Popcorn, Garrett to the Rescue

December 18th, 2009

she said:

When I was a little girl, I had this great book about a little bear who throws a party because his bear parents are out of town.  He makes popcorn in a big black kettle, but all the party guests (I can’t remember if they’re all bears; I think rabbits come too)  independently bring popcorn and then there’s so much that it fills up the whole house (even flowing from the chimney) and they have to eat it all before the bear parents come home.  Sorry to have ruined most of the plot (I posted a link below so you can buy the book yourself if you want. There’s a twist at the end that I’m not telling you).  The point is that I loved that book and I love popcorn.

I did not love the other night.  Here’s what happened.  I skimped on dinner so I could eat lots of popcorn at the movie we saw.  In the time it took me to buy our tickets, Guy (without my knowledge) ordered popcorn with so much butter on it that I’m shocked either of us is alive.

Apparently, when the tub was halfway full, the concession stand man pumped gallons of the butter flavored crap into it and then repeated the process when the popcorn reached the brim.   Flash forward.  The previews end and I stick my hand into an oily mess that left my fingers glistening like sick disgusting diamond puke.  Flash forward again.  Five minutes pass and the popcorn cools to room temperature, turning the kernels into hard pellets of saturated fat.  I couldn’t even eat the stuff.

In conclusion, if you love popcorn and books about popcorn, don’t go to the movies with my boyfriend.  Do, however, visit a Garrett Popcorn Shop.  There are several of them in the Chicago loop.  The smell alone is worth the trip.  The popcorn is scooped out of huge steaming vats and served to you in a parchment paper bag.  I stopped by during my lunch break for a mixed bag of caramel crisp and cheese corn, which seems to be everyone’s favorite.  The salty sweet combo is heavenly.  It tasted like popcorn, redeemed.

he said:

What can I say? That was stupid. That popcorn tasted like crap. I won’t be doing it again.

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Posted in Snacks |



Cooper’s, Lake View

December 15th, 2009

she said:

Last night we joined our good friends for their weekly jaunt to Cooper’s for dinner. They love the place and are, like us, are a couple composed of one meatophile and one veggie so we knew we were in good hands.

Now, there’s nothing about Cooper’s that makes me want to scream from rooftops, but it’s an all-around great restaurant/pub and I plan to go back often.

Its numerous virtues include the following:
1. They have a great big parking lot behind the restaurant (on Belmont!)
2. And a beautiful covered patio (which is closed for winter, of course, but looks awesome and is pet friendly).
3. On Thursdays, their delicious pizzas are half off. I had the truffle mushroom pizza; it was, without hyperbole, one of the best pub pizzas I’ve ever had.
4. The drink menu is extensive. The multi-page list of imported beers ends with a tiny section (labeled “We’re Not Snobs”) of Budweiseresque variety brews. Martini options abound.
5. There’s plenty of seating and the atmosphere is hip laid-back casual.

I was less impressed by my vegetarian French Onion Soup. French Onion is normally one of my all time favorites, probably because of the thick melted cheese topping. The standard beef broth recipe is off limits for me, but – little known fact – the rich taste comes from the caramelized onions, not the broth. Thus, tasty vegetarian recipes are out there, although I don’t think I’ve ever had one at a restaurant (if you know of any, please let me know). Anyway, Cooper’s was skimpy on the cheese, but certainly not on the black pepper, which dominated the taste and, ultimately, made the soup a culinary failure, in my opinion.

Still, Cooper’s had just about everything this girl could ask for in a low key/good food night out with friends. Oh, and there’s a pile of smooth decorative rocks in the sink of the women’s restroom. I think that’s nice.

he said:

This is a great neighborhood spot. Makes me kind of wish I lived in Lake View. It has the kind of pub grub that makes you feel bad about calling it pub grub* because it doesn’t get across the thought and care that goes into each dish.

*I’ve seen so many great pubs here in Chicago that have interesting menus and delicious dishes, I think we need to come up with a word for it. Something like bar-met (get it, bar and gourmet?) or maybe pubtacular…I’ll keep working.

