ronnie_suburban
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Posts posted by ronnie_suburban
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BTW, what ever happened to Chicago Fest? You remember, the Jane Byrne era, don't you?
I remember accidentally throwing my retainer away at ChicagoFest. Man, were my folks pissed at me
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Now, I'll be there Monday the 28th. I was there last year. Why? I'll be working the Family Activities Tent. Solar telescope viewing between the clouds! Since we have to be there, we try and make the best of it - we scope out short lines and good tidbits for each other, and we each do get a few free food tickets - but if I had a choice, I'd skip it. At least we're there on a weekday...
If anyone does come down, come and say hello, and I'll give you an Adler Temporary Tattoo. :)
How cool adoxograph! What a great reason to be there and a unique conduit by which to arrive. I don't anticipate attending (Duh!
) but if I get abducted by aliens and they carry me off to Taste, I'll be sure to drop by--and you can even let the aliens view their home planet while we're there 
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There are two types of burgers -big fat juicy char burgers and the flat greasy griddle fried burgers. Depending on my mood, both can hit the mark. For the flat variety I like Top Notch in Beverly and the double steak burger at Steak N Shake (a great excuse to get their fab fries). A taste of WC if I pass one on the way. Still looking for the perfect char burger-Hackney's bread too funky for me-I want a toasted bun. 'Beinlacks' overrated. I Remember a great char burger at (don't laugh) Ponderosa years ago.
Steak & Shakes are popping up all over the place--there's a new one up north--adjacent to a strip mall--on Willow Road between Waukegan and Shermer (right near Carrot Top, actually). I've heard it's pretty good but my predominant S&S memories are of the one in Champaign, IL, which was really kind of scary. Of course, scary doesn't mean the burgers are bad
"Beinlacks" -
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I was in the neighborhood this morning and stopped into the Evanston location to pick up a few items. I got to meet Patty (wave to Patty
) and we chatted for a while. As usual, everyone was very nice, and very helpful. It turns out that (at least) one of the employees who was there today is a student at CHIC (sorry NeroW, got too distracted to connect the dots) and The Spice House makes a practice of hiring culinary students. As Patty told me, that practice is in place to maximize the culinary knowledge of the in-store staff. Customers benefit because they can get quality answers to questions that don't pertain specifically to spices. Great policy, IMO and another point of separation between The Spice House and their competitors (do they actually have any competitors? 
).I bought some fresh nutmeg and a handy grater which doubles as a storage vessel. Also picked up some red chili flakes, pink peppercorns, and sesame seeds in white and black. I came home after work and put those new chili flakes and sesame seeds to work on some fresh green beans (along with some canola oil, soy sauce, fish sauce and oyster sauce) in my grill-top wok. 10 minutes later, they were attractively charred and absolutely delicious. It was wonderful actually tasting the little bursts of heat the pepper flakes conveyed into the finished dish. I looked at my old inventory in the cabinet, realized that those red pepper flakes (from the grocery store) were actually brown now. Into the garbage they went.
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I had a damn tasty burger at The Twisted Spoke a few weeks back. Charred, juicy, enormous.
I was wondering how long it would take for The Twisted Spoke to get a mention.
IIRC, the restaurant as a whole scored 4 Forks (out of 4) the last time they were reviewed in the Chicago Tribune's 'Cheap Eats' category. Unfortunately, the story is archived and requires a fee to read, so I cannot confirm their 4-Fork status.
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Well, there's liking a burger, and there's making me go off my mostly vegetarian diet. I'm not there yet. Surely someone's got one that can make me do that? :)
While I find matters of taste to be largely subjective, perhaps this is the standard by which all burgers should be measured.
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I agree about TJ's quality on the mentioned items--especially chocolate, nuts and Plugra, which last time I checked, was $2.99/pound. A very nice price for sure.
FYI, there are several threads about Trader Joe's currently running here at eGullet.
Here are a couple of links...(there are even a few more threads too)
Frozen Fish at Trader Joe's in Chicago
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I'm partial to R.J. Grunts' burgers. They're just about perfect, no matter how you top them.
Brasserie T used to have the best - God, I miss that place!
I miss Brasserie T too (although I never had their burger)
. It was directly accross the street from my office and I miss the convenience of having a quality place so close to our front door. The new establishment in that space isn't very good, IMO.=R=
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I've been to Chandon twice and enjoyed the visit very much both times.
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Well, the "mass quantities" part of the deal probably describes my favorite paprika chicken. I get as much paprika pounded onto those chicken thighs as I possibly can. That is why I went to skinless thighs.
Damn straight Fifi!
Clearly, mass quantities are used by only the most discerning paprika disciples.
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Here is an interesting letter to the editor in today's Washinigton Post regarding, of all things, paprika.
Thanks for the link mnebergall.
