339 N Dearborn

And so we come to the end of an adventure... A Collection of Articles  This was the last of the collection of gifts that our Dear Friends hooked us up with. Every one has been a delight, a couple a challenge, and one we never would have found on our own. Thanks guys!

Our last Visit A Previous Article was with friends, but this time it was just the two of us. I got there first so decided we'd try and sit in the wine bar sort of section. After noticing the Cheese Bar last time, I noted I'd probably like to try sitting at it but when push came to shove I didn't think sitting at the Cheese Bar would really be all that fun as there's not really all that much to see as the cheese dude (I know, he probably has a real title...) does his thing.  Certainly a little less formal, but other than that I'm not sure there's any real difference between the Wine Bar section and the Restaurant section in terms of what they offer you.  Yes, they sort of steer you towards wine flights, cheese flights and lighter dishes, but I was able to look at and order from the Full Wine List and we could have ordered anything off the full menu.  I guess it might feel a lot more casual if you were in a booth with a bunch of your buddies, even with the full spread offered?

Otherwise, everything is the same.  Our Server knows the wines and cheeses.  He let us order when and how we wanted and offered opinions when asked.  Other Servers help when appropriate.  The wine list is extensive (what else could you expect from a place called Bin 36?), the cheese list too - both supported with useful descriptions if you don't want to talk to your Server.  There are flights of wine and cheese to give you a great way to sample a few different things, particularly if you don't know your way around the lists all that much.

Our meal went a little like this:

• Bubbles Flight - I admit to being more enthused about wines with bubbles lately so it didn't take long to settle in on this. I liked the range, I liked the bubbles, I was happy.
  • NV Brut Gruner Veltliner (Austria)
  • NV Brut Chenin Blanc (Peru)
  • NV Brut Cava, 1+1=3 (Spain) - I think my favorite.  Definitely fruity, but not too much.
  • NV Brut Cava Rose, Varichon Et Clerc (Spain) - a bit different, and not just because of the color.
• Off the Beaten Path Flight - the overall feeling is that they come in at the mellow end of scale, but none should be avoided in the future.
  
  • 2010 Moshofilero / Roditit, "Notios" (Greece) - the most memorable.  Grab a deck chair and enjoy it outside in the sun.  And perfect to take some cheese with you...
  • 2009 Gruner Veltliner (Austria) 
  • 2009 Favorita (Italy) 
  • 2010 Viognier, Vina Tabali "Reserve" (Chile) 
• The Grand Platter
  
  • Biellese Finochietta (fennel salumi)
  • Housemade Smoked Duck “ham” - quite rich, definitely gamey, absolutely yummy.  Easily could have had more.
  • La Quercia Prosciutto (Iowa) - the best Proscuitto ever?  Probably not, but mighty fine.
  • 10 Year Hook's Cheddar (Wisconsin) - Smokey and rich and moorish.
  • Manchego (Spain, Sheep) - when we don't know what kind of cheese we feel like, there's always room for some Manchego.  Definitely our go to staple.  We did know we wanted it this night!
  • Chevre Noir (Canada, Goat) -
• 2009 Tinta Roriz -
• Steamed Mussels, White Wine, Taragon, Creme Fraiche - We've eaten a lot of mussels the last couple of years.  We're pretty certain this was our favorite sauce ever.
• Housemade Lamb Sausage - comes with a simple salad, but the sausage is clearly the star.
• Cheese Board - it's fun just picking what catches your eye...
  • Humbolt Fog - a slight misreading of the menu meant a not-normally-enjoyed blue came our way.  Actually was pretty good, but probably because it was way towards the less stinky end of the stinky cheese scale.
  • L’Amuse Gouda 
  • Pecorino Sardo - it has that dryness that just says "find me a glass of red", right?
  • Manchego - ok, so we like the Manchego enough to get it twice...

It's tough.  We like Bin 36.  But, we like a lot of other places too that ultimately serve our same needs / wants.  We'll be back, just not sure when...

Stay JOLLY!
D

2100 W Roscoe

This is not the first a wonderful collection of articles rodeo we've been to when considering the thoughtful gift our Dear Friends hooked us up with a little while ago now. We've politely suggested they are evil geniuses a previous article for sending us to wonderful places that are not always easy to get into and that we'd probably not have attempted with out the gentle 'push' we received.  We're almost through them all, with the last now penciled in to the calendar. 

