Cafe El Tapatio

Cafe El Tapatio

Cafe El Tapatio is located at 3400 N Ashland Ave just North of W Roscoe street. The restaurant when walking up seemed a lot bigger than it actually was. There are only two rooms for dinning and not too many tables. It makes for a nice close environment. The walls were decorated with traditional Mexican paintings, but since it is the Holidays there were some festive lights and decorations up as well. The restaurant was filled, we had no wait and were seated right away, but I could imagine El Tapatio having a decent wait if word got out about how great their food is!

Everyone that worked there was very nice and I am guessing that it was the owner or manager who walked around to every table, a couple of times, to make sure everyone was doing well. The service was great; food came fast, and left my plate even faster!

Café El Tapatio makes their own tortilla chips as well as all of their salsas and sauces. We were given a nice size bowl of chips and a great homemade salsa with a good kick to start off.

The first course my girlfriend and I started out with was the Empanadas. If you have never had an Empanada before they are turnovers stuffed with various ingredients. The one that we had was the baby spinach and queso de cabra. It was great. The order came with four good-sized Empanadas along with a Verde salsa and sour cream in the middle of the plate. The cheese had a great taste and was melted and warm inside along with the baby spinach; it made an excellent start to dinner!

Following the Empanadas my main course came quickly after the appetizer plate was cleared. The Tacos del Mar was something that caught my eye right away. Being a huge fan of fish tacos I always think back to the great ones that I had on the beaches of San Diego. Now I can enjoy the same ones right here in the Windy City! The Tacos del Mar were described as a lightly battered tilapia topped with mixed greens and cilantro crema. Served in a warm tortilla de maiz and arroz blanco. I would describe this as DAMN, that’s good stuff! The tacos were excellent. I got three tacos with a large chunk of battered and deep fried fish along with a mound of rice and some diced tomatoes, onions and cilantro in its own little pile. The cilantro crema was something that I had never had before, but it was great. Having a similar consistency as sour cream accompanied with some lime I squeezed on them I was in heaven!

Overall Café El Tapatio is a hidden gem right in Roscoe village. This restaurant is the type of place I will bring my friends from out of town to get some fine Mexican cuisine!

Seasons Greetings!

Hello to all,

I hope everyone has had a great holiday, we have the new year coming closer with even more new possibilities to eat and places to enjoy! I wanted to reach out and post this to let everyone know that since the creation of Windy City Food Review the blog that you are now looking at now was not allowing any comments to be added. I believe a number of people tried and it did not work. That is my fault. I thought it was an error on the sites part, but all along all that needed to be done was change some things around in the settings. So please leave some comments let us know what you think and if you enjoyed our review! We are looking for new places to go to at all times!

Coming soon will be the review on the food truck Duck N Roll. Also we will be having two restaurant reviews coming out on Cafe El Tapatio and Sarks in the park.

Find us on Facebook if you haven't already and follow us on Twitter. We have recently added an Instagram page too!

@WindyCityFoodRe

As I have previously stated our website will be coming out in the next couple weeks so keep your eyes open for www.windycityfoodreview.com

I would also like to announce that there has been over 800 views on the site, and on this past Wednesday alone there were 60 views that day! Sooooo, I would like to thank everyone that keeps up with the blog and we look forward to hearing your response on the reviews!

~ Windy City Food Review ~

The Southern Mac and Cheese Truck

Comfort Food with a Twist

The Southern Mac and Cheese Truck

The Southern

The Southern Mac and Cheese Truck specializes in assorted macaroni and cheese dishes. The truck can be recognized from anywhere on the road with its distinctive colors and life like macaroni and cheese on the side of it.

The Southern Mac and Cheese Truck is a branch off of The Southern Chicago (kick ass bar and comfort food) restaurant, which can be found in Wicker Park at 1840 West North Avenue. The restaurant carries similar macaroni dishes, but since it is a restaurant they have a larger variety of options.

