Batter & Berries

I recently had breakfast at Batter & Berries on N Lincoln Ave between Kenmore Ave and Diversey Pky in Lincoln Park with some friends. It was a Wednesday morning, and our wait was very short on some picnic-like benches in the middle of the restaurant, which was hopping.

I had the Crab Cakes Benedict, which was one of their specials. The dish consisted of 2 crab cakes (which contain lots of crab), each topped with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce, and served with a side of cheesy hashbrowns. I also ordered a side of sausage.



A friend who frequents the restaurant ordered the Cluck 'n Gaufre, which is a chicken-stuffed sweet potato waffle topped with a piece of fried chicken with nutmeg hot sauce and maple butter. I generally love chicken and waffles; however, I'm not often a fan of sweet potatoes. I tried a taste off of her plate, and I thought I could stand the sweet potatoes. It was delicious.

It's a fun breakfast place in the heart of Lincoln Park.

Fat Rice

Tonight, I dined with a friend and her almost 3 year-old daughter at Fat Rice in Logan Square at W Diversey Ave and Sacramento Ave. We had been planning to come to this place together for a few months, and were finally able to work out our different schedules to make it happen.

We showed up at 5:30 PM (opening time) on a Tuesday, and we were seated immediately without a reservation. They brought us a high chair for the little one. The restaurant is very small (40 seats), and though it's dimly lit, the lighting is pretty with multi-colored candle vases on each table and white rope lights. The restaurant completely filled up and had formed a line out the door before we had finished dining.

The hostesses and servers were very kind, and repeatedly complimented us on having a well-behaved, adorable kid with us. Now don't get me wrong, she is well-behaved and adorable, but a 2 year-old is still a 2 year-old. I thought everyone on the staff was very warm and inviting to all 3 of us. Even though I don't have a child of my own, nice dining establishments that are so warm and welcoming to children get extra stars in my book.

At each table, you get a fork, spoon, and chopsticks (plus a knife with certain menu orders). We used a combination of all of these. I didn't really know anything about the food of Macau, and took instructions from our servers on how to properly eat everything. The food from Macau is a mix of Portuguese, Chinese, Goan, African, and Malaysian influences. If you're not an adventurous eater, you'll surely be outside of your comfort zone, but if you're willing to give anything a try, there's some incredible cooking happening here. I also didn't totally know what everything on the menu was, but we came here to have an ambitious culinary experience and speak our best Portuguese, and indeed, we did.

First, we were brought a small complimentary bowl of Sichuan peppercorn pickled cabbage. We all liked it. I was a little surprised by that.



We came for the namesake dish, the Arroz Gordo (Fat Rice), so we ordered that straight away. It takes 30 minutes to cook. So in the meantime, we chose some 3 for $10 "bites". Our selections included boiled peanuts, eggplant, and a pig ear salad. The pig ear salad was probably my favorite. The pig ear was surprisingly soft, almost in noodle-like form, but surrounded by crunchy onions, peppers, and greens to balance out the texture of the bite. The kid was all about the boiled peanuts, which were served cold and topped with mushrooms. The eggplant was tasty, and I don't even like eggplant, but we all decided it was too spicy for us, so I brought the rest home for my partner to enjoy later. Somehow, spicy food doesn't make her nose run like crazy, like it does mine. She must be an alien. I've always half suspected that.



Then came the famous Arroz Gordo, a celebratory dish of Macau. Reminiscent of paella, it's a bountiful, home-style, layered rice dish that is usually prepared for family and friends on special occasions. It's a Jasmine rice laced with sofrito, delicious Chinese sausage, and salted duck. It's topped with Portuguese chicken thighs, char sui (barbeque) pork, linguiça sausage, fatty prawns, littleneck clams, hard-boiled tea eggs, and croutons. Then it's scattered with assorted pickles, olives, and sauces. It came with a mushroom soy sauce and Diablo ghost pepper sauce on the side. The rice is crispy on the bottom. That was one of my friend's favorite parts.



