Chicago Trip Review

I was in Chicago earlier this week. Now though this post is going to be mostly foodcentric. Lakeview Coffee Joe will be posting no sarcastic comments about my not working because he already has documented in a post how much work we did. So there. And he was the source of most of the food activities as well!

On Monday night he took me to dinner to Sapori Trattoria on Halsted. At first blush this is not the kind of place the screams great food. But that impression would be wrong. Joe had been there not log ago and found that they have a Family Style Night on Mondays. You get to pick 8 dishes (2 antipasti, 2 soup/salads, 3 pastas, 1 dessert) and its shared for $21 a person. I have to admit I wasn't expecting much. Instead I had one of the best Italian meals I've had in a long time. Each dish was prepared well. Each was distinctively flavored. This was food so far from the typical, "we have red, white, and oil sauces, and everything is a variation of those" Italian restaurants as to be in another league. And for that price! Awesome. When I went to their website for this post, I notice they also have a Tuscany Tuesday menu that offers a wide variety of excellent choices for very good prices.

Here's what we had. Sorry about the picture quality - it was pretty dark.

The Antipasti
A bruschetta with avocado on it and a grilled calamari

Minestrone Soup
A very meaty soup - not a canned tomato soupy version

Caprese Salad
Probably the weakest dish we had - its to early for tomatoes

The Three Pastas
Mushroom risotto, Butternut squash filled pasta, and a pasta with chicken and artichoke hearts.
The risotto was top notch (and I find most risottos very heavy here - this was not). The chicken pasta had tons of flavor. But the filled squash pasta was super; not too sweet. Lots of flavor. I think there was nutmeg in it. And they had these little cubes of squash that were roasted with crunchy corners.

Dessert - Bread Pudding
But not like any I've had before. Maybe they use a brioche type of bread because it was very light with the custard soft and distinct.

In addition, for lunch the next day we went to a neighborhood place near Joe's called Fallafil. This is basically a fast food falafel joint. They make all the falafel to order and they have this monstrous Middle Eastern salad bar with all kinds of cool stuff. I really was a bit of a glutton here but as I told Joe, "You can get this any day. I can only get this when I'm in town and our schedule permits." So there.

I was with daughter Motherrocker a couple of nights as well and she whipped up a great spinach, feta, raisin pie.

Finally, no Chicago trip would be complete without picture so the newest grandchild.

I think he thinks I'm a paparazzi. Surprised he didn't smash my cell phone.