Hot Doug's

Aside from Alinea, Hot Doug's is probably the second most heard of restaurant in Chicago. Once upon a time, it was merely a secret among Chicagoland foodies until it started to make big waves serving the famous "foie gras dog" in the midst of Chicago's infamous foie gras ban. Then, it became featured on various food and travel shows, most notably, Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. Everyone knows about Hot Doug's now. Sometimes it's sad for Chicagoans that tourists are now flocking there, making the lines 2+ hours long just to get a hot dog or sausage, but at the same time, it's great to see one guy become so successful doing what he does 6 days a week with hours just from 10am-4pm.

I had meant to go to Hot Doug's for the last year and a half or so, but somehow whenever I planned to go, the place just happened to be closed either for regular holidays or random holidays that I feel like Doug makes up himself. Another thing about Hot Doug's aside from its inconvenient hours is that he likes to close on random days/"holidays". I FINALLY made it out there not once, but THREE times during my short and wonderful two week summer break in Chicago.

My first visit was with my brother on a Tuesday. Thinking that the line would already be really long, we showed up at 10:30 to a line probably only 15 minutes long. Doug always takes everyone's orders, and what struck me the most was how incredibly laidback and NICE he is. It's clear that the fame and success hasn't gotten to his head yet.


My first sausage was the Marty Allen: Thuringer (beef, pork, and garlic sausage) - $3.25, as was recommended by a friend from NYC who had visited Chicago a few months earlier for a big food adventure. Since this one is on the regular menu where the customer can choose how it's cooked and what it's topped with, I told Doug that I'd have it whichever way he recommended, so mine came out as char-grilled (always a must for me anyways) with carmelized onions, a pickle, mustard, and celery salt. I've never really been one for pickles, but it was definitely a good call to have it on my thuringer. Other than the foie gras dog, this was by far my favorite sausage. The flavor was absolutely perfect, and the sausage itself had just the right amount of snap and bite to it. It's also incredibly cheap, as is pretty much everything else on the menu. If anyone knows where I can buy a pack of thuringers, then please let me know. Gabe would also like to know where thuringers can be found in NYC. If I could go to Hot Doug's more often, then the thuringer would definitely be my go-to sausage.


For all three of my visits, I split the Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris - $9.00 with either my brother or Gabe. This one is the most expensive item on the menu, but considering the amount of foie gras mousse and presence of truffle oil, I'd say it's quite a value. I'll admit I was probably one of the few skeptics of the foie gras dog. I love foie gras, but I just couldn't imagine having it on a sausage in a hot dog bun. I was afraid it was just all gimmick, but after taking one bite of this, everything surprisingly came together so unbelievably perfectly. It was so decadent and rich, but not TOO rich. As strange as this might sound, but there was something about it that reminded me of Pepperidge Farm's cinnamon raisin bread...in a good way. Lastly, the sel gris added a nice contrast and bit of bite to the creaminess of the truffle aioli and foie gras mousse. Absolutely wonderful and a must get.

My brother ordered the The Salma Hayek - andouille - $4.00, char-grilled with everything. I also had this during my 3rd visit, and it was a great sausage with a good amount of spice and a ton of flavor. This one was Gabe's least favorite out of all the ones he had though, but that's not to say it wasn't good. The others were just outstanding.


Again on my first visit, my brother and I took the smoked portugese linguica with saffron rouille and 12-age manchego cheese - $7.50. Yet another great sausage. Good smoked flavor and spices. While I loved it, I have to say that there was a bit too much manchego cheese (and I LOVE manchego) that it masked the flavor of the saffron rouille that I would have liked to taste more. Gabe ordered this during our 3rd visit too. He doesn't like cheese, so he actually got this without the manchego. He's not one for mayo either, so it actually ended up being too much of the saffron rouille too, however he loved it. He and my mom actually ended up dipping their fries into the extra rouille that he scraped off, so at least it didn't go to waste!