I was able to catch up with the truck and met, Dave who was running it . He pointed me in the direction of one of the best mac and cheese combinations that I have ever had, The Mexican Chorizo Macaroni and Cheese. This pleasant meal goes great as a lunch and I imagine would be a great side to any dinner.

Mexican Chorizo Mac and Cheese

The Mexican chorizo was amazing, it had a great flavor and a nice medium heat to it. The dish had elbow macaroni that was cooked to my preference, soft. The cheese was rich, tasty and did not flood the plate. There was what seemed to be panko breadcrumbs in the dish that added more flavoring and a light crunch. All around I really enjoyed it all and had no complaints, other than can I have some more please. Normally I have to put hot sauce in any mac and cheese I have to add a little extra flavor. I think if I had done that it would have been an insult to this great meal!

I really enjoyed this dish and I have been looking forward to trying the Southern Mac and Cheese Truck for a while. I was not disappointed at all! In fact I can’t wait to go back again! The proportions were nice sized. I ate mine for lunch and was pretty content with the amount of food that I had. I could have easily taken a nap afterwards. I want to thank the Southern Mac and Cheese Truck for providing Chicago with some great comfort food with a new twist!

December schedule

Happy Holidays to everyone!

I hope you have made a dent in your Christmas shopping list. I apologize for not have any reviews up in the last week, but have no fear Windy City Food Review is here!!!

This month we will be doing reviews on
Duck N Roll, The Southern Mac and Cheese Truck, and Wow Bao!!!

I do not have dates yet for when I will be visiting the trucks, but I ensure you they will be coming out this month!

If you haven't visited some of the past trucks that I have done reviews on then you are missing out. Check some previous posts and click the link to the trucks web page to see where they are at or you can visit Food Truck Freak to find out where they will be at!!

In other good news Windy City Food Review will be coming out with it's own website before the new year! I know the blog page that I have been using has its faults, but this new website will be more interactive and have a lot more features to use!

If you need to reach me or have any input send a message to WindyCityFoodReview@yahoo.com Follow us on Twitter @windycityfoodre and check us out on Instagram WindyCityFoodRe

Thanks!

Windy City Food Review

Falafel Brothers

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 Where’s my Falafel?!

Falafel Brothers 

Where to find them?
Track 24/365 via twitter.com@myfalafel
Call 312.359.2220

The Falafel Brothers Food Truck & Catering is a family run truck, which brings the rich flavors of Mediterranean food from the Middle East. The brothers Huthyfah and Ibrahim Abed were kind enough to allow me to come by and get some great wraps!

The Falafel Brothers Food Truck & Catering are in high demand and being that they can be found on 58^th and Ellis they have established a consistent location for their truck. The truck can be found on the University of Chicago’s campus. Not only does the Falafel Brothers Food Truck & Catering distribute food on the streets of Chicago, but they can also be utilized for any event due to their catering capabilities.

When I went to the Truck were out of a number of their products due to the high sales demand, but I was able to get two of their top sellers; the Shish Tawouk Wrap and the Original Falafel Wrap.

Shish Tawouk Wrap

All Natural Chicken, Hummus, Authentic Turnips, Pickled Cucumbers and Tahini (white) Sauce

The Chicken was beautifully seasoned and cooked. The warm juicy chicken went great with all the flavors accompanied in the wrap. The pickled cucumbers provided a nice sweet crunch along with the tasty hummus. I was a little surprised to have turnips in the wrap due to not really seeing them in wraps and not eating them very often. Thanks to the Falafel Brothers I will be eating turnips more often. The turnip accompanied the picked cucumbers with their sweet flavor and added a nice crunch too. Over all this was a great wrap. The ingredients were not lost to a large amount of bread. The wrap that they used was very nice and doughy and the wrap all together was pretty thin. I really enjoyed the size  of the wrap because it did not leave me groggy and tired from eating all the carbohydrates. This is a great lunch to have because all of the healthy ingredients and a joy for your taste buds because of all the rich flavoring that is accompanied by each bite.

