Vegetarian Chili

Vegetarian Chili

Wicker Park - Home

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Hot Chcolate

Hot Chocolate - New American

Bucktown - 1747 N Damen

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Mado

Mado - Italian and Mediterranean Influences
Wicker Park - 1647 North Milwaukee

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We recently had some friends visiting from DC for the weekend and wanted to get out for a big dinner with them and some of our other great friends. We decided to go to Mado because it was an A la Card location, we had read some great reviews on Yelp, heard great things from people we knew, and really appreciated the aim of the restaurant. They're committed to using fresh and local ingredients, as well as using "the whole animal."

As with many other dishes, this one was nothing too special. The sauce, a sort of spicy mayo, was quite good but the pork skins themselves were quite boring. They were cooked well and were surprisingly not-so-greasy but there was little pork flavor. I was hoping that homemade pork skins would have a robust porkiness to them, but alas, the chicharrones from 7-eleven would be about as good.

Hot Doug's Round II

Encased Meat Emporium
Avondale - 3324 North California

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Lentils & Tofu

Lentils, Tofu, Scallions, Carrots, Peanuts, & Peanut Sauce w/ Broccoli
Home - Wicker Park

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Crescent-Wrapped Brie

Crescent Rolls w/ Brie
Home - Wicker Park

This is one of my favorite appetizers to make because it's easy and a definite crowd pleaser.  I originally got the idea from Miss Annie Koday, and I decided to make it for book club last month and for a dinner supplement tonight with Jim.  The recipe can be found here, at Pillsbury.com. 

You get to cut out fun shapes in the extra dough, which is always a good time.  I chose B <3 J this time around, but I've learned quickly that I need to invest in some cookie cutters because Bs are far too difficult to cut out of dough.  It can be served with apples (my favorite) or crackers (carb on carb).

When I made this for book club, I used regular crescent rolls and regular brie.  But this time, because I knew I was eating it for dinner with just one other person, I used low-fat crescent rolls and low-fat brie.  Although the flavors were still nice, I found the high-fat stuff to make for a better dish.  The brie wasn't as melty and the crescent rolls weren't as buttery.  I ended up eating most of it myself, so my arteries were probably thanking me.

I suggest this as a quick and delicious appetizer for any occasion.  It's easy to prepare and easy to eat.  How can you go wrong with cheese and crescent rolls?

Posted by Brittney

Butternut Squash Gratin

Butternut Squash Gratin with Onions and Sage

Wicker Park - Our Place

For dinner tonight, we searched through our many cookbooks to find a good recipe for the enormous butternut squash we've been meaning to eat.  We found a great fall dish--butternut squash gratin.  We've tried our hands at gratins in the past and been less than successful, but we were confident that the liquid ingredients in this one would make for a much better dish.

The gratin is comprised of onions sauteed in olive oil, sage, and thyme on the bottom of the dish, which we them topped with cubed squash tossed lightly in flour and sauteed.  The liquid ingredient is an herb broth, which we basically made with skim milk and vegetable stock.  We didn't have any gruyere or fontina cheese, which the recipe called for, so we used a combination of fresh parmesan and cheddar cheeses and sprinkled that on top.  After cooking for 25 minutes, you top everything with bread crumbs and cook for about another 20 minutes.  It smelled amazing!

We paired it with a staple in our house, a salad of mixed greens, pickled beets, and walnuts with balsamic dressing.  The nuts and beets complemented the squash very well.

It's hard to plate a gratin beautifully, but it was delicious!  We recommend this as a great fall dish that requires very little technique and few ingredients.  It's vegetarian, of course, but it's hearty enough for even the hungriest omnivore.  So grab a butternut squash, turn that key on your gas fireplace, and enjoy a great November meal!

Naha

Contemporary American
River North - 500 North Clark

We went through our A la Card deck to create a list of must-visits for the rest of 2009. In the spirit of full disclosure, we actually created an Excel spreadsheet and emailed it back and forth during the work day. We are huge nerds. We agreed that Naha's menu was incredibly alluring, so we made reservations and ate there before going to a party.

The place was pretty empty when we arrived, which we thought was odd considering they forced us to take a 6pm reservation, but we accepted it. We were then seated right next to one of the few other couples in the place, which lost them a few diner points. We quickly got bread with a pretty piece of Naha paper placed over the butter (a nice touch). Our server seemed pretty knowledgeable, so we accepted his suggestions as we moved throughout the meal.

We started with rich autumn squash soup, always a fall delight. It was made from three types of squash--Long Island Cheesecake, Queensland Blue, and Spaghetti Squash.

