Wow, I really need to go grocery shopping and not eat out so much!

The title says it all.  I have gone to too many restaurants this week!

First I'll start with Frascas.  Kevin and I went to this cute this restaurant on the corner of Roscoe and Paulina.  We shared the bacon wrapped chorizo dates (so I could compare them to avec) and a prosciutto pizza.  The dates were just ok, however, I loved the pizza.  When I was in New York, we went to a restaurant called Bond 45 that has the absolute best prosciutto pizza and I've been looking for something similar in Chicago.  It's one of those pizzas where they have the cheese melted on the pizza, but then throw the fresh ingredients on top after the pizza has been cooked.  Our pizza at Frascas had fresh prosciutto crudo and arugula.  I threw a little balsamic vinegar on there as well.  It was great!  And half the price of the pizza at Bond 45.

Kelly came over on Monday then we went over to visit her friends' place near Clark Street.  There are a ton of restaurants around there to try!  We chose Del Seoul which turned out to be a Korean/Vietnamese restaurant.  I've only had Korean food once before and wasn't a huge fan, so I thought I'd give it another shot.  Plus they had the Banh Mi sandwiches and ever since watching Tyler Florence's The Great Food Truck Race, I've wanted to try one of these.  The Nom Nom truck won first place in every round except the last.  We ordered almost everything on the menu.  There was a lot of pork belly and some chicken.  We ended up getting these pork belly fries (very good), regular fries with a great garlic dip, 3 bahn mi sandwiches, some Korean tacos and some pickles.  I'd say the Bahn Mi sandwiches were the best, but I've decided that Korean along with Indian food, may be two cuisines that I just don't like.  Kev, Kel and Rach really liked it though!  Don't not try it just because of me!

On Tuesday, Kevin and I stuffed our faces with Potbelly's for him, Leo's Coney Island hot dog for me.  Plus 2 milkshakes.  Those Coney Island dogs are GREAT!  Plus, it put into my head that I really need to cook some chili soon!  Crockpot (or as Erin accidentally texted, Crackpot), time to get cookin'!

Wednesday, Cozy Noodles and Rice.  Best Thai food in Chicago.

Happy Thanksgiving!  I did actually cook a little!  I made two side dishes, including mom's Broccoli Pea Casserole and this Roasted Apples and Onions with Thyme dish.  I received quite a few compliments on the apple and onion dish.  One of my old clients had mentioned he made this for Christmas last year.  He's so into cooking that they actually give out comment cards for all of the guests to fill out and this dish received the best comments, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  I really liked it as well!  Here are the recipes for both:

Thyme-Roasted Apples and Onions
from Bon Appetit

• 4 cups apple cider
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tsp coarse kosher salt plus additional for sprinkling
• 6 7-8-ounce onions, halved through root end, each half cut into 6 wedges
• 6 tsp coarsely chopped fresh thyme, divided
• 6 Braeburn apples (about 2&3/4 lbs total), peeled, halved, cored, each half cut into 4 wedges

Boil cider in large saucepan until reduced to 2/3 cup, about 28 minutes.  Whisk in butter. Season glaze with 1 tsp coarse salt.  Can be made 1 week ahead.  Cover; chill.  Rewarm; whisk before using.

Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 425 degrees F.  Butter 2 large rimmed baking sheets.  Toss onions in large bowl with 2 tsp thyme and 3 Tbsp glaze.  Arrange in single layer on second sheet.  Sprinkle onions and apples with coarse salt and pepper.

Roast onions on upper oven rack for 10 minutes.  Place apples on bottom rack.  Roast onions and apples 20 minutes.  Remove both sheets from oven.  Drizzle remaining glaze evenly over onions and apples.  Revers position of sheets.  Roast 20 minutes longer.

Increase oven temperature to 475 degrees F.  Roast onions and apples until tender and slightly caramelized, watching closely to prevent burning, about 10 minutes longer.  Transfer onions and apples to large bowl.  Season with coarse salt and pepper.  Sprinkle with remaining 2 tsp thyme.

