Chicago Eats - New England Seafood Company

Remember my Boston trip? I had proclaimed that I had found my favorite lobster roll of all time. This is still true after trying out New England Seafood Company, but I think I've found a lobster roll that comes close to the glory that is Neptune Oyster's.

The owners here are from Massachusetts, and they wanted to create something that was exactly like back home from the decor to the food. I think they did a great job. They're located up in Lakeview on Lincoln just north of Belmont, so if you're in the neighborhood, definitely give them a try. Just a fair warning, they do close early...

The front of the establishment

Deliciousness awaits...

The best lobster roll in the city. Some of the best parts of the lobster on a perfectly toasted bun, drizzled with butter. The way a lobster roll should be. Oh, and if you ask, they'll gently warm up the lobster meat as it's normally served cold.

Housemade potato chips. These came with the lobster roll. They were also amazing. I liked these a lot more than the fries (below).

Fish and Chips. Made from haddock. I think they also have an unlimited fish and chips special as well, but this was plenty to go along with a meaty lobster roll.

In case I wasn't clear, GO EAT at NE SEAFOOD COMPANY ASAP.

Chicago Eats - Moto Restaurant

Molecular gastronomy is neat! And it's lots of fun to experience. I recently went to moto for the 15 course menu, and I was completely entranced by the entire menu, and enjoyed the experience immensely. This was definitely in my top 3 restaurant experiences ever, and it blew away the 8 course Grand Menu I had earlier this month at Charlie Trotter's.

Disclaimer: I forgot most of the names of the items on each dish. I couldn't even remember what our server said right after he told us about each course.

Course 1: Spring Roll

What a beautiful plate; the menu was printed on an edible spring roll wrapper, and the idea was to take the tofu (on the right) and everything on the plate and throw it into the wrapper and make your own spring roll. I didn't get the memo because I wasn't paying attention at first, but I was quick to rectify. Getting to play with your food is always awesome!

Course 2: Dim Sum

Dumpling, inside out sushi, geoduck

Chilled green tea

This one was a bit of a letdown for all besides the delicious geoduck. They did use liquid nitrogen to chill the green tea and the steam made it look like the dim sum would be hot, but it was actually cold. Nice little trick.

Course 3: Crudites

There's a lot on this that I don't remember. The crispy thing to the right was an overboiled pasta noodle that was quickly fried and flavored with ranch powder, the green liquid was broccoli, there was a bit of deviled egg and some various other things that I couldn't remember. I liked this dish, but the puffed noodle tasted a bit stale.

Course 4: Reconstructed Corn

One of my favorite courses of the night! To the right was the reconstructed corn; basically, kernels of corn were pulled off and cooked and then placed around the "cob" of butter flavored ice cream. It wasn't really a creamy type of ice cream, but something that was quickly freeze-dried but it was amazing. The the left was the "popcorn" shrimp with some uni, cheesecake, and a chip. I didn't really understand the left side of the menu, but it was decent. It was far outshadowed by the reconstructed corn, though.

Course 5: Gazpacho and Grape

Dehydrated grapes (look like raisins) alongside carbonated grapes with smoked duck in the middle surrounded by a great creamy gazpacho sauce of moto's own variety. The carbonated grapes were a surprise and SO. MUCH. FUN. to eat! Apparently you can carbonate your own grapes using a whipped cream dispenser and CO2 cartridges or even blowing up a balloon with some grapes inside and putting them in the fridge for a few days. An experiment that I'd like to try soon. The smoked duck was smokey and flavorful, and made me want more.

Course 6: Zen Garden

We were supposed to be able to play with this, but things were sorta sticky. There's some cocoa covered cheese in there and there was some sort of fruit jam below that you can't really see. Fairly benign in terms of flavor, but definitely a creative and playful dish.

Course 7: Kentucky Fried Pasta

Similar to Next's Chicken Noodle Soup, this dish used a similar concept and Cantu used chicken to form the noodle (wrapped around the fork) with a biscuit and fried chicken skin crisp. The noodle was great and tasted like a normal noodle flavored with chicken stock; I'm amazed that it was actually made from chicken! The fork has thyme thrown into the center to impart some of its flavor and aroma to the dish as you eat off of  it. Clever.

Course 8: Forest Foraging

The wood log was glued to the plate so I wasn't tricked into eating it. Lots of different types of mushrooms, and that's a quail egg on top of a "nest" of mushrooms. Awesome dish from a visual perspective, and I really liked all of the morsels of deliciousness that were scattered about. This was also very reminiscent of the Childhood menu at Next.