Our server's advice to us, and advice that I would pass on about this epic dish, is to dig to the bottom of the clay pot that the recipe is cooked and served in (it will still be hot to the touch, so be careful), and pull out the rice onto your plate immediately with the other stuff you want. Don't get totally focused on working top to bottom or side to middle. It's meant to be eaten as a whole, with each bite combining different flavors and textures. Be careful that the olives still have pits, and the prawns are still shelled with heads-on, and must be peeled.

I particularly liked the chicken thighs, which were boneless and more fatty than I'd usually have them. They were cooked to perfection, and still incredibly tender. Also, the linguiça sausage, which I can only compare to a chorizo, was enjoyed all around.

This is an unforgettable dining experience, and it's very unique as far as I've ever known. I've been called "a garbage disposal" by my partner because of my willingness to try to eat anything. My younger self would've never expected this. But for the adventurous foodie, and those interested in food cultures they don't know about, try this place out. It's probably unlike anything you've ever had.

Slow cooker chicken burritos

I went with this recipe tonight for slow cooker chicken burritos.

I put 2 trimmed chicken breasts, 1/2 a can of Rotel with green chiles, our homemade taco seasoning, and chicken broth in the crock pot, then added shredded cheddar and sour cream on a warm flour tortilla. It was a delicious dinner.

When I left for work, I kept the slow cooker set on "warm" for my partner who arrived home an hour after I left. She thought the dinner was excellent as well.

We'll add this one to our repertoire. It's very easy, and it's very good.

Southwest chicken pinwheels

I made this recipe for a fantasy football draft party. I partly made it because we had flour tortillas to use up before they went bad. Pinwheels seemed to be the easy and obvious answer for that.

Southwest chicken pinwheels

Ingredients (serves about 30 pieces):

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 tbsp sour cream
1/2 can Rotel tomatoes with green chiles (drained)
2 garlic cloves (minced)
Dash of seasoning salt
Dash of ground pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
2 green onion stalks (sliced)
5 small flour tortillas

1. Cook the chicken through, then shred it. (I usually use 2 forks to shred chicken, and like to shred it after it's cooked.)
2. Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, Rotel, garlic and spices, cheddar, and green onions in a bowl. Mix in the chicken, too.
3. Spread the mixture onto each tortilla, then tightly roll them up.
4. Wrap each tortilla in plastic wrap, then cool them in the fridge for at least an hour.
5. Once cold, cut the logs into bite-sized portions, and serve cold.

(We had an artisan southwest spice that we added on top, too.)



It's not a spicy dish, regardless of some of the spicy ingredients. The cheese pulls it back to be very mild. It wasn't a grand slam as far as party recipes go, but everyone liked it and had seconds. I got to use up ingredients that would waste away in my fridge otherwise. I'll call it a stand up double.

Manee Thai

Last night, we had dinner at Manee Thai on N Pulaski Rd between Addison St and Eddy St in Irving Park. They have a huge menu offering Thai and Japanese cuisine.

It's BYOB, and we brought a bottle of wine. There is no corkage fee, which is nice.

We ordered the Crab Rangoon to start, which is crab meat, cream cheese, and celery wrapped in a thin pastry shell and fried to golden brown. It was good, and the portion was generous.



For our meal, we went with sushi, and split 3 rolls between the 2 of us. We had the Spicy Tuna, which is tuna, scallion, and spicy mayo, Crunchy Salmon Lover, which is salmon, avocado, cream cheese, oba, and spicy mayo deep fried, and Tarantula, which is softshell crab, shrimp tempura, cream cheese, scallions, avocado, and tempura crumbs topped with black tobiko and unagi sauce. The sushi was just okay. We were very full when we left.







The food was served quickly, and in the order in which it was ready rather than all at once. There's salt, pepper, soy sauce, and sweet chili sauce on the table.

We may return and try out some Thai dishes next time.

The Brat Stop

On our way home from Milwaukee to Chicago, we grabbed lunch in Kenosha at The Brat Stop.

It's a classic Wisconsin restaurant. It's not exactly an easy drive-thru between the state lines of Wisconsin and Illinois, or particularly easy off of the highway, but it's very close, and very popular. They have a shop with Wisconsin cheeses and Usinger sausages for sale in addition to their dine-in restaurant.

