SUMMER ZOOMS!

The summer continues ot race to the end...

 Excellent wines with great food in a neighborhood BYO makes for a perfect evening... Met up with Frank for Guatemalan at Tikal Sabor. My favorites were the garnachas and the picadita. But the churrasca was also a winner as was the ceviche.... All good choices. Menu items marked. Worthy choice on so many levels. 

Then a few more nights with places in the hood- first up- The Bagel

Since 1950 and, I fear, about to pass into history. Sure miss seeing Danny who ran this place for decades until his death.

Danny Wolf (Dan "Danny" Wolf) was the longtime owner and familiar face of The Bagel Restaurant and Deli at 3107 N. Broadway in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. He ran the beloved Jewish institution for decades before passing away on 2022.  He was born in a concentration camp and a child survivor of the Theresienstadt ghetto. Danny helped out at the original family deli (opened in 1950 by his grandparents Chaim and Elsa Golenzer in Albany Park) from the age of seven.  He managed and ultimately owned the family business, guiding its moves—including the 1992 relocation to Broadway. 

I think I can say this in all honesty. It's not what it was, no deli is these days. It's a bygone era and a culinary tradition that time has passed by. 

Phil had a chicken soup with a kreple and a pastrami sandwich. I ate a half a plate of the pickles (half sour) and a half of a Devon Avenue sandwich which is pastrami and corned beef with Swiss. It was on my summer tour list because I am not sure it will still be there the next time I'm in Chicago for my summer restaurant rotation.  

Time passes.... things change. 

Then- Butcher and Burger- our trainer,Leslie, is on vacation this weekend so we had an afternoon "off" and went to lunch. We have always loved Butcher & Burger (even had dinner there on one of our anniversaries; it's BYO.) We had followed Allen Sternweiler from Zinfandel to Chef Allen's to B&B. He's about to move into new digs and a more upscale iteration of B&B, near Lincoln and Irving Park. Great news for us! 

I had blue cheese, onions, and pickles. P had something with cheddar. 😅 Outdoor seating was open, but the day was a tad too humid to sit outside. A great playlist of strong Motown made a good background for our "holiday" lunch.

After a big lunch we were looking for a quick and easy dinner. So we went to Orange Garden around the corner. We showed up about 40 minutes before closing time. This is another old favorite that I always worry won't be around for the rotation next summer. This one was founded in 1932 (per the menu.)

Google tells me it is  "Chicago's oldest continuously operating Chinese restaurant. The restaurant serves classic Cantonese and American-Chinese comfort food like chop suey, orange chicken, and Chicago-style egg rolls featuring peanut butter." 

I know WE have been coming here for as long as we have known each other (30 years) because it was a good place for Orange Beef (my personal favorite.) And, we always loved their egg rolls and soups. That's what I wanted tonight; an egg roll and a "small" hot and sour soup. Phil decided on an egg roll and wonton soup and Happy Family (with chili sauce on the side to liven up the heavily garlic dish.) Everything seemed extra tasty because it had been a really long time since we had the "traditional" Chicago style egg roll. 

This place has rarely had a packed dining room in all the years we have been eating here. What they do have, is a very brisk carry out business and tonight was no exception. The doorbell chime was going off regularly in the last half hour before closing.  In the last 15 minutes there was a steady stream of people picking up. Long live OG. 

Side story - for years they had this fabulous neon sign out front until the owners sold it to some rock star neon collector guy. (Actually the story is his wife bought it for him but I wonder if she cracked open her piggy bank to fund the gift or it was more like "look what I bought you honey" and he funded it?)

Per Google, "The iconic Orange Garden neon sign, widely recognized as Chicago's oldest working neon sign, was sold at auction for $17,000 to Billy Corgan and Chloé Mendel. The Art Deco masterpiece hung outside the legendary Orange Garden Restaurant in Chicago's North Center neighborhood for 90 years. It featured vibrant orange illumination with the phrases "Chop Suey" and "Chow Mein".

If this was a farewell - we ended on a high note.

the sign is gone but while I couldn't find myown photo of it I did find one on FLICKR by someone else - credit to them - but it looks pretty much like myh photo - which I will post if I figure out where I filed it LOL

Friday night - dinner at home - making short ribs (new attempt in the absence of the Costco shortribs which they have discontinued) these look promising but the "proof is in the pudding" as they say- VERDICT: MEH!

Fall classes are here and I picked the one I wanted to "attend" - which also happened to be one P was interested in as well... back to school at the end of September!

Class blurb:

"How can science reveal invisible worlds beyond direct human perception? This lecture series brings together professors who are leaders in their fields of astronomy, chemistry, robotics, nanotechnology, physics, and biological engineering to unveil previously invisible new phenomena. What do these discoveries mean for humanity?"

Saturday night - I cooked, Nick & Lee brought the flowers and John and Stephanie brought fresh skewers with tomatoes and basil from their garden.  A watermelon firecracker 🧨 was the cocktail of the evening (from our very favorite mixologist, Nick!) And, of course Phil was responsible for wine selections and somm duties.