Broccoli Pea Casserole

• 2 packages frozen broccoli, cooked according to package
• 1 package frozen peas, cooked according to package
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 lb Velveeta
• 20 Ritz crackers crumbled

Melt cheese in soup over low heat and put veggies into cheese mixture.  In buttered baking dish pour 1/2 veggie mixture and sprinkle 1/2 cracker crumbs then other half in same order.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes uncovered.    

Dinner at the Wicklin/Hartnett's for Thanksgiving was great!  Thank you for having me!

Friday,  we ate Buffalo Joe's after seeing Harry Potter. Best wings in Chicago/Evanston! And snacked on some Garrett's caramel and cheese popcorn.

On Saturday, Stephan, Kerry, Kev and I went shopping in Wicker Park.  We were starving after a bit and went over to Big Star.  It serves a la carte tacos, tostadas, etc.  It was excellent and the food was inexpensive.  They have a huge beer menu.  The drinks are what add up!

Here's their menu. They change it up every so often I guess.   

And finally, on Sunday, to complete the week of gorging, we tried Nesh for lunch.  It's this Mediterranean grill with pita wraps.  We ordered a steak shwarma and a falafel shwarma.  Not bad.  I love falafel.  However, I do believe Pita Inn (chain in the suburbs) is better.  Nesh

Delicious.  Now, I really REALLY need to grocery shop.  

avec

I chose for Book Club #1 to meet at Avec yesterday.  It just recently opened again after being closed for a kitchen fire.  We walk in and first of all, Biz and I couldn't even get in the door it was so crowded and TEENY TINY! It's a long room with floor to wall to ceiling wood panelling.  The bar is on the left and takes up the entire left half of the restaurant, while there is a thin walkway in front of the wood tables and wood chairs and benches on the right.  So Jess and Kaitlin put in our name (they don't take reservations) and the hostess informed us it could be upwards of an hour wait.  

We walked down the street to this little sushi restaurant and had a drink at the bar.  Poor restaurant, I believe most patrons were in there because they were either waiting for Avec or Blackbird.  Anyways, while in there, we saw Rahm Emmanuel getting out of his car to (I believe) go into Blackbird (I'll have to try Blackbird some other time...I heard it's excellent, yet pricey).  And we all learned how to use Twitter!  Tweet me: cecegroark :)  Yes, we were those girls at the bar, all four of us on the phone tweeting Avec with @ebeardman, @kait_wolfe, @JessicaMae214.  Ha oh well!  

Anyways, an hour and a half later we walk back over to Avec and see that the 4 person table in front of us had not yet been seated.  They were there since 6:05 - yikes!  We got there at 7, but really by the time we sat down, it was 8:40.  Once seated, we immediately wanted to order because we were hungry after the long wait, but I'm afraid we made some poor choices in our haste.  Biz and Kaitlin did not seem impressed with the food at all.  There was absolutely nothing on the menu that a pickier eater could eat.  We ordered: 

• wood-fired pisaladiere with caramelized onions, nicoise, anchovy and fresh thyme

                  this was essentially a carmelized onion, olive and anchovy pizza - our least favorite dish.  We're not into the hairy anchovies.

• chorizo-stuffed medjool dates with smoked bacon and piquillo pepper-tomato sauce

                  these were phenomenal.  i'll give you this one, avec. 

• "deluxe" focaccia with taleggio cheese, truffle oil and fresh herbs

                  Jess and I liked this.  The other girls did not.  You have to be a fan of truffle oil, which I feel like you acquire once you force yourself to try it enough.

• housemade black pepper and porcini pappardelle with braised lamb's neck sugo, celery root, rosemary and parmesan

                   I really liked this dish, and Jess did as well.  It was sweet, and I adored the feta in it!  The other girls did not even try this after the previous strikeouts.

• werp farms mustard greens with shaved black radish, baby carrots and warm leek-thyme vinaigrette

                  Kaitlin ordered this because she wanted something normal.  I guess you could consider this to be a normal dish. There was really nothing special about it, but I didn't try the baby carrots and she loved them.  Maybe I should've tried the carrots.

