Posts Tagged ‘summar ghias’
Grahamwich in River North, Chicago
By Summar Ghias
A meal at Grahamwich
When the gourmet sandwich shop Grahamwich opened last year, buzz abound. Celeb chef Graham Elliot’s judge spot on the Fox show Masterchef and recent stint as Lollapalooza culinary curator had Chicago foodies chomping at the bit. Reviews on his new establishment, however, were conflicting; Time Out Chicago (my usual go-to magazine) was less than impressed. Having heard from my gourmand older brother that it was worth a try, I figured it time to go see for myself.
Housed in Chicago landmark, Tree Studios, a former artist colony established in 1894, Elliot has set out to ‘redefine what a sandwich shop should and could be’. While I’m not quite sure it does all that, it’s definitely a good alternative to Potbelly and Quiznos if you’re ever in the mood for fancy.
Grahamwich tuna sandwich
Punk Rock brekkie: Bleeding Heart Bakery & Cafe in Chicago
By Summar Ghias
Brunch may just be my favorite pastime. But brunch well past standard brunch timings at a 24-hour café essentially morphs me into a kid in a candy store. You can only imagine my excitement at hearing about the new Bleeding Heart Bakery & Café, a welcome bright spot in Chicago’s otherwise dismal late-night dining scene. The restaurant has an edgy diner vibe with vivid tattoo inspired art on the walls and what the owners dub a “local sustainable punk rock brunch” all day, every day.
After road-tripping to Indiana for a concert (yeah, Lupe!), some friends and I were in need of grub. Not just any kind of grub though. Once we’d confirmed that the food was delicious (because really, the host would have told us if it wasn’t), we set out to order from the brunch menu and eye the well-endowed glass counter from afar in all its munchkin and mini-cake mound glory. After oscillating between sweet and savory, I settled on a wild mushroom polenta eggs benedict with roasted red peppers and what seemed like an exotic twist on the standard condiment: persimmon hollandaise. My friends got the farmer’s veggie skillet, the seasonal fruit pancakes and, wait for it, the fried vanilla bean yeast doughnut breakfast sandwich with eggs and cheese.
My disappointing but tasty looking Wild Mushroom Polenta Benedict.
Lula Cafe in Chicago
By Summar Ghias
Lula Café is in Logan Square so it’s no wonder that the menu consists of an array of seasonal and organic ingredients or that the restaurant’s got a seriously ‘dare I say hipster?’ vibe rivaling many a New York brunch spot. But, even better than my nostalgia-filled content with the surroundings was the food; the chef couples interesting sweet and savory flavors from gruyere cheese and pear to rabbit, black truffle and brie.
My winter vegetable enchilada with black beans, queso fresco, spiced rice, poblano crema, and a 60 minute egg.
I got the winter vegetable enchiladas with black beans, queso fresco, spiced rice, poblano cream and a perfectly poached egg. My friends got one sweet and one savory dish to share: the strada, a brioche bread sliced pie-like dish with roasted candy onions, cauliflower, gruyere, pear and thyme and the brioche French toast, a flavor-packed combo of French toast stuffed with vanilla cream cheese and topped with orange curd, pear raisin compote, and pecan shortbread crumble.
The strada, with roasted candy onions, cauliflower, gruyere, pear, and thyme. This was great hot, but unanimously less tasty when it got colder.
The vanilla cream cheese stuffed brioche french toast with orange curd, pear raisin compote, and pecan shortbread crumble. YUM.
The Meatloaf Bakery – Lincoln Park, Chicago
By Summar Ghias
The Meatloaf Bakery
Savory cupcakes galore inside the counter. A No Buns About It Burger loaf, anyone?
Sure, cupcakes are a little played out, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try a new bakery when I see one. Next door to the cozy Noble Tree Café in Lincoln Park, the Meatloaf Bakery just happens to be one gimmick ahead of its standard sweet competitors.
The shop dishes out savory comfort food cupcakes – or in their terms, loaves – in all sorts of down-home flavors. The most bizarre of the bunch: A Wing and A Prayer loaf, made of chicken and celery combined with hot and spicy wing sauce and blue cheese.
Our savory cupcakes: The Omega-3 loaf and the Chicken Shish Ka loaf with a mint sauce.
Gift Guide: Dots iPhone Gloves
By Summar Ghias
Dots iPhone merino lambswool gloves
Maybe it’s because I seem to be outnumbered amongst my circle of friends (that includes you, Shy!), but these days it feels like it’s an iPhone nation. So to all you iPhoners out there, you may want to stop fumbling to take off your gloves as you text. The brand Dots sells merino lambswool gloves (in coal, clay, brick and bark) for just $20 that boast the thumb, index and middle fingertips capability to operate your iPhone with skin-like responsiveness. And if it saves an entire iPhone generation from getting frostbite, we’d say it’s a holiday gift worth giving.
Orange Contemporary Brunch in Chicago
By Summar Ghias
I’ve been hearing about Orange for a while now from some east coast friends, but had never made it out to the contemporary brunch spot on any visits home these past couple of years. Now that home (i.e. Chicago) is actually my place of residence, it was time to give it a shot.
The citrusy pancakes were bursting with flavors like lavender orange, rosemary blood orange, tarragon lime, and basil grapefruit.
