Croissant sandwiches

I recently bought a whole lot of buttery croissants that were on sale at Costco, so I've been experimenting with croissant sandwiches. I just slice the croissant in half with a serrated knife, then fill it with anything I want. Then I warm it up in the oven at 350° for about 10 minutes.

I've made a few breakfast sandwiches. Here are 2 of them:



On the left is prosciutto, Gouda, and a fried egg with salt and pepper. On the right is Havarti, and an omelette with white onion, salt and pepper.

Here's a club sandwich in a croissant:



I layered romaine lettuce, deli turkey, a cheddar slice, deli ham, 2 rashers of cooked bacon, another cheddar slice, and mayonnaise between the croissant halves.

I've also had a simple ham and cheese croissant.

I look forward to trying out new combinations.

Parts and Labor

Parts and Labor is a casual restaurant and bar near the Logan Square Blue Line stop on N Milwaukee Ave between Spaulding Ave and Sawyer Ave.

They have big windows that let in lots of natural light, which is nice. The decor has an industrial vibe with multi-colored wooden tables and benches, quirky ladder art behind the bar, and stringed lights around the exposed duct work. There are a couple of large projection screens and they were playing a movie. Our host and server was the same person, and she was lovely. It's a cash only restaurant, but there's an ATM inside, and if you use the ATM, you get a free shot of Fernet. We did, and our server was nice enough to bring us two shots exclaiming, "You can't have a shot alone!"

There's a limited menu that includes burgers, sandwiches, sides, salads, and desserts. There's also a full bar and lots of sodas. I ordered the Classic Double Burger, which is 2 griddled patties, 2 slices of American cheese, white onion, lettuce, pickles, and mayonnaise on a soft, fresh bun. It hit the spot. There's also ketchup and mustard on the table, which I added to the inside of the bun. On the side, I had curly fries. They were slightly over-seasoned.

This restaurant is welcoming. Everyone is friendly. It's budget-friendly. It's in my neighborhood. This is totally the type of bar I could hang out at with my friends. I loved it.

The Harding Tavern

We recently grabbed a late lunch at The Harding Tavern in Logan Square on N Milwaukee Ave between Spaulding Ave and Sawyer Ave. It's a fairly new and popular spot near the Logan Square Blue Line stop. It's another chef-driven kind of farm-to-table style concept restaurant, which Chicago loves.

I ordered the THT Burger, which is house ground roasted garlic beef, arugula, spicy fresh herb aioli, Brie cheese, and Nueskie's bacon on a Brioche bun. It comes with fries. The fries were mediocre. The burger doesn't have as much flavor as the ingredient list would imply, but it was very good. It still doesn't compare to some other great burgers I've had in the city, but there's little wrong with it.

The service was absolutely delightful. Our server was all smiles and kindness, and happy for our business.

mEAT on Halsted

Tonight, we had dinner at mEAT. They have 2 locations. We went to the one in Lakeview on Halsted. It's a small, and very dimly lit restaurant that's only open for dinner.

Our waiter was very attentive and nice, but everything we ordered seemed to take forever. We ordered everything at once: Cocktails, a starter, and 2 skewers.

First came our cocktails. All of their cocktails are classics "with a twist", which is pretty fun. I ordered a Maple Foam Manhattan, which is Jim Beam Select, Cinzano Sweet Vermouth, and maple syrup reduction, shaken and served up, with maple bourbon foam and a skewered cherry. It was a fine drink. The bartender even came to our table to ask how our drinks were, which we thought was nice.

We ordered the Truffle Fondue to start, which is fontina and gruyere cheeses, garlic, white truffle oil, and dry white wine. It took a bit of time to warm, and came with an assortment of breads, Granny Smith apples, broccoli and cauliflower. Everything for dipping was cut into super tiny pieces. It needed some stirring, but the texture and flavor of the fondue was good. We wish there had been more of it.



