' While in Chicago for a wedding a few weeks ago, I was really taken by surprise by a truly great meal, right out of nowhere. On Friday night before the wedding, I was out with some other (meaning “not affiliated with the wedding”) Chicago friends and one suggested that we go to this little organic place in Logan Square for dinner. Now, I’m all for organic in theory, but am generally skeptical of Organic Restaurants: in my experience, they tend to be pricey and a bit full of themselves. Lula Café did a brilliant job proving me ever so wrong, and even more than that, did so in a way that didn’t bruise my ego in the slightest! 
Our cabbie did not approve of the address, and asked why we didn’t want to eat in a ‘nicer’ part of town. I suppose it was nice enough of him to be concerned, but we didn’t get mugged or anything, so I don’t really know what his problem was. We arrived at the specified address, and went inside to put our name on the list (no reservations). It was gonna be a while (this was about 8PM on Friday night, afterall), so we sat at the bar and the asked the slightly adorable bartender for some $2 PBRs.
An aside: while we waited, a woman with a particularly spectacular plastic surgery addiction was standing nearby, and we couldn’t stop noticing that her facial expression never changed. Her companion bought her a drink – she looked surprised; her companion told a joke – she looked surprised; she took a sip of her drink – surprise! We also noted that her upper torso was similarly … immune to gravity and inertia. It was funny to see, at an organic restaurant, a customer so, well, inorganic.
The silicone princess gave up after about half an hour, so our party moved that much further up the wait list! Finally, we were seated in Lula’s charming little dining room – it has a comfortable farm-housey feel, jazzed up with a modern edge, and is without the pretense of far too many places bearing the Organic label. As it turned out, well-balanced combinations would be the theme of the evening…
While perusing the menu, our server brought out a lovely goat-cheese amuse-bouche from the kitchen, and eventually, we made our decisions. I started with confit of organic beets and my companions with Caesar salads; for main dishes two of us had the “macaroni,” and the other had the chickpea and sweet potato tagine.
The Caesars were good, but the confit was amazing. Little cubes of it came in a little pot, with prettily arranged garnishes of apricot paste, chocolate, rock salt, and crème fraiche on the surrounding plate, a basket of pumpernickel crisps alongside. Our server instructed me to scoop a bit of the confit onto one of the crisps, and add little bits of each garnish. I did, and the results were fantastic. The flavors meshed amazingly, and each bite was a new experiment as I altered the mix of ingredients – tasty and fun!
On to our main dishes: the tagine was brightly colored and smelled divinely of cinnamon and vegetable goodness. It tasted as delicious as it looked, and is a great option for lighter dining – not too heavy, but filling and satisfying and very healthy. Someday I need to get myself a tagine and attempt to do something like this at home, but for now it’s good to know someone else is doing so well with their own.
The tagine was delicious, but the macaroni was outstanding. The first thing you notice about it is the yellowfin tuna: large-but-still-bite-sized chunks (raw, though the menu offers no hint of this) sit atop the bed of penne pasta. It’s fresh, flavorful, and a wonderful surprise to see such a twist on an ingredient almost exclusively seen in Japanese (and Japanese-esque) dishes. Below the fish are more surprises: the penne is bathed (but not swimming in) a sauce of melted emmental, mushrooms, and pickles.
Yeah, pickles. My tagine-eating companion HATES pickles, but tried a bite of this and loved it – you get the sweet-sharp overtones without full-on pickleness. Most amazingly, we didn’t feel like all these strong flavors – Swiss cheese, pickles, and mushrooms – fought each other at all, or overpowered the tuna. They blended wonderfully, and made for a really odd dish that was tasty, satisfying, and just the right bits of filling and satisfying.
After two courses like this, how could we not look at (and order from) the dessert menu? I got the spiced chocolate crème caramel, and my companions each had a batch of the chocolate banana bread pudding. The crème caramel was itself fabulous, and the topping of brandied fruits and candied pumpkin seeds really made it special (we are all familiar with my general feelings about pumpkin). And then there was the bread pudding: wow. It’s not like bread pudding I’ve ever had before, what with its chocolateyness and banana-containing, so maybe we were just blown away by the realization that such a thing was possible, but it might have just been that awesome.
How much did we pay for all this incredible food, you ask? It must have been expensive! This is where my little grad-student-foodie heart really gets happy: the total bill for the three of us, including tax and tip, was about $85. That’s less than $30 each. If there’s a really good special on airfare, it’s conceivable that the price of the meal, including transport, could still be in the range I’d not be shocked to pay for this level of food-happiness.
Lula Café
2537 N. Kedzie Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60647
773.489.9554
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07May
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04May
Johnny’s Halfshell opened Taqueria Nacionale next door to their restaurant this week. Breakfast and lunch, and carryout only.
Today, I tried their fish tacos ($2.50), beef tacos ($2.50), and yuca fries $1.50. The tacos -which are soft tacos- were not as soft as I would have liked. They were also small, but they are relatively inexpensive. The fillings were tasty, and seemed to be made from quality ingredients. The beef taco contained small cubes of beef and the fish tacos contained pieces of fried fish, and coleslaw. The yuca fries were tasty, but they oily, and not crispy.
