MenuPages Blog :: Chicago: September 2007 Archives

« August 2007 | Main | October 2007 »

September 28, 2007

Suggested Servings

Friend of the blog James was reading the "Suggested Servings" to us from a package of roti prata last night. For the record, the roti - made by Singapore-based Chinatown Food Corporation Pte Ltd - was purchased at the Hong Kong Market in Chinatown:

Suggested Servings
1. Indians or Muslims, serve with their favourite curries
2. Chinese, eat it with the usual dishes
3. Westerners, serve with spaghetti sauce, salad, or mixed vegetables, etc.
4. Your own creation--slit open the side to form a "sandwich bag" and add your favourite stuffing
5. Eat it with your favourite spread--butter, cheese, jam, etc.
6. Taste as good when eaten on its own

[sic], BTW.

We don't even know where to begin. Maybe it stands on its own? Yes. Have a good weekend!

[Photo: the roti in question - food for thought!]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/28/2007 at 03:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Other

From The [Redacted] Files: !! ESCAPE FROM THE LADY!!

This review, whose punchline we ruined with the title of the post, came in today for [redacted] from user "Indian guy." It's entitled "so and so":

hey all
reading this
this post
"Posted by [redacted] on [redacted]/[redacted]/2007
Best Food in a long time!" is posted by manager himself. U guys can go and see on ur own. I have been there lot of time. It is a good restaurant with delicious food. But service is not that good. An indian lady with a smile comes to u when u r eating ur food and starts all bulsh[*]tting and non sense talks. this is the most annoying thing about the restaurant. Again I must add the food and price are very reasonable.

Try Kheer or gulab jamun overthere . Never try mango kulfi, Samosa(as they make it sour somewhat but it is not supposed to be). Try Paneer makhani, Chicken Tandoori, Seafood is also good..

!! ESCAPE FROM THE LADY!!

Damn, "Indian guy" totally stole our band name, punctuation and all! And "non sense talks" was going to be the title of the first album. Oh well; it was worth it in the end. By the way, if we see either of those phrases on Pitchfork in the next few years, we're going to be angry. (Lady Escape, what with predating this post and all, has a partial exemption.)

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/28/2007 at 02:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: MenuPages News | Review Revue

Deals That Scare Us: 3 Courses At Bakers Square For $7.99

If this photograph represents the best that Bakers Square has to offer, then $7.99 sounds just about spot-on:

Actually, we really like the math they've done. Five entrées (this being "Juicy Sirloin Steak"), soup or salad and 20+ pies...five times two times twenty-five will get you 250 any day of the week. And in fact, it's offered every day of the week!

But that steak...we're sorry, we'd have to decline. It looks both reconstituted and grisly, somehow, especially on the heels of the $99 dinner for two deal at Morton's. The vegetables are a nice save, but anyone can microwave frozen vegetables. The soup - is Progresso? Fact: we have not tried their pies. The lit says, "The Best Pie In America®," which is an outrageously audacious claim, made that much worse by the registered trademark. That means Bakers Square could sue someone for using that phrase! When it can't even possibly be true! So on principle we cannot like the pie.

Nevertheless, $7.99 is an awfully small amount of money for that much food. We paid the same for a single piece of bluefin toro the other day; we will keep our counsel as to which we believe is a better value.

Bakers Square [MenuPages]
Bakers Square [Official Site]

[Photo: 3-Courses Combos At Bakers Square]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/28/2007 at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Events & Promotions

Rollicking Through The Reader: Sweet Collective

Today's Reader food section focuses on what sounds to us like a really great idea: three bakers opening a bakery together, and operating it federally - three businesses, one roof. It actually sounds a lot like the Iraq partition plan, but instead of bloodshed, cupcakes! Sweet Collective, opening in the next few weeks just north of Lincoln Square, will house a cakemaker, a trufflista, and an ice cream maestra (we know it's sexist to use gender non-neutral pronouns, but they're so linguistically lyrical!) The businesses would likely be too small to survive on their own, but collectivizing will provide a mutually supportive financial and emotional system that greatly increases each baker's chance of success. A capitalism of little socialisms. Hurray!

Triple Threat [Reader]

[Photo: uruknet]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/28/2007 at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: North Side | Openings & Closings | Review Revue

FYI: Now With 20% More Links!

• 15% of food is imported, and that's growing 15% annually [Reuters]
• We should probably start eating more wild hog [AP]
• "Medical" marijuana candy factory pushed its luck too far [Forbes]
• The plan to save Applebee's from irrelevance is...um... [Tribune]
• Hot right now: farm dinners! [AP]
• Hot right now: college dorm restaurants? [NYTimes]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/28/2007 at 08:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: FYI

September 27, 2007

Testing TOC: Reviews And Openings And Are We Missing The Rest?

Maybe there's a lot more of this week's section and we can't find it, and someone will email us in an hour, pointing out all the glorious articles that we missed. Which is why we're going to stop checking our inbox for the day as soon as we click "post," and instead, sing songs in our head about the tapas we're having for dinner (no, we're not going to tell you where!)

Anyway, let's get to what we can see, which is a review, two openings and a feature. The review is for Paramount Room, which David Tamarkin three-of-sixes (yes, it was about time we started to reference the stat system, wasn't it). As with many gastropubs, the drinks and food were both tasty and satisfying, if not sublime. The restaurant's co-owner/chef, Stephen Dunne, was also Tamarkin's bartender and server for the evening, which may or may not happen to if you visit.

As for openings, we've got Old Town Brasserie, a piano bar with a pedigree, on the one hand, and Honky Tonk Barbecue, blazing a trail of smoked meats into Pilsen (we have wandered along this trail and never got lost) on the other.

The feature was exciting for us, because it gave us an excuse to make a map:

"Thoz dotz - iz constulayshun?" you say, and you'd be absolutely right. It's Orion, having taken an arrow out of his belt, readying his bow for battle. Or about to make a cartwheel! Actually, it's six of the nine locations that David Tamarkin highlights in his article about cursed addresses, where restaurants cycle constantly, seemingly unable to stay open by dint of their berth. Why so many around around the eastern end of the border between Bucktown and Wicker Park? It must mean the rent is cheap and you should move there immediately. Because, also, it's really close to downtown and has good transit!

