Passerotto - Tasting Collective Dinner

 

I really like belonging to Tasting Collective because it has gotten me to several restaurants that are relatively new and have a pretty good buzz about them.  When we go we will be served a large family-style meal (6 to 10 courses) of  either menu favorites, or items that the chef wants to try out.  I recently went to Passerotto, a restaurant run by Chef Jennifer Kim and, despite the name is essentially a Korean restaurant using Midwestern ingredients and Central Italian influences.  Chef Kim was born and raised in the midwest to Korean parents.  Her culinary training brought her to Michelin Starred Bistrot des Saveurs in the South of France before coming back to Chicago to work with One Off Hospitality at Blackbird, Avec, and Nico Osteria.  She then opened acclaimed cured fish restaurant Snaggletooth in Lakeview.  Passerotto is her first solo venture, located in Andersonville.  It's a small space that's pretty rough.  It looks as if when they were putting the space together, they just stripped it to the brick walls.  The floor is mosaic tile and the ceiling, though unfinished, for the most part, (exposed ventilation ductwork and hanging lights), has a very cool tin tile cover.  There is a counter on one side of the room, that looks as if it might act as a bar, though when we were there, it was being used as a high top table with people sitting on both sides.  The drink menu for the evening was very short and simple and though they did have a variation on a Gin and Tonic (called a J&T), I decided to go with Off Color's Apex Predator Belgian Saison.

Our dinner tonight was essentially 6 courses, starting with Bay Scallops.  While Passerotto is not a seafood restaurant per se, it does still serve a lot of seafood.  The scallops were bite sized and very tender and served with XO Sauce (a seafood sauce from Hong Kong consisting of dried seafoods, cooked with Chili Peppers, and Garlic), and Soy Onion Puree.  The scallops, as I mentioned were very tender, but they also had a very nice flavor, with the onions, garlic, soy sauce, and chili peppers adding to the flavor.

The second course was a favorite because it tasted very good and was unlike anything that I have ever had.  Called Oden, it was skewered and consisted of a fried whitefish ball and several pieces of fried and cured fish, also whitefish, that really reminded me of bacon, both in taste and texture.  There was also a large green chili pepper that I expected to be a Shishito pepper because it was large and whole and most restaurants don't serve whole hot peppers to diners.  I was mistaken.  While the pepper was not Habanero hot, it was a hotter pepper than I would normally eat comfortably on it's own.  In the bottom of the dish in which the skewers were served was a Squash Curry which wa sweet, rich, a little spicy, and went well with the skewers.

For course number three, we stayed vegetarian with Sunchokes, Barley, Smoked Tofu, Apples, and Doenjang.  Sunchokes are the edible root of a type of Sunflower, also known as Jerusalem Artichokes.  Doenjang is a fermented soybean paste made with brine.  This was very savory and had a lot of textures.  The barley was chewy as are many edible grains, and the apples provided a sweet crispness.

Our next course was the dish closest to something that might be called Italian cuisine, although it also had a Korean twist.  It was a Lamb Ragu served with Rice Cakes instead of pasta, and topped with Parmesan.  This was very good.  The Rice cake was very similar to gnocchi and the lamb ragu provided a lot of flavor and the parmesan added savory cheese flaky goodness.

Our last savory course is a standard of Korean Cuisine, Kalbi, which, while the main part of it is the shortrib, could be put together in any number of ways.  In addition to the Shortrib, it had for dishes of banchan, traditional Korean sides that can be eaten on their own or with the short rib, in this case we had Green Onion Kimchi, Pickled Cucumbers, Pickled Water Chestnuts, and Korean Potatoes,  Sticky Rice, and Sesame Leaves.  With the sesame leaves, the dishes could be eaten as Ssam (wrapped in the sesame leaves).  I did try things independently and all together and everything was very good.  My favorite was the rib with sticky rice, some kimchi, and the cucumbers, but everything was good.

Our dessert was small and simple, but after the Kalbi, we were all pretty full, so a small dessert was fine.  It was a Kuri Squash Mousse, with Pomegranate Molasses, Pomegranates, and Almonds.  The mousse was sweet with a slightly savory finish.  The Pomegranate added some sweetness, and the almonds added some texture.  It was a very good dinner with a very friendly staff and a very good chef.  I will definitely return.            

