Keep in mind that the alien landscape above was a luscious and mouth watering treat mere days prior to this photo.  Yet, homemade foodstuffs lack one of the critical ingredients we’ve learned to rely on in our modern culinary landscape:  preservatives.

Even with its foolproof recipe and top-notch ingredients, time was still the enemy of the final slice of sweet dessert.  Behold the forgotten last piece of pumpkin pie, tragically relegated to the trash bin with its splotchy white growths:

Another Chicago post – sorry Duke City’ers!

If nothing else, this might get you interested in poking around great neighborhood joints on your next Windy City trip instead of eating only around your hotel/convention/family.  Great food cities deserve food pilgrimages.

We only needed a 2.3 mile journey to one of the best thin crust places east of the Mississippi – Coalfire Pizza, sporting a 850 degree coal and wood-fired oven and blackened crusts with the chew of a baguette.

First, the oven (one of our pizzas on the right):

And the final product, already beginning to be devoured:

The char is intentional and carcinodelicious!

Peek under the hood:

I talked with the owner quite a bit as our food was being prepped (sorry, my table of wonderful friends!), and he waxed poetic about his crust, his oven, the technique.  He waxed not so poetic about the vagaries about bloggers and the internet meme thing that nearly crushed his staff the first week they were open.

Having survived the LTH onslaught, Coalfire went on to garner a Great Neighborhood Restaurant award, the coveted argyle placard.

Ok, so how was the damn pizza?  It was stunning.  High heat means the exterior crisps up and chars, but seals in some steam so the interior is soft and chewy.  Toppings are sparse and perfectly balanced.  Seriously, this is close to Pizzeria Bianco . . . but not quite.  I don’t care.  Its pretty amazing.

I’m in Chicago, neener neener!

How can you say no to a crispy fresh vibrant tangle of meat and bun and salad like this?

70 out of 100!  Only thirty to go, and some of them will be dead simple to accomplish – I mean, I’ve never had a hot dog from a cart???  Sheesh. (No, Pink’s does not count – I have had Pink’s.)

Per the U.K. blog “Very Good Taste” I am going to try my hand at the Omnivore’s 100 – a list of foods that every omnivore should explore to broaden their palate.

To participate, just go to the original post and copy & paste the list before identifying the stuff you’ve eaten or won’t eat.

Instructions:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred, as experienced by Andrea Lin:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

As another in the series of “Burque Baristas“, I need to draw attention to one particular favorite, a spot that has pulled a decent shot of espresso for me, even throwing one out when it was not exactly to spec:

Ecco Espresso and Gelato

Now, I’m not saying that I’ve found the holy grail of espresso here in town, or that there even is one.  I give you as example that our bar of expectation is not yet high enough, a photo of a working “joe” having his morning beverage with rounded fingers barely able to grip the tiny cup and a portly wallet ready to throw a fiver on the counter:

…and then, let’s zoom out to take in the whole scene so that you can feel the seriousness that is espresso at 7:50am on a weekday in Manhattan:

Now, this is a place where it is all about the delivery of a premium product with lightning-fast service, perfection of skills, and style to boot.

Each and every one of the employees looked like they had been doing this for years, each wore a button down light blue shirt with a tie tucked in halfway so as to convey both formality and function as they darted up and down the 40′ space delivering hot brown beverages to customers who sipped and gulped them down standing up before heading to their train.

No to-go orders here, no chairs, no wifi, no music.  Just pure efficiency and a rigorous adherance to what they know to be holy and good:  ground fermented roasted berries assaulted with pressurized steam served in heated porcelain cups.

Capisce?