Vajra

 

For a long time, I was intimidated by Indian food.  I am guessing that it was because I had very little experience with it when I was growing up in Michigan.  It is very different from anything that I had had, so I didn't really have anything to base it on.  The names of the dishes, also gave me little to base things on.  Because I didn't speak any of the languages that are indigenous to India, unless I new what something was, I would have no clue as to what I would be getting.  I have slowly built up my knowledge of Indian cuisine, and have found many things that I have liked, though I still like to have a guide when I am dining out at an Indian restaurant.  Years ago, I tried out Cumin, a Nepalese restaurant that had received high praise and I really liked it.  Recently, the manager of Cumin went off and founded his own Nepalese Indian Restaurant, Vajra, and Tasting Collective hosted a dinner there.  I figured that it had some good people behind it and with Tasting Collective, I would be having a curated menu, so it was the best of worlds and I had nothing to lose.  Located in a little used section of Chicago Avenue in West Town, despite the fact that the entrance shelter was black and it was night, it was not difficult to find.  The front of the space has a couple of classic French doors that were closed because it was both cold and dark, but the long narrow windows, easily allowed people to see in or out.  The dining space and bar both had elements playing on the classic and Indian art, which also looked to me to be a bit psychedelic.  The space was both nice and comfortable with a lot of wood, tin ceilings, a nice bar, and a very cool Indian mural on the back wall.  I started things off with a cocktail because a cocktail is a good way to start everything off.  Called The Rubicon, which is decidedly not an Indian name, it was definitely international, containing with Roca Patron Silver Tequila (Mexico), Italicus Rosso di Bergamotto (Italy), Lemongrass (South Asian), and Lime, which was dehydrated.  It was tart and very refreshing and made for a nice start to things.

For our first course, we started with Lobster Momos with Nepalese Spices and Tomato-Szechuan Sauce.  Momos are a steamed dumpling native to portions of India similar to Chinese steamed dumplings.  The lobster was sweet, the dumplings had a nice chew, and the spices added an exotic flavor.  The Tomato-Szechuan sauce was spicy, but only mildly so and added a savory flavor to the dumplings.

After the Momos, we continued with Gobhi Manchurian with Fried Cauliflower Florets and Sino-Indian Spices.  While I do like cauliflower, I was actually surprised at how good this was.  The cauliflower was incredibly tender and the spice added a complex and exotic flavor.  This may have been a favorite of mine of the savory dishes.

 

Our next course started with Naan.  I really like Naan and this was very flavorful.  It was served with Paneer Malal, Spiced Paneer Sandwiches with Creamy Sauce and Rice.  Paneer is a soft, unaged cheese that was served in the sauce.  This was like a spicy and flavorful grilled cheese sandwich (with the naan as the bread) and some very good rice.  It was a little messy, with the paneer in the sauce, but I found the best way to eat it was to mix the paneer and sauce with the rice and to pick that up with the naan.  It made for a great bite.

Our first entree were Farm Raised Goat Steaks with Butter Spiced Brussels Sprouts.  The Goat Steaks were really flavorful and surprising.  They seemed to be breaded and fried, but the meat inside was fork tender and very flavorful.  With the Brussels Sprouts, I was a little disappointed.  They were seasoned well and cooked tender, but we only received one each.  With the food we had received to this point, I would have been happy with three.  I don't think with one that there were enough Brussels Sprouts to complement the flavor of the goat steak.

For our final entree, we were served a classic of Indian Cuisine, Butter Chicken.  It was served in a Tomato-Onion Sauce which was also very good.  The chicken was tender and flavorful and a nice finish to the entree side of things.

Dessert was very definitely not Indian or Nepalese, but I had no problem with that because it was really good.  I say that it was not Indian, it was not, but it did have an Indian twist.  We were served a Black Forest Gateau, a rich cake with Chocolate and Cherries with a Classic Indian Sweetbread Crumble.  The sweetbread crumble consisted of chocolate shavings spiced subtly with Indian spices like Cinnamon, Ginger, and Coriander.  It was also served with Whipped Cream, Cherry Jam, and a large Cherry on top.  It was very good and a very nice finish to what was a very good meal.

I really enjoyed my meal and found it both very good and educational.  While I still might go by myself to a random Indian restaurant, I think that I've learned enough that I could come and an enjoy a meal here.  