I got the bleu cheese pork sausage with Sir William pear creme fraiche and roasted almonds - $6.50 during my 2nd visit. All the atypical ingredients for a pork sausage worked really well together, however out of all the sausages I tried, this was my least favorite. I didn't taste much of the bleu cheese, and the sausage itself didn't have quite as much flavor as all the other sausages I tried. I did, however, like the contrasting texture of the roasted almonds. Overall, pretty good, but my least favorite.


During my last visit to Hot Doug's, I got the The Paul Kelly - bratwurst - $3.50, char-grilled with mustard, saurkraut, and caramelized onions. I wouldn't say this was the best bratwurst I've ever had in my life, however it was pretty solid. It was juicy inside and had great flavor.


Since we went once on a Friday, we ordered the duck fat fries. I had a feeling they wouldn't actually taste like duck, but for $3.50 for a huge serving to feed the 4 of us pretty well, why not order it. And it's true, it didn't really taste like duck at all, but I think the duck fat made them perfectly crispy. We had regular fries on the following Tuesday, and there definitely was a difference. So again, duck fat fries are awesome, but don't expect them to taste like duck.

I think this is probably everything that we ordered over the course of three visits, however many if not all were repeated at some point. The thuringer and foie gras dog are, by far, my two favorite items on the menu, with one being simply flavorful and the other being incredibly decadent without being over-the-top crazy. You really can't go wrong with any of the items on Hot Dougs' menu, however don't hold me to that because I obviously haven't tried everything on the menu. It's pretty safe to say that Doug knows what he's doing, and he's doing it right.

MK Restaurant

For mine and Gabe's fancy dinner date during his visit to Chicago, we decided to go to MK, a contemporary American restaurant in the Near North Side. The restaurant is in a beautiful contemporary large space that combines subtle trendiness and elegance. We were seated on the second floor balcony in a large spacious booth. Service was very attentive without being intrusive. We decided to buy a bottle Shaya verdejo white wine which was very light and crisp.


The amuse bouche was a smoked salmon with pistachios and something else which I forgot. Nothing spectacular, but overall pretty solid.


My appetizer was the chilled spicy tomato and cucumber gazpacho with laughing bird shrimp and cilantro. This was an incredibly refreshing and light appetizer, which was totally appropriate for the summer time even though it was oddly chilly outside. It wasn't really spicy at all, but rather had just a bit of a kick to enhance the flavor. Unlike the typical Spanish gazpacho most people accustomed to, this one wasn't a pureed soup, but rather was almost like salsa in consistency - maybe more of the mashed rather than dicey kind of salsa. I can imagine some people criticizing this dish for that reason, however the flavors were wonderful.


Gabe's appetizer was the housemade fettucine with zucchini, opal basil, oven-dried tomatoes, and pecorino pepper. It was very light and fresh, and just a nice summer dish. Even though it was so simple with no crazy ingredients, everything came together perfectly.


One of our side dishes was the pomme frites with truffle cream sauce. This is one of the mainstay signature item on MK's menu, and certainly for good reason. The frites were done perfectly crispy and salted. The truffle cream was incredible, and not at all with much of that truffle pungency.


Gabe and I hadn't planned on ordering another side dish, however our waiter highly suggested this, convincing us that it's very fresh and completely in season. It's the charred fresh sweet corn with fresh coriander. I was completely in awe of how well the coriander went with fresh corn. The two flavors worked synergistically, really melded together and became one.


My main course was the lake erie whitefish - pan-roasted with poached Maine lobster, edamame, radish, scallions, and lobster and cilantro broth. This was a really incredible dish. The whitefish was so fresh, and the skin was perfectly crispy. The lobster was also very tender and complimented the fish nicely. I wasn't sure what to expect out of the brother and Asian accompaniments, however everything came together perfectly. The broth was also outstanding, as it enhanced the flavors of both the fish and lobster.


