Capital Spice

In food, like in life, all good things must have balance. While Mike and I were ecstatic to go luxe in Chicago during our long weekend we knew our wallets couldn’t handle this city fully loaded. We aren’t Oprah, after all. (Really, we aren’t even Jerry Springer.) Luckily Chicago offers dozens of options where we can eat and drink well without breaking the bank.

Hot Doug’s
Mention you’re going to Chicago, and the first thing you hear from just about anyone is a variation on “You’ve got to try the hot dogs!”  Go figure…the city immortalized as the “hog butcher to the world” is known for their encased meats.  But it’s not the dogs themselves that inspire the fanatical following; it’s the condiments.  Chicago-style dogs are almost as architecturally impressive as the city itself, piled high with mustard, onions, chopped tomatoes, celery salt, bright green relish and a whole pickle spear.  At Hot Doug’s, however, the sausages and other encased meats (their phrase…try not to laugh as often as we did) are just as noteworthy as their toppings.  Their high-quality versions of the basics (hot dog, smoked Polish sausage, beer-soaked bratwurst, etc.) are all ridiculously well priced…you can get a dog for $1.75, tax included.  Our total bill came to exactly $20, and that included a $9 specialty dog that we just couldn’t resist.

The real draw – and it is a draw, as evidenced by the nearly hour-long wait we endured despite arriving soon after their 10:30 AM opening time on Saturday morning – is the secondary menu of rotating specials.  Eager to try an alligator sausage?  Hankering for the ‘Teuben’ made of corned beef and topped with sauerkraut and Swiss?  Just looking for something out of the ordinary that you’re unlikely to find in any other hot dog joint?  You’ve come to the right place, my friend.  We opted to try a Chicago-style dog and a sausage with the works, but we couldn’t just ignore the specialty menu so we went for the big daddy: a foie gras and sauternes duck sausage topped with truffle aioli, foie mousse and sel gris.  And in the name of science, we decided to do a side-by-side test of their regular fries and the duck fat fries that are only available on Friday and Saturday.  The basics were solid from poppy seed bun to crisp pickle spear, and that foie gras sausage was as rich and decadent as it sounds…thank goodness we were splitting it among three of us!  And the verdict on those fries?  The ones cooked in duck fat were thinner, crispier and generally tastier…but we weren’t quite convinced that they were worth twice the price of the standards.  Better to use that cash for a second dog!

Hot Doug’s
3324 N. California Ave.
Chicago, IL

Urban Belly
There is perhaps nothing more comforting that a steaming bowl of soup on a cold night. Which is a good thing for Urban Belly because there is no shortage of chilly evenings in Chicago. This noodle soup house hidden in an anonymous strip mall serves up much more than everyday salty pho. With a small bites menu of reimagined dumplings and sides – asian squash and bacon dumplings anyone? how about pineapple and pork belly fried rice? – diners have an opportunity to fill up before the main courses slosh onto the long wooden tables.  Which would be a shame because these shimmering soups are worth the trip all on their own. 

We tucked into our enormous bowls as soon as they arrived, slurping up noodles and willing the roofs of our mouths to toughen up to the scalding broth. My spicy soup of rice noodles, Thai rice cakes, hominy and succulent pork belly thinned my blood and warmed my soul. I adored the rice cakes looked like floating water chestnuts but tasted like a piece of thickcut homemade pasta. They cut the perfect platform for the fiesty broth. Mike’s Urban Belly ramen featured a full-bodied pho broth with mushrooms and pork. He slurped to his stomach’s content. Bailey, who brought us and had toured the menu thoroughly on her own time, went with a favorite bowl of soba noodles plunged into a snappy Thai basil broth with scallops and oyster mushrooms. We slurped and chatted and slurped some more, way past our stomach’s comfortable contentment. Friendly waitresses offered to put remaining soup in take-home bowls. Alas, we knew our food agenda was full so we had to leave them behind. Relunctantly we sloshed back into the night.

