skess wrote:An asada and pastor taco at the newish Rockin' Taco on Irving Park. I had high hopes, cause I pass by twice daily on my walk to/from work and wouldn't mind a solid taco place on the way. This was not it.
The good: I like the space, the counter service was incredibly nice. The tortillas were fine, and tacos come default with onion and cilantro, as it should be.
The bad: That meat. Ugh. The asada and pastor tasted almost identical. I think they marinate their meats and they must use the same marinade. If that's the case, they overmarinated by a longshot, the meat was mushy and bland, slightly sweet, absolutely zero char. There is a line between tender and mushy, and when I have to open the taco to make sure the asada hasn't been pre-chewed, we've crossed that line. The negatives were enhanced by the way the meat was hacked into chunks instead of chopped.

I've tried this place a couple times and I've been quite happy with the results. Granted, the bar hasn't been set high because my go-to quick fix is El Gallo Bravo #5. What has jumped out at me the most that the veggies are not mushy, they have a good crunch factor. My other highlight is the chipotle garlic chicken.

I found the asada and al pastor meats were tender, but I went back for the chicken.

fearlessfitz wrote:
I've tried this place a couple times and I've been quite happy with the results. Granted, the bar hasn't been set high because my go-to quick fix is El Gallo Bravo #5. What has jumped out at me the most that the veggies are not mushy, they have a good crunch factor. My other highlight is the chipotle garlic chicken.

I found the asada and al pastor meats were tender, but I went back for the chicken.

I definitely intend to give them another try with different menu items, and will try the veggies! Maybe (hopefully) it was a one-off thing. I was not there during peak times, which could make all the difference.

The torta cubana at the Hacienda in Michigan City,Indiana.Just amazed how that place has been in business over 25 years, seems to be always packed or at least doing decent business.

Sad to say, worst thing I've eaten lately was the lamb roast I made for Easter. Overcooked. Not that it tasted bad, but I was very disappointed with it. Everyone else was happy with it, but I wanted it to be medium rare or medium at most. Oh well, try, try again.

trudie wrote:The torta cubana at the Hacienda in Michigan City,Indiana.Just amazed how that place has been in business over 25 years, seems to be always packed or at least doing decent business.

Hardly a dish to judge a Mexican restaurant by, ya think?
Haven't been there in years, but remember them as turning
out better-than-average standard Tex-Mex, with the
"Wet Burrito" being the go-to dish; moist and porky.

Fish tacos at El Mariachi. We could smell them when they were delivered and that was not a good thing. Overwhelming fishy smell and taste. One bite and I sent them back. Fortunately, my replacement meal, the camarones al mojo de ajo, was delicious. Lest you think I was sipping twice from the poison cup, a friend had the garlic shrimp and was raving about them.

El Mariachi
3906 North Broadway Street
Chicago, IL 60613-3014
(773) 549-2932

The KFC Double Down.

Pros
- Huge, those aren't chicken patties, they're full boneless chicken breasts. In fact I couldn't (and didn't really want to) finish it
- Slices of cheese / cheese food, as opposed to cheese sauce
- Uhhh...

Cons
- Salty salty salty
- Tastes like bland chicken breast, salt, pepper, cheese, and salt. The bacon totally gets lost.
- Low breading to chicken ratio. People arguably eat KFC because they like the breading and the 11 herbs and spices (which I believe to be black pepper and 10 types of salt). The breading on the chicken comes off on contact, like paint off Ikea furniture
- High thermal mass. As this sandwich is made only of flesh and cheese goo, it stays hot forever. By the time I gave up eating it, it still possessed the ability to scald the mouth and hands

Swing
- You won't eat this and feel good about yourself. Much like watching porn while thinking about your parents, the urge to stop and reevaluate your motivations is strong.

Conclusion - While definitely not good, it's not really evil, more of a novelty. The news can vilify the Double Down all they want, but I don't think folks will eat it enough for it to matter. Hey you could probably get drunk if you downed a bottle of Listerine, but I doubt anyone would try.

mike

The fois gras dumplings at Belly Shack were nasty. Greasy (and not in a good way), slimy and tasteless.

