Chicago Noms, Part 1: A Girl, A Goat, and 22 Bottles

by EP

At the end of January, 15 people came together in Chicago - yes, Chicago in January - to celebrate a special friend's 30th birthday.  That friend is my dear friend from college, Craig, who you might remember from such posts as this and this.  I was so pleased and honored to be invited to this event, a "destination" birthday party in a fabulous city with an amazing and flourishing food scene.  I had been to Chicago once before back in '04 for a chilly "spring break" road trip from St. Louis, but I was eager to get back and check out the city and the food I'd heard so much about (mostly from Twitter and Xani's various visits).

I will be blogging soon about my other eats with another buddy, Alex, but this post is dedicated to the fabulous meal and overall experience we had at Girl and the Goat, the brainchild of Chef Stephanie Izard, Top Chef Season 3 winner.*

A Blog-Worthy Birthday

by Xani

I'm just coming out of the haze of happiness that I lived in for the past few days while celebrating my birthday.  Now its all work deadlines, broken dishwashers, bills to pay and blogs to write.  No wait, I take that last one back.  Let me re-live the weekend by sharing with all of you!

The past few years we've headed up to NYC to celebrate my birthday.  Always a fabulous, but exhausting time.  This year, we decided to rest our old bones (?) and keep it local.  Erin hosted me at her house (complete with a real guest room and surprisingly comfortable air mattress) for the whole weekend and we lived. it. up!

It all started Friday night, when I headed to Erin's with a car full of cooking/baking supplies, doughs, plastic cutlery, way too many clothes, and this:

Eddie only stuck around for the early part of the evening-- a little later his daddy picked him up so that EP and I could get to the business of failing at macarons.  Sigh.  We had prepared ourselves for this likely outcome but it was still a bummer.  We're blaming it on our lack of a convection oven.  Despite EP's research, including getting specific guidance from Chef Briony in actual FRANCE, our little disks refused to form a foot, formed cracks, and just generally flopped.  We tossed them and drowned our sorrows in champagne and delivery from Kebab Stop (not bad stuff if you are in the Mt. Washington area).

The "before" may look promising, but the afters got thrown in the trash :(

The next day, we awoke refreshed and with one thing on our mind: shopping.  After a getting our fix, we returned to EP's house, knocked a few things off our prep list for the next morning's brunch, and then started preparing ourselves for our much awaited dinner at Wit and Wisdom, the swanky Michael Mina restaurant in the new Four Seasons Hotel downtown.  We had been looking forward to this meal for weeks.

Despite the build-up, W&W did not disappoint.  At every turn the service was better and better- valet, coat-check, bar-tenders, waiters, etc, etc.  The drinks at the bar were as creative and quaff-able as everyone has been telling me (try the Sticky Wicket!).  Once we headed to our table (with a view of the open kitchen AND the waterfront, beat that, other tables!) I was thrilled to see a birthday card waiting for me which had been signed by the whole W&W staff.  And it just got better from there!  Our waiter Paul was perfect in every way, and the only thing more perfect than him was the food.  Here it is, in all its splendor:

GUNPOWDER BISON TARTARE | 

 anson mills green farro, upland cress

Rice Porridge with duck tongues, crispy onions, egg

AMISH RABBIT BOUDIN & COUNTRY-FRIED LOIN 

Insanely Good Broccoli (not the official name)

"Scorched Wheat" fettucine with kale and perfect egg

Special Birthday dessert!

Red Velvet Goodness

Not all the dishes we ate are on the restaurants website, so I had to paraphrase a  little with the descriptions.  But even without official/accurate descriptions, how gorgeous are these plates?  And they tasted even better than they look.  The two starters were excellent- the bison tartare was perfectly executed, but the porridge was the real star, just because it was so different, and tasted SO good.  EP and I are suckers for gruel anyway, and this was like gruel to the Nth degree!  Both mains were excellent as well- the pasta was nutty and al dente, and the eggy, buttery sauce reassured you that this was NOT health food, despite the kale.  All three elements of the rabbit dish were excellent: the country-fried loin, crisp and crunchy; the confit legs, rich and melt in your mouth.  But the boudin was the overall winner-- just bursting with great flavor.  Add some broccoli served with hunks of bread that had been fried crisp in bacon fat, and you've got yourself a hell of a meal!

We finished things off with a couple of gorgeous creations by the pastry chef.  At this point I was nearing saturation of both food and alcohol, so memories are especially hazy.  We snapped one last picture and got out of there before we could eat or drink anything else.

