Travel and Food
A section dedicated to
food finds and ruminations on the small and large, near and far.
7/13/11—I'll be returning to three of my
favorite places this summer: Venice, Salzburg, and London. Look for new
posts about these travels in the coming months.
CHICAGO EATING
5/18/09—Chicago
has become a hot restaurant city. Anyone going there and planning to
eat well
and/or lavishly will need to reserve long in advance. In addition to
the French
and Italian derived styles of cooking, there are adventurous—if
sometimes
far-out—chefs, the leader of whom is Charlie Trotter. There are
Mexican
restaurants in this the second largest Mexican populated city in North
America.
There are well-known steak houses and even, if far from salty shores,
good
seafood restaurants. There are also the Chicago classics. The Pump Room is
probably the most famous of these and was known in ages past for its
flamboyant
service with many foods brought in on flaming swords.
I
will note a few of my favorites; but good guidebooks including Zagat, Fodor’s
and Time Out have larger
listings with quite good notes.
Charlie
Trotter’s, named for the chef-owner himself, is one of the
most famous
restaurants in the country. My only reservation about it is that
instead of
having a menu to choose from, he has a good number of lengthy set
menus. You
don’t over eat because the portions are well-calculated. This
format has
influenced the avant-garde chefs who have worked for him. It is a
terrific
place to take vegetarians or vegetable lovers as he almost always has
an
entirely vegetable menu. To get some idea of its variety and its
beauty, look
at his glamorous book on vegetables. (Tel. 773-248-6228, 816 W.
Armitage
Ave.) Good luck getting a reservation. Recession? What recession?
I
am particularly fond of Les Nomades
which was started as a sort of private club
for the patrons of Le Perroquet that was in its day the fanciest French
restaurant in Chicago, by a man who had trained under the brilliant Joe
Baum at
Restaurant Associates. It is no longer a club nor very much of a French
bistro;
It also has a tasting menu. Some of the food is of the adventurous
kind; but
there tends to be a recognizable French component in the cooking. It
has
welcoming charm along with elegance. (Tel. 312-640-9010, 222 E. Ontario
St.)
Rick
Bayless and his wife were the first in the country with upscale and
authentic
regional Mexican food. They started their research as academics and
went on to
write excellent cookbooks—worth owning—and went on to
create two Mexican
restaurants often with dishes that are far beyond the Norte Americanos
idea of
Mexican food—better too. The first, Frontera Grill, is less formal, less
expensive and doesn’t take reservations. Topolobampo, next door, takes
reservations, is upscale in food, price and changing menu offerings a
la carte.
Either one is a delight. (Tel. 312-661-1434, 445 N. Clark St.)
Set
sleekly on top of the Chicago Stock Exchange with full city views, is Jean
Joho’s restaurant. Like those noted so far, this
French-Alsatian has been
around for a long time offering a luxurious experience with good food
for those
who celebrate. (Tel: 312-663-8920, 440 Lasalle St.)
Spiaggia,
the enduring flagship restaurant of the massive, Chicago-based
restaurant group
Lettuce Entertain You (cute pun, no?) is another fancy restaurant with
a
terrific view. However, the classic, Italian food is very good.
Chicago
was a cattlemen’s town. In the past, their private Stockyard Club was the name
of the massive steak game. No more club; but there are still
redoubtable steaks
being served.
I cannot resist a small, scurrilous aside. Very long
ago, Bea Lillie was appearing in a play in Chicago and went to the
hairdresser.
Mrs. Armour, an important client of the place, arrived for her
appointment and
was furious and made a scene when she found that her regular seat was
filled by
Bea. Ms. Lillie said in an emphatic voice: “You may tell the hog
butcher’s wife
that you will be with her when you have finished with Lady Peel.”
She was
indeed that peeress married to a relative of the man for whom the
British
police are named. Forgive me for the digression.
Perhaps
the best known is Morton’s
with two locations and a West Coast offshoot. Leave
your diet at home and indulge. The newer of them is at 65 E. Wacker
Pl., Tel.
312-201-0410. In addition to the odd Chicago custom of presenting the
food to
be cooked—less ghastly than the embalmed prepared dishes at the
gone-but-not-forgotten Le Francais, on the outskirts of town, that had
really
superb food—don’t miss Morton’s wine list.
And
now, the three hot new boys in town. They are all offsprings of Charlie
Trotter
for whom they worked. I am somewhat ambivalent about their addiction to
the
very trendy “molecular cooking,” much of which can be
artificial and campy as
well as innovative and artistic. At least one of them should be given a
try. By
the way, don’t blame the far out stuff on Charlie who is
innovative without
being outré. However, you can blame him for the mini-plague of
prix fixe menus.
I think that these chefs are equally influenced by the European work of
Ferran
Adrià at his El Bulli. I dislike it; but better by far by Pierre
Gagniare of
Paris who I think is a genius.
My
best bet would be Alinea with
chef-owner Grant Achatz. Plan on a long
evening. While the tasting menu has
gone down from twenty-eight courses to a somewhat more manageable meal
that
doesn’t take more than four hours, it requires serious attention.
The mix is of
small tastes of savory and sweet courses in well-calibrated quantities
and
truly extraordinary quality. Please ask about the techniques. They are
mind-boggling. It is worth overcoming doubt and digging in. (Tel.
312-867- 0110,
1723 N. Halstead)
I
am less comfortable with the work of Homaru Cantu at Moto. He holds a vast
number of food patents and has worked with NASA and large corporations.
