The Monarch - Brunch

There are many places in Chicago where you can have brunch, some are better known than others and some are actually pretty unexpected and surprising.  My monthly brunch pick this month was at The Monarch in Wicker Park.  From the outside, it looks like your average bar and a bar is the first thing that you see when you walk in.  There are several TVs behind the bar.  Beyond the bar are several high top tables and with a high banquette and high chairs for seating.  There are several posters throughout the room featuring giants of American screen and song.  There are posters of John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, Bruce Lee, Marilyn Monroe, and William Shatner among others.  The food served here is bar food with an upscale twist.  We started out with a large order of Fries with Truffle Mayonnaise and ketchup.  The fries weren't fried like frites, but they were pretty good, especially with the truffle mayo.  The fries were crispy and well salted and the mayonnaise had a good truffle flavor.  It was a good start that everyone enjoyed.  I ordered a cocktail as I was waiting for my main dish.  The cocktails were spins on standard brunch cocktails; bloody marys, mimosas, and corpse reviver #1.  I ordered a Bloody Mary called a Vlad the Impaler which used House Infused Black Pepper Vodka, Tomato Juice, and Spices, and garnished with a Hot Pepper, an Olive, and a Lemon.

 For my main course, I ordered a Blue Crab Cake Benedict with Poached Eggs, English Muffins, and Hollandaise Sauce.  The crab cakes were well cooked with a crisp outside, a tender inside, and a distinct crab flavor.  the eggs were perfectly poached in the shape of a quennelle and were well peppered.  The English muffins were both crisp and airy and the Hollandaise sauce was a great combination of egg and butter with a lemony finish.

Brunch was very good and we all enjoyed it.  While the menu was pretty simple, what was there was very good and it is a good consideration for a future brunch.

  

Greenbush Beer Dinner at Bread & Wine

I have been to Bread & Wine a few times and I really like it.  They do simple, seasonal American food very well, so when I found out that they would be pairing with Greenbush Brewery for a beer dinner with their seasonal beers, I dived at the opportunity.  They would be serving four courses with four beers.  I have had a few Greenbush Beers (but not the ones that were being served) and I thought they would make a good pairing with Bread & Wine's food.  As I have mentioned before, the restaurant is located in a former laundromat.  The washers and dryers are no longer there and have been replaced with an open kitchen with counter seating, a bar, a small grocery selling a small selection of gourmet foods and wine, and several tables.  When I arrived, I was seated at the bar at a space with my own name which I thought very classy.  I was also offered a Greenbush Closure which was not actually part of the menu, but was offered on the house, so I decided to try it.  It was a good smooth American Pale Ale and it was a good starter.

The beginning of the dinner started with Steak Tartare with an Egg Yolk, Mustard, and Toast Points.  It was served with Greenbush Jadis, which is a Winter White Ale.  The tartare was fairly simple but it was pretty good.  The tartare was roughly chopped, mixed with garlic and onions, and topped with the yolk and pepper.  The mustard was a country dijon and the toast was like a baguette.  I wouldn't have expected a white ale to go with red meat, but the simplicity of the tartare and the mustard helped to tie things together.

For the next course, we were served a White Trumpet and Leek Risotto topped with Frisee and served with Greenbush Ursus Winter Olde Ale.  This was a perfect risotto.  The rice was al dente, the sauce was thick, there were a lot of mushrooms, and the leeks added a good oniony flavor.  The frisee was very fresh and added a good vegetal flavor.  The beer was a darker ale that fell between a pale ale and a porter and had a slight maple flavor to it.  This was actually an interesting pairing.  I would expect the risotto to pair well with a white ale but it the maple flavor actually helped to tie everything together.

For the main course, we were served a Lamb Loin with Sweet Potato Puree and Apples and served with Greenbush Mammoth Weizenbock.  The lamb was very tender and a little sweet which paired with the sweet potato puree.  The apples used were Granny Smiths, which while pretty tart, do have a little sweetness which was brought out by the lamb and the sweet potatoes.  The weizenbock, a wheat bock, is a dark beer with a wheat character.  It is actually pretty sweet so it went well with the food.

Dessert was interesting.  It was called Goat Cheese Churros with Caramel Sauce.  It was served with Apathy Oatmeal Stout.  Churros are generally piped and fried Mexican pastries that are hollow and filled with custard, jam, or caramel.  These pastries did not look like normal churros and instead of having the filling piped in, they were sliced and filled like a sandwich.  While it didn't really look like a churro, the pastry was slightly crisp on the outside and were very airy as churros normally are.  The goat cheese filling was sweet with a light tartness and a bit of a goaty flavor.  The oatmeal stout had a bold flavor with flavors of chocolate, coffee, and caramel which paired well with the caramel on the churros.

This was a very good dinner.  The food was simple but very good, the beers were very good, and the pairings were interesting.  The service was very good and I really liked the fact that I had a personalized place setting.  In addition to all of this, the owner and head brewer of Greenbush Brewery was there to talk about his beers, which he did with every diner.  Bread & Wine does some good food which I have stated already, Greenbush is very inventive, and if I have an opportunity to try either again, I will defininitely take the opportunity.

