little ms foodie

I also agree with Dahlia, the Met and Canlis! here are a few sites: El Gaucho Waterfront Rovers

El Gaucho, Waterfront, Rovers, Union all come to mind...........

I think I must be misunderstanding your question but here goes... vanilla latte- 1 or 2 shots of espresso in the bottom of the cup, add 1 jigger (or to taste) vanilla syrup (like Torani) to cold milk and steam. Pour over espresso and top with foam. Viola!

What is gurnard??? Wow, I haven't posted in forever!! Broke out the camera again tonight. Carrot ginger soup with creme fraiche and Ginger scallion stuffed chicken breasts with shitake in parchment. steamed broccoli dressed in lemon garlic oil on the side cheese plate for dessert- blue de basque, gruyere and fontina

ellencho, that looks awesome! Well I think we will skip this particular cook off, catch up on the chicken and pick back up down the road! Thanks for the input on the peanuts all!

hmmmm....the husband is deathly allergic to peanuts, would it be complete sacrilidge to make it without? Man I am behind in my cook offs! Going to do fried chicken this weekend though.

Great report, thanks Really nice! I might have to dig up my Bouchon book and give a few of these a try.

Had a lovely date with my husband last night at Zoe. First time either of us have been and I have to say I am very upset now that I realized all the great meals we have missed out on! Started in the bar with a Green Line cocktail (thanks Lauren!)...yum. Admired the space and the open kitchen and the great windows and the ceiling lights..... Were seated at a nice table for two, me on the cozy bench which is nice but a bit low. The menu (both the regular and the 25) looked fantastic. There was no mention of the half priced bottle of wine list so we asked and were told that it was on Monday nights and it was everything but the Rare and Limited selection. (Thanks Really Nice!) ordered the Shea Vineyards Block 32......oh my!! that is a bit of heaven in a glass and a treat for us as we don't usually order over $50 or $60 unless it's a special occassion. So the half price gave us a chance to order big but stay in our price range. We both ordered off the 25 menu. I had the pork cheek confit with apple vineagrette and lentils, Dayne had the parsnip, celery root, potato leek soup. Both were great- the soup could have been hotter. Mains ordered were the grilled talapia with lemon sauce and boulangerie potatoes and the pork tenderloin in a great spice rub with olives and cous cous. Both were perfectly cooked and the flavors were really bright. We decided to have a couple of cheeses (on the regular menu) and the servings were generous. Good selection also we had a hard Basque and a very soft Burgandy goats milk. Also a bit of honeycomb on the plate. Dessert was an espresso pot de creme and the Valhrona molten cake. Dayne said he thought it was the best molten he'd had for quite a while but he is easily distracted by chocolate! haha! Everything was fantastic! food, service, atmosphere. We plan to make this a Monday place and work our way around that wine list!!! This was the best 25 for $25 I've been to in a LONG time.

Lucy can you tell me about these? They look like a biscuit Dayne and I have been making recently- cheddar, thyme and pepper twisted and rolled up. edited to say....that is the cutest picture of you! thanks again for doing such a great blog.

Lucy, I'm still catching up reading your blog, it's fantastic. Thank you for your pictures, stories and charm! In honor of your blog which I'm reading during lunch I'm eating cheese Unfortunately the only cheese that my office deli has in Babybel and chedder sticks. Oh well, they will have to do.

I just attended a birthday dinner at Marjorie on friday. There were 10 of us and I have to say that it seemed like they were having a tough time with service. The food was still good but our service was kindof bad. I know that the limit at Palace is 14. 25 is a lot! That was the size of my rehearsal dinner. I think you will need someplace with a big private room?? Maybe email the people at Tom Douglas about the big room at Dahlia or the new Palace Ballroom. Or 7 Star Pepper or similar in the ID? Hey Brasa sat 30 of us for the Bourdin event right??

I have had strawberry drops (instead of lemon drops) that are sooo tastey. Just us strawberry infused vodka. btw....great idea for the cocktail shower!

We are having family over for a nice supper. The menu includes appetizer and salads brought by others, shrimp bisque, roast lamb with baby spring veggies, chedder thyme biscuits, and dessert is little 'nests' made of puff pastry with colored 'egg' spoonfuls of ice cream.

Sapphire? Is this in any way related to the Sapphire on top of Queen Anne, or is it just a naming coincidence? ← It's the same, they are expanding. I think there was a write up about it a few weeks ago in the Times.