 

Original Falafel Wrap

Original Falafel Bites, Signature Hummus, Authentic Turnips, Pickled Cucumbers and Tahini (white) Sauce

I know I had talked about a vegetarian option in one of my last food reviews, so here it is! The falafel bites are an amazing non-meat product that everyone can enjoy. Usually falafels are made up of spices and mashed chickpeas. These ingredients are breaded and shaped into little spheres before they are deep-fried. These bite size treats have been placed inside this wonderful wrap. The ingredients are the same as the Shish Tawouk wrap, all natural and healthy. The pickled cucumbers were sweet and crunchy accompanied by the colorful turnips.

Sauce

Tzatziki- a traditional sauce made of strained yogurt, cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil and sometimes lemon juice. The sauce was great! It gave me a little bit of a dry sense in the back of my throat, but it was very flavorful and went great with the chicken and falafel bites

Salsa- Great flavoring medium heat filled with tomatoes cilantro and maybe a little garlic. The salsa was fresh and went along great with both wraps.

All said and done the Falafel Brothers Food Truck & Catering do it right! Whether you are looking for some great seasoned chicken or are looking for a vegetarian option. Make sure you get down to 58^th and Ellis to check them out and get ready to see the Falafel Brothers Food Truck & Catering in Lincoln Park near the DePaul campus when school starts back up in January!

Come Visit Soon!!!

Tomorrow's Post

Hello out there!

I regret to inform everyone that due to my feeling under the weather tonight I will not be able to post the latest review on Falafel Brothers. I will be taking tonight to rest up and unfortunately have work tomorrow that I have to attend to. I have apologized to Falafel Brothers and have stated that this lack of action does not have any relation to my feelings on their wonderful food. Check out their website Falafel Brothers. I will be posting their review this weekend and once again apologize for the inconvenience of the situation. I know many of you are excited for the latest post!

Also I will be posting a schedule for December for some great trucks that I plan on visiting! I hope you start doing the same and taking advantage of the wonderful food that this great city has to offer!

I hope you all have a wonderful evening and have a great Friday tomorrow!

Sincerely,

Windy City Food Review

Change in Schedule

Hello out there!

          I hope that you have been having a great weekend so far and are checking out food trucks and new restaurants all over this great city. If you need help finding food trucks make sure you check out
Food Truck Freak the site provides a list of just about every Food Truck in the city and it has a "Food Truck" tracker, due to the city laws that have changed a couple months ago ALL trucks are required to carry around a GPS with them. Just check out the map and you can see where Food Trucks are at and where they are going to be.

         So earlier in the month I released a schedule that announced the four food trucks that I would be reviewing this month. I have stayed on schedule this whole time, but the last Food Truck is going to change. I have reached out to Burgers That Go, but have heard nothing back from them. Their twitter site shows that their last post was from November 8th. Hopefully they are doing well and will be up and running again in the near future, but in the mean time I will be going to see the Falafel Brothers truck. I have not decided on the trucks for next month, December, but on the site we do have a poll (If you scroll down it will be on the right hand side of the page) you can take the poll and let me know what you are interested in hearing about.

         I am looking forward to your response! Make sure you tell all your friends about the site! I have seen some great results since the re-launch of Windy City Food Review. We broke our record the other day with over 55 views in one day! It maybe a small victory, but a victory none the less!

So keep on reading and I'll keep on eating

If you have any other comments please send an email to
windycityfoodreview@yahoo.com

Make sure you follow us on Twitter
@WindyCityFoodRe

Also there will be a Facebook fan page coming out soon!!!
It is currently being worked on

Any comments are welcomed on the site and questions pertaining to what Windy City Food Review is all about!

The Tamale Spaceship

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The Tamale Spaceship

The Tamale Spaceship 

Round 1…FIGHT!!

            Luchadores are Mexican masked wrestlers, which are the perfect mascot for The Tamale spaceship! This food truck packs a punch of rich culture and flavor that comes from Manny Hernandez and his hard working crew. I was able to meet up with Manny and the rest of the Tamale spaceship as I caught them after a hard days work wrestling with the latest ordinances and selling their notorious tamales all across Chicago.