The real reason that most Americans underuse paprika is that they buy from the grocers a brownish, tasteless powder sold as paprika; it neither tastes, smells nor looks like the real thing. The real stuff suffers from guilt by association with this knockoff. Producers of this powder may be using the brown stems of the paprika plant to comply with labeling rules while laughing all the way to the bank.Apparently, we Paprika afficionados are just about set to rise up.
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This is a little off topic but went to White Castle recently and was disappointed. I have fond memories of eating many of their burgers years ago with, well, various other glutinous people, and loving them. Now, I felt queasy afterwards and my kids made me promise not to go back there...
Not OT at all Niv, but if you dis White Castle again, I may have to ask you to step outside
Seriously though, it's been about 2 years since my last WC (pun fully intended) experience and I remember it being about the same as it's always been.
Do you think it was an off-night, or has quality descended (is that even possible?) at White Castle? Or...is it a case of your tastes changing? Weren't you the guy who covered one entire wall of his dorm room with emptied White Castle boxes?
Either way, I do find it interesting that your kids didn't like it either. I'm sure that indicates something, although I'm not exactly sure what.
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Please don't let my ranting scare you off. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts about Taste of Chicago--even, no especially if you love the event. What am I missing? Have I just become too curmudgeonly to appreciate something wonderful?
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Ronnie, Ronnie...you poor abused moderator, you haven't heard my rant on this event yet! Brace yourself, gentle soul.
I have worked downtown in Chicago since 1978, and all of these jobs have been, for my sins, at various addresses on South Michigan Avenue, one very long block directly west of what I have come to call the Waste of Chicago. I went there, years ago, after work, for an evening of noshing and people watching, and was grossed out in the extreme; the tokens used to buy food were more expensive than I liked, the servings more thrown at customers than handed out, the paper plates were dangerously fragile for foods that were at all saucy or soupy, and in the brutal July heat some overserved soul barfed Dudweiser (no, that's not a typo)-plus-eight-kinds-of-dinner down the entire length of my right leg (This had an upside, however: the smell quickly became such that I had a four-foot buffer zone around me for the rest of the evening. NO one wanted to get within elbowing distance. No cab driver wanted to drive me home, either: they all thought I was the one who was drunk!) My jeans had to be bagged separately from the rest of the laundry; the right shoe was a total loss (The sock tried to walk away by itself. I discouraged this.).
The next morning, I got to my twelfth-floor office early to finish off a project that had been threatening to finish me off instead, and glanced out the east windows at what usually was the joyous sight of the Art Institute nestled in its sweet green gardens. I saw that, to be sure...but I also saw the AI staff furiously sweeping up and hosing various organic messes off its walks, in counterpoint to the City's Streets and San brigade bulldozing -- yup, you read me right, bulldozing the accumulated crap, figurative and occasionally literal (The lines at the Port-A-Potties were astonishing, and many drunks were taking advantage of the bushes.), off the grounds from the previous night's collective debauch.
If I want a turkey leg, dammit, I bone and stuff and roast my own, these days. The one place I won't ever go to get it is the Waste of Chicago.
[/End of rant./]
LMAO Classic, Sue...thanks for sharing. I hope it wasn't too painful to dredge that up for us. I'm still ROTF over it, though.
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I'll add a few caveats to my post which will generally endorse the event:
1. I'm fairly new to the city - I just moved here 3 years ago
2. I'm from Cleveland where nothing of this sort exists (well, there's the rib fest, which is really good, but not quite the same)
3. I love music
So, having said those things, I like Taste for a couple of reasons. I went last year for the first time and I enjoyed myself more than I expected. First, I spent considerably less than I expected for 2 people. I was expecting to blow $50 easily; but I managed to escape with as much food as I wanted for a little over $30 or so. Second, even though some of the restaurants are pointless (McDonald's??! Come on), some I hadn't heard of (maybe it's the new-to-the-city thing). And the "you can't get this at their restaurant" thing doesn't really bother me for a few reasons: first, I probably won't go to a restaurant just because I ate their stand at Taste; second, if it's good, even if I CAN'T get it, I'll probably go to the restaurant anyway; third, it doesn't really bother me that the 'high end' restaurants have stopped going because I can't afford those places anyway. There are enough booths there that I don't have to go the McDonald's stands, the Chili's stands, the funnel cake stands - those are there for the less adventurous who want to feed their kids something they know will be eaten to stop the whining.
What I LOVE about the Taste though is the bands. Last year they had Elvis Costello and Sheryl Crow for FREE. Come on! How do you beat that?? Well...this year they have the Counting Crows and the Old 97s! Two EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT bands (PLEASE, go check them out, both bands just flat out rock!) For me, $30 to eat some decent food and see a band for 'free' on a beautiful summer day - doesn't get much better than that. I could do without the crowds, but it comes with the territory, and they didn't really both me last year. The people are idiots, but that comes with the territory as well. Anyway. Give it a few more years and I'll probably develop into the jaded chicago-an y'all have become
Well said, jglazer. I really do appreciate your perspective on Taste.
