Friday Funtimes in Downtown: Mercat a la Planxa and Sprinkles

It's such a wonderful time of the year--Restaurant Week!

Just came from a relaxing, yet productive afternoon downtown with friends, with food as the overarching theme of our afternoon activities.

Mercat a la Planxa

Jose Garces, the chef-owner of Mercat a la Planxa ("Grilled Market" in Catalan, according to Google translate) very recently was named one of the Iron Chefs in America. In any case, his restaurant specializes specifically in Catalonian food. They normally have an $18 Catalan Express lunch special of 2 courses, but in honor of restaurant week, they had an extra course of dessert as well as a drink (iced tea or soda), for the exact same price. Such a good deal, so how can I possibly pass up on this? Also, they had the prices of each of the courses right next to them, so I could tell that it was totally worth it. Just how worth it was it? Well, I was able to eat a $37 lunch for $18. I think that was worth it.

First Course--
Charcuteria Mixto: Almost didn't order this, because I knew that it doesn't take a lot of effort to come up with this dish--sliced meats, with condiments on the side, but I was glad I ordered it in the end. Both meats (sorry, I can't actually identify them for you) were high-quality and delicious with the bread, mustard, peppers and pickles that were served with them.

Croquetas de Bacalao: Anita's order, but I tried one of her croquetas. It was a delicious croqueta--it was crisp on the outside, and when you bit into it, the salty cod filling oozed out, which was flavorful, with a slight peppery taste which did not overpower the flavor of the salt cod. Delicious.

Second Course--

Atun con Apio-Nabo: To be completely honest, I picked the most expensive second course among the ones available because I couldn't decide on what to order, and also because I felt that I might as well maximize on my meal anyhow (this tuna dish was $17 on the original menu). The portion was small, but it was prepared very well. The yellowfin tuna was seared so perfectly such that it was not very flaky, and you could taste the freshness of the tuna, which was highlighted by the simple garnish of sea salt sprinkled on top. Other components of the dish--the basil emulsion, celery root, smoked pine nuts and celery root puree/cream--each contributed to the dish, adding different dimensions to the simplicity of the tuna, while letting the it remain the centerpiece of the dish. Specifically: the basil added a note of freshness, the celery root+celery root puree/cream added more depth to the dish and the pine nuts gave a smoky-nutty flavor.

Black Angus Hanger Steak: Also Anita's order (I didn't really take pictures of Tiffany's food, now that I think about it), which I tried a bite of. Pretty interesting because it was essentially two kinds of meat (steak+short ribs on top of it) with a big potato croquette and mushrooms on top. I didn't really have enough to make a clear opinion of it, but from what I tasted, the meat was cooked well. I'm guessing that the potato croquette (which looked like a big hash brown) added to the two types of meat made this a bit of a heavy dish.

Dessert--

Croquetas de Xocolata: We had about 4 each of these. To be honest, the croquetas are deceptively tiny--you think you can eat a bunch but nope, you cannot. Croquetas were filled with milk chocolate and served with banana marshmallow, rosemary caramel and arbequina oil (apparently it's a kind of olive oil). To be honest, I couldn't really taste the banana in the marshmallow, nor the rosemary in the caramel. But yeah, croquetas were quite good, although a little on the sweet side (which I'm sure was partly because of the marshmallow and the caramel sauce); it's just that they really got to you towards the end when you realize that you couldn't eat a 4th one. They got heavy pretty quickly.

Sprinkles

Sprinkles is a branch of the "first cupcake bakery" which is based in Beverly Hills, and is probably one of the first ones that helped popularize the (supposedly waning) designer cupcake craze. Their cupcakes are ridiculously expensive ($3.50) but the line was long (went to outside the store).

While waiting outside the store...

Red Velvet Cupcake, or "Red Carpet" (because of the star--Oscar themed?): Yum. Cupcakes. This one was pretty and delicious, just the way I like things; I specifically told the guy that I wanted the cupcake with the star on top. :)

To be honest, the cupcake icing was a bit too much for me--it was about a centimeter of sugar icing so I took it off (it was good icing, but still--it was icing, which is sugar). The red velvet cupcake part of it was delicious--moist, and subtly sweet. To be honest, I wished the icing were cream cheese (as it traditionally is, if I'm not mistaken) so that it would go much more nicely with the cupcake itself. Otherwise, the cupcake was good. Maybe a little bit overrated, but to a degree it justified the hype that surrounded it, because it was what a cupcake should be. It deserved its star, I think.

Lazy Sunday Brunching and Munching: Takashi!

Brunches are one of my favorite things in the world! There's just this magic window in between breakfast and lunch that allows a wide range of culinary/eating possibilities. The other nice thing is that you mentally trick yourself into believing that you're eating for two meals, so you don't have misgivings about eating large quantities of food...at least that's the way it works for me.

In any case, my friend told me about Takashi (which by the way has a Michelin star to its name), which has noodle brunches every Sunday, where the noodles are handmade, apparently. I always love noodles, so off we went.

