Country Breakfast
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Sunday, April 22, 2012
Bloomington Cafe & Restaurant
This was my breakfast Sunday. I was out at Renees parents house and they treated us to diiner. They had a little specials board near the entrance and this breakfast caught my eye.
I finished all of it. A great place with good food at resonable prices, worth coming back in the near future.
Country Breakfast
Country Breakfast
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Amazing Place-Olive Tap
We had just finished eating at Egg Harbor Cafe in Downers Grove and we were full. Renee and I walked down the street away from the cafe and made a left a block down to a small shop called the Olive Tap. I have heard of this place before, from friends, and have walked by on occasion to go to the local farmers market here is Downers Grove, but never did go in.
Renee and I walked in. The place was quiet, not a soul in the store until a women popped her head out from a back door and said "hello" in a very excited tone. She came out to greet us and we explained to her that we have never been to the store before. The break down is below.
Before us there were a dozen or so metal "silos" if you will bunched together on three different tables, they all had spigots on them with little catch bowls and these small little paper tasting cups stacked neatly next to each silo. You were free to taste all or none if you so choose. When you find something you like and want to purchase it, they draw it from the "silo" that you tasted it from. The fact that you can taste it, get it bottled there, you know the quality, you know that the 12-15 dollars you spent on a small bottle is worth it to the last drop.
At the first table there was alot of different extra virgin olive oils from all over the world, Spain, Chili, California to name a few. The next table was all infused oils with flavors like, porccini mushrooms, chilis, hazelnut, avocado, etc. The last table was all balsamics, raspberry, fig, vanilla, honey to name a few, the honey balsamic was my personal favorite, sweet and great for dressings just as is and or just drizzled over some fresh sliced strawberries.
Facing the back of the store and looking to your right there are a bunch of candy jars that are filled with all types of different whole bean coffees, like hazelnut, coconut are a few that come to mind and you are encouraged to smell them, as we did. In the middle of the back of the store on some shelves i see a bunch of smaller candy jar looking containers. These containers were full of different peppercorns, red, pink, melange, and white. Then there was about 10 other canisters that had different salts, i was pumped, there was three different smoked salts, fluer de sel, sel gris, black Hawaiian sea salt and red Hawaiian sea salt to name a few. I turn around and all by itself on a shelf is a big jar of truffle salt, my blood pressure immedialtley went up just looking at the jar.
There prices are reasonable, they have some prepackaged in glass jars for 4.99, but if you buy it by the ounce and have them put them in zip baggies for you. A great way to get a variety of different salts for under 5 dollars. I myself purchased two salts, Hawaiian red Alaea sea salt and another one from Australia had a pink hue and was flaky like Maldon sea salt.
They have a really cool salt container made out of marble with a swivel lid and it has two compartments for two different salts, it was 35 dollars, i did not purchase it, besides i am going to Vermont in a few weeks and would rather get one there,
I have fallen in love with this place and look forward to going back in the near future. I signed up for there email newsletter for specials sales and or coupons. I also received a card that was punched once because i also purchased some organic olive oil. You get one punch for each small bottle and two for the large bottle. Once you get twelve punches you get one bottle free. How cool is that.
Renee and I walked in. The place was quiet, not a soul in the store until a women popped her head out from a back door and said "hello" in a very excited tone. She came out to greet us and we explained to her that we have never been to the store before. The break down is below.
Before us there were a dozen or so metal "silos" if you will bunched together on three different tables, they all had spigots on them with little catch bowls and these small little paper tasting cups stacked neatly next to each silo. You were free to taste all or none if you so choose. When you find something you like and want to purchase it, they draw it from the "silo" that you tasted it from. The fact that you can taste it, get it bottled there, you know the quality, you know that the 12-15 dollars you spent on a small bottle is worth it to the last drop.
At the first table there was alot of different extra virgin olive oils from all over the world, Spain, Chili, California to name a few. The next table was all infused oils with flavors like, porccini mushrooms, chilis, hazelnut, avocado, etc. The last table was all balsamics, raspberry, fig, vanilla, honey to name a few, the honey balsamic was my personal favorite, sweet and great for dressings just as is and or just drizzled over some fresh sliced strawberries.
