BZ Grill

I decided to order deliver from BZ Grill in Astoria last week. Overall, everything was really good, and the platter portions are huge. Delivery came within half an hour which was pretty quick considering the size of the order.

I decided on the Seftalia sandwich, which is a Cypriot specialty. The meat is made out of minced lamb and stuffed with mint. It was very tasty, and there was almost a refreshing quality to it, perhaps due to the mint.

I also ordered a side of grilled haloumi which is a salty Greek cheese. We loved this appetizer, and it was especially good with squeezed lemon, which balanced the saltiness of the cheese. I recommend this as an appetizer, but it's definitely best eaten immediately since it gets hard as it cools.

Our other orders included the Mix Grill for two which really came with a bit of everything, plus rice and pita bread. It was $14.95, and still a ton of food for two people. I may have to just order that for myself sometime and make three meals out of it.

Perhaps due to the number of items we ordered, they gave us a TON of pita bread which was great. They also gave us little containers of what seemed to have been a goat cheese spread. I really enjoyed this with the pita bread, but of course you have to like goat cheese.

BZ Grill really does have great Greek grilled foods - your typical Greek pita sandwiches and grill platters. Out of the places I've tried in Astoria, this is my favorite. It's not in the most convenient location for most Astorians, but based on my past experiences, they have very reliable delivery.

BZ Grill
27-02 Astoria Blvd
Astoria, NY
718-932-7858

Carlos' Restaurant

Gabe and I were given a $200 gift certificate to Carlos' Restaurant in Highland Park, IL. This is a very well-regarded restaurant in Chicago, focusing on contemporary French cuisine. It even has a 29 in Zagat which is the highest rating I've seen so far. Since we got such a generous gift certificate courtesy of some family friends, we decided to go with the Degustation menu. There was one focusing on meat&game and another focusing on fish&shellfish. Each were $100 which was pretty good considering the level of quality and the fact that we got to sample 6 courses each.

Here's the Meat and Degustation Menu which Gabe ordered:



Each of us got a complimentary amuse bouche. This was a smoke salmon wrapped quail egg topped with some kind of caviar and dizzled with basil oil. This was a surprisingly subtle amuse which definitely got our palates going!








To the right is the Grilled California Squab Breast with a Tart of Spinach, and Mushrooms with a Natural Au Jus. Gabe said this was his favorite dish from the Degustation. I tried it, and squab was very tasty.






This was the Pan Seared Duck and Duck Confit with Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Baby Carrots and a Grape Reduction. I finally tried foie gras for the first time. For those of you who don't know, foie gras is actually banned in Chicago, so since Carlos is in Highland Park, it's one of the few places in the greaterland area that can legally serve foie gras. Next time I come back to this restaurant, I must get the foie gras appetizer if I go a la carte.


This was the Grilled Lamb Chop with Ox-Tail Ravioli, Baby Spinach and a Caramelized Shallot and Sherry Gastrique.









This was the Cocoa Crusted New Zealand Venison with Caramelized Fennel, Root Vegetables and a Cherry Reduction. Gabe really liked this dish and said he could taste the subtlties of the cocoa.







This was the last meat/game course. It was Grilled Ribeye with Butter Poached Fingerling Potatoes, Roasted Cauliflower and a Cabernet-Rosemary Reduction. Unfortunately, this may have been his least favorite. Of course, it was still good, but perhaps less inspiring than all the other meat dishes.




I went with the Fish and Shellfish Degustation Menu:

We both received the same amuse, so I won't bother to post another photo of that.


This was my first course which was Scottish Smoked Salmon and Butter Poached Fingerling Potato Terrine with a Caviar and Vodka Cream Reduction. This was my least favorite dish. It was a tad bland for my taste. It honestly seemed more of a potato dish than a salmon dish. It was definitely not bad, and perhaps it was good to start light, but this is probably the one dish that stood out the least in my mind.





This was the Jumbo Lump Crab Meat with Kiwi, Mango and a Sunchoke Puree and BY FAR my favorite dish of the evening. I've never been much of a crab person, but the taste of this dish was surprisingly subtle. The puree was perfect as well, as it gave the crab a subtle sweet taste.







This was the Chervil and Black Truffle Crusted Ahi Tuna with Roasted Kobacha Squash and a Truffle-Thyme Reduction. This dish was on the larger side, especially for a degustation. I would've been happy with just one piece, but instead they gave two. I couldn't really taste much of the black truffle, but I really liked the reduction. The tuna itself was cooked perfectly for me.




This was the Pan Seared Jumbo Prawn with Parsnip Custard and a Caramelized Popcorn Reduction, which was another dish that I wasn't expecting much from and ended up being one of my favorites. The prawn was tender, and the reduction was perfect.





My final fish dish was Red Snapper with Braised Kale, Salsify Puree and a Stone Ground Mustard Beurre Blanc, which was incredible and a wonderful last dish. The fish was incredibly fresh, tender, and cooked to perfection. Unfortunately, I was so stuffed by the time I got this dish that I only managed a few bites from it. Gabe was nice enough to finish it off for me, and he, too, agreed it was one of the best dishes out of everything.




We each received a Symphony of Desserts. As other reviewers have mentioned, dessert at Carlos' Restaurant is nothing to write home about, but I always love dessert, so I can't complain too much. I really liked the 4 sauces it came with, which were painted on the plate. My favorite out of the trio was the banana-chocolate cake in the middle. The almond tuille with the pistachio ice cream was really good too.



