My girlfriend celebrated her birthday this week and I decided to take her to Oceanique in Evanston.  I have heard good things about it and I bought a groupon for it a while back so it was the perfect opportunity!

Since it was a Wednesday evening, we didn’t have any trouble getting a seat immediately.  It took me a while to figure out what to order and the waiter was very patient with me.  I ended up deciding on the seared day boat sea scallops as our appetizer, my girlfriend had the rack of lamb with turnips, and I had the bouillabaisse Oceanique.  And since it was her birthday, we each ordered a glass of wine as well.

The first thing that came out was the Japanese Breakfast, smoked salmon wrapped around a seaweed salad, which was complementary on the chef.  I LOVE free food!  It also doesn’t hurt that it was delicious.  I, for one, am a sucker for salmon.  The salmon tasted fresh and it reminded me of eating sushi, except the seaweed salad added a unique texture compared to rice.

Next were the sea scallops.  They were served with orange, haricots verts, red onion, and yuzu marmalade. I have never had a dish where the scallops were the main focus so I wasn’t too sure what to expect.  The texture was really nice and it was very tender.  I would definitely go back for some more.

After the scallops, the waiter brought out a sample of chicken liver pate which was prepared with port wine, manchego cheese, and poilane toast.  It was rather small and I just popped it into my mouth.  You can definitely taste the chicken liver which is a unique taste that not everyone is going to enjoy.  Personally, I don’t mind the taste.

This time they brought out a sample of their wild yellowfin tuna with bacon and chanterelles.  This wasn’t as memorable as the other dishes we have tried.  What I do remember was that I was getting worried that if they keep giving me food to eat that I would be full and not be able to enjoy my entrée as much.

The next dish has to be the entrée right?  Nope, they provided a sorbet to help cleanse our palate.  It was refreshing.  There was nothing special about it, but it was the perfect dish to lead up to the entrée.

Finally a dish we paid for!  The bouillabaisse Oceanique is a fish stew served with skate, halibut, char, shrimp, scallops, mussels, and squid with parsley aioli.  The main reason why I ordered this was because I wanted seafood and couldn’t decide on what I wanted.  This way, I get a wide variety of seafood in one dish!  The broth was amazing.  It wasn’t very rich and went very nicely with bread.  Everything was cooked perfectly; I just wish there were more spices.

My girlfriend got the rack of lamb.  She is a big fan of red meat.  The lamb was served with eggplant, leeks, and a plum-pomegranate maostarda.  She said the lamb was juicy and well spiced.  She was also a big fan of the presentation of the dish.

For dessert, we were having trouble deciding between the day and night cake and the napoleon.  We ended up ordering the napoleon, but the waiter brought out the day and night cake instead (with a candle too!). We were not going to complain because we have had great service and complementary food all night and we almost got the day and night cake anyway.  The waiter later realized that he brought out the wrong pastry, so he brought out a napoleon as well…on the house.  Talk about getting a great deal!  I liked the napoleon better than the cake.  I thought the cake was really good, but a little too sweet and chocolate-ty.  The napoleon was sweet and subtle, more of the dessert I was looking for.

Overall, we had a WONDERFUL experience at Oceanique.  Parking in Evanston is never a problem and they have valet service as well.  Our dinner came out to be 130 dollars (not including tip and the groupon).  I would have been okay paying that for our dinner; add on the groupon and all I can say is that we got a great deal.  They are also running a promotion right now, if you go to the website and print off their homepage and bring it, you will get $25 off your bill.  I recommend Oceanique to all my friends, especially those that live in Evanston and looking for a nice place to eat.

This past weekend was a celebration for many people.  A fifth of the world’s population celebrated Chinese New Year, all the lovers celebrated Valentine’s Day, and a happy couple in Chicago celebrated their 17-month anniversary.  Such an occasion deserved a nice dinner in the city!

I had made reservations to SUSHISAMBA rio (Japanese-Brazilian-Peruvian fusion) around a month ago because I read on Opentable that they would have a special menu for Valentine’s Day.  When we walked in, we were welcomed and offered complementary coat check, which is always a plus.  We were seated right away in the back corner which was nice for a romantic dinner.

I looked over the special menu for the day and nothing really stood out.  I looked through the regular menu and it was the same feeling.  We decided to order from the special menu since it was only offered for that day.  We started off with chilled seasonal oysters, filet mignon anticucho, shaved hearts of palm, and a bobo brazil roll.

The roll came out first.  It roll was made with seared kobe beef, avocado, kaiware, shiso, red onion, and chimichurri ponzu.  I was really leaning towards getting something with toro or salmon, but the kobe beef and avocado caught my eye (also didn’t hurt that the waitress recommended it as well).  In the end, the roll was okay at best.  Japonais has better sushi for around the same price.

