The House of Bread Opens in Wheeling

Hey Wheeling-ites? Wheeling-ians? There’s a new bakery opening up in your neck of the woods tomorrow.  I know it’s last minute, but what’s not to love about another bakery in the world?  The PR release is below:

Join us at the Grand Opening of The House of Bread on October 23rd from 11a-6p. Sample a wide variety of delicious breads which you can take home for the reduced price of $2/loaf all day. Free pastry and apple cider will also be served.

Enjoy Russian, Polish, Yiddish, American tunes played by DJ Roma L.V. from Noon to 2pm and 4-6pm. There also will be 10 opportunities to win gift certificates for the House of Bread. Be sure to stop by and say hello.

House of Bread Info:

Website: http://www.houseofbreads.com/

Garden Fresh Plaza
1762 Hintz Road
Wheeling, IL 60090
Phone : 847.253.6300

From the moment you walk into our bakery, you are surrounded by the rich, flavorful aroma of freshly baked, home-made breads and rolls. From our deliciously sweet Cranberry Walnut Raisin loaf to our scrumptious Ciabatta with the perfect touch of olive oil, every single product we bake is made with love, care, and the finest of all-natural ingredients. . . never with any preservatives!

Using recipes that have been passed from one generation to the next and the latest technologies in modern baking, we pride ourselves on our tasty selections! Customers have raved about our 15 different types of European-style breads baked to absolute perfection with crunchy crusts on the outside and scrumptiously moist centers. We also offer buttery, melt-in-your-mouth croissants, fruity turnovers, and a variety of Danish and pastries.

And, be sure to try our very popular Multigrain Bread, loaded with 12 wholesome grains; our Sunflower Seed Bread, our hearty Bavarian and Lithuanian Rye, or the traditional 100% German Rye, all of which transform a sandwich into a spectacular meal!

We look forward to welcoming you to The House of Bread, so you can experience our flavorful varieties of baked offerings for yourself.

Schweppe – Lombard, IL

Mega Mixer!

Gadget freaks, food lovers, Chicago suburbanites, run, don’t walk to Schweppe out in Lombard.  They’re a restaurant wholesaler that is also open to the public.  We were able to acquire one dozen flatware sets for all of 12 bucks yesterday.  Seriously, how can you beat that?  Sure, they may not look as nice as something you pick up at Williams-Sonoma, but let’s be serious; if you’re paying for a flatware set that serves 4 and costs over $100, the silverware better be able to find its own way to your mouth.

And oh the gadgets, the glorious gadgets.  Get kiboshed the 4-foot whisk I wanted to buy as kitchen direction, but just know that you can buy a FOUR FOOT WHISK.  You can also buy large, metal margarita glasses, along with various foodstuffs. I picked up vegetarian soup bouillion for 4 bucks that I may never need soup bouillion again.

Of course, their main focus is for the actual food industry, so the back room is full of ridiculously large bowls, chafing dishes, stoves, sinks, and the like.  But, the entire front of the store is like a food lover’s wet dream.  At least it was for me.  I picked up a microplane and rolling pin for 6 bucks each, a timer for 10, and a wee-tiny egg whisk for 60 cent. I’ll definitely be hopping a train out there once we’re settled into our new digs, and figure out what kind of stuff we’re missing.

And if I walk away with a 4-foot whisk, what’s the harm?

Honey – Glen Ellyn, IL

I haven’t been to Glen Ellyn often.  It’s one of those cities that just never really hits my radar.  I can even tell you the last time I was there.  It was the summer of 2000.  I was but a young lad, new to the world of art house films.  My friends asked if I wanted to go see this movie, “Requiem for a Dream” they called it.  It was by the guy who directed Pi, they said.  It was about the evils of heroin they said.  It was a movie starring Marlon Wayons and Jennifer Connelly they said. Hey!  I had a disturbing crush on Jennifer Connelly!  I was totally in!

That day scarred me.  I couldn’t tell you if it was the old 1970′s theater we saw it in that made me wonder if I was reliving the grindhouse experience of the olden days of Times Square; or if it was the evil, moving fridge.  Or maybe it was the words that haunt me to this day, “Ass to ass!” that really just solidified that moment in my filmgoing history as the day I REALLY needed to get home and take several showers.

