#193 - Le Pain Quotidien, Chicago IL

Last weekend was Wisconsin-palooza...a 4-day extravaganza of funtivities with friends. I'll be doing a post that recaps the weekend as a whole, but figured I'd do restaurant reviews first. 

My flight into Chicago was way bright and super early on Friday morning. My college friend Cristin lives there and I don't see her nearly enough, so my original plan was to meet her for lunch. But unfortunately she had a super busy week at work, so that didn't pan out. Clearly that means I'll have to go back for a longer visit! Instead I went straight to Reg's apartment to meet him & Kerrie. 

Reg lives on the North side of Chicago, and has stunning views of the lake from his apartment. I wish it was a sunny day, but you still get the sense of how awesome it is

I was starving by the time I got there. Surprisingly, the restaurant options within walking distance were limited. Reg was working and Kerrie was making her sign for the Garth concert, so I wanted to go somewhere kind of quick where I could get carryout. Reg said there was a new cafe just a couple blocks away, and I had seen it on my walk to the apartment, so I decided to check it out. 

Le Pain Quotidien is French for The Daily Bread. It's a cute restaurant that looks very much like a French bakery. There's an outdoor patio out front that was packed because it was a beautiful fall day. Once inside, you can order at the counter or be seated for full service. What I also like is that even if you do the counter, they have a couple of small tables where you can enjoy baked goods or a coffee or tea. They also have a lounge seating area with couches. In the full service seating area there's a huge family style table in the middle. There are tall windows along 2 sides of the building, providing tons of natural light. 

I had never heard of this restaurant until last Friday. And then I learned that they have locations in Chicago, LA, NYC, Philly, and Washington DC. I'm surprised they don't have any in Dallas or Houston. They would do really well there. Not only is it the restaurant, but they also sell oils, spreads, coffees, etc. I also learned that some of the locations offer baking classes! How cool is that?

They've got some of the menu listed on a large board behind the order counter, and then the cashier gave me a complete printed menu. As I browsed, I couldn't help but notice the 2 displays of freshly baked goods next to the cash register. 

Of course that was the last thing I needed, but they all looked so tempting.  I eventually gave in and got a coconut macaroon

This was super rich, but really delicious. There's nothing like the taste of toasted coconut. I think it would be outstanding served warm. But I was hungry and didn't want to wait to get back to the apartment, so I devoured it immediately while I waited for my meal. 

The menu features breakfast/brunch items, soups, salads, open-faced sandwiches, hot dishes, and platters.  A lot of the dishes are very unique and eclectic. If you're a fast food, or regular American restaurant type person, this won't be your style. But I think it's a good way to expand your horizons and try things you wouldn't normally get. I went back and forth on numerous options, and eventually settled on the oven roasted chicken and smoked mozzarella tartine

Tomatoes, arugula, tomato salsa & basil oil served on organic whole wheat sourdough bread

I have to say, I was underwhelmed. The bread was good, but the tomato salsa being spread directly onto the bread made it pretty soggy by the time I ate it.  However, that was a good 15 minutes after I left the restaurant. So it's probably not a fair representation of the dish served straight from the kitchen. I really liked the fresh tomatoes on top. The basil oil added great flavor, I just wish there was more of it. Maybe even some on the side to dip the sandwich in. I was totally caught off guard by the big slices of mozzarella. I'm not sure what I expected, but that wasn't it. However, it did have good flavor, as did the chicken.

I need to give this place another chance, and do the full service dine in so I can get the full experience. I feel like that's the only fair way to get a real representation. Besides, there were several other items on the menu that I would like to try. 

#27 - Bar Umbriago, Chicago, IL

On my last day in Chicago, Cristin and I needed some Sunday brunch.  We had an awesome time hanging out with our Purdue friends the night before, and I became a huge fan of cucumber vodka. 

We had seen Bar Umbriago both of the previous nights, and Cristin had never eaten there before, so we decided to give it a shot.  It's right on the corner, it had a cute little outdoor patio, and looked like a fun place.  We were seated at a window table, and with the beautiful weather they had all the windows open.  I love their pub-height tables, and really need to find one of those for my dining room.

One of the highlights is the make-your-own bloody mary bar and bottomless mimosas.  I'm not a fan of bloody mary's.  I just can't bring myself to drink tomato juice. And both of us had more than enough beverages the night before.  So we decided to stick to the food menu.

I decided to try the veggie benedict.  I'd never had that before, and it looked very tasty. 