            The Tamale spaceship specializes in “Mexican cuisine stuffed into a Tamale" states Chef Manny Hernandez. This is what separates The Tamale spaceship from other Tamale trucks. The truck has been up and running for the past few years traveling from the far north suburbs to all across the city. The tamale spaceship not only makes its way around the city for it’s weekly schedule, but they also cater events as well.

            Now I don’t want to brag or anything, but I did live in Arizona for a number of years and was introduced to some AMAZING Mexican food out there. Since living in Chicago I haven’t found much that compares to what I have had in the southwest, until now. The Tamale spaceship has a variety of tamales on their menu such as duck, pork, vegan, vegetarian, flank steak and more.

            Due to the Chicago ordinance and the permit that The Tamale Spaceship has they are only allowed to sell packaged pre-cooked food from their truck. Although the new ordinances have been passed, the city is taking their time with allowing trucks to get the latest permits. Although the permit doesn’t allow the truck to cook on it don’t let that stop you from getting food there, you would be missing out on some great stuff! The tamales come in a pack of two and are contained in a closed container accompanied by a sauce that comes with the tamale.

            I took mine home and was given the instructions to wet a paper napkin and place it on top of both tamales (keep wrapping on the tamale) and microwave for 3 minutes

Picturesque de Puerco

Tamale: Yucatan style roasted pork tamale

Sauce: Tomato-habanero

Roasted tomato, onion, garlic, habanero peppers, vegetable stock.

            This bundle of joy was one of the most flavorful tamales I have ever had, and I am willing to go even further and say that this was some of the best pork that I have ever had. The slow roasted rich rub that was on this cut of meat soaked right in leaving it with a smoky mild to medium heat flavoring. The meat was perfectly cooked and my fork cut through it like butter, yes my fork. The pork was engulfed by an amazing masa (the corn/ dough that makes up the whole tamale) The masa was a perfect balance and allowed for the sauce to soak right into it. The tomato-habanero sauce went great with the smokey flavoring of the pork. I enjoy some heat so this sauce gave me exactly what I was looking for, not too hot, but rich in flavor as well. The sauce would go great with anything eggs in the morning, potatoes, you name it I am sure it will be great. This was hands down one of the best Tamales I have ever had.

Seasonal de Pato

Tamale: Confit style Duck

Sauce: Mole de Xico

Dry plums, ancho & padilla dry chiles, hazelnuts, tomato, onion, garlic & chicken stock 

            The seasonal duck was another great treat that the Tamale Spaceship had. One of my favorite birds is duck. It is not something that I have a lot, nor is it something that you can get in every restaurant. So when I heard they had duck, I went for it. (Sorry to the vegan/vegetarians, I’ll do a veggie one next time) The duck was not the main star of the Seasonal de Pato show. The spotlight was shared with the butternut squash masa that confined it. The masa was great, soft, rich and had a nice flavoring and went great with the duck. The sauce; Mole de Xico was sweet and filled with a great flavoring. I guess I was not feeling very sweet that day because I returned back to the tomato-habanero sauce that I had used on the pork Tamale to cover this one as well. There was nothing wrong with the mole; I just really enjoyed the habanero. I know making mole is a difficult process and can involve a ton of ingredients, so my hats off to the spaceship for making some quality mole and really capturing the Mexican cuisine. Overall this was a great tamale and because its seasonal it won’t be around all year, so get yours soon!

I had a great time meeting with the Tamale Spaceship crew; I will be referring anyone who wants a quality Tamale or just real Mexican food in Chicago to the Tamale Spaceship.

The Tamale Spaceship also has an event coming up you should definitely check out….

A multi-course meal with live Mexican wrestling afterwards!!

On December 13^th, 2012 starting at 6 pm

For more information see website below:

Tamale Spaceship: Cena Libre!

*I did not take these pictures, I was hungry and ate the Tamales before taking pictures... I'm a real genius right, so the truck provided me with some pictures!

