roflhouse

072311 –

So why the hell would I drive an hour away to eat a burger in the Woodlands? Good news for all is that I went with Annie and Chris to the Southern Star Brewery in Conroe first. They opened up at 1pm to us and while the heat was almost unbearable, the line for the beer was nice and short and the waloon cold and amazing. After a few beers each, we decided to head back into the woodlands and randomly walk into Hubbell and Hudson for some much needed air conditioning and also to check out what kinda food they were putting out. In previous tweets I heard about Coal Burger and was vaguely familiar with the idea that Grimaldi’s was heading into the burger making business. A quick walk back towards Grimaldi and some questions later, we found ourselves at Coal Burger.

Don’t go looking for the signs, why? because there are none to be seen. You can barely make out the signage. First impression? Impressive, clean counter service layout, fairly extensive menu with options galore. Pricing? A bit on the high side, but justified if they can make a great burger in that coal fire oven. We stepped to the counter and I said to the manager, Half Pound Bacon Cheese Burger with Sweet Potato Fries and a Quarter Pound Green Chile Burger for her. Medium Rare on both please. “Sorry we are unable to do that because of our coal burning ovens, they are prepared more well done.” With burgers from The Burger Guys, Hubcap Grille and others, I’m used to a medium rare burger with some amazing toppings. I’m willing to give anything a try once. As we finished our orders I walked by the soda machine and noticed they were dispensing real sugar sodas from Boylan. I love their Ginger Ale, so I decided to go back and order a couple of sodas as well.

5 minutes later our burgers arrived wrapped up and accompanied with fries. Simple enough looking bun, thick cut bacon and pickles, single patty covered in cheese with a bit of lettuce below. Ooze? None, it essential lived up to the name, a piece of coal. The burger closely resembled what I’d expect from Five Guys or Smashburger, but at this pricepoint of $7.99 and $3.00 for sweet potato fries and an additional $2.50 for a drink didn’t make this meal exactly cheap.

As I would notice from a previous blog post from @htownchowdown, the half pound burger should have been two patties instead of my pathetic single patty. Would that have changed my outlook on the situation? Probably not, but it certainly wouldn’t have hurt it either. With the revised price point of $12.44 for a “combo” if you will, it’s certainly cheaper than my favorites at Hubcap and Burger Guys, but it doesn’t even come close in terms of quality and perceived value. As compared to Five Guys and Smashburger, hell even Carl’s Jr? Possible match up in the works there. I’m fairly convinced there is nothing of quality in The Woodlands except for the random cute white girls and Hubbell and Hudson, but chases are you’ll find both in one spot randomly walking around the high end supermarket. Even in the instance of finding both in one place, just like Coal Burger, I’ll pass.

2.5/5: #failburger with thick cut bacon? no thanks. maybe another trial when they are fully aware of what it takes to make a great burger.

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071811 –

Welcome to the last day of our vacation in Chicago, every meal had the ups and downs, but every meal was fantastic, I honestly can’t complain and say my money was better spent at any other place. From landing the previous Thursday and heading to the Paul Kahan spots to going on a tour of all the Grant Achatz spots the food tour of Chicago was well worth the price of admission and heading to The Purple Pig was a fitting final lunch before heading back to Houston.

The Purple Pig is one of those spots that you’d miss if you didn’t know it was there, I actually passed by the location on Michigan Avenue a few times walking around Chicago and admiring the Chicago River. We’ve actually been on the boat tours and missed the restaurant completely as well. An unassuming sign off the sidewalk lets you know that you’ve indeed reached The Purple Pig. Coincidentally one of my friends from Houston was in town to purchase a car, we all met up for lunch. When I arrived to the restaurant he was already seated inside the cold air conditioned space at a community table. I’d like to see the community table setup used more in Houston, a definite social experiment in the works with it, great way to meet people and share dishes.

A quick look at the menu and Annie and I knew what we wanted, with my friend Brandon going straight for the beef courses as well. We started off with a fresh calamari salad, salt roasted beets with goat cheese and pistachios, potato and speck croquettes with chili aioli, pig ears with kale, pickled peppers and a fried egg on top. In addition to the simple appetizers, we went with their bone marrow service with Herbs, milk braised pork shoulder and mashed potatoes, pork belly with peas and carrots, and wagyu sirloin tips with potatoes and onions.

