March Eats
I set out for March with the goal of only eating out for dinner exactly once (on my dime). I hated this challenge and frankly didn’t do that great of a job. The predetermined one dinner out was already planned for an anniversary dinner at Duck Alley in Michigan. I quickly figured out I was going to have at least another dinner out because I planned a surprise trip to DC to take my sister out to dinner for her 30th birthday (we went to Sushi by Bou, a beginner friendly omakase perfect for Grace who had never tried it before). I was out of town nearly every weekend in March and any travel makes it difficult to not eat out. I technically had dinner out 7 times, though 2 were a part of a wedding and I only paid for 4 of the dinners. So while I failed the overall challenge I ate out for dinner less than in a typical month. Horrifically, I somehow spent a little. bit more money on food/drinks in March than I did in February, though I suppose March is a longer month …. and I did tell myself at multiple points that I was saving money by not going out to eat so it was okay to spend more on drinks.
While I didn’t like this challenge very much it was interesting. I felt more flexible and explorative in the kitchen, seeing spare ingredients in a new light. I made homemade pesto twice, something I don’t normally turn to as a solution to the midweek dinner crisis. No recipe, just blending together whatever collection of green herbs, a seed or nut, parmesan, lemon, olive oil, and seeing what happens, and somehow it’s always so good. I cooked 3 entire chickens because they are so versatile and simple. The month pause has made me so excited for the dinners I have planned in April; North Pond with Maddy to celebrate her acceptance to grad school in Stockholm, and Le Bouchon with Maddy, Calvin and Oliver, to use up some gift cards we’re sitting on.
Below are some notable meals I enjoyed this month, in and out of restaurants.
Eating in:
New York Times Chicken Schnitzel
Wow. This was so good. I’d never made schnitzel and couldn’t recall the last time I had one (maybe it was 10 years ago in college at the Black Forest Inn in Minneapolis. Maybe). For schnitzel newbies: it’s kind of like a thin version of fried chicken. You start by butterflying a chicken breast (or pork or veal) and pounding until thin, until breading and shallow frying. Thinning the meat lets it cook fully, while ensuring the breading doesn’t burn. I was really skeptical of using a chicken breast because I never opt for light meat, but figured the breasts texture would respond better to the shallow fry so I put my faith the recipe and forged ahead.
Frying something perfectly always makes me feel like a genius, even if it’s just a shallow fry. I find the process magic; dip something in flour, eggs, and some breadcrumbs, throw that gloopy mess into a vat of hot oil and out comes something crispy and delicious? How cool. While frying I always worry the oil might be too hot or too cold, or about leaving in food too long or not leaving the food in long enough. There’s a dance but I’m pretty good at that dance and fried food is delicious (see last months write up including my sacred french fries).
The chicken schnitzel came out perfectly. I’m still impressed weeks later. Maddy and I enjoyed it with lemon on top and a side of dijon. Served with a cucumber salad. I highly recommend it. Go get your schnitzel on.
Roast chicken with cabbage and onion underneath.
Just a quick love note for one of my all time favorite go-tos. Roasting a whole chicken over a bed of cabbage and onions. Take a few minutes to cook down thinly sliced green cabbage and onions in a cast iron, then plop the whole bird on top and the entire thing goes straight into the oven (425F). I generally season with just salt, pepper and olive oil. Contrary to popular roasting methods, I opt to keep the breasts on the bottom, I find that it keeps the white meat more moist. The bird acts as a weight, pressing the cabbage and onions down, while the bird cooking drippings go straight into the veg. The result is rich in flavor that may vey well be the best cabbage you’ve ever had. It greatly reduces in volume so it’s more of a chicken topping than a veggie side.
Additionally, roasting a whole bird is a really good excuse to impromptu invite people over. “Hey I just threw a whole chicken in for dinner, wanna come by?” The answer is almost always a resounding “Yes and we’ll bring wine!”
I don’t have a picture to share but I promise to cook another bird soon and take a picture then.