It was absolutely incredible. The bowl came out with pine nuts, pomegranate seeds, and spaghetti squash in it (didn't snap a picture quickly enough to capture that moment), and the server then poured the soup into the bowl on top of everything. It made for an exciting presentation, and it tasted as good as it looked. The texture was perfect, and the treats at the bottom of the bowl kept it interesting. The pomegranate seeds were like little bursts of flavor, and the pine nuts were excellent complements to the flavor of the squash. On the side was a sandwich of 18 month "Bandaged" Wisconsin Cheddar and Oxtails (decidedly not vegetarian).

We, of course, ordered the beat salad when it came time to pick one.

Although we order (and make) beet salads often, this one still managed to seem very special. There were two types of beets paired with mache, Italian frisee, ricotta cheese, and very thinly sliced beauty heart radishes, and (the major highlight) apple cider and concord grape vinaigrette.

Brittney ordered the Purdy Family Whitefish.

The fish came with butter-poached Maine lobster (pretty much the reason I ordered it), Spence Farm wheatberries (basically quinoa) with maitake mushrooms, cipollini onions, "frothy" mushroom broth, and red wine lobster essence. The highlight of this dish was probably the combination of the wheatberries and the mushrooms. The fish itself was a little fishier than I expected, and the dish came out a little heavier than I expected. Now that I haven't eaten meat other than fish for almost 2 years, whenever a dish seems too oily, brown, and heavy, I tend to feel a little turned off by it. Although I'm sure the dish was cooked well, it just wasn't for me. I've always preferred the other courses to the entree anyway.

Jim ordered the squab.

The squab was roasted whole and served with foie gras, crisp potato cake with Armenian rose petal marmalade, walnuts and licorice root, carrots, medjool dates and pink peppercorns. The bird was cooked perfectly and had the texture and coloring of duck breast. The combination of the foie gras, squab, carrots, and dates was really quite incredible. I don't usually enjoy the sweet/savory combo but this was a great exception. Also, the waiter recommended a rosé wine, which I would never order, and it went perfectly with the dish.

I've told anyone who will listen to me about Naha the same thing: this was probably the best single dish I've had in my life. I really can't say enough about it. Neither can Brittney for that matter, but that's because she was so horrified by the fact that the legs/claws were still attached to the bird. She was so horrified in fact, that she had to strategically place the wine glasses in front of my plate so that she couldn't see it. At least it didn't look like this though, right?

Although there were plenty of desserts that sounded incredible, we opted for the "Gateau Basque" custard cake with almond ice cream, poached seckel pears, pear eau de vie, and pomegranate.

This was quite possibly the most impressive dessert we've ever ordered. There are so many things happening on this plate to even capture on film. Instead of seeming overwhelming, it was like 100 surprises in one dish. The cake itself was moist, the pears were flavorful, the eau de vie (sauce) was sweet, the ice cream was creamy, the foam was foamy... Perfect.

Overall, the ambiance of the place was that of a secret club of connoisseurs, with a knowledgeable staff and friendly patrons. It was an incredible meal, perfect for a slight splurge of a meal, a special occasion, or a 5th date... maybe 6th.

Shaw's - Royster with the Oyster

Oyster Fest
Near North - 21 East Hubbard

So, I've been really into oysters lately (mostly due to watching lots of Mad Men) and it's a little difficult to find fresh oysters here that don't cost an arm and a leg. Luckily for me, Shaw's Crabhouse here in Chicago sponsors a yearly oyster-fest called "Royster with the Oyster." I convinced a couple friends of mine to join me for the kick-off event at Goose Island Brewery where we enjoyed fine ales and free oysters all evening. At some point the hostess roped me into joining the oyster slurping contest even though I'd already plowed my way through a few beers and about two dozen oysters. Thankfully they provided a smock of sorts to keep my clothes nice and clean just in case I didn't keep it all down.

The rules of the contest were simple: 1) 12 oysters on the plate. 2) "Season" and arrange them as you like. 3) On "Go" slurp all dozen oysters out of the shell without using your hands. I made sure to loosen all my oysters before the contest started and also added a little lemon and Tabasco for my "seasoning." Others left them Au natural while some added cocktail sauce. Unfortunately, there was any Mignonette Sauce otherwise I would have added a little of that as well.

This pretty much speaks for itself. The woman behind the counter seemed impressed with my speed but the guy who won finished in about 3 seconds (no joke). The oysters here were quite tasty but they had a lot of grit and shell left over with the meat. The guys shucking had a big job for the night so they can't be blamed for a less than perfect shuck, but oysters in a restaurant shouldn't have any big pieces of shell.

I certainly didn't have any expectations for this but I ended up getting third place; not bad, huh? My bounty included a 2006 bottle of Domaines Leflaive White Burgundy and a $50 gift certificate to Shaw's! Be sure to check back for our trip there.

Morimoto - Philadelphia

Japanese
Philadelphia - 723 Chestnut