Catch 35

Coconut Shrimp

We went to dinner at Catch 35 in Naperville as we here it advertised a lot on the radio.  There is also a location in Chicago that Natalie went to a long time ago, but we told them it was our first time.

Coconut shrimp - more of an Asian flavor of coconut shrimp, the sauce was like a chili sauce so it was spicier than we expected and there was a lighter breading.  But who can go wrong with coconut shrimp.

Chilean Sea Bass - we saw this on the menu but when the waiter said it was their signature dish we felt we had to try it. We were hoping of a replication of an awesome Chilean sea bass dish we had in Las Vegas (at the Venetian).  It wasn't quite like that experience, but still a great piece of fish.  Light and tasty with a Hawaiian ginger scallion sauce.

Tuna Poke - poke style tuna with avocado, scallions, soy sauce and macadamia nuts.  Also a Hawaiian inspired seafood dish. We must have been dreaming of Hawaii. This dish would be wonderful on a hot summer day being that it is prepared and served cold. The flavors were great together.  Natalie felt the color of the sauce was not the most appetizing, but that can be overlooked.

Key lime pie - we tried their key lime pie for dessert.  Not quite like in the Florida Keys.  It had a whipped, airy texture instead of being more dense. But it was a nice sweet end to the meal.

Final thoughts on Catch 35:
Food - we liked all of the food.  If we went back we would repeat the entrees; they were so different but enjoyable.
Service - we went to eat here on a Friday during Lent so it was pretty busy.  Luckily we had reservations because it sounds like there weren't taking any walk-ins.  Because of the busyness of the restaurant the waiter didn't spend a lot of time telling us about the different fresh fish or the preparations on the menu.  So what he did say felt a bit rushed and forced.
Atmosphere - it was a lively Friday night.  The interior is decorated with sleek lines and a modern style. Going with the seafood feel - there were blue overtones.

Chilean Sea Bass

Tuna Poke

Key Lime Pie

White Chocolate Grill

We have eaten at the White Chocolate Grill once before a few years ago and wanted to try it again.  They also have 2 other locations in Arizona and Colorado. They are known for the grilled entrees so we ordered items that had steak and pork in them.

AZ Egg Rolls

AZ Egg rolls - basically southwest eggrolls, served with a jalapeno ranch dressing and salsa. They were served very warm.  Nothing overly special about them - typical southwest style egg rolls.

Filet Mignon Cobb Salad - good steak flavor, also included tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, avocado, blue cheese, marinated mushrooms, croutons and bacon with a vinaigrette.  The marinated mushroooms were a bit over powering but the rest of it was great.

Filet Mignon Cobb Salad

Pulled Pork sandwich with pickles and a side (Nick chose broccoli) - there was some confusion on this dish.  We were brought out the BBQ pork tenderloin instead of the pulled pork sandwich but they took it back and fairly quickly brought out the sandwich (they comped our dessert for this oversight). 

Pulled Pork Sandwich

White Chocolate Brownie - all of the desserts are listed as desserts for 2, they are a little larger on purpose, and because of the restaurant name they list the desserts first on their menu so you remember to save room. This dessert includes a warm Blonde Brownie, freshly baked and topped with French Vanilla ice cream, warm chocolate sauce, whipped cream and white chocolate shavings. So this was great.  With a restaurant called the White Chocolate Grill you have to try a white chocolate dessert.  It was warm and gooey and delicious.

White Chocolate Brownie

Final thoughts on White Chocolate Grill:
Food - The grilled food was good; the dessert was great so save room!
Service - we thought it was taking a long time for the entrees to come out considering we ordered a dinner salad and sandwich. Then when they brought the wrong entree we understood why.  They quickly tried to remedy the situation and quickly brought out the pulled pork sandwich.  They also ended up not charging us for the dessert to smooth things over so that was nice.
Atmosphere - very busy and loud for a Tuesday night.  It looks like the place to be for happy hour.









Cookie Dough Creations

After our dinner at Heaven on Seven we walked 2 blocks over to a place called Cookie Dough Creations which we had seen on Chicago's Best.  They specialize in "raw" cookie dough that is safe to eat because it is not made with eggs. They have 8 flavors of this cookie dough and many flavors of ice cream (to either have on its own or combine with the cookie dough).

