TÊTE Charcuterie

A few weeks ago I was invited to attend a special preview night of new Chicago hot spot TÊTE Charcuterie. The concept is simple: a creative dining experience surrounding charcuterie, the art of meat curing and sausage making.

The night started with cocktails at the bar, obviously.

I knew I had made the right cocktail choice, as I had barely finished uttering the name of the drink before our waiter starting nodding in approval. Known as the "Jackson Blues", this smooth and refreshing number combines vodka, green tea syrup, lemon and sparkling wine. 

While you sip, you can enjoy a show as the charcuterie is plated.

And take pictures with your friends!

On to the food! TÊTE Charcuterie has an open kitchen design, allowing you to view food as it is prepared, plated, and sent out to the floor. 

Pork belly, the most delicious item I sampled. It is seasoned perfectly and just melts in your mouth. 

Sausage and spicy mustard. 

Mortadella with pistachios, coriander and white wine. 

Assorted meats and the heavenly bread. 

The design and decor of TÊTE Charcuterie are simple, warm and inviting. I loved the vibe of the restaurant and the laid back attitude of the staff.

The "Ehhhhh" cocktail, which must be ordered with purpose in your voice: dark rum, averna, maple and egg. I would describe this as a rougher, tougher eggnog and it makes a perfect nightcap. 

I would absolutely visit TÊTE Charcuterie again; it's the perfect place for cocktails and a few plates to share with friends before a night out. Do yourself a favor and order the pork belly; you will not regret it! 

TÊTE Charcuterie is located at 1114 West Randolph Street and their website can be viewed here.

Note: I attended this event as a part of Chicago Food Bloggers and free of charge, however the opinions in this post are solely my own. 

Stan's Donuts & Coffee

Sometimes in the nutrition battle, you just have to let the foodie part of you win. And that's exactly what happened when I made the decision to check out Wicker Park's new doughnut shop Stan's Donuts & Coffee. After many strong willed moments since this place opened, I finally caved and made a stop in over the weekend to pick up a box of goodies. Oh. My. God. If you are going to have a calorie splurge on something sweet, this is the place to go.

Stan's is a Californian import-a cult favorite that has made a splashy debut in Chicago with this store. It couples it's best selling donuts with Chicago based Intelligentsia coffee and tea products.

This adorable shop is located on Damen Ave., smack dab next to the Damen blue line stop. The bubblegum pink logo and wall of Kitchenaid mixers are guaranteed to catch your eye as you walk by. And if that fails, the sweet smell of sugary perfection will stop you in your tracks.

They have a huge glass display filled to the brim with different donut options. While the line was 12 people deep, it moved quickly. The design of the shop is so that it sections off the front door, counter and line to one side, and places tables to the other side. This allows customers to sit and enjoy their treats without having people walking through the same space to be able to order.  Flavors I picked up were:

-Original Glazed
-Boston Cream
-Nutella and Banana
-Lemon Pistachio Old Fashioned
-Biscoff Banana Pocket
-Maple Long John

I feel like I have to disclose that I did not eat all these donuts by myself! They were shared, though I did make it a point to sample each of them. It's hard to pick a favorite. What I loved about the donuts was that they weren't OVERLY sweet. You didn't get that sickening feeling after one bite from something so overladen with sugar. The donuts were yeasty and the flavors were fantastic. If I HAD to pick a winner it would be the lemon pistachio, though the Nutella and banana was pretty spectacular as well….oh man and the glazed…ok I can't do it. You really can't go wrong here.

I highly recommend stopping in sometime soon for a sugary treat! Check them out here.

Brunch: Chicago Public House

As previously mentioned, I recently joined the Chicago Food Bloggers organization. This is a fantastic way of combining my love of eating with my new hobby of blogging. I’m truly excited for the opportunity to share my passion for food while meeting great people! I attended my first ever Chicago Food Bloggers event last weekend with my gal Christine of apartmentpants.

The event was brunch at Chicago’s Public House. As a lot of us bloggers have been mentioning, who knew Public House served brunch? I think brunch must be a city thing because I definitely have noticed I am more jazzed about it now that I live downtown!

