A sampler: Pilsen
If you love exploring the food scenes of Chicago’s neighborhoods, you probably think it’s nice when a bunch of restaurants in one area open their doors all at one time to offer guests a small taste and explanation of what they serve. That’s what will happen in Pilsen (whose epicenter is around Ashland Avenue and 18th Street) on Tuesday evening. To celebrate Mexican Independence Day, more than a dozen neighborhood restaurants will serve samples of their signature dishes to those who pay a fee of $20 (in advance) or $25 (that night), which will benefit the non-profit Eighteenth Street Development Corp. Participating restaurants include Cafe Jumping Bean, Cafe Mestizo, Cocina Mundial, Decima Musa, Fogata Village, Taste of Chinatown, Honky Tonk Barbeque, Efebos, La Esperanza, Los Comales, Mi Cafetal, Nuevo Leon Restaurant, Panaderia Nuevo Leon, Perez Restaurant, Pollo Express, Cardonas and more. Others (Kristoffer’s Cafe, Cafe Aorta, Lawrence Fisheries) will serve breakfast samples to patrons the following morning. Cool. Advance tickets can be purchased online at www.eighteenthstreet.org or at ESDC community office, 1843 S. Carpenter St.; 312-733-2287.
— Monica Eng
First bite: Chaos Theory Cakes
I sat down the onion and spinach cake with purple onion mousse and candied onions and apples. (No, I did not just make that up.) My colleagues, sensing free food, meandered over for a bite. I described the pastries: an avocado cake with whole peppercorns, balsamic vinegar ganache and avocado lime mousse; a curry tart with a chocolate crust and curry mousse; a green tea tart with green tea custard, chunks of fresh mango and green tea mousse.
They laughed, stared, took tastes and looked at the ceiling trying to figure out whether they liked them. And for the better part of an hour, we tasted and talked about these wackadoo pastries and whether we would ever buy any again. And so for that — for the conversation-piece factor — Chaos Theory Cakes (2961 N. Lincoln Ave.; 773-281-2353), an adorable new Technicolor bakery from the folks behind Bleeding Heart Bakery, are incredible. They get you talking. They are fun. They are totally bizarre. They even look bizarre (the cakes look like a graffiti artist tagged them). People will talk about that weird cake you brought to dinner for years. I guarantee it.
But how did they taste? Opinions were mixed. First, the successes. Nobody love, love, loved any of them. But most of us found the green tea mango tart, with its smooth mellowness broken up with sweet bursts of mango, to be enjoyable. Most of us didn’t mind the avocado cake, which was sweeter than expected, and was inoffensive and fun except for the annoying whole peppercorns, which were kind of awful when they cracked open between your teeth. We understood the thinking (a surprise pop of heat amid the calm avocado) but in the end, no surprise is probably better than an unpleasant one.
The onion cake had more detractors. I enjoyed it, except for maybe the strong odor of onion as you bite into it; but it was kind of lovely and celebrated onion’s ability to be sweet and to pair well with apple. Others found the onion to be too strong, and didn’t enjoy it. Most of us did not like the curry tart, though several did. Those who disliked it found the curry mousse topping out of balance with the chocolate. Basically, your mouth explodes with too much curry. By the time you decide you don’t like it, you realize there’s chocolate too, but by then it’s too late.
Prices are high ($14 for a slice of cake, $6 for a tart, $3.75 for a cupcake). But Tuesdays are half-price (the bakery is closed Mondays). Chaos Theory Cakes sells coffee, too, and homemade marshmallows in fun flavors (root beer, anyone?) and whole cakes covered in fondant. The place would be perfect to check out with foodie friends, or to pick up a fun tarts for a party.
— Trine Tsouderos
Coming attraction: June
Molecular gastronomy, as practiced by such restaurants as Alinea and Moto, is fine for Chicago. But will it play in Peoria? We’re about to find out.
Josh Adams, who grew up “not far” from downtown Peoria and has worked at Vie, Alinea and other Chicago restaurants, plans to open June (named for the peak of the growing season) in Peoria Heights, close to downtown Peoria, where he will feature sous vide cooking, hydrocolloids and other techno-culinary concepts. The project seems more than a little risky — locals may assume that sous vide is a pole-dancer at Fantasyland — but Adams is undaunted. “The area has a population of 390,000,” he says. “It’s big enough to support what we’re trying. At least we have lower start-up costs.”
He also has great connections with the local farmers — specifically his family, which is setting aside 50 acres just to grow vegetables for Adams’ restaurant. “I’ll have my own farm starting next year,” he says, “and there’s a network of 25 farms within a 60-mile radius. And the Peoria’s Farmer’s Market sets up right in front of my doorstep.” June’s fall menu — Adams is hoping for a mid-October debut — will feature dishes such as housemade duck sausage with white polenta and aigre-doux (sweet-sour) cherries, diver-caught scallops with bamboo rice risotto and Brussels sprout kimchi, hamachi marinated in sake and birch syrup with adzuki beans and apricot puree and Tall Grass Farm filet with baby carrots, egg yolk and bacon powder (turning bacon into powder would be an example of a hydrocolloid). “Down on the farm” never sounded quite so exotic.
— Phil Vettel
Deal: Denny’s Rockstar eats
Normally, we would think eating like a rock star would entail not eating anything, just sampling from catering backstage and swigging from a water bottle (cough, cough). We would be wrong. That’s a stereotype. Because Denny’s has just announced its all-night Rockstar menu. Which sounds ridiculous, except that it was created in consultation with four well-known bands: Chicago’s Plain White T’s, the All-American Rejects, Taking Back Sunday, and the Eagles of Death Metal.
Nothing screams rock ‘n’ roll more than this quote in the press release from Mark Chmiel, Denny’s chief marketing and innovation officer: “We teamed up with popular bands in an out-of-the-box way to develop a menu by rock stars for our rock star guests.” Which does make sense. If you’re on the road and there’s nothing open, there’s always a Denny’s around somewhere. A few of these new Rockstar menu items? There is the Taking Back Bacon Burger Fries. And there is the All American S.O.S. (a cheeseburger with grilled onions and gravy on Texas toast. With hash browns). And from Chicago’s Plain White T’s? The Plain White Shake, which includes vanilla ice cream, cheesecake and white chocolate chips. Way to represent.
— Christopher Borrelli
First bite: New a.m. eats
We tried the five new “better-for-you” breakfast items introduced by Starbucks: Perfect Oatmeal, Multigrain Roll, Energy Bar, Apple Bran Muffin and Protein Power Plate. We chewed. We winced a bit, and we nodded in appreciation a bit. And then, after a couple of minutes, a co-worker paused: “Don’t you think if you were Starbucks … don’t you think you could do better than this? Can you imagine the food you could put out if you had the resources of a Starbucks?”
Good questions.
— C.B.
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