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Chicago Curry House

Posted in Restaurant, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 28, 2011| 1 Comment »

Yuki used some of her United miles to get a coupon for the Chicago Curry House. I remember a couple of years ago she took me there for their lunch brunch. Featuring Northern Indian and Nepalese food I remember it being pretty good. When she got the coupon we figured that’d get us back down the Printer’s Row for some good Indian, the other night it did just that.

It’s in a very inconspicuous location. On the first floor of an apartment building its entrance is hidden behind brick just off State and 9th. What lies inside though is a very good, but typical, Chicago Indian restaurant. As usual, my phone pics turned out horribly. Deal with it and read on.

When we sat down we were greeted with pappadom and the usual three sauces, cilantro, chutney, and tamarind. I quickly ordered a King Fisher beer and continued perusing the menu, which is quite extensive.

Yuki ordered the Sambar Soup. I light lentil soup with vegetables it was much thinner than what we’re used to. It was very light, but very flavorful.

Our first appetizer was the Vegetarian Samosa. Some of the biggest samosa’s I’ve ever seen! Nice and spicy with whole spices, you can tell these were freshly made samosas.

Next we had the Chicken MoMo, Nepalese-style dumplings. Curry spiced ground chicken with a curry sauce to dip them into. These had some kick to them and were very tasty.

In order to try numerous menu items and ensure lunch the next day (two appetizers helped with that) we decided to get two of their “sampler” entrees. This is the Curry House Vegetable Special Dinner. It comes with Dahl Makhini, Palak Paneer, Aloo Ghobi, Navratam Korma, Chana Masala, Garden Mix Vegetable, Cardamom Rice Pudding, Raita, Naan, and Basmati Rice.

On this sizzling hot platter was the Curry House Non Vegetable Dinner. This contained Tandoori Chicken, Chicken Tikka, Lamb Seekh Kabab, Naan, and Basmati Rice.

It also came with Navratam Korma and Butter Chicken.

The Chicken Tikka and Butter Chicken were two of the best chicken dishes I’ve ever had at an Indian restaurant. The flavors penetrated through all of the meat while the chicken stayed nice and moist in both dishes. Absolutely fantastic chicken. The Palak Paneer was my favorite from the vegetarian dishes. Everything, however, was above average.

The service was nice and the space warm and inviting. Combine that with above average Indian Food and Printer’s Row has a keeper. While Chicago Curry House is a bit of a drive for me I don’t think I would go out of my way for it. If I lived in the neighborhood or ever crave Indian Food while in the South Loop area I will definitely make my way back. It’s a place that should definitely be frequented by its local townies.

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Yuki’s Sukiyaki

Posted in beef, Home Cooking, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Just saying Yuki’s Sukiyaki is almost as much fun as eating it. Sukiyaki is a traditional family style one-pot meal in Japan. Vegetables are simmered in a sweet soy-based broth.

Then the pot is brought to the table and, over a table-top burner, thin slices of beef are swished around (similar to shabu-shabu) and cooked in the pot. Each individual has their own dish to put the beef and veggies in. It usually is mixed with a raw egg, but raw eggs aren’t good for prego so we omitted that.

Ingredients for Yakiniku aren’t set in stone, what we used are pretty typical for the most part. I chopped up a carrot, quartered 1/2 onion, cleaned up 1 packet of enoki mushrooms, rinsed and cut up 1 packaged of konnyaku shirataki noodles, 2 large shiitake halved, 1/4 head of napa cabbage chopped, a little more than 1/2 pound of thinly sliced beef, almost 1 block of silken tofu large diced (I had previously used about 1/8th of it for miso soup, use as much as you like), about 5 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons mirin, 3 tablespoons sake, and 1-2 tablespoons of sugar.

In our large pan Yuki poured in the soy, mirin, and sake along with about 1/4 cup of water. She added the sugar and brought it up to a simmer. The onion and carrot had the longest cooking time so they went in for about 5 minutes, covered.

Then she added the rest of the ingredients minus the beef and let them cook for another 5 minutes or so. After that we moved the pan to our table-top burner and swished the beef in the boiling liquid. White rice on the side and cold beer in hand.

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Beef and Barley Stew

Posted in beef, Home Cooking, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Last night I made a classic Beef and Barley stew. I didn’t quite make it using the classic ingredients though. Instead of potatoes I used sweet potatoes. Instead of the popular pearl barley I used hulled barley. Instead of stew meat, usually beef from the round or chuck roast, I used brisket. Oh brisket, how I love thee! I did this for health reasons as sweet potatoes have more nutrients than regular ones and hulled barley is a whole grain that still has the germ, it has 8 essential amino acids. While brisket isn’t any healtheir than typical stew meat it’s all about flavor and texture.

