Author Archives: Kate

A Quick Bite Review: Pizzeria Bianco

Posted on December 19, 2011 | 2 Comments

For some reason I imagined Arizona as a scene out of a John Wayne movie, complete with cowboy hats, tumbleweeds and watering holes.  Isn’t Arizona considered a part of the Wild West?  Aren’t there deadly scorpions lingering in your shoes and gun slingers like Doc Holiday sitting at your neighborhood bar? Apparently, things have changed a little.  Today there are new modern concerns such as illegal immigration, and judging by the number of billboards… methamphetamine, oh and don’t forget, potentially poisoned drinking water.

Despite the new urban perils of the wild west, we enjoyed our trip to Arizona. The Grand Canyon, the drive down through Sedona, and all the amazing micro-brews kept us continually amazed. But, hey. Let’s get back to the important stuff.  One of the best wood-oven pizza places in America just happens to be in Phoenix.

Margherita Pizza

The Atmosphere:  

The restaurant is located right off 7th street in Heritage Square in Phoenix, Arizona. A parking lot flanks the rustic spot and a cat sauntered through the arid outdoor seating area on our way in.  The restaurant is small but inviting in an Italian-Cowboyesque kind of way.  The wood burning oven is located on the left and surrounded by a bar. It’s here I would imagine cowboys in their boots and spurs relaxing with a pizza after a hard day’s work… Wooden tables for parties of 4 or less are scattered neatly around the restaurants. They don’t deliver, there is no option for take out and they only take reservations for parties of 6-10.  On a busy day you may have to wait 3 hours, but, for your convenience, you can wait right next door at Bar Bianco.  Luckily there was no wait when we arrived for a post-flight lunch at 2pm.

Caprese Salad at Pizzeria Bianco

Fresh Mozzarella Salad

The Food:

This is a wood-oven pizza place, with the menu consisting of 2 small plates, 3 salad options, and 6 different pizzas.  This menu has the classic “tell” of a good restaurant it’s one page, no back.  We opted for the classic homemade Mozzarella Salad and Margherita Pizza with a homemade fennel sausage addition from Schreiner’s Fine Sausage.  The “Sonny Boy” also looked tasty, consisting of tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, salami, and gaeta olives.  Honestly… everything on the menu looked good to us.  We paired our pizza with some local Arizona brews, our favorite being the Nimbus A-1 Pilsner.

Our Thoughts:

It was probably one of the best executed wood-oven pizza we have ever had.  The bottom was crispy all the way through and the dough was pretty fantastic.  We loved the fennel sausage addition to our Margherita and would definitely come back the next time we are in town…  Well as long as we don’t have to wait 3 hours that is…

Grand Canyon - Hopi Point

Pizzeria Bianco on Urbanspoon

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Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand 2012

Posted on November 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

Here are the 2012 Bib Gourmand selections for consistently tasty cuisine at a great value.  These restaurants offer two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less.  Below you’ll find the 56 restaurants that earned the award…  and on November 15th we’ll find out which restaurants and chefs were awarded 1, 2 or 3 of the coveted Michelin Stars.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Michelin  Guide check out our brief post on its history and our interview with the director.

Ann Sather
Arami
Avec
Belly Shack
Bistronomic
The Bristol
Browntrout
Ceres’ Table
Cumin
De Cero
deca
DeCOLORES
Fogon
Frontera Grill
Gemini Bistro
Gilt Bar
Girl & The Goat
Green Zebra
GT Fish & Oyster
Han 202
Hopleaf
Jaipur
Jin Thai
Kabul House
La Creperie
La Petite Folie
Lao Sze Chuan
Los Nopales
Lula Café
M. Henry
Maude’s Liquor Bar
Mexique
Mixteco Grill
Mundial Cocina Mestiza
Nana
Nightwood
Opart Thai House
Owen & Engine
Paramount Room
Perennial Virant
The Publican
The Purple Pig
Raj Darbar
Riccardo Trattoria
Sen
Smak-Tak
Smoque BBQ
Sol de Mexico
Spacca Napoli
Taste of Peru
Thai Village
Twin Anchors
Urban Belly
West Town Tavern
Xni-Pec de Yucatan
Yolo

 


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Posted in Recipes

Cook County Food Policy Survey

Posted on September 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

I just wanted to share the information below from the Cook County Food System Survey.  I took the survey(and you should too) because I am personally interested in gardening, composting and how personal gardens may help those families less fortunate put healthy food on their table while also preventing disease.

