Well shoot, Deschutes

I’m going to get this right out of the way. Timothy O’Tooles is not a good food restaurant. It is a “get out of work and hang out with friends who don’t care about food” type of place. The food I had there was so mediocre and middle of the road I had to liberally apply salt and pepper to my “Michigan Avenue” salad to give it some modicum of flavor. The salad comprised of grilled chicken, goat cheese, avocado, craisins, corn, toasted almonds, tomato, croutons & citrus vinaigrette should have been a shoo-in, so somehow making that taste like nothing makes your restaurant extra special. The pretzel bites themselves were fine, but the dipping sauce was so runny, it barely clung to the pretzel. 

But people don’t go here for the food. It’s a sports bar plain and simple. Hell, their logo is a bald dude passed out on the bar. I don’t think people care their salad is flavorless as long as the drink specials are indeed special and hopefully cheap.

I wasn’t here for the food anyways. Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery was having a “We’re finally in Chicago!” party, and I’m always game for trying new beer. I called up my friend Jeremy and we headed down to Streeterville to try some beer and get our complimentary Dechutes pint glass (it’s pretty nice).

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m not good at reviewing the fine points of beer. I just know if something tastes good to me. I was not equipped with the taste buds to appreciate the subtle oaky notes, or fruit forward direction of a beer. So, this is less a review of the beer and more a “I’d drink that again.”

The biggest surprise of the evening for me was their Black Butte Porter. Porters are usually beyond my comfort zone when it comes to beer. Decidedly strong, dark and bitter I tend to avoid them. Yet this porter was surprisingly smooth and while still strong and dark, the bitter bite was missing. Of the porters I’ve had, and that’s not many, this was probably my favorite, just because it wins by being the least like a porter. 

Sweetest two words in the human language, “Forfeit.”

I did enjoy their Mirror Pond Pale Ale quite a bit, a “hop-forward” beer according to the press release and website. It was probably the cleanest pour (LOOK I’M USING LINGO!) of the evening, as evidenced by the two pints I had.

I’m not a huge fan of IPA’s, but the Chainbreaker White IPA wasn’t cringeworthy. I’m guessing it’s because it tasted like a mix of a Belgian white and a regular IPA. It’s not something I would order, but the free sample was nice.

The street team member was hilarious, and I started referring to her as our new best friend. I don’t know if people weren’t biting on trying new and different beer, but she was INCREDIBLY excited that we were there purely to try their wares. We even got a sweet Deschutes bottle opener keychain out of the deal. You can’t go wrong with free. Plus now, if a party breaks out in the middle of the street or a CTA car I’m all set. I will be there to pop those bottles if popping bottles is something that needs to be done.

What did I learn from this experience? Not all porters are terrible. Street team members for breweries are incredibly friendly and probably drunk. Free stuff is fun.

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.

Episode 8: Gods, Peanut Butter & Bagels

The most opinionated, least researched show about Chicago, her suburbs, and her culture.

This week, can Mike & Katie convince themselves that anything involving the words peanut butter and cream cheese is healthy? Could it be true? Did out mothers like Gale Gand’s delicious Tru edibles? We announce the next film in the Two Bites In Suburbia Dinner Series. All this, and get your breakfast bagel fix in easy to swallow cracker form! This is episode 8 of Two Bites in Suburbia, and the future is now!

Links

• Two Bites in Suburbia Movie Series: God of Cookery

• Bacon, Egg & Cheese Combos

• Tru

• Mother’s Day @ Tru

• Peanut Butter Cookie Pie

E-mail us: twobitesinsuburbia@gmail.com

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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!