Chicago Eats - Slurping Turtle

After waiting for what seemed like months (oh wait, it was months), Slurping Turtle (116 W. Hubbard) finally opened its doors to the dining public on Monday. Because of the long wait and anticipation, some of us decided to go for both lunch and dinner. Turns out they actually have a different menu for both times, so our crazy decision turned out to be not so crazy. As some may surmise from the name, Slurping Turtle has a focus on Japanese style noodles like ramen. But they also have a sashimi bar, japanese style tapas, a bincho grill, bento boxes (only at lunch!), and various rice dishes, which are also predominantly served at lunch. I'm pretty sure we ordered 75% of the menu between two meals, so here's a look:

Noodle Dishes:

Tori Ramen - egg noodles, clear sea-salt broth, organic grilled chicken, soft boiled egg, bok choy

Slurping Noodles - rice noodles, bok choy, cilantro, black tiger shrimp

The Tori ramen (chicken) was the favorite of the night. Everything from the broth to the noodles were the best. With that said, the Shoyu ramen (egg noodles, classic Tokyo style soy broth, braised pork shoulder) had the same noodles, but something just seemed off about the broth - almost like it was unbalanced. Unfortunately, no pics taken of the Shoyu ramen, sorry! The table agreed - we didn't really enjoy the Slurping Noodles as much, and they were the least favorite of the meals.

Sashimi Bar and Hot Tapas:

The sashimi and hot tapas were probably my favorite thing at the Slurping Turtle:

Left: duck fat fried dark meat chicken. Right: pork belly snacks

My two favorite hot tapas! I really liked the flavoring of the breading on the duck fat fried chicken. HOWEVER, one of the girls at lunch noticed that her first piece was overcooked, but her second piece was cooked just right. As I finished my two pieces, I noted the same thing. After some deliberation, we came to the conclusion that the problem is that they fry bone-in and boneless pieces of meat at the same time. Usually, meat with the bone-in will tend to cook a bit slower as compared to boneless meat. Our theory was supported since the wings with the bone were moist and delicious, whereas the thigh meat (no bones) was dry, but still pretty tasty.

The favorite dish of the day AND night? The pork belly snacks. Pork belly, it can do no wrong. Since it's generally so hard to cook, most restaurants either have to cook it right, or not serve it at all. Luckily, Takashi cooks this one right and with the spicy mustard, was a joy to eat. I could go for a few more of these right now...

Lobster Corn Dog

"A waste of lobster." Yep.

Yuke Tataki

This is an asian-style beef tartare mixed with a spicy-sweet chili paste with a quail egg thrown on top. I thought this was delicious. It wasn't too spicy as the main taste sensation was sweetness to me. Something about beef tartare really speaks to me. I would get this again the next time I come back.

Tartare of Hamachi in a Taro Root Taco

The hamachi tartare taco was good, but I did taste a hint of truffle oil. I feel like truffle oil + fish is a bad combination only because the truffle oil overpowers the fish. However, they seemed to be very conservative in their use of the truffle oil, so the dish wasn't overwhelmed. Good, but not the best in class for the sashimi bar.

Ceviche of Baby Octopus, Hokkaido Scallops, Shrimp, Squid in a Yuzu Ceviche Dressing

I love ceviche. I even made some before (I could use some more practice). I appreciated the various seafood in this dish, and the dressing was mild, allowing the flavors of said seafood to shine through. I would recommend this dish to everyone. What's not to like in this one?

Bento Box: (lunch only)

Bento box - sashimi, shrimp and veggie tempura, braised short rib, spring roll, dumpling, mushroom miso soup, rice

Look at all that food! Sashimi, tempura, salad, soup! It's no wonder why I love bento boxes. But, I was a bit disappointed with the short rib - the quality of the meat was sub-par, fatty, and tough. Everything else was good, but nothing that really stood out besides the sashimi. Essentially everything was average for a good bento box. But at $15 for essentially 3 orders of sashimi that would normally account for around $10, I think there's good value with this dish.

