Michigan Brewery Tour, part 1

On the last weekend in June, I took a trip to Michigan to explore the breweries in southwest Michigan.  As Michigan has the 5th highest number of breweries in the country, there were a lot to explore and I had to choose which ones that I would visit.  The trip started by train, but was mostly done by bike, staying overnight in cheap motels.  The bike ride started in New Buffalo and ended in Battle Creek after a side trip to Marshall.  I then went to Midland via Amtrak to Flint, where my family lives, to recover for a few days before returning via Amtrak.  The trip officially started on Thursday, but fate seemed to be conspiring against me from the beginning.  For the last couple of years, I have been buying my train tickets electronically and showing them to the conductor through the app.  Looking at the app before I got to the train station, it did not list any of my tickets (to New Buffalo, to Flint, or from Flint to Chicago).  There is a way to display the ticket if you know the reservation number so I looked it up beforehand.  When I got to the train station, I tried to pull it up, but it couldn't find it.  I had time before boarding so I went into the station and accessed one of the electronic ticket agents and it couldn't pull my ticket up either.  I finally had to go to a ticket agent and have a ticket printed up.  After that, boarding and the ride to New Buffalo were pretty uneventful other than the fact that I realized that I had forgotten my water bottles after getting them out and cleaning them.  The plan was to leave the station, travel to two breweries, and then crash for the night in St. Joseph, MI with a possible trip to another brewery after I checked in.  That was the plan.  I got off the train, began my trip, and made it a grand total of one mile before getting a flat.  I had a patch kit, a spare tube, and a pump, so this shouldn't have been an issue except for a bit of a time waster.  Unfortunately, whatever I had hit severely damaged my tire, so I was going to need a new one.  It was evening, so the few bike shops that the small town of New Buffalo had were closed.  I saw that I was going to have to spend the night and get my tire replaced in the morning.  Before I went in search of a motel though, I hunted down a place to eat.  This happened to be the Stray Dog Bar & Grill, which was downtown and very close to where I had originally debarked from the train.  It was a nice place with a lakeside view and indoor, outdoor, and rooftop brewing.  Looking at the menu, I saw the usual mass market macro-brew subjects, but they did also have a pretty good list of craft brews as well.  I decided on a beer from the brewery that was going to be the optional brewery after I checked in to my motel for the evening had everything gone as planned.  The beer was a Kolsch from Round Barn Brewery which was a pretty good summer beer.  The food menu was fairly standard bar and grill fare with sandwiches, ribs, pizza, and burgers, with some pretty interesting appetizers.  I ended up going with a Blue Harbor Burger (with Fries) which was a Blue Cheese and Bacon Burger and was very good.  Sitting at the bar, I talked to several very friendly people, found that there was a nice, no-frills, cheap motel called the Buffalo Motel about 1 1/2 miles south of town.  I got there, got a room, and crashed for the night.  I was surprised and happy when I asked where I could park my bike that they suggested that I park it in my room.  So ended night one.    

Old Oak Tap

If you want to check out a new restaurant/bar, but are not sure if you want to spend the money for dinner, going for brunch is a good way to check out the space (and possibly the dinner menu) without having to spend the money for dinner.  You obviously won't be able to go at a time when dinner is being served, but it will give you an idea about the place  I went recently, to Old Oak Tap for brunch and to check it out.  Located in West Town, it is in an area that, while on a main road, is just starting to happen.  It has a stone half-wall on either side of the entrance enclosing a large patio.  The front wall of the restaurant can be opened in good weather and, as the weather was nice when I went, it was open, making the main restaurant an extension of the patio.  The space has high ceilings so it feels very open, especially with the open front wall.  The space has a very rustic look, with light green walls and a lot of wood decoration.  There is stone fireplace off to one side.  The floors are hardwood and the lights are mounted on hanging wagon wheels, like a rustic chandelier, although with all of the natural light from the open front, they really weren't necessary.  The space had a feeling of a lodge.  There was a large bar at the back of the room which was where I sat.  I started things off with a breakfast cocktail while I perused the large brunch menu.  I ordered a Pimm's Cup with Pimm's #1, Cucumber, Lemon, Angustura Bitters, and Ginger Ale.  Pimm's #1 is a gin based tonic with fruits and spices and, while the flavor is strong and herbal, it is very refreshing and went well with the strong ginger ale with which it was served.

I started my brunch off with an order of Maple Glazed Nutella Donut Holes served with a side of Maple Syrup.  The donut holes were more small fritters than donut holes, but that was okay because they were really good.  They were covered with powdered sugar and had a crisp outer shell and a fluffy center.  It seemed that the dough balls got a shot of nutella into them instead of having it combined with the dough because they all seemed to have a brown nutella center, like the prize in the center of a piece of candy.  While the maple syrup went extremely well with the donut holes and it was good maple syrup, it really wasn't necessary as the donut holes were really good on there own.

For my main course, I had a pizza.  Pizza is good at any time of the day, but a breakfast pizza is something special.  This was more a flatbread than a pizza per se, but it was still really good.  It had many things you would expect for breakfast:  Potatoes, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Provolone Cheese, Rosemary, and Truffle Oil, and was topped with a Sunny Side Up Egg.  The crust was thin and cracker crisp, but sturdy enough that it held together when I tried to eat it with my hands.  The egg yolk was runny, but it was hard enough that it didn't explode when I broke it and I was able to spread it around the pizza without making a mess of it.  As far as my overall thoughts on brunch here, I really liked the space here and the food was really good.  I would be happy to return even though the service was a little casual.          

