Exploring Chinatown with Chicago Food Planet

Entrance to old Chinatown. Letters read "The world is for all"

A few weekends ago I headed out with my former co-worker Sarah for a professional food tour of Chicago's Chinatown. Growing up in Chicago, I had been to Chinatown quite a few times with family and friends, but I'd never had a full understanding of its traditions, culture, and most of all, its best eateries. Sure, I'd been to several of Tony Hu's restaurants, but when it came to knowing where else to go, I had no idea.

Sarah and I embarked on a Saturday afternoon tour with Chicago Food Planet to tour several Chinese-owned and operated restaurants and stores. We met up with Ploy, our tour guide, as well as the other members of our group, at Triple Crown, a dim sum restaurant located in the old part of Chinatown. Our first stop was a seated dim sum tasting at Triple Crown where we began by pouring jasmine tea for one another.

Dim sum, which means "to touch the heart," includes several smaller dishes that are meant to be shared. At Triple Crown we shared Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce (which is made from oyster mushrooms, not oysters), shrimp and pork shumai, steamed barbecue pork bun, fried taro puff and fried crepe fritters. Everything we had was fantastic and this ended up being my favorite food stop of the tour. The shrimp and pork shumai, which are essentially dumplings, had great flavor and we had some spicy sauces to add a bit of a kick. The pork buns were pillowy soft on the outside and nice and sweet on the inside.

Dim sum at Triple Crown

Our table at Triple Crown

Our tour guide Ploy telling us about the steamed pork buns

My dim sum plate...nom nom nom

I had never had dim sum before so I was happy to finally try it out and experience some of the more authentic items on the menu. The next time I go out for dim sum, I will definitely know what to order!

After dim sum at Triple Crown, we walked down Wentworth Ave., the main street in old Chinatown, and explored some of the architecture, as well as a Buddhist temple.

Pui Tak Community Center

Our next tasting stop was Ten Ren Tea & Ginseng Co. where we learned about tea and ginseng and got to sample some milk tea. The most shocking thing I learned was that Wisconsin grows some of the world's finest ginseng! Who knew?

Tea canisters at Ten Ren 

Ginseng at Ten Ren

After sipping our milk tea, we walked over to the new part of Chinatown which is just down the street. We stopped to examine a mural which depicts the history of Chinese immigrants in the United States.

Chinese immigration mural

Our next tasting spot was at Tony Hu's Lao Sze Chuan. Tony Hu is a chef and restaurateur with several restaurants in Chinatown and beyond. He's kind of the king of Chinatown and a visit isn't complete without a stop at one of his establishments. I'd actually been to Lao Sze Chuan for dinner before and had to wait over an hour for a table, so it was awesome to be let right in. Our tour group was seated upstairs and we were served some hot and spicy Szechuan cuisine. We tried garlic eggplant, dried chili chicken, and mapa tofu. The garlic eggplant was a favorite of the group. It was one of the less spicy options and had plenty garlic-y goodness. The mapa tofu and dried chili chicken were so spicy I had heart palpitations. I love spicy food, but this was crazy hot. There was rumor the restaurant received extra spicy chili peppers from their distributor that day. I don't doubt it! The szechuan style is characterized by a focus on using chilis, garlic and peppers to mask preserved flavors. This is probably the spiciest and most flavorful of Chinese cuisines.

Mapa tofu

Garlic eggplant and dried chili chicken...check out those chili peppers

After warming up with some spicy foods, we took a little walk to the Ping Tom Memorial Park. This beautiful park also includes a water taxi station that can whisk you back to the Loop in no time. We took some time to take in the sights near the river and snap a few photos before heading to our next food stop.

Ping Tom Memorial Park

Next up was Lao Beijing, Tony Hu's mandarin restaurant. Here we enjoyed famous peking duck. We took turns taking a pancake, topping it with scallions and roasted duck meat, and then topping things off with a sweet hoisin sauce. It was like a duck taco!

Peking duck

Peking Duck

Our final food stop was at Saint Anna Bakery, located just a few doors down from Lao Beijing. The bakery sells European-style pastries, as well as Chinese treats. Here, we sampled their famous Chinese egg tart which is apparently the best in Chicago. I was a little hesitant to try it at first because, while I love eggs, I was skeptical of how good they'd taste as dessert. I was proven wrong. The tart crust was buttery and flaky and the custard was eggy and delicately sweet.