Gosu

I like to eat out (as can obviously be inferred by this blog) but sometimes, I forget places that are relatively close to where I live, especially if I don't ride by them every day.  About three years ago, a Japanese/Korean restaurant called Gosu opened up and while I was interested, it wasn't a place I immediately thought about when I wanted to go out for dinner.  The word Gosu is a Korean word that means someone of exceptional skill.  This is something that you would hope when you go to a restaurant of any kind and it was something that I hoped was true when I went there.  I recently had a craving for Korean food so I decided that it was a good time to try it out. The restaurant has a modern Asian look and as it was approaching Christmas, there was also a lot of lights and Christmas decorations.  There are a couple of semi-private booths on either side of the door, a banquette on the right side of the front of the restaurant with several 4 top tables filling the space.  Beyond the banquette is a half-round sushi bar with a set of tables on the left side of the dining room filling the space.  The color scheme was pastel with a lot of pink and light blue.  I was seated at the banquette near the sushi bar.  I ordered an appetizer, entree, and dessert, but as I was eating in a Korean Restaurant, I was also served a salad and soup.  The salad was a rather standard house salad with lettuce, radishes, onions and a soy dressing.  There really was nothing special about the salad but as it was part of the meal, I include it for completeness.

The soup was a little better.  It was a Miso soup with Tofu and Green Onions.  Miso is generally a salty broth (made from soy) that is generally pretty simple.  The green onions did provide a little crunch and an oniony flavor when they were bitten into.  The tofu was a nice surprise.  Tofu generally doesn't have a taste of it's own and will take the flavor of what it's cooked with.  With the miso soup, it intensified the miso flavor and added a textural element.

I ordered my appetizer simply for the name.  There was a slight description so I knew that it wasn't actually what it was called, but the name was too much to pass up.  The dish was called "Monkey Brain" and it was about the right size and interior color.  It was a Deep Fried Avocado filled with Spicy Tuna, Crab, and Spicy Mayo.  It was really good!  Frying the avocado made a crunchy crust while leaving the avocado creamy.  The crab and tuna were fresh and flavorful and the spicy mayo added some good spiciness.

For my entree, I got Bi-bim-bap, a Korean dish which literally translates to mixed rice.  It is a dish of cooked rice topped with mixed vegetables which usually include carrots, radishes, spinach, and onions, beef, and a fried egg.  It is also served with a pepper sauce like Sriracha on the side so you can add as little or as much as you would like.  It is usually is cooked and served in a stone bowl (as was this).  The ingredients are separate when served in the dish but are generally mixed together before eating.  This was served with three Kimchis, the standard fermented cabbage, fermented daikon radish, and spicy pickles.  It was all very good and because the hot sauce was served on the side, I was able to give it the right spiciness.

My dessert was not a standard Asian dessert as such but it was something that I have seen in several Asian restaurants and I am not a huge fan of the standard, Japanese dessert, Mochi.  I had a Ginger Lemon Cheesecake, which while it is not really Asian, it does have Asian flavors and it was pretty good.

I really liked Gosu and can see that they do have a chef of exceptional ability.  Now that I have been here, I will remember it when I have a craving for Korean food, this place will definitely fit the bill.        

Frontier - Brunch

I had been to Frontier a few times and really liked their style.  They have a very rustic look and feature a lot of wild game in their dishes.  They also have a fireplace which was actually a key component in my choosing them for one of my monthly brunch spots.  It was a cold day when we went which would have made a fireplace great.  Unfortunately, we were seated at a table where, while we could see the fireplace, we were not in the same room and could not feel the fireplace.  The room that we were in was warm enough but the fireplace would have made it perfect.  The Executive Chef at Frontier, Brian Jupiter, is originally from New Orleans so many dishes on the menu will have a Cajun spin to them, if not being Cajun outright.  We started out with one of those dishes that could very well have come from New Orleans, the Beignets, which were served with Apple Jam.  As with many beignets that I have had, they were covered in powdered sugar.  The amount of powdered sugar used for these beignets though, was kind of funny.  It was like we were being served a plate of powdered sugar with the beignets and apple jam served as a side.  If you didn't want to get powdered sugar all over the place, you kind of had to be careful.  After getting past the powdered sugar, the beignets were very good.  They were light and fluffy with a lot of air pockets and side and a crust that had a slight crispness to it.  The Apple Jam that was served with it seemed very fresh and sweet with a slightly tart finish and went very well with the beignets.