Parts and Labor

The neighborhood that I live in in Chicago is generally recognized as a hipster hang out and my friends give me a hard time about being a hipster for both my address and for having some of the aspects of the stereotypical hipster.  A list came out recently a list came out listing the most hipster restaurants in Chicago, and as it might be expected, many of them were in Logan Square.  I have also been to and like many of them (which also adds to my hipster cred).  To be clear, I do not think that I'm a hipster myself, I just think it's kind of funny and like to play with it occasionally.  There was a restaurant close to me that had gotten some pretty good press and was also on the hipster list that I hadn't been to so I decided to visit it.  Parts and Labor is a bar and grill with a simple food menu, mostly consisting of their burger, a few sandwiches and salads, and sides.  They do have a very good beer list, though, and I started things off with a Diablo Belga Belgian Style Dubbel from Ale Asylum.  A Dubbel is a high alcohol brown ale with an understated bitterness and flavors of fruit and cereal.  They are generally heavy, but this one really wasn't.  It also didn't have much of a head.  It did have flavors of raisins and granola and it was pretty good.  The restaurant itself is bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside.  It occupies a corner lot with windows on both sides and a small courtyard/patio in the back.  The interior is unfinished and open with many ladders on the walls in the front of the space where the large bar is, and furniture with an 8-bit design in the back.  There are also many flat screens throughout the space.

Parts and Labor is primarily known for their burger and while you can order it on its own, they have two specials built around it.  The first is the burger with fries and a cheap beer and the second is the burger and fries.  As I generally try to avoid cheap beer because it has no taste, I decided to go with the second which I added bacon to.  The burger consists of a couple of thin griddle burgers (like you would find in a diner or many fast food restaurants) and is topped with Iceberg Lettuce, Tomatoes, Onions, American Cheese, "Special Sauce", and the Bacon that I added on.  Ketchup and Mustard are served on the side.  The Fries were crispy Curly Fries seasoned with Seasoned Salt.  As far as ingredients were concerned, the burger really wasn't anything special.  It was however, cooked and assembled well, and was well worth the price.  It was a very good bar burger.  The fries were crispy, flavorful, and very good.  I am sure that they would have been good with ketchup, but it wasn't necessary.

Their dessert was similarly limited, but it definitely hit some comfort food notes, featuring a couple of floats and a Fried Twinkie.  The Fried Twinkie sounded positively decadent, so that's where I had to go.  When it arrived, I saw that it was even more decadent than it sounded.  The trinkie seemed to have been coated in a light tempura batter.  It was light and crispy with a lot of air pockets.  This was liberally covered with raspberry jam and it was surrounded by whipped cream.  It was crunchy, sweet and very good.  The vibe at Parts and Labor is very relaxed, it has a good beer list, and prices are inexpensive, so I will definitely be back.   

Geek Bar Beta

It had been a while since I had been out to a restaurant of note and so I had a decision for my start of the year.  Was I going to go low key or high end?  I decided that since I will undoubtedly make it to some high end restaurants, I will take it easy to start the year off and picked a low key place.  I went to Geek Bar recently to start things off.  Geek Bar is an idea that welcomes geeks of all dimensions and is now in it's Beta Version (known as Geek Bar Beta).  It is in an extended pop-up in Wicker Park until it's permanent home is open sometime this winter.  The space is narrow with the bar on one side and the dining room next to it with a projection screen at the back of the room.  The floors, wall, and ceiling are all white with some black design and bottle cap wall hangings in the image of video game characters.  It has the feel of a basement game room.  There seemed to be many games going on at many tables with people bouncing between tables.  It seems very friendly, but I would think that it might be hard to keep track of checks (which may explain why it seemed a bit on the slow side).  On the night that I went, they were playing X-Men: Days of Future Past which was luckily captioned because it was hard to hear.  It was nice to watch though while I was there.  I started things with a beer that I thought was very appropriate for the space, 8 Bit Pale Ale from Tallgrass Brewery.  I had never had this, but I really liked this.

Looking over the menu, which came in a three ring binder, it took a little while to decide what it was that I wanted, I do have to admit though that part of that was my fault because I kept on getting distracted by the movie.  I started things off with Gold Coins.  Named and modeled after Mario Brothers, they were Goat Cheese Fritters with an Arugula Salad with Eggplant Puree and Chickpea Relish modeled after a mystery square in Mario Brothers.  The fritters had a nice crispy crust with a creamy interior and a sour taste that comes with goat cheese.  The arugula salad was peppery and went well with the fritters.

For my main course, I went with Poggles in a Blanket.  Now admittedly, I really have no idea where the name came from, but they were really good.  They were Pork Belly Tacos with Tomatoes, Green Peppers, and Crispy and Melted Cheddar.  A Lime wedge was served on the side.  It was meaty, savory, and served in soft corn tortillas.

My dessert was a presentation which required a twenty minute wait.  This was fine because I had the movie to watch and I imagine, after having it presented, that it was made to order.   I got the Hellboy Souffle which was a Red Velvet Souffle topped with Raspberry Puree and Cheesecake Gelato topped with Graham Cracker Crumbs and Raspberry Pop Rocks.  This was really good.  The souffle was sweet and fluffy, with a good chocolate flavor.  The raspberry puree was sour, as might be expected, but went well with the souffle.  The gelato was creamy went well with the souffle, but it was good on it's own with the pop rock topping.  There weren't a lot of pop rocks but there were enough to provide a tingly texture for a great finish.

