Big Sweet Tooth

Mariegold Filipino {From The Raving Dish}

The number one reason I love Chicago is because of the ethnic food options. Sure, the lake is magical, and, of course, the skyline is epic. But I've yet to find another city in the world that offers such a wide swath of foreign eats in such a short span of concrete. Food from every corner of the globe can be found at corner-side shacks, candlelit trattorias, "opa!" bellowing dining halls, and tortilla slinging taco joints—and my astronomical love for it is endless.
But, there are plenty of countries I've not yet explored, and the Philippines makes the top five on my list. It's not that I'm not interested; I've just never been lured into it. You never hear people gushing about the great kare-kare (meat stew with peanut sauce) they had last night, you know? That all changed the day I slammed on my brakes outside Mariegold Bake Shoppe, a glass-fronted Filipino spot on California Avenue. From the look of the dusty exterior, it was definitely an insider-only joint and the small parking lot had one tight spot left—clearly reserved for me.

Thai Aroma: It's Cheap, It's Good, It's in a Strip Mall

I recently directed an episode of the HGTV television show Small Space, Big Style, and when the lunchtime hour arose, my crew, the ridiculously adorable homeowners and I set out to find some good grub in Buena Park (on the HGTV dime, of course).

They recommended trying the fantastic burgers at Buena Bar, a traditional bar near their chic 350-square-foot apartment, but we skittered over only to find that it was closed for lunch. Of course this meant I had to dig deep into my mental I-ate-at-this-strip-mall-joint-once archives and bust out my insider knowledge of Thai Aroma.

Funny, they lived two blocks from this great little Thai place and happened to be on an extreme budget, yet they'd never paid attention to its faded exterior. Jeez, open your eyes, kids; just because a restaurant is in a dusty old strip mall doesn't mean the food's no good. It just means it's probably gonna be cheap and yummy.

Elephant Thai and Wild Chive Dumplings

I've been eating at a number of places lately that reference the word elephant and perhaps the best one is a homey Thai joint called, Elephant Thai.  I trekked all the way west to Edgebrook to get a taste of their famous chive dumplings and I now have a brand new appreciation for the onion family.  These little biscuit like discs are absolutely delicious~Never would I have thought that I'd dive so deep into a pile of fried dumplings, especially a batch that was full of emerald green chives, but these babies are totally worth the spicy bite that accompanies them; they remind me of a crunchy pancake--you know the kind you can't stop  eating. I'm now a big can of anything to do with chives, scallions, garlic, leeks and the whole damn onion family, especially when they're encased in little baby biscuits~

Green Tea's Crazy Sugar Go Mae

One thing I'm not is a spinach fan.  I always have this underlying suspicion that the dirt was never really cleaned off all the way and the greens are still covered in bitter bits of sand.  This spinach thing is a weird obsession of mine and the only way I can really stomach it is in the form of gomae.  Gomae is an always delicious way to prepare spinach, mostly due to the excessive use of LOADS OF SUGAR and I've found the mama-of-all-sugar-coated-go mae's at a tiny sushi house in Lincoln Park called Green Tea.  Theirs was an astonishing version because it was if they'd used actual sugar in the raw for the sesame/sugar paste that covers the blanched and pressed spinach.  I've never had such chunky bites of gomae, but I really loved it (well, anything covered in sugar is bound to be edible). 
*Quick side note: The best gomae I've ever had is at one of my fave restaurants in Roscoe Village, the always packed sushi house Kaze.  Their take on the popular dish is literally deconstructed and a total sensation to the tastebuds.  But, I will say, this wildly thick, insanely sweet appetizer at Green Tea pulls a close second.

