Hiatus

Due to a recent new addition to our family, we will probably not be going out to very many new restaurants in the near future. We still plan on eating out from time to time but will probably stick to local spots that we have been to in the past.

Nu Crepes

Upon the recommendation of a friend, we went to dinner at Nu Crepes in Elmhurst. We have not had crepes in a while so it sounded great.

Cali Savory Crepe

We knew that we wouldn't be able to eat 2 crepes each - savory and sweet. So we decided to split a savory crepe and each get a sweet crepe.

We had the Cali Savory crepe - with turkey, ham, avocado, spinach, bacon, cilantro-lime ranch and mozzarella and provolone cheese. It was quite flavorful and there was a lot of avocado. Since they knew we were sharing they split it in 2 already.

Sweet crepes

The Blonde - sweet crepe

Campfire - with marshmallows, chocolate chips, graham cracker, caramel and dark chocolate sauce. Basically this is a crepe version of S'mores so how can you go wrong.  It was a lot larger than we thought so thank goodness we didn't have 2 savory crepes.

Blonde - with banana and caramel. Also very good.  Not quite as large as the campfire crepe.  The fruit offset the sweetness of the caramel spread a bit.

Final thoughts on Nu Crepes:
Food - Everything we tried was great. There were other items that also sounded interesting that would be nice to try in the future.  All savory crepes come with an apple slaw. There is also a breakfast menu.

The campfire - sweet crepe

Service - you walk up to a counter to order and then the food comes to you. Initially we were the only ones there, but then a few more people arrived. They are in need of some extra hands for when there are more customers (there were help wanted signs posted) as someone needs to solely be the cashier when it gets busy.

Atmosphere - located in downtown Elmhurst on a cute street. It is a little tucked away so you don't see it from the main road. Fairly casual vibe. The only complaint we had is that it is only open until 7 pm for dinner (because they open at 7 am for breakfast service).  Good thing we saw that on their website ahead of time so we didn't get there too late.

Baffo

Amuse Buche

We went to dinner at Baffo which is the formal restaurant inside of Eataly by celebrity chef Mario Batali.

We just ordered a few things.
Ravioli - braised beef cheek ravioli with black truffles and Castelmagno cheese.

Ravioli

Agnolotti - wild mushroom filled pasta with garlic and ragusano cheese

Braised short rib with heirloom carrots

So we wanted to try this restaurant inside of Eataly because it is the fanciest restaurant there and we wanted to see what Mario Batali's Italian food would be like.

Well we were disappointed. The service was just bad. It took a half hour from when we were seated for us to order food (and for at least 15 minutes we were patiently sitting with our menus closed and the waiter was nearby several times).  It seems they were way more concerned about people's drink orders than anything else, and maybe because we just ordered water we were not important.

Agnolotti

The food itself was very good but overpriced.  Especially in a city like Chicago we could get a lot of great Italian food for a much better deal.  In fact we were just in Napa Valley a couple of weeks ago and ate at an Italian restaurant also run by a celebrity chef and we had a much better experience overall and the food was better.

Also something weird about the menu, there were some appetizers but no salads or soups.  We looked at the appetizers and couldn't order any of them due to current temporary dietary restrictions, but we would have loved to have a salad instead but didn't have that option.

Final thoughts on Baffo:
Food - The food was good but not the best Italian food we have eaten.  Also it was quite pricey for the size of the entrees.  We left a little hungry but were no appetizers we could eat and the desserts didn't excite us that much.

Braised Short Rib

Service - we described our experience above, but this is once again an example of how bad service can taint the overall experience.  We probably would have enjoyed the food a little more if the service wasn't so slow.

Atmosphere - the restaurant is much smaller than we thought it would be.  It feels very separate from the rest of the Eataly experience, which is good for peace and quiet but since it has its own entrance you wouldn't even have to go in the rest of Eataly to eat at Baffo.

Vistro

We went to Vistro in Hinsdale for Natalie's mother's birthday.  Vistro is a more casual offshoot restaurant of Vie in Western Springs.  We have been to Vie a few times and love it so we wanted to try this.

Fried Dill Pickles

Tempura Fried Dill Pickles - with garlic and dill mayonnaise, Natalie's mom had never tried fried pickles so we ordered this.  These were good - light and since they were tempura fried and not just regular fried

Toasted Ravioli

Toasted Ravioli - ricotta, marinara, parmesan. Wasn't as good as the fried pickles.

