Cuz's Fish Shack Visited 1/17/2015 4.5 Forks

Cuz's Fish Shack Needham's Point, Bridgetown, Barbados

Allison and I were in Barbados for just a quick layover before and after our sailing trip to St. Lucia, Grenada and St. Vincent but it was long enough for us to eat at Cuz's three times in our less than 48 hour stay.  It is everything that I love about food - local, fresh, authentic and affordable.  

It's a tiny blue stand located in the parking lot between the Radisson and Hilton hotels right off the beach. You can't miss it because there is always a huge line for it and you will have to wait no matter what time you get there - although if you get there after 12pm, you will be sure to wait at least 30-45 minutes. Why the wait? It's because this place is run by 1 adorable old lady who cooks everything made to order right in the shack.  There's no menu - just order the fish sandwich.  I would recommend that you order it with a fried egg and cheese.   Yes, that's right, I said fish with egg and cheese. Believe me, you can't go wrong.  She also sometimes has a roti available and if she does, jump on that one as well.  

On our 1st time there, we got the standard fish, egg and cheese ($11 Barbados dollars, which is roughly $5.50 USD).  The flying fish cutter (as it's known) is enormous, so be ready to eat. It's a huge piece of flying fish that is battered and fried up with some local spices, then she puts a delicious fried egg and a thick slice of a sharp white cheddar like cheese, topped with fresh lettuce and tomato and sandwiched between 2 pieces of salt bread.  The gooey-ness of the egg and cheese is fantastic and it just somehow really works with the fish.  The bread is soft and holds in all the juices and flavor of the fish and cheese.  The 2nd time we went there, I overheard a customer ordering a chicken roti and we just had to get it.  These actually were pre-made and she microwaves it to get it warm but none the less, it was an amazing chicken and potato roti.  The roti itself was paper thin but held in tremendous amount of curry flavored potato and chicken.  It reminded me of an Indian style burrito.  Alas when I wanted to get another one the 3rd time we went there, she ran out!  In total, Allison and I had the fish sandwich 3 times and each time they were delicious but different at the same time.  The 2nd one was almost twice at large with 2 fish fillets in there and then 3rd time, the fish didn't seem battered or fried, but more on the grilled side.  Regardless, they were all amazing each time and it really makes you appreciate how individualized each one is made - they are definitely not being churned out of a machine.  She also has a variety of local hot sauces to put on your sandwich, so if you like it spicy, don't miss out on the bottles in front of the ledge. 

The only reason I am not giving it 5 forks is because the wait can be painfully long and especially in the hot sun, so I can see why many people just give up and leave.  Plus the menu is really limited to just 1 item.   But it's still a must go in Barbados, especially if you're looking for affordable authentic food. 

Franklin Tap Visited 1/13/2015 3 Forks

Franklin Tap 325 S Franklin St., Chicago, IL 60606

What I love about the Midwest is how unpretentious and low key it can be.  I was in town for a business meeting and invited my client for lunch.  Instead of picking some fancy pants place, they chose a casual local pub that had tons of beer on tap, burgers and salads.  The place was packed (except for the tables around the door) with a local lunch time crowd.  As I mentioned the menu is classic comfort food and while my head was telling me to get a salad, my stomach told me to get a turkey burger, despite almost killing myself with the burger at Kuma's earlier in the week.  I got the Santa Fe burger with tater tots ($12) - which was a turkey burger with monterey jack cheese, pico de gallo, and chipotle mayo.   

It was a pretty solid burger although it kind of fell apart at the end of it.  From the description of the burger, I thought it was going to be packed with heat and flavor but surprisingly it needed something more do it - it almost felt like it was under-seasoned.  It was good enough for the type of place we were at, but obviously didn't measure up to the monster of a burger at Kuma's.  Meanwhile, the tater tots that came with the meal were excellent.  Super crispy and reminded me of school when we had them.  I could have eaten them all day along but it was probably better that I cut myself off at some point. 

I could see this place being a fun happy hour hang out after work given the beer and food menu.  It was actually nice to have a very casual low key lunch with clients and allowed both of us to let our guards down and just have non-stuffy work conversation.  I would recommend this place but only if you are not in a real hurry and obviously if you're not trying to necessarily impress a client or close a big deal.   Total bill for 3 people:  $60 with tax, tip and drinks. 

