Tag Archives: fried

Off Cue

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Mark T

Welcome to Mastication Monologues, one and all! If you’re new to this site, I am a world traveler and eater who posts about my adventures in restaurants and life through witty and delectable anecdotes. If you’re a returning fan, thank you for keeping up with my blog even though it has been on pause again. This time it’s due to the Thanksgiving holiday season and transition to another university teaching gig, but that doesn’t mean that my food forays have ceased by any stretch of the imagination. Today’s post is about Q-BBQ, a relatively new kid on the block when it comes to the smoked and savory stuff.

There are lots of different branches for this barbecue joint throughout the Chicagoland area, but I went to the La Grange location. It is quite pleasant in the summer since they have the patio open for diners along with seating inside if the sun and the Q-Style sauces get too hot to handle. Looking over the menu, they boasted a wide variety of meats ranging from pulled pork to wings which are prepared with a 13 spice blend and smoked up to 22 hours over hickory and apple wood. So I could see that they talked the talk, but could they walk the walk? My mom eventually settled on a basic pulled pork sandwich with a side of mashed potatoes and the complimentary hushpuppies ($7.99). As for me, I got a brisket sandwich Q-style which meant that in addition to the sauce and meat, I got a helping of Q slaw and blue cheese crumbles on top, and for the side I had cornbread.

We took our seat outside on the patio since it was still a warm and enjoyable late summer day in Chicagoland which seems like a pleasant, distant memory now that the freeze of winter has set in. Eventually, our food was brought out to us, and it looked delicious. However, I wasn’t that impressed. I’ve had barbecue in the Carolinas and Memphis, and this was a pale comparison to those respective grilling styles. I felt that Green Street Smoked Meats in the West Loop in Chicago even did a better job. Why did Q BBQ not measure up to my other barbecue experiences? Easy, the meat. I felt like my brisket was rubbery, semi-tasty but not bursting with flavor, and covered up by the cole slaw and blue cheese crumbles. I even had a bite of my mom’s pulled pork sandwich, and it was a shrug of the shoulders from my stomach. It had a supposed North Carolina vinegar sauce slathered all over its porky interior, but I didn’t taste one bit of the sour tang from this Southern thang. As for the sides, the mashed potatoes were admirable with their beef based gravy with a bit of spice to liven up an average meal. The cornbread was dry and uninspiring, and the hushpuppies were mediocre.

Even the mustard sauce couldn’t cut it

Instead of being light balls of fried dough, they were dry and crumbly which left my big dog of a stomach woofing for something tastier. I don’t think the taste of each item fully justified the price they charged.

So if you’re looking for some delicious barbecue, I would look elsewhere in the Chicagoland area. Q BBQ will just leave you with more Qs than As.

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Posted in American Cuisine, Barbecue and tagged barbecue, blue, brisket, cheese, cole, dough, fried, hushpuppies, La Grange, pork, sauce, slaw, spicy. Bookmark the permalink.

Woosah at Yeowoosai

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Mark T

Fried chicken. Is there any other food that is more quintessentially ‘Murikan? Actually, I’ll have to stop you right there. Fried chicken actually has its roots in Scotland where they coated their chicken and made it so much tastier than the boiled and baked versions of the poultry dish down south in England. They carry on the tradition even today of consuming everything fried including Mars bars and cookies. There is also evidence that West African cuisine utilized fried chicken for ceremonial meals. Ergo, when both European immigrants from Scotland and African slaves arrived in the American South, the culinary traditions of both groups became woven into the fabric of the multi-colored patchwork that is our country’s food history. However, what many people wouldn’t associate with fried chicken is Korea. In fact, during my time in the Land of the Morning Calm, I sampled some of their fried delights that were an extra-greazy reminder of home in an otherwise kimchi-laden environment. However, Yeowoosai in Chicago’s Koreatown manages to combine both American and Korean cuisine with a sports bar atmosphere that conveniently has a noraebang (or karaoke) attached.

