Posts Tagged ‘asian’

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

Welcome to the first video blog on Beauty and Her Feast called "Cooking with Beauty". I was wise enough to charm some of the best chefs around to teach me a few tricks in their kitchens. Now, I am sharing the culinary fun with you! The first of my on-going series was filmed at Sunda Chicago with Chef Jesse DeGuzman. Chef Jesse walks us through one of my favorite dishes on his menu but won't give us the full recipe for the Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. So, Beauty and Her Feast is hoping all you cooks pitch in and send us YOUR recipes! 

Stay tuned…in one week, Sunda Part 2 will be uploaded for the Sushi segment. Beauty and Her Feast has a fantastic line up in kitchens across Chicago. Then, this summer I am headed to LA to cook with some West Coast culinary masters. Make sure to subscribe to the Beauty and Her Feast youtube channel so you don't miss an episode. Enjoy!

Thank you to Sunda Chicago, Chef Jesse DeGuzman and my brother Kelly Luthringshausen for filming. 

Somehow, I speak before I think. You probably aren’t surprised. So, when I offered myself up to host a baby shower, I spoke with no filter. Truth is, I was excited to host the shower because I haven’t had a party at my house since Christmas Eve. My girlfriend was born in Korea and raised in Southern Illinois. She is pregnant with twin girls…and I cannot wait to hold these babies! Except for the fact that I sent out the invite with the wrong baby names, the baby shower went off without a hitch. Listen, the invites were adorable and the name corrections I sent out were just as cute…

When I decided on the afternoon lunch menu, I told her I would prepare Asian cuisine but I couldn’t commit to just Korean food because I have only ever cooked one Korean dish which was Bulgogi beef. I considering the Korean Tacos I had made months ago but I wanted to do an afternoon room temperature menu because the day needed to be about the mommy-to-be and not my cooking. How very modest of me! Here is what I ended up serving:

• Lump Crab and Mango Cocktail with Lime Vinaigrette
• Peanut Noodles with Veggies
• Tea Smoked Sandwiches with Napa Teriyaki Slaw
• Glazed Carrots
• Wok Fried Green Bean Salad

I had used the recipe of the Tea Smoked Chicken and turned it into mini “tea” sandwiches (clever, I know). It worked out well because I smoked the chicken the day before so all I needed to do was assemble the sandwiches right before the party. When the chicken cooled, my aupair and I pulled it off the bone and packed it away in the fridge. She then proceeded to lick the bones clean of any leftover meat. I think that was her dinner…

I made the same citrus teriyaki sauce but before the party, I whisked mayo into it and tossed that with shredded napa cabbage to top off the sandwiches. Easy recipe and perfect for a small ladies lunch. 

The crab cocktail I started with was also nice and fun to serve. I borrowed my moms mini martini glasses and passed them as the ladies arrived. I hate to admit this, but it’s one of the easiest appetizers to make and looks fancy-schmancy. How do you not love something in a little glass! 

Crab & Mango Cocktail

1 lb lump crab

1 mango, peeled and chopped

Cilantro, small handful of chopped finely

1 serrano chili, half chopped finely, half sliced thin

2 shallots, chopped finely

4 oz coconut milk

1/4 lime juice

1/4 fish sauce

2 tbs sugar

Whisk together the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar. Taste and adjust if it needs a little more sugar. Hand toss crab, mango cilantro, serrano, shallots, coconut milk while pouring half of lime mixture in crab. Taste and add lime mixture to taste. Fill martini glass and serve with a slice of serrano chili on top and a sesame cracker or fried wonton. 

I was surprised that my favorite dishes for the day were the two veggies: carrots and green beans. I found the carrots on my last minute run through Fresh Market and knew they would be beautiful. I tossed them with olive oil, honey and lime juice, roasted them for 30 minutes and let them cool. I’m thinking family is getting glazed carrots for Easter since I’m in charge of sides…

After mentioning on Facebook that I was attempting to smoke chicken, people got curious. Who wouldn’t if you heard someone was going to smoke food with black tea? I had a bunch of emails and inbox messages asking me to post pictures and instructions. I tend to be like Rainman when it comes to researching food. I get fixated on something and I spend days reading about it. It’s a little obsessive, I know. But no one can accuse me of not doing my due diligence when learning to cook a recipe. 

So, here it is. One of the most scrumptious chicken dishes I have ever cooked and quite possible the easiest. I am writing the recipe based on what I cooked, adjust quantity for  your crowd…

Tea Smoked Chicken
6 chicken breat, bone in, skin removed

1 Tbs of Szechuan peppercorns, toasted

Chinese Five Spice Powder

Sea salt

1/2 cup black tea, loose

1/2 cup brown sugar

After toasting the peppercorns, cool and put in a plastic bag. Cover the bag with a dish towel and crush using a mallet. Put ground peppercorns in a small dish. Place chicken in a platter and sprinkle with salt, pepper and Chinese Five Spice (generously.) Cover and stick in refrigerator all day. Go do something fun…

If you have an outdoor gas grill, heat it to 400. Otherwise, set your oven at 400 degrees. Take a large rimmed baking sheet and line several times with tin foil. The smoking process is powerful and can permeate the pan! Sprinkle the pan with the tea and the brown sugar. Put the pan on the stove and heat the mixture on med/high

until it starts to smoke. Once smoking, carefully lay a cooking rack over the mixture. Place the chicken on the rack and cover with tinfoil, leaving no gaps for steam to escape. Put in the oven or set on grill. Set timer for an hour and go read a book or cook your sides…

After an hour, carefully remove foil, as steam will escape and you don’t want to burn yourself.

Chicken is done, moist and should fall off the bone. That’s it. Our chicken was completely gone.

I served it with my homemade Orange Soy Sauce

much like a teriyaki sauce. 

1 Cup Low Sodium Soy

1 Cup Orange Juice

1/2 Cup brown sugar

1/2 Cup Mirin

4 chopped garlic cloves

2 tablespoons chopped ginger

2 teaspoons conrstarch

Combine all ingredients in a small pot. Bring to a boil, whisk, and simmer while main dish cooks. It should reduce and thicken. Ladle over chicken and rice.