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Best Bites Chicago

2014 Best Bite #6: Grilled cheese flight, Bar Pastoral

For the third year in a row, I’m using each day in December to celebrate the rest of the best bites (and sips) that I didn’t get to blog about in 2014, posted in chronological order. Browse all of this year’s Best Bites, or look back at year-end Best Bites from 2012 and 2013.

Grilled cheese flight, Bar Pastoral
Three-part flight: traditional grilled cheese made with Widmer’s one-year cheddar and served with tomato tapenade; Castelinhos grilled cheese served with charred scallion pepper jelly; and Scharfe Maxx Extra grilled cheese served with chocolate ganache

Why it’s another 2014 Best Bite: Bar Pastoral offered this flight back in April to celebrate National Grilled Cheese Month, a worthy promotion for a restaurant that’s adjacent to a cheese shop. Each of the three melty sandwiches was paired with a dipping sauce, and although the tomato tapenade and charred scallion pepper jelly both worked well with their respective cheeses, it was the chocolate ganache that struck me as most inventive and delicious.

The details: Bar Pastoral, 2947 N. Broadway, Chicago.

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Categories
Best Bites Chicago

2014 Best Bite #1: Chocolate with olive oil, sea salt, and toast, Ada Street

For the third year in a row, I’m using each day in December to celebrate the rest of the best bites (and sips) that I didn’t get to blog about in 2014, posted in chronological order. Browse all of this year’s Best Bites, or look back at year-end Best Bites from 2012 and 2013.

Chocolate with Tuscan olive oil, sea salt, and ciabatta toast, Ada Street
Chocolate with Tuscan olive oil, sea salt, and toast

Why it’s another 2014 Best Bite: This chocolate dessert shined in its pure simplicity. A quenelle of thick chocolate ganache, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with flaky sea salt, was primed for slathering on ciabatta toast as a sweet-and-savory end to the meal.

View another post about Ada Street.

The details: Ada Street, 1664 N. Ada St., Chicago.

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