Category: food

Yes, I went a little crazy with the syrup. But that’s just how I roll. That’s the kind of death-defying, selfless act that it takes to get you, my fans, the best information on Chicagoland food and drink.

And fine food it is, this is the Crunchy French Toast from Wishbone (West Loop). Gosh I love Wishbone. I also love Southern comfort food. I’ve been lucky enough to have traveled a little in the south and they eat my kind of food down there. I like sugar, cream, and hot stuff (not necessarily together), and they just have more of that down there; more donuts, more blackened stuff, more bread pudding, and more hot sauce. I like it. When I’m south of the Ohio River, I feel like I’m with kindred food spirits. Didn’t I feel kind of the same in Greek town? Am I just flinging loads of bull or what?

It’s crunchy because they dip it in ground corn flakes after it comes out of the standard French toast batter. This addresses one of my major gripes with French toast (aka, eggy bread for those in the UK). Often, when the battered toast is drenched with prodigious amounts of syrup, the toast gets saturated with syrup and loses its bread-like consistency. It turns into a runny mess actually, especially if the batter-master missed a portion of the bread and allowed some bare bread to peak through the coating. Not good. Comfort food blasphemy in fact and I will not tolerate it.

Not to worry here at Wishbone. The corn flakes add another barrier to syrup-saturation and add a crunchy texture to one of my favorite sweet breaky items. Crunchy-sweet is a great flavor sensation. Not quite as powerful as salty-sweet, but they could go toe-to-toe in my house anytime. How ’bout a battle royale between a frozen Kit-Kat and some Garrett’s cheddar cheese-caramel combo popcorn. It’s not necessarily a fair fight because the Garrett’s option is actually crunchy-sweet-salty, and that’s like the triple threat of flavor sensations…like the Carl Yastrzemski of sweet treats.

When was the last time you were at Wishbone? I was just looking through their lunch menu and they have Black Bean Cakes. Wow, that sounds good, I gotta get back there fast.

Do you ever read the Newcity free mag? It comes out on Thursdays I think, about the same time as the Reader and The Onion. Well, if you like to read about Chicago restaurants, laugh your ass off, and have some serious discussions about Chicago-related food topics, then you need to go to the food and drink section of Newcity right now.

The main food writer, Michael Nagrant, mixes a warped sense of humor with a large reservoir of food knowledge. His articles are always relevant, very funny, and highly approachable for a foodie-hater like myself.

Just take a read on his last two articles and decide for yourself. Check out his tirade on the new wine legislation for Illinois. He mixes in some light political research with one of his food obsessions. Or how about this one about chain restaurants; he has a dirty little secret that will surprise you.

I don’t see a subscribe-to link or anything like that, so it’s not really a blog that you can stay updated on (I don’t understand why they’re leaving this on the table), so you have to stop back occasionally. I religiously grab the Newcity every week so maybe I’ll post links to his best articles as I come across them.

What’s happening to me? Two of the last three posts have had green vegetables combined with some sort of thin pastry. Am I turning into some sort of health-food nut? Have I lost the taste for the meat of a hoofed mammal? I think not, don’t worry. To be completely up front, my mom was with me at Pegasus this night and she always wants me to eat my veggies. What could I do?

So I ordered the spanakopita. Trust me, it’s not health food by any stretch. Which is probably why it’s so good. Mixed in with the spinach is lots of feta cheese, eggs, and oil, along with plenty of seasoning. I love feta cheese and the taste is strong in this dish. It’s a ton of fun to eat.

I was pleasantly surprised with the taste and texture of this green stuff. The spinach is chopped up but it still retains some it’s leafiness, which is a fine line to walk. It’s green and leafy but it cuts more like a lasagna-type of casserole. This is great because you get a serving of vegetables but it’s real easy to eat. I like the ease of eating with my hands (burgers, pizza), so sometimes it’s difficult to get my greens.

I find veggies tough to eat. One of the reasons that I don’t like salads is because I hate trying to get the forkful right. You know what I’m saying? The lettuce and stuff are always hanging over the edges of the fork and you have to try to fit the whole thing into your mouth before it starts falling into your lap. I guess I could cut it up, but I don’t like to take the knife to my salad because it just doesn’t seem right. It’s like cutting spaghetti, I just don’t do it. So my relationship with the salad has never gone anywhere. I’m not going to let it get me down because I can get green veggies elsewhere, as evidenced here.

As I’ve said before, I have some Greek blood in me. When I’m in Greek Town I feel like I’m amongst family. I walk in and they treat me like royalty. What a nice group of people. I wonder if non-Greeks get the same treatment.

