Ada Street

Elston Industrial District is home to one of the best restaurants in Chicago. It's obscure location is a stark contrast with the irresistible flavors and creations of Chef Zoe Schor. 

Dinner at Ada Street on Saturday night easily made my top 5 nights in Chicago. What a way to begin Chicago Restaurant Week! I have to admit, when I arrived at the random alley in the middle of an industrial wasteland I was a bit worried. I had to check my map multiple times to make sure I remembered the address correctly. Once I opened the black door, however, I was transported to an elegant, hip and intimate paradise. 

Definitely worth the one hour wait... Which is completely understandable because it was the first Saturday night of Restaurant Week. 

When we were finally seated, the hostess guided us to our place at the chef's table. Not kidding when I report that I almost fainted when I found out where we would be sitting. Apparently I was glowing. Imagine a child's face on Christmas morning after seeing their favorite present under the tree. The amateur food critic/blogger slowly but surely making her way into the prestigious and exclusive Chicago food & dining world.

Our seats presented us with a first-class view of the preparation and passion that goes into creating a gormet meal. We witnessed first-hand the shrieks of the executive chef to her accompanying chefs. The stress and tension of the kitchen was contagious. I left the restaurant with a greater appreciation for the dedication and hard work that goes into fantastic food masterpieces. 

The ambience of Ada Street was very intimate. Dimmed lighting mixed with dark hues produced a sophisticated feel to a restaurant surrounded on the outside by industrial warehouses. Truly a rose among thorns. 

We ordered selections from the speciality restaurant week menu, featuring dishes all inspired by women as a tribute to the female executive chef. The first course, I sampled Bagna cauda with fresh mozzarella. Combining the soft, fresh mozzarella with the flavors of anchovies and garlic on toasted baguette was genius. We also split a dish of Scrumpets, crispy fried lamb shoulder served with a dipping sauce of minted malt vinegar. Amazing. 

The second course featured Bouillabaisse and roasted pork loin, both recommended by our waiter. The Bouillabaisse consisted of mussels, shrimp and cobia in spicy broth. It was served with a baguette. SO GOOD. The chef even offered to fetch us some extra baguette to consume the last drop of the superb and spicy broth. The roasted pork loin was served with a sauce of smoked carrots and spinach and accompanied by twice-baked fingerling potatoes. The pork loin was roasted to perfection and the flavors of the carrots and spinach meshed perfectly with the tenderness of the meat. 

The third course featured a pound cake topped with mixed citrus, citrus gastrique, cornflake crunch and whipped vanilla cream. You may be asking yourself, cornflake crunch? Yes. The placing of the cornflakes onto the pound cake highlighted the cake's moistness and softness. The fresh grapefruit and citrus topping contributed a tart contrast to the sweetness of the whipped vanilla cream. Simply amazing. 

It was at this point in the meal that the famous head chef Zoe Schor "magically" discovered that I was a budding amateur food blogger. She insisted on sending us an extra dessert and order of fried Brussel sprouts to taste, handed me her business card and invited me to contact her with any flavoring questions I may have. I figured it was socially unacceptable at this point to ask for her autograph..

I left Ada Street on Saturday with a full heart and satisfied stomach. A phenomenal dinner at a truly spectacular restaurant. 

Mary


FIRST COURSE

Bagna cauda with fresh mozzarella (anchovies, garlic, toasted baguette)

Scrumpets (crispy fried lamb shoulder, minted malt vinegar)

SECOND COURSE

Bouillabaisse (mussels, shrimp, cobia, spicy broth)

Roasted pork loin (smoked carrots, spinach, twice-baked fingerling potatoes)

THIRD COURSE

Pound cake (mixed citrus, citrus gastrique, cornflake crunch, whipped vanilla cream)

COMPLIMENTS OF THE CHEF

Fried Brussel Sprouts with lemon aioli

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with ginger snaps & poached pears

Learning How to Swim

This week is a busy week and the only time I have free to workout is in the morning. Try motivating yourself to run in sub-zero temperatures not including windchill at 7 in the morning. Not happening.


Instead, I have taken the opportunity to focus on an area of my fitness that I have been wanting to improve for some time: my swimming ability. 

It's important to note that I do know how to swim. Not well but enough to save my life. I have future aspirations of participating in triathlons after college so I've been wanting to improve my speed in the pool for a while. Until now, I would rather run outside than swim laps. However, the pool is quite appealing now that it's cold and snowy outside, especially in the morning. 