Chinese egg tart

Our food tour with Chicago Food Planet was definitely the best food tour I had been on thus far. Our tour guide was super knowledgeable and had a great attitude, and the amount of food we sampled was plenty to keep you feeling satisfied. The amount of food we sampled was probably the most surprising part about the tour. Tickets are well worth their $60 price tag when you factor in all of the treats and knowledge you accumulate throughout the day. I can't recommend Chicago Food Planet tours enough. My only complaint is that our tour ran way over its 3.25 hour quoted time; we ended about 4.5 hours after starting which meant some people had to dip out early. It was a long day, but we were kept well-fed!

Check out Chicago Food Planet for more information about this tour, and other tours offered! Have you ever explored Chicago's Chinatown? What are your favorite stops?

Note: Chicago Food Planet allowed me to take this tour free of charge, however, the opinions expressed herein are my own.

It's Not Friendsgiving Without the Turducken!

Just in time for the Thanksgiving season, I was fortunate to receive an original turducken, aka "The Ultimate Family Feast"! For the non-turducken-educated, the turducken is a giant, meaty beast. De-boned duck and chicken breasts are wrapped up with stuffing into a whole turkey which is also de-boned except for wings and drumsticks. The kind folks at Echelon Foods, makers of the original turducken, sent me one of the triple bird specialty the week before Thanksgiving. Since this bad boy feeds 12-15 adults, I thought it would be perfect to bring to my Friendsgiving the Saturday after Turkey Day.

The poultry trifecta

Now, I have to say, I was a little intimidated at the thought of making a turducken. I've never made a turkey or whole chicken, let alone three birds in one. Luckily, the turducken came with handy directions and was already pre-seasoned. The big bird arrived frozen so I had to defrost it for 4 days before cooking it. You have the option to thaw in a bucket of water but I let mine hang out in the fridge. Once it was fully thawed, I took it out of its plastic wrap and placed it in an aluminum roasting pan. Easy as can be.

Thawed and fully seasoned

To cook the turducken, it's recommended that you roast it at a low temperature. I baked mine at 220 F and after a few hours, the internal temperature was nowhere near where it should have been. I decided to cover it with foil to prevent the birds from browning even more than they had been, and then I cranked up the oven to 350 F.

It was getting a little too brown so I covered it with foil

After dialing up the heat, I ended up slathering some butter on the outside to ensure the turkey breasts wouldn't dry out. To keep it nice and moist, I also basted the turducken every 30 minutes for the last two hours of cooking. The best indicator that the bird is done is to check the internal temperature and ensure it exceeds 165 F. Mine still wasn't there yet so I cranked up the heat to 400 F for the last hour. That finally did the trick and the total cooking time ended up being 5.5 hours.

After taking the big birds out of the oven, my friend Loren injected it with some of the pan drippings (read: butter). There was no way that thing was going to be dry! The fattyness of the duck also kept things nice and juicy.

Injectify!

Since my friend Shelby was hosting Friendsgiving at her place, I decided it was best to wrap up the turducken and cut it up at her place. After presenting it on a platter for all to see, Loren started chopping away. I was so glad he knew how to slice and dice that thing because I certainly didn't!

The final product! It looks like it has devil horns...

Turkey breast stuffed with chicken, duck and stuffing

Loren started by removing the only bones which were the turkey wings and legs. Next, he sliced open the breasts and that's when we got to see the awesome cross section of meats! It was mostly turkey breast, with a good amount of stuffing and duck and a small sliver of chicken.

Cross-section shot of the meats

Lastly, he sliced the breasts up lengthwise so that every slice included all three meats. After all was done, we had a beautiful meat masterpiece!

Slicing up the breasts

Ain't she a beaut?

The turducken provided a nice protein base to complement the amazing dishes that were brought to the Friendsgiving celebration. Loren also barbecued a second turkey which had an intense, smoky flavor. From green bean casserole and mashed potatoes, to roasted veggies and latkes for Hanukkah, we had quite the spread.

Aerial shot of some of the sides

Overall, Friendsgiving was a success and the turducken was quite a hit! The turducken itself was not difficult to prepare, it's just a little high maintenance toward the end when you have to baste it and make sure it's cooking evenly and fully.

Head over to Echelon Foods' site to learn more about the turducken and order yours for your next gluttonous gathering!

Have you ever cooked a turducken? If so, how'd it turn out? If not, would you consider making one?