This one was a little bit of a challenge to get to because mostly we don't really do brunch.  It's not that we don't like pancakes or waffles, and omelets as big as your head and giant mugs of coffee and fresh squeezed juice, it's just that we mostly can't get it together enough to get our pants on in a sensible amount of time and make a trek off somewhere, planned or spontaneous for what is usually only a 30 or 40 minute event with the ever possible threat of having a 30 or 40 minute wait to get in.  We have a perfectly good coffee maker, waffle iron, griddle and carton of juice quite handy to our sofa and remote...

But, having just said that, we're glad we got our pants on and ourselves out the door for what turned out to be a zero minute (although my date wasn't allowed to sit until I had arrived from parking (which for the record was very very easy this morning)) wait for a table and a tasty way to get our construction filled day started.

It's the kind of place I think a lot of people might skip due to it's menu and philosophies.  Please don't!  If you arrived a little bit sleepy and we didn't tell you they are vegetarian and very spiritual (in a way I don't know how to classify correctly) you may not even notice. Nothing is forced upon you (although the music is not of my typical listening pleasure), no one looks down their nose at you and the menu has interpretations of all your old favorites, and then some.  Nice relaxing colors, pleasant prints and some pictures relating to their spirituality make it a nice place to get ready for the day, but probably make you feel just as ok if you're the last of the lunch crowd.

Our Server was polite and available, but not very chatty and no verbal specials to share.  I kind of think being chatty is not their thing because I don't think I saw any of the Servers (and they have a lot of them - and kitchen staff - in relation to the number of available seats) chit chatting the morning away.  That's fine, we don't have to become best friends with all our Servers.  All the diners were very chatty and plenty of opportunity for eavesdropping if you're so inclined.

The menu is of a good size for a brunch if you only look at the breakfast side and almost hard to choose from because it all sounds (and what we saw go by looks) great.  No bacon, or sausage to be found - or is there?  And if you come in after 11, the lunch menu kicks in where you can get Burgers, Wraps, Salads and more.

Our meal went a little like this:

• Coffee
• Mango Juice
• Apple-Pecan Waffle - syrup is optional, the right amount of goodies on top and a great waffle.
  
  • Soy Sausage - if we didn't tell you it wasn't real sausage, you'd never know.
• Egg and Sausage Bagel Sandwich - cream cheese and egg and 'sausage' all played together on the bagel just fine.

I don't think we would have found this on our own, so we're double grateful to our friends for finding it for us.  Next time we can get everything together enough to get out for Brunch, Victory's Banner will be on the short list.

Stay JOLLY!
D

2900 W Belmont Ave

Kuma's is an enigma!

Do they make the best burgers ever?  Probably, yeah!  Are the Burgers so good and Kuma's so popular that a short wait is only 90 minutes?  Definitely!  Is it really hard to stand around (probably outside for a good portion) for 90+ minutes for anything?  Yep!  Did we just do this?  Yes, yes we did!

Kuma's is an enigma!

Again, it took a conspiracy A Previous Article of sorts to get us to a place we do know, we do enjoy, but really struggle with the wait times.  This was actually the third A Previous Article of our collection of gift cards from Dear Friends who are very thoughtful.  Some might call them evil geniuses as they quietly snicker to themselves over our tribulations of using these gift cards, but they are thoughtful.  We had planned to use this card in the Summer but when the line was out the door and down the street (on a potentially stormy afternoon) we barely made the effort to get out and find out how long the wait was.  This time, it took us all day to get our wonderful burgers.  We thought a midweek lunch would give us a good chance at a sub one hour wait.  Not even close.  The line was probably longer than the one we saw during the Summer so we didn't even get out of the car.  We negotiated amongst ourselves and decided we'd try come back again at a non-meal time (4:30ish). 

Almost no-one out side!  Perhaps the stars had aligned?  Name goes on the list, 1 hour 25 minutes is the wait.  Drat!  One of us (ok, me) really really really struggled hearing that, but the options ultimately were stand it out or give the Gift Card back as clearly it would take a lot of luck and a lot of failed attempts to get the sub 60 minute wait we thought would be acceptable (30 minutes is really our limit, but for Kuma's...).  On the plus side, it was only medium cold outside which we dealt with for about half an hour that kind of went pretty quick.  We then squeezed inside, almost fell into a bar seat (first bum in the seat wins it...) but managed to get some room to get our coats off and a beer to get things started. 

It was probably more than the advertised wait time in the end, but it did go quite quickly with people watching (I think we were pretty calm throughout our wait, but some people were clearly wound up worrying that the host would forget them or seat someone else out of order) and by rule they never put 'the game' on so we got to watch subtitled 30 Days of Night.  We may have lucked into a slight bumping up the list by asking the host how long she thought we had to go at about the same time she was having trouble finding some of the people ahead of us (I suspect that every day people get a bar seat while waiting and just eat there meaning the host gets to move people up her list).

