Top Toast of 2008

Everyone's doing their "best of 2008" lists this time of year, so I thought I'd throw mine in the mix. Also convenient for me, as I haven't been too diligent about updating in the last... mmm... eight months or so. But that doesn't mean I stopped eating and cooking!

Without further ado, here's my Top Toast of 2008:

10. Homemade Pasta

One of my favorite parts of training for the Chicago marathon was the carbs. Basically, running long distances on a regular basis gives you a good excuse to eat carbs, because you need to build up your glycogen stores to fuel you through the miles ahead. Starting in May, I did long runs every Saturday (and sometimes Friday) morning, which I nearly always proceeded with a healthy carb-rich dinner. Lucky for me, pasta is one of my favorite foods, so that was often my choice - I even learned how to make it from scratch! After a couple of months I've gotten kind of good at it too. Here's a recent homemade meal of Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter and Sage.

9. Strawberry Shortcake

I was home over the fourth of July this past summer, and my mom made strawberry shortcake. Homemade biscuits. Sweet New Hampshire strawberries, perfectly ripe, in season. Freshly whipped cream - not too sweet. 'Nuff said.

8. Full English Breakfast, Happy Days, London

As far as a full English breakfast goes, it doesn't get more real - or delicious - than this one. Messy scrambled eggs, potatoes, sweet salty beans, grilled mushrooms and tomato, zesty sausages, and buttery toast. No black pudding.

7. Controversial Cupcakes at the Bleeding Heart Cafe

These savory Top Chef inspired creations were quite an experience. While the Wasabi White Chocolate was a kick in the mouth, the Perplexed Green (Curry) Tofu was rather delightful, and the Chicken Stir Fry cupcake was kind of awful but inventive nonetheless.

6. Return to Pataka

My European travels last March took me back through Edinburgh, Scotland, where I enjoyed some of the best Indian food I've ever had at Pataka. Curry is one of the UK's most popular foods - whether sit-down or carry-out (take-away as they say), Indian and Pakistani restaurants easily outnumber all other cuisines in the country. I got my favorite - Chicken Korma. Mmmm.

5. BBQ Chicken Pizza

I've never really been a fan of barbeque sauce - until this year. On a whim, my friend Ian and I picked up the BBQ Chicken Pizza from Homemade Pizza Kitchen (they make it fresh, you bake it), and it was AMAZING. It's essentially a white pizza with mozzarella, thinly sliced red onion, cilantro, and succulent little chunks of chicken, all drizzled with sweet, tangy barbeque sauce. It's all I've purchased from HPK since.

4. Topolobampo

I love it when my parents come to town. First, because since they still live in New Hampshire, I hardly ever see them anymore - it's nice to get some face time. And second, because they take me out to eat. Good places, too. This time around we went to Topolobampo. Mom's always been a fan of Rick Bayless and Frontera Grill, but she'd never been to Topolo, Frontera's fancy sister restaurant. The food was a knockout - wonderfully crafted "dressed up" Mexican, and the tasting menu was a fantastic way to experience it all.

I believe this guacamole served with cucumber and jimica slices may have been inspired by the episode when Rick Bayless guested on Top Chef: Chicago... Richard won the quickfire (thereby getting his dish on the Topolo menu) with a jimica wrapped veggie taco appetizer. The episode aired the night before our meal.

We finished up with Bayless's play on churros - light, crispy Mexican doughnuts served with a rich chocolate dipping sauce.

3. Birthday Dessert at TRU

In celebration of my 25th birthday, Jeanette, Leanne and I decided to check out the dessert tasting menu at TRU, one of Chicago's fanciest, schumanciest restaurants. Dinners here run somewhere around $200 a pop (sans drinks), but the dessert tasting is a slim $35 a person for five courses of pastriatic bliss. The place had a regal, stuffy feel about it, and despite being nearly packed it was surprisingly quiet. The staff were a bit stiff and formal, but our sommelier was really down to earth, and gave us a good deal on a really awesome bottle of dessert wine. The name of course escapes me now, but it was a great pair to all of our courses.

