Soulwich

While Evanston really isn't that far from Chicago, in fact it is an immediate suburb, because of the layout of roads and highways, it does take some planning to get there if you aren't going to be driving there.  There are several nice restaurants at a variety of price points.  I was going to be coming to Evanston for reasons other than eating but as I was going to be there during dinner time, it made sense to eat there.  I had had a large meal earlier in the day so I was looking for something lighter.  A friend had mentioned Soulwich earlier and it sounded interesting so I decided to check it out.  Located on a street in downtown Evanston that presently doesn't have a lot of active business, it is easy to forget about. It's a small restaurant that's relatively easy to find.  The storefront is a window wall, the walls are white, and there is some Asian art hanging on the walls. There is a long bar along one side with tables on the other.  The tables are typical sandwich shop tables but in a variety of pastel colors.  The staff was very friendly and helpful.  Soulwich specializes in sandwiches and salads using Asian ingredients.  Sandwiches are generally not the first thing that come to mind when I think of Asian food but then I think of a Vietnamese Banh Mi and can see it.  Soulwich has eight sandwiches and three salads using a variety of Asian styles including Burmese, Thai, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, and Indonesian.  All of the sandwiches can be vegetarian, although depending on the sandwich, you can add beef, chicken, or pork.  Everything looked very good so it was a little tough to decide what I wanted.  I finally decided though, to go with the Burmese Coconut Curry Sandwich with Pork.  Aside from the pork, the sandwich came with Pickled Carrots, Cucumber, Chili Aioli, Cilantro, Burmese Coconut Curry, Onion, Raisin, and Coconut which is served on toasted, locally made artisanal bread.  The bread was like the best baguettes, crispy and crunchy crust, and a soft and fluffy interior with lots of air holes.  The carrots and cucumber were crispy and fresh.  The meat was very tender and the coconut curry mixed with the chili aioli was very sweet and spicy.  The sandwiches also came with a side.  You could either get housemade chips in original, wasabi, or Burmese flavor, or Asian slaw, which has no mayo.  As I had a Burmese flavored sandwich, I decided to go with the Burmese flavored chips which were very crunchy, salty, and a little spicy.  As far drinks were concerned, they have water, tea, lemonade, and ginger ale.  While I do like ginger ale, I grew up with Vernors so I think that most ginger ales is pretty bland.  The ginger ale served here is very strong and very good.

Suffice it to say that I liked everything about this.  The food was good, the people were friendly, and the space looked nice.  The variety of sandwiches was really interesting and appetizing and I will definitely have to return when I go to Evanston again.        

Big Jones - Brunch

I make a point of going to brunch every month and invite a bunch of people to come with me.  I don't expect everyone to join me and in fact, have had a different group of friends join me every month.  This month, we went to Big Jones, a restaurant that specializes in Southern food.  Located in Andersonville around a wide variety of other restaurants, it is in an area that draws a lot of foot traffic and deservedly so.  The restaurant is small, seating about 50.  The host station is on the left as you enter the restaurant.  There is a bar on the right side of the restaurant (looking into the restaurant from the front) and seating on the left.  There are a few tables on the right in the back beyond the bar.  This is where we sat.  We ordered, and while we were waiting were brought some beignets.  These were great.  They were very light and airy and covered with powdered sugar.  I imagine that if it wasn't covered with powdered sugar it would also be very flaky.

For starters, I started with Tête De Cochon Cajun-Style otherwise known as Hog's Head Pâté with Brandy and Peppercorns.  It was served with Pickled Red Onions, Bourbon and Brown Sugar Mustard, and Rye Bread.  I do like pâté but this was a little different than the pâté that I have had previously.  Most have a uniform texture and are pretty smooth.  This was pretty chunky with pieces of meat actually visible in the patty.  It was spicy and had a sharp taste but it was really good and went great with the mustard and red onions on the rye bread as an open faced sandwich.