The calamari salad was extremely fresh and just popped with flavors, the goat cheese coupled with the salt roasted beets made me fall in love with beets just that much more. I wasn’t huge on the potato croquettes that came out a bit small and lacking on flavor. One of my favorite dishes of the trip came in the form of the pig ears. Housed inside the cutest half pig bowl imaginable, the fried egg just completed the dish and brought it to a breakfast level dish, contrast between the yolk and salty pig ears was nice. The bone marrow with all its heart clogging glory came with perfectly crisp bread, just sturdy enough to hold everything together. Pork Belly with carrot puree was a nice textural contrast with the pork shoulder just soft as ever. The wagyu tied everything together with a great medium rare finish, soft and tender with more of those great potatoes to round out the meal.

As I stated before, a perfect lunch to culminate the Chicago vacation. It’s been a great time out in Chicago and I can’t wait to go back for the next Next iteration and hopefully visit The Purple Pig again.

The Purple Pig
500 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
312-464-1-PIG (744)

4/5: It’s pig and lots of it, need I expand even more?

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071711 –

Tickets to Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas’ latest venture in Chicago were some of the hardest tickets to acquire. The first round of tickets for preview weekend (7/8-7/10) saw 75 tables sell out in a matter of 2 seconds. I tried to secure a table just to see how crazy the ticket system would get. As expected their ticketing system went crashing down in a blaze of glory, but that wasn’t before we saw some people proclaiming their golden ticket to the restaurant that changes it’s decor and menu every three months.

Their first round was Paris 1906 and it allowed diners a peek into the life of the past. I had an invite from someone in Houston that was unable to use theirs, but it was all lost on the fact that I was going to Chicago in July and the first Paris menu spanned from April to June. As July quickly approached, we saw subtle hints at the potential future menu, Thai inspired cocktails arose as well as some experiments with tom yum soup. Then the confirmation of our dreams came along and stated that the next menu at Next would indeed be a Tour of Thailand.

Fast forward to the following Monday and we were greeted by Next saying tickets for the new menu would go on sale around 4pm. Now if you’re in the Central Time Zone as Chicago and Houston both are, you immediately realize that people should be packing up and almost heading home. I can assure you productivity levels around the world took a hit as we all tried to get a piece of the pie. That pie I speak of was 2000 tables, for what we would eventually learn was for a potential 20,000 people all trying to pick a table. Your Internet connection had better been blazing fast or your lucky streak been strong, for this was the Next ticketing system. As time moved more and more slowly, evyone expressed anger with the ticketing system and the need to get tickets before heeding home for work. Others just decided to remove themselves from the problem, like it affected the group as a whole. Again, the ticketing system failed to accommodate the 20k+ people trying to get a piece. This frustrated everyone but none more than Kokonas himself. Frustrations were quoted on Eater Chicago and videos were made about potential harm Kokonas would make on his programming team if it wouldn’t work asap.

Sighs of relief by the people that headed home early were expressed as Kokonas decided to postpone the ticket sales till the following day. As Tuesday came around, I ensured that my account on the Next website had no less than 4 credit cards on file, all able to take the impending charge no matter how high (lol). Annie and I had been going back and forth checking the Next website and the Next Facebook Community waiting for word, however that word didn’t come until it was too late. As I refreshed my phone the first status update was from Kokonas and Next Restaurant saying “The switch has been flipped”, this would have been exciting news for me had it not been posted 4 minutes prior. I immeditely shot off a text to Annie and said “Why didn’t you tell me tickets were on sale!” Apparently she was pre occupied herself, both of us rushed to our computers, I was tethered via iphone4, constant attempts were made at a table for 2 with constant please wait messages or just the system booting us out for lack of available tables. Finally I made the decision to start clicking tables of 4. Not eating at Next wasn’t a viable option at this point, it felt like a need to reward myself for being patient with the ticketing system process as a whole, and damnit I wanted to eat at Next!

Just as I was beginning to lose hope the magic screen popped up. Table for 4, Sunday 7/17 at 1015pm. I immediately chose water pairings to expedite the process to no fruition, the message “Sorry this table is no longer available” popped up and my heart dropped. Almost immediately the next screen popped up, “Table for 4, Sunday 7/17 at 930pm. The only time I’ve ever clicked so fast was trying to close a window with some porn on it before mom walked in on me. $445 later and I had my table to Next. Finding some tablemates proved much easier.

