Gate to The Purple Pig; Interior shots; A purple pig; The menu
When I was doing my research for places to eat around Chicago and asking friends about this question, many mentioned The Purple Pig. Even I asked the friendly baristas and staff of La Colombe Torrefaction (Chicago) and they even said, “This place is awesome.” With both tourists and locals loving this restaurant, this should be fail-safe to have a meal here.
The Purple Pig is located in the neighborhood of The Magnificent Mile where it is tucked away in between the glitzy, middle to high-end boutiques and department stores and office buildings. If people do notice its tall gate that is stationed at the sidewalk, you know you’re heading toward the right place.
Once inside, during the peak lunch hours, it was insanely crowded. The bar was packed on both sides, the long communal table is occupied with various dining parties, and the two tops all along the other side were filled with diners. There’s so much heat generated from the open kitchen and people’s bodies that wearing a coat feels suffocating. I had to put my name down for a party of two on the waiting list and we’re quoted about a 15-minute wait. (Do note, reservations are not accepted here.)
Eventually, with some patience and killing some time strolling around the neighborhood, my friend and I managed to get a table in about 10 minutes. Reading through their large menu, we’re told by our waitress that these plates are formatted to share and about three to five dishes would make a meal. Going with that advice, here’s what we had: Continue reading “The Purple Pig, Chicago” »
Chinese New Year tray of togetherness, chocolates, tangerines; Pistachios from Wonderful Pistachios; Oolong tea and pistachios on the side
Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! 恭喜發財! In Cantonese, Gong Hay Fat Choy! I wish you all much prosperity and happiness in the new year of the Dragon!
One of the most important days of this holiday is New Year’s Eve. If you were in my family’s kitchen, you’d be stuck in there the day before preparing, rehydrating, chopping, and marinating a whole bunch of ingredients preparing for dishes to cook for this holiday.
While in between, we snack on pistachios from Wonderful Pistachios. The crucial reasoning behind it is because pistachios mean “happy nut” in Cantonese. These pistachios were crunchy, somewhat sweet (it has a particular natural sweetness) yet nicely salted, and so addictive to munch on.
The general theme (related to food) of this holiday is, cooking and eating a bountiful amount of food would bring you luck for the new year. Having leftovers on your table is an auspicious symbol of abundance for the coming year. (I know this whole good luck, fortune, etc. is becoming like a redundant thing but that’s the whole point of this holiday.) Continue reading “Chinese New Year Eve 2012 with Pat LaFrieda’s Whole Pig, Roasted” »
La Colombe Torrefaction, Chicago: Exterior, Interior, delicate flowers by the window, baked goods display
As probably most of you might know, I am a die-hard coffee nerd/addict. I do admit that I’m pretty spoiled by the coffee culture as I’m coming from New York City, I have access to a lot of very good to excellent coffee shops here. When I was planning my trip to Chicago, I was mildly freaking out thinking there might be a lack of my essential need in the morning. I don’t want my travel companion to face the ugly side of me when I don’t have any caffeine in my system. But, the great news was that there is a La Colombe Torrefaction in Chicago.
La Colombe Torrefaction is Philadelphia’s renowned artisanal coffee roaster, started by Todd Carmichael and Jean Philippe Iberti. It has expanded around the U.S. to a total of three cafes in New York City, two Philadelphia, one in Chicago, and one, interestingly enough, in Seoul, South Korea. Chicago’s location is very different than all their New York shops. It’s much larger, open, airier and thank goodness it doesn’t feel like a forum of Apple laptops where everyone is just staring at their screens while sipping their well made cups of cappuccino. (If you have been to New York that certain coffee shop, you know what I’m talking about.) It’s simply a place where you can just sit down and enjoy your coffee and possibly one of their locally made pastries.
Cappuccinos
When My friend and I had our first rounds of cappuccinos, these were amazing. It’s quite different than the cappuccinos I’ve had from the La Colombes in NYC. I found it so much more creamier, slightly sweeter and satisfying.
Benihana: Exterior, one of its large dining rooms, Portrait of its founder Rocky Aoki, Large fortune cat, The Rocky Room
Last week I was invited to Benihana‘s private lunch to celebrate their relaunch of their newly renovated space and their 48 years in the restaurant business. I took my mother along since she heard that Chef Hiroyuki Sakai was going to be there, as she was a die-hard Sakai fan when Iron Chef Japan used to air.
Benihana used to be just the now second floor of the restaurant but they expanded it to a large lounge and sushi bar on the first floor. Everything was decorated in a minimalist, modern, and done in mostly black and white colors with touches of warm wood from the table tops. The touches of colors were from the plants from the planted bonsai to the cherry blossom tree that’s outside the restaurant.
Executive Chef of Benihana (Midtown West) Tony, Chef Hiroyuki Sakai’s son (the gentleman in the suit) and Chef Hiroyuki Sakai; Me & Chef Hiroyuki Sakai
I’m not going to dwell too much about this particular meal overall but the highlight was to see and meet Iron Chef Japan (the original Japanese television show, not the American version) Hiroyuki Sakai at the beginning of the meal, along with the Executive Chef Tony (of this New York location) and Chef Sakai’s son. Sakai was one of my favorite chefs when I was a young teenager and I was in awe of his knife skills and the food he cooks. He made a semi-serious joke that if we were to go to Japan and eat at his restaurant La Rochelle: Fukoka, we can have a discount. (I’m mentally planning when I can fly myself there to Japan soon.)