Pizza Night at Sunday Dinner Club

 

 

I really like Sunday Dinner Club.  They are an "Underground" supper club, located above Honey Butter Fried Chicken, and are in fact the founders and owners.  They do a wide variety of meals throughout the year, most of which are BYOB.  For those dinners held at their space, besides about one set of wine dinners per quarter and a Three Floyds beer dinner held in the fall, all of the rest are BYOB.  With these dinners mentioned, you are also able to bring a bottle, but they will already be serving beer or wine.  About once a quarter, they will have a dinner at Half Acre Brewery's Taproom.  This dinner was at their space and was all about pizza.  The entrance to the space is next to the entrance to Honey Butter Fried Chicken and is basically unmarked.  There is a sticker that says SDC, but unless you know that that's Sunday Dinner Club, it's pretty anonymous.  The door is also locked and you have to be buzzed up.  The stairway is narrow and has several plates as decoration at the top of the stairs.  The stairs open up to a room with three communal tables which will seat about 26 people and the menus were set at every place setting.  When we were all seated and had started to enjoy our beer and wine, I had a Double IPA from a small brewery in Bridgman, MI that I enjoy called Tapistry Brewing, the team came out to introduce themselves and tell us about Sunday Dinner Club and our dinner.

While I did say that the dinner was all about pizza, while it was the focus, we did eat more than pizza.  Our first course was Tomato Conserva Arancini, risotto balls filled with mozzarella and reduced tomato sauce with spices, served with a very nice Pesto Sauce.  The outside was crisp though thin.  The balls could be eaten by hand, though you did have to be careful to hold them lightly to prevent putting your fingers through the crust.  The risotto in side was very tender and flavorful after being cooked in the tomato sauce and the cheese was melted and gooey, which could easily be stretched out.  Arancini are very good, but these were especially good with good texture and flavor.

Our first salad, there were actually two, was kind of an Antipasto salad made with Chili and Honey Roasted Cauliflower, Ricotta, and Mortadella, a cured meat similar to bologna.  The cauliflower was the feature of the dish with a nice sweet and spicy flavor.  The ricotta added a creamy and bitter tang, and the mortadella added a savory flavor.  It was both simple and complex and was eaten very quickly.

For our second salad we had a more traditional salad with Apples, Pecans, Chicories (Bitter Leafy Greens similar to lettuce, Arugula, Radicchio and Endive) and Warm Bacon Dressing.  This was more traditionally salad and was pretty good.  As opposed to a salad that might be built from a restaurant salad bar, this was focused with the greens providing a bitter flavor, the apples, sliced very thin, adding a sweet/tart crunch, and the nuts providing a nutty flavor and a crunchy texture.  The bacon dressing, added a sweet meaty flavor which moderated the bitter of the chicories, and provided enough moisture to hold things together.

There were actually three pizza on the menu and they were all served family style, although they were cut.  The first pizza was a Chicago Thin that was similar to a Margherita Pizza.  It was made with a Sourdough Crust and was topped with Tomatoes, Fresh Chevre, a soft goat cheese, and Oregano.  It was also cut in squares.  I will never understand the logic of cutting a round pizza in squares, though it is a Chicago tradition and will tolerate it.  The pizza looked like a Margherita, though with the sourdough crust and chevre, it was more tart than the standard Margherita.  It also had a nice crispy texture.  It was simple, but with good ingredients, it was a very good piece of pie.

 The second pie was called a Grandma Pizza and was a white pie.  It started with Garlic Cream, Roasted Delicata Squash, and Magia Negra Cheese, a hard, raw goat's milk cheese, similar to Manchego.  While I liked the first pizza, this was a big step up.  This was also square cut, but since it was a square pie, it was understandable.  The garlic cream gave it a pronounced garlic flavor which the squash moderated with it's sweetness.  The Magia Negra had a somewhat sharp flavor which complemented the garlic cream and provided a counterpoint to the squash.