The service was extremely friendly, helped by the presence our friends, who are regulars. And the beer list was impressive, something that I also keep seeing in Chicago.

Fried Calamari

Coming off my experience with the grilled calamari at Antica Pizzeria, I was ready to be unimpressed when our friends recommended Cooper’s fried calamari. And when it came out, it came out as sticks, instead of the rings I’m used to. It looked like fried mozzarella, and I was thinking this was some Van de Kamps style processed squid.

But one bite showed me that I was wrong. It wasn’t processed–I’m not sure what part of the squid it was from, but it was one cut of meat. And they paired it with true cocktail sauce, not marinara. It was surprising, though I suppose it shouldn’t be. I’m just used to seeing marinara next to calamari.

This wasn’t as good as the grilled calamari, but it was a great fried calamari that rises above the typical pub grub fare.

Rockstar Burger, because I was feeling like a rockstar

Despite the fact that it was half-off pizza night, I just couldn’t turn down the Rockstar Burger. It wasn’t that I fell in love with it on the menu, I just felt like a burger. And I’m really glad I did.

It came topped with a slaw, instead of the regular toppings of a lettuce leaf and a slice of tomato. The slaw was made of chopped lettuce, chopped tomatoes and blue cheese. It was tightly packed on top of the burger. I was worried it would spill everywhere, but it stayed in place really well.

And it was a nice addition to the burger. The blue cheese (or is it bleu?) didn’t overpower, it was a nice addition. However, it did make the provolone cheese I ordered on the burger superfluous.

This is the kind of neighborhood spot that makes you love your neighborhood. We have a few here in Andersonville, but Coopers is a good place to have in Lake View.

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Posted in Lake View, pub grub |


Hophaus, Rogers Park

December 10th, 2009

he said:

As you may know,  I’m fairly new to Chicago. That means I’m not a Bears fan.

(audible gasp)

I know, I know. But really, with the way they’ve played this year, can you blame me? No, I’m a Bengals fan. And I’m trying to convince my beautiful girlfriend to bleed Bengal black and orange. This year, it hasn’t been hard. The Bengals are clearly superior, as evidenced by their 45-10 drubbing of the Bears. No, the hardest part has been finding the Bengals game on TV.

Which brings us to Hophaus. We’d heard a rumor that you could watch any NFL game on Sundays, but that’s the only thing we’d heard. So when we went to the game one Sunday recently, we were simply hoping to watch the game and maybe have a beer or seven. (Well, maybe just me. She’s always looking for a fine culinary experience.) So we were surprised when we loved the menu and, well, pretty much everything about Hophaus.

Great, Patient Service

We walk into this huge pub, and I knew we were in a great place when I see a huge mural of sports figures. Not just Chicago sports figures, though I do believe I remember seeing Ditka in there.  I think Pete Rose was in it as well, so I liked my chances for a Bengal victory. Or at least seeing the game.

We told the hostess that we wanted to watch the Bengals game, and she put us in a spot that didn’t have a great view of the game. So we asked our waiter if we could move to another table. Oh, and could they put it on another TV? Great, thanks.

Oh wait, this table of softball players is leaving and we just heard we have more friends coming? You don’t mind if we move, right?

We may have been the most annoying table on that particular Sunday, but our waiter, David, was really cool about it. He even put the game on a couple more TVs for us.

Book Length Menu

I always worry when we go into this sort of situation, for my girlfriends sake, that everything on the menu will have some sort of meat in it. Like every dip is made with a chicken broth, or they put bacon fat on toast instead of butter, and beef chili on top of their portobello mushroom sandwich. But as we looked through the menu, we realized everything looked good, and it seemed like 1/3 of the menu was vegetarian.

I started things off with bloody mary, which was good. We then shared a spinach and artichoke dip, also good. Then things got interesting.

