Etno Village Grill

How to kill a Vampire!!!
Etno Village Grill

Lincoln Park is known for its college feel and upper class neighborhoods. There are a number of fine eateries, which you will most likely find a number of DePaul students in as well as business professionals. Etno village grill is something that I have passed numerous times and had always caught my eye (especially since they have a giant cow on the roof)

I have heard nothing but good things about Etno village grill and after sitting down the other day and opening up Time Out Chicago I was presented the perfect opportunity. The recent Time Out Chicago issue featured some of Chicago's top burgers and of course on that list a some what hidden gem, Etno Village Grill!

Before I begin I just want to talk about the all around experience that I had when walking into the place known for serving, "real food fast!" Etno does nothing but this! The food is amazing and it comes faster than some fast food joints.

Having never stepped foot into the restaurant before I was welcomed with a giant chalk board over the register that listed everything they had on menu with a number of other small chalk boards around the main one. One thing that I had noticed was a small rack below the register that had a few boxes of girl scout cookies, solid move in my opinion, and under that was an assortment of chips. The place had a nice feel with all food benches and tables. While observing the menu I could see the cooks preparing everything behind the counter as well as grilling the burgers, oh boy was I hungry too!

Striking a polite conversation I asked the girl working the register what she liked at Etno..."My favorite would have to be the Vampire Hunter!"
Well that sounded like it was just up my alley!

At Etno's you can order a large or small burger. The small is a 1/3 pound while the large is a 1/2 pound. The burger contains a mouth watering collection of asiago cheese, sauteed mushrooms, roasted garlic and chive cream spread, what else could you want out of a burger!
According to some friends of mine I couldn't pass up the parmesan french fries either, so being a sucker for food I had to get some of those too!

Vampire Hunter
Living up to its name this burger had everything it needed to kill a Vampire! The roasted garlic was a great flavoring to the burger along with the chive cream spread. The asiago cheese melted in my mouth and the juicy burger purged with flavoring with its nice medium rare grill job. The fresh lettuce and assorted greens provided the experience with a nice crunch and a clean crisp taste. The mushrooms were big and juicy and absorbed the flavoring the burger perfectly. There was not a dominate taste over all, the mushrooms didn't take over the chive cream spread and the grilled garlic didn't leave my breath smelly. This I have to say is one of my favorite burgers and I look forward to going back to Etno's to try some more options out!



Parmesan Fries
The fries had a thick cut to them and were seasoned and salted just the way that I liked them. I wish they had a little more crunch to them, but don't take that statement as they were soggy (I just like my fries with some more crisp!) The fries had a type of grainy parmesan on top of them. The cheese had a great flavor and this was also the first time that I ever had paremsan that way, new but not bad.


Over all my experience at Etno's was nothing short then the rants my friends went on. I will no longer look at that goofy cow on top of the roof with skepticism anymore, but knowing that Etno's serves great burgers with fresh produce. Although they are a little pricey, the food is worth the money!

Duck N Roll

Duck N Roll Home Page

So I was finally able to meet up with a well-known Food Truck in Chicago, the Duck N Roll truck. The Duck N Roll Trucks can be seen featured all across the United States and has held captive people’s memories of their amazing cuisine! Duck N Roll is a must try in Chicago and I know for a fact that you will not be disappointed with what you have there.

Beef Short Rib

Miso braised short ribs a delightful punch of sweet and salty flavoring that you could eat again and again. The braised short ribs lay on top of a warm bed of some of the best Jasmine rice that I have ever had. This Jasmine rice is not just a normal Jasmine, but a coconut Jasmine rice, so it is even better for those that don’t know! Along side of the rice and beef was a tasteful picked cabbage. All of the flavors came together so well that I was left craving more. The whole plate satisfied my palate through its Asian explosion of flavor and sweet tender meat. If any of you were interested in the miso braised short ribs, I am apologize, but you will have to keep guessing! Even if I was given the recipe, I don’t think I could share it because it is so good. I suppose you will have to keep coming back to Duck N Roll to get your miso short rib fix that you have been looking for all this time!

Banana & Chocolate Donut Holes

Who ever thought of taking out the middle of a donut I am sure had no idea about what the creative geniuses at Duck N Roll had in store for this savory treat. The chocolate banana donut whole is a must try! The dessert was a banana nutella rolled in brown sugar and cinnamon. WOW…. A sweet treat that will melt in your mouth with the soft banana accompanied by the sweet and memorable taste of the mix of nutella, brown sugar, and cinnamon. I could have eaten a couple of boxes.

