Archive for the ‘Bar Food’ Category
Always one to be on the lookout for new restaurants, I found my Beauties a good one this week. A couple of months ago, I heard that Lettuce Entertain You was opening a new restaurant in the suburbs of Chicago, not too far from where I live. I was all over it hounding their PR peeps to get me info. Yesterday, I dined at Tokio Pub for their “friends and family” day. Usually, I can gage a restaurant by how often I think I’ll come back. Let’s just say, there’s a chance I could be a regular, if…I can get in the place. I’m predicting LEYE has done it again and the tiny add-on to Shaw’s Crab House is going to draw a crowd. Opening an izakaya-style restaurant is a first in the burbs with most locals not even knowing what it means. So, are we surprised that LEYE is a trendsetter?
Much like the big city food movement, Tokio Pub is all small plates ranging from $5-$7. Their moniker is “Asian small plates, fusion cocktails and pub style beer,” your basic description of izakaya. The menu layout reads: SEAFOOD, CRISPY RICE, ROBATA GRILL, TACOS, VEGETABLES AND DESSERTS plus their self-proclaimed signature dish, pub wings. I tasted six different items on the menu and took sips of four different cocktails. I promise, I didn’t drink all four! I met the guy behind Tokio Pub, Bill the Brains, who explained this concept table-side.
Within the first week of test runs, Bill is already confident the place will be busy for lunch and dinner and heavy on the cocktails late at night. Easy to see why. The place feels like a cleaned up garage with funky servers and really good bites but still very grown up. I say this with love. Tokio Pub is industrial in design which gives the food and cocktail menu center stage. It’s low-key and an easy place to hang out which is what he was going for. I predict the foodie crowd that lives in the Northwest suburbs will want to be the “in” crowd at this pub. Bill the Brains, I concur. You done good.
Beauty Bites…
- Chicken Meatballs from the Robata Grill
- Braised Pork Tacos
- Crispy Fish Tacos
- Crispy Shrimp Tempura
And Beauty hearts the cocktail menu!
Tokio Pub
900 East Higgins Road, Schaumburg
847-517-2722
Tokio Pub on Urbanspoon
Let me preface this post with, I don’t eat burgers very often. Not because I don’t love them but the obvious…they aren’t the healthiest thing on the menu. Yes, they are a guilty pleasure for everyone. So, when I was invited to Mity Nice for a burger tasting in honor of National Burger Month (yes, that’s for real), I requested mini versions and made sure to work out longer that day.
It’s true, the month of May is National Burger Month. I couldn’t make this stuff up even if I wanted to. Check out any food blog, (mine first of course) and they are all stammering on about burgers. I’m confident I got an exceptional head start on the meat-eating month thanks to Chef Larry Donahue at the newly renovated Mity Nice.
Chef Larry obliged my mini request and sent out four of the seven burgers he will debut for May. Each day of the week a different burger will be featured and rotated throughout the month. So, the message here…plan accordingly if you want to taste a specific burger! And they won’t be mini, they will be big, juicy, gourmet 8 oz. prime ground beef burgers with lots of fixings!
Your May burger calendar provided by Mity Nice located in Water Tower Place:
Sunday - The Hangover Burger: topped with American cheese served with grilled onions, pickles and chipotle mayo between two bacon grilled cheese sandwiches.
Monday - The California Burger: topped with goat cheese, avocado and pico de gallo.
Tuesday - Green Chili Burger: topped with cheddar and pepper jack cheese served with Mity’s homemade green chili sauce.
Wednesday - B.B.Q. Burger: stuffed with Tillamook cheddar, glazed with BBQ sauce and topped with applewood smoked bacon and crispy onions.
Thursday - Philly Cheese Burger: topped with griddled peppers and Mity’s special cheese sauce.
Friday - Tuna Burger: Sushi grade tuna lightly chopped and mixed with Mity’s spicy mayo and green onions, glazed with ginger tamari sauce and topped with avocado.
Saturday - Buttery Kobe Beef Burger: American Kobe Beef served with caramelized sweet onions on a brioche bun.
Wondering which burger was my favorite? Hands down, I inhaled the Hangover. How could you not love a burger bookended by grilled cheese sandwiches smothered in grilled onions with a dose of bacon? I think I heard angels singing.
Make sure to check out your favorite restaurants around town for their burger specials. Even some unexpected places are adding them to the menu for fun. But definitley, stop in at Mity Nice and let me know which burger you taste!