Our last pizza, also square, was also called a Grandma Pizza (a homemade pizza you might have at grandma's house), but it had more traditional pizza flavors with Tomatoes, Italian Sausage, Mozzarella.  It also had some sweet spiciness provided by Candied Jalapenos.  This seemed to be the most popular pie, I'm guessing because it was the most traditional.  There were leftovers of the last two pies, which I was elected to take home (not that I minded), though there was more of the white pie than the red.

For our final course, dessert, everyone was pretty full, but dessert was pretty simple and light.  It was an Italian Cookie Plate with a Chocolate Drizzled Pizzele, a very thin and light sugar cookie, a Fennel Cookie, and a Lemon Glazed Cornmeal Cookie, also called an Italian or Mexican Wedding Cake.  While all of the cookies were good, the Pizzelle with it's thin crunchy texture and light sweetness with a little chocolate and the Lemon Glazed Cornmeal Cake were memorable.  I really enjoy Sunday Dinner Club and this dinner was one of their better ones.  I will continue to go and enjoy what they put out.    

Animale

I have really liked Osteria Langhe, the Piedmontese (Northern Italian) restaurant in Logan Square, so I was excited to read that they would be opening a fast casual place also in Logan Square focusing on a few pastas and sauces.  Called Animale, its tag line is One that Feeds Itself to Survive and its location is under the Western Blue Line Station.  With a very elaborate mural on the outside, it's difficult to miss.  Inside it's kind of small and kind of reminds me of a cross between a diner and a ramen place.  There is a narrow dining area between the front window and the (windowed) kitchen.  There are several 4 tops beside the front windows and a counter looking through a window to the kitchen.  There is a wider area to the right of the kitchen with more tables and muraled walls.  The entrance is where the two pieces of the dining room meet.  The tables and chairs are kind of cheap and dineresque and the counter overlooking the kitchen has padded stools.  This is where I sat because it gave me something to watch and I thought it would be more comfortable.  There was a box at each table and several on the counter, containing menus, napkins, and silverware, with salt and pepper beside it. 

Looking at the menu, I saw that they serve beer, wine, and cocktails.  Their beer selection is mostly local with craft beer prices and the wine was relatively inexpensive with glasses for $9 and bottles for $35.  I was very surprised to see how inexpensive their cocktails were.  All were $10 or less and most were $9.  Because of this, I decided to go with one of their signature cocktails, the Italian Mulo, a spin on a Moscow Mule, using Modest Vodka, Cocchi Americano, Ginger Beer, Lime, and Prosecco.  A Moscow Mule has quite a bit of carbonation, is pretty tart, and a spicy finish from the Ginger Beer.  This had the carbonation and some tartness, but it was surprisingly bitter, approaching Negroni bitterness.  It wasn't bad, but I don't know if I would order it again.

For my appetizer, I picked a classic of Sicilian cuisine, Arancini, which literally means Little Orange.  What they actually are are deep fried risotto balls with cheese.  This version used Saffron and Gorgonzola and was served over Pink Peppercorn Basil Cream.  The balls were crispy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside with an herbal and slightly bitter flavor provided by the saffron and gorgonzola.  The dipping cream melded well with the internal flavors with a nice herbal flavor from the basil and a spicy and floral flavor from the pink peppercorn.

With as much starch as I was getting from the arancini and what I would be getting from the pasta, I thought that I should at least pretend to eat a little healthy and order some vegetables.  I ordered something very seasonal, Zucca, which contained Summer Squash, Zucchini, Goat Cheese, Roasted Shallots, Toasted Almonds, and Curried Olive Oil.  I love pan fried squash and this reminded me of a vegetarian version of a dish that my Mexican grandmother used to make.  The squash was perfectly cooked, the almonds added texture, and the curried olive oil and goat cheese added flavor.  It was very good and almost big enough to be counted as a main course.  I could have stopped here, but there was still the pasta and the dessert to be had.

