Crust- Chicago

When I told Katie that I was coming up to Chicago and wanted to go out to eat with her, she came up with a couple of pizza restaurants that we not the standard deep dish affair (which I do love, but can't stomach all the time). We decided on Crust, an organic eatery on W Division Street, which serves wood-burning oven pizzas.

Kim's Italian sausage pizza-- Italian sausage, pesto, provolone & shaved fennel (Kim really wanted to be on my blog--haha!). She liked it, but couldn't figure out what the white stuff was on top of the pizza. I recently looked up the menu online and told her fennel, but she said it was very mild.

Annie's Margherita pizza--organic tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, ricotta, olive oil & fresh basil. We traded a couple of slices with each other and I am not a big fan of ricotta on pizza. A little bland for my tastes, but the ingredients were

Katie's Basilico pizza-- tomato sauce, béchamel, buffalo mozzarella, & fresh basil. Looked yummy.

My 'shroom pizza--woodland mushrooms, spinach, béchamel, wild herbs, goat cheese & parmigiano-reggiano. Oh my goodness. What a great pizza. Everything was delightful and the combination of flavors was incredible. I'll have to try to recreate this one at home because it was so tasty.

The sad thing is that there are so many places to eat in Chicago and we don't visit enough, that I'll probably never get a chance to eat here again. But I might have to next time just to eat that mushroom pizza again! DELICIOUS!

Mity Nice Grill--Chicago April 09

I spent a weekend by myself in Chicago staying with a good friend of mine that I hadn't seen since 2007, so we had a lot to catch up on when I finally saw Annie. We had wanted to check out the famous Hot Doug's for the famous foie gras hot dog and duck fat fries, but we had chatted so much as soon as we saw each other that we lost track of time and Hot Doug's is only opened till 4.

So we decided to hit up a place that we have frequented many times Mity Nice Grill which located in the food court (a very fancy one) on the basement floor of the Water Tower. It was a beautiful day, so we were able to walk from her apartment to downtown (about a 15-20 minute walk).

The Mity Nice Grill is part of the Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group. If you are a reader of Gourmet magazine, there is a nice article in the February 2009 issue about the owner of the group, Rich Melman. Great comfort food for when you are shopping.

Annie decided on mini cheeseburgers and a cranberry mojito. Yummy!

And I decided on the Thanksgiving feast, which made Annie laugh at my appetite (she remembers that I am an eater). I love Thanksgiving meals, so this was a great choice! No complaining about having turkey in gravy in April and not having to clean up the mess! For a drink, I had an orange creamsicle---it wasn't that great because the liquors started to separate and made it unappealing. But the yummy food more than made up for it. Another wonderful meal at the Mity Nice Grill even if our waiter was slower than a snail!

New Orleans Part 5--NOLA restaurant (last and final part)

The only thing that our friends who went on the trip with us said that they wanted to do was eat at one of Emeril's restaurants. Unfortunately we couldn't get a reservation at the original restaurant, which is probably a bit more "New Orleans cuisine" than the other two restaurants of his. So NOLA for Sunday lunch, it was. There is what we ate (descriptions of the dishes from the NOLA menu):

Appetizers
Duck Confit and Fried Egg Pizza with Parmesan Cheese, Truffle Oil and Baby Arugula

This was actually an entree, but I couldn't pass it up because I love duck confit and fried eggs! It was AMAZING. I didn't eat the whole thing, but shared with my hubby. But I would have eaten it all.

Jeff's appetizer:

Pan Roasted Crab Cake with Smokey Eggplant Purée, Feta Cheese, Kalamata Olives, Crispy Spinach and Citrus Butter

My entree:
“Shrimp & Grits” Sautéed Gulf Shrimp, Grilled Green Onions, Smoked Cheddar Grits, Apple Smoked Bacon, Crimini Mushrooms, Creole Tomato Glaze and Red Chili-Abita Butter Sauce

I love shrimp and grits, so I was excited when I saw this on the menu before our trip. It was good, but not great. There was almost too much going on in this dish to make it a great dish in my opinion. The sauce was too sweet and overpowering for the cheddar grits & shrimp. They could have left it out and still had a great dish.

Chris' dish:

Seared Rare Yellowfin Tuna with Avocado, Wonton Crisps, Cucumber, Wasabi Aioli and Ponzu Vinaigrette

A good, light lunch. Not really what you would think of when you think of Emeril.

April's lunch:

Parma Ham-Goat Cheese and Basil Panini with Tomato Soup and Crème Fraîche

She said that it was the best tomato soup she had ever had and she liked the panini too.

Jeff's lunch:

Hickory Roasted Beef Brisket & Ribs with Orecchiette Pasta-Brie Cream “Mac & Cheese” and Honey Baked White Beans

He got talked into the ribs by the waiter as a last minute upcharge when ordering. I am pretty sure that Jeff enjoyed his lunch since I don't think he said much while he was devouring it!