Gabe's dish was the grilled pork chop with peaches, onions, croutins, and a sauce which Gabe forgot. The peaches added a nice sweetness to the pork. The croutons were hard because they were pumpernickel, however they added a nice earthiness to the dish. The pork chop itself was very flavorful, and Gabe then realized why people praise Berkshire pork so much.


For dessert, we both shared the peachy keen: warm vanilla brioche doughnuts, peach compote, makers mark sabayon, pecan praline, sarsparilla caramel, and peach ice cream. I went with this one primarily because not only do I love peaches, but peaches were also very much in season at the time. I honestly didn't love it as much as I thought I would, but there's no doubt that it was still a solid dessert. The peach flavor could have been more full in the ice cream.

Overall, the food here was spectacular. This is a very solid casual fine dining spot serving seasonal contemporary American food. I can't even think of a single flaw with this place nor the food that we ate. In terms of consistency and quality, I would compare MK to Blackbird, however MK definitely has bigger and more perfectly sized portions for the amount that you spend. Fantastic restaurant.

MK
868 N. Frnaklin
Chicago, IL

avec

About a year ago, I ate at avec restaurant in Chicago and wrote about it. It's one of my favorite places in this city, so I wanted Gabe to try it. He spent about 5 days in Chicago during my short 2 week summer break, and Avec was among the many places we ate at.


This was my 3rd time trying Avec's famed chorizo-stuffed medjool dates with smoked bacon and a piquillo pepper-tomato sauce. It's just one of those dishes you MUST get during any visit to Avec. They are absolutely awesome as the different flavors stimulate all taste buds. If I were to be really picky, I would actually make them smaller so that the chorizo doesn't stand out more than the sweetness of the dates.


This is the whipped brandade with garlic bread and herbs ($9), which is the other Avec signature item that always stays on the menu. For those who don't know, brandade is a puree of salt cod, olive oil, and milk, although this was so rich that I wouldn't be surprised if butter were thrown in there too. For such a rich dish, Gabe and I absolutely loved this. It was extremely tasty and well-balanced as the salt cod did not overpower the creaminess.


The last dish that we shared was the wood-oven braised pork shoulder with garlic sausage, summer squash, fideos, and basil pistou ($21). This was a very hearty dish. The pork was so tender that it just fell apart at the touch of a fork. A knife was never needed for this. The garlic sausage was, well, garlicky, but it added a bold flavor to the dish. I personally didn't really care too much for the fideos, nor did I find them necessary. Overall, this was a great dish. I was afraid it would be more suitable for the winter since it's braised and a bit heavy, but Avec "summer-ed" it up a bit with the summer squash and basil pistou. However, the dish was still deceptively filling.

This was yet another fabulous meal at Avec. One of the things I love so much about Avec is that it's a great casual no-frills hangout spot that still serves excellent food and wine. This is something that is sometimes hard to come by, but all of Paul Kahan's joints fulfill this quite well. Avec (and all of Kahan's establishments, for that matter) change their menus so frequently that you can keep going back there again and again. It's great to see chefs constantly experimenting and stirring up new things.

Avec
avecrestaurant.com
615 W. Randolph St.
Chicago, IL

Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken

A couple of months ago, my mom bought the Thomas Keller Ad Hoc Fried Chicken mix from William Sonoma. It comes with two sets of brine and two sets of coating. Ad Hoc's fried chicken is famed to be among the best, yet possibly most complicated with dozens of different spices/ingredients, fried chicken in America. So it's great that William Sonoma came out with Thomas Keller's fried chicken mix for those who want to try it without going through the hassle of buying so many ingredients nor going to Ad Hoc.

Since we couldn't find packaged non-frozen chicken with different parts, we went with just 4 pounds of drumsticks. We brined all the chicken overnight, literally for about 22 hours (recommended 8-12hrs). When we were ready to cook the chicken the following day, we first coated each drumstick in the coating, then dipped it in the buttermilk, then coated again. The actual frying part was rather messy as you can imagine. We made a mistake with the first batch of 5 drumsticks by making the fire too high that the coating got kind of burnt. For the rest of the chicken, we fried them at almost the lowest heat, which ended up being perfect.