My partner and I enjoyed a bowl of Wisconsin Cheddar Soup together. It was what you'd expect: Better cheese than average, a little too thin, but satisfying.



I ordered the Cheddar Wurst with fries. I loved the Cheddar Wurst. The fries were microwavable junk.

Miller Park

We recently went to a baseball game at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI. It was my first time in that ballpark. I'd love to go to every ballpark! As far as Miller Park food goes, I only know a tiny bit. Around the 3rd inning, I went and got some Bratchos. Bratchos are kettle chips loaded with local brand Klement's triple-grind sausage, nacho cheese, pico de gallo, sauerkraut, jalapeños, and sour cream. They're available for $10 in sections 117, 124, 210, 221, 228, and 408. I ordered some, and nursed the dish for the whole game. I couldn't even finish it myself. It was fantastic ballpark food, but didn't leave room for anything else. Next time, I intend to go after some nachos on a stick.

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Sobelman's Pub and Grill

We went to Milwaukee, WI recently. The city is famous for their burgers, brats, and cheese, and I looked to my friends for recommendations. I was led to Sobelman's Pub and Grill for a burger for lunch.

I ordered The Hangover, which is a burger with Colby-Jack cheese, smoked bacon, buttery fried onions, and a fried egg. I added ketchup.



The burger was a burger. It didn't wow me, or upset me. It was good.

The weirdest thing about Sobelman's is that that whole restaurant is on a slant. I wondered if anyone in there even realized that the whole restaurant tilted downhill. It's a little weird. Nonetheless, I was told it's local culture, and I'm glad we partook.

Au Cheval and Small Cheval

Recently, we had an early dinner at Au Cheval on W Randolph St between Green St and Halsted St in the West Loop. The restaurant is famous for their notoriously long waits (no reservations accepted), but when we showed up at 4:30pm on a Tuesday, our group of 4 was seated immediately in a comfy booth, which was a pleasant surprise. The kitchen is closed from 3pm-5pm every day, so maybe that helped in making our timing good. We enjoyed some drinks before our meal to fill the time, but it didn't feel like we were ever waiting at all. Our server began taking food orders prior to 5pm, and the kitchen was fully ready to accommodate everyone there. Even as we were finishing up and a line had formed out the door, we never felt like we were being rushed out of the restaurant to make more tables available. The staff remained warm and kind.

I love the vibe at Au Cheval. It's a kind of dark, sexy, hipster vibe. Au Cheval recreates traditional comfort foods in modern and inventive ways in a relaxed and cool environment.

I ordered the Fried House-made Bologna Sandwich. It's a massive sandwich featuring thinly sliced mortadella with some black pepper and lots of salt piled high on a brioche bun. It's smothered in what I suspect is a creamy gruyere cheese as well as a mayonnaise and Dijon sauce. It takes the classic all-American fried bologna sandwich to another level. It takes a lot of smushing down to fit a bite into your mouth, but it can be done.



Simply put, I love this place. The wait can be stupid, but sometimes you can get lucky.

About a week later, a co-worker and I tried out the new Small Cheval restaurant on N Milwaukee Ave at Wabansia Ave in Wicker Park that's run by the same folks at Au Cheval. It just has a minimalist and faster version of Au Cheval's menu. The same 3pm-5pm kitchen closing applies.

I tried out the simple Cheeseburger. It was a peppery, greasy, perfectly cheesy two-patty burger. It's everything a burger should be without all of the contemporary flair. It's just perfectly right. It's just a simple, good burger.

There's a great outdoor patio to enjoy during our short Chicago summers.

I recommend both places.

Sweet Station

We recently grabbed lunch at Sweet Station on N Lincoln Ave at Lill Ave in Lincoln Park. It's Sweet Station's second location. We rarely go as far south as Chinatown, and since Sweet Station's original location is in Chinatown, we figured this could be the real deal, and it was. The food was obviously made with fresh ingredients, and was truly authentic Cantonese food. It's also amazingly affordable, especially during lunch. We were about an hour late for lunch, and our server still gave us the lunch rates for our meals. We spent about $15 total for fantastic sit-down meals for the two of us.