(On an aside, I actually quite liked the movie, but I still feel dirty every time I watch it.)

So, it’s been 8 years since my last visit to Glen Ellyn; and this visit was decidedly more pleasant.  The owner of Honey Cafe left a message on the blog that we had to come check out her food.  We had been planning to make our way up there ever since we were interviewed for the Naperville Sun, because the reporter mentioned how tasty their grilled cheese sandwiches were.  But with the invitation, it was hard to keep putting it off, so a couple weeks ago, we busted out the trusty Google Maps and made our way to downtown Glen Ellyn.

And am I glad we did.

For full disclosure, the owner/manager DID give us some free cupcakes, but this happened after we already ate the breakfast and were heading up to pay our bill.  But by then, we were already in love with the food.  The cupcakes were a nice addition, but they paled in comparison to the actual meal.

Caprese Benedict @ Honey Cafe

This is easily my favorite breakfast place.  While I enjoy Crispy Waffles, I’m actually surprisingly picky when it comes to breakfasts.  I usually just opt for the cereal because nothing ever comes close to what I’m looking for.  The caprese benedict at Honey changed that, however.  My good gods people, it was delicious.  Words can’t do the flavors justice.  Consisting of a 1-2 inch-thick slab of tomato foccacia bread and topped with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, two poached eggs and a supremely satisfying hollandaise sauce, I think this was the first breakfast I had that made me happy to spend money on breakfast meal.

Katie tried the Eggs on a Motorcycle, a childhood favorite of both of ours.  A thick slice of artisanal bread baked with two eggs inside, seating over a pool of roasted garlic and rosemary cream sauce and garnished with fresh rosemary; everyone has had a variation on this at least once in their lives.  Whether it’s known as Eggs in a Nest or any one of a dozen different names, it was a homey dish elevated to a higher standard.

The servings were, I was going to say immense, but that’s a lie.  The servings were just enough to make you regret eating that much in one sitting, especially once you add in the healthy helping of home potatoes that were served with each dish.

And speaking of potatoes, make sure to try the sweet potato fries with the harissa dipping sauce.  She has opened up our eyes to the glory of harissa.  Lords do we hate mayonaisse, but if all mayonaisse tasted THAT good, I’d be applying it to everything.

What I loved about the food was the simplicity of  the tastes.  As intricate as some of the dishes may have sounded on paper, the finished products were absolutely, deliciously simple.

Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner I have to say you’d be a mad fool not to check out Honey the next time you’re in Glen Ellyn.  I know we’ll be going back at least once before we move to Chicago.

Honey Cafe
499 N Main St, Glen Ellyn, IL
(630) 469-0000

Eggs on a Motorcycle @ Honey

Auld Dubliner – Bolingbrook, IL

I thought I’d get the bad out before the good with the two restaurant reviews I still have to write.  The good, Honey Cafe, will be up in the next couple of days; but the bad is such a hilarious comedy of errors that I had to share the story.

Katie and I met up with my family at the newly opened Bolingbrook location of Auld Dubliner, a small Irish-Pub-Themed restaurant chain.  I have to say that it’s probably the most authentic looking of the “not really Irish” Irish restaurants we’ve been to; although I still prefer Ballydoyle’s in Downer’s Grove.  The tables were all made from dark wood, the lighting was mostly natural, and there were enough clocks littered around the place to remind you that, yes, it IS always time for a Guinness.

However, that 20 oz. of Guinness will cost you 6 bucks.  And I’m sorry, if I can go get a 6 pack of Guinness for 2 dollars more?  You’re charging too much for a Guinness.  I think 5 dollars is too much for a Guinness, but if I’m hard pressed to get a drink, I’ll at least pay that once.  So it was water for Mike and Diet Coke for Katie.

And then the fun started.  We ordered two appetizers: Onion Bhajis — Spicy battered onions deep fried and served with tomato-chili sauce — and Curry Chips — A basket of deep-fried chips served with  homemade curry sauce.  There was only one problem.  My second bite of the onion bhajis came with a little extra iron for my diet, a coil of brushed steel wool deep fried along with the onions.