Brownie Dough & Coconut Ice Cream

Turtle Shake

We purposefully had half of our dinner entrees wrapped up so we could enjoy dessert.  But this almost wasn't enough.  We sampled a couple of the raw cookie dough options and they were VERY rich so we decided they had to somehow be combined with ice cream.  Nick had a large ice cream shake with turtle cookie dough and vanilla ice cream and Natalie had a medium coconut almond ice cream with brownie dough on top.  Both were very filling and super sweet.  The combinations were great but the cookie dough fills you up much more than just ice cream does. Nick somehow finished his shake but was over full afterwards (and hopped up on sugar).  Natalie couldn't finish her combination and asked for a small shake cup so she could take it home (it was too good to throw away).  She was able to enjoy the rest the following evening.

Now maybe if we hadn't had dinner right before this we could have finished our items more easily but we decided this stuff is just way too sweet to order anything but a small.

Final thoughts on Cookie Dough Creations:
Food - great idea since who doesn't love raw cookie dough.  But just the cookie dough would be too overwhelming so good thing there is ice cream as well. (There is an option to but the raw cookie dough in between 2 cookies which just seems over the top).
Service/Atmosphere - counter service, just like an ice cream place

Heaven on Seven

We went to eat at the Naperville location of Heaven on Seven so Nick could compare it to our experience at Pappadeax.  He liked the food at Heaven on Seven much better.

Jalapeno Corn Blasters

As an appetizer we had the Bayou Jalapeno Corn Blasters with Honey Jalapeno dressing.  They were cubes of jalapeno corn bread dusted with some hot spice. It was a much larger portion than we were expecting.  Definitely suitable to share with four people. The corn bread was great - overall it was a bit spicier than Natalie would have liked, but perfect for Nick.

Both of our entrees came with either a soup or salad.  Nick had a salad and Natalie had the gumbo. The salad came with the same dressing as the appetizer. The gumbo was plenty spicy so with that in addition to the appetizer Natalie had her fair share of spiciness.

Gumbo

Salad

Shrimp Voodoo Linguine

Nick ordered the Shrimp Voodoo over linguine.  There was no way that Natalie was going to try something with that name since it would be way to spicy for her. It had a citrus/sweet flavor to start with and then it kicked you a moment later with the spice.  Although it was very spicy, the hotness didn't overpower the taste of the shrimp. Nick might try this with rice next time because the noodles left Nick's lips burning; the rice would have absorbed the sauce better.

Natalie ordered the fried soft shell crab Po' Boy Sandwich with honey jalapeno dressing.  She did not expect it to be so large.  There was more than enough crab for 2 sandwiches. The crab was a little scary looking the way it was presented (but that is to be expected with soft shell crab). But she had to just not think about that and just enjoy how it tasted.  This too came with the honey jalapeno dressing which was delightful.

Soft Shell Crab Po' Boy

Final Thoughts on Heaven on Seven:
Food - great food, lots of selection/variety, much better in a taste test between them and Pappadeaux
Service - We went to eat here on a weekday on our way back from a road trip - so we got there much earlier for dinner than we normally would.  There were only 2 other tables filled when we got there so we were surprised at how slow the service was. Literally we thought we would be in and out in much less than an hour but we were there for 1 1/2 hours. It took a while before we got water (and we were quite parched from it being such hot day), it took a while before we were able to order (apparently part of the issue was that another table had many many questions for the waitress), and it seemed like it was a bit slow in getting our food (this may have been subjective since we had skipped lunch and were hungry). Luckily the food overwhelmingly made up for this.
Atmosphere - the space is not that large so on the weekend it probably fills up quickly.  The one long wall is filled with tons of bottles of various hot sauces.  There are also several bottles of hot sauce at each table.  The other wall is filled with art work reflecting scenes of New Orleans.

Wall of Hot Sauce

Rosebud

We went to eat at Rosebud in downtown Naperville. This is one of many "Rosebud" establishments throughout the Chicago area. In fact, one of the other locations was where some friends of ours had their first date.