The menu can be difficult to decipher for an English speaker. We've gotten very good at speaking in Spanish, Italian, French, and Greek while ordering our food at restaurants, but we weren't totally sure about what we were getting this time as we flubbed our way through a language neither of us know at all. Nevertheless, I expect that any sort of language flub would've still yielded good results at this place. I bet everything's great.

We had the Crab Rangoon to start. We always love Crab Rangoon.



I had the Orange Chicken with chicken fried rice on the side. It was so fresh, and it was delicious. It was served with freshly cut orange slices and broccoli.



My partner loved her meal as well. We'll be back again and again. We've been in Chicago for almost 3 years, and this is our favorite Chinese food by miles.

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

We recently went on a double date (with kids) to Chicago's new Dinosaur Bar-B-Que on W Weed St near the North Side. This is the chain's first Midwest location. All others are on the East coast.

We shared a few appetizers. We had the Creole Deviled Eggs, which I loved. They're Cajun-spiced with chives, and can be ordered in sets of 3, 6, or 12 pieces.



We also shared the Jumbo BBQ Chicken Wings, which can be ordered in sets of 3, 6, or 13. They're spice-rubbed, pit-smoked, then finished on the grill, and served with bleu cheese dressing, celery sticks, and covered in your choice of sauce. We split it up with a mild honey BBQ sauce, and hot wango tango sauce.



I ordered an original BBQ Pork Sandwich platter for myself, which comes with 2 sides. I chose fresh cut fries and mac & cheese as my sides.



We had a great time out with friends. It's family-friendly with lots of room. We had a large feast! The food was good, and fun to share. This place will only gain more popularity as Chicago experiences their legacy.

Twisted Tapas

Tonight, we revisited Twisted Tapas in Rogers Park. They were packed, so we ended up sitting at the bar. We had a few drinks, and shared the Baked Goat Cheese, which comes in a tomato sauce with garlic herb toast. It's a fairly standard tapas dish, and this is one of the better interpretations of it that we've ever tried. Another good time at Twisted Tapas.

Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits

Today, we had a snack/lunch at Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits on N California Ave between McLean Ave and Dickens Ave in Logan Square.

I ordered the Sausage Biscuit, which is a ginger sage sausage patty and cheddar cheese on a biscuit with seasonal jam on the side (currently, it's a raspberry mix). I added an egg to it. The biscuit sandwich was huge, and far too tall to eat as a sandwich, so I cut it into small bites, and tried to squeeze every ingredient into every forkful. I could really taste all of the spices in the obviously homemade sausage patty. The warm, soft biscuit just melted in my mouth.

My partner ordered a Key Lime Pie, which is key lime custard with lime zest and a very thick graham cracker crust.

We dined on their outside patio, which is large with lots of picnic seating and was quite sunny today. It's nice to have a comfortable specialty place like this in our neighborhood. I would definitely try other things on their menu, or just come back for this same thing.

Rapidito Colombian Gourmet Bites

I recently grabbed a quick and easy dinner at Rapidito Colombian Gourmet Bites on W Diversey Pkwy at Wolcott Ave. I generally love South American food, so I thought I'd try this out.

I ordered the Rapidito Dog. It's a beef hot dog on a bun topped with cheese, crushed potato chips, ketchup, mustard, signature pink sauce, honey, pineapple sauce, and hard-boiled quail eggs. It was a little sloppy to eat. I half ate it like a hot dog, and half spooned it up.

As I'd expected, it was an interesting combination of flavors and textures, but I liked it a lot. It was very affordable, pretty quick, and something entirely new for me, which was fun.

Holiday Club

I recently went to The Holiday Club on N Sheridan Rd between Cuyler Ave and Irving Park Rd. It's a bar my friends frequent on Monday nights, and I caught up with them this time around.

It was a very large group, and our server was dealing with several separate checks. Our drinks and food all came out at various times, and not at all together. We were all up mingling throughout the bar, too. There's a lone, busy pool table, a photo booth, and a juke box.

I ordered The Holiday Burger medium well with Merkt's cheddar and applewood smoked bacon. It also came with red onion, lettuce, and tomato, and my choice of seasoned fries on the side. The burger was little too burnt for me, but the bacon was perfectly cooked.

