13 courses (over 3 1/2 hours), a salty chocolate ball, BYOB (no corkage) and a $30 car service ride home were all great! 

You book a table at EL through a lottery-type reservation system which is worth the effort.  Four of us (me, Ross, Tina, and Rich) were able to get a reservation without waiting too long and we were psyched about dining there.  When you first arrive you’re not sure you’re in the right place but once you step inside you know you’re in for quite  an experience.  

Bill, our server, was friendly, funny, and provided excellent service.  He is the only server.  The chefs are visible to all the seats in the restaurant and invite you to come watch, help plate, ask questions, and then ask you to serve your own table (if you were with them for any amount of time).  All of this is possible since the restaurant only has 10 seats.  Yes, only 10 seats.

The 13 courses began with Tasmanian trout served 5 ways.  Then a black olive sorbet that was so good Rich said “That was a little bit of all right” and he was right.  The lamb tenderloin was a beautiful plate with baba ganoush and some raw shaved beans.  Tortellini stuffed with crab, along side cucumber and ginger packed a lot of flavor but we found it a bit salty (the only negative of the night).  The rabbit course had some ricotta gnocchi served underneath that was so soft and flavorful it made me want to eat gnocchi more often.  This was followed by a shot glass full of ham, almond, and fig which had a cream soup-like texture and was served to all of us in the kitchen to get us up and moving.  It was a nice mid course.  Next we had some rreally good sweet gamey skate with veal heart (which I don’t need to eat again).  My favorite course was the pork belly with itty-bitty bbq potato chips the size of my thumb nail which rested on top of a bed of orzo cheddar mac and cheese.  It was too good to be true.  Mac and cheese is my favorite comfort food and this version was very comfortable.  Foie gras was next and amazing.  Ross helped plate the ribeye with a tweezer as the little bits of maitake mushroom needed to be placed oh so perfectly on top.  Tina and I served a pecorino toscano which when made into a little sandwich was very refreshing and the perfect dish to move us towards dessert.

The first part of dessert was a bowl filled with rooibos tea leaves that was ”activated” with steaming water giving off a delightful aroma and then a bowl of pumpkin gelato with pear and pomegranate was placed on top of the tea leaves.  This was definitely a sensory dessert mixing taste and smell.  The last menu course was apple pie ice cream on top of pound cake with an apple cider caramel.  The salty chocolate balls came with the bill and were the perfect ending to a terrific meal.

EL is not a place you would go to every week or even every month; however, it is a perfect spot for a special occassion.  We will be going back.  If you get the chance you should try it!

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and you will not be disappointed.  Last night Ross and I along with our friend Nim tested the water based foods at GT Fish and Oyster on Wells St. in Chicago and we were pleased over and over again with the flavors, the portions, the selection, the service, well just about everything was perfection.

The miracle of the evening was Ross eating raw oysters and liking them.  Finally.  We tried 4 different kinds plain and with the Ponzu Mignonette (I loved it) and the GT Cocktail Sauce.  I preferred them plain.  Ross liked them drowned in the sauce and horseradish which is fine by me as long as he now eats them.

After the oysters at the bar we went to a table in the bar where the scene was quiet (it was only 5:45pm on a Tuesday night) and our server was very knowledgeable and fun.  She advised this was a small plates to share menu which we love so we were off to a good start.  If she recommended it, we ordered it.  We ordered 11 different items, 6 from the COLD menu and 5 from the HOT menu.  We ignored the NOT FISH menu.  I am not going to bore you with all the details of what we ate.  Instead here are some thoughts on the bright spots of the meal.

Our favorites of the night were the OYSTER PO’BOY SLIDER with Kimchee and peanuts on little bitty rolls.  These come by the piece so you can order as many as you want.  We ordered 3…..then ordered 3 more.  I think we probably would have gone for another round if we had not ordered so many other items.  Next in line of what we would order again is BENTO.  A combination of tuna sashimi, octopus carpaccio, and king salmon tartare.  Each one was better than the one before no matter which order you ate them in.  The SUNFISH CEVICHE appeared to be guacamole but turned out to be a lovely creamy fish dish with a chimichurri and avocado puree that surprised the palette.  FISH TACO was really fresh and had a little bit of heat with a lot of flavor.  Unlike most LOBSTER ROLLS this one had no mayo on it and there were chunks of lobster meat.  It was a regular size portion and better than any lobster roll I have had outside of Fisherman’s Wharf (where the lobster is so fresh I can get over the mayo!).  The TUNA POKE was a bit too mangoey for me but it was still really good (but not as good as the one Sola used to have on their menu).  We ate other things I would be more than happy to tell you about if you ask me.