Now, I want to make it perfectly clear, the manager very quickly came over and profusely apologized offering up free desserts and taking the appetizer off the bill.  It was probably some of the nicest service I’ve had.  In fact, the service was probably one of the bright spots. Although, the waitress kept refilling everyone’s drink but mine, which can only lead me to believe my training in invisibility is finally paying off!

Unlike Katie, I actually enjoyed the two appetizers once they were free of all iron coils.  The onions, while not spicy, were flavorful.  The chili sauce added a nice little bite to the dish.  The curry fries didn’t meet our messy dish requirements, but at least they were normal-sized fries.  The fries were seasoned with salt and curry powder, placed around a bowl of a sweet curry sauce.  Katie wanted more spice to the dish, which I’m always up for, but after the disappointment of the English curry fries, I was happy to have something closer to normal.

The main courses were a vegetarian boxty (sans broccoli, because it is evil and disgusting) and curried chicken (because Katie didn’t know how dissapointed she be in the curry when she ordered).  A boxty, for those who, like me, have never had one before is a largish potato pancake filled with various meats and vegetables and served with a sauce that compliments it.  In my case, the sauce was a white wine and lemon sauce, WAY heavy on the lemon.  With each bite, I could feel my gag reflex kicking in just a little bit more until I finally had to put my fork down or risk adding a little something extra to my meal.  And no one needs to see that on their birthday.  Katie’s chicken was cooked fine, her only complaint being the complete lack of spice in the curry.

At this point, let’s recap.  We’re batting 0 for 2 as far as Katie’s concerned, and a decent 1 for 2 as far as Mike goes.  I also believe that’s the first sports analogy that’s ever popped up on this blog.  It will probably also be the last.

Dessert.  Creme Brulee and a Peanut Butter Nutella brownie.  The Creme Brulee brought no complaints.  Katie’s a fan of the brulee.  I prefer a pot de creme, but to each their own.  My brownie, made up of two of my very favorite ingredients, was SO close to turning the tides of what was turning out to be a lackluster meal…

SO close.

But, the bottom of it was burnt.  And yes, I knew for a fact it was burnt, because it had that aftertaste that only a burnt chocolate brownie can have.  Oh, I was disappointed.  Every other aspect of it was exactly what I was looking for in that dessert.  It was warm.  It had slowly melting ice cream oozing.  And again, peanut butter and nutella!  This was made for me!  So close.  But it was the perfect bookend to a meal that seemed out to provide Mike a great story to tell his friends on Monday.

And that’s exactly what I’m doing.  I’m nothing if not occasionally predictable.

What made it even funnier was the teasing I was getting from the table.  “I can’t wait to see what Mike’s review of this place is going to be!” my family laughed.  Yes, thanks to our recent publicity I’m now notorious within my own family.

The bottom line?  We won’t be returning to Auld Dubliner.  While the service was good, and the appetizers/bar bites were tasty, there were just one too many strikes against the meal to warrant a return visit. But, maybe it was just the food we decided on, because my family seemed to enjoy themselves just fine, which was the most important part since it was a celebration of their birthday, not mine.

The Naperville Sun Proves We’re Nearly Legit

Holy crap!  We’re in a newspaper.  In the Wednesday, July 9, edition of the Naperville Sun Katie and I are interviewed with a couple other local-area foodbloggers about why we blog.  It was a neat little honor to be included in the article, and I’m glad she didn’t include some more of my inflammatory comments.

Because I’ve been taken out of context before, mostly in a Joliet Herald article years ago about my art show, I was convinced that I would get the article, only to see it titled, “Michael Rank Says ‘I Ain’t No Effin’ Foodie!’”  Luckily, she was much kinder to me than I probably deserve.

Everyone’s favorite quote seems to be,

Although he eschews meat, Rank, 32, admits he will try “pretty much anything,” while Lindgren retains a dash of the “horribly picky eater” she was for the first two decades of her 26 years.

“I’m sorry if bacon, egg and cheese crackers don’t appeal to me,” she told Rank, though it was clear she wasn’t really all that sorry about it.

You can read the full article on the Naperville Sun website, but I recommend rushing out and buying several copies.  We’ll even sign them for you, if you mail them to me with a SASE.  Everyone should have a little brush with fame before we sky rocket to the Food Network heavens!

