food (food) | sienna tavern

This is a LONG overdue post about the not so new restaurant, Siena Tavern.  Being a HUGE foodie and Top Chef fan, I was ecstatic when I first heard that the fan-favorite Chef Fabio would be opening a restaurant in Chicago.  Obvious to anyone who watched his season, he has this charisma that makes every lady swoon and every man want to be in his shoes.  So when the announcements were going around that Fabio's new restaurant Siena Tavern was set to open, I quickly jumped on Open Table and secured a table stat.

Both Matt and I immediately walked in loving the vibe of the place.   It has a great huge bar right when you walk in and the restaurant is extremely spacious.  They quickly seated us at our table and immediately our server came over explaining everything about the menu.  Their menu was what you expected it to offer...charcuterie, cheese, pasta, pizza, salad, entrees and my favorite part - a crudo bar (which you don't normally find in an Italian restaurant).

We started with a bottle of wine (obviously the necessities first) and landed on a pizza, as well as some charcuterie to share as starters.  The pizza was good, but very reminiscent of La Madia pizzas - which I love, so it's hard to trump that one for me.  Nonetheless though, it was pretty tasty.  

For our entrees, Matt and I usually go polar opposite directions, which this case was no different.  He went for the Double Cut Veal Chop and I went for the Siena Chopped Salad.  Matt was totally satisfied with his meal, I think more for the amount of food he was given, and I was...left expecting a little more.  The salad was good and his veal chop was perfectly fine, but my expectations were a little higher than what we experienced.

Overall everything was "good", but I'll be honest. In a city where mediocre food doesn't last very long, your food has to be exceptional if you expect it to make it very far.  Was Siena Tavern above average?  Yes when it comes to service, but the food itself was just good only because there are other Italian restaurants in the city that offer truly exceptional fare. So will I return to Siena Tavern?  Sure, but I'll always have a hand full of restaurants that will be my first choice.

food (food) | bellyq

Another birthday whizzed by and now that I'm settling into my early thirties the thrill of late night drinking binges or ranging dance parties just doesn't have the same "fun" factor that it did in my twenties.  Especially now that I'm a mom I've enjoyed several late nights out with two too many glasses of wine, but the reality of waking up early in the morning with a hangover to take care of Liam sometimes isn't worth it.  It's more obvious now that the only decent way to celebrate a birthday is to enjoy a really (really) good meal - so that's what we did.

When Chef Bill Kim's third restaurant bellyQ opened up in the West Loop I was ecstatic that he finally had a place that I didn't have to drive 15 minutes to get to.  As a fan of Urban Belly and Belly Shack, I knew that bellyQ wouldn't disappoint.  Having scrambled last minute to make a reservation and book a sitter on a Saturday night, I was fearful that there wouldn't be good times available but to my surprise a reservation 2 weeks out gave me a perfect seating of 7:45pm.

The vibe in the restaurant is so unlike any of the Kim's other restaurants, trendy, sceney and a little intimidating, but very cool.  As a parent I loved that there was space to get around each of the tables and we even noticed a few people that had infants with them.  We were pleasantly surprised that such a place is so accommodating to infants, equipped with high chairs and all.

As soon as we sat down, I dove straight for the drink menu (obviously I had priorities).  I love that their signature drinks were unique, but not overpowering with sugary syrups and what I loved even more is that there was a page entirely dedicated to cold un-filtered sake.  In fact the place doesn't serve hot sake, so there was even more reason to love this place.  I decided to order the Red Lotus and as someone who hates signature drinks, this one has to take the cake.  It's clean, crisp, and is the perfect drink to clear a palette.

The menu is designed to share everything and having a husband that likes to eat it's tough to do that, but the portions were big enough that he was willing to let me snag some bites off his plate.  We ordered the Thai Style Fried Chicken, Kimchee and  Spinach with Chinese Sausage to start.  Both were a perfect taste of what was to come.  The chicken was boneless with a nice balance of sweet and spicy, while the Spinach had such deliciously intense flavors because of the coconut milk.

