Spicy garlic shrimp sandwich at zenwich

Shawerma combo at GNR al-Bawadi. No need to go into much detail--two kinds of rice, one with some kick, topped with slivered almonds, and two sizable piles of mesquite-kissed chicken and lamb/beef--never had better in my admittedly limited Middle Eastern dining experience.

The nutella shake at Edzo's!

Everything at edzo's....schlagle burger w a perfectly cooked egg on it, great fries to soak up the yoke, and my dad footing the bill. Game on. Great work Eddie!

Beef brisket sandwich at a place known for pizza. Rare weekday lunch out, my friend and I decided to go to Pal Joey's in West Chicago because she was craving some good Italian. I spied the beef brisket on the specials menu and decided to have that instead of the pizza/salad bar. Maybe I have never had brisket before but it was tender, juicy, fall apart delicious with a light horseradish sauce. The fries in the other hand were awful and went uneaten. My friend really liked her manicotti, the sauce was delicious and the ricotta filling was creamy and slightly sweet.

http://www.paljoeys.com/

I've been to a handful of new-to-me restaurants in the last few weeks (e.g. Antico, Due Lire, Lillie's Q, Jury's, and Xoco) and the one place I can't stop thinking about is Fish Bar. Their fried rock shrimp dish with a tobiko sriracha sauce has been haunting me - - Greaseless, sweet, tender shrimp in a sauce with just enough spice.

Ronna

Thursday afternoon, White Sox home opener, 38 degrees outside,a well-done dog w/grilled onions.



I dream of these the entire offseason. Worth the wait.

Chicken tacos al carbon at Mixteco, with grilled onions, black beans, quacamole and habanera salsa on hand made tortillas. The chicken grilled over a wood fire to a perfect point of seared crust and moist interior.

Since RAB and REB introduced us to Aroy, we've really been enjoying going through the Thai classics menu there. Everything we've had from there has been terrific. Maybe because of the warm weather, the papaya salad with dried shrimp we had as part of a spontaneous lunch tdoay really hit the spot.

Dinner at Next.

Scallops, rabbit, turbot and veal at Ria last night. Those four courses were so gorgeous I can't even choose a favorite!

Cream cheese, smoked Scottish and bialy from Russ & Daughters in NYC. Apologies to my NY-bred Jewish friends - the Chicago-bred Arab in me could not resist toasting the fresh bialy. At least we can all agree that the combination of cream cheese, smoky, oily, ethereal salmon and top quality baked goods makes one of the most inspired sandwiches ever.





I think I'll have another...

Can't wait to get back to Russ & Daughters. The dill-mustard herring is next on my kill list.

A home-made IOB --

Trying to muddle through a mid-Sunday depression, brought about by watching the Blackhawks lose to Detroit, I naturally turned to the freezer. Resting comfortably between the frenched lamb racks and the Spicy Marinara sauce from Mangia Fresca was a mystery brick of Bari Beef Italian Beef Kit (1lb Thinly Sliced Roast Beef with 2lbs Italian Style Gravy). It was given to us as a gift and, therefore, subject to much dubiousness – after all, how good can a 3-pound block of frozen IB turn out, after sitting in the freezer for a few months?

At the risk of losing my LTH-rights, I will gladly state that this product now has a permanent space in the freezer for “Chicago Sports-Fan Emergencies”. It turned out great.

The carton contains two sealed bags – one is beef and the other is IB gravy. Boil the gravy and add the beef. Couldn’t be easier. Very good flavor. Tender beef. Will use the leftover gravy to start a soup.

My guess is that the product, as is, makes a nice sandwich. To bring it up to LTH standards (as if we had standards!) requires a bit of kitchen-search. In this case, strips of red and orange peppers were sauteed in olive oil, garlic oregano and a couple of finely diced habaneros. The intent was to get the chunky good flavor of peppers that Mangia Fresca stuffs into their breaded steak sandwiches.

The bread choice was fortuitous: we had a fresh, crusty baguette from the artisan bread section at Jewel and it was just what the sandwich needed to elevate it to IOB status.

Crisp up the bread in the toaster oven; slice it and dip each half into the gravy; pile on the beef and the peppers. With the habaneros, you can omit the requisite hot giardiniera and its masking flavor, for a refreshing, new taste. Not necessarily better – just new and different.

As a life-long Chicago sports fan and LTHer (in spirit), I have spent almost seven decades trying to find a culinary cure for Chicago sports teams. I don’t want to get my hopes up (told you I was a long-time Chicago sports fan), but the IOB might be the solution. And you can have it any time you want, without putting your pants on.

BTW – It stands for ITALIAN ORGASMIC BEEF

Bari Beef (food supplier – not the deli)
710 Schneider Drive
South Elgin, IL 60177
Phone: 847-695-7555
Fax: 847-695-0809

http://baribeef.com/index.php


Mangia Fresca
2556 South Archer Avenue
Chicago, IL 60608-5912
(312) 225-7100

http://mangiafresca.com/

Cheer up jimwdavis, Dallas lost - Hawks are in the playoffs.

zoid--

...who knew?

