Review "Taste of Chicago" 2007

Merry Christmas! Well, for an avid food lover " The Taste" might as well be. Where else can you sample 64 different eateries all in one place? Here's how it works, you buy strips of food tickets from either Dominick's or booths located throughout Grant Park. You then in turn use these tickets as payment at all the vendors. You can choose a full serving or a "taste portion" for only 3 tickets. Most of the things I ate today are taste portions with just a few exceptions. Eating the taste portions is a great way to sample a larger variety of food. Next I'll do a mini review of each place I sampled today so you can have a good idea of what to try and what to avoid.

Abbey Pub- Irish curry fries: Soggy and bland. Don't bother.(taste)

Aunt Diana's- Chocolate frozen banana:Cool and refreshing.(taste)

Billy Goat Inn- 1/2 Cheeseburger: thin but tasty. Chicago classic(taste)

B.J.'s Market- Mustard fried catfish: normally outstanding but today undercooked. Still worth
a try.(taste)

Bolat African Cuisine- Coconut rice with sauteed goat: Goat very flavorful/rice mild flavor. Worth trying something different.(taste)

Buona-Italian beef sandwich: Thinly sliced beef was tender and moist.(taste)

C'est Si Bon!- Sweet potato biscuit: Biscuit was grey in color and just plain gross.(taste)

Chicago Chocolate Company- Chocolate covered strawberries: Juicy, fresh, & decadent. A must try!(full size)

Chicago Joe's- Chili: Very meaty and tasty (taste)

Connie's Pizza- Meatball sandwich: Tasty but not spectacular. Pizza should have been taste portion.(taste)

Costa's- Saganaki:Not really saganaki. Not flaming cheese. More like a mozzarella square. Tastes ok(taste)

Eli's Cheesecake-Frozen chocolate crunch dipper: Cool, rich, decadent, & awesome. Must try!(full size)

Fireplace Inn- BBQ meatballs: Meaty and saucy. Sauce is on the sweet side.(taste)

Grazie!- 1/2 BBQ buffalo burger: Gamey but still tasty(taste)

Harold's Chicken- Fried chicken wing & okra: Crunchy, slightly salty, best chicken in city. Okra is better than fried zucchini.(taste)

Lagniappe- Beignet: greasy and not very good. Disappointing.(taste)

La Justicia- Enchilada: good flavor but could have used more meat and less potato.(taste)

Los Dos Laredos- Steak Taco: fresh ingredients, tasty, steak could be more charred.(taste)

Lou Malnati's- Sausage Pizza: Great tasting crust and sausage. Best pizza in Chicago.(full size)

Mazzone's-Blue raspberry Italian Ice: Cool and refreshing.(taste)

O'Briens-Celtic Corn: Sweet/ buttery. Adding the Celtic seasoning= the best corn at the taste.Must try!(full size)

Original Rainbow Cone-Rainbow cone: Classic, cool, tasty,& fun. Must try! (full size)

Pars Cove-Hummus shirazi: Salad was refreshing, hummus had good flavor, whole wheat pita was weird.(taste)

Polo Cafe- Garlic-mozzarella cheese bread:Good size and very flavorful.(taste)

Ricobene's-Italian breaded steak sandwich:Good size, great bread and sauce. Must try!(taste)

Robinson's #1 Ribs- Boneless rib sandwich: Large and expensive. Tender, saucy, and very good. A "Taste" classic.(full size)

Sweet Baby Rays-Boneless rib sandwich: Sweet sauce & tender pork make this a winner(taste)

Superossa- Cheese pizza: Thin and nearly flavorless. Avoid.(taste)

Tuscany-Toasted Ravioli:Good size, served hot, very toasty, saucy, & very tasty(taste)

Vee-Vee's African Cuisine-Jerk Chicken: Tastes like it was boiled in water and pepper. Awful.(taste)

Vienna Beef/Gold Coast-1/2 hot dog: Almost perfect except for the pickle. Instead of a spear it was a slice. Still good.(taste)

Review of "Claim Jumper"

Recently my wife has been mentioning this new restaurant called "Claim Jumper". The not so subtle hints worked and we decided to give it a try. We visited the Hoffman Estates location which is at 2610 Sutton Rd inside the Poplar Creek shopping center. There are two other Chicagoland locations in both Lombard and in Wheeling.

When we pull up to the restaurant we are greeted by a very outdoors/cabin type of look. Parking is typical suburbs free and since it is in a shopping center there is plenty of it. Once inside you realize that this a very large place. A large bar area and a very large dining room help accommodate the high volume this restaurant handles. The tables are all solid wood, as are the extremely heavy chairs that you sit in. My poor wife could barely budge the chair!

We sit down to look over the menu and were floored by how large this menu is, 5 pages long! Our server arrives and she like all the other servers is wearing a badge and western themed outfit. We order the "thin" onion rings and house salads to start. My wife then orders the 5 cheese rigatoni for her dinner and I order a slab of baby back ribs. I was intrigued by the ribs due to the $26 price tag. I wondered how good these ribs could really be?

First out was the onion "rings". They were tasty, crunchy, and not rings at all. They were a tangled jumble of breaded onions that were good but should not have been called "rings". Next was the salads and they were of the loaded variety. Greens, cheddar and jack cheese, egg, bacon, and corn bread croutons made up this very crunchy and tasty salad.

Our dinners arrive and my wife's pasta is surprisingly not overwhelmingly huge. Most places when you order a pasta dish it's roughly the size of you head! Her rigatoni was nicely al dente and had lots of good cheese flavor. Texture was a plus as well with pieces of prosciutto throughout and a bread crumb topping. My ribs were next and boy was I excited! I took my first bite and thought, $26 for this? Don't get me wrong, these were definitely good ribs. But at the same time there was nothing that warranted them to be the most expensive ribs I've ever ordered. Carson's ribs are my favorite and they're $21. These are not as good as Carson's ribs or Smokey Bones ribs for that matter. The ribs were tender but had no smoke flavor. The sauce was tasty and slightly sweet but also nothing new. Good ribs-bad price.

Last off was dessert. I ordered the "Worlds Smallest Sundae" and my wife ordered the red velvet cupcake. My sundae was personal size and not really that small. It was creamy vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream. It was quite good and actually just the right size. My wife's cupcake was a little larger than you normal cupcake and was sitting in a pool of hot fudge. The cake was moist and tasty. While she was not a fan of their fudge, I found it to be quite good.

Final bill with tip came up to about $90. This was more than we were expecting to spend for a casual dinner out. Overall "Claim Jumper" has good food at an unreasonable price. Rating ** out of ****.