Gadabout - Tasting Collective Dinner

Ever since the Tasting Collective came to Chicago, it allows me to try out some newer restaurants that I may not have otherwise thought about and allows me to do so with some like-minded people.  When Gadabout came up, I had heard about it, but knew little.  I knew that it was in Andersonville and it was very new.  I knew that I liked the name, for whatever reason, and looking it up, I saw that they were building a menu around globally-inspired street food. This really sounded good and interesting to me, so I decided that I had to try this out.  From the outside, the space looks large.  It has a large streetfront presence in a space that looks like it may have once been a department or clothing store with large picture windows and a large sign above them.  The entrance is in the center of the space and opens to the large bar, which sits in the center of the space and divides the room.  While the space was open, it felt like it was divided, by the entrance and the bar, into four rooms.  The entire space felt very comfortable with a lot of low tables and lounge furniture.  The table where we sat was large, a six top, though one party didn't make it and my party of three had the table to ourselves.  The floors were stained wood and the walls were brick, with a lot of decorative wall hangings.  With my friends there, it was going to be friendly and comfortable and I was excited to start.

I started things off with a cocktail that seemed pretty complex, but interesting, Purple Flame, which seemed to wander all over the map with it's ingredients.  It started with Fabriquero Sotol (Sotol is a distilled spirit of Mexican and West Texan origin made from a plant called the Desert Spoon or Sotol in Spanish), continued with Rothman and Winter Creme de Violette (from Austria), Ancho Reyes Poblano Liqueur (Mexico), Lingonberry Simple Syrup (Lingonberries are stapes of Swedish cuisine), Lime Juice, Owl and Whale Smoke Bitters, Owl and Whale Hot Bitters, and finished off with an Orchid Garnish.  It was sweet and really complex with vegetal, berry, smoke, and spicy flavors, and a little tartness to finish things off.  Our first course arrived when I was trying to figure out the flavors of my cocktail.  It was a Madai Crudo with Young Coconut, Blood Orange, Serrano Chilies, and Lotus Root.  This also, was very complex, and I like it a lot.  The fish was very tender, the Blood Orange and Serrano contributed sweet and spicy flavors, and the young Coconut added a crunchy texture among all of the tenderness from the fish and fruit.

 

The second course arrived on two plates.  First arrived the Grilled Flatbread.  The bread was simple and while it was to be eaten with the second part of the dish, Smoked Eggplant, it was good on its own, which was good, because when the second part of the dish arrived, we destroyed it.  There was more bread to be eaten, but it was fine, because it was also finished off.  The Smoked Eggplant was served with Golden Raisins, Goat Cheese, and Peppers.  On it's own it reminded me of Baba Ghanouj, which I like, but with the flat bread, it really reminded me of Pizza.  Because our table was a table for six, the restaurant was serving for six.  We first tried to allow for some time for the other party to be late, but when they never arrived, the restaurant told us to finish their food as well, which we happily did.

For our next course, we had another vegetarian dish that was modeled after a very popular Italian meat dish, Vitello Tonatto, Veal with a Tuna Mayo.  This was a Grilled Broccoli Tonnato, with Capers, Gremolata (Chopped herb condiment made with Lemon Zest, Garlic and Parsley), and Lemon Vinaigrette.  The broccoli was crisp and flavorful and went very well with the tuna mayo.  The gremolata and the lemon vinaigrette gave it a nice tart finish.

Our fourth course started our entrees, and while it was a fish course, there was a very significant twist.  It was a Monkfish, a fish that I very much like for it's texture and flavor prepared with the flavors of a Chicago Hot Dog.  In addition to the very good Monkfish, it had a Panzanella Salad (a Tuscan Bread Salad made with Onions, Tomatoes, Cucumber, and Basil), Mustard Vinaigrette, and Celery Salt.  This was also very good with a complex flavor and was enjoyed around the table.

For our final savory dish we had Steak, served Medium Rare.  It was a Denver Steak, a Chuck Steak from the Shoulder, served with Brussels Sprouts, Salsa Negra, and Chipotle Honey.  The salsa and honey gave the tender and flavorful steak layers of heat and sweet.  The Brussels Sprouts added a vegetal flavor.  This was a favorite and because we were getting so much, much of this went home with me (because I had to save room for dessert).

