Hash House A Go Go

One of my best friends celebrated her birthday a couple weeks ago with a Saturday brunch at the newly opened Hash House A Go Go in the Gold Coast. This restaurant has been around for about a decade in San Diego and has expanded only to Las Vegas and Chicago. Its forte is "twisted farm food," except nowhere in the restaurant or on the menu is it explained exactly which farms this food comes from. In a city teeming with farm to table restaurants detailing exactly where each component to a dish is sourced, it's hard to believe the people who run this restaurant are anything but poseurs. But, I digress. I arrived at this place before anyone else did, so I did what any normal person would do, settled in at the bar and asked for this:

A meal in itself, this is the BLT Bloody Mary (that set me back 13 bucks), and comes with a slice of bacon, tomato, lettuce, and a piece of bread. But, as amazing as this looks, I've had better Bloody Marys (hello, Joe's Stone Crab). The bacon was obviously made ahead of time, the bread also toasted ahead of time, and the Mary itself? Bland, watered down, one dimensional flavor. Looks can be deceiving.

They are famous for their sage fried chicken so I knew I had to get that. I ended up ordering the fried chicken with maple reduction, 2 eggs, bacon mashed potatoes, and biscuit.

And this is what arrived. Glutton! Party of one! An explosion of food on a plate - portions that could easily feed a family of four. I will admit the flavor of maple syrup over chicken is kind of awesome but I couldn't taste any sage in the chicken itself and the "bacon" mashed potatoes were merely mashed potatoes with two strips of bacon laid on top. The biscuit was overworked and too floury and I'm still not quite sure what the watery tomatoes (in peak tomato season no less) were supposed to add. The flavors of the dish just weren't quite there - no zing.

The birthday girl, Becky, ordered the S'more Mocha, which came with grilled marshmallows and a shot of espresso. She loved it.

Nina ordered the smoked salmon hash, which literally came in one of those Lodge cast iron skillets - yes this is for one person!

This place is also known for their fried chicken and waffles, which comes with frizzled leeks and is piled as high as it can be without tipping over. Every dish is impaled with a tall stalk of rosemary. Yes, this place is twisted.

Big Star

One of my favorite places in Chicago, not only for the food, but for the atmosphere, as well, is Big Star. Built a couple years ago in the old Pontiac Cafe space in Wicker Park, it has quickly become one of the most crowded places in town. Waits can be really long (we recently waited two hours for a table) but we came straight from work, put our name in at 5, gave the host our number, walked around to the awesome stores on Milwaukee Ave and sipped on some cocktails at nearby Rodan. We were seated by 7 - perfect timing for our bellies, which were ready to be filled with delicious tacos.

Becky and I had drinks at Rodan around the corner from Big Star while we waited to be seated. This bar has been a favorite since I was the tender age of 21. Normally, I order beer wherever I go, but cocktails are made so well in Chicago right now, I had to try the Ginger Hibiscus Margarita, which was fantastic and strong. Becky had the Lychee Royale, which has been on the menu as long as I've been coming here. It's lychee juice and Cava, a Spanish sparkling wine.

Big Star has a pretty small menu, which means they can focus more on doing everything well. I've tried almost every single thing on it, except for that hot dog, which is on deck.

My favorite drink to order here is a chelada, an ice filled glass with a salted rim, lime juice, topped off with Tecate. It is a pretty refreshing drink for a hot summer day and super easy to make at home (which I have many times).

Since I've been coming here there is only one kind of taco I crave and that is the taco al pastor. Al pastor, or 'shepherd style,' is a Mexican dish with middle-eastern influences. Seasoned pork is roasted on a vertical spit all day. Usually, there's a pineapple at the top of the spit and as the spit heats up, the juices run down the meat tenderizing and seasoning it. It is by far my favorite Mexican meal and I crave it pretty much every other day. Not going to lie, I dream about this stuff.

If you ever find yourself in a taqueria with a vertical spit order this on corn tortillas with cilantro and onions. You will not be disappointed.