We already visited Aviary, so we knew where Next was as well as travel time necessary to get there to meet our tablemates Jen and Ed from Ruxbin. Pleasantries aside, we entered Next, sat at our table and we were off!

1. Roasted Banana, Prawn Cake, Sweet Shrimp and Garlic, Fermented Sausage, Steamed Bun
2. Hot and Sour Broth, Pork Belly, Tomato, Ginger
3. Chili, Shallot, Garlic, Salted Duck Egg, Green Mango, White Radish, Pickles
4. Catfish, Caramel Sauce, Celery, Coriander Root
5. Beef Cheek, Curry, Peanut, Nutmeg, Kaffir Lime
6. Watermelon, Lemongrass
7. Coconut, Corn, Egg, Licorice
8. Dragon Fruit, Rose
9. Rooibos, Palm Sugar, Milk

The first selection of food hit the table in proper form and was honestly my favorite dish, the shrimp cake/cracker had an excellent flavor. The sweet raw shrimp was even better. The chef took some liberties with the The Tom Yum, while tasty, it was lacking as compared to my trip to Lotus of Siam in Vegas. The catfish and Beef Cheek course came out in similar fashion. It’s Thai food, I expected spice levels much higher. I found myself adding the green chile side to my dishes more often than not. What we need to remember and understand is that Beran and Achatz weren’t trying to reproduce my favorite Thai dishes, they were putting their level of interpretation of Thai food for us to enjoy. If I was enjoying this as a new Thai restaurant, it would fail miserably as compared to Lotus of Siam in Vegas or Thai Gourmet here in Houston. If we treat is as a great chef’s interpretation of a “Tour of Thailand”, the preparation, flavors and execution were top notch. It’s exactly what one would expect from Achatz and Beran, because of this I’m looking forward to coming back to Chicago for the next Next Iteration.

4/5: An extremely frustrating ticketing system sets the stage for an amazing meal from the Achatz crew.

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071711 –

Takashi was one of those places that seemingly popped up on the Michelin Guide with a single star as well as one of those places that was mentioned by friends in Chicago, so it created a name recognition for me when I started to setup my itinerary for Chicago. With a single Michelin star, it had to be pretty good, at least by Michelin standards. This Chicago trip as a whole was shaping up to be a total of 7 Michelin Stars which should essentially read as “I Spent a Fuck Ton of Money.” For Takashi’s Sunday menu, I spent a small amount of money for a lot of great food.

When we drove up to Takashi, I couldn’t help but laugh at the adjacent buildings that overshadow the small two story restaurant, it made me think of the movie Up. It seems as if Takashi was left behind to thrive while the rest of the city around it decided to move forward. As we went up the stairs to our corner table of 6, we started off by ordering some cocktails and beers to get our Chicago Sunday Funday started and to get everyone slightly buzzed before heading off home to Houston. I started the day off with a St Germain based cocktail and order of steamed shumai (traditional shrimp and pork dumplings with baby bok choy an soy mustard), tempura (shrimp, shi-shito peppers, kabocha squash and warm dashi broth), and duck fat fried chicken (marinated amish chicken and spicy sesame dressing). Other plates that made their way to the table included the pork belly snack (steamed bun and hot mustard). For the main entree’s we ordered the Takashi Miso Ramen and I ordered the Cold Soba Noodles.

As with other locations we visited while in Chicago, the ramen was tasty, but the pork belly ramen at Urban Belly was able to edge this version out as the top of the trip, what did stand out from the rest were the ever so tasty duck fat fried chicken wings. We’ve seen the duck fat fries from Burger Guys and we’ve heard about them from Hot Dougs, however throwing some chicken wings into the same mix seems like a next level genius idea. The end product was a perfectly fried exterior with flavors that were unreal coupled with extremely moist chicken meat on the inside. The Soba? Nothing to write home about, but it was still rather tasty.

We wrapped up a great start to Sunday Funday then headed on our way to try out some Chicago Pizza.

3.5/5: Hits and Misses at Takashi, A One Michelin Star house overshadowed by surrounding buildings.