The Cook County Department of Public Health is proposing the creation of a food policy council for Cook County. The food policy council would be an official committee that explores cross-agency and cross-jurisdictional food issues and makes recommendations to the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

As part of this effort, we are asking people who live or work in Cook County to share their opinions on how government laws, rules, ordinances, regulations and programs affect the way we eat, grow, transport, store, process, distribute, sell, or handle food or food waste.

Who should complete this survey?
If you live or work in Cook County and eat, grow, transport, store, process, distribute, sell, or handle food or food waste, we want to hear from you. The survey will be open until September 29, 2011.

How will the results be used?
The survey results will be used to create recommendations on what issues a proposed Cook County food policy council will focus its efforts.

How can I complete the survey?
You can complete the survey online, or to answer this survey in Spanish, please call 708-633-8314; or email jbloyd@ccdph.net. Para contester esta encuesta en espanol, favor de llamar a 708-633-8314; o escriba a jbloyd@ccdph.net.

So if you have an interest or suggestion, please take the survey!  Better yet….  Attend the meeting to review the survey results and develop recommendations for what the proposed food policy council will do:

Date: October 6, 2011
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Guest speaker: Mark Winne of the Community Food Security Coalition and author of Closing the Food Gap,Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin’ Mamas.

Space is limited. Registration is required; due to building security, walk-ins cannot be accommodated. Lunch will be provided.

If you have additional questions, please contact Lara Jaskiewicz at 312-805-8468 or Lara.Jaskiewicz@phimc.org.

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Nana Organic: A Mac & Cheese Obsession

Posted on September 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

I contend that Nana has the best Mac and Cheese in Chicago.  I think the term love or obsessed could also describe my feelings toward this truffled mac and cheese.  Well… at least for now.  I should remind you that I am quite fickle and therefore reserve the right to change my mind at any point opting out of any previously spoken words of love.  However, more than once I have woken up dreaming about Nana’s Mac & Cheese or for that matter, their sweet potato beignets or homemade chorizo…  And somehow it has become perfectly reasonable to order said mac n cheese at oh… say… 9:30 AM.  Despite the fact that I think the waiters have dubbed me as the weird girl that orders mac n cheese for breakfast, I will continue to do so until they say no, give me a stern look and send me on my way.  But regardless of whether you prefer mac and cheese for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  You can find many other dishes or drinks to satisfy your cravings at this inviting organic restaurant.

Macaroni and Cheese

Mac & Cheese

The Atmosphere:

Nana is a family run establishment located on the corner of Halsted and 33rd Street in the Bridgeport neighborhood with ample metered street parking and a bike valet the last Sunday of the month for those choosing a more eco-friendly ride to brunch. You can choose to sit outdoors under umbrellas admist an array of herbs being pruned for your meal or venture indoors to relax in the comfortable modern interior and admire the local artwork on the walls, while keeping an eye on the chef in the open kitchen.

The Food:

It’s local, sustainable organic American comfort food with a Latin flare that tastes good.  Real good.  Other than my favorite breakfast staple, the mac and cheese,  we’ve tried nearly every dish on the menu and have been completely content with our selections.  A few of our favorites are the perfectly fried chicken and waffles, the huevos rancheros with a fantastic poblano crema, or even the basic chicken sandwich.  We are especially fond of their housemade pork chorizo, which always seems so fresh, perfectly seasoned and just a little bit spicy.  The only disclaimer I will provide is that if you are interested in their biscuits and gravy, let me remind you that the gravy is made from duck fat. DUCK! If it is a traditional biscuits and SAUSAGE gravy taste you are looking for, you may find the flavors unexpected as my grandma, who accompanied us on our first trip to Nana, will tell you.  We’ve tried many specials and have always been pleasantly surprised, especially with their fantastic beignets.  We never pass on their beignets.