835 N. Michigan Ave, Mezzanine Level, located inside Food Life
I’m an internet snooper when it comes to food. When my mind starts to drift while working, I start googling places to read menus and chef profiles online. Which is how I landed at Bauer’s Brauhaus in Palatine last night for dinner with Prince Charming. It’s so close to our home, I couldn’t believe I missed it. I knew he would be happy having grown up during his formative years in Germany. If there’s anyone who knows schnitzel, it’s my Prince.
Obviously, this place is loaded with great German beer but they have a huge selection of stateside as well as local brews. They offer a flight for $12 of six draft tasting portions. We went with a half liter of Tucher Hefe-Weisse. The original space was already a German haunt so when the new chef, Jason Bauer, swooped in, he felt the following was already there…why mess with a good thing. Professionally trained at Kendall College, Bauer previously worked under Paul Virant at the highly-touted and award-winning Vie in Western Springs. He’s now gone into a family business with his aunt, uncle and father inspired by his roots of spaetzle and schnitzel. They completely gutted the inside and succeed in creating an updated Alpine atmosphere. I loved the huge ceiling-hugging stein chandeliers. Prince Charming especially loved the beer wench outfits that each of the female staffers run around in. It made me feel like I escaped to Epcot on a rainy night.
I was craving a good schnitzel and I got just that. Bauer has done a great job of melding old world dishes in an updating setting with quality ingredients. We started with the huge pretzel served with three dipping sauces along with the potato pancakes. Bauer’s potato pancakes are thick and crispy on the outside yet tender and heavily woven with sauteed onions on the inside. Hard to stop eating them. He was nice enough to send out some plump mussels in a perfectly seasoned Riesling broth spiked with dill.
I didn’t veer too far from my plan and ordered the veal schnitzel (offered in pork too) with herbed spaetzle. Um, let’s just say, I earned my clean-plate award for the evening with Prince Charming reminding me that he needed to taste it before it was gone. Prince ordered the sausage platter which comes with three homemade sausages: bratwurst, knackwurst, thuringer accompanied by sauerkraut and pretzel dumplings. By meals end, we decided that we’re thrilled to have a really good German option so close to home. The place was packed and for good reason. I imagine it will be with such a huge beer selection and a cozy bar…the wenches help too. I love family owned restaurants as it feels good to support a hard working chef with roots.
Bauer’s Brauhaus
45 W. Slade
Palatine, Il
No reservations. Plan to wait after 6.30 PM
I know, I know. Hub 51 has been around. So, now I choose to post about it? I was there this weekend with a group of young bevies after a fashion event at Saks. I knew Hub 51 would be a crowd pleaser. I’ve been there a bunch…for drinks, for fish tacos, for the guac. And that’s just what I’m talking about Beauties…the guacamole, on anything and everything Hub. For starters, the guacamole is damn good…and those chips! The super-thin, crispy chips are, unfortunately, so addictive. This is where my story begins of being trapped by Hub 51's tortillas. It's just not fair. I sat down with the best of intentions to not overload on chips when the young “Skinny Gang” ordered the Pulled Chicken nachos. So, “I can handle it,” I thought. I even refrained from ordering a cocktail because I’m off the juice for a month. But then the nachos were delivered to our table and, well, it’s kind of like a tax write off, right? So, I dipped in and would pay later. One thing I had to agree with the Skinny Gang on…there are just certain days you need nachos. It was one of those weeks when nachos felt right, and tasted even better. The bowl was big but wasn’t overloaded like some nachos can be. The key here is the combo of flavors: pulled tender chicken, guacamole, white cheddar, a roasted tomato salsa and fresh jalapenos.
My main entree was the Chicken Enchilada Stack. It’s not that anything on the menu is “over-the-top” or immensely innovative but it’s bar food done really well with great ingredients. It’s the place that keeps you coming back because you know you can get good food in a hip atmosphere. The girls loved it. A typical Beauty and Her Feast move, I pulled apart my meal figuring out how to make it at home until the waiter told me they make the tortillas fresh for each dish. OK. Forget that. I know how much work it is to make tortillas. The dish is layered like this: tortilla, layer of braised, pulled chicken, tortilla, layer of guacamole & roasted corn, tortilla, covered in cheese and baked served with salsa verde and pico de gallo. Simple, I know but the great flavor comes from a combination of the braised meat and the fresh tortillas. The other stuff helps too. I can pull off everything but making the tortillas at home.
The tacos are served with the same warm tortillas and I was lucky to sneak a taste of their pork shoulder. I’m in for the braised pork tacos my next visit to Hub 51. For more info on Hub 51 or to view their menu, click here.
Hub 51 on Urbanspoon