Shockingly though, avec really wasn't that expensive.  All of those dishes, plus a bottle of wine added up to $115! 

We actually liked Girl and the Goat better than this place, because the atmosphere at GatG was better and reservations are always nice.  Plus, GatG had something for everyone, where avec is definitely reserved for the foodie.  I'm really glad I tried it, but I wouldn't go back for another hour and a half wait. 

However, we may not have tried the "right" things.  The dates and the focaccia are the most popular dishes, so we did well there but perhaps we should have ordered the pork shoulder (which smelled delish!).  The girls next to us ordered it while having a conversation where one girl asked another, "Now when did you discover your passion for fashion?"  There were definitely some good lines during the night.  Another was when the hostess sat us (after the hour and a half wait) saying "it's not a science."  Oh god.  

I tear these places down that we go to, but I am really glad I tried it.  Usually these places are my idea!   Jess and I are usually ones who like to try random things so thank you Biz and Kaitlin for putting up with our food choices! I think next book club we may end up at a burger place.  

Oh wait, I'll leave you with another good line from the night...Biz: "Who's up for McDonald's after this!?"  I pray no one else heard her say that.  

bacon wrapped anything

I went to visit my girlfriend Danye's last friday night with Chelsea.  On Saturday, when I dropped Chelsea off back at her place, I drove over to Kevin's to hang out with my puppy.  I'm so glad I turned on Giada at Home, but it probably wouldn't have mattered because Chelsea texted me as I'm watching it saying "Hope you're watching Giada right now, she is wrapping bacon around a pork roast --- heaven."  And yes, I was watching it, and yes, anything wrapped in bacon is heaven.  This pork tenderloin was delish! I made it tonight along with a recipe that Kevin's mom found in Cooking Light: Brussels Sprouts Gratin.  Being a bigger veggie than meat fan, I went back for seconds for the brussel sprouts, but Kevin and Stephan were over and they LOVED the tenderloin.  Plus, the pork tenderloin was SUPER easy to make.  All you heavy meat eaters out there, go buy yourself some twine, pork tenderloin, bacon and some mustard, garlic, and rosemary and you'll be in heaven.  Here's the recipe! 

I meant to take the picture before we ate half of it...oops! 

Brussels Sprouts Gratin from Cooking Light November 2010

Braise the Brussels sprouts and toast the breadcrumbs up to a day ahead.  Then assemble and reheat before serving.  

2 hickory-smoked bacon slices

4 large shallots, thinly sliced

2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

1 cup water

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cooking spray

1 (2-ounce) slice French bread baguette (I just used breadcrumbs!)

3 Tbsp butter

1. Preheat broiler
2. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving drippings; crumble.  Increase heat to medium-high.  Add shallots to drippings in pan; saute for 2 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.  Add Brussels sprouts and 1 cup water; bring to a boil. Cover pan loosely with aluminum foil; cook 6 minutes or until Brussels sprouts are almost tender.  Uncover and remove from heat.  Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper; toss to combine.  Spoon Brussels sprouts mixture into a 2-quart broiler-safe glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. 
3. Place bread in a food processor, and process until finely ground.  Melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat.  Add breadcrumbs and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt to pan; saute for 2 minutes or until toasted, stirring frequently.  Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over Brussels sprouts mixture.  Broil 3 minutes or until golden and thoroughly heated.  Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup)

I need white plates to better show off my work! 

Loved. loved. loved.  :)

apart

So for Book Club #2 (we need to start naming the book clubs!) with my old Insight Global girls crowd, we ordered apart pizza.  There were 7 of us and we took down two 18" pizzas no problem.  I wasn't sure how it was going to be because there were mixed reviews on Yelp, but we were all pretty happy with it.  It's New York style pizza so incredibly thin.  I got really excited looking at their menu because it said "Prosciutto" pizza as an option.  However, it's prosciutto cotto, meaning just boring old American ham, and not the amazing Italian prosciutto crudo. Oh well.  We ordered just plain old cheese pizza and a pepperoni, funghi and sausage pizza.  They were devoured.  Plus, Candace really enjoyed the chocolate hazelnut sweet filoncino that we ordered for dessert.  It was delicious and I'm glad I ordered that.  I was a little nervous about chocolate wrapped in pizza dough, why I don't know because they are both delicious on their own.  Would definitely recommend at least ordering once if you want to try a good thin crust.