Despite the fact that the service was a little slower than I expected, I liked Geek Bar.  The food was good, the staff was friendly, and the atmosphere was welcoming.  I will probably return several times before it moves to it's permanent in Lincoln Park.   

Lockdown Bar &Grill

I have long claimed that Kuma's Corner makes the best burgers in town.  They are without question the most creative and there are many places that take aim at them.  Lockdown Bar & Grill is one of the most blatant Kuma's knock-offs.  They also are primarily a burger bar with a good beer list and a heavy metal soundtrack and a staff with a lot of ink.  They do differentiate themselves somewhat though by playing concert movies on their many flat screens instead of just having a very loud metal soundtrack.  The bar is also designed with a prison motif with black walls, a lot of steel bars, and chain link, and liberal use of deck plating.  The movie that was playing on the evening that I went was an Iron Maiden Concert Film.  I dined there on a Tuesday night recently when they have a half-price burger special.  I was happy to see that I picked the right night to go.  They have a pretty extensive beer list so it actually longer to pick my beer than it did my burger.  I ended up going with Evil Twin's Hipster Ale because I figured that I may never see it again.  Evil Twin is a gypsy brewer originally from Denmark and now from Brooklyn that produces limited edition and one-off beers.  I figured, if I saw something from Evil Twin, because their brews are short runs, I probably won't see Hipster Ale again.  As far as the beer was concerned, it was an American Pale Ale that was a bit simple of flavor, but done well.  I enjoyed it and would be happy to try another beer from Evil Twin.

The burgers at Lockdown, like the burgers at Kuma's, have a theme, although the theme at Lockdown is about crime and punishment.  The burger that I got was a minor crime but a major burger.  It was called a Public Disturbance.  It had Bacon, Gorgonzola, Onion Rings, and BBQ Sauce.  It was enormous and with the barbecue sauce dripping down, it looked like a crime scene.  It came with a side of Hand Cut Fries.  The burger was hard to get my mouth around, but it was very good.  The barbecue sauce was sweet, the bacon and onion rings were crispy, and the Gorgonzola had a good blue cheese flavor.  While the combination was not that unusual, it was very good and the burger itself was probably one of the best around.  It was tender, juicy, and very flavorful. 

The burgers at Lockdown, while not incredibly creative, are very good as is the beer list and the Tuesday burger deal is a win.  I will definitely be back for more.

Analogue

I have said several times that I like living in Logan Square because of the many good places to eat nearby.  There are several good restaurants, but there are also several bars that serve really good food.  Some of those places though, might be a little hard to find if you don't know where to look.  I went to one of these places, Analogue, recently for dinner and it is very low key.  There is no sign of any kind (not even a beer sign by the door), but there is an address and the building is black, so it isn't completely anonymous.  There is a host station at the entrance, but I came at a time when there wasn't much of a crowd, so there was a sign that said "Please seat yourself".  I sat at the bar because i thought that would be the easiest for everyone.  The space is small, seating about 40 people at tables and a few leather-covered booths.  There is also a larger, round table at the back of the bar that might seat eight.  The interior of the bar is also black but it also includes several mirrors to give the illusion of a larger space.  The lighting is dim, although not nearly as dim as other places where I have been.  The lighting was provided by track lighting.  The soundtrack was indie rock.  We were listening, mostly, to the War on Drugs, when I was there.  As this place is a bar and the head bartender has a pretty good pedigree, I decided to try out one of their cocktails.  I went with a Double Vision which had Beefeater Gin, Lemon, Ramazzotti (a medium Italian Amaro), and Strawberry Black Pepper Syrup.  This was a very good drink and it was fun to watch the bartender make it.  It was tart and sweet with a spicy finish from the black pepper with the herbal and juniper flavors from the gin there but deemphasized somewhat.

The food menu at Analogue is not divided into the standard appetizer, entree, dessert format, in fact, it isn't divided at all.  It does, however, go, more or less, from top to bottom from smallest to largest and finishes with bread pudding at the bottom.  I started near the top of the menu with something that I had never heard of and had no idea what I would be getting.  It was called a Stuffed Mirliton filled with Smoked Mushroom Stuffing and served with Black Garlic Vinaigrette.  After I got the dish, I still wasn't sure what I had.  I could see that the stuffing was pressed into a pear shaped fruit or vegetable and the vinaigrette was spread on the plate.  It was pretty good so I didn't regret what I ordered.  The mirliton itself had a mild taste and kind of reminded me texturally of a potato.  The stuffing had smoky and mushroom flavors and added a lot as far as flavor to the mirliton as did the black garlic vinaigrette.  I looked it up later and discovered that mirliton is also called chayote which I have heard of but had never had.  It is a member of the gourd family native to Mexico and is treated like summer squash.

For my next course, I went with a Po' Boy.  There were a few Po' Boys offered but I had to go with the Cochon de Lait Po' Boy, a Milk Roasted Pork Shoulder with Creole Mustard, Lettuce, Tomato, Pickles, and Mayo served on a Baguette.  The sandwich was pretty big, but it was also pretty good.  The pork was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, the mustard added some spice, the bread was crusty with a soft interior, and the lettuce tomato, and pickles added what you would expect for a submarine sandwich (which is essentially what a po' boy is).