There were several things on the brunch menu that really interested me including the Bananas Foster French Toast which one of my friends got and looked absolutely amazing but I decided on a biscuit sandwich with potatoes.  Served on a cutting board, this was something special.  The biscuit was very rustic.  It was very crusty and uneven which provided a nice crunch to start things off with a soft interior like a baguette.  It was filled with a Ham Hock, Fried Pork Belly, a Fried Egg, and Jalapeno Jam.  I was a little disappointed that there was no cheese but there was enough to the sandwich to keep my taste buds occupied that the disappointment didn't last for long.  The pork belly and the ham hock provided a lot of porky goodness and the jalapeno jam gave it a spicy and tart finish which played well with the salty pork flavors.  The Cheesy Potatoes were so big that I actually thought that they were someone else's dish.  Their was a combination of mashed and whole potatoes that were served with butter, chives, and a little cheddar cheese.  They were really good and while I didn't think about it at the time, if I really was missing the cheese in the sandwich, I could have added a little of the potatoes though this actually, may have been the intent.

I really liked my brunch here at Frontier and will declare it a success.  The food was really good and there was a lot of it.  The service was friendly and the space has a rustic and homey feel to it.  This will be added to my list of favorite brunch places (as well as being one of my favorite dinner places).

Honey Butter Fried Chicken

There has been a trend in restaurants in recent years that has been tending away from fine dining.  It can be fairly easy to scale down a restaurant's cuisine by making their food less complex and using lower quality ingredients.  If this is done though, the restaurant is likely to be pretty mediocre and runs the risk of closing quickly.  It is possible to maintain the quality of the food without aiming for fine dining but it is more difficult.  Honey Butter Fried Chicken uses high quality ingredients to make fast food.  While the food at Honey Butter Fried Chicken is essentially fast food, the hours that the restaurant keeps are essentially restaurant hours, 5-10 PM, and they also have a bar.  I arrived a little early on a week night to get my meal to go and there were already people waiting at the door.  When the door opened, we waited in line to place hour orders from a counter with the menu behind them like a fast food restaurant. (We were also handed menus at the door).  I was behind a person who seemed to be absolutely miserable and wanted to complain about everything but I didn't let the person get me down.  The dining area is fairly simple with many 2-tops for seating and a waiting counter where a person who is getting a take-out order could stand and wait with a drink.  The people that took my orders and presented my food and drink were very friendly and accommodating although I didn't order anything special.  The specialty of Honey Butter Fried Chicken is the chicken and of course I ordered the chicken, but the sides are nothing to sneeze at either.  I ordered a Kale and Cabbage Slaw with Dried Pomegranate and Yogurt Cumin Dressing.  The slaw was crisp and fresh and had a nice vegetal flavor.  There was a lot of pomegranate in the slaw which added a bittersweet fruity flavor.  The fact that the cells were dried enhanced the pomegranate flavor, and the yogurt cumin dressing was sour and spicy.  The dressing was added lightly so it didn't overwhelm the other flavors.  It was a very good combination and a pretty good salad.

The chicken could be ordered in 2, 4, or 8 piece servings (as well as on a sammy or served with grits).  I ordered the 4 piece which was served with 2 corn muffins and a dollop of honey butter.  The butter is to be spread on the chicken and muffins both but I decided to try each first without the honey butter to get an idea of the base flavor.  The corn muffins were lightly sweet and had a coarse texture.  The chicken was brined and was very juicy.  It was also very flavorful chicken.  The breading was very good.  It was crispy, salty, and a little spicy.  The honey butter added a buttery sweetness to whatever it was on, but I think that I preferred the chicken with very little butter if any at all.  It was very good chicken and if I had not first had the chicken from Parson's, I might say that it was some of the best fried chicken that I have had.

The dessert list at Honey Butter Fried Chicken is pretty sparse, consisting of a cookie and a dump cake.  As I was traveling with it, I didn't think that a dump cake would travel well so I went with the cookie.  It was a Chocolate Toffee Cocoa Nib Cookie.  It was pretty large but it was also pretty thin so it was kind of crunchy around the edges.  It was kind of like a crunchy chocolate chip cookie and while chocolate chip cookies are a favorite of mine, I like my cookies a little less crisp.

The chicken here was good and the staff was friendly so I can understand the buzz about this place.  While I do like Parson's chicken better, I would recommend this place.

Welcome Dinner for Chef Rene' Redzepi at The Bristol

Last week, René Redzepi, Executive Chef at Noma, one of the most highly rated restaurants in the world (this year it was #2) was in Chicago for a book tour and dinner in his honor.  As I would be surprised if I had the time and money to visit Copenhagen, Denmark in the near future, I decided that this was something that I really wanted to do.  His book, A Work in Progress, is a 3 volume set comprised of a journal, a book of pictures, and a cookbook that, while it also has great pictures, would be difficult to cook from simply for the availability of ingredients.  The cuisine that Chef Redzepi does at Noma is called new Scandanavian and is fiecely local and seasonal.  In order to do a dinner in Chicago, he decided to partner with a Chicago chef that shares his mindset, Chris Pandel of Balena and The Bristol.  The dinner that they designed, was not something that would be served at Noma because many of the ingredients that would be used in Denmark would not be available locally.  What they designed was a 10 course menu of local and seasonal food for Chicago in the fall. The dinner was held at The Bristol with a cocktail reception in the lounge that normally occupies the second floor.  The way things were set up for the dinner was that when you arrived, you checked in and then went upstairs to the cocktail reception for a drink (on the house) and they would bring you down to be seated when your table was ready.  We had a relatively early seating so the time between when we arrived and when we were seated was pretty quickly.  The dining room was set up like it normally is although I think it was using more candles for lighting and there was a welcome sign for Chef Redzepi on one of the chalkboards that usually lists menu items.  The normal progression in a fine dining restaurant is bread, salad, soup, fish, fowl, red meat, cheese course, and dessert which was the progression for this meal.