It’s located in a small strip mall, but little did I know that my tastebuds and my world were about to be rocked into submission. It was quite empty when we went, but I’m sure it gets quite bumping on the weekend. We didn’t look at the menu since Janice ordered for me since she gets the same thing every time she goes there: the 닭디겜 (daktigem or popcorn chicken). We also got 김치볶음밥 (kimchi bokkeumbap or kimchi fried rice). However, they do offer plenty of Korean classics like 비빔밥 (bibimbap or a rice bowl with meat and veggies), 김치찌개 (kimchi jjigae or kimchi soup), and 갈비 and 불고기 (galbi or grilled ribs and bulgogi or marinated beef). The entire time we were waiting, Janice was building up this food, but I didn’t believe how good it really was going to be. It’s not like I haven’t seen popcorn chicken or fried rice before. How severely mistaken I was. First the popcorn chicken came out. It was literally the size of a wash basin and my potential food baby was lying in it. It was served with a side of “yellow sauce” and a pickled jalapeno and radish mix. This was hands-down the best popcorn chicken I’ve ever tried in my life. From the smooth, buttery, yet light breading to the juicy all white meat nuggets that were quickly filling my stomach, I couldn’t get enough. Then when I dipped them into the yellow sauce which I figured must be some type of mayonnaise and horseradish concoction with a hint of pepper, a dash of crack, and a soupçon of meth mixed in (seriously though, no drugs were involved in the making of this delicious meal), it finally happened. I was and still am addicted to Yeowoosai’s popcorn chicken and yellow sauce complete with meat sweats and shakes. As for the jalapeno and radish salad, I thought it was a refreshing, cool, tangy, and slightly spicy way to cleanse your palate between mouthfuls of chicken. Then there was the kimchi fried rice. We just got the original with Spam and eggs. Why put Spam in a meal when you have a choice not to? Why not use beef, chicken, or pork? Well, Spam in Korean cuisine is actually a carry over from the Korean War period where food was scarce, but the American military ate Spam. So, that’s what the local populace scavenged from the GI army bases to make meals. While South Korea has made great advances since then, Spam still is seen as a luxury gift. This often bewilders Americans and other Westerners when Korean shoppers are clamoring to buy Spam giftsets for loved ones at Christmas and Chuseok or Thanksgiving Day. The American armed forces has also made Spam popular in other places like the Philippines and Hawaii. Hooray for spreading terrible quasi-meat around the world! Anyway, the fried rice. Once again, portion-wise it was gigantic like the popcorn chicken and for a great price. It was also a quality choice. Compared to the kimchi fried rice back in the Motherland, it was even better. It was rich, spicy, but not too spicy. The pieces of kimchi thrown in provided a texture contrast that popped up now and then between spoonfuls. I was having multiple moments of being overwhelmed by the large amount of mind-blowingly amazing food in front of me, but eventually my wild ride came to an end as I threw in the towel..er napkin and woosahed .

Long story short, go to Yeowoosai if you want to try a Korean sports bar with plenty of dishes your average ajumma (Korean old woman) would recognize. Plus, these huge and reasonably priced portions of food will leave both your wallet and stomach stuffed. Not a bad deal at all.

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Posted in South Korean and tagged Chicago, chicken, egg, fried, jalapeno, kimchi, Korea, pickles, popcorn, radish, restaurant, Reviews, rice, spicy. Bookmark the permalink.

Getting My Goat On

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Mark T

Welcome to another chapter in the Mastication Monologues saga! Today’s restaurant review takes us to one of the newer but highly regarded eateries in Chicago in the West Loop: Girl and the Goat. I had heard so many great things about famed chef, Stephanie Izard. According to the website, “Izard is name of goat in the Pyrenees”; hence the name of the restaurant. Looking beyond their rustic take on English on their website, their food was king or perhaps queen of the mountain.

The interior was bumping when I went there around dinnertime for a double date. Servers were buzzing by as we checked in for our reservation. There was a bit of a wait, so we grabbed drinks and took in the entire experience. From the sleekly designed interior to the open cook line, it was like poetry in motion everywhere I looked. It only whetted my appetite even more for the upcoming meal. Eventually we were seated and the madness began. With a tumbler of whiskey in hand, we looked over the menu to see some common items like olives or steak tartare, but then there were crazy things like duck tongues or pig face. Mind you, the menu is on a rotating basis, so you might be privy to some dishes I never saw on the menu. We went crazy ordering once our server came over however. The journey began with a sun-dried tomato bread boule that came with a side of vinegar seasoned corn relish and savory butter with a garlic infusion. This typical carb starter got us off on the right foot as it was warm, oh-so-soft, and bursting with the taste of fresh tomatoes. Then for actual dishes, the Girl and the Goat focus on more tapas-esque presentation and portion sizes which means that each selection is meant to be shared amongst all the people at the table. Ergo, we ordered things that everyone wanted to try. First, seafood. We got the raw kusshi oysters with muscatel mignonette and tarrgon along with the wood fired blue point oysters with horseradish, bacon, and preserved lemon.

Kusshi oysters

This was a historical foodie moment for me since it was the first time trying oysters. While I heard from some people that they tasted like snot going down, I found them to slide right down without any sort of trepidation from my palate. They didn’t need to be chewed or anything, so I don’t know what those other diners’ problems were. I personally preferred the wood fired oysters because they were slightly warm along with a nice sinus-tickling horseradish kick.

