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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