Pork belly tacos with sesame tortilla, morita salsa, fresh mozzarella, pickled onions, and arugula
Why it’s this week’s Best Bite: With its prime people-watching location, irresistibly snackable menu, and creative seasonal drinks, this new high-end taqueria in Wicker Park practically screams Chicago summer. My dear friend and I were completely enchanted by our weeknight spot on the patio as we debriefed from the wedding we’d attended the weekend before. Of the tacos we ordered, the pork belly with fresh mozzarella and pickled onions was my favorite, well-balanced even with the rich pork belly. The polenta, made with locally sourced grains and cheese, blew me away with its creaminess punctuated by smoky bits of bacon, and the masa crackers were an especially delicious vehicle for sampling each of the three complex salsas. It was tough to decide on a drink, but I landed on the ¿Por qué No?, which paired just the right fruits with mezcal without being overly sweet. I think I’ll be spending more balmy nights on this patio in the coming weeks – assuming I can get a seat.
¿Por qué No? cocktail with lemon, blueberry, peach, and Sombra MezcalPolenta with cheddar, smoked bacon, pickled chilies, and cilantroTomatillo pistachio salsa, tomato hibiscus ghost pepper salsa, and avocado salsa verde, served with masa and rice crackers
Why it’s this week’s Best Bite: As much as I love to eat out at new restaurants, sometimes what really hits the spot is a taste of childhood. These were two of my very favorite family dishes growing up, and I was able to enjoy them both at dinner this past weekend. My grandma’s potato salad recipe is legendary in my family, so much so that a bowl of it was wrapped up for my birthday one year; I only remember asking, “Why is my present so cold?” Without giving too much away, one of the salad’s secrets is pickle juice, which seems to bring together all the flavors and textures of potato, egg, celery, onion, and pickle in a way that I’ve never seen replicated. And then there’s the ribs, which my dad parboils before grilling and coats with seasoning from Rendezvous in Memphis. The balance of dry seasoning and a few layers of sauce gives the ribs a sticky, lacquered finish that’s mouthwatering just to look at, let alone pull off the bone bite by bite. Together, they make the ideal warm-weather meal that oozes with the comforts of home.
Since my job affords me the privilege of working from home one day a week, I’ve made a habit of working from different coffee shops and cafés all over the city – I’m one of those people who’s more focused in that setting, rather than more distracted. My main criteria are good coffee and food options, free WiFi without a time limit (the only exception here is a two-hour timeout at Whole Foods), and reasonably comfortable seating. This list is by no means exhaustive, and in no particular order. I also excluded a few places I love because they’re usually crowded (I’m looking at you, Wormhole and Star Lounge).
Falling into the “hidden gem” category, KnockBox is a tried-and-true favorite, with friendly staff, easy parking, and a great variety of coffee drinks, sandwiches, and snacks (plus I’m a sucker for applesauce being offered as a side).
I had high hopes last summer when I found out that a new coffee shop was opening within walking distance of my apartment, and Gaslight has exceeded expectations, with excellent coffee roasted on-site and a suitably Logan Square-ish aesthetic.
Latte and pain au chocolat in a window seat at Gaslight Coffee Roasters
Let’s be honest: this gargantuan grocery store is one of my favorite places in the city, period, so I’m always content to assemble a hodge-podge of tastes from a few of the kiosks, then settle in with a laptop in the upstairs river-view seating.
I’ve spent many hours at this convenient Logan Square mainstay, sipping either bottomless Metropolis coffee or a delicious Hail Mary (New Wave’s version of “dirty chai”, or a chai latte with espresso) and sometimes splurging on a spinach and feta croissant, if there are any left.
A pleasant discovery in the River North area, I especially appreciate Robust’s relaxed vibe and its impressive selection of local sweets (Brown Sugar Bakery, Dat Donut, Lucia’s Homemade Aljafores, and more).
Iced latte and bagel sandwich on the patio at Robust Coffee Lounge
This bicycle and coffee shop hybrid has proven to be a pleasant, laid-back working environment with lots of natural light; pourover coffee and Glazed and Infused donuts don’t hurt either.
Eva’s Cafe is another gem within its neighborhood, refreshingly spacious with good coffee and lots of interesting seating areas (think wrought-iron furniture and a fireplace).
Globe and other pieces along the counter at Eva’s Cafe
Where are your favorite places to work remotely? I’m always open to new suggestions!