[Map: us, with locations provided by DT]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/27/2007 at 04:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Review Revue

Imbibing: Dogfish Head Beer Invades Chicago

Two, count 'em, two, Dogfish Head events are scheduled for the near future in Chicago, starting tonight with a free tasting at LUSH Wine and Spirits in University Village. If you can wade through the gurgling sea of UIC students, from 5pm to 7pm this evening, a brewer from Dogfish Head will be on hand to explain his company's unorthodox approaches to beer-making and pass out samples to the eager masses.

After the hangover, on October 10th, Ben Pao and Dogfish Head are teaming up to bring you a five course dinner with beer pairing to celebrate Autumn Moon, a Chinese holiday which we think is actually this, but it has a lot of different names and is just a thin excuse for an event dinner, so whatever. These beers are designed to go well with food, and specifically with that's being served - um, duh, what's what a pairing is. But Dogfish Head's beers more than most, maybe? We're only saying this because we've been to a Dogfish Head/cheese pairing dinner once and they worked really well together. The event costs $60, which is a lot more than free, but you do get dinner out of it.

The notice mentions that the dinner is for adults 21 and over only - quite obvious, although we don't think we can recall seeing such an admonishment such as this in event flyers very often. Do you think they'll be carding tonight? Underage UIC students, please report back with your findings.

Dogfish Head [Official Site]
Free Dogfish Head Beer Tasting at Lush Wine and Spirits - University Village [Local Wine Events]
LUSH Wine and Spirits [Official Site]
Ben Pao [MenuPages]
Ben Pao [Official Site]

[Photo: Handmade Beer Deserves Handmade Art, Dogfish Head]

Trembling Before The Tribune: Blu 47, Winston's Market, Chains

Everything you need to know about this week's Tribune dining section is in five articles. Two are straight-up reviews: Phil Vettel enjoys indulging his Southern tooth at Blu 47 in Bronzeville. While he, himself, doesn't love jazz Thursdays, you might, and no one can argue with the Sunday brunch. Meanwhile, Janet Franz is sort of nonplussed by the addition of Winston's Market, the New Americanish deli/prepared food/cafe, to its particular stretch of Southport. Not bad, but maybe not worth a special trip.

Sandwiched between the reviews and the chain comparisons (more on that momentarily) is an article by Becky Schlikerman about Latin America's many varieties of empanada, broken down by country of origin, with one local restaurant option given per country. Honestly, they all sound good.

The section's big theme is chain restaurants, and how they stack up to their upscale equivalents (RL vs. Red Lobster) or to themselves (Olive Garden vs. OG "inspired by the Culinary Institute of Tuscany.") Okay then. The first battle was inspired not just by the sameness of the initials, but because many of the dishes at Red Lobster are also available at RL. The conclusion, that basically all the food at RL tasted better (except for the cheddar biscuits) but that Red Lobster occasionally fit its smaller bill, came as no surprise; the dish-by-dish comparison is a fun read anyway, though.

The other piece evaluates Olive Garden's effort to put actual Italian food on its menu. Apparently, every year 100 OG staff members take a trip to the Culinary Institute of Tuscany, near Siena, for a week of learning how to cook what it is they're supposed to be serving. A crew of Tribunites and members of the local Italorati went to a suburban OG to check out the 14 menu items that resulted (don't worry, they haven't taken unlimited breadbasket off the menu), and found themselves not entirely horrified. Much of the food tasted like it could conceivably be found in Tuscany, albeit in much smaller portions and with fewer over-the-top ingredients. If, heavens forfend, any of you find yourselves inescapably at an Olive Garden, you can survive on the shrimp and asparagus risotto.

Blu 47 [MenuPages]
Blu 47 [Official Site]
Winston's Market [MenuPages]
RL [MenuPages]
RL [Official Site]

[Photo: Olive Garden learns to cook!]

FYI: The Perils Of Generalizing From A Single Case

• Foodwise (and otherwise), Somalia is in deep trouble [IHT]
• Will a Wendy's franchisee purchase part of the parent co.? [Tribune]
• Ramadan street vendors cause spike in food-bourne illnesses [ArabNews]
• One guy gets diacetyl poisoning, and now there's a law against it [Tribune]
• Pumping breastmilk for your baby? Extended exam time for you! [NYTimes]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/27/2007 at 08:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: FYI

September 26, 2007

News We've Been Ignoring, Via The CFB

First of all, there's the whole Alinea cookbook thing, which has gotten press in the Chicagoist, The Food Chain (in passing), and on Serious Eats. The SE's piece talks about how Achatz stuck it to the man by eschewing the normal practice of getting a huge advance in favor of total creative control and more of the royalties later on. And the whole innovative web access for early adopter thing. He's probably going to make a fair bit of money - people will buy this for the food porn alone. Because, really, who can make any of his recipes?

Another important happening - as reported by the Chicagoist - was the upholding of the stupid Illinois Horse Meat Act by Richard Posner of the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals, albeit reluctantly (see p. 14). So, they don't shoot horses anymore, at least in this country, for human consumption. Posner thought the law was not necessarily conceived in the interest of the people of the state of Illinois, but it was sufficiently constitutional that the slaughterhouse didn't really have a case. None of this is going to stop us from eating horse meat in foreign countries.

Our third story of interest is Top Chef 3/4. No, not three quarters - both this season and the next season have Chicago in their story lines. Well, next season quite a bit, what with it being filmed here momentarily. But S3's finale will be broadcast live from Chicago in one week's time! Although just the announcing-the-winner part, since the cooking already took place in Aspen. But the heartbreak and triumph, that belongs to the Windy City.

[Photo: horse sashimi (bashashi), CheapyD/flickr]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/26/2007 at 04:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Food Media | Photos & Clips | Roundups

Meal Deal(?): Steak & Seafood For 2 @ Morton's

Morton's is having a deal where $99 buys dinner for two at any of their locations, and it includes...well, take a look for yourself:

Okay, but is it a good value? Using the power of MenuPages*, we can find out!

