JeffB wrote:Christ, Whataburger must be the most spectacularly inconsistent chain in the universe.

agreed! When I've planned to hit a Whataburger, it is an ok burger. When I've been roadtripping for hours in Texas and I'm hungry, Whataburger is amazing !

Best recent at home: Made some fish dip w/smoked lake trout from Boston Fish Market. Flaked the fish, added a little mayo, bit of Dijon, finely chopped sweet/hot Tony Packo pickles, fresh ground black pepper. Mrs Willie, my parents & I devoured this last night.

Best recent at a restaurant: This past week, the chicken katsu at Ginza was so superior to any other katsu I've had. Chicken was full of flavor & moist, fried perfectly.

Gorgonzola crepe at Creperie Saint Germain in Evanston, served as a side to their steak frite.
It's like a fondue in a wrapper, with wonderful notes off butter and white wine. A great accompaniment to the flat iron steak, the frites (very good skinny tallow fried) and aioli almost an afterthought.

Two best things lately.

1. Cheezy Donkatsu at Yeowoosai, I'm developing quite an addiction to this dish. I may need to head back soon for another.



2. The smoked Hog roulade from the lates pitmaster dinner at Barn and Company.

The fact that I'll occasionally eat Potbelly sandwiches is really a function of sometimes having only 15 minutes to get and each lunch and not having good options nearby. Truth be told, I find their sandwiches inoffensive and not bad at all. Not exactly a great endorsement obviously.

Today, however, I was able to grab the roast beef sandwich at Butcher & Larder for lunch and one bite was enough to make me angry at some of the crap I've eaten this week. Every element of this sandwich was perfect - dense crusty bread that might have overwhelmed a small portion of roast beef, but this was an extremely generous serving of beef. And the roast beef had terrific flavor. Add in a little cheese and a brush of horseradish sauce (just enough for a little kick without overwhelming the beef) and it was a perfect sandwich. And at $10, with chips and a drink, I'm pretty sure I paid about the same as I would have at Potbelly (Though Potbelly would probably charge about $25 for a sandwich this good).

The manduguk dumpling soup at Nol-Bu Korean, 5844 W. Dempster St. Morton Grove. It really hit the spot.
http://translate.google.com/translate?s ... -bu.com%2F

Two Korean rec's in a row...

My dinner last night at Kim's Korean Restaurant, 358 Townline Rd, Mundelein, IL 60060 (847) 949-9900. Grilled Blue Mackerel consisted of the whole fish except tail and head, butterflied & grilled/pan-fried, served simply with only a lemon wedge. Using my chopsticks, I easily extricated the spine & many of the bones, leaving only the meaty fish, crunchy skin & great taste. Magnificent.

The owner (who likes me I guess) comped me a tasty side dish of clear noodles with carrot & onion (found out later to be chop chae). But it was almost not necessary with the normal sides of bubbling spicy tofu soup, soy-splashed rice & the wonderful panchan, which included green seaweed salad, kim chee, bean mung sprouts, fish cake strips, pickled daikon, and three or four more little dishes I cannot recall. Had a big bottle of OB Korean beer as a perfect complement.

It's always comforting to be satiated by such healthy food.

The rabbit dopio ravioli, smoked tomato, rabbit leg sugo, braised fennel at the Bristol. A fantastic dish, perfect for winter. The fennel is braised just enough and the smoked tomato gives the rabbit sauce an incredibly intense and deliciously warming flavor.

The Capricciosa pizza at Forno Rosso, 3719 N. Harlem in Chicago.

This thin crust beauty featured fresh mozzerella, tomato sauce, artichokes, prosciutto, mushrooms and olives, and it packed a flavor punch.

Fresh out of the 850 degree wood oven, this was as good a pizza as I've had in years.

The Pumpkin & Spirce skyr from Siggi's. Not quite like pie, but having this spread on cinnamon sugar grahams would make a nice treat with tea. What a delicious brunch! (I found this at the Whole Foods in Evanston.)

The schnitzel at the Radler, veal rump with mulled Pinot Noir, mandarin and honeycomb candy.

Yes, I'm a shill but that shit is DOPE.

Thin crust sausage pizza (well done) @ Marie's on Lawrence. Absolute heaven.