Bincho Grill:

We only got a few things off of the bincho (coal) grill - pictured above are the wagyushyu (wagyu or kobe beef) salmon skewers. We also got a chicken thigh (pic didn't turn out). The chicken thigh was probably the best since it was juicy and delicate. Plus, dark meat is the best meat! I thought they overcooked the wagyushyu and I didn't think it was worth the $10 asking price (most skewers are $3-6). The salmon was your typical salmon; nothing special, but nothing bad. Both the salmon and chicken had a teriyaki style glaze, whereas the beef had a milder sauce. They have quite the assortment of meats for the bincho grill, and I'd be willing to try more of them next time. Some are more reasonably priced than others.

Desserts:

Macaroons, Cream Puff, Custard Pudding with Madeleine, Sea Salt Ice Cream

• Macaroons: I'm not much of a macaroon fan, but I enjoyed these. The best was that pink/red one - raspberry-wasabi. So good, so unique. The ones flanking the outsides were kumquat, a bit too sweet for me. The plain white one was a caramel one, good but not outstanding IMO. The one with the green flecks was green tea, which was pretty mild but had enough flavor to stand on its own.
• Cream puff: this one was coconut, and I had a green tea cream puff at dinner. I liked these the most out of our desserts.
• Custard pudding: The custard pudding was basically flan. Flan = thumbs down in my world. However, the green tea Madeleine was awesome. I wish they sold those separately.
• Sea salt ice cream: This really delivered on the name. It was supposed to be served as soft-serve, but our server told us the machine was broken so they made ice cream instead. We all felt like this was a bit too concentrated, and perhaps the change from soft-serve to ice cream was accountable for that? Either way, it wasn't the best thing we had. 

Overall, I'm happy that Slurping Turtle opened up, but there was a lot of hype that surrounded its opening. Maybe expectations were set a bit high because I didn't leave feeling like I HAD to come back to this place. But it's a good addition to the River North 'hood, and another option that's open fairly late. But the next time I come back, I'll stick to the sashimi bar and hot tapas. 

Chicago Eats - bopNgrill

Asian fusion - as my new found food-lovin' friend put it, lots of places get this concept wrong. A place that gets it right? bopNgrill (Rogers Park, 6604 N. Sheridan). bopNgrill is a place that serves burgers, fries, and other "fast food" style eats with an Asian twist. They also serve fast-casual, more traditional Korean fare. And that's when the name makes sense - "bop" in Korean translates to rice (or food). You guys can probably figure out the "Ngrill" part. 

Updated: Good friend Kathy over at Sweet Kat's Creations sent along some beautiful shots of the food we ate, so I've replaced them. While you peep the new pics, read her awesome blog as well!

Soft Shell Crab'wich

Let's start off with something that just so incredibly awesome, it had to be posted first. Soft shell crab'wich. For. Real. A WHOLE SOFT SHELL CRAB inside of a bun??? It's so crazy, it had to taste weird, right? No way - this thing was seriously incredible. I think everyone that got a piece of this guy thought the same - the crab was cooked so that crispy outside and moist/juicy inside. The overwhelming statement: a lot of places do soft shell crab, but not many places do it well. bopNgrill, another pleaser. No wonder they sold out!

Kimchi Burger and bNg Burger

These weren't my burgers, but the above is the kimchi burger (right) and the bNg burger (left). For the uninitiated, kimchi is a traditional Korean side-dish (or main dish, depending on who you asked) that's pickled/fermented cabbage. It's also usually spicy, and can also be made from radish, cucumber, or various other vegetables.  I've had the kimchi burger before, and here it comes topped with kimchi, bacon, cheddar cheese, a fried egg, cabbage, and a gochujang (Korean chili paste) mayo. I believe they also saute the kimchi  in some toasted sesame oil that adds another flavor profile to the burger. The kimchi burger stands as my favorite burger here.

The bNg burger is topped with 1000 dressing, jalapenos, cheddar, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and grilled onions. I didn't try this burger (yet!), but will try it soon as the girls that had it raved about it. 

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich

I ordered the bbq pulled pork sandwich with slaw. The pulled pork was crispy (almost like it was fried after being pulled?!?) with a tangy sweet bbq sauce. Although this was great, it's definitely not the house specialty. But then again, after having had the kimchi burger and softshell crab'wich, well one can see why.