I ordered a breakfast pizza, from their extensive selection of breakfast pizzas. I was amazed, I’ve never seen an extensive collections of breakfast pizzas. That’s like the marriage of two of my favorite things. I had a spicy chipotle pizza, with spicy chorizo and covered in a thin layer of scrambled eggs and topped with a chipotle sauce. It was delicious. It was also a lot of food, but so worth it.

Oh, and the Bengals won.

she said:

I admit, I was shocked at how much I enjoyed Hop Haus.  I mean, it’s a sports bar that touts a selection of 24 burgers, many of which are made with creatures like ostrich and wild boar.  Not my cup of tea.  Or so I thought.  They actually have an incredibly impressive selection of vegetarian and vegan options.  Now, don’t get me wrong, you’re not gonna get a plate of steamed rice and raw veggies.  Almost everything on the menu is decadent.  For example, the macaroni and cheese I ordered, pictured to the right, was ridiculous, even by my standards.  Already a cheesy mess, it was topped with a slab of Velveeta-like cheese that I definitely could have done without.  Overall, though, this place rocks.  There is absolutely something for everybody.  In summary, go Bengals.

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Posted in pub grub, Roger's Park, Sports Bar |


Moto, Fulton Market

December 3rd, 2009

she said:

I first heard about Moto and Chef Homaro Cantu at the Museum of Science and Industry, where there was an exhibit called something like, “The Future is Now.”  The exhibit included video of Cantu making sushi with an inkjet printer and pulling other crazy sciencey stunts that I’m just not smart enough to recall.   I’ll admit, nitroglycerin infused fig bubble* doesn’t exactly make my tummy rumble, but I was totally fascinated.

I recently had a chance to check out Cantu’s edible experiments first hand when we went to Moto for my birthday.  Somewhere in-between the fourth and ninth courses, Guy said, “Ya know, this feels more like a magic show than a dinner.”  I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Imagine how you’d approach food if you developed sudden semi-amnesia.  The first course (after the edible menu), for example, looks exactly like a mini-breakfast, complete with scrambled eggs, an English muffin and hash browns.  So you think, hey wait a minute!  I remember breakfast.  You don’t.  The eggs are some kind of orange meringue thing, the muffin is garlic foam with a swab of cornmeal on top to resemble butter and the potatoes are, I think, scallops.

A sugar cube might be dehydrated truffle. Paper might be garlic bread. Cigar ash might be sesame.  Don’t trust your eyes.  Is it postmodern?  Metacuisine?  Not really sure, but it’s a total adventure.  Oh, and it tastes good.

Since Moto, Guy and I play a fun game where I pick an object – any object (a calculator, a necklace,  a cat) and present it to him , announcing the name of a popular food or dish.  For example, I might pick up a piece of dirty glass from the sidewalk, turn to him, and say, with gusto, “Brownie!”  It’s a hoot.

*Nitroglycerin infused fig bubble is not an actual dish.  You shouldn’t try to make it.  Figs are gross.

he said:

Not only do we both love going on adventures to new restaurants, but we’ve been talking about Moto for almost as long as we’ve been talking to each other. So it seemed like the perfect gift.

And I think it was. Actually, I know it was.

Eating at Moto was an experience that we will remember for the rest of our lives. It was our first birthday together, but more than that, it was a singular experience, unlike anything I’ve written about before.
 
Molecular Gastronomy

Moto is part of the food movement called molecular gastronomy, which according to wikipedia “is a scientific discipline that studies the physical and chemical processes that occur while cooking.” But that makes it seem like a scientific meal. As Gal said, I think it’s more correct to say that it was like a magic show.

Here’s video of Cantu talking about how he makes his magic. Not one thing that he makes in this video was on the menu the night we went, which makes me want to go back all the more.
 
A Unique Experience In Every Way

 I’d recommend this restaurant a hundred times over. The staff was extremely attentive and helpful, without hovering or being overly involved. They knew so much about the food, as though they prepared it.

