A few options not that far away (State/Chicago) from where you will be: Epic Burger, Silver Spoon (Thai, $7.99 lunch special - appetizer and entree); Rosebud has a $5 1/2lb burger lunch special; Jake Melnicks (great wings - try the PB&J if they have them - marinated in thai peanut sauce, served with jalapeno jelly); El Souk (middle eastern/mediterranean); Bar Toma (a little on the nicer side, surprisingly affordable).
Potaotes: Bialy Barszcz (white barszcz); Cabbage: Golumpki with mushroom sauce.
We're big fans of Silver Seafood on Broadway ...
If you head to Argyle St. (as @chgoeditor says, our "new" chinatown), and want to try Thai food, I recommend Thai Pastry for fantastic Thai food and homemade pastries and desserts. Also on Argyle, try La Patisserie P (http://lapatisseriep.com/) for fantastic EuroAsian pastries. Ba Le is a fantastic recommendation - couldn't agree more, @chgoeditor! And if you're up north, and want to swing through Andersonville, Big Jones for burgers (search this site for their review), Swedish Bakery for one-of-a-kind sweets, and Marigold (Indian cuisine) just opened on Clark.
Bar Toma for pizza is fantastic (try the Tuscan style liver spread as an appetizer - if you like liver, that is!); Silver Spoon on Rush (decent Thai food, $7.95 lunch special that can't be beat!); El Souk (Middle Eastern cuisine) - the fattoush salad is soooo good; Quartino (Italian small plates); Jake Melnick's for hot wings; Cafe Leonidas for hot chocolate. That's all I can think of right now!
Just a thought - maybe ask the manager at your grocery store if they can order it for you? I've done that before, and the manager at my grocery store has always been really responsive!
I recommend looking at some of the safety items at one step ahead (http://www.onestepahead.com/osa/safety.html) - we used magnetic tot loks on our cabinets, and also had an oven lock (this model: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3749221&cagpspn=pla&pla=plab) to keep the kiddos out of trouble. Good luck! It's a bit of work installing everything, but once it's in place, you're all set for a few years!
May I suggest throwing it all in a crockpot or other slow cooker? I have had great success cooking tender, fall-apart pork tenderloin (I usually throw in about 3 lbs of pork tenderloin or lean pork chops with a lot of cumin, garlic, jalapenos, chopped red onion and apricot preserves for about 4-6 hours) in my crockpot - the meat shreds very easily - delicious with tortillas and lime juice.
El Souk is amazing - and while their falafel is good, their fattoush salad is the absolute best. Their chicken shwarma is also pretty fantastic. 808 N. State Street, between Chicago and Pearson.
This is the best place to stop late at night - the porras are the best!
Wow - I feel really lucky! My roommate was Indian, and introduced me (a newbie) to the wonders of Indian food. Her mom would drive up to campus with coolers full of home-cooked meals and snacks and stock (my) mini-fridge with all sorts of goodies. Thankfully, my roommate liked to share! I, in turn, introduced her to toasted peanut butter and nutella sandwiches. =)
Margie's is fantastic! Their chocolate chip ice cream is the best. It's one of our favorite places in the city - we always try to hit the one near the Montrose brown line after dinner at Spacca Napoli or Glenn's Diner...
May I also suggest the Grilled Cheese from Lady Gregory's in Andersonville. Amazing.
@Nick Kindelsperger - If you make it to Thai Pastry, give their Cried Tiger salad a try - they also make the best mango sticky rice I've ever tried. At Thai Spice, they roast and crush their own peanuts because the commercially-available stuff isn't fresh enough; they also only use tiger shrimp for their shrimp pad thai. Enjoy!
You didn't even try Thai Spice (on Devon) or Thai Pastry (on Broadway)? For shame!
This looks amazing.
I concur re: Hopleaf and Smoque -- the brisket and mac and cheese at Smoque is amazing! Bar Toma (downtown) for pizza; also Spacca Napoli if you have time to go to Ravenswood (totally worth the trip, esp. since Margie's Candies is a block away - they make these phenomenal HUGE old-fashioned ice cream sundaes). Glenn's Diner is also really great. And Big Jones in Andersonville has the most amazing burgers EVER. Enjoy Chicago!
@smsingram - my understanding is that pupusas, like empanadas, cross borders. I've had Spanish, Argentinean, Cuban, Puerto-Rican, Colombian and Venezuelan versions of empanadas; I've only had Peruvian pupusas; I guess I should also try the El Salvadorian version!