April's dessert:

NOLA Buzz Bomb: Flourless Chocolate Torte with Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse and Brandied Apricots wrapped in Chocolate Ganache

She said it was great. Jeff and I had the guava sorbet (very tasty, but would make for a boring picture) while Chris just had a cup of coffee.

Chris and I are in agreement that we'll have to try the original restaurant next time. NOLA is good, but most of the food that we have seen in other restaurants during our travels. We would have liked to see more New Orleans influenced food on the menu, so we'll just have to remember to make our reservations for Emeril's way in advance.

As a whole, New Orleans was great. Loved the people, the food, the sights, the culture, etc, etc. There is still so much to eat that we missed out on; muffelettas, gumbo, the original Emeril's, and the list goes on. We can't wait to get back there!

New Orleans part 4-Roadfood Crawfish Boil/Pig Roast

One of the reasons that we had gone to New Orleans was to take part in the Roadfood Crawfish Boil/Pig Roast. The past four years before, the Roadfood team took a bus around various foodie places to try local cuisines (previous ones had been Northeastern desserts and BBQ around Austin, TX). Chris had always wanted to try going on one of these tours, but we never made it. This year, the location was a place that we hadn't been and it was a different agenda. All the food would be in one place and there would be four buses instead of just one.

Before the 20-30 minute ride out to the bayou, they took us to Hansen's Sno-Bliz. This little building is in the middle of nowhere, but well worth the drive to get a refreshing frozen treat. If you go to their website, you can read about the history of the place. The owner's grandparents were the masterminds of this. Her grandpa actually invented the ice shaving machine that they still use to this day.



There are multiple flavors to choose from, but with the big group, they limited it to 3 flavors: cream of nectar, strawberry and satsuma (a tart citrus fruit) & you could add sweetened condensed milk to your flavor. Our friends thought this was a strange topping, but it's actually something that I was surprised to see in America. It's fairly common in Asia to see sweetened condensed milk on shaved ice and it's something that I grew up eating since I was a toddler. The best flavor was the satsuma with the milk. The combination of the tart with the sweet was a perfect blend and would be wonderful during a hot, humid New Orleans day.

After our pit stop, we headed out to the bayou where the crawfish boil/pig roast took place. There was a swamp full of small alligators swimming right by the picnic area (ugh) and plenty of mosquitoes that feasted on my blood.

We met the Roadfood team, Michael and Jane Stern, but we only got a pic with Michael. It was a little disappointing that we didn't get to chat with them for a longer period of time (it was probably 2 minutes before they had to run off) because they were busy talking with other guests who had attended previous ones (it was almost frat-like) and since they were playing hosts to everyone.

The whole pig.

Carving the pig. The meat was excellent, but Chris and I were bummed that the pig skin wasn't the super crispy skin that you see Anthony Bourdain eat on his shows all the time. The skin was tough and inedible, so basically just a layer to protect the meat while cooking.

A boat load of boiled shrimp. Not my favorite since the shrimp were small and hard to peel. A lot of work for little reward.

The rest of the spread: potatoes, corn, bread and two kinds of jambalaya--alligator or chicken with andouille sausage. Chicken jambalaya was definitely the best dish of the night.

Crayfish. I've eaten crayfish before, but usually in a dish already shelled. Too much work for me. But the males seemed to enjoy them.

Chris and I are undecided on if we'll do this again or not. It wasn't cheap at $95/person (all you can eat food and drink) and I am not sure that it was worth it. They did donate money to charity, so I feel a little better about spending that much. If we had gone to different restaurants on the tour like they had in the past, the experience would have been worth it. We'll have to see what's on the agenda next year before we decide.

New Orleans Part 5 (and the last one) will be coming soon :)

New Orleans Part 3--Sucre

Before I left for New Orleans, I checked out the Serious Eats website for any tips for places to eat or visit. I came across Sucre while reading up on the city. It's an amazing sweets shop on Magazine Street (a very hip area of town with great little shops & places to eat).


The gelato counter. They had my favorite flavor, blood orange, which I had to have. Perfection.

April's dessert. Some sort of chocolate dessert with their famous macaroon on top. I ended up buying a box of 15 various flavors of macaroons (at $22, it was not cheap) to take home to my son. I was a little disappointed in how they didn't hold up well in transit and I am shocked that they actually ship them out. Some flavors were better than others, but not sure that I would buy them again.

My dessert was fraise mousse with white cake on the bottom. $6 a dessert. Not bad for the presentation.

There was also handmade chocolates and a small lunch menu (I believe sandwiches and salads). What a great find!