Woodpoint fired oysters

While we were partying under the sea with the super shellfish, the steak tartare wraps came out. If you just saw “steak” and “wrap”, the “tartare” part means that the meat was raw inside. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s unsafe to eat. In fact, these nibbles were quite light at delicious. The lettuce leaves were super fresh, and the pieces of red meat were accompanied by some tempura flakes and another corn relish that provided a texture contrast to the tender steak and crunchy tempura batter. Along with this hands-on dish, we got an order of squash blossom rangoon with wasabi garlic chive yogurt and sliced almonds ($13). I think these fried gourds were a bit over the top with their cheesy interiors. It seemed to simply be a high-falutin version of common jalapeno poppers, and they were quite primitive in comparison to the other dishes we tried before. The duck tongues ($16) that came next were anything but ordinary. While everyone at the table was disgusted yet slightly curious when I ordered this dish, I was curious to see if it was going to be different from my experiences with duck tongues in Taiwan and China. Lo and behold, it was since they were neither simply cooked nor still sticking in a duck’s head. Instead, they were fried and arranged into a mini-mountain over a tuna and black bean poke that was negligible, but the spicy piri-piri bird’s eye pepper (similar to the one at Nando’s in the UK) from Mozambique really kicked these tongues up a notch in terms of flavor. Plus, my formerly squeamish dining companions found them to be quite pleasant since they melted in your mouth and didn’t feel like you were making out with Donald Duck. After that bizarre treat, we came back to reality with an order of ham frites ($7) with sides of smoked tomato aioli (literally: “garlic oil” in Catalan) and cheddar beer sauce. These smoky, savory taters were finger licking good especially with the cheddar beer sauce and powdered ham that took these common bar items to a new level of haute cuisine. If this redesigned ‘Murikan favorite got my palate amped up, the spring onion potstickers ($15) were a Far East fusion creation to cool it down. It was served at room temperature, and the fried dough was extra delicate. Along with that, the dandelion greens and sunflower seeds created many earthy tones as I took down each one. All of these were leading up to the piece de resistance, the crisped braised pork shank ($25). Not only was this thing monstrous, but it also came with sides I would have never expected: Indian naan bread, buttermilk dressing, peach kimchi, and a pepper sauce. I almost felt like young King Arthur with the sword in the stone, and I took my Excalibur with great aplomb. The meat fell off the bone, and it was mind-blowingly succulent. Each strand combined with the golden crispy skin to create a legendary dish that I will never forget. The naan was fresh, but I didn’t think it really fit in with the other ingredients. The kimchi peaches somewhat made sense since it was a sour/sweet element to cut through the savory and slightly greasy meat. The pepper sauce was good but not great.

It gone!

As if you thought this was the end to the food madness, the pork belly and scallops came out. I tried a minuscule portion of the pork belly, and it would have been great if my stomach wasn’t stretched to bursting. Perhaps for next time. The lobster was quite sweet while the crab seemed to be a better compliment to the lean pork. As for the scallops, I can’t really comment on them because I was absolutely stuffed, but their presentation was pleasing to the eye. Plus, the scallops were quite hefty for the price.

So in closing, if you want to try one of Chicago’s most highly vaunted restaurant, bring your piggy bank and then some because it isn’t cheap. However, it is high quality food with moderately large portions compared to other similarly prestigious eateries. Ergo, you should get down to Girl and the Goat ASAP.

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Posted in American Cuisine and tagged cheese, Chicago, duck, fine dining, fried, Fries, ham, oysters, peas, pork, scallop, tongues. Bookmark the permalink.

Throwback Post: Chocolatería San Ginés in Madrid

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Mark T

Bienvenidos y welcome to Mastication Monologues! If you’re reading this, you’ve finally reached the end of my throwback Europe series. We’re touching down in the heart of the Iberian peninsula in the ageless city of Madrid.

Home to the Spanish government and monarchy, Madrid is the imposing and more regal version of Spain’s more laid back second city, Barcelona. Everywhere my friend Kevin and I turned, we were confronted with another piece of history. Royal palace? Check. El Prado Art Museum? Check. El Parque de Buen Retiro? Double check. I especially enjoyed the park because it offered a bit of relaxation in a city that is mostly business-minded. Not only are there plenty of open lawns and large trees, but the main fountain in the middle of the park was the best because you can rent rowboats for an hourly fee. It was nice to just sit on a bench and take in the more leisurely pace of life in Spain where families were out on paseos (after meal walks) and the old timers were arguing about the superiority of Los Colchoneros vs Los Merengues over some coffee. One of the best places outside of the city that I’d recommend visiting is El Escorial. It was commissioned by Felipe II to be a royal palace and a symbol of Catholic strength in the face of the rising wave of Protestantism. The palace’s design is particularly interesting since it was designed with a grid floor plan to pay homage to the red hot griddle that Saint Lawrence was burned to death on. From the halls gilded with gold mined from New World mines to the exquisitely carved statues in the Court of Kings, it was a royal palace without equal. While I did try some delicious tapas throughout my stay in the city, the star of the food show took the form of churros at Chocolatería San Ginés located at Pasadizo de San Gines, 5, 28013, Madrid. What are churros? Churros are basically pieces of fried dough that are often long and thin. From there, chefs have given their own twist on them which have included: plain, coated with cinnamon-sugar, coated in chocolate, coated in chocolate and filled with caramel, or coated in chocolate and filled with custard. At Chocolatería San Ginés the churros are served plain with a cup of chocolate on the side for dipping. This churro shop has been open since 1894, and it has been a favorite hangout for night owls and club goers who want something sweet and greasy to fill them up before going home. I just stumbled upon it through pure chance during a normal night after dinner, and I never forgot the first time I bit into one of the golden wands of magical fried dough. They were substantial, light, and fresh out of the fryer. I could have eaten them without the chocolate due to their subtle buttery base common to many fried dough treats, but the warm melted milk chocolate took this dessert to another level. I was communing with San Lorenzo, San Gines, and the rest of the culinary saints by the end of the heavenly plate. It was a perfect end to my visit to the Spanish capital, and a heavenly denouement to this throwback series. I hope you enjoyed reading this European adventure as much as I had writing it.