The standard Greek fare here at Pegasus is always good. Plus, they have this outdoor, rooftop deck that has a killer view of downtown. It’s perfect for a summer evening of drinking and eating. Try it the next time your at Halsted and Monroe.

Yeah, it’s a huge burrito, and it was good. When you think huge burritos, Highland Park probably doesn’t pop into your head. Well, that’s your problem, because Tamales in downtown Highland Park makes a killer burrito and this place will also wow you with an impressive, all-around great dining experience.

Just so you’re not confused, you may have known this place by it’s former name. It used to be Hot Tamales, but it just changed ownership, so now it’s Tamales – A Mexican Joint. I know this because we had the new owner spend about 10 minutes at our table talking about the restaurant and Highland Park in general. He’s a cool guy and I think the future of great Mexican food on the North Shore is in good hands.

Before we go any further, let me digress into my rankings of “top suburban downtowns,” here they are.

1. Geneva
2. Highland Park
3. Oak Park
4. Wheaton
5. Evanston

More on that another day, but be sure that the Highland Park downtown is a keeper.

So, pictured is the steak burrito. It’s got beef and beans and a great salsa. It’s large, but it only took me about 12 minutes to get it all into my stomach. It felt like the bean to steak ratio was about one to one. That’s the balance we shoot for here at Tasty Chicago. I don’t want one major item overpowering the other and you get that at a lot of other places. Not here, this burrito is well-made.

There are a bunch of other reasons to go here. My wife had the skirt steak and liked it. Just for the heck of it, the owner brought out some special mushroom sauce for the skirt steak and it was darn good. Also, check out the bread pudding with ice cream and caramel sauce below. Mmmm, tasty.

It was about a 30 minute wait, but what do you expect on a Friday night. We dined outside on that main east-west drag through downtown. What a great atmosphere. The service was extremely friendly and I will be back.

Hold on, don’t go! This is Tasty Chicago…yeah, I’m serious.

I know, you don’t often see me eat things that are green. But I do. Really.

This is the Asparagus and Goat Cheese Strudel from Fiddlehead Cafe at 4600 North Lincoln (a whopping $15). It has some grilled green garlic, spring onions, and sorrel puree. This was my entree a few weeks ago for my wife’s birthday celebration and it was surprisingly good.

As I’ve said before, I love cheese made from a goat. I talked about it after a trip to Scoozi a few months ago. I’ve never entertained the idea of wrapping it in a pastry, baking it, and tossing some veggies on top, but it was extremely appetizing. The pastry was light and crispy and the goat cheese was warm and smooth. And much to my surprise, the combination of cheese and vegetables in each bite was very good. I cleaned my plate and used other carbs from the table to soak up the sorrel puree.

Fiddlehead is a cool place right along the strip of bars and restaurants in Lincoln Square. It’s a wine bar with an eclectic American cafe style menu. Lincoln Square, it’s nutty I tell ya’. We ate outside, but it’s a lot different from the grittier West Town type of outdoor dining that I usually partake in. There are just so many more people walking up and down Lincoln Avenue (versus Chicago Ave) and the outdoor dining options are all out on the street. It’s quite a scene.

I want to add a story about the service. The crew at Fiddlehead struggled this evening a little. We had a fine waitress who busted her tail, but she was new and one bartender called in sick. Needless to say, it took forever to get drinks and food. Now my wife and I are very patient and we take it slow, so we hardly ever complain. And we didn’t this time, but there were two moments when I was just about ready to get up and ask “what’s going on?” But alas, each time I was pleasantly greeted with our order, so no problems. We ended up staying a few hours and in return for our patience, the host brought our table a complimentary after-dinner drink. It was a dessert wine that we all loved (all four of us). Awesome, awesome gesture, and we will be back. I appreciate stuff like that and it tells me this place is in it for the long haul. Way to go. The reviews at Yelp for Fiddlehead are mixed, but generally positive. Check them out.

Have you ever seen such a thing of beauty? It’s a bratwurst next to a sleeve of Callaway HX Tour 56 golf balls. It’s becoming abundantly clear that I’m an artist. We’ll talk about the bratwurst in a few moments, but I want to talk about something else first. Lately so many of my fans have asked, “John, how do you stage your beautiful pictures of food? Your composition and balance are always so perfect, bringing in elements of the surroundings that make the food look even more flavorful.”

Hey, thanks a lot.