Very surprised, but even Ichiro Suzuki strikes out every now and then.

skess wrote:
An asada and pastor taco at the newish Rockin' Taco on Irving Park

Exactly what I was coming here to post. I really couldn't tell which was the pastor and which was the asada. They were both colorless, dry, and tasteless. I would of been better off stepping out my front door and walking over to Tony's instead of getting in the car and going to Rockin' Taco. I must say I really enjoyed the "rockin" dog though. Funny that the next time I think about hotdogs in my neighborhood I'll probably go to a taco joint.

Torta de asada at Flaco's Tacos.
Granted, it was awhile ago and it was about 11 p.m. but still, the carne was flavorless and tough. Also, the agua de horchata came out of a big batch made in the industrial size sink. Horchata can't just sit----it needs to keep moving and mixing.

Went to Fabulous Noodles - I was there twice before and had very good meals. This past Wednesday was underwhelmed. I had the BBQ Pork and soup noodles. There was three pieces of pork in the bowl and it tasted like very thin ramen noodles from the package in weak chicken stock. The other dish was beef with black bean sauce. It was on a bed of chow mein noodles that were doused in heavily thickened brown sauce. The amount of beef was minimal and there wasn't much flavor to the dish. We were the only ones in the place from 6-7 pm. At 7, one other couple came in the place.

I would be hard pressed to eat here again. I would much rather spend the stomach room at Lao Sze Chuan in Downers or Katys in Westmont.

This past weekend, I was at a family event where Pizza Hut pizza was ordered as dinner. Personally, I don't think I've had Pizza Hut in over 15 years, possibly 20.

I try very hard to be mature about these kinds of situations, to keep my snarky comments to myself, to keep an open mind and be objective. After all, a lot can change in two decades.

This pizza was a f***ing abomination to the mere idea of bread and cheese, let alone the word "pizza". If you blindfolded me and gave me a bite and asked me "what type of food are you eating?" I do not think "pizza" would be one of my first five guesses.

As we drove home that evening and passed a number of perfectly acceptable, if not very good, pizzerias in their neighborhood, I nearly shed a tear that there are intelligent, seemingly normal people that will happily pay and consume that garbage.

Best,
Michael

A replay of my grandma's kidney soup. She's long dead, but someone in the family had the crazy idea to make it again. When I was a kid, I hated being in the house whenever she made it because the whole house stank like old bull piss for days (you have to boil the kidneys in salt water and a bit of lemon three times (three changes of water) before you chop up the kidneys). And then my clothes and hair and books stank, too. Yuck! Don't know what was in the broth, but she added chopped spinach and minced garlic dill pickle, and at the end a spoonful of sour cream. It's an acquired taste, and I never acquired it; but after more than two decades, I thought I'd try a mouthful to see if anyone else could make it palatable. UGH!!! Had to run to the kitchen and spit it out immediately, then brush my teeth ...

Considering what we know about the liver and kidneys being the two organs that take most of the toxins out of our bodies, one would imagine that folks would think twice about consuming either organ meat. And yet, my mama's liver pate spread, made from veal and chicken livers sauteed with onions, ground, seasoned, chilled, then blended with an equal part of sweet, fresh creamed butter and a generous amount of Napoleon cognac, was heavenly. But if Mama's pate was from heaven, Baba's kidney soup was the polar opposite: it must have been made and served in Dante's hell, and smells like it. Geez, I need mouthwash just remembering it again. Somebody pass me a grapefruit ice, quick!

Mikelipino wrote:The KFC Double Down.

F*&% Awesome, Mike! I pegged this to my FB page...

eatchicago wrote:This past weekend, I was at a family event where Pizza Hut pizza was ordered as dinner. Personally, I don't think I've had Pizza Hut in over 15 years, possibly 20.

It could be worse, Mike - they could have ordered the wings...

2 things from the same place...

French fries with a weird crunchy coating and fluffy, tasteless insides reminiscent of mashed potatoes made from a mix.



And the most densely packed hamburger in history, cooked into oblivion despite a medium-rare order, with carbonized bacon that crumbled into a powder upon contact.



You can find these goodies at:
The Reagle Beagle
160 East Grand Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611-3800
(312) 755-9645

Kennyz wrote:And the most densely packed hamburger in history, cooked into oblivion despite a medium-rare order, with carbonized bacon that crumbled into a powder upon contact.

Truth in advertising, I suppose. They used to have these ads on the El which had the nastiest looking food I've ever seen photographed (yes, including this). Greasy, sad-looking burgers, soaking through stale buns.