My ingredient list included 3 medium sized sweet potatoes skinned and chopped, 1 tablespoon of dried oregano, 2 medium sized carrots chopped, 3 stalks of celery chopped, 1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce, 1 onion chopped, 2 cups of beef stock, 2 medium sized parsnips chopped, 5 cloves of garlic diced, 1 14oz can of peeled whole tomatoes, 1/2 cup of rinsed hulled barley, 2/3 cup of edamame, and 1 pound of brisket cubed. Not in the picture are 1 tablespoon of flour, 2 bay leaves, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

I started by heating up my stock pot. Once hot I poured in the olive oil, added the brisket, and sprinkled the flour on top. I stirred it all around just until the surface of the beef turned brown and no longer pink. Then I added the onion, celery, and garlic and sweated them down for about 5 minutes. After that I poured in the stock, added the bay leaves, brought it up to a boil, covered, turned the heat down, and let it simmer for about an hour.

Once the hour passed by I tossed in the barley, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, worcestershire, and oregano. I let that come back to a boil and let it simmer for another 45 minutes.

Finally, I added the edamame and tomatoes with their juice. I took each tomato out one at a time and broke them up with my hands as they dropped into the stew. Once everything was mixed in I seasoned with salt and pepper and let it stew for about 15 more minutes to bring it all together.

A couple slices of toast, a bowl of hot beef and barley stew, and a nice cold beer and that’s all she wrote.

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Chicken in Chinese Black Bean Sauce

Posted in Home Cooking, poultry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

For dinner last night I made a simple Chinese-flavored ground chicken stir-fry. For the sauce, I used fermented black bean and garlic sauce. It’s a real easy way to get a lot of flavor into a quick, healthy dish.

My ingredients included 1 carrot cut into half moons, 1/2 pound bean sprouts, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 10 green onions thinly sliced, 3 tablespoons of black bean and garlic sauce, a package of shiitake diced, 1 head of broccoli cut into florets, 1/2 inch ginger, minced, 3 cloves garlic minced, and 1 pound of ground chicken thigh.

First thing I did was to mix up the sauce. In a small dish I mixed the soy and black bean sauce. After tasting it, I decided to add a little sweetness so I mixed in 1 tablespoon of mirin. I set that aside and heated up a saute pan.

Once hot, I poured in about 2 tablespoons of sesame oil and then added the ginger and garlic. I let them sizzle for about 30 seconds and then added the carrot and green onions. I sautéed them for about 3 minutes and then added the chicken. I broke up the chicken as it cooked for about 7 or 8 minutes and then added the shiitake. Once the shiitake were coated with the rest of the ingredients I added the sauce and mixed it around. At this time I put the broccoli into my steamer. Broccoli only needs about 4 minutes to steam to a nice al dente and at this point all I need to do with the stir-fry was let the sauce boil down a little and add some pepper and the bean sprouts. So, that’s what I did. Easy as that.

The other day Yuki had made some sweet potato rice that we didn’t finish. Instead of making new rice I decided to use that up. White rice probably would have matched better with the slightly salty dish, but the sweetness of the sweet potatoes wasn’t that bad of a match, and it added a higher nutritional value to the meal. So did my beer.

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Chicken Hijiki Rice

Posted in Home Cooking, poultry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 13, 2010| 2 Comments »

The other night Yuki and I cooked together. We made one of my favorites, chicken hijiki rice, along with some vegetables that we needed to use up.

Making the rice is easy as can be. We used 1.5 tablespoons of dried hijiki seaweed, 4 shiitake sliced, 1 carrot sliced in half moons, and 1/2 pound of skinless chicken thighs. While I rinsed off 2 cups of rice and cut up the vegetables Yuki cut up the chicken and quickly sauteed it in sesame oil. After filling the rice cooker with the proper amount of water for 2 cups of rice I put the hijiki in and let it sit for about 15 minutes. Then we tossed everything else in, turned on the cooker, and let it go.

I made a sesame dressing for some pea pods that were in our fridge. I used 1 tablespoon of miso paste, a pinch of sugar, 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, and 1/2 tablespoon of mirin.

I toasted the sesame seeds in a dry skillet for a few minutes until they turned a golden brown and started to give off their fragrance. Then I ground them with my pestle and mortar. I added the rest of the ingredients, mixed them all together, and set it aside. I simply steamed the pea pods for about 4 minutes when the rice was ready. Then I tossed them with the sesame dressing.