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Posted in Chocolate, Desserts, European Cuisine, Spanish and tagged capital, chocolate, churros, deep, dough, fried, Madrid, melted, milk, palace, park, Spain. Bookmark the permalink.

Throwback Post: Pilsner Urquell and Olomoucké Tvarůžky in Prague

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Mark T

Hey there and welcome to another edition of Mastication Monologues! If you haven’t been reading my latest posts, I’ve started to chronicle my past food and drink adventures throughout Europe. My journey starts in Eastern Europe due to its funky food history and local flavor. Part one in Bucharest featured a heart-clogging favorite with Romanian shepherds, and part two recalled my misunderstanding over a piece of meat in a unique Budapest restaurant. Now, part three takes me to Prague where I encountered one of the worst tasting foods I’ve ever consumed, and I actually enjoyed the controversial king of fruits, durian. So you know it has to be bad.

Prague is hands-down one of the most gorgeous places in Europe I’ve visited, but unfortunately everyone else in the world has found this gem behind the former Iron Curtain. What this means is that such lovely places like St. Vitus’ Cathedral and the Charles Bridge are crawling with tourists like ants all over a picnic. However, there are some hidden gems like the Dancing Building which is colloquially known as Fred and Ginger as in Astaire and Rogers since the two structures look like they’re gliding across the dancefloor like their namesakes. Summer hordes aside, it is a metropolis that combines plenty of history with cuisine that has strains of both Slavic and Germanic traditions. During our stay in Prague, Kevin, his then gf, and I traveled throughout the city and experienced the best Prague had to offer in regard to sites, sounds, and toward the end of our trip, smells. I’m getting ahead of myself. First, let’s talk about beer.

In America, we have a very large beer culture compliments of the scores of Northern and Central European immigrants who came to our country, but Czech beer plays a very large part in the history of the hoppy drink, especially when it comes to pilsner beer. The word “pilsner” derives from the Germanic form of the Czech town of Plzeň (Pilsen in German) since that’s where this type of beer was invented. Therefore, it only made sense to Czech out (pun YOLO!) the most famous and original pilsner, Pilsner Urquell, in the heart of Prague. The most interesting part of our bar hopping adventures beyond the beer was a local bar outside the Prague city center that was around the corner from our hostel. It looked like any other watering hole on the outside, and when we walked in, it didn’t strike us as anything novel. There was a mix of men and women sitting throughout the establishment sipping on steins, but then there was the all female wait staff. They were all topless. TOPLESS! It wasn’t a nightclub or anything. No Guns and Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” pumping over the speakers as dancers took their turns on the pole. Instead, it was like any other bar in the world, but all the ladies must have forgot their shirts at home. It made holding a conversation with my traveling companions hard and ordering beers even worse. The whole experience was the polar opposite to the Puritanical views in America toward nudity. The Pilsner Urquell was equally titillating when it came out.

Bros and brews

It tasted better out of the tap than the bottles sold in America. It was crisp, clean, and slightly bitter with hoppy elements that complimented the intense roast pork I had to eat. Along with the amazing beer, I tangled with a very interesting dish that hails from the capital of Moravia, Olomouc.

Olomouc (pronounced “Oh-luh-moots”) was the only other city we visited in the Czech Republic, but it was the ideal balance to the hectic streets of Prague. It was more provincial but just as beautiful. The St. Wenceslaus Cathedral was immense like most houses of former worship in secular Europe, and the town square possessed a beautiful sun clock that was shot up by the Nazis during their retreat from Russia in WWII. When the Soviets took over the town, they rebuilt it with proletarian heroes in place of the Catholic saints that originally decorated the clock’s facade. There still are other remnants of Soviet rule like the working scenes in the train station, and all of it added to the character of the town. We enjoyed our time in the town, and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a daytrip outside of Prague.

