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Prepare to sip, swirl and swallow at gourmet fest

Thursday, 15 September 2011 09:46 |

Written by Administrator |

Phil Vettel Food critic

A few things you should know about the fourth annual Chicago Gourmet, which returns to Millennium Park:

Times, dates: Noon to 6 p.m. Sept. 24; noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 25

What you'll pay: One-day admission is $150; two days, $250. Saturday has already sold out. You can also earn a free one-day admission by dining out five times at participating Bon Appetit Chicago Gourmet Dine Around restaurants (there are 50-plus from which to choose), spending at least $35 at each (which is now the only way ticketless fans can gain admission Saturday). Details at chicagogourmet.org.

What you'll find: More than 150 chefs, nearly all of them local, providing food tastings. More wine and beverage samples than you can count. Plus cooking demonstrations, cookbook signings, wine and spirits seminars, and a gourmet retail tent.

What's new: A second entrance, located on Millennium Park's South Promenade, should ease the crush of guests who, understandably, want to be on the Great Lawn at the stroke of 12. There will be 10 Food Pavilions this year (up from six last year), each featuring multiple chefs; when you reach the front of each line you'll be able to grab tastings from all three chefs, instead of getting in a separate line for each. How to handle three food samples at once? By placing them on the plastic tray (with wine-glass holder) included in the Bon Appetit bag you'll be handed at the entrance.

There also will be several food carts, one-man stations scattered about the Great Lawn.

What not to overlook: With all those wine and beverage tents right in front of you, it's easy to forget about the small-group, sit-down wine seminars going on upstairs from the Bon Appetit Main Stage and Culinary Stage. At one seminar last year I sipped my way through Penfolds' top wines, including Grange, with commentary by master sommelier Fred Dame, and there were empty seats. Seminars are included in the price of admission.

What to do Friday night: Spend $89 to get into the Hamburger Hop, a kickoff event from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at the Harris Theater Rooftop in Millennium Park. There, 15 top chefs will engage in a friendly burger competition (using Allen Brothers beef). Try them all, along with beverages from sponsors Blue Moon and Trinchero Family Estates, and vote for the People's Choice Award (which Kevin Hickey of Seasons won last year). This is a separate ticketed event.

What to give your favorite wine snob, especially if he/she is you: Drop $175 for admission to the Grand Cru Tasting, from 2 to 4 p.m. both days (a half-hour longer than in years past) on the Harris Theater Rooftop, where dozens of very expensive, premium wines will be available (among them Dom Perignon '02, Dolce, Insignia, Rubicon and Solo). The $175 fee is in addition to the cost of an admission pass, which is required.

Should I try for discount tickets online? Probably not. Ticket sales have been robust, and word is that there will be no third-party ticket offers this year.

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Liquor Delivery

Wednesday, 14 September 2011 08:31 |

Written by Administrator |

Looking for a unique gift to send a friend or loved one? DeliverLiquor.com will be launching its new gift liquor delivery website early 2012. You can ship a favorite wine, whiskey, rum or more!

Chicago four star dining

Thursday, 08 September 2011 10:46 |

Written by Administrator |

Charlie Trotter's is a four-star restaurant (and has been for many years), but it's not the only one. About a dozen places in the Chicago area share that distinction, although chef changes have put the status of Avenues, L2O and Sixteen in question.

Here are some of the others within the city:

Alinea
1723 N. Halsted St., 312-867-0110. At Grant Achatz's delirious laboratory of fine dining, ingredients sometimes serve as their own utensils and most dishes are so nonintuitive that instructions, as to the manner and/or order of the eating, gently accompany each course. This is not a restaurant for first timers; it's for fine-dining lovers who are ready to have their notions of flavor and textures challenged. But for all the whiz-bang technology, Achatz's food never strays from its primary mission of wonderful flavor. Sit in elegantly minimalist surroundings as the evening's sole menu unfolds. An unforgettable experience. Open: dinner Wednesday-Sunday. Price: multicourse menu (approximately 19 courses) $210. Credit cards: A, DC, DS, M, V. Reservations: required. Noise: hushed. Other: wheelchair accessible, valet parking, jackets required.