Chef Hiroyuki Sakai’s special dish for this event
Sakai’s special dish doesn’t have a short-and-sweet name but it’s a disc of seafood mousse (made of live scallop, langoustine, calamari, taro, and lotus root) that’s cloud-like in texture, wrapped and topped with tissue thin cucumbers, a harmonious mixture of sauteed shredded vegetables, chives, white miso seafood sauce, and large shavings of whole black Italian truffles, drizzled with truffle oil. It was simply divine. It’s decadent yet ethereal.
Maki sushi rolls: Dragon (left) and Sumo (right)
Beyond Chef Sakai’s wonderful appetizer, their maki sushi rolls were surprisingly good. The ones I had shared with my mother was the Dragon Roll and the Sumo Roll.
These were made to order and if we weren’t at this private room, The Rocky Room named after the restaurant’s founder Rocky Aoki, there is a sushi bar found on the first floor where you could watch the sushi chefs create these rolls in front of you.
Admittedly, this isn’t the kind of sushi for sushi nerds or serious sushi restaurants would put on their menu but given this restaurant is known for teppanyaki cooking (cooking on a super hot iron griddle), this sushi is considered very good.
We ate a number of dishes and cocktails and overall, they’re pretty good. If you’d like to view more photos of my visit to this event/restaurant, please click through the slideshow (or view my Flickr set):
Information:
Benihana
Website: http://www.benihana.com
47 West 56th Street (between 5th & 6th Avenue)
New York, NY 10019
(Map)
Telephone: (212) 581-0930
Exterior, Interiors of Vosges Haut Chocolat in Lincoln Park, Chicago
When I visited Chicago, I had to visit Vosges Haut Chocolat mostly because this company is started and based there.
I came with a friend to their Lincoln Park, which is considered Vosges’ flagship. It is much larger shop than the one and looks more of a glamorous romantic than the darker, bohemian chic than New York’s SoHo boutique. I find it quite interesting that each store has its own personality rather than having a “cookie cutter” template of how each store should look like. Continue reading “Visiting Vosges Haut Chocolat in Chicago” »
Exterior of Floriole; Interior; Galette des Rois; Chalkboard listing local, organic sources used; Owner and Head Baker of Floriole Sandra Holl
One of my other pastry stops in Chicago was Floriole on a bright weekend morning. The minute I walked up to this bakery with my friend, I had a feeling this was special.
The large, welcoming, warm wooden space feels like a second home to me. Local residents lined up the counter waiting to order their cup of coffee or tea and a couple of beautiful golden brown pastries for themselves or family. The gentle scents of butter and yeast waft out from the kitchen in the back, I can’t help but ask the hospitable, driven owner and head baker Sandra Holl for a mini tour of her kitchen. Continue reading “Floriole Cafe & Bakery, Chicago – A Great Rustic, Elegant American Bakery” »
Blackbird (exterior), At the dining room, Floral centerpiece at the hostess stand
When I was planning for my trip to Chicago, I had was under the presumption that this city’s fine dining lunch is like New York – you have a lot of restaurants who would serve prix fixe menus. Except when I did my research, there’s barely any at all but the little glimmer of hope was Blackbird, a 1* Michelin restaurant and their Executive Chef Paul Kahan was nominated for the James Beard Award (2011). For that kind of esteem, I booked a reservation. Continue reading “Lunch at Blackbird, Chicago” »
A few nights ago I had dinner at The Meatball Factory with a friend. When I heard that this particular restaurant opened a couple of months ago, I initially dismissed it as another meatball restaurant who is chasing the popularity of its antecedent. I don’t normally really crave meatballs but the bone-freezing, windy evening that it was and my friend and I were in the neighborhood, we gave it a try.
Top to bottom: The spread, Turducken meatballs, ‘Cluck, Cluck’ meatballs & Sauce samplers
We ended up ordering a huge amount since we’re really hungry, hence our spread (seen on the top of this group of photos).
The meatballs ($9 each) we had were Turducken and Cluck, cluck (chicken meatballs) with a sampler of sauces (3 sauces, add $4; The Black Truffle Sauce, Fire Roasted Marinara, Dragon’s Lair (a green curry peanut sauce), Pepper Monkey (Chef Dave Martin’s roasted poblano BBQ sauce)). Our intention is to have the sauces on the side so we can taste the actual meatball. Continue reading “Dinner at The Meatball Factory” »
Alliance Bakery’s Exterior, Old-school neon sign, One of its display cases
Alliance Bakery located in Wicker Park, Chicago looks like an old-school American bakery with its neon sign but it’s a bakery as well as a pâtisserie.
This two-personality bakery, so to speak, is owned by Peter Rios. Mr. Rios was trained as a hotel pastry chef (his previous title and employer before owning this bakery was Executive Pastry Chef at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago) and had his skills sharpened by working through many well known pâtisseries and in France like Ladurée and won a number of awards in baking competitions over the years. Alliance Bakery started over 40 years ago by a Polish family; about four years ago, Peter purchased this bakery.
His somewhat quiet mission is to try to get Chicago’s sweet tooth up to speed with the big cities like New York to appreciate the modern, European style desserts. Whether or not you are a regular or a visitor you will enjoy for his pastries – American or French. They use high quality ingredients (like chocolates from Cacao Barry and Valrhona) and his staff works nonstop to create the freshest cakes and pastries possible. Continue reading “Alliance Bakery, Chicago – Bakery Meets Pâtisserie” »