With the pasta, you build what you want in three steps, first you choose the weight of pasta that you want, either 4 oz or 8 oz.  Next you choose your pasta.  Plin, a small hand pinched ravioli that is a specialty of the house is only served in the 4 oz size.  Other pastas offered are Gnocchi, Pappardelle, and Cavatappi.  I went with the Gnocchi.  Finally, you choose the sauce with which you want your pasta served.  The sauces do change somewhat with the seasons.  So for my final dish, I chose a 4 oz portion of Gnocchi with a Pesto Alfredo Sauce (Diced Chicken Breast, Basil Hazelnut Pesto, Cherry Tomato Medley, and Parmesan Cream).  I went with the 4 oz size, because of everything else that I ordered.  The Gnocchi was very tender and the pesto sauce was very flavorful and the tomatoes added a light acid bite.  The chicken did add a little texture, but it wasn't critical and would have been fine without it.

With all of this good food, I had to at least try dessert.  I was pretty full when I got to dessert, so I was looking for something light and i went for their Panna Cotta.  This Panna Cotta was Vanilla and was served with Chocolate, Hazelnuts, and Raspberries.  Admittedly, it might partially be due to the fact that I was fairly full by the time I got to dessert, but I have to say that it fact kind of obligatory and an afterthought.  It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't stellar as was the pasta and the arancini.  It felt as if they felt that they needed something on the menu for dessert, so they might as well do vanilla pudding.  I will definitely have the pasta again, but I may very well waive the dessert next time.  

Ella Elli - Brunch

With three posts in a row about brunch, it could be implied that I have switched simply to doing brunch.  That is not the case.  It is simply that the places that I have gone to recently for dinner I have to been to before.  With that said, there are a lot of places for brunch and I rarely repeat.  I recently chose Ella Elli, a restaurant just off the Southport Corridor, that has a classic look and specializes in globally inspired cuisine (focusing on France and Italy).  It has an older brick exterior with large windows trimmed in black.  There is also a nice sidewalk patio surrounded by a trellis with the same black accent.  The interior dining area looks both classic and comfortable with comfortable furniture with a classic look by a fireplace used for waiting.  The bar in the back of the room has has a hardwood top and a light base and a tall shelf for their liquor selection behind the bar.  Besides the windows, lighting is provided by large white hanging globes and a few smaller globes on stands by the lounge area.  Photo credits for the restaurant go to Rich Frachey.

In addition to coffee (La Colombe) and juice, there is a pretty good brunch cocktail selection that goes beyond Bloody Marys and Mimosas.  While I did have some coffee , I also had a coffee based cocktail called Cold Buzz.  Served in a Coupe Glass, it started with Old Forester Bourbon, a liquor I will generally pass on, but with the addition of Amaro, La Colombe Cold Brew Coffee, and Demerara (raw sugar) Syrup.  It made for a very good cocktail.  It was bitter, sweet, with flavors of oak from the bourbon, and a good coffee flavor.  The bourbon and coffee paired very well and the amaro and demerara syrup tied it together well.  It was actually kind of a spin on an Old Fashioned with coffee added and I really liked it.

While there is a Bakery Board on the menu which provides a variety of pastries for sharing, I was already going to be getting a lot of bread with my main course so I went with a simple Fruit Salad for the sweet side of my brunch.  Admittedly, when I order fruit salad, I get a little worried because it will frequently have canteloupe, a fruit that I really don't care for.  I was very happy to see that this fruit salad had a wide variety of fruit:  Grapes, Plums, Blueberries, and Golden Raspberries.  It also did not contain any canteloupe which made me very happy.  It was one of the best fruit salds I have had in a while.

My main course was essentially a breakfast pizza.  It was served on a board and they called it a Prosciutto Flatbread, but aside from the shape (rectangular), it was essentially the same as a pizza.  In addition to the Crispy Crust and the Prosciutto, it also had Arugula, Crispy Potatoes, a Farm Egg, and Parmagiano-Reggiano Cheese.  It was pretty big and could have been shared fairly easily, but I enjoyed it by myself.

I really enjoyed brunch here.  The place has a classic look and is very comfortable, the staff is friendly, and the food is very good.  I will have to return for dinner sometime. 

