Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Husband's Mexican Birthday Dinner

My husband's birthday was on a Monday in July. At that time, I was pregnant and he had a drinking fiesta (called Milwaukee Brewfest) on the Saturday before. So we did not go anywhere fancy to celebrate it. Since I thought that this would be one of the last occasions where I would be able to make a fancy meal, I decided to surprise my husband with a Mexican meal incorporating some of his favorite Mexican components and spices. Since we currently live in an apartment and store away our fancy dishes, these basic dishware have to do.

For the appetizer, I made Picadillo Oaxaqueno (Minced Pork with Almonds, Raisins, and Sweet Spices) on top of crispy masa boats. I got the Picadillo Oaxaqueno recipe from Rick Bayless' website:

http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=270


Since his favorite dish from Rick Bayless' restaurant is poached eggs on crispy masa boats (yes, it is a breakfast item!), I decided to try my hands on making the crispy masa boats. The filling tasted great, but boy, did the crispy masa boat fail miserably. There must be something different with the flour as it was crispy, but the texture and consistency was a little off. My husband was so sweet and seemed appreciative anyway.

For the main course, I made my own version of Pescado Adobado a la Parilla (Grill-Roasted Whole Fish Adobado) based on this recipe (again, from Rick Bayless' website):

http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=69

Since I don't know how to gut and clean a whole fish, I decided to use some pieces of halibut fillet. It tasted great, but it wasn't my husband's favorite dish.


To finish the meal, I made some caramel flan. It was decent and most importantly, hit the sweet spot.


All and all, it was a decent meal. I will have to try other Rick Bayless' recipes for other special occasions as they sound tasty and it is too difficult to make a day trip to Chicago too often these days as we just had a baby. =)

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Brunch at Bistro Campagne

This post is the last part of our Food Tour 2012. Unfortunately, this awesome experience has to come to an end. We had a great time indulging ourselves in good food and drinks. This last meal was no exception. We drove for 15-20 minutes up north to this quaint place called Bistro Campagne for a brunch before we drove back home. We got there early, before the rush. There were only 5 tables when we arrived. The place was small and cozy. The decor was simple and rustic.

We were very hungry, so we ordered right away. Many other people ordered Bloody Mary, but we decided to skip on alcoholic beverage for this meal as this was early and we had to drive back home afterwards. So we had some cafe au lait instead, for our caffeine fix. Because my husband loves hollandaise sauce and anything like it, he chose the pan-seared bistro steak with bordelaise sauce, poached eggs and potato hash. He enjoyed it a lot and I tasted a little bit of it. The steak was perfectly cooked, the sauce was excellent, and as the egg burst it created another layer of texture and flavor that worked very well with the steak and sauce. It was the perfect savory brunch entree.


Meanwhile, I chose the crab cakes with herb buerre blanc sauce, poached eggs and potato hash. The crab cakes were crispy and had a good balance of crab meats and seasoning. The sauce was light and creamy. The egg yolks, crab cakes and the sauce created an awesome burst of flavor in my mouth. I loved the toasted French bread with the creamy yolks and sauce as well.


We don't usually get dessert during breakfast or brunch. However, since we were having a good brunch in a nice French bistro, and this is our last awesome meal in this food trip extravaganza, why not? We decided on bread pudding with bourbon sauce. The bread pudding was crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. The sauce was creamy and created a balanced flavor profile with the bread pudding. We enjoyed it a lot, especially with the ice cream, creating the warm and cold contrast. Again, this was a good choice to end our amazing brunch.


This brunch was an excellent choice as it was unique. Everything was flavorful and very enjoyable. Good eats!

Dinner at Roy's Restaurant

For dinner, my husband had a reservation at Roy's Restaurant. It is known for its Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine. We had never been here before and we were looking forward to it. We arrived just in time for our reservation at 7.30 pm. The restaurant looked cozy, with a hopping bar and some booths and tables. There were several large flatscreen TVs displaying images of fishes and ocean creatures. We were greeted by the host who took our coats and seat us within 5 minutes.

We looked thru the menu and decided that we would order mostly seafood, so we decided to start with a bottle of daiginjo sake. We started our wonderful meal with some crunchy golden lobster potstickers with some spicy miso butter sauce and a small salad. The potstickers were crunchy and tasty, while the sauce was spicy and creamy. This was a great start to a wonderful meal.



For our main entrees, I ordered Hawaiian style misoyaki butterfish. It was very delicious. The fish was crispy on top, very flaky and buttery inside such that I was able to cut it easily with my fork. It was served with some baby bok choy and some black rice underneath the fish. Every single component of the dish work well together. The sweet wasabi ginger sauce was creamy and together with the fish created a perfect balance.