Fried Chicken

Nana Organic Fried Chicken Wings

Our Thoughts:

It’s my preferred brunch spot and the place I take all of our out of town guests. When my friend Leah visits Chicago, her one request is brunch at Nana.  I am a big fan of family run establishments that focus on quality organic ingredients that are affordable and accessible to the community in which they serve.   Nana continues to be one of my favorite spots to chillax over dinner, lunch or brunch with family and friends.

Nana on Urbanspoon

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Posted in Bridgeport, Reviews

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Green City Market Annual Chef’s BBQ Benefit

Posted on July 25, 2011 | Leave a comment

Whoa… this summer is movin fast and I can barely keep up.  Here’s a photo from our latest dining endeavor The Green City Market Chef’s BBQ Benefit in Lincoln Park.  If you missed it this year, make sure you keep it in mind for next year!

Beef Carpaccio

Beef Carpaccio from Cafe Spiaggia

 

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Posted in Chi Food Events, Lincoln Park

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What We’ve Been Grilling… Kalamata, Caper and Dill Salmon

Posted on June 25, 2011 | 2 Comments

Every summer we take our recipes to the grill so we can sit out and enjoy the nice weather. Here is a salmon recipe that allowed us to use our fresh dill from the farm!

olives, capers and dill salmon

Kalamata, Caper and Dill Salmon (and meyer lemons)

Ingredients:

Salmon

Kalamata Olives

Capers

Fresh Dill

Olive Oil

Meyer Lemon

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place cleaned salmon on aluminum foil, leaving enough room to fully enclose the salmon.

2. Drizzle olive oil over salmon.

3. Add a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper according to your taste.

4. Place a bed of fresh dill from your garden on top of salmon!

5. Next add a few meyer lemon slices, a handful of capers and sliced kalamata olives.

6.  Enclose salmon, dill, meyer lemons, olives and capers in your aluminum packet and place on grill at ~350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.  Remember time varies in regards to the thickness of your fish!

7.  Remove your awesome dish from the packet and enjoy!

 

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A Quick Bite Review: Kaufman’s Bagel and Delicatessen

Posted on May 19, 2011 | 2 Comments

Sometimes you find places by chance.  And on a random trip to the veterinarian a few months back, while two lovebirds shrieked in my ears, I spotted a large sign on Dempster that directed my attention to a retro brick building with large glass windows and a tiny parking lot.  Now a tiny lot is one of the tell-tale signs of a great joint.  If a patron is willing to maneuver their shiny new Mercedes into a precarious position next to a beat up chevy and my aging Honda Civic with nothing more than inches to spare, you know the stuff here has got to be good.

Kaufman's Bagel and Delicatessen

The Atmosphere:

It’s a local spot right off Dempster, if you miss the entrance, you’ll have to circle around and make another go at it.  Upon entering you are greeted with day old bake goods at ridiculously low prices.  As you near the register you can eye-up their bagel selection and then check out the bakery display cases, that are  filled with everything from ruggalach to coffee cake.  And as if that wasn’t enough, head left into the deli where you grab a number and peruse the specialty items while you wait to be called by the friendly staff.  Kaufman’s serves a diverse population, some patrons are from the community and have been going to Kaufman’s since they were children.  Others like me randomly stopped by and now find themselves returning from the city to satisfy their hunger.  If you’re lucky you can grab one of the four seats overlooking the parking lot.  If not, be prepared to take your food to go.

