I'd have to say with no hesitation, the best thing I’ve eaten in a while is the pork stomach in garlic sauce from Lao Szechwan. The only word I can think of to describe it is shiny. Thanks to the many posts on lth I discovered it! Thanks LTH!

Homemade strawberry-rhubarb preserves (from handpicked strawberries) on French walnut-rye bread from Bennison's Bakery.

Soft shell crab at Santorini in Greektown last night.While in season, I've been ordering soft shell crab anywhere I see it. I've probably had it a half-dozen times in the past couple of months, at places ranging from Spoon Thai to MK. Santorini's takes the cake: big, meaty, succulent, and perfectly cooked. The waiter described the dish as grilled, which piqued my interest, but it appeared to be pan-fried. No complaints. Served with a little lemon, and some diced tomatoes and capers. The best thing I've eaten in a while.

Best thing I have eaten lately would be the grilled Yellowfin Tuna and Mahi-Mahi we caught not 6 hours earlier in Corolla, NC.

We ened up with 225 lbs of fileted fish out of 265 lb of tuna and 250lb of dorado caught. Quite a tasty day!

Jamie

2 things, both at Komi in Washington DC this past weekend:

1. Pork belly gyro. Part of a series of opening appetizers. Just a couple of bites, but a brilliant dish.
2. Fried soft shell crab. By far the biggest soft shell crab I've ever seen, fried absolutely perfectly (not a hint of grease), and sweet and juicy on the inside.

berryberry wrote:Soft shell crab at Santorini in Greektown last night.

BerryBerry,

We were invited to dinner by business associates of my wife's. When asked where she wished to go she, without hesitation, said Santorini, reason, your Best post, which she had read earlier in the day.

Three of the four of us had Santorini's soft shell crabs and, after the first bite, toasted to your health and happiness. Thank you for the recommendation, they truly were "big, meaty, succulent, and perfectly cooked:

Soft Shell Crab at Santorini


Enjoy,
Gary

Santorini's Restaurant
138 S Halsted St
Chicago, IL 60661
312-829-8820

Last night, went to Kuma's, had two Great Lake Dortmunder's and a Dark Throne with their caeser salad instead of fries/chips.

So good.

gary, those soft shells look great. do you remember how much they cost? was it your entree or an appetizer? thanks, justjoan

justjoan wrote:gary, those soft shells look great. do you remember how much they cost? was it your entree or an appetizer? thanks, justjoan

Joan,

Pictured order is an entree, three nice size soft shell crabs with caper dotted tomatoes, a real bonus as Ellen is a caper fan, potato and a side of surprisingly good rice. $32.95 per order.

Enjoy,
Gary

The carne asada tacos at this tiny taquiera (El Potosi) by my house around Elston and Kimball. Dressed with cheese, onion and cilantro, they are the deliciously simple. The salsa was so hot with roasted habeneros, I downed 32oz of horchata and was begging for more.

addictedtoketchup wrote:The carne asada tacos at this tiny taquiera (El Potosi) by my house around Elston and Kimball. Dressed with cheese, onion and cilantro, they are the deliciously simple. The salsa was so hot with roasted habeneros, I downed 32oz of horchata and was begging for more.

With the nice warm days and seasonably cool evenings, the porch at El Potosi is a nice place for a simple lunch or dinner while watching Elston traffic go by.

As seen in the second linked thread, I recommend the chiles rellenos.

Thanks for the reminder.

More about El Potosi:
viewtopic.php?t=1417
viewtopic.php?p=29284

Best,
Michael

El Potosi
3710 N. Elston Avenue
773.463.2517

Three of the four of us had Santorini's soft shell crabs and, after the first bite, toasted to your health and happiness.

Thanks, Gary. Glad you enjoyed the dish. Your pictures are worth more than a thousand of my words. I'll be back to Santorini soon for another round.

The curry mussels at Hopleaf in Andersonville were tasty. Lots of mussels, spicy sauce and crusty bread to soak up all that cooking liquid. They also serve them in a cast iron pot to add a little theatre to the dish. Lastly, they come with the most amazing frites with aioli. I don't care much for fries, but I couldn't get enough of these Try it with the peach flavored Dogfishhead beer and life will be good

Tonight I had the Tinga burrito at That Little Mexican Cafe at the Bryn Mawr redline stop of the L. Nice & spicy and very tasty.

Belgian chocolate covered almonds from Trader Joes. Sprinkled with sea salt and turbinado sugar.

It's bitter, sweet, salty, unctuous, crunchy. Each one is a little powderkeg of flavor.

It's not local, green, in-season or hyphenated but it's damn tasty. If this flavor profile appeals, get thee hence.

I'm really enjoying the fresh Michigan blueberries I purchased at the Federal Plaza farmer's market yesterday.

gastro gnome wrote:Belgian chocolate covered almonds from Trader Joes. Sprinkled with sea salt and turbinado sugar.

It's bitter, sweet, salty, unctuous, crunchy. Each one is a little powderkeg of flavor.

It's not local, green, in-season or hyphenated but it's damn tasty. If this flavor profile appeals, get thee hence.

Gastro Gnome, do the almonds come already sprinkled with sea salt and sugar, or is that your own addition?

I wish I were that gifted.

They come already equipped with salt and sugar. I just ate 3 more. They are delicious.

