Piccolo Sogno...The Fight Over The Best Italian Restaurant in Chicago

I am incredibly indecisive...with everything.  But I'm really having a difficult time picking out my favorite Italian place, so looks like I'll just be a patron of all three from now on: Rose Angelis (Wrightwood and Lakewood), Filippos (Clybourn and Webster), and Piccolo Sogno (Milwaukee and Halsted). 

My friend Mark is a total foodie.  Last time we had dinner together, we decided that Piccolo Sogno (http://www.piccolosognorestaurant.com/) was next on our list.  We've both heard great things so we finally met up there last week.  First of all, the ambiance was fantastic.  If I could live in that restaurant I would.  It's decor was completely me and I adored the exposed brick walls.  There was plenty of light in the restaurant (which I know is a huge pet peeve of Kevin's for Rose Angelis) and it looked like they had a fantastic patio for the summer as well. 

Onto the food.  Because Mark and I are very into trying everything we can, we could not settle on just one appetizer.  The beet salad and the chick pea fries (insalata di barbabietole and cecina fritta) really stood out to us as did pretty much everything else (their menu is great!), but we chose those two as our appetizers.  The beet salad was phenomenal.  I'm really on a beet kick right now and that paired with a buffalo ricotta and fennel was superb!  The chick pea fries were interesting. I'm really glad I tried them, but I'm not sure if I'd order them again.  For dinner, I chose the Piccolo Sogno ravioli that was a four cheese ravioli in a butter sauce.  Mark had an eggplant ragu gnocchi.  On the specials list they had a risotto and I do love risotto, but unfortunately, it looked kind of plain, so I went with the ravioli.  I have to comment that most of their dishes were in some kind of ragu sauce (meaty sauce - not necessarily meat, but could be like eggplant ragu), and I'm not a huge fan of ragu.  I love cream sauces (who doesnt?!) but they didn't really have any cream sauces on the menu.  The butter sauce in the ravioli I ordered was great, but there was a bit much.  Also, and this is me being stupid and ignoring my taste buds, but I am not a fan of all four cheeses in the traditional four cheese pasta.  The ravioli was still very good, and if you like the softer cheeses like gorgonzola and ricotta, you'll really enjoy this.  Some of the cheese was just a little powerful for me.  For dessert, I was disappointed.  We ordered the ricotta cheesecake.  I've made ricotta cheesecake before (because last year for my bday, Jaime and Erin took me to Capitol Grille - best cheesecake ever...and made with ricotta, so naturally I had to try to recreate it), but this ricotta cheesecake was crumbly and not soft and smooth like mine had been.  I wasn't so pleased with the dessert. Perhaps I should've ordered the gelato.

 
                         
I need to take a break from Rose Angelis for awhile because I've tried almost everything on the menu that I know I'd eat and like.  My one and only experience at Filippos was amazing and I wanted to lick all of the plates clean there, but the ambiance at Piccolo Sogno was great and I'd love to try a few more of their dishes too.  I'll definitely be going back to Filippos and Piccolo Sogno in the near future.     

Cook Au Vin

Almost a year ago I had bought a Groupon for Cook Au Vin, a french cooking class company.  It was a bit pricey for a Groupon (our generation is so cheap and always looking for a deal), but I am so glad I bought it.  One of the ladies in my pasta making class a couple months back had emailed me saying that the class at Cook Au Vin was very much into drinking and not so much into the cooking aspect, but I had a totally different experience.  Our instructor was incredibly informative and demanded our attention.  Although it said on the email to bring 2-3 bottles of wine per couple (!?!?!) I'd say no one was absolutely blasted, though the class was from 7-11pm - a four hour cooking class! 

There were a total of 5 couples that took the class, so it was a small intimate class which I really liked.  Everyone had their hand in making everything. We learned how to make French Onion Soup, Potatoes au Gratin (although they were cream based rather than cheese based), Coq au Vin (famous French dish with Chicken in a burgundy wine) and Creme Brulee.  I've been wanting to make French Onion Soup for a long time so I'm so glad this was part of the menu!  The instructor reprimanded Kevin for his cheating way of making carmelized onions (he adds brown sugar) and taught him the correct way to carmelize onions.  Instead of putting the bread in the middle with lots of gruyere cheese, we just added a slice of bread on top as a crouton and used parmesan cheese.  We also used chicken broth instead of beef broth as a way to lighten it up.  Bottom line, French Onion Soup is better not healthy - load in the bread and cheese and beef broth for me please! For the potatoes au gratin we used cream instead of lots of cheese.  We also added in nutmeg.  They were very creamy and moist, but I think I would cut back a little on the nutmeg.  The Coq Au Vin was very good.  It's the first time I've had it and I think I would definitely make it for a party or small gathering.  They used rotisserie chicken (they make it there) and you can put the chicken in with the wine anywhere from a couple hours to up to 3 days.  The instructor told us that she recommends two days for the best flavor.  Finally we had our dessert.  We actually had made the creme brulee at the very beginning of class, but it was a FANTASTIC ending to our meal.  Kevin and I definitely want to make creme brule at home! We got to torch the sugar and everything. It's the little things that make me happy. 

I feel a Julia Childs night coming on!  Who wants to come? 

Also, if you are thinking about taking a cooking class, I would highly recommend Cook Au Vin.  Their menus look fantastic and the experience I had there was great.  Cook Au Vin or Chopping Block are great places to take full menu classes.  For learning individual dishes, like pasta making, I really liked Cooking Fools in Wicker Park. 

 

 
If you would like any of the recipes, please email me! :)

Abiquiu Cafe

My older sister Erin is getting married in New Mexico this June! Yay!  I'm so excited because I've never even thought to go visit New Mexico, but will be now.  Everyone says it's a ton of fun and beautiful.  Can't wait!  But Erin has been talking about how great New Mexican food is and that we're all going to love it, etc.  I was at Krisers (the swanky dog store from which I buy Stella EVERYTHING) and noticed the Thai restaurant across the street had closed (thank god! Ashley and I had gone there and I think I had a mild case of food poisoning from there).  In it's place was this restaurant called Abiquiu Cafe.  I had no idea what type of food it was, but Biz and I were trying to decide where to eat one night and I had remembered it and found it on the internet (http://www.abiquiucafe.com/).  When I saw it was New Mexican I got incredibly excited because I wanted to try out a sopapilla (deliciousness Erin has been raving about!). 

We went that evening and had a wonderful experience.  We are definitely going back there.  Everything on the menu looked fantastic and it was hard narrowing down our choices.  For a starter, we ordered corn cakes.  AMAZING.  My mouth is watering just thinking about them.  For our entrees, I chose the chile rellenos (one of my mom's favorites) and Biz had the pulled pork.  Sopapillas came with our entrees.  They were incredible and tasty with a little bit of honey. 

 

Everything was delicious.  The service was great.  It wasn't that crowded in there - just a few tables seated so I hope it does well.  Try it out if you're in Chicago!  We want it to succeed!