Mac n Cheese

Mac N Cheese - from the wood oven.  Good mac n cheese.  Better than expected.  Nick thinks mac n cheese in restaurants is overrated but he enjoyed this.

Pork Milanese

Skirt Steak

Pork Milanese - polenta, peas.  Nick preferred this dish to the other entree.  The flavors went really well together.

Skirt Steak - fries, roasted carrots, marinated mushrooms.  The steak was a little dry but the accompaniments were tasty.

Cookie Monster - salted chocolate chip cookie, the salt on/in it made it super tasty. Even though it was just a cookie, it was pretty amazing.

Final thoughts on Vistro:
Food - comparable food to Vie, but a lot more accessible and casual

Service - good service; we received some great recommendations from the waitress so that was helpful

Cookie Monster

Atmosphere - Casual atmosphere in downtown Hinsdale. Could go here for either a fancy or very casual experience.

Italian Beef Pizza that Natalie's parents ordered

BLT Pizza that Natalie's parents ordered

Umami Burger

We went to a late lunch at Umami Burger in Wicker Park. This restaurant has locations in other states but this is the only location in Illinois. We tried a couple of the burgers.

Umami Burger

Umami Burger (Original) - with parmesan frico, shittake mushroom, roasted tomato, caramelized onion, Umami ketchup

Throwback Burger - 2 patties, white cheddar cheese, miso mustard, Umami ketchup, pickles, minced onions

Throwback Burger

We also got a serving of Fries - they are thin cut fries which are served with 3 different sauces - umami ketchup, garlic sauce, and jalapeno sauce.  They fries were good not great, but the sauces were really good as a different option to regular ketchup.

Nick liked the Umami burger better but Natalie preferred the Throwback.  They told us the most popular burger is called the Manly burger but that didn't sound very appealing to us.

Final thoughts on Umami Burger:
Food - very tasty burgers, but a little pricey

Service - very good service. The server explained the whole menu and what the sauces were very thoroughly.

Atmosphere - This is a sit down restaurant which is different than some of the other casual burger joints. It is relatively small and they don't take reservations so we were lucky to be there on the late side of the lunch hour so we didn't have to wait.

Autre Monde

We finally went to dinner at Autre Monde in Berwyn.  We had heard about it from friends a while ago and then it was featured on Check Please last year.

Most of its menu consists of shared smaller plates.  So we ordered a few.

Roasted Cauliflower with raisins and pine nuts.  There was a sauce that covered this that was a little spicy.

Roasted Cauliflower

Scallop Spiedini - 2 scallops with broccoli rabe and grapefruit.  It was an interesting combination to have these ingredients together.  We were not expecting the grapefruit but the flavor of the fruit offset the saltiness of the broccoli.

Mushroom and Ricotta Tagliatelle

Mushroom and Ricotta Tagliatelle - This was our favorite dish of the night since we both love this type of pasta and this is a classic dish.

Duck Sausage Flatbread - with Manchego cheese, smoked tomato and basil oil.  This had a little kick to it as well.

Scallop Spiedini

We were pretty full after these 4 dishes so we didn't order dessert but it did seem like several people were ordering dessert around us.

Duck Sausage Flatbread

Final thoughts on Autre Monde:
Food - It was all great.  We were happy we got to try a few things - that is what we like about tapas style restaurants

Service - The food got out to us fairly quickly.  Pretty good service overall.

Atmosphere - It is a fairly small restaurant so it probably could get pretty packed on the weekends. We were there on a weeknight so it wasn't completely full.

El Tapeo

We went to dinner at El Tapeo in Oakbrook at Le Meridien hotel. This restaurant opened about 6 months ago and we had heard good things about it.  It is mostly a tapas restaurant but does have some entree size dishes as well.  We decided to go with a bunch of small plates so we could try a bunch of stuff.

Pan con Tomate - spanish style toast with tomato jam and spanich olive oil, with manchego cheese. There were a few pieces of toast with the tomato jam on top.  It was sweeter  than we thought but good.  We wish there had been a little more grated manchego cheese on top because there was an up charge for this.