There were many things on the menu that really looked interesting and it did take me some time to decide on what I might be interested in eating but I finally decided on something.  I ended up getting the Shrimp and Grits.  This was kind of a risky move for me because I have had Shrimp and Grits at Hot Chocolate Restaurant which set a very high bar.  I like Shrimp and Grits so I decided to try it out.  With this, the shrimp were gulf jumbo shrimp served in a Tasso Ham Gravy seasoned with Worcestershire Sauce and the grits were cheese grits.  It wasn't quite as good as the shrimp and grits at Hot Chocolate but they did taste very good and I didn't regret ordering it. 

After everything, I was very satisfied with my brunch.  It was very good, and I would really like to come back to try more of the menu.  I would also be happy to come back for dinner some time.   

Skinnie Piggy

While I do like cupcakes, I did question getting a dozen since I live by myself and had no plans of visiting anyone anytime soon.  I did however have a gift certificate for a dozen cupcakes from Skinnie Piggy that was going to expire so I decided to take the dive.  I was asked, when I mentioned that I had a dozen cupcakes, how I was going to eat them all and I simply replied, "One at a time" which is how I have attacked them.  I actually had to order the cupcakes several days in advance in order to ensure that I was able to get the full variety of cupcakes that they offered for a given day.  While they offer a few standard cupcakes every day, they offer a changing variety three times a week.  When I got there, I was given a couple of boxes with six cupcakes each.  The box contained mostly the regulars (4 regulars and 2 specials) and the second box contained mostly specials (4 regulars and 2 specials).  I thought I would start with the first box whic contained Vanilla, Lemon Drop, Everything Nice, Birthday Cake, Salted Caramel, and Chocolate.  Vanilla and Chocolate were as you might expect:  Vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting and chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting.  While all cupcakes are good, I found the Vanilla to be the least interesting.  Birthday Cake was simply a vanilla cupcake with rainbow sprinkles and was also pretty boring (for a cupcake).  Salted Caramel was used a vanilla cupcake but with salted caramel frosting it was very definitely elevated.  The Lemon Drop was a lemon cupcake with lemon buttercream and topped with a candied lemon zest.  It was nice and tart and very good.  The most interesting cupcake in this box though was Everything Nice (as in Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice, that's what little girls are made of.  I will guess that it started as a vanilla cupcake but when it was done, it was removed from it's wrapper and rolled in sugar and cinnamon.  It seemed to have a bit of a crust under the sugar and cinnamon.  I am going to guess that it was formed by the sugar melting on the warm cupcake.

While the first box was good, the more adventurous stuff was in the second box.  In it we had Macon, Evil Twin, Red Velvet, Strawberry, Nanners, and Chocolate Express.  Some of the names of the cupcakes in the second box are obvious but there are some that require explanation.  With Macon, I might have also called it an Elvis.  It is a peanut butter cupcake filled with chocolate ganache, topped with brown sugar buttercream frosting and topped with a piece of candied bacon.  Add some marshmallow cream and banana and it would definitely have to be called an Elvis.  In any case, it was good.  The bacon, being sweet, didn't offer a huge contrast to the cupcake but it did contribute positively.  The Evil Twin was probably my favorite cupcake.  It was a chocolate cupcake topped with chocolate chip cheesecake and with cream cheese frosting.  It was sweet and chocolatey but also had a nice tang from the cheesecake and cream cheese frosting.  Red Velvet and Strawberry were what they sounded like although the Strawberry cupcake does have strawberries embedded in the buttercream.  The Nanners, while it did sound good, I wasn't terribly impressed.  It was a banana cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting.  The frosting was nice but the cake itself was a bit dense.  The Chocolate Express was also a very good cupcake.  It was a chocolate cupcake filled topped with espresso cream with Nutella cream cheese frosting and topped with  hazelnuts.

While Skinnie Piggy does not make the absolute best cupcakes that I have ever had, but they are cupcakes and are good.  I would buy these cupcakes again without thought.  Even if they do have a few cupcakes that I may not choose again, they definitely have many that are very good.  