Penne pasta side

It was a wonderful evening.  We sat outside at the main corner of downtown Naperville and enjoyed some wonderful people watching. We stuck to traditional Italian fare - but that is what they are known for. We ate:
Gnocchi Bolognese - the gnocchi were light and airy. The sauce was great, it had a little bit of a kick to it. As a Bolognese sauce it had a lot more flavor than a marina which is what we wanted.
Eggplant Parmigian, with penne pasta side - the eggplant was almost like an eggplant parmigian lasagna; it was several layers of thinly sliced eggplant on top of each other.  Each slice was battered and fried lightly.  It was a massive portion of eggplant, much larger than most restaurant's servings of the same dish. The flavors melded throughout the dish; it was more elevated than just eggplant, cheese and sauce (which you find at most Italian restaurants).

Gnocchi Bolognese

We didn't have any starters but we were more than filled up by the food we had.  The entrees were huge portions.

Final thoughts on Rosebud:
Food - very good Italian food; step above local mom and pop Italian places
Service - waiter was friendly; our water was refilled promptly

Cross Section of Eggplant Parmigian

Atmosphere - it was a nice day outside and we ate al fresco so we didn't catch the vibe inside but it seemed like it was happening and there were several larger parties seated.

Q BBQ

Some friends of ours who are moving out of state wanted to have Q BBQ in La Grange on their last night in Illinois.  We had been there once before over a year ago and enjoyed it (but have been too busy trying other new and different restaurants that we hadn't been back).  As a side note, Natalie's mom knows someone who judges BBQ and he thinks Q BBQ is the best in the area.



Texas Chopped Brisket Sandwich Q style

For dinner we ordered the Texas Chopped Brisket Sandwich and a half slab of ribs with pulled pork.  The brisket sandwich was topped with blue cheese and cole slaw (what they call Q style) and it comes with Q puppies (hush puppies/corn fritters) and another side (we chose baked beans).  Along with the ribs and pulled pork, we had a double portion of Q puppies and green beans.  Our friends love Q puppies so much they suggested ordering them as a side in addition to the Q puppies that are provided with the meal - we weren't disappointed. The meat on the ribs fell off the bone and was moist.  The brisket and pulled pork were also moist and tender; they had a smoky flavor without being dried out.  At each table there is a tray with 4 different bbq sauces to add to your meat - Memphis Sweet, Texas Spicy, South Carolina Mustard and North Carolina Vinegar. Natalie liked the sweet and the mustard.  The men at the table liked combining the sweet and spicy together. The sides of baked beans and green beans were pretty typical of most bbq joints. We also could have chosen from other sides of mac n cheese, corn bread, fries or cole slaw.

Ribs and Pulled Pork

Final thoughts on Q BBQ:

Food - everyone in the group liked their respective dishes, some had never been there before but they said they would like to return.  This was our first time trying the ribs and they did not disappoint. We have tried all of the meat except for the chicken and loved it all. Some of the others in our group tried Q's micro brewed root beer and enjoyed it immensely.  We also enjoy that Q is located near where we live.

Service - order at a counter and they bring the plates out to your table.  We had a large party so it was a little confusing but they were nice to let us tie up so many tables for a long time.

Atmosphere - fairly happening for a Tuesday night. However, we were able to push together several smaller tables to make room for all of the group.  We also saw a lot of people carrying food out.

Meson Sabika

After a short hiatus for the Christmas holiday and lots of homemade food and goodies we have started venturing out again. We went to dinner at Meson Sabika located at 1025 Aurora Ave in Naperville.  Meson Sabika is a Spanish restaurant specializing in tapas - small plates of food which together form a full meal.  Natalie has been to this restaurant many times during her life including a celebratory dinner after her high school graduation. This was Nick's second visit to the restaurant.



Garlic Potato Salad

We went to dinner with Natalie's parents and two friends to celebrate Natalie's parent's wedding anniversary.  With six of us eating we ordered a number of tapas (the restaurant's rule of thumb is to order about 3-4 tapas per person and we fell within that ratio). We attempted to eat all of the tapas in a family style fashion.  It was a little cumbersome attempting this when we didn't know exactly how the portion sizes would work out.  For some of tapas we have enjoyed on previous visits we knew to order 2 portions for everybody to get a sufficient taste.  Our recommendation is if you are with a larger group consult your waiter for exact portion sizes to see if the dish is easy to split several ways.

Meson Sabika splits its tapas menu into cold and hot varieties. Amongst all of us we ordered 7 different cold tapas and 9 hot tapas.  We will list all of what was ordered below and then comment on our favorites.