Kimchi Fries

Yes. Kimchi fries with pork and bacon! So this has green onion, sesame seeds, pork (dehji), regular bacon, cheese sauce, and of course, the same sauteed kimchi that tops the kimchi burger. I've had the kimchi fries at Del Seoul, but I definitely think that these are a superior representation. Why? Two things; first, they use the liquid cheese sauce instead of "real" shredded cheddar cheese. Although this might sound backwards at first, Del Seoul's version suffers when the fries cool down. We all know what a mess cool, congealed cheese can look, taste, and feel like. Second (and arguably, more importantly), bopNgrill sautees the kimchi in sesame oil as I mentioned above. This definitely makes a huge difference in both taste and texture. If you go here (and by if, I mean when), GET THESE.

Pork Belly Tostadas

Bonus! Will gave us some pork belly tostadas that he was experimenting with. I'm not sure exactly what the sauce/salsa was, but this was amazing, and I'm looking forward to the addition to the full-time menu!

This was my second time at bopNgrill, and I think they've actually improved since my first visit. I also tried the Umami burger my first time, but unfortunately the picture didn't turn out. The Umami is topped with tograshi mayo, sun-dried tomato confit, bacon, truffled duxelle (finely chopped mushrooms sauteed in butter), and smoked gouda. Seriously, does anything on this burger sound bad? This one was decadent and full of so many different flavors, I didn't know what to do. But the truffled duxelle REALLY stood out in this burger, and really made this one unique meal.

bopNgrill impressed me and everyone that I know that's tried it, and the prices are super reasonable. I'm already looking forward to my next visit to give the other menu items a try. If only I had 2 stomachs like our bovine friends...

Chicago Eats - Cocoro

I've been meaning to try Cocoro out since I live so close. Cocoro is more of a Northern Japanese style restaurant where the sushi isn't the main attraction. But this time I wanted sushi, so I went for that. Luckily, I live close enough so that I can try other things on the menu.

Tonight I tried the Chirashi bowl, which is basically pieces of various sashimi served over a bowl of sushi rice. Overall, the fish was fresh, but the rice was the downfall - overcooked and overseasoned.

My dinner date got the Sushi Combination A, and the same thoughts apply as the above.
I'm looking forward to trying out the more traditional, non sushi dishes next time. But there are far better places to get sushi in the city.

Cocoro, Part 2:

I went back for a second time and got the Japanese Curry with pork cutlets and we had the fried chicken starter. Rice was the same - overcooked. The curry was mild but flavorful. The fried chicken had a great coating, but it was a bit dry. Overall - stop overcooking your food, Cocoro!

Fried chicken

Japanese Curry - not a very attractive photo

Chicago Eats - The Purple Pig

Late summer, I went to the Purple Pig for lunch with a few coworkers. One coworker does not like pork, and thus I'm confused as to why she actually went with us to a place called "The Purple Pig." Anyways, onto the meal:

Pig's ear with crispy kale and fried egg

This was pretty interesting, and they definitely like their fried egg here. The pig ear was chewier than I expected, and left a greasy taste in my mouth. The fried kale was fine...although I feel like that's just too much fried "stuff" in a bowl. Never thought I'd say that. Overall, a mediocre dish that I probably won't get again.

"JLT" - pig jowel with fried egg, lettuce, tomato

Where people may refer to a good pork belly as being roughly half meat, half fat (with it leaning toward a higher percentage of fat), pig jowels (basically the face/cheek meat) is probably 90% fat, 10% meat. I was told this would be better than pork belly. It is not. Don't get me wrong, it tasted fine...for the first bite. But I was definitely overwhelmed by the amount of fat. A little too rich for me.

Milk-braised pork shoulder

Juicy pork shoulder, and fork-tender. I wasn't impressed by the sauce, and tried to get at the middle of the pork shoulder to get pure, untainted meat, which was awesome.

Beets w/whipped goat cheese and pistachio

Strangely enough, this was one of my favorite dishes of the day. Who woulda thought, beets? No complaints, this was a good pairing of beet and goat cheese, and it was good to eat something that wasn't all oil and grease.

Proscuitto bread balls

I remember these as having very little flavor overall. I might have also been fried-food'd out by this time of the meal. Next time - less fried foods.