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071611 –

After a great 8 course meal at Avenues, we had a short window to make our way over to The Aviary. The Aviary is essentially what Alinea is to food, at least in the general sense.

According to The Aviary’s website:

“The Aviary is where cocktails and service are given the same attention to detail as a four-star restaurant; where bartenders are trained as chefs; where the produce and herbs are carefully sourced and procured fresh daily; where the name and branding of the spirit mixed is less important than its actual flavor; where drinks are made quickly and consistently in a state-of-the-art drink kitchen; where innovation and tradition are both honored.”

From Chef Achatz and Nick Kokonas, the masterminds behind Alinea and Next, Aviary is as crazy as a cocktail bar will get in Chicago. I’m used to Haven and Anvil here and even a previous visit to Violet Hour made me appreciate how low key Haven and Anvil (during non peak times) can be. My experience at The Violet Hour was pretty involved, we had to wait for a table of 6 to open up, the room was too damn dark to see anything. They had Fernet Branca for $4 a shot, Old Fashioned and Sazerac’s for $12 each. The Aviary was the complete opposite of Anvil, Haven, The Violet Hour and probably anything I’d thought about as far as a cocktail bar.

As we made our way into The Aviary at 11pm for our reservation we were greeted by some wonderful people ushering us to the table near the kitchen and kinda close to the door that led downstairs to the restroom. Unfortunately, I can’t for the life of me remember our awesome and accommodating server, but we all found it strange that he looked like our server from Alinea. Maybe it was the drinks, maybe it was the sexy dim lighting inside the restaurant, regardless he was awesome and hopefully I’ll see him on my return to Chicago. After about 5 minutes of mingling at our table, our 7 course cocktail and bite pairing began with an amuse of watermelon. The progression of cocktails through the night and accompanying bite pairings moved along at a great pace, we never felt rushed to finish our drinks. With 6 of us at the table that was an added plus.

1. Champagne Cocktail (Homemade Raspberry Puree at the Bottom) with a Compressed Cantaloupe Bite (Prosciutto, Basil and Champagne).
2. Gin and Tonic with Rhubarb Spheres
3. Margarita with Crab Salad Bite
4. Vodka x Ginger Cocktail (Peychaud’s, Shiso, Lime) with a Pork Belly Bite
5. Peach Lambic and Egg White Foam with a Peach Cobbler Bite
6. Clear Root Beer with Vanilla Ice Cubes with a Chocolate and Salt Covered Brioche
7. Cold Chocolate

My favorite bite of the evening was definitely the Pork Belly with the Clear Root Beer being the most interesting drink of the night. I thought we were being served water, only to be greeted by the fragrant vanilla ice cubes instead. We also asked for water, but were greeted with a bit of a wait since the “Ice Chef” was behind. We essentially learned that they have an Ice Chef dedicated to chiseling away an ice block for your perfect piece of ice to pair with the great tap water of Chicago.

During our second course I shot off an email to the Aviary Manager, Erin in hopes of getting an invite into the office. I also bothered our waiter with the same request. The quick reply was “Let’s see how long your pairing takes and I’ll talk to my manager as well” As the 6th Course as well as 1am rolled around, I figured my request to The Office had been denied, however the cute hostess that kept and eye on our table came by and introduced herself and informed me that we had been exchanging emails back and forth. Moments later Erin came over and introduced herself and informed us that our invitation to the office was officially on the table, however there wasn’t any available room. The Office, after all, only seats 16 people. As one of the most exclusive spots in Chicago, the cocktail list is short, but at $20 each, is certainly nothing to scoff at either. A food menu that showed some caviar, creamed morels, iberico ham, oysters on the half shell also appeared before us. Considering we just finished an 8 course meal at Avenues in addition to the 7 cocktails and bites meant we had zero room for food. As with dessert, there is *ALWAYS* room for dessert. Our dessert? Another wonderful drink from The Office. My choice? An extremely refreshing cocktail made with Gin, Honeydew, Celery, Lime, Green Chartreuse and Tonic. Annie decided to give in to her need of Fernet Branca, and had a cocktail with Fernet Branca, Coke and Lemongrass. I think that is what I heard, in all honesty I was pretty well past my point of buzzed. Dimitri, Kim and Ali all opted for Scotch from their menu, Ali commented that there was a bottle of Scotch from the 1950′s in the cabinet that he didn’t venture to try, but it’s awesome to know its there for the future. Getting into The Office was essentially one of those things that I wanted to achieve as I traveled to Chicago, I wanted to go to all of the Chef Achatz places, with Alinea on Friday, The Aviary and The Office on Saturday, all that was left was Next on Sunday.