Mmm Olomouc ice cream

When we came back to Prague, we visited the Jewish Quarter since Kevin’s gf was Jewish. After seeing a synagogue, we stopped at a local restaurant. They had a mix of Czech and American dishes, but I was drawn in by the “stinky cheese” option. I ordered one plate which didn’t look that stinky. It just looked like two patties of fried cheese, but when I sliced into it and took a bite…wow. It tasted like the smell of the pachyderm house at the Brookfield Zoo, i.e. think of hay mixed with pungent urine and aromatic feces. You know it’s bad when you can only describe the taste of something as a smell. I could only finish one patty since it was so nasty yet I was so hungry. Luckily it was only a side to my main dish. I did some research, and the name of this nasty cheese was Olomoucké Tvarůžky. It’s a cow milk cheese that originates from Olomouc, the city we visited earlier in the day. How such a terrible creation could have come from such a wonderful part of the country and has been “enjoyed” since the 15th Century is beyond me.

Overall, the Czech Republic is a great budget vacation in comparison to other places in Western Europe, but you really can experience what the country has to offer at reasonable prices if you venture outside of Prague. Drink as much beer as you want there but beware of the stinky cheese. You’ve heard it here first!

I approve this message on behalf of Pilsner Urquell

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Posted in Czech, European Cuisine and tagged Beer, cheese, Czech, fried, ice cream, Jewish, Olomouc, Prague, quarter, stinky. Bookmark the permalink.

Throwback Post: Mămăligă in Romania

Posted on July 26, 2014 by Mark T

What is up, everyone out there? Welcome to the first installation of many on Mastication Monologues that is a retro series of food adventures I undertook throughout Europe while living in Barcelona. I know there are many stereotypical dishes to try throughout Europe like fish and chips in England, baguettes and pate in France, or tons of different tapas in Spain to name a few. Believe me, I’ve tried them, and they all were delicious. Instead, I’d like to highlight more unique plates and snacks that you might have never even heard of and might want to try or maybe not. Today’s post brings us to the farthest eastern point of my wanderings: Romania.

Romania is an anomaly in Eastern Europe. Not only do they speak a language that falls into the Romance category alongside French, Italian, and Spanish while being surrounded by Slavic neighbors, but their most famous celebrity is the infamous prince of the night, Dracula. I went there in December with my friends Kevin, Steph, Jesus, and Jillian, and it was probably the best trip I ever took during my time abroad.

We all approve of our new house.

My travel companions, the wild environs including wild dogs in the airport, and just the general randomness that seems to be more prevalent in Eastern Europe made it a journey to remember. The food was a mix of Slavic and Latin flavors with a leaning more toward the former, and one meal that really stood out to me was something called mămăligă.

Since it was the beginning of December, it was quite chilly, so we didn’t spend a lot of time sitting in parks and enjoying the local flora and fauna in Bucharest. We quickly found a folk restaurant and appreciated the warm room and comfortable places to sit. It looked like a more upscale place based on the spotless floors and walls, but it also seemed more traditional in its decor. While many restaurants in America may give you a free bread basket or tortilla chips with salsa on the side, this place supplied us with a complimentary plate of assorted pickled vegetables along with a free shot of vodka. I’m sure the pickled cucumbers and spicy peppers were used to chase the strong spirit, and the alcohol warmed us up quite quickly. We looked over the menu, and I couldn’t really decide what to get. The staff didn’t speak much English, but I saw there were terrible English translations under the Romanian items. One caught my eye called balmoş (sometimes spelled balmuş). It just said it was made of mămăligă, butter, cheese, sour cream, and eggs. The waiter seemed happy with my choice, and it really piqued my attention once it came out. it was served in a small bowl. It looked like a yellow and white porridge with bits of sausage on top. After doing some research afterward, the yellow was the mămăligă or a porridge made of yellow corn. It is normally boiled with water and can serve as a substitute for bread, but for this balmoş it was boiled in sheep milk. Along with that fun tidbit, I found out that this dish is a specialty with Romanian shepherds. So, I grabbed a spoon and dug into the bowl to find layers of sour cream, telemea (a type of feta cheese), caş (a type of fresh curdled ewe cheese), urdă (a type of curdled cheese). Thank God for Wikipedia to explain all of those cheeses to me. The cheeses were strong and pungent yet softened by the sour cream and porridge. It wasn’t a huge bowl, but it really stuck to my ribs for the rest of the day/night. I could tell that the Romanian shepherds perfected this recipe for long, lonely stretches in the wild. However, I was surrounded by friends and having the time of my life in Romania.

So if you want perhaps a Romanian vegan take on chili or are in Bucharest and looking for a fading piece of the past, try the mămăligă!

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Posted in European Cuisine, Romanian and tagged Bucharest, bulmos, butter, cheese, cream, egg, fried, goat, mamaliga, peasant, Romania, shepherd, sour. Bookmark the permalink.