Then the oysters came next.  There were four oysters with a kumquat mignonette.  This was much better than the roll.  The oysters with the mignonette were very refreshing and a great way to start a meal.

I have never had hearts of palm before and don’t really know what it is, but it was my least favorite of the four starters.  It was served with mango vinaigrette and pink peppercorns and I am not a fan of the texture of the pink peppercorn.  It was a very pretty dish, but I just couldn’t get over the crunchy texture.

And they saved the best for last.  The filet mignon anticucho with butterscotch miso and almonds was the most amazing thing ever.  I could eat it over and over again!  The filet was cooked perfectly and the sauce was sweet but not overpowering.

For the main course, they had the choice between lobster and kobe beef…so we ordered one of each!  The butter poached lobster was very good.  The presentation amused me, so they get extra points for that.  You could definitely taste that it was poached in butter, but I think that’s what makes it better.

The kobe beef a la plancha was slightly disappointing.  Since I commented about the presentation of the lobster, I feel obliged to say something about the kobe.  It was just a piece of meat on a plate.  I know it’s a steak, but I expected something a little more.  The presentation wasn’t the only thing lacking though.  I have never had kobe beef like this before so I wasn’t too sure what to expect.  The first bite was very rich and I was really enjoying the taste.   But the next few were kind of chewy; my girlfriend was even complaining about how her jaw was getting sore.

For dessert we got the chocolate peanut butter caramel bar with toasted marshmallow (in the shape of a heart) and caramel popcorn ice cream.  At first, I was a little afraid that the dessert would be too sweet and rich, but I was surprised how subtle it was.   The bar, ice cream and marshmallow complimented each other very well and the side of caramel popcorn was a nice touch.

Overall, it was a nice Valentine’s Day dinner.  The meal came out to be around $180 and another $12 for the valet which isn’t too bad, but I felt like the dinner should have been better for the price I was paying.  I do not think I would go back for dinner, but wouldn’t mind going for their happy hour to grab some sushi and drinks (and the filet mignon anticucho if possible).  Also, I had a look at their Restaurant Week menu and it looked much better than the Valentine’s Day menu…something for all of you to consider.

A lot of the major cities in the US have food associated to it.  Boston has New England clam chowder, Baltimore has crab cakes, Philadelphia has Philly cheese steaks, and San Diego had fish tacos.  What about Chicago?  Chicago has deep dish pizza!  There are four main places in Chicago to get the best deep dish pizza: Giordano’s, Gino’s East, Uno, and Lou Malnati’s.  This past week, I went to the original Lou Malnati’s at Lincolnwood.

We went kind of late on a Friday night (around 8pm).  We were seated immediately and the first thing I noticed was all the posters and jerseys hanging on the wall and most of them were for the Chicago Bears.  There were signed posters of Urlacher and Hester; jersey of William Perry; and they even had a display for a goal post pad. 

There was also an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay where Bobby Flay challenged Mark Malnati (Lou’s son) to a deep dish pizza throwdown.  Here is a clip from the episode which describes how to make a Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza.  If you were wondering, Mark Malnati defeated Bobby Flay in the throwdown.

The pizzas usually take a while to make (the menu says around 30 minutes), so we ordered a salad first.  We got the Antipasto Salad.  If you are not a fan of excessive vinegar and sourness, then you are not going to enjoy this salad.  Luckily, everyone at our table loves vinegar so it wasn’t a problem for us.  Aside for the sourness, it was a typical salad.  I really liked the baked croutons; flavor with every crunch.

For the pizza, we got a medium sized “Lou” which contains fresh spinach, mushrooms and sliced tomatoes covered with a blend of mozzarella, romano and cheddar cheese.  Deep dish pizza without meat is a crime, so we added sausage to it (for a little extra cost).

We had to wait a while for our pizza, longer than the 30 minute advertised on the menu.  But I will say that the wait was worth it.  The pizza was really good!  And the “Lou” comes with a butter crust which adds so many flavors into the crust.  It is completely different than any crust I have ever had.

Overall, my experience at the Lincolnwood Lou Malnati’s was positive.  The pizza was very good (I hear that the pizza at this location is better than the other ones), but I was not satisfied with the service.  Maybe it was because it was towards the end of the night and our waitress just wanted to go home, but I just didn’t feel welcomed.  Even with the unsatisfactory service, I would go back just for the deep dish pizza.  My goal is to try some of the other deep dish pizzerias and figure out which one I like the best, so make sure you check back for updates!