For our entrees we had the Tea Smoked Duck Breast and the BellyQ Beef.  Both dishes were massive and full of flavor.  With duck I'm used to having to dig for good hunks of meat, but this dish had a big portion of boneless breast and was served with steamed buns as well as a spicy hoisin bbq sauce.  I'm  used to having this dish at a traditional chinese restaurant and let me tell you, this version gives the others a run for their money.  The BellyQ beef was served with a huge portion of rice and vegetables, and if you like Korean Bulgogi, you're sure to like this.

As if we weren't full enough no birthday dinner is complete without dessert.  We shared the Vietnamese doughnuts with homemade soft serve and this was the best way to end the meal.  The huckleberry jam balances perfectly with sweetness of the doughnuts and it was the best way to end the meal.  Well that and a glass of beer. :)

Either way the meal and experience was one that I would want to re-live over (and over).  As I imagined, bellyQ didn't disappoint and at the rate Chef Kim is opening restaurant, I can only hope he has a South Loop location in the works.

food (food) | 12 best things i ate in 2012

One of my favorite things about wrapping up a year is taking a look back at all the wonderful things that happened.  So leading up to January 1st, I'm going to share with you some of my favorite things from 2012. 

First, let's start with food.  After all I was pregnant for more than half of this year so I did do a fair share of eating.  Here are the 12 best things I ate (from around the world) in 2012!

1) Egg White Breakfast | Uncle Bill's Pancake House

This place is one of my favorite staples whenever I'm in Manhattan Beach, CA.  The breakfast is always good and portions are always huge, but icing on the cake?  Sitting along the beach strand and people watching - doesn't get any better than that does it?

2) Cookie Butter | Trader Joe's

Ok let's be honest if you didn't have a bite of Cookie Butter in 2012 you are seriously missing out.  Put it on bread, smear it on a brownie or eat it by the spoonful.  Whatever you do, just eat it!  

3) Grilled Bacon, Cheese & Tomato Sandwich | Cheese Dream
I know what you're thinking, "It's just a grilled cheese."  Yes it is, but it was a damn good one.  I tried this at the Dose Market, but if you're ever in Ann Arbor, MI definitely check out what they've got cooking that day.

4) Macarons | Laduree

Do these even need any rationale?  Laduree is the mecca of macarons and each one I ate was absolutely delicious. 

5) Belgium Waffle | Cafe - Brasserie Craenenburg

This was the highlight of our day trip to Bruges.  Aside from seeing the cute, quaint and medieval style town, this waffle truly was worth the trip.

6) Roasted Lamb | Season's Restaurant

I cannot say any bad things about this meal or restaurant.  Season's was the meal for our first night in Amsterdam.  I have been dreaming about this roasted lamb since I had it back in March.  It's ingredients were so fresh and simple - it was the perfect dish for a cold Winter day.

7) Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream | Kilwins

Throughout my third trimester I had an infatuation with mint chocolate chip ice cream.  I had eaten so much that I declared myself a connoisseur and no matter how hard I tried to find the best place to get mint chocolate chip ice cream, the only place that triumphed them all was Kilwins.

8) Crab Cakes | Acadia

I absolutely loved how the food at Acadia was a little avant garde, but not foreign.  I'm an adventurous eater so that wouldn't have stopped me, but Acadia is the perfect place to test the water with new American style food.  The service was impeccable and the food was memorable.  They definitely earned that Michelin star.

9) Sweet Corn Creme Brulee | Sable Kitchen & Bar

I'm obsessed with eating at restaurants where the head chefs or owners were once on Top Chef.  The expectations were high when I ate at Sable and Chef Heather sure delivered delicious dishes.  My favorite of the entire night was this side dish that was the perfect combination of savory and sweet.

10) Short Ribs | Ruxbin

 I recently wrote a post about this not too long ago so I won't say much besides the fact that this dish was truly one of the highlight meals of my year.

