Good Eats from November

Haven't been able to update for a while! Things were very hectic. Sampled a few restaurants this week (and now have to go on a strict diet for the next week) since my mom was in town from California.

The first place we went earlier this week was Tre Kronor restaurant, by Foster and Kedzie. Very delicious selection of Swedish favorites including picked herring with sour cream, which I enjoyed as an appetizer. The butternut squash soup was a bit under-seasoned but very hearty and fresh. The beets in the roasted beets salad were rather bland and lacked the crunch and sweetness I was looking for. However, the roasted pork loin with plums was superbly tender and deserves high praise. Very cute little restaurant that's supposedly packed on weekends with people waiting for their swedish pancakes and lingonberry jam. Will have to sample this myself next time.

I was still repenting for all the semi-healthy Swedish fare when my sister insisted that we go to Avec, a trendy and upscale comfort food restaurant in the Fulton Market district. Sounds kind of oxymoronic to have fancy comfort food, but there were definitely a lot of satisfying selections such as the braised pork shoulders with peanuts and mussels. My favorite was the chorizo stuffed dates smothered in spicy tomato sauce and then paired with the cheese filled foccacia bread. The housemade fennel and pork sausage was heavenly, however, the pan roasted mackeral with garbanzo beans lacked flavor and tasted dry.

On the 3rd day we went to Papa's Cache Sabroso in Humboldt Park for some delicious jibaritos, which are cuban sandwiches that use fried plaintains as bread. Add some steak, cheese, mayo and lettus in the center, and you get a damn good sandwich worth the drive. The roasted chickens weren't particularly flavorful, so I'd skip them and go for the sandwiches instead. Also, they have the best flan I've ever had: rich and creamy without being hard or lumpy like other flans I've had.

I will be dieting for the next few days and will post some healthy recipes as repentence...