One thing that I must say before I start writing about Takashi is that you (the reader) should not think about it as a Japanese restaurant. I wouldn't call it fusion either. I would instead say that it is an updated/modern approach to traditional dishes, which attempts to retain the essence of tradition while playing around with a few elements of presentation or cooking approach. More...Modern Asian, I would say.

Tempura (shrimp, shi-shito peppers, kabocha squash, tofu): The batter was surprisingly light and a bit airy, which was a nice touch in contrast to the heavy-handed panko crust of other tempura I've had (which I invariably peel off my shrimp because don't want to eat it). Aside from the crust though, the tempura was just like any other.

Pork Shu-mai: I definitely raised an eyebrow (in my head) when I saw this on the menu, because this is definitely a Chinese dish, and I'm always very skeptical whenever I see places that attempt to cook cuisines that are not their own, or "spin" authentic dishes and call them fusion (especially for Asian food). Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised with the delicate nature in which this dish was presented and prepared--the shu-mai wrapper was very thin, and the main meat part was substantial and juicy (but not oily, which is sometimes the case with dimsum). Hmm, probably the only objection that anyone could make was that the price of the dish was not necessarily proportionate to its serving size.

Gyoza: I guess you could say that these are the Japanese equivalent to the shu-mai earlier, and were served with a chili-soy sauce dip. Yeah, these were good. Nothing particularly interesting or groundbreaking though, except that the bottoms of the gyoza were not burnt (as they sometimes are).

Pork Belly Snack with Hot Mustard: Anita ordered these, and said that they were good. Probably trying to evoke the traditional Chinese dish where you eat braised meat on a steamed bun like an open-faced sandwich.

Hokkaido-style Ramen (with miso, braised pork, bean sprouts and wakame seaweed): At $13 for a bowl of ramen, perhaps it's a little on the pricey side for a bowl of ramen, but I thought it was a decently good bowl of ramen. Wasn't mind-blowing or anything, but it was executed properly using high-quality ingredients. The noodles themselves were delicious--I've never had ramen that tasted this fresh--normally, when I eat ramen, the noodes are very soft and on the soggy side, but these noodles had a bite to them, and you could tell that they were not of the pre-packaged variety. As for the broth, it had a strong miso base to it, and was very hearty...which is interesting because the broth was not meat-based. It had a decively bold flavor and went nicely with the toppings (braised pork, bean sprouts, wakame, corn). Although the broth got heavy after a while, the corn was particularly effective at "breaking" the flavor a little because it was fresh, and added a touch of sweetness that I welcomed.

By the way, the picture is not an exaggeration--the bowl was quite large--I ended up taking some of the ramen home and ate some of it the next day...the noodles were not soggy and still had texture, surprisingly.

(Note: I tried other people's ramen and udon broths, which were either vegetable-based or dashi+soy-based, and theirs were substantially lighter than mine, so I think it just depends on what you feel like eating.)

Graham Cracker Ice Cream: Yum. Even though I was full, Tiffany was raving about this ice cream, so I had to try it, in the name of good food. She wasn't kidding, this ice cream was amazing. Although it was a tiny scoop, it was delicious. The ice cream was not too sweet, very creamy and had large graham cracker crumbs mixed into it, so it wasn't just like eating vanilla ice cream with a bunch of graham crackers mixed in--the ice cream itself embodied the essence of graham crackers. Mmm.

Green Tea Ice Cream (the one at the back is graham cracker ice cream as well): So, in the name of tasting and sharing food, I had a spoonful of this from the other people at my table who ordered it. Normally, with green tea ice cream, it's sometimes too sweet. This was not the case with Takashi's green tea ice cream. It had a very strong matcha flavor to it, so you had the undertone basis of green tea which was complemented by the smooth creaminess of the ice cream itself. Also delicious.

Go 4 Food. Chinese New Year Superbowl Eating!

One cold and snowy day, right after all the blizzards had hit Chicago and piles of snow lined the sides of the street, I went to Chinatown with relatives during the Superbowl to eat delicious Chinese food at Go 4 Food...while watching the Superbowl from the TVs that they had in the restaurant. Don't let the name fool you--while sounding extremely fake and takeout Chinese in its tone, I would highly recommend going there to eat good food...it's not your typical Chinese food.

The owner came and talked to us and explained the restaurant briefly, by saying that it was not strictly China-Chinese food--and that some of the food drew inspiration from other parts of Asia where there are Chinese people as well (he himself was from Cambodia). Also, their chef used to work at the Hong Kong Shangri-la.