Unfortunately, I wasn't too eager with my camera, but here's a small sample of some of the delights we enjoyed:

A delightful, refreshingly citrusy mini aperitif...

A birthday wish in white chocolate...

And, on your way out the door, they hand you one of these, to "enjoy with your morning coffee". As if to say, "you'll have enough of a food hangover that you'll be needing it". It was a nice bow on a really lovely evening.

2. Stephanie Izard Winning Top Chef: Chicago

Ok, not edible. But still a really exciting moment (and television season) for Chicago foodies - and to top it all off, I got to interview her. Pretty cool. I can't wait until her Wicker Park / West Town restaurant, The Drunken Goat, opens this summer!!

1. Schwa.

I got a lucky seat at the much-sought-after Schwa last spring almost by accident. Considered by many Chicago foodies to be the very best deal for fine dining in all of the city (nine courses for $109 flat - and BYOB), it is nearly impossible to get a reservation. Probably because there are only four guys who work there, plus one helpful girlfriend who occasionally comes in and answers the phone. The brainchild of tortured genius (and Food & Wine Best New Chef) Michael Carlson, Schwa serves eclectic, gastro-molecular creations that challenge the diner just enough, and deliver exciting and unexpected flavors that work. The four chefs do all the cooking, hosting and serving themselves. It's quite an operation to behold, and considering there are only 26 or so seats, it feels like an exclusive dinner party.

Anyway, due to the value and incredible hype, it's incredibly hard to get a reservation. Call the restaurant at any given time, and you'll probably get a message saying that the voicemail box is full. If you're lucky, you'll call at just the right moment and be able to leave a message - which are always returned diligently. And if you're really lucky - like my friend Matt - you'll call at the precise moment when that helpful girlfriend picks up the phone intending to make another call. You'll startle her when you say "hello?" and she's expecting to hear a dial tone instead of a voice. And you'll bite your lip to supress the giant smile when she takes your reservation for just a few weeks away.

But then, what will you do when, just days before your reservation date, the girl you're seeing tells you she doesn't have the time to squeeze you in before starting her residency in Denver? You call me up, of course! And that's how I got my accidental seat at Schwa. But what an excellent twist of fate it was - probably the most etherial and awe-inspiring dining experience I've ever had. Here are a few highlights:

Chimay Beer Cheese Soup with a pretzel puff and mustard rind. Beer + cheese = mmmmm.

Stone crab with banana, celery, and coriander. Sweet, savory, and refreshing.

And finally, pad thai, with jellyfish tentacles subbed for noodles. Surprisingly fantastic.

A delicious 2008, all in all. Let's hope 2009 is even more flavorful.

Fall Finally Descends on the Windy City

In this, the last week of October, the weather in Chicago has finally started to feel like fall. The leaves are finally starting to change color, and the air is finally getting that cool, crisp, fireplace-scented quality that I've come to know and love. I've had to dig out my scarves, gloves, and sweaters, and I've started having to wear a coat to work. I'll miss the warmth of summer... but I'm ready for a change.

The Chicago Top Chef front has been unusually quiet over the past week... I'm sure they're still doing challenges, but perhaps Bravo is going to further efforts to keep them under wraps after The Stew published a very detailed spoiler of the Meals on Wheels challenge. In any case, filming has been on for a little over six weeks at this point, so I suspect that sadly, they'll probably be finishing up soon. Padma is apparently took a break from filming on Tuesday to do a book signing at Art Smith's hot spot Table Fifty-Two, so I guess they're still in town... but who knows for how long? Le sigh.

Well, since I've got no major Top Chef dish to talk about, I thought I'd share one of my FAVORITE fall recipes: Apple Crepes. Growing up in New Hampshire, I would go apple picking with my family on sunny fall weekends, and then my mom would use the apples we picked to make an assortment of delicious creations, including German Apple Pancakes (a la Walker Bros), Apple Crisp, and my favorite, Apple Crepes. She shared the recipe with me when I moved out to college-- and I recently revived the tradition.