They make great frijoles charros (stewed pinto beans with bacon and poblano peppers), too.

I am a sucker for anything pickled. You can get this whole bowl of tangy, spicy pickled vegetables on the side for an extra buck. Done and done.

Queso fundido, a melted cheese, poblano, chorizo fondue, is a must.

Kickin' back on one of the best patios in the city is the best way to spend a late Chicago summer night.

The Aviary

Last night, my pal Lauren and I went to The Aviary for drinks. It's a Grant Achatz production - the only one I can afford at this point (his other restaurants are Next and Alinea). The drinks are, in a word, life-changing. No tiny detail is overlooked and the service is impeccable while still remaining down to earth and friendly. At one point, Grant Achatz himself walked by our table quite a few times. I got breathless and turned beet red and Lauren wanted to know if I was okay. Then, a few minutes later, both Grant Achatz AND Thomas Keller (of French Laundry, Per Se, Ad Hoc, and Bouchon; and also the first and only chef to ever be awarded simultaneous three star Michelin ratings for two separate restaurants) walked by our table. I got pretty giddy about it, lost control of my 20 foot arms, and knocked over a brand new drink. The servers were so nice about it and immediately cleaned it up and replaced it. Our servers were so cool I would've enjoyed hanging out with them outside of this place - one of them works at Barrelhouse Flat in Lincoln Park and gave us some info about going there. At the end, we were offered a cab by one of our servers (we had 2), which I thought was pretty stellar service, considering their job is to get you drunk!

We arrived about 10 to 6 for our 6:00 reservations and they really do not open their doors until 6 on the dot. They have an outdoor seating area to lounge in until called in to be seated.

Upon being seated, we were brought an amuse bouche of Rooibos tea, lemon juice, orange juice, and coconut water. This was ice cold and very refreshing.

We ordered off the prix fixe menu.

I started with the Cucumber, which was cucumber, gin, tonic, and rosewater ice cubes. This is the kind of drink you need to sip slowly because by the bottom of the glass (as the rosewater cubes melt), the drink's flavors transform into something different.

Lauren ordered the Lychee, which was a fizzy concoction of muddled basil, rum, maraschino, and lychee juice.

The place grew darker as the night went on so the pictures also got darker. Lauren ordered the Peach for her second course, which was scotch based and came in a French Press (!) with fresh fruit. The second course was more of a production than the first course - while explaining the drink to Lauren, our server pressed the fruit at the bottom and strained the liquid into Lauren's glass. 

For my second course, I ordered the Bitter. I wish I had been able to take a picture of it when it arrived. The drink itself arrived in a small decanter with the glass flipped over on top of a piece of oak from a whiskey barrel with smoke trapped inside. While explaining my drink to me, the server flipped over the glass, wafted the smoke near our faces so we could smell it, and then poured the drink. It smelled like a campfire, with roasting marshmallows and the drink did take on a very subtle smoky flavor. With both tequila and cognac in this drink it was very strong but never tasted like straight liquor - very smooth.

Lauren had the Horchata for her third course. We were very excited that they put it in a styrofoam cup. The taste was incredible - first you get the rum and then it turns into creamy cinnamon and the slight heat of the cayenne on your tongue.

For my third course, I ordered the Flip, which had sweet corn in it. The entire drink tasted like sweet corn and was deliciously sweet. The server had informed us the chef had decided "recently" to remove the egg from this drink. When he left, I turned to Lauren and said, "Just how recent do you think that egg was banished? Five minutes ago?" When our server came back to our table I asked him and he said the drink had been on the menu for a couple weeks and the chef had decided oh about two hours ago that the egg was not doing anything for the drink. I certainly didn't miss it and that foam tasted like a sweet corn milkshake. I really enjoyed this one, but by the end it became sweet to the point of cloying and I longed for that first course drink, Cucumber.

This is near the entrance so when you walk in, to your right, behind this "cage" is where all the chefs and mixologists do their work.

This is the view of the kitchen in the window from the outside.