Mango & Tomato: chicago

6/10/09

Chicago: Frontera Grill

This is the last write-up on my Chicago trip; I promise :)

Our last day in Chicago, Anna, Wendy and I met one of Anna's friends from the CIA, Barbara, for lunch at Frontera Grill. This was one of the two restaurants Anna really wanted to go to, and who doesn't like Mexican food?

To start, we ordered mojitos. I had a raspberry one, Wendy had a mango one, and Anna had a regular one (not pictured). The drinks were super pretty, but not sweet enough: we asked for extra simple syrup.

For the entree, we all had fajitas: very good! And guacamole was really good too.

But the best part of the meal were the desserts! We decided to order two desserts and split them. As you can see from the pictures below, there weren't too many leftovers ;)

1. Tres Leches (spiced butter pecan tres leches cake with whipped sour cream frosting, butter pecan ice cream and a sprinkle of spicy Mexican chocolate and butter-toasted pecans

2. Tartaleta Rustica (warm, flaky, free-form tart filled with minty mango and raspberries. Served with raspberry sour cream ice cream and mango salsa)

6/4/09

Chicago: Hot Dogs at Portillo's

There hasn't been too much cooking lately in my kitchen, other than making a tomato/mayonnaise/basil sandwich this morning.

I do have a few posts in the works from the previous week that actually include recipes (I know! shocking!), but in the meantime, I'll post a few more things from my Chicago trip.

I really, really, really wanted to try a Chicago hot dog and had Portillo's recommended to me by several people. I had to wait till our last day in Chicago to make this little dream come true. And it was definitely worth the wait.

Portillo's offers a fun and casual atmosphere, outside seating, truly friendly staff and oh so many choices! You can get hot dogs, pizzas, sandwiches, fries, dessert, etc! And the prices are very reasonable, and they take credit cards!

I knew what I wanted: Portillo's Beef Hot Dog! I liked the poppy seed bun, and the fun bag the hot dog came in. This was one great late breakfast!

And then I decided to order dessert: strawberry shortcake! Can't remember the last time I had this. It was so good and quite big! The cake was moist and sweet, the strawberries were fresh and there was plenty of whipped cream. I took an extra spoon to share with Wendy and Anna.

If you were to design your hot dog, what toppings would you use?

6/1/09

Chicago: Pizza at Marcello's

Chicago is known for its deep-dish pizza. But I'm really not a fan of that style. I prefer thin crust! Plus, I already had deep-dish the first time I was in Chicago years ago.

This time around, Anna, Amy, Wendy and I met one of Anna's friends, Kate, from the CIA (Culinary Institute) for pizza at Marcello's. This place was recommended my multiple people, and we were looking forward to a fun experience and good food.

Because the restaurant did not offer pizza by a slice and Wendy was the only one who wanted deep-dish pizza, we decided to order two salads and one extra large thin pizza. It was the fastest that 5 people ever came to an agreement when it came to food. That gave us time to chat and learn about Kate's future catering business endeavours!

The service was sort of mediocre, but the food was definitely great!

We started with Marcello's Chopped Antipasto Salad (mixed greens, roasted red & yellow peppers, tomatoes, artichokes, red onion, Italian meats, fontinella & Gorgonzola cheese served with our homemade Italian dressing): the ingredients were fresh and there were plenty of them! We also had a Caesar salad.

When it came to pizza, we decided to be rather simple and ordered Artichoke & Plum Tomato pizza (a sprinkle of fontinella, Parmesan, Romano & mozzarella cheese with garlic and olive oil sauce topped with artichokes & plum tomatoes). The crust was perfection! It was thin and tasted like it was fried in olive oil (a good thing). I was surprised that tomatoes were not fresh, but they still tasted delicious. We had so many leftovers (snacked on them throughout the day).

ooh!!!

P.S. Wendy did end up getting a taste of deep-dish pizza on our last day in Chicago at Gino's. Everyone was happy!

5/29/09

Chicago: Dim Sum at Phoenix

Last Sunday morning, Anna, Amy, Wendy and I headed to Chicago's Chinatown for dim sum. Amy suggested Phoenix, and the line outside let us know that this was a popular choice for quite a few people. We waited about 30 minutes before being seated. While waiting, Anna and Wendy walked around Chinatown and I just chatted with Amy and bought an iced tea from a nearby tea store. It was kumquat flavored: DELICIOUS.

Once inside, we impatiently waited for the carts with food. Unfortunately, the variety of choices wasn't great, but the ones we did sample were quite good.

We ordered ribs (sweet, tender, finger-licking!) and taro cakes. I first tried taro cakes in Vegas after Lera recommended them. These had something inside them, which we could not quite put a finger on...mushrooms maybe? I loved the mashed inside and the crispy outside of these balls.

We then had these really cute wraps: they were stuffed with a variety of vegetables, and the wrap itself was a super thin omelet! Wish I could replicate this at home, but I don't think I'm that skilled.

Unfortunately, none of the carts had greens. I was so looking forward to asparagus, green beans or broccoli, but no such luck. Instead, we ordered Chinese broccoli off of the menu: it was tender and had a slightly garlicky sauce.

And of course we had to order dumplings! I honestly can't even remember which ones these were...pork? Chicken? Shrimp? I just remember they were really good.

We also ordered gyozas. I'm not sure what I did with these photos: perhaps I adjusted the color/saturation a bit too much :) Gyozas were crispy on the outside and full of flavor inside. [I so need to come up with better adjectives!]

We made quite a mess! The food was decent, but I would not necessarily recommend this place too highly. Next time I'll check out some of the other zillion places for dim sum in Chicago's Chinatown.

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