Already thinking about tomorrow's brunch...

The next meal in the weekend's parade of food was a Ladies' Brunch Sunday morning.  We hosted six of our girlfriends and plied them with mimosas, bloody marys, and carbs.  What could be bad about that??

Menu:

• Mimosa Bar (peach puree, strawberry puree, OJ)
• Fruit Plate
• Made from Scratch Bread Basket
• Nutty Fruity Sourdough
• No-Knead Baguette
• Orange-scented Olive Oil Cornmeal Muffins
• Pomegranate-Clementine Butter
• Honey-Five Spice Butter
• Mixed Berry Cream Cheese
• Sausage Biscuit Babies
• Spinach Gruyere Strata

We fancy, huh

A spread of spreads

Call it a strata, call it a bread pudding, just don't call me late for brunch!

fruit to fill in the corners

I think these pictures tell the tale better than I can with words.  My bread-baking hobby is sliding in to the "obsession" territory, thus I insisted on making the baguette, sourdough, muffins and biscuits from scratch.  We made the sausage patties as well (and I still think wrapping them in parchment was the cutest touch!).  The strata is truly the perfect brunch dish- fully assembled the day before, it baked to perfection while our guests nibbled the other offerings.  Most importantly the brunch featured good friends, lots of laughs, and many cocktails.

Some ladies enjoying some drinks

Sisters celebrating!

 After digesting for over 24 hours, I somehow found it possible to eat again.  One final meal rounded out this fantastic weekend.  Dave offered to cook a special birthday dinner, menu of my choosing.  I went classic: raw oysters, NY strip steaks, potatoes, spinach.  Dave truly outdid himself with  the execution of this meal:

Something something about the walrus and the carpenter....

Steak by candlelight

The oysters?  Amazing.  The steak? None other than the premium dry-aged stuff from the new Harris Teeter in our 'hood. We were shocked at how flavorful they were.  The taste was very different from non-aged beef.  We both were reminded of flavors like parmesan, mushrooms, even fish.  Maybe its the umami thing all the kids are talking about.  Oh, and of course they were perfectly medium rare (thank you America's Test Kitchen reipe), and sat alongside crispy, cheesy hasselback potatoes and some damn fine creamed spinach (a favorite of mine since I was a toddler).  He really knows the way to my heart... I am a lucky lady!

Could a girl ask for a more fabulous or delicious birthday??  I think not.  Thank you to everyone who made it so special <3 <3 <3

X

A Doughy Weekend

by Xani

I know everyone is just on the edge of their seats waiting for more info about our interview the other night.  Well, you will have to wait just a little bit longer, although I will tell you that Salt was just as good as I remember, even though the last time we ate there was in 2008!  More details to come very soon...

Meanwhile, I spent a pleasant weekend experimenting in the kitchen.  First, I decided to try another America's Test Kitchen recipe, this one for Chicago Style Deep-Dish Pizza.  Now, I'm normally a thin-crust girl.  I can practically whip up a grilled pie or flat bread in my sleep.  But deep-dish is another animal.  I'm hesitant to even call is "pizza," it's something else entirely.  But ATK provided a thorough recipe, complete with pictures and video (another reason I love their site), and it looked too delicious not to try.  I got started on the dough and actually remembered the take pictures this time!

Dough phase 1

After assembling the dough in my KitchenAid, I started getting a little nervous b/c it didn't have quite the glossy/tacky consistency the recipe called for.  REMAIN CALM, I instructed myself.  For once, I listened, and by the time it had risen all was well, and I was able to shape it into this:

Now the crazy part, you slather it with butter!

And roll 'er up...

This is a form of lamination (which I've discussed before) and the ATK testers found that it was an important part of getting the flaky, light crust that is crucial to true deep-dish (heavy and bready is no good!).

A few more steps and another rise (this time in the fridge)...

flattened

folded, seams pinched to form a ball

ready to rise again

and it was time to shape the dough, slide them into generously oiled cake pans, and top them with lots and lots of cheese!

a half pound of shredded mozz on each pie!! plus a little of my homemade red sauce

aaand a little more cheese...

A relatively quick 20 mins in a hot oven, and they were ready:

TA-DA!