 

        

Papa Cenar

 

 

 

I really liked Twain, and was sad when it closed.  When the space reopened a few months later as Papa Cenar, I was surprised that the space remained largely the same.  I mentioned it to my server and she said that the ownership remained the same and most of the employees remained.  The major change was that the Chef and his wife, who was in charge of the wine program, left.  Instead of doing a memorial to Mark Twain the restaurant now takes as it's theme, the time that Ernest Hemingway (Papa) spent in Spain.  Cenar is the Spanish verb meaning "to eat", so the restaurant focuses on those things that Ernest Hemingway may have had for dinner in Spain.  When the restaurant was known as Twain, the outer wall was baby blue.  It has now been painted to a dark orange.  Inside, the space remained, largely the same.  The murals on the walls, the wooden tables, and the decorative hanging lights remain as does the bar with the decorative copper etching on the wall behind the bar.  There is a new chalkboard behind the bar where the Happy Hour Menu is written.  The bar features a lot of Spanish Wines as well as some classic cocktails like a Daiquiri and the Papa's G&T which is what I ordered.  Papa's G&T contained Mahon's Spanish Gin, House Made Tonic with Quinine, Lavender, and Grains of Paradise, and a Lime slice.  This was clean, crisp, a little peppery, and very nice.

Just after I put in my food order, I received something that I will call a cross between an Amuse Bouche and a Bread Course.  It was a nice and thick slice of Toasted Bread served with Crushed Tomatoes and grated Manchego Cheese.  If the Tomatoes had been served on the bread, I might have called it a Bruschetta.  In any case, it was still nice and fresh and made for a very nice introduction.

For the start of the food that I ordered myself, I had Smoked Whitefish Dip with Olive Oil Crackers, and Fermented Chili.  Everything about this was great.  The fish was whipped and held together well enough to spread on the crisp and flavorful crackers.  The fermented chilies were a sauce served with the whitefish that gave a sour bite.  It was a nice addition to the flavors of the whitefish and crackers.

My second appetizer was a Farmer Squash Pisto.  A Pisto is a vegetable dish that, when done traditionally, looks similar to Ratatouille, containing Tomatoes, Eggplant, Onions, and Red Peppers.  This took a decidedly Midwestern Fall twist, using Roasted Farmer's Squash, Frisee, Spiced Pepitas, and Goat Cheese.  It was still a vegetable dish that focused on the flavors and textures of local vegetables, despite being completely different from a Spanish Pisto and it was a favorite.

 

 

And then came my entree, Bone Marrow.  The Bone Marrow, served in long bones sliced lengthwise, of course, was served with Lamb Bacon, Onion Jam, Fresno Chili Peppers, a Pickle Salad, and Toast.  In the past, I had learned that the proper way to eat bone marrow was to spoon it out of the bones and spread it on the bread.  You would then top it with any accompaniments that you might have and top all of that with your greens, which helps to cut the fattiness of the marrow.  I did all of this and it was good, but then I was told about another thing that could be done to clean the bones and finish things.  called a Bone Marrow Luge, it involves pouring an Apertif down the bone channel and into your mouth.  The Apertif that was recommended was called Bonal, a Wine-based Gentiane-Quina drink.  I poured the Banal down the bone and into my mouth.  It was sweet and spicy with a definite meaty aftertaste.  It was a lot of fun, very flavorful, and a great way to finish the savory side of things.

While it was wrapped in Spanish clothing, dessert was definitely Midwestern.  I was served a Couple of Apple Empnadas with Fall Spices, Chocolate, and Persimmon Sorbet.  The empanadas tasted like Apple Pies and the Persimmon Sorbet added a sweetness similar to peach or apricot.  The chocolate was sweet with the bitter aftertaste that chocolate tends to have, which tied things together.  For a digestif, I finished with a very dry Amontillado Sherry.

The food and service was very good here and while I was a little disappointed about the closure of Twain, they made a good transition with Papa Cenar.  I will be happy to return and to introduce friends. 
    

Eleven|Eleven - Tasting Collective Dinner

The majority of my posts are positive, because I like food and I think that most places that I go to try their best to please their customers.  There are some restaurants, however, that while I want to like, had some serious problems during my visit.  I had encountered Eleven|Eleven at a few benefits around town, and while I had liked what I had tried from them, they weren't really on my radar.  Most of the dinners that I've had with Tasting Collective I have really liked, so I trusted them to curate a good meal at a restaurant that might not be known well by the greater dining community, but should be, so when I signed up for dinner I was pretty excited.