For the first course, the bread course or as they called it, Butter, we were served Housemade Butter and Whole Wheat Rolls and Buttermilk Crackers salted with Icelandic Sea Salt on which to serve it.  The whole wheat rolls were fragrant and dense, providing a very good vehicle for the butter.  The buttermilk cracker was interesting.  It was unevenly shaped but generally long, narrow, and very thin and fragile.  It was very easy to break a small piece for eating by hand but it was so thin it wasn't so easy to spread butter on as it would likely break.  Whether the butter was spread on it or not though, it was good.

The second course on the menu was listed as Tofu.  It was accompanied with Toasted Cashew Broth, Frillman Farms Spinach (the farm was listed with many of the ingredients to emphasize the locality), Black Butter Garlic Puree, and Mint Oil.  Admittedly, it wasn't much to look at, but it did taste pretty good.  Tofu doesn't have much flavor of it's own so it picks up the flavor of the ingredients that it's prepared with.  The overarching flavors were cashew and garlic with a minty finish.  The spinach was fresh, crisp, and flavorful, but unless it was being eaten with the rest of the dish, it didn't add to the flavor of the dish as a whole.  The flavor, however did go with the toasted cashew broth and the black butter garlic puree.

The third course was the first course that I had to ask about because I was unsure what the emphasized ingredient was by name.  The dish looked good and the rest of the ingredients sounded like good ingredients so I was unworried of the taste.  I just wanted to find out what I was eating.  The dish was called Cardoon and was served with Goat Cheese Curd, Isaac's Mom's Lime Curd, and Candied Black Cumin.  The Cardoon was the leaves and stems on the dish.  It is also known as an Artichoke Thistle and is related to the Artichoke and had a vegetal flavor with a bit of pickled artichoke.  The goat cheese was smooth, slightly sour, with a gamy, goaty finish.  The candied cumin was interesting because I would have never have thought of candying a spice seed.  It went well with the Cardoon and the goat cheese.  The last ingredient was really good and interesting and also required an explanation.  Isaac's Mom's Lime Curd was a lime curd made from limes from a tree in Isaac's Mom's yard in the southwest suburbs.  Isaac is a chef at the restaurant and limes don't normally grow in the midwest.  In any case it wasn't quite as tart as a regular lime but it was still pretty good.

Course number four was another course that tasted much better than it looked.  It emphasized corn and included a Masa Tamale, American Guinea Hog Farce, Fermented Tomatillo, Henry Moore Hominy, and Iroquois Corn Porridge.  I am not sure if farce is anything other than a misprint.  What was in the tamale was ground American Guinea Hog.  It was coarsely ground and spiced well.   The dish had a lot of corn flavors that went well together and also had a nice spicy finish.

Course number five progressed to the first of the fish courses and while it was rather simple as far as ingredients were concerned, those ingredients went together well and the dish was much more photogenic.  The dish was Smelt with Wheat Berries (Bulgur), Horseradish Shoots, and Dill.  To me, this was a one bite wonder.  The flavor progression went from the slightly fishy smelt, to the crunchy wheat, then dill and finished with the burn of the horseradish (it wasn't the sinus clearing flavor of much horseradish, but it was there).

While I had liked all of the dishes to this point, course number six was the first of my favorite dishes (although I did really like the lime curd with the cardoon).  It was Catfish with Paw Paw Curry, Preserved Sour Oranges, and Dhana Dal.  Catfish has a stronger flavor which went well with the curry and sour oranges.  The curry was sweet and spicy, the sour oranges were small and dried and I think only the skin was used.  It was tart like lemon zest but also a little more bitter. and the dhana dal (preserved coriander seeds) were an explosion of flavor.  They had a nutty, spicy, orange flavor that tied the curry to the sour oranges.

Course seven was another favorite dish.  It was called Thanksgiving and did actually contain many of the flavors of Thanksgiving.  It started with a Pheasant Roulade, and added Pine Cone Beurre Fondue, Crabapple Jam, Hazelnuts, and Pheasant Jus.  This was the taste of fall in the Midwest and I really enjoyed it.  Everything was simply flavorful and perfectly cooked.