Photo credit:  Yelp  

En Hakkore Visited 1/12/2015 4.5 Forks

En Hakkore 1840 N Damen Ave., Chicago, IL 60647

I have passed this place by Deanna's apt a million times and always wanted to try it but there was always some other place to go in the city and this place is more like a casual take out place than a sit down restaurant, so we never end up there.  But I was working from home that day (it's just not MY home) and thought it was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. 

The menu is Korean with some slight twists - they have several versions of bibim bap, korean tacos and sushi.  Everything looked and sounded amazing but I landed on the sashimi bibim bap because it was described as having 13 different kinds of vegetables and 5 kinds of sashimi for $12!  I have never seen a sashimi version and it's a combination of 2 of my favorite kinds of food, so I had to try it out. I also got an order of the mini steamed dumplings ($5).  I forget how price friendly good food can be in other cities outside of NYC.  The service was very nice - the owner asked if I minded my food spicy and I asked how spicy was it and she gave me a taste of their chili sauce which turned out not to be too bad, so she gave it to me on the side in case I changed my mind.  

I started with the dumplings and they were very fresh looking.  You could tell that they weren't frozen and I loved that the skin was very thin and not too chewy.  The dumplings were stuffed with pork and vegetable and covered with spring onion, sesame, and served with a delicious sweet soy sauce.  Great start to the meal.  The bimbim bap was HUGE - a very large order for $12 and it indeed came with plenty of vegetables and sashimi.  I got it with brown rice and the vegetables included were spring mix of lettuce, chopped purple cabbage, regular cabbage, cilantro, daikon sprouts, cucumber, red and yellow paprika, carrots, beets, and pickled radish and the fish included tuna, salmon, white tuna, tilapia and shrimp. Heaven.  The chili sauce was a sweet and only slight spicy, so a great addition to the dish. The only compliant would be that the sashimi was cut into kind of small cubes, I would have liked them to be bigger pieces as sometimes I couldn't really tell what  fish I was eating.  But I really loved this bibim bap and wished my local Korean fusion place had this option.   Now that I know how great this place is, I totally know where I am going for lunch when I work out of my 2nd home of Chicago.  Total bill:  $20  

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Kuma's Corner Visited 1/11/2015 4 Forks

Kuma's Corner 2900 W Belmont Ave., Chicago, IL 60618

I had heard about Kuma's from one of those Food/Travel Channel shows talking about best burgers in the country and Deanna had also mentioned it as a cool place as well.  When I walked in, this place was totally my scene.  It's basically a musty metal bar with a corresponding clientele.  They have whiskey on tap and giant burgers named after all the old school heavy metal rock bands such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Slayer.  The burgers come in regular red meat, veggie, or chicken tender form.  Genius!  All their burgers come with tons and tons of heart stopping toppings and it was really hard to figure out what I wanted on my burger to clog up my arteries.  I landed on the Neurosis burger - it comes with horseradish mayo, sharp cheddar, swiss, caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, and onion and a side of fries.  Deanna got the famous Kuma burger which comes with a fried egg, sharp cheddar and bacon (she got it on the side so that I could eat it and it was damn delicious).  

Before we dove into our burgers, we started with a small house salad so that we got some kind of vegetables in our system.  The small was actually pretty big and it came with lettuce, carrot, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion but the best part of the salad was the basil vinaigrette - really unique and fresh tasting.   On to the star of the show - the burger.  It's a big impressive patty - they definitely don't skimp on their meat.  It was piled high with all the ingredients - so much so that I was having a real problem fitting everything into 1 bite.  The bread was nice and sturdy and was able to withstand everything on top of it, but I ended up going sans bun for the 2nd half of my burger because it was just too much food otherwise.  But it was an incredibly juicy patty and the cheese was oozing out of it like nobody's business.  I loved everything about it except for the fact that it was probably really really bad for me and it was incredibly messy to eat.  My one pet peeve of this place was that they have cloth napkins and honestly for a messy burger like this that doesn't do the trick.  I know it's probably not environmentally responsible of me to say, but they really need paper napkins or something more absorbent because there is no way you are not going to need a lot of support for this meal.  Deanna's burger looked awesome because of the perfectly fried egg - gorgeous shiny yoke. But she did mention that it was also incredibly messy with the yolk getting everywhere.   I didn't think I could finish the whole thing but I did - and I can't say that I was actually really proud of it because I was uncomfortably full by the end of  night and very thirsty too.   In fact, the reason I don't rate this place higher is because this meal really sits with you days afterwards.  So be warned.  Total bill:  $28/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Fat Rice Visited 1/10/2015 4.5 Forks