Shack Attack

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Mark T

The concept of what is American is a very fluid in nature. We are a nation of immigrants aside from the Native Americans, and our culture is a melange of different ethnic backgrounds. However, one way that each community manages to hold on to their own cultural identity is through food. Therefore, it is often times hard to find dishes that are uniquely American without having roots in another country. Fried chicken is no different. While it is synonymous with down home Southern American cooking and made famous through Colonel Sanders of KFC fame, fried chicken can be traced back to both Scottish and West African culinary histories. Ergo, when both populations arrived in the Southern US, willingly and unwillingly, they brought this greasy treat with them to share with the world. I’ve partook in my fair share of the poultry pleasure whether that is from a chain or an upscale eatery, but nothing like the Chicken Shack in Evanston.

My friend David had been talking about this eatery as the place to go for the best fried chicken in the city, so naturally I had to do an investigation. When I pulled up to the restaurant, it actually looked more like a decrepit shack than a glittering monument to fried chicken. How fitting given the name. Usually, a shabby facade could either mean the food is really good or really bad. We entered to another bare-bones interior similar to one of my favorite hot dog joints on the Southside. Looking over the menu, they keep it simple at the Chicken Shack with chicken dinners, fish, rib tips, combo meals, and buckets. David and I were feeling hungry, so we got a 12 piece bucket (3 breasts, 3 thighs, 3 legs, 3 wings for $18.14) with some extra hot sauce on the side, and a biscuit for me ($0.92). We took a seat at one of their two tables next to the soda vending machines, and they even had plastic picnic tablecloths to keep the tables clean. After about a 15 minute wait that signified they were making the chicken from scratch in the kitchen, we finally got our box. When we opened it, it was a treasure chest of fried goodness. I took a couple pieces out along with my biscuit and decided to try the flaky bread first. It was fresh, hot, and fluffy, but not as good as the buttermilk biscuits with honey found at Popeyes. Then there were the golden pieces of bird on my plate that I had to greet. As I sunk my choppers into the crunchy, dimpled skin, I was greeted with a mouthful of pure white meat. It was only further enhanced by the sour and spicy hot sauce and sweet bbq sauce. Overall, it was solid chicken, but I still prefer the spicy Cajun seasonings at Popeyes over the only mild variety offered at the Chicken Shack.

Remnants of the feeding frenzy

I can see why Chicken Shack is a great option for fried chicken in Evanston given the surroundings, but it hasn’t captured my heart like my first love. Still, I highly recommend anyone to make the trip up to the Shack!

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Posted in American Cuisine, Chicken Wings, Comfort Food and tagged bbq sauce, biscuit, chicken, Colonel Sanders, Evanston, fried, hot sauce, Shack, spicy. Bookmark the permalink.

Raising the Bar

Posted on June 15, 2014 by Mark T

Bars are normally just known as watering holes for groups of friends on the town or creepers trying to cruise for some ladies (all dependent on what part of town you’re in, of course). Their drink selections can range from the mundane to the most elaborate with the rise of microbreweries and the sudden rise of professional mixologists, a.k.a. hipster bartenders. However, it’s not often that people associate fresh and/or gourmet food with bar food. True, it may be delicious, deep fried, and coated/stuffed/infused with many different types of cheese but nothing for more elegant palates. This was the case with Jimmy’s Grill in downtown Naperville.

Originally, Jimmy’s was your more typical waterhole that was the starting point of the night with a couple drinks before going to some of the more dance-centric establishments. The food? Just burgers, fries, nachos, and more fried foods up the wazoo.

Meh

These guilty pleasures were of average quality and served more as a lining for your stomach for the bender to come rather than a culinary experience. However, I recently visited it for the first time since coming back from Korea. Not only do they have a new logo and color scheme, but according to the menu, they have a new chef in the form of Travis Rodriguez and new management. Looking over the menu, I could see that they really upheld their pledge to utilize, “house braised, grass fed meats, free range chicken, fresh seafood, and baked goods.” I mean hummus? tartare? asparagus? Talk about the transformation of the ugly duckling. After much deliberation, I decided to get the Cubano sandwich ($11) which came with a free side of vinegar chips, salad, or fries. I went with the last option. My dad got the Picasso burger with Swiss cheese on top ($11), and my mom got the pulled pork sandwich ($11).