Swimming is exhausting. I managed to get in a good 30 minutes of breast stroke, backstroke and a few feeble attempts at freestyle. I'm dedicated to improving my freestyle and will continue to work on it until my strokes look less like drowning and more like actual swimming. Will keep you updated and in the meantime I will continue swimming in the lane closest to the lifeguard. Not sure how awake the lifeguards are though at 6:45 in the morning..

Have any suggestions for me? Any tips for improving my strokes? Feel free to email me at maryrbittner@gmail.com. I'd appreciate any advice since I am fairly new to swimming. 

Mary

The Pursuit of Chowder

I discovered recently that a friend of mine also has a food blog and writes under the pen name, the Chowder Chaser. Needless to say, a joint expedition was in order.

I gotta be honest, being from the Midwest, I don't actively go out and seek great seafood. I got to taste some quality lobster and fish while I was in Manhattan this summer but I've lived the past 19 years in a land-locked state. In Indiana, the beach is Lake Michigan. I know, it's pathetic. 

The Chowder Chaser is from Vermont and is experienced with the fresh seafood flavors that my Hoosier upbringing deprived me of tasting. His beloved clam chowder was subsequently my coveted corn chowder. 

My friends had given rave reviews about Fish Bar, a DMK restaurant in Lakeview conveniently off the brown line. Their sister restaurant, DMK Burger Bar, had stolen my heart many months ago but this Saturday night would be a new adventure. I was replacing my typical burger with fish, furthering my attempts to consume more seafood and less meat in typical Scandinavian fashion. 

The snowy weather made the promise of delicious clam chowder more savory and appetizing. The interior of the restaurant is unique and welcoming. The bar set-up evoked a romantic and intimate vibe which allowed my friends and I to bond over the scrumptious seafood that we would quickly consume. We ordered a bowl each of their famous clam chowder and opted to split both the oyster po'boy and the Mexican shrimp cocktail. The chowder arrived and we went silent. After a quick photo and discussion over speciality oyster crackers straight from the hometown of the Chowder Chaser himself (he was extremely pleased), we dug in. 

One word: phenomenal. The chowder was slightly spicy, adding a kick to the typical flavors of fresh clam chowder. The ingredients were fresh and combined well with one another. The chowder was neither too hot nor too cold. (Goldilocks & the three bears would've loved it) Overall, a solid option and may have changed my opinion on soup altogether. Previously have never been a big fan of soup but if I were to come here again, I would order the clam chowder in a heartbeat. 

The Mexican shrimp cocktail consisted of  mini shrimp in a vegetable salsa served with tortilla chips. Interesting combination of seafood and spice. The Mexican element presented a completely different approach to shrimp that I would have never come up with. Overall, it was decent but I am hesitant whether I would order again. 

The oyster po'boy was my second favorite. The toasted bun combined with the meaty oyster was fantastic. Topped with a slightly zesty coleslaw, the oyster po'boy was a perfect complement to a bowl of clam chowder. 

For dessert, my friends and I split a slice of their key lime pie which was recommended by our polite and friendly waitress. The lime flavor was crisp and tart, contrasting perfectly with the crispy, sweet taste of the graham cracker crust. A perfect ending to a delicious meal of seafood. 

Fish Bar is definitely another treasure owned and managed by DMK. If you can't decide what to eat, I'd advise a visit to Lakeview and once there you can decide whether you want a hearty and artisanal burger or fresh and flavorful seafood. Either way you can't go wrong!

Happy eating Chicago,
Mary

Famous clam chowder

Mexican Shrimp cocktail

Oyster Po'Boy


My Norwegian Cuisine Experiment

A week of eating like a Norwegian.  A smørrebrød a day for seven days.  This was my last blog challenge and I can now report that I completed my task.

At first, the challenge seemed easy.  Assemble an open-faced sandwich with rye bread, vegetables and either fish or meat.  I forgot to account for the fact that I was choosing from dining hall food, however.

The first day I tried a spin-off of a recipe I had gotten from a cookbook titled, The Nordic Diet.  I topped a toasted piece of marble-rye bread with tomato, hard-boiled egg, onion and cucumber slices.  A little Djon mustard added for taste.  It was good but it was lacking in substance.  Fortunately, I just increased the amount of fruit and vegetable sides eaten in the meal.  I drank a lot of water accompanying the meal.  Overall, not bad.  At the very least it looked pretty legit.



