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Monday, August 13, 2012

Latest News

Hey everyone,

I know I have not been updating as much as I was previously, but things have been picking up more and more lately. I talked with a couple friends and am going to reformat and make abcommitment to each piece to out my all into each one, even if I wasn't a big fan. I also am going to be doing a new blog post a week. I may get excited and post 2, but for now I am going to be posting one per week... Make sure you follow me on twitter now
@windycityfoodre

Thanks,

Review soon!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Temple Bar

             Hey everyone, I hope your week has been going well. I know that the Olympics are on and everyone is paying attention to those lately, but I have the place for you! If you are looking to kick back have a couple drinks and watch some sports come check out Temple Bar. Temple Bar is located on the corner of wellington and Ashland. It is on the North East corner of the street.
            Temple Bar is an Irish pub whose job is providing a great experience for you while you relax and enjoy some food. The building has a nice feel; it’s a typical bar with windows looking out onto the street on the south side of the building. The West side of the building shares windows as well. The rest of the bar is decorated in soccer jerseys. The décor is different, it doesn’t feel like an Irish Pub. There is a large seating area outside of the bar along wellington so you can enjoy the weather. The bar is under staffed with one bartender and one to two servers. The servers bus their own tables so things are slow at times there.
            Temple bar has some great food and drink specials for each day of the week. I went in on a Thursday and they had $7.95 steak sandwich and $3.50 Sailor Jerry Rum. Also each night of the week there is something different going on, Thursday is Karaoke. Some of the other events they have during the week are Bag tournaments, movie nights, live music, and trivia night.
            The steak sandwiche was great, instead of mushrooms I had caramelized onions put on mine so there were caramelized unions and onion sticks… Crazy onions! Also the steak was tender and cut into large pieces with some mozzarella cheese all packed into a nice Italian Roll. That was some good stuff. You also get a choice of French fries or tatter tots, I choose tots 10 times out of 12 that is how much I like tots. I feel like tots take me back to my high school days when they came in this little cardboard baskets on Wednesdays, good times. I had a good time at Temple bar and plan on going back again to check out a bag tournament and trivia night!

The Georgie Best Steak Sandwich- Grilled beef tenderloin cooked to your liking and topped with grilled mushrooms and onion straws with melted mozzarella cheese on a fresh Italian roll

Friday, August 3, 2012

D.S. Tequila



Tonight I had plans to go check out the restaurant Jack’s in boy’s town. Unfortunately their entrees are roughly 25+ per plate. Being a college student I realized I could invest in more productive things than food for one meal. As I made my way through boy’s town it was pointed out to me that D.S. Tequila was not far down the street. Since I was in the mood for tacos I ventured in.

The environment was very up beat with club music and smiling faces. It being in boy’s town added to the experience by involving a number of characters that I would not have usually been around. It had a very relaxed feel with a bar inside and bench seating. In the back was a DJ playing house and new pop music. There was a great patio outside with seating covered with umbrellas. The patio was two levels and no matter where you sat you had a great view of the street and could people watch really easily.

The menu there was simple and straightforward, which I like. They had a number of different types of tacos ranging from $2.50 and above for one or getting a mix and match of three with beans and rice for $13.00. Since I had a desire for tacos I decided to try their steak taco as well as the jalapeno poppers that was listed under appetizer. The server we had was very efficient and pleasant, but the thing that I liked the most was that they had a deck to eat on as well as a live DJ who was playing a trivia game with the whole restaurant. I enjoyed the trivia game because while waiting for our food it was something to bring each other together by discussing the answers of questions such who is the largest manufacturer of pornography since the year 2011. This was nothing I thought about nor really cared, but it was fun and entertaining while waiting for the food…. I also got really into it, especially the video trivia when you had to guess the name of who was drawn on the screen.

When the food came I was somewhat in shock about the size of the taco. I guess for $2.75 I was expecting something a little bigger, but it was the size of a typical small flour tortilla. The taco I ordered was simple; a coffee spiced rub skirt steak, grilled tequila onions, spicy aioli, and crumbled queso fresco.

The jalapeno poppers were captivating; they appeared as if they had been battered and deep friend in the same consistency they use to make corn dogs. I had recalled over looking the menu when I was ordering the jalapeno poppers and seeing XXX Hot. This reality sunk in after I had dipped the J-popper into the jalapeno ranch and then took a big bit out of it. I am pretty good with heat most of the time, but wow that was probably one of the spiciest that I had ever eaten. To make matters worse after I finished my first one, out of the four that came with it, my mentality became if I eat the second one faster than I did the first it won’t be as hot…. Wrong! Once I was done eating the second J-popper I could not exhale because it felt like I was literally breathing fire. The diet coke that I had didn’t fix it nor did water, or the chips that came with my girlfriend’s colossal order of trash can nachos.

Once dinner was over I went right back into playing the trivia games and watching the Olympics. It took us a while to get our check, but I didn’t mind since I was trying to figure out which celebrity matched the baby pictures that I was looking at.

XXX Jalapeno Poppers-Cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Cream Cheese hand-stuffed into jalapenos then lightly battered and deep-fried. Served with jalapeno ranch

Steak Tacos- Coffee spiced rub skirt steak, grilled tequila onions, spicy aioli, crumbled queso fresco