Rejuvenated by fiddleheads and ice cream cones

With one too many meals consumed hurriedly in front of a computer for the last two weeks, this weekend we issued a corrective.

Friday night to Lula, my favorite restaurant in all the land, where we dined on an appetizer of pan seared sea scallops with fiddlehead ferns, pinenuts, sorrel and mandarin; (my entree) stinging nettle, farro, green and white asparagus, young garlic, hazelnuts, and poached farm egg 'noisette'; (J's) lake superior whitefish with morel mushrooms, dandelion greens, walnuts and applewood bacon. I had a taste of the whitefish which I usually love but all I tasted was bacon, which I haven't eaten in years and now I realize I have not missed at all. Dessert was a jasmine rice pudding with mandarine champagne broth and lavender, a nice sweet finish to a meal that was wholly satisfying. We had a white wine with this meal that was good, but not memorable.

Saturday morning I woke up at 6 and bicycled to the Green City Market in Lincoln Park. The weather was pristine and I walked about as the vendors arrived and set up, beating the post-8 a.m. crowd and finding a lot of opportunity to talk with the growers. Fresh strawberries and rhubarb were in abundance and I tried to imagine some time this week to bake with them, but 4 deadlines in the next 7 days say nein. I still brought a few stalks of rhubarb for J, since he recalls it growing in abundance in his yard growing up and ate it raw with a little sugar. But, I wonder, isn't this a plant with a toxicity caveat? Without having much of a cooking plan, I did pack a bag full of things that could be quickly stir-fried in the next few evenings: purple asparagus (growers were saying this could be asparagus's last week), wild watercress, some greens called Spignorello which I'd never heard of before, fresh mint, flat-leaf parsley, blush-red turnips. was also tempted by the armloads of young garlic and spring onions and their three foot long tender greens, but they looked like they might be around next time, and the nano-greens (arugula sprouts, sunflower sprouts, etc.). A fresh baguette, a jar of apple butter, a bouquet of peonies and a tomato, cheese and herb crepe made and eaten on the spot rounded out my morning's entertainment.

Bicycling home wasn't too difficult, but getting back baskets is clearly in order if my grocery shopping is to exceed one shoulderbag-full.

A last minute dinner with an old friend inspired me to attempt a re-creation of Lula's stinging nettle and farro with watercress and wild rice instead. For young garlic, old garlic; for hazelnuts, pinenuts; for green asparagus, purple asparagus, etc. It came together in a similar presentation, but ultimately the garlic broth that tied it all together was lacking a little punch, or salt, or maybe it was miso it needed. In any case, we all felt quite energized afterwards we took a long(ish) walk to Margie's (the wait at 10 pm. to eat dessert at Hot Chocolate was 2 hours! That's a Brooklyn wait, so screw that) for an ice-cream cone to go (crowds were waiting outside for one of the few booths to open up, definitely a place to return to for the full-on banana split in the clam-shell bowl. The atmosphere made me mourn something I hadn't realized had been so completely lost from my youth when those old joints from the 1920's were still in service and hardly exceptional.)

One more note on a redemptive 24 hours of food and relaxation: two excellent wine recommendations from the outpost down the street where the owner is incrementally enlarging my wine education and has never steered us wrong in the dozen bottles we've drunk in the short time his store has been open. La Cappuccina 2005 Soave proved to be a refreshing glass by itself, and paired well with the white bean pate that preceded last night's dinner and with the garlic-infused and bitter-astringent greens and nuttiness of my watercress and wild rice experiment. Later, the perfectly proportioned red J picked out was an easy drinker, excelling in all the characters he and I like in a red: not too full-bodied, but dry with a bit of earthiness and spice. That one's the Abad Dom Bueno Roble.

Veganfitti

It's no Banksy, but I have a soft spot for this tagger that's recently been quite ambitious in my neighborhood. J and I report in to one another with new sightings daily. The best so far is "vegan" across a closed down rib shack restaurant on Ashland Ave.

Sekihan and Chile Relleno

Yesterday was the warmest day this year, which means one finds every excuse to be outdoors. Eating along the way, we passed many old standbys to try a few new restaurants that have been on our list.

Breakfast at Dodo is my new favorite meal. An affectionate pet name for the owner's Japanese grandmother, Dodo's menu masters and innovates on breakfast classics (tiramisu French toast, for one), etc. while offering a few dishes informed by Japanese cuisine. Eating from the weekend's seasonal specials, J had an asparagus and mushroom ragout omelet with fontina cheese and a watercress aoli with roasted potatoes on the side. And though I was tempted by the pillowy, syrupy toasts and cakes being set down on nearby tables, I was excited for the opportunity to try some Japanese home cooking (which, I realize, is hard to come by when S isn't in town.. sushi is only half the story...).