Let's see. Two single cut filets costs $72; Colossal Shrimp Alexander is $18, the crab cake is $14, and the broiled sea scallops (wrapped in bacon) are $13, so two of them could be $32 at the most; Caesar and Morton's salads are both $9.50, so that's $19; the priciest potato/vegetable combo comes to $19 also; and the chocolate cake is $11 (there's also an option of Key lime pie, but that's probably less, and since you get two, we'll stick with the cake for $22 total).

Rest your pretty little head - all told, it's $164, assuming you maximize by picking the most expensive items, which you obviously should. That is...not bad! If you were already planning on doing chain steak, then go for it. If you weren't, it might be worth your consideration. Since the offer says "as often as you like," feel free to use our code. That is, of course, until September 30th (i.e. Sunday), when the offer expires.

Also, it's so much food that you will probably need to get your stomach pumped when you're finished. Maybe that should be factored into the price of the meal?

Morton's, The Steakhouse (on Wacker) [MenuPages]
Morton's, The Steakhouse (on State) [MenuPages]
Morton's, The Steakhouse [Official Site]

[Photo: it's on their website, but they don't allow direct linking. Their loss!]

* You won't find the prices on the site just yet, but they'll be up tomorrow.

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/26/2007 at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: North Side | Events & Promotions | Restaurant Highlight

Surrendering To The Sun-Times: Trendwatch Edition

This week's S-T food section covers new developments in topics as diverse as urban honeymaking, Chicago's role in the beef industry, fall fruit options, candy, and alcohol/sweets pairings. In that order, and largely via quotes:

• Apparently, the Chicago Honey Co-Op apiary is located in North Lawndale by the train tracks. And why not? There are plenty of flowers around; as the head beekeeper says, "The honey possibilities in the city are 10 times better than any rural setting I have seen." You can purchase the product at your leisure.

• Even though most American slaughterhouse operations have moved south and west (closer to the actual cattle and cheaper labor), the cattle futures market is still located in the city. Interesting claim: "Raw meat now is cleaner than cooked meat in the 1970s." Tartare for everybody!

• Everyone knows about apples in the fall, but have you been paying enough attention to persimmons? They have a variety of tastes and textures, but listen to this: "Make sure they're ripe before you eat them or literally, it's like a visit to the dentist -- it anesthetizes your mouth." OMG, persimmons are the cocaine of fall fruits!

• Candy Expo! Highlight: "Dryden & Palmer's lavender-, orange spice- and caramel-flavored rock sweetener sticks for coffee and tea."
Lowlight: "NRG's Energy Potato Chips containing caffeine and B-vitamins."
Fetish: "Foot Licker fruit-flavored, foot-shaped lollipops." Seriously?

• The hot new thing is pairing lambics with artisanal dark chocolate. Evidently, you're supposed to do this at your parties: "Whether you're entertaining for two or 20, all you need are several varieties of high-quality chocolate bars, several varieties of incredible beers, ales or stouts, a small bouquet of flowers and napkins." Um, right. Our party guests are usually too cracked out to ingest solid food by the time they show up - we have to spend most of the time cleaning up vomit and blood, and calling ambulances.

[Photo: a partially eaten persimmon, CoastRanger/flickr]

FYI: As Long As We Have Our Priorities Straight

In America, we concern ourselves with what wines to drink:
• Do screwtops have preservation problems of their own? [NYTimes]
• So hot right now: Gerwurtztraminer (say it, don't spray it) [Tribune]

In Europe, they worry about the disease du jour:
• "Bluetongue" may be spreading through cow farms in Britain [Forbes]

Everywhere else, it's simple survival:
• Outgoing Australian pol: global grain shock in the offing [ABCNews]
• Floods in E. & W. Africa put millions at starvation risk [AFP]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/26/2007 at 08:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: FYI

September 25, 2007

Viewing Pleasure: What The Hell Is This?

Okay, that's misleading. Based on jough [formerly jough]'s testimony, this is a stuffed eggplant dim sum from Chinatown. But that's also we know. What is it stuffed with? Where is it served? Why is it so unappealing? This critical information is lacking from the flickr page.

A little research indicates that the eggplant (Chinese eggplant, specifically, which are more cylindrical and less tear-shaped than their Western cousins) is almost certainly stuffed with shrimp paste, and then fried. Well, we say not fried enough, because eggplant skin can be so plasticky unless it's really pummeled with heat, and this specimen still looks pretty fresh. That, we suppose, is our objection. We don't usually say this, but more fried please!

That takes care of what and why, but we're left with where. While we can't be certain, we've narrowed our guesses down to Furama, Phoenix, Shui Wah, and Three Happiness. Anyone who writes in with a credible answer gets a pony. If jough [formerly jough] responds, he gets two ponies! Just the heads, though.

[Photo: jough [formerly jough]/flickr]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/25/2007 at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: South Side | Dish Focus | Photos & Clips

Best Of MenuPages Reviews: First Post(s)!

We may not do reviews at MenuPages, but our legions of users are all over that. Here are six of interest.

And by that we mean, here's a run-through of all the maiden reviews we received this week. Some are for new restaurants (Su-Ra), and some that no one had gotten around to until now (Hamburger King). In chronological order, plus commentary:

• Columbus Grill, by "Kelsey", on 9/18:

This place is great and no one knows about it. I often go in and I'm one of the few patrons. The atmosphere is great and they have a Wii that you can play. I highly recommend anything that's greek on the menu. All of the food is a great value, but the greek food is AWESOME. They deliver too, which is awesome when we're too busy to get over there and grab the food. TRY THIS PLACE, YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED. Weekend and night hours are a little sketchy because they don't have a lot of business during those times yet, but call ahead and they'll be ready to help you out!

Any bar whose off hours are nights and weekends is okay in our book. Also, Wiiiiii!!!!!!
=====
• HB Home Bistro, by "THE JAY", on 9/19:

homey?....yes.....delicious?...yes....alittle cramped?...yes. this is a lovely little store front restaurant, run by care by the owners...and its byob, to boot. i recommend it highly...menu changes often.