So that ends our meal at Carlos' Restaurant. One flaw was that the waiter seemed to have forgotten to give us the Petit Fours. We did not realize this until we got home and looked at the menu again. Since it's the most insignificant part of the meal and is a complimentary thing that comes with the check, we didn't really care that our waiter forgot. Other than this, service was wonderful and perhaps the best I've experienced. There were hardly any customers, as it was a weeknight in the suburbs, so a lot of attention was paid to us. However, Carlos' Restaurant is famed for its incredible service, no matter how busy it gets. Carlos himself even greeted us a couple of times throughout our meal and made sure we were enjoying ourselves. I was also charmed by the fact that every hot dish came with a, "1, 2, 3 ta-da." Perhaps a bit dramatic, but it was cute, and the presentation of each dish was really good, so it sort of made sense. The waiter was also nice enough to explain each dish as it came out, so that we wouldn't forget what we were eating.

Overall, this is a really wonderful restaurant. I'd still like to know why it got a 29 in Zagat, but there's no doubt that it should be rated well as everything about this restaurant was of high quality.

Carlos' Restaurant
429 Temple
Highland Park, IL 60035
Phone: 847 432 0770

Mussels Mariniere

For one of our nights in Chicago, we just decided to cook at my house. We made that pasta which I wrote about in one of my earlier posts which you can find under the "recipes" tag. People said that it was better than the last time I made it, so that's good! Gabe and I made mussels mariniere which we've made in the past. It's seriously one of the easiest things to make.

My mom bought 5 pounds of live mussels at Costco. We didn't really do any measurements, but here's what we did:

1. Heat 4tbs of butter in a large saucepan
2. Add a bunch of minced garlic (maybe 6-8 cloves worth?)
3. Add a bunch of chopped shallots (maybe 1-2 hands full?)
4. Add about 2 cups of dry white wine (we may have added more than that)
5. Once the alcohol is cooked off, add the mussels, and cover the pan
6. Mix once in awhile so all the mussels are getting some sauce and heat
7. It's finished once the shells are all open (this should only take 5 minutes or so)!
8. Add chopped fresh parsley to garnish

This was definitely a big hit with my family/relatives. 5 pounds of mussels only cost $9 at Costco. Mussels are so cheap, so this is something I have to make more often. If only we had some frites to go with it.

Portillo's

The second half of our quintessential Chicago eats was going to Portillo's so Gabe could try his first ever Italian beef sandwich. For those who don't know, this is something unique to only Chicago. To my knowledge, you can't find an Italian beef sandwich anywhere outside of Chicago. It's a sandwich served on Italian bread. The beef comes from the sirloin butt, and it's roasted in a broth with garlic, oregano, and other spices until medium/medium rare. It is then thinly sliced and lightly soaked in the broth it was cooked in. Finally, the sandwich is topped with Chicago-style giardiniera peppers.

The easiest way to describe a Chicago Italian beef sandwich is simply to say that it's a Philly cheesesteak without the cheese, however based on the way it's cooked, you can already tell that the beef is a bit different, as it is tastier from the spices it is cooked in.

Even though Portillo's might not have the best Italian beef sandwich, it is a pretty reliable chain serving Chicago hot dogs, sandwiches, and foods of that nature. But people do say that their Italian beef sandwich is pretty good and not a bad place to pick one up for the first time. Portillo's is a place I grew up on, but I actually never had the famed Italian beef sandwich. The Italian sausage was more of my thing.

Gabe said that the Italian beef sandwich was very tasty and not dripping wet. From what I saw, they put a ton of Italian beef too. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of this, but I'm sure you can imagine how it looks.


I ordered the Italian sausage sandwich served with sweet peppers. The sausage is spicy, but to the level I like best. For a really good Italian beef sandwich or sausage, go to Portillo's!

Portillo's
Locations all across the Chicagoland area

Lou Malnati's

I went back to Chicago for a long weekend and ate a ton of good food. Since I was taking Gabe around, we had to go for some real Chicago deep dish pizza. First of all, the Uno's Chicago Grill chain around the U.S. is really awful compared to the real family-owned Pizzeria Uno and Pizzeria Due's. I mean really awful. Basically, you can't find real deep dish pizza in NY.

In Chicago, a lot of people like to debate who has the best deep dish pizza. Pizzeria Uno/Due, Lou Malnati's, Gino's East, Pizano, and Giordano's are some of the big names. Lou Malnati's is my personal favorite, though I have to admit that I've never had Gino's, Pizano, or Giordano's before. I just prefer the crust/dough at Lou Malnati's, and that's why it's my favorite deep dish pizza. Since it's my favorite, we took Gabe to the original Lou Malnati's in Lincolnwood which is a suburb right outside Chicago proper.


We started off with the Calamari Fritta as an appetizer. This was surprisingly very good, perhaps one of the better calamari appetizers I've ever had. It was ridiculously tender - definitely the least chewy calamari ever. This is very surprising for a pizza joint in the midwest. So if you happen to go to Lou Malnati's in Chicago, this is what I recommend if you want an appetizer.


We got a large (14") deep dish pizza with sausage and mushrooms. Between the 3 of us, we only ate half the pizza. I was full after only one slice. Like I mentioned earlier, Malnati's crust is what stands out to me, and that's why I like it more than other places. It's buttery and flaky, but at the perfect level. It's not to the point where it's greasy. Overall, it just has a really great flavor. It stays crispy and crunchy even with all the sauce, cheese, and toppings on top of it. This is important because a really soggy deep dish pizza is disgusting. They also have actual chunks of tomato in their sauce. This made the pizza a little watery on top, but it wasn't to the point of it being gross or soggy at all.

I'll be honest and say that I don't even really love deep dish pizza, but I have to admit that Lou Malnati's is really good. If anyone is visiting Chicago and wants to try real deep dish pizza (and I do think it's worth it to try at least once even if you don't think you'll like the heaviness of it), this is the place I would recommend.

Lou Malnati's

6649 North Lincoln Ave

Lincolnwood, IL 60712