The next course, course number eight, may have been my favorite, it was called Venison and had venison four ways.  There was a Venison Tenderloin on the left, a Braised Venison Leg in the middle, and an Andouillette Sausage featuring Venison Heart and other offal on the right.  The andouillette was topped with what they called a Venison Cracker but I would call a Chicharron.  The dish was finished with a splash of Jus on the braised leg and some Raspberry Jam with the sausage.  The tenderloin was rare and tender and was probably the least gamy and the Andouillette was the most gamy.  It had a gamy and mineraly flavor but I did like it and the raspberry jam did help.  The chicharron was a nice bonus with a nice crunch, a light mouth feel, and a light venison finish.

The venison was the last of the savory courses so in a normal progression the next course would be a cheese course, and it was, after a fashion.  Course Nine was about Acorns.  It started with Acorn Cheese which was presented with Copiette, thin slices of Pork Jerky, and Acorn Gel.  This tasted very rustic and woody and reminded me of something Native Americans might have eaten in the fall.  In this way there was also a progression from Thanksgiving through Venison to the Acorn.  The acorn cheese was smooth, nutty, and buttery (similar in texture to peanut butter) and the acorn gel was like a nutty gel.  What can you say of pork jerky? It was chewy, salty, and tasted strongly of pork.  It was very good.

The dinner finished, of course, with dessert which, while it did go with a rustic look, it was a very tasty and complex work of art.  The dish was focused on Elderberries and started with an Elderberry Sorbet cradled in a Corn Silk Candy nest (like an egg).  The nest was sitting on a Celery Root Cake which sat in an Elderberry Gelee.  The dish was sprinkled with Green Coriander.  The elderberry flavor really stood out in this although the corn silk candy did have a light sweet corn flavor.  The celery root cake had a light flavor but texturally helped to tie things together.  The dish was fun and very tasty.

This event was a lot of fun and it was very cool to meet Chef Redzepi.  The food was very good, the service was excellent, and it was also fun to see the names of the Chicago culinary community come for the dinner and meet and greet as well.  In addition to Chris Pandel, who I was not surprised to see, I also saw Rick Tramonto, Giuseppe Tentori, Homaro Cantu, Richie Farina, Claire Crenshaw, and Curtis Duffy, and those that I immediately recognized.  If another event like this occurs, I will definitely keep it in mind.          

Fish Bar

I went to Ada Street recently, I decided to go to one of their sister restaurants when I was going to be in the area.  I went to Fish Bar last week before a concert.  Located next to it's sister restaurant DMK Burger Bar, it looks like a transplanted Atlantic coast seafood shack (at least on the inside).  The walls are covered in wood planking that is painted a light blue and is very weathered.  One wall looks like a colorized postcard of some deep sea fisherman with their catches.  There is a counter for take out ordering in the center of the dining room with two other counters for seating perpendicular from the take-out counter.  There were also about 4 booths on the outside of either counter that could be served from behind the counter.  Counter seating was on metal bar stools soif the place is busy, which it frequently is, you will probably be sitting by someone you don't know.  This is not necessarily a bad thing and can be pretty interesting but it can also get a little weird.  More on that in a minute.  The menu is divided into 9 sections with dishes divided by how they are presented like Raw, Salad, Sandwich or Crispy.  All of the sections have at least 3 selections with the exception of tacos which only has one and desserts which has two.  While this sounds like a pretty extensive menu, it's actually even bigger than that because it varies based on what fish and seafood is available.  While many things sounded really good, I decided to go with a Satchmo Po'Boy which was a bunch of Fried Crawfish and Shrimp in a Bun with Bread and Butter Pickles and drizzled with Garlic Aioli.  This was really good if a little messy.  The shrimp and Crawfish were lightly breaded and while fried, the meat maintained it's tenderness and the breading was slightly crispy.  The Bread and Butter Pickles were sweet and added a nice vegetal crunch, and the aioli added the garlic flavor.  The sandwich also apparently looked pretty good because one of my dining neighbors thought it looked so good that he actually asked for a bite.  While I am a sharing person, I will share with people I know.  This was a little weird (if harmless) and I couldn't do it.

As a side, I had Tater Tots.  I don't know if the tots were house made but they  were salty, potatoey, and perfectly fried to give them a nice crunch.  Tater Tots are simple, but they go well with fish and seafood and these were good tots.

The dessert menu, while limited, did have a couple of items on it and they both sounded good, Key Lime Pie and S'mores.  While they both sounded good and the S'mores really looked good, I had to go with the Key Lime Pie because it seemed (to me) to go more obviously with seafood.  It was served with house made whipped cream and while it was simple, it was also very good.  The crust was flaky, the whipped cream was sweet and fluffy, and the pie itself was firm (like a well chilled pudding) and tart as it should be.

Even with the little bit of weirdness with my dining neighbor, I liked Fish Bar.  The servers were friendly, as is the crowd, the food is really good, and the menu changes with the available seafood.  If I am ever in the mood for good seafood at a good price, this place will definitely be in the running.

