Smoked herring from Dirk's Fish that was part of our NYE spread. It had the perfect amount of smoke that didn't overwhelm the fish and incredibly moist. We made very simple crostini with it- smoked herring with a little red onion, EVO, and a few drops of red wine vinegar.

I can't believe I'm saying this: an Italian from Potbelly with extra giardiniera (now "hot peppers" to accomdate the cross-country expansion). Standing in line in the Rockefeller Center Concourse, I was was transported back to Lincoln Park High School off-campus lunches circa 1997. And it's really not a terrible sandwich.

Habibi wrote:I can't believe I'm saying this: an Italian from Potbelly with extra giardiniera (now "hot peppers" to accomdate the cross-country expansion). Standing in line in the Rockefeller Center Concourse, I was was transported back to Lincoln Park High School off-campus lunches circa 1997. And it's really not a terrible sandwich.

The Italian at Potbelly doesn't suck at all. It sure ain't Bari, JP Graziano, Alpine, or the Riv, but it's not bad by any stretch.

It's the simple things like leftovers elevated, that can make the world go 'round:

Two El Milagro corn tortillas with leftover (homemade) smoked brisket chopped fine warmed in a micro, a sprinkle of cotija cheese and chopped cilantro, a little of my (nearly famous) green salsa, and a scant spoonful of lowfat sour cream.

Absolute heaven. Beats anything else I've ever made into a taco. and I owe the smoking to my friends here at LTH who encouraged me to buy a smoker, esp. GWiv and "Low and Slow" (which sadly doesn't have a brisket chapter).

I don't smoke enough meats, but when I do, it's always worth it. This just happened to be one of the best uses of such results.
Happy new year, folks!

Carne la Tampiquena at Nuevo Leon in Pilsen.

Havent been to Nuevo Leon in a while, and on a whim, I got this.

I dont know how they can do this simple carne asada dish so well for just $14. Simple, basic, amazing.

Much to commend at the Big Jones reveillon dinner on Christmas Eve but the particular standout for me was the venison pie.

Soon to be topped on New Year's Eve by Publican's whole wheat pasta with chanterelles, trout roe, dill, and buttermilk whey--a terrific melange of flavors.

Cajun Liver Boudin Fritters at Big Jones this past weekend. Crunchy, soft and a complete mouthful of flavor and textures.

Store made Michoacan salsa from Supermarket Morelia on Western. (Picked it up on the way home from Big Jones.) Strong on garlic, cilantro and roasted peppers. This tasted almost Mediterranean to me. The heat came at the end. To my taste, this is among the best I have had.

The #1; #2 w/ cremini mushrooms; & the #3 at Great Lake.

Awesome as always. The 1st 2 pizzas were on the table in about 30 minutes. Place had a line of over 8 people by 4:40 pm today.

Even in it's last days, at this location, it continues to be a GNR!

Today I had a fantastic croissant at Floriole. My husband & I agree they changed something significantly for the better.

Then there was today's pizzettea with thinly sliced rounds of potato,cheddar, romesco, and chive. This was a showstopper!

Pork n Toffee Milkshake at Little Goat.

The Malted Custard French Toast at Jam. Unbelievable.

The grits at Table 52 are easily the best grits I've ever had in my life. They are to grits/polenta what Robuchon potatoes are to mashed potatoes - rich, creamy, almost custard-like, but still with a certain chew to the very coarsely ground corn.

It's not on the regular menu, but my cousin asked for it as a side instead of ordering an entire order of Shrimp & Grits just to eat the grits. Given my shellfish allergy, I'm so glad we did, else I'd have never been able to try it.

Chicken boti, goat with dal, spinach with dal, all at Khan BBQ, on a rare date night. Never would have tried this place without reports from here-- thanks LTH!!

Cheers, Jen

The xiao long bao today at Katy's were just fantastic. Actually filled with soup and just a great flavor. Actually everything at this meal was incredible. Definitely need to start coming here for lunch more often.

The hamachi at Agami, old sushi purist, was quite surprised by the place. All was very good, but the hamachi was marbled like $100 toro (fatty tuna), amazed to find such good fish anymore, and at Lawrence and Broadway of all places?

