more sweet home chicago

 So this week we had three nights out at restaurants as we try to orundhtings up here in Chicago.

On Tuesday the two of us went to mfk. We hadn't been since Covid I think - it was still good and still expensive but we had a nice evening with excellent service. 

The next night we met Ron and Mary Lewis for a Teitur celebration at Bad Apple.  We always celebrate Teitur on September 18th of course. And for years we have had a tradition of having burgers for Teitur. Since none of us have been to the Faroe Islands (home to Teitur) we don't know what they eat there. But I digress, the dessert was huge and enough to serve four people easily. The server didn't warn us as she was new and had never seen it before. The server was very diligent and brought all the food we ordered exactly as we ordered it. I always want to like this place more but I'm all about the pure burger experience. Cheese only works well for me. Everyone's meat was cooked to the temperature they requested. Sadly sometimes between the last visit and tonight's they stopped allowing wine with a corkage fee. We had a round but a corkage fee would likely have netted them more revenue. The wine on the list was all $38 a bottle at restaurant prices. 😥So we took our bottle home. Even though it was an older vintage it probably cost more than what they were charging. Short sighted IMO. SO, bottom line: we won't be rushing back. But no matter what the meal is like, we got to spend time with our friends and discuss plans for their trip to Sevilla in February. 

Then the following night (Thursday) we met Mike & Leslie at Tanta. Not sure we could have chosen a better evening to dine outside. It's been a while since we have been to Tanta's roof deck but the food is still great. We had favorites from prior visits: veal heart (anticucho corazón); salmon tiradito and tuna ceviche; carne empanadas; and Phil's long time favorite the chaufa aeropuerto.  All shown. Mike & Leslie were more circumspect in ordering. They had a lomo dish and the pulpo and some thing I don't really recall but I think it was in the appetizer section of the menu. Two champagnes paired well with the variety of dishes. Our choices shown first and marked on the menu. Their choices follow.  Leslie has a busy year coming up, so seeing them in a foursome may be a bit difficult, until she completes her term as the president of a trade association of securities regulators. Her travel schedule is reminiscent of mine when serving on a similar organization's board in my industry (thank God ancient history as I haven't worked in nearly 15 years.)

Mike & Leslie chose the pulpo and lomo with rice and a seafood ceviche.

This weekend we stayed in and worked on various things around the house - I started to get the deck closed up for the winter.

We are getting closer to October - fall arrives tomorrow and I am bringing the indoor plants back inside this weekend. working on packing for Spain etc... muy list gets shorter but still not completed... need to arrange car service for arrival in SVQ. Still have dentist, eye doc and cardiologist appointments before I leave - all in the last week before I leave...  Really looking forward to being back home in Spain. 

Visa renewal and visit from Oscar and a trip to the Algarve to visit Laurie Estabrooks all coming up... 

Our visitor calendar starts in earnest in January. We may go to Madrid in November  or December to visit with Megan and Christian. So our life gets busy but it's in ebbs and flows... 

a food win!

So those who follow the blog will know how I always bemoan the dearth of ethnic choices here.  The seafood is great and there are plenty of Italian places (a number even owned by Italians but beyond that - things get dicey...

But tonight we had a huge food win with a total hole in the wall place on 26th Street - located in something that aspires to being a strip mall, a building with four small storefronts.  This place would be at home in any village in South America- no sign above it. The sign at the street is a plastic banner with no light on it so you could easily drive by if you didn't know where you were going. 

Approaching the front door the kitchen door looks out on the parking area and is right next to the front door to the dining area.  The kitchen's fluorescent light is the brightest illumination in the whole lot as the other spaces seem closed for the night or maybe for good.... the place doesn't scream prosperity but we knew from doing our homework it has been around a number of years...

so in we went - and immediately fell in love.  The welcome was genuinely warm and the place was small (three booths and maybe five tables) and cozy and just so darn appealing in a sort of divey kind of way. Before we got any food I told Phil that I was so hoping it would be good because the place was exactly the kind I was always looking for!