Gibson's Bar & Steakhouse

To celebrate my birthday this year, we grabbed lunch at Gibson's Bar & Steakhouse on N Rush St between Cedar St and Oak St.

According to Gibson's: "We are the only restaurant group in the country to have its own USDA Certification. Our beef is breed specific, Black Angus, and raised on sustainable farms in the Upper Midwest. Our beef is corn fed for 120 days and aged for 40 days, providing maximum flavor and tenderness."

The restaurant is very nice. It's not pretentious, and the service is friendly and helpful.

I ordered the 10 oz Filet Mignon medium well. It was a thick cut, and lightly pink in the middle, but not too pink for me, and it was a little charred on the outside. It was tender and tasty. It came with perfectly made Béarnaise sauce on the side. It came with a soup or house salad to start, and I chose the Bookbinder's Soup, which I shared with my partner. It's a tomato-based soup with carrots, celery, green peppers, leeks, mushrooms, and whitefish. It had a very rich flavor without being too filling as a first course.

I also ordered the Double Baked Potato as a side. All of their sides are huge and fit to share. The Double Baked Potato was fantastic, and I highly recommend it.

The Angry Crab

Recently, a friend went to The Angry Crab, and placed a big order to go for dinner. This time our order included lobster tail, head-off shrimp, snow crab legs, blue crab, and littleneck clams, with corn on the cob, red potatoes, and andouille sausage, all mixed with various spices. It was huge feast, and very tasty. We opted for a to go order this time since we ordered around dinner time and the wait for seating was about 3 hours. Also, it was a lovely summer evening, so we dined at my friends' home on their patio. Being more accustomed to East coast/Mid Atlantic seafood, we decided that some seafood we prefer steamed rather than boiled, but this massive seafood boil was still a wonderful treat. We laid out newspaper on their backyard table and had our own crackers, scissors, and hammers. We made a big mess, and it was great.

Cheese quesadilla with extras

Recently, at Costco, we bought a huge bag of shredded Queso Chihuahua cheese. How can we use it up? Quesadillas! I was lazy this time around, and most stuff was store-bought, but it was awesome.

Cheese quesadilla with extras

Ingredients (serves 2):

3/4 tbsp butter
2 flour tortillas
4 oz Queso Chihuahua shredded cheese
1 tbsp sour cream
1 tbsp guacamole (from Whole Foods)
1 tbsp pico de gallo (from Whole Foods)

1. Heat 1/2 tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 flour tortilla, then 2 soft handfuls of Queso Chihuahua shredded cheese. Quickly cover. Wait 1-2 minutes. Fold the tortilla in half over the cheese, and cover again. Wait 1-2 minutes. Flip, cover again, and wait 1-2 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, spoon sour cream, guacamole, and pico de gallo onto both serving plates.
3. Repeat 1 for the second serving (you can get away with a little less butter since the pan's used and already hot).
4. Slice quesadilla's into 3's or 4's with a pizza slicer. Serve with the condiments for dipping, and enjoy.

Spicy smoked sausage alfredo bake

Last night's dinner!

Spicy smoked sausage alfredo bake

Ingredients (serves 2):

8 oz pasta
1 tbsp olive oil
6 oz smoked turkey sausage
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
Dash of pepper
Dash of cayenne pepper
Dash of red pepper flakes
1/4 cup shredded or grated Parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzarella

1. Cook pasta according to instructions, and drain. Preheat broiler.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Slice the smoke turkey sausage and add to pan, heating both sides until lightly browned.
3. Mince the garlic, and add to the pan. Cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.
4. Add the chicken broth, heavy whipping cream, and flour and whisk until it's blended and smooth.
5. Add spices and simmer for about 5 minutes.
6. Stir in Parmesan and 1/2 cup mozzarella until the cheeses are melted.
7. Add the cooked pasta to the pan, and mix together.
8. Move the pasta and sausage mixture into a baking dish, and top with the remaining mozzarella cheese.
9. Broil for 2-3 minutes, and serve.

BrewBrew Coffee Lounge

BrewBrew Coffee Lounge opened in our neighborhood last fall, and we finally went to check it out. They have coffees, teas, and a handful of sandwich options. Local art for sale covers the walls, and some books are available to read from a small bookshelf. There's free WiFi, and plenty of outlets. There's a variety of comfortable seating with tables and chairs and couches. It's a laid back environment with nice service and a sunny park right across the street.