Agami
4712 N Broadway
Chicago, IL
773-506-1845

The lobster roll and the burger at Acadia, bar food does not get better than this. They've recently reformulated the burger, it is now composed of bacon onion jam, bread and butter pickles, capretta cheese, and Crave Brothers Farmstead cheese mornay. Messy, but one of the best burgers I've ever had.

The Publican Tartine at the Publican. They've mixed up the Sunday brunch menu a bit, and this was a huge hit with everyone at the table. I'll be hard pressed to order anything else with this lurking on the menu.

Totally agree on the burger and lobster roll at Acadia. First time we went I had the burger and my wife the lobster roll. We had to go back so she could get her own burger. No reservations taken or needed. Both times we went we could sit at the bar or at one of the tables in the bar area.

Garrett Popcorn:
Two parts new "Spicy Cheesecorn" mixed with one part standard caramel corn.
Yup.

The XO sauce that the scallop sat in at girl and the goat. Could drink that stuff. In the same meal, the miso butterscotch dessert was ridiculous.

The bone marrow brulee at next: the hunt. I literally licked the bone completely clean of any substance. Truly outstanding.

A plain brownie from A Taste of Heaven.

It was glorious. The brownie wasn't too moist like most brownies you find today and the chocolate flavor was prefect. So simple, so amazing.


A Taste of Heaven
5401 N Clark
Chicago, IL
773-989-0151
http://www.atasteofheavenchicago.com/index.html

Was shooting at the French Market today at Saigon Sisters and had not only one of the best interviews/demos ever, but their bahn mi, particulary the Hen House (chicken, caramel sauce) were outstanding. Mama Suu actually slapped my hand, hard. It was pure gold. But...

....I took home a pound of the meatcrack from Dick & Joan at Fumare. I've been sawing at it all damn day. Perfectly rendered, buttery fat, crackly bark, smokey beef. I only have a 1/4 pound left. It's taking every shred of willpower I have not to just polish it off before bed.

Welcome to Gout Town.


photo sharing websites

Ol seebee got a little sentimental today over today's lunch:
4 squares of two day old leftover mushroom and sausage pizza
Half sleeve of Do-Si-Do girl scout cookies
Mango/orange Arizona Tea

This what seebee jr. and I split for lunch in the lower level of the Shedd today at a formica booth while watching the Belugas in the viewing area. May have been the best meal I've ever had.

I was on staycation last week, and here are the most notable eats:
Bar Novo, 1 W. Wacker (in the Renaissance Hotel) - probably my favorite swanky bar. The couches are so comfy. I had the Basil Blood Orange Gimlet: Finlandia tangerine vodka, blood orange Limoncello, basil and lime. I could have had seven more of these, as I told Mr. Pie, but stopped at two. Sweet, sour, a little herbal, and so freakin' pretty.

Blue Bayou, 3734 N. Southport - I've had better gumbo, but I loved the side portion of Blue Bayou Mac 'n' Cheese (Andouille sausage, alligator sausage, pecanwood smoked bacon, and roasted red peppers) so much, I wish I ordered a full bowl. The cheese sauce is thin and there's just enough. Unfortunately, the band was loud, especially for a weekday, and was a bit of a bother. But it's right across the street from the Music Box, so I'll be back.

Cavanaugh's, 53 W. Jackson - this is my new favorite place. I had the Chicken Pear Salad: dry roasted almonds, smoked gouda, and honey apple cider vinaigrette with chopped roast chicken. Delicious, not too sweet, filling, and not overdressed. Hope you're reading this, David Hammond. I love this place not only for the food, but for the atmosphere and architecture. The Monadnock building is a beauty, full of old-timey businesses, and Cavanaugh's is just as picturesque. I expected Nucky Thompson to strut around the corner.