And we won big tonight because it was good- better than good! So we will definitely return.  The chef came out to check on the food and the server was friendly and helpful when Phil asked about choosing between two dishes.... it was all good - so let's get on with the show!

We ordered starters of Anticuchos (beef heart) and calamari.  The Anticuchos were better than the ones we had at Tanta (the Gaston Arcurio outpost in Chicago) that we had with Shari & Kevin. 

then we shared a mixed ceviche -

then I ordered the Corvino Rellenos (stuffed with crab and smothered in a shrimp and mushroom cream sauce!) and Phil ordered the paella mariscos - a toss up decided by the server's recommendation of it over the chaufa (which is our favorite at Tanta)

the to go menu for dinners

here is the menu we ordered from when dining in house-

Everything was served fresh and hot or fresh and chilled as appropriate and they were such gracious hosts we considered the evening a HUGE success! So YEA! El Waricke- we will definitely go back! Next time we already have several things we want to try- including the Chaufa and the Aquadito de Pollo and a couple more preparations of the fish- so all the more reason to return sooner rather than later...

zooming by

yes that would be time- since I last posted I have been on another trip and then moved north for the summer and been in a whirlwind social schedule for the six days I was in Chicago before heading back down to Florida to close the condo for the summer season.... so I will get back to my trip in a bit but for now this will be a post about the social whirlwind we have been in...

I arrived on Sunday with Lucy and eight cases of wine and the computers etc etc... crashed after the 20+ hours of driving... Monday we had dinner with Mike & Leslie who were in town for a meeting Leslie had for business... We went to Salero with them.  On Tuesday we met Ron & Mary at Anna's Asian Grill and then Wednesday we had dinner with Suzanne (in from Portland for business meetings) at Tanta and Thursday dinner with Steve (in for a visit with us! LOL) at Ruxbin and Friday dinner with Steve & Suzanne at Oriole which will of course be its own post... Saturday morning I am headed back to SRQ for ballet on Sunday and all kinds of other errands - car recall getting handled and the usual end of season clean up etc.

So here we go on photos-

The first dinner was Salero - with Mike & Leslie- and we had many good things but the wines were all that were recorded LOL-  we loved the suckling pig and the octopus and olives with manchego- liked the hamachi crudo and jamon serrano and marcona almonds - we also had the halibut and the paella and a couple of other dishes along the way so we definitely didn't go hungry LOL

the next meal on the calendar was Anna's with Ron and Mary- and of that I managed to capture the starter of stuffed avocado - but here it is- a work of art for your mouth! LOL

you can see we had many other dishes - all excellent - but we got wrapped up in conversation LOL so no photos-  LOVED the sake baby ribs and the buns with pork belly and peking duck.... all the rolls were excellent too- and they have a patio for outdoor eating in the summer! Definitely a place to return to!

Then on to Tanta with Suzanne on Wednesday night - two cebiches and two tiraditos as well as the corn cake and the Chaufa and octopus and empanadas and the very good chocolate mousse dessert with cocoa nibs ...that was yummy!

then Ruxbin on Thursday with Steve- LOL - this was interesting because they have redone the interior and I didn't think it was for the better- less intimate setting for dining -

we chose the wedge the foie gras and the pork belly and then followed with the fruits de mer and the duck and the steak and we all had the chocolate dessert

we all LOVED the foie gras course-

and the pork belly got three thumbs up-

 two views of the fruits de mer-

perfectly prepared duck was another fave

hanger steak was tender and had terrific flavor!

so to make it to our next meal we tried a neighborhood place for lunch of pizza - new to us and it was good pizza not brilliant but good pizza (I liked it better than Phil) and tonight we are all pumped for the big meal of the visit - ORIOLE- which will get its own post.... then I will go back in time and cover the DART trip with TB to Maryland and Delaware--- many things to recount with that travel... but I am off to a computer less location for the next five days - back in May to fill you in again...

sometimes it gets busy LOL- so stay tuned - eventually we will be up to date - we will get the DART done before we head to NYC and the NYC done before cousin Michele visits for memorial day and then Ireland LOL - so always something to report on....