My husband ordered Roy's trio, which is a fish trio of hibachi salmon, macadamia nut crusted mahi-mahi, and misoyaki butterfish (a smaller portion of my entree). His favorite among the fish trio was the hibachi style grilled Atlantic salmon served with Japanese citrus ponzu sauce, salad and coconut rice (instead of the regular white rice) while I was totally enjoying my butterfish. The other fish in the trio is a piece of macadamia nut crusted mahi-mahi served with some mashed gold yukon potatoes and asparagus.


Both of us polished every single morsel on our plates. We were full and satisfied, but just as usual, we were intrigued by the dessert menu and wanted to share a dessert. We chose an apple tart with some berries and vanilla ice cream, garnished with a thin, crispy cookie. It was comforting and a perfect sweet finish to such an outstanding meal.

Mini Brunch at XOCO

After having a satisfying breakfast at Frontera Grill, we took a walk a little bit and decided to stop by at XOCO in order to have a bowl of Ahogada and some hot chocolate. We had it before at XOCO once and we had been talking about it and wanted more of it. Ahogada is a torta (Mexican-style sandwhich) from their wood burning oven that contains some golden pork carnitas, black beans, pickled onions and spicy arbol chile sauce, served in a bowl of delicious tomato broth with a little kick to it. The torta itself was crispy and the meat was very flavorful. The delicious broth added another layer of flavor and texture to such a wonderful sandwhich.


Of course we had to have some hot chocolate with the torta. My husband enjoyed a cup of Almendrado, which is hot chocolate and almond milk, while I enjoyed a glass of horchata (shown below). The horchata was so good and creamy. I had to say, it was better than the one I had in Mexico City last year. A trip to XOCO to me is not complete without a cup of Aztec, which is fresh ground chocolate with some chile and allspice. I had it to go for post-meal beverage. The hot chocolate was perfect on a cold, windy day in Chicago. It was warming and comforting.


Our overall experience in XOCO was very good. We would definitely come back given the opportunity.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Breakfast at Frontera Grill

This next post is still part of our Food Tour 2012. It might sound crazy that we both have 2 meals in the same restaurants in less than 14 hours, but was it really? Breakfast is really our favorite meal of the day. We both love eggs and we can have eggs for any meal, breakfast, lunch or dinner. Since we tried to beat the brunch rush, we woke up a little bit early and we arrived at the restaurant around 10.40. I had to admit that we both were only half awake at that time. We needed our caffeine fix, so we both ordered chocolate cappuccino. It was very delicious. It should not be surprising that adding some chocolate into a cup of fresh coffee elevates the drink.

Since I had been missing Pozole for years (since Chipotle stopped offering it for 2 years now), I ordered Pozole Rojo, a classic pork and hominy soup infused with chile and a poached egg. It was served with crunchy taco shells and some lettuce. It was homey and comforting, just what I was looking for.



My husband ordered Huevos Estilo El Bajio, the dish he had been craving and talking about for days leading to our Chicago trip. This dish consists of two poached eggs in crispy masa boats, black beans, creamy chile poblano sauce, Mexican greens and homemade chorizo. The eggs were poached perfectly and they were soft, sitting on the crispy masa boats. The contrasting textures and the flavor combination created a memorable dish. We came here for brunch three times and my husband always came back for the El Bajio.



As usual, we were full and satisfied. However, I saw a combination of Mexican pastry, but I was too full to have them there. So I ordered it to go to snack on at the hotel. Here is the beautiful pastry basket. The one at the right corner is like a crispy cinnamon twist. The bun on the left of it is like a brioche, but with a crispy top. That is my personal favorite. The brown one next to it is like a doughnut with sugar sprinkled on top. The last but not least, the big pastry at the bottom. It has cream cheese filling and some colorful sprinkles on top. This one is my husband's favorite of the bunch.


Needless to say, we really enjoyed our brunch here and very thrilled with our experienced. We will definitely come back for more!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Dinner at Frontera Grill Chicago

For our dinner in the Windy City, we decided to go to our tried-and-true favorite, Frontera Grill. We are big fans of the cooking style of Chef Rick Bayless. We have been to his three restaurants, Xoco, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo. The first one is for casual dining, where you can come and order a bowl of soup or torta with a cup of spicy hot chocolate. The wait time on Saturday is about 30-40 minutes. The last one requires a reservation 3 months in advance. You can't just decide to go there at the last minute. It has 3 different tasting menu. The whole experience takes anywhere between 1.5 - 3 hours. When we went there, it took us 3 hours. Yeah, it was crazy long for a dinner, but we really enjoyed it and time flies when you are having fun.

Back to our Food Tour 2012, we chose to have a late dinner at Frontera Grill. We got there around 6.30 pm. The wait time was one and half hour. We did not even get a buzzer or pager, so we went back to our hotel to play game and chat in our comfort zone. We went back to Frontera around 7.20 pm, and lo and behold, we waited for 15-20 minutes for our table. The wait time was tolerable, as we were not too hungry so it did not bother us that much.