Course 9: Cassoulet

Supposedly a play on the French cassoulet. There were layers of various flavors in the thing that looks like a bush (carrot, potato?, duck?). The butter/toast in the center was great with the first bite, but a bit too rich and heavy for me.

Course 10:  Tongue and Cheek

The last savory course: from the top left, clockwise: wagyu ribeye beef, beef cheek on top of a crisped onion (think funyun), and beef tongue. The tongue and cheek were amazing and it literally melted in your mouth, the wagyu ribeye was a bit disappointing. In fact, I don't think I've ever been very happy with any wagyu beef in the past, but I digress.

Course 11: Coffee Service

The first dessert course of the night; a layer of espresso, some coconut sugar cubes, and some sort of a custard underneath the espresso layer. Wasn't really my favorite dessert.

Course 12: Egg Drop Soup

A quick before shot

That's not actually an egg yolk; it was mango suspended in a yolk like form that actually broke like a normal egg yolk would when pierced. This amazed and delighted me. It was eggsactly what I hoped it would be.

Course 13: Marshmallow and Apple

Apple infused marshmallows with some wafers and sorbet. I liked the big fish bowls, and the marshmallow was pretty good and tasted like apples.

Course 14: Chocolate and Truffle

Good truffled ice cream, chocolate cake was a bit dry. At this point I'm falling asleep.

Course 15: Acme Bomb

The fire woke me up. Remember those chocolate covered cherries with the syrup in the middle? This was like that, but no cherry in the middle and some sort of syrup. It was great. Reminded me of something Wile E. Coyote would try to use on the Roadrunner.


Overall, this was a highly entertaining and satisfying meal. We were concerned at first that we would leave hungry, but after 5 dessert courses, I was pretty full by the time we left. From an innovation standpoint, this earns top marks from me, only bested by the wizards over at Next. I thought the 15 course menu was worth every dollar spent, and it really did blow away my experience at Charlie Trotter's...which makes me wonder about the true reasons why Trotter's is shuttering its doors after 25 years...

Chicago Eats - Opart Thai House

These days I feel like Thai food is like your typical Chinese take-out; greasy, fattening, and largely uninspiring food that you regret eating once you're done. Don't get me wrong, I like Thai food, but I think that most places miss the mark. After eating at Opart Thai, I can gladly say that there are still some places that serve up good Thai food without making me regret it.

The food here was so good that I went with the same friend two days in a row; the first was at the location in Lincoln Square, and the second was at the location in the South Loop. The South Loop location looks cooler IMO; it has this pretty ornate door frame that really makes me feel like it's better at least. But the food is consistent across both locations. This is my new go-to Thai place in the city, check it out!

Sampler Platter  - egg roll, fried shumai, fried shrimp, spring rolls, crab rangoon

Gaeng Pa - Sauteed red curry, green beans, bamboo shoots, Thai eggplant with shrimp

Basil Chicken - best I've ever had

Gaeng Musaman - yellow curry, potatoes, chicken, peanuts

Kuay Tiew Kee Mao - flat noodles with basil, hot peppers, cabbage, Chinese broccoli, bean sprouts with shrimp

Chicago Eats - West Town Tavern

West Town. Not really that great of a neighborhood. But it has more and more good restaurants popping up (such as the excellent Ruxbin) so it's definitely worth getting out there eventually. After hearing some good things about West Town Tavern, my eating crew and I decided to check it out. The restaurant serves up "contemporary comfort food"; the chef has her own plays on classics like fried chicken and pot roast. This isn't a small plates place, it serves up full plates of food. Still shareable though.

Overall Verdict: I have to say that I enjoyed West Town Tavern and appreciated that most dishes were cooked to the right temperatures, but nothing really blew me away. I think it's solid food that's better than your typical restaurant at fairly reasonable prices. It definitely fits my definition of what contemporary comfort food is, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Monday Special: Fried Chicken with garlicky mashed potatoes, sauteed chard, buttermilk biscuit, and mushroom gravy - I was looking forward to the fried chicken the most, but I ended up being the most disappointed with this dish. I LOVE good fried chicken, especially when its juicy, cooked just right, with a flavorful and crispy skin/crust. This really didn't deliver on any of those fronts. The white meat was dry, and the batter really didn't have much going for it. The mashed potatoes were good but standard fare; the biscuit was a bit dry, and there wasn't enough gravy.