Milkfish: The Other White Fish

Last week, I got an email from one of my food editors suggesting that I try a great little dive of a restaurant called Jim's Grill (1429 W. Irving Park Rd.)  It used to be a chop-shop diner, but is now a mix between a diner and a Filipino/Korean joint, with a weird twist of Mexican thrown in for good measure--I credit the steak tacos on the global menu to the quiet Mexican cook.  It's really super rare for me to give fish a go in a restaurant, but for some reason, I was coerced by Joey, the friendly owner ("I'm Joey" is what he belts out to everyone who walks in the door) into trying milkfish--a light (but strong) fish that he proudly dubs "the other white fish."  The menu claimed it would be deep fried and I guess I was expecting something like tempura, but instead it came out sorta pan-fried and covered in sweet sauce (like the sauce that covers unagi).  I have to admit, it was an odd taste, but after I doused the filet in lemon and plopped it onto a mound of steamed rice, it was pretty dang good.  Apparently milkfish is along the lines of carp and catfish and had I known that, I probably wouldn't have ordered it...the best part was the fatty layer of flesh covering the top of the fish--very melt-in-your-mouth.  I will say though, after eating milkfish, noodles, fried rice, and a bizarre take on kimchi---I headed straight to Zephyr to slam down a mammoth brownie hot fudge sundae.  I needed something to get that crazy fish taste out of my mouth, you know?

Ba Le's Goi Cuon~Cheap and Filling

Every couple of weeks reelchicago.com prints one of my archived Raving Dish articles and this week, one of my favorite treats is in the spotlight.  Here is the article:

Intertwining certain foods can cause my taste buds to go berserk, like the sassy little appetizer known as goi cuon.

I’ve had an infatuation with these Vietnamese spring rolls since I first tasted them years ago at Le Colonial, but a short time ago, I stumbled across the mother of all goi cuons at Ba Le French Bakery, 5018 N. Broadway.

The epitome of freshness, goi cuons are like a delicious little soft-sandwich, served tidy and exotic like the Vietnamese, but with the class of the French thrown in for good measure.

Back Into the Belly of Chinatown (for Dried Mango & Tea)

Yet another reason I love Chicago and where I live in the city is my proximity to Chinatown.  It's really like a little village just south of the city and I can wander around for hours into store after store and happen upon something new (almost astonishing) every time (and I don't even have to go to Asia~).  I'm going down there later to get my mom some tea and they have so many varieties--literally dozens of green tea alone, all housed in these giant glass jars (which I love).  They also have my favorite dried mango slices which I chow on by the handful--and want to make a homemade granola recipe with.  It's so funny, those sweet little strips of dried mango are jumbled right beside the jars of prepared squid and various dried fishes.  I'm going to Asia soon and I can't wait to learn what do do with all of this stuff.  And, to have some mountain tea.  That just sounds so good to me right now.  They have some mountain tea that is picked only by little monkeys that I simply must try.

Flattened Chicken in Chinatown-Christ Almighty~

So, yesterday I twirled around the city all day long tasting all sorts of things for an article I'm writing and I ran into this travesty in Chinatown.  What the hell is it?  It looks like it has been hanging up  (in a small hardware section no less) for years and was almost flat as a pancake.  I don't get it.  If you did indeed buy this chicken, what would you use it for?  So dried.  So old.  So utterly horrifying.  I had to post about it.  On the other hand, I did find some delicious cream filled buns and some of my favorite dried fruit--mango--near the same shop in Chinatown.  I literally ran across gazillions of items that I'd never in a million years know what the heck to do with  yesterday--I hit up Latin, Thai, Chinese, Scandinavian, Mexican, German, Polish...just so much good food out there (and, yes!  some totally inedible).  If anyone knows what you'd do with this flattened-by-a-mac-truck chicken that has been drying for decades, do let me know.  I'm quite interested~

Seasonal Menu at Kaze~$45 (From The Raving Dish)

If you're not a big sushi connoisseur, the names of the Japanese ingredients peppering the seasonal menu at Kaze Sushi will read like nothing more than a mish-mash of jumbled letters: bonito, hamachi, enoki, tobiko, ika and ikura among them. They may be a mouthful to say, but oh, are they a mouthful to taste.