Ready for their close-up

Sliced nicely

OMG PIZZA!  I think you can tell from the pictures these pizzas were, in a word, ridic!  The crust got nice and crispy on the outside from the oiled pan and hot oven, but the crumb was nice and light on the inside, with a little richness from the butter.  Then, all that ooey-gooey cheese, and rich marinara sauce.  Yum.  One criticism was that the filling seemed a little wet, which after a few minutes affected the crispness of the crust and made things a little soggy.  Next time I will try using a low moisture mozzarella and/or cook down the sauce a bit more.

This was a fun recipe to try and a nice treat, but not the kind of thing I'm likely to make/eat all the time (one can only eat so much salad to balance out such things).  But this NEXT recipe is something I'm adding to my repertoire forever.  Another ATK recipe (god, I'm such a fangirl), this time for their Rustic Dinner Rolls.  I guess I've got a little confidence in my bread-making skills since my successful boule experiment, and dinner rolls seemed like a good fit since, unlike a large loaf, these can be frozen and individually defrosted as needed. (I hate throwing food away, and I think I would CRY if I had to throw away lovingly homemade bread because it went stale!)  Unfortunately, no pictures of the process (I got a migraine halfway through making these-- my wonderful boyfriend took over and "turned" the dough according to the recipe while I took my medication and laid in a dark room for a while), but the outcome.... WOW!

OK, they may not look like the prettiest rolls you've ever seen (again, they're "rustic") but they taste AMAZING.  Perfect crispy outer crust, great, light texture inside (from the higher hydration level-- love that ATK includes food science lessons in their recipes!), and amazing taste.  I could see these showing up in a bread basket in a nice restaurant for sure.  They re-crisp easily- just a few minutes in a hot oven and they taste out-of-the-oven fresh.

So, those were my adventures in dough this weekend.  What should I make next??

X

Surprise!

by Xani

Hey BCD readers (if you still exists)-- surprise, I'm still alive!  And still cooking and eating.  Here's a quick post of some recent culinary treats, to whet your appetite for more BCD blogging!
Lobster:

Lobster Roll and Thrice Cooked Fries

Valentine's Day Special: We bought two big lobsters and ate them three ways!  First, boil them up, reserve the claw and tail meat for the lobster rolls, then devour every morsel in the bodies.  That was Friday night.  We also did the first cooking of the Thrice Cooked Fries so they'd be ready for lunch the next day.  Most of the tail and claw meat got lightly dressed and stuffed into a toasted, buttery split-top rolls (luckily we were able to find the appropriate rolls-- a real New Englander won't have it any other way!), and served alongside the fries for Saturday lunch.  The fries were excellent but in my opinion not worth the hassle, since the America's Test Kitchen one-step fry technique is just as good, and so much easier.  The rest of the meat got mixed into a decadent dinner salad with mango, avocado and, of course, homemade vinaigrette.  You know I love my salads!

Pizza:

Oscar-worthy Flatbreads

These are a couple of flatbreads I whipped up for Oscar night.  Using my trusty Ratio method for the dough, I shaped the breads and baked them on a pizza stone in a 500 degree oven (it was still too cold outside to grill them-- but luckily grilling season is right around the corner), then topped them and slid them back in to melt the cheese.  The one of the left has brie and peppedew peppers, on the right is a classic combo of caramelized onions and Gruyere.  We ate these before we lost our appetite from the bad jokes.

Bread:

My First Bread!

Above are the before and after of my very first home-baked loaf of bread!  Again, I used the recipe/technique from Ratio for a basic "lean" bread.  I cooked it in my Le Crueset dutch oven, like all the kids are doing these days.  I could not have been happier with the result.  Here's an interior shot:

It was absolutely fabulous slathered with butter and a little salt (but what isn't?)

Weeknight dinner:

Spinach Gratin with Poached Eggs

My new favorite thing is poaching eggs.  It's so easy and they cook up perfectly.  I'm eating less meat these days so eggs are a good protein source to include in dinner.  This spinach gratin (which you can see hiding under the eggs) was actually supposed to be the main course, but the spinach cooked down to nothing! I had to supplement the meal and poached eggs were the perfect solution.  A little toasted whole wheat pita was the perfect thing to dip in the runny yolks.  

So there's a little update on what I've been eating for the past few months, just in case you'd been tossing and turning all night wondering ;)  I'm hoping to post more now that spring is on its way and fresh, delicious ingredients are back on the menu.  And stay tuned for very special upcoming posts from Boston and, a BCD first, INTERNATIONAL BLOGGING!

