Summer Craze

It has been many weeks since my last post! I'm sorry!

When summer weather hits, my mind wanders to bike rides, long naps with windows open and spending time in the sunshine. I have still been eating lots - and eating out, so I thought today's post could be a short round up of some of my recent restaurant visits. Next week I'll be on vacation, but when I get back I'll have some fun new posts about eating in Bloomington, Indiana - my beloved college town! Hope you are enjoying your summer!

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Dixie Kitchen

Before President Obama was President, he was a guest on one of my favorite shows, Check, Please! It's a weekly show on PBS highlighting favorite restaurants of Chicago residents. President Obama picked Dixie Kitchen. It's food is yummy southern comfort. I've been multiple times and have tried the fried chicken, BBQ chicken, jambalaya, and the blackened catfish. All have been very tasty, but the best part of the meal is the starter. As a free perk, the restaurant brings out warm johnny cakes with butter when you arrive. They are delicious and addictive little pancakes made with a corn muffin-like batter.

Lou Malnati's

I've mentioned before that I love pizza, and while deep dish isn't my favorite, Lou Malnati's is pretty good. They are really generous with their toppings and their tomato sauce isn't really a sauce, it's more like a pulpy-tomato, garlic and olive oil mixture, and I really like it.

Bowman's

This restaurant/bar is a great place for drinks in Lincoln Square - especially on a nice summer day. They also have a decent lunch menu. I've only had the chicken cobb wrap which was okay, but it was paired with a really good serving of french fries!

Crepe Bistro

My sister and I tried this spot after she got a deal through Groupon. It's a really odd little restaurant in the loop that features crepes as both entrees and desserts. I got a crepe with cheese, mushrooms and spinach. It was really tasty and served with a nice side salad. My sister and I split a dessert crepe served with chocolate and whipped cream - also very good! The place has an accordion player on Thursday nights and $5 martinis every day. Definitely a unique spot worth a visit.

Clarke's

This diner usually caters to a late-night after drinks crowd, especially of DePaul college students. I went before a show I was attending across the street on a week night, so the crowd was a bit different. I had a breakfast skillet with eggs, cheese, mushrooms and spinach, served over a bed of potatoes. It was okay, but nothing spectacular. This place tastes better when you're a drunk.

Cafe Selmarie

Cafe Selmarie is an adorable little bakery/restaurant in the heart of Lincoln Square. I'd been wanting to go for years and I finally made my way there for breakfast yesterday. I met my friend, Dyan, at about 10:00 and there was no line!

The decor feels kind of french; there's a bakery shop in the front end of the store and the restaurant is tucked into the back. There are windows lining one wall that face onto a cute little square, where tons of adorable young families with kids and golden retrievers walk around on sunny Saturday mornings. It's really kind of idyllic.

I ordered a small orange juice and the breakfast burrito with salsa, guacamole and sour cream on the side - plus it's served with a side of hash browns. The burrito was really big and was filled to the brim with scrambled eggs and cheese. It was tasty, but best when combined with the toppings. The hash browns were really well-seasoned.

Dyan ordered the chilaquiles casserole, a fresh baked casserole of eggs and corn tortillas in a spicy chile sauce with pulled chicken breast and queso fresco; topped with avocado, sour cream and cilantro. As usual, I couldn't resist a bite of my companion's meal and it was delicious. A little spicy for me in the morning, but delicious.

I would definitely recommend this cute spot - especially in the summer when the outdoor seating opens.

Tab: About $9 for a breakfast entree

Egg Harbor

I committed a cardinal sin this weekend: I went to a breakfast place and ordered lunch. What was I thinking? I immediately regretted my decision.

For Mother's Day brunch this Sunday, my family went to Egg Harbor in the southwest suburbs. The restaurant has multiple locations, but I've only been to this one. It was packed - and we waited an hour for a table.

When we finally did sit, I decided on strawberry-orange juice and a chicken salad sandwich. The juice was super sweet, but really good. The sandwich was okay - too much cheese and over-buttered bread do not make a great sandwich. It was served with a side salad doused with a far too generous portion of poppy seed dressing and mini potato pancakes. This amounted to an odd and disappointing combination of foods. Basically I spent the entire meal pining over the egg, ham, mushroom, cheddar cheese and potato skillet my sister ordered. Alas, I'll know better next time.

Egg Harbor is not my favorite brunch place, but it is pretty good. Also, compared to city prices, everything seems really affordable here.

Tab: About $9 for a skillet

Prasino

Prasino is a new restaurant in the suburb of LaGrange where I grew up. It serves seasonal, organic and local food for breakfast, lunch and dinner - and it's becoming really popular. I tried it for breakfast with a friend yesterday.