Well, my theory is that the setting in which you consume food is very important to the enjoyment of said food. Sure, I could eat a cold bratwurst while standing alone next to my car in a barren parking lot during a freezing cold day and still enjoy it. But let me paint a different picture for you. I pull up to one of my favorite golf courses in the world on a beautiful summer day and I’m really hungry – with about 45 minutes to kill. Enter a fresh sleeve of Callaway golf balls and a nice blue mini Sharpie, perfect for putting my personal mark on each ball. Throw in the comfortable cushion of a golf cart, a Gatorade, and two Advil. That, my friends, is called relaxation. Doesn’t this picture just scream the “perfect atmosphere for eating brats?” Isn’t your mouth watering for the taste of a fine encased meat?

I’m with you. Good call.

Notice the lightness of color in this brat. Growing up, brats were always the “white hotdog.” I was sort of afraid of them. But then I tried one and I was smitten. My dad owned a grocery store for most of my developmental years and I remember when the guys in the meat department would wrap the brats in foil and warm them up on the heated meat-wrapper contraption. Wow, memories.

The multi-meat aspect of the brat is probably what gives it the color. It seems that they often have some veal and/or pork in them, so that differentiates them color-wise from the standard all beef hotdog that Chicagoans find so delectable. But I think the sausage-like texture and the spicier flavor make the brat a more enjoyable tubular meat for me.

Unfortunately, Village Links kicked me in the teeth this day and I barely survived. It’s a great golf course though, I still love it and still had a great day.

Sometimes, a savvy restaurateur will fill a starchy thing with something oddly delectable. Take, for example, the Buffao Chicken Spring Roll from Carmichael’s; a fine but unexpected combination. Well, let me follow that up with this little treat. I’m not sure what it’s called exactly, but it’s basically a standard sandwich bun filled with chocolate chip cannoli filling and a little powdered sugar on top.

Yeah, they just pumped a burger bun full of dense, sweet, creamy, chocolate chip cannoli filling and made my friggin’ day. They, is D’Amato’s, at 1124 West Grand. Which is not to be confused with the D’Amato’s at 1322 West Grand. I don’t know if they’re related or not (read the reviews at the links for some takes on this).

D’Amato’s is not the kind of bakery I grew up with. In my hometown, a bakery meant donuts and cinnamon rolls. Sure, you could get a fresh loaf of white bread and maybe some cookies, but for the most part, BAKERY = DONUT.

But there aren’t really any donuts here at D’Amato’s. There are all sorts of fresh breads, buns, rolls, and tons of cookies. I walked in and was prepared to get some sort of mini-loaf of bread for breakfast, then I spied these bun-type things setting on the counter. If you’re a bakery owner and you want to lure John Steffen into purchasing your goods, just set them on the counter in an open-air type of situation. That says FRESH to me. It says, “Hey John, we just took these out of the oven and they’re so damn hot they will fog up the windows in the display case so we just set them on the counter for now. Do you want one?”

Ahh, yes, thanks (suckerrrrrr).

I enjoyed this treat with a cup of coffee from the Jupiter Outpost. I would suggest using a knife to spread the filling around a little as you eat it; like any stuffed pastry, it’s never uniformly spread throughout. Not a problem though. Some day, I’m going to stop by D’Amato’s and get some bread for a sandwich, then run down to Bari and grab some meet and cheese to fill it with.

I love Mexican food, but I haven’t really reviewed any basic Mexican items. I have posts on Tex-Mex and Nuevo Latino cuisine, but this is the first on standard Mexican fare. Very few things comfort me as much as a plate full of enchiladas, beans, rice, and some greens. My range of satisfaction on this type of meal is huge. And if you throw in a nice outdoor patio and relatively uniform application of sour cream, you can’t go wrong.

Amelia’s is located at 1235 W. Grand, right at the corner of Grand and Ogden. If the continuum of Mexican food in Chicago ranged from Taco Bell on the low end to Topolobampo on the high end, Amelia’s would be closer to Taco Bell. In fact, these enchiladas are closer to Taco Bell’s then they are to Uncle Julio’s, which is disappointing for a neighborhood place. So yes, I’m grouping Amelia’s in with the chains.

But the pictured enchilada plate was still darn good. And for some reason, despite the fact that the outdoor patio is at the confluence of two very busy streets, I still like it. I’m not going to go off on this place like the crew at Yelp. Check out some of these reviews. I think they’re a little harsh. I tune out people that say, “Oh, that’s not real Mexican, it sucks.” Well, what do you expect, Mexico is like 1,500 miles away. Much of that culinary knowledge gets lost along the way. It’s part of living in the USA, you have to accept the fact that we’re going to mess up ethnic foods about 74% of the time.