As Ali and I fell in and out of consciousness during the course of the cocktail pairing and even inside The Office, we both seemed to get our 6th wind as we sprung awake only to realize it was 3am and time to head back upstairs into reality.

The Aviary
955 West Fulton Market
Chicago, IL 60607
www.theaviary.com

5/5: Amazingly Creative Cocktails with a hint of Novelty coupled with a trip downstairs to the Office. Perfection in a Glass.

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071611 –

A full lunch at Urban Belly and Belly Shack and a great (scary) day at the Willis Tower Skydeck, a fascinating hour staring at the bean (im convinced is an alien ship) and a relaxing Shoreline Architectural Cruise around the city left us all extremely hungry and ready for the dinner plans at Avenues.

Avenues was one of my reservations that I honestly had no idea what to expect when going into it. It was another quick twitter conversation with Misha after he said he had an awesome time doing the Vegetarian tasting menu there and I just added it to my short list. It wasn’t until a few weeks before our trip, that I had to shuffle plans due to Aviary not opening on Sunday’s anymore which lead to another epic night. Our night would officially consist of the 8 course tasting menu followed by the 7 course cocktail and bite pairing offered at Achatz’s Aviary.

The Peninsula was a scant 4 blocks away from our hotel and frankly, its gorgeous, an elevator ride up a few floors and we walked into Avenues, honestly it LOOKS like a hotel restaurant, it reminded me of Vegas a few months prior.

1. Alaskan King Crab (Golden Brook Trout Roe, Kalamansi, Lemon Mint)
2. Cortez Bay Scallops (Romaine Marmalade, White Poppy, Nasturtium)
3. Grains, Seeds, Nuts (Amaranth Veil, Sultana, Sunflower)
4. Hamachi (Lardo, Yuzu, Rainbow Chard)
5. Wagyu Beef Ribeye (Spring Onion, Smoked Paprika, Garden Mustard)
6. Sudachi (Togarashi, Nepitella Mint)
7. Coconut (Pineapple, Freeze Dried Saffron, Vietnamese Balm)
8. Sambirano Valley Chocolate (Brown Butter, Mandarin, Stevia)

• Quick thoughts about the menu have me remembering the bread service more so than any dish in particular, the pretzel bread was great and everyone else at the table echoed this sentiment as well. My favorite dish of the night was the Wagyu Beef with the Alaskan King Crab a close second. I might have been the only person that liked the Grains course as well.

As with my experience in New York, everything to followed Per Se was extremely meh and disappointing. Morimoto was the unfortunate restaurant to follow Per Se, and it wasn’t until I came home to Houston and had Oishii to understand what Morimoto was doing and just how great it really was. I was expecting this effect with Avenues. During the course of the tasting, I was astonished at how well the menu was performing in terms of flavors and presentation. I had no idea that Chef Duffy was leaving Avenues to open up his restaurant, all I did know was that Avenues is a 2 Michelin Star restaurant. I also had no idea that Chef Duffy was a former Chef De Cuisine at Alinea. After learning this after the fact, I’m glad to have experienced the food in that setting, at $135 it was a bargain and had a great view of the Water Tower Place area. I’m also glad I didn’t do the vegetarian tasting menu lol. Wagyu Beef FTMFW.

4/5: 2 Michelin Stars; A perfect follow-up to Alinea, I’m looking forward to what Chef Duffy has in store for the future.

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071611 –

Following and epic 4 hour meal at Alinea and some drinks at Violet Hour and the customary late night taco cravings, what other way was there to follow up but by consuming hot dogs and duck fat fries at Hot Dougs? Problem was, by the time we made our way to that area, the line for Hot Dougs was in the 60-75 person queue in what the Chicago area calls a “heatwave”. I’ll pass, and save it for the next time I’m in Chicago. Luckily, the next places on the list were Bill Kim’s Urban Belly and Belly Shack located right down the street.