The decor is really nice and matches the organic focus with clean, modern materials and colors. I started with the specially made veggie-fruit juice of carrot, lemon and orange. It was really tasty! Then, I ordered the veggie omelet which is served with a side of roasted potatoes and either pancakes or toast - I got the pancakes. The omelet was good, but truly nothing special. It's way too big; I think they probably used five eggs to make it and they were kind of skimpy with the veggies. The pancakes were good, but again not really impressive. The potatoes were the best part of the meal since they were really well seasoned.

My friend got the healthy french toast on multi-grain bread. I didn't try any, but she said it was good. Towards the end of our meal we had a surprise visitor: we found a spider on the french toast plate. We let the manager know and he gave us complimentary raspberry sorbet and organic pistachio ice cream. These turned out to be the best part of the meal - by far! The pistachio in particular was really great - and I'm not even usually a fan of that flavor.

I'd go back to Prasino again, but I'd rather try lunch or dinner and I'd definitely save room for dessert.

Tab: About $9 for a breakfast entree

Topo Gigio

Mark and I took his mom for dinner at Topo Gigio before seeing a show at The Second City last weekend. For those unfamiliar with Topo Gigio, he was a silly mouse puppet character on an Italian children's show in the 1960s (that's an image of him above). The Italian restaurant is named in his honor and features his likeness in a few of its decorations.

We headed to the Old Town hot spot and started with an appetizer of buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and balsamic vinegar. I have a bit of a love affair with buffalo mozzarella (see here) and this appetizer was really fantastic. The restaurant also provides some bread for dipping and it was a great start to the meal.

For dinner, we decided to get three things we would all share. I ordered the Petti di Pollo Fiorentina - chicken breast sauteed with pancetta, spinach, and mozzarella. It was served with roasted potatoes and asparagus. It was a good meal, but would have been better with less cheese.

Mark's mom ordered the Eggplant Parmesan. I'm a snob when it comes to this dish because my Grandma makes a version that no restaurant compares to. Topo Gigio's version is breaded too heavily and is loaded with too much cheese. Plus, the portion is out of control. I like eating a lot, but this crossed the line to wasteful.

Mark's dish was the best of the night. He ordered the homemade linguine pasta served with a perfectly spiced red cream sauce and is topped with a generous serving of shellfish, including a bit of lobster and lots of scallops. It was a really delicious sauce, the pasta was perfection and I love shellfish. I would absolutely go back to order this dish.

While our meals weren't all perfect, the appetizer and pasta dish are enough to make me want to return sometime.

Tab: About $15-20 per entree

SOPO

A friend and I headed to SOPO in the Southport corridor on Sunday for Bloody Marys. The place has a very lounge-like feel and it's supposed to be pretty packed after Cubs games and on weekend nights. When we were there, the atmosphere was a bit more laid back and we didn't feel too out of place in our workout wear.

The Bloody Marys were good, but too spicy for my taste. The menu was more impressive than we expected and enticed us with the homemade mac & cheese. So, we shared one small serving and it was wonderful. The small was a generous sized bowl filled with cavatappi noodles, a mixture of delicious cheeses and topped with a crust of butter-soaked bread crumbs, for a little crunch. It was such a treat!

Based on the mac & cheese, I would absolutely go back here to try other items, and maybe stick around and drink too much one night. Their sangria is supposed to be fantastic!

Tab: $5 for a Bloody Mary (the Sunday special) and $9 for a mac & cheese that easily feeds two

Apart Pizza Company

Mark and I typically order Giordano's thin crust for pizza - it's one of the only pizza places that will deliver to our apartment. While I do like Giordano's, the amount of cheese they pile on can be overwhelming. Plus, I'm always looking for new takeout places to supplement my sporadic cooking attempts, so recently we tried Apart Pizza Company. With two far north side locations that both deliver to us, we had to give it a whirl.

We ordered the Tricolore pizza, featuring slices of tomatoes, spinach and goat cheese, and the plain Margherita pizza. We usually try the Margherita everywhere we go; I like it because you get to really taste every ingredient and see if the sauce, cheese and crust are to your liking. Both pizzas were pretty disappointing. The crust was too thin and cracker-like, there wasn't enough sauce and the cheese was overpowering - both the mozzarella and goat cheese seemed saltier than usual.

I won't be ordering here again and I'd advise you to stay away, too. If you have been here and like it, please let me know what you've ordered in the comments. I almost always enjoy pizza, so if I'm missing out on their best pie/dish, please share.

Tab: $25 for two medium pizzas