We also had some chikuwa and 1/2 a zucchini to use up. Chikuwa are tubular, hollow fish cakes that have been baked or grilled. I sliced the zucchini into long sticks and stuffed the chikuwa with them. Once the rice was ready and the pea pods steaming I just put them in the toaster oven and toasted them for about 6 minutes. I drizzled them with the sesame dressing as well.

While I was doing that Yuki made some miso soup. I didn’t watch her make it, but she put in it sliced onion and wakame.

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Lillie’s Q

Posted in Restaurant, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 10, 2010| 4 Comments »

Last night my buddy Nick wanted to meet up for a happy hour drink. In the morning he suggested either grabbing a beer or trying a new taco joint or something, he’s a taco eating freak of nature who would hook La Pasadita up to an IV bag if he could. I had read about Lillie’s Q and was very intrigued by a BBQ place whose chef had logged time at places like Tru and Avenues and who used his grandma’s Memphis In May winning BBQ sauces. When I noticed that they served fried pickles I knew I could get Nick on board as he’s from The Muthaland, better known as Louisville, KY, where a place called Genny’s serves up frickled pickles, a dish near and dear to his tracts.

We got a table quickly as it wasn’t full yet, it did fill up shortly after we got there. The space is nice, simple, and clean. Brick walls and a nice bar, very typical of a Bucktown storefront. On the tables are the various in-house BBQ sauces. There’s the Hot Smokey, Smokey, Carolina, Carolina Gold, and Ivory. They’re all pretty self-explanatory, but we both agreed that they should tell a little about the flavor profiles. We opted to taste little dabs of each. They were all pretty solid sauces.

Of course, we started withe the fried pickles. I’m not a big pickle fan (I think my younger brother and I are the only two Jews in the world who wouldn’t slather ourselves in pickles if it were socially acceptable) but these weren’t too bad. The frickled pickles at Genny’s are thinly sliced while these were big chunks. Having been to Genny’s myself I think I agree with Nick that thin slices are better because you get a better ratio of coating to pickle. Also, these were served with their Ivory Sauce, a variation of Ranch Dressing. The proper sauce for a fried pickle should be a mixture of ranch with ketchup. All in all though, not too bad.

As we looked further into the menu we noticed a 4 bone option for the ribs. Since we wanted to try a bunch of things that seemed like a great second appetizer to share. The ribs were really good. Very tender, moist, nice subtle smokey flavor, and just the right amount of BBQ sauce caramelized on the surface. While I wouldn’t go as far as saying they are the best ribs I’ve ever had, I will say that they were damn good. Nick claims that Honey 1 has a better rib, but I’ve never tried them so I can’t comment. I will say that the ribs at Smoque are a little better than these. So, the verdict is that these are very good ribs, but not the best ribs.

For the main event we decided to try the pulled pork sandwich, tri-tip sandwich, and seasoned sweet potato fries and split everything. We got the sandwiches with the “Carolina-style” option, which is basically a pile of slaw thrown on top of the meat. The pulled pork was excellent. Very tender and juicy meat. The tri-tip, not the best. The meat was cooked properly, it just didn’t have any flavor. The brioche they use for buns had a much stronger flavor than the meat, something that should never happen with BBQ’d beef. If you take the meat out of the bun and squirt some of the Carolina Gold, a vinegary mustard sauce, all over it the meat becomes a great vessel to enjoy the sauce. Otherwise, it has no real purpose in life. Neither of the sandwiches came sauced, which is nice because you have the option of choosing the sauce that best fits your style. I thought the Smokey on the pulled pork was a great sandwich. As for the sweet potato fries, they were just your regular sweet potato fries. I will say that they were perfectly cooked, crisp on the outside and soft in the middle.

While the food was well above average I kind of expected a little more considering Chef McKenna’s background. I actually think his background was a bit of a hinderance on the food. Real BBQ is not served on brioche, and last night I found out why. The sweetness of the bread was too much for these sandwiches. A regular bun would take these sandwiches from really good all the way up to great on my scale of good to great. What do the French know about southern BBQ anyway?

We didn’t try any of their “Moonshine” cocktails, instead opted for jars of beer. They have a decent little beer list that washed all of the food down nicely.

As for the service, I thought it was fantastic. Timely, professional, not pushy at all. The place is run very smoothly.

Overall, Lillie’s Q is a really good BBQ joint but by no means a must go. If I’m walking around the area and get the craving for some BBQ I have no problems stopping in and filling my belly with their grub. However, if heading to BBQ is something planned ahead of time I’d rather meander over to Smoque. But, don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with Lillie’s Q, it’s just not an out-of-this-world BBQ experience.