Kaufman's Bagels

Kaufman's Bagel Selection

The Food:

You know, I don’t even know where to begin. They have a variety of breads, bagels, cakes, cookies, sweets and rolls. There is such a variety of goods from the bakery, I like to try something new each time. A few of my favorites are the: cinnamon twist… sweet and doughy,  the cream cheese danish… rich and so fresh, and the Irish Soda Bread… its seasonal, and quite possibly the best I have ever had.  If you want their amazing chive cream cheese with your bagel, you’ll have to head to the deli.  If you’re not into sweets or bread, the deli has pretty much anything else you might need.  I nearly died when I found out I could have all the fat trimmed off my corned beef.  They have 4 different cuts of corned beef and you can request it hot or cold!  They have a variety of specialty sandwiches to choose from, but my favorite is a take on the reuben, super-trim corned beef, swiss cheese and fresh cabbage slaw on rye.  If you’re concerned that your heaping sandwich won’t be enough to conquer your hunger… add a knish,  Matzah Ball Soup, or some potato pancakes.

Jewish Deli in Chicago

Corned Beef, Pastrami, Smoked Fish and Sandwiches

Our Thoughts:

I may not be a New-Yorker, but I am a fan of this Chicago Jewish Deli and its incredible bakery.  It’s refreshing to see a responsible family run establishment from the 1950′s that still prides themselves on quality products and producing items in house.

Kaufman’s Bagel and Delicatessen | 4905 W Dempster | Skokie IL 60077 | 847.677.6190 |

Kaufman's Bagel & Delicatessen on Urbanspoon

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Posted in Reviews, Suburbs

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Mattar Paneer

Posted on April 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

A white girl usually can’t throw down in an Indian kitchen, and I’m no exception.  But on occasion, I still like to try… So on our mission to find an awesome paneer recipe we found Manjula’s Kitchen, and decided to mix two recipes to create the perfect dish to satisfy our taste and ended up with a Mattar Paneer-Masala of sorts.

We gathered the ingredients and the wide array of spices commonly used in Indian cuisine, but less so here in the US.  Fortunately, G is obsessed with collecting spices so we had most of them on hand.  But for anyone out there looking for asfoetida , whole cumin seed, or garam masala you can find them at Whole Foods or our favorite shop, The Spice House.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have time the trek to Devon to find the one ingredient that eluded us,  tejpat “bay leaf”, which doesn’t match my western perception of a bay leaf at all!

Mattar Paneer and Naan Bread

Mattar Paneer and Naan

To simplify our after work cooking extravaganza, we purchased paneer from Whole Foods and picked up some naan from our local Indian restaurant, but we hope to try Manjula’s recipes for these soon. We opted for low fat yogurt instead of heavy cream and avoided using butter altogether, creating a much healthier version of the one typically found in Indian restaurants.  After laboring in the kitchen for an hour, we were overwelmingly surprised with the results!  The only downside, was that our clothes and condo smelled like an Indian restaurant for a week, which might explain the strange looks I received when passing our neighbors in the hall.

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A Quick Bite Review: Fish Bar

Posted on April 11, 2011 | 1 Comment

There are few things I enjoy more than the thought of publicly humiliating myself as a wobbly stool slowly collapses beneath me.  That thought becomes even more enjoyable when I visualize myself slowly falling to the floor with a cod sandwich in my hand and a smile on my face.  My visualization almost became a reality at Fish Bar the newly opened sustainable, wild caught and responsibly farmed fish shack in the Lakeview neighborhood.

The Atmosphere

Fish Bar is a small teal-colored spot right next to DMK Burger, you know the grass fed beef place, in Lakeview.  Its super chill fish shack vibe is refreshing and reminiscent of some of the joints on the coast I’ve visited.  It’s bustling with people, loud and has limited space for parties of four.  We waited 5 minutes for a couple of stools to open up at the fish bar, but I have heard the wait can be much, much longer.