Would we go back….oh yeah.  Especially for those PO’BOYS.

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Once in a while you hear about a place and see the menu and think “yeah, I’d like to try that”.  You find a friend to go along and when you get there the menu isn’t quite what you remember seeing but it still looks good and you are ok.  Then you really see something that looks good and nothing else on the menu will suffice.

This happened to me today at Bite Cafe (website under construction) at 1039 N. Western Ave., Chicago.  The really something good was BREAKFAST POUTINE.  French Fries, Smoked Bacon Gravy, Cheese Curds, Poached Eggs, Pickled Chilies.  Jane, who I was with is a vegetarian so my excitement was not as greatly received as delivered.  The fries were perfect, a little crunch on the outside and mushy on the inside.  Chunks of bacon laced the gravy and the curds were gooey melted soft luscious bits buried under the perfectly cooked poached eggs oozing over it all.  The first 3 bites were me just picking at the fries.  Then I opened the eggs and from then I was hooked.  Half way through eating it I knew I should stop but I was not leaving anything in that shallow bowl perfect for scooping up the remains at the end.  If this dish was, and I am so glad it wasn’t, served with bread that bowl would have been so clean it would not have needed to be washed (Jane told the waitress that even though I had no bread).

Jane had the special omelet which I don’t recall all the details (she really liked it) of what was inside.  The mashed and chunks of potatoes mixed with green onions, rolled in potato flour as a coating, and fried (go figure), was the accompanying side and was incredible.  It was a great alternative to hash browns or breakfast potatoes.

For Ross, I brought home a Philly Cheese Fake (smoked portabella, green peppers, onion, provolone) and a Veggie Muffaletta (roasted red pepper, over cured tomato, olive, provolone) and they were really good even after being boxed over 90 minutes.  As full as I still was I had to try them both to be sure this place was not a two option wonder.

Service was great.  Our server was friendly, knew the menu very well, and had a great sense of humor.  We like that a lot in a server.

I have every intention of going back to Bite Cafe and no intention of eating Breakfast Poutine again.  Well, maybe, probably, OK, I am sure I will again but first I will try a lot of their other items.  Yes, really, I will.

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My friends Sandy and Stuart went to Naha last weekend to celebrate her birthday.  The next day she asked me how to make tubular cucumbers like those in her greek salad.  I thought for a moment and decided a straw would do the trick.  I took an English cucumber and started going around the cucumber seeds and had some issues due to the straw not being rigid enough. 

Not happy with the results and effort, off I went to the hardware store in search of something shaped like bucatini.  The hardware guy asked me what I was going to use it for (I told him I needed a round, hollow in the middle, rigid pipe or something like it).  After he looked at me like I was crazy, he walked around and showed me a few options then came upon exactly what I needed.  A metal straw!  These came in all sizes and not only round but square too.  I bought one of each.

On the way home I realized I could cut squares myself but was still excited about the possibility of 2 different shapes of cucumbers completely uniform in size resting on the top of a salad.

Once home I cut the cucumber into 2″ chunks, poked the pipe through the outer edge over and over around the cucumber.  After a few pokes the first one came out of the top.  If you were watching you would have been worried about how excited I got seeing it pop out of there.  In the end I had to take a skewer, flat end in, and push the remaining ones out.  I then did the square ones. 

This was such a fun exercise I had to share it with you.  Thanks Sandy for asking me how to do this.

Tonight they will go into a simple salad I’m making for dinner.  I wonder if Ross will notice!

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We had been wanting to try this vegetarian restaurant since it opened….we finally did and the results were not quite what we expected.

We started with the Mushroom Pate which was amazing.  It was served with bread coated in a date mustard jam.  The combination of the flavors (pretty sure there was truffle oil involved in the pate!) was incredible.  Next up was some Burrata (cheese) with little bits of salty things which was ok.  The trio of Onion Soup was a bowl of way too sweet onions, leeks and shallots.  In fact this dish I gave to Ross since I did not want to eat it.  The salty Shitake Mushrooms with savoy cabbage wrapped in crispy potato tasted really good even though you could taste the salt.  My favorite was the Poached Farm Egg with smoked potato puree (I could eat bowls of that!) and country sourdough bread.  It was fatty and creamy and crunchy and smoky in every bite.  I could eat it daily!  Mushroom Bread Pudding was salty and gloppy. Didn’t care for it at all.  In fact, we agreed my savory bread pudding was much better.  The Flatbread with goat cheese, mushrooms, onion jam, and pumpkin seeds needed some pancetta or something fatty to give it what I want out of a flatbread.