Chicago Eats - Sable Parts I & II

Sable, Round 1

• Soft poached egg with Serrano ham - my favorite of the night.
• Crispy pork belly B.L.T.s - I love pork belly. 
• Pork spare ribs - Tender and flavorful, although the "root beer glaze" tasted more like lots of dijon mustard. The sauce was a bit overpowering.
• Blue Hill mussels - Cooked well, but they're mussels; you love them or hate them.
• Irish whiskey bread pudding - I don't think the Irish whiskey cooked out as much as it should have. But I love whiskey so I can't complain, although I think my dinner date had a different opinion.

Sable, Round 2

• Roasted pumpkin gnocchi w/hazelnut cream sauce and fried sage - gnocchi, when done right, is delicious. This had the right texture, but not as much of a pumpkin taste as I wanted. 
• Pork belly B.L.T.s - same as before, just as good as I remember.
• Seared scallops w/tomato chutney and madras curry oil - quite possibly my favorite dish of the night.
• Orange glazed quail w/rice cake and baby bok choy - a nice, sweet glaze, although I think the quail I had at Landmark was better (and meatier). The rice cake and bok choy were nothing special.

Sable is popular for a reason - consistently good food, a great atmosphere (if not a bit loud), and a solid menu suitable for everyone. 

Chicago Eats - Union Sushi and Barbeque

Seeing as how I live about 5 minutes away from Union Sushi & BBQ, I figured that I would have gone here much sooner. However, they didn't take reservations at first and there was a always a long wait, so I never bothered. Seems to be a running theme in my life - easy access = procrastination. Well one night, I was trying to hit up Roka Akor's happy hour omakase (and you know how much I love those damn omakases), but we were running a bit too late. So instead, I decided to drive by Union to see how packed they were at 6:00pm on a Thursday. Almost empty. Perfect!

We decided to sit at the sushi bar to watch them make food and to <hopefully> help our decision process. In the end, we decided to get a bunch of stuff:

Let's start off strong - what we had here was the fried gnocchi with pulled pork belly, and my favorite dish of the night. I've never had a fried gnocchi, but it just worked. Combined with the savory pulled pork belly which was perfectly moist and tender, and it was a home run. The peas were great too. Not too much salt, more on that below...

I was less impressed with the duckfat yakisoba with duck meat. I mean, it had all of the right things - duck, fat, duck meat. So what's the problem? Salt. There was simply too much salt in the sauce that the yakisoba (fried noodles) was fried in. Or maybe the sauce was just too overpowering. I ended up eating everything because I hate to see food go to waste and also because I regret not finishing food, but this was actually a chore to put away. I think I drank 3 glasses of water in an effort to desalinate my mouth.

Hooray for bbq skewers! And hooray for cheap, special skewers! This is where the "barbecue" part of the name comes in. The two at the top were the "happy hour" special beef filet skewers, the red one was the alligator, and the last one was the chicken thigh skewer. My favorites, in order: alligator, chicken thigh, beef. The alligator had a dusting of some cajun spices, and that really stood out. This alligator was a juicy white meat that had a smoother texture than chicken breast, but a suprisingly mild flavor. You would think that something that lives in a swamp would taste more swampy. Not that I know what swamp tastes like <ahem>.  The chicken thigh actually brought me back to my childhood when I would shop at Mitsuwa, a Japanese grocery superstore (formerly Yaohan until Mitsuwa bought them out). They have this terrific food court, and I remember getting some chicken skewers as a kid, and this definitely brought me back.

'tis the season for pumpkin everything. So naturally, we got the pumpkin mochi with cream cheese ice cream. So was the pumpkin mochi actually reminiscent of real mochi? Yep, except maybe a bit fluffier than I'm used to (as opposed to being much more dense). The fluffiness also made it seem stickier as the mochi would stick to the roof of my mouth after each bite. Oh and the cream cheese ice cream? It tasted better than it sounds as you read it. The one thing I wasn't a fan of was the caramel topping. There was something off about it - like they were going for a salted caramel but then decided to stop halfway in the salting process. The cream cheese ice cream made up for that.