Perkins, 6770 State St., Rockford (but they're everywhere). Rockford shuts down after dark, and being a Friday, there were very few places that were open that were also not packed and loud. We ended up at Perkins after finding out that a standby had been turned into a Twisted Kilt and two other places we tried were closed. It's a 24-hour joint so I wasn't expecting much. But I was wowed. They had pie, and a vacation is pointless if there is no pie, so I opted for a healthy meal as a counterbalance, which actually came with pie. Go figure. The dinner was a special that is not on the website: a tilapia filet and six shrimp in lemon butter sauce atop an herb rice blend, served with steamed broccoli, carrots and snap peas. The fish and vegetables were cooked to the exact degree. Everything was perfectly seasoned and not the least bit oversalted. I asked for light sauce, and they just gave it to me on the side instead; the meal did not need any lemon butter at all. It came with an interesting dinner roll that was ridiculously light and springy; it reminded me of the office chairs in Tati's Play Time that I saw just the night before. I dipped that in the lemon butter. Fantastic. The pie, Neapolitan Silk, was at once meh and delicious: the crust was clearly prefab, pasty white and bland, and for some reason they blobbed cake gel along the whipped cream border. But the filling—a triple layer of vanilla, strawberry (with real berries!) and chocolate—tasted like a chocolate-covered strawberry. I can't believe I'm raving about a chain family restaurant, but they deserve props. Too bad the closest one is 38 miles away.

Smakosz, 5629 W. Lawrence - Polish Food Assortment, which included stuffed cabbage, a pork chop, baked pork, polish sausage, mashed potatoes, and Russian pierogi, and started off with three cold salads (cukes in dill sauce, something sauerkrauty and another I can't remember). It was a meat lover's fantasy.

Uncle John's BBQ, 337 E. 69th St. - you people are right. I brought ribs all the way home and they were still in good shape. Although the fries and slaw are unremarkable, the ribs were incredible. Though I'm ashamed to admit I could barely get through the last of mine, I was sad when there was no more. And $22 for the two of us? Sweet. I liked that the sauce was a little sweet, a little spicy, but mostly just rich, and a little burnt in spots. Mr. Pie said they were the best ribs he'd ever had. Such great food from such tiny little spots (Miss Lee's, too)...what will it take to get some outposts up here?

Vinci, 1732 N. Halsted - Once I see duck on a menu, it's all over. The hand-made spinach pappardelle with roast duck, mushrooms, ovendried tomatoes, truffle oil, parmigiano hit the spot; the pasta was overdone and sticky, but who cares...there was duck. Plus, I had a delicious drink made of prosecco, hum and lime that I can't remember the name of. The Bird?

Quinoa ssam salad from Belly Shack.

Normally I am quite carnivorous, but this dish was so flavorful and such a messy delight to eat that I can't stop thinking about it.

Turon (banana lumpia) with cardamom-infused coconut milk dulce de leche.

The dulce de leche was super simple to make - simmer a can of coconut milk with a few tablespoons of brown sugar and a couple of cardamom pods - let it simmer for forever until it's super-reduced. Incredible stuff...

-Dan

Mr. X made Jalapeno Boiled Fettuccine in Bacon Cream Sauce from a blog he occasionally reads, The Food In My Beard. He modified the recipe a bit by including a mix of spinach and beet greens instead of roasted cauliflower. It was a pleasant dish last night. The leftovers today were even better as the mild heat of the jalapeno boiled noodles was more pronounced. He'll be making this one again.

Due to life as a newish parent and late nights at the office, dinners have been a flood of fast food or slapped together leftovers lately, which made last night's dinner at Browntrout such a treat. The star of the show was the roast chicken, not overly herby, the quality of the chicken shined. The skin was crisp and flavorful and was perfect counterpoint to the succulent meat underneath. Great polenta and wilted greens with roasted mushrooms rounded out a great dish. With an impending move to the 'burbs on the horizon, been spending all morning kicking myself for not going to Browntrout more often.

Ridiculously crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside lamb sweetbreads at Anteprima on Friday. I've probably had 50 versions of sweetbreads but this was by far the best I've ever had. I just checked the specials menu for the week and they're on again. May be back very soon!

boudreaulicious wrote:Ridiculously crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside lamb sweetbreads at Anteprima on Friday. I've probably had 50 versions of sweetbreads but this was by far the best I've ever had. I just checked the specials menu for the week and they're on again. May be back very soon!

Thanks for the heads up. Anteprima does sweetbreads very well, I'll have to check this out.