A visit to Chicago

A few weeks ago I went to Chicago for the very first time. Neither my sister, nor I had been there before, so we decided to meet up there. We stayed there for only one night, but we had a great time. Despite the short stay, we got a good sampling of the Chicago food.

One of the places I really wanted to try in this Midwest city was a Mexican restaurant called Frontera Grill, haha. But it's no ordinary Mexican. The owner is Rick Bayless, who has been called the Julia Child of Mexican food. He lived in Mexico for a long time, and prepares authentic Mexican dishes. Unfortunately, his restaurant is quite popular, which meant that there was a long wait even late in the afternoon, between lunch and dinner hours. Fortunately for us, there is a cafe attached to the restaurant (Xoco) which serves more street food-like versions of the dishes at Frontera Grill. So, my sister and I ate there. I ordered the suckling pig torta, and Pumpkin got the seafood caldo. My sandwich was great. I loved the grilled bread. Its crunch made it sturdy enough to hold the pile of meat that was in the middle. The pickled onion was a great addition because it cut through the richness of the meat. The sandwich came with a spicy salsa that was REALLY spicy. At first I scoffed at the warning by the server, but this is seriously the spiciest thing I've had. One drop was enough to set my mouth on fire for half a sandwich. I wish they would tone down the heat a little. Pumpkin's caldo was also hot, but in terms of temperature :P Compared to my sandwich, it was very light :) Yet, the broth was very flavorful and refreshing.

We also got the Mexican hot chocolate because I was curious what the original thing tastes like. And OMG, it was AMAZING! It tasted as rich as if you were drinking molten chocolate, but it was a lot more liquid to be simply that. However they prepare it, I can see why the Aztec rules loved it so much.








Of course, our other meal in Chicago had to be deep dish pizza. We went to a place called Giordano's that a friend of mine had recommended. We ordered the original deep dish pizza as it was our first time trying it. Pumpkin was a little worried whether the small pizza would be enough for the two of us, but as soon as we saw the pizza, we realized that there's no reason to worry. The pizza is GIANT! It's as thick as a cake. It has a crust on the bottom, then layers of cheese, peperoni and bell peppers, and another layer of cheese that acts as a top crust. Pumpkin and I ate a piece each, and we are stuffed. Rather than not being enough for one meal, we got three meals out of it over the next few days. I did like the deep dish pizza, but I prefer the thin crust ones. Sorry, Chicago...

Sunday Supper, part 2

My first experience with Sunday Supper at JCT Kitchen came about a year ago. After saying a thousand times that I want to go again, we finally made it back there, using Bulgaria's Independence day as an excuse. Even though she's not Bulgaria, Snooki also tagged along.

As before, the table shared biscuits with apple butter and brown butter, a large salad and deviled eggs. And after what seemed like an eternity, we finally got our entrees. JCT Kitchen, you need to get your act together because it's not OK to make people 30 min after the salad to get their meals. I suspect our dished were just waiting on a counter somewhere because they were cold by the time we got them. Everything was still delicious, but I know it would have been a lot better if warm. Oh yeah, here's what we ordered: I had the pan-seared steak with mushrooms, Snooki had the pork tenderloin, my dad got the grouper with beets, and my mom ordered the fried chicken with cornbread. It's funny how it works out this way so many times, but I liked Snooki's dish (the pork) a lot more than my dish (steak). The pork was very tender and moist compared to my dry cold steak...  At least the mushrooms were great...

I think my favorite part of the Sunday Supper are the sides, especially the mashed sweet potatoes that we had last time. I've been dreaming about them! Well, day-dreaming ;) But they didn't have them on the menu this time! I'm outraged! Now I'll have to figure out how to make them myself. In the meantime, we had to choose something different and settled on mac and cheese, Brussels sprouts, and mushrooms with Parmesan. However, our not-so-good waiter brought us mashed potatoes instead of mushrooms. Thankfully, he let us keep to potatoes and brought us mushrooms in addition to that. So in the end, we got a free side out of it :) Plus, the mushrooms turned out to be different from what we expected. We thought that they'd be sauteed mushrooms with cheese on top; instead, it was a mushroom risotto with cheese. It wasn't bad, but not the deliciousness I was waiting for. As to the other sides, the mashed potatoes were good, albeit too greasy; the Brussels sprouts were cooked perfectly, not bitter at all, and the mac and cheese was spectacular - very, very cheesy and with huge chunks of pancetta. By the way, if my parents like the Brussels sprouts, they must have been good. My dad especially is not too eager to try new foods.



