Random Esquire

I was generously allowed the opportunity to take some pictures of the offerings at MK here in Chicago.  It’s interesting to watch a busy kitchen at work, juggling the timing of a party of 12 that wants its appetizers the same time as another party of 8.  I saw the chef demand a “tighter salad” and press his finger to a chop to check for doneness and then warn his staff not to over cook.  Meanwhile, back and forth ran one man whose only job was to wash the pans and a woman who baked the fresh bread and sliced it before it was taken in a basket along with a thick slice of butter that had a generous pinch of sea salt.  I hope you enjoy.

Watching a cook plate the pasta appetizer.

Curried caulifower and lobster chowder, poached maine lobster medallions, melted leeks, parsley oil.  This is how the soup is presented and the actual soup is poured into the bowl tableside.

Yellowfin tuna tartare, celery root remoulade, moroccan cured olives, virgin olive oil

trout:  crudo of tasmanain sea trout, shaved celery, wild caper and tarragon vinaigrette

More after the cut. (more…)

Last night, I attended an anniversary party for a French restaurant of which I’m rather fond.  The Seattle folks ate there while in town visiting.  The theme of the party?  S&M Burlesque.  The best part?  It was a charity fund raiser for schools.  Let me tell you right now, folks, if all school fundraisers were like this, I’d be broke.  The kitchen poured out food, drinks were available at multiple bars and the eye candy…was plentiful.  Here are some shots of the evening.

Oh yeah…there was food there, too.

Funniest part of the night - in the last picture after the cut, you’ll see a tall, striking blonde woman.  She was approached by a middle aged man who introduced himself and then said, “What’s your name?”  She said, “Gigi.”  His response?

“Where’d you go to college?”

I can’t help it.  I laughed out loud.

More food, drink, and eye candy pictures after the cut. (more…)

We started our evening off with a fine dinner at MK.  Oysters on the half-shell and foie gras along with some cocktails to start.  MK generously gave us champagne to go with our meal.  I had their signature porkchop and my mother dined on whitefish with lobster.  We also ate, at Instigator’s suggestion, their pomme frites with truffle cream and let me tell you… I could have eaten them until I died.  They are on my “last meal request” list now.  We had a very light banana bread pudding with a salted caramel that was fantastic.  At one point in the meal, my mother said, “Are you going to take pictures?”  I said, “No…this meal is about you time so no pictures.”  I could tell she was happy but also sort of wanted pictures of the food to remember it all.  The good thing?  The manager happened to see my reservation (I assume that’s how he knew?) and came to the table and we talked about re-visiting the place to get some pictures of the food.  So it all worked out in the end.

Then we went to see Tina.  We were running a little bit behind so I hailed a cab.  The driver stopped, rolled down his window and said, “Where you going?”  I said, “United Center.” He said, “NO, no, I don’t want to go back there!” and then he started to drive off.  I barked, “BIG TIP!” and the brake lights went on.  We got in and got a fast ride over.  His tip was a throat punch.  Okay, not really.

Just before the show, Oprah walked in with Stedman and Gayle.  Flash bulb city.  Then…the show.  It was good and the first big concert my mother has ever been to.  She had a grin on her face the entire time.  My worries that she’d be distracted with thoughts of my grandmother’s health or a difficult family issue from almost exactly one year ago were calmed and that made me happy.  Anyway!  So, Tina Turner has “half-time” because, I suppose, the woman is 68 and just burned 3,000 calories in the first 45 minutes and needs to re-fuel with an Ensure.  The lights go up and my mother is glancing over at a bunch of people taking pictures. I said, “Who are they taking pictures of? Oprah?”  She said, “Some short little white guy.”

Yeah.  It was Tom Cruise.

So, just to recap the evening…

My evening involved my mother, Tina Turner, Oprah and Tom Cruise.

I’m officially gay.

I was recently invited to a restaurant tasting, an invitation I accepted on Monday evening.  Here’s a quick photo-recap of some of the dishes.  I shall return to my normal level of sarcastic drivel in my next entry.

Unagi.

Bibimbop

Various rolls and other items. The drink is a sake-martini.

Soft shell crab:

Boat load o’fish.

Korean Kalbi:

Green Tea Martini and Passion Fruit infused Martini.

Chilled Sake.  The pitcher had a carved out area filled with ice to keep it cold.

I was graciously allowed the opportunity to take pictures of food from Nacional 27 - the same place where both QTMama and MsCheevious and I had dinner together.  I thought I’d share some here for the foodies.  Descriptions above the food.

Maine Blue Crab and Peruvian Purple Potato Croquetas, Salvadorian Slaw, Chipotle Tartar Sauce

House Smoked Chicken Empanadas, Annato Crust, Ancho Crema, Avocado Salsa

Pan Seared Citrus-Cumin Crusted Snapper, Chayote Rice

More after the cut. (more…)

1.  It’s official. I may want to be LynchSeattle.  A visit to Chicago and I’m buying an SLR this morning to I can learn to take photos that come anywhere near to what he managed to capture here, during our dinner at Marche.  You want food porn? That’s it.

2.   You know the saying “Liquor before beer, never fear” and “Beer before liquor, never sicker” ?  I get that the rhyming scheme is supposed to make it easy to remember this general rule.  But what’s to keep someone from remembering it as “liquor after beer, never fear” or “beef after liquor, never sicker”?  Which seems like a bad mistake, really.  That is, if there is any truth to it.