Fat Rice 2957 W Diversey Ave., Chicago, IL 60647

At the end of every year, I enjoy reading all the blogs list their favorite or top restaurant picks of the year.   So when Eater's National Where to Eat in 2015 list came out I scoured the list to see how many I had been to.   Sadly, that number was only 7 but since it is a National list, I guess that's not too bad.  Luckily, after being to Fat Rice, I can now bump that number up to 8 and I can say that it's a well deserved mention on the list.

Fat Rice is located in the hot area of Logan Square and when we got there on a cold Saturday night they told us it would be over an hour wait.  But they have a bar next door called "Happy Valley" where you could order drinks and wait.  The "bar" is really just a waiting room and they just walk through the kitchen back to the restaurant to make a lot of their drinks.  Luckily after only 20 minutes they called our names.  We got a nice seat at the counter looking directly into the open kitchen.  The menu is Macanese (from Maco) which is a blend of Chinese and Portuguese flavors.  I had really wanted to try the arroz gordo which was a rice dish layered with every kind of yummy goodness you can think of:  sausage, duck, chicken, prawns, clams, and pork.  Unfortunately it was just me and Deanna so it wasn't something I was willing to tackle on my own, so instead I got the porco balichang tamarind o ($16), Deanna got the fat noodles ($14) and we split the small bites of sweet and sour eggplant, peanuts and beets (3 for $10).   The 3 small bites are actually a lot of food and they were all fantastic.  The beets were served cold and had this sweet coconut like flavor to it that made it irresistible to eat.  The sweet and sour eggplant was delicious and was cooked to perfection where it was not too mushy and not too firm.  The peanuts were kind of wet (I know that sounds gross but I promise still tasted great) and was flavored with lotus root, burdock and star anise. With the exception of the peanuts, I could see these all being expanded into their own appetizer or even entree sized dish and still tasting great.

On to the main entrees.  The balichang is braised sweet and sour pork belly served with tamarind, pineapple and blocked of pressed crispy rice.  Dear lord was this dish heavenly.  The flavors really hit you in the face and the pork belly was cooked to perfection.  There were definite bites of melt in your mouth fatty goodness but it was complimented with nice chunks of sweet meat.  I wasn't sure of the pineapple pieces at first but it added a nice element of sweetness to it.  I was also incredibly happy with the pressed rice blocks - I was going to order a side of coconut rice but the pressed rice added a unique and well appreciated crunchy texture to the dish.  And now that I think about it, the coconut rice might have made the dish too sweet overall.  There was definite heat to the dish as well so be prepared to sweat just a little bit.  I had a bite of Deanna's fat noodle and it was wonderful as well - I love a good broad noodle dish and this one had the noodles hand rolled so that they weren't necessarily flat but the consistency was the same.  It was served with mushroom and egg and it was a very solid noodle non-meat dish.

All in all, I loved everything about this place, even their caipirinhas!  Don't be scared off by the wait because it's definitely worth it and well deserving to be on Eater's list.  Total bill:  $59/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp  

Racines NY Visited 1/9/2015 4 Forks

Racines NY 94 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007

Amy, Kristin and I had scheduled a Tribeca dinner outing in the New Year and all 3 of us had Racines on our list.  It is the NYC location of a Parisian bistro that had gotten rave reviews from the NY Times.  It's not quite in the heart of Tribeca - it's more like this grey area between Tribeca and City Hall.  The restaurant drew kind of an older crowd despite them having a weird playlist of Biggie and then 80's music. 