And at the end of the meal came the dessert - caramelized pear pie. We were all complaining (in a good way!) how stuffed we were after the side overload. I was even telling myself that I'll have only a couple of bites of the pie. But boy oh boy! This pie is one of the BESTTTTT things I've ever had. The pears were soft and gooey, they were fragrant with warm spices (cinnamon, etc.), there was a little bit of custard, and the pie was sooo flaky and soft to the fork. It probably took me all but a minute to devour a pretty huge slice! At some point I did remember to stop for long enough to take a picture... It doesn't look that impressive, but you all should be jealous that you didn't try it. Well, that pie made us all forget about some of the mishaps earlier during the dinner :) And yes, it's up there on my list of amazing foods, right next to the French Toast at La Boulange :)

Sun in My Belly: Dinner Edition

Sun in My Belly is one of the hidden gems in Decatur. It's known for its brunch service, and I can attest to how good it is. Beginning in January, they started offering dinner as well. Cashew and I had a deal that allowed us to share an appetizer, two salads, two entrees and two desserts, so we finally made it there. Unfortunately, the live carnations at each table were gone since my last visit. There was no aroma of freshly baked goodies either. But despite the loss of some of the charm, the food was as good as expected.

The hardest decision of the night was probably deciding on an appetizer because all of the small plates looked so good. We finally went for the braised pork belly. The reason? It was something we couldn't easily make at home. I am still amazed at how some people can transform something as unappealing as fat into a delicious dish that makes you forget what you're eating. The balsamic drizzle cut the fat perfectly, making the pork belly taste light. The parsnip puree on the side was infused with rosemary, which also contributed to the overall light sensation of the dish.

For salads, Cashew chose the Hermes salad (arugula, pears, walnuts, blue cheese, champagne vinaigrette) and I had the Geisha salad (baby spinach, blueberries, almonds, ginger vinaigrette). I loved the fact that both dressings came on the side without us having to ask about it. All the other ingredients were good quality, so they made for good salads.

Our entrees were the wild mushroom ravioli for Cashew and shrimp tagliatelle (a special that day) for me. The ravioli were both stuffed with mushrooms, and had extra mushrooms on top. They came in a buttery cream sauce and a side of broccoli. However, the mushroom flavor was pretty subtle and even hard to notice, unlike the mushroom tagliatelle I had at Sotto Sotto. I liked the mushroom pasta at Sotto Sotto more... In addition to the shrimp, my tagliatelle here were served in a sage butter sauce. Thankfully, the sage taste was very pronounced, and I loved the dish. The shrimp was cooked just the right amount and wasn't rubbery at all. Also, despite the heavy sauces for both pasta dishes, they tasted light. Still, both Cashew and I packed half the dishes to take home. We had dessert to eat, after all!

The desserts we chose were the rice pudding and the creme brulee. Unfortunately, I don't remember the specific flavors that they were. I think the rice pudding was infused with star anise or another Asian flavor. The creme brulee definitely had blackberries, but I think the custard was supposed to be flavored too. I'm being very helpful, aren't I? In any case, I can assure you that both desserts were absolutely delicious and we finished them in no time! Maybe that's why the flavors didn't have time to imprint on my head...

With a Name like Empire State...

Earlier this week I went to a place called Empire State South. Interesting name, I know... I'm still not sure why it's called that; there wasn't any hint of the Empire State Building anywhere inside the restaurant.

Anyway, despite the confusing name, the restaurant is supposed to be one of the best in Atlanta. Well, I do agree with that :) I usually don't order pork chops when I go out to eat, but I decided to try them this time (Riverview pork loin). Best pork I've ever had! Seriously! It's so hard to keep pork moist, but this pork was perfect. It didn't even taste like pork to me. Maybe that's why I liked it... The pork came with a side of kale. I think this was my first exposure to kale, and I liked it. I wonder how much of the good taste I can attribute to the restaurant, though ;)

The friend that I went with ordered the night's special, veal. It must have been roasted the whole day because it was really, really tender. Once you tried it, it had a very nice buttery taste and just melted in your mouth. Yummy!

We also got the cheese platter as an appetizer. The cheeses were good, but nothing special. I even liked the goat cheese... The other two cheeses were made with cow milk. The platter came with raisin sourdough bread. I wish the bread didn't have anything sweet in it. It would've let us taste the cheeses much better.

As much as I loved the food, I was really disappointed with the service. Our waiter took a very long time before he came to get our order. When the food runner brought us the cheeses, he couldn't even tell us which cheese was which. The only way were able to figure them out was by looking at their little side items on the menu (goat cheese with olive salad, etc.). At the end, we had to wait a long time to get our check too. Despite everything, the quality of the food made up for the shortcomings with the service, and I don't mind going there to try more things.

P.S. I don't have any pictures of the food, sorry!