So, now that we're in...

The music is loud, but not obnoxiously loud - actually it's the 15,000 people jammed in the place that makes the place border line obnoxiously loud and probably the same 15,000 people that keep the place heated to the nice toasty level we found it.  The music is also metal!  All metal, all the time.  I have no idea how to classify what kind but for someone who has never felt the urge to go to a 'metal' concert or pick up a 'metal' CD it's actually not unpleasant to be around for a couple of hours.  There's a small collection of art work, probably all by one artist, that I would classify as being at the erotic bondage end of the scale - not something I'd hang at home, but nothing to be upset about by any stretch of the imagination.  Outside there's no flashing lights, just a simple sign on a simple old(ish) brick building with a bunch of people waiting patiently for their turn.

The Beer List proudly supports local and small producers and has a few fun imports too.  The menu has a couple of appetizers, mac & cheese of your own design and perhaps 30 burgers to choose from.  A burger and fries (waffle cut fries!) really is enough food, but the mac & cheese is also awesome so we extend ourselves knowing that there's a 100% chance something is coming home with us.  The burgers really are well thought out so you should never have to substitute or eliminate anything (they have a hassle charge if you do).  All come on pretzel bread which probably contributes significantly for the need to take something home with you.

If you judge books by their cover, you're probably not going to like the staff.  But if you judge your books by how they treat you, keep an eye on you, get your order right, answer your questions, know the Menu, know the Special, know the Beers, are polite and considerate then you're probably going to love the staff.  It's loud and busy, so it's extremely unlikely they'll stop and just chat but if you need something or have a question they're available and useful.  Thanks Kuma's staff!

Double thanks to the Kuma's staff (and probably ultimately the bosses) for not rushing us out.  For all the people waiting to get a Burger after us, we had finished eating and almost finished our beers when we were asked if we'd like another beer.  We declined, but although this philosophy probably increased our wait somewhat, it shows that they are not a 'turn & burn' type place.  I think it shows that they care about our dining experience.  Thanks again!

Our meal went a little something like this:

• Three Floyds Gumballhead - a wheat beer, perhaps citrusy?
• Brown Shugga - definitely brown sugar going on here, sweet but not crazy sweet.
• Three Floyds Alpha Dog - at the hoppy end of the scale, perhaps?
• Make Your own Mac & Cheese (Prosciutto, Corn, Sundried Tomato) - it's hard to actually stop from finishing the whole thing.  We did and now we have a yummy lunch for today.
• Kilt Lifter - not actually from Scotland.  The label suggested letting it warm up (actually didn't have a choice in our Toasty Bar) and it did open up kind of like a wine.
• Bellhaven - from Scotland.  In a can with one of those little bubble widget thingys.  Smooth and almost creamy.
• Led Zepplin Burger (pulled pork, bacon, cheddar, pickles) - Not a pulled pork sandwich!  The pork is one of the condiments!  Yummy and relatively not messy!
• Black Oak Arkansas Burger (red wine BBQ sauce, bacon, aged white cheddar, Alpha King battered fried shallot) - great BBQ sauce, great shallots.  Yummy and a little more messy...

Would we do it again?  It's an enigma!  When you pull up and see the line it's a definite bummer.  When you put your name down and they say 90 minutes, that's a double bummer (although while we were waiting by the bar not long before our number was called we heard the host saying three and a half hours - and people said ok.  Really, they said ok.  But how big a bummer would that be?), but when you get your frosty non-Supermarket-Case beer in your hand and have decided on your Burger all is pretty good with the world, and when the Burger arrives nothing much else matters.  It's an enigma!  So, the answer is yeah, we'll almost certainly be back one day and go through it all again.

Stay JOLLY!
D

1658 W. Belmont

Ahh, frozen custardy goodness!

Our celebratory event started here A Related Article but no matter where we started, we were always going to end at Scooters.

A Mom & Pop store that sadly is outside our range of getting to it as often as we'd like.  Usually it's spur of the moment as we're mostly in the location doing something else, but this day it was to be a scheduled stop as part of our Celebratory Lunch.  Ultimately it's a simple looking store run by 2 people (and their team) who care A LOT about the product they are putting out. 

