yellow truffle

Have you taken a trip to the north side and visited the Argyle neighborhood? You can try some more Vietnamese there. It's a like a mini Saigon.

Since you are going ethnic in Chicago, how about traveling around the city for some tasty flavors. We have a very strong Polish and Mexican Community in the south side as well as Korean and Vietnamese in the North Side. Following are some of my humble suggestions... low end / best bang for your buck / prepared by grandmothers ... Mexican - Nuevo Leon in the heart of Pilsen. Polish - Tatra Inn in for some of the best fruit, meat, potato, or cheese perogis. Korean - Jangmo Nim is my vote for Korean. Japanese - Katsu for Chicago best Japanese cuisine on a menu that you can read. Puerto Rican - For a treat, try a jibarito sandwich at Borinquen Restaurant in Humboldt Park. Vietnamese - Hai Yen, always good. Dim Sum - would be the default Phoenix in chinatown. and for high end / sold my soul for foie gras ... Thai - Arun's for great food and service, family owned and operated. Vietnamese - Le Colonial right next to the high end shopping area of Chicago. Mexican - Topolobampo / Frontera Grill for Mexican ala Rick Bayless, Mr. Burger King (lol, had to do it).

Weird, no? But it certainly makes the Beastie Boys/Sara Moulton connection a little clearer. For a very cool shot of Sara Moulton and rap legend Fab 5 Freddy, click here and scroll down. Chad Great find! I did not know this, Thanks.

I like this game. How about food cooking competitions. - Like spiciest vindaloo. - Best cheesecake. Or how about eating competitions. - How many ribs can a Heartlander eat? - How many Italian beef can a Midwestern?

amen. the good, the bad and the ugly.

gmi3804, thanx for the report. The menu and prices work well together. This is a place I will have to check out.

Between the NY Times and US News and World Report doing a story with Garrett Oliver, I find the NYT to be much more interesting. And they also have two multimedia pieces. Nice.

Moretti's in Edison Park (6727 Olmsted) has got a great beer garden.

Richie111 Damn great report. Thanx for sharing. I enjoyed reading. Makes me want to go and have some steak (here in Chicago, we call them beef).

It seems that there is a spotting of where the new location will be. I saw it on a Chowhound post. 2411 N. Clark St.

chefG Thanx for the report. Through your words, one is left excited to be part of your new team. I hope to experience your new venture, through the possible documentation process on the web and experiencing the new space. With you as the man behind the concept and everything else, I am sure that the food and experience will be nothing less than spectacular. I cant wait. Good luck. yt

It's a conspiracy, I say. The fire at Hot Doug's was conveniently timed to coincide with the Trio "Hot Dog."

Sadly, rumor confirmed.

Confirmed.

Read it here (will only be up for a week, then archived, free). Make reservations now. Good luck to you chefG.

What goes around, comes around.

I have not gone to the Taste in this century. Back when I was in grade school/high school, we would work for the one of the restaurants (Little Quipo or some other Asian restaurant) and would trade off meals with some of the other restaurants. I had done this for 4 years. Now that was fun. To this day I still have a hankering for fried dough (many vendors), fried ice cream (ditka's) and bbq rib sandwich (fireplace inn). I am curious to hear what are some your favorite Taste items? BTW, what ever happened to Chicago Fest? You remember, the Jane Byrne era, don't you?

I believe they are called fatboys. And did you remember to get the cheese curds?

Not off topic what so ever, niv. White Castle is one of those indulgences that I must have at least twice a year, usually late in night and heavily intoxicated.

Pugman, sorry your burger was not acceptable. I have had it twice and could not muster any other adjective greater than okay. But their kobe beef filet is wonderful, albeit +$50. You can cook that thing well and the meat would flake off like fresh fish. IMHO, I believe that one should not ground meat that good. I have never been Hackney's or Beinlich's, so I cannot contribute to the bashing. Being a ye_truban (an urban yellow truffle, just for you ronnie_suburban), my favorite burger in Chicago would be Moody's blue cheese burger, appropriately named the 'moody blue.' Colon be damned, you will wake up in the middle of the night wanting a tall glass of water and bypassing breakfast. Ohh, the burger taste's great, done the way you want with blue cheese dressing and chunks of blue cheese. I believe it is about 3/4 pound or more. And one must have the their onion rings, very memorable. The place is very auratic, must check it out. BTW, they only take cash.