Pan con Tomate

Pimientos - blistered shishito peppers, with lemon zest and sea salt.  This was definitely the best deal of the bunch. When it came to the table it seemed like a very large amount of peppers. We were thinking there would only be about half as many.  Nick liked the peppers but thought they would be a bit more charred given the description.  Natalie thought there should have been a sauce to go with them.  She ended up dipping them in the leftover sauces from the other dishes.

Mushroom Fritters

Datiles - bacon wrapped medjool dates stuffed with marcona almonds.  This was Nick's favorite dish.  He is a sucker for bacon wrapped dates. They satisfied his need for both a sweet and savory bite.

Croquetas de Setas - cremini mushroom fritters and cilantro yogurt.  This was Natalie's favorite dish - little mushroom bundles that had a lot of flavor to them.

Pimientos

Patatas Bravas - fingerling potatoes with a spicy tomato sauce, creme fraiche and scallions. Nick just thought this dish was okay but Natalie liked it.  These were served warm and the sauce wasn't too spicy. Because this was a potato dish it made us think of one of our favorite potato tapas dishes - the garlic potato salad served at both Meson Sabika and Emilio's. No potato dish will ever compare to that one.

Bacon wrapped dates

Sopa de Calabasa - roasted butternut squash bisuqe with granny smith apples, serrano ham and mahon cheese.  This is the only soup on their menu.  It was a nice and creamy soup.  The apples, ham and cheese were cut into little cubes and were sitting on a floating crouton in the middle of the dish.  We wish there could have been a bit more of those cubes or bigger pieces of them.

Patatas Bravas

Salpicon Cangrejo de Mar - lump crab salad, avocado and blood orange gelle over toast points.  The presentation was interesting - the crab salad was topped with a layer of avocado and then a circular layer of the orange jelle.  Combined it tasted very interesting.  We wish there had been a couple more pieces of the toast so we didn't have to pile so much on the toast we had.

Final thoughts on El Tapeo:

Butternut Squash Bisque

Food - the food was good.  Certainly the small plates sounded a bit more interesting to us than the entrees and that way we got to try a little more of the menu options. Maybe because we are so used to the tapas options at other tapas restaurants we probably would choose those places over El Tapeo.  But that isn't to say this food wasn't good just that maybe we have just had those so often we are more familiar and comfortable with those options.

Lump Crab Salad

Service - there weren't that many customers there on a weeknight.  The service was good but there were a couple of times when we thought the server could have gotten to us a little quicker. We ordered the food in 2 batches, but maybe we should have less in more batches because 5 small plates came to us at once. Luckily there were small and could fit on the table but maybe that could have been paced better.

Atmosphere - El Tapeo is located on the 9th floor of Le Meridien Hotel, so it is a neat setting. It is located near most of the other restaurants at Oak Brook Mall, so probably most of the other patrons were staying at the hotel.

Chicago Diner

Pizza Puffs

We went to dinner at the Chicago Diner.  The Chicago Diner is a vegan restaurant.  We heard about it on a show from the Cooking Channel about Unique sweets. That show was focused on the desserts and shakes but we tried out the other food as well.  Once again, we seem to like Karyn's (a raw and vegan restaurant)a little better.

For savory items we had:
Pizza puffs - empanada-esque items

Burger

Karma burger - sweet potato-tofu patty, grilled pineapple, sprouts, onion,

Gyro - sliced seitan, onion, tomato, lettuce

These items were good for what they were - non-meat items, but we still would prefer the real thing of these dishes.

Dessert items:
Mint Chocolate Chip Shake- very good, you can tell it is not really ice cream but it is delicious

Caramel Crunch Torte - almond cake with vanilla cookie crunch filling, chocolate ganache coating, caramel sauce

Gyro

The desserts were very good and you wouldn't be able to tell (even with the milkshake) that they were vegan. We would go again just for the desserts but it is quite a distance from us so that probably won't be happening.

Final thoughts on The Chicago Diner:
Food - it didn't feel like you were eating vegan; but it wasn't quite the same as the meat filled options for the savory dishes.  The desserts could stand on their own though.

Service - there were only a few people in the restaurant at the time we went so service was pretty quick.

Mint Chocolate Chip Shake

Atmosphere - good size space.  We couldn't get too much of a feel for the atmosphere because there weren't that many people there.

