Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Review of "Go Roma" Italian Kitchen


Today I was the good husband and decided I would take my wife to lunch. She suggested we visit "Go Roma" in Deer Park, IL at the Deer Park Town Center. It's a small store front restaurant that is similar to a "Corner Bakery" or "Panera Bread". De core is modern, with a warm orange paint covering the walls.

When you enter they have their menu posted on the wall so you can look it over before you step in line to order. It's a decent size menu that includes a handful of appetizer's, salads, pizza, sandwich's, pastas, and desserts. You order at the counter and the staff then brings the food out to you. The service is friendly if a bit rushed. We order a starter of bruschetta, my wife orders the smoked chicken club and fries, and I order a half plank of pepperoni and prosciutto pizza.

All of our food arrives in about ten minutes, bruschetta and all. We start off with the bruschetta which is marinated tomatoes and basil on flatbread. This was a little different than I'm used to due to the flat bread instead of toasted slices of Italian bread. The flavor though was quite good. The tomatoes had a nice blend of garlic, basil, and vinegar. And the bread was soft on top and crispy on the bottom.

My wife's smoked chicken club was smoked and shaved chicken breast, bacon, lettuce, provolone cheese, and pesto mayo served on flatbread. The sandwich was only average due to the fact that the bacon was overcooked. Bacon can make an average sandwich great if done right or a good sandwich average if overcooked. She promptly removed the bacon and then finished her sandwich. The fries that accompanied were of the shoe string variety. Crisp and nicely seasoned, they were a nice side for her sandwich.

My pizza was not a Chicago style pizza. This was a thin pizza that had a crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside crust. The crust was good, sauce was good, cheese was good, but my toppings were not very good. The outer edges of my pepperoni were burnt and the prosciutto was chopped into tiny cubes and were overdone as well. After a couple of slices I removed the toppings and ate it as a cheese pizza. Had my toppings been better this would have been a pretty good pizza. But they weren't so it was just an average pizza.

No dessert this time since we were just out for lunch. Overall this is an average place for an average price (our bill was $20). If you're in the area it's an OK place to try but definitely not worth a special trip. Overall rating ** out of ****.

Everyone can leave a comment.

Just went and changed the settings on the blog. Even if you don't have a gmail account you can now leave a comment about a particular post. All I ask is that you sign it at the end so I know who to reply to. Also, if you guys are enjoying the blog, please spread the word. Once I have enough content I would like to start up an actual website. Right now I'm adding reviews and gaging what people think of my reviews. So please read the reviews and leave your comments and/or suggestions (constructive criticism only) and when I decide to switch to a .com I'll let you all know.

Z

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Review of "Poochies" Hot Dogs




A recent trip to see my folks prompted my wife and I to swing by "Poochies" hot dogs, located at 3832 Dempster in Skokie, IL. This hot dog joint is a place I've frequented for much of my life. Upon arriving to "Poochies" you'll notice that it is a small place. A store front to be exact. But like most suburban eateries there is plenty of free parking.

Once inside you notice just a handful of tables, most of the eating is done by pulling up a stool and enjoying your food along the counters stretched across the restaurant. Very relaxed decor includes red and white tiles, red and white paint, and a wall filled with newspaper and magazine clippings singing the praises of this little gem in Skokie. The staff is friendly and efficient in handling your order.

The menu covers the basics such as hot dogs (steamed and charred), polishes, burgers, and fries. While I have sampled much of this menu before, today my wife and I are going to share the char salami, barbecue chicken sandwich, and an order of fries. The salami is about an 8 inch piece of Vienna Beef soft salami that is charred on the grill and served on french bread. I add grilled onions and mustard. This is unlike the salami sandwiches your mother made for you. Slightly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside make this a sandwich that is truly unique. The chicken sandwich is a large grilled chicken breast that is grilled to a slight char and then basted with their tasty BBQ sauce. It's served on a bun and I add grilled onions, lettuce and tomato. The sandwich is big, juicy, and very flavorful. Last off is the fries. They are fresh cut fries that have a very real potato taste to them. They are a nice change from the fast food fries many of us are accustomed to.

I have frequented "Poochies" many times before and have found that just about everything on the menu is top notch. Favorites include the char salami, cheddar burgers, polishes, char dogs, and the BBQ chicken sandwich. Pricing is more than fast food chains(well worth it) and lower than a sit down restaurant. Food quality is very high and that keeps the value equation high as well. "Poochies" in Skokie is worth the trip if you live in the surrounding suburbs or bordering parts of the city. Overall rating *** & 1/2 out of ****.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Review of "La Strada" Prime Steaks & Seafood


This past Valentines Day my wife and I visited "La Strada" at 2380 Lakewood Blvd in Hoffman Estates, IL. There are 4 Chicago land locations, one in Hoffman and 3 in the city of Chicago. Upon arriving we notice that the average size parking lot (free) is full and we are forced to park in the lot of an adjoining restaurant. Inside and out the place has a very contemporary decor. Marble tiles and squared off lights give a very classy look.