3.  I’m struck by the number of people who use their butt to open doors, even when their hands are free.

4.  Good Grief.  I’m sitting at the computer desk which has a pull out drawer for the keyboard.  Little Filthy just jumped to put his paws on the chair to give me a toy and he clocked his head on the corner of the keyboard drawer.  He spit out the toy instantly and looked at me.  He sneezed and then walked it off.  Attaboy.

I did go rub his noggin softly for good measure.

5.  I was invited to a tasting event at a new club here in Chicago.  The restaurant specializes in raw foods - crudo, sashimi, tartare, etc.  I took Boss and we then dined around the corner at a place she likes.  We sat down and were served two drinks and before we got far with those, they had made us 3 more.   Oy.  Blynchness.  Some pictures below.

I attended the Wine.Dine.Donate event in Chicago, sponsored by Epicurious at MK. I had been invited as a guest of Epicurious and took Instigator, foodie that she is. If you live in San Francisco or New York, these events are coming to your city and I highly recommend them as they are for a good cause (America’s Second Harvest) and, as an added bonus, you can meet Tanya Steel, editor-in-chief of Epicurious and James Beard recipient. Instigator and I were fortunate enough to be seated at her table and I had the good luck of being next to her. She was well spoken and quite charming. On to the food, yes?

The best hors d’oeuvres of the night, in my humble opinion, was the spicy bison tartare on a housemade cracker. Second to that was the wild mushroom bruchetta. We sipped on Pol Roger Brut nv Champagne while mingling. My apologies for the low lighting in the food pictures. Here’s a shot of the restaurant prior to seating.

Dinner was a yellowtail tuna (seared rare, wild watercress, roasted red pepper, new potato, white anchovy, quail egg, black olive) and duck breast (patty pan squash, roasted spring onion, chanterelle mushrooms, pancetta and a red wine sauce.) The tuna was served with a Pascal Joviet Sancerre. Instigator loved the cracked pepper and I thought the anchovy made the dish. The duck was served with a Museum Crianza.

Dessert was a cherry tart with creme fraiche sorbet, bittersweet chocolate sauce and almond streusel. It was served with a Churchill’s 10 year tawny port which tasted a hell of a lot better than my previous experience.

And a generous swag bag came at the end of the meal. Thus concludes my dake with Instigator.

1. I said something remarkably stupid to Besos. Here’s the thing…sometimes I forget that she’s Mexican. I realize that sounds stupid. But I forget. (Hey, pretty women do this to me…) Until at one point last weekend, I looked at her and sort of did a double take. She said, “What?” I said, “Sometimes I forget that you’re Mexican.” I could sense her resisting the urge to groan or roll her eyes. She said, “What?!” I said, “I forget and then I look at you and you look distinctly Mexican and then I realize that it’s like…it’s like I’m dating Maria from Sesame Street.”

I know. I know.

I’m an idiot.

2. Do extra-large eggs come from extra-large chickens? Or does the same size chicken lay different sizes of eggs, which are sorted later?

3. This morning, on the news, a reporter said, “Three masked men banged on the front door and burst in…and that’s when things turned bad.” I don’t know. I think the turn happened a little earlier, myself.

4. Emma Thompson is out. I have a new soccer mom crush. It’s Natalie Morales from The Today Show.

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Let’s eat our way through Europe. Here are some pictures I took of my meals during my travels. Tuck in and hang on. This is a killer post of food.

Paris, France: Escargot with garlic and parsley butter.

From Rue Cler in Paris: Nutella and banana crepe.

Paris Street Food: Gyro…on a baguette.

More food after the jump.

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1. I’m ready for the week to be over. Because I’m over it. Too sleepy to go into the office but unwilling to miss lunch with Instigator to hear about her horrible business trip.

2. Dinner was very fun last night, despite the hole where a Plush should have been; she is under the weather. We started with red wine, bread, cheeses, fresh berries, and olives. It was a simple meal - bacon wrapped filets with rustic mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus. The most successful dish was probably the salad. Spring greens, yellow heirloom tomato, candied walnuts (which I candied the day prior), sliced dates, and goat cheese. The dressing was inspired by The Ballerina, who likes pear martinis. It was a pear infused white balsamic whisked with extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. I stirred, she dipped spoons and tasted. The hit of the night was The Ballerina’s peach pie which we all ate with ice cream while sipping a Moscato d’Asti. The food was a good excuse to get together and laugh.

3. What the hell is up with the weather in Chicago? With the windchill today, it is below freezing down here by the lake.

4. Anyone hear how many of those teenagers who were taken from that compound in Texas were pregnant? Of the 53 girls aged 14-17, 31 of them have been pregnant. Jesus. And world is broiling over Hanna Montana showing skin at age 15. Just wait until she gets pregnant. Oh wait, that’s right…that’s Jamie Lynn Spears. Thank you, Today Show, you are most informative.

5. I think I’m going to compliment a stranger today. I feel slightly odd but I think that if I think something nice/good about someone, I’m going to tell them, even if I don’t know them. We’ll see how this goes over. This is the kind of stupid thing I decide to commit to that ends in disaster, or at least with a funny look from Instigator as I try to explain my reasoning. Like the time I decided to go an entire weekend without speaking. My own idiocy keeps me entertained.