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.

Prost

Prost is a very hit-or-miss restaurant in Lincoln Park on N Lincoln Ave between Sheffield Ave and Wrightwood Ave specializing in German cuisine.

They advertised a special one day that I really wanted, and when we went in that day and I wanted to order it, the server knew nothing about it, even as posters hung around the restaurant as ads for it. That was weird.

We ordered anyway. My partner and I shared 2 dishes: Potato Pancakes, which are 4 hand-shredded pancakes served with apple butter and sour cream, as well as Cheesy Spatzle, which is macaroni and cheese baked with Emmentaler Swiss and Hooks cheddar cheeses with some toasted breadcrumbs on top.





My partner remarked that everything tasted too sweet, but I know that's just the mark of a German dish. I'll say that the apple butter and sour cream for the pancakes was on the light side, but other than that, it was fine. I'm still upset that I couldn't order the highly marketed special that I looked forward to.

Service wasn't very attentive, but definitely kind.

I'm been here before for drinks and the Pretzel that's served with a weird, lumpy beer cheese and mustard. None of it's very special for me.

Spaghetti with mozzarella stuffed turkey meatballs

Spaghetti with mozzarella stuffed turkey meatballs

Ingredients (serves 2):

1/2 lb ground turkey
3 garlic cloves
1 egg
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp parsley
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
3 sticks of mozzarella string cheese
3 tbsp olive oil
1 cup marinara sauce
4 oz spaghetti
Salt
Black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400°. Mince the garlic cloves, and in a bowl, mix it with the turkey, egg, Romano, Italian seasoning, parsley, panko, and dashes of salt and pepper. Mix it together with your clean hands until it's all blended.
2. Form the mixture into balls over parchment paper over a baking dish, and cut the string cheese into small pieces.
3. Insert the string cheese into the meatballs, and cover all around with the meat mixture.
4. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and add the meatballs to it, turning to brown every side.
5. Bake the meatballs on the parchment paper for 10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, in a medium pot, boil water, and get your spaghetti cooking according to instructions.
7. In another small pot, heat up your marinara sauce.
8. Toss the spaghetti, sauce, and meatballs together, and serve.

Tixteco Mexican Restaurant

I recently ordered delivery from Tixteco Mexican Restaurant via Seamless. Tixteco is on N Milwaukee Ave between Pulaski Rd and Keystone Ave.

We shared Nachos, which are tortilla chips with refried beans, melted cheese, guacamole, sour cream, and sliced jalapenos. I loved them.



We also shared Quesadillas. They are heavy on the veggies. There are too many peppers, but they were still good.



The restaurant is cool because they offer "Americano" versions of Mexican classics (essentially, they're letting us add lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole to stuff).

I had a Taco Americano Chorizo. It was stuffed ridiculously full. The toppings are spread out weirdly with a full bite of all of the guacamole on one end, and a full bite of all of the sour cream on the other. I also had a Carne Asada Torta (as a leftover), but it was a little soggy from so much sour cream and guacamole sitting overnight in the fridge.

It wasn't bad; it wasn't great. It's Mexican food with American style. I liked it; I didn't love it.