We inform the hostess of our reservation and she promptly seats us. Next to the bar! I'm sorry but this is Valentines Day and that is not a romantic seat, and definitely not one you make a reservation for. We inform the hostess that we would like another table and she is accommodating but let's us know that it's common practice to seat people with reservations by the bar as well as the dining room.

Once seated we are welcomed to a bread basket and glasses of water. Our waiter arrives and is very friendly. We order our drinks which are a virgin pina colada for my wife and a diet coke for myself. Her drink is tasty but overly thick. We order our dinner which includes jumbo shrimp cocktail, cheese tortellini for my wife, and a "prime" Kansas city bone in strip steak. Both came with a chopped salad and I added red potatoes to my steak.

First thing out is the shrimp cocktail which is 4 jumbo shrimp served with cocktail sauce. The shrimp are good but what's missing is a lemon to squeeze onto the shrimp and a dollop of horseradish on top of the cocktail sauce. Both are common practices at high end restaurants and of jumbo shrimp cocktail. This made the shrimp good but not very good. A small oversight but one none the less.

Next out was our chopped salads. This was lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, croutons, grated parmesan, and an Italian vinaigrette. The texture of the salad was nice, it had good crunch and a nice variety of items on the plate. But there was a big problem. The vinaigrette tasted like, well, nothing! There was no flavor to my salad at all. It in essence was like eating wet vegetables. Very disappointing and I didn't eat even half of it.

Next up was our main course. My wife's tortellini came in a creamy tomato sauce and had fairly good flavor. The pasta had a nice soft but firm texture and the sauce was quite creamy. it was good just not very good ( she enjoyed it more than I did). My massive 20 oz steak was next. It was prepared medium and served with 2 small potatoes cleverly shaped into mushrooms. Prepared as specified and had a nice meaty flavor. It was tender and moist but was missing any sort of a crust on top. I don't mean an added crust but one of the slightly crisp variety that a hot grill adds to the top. It's just that little extra amount of texture that was missing. The grill marks were very faint and therefore no crust at all. This was a good steak, but at a $43 price point, I expect an excellent steak. The potatoes were tasty, just so small that 3-4 bites finished off both.

Next up was dessert. My wife ordered the canolli's and I ordered the New York cheese cake. The canolli is filled with a very creamy ricotta cheese and has ground pistachios and chocolate chip on each end. Then it's drizzled with strawberry sauce. While we both prefer chopped pistachios instead of ground, the canolli's were quite good. Very creamy ricotta and strawberry sauce made this a fine choice. My cheesecake came and it was a large slice with both chocolate and caramel sauce drizzled all over it. My cheesecake was good but not very good. The flavor was fine but the texture was not to my liking. Being from Chicago land I expect my cheesecake to be very dense and very rich. This cheesecake had almost an airy texture to it. In fact it reminded me of a Sara Lee cheesecake that I can buy at the grocery store.

Overall impression was that it's beautiful looking restaurant and good but unremarkable food. And for the price there are definitely better options out there. Our final bill was about $125 and that could have been much more if my wife didn't order just pasta. Rating * and 1/2 out of ****.

Monday, February 5, 2007

Review of "Carson's Ribs"


Continuing with my fascination with ribs, on Saturday my wife and I visited "Carson's Ribs". They currently have 2 locations, one at 612 N. Wells in Chicago and the other at 200 N. Waukegan in Deerfield. We drove 45 minutes to the Deerfield location and were promptly rewarded with an hour long wait. In Deerfield there is plenty of free parking while the location in downtown Chicago means you need to pony up for a pay lot or search for a meter(good luck). Why such a long wait? Sure the place was busy but it was also not a very large dining room. The waiting area did offer crackers and spread for people waiting as well as a fireplace and a selection of leather arm chairs. The restaurant is dimly lit with white table cloths and cloth napkins. Yes this place does serve ribs.

Once seated we open the menu and were pleasantly surprised with a good selection of not only ribs but prime steaks, chops, burgers, and salads. So this is a place with multiple personalities, on one hand you can eat ribs with a plastic bib around your neck or you can have a $35 prime steak. Our waitress comes by and we know what we want right away. My wife orders a slab of ribs(half to take home) and I order the half slab of ribs and pork chop, both of us get the fries so we can dip it in the sauce. Both come with their house cole slaw. The waitress was very friendly and passionate about their food. Have to say, I do love friendly service.