In any case, we ordered their set menu for Chinese New Year--

Lobster with Ginger and Scallions: I love shellfish, and it's one of the things that I miss while I'm here in Chicago (Seattle and Manila both have greater access to seafood). Lobster was pretty fresh and cooked nicely, so I can't really ask for more than that, as ginger and scallions are a very standard accompaniment to shellfish. Was still good as leftovers a week later--imagine me messily eating lobster with my hands in my dorm room on my half-birthday/Valentines' while watching Outsourced on Hulu. :)

Orange Beef: I know, the name sounds completely fake and inauthentic, but it was not bad! The beef had a sweet-salty flavor (mostly sweet) that was reminiscent of Filipino tocino (cured sweet meat normally eaten for breakfast with rice). My guess is that this is one of those Chinese dishes that is not necessarily popular in China, but is popular among Chinese people in other countries in Asia.

Pea Shoots with Crabmeat and Egg: These were good. Normally in restaurants like these, I just have their normal pea shoots stir-fried in garlic and salt, but the addition of the crabmeat and egg sauce was a nice addition that was mild and complemented the flavor of pea shoots.

Oysters (behind the vegetables): AHHHH. THESE WERE SO DELICIOUS. I'm so regretful that I don't have a picture showcasing them. So their oysters were not part of the set menu and were $3 apiece, but I think they were totally worth it. They were huge, and had a light soy and oil sauce with some green onions thinly sliced on top of them. What I did was take the oyster and drink up the sauce while eating the oyster. The wonderful thing about these oysters was that they were fresh and were not overcooked at all, which is the worst thing to do with an oyster (as it gets very dry and disgusting). So delicious, that I would go back to Go 4 Food and just order 5 oysters for myself to eat. What does this say about me? That I like oysters. Yesss, I do.
Three Kinds of Mushrooms Braised with Lettuce: Not bad, but was just average for me. The name of the dish is pretty self-explanatory, I think. Sauce was probably either abalone sauce or oyster sauce.
Cantonese Chicken: Just your normal Cantonese chicken, which is normally fried and served with salt. Was better than the average Cantonese fried chicken though, because it was juicy and not as greasy, while the skin was crisp. Normally I would dip this in the salt and put some lemon to it, but since it was not dry and flavorful already, I just ate it on its own.

Steamed Fish (behind): Was also good. One of my favorite aspects of Chinese cuisine is the steamed whole fish with ginger, green onions, light soy and oil, because it cooks the fish very precisely such that it's not dry at all, and is instead slightly chewy and juicy at the same time--I don't think I'm doing a good job at describing its texture, but imagine seared fish and eating the part in between the outermost layer and the raw middle layer. It makes the fish taste really fresh.

Salted Egg Tofu: Easily one of the best things I ate during the dinner, and is conceptually one of the most simple things to make too. Looking at this picture makes me want to eat, even though I'm not actually hungry. The tofu that they used was extremely soft and silky Japanese tofu, which is custardy in texture and slightly eggy in flavor. Tofu was fried with a salted egg batter that was slightly crisp on the outside. Eating the freshly-fried tofu was phenomenal--you would eat it and the delicate tofu would melt in your mouth, which contrasted with the crisp graininess of its salted-egg crust. I would characterize it like eating (what I would imagine) fried butter, but of course, less county-fair-ish (and healthier!).
So happy and red (good food+being next to the heater), which is probably a lucky thing for the coming year. Happy Rabbit Year!

SUGAR HIGH.

First of all, it is 12:39 am and this is probably the last thing that I should be doing at the moment. Other better options include showering, sleeping or doing my reading/homework. Nonetheless, I am blogging about making cupcakes two weekends ago. Earlier, I made a sketch of St. Basil's Cathedral in Russia just for random fun (which goes to show how (un)productive my night has been).

But I digress--

Two weeks ago, my friend asked me what I was doing on a Saturday morning/afternoon, and given that the only other thing that I would be doing would be studying or eating, I said I didn't have anything to do. My lack of sufficient activities on that day brought me to the other end of campus on a Saturday morning, where I participated in a cupcake baking extravaganza that resulted in pretty and delicious cupcakes from this website.

We made 2 of the cupcakes--the Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes with Whipped Cream (#3) and the Blueberry Cupcakes with Maple Glaze (#19).

Both cupcakes were delicious, though hard to judge side by side to one another (just because they were so different):

The flourless chocolate cupcakes with whipped cream (left) were very rich and mousse-like in texture, because we beat the egg whites separately before folding it in the rest of the mixture. At first, when we took them out from the oven we were very unsure about whether they was done already--because they seemed a bit squishy in texture--but after chilling them in the fridge for a while we figured they were good to eat (they truly were). Side note: homemade whipped cream is delicious--we had a lot left over and just ate it out of the bowl.

As for the blueberry cupcakes with maple glaze (right), they reminded me of blueberry muffins with sweet maple icing on them. We had a lot of maple icing left over as well, and ended up putting even more on the cupcakes (and of course just eating some of it ourselves).

After our fun baking and eating time, we wandered the halls of South Campus and distributed our baked goods to lucky people, whose Saturdays were significantly brightened by the experience (that was my social contribution to the world on that day).

When everything was over, I realized that I was on a food coma/sugar high combination. It was fun. Will blog if more cupcake baking happens (next up is filling-filled cupcakes).