  

Bread & Wine - Brunch

I enjoy meeting friends for brunch and their are a lot of places in the city where to have brunch.  As the friends that I generally dine with think that I am an expert on good restaurants so they leave it to me to choose a nice place.  I like to bounce around and try different places in different neighborhoods so this month we went to Bread & Wine in Old Irving Park.  While it is located on Irving Park Road, it's a few blocks away from other restaurants in the neighborhoods.  It is located in a former laundromat so the building is a single floor with a front window wall and it's own parking lot, a rarity in the city.  The dining room has a very open floor plan with tables on the right side of the dining room and two long counters, one around the bar and the other in front of the open kitchen.  The left side of the room has wine and beer, and a selection of specialty products like Vosges Chocolate and Terry's Toffee for sale.  There is a 10% discount on market purchases on the same day that you dine.  For brunch, I sat at the bar where I had a good view of the rest of the restaurant.  There were many things on the menu that looked really appetizing but I decided to start out with Cured Pork Belly, a Crispy Poached Egg, Cheddar Grits, and Fresno Chili Hot Sauce.  There was also a lettuce garnish.  Bacon is cured pork belly so this was prepared the same way as bacon but it was served as a steak cut.  I have to say that I really liked bacon steak.  The egg was interesting.  I liked it but it did puzzle me a little.  Poached eggs are not crispy.  I have to think that it had to have been fried to finish it.  The cheddar grits were as one might expect of grits with cheddar cheese and the spicy and tangy Fresno Chili Sauce went well with everything.

While this was very good and I could have stopped here, I decided to go for a brunch dessert.  There were a couple of things that sounded interesting but I had to go with something that to me was potentially a little challenging.  I had the Salted Caramel Popcorn Panna Cotta.  The dish arrived in a small mason jar.  The panna cotta was on the bottom and was topped with the caramel sauce.  The popcorn was also caramel coated and topped off the jar.  The dish was very pretty and looked very appetizing.  As I have said before, I am not a huge fan of popcorn.  I can appreciate how it can contribute visually to a dish but generally do not care for it texturally.  In this case though, the crunchiness of the popcorn was the perfect complement to the creaminess of the panna cotta.  And what's not to like about salted caramel?  It was a great dish.

I really enjoyed brunch here and will definitely be back.  The food was very good and the staff was friendly.  There are many things on the menu that look appetizing that I will have to be back for.  I will also have to come back some time for dinner.
    

Letizia's Fiore

I first encountered Letizia Sorano several years ago when she opened an Italian Bakery and Coffee House in Wicker Park, Letizia's Natural Bakery.  I will grant that Italian pastries are not as elaborate or ornate as French pastries but they are very fresh and good and go well with a dark Italian roasted coffee.  Over time, they added paninis and eventually opened a restaurant and wine bar, Enoteca Roma, next to the bakery.  I was very excited when I heard that she was opening up a restaurant and wine bar in my neighborhood.  It took a while but after about two years, Letizia's Fiore finally opened and while it has been over a year since it has opened, I finally made it here for dinner recently.  The building is two stories with a stucco exterior and a painting of purple flowers on the front and side walls.  There are two exterior dining areas, a small area in the front with a few tables and a much larger area along the side of the building.  Entering the building, you will first encounter the wine bar.  There is a bar on one side of the room with a wine rack and a brick oven behind it.  There is seating at the bar and at a few tables in the room.  The dining room is a large room beyond the bar.  I wasn't looking for anything fancy so I sat at a small table in the bar and listened to the light 70's rock that played in the background.  As this was a wine bar, I was going to drink some wine, and as you might expect, as it was an Italian wine bar, the wines that it featured were from Italy.  It was pretty cool though, for the list, they had a map of Italy and there was a wine from every region.  While I am not a wine expert in any stretch of the imagination, I am familiar with a few wines and know a few styles that I like.  I had had and liked Sicilian wine before and as I was planning on ordering some Sicilian food, I thought it would match well.  For my wine I ordered a Caruso & Minini Inzolia 2009, which was crisp and a little tart.  For my food I had to go with the Arancini.  Ever since I first heard of Arancini, I have had to order them when I see them on a menu.  What they are are stuffed and deep fried risotto balls.  I had heard many good things about the arancini here, so I had to order it.  I had a choice of Italian Sausage or Spinach and Mushroom.  I thought the spinach and mushroom would go better with the wine so that is what I ordered.  As you can see, three arancini were served with marinara sauce and a little cheese.  They were crisp and browned on the outside, but the risotto on the inside was slightly green (from the spinach) and very tender.  It was also stuffed with mushrooms and mozzarella.  It was very good even if a little tricky to eat.  I essentially had to split it open and fork it from the inside out.  The arancini are a definite win and I will definitely order them again.