Before the food arrives we do receive a bread basket filled with corn bread, bread sticks and bagels. My wife eats all the corn bread before i realize it's gone! All warm and tasty but remember I'm here for ribs. After a couple of minutes the cole slaw comes and let me tell you this is the best cole slaw ever, in my opinion! Perfect balance of flavor, crunchy texture, and creaminess. I added a little fresh cracked black pepper and man is this stuff good! I finish my bowl in just a few minutes while my wife prefers to enjoy hers with her meal.

Dinner arrives and we are greeted with this intoxicating aroma of BBQ. My wife's baby back ribs are literally hanging of her plate and my half slab and chop bring a huge smile to my face. My chop was about 2 inches thick and basted in barbecue sauce! We both reach for the ribs first and wow, these are darn good. Tender but with a little crispness to the outside and the sauce is the best sauce I have ever tasted. These are some amazing ribs. I cut into my monster boneless chop and it is juicy and very flavorful. Pretty darn good but not as good as the ribs. The fries are steak fries and are good but on this night they were used for scooping up as much of that wonderful sauce as we could. The sauce is slightly sweet and slightly spicy. It has small bits of what I believe are onions running through it. This stuff is so good I would almost pour it over ice cream and still eat it!

After devouring dinner and going through a stack of warm wet napkins it was time for dessert. My wife ordered the warm peach cobbler a la mode and I went for the "Gold Brick" sundae. Her cobbler was warm with large chunks of peaches with a crumble crust that had cinnamon and sugar all over it and some caramel drizzled on the plate. Definitely made from scratch and it was quite good. My sundae was a fancy version of ice cream and "Magic Shell". While it was good, it didn't live up to the rest of the meal.

With tax and tip we came out to $65 for the two of us. Definitely expensive for a rib dinner. But worth it. Even the 45 minute drive and hour long wait to be seated didn't ruin the experience. If not for a small dining room and an average sundae this would have been a perfect visit. With that said the official rating is *** and 1/2 out of ****.

Friday, February 2, 2007

Review of "Smokey Bones"


Over the weekend I visited a BBQ restaurant named "Smokey Bones". It's located at 680 Mall Drive in Schaumburg, IL. I was driving home from work and my wife and in-laws wanted me to meet up with them for dinner. One thing is for sure this place indeed serves ribs(see previous review).

The restaurant is located near the Woodfield Mall but might be a little difficult to find for people coming there for the first time. Mall drive is a street that looks like it's nothing but car dealerships. But if you drive a little further down you'll see the place. The parking is typical for a suburban restaurant. Plenty of it and free! Once inside the place has a log cabin type of feel. Tables and benches are all made of wood and the lounge has nice leather seats with a fire place burning.

When you sit at your table you get utensils wrapped in paper napkins and both varieties of BBQ sauce waiting for you at the table. There is a control panel for volume if you care to listen to one of the many TVs spread along the dining room and bar area. The menu is what you would expect from a place like this. There are two varieties of ribs, both baby back and St. Louis style ribs with a mustard based BBQ sauce along with a selection of burgers, chicken, and pork.

Our waitress comes by and we put in our drink order. Again sorry, we're non drinkers but this isn't a fancy place so you're typical beer is on tap along with a few specialty fruity drinks. I ordered a diet Coke with lime and the waitress promptly returned with 2 limes hanging off the edge of my glass! This scored her a couple points! When it's time to order I put in a order of baby back ribs(full slab), baked beans, cole slaw, and to start a salad with thousand island dressing.

My salad arrives and it's standard iceberg, tomato wedges, and carrots. Not bad but nothing amazing. The weird element was the carrots. The weren't chopped but rather 1/2 inch shavings. They added nothing except for a strange mouth feel.

My dinner arrives along with a bag for finished rib bones, 5 wet naps, a stack of extra napkins, and a fresh diet Coke without me having to ask for one(huge in my book). I sampled my baked beans first and they had a nice blend of smokey and sweet flavor. They were just a tad dry but tasty regardless. Cole slaw was next and it was flavorful and creamy but very little crunch came from the cabbage. Both sides were tasty but both moisture levels were off just a touch. Now time for some ribs! The ribs were tender with a nice pink smoke ring in the middle(yes they are fully cooked). The sauce had a smokey yet sweet taste and I was not shy of adding more. The ribs were quite good and they for made good left overs the next day.

For dessert we ordered the warm strawberry donuts. These are really a treat. They are strawberry donuts coated with cinnamon and sugar and served with a warm strawberry dipping sauce! They were warm, tasty, and very unique.

Price wise the slab of ribs were $18 and the donuts $5. A fair deal for the amount of food I received. Overall I say that if you're in the area it's a place worth checking out but it's also not worth more than a 20 minute drive if you're not. Overall rating **1/2 out of ****.