As I implied, the only thing on the menu that could be classified as a dessert was the Bread Pudding so that's what I ordered. It came with Chocolate Chips, Pralines, Rum Sauce, and Whipped Cream.  Despite the fact that the food that I had had had been pretty good, because they only offered Bread Pudding for dessert and the fact that the place is essentially a bar, I really didn't expect much.  I was gladly mistaken.  It was very good and actually kind of decadent.  It was sweet with a lot of flavors, and a very good finish to a very good meal.  While it isn't a place I would go expecting high end cuisine, it is a good cocktail bar that serves good food and I would be happy to return. 



 

Stanley's Kitchen and Tap

All bars and grill are not created equal.  I first encountered Stanley's Kitchen and Tap at Roscoe Village Burger Fest a few years ago and I new that they made some good burgers.  I also knew where they were located was pretty much a straight shot between where I live and Lincoln Park (the park not the neighborhood that it is located in).  I went there recently with the intention of getting a good burger.  There are some very good burger joints that are actually closer but I was interested in something a little different than what I usually have.  While it was my intention to get a burger, the menu tempted me otherwise.  I walked in and after my eyes became accustomed to the dark, I was seated at the bar.  Looking around, I noticed it had a very rustic look with a wood floor, wood rafters, wood bar, and wood furniture.  It reminded me both of the inside of a barn, and a saloon out of the old west (minus the swinging doors).  There were many references as far as flags, accessories, and the menu, to Texas and Louisiana.  I also noticed a large number of bottles of Tito's Handmade Vodka (a Texas product) under the bar.  Despite these many references, I would not say that the dinner that I ordered was very Southern and my beer very definitely was not (Half Acre Akari Shogun American Wheat Ale).  I started out with a variation of a very popular Quebecois street food, poutine.  Standard poutine is made of french fries topped with cheese curds and gravy.  Stanley's Poutine is made with Tater Tots before being topped with Cheddar and Gravy.  You could also optionally add Pulled Pork which I did because, well, why wouldn't you?  I saw, after it arrived, that it may be a challenge if I was also going to have an entree and dessert.  I was hungry, but the serving size was enormous.  It also tasted very good.  It was sweet, salty, cheesy, meaty, and pretty filling.  After finishing this, I could have conceivably stopped, but there was more food to be had.

While I thought the serving size for the poutine was large, my entree was bigger.  I had to question the size of the people that they serve here.  I ordered the Bacon Laced Meatloaf, with Housemade Ketchup, Country Fried Onions, and Mashed Potatoes.  Despite the fact that this was huge, I also thought it was very good.  The meatloaf seemed to have been made from some very good meat.  It wasn't exceptionally greasy and if it weren't for the size, I would also say that it wasn't exceptionally heavy.  The bacon was thinly sliced and very good, the onions had a crispy breading and they were sweet, flavorful,  and tender inside.  The ketchup that was used on the meatloaf was pretty spicy and the mashed potatoes were smooth and very tasty.  While it would have been nice to finish this, I don't know if that would have been possible even if I hadn't eaten the poutine previously.  This went home in a box and made my dinner the next day.

I was very happy with what I had had up to this point, so I made a point to leave room for dessert.  I ended up getting something that would not be a surprise to be seen at a county fair, Deep Fried Chocolate Chip Cookies.  They were topped with Powdered Sugar and served with a Vanilla Sauce on the side.  They were served warm and were very sweet and gooey.  The cookie seemed to be light and a little crumbly and the chocolate chips melted throughout.  They were fun to eat, but they were also potentially very messy so I did have to eat carefully to prevent wearing it. 

This dinner was a heart attack on several plates.  While it was good and I did like it, it was not something that I would be eating often.  The staff was friendly and helpful and I would be happy to return.

25° Restaurant

There are any number of bars and grill where you can get a burger.  Most of them aren't bad but most are also not memorable in any way.  There are a few places though that step things up and offer something more than the standard burger.  Kuma's Corner is the best of these but there are a few other places that do a good job offering there own take on gourmet burgers.  I went to 25° recently because I wanted a good burger and was looking for something new.  While technically a chain, there are four in the world, two are in Southern California and the other is in Bangkok, so I will give it a pass.  The burgers offered at the Chicago location are also slightly different than the other three.  The name 25° comes from the difference in temperature between medium rare and medium well.  The restaurant is located in River North and is actually kind of small considering its location.  It isn't too hard to find though, because it's painted black with a white 25° painted on it.  Inside, the space is dominated by the bar in the center of the room.  Seating is on all sides of the bar with tables on the outside of the room next to the red velvet walls.  There are several TV's in the room playing ESPN although I would not call it a sports bar vibe.  Lighting is from hanging lighting including two chandeliers inside the bar.  For food, the restaurant does four burgers with an option to build your own.  They also do a variety of hard floats, shakes and sodas.  What makes their burgers special besides their high quality meat is the wide variety of cheeses that are available.  They offer 15 different cheeses ranging from the standard American,  3 Cheddars, Mozzarella, and 2 Blues, to such things as Vella Toma, Grand Cru Gruyere Surchoix, and Cardona Goat Cheese.  The burgers are also put in a Brioche Bun.  For my burger, I ordered the creatively named Number One.  The Number One had (besides the ground sirloin and the Brioche Bun) Aderkasse Reserve Cheese (a soft, mild, pasteurized cow's milk blue cheese), Vella Toma Cheese (a soft slightly-ripened cow's milk cheese), Caramelized Onions, Bacon, Arugula, and Thousand Island Dressing.  This was a big, very good, and very flavorful burger with the onions, the blue cheese, the funk of the Aderkasse reserve all adding something.  The only thing I would say on the down side would be that it needed a little more bacon.  The bacon did add a textural element but the flavor was kind of lost with everything else.  It was a very good burger but with a little more bacon to bring the flavor out, it would have been much better.