Agreed -- and thanks for being responsive, SE! It would also be great to see some Peruvian (ceviche! pupusas!) and Dominican (mofongo!) dishes. Latin American cuisine is so varied and amazing - it will be great to see some of it represented on SE. =)
@Saria - your comment made me smile - the majority Latino group where I live is Mexican, and people just assume I like hot/spicy food (since I'm Cuban and Spanish, and it's all the same, right?). lol - definitely does grate, though!
DO NOT eat at the Lincoln Restaurant. Bad diner food at its worst. Although the sign IS pretty awesome.
Woefully absent from this list is Swedish Bakery -- especially the Almond Horn, although the Royal Danish is also amazing.
My Polish sister in law serves her golabki with both a tomato sauce and a creamy mushroom sauce -- the mushroom sauce is delicious! Found a recipe here: http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/polishvegetables/r/mushroomsauce.htm
Also found this: http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/maincourses/r/StuffedCabbage.htm
And this tomato sauce recipe:
http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/polishmaincourses/r/golabkitomato.htm
I made a roasted red pepper dip that received rave reviews -- 8 oz roasted red pepper in water (or more -- I used more, but I love roasted red peppers), drained and chopped, two 8 oz. blocks cream cheese (softened), 4 oz. feta cheese, 1-2 cloves garlic, black pepper, and 4 tablespoons fresh dill, minced. Put all incredients except dill into food processor and puree until combined; add dill and pulse to distribute; refrigerate for a few hours or overnight (the flavors develop the longer it is refrigerated); sprinkle some dill on top before serving, and serve with tortilla chips.
North Michigan Avenue area: Goddess & Grocer for sandwiches/salads/soups -- they make the most divine chocolate-dipped red velvet whoopie pies; El Souk for middle-eastern/mediterranean; Soupbox for quick soups, salads and grilled cheese sandwiches; Rosebud on Rush ($5 half pound burger lunch special! with sweet potato fries! on pretzel roll!); Silver Spoon for fairly decent Thai fare ($6 lunch menu, includes appetizer and entree); Quartino for Italian small plate dishes (the veal meatballs are great); Bar Toma for pizzas and salads; Devon for seafood.
I have 3 lbs. of beef stew meat in the freezer and am absolutely out of ideas. It's also a little too warm to make a big batch of beef stew? I'd appreciate any recipe ideas anyone might have! Thanks in advance!
Hi, all -- I'm making crab cakes for dinner -- any suggestions for a delicious sauce to serve them with? Thanks a bunch!
I've been asked to bring an appetizer or two to a party in a few weeks -- I need something that will travel well and doesn't need to be reheated (party is about 1.5 hour drive away) -- and the apps also need to be "substantial" -- hostess provides a lot of alcohol and does a wonderful job with desserts, but not so much with the savories, so I want to bring something more balanced ... Last time, I brought a tortilla espanola, which was a hit, but I wanted to branch out a little. Any ideas/recipes are appreciated! Thanks!
So I made my first coq au vin last night (well, actually -- Coq au Two-Buck Chuck, following Michele Humes' recipe which was posted last week) and it was really good. My husband loved it. I used Trader Joe's cabernet sauvignon instead of merlot because it was the only red wine in the house, and otherwise followed the recipe exactly. Now I want to experiment! Do you guys have any tips, advice, recipes to share? Thanks in advance!
Hello, Serious Eaters! I'm headed to Washington, D.C. for the first time ever in a few weeks and am garnering restaurant suggestions (the only place I'm absolutely certain we will try right now is the restaurant/food court at the Native American museum, which is supposed to be amazing). Where should we go and what should we eat? Thanks in advance!
So I have some chicken breasts and an eggplant -- any suggestions on what I can do with that for dinner tonight?
Thanks in advance!
I was not looking for a new garlic soup recipe, as I have a couple that I already quite like. But this one from the magnificent Moro The Cookbook differs so wildly from the other versions that it's basically a completely different soup. But man, is it delicious. More
[Photograph: Caroline Russock] Every night at Marco Canora's restaurant Hearth, he offers a prix fixe cucina povera menu [PDF], a simple three course meal at a bargain price of $35. Canora translates cucina povera to "humble cooking," dishes made with... More
So I made my first coq au vin last night (well, actually -- Coq au Two-Buck Chuck, following Michele Humes' recipe which was posted last week) and it was really good. My husband loved it. I used Trader Joe's cabernet... More
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