My NYE weekend of food

Denise and I have had some monumentally bad meals on New Years Eve and in light of this, she was very reluctant to go out or don much of anything on Friday night. She wasn't feeling so well to boot so I decided to either broil some steak and dress it ala nam tok or get some takeout. I went to a couple stores and was pretty dissatisfied with what I found at the meat counter so I headed down to TAC Quick.

I got there about 8 and there were 3-4 tables occupied and the usual waitress I have wasn't there. I was in a definite mood for grilled meat and the meal reflected this. Nam tok, pork neck, and Tiger Cry took care of that hunger. I also got fish maw salad and green curry with beef (Denise wanted red meat so that dictated this choice) in additon to the pad thai woonsen.

I was least impressed with the Tiger Cry, it seemed pretty bland to me even with the dipping sauce. However it came with a good sized portion of som tum which was the perfect accompaniment to all that meaty goodness. The pork neck was heavenly as usual and the nam tok was for Denise so I didn't get a taste of it but she proclaimed as good as always. As an aside, she says my version is better, most likely due to my using prime ribeye or tenderloin for it. She does admit TAC does the sauce better.

The curry was good but I think I ordered this by mistake; I should have gotten the orange curry instead. The fish maw salad was tasty but the maw suffered from the 15 minute car ride, the parts that were out of the sauce were fine but the soggy bits were not good to me. This is a dish that should be only ordered when you are eating in and can eat it as soon as it comes to the table. The pad thai is definitely the best I have ever had, the omelet adds a great texture dimension and the shrimp were plentiful and delicious. The thin woonsen noodles were great as well.


On Saturday we drove to Indianapolis to pick up her daughter from her ex. We had some BK Croissanwiches for breakfast and that was it till dinner. 9 hours later we are coming up on the new Soldier Field when I realize I have not eaten in a while

I was thinking of Cathy2 and her tales of stopping at Jim's while on the Dan Ryan and suggested I stop for a polish sausage before we met her friend for dinner at the Chinese buffet in two hours. We hung a left on Roosevelt and four minutes later I had a polish, mustard only and an RC cola.

Denise was quite amused that I felt the need to have a meal when we were on our way to a dinner in less than two hours. She rationalized it by likening it to her 'pre-drinking' before going out with friends to an expensive bar or restaurant. I thought that while I kinda like Chinese buffet, a Jim's was a truly wonderful way to start the meal a bit early! While sitting there we had our buffet plans cancelled by the aforementioned friend who wasn't feeling well.

By this time Miranda (daughter) was waking up and both the girls were hungry. While reading MikeG's account of his Ten Best the image of the Fish Fragrant Eggplant was weighing heavily on my appetite so I talked them into trying Ed's Potsticker House with promises of vegetarian food for her. It was really dead when we got there with two other tables occupied, and as usual for me, I was the only Caucasian there.

We ordered the smoked pork pancake, eggplant with garlic sauce, and fish filet with spicy Szechwan sauce. The pancake was tasty, the girls didn't like the meat so I got to Dubl'Stuff mine! The eggplant was a Revelation to me. I can honestly say it was the first time in my life I have relished eggplant. Crispy, sweet and garlicky, with a bit of char and a luscious smooth interior, it was mind blowing. As I write this I have the leftovers next to me and even nuked it is still very good, the loss of the crispiness does no real harm to the dish. The fish was also extremely well done even if I prefer LSC's version. This has lots of small red peppers cut up in a thin sauce as opposed to LSC which comes with a thicker, somewhat oilier sauce.

Thanks to all you who have shared your meals and discoveries with me, this past weekend was a testament to the power of good food. What amazes me is that all that food set us back less than $75 total, far less than a great many people spent per person this weekend. Great food at reasonable prices is what I love about this city!
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I used to think the brain was the most important part of the body. Then I realized who was telling me that.

Are any of these Chinese buffets any good? I've had the displeasure of eating at the one at Harlem and Forest preserve which is pretty horrific as well as the one at Addison and Elston which, to me, is even worse.

I've eaten in some town where the ChiAm buffet shines (though nothing earth shattering from a culinary perspective). I had written off Chicago as a town where the ChiAm buffet just doesn't cut it.

FWIW, Lem's and Jim's Original are two of the very few reasons that I'll drive on the Ryan.

Not really. It made me much happier to go to Ed's instead. Heck I'd much rather go to TAC as well.

Octarine:

Nice report and thanks therefor. Both TAC and Ed's we know on account of fellow LTHers and our lives are better for it (Erik M in the first case, various writers and GWiv's pics in the second).

The eggplant dishes at Ed's are very tasty but for an eggplant lover such as myself, I find the eggplant flavour a bit lost in the mix. Nonetheless, the added flavouring and textural qualities of the eggplant as treated there are most pleasing.

Antonius

Speaking as a non eggplant lover I thought the texture was just fine Maybe I've never had good eggplant ( a distinct possibility here in the land of FoodService eggplant parmigiana) but that meal made me want to seek out other examples of the vegetable.