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...

return to tanta

So last night we returned to Tanta to see if it was as good as we thought it was the first visit.  And yes- it was...

we had some things that were repeats and some new items which looked good to try-

we started with the two favorite in the Tiraditos and Cebiches categories- classico and nikei

both still terrific!  Then we went on to the pulpo - amazingly tender and beautifully spiced! (new to us dish)

a repeat of the carne empanadas which we LOVED both times I would go there just to eat these!

another new to us dish - from the sea - scallops with foam of aged Parmesan - Phil liked this one better  than I did -

then we went on to our very favorite from the last visit - the pork fried rice dish which was our main reason for returning! 

and we had it with two new to us entrees - the short rib and the duck - we thought the whole fish was too much for just the two of us and the chicken was the least inspired dish of our last visit so - on to some new things-

the short rib was served with a marvelous tarro puree and the duck with a fab verde rice both incredibly flavorful for starch accompaniments -

plenty of left overs came home with us and served as lunch LOL-  

tonight we are meeting a new acquaintance at Osteria Langhe... we met her last week at TFL Next - she was our wine somm for the evening.  We got to discussing wine and thought it would be fun to get together in a more relaxed environment.... so we know the food is great at Osteria Langhe and the Tuesday trifecta a reasonable prixe fix menu seemed like the perfect choice for dinner with someone we barely know LOL.... more later on that evening.  Then on Wednesday we are headed way out west to a chef's kitchen dinner at Hanbun...

 more on that one too! stay tuned...