The Playground

Welcome to the first post of 2013!  I apologize for my long absence from the blogosphere.  It's not that I have lost interest in blogging or am no longer into food documentation.  I've simply NOT eaten out at any new interesting places, nor have I cooked anything new or notable.  I guess I've been in a food rut. I have also learned that when you're in a food rut, it's really easy to lose weight!  All that poppycock about diet and exercise being the key to weight loss?  No friends, just DON'T EAT and you'll lose weight.  Americans eat too much and we have no self control, plain and simple, but this is a whole other conversation for a whole other type of blog.  I'll get off my soap box now.

The holidays brought me back home to The OC, and back to some old friends Soprano Man and Teety.    Soprano Man was so kind enough to drive down from Riverside to meet up with Teety, Dumpling Man, and I in Santa Ana.  Boy was dinner such an amazing surprise since New American cuisine in OC is pretty unimpressive if not nonexistent.  I had heard they have secret foie dishes here, but after being interrogated and asked if I was a cop, the waiter told us they had no more "special bread" that night.  Maybe next time?

Brussels Sprouts baby potatoes, honey mustard vinaigrette
This was a fantastic way to start off.  Although it looks like a glistening pile of dead weeds, this was actually an intensely flavored almost warm salad of charred brussels and luscious potatoes.  The vinaigrette was so spot on.  The table was hands down in love with this dish.

Citrus Salad di steffano buratta
Everyone loves buratta, and it was fresh and creamy here.  It was an interesting pairing with the varying citrus fruits but it was no match for the deliciousness of the brussels.

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The Purple Pig

I can't express how much I love this place.  My first visit with Ho Bag left an indelible impression on me.  It simply is everything I love in food, flavor that packs a punch, no frills, great ingredients, and a strong focus on charcuterie.  I normally don't go to a restaurant twice, but I wanted Dumpling Man to try this place because if you visit Chicago, and you don't go to the Purple Pig, well, you really haven't visited to Chicago, at least your stomach hasn't.

While this is a bit heavy for lunch, it was the only time we could squeeze in a visit.  See Fat Gwai spent the night at our hotel after we karaoked late into the wee hours of the night.  We woke up and rolled on over to the Purple Pig, which fortunately was a short walk away from our hotel.

Broccolli roasted garlic, anchovy vinaigrette
To my dismay, this was a warm salad.  I wish they had mentioned that in the description.  Still though, it was pretty good, maybe a bit heavy on the dressing.  Really not fishy at all, but left my mouth with a pucker from the acidity.

Roasted Corn mushrooms, walnuts, fried rosemary
Dumpling Man loves anything with corn, while See Fat Gwai loves anything with mushrooms.  This was the perfect dish to please everyone!  It had a similar flavor profile to the previous salad, so again a bit heavy on the dressing and pretty tart.  I was still a fan.  These are salads you definitely need to eat with something on the side or its just too overwhelming.  I didn't like the fried rosemary at all though.

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Girl & The Goat

I don't think any other restaurant has as much hype as this place.  I don't think any other restaurant has as crazy a waitlist as this place either!  Yelpers say you need to snag a reservation at least 2-3 months in advance, which is what I managed to.  Buff Bear, now a Chicago resident, said my 8:45 Monday night reservation was a great achievement.  I think he's only been able to eat there even later.  I guess being the restaurant of Top Chef season 4 winner, Stephanie Izard, has a lot to do with all the hype.  I personally was pretty bummed that she beat out Richard Blais to win, but good thing he ended up winning the All Stars season.  

Anyways, the space is pretty large with darks and neutrals coloring the interior.  This large painting really stands out, obviously, and brightens up the joint.  The large googly eyes kinda creeps me out but I love the vibrant colors.  See Fat Gwai, a poor student, took an hour train to meet us here, in the rain no less, so Dumpling Man and I treated him to a dinner here.  After all those years of being poor and having others pay my way, it's nice to do the same for someone else now.

Kohlrabi Salad fennel, evalon, pears, roasted shiitakes, toasted almonds, ginger dressing 
I love eating salads when I go out because someone it's always so much more interesting than the sh*t you get at the local salad bar.  Kohlrabi and pears were definite flavor and textural highlights here.  The almonds added nice crunch too.

Mushroom Ragout sweet potato agnolotti, shroom creme fraiche, capers
Triple F thought the food here was a bit heavy handed with the salt.  The 3 of us argued about the salt level of this dish.  I thought it was on the saltier side, but Dumpling Man thought the salt level was off the chart.  Aside from that, I was intrigued by the flavor profile, which I can't really pin down.  It had a creaminess and tomatoey-ness that reminded me of chicken tikka masala.  The capers didn't help with the salt level.  The dish packed a punch of flavor, but maybe too much so?

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Next: Kyoto

Our last trip to Chicago was really highlighted by some of the most delicious food I've eaten in a long time.  This trip back was no exception.  Alinea was probably the stand out restaurant last time for its sheer creativity.  It's sister restaurant, Next, managed to wow us again.  Now if you haven't heard, both restaurants now work on a ticketing system, sort of like buying tickets to a musical or a concert.  You buy them, and then you're stuck with them.  NO REFUNDS.  I guess restaurants lose money on last minute cancelled reservations, no shows, and having to staff someone to and take phone calls and manage the reservations.  I'll admit, I am guilty of making last minute cancellations but I'm a customer and I can do as I please, right?  Grant Achatz (chef/owner) says, "screw you."  I didn't actually think I was going to get a spot at Next, but tickets for Kyoto opened up just a day or two before my trip and BOOM, I was so there!  It helps to be friends with Next on Facebook!

I think I'm too dumb to really appreciate the cerebral experience Grant Achatz is trying to create in all his restaurants.  There was this teeny scroll explaining the theme of the dinner.  All I got from it was fall, Kyoto, tradition, experience.  The rest of it was just too many words.  These days, I can only communicate in abbreviations (CAD, HTN, SDH, ARF, etc).

Kaiseki traditional multicourse Japanese dinner (12 to be exact!)

Corn Husk 

We started off very gently with some simple corn stock.  It was very sweet, very clean tasting corn.  Imagine the juice that comes with canned corn.  It tasted just like that!

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