The pumpkin soup at Egg Harbor cafe in Lake Geneva.Wonderful flavor and super waitress!!

Liver Dumpling Soup, at Cafe Vienna, 2523 N. Clark.

OMG.

The great pimento cheeseburger and amazing fries from Big Jones.

Everything from our NYE dinner at Libertad in Skokie. Carrot-jalapeno soup; beet 'n' greens with citrus vinaigrette; salmon with bamboo rice and green beans; filet mignon with chipotle butter, 'shrooms and taters; and banana bread pudding with spicy chocolate ice cream...everything was outstanding. We made plans to come back on a weeknight when it's not so busy. Nice way to say goodbye to 2013!

Flawless chiles en nogada at Salpicon on Xmas Eve - absolutely perfect in every respect. Great service, wonderful company - couldn't have asked for a better holiday dinner!

Combo chicken and beef shawerma sandwich at The Best Shawerma, 6934 W 79th St, Burbank, IL 60459. Extraordinary.

Kai Tod, the fried chicken appetizer at Andy's Thai Kitchen. Hot, crispy, juicy, sweet, sour, funky, spicy, yummy.

Chocolate macaroons from the Bad Wolf Coffee Valentine's Day box. While everything in the box was really exceptionally excellent (!) the macaroons stood out has being the best we've ever had.

Thanks Jonathan!

For me, it was the chocolate raspberry cake--I ate 2 bites a day from the 13th until the 16th just to make it last longer. The chocolate and vanilla macarons were lovely, as was the canele and the truffles. But that cake...

My daughter and I have been on a quest for Chicago's best during her internship in the city. We've visited no less than seventy spots in two months with plenty more to try. This list represents our favorites from last week.
*The brisket at Green Street Smoked Meats is perfectly prepared and melts in your mouth. Best Texas BBQ anywhere including Austin.
*Smoked shrimp and sturgeon from Calumet Fisheries is equally impressive. First place I take out of towners.
*Oxtails and jerk wings at Garifuna Flava had us at hello! So thoroughly we came back again seven hours later to devour the entire menu. Worthy!
*Resto Pinoy serves wicked versions of poncit, sigsig, and caldareta. Filipinos make you feel right at home.
*If you're into wings either Great Seas or Take Me Out shares the same family recipe for Korean hottie's. Scrumptious!

Wow!!! Welcome to the board buckwildneal!

That's an impressive list for a week, especially considering there were probably some places that didn't even make the list.

Looking forward to hearing about more of your favorites.

I've been grooving on Filipino cuisine lately. Resto Pinoy is definitely now on my radar.

boudreaulicious wrote:Wow!!! Welcome to the board buckwildneal!

That's an impressive list for a week, especially considering there were probably some places that didn't even make the list.

Looking forward to hearing about more of your favorites.

Fantastic father/daughter activity. A little research and excellent recs have led us to more noteworthy meals than we could have ever imagined. Chicago is awesome! More to follow.

The tartar at Mexique. Unique and packs a ton of flavor. Among the best in the city

TARTARA DE CARNE
Beef Tartar, Caper Guacamole, Poached Eggs, White Truffle, Crostini

Chicken Liver Pate at The Publican. I do not remember all of the ingredients but the pate sat on top of elderberries and a elderberry sauce. It was outstanding.

turkob wrote:I've been grooving on Filipino cuisine lately. Resto Pinoy is definitely now on my radar.

Resto Pinoy is like visiting family. Be prepared to sing Sinatra tunes with the owner . Isla is impressive too. We went home happy from both. Filipino food is so diverse and packed with flavor. Merlas Kitchen is next on our list.

Buckwildneal,

Since it sounds like you get to Calumet Fisheries fairly often, I suggest sometime you give the salmon collar a try. Ask for a warm one. I think that's the best thing there.

Bw77

bw77 wrote:Buckwildneal,

Since it sounds like you get to Calumet Fisheries fairly often, I suggest sometime you give the salmon collar a try. Ask for a warm one. I think that's the best thing there.

Bw77

Will do! I learn something new every day. Thanks.

double fried sliced duck from Lao Sze Chuan - Uptown: tender duck (not fried like the twice cooked duck at Lao Hunan) with ma la and wok hay like whoa

The turducken terrine at Analogue.