The rest of the week went by and I quickly adapted to the Norwegian cuisine.  I began to become more experimental with different ingredients, including the addition of kale in my absolute favorite recipe of the week. The fish was the hard part of the diet, however, as the dining hall's fish selection is sub-par.  The kosher station did produce very delicious salmon one day which was perfect because Norwegians love their salmon.  Although instead of eating freshly-caught salmon, I was eating salmon without a clue where it was shipped in from.. You can't win everything.

My favorite creation was a piece of toasted marble-rye bread topped with beef brisket and kale sauteed with onions.  It was delicious.  Kale is a fairly new food to me and I am interested in trying more recipes with the leafy, dark green, magical vegetable that is super healthy.



I am happy to report that I love the Norwegian eating habits and plan to include some of my favorite elements into my normal diet. My only regret is that I was unable to purchase brunost (brown goat cheese) for at least one of the recipes.  I absolutely love brunost but it's so hard to find in America without going to a specialty store.  Maybe next time!

Happy eating,
Mary 

YouTube & Eating Like Norwegians

As I was stuck inside by the -11 degree F temperatures in Chicago (with wind chill as low as -25), I knew I would have to be inventive to get a good workout in.

The gym was out of the question.  Apparently the university does not qualify the gym as an "essential" service to students. I would disagree...but anyhow the treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes and in my case, basketball courts, were unavailable.

Time for YouTube to save the day.

I think we often forget how great the Internet is especially in sticky (frigid) situations like this.  In a matter of seconds, I was presented with thousands of hours of Zumba, dance cardio & kickboxing workout routines.  Sure, you have to sift through a couple to exclude the ones with impossible dance moves & body rolls but it's easy to find an instructor or song that you enjoy. You get a great workout, adrenaline rush and laugh (if you look nearly as silly as I look when I'm dancing to Beyonce..).

You just have to think outside the box (or in this case, gym).  Although if the gym remains closed tomorrow, I may have to run stairs in my building..

Here are some of my favorite videos:





FOOD THOUGHT OF THE WEEK:

I was cleaning my room and discovered my great Norwegian cookbook, a gift from my grandparents.  As I flipped through the pages, I saw a couple recipes for smørrebrød.  A smørrebrød is an open faced sandwich, typically on dark rye bread and is the typical eaten for lunch by Norwegians.  Rye bread is high in fiber and vitamins and it fulfills a high portion of your protein consumption in a low-meat diet.  This week, I am opting to have a smørrebrød at least once a day.  Will share with you photos from my creations! The open-faced sandwich is healthier for you and will take a bit to get used to but I'm ready to "eat as the Norwegians do" (minus the fish...I don't really trust the dining hall with fish preparation..).

Mary


Example of a Norwegian smørrebrød with easy to assemble ingredients like lettuce, hard-boiled egg & tomato

2014: "Too Athletic" for 2013

A guy once told me that I'm "too athletic"

At first, I was a little concerned. Then I realized I wasn't too athletic, I was just athletic to the point of where his lazy ass felt inferior. 

Seems fitting enough then to begin 2014 with the longest run of my life to date. 10.3 miles of scenic Monon Trail from Westfield to Broad Ripple. Conviently ending at the Brugge for a late lunch of crepes, frites & salad. 

Beginning in Westfield, I started running south. It was fairly easy to be motivated mentally. 10 miles stood between me and my car, lunch & a ride home. Minus some cramping between miles 2 and 6 (horrible...) everything went well. Saw a lot of people on the Monon (getting a start on their New Year's resolutions). Miles 6-10 were a breeeze (slightly over exaggerating but they were significantly easier than the other miles). My running coaches have always said the last quarter of the run is my strong suit and this run was no different. Finished at the Brugge with a calibrated distance of 10.3 miles and roughly under 8 min pace after allowing for a couple stretching breaks. Treated myself to delicious scrambled egg, tomato, beer-carmelized onion & Swiss cheese crepes at the Brugge. Always delicious food and the perfect soccer-friendly restaurant in Indianapolis. The frites (house speciality) are always spectacular and have a variety of accompanying sauces to choose from.  Overall, a great way to start out 2014! 

Shoutout to my mom who accomplished a running streak from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day!! Her dedication and commitment continues to motivate me. What a beast. 

Mary

Running route!
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