One can only assume that the next logical step for us is a Food Network series, followed by a collection of popular cook books.  Ultimately I’m hoping to be in a death match against Alton Brown and Rachel Ray, with my weapons of choice.  We’ll show their pretty faces what for!

Episode 9: Jugs, Thugs & You Say Goodbye, We Say Hello

Tonight, Mike & Katie wonder just how dumb people can be.  Do we really need schooling on how to pour milk?  We say goodbye to two of our favorite restaurants, and hello to two new welcome additions.  Mike takes on the term foodie.  He’s had enough, and he’s not going to take it anymore.  And the second Two Bites In Suburbia Dinner and a Movie series featuring the God of Cookery happens as well.  With the Taste of Chicago finally over, we can finally start assessing the damage.  This is episode 9 of Two Bites in Suburbia.

Links

Sam’s Club introduces new milk jug. Masala Yangu Cilantro Mexican Grill

Mediterranean Oasis Mart Houlihan’s

Naperville Sun Article

Two Bites in Suburbia Movie Series: God of Cookery

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Masala Yangu in Naperville Closes. People in Naperville Ask, “Who?”

**Update** I just discovered this article that says they’re also hoping to reopen their restaurant in the Chicago metro area.

What is this, “Crush Mike and Katie Day”?  I mean seriously.  First we find out that Cilantro Grill has been transformed into a Pepe’s, making me wonder if it’s 1988 all over again.  Now, we find out that Masala Yangu in Naperville, the restaurant with the best pigeon pea meal and sweet potato dessert has closed its doors.

This just in from Dish:

“Masala Yangu (43 E. Jefferson Ave.; Naperville), an East African spot that lasted 14 months, has closed. It will operate as a catering company. . . .”

This is a shame, not only because it was some of the best food in the city, but it was also run by some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met.  I’m actually heartbroken and a little upset that such good food and good people had to close their restaurant.

I first heard about Masala Yangu from Dish as well.  We made reservations for the place before they even opened.  I was beyond excited to finally get some cultural flavor in the area.  We were there for the opening weekend, and even with the limited menu, there was more than enough to make a vegetarian and his omnivore girlfriend quite happy.

But it was the owners, Rahila and Calvin Young, running the place that really made the difference.  In those 14 months, even if we were only there once every other month, they would remember our names.  I remember dining by myself once, and the wife came up and asked where Katie was, and if she would like some dessert bagged up and brought home to her.

Service like that is hard to come by!  Naperville doesn’t know what they’re losing.  Enjoy Bar Louie, suckers.

Cilantro Grill in Romeoville Under New Management

We met up at Crispy Waffle with a reporter for the Naperville Sun this morning to be part of a feature on local food bloggers.  We were surprised to see that Cilantro Grill is no more.  Instead we have a Pepe’s.  I didn’t even know Pepe’s were still around, much less in Romeoville.

This is some disappointing news for people who were as addicted to their Sweet Potato Fries as we were.  The reporter mentioned she’s going to miss the mole sauce most of all.

Damn you chain restaurants!

K.T. Thai Cuisine Shutters Its Doors

The only Thai place in the Romeoville area has apparently closed up shop.  When and why it happened, I don’t have any word on, but when driving by it today to pick up some pizza at Rosati’s, the store front was dark, all of the decor already moved out with only a couple neon signs left in the windows.

As I wrote several months back, I used to love this independently owned place, but the quality had definitely gone down in the past couple years.  Many said it had to do with the wife earning her realty license, and no longer focusing on the restaurant as much as she once did.  Whether that’s true or not, I can’t say, but the change was definitely there.

Here’s hoping that two of the friendlier restaurant owners I’ve met find luck in whatever they do next.

Episode 6: MRIs, Encased Meats & Margaritos

Twobitme & Katie return from their 2 week hiatus to discuss Hot Doug’s, Red Mango, Genghis Grill, along with a plethora of other edible fun. They also discuss an update on Mike’s health.

The least researched, most opinionated podcast about Chicago and its suburbs returns!

Intro

• National MS Society

Segment 1

• Red Mango
• Berry Chill
• Starfruit

Segment 2

• Genghis Grill

Segment 3

• Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bread Pudding (Just added!)

Segment 4

• Doritos: The Quest
• Mike’s Review

Segment 5

• Hot Doug’s

Outro

• Fritz Pastry
• Nacional 27

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