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Shiitake Mapo Tofu

Posted in Home Cooking, Meatless Monday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Mapo tofu is a Szechuan dish typically made with ground pork. However, last night being Meatless Monday, I diced up some shiitake mushrooms to take the place of the meat.

To start, I made the sauce. I used 2 heaping tablespoons of toban djan (a szechuan chili and fermented bean sauce, its spicy but this dish is supposed to be very hot), 1/4 cup of soy sauce, 1/8 cup of sake, and 2 teaspoons of tapioca flour to thicken it up a bit. I mixed it all together and set it aside.

I used a 3.5 oz package of shiitake, about 6 oz of haricots vert cut into thirds, a carrot cut into matchsticks about 2 inches long, 8 green onions chopped into 1 inch pieces, 3 minced garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons minced ginger, 1 red bell pepper cut into thin slices and then halved, and 1 package of firm tofu. I prefer silken tofu, but there wasn’t any at the store. Oh well, what can you do? I pressed the water out of the tofu for an hour in the fridge and then diced it.

In a hot pan I poured in about 2 tablespoons of sesame oil and then fried the garlic and ginger for about a minute. Then I added the haricots vert. About 3 minutes later I tossed in the carrot and pepper. I let that go for about 3 more minutes and then the shiitake and green onions went in. Once the shiitake were softened a bit, about 3 or 4 minutes, I poured in the sauce (I mixed the sauce thoroughly again to make sure the tapioca didn’t form any clumps). This was the first time I’ve ever used tapioca flour as a thickening agent and it worked a little better than I expected. The sauce almost immediately thickened up on me in that hot pan. To remedy that I poured in about 1/3 cup of water and that thinned it out nicely. I needed it a little thinner so it would evenly coat the tofu which went in right after I stirred the water in. I let the tofu heat through for about 4 minutes over medium heat and then served it all up with some white rice and drank it down with a cold beer.

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Rootstock

Posted in Restaurant, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Last night Yuki and I walked to Rootstock Wine & Beer Bar for dinner. She was in the mood for some nice wine, I wasn’t in the mood to cook, and neither of us have been there before. With the weather not too humid last night a nice 30 minute walk to and from dinner sounded about right.

We got there about 8 and the place was packed! They have a couple of community tables outside that were full as well as a handful of tables inside that were full. Fortunately there were a couple of open seats at the bar so our walk was not in vain.

The place has a nice vibe to it. It’s dark, intimate, lively, and has a mature feel to it. It was loud, but the walls were brick with a thin layer of drywall, nothing to dampen the sound. They did play good tunes throughout the night though (Earth Wind & Fire is always welcome on my ear cilia).

Service was friendly and attentive. When we walked in we were immediately greeted by a server even though there isn’t a host stand. She directed us towards the bar where the bar tender did a good job of handling his patrons while getting drinks ready for service. My only gripe with the service is that they didn’t give us a glass of water. That should be the first thing given when a customer sits down. Other than that no complaints at all.

They have a nice wine and beer list as well as other alcoholic beverages. We ended up getting a bottle of Spanish Garnacha from the Navarro region. Great bottle, great value.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures, my phone doesn’t do too well in dimly lit restaurants. We started with the regular mixed green salad. Nothing fancy it had mixed greens with ribbons of zucchini and carrot in a light vinaigrette. They put a little too much vinaigrette on, but it was well-balanced.

Yuki got the Pork Belly Bahn Mi. The pork belly was a little dry, but overall it tasted pretty good. It was a little small though and could have used one or two more elements. All it had was some toasted bread, a few slices of pork belly, a bunch of frisee, and a thickened soy glaze.

This may be the worst picture I’ve ever taken, but I got the Greek Linguista Sausage. This was very disappointing. They basically took a sausage that could have come from Whole Foods, grilled it, and put it on top of some wilted escarole with mustard and red grapes. I was expecting a Greek style sausage that resembles more of a hand-made oblong meatball made of lamb instead of an Italian-style cased sausage that just had Greek seasonings. Plus, it was spicy. I’ve never had a Greek sausage that was spicy before. On top of that there was no starch on my plate. I almost ordered some french fries just to fill the gap in my belly. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good quality sausage, but it was definitely something you buy at the grocery and throw on the grill yourself, not something you get at a wine bar. I didn’t think the grapes really belonged on the plate either.

That was all we ordered as we have had enough of the food. It seems like they have a lot of potential to whip up some really tasty and creative dishes to match their impressive wine and beer list, but for whatever reason they didn’t quite do it. For my money, this is a great place to sit down and have a drink, but not a place you want to go to for dinner.

