Del Seoul - Chicago, IL

Del Seoul opened a few months ago in Lincoln Park and they serve Korean-style tacos.  Kogi truck in LA has spurned many similar restaurants or food trucks and it's about time, it's come to Chicago.  

I've since been to the actual store, but my first taste of Del Seoul came courtesy of our friend Gook.  He picked up some food for us to try since he had tried it a few nights before and loved it.  

Here are three of the Korean BBQ Tacos.  Gook got us one of each: spicy bbq chicken, kalbi, spicy bbq pork and sesame-chili shrimp tacos.  They each come with cilantro-onion relish, chili-garlic "salsa" and secret slaw.  Each taco is $2.50 or $2.95, which is a great deal for the size of these tacos.   

Chicago's Home of Chicken and Waffles - Chicago, IL

I've been craving chicken and waffles for awhile and Susan's favorite food in the world is fried chicken so it wasn't hard to convince her to drive down to Chicago's Home of Chicken and Waffles.  Yup, that's the official name.  It's in Bronzeville, which is on the south side of Chicago.  

Ricotta-Stuffed Bacon-Wrapped Dates

I started out taking lots of pictures of the food I made, but got distracted halfway through.  You'll have to bear with me.  But here are some pics of the Ricotta-Stuffed Bacon-Wrapped Dates we made.  Susan was in charge of making these and she did a great job.  :)  We had to take the pit out of all of the dates, so that was a bit of a challenge, but aside from that, it's quite easy and really tasty.  

I forgot to take pictures, but here's what they should look like.  Photo courtesy of food network.  The combo of sweet, salty, crispy and creamy are what make these so addicting and fun to pop in your mouth.  

Crack Pie

So if you've been keeping up, here's dessert #4.  My friend Mary asked whether I made cheesecake, and from this picture, it does look like cheesecake, but it's in fact Crack Pie of Momofuku's Milk Bar fame.  

I've been itching to try this recipe but from what I heard of others who have made this, I was frightened I would eat this pie in one sitting.  So I waited and waited for the perfect opportunity.  It was the most labor intensive of the four desserts I made, but well worth the effort and pain.  It's definitely something you would make for a special occasion because it requires a lot of steps and also some time to chill in the fridge.  

Here's a close up of the famous crack pie.  There's a reason why it's called crack pie.  

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I love using pumpkin in the fall, so in lieu of red velvet cupcakes, I made pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  

I used a recipe from Martha and got to baking.

Nutella and Rosemary Marshmallow Squares

Dessert #2 on the menu was Nutella and Rosemary Marshmallow Squares.  

I was inspired by an article I read in the LA Times about how a writer accidentally discovered how some  basic, homey desserts such as chocolate chip cookies, brownies and shortbread could be transformed with some unexpected ingredients such as herbs and spices.  One that particularly caught my attention was Rosemary Marshmallow Squares.  I use a lot of rosemary in savory meat dishes, but never in baked goods.  I'm not sure why but rosemary and marshmallows, although an unlikely pair, in theory seemed like it could work.

I thought serving rice crispy treats might be a little boring, so I decided to tweak a similar recipe for  Peanut Butter Crispy Bars from Baked.  I substituted peanut butter for nutella and made one layer of chocolate on top.  Some of my friends were taken aback by the strong rosemary flavor, but I loved it.  For me, I thought the piney flavor melded really well with the sweet, buttery rice crispy square and the hazelnut chocolate topping added another level of intrigue to it.

Dulce de Leche Brownie

Happy Belated New Year!  What better way to start my blog in 2011 with a post on dulce de leche brownies.  I made these for a housewarming I had a few months ago.  I went a little nuts and made four types of desserts.  Why?  Because I wanted a little something for everyone.  Not every one likes brownies or cupcakes, or so I thought.  :)