Restaurant review - Smoque, Chicago

Our family went to Smoque the other night after hearing so much hype about this restaurant and its barbeque.  After doing some reading, I was concerned that we will have a huge wait. I called around 5p to do a carryout, but the woman said that the next pick up time was 6:50.  We decided to risk it and go to the restaurant.  We got there around 6:15 and ordered our food by 6:30.  You don't sit at at your table and order, but instead you wait in line then walk up to a counter and order.  You get assigned a table and wait for your number to be called.  We were shocked as to how short the line was, as well as the fact that there was relatively no line the whole time we were there on a Sunday night.

Here is what I shared with our son....a full slab of baby back ribs, mac and cheese (lower tin foil container), corn bread (other tin foil container), coleslaw and I also ordered a "taste" of their St. Louis ribs (top left of picture).  You can see that these ribs all have a heavy dry rub on them.  I wasn't crazy about that gritty crust the rub made, but the flavor of the meat was great.  Heavy smoke flavor - I liked the flavor, but the kids thought it was too much.  The St. Louis ribs were more moist.  The coleslaw was great - vinegar based, which I love.  This review of the mac and cheese came from our son...."Perfect. Crunchy on the outside and creamy inside." Our little foodie....we are so proud of him!

My husband wanted me to make sure to take a picture of his onions.  He was SO happy that when he asked for extra raw onions, they actually gave him a large amount.  Most of the time, when you ask for extra onions, restaurants give a few slices.  Not here and that was a wonderful thing.

Here are their baked beans.  All loved it...you can see that there are vegis in it as well as some meat shredded in it.

Restaurant review - Spunky Dunkers, Buffalo Grove, IL

I don't like doughnuts (I know.....how could I not, you don't know what you're missing...blah, blah blah).  But my family does and when summer school was over, our middle kid asked to go there to get a doughnut to celebrate.  This is my family's new favorite doughnut place - WAY over Dunkin Doughnuts they say.

This one is "like an oreo" and she was smiling the whole time she was eating it. Sounds like a positive review on this doughnut!

Restaurant review - Odd Duck Milwaukee, WI

What a great place.  I searched for top patios combined with food in Milwaukee and this was one that came up.  It is in a somewhat run down area, but inside it is a cute restaurant with this wonderful outdoor area.  Inside it was somewhat loud and hot, but outside it was quiet and cooler.  We waited extra time for an outside table and it was worth it.  We picked out our dishes from their small plate menu.  It is a nice way to order when you just want to hang outside and have a leisurely meal. We ordered one plate at a time. We also ordered a cheese platter and picked 4 different kinds of cheeses.  It was nice to have that at the table for the night to keep nibbling on.  Service was great and it was a  great night!

This is their bloody mary and it was amazing. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I had the last one for the night because they ran out of their mix.  See the egg here.....it is a sweet and sour egg.  I had seen in on the bar menu and wanted to order it.  Now I didn't need to.  It was odd and good (at the Odd Duck, I guess that makes sense!?!?). The texture was different from a regular hard boiled egg - more dense, with a sweet, spicy flavor.  Odd, but so good!!  And the drink came with a beer chaser.

This dish is not on their on line menu because they change their menu often, but was on the restaurant menu.  The waitress recommended this dish as a must have and she was right.  It is fried green tomatoes with a corn relish and (I think) a goat cheese/chipolte dressing.  It was absolutely delicious.....crispy, spicy, creamy, and hits of sweet with the corn.

OMG....this sauce on these ribs was finger lickin' good!!  Sweet, tangy and the ribs were perfectly cooked.  Came cleanly off the bone, but with a slight tug, just like I like them.

This is a goat cheese tarine with asparagus and mushrooms with a balsamic drizzle.  It was served with arugala and pieces of french bread.  This was fine.....but wish we tried something else because this is something we could make at home.

Restaurant review - Mesa Grill Las Vegas

What a great day!!!  First we went out to the Grand Canyon - West rim.  It took us about 3 hours to drive out there.....including 11 miles of a gravel road (ouch!).  But worth every second of discomfort on that road to see this truly awesome and amazing sight.  It really helped us both to put life into perspective.  Looking at this sight, you can't help to let everything go and just focus on the beauty before you. 

There was an option to go out on the Skywalk - a walk that hangs out over the rim and is clear, but it was $30 extra and you can't bring your camera out there, so we didn't opt for that.  My deciding factor was would I regret not going out there....not at all. 

We then met up with our friends and went to see Bill Cosby.  WOW....75 years old.  He was funny and did a great schpeel on Vegas.  "When you ask people why they go to Vegas, they say to have fun. Then ask them if they won, and they say no." Then he gave the audience one of his classic looks.  SOOO funny!

Our dinner was at Mesa Grill at Ceasar's.  Let me tell you - our whole weekend of eating at special restaurants, and this was the best of all places on the strip that we ate - and the most reasonable.  I have to confess, I was a bit skeptical....these "celebrity" chefs don't even step into their restaurants.  But boy did this one deliver.  I am disappointed we don't have one of his restaurants here in Chicago.