At first glance, there's not much to this review, but it has enough keywords to make it fairly descriptive. Homey, cramped, lovely, owner-operated, BYO and frequently changing menu together paint a portrait that's pretty close to what we have in mind when we think of HB. Next time, JAY, please use only three periods to indicate an ellipsis.
=====
• Kiki's Bistro, by "gigi", on 9/20:

Kiki never disappoints. All dishes are well prepared. Beet salad is superb; sauted liver the best ever; fish is always cooked to the exact doneness that shows the chef's expertise. A wonderful spot for both lunch and dinner

The word "doneness" is exclusively the province of meat temperature, and serves an essential descriptive purpose that is difficult to summarize with other words. Okay, you could say, "how do you like your steak cooked?" but then it would be conceivable to answer "well" and mean properly or with a high degree of skill, when the correct answer would have been "rare," and you end up with a piece of shoe leather instead. No one would misunderstand "what is your doneness preference for this steak?" Well, maybe a lot of people would misunderstand, but then they didn't really deserve the choice in the first place, did they?
=====
• J. Alexander's, by "Anonymous", on 9/20:

I love this place. I typically don't enjoy chain restaurants, but I make an exception here. Great food - honestly one of the best filet mignons I've ever had. Nice wine. Above all, friendly and prompt service.

We appreciate the disclosure about not enjoying chain restaurants, because it gives us a lens through which to interpret this review. The reviewer is as surprised as anyone that they liked this restaurant, given its chain status. Or maybe they're shilling and were just trying to lull us into a false sense of security by gaining our confidence through a disparagement and setting us up to believe the lies about the filet! No, that's not very likely.
=====
• Su-Ra, by "Anonymous", on 9/21:

The food was really good and tasty. They have a simple menu with a few daily specials. I chose the salad from the specials and a bi bim bop; all recommendations from the waitress. The salad was fresh, and amazing and the beef bi bim bop was very good. The service was timely and helpful. The atmosphere is contemporary. I believe the menu item prices range from $9-$18. I really enjoyed the food and I look forward to going there again.

This is sort of a blah first review for a restaurant with as much hype as Su-Ra, which is not so much, but maybe, on the other hand, it's good to get a down-to-Earth reaction from someone who was not starstruck and obviously enjoyed themselves anyway. Note that we're nominally offended that the reviewer merely took a stab at the dish prices, when they're all more than accessible on MenuPages (actual range: $7 to $18).
=====
• Hamburger King, on "Anonymous", by 9/22:

A great place to go for an inexpensive breakfast. It reminds me of a place you would see on Seinfeld.

So it's like Tom's? Doubt it. We don't have any concrete reason to doubt it, but nevertheless.

Okay, thanks for playing! Next time, something meaner, and hopefully shorter.

Mozzeralla In Unexpected Places: Kaze Reveals Its Fall Tastings Menu

Kaze, surely one of the city's top sushi restaurants (we were going to say joints, but that would really bely the gravitas of this establishment), is introducing its fall tastings menu tonight for the eating pleasure of Roscoe Villagers and Chicagoland's raw fish community at large. This evening, and then following a bizarre schedule (until Thursday of this week, then Sunday through Thursday of next week, and subsequent Tuesdays through the end of the season. What, they're too chicken to offer it on the weekends?), Kaze will be offering a four course meal for $45, not inclusive of tax or tip.

By the way, that is annoying. If it's going to cost 25% more, every time, why not just include it in the price? Why implicitly deceive your customers? Nobody likes to be tricked so transparently - it's belittling (opposite of embiggening). It's akin to prices that end in $.99.

But anyway, the tasting menu. As we hinted in the title, the first course of crab bisque in white miso and tomato broth is garnished with mozzy cheese, truffle oil, and a crab and potato croquette. Now, truffle oil is all the vogue and whatnot, but the mozzarella cheese makes something of a surprise appearance in a cuisine that's otherwise almost entirely devoid of dairy. Maybe it's mozsoyrella? OMG we're copyrighting that immediately.

The nigiri course that follows is somewhat more traditional, but not by much: anango is dabbed with honey mustard, sanma (pike, i.e. what crappy gefilte fish is made of) is served with yuzu and ohba (ungooglable!), and white tuna comes with a banana-wasabi puree. The gentle blandness of banana would pair well with the nose-y sharpness of the wasabi - maybe also as an ice cream?

The third course is salmon with shiitake tempura (eh) and is followed by an entrée of grilled lamb chop, marinated in horseradish and served with "fired bananas" and an apple salad. Who knew bananas were so hot right now? Oh! We didn't even tell you the reason why this is a good deal: each of the courses (well, the final three) have a wine or sake pairing! Yes, we may have been annoyed that tax and tip weren't inclusive, but the accompanying alcohol sort of makes up for it. Ever had a lamb chop with organic sake? Welcome to the new season.

Kaze Sushi [MenuPages]
Kaze Sushi [Official Site]

[Photo: the organic sake we were talking about, Select Wines]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/25/2007 at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: North Side | Drinks & Drinking | Events & Promotions

FYI: Making The Tough Decisions

• Vegan teacher finally fired as school stays omnivorous [Tribune]
• China cancels licenses for 0.1% of food makers, like it means something [Bloomberg]
• Some more analysis on the CARE US gov't aid refusal row [AllAfrica]
• Sbux priming the pump by subsidizing 50m iTunes downloads [Tribune]
• Japanese scientists discover low-fat frying method with crispy results [UPI]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/25/2007 at 07:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: FYI

September 24, 2007

Opening: Curio Cafe

We added Curio Cafe largely - no, entirely - on account of Monica Eng's write-up in last week's Tribune dining section. What drew Ms. Eng to the cute, mostly organic, very kid-friendly cafe "tucked away in a highly residential Northwest Side neighborhood" that otherwise wouldn't have made the paper? Is it that Monica lives in Irving Park and goes to Curio a lot? Stalking time!

Actually, you wouldn't catch us within 500 feet of all those children who frequent the cafe. Not because we're a convicted sex offender, but they carry germs, you know? Their kids' menu has an almost unheard-of three sections, covering breakfast (French toast with bananas and a juice box, $3.25), lunch (mozzarella grilled cheese with apple slices or carrot sticks and a juice box, $3.50), and snacks (ramekin with mixed fruit for $1.50. No juice box on that one; it's seventy-five cents a la carte. But consider the potential vocabulary lesson surrounding ramekin!).