Carnitas from Serious Eats
On one of the last days of my spring break I was craving a longer cooking project and some sort of pulled pork type thing. In my research I found a 3+ hour, oven carnitas recipe that seemed promisingly straightforward yet packed with flavor. I bought a 3 ½ pound pork shoulder, chopped it into large chunks and slowly roasted it in its own fat, and a lot of vegetable oil (plus an extra scoop of beef tallow just for fun). Along with the pork was an onion, an orange, and a stick of cinnamon. After 3.5 hours at 275F the pork was tender and full of a gentle yet complex delicious warm flavor.
After the roast, I poured off the cooking liquid and skimmed the fat. The fat was returned to the pork and the remaining liquid was saved for a salsa verde. The recipe called for tomatillos, jalapenos, onion, and garlic, to be just boiled together before blending, but in all my past salsa experiences I’ve always browned the veg. So I blasted half of the ingredients on a cast iron, to get some of that browning, before following the rest of the recipe and bringing everything up to a quick boil. Letting the mixture cool for a moment, taking in excellent aromatic smells, I poured the whole thing in the blender and whizzed together and accidentally made 5 cups of salsa. It’s delicious, spicy, and interesting, but damn that is too much salsa for one guy. Chilaquiles are in my future.
I thoroughly enjoyed the tacos. The meat was sizzled in the broiler for a few minutes prior to serving just to develop crispy edges. Served in a corn tortilla with onions, cilantro, and of course a generous helping of salsa. I enjoyed eating the leftovers for days and days. Truthfully it was not as good a local taqueria but it was a flavorful and cheap version that I’d make again.
Eating out:
Txa Txa Club
An impromptu lunch with Calvin! My first time at Txa Txa and I was really expecting to be let down. It’s a cute space with big hype surrounding it which normally means the food won’t be very good. BUT DAMN. I really shouldn’t be so shocked, Calvin had been there multiple times already and James works there, and both have spoken highly of the food. It is seriously good.
We sit at the bar, and James is there, greeting us with sparking water on tap, thank you very much. Four Letter Word drip coffee and Metric espresso, who just happen to be my 2 favorite roasters in the city. Starting off strong in a major way.
I got the breakfast sandwich; big juicy steamed egg, pork sausage with a bright curry lemongrass thing going on, umeboshi aioli (Japanese pickled plum), and salmoriglio (a chimichurri-esque lemony green sauce), all on a house made english muffin, with a skewered pepper on top. Read that again. I bet you’ve never had a sandwich like it. It’s sloppy, it’s delicious, it drips down your arm and falls apart and it’s so stupid good with a bright arrangement of flavors that you wouldn’t have put together in your own kitchen. As a lowkey hater of the Kasama breakfast sandwich, this deserves far greater public adoration.
Calvin got the cold noodles with a funky XO sauce, but not so funky it was overpowering just like a subtle ‘hmmm something strange is happening underneath.’ After eating, we had room for more (always), so we ordered the black rice to share. Lovely James slid us a pastry. I can’t remember the name but it was a pear and parmesan cheese thing for a surprisingly savory nutty bite.
The black rice bowl had “husk cherries” which made us curious, though they turned out to be the familiar ground cherries. Bright orange little spheres sliced in half, contrasting so brilliantly against the dark black rice, both in color, and in their vibrant popping citrusy taste. I wished for a hundred more. There was cashew sauce on the side that was creamy and luscious and fun to pull the rice through. Some raw ginger throughout, along with 5 Spice seasoning made for a warm bowl. The cafe is doing fun global flavors and exciting flavor combinations. I look forward to trying more of their food, hitting up their happy hour soon, and seeing overtime how their menu shifts. If you go, be sure to say hi to James.
Out There
The excursion was originally just going to be for glass of wine and a dozen oysters, but we so enjoyed the atmosphere that we couldn’t help but make it a proper meal. In planning a weekend trip to Michigan (to celebrate a year of knowing each other!), Maddy suggested we stop at a wine bar called Out There. Just north of New Buffalo and owned by former Chicago folk in a converted old Shell gas station, it was begging for us to stop by. From the road it’s pretty unassuming and we very nearly drove right past it.