The menu is very eclectic with global influences, so I was very interested to see what would come out.  We started with California "Maki" Rolls with Grilled Calamari, Avocado, and Hibiscus Rice.  While three of the rolls were wrapped with Nori, they were all essentially the same.  I really liked these.  It was presented nicely, the rice was very flavorful, and the calamari and avocado made a good combination.  It was better, in my opinion, than a standard California Roll which uses Imitation Crab instead of the calamari.

The second course was also very good and kind of a show stopper.  It was a spin on chicken and Waffles, a dish that I like, but it was presented in a very unexpected manner.  The Breaded Chicken Nuggets were presented in a Waffle Cone with Buttermilk Dressing in the bottom of the Cone, Green Mango Salad topping the nuggets, and XO Sauce, a spicy sauce made with roughly chopped seafood like scallops and shrimp, originating in Hong Kong.  The chicken was tender and flavorful.  The Green Mango salad added a tart flavor, along with the buttermilk dressing, the XO Sauce added a spicy seafood flavor, and the waffle cone added a nice crunch.

 

 

 

The third course was when the wheels started to fall off.  To start, the third course had actually been listed as the fourth course on the menu.  This isn't a big deal most of the time, but it seems now that it was foreshadowing.  The course was Charcuterie and Cheese presented with accompaniments and served with Rice Crackers.  We were served three different meats, 3 different cheeses, Celery, Olives, Cranberry, and Peppers, and Rice Crackers.  The idea of this was good, but we only received one tray of each item for the table, which was set to receive two plates of each.  All of these items also arrived separately, so it was a bit confusing trying to try things and/or combine flavors, without knowing if the last plate had arrived yet.  All of the meats and cheeses and were from good companies (La Quercia and Smoking Goose), so it all tasted good, it was a bit confusing.

 

Our fourth course also arrived in two separate parts, was not explained, and we weren't brought enough, so the kitchen had to come back with another service.  We were first served our Salted Shishito Churros that were supposed to have been drizzled with Butterscotch, but seem not to have been.  The churros were very light and flavorful, it just seems that we weren't served enough.  After we wolfed down our churros, the Bourbon Glazed Pork Belly arrived.  It was tender and tasted good with a nice flavor of bourbon and wood with the sweetness from the pork, but the presentation looked like a joke.  There were three pieces of meat on the plate (for six people) and they looked like they were thrown on the plate and sprinkled with baby greens.

 

There was a pause for a bit before the fifth course showed up.  It was essentially Steak Frites served on two plates.  We first received a large bowl overflowing with Sticky Black Truffle Fries with Grana Snow which were the side to the main course, the Steak, a Wood grilled Bavette Steak with Pesto and Chips.  The steak was very good, flavorful, tender, and perfectly cooked, but it took about half an hour to arrive at the table and there really wasn't enough for the people it was serving.  The fries (Frites) were also perfectly cooked and flavorful, but there was enough for the table.

When we finally got to dessert, there were many people waiting for it to be over.  Luckily, dessert wasn't a fail, though it wasn't completely what is was advertised.  We were supposed to be getting a three pie flight.  What we received were three Shortbread Cookies with some very good pie fillings, Mama's Apple Pie, Banana Cream, and French Silk.  My argument in this case is semantic.  What we received tasted good and the pie fillings were there, if not the crusts, along with some very nice Whipped Cream.

While this dinner was ultimately a fail, it was not a failure of flavors; all of the food that we had tasted very good.  Our service also seemed polite, if harried.  This seemed a failure of poor planning, something the management has vowed to correct, so i am willing to give them a second chance soon.      

Forbidden Root - Southern-style Beer Dinner

 

 

I really like Forbidden Root Brewery.  Their base beers generally start out exploring Belgian styles, though they also do a lot of IPAs.  Having said that, comparing their finished beers to the starting beer is like comparing Vodka to Gin.  While gin starts as a basic clear liquor, the addition of botanicals makes it a completely different thing.  The same can be said of the beers of Forbidden Root.  They work with some very standard and recognizable styles, but the addition of different botanicals changes them significantly from where they start.  In addition to their creative beers, they have an interesting food menu in their brewpub and regularly host beer dinners where the kitchen can play and the brewery can pair their interesting beers more directly to the interesting food coming out of the kitchen.  Their last beer dinner of the year was a Southern-style Dinner where the chef could showcase the food that he grew up with.  The dining room has a large 4 sided bar in the center which is full service, but there are also tables on either side of the bar (the entrance is at the front and the brewing area/kitchen is at the rear of the space).  When I have dined (and drank) here, I have sat both at the bar and on either side.  There is a large communal table in a semi-private hall in the back of the space that sits in front of the brewery (and next to the kitchen) where the beer dinners take place.  I sat on one end of the table where I could see everything, though it did put me, at times, at a distance to the food that was being served.