Unfortunately life got in the way a bit, and Christine and I arrived halfway through the event….not the best way to kick off our first event as members! Nonetheless we made the best of our situation and sampled a few of the tasty dishes Public House was serving up. Behold:

Chicken and Waffles: southern fried chicken, caramelized waffles, hot sauce, maple syrup

I've never had "chicken and waffles" before. While I was excited about the seemingly genius combination of savory and sweet, this was a pass after the first bite. The chicken was tough to cut and the waffles weren't anything special. 

Parfait Pint: granola, greek yogurt, fresh berries

This was lovely. The granola wasn't overly sweet and the fresh berries were yummy. It's always good to have something semi-healthy on the table! 

Doughnut Fried French Toast with a cream cheese glaze, seasonal market jam and fresh fruit

I was surprised by this dish. I usually chose savory over sweet but was hooked after one bite. The French toast had just the right amount of crunch around the edges and the cream cheese glaze was heavenly. 

Crab Cake Benedict: jumbo lump crab cakes, garlic spinach, poached eggs, hollandaise

This was my favorite dish. The crab cakes were delicious with just a bit of a kick. All of the flavor combinations pulled together wonderfully. I would not hesitate to order this the next time I brunch at Public House! 

Overall I was impressed by the setup of the event. From the moment we walked through the door the staff was friendly and accommodating. They gave us a handy sheet that detailed the menu as well as space to write comments, document that the dish had been photographed and sampled, and cute hashtags for each dish! There were serving stations set up with mini sized dishes for all of the bloggers to try. 

Public House clearly marked the names of their dishes and arranged full size plates for us shutterbugs to go crazy. And I literally cannot handle how cute this mini cast iron pan is-

I really enjoyed the environment that the bloggers created. It’s fun to be in a room full of people who also have a habit of taking snaps of their food : ) I can’t wait for the next event and to hopefully meet more fellow bloggers! Visit Chicago Public House at 400 N State St, Chicago, IL 60654 and check them out here.

Note: I attended this event as a part of Chicago Food Bloggers and free of charge, however the opinions in this post are solely my own.

Little Goat Diner

There are a few different types of restaurant reputations in my book. You've got your tried and trued favorites, your list of places you hope to make it to soon, and then those places. You know. The ones that everyone seems to want to try with wait times that just won't quit. Somewhere towards the top of that list is Little Goat Diner, the more casual across the street cousin of Stephanie Izard's famous Girl and the Goat. This past weekend a concert at the United Center meant dinner beforehand on Randolph, and the girls and I decided Little Goat Diner was the place to be!

We went on a Sunday night, which I believe helped our wait time to be minimal (don't get me wrong, it was still quite busy). The decor definitely had a diner vibe with some modern touches-there was a cool photo booth towards the front and the kitchen was open to see the cooks hard at work. Take a look (Photos courtesy of Little Goat Diner's website):

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

After being seated at maybe the biggest booth I've ever sat in, we approached the very difficult decision of what to order. Little Goat Diner offers breakfast all day, plus a slew of sandwiches and entrees. "The Goats", as I shall deem all of Ms. Izard's restaurants, have a reputation of using shall we say peculiar items. This isn't the place to go if you are a picky eater or not feeling adventurous….which may have been my problem.

I wasn't feeling on top of the world and as such my taste buds were a bit off. After a very stressful internal battle of what would taste good, I literally left it to the last second and blurted out "I'll have the grilled cheese!" to our waiter.

What? I mean, don't get me wrong I love a grilled cheese every once in a while. But it's not something I would usually order. I think my mind was going for something simple and comforting, which doesn't work when said grilled cheese includes "smoked gouda and mont amore cheese, pork guanciale, and smoked tomatoes". Combine this with the fact that the sandwich came with nothing else and cost $10-not my best dining experience.  

The girls and I split an order of chocolate cake for dessert. Don't mistake "order of chocolate cake" for a whole cake; the $8 portion was quite the opposite. Served in a tiny ramekin I was worried it wouldn't be enough for three. But the cake was rich (and a bit on the dry side); we didn't finish. 