 

11) Meatball Sandwich | Panozzo's Italian Market

I'm a regular over at Panozzo's so if you ask me what I recommend, I'll say "anything - everything is good."  However, if I had to chose one thing to try, it's their meatball sandwich.  I don't know why it took almost 2 years to finally try it after going there so often, but I finally did and it's life changing.

12) Chocolate Cream Pie | Hoosier Mama Pie Company

I ate my fair share of pies this year and nothing has come close to the pies at Hoosier Mama's.  In fact, these days their pies are my dessert of choice.  This year instead of a birthday cake, I asked for their chocolate cream pie and it was worth every calorie.

|What are some of the best things you ate in 2012?|

food (food) | ruxbin

Last weekend my friend Rachel and I decided to finally try Ruxbin!  We both heard such amazing things for the past few months, but unfortunately restaurants that don't take reservations make it hard for us to try.  However, a post birthday celebration for Rachel was the only excuse we needed to finally try this place out. 

We arrived promptly at 6pm on the dot thinking that the wait wouldn't be horrible since the restaurant opened at 5:30pm.  Wow were we mistaken.  Arriving at 6pm, guaranteed us a table for 7:15pm.  We weren't prepared for that wait, but we were on a mission to try this place so we headed over to a bar close by, grabbed ourselves a glass of wine and waited for our call from the restaurant to let us know our table was ready.  Just before 7pm, we got the call and we eagerly rushed back.  Unfortunately because the restaurant is TEENY (really it is), there's no bar or waiting area that we could hang out at.  We sat down at our table next to the window and that's when I realized just how small the place was, at most there were a dozen tables, but the restaurant made great use of space. 

The menu was filled with such great options and if that wasn't hard enough, they had seasonal specials that made the decision tougher.  The one thing we were both sold on though were the garlic fries.  The smell of garlic that filled the restaurant was so intoxicating that we couldn't resist.  They were absolutely delicious and it was served with an amazing aioli that complimented them perfectly.

For my starter, I decided on a special - a progression of oysters.  I'm a sucker for oysters and couldn't resist.  The progression (starting from left to right) and each bite was different.  One had a great vinegar dressing and chopped apples, but my favorite was the last one.  It had smoke flavor that was being sealed by a glass that was not to be removed until it was ready to be eaten.  The flavor was amazing - I could have eaten 10 more.

For my main course I went for the "Osso Bucco" which was served with ramen risotto, brussel sprouts and crispy fried shallots.  This dish was complex with tons of flavor and was absolutely amazing.  No way could I ever create something like this on my own, which is why I ate the whole thing and enjoyed every single bite. 

We were a little underwhelmed with the dessert options, but it was for the best.  I was already stuffed by the time we left that I would have overdone it if we had dessert.  In short this restaurant is one of my new favorite places.  Despite the fact that they don't take reservations, it's worth the wait and you won't find anything else like this in the city.

food (food) | frontera fiesta

Just because I have a 2 week old baby doesn't mean that I'm going to stop cooking home cooked meals.   I still love cooking and want to do it as much as possible.  However, since my prep time is now limited I've had to find a way to cheat, cut as many corners as I can and rely on some pre-made seasoning (gasp!)...afterall isn't parenting all about compromise?  

This is where popular chef Rick Bayless comes in.  Known as a Top Chef Masters winner, Rick Bayless is a culinary genius who has perfected a unique taste of Mexican food with popular restaurants like Topolabompo, Frontera Grill and XOCO.  Now, he has expanded his brand with Frontera Fiesta - a variety of products that include chips, salsas, seasonings, marinades, sauces and more, for people to enjoy the taste of Rick's food in the comfort of their home.  I've tried a good amount of the products, but my new favorite is the Barbacoa slow cooker marinade.  With a slow cooker, 2 pounds of beef, sliced onion, this marinade and 8 hours you have an amazing dish that keeps you wanting more.