Pan-seared Diver Sea Scallops with mushroom-leek risotto -  Perfectly cooked scallops and risotto. The risotto had a lot of flavor and was my favorite side of the night. Not much else to say, great dish.

Zinfandel-Braised Short Rib "Pot Roast" with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and Pennsylvania Dutch black vinegar sauce - Great short rib! Melt-in-your-mouth tender, and the brussel sprouts weren't half bad either. Mashed taters were more of the same ol' same ol'.

Potato-crusted Tilapia with jasmine rice pilaf - another perfectly cooked dish. The potato crusting was light but let its presence be known. The tilapia was moist and the rice pilaf was flavorful, just not as flavorful as the risotto.

Bourbon Pecan Pie with caramel sauce and thick cream - pretty good pecan pie, can't say it's the best I've had. Dunno what was up with the thick cream, I wasn't expecting it to be just...cream.

Chef's Whim Ice Cream Sandwich with fudge brownie and berry ice cream - my favorite dessert! The brownie wasn't super soft, but that's probably on purpose to be more ice cream sandwichy. Delicious ice cream too as it was thick and creamy and the berries really went well with the brownie. I couldn't stop eating it even though I was pretty full.

Gala Apple Turnover with caramel ice cream and caramel sauce - really good ice cream on this one as well. The filling wasn't really too flavorful, and the pastry was too thin, flimsy, and lacked flavor. If the filling was a bit more robust, it would have worked well with the pastry.

Chicago Eats, 'Burbs Edition - Pappadeaux

Just because it's the suburbs doesn't mean that good food doesn't exist. There are some real diamonds in the rough (the rough being Applebee's, Houlihan's, Chili's, etc.). Pappadeaux is one such place that's a real treasure. I used to go to the location in Schaumburg frequently with the fam, and it was one of our favorite places to go for family dinner. Then it inexplicably closed. So sad. But there's still one in Westmont, less than 10 minutes away from Oakbrook Mall! So happy. The food is consistently good and the seafood is always fresh. Please do yourself a favor and go here. Oh, and if you're debating between this and Bob Chinn's Crab House...go to Pappadeaux.

Seafood Cobb Salad with jumbo lump crab meat and shrimp over iceberg lettuce and spinach with bacon, bleu cheese, avocado and tomato
Pappadeaux Platter fried to perfection with fried catfish, shrimp, blue crab cake, stuffed shrimp and stuffed crab
Andouille Sausage and Seafood Gumbo **must get**
Crispy Fried Alligator with potato sticks and a delicious creole dipping sauce. **must get**
Banana Wafer Pudding with a strawberry and wafers inside. This is my favorite dessert at any restaurant. It's amazing. I want more now. I will drive out to the 'burbs just to eat this one thing.

Thanks for the pic, Kat!

Crawfish Platter with fried craw fish and crawfish etouffe

Pappadeaux Platter - just a better picture.

Chicago Eats - Mercat a la Planxa - Update 1

Update (March, 2012)

My friend who is visiting Chicago again saw my original post (below) on Mercat and wanted to go. Really, it was the pulpo con patatas that really sold her and reminded her of her trip to Spain. So we went, and I was happy to go again.

We got some of the dishes I had already tried because they were so good; the same starter bread (just as good as I remember), the pulpo con patatas (not as tender as I remember but still good), along with the bacon wrapped dates (even better this time around). We got some new dishes this time:

Pimientos de Padron - flash fried Padron peppers

A nice complement to eat with our "main" dishes.

Tocino con Cidra - slow cooked Holland Pork Belly w/Black Truffle Slaw

 I'm pretty sure that the pork belly sauce had truffle oil in it. Why? If the slaw actually had black truffle, why unnecessarily complicate the dish with a generous helping of the much inferior truffle oil? It didn't ruin the dish, but it definitely detracted from it.

Mar Muntanya - serrano ham wrapped around yellow fin tuna, potato croquette, topped w/foie gras 

AMAZING.

Roasted cauliflower with manchego cheese

Very good, this dish reminded us of a high-end cheddar broccoli casserole.

Octopus w/salad of frisee

Too. Much. Salt. Too. Much. Dressing.

Cepes y Butifarra Coca (Flatbread) - mushrooms and catalan sausage w/manchego cheese

Hey, salt. Think I got enough of you from the octopus salad. But overall this was tasty, mushrooms were the main hero of the dish. Just wish they'd tone down the added salt. The catalan sausage probably adds more than enough sodium on its own.

