
2839 S Pulaski

On Saturday, we grabbed an early lunch at Picoso Grill. I didn't see this restaurant anywhere on this site, so here is my report. It's a fairly new restaurant and a perusal of the menu was promising so I decided to give it a try. Aside from the burrito/taco/torta standards, I was encouraged by the offerings of huaraches, sopes, menudo, and pozole, which are all fairly uncommon at many northside Mexican places. We got a steak huarache and a big bowl of pozole. The huarache was decent, but the steak didn't have as much flavor as the carne asada at many other places. The pozole really hit the spot on a cold day, with good spice. Overall, it is not worth going out of your way for but is worth a stop if you're in the neighborhood and have a need for Mexican. A good step up from the Burrito House a few blocks north on Lincoln.

Picoso Grill
3332 N Lincoln

For a late lunch, we stopped by Hot Doug's, where I had a Thuringer and my friend fell in love with the Buffalo sausage with Red Dragon Ale cheese. It was excellent as always, and enough has been said about that.

Hot Doug's
3324 N California

For dinner, I had my first fine dining experience at Charlie Trotter's. It was outstanding. My friend got the grand menu, and I got the vegetable menu, so I got to try a little of everything. My palate is not refined enough to comment on what exactly made it so wonderful, but I will say that the combination of flavors is something I have never tasted. There has been plenty written about the food at this place, so I will just add that my favorite dish on the vegetable menu was the black truffle course, and on the grand menu, I liked the scallop course. I also got the non-alcoholic beverage pairing. This I thought was very interesting. In order, I was served: Pineapple juice infused with Poblano pepper, Rosemary-infused Grapefruit juice, Ginger and Cranberry juice, Carrot and Kohlrabi juice, bottled sparkling Cranberry juice, and Apple and Purple Corn juice. The colors and tastes were wonderful. I think I preferred the Ginger and Cranberry juice, while my friend preferred the Carrot and Kohlrabi. The least interesting, unsurprisingly, was the sparkling cranberry juice. Overall, it was a fantastic birthday experience, and I am very glad I did it, but it was not so easy on the wallet, so I don't think I'll be returning too quickly.

Charlie Trotter's
816 W Armitage

To finish the weekend off, we went to Victory's Banner for Sunday breakfast. Generally I am distrustful of vegetarian places but I like Victory's Banner because most of their dishes don't try to fake meat. A place like Chicago Diner, for example, that uses seitan or tofu to impersonate meat, just depresses me. The egg dishes and french toast at Victory's Banner are always solid, and it has the added bonus for me of being a block away.

Victory's Banner
2100 W Roscoe

Now I'm hungry.

Love,
John