Homemade No. 4: Sausage, Peppers and Pasta

I know it's been awhile since I've posted about something I made but it hasn't been because I haven't been cooking. I have. I also have about five restaurant posts to write too, so I better get my act in gear. I had all these mini red, yellow and orange peppers and didn't want them to go to waste. I made a play on sausage and peppers and made a nice little pasta dish. I started by browning some Italian sausage and later sauteed the yellow, red and orange peppers along with garlic and red onion in some extra virgin olive oil and fresh basil. I eventually tossed in some bow tie pasta and added some store bought cheese and made a mighty fine dish.

Restaurant 7: 312 Chicago

I went to 312 Chicago after a closing with some business associates that I like. The restaurant is a bit more formal but it fit the bill for the group.

Restaurant: 312 Chicago, 136 N. LaSalle St., Chicago. A bit more expensive than I like or than it should have been. On the plus side, they have a great wine selection. Appetizers $8-$15, entrees from $17-$25.

We started out with a group of appetizers: the frito misto ( fried calamari, scallops, salmon), prosciutto plate (Salumi, Prosciutto di Parma, Cacciatore Salami, Sopressata, Marinated Olives) and seared scallops in a saffron leek broth with wild mushrooms and truffle oil. The frito misto was good but forgettable. The prosciutto plate was nice. The seared scallops rocked. The scallop was perfectly cooked and the saffron leek sauce was so good, you wanted more bread to soak up every drop of sauce. The scallops were by far the star of the entire meal.

I ordered the risotto of the day which was a goat cheese, sausage with fresh heirloom tomatoes. When I ordered it, I was somewhat reluctant. Risotto is tricky to do for many restaurants. I figured if you have a risotto of the day, then you must know what you are doing. Well, not exactly. As you can seem it was runny. Who wants runny risotto. Certainly not me. The goat cheese and sausage was nice but the best part of the dish was the heirloom tomatoes which were really fresh and sweet (which is rare in January). I also tasted the Ravioli Filled with Duck Confit, Caramelized Michigan Cherries, Red Wine Reduction and it was average. With these ingredients, I think I could have done better.

On the plus side, they have a nice wine list and a comfortable environment in which to talk without others being in your space. On the whole, the restaurant was overpriced and just lacking. I would not go back.

Restaurant 6: Nana

It was my friend Aaron's birthday. He really wanted everyone to come out to his favorite breakfast place for brunch near his place on the South side. So we headed out to Nana's restaurant in Bridgeport.

Restaurant: Nana, 3267 S. Halsted St. Chicago, IL. Neighborhood: Bridgeport. Pricewise, more expensive than your typical breakfast joint but organic food costs more, so for an organic restaurant is was reasonably priced. Bonus points as the restaurant is BYOB.

Who went: Aaron, Frank, Loiusee, Roy and myself.

All I really knew about the place before I went was that Aaron loves the place and it's an organic restaurant. Everything. I was a bit skeptical as the closest I had ever been to an organic restaurant was the Chicago Diner. Let's say it I was pleasantly surprised.

When you walk in, you know it's not going to be like other breakfast places. The restaurant is nice and bright, with lots of sunshine. You can also see that they paid attention to detail in the design. The kitchen is open so you can see them cooking but just enough that you feel confident about the food. The details in the design, from the subway tiles in the kitchen, the wainscoating and the copper lighting hanging above the juice bar let you know that they were serious about what they do.

The food was very good. I had the AM burger which is an organic beef, applewood smoked bacon, home-made mayo and a fried egg on a hearty bun. I've never had an organic burger before but it was really good. It tasted better than a regular hamburger plus the bacon rocked. Seriously, I had never had a burger with an egg on it and I enjoyed it. I had the egg cook over easy but it had enough juice, so to speak, so that the burger was perfect without any condiments. It was also served with home fries which were just ok.

Restaurant No. 5: Brand BBQ Market

I am going to start this post out with a positive, I will go back. But they better get their act together over there.

Place: Brand BBQ Market, 2824 W. Armitage, Chicago. Neighborhood: Logan Square. Pricing, not expensive, most items under $10 except for the ribs.

I love BBQ and especially a BBQ place that is trying to be more than a joint and really be a restaurant. The place is kinda cool. A key to the place is that it is BYOB without a corkage fee. That rocks.

I went on a Friday night with a buddy of mine. The place was packed and is pretty loud. I'm not sure if it was because there were a couple of large parties or if it's the norm but the tables were spaced far enough apart that you don't have you neighbor's eavesdropping on you. That is a very good thing. Well......

This place has some serious issues. We're looking at the menu for a bit and our waitress finally comes over and informs us that they are out of a few things. OK, shoot. On the appetizers, we're out of the chicken wings, the Gorgonzola crab cakes and rib sampler. For entrees, they were out of the white meat chicken and the baby back ribs. Excuse me. A BBQ place that runs out of chicken and ribs!!! What good are you. That's like going to a breakfast place and saying they ran out of eggs. Come on, this is serious problem.

As they were out of the two appetizers I was interested in (seriously Gorgonzola crab cakes, I must try these), I decided to just order a sandwich. I order the smoked pork belly confit. Anything that they can make bacon out of is all good in my world. And mainly because how damn good this sandwich was, will I consider going back. Seriously, the pork belly was so flavorful and moist, I could barely take a breath before I inhaled it. I had never had pork belly before and believe me, I have missed out. My friend ordered the smoked pulled duck. Another interesting option at a BBQ place. He really liked it, it was moist and flavorful. The side of mac and cheese with burnt ends of brisket thrown in was really good but served in what was a Dixie cup. Not enough to be a side more of a snack size serving.