The ladies of Friendsgiving 2013 (the men weren't allowed in the photo)

Note: Echelon Foods provided the turducken free of charge, however, the thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own.

From Naples, With Love

While there's been some dispute over whether or not Chicago deep dish pizza is actually pizza, there's no doubt that the pizza served at Ravenswood's Spacca Napoli is some of the best in the city. The pizzeria has been serving up authentic Neopolitan-style pizza since 2006 and has drawn attention for its ability to recreate the characteristics of this style so perfectly.

The BF and I stopped by on a Friday night with our newly-engaged friends, Maddy and Mike. The dining room was buzzing and there was a 35-40 minute wait. We came prepared to wait and staked out a spot near the wood-burning oven. There's no bar at Spacca Napoli to grab a drink while you wait, however, the staff takes drink orders and conveniently adds your order to your tab for later. We sipped on some Italian beers and were even given a sample of pecorino cheese while we waited. I was as happy as one could be while watching others down their beautiful pizza pies.

Our quoted wait ended up being a little shorter and we were seated and greeted by our pleasant server. We were all starving so it didn't take long for us to decide on one antipasti and two pizzas to share. We kicked things off with the Prosciutto e Rucola with prosciutto, arugula, parmigiano reggiano and olive oil. The prosciutto was a generous portion and had a beautiful smokey flavor. The arugula added a nice peppery taste and the cheese was strong and salty.

Prosciutto e Rucola

After we devoured our salad, it didn't take long for our two pizzas to arrive. We chose two pizzas with tomato sauce, the margherita and the salsiccia. The traditional margherita was topped with mozzarella, basil and pecorino gran cru. I loved how the tomato sauce and mozzarella were sprinkled on top but didn't overpower the crust. You could really taste the quality of each of the ingredients this way. The crust had the perfect char from the wood-burning pizza oven, and delicately balanced a crispy and chewy texture. 

Margherita

Our second pizza was basically the margherita topped with Italian sausage. This was the favorite of the table because of that extra flavor from the hearty sausage. The ingredients were plentiful and fresh and we demolished both pies in record time.

Salsiccia

Next time, I'm definitely ordering a wide variety of pizzas, including a white pizza with olive oil instead of red sauce. Everything we had was delicious and that crispy/chewy crust was pure perfection.

I'm giving Spacca Napoli 4.5 ghosts for their friendly staff, superb pizzas and very reasonable prices. I officially have a new favorite thin crust pizza in Chicago!

Spacca Napoli
www.spaccanapolipizzeria.com
1769 W Sunnyside Ave
Chicago, IL 60640

Left Hand Brewing Turns 20!

20th Anniversary Beer Selections

Two weeks ago I was invited to celebrate Left Hand Brewing Company's 20th birthday with a few other local bloggers. The event was held at Streeterville's Jake Melnick's Corner Tap and featured a tap takeover of 20 of Left Hand's beers. Jake Melnick's featured "20 beers for 20 years" from the Colorado-based brewery. The 20 varieties of beers included five retired beers, the only Chicago appearance of the seasonal Fade to Black Series (Vols. 1-4) and several perennials and limited-edition varieties. To make the night even more special, Left Hand's co-founder Eric Wallace was on-hand (pun intended) to answer questions and talk about some of the beers.

Left Hand Brewing's Co-Founder, Eric Wallace

Sampling the Fade to Black Series

I was able to sample beers and bites and was super excited to check out the menu at Jake Melnick's! I had never eaten there before but I knew they were famous for their wings. Wings aren't a typical fixture in my diet, so I happily ordered them. Luckily, they offer a combination option featuring their traditional Buffalo wings and the Poncho's variety which are wood grilled and topped with a garlic and cayenne marinade.After trying both varieties, I immediately understood why they are so popular. The Poncho's wings were by far my favorite of the two.

If you're a fan of spicy foods, especially spicy Buffalo wings, then Jake Melnick's is your place. They have recently added the Trinidad Scorpion Pepper to its award-winning wing sauce on its XXX Wings. This is no ordinary pepper, it's apparently the hottest pepper on Earth as it's nearly 300 times hotter than a jalapeno! If you're feeling up for the challenge, you'll have to sign a waiver first. However, Jake's will provide several cooling agents including ice cream, bread, sour cream and milk. Yum. Finish the whole order of XXX wings and your name gets posted on Jake's "Wall of Flame". Worth it?