~Enjoy~

What did you have?

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. These are just a couple of things that we had at my house

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon, Garlic, and Balsamic Vinaigrette

Turkey- Dark meat and White meat with mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes

What did you have?
What are some of your favorite Holiday dishes?

Sincerely,

Windy City Food Review

Thanksgiving

Happy Holidays!

             Lately I have been doing some research on how to make blogs more efficient. I have done some research and found that I am missing a key component. Rather than be a blog that sends out information, Windy City Food Review wants to have more of a 2-way communication. So with that being said what we want for the Holidays is to hear from YOU!!!!
              WCFR would love to see users getting more involved with the blog and being vocal about what they are doing and what you would like to see Windy City Food Review do. Don't be afraid to comment, all are welcome!
             So comment on our post! We would enjoy hearing about what you had for dinner and any pictures that you have from your epic Thanksgiving feast!

Sincerely,

Windy City Food Review
@WindyCityFoodRe

What can we do to improve?

I fixed the link

Hey everyone I have attached a survey below that would really help me out. Please leave your feedback and let me know what your thoughts are!



Windy City Food Review

Sincerely,

Windy City Food Review

The Meatloaf Bakery

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 Ma, The Meat Loaf!

The Meat Loaf Bakery

            I would like this to be a forewarning to all mother’s out there that make a heck of a meatloaf, watch out. There is a new player in the game, The Meatloaf Bakery.

            I was able to consume, what I think happens to be one of the most delicious and daring forms of food art that I have witnessed. The traditional meatloaf has always been a constant in my household ever since I was a child. What The Meatloaf Bakery had done is broken outside of the restraints of meatloaf being a loaf and has created, the meatloaf cupcake. The meatloaf cupcake is a solid “cake” of meat and other mouthwatering ingredients along with an icing of mash potatoes, pasta, or more mash potatoes.

            The Meatloaf Bakery sells their specialty traditional dishes in a number of sizes. The loaf is the largest serving size they offer serving 4-6 people, or 2 of my friends. Next is the cupcake, which is a larger cupcake, but not large enough to feed my appetite, I need 2-3. The smallest size is the loafie, which are bite-sized miniatures of the cupcakes themselves.

            Everything that is ordered has to be cooked, so you can hang out at the Clarke street storefront or grab a bite from their Food Truck after work.

            I was unable to get to the food truck, since they were loading up on meat treats preparing for the night, so I dropped by the store front where I was greeted by the employees and Cynthia Kallile the creator of the meatloaf cupcake and the author of “The Meatloaf Bakery Cook book comfort food with a twist” which came out November 18^th of this year.

            Taking the comfort food home was quick and easy. When I purchased my savory treats I was given a Heating Tips sheet that told me how to do everything either in a conventional over, microwave oven, grill, and how to cook if they are frozen. I popped those bad boys in the oven after preheating at 357 F and kept them in for 20-25 minutes. All I did was spray a cooking sheet with pam. I left my cupcake in for 20-25 minutes and half way through that time I put the bite-size loafies in to cook for 10-15 minutes.

And now I present you with…..No Buns About It Burger Loaf

This cupcake is everything you ever wanted in a burger without the extra bread. The no buns about it is filled with chunks of pickles, bacon and onions along with a mix of mustard, ketchup and cheddar cheese. It is also topped with cheesy taters and comes with special sauce.

Top Down

            The cheddar cheese and top of the mash potato got a nice golden brown crunch to it while the rest of the cheese and potato was rich and gooey. The cheese melted down perfectly across the top of the mash potato. The mash potatoes were rich and soft thanks to a proper cook time.

            The body of the cupcake was a juicy blend of moist and tasty meat. The seasoning and blend of mustard and ketchup was perfect for this burger cake. I enjoyed the chunk of pickle, bacon, and onions inside of it. The bacon was nice and crisp while the onions oozed it’s flavoring throughout the rest of the paddy.