I served the meat with tortillas, as well as a garnish of chopped onion and cilantro with lime juice.  Both Matt and I are were in love with this beef dish.  It definitely has the flavors you would find in a Rick Bayless restaurant and was so easy to make.  For anyone who wants a great tasting dish, but has limited time to cook I would highly recommend this marinade and any other of the Frontera Fiesta products to make a great meal!

food (food) | the bad apple

A while back, street style photographer/blogger Amy Creyer of Chicago Street Style tweeted about eating at The Bad Apple.  Intrigued by her enthusiasm of dining at this place, our Twitter conversation evolved and she mentioned it was a good burger worth the drive up north.  I had never heard of this place, but the more I talked to friends about it, the more I realized that I was missing out.  The verdict was unanimous - The Bad Apple had some tasty burgers and I had to try these suckers for myself.

Right off the bat, anywhere that serves poutine is automatically a winner in my book and we started with an order of poutine sans cheese (for Matt).  Since I'm Canadian, poutine brings back so many memories of me as a fat kid walking around the mall with a cup full of fries drowning in a delicious brown gravy.  The Bad Apple's poutine was a great walk down memory lane.  The gravy was absolutely delicious, but the fries could have used a tad bit more salt.  

Next came the burgers.  The extensive menu is filled with tons of burger options like The Frenchie which is topped with brie, spinach and truffle mayo or The Big Texan that has pulled pork, fried onion rings and BBQ sauce all on Texas toast.  Every burger is served with fries that you could spruce up with flavors like curry, minced garlic, creole or chipotle.

Matt's mind was made up pretty quickly because the menu had a burger called Elvis' Last Supper which was topped with a heaping spoonful of peanut butter and 3 thick slices of bacon.  Ironically, Matt is someone who is already accustom to putting peanut butter on his burgers (GROSS!), so when we found a place that actually had this on their menu it was almost as if his stars aligned.  Since Matt eats an obscene amount of food, he made the burger his own by adding an extra patty.  When the burger was served, a few of the wait staff came out and said they were all "impressed".  Really I think they just wanted to see the person that was going to brave this monstrosity.

Since I'm more of an average eater I went with a Bad Apple Burger topped with sauteed onions and mushrooms.  Between Matt and I, we were both in agreement that these were tasty burgers.  We both were so happy with our selections and ate every single bite of our burgers.  It goes without saying that service at The Bad Apple was absolutely stellar.  I loved how this neighborhood joint had the friendliest staff and made the experience extremely pleasant.  Overall this place was well worth the drive.  The prices were more than reasonable, the food was absolutely delicious and the ambiance was great.  We definitely will be back when Matt has an urge to fulfill his peanut butter burger craving.

Thanks Amy for the recommendation - it really didn't disappoint!

food (food) | acadia

The South Loop has had tons of hits and misses when it comes to restaurants.  The successes are a short list of family friendly restaurants that mostly offer American fare and breakfast joints that are some of the best in the city.  So when you think of fine dining, the South Loop isn't the first neighborhood you would think of....until now.

Acadia is the latest addition to the South Loop and not even the highly trafficked part of the hood.  We're talking the part that semi-borders shadiness.  The restaurant is a one that the neighborhood has welcomed with open arms and has received so much buzz that I needed to check this place out for myself.  On Saturday Matt and I met some friends to finally check out the new neighborhood restaurant that has gained 4.5 stars in Yelp reviews.  Immediately after walking in, you completely forget that you're in the South Loop because of the sleek decor and sophisticated staff.  Right off the bat we knew this was going to be a great dining experience.  

After placing our orders, we were presented with a lovely amuse bouche of puree, suveed scallop and caviar.  It was a perfect bite of creaminess and a fantastic way to start our meal.

Then came our first course.  After debating between the pork belly, sunchoke and risotto, it was our waiter's recommendation that influenced a game time decision that steered me in a completely different direction.  I ended up with the crab stuffed sunchoke with corn like cake and zucchini puree.  The waiter's recommendation was right on point and the dish progressively got better with each bite.