 For sides, there are a lot of the bar and grill standard sides with standard and sweet potato fries, onion rings, chicken wings, and salads, but they also have spicy tuna, bacon wrapped dates, charcuterie and cheese, fritters, and tempura fried green and yellow beans.  I decided to go with the standard french fries which were well crisped and salty, but as far as taste was concerned, not that different from any other order of good french fries.  They were served in a container like a Chinese take-out box that was spilled over a long plate.  It was a good presentation that elevated the dish.

I finished things off with a Spiked Shake.  There were eight shakes on the menu that would have been good without the booze but the alcohol added something extra.  I ordered a Salty Caramel Shake which came with Makers Mark, Vanilla Ice Cream, Butterscotch, Red Hawaiian Sea Salt, and a lot of Whipped Cream.  This was very good, if a little dangerous.  It was easy to forget the alcohol.  It was sweet, salty, and buttery, and oaky, and a great finish to the meal. I enjoyed my meal and will definitely return to try more cheese and more shakes or floats.   

Township

With some places, you go in with certain expectations.  With any number of restaurants in River North or River West, you can expect good food and service with a really nice looking restaurant.  Neighborhood restaurants tend to be less flashy with the food a little lower end but many still do a nice job with their meal presentation.  Sometimes though you will run into a surprise.  There are restaurants in the high end areas that don't live up to expectations but there are also places in the neighborhoods that are able to step things up.  I went to Township recently because I happened to be in the area and I was hungry.  I wasn't expecting much because the place doesn't look like much and I certainly wasn't expecting to find anything to blog about.  I was familiar with the space before it became Township.  It was a very low-key Puerto Rican restaurant called Pancho's that made food that was edible but was really nothing to write home about.  The layout of the two restaurants is the same.  In fact, about the only things that changed as far as look was concerned is the sign.  Located across the street from a police station, the space is on a corner, is long and narrow and divided into two public rooms.  The front room is dominated by the bar/counter with tables by the windows.  The rear room has some tables but it is fairly open and is used as a performance space.  There is a small semi-open kitchen off of the front room but a lot of the food prep is done behind the counter.  While the place looks clean there really isn't anything to write about as far as design is concerned, the bartender was friendly though.  My surprise started when I first looked at the menu.  For a place that could easily be mistaken for a dive bar, they have a pretty extensive beer and liquor list with a pretty good selection of local stuff.  The cocktails did look pretty good but I decided to take it easy and went for a beer.  The food menu has many bar and grill standards but there was also hummus, a caprese salad, paninis, and a favorite of mine, Samosas.  Samosas are generally vegetarian pastries that originated in India and contain things such as peas, lentils, potatoes, and onions.  They are distinctly triangular and are frequently like rounded pyramids.  They are frequently served with chutney.  The Samosas served here were triangular and bulging, but not pyramidal.  They contained potatoes and peas and were served with two chutneys, a Cilantro Mint Chutney and a Tamarind Chutney.  The samosas were hot and crispy on the outside as they are supposed to be, with the inside moist, and flavorful.  I did try both chutneys and they both added a lot of flavor to the samosas but I preferred the tart and tangy tamarind chutney which was a little thicker than the cilantro mint.  The cilantro mint chutney which while flavorful, was thinner, and a little too spicy for my taste in this instance.

For my main course, I could have gone with the standard burger but the Curried Chicken Salad Sandwich with Red Onions and Mixed Greens on a Croissant piqued my interest especially considering that they had done the samosas very well.   The sandwich also came with a side which could have been french fries, salad, or soup.  I decided to stick with the theme I had been following and went with the Apple Tarragon Cole Slaw.  The croissant was delicate, flaky, and overstuffed (not that I'm complaining about that).  It was also toasted which prevented it from getting soggy and falling apart.  The chicken salad was made with some very good and flavorful chicken.  It had the standard things you might expect in a chicken salad other than chicken:  celery, onions, and mayo.  The curry also provided a nice spice.  The onions and greens were fresh and crisp, and added to the flavor of the sandwich.  The cole slaw had was a standard shredded cabbage salad with a light mayo based dressing.  It was crisp, slightly sweet, and very fresh.  The apples and tarragon made this more than the standard, but good, cole slaw.  There were a lot of thinly sliced apples that added a crisp tartness and the tarragon added some bittersweet notes.

Township's dessert list was very small, but their were a couple of things on it that really sounded good to me.  I ended asking the bartender what he thought was better and I went with a Flourless Chocolate Cake with Strawberries and a Fruit Coulis.  The plate (and cake) came out covered in powdered sugar.  The cake was rich, chocolaty, and very good.  The coulis (a fresh fruit sauce) blended very well with the flavor of the cake and added a little tartness.  It was a very nice finish to an unexpectedly good meal.  While the space really has nothing to draw people, the food is very good and I will be back for more some time.         

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.