The food thus far was tasty, complex, and interesting.  Our menu listed a cake for dessert, while I will eat cake and enjoy it, I will generally not choose it.  There are a few exceptions to that rule (like the Chocolate Cake at Dos Urban Cantina), but generally I will not choose cake.  Our dessert was a Banana Spice Cake with Chocolate Custard, Peanuts, and Miso Caramel.  This is a cake that I will now make an exception for.  It was very moist and sweet, the chocolate added some bitter sweetness, the Miso Caramel was a combination of sweet, savory, and buttery, and the peanuts, which were crushed, added a nutty finish.  While we were enjoying our desserts, Chef Rolf Pederson and his Wife, Sous and Pastry Chef, Meg Pederson came out to answer questions about themselves and the restaurant as is a Tasting Collective tradition.  I really liked the food and the atmosphere and would be happy to return for another meal and the awesome Banana Spice Cake.         

Kimski

The Marszwewski clan have a wide ranging and expanding empire.  They started out with Maria's Packaged Liquors & Community Bar, a Slashie (bar/packaged liquor store) in Bridgeport.  They then went on to Marz Community Brewery, which was contract brewed and largely served and sold at Maria's (as well as other places around the city).  In the early days, they would have cookouts in the back patio featuring Korean and Polish (and Korean-Polish) fare.  This eventually became the Counter Service restaurant Kimski, a name referencing both their Korean and Polish heritages and Their mother's maiden name, Kim.  While I was interested to see what they might do, I have some friends of Korean and Polish descent who were also interested, so we decided to make it a group outing.  Maria's is an old-style storefront, Kimski is very modern with a patio in front under an angled overhang.  The ordering area is actually pretty small with the counter straight in as you enter and the kitchen window to the left.  There are event posters on the walls and Korean toys on the counters.  In order to get to the main seating area, you actually have to walk around the counter.  So we ordered our food and wandered back with a number to show where to deliver our food.  The interior dining area is largely black with high unfinished ceilings, has a large bar, and seems to be a joint space with Maria's, which is also black.  The back wall's are glass sliding doors that lead to an enclosed patio with high walls and generally has a tan color scheme.  There is one graffiti art painting in the corner with "No Smoking" written (painted) in many languages and styles.  There are booths and four tops in the interior dining room, but as it was a nice day, so we decided to sit on the back patio.  There are smaller Two Top and Four Top banquette picnic tables around the edge of the patio as well as a few large high top tables in the center, where we sat.  The bar is separate from the food area, so you have to get your beer after you order food and wait for it.  It is not delivered.  I like the tap list here because there is generally a wide variety of different beers from all over.  Before the Marz Brewery Tap Room opened, there used to be several Marz Beers on tap.  I was surprised not to see any on the tap list when we were there.  I like Marz beers and they were close, so we decided to visit Marz Brewery Taproom after.  Despite the fact that there were no Marz beers, I was easily able to find something that I would like.  I went with Odd Side Ales Shadynasty New England-Style IPA.  This had a nice hop flavor featuring pine and grapefruit flavors without exceptional bitterness.  It had a nice head that broke down quickly and left some lacing, and had a dry finish.  It was a good beer.

Our food started arriving when we were drinking our beer and everything was shared.  One of the first things that arrived was the Scallion Potato Pancake.  The pancake was made with Beer Batter, Scallions, Shredded Potatoes with Dill, and topped with Tamari Sour Cream Sauce and Scallions.  This was pretty good and very Polish.  I liked the dill flavor in the pancake, and the sour cream provided for a nice sour finish.

Banchan aren't exactly a dish, but are more various sides that are presented with your main meal.  They can be any number things, but are meant to enhance the main meal.  Banchan was on the menu and I like the idea, so I ordered a course.  The menu lists it as a serving of three Ko-Po vegetable sides.  I also like surprises, so ordering this was a given.  While I did know that I was going to be getting vegetables, I didn't know exactly what vegetables that I would be getting or how they would be prepared.  I was presented with a plate of Green Beans, Zucchini, and Broccoli served with Red Pepper.  I am going to guess that they had been canned (or Mason Jarred, as it were).  I was kind of mixed on this.  The beans were nice and crisp, but the zucchini was pretty limp and the broccoli was a bit dry.  The flavor for all of the vegetables was good, but the texture needed work.