I'm not usually a poached egg person, but it was good.  The hollaindaise sauce was really good, and the tomato added a unique flavor that I liked a lot.  The potatoes were absolutely delicious but I had to force myself not to eat them all.  The skin was crispy and the inside was soft and perfectly cooked. 

The server was pushing the pork belly hash, so I went with that as well, figuring it would just be a small side dish.

It was definitely a lot more food than I was expecting.  I loved that it was served in a cast-iron pot!  It was okay, but I probably wouldn't order it again.  The pork belly just didn't do it for me.  And to think I passed up a side of thick-cut bacon for it... 

Neither of us could resist, so we ordered the nutella pancakes to share.  I mean seriously...who can pass up nutella?  I could eat it straight out of the bottle.

OMG these were fantastic!!  We both agreed that we should have skipped the other stuff and just had the pancakes.  The pancakes were a lot lighter than I expected, which was great.  I thought there would be more nutella in them, but then I guess that would totally counteract the lightness of the pancakes.

Would I go back?  Definitely!  There were some other dishes that looked really good, and I think I need to try out the bottomless mimosas. 

#26 - RPM Italian Restaurant, Chicago, IL

Julie and Wendy arrived in Chicago Saturday afternoon for our mini Purdue reunion.  We hadn't seen each other in years, so we spent the first hour catching up and getting ready for the evening.  Even though our conversations were now work, kids, and husbands, it felt like we were still back in college, getting ready for a night on the town.  Julie had brought lots of pictures from the Club Lutz parties in college, and they immediately took us back those 20 years.

From the time we planned this trip, Cristin had been raving about RPM Italian Restaurant. It's partially owned by Bill & Giuliana Rancic, and is located in Chicago's River North neighborhood. 

We tried to go on Friday night, and it did not work out well because the whole restaurant was jam packed. It was at least a 90 minute wait for a table, and you could barely even walk through the bar area to look for open bar seating. We weren't letting that happen a second time, so on Saturday we arrived at 6pm.  It worked out perfectly too, because the hotel to RPM was a 5 minute walk, and then another 5 minutes to Tim's condo for the party. There was a short wait in the main dining room, but when we saw open seating in the bar area we sat there.  

The restaurant is beautiful, with exposed ceilings, lots of floor-to-ceiling windows, white chairs and black tables. 

Photo courtesy of Ricco Rocca

The menu features a lot of small, shareable plates. I love that, because you can try several dishes. It's not a huge menu, but they do offer quite a few options, including appetizers, both hot and cold antipasti, homemade pastas, and entrees.

We started with both types of bread...fresh homemade ricotta with semolina toast

and truffle garlic bread

The ricotta was phenomenal. So light and fluffy. I had never had super fresh ricotta before and, just like everything else, fresh makes such a significant difference. There is really nothing like it. Yes, it was just sitting in that oil, but the oil infused beautiful flavor into the ricotta.  When the bread ran out I kept eating the ricotta plain, but we then ordered more bread. The garlic bread was fantastic as well.  There were herbs baked into the bread, but it was the fresh herbs on top, as well as the truffle and garlic, that brought out such an intensely wonderful flavor.

The appetizer special was fried squash blossoms

I've never had them before, and was a little leery so I let the others try it first.  They all said it was delicious, so I dove in...and they were right. The blossoms very lightly fried, and the sauce was delicious. 

Next we got prime beef meatballs

These meatballs were amazing. I love the presentation in the skillet, and the freshly grated parmesan added a wonderful bite to the sauce. The sauce itself was homemade and excellent.

The signature dish is Mama DePandi's Bucatini Pomodoro

Probably some of the best pasta I've ever had.  The tomato sauce is absolute heaven.  I know pasta is pasta, but I swear the shape changes the taste.  Maybe it's that some shapes absorb sauce better.  Who knows.  Point is, I must go and find some bucatini.  I actually found the recipe on Pinterest, but I'm afraid to make it cause I know it won't taste the same.  But I guess since I won't be back in Chicago any time soon, I may try it...in a few months.

For dessert, we had the Tartufo

I just realized I forgot to take a picture, so this is the one from the website.  It's hazelnut gelato with a chocolate shell...in other words, heaven.  I don't even think you need to guess, I could have torn through that thing all by myself.

Will I go back?  There is absolutely no question about that. Everything about our experience was fantastic. Even though there are thousands of restaurants in Chicago, this one is on my list for my next trip.