Three times a year, Kaze's tidy chef Macku Chan creates a seasonal menu that is utterly mind-blowing. Using seasonal produce and fish (yep, fish have a season; it's before they become pregnant) that are ripe and in their moment, he and his two-man team, family members chef Kaze and chef Hari, blast out a menu that is so sensational, it's hard to prepare the tastebuds. What's even more insane is that they offer the entire tasting menu for $45 on Tuesday nights, with wine and sake pairings to boot.

A Bit of Sunshine Cafe

The homey, welcoming sound of chopping, slicing and dicing can be heard the second I stroll in the front door, permeated only by the shrill cackles bellowing up from a table full of tiny, delighted grandmas. All are busy chopsticking their way through healthy-looking platters of slivered teriyaki chicken, rice and vegetables. If it weren't for a scattering of tables and booths, an attentive waiter and a mile-long menu, I'd swear I had wandered into a friend's snug kitchen in Asia...persnickety grandma included.
Sunshine Cafe is one of those restaurants that is totally off-radar, unless you're a round-the-way foodie or actually live in the Andersonville 'hood it calls home. It's not much more than a dusty storefront (with very unappetizing, odd-looking plastic recreations of its most popular dishes in the window display), but the cafeteria-style charm and constant shuffle through the front door immediately eases my fear. You just never know with places like this, but if the elders are trekking back then it must mean the goods are right on.

Kaze Sushi: Unbelievable $45 Tasting Course on Tuesday's

My neighborhood, Roscoe Village, never ceases to amaze me.  Not only do we have the most amazing variety of international food lining one tiny strip, we have my favorite sushi restaurant, Kaze Sushi.  I went in the other night to sample their fall tasting menu (the menu changes with each season) and was totally blown away.  Chef Macku and his family team have come up with one of the most delicious menus I've tasted in sometime (I know I say that a lot, but this is for real).  The deal is, for $45 on Tuesday nights, you can get a four course tasting menu with wine samplings.  All of the ingredients are seasonal (including the fish, where seasonal means before the fish has become pregnant) and every course was a tiny explosion of flavor in my mouth.  I'm not a huge raw fish fan, but their sushi sampler (above) had the cleanest, lightest fish my mouth had ever tasted.  Probably due to the fact that Macku gets his fish flown in from small-scale fisherman around the world...he's developed relationships with many of them and they fish specifically for him.  He and his team also shut down every January and head to Japan where they "explore with their master." That sounds like something I would do.  Explore, easy.  Find a master...hmmmmm.....

Sunshine Cafe: Thick Miso Soup

Miso soup is one of the most underrated meals out there.  It's so simple in its preparation, but perhaps its because so many cooks slaughter it when preparing that everyone just pushes it to the wayside (I hardly ever order it, unless I know it is right on the money).  But, I believe I have discovered the perfect bowl of miso soup at Sunshine Cafe (5449 N. Clark St.).  It comes along with an entree (try the hand-long shrimp tempura) and is the thickest version I've experienced.  Thick and cloudy, piping hot with just the tiniest hint of green onion...and then peppered with bits of tofu as a bottom-of-the-bowl surprise.  Sunshine Cafe is the perfect place for soup like this, with their grandma's kitchen-like feel (very rag-tag and BYOB, too).  All sorts of tiny (I mean, really teensy) Japanese elders plow through the front doors every day and  that's when you know a place is serving things authentically...when even the natives can't stay away.  I had a thought the other day that I'd like to have miso soup for breakfast, with a poached egg floating in it (much like the Spanish Sopa de Ajo, a rich bread and garlic soup with a poached egg flipping around in it).  Does anyone even serve miso soup that way?  I do that with leftover Chinese fried rice sometimes...reheat it the next day and toss a few poached eggs on for good measure.  YUM~