I'd love to say I plan to go back on a day where I am feeling more myself and ready to be more adventurous with my ordering. But considering the fact that I feel the food is overpriced for the quality and quantity you get I think I've officially crossed Little Goat Diner off my list. There are too many places to eat in this city to get hung up on trying to convince yourself something is good! 

Sidenote on that concert we went to: it was Justin Timberlake. It. Was. AMAZING. 

House of Blues Chicago

The House of Blues Chicago is like a secret hidden out in the open, as it is smack dab in the middle of downtown. This concert venue hosts a TON of artists for reasonable prices and is a very cool idea for a night out. I recently visited House of Blues (HOB, if you will) to see the group Karmin!

Can you spot it?

I hadn't been to HOB since high school (when I saw The Fray) and was excited to see if it was what I remembered. 

We started out by eating an early dinner at Crossroads, the HOB restaurant. The restaurant is cosy, with big booths and a nice sized bar. There's even a mini stage! The menu itself is pretty standard, but has a wide range of both options and prices. We sampled the jalapeño pepper cornbread with maple butter, the lobster mac and cheese and customized a burger….can I also interject that we got the burger with a side of seasonal vegetables? Ha despite not being the healthiest of meals, everything was very tasty! Cocktails (obviously) were ordered as well; I recommend the Italian iced tea.

A very cool offer from HOB is what they call "pass the line". For dining at the restaurant  or purchasing merchandise (each person has a $20 minimum to spend) you are issued a pass the line ticket. You get to go to the front of the line and are some of the first people to be admitted into the concert hall. This is a must for getting the best spot you can by the stage!

We grabbed our spots up close and were ready for the show to start! Some of my favorite snapshots:

And of course, who doesn't love a twitter shout out?!?!

Check out Karmin's latest single here and the House of Blues Chicago here. Now the concert calendar can be hit or miss, but don't let that deter you. You never know; you could find a new favorite musician! 

Siena Tavern

I stumbled across a small review of Siena Tavern last spring, only a few weeks after it had opened. The menu looked heavenly and I insisted on trying it out a week later. I haven't been able to stop returning every few months since!

Siena Tavern was dreamed up by Fabio Viviani (initially of Top Chef fame). The menu is Italian, with a focus on homemade and local ingredients. The restaurant interior is slightly modern but extremely inviting, with low lighting and warm brown tones. 

Let's start with drinks, shall we? 

Siena Tavern keeps it simple with numbered cocktails. Number one and two are seen above, and are delectable.

Start with an appetizer for the table, like the amazing coccoli-crispy dough, stracchino cheese, and prosciutto drizzled with truffle honey.

The salads are beautifully presented. As far as entrees go, the pasta dishes are decadent without being a glutinous portion. The pizzas are delicious, and split well for the table. 

Truffle mushroom

Wild boar

 And whatever you do, make sure you leave room for dessert. May I strongly suggest the tiramisu, as well as sampling the house made gelatos? 

I recommend sharing everything (both here and everywhere you dine, seriously who doesn't love trying several new things?) 

You most definitely will need reservations, and I'd recommend making them at least a week in advance. Give them a call or use the app 'Open Table' to make your reservation. Check Siena Tavern out and salivate over the menu here.

Let me know what you think, and more importantly, if you want some company : )

The Field Museum

Before turning over a new year I ventured to The Field Museum with my parents in the chilly Chicago weather for a day of culture. It had been several years since I had last visited this museum and I was excited to experience it anew.

"Wonders of the 1893 World's Fair"-an enlightening look at items from when the world fair came to Chicago. 

I wasn't crazy about the layout of this exhibit or how the information was presented, but I was inspired to read this book.

Sue!

I wouldn't rush to return to The Field Museum anytime soon (very large crowds and the museum exhibits all feel a little dated, presentation-wise), but nonetheless it was a nice refresher as to the kinds of cultural experiences Chicago has to offer.

By the time we left it had warmed up a little outside (well, at least the sun was out) and we stopped for a few pictures before heading north into the loop for lunch.

Arriving at Michigan and Wacker a tad early for our lunch reservation, I suggested a little stop at the Chicago Blackhawks Store. This tiny shop is a must for any Chicago hockey fan.

I'm planning a separate post on our lunch destination, as it's quite possibly my favorite restaurant downtown.

Stay warm this week!