Adults have options, too. Monica recommends the carrot soup when they have it (soup of the day is $4) and the chicken sandwich, served on a ciabatta bollo, with herb roasted chicken breast, mayo, avocado spread, lettuce, and tomato for $6.95. Oh yeah, and to the extent that it's a coffee shop, you can get Equal Exchange organic brew for $2.50 a cup, and an assortment of teas and juices, also of the organic variety.

One more thing of note: several of the sandwiches use Vienna bread, a variant with which we have little familiarity. So we looked it up, and now there's a big old picture of it at the top of this post. Wikipedia has the following to say about it:

The dough is placed into the oven under a ceiling of steam or, alternatively, the oven is injected with steam as soon as the loaf is loaded. This adds moisture to the body, the crumb, of the bread and establishes the crust quickly, resulting in a light and airy crumb. When the steam is gone (sometimes today, withdrawn), the dry heat of the oven bakes the crust, producing its characteristically slightly crisp and flaky texture. Vienna bread is typically formed as an oblong loaf, but can be baked in other shapes. As a longer loaf, it may well have been the origin of French bread as bakers there attempted to adopt the steam method to produce their baguettes.

So it's sort of like white bread, but a little crustier? You'll have to go to Curio and find out yourself.

Curio Cafe [MenuPages]
Curio Cafe [Official Site]
Organics on menu at new cafe [Tribune]
Vienna bread [Wikipedia]

[Photo: Vienna bread, Pip in the city/flickr]

Blog Reviews: Week Of Fish Taco Mania

Chicago's intrepid food bloggers were all over the damn place last week, in alphabetical order by restaurant

• What if you go to The Gage and don't eat anything? The drinks are pricey but tasty, and the atmosphere is accommodating of large groups [Drive-Thru]

• The burger at Gibson's Steakhouse isn't really a value at $13, with poor structural integrity and boring meat flavor [Chicago Burger Project]

• Striking a bold path between frozen supermarket pizza and regular delivery, HomeMade Pizza Co sends you over an uncooked pizza, which you finish in your oven. Freshness overcomes many flaws! [Chicagoist]

• Fancy new Lakeview coffeeshop Sweet Bean and More has free wifi, Metropolis coffee, and sandwiches made to order [Drive-Thru]

• Portions are large and vegetables are fresh at Uru-Swati, the newish vegetarian snack shop on Devon [Drive-Thru]

[Photo: one of the in-demand fish taco bracelets, rachelleb/flickr]

Imbibing: Welcoming The Fall, Slowly, @ Uncommon Ground

Even though it's hot today, it's both literally and figuratively fall. As soon as you get those few days of crisp weather and chilly nights, any subsequent heat wave can be dismissed as "Indian summer," which is totally racist, by the way, and we should stop using it.

Technically, a warm period cannot be termed Indian summer until after the first frost, but screw that, we're schvitzing like no one's business anyway.

Despite - or because of - all this, Uncommon Ground is holding a "fall pear dinner" tonight from 6pm to 10pm, in conjunction with Seedling Farms and benefiting Slow Foods Chicago. In fact, we just called and they still have spots open at 5, 5:30, 8:30 and 9, so that six o'clock thing was a total lie. We like this kind of dinner, where it's simply a special menu available for anyone dining at the restaurant, and not some sort of rigidly scheduled event. This evening, $37 (inclusive of tax, tip, and donation to Slow Foods!) will buy you:

• Seared Scallop, Spiced Butternut Squash Puree, Tasso Ham Chip, Spicy Pear & Kerner Sauce
• Asian Pear, Fresh Fig, Manchego Cheese, Marcona Almond & Mizuna Salad, Black Pepper Sherry Vinaigrette
• Duo of Duck (pulled confit leg & seared breast) Housemade Gorgonzola Gnocchi, Wild Mushrooms & Ginger Pear Sauce
• Bosc Pear Clafoutis, Pear Gelato, Argmanac Syrup & Plum Brittle

An additional $15 will cover wine pairings, and given the value of the dinner and the low price for the pairing, we say, go for it. But call soon because those time slots, like this weather, won't be around forever.

Uncommon Ground [MenuPages]
Uncommon Ground [Official Site]
Seedling Farms [Official Site]
Slow Foods Chicago [Official Site]

[Photo: a pear-adox? [Cicero Fonseca/flickr]

FYI: Better Uses Of Our Resources

• The food we throw away could fuel our cars [CNN]
• At WIU, snake head in a can of beans causes stir [Western Courier]
• Al's Beef expanding rapidly and looking for a mascot [Daily Southtown]
• Is Thomas Keller selling out? (Yes, a little) [Bloomberg]
• With kids fattening their livers on starch, who needs foie gras? [Nat'l Post]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/24/2007 at 08:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: FYI

September 21, 2007

Viewing Pleasure: Self-Deprivation

During the daylight hours tomorrow, observant Muslims and Jews around the world will be engaged in a ritual fast (for Ramadan and Yom Kippur, respectively), in order to cleanse the soul, promote self-reflection, and edge closer to God. So we present to you a photo of...nothing. Sometimes, the best way to appreciate our plenty is to do without it. Have a thoughtful weekend.

[Photo: Neal's Hire and Special Events]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/21/2007 at 03:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Food Trends | Photos & Clips

The Articles We Missed: So Many Articles!

For this one, we're rounding up the Tribune, TOC, The Stew, the TOC Blog, and the Chicagoist.

The first order of business is fish taco mania, a campaign by Kevin Pang of the Tribune to introduce that wonderful dish from Baja and Southern California to the restaurants and palates of Chicago (to the extent that they're not already here). Steve Dahl even chimed in! But have you requested your bracelet yet? Well, too bad! They're all spoken for. Chuck Sudo didn't see what all the fuss is about, given that the tacos are available around town, but we think it's totally fine - and rather fun - that Kevin's going batsh*t crazy over a random food item.

We could have made Grant Achatz's so-far-successful battle against oral cancer our top story, but we have a feeling that Mr. Achatz would rather see us going gaga over tacos than fussing about every little detail of his medical treatment. But, hurray for shrinking tumors!