There was a dish on the menu that was a combination of Korean, Polish, and Quebecois Bar Food, and a couple were ordered.  This was the Kimski Poutine.  A standard poutine will have cheese curds and brown gravy on french fries.  With this, there was the Fries, and the Wisconsin Cheese curds, but the gravy was Kimchi Gravy, and it was topped with Pickled Onions, Scallions, and Sesame Leaves.  It was nice and gooey with some spiciness, and a sesame finish.  While everyone had some and seemed to enjoy it, I am going to guess that I gave the impression that I liked it more than everyone else because it was given to me to finish, which I heartily enjoyed.

My main course was kind of a spin on Bibimbop, a Korean dish that I really like.  Called Be Bim Noods, it was made with Cold Cooked Wheat Noodles instead of the standard rice.  It was also served cold.  The Noodles were topped with Kimchi and Cucumbers, and served with a Sliced Hard Boiled Egg.  This was a favorite.  It was good and I liked it, but it was also pretty spicy.  This was a dish that should have been fairly easy to eat with chop sticks.  I can use chopsticks, though not well, but I did eat much of it, slowly, with chopsticks.

While the food was fairly simple and their were a few slips, I did enjoy things here.  It's very casual and friendly, the food is easy to share, and the dishes that were wins were very good.          

5411 Gourmet Empanadas

While the laws regulating food trucks in Chicago are cumbersome, there are several companies that have been successful enough to expand their enterprises into Brick and Mortar stores.  I first encountered 5411 Empanadas as a food truck and I really liked what they were doing.  Empanadas are the Hispanic version of Hand Pies or Pasties.  Crusty and savory pies that are eaten by hand and can be filled with a variety of things.   They are a very popular street food in Argentina.  I had first encountered the 5411 Empanadas truck a few years ago.  Last year, they opened up a brick and mortar store in Lakeview which I did not go to, but when they opened up a spot in Wicker Park, it became a must go to.  The space is a small storefront with a glass front with 5411 painted on one side of the window.  5411 is the dialing code for Buenos Aires, Argentina, where the owners are from.  The (Wicker Park) space is small, with seating for about 14 at tables by the windows and about 6 more seats at the bar.  The space looks like a coffee bar and while it does serve coffee, it also has a small selection of beers and wine.  Ordering is done at the counter with a large chalkboard listing what is available.  The food is brought to you and at the table or bar, there is a listing of what each empanada looks like.  This is very convenient because the empanadas are relatively small (about 4 or 5 bites), so several will generally be ordered.  If they didn't have crust differentiations, it would be a crap shoot for both the diner and the baker both.

I ordered 5 empanadas and one sauce.  The sauce was Chimichurri, the traditional Argentine sauce of  Herbs, Garlic, and Olive Oil.  It reminded me somewhat of a pesto and it served as a nice dipping sauce for the different empanadas.  All of the empanadas had a nicely browned crust that had some flakiness to it, but still held together when a bite was taken out of it and all of the fillings were very good and flavorful.  The empanadas also came out pretty hot.  While I did order multiple empanadas, I did eat them one at a time (from top to bottom and from left to right as they sat on the plate).  I didn't think about it at the time, but I also ate them from most to least vegetarian.  I started out with the Mushroom, Thyme, and Blue Cheese.  I then went to the Ratatouille, the Bacon, Date and Goat Cheese, the Chorizo with Patatas Bravas, and finished off with the Malbec Beef.  While they were all good and I liked them all, I think that I liked the Bacon, Date, and Goat Cheese best.  It was both sweet and savory and had a little gaminess from the goat cheese which added to the overall flavor.

After my empanadas, I decided I wanted some sweetness.  The store carries a few desserts including flan, cheesecake, and housemade Alfajores, a soft sandwich cookie that is covered in glazed sugar, or chocolate, and is very popular in Argentina.  I decided to stick with the Argentinian theme and got a couple of Alfajores, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  One was chocolate and one was glazed and filled with a pistachio filling.  They were light, sweet, and very good.

I already knew when I came to the store that I liked the empanadas from 5411.  I am glad to see that they are able to maintain it in their brick and mortar store.  They make some very good empanadas with a wide variety and I will definitely be back.

