Sauce and Bread Kitchen - Stuff Stuffed with Stuff 2018.

I have been to Sauce and Bread Kitchen for many of their dinners, and have even been to their Stuff Stuffed with Stuff Dinner, but as their dinners allow them to experiment explore, each one is very different, other than taking place, for the most part, in their bakery/cafe in Rogers Park.  Dinners are BYOB and diners sit at communal tables.  For this dinner, I brought a Fruity Farmhouse Ale, Blackberry Farms Buckwheat Strawberry Ale which was funky and nutty and had a lightly tart strawberry finish.

For this dinner, the SBK crew seemed to focus on dumplings, because dumplings are by there very definition, stuff stuffed with stuff.  Because of this and because dinners at SBK are usually 4 courses (because of the way things were divided, this dinner could have been considered 6 courses), we had a lot of dumplings. For our first dumplings, we were served Xiao Long Bao, Mackerel and Poblano.  Soup Dumplings have liquid in them, so if you don't do it right, it could be easy to burn your mouth or at least make a mess.  Luckily, we were given pointers on how to eat them (poke a hole in the top to release the steam and pop the entire thing into your mouth).  I followed the instructions and avoided calamity and found that they tasted pretty good.  Mackerel is a mild fish and poblano peppers are a mild chili, so while there was some fish flavor and some heat, it was relatively mild and they went together well.

Our next dumplings were called Crispy Mushroom/Lobster Pierogis.  While I will agree with the Mushroom and Lobster, and the crispy texture, which were all very good, I would have characterized the dumplings as Empanadas instead of Pierogis.  No matter what they were called, they were topped with Black and White Sesame Seeds and were very good.  They were served with a Fermented Cucumber and Scallion Salad with XO Sauce and Malt Vinegar.  The flavor of the salad was pretty good with a tart and malty finish from the vinaigrette, though the texture of the vegetables were a little mushy for my liking, though not so bad as to be inedible.  As for the dumplings, I really liked the crispy texture and the lobster and mushroom were plentiful and well flavored.

 

The next course was served in three parts.  Called a Trilogy O' Steam Bun Tacos, that is exactly what they were, split Bao served with different fillings.  Our first Bao "Taco" was called a Veggie Queso Fundido with Charred Cabbage, Black Bean, and Sweet Corn.  While there was no cheese (queso), I will not complain, because the vegetable combination was very flavorful and good with a lot of texture.  Bao "Taco" Number Two was called Smoked Lake Trout with Watermelon Rind Salad and Hot Peanuts.  This had a nice crunch with some spice and tartness and good smoked fish.  For Bao "Taco" number 3, there were parts that I really liked, overall, though it was my second favorite taco behind number 1.  It was filled with Grilled Eggplant with Smoked Carrots/ Umeboshi Crema and Fried Shallots.  Umeboshi is a salted pickled plum, which as you may imagine, had a salty and tart flavor that I really liked.  The Steam Buns used for all of the tacos was very soft and lightly chewy and apparently required a lot of work to make and prepare.  In any case they were very good, and the wait required between each taco was worth it.

Dinner could have finished at this point.  While I do like dessert, and the dessert that they made, I'm sure took a lot of work, it used a lot of canteloupe, which I don't care for.  It was a Peach Phyllo Cup with Vanilla Bean Canteloupe Ice Cream filled with Canteloupe Sorbet.  While I did eat it and it didn't kill me, I would have been fine not to have had it served to me.

Despite those dishes that I didn't care for, I like SBK and I liked the dinner overall.  I appreciate their creativity and I will definitely return.