What is this Craziness?

Fish Wednesday?  Could it be that Wednesday has usurped Tuesday as the fish day?  No, the wonderfully wonderous Fish Guy Market just had a great deal on scallops yesterday, so I had 3/4 of a lb laying around the house.  On this most unusual day, I wanted to do something special with these scallops to commemorate the first ever Fish Wednesday.  I remembered a few years back on Top Chef, one of the contestants did banana scallops, so I got to wondering how those would go with real scallops.  I figured it would go well so long as it had something sweet and tart to bind it with the scallops.  It seemed pretty clear that I should make a maple syrup and balsamic vinegar sauce, so that's what I did. 

Recipe (serves 2)
3/4 lb of bay scallops
2 bananas, sliced into 1 inch disks
1/2 cup of maple syrup
2 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tspn of thyme leaves
sugar
kosher salt
pepper
olive oil

1.  Mix maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, lime juice, and thyme leaves in a small pot and place over low heat.  Heat until reduced to a syrupy consistency, which will take about 10 minutes.
2.  Put olive oil in a frying pan and heat over medium-high heat until smoking
3.  Meanwhile, heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat
4.  While pans are heating, salt and pepper the scallops and dip the cut sides of each banana in sugar.  Reserve each on the side while the pans heat.
5.  Once the oil is to the proper temperature, put the scallops in the oil.  Leave the scallops sit without stirring for one minute in order for one side to brown.  After one minute, stir the scallops to brown the other side. 
6.  While the 2nd side of the scallops is browning, put the bananas, cut side down in the hot non-stick frying pan to carmelize the sugar for 30 seconds.  After 30 seconds flip banana to the other sugared side and cook for another 30 seconds to carmelize.  Put bananas on a warm plate while you finish everything else.
7.  The scallops should be finished the same time as the bananas, so remove them from the pan.  The sauce should also be finished at this point, so keep it over the lowest heat while you plate.
8.  Put 4 carmelized bananas (which look like big seared bay scallops) in the middle of the plate, put a pile of scallops on top of the bananas.  Put a pile of scallops on each side of the bananas to form a continuous ribbon of scallops.
9.  Pour 2 or 3 spoonfuls of sauce over the ribbon of scallops and bananas.  Pour 1 spoonful of sauce on each side of the ribbon and smear with the bottom of the spoon in opposite directions to make it look cool.
10.  Enjoy.
   

You Guessed It...

Another entry in the vaunted history of Fish Tuesday.  I ended up with some lovely Mahi Mahi filets.  I have this crazy article due later this week, so I needed to do something simple and fast.

I decided to grill them and serve them with a lemon butter sauce, as seen in the following pictures.

Anyway, here is what I did to throw this together.  I can't wait til X-Mas break so I can cook something that doesn't only take 20 minutes.

Recipe (serves 2)
2 mahi mahi filets
1/2 stick butter
1 lemon, juiced with seeds removed
1 cup white wine, preferably sauvignon blanc
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
kosher salt
pepper

1.  Heat grill to medium heat, spray with non-stick cooking spray
2.  While it is heating, put butter in a pan and melt over medium heat.
3.  Once butter is melted and hot, put lemon juice, wine, and white wine vinegar in pan and simmer for 10 minutes while fish cooks.
4.  When grill is at the proper temperature, put fish filets on the grill for 5 minutes per side.
5.  Plate fish, drizzle with lemon-butter sauce and serve with jasmine rice and/or green beans.

On the Rebound

I apologize, but I have to start this post out on a sad note.  After a fantastic seven-year run as my all-time favorite Italian restaurant, Merlo on Lincoln and I have broken up.  No, neither of us did anything wrong per se, but its just that we have grown apart.  Although there were persistent rumors for the past couple years that they were planning on changing the concept of the restaurant from perfection to something less than perfection, it always seemed as if it would never happened.  I mean, seriously, why would you mess with perfection let alone willingly give it up?  Gone are the wonderful memories of tagliatelle with white truffle oil an veal ragu, spinach lasagna with a bechamel sauce, artichoke tort, and prosciutto-wrapped buffalo mozzarella.  I realize that I can get all these dishes at Merlo on Maple, but the atmosphere there is so much less welcoming and relaxing.  Today is a sad day that I will not soon forget.  Goodbye sweet Merlo, we had some great times.