Rickshaw Republic

I generally think that I have a pretty broad palate and am familiar with a wide variety of cuisines.  There are a few cuisines with which I am relatively unfamiliar and I went to a restaurant that specialized in one of these last week.  Rickshaw Republic specializes in Indonesian cuisine and specifically, Indonesian street food.  I have a pretty good sense of geography and know that Indonesia is located in the Indian Ocean between Australia and Thailand.  It is considered part of Southeast Asia, so I would expect there to be some similarity between it's cuisine and the other major cuisines in the area: Thailand, Vietnam, North and South Korea, Philippines, and possibly that of India.  While this may have been the case, it was going to take some exploring to find this out.  I walked in and was immediately seated in the front room.  The room was small with 4 tables and a small bar (for additional seating as the restaurant is BYOB).  One of the first things that I noticed was that all of the seats were mismatched.  They were all black, but they were all of different designs.  There was a large Asian-style wooden screen dividing the front room and the rear dining area.  There were many knick knacks spread around the room for decoration including a couple of puppets and a toy rickshaw.  There was a hanging above the bar that acted sort of as a drop ceiling that was nailed with several dozen (if not over a hundred) things that looked like rolling pin handles.  What little I could see of the back room looked like it also had a lot of knick knacks, although the room was red to the front room's white.  Overall, the space very much gave me a feeling of it being a family affair.  As I said before, I was relatively unfamiliar with Indonesian cuisine.  Looking at the menu helped very little.  The names of the dishes helped not at all and I was only able to navigate by the descriptions of the dish.  I ended up ordering things by what was in the dish without really knowing how they were going to be presented or really having an idea how different flavor combinations were going to work.  My waitress was friendly and helpful and she did help me choose what I ordered.  I started out with Risoles.  These were breaded and fried croquettes of Chicken with Bechamel Sauce, Coriander, Fennel, Carrots, Cloves, and Celery, and were served with a Coconut Milk Curry.  It was crisp, very flavorful and easy to eat with your hands.  The curry that was served with it had a strong coconut flavor and reminded me of Massaman curry.  It matched well with the spices in the risoles and was a good start.

My entree was essentially a sampler plate although it is actually a dish served by Indonesian street food vendors.  It was called Nasi Rames and is an Indonesian mixed rice dish.  Further reading stated that there is no one recipe for Nasi Rames and it varies by vendor except that it includes rice (in this case it was coconut rice) and things to mix it with.  With my dish, it included Beef Rendang (beef that's been braised in coconut milk and spices), Curry Pickle, a Spicy Egg, Green Beans (with red peppers and fish sauce), Carmelized Tempeh (similar to fried tofu), Krupuk (multi-colored shrimp crackers), and was served with Sambal, a red pepper fish sauce that was served on the side.  I decided to try everything individually before I mixed everything together and added any sambal.  Everything was prepared well although the curry pickle was a little boring on its own.  It was a fresh and thinly sliced cucumber with a light pickle and curry flavor.  The green beans were freshly crisp and pretty spicy with the peppers.  The tempeh was actually kind of surprising because I first thought it was a meat of some sort.  It was flavorful, savory, and had a meaty texture.  The egg was hard boiled and was covered in a spicy red sauce.  The Beef Rendang was fork tender and had a lot of coconut milk and spicy flavor.  The Krupuk I had encountered before.  It was lightly flavored but very crispy and adds a nice crunch to whatever you eat it with.  Mixed together, it was a melange of flavors and textures although spice and coconut milk figured prominently..  The sambal is pretty spicy on its own so I used it lightly.  It did add another level of spice to a good dish that was pretty spicy in places already.

After that large entree, I decided that I should probably go light for my dessert, so I ordered what was essentially a drink.  It was called Es Cendol and included Ice, Rice Flour Jelly, Coconut Milk, and Palm Sugar.  The glass was brought to the table and the coconut milk was added there.  I was told to mix it before drinking it.  I could see the point of that because the coconut milk floated on top and if I were to drink it as it was, the flavors wouldn't have combined.  I mixed it up and the liquid turned about the color of coffee with cream with the globs of rice flour jelly floating throughout.  It was very good.  It was sweet and flavorful with the little bits of green jelly that were kind of like soft gummies.