So that was our first week in August. But we are in the press to hit all the faovrites and the listed places for dining before I leave in less than six weeks so stay tuned.

August continues

So August continues with a week of more fun and friends.... We met up with Ron & Mary for a pop up of Edzo's Burger Shop Evanston at Honey Butter Fried Chicken. We all had the Shore Burger which was a hot mess of yummy bacon and tomatoes. I wished I had told them "hold the burger" because it would have been a perfect BLT. The evening was too warm (not a new refrain this summer) to spend a lot of extra time just talking. Our next scheduled burger dinner isn't until our TEITUR celebration (Sept 18). But we stayed in the States until we had a chance to celebrate with them.  Tonight was a throw back to our first TEITUR dinner, at the now shuttered Edzo's. So we couldn't miss the Edzo's pop up. I miss the shakes and the "old fries."

Rained on and off all last night and most of today -- good for the city as we haven't had rain for ages but our dinner venue was only about forty percent full. This was a meal where everything was good, but not one item was outstanding. Phil had shrimp de jonge and the rib eye steak. I had the wedge salad and steak tartare. We shared asparagus and then the dessert cake. Being sandwiched in between two burger nights (Edzo's and Moody's) I only took home the left over lettuce. Salad for lunch tomorrow! BTW the service was spectacular thanks to Jorge who was not only attentive but knowledgeable and completely charming.

Grabbed a bite with "upstairs Mary" Wednesday night. Perfect outdoor dining weather! I had the "Moody Bleu" burger, Phil had a Cheddar cheese burger and Mary had a Swiss cheese burger. We were all happy with our choices. The rings were crispy and a perfect shared side. The fries that came with the burgers were not up to their usual standard but since we had the rings, we didn't care. An old favorite on the north side. We were more frequent visitors when we lived in Andersonville. It's been open since 1959! Phil came here in college.

Look who just flew by! Practice for the weekend air show. They are loud and impressive.

My pizza tastes are clearly not in line with the high brow folks on the pizza groups Phil follows. I didn't love the pizza at Bungalow by Middlebrow despite loving the staff and the atmosphere. I wasn't wow'd by Pizza A'mici pizza but I think their focaccia might be my all time favorite anywhere! And the service was exemplary. Thursday night though, was my favorite cracker crust tavern style - our regular neighborhood place - Pat's just down the street from us on Lincoln Avenue. Nice outdoor tables on Seminary and although the service has never been what I'd call "polished" it's  relaxed and friendly. We had a salad and pizza and went home well sated.

And then as we head towards home in Sevilla, we wanted to get back to some of our favorites in the neighborhood. At Chengdu Impressions, Phil always orders the duck when he sees it. I like the crispy shrimp (chili sauce needed to give it a kick). We had scallion pancakes and two kinds of dumplings to round out the ordering. Leftovers for tomorrow night when Phil gets back from his concert. 

Ok, so Sunday night we were in pizza comas 🤣🤣🤣 the four of us got three pizzas and focaccia and a shared Caesar salad. I now have a new favorite pizza. Thanks to Rebecca Kolko Friedlander who we ran into tonight at the restaurant (she and Aaron McManus  were dining with friends.) On her recommendation we ordered the pepperoni with hot honey and jalapenos. It was spectacularly yummy!  We also had a sausage and mushroom with giardiniera, and a half and half pizza. The half and half was part Italian beef with giardiniera and part anchovies and green olives. Opinions differed about the anchovy, but we all liked the Italian beef. The focaccia was again awesome and the salad was excellent.  We will definitely be back! So don't miss the pepperoni with hot honey and jalapenos. It's a whole new realm in pizza!

Then a return to our local Guatemalan restaurant originally recommended to us by Frank, now we go together when schedules permit. We had our favorites - all marked on the menu. A number of good wines. The 2005 Maresh Vineyard Pinot from St Innocent Winery was my personal favorite. All the food was to their usual standards of tasty and satisfying.

Then the next night - Deli. Our first and only time this summer. Still miss Danny Wolf who owned the place for decades. It's been three years since he passed but the dedicated staff works on in his memory. Excellent corned beef and pastrami. Classic deli.menu. What's not to love?

so rounding out the week...an afternoon and evening tour of Northshore locations. Lee, Phil and I headed to NY BAGELS & Bialy for fresh made bagels. Then we met John & Stephanie for pizza at Burt's Place. We had super Caesar salad and fried pickles to munch on, as they cooked up the two pizzas. XL half sausage and half pepperoni and mushrooms. Medium spinach and mushrooms.  Then because we "only" had most of the pizza leftover to split between three households, we decided (since we were already halfway there) to go further north to Homer's for ice cream. Two good wines with dinner a 25 year old Barolo and a 17 year old red blend from Argentina from the wine making talent of Michel Rolland at Clos de Los Siete.

So now we are Friday and don't have specific plans until Sunday! We are to dine then with Richard & Irene and others of Phil's old grad school buddies... more to come...