So I got their version of sekihan, a traditional celebratory dish in Japan consisting of azuki beans and rice. Dodo's sekihan was a hearty skillet saute of brown rice, azuki beans, mixed vegetables including brussels sprouts, cauliflower and bean sprouts, seitan, roasted red potatoes and sesame seeds. The bitterness of the greens complimented the nuttiness of the beans and rice nicely, and while I tasted a bit of soy sauce, it was very subtle and not all that salty. Something turned the plate yellow too- turmeric? This was so substantial, I made 3 meals out of the portion they served me.. each one fueling me through the day.

This is also an exemplary qi meal- containing all the foods my acupuncturist tells me to eat more of: azuki, brown rice, greens and sesame. Good for yang building, apparently.

Yang's heyday got the kibosh with dinner- a deliciouso bunch of tequila and cheesey goodness at Las Palmas. We started with their cucumber margaritas, one of which was shockingly easy to dispense with over chips and salsa before out food even arrived. The salsa, by the way, is stellar... smoky and peppery with a good kick. Realizing how easy it would be to polish off another of the not-too-sweet or tequila-tasting cucumber yummies, we opted to share the special sommelier flight of 3 tequilas. I don't remember the brand, but none were as smooth, in my opinion, as a good Petron. Not that we left a drop to be debated... I even took a bite out of the chaser cup.. a sculpted cucumber vessel containing spiced tomato juice.

J got salmon somethingorother with a plantain chip planted in the center of it.

I got the vegetarian churrito, which was supposed to 3 things, but they were out of a bunch of them, so they brought me some other stuff. One of them was like lasagna but with potato or chayote thinly sliced where one would expect noodles to be. The other components were hard to discern, something that looked like a ranchero sauce but didn't have much flavor, or maybe the starchy layer absorbed all the flavor. I think there was a melty cheese layer, but only because the slab of lasagna leaked a pool of oil onto the plate as it sat there. The salad in the middle was awesome. Simply greens and crumbled fresco cheese and a creamy lime vinaigrette. The chile relleno, which I wouldn't have chosen otherwise, was not the paragon of savory cheese I recalled.

This said, J's thing was excellent, and the salsa, margaritas and service were so good, I'm looking forward to going back and trying other things on the menu.

POST POST:: Went back and everything was fabulous. The cucumber margaritas are fully confirmed as favorite new summer drink ever. We shared a jicama salad that was a palette of bright fresh flavors and crunch. And I had tacos de pescado that were, next to the ones we make at home with turbot on the grill and mango, A-list. Jeff's fish thing, red snapper Veracruz, was sultry gooood. We went early and were seated in the almost-outside, sunny atrium. It was clearly family hour... all else was parents and fidgety 2 year olds. Later, as we were leaving the datey couples started to arrive, and exiting through the restaurant we realized we had been missing a stunning guitar trio doing traditional tunes with a female vocalist who could really belt it out. We hung out inside for a while enjoying them before shoving off.

Adobo

Hungry after a 20 minute wait at the post office, we walked over to a favorite non-Taqueria Mexican place. Adobo gives it to you fresh and with a flair, with flavor combinations like huitlacoche with goat cheese, or seared tuna and rose petal sauce (ala Like Water for Choc). Last night, we were seated in an intimate corner with a vantage point of the cavernous bustling dining room, which became increasingly boisterous with parties of 8 pouring in the closer to 9 p.m. Service has always been exceptional and food quality and creativity has the aura of Frida Khalo's table.

The tableside guac and chips is always a good start, and while I watch the preparation intently, it's still a dash of salt tastier than mine at home. Maybe I can't join the guac majors without the lava mortar and pestle.
J ordered a nice Tempranillo which I stole a few sips of when I realized how well it complimented my meal-- Camarones: 9 grilled shrimp in a pipian (a classic Mayan sauce made from pumpkin seeds) rojo sauce with zucchini sofrito and a light fluffy, deconstructed corn tamale.
J had Veracruz style red snapper with plantains and cilantro rice.
An oven-baked apple casserole (apples in a warm cinnamon-sweet sauce with pecans) topped with shortbread-like crumble topping and a scoop of flan ice cream (which I think was really more like dulce de leche).
Ouch. It was hurry-home-and-get-in-stretchy-pants good.

I am intrigued with pipian sauce: waiter described it as a sauce made with ground sesame and pumpkin seeds.. nutty richness layers powerfully with the smoky chile.. a mild-medium heat, lots of flavor. Paired very well with an earthy tempranillo.

The Chicago dog, taken for a walk through the garden

Notice the resemblance? J is the master of the Chicago dog, though we opt out of the neon relish and swap the cow for something Boca (brats or Italians work well). Of course, ketchup is a no-never.

Years ago, three or four weeks into a backpacking trip through Europe I got really homesick when we stopped in a chips shop in London and saw this familiar poster. Somehow trying to explain to others that a tug-boat squirting mustard on a mile-long wiener made me misty-eyed only draws perplexing stares.