Fresh on the open market, I was looking for a quick fling to replace the hole in my heart that Merlo left.  I found my rebound with a sexy little place called Custom House.  Custom House is located at 500 S. Dearborn and its website is http://www.customhouse.cc/.  Custom House is Chef Shawn McClain's meat-focused restaurant in his Chicago restaurant empire (Spring (fish), Green Zebra (vegetarian)).  We did find out that Chef McClain is giving up the reins of Custom House to focus on a new restaurant he is opening in Vegas.  Nevertheless, tonight, as always was a tremendous effort by this great restaurant.

Upon arriving in the lobby of the restaurant, we were quickly whisked away to our table in the middle of the dimly lit, modern dining room.  A friendly waiter named Eric brought us our menus and the wine list and explained the special of the evening (pork chop, sunchoke puree, pork reduction).

We discussed some options for wine before we decided to settle on a half-bottle of 2005 Bordeaux.  The wine was very good with hints of black currant and some earthiness that would go well with pork.  The only problem with this wine was that it took the better part of an hour to even begin to open up.  When you are opening a bottle for dinner, that amount of time is seldom a luxury that you have.

As I viewed the menu, some difficult choices presented themselves.  There were four dishes that sounded absolutely tremendous, and many more that would have made fantastic substitutes.  I was mainly torn between the pork special mentioned above, the pork shoulder canneloni with shiitake mushroom puree, rabbit with bacon, and scallops with bacon vinegarette (as you can see, I love bacon).  Although a out of character for me, I settled for a non-bacon related dish, the pork shoulder canneloni.  Michelle ended up ordering the chicken under a brick with black truffle potatoes.  We also decided, in an homage to Merlo, to order the prosciutto and mozzarella as an appetizer.

The prosciutto came out served with sliced radishes, shallots, and basil.  The buffalo mozzarella was melted over a piece of bread.  The prosciutto was wonderfully salty as it should be, but I was a bit confused by the bread underneat the melted cheese.  I feel like they could have done better just wrapping some lightly warmed balls of cheese with the prosciutto, but maybe I was just reminiscing about the wonderful ex-Merlo dish.  Beyond my minor quibble with the bread, I thought this was a nicely executed, simple appetizer.

A few minutes after the appetizer was cleared, our main dishes came out.  My dish had some sort of large swirly looking thing on top, which turned out to be a chile pork rind.  The pork shoulder was very moist and had an extreme pork flavor, so it was very tasty.  There were some chile flakes to add a touch of spice.  Finally, the shiitake mushroom puree served to frame the immense flavor of the braised pork shoulder.  Without the puree, the pork flavor would be unrestrained, and I would have gotten bored eating it.  However, the mushrooms added an earthy element that was a baseline for the pork.  All said, it was a very nicely rounded dish that was interesting to eat throughout.

The chicken under the brick was also a phenomenal effort.  As you probably know, chicken is extremely easy to dry out while cooking, particularly while grilling.  However, this chicken was very moist throughout, but it had a beautifully crisp skin to contrast the moist meat.  The spinach and potatos were ripe with black truffle flavor, thus they were extremely scrumptious.  This was one of the best, if not the best, chicken that I have ever had.

These dishes were extremely filling, so we opted to share one dessert.  There are some extremely strange-sounding, but probably wonderful desserts on the menu.  Chief among these was the foie gras pot de creme with pickled grapes.  I've had a foie gras creme brulee before, but that was served as a side dish to another savory course.  I couldn't comprehend how this could be a dessert.  I was not about to head down this alley since we were only getting one dessert, but the waiter assured me that it does work well as a dessert.  Rather, we settled on "Smores."  This dessert consisted of a graham cracker tuile filled with chocolate custard.  On the side was melted marshmallow and a pile of bacon powder.  Did you really think I could go a whole meal without eating some bacon?  The custard was extremely chocolatey and dense.  The bitterness from the chocolate was offset by the subtle flavor of the graham cracker tuile.  The crisp tuile also contrasted the texture of the custard.  While it would seem that simply adding marshmallows would complete the smore concept, Custom House took it a step farther.  The bacon powder was not there just for the sake of adding bacon (although I would have been fine with that), rather it was necessary to add a smoky element that smores get from the campfire.  Even more elementary, it added a contrast of saltiness to the intense sweetness of every other element.  For any of you have eaten Doritos and bananas or cookies and pretzels together, you know how powerful the sweet-salty connection is.

