Food + Art (Part 2!)

Well, kiddies, I've gone to the Park Grill yet again.  This is the...third time?  Once again, delicious.  This time there was tapenade and rustic bread, which I am so happy about.

The bread basket came with a too-small bowl of superb olive tapenade, one that tasted strongly of vinegar and Spanish olives and citrus.  I could've just eaten it with a spoon.  As you can imagine, it was gone before I could snap a photo.

Pear Salad at the Park Grill,
with Chicken

My entree was a lovely pear salad with bleu cheese, reconstituted dried cherries (the waiter never told us what they were soaked in, unfortunately), hazelnuts, and chicken (an added charge, but a wise addition).  It is because of this salad that I'm adding mesclun greens to my list of foods that you cannot eat while still managing to look classy.  Spinach stems hanging out of the corners of your mouth unless you turn every lettuce leaf into a work of origami?  Too.  Much.  Work.  And decidedly unattractive.  No me gusta.

Reuben at the Park Grill.
Anybody else hungry?

Mom finally made it to lunch with us!  She had an awesome reuben sandwich on super-toasty marbled rye, topped with a very pickle-y thousand island dressing.  It had just the right balance of meat, cheese, and kraut.  Well done, PG.  Well done.  It was served with a dill pickle spear and a mound of those excellent fries (which essentially meant I really had pear salad and french fries for lunch, but let's not get too technical, okay?).

My sis got the Grand burger again, and it was grand.  Equally as good as the last, not to worry.  You know what it looks like.  If you don't, check my last lunch-at-the-Park post.

My aunt had the spring risotto, which was lovely and creamy with a strong garlic flavor.  It was made with peas and mushrooms.  I was jealous of her lunch, I'll admit.  Especially since you could eat it and still look sophisticated (darned mesclun greens...).  I forgot to take a picture.  And I'm so, so sorry, lovies.

Our purpose in meeting at the park/AIC was to see photographer Abelardo Morell.  He's hilarious.  And so honest and upfront about his photography.  What a cool guy.  Check out his website!  His photos are fabulous!  His retrospective exhibit will be on display at the Art Institute until September 2.

I know the food photos pale in comparison to a well-executed camera obscura.  But the New York skyline rarely makes me drool...

Peace, Love, and Good Eating!

~AF

A Return to the 'Burbs...But Just For a Moment!

Darlings, the Foodie has a plan...subsist during the week on salad bar creations and soup (plus the requisite latté, of course) so that, when given the chance, she can indulge in things far more delicious than she could ever encounter in the school cafeteria.

On a trip home this past weekend (joy of joys!), I was lucky enough to be able to go to my absolute favorite restaurant...my favorite Italian restaurant, that is...we mustn't play favorites.  Never know who's reading, now do we?

Anyways!  Off to Antico!  The risotto of the day was an obvious seasonal nod, featuring sweet corn (glory be!), along with pork tenderloin, caramelized onions, and a splash of aged balsamic.

Risotto, in my opinion, is one of the many dishes that just make your eyes roll back in your head.  It is that good.  The texture, the flavor...all that cheese!  And this risotto was no exception, by any means.  Velvety and creamy, rich, smooth and yet a bit toothsome.  It was awesome.  And it was only made better by the fact that the corn was just shaved off the cob and tossed in at the last minute.

Now, you may be thinking, 'Raw corn! Oh, but Foodie, that isn't right!'

It is so right.  Especially when the corn is this fresh.  It is sweet without even needing to be cooked.  And by not boiling the stuff to oblivion, there remains a wonderfully contrasting texture, a slight crunch, that lightens up the risotto in a way (unfortunately, it didn't make it seem light enough for me to indulge in a mini dessert...shame, really...).

And now, regrettably, I must offer some notes of criticism to my beloved Antico Posto.

The tenderloin...was not tender.  I've had tenderloin there before that was served with a heavy-duty serrated steak knife alongside, but which would only have required a butter knife.  This time, all I had to work with was an excessively dull butter knife, and a piece of pork that simply refused to disassemble.

The pork wasn't really dry...but it wasn't as luscious as I've had it.  Perhaps someone turned away from it at the critical moment, and it was left to seize up a bit before placed atop my dish.  Whatever the reason, although I found the flavor of the meat to be delightful (what wonders a splash of the balsamic will do!), I could have gone without it entirely.

And I must add also that the caramelized onions could have gone a bit longer.  They were caramelized and sweet, but they lacked a certain velvety spreadability that I have come to appreciate in a cooked onion.  Their residual strength of structure made it rather difficult to evenly disperse the stuff throughout my rice.  I would have liked if it had fallen apart.  All the more flavor to spread around.

But I can hardly complain much more than that.  The closest thing I've had to Italian food on campus was at a Build-Your-Own-Pasta station.  I was met with overcooked, under-drained farfalle sauced with a lackluster and undersalted marinara.  My flavor combinations would have been glorious had they taken some Pasta 101 classes from the cooking school.  And the garlic bread looked like it had toasted breadcrumbs on it...how redundant!

Look for my next post: Building the Best Salad Plate!

Peace, Love, and (Hopefully) Antico to You All!

~AF