My favorite kind of apple is Macintosh. Apparently they are special to New England's apple orchards-- I had a really hard time finding them out here in Chicago. When I cruised Green City Market several weekends ago, they told me I was "two weeks late" for Macintoshes. That Saturday, I settled for a bag of questionable looking Cortlands (the fact that they were "organic" was apparently an excuse for their diseased-looking exterior)-- which promptly WENT BAD in about two days' time. WTF. At that point, I gave up on the local farmers and went to Whole Foods, where I found a BOUNTY of georgeous looking Macintosh apples, from Oregon I think. Here they are:
After picking up some extra butter and whipping cream at the store, I was ready to make my crepes. I used Mark Bittman's recipe (from How to Cook Everything) for dessert crepes, which called for:
3 eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 - 1&1/4 cups milk
7/8 cup all-purpose flour
4-5 tablespoons of melted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract


The instructions go on and on, but are essentially this: beat the eggs, and mix in the salt and 1 cup of the milk. Whisk in the flour, sugar & two tablespoons of the melted butter. If the mixture is too dry, add the rest of the milk. Finally, add the vanilla. Then, you are supposed to cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 2-3 hours (or up to 12 in the fridge). I neglected to read this on my first pass through the recipe. Naturally, when I got to this point, I was not prepared to wait 2-3 hours to enjoy my crepes. Instead, I waited just one hour. But they ended up turning out ok, so I guess I'm lucky.

While you're letting your crepe batter "sit", you can make the apple filling.

Brown Sugar Sauteed Apples

6 or so cooking apples
one stick of butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 cup calvados or 1t vanilla

Peel and core the apples, and slice them crosswise into 1/8 inch slices, like so: Melt about 2 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet and add a single layer of apple slices. Saute the slices until browned (about five minutes). Remove to a bowl with a slotted spoon, and repeat this step until all of the apples are cooked. Then, melt the remaining butter and add the brown sugar to the skillet until it dissolves. Add the vanilla at this point -- if you use Calvados instead, add the calvados and let it boil for about five minutes, stirring constantly. Finally, add the apples back to the skillet, reduce heat, and cook for about another five minutes (until the apples are heated through). If there's two of you, someone can start making the actual crepes while the other finishes up the apples. To make the crepes: uncover the sitting batter and stir it up to give it an even consistency. Melt some butter in a little bowl, and get out a pastry brush. Then, for each crepe, follow this process:

1. Brush the pan with butter - it should sizzle but not burn.

2. Pour about a half-ladle of batter into the pan (unless you have one of those little ladles), and turn the pan so that it coats the bottom in a thin layer. Don't use too much batter or else the crepes will turn out thick and rubbery instead of delicate and light. Turn the crepe after about 60 seconds, and let it cook for about 30 seconds on the other side. Remove to a plate-- stack the crepes with sheets of wax paper in between so they won't stick together.

Now you can put together your crepes. In the past, I've done them with vanilla ice cream: this time, I decided to go with a little vanilla whipped cream instad. Here's a step-by-step visual of the assembly:














YUMMMM!!!

Summer in Chicago

And here, friends, is another long-awaited recap of the first half of my first summer in Chicago proper. Having lived in Evanston last summer, I didn't really get to appreciate the way that Chicago simply explodes with life once the summer months set in. Restaurants and bars jubilantly cast open their windows, women in sundresses and oversized sunglasses take over the streets, and no matter what day or time it is, the interstate is backed up. Not to mention the FAIRS AND FESTIVALS that take place every weekend, all over the city-- wherever you are on a weekend, it seems that if you stop and listen hard enough, you can hear the distant strains of a cover band rocking it out in one of Chicago's neighborhoods. And who can forget the ever-present fireworks- every Wednesday and Saturday at Navy Pier. In fact, I was pleasantly reminded of the fact that I live "downtown" just the other day when I thought I heard gunshots in my back alley, only to remember (with relief) that it was a Wednesday. Yes, I live close enough to the downtown to hear the Navy Pier fireworks. AWESOME!