For my main course, I was a little torn because there were several things that really looked good.  I figured though that since this place is a pizzeria that makes Neapolitan Pizzas, that would probably be the way to go.  I ordered a Rucola Pizza which started with Arugula (hence the name), sliced cherry tomatoes, Limoncello Dressing, and shaved Parmagiano.  I also added Speck (cold smoked prosciutto) because while it did sound good to me as it was.  I did want something a little more substantial than a salad on flat bread.  I will say that I thought that the individual ingredients were very good.  It was difficult though, to have a bite that contained everything though because there was nothing that was holding it together.

I would have liked to have shown a picture of my dessert because it was a thing of beauty but my phone decided it was time to conk out on me so I was unable to get one.  I got a slice of Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake.  It was very dark and had a thick topping of ganache on top.  It was topped with chocolate syrup and the plate was dusted with cocoa powder.  It was dense and bittersweet, and while visually it was not obvious that it was a raspberry cake, you could taste raspberries in every bite.  As I said, it looked beautiful but I think it may have tasted even better than it looked.

I really liked Letizia's Fiore and will definitely be back.  The food was very good, I will definitely have to have more arancini, the staff was friendly, and I do think it would be a nice place to learn more about Italian wines that you might want to become more familiar with.

 

Solga

In the Chicago area, most people will start their Asian food experience with Chinese food.  If they are a little more adventurous, they may then try Japanese or Thai.  If you want to delve any deeper than that, you may need to do a little digging.  While there is China town for Chinese food, Chinese cuisine is ubiquitous enough that you don't have to go to Chinatown to have it.  The same is true for Japanese and Thai restaurants.  this cannot be said however, for Vietnamese or Korean restaurants and in order to dine at a Vietnamese or Korean restaurant, you really have to go to specific neighborhoods.  I knew of the Asian populations around Uptown but I just recently discovered a Korean population in West Ridge which is on the far north side of the city.  I had a craving for Korean food and and traveling to West Ridge was easier to travel to after work than is Uptown, so I did some looking and discovered Solga, a Korean Barbecue where I dined this week.  While the building is large, it really doesn't look like much.  It's a large, single-story, free-standing building with a parking lot that looks like it was built in the 70's.  The windows were all covered and while there is a door in the front, the entrance is actually in the back of the building and not really obvious.  From the look outside, I expected a very dark interior.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The entrance opened into a hallway, one direction leading to the dining room which was surprisingly bright.  The booths and tables are made of dark wood but the walls are white and are covered with Korean writing (printed).  The lighting was overhead and bright and there were also several hoods in the ceiling for grilling at the tables.  I was seated at a booth and made my order.  While I was waiting for my first course, I noticed that my only utensils consisted of chopsticks and a long handled spoon.  This was actually kind of an issue because when my appetizer arrived, I had no idea how to eat it. I ordered what was called a Kim Chee Jun.  What it was was a kim chee pancake that was cut into six pieces.  As I had no way to cut it, I decided that I was going to have to eat it with the chopsticks which was pretty awkward.  I ended up trying to grab it in the middle and wolfing down each piece quickly.  It was served with a small dish of soy sauce.  I tried the pancake with and without the soy sauce and it was good both ways.  As far as texture is concerned, it reminded me more of a frittata than a pancake.  It tasted however, like a tangy pancake.  Despite the fact that it was a little difficult to eat, it was good.