Much to my complete surprise ... since I find their food only ok in a meh kinda way mostly ... the bowl of brie soup with mushroom I had yesterday at Bistrot Margot was really quite good and I want more.

Ordered since I could not quite figure out what brie soup would taste like ... and then very pleasantly surprised at nicely balanced flavors and general warm yumminess.

New school Chinatown weekend twofer tie- Char-grilled Madai Himono at Lure, Littleneck Clams in XO at Go 4 Food.

Skatewing at Rhapsody (part of their special $26 3-course prix fixe on gDine): Crispy seared exterior, moist and tender interior, in a butter-lemon-caper sauce. Simple prep, but one of the best skatewings I've had.

The oxtail ravioli and amish chicken with mushrooms at Bistronomic.

jimwdavis, I agree with you about the payoff of having Italian beef sandwich fixings around for emergencies. I found a place near me that sells the bags of Bari IB sauce, unfrozen, so I can mix it with my own freshly bought thin-sliced beef. (I don't know if I should tell where this place is). Going to try your peppers and onions ideas next time.

But you didn't mention cheese. I like to open the bread in a small aluminum pan, put a slice or two of provolone on one side and warm it under the broiler, then pile on the beef, then dip the whole thing. Usually will cut the sandwich in half to make dipping into saucepan with tongs easier.

Then I'm not hungry again for a long time.

p.s., I recently noticed some new Bari products in the store: beef/sausage combo kits.

A 3 inch piece of Peoria Packing hot links, pulled straight from the smoker while my wife is out buying scones and other proper breakfast items.

Green Curry Chicken at Rosded in Lincoln Square.

Just happened to be in the neighborhood and needed to eat. It started raining hard and while running for cover the wife and I found ourselves inside at a table. Loved everything, especially the Green Curry Chicken. I then find out it is highly regarded by many here.

Lucky us!

A couple of really good ones over the past week or so:

Publican - Duck Hearts with grapes, pickled shallots, watercress and polenta

The hearts were the absolute essence of duckiness. They were juicy and satisfyingly toothsome. The grapes, which were split lengthwise, were roughly the same size as the hearts and their light sweetness married up really well with the hearts. The salty pickled shallots and bitter watercress were great accents and the silky polenta was a great base for the dish.

TAC Quick - Koong Chae Nam Pa (whole, butterflied, raw shrimp, garlic, Thai chile, lime juice, basil? leaf)

Wow! I've had this dish before at TAC but this recent version was the best it's ever been -- fiery, bright, complex and intense.

=R=

Four this week, I'm on a roll but it isn't a good one for the week at the beach coming up in 63 days.

Wednesday night at Prairie Fire- Starter, tiny pizza of ramps, mushrooms, goat cheese, and topped with raw micro greens.

Today at New GNR Big & Little for truffle fries then onto Floriole for their fantastic hot chocolate (not to sweet, nor was it bitter, made with their ganache) and Kouign Aman.

First time trying the Birria at Zaragoza. Phenominal, especially the crispy bits soaked in the consomme.

The Thai Escargot at Krystal Thai. It came in a neato stone dish with seven depressions, each with a little garlic/coconut milk sauce and two snails hiding under a tiny, stone, tangier-like lid. This came with a plate of garlic toast. I wish I had a picture!

Krystal Thai
230 West Virginia Rd.
Crystal Lake, 60014

Dlongs wrote:First time trying the Birria at Zaragoza. Phenominal, especially the crispy bits soaked in the consomme.

Had that a few weeks ago. Great. I had the chance to talk to the chef, and his passion shows in everything there. We NEED more places like this in Chicago. And yes, the crispy bits are simply the best.

I had a good experience at the Burger Bar on Elston/North today. I am normally disappointed by burgers I've eaten but this one is just plain good. I ordered medium-rare and got medium but it didn't really matter since it was so well prepared with a nice juicy charred crust and great grass-fed beef. Thank heaven they weren't doing any of that pretzel bun nonsense (are you here to eat a burger or a bun?) and you can choose to have your burger plain or with whatever exact toppings you want (not some "gourmet" topping laden burger BS designed to draw and impress tourists).

There were some difficulties with following directions and with service but ultimately I couldn't care less because I got a great burger! Absolutely murders DMK/Kumas etc. Better execution than Hot Chocolate, Bad Apple, Counter etc.

Habibi wrote:Cream cheese, smoked Scottish and bialy from Russ & Daughters in NYC. Apologies to my NY-bred Jewish friends - the Chicago-bred Arab in me could not resist toasting the fresh bialy. At least we can all agree that the combination of cream cheese, smoky, oily, ethereal salmon and top quality baked goods makes one of the most inspired sandwiches ever.





I think I'll have another...

Can't wait to get back to Russ & Daughters. The dill-mustard herring is next on my kill list.

I need to hop on a flight so badly.

Brown sugar praline cupcake from Sprinkles. The nut praline candy adds nice texture to the moist caramel cake and smooth, creamy brown sugar frosting. Only sold through April 24th. I want another.


Brown sugar praline cupcake.