Tombo Kitchen: $10 Bottles of Sake & Grilled Mackerel

The city is littered with hundreds of sushi joints, and I've been on a mission to try them all. I've definitely got my stalwart favorites, but sometimes it isn't the very best place that draws me back. It's more the economics, especially if you crave rolls every few days like I do. I'm not saying that the grade of sushi doesn't matter, of course it does. (My taste test for every place revolves around how good the shrimp tempura roll is, how tasty the goma-ae is, and whether or not the unagi is slimy and sickly sugary or firm and just-sweet-enough.)
The sushi havens that I know I can count on are spread out over the city like little pulsing heartbeats, always seducing, constantly beckoning. There's Kaze Sushi (Roscoe Village), with its charming outdoor patio, superior sushi and tempura whitefish in parsley sauce that melts in my mouth; and Sushi X (River West), the affordable and tiny stopover after late-afternoon cocktails at Matchbox.

Spicy Peanut Sauce @ Dharma Garden

Dharma Garden is by far the best veggie Thai food in Chicago.  I usually head to my old standby Opart Thai but after rediscovering this Irving Park hideaway again a few nights ago, I can't stop daydreaming about their addictive spicy peanut sauce (which I had slathered all over every dish that came out).  I don't know what it is about their specific version, but it was so thick, creamy and peanuty (plus, just the right about of sweetness and spice) that it just literally melts in your mouth.  They also make a mean veggie eggroll, as well as incredibly tasty fried veggie wontons.  Just remember to order your Pad Thai with no spice (even if you like spice), because it's still so hot it sets your mouth on fire.  I love it all, though. 

Katsu: The Best Sushi in Chicago

Though this picture does the meal no justice (there was simply no time for the clever close up...I was starving, so this shot has to suffice), this is by far some of the best sushi in Chicago.  Katsu, a tiny hole-in-the-wall (from the exterior) has the market on fresh fish in my book.  The shrimp tempura (always my fave) is awesome, but the real winner at this far north side hideaway is a little diddy called "The Napoleon."  Essentially a deep fried oyster roll, there is a gigantic dollop of mayonnaise covering the oyster and the fresh, crisp green lettuce is a nice touch.  The only way to eat this one (and all rolls, as far as I am concerned) is to dip the entire piece into a bit of soy, wasabi and ginger and shove the whole damn thing in your mouth.  I tried the gentle bites, the dainty nibbles....naaahhhh...it just don't work.  It's all about the full on golf ball size mouthful.  Over and over again.  Oh, and the unagi rocks, too.

Ba Le French Bakery

After deconstructing the incredibly delicious Vietnamese fresh spring rolls that Ba Le French Bakery makes, this is what I came up with. 
Each goi cuon contains: 
3 pieces of green leaf lettuce, 1.5 pieces of shrimps (sliced in half), 1 large basil leaf, 1/8 c. of vermicelli noodles, and 1/8 c. of bean sprouts. 
All of it was neatly wrapped in a sheet of sticky rice paper. 
THAT'S IT!!!  No, secret ingredient that's impossible to get, nothing but a bunch of stuff that I can pick up at any grocery market.  WOW. 
Then, it must be the sauce.  That's the tricky part--making the sauce that goes along with it.  It's a hoisin chili dipping sauce that is so good it's drinkable.
I once walked 7 miles round trip in the freezing cold, dead of winter to get an order of these, I was craving them that badly.  Ba Le gives ya 3 to the order and the cost is a paltry $3.75. 

As an aside, when I was there yesterday, I grabbed a chocolate croissant on the way out (huge and only $1.50).  It was the one I am always looking for but haven't found yet here in Chicago.  And, I've tried--  after multiple trips to Paris the past few years, I got a little obsessed with flaky pastries.  I searched high and low, but somehow every one that I got my hands on here in Chi wasn't quite right (to hard, chewy, crunchy, etc...).  Ba Le is the place.  The pastry is so dense with butter it's almost flat.  It's heavy.  It's chocolaty.  It's flaky.  It's the one.