After a good amount of time taking in the new environs and checking out their ginormous tvs on the patio, they brought out our meals. My Cuban sandwich looked great and tasted even better. Not only did it have the signature grill marks thanks to the panini-esque grill called the plancha, but I could see all of the key ingredients that have made the Cuban sandwich a Miami staple since the early 1960s when Cuban refugees fled Castro’s Commie paradise. From the first bite, I was hooked. The bread was light, crispy, and chewy and gave way to a one-two punch of juicy pork loin and a hefty layer of succulent ham slices. Next came the melted Swiss cheese that gave the sandwich a slightly nutty yet mellow flavor that served as a contrast to the sour pickle slices and tart yellow mustard drizzled over all of the bread. They didn’t spare any expense with any of the ingredients which led to a meal packed with plenty of sassy Latino flavor to the last cheesy bite. The French fries were expertly fried and very lightly salted which scored major points with me. Moving on from there, I luckily was able to steal a nibble from my mom’s barbecue pulled pork sandwich that came with a side of apple jicama slaw and onion rings. The pork was messy yet heavenly with the sweet sauce that coated every strand, and the onion rings were perfect in terms of breading composition and onion stability within the crunchy shell. I didn’t get to try my dad’s burger since I didn’t fancy a ruptured stomach, but he took it down like a champ. Ergo, I’d only assume it was delicious. I did try the vinegar potato chips on the side, and they were crispy yet oh so sour with plenty of white vinegar bite.

Overall, I’d highly recommend checking the newly improved Jimmy’s Grill. Not only is the food delicious but also nutritious for a reasonable price.

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Posted in American Cuisine, Barbecue, Burgers, Comfort Food and tagged beef, bread, Burger, cheese, Chicagoland, dining, Food, French, fried, Fries, hamburger, restaurant, Reviews, Sandwich. Bookmark the permalink.

Heavenly Wings

Posted on May 27, 2014 by Mark T

Hello and welcome to another wonderful edition of Mastication Monologues! After a very long weekend of wild adventures with Janice, I bring you another series of food reviews in Chicago. Today’s post involves Crisp, a Korean fried chicken establishment that made me think of my time in the Land of the Morning Calm.

While Janice and I were trying to figure out where to grab lunch, we settled on Crisp since her friend gave it rave reviews. I met him once, and he seemed like a trustworthy guy aside from his crazy moves he was busting out on the dance floor. I heard that it was Korean fried chicken, and I realized that this was the second time I’d be getting fried chicken with Janice (the first was a sweet memory) I crossed my fingers that it would be just as scrumptious. My hopes were completely fulfilled and then some. Upon walking in, we had to shimmy our way past the overflowing tables and dining counters that were filled to the gills just to put in our order. While looking at the menu, I could see some of the Korean influences like the focus on fried chicken, bibimbap (or the more Americanized moniker “Buddha bowls”), and different types of kimchi or pickled vegetables. However, they also have burritos, sandwiches, and sides. Now, you might be wondering, ‘Fried chicken is pure Amurika. What makes Korean fried chicken different from the Dirty South classic?’ Well, the contrast lies in the sauce they slather on the crunchy chicken pieces. They have four different flavors you can slap on bone in/bone out wings and whole/half chickens. I always love my chicken wings, so I went with the ten wing option. The cashier chuckled, gave me a look, and asked me if it was my first time there. I replied in the affirmative, and he said that I wouldn’t be able to finish ten wings since they’re huge. So, I took his word for it and dropped down to five wings ($8.95), three Seoul Sassy sauce and two Crisp BBQ sauce. I naturally had to try their kimchi, so I didn’t get the typical cabbage but rather the 총각 (chonggak, literally “bachelor” since it was considered a kimchi so simple even single men could make for themselves) radish kimchi ($3.95). While waiting I saw a lot of different Korean drinks like Milkis stacked up above the bibimbap display or the Bacchus-D energy drink box on our table. It’s a popular on-the-go beverage for the 빨리 빨리 (bbali bbali; fast fast) Korean lifestyle, and it tastes like drinking liquid Sweet Tarts. They called my name, and I snapped out of my memories to pick up my grub. I’m so glad the cashier was honest with me about the size of the wings because these were gargantuan compared to their Buffalo Wild Wing or Hooter counterparts. I think Janice put it best that they chopped them off pterodactyls. If that’s what they did, the prices certainly didn’t reflect the costly nature of the undertaking.

Slightly intimidated

It was a lot of food for a reasonable price. I started with the Seoul Sassy sauce, and it definitely lived up to its name. It was a sophisticated blend of garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and a bit of molasses for a flavor profile that left my mouth watering. The chicken itself was great with plenty of white meat, and the skin was incredible. It wasn’t greasy or soggy and was a perfect representative of the restaurant’s name. As for the Crisp BBQ sauce, it reflected a meeting of East and West with the smokiness of a North Carolina pig roast, and the spice of Korean gochujang that let you know you were consuming something spicy but not in a mouth-numbing manner. I couldn’t pick between the two sauces, but there was a game-changer that was on every table: Allison’s atomic sauce. Like the A-bomb, it blew me away. It was a mild, chipotle ranch/mayo mixture that had a cooling effect on the wings yet provided a very subtle peppery zing with each bite. By my third wing, I was slathering this weapon of mass consumption over every square inch of my chicken. After finishing my five wings, I had two of Janice’s and still could have eaten more. Alas, I just focused on my kimchi. It was cubed and soaking in chili water, and it was just as good as back in Korea. The radish cubes were crispy, slightly sour, and spicy. I couldn’t even finish the tub because it was so much for so little money. By the end, I was ready to literally roll out of there a happy diner.