As we pulled into the small strip center loaded 6 deep in the durango, I was almost baffled why there was no one in Urban Belly while the line at Hot Dougs was unbearable. The 6 of us were the only ones in the place. We sat at a large community table and began to look over the menu, a great assortment of dumplings, noodles and sides made me want to order one of everything but I had to show some level of restraint as I placed and order for of duck and pho spice dumplings and urban belly ramen (pork belly, shiitake and pho broth). Today, Bill Kim was working the register and had a short chat with us before dropping off an order of Chinese Eggplant with Thai Basil. The dumplings oozed flavors unlike anything I’ve had in a single bite dumpling before and the flavors translated even further as I fished out the first tender piece of pork belly from the ramen bowl in front of me. Annie picked up a piece at the same time and we just savored the first bite. It was a definite departure from the bowl of ramen we had Thursday night at Chizakaya. This was quite possibly the best bowl of pork belly ramen I’ve had ever and there was no disagreement from my travel-mates as well.

Urban Belly
3053 N California Ave
Chicago, IL 60618-7005
(773) 583-0500

4/5: Michelin Bib Gourmand Winner; An awesome start to another day of eating with a Pork Belly Ramen of Epic Greatness.

After a hearty bowl of Ramen, we headed out to Bill Kim’s other restaurant, Belly Shack, which was located right down the street. We had a small battle with the parking situation but managed to squeeze the durango in a spot that was almost too small but Ali worked his magic. Belly Shack has a definite casual everyday feeling to it, with graffiti and random skate board decks lining the walls and a large center community table, fast casual was the theme and completely unlike Urban Belly.

With Urban Belly, we found ourselves all clamoring the the Urban Belly Ramen, our choices at Belly Shack were much more varied. Annie and I chose the Tostones (crisp plantains, chimichurri sauce, lime zest), Hot and Sour Soup, and the Belly Dog (Egg Noodles, Pickled Green Papaya) with a side of the Togarashi Spiced French Fries. Also making the way to our table was the Korean BBQ Beef (Kimchi, Ssam Paste, Scallions) and Asian Pork Meatball Sandwich (Stuffed with Somen Noodles, Korean Chili Paste, Mint). I loved the seasoning on the Tostones, but I love plantains in general and can eat them all day. The Belly Dog was interesting, the Egg Noodles added a crunch that you don’t normally find in a hot dog however with all the flavors in the food at Urban Belly left Belly Shack lacking a bit. The food at Belly Shack essentially felt like Food Truck food, quick and easy. I could have easily done without the soup as well, bean sprouts and other additions left me feeling like I was eating a crappy bowl of pho versus a nice bowl of Hot and Sour soup as I’m accustomed to. Interestingly enough, load me up with an order of Tostones and the Toarashi spiced fries along with a Bowl of Urban Belly Ramen and I’d be an extremely happy man.

Belly Shack
1912 North Western Avenue
Chicago, IL 60647-4332
(773) 252-1414

3/5: Michelin Bib Gourmand Winner; Another fun concept from Bill Kim that lacks the punchof Urban Belly.

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071511 –

It was a warm day in April when I sent over the email to Alinea in hopes of getting a reply back saying I have my intended reservation. At Alinea, you can make a reservation up to two months head to the *MONTH*, not the *DAY*. My July 15th, 6 person reservation required about 200 or so calls to the Alinea office to attempt to get a reservation while concurrently emailing them in an attempt to do the same. You read that right, 200 calls to the Alinea offices in Chicago and this procedure is only less ridiculous than getting my table at Next. During call ~230, I had a reply via email from the wonderful people at Alinea confirming that I have a reservation for 6 people at 7pm on Friday, 7/15. That was about as perfect as it could get. Two friends, Dimitri and Kim were coming up from Houston and their flight landed at 4pm. Two other friends Ali and Naomi planned to leave Indianapolis around 1pm for a 4pm arrival as well.

As Annie and I ventured to the Navy Pier to do the Shoreline Skyline Boat Tour and eventually move on to the Water Tower Place area to take over H&M, my friends started to text me saying they were in town and ready to take on Chicago with me. Alinea was the perfect “first spot” to adequately start the “Texas” takeover of Chicago. My excitement and preparation had finally culminated with this night of fun, food and more importantly friends. Great food is nothing with no one to share it with. We hopped into the car and off we went, 6 of us in Ali’s durango, we almost passed the restaurant if not for my keen eyes. The dark grey exterior masks it from the surroundings. With no names on the outside and just the address on the exterior, we walked up, opened the door and hoped for the best. A sliding door greeted the ladies and we were taken upstairs and brought to our table. A quick glance at the kitchen and I knew we were destined for greatness.