An
example of his patented innovation is that the menu is printed in
edible ink on
soy-base paper. While extraordinary in presentation, technically
astonishing
and often very good, it often makes me feel like a guinea pig in a
scientific
experiment. However, if you want to know where the cutting edge is, it
is here.
It is in the meat-packing district; but there is valet parking. (Tel.
312-491-0058, 945 W. Fulton Market)
The
newest of the restaurants and probably with the most accessible menu of
the
wunderkinds is the eponymous restaurant of Graham Eliot Bowles. He is
not an
arriviste chef; but has worked at many famous places where he has
received many
plaudits from the press. I have a soft spot for him as he started out
in
Vermont where I spend much of my time. His work is an interesting
combination
of haute cuisine with a chef’s fillip on bar or bistro food such
as Buffalo
chicken wings. The music—pop—extends the range. Enjoy.
(Tel. 312-624-9975, 217
W. Huron St.)
If
all of this has been too fancy, remember that Chicago is also the home
of the
original, deep dish pizza at Pizzeria Uno at 29 E.
Ohio…Wait—no reservations.
LOS DOS COOKING
SCHOOL
1/26/09—Following
my recent trip to the Yucatán (read more in my blog), my friend
Jeremiah Towers recommended that I look into the Los Dos cooking school,
based in Mérida, Mexico and specializing in Yucatean food. Its
chef,
David Sterling, was incredibly gracious in providing some insight into
his love of the regional cusine:
I remember in the 1960s when Italian
food was all the rage. However, the "Italian" that we knew at that
point was pizza and spaghetti! How our knowledge has broadened since
then! We are now familiar with and enjoy the foods of Tuscany, Sicily,
the Veneto, Naples and many more regions. Each has its own unique
taste, and the public has slowly awakened to that flavorful complexity.
Now, the same awakening is occurring
with regard to Mexico. Think "Mexico" and you may taste enchiladas and
guacamole! But naturally there is so much more to it. Mexico is
composed of distinct cultural/culinary regions each of which shares
certain techniques and ingredients with the whole, but still remains
quite unique.
There are several writers/researchers
who have explored the cuisines of Mexico on a general level. I am
thinking of Sophie Coe, Diana Kennedy, and more recently Rick Bayless.
There are others, like Zarela Martínez, who have focused on
specific regions (in her case, Veracruz and Oaxaca). However, until
now, no one has focused on the unique culinary heritage of
Yucatán on a profound level. That is my mission.
Prior to moving to Mérida
almost seven years ago, I was unaware of the richness of regional
Yucatecan cuisine. Now I study it on a daily basis. Online research and
obsessive reading of scholarly tomes has deepened my knowledge, but the
best (and most fun) research I do is to go into the pueblos and learn
from the masters — the women of the house! I have become somewhat
of a personality – the "gringo man" who likes to cook and eat
Yucatecan! I also have formed affiliations with local university
scholars who help me with research into ethnobotany, etymology and
history. Where did the lima come from? What is the Mayan name for it?
How did/do the Maya use it in their medicine/food/folkways?
In this way I am compiling a massive
compendium of information about local ingredients, history, lore and of
course lots of recipes!
I share this growing body of
knowledge with students who come to Yucatán to learn about its
culture and cuisine. I operate Los Dos Cooking School here in
Mérida, and that is my podium and platform. I receive over 400
students a year, who come to me from points as diverse as Portland and
Portugal, New York and New Zealand, Louisiana and Latvia.
Each day I realize that even in a
lifetime I could not possibly hope to complete my research – the
culinary heritage of Yucatán is
too broad and ancient. But I am
extremely gratified and proud to be involved in exploring, defining and
inscribing with meticulous detail this remarkable cuisine in the hopes
that its rich heritage will survive for future generations – as
well as to enlighten and satisfy the palates of our own!
Much more information can be found on the school's website at the above
link. The site is also a wonderful resource for exploring the
ingredients and recipes of Yucatean cooking. Since a very memorable
part of my trip included partaking of some succulent and
tender pig bits, I share with you some entries from the site's
lexicon, reprinted with the permission of school:
• Buche is the
pig’s stomach. Sometimes it is fried by itself, but it can also
be stuffed with ground pork, brains, egg and any other variety of
offal, and turned into a kind of sausage not unlike the Scottish haggis.
• Cachete is the
cheeks. The skin is very thin; it has a lot of fat and some meat.
• Castacán
is a thin slab of pork from the belly that still has some fat and skin
– the same cut that is used to make smoked bacon. Once cooked,
the skin becomes very crunchy while the meat is tender and succulent.
• Chicharra surtida is
the generic term for the offal from the pig – heart, liver, all
organs, ears, even the face and skin – that are cooked at the
same time, in the same vat, where lard is being rendered.
Los Dos Cooking School
Calle 68 No. 517
Mérida, Yucatán 97000
México
Telephone in the US: 212.400.1642
Telephone in Mexico: 999.928.1116
Fax:
999.928.1115
OAXACO, MEXICO
1/13/08—I have just gotten back from Oaxaca in
Mexico which is the home of a variety
of moles: black, red, green, yellow and more. I went online and searched until I found some to buy. At
lunch, I heated some yellow mole
and poured it over steamed vegetables. They were excellent. Coming soon, more about mole and the
food of Oaxaca and over time, the restaurants and hotels.
A simple
Mexican grill
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