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I haven't been there in 15 years including 10 of which I worked in the Loop. Crowded, hot, smelly and expensive mediocre food. Other than that, I loved it.
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I love In N' Out Burger too (and I have the stained shirts to prove it)...wish they had a Chicagoland presence.
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According to their website, there will be a Fatburger opening in Chicago soon. Not quite in n' out, but the second best thing don't you think?
I will definitely look forward to that. As far as chains go, these (In 'N Out & Fatburger) are really the 2 best I've experienced...and if properly intoxicated, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference (until I found the receipt in my pocket the next morning)
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I've been reading these threads about the Egulleters from Minneapolis and Chicago getting together and going for a meal. Why don't us Clevelanders do the same? It's always better going to a nice dinner with others who appreciate food.
Sounds like a great idea! I will start a thread and see what kind of response we get. I am kinda booked for a while though. Maybe second week of July?
Great idea guys!
Here's a link to the thread Tobin started about the Cleveland area gathering:
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Heading to St. Louis, Willie? If you are and you indulge in any fried brain sandwiches, please do report back, okay?
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Well, obviously they do since Mayor Daley's web site boasts that "year after year, more than 3 million people choose Taste." IMO, and this is probably not a very controversial thing to say here, Taste of Chicago is the world's most over-rated food event.
Do I sound cynical? I am...but with good reason. This event, in its original incarnation, was a fun and sensible one. It provided a beautiful, lakefront venue where folks could gather and sample all sorts of great dishes--dishes that represented what some of the city's best and most well-known restaurants were known for. But with each passing year, Taste morphs further into an over-crowded funnel cake fest where fewer of the city's best restaurants appear and those that do are more inclined to serve up easily-prepared fare which isn't even offered in their permanent locations. Sound like fun?
I do have some friends who work downtown and Taste provides them with an excellent lunch venue for 2 weeks each summer--the crowds are light, it's only a short walk from their offices and I've been told that Taste beats brown-bagging it, but I have my doubts about that. I'd bet that the lure of Taste attracts the out-of-towners and the tourist groups as well. But I cannot imagine any local person who makes a special trip to Taste being anything but disappointed and/or frustrated with it.
I'll admit that I don't much like crowds. Perhaps that's it--maybe folks who really enjoy being in massive crowds of people enjoy Taste. Inadequate seating and bathroom facilities also make Taste less than appetizing. Perhaps the line-lovers enjoy Taste. There sure are plenty of lines at Taste...lines for everything. I am sincerely perplexed by the popularity of this event.
Please don't let my ranting scare you off. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts about Taste of Chicago--even, no especially if you love the event. What am I missing? Have I just become too curmudgeonly to appreciate something wonderful?
Lastly, are any eG'ers planning to attend Taste? Am I so off-base on this that a meet-up at Taste could actually be a fun time? Okay, okay I know what you're thinking...but if you could convince me that a day at Taste really is enjoyable, I'd even consinder attending and I'd promise to keep my whining to myself until after we parted ways.
For anyone who's interested, here is a link to the official Taste of Chicago web site:
Mayor's Office of Special Events - Taste of Chicago 2004
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Just caught this frustrating but understandable story...
'Super Size Me' Gets Downsized by MTV
Film documentary "Super Size Me," a critical look at the health impact of a fast-food only diet, has been downsized at cable network MTV which has refused to air advertisements for the film, its distributors said on Wednesday.Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films said in a statement the cable TV channel targeted to young audiences has told them the ads are "disparaging to fast food restaurants."
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I love In N' Out Burger too (and I have the stained shirts to prove it
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Just a note to say that I have contacted WTTW about this but have not yet received a response. With CLTV's Good Eating tv show now cancelled (even though it won the 2003 Beard Award for best local cooking show
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I'm in - north-suburban Chicago.
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"Mid-Calorie" Sodas: C2, Pepsi Edge, etc.
in Ready to Eat
Posted
At the recently-completed FMI Show here in Chicago, these products had--by far--the biggest booths of the show. Of course, the soft drink mammoths always do, but large portions of their respective areas were dedicated to these mid-range products. I tasted both the Coke and Pepsi products and thought they were ok, but nothing special. I honestly don't see a big market for these products (too many calories for actual dieters) but wtf do I know?
Also, regarding new Coke, I always view that debacle differently since the plan there was to entirely replace original Coke with it. These 'mid' products are designed to create/capture a new market (and take up shelf space), not replace existing ones. If they fail, no one but the shareholders and those reponsible for launching them will likely notice.
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