 

Custom House was an excellent meal and made for an awesome escape from my article.  Even more importantly, it may have replaced my ex, Merlo on Lincoln.  Perhaps if she changes back to her old ways we can reconcile, but that does not look promising right now.  Give Custom House a shot and let me know what you think!

A BBQ Trip Diverted to Cuba

Today I was all set to go to the newly opened (as of Halloweekend) Brand Market BBQ for lunch.  I mainly wanted to get out of the house and away from my law review article since it was a wonderful global warmingly induced 77 degree day in November in Chicago.  Brand BBQ Market is located at 2824 W. Armitage and their website is http://www.brandbbq.com/.  We hopped in my car and headed out to this new bbq place.  I parked on the street and was nearly annihilated by a bus that got way too close to my parking spot.  After luckily dodging near certain death, I walked a block to Brand BBQ.  During this block walk, I thought about how I was going to write a compare and contrast to the Chicago bbq standard, Smoque BBQ.  I got to the entrance, tried to fling open the door to announce my presence, but alas, a paper sign in the window said that they were not open for lunch, despite the workers being in there.  Brand BBQ, you have earned yourself a powerful enemy (shakes fist). 

Not knowing what to do next, but still being hungry, I remembered that I saw the other outpost of 90 Miles Cuban Cafe a few blocks back.  I remembered this because I nearly completely blew a stop sign pointing it out to John.  You may recall that I reviewed the 90 Miles that is on Belmont and Western a couple weeks ago.  This is the second, and much larger, location that they have opened.  It is located at 2540 W. Armitage and its website is http://www.90milescubancafe.com/.  This location is also BYOB, but since we didn't know we were coming here, I didn't prepare for this.  This 90 Miles also has a greenhouse-like room attached for semi-outdoor eating.  It has things like white couches and palm trees, which makes it look like a place where Tony Montana would be face down in a mountain of coke. 

Although I greatly enjoy the lechon sandwich, I had that last time.  I owe both you and I the duty to try all sorts of different things.  Today I decided on the Media Noche sandwich.  This sandwich is sliced roast pork, pickles, and mustard served on a sweet bun.  Michelle, predictably, ordered the garlic steak.  John ordered the ropa vieja (braised pork) with peppers.  I did not try either of these dishes, but they both looked quite tasty.  My sandwich was decent, but not great.  The bun was interesting tasting, and the pork was flavorful.  However, the pork was dry and the pickles and mustard were not assertive enough, so they were largely washed out by the pork flavor.  I would have much rather re-ordered the lechon sandwich, but there is only one way to find out what things you like.

Even though the sandwich certainly was not the best that I have had at 90 Miles, I still got to drink delicious delicious Iron Beer.  I really have to find out where I can buy a case of this stuff because it is addictive.  Anyway, 90 Miles still has high praise in my book, so give it a shot.

Encased Meat Emporium

After two unsuccessful attempts at eating at Hot Doug's, I finally made it there on Friday.  Hot Doug's is located at 3324 N. California, and their website is http://www.hotdougs.com/.  I got there around 3:30, and the line stretched down the block.  Since it was a lovely fall day, I was undeterred by the length of the line.  I parked right across the street from the line, but soon realized that it was a tow zone during the week for some reason.  I got in my car, and moved it to the other side of the street.  Once I got out of the car, I found out that this side too was a tow zone.  Slightly embarassed after my parking troubles in front of a long line of people, I considered leaving.  Fortunately, I saw a spot on California out of view of the line that I could park at, so I jumped all over that opportunity.

Eventually I got into line.  I started waiting, and waiting, and just when I thought the line was moving, I waited some more.  About forty-five minutes later, I began questioning whether waiting this long for some sausage was a good or even sane idea.  That question was answered as soon as I stepped inside the actual restaurant and the wonderful wafting aromas of grilling sausage and rendered duck fat filled the air. 