            I am usually good at guessing ingredients and am sure that The Meatloaf Bakery is not going to announce what it is, but for the life of me I can’t put my finger on what is inside of it. The special sauce was a great extra to dip the cupcake into. It was a creamy blend of a tomato sauce and other ingredients, from what I can tell. If you want more information go in and try for yourself, I would love to hear your thoughts on what it could be... Please post below.

            I just want to say before I talk about the two loafies is that if you are like me ordering loafies are pointless. Once you get a taste of these bite-size works of art you just want more.

            I feel silly because I cant for the life of me recall the name of one of the loafies featured in the picture so I don’t want to insult The Meatloaf Bakery by reviewing the wrong product. I have no problem announcing my mistakes because to my defense a long week of finals and an empty stomach left me disoriented by the magnificent smells of meatloaf being cooked in the back of the store.

            MACnificient Pasta

Made of tiny pasta shells nestled in a creamy four-cheese sauce topped with crunchy panko breadcrumbs. This treat is everything that is sounds like a crunchy mac and cheese bite-size ball. The one thing that I will say is because of the size of the MACnificient is that there was a large panko exoskeleton that took over the tiny shells inside. Also I believe it may have been the length that I cooked the loafie, but it was not as creamy as I would have liked it to have been. The pasta was somewhat dry, but all said and done it is a great treat and a good way to get the kids to eat.

            I had a great experience at the Meatloaf Bakery and will be going back in the future, the last thing that I will comment about is the price for a cupcake runs between $8-10 so have your wallets ready for the comfort food with a twist!

Chicago Cupcake

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            Cupcakes, a familiar guilty pleasure that we can all relate to. I feel confident enough to say even if you have never had a cupcake you know what they are. I say this because not many people know what the difference is between a cupcake and a Chicago cupcake.

             Fear no more! Windy City Food Review is here to educate those who are missing out on this delicious treat!

The Mother Load and Banana Foster

Chicago Cupcake builds their cupcakes into three levels.

1.     The Frosting

2.     The Cake

3.     The Crust

Many cupcakes are just two parts the frosting and the cake. I have never personally experienced a crust before. Let me be the first to tell you, the crust makes a real big difference!

I was lucky enough to try two of Chicago Cupcake cupcakes;

The Mother Load

            This cupcake does nothing but live up to its name. To start the mother load is a magnificent mixture of chocolate, peanut butter, pretzel, and nuts.

            From the top down starts with a sprinkle of crushed pretzels over a caramel drizzle. The frosting melts in your mouth as soon as you take a bite. The caramel frosting is rich with cream cheese. The frosting does not have a alarming amount of caramel it is perfectly worked in with the cream cheese, brown sugar, and cream.

            The frosting lies eloquently on top of a creamy chocolate mousse cake hiding a peanut butter cup at its core. The peanut butter chocolate combination is one of my favorites, it reminds me of a Reese’s.

The Mother Load

            I am sure your mouth is watering at this point, but as I had said before what separates these spectacular works of art is crust at the end. The salty crunch that lies deep beneath the chocolate peanut butter mix is a bed of crushed pretzels and brown sugar. This is one cupcake you should not pass up!

Banana Foster

            I do not usually go for banana anything, let alone cupcakes, but this one won me over. The Banana Foster from the top down starts with dried banana sprinkled on top of a sweet blonde caramel with a brown sugar buttercream frosting. Once again I can’t stress the fact that I have never had a cupcake that has melted in my mouth as this one did with its frosting.

Banana Foster

Beneath the frosting was a moist body of rich banana cake. The cake is infused with brown sugar and rum leaving your taste buds tingling. The soft cake and sweet banana chunks leave you wanting more.

         What sets this cupcake apart from the others is the bed of crunchy sweet graham cracker at the bottom. The graham cracker’s crunch along with the granules of sugar provides a wonderful end to a glorious bite.

No one can say it better than the owner, baker, and food truck operator of Chicago Cupcake; “ We work cream cheese and cream into our cakes so that the cake is creamier with a fudge-like texture. Part cupcake, cheese cake, and mousse” expressed Brendan Bolger.