Facing the back of the store and looking to your right there are a bunch of candy jars that are filled with all types of different whole bean coffees, like hazelnut, coconut are a few that come to mind and you are encouraged to smell them, as we did. In the middle of the back of the store on some shelves i see a bunch of smaller candy jar looking containers. These containers were full of different peppercorns, red, pink, melange, and white. Then there was about 10 other canisters that had different salts, i was pumped, there was three different smoked salts, fluer de sel, sel gris, black Hawaiian sea salt and red Hawaiian sea salt to name a few. I turn around and all by itself on a shelf is a big jar of truffle salt, my blood pressure immedialtley went up just looking at the jar.
There prices are reasonable, they have some prepackaged in glass jars for 4.99, but if you buy it by the ounce and have them put them in zip baggies for you. A great way to get a variety of different salts for under 5 dollars. I myself purchased two salts, Hawaiian red Alaea sea salt and another one from Australia had a pink hue and was flaky like Maldon sea salt.
They have a really cool salt container made out of marble with a swivel lid and it has two compartments for two different salts, it was 35 dollars, i did not purchase it, besides i am going to Vermont in a few weeks and would rather get one there,
I have fallen in love with this place and look forward to going back in the near future. I signed up for there email newsletter for specials sales and or coupons. I also received a card that was punched once because i also purchased some organic olive oil. You get one punch for each small bottle and two for the large bottle. Once you get twelve punches you get one bottle free. How cool is that.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Dinner Meeting-DaVanti Enoteca
Every quarter at work, a select few managers get together and we go out to dinner. Each meeting we choose who will be picking the next place we dine at and as a group we pick discussion topics on items and or tools if you will to help us better ourselves,help us grow as individuals and as a team.
This past Wednesday, the other Sous Chef at our hotel had the honor of choosing the restaurant. He chose DaVanti Enoteca, a corner plot on taylor street on the out skirts of the city of Chicago.
The layout is L shaped, you walk in, bar to your left with some really cool glass orbs if you will looking light fixtures. The kitchen is next on the left and walking by you do a double take, first you see they have a al Forno, then you see the line. The line is tiny, like the size of my make shift kitchen in my studio apartment. For those of you who have seen my place, you know what i mean. The stair are next on your left continuing down a narrow path as the place fills up with people is a staircase. From what i gather, they have a outdoor patio on the roof top, how cool is that!!! The layout finally goes left to complete the L shaped layout of the restaurant. The wood floors bring a comfortable atmosphere to the place. It has a unique style, a old yet modern Italian thing going on, all the way down to the sign saying bathrooms.
We all sit down by the kitchen, forgot to mention above it is a open kitchen, foodies tend to hover around the area of a kitchne even if they are not working.
We sit down and begin or meeting while looking over the menus, since my coworker Sous Chef chose the place, he was in charge of placing the order. Our server was very knowledgeable, yet stumbled when he first approached the table by not knowing the ragu of the day and or the pizza toppings for the pizzas of the day.
I grab a menu, and immediately begin to scan the selections, with items sticking to me like crispy pork belly, sea urchin and chicken liver. Per the waiters suggestion, we order a varirty of plates to share; It was explained to us the portion sizes were small on almost all items except the 1/2 roasted chicken and the gourmet burgers. This in turn makes it reasonably priced and plates that are sharable with a large group of people, say 4 or more.
One i hear this i put in my two sense on what i would like to see at the table for dinner as did others.
The following items are just a few that came to the table for us that evening, with a few of my insights on taste and appearance.
-Meat and Cheese: 3 cured meat, prosciutto, boars summer sausage and a sausage with fennel that when in your mouth reminds you of eating a bratwurst. La Tur goat cheese, out of this world, creamy, tangy, perfect.
-Focaccia with a soft cow cheese and honey comb: this was a hit at the table, so delicious, we ordered another one.
-White anchovies, celery, pecorino sardo, leccini olives: this was out of this world, anchovies were fresh, not overly salty, believe it our not with the the cheese being salty as well, eating with the celery helped soften that sense on the palate.
-Crispy pork belly, apple mostrata: everything was delicious, this hot the spot, two hugs chunks of pork belly that was ever so crispy on the out side as it was soft ans tender on the inside. A classic apple pairing with the mostrata.
-Linguine, sea urchin, crab: On this dish the linguine was cooked perfectly, crab soft, moist with a delightful fish aroma and flavor of the sea urchin that just melted into this fantastic pasta dish.
-The classic margarita pizza, known as Pizza D.O.C: With the al forno, and high heat you create the perfect pizza crust that is and always will be unique to DaVanti.
