Entries Tagged as 'plantain'

Irazu Costa Rican Restaurant

March 11th, 2009 · 6 Comments

I’ve wanted to try Irazu Costa Rican Restaurant for quite some time. The need became more urgent now that it is only one train stop or a quick bus ride away from where I live. Last month Erin and Cinnamon and I were talking about where to go to dinner and I suggested Irazu. They were both down, so we scheduled it.

The funny thing is, when I told Dallas where we were going to go for dinner he looked at their menu and their site online and saw that they deliver to our house. That very night we ordered a few things to try the restaurant out. We got:

  • Patacones (aka Tostones con Mojo) Double fried green plantains covered with roasted garlic oil with pureed black beans
  • Pepito Sandwich Rib eye steak, sauteed onions, cheese, pinto beans & Lizano sauce
  • Costa Rican Sandwich Thinly sliced beef on french bread served with cheese,lettuce, tomato,mayo, mustard & Lizano sauce
  • Onioned Steak Thin rib eye sauteed with TONS of onions served with yellow rice, pinto beans,fried green plantains (tostones) & cabbage salad

I loooved the pepito sandwich, but didn’t really like the Costa Rican sandwich at all. It was ok, but nothing extraordinary. Dallas liked the onioned steak. I liked the fried plantains with the garlic and beans. They’re not Dallas’ favorite preparation of plantains, he found them to be too dry.

Ok. So fast forward a few weeks. Erin and Cinnamon and I went to Irazu. Cinnamon suggested the avena shake (oatmeal shake) so we all got it. It was delicious. Light. I thought it was going to be some thick oatmeal sludge, but it wasn’t at all. I ordered the pepito sandwich again. This time with avocado on it too. Delicious. Loved it as much as the first time. AND the sandwich is only $4.95.

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Avena (Oatmeal) Shake, Irazu, Bucktown, Chicago

pepito_sandwich
Pepito Sandwich, Irazu, Bucktown, Chicago

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Cinco de Mayo @ Adobo Grill

June 22nd, 2007 · 3 Comments

Adobo Grill
Adobo Grill, Wicker Park, Chicago

Adobo Grill Steak
Filete Toreado: Grilled beef tenderloin topped with goat cheese stuffed jalapeño, oven-roasted potato cake and Adobo tres chiles salsa

Adobo Grill Dessert
Mexican “Banana split” crispy plantains with Abuelita chocolate, coconut and strawberry ice creams; cajeta, chocolate sauce, roasted pecans and plantain chips (for two)

Cinco de Mayo is also our anniversary, so we always go out and most of the time try to go to a Mexican restaurant. This year we went to Adobo Grill in Wicker Park. Last year we went out for sushi, I think, and the year before we went to Topolobampo. I just came across these photos I never published so I thought I’d post them.

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Dinner @ Cafe 28

August 28th, 2005 · 1 Comment

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Pistachio-Crusted Chicken, Cafe 28, North Center, Chicago

I’d only been to Cafe 28 for brunch so last night we tried it out for dinner. The brunch there is really great, but we kept hearing that the dinner was just as good. We weren’t disappointed. It was awesome. I had pistachio-crusted chicken with sauteed swiss char, asparagus and garlic mash. And a side of maduro (sweet plantains), always!

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Experiments in Fruit Grilling

July 7th, 2004 · 12 Comments

Grilling avocados, peaches, and plantains
Grilling avocados, peaches, and plantains

Haute Grilled Avocado & Grilled Peach with balsamic & blue cheese
Haute Grilled Avocado & Grilled Peach with balsamic & blue cheese

Tonight I actually got some motivation and put together the grill I bought a few weeks ago. I decided I wanted to grill some fruit so I looked up some recipes and instructions. The Grilled Peaches with balsamic and blue cheese were tasty. A good combination of sweet and bitter and spicy. I think I needed to put a bit more cheese on them. I liked the Haute Grilled Avocados the best. You can see the Grilled Plantains with Spicy Brown Sugar Glaze are missing. That’s because no matter how long I left them on the grill they never reached the soft, darkly-carmelized state described in the recipe. Any suggestions? I think they may not have been ripe enough.
BTW, you can’t get plantains in the downtown, State St. Jewel, but the one in Wicker Park, which is surrounded by a large hispanic population, has a ton of them. Not that Jewel is the best place to be buying produce.. just saying..

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