I was in Chicago last week and had dinner at Osteria Via Stato Saturday night. The place was packed! We had reservations but I heard the front desk telling walk ins that it was about 1 to 1 1/2 wait. Even with our reservations we had a 20 min. wait in the bar. We each ordered a drink, my dining companion picked a wine and it came as a quatiro (sp?) for $8. Very cool! And in great stemware. The bar also featured nice boards listing wine options and their cheese menu. Finally seated at a communal table for 6- us in the middle. I love communal dining but the tables are a bit wide which makes it hard to talk across the table. The thing I hated was these stupid wood dividers they put up between you and the others at your table! WTF??? only in america! So you have to talk to your neighbors and get permission to remove them otherwise you feel like your at one end of a bowling lane! Here's a thought.......if it's a communal table......IT'S A COMMUNAL TABLE! Well lucky for us our table mates felt the same so we had no borders! Some bread and olives in olive oil were presented and I also ordered a quartino of wine ($8!! steal of the week for sure!) Antipasta arrived and was excellent: Salami with celery slices and olive oil, cabage and garbanzo bean salad, mozzarella, sweet onion gratin, seafood salad. Everything excellent! They tell you just to ask for more of anything you especially like. Next was fresh pasta- papperdelle with bolanese (sorry for all the bad spelling!) and penne with sage and brown butter. Both excellent! I had the veal breast stuffed with Italian sausage and my companion had the braised short ribs. Again the entrees were great too but I could hardly eat even half. The other stuff was filling! We skipped dessert/coffee. I have to say this it the best value I have come across in a long time! I would definately eat here again. It is loud (not romantic!), semi casual, inexpensive and fun!

I haven't been in a few years but the Queen Mary Teahouse specializes in high tea as well as brunch and lunch.

as Anita said Palace had a minimum but by the time everyone had apps, dinner and drinks we were over it so I didn't worry. Can't recall what it is though- you can email them from their site Tom Douglas Private Dining

I think that always happens when you have to pick something! I had a great birthday dinner at Palace Kitchen in the private room. If you wanted to go more casual Via Trib has a really cool private room with huge communal table also. Crow has a big table for 10 or 12 if your party gets smaller. Brasa has the upstairs area and I think they have a large group table?

Thanks again for the info. Our hotel was right by Roaring Fork but we were never able to stop in. Friday after a baseball game in Peoria we had burgers (grill them yourself) at Montasory Too bar. dinner on Friday night at Barrio- it's still a great place. love the margarita's and the guac. And it's unbelivable how inexpensive it is! Saturday we had lunch in old town Scottsdale at Arcadia Farms. It was pretty good, a bit expensive and a little 'girly' for the guys. Sandwiches were great as were the desserts. Saturday night we had dinner with friends who picked the Ocean Club (is that right?). Very much a 'boys club'. Big servings of very nicely done fish, sides that the table shares. After dinner we had wine at the new Terroir. Cute little wine bar, great prices!

We had friends over for a casual dinner last night Montmatre cocktails, crostini with fig jam & goat cheese, crostini with green tapanade and parm. Potato leek soup with fried leeks on top Whole roasted salmon with fennel and lemon Balsmic glazed purple and orange carrots Cheddar thyme rolls Bethal Heights 2001 Pinot Noir (can't remember which Block!) Apples sauteed in butter, sugar, cinnamon and Calvados over French vanilla ice cream

Went to Crow last night with 8 people. 2 pescatarians (I know, I know!) and the rest of us who will eat anything. The space is really awesome. We sat in the back area at a very big table. The menu had quite a few selections so I wonder if they have added? The mains included seared ahi (special of the day), brown butter gnochi (which was delish), lasagne (ok), rib eye, chicken with pancetta, crispy duck with sausage and lentils (the absolute winner!) Various salads (mixed with buttermilk was particularly yummy) and soups. Good wine list with great prices, the majority in the $25 to $40 range. The only complaint we had was our server Tim. He would disappear for periods of time and he didn't really seem to know too much about the food or the preparation of it. Other than that I can't wait to go back!

Dinner last night- thai food feast!

It was a great feast and such a nice way to try different things. Also a good way to get feedback from those with more Thai cooking experience. We have a much better idea of how the hot, sweet, sour, salty balance should be.

We just brought that same Pyrat rum back from St Thomas! too funny. Your blog was just great! Thanks so much for putting so much into it. And the ducks look amazing!!!

another blog post on said topic. ← Thanks Jon, and I have to agree. My favorite foie gras is still the stuff I bring back from my trips to Paris, sliced on toasted Macrina brioche and sprinkled with fluer de sal