      

 

Jianna - Greenville, SC

 

The last meal out that I had on vacation was at an Italian place.  Now the stereotypical Italian place is a pasta and red sauce place with a rustic look.  Many that I have been to have paintings on the walls that make it look as if the place is very damaged with cracked walls, and an open ceiling.  While Jianna does feature pasta, the space has a very modern and clean look, located in a second floor space with a balcony.  The walls are white, and while there is some trellis work around the bar, which occupies the center of the dining room, the trellises are not decorated with grape vines.  The food would be familiar in many Italian restaurants, though the dishes are frequently treated with a modern twist and many are served as small plates.  I was with a large party, so we ordered a large number of appetizers to share, though our entrees were eaten mostly individually.  Most of our appetizers would easily be recognized as Italian, but there was also a raw bar that featured oysters and fish.  From that selection we went with some Tuna with Lemon Gel, Hazelnut, Arugula, and Olive Oil.  This would look familiar in a sushi joint, but it did have an Italian twist.  It was tender, and flavorful with some great flavors from the lemon, arugula, and olive oil.  The Ciabatta served with the appetizers was grilled, so it had a nice crispy exterior with a nice airy interior.  Also on the appetizer list was Gnocchi with Smoked Bacon, Tomato, Chives, and Parmesan Brodo (broth).  The gnocchi was soft and had a rich flavor added to with the bacon, chives, and tomato, and the Parmesan broth.  grilled Octopus was served with Arugula, Potato, Guaciale, Pistachio, and Sherry-Lemon Vinaigrette.  I love octopus and this was very good.  The Italian Cheese plate came with three cheese as well as Grapes, Pickled Radishes, Fig Jam, Almonds, and Ciabatta Toast.  It was simple as cheese plates usually are, but as long as the cheese is good, which these cheeses were, it fulfills its purpose.  Generally when a cheese plate is ordered, a charcuterie plate is as well.  The plate that fits this bill is was the San Danielle Prosciutto, a sweeter version than the di Parma version.  The last of our appetizers was the Polpette, Veal and Pork Meatballs, with Polenta, Tomato Sugo (sauce), and Parmagiana.  They were very tender and flavorful and very good meatballs, but of our appetizers, I think my favorite was the Octopus.  They had a very good wine and cocktail list, but I decided to take it easy with a Lonerider Shotgun Betty Hefeweizen (from Raleigh, NC).

In many Italian places, the menu is divided into antipasti (appetizer), Secondi (pasta), Terzi (large entrees), and Dulci (dessert).  The menu at Jianna was divided in the same manner although it was written in English.  Generally, if you order pasta, you won't order from the entree section, and this was the case as well.  Our group seemed to split fairly evenly between pastas and entrees.  I went with a pasta.  After the large number of appetizers, I was looking for something a little lighter, so i went with the Casarecce, wich is similar to a rotini that has been more loosely rolled.  The casarecce was served with Lump Crab, Corn, Peas, Lemon, and Chili Flakes.  It had a lot of crab and vegetables, but it was pretty light.  The lemon gave it a tart flavor that really did away with a need for any sauce.  It was very good and I liked it a lot.

To finish things off, it seemed that after our large meals, we were going to wave off dessert.  While I do like dessert and I thought the food we had been served thus far had been great, I had eaten enough that I would have been fine to go without dessert.  Despite this thought, we still ordered several desserts to share among us.  We started with a New York Style Cheesecake with Blueberries, continued with a Honey Lavender Panna Cotta, and finished with a Salted Caramel Semifreddo.  The cheesecake was simple and straightforward and was quickly gone.  The Honey Lavender Panna Cotta (a panna cotta is a sweetened cream dessert thickened with gelatin) was sweet and floral with a nice bit of tart sweetness from the strawberries.  I thought it sounded good, but there were a few that seemed at first to be a little intimidated by it.  After everyone tasted it, they joked that they would leave the rest for me.  I had a few more bites, but then left the table before finishing it and was happy to see it was mostly gone when I returned.  The last dessert, the semifreddo (semi-frozen) was served with Biscotti Crumbs, Caramel Sauce, and Shaved Chocolate.  It had the texture of a frozen mousse and a fantastic flavor and was an easy sell.

I really enjoyed my dinner here.  The food was fantastic, the service was very good, and it was an interesting spin on an Italian restaurant and Italian food.     