From Flickr:


If only you had followed the sage wisdom posted on that flickr page:

Ratticus says:
this place sucks to eat.

-Dan

dansch wrote:Greasy, sad-looking burgers, soaking through stale buns.

Greasy would have been a most-welcomed alteration for this sorry, dry, chalky hocky puck. At one point I actually pinched the thing hard just to see if I could get a drop of juice to emerge at the surface at least. Nope. Nothing.

Kennyz wrote:

Is that a side of shed snakeskin on the right ?

tatterdemalion wrote:Is that a side of shed snakeskin on the right ?

Funny you should ask. My camera sucks and my photography skills are worse, but that "lettuce" really did have a texture exactly like what it appears to be. It was tough - like a piece of fabric rather than a food item. I didn't comment on that since lettuce and tomato are never allowed on my burgers anyway, and really shouldn't even come as close as they did on that plate.

Kennyz wrote:French fries with a weird crunchy coating and fluffy, tasteless insides reminiscent of mashed potatoes made from a mix.

I thought Burger King had exclusive rights to selling these "fries."

SandyR wrote: Horchata can't just sit----it needs to keep moving and mixing.

You sure about that? Some of the best horchata that I've ever had has come ladled from a five gallon bucket, the way they (used to?) do it at La Pasadita.

Maybe it's because they sell so much that it's constantly getting stirred.

Club sandwich at the Radisson Hotel, Rochester, NY. So depressing.

When I was a chef with Loews Hotels, each property had their own unique signature version of the turkey club utilizing distinctive breads, meats, mayonnaises, etc...

This version was so off target. Cheapest possible everything put together incorrectly with no care.

Kennyz wrote: .... that "lettuce" really did have a texture exactly like what it appears to be. It was tough - like a piece of fabric rather than a food item.

At first (quick) glance, I thought it was a green cloth napkin with an unusual pattern....

Words cannot describe how unappealing that hockey puck hamburger looks, and that lettuce just pushed it into awful territory.

EvanstonFoodGuy wrote:Words cannot describe how unappealing that hockey puck hamburger looks, and that lettuce just pushed it into awful territory.

Unfortunately I find burgers like this more often than not. Often you'll see a metal "tub" full of them, pre-cooked, sitting in grease along side the grill. When an order comes up the cook tosses one on the grill for a few seconds. And there you have it! yum.

teatpuller wrote:

EvanstonFoodGuy wrote:Words cannot describe how unappealing that hockey puck hamburger looks, and that lettuce just pushed it into awful territory.

Unfortunately I find burgers like this more often than not. Often you'll see a metal "tub" full of them, pre-cooked, sitting in grease along side the grill. When an order comes up the cook tosses one on the grill for a few seconds. And there you have it! yum.

When I get burgers like this, it's usually at a family "backyard barbecue" where the man of the house - who loves a good fire - uses a spatula to press down on the burger with all his might, so that all of the flavorful juice is extracted into the coals before the (over)cooking is complete. It's pyrotechnics over flavor in backyards all across America, but I expect a professional kitchen to know better.

The real problem here is that you went to the atrocious tourist trap, the Reagle Beagle. CND is right by there. Coulda had a gyros melt.

JeffB wrote:The real problem here is that you went to the atrocious tourist trap, the Reagle Beagle. CND is right by there. Coulda had a gyros melt.

I'm willing to take the blame. It looked bad enough that I avoided it for the first year or two of its existence despite having an office a mere block away, but I eventually succumbed to curiosity. Not only is CND basically across the street, but one can get a juicy, perfectly respectable burger at Blackie's, right next door to The Reagle Beagle.

Why do they spell it like that? I think that offends me more than the disgusting burger.

Kennyz wrote:

JeffB wrote:The real problem here is that you went to the atrocious tourist trap, the Reagle Beagle. CND is right by there. Coulda had a gyros melt.

I'm willing to take the blame. It looked bad enough that I avoided it for the first year or two of its existence despite having an office a mere block away, but I eventually succumbed to curiosity. Not only is CND basically across the street, but one can get a juicy, perfectly respectable burger at Blackie's, right next door to The Reagle Beagle.

In the neighborhood - Rosebud on Illinois has a shockingly good $5 10 oz burger on a monstrous pretzel roll.