Overall, visit #2 was a success, marred by the use of truffle oil in the pork belly dish and too much salt/dressing in the octopus salad.

However, service at the end of the meal nearly ruined the experience. Waiting 30 minutes for our server to come back after getting our table to cleared to either order dessert or get the check is infuriating. Service the first time was fairly good (although not great), so this will be something to keep in mind as I plan future meals.

Original Post (July, 2011)

Another day, another celebrity chef's restaurant. Last night we ventured over to Mercat a la Planxa, which is located on S. Michigan Avenue, with head chef being none other than Iron Chef Jose Garces. A tapas restaurant with 3 others in my party for the night, I knew I would have the opportunity to try a lot of food. As always, pictures and my quick (I promise this time) thoughts ahead.

tomato bread to start

Bread for the table - basically like pico de gallo on top of buttery bread. Delicious and light, only the ends of it seemed to be at all greasy. Great way to start.

pulpo con patatas - spanish octopus w/potatoes and paprika

I love mollusks, they taste delicious. Mollusks also have some sweet dance moves. As you can see, this dish had a lot of paprika in it, with some acid from what I would assume is lemon juice. I'm a regular Sherlock Holmes. Don't know if the potatoes really added anything as the dish itself wasn't very strongly flavored, and not at all salty. However, the octopus was awesome.

datiles con almendras - bacon wrapped dates stuffed w/almonds

My friend told me a few different time about these dates - I'm not sure if it was because she didn't remember telling me about them, or if she just loved them so much. Well, it was probably the latter because these things were my favorite dish of the night. It was a classic sweet + savory combination that worked so well. Get these.

truita de patata - spanish omelette with spinach and potatoes

Good ol' eggs and potatoes. One of my tablemates commented that this tasted more like potatoes than egg - I would agree, but when you have the harder texture of the potato against something as soft as egg, I think you're bound to notice the potato more. Good dish, but it was overshadowed by the other stuff I ate.

llenties i cigrons - black lentils and garbanzo beans w/goat cheese and tomato

I was surprised at how much I liked this dish - very creamy, well seasoned, and not a lot of saltiness. All good things. I'm glad Chef Garces went with a goat cheese for this one - the subtle and soft flavor went really well with the creamy lentils.

albondigas de venera - scallop and shrimp meatballs

Scallop and shrimp. Two sea creatures that are delicious. Did you know that scallops have over 1 billion eyes? Wikipedia has the real number. Some might not agree with mushing up scallops and shrimp into ball form, but I think it was genius. I like meat balls, I like seafood, I like this dish. Like scallopballs (not to be confused with scallop testes) with chunks of shrimp in it, if that makes sense.

serrano ham and fig salad

Can't go to a Spanish restaurant without getting some of that jamon, right? The jamon de Iberico de bellato (or something like that, basically Iberico pork-belly ham) was a bit much on el dinero side, but we got this ham and fig salad based on a recommendation from a friend. Very good, although I didn't taste much fig until I went digging around looking for it. Serrano ham was delicious, albeit extraordinarily salty. I guess I'm more used to the more subtle flavor of proscuitto.

pinxtos muranos - lamb brochettes wrapped in bacon

Well, this was good. But bacon wrapped anything is good. One point here is that I didn't get much of a lamb taste. I hope this wasn't due to being two pitchers of sangria deep, but I felt like the lamb was overpowered by the bacon + sauce. Sauce was sweet btw.

paella valenciana - chicken & chorizo paella w/artichoke and tomato salad

I love paella. I usually like rice dishes. Good flavors (chorizo in here was great), but the chicken was pretty bland on its own. Probably a good thing considering that my salt sensing 'buds were in overdrive. I prefer paella del mar (I think I can speak el espanol, I really can't though), and I actually prefer Cafe Babareeba's paella to this one. However, I (we) was (were) really full at this point, so maybe that impacted what I tasted. Oh right, and that damn sangria...

croquettes de xocolate - chocolate and caramel filled croquettes

So good. Deep fried balls filled with chocolate and caramel? YEA GIMME. Shove one of these with the banana cream into your fat face and wait for a gush of awesomeness and sweetness. There were 6 croquettes and 4 of us...but seeing how that candle there was for me (I just turned 1!), I decided to grab two. Someone else was smart enough to grab the last one.

Overall, a great dinner. I'll definitely be back, if for nothing else but to get my hands on those dates again. Maybe I'll bring a date for the dates (probably not given that I make jokes like that).