Chicago Food Photos

I don't have many food photos to share from this quick Chicago trip. It was supposed to be a two night visit to catch (2) Yankees @ Cubs games. But due to poor weather in New York and a cancelled flight, the trip ended up being just a single night.

So just the basics...

Cheese & sausage deep dish pizza from Giordano's at their
223 W. JACKSON BLVD, Chicago location

Deep Dish Pizza is fairly self-explanatory: It's more of a pie in it's form: crust on the bottom and sides and stuffed with meat and cheese combinations, then topped with tomatoes. Each pie takes about 30-45 minutes to cook, so plan accordingly.

Perhaps my favorite meal of the trip. An Italian Beef from Al's Beef from the original location. Got hot and sweet peppers, double dipped, and served unwrapped

The Italian Beef sandwich is similar to the popular French Dip...thinly sliced pieces of roast beef on a hard roll and dipped in au jous. But for the Italian beef, it includes sweet and hot peppers giving it a more powerful flavor. It's messy food to each but well worth it.

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Santa Barbara FisHouse

Here's a quick reco for those traveling to Santa Barbara:

Every Tuesday and Wednesday at the Santa Barbara FisHouse, they offer a special: a 1.5 lb Maine lobster for $19.99. I've been to the FisHouse before and they have a number of good things on their menu. But a $20 Maine lobster deal for a California restaurant is something one has to consider.

Bacon wrapped scallops with onion rings and BBQ sauce

Santa Barbara FisHouse monster bowl of clam chowder

$19.99 Lobster special

In addition to the lobster, Santa Barbara FisHouse offers a tasty bacon wrapped scallop appetizer with a small stack of onion rings and BBQ sauce.

The chowder is solid, not great, but tasty.

My recommendation would be to start at Enterprise Fish Co., just down the street and get a bowl of the famous lobster bisque covered in puff pastry. They also have a tasty seared ahi appetizer (half price happy hours) with caramelized onions, eggplant and red peppers.  Enterprise Fish Co. has locations in Santa Barbara and Santa Monica.

Lobster bique topped with puff pastry from Enterprise Fish Co.
Also, seared ahi with caramelized onions, eggplant and red peppers.

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Tapas from List in Belltown, Seattle, WA

Lounge, tapas, great seafood, generous happy hour...sign me up. 

When I made plans to meet up with someone for dinner in Seattle last week, in knowing the person quite well, I was at ease in allowing her to make the decision as to where we should go eat. And I couldn't have been happier.

We went to List, in the Belltown section of Seattle. List has a great happy hour deal, with drinks and great priced tapas cut to half-price. We had a total of 5 tapas, 3 white wines and 3 grey goose and tonic for a total price of $60. Note that draft beer for happy hour is only $2.95, so for many, that $60 cost might be cut in half for a dinner for two.

Be sure to take a look at their menu...it's pretty impressive and the quality of the food superb.

List

Happy hour:  

Sunday and Monday all day

Tuesday through Thursday, 4-6:30 + 9-midnight

Friday and Saturday 4-630

Menu

Grilled chilean sea bass

Cannelloni with spinach and ricotta

Bacon wrapped wild florida prawns

Gnocchi with black truffle cream

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Seattle Breakfast Restaurants near Belltown

After many trips to Seattle, it seemed like it was time to finally write a piece dedicated to breakfast options the city has to offer in Belltown and the tourist area of Pike Place Market.

So if you find yourself planning on being in the Belltown area, here are three places to try:

Le Pinchet:

This french cafe is a place I find myself going to often. With a traditional menu of French food offerings, there is plenty of quality to choose from. If you are a breakfast traditionalist, you might not find it to be your kind of place. There were group of southern Americans who sat next to us and opted to leave when they were told "no" the the question one of them posed: "Do you have any taters?".

Œufs plats, jambon et fromag with Saucissons séchés à l’huil

Pain et Beurr

Bacco Cafe:
Another great breakfast option located on the southern end of Belltown, just a few blocks from the tourist haven of Pike Street. Like Le Pinchet, Bacco has a menu with a less than typical American breakfast feel, with a heavy Italian flavor. But it does have a number of more traditional options. You're best bet though is to try something outside your comfort range...you won't be disappointed.