Caramel Crunch Torte

Roy's

Appetizer Trio

We went to dinner at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion restaurant in Chicago.  We have been to Roy's restaurants before in Las Vegas and Hawaii but not this Chicago location. We were there to have their Restaurant week menu.

We have enjoyed eating at Roy's in the past and wanted to see what they would do for restaurant week.  Overall the food was good, but we had such a bad service experience that overall we were quite disappointed.

Course 1 - appetizer trio of pork & shrimp gyoza, Szechwan pork rib, vegetable spring roll.  Small bites to be able to try everything.

Lobster Dim Sum

Course 2 - Maine lobster dim sum - with lobster cream sauce.  The lobster sauce was great. We enjoyed this dish and wish there had been more of it.

Course 3 Macadamia crusted mahi mahi - with red potatoes, asparagus and lobster cream sauce or braised beef short ribs - with yukon mash and broccolini.  Both options were good.  The same lobster sauce for the dim sum was with the mahi mahi so that was great.

Course 4 Dessert - either strawberry lemongrass creme brulee or chocolate spice cake.  The creme brulee was good and we should have ordered 2 of those as the chocolate spice cake tasted more like fruit cake than anything else so it wasn't that good.

Mahi Mahi

As for our service experience.  We got to the restaurant right at our reservation time.  But they didn't seat us because they said there weren't any available seats.  But there was an entire section of tables that didn't have anyone at them so that was weird.  We waited about 20 minutes and they told us that it would be longer but we would want to sit in the empty section.  We said that was fine but maybe we should have waited longer because the service we experienced was very slow between each course and that may have been because we we in the no man's land section and they may have forgotten about us.  It just felt like we were there forever when we could have been done in half the time.

Short Rib

Final thoughts on Roy's
Food - good food but misleading on the chocolate spice cake.  Overall doesn't compare to Roy's in Hawaii.

Service - see above.  We were definitely disappointed with the service and it definitely tainted the whole experience.

Atmosphere - nice overall feel.  Bar upfront and main dining area in the back.  There is an open view to the kitchen.

Creme Brulee

Farmhouse Tavern

Fried Cheese Curds

We went to dinner for Restaurant Week at Farmhouse Tavern in Chicago.  We had seen this restaurant featured on Check Please of couple of months ago and decided to go when we saw they were participating in Restaurant Week. They offered a 3 course $33 dinner.

1st course
Fried Cheese Curds with house made catsup and spicy sauce.  These were amazing.  I guess you have to like cheese.

Winter Salad

Winter Salad with endive, bibb lettuce, cranberries, pistachio, mint, white balsamic.  So this salad offset whatever guilt we were feeling about the cheese curds.  It was light and refreshing and tasted great. Definitely one of the better salads we have had recently.

2nd course
Braised Short Ribs with celery root, puffed wild rice and wheat berries.  We enjoyed the short ribs themselves and the whole dish had a lot of flavor.  What we didn't like was that the short rib was presented still attached to the bone.  It was extremely difficult to get the meat off the bone and would have been so much easier to eat if the kitchen had just done that part for us. It probably was part of the presentation to have it arranged this way but was quite challenging.

Pork Loin

Grilled Pork Loin - with cabbage, mushrooms, bacon and peanuts.  So this dish was a lot spicier than we would have ever imagined as there was no indication of this on the menu. The flavors of the pork with the veggies and especially the peanuts was neat. We didn't like the bacon that was part of the meal as it tasted like all fat to us.  Fortunately it was arranged as 2 larger chunks that we could easily avoid eating without mixing with anything else.

Chocolate Budino pudding with toffee and ice cream - the pudding was good and it went down easily as we were starting to get full.

Rice Pudding - milk jam, pistachio and cherry brittle. Very sweet and a little more liquidy than other rice pudding, probably due to the milk jam.

Chocolate Budino

Final thoughts on Farmhouse Tavern:
Food - we didn't know what to expect from the food, but we enjoyed most everything.

Service - pretty good service, but nothing special

Atmosphere - the interior of the restaurant is a bit cramped.  There are 2 levels but both levels have large bar areas so the actual restaurant seating is tight.  We were at a very small table and felt a bit crowded when others were seated at a table next to us.

Rice Pudding