Regardless of the slight imbalance, it is a lovely place.  The menu isn't French bistro food but it is high end cuisine.  I was craving cheese for some reason, so we started with the cheese plate ($18) which came with 3 fabulous cheeses ranging from a strong blue cheese to a mild cow's mild and served with a incredibly fresh honey spread and fruit jam.  It was served with this amazing warmly sliced bread that made the combination of the cheese, bread and jam wonderfully delicious.  Before we got our main entrees, we had each ordered wine and since I'm not a huge scholar on French wine I had asked our waiter for a recommendation.  He had told me about one that had a funky/earthy taste and I just had to try it.  Lo and behold, the wine  (La Grange Aux Bellles, Brise d’Aunis, Pineau d’Aunis) was exactly how he described it.  I know it's hard to imagine red wine being described as funky but it honest to god had a funky but pleasant aftertaste. 

Before our main entree, the chef brought out an amuse bouche of escargot.  I was pretty surprised that they served 4 medium sized bites of escargot as an amuse bouche.  Amy and Kristin were a bit weary of it, but I actually really enjoyed it.  It had a lot of tasty garlic flavor but I can see how knowing that you're eating snail can be off putting for some people.  For my main entree, I opted for the hanger steak with Brussels sprouts and a shredded squash side that was stuffed with beef cheeks ($35).  Both Amy and Kristin got the scallops ($35) which looked amazing.  They were huge and firm and the one small bite I had was really delicious.  Usually just eating scallops isn't very filling, so this dish also came with ricotta and spinach stuffed agnolotti pasta that looked divine.  Meanwhile my hanger steak was cooked to perfection.  It was the right amount of pink on the inside - it was actually very rare but that is exactly how I like my steak.  The Brussels sprouts were nicely roasted but what really pushed this dish over the culinary edge was the squash stuffed with beef cheeks.  I mean, who serves you tender hanger steak and then gives you a side of beef cheek?!?  It was a wonderful meat dish -  very well done. 

Shockingly we all still left room for dessert and the waiter recommended the chocolate and caramel tart ($11).  As someone who doesn't love chocolate desserts, this is the kind of dessert that I know I should appreciate but just couldn't love.  It was too heavy on the chocolate and it was all I could taste, which made it too sweet for me.  I wasn't a huge fan but honestly I was so full that it didn't really bother me.   

Now that I know that the original place is in Paris - I would love to check it out as well.  Neither the decor nor the menu scream French bistro but irregardless, the food is delicious.  For those of you who work downtown and looking for a nice place to take a client out to dinner, this would be a great recommendation.  Total bill: $75/pp with tax, tip and wine

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Uncle Julio's Visited 12/28/2014 2.5 Forks

Uncle Julio's 4870 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814

When Elissa mentioned getting Huevos Rancheros for brunch in Bethesda, I was all in.  Mexican breakfast is one of my favorite type of meals and I didn't think Bethesda had a place that served it, so I was totally happy to check this place out.  Turns out I had been to this place before years ago when it was Rio Grande - I realized this has been a rotating Mexican chain restaurant my entire childhood but I was still curious. 

The space is huge and totally family friendly as it's got a lot of space and it's already very loud.  The brunch menu has a lot of great sounding options:  breakfast tacos, huevos rancheros, chilaquiles, migas, brunch quesadillas, along with their usual lunch menu.  Elissa and I both ended up getting the huevos rancheros with a side of carne asada ($17).  While you are waiting for your food, they serve you the typical chips and salsa and I must say that the chips were quite addictive.  They were light, thin and had the right amount of salt on it.  I could have sat there and eaten the whole basket of them. 

When our food came out, I could tell right off the bat that it wasn't going to be the most amazing or authentic huevos rancheros of my life.  But honestly, it was as expected from a large chain restaurant situated in the 'burbs near a bunch of families.  The 2 eggs over easy seemed really small and didn't really have the runny yoke that is so important to making eggs.  The dish just didn't seem very hearty or filling - it felt like they skimped on all of the ingredients because I had polished off most of the food fairly quickly.  It tasted like it was made quickly and with not a lot of super fresh ingredients.  But the one shining component of the dish was the carne asada.  It was surprisingly tender and quite flavorful.  Thank god we opted for the extra side of carne or else the meal would have been super sad and unsatisfying. 

I have a feeling that perhaps the regular lunch or dinner menu might be decent if you were looking for some quick Mexican food.  Not that NYC has that many authentic Mexican places, but you can sure bet that Bethesda doesn't at all.  Total bill:  $23.50/pp with tax, tip and drink

Photo Credit:  Yelp