As if you didn’t already know, Alinea is the #1 restaurant in the US, #6 in the world. Basically I was expecting this restaurant to take my notions of food and mind fuck them until I was inside a restaurant eating a plate of food that I was seemingly already digesting. Inception style eating, mind fuck me with the presentation and service and mouth fuck me with the flavors and layers of food.

We sat down, were told about the philosophy of the restaurant and Chef Achatz and then we were presented with a wine list and given some options. Annie and I chose to go with water, with everyone else going for a glass of wine. I’ll be the first one to admit that I know jack shit about wine, I don’t attempt to discern between this year and that year and this label or that label. Its all the same to me.

Our July 15th Menu Progression..

1. Steelhead Roe (Watermelon, Kaffir Lime)
2. Hamachi (West Indies Spices, Banana, Ginger)
3. Oyster Leaf (Mignonette)
4. Scallop (Hitachino, Weizen, Old Bay)
5. Razor Clam (Carrot, Soy, Daikon)
6. Yuba (Shrimp, Miso, Togarashi)
7. English Pea (Olive Oil, Chamomile, Green Apple)
8. Garden Salad (Tomato, Goat Cheese, Red Bell Pepper)
9. Mackerel (Mango, Jicama, Juniper)
10. Wild Mushrooms (Pine, Sumac, Ramp)
11. Hot Potato (Cold Potato, Black Truffle, Butter)
12. Agneau (Sauce Choron, Pomme De Terre Noisette)
13. Black Truffle (Explosion, Romaine, Parmesan)
14. Short Rib (Olive, Fermented Garlic, Blackberry)
15. Octopus (Eggplant, Coriander, Red Wine)
16. Snow (Yuzu)
17. Strawberry (Jasmine, Basil, Balsamic)
18. Lemongrass
19. Chocolate

• Most Memorable? Black Truffle Raviolo
• Most Involved? Short Rib
• Most Interesting? Lemongrass Straw

That was our meal, 18 course of some of the best food I’ve eaten in a single meal. The changing of servers to service-ware to presentation of the courses left me in awe. Not only was this food visually amazing, the flavors matched beautifully. My other favorite meals to date include my other epic 3 Michelin star meal at per se (current #2 in the US) and Lazy Summer Repast from the culinary teams of Bootsie’s, Just8 and Chez Roux. I’d like to declare a unanimous winner in terms of food, but the styles were so vastly different and presentations so different that it would be stupid on my part to choose one and declare it better than another.

Mind Fuck? There was a leaf in an oyster shell that tasted like an oyster.
Mouth Fuck? Lemongrass Shooter with Dragon Fruit and Jelly inside.
Wallet Fuck? $210 a person plus tax and 18% gratuity meant it was $550 for the two of us.

$550 for a couple is certainly no small amount. I could feed 50 people at my family restaurant and still have some left over for extras. Was it worth the money? You will hear a resounding hell yes from me every time. People ask me all the time why I spend the money to eat like this, and in moments like this, the money becomes secondary to the experience with friends and the food that we all got to share together. There have been times when I spend $200 on a multi-course meal and its a waste of money (read: l’atelier de joel robuchon). This wasn’t one of those times.

I’m just happy I remembered the meal, especially after we visited Violet Hour afterwards complete with after drink tacos. Yes, I followed Alinea with some tacos from Flash Taco. Gotta love how life works that way.

Alinea
1723 North Halsted
Chicago Illinois 60614
(312) 867-0110

5/5: 3 Michelin Star Rated and an amazing meal with creativity and flavors that backed up the hype.

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071511 –

Topolobampo was one of my last minute reservation shuffles after a twitter exchange with @tastybitz aka Misha. My original choice was with XoCo completely unaware of what each restaurant serves. As far as I knew, XoCo was tortas and excellent sandwiches, and Topolobampo was fine dining.