They do make their own horchata, but I haven’t tried it yet. I did notice a bag of chufa nuts.
Complaints: They need to work on their packaging, and I had to wait 15 minutes for my lunch order. Oh, and they sell the bottled Coke that requires a bottle opener, so if you don’t have one at work, you need to walk around with an open bottle.
I’ll give them a month or two to work things out since they are brand new, and then I’ll try it again. It does seem like a better option than a lot of the Union Station competition.
Taqueria Nacionale
444 N. Capitol Street
Washington, DC 20001 -
03May
Ever since the weather started reasonably cooperating, I’ve been on a grilled fish kick. I get home, and it’s all I want to cook, since it’s quick and outdoors, and all I want to eat, since it’s fresh and light tasting. Plus, I’ve recently discovered (like MAW) that those Trader Joe’s frozen fish fillets taste better than I ever expected.
Last Monday, I did tilapia. Since grilling makes me think of corn on the cob, I was brought to think of my favorite way of preparing the vegetable (namely, using lime butter with chili powder), and figured the combination of flavors would lend itself well to fish. Sure did – a squirt of lime juice, a dash of powder, a dollop of butter and everything came together. Served it with a roasted red potato with cumin, and steamed green beans.
This Monday, it was Mahi Mahi. I didn’t go too crazy on the marinade (just a little salt and citrus), but I topped the fish with a salsa made of fresh tomatoes, avocado, lime, red onion and a little turkey bacon (namely because these were ingredients I needed to use up). A red wine risotto with spinach and peas served as my side (a bit indulgent, given the main course, but it seemed a good idea at the time).
Tonight, I gave cod a shot. I had one lone piece of prosciutto left from some appetizers I made recently. I soaked the fish in a bit of Worcestershire sauce, seasoned, and then wrapped the fish in the prosciutto. Cheated on the side dishes, though – frozen fries from TJ’s coated in garlic salt, and a carrot/bean vegetable medly weren’t inspired choices, but they were easy ones.
All these recipes, by the way, are thirty minute meals without the annoying acronyms and exclamations of “Yummo.” Next week, I’m thinking my favorite tuna recipe – coated in red, black and white pepper, seared, and served over white beans simmered with sage. What’s your favorite way to grill fish? -
01May
What can I say? I’m lazy. I want good, home-cooked food, but I don’t want to plan for it more than an hour (at most) in advance. Also because I’m lazy, I’ve become a bit addicted to the frozen, individually-wrapped fish fillets from the grocery store. It’s not the best quality fish, but bit’s relatively cheap and easy to deal with. Last night, I was pretty totally uninterested in going to the grocery store to pick up any items that might help make a meal out of my individually-wrapped mahi-mahi fillet, which I’d set out to defrost on a whim that morning.
So, I decided to see what I could do with what I already had lying about. (Luckily, I am aware of my own laziness, so I keep a pretty good stock of non-perishable basics lying about the pantry.) Here’s what I had:
4 oz. mahi-mahi fillet, thawed;
Lemon juice;
(Vietnamese) Fish sauce;
Garbanzo beans;
Leftover brown jasmine rice;
A mango;
Coconut milk;
Sugar;
Spices;
Olive oil;
Hot sesame oil.
I cut the fish in four, placed it in a bowl, and covered with lemon juice, adding about a teaspoon of fish sauce. I stirred it around, and then left it there, to consider next steps. While the fish marinated, I drained a can of garbanzos, adding about 1/3 of the can to a bowl and putting the rest away, and added about the same volume of rice to the bowl.
In a small glass, I mixed olive oil (about 3 tbs), a splash of sesame oil, and two splashed (maybe a teaspoon?) of lemon juice. I sprinkled in a couple shakes of dried basil, a couple of thyme, and a pinch of pepper.
I also put my pan on the stove, added some salt to it, and got it really, really hot.
By this time, the fish had been in the lemon juice about 15 minutes (I’d stirred and turned it every now and again too), so I removed it, patted it dry with a paper towel, and rubbed all sides with a little bit of basil.
I put the rice-and-garbanzo bowl in the microwave and set the timer for a minute, but didn’t start it, and then added some oil to my pan, followed by the fish. After a minute, I flipped the fish over, and hit start on the microwave. When it finished, I took out the bowl, tossed with my glass of dressing, and removed the fish on top of all that. Then, less than half an hour after I started, I ate, and it was really tasty.
Tasty, but I also wanted dessert. Hey, it’s finals week, I get dessert if I want it! After such a meal, the only dessert that I could think of wanting was mango sticky rice. But that takes time (and other ingredients)! Again, I improvised:
Cube half a medium-sized mango, and add to a bowl of pre-cooked rice. Add coconut milk to cover halfway, about a teaspoon-and-a-half sugar, and a pinch (a SMALL pinch) of ginger. Stir. Microwave one minute. Stir. Microwave one minute. Stir. Microwave 30 seconds. Stir. Eat!
See mom? Cutting corners really can get you places!
