The Tasting Room and Bespoke Cuisine

I had a cooking class at Bespoke Cuisine a couple weeks ago and decided to try The Tasting Room for some wine before the class.  It's at Randolph and Ogden pretty much.  I really liked the restaurant.  I sat at the bar and the bartender was helpful and informative but not pushy.  I tried the Otis Redding Riesling Flight.  They have a very large book of flights to choose from but I felt in the mood for something light and sweet so Riesling is perfect for that!  The second one was my favorite!  I took a look at their menu and it's more small dishes, but this is a great place in my opinion for people to catch up with their friends!  I want to go back and try the food!  This was definitely the best part of my night.

I headed over to Bespoke Cuisine - a block from The Tasting Room on Randolph - for the "Eat like Giada" class.  I was really excited about that class until I read the day before that we would be breaking up in groups to make the appetizers, so you wouldn't make them all.  I got there and met a friend, Lauren (who I met at Cooking Fools pasta making class) and we signed up for the stuffed mushrooms and almond cake team.  We broke up into our groups shortly after a quick talk from one of the owners and the teams each had a chef to work with to show us how to do everything.  I'm a little more advanced than a food assembler, so this class was kind of a joke.  I can pull off mushroom stems, mix the filling together and put it inside the mushrooms no problem.  Also, I have no issues using a Kitchen Aid mixer to make a cake, so I really learned nothing from this class.  I was extremely disappointed in the Bespoke class and Giada, the recipes they chose of yours weren't that good. I was so surpised because I usually LOVE everything that Giada makes.  I think the best recipe was the almond cake but for some it was too almond-y.  I would not recommend making the Tuscan Bean Soup Sips or the Mozzarella Mini Meatballs (too cheesy - and that's hard for me to say).  I did like the Shrimp Pesto Skewers and I think the Marscapone/Chive sauce would be good with regular potato pancakes, but the zucchini wasn't needed in the Zucchini-Potato Pancakes.  The Stuffed Sweet Peppers I was indifferent to as well as the Basalmic Chicken Wings.  The Stuffed Mushrooms would have been good without the olives (sorry, not a fan of olives - but SUPER easy to make) and the Lemon Artichoke Crostini was too lemony.  (If it does not have a link that's because I could not find the recipe on Foodtv.com.  Please email me and I will provide you with the recipes that Bespoke had sent us after the class). 

If you are looking for a place to eat appetizers, waste some time with friends and stand around talking for $80, this place would be great, but if you're looking for a cooking class, I suggest Cooking Fools, The Chopping Block or Cook Au Vin where you'll really learn something. 

 
 

Dairy Queen

Stella had her first dairy queen of the season!

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.