I began reviewing the large variety of sausages and sausage specials on the menu.  I gave passing consideration to the notorious Hot Doug's foie gras hot dog, which holds the distinction as the only dish that ever earned a fine under Chicago's now repealed and completely asinine ban on foie gras.  I thought to myself that I should probably try a basic style sausage to see how well they can prepare a regular dish.  No sooner had I decided to get two bratwursts than my eyes stumbled upon the Buffalo sausage with bacon mayonnaise and maple smoked cheddar.  I was completely sold since bacon makes everything better.  I was three people from the counter, and I was ready to go with my order when I overheard the counter guy say that the last buffalo sausage was ordered.  Quickly a woman appeared to take the buffalo sausage entry off of the specials menu.  Slightly distraught, I fell back on my default position of two brats.  Here is the menu.

You have several options as to how they prepare your sausage: steamed, char-grilled, deep fried, or char-grilled and deep fried.  I chose to get both of my brats char-grilled, both with mustard.  To get a little differentiation, I got one with sauerkraut and one with grilled onions.  I also got an order of their duck fat fries because a) how delicious do fries cooked in duck fat sound? and b) I didn't wait in line for almost an hour not to get the most popular thing on the menu.  Just a note, duck fat fries are only served on Fridays and Saturdays, so don't try to sneak in mid-week expecting to get these delicacies. 

I went and sat at a table to wait for my food.  It arrived in paper baskets shortly thereafter.  The fries, though pricey for fries at $3.50, are easily enough for two people.  The brats are obviously butterflied before cooking, and then grilled on a charcoal grill.  I'm envious of their cooking skill.  I've cooked very many brats on a charcoal grill, but I have never attained the pure delicious smokiness that acompanied the Hot Doug's brats.  Perhaps it has something to do with the butterflyification (go ahead, look it up).  I'll give that a shot next time.  Of the two brats, I preferred the one with saurkraut, though the one with onions was nothing to sneeze at.  The kraut was tart, but in a subtle manner.  The clear star of the dish was the sausage, and the kraut was merely a complement, even if it was a very good complement.  The only problem I had with the sausage was the buns.  They got soggy and fell apart quickly, though at the speeds you will wolf down these delicious brats, that probably won't be too much of an issue.

The sole reason I wanted to come to Hot Doug's was for the duck fat fries.  After driving twenty minutes to the restaurant, then waiting another hour in line, you would guess correctly that my expectations for these fries were through the roof.  As crazy and improbable as the next thing I say will sound, just trust me.  The hour and twenty minutes journey for fries was worth it, and maybe even a little more.  The hand-cut fries are deep fried in rendered duck fat.  The result is an incomparable blend of crunchy, meat flavored exterior and creamy, custard-like interior.  I will go ahead and say that these are the best fries that I have ever had.  As a tip for those of you who do not want to wait in line for an hour or more, try going after 4:30.  I noticed that there was nearly no line at this point, so that might be an idea if you have less time or the weather is terrible.  Anyway, Hot Doug's is amazing, perhaps the next time I will indulge in the the pinnacle of sausage achievement, the foie gras hot dog...

I Must be Trout of my Mind

As always, I have fish on Tuesdays from the Fishguy Market. Fishguy is located at 4423 N. Elston and their website is http://www.fishguy.com/.  Today we had the choice of whitefish, snow trout, mahi mahi, and perch (among a few others).  Since whitefish sounds to plain to me and we have eaten so much mahi mahi lately, so I wanted to try something new.  We ended up with a very nice looking snow trout.  I wanted to do something fast (since I don't get home until 9:15) and traditional.  Trout Meunière immediately popped into my head.  Trout Meunière is a crusted trout served with a brown butter and lemon pan sauce.  I found a general recipe online, but changed it a bit while cooking.  I like serving fish with green vegetables, as I think I discussed below, so we settled on green beans.  Anyway, here is what I did.  The whole thing took up 2 pans (one for fish, one for green beans) and it took 15 minutes, so this dish is a definite keeper for the late weeknights.