Spiaggia
980 N. Michigan Ave., 312-280-2750. Tony Mantuano, chef and partner of the city's finest Italian restaurant, is a sourcing master, importing exotic-to-us ingredients such as cuttlefish eggs for an experience well beyond, and above the norm. Explore the menu as you will (or opt for the seven-course tasting menu), but save room for cheese, preserved in an in-house cheese cave and served from a cart (no mean trick in a tiered dining room). Elegant surroundings and superb views of Lake Michigan are bonuses. Open: dinner Monday-Sunday. Prices: entrees $49-$69, tasting menu $195. Credit cards: A, DC, DS, M, V. Reservations: required. Noise: hushed. Other: wheelchair accessible, valet parking available, jackets required.

Ria
11 E. Walton St., 312-646-1329. From the moment you pull into the circular, European-style courtyard drive of the Elysian hotel, to the point when you're seated in the richly but tastefully appointed dining room, Ria primes you for a big evening, and Danny Grant's kitchen does not disappoint. Dishes that are triumphs of precision and nuanced flavors engage and excite the senses, concluding with Stephanie Prida's elegant and complex desserts. Wine matches by sommelier Dan Pilkey are as fearless — South African dessert wine, anyone? — as they are unerring. And the unflappable waiters deliver exquisite service. The only difficulty is deciding between the tasting menu and a la carte ordering, the latter option the only means to the signature roasted turbot entree. The only sensible option is to dine here twice. Recommended: seafood in fumet blanc, Dover sole, duck breast, tainori chocolate. Open: dinner Tuesday-Saturday. Entree prices: $38-$50; tasting menu $95. Credit cards: A, DC, DS, M, V. Reservations: strongly recommended. Noise: hushed. Other: wheelchair accessible; valet parking.

Tru
676 N. St. Clair St., 312-202-0001. Hard to believe that I gave Tru my first four-star rating in 1999. Harder still to comprehend that Anthony Martin, the current executive chef, was 18 years old at the time. Martin cooks like an old pro, a master technician who decorates a plate with thickened asparagus "noodles" or hides potato gnocchi under a coy lacy veil of cheese tuile. This is supported by a service staff that sees to diners' every need without a single wasted effort and a superb sommelier in Chad Ellegood. Tru is pure indulgence, always has been, but few restaurants justify themselves so persuasively. Recommended: bay scallops with caviar, lamb loin, langoustine with lobster quenelles, Invigorating Peppermint dessert. Open: dinner Monday–Saturday. Prices: prix-fixe dinners $95, $110, $145. Credit cards: A, DC, DS, M, V. Reservations: required. Noise: hushed. Other: wheelchair accessible, valet parking, jackets required.

Les Nomades
222 E. Ontario St., 312-649-9010. In a dining era dominated by manipulated textures and new ingredients, this former private club manages to be relevant and exceptional. Credit cuisinier Chris Nugent, who prepares pates de maison and duck consomme with reverent precision, yet can riff on ham and eggs with a frisee and mache salad topped with a breadcrumb-wrapped poached egg and Iberico ham. Also credit owner and host Mary Beth Liccioni and a veteran service staff that's quietly professional yet personable. Bargain hunters should note the $65 three-course early bird option (order before 5:30 p.m.). Open: dinner Tuesday-Saturday. Prices: four-course menu $115, five-courses $130. Credit cards: A, DC, DS, M, V. Reservations: strongly recommended. Noise: hushed. Other: valet parking; jackets required.

Everest
440 S. LaSalle St., 312-663-8920. High above the city on the 40th floor of One Financial Place sits Jean Joho's destination restaurant, whose city views are outshone, with some regularity, by the plates that emerge from this four-star kitchen. The Alsace-born Joho has a special knack with so-called peasant ingredients, turning humble root vegetables into food for the gods, and nearly everything on the menu is sourced from the Midwest, making Everest the most American French restaurant you'll ever experience. Open: dinner Tuesday-Saturday. Prices: three-course menu $89, four-course $110, seven-course $125. Credit cards: A, DC, DS, M, V. Reservations: required. Noise: hushed. Other: wheelchair accessible, complimentary valet parking, jackets strongly recommended.

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Chicago Costa Rican BYOB Restaurant Irazu

Thursday, 08 September 2011 10:44 |

Written by Administrator |

When my partner-in-crime Ben and I imagine the world's beginnings, the seven days start with the immaculate conception of the first primitive humans, which is immediately followed by the frying of plantain-filled empanadas and the distilling of value wine. At the end of the week, human, food, and booze meet to form the Holy Trinity: BYOB restaurants. It is only natural to utilize such God-given gifts.