X

Finally- BOUCHON

by Xani

As the biggest winter snowstorm in years approaches the Baltimore region, I'm thinking back to a warm night a couple weeks ago. I was visiting my dear friend Jenny in Los Angeles, and our trip culminated in a most fantastic meal. We scored a reservation for the new Bouchon in Beverly Hills! And we could not have been more excited.

From the moment we walked into the restaurant, we knew it was going to be an amazing experience (my first Thomas Keller restaurant)! The place is absolutely gorgeous, huge, and super-classy without feeling stuffy. We sat in the main dining room, but spied some cozy little tables on the balcony (next time!)

Then, onto the food. First, a tiny bowl containing warm pistachios and this gorgeous bread arrived, with some soft, salty butter. I've been cutting carbs recently but couldn't resist a small piece of this crusty, warm, heavenly bread. I honestly can't remember a restaurant bread as good as this EVER. TK really knows his baked goods.

Then, some appetizers. Fresh, sweet, delicious oysters. They had 6 or more kinds but this was a sampling of three types of pacific oysters, I believe. Oh, remembering these is making me sad I won't be slurping down oysters at Clipper City Brewery tomorrow (Oysters and Beer event postponed due to snow)-- boop!

We also indulged in this enormous charcuterie platter, with several kinds of cured meats, spicy mustard, and pickled veggies (and more bread-- but we restrained ourselves. We were holding out for something even better...)

Then, the main dishes. We had decided what to order WEEKS before we sat down to this meal. The roast chicken (Keller is legendary for his chicken) and the steak frites- yeah, we were holding out for those fries (also legendary)!!

Both dishes were just... impeccable. Not even the slightest flaw. The chicken was moist, with crisp skin, and served with the most flavorful jus underneath with the vegetables. Top notch. But the real show-stopper was the steak frites. Just perfection. The steak, which was served slathered with hotel butter, was one of the most tender, flavorful, and rich pieces of meat I have ever eaten (and I have eaten some fabulous steaks!!). It was intensely delicious. I don't know how else to describe it. It would make a steak from Outback go and hide in the closet. It was so good, it was the best thing on the table, even beating out the mountain of fries sharing it's plate. IT WAS THAT GOOD. Not that the fries were anything to sneeze at-- these too were some of the best restaurant fries I've had in recent memory. I guess I just have a soft spot for the ones I make at home... but these were damn good. I think Jenny said that a dash of truffle oil wouldn't have hurt these, and I must say, I agree (when did truffle oil ever hurt anyone??).

I'm sorry to say we left without dessert, but did linger over some coffee to take in the surroundings. Bouchon is truly a gorgeous restaurant serving fantastic cuisine. It just makes me that much more sure that a visit to Per Se or The French Laundry, should I ever get to go, would be truly an experience of a lifetime!

Thanks to Jenny for arranging our whole weekend and spending over 20 minutes on hold to get our reservation-- totally worth it!

And to all of you in the area hunkering down for this storm: stay safe, stay warm, and stay put (if possible)!

Happy eating (and happy birthday to ME, tomorrow!)

Xani

NYC in 24 Hours

by Erin



Confession: I have an addiction. A serious, debilitating addiction (surprisingly, NOT to bacon). It's an addiction to New York City! I can't get enough - I think about it all the time, I fantasize about living there, SO many of my favorite people live there, and let's not forget about the FOOD! I masochistically signed up for Tasting Table NYC just to hear about all the up and coming food spots I will not be able to partake in but for my sporatic visits a few times a year.

Anyway, between graduation and beginning bar review (uuuggh), I had about a week to just sit around and soak up the rare feeling of having nothing to do. Of course, a trip to NYC was definitely on my list, but I could only come in the middle of the week when most of my buddies/family had to work, so (with the encouragement of Mom and Lauren) I chose to come for a whirlwind, 24 hour trip!


Instead of the train, I took the Bolt Bus from Baltimore ($10 each way - can't beat that!) and arrived just in time to meet up with BFF Lauren in the West Village for a drink before we met up with cousins Ann and Steven for dinner. We ate at Malatesta Trattoria, a quaint Italian place right near the water with open windows and house-made pasta.

Highlights of the meal included the grilled calamari, which was so tender and had a nice added charred flavor, and the sauteed spinach with lots of garlic.