One word description: gratuitous. This new restaurant, located on Fullerton (by Ashland) across the street from Facets and right next door to Oberweiss, is my new favorite bistro. Let me tell you why. I was reading Morsels, Chicago Magazine's weekly dining news page, and came across this bit of information. Now that just sounds like its too over-the-top to pass up. So my friends and I went to check this place out that evening (yesterday). Did not know what to expect, we entered a small, 30 seater, single room, bistro-esque eatery. We were greeted by the waiter/host and saw only two other diners at the place (I think they are friends of the chef or something like that). It had that Big Night opening scene feel to it, but with Edith Piaf playing in the background. The menu was short and double sided. The front, savories side, had a selection of appetizers, salads, soups, sandwiches and entrees. The back, sweets side, had 11 desserts, and a selection of three dessert tastings. Generally, everything was great. The technique was excellent, presentation was traditionally good looking and the tables were laid with linen, something that goes against the recent NY Times article about restaurant trends. We, of course were psyched up for the Kobe beef burger, but having looked at the menu decided to give other items a try. We shared the spring asparagus for the appetizer. Damn tasty, especially with the truffled egg and it looked really pretty, too. It was prepared just right, crispy and explosive with flavor. Then a couple of salads, a lyonaise salad and a shaved fennel, asparagus, arugula salad. Someone else had the french onion soup, which was tasty (better than Kiki's or Le Bouchon, IMHO). Now lets get down to business and discuss the burger. The Kobe beef was at least a 3/4 a pound and about 4 inches in diameter and 3/4 inch thick (just a guess as I forgot to bring my tape measure), cooked to your liking, medium rare for me. It was topped with the foie gras pate, same size in diameter and an 3/16th of an inch thick. The buns were huge and tasty, especially with the pungent truffle mayonnaise. This was hands down, the best kobe beef burger (or burger in general) that I, or my friends, ever had. Better than the Kobe beef burger at Yoshi's on Halsted, and just as good, if not better than the infamous DB Burger (ground prime rib, leavened with braised short ribs, truffles, foie gras, and a hint of vegetable root) to be found in New York at DB Bistro Moderne. The amazing thing about this place is the price. Its really affordable. The burger at Sweets and Savories costs $17, whereas the burger at Yoshi's runs for $21 and the DB Burger is $27. This leaves you more cash for dessert, if you have room in your belly. And ohh the desserts. The desserts were amazing. The sizes are generous and did I mention that they had a chef's dessert tasting in a five or three course dessert and a five course sorbet. Of course, I ordered the five course. Most would think that tasting sizes would be reduced, but no it is not. It is the same size. We know this because my friends ordered single dessert items. The price for such a treat, $22. Another reason why I like this place. BTW, they are still a BYOB, which kept the cost down. We did not know this going into the place, but fortunately for the wino that I am, I had a case of wine in the trunk of my car. We had a Twenty Bench Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, 2001 that went really well with burger. The wine was only $16, but it tastes much more expensive, I must recommend. Its makeup is 85% cab and 15% syrah. For dessert we had a nice gewurztraminer. These were purchased from the House of Glunz, on Wells and Division. Thanx for reading and I hope you can make it there before it gets Check Please'ed and while it is BYOB. Also, this place was written up on the Chicago Tribune today.

I hope so. Because I like Spring so much, I am going to try it again.

Buzz. Wrong answer, try again. Sorry this took so long, ronnie_suburban ... Here is your bone, enjoy.Located right next to the restaurant Flo, this minimal, clean looking store front sits at the corner of Chicago and Bishop. Upon entering, you walk along the side towards the back half of the restaurant where the host and bartender reside (not the same person). The bar is designed only as temporary waiting area as there are no seats. In fact, if there is a wait for your table, you may have to lean against the loft-like, brick exposed wall or along some of the window openings. The layout has free standing tables with regular and 'L' shaped booths. 26+ seats for the tables and 18+ for the booths. Dishes ranged from $6-$14 for small appetizer sized dishes (think tapas or dim-sum sizing). The menu was one large sheet that did not break down into traditional courses. The items on the menu were arranged from light to heavy, top to bottom. Of the 20+ items, there is at least one meat and one fish dish, towards the bottom of the menu. Presentation of the dishes was great. There were no specials as the menu is (I think) recreated daily, with some staple dishes always to be found. Two items to be found at the top of the menu were; (green papaya napoleon, with marinated mushrooms and sweet corn sauce) and (chilled organic beets, with mascarpone and port wine-lemongrass vinaigrette). A couple of the mid-menu selections are; (curry spiced eggplant potstickers, with pickled cucumber and ginger-carrot emulsion) and (fennel risotto cake, crisp parmesan, preserved lemon and syrah reduction). And a couple of items from the bottom; (alaskan halibut, shaved sunchokes, white asparagus, pearl couscous and tandoori spices) and (vermicelli, smoked tomato broth and horseradish with laura chenel goat cheese). The wine selection was okay. It had one of each the basic types of wines. They had only a selected hard liquor selection. The dessert menu is one not to be missed. Some of the dishes were really amazing and some were a little below par, even though conceptually, everything sounded and looked great. Some hits were the (avocado pannacotta, with tomato gelee, creme fraiche and sweet corn chips), (gorgonzola-dolce souffle, endive, verju and crshed walnut toffee), (nonna zanella's potato gnocchi, with wild ramps and shaved reggiano parmesan). Misses (gunthorp chicken breast, roasted breast, fingerling potatoes, crisp skin and tangerine honey), (curry and buttermilk crepes, braised greens, cauliflower, tomato-mustard seed sauce), (chicken consomme, spring pea tendrils and rosemary). For dessert, we had the creme brulee sampler, a selection of three mini dishes of great flavors (I think this changes on occasion). Ohh, and they was no espresso. Just a mini french press for coffee and a selection of teas. Upon getting home, I made a double, double espresso. Overall, my experience at the gz was okay. It's not at the top of my list, but would go back at least twice more (three strikes and you're out) to give it another try.

IMHO, one of the best, and also the hottest, vindaloo on the strip can be found at: Gandhi India Restaurant 2601 W. Devon Ave. 773 761 8714. It's located right on the corner and looks like a dive, but don't be fooled. The food is tasty and inexpensive.

Very exciting.