My main course actually arrived a little early.  It came while I was still trying to figure out how to eat the pancake.  I ordered Jae-Yook-Bok-Um which was thinly sliced pork loin and vegetables (onions, peppers, and carrots) stir-fried in a spicy sauce and topped with green onions and sesame seeds.  The plate came out sizzling and after it cooled off, it was much easier to eat than was the pancake.  The meat was tender, the vegetables were crisp, and it was all very spicy.  On the menu it also said that entrees would be served with a selection of side dishes.  Having been to a Korean restaurant before I had seen this before but I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed by what they brought out.

They brought out soup, eight sides, and a dish of purple rice.  The sides were all for the most part fairly simple but it did make for a huge meal.  Included among the sides were bean sprouts, pickles in a spicy sauce, kim chee, eggs, potatoes, broccoli, a different type of kim chee, and dumplings.  The sides were decidedly less spicy than the pork and the mild things like the bean sprouts, broccoli, and rice helped to soothe my palate so I could actually taste everything.  The restaurant didn't serve dessert, but that was fine because from the Asian desserts that I have had, I haven't been terribly impressed.  Asian cuisine (in general) doesn't seem to lend itself well to sweet.  It also didn't matter because after eating my main course and all of the sides, I saw that the ride home was going to be very uncomfortable.

I enjoyed my meal here.  It was a good value, it all tasted good, and despite the appearance from the outside, it was bright and welcoming on the inside.      

Coobah

If I just want Cuban food, I can go to any number of restaurants in my neighborhood.  Many of these restaurants are also very good but I also like to see what else is out there and how different restaurants compare.  I went to Coobah recently which despite the name, is not specifically a Cuban restaurant.  While it does serve some Cuban-style food, it also does general Caribbean, Brazilian, and surprisingly, Filipino.  Located in Lakeview on the outskirts of Wrigleyville, I expected something pretty casual and it is in a manner of speaking.  It has a nice patio where you can relax in the sun.  The inside of the restaurant is done in weathered wood which did look nice but I was interested in the patio so that is where I sat.  The wait staff was friendly and pretty easy going, and the dress of most patrons there was pretty casual, but the presentation of the food was very definitely fine dining.  For my appetizer, I ordered seared scallops which came with fried plantains, fried yuca, guacamole, balsamic vinegar, and I think, some honey.  The presentation was very nice and it tasted really good.  The scallop had a nice sear and the yuca was crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside.  The sweetness of the plantains went well with the sweetness of the scallops.  Between the taste and presentation, it was a nice start.

My next piece of food art was called Pork Bicol.  What it was was Pork Tenderloin and Crispy Pork Belly, a Coconut Arancini (a fried coconut risotto ball), Pineapple-Bacon Chutney, Wilted Arugula, and Adobo Glaze.  The tenderloin and pork belly were cut in about equal size pieces but it was pretty easy to tell them apart by appearance.  The pork belly was rectangular and you could see the meat and fat layering  as you would in bacon.  While it was crispy, it was crispy to the point of being pretty dry.  This was probably the only fault in the dish.  The pineapple-bacon chutney was very good, the coconut arancini sounded a little weird but it was really good.  The outside was crisp, the risotto interior was creamy, and the coconut was sweet.  The arugula had a nice flavor to it and the adobo glaze was spread over everything and added a nice spice.

I then came to dessert.  I will admit there are a few things on a restaurant menu that I have a bias for and if I see them on a menu, I will be sure to order them.  One of these things is a cheesecake and the cheesecake on the menu sounded especially good so that is what I ordered.  When it came out, I knew that I had chosen correctly.  What I had was a Dulce de Leche Cheesecake with Salted Caramel, Filipino Sea Salt, and a Sliced Strawberry.  The cheesecake was dense and covered with dulce de leche and the flatbread that was stuck into the cake was light, crispy, and light layer of flaky salt.  It was all very good and it was gone quickly.

I liked my meal here even if there was a little bit of a juxtaposition between the look of the food and the feel of the restaurant.  Even with the very nice look of the food, this is a casual restaurant and it was fun.  If I want a nice casual restaurant with a Latin flavor, I know where I can go.