Between our first and second course, the wait staff presented us with mini biscuits served with a sweet butter.  It was the perfect size (slightly bigger than a quarter) and cleaned my palette in time for the next dish.  For my second course I ordered the deer isle shrimp that was served with squid ink vinaigrette, cuttlefish noodles and a fun foam on top.  With every dish, especially this one, I realized that the decor was simple for a reason and it was to make the food stand out.  The presentation of all dishes were amazing and this one might have taken the cake.  I loved everything on my plate, but without the squid ink vinaigrette it would have just been alright.  That small, but powerful taste really made an impact on the dish in a great way.

For dessert there weren't that many options (only 3) and I almost skipped this course completely, but after hearing how amazing the passion fruit toffee was, I knew I had to check it out for myself.  The plate was as pretty as it was delicious.  The toffee was served with a banana coffee cake and meringue sticks.  It was the best dessert for someone like me who doesn't like super sweet things.  It was tart to the point that it made my mouth pucker, but balanced perfectly with just enough sweetness.  It really was the best way to end my meal...so I thought.

After finishing up dessert, we were served with salted caramel and a mini whoppie pie.  They were bite size desserts that packed a ton of flavor and even the next day I was dreaming about the caramels.  As we were leaving we were all in agreement that the service was maybe the best in the city and the food was so deserving of every start they've received.  Just as when we were going to leave as happy guests, our experience was elevated when we were handed small individual wrapped bags of almond cake to take for the road.  

Every penny and every bite was worth it.  If you're ever looking for a new fine dining restaurant to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, or a good day definitely come to my hood, the South Loop, and check out Acadia.  Hopefully it's just the beginning of what's to come in the neighborhood.

food (food) | eurocation part 1

I'm back from our Eurocation and thank you so much to Zoe, Andrea, Cait, Erin and Johanna for blog sitting while I was away.  Our trip was perfect for the 10 days we were there and Matt did such a fabulous job of planning it.  He literally did everything and all I had to do was show up. 

The BIGGEST thing that our trip was focused on was food.  In each city we indulged in specialties (especially ones we can't get at home) and made the best of it.  There was no holds bar.  Every meal was multiple courses accompanied by a few glasses of wine (for Matt of course) and dessert for me.  We ate at so many great places and did so many things so I'm breaking my recap up based on food and fashion.  We ate so much good food that it's worth sharing for anyone who might have a future trip to Amsterdam, Paris, Lyon or Bruges.

Amsterdam

We spent a total of 3 days in Amsterdam and for the first time since I've been pregnant, I missed the ability to have a nice tall glass of beer.  Luckily, for a small little town Amsterdam was able to provide some activities that didn't revolve around booze or hash brownies like visiting the Anne Frank House and Van Gogh museum.  In fact, for such a compact town I was amazed by all the great food and shopping that was around us.

Immediately right after we checked into our hotel we headed to The Pancake Bakery which is rated to have the best panekoken in town.  Being in the Netherlands, I made it my mission to have some dutch pancakes and The Pancake Bakery surely did the job...and then some.  We loved our lemon panekoken, but what was even better were they're omelettes.  Fresh eggs served on top of two slices of soft bread that absorbed all the wonder flavors.  Everything was delicious!

The 2nd night we had reservations at Season's in the Jordaan neighborhood.  Nestled in this cute part of town (my favorite to be exact) was a small side street with this wonderfully adorable restaurant that had farm to table food.  Our 3 course meal was fantastic with starters like a warm duck with clementine salad and entrees like braised lamb shank.  It was all delicious and with a great price of $39 EURO for a 3 course meal it was definitely reasonable.  The best part was that every time our courses were served, the owner's cocker spaniel, Roxy, would come sit at our feet hoping that one of us would drop food on the floor.

Even before we got to Amsterdam Matt was super giddy about trying Burger Bar.  He had read on Trip Advisor that it was a "must" try.  At first I thought, "Really are we coming to Amsterdam to eat burgers?"...but I'm so glad we did.  The menu is all a la carte and you start with either a sirloin, irish beef, wagyu beef, turkey or portabella patty.  Then you build upon your patty with toppings like mushrooms, grilled onions, fried egg, bacon, cheese, etc.  The burger itself was stellar, but what I still have dreams about are their fries.  I literally ate fries every single day of my vacation trying to find the place that would dare replace Burger Bar's and nothing compared.  Wish there was a way to ship those fries to Chicago.