As Annie and I walked up to the corner that housed all 3 of the Rick Bayless wonders, XoCo, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, I was at a loss of how to enter the place, a large window for XoCo where you can admire the cooks making breads and other great items, a patio for, what I would find out later on, Frontera Grill and tucked away  in the midst of the Frontera Grill dining room is Topolobampo. I had the last reservation of the day at 130pm and just felt out of place. I was in shorts, semi sweaty after coming back from the Navy Pier, and the waiter looked at me like I had no idea where I had stepped into. This is of course until the first thing that came out of my mouth was, “I’ll have the mescal margarita, and she’ll have the Tamarindo Mescal Margarita. Both flavorful and smoky, just the way I like my drinks in Houston. As we sipped our cocktails, we noticed what the other diners were eating. An older gentleman to my left was eating what looked to be a sampler of ceviche’s which I would later recognize as the Trio Trio Trio. Aptly named for a triple punch of some of the freshest, and tastiest ceviches I’ve ever had. So this is what we ordered after everything was said and done..

Trio, Trio, Trio:

Ceviche Fronterizo: Lime-marinated Hawaiian albacore with tomatoes, olives, cilantro, green chile; on crispy tostaditas.

Ceviche Yucateco: Steamed Mexican blue shrimp & calamari, lime, orange, habanero, avocado, jicama & cilantro. Crispy tortilla chips.

Coctel de Atun Tropical:  Sashimi-grade Hawaiian yellowfin tuna, avocado-tomatillo guacamole, tangy mango-grapefruit salsa.

Frijol con Puerco De Lujo:

Gunthorp heritage pork, three ways: Wood grill-roasted pork loin, black bean-braised suckling shoulder and belly, crispy chicharron. Black rice, fresh “cranberry” shell beans, scattering of xnipec salsa.

Pescado y Mejillones Ahumados en Mojo Verde:

Spicy, herb-marinated day-boat catch and smoked Washington State mussels, green garlic mojo de ajo (mussel broth, Marisol craft beer, guero chiles), chard three ways.

The layers of flavor and spice on every dish was just amazing, my favorite of the restaurant was the Coctel De Atun, extremely fresh and packed with tang. As always I ended up finishing the rest of Annie’s plate so that we could make our way to more shopping at Water Tower Place. I’m a bit sad that I didn’t get to try out XoCo, but I imagine I’ll make my way there sooner or later.

Topolobampo
445 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60654

4/5: Michelin Star Rated Greatness with some of the best Ceviche I’ve ever had

071411 –

Chizakaya is one of those places that I found via Eater’s Chicago page, perched on its #35 position on their own “Eater 38″ list, I felt it was a good enough backing to give the place a try. It was definitely a chance to try something late night. After a full day of eating, shopping and rest and another quick nap, Annie and I hopped on the brown line up north and then made a quick 7 minute brisk walk towards Chizakaya. Surrounded by galleries and other closed restaurants, it was definitely in a small crowd of places that still remained open at 10pm. As we passed scattered bars and closed shops we came up on Chizakaya and its cute owl logo. The specials board greeted us with some reminders about their cold soba and chicken heart skewers.

It’s late night, I’m full of pork and other goodness, but it’s only logical and highly predictable of me to order a bowl of edamame along with some waygu cheek skewers along with the chicken heart skewers that were on special. My other predictable choice was the Tonkatsu ramen. As I had envisioned in my head a nice steaming bowl of ramen with veggies and a nicely deep fried pork cutlet would emerge from the depths of their kitchen. Instead I had a bowl of ramen with a cut of pork, unbreaded. #dissapointment. However the noodles and broth had great flavor which made me forget about the semi tough pork that was in front of me. A definite departure from the beautiful cuts and preparation I had during the day.

Based on Eater Chicago’s quote:

“The Japanese izakaya movement finally found its footing at this Lakeview spot. When you crave beer and bar snacks like puffed pig ears, hamachi with bone marrow and shishito peppers, you have but one place to go.”

I’m going to attribute this to not being prepared and asking enough questions to order whats great on the menu, while the skewers were a hit at $3 an order for 2 skewers, the edamame and ramen were slight misses for an otherwise interesting place that oozes character.

Chizakaya
3056 N Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 477-6400

3/5: Great Skewer Selections with a dismal display of “Tonkatsu”