We ate a lot of salt and mushrooms leaving us feeling full but not thrilled with our experience at Green Zebra.  We will go back with vegetarians who will appreciate the food much more than us carnivores!

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We all know fast food is not good for us.  The recent Taco Bell meat issue is just more proof!  I like tacos and have been making them myself for quite some time.  If you want to make your own here is what I do. Perhaps it will get you to try to make your own.

I start with making tacos by mixing up some taco seasoning that is great on pretty much anything you would want to put in a taco.  Fish (I love tilapia tacos), chicken, ground any kind of meat, or even some vegetables.  I then make some salsa, maybe some guacamole (Ross doesn’t like avocados so I have to want to eat it all myself), chop up some tomato and red onion, grate some cheese, and cut up some lettuce.  I heat the pan to cook the protein and/or veg, I rub the meat or toss the veg in the seasoning.  While the food is cooking I take some sour cream or Greek yogurt and put a splash of cumin in it to give it some character.  Next I heat up some tortilla’s of whatever flavor I picked up for this round of tacos and we have our own small make your own taco party.

It is quick, inexpensive (unless you get carried away on your protein), and easy.  If you have kids or entertain, it is much more fun to let them do the building of a taco or 2 than you doing all the work.

I hope you take the time to try making your own and when you do, please let me know how it goes.

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Fabio, Chris, Mario, Michael, Rick, Michelle, Cat, Guy, Emeril, George, Ming, Curtis, just to name a few…….

The housewares show each year brings many celebrity chefs to Chicago to enjoy our city as well as to do demos, booksignings, and general chit chats with attendees.  Most of the chefs are so personable you feel like friends after you chat with them for a few seconds or minutes if you are lucky enough to get them without their fan base.

This was my third year attending and it was the most chef fun.  The previous years were chef fun but I really enjoyed seeing all the neat new housewares available on the market.  This year I really did not see anything that made me want to run out and find it at a local store.  I hope with the economy picking up there will be more product development at the show next year.

One of the booths I look forward to each year is Fred and Friends.  They sell very clever products to make serving fun for everyone.  If you like what you see on their site, click on the store finder to see who in your area sells Fred items. 

Oxo is another favorite.  You know the large wall of their stuff at Bed, Bath, and Beyond?  Well think of it times about 30.  They create a store concept where everything you have seen and a whole lot more is displayed.  I always leave there wishing I could have bought stuff from them at the show.

Of course, every cookware manufacturer you can think of, and then some, are there.  Dishes in all shapes and sizes too.  Knives galore and there is also a bunch of stuff you wonder “who would want that” along with those items you think are cool but don’t ever see yourself using them. 

An interesting item we discovered although I am not sure about it is Drawer Decor.  It keeps things from moving around in your drawers which I like a lot conceptually.  Maybe you would like to have all your utensils safe and sound each in their own little slot….I have too many to do that.

Next year is bound to be a good time as well.  It always is.  I am already looking forward to it!

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Korean street food has hit Chicago big time.  When I am in the mood for some really tasty fast, inexpensive, creative food I now head to Del Seoul on Clark  for kimchee, bibimbop, banh mi sandwiches, and tacos. Yes tacos can be Korean too and the way they make them beats a lot of the other tacos I have eaten.  It is all about the ingredients.  For amazing chicken wings the size of your hand, go to Crisp on Broadway.  Also at Crisp is the Buddha Bowl which is bibimbop called something else and it is a close race to say which is better….Del Seoul or Crisp.  Hopefully you will get the chance to check them out and decide for yourself.

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What if I told you I ate a pork belly sandwich with a fried egg on a pretzel roll and it was awesome?  Would you want one too?  Well you can have one!  Brand BBQ on Armitage has a specialty sandwich  (the #1 on the lunch menu) I had to try when I heard about it.  It was worth it.  It being the trip, the calories, the fat (and oh yes it was fatty), the maple mayo, and the flavor.  My friend Tina had the Pulled Duck and it too was really good.  Go check it out.

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I am in the process of preparing my 2010 public class schedule and would love to get some ideas. 

Please let me know, through the reply area below or via Twitter (@learncookeatchi), what topic(s) you would like to see this year.  No obligation to attend, and no promises I’ll offer all suggested topics.  Just curious what you would be interested in learning.

If I choose your topic I will give you 20% off the class price!

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