When we have dinner here, we always start with guacamole and tortilla chips. This time is no exception, except that we ordered a different kind which is called the Pure Green Guacamole. It has green chile de agua, grilled green onions, roasted tomatillo, anejo cheese, and heart radish. It tastes different from the usual guacamole that we enjoy with serrano pepper, onion, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes. Nonetheless, this guacamole was very good and we really enjoyed every bit of it. My husband ordered a glass of Jamaica Sangria and I ordered a glass of Fernet Pear Mojito to accompany our excellent starters.


We also love Frontera Grill's ceviche that is always fresh and has complex flavors. This time we came across a new ceviche that we have never tried before. It is called Jurel and it has fresh yellowtail, some coconut slivers, lime, and chile. This ceviche tastes amazing. It has so many layers of flavors that all work together, from the freshness of the fish, the acidity of the lime, the coconut, and the spiciness of the chile. They create a wonderful balance in my mouth.


After wonderful starters, we are excited for our entrees. My husband decided on sopes rancheros, one of the street food with four crispy corn masa boats filled with savory shredded beef, roasted tomato, avocado, homemade fresh cheese. They had the authentic Mexican flavorings that we craved for, and the different textures add depth to this entree. The crunchiness of the corn masa, the creaminess of the cheese, and the tender beef created a perfect balance.


I ordered mahi-mahi in Apricot Mole for myself. The fish was marinated in Adobo spices and it was served with red chile-roasted white sweet potatoes, Snug Haven spinach, and jicama-apricot mole. The sweet potatoes were so tender I could barely recognize them. The texture was more like butter and it just melt in my mouth. The apricot mole is really unique, it is close to red chile mole, but with some sweetness. I really love it.


After polishing both of our entrees, we were full and satisfied, but again, we did not want to miss the opportunity to taste a very unique flan. We ordered a duo of flan, the old-style caramel flan as well as a dark chocolate flan infused with ancho chile and served with bacon brittle. The classic caramel flan did not disappoint. The dark chocolate flan was interesting. The combination of chile and dark chocolate was simply wonderful, especially with the creamy texture and the addition of the texture of the bacon brittle. 


Simply put, this is a very memorable meal. Every single component of this meal was astounding and we would definitely come back, given a chance. In the meantime, we will keep cooking dishes from his cookbook, Mexican Everyday.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Lunch at Slurping Turtle Chicago

This post is the second portion of the Food Tour 2012 for us. After an excellent dinner at Bacchus, we took a trip to Chicago for the weekend. My husband and I are big fans of various food-related TV shows, including Master Top Chef. In this show, we were very intrigued of Chef Takashi Yagihashi's cooking style on TV, combining eastern and western elements. We were so thrilled to find out that he has 2 restaurants in Chicago and one of the restaurants is open for public and it does not need a reservation 3 months in advance. My heart was set on having lunch here, and we were so happy with our choice.

This is our first time here. Fortunately, this restaurant is within walking distance to the hotel we stayed at. We arrived around 12.30 pm. The decor is minimalistic and modern. The restaurant itself is narrow in front, but it goes all the way to the back. It has one main floor and half a second floor that is built like a deck. There is a long table in the middle of the first floor, where a lot of people are sharing this table while slurping their noodle dishes. We were waiting for around 20 minutes, which was acceptable since it was during lunch hour on a weekday. Our patience paid off. We got seated by the window on the second floor.

For the first appetizer, we ordered a ceviche of baby octopus, Hokkaido scallops, shrimps, squid and some vegetables in Yuzu-ceviche dressing. It tasted wonderful and perfectly balanced. There were several layers of flavor that work wonderfully. The acid cut through the seafood wonderfully. We enjoyed this dish very much.


We were contemplating several choices for the second appetizer. Our helpful server told us that the Duck Fat Fried Chicken was a very popular appetizer, so we decided to give it a try. It was very good, but I think we should've tried something else. The portion was decent and it came with a mini salad to cleanse the pallet. The chicken skin was very crispy and the inside was still moist.


Since we don't usually get sushi or sashimi out of Milwaukee, we wanted to try the sashimi platter. The fish was all fresh, from salmon, tuna, and yellowtail. We both are big fans of yellowtail usually and this yellowfish sashimi did not disappoint.




For the main dish, which I had been excited for weeks, we shared a tonkatsu, a bowl of ramen with thick and rich pork broth. It has braised pork shoulder, mushroom, and some pickled green mustard. This is hands down the best ramen in Chicago. It was just so rich and comforting, especially in such cold winter days in the midwest.



After tasting such a high variety of lunch, we were pondering whether we should get some dessert or not. We were very full at that point, but we did not want to miss the opportunity to try unique dessert (American / French dessert with Japanese flavors). So we ordered a sampler set of macarons to go: yuzu, chocolate-sesame, oba, caramel-soy, and raspberry-wasabi. We had the macarons in the hotel, in between this amazing lunch and yet another amazing dinner. We really enjoyed these unique macarons, especially the raspberry-wasabi. We will definitely come back and maybe try the other Takashi's restaurant.