I ordered the Reuben panini, which is corned beef, Swiss cheese, Polish-style kraut, and Thousand Island dressing on marble rye bread.



I think BrewBrew is a great addition to the neighborhood!

Michigan restaurants

We recently visited the other side of Lake Michigan, and dined out a few times.

We went to Tabor Hill Winery and Restaurant at their vineyard on Mount Tabor Rd in Buchanan, MI. The restaurant leans on the fancier side, but doesn't turn anyone away, and the servers and hostesses are very nice. There are views of the vineyard through the large windows in the dining room. There are some bird feeders outside of the windows that the kids with us loved watching.

We're big fans of Tabor Hill's Classic Demi Sec, so we each had a glass. It's a sweet white wine with a fruity overtone, and the Midwest's best-selling wine.

We ordered the Sriracha Shrimp to start, which is fried shrimp tossed in Sriracha aioli with wonton chips and crushed peanuts. It was plated beautifully. It was sweet with the right balance of softness and crunch.



I ordered the Duck and Gnocchi, which is thin-sliced duck breast over potato gnocchi with spinach, roasted tomatoes, and Asiago cheese. The duck was perfectly tender, but the gnocchi was overcooked.



The next day for brunch, we ate at The Mason Jar Cafe on Water St in Benton Harbor, MI. They have a diverse and creative menu with high quality fresh, healthy ingredients that are locally-sourced and organic wherever possible.

I ordered the Spicy Egg Sandwich, which is one organic egg over easy with chipotle aioli, avocado, bacon, and Amish cheddar cheese on a plain bagel. It was delicious. It was spicy, but not overwhelming, and filling, but didn't leave me feeling like I'd eaten too much. It comes with breakfast potatoes on the side. It was a very tasty brunch. If I lived in this neighborhood, I'd probably be here all the time.

The Angry Crab

The Angry Crab is a Cajun-style seafood restaurant on N Lincoln Ave in West Rogers Park that opened this March. It's been very hyped, and I've heard there's been long waits. We went around 4:00pm on a Thursday and didn't have to wait at all; however, by the time we left, a line was forming.

It's run by a trio of Vietnamese brothers. This cross-cultural type of restaurant began opening in Vietnamese neighborhoods at the start of the century, and are known as "boiling points". This is Chicago's first one. Everything you order is cooked together in one big pot and served all together.

There is communal seating, tables are covered with paper, and everyone's given a bib. There's a variety of seafood shipped to the restaurant daily from the Gulf and served with your choice of spices in plastic bags. You eat right out of the bag and discard shells and waste right onto the table. There's no plates or utensils except for a shellfish cracker and shell opener.

Seafood options on the menu include live lobsters, live crawfish, clams, head-on shrimp, head-off shrimp, mussels, softshell crab, snow crab legs, king crab legs, Dungeness crab, and blue crab when it's in season. You order by the pound. The concept is that you choose your seafood, then choose your spices. We went for the snow crab legs, mussels, and the Ragin' Bulls spice mix, which was classified as semi-spicy. You can also add meats and vegetables to your boil. We opted to add 2 pieces of corn on the cob, and 2 red potatoes, which were good additions. I also added a side of butter for dipping.



On the side, we had softshell crab over Cajun-garlic fries, which came with ketchup and a spicy sauce. Both the softshell crab and fries seemed overcooked to me, but we scarfed down everything.



There's no other restaurant like this in Chicago. It's worth a trip at least once. Go early to avoid the rush, and BYOB.

Panes Bread Cafe

Panes Bread Cafe is a hidden gem on N Sheffield Ave between Nelson St and Wellington Ave in Lakeview. It's a casual, affordable (cash only), low-key little restaurant. The bread is some of the best bread in the city, and it's always fresh. My favorite sandwich to order to the Turkey Club, which includes roasted turkey, bacon, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. It's always served perfectly warm.

Turkey club sandwich

Lunch!

