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.

The Purple Pig

The Purple Pig is on Magnificent Mile (N Michigan Ave) between Grand Ave and Illinois St. It's a popular and expensive small plates/tapas restaurant. As per most tapas places, dishes are served when they're ready without any formal dining order. Servers recommend 3-5 plates per couple, but the sizes of the dishes vary greatly. The menu is overwhelming, but the servers know it well, so don't be afraid to ask for help.

We started off by choosing 3 cheeses for the small cheese plate. It came with toasted bread slices and a sweet, chunky jam. For our cheeses, first, we chose Desperado, a cow's milk cheese that's semi-soft with a nutty flavor. Second, we chose Sunset Bay, a creamy, silky, and dense goat's milk cheese with the smoky flavor of Spanish pimentón with vegetable ash on the rind. Lastly, we chose Hook's 5 Year, a tangy cow's milk full-flavor Swiss cheese with a slightly nutty edge. A generous amount of bread was provided with the cheeses, and the jam went particularly well with Sunset Bay. The portions were quite small for the price.



Next came the turkey leg confit with crispy lentils, treviso, endive, and agrodolce. This was a pretty large plate, and well worth its cost in size and flavor. It was beautiful in it's presentation, and our favorite dish of the evening. As soon as I cut into the turkey leg, the meat fell right off the bone. Even the bone seemed to melt apart in places. The lentils added an unexpected crunch and nice texture. The sauce was flavorful without overwhelming the dish. I highly recommend ordering this. Unfortunately, I failed to snap a photo of it before we made it disappear.

Next came the pork tripe and pig's feet with chicken sausage, black-eyed peas, and pork skin breadcrumbs. On the side, there were 2 halves of toasted bread. It was a medium-large sized dish. It was very filling. The texture wasn't quite what I had expected, and it was too salty, even for me.



The Purple Pig is a fun restaurant with an interesting menu. If you want to taste something new, try it out.

Twisted Tapas

We went to Twisted Tapas in Rogers Park on W Pratt Blvd at Sheridan Rd with a group of 4, plus 2 kids. The atmosphere is open and welcoming. The hosts and servers are very welcoming and were kind to the kids, which we appreciated.

From what we ordered, my favorites were the Lobster Ravioli in a white wine lobster sauce with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil, Grilled Beef Tenderloin crusted with bleu cheese and grilled vegetables, and Spicy Potatoes with cumin-paprika alioli.

Cafe Ba Ba Reeba

We recently went to Cafe Ba Ba Reeba in Lincoln Park on N Halsted St between Armitage Ave and Lincoln Ave for dinner. It was a place I'd been meaning to try for a while, and now I feel silly for waiting so long because it really lived up to its hype. It's definitely a restaurant suited for foodies, but we felt very comfortable there in casual clothing and picking up shrimps with our hands, and we were surrounded by couples, friends, and families with small children also dining. The restaurant is very open with windows that fully lift up when the weather's nice and warm. It's very deep, making it feel large. The servers are very attentive.

We ordered a pitcher of mango sangria, which is their current seasonal sangria. Our glasses came loaded with fruit, and the servers constantly refilled us from our pitcher on the table.

We ordered the Deviled Egg with Crispy Jamón Serrano, which is a pinxto, so it's a bite-size dish. It was amazing.



We ordered the Spicy Potatoes with Tomato Alioli aka Patatas Bravas. The alioli was great, and the potatoes were less spicy than what we're used to when ordering similar dishes. Still, it was very good.



We ordered the Beef Tenderloin and Bleu Cheese. It came with chips on the side. The beef was juicy, and perfectly cooked to my liking.



We ordered the Seafood Paella with Shrimp, Bay Scallops, Monkfish, and Green Beans. Paella can only be ordered in 2 servings at a time because of the way it's prepared in the paellera (a large, shallow dish). They bring out the paellera to your table, then separate the dish between two plates for you. If you've never had paella, it's unlike anything else you've ever tasted. The blend of flavors is spectacular, and this dish was amazing. It takes about 30 minutes to cook paella, so order it early.



By this point, we were stuffed, and already prepared to bring home leftovers; however, when we were presented with a dessert menu, we couldn't resist tasting one more thing at this restaurant. The desserts are tapas as well, so they're small plates. We got the cutest Chocolate Truffle Cake, and it was as great as everything else, rich and full of flavor.



The blending of flavors here is what makes everything so fantastic. My advice to you is to order absolutely anything here that sounds good to you. We never made one bad decision, except maybe we ate too much. But I'd do it again.

Quartino

Last night, we ate out at Quartino, an Italian tapas bar at N State St and W Ontario St.

We ordered the Salumeria Tasting, which includes 2 salumi, 2 formaggi, 3 spuntini, and an assortment of olives. For the salumi (cold cuts), we chose the Truffle Salame Black Truffle Salami and Prosciutto San Daniele. For the formaggi (cheeses), we chose Fontina Val D'Aosta and Taleggio. For the spuntini (snacks), we chose Roasted Peppers, Roasted Beet Salad, and Artichokes Campobasso. The olives included were Gaeta, Green Pasola, and Cerignola olives. It also came with Raisin Bread, Apricot Puree, and Giardiniera Romana. Plus, we had the bread that was given to the table to start, which we ate along with some of these. The stand outs were the meats and cheeses; the vegetables weren't my favorite.



We also ordered the Italian Artisan Blend fonduta, which came with cubed bread. The flavor was unlike any fondue we'd had before, but we liked it.