The Food

New England Clam Chowder

New England Clam Chowder and Fried Calamari

We stopped in for a snack and opted for an eclectic mix of items that we normally find appealing hoping that we would be amazed at the sustainable, wild caught and responsibly farmed seafood that would now grace our plate.  We started with the fish of the day pineapple ceviche(spanish mackerel), a gumbo for g, and the clam chowder for me.  The ceviche came to the table in a cute little mason glass and we grabbed some silverware and napkins from the counter in front of us.  It was just a little too sweet for my taste… which is rare.  The gumbo was fine, but we would have liked a few larger pieces of crab or andouille and the clam chowder could have been a little thicker with more flavor for the likes of me. We ordered the fried calamari, which was described to us as “a little different”, as it is served with spicy peppers and parmesan cheese.  I so very much wanted to enjoy this, but it was too limp and greasy.  The peppers were a good addition, though.  At this point our snacks didn’t seem to fulfill us so we selected… the cod sandwich, and oh man was that good!  No seriously, it was soo good, perfectly executed and so moist in the middle. Yum!

Our Thoughts

I really wanted to love this place and its sustainable options, but on this day we found that the awesome restaurant concept outweighed the execution of our meal.  But don’t get me wrong.  I will come back, maybe after they have had a chance to work out the quirks of a new restaurant and find that missing screw from my wobbly bar stool.   I’m hoping on my next visit the clam chowder will be heartier, the fried calmari will be super crispy, and the cod sandwich will be exactly the same!

Fish Bar | 2956 N Sheffield Ave | Chicago, IL 60657 | (773) 687-8177

Fish Bar on Urbanspoon

 

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Posted in Lakeview, Reviews

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A Quick Bite Review: Nhu Lan

Posted on February 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

It was 2:00 pm and we were starving after an hour visit at the Chicago Botanical Gardens.  After all, we had only had salad for breakfast… yes, salad.  It was the only thing in the house!  So we did a quick search of the best sandwich shop on our ride back to the city.  Our Results:  Nhu Lan Bakery, an excellent spot to grab the French/Vietnamese-hybrid sandwich, the bánh mì.

The Atmosphere:

Nhu Lan Bakery is located in Lincoln Square, right on Lawrence, between Rockwell and Talman.  The building is unassuming and could easily be overlooked, if you couldn’t smell the fresh bread and other goodies from your parking spot on the street.  We knew we had made a good decision when we walked in to see just a basic store front, a good selection of vietnamese pastries, two tables, and a crowd of people waiting.  Most people were taking their meals to go, so we had a chance to grab a spot at one of the tables.

The Menu:

Yum... Coconut Cassava Pastry

They offer 12 different type of sandwiches with a few vegetarian options and fruit smoothies with tapioca, if you so desire.  Since they are a bakery, they also have baguettes available and a variety of vietnamese pastries and steamed buns.  I opted for the lemongrass chicken($3.50), G ordered the Nhu Lan Special, ham, headcheese, pâté, and pork rolls($3.25) and we grabbed a 2 Coconut Cassava sticky buns for dessert($1.95).  The sandwiches come with the usual trimmings of pickled daikon and carrots, cilantro, hot peppers, and cucumber.  The lemongrass chicken was my favorite of the two, but I’m not a big fan of a bunch of cold cuts on my sandwiches.  However, my husband loved his meaty “special”, which is more like the classic bánh mì.  The coconut cassava dessert was freshly made and still warm.  I was going to save it for later, but it smelled so good we ended up eating it on the drive home.

Our Thoughts:

Our sandwiches were fresh, inexpensive and quite tasty.  They also have a special, buy 4 sandwiches and get the 5th for free!  If we’re in the neighborhood I’d go back for the lemongrass chicken, and maybe to try their veggie options or grilled pork.

Nhu Lan’s Bakery | 2612 W Lawrence Avenue | Chicago, IL 60625 | (773) 878-9988

Nhu Lan on Urbanspoon

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Posted in Lincoln Square, Reviews, West Rodgers Park

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