Turkey club sandwich

Ingredients (serves 2):

4 slices wheat bread
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp honey mustard
4 slices cheddar cheese
6 slices deli turkey
4 slices turkey bacon
2 leaves lettuce

1. Cook bacon on a skillet until desired crispness, turning often. Toast bread slices.
2. Build sandwich from the bottom up: Bread, mustard, lettuce, cheese, turkey, cheese, bacon, mayonnaise, bread.

Paladar

Today, we grabbed food at Paladar. It's a family owned and operated Cuban restaurant with an incredibly impressive rum bar. Photographs of the family don the walls, and it feels very homey. It's near the Regal Cinemas on Western, so it's a nice dinner before a movie for us.

We started with the Croquettas appetizer with cheese. They were delicious, and served with 3 different dipping sauces.



I ordered the Cuban Sandwich, which is slow roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, mustard, and pickles, grill pressed between Cuban bread. I'm a huge fan of Caribbean food, mostly because the meat is always so wonderfully falling-apart tender, and this was one of the best Cuban sandwiches I've ever had. That's a huge compliment.



Service is slow for sure, but it's very nice. It's a popular place with lots of regulars, and the food's great.

Lincoln Station

I recently revisited Lincoln Station. Truthfully, I go there a lot.

This time, I was just there for drinks and appetizers. Our server quickly informed us that half of the drink menu wasn't currently available. We found drinks to order anyway, and ordered the nachos with pulled pork.

There was lots of pulled pork and sour cream, but the rest of the toppings were skimpy.

Lincoln Station generally has good food, and it's a great place. At night, it gets loud and typically Lincoln Park frat-like, and I tend to avoid that, but in the day time, Lincoln Station is usually okay.

Quiche with Cotswold, prosciutto, and spinach

A gourmet breakfast!

Quiche with Cotswold, prosciutto, and spinach

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 Pillsbury pie crust
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup fresh spinach, stems removed
7 eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup Cotswold cheese, shredded
4 slices prosciutto

1. Roll out the Pillsbury pie crust into a round baking dish. Preheat the oven to 400°.
2. In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, then spinach. Heat until the spinach is wilted, then dry with a paper towel to remove moisture.
3. In a large bowl, crack the eggs and add the heavy cream. Whisk together. Shred the Cotswold cheese into the bowl, and whisk it in, too.
4. Spread the garlic and spinach mixture over the pie crust, then pour the egg and cheese mixture over that.
5. Top the quiche with prosciutto slices pushing them into the egg mixture.
6. Heat in the oven for 30 minutes. Let it settle for a couple of minutes, then cut, and serve.

(I only put prosciutto on a bit of this since my other half is a vegetarian of sorts. I happily ate all the prosciutto.)

Crisp

I visited Crisp again. Instead of ordering my usual, (half Korean fried chicken with Seoul Sassy sauce), which are huge and filling, delightfully tasteful and messy wings, I opted for the Not So Common Crisp Sandwich.

Of course, I ordered it with the Seoul Sassy sauce again, which heavily leans towards the sweet side. It's a sandwich with a deep fried fillet of chicken, glazed in your sauce of choice. Other sauce options are BBQ and Buffalo. It comes with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and an American cheese slice. Besides the warm chicken, the rest is served cold, including the bun unfortunately.

It didn't matter much. It still tasted great.

Crisp has counter service, many benches, plus a few counters for seating. There are TV's and free Wi-Fi in the restaurant. There's even a bench specifically reserved for folks waiting for their to-go orders.

I love the food at this place. Get it to-go or stay.

Crew Bar and Grill

Tonight we grabbed dinner at Crew Bar and Grill on N Broadway St between Gunnison St and Racine Ave in Uptown. It's right next to Green Mill and down the street from The Riviera Theatre. Crew is a laid back gay sports bar specializing in comfort food. It's very clean and spacious with sports memorabilia on the walls and many large TV's. Our server was friendly and happy.

I ordered the Fried Bologna With Works, which is thick cut griddled bologna with bourbon mustard, pickled onions, dill pickles, and garlic aioli between grilled cheddar cheese on sourdough. They definitely didn't skimp on quality ingredients.



There are other things on the menu that I would like to try, and given the great location, we'll probably be back.