Duck N Roll supplies some of the best food that I have experienced so far in Chicago. I do not suggest consuming this before work because after I had cleared my plate all I could do was layback and think about how great the experience was. Duck N Roll provides catering at events and you can learn more from their website. You can find the truck roaming the streets of Chicago Tuesday-Thursday because they are booked up the remainder of the week working on catering events.

Check out the Truck on Facebook and Twitter; make sure you tell them that Windy City Food Review says thanks again!

Hey out there!

Hey all,

Hope everyone is doing well. I know I have not been on here much recently due to new and exciting adventures in life, but that doesn't provide a sound reasoning for my absence. I will have a new post up here soon (I know I keep saying that).

I am open to any suggestions on new food trucks or old ones let me know what your thoughts are, I want to hear them!

Make sure you leave comments on some posts and let me know where you think I should go next.

Find us on Instagram to see some of dishes that I have had and some dishes that I have made myself.

I look forward to reading your comments!

Journey to the Southwest

I hope everyone has had a great start to the New Year so far, I know I have. As I said way back in 2012 I was going to be in Tucson Arizona for a little while and I would be telling my story about being out there. Well I went and had a blast at the Tucson Food Truck Roundup at Himmel Park on January 1^st. A few of the Trucks that I was able to visit were MaFooco, Stolen Recipe BBQ Company and Jamie’s Bitchin Kitchen. The round up was great there were a number of other trucks, but I was not able to make my way to all of them. In the time that I spent in Tucson I re-connected with some great people and met some more amazing people in my travels.

Now what you really want to hear about… The food!

            I would like to start off by saying, WOW! MaFooco does it right. I was fortunate enough to try the Korean beef taco, which had some amazing Korean beef accompanied by Kimchi, lettuce, and purple cabbage. This delight was serving of three mouth-watering tacos on flour tortillas with a lime on the side. The sweet tangy taste of lime along with the tender beef was delicious. I wish I still lived in Tucson so that I could eat at Mafooco more! I was actually told by a friend of mine that, “ You would be missing out if you DID NOT go to Mafooco!” Since it was my first time ever having Kimchi I was very happy to report that I would be trying to again very soon!

            The Stolen Recipe BBQ Company does it right with their “Red Neck Nachos” and their “Pulled Pork Burrito”. I was able fortunate enough to try to of their treats, a friend of mine and I split both of them. The Red Neck Nachos was a great blend of corn tortilla chips along with a heaping pile of BBQ pulled pork with some chopped green onions and sour cream. This nacho was right for me. The pulled pork very juicy and went great with the sweat and tangy BBQ sauce that was drizzled on top under a great serving of sour cream. I am a big fan of green onions so as an extra feature it sealed the deal for me in the end!

            I was also able to try to pulled pork burrito, which was originally a sandwich until they ran out of bread. Either way bread or burrito this was a great meal. The hardy burrito was packed with a large serving of warm pork, rice, black beans, peppers, and more! After eating at the BBQ company I had to take a break before I was able to continue with my journey of food trucks at this great gathering!

            After a much-needed digesting period I was able to get back into the eating game and wrap up my day with a Cuban Hot Dog at Jamie’s Bitchin Kitchen. This uniquely decorated truck appealed to my digestive track because of the well known Sonoran hot dogs that can be found all over Tucson. Needless to say watch out hot dog vendors Jamie knows how to make a great dog! The beef hot dog was decorated with some amazing tomatoes, cilantro, special sauce, cheese, and pinto beans. This was a hardy dog even more me! The great flavoring of the special sauce, beans, beef dog, and tomatoes gave me a great curiosity to Cuban food, if it is anything like this I want try it!

I was only able to stomach three food trucks in the hour and half that I was there while breaking at times to take a breathe from inhaling some delicious food that can be found in the southwest region. If you ever get a chance to get out here make sure you try these three trucks. There were some others there that I wish I was able to try as well, but due to the time that I was there unfortunately was unable to try them all! In the end my trip to Tucson was a success in trying the great trucks that they have out there! Make sure you follow them on Twitter and check out their Facebook pages to learn more about them!

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

-->Chicago Cupcake

            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