We also compiled a list of restaurants/wine bars to try.  I'll post them here so I make sure I remember them all!

• La Madia: Jess said it was the best pizza in Chicago and reasonable!
• Cafe Luigi: Lindsey really likes their pizza.  Another New York Style place at Wrightwood and Clark.
• Bin Wine Bar
• Lucia's Ristorante
• Feast
• Yolk: Chelsea says best breakfast place in Chicago
• Bangers and Lace (was this place mentioned - I had written down Bangers and not sure if this is the place, Gunia?  Did you suggest this?)
• Purple Pig

 Also, here is the list of books that people in Book Club 2 have loved and are fair game for next book club picks:

• White Oleander
• Gone With The Wind
• Little Bee
• Hunger Games
• The Book Thief

Has anyone else read any of these?  Any comments on them? 

Recipes

So I received some feedback that I should post recipes that I discuss.  I will definitely do that from now on! Here is the link to Giada's Butternut Squash Risotto Recipe. Yum!  Hope you all enjoy.  I even made it again for Biz and me the other night.  Just a reminder, this recipe is a SIDE dish.  So don't try to half it to make two dinners like I did the other night.  It's definitely not enough.

Also, Kevin's Grandma gave me her brownie recipe!  Thanks for the recipe, Mrs. Wicklin!

Melt in small pot over very low flame: 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate with two sticks Imperial margarine. While chocolate is melting (keep an eye on it AND STIR TO MELT CHOCOLATE) do the following:

·         Mix four eggs with a whisk or rotary beater (NOT AN ELECTRIC MIXER)

·         Dump in two cups of granulated sugar

·         Dump in one cup of flour

·         DO NOT MIX

·         Stir in melted chocolate and margarine

·         Add one teaspoon vanilla

·         Mix with a large spoon. I use a wooden spoon for leverage.

Grease a 9 x 12” baking pan. Spread batter over entire pan. Batter will be thick.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes.  Cut into squares right after you take it out of the oven. Wait until cool to take out of the pan.  You can add ½ cup chopped nuts if you wish!

tango sur recap

I am blogging a little tipsy.  Tango Sur was a success.  The boys (Joe and Kevin) really enjoyed it.  Lindsay and I determined that it was good to try, but would probably never return.  The thing is the price.  When you order the filet, you not only get one filet for $24, but you actually get 2 filets plus a salad.  I am not a huge meat eater, so my rating should really not matter, because I honestly cannot rate a steakhouse fairly.  However, their portions were huge and I left feeling fully satisfied.  My one complaint is when I hear "brazilian steakhouse," I automatically think great salad bar with the gentlemen coming around with different cuts of meat (including filet wrapped in bacon...i love bacon!).  Here, I am thinking of Texas de Brazil, which I highly prefer compared to a normal steakhouse.  There's lot of different options such as an antipasto section of the salad bar, rice and beans, and usually sushi (which I must admit is phenomenal at Texas de Brazil).  Plus, I do enjoy trying a piece of everything, including parmesan pork and anything wrapped in bacon.  Where Tango Sur excels is their price point.  Being a BYOB restaurant can save a lot of money on the bill.  Joe and Lindsay and Kevin and I split the bill and for 2 filets, 2 steak dinners stuffed with spinach and spanish cheese, as well as an antipasto appetizer and eggplant appetizer, it averaged out to $77/couple.  Not too bad :).

Plus, Stella enjoyed some leftovers:

the week of gourds and chipotle.