Ada Street

The Michelin announced the restaurants that it would award it's Bib Gourmand to this year last Tuesday (Nov. 5).  The Bib Gourmand is an indication of good food and a good value with a diner being able to get two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less.  I like going to restaurants awarded the Bib Gourmand because it's a pretty good guarantee that I can get a good meal without breaking the bank and there are several that are on my list of places to try.  When the list came out, I decided to reduce the number of restaurants that I need to try by one.  Ada Street has been on my list since it opened because it has a good pedigree, it's a DMK restaurant (DMK Burger Bar, Fish Bar, and County BBQ), and it's pretty close.  While it's not in my neighborhood, I don't have to ride across town to get to it.  Ada Street, the street, is in an industrial area and is located next to a city garage.  There are no storefronts and I have to guess, not much walking traffic so Ada Street, the restaurant, is in the middle of nowhere.  The door for Ada Street is solid and painted black with the name and address on the door.  This is the only indication that there is anything there.  Walking through the door leads to a hall leading back into the restaurant.  There is a room off to the side that looked like a private dining area.  The hostess station sits in a wide spot in the hall with the hall continuing behind.  After a couple of turns, there was a floor to ceiling LP rack.  Diners could choose records for the restaurant to play, but, like a jukebox, you had to wait for those that came before you.  When I got there, they were playing Heart, "Barracuda" so I was happy.  When I entered the dining room, I saw that it was built in a former garage.  There was a garage door on one side and the open kitchen was opposite the garage door and next to the hall that led into the room.  The bar ran the length of the dining room and is where I sat.  The rest of the dining room seating was 2 and 4 tops.  The room was painted black and there were hanging lights.  The bar was also black but it was topped with brown marble.  When I was seated, the bartender introduced himself (Joseph) and asked my name before even explaining the menu.  He then left me a few minutes to decide what I might like to drink.  I decided on a drink called Love Her Madly which consisted of North Shore #11 Gin, Aperol, Yellow Chartreuse, and a Lime Slice.  North Shore #11 is a very good gin and this was a very good drink.

The food menu was divided into 4 sections: "pick it up", those dishes that you would eat with your hands, "with toast", those dishes that are eaten on toast, "forks, spoons, & knives", those dishes that are best eaten with silverware, and "after", which were desserts.  Most of the dishes were small plates so it took several to make a meal.  I ordered one finger food, a couple that you eat with silverware, and dessert.  I started with Polenta Fries that were served with Chipotle Puree.  The fries were crunchy and flavorful and the chipotle puree added a nice spiciness to it.  The puree didn't taste like pure chipotle and actually tasted like a really spicy ketchup.  This was not a bad thing, it did taste really good and went well with the fries.

I then went with the Fried Brussels Sprouts that were served with  Lemon Aioli.  The sprouts were cut into sixths although not all the way through and were well browned.  They were flavorful and tender and crisp at the same time.  The Lemon Aioli added a nice tang to the cabbage flavor of the sprouts.

My other silverware dish was Duck Confit with Cavatelli with a Poached Egg, Spinach, and Parmigiana Reggiano.  This was really good and I would say this even if duck were not my favorite meat.  I was told to break the egg yolk and mix the yolk into the pasta which made for a very nice and savory sauce.  The duck confit was tender and flavorful, the cavatelli was about the same size as the pieces of duck, and the spinach went together well with everything.

For dessert, I had the Pretzel Bread Pudding with Maple Whipped Cream.  This was a very good finish to a very good dinner.  It came out in a very warm frying pan.  The bread pudding was sweet and salty and the maple whipped cream provided a good maple flavor and a creamy sauce as it melted.

Dinner here was very good.  The food and drink was very good, the space was nice,the service was fantastic, and the fact that the waitstaff referred to me as Gary was a bonus.  The vinyl selection seemed very cool and this seemed like a fun place to hang out.  I will definitely be back.      

Old Town Social - Brunch

Every month, I pick out a restaurant for a weekend brunch.  I invite a bunch of friends to come if they are interested and available.  Most of the time a few friends can make it but even if no one can make it, I still have a good brunch.  This month, I picked Old Town Social, a restaurant that is known, in their lunch and dinner hours for their housemade charcuterie and a seasonal menu with some pretty good bar food.  For brunch, they keep the seasonality and have a mostly savory menu but there are things there for those with a sweet tooth.  The main room is large and has a high ceiling with a long bar and several large flatscreen TVs.  There are several hightop tables and everything is done in light wood.  It looks like a sports bar in a chalet.  There is a smaller side room that is actually at the front of the building that is more like a social room with couches, coffee tables, and a fireplace.  There were also tables beside the windows and a couple of high tops near the entrance to the room where we sat.  What I didn't think about when I decided to come here is that Old Town Social is essentially a sports bar and when we came, they were televising European Premier league soccer with Barcelona playing the hated Real Madrid.  The place was full and was very loud due to the fans cheering the game and the atmosphere was electric due to the excitement of the rivalry.  None of us had a dog in the fight so it was interesting to pay attention to the game and the crowd's reactions to it.  We started our brunch with (besides coffee) one of the few sweet things on the menu, Beignets.  The beignets were light and full of air pockets with a crispy crust and a nice chew.  They were also covered in powdered sugar which made things a little messy if you weren't paying attention.  I wasn't paying attention and I ended up with a lapful of powdered sugar.  They were also really good with our good coffee.