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Hoisin-glazed Salmon with Brussel Sprout Hash and Corn Soup

Posted in Home Cooking, seafood, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Fresh caught sustainable Coho Salmon was on sale, and it looked damn good, so I picked up a 20 oz fillet. I really wanted to throw it on the grill, but with it raining all day yesterday I had to settle for the broiler. I hate covering up fresh flesh like this with a lot of flavors, so I kept it real simple and just added a little extra flavor. But first, the soup.

I cut the kernels off of 3 ears of corn, chopped up 4 green onions, sliced 3 cloves of garlic, and threw it all into a stockpot with 1 cup of chicken stock and 2 cups of water. I also threw the stripped corn cobs in to make sure all of that flavorful juice made it into the soup. I brought it all up to a boil, covered the pot, turned the heat down to med-low, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Then, I turned off the heat and let it cool for about 10 minutes before pouring it all into my blender. I contemplated straining it, but I like the little bits of corn so I left it as is. I poured it back into the pot, seasoned it with salt and pepper, and left it until dinner time. At that point I re-heated it and ladled it into a couple of bowls and garnished it with some fresh slices of radish.

For the hash I used 5 large shiitake stems removed and caps quartered, 5 red creamer potatoes (the pic shows 7, but I only used 5 of them), 6-7 oz of brussel sprouts quartered, half an onion large diced, 2 garlic cloves minced, and 2 thick slices of applewood smoked bacon. In a large pot of boiling salt water I par-boiled the potatoes for about 10 minutes then lifted them out with a slotted spoon. I set them aside to cool down. In the same boiling water I threw in the quartered brussel sprouts and let them go for 2 minutes. Then I drained them and let them sit until further notice.

In a large hot skillet I laid the bacon slices in and let the fat render off. Once they were crispy I took them out and drained them on paper towels, then sliced them up. I added 1 tablespoon of butter to the hot bacon fat and then chopped the cooled potatoes and tossed them in. I let them get a little crisp on the outside for about 6 minutes and then tossed in the garlic and onion. After about 6 more minutes I added the shiitake and brussel sprouts and then seasoned with a little salt and pepper. Didn’t need too much salt because of the salty bacon fat. A few minutes later and I added back in the sliced bacon. I let that all come together for about 3 minutes.

Look at that salmon! Isn’t that gorgeous?

I cut it up into 4 equal portions and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Then I took some hoisin sauce and brushed just a little on top of each piece. Not too much, just a little. While my hash was cooking I put my oven rack on the upper third and started the broiler. I put the salmon under the broiler for about 7 minutes. That’s all it needs. Ready to be devoured.

I had soup, vegetables, dead animal (salmon and bacon), a beer, my beautiful wife….what more did I need?

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Ribs

Posted in Restaurant, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 8, 2010| 1 Comment »

The only other meal worth blogging about from our trip last week was our final dinner. We used Las Vegas as our start and stop point simply because the cheapest flights were to Vegas and we were able to make a nice circle out of there. Anyone who knows me has heard me tout the brilliance of Mike Mills’ ribs. He’s the owner of 17th Street Bar and Grill in Murphysboro, IL. When my mom and step-dad attended law school at SIU they turned me on to his ribs. He’s a 5 time rib champion of the Memphis in May BBQ contest, 2 of those times also taking the Grand Champion trophy. Bon Appetit Magazine has him ranked right at the top of BBQ Ribs. For whatever reason, he opened up 3 locations in Vegas and named them Memphis Championship BBQ. I was looking forward to those ribs to close out the trip ever since we booked the flights.

We started off with a jar of beer each and some rolls with honey butter.

Slabs and half slabs of ribs each come with two sides. We quickly realized that it’s cheaper to share a slab and then order two extra sides, which still turned out to be a bit too much food for us. Also, the sides aren’t all the same price. So, we included fried okra and steamed vegetables with the slab since they were the two most expensive and then added an order of mashed potatoes and, what BBQ meal is complete without them, baked beans. The okra came with a dipping sauce made with Mike’s famous Magic Dust, a spice blend recipe handed down to him from his grandmother. The vegetables were simply a mixed bowl of steamed vegetables. The potatoes had bacon them as well as Magic Dust in the gravy. And the baked beans also had bacon as well as his BBQ sauce.

On to the ribs. A nice full slab of slow-smoked baby backs. We got there at about 9:30 at night and our ribs were probably at their peak about 6:30-7ish. They were slightly dry, but still fantastic! Still better than any other rib you’ll get at a restaurant. We devoured those meat popsicle about as well as any vulture could. MMMMMMMM!

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