I’m sure if you’ve read this far, you’ve gotten an idea that it’s a pricy meal. If this was Yelp, we’d have $$$$ next to the name. But I’d say it is definitely something worth doing on the most special of occasions, like celebrating the birthday of the woman you love.  Just be prepared to fork over some loot… and then perhaps eat the fork.

Overall, it was the best dining experience I’ve ever had, thanks in no small part to my dining companion.

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Posted in downtown, Fulton Market, Gourmet Fusion |


Antica Pizzeria, Edgewater

December 1st, 2009

she said:

Gotta start somewhere, so why not down the street at our neighborhood pizza joint, Antica Pizzeria? I find myself dining at this peach of an eatery a few times a month, sometimes with Guy, sometimes with girlfriends. So, far I’ve never been disappointed. First of all, Mario (pictured right), the owner is awesome. I get the old one, two, Ciao, Bella! double cheek kiss every time I walk through the door. It’s BYOB, which always scores points in my book (though I might advise that you pick up a bottle or three on your way – the place across the street, though convenient, has a pretty limited selection). Half the time I go there, I end up sharing drinks with the tables around me like we’re all a big Italian family. It’s a warm and fuzzy neighborhood place and when I’m there, I feel like part of the community. A single tear trickles down my face. Seriously though, check it out. They’ll make room for you. Mario might even join you for a glass of wine. He prefers red.

Oh, and while you’re there, might I make a few recommendations? There’s no shortage of accolades for the Neapolitan style pizza. In case you’re not familiar, that’s the kind that’s cooked in a wood burning oven. The crust is thin and crisp. Each pizza is intended to serve one, but feel free to share. Parma is my favorite – I replace the prosciutto for capers, though generally Mario isn’t a big fan of substitutions. The bruschetta is also surprisingly tasty. I never order bruschetta (I think I overdosed in the 90′s), but Mario dropped a plate off for free and – hot damn – it’s really good. Like much of the menu, it changes seasonally. And finally, if you like truffle oil (I’d bathe in it if I could), try the Risotto Con Fungi Porcini. Really, I’ve never had a dish I didn’t like. Almost everything is homemade and lots of ingredients are imported from Italy. As with with most Italian places, there are lots of vegetarian offerings. Added bonus: he makes all the soups (so far in my experience) with veggie broth. Go Mario.

he said:

The first thing you notice when you walk in to Antica Pizzeria is the warmth. And that’s not just from the wood burning oven that’s cranking out those pizzas. It’s also the warmth of the owner, Mario, and his staff. Personal service is big here.

Of course, I’m just going through my first Chicago winter now and about the only thing I’m looking for these days is warmth.

Anyways, I’ve only eaten here twice, but I’ve loved it both times. Gal has been countless times, so the staff knows her right when she walks in. I think they look at me with questioning eyes—they love her and want to make sure I’m treating her right. And so I always leave good tips.

Wood Fired Pizzas

I’ve gotten the pizza both times, and both times it’s been great. The crispy crust has hints of the smoke from the wood. The ratio of cheese, sauce and crust is perfect.

The first time, the Quattro Stagioni, cooked with artichoke hearts, olives and mushrooms, then topped with prosciutto di parma. A salty treat, but each slice was a handful.

The second, the good old Pizza Margherita, which was excellent in its simplicity.

Grilled Calamari

The most amazing dish I’ve had so far was the grilled calamari appetizer. I’d never had calamari grilled before, only the fried calamari you get at bar and grilles. I wasn’t sure what to expect, maybe something similar to the rubbery fried rings I knew. I was blown away.

The texture of the meat was similar to the fried stuff, but I’d call it bouncy instead of rubbery. I know that probably sounds weird, but it had a mouth feel that I can only describe as exciting. And without the fried skin, I really tasted the meat, which was very tasty. I recommend this dish.

So I think it’s safe to say that we’ll be back. If not, the staff might come knocking on our doors and drag us back anyway.

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Posted in Andersonville, Edgewater, Italian |


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