New Orleans April 2009 Part 2

I haven't been good at updating the foodie travel part of my blog. I am WAY behind on my New Orleans trip. I have downloaded the pictures, but just need to finish writing the posts. Expect them to be coming soon!

Cafe du Monde beignets. The famous beignets that everyone talks about. I can't say that I was that impressed with them. Give me a Top Pot or Voodoo Doughnut instead, but I did eat them and they weren't bad. I just didn't eat them multiple times like I thought I would.

Our friend, Jeff and Chris with Pat O'Brien's hurricanes--what you are required to drink when in New Orleans. It's some rum with artificial coloring/flavoring drink. It will turn your tongue red!

The second day that we were in New Orleans, we took part in the Roadfood Festival on Royal Street by the French Quarter. There was plenty of different restaurants that had booths. Too many things to choose from. We actually didn't eat as much as I thought we would, but here are the pictures from what we did eat.

First and most delicious thing that we ate during the festival. Shrimp Remoulade Po-boy. Remoulade is a mayo based condiment. This one had a little kick, but look just like plain mayo. I was never able to figure out what the spice was, but we loved it.

Alligator Etouffee over grits. Grits are one of my favorite things, so I couldn't pass them up. But the flavor was a little bland to me (needed some hot sauce which I forgot to put some on). It was also the last of the pot, so might be the reason that there was barely any alligator meat in it and it was cold. Chris also got the fried artichoke hearts, which were delicious. A picture wasn't taken in time before he had devoured them.

New Orleans part 3 coming soon!

New Orleans April 2009 Part 1

Right before our trip to New Orleans, I received my April issue of Gourmet in the mail. In the Roadfood section (Roadfood will come up again later), there was an article about roast beef po-boys in New Orleans. There were two restaurants for them that they mentioned and we tried Parkway Bakery and Tavern for our first meal of the trip. It ended up being my favorite meal of the trip. This amazing little place has a bar on one side and sells po-boys on the other.

My surf and turf po-boy. That's a small sized sandwich! Inside was lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, fried shrimp, roast beef and gravy.
It was loaded with so much roast beef and shrimp that I ended up having to eat most of it with a fork! So delicious!

Chris' sandwich was the special of the day called swamp thing. Alligator sausage with gumbo. We also ordered cheese fries. They give you a choice of cheeses too! Perfectly crispy fries with cheese that wasn't hard and crusty.

We almost ate here again the last night of our trip because our first choice was closed on Sundays and we were having difficulties thinking of other places not in the French Quarter to eat at. But Chris' friend ended up suggesting a Spanish restaurant instead that we met up with him at, so I didn't get to eat another one of these incredible po-boys. I am starting to kick myself a little bit about that. Guess I just need to go back!

Excitement

I have noticed that my interest in cooking at home goes up when the weather gets nicer. When it's gloomy and dark outside, I just want to curl up on the couch with a good book, my laptop or a movie. I might think about food, but I don't want to get out from under my blanket. It's easier to order some takeout. But the weather is finally getting nicer here and my cooking will continue especially since the opening of the farmer's market is on April 11th! I can't tell you how excited I am for the farmer's market. Shopping at the grocery store just isn't the same!

On Thursday night, I took another cooking class with Chef Nancy. It was nice because Jackie brought along some friends and we talked about doing a huge cooking party at Jackie's house in the future (she has a lovely kitchen that I just LOVE). This class was a new concept at the Merc, where you pay a little more and receive a cookbook with your enrollment. I loved this idea (which adds another cookbook to my ever growing collection)! This class was called Vegetarian Thai and she choose the cookbook Real Vegetarian Thai by Nancie McDermott. Unfortunately, this cookbook is no longer in print, but you can try getting used copies of it from various sources. I was a little iffy on taking a vegetarian class because we love meat in this family. It's not to say that we don't eat vegetables, but we do usually eat meat during dinner. Since Chef Nancy was teaching the class, I put my worries aside and still enrolled. She is also a meat eater, so I knew that I was in good hands. She picked four recipes for the class (not the real names of the dishes, but I don't have my cookbook with me at the moment); two potato pot stickers, a rice salad dish, a coconut sauce noodle dish and a sorbet. I will be making all of these in the future once I get to the Asian market in Kansas City, but I was especially impressed with the noodle dish. I can't wait to make this one myself! Expect future blog posts of the recipes from this class.

Other news is that we are going to New Orleans this weekend for a foodie weekend. Chris' favorite food website Roadfood.com is hosting a New Orleans food festival. We use their website a lot when traveling and have about a 90% success rate with the choices that they have picked on their website. I am really excited because one of my food blog idols will be there. Ed Levine, the creator of Serious Eats, will be part of the Q&A on Sunday and also join us at the crawfish boil/pig roast on Saturday night that we are attending. I read Serious Eats almost daily. It's a combination of recipes, food news and restaurant reviews. They also have a lovely weekly newsletter that you can subscribe to. When I read that Mr Levine would be there this weekend, I was thrilled. Can't wait to eat my weight (plus some) in food this weekend in NOLA!