Beer cheese soup

I made another reincarnation of beer cheese soup for dinner.

Beer cheese soup

Ingredients (serves 2):

32 oz chicken broth
12 oz beer (I used Blue Moon)
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 cup white onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 cups sharp cheddar, shredded
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup cornstarch

1. In a skillet over medium heat, place the carrots, celery, onions, and garlic. Heat for 2 minutes until flagrant.
2. Add the Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.
3. Add chicken broth, and gently pour in the beer. Cover, and heat for a minute.
4. Remove the lid, and stir in the shredded cheese and heavy cream. Whisk in the cornstarch. Recover and heat for 10 minutes, then serve warm.



We had the beer cheese soup with toasted pretzel rolls for dipping, and a serving of Dole's Southwest Salad Kit (which we love) to complete the meal.

Four days dining in New Orleans

I recently spent 4 days in New Orleans filled with good food.

First, 4 of us had a nice dinner at Antoine's in the French Quarter. This was our expensive night out. We ate in the bar, which offers the full restaurant menu and is more casual than the restaurant. I ordered the Crabes Mous Frits (softshell crabs fried in a light batter with a hot butter meuniere sauce). The table shared steamed broccoli with hollandaise sauce, diced potatoes fried and served with melted butter, and asparagus served with butter. Everything was delicious with perfectly blended flavors. The service was lovely.



The next day, we grabbed a quick lunch at Johnny's Po-Boys, also in the French Quarter. You order at the counter and there's limited seating. I ordered half of a catfish po-boy and a cup of seafood gumbo. It was good, fast, and affordable.





We had dinner that night at Deanie's Seafood, also in the French Quarter. Two of us shared the half seafood platter, which is a seasonal bounty of fresh shrimp, catfish, oysters, soft shell crabs, and crawfish croquettes with fries underneath and lemons. It was a casual, family-style atmosphere with very high quality food. The meal was outstanding and filling.



The next day for breakfast, we went to the famous Cafe du Monde in the French Market in the French Quarter. They have table service and take-out. We sat down at a table. We felt very rushed while we there. As soon as we sat down (at a table that still had empty glasses and trash on it), the table was cleared and we were asked to place our order. We ordered a coffee, and an order of beignets. The coffee came messily overflowing and dripping over the cup. I don't drink coffee, but my partner gave the coffee with chicory wild praise. Our server brought us two orders of beignets, which isn't what we ordered, but we didn't complain. It was just an extra $2.50 or so. The beignets were okay. We were quickly given our checks and felt like we were being rushed out of there to make room for the next guests. If we're ever back, we'll probably just buy a tin of Cafe du Monde's famous chicory coffee and take it home. The coffee is worth coming for, but the atmosphere isn't very fun.





For dinner, we ate at The Company Burger, which I was told has the best burger in New Orleans. We had to take the St Charles Streetcar from the French Quarter to get there. You order at the counter and there are plenty of tables and seats. The atmosphere is laid back, the service is friendly, and the food is affordable. I ordered The Company Burger, which is a classic American cheeseburger with two patties, American cheese, housemade bread and butter pickles, and red onions. I chose to add a fried egg and bacon to mine. There's a condiment bar in the back where you can add other condiments and they have various housemade mayonnaises. Burgers are all-natural, hormone-free, and antiobiotic-free. My burger was cooked well and perfectly juicy. Our table also shared The Company Fries, which are hand-cut and twice-fried, and Onion Rings, which are thick cut red onions hand-battered in buttermilk. The Onion Rings were exceptional.



We had dessert at Hansen's Sno-Bliz, which is a 76 year-old snowball stand. Snowballs in Louisiana are similar to snow cones, but made with much finer shaved ice and a large variety of homemade syrups. I had the cream of nectar.



Our last meal in New Orleans was breakfast at The Ruby Slipper Cafe in the French Quarter. It's a large and busy breakfast restaurant with a pretty big menu. I ordered the Eggs Blackstone, which is one of their specialties. It's a pair of poached eggs over applewood-smoked bacon, grilled tomato, and an open-faced buttermilk biscuit, finished with hollandaise, and served with breakfast potatoes. It was extremely filling and very good.