Seadog Sushi - Chicago, IL

I've been eyeing this sushi restaurant since it opened near our neighborhood and was so happy that there was a sushi restaurant near by.  Within the past six months, I've only been there twice now and it's not because I didn't like it, I just keep forgetting that it's there.  I failed to take pictures the first time, but here's what I had for dinner with Aleen awhile back.  

Aleen loves gomaae, spinach with sesame dressing. so we got an order of that.  It came in three little mounds of steamed spinach with sesame dressing on top.  

Province - Chicago, IL

I am so embarrassed that I am months and months behind in my posts.  I can't even remember what I ate.  This was a lovely dinner though that I had with my friend Christina.  

We were greeted with an amuse bouche of fried olives.  It took us awhile to figure out what to order so they accidentally brought us two plates of this.  Psst... don't tell anyone, we didn't mind though.  :)

Girl & the Goat - Chicago, IL

Can I just tell you how long I've been waiting to go to Girl & the Goat?  I made reservations on October 10, 2011 and we didn't actually get to go until February 20, 2011.  That's 133 days or 4 months and 10 days if anyone is counting.  So the story goes that you need to make reservations about two months in advance if you want to eat at a reasonable time and we ended up having to cancel our December reservation because we were stuck in a snow storm.  Just my luck I tell you!  I promptly made new reservations for two months later and told my friends I would disown them if them didn't show up.  Thankfully they all showed up and the weather was much more forgiving this time.  :)   

The restaurant is right on Randolph, known as Restaurant Row.  Inside, it has an industrial, loft feel to it, but yet feels really cozy and inviting at the same time. It might have to do with the fun, colorful artwork on the walls and lounge chairs at the front where you could also nibble on some food.  When we walked in, we saw Stephanie talking to a group of dinners.  It's always a good sign to see the boss working that night.  . 

We got seated and were greeted with these cute table settings.  You can see goat motifs all throughout the restaurant.  Super cute! 

Honky Tonk Barbeque - Chicago, IL

I received a gift certificate to Honky Tonk awhile back so one a cold, snowy night I dragged my friends to Pilsen to check out this place known for their BBQ.  

Here's what it says on their website: 

 

"Honky Tonk Barbeque features championship barbeque pork, beef, chicken and other down-home dishes. We feature slow, wood-roasted beef, pork and chicken. It is cooked over a wood burning fire with no natural gas. This results in pulled pork and smoked brisket that is cleaner tasting and free of the taste of fuel that is noticable in almost all the other barbeque you will find in town. Come and try it for yourself and see what a difference the wood makes!"  They were also featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. 

Keyshawn's Mom's Candied Yams (with Marshmellows)

Keyshawn's Mom's Candied Yams

Ingredients

3 pounds sweet potatoes or yams

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 sticks sweet butter, cubed

Peel potatoes and cut into 2-inch cubes. Place potatoes in large pot, cover with sugar, brown sugar and butter cook over medium heat until potatoes are fork tender (about 20 minutes) but not mushy.

RoliRoti Gourmet Rotisserie - San Francisco, CA

One of my closest friends from college got married in a tiny little town near San Francisco a few weeks ago and it was a blast. It was a fun filled weekend, but a definite highlight was our dinner prepared by RoliRoti, a rotisserie food truck. She had originally planned on having dinner at the only restaurant in town, but they were charging exorbitant prices for fish and chips, so she asked the wonderful people at RoliRoti if they wouldn't mind driving an hour up from San Francisco to cater a dinner for her wedding party.

For those that have never heard of RoliRoti, it's a rotisserie food truck based in San Francisco that serves free-range chicken, Heritage pork and local lamb, prepared by owner Thomas Odermatt, a Swiss former organic farming student whose business card reads “Rotisseur.” You can read up on Mr. Rotisseur himself here.

I've heard so much about RoliRoti so I was so excited when they pulled up to our house. From the side, it looks like a regular van, but prop open the back and you see a built in rotisserie grill. Where can I get one of those?