Traditional & Poncho's Wings

While were taste testing all of those Left Hand beers, we needed some more food to wash it all down. I tried the mini burger sliders which were anything but mini. These are best shared with others, as is most of the food on Jake's menu. I loved the quality of the beef--super flavorful and nicely ground.

Mini Burger Sliders (not so mini!)

One of the other bloggers ordered a side of mac 'n cheese that looked absolutely delightful. I didn't try it (I'm a lactard, though that doesn't usually stop me from eating cheese, obvi) but it looked heavenly.

Mac 'N Cheese

Jake Melnick's also is known for its famous barbecue and sauce. I ordered a half slab of their baby back ribs which are slow-smoked and slathered in that delicious sauce. These weren't the best ribs I've had, (for the best ribs of your life go to L. Woods) and I probably wouldn't order them again there, but they were still ribs, I mean, come on.

Baby Back Ribs

We were still feeling hungry (HA) so we ordered a side of Jake's skillet corn bread. This massive bread arrived topped with a heaping scoop of melted butter. I hate when corn bread is dry in the middle, so you better believe I was happy with this version. The bread was sweet and soft and perfect with the barbecued ribs.

Skillet Corn Bread

Last, but not least, we were told to try the jumbo smoked hot links made from local Makowski sausages which are slow-smoked and topped with Jake's barbecue sauce. These hot links were supposed to be HOT, but I didn't feel any heat. Maybe I should sign up for the XXX Wing challenge...

Jumbo Smoked Hot Links

Overall, It was a fun night trying Left Hand Beers and more food than you could imagine off Jake Melnick's menu!

Left Hand Brewing
www.lefthandbrewing.com

Jake Melnick's
www.jakemelnicks.com
41 E Superior St
Chicago, IL 60611
312.266.0400

Tacos Guapos!

It's no secret that Wicker Park's Big Star has some of the best tacos in Chicago. While the restaurant is best visited in the warmer Chicago months when you can fully take advantage of their sprawling patio, anytime is a good time for tacos. I'd been to Big Star twice before, the first time I ate at the pick-up window, the second time was a pit stop during a trolley bar crawl (obvi). This time, I actually got a table inside. The wait at Big Star can be quite lengthy, especially if it's a nice day or if you're there with a large party (not recommended). I planned on meeting the BF there on a Friday after work and when we showed up around 5:30, the wait was only about 20 minutes. It was the perfect amount of time to enjoy a Pacifico at the bar.

I'm a big fan of the guacamole at Big Star. They just get it right. Crazy amounts of lime juice are what make it superb and it has just the right amount of spice. They definitely have a guacamole leg up on their competition at Antique Taco. Mmm guacamole leg...

Chips & Guacamole

I usually like to change up the tacos I get, except for one, the taco al pastor. If you're looking for a consistently tasty handheld, it has to be the al pastor. Marinated pork shoulder, grilled onion, pineapple and cilantro all come together in perfect harmony. There's something so perfect about pineapple and pork.

Rounding out my taco trio were tacos de pescado and pollo. The pescado included battered catfish, cabbage, red onion, cilantro and lime, on top of a generous spread of chipotle mayo. The fish was extremely crispy and not the slightest bit greasy and the mayo added a creamy kick. The taco de pollo used to be so spicy I'd have heart palpitations, but now it is WAY less spicy. I even had to add hot sauce to give it some kick. The vinegar flavor from the pickled red onions on top help to cut into the roasted flavor of the chicken. The best part is the yogurt and cucumber sauce that hides out on the bottom.

Taco de Pescado, Taco de Pollo, Taco Al Pastor

The BF also ordered three tacos, though one was actually a Frito pie. The walking taco is housed in a Fritos bag and is topped with ground pastor, pinto bean dip, Chihuahua cheese, chili sauce and green onion. He also tried the taco de panza with braised pork belly, guajillo salsa, queso fresco, onion and cilantro. I'm not a huge pork belly fan (sue me) but he was in love with it.

The Walking Taco, Taco de Panza, Taco de Pollo

If you haven't been to Big Star, step out of your cave and head on over. Just don't bring a large group and be prepared to wait. It's worth it.

Big Star gets 4 ghosts for their well-cooked meats that are piled onto their tacos, the relaxed vibe of the restaurant, and their guac. Oh, the guac...

Big Star
www.bigstarchicago.com
1531 N Damen Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
773.235.4039