 This was a side dish I ordered.  If you read my blog regularly, you know I like tamales.  This was like no other. The menus read - Fresh Corn Tamale with Jalapeno Pesto Butter. A little pac of perfection here.

 This was my massive diet splurge here.....GOAT  CHEESE  “QUESO  FUNDIDO”
Rajas + Blue Corn Tortilla Strips.  I have been being surprised lately to discover I don't detest peppers as much as I thought I did.  In face, the peppers where the star here.

 Look how gooey and yummy this dish was.

 CREMINI MUSHROOM QUESADILLA Fontina, Ricotta, Fried Egg + Salsa Verde.  This was crispy, earthy, fresh, a touch of spicy.  Great combo of flavors.

ROUGH CUT  TUNA “NACHOS ”Mango - Habanero Hot Sauce + Avocado Crema.  Should a fancy name for Tuna Tartare.  But it was melt in your mouth tasty. With a spiciness that didn't kill the flavor - which is hard to do.

Restaurant review - Yama Sushi Las Vegas

We looked for somewhere off the strip to go for our last meal in Las Vegas....and using Yelp, I found Yama Sushi.  It was spot on......all reviews mentioned the excellent service, fun roll names, and great food.  And they had an all-you-can-eat option which is really the only way to go.  It was $20, and if you get 2 rolls, you are just about there, if not over, anyways, so why not go for the ayce?  It is a very small place - so beware.  We went there around noon on Sunday and was able to get right in with a table for two.  People were waiting for seating at larger tables and waiting is outside, so with the heat in Vegas, waiting in not fun.

 I made this picture big so that you can see some of the roll choices with their very Vegas names.

 This was the teryaki beef. The sauce was great - not too sweet which some of these sauces can be.

 This roll is called Wet Dream. It was a baked roll and was SO tasty!! Warm, crunch, sweet, tangy....really amazing!!!  It did take a bit longer to come out due to it being a baked roll.

This roll was the Harry Potter.  It, also, was SO good!  See that light, thin sauce? It is their garlic sauce and is salty, garlicy and vinegary....SOOOO yummy!!  Kicked this roll up to the next level!!

My dinner - Tomato salad and grilled fruit

The whole theme of my dinner with  my friends was fresh, simple and healthy.  Since it was very hot out, I wanted to only grill, or not cook at all.  Below is a tomato salad I made as well as a grilled fruit dessert.

I used tomatoes from my garden.  I kept some tomatoes whole and cut some of them us.  I bought fresh mozzarella balls.  I picked the size that matched the cherry tomatoes.  It is important to keep your sizes of the pieces of your dish similar. I also cut up some basil from my garden.  I drizzled on olive oil, really good balsamic vinegar and some coarsely crushed sea salt.

Here is my grilled fruit dessert.  I grilled fresh nectarines, plums and pineapple.  I just put them on a hot grill (no oil on the fruit) and turned them every 5 minutes or so.  You know they are done when they have nice grill marks as well as softening up.  I made a great sauce to go with the fruit.  I used non-fat greek yogurt, vanilla, agave, cinnamon, a bit of nutmeg, and a hit of rum.  It really capped of this easy, healthy dish.

Restaurant review - Japonais, Las Vegas

Before dinner - we went to the Terry Fator show. What a great show that was.  He is a ventriloquist that had won America's Got Talent a couple of year ago. He was incredible....his talent is undeniable.  He sings, talks and you never see his mouth move...and it is all so clear.  I can't imagine how he does this!  The only negative thing was that in the middle of the show he put down the puppets and spoke about a kid that died of cancer then he sang a song he wrote was a dying kid who wanted to know if there were horses in heaven.  Can he sing? Yes. Can he write music? Maybe.  Was this a good idea to put a song like this in the middle of this fun show? Not at all!

We then went to Japonais. What I don't get it how early the kitchens close here (10pm).  We had to order pretty quickly in order to be able to get food from the kitchen.  Everyone looked at the menu and just threw out dishes to order.  Here are a few of our dishes....I didn't get pictures of everything.  It was a great meal - and I would like to go to Japonais here in Chicago sometime.  And it was also rather affordable for the freshness and creativity of our meal.  About $50 per person.  Not bad at all......

 This was the amuse bouche....raw shrimp with a peppered honey sauce.  It was delicious.

 This is called "The Rock" with waygu beef.  This rock is heated to about 600 degrees, and you put the thin slices of beef onto the rock to cook it.  It only takes seconds on each side.  It just melts in your mouth.

 This dish is sweet shrimp and diver scallop.  It was simply delicious....simplicity at its best.

 Here is soft shell crab rolls.  The crab was crunchy and tender.

 This is koby beef carpaccio.  It had yuzu and dark soy sauce on it.  This was a very delicate dish.  The pieces tore to pieces with one touch.  Tasty and fresh.