The food here was very good.  My waitress was friendly and I now have an idea of what Indonesian food is like.  In my experience, it is most similar to Thai cuisine with some Filipino and Indian flavors thrown in.  I enjoyed it and will definitely have to return to try more.

Mott Street

I previously mentioned Ruxbin, the tiny and much lauded BYOB that serves upscale American food with an Asian spin.  The people behind Ruxbin decided to open another restaurant nearby that focuses on Asian street food and has a full bar.  Unlike Ruxbin, it does take reservations, although they are limited to allow for more walk-ins.  Having really enjoyed Ruxbin, I was eager to try out the proprietors newest incarnation, Mott Street, and decided to go for dinner recently.  I went during a peak period without a reservation and while it was pretty busy, there was a seat available at the bar which was where I sat.  The restaurant is a stand alone building on a busy street.  By the shape of it, I would guess that it originally started out as a Pizza Hut.  It has a large patio off to one side and you have to enter the patio to enter the restaurant.  Inside the restaurant is a short hall leading to the hostess' station with the tables and bar off to the left.  The bar is long and on the left with tables along the windows to the right.  Past the bar, there is some booth seating on the left.  The ceiling is unfinished with exposed supports under what appears to be a tin roof.  All of this is painted white.  The lighting is hanging and appear to be Chinese lanterns.  The seating for the bar is tall metal-framed chairs painted white and the bar itself is light colored, finished wood.  I actually like sitting at the bar (if the bar offers all of the service and the full menu of the restaurant) because I get to see the restaurants liquor collection and also see what they use in their cocktails.  Mott Street has a pretty extensive selection of top shelf liquors and they also use Jeppson's Malort in a couple of their cocktails.  For their food menu, Mott Street does a spin on Asian street food and provide you with chopsticks with which to eat.  They will provide regular silverware if asked or if they notice someone having trouble.  I am not an expert with chopsticks but will try to use them if they are provided to me and the chopsticks provided seemed to be easier to use than others that I have used in the past.  For my first course, I had a Chicken and Candied Shrimp Salad with Peanuts, Thai Basil, and Bean Sprouts.  The chicken was shredded but not pulled and the pieces were big enough to be easily handled with chopsticks.  The candied shrimp were very small and were candied with the shell on.  As the shrimp were very small, they would have been very difficult to peel but the shrimp were meant to be eaten whole.  They were sweet and spicy (they were also cooked in a red pepper oil) and were so mild in "shrimp" flavor that I ate a few before I even realized that they were shrimp.  The peanuts, basil, and bean sprouts provided complementing flavors and textures.  Everything tasted very good and went together well.  The first dish boded well for the rest of the meal.

For my next course, while I was tempted by the crab brain fried rice, I noticed while I was looking at the menu that most of the main courses either featured chicken, seafood, or pork.  I had already had the chicken and the seafood with my first dish so I decided to go with the pork which I also knew wasn't going to be a challenge for me because I like pork.  I ordered the Chili Marinated and Grilled Pork Jowl with Sesame Leaf and Tofu.  A small salad of Radishes and Asian Pear was served on the side.  The jowl was sweet, spicy, and fatty.  It had a flavor similar to spicy bacon but it wasn't quite as "bacony".  The radishes and Asian pear provided a contrasting crisp texture to the dish and the tofu was fried crunchy.  I really enjoyed this as I kind of expected to.

For the most part, while I like Asian appetizers and entrees, desserts really don't do it for me.  Luckily the desserts offered weren't really Asian and the dessert that I ordered was definitely not Asian (although it did use Thai basil as a garnish).  I ordered a Tres Leches cake (Spanish for three milks) and while I expected it to be a bit decadent, I did not expect what I got.  The dense and wet cake was covered in whipped cream and berries with some Thai basil and crispy rice as a garnish.  It actually reminded me of the dessert I had at St. John Restaurant in London called the Eton Mess.  This was also very definitely a mess, but it was not served in a bowl but on plate.  It used cake instead of meringue and it was very good.

I really enjoyed my meal here and will surely go back.  The decor of the space is rather spartan but the front of the house people were very friendly.  The food, while at times, seems to be a stretch for some people is also very accessible and I would easily bring several of my more timid friends to try to expand their culinary horizons.