Cold:


Beef Tenderloin with blue cheese, dates & mushrooms

Samon Curado - smoked salmon with toast points

Patatas con Alioli - garlic potato salad

Tostada con Piquillo - toast points with peppers stuffed with shrimp, scallops and salmon

Pisto Manchego - Sauteed vegetables with asparagus

Rollito de Buey - beef tenderloin wrapped around blue cheese, dates and mushroom

Gambas Marinadas - shrimp with a trio of sauces

Tostada con Centollo - toast points with avocado and king crab meat

Hot:
Quisquilla al Horno (daily special) - baked prawns with tomato sauce over pasta
Costillas de Cordero (daily special) - grilled lamb chops with asparagus and mashed potatoes
Empanada de Buey - beef empanada


Scallops and couscous

Pipirrana de Buey - skirt steak with blue cheese sauce

Gambas al Ajillo - Grilled tiger shrimp with garlic lemon butter

Cazuela de Pollo - chicken casserole with peppers, asparagus and a pimento cream sauce

Vieras al Albarino - grilled sea scallops served over couscous

Crepe Rellena - crepe of goat cheese, spinach, pine nuts and apples

Datiles con Tocino - roasted dates wrapped in bacon



Grilled shrimp in garlic lemon butter

Our favorite cold tapas were the beef tenderloin and the garlic potato salad.  We both enjoyed the beef tenderloin because it had well balanced flavors of both blue cheese and dates - sweet and tangy at the same time.  Natalie's perennial favorite is the garlic potato salad.  It makes regular potato salad seem bland because of the punch/zing of garlic flavor. Do not order this dish if you don't like garlic. We ate small samples of the other cold tapas and enjoyed them all.



Grilled lamb chops

Our favorite hot tapas were the tiger shrimp in the garlic lemon butter and the grilled lamb chop special.  The shrimp melted in our mouths and the garlic lemon butter enhanced the shrimp without overpowering it. The lamb chops were cooked perfectly, tender but not chewy.  They were accompanied by great mashed potatoes. Other honorable mentions were the bacon wrapped dates and the smoky flavor of the grilled scallops.

Somehow we all had enough room to each order a dessert. We (Nick and Natalie) ordered a chocolate, caramel and hazelnut tart and a sauteed banana with caramel and ice cream. In Nick's opinion the tart had a little too much bitter sweet chocolate and not enough caramel.  He preferred the banana because it had a great caramel sauce. Natalie's opinion was the reverse and she preferred the chocolate tart. The dessert menu is much more extensive now than in the past - there are now 11 desserts to choose from.

After our meal our group talked for a few minutes with the restaurant manager.  We asked him what are the most ordered tapas.  He responded that the top three ordered are the garlic potato salad, the bacon wrapped dates and oven baked goat cheese with garlic bread (Queso de Cabra).  We ordered 2 of these on this visit and have ordered the goat cheese in the past.  Then the manager mentioned his favorites are the scallop dish (that we ordered), a grilled lamb medallion dish (Cordero al Pastor), and the Crema de Chocolate (Creme Brulee) dessert - which Natalie's mom ordered and loved.

Also we should mention that besides tapas you can get soups, salads or paellas.  On the many visits Natalie's family has made to this restaurant they have only ordered the paella once - not because it is poor quality, but rather it takes a long time to cook and it is much more filling than any of the tapas.  We prefer to eat more of the small plate tapas to get a variety of flavors.

Final thoughts on Meson Sabika:
Food: always great, incorporates our favorite part of most meals - the appetizer.  With tapas, you get to try a lot more of the menu, without getting too full
Service - good service in terms on continuous filling of water glasses and bringing clean plates to the table. At one point in eating the hot tapas there were too many dishes that came out of the kitchen at the same time. If you are able to space out the ordering more that will be helpful when the food arrives

Chocolate Tart

Sauteed banana with caramel

Ambiance - fun atmosphere, we were there on a Friday night when live Spanish guitar music was playing in the background and later a flamenco dancer entertained the dinner guests.  Meson Sabika is located in a historic home so since some of the rooms are on the smaller side, there is not much space between tables.  This is a popular restaurant so reservations are recommended.