#25 - Food Life, Chicago, IL

It was about 11AM Saturday morning when Cristin and I got up.  I can't remember the last time I had slept that late, and it was great to not have to set an alarm clock.  Cristin wanted to do some shopping, to find something to wear for the reunion that night.  I wasn't planning to buy a thing.  Three stores and lots of money later, I had 3 bags of clothes, and Cristin had nothing.  But I did get a few shirts I could wear for gameday, so that made it all worth it.

We hadn't eaten breakfast, so by 1:30 I was starving.  We decided to go to the food court at Water Tower Place, a huge shopping center in downtown Chicago.  When Cristin and I were freshmen, we spent spring break in Chicago and we met Walter Payton at that mall.  He was just randomly hanging out, waiting on a friend who was in the store.  He was so friendly, and chatted with us for about 15 minutes.  And of course, it was the one day of the whole trip that I didn't have my camera.

Food Life is the food court at Water Tower Place. Most food courts are kind of like an open-air market, where you walk around to the different food counters to pick where you want to eat; order & pay, and then find a place to sit and eat.  At Food Life, you wait in line to get into the food court area, are seated by a hostess, and provided with a charge card.  Once inside you can choose from 13 different food counters.  You place your order at the counter and they charge the amount to your card.  If you want a drink, they charge that too and you get whatever you want to drink at one of the beverage stations.  When you're all done, you pay for the meal as you're leaving the food court.

I have to admit, I was a little overwhelmed.  Since we had bags, Cristin waited while I went and ordered.  In hindsight, I should have taken the bags with me so we could both go at the same time, because it took a little while to walk around and decide what I wanted, and so Cristin was just sitting there waiting.  I didn't want to eat too much, because we were having an early dinner. But I was also absolutely starving.  I decided on the stir-fry station, basically a mongolian BBQ.  I did beef tenderloin with lots of veggies, teriyaki sauce, and brown rice.

I made sure to over-fill the bowl with veggies, having learned my lesson at Ghengis Grill.  The stir-fry was delicious.  It was too much rice, so I only ate about half of it. 

Will I go back?  Now that I understand the process, yes!  If you know what kind of food you want, it works really easily.  I think it would help if they had a list of the different options at the entrance, so you have an idea of what's available. 

#24 - Quartino Ristorante - Chicago, IL

I went to Chicago last weekend for a mini reunion of some of my Purdue friends.  I would normally never go out of town so close to the first home game, but I hadn't seen some of these people in 20 years, so I knew I had to make an exception.  Plus, Chicago is one of my all-time favorite cities.  I love it there in the summer, but the winters are brutal. 

I went to Purdue for 3 semesters out of high school.  In a nutshell:  applied because there was no fee; went there cause my choices were Purdue or go to Maryland and live at home; partied a LOT; and flunked out.  I was devastated at first, but everything happens for a reason, and I probably wouldn't be where I am today if I had stayed.  I met some amazing friends during my short stint in West Lafayette.  Six of us who were suitemates as freshmen are still friends today.   Not as close, due to life, marriage, kids, distance, work, etc.  But whenever we do get together, we have a great time.

Friday night, after we checked into the hotel we decided to grab some dinner.  There's about a million options in downtown.  We tried to go to RPM, a restaurant recently opened by Juliana Rancic and her husband.  Well, a new trendy restaurant in Chicago on a Friday night means it's going to be packed.  We got there at 8:30PM, and it was still a 3 hour wait just to be seated in the dining room.  It was open seating in the bar, but that was absolutely jam packed as well.  We made 2 laps around the bar just in case, with no luck.  So we went to Quartino, just a couple short blocks away.

The wait was only about 20 minutes for the dining room, but we found a table in the bar area right away.  My phone was almost dead, so I wasn't able to take any pictures, but I did find a few on the website.  Quartino does small, shareable plates.   Cristin was having a "proseco weekend" so of course she had a glass of that...I decided to start with a glass of the Rioja, a Spanish red wine.  It was light and really good

For dinner, we did several plates and shared them.  My phone was almost dead so I couldn't take pictures, but found these online.  

Polenta Fries

Pappardelle al Sugo di Manzo Tuscan Pasta Ribbons
with Braised Beef Tomato Sauce

Shrimp Risotto (Zucchini & Sun-Dried Tomatoes)

I had never had polenta fries before.  But really, pretty much anything fried is going to be good!  And it was.  It was served with a red bell pepper salsa that was really tasty.  The pappardelle dish was excellent.  The pasta was fresh and homemade.  The shrimp risotto was okay.  It might have been because when the risotto arrived we were deep in conversation and didn't eat it right away.  Cristin said it definitely wasn't as good as she had eaten there before.  But the rest of the meal was excellent.