trixie-pea wrote:

hungryrabbi wrote:I extend the olive branch of linguistic snob brotherhood to thee, master A.
"Bismizan" sounds like it comes from Old High Snoop Dogg....my Sophiezizzle Cazzizzle Prizize wizzining compazzadre....

I was joking with PIGMON last night, saying that The Reb and Antonius just did the linguistics-nerd version of bumping chests on LTH.

So it's nerds we are, eh?



( )

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Good bowls of stuff... (I'm trying to stay on topic)...

I like a good bowl of carne en su jugo a little ways down Western Ave from here at Taqueria Tayahua... I also remember having a really good bowl of tortilla soup at Mi Cafetal on 18th Street and the sopa de ajo at Casa de Samuel is big, tasty and satisfying.

Antonius

Crunchy Szechuan Shrimp at Big Bowl - extra spicy extra ginger

Menudo. Breakfast (especially if you get it the night before and have it in the comfort of home).

Nuevo Leon Restaurant
3657 W 26th St
(773) 522-1515

Cash only

Chili at Chuck's.

Split pea at Cap'n Nemo's.

Miso at Katsu.

As Philip Baker Hall says in Boogie Nights, I'm a simple man.

Mike G wrote:Chili at Chuck's.

Split pea at Cap'n Nemo's.

Miso at Katsu.

As Philip Baker Hall says in Boogie Nights, I'm a simple man.

that's only 3

I had a pretty good bowl of regular tomato, bean and beef chili (they also have turkey chili) at Launder Bar on Southport. I was quite surprised by just how good it was. Really dislike the Chili place on Broadway.

Launder Bar & Cafe
3435 N. Southport Ave.
773-665-0555

Antonius wrote:So it's nerds we are, eh?

That's right.

As our good friend Shatkin says, the Nerds shall inherit the earth.

*trixie*

I can't for the life of me remember what it was called, but my husband and I each had a fabulous bowl of soup at Amancer Tapatio in Joliet. It was a spicy beef soup with vegetables that was a Friday special at the end of July. The more we ate, the more there seemed to be in the bowls. Neither one of us was able to finish this delicious entree. We both had nearly a whole potato, plus tons of big, juicy carrots and lots of beef in a red, beefy stock. It was a real treat, and both of us would gladly order it again.

Suzy

trixie-pea wrote:

Antonius wrote:So it's nerds we are, eh?

That's right.

As our good friend Shatkin says, the Nerds shall inherit the earth.

*trixie*

I'm still waiting for this to happen... maybe my brother (more misfit early on than nerd, as his behavior was more weirdly anti-social than introspectively or peculiarly obsessive with academics) has received the familial quotient of the nerdly share of the pie, making the big $$$ as a network consultant for some time now (computer nerds... certainly the most visible and profitable sector of the 90's nerdaissance. I'm not complaining, though, as his supremacy in nerd-dom is what allows him to take last-minute trips to Chicago and treat his ne'er-do-well brother and co. to Rick Bayless meals and (albeit aborted) trips to exclusive dessert bars) while I languish in the more visceral, equally nerdy, yet far less profitable realms of foreign language dilletantism, drum and cymbal equipment, and verbose, purple-prosaic posts to internet food boards. You would think that my being a member of the tribe (even a barely observant, shellfish and BBQ loving Yid as I am) would get me a cut of some of that International Jewish Banking Conspiracy gelt, but, alas and alack, not as of yet. In the meantime, I spill out the first swig of my bottle of Mosel Trockenbeerenauslese for the linguists who couldn't be here... err.. the linguists who were otherwise indisposed.

Now... more big, hot, steaming, satisfying, one-bowl meals... hmm....

Barring my minimum bi-weekly fill of Italian style lentils (made diligently by my man Vini here in Vegas on request, complete with De Cecco Tubetti for a filling starch element and cavolfiore pieces cut in at the last minute to make a true one-pot meal), I gotta defer to the Asians for soup, at least to my tastes. The Chinese-American counterpart to Pho or Ramen, Yat Gar Mein, was always a fave of mine growing up. It's much simpler and plainer than those two soups, consisting of just thick, slightly overcooked lo mein noodles, some roast pork, and a few soup greens in a light broth, jazzed up, pehaps, a la Jersey shopping mall with crispy noodles and soy. Sense memory, of course, has much to do with satiation, and nothing used to warm me up better on a cold day than a big bowl of Yat Gar Mein enjoyed in the fabulously garish red vinyled and gold lanterned dining room at Jade Wah, my second home for many years and the only proper, sit-down restaurant within walking distance of my suburban, identikit townhome deep in the trenches of Turnpike-ville, NJ. As someone once pointed out about Congee (and its inherent blandness), Yat Gar Mein's direct and simple, perhaps dumbed-down qualities, are precisely what make it such a joy. I espied this dish on the picture of the menu at Chinatown Cafe, and I know that Hong Min used to do a spot-on version (before they had their, uh, "accidental" fire). Anyone else with a fondness for Yat Gar Mein? Good stuff, regardless of how assuredly un-hip it is (or, maybe, because of that fact). Getting away from soups for a minute and into one-pot, hearty, wintry dishes, two such meals from the greater Rhine River area come to mind - the Alsatian favorite Choucroute Garni, replete with cabbage, smoky pork product, and wine as it is, sticks to your ribs and warms the soul (surprisingly, the best version I've ever eaten was in - heresy of heresies - Berlin, of all places); and the Pan-Teutonic stew Eintopf (whose name, meaning "one pot", should tell you all you need to know... I attribute this dish to the Rhine region not because that's where it originated (though it may be), but it's where I had the best Eintopf of my life - namely, at a homely, dark, and somewhat uninviting Kneipe in Cologne some years back. The addition of some of the famous local brew, Kolsch, along with a distinct garlic element and pieces of luscious, buttery beef fat made for a Gesamtessenwerk unrivalled in my gastronomical travels. I suppose we could add goulash (or gulasz) to the list, but I'd be hard-pressed to name an establishment in Chicago where one could get a proper one - maybe Paprikash? My one trip there was certainly a very good one, but having only sampled the signature Chicken, I can't comment on the goulash. I guess it goes without saying that if you want hearty, one-bowl, wintry dishes, look to the cultures that have thrived through many winters, and then to the people of said culture who have had to make do with what was plentiful and cheap, to keep them going until the following winter. Our old favorite, "peasant food," in other words. Inexpensive, hot, hearty, filling, bold yet simple in taste - these be the watchwords for the winter months. And remiss I would be were I not to close with the specialty, amongst those of the Hebraic persuasion, in this realm - variations from family to family and region to region exist, but, at its core, it is simplicity itself, reflected in the name, both signifier and signified, a culinary tautology, which one will find featured on the menus of better Jewish-style eateries: Chicken in the Pot. A safe and prosperous Autumn to my friends in La Ciudad Ventosa,

Reb