Monteverde - Restaurant Week

My second previously unvisited restaurant that I dined at during restaurant week was the very popular Monteverde in the West Loop.  Run by Top Chef Runner Up and former Executive Chef at Italian fine dining restaurant Spiaggia, Sarah Grueneberg, it is a temple to housemade pasta, which ironically, was something that I did not have.  Monteverde literally means Green Mountain and, unsurprisingly the main color scheme is olive green.  The building in which it is located is a large blocky brick building with green awnings.  The main dining room is shaped like an "L" with the bar on the inside corner and the entrance on the outside corner.  The pasta making station is in the same area as the bar and there is a counter located right after you enter (the outside of the vertical part of the L) behind the host station where you could buy bags of dried pasta.  In the center of the top shelf, there were several volumetric flasks, a piece of scientific glassware to accurately measure or deliver a specific volume of liquid.  It appears, though, that they were just there for design because when I asked the guy manning the counter what they were used for, he had no idea.  There was a second dining room on the road side of the L that looked like it held the wine collection although I didn't go to get a closer look.  The dining furniture in our dining room was mismatched.  The tables by the windows looked to be heavy wood, there were several marble topped round tables in the center.  I sat on what looked like a long patio couch that had three two tops sitting in front of it and was very comfortable.

As soon as I was seated, I was given a Mason jar of Italian Breadsticks (called Grissini).  They were crisp, buttery, very long, very hard to stop eating once you started, and a nice start to what would be a very good meal.

There was a wine pairing offered for the Restaurant Week 3 course Prix Fixe, but I wasn't really interested in wine, so I ordered a cocktail.  Called a Sardinian Bandit, it started with Death's Door Gin, Mirto Judu (a Sardinian Liqueur made from the berries of the Myrtle Plant), Lemon, Absinthe, and Egg White.  It was sweet, tart, a little, bitter, with an herbal and berry flavor, and a light egg white topping.  

While the Restaurant Week menu was 3 courses, I wanted to get a broader view of their regular menu so I added another dish.  While I could have added a pasta dish, the pasta dishes are essentially entrees and I wasn't sure that I could comfortably eat two entrees, in addition to an appetizer and dessert.  As it was,  I decided on a very nice Hamachi Crudo, basically the Italian version of sushi.  It came with Tomato Chile Water, Avocado, Mint, Fennel, and Blood Orange.  The Hamachi, the Japanese name for Pacific Yellowtail, was thinly sliced, very tender, and had a great flavor.  The tomato chile water gave it a spicy brightness that finished with some sweetness from the blood orange.  The avocado was light and delicate while adding a "green" flavor to the dish.  While it was all good, I think the tomato chile water was what made it.

For my second appetizer, I went with Polpettine Fritte, Country Ham Croquettes with Red Eye Gravy.  The croquettes were crispy, filled with chopped ham and, I think, a little cheese.  They were all topped with a little hot sauce to enhance the flavor.  They were sitting in a bed of red eye gravy which seemed to be very similar to tarter sauce with coffee.  The gravy may have sounded a bit unusual, but it was good and went well with the croquettes.

My main course seemed to be one of those things that just shouldn't work.  It was a Skate Wing Schnitzel with Chanterelle Mushrooms, Kraut, Sesame, Roasted Beets, and Bacon.  Skate Wing is really good, but I ordered this because this seemed to be one of those things that just shouldn't work (Skate and Schnitzel). The sweetness from the beets and bacon tied well with the sweet and sour flavor of the kraut and the sesame kind of gave it an Asian flavor (which tied with the kraut).  The mushrooms added a sweet and earthy flavor and it all tied together to a very good sweet and sour German-Asian Mashup.

And then there was dessert.  I am always a sucker for a good Panna Cotta and this panna cotta sounded really good.  It was listed as a Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Winter Citrus.  The Winter Citrus was Blood Orange.  There were also Housemade Marshmallows and Graham Cracker Crumbs contributing which kind of reminded me of trying to eat a pie upside down.  It was sweet, with a slight tartness, a great vanilla flavor, and the graham cracker crumbs added a nice crunch.  This dessert finished off a great dinner here.  It was very friendly, the atmosphere was very welcoming, and the food was very good.  I will have to return one day so I can actually try the pasta.