  

Silver Cloud Bar & Grill

While fine dining and gourmet food is good and nice, sometimes you just want a grilled cheese sandwich or mac and cheese.  I went to Silver Cloud Bar & Grill with a group of friends recently.  It epitomizes the best of what a bar and grill is.  The space has a long bar running the length of the room with a row of vinyl backed booths opposite the bar.  There is also a large table at the back of the room with banquette seating for larger parties and an outside patio for outdoor seating.  The style of the place is definitely retro but they really don't play it up.  It's a nice design without feeling like you've walked into the past.  The menu isn't really fancy but it isn't really trying to be.  It features comfort food like meatloaf, grilled cheese, sloppy joes, or your basic burger and does it well.  A few dishes do have some nice twists to them like the meatloaf with the Bell's Amber Ale gravy, the customizable mac and cheese, or the brie burger but the dishes are still very accessible.  Their beer list isn't extensive but they do hit most of the popular styles from white to black and also includes PBR and Bud for those people that aren't adventurous.  I much prefer to try something new to the tried and true (although I do tend to stick with breweries with which I am familiar).  The beer that I go was one that I had never had but I was familiar with the brewery.  I got a Dark Horse Black Bier which lived up to it's name.  It was as black as motor oil and looked very thick in the pour.  The head was minimal but what was there was kind of caramel colored.  It had a nice coffee and roast malt flavor with possibly a little dark chocolate.  For my meal, I ordered a pulled pork sandwich which was served with tater tots.  The sandwiches came with tater tots, chips, zucchini and carrot slaw, or Boston baked beans.  Going to a bar and grill, I was not interested in veggies, and chips just do not interest me.  The tater tots weren't really anything special but fried potatoes by their very character are very good.  The Pulled Pork Sandwich was served with JK's Scrumpy Organic Cider Barbecue Sauce and topped with coleslaw.  JK's Scrumpy is a sweet cider so the barbecue sauce was pretty sweet as well.  While I do prefer my barbecue sauces to be a little less sweet and more spicy, this was pretty good.  The pulled pork had a nice texture and the slaw did provide some tartness.

This is a nice relaxing place that does comfort food pretty well and the beer list is pretty good.  It's a nice place to hang out with friends and also does brunch well.  I will be back again. 

Whiskey Bar & Grill

When I think of a bar called Whisky, I think of the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles, a bar on the Sunset Strip that has long been considered the center of the L.A. rock scene. Many bands that went on to become huge played here in their early days and there have been many songs that have been written about the Whisky (including Rolling Stones "Going to a Go Go"). While the Whisky is connected intimately with L.A., it actually started in Chicago in 1958. The original bar on Rush and Chestnut is long gone but there is another bar on Rush Street called the Whiskey Bar and Grill. It is not connected at all with the original although it seems to want to play on the apparent connection. The walls and furniture are of dark reclaimed wood and there is a big, heavy looking, hardwood bar in each of the two rooms. The booth seating is brown leather and one wall has portrait photographs of famous rock stars like Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger, and Janis Joplin. There are also two big communal tables in the main dining area. The place looks to me like it's trying to be a rock star dive bar like the LA Whisky. The problem with copies is that they are just that and if the copies aren't that good, then it lowers the value that much more. While there should be some roughness expected from reclaimed wood, there seemed to be a lot of wear around the edges and on the leather upholstery. There are also depressions in the upholstery where many people have previously sat. The rock star dive is just becoming a dive.

I came here for breakfast on the morning after St. Patrick's Day because I thought coming to a place that tries to project a rock star vibe on the morning after a night of decadence would be rather entertaining. The place was fairly full when I came in and many of the people looked pretty rough. As you may have already guessed, I was pretty unimpressed with the look of the place. I was equally unimpressed with the menu. There was nothing on the menu that I wouldn't expect to see on any diner menu in Chicago. I ended up ordering the Huevos Rancheros. I could have had the choice of fried or scrambled eggs (I ordered scrambled) that were cooked with salsa verde and chorizo, and served on corn tortillas with chopped tomatoes, cilantro, and pico de gallo. Fried potatoes were served on the side. While the food wasn't bad, it just wasn't impressive and played at about diner level. The picture above, while it is huevos rancheros, is not actually the dish that I had at the Whiskey Bar and Grill. It is a placeholder trying to take the place of the original, kind of like the bar.

While it was kind of entertaining to watch people on the morning after, neither the decor nor the food will bring me back to the Whiskey Bar & Grill. If I have a desire for the type of morning food that they serve here, I will go to a diner.

Prairie Moon

While there are a lot of good restaurants in Evanston and I do like the town, I don't really head up that way that often because even though it is an immediate suburb of Chicago, it's a bit of an ordeal to get there considering it's location. In any case, I happened to be in Evanston on a weekend afternoon and we decided to go to Prairie Moon for lunch. I had never been there before but for whatever reason, when I thought of Prairie Moon, I thought of a place that was very green. By this, I mean that it serves a lot of fresh and seasonal fare. I was correct in that but the decor was also light green and blue. The color scheme actually reminded me of Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are). The ceilings are very high and unfinished. The floor and furniture are wood, the windows are very large, and there are hanging lights so the space is bright (in the daytime). Prairie Moon has a very good beer list and the food they serve reminds me of a combination of the Gulf Coast and the Midwest. They serve a lot of seafood, steaks, and vegetarian cuisine, with some good looking burgers and some Mexican fare thrown in for good measure. It all looked good and it was actually a little hard to decide what I wanted but I hadn't had a good etoufee in a while so I ordered the Gulf Shrimp and Crawfish Etoufee. I hadn't had it before so I wasn't sure that it was good but I was hoping. When it came out, I was excited for the first bite because it smelled and looked great. It tasted as good as it looked. Besides the shrimp and crawfish of which, there was a lot, it also had celery, onions, and green peppers in a dark brown and medium spicy roux. It was served over white rice.