Anyway, let's get to the HIGHLIGHTS.

1. Lisa, Kate and Laurel go to BOKA

I thought that Boka, a staple of my daily walk to the Red Line, would be a lot like its Halsted sister (and one of my favorite Chicago institutions), Landmark. I was wrong. Boka has all the prices of Landmark, but with a far more chi chi attitude. It was "fine dining", for sure -- the head chef of this place is a former protege of Charlie Trotter himself-- and I can't say I didn't like it... it just was a little fancier than I expected.

Here's our appetizer, which was a play on the classic tomato, basil & mozzerella neopolitan. Can't really see it, but there was pesto gelee in there. Interesting.
Next up were the main courses. I got sesame-wasabi crusted salmon, with green tea soba noodles and soy foam. So gastroscientific. Not pictured: Laurel's soft shell crabs, which we learned were ACTUAL CRABS, battered and fried whole. We helped her out with them.

I should also mention that this dinner was EXTRA special because one of my favorite college friends KATE was in town for her graduation! Kate's a fellow foodie who got to see a lot of the Chicago culinary scene before I did courtesy of one very generous boyfriend. She now lives in San Francisco and works for Google. I took her to get dessert at my favorite local low-cal dessert stand, Treats! Seriously, 90 calories per four ounces of something that looks AND tastes just like real soft serve? Sign me up. Here's Kate, enjoying her treat!!

2. We are more preppy than you, neighbors

Laurel and I popped our collars and rung in our new apartment with a little Lincoln Park Prep Party... because we landed a cheap place on one of the richest streets in the city. We still don't know quite how.

The double-popped collar brigade:

Fancy (and delicious!) Cookes:

And OF COURSE, finger sandwiches!

3. It always tastes better over a campfire

One of my best college friends, Amy, is from Michigan, and she graciously took a bunch of us up to her hometown of Interlochen, Michigan a few weeks ago. We pitched tents at a lovely little campground right on Lake Michigan, and of course made some quality campfire food while we were out there. After years of cooking campfire food with my family and at Girl Scout camp, my favorite is still the tinfoil dinner. Just chop up some meat (chicken), add a bunch of your favorite veggies (carrots, potatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic, etc), a generous amount of butter, Lawry's seasoned salt, and even some shredded cheddar cheese, then wrap it all up in tinfoil and cook it in the coals for about 20 minutes, until everything's cooked through. Open and enjoy!

Here's Jenny making her preparations:

4. Camp House Cooking

I went home to New Hampshire over the 4th of July week, and had some delicious home-cooked food both at my real house and at our new little lake house we call "the camp". Not pictured is my first lobster dinner, unfortunately undocumented. Although I can tell you that while I REALLY wanted to love lobster, I wasn't a huge fan. Did love the tail... didn't like the "claw meat" or the whole dissecting-the-animal part. Guess I'm not quite grown up, yet.

Anyway, here is a typical grill-out dinner, which we ate pretty much every night. This one is tilapia, corn, asparagus, and zucchini. Tip: grill your fish and corn in tinfoil to keep the moisture in as they cook.

After dinner we usually went to Johnson's, an ice cream stand not far from the camp, that has the largest servings you've ever seen. We all got "kiddie" sizes, which were slightly bigger than a 16-inch softball. Yikes.

I made some bacon-wrapped scallops on the grill. They came out ok, but since I like my bacon a little crispier, I think I'll fry it a little longer next time before wrapping the scallops.

5. I think I'll go to BOSTON

I went for a day trip in Boston while I was on the east coast, to visit my friend Meredith. It was a beautiful day in Boston, so we just strolled around and went window shopping on Newbury Street. Here we are enjoying some scones and tea at Tealuxe on Newbury Street - kind of like the Armitage Ave of Boston, but nicer.