Grilled calamari



Sauteed spinaci



Caprese salad

I also liked my dish, the pasta arrabbiata, a lot - had lots of heat and the sauce was not too heavy. The others also enjoyed their dishes: Steven got ravioli with pink sauce, Lauren got one of the specials, pappardelle with crab (and something else but I can't remember), and Ann got spaghetti with a tomato-based sauce (also can't remember -- all brain cells are being used for legal information at the moment, sorry!).


Ravioli with pink sauce



Spaghetti with tomato and...other stuff



Papardelle with tomato and crab



Penne arrabbiatta

All three of their dishes were made with house-made pasta; the penne in my dish was unfortunately not, but it was cooked to the perfect al dente.

We did not get dessert at Malatesta because we had plans to go to Amy's Bread for -- what else -- CUPCAKES! We in fact not only got an assortment of cupcakes, we also got a few slices of their ridiculously good looking full-sized cakes!

We got red velvet cupcakes and a vanilla cupcake with lovely pink frosting. We also got slices of coconut cake, carrot cake, and German chocolate cake. Actually, we got everything but the German chocolate and as we sat down, Steven got back up and bought the GC slice - the man loves chocolate, what can we say?

Everything was so delicious! As for the cupcakes, I recall the red velvet was good but the frosting was more of a meringue buttercream (more butter than sugar), not the traditional cream cheese frosting. The carrot cake, however, DID have CC frosting and it was bad-ass! The pink cupcake was pretty perfect: not too sweet cake, pretty sweet frosting, good frosting-to-cake ratio.



Pink! And so delicious



Red velvet - we got the last two!

As for the cakes, they were all delicious. The coconut cake was probably my favorite - so moist and coconutty... [drooling]. Surprisingly (or, not so surprisingly?) I really liked the carrot cake! I had it for the first time a few weeks ago and loved it, so I guess I like carrot cake now.



Coconut cake...nom nom nom



Carrot cake



Ann and Steven - love them! And they love cake



Me and LP! We love the pink one!



Steven with his secret extra slice of German chocolate cake



Cupcake carnage



This is the face of a diabetic coma

After we had lapsed into diabetic comas, we stumbled home - Ann and Steven to their apartment in the Flatiron District, me and Lauren to her home in Brooklyn.

The next morning, I took the train into the city with Lauren as she went to work and I went to Madison Square Park, one of my fave spots in the city (which happens to be right outside Ann and Steven's apartment - alas they were at work, lame!). I read my book and enjoyed a Brooklyn bagel we picked up on the way to the train, and then my good friend Kerry arrived! Kerry, a fellow UM law grad (whom you may remember from our meal at Otto in NYC, amongst others), also had nothing to do before bar studying began, so we got to spend some QT together.

One of my and Kerry's favorite things about Madison Square Park is the fact that SHAKE SHACK is there! I've been there several times and just love it. We just happened to be strolling by just as they were opening, so we decided to get a wee snack just for kicks. We got one Shackburger (cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, shack sauce) and a small cup of frozen custard to share. One of the flavors of the day: salted caramel.



Custard!



Kerry and shackburger - two of my favorite things



Hooboy - that was GOOD. The burger was great, as always, and the frozen custard just blew me away! First, custard has a great texture, different from ice cream or gelato, and it reminds me of when I lived in St. Louis and we got to enjoy Ted Drewes custard all the time. Second, salted caramel frozen custard?! I love salted caramel anything, and here it was fantastic: sweet, salty, creamy, melty, yummy.

After our snack, Kerry and I walked around for a while, I picked up some Ess-a Bagels for the family back home, and I got to see Kerry's new apartment - very nice indeed. Then, we parted ways and I met up with Lauren to have my farewell lunch at The Odeon Restaurant.



We ate outside and had a lovely lunch amidst the hustle and bustle of the city. (I believe we were in Tribeca?) Lauren got the tuna burger with a spicy wasabi mayo, and I got the tarragon chicken salad on grilled baguette, which was served with a watercress salad. I appreciated that they used baguette - most chicken salad sandwiches come on soft bread, which gets too mushy in my opinion. Here, not only did they use baguette, they grilled it, making it even more crunchy and delicious - bravo, Odeon, bravo.



Tuna burger with great fries



Now that's a happy girl



Chicken salad on grilled baguette

After lunch, I took the train (all by myself!) to Penn Station and got back on the ol' Bolt Bus. What a great 24 hour trip! I got to see many of my A-listers and ate a few good meals and snacks. Thanks Lauren, Ann, Steven, and Kerry! Love to you all, and hopefully see you in the City soon!

Happy NYC visiting,
EP