After this experience, I'm glad to say that there's another solid option close to home. And now that the initial hype has worn down, stopping by here for a quick bite to eat is a real possibility.

Chicago Eats - Ruxbin

Ruxbin! I had heard so many good things but I never had the chance to visit here until late October. I'm glad I did. We showed up to Ruxbin a bit late, so we just missed the first seating. We were told that the wait would be about 90 minutes, so no worries - it was only 5:30p so we had plenty of time to explore. Except that we were in West Town (851 N. Ashland), and there's nothing to explore. So we just talked and sat around, waiting to get called...

When hell finally froze over, we got seated and ordered the mushroom toast with oyster mushrooms on top of a savory biscuit with housemade ricotta, hazelnuts, and various greens. I love mushrooms, that this starter was a sign of greatness to enter my belly. The more I try them, the more I love mushrooms. Most people I know hated mushrooms growing up, and many still don't eat it. But they do such a good job of absorbing flavor, have such a fun texture, and don't have an offensive odor (at least to me they don't). More people should eat mushrooms. 

Bucatini & Clams with lap cheong sausage, herbs, black soybeans and white wine. This was actually Chef Edward Kim's interpretation of a Korean-Chinese dish called ja-jangmyun, which is basically noodles in a black soybean sauce. The noodles were cooked to al dente standards, although the thickness and firmness made it hard to cleanly eat. I loved it, definitely a step above the majority of this type of dish you might seem to get.

Bad picture ahoy! Taken with an iPhone 4, so let's blame Apple for that one. Anyways, this was the Crispy Oven roasted Amish Chicken with confit leg, Israeli couscous, dill, prunes and endive. So. Good. I rarely order chicken from big name restaurants since...well it's chicken. It's the most consumed animal in this country by a long shot based on what I see. Chicken is everywhere, and to me, it's the most boring protein you can get. But this was far from boring, it was extraordinary. Add to that the almost crispy couscous, and I wish I had the whole thing to myself. This was the standout dish of the night, and worth going back to Ruxbin for in of itself. I think that if I didn't say anything, my dining partner would have just quickly cleaned the plate without sharing. Good thing I looked up from my own meal and said something, since she loved the bucatini & clams as well. 

Our dessert - a berry shortcake w/home-baked biscuit, balsamic & creme chantilly. I realllly like this one, and I ate it so fast. A great ending to an almost perfect meal. 


My verdict - go here. Get there early and put in your name if you miss the first round of seating (it only has ~40 seats, and people stand in line very early). It's worth the wait, and I say this knowing that old man winter is on its way. 

Chicago Eats - Hot Doug's

Given that Chicago is known for a lot of its street food, it was clear that there would be some standout joints that served these Chicago-style treats. Enter: Hot Doug's located out in Avondale on California/Roscoe. This hot dog place isn't your run of the mill fast-food; it's a Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium. Not only that, but 1,2,3, even 4 (FOUR!) hour waits are common for this place! Hmm, sounds pretty good. Well, on a day off that few others get, (thanks, banking industry) I headed over there with a friend to give it a shot. What can I say? I was drawn in by the hype, the long lines, and the duck-fat fries (which are only served on Fridays & Saturdays).

You can see the line starting...it was there at 10:10AM when I got there, and grew longer as the day went on.

Hot Doug's opens promptly at 10:30am on the daily except Sundays. As I walked up, I saw a line of about 8 guys while saying (probably a bit too loudly) "nothing like a long line of dudes waiting to get their fill of sausages." Given the circumstances, how could I pass up the opportunity for pure comedic gold? <silence>

Our ~20 minute wait went by fairly quickly, and we were soon inside...to wait yet again, but this time to order. There's quite a few choices on the menu, as you can see below:

Since I had some time, I hemmed and hawed, trying to decide what to try. I decided to get three, plus the duck fat fries, of course!

From the top left, clockwise:

• The Cheesy Atomic: Spicy jack cheese, stuffed pork sausage with spicy passion fruit mayo and habanero jack cheese.
• Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage: with truffle aioli, foie gras mousse, and fleur de sel (fancy salt)
• Norm Crosby: a hot dog with beef, pork, and garlic, served Chicago style.
• Duck Fat Fries: only served on Fridays & Saturdays.