I love me some tea with soy milk!

Mmm Meredith and her green tea... so healthy.

6. Summer's not complete without the BEACH!

Over July 13 & 14, I played in an ultimate frisbee tournament on Montrose Beach called Sandblast. Our team was called the American Gladiators, and we showed up with style, finesse, and of course costumes. My shirt may have had an angry eagle on the front, but Richard's took the patriotic cake!!

We may not have won the tournament, but we won the party!

7. Can't go wrong with curry (unless you do).

And finally, last week I made some pretty badass curry-shimp-noodles. Here's a picture of the shrimp frying up in the olive oil and spices. Yummm!!

Well that's all I've got for now. Things not pictured: the Old Town Art Fair, Pitchfork Music Festival (that I didn't make it to this year), Taste of Chicago (also missed), Going Out in Naperville Can Be Fun: The Tale of Jeanette's Birthday, Flat Top Grill (multiple times), and others.

Coming up next: Lisa & Ian do FRASCA, Lollapalooza. Stay tuned.

Hello, Summertime

Well... it's been a while. In the time beween my last post and now a lot has happened... I've moved apartments, I've lost four (yes four) bosses at work and gained two new ones, I've been to Canada (and back), and summer has bloomed.

I've also had some tasty eats, of course. Here are my highlights from the past month:

1) Summer means grilling, and I've busted out the Barbie (pet name for my little weber) a few times already since the weather turned warm. Here are my favorites so far this summer:

- Grilled balsamic-marinated asparagus

- Grilled corn on the cob (keep the husk on, and soak it in cold water for at least 20-30 min before you grill it. peel the husk off and enjoy!)

- Grilled marinated chicken breasts (simple and delicious)

- Grilled Portabello - tomato - mozzerella napoleons

- Hot dogs. Yum.

Here's a lovely summer salad, that I made to go with...

... This lovely grilled chicken, asparagus, and corn!

2) Mmm... Meat.

I enjoyed probably the fanciest meal of my life several weeks ago when I got to go to David Burke's Primehouse (in the St. James Hotel) on the company dime. We had clients in town and well... I guess we wanted to show them a good time. Yessss. I had the Classic Filet Mignon "Oscar" style (meaning it was topped with crabmeat, asparagus, and garlic hollandaise). AMAAAZING!

I also enjoyed a tasty cut of beef last month at Las Tablas, a charming Colombian restaurant on N. Lincoln in West Lakeview. I think I had the "Bandeja Paisa": a NY strip steak with a lot of sides, including cornbread, a plantain, an egg, and some other weird fruits-or-vegetables. Here's a shot of my plate:

3) New & Old Neighborhood Eats

Tilli's is a lovely little spot just down the street from my new apartment. Amy, Leanne and I went there for a late lunch after moving me into the new place. It's a georgeous restaurant, especially when they have the patio open on a sunny day... but the food was a little overpriced and sub-par. All the flavors of our food were slightly off and a little too intense (we couldn't tell if it was a sour citrus taste or over-salting... probably a combination of both). However, despite that, we managed to thoroughly enjoy our lunch. Here are some pictures:

John's Place is right up the street from my old apartment, and right next door to my fave Chicago cupcake joint, Sweet Mandy B's. Laurel and I stopped in to John's Place on the way to the movies on Webster a few weeks ago.

Laurel had a pesto fish dish:And I had my fave standby: Grilled Chicken Sandwich with SWEET POTATO FRIES!!!

4) Amy and Lisa go to Beerfest on Navy Pier

Mmmmm... beer. So many different kinds of beer. So many different kinds of delicious.

5) Minnie's

And finally... me and the girls grabbed a bite to eat recently at this Armitage & Halsted spot, that serves mini gourmet sandwiches and burgers and is SO CUTE!!

And there's the recap for ya, folks. I promise I'll be more dilligent about updating this summer, cause I'm sure there are many more good eats / cooks / drinks to come!!