Italian sausage hash with red peppers and egg whites with a bagel

Market Crab Omelet

Farm fresh eggs and slices of avocado,
with Market fresh Dungeness crab.

Sweet Iron Waffles:
I'm almost including this as a joke since a waffle is so easy, any place can make them. But when you go most of a year living in a country without much in the form of syrup, good bacon, or even waffles, you find the best way to get a fix is the quickest. Sweet Iron is located downtown, which is a ghost town on the weekends. But for a good price, you can get one of their waffles made to order in about 3 minutes.

There are a number of good options of their Liege waffles to choose from. You'll find the traditional Strawberry & whipped cream. But you can also try their Banana Brulee with Caramel Sauce, Brie & Basil, and my choice, the Bacon & Maple Syrup waffle.

Sweet Iron Bacon Waffle with Maple Syrup

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Food Vendors at the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle

It's always great when you are traveling and when in a city, they happen  to have a local festival with a strong focus in food.

And that was the case this past weekend in Seattle for the Northwest Folklife Festival.

With about 50 food vendors, we had some tough choices to make. In the end, our  choice was to go for the more obscure cuisine options...culinary types I personally seldom find with ease in Buenos Aires or US cities.

So our choices at the 2011 Northwest Folklife Festival were:

Russian Beef Dumplings from Pel'meni:

Pork Lumpia which is a Philipino pork eggroll from Espi's:

And Spicy Beef Sambusa from one of the Kenyan food vendors, Kenyan Kitchen.

Here's the complete list of food vendors. Many will be there again for the Taste of Seattle event on July 15th.

Food Vendors

Get your tastebuds ready…

Bagley Roadway and Food Triangle

• Biringer Farm-Favorite desserts from a local berry farm
• Chutney’s Grille- Indian and Northwest fusion
• The Corn Roasters- Corn on the cob, served on a stick with a variety of spices
• Espi’s Sausage and Tocino Company- Filipino and Pan Asian food
• Little C’s Funnel Cake
• Pico De Gallo- Mexican seafood with a Northwest twist
• Ray’s Veggie Stir Fry and Teriyaki Chicken
• Viva! Vegetarian Grill- All-American classics, all vegan
• Warthog Barbeque Pit- All your BBQ favorites
• Washington’s Own Apple Dumpling Gang- Apple and peach cobblers with vanilla ice cream
• Ziegler’s Bratwurst Haus- Authentic German sausages and those famous fries

Center Square

• Klassique Kollections- Delicious Cajun cooking
• Peanut Butter Goodness- Deep-fried PB&J… yes, you read that right
• Seoul Short Ribs- Kalbi marinated chicken and beef

Fountain

• Mighty-O Donuts- Vegan, organic donuts
• Piecora’s New York Pizza
• Scotty’s Northwest- Fresh Northwest seafood and salad
• Thai Heaven

Key Roadway

• Ahepa- Authentic Greek food, fast!
• Asian Breeze- Small bites of Pan Asian cuisine
• Big City Burritos- Vegetarian burritos, a Festival favorite for over 25 years!
• Blue Elephant- The ever-popular elephant ears and more
• Bombay Grill- Healthy Indian cuisine
• Crab Cakes and Seafood Specialties
• Horn of Africa- Authentic food from the East African coast

Kobe Bell

• Bahn Thai
• Crepealicious- Savory and sweet crepes with a Seattle twist
• Eloi: Taste the Caribbean
• Island Noodles- Buckwheat yakisoba noodles with fresh veggies
• Kaleenka Piroshkys- Freshly made bread dough and authentic fillings, a Festival staple for over 30 years!
• Shishkaberry’s- Chocolate-dipped fruit on a stick

Mural Roadway

• Bumpus Burgers
• Gyros! Gyros! Gyros!- Authentic Greek cuisine
• Hi’s Fruit/New Orleans Beignet- Frozen chocolate banana, fruit smoothies, beignets and more
• Kenyan Kitchen- Dine on Sambusa , beef, veggie or chicken Piripiri, followed by a jolt of Matunda juice
• Pat’s Philly Steak Sandwiches
• Pel’Meni-Popular Russian dumplings with a Northwest touch
• Southern Kitchen- Down home cooking featured on the Food Network’s program “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives”

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