We were all surprised when our main courses came because they were enormous.  One person ordered Grilled Sausage and Waffles, another ordered an Old Town Breakfast which included 2 each of eggs, sausage, pancakes, bacon, and a hash brown casserole.  I ordered what they called Eggs "Sardou" which, to me, was essentially an eggs benedict.  It came with a couple of Poached Eggs that were placed in Braised Artichokes and Spinach, placed on a couple of Whole Wheat Toast Halves and topped with Hollandaise Sauce.  Everything I tried was pretty good.  The artichokes were tender and flavorful, the spinach was cooked well and avoided being cooked to mush, and the hollandaise sauce added some salt and a little tartness.

The food here was good and the meal was fun.  While I would probably come back, I would check first to see if there were any major games being played when I want to come so I am not surprised again.      

The Purple Pig

There are some places that are foodie destinations.  This does not necessarily mean that the place is outrageously expensive and exclusive.  What it does mean is that it is a place that is very creative and different and operates at a high level.  The Purple Pig is one of these places and it has been on my list for several years but for a variety of reasons, a major one being the fact that they don't take reservations and the wait times can be extremely long.  Several of my friends have asked me if I have gone but I would have to say I have not been there.  Recently however, circumstances played out such that I am now able to say that I have been here.  A friend recently came to town and was staying at a hotel a block away from the restaurant so I decided that it was time to go.  The plan was to go for dinner and meet with my friend after.  Unfortunately I was unable to get there as soon as I would as I would have liked and by the time I arrived the wait time was an hour and 45 minutes.  I really had no desire to wait there for that long but they did allow me to leave my name and number and they would call me when the table was ready so that is what I did.  I met my friend (and his family) and hung out until I was called.  My friend joined me.  While the address of The Purple Pig is on Michigan Ave, the only thing on Michigan Ave. is an archway with a sign.  There is a walkway that leads to the entrance which is actually above Illinois Street and closer to Rush Street than Michigan Ave.  There is a covered patio for outdoor dining with a fire burning (because it was rather chilly on the evening that I went).  It was full though and we dined indoors.  The dining room looked had high ceilings with a large L-shaped bar and a vintage look.  As it is very popular, it was crowded and pretty loud.  As The Purple Pig is known for their Cheese, Swine, and Wine, we decided we had to have some of all of these.  They have a large charcuterie list and many of the meats are self made.  The menu has something called The Purple Pig Platter which includes a few slices of all of their cured pork.  As this place is called The Purple Pig, we decided that this was a necessity.  On the platter was Lingua Agrodolce, Cacciatorini, Catalonian Fuet, Chorizo, Testa, Coppa, Tartufo, Jamon Serrano, Prosciutto di Parma, Prosciutto di San Daniele.  This was all sliced thin, and prepared well.  I liked most of the slices especially the ham (Jamon and Prosciutto) and the Lingua Agrodolce (tongue) but the Testa was a little too gamy for me and I don't know if I would order it on it's own.

If you are going to have charcuterie, it's a given that you also have to have cheese.  For our cheeses, we went for delice de bourgogne,a cow's milk triple cream cheese from the Burgundy region of France, Caveman Blue, a cow's milk blue cheese from Oregon's Rogue River Creamery and an unlabeled smoked Gouda.  The cheeses were served with Fig Jam and Toast and were very good on their own or combined with the charcuterie.

With the cheese and swine, we also had wine to fulfill our "obligation" to go for cheese, swine, and wine.  We had a bottle of Syrah, but what specifically we had, I could not say.  I could say however that it was good.

We decided to continue with the swine after the charcuterie and cheese and had a couple of prepared dishes, one of which was a house specialty.  We had a Milk-Braised Pork Shoulder with Mashed Potatoes and Milk Gravy.  The waiter told us that this was a specialty and I can see why because this was amazing.  The pork was fork tender and amazingly flavorful.  The mashed potatoes were very creamy and the gravy was essentially the braising liquid for the pork.  It was creamy of course, but it also brought with it a good bit of pork fat and flavoring which tied the mashed potatoes to the pork shoulder.

Our other entree was a Pork Secreto with Roasted Red Pepper, Leeks, and Pickled Watermelon Rind.  It seems that the secreto is exactly as it sounds, secret.  It is a little used cut of pork located close to the pork belly.  It has a bit of the pork belly flavor and while it is tender and has a bit of bacon flavor, it isn't as fatty.  It was very good in any case and the red pepper, leeks, and watermelon rind that were served with the secreto kind of reminded me of the red pepper sauce that is served with Ćevapi.