These cupcakes are not only delicious, but they are 100% natural. There are no additives, preservatives, artificial flavor, or coloring in them so there should be no reason stopping you from buying a few today!

Check out their website

http://www.chicagocupcake.com/

Follow them on Twitter

@Chicago_Cupcake

Food Trucks

Hey everyone I know it has been a while since the last post and I apologize. Things have picked up over the past couple months with school and my internship. I have not forgotten about everyone out there looking for a new place to eat!

Lately I have really gotten into the Food Truck scene. I got hooked watching the show "The Great Food Truck Race" on Food Network, and it was all about Food Trucks from there. I am all about cooking and have had thoughts about getting my own Food Truck.... Maybe.




This post is to let everyone know about the re-launch of Windy City Food Review!!! It is going to take place in November. So far I have mapped out three food trucks and items that I am going to try and from then on WCFR will be doing a post per week. I would love to get some comments about places that I have gone or places you want me to try out!



I really like this article, I believe that Food Trucks are a growing industry and a great experience to be a part of. Check out the article and get educated on whats going on in your city!

Food truck measure gains steam


Now for the moment that you have all been waiting for. The plan for November is the following

November 9th
Chicago Cupcake

November 16th
Meatloaf a go-go

November 23rd
Tamale Space 101

November 30th
Burgers That Go

I will be posting all of these reviews on these dates!
I hope you are as excited as I am and I look forward to call the comments


Sincerely,


Windy City Food Review
@WindyCityFoodRE

Bone Appetit

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!

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

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

House of Sushi and Noodles 7/27

Hey again!

Just to clarify, the post for Bakin' and Eggs occured yesterday, I wasn't able to upload it until today... No Internet..

Anyway today I had a sushi craving...For those that know what I am talking about; once you get a sushi craving nothing else sounds good...

House of Sushi and Noodles is located on the North West corner of Lincoln and Ashland

When we first walked in it was pretty low key, not many people in place. The hostess came up and I couldn't really understand her, so we had an awkward exchange as I tried to figure out what she was saying... It was, "follow me"
Once seated the same girl took my order then my girlfriend and she started walking away without even taking my roommate's order. The waitress/ hostess that sat us was all over the place talking too fast looking all over the place standing on top of you why you ordered.... Just too much. The restaurant itself had an interesting set up. When we walked in the sushi station was immediately to the right. there was seating alone the narrow corridor of a hall way which took a 120 degree turn that led to another area of seating. The whole hall way was pretty narrow because how the kitchen was set up in the middle of the place. There was pictures of past customers all over the walls as well as typical Japanese decorations.

I capitalized on the all you can eat sushi deal that came with an appetizer and included Sushi Maki as well as Nigiri for $18.95. I ordered the Edamame and then started off with the spicy tuna roll, Godzilla Roll, and then 4 Ebi Nigiri. Once we ordered I sat there and waited as my stomach made noises and I stared at the walls of pictures of past customers, and I mean ALL the walls had pictures of past customers.

It took a long time before any food came. I am happy that my girlfriend ordered the veggie tempura because they ended up not even bringing my Edamame. The Veggie Tempura was great, typical Panko covering the sweet potato, zucchini, broccoli, and green beans.

Finally my sushi came and everything had spicy mayo on it even the Spicy Tuna which I have never seen before. Don't get me wrong it was a typical safe roll to get so thats what I went with. The Godzilla Roll was a house roll that I liked a lot. It had some nice flavor, but the rice was infested with fish roe (Fish Eggs). I am just not really a big fan of them. Both the Spicy Tuna and Godzilla came with 6 pieces in their roll, typical.

I believe that Ebi Nigiri is something that really can't be messed up. I think every where that I have gone it has been the same, shrimp on a bed of rice. This was no different than usual, but it tasted bad. There was an odd after taste and there were a few green spots in between the rice and shrimp (I believe this was Wasabi, but it wasn't spicy)

At this point I have still not received my Edamame so I had to let the waitress know. The beans came out. Those were not that great either. There was no salt on them, they were not very warm, and I felt those had a poor taste as well, almost like the skins were not washed or something.