Here is a close up.

On top of the rotisserie was the Porchetta (por-KET-ta). My friend described it to me as basically a pork roll, a free range pork loin that is wrapped in a layer of pork belly. Thomas takes the pork loin and loads on the garlic, fresh herbs like rosemary, marjoram, cracked black pepper and fennel seeds. He then wraps a pork belly and skin on top, ties a nice bow around it and skewers it on a rotisserie for four hours until the skin is crispy brown on the outside, and the meat is succulent on the inside. Thomas typically uses the Porchetta and serves it in a sandwich at his food truck stop at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market every Thursdays and Saturdays. I hear the waits can go for hours. We were so thrilled knowing that we'd have all of the Porchetta to ourselves that night.

Below the perfectly packaged Porchetta were the Gourmet Rotisserie Chickens. Thomas grills only the freshest corn-fed chicken from Sonoma County, which he sprinkles with herbs and spices. And don't forget that it's also getting bathed by the Porchetta drippings from above. Have mercy.

As if that was not enough, at the bottom of the rotisserie was a layer of halved french fingerling potatoes that had been tossed with fresh rosemary and unpeeled pieces of garlic. These potatoes were just hanging loose, getting a nice sun tan and catching every juice from the chicken and porchetta morsels above. We all know that there's nothing better than golden brown roasted potatoes cooked in chicken and pork fat renderings, right?

The caterer said that he had started cooking this on his drive up. The drive up to Bolinas is quite windy and treacherous so thank goodness these chickens were skewered on tight. He said he had about an hour or so more of cooking left so we waited. The truck was stationed outside and every 10 to 15 minutes, a few of us would venture outside to check on our dinner and just stare glassy eyed into these skewered meats being rotated round and round. You could tell that dinner was almost ready when you heard the pork skin start to crackle and the birds were getting nice and golden as well.

A close up of the triplets.

When the food was all ready, he laid out all the other dishes that accompanied this glorious feast.

We had some Heirloom Tomato Salad with crispy shallot vinaigrette and fresh basil. Oh my lord, these were so good!! Anyone that has tried heirloom tomatoes knows they are the real deal. Crazy expensive anywhere you can get your hands on them, but so full of flavor.

At the bottom of the picture, you'll see Summer Corn Salad, which consisted of charred corn and fresh avocados tossed in lime-jalapeño vinaigrette, garnished with cilantro.

Here is our dear friend untying our present and preparing to slice up pieces of that infamous Porchetta. We had a delicious onion marmalade, some French sea salt and rolls from Acme Bread Company to round out our meal.

Here's a picture of our plate. Every single thing on that plate was heavenly and quickly devoured.

I wish I lived in SF. I'd gather a bunch of my friends every weekend and have this catered if I could. Everything tasted so fresh and so flavorful. Without a doubt, this was the best food at a wedding ever! Congratulations J & M! Love you guys, and your taste in food trucks! :)

Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Remember my quest to eat more sweet potatoes. Well, I usually bake them in the oven and eat them plain like every other Korean person, but I thought I'd try a new recipe. This requires slightly more effort than throwing whole sweet potatoes into an oven, but it's a nice variation. I would cut down on the oil for next time though, it was way too oily. It doesn't require all that oil.

Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Ellie Krieger

2 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil (I would adjust to make sure the potatoes are well covered, but I don't think you need this much oil)

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into 1-inch pieces and put in a 9 by 13 baking dish.

In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, honey and lemon juice. Pour mixture over potatoes and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the salt, and bake, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, until potatoes are tender.

I flipped them around halfway through, but here's what they looked like after an hour.

Roasting carrots the same way would be mighty tasty too. I found myself just nibbling on this for breakfast, as a snack and for dinner, so it's pretty versatile.

I'm trying this recipe next. The best part is that it takes even less prep work, no peeling the skin! Sweet (potato)! I know, so corny I am. Have mercy, it's been a long week ... =)