Sure, there are many authentic places in Chicago, like the aforementioned Topolobampo and, my favorite, Maiz. Go to them. Enjoy them. I will, do, am, is, are… But don’t tell me you haven’t enjoyed bad Mexican food for most of your life. I dare you. Look me in the eye and say “I’ve never had a burrito from Taco Bell that I liked.” You can’t do it. Because when you combine spicy beef, beans, cheese, onions, and red sauce with a flour tortilla, it’s all good my friends.

The homemade meal of the month is back, and Gail has outdone herself this time.

I don’t recall it happening, but Gail developed a love for bouillabaisse. She just started liking it right under my nose, before I even figured out what the heck it was. She didn’t even make a big deal out of it, thereby highlighting a fundamental difference between us. I get excited about meaningless things, but Gail takes them in stride. When I discover a new food item that I love, I talk about it all the time. I beat it to death by telling people about it; ranting and raving like some lunatic who just discovered air. I use it as a conversation starter. I call friends and family and talk about it (eventually they just quit answering the phone). I have issues, I know this.

On the other hand, Gail acts like she discovers exotic new dishes all the time. She’s like the football player who scores a touchdown and hands the ball to the ref without any celebration, because he’s been there, done that. She tries something new, likes how it tastes, and starts ordering it whenever she gets a chance. She never talks much about it, her actions speak louder than words. Then, she starts making it. Then, she starts making derivations of it, like this dish. It’s a bouillabaisse type of stew poured over a baked snapper filet with brown rice.

Like I said, Gail has outdone herself on this dish. She takes vegetable stock and tosses in some onions, leeks, tomatoes, fennel, saffron, other spices, and lots of Pernod. It’s simple, but special. She usually serves bouillabaisse with some crusty bread for dipping, but that’s not necessary here because she has thrown in the brown rice as the starch. The anise flavored Pernod and the saffron make this a distinctive combination. It’s so complicated, I can’t even explain it.

Although I’m not a big fan of black liquorice, I do love anise flavored stuff. I get my anise from two places, from Gail’s bouillabaisse-type dishes and from my mom’s Christmas cookies. Yeah, my mom adds anise to her Christmas cutout cookies. Wow, those are good. Don’t worry mom, I’ve already reserved the December 2007 homemade meal feature for your Christmas cookies.

I’ve been anticipating Goldyburgers for a long time. There are a few reasons for this.

1. My bro-in-law, a savvy eater and keen appreciator of the finest cuisine, says it’s great.
2. It usually ranks high on burger lists. In fact, it gets ranked numero uno (Spanish for #1) by AOL City Guide.
3. It gets generally good reviews. Check out Centerstage and Yelp. I couldn’t find it on Metromix though. If it’s there, let me know.

So one fine Saturday night, I head out to the Western ‘burbs with my wife and mother-in-law to visit the aforementioned bro-in-law. He suggests heading over to Forest Park and dining at Goldyburgers (7316 Circle Avenue) and gets no argument from me.

It’s all neighborhood pub, make no bones about it. When we walked in, I was a little concerned that my wife and mother-in-law weren’t going to like the atmosphere, but they loved it. And the burgers, well, they rocked.

Pictured above is the patty melt, done medium. It was exceptional. If someone asked me to put together a list, it would be second only Tavish. The best feature of the Goldyburger is probably the burger-to-bun ratio. Look at that picture again, you are witnessing a ratio of probably one to one. They achieve this despite only using a half pound of beef. That’s an impressive feat. Remember, Tavish did it by pushing the size of the burger well past a half pound. Goldyburgers does it by decreasing the circumference of the half-pound of beef and fitting it on to a slightly smaller than average bun (or slice of dark rye).

They executed it just about perfectly. I say “just about” because I don’t think they dropped the patty melt into a buttered skillet. I thought that was standard for a patty pelt, but maybe I’m wr…wro..wrong, although I doubt it. But this did not detract much from my enjoyment. It was a fine conglomeration of beef. I’m guessing it was a combo of ground chuck and ground round. It was juicy and full o’ flavor.

They have a lot of burger options on the menu. Besides the patty melt, our table had the mushroom and Swiss burger and the bleu cheese burger. Everybody at the table was extremely satisfied. They have plenty of beer choices and several wines. It’s a great, friendly neighborhood pub and an absolute must if you consider yourself a burger connoisseur.