Recipe (serves 2)
4 trout filets, skin on (they are very thin, which is why you need 4)
3 tbsp butter, preferably unsalted
1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
juice from 1 lemon, seeds strained out
flour
kosher salt
pepper
a few sprigs of parsley

1.  Salt and pepper both sides of the trout.
2.  Put oil and 1 tbsp of butter into a large sauted pan over medium heat.
3.  Pour about a cup of flour into a long bread pan.  Dredge both sides of the fish in flour.  Gently shake to get off any excess clumps of flour.  Place on a plate while the butter heats.
4.  When the butter begins to foam and turn brown, add the fish filets, skin side down.  Cook for 5 minutes.
5.  Flip fish and cook flesh side down for 4 minutes.  The exterior of the fish will look brown and be crisp at this point.  Gently remove each filet and put it on a plate while you complete the sauce.
6.  Add the remaining 2 tbsp butter to the pan that you just removed the fish from and put it over the heat.  While the butter is melting, scrape the bottom of the pan to get the browned fish incorporated in the sauce
7.  As soon as the butter is melted, pour in the lemon juice.  Cook for 2-3 seconds and remove from heat.
8.  Dress each filet with a sprig of parsely and pour the hot butter sauce over the fish.
9.  Serve with a side of green beans and some lemon wedges.

This dish is quite oily, so it calls for an acidic white wine.  It seems the perfect opportunity to break out a Sauvignon Blanc.  My favorite Sauvignon Blanc is from Frog's Leap (http://www.cuveecellars.com/page/cuvee/PROD/00008/FROG2008005975).  Caymus also makes an amazing Sauvignon Blanc, but that is a bit harder to find in this area.  If you wanted to walk on the wild side, you might try an albarino.  Anyway, give it a shot and let me know what you think.

Too Much Cheese!

I cannot believe that I neglected to mention this with my other Halloweekend posts. On Halloween night, or more accurately 11/1 morning, our crew went to Clarke's (930 W. Belmont, open 24 hours) to conclude our evening with some diner food. I ordered some sort of egg, potato, and bacon skillet, and from what I recall, it was pretty solid. I always like eating eggs with plenty of tobasco, which was dutifully provided. However, this post really is not about the food. Rather, it is about the absurdity that took place at the table next to ours.

A group of four college-age girls were sitting next to us. Apparently one of these drunken ladies ordered extra cheese on whatever she was ordering. The waitress informed her that it would cost $2.50 extra, and the girl went ahead with this request. The food came out with extra cheese, and the girl ate it without so much as a comment to the waitress about the cheese quantity. As with every meal, the check came out at the end of the meal. Although this seemed to be a straightforward transaction, the cheese girl objected to paying the extra $2.50 on the grounds that there was "too much and too many kinds of cheese." In a panic, the girls summoned the waitress to voice her concerns over the $2.50 charge. The waitress explained that she told her it would cost extra and she at the whole thing, so there was nothing she could do about it. Apparently this explanation was not satisfactory to them, and they demanded to see the manager. Now the hornets nest was poked. When the manager arrived, the girls opened the flood gate of cheese-related concerns, throwing out wild accusations and never even attempting to make a logical point. The manager, perhaps sick of dealing with drunk college kids all night, pretty much told them to, and I'm paraphrasing, screw themselves. The manager stormed, yes stormed, off, leaving the girls in an angry and bewildered state. They loudly discussed the unfair cheese situation amongst themselves and plotted their next move.

Being the jerks that we are, Michelle offered to pay for their cheese if they would just stop talking. Apparently it was not about the money though. It was about the principle, nay the right, of women everywhere being free from the evil grasp of unwanted cheese being forced upon them. These crusaders valiantly threw the money back on our table. Apparently after much consternation, these warriors, left with no other options, paid their bill, no doubt heading home to write their local congressman. As they departed this ugly scene, they began hurling insults upon everyone within earshot, including our semi-innocent table. Pipes, inquisitively shouted a question about their lack of boyfriends, I asked if they would like to make $5 the hard way. Vu fell over laughing in his corn beef & hash. If they came in with a bang, they exited with a whimper.

The story; however, does not end there. The cheese haters, apparently forgetting their earlier confrontation with the manager, called in to complain to the manager about their ill treatment and to demand satisfaction. When the manager replied that she already talked to them about this situation, they demanded to talk to either her manager or Clark himself (who may or may not actually exist). Apparently they didn't realize that this is a small diner that would clearly not have any sort of supervisory chain in place at 5:00a.m. on a Sunday. The battle was lost. I'm sure a lawsuit is in the works, and we can only hope it is successful, because in the year 2009, women should not be subjected to eating cheese that they ordered.