Entries Tagged as 'Television'

Mercat a la Planxa

May 26th, 2010 · 4 Comments

Last week Erin and Cinnamon and I met up for dinner at Mercat a la Planxa, Chicago’s only Catalan restaurant, on South Michigan Avenue. I was up on North Michigan between work and dinner and I thought “oh, I’ll just walk down for dinner.” Right. That’s a long walk from Chicago Avenue. I ended up arriving wet from the rain, blistered from my shoes, hot, late, and frazzled. Erin and Cinnamon were having drinks in the bar and I joined them for one before we headed up for dinner. Nothing like booze to calm the nerves.

I took this photo of the bar. When I pulled out my camera to take the photo, Cinnamon and Erin both gasped, “a point and shoot!?!??!” Yes, I got a new point and shoot a while back.

Mercat a la Planxa’s bar is on the first floor, street level. The dining room is one floor up. I didn’t realize beforehand that the restaurant is located in the Blackstone Hotel. The interior is really beautiful. Warm colors. Modern touches. I thought it was cool how the kitchen is wide open, making it almost part of the decor, a show of the process.

Chef Jose Garces is the the owner of Mercat a la Planxa. I’d heard of him from the Food Network, where he won the Next Iron Chef challenge. Think what you like about the Food Network and it’s challenges, but Chef Garces also won the James Beard Award for best mid-atlantic chef.

Our waitress that night was a firecracker. And really good at her job. Funny, but not trying too hard. Friendly. And she knew her stuff too. She mentioned to us that Chef Jose Garces was in the kitchen. I commented that I was suprised, since he owns 6 restaurants in Philadelphia and only one in Chicago. Our waitress said Chef is in Chicago a lot and told us that he’s from Chicago and attended Lane Tech and Kendall College.

For dinner we decided to split 6 small plates and a pitcher of the seasonal sangria. We were first served tomato bread, which was so light and fresh and delicious. Next up we got the chef’s selection of 3 cheeses. Each of these cheese were served with a special side. The goat cheese was paired with a garlic dulce de leche. The sheep cheese with a orange marmalade. The cow’s milk cheese came with a pistachio truffle side. So good. The pairings were right on and just as delicious as the cheese itself.

Next we had some delicious croquetas of potato and cheese with some jamon (ham) inside. We also had pimentos de padron, flash fried padron peppers with salbitxada and sea salt. The croquetas were very rich and salty, but in small little pops, were so good. Cinnamon had a dish similar to the peppers somewhere in New York and ordered them to compare. She said the ones at Mercat were better than the ones she had in NY.

We were loving this food so far. So it was no surprise, after eating this deliciousness, pondering over how local the Chef is and how much he’s accomplished, we were forming little foodie crushes. We looked up and Chef Garces was standing next to our table talking to a few people. Someone at our table may have made some saucy gestures behind Chef’s back and been really embarassed when our sassy waitress called her out. May have happened. Or may have just been a sangria daydream.. but it would be quite a coincidence then when we saw the waitress talk to Chef and then when he came over to our table to introduce himself. Blush blush blush!

Ahem. Back to the food….

It was coming out fast and furious at this point. We had the pinones con boquerones, which was a flatbread with white anchovies, pancetta, goat cheese and marinated pine nuts. We also had some slow-cooked pork belly with cider glaze, green apples and truffle. There was also a dish with mussels. All very very good.

For dessert we had croquetes de xocolata – milk chocolate croquettes with banana marshmallow, rosemary caramel and arbequina olive oil. OMG. These were so good. There were six little croquetes and I remember sitting and talking a bit before eating my first when Erin interrupted me and yelled to just eat it already because she had eaten hers and it was THAT good. Cinnamon was making a face while she ate hers. I couldn’t tell if it was pain or pleasure. Turned out that’s just how good they were. Make sure you get this dessert if you visit Mercat.

The food at Mercat a la Planxa was really well done. Great dinner. And not too expensive. We were stuffed at the end and including the drinks, the bill was about $45/person. So, a nice dinner, but not going to kill you when you get the bill. More importantly, I had a great time catching up with two of my favorite ladies, Erin & Cinnamon.

[Read more →]

Tags:··············

Lost Party

May 24th, 2010 · 3 Comments

On Sunday night we had several Lost fanatic friends over for hours of Lost fun. Starting at 6 p.m. there was a recap show and then from 8 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. was the series finale. For fun I put some Dharma Inititative labels on some beer in our fridge. I also printed out some Lost Bingo cards and a Lost drinking game sheet. We didn’t actually play Bingo or do the drinking game, but they were fun to read and consult during the show.