Other fun stuff: Monica Eng has a video how-to guide on eating ssam, the Korean lettuce burrito, starting with the most important part - how to pronounce it (pretend there's only one 's', and it rhymes with "mom"). And Heather Shouse has an article about crappy and annoying music in restaurants and bars, with an accompanying quiz where you match crappy and annoying music to the restaurants and bars where she heard it. Epicureans, unite!

[Photo: A healthy-looking fish taco, desertculinary/flickr]

The Reviews We Missed: So Many Reviews!

Wow, it's amazing how much can happen on the internet in a day and a half of not having internet. Let's check out the reviews (mapped below) in this week's Tribune, TOC, and Reader:

Tribune

Phil Vettel went to Sepia and thought it lived up to its considerable hype. He loved the food, which ranges from classic to out-there New American, and really liked the clientele (you'll have to read the review to know why we italicized that). Monica Eng is charmed by a green/sustainable and child-friendly cafe in Irving Park called Curio Cafe; we think the place can be summed up by its organic lollipops. As for Table Hopping, Glenn Jeffers found that Bluebird Bistro and Winebar was hitting all the good gastropub notes except in the service department, and Trine Tsouderos is less than excited about the food at kitschy Reagle Beagle in Streeterville.

TOC

Heather Shouse heads to Rosebud Prime and is underwhelmed to say the least (see "decomposing crab"). The verdict: if you want to open another classic steakhouse in Chicago, it ought to be better than this. Misty Tosh visits Peacock Cafe, an Edgewater Eritrean restaurant (safe to say, the Edgewater Eritrean restaurant, and finds delicious food and coffee, but precious few customers. We're especially sympathetic because Peacock is quite possible the only Eritrean restaurant between Minneapolis and Washington, DC, and ought to be supported on those grounds alone.

Reader

The theme for this week's Reader dining section is new spots, which is always relevant. Anne Spiselman enjoyed the eclectic small plates at Exposure Tapas, but found that the loud crowds, the loud music, and the weak service conspired to put a damper on her Friday evening. Mike Sula was entertained by the pageantry of Oprah personal chef Art Smith's new haute Southern comfort food restaurants, TABLE fifty-two, in Old Town (that was a mouthful!). The Oprah attention is inevitable, but Smith lives up to whatever expectations people may have with his large and thoroughly enjoyable portions, and high prices. David Hammond was hoping that the views from the tables of Tavern at the Park would be a little more breathtaking (the Millennium Park location is its main draw) and that chef John Hogan's cuisine - a French twist on New American - was a tad less salty, but overall, didn't hate the experience.

[Map: "courtesy" of Microsoft Streets & Trips]

FYI: Getting Out While The Going's Good

• Agr. sec'y Johanns resigns in the middle of farm bill debates [ABCNews]
• In Britain, gov't says "not so fast" on banning additives [Guardian]
• Food miles fixation potential harmful to developing world agr. [Farmers Guardian]
• Uh oh, Guerreran cheese sold in Ill. may have salmonella [Tribune]
• Stop those bees! We need them! [AP]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/21/2007 at 08:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: FYI

September 20, 2007

Explanation/Apology

Maybe some of you were wondering why we didn't post today. Maybe some of you were grateful! Basically, our internet was down all day (and is still down!), so this mea culpa is being written at home. Our biggest regret is that we didn't get to cover fish taco mania in the blow-by-blow fashion that the blogging medium so encourages. Tomorrow, at least, we can do a post-mortem. Wait, there's definitely a pun in there. Oh yes, haha, we see it now.

Anyway, thank you for your patience and understanding, and we promise* it will never happen again. *not!

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/20/2007 at 06:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: MenuPages News

FYI: The Imbalances Are Stark

• Ogaden, a civil war zone in Ethiopia, facing food shortages [AllAfrica]
• By the way, so is much of the continent, following floods [Guardian]
• Grocery Manufacturers Assoc. soft on food safety [MarketWatch]
• Microwaves: determining fat content since 2007 [Science Daily]
• Is Bill Richardson a hypocrite on obesity? Eh, probably not [Slate]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/20/2007 at 07:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: FYI

September 19, 2007

Objectionable Advertising: "Don't Hook Up On An Empty Stomach"

Via copyranter, this advertisement seen inside a Boystown bar is generally icky, and gives terrible advice. don't hook up.jpg

Consider the list of common food aphrodisiacs: asparagus, chili peppers, chocolate, oysters, ginko, Thousand Island-knockoff dressing, low-quality ground beef, white bread, anemic shredded iceberg lettuce, American cheese.

Hmm, there's something suspicious about that list...oh right, every component of a Big Mac is vile! Copyranter makes fun of the gas they cause, but what of the violent internal hemorrhaging that one risks with even a single bite of the sandwich? Maybe we're supposed to draw sexual inspiration from the bun-paddy-bun-paddy-bun configuration of the burger, like it's some sort of fast food Kama Sutra (the double-sided middle bun raises fascinating questions).

We haven't been to a McD in several years, but don't they smell weird, and in such a way that it sticks on your clothes for hours? And also, we feel like "dress the part" and "lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas" apply here: if you eat McD food, you will sleep with McD clientele, and no one wants that.

Sure, you can accuse us of being elitist, but it's only in response to crass marketing. Actually, you know what would make this ad work for us? If it dispensed Big Mac-flavored condoms. That would be a marketing coup, and bolster its public health image all at the same time! Taking that final step would make it go viral - are you listening, Oak Brook? But please don't make an accompanying YouTube video for it, because giving the campaign a human face would make it go right back to being lame again. Complicated, isn't it?!

SUBTEXT: (You Gay Sluts, You!) [copyranter]

[Photo: from the post, taken by one Marah Eakin]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/19/2007 at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Food Trends | Photos & Clips

Sashaying By The Sun-Times: Reading & Eating, Pizzaing & Drinking

The funniest part of this week's Sun-Times section is how much Alpana Singh hates the new wines that are marketed as pizza accompaniments. She mocks one product, Australian Pizza Wine Co's Pizza Red, in two articles, opining that "It really does wine more harm than good" and "The bottle looks girly ... There's so much residual sugar in this wine that I can't drink it. It tastes like strawberry Fanta." Haha yes, we think we will stick with beer (pizza beer?), or, you know, any old red wine would probably be better than this specially designed product from the land Down Under. What do they know about pizza anyway?