Overall, the fried chicken ended up being quite awesome, albeit guilt-inducing in all of its fried crispy goodness. The chicken was perfectly juicy, tender, and flavored inside, and the coating had the perfect amount of spice without actually being spicy. Being the Filipino I am, back at my Filipino household, I did admittedly eat my Ad Hoc fried chicken with white rice, and I have no regrets about that. I suppose I could have made biscuits or something, but I'm perfectly happy with some moist jasmine rice.

Unfortunately, William Sonoma no longer carries the Ad Hoc fried chicken mix, so I can't actually recommend this product anymore, which is too bad because it was awesome and well worth it. I'm not sure I'd really go out of my way to make his fried chicken brine and coating from scratch. It sounds like it would just be too much work for fried chicken.

Overall, awesome well-flavored fried chicken. Who doesn't like fried chicken?

Victorian Lavender Cookies with Rose Water Icing

Every time I'm bound to come back to Chicago for my in-between semester breaks, I always mean to eat out a lot and cook a lot. I've been doing a lot of the former, but not too much of the latter. I made these cookies following that exact recipe. The Spice House is an awesome store in the Chicagoland area that sells TONS of great quality spices at an amazing value. I'm talking prices are much less than your average McCormick spices. So I don't delve into a tangent, I'll have to save a review of this store for another post.

These cookies were honestly just ok to me, although my family did enjoy them. The cookie itself wasn't sweet enough, and the texture was a bit dry for my liking. The rose water icing, however, was what made the cookies at least somewhat enjoyable for me. It added a uniquely sweet flavor to the cookie. I was worried that these cookies would taste like flowers or handsoap/lotion, but thankfully, they weren't too floral in taste.

If I were to ever make these again, I'd have to play around and make some adjustments, most likely by either adding more sugar or some other spice/essence/extract to include another dimension to it.

I had extra rose water icing, so I decided to drizzle some of it on fresh strawberries. These were AMAZING. Rose water and strawberries might just be a better unique pairing than aged balsamic vinegar and strawberries. I'll have to indulge in rosewater&strawberries more before I leave for the Caribbean again.

Sun Wah

Last Sunday, my family and I went to Sun Wah, the famous peking duck place in Uptown (Chicago). It's a good thing my mom made reservations (something you generally don't do at Chinese restaurants) because Sun Wah was featured in the Chicago Tribune a few days before, so non-followers soon caught wind of this place making it incredibly busy for a Sunday night. I'm no peking duck expert, but a lot of attention is paid to the way it is prepared and even carved, and supposedly Sun Wah has it down pretty well.


My family has been here several times, but this was my first. The peking duck was carved tableside. After carving the bulk of the duck, they took the scraps and used it for duck soup and duck fried rice, which came quickly soon after. Additionally, we were given pickled radishes and carrots, as well as buns to make duck buns. The duck was incredibly juicy and tender, and the skin was perfectly crisp. I honestly don't have much to compare to, so all I know is that this was some damn good peking duck. The buns are basically like Momofuku's pork belly buns, but I must say that the buns we constructed ourselves with the peking duck were a tad better, and significantly cheaper. A peking duck with duck fried rice, duck soup, veggies, and 6 buns costs $32, which is enough to feed 4 people pretty well.

Sun Wah has always been highly recommended, but I definitely recommend reservations and letting the waitress know ahead of time that you'll be getting the peking duck meal, especially if you're going to be there during peak hours.

Sun Wah
Near the corner of Argyle St. and Broadway

Degustation

Gabe and I are co-writing our first blog post! You would think that since most of my dining out experiences in NY are with him, we'd co-write more often, but I guess not.