I’ve been reading online about people not really getting the finale or getting it but really hating it. I think I’m fine with the outcome. It’s not really where I thought the show was going 6 years ago when we started watching, but I’m ok with it. I think I like it more as it sits with me. I am sad though, that it’s over. I moved to Chicago 6 years ago. I’ve been dating Dallas for 6 years. We’ve watched this show together for 6 years. And now it’s over. Also, for the last 2 years we’ve always had people over to the house to watch Lost every week. Now that standing date is off.

Also, Paul Baker and Kate came to our house newly engaged. Like only hours engaged. Congratulations again, guys!

And if you are interested, this is probably one of the best Lost series finale recaps I’ve read.

[Read more →]

Tags:··········

Dancing With the (Golf) Stars

April 18th, 2010 · No Comments

Does this show really exist?!

[Read more →]

Tags:·

Lost Final Season Premiere

February 3rd, 2010 · 2 Comments

Last night was the season premiere of the final season of Lost. This show has been on for almost as long as Dallas and I have known each other and we have always made it a priority to watch it together. We’re excited for the final season to finally pull things together and reveal some secrets, but I’m kind of sad that it’s ending!

[Read more →]

Tags:····

Worldwide Plaza: My Waymarker

November 21st, 2009 · 1 Comment

When I lived in Hell’s Kitchen I lived pretty much right across the street from Worldwide Plaza. Maybe not right across the street, but when I looked out my bedroom window Worldwide Plaza is what I saw. Because the building is distinctive, with a blue copper pyramid on the top, and because it meant “home” to me for so long when I’d just moved to New York and was still trying to figure out the lay of the land and orient myself, this building has become my wayfinder. It’s only 49 stories tall, so not the tallest of buildings, but has helped me out many times when I was in Midtown and unsure of which way to go.

Last week while I was in New York for the Web 2.0 Expo, I could see Worldwide Plaza from many of the places I was walking. One day we had a long lunch break and it was warm and sunny outside so I decided to follow it “home” to my old neighborhood for lunch.

worldwide_plaza.

After my corporate housing ran out, Hell’s Kitchen was my first New York neighborhood. When I lived there I was just learning so many things and going through such a trasition. This neighborhood always brings back a rush of emotions for me. It’s where I learned about living with a Craigslist roommate, how to orient myself in Midtown, what it’s like to have super who doesn’t care if both your heat and hot water don’t work at the end of November, how to eat and drink in public places by yourself, how to go a long holiday weekend without seeing one person you know (not counting the deli guy), how to eat 100 different cuisines without leaving the street I lived on. It was hard. But it was also exhilarating. Every day, every second was something new and I was constantly on the go. Just walking. Just looking.

A lot of things in the neighborhood have changed, but many have not. There’s still The Delta Grill, where I took my parents when they visited. Still Westside Sushi, the restaurant I lived above and never went to. I preferred the fast and casual Go Sushi. Zanzibar was a place I really liked to go to at night. Loungy, but later did have a lot of dance music. Great chocolate martinis. Maybe my first chocolate martini. I remember drinking one with Kelly. And I remember Match.com dates here and I remember losing my voice when I was really sick but still went out with all the girls. We were screaming over the music to talk. And the Amish Market. I was obsessed with the Amish Market. I have no idea why it’s called the Amish Market, since it’s an international gourmet supermarket, but I loved it. I couldn’t afford it, but I loved to look. And maybe buy just one thing at a time to try.

I was happy to see this was still outside of Rudy’s:

rudys_pig

I find it hysterical that they’re officially called Rudy’s Bar and Grill since the only food item I remember them having is a hotdog that had been rotating on the warmer for what seemed like years and they were free. Maybe back when they opened (in the 30′s) they had more of a food menu, hence the “Grill.”

In the photo below, my bedroom window is the one in the red building, farthest to the right and on the second floor. Right above the sushi restaurant. My window had no screen, but I kept it open a lot and would sit and watch the world go by. 7 Brothers Famous Deli was MY deli. True story: When my parents first visited me in NY I introduced my dad to my deli guy, the most important man in my life at the time.

hells_kitchen_apartment

Across the street from my old apartment is The Coffee Pot. I used to sit and sit there and read and pass time. It was like on Friends, I thought. I remember a cute guy who worked there. He told me he was from Trinidad and Tobago. I had no idea what that was, but I think I liked it.

the_coffee_pot

Finally, my destination. Go Sushi for lunch to take back to the conference center and eat before keynotes started.

go_sushi

It made me happy that all of these places were still around. I had fun walking down this memory lane, literally.. they are all on 9th Avenue. It made me miss it so much, at the same time knowing I’ll probably never move back. It’s nice know I’ll always enjoy every trip I take anyway.

[Read more →]

Tags:··············