We didn't always think like this. We were born into the world as ignoramuses -- and we continued to live without BYOs until two years ago. Yes, it's true: in spite of the proximity of Chicago's treasure trove of delightful joints without liquor licenses, we did not know how many BYOs existed for our first two years at Northwestern University.

It's because few cities house as many BYOs as Chicago. Chicago liquor laws make it easy for restaurants to self-label as BYO, and it's just a great selling point. Some people may use the lack of marked up wine and beer to bring expensive bottles. But this blog will not be about that. This blog will be about pairing tons of cheap wine and beer with the amazing food Chicago has to offer. This blog will be about dinner partying.

First stop: Irazu, a Costa Rican restaurant off the Western Blue Line stop in Bucktown.

Armed with: Six pack Sam Adams Summer Ale, 1.5 liter Pinot Grigio from Jewel, two Trader Joe's wines (one white, one red), one double pint of Japanese beer, one double pint of Latin American beer; but a great wine and beer shop called Red & White Wines is right across the street if you show up boozeless.

Ben and I first went to Irazu in the winter, where upon first glance it looked like a late night taqueria. The entrance is tight and crowded, and the menu is hand-written on a blackboard above the cashier. It's not till you walk around the corner that you see the actual sit down area of the restaurant -- an area so small that the people in line for the one bathroom cozy up to about half the tables. (Last time I was there, I sat at one of the bathroom-cozy tables, where I was in a prime position to flirtatiously eye cute patrons in line for the loo. Some may find this uncouth. I consider it intimate dining.)

Lack of elbow room and a dreadfully long bathroom wait was more than made up for by the flavorful Costa Rican cuisine. So good, in fact, that the wait was a solid forty minutes, even when Irazu transformed its patio to double the amount of seating last week when we went again. Tons of positive Yelp reviews clearly have a downside: both Bucktown hipsters and large families have discovered this gem. (Upside: toddlers later became a great source of entertainment. One adorable boy looked like the kid from Jerry Maguire, if that kid had his hair electrocuted.)

We pulled the beer out early. Drinking before dinner was a necessary distraction.

When we finally sat down, we were hungry and tipsy. (Ben, who needs to eat about every two hours, had gotten verifiably drunk off two pints after a snackless day.) We started devouring complimentary chips and examined the menu to decide what variation of fried meat we wanted. Our party of five shared steak casado, chicken el tico, a shrimp and veggie platter, fish ceviche, and five empanadas. Oh, and their signature oatmeal shake, a thick, textured, lightly-sweetened blend of icy bliss that we fought each other to take another sip of.

Irazu did not skimp us. We opted for the Gallo Pinto Costa Rican style rice with our dishes, and the slightly spicy mixture of rice and beans tasted too good to be called just a side dish. The accompanying meats, while tender and flavorful, tasted almost generic in comparison to the rich Gallo Pinto. We also fell in love with the plantains, with their slightly crisped outside and rich, doughy inside. The empanadas had an underwhelming filling-to-crisp-pastry ratio, but the quality of the cheese and spinach filling made the choice worthy.

Our only mistake: we didn't bring tequila to pair with their fresh-tasting watermelon-lime juice mix. But we had more than enough wine and beer for the five of us. Another plus to Irazu: the friendly staff lets diners stick around to chat and be drunk. (Granted, we were there late enough where wait times had gone down some, but we didn't see them be too pushy with previous parties either.) With our meal done, we still had a bottle of our white Trader Joe's wine left. When we drunkenly struggled with its cork, a staffer came by and acted as our savior. Thanks, Irazu. We needed that.

TLDR: Irazu serves delicious, flavorful dishes, but has a long wait because it's small and well-known. Go before it gets too cold and the outdoor seating closes. Pay extra for gallo pinto rice, bring tequila, and buy the oatmeal milkshake. Service is slow-ish because it's small, but is genuinely friendly. Cash only.

Food: 4/5

Atmosphere: 3.5/5

Friendliness to Partiers: 4.5/5

Price: $5-$15 per entree

Follow Serena Dai on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ssdai

Deliver Liquor

Monday, 29 August 2011 08:26 |

Written by Administrator |

Liquor Delivery Service

Look for DeliverLiquor.com to launch a new liquor delivery service September 30th 2011. DeliverLiquor.com will offer home and business delivery of wine and spirits.

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