The section also unmasked the real reason behind book clubs - not stimulating intellectual discussion, not even the social interaction, but eating and drinking. How elemental! For people who actually read the books they're supposed to, a quiz wherein you match recipes to the books that inspired them (we didn't take it since our attention span is too...oh look a pony! It's galloping through the meadows of our mind. So bucolic.)

And in alphabetical order, meringue, sausage, and yuca. A overly monochromatic palette, we feel, especially since it's not even fall yet.

[Photo: ponies in a meadow, fruta/flickr]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/19/2007 at 02:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Food Media | Review Revue | Roundups

Opening: Uru-Swati

At the tail end of June, Uru-Swati landed on Earth, somewhere in the vicinity of Devon Avenue.

The magnetic pull of all the other South Asian restaurants must be pretty hard to resist, because this already much-appreciated pure vegetarian Indian fast food/snack shop would have been a fine (and quite possibly finer) addition to many other neighborhoods that lack similar establishments.

But alas, if you want the pure veg, you'll have to head to 60659. Uru-swati differs from other vegetarian spots like Arya Bhavan, Mysore Woodlands, and Udupi Palace by being as much a snack shop as a full-service restaurant. The entrees run $4.95 to $5.95 (no, that is not a series of typos), and include things you'll recognize like chana masala, palak peneer, vegetable jalfrezie, and dal makhani. But that's the top end of the price scale at this place: a "mini meal" (e.g., puri bhaji, paneer roll, falafel sandwich[!]) goes for $4-$4.50, but that's barely the half of it. "Quick bites" include dosas, chats, puris and pakoras for under $4, although the samosas seem overpriced at $2.50, compared to other snack shops in the strip.

Still, what seems to set Uru-Swati apart (aside from its mission statement, "healing through food") is the high quality of the food. LTH seems to like it, at least enough for GWiv to post a photo gallery on the subject. All six reviews on Yelp give it a 4/5, which is remarkably concordant. And Chicago Foodies was pretty taken, and won't they be pleased when they realize that dosas are, in fact, available.

The food at Uru-Swati may not be revolutionary, but we'll take cheap, consistent and delicious any day. And we certainly wouldn't mind being healed, either!

Uru-Swati [MenuPages]
Uru-Swati [Official Site]

[Photo: Uru-Swati's groovy (and religiously significant) logo]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/19/2007 at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: North Side | Openings & Closings | Restaurant Highlight

FYI: Trying To Take Care Of Ourselves

• No more bluefins from the eastern Atlantic or Med this year [BBCNews]
• FDA to kids: read nutrition labels, because your parents aren't [AP]
• Ailing Cosi picks up new CEO from BK [Tribune]
• Wines under $10 [NYTimes]
• Wines that aren't Chardonnay or Cabernet [Tribune]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/19/2007 at 08:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: FYI

September 18, 2007

Elsewhere In The Menuniverse: Mashups and Trashups

First, the mashups, both involving steak:

• Out of Philly, because no other city on Earth could produce such an item, comes the cheesesteak eggroll. This is a normal eggroll shell, with its fried goodness, containing cheesesteak ingredients. In lieu of duck sauce, you get cheese whiz. Fact: if you mix duck sauce and baking soda in a blender at high speed, cheese whiz will result!

• From Boston, although this could have come from somewhere else but it didn't, is a watermelon steak. It's worth clicking through to see the photo, because it took us a while to figure out whether "watermelon" or "steak" deserves the scare quotes. Yeah, we're totally not going to tell you which it is!

And now the trashups, neither of which involve steak:

• In South Beach, this horrible scenestaurant is installing a twenty-foot Buddha on premises! Too bad the big B isn't the fire and brimstone type, because surely, this is a case that calls for divine retribution. Watch those hurricanes, South Beachers!

• A San Francisco restaurant was torn asunder by the Chinese mafia (or three guys pretending to be part of the Chinese mafia), evidently because the restaurateur refused to pay extortion fees. Wait, if these people are non-state actors trying to usurp the government's monopolies on violence and tax collection, doesn't that make them terrorists? Where is Homeland Security when you need it!

p.s. We just realized that every single one of those ended in an exclamation point. We'll work on that. (!)

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/18/2007 at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Roundups

Best Of MenuPages Reviews: The Week In Pizza

We may not do reviews at MenuPages, but our legions of users are all over that. Here are seven (!) of interest.

Approximately 13% of the reviews we received last week were for pizza places, or places that serve pizzas. In the interest of bombarding you with useless information, here's ALL OF THEM, in chronological order:

Cafe Luigi, on 9/11, by "Pizza Freak":

I love walking over here for lunch on work days. They have excellent pizza. Sort of a Sbarro type place, but the slices are always big and they are actually filling. I love this place.

Ew, Sbarro. Do not follow this person's advice! After all, they are, by their own admission, a freak.

* * *

Lou Malnati's Pizzeria, on 9/12, by "Jenn":

My group and i visited Lou's on 9/9/07 while attending a conference in Chicago. It was recommended by one of our group who had visited before. It was thee best pizza we all had EVER eaten. We were amazed at the size and aroma of the deluxe pizza. However, after taking a bite and experiencing the extacy of flavors that were melded together our expectations were far exceeded. The crust, oh that buttery crust just melted in your mouth. Our server Lissa was so attentive to out needs. It was quite warm in the restaurant and after being shut down by the hostess to prop open the door, Lissa had us moved upstairs where it was way more compfortable. She went the extra mile to make us happy. I would recommend that if ever visiting Chicago, go, taste, and experience Lou's Malnati's Pizzeria. You definitely wont regret it. Make sure to ask for Lissa.

Always happy to school non-Chicagolanders in good pizza. Even nicer when that pizza is paired with good service. It is interesting (well, maybe not really) that visitors always address their reviews to other visitors.