So I was completely wrong.  I have quite a few more restaurants to get to on Southport.  And I have a bar crawl ahead of me as well.  Please, if you'd like to join, let me know!  I have to hit Lange's and Cullens (i believe that's what it's called, but I could always be thinking of Twilight).  Also, I'll be heading to Tango Sur this Wednesday so I can check that off my list.  But I completely forgot about Bull e dias.  Who's up for tapas?

I dragged Biz out last week to go grocery shopping and we ended up watching the filming or the setting of the scenery (fake snow, stunt double for Rachel McAdams in the car) for about an hour instead.  It definitely could've been longer than that.  Anyways, we stood next to the owner of Blue Bayou (where I guess Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams had taken just shots of Grey Goose before going to hair and makeup), and he recommended we come to the bar on Friday night.  It was a good New Orleans style bar that had plenty of seating, a good menu (we just ordered apps) and I loved the clientele.  It wasn't a right out of college early 20's bar, but more of an older 20s, young 30s crowd.  They also had live music and the owner bought Biz a beer.  The fried pickles were amazing.  Biz even agreed even though she's not a fan of pickles.  It could have been the chipotle dipping sauce that they paired them with.  Yum!

Speaking of chipotle sauce, Kevin, Stephan and I went to Orange with a Peel on Roscoe on Sunday morning after my 10k Trick or Treat Trot.  I ordered the Tijuana Benedict which was an english muffin with white bean puree, fresh pico de gallo and a CHIPOTLE hollandaise sauce...amazing!! And their house potatoes weren't bad either.  A nice touch was the coffee that they offered.  You could of course get regular coffee, but they also had orange coffee.  It tasted like those chocolate "oranges" that Kelly used to eat all the time when she was younger.  The service was awfully slow however, and we were in a hurry, so negative points for that.  That could be why there is always a wait there.  I would definitely go back.  

I haven't just been eating out, but I was able to make some meals this past week.  I tried another Healthy Cooking recipe of Pork Chops slow cooked with scalloped potatoes.  Bland.  Healthy tasty.  Another strikeout for Healthy Cooking.  If not for the first recipe I made with Ashley a few years ago, I would think every recipe in those magazines was bad tasting.  (Ash, we need to make that Jalapeno Lemon Cream sauce over chicken again).  The carrot cake I tested for Erin's bday was not moist enough and the Coconut Curry Chicken I made a couple weeks ago was terrible, but that could be because I'm not a huge fan of curry.  I don't know what I was thinking.

On Saturday I made Rachel Ray's Penne-wise Pumpkin Pasta.  Another ok dish, however Stephan graciously said he enjoyed it.  It was just too bland for me.  I don't know if I need super spicy or salty meals to be happy, but another dish that I cannot add to my permanent collection.

However, I redeemed myself by making Giada's Butternut Squash and Vanilla risotto on Halloween.  Yum yum yum!! I have yet to be dissapointed by Giada and will definitely be making this dish again.  The first time I made risotto was a couple months ago with a Sandra Lee Mushroom Risotto recipe.  I think it was just too big a batch so it ended up being really sticky, but the risotto cakes Ashley and I made from the leftovers were worth it.  This time, unfortunately, there weren't enough leftovers to make risotto cakes it was that good! And it could be because it wasn't just Kev and I eating it, but Kevin's parents and friends, Barb and Dan.  Anyways, great success and just solidifying my love for Giada's recipes.  (I still can't stop talking about her turkey meatballs).

On the book front, I'm currently reading A Gate at the Stairs.  A little slow, but maybe I just haven't given it enough time.  I need to force myself to sit down and read a bit.  My what was supposed to be a relaxing last weekend turned out to be an exhausting errand filled weekend.  And until I get a new slipcover that Stella has not chewed through, I won't be stopping.  Hopefully, between the "It's A Baby" tradeshow that I'm working and other things that I'm sure will come up, I'll get to finish the book this weekend.

One quick question if anyone would like to comment.  Kevin and I were listening to some radio show on Halloween in the car on the way to his fam's and Lev Grossman was discussing his book, The Magicians.  It sounded interesting.  Has anyone read it?  Thoughts?