I have a few new recipes that I haven't posted on here yet. I'll get them up before I leave!

Spring Break 2009--Cerroni's Purple Garlic

Cerroni's Purple Garlic is a great little hole-in-the-wall in strip mall that my in-laws frequent all the time. It's hard to get me eat at an Italian restaurant because I make a lot of Italian food at home. But this is one of my favorite restaurants in San Antonio. It's a small little operation where the owner makes all his own bread and pasta for the restaurant every morning. He serves his food on styrofoam plates with plastic forks, but his food could be served on fine china. It's a simple menu of pizza, pasta and sandwiches. This is the kind of place that I wish Lawrence had.


Fresh Tomato and Basil Bruschetta. The owner uses extremely fresh tomatoes and basil on homemade bread. My mouth is watering just thinking about this dish.


Marinated Eggplant in some sort of balsamic vinaigrette. Quite tasty.



My meatball sandwich on that wonderful homemade bread. It looks like a small sandwich in the pic, but.........

look at how huge the meatballs are! There were four of them in that sandwich!

Chris' special pasta. Some sort of gorgonzola, sausage, mushroom, etc, etc. pasta dish. Since I am not a huge fan of gorgonzola or sausage, I couldn't tell you how this tasted. But Chris loved it.

Nathaniel got a pizza to go (didn't get a pic of this). He wasn't feeling well and wanted his food to go. He ate it all before I could get a shot of it. The pizza got a big two thumbs up from the foodie kiddo. I was hoping to try a bite, but it never happened!

Spring Break 2009--Threadgill's--Austin, TX

Threadgill's is one of those Austin restaurants that has been around FOREVER. Janis Joplin even was a waitress there back in the day. Our friend, Doug, who has lived in Austin hadn't been there yet, so we decided to skip the downtown area (South by Southwest music festival was going on). I had checked out the menu before and still didn't know what I wanted when I got there.


Chris had a Poboy sandwich. Not really sure why since we are going to New Orleans soon. It was decent, but nothing really outrageous.



Nathaniel's burger. He also ordered a side of mashed potatoes because he couldn't decide on fries or mashed potatoes. Good choice. The mashed potatoes and gravy--heavenly.

Doug's buffalo chicken sandwich. I took the pic from the side, so you can't see that this chicken is as big as half the plate! It's a chicken on steroids! They also gave him blue cheese crumbles (not my favorite) instead of just blue cheese dressing.

I picked their famous chicken fried steak. It was decent, but not so good that I would order it again. It's a different story when it comes to their sides. I had debated on if I should just get the three or five sides plate (I wish I would have). They have a list of 20ish sides and I would have had a hard time limiting myself to five. My sides of cheesy grits and fried okra were amazing.

It's worth checking out if you are in Austin and looking for a decent home cooking type of meal. Especially to eat some of those yummy sides!

Spring Break 2009--Liberty Bar--part 1

Every year for spring break, my son and I usually go out to CA to visit my side of the family. But since my parents are out of the country for a few months, we opted to go down to see the in-laws in San Antonio for part of the week. We didn't do much besides eat and hang out with the family, but that's the best kind of vacation when visiting family!

The restaurant that we go to almost every time in San Antonio is the Liberty Bar. I have a love/hate relationship with this restaurant. I seem to be the only one who has these issues with this place. Chris and his parents love eating here, but I have a good meal here only every other visit and this time was not one of those times. Nathaniel wasn't a fan of his steak and the roasted tomatoes on his plate were cooked too long, so that they were extremely mushy.

Chris ordered the All Day Special. Take note of the price...haha.

Liberty Bar does have the most delicious hummus. They grill the pita bread and the hummus has a little bit of heat to it. Love it!

Chris' dish was really tasty. The sweetbreads were firm, not mushy with a great grilled flavor.

My dish was not so great. I ordered a pasta dish (they make their own pasta) with tomatoes, onions and salt pork, which I ordered last time and loved. But I was brought out the thyme, garlic and olive oil one instead since the waitress didn't write everything down and misheard my order (even though everyone else heard me). The first plate was just some plain pasta with some very bitter garlic (pretty disgusting), so I had the waitress take it back. I noticed that I was brought out a larger plate of pasta because instead of throwing the first dish away, they just mixed it in with the one that I ordered. This didn't work well and resulted in a plate of pasta that I barely ate.

They do make great desserts. I had some mango ice cream to go and Nathaniel had the chocolate cake, which was an amazing looking layer cake. I am sure that Liberty Bar will be in my future again since everyone else likes it, but I can't say that I give it my recommendation without any reservations.