we win again!

off to lunch on this humid last Sunday in August - with S&S - to mfk our favorite lunch place these days.  As usual we mostly consumed the entire menu when it came down to it- LOL
the menu and the food - the winner of the anchovy contest will be announced up front because we had three entries and one was chosen unanimously-

for this section we ordered the prawn heads the ceviche the three kinds of anchovies - all shown below!

from this section we had everything but the beets-

from this we had the meatballs and the mussels (oops missed that photo while they were there and they disappeared immediately!) and we also special ordered the Chicken Ballotine (Julia Child's recipe!)

we had two wines - this was first and a Drouhin Premier Cru Chablis from 2005

we all shared a dessert of Basque cake YUM!

now we are stuffed and trying to get hungry again for dinner at 42 grams! LOL-

so stay tuned and I am working on Copenhagen posts simultaneously - those will start coming online soon as well!

back & busy

So we arrived home on Friday night at 8PM and the cat was yelling at us about where have we been... we got the laundry started and crashed... woke up early on Saturday and finished the laundry so we could be ready for guests arriving Saturday around 2 PM.  Well technically they aren't guests- it's Steve and Suzanne LOL (you remember them - our favorite sister in law and Phil's brother)

S&S, as we refer to them, were making a short stop here to celebrate Steve's birthday with us after spending a week in St Louis to drop off our nephew Jack at Wash U for his freshman year! (OK not to sound ancient but we remember hauling him in a tiny little carrier to the IPNC when he was four months old!- where did that time go??? LOL)

So we hadn't been to EL Ideas for a while, and reserved for dinner there- they have a 5:30 seating and since we just got back from Stockholm roughly 22 hours earlier we thought that would be a better choice than the 9:00 one...

Here is my executive summary- Phil Foss is totally and completely on his game right now- this was the best meal we have ever had at EL Ideas... with amazing flavors and creative presentations - a nearly flawless meal...  and I will start with a photo of what was one of the most beautiful courses and then go fully into the meal -

 So here is the menu and photos follow along the way the menu notes-

caviar course-

salmon roe, cucumber and pomegranate -

anchovy with lemon and cauliflower-

the prawns- with a fabulous jalapeno sauce

three kinds of gazpacho popsicle

Tuna- two ways with sea beans

"french fries in vanilla milk shake" - kind of a signature dish-

outstanding foie gras course-

a beautiful dish of peach purslane and pork- with a tasty buttermilk biscuit! one of my favorite presentations- such a beautiful plate-

this arrived for the scent alone and boy did it smell terrific! cherry branches which the blossoms had been used in the next course of duck-

the duck course with various cherry flavorings-

the first dessert was based on fluffer-nutter sandwiches with bananas and had wonderful texture-

the final dessert was the only weaker link- the biscuit part was dry and other than the top disc somewhat lacking in flavor - I think because it was white chocolate based with subtle fruit (lychee is not a strong flavor) it needed something to give it a bit more oooomph...

A flawless meal despite the final course not being to my liking so much- and a number of courses that we would love to have seconds on!

For the wines we had a Kistler 2005 McCrae

And an Archery Summit Estate pinot from 2004- which was magnificent!

So thanks Jack for choosing college close enough to us that we got to see S&S and an excuse to revisit EL Ideas!

So today we have meals scheduled for two of our favorites - mfk for lunch and 42 grams for dinner... so there will be more S&S posts before we get around to the trip to the Baltic- so keep tuned in for more!

Champagne! & Artists!

So last night we went to the annual HDH summer Champagne tasting.

so we ended up buying a selection of things - some of which we already have in the cellar but of course the number get depleted over time LOL...

 

 

and some of which we will be adding to the cellar-

 

 

so we won't go thirsty anytime soon!!!

Thanks Michael for hosting a lovely evening at the Ivy at Tree Studios it was a special treat to get to see the inside of a building I have long admired from the street. From the time I first moved into the city in 1981 I used to walk by and wonder what the interior space looked like given the amazing light they must have had and enjoyed in those early days of my city life window shopping in the art supplies and framing shops on the State Street ground level

Since the building was built for artist the studio light was always northern facing - therefore the only side of the building where you could see this kind of window was the north side on Ontario at the corner of State

From Wikipedia and the Tree Studios website -

The Tree Studio Building and Annexes was an artist colony established in Chicago, Illinois in 1894 by Judge Lambert Tree and his wife, Anne Tree. Tree arranged to have the original Tree building constructed in 1894, designed by the architecture firm of Parfitt Brothers. The building is constructed with steel frames and is two stories high. The ground level is covered in a cast iron arcade and designed as storefronts, while the second story is covered in a Roman brick and is designed to serve as artist studios with large windows to allow natural light to enter.

Tree created a legal trust which stipulated that only artists could live in Tree Studios. This trust remained in force until 1959 when the complex was sold to the Medinah Temple, with which the studio complex shared a block.

Some of the studio's residents have included sculptors Albin Polasek, John Storrs, and Nancy Cox-McCormack; illustrator J. Allen St. John; muralists John Warner Norton and Louis Grell; painters Ruth VanSickle Ford, Robert Wadsworth Grafton, James Murray Haddow, James J. Ingwersen, John Doctoroff, Gus Likan, Richard Florsheim, Leopold Seyffert and Pauline Palmer, Carl Tolpo and Lily Tolpo; and actors Peter Falk and Burgess Meredith.

The studios and temple were included in the 2000 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund, after citizens became concerned that the complex would be demolished and a high rise tower constructed in its place. With support from the financial services company American Express WMF awarded a grant toward the preparation of an architectural significance survey and a feasibility study for the site. The results of the significance survey led to the sites being designated as Chicago landmarks.

The State Street building was listed as a Chicago Landmark in 1997. The Ohio Street and Ontario Street annexes and courtyard were added as Chicago Landmarks in 2001. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.  Restoration of the property was guided by Albert Friedman, who purchased the property in 2001, following which construction workers and artisans labored side-by-side, rebuilding Tree Studios by hand. Architectural details were re-created from surviving fragments in on-site woodworking shops.

cool place to visit and in researching the history online I found they have tours now as well.  So in less than five days we are off to the Baltic Sea with our first destination being Copenhagen to see Poul & Lene and Aase and Martin- then off on the sea cruise and ending in Stockholm where we will stay on for a dinner at gastrologik! Stay tuned!