For our skewers, we ordered the Cajun Andouille Sausage, which is spiced sausage with some red bell pepper and white onion, served with a whole grain mustard sauce. It was spiced very well. Then came the Lemon Chicken, which is chicken, dill, garlic, oregano, lemon juice, and tomato sauce, served with a lemon dill sauce. It was very juicy with good flavor.



We were satisfied with the food and the service, but it took an hour and-a-half to get all of our food, and we were only 1 of 3 seated tables in the place. It felt way too long.

Bagel sandwich with chicken salad, cheddar, lettuce, and bacon

There is new Whole Foods right near my work, and it's dangerous! Today, I craved chicken salad, so I just went over there and got some!

Bagel sandwich with chicken salad, cheddar, lettuce, and bacon

Ingredients (serves 1):

1 plain bagel
3 slices bacon
1 slice cheddar cheese
1 leaf romaine lettuce
5 oz Sonoma chicken salad

1. Toast the bagel.
2. Fry the bacon in a skillet over medium heat, flipping often. Or bake according to instructions.
3. Assemble the sandwich layering from the bottom the romaine, chicken salad, cheese, then bacon.

Frank Meats Patty

Frank Meats Patty is a new restaurant on N California Ave between Roscoe St and Henderson St in Avondale in the former home of Hot Doug's, everyone's favorite former hot dog joint in the city. It's not easy to follow that.

The people behind Frank Meats Patty are the same people behind Fatso's Last Stand, which I haven't been to, and Lockdown Bar & Grill, my personal favorite burger joint in the city.

Frank Meats Patty sells hot dogs, sausages, burgers, fried shrimp, macaroni and cheese, pickle chips, and fries. Apparently the menu is very similar to Fatso's.

I ordered the Super Ooey Gooey, which is 2 patties stuffed with Vern's cheddar cheese, bacon, and sport peppers, topped with grilled onions and Fatso sauce. The grilled onions were plentiful. The bun was buttery and warm. I also added lettuce. The lettuce was very hard and not very fresh. The Fatso sauce added little flavor. The patties were thin and overcooked, and there wasn't as much cheese stuffed into them as I would've preferred. I probably would've been better off ordering the Double Fatso with Cheese.

I also ordered the Cheddar Fries. The cheddar came on the side. The texture of the cheddar seemed off. It was thick and lumpy. The fries were limp and soggy, and also overcooked. I definitely wouldn't get them again.

Lastly, I had a Filbert's Black Cherry Soda. Filbert's is a Chicago-based beverage company famous for their Old Time Root Beer, but they have 24 flavors. I like when a restaurant carries locally sourced products and ingredients, and has beverage options other than typical Coca-Cola or Pepsi products.

The restaurant is affordable, and the service is nice. It's cash-only; however, the restaurant recently showed up on Seamless and GrubHub where you can order delivery or take out with a credit card.

Parson's Chicken and Fish

Last night after work, a group of 10 of us went to Parson's Chicken and Fish on W Armitage Ave in Logan Square.

The table ordered lots of stuff including fried chicken, grilled chicken, oysters, baked beans, mashed potatoes, and cocktails. Our server brought us complimentary hush puppies, and we were glad he did! I definitely recommend getting them. They're made with ham hock, scallions, cream cheese, and cornmeal, and come with a fantastic Harissa aioli for dipping. They're crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside.

I got the Fried Chicken Sandwich for myself, which is a boned out fried Amish chicken thigh, slaw, aioli, American cheese, pickles, and hot sauce on a buttery bun with house made potato chips on the side. The chicken was really good. It was a thick, large cut, breaded and seasoned well, and very crispy. The toppings blended well, but bun quickly got soggy and fell apart. By the end, I had ditched the bun altogether. Next time, I'll just get the fried chicken. And the hush puppies.

They happily split up our check 8 ways, and even after we had signed the checks and left our tips, our nice server brought out two complimentary Bang Bang Pies. Awesome.