Lastly, a meal worth mentioning is the fantastic Indonesian restaurant Kantjil & de Tijger.  After hearing that Amsterdam had some good Indonesian cuisine I made it a priority on our list of things to eat and our meal was absolutely amazing.  If you like Thai food, but want a little bit of a twist, definitely try to find an Indonesian restaurant by you.

Paris

Our time in Paris was split into two halves since we had an overnight trip to Lyon and a day trip to Bruges right in the middle.  This was my 2nd time visiting, but Matt's first and even though he was vocal about Paris not being his first choice - I can proudly say that he's been converted.

On this leg of the trip is where I started eating more...and when I say eating more, I'm talking 6 meals a day.  Everyday started with a petit dejeuner that was usually a pain au chocolate, croissant or tartine avec Nutella.  Then lunches were spent in brasseries or cafes in whatever neighborhood we were wantdering in munching on baguette sandwiches, the restaurant's plat du jour (plate of the day) or poulet et frites (chicken and fries).  Some of our favorite restaurants included Oscar right by the Louvre and L'Obe in the Hotel Crillion, but honestly it was the carbs and sweets I couldn't resist.

A trip to Laduree was mandatory to eat at least a dozen macarons.  Lemon macarons are my favorite!

And since there were two crepe stands right by our hotel, almost every night I insisted passing on dessert at the restaurants and opting for a crepe with nutella and bananas as my night cap.

Lyon
In midst of our time in Paris we decided to stay a night in Lyon which is supposedly the birth place of fine dining.  This cute city which is the 2nd largest city in France was absolutely gorgeous and the food may have been the best meals we had on our trip.

The place worth mentioning is Le Musee.  This teeny restaurant is just north of the Bellecouer and at most seats 30 people.  It's so tiny that the bathroom is legit outside of the restaurant in an alley house - think out house a la Little House on the Prairie.  We walked in and immediately were welcomed with open arms by the chef, sous chef and only waitress the place had on staff.  It had such a cute homey feel and the thing that makes the place so unique (and why it's hard to get a reservation) is because the menu changes every night.  The chef comes to your table, literally with a piece of white paper with handwritten items that he's serving for the night.  There's no pre existing menu, just what he decides to cook that day.  Everything from tripe, beef cheeks, coq au vin , sweetbreads to escargots were on the menu...and everything was absolutely delicious.  Be forewarned if you ever go, the chef speaks very minimal english so practice your french foods before you go...and practice the uncommon items that you wouldn't see on a traditional menu.

Bruges

Last but not least was our day trip to Bruges.  Now before the movie In Bruges I had no idea this town existed, nor could I point it out to you on a map, but because we love the movie so much we were intrigued by this little medieval town.  Since it's only an hour outside of Brussels this was also the perfect opportunity to get belgium waffles and take home some good chocolates.

Unfortunately, the original place we were going to have waffles was closed for renovation, but luckily we found Cafe-Brasserie Craenenburg right in the heart of the square.  Although I was really hoping to have a waffles with fresh strawberries, I settled for one topped with bananas and smothered in a melted bittersweet chocolate. Not a bad way to start the morning.

As if that wasn't enough sweets, I insisted that we get a box of chocolates for the train ride back to Paris from Chocoladehuiseje.  For anyone who's ever been to Bruges (or Brussels for that matter), you would know that chocolate shops are just as common as Starbucks are in the US.  It's hard to find the place that will have the best chocolates, but in all honest I think that any place you go will have more than stellar chocolate to indulge in. 

So needless to say, my 5 pounds (which I did come back an exact 5 pounds heavier) I gained from our trip was all for good reason and well worth every calorie.  I can confidently say that we didn't have a bad meal our entire trip and if there's one thing we regret, it's not having more time to eat our way through more wonderful places in each city.