I really enjoyed lunch here, the food, beer, and service were all very good and I would be happy to come here again when I find myself in Evanston.

Frontier

It was a great start for the new year. I went, with a large group, to a restaurant/bar that does not take reservations. This sounds like the start of a very bad situation but it worked out much better than I would have guessed. Frontier is located in Noble Square just south of the Polish Triangle. While it's close to hipster central, it looks like a mountain lodge. It has hardwood floors and furniture with wild game trophies on the walls and a very large stuffed grizzly behind the bar. There are also also several large flat screen TVs on the walls so the game can be watched from anywhere. There is also a large communal dining table in the kitchen. For people interested in food, the kitchen table is a big bonus because you can watch the goings on in the kitchen. I was very happy to see that we were seated at the kitchen tableThe menu at the Frontier is divided into Snacks (appetizers), Harvested (vegetable dishes), Fished (seafood), and Hunted (game). While the stuff in the Harvested and Fished sections did look good, most people who live in the city do not get to eat game often so that is what I went for. While they have a beef hamburger on the menu, and some chicken but there is also venison, elk, boar, rabbit, goat, and other thinks. There was also an appetizer that I was interested but because they were missing a key ingredient, they were not serving it. For the appetizer, I was interested in the Cheese Fritter. On the surface, that sounds pretty mundane but who doesn't like fried cheese? It was what was in it though that had me interested in it. It was made with Gruyere Cheese, Lamb Brains, Chives, and Lemon and Veal Reduction. I have never had brains which so this is what I wanted to try. Unfortunately, they had no lamb brains so I had to go with something else. I went with the waitress' recommendation. I had a Peppadew Pepper that was stuffed with Manchego Cheese and Dates and wrapped with House-Made Bacon. I didn't know what a Peppadew Pepper was but it was wrapped in bacon and bacon makes everything better. The waitress was right, it was very good. The bacon had a nice crispness to it but also had a good chew. The pepper was about the size and shape of a grape tomato. It initially had a kind of a bell pepper taste but developed a slow burn. The dates and cheese added a nice tangy sweetness to it. It was a good start.
As I was at a restaurant that featured game, I looked to get as much bang for my buck so I ordered a dish with four different animals in it. I ordered the Hunter's Cassoulet. A cassoulet is a slow cooked bean stew originating in the south of France and which normally contains pork sausage, pork, goose, duck, and sometimes mutton. This cassoulet had mutton but the pork sausage was boar, the duck was ostrich, and the pork was antelope. It was served in a large metal bowl on a cutting board. It looked rustic and tasted amazingly good. It was kind of funny though, the meat that I liked least was the one that would probably be most accessible to most people, the boar sausage. While it was all good, the sausage was what I liked least.

I really liked Frontier and I will definitely have to go back. There are so many things on the menu that I wouldn't be able to get anywhere else, I will have to visit several times to try it all.

Duke's Bar and Grill

The first thing that you notice when you walk into Duke's is that it looks like a cross between a hunting lodge and a lounge. The floors, wall, are all plank wood. The furniture is all wood as well although the booths are covered in white leather. The walls are decorated with plexiglass trophy head sculptures (one moose and two deer) that look like they would be assembled by the buyer. They look kind of tacky but I think that was the point, there was also a plastic palm tree sitting in the corner of a lounge area in the back. I think the idea was to go for a slightly tacky basement lounge feel on a main floor. They have a nice beer list as well as some choice top shelf liquors including the entire run of Johnny Walker's (Johnny Walker Blue $37/shot). While it has a good bar, what Duke's is known for is their burgers. They list 30 burgers on their menu to be built with one of a choice of 9 different patties. The meats include angus, American Kobe, bison, chicken breast, ostrich, turkey, wahoo, veggie, or portabella. Some of the meats sound pretty interesting but I decided that if I wanted to try to compare burgers between places, I would have to look at similar meats so I went with the angus. Most of the burgers are variations on your basic bar burger but there are three exceptions: the truffle burger which had the patty of choice, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, Parmesan cheese, and black truffle paste, served on a pretzel roll, the surf and turf which is a 1/2 pound angus burger topped with 6 oz. of diced lobster tail on a pretzel roll and served with a side of garlic butter, and The Duke which is a $100 burger that starts with 1 pound of kobe beef, and adds black truffle paste, 6 oz. of diced lobster tail, and edible gold leaf on a pretzel roll. I did ask the waitress how often The Duke is ordered and she told me that someone orders it about once a month. I didn't go so extravagant. I just stuck with the Breakfast Burger which is exactly what it sounds like; breakfast on a burger. It starts with the burger of choice (I went with the angus) and adds lettuce, tomato, applewood smoked bacon, American cheese, and a fried egg on a regular hamburger bun. I had a choice of several fried potatoes (fries, waffle fries, chippers, or tots), onion rings, or a salad on the side. I went with the waffle fries. The burger came out quickly and it was a thing of beauty. Eating it was as pleasurable as gazing upon it. The meat was very juicy, the bacon was crisp, and the egg was fried just right. It was probably the best bar burger that I have ever had (I do not consider burgers from Kuma's or the Burger Bar to be bar burgers). My only complaint is that it was served on a regular hamburger bun as opposed to a pretzel roll, an onion roll, a challah roll, or some other specialty roll that I have had burgers on.