Another huge problem is that we were still hungry. When was the last time you had BBQ and were left hungry after eating your meal? Didn't think you could answer that. We called the waitress over and told her we needed more food. Now, they had run out of the brisket and the remainder of the dark meat chicken and the pork belly. Great, so what you have left is the pulled pork, duck and salad. On a good note, or so we thought, she said they have one half slab of ribs left. Really, where did you find those? And that is the exact way to describe the ribs. They were horrible. They were dry and tough. I think they were ordered for take out and sat around for over one hour and were reheated. They shouldn't have been served. Ribs are supposed to be falling off the bone, moist and delicious. I really could have done without bad baby back ribs.

The service was not good. The waitress took forever to get to us originally. As we figured out what we wanted, only to be told that they didn't have most of the items is inexcusable. That needs to be done right away as soon as they sit you down. Especially when you run out out of the basics of BBQ, hello. Also, they have seven different sauces and only keep the three most popular on the table. I asked for the others and she was asked me with an attitude if I wanted all of them. Yeah, all of them. Sorry to make you do your job but you know it's my first time here and how the hell am I supposed to know which sauce I like. On a side note, we had a conversation with her about them running out of food and our experience. She was nice enough in apologizing but in doing so she put down other BBQ places around there. Not necessary at all. I'm in your restaurant and can figure out if I'll come back again based on things like the food and the service.

This place is new and the only reason I will give it another go is the pork belly and the duck were so damn good. If they can make two amazing dishes, maybe they were just overwhelmed that night. Also, plan ahead and have enough food on hand and smoked, that would be a welcome treat. BBQ is not something that you can just whip up, it takes time to prepare and smoke.

Home Made No. 3: The Grilled Cheese

I know this may seem a bit simple but it is one of the truest treasures out there, a perfectly made grilled cheese sandwich. I've made them with every type of cheese imaginable from American to Muenster to Gorgonzola. Some cheeses work better than others, such as Muenster but classic, old school always wins out. It is almost imperative to have the right pan. My former roommate Tom had one of his mother's old cast iron pan that to this day I made the best grilled cheeses with. I'm thinking about making one right now. Yum mm.

Restaurant No. 4: Fuego Mexican Grill

I went to Fuego with a large group of people, approximately 11 of us to celebrate my friend Luis' Birthday. Fuego is an upscale Mexican restaurant with a specialty focusing on 7 different varieties of mole.

Restaurant: Fuego Mexican Grill and Margarita Bar. Located in Logan Square, 2047 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago.

Who I went with: More like who didn't go. Luis, Brian, Roy, Paul, Rick, Joe, Aaron, Frank, Mark, Lady Jane.

Cost: Not too expensive, most of the entrees were $13-$20.

When you first walk in you have the feeling you are going to be eating at a chain restaurant as the place has a huge bar, gigantic dining rooms and a night club/salsa bar upstairs. Plus the over the top decor and the vintage pictures of Latin actors and actresses, adds to the feel. But it's not. While there is another location in Arlington Heights, that's it for this restaurant group.

We started out with guacamole, made table side. While this was a nice show, I have serious reservations about making the guacamole this way. Having made guacamole hundreds of times in my life, it is always better when it has a little time to sit and allow the flavors to gel. That being said, it was still good and the avocados were creamy. Overall, it was worth it and it was cool to watch someone else make it for a change.

For dinner, our orders were all over the place. The waiter did something above and beyond and brought out a sample of the seven different moles so that we could sample them and order the sauce that we liked best. I was really impressed by the different varieties and ordered the pistachio mole over a fillet. The steak was tender and juicy and the mole excellent. With all the people, the orders ranged from basic quesadillas to tacos to the other moles. Over all, the food was quite good.

I will have to say the service was excellent. Besides offering to sample the moles, he was very attentive. A lot of times when you have large groups, the waiter tends to slack off because he knows that he is going to receive 18% regardless of how adequate the service is. He was no dummy and kept the drinks coming. With 11 of us drinking, the bar bill exceeded the cost of the food and added to his tip. They seemed to handle large groups well which is nice to see.

Restaurant No. 3: A tacueria

Normally this would not fit my criteria. But this is not your typical taco and burrito place that can be found all over Chicago. One of the oddities of this place is that it is a restaurant inside of a grocery store. I have been to a few before and have always found the food to good and the offerings a lot more extensive, so it fits because it is more restaurant than most Mexican joints.

Place: Tacueria North Pulaski, 3850 W. North Ave., Chicago. Located on the west edge of Logan Square/Humboldt Park, near Humboldt Park.

Cost: Cheap eating. Prices are pretty much $7 and under.

I went out to Costco with a friend of mine and on the way back, we decided we were hungry. Shocking, that after eating all the freebies at Costco, we want more. But alas, we did.

If you can get over eating in a grocery store (hello Whole Foods makes a fortune), you will really like this place. The options were amazing. You could get pretty much whatever you want, from tacos, burritos, sopes, carnitas, chilaquiles, carnitas, fajitas, rotisserie chicken, soups, pork chops, to so much more.

I decided that I wanted chilaquiles. If you aren't familiar with it is a dish with fried corn tortilla strips, eggs, a tomatillo sauce (this was a verde), onion, fresh cream (Mexican sour cream) and cheese. How could you go wrong. It was really good. I couldn't even eat half of it, the portion was so large. It was all good. And I highly recommend.

My friend Bill had the chicken plate. There was a lot of food. I'm not sure if it was a half chicken but it was definitely more than a quarter. The chicken was really juicy and well flavored. The chunk of avocado was huge and super creamy. It was really worth the price.

All over, it was really good. Not everything about the place is great: my hochata was weak (they served it warm), the ordering line cramped, and you are better served if you know some Spanish, but overall this tacueria is a worthy place. The moral of the story here is if you are willing to give a place a chance, you may end up with a huge surprise.