It's a welcoming store with seats in front, out back and even outside if you feel the urge to linger - we always do because there's always a high probability one of us (ok, more likely me) will want a second treat.  It's always a happy place.  If you have time, sit back and just watch the smiles of the customers (and yourself!) as their treat is announced - not many people (if any) come in grumpy, but there's no way they could still be grumpy once the treat is in their hands.

We often take home some of their packed goodness, but it never lasts long (that's a good thing!), and have become big fans of the Pies for special events - get your order in early for your Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie!

Our dessert went exactly like this:

• Frozen Custard Pie - with Chocolate Chunks and Chocolate Frosting (and a pretty message for our celebration). Yes, it was all about the chocolate!

Although pies marching out the door are a common occurrence, it's probably not too often one is enjoyed in the store.  I did ask if it would be ok in advance as part of placing the special order and we did get the ok, but we did feel a little 'different' and noticed a few of the other customers comparing their treats to ours.  We do think our treat was better than theirs, but next time back almost certainly will choose off the regular menu.

The disclaimer is that we do know the owners, for longer than they've known that they can make the best frozen custard treats in Chicago.  But, if Scooters was in walking distance and someone we didn't know owned it was putting out the same great stuff, we'd be there often, and probably a little bit too often.

Stay JOLLY!
D

1655 N Sedgwick

We've been here a few times over the years, but it's been quite a few since our last visit and it did take a bunch of things conspiring together to get us back, even though we've never had a meal we didn't enjoy.  Twin Anchors does really well, both with locals and tourists and as such they work with a no reservations policy, which is of course totally fine.  But for us, the lottery of arriving with no reservation and maybe getting lucky with being told it's only a 30 minute wait (which is probably understated...) is not the way we want to start our evening.

The conspiracy that came together included a Gift Card from dear friends, a day in which we were kind of forced into a really early lunch and we were getting hungry again at 4ish, we had no other plans, and we had a hankering for ribs.  We figured we'd take a chance and arrive at possibly the earliest we've ever walked in to a restaurant for dinner, 5:45.  It paid off in that we got a table with a zero minute wait!

The place has history, more than 75 years.  The place has had a couple of movies shot there relatively recently.  The place has done a good job of attracting celebrities and there are posters celebrating the oldest (and apparently most frequent) of them.  The place has people who come to see one or more of these things.

It's actually a simple room with bar and some booths at the front and the 'restaurant' at the back.  The menu notes that there's a juke box but it seemed we were not the only people who didn't think to bring quarters - we're pretty sure not a tune sprang from it all night.  The posters are kinda fun to take in, but we're not sure why the Christmas lights are still up.  Apparently there's an outside area, but with no windows we didn't see it and forgot to look when we left - not a big deal because it was a little too humid for us to be outside when we arrived.

Our Server was happy and polite and available.  She didn't offer anything insightful regarding the menu because there are no specials and only a half dozen items in each section (actually, only 1 in the dessert section) - not hard to figure out at all.  Lots of beers to choose from, both bottled and draught, but with quite detailed descriptions we didn't feel we needed our Server's help.

Our Meal went a little something like this:

• New Holland Golden Cap
• Allagash White
• Mini Barbeque Pork Sandwiches - yummy, and really didn't need the 'zesty' barbeque sauce provided as a side.
• A Frosty Draught (something from Michigan)
• A Frosty Draught (something Belgian)
• OUR FAMOUS RIBS - I'm probably more a fan of the dry rub variety which these are, so are they enjoyable ribs? Yes. Are they the best ever? Probably not.
• 1960’s Style Fish Fry - tasty, but I'd be very surprised to learn they are made in house. I really liked the tartar sauce and so did my fries.

Yes, we ordered fish at a place known for it's barbeque.  Our logic turned out to be sound, we thought it a good way to not eat too much food.  We shared, so neither of us missed out on the ribs and two slabs of ribs, or a slab and half a chicken would have put us way into the glutenous end of the scale, and even with the fish we weren't that far off.  Having said that, had there been more than just cheese cake in the one item dessert list (although 2 varieties of cheesecake...) we probably would have picked something to share because, well, there's always room for dessert.... We thought we might stop for ice cream on the way back to the el but didn't bump into anything so ended up here A Related Article due to it's proximity to the el at the other end.

We'll probably return sooner rather than later now that it seems a pre-6:00 time gets you in quick, but we're not 100% convinced zero minutes will come our way again seeing that this night there was also the Taste of Chicago going on, and the Cubs v Sox evening game for which one or both may have played a part in our rapid seating...  Our return may involve trying to round up a posse of some sort so that we can get more on the table and literally be able to try everything offered.

Stay JOLLY!
D