Foodie Wannabe

Next: El Bulli is alive!

Husband and I were lucky enough to get seats at the hottest ticket in town last Friday night. And by lucky, I mean we spent the Saturday before stalking Next's Facebook page, and Husband's quick clicking got us into the "waiting room" for tickets. Six hours later, and we had our seats at the revival of El Bulli, the famed Spanish restaurant that closed before we had a chance to get there. Now, thanks to Chef Grant Achatz and the rest of the staff at Next, we not only got to experience one menu at El Bulli, but over 20 years of cuisine. 

Sono Wood Fired: Lincoln Park, Chicago

Anyone who knows me knows that I love a sampler. Specifically, I love getting to try a lot of different things, especially when it comes to food. If you weren't aware, the classy version of the sampler is a flight. And up until now, I've only had flights of wine and cheese (and actually tacos, if you can believe that). Sono Wood Fired, a pizzeria in Lincoln Park, takes the idea of flights across their menu. Because I'm such a lucky duck, I was invited to dinner where Chef John treated me and a group of other Chicago-area food-focused social media peeps to a generous dinner of all kinds of flights!

Wisma: French Market, Chicago

My knowledge of Chicago's north side is limited to the Edens expressway and the magnificient Inovasi restaurant that we ate at once upon a time. The chef (John Des Rosiers) at said restaurant recently opened two take-away, prepared food locations, called Wisma. I asked Husband (who travels north for work) to bring dinner home multiple times, but my request was never fulfilled. Lucky for me, the food came to me when Wisma opened a new location in the French Market. Now I can walk by their selection of salads, soups, sandwiches, and full entrees every day and drool. It didn't take long for me to grab something for dinner on the way home.

Top Posts of 2011

Happy New Year (almost)! I wanted to wrap up 2011 like I did last year with a year in review, featuring the top posts of the year. These are the top posts by page views, posted in 2011 and viewed in 2011. Behold...

9. Restaurant Martin Stein: Vienna (88 views)

Providence: Los Angeles

Husband and I are lucky enough to have the freedom and frequent flier miles to take quick weekend trips when we're not working or feeling too attached to our cats. Such was the case a few weekends ago when we had the opportunity to visit my father-in-law out in LA. After a fun day of sightseeing and a Kings/Canadiens hockey game, we geared up for a schmancy dinner at Providence, which received two Michelin stars in 2009. They have a killer-looking tasting menu, but being on Pacific time and starting dinner at 9:30 pm, meant that Husband and I would have had to essentially pull an all-nighter. Taking in two courses was not disappointing at all and just means we'll have to go back one day for the full shebang. We first received a few amuse bouches, a soup (with a straw!) and a cute box of salmon skin topped with roe and a little seafood puff pastry.

 

Foreign Cinema: San Francisco

Our final meal together for the girls' wine-tasting weekend was brunch back in San Francisco at Foreign Cinema. This restaurant also shows movies on the concrete walls at night, but since we were there on a sunny Sunday morning, it was just a relaxed, high-ceilinged sight to see.

In-N-Out Burger: Mill Valley, California

Anyone whose been to an In-N-Out Burger knows that the beauty of the quick-service chain is in its simplicity; there's very few things on the menu (hamburger, cheeseburger, double-double, fries, shakes). And it's all quite tasty.

The Girl + the Fig: Sonoma, California

I'm beginning a three-part series highlighting some Bay Area restaurants that I was lucky enough to chow down at during a recent wine-tasting, bachelorette-partying, friend-reunioning weekend. After a really intense day of touring the area wineries in Sonoma (and a four-hour couch break watching wedding movies), the five of us headed out to The Girl and the Fig in downtown Sonoma.

Afternoon Tea at Lockwood

As I was reviewing photos from the lovely afternoon tea at Lockwood in the Palmer House Hilton, I giggled when I saw that I took zero photos of the tea. I took no photos of tea at a tea. What is wrong with me? Nothing. Because the best part of a tea is the scones, sandwiches, and pastries, not the tea, of course!

The Chopping Block Grilling Class

When Husband's parents were in town, we packed our days with lots of stuff, but since we're sort of known as the foodies in the family, there's a lot of pressure to go to cool places to eat. Our best idea was to not just eat but also cook our own food at The Chopping Block.