I come to that part of town relatively frequently and while I had seen Duke's, I was not aware of their burger prowess. I will have to revisit them when I am in the area some evening.

The Beetle

A friend of mine commented recently that Chicago has so many good places for food that even the smaller places (as in less expensive and low key not necessarily physically smaller) have to amp up their food to bring in customers. I really have to agree on this point and I think that it's a good thing. I went to one of these "smaller" places recently, The Beetle Bar and Grill (formerly known as The Black Beetle), which is located in Westtown. A good bar and grill is going to have a good bar and they will also generally have wings and other grilled sandwiches like chicken and/or steak. The Beetle has all of this, I can speak for the fact that they have really good and inventive burgers, but they also have appetizers like nachos, fish tacos, and chili, a variety of pizzas, tacos, sandwiches, and a variety of salads for those people that prefer their food to have never moved on it's own. They also have a good beer list which is normally where people start when they go to a bar and grill. I started with a Stone Levitation Ale.

While the other food looks good, I generally stick to the burgers when I come here. They have six burgers all of which include bacon and/or cheese as well as a variety of other ingredients to make them stand out. They are also served with well seasoned waffle fries. I will usually get the Trucker (smoked bacon, aged cheddar, and a fried egg), or the Black & Bleu (lightly blackened with smoked bacon, caramelized onions, and crumbled bleu cheese), but I decided to go a little different this time and went with the Elvis which has smoked bacon, peanut butter, and fried plantains (as well as lettuce and tomato and a pickle on the side). This is actually a lot better than it might sound. What helps I think, is that neither the peanut butter nor the plantains are exceptionally sweet and all of the flavors can be picked out. All of the flavors, believe it or not, go together well. This is actually the second Elvis burger I have had this year and this is the better of the two. I don't know that this will be my goto burger when I come here again but it is good to know that I have some good choices despite how odd they may sound.

Northside Bar & Grill

I went out, Monday night with some friends to Northside Bar & Grill in Wicker Park (in Chicago). Coming in, I will admit, I wasn't expecting anything special. It's in a high traffic area so even if it was average, because it's in a good area, it would get a lot of traffic. It was a warm night aand it has a large outdoor seating area so it was kind of busy when we arrived. We actually sat inside the bar but right in front of the big French doors in front so we might as well have been outside. It was nice. A bar and grill will have a fairly standard menu of grilled sandwiches, burgers, wings, nachos, salads, and the occasional flat iron steak. There were no real big surprises when it came to what was on the menu although it was a little bit of a surprise to see falafel and hummus. The beer list, on the other hand, was pretty good as were the prices for the beer, so I was able to find something that I liked pretty easily. There were eight of us in our party so it was surprising how good our service was. A larger party will typically be a bit slower but she brought us our beers quickly and took our orders and our food didn't take a tremendously long time to come out. A lot of burgers and nachos were ordered (as well as a salad). I ordered a bacon bleu cheese burger which was served with lettuce, tomato, and onions on a kaiser roll (some burgers were served on a pretzel bun) with fries on the side and my neighbor ordered chicken nachos which aside from the house made tortilla chips (and the chicken) had refried beans, spicy jalapeno cheese sauce, pico de gallo, sour cream, guacamole, and jalapeno peppers. Most burgers at a given place will look fairly similar as will nachos so I didn't feel like being redundant and just shot the picture of my burger and my neighbors nachos which I sampled. While it is fairly standard bar fair, it was presented pretty well and also tasted pretty good. It's a good value for the money, the beer list was good, as was the service. It's a good place to meet friends over a beer and to watch the game and I can see it happening at a later date.

Paramount Room

From the outside, The Paramount Room doesn't look like much. It's location, next to the train tracks at the end of Milwaukee Ave, also is not at the height of trendiness. The building is an old, narrow brick building with a glass face. Walking into the building doesn't initially do much to impress either. There is a long bar and a few tables but the place to see is the basement. It's very blue. There are actually two levels, a balcony level and the main floor which has a padded, high-backed seat wall with a row of tables. There is another bar under one of the balconies and a DJ on the other balcony. They carry a pretty good beer list. On the night I went with my friend Scott on Jan. 22, they were playing a lot of old English New Wave. The first twenty minutes we were there, it was nothing but The Cure, but we later heard Joy Division, Modern English, New Order and other popular bands of the era. I like that type of music so it was really cool. While the menu has a lot of things that look good, The Paramount Room is known for it's $9 Kobe Burger. It is even listed on the front window. This was the primary reason for coming here. We also got an order of Poutine as an appetizer. Even at it's most basic, poutine is one of those things that taste really good but are really bad for you. It consists of french fries, cheese curds, and chicken gravy. Paramount Rooms version adds pulled pork. Excellent! And as far as the Kobe burgers are concerned, how can you go wrong with Kobe burgers? In actuality, while the burgers were called Kobe burgers, Kobe is like Champagne, it can't be called Kobe unless it's Wagyu beef raised in the Kobe prefecture of Japan. Other beef raised in a similar style is simply Wagyu beef. It's still really good but as it doesn't have to be raised in Japan and imported, it is a little cheaper. I really enjoyed my meal there and it is a place that I will return to.