 

We started out with an Amuse Bouche with its own beer pairing, Collaborade, a German-Style Wheat Beer that was served with a Shrimp Hush Puppy with Creole Remoulade and Chives.  The yeast in many wheat beers will give a beer the flavor of bananas.  While that was there, there was a lot of Lemongrass added which gave this beer a lemon flavor without being exceptionally sour.  The hush puppy was crisp and had a lot of shrimp flavor, which went well with the lemony flavor of the beer.  The remoulade, a French-made condiment with a mayonnaise base similar to tartar sauce, but with Stone Ground Mustard, spices and Red Pepper, added a nice spice and went well with the chopped shrimp in the hush puppy.

 

Our first official course started with the beer as did most of the courses.  We were served Atomic Child, a New England-style IPA which was actually less hazy than other NEIPAs that I've tried.  It also was brewed with White Grapes and had a definite grape finish.  Paired with this were the Fried Green Tomatoes with Black Eyed Peas, Pickled Shrimp, Buttermilk Vinaigrette, and Tobasco Vinaigrette.  It was crunchy on the outside, very juicy on the inside, and had a nice tart flavor and the two vinaigrettes added a nice sour and spicy flavor that went well with both the tart tomato and the grape flavor of the IPA.

 

The first entree was some Fried Chicken which has been popular in Chicago for the last few years, Nashville Hot Chicken, which was served with a Pullman Loaf, Slaw, and a Dill Pickle.  The chicken was paired with 200 Units Golden Ale, a good golden ale, but one of the most standard takes on a beer that they do.  The heat in Nashville Hot Chicken can vary widely.  Some is barely hot and some is so hot that you can barely eat it.  This was very hot.  The crust was very crispy and the meat was nicely juicy.  It was hot, but it wasn't so hot that I couldn't finish it, though I did have to eat it slowly.  The pickles and bread did help to cut the heat somewhat.

After what I had eaten so far, I was starting to get full.  The food at this point was very good and there were two courses left, so onward I went.  The second entree was essentially the signature course and it kind of blew the diners away. It started inauspiciously with their Hoodie Weather Oak Aged Vienna Lager.  Shortly after, they brought out a board with slices of Texas Toast and Grilled Lemon.  This was obviously not the entree, but it was good enough that the kitchen had to bring out another loaf.  The Vienna Lager had a nice oak flavor and was good enough that I forgot to take a picture of it until I was almost finished.  By that time, the star had arrived.  It was a Low Country Boil, a large pot of seafood and potatoes served in the broth made from the boil.  Included in the boil were, Mussels, Prawns, Andouille Sausage, Corn, Red Potatoes, more Grilled Lemons, and Fennel.  This was really good and while there were some people that had been getting boxes for previous dishes, this was not something that would have traveled well in a cardboard box.  It was really good and the pan sat on the table for a while while we worked on it.

And then came dessert.  Most of the table was very full by this time, but after what had been a very good dinner so far, no one was going to turn away before having it.  There was a small pause, which was actually kind of a good thing, so people's stomach could kind of reset.  The beer came out which was a Basil Raspberry Hefeweisen and the chef came out shortly thereafter to tell us that he had had to do some improvisation because the dessert wasn't coming together as he had hoped.  On the menu for dessert was Apple Pie with Cheddar Cheese Ice Cream.  Unfortunately, the Ice Cream Machine decided to die on that day, so they had to try other methods that ended up not working.  We were served Mini Apple Pies, which were very good with Vanilla Ice Cream, Cheddar Cheese Sauce, and a Brown Sugar Crumble.  While it wasn't what the chef had hoped to serve, it was still very good and served as a good finish to a very good meal.  I like both the beer and food at the Forbidden Root Brewpub and will definitely return for more of the same.