Our table, smashed full of food

So, after devouring all of our food, what did I think? Hot Doug's utilizes some unique foods (for hot dogs and sausages, at least). First off, the duck fat fries were spectacular! I found the foie gras on the duck sausage to be there more for texture than flavor, and the sausage itself was fairly bland. That's to be expected for duck I suppose, given my past experience with duck sausage. But even the truffle aioli was milder than expected, which is a plus in my book, truffle oil tends to overpower when used liberally. However, everything combined provided a rich and decadent sausage, although nothing was extremely powerful. This contrasted with the Cheesy Atomic, which produced a good amount of heat, but had great flavor too. It definitely wow'd me where the foie gras duck sausage failed to impress. The Norm Crosby hot dog was fine, but was reminiscent of a traditional Chicago style hot dog, just a bit more textured.

And as a bonus:

11:11 on 11/11/11. Can't beat that.

Boston Eats - o ya and Neptune Oyster

Back in September over Labor Day weekend, I headed over to Boston for a weekend getaway and a friend's wedding. Now, Boston is definitely known for its rich history - legends of Paul Revere abound. But I can't eat history. So I spent my time looking for must-visit restaurants and delicious morsels to shove into my mouth. This was my first time in Boston, so I wanted to see what it had to offer.

Boston is known for it's history, but it's also known for its lobster and other seafood. So I knew that one of the restaurants on my list needed to be a good sushi restaurant. I can always go for a great omakase. After doing some extension research online, I decided that we should try o ya located in the "historic Leather District." Why was it called the Leather District? I don't know, and I don't care. Remember, food first, history never. o ya turned out to be a great choice, not only because of the great sushi, but because of the awesome staff and sushi chefs. Given the number of plates we were served, I opted to use a photo collage to show off all of the great sushi we got our greedy hands on:

Besides the fact that the fish was extremely fresh, o ya also uses some great ingredients to make this omakase extra special. Some of the highlights:

• Foie gras nigiri w/balsamic chocolate kabayaki, raisin cocoa pulp, and a bit of aged sake to sip with it. This was served as more of a dessert plate. If I close my eyes, I can still taste it.
• Homemade Russian fingerling potato chip w/australian winter perigord truffle.
• Shima aji & Santa Barbara sea urchin with a ceviche vinaigrette and cilantro.
• Kumamoto oyster - one of my favorite oysters.
• Grilled chanterelle & shiitake mushroom sashimi. Yep, a mushroom course was one of my favorites.
• Seared petit wagyu strip loin with a potato confit.
• What's Boston without lobster? We were actually comp'd a shiso tempura w/grilled lobster just because we had commented on how great it looked when it went to the couple sitting next to us. 

Phew. We were stuffed after this meal. But very happy. Very, very, happy. After having a great meal like this, we weren't sure if our other meals could live up to it. But the next day, we headed over to Neptune Oyster, another place that I had read about with rave reviews.

Besides having great sushi, I was hellbent on trying out some lobster rolls. For those of you who haven't had one, lobster rolls consist of two very important, almost equal (and obvious) parts - fresh lobster and the right type of roll. After having had the pleasure of devouring a few lobster rolls in my time, I've actually learned that the bread roll might be the key to a great lobster roll. Obviously, good lobster is important, but the wrong type of bread can really ruin a great lobster roll. The roll itself has to be buttery, of course. But it also must be light and airy yet firm enough to hold up to the copious amounts of hot butter drawn all over.  Neptune Oyster delivered. Oh boy, did they deliver. For some reason, we decided to split one. Why? I don't know. I actually still regret this decision. Enough with the words, I'll just let the picture speak for itself:

Look at all of that lobster! And the bread! And the lobster! You can even see the light reflecting off of the butter!

And below the roll we have some oysters and the oyster bar. Everything was great. The wait, however, was not. If you ever go here, make sure to schedule your day around going. They usually get crazy busy (3-4hr waits are normal, and people do wait), so getting down there right when they open for lunch is probably a good idea. Either way, get there early and have them take your name and number down. They'll call you when your table is opening up. Just don't wander too far away or you might miss your window of opportunity...

Boston, what a tasty city you are. I love you.