So if you want to try a Korean twist on an American classic with American sized portions and reasonable prices, check out Crisp in Chicago. 빨리 빨리!!

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Posted in American Cuisine, Barbecue, Chicken Wings, Far East Asian Cuisine, South Korean and tagged barbecue, Chicago, chicken, crispy, fried, IL, kimchi, Korea, radish, sauce, spicy. Bookmark the permalink.

I’ve Seen and Eaten Things, Man…Delicious Things

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Mark T

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood morning, Mastication Monologues readers! Today’s post deals with a country’s cuisine that I have over the years become more acquainted with due to the increased prevalence of said eateries in the Chicagoland area and throughout the world. While Japanese and Chinese food are the two most popular forms of Asian cuisine in America, Southeast Asia, specifically Thai and Vietnamese food, has thrown its hat into the ring with some wonderful dishes. While I do like my Thai food as shown on my blog, today’s restaurant is a cozy Vietnamese place called Nha Hang Viet Nam in Chicago.

As I said before, Vietnamese food has quickly grown into the ever-expanding and shifting profile of the American culinary landscape. Some of the key dishes that have assisted this jump in popularity include Gỏi cuốn or spring rolls and the banh mi sandwiches which could be considered one of the original forms of Asian fusion. At Nha Hang Viet Nam, I expected that they would have these, but anything else would be a mystery to me. The outside of the restaurant blended in with the rest of the Little Saigon area around Argyle, and yet seemed a bit like a place that they would hold a scene from the Deer Hunter at due to the bars on some the windows. The shady exterior gave way to a welcoming interior that was almost like walking into a family’s kitchen it was that small. Not only did the size add to the intimacy of the establishment, but the family was all sitting at one big table waiting to serve us. We had the place to ourselves essentially aside from another Vietnamese couple. Upon going over the menu, I had no clue where to start as they had everything from the aforementioned spring rolls and sandwiches along with soups, noodles, vermicelli, fried rice, various meats (fish, pork, beef), and desserts. While I was pouring over the vast menu, I found an item on the drink menu that caught my eye: fresh pennyworth juice ($3.50). What is pennyworth juice? No, it doesn’t cost a penny (although it probably would in Vietnam), but it has been used in Indian, Chinese, and African traditional medicine. In Vietnamese, it’s called rau má or “mother vegetable”, and I’m not quite sure what sort of motherly comforts this drink brought to me during my meal. When it came out, it looked like something from one of the recent body detox diets. Not only was it frothy, but it had a deep verdant hue that intrigued me. While I’ve had good luck picking random drinks of menus in Jamaican and Cuban restaurants, I wasn’t quite sure if I won the grand prize with this drink. I appreciated how cold it was compliments of the ice, but the taste was complex and semi-indescribable. It had some grassy notes yet a herbal, semi-spicy after taste that could be likened to cilantro almost. It was a glass of funk that set the stage for my appetizer: the bánh xèo or “sizzling cake” ($7.95). Our waiter was incredulous that I ordered it just for myself since he said it was for two people, and he was right in terms of the size. However, he never met someone like me with a Cookie Monster appetite when hungry. As I started down at the large yellow pancake, I wondered how to eat it since it had a plethora of mint leaves, cilantro leaves, and lettuce leaves on the side. Our waiter then explained that I could cut a piece of the pancake, wrap it up in a lettuce leaf, and then dip it in the fish sauce on the side, similar to the ssam bap I tried in Korea. The pancake itself was made of rice flour and tumeric, and then on the inside there were plenty of bean sprouts, shrimp, and pork. I tried a piece of it by itself, and it was a rich, buttery, fried piece of heaven that only got better when dipped in the thin, sweet fish sauce. Slowly but surely, I completed my search and destroy mission against the pancake that was as big as my face. When the dust settled, my main entree, the com bo nuong or steamed rice with grilled beef, came out. It came with a delicious, salty miso that had bits of cilantro floating on the surface and rings of green scallion bobbing about the bowl. As for the dish, the beef was savory and juicy. I pumped it up a notch with some red chili sauce to satisfy my love for spicy food. The mysterious part of the meal was the noodles on the side. While I could ascertain that they were indeed noodles, I couldn’t tell what type of meat was lurking between the strands, perhaps tripe. It was also a mostly dry side with a generous dusting of some type of powder that I guessed could possibly be dried mung bean or soy beans. It wasn’t the highlight of the meal, but I wasn’t complaining at that point.