For dessert, I had what were essentially Greek doughnuts.  I don't remember what they were called and I forgot to take pictures of them but they were fluffy, sweet, and like everything else that we had, very good.

Dinner at The Purple Pig was great and I am glad that I finally made it here.  The food and drink was very good, the space looked very nice, and the waitstaff were very friendly and helpful.  It was very loud here, but as it is a very popular place, and it was crowded, it was to be expected.  I will definitely have to find my way back here some time because there were some dishes that I still have to try like the pig tails and the pork jowls.

  

Chicago Chef Battle, Dessert Edition

Every fall, Chicago Public Radio Station, WBEZ, hosts a competition among a group of chefs and invites the public as a fundraiser.  In the competitions, they would challenge the chefs with an ingredient that they would all have to work with.  In past years, they have invited savory chefs and had them work with beer.  This year, the chefs they invited were all pastry chefs and they were challenged to create a dessert with tea.  The five chefs invited were also to create a regular and gluten-free dish, although the dish that some chefs made as their main dish was gluten-free.  The chefs were divided into two conference rooms and a demonstration kitchen.  The first chef I tried was Dinah Grossman of Cheap Tart who made a Masala Chai Creme Brulee Tart with Salty Chocolate and Raspberries garnished with Nasturtium Petals.  The thing about public cooking competitions or demos is that the presentations of the dishes frequently suffer.  In Dinah Grossman's case, other than the plates and utensils, these dishes looked very nice.  The tart had a nice crust and the chai added a spicy and creamy flavor to the tart and the chocolate and raspberries added bittersweet, salt, and tart flavors.

For her gluten free dish, she made a Roasted Kabocha Mousse with Matcha Cheesecake and Coconut Tuile.  I really liked this.  The mousse was creamy and the tea and cheesecake flavors went together well.  The Coconut Tuile added a sweet coconut crunch to the dish.

The next competitor whose stuff that I tried was Jonathan Ory from Bad Wolf Coffee.  While I did try both of his dishes, I seem only to have taken a picture of one.  He prepared a Persimmon Chai Salambo (a filled pastry similar to a long john) and an Earl Gray Panna Cotta topped with Granola.  While his dishes weren't bad, the tea flavor was at the forefront and kind of overwhelmed everything else.

In the next conference room they had Dana Cree who is the Pastry Chef at Blackbird  She only made one dish which was gluten-free and very creative in any case.  It was a Hong Kong Milk Tea with Kulfi, Pear, and Elderflowers.  The dish was kind of odd.  It was like a clear plastic version of a dish you might see at a fine dining restaurant (which Blackbird is).  The milk tea kind of reminded me of a less spicy chai tea.  Kulfi is a frozen dairy dessert similar to ice cream but denser that is popular in India.  The elderflowers added a floral element to the dish and while the pear flavor went well with the rest of the dish, I don't like the texture of pears so this kind of failed.

The other pastry chef working in this conference room seemed to be very popular and had some long lines so I went to find the last chef who was working in the demonstration kitchen.  The last chef was Ben Roche, formerly of Moto and the late Baume & Brix.  Both of these restaurants are/were very creative and whimsical and before even seeing what he was presenting, I was kind of expecting some off the wall flavors and ideas (if not presentations because of the lack of facilities and time).  For the first course, he presented a dish called White Dog Gelato (a spin on the name of one of his competitors establishments, Black Dog Gelato).  The only thing that I really remember about this dish was that the tea was in the gelato, it was surrounded with dried corn and sprinkled with chocolate chips.  I remember that it wasn't bad but really nothing to write home about and was completely overshadowed by his other dish, Bubblegum, 1969.

The dish was the whimsical creativity that I would expect from Ben Roche.  It started with Banana Parmesan Gelato sprinkled with Powdered Bubble Gum and with Bubble Gum Paper and with a side of Bubble Gum Tea.  I liked the flavors around the gelato and even with the tea but I found the tea bottle a little annoying because you could only get a couple of drops at a time.

After I had tried Ben Roche's creations, I decided to brave the crowds and try what by crowd, looked to be the most popular station, Jessica Oloroso from Black Dog Gelato.  I will say up front that I had somehow saved the best for last.  Her dishes were my favorite although I can't say which I liked more.  The first I tried was the Pumpkin Chai Brioche Sandwich with Nutella.  It was very good with all of the flavors coming through and playing well with one another.  The brioche bun was a bonus and it was very easy to eat.

The other dish didn't look quite as composed but it was still very good.  It was an Earl Gray Sundae with Chocolate Earl Gray Gelato, Figs, and Bruleed Whipped Cream.  The Earl Gray Tea tied the chocolate and the figs together and the bruleed whipped cream reminded me of fired marshmallows.

I really enjoyed this version of the Chicago Chef Battle.  I got to try a lot of good and interesting things and support a good cause at a good price.  I will definitely be back next year to try new things, support WBEZ and vote for my favorite.