You walk in through the retail side that offers a large collection of bottles at very reasonable prices, mostly in the $20’s-$30’s range. We opted to sit at the bar and ended up chatting with one of the owners who was bartending. The menu listed a “surprise me” wine by the glass so we said, two of those please and a dozen oysters. We received a very drinkable white, and soon started slurping the oysters down which were served with a cava(!!!!!) mignonette. In front of us was a stereo, turn table and solid vinyl collection with the evenings albums already selected and in line ready to be played as soon as the previous album stopped spinning. The bar stretched the long side of the room, bright white marble bar top and thick custom wood shelving. The place was sturdy and seemed designed with the intention of lasting a very long time.
Not wanting to leave yet, we ordered the smoked salmon salad on special. A giant hunk of smoked salmon over beautiful greens, radishes, olives, cucumbers, potatoes and micro greens, a definite play on a niçoise. The salmon was some of the best I’ve ever had and though I’m not traditionally a fan of olives (working on it!) I thoroughly enjoyed the small green olives in the mix.
We shared another glass of wine and Maddy bought a couple bottles of wine to bring home. We paid and on leaving I spotted a familiar face. A friend, Liv, who recently moved from Chicago to Saint Joe’s was there! We said hi, chatted for a bit, both gushing about the place. Though it’s 90 minutes from the city, this place has all the Chicago charm you could ever want, including apparently, even the people. Check it out on your next Michigan trip .
Bub City but also fuck Lettuce Entertain You
I was lucky enough to attend a really beautiful wedding with Maddy this month at the University Club downtown. The welcome dinner was held at Bub City with a “Texas Best” dress code. Wearing a cowboy hat in river north, I didn’t anticipate the food to be anything beyond edible but it was actually quite delicious. Brisket, ribs, chicken tenders, mac, slaw, green salad, rolls, and I went back for second plate. Even though the food was was good I am only including it here because I want to express how much I hate the Lettuce Entertain You restaurants that Bub City is a part of. They have such a chokehold on Chicago and I want to publicly say, fuck them go elsewhere. Sure, they have good gift card deals food that is solid (though not groundbreaking, interesting, or noteworthy). In addition to just being a massive, profit driven, conglomerate of average restaurants, in 2023/4 they were a major monetary supporter to a West Loop private security patrol service. Gross. Right along with Boka and One Off hospitality, these big and powerful restaurant groups got together and spent $800,000 on a contract for rent-a-cops to patrol the neighborhood. Though I can’t find evidence of this still existing, I’d much rather spend my hard earned dollars on restaurants that don’t bring in armed private guards to their neighborhood actively contributing towards making Chicago a hostile place, but luckily I can go to nearly any other establishment to avoid that.
Bonus
Carrot cake
My dear friend Thea turned 30 and celebrated with a weekend long cabin celebration, playing survivor (I won, humble brag (this is how I got the gift card to Le Bouchon)). My other dear friend Kaylie was in charge of cooking all the meals and I volunteered to make the cake. I pulled out the tried and true Lula Cafe carrot cake recipe, which is a carrot cake for carrot cake haters. No raisins or other chunks typical to a carrot cake, just an excellent carrot-y cake. The cake stays moist with a secret carrot simple syrup that gets brushed over the top once baked, a move reminiscent to baking a Babka. The icing is a perfect combination of butter and cream cheese, and there’s a layer of raspberry jam. James helped me decorate the cake with an insane showing of mint, basil, dried flowers, and swirly colorful candles to make it extraordinary. Thanks Thea for being born. Thanks Kaylie for the trust. Thanks James for the creative vision.
Restaurants:
Hero Coffee - Surprisingly good bagel. Hadn’t been here since college, but still enjoyed the fun alley setting.
Flat Rock Grill in Edwardsburg, MI- After the power went out at Theas cabin weekend
Querrepario - Taco Tuesday lunch special
Duck Alley, Michigan - Sadly under-whelmed.
Virtue Feed and Grain, Alexandria - I got a beef tenderloin steak salad with blue cheese. It was straightforward and tasty.
One of the worst hot dogs I’ve ever had at the All State Arena in Rosemont
Bourgeois Pig Cafe - an okay tasting chicken caesar salad wrap so poorly wrapped