I decided to go with one more specialty roll so that I could talk about it. This one caught my eye because I have never had lettuce in any sushi roll, sure I have had cucumber and other veggies, but never lettuce. The Santa Fe was a nice clean roll to order. It only came with four pieces, but they were larger, typical size of a Vegas roll (compared to places I have been). The lettuce had a nice clean crunch to go along with the shrimp. Just like each of the other rolls it has spicy mayo on it, whatever I just don't want spicy mayo on everything I eat... Just saying.

We finally wrapped up the meal with some strawberry Mochi (is a Japanese confection made from mochi (pounded sticky rice) with an ice cream filling)

Each of us were happy to get out of there. It was a new experience I was happy to have now rather than later! 

Godzilla: Shrimp Tempura, Cream Cheese, Green Onion, Masago, Avocado, Panko Flakes, and Spicy Mayo
Spicy Tuna: Spicy Tuna, Cucumber, Spicy Sesame Sauce, Kanikama, Scallion, and Spicy Mayo
Ebi Nigiri: Shrimp on a bed of rice
Santa Fe: Shrimp Tempura, Lettuce, Masago, Cucumber, and Spicy Mayo

~Windy City Food Review~

Bakin' and Eggs 7/26

Bakin' and Eggs is a great little spot that I found down the street from my new place on Lincoln. The place has a great setting and I guess kids eat free on Thursday (if you don't like eating around kids throwing their toys don't go on Thursday!) The menu is simple and straight forward. Since the place is called Bakin' and eggs I had to get one their Frittata's.

I would like to give a little back story before I give this review because I have some bias as a result of it. Before ordering I was going back and forth with ordering the dish. I asked the waiter what he thought.... "Its my absolute favorite". Then I asked if it had giant pieces of blue cheese or not. The guy sitting on the same bench next to me says, "look over here I have it".
Ok, so at this point all is good, I make the order.....
Then the guy sitting next to me starts lifting up his leg and farting... Now the actions that he took reflect nothing on the food, but based on the situation I became not very hungry to say the least... This also was not a one time thing, this happened three times before the food came and maybe one or two times after. I don't want to take away from the dish but I can't give an honest review without mentioning how disgusted and angry I was.


Back to the review..............
I was a little skeptical when I saw it, but it seemed so enticing... The caramelized onion, bacon, blue cheese, with balsamic vinaigrette Frittata. Not only does it come with the Frittata, but you have your option of getting grits with cheese or home style potatoes with or w/o Parmesan cheese on them, but it doesn't stop there you also have a choice of a meat on the side such as chicken apple sausages and about 6-8 different types of bacon (Canadian, Mesquite, Honey, Jalapeno, Cherry, and a number of others).

When the food arrived I was greeted by a small pizza size Frittata covered with chunks of blue cheese with a light glaze of balsamic that was dribbled all over it. The two strips of jalapeno bacon lay perfectly crisp on the side of a small mountain of well seasoned potatoes. The Frittata itself had a lot going on the, carmalized onions were hidden inside of the baked eggs which was covered by the blue cheese and dressing on top. The first couple bites were great. It did not have a blue cheese dominant taste that was down played by the balsamic on top of it. The caramelized onions were great inside. Being someone who has to have hot sauce on their eggs to eat them I could not take this dish for too long. It soon began to become mushy like cereal if you leave it in milk for too long. The eggs started to become one with the cheese and balsamic leaving the onions protruding out. The bacon was great. It tasted just like regular bacon, but it was hot. I guess hot regular tasting bacon is jalapeno???
The plate also came with two pieces of toast, that really isn't important though, what is important is that they have sun flower seeds and other seeds and grains on the crust, so if your daughter is allergic to sun flower seeds like the women at the table next to me.... Don't let her eat it!

This was not for me. If you are a balsamic and blue cheese lover this may be for you though.
I hope I find the right dish from there soon!