Recent trip to San Diego we ate at Masala, a pretty upscale Indian restaurant in the Gaslamp district (its behind the Hilton) & though some of the meal slightly missed the mark (the breads tasted a bit under salted & that the tandoor hadn't been hot enough when they were baked) we ate two dishes that were deelishious.

First - delicate warm veg samosas served in a papri chaat style garnished with cold raitha, tamarind & mint/coriander chutneys, chopped tomatoes/cucs/onions & papri - each individual element was excellent (particularly the samosas) & every thing melded together into probably the most refined version of this chaat I've eaten.

Second - excellently spiced mutter paneer featuring huge luxuriously rich pieces of in-house made paneer (we asked) - absolutely spanking fresh, drained to the correct pillowy soft texture & made with high fat milk & you could taste it in every mouthful. I've not eaten paneer like that since I was last in India (even my mother doesn't make paneer like this because she won't use full fat milk! & the commercial paneer most restaurants use tends to be rubbery).

The grilled lamb chops I made for dinner tonight. They marinated for a day in Mark Bittman's yogurt/ginger/garlic/basil marinade, which I augmented with a little toasted garam masala, and were just delicious - flavorful, garlicky, herb-y, and very juicy. I accompanied them with a black bean/garbanzo/grilled corn/roasted poblano salad, dressed with a viniagrette incorporating Mexican oregano, cumin, and roasted garlic and shallots, with some skewered grilled whole tomatoes to round out the menu. Awful good summer eats.

Bittman's marinade:

1" ginger, minced
5 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of half a small lemon (about 1-2T)
2 T EVOO
1/2 cup shredded basil (I used Thai, because 1) the spiciness lends itself to the other ingredients, and 2), I have a lot of it right now)
1/2 C plain yogurt
3/4 teaspoon garam masala, toasted until fragrant in a dry skillet
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

I chucked the chunk of ginger and whole garlic cloves in a processor, then added the basil. Add the remaining ingredients and mix everything up thoroughly. Add a large dollop to a zippy bag. Add your lamb chops, or wven a whole rack, and marinate for as long as you want - since it isn't very acidic, the meat won't get mushy. Also very good on chicken or pork t-loin - I split the recipe's ample yield between three lamb shops and two each of chicken thighs and legs.

Mix well,

The burrata pizza at Spacca Napoli. Beautiful zucchini, sweet peppers, and porcini (canned, but whatever), in gloriously savory interplay with generous dollops of burrata. Holy crap, that was good.

i just had some terrific pulled pork at Vital Information's house. Rob smoked the pork yesterday and grilled it today (in cubes, he never 'pulled' it). it came from the VI family's half a pig which came from the wettstein farm, in illinois, in keeping with the VI family's goal of eating locally as much as possible. the VI girls named the pig anne boleyn (because it, too, lost its head). it was too delicious to hide under BBQ sauce. the second best thing i've eaten lately was, coincidentally, Mrs. VI's bread pudding for dessert. i am not a fan of bread pudding-it is usually too rich and heavy, but sheila's was excellent. it had tart dried cherries in it and it wasnt overly sweet. justjoan

justjoan wrote:the VI girls named the pig anne boleyn (because it, too, lost its head).

Liberty Farm eggs, hatched 3 days ago and made into a slow-cooked omelette this morning with Prairie Fruits Farm chevre, Nichols Farm basil, and tomato from a farm in LaPorte, Indiana. Unashamedly topped with a sprinkle of one very non-local but delicious key ingredient: imported fleur de sel.

Liberty Farm eggs, hatched 3 days ago

i got a horrible image of scrambled baby chicks. i'm not a farmer, but i don't think your eggs were 'hatched', rather, they were collected, no?

justjoan wrote:

Liberty Farm eggs, hatched 3 days ago

i got a horrible image of scrambled baby chicks. i'm not a farmer, but i don't think your eggs were 'hatched', rather, they were collected, no?

indeed, Joan. Poor misuse of words. And sorry for the imagery - yuck.

Bouillabaisse at Mama's Fish House on Maui.



Mama's Fish House
799 Poho Place
Island of Maui
Paia, HI 96779
(808) 579-8488

Spring onions and scapes stewed in olive oil, with freshly boiled favas and basil added in the final minutes of cooking

Bo La Lot at Pho Xua. Smoky, crunchy, herbaceous--better than the stuffed dates at Avec that I also consumed this weekend.

chezbrad wrote:Bo La Lot at Pho Xua. Smoky, crunchy, herbaceous--better than the stuffed dates at Avec that I also consumed this weekend.

Damn, I knew I should have ordered the bo la lot at Pho Xua. I was there last week for a quickie solo lunch and opted for bun bo hui, an ok, though not exceptional version. Broth was somewhat thin flavored, not very spicy and there was no evidence of pork blood cubes for added richness.

My favorite spot for bun bo hui remains Dong Thanh.

Pho Xua
1020 W Argyle
Chicago, IL
773-271-9828

Dong Thanh
4925 N Broadway St Ste B
Chicago IL
773-275-4928

gastro gnome wrote:Belgian chocolate covered almonds from Trader Joes. Sprinkled with sea salt and turbinado sugar.

It's bitter, sweet, salty, unctuous, crunchy. Each one is a little powderkeg of flavor.

It's not local, green, in-season or hyphenated but it's damn tasty. If this flavor profile appeals, get thee hence.

Oh my gosh - your post made me buy these today. They are so addicting. I think I can eat teh whole thing in one sitting. They can't be too bad for you, right? Almonds and dark chocolate are good for the heart!