Urban Belly
3053 N. California Ave.
Chicago, IL

Killer brunch and a massive beer list after the jump. (more…)

Chicago is one of those cities that takes their food seriously.  From their bar-food favorites (deep dish pizza, Italian beef sandwiches, Chicago-style hot dogs) to their high-end chefs (Charlie Trotter, Grant Achatz, Rick Bayless), you can rest assured that you will eat well in the city by the lake.  For our anniversary, we decided to head there for a long weekend.  Sure, we took in the sights…but we also took in plenty of good food.  In this post we’re focusing on our high-end highlights.

Topolobampo
We’d been planning our trip to Chicago long before Top Chef Masters hit the air, but we found ourselves drawn in by Rick Bayless as he made his way through the competition.  How could you not be?  The guy’s culinary skills are only matched by his Midwestern nice-guy demeanor.  We decided we wanted to try his cooking for ourselves, but we had been warned that waits of an hour or more are not unusual at Frontera Grill and the newly-opened Xoco.  So we played it safe and made a reservation for lunch at Topolobampo, Bayless’s more upscale dining room that sits between the other two and is the only one of the three that isn’t first-come, first-served.

The lobby shared by Topolo and Frontera is colorful and full of energy, but we soon found ourselves being ushered back into a more sedate space.  Darker walls are decorated with colorful Mexican paintings and dia de los muertos dolls line shelves between two rooms.  Tablecloths and candles in glass molcajetes say ‘fine dining’ – but not too loudly.  So does the complimentary serving of guacamole and housemade tortilla chips that puts the usual chips and salsa to shame.  We celebrated the fact that we were on vacation with a pair of cocktails, one of which blended Ayinger Ur-Weisse with passion fruit, fresh lime and a flower tea.  For our meal we started with a shared plate of the tart and silky Fronteriza ceviche before moving onto entrees of cochinita pibil (similar to one of the dishes from Bayless’ Top Chef Masters win) and duck in mole de olla.  The suckling pig was savory and crisp, but Elizabeth’s duck dish blew us away and left us scraping the plate with our complimentary tortillas.  What impressed us most about the experience was the fact that each of the dishes we enjoyed was so much more than the sum of its parts…you really had to get a bit of everything onto your fork for the full experience.  And we were happy to have the chance to do just that.

Topolobampo
445 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL  60610

Blackbird
Some restaurants run like a family reunion. Blackbird glides along on rails, as stark white and calmly efficient as a Scandinavian surgical team. Looking over the menu in the bustling, modern space we realized ordering the tasting menu was our best path. The creativity of dishes jumped off the page, each competing for our attention. We took the pressure off ourselvs and let the kitchen decide for us.

Soon a parade of flavors descended from the kitchen, starting with a light taste of sturgeon belly with trout roe, chioggia beets, and crunchy marcona almonds. All the flavors scooped into one delicate forkful set the tone for the rest of the meal: exquisite ingredients with a studied contrast in flavors, textures and balance. One of my most anticipated dishes – the pistachio gazpacho with ahi, watermelon, sea beans and cocoa – packed a double surprise punch. Precisely diced pink watermelon and tuna intermingled as twins in appearance and contrasts in flavors while a strategic pinch of quality cocoa powder gave the cool soup an earthy gut.  Chef  Sheerin (who has spent time in the kitchens of both wd~50 and Jean Georges – this guy does not F around) even made foie gras, a dish that has grown commonplace on upscale menus, taste exciting and surprising. I was dubious when I first saw the preparation on the menu. Served alongside peaches, sweet corn, and  sliced crispy okra? Was this an overwonked study in irony that the high end dish can slum it on a plate with lowly okra and fruit? How naive of me. The preparation was nothing short of a revelation: the decadent silky foie gras (served torchon) sang while the acidity of soft peach, the crunch of scattered corn, and crisp, almost bitter okra played Supremes to the foie gras’ Diana Ross. It was utter rapture in one bite.

Blackbird
619 W Randolph St
Chicago, IL 60661

Craft cocktails (if you can find them) and classic Italian after the jump. (more…)