For our big dinner during my short visit back to NY, we went to Degustation, a really small "tapas bar" in the East Village. It's counter-seating, surrounding the little kitchen. It adds for a very unique dining experience to be able to watch the three chefs and single waitress in action. It may not be the most romantic, but it's certainly ideal for foodies. Gabe and I had planned to do the 10-course tasting menu. I had some doubts about it, afraid that I wouldn't be able to finish my food, but I went for it anyways since it's only $15 more expensive than the 5-course. We also each got a glass of txakoli wine from the Basque region - very crisp and refreshing white wine!


We got an amuse-bouche of pork croqueta and quail egg tortilla done in a new way. The tortilla was shallot with quail egg wrapped in a sheet of potato.


Course 1 - chilled almond soup with muscat grapes. We absolutely loved this one, and it was one of my personal favorites. It was very nice and smooth, and the grapes added sweetness, bite, and crunch to the soup.


Course 2 - Crudo of Hiramasa. The fish was very fresh and tasty. It was drizzled with good olive oil and garnished with tomatoes, shallots, and some other vegetables that we can't remember in order to add a bit of acidity.


Course 3 - Fried artichokes with blood orange supremes, an oyster, and grapefruit foam in a mussel broth. I didn't like this one at all. Gabe liked the individual components but didn't think it worked as a whole. The mussel broth was a bit fishy to me, and I just didn't think the artichokes were good with the other components of the dish. Personally, I'm not a fan of artichokes or grapefruit, so that's another reason why I wasn't a fan of this dish.


Course 4 - Sardines 3 Ways. This one was awesome, but in my opinion, the portion was too big. Sardines have such a strong flavor that I didn't think it was necessary to make each piece as big as they were. The marinated one on the right was accompanied by a potato salad. This one was my least favorite because it just had too much of the salty sardine flavor. The fried sardine sandwich, accompanied by pickled onions, in the middle was both mine and Gabe's favorite, however he didn't particularly like the pickled onions. The grilled one on the left was accompanied by red peppers and was also pretty good, but Gabe said he had a little bit of bone in his.


Course 5 - Grilled squid with some kind of mushrooms in a dashi broth. Gabe liked this dish because it was an interesting departure to Japanese flavors. I honestly don't remember much about this one, but Gabe said that I just thought it was ok because the dashi broth and seaweed was too fishy to me. I also thought the squid was too chewy.


Course 6 - Slowly scrambled duck egg in brown butter, with lamb bacon and migas. This was probably both mine and Gabe's favorite dish of the night. It just shows how sometimes, simplicity is key. It was rich and creamy, but flavorful. The migas (breadcrumbs) added texture, and the little piece of lamb bacon added additional crisp.


Course 7 - Pork belly with quinoa, grilled ramps, soft-poached egg, and a green sauce that neither of us can remember. The pork belly itself was nothing out of this world, but it was cooked right, and the skin was so crisp. The grilled ramps and egg were perfectly cooked. The quinoa gave a nice crispiness and was probably there more for the texture than anything else.


Course 8 - Grilled sweetbreads in a white bean + something else sauce sauce. This wasn't the best sweetbreads I've had, but it was cooked right. The sauce was a bit spicy, but added good flavor to the sweetbreads.


Course 9 - Oxtail cannoli. The very flavorful oxtail was wrapped around by potato, and it was garnished with fried shallots and radishes. I liked the shallots but didn't try the radishes.


Course 10 - Torrija. This was an awesome dessert. The torrija is like french toast, but was so moist, almost like custard and with a bruleed topping. There was blood orange on the side, but I'm not such a fan, so only ate a little piece of it.

While some dishes had a minor fault or two, it was, overall, a wonderful meal at such a "bargain." The 10-course meal was $75, and as you can see, we ate a ton of food. This would, however, be ideal for someone interested in eating a large tasting menu without the $150+ price tag. If I were to go again, I would probably just go with the 5-course at $50 because the 10-course was just too much for me (even though I've had a bigger tasting menu at Eleven Madison Park). We both also really enjoyed watching the chefs prepare our food, so anyone who enjoys cooking or is curious about the way chefs work in the kitchen would enjoy this. Highly recommended!

Degustation
5th St. btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave
New York, NY