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Raw oysters with some gorgeous Tallisker 10-year scotch drizzled over them. Briny, smoky, and sexy as all hell.

You must try the mango habanero sorbet from Cooking Fools on North Avenue. It knocked my socks off! The mango flavor is bright and intense with a very spicy habanero kick! Yum! It is truly an inspired combination!

jennifer@tastybeat

Cemita Atomica from Cemitas Puebla

=R=

Cemitas Puebla
3619 W North Ave.
Chicago, IL
773 772-8435

perry's for lunch.
little three happiness for dinner.
a good day.

That does sound like a good day. BTW, my condolences on Big Give.

On Monday I gave Lula another try, as it's right down the street, and I wasn't disappointed this time. Three of us had the Monday Night Farm Dinner, which included the best thing I've eaten lately: crispy pork trotter with king oyster mushrooms and herb mustard. The pork wasn't crispy, just removed from the foot and braised tender. The whole dish came together beautifully with some acid in the mustard and the richness of the mushrooms. Sometimes the dishes don't work there, but this one was stellar.

Soft-shell crab po'boy with an application of Melinda's West Indies Hot Mustard Sauce, plus a side of gumbo, at Heaven on Seven.

Maybe not the last word on the subject, but it ranked at the head of the class in the "scratching an itch" dept.

A big ole' fritter from Old Fashioned Donuts.

Bought two, froze one for a special day!

i'd say the steak sandwich at el cubanito rates #1. also over past few months, the following have left some seriously lasting impressions on me....cashew chicken at Pot Pan, Chilean Sea Bass from a Land Remembered (Orlando, FL), a huge NY style slice of pizza at Garibaldi's and finally, the outstanding char=grilled cheeseburgers i grilled up the other night.

Lately, the grilled chicken tacos at Mixteco, with the sopes and a a little guacamole and black beans to go with it.

The Canard Balsamico sandwich from Pastoral.

Herbed duck confit with balsamic cipollini onions, fromager d'affinois cheese, field greens, and a dijon mustard with a slightly spicy kick. So rich!! So decadent!! So unbelievably delicious!! It's a little bit of heaven wrapped up in a crispy baguette.

Pastoral
53 E. Lake Street
Chicago, IL 60601

3 weekends ago a crawfish boil out @ Cajun Connection in Utica. Ron brought the crawfish up from Louisiana, as well as a team of guys to do the boil. My wife and I could barely eat the 4 pounds of flavorfull mud bugs. 4 Lbs. was $20. Washed them down with some Budweiser, and I was happy guy. I can still taste the crawfish when I think about them.

The Pan Roasted Beef Tenderloin served with a carnaroli rice and wild ramps risotto red wine reduction at Chefs Station in Evanston. The beef was cooked to perfection, a nice char on the outside and juicy and tender on the inside, paired with the excellent Risotto this is the best entree I've had in a while.

The macaroni and cheese at Fat Willy's.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for home cooking.

That mac n' cheese has been a favorite of mine since they opened and were just a mere take-out counter with a couple booths. It's a fine example of mac n' cheese excellence. Thanks for the reminder.

Best,
Michael

The chorizo-stuffed madjool dates with smoked bacon and piquillo pepper-tomato sauce at Avec.
A perfect dish - can't wait to eat it again and I am ordering it just for myself. It's too good to share!

Jyoti

I love everything at Avec, but this might be my favorite dish there. I've had similar versions elsewhere, but the quality of the ingredients at Avec really make this dish sing.

A chocolate longjohn from Dinkel's, iced while warm and purchased shortly thereafter.
My mahi-mahi special at Mixteco grill with tomato-based sauce with pickled jalapenos. Perfectly grilled fish (a bit of char and tang on the outside, yet perfectly moist, with a perfectly judged sauce both in flavor and amount). Richness and acid, heat, salt, herbaceousness and sourness in great balance.

I had outstanding success with some blueberry muffins I made last night. I put some of the blueberries through the food processor first and mixed that into the batter so the whole muffin has the taste of blueberry in addition to the whole blueberries mixed in. A tiny bit of cinnamon on the top to make a good crackly-crunchy top, fresh out of the oven with butter…yum.

Savannah Bee Company Tupelo Honey.

I bought a bottle of this-- half the size and price of this one-- at Katzinger's in Columbus, OH. I did so thinking I was probably a sucker for buying a $12 jar of honey. But oh honey! Here's their wine-tasting-like description:



Not sure what Southern moss tastes like but buttery, a bit of light citrus, lavender, and chalky soil all come to mind. It's certainly more complex and multifaceted than any honey I've ever tasted, and I inaugurated it last night on a truffle oil/honey/taleggio pizza. Wowsa.


File photo

Can't stop thinking about this meal two days later.

I am in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and this is the best thing I have eaten so far...

Papaya salad with dried fish and peanuts - not at all fishy, lightly smoky, and wonderfully punctuated by herbs, lime and fresh peanuts.

Chicken braised in sweet soy sauce with tamarind. Thigh and drumstick served over a sauce of unctuous chicken fat with dark soy/tamarind awesomeness suspended in it.

All of this for under 5 bucks at an Indonesian place in Phnom Penh called Bali.

Incidentally both of these dishes are easy to make at home. But get a bird that hasn't been hopped up on hormones and all that.

Peace!

Polenta and gnocci at Cafe Lucci in Glenview. The chef has a way with starches.

This was at a winemaker dinner last week. I would have liked to take pics but I have never seen a camera in there, and the family who run the place are kind of old world. (In a good sense. I overheard the chef telling someone he doesn't like to put raw bivalves on the menu because he dislikes printing that warning on the menu. They have these kinds of aesthetic scruples.)

After a huge meal of mixed grilled meats at La Parilla in downtown Cancun I topped it off with two tacos el pastor tacos that they were preparing on the street for passersby. I couldn't help myself and man am I glad I got them because they were awesome.

All from the Evanston farmer's market this past Saturday: pristine oyster mushrooms, cooked with spring garlic in fresh butter (from a Wisconsin cheese stand), slathered over a slice of Bennison's Bakery ciabatta. Cooking perfect ingredients simply is as good as advertised.

Jonah

A ginormous bowl of yet ca mein and a huge plate of rice and gravy at Hamburger King on Sheffield. The cute waitress refilled my water glass several times without being prompted. An unbelievably satisfying meal for about 8 bucks (not including tax and tip).

Zota raspberry green tea soda, from Green Grocer.

chicken soup - basically coconut curry, very thin, with potatoes and chicken blood jelly over vermicelli with fresh sweet basil, cucumbers, birds eye chillies, string beans and some kind of astringent greens thrown on top. Pure delight. Again in Phnom Penh. Apologies if I keep posting here. Nearly every meal I have here knocks my socks off!

Ahhhh, the simple things in life. I got that old "South Side" urge, hopped on the Tri-State at Deerfield Road and drove down to Rainbow Cone with the wife (a north sider who is a big Rainbow Cone fan). Brought me back to those pre-air conditioner days in our three flat when a Rainbow Cone was the answer to a hot summer night. Nostalgia aside, a large Rainbow Cone is still outstanding. We also had a great pre-ice cream meal at Palermo's on 95th.

Escabeche de Guineos (green banana with chicken gizzards) a friend of my wife's made for her daughters graduation party.

Escabeche de Guineos



Pernil was a close second, but the meltingly tender chicken gizzards took the prize.

Pernil