* * *

Sergio's Taqueria & Pizza, on 9/15, by "Doro B.", entitled "best 3way ever"(!)

The pizza is awesome, the Italian is delicious, and the mexican is to die for. All of it at a very low price, I think.

We thought it was spam, based on the title, and even after reading the review it took us a few seconds to add one and one and one. Places that specialize in more than one cuisine rarely do either of them well, but maybe this is an exception?

* * *

Giorgio's Pizza, on 9/15, by "Anonymous":

This place has great service. We need a decent pizza joint in the neighborhood, and it is finally here! Good meal. Tasty pizza. Fresh salads.

The neighborhood in question is Irving Park, and as far as we can tell, there's no other pizza place for a half-mile radius. So maybe this is true.

* * *

Il Fiasco, on 9/17, by "Anonymous":

I have tried a bunch of the restaurants along Clark St. in Andersonville and this is the best of them all. I have been there a few times with my boyfriend and have tried the various pizzas and pastas. Each time the food was delicious and the pizza is the most authentic Italian pizza I have eaten in Chicago. All the pastas are light with really fresh ingredients I highly recommend the ravioli. A pizza is $10 and pasta can range from $10-$15. Highly recommend.

Most authentic in Chicago, eh? Digression: is this how one spells the onomatopoeia for the sound that connotes playful doubt and sounds like the letter 'a'? Eh, who cares - the urgency of that question pales in comparison to the claim this reviewer makes. Anyone who wants to contest, please feel free to do so in the blog comments or as a review for this restaurant.

* * *

Angie's Pizza, on 9/17, by "Anonymous":

Best BBQ Chicken Pizza on the South Side. Made with premium chicken breasts cut up and seasoned with a fantastic BBQ sauce, baked just right! Cold Beer - Family Atmosphere - Great Service!

Sold. We like any pizzeria that has a hand in making the toppings it uses.

* * *

Lucky Vito's Pizzeria, on 9/17, by "One word WOW!!!!":

They have the best pizza I have ever had!!!!

This is neither intelligent nor descriptive, particularly, but other reviews for Lucky Vito's seem to concur. At any rate, a good way to end this roundup, on a low note.

[Photo: A Lou Malnati's pizza, foodite/flickr]

Opening: Pannenkoeken Cafe

How do you feel about...Dutch pancakes? They're larger and thinner than traditional American pancakes, but not as large and thin as, say, dosas. Although come to think of it, could you imagine employing a dosa to serve as a vehicle for fruit and syrup instead of curried potatoes? It would be the biggest pancake ever! You could support an entire unit of a child army on a dozen or so, surely. While the world is not ready for such a thing, the pannenkoeken (specifically, the pannenkoeken at Pannenkoeken Cafe) serves as an excellent introduction to the concept.

(Note that Chicagoans may think they're already familiar with the treat by way of the Original Pancake House and its signature Dutch Baby, but that's more of a German-inspired invention, and does not really resemble actual pannenkoeken.)

The cafe, in Lincoln Square, sells their pannenkoeken in both sweet (Chocolate Banana with thinly sliced bananas, drizzled with Belgium chocolate, sprinkled with toasted hazelnuts, and topped off with fresh whipped cream and Dutch cocoa powder, $7.75) and savory (Bacon Cheese, with high quality bacon and mild white cheese, $6.75) varieties, not unlike the various creperies around town.

Those two pannenkoeken make up half their online menu, but we knew better than to trust that. Sure enough, the menu they faxed us revealed a world of other breakfast options, both for in-store and on-the-go. After all, what place closes at 3pm every day and doesn't serve eggs? You can get them in breakfast sandwich form ($3.50/$4 on croissant), as one or two eggs any style with bacon or sausage ($4.50 and $6, respectively), or omeletized (the Denver is $7.25 for two eggs, $8.25 for three).

But really, who's going at this point and not getting the namesake dish? While that question is functionally unanswerable (although apparently someone loved the French toast [$5.95 for a half order, $6.95 for a full order, $1 extra for strawberries and whipped cream]), we can say with some confidence that Pannenkoeken Cafe has intrigued the neighborhood. When Drive-Thru tried to go one weekend morning, they were shut out by an indefinitely long line. They next time, they still had to wait 45 minutes (owing to the tiny size of the restaurants), and the service was similarly annoying.

It remains to be seen whether Pannekoeken's pannenkoeken will make itself essential enough to be worth the wait.

Pannenkoeken Cafe [MenuPages]
Pannenkoeken Cafe [Official Site]

[Photo: a pannenkoeken (not from Pannenkoeken, sorry), basykes/flickr]

p.s. Pannenkoeken pannenkoeken pannenkoeken!

FYI: Mostly Tribune Edition

• Candy!!! Trade show began yesterday at McCormack [Tribune]
• Candy!!! Mars to use cocoa butter over veg. substitute [Tribune]
• Salad!!! Dole makes an E. coli boo boo, recalls bags [Tribune]
• Salad!!! That vegan teacher is still out of school [Tribune]
• Sky's not falling after all: food prices down in August [MarketWatch]

Posted by Adam Peltz on 09/18/2007 at 08:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: FYI

September 17, 2007

Chart Of The Week: Why Do People Bypass Restaurants?

Why does NPD keep asking these stupid questions? Maybe it's better for us, because questions this broad elicit anthropologically interesting responses. Obviously, these replies were supplied by the marks, because why would a polling company give the option of both "high price of gasoline" and "not driving as much?"

The "eating at home more" is a tautological answer, unless one allows for options outside of the restaurant vs. home binary. Eating at other peoples' houses? Hmm. Do megachurches serve dinner? No, all of those things are preposterous. But it does call into question what "going less often to all restaurants" means, in terms of how the polling was done. Were people asked, as they passed by - but did not enter - a particular location, why they made that decision? No, that seems improbable, so it's also an uninteresting answer.

Except that the difference in response for that answer between the QSR people and the casual people seems fairly large. The discrepancy between the audiences is especially significant for the questions about the healthiness of the food, and telling for the QSR industry. McD and BK may be making strides in introducing healthier menu options, but they need to do more, and fast.

Meanwhile, the dampening economy is certainly taking a bite out of casual diners'