The evening was a success, we accomplished our meeting set the goals for the next meeting and enjoyed some great food with great people. This place has been put on my hit list so a return in the near future is imminent.
This past Wednesday, the other Sous Chef at our hotel had the honor of choosing the restaurant. He chose DaVanti Enoteca, a corner plot on taylor street on the out skirts of the city of Chicago.
The layout is L shaped, you walk in, bar to your left with some really cool glass orbs if you will looking light fixtures. The kitchen is next on the left and walking by you do a double take, first you see they have a al Forno, then you see the line. The line is tiny, like the size of my make shift kitchen in my studio apartment. For those of you who have seen my place, you know what i mean. The stair are next on your left continuing down a narrow path as the place fills up with people is a staircase. From what i gather, they have a outdoor patio on the roof top, how cool is that!!! The layout finally goes left to complete the L shaped layout of the restaurant. The wood floors bring a comfortable atmosphere to the place. It has a unique style, a old yet modern Italian thing going on, all the way down to the sign saying bathrooms.
We all sit down by the kitchen, forgot to mention above it is a open kitchen, foodies tend to hover around the area of a kitchne even if they are not working.
We sit down and begin or meeting while looking over the menus, since my coworker Sous Chef chose the place, he was in charge of placing the order. Our server was very knowledgeable, yet stumbled when he first approached the table by not knowing the ragu of the day and or the pizza toppings for the pizzas of the day.
I grab a menu, and immediately begin to scan the selections, with items sticking to me like crispy pork belly, sea urchin and chicken liver. Per the waiters suggestion, we order a varirty of plates to share; It was explained to us the portion sizes were small on almost all items except the 1/2 roasted chicken and the gourmet burgers. This in turn makes it reasonably priced and plates that are sharable with a large group of people, say 4 or more.
One i hear this i put in my two sense on what i would like to see at the table for dinner as did others.
The following items are just a few that came to the table for us that evening, with a few of my insights on taste and appearance.
-Meat and Cheese: 3 cured meat, prosciutto, boars summer sausage and a sausage with fennel that when in your mouth reminds you of eating a bratwurst. La Tur goat cheese, out of this world, creamy, tangy, perfect.
-Focaccia with a soft cow cheese and honey comb: this was a hit at the table, so delicious, we ordered another one.
-White anchovies, celery, pecorino sardo, leccini olives: this was out of this world, anchovies were fresh, not overly salty, believe it our not with the the cheese being salty as well, eating with the celery helped soften that sense on the palate.
-Crispy pork belly, apple mostrata: everything was delicious, this hot the spot, two hugs chunks of pork belly that was ever so crispy on the out side as it was soft ans tender on the inside. A classic apple pairing with the mostrata.
-Linguine, sea urchin, crab: On this dish the linguine was cooked perfectly, crab soft, moist with a delightful fish aroma and flavor of the sea urchin that just melted into this fantastic pasta dish.
-The classic margarita pizza, known as Pizza D.O.C: With the al forno, and high heat you create the perfect pizza crust that is and always will be unique to DaVanti.
The evening was a success, we accomplished our meeting set the goals for the next meeting and enjoyed some great food with great people. This place has been put on my hit list so a return in the near future is imminent.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Crazy Spring
Sorry its been a while since i last had a post up. Its been a crazy few months, works been unusually busy for this time of year, which that's not a bad thing. Been busy with Renee's family and keeping in touch with mine as well. Spent alot of time on the phone with my Dad lately and been chatting with my brother as well about his upcoming wedding March 5th.
Headed to Vermont for the wedding and taking some time to hang out with family and do some traveling and sight seeing with Renee. Should have some posts up about the wedding and the food, as well as food with family and photos of Renee and I at Ben and Jerry's, local breweries, and at local cheese makers.
Until that time, i might not have another post up for you all to read, by the way thank you, i am close to having 1,000 page views thanks to you all.
Until the next post do your best to eat your way through life, one bite at a time, but take time to pause and and experience the loving comfort of food.
Headed to Vermont for the wedding and taking some time to hang out with family and do some traveling and sight seeing with Renee. Should have some posts up about the wedding and the food, as well as food with family and photos of Renee and I at Ben and Jerry's, local breweries, and at local cheese makers.
Until that time, i might not have another post up for you all to read, by the way thank you, i am close to having 1,000 page views thanks to you all.
Until the next post do your best to eat your way through life, one bite at a time, but take time to pause and and experience the loving comfort of food.
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