Traditional lobster roll with tarragon mayo and garlic butter, Da Lobsta
Why it’s this week’s Best Bite: The best part about this lobster roll was, somewhat predictably, the lobster. The generous portion of lobster piled onto the roll was left in substantial chunks, with the lavish touch of an entire claw on top. There wasn’t too much mayo – though the tarragon in it complemented the lobster nicely – and the drizzle of garlic butter recalled childhood memories of dunking hard-earned morsels of meat from a whole lobster into my personal dish of melted butter. It all came together on a roll that was slightly sweet and toasted to perfection. While I stuck to the traditional for my first visit, next time I would likely try branching out to the Asian, Greek, or Indian rolls.
Since I’m often asked about what culinary school was like, I’m periodically re-posting “flashbacks” from the blog I kept during my certificate program at Le Cordon Bleu (2009–10).
Piping cookies in baking & pastry class (photo by Adriana Willsie)
Baking & Pastry ended up being my favorite class in culinary school. I really liked the chef, I was refreshed by the precision of the recipes, I got to partner up with my closest friend for most of the assignments, and it was just a lot of fun to learn to make more elaborate desserts. Here are a few snapshots from the six-week course, including the sugar-laden practical exams.
The first thing that’s very different about baking is scaling out ingredients instead of more roughly estimating. We measure everything in ounces using digital scales, so no more rough cups or pints or anything like that. We’ve learned that correct scaling is absolutely essential in order for a product to turn out right. Since we get all the formulae (bakers’ term for recipes) beforehand, we can start scaling before class, and there’s something oddly calming and fun about precisely measuring each ingredient and putting everything in its little container, grouped by product. Maybe this isn’t your idea of a good time, but I’m enjoying it.
The most eye-opening process so far has been making a croissant. Now, most people know that croissants are high in butter content, and know that because they’re so flaky and delectable, there has to be some kind of catch. Well, here’s how you start making croissants. Once you have a square of dough (about 12″ square and 3/4″ thick), you flatten out a pound of butter into a slightly smaller square, and set it in the middle of dough at a diagonal. Then you fold all four corners of the dough in so you have what looks like one of those paper fortune-teller things. So yes, you just wrapped up a nice package that hides a POUND of butter inside your dough. Then, you roll it out into a thinner rectangle, so that you can then fold it into thirds (like a letter) and turn it a quarter-turn…You do three turns total, letting the dough rest for 20 minutes between each one. By the time you’re done, you’ve folded tons of layers of dough and butter, so that once you cut/shape them and finally put them in the oven, the butter melts and the steam that’s created makes the layers puff up into the croissant we know and love. Fascinating, right?
…And that brings me to last night’s first round of exams! For our practical, we each had to make buttermilk biscuits, tea cookies and baguettes. The first two I felt fairly confident about, but our whole class is still having trouble getting the hang of the baguettes, especially when it comes to shaping and proofing and slashing them correctly. So my biscuits were going along fine, and I was all ready to pipe my tea cookie dough using my new pastry bag…until I realized that the tip I had was too small. I had a decision to make: Try to pull out that tip through all the dough and put in a new one, or move the dough into someone else’s pastry bag with the correct tip already intact. I chose the latter, but ended up losing enough dough in the process that I barely had enough to pipe the required 12 cookies. And let’s just say a few of them were less than perfect, so I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t have enough for extras. Alas, I just had to go with it. And then, to the baguettes. Oh, the baguettes. I thought I had shaped them just fine and had loaded them onto the long pizza peel to put them in the oven. There were a lot of other people waiting to put in their baguettes as well, so they were gathered on either side, watching as I was about to slide them in. For some reason, I started pulling out the peel way before I was supposed to, so the baguettes were only half in, and then when I tried to push them in, they basically became S-shaped. I was mortified. Chef was also standing there, and of course jumped in to tell me how to fix them. I tried to tap them back into place myself, but I was so flustered that it wasn’t working. Thankfully, Chef came to my rescue and took matters into his own hands to get them mostly straight again. But I knew my grade would suffer for my misshapen baguettes, and I was not feeling too good about myself. Once I had everything ready for grading, Chef didn’t go too hard on me, and said he could tell there were a lot of perfectionists in this class. I told him I learned all about that at Northwestern 🙂 But his advice to relax and not be so hard on myself was much needed.
…Behold, my final platter:
My final practical exam for baking & pastry
In case you can’t read my scrawled pink captions, that’s nine each of chocolate brownies, tea cookies, chocolate-raspberry tarts, vanilla cheesecake, carrot cake and macarons (French spelling) with raspberry filling — all in petit four size. I was pretty proud of putting this together over our 2-day practical, and though Chef wasn’t a fan of the whipped cream garnish shapes on my cheesecake, or of my over-mixed macarons, everything else was to his liking. But rest assured, I did NOT eat all those treats! Instead, since we were all on sugar overload and couldn’t bear eating any more sweets, a group of us took three big trays of desserts to a favorite bar, and let all the other patrons feast on our final product.