Sometimes I just get this craving for noodle soup and there are two different types of noodle soups that I love to eat: Vietnamese Pho and Hong Kong noodles.   The craving hit me hard earlier this week and I decided to get Vietnamese Pho.   My favorite place to get pho in Chicago is Tank Noodles at Argyle and Broadway in Uptown.    

One of my pet peeves when I go out to eat is when people always order the same thing at a restaurant.  I always feel like you should diversify and try different things.  I am my own worst enemy when I go to Tank Noodles because I order the exact same thing every time I go.  The first thing I always get is 7B, Fresh Spring Rolls with Shrimp.     

This stuff is awesome!  Don’t mess with number 7 (plain spring roll) unless you are allergic to shrimp…then you don’t have much of a choice.  But it is raw shrimp, mint, vermicelli rice noodles, and some other stuff.  It is very fresh and light and is very good as an appetizer.  It comes with a dipping sauce that is garnished with ground peanuts.  The spring roll itself is good, but the spring roll with the sauce is what takes it to the next level.       

For pho, I always get number 39 or 40.  They are the same thing except 39 is the large version of 40 and only cost a dollar more!  I usually get 40 (the smaller one) unless I am starving.  The pho consists of a clear beef broth, noodles, sliced beef, well done brisket, well done flank, soft tendon, bible tripe, and meatballs.  Some of these ingredients might not sound as appealing (mainly tendon and tripe).  If you don’t like certain things, you can always order something different or just pick them out of your pho.        

All pho dishes are served with raw bean sprouts, basils leaves, jalapeño peppers, and lime wedge.  

Personally, I am not a fan of the bean sprouts, but I put in the basil leaves, squirt the lime into the soup, and also add some hoisin sauce.  Also, I like to have a little dipping bowl with hoisin and sriracha sauce.  I dip all my meat into the sauce to add some extra flavors.  If you want a little extra kick, they also have this hot chili sauce.      

From left to right - hoisin, sriracha, hot chili

My girlfriend usually orders number 40 as well (and gives me the tendon and tripe); however, this time she decided to try something different.  She ended up ordering number 75 which is a beef noodle soup.  It was well spiced with star anise and other spices and she enjoyed it.  The soup was a little too red for me, so I didn’t even try it.       

Overall, I love this place.  There are many other places to eat in that area as well.  There’s this bakery just down the street that has the most amazing stuff.  There is plenty of parking in the area with the pay boxes.  I always get sited right away (unless it is jam packed) and the food comes out right away.  Prices are very reasonable, especially with the amount of food you get.  My pho (number 40) only cost 6.95! Our bill came out to be a total of 20 bucks and we were both left Tank Noodles full and satisfied.

I hope everyone  is having  a great 2010 so far!  The first blog of the year is about a place that I have been meaning to visit every since it opened late last year; Beard Papa’s!  

I had Beard Papa’s the first time last year while visiting San Francisco and discovered that cream puffs are amazing!  I was very excited when I found out on Twitter that Beard Papa’s was opening a shop in Chicago.  They were going to open in the brand new Block 37 mall in the Loop.  Their opening day was delayed and by the time they were ready to open, I was out of town for the holidays.   And then last weekend, I found myself in the Loop and my girlfriend and I decided to drop by.  The design of the place is pretty neat.  The stand is shaped like a Beard Papa’s box.  

Beard Papa’s is best known for the cream puffs.  There are four types of shells (original, éclair, cookie crunch, and fruit topped) and four types of fillings (vanilla custard, chocolate custard, strawberry and cream, and ice cream) for a total of 16 different combinations.  And trust me, I plan to try all 16.  

We each ordered a cream puff; my girlfriend got vanilla in the original shell and I got chocolate (half milk/half dark) in the original shell.  

This is our cream puff maker

The cream puffs were great.  I took a bite out of mine and the filling started to ooze out of the shell…it was beautiful.    I really liked the creamy texture of the custard and how it wasn’t overly sweet.  The only flaw was that is was slighty messy to eat because the powdered sugar would get on my face, clothes, and table; but that was because I eat like a 5-year-old.  

We also got a mango milkberry because I saw a picture of it on this blog and it looked and sounded delicious!  The actual drink was okay, a little on the sweet side.  They do need to have bigger straws though because I had a hell of a time trying to suck the chunks of strawberry through the fat (but not fat enough) straw that they provided.  

Overall, it was a great place and I am definitely going to come back!  Once all the stores open in the mall (right now it’s pretty much just Zara), there will be even more reasons to go.  This would also be a great option for the office or for a party.  Everyone will love you…trust me.