Chopbiscuit on the road dining review: The Publican - Chicago, IL

You've never had pork rinds like this..

 Welcome to another delightful Chopbiscuit inspection of some of the USA's most frequented saloons, dining halls, dive bars, food trucks and high end bistro's. At least one of your humble contributors is on the road virtually every week and luckily have the opportunity to dine at some of the finest institutions and loathsome watering holes known to man. Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, some deity would permit us to be pirates and savage our nutriment.

I like eating. It fascinates me. I sit and look at the food for hours. I often eat while laying down in my hotel room with a bib in my lap and my outlook calendar open. Eating is my tweeting, except it's much cooler. Food is often made into the celebrity of carnage, which makes us appear to be pompous and scarce in regards to the act of eating itself. You eat because you fuel. I eat because I'm hungry. I eat because it's my job. I go out to these establishments to consume their lineups.

I then judge it.

The Publican
837 W Fulton Market
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 733-9555

I can officially chop this off my restaurant bucket list.  The Publican is a beer-focused restaurant in Chicago that has had both food and draught lovers drooling since it's opening. Executive Chef Paul Kahan and Chef de Cuisine Brian Huston crafted an eclectic menu inspired by simple farmhouse fare in a  European beer hall style dining room. The space was designed by James Beard Award-Winner Thomas Schlesser. The Publican features eclectic, crafted pictures of swine on the wall with a communal sense of hall dining. A partnership between Executive Chef Paul Kahan, Donnie Madia, Terry Alexander and Eduard Seitan, The Publican anchors the hip-chic Fulton Market District.

 The menu features pork and fish/seafood preparations and according to the restaurants website, the menu is best described as  “pristine product, simply prepared,” an approach to food Kahan has brought to all of his kitchens. The Publican heightens the awareness of simple dishes, each dish stripped of the pompous elements most high end dining theatre brings and keeps it simple with only essential ingredients. The menu is presented in easy navigating sections: Fish, Meat and Vegetables, each laid out from lightest to heaviest fare.

What I ingested:

Well, I obviously started out with a nice draught. I ordered the a Alpha King Pale Ale from Three Floyd's brewing company in Indiana. I figured I was going to go hearty that evening with food, so why not match up the beer. It was a decent, hoppy start to the evening. For starters, we dove into the renown pork rinds and a medley of fish, ham and vegetable plates that were simple with big, bold flavors. I was especially impressed with tuscan kale with preserved lemon and rice and beans. For my entree I ordered the steak tatare with grilled flatbread and poached eggs. It had a tender, smooth flavor that went great with the charred flatbread.

For dessert we split three amazing dishes. Lavender ice cream with dark chocolate and candied walnuts, blueberry elafoutis with Chantilly and lemon and a waffle with honey butter and rhubarb confit.

It was a great way to start the National Restaurant Association weekend in Chicago and an amazing experience for any beer or food lover. Definitely some of the most simple and creative food I've had in quite some time.

Chopbiscuit on the road dining review : Grahamwich - Chicago, IL

A full fledged assault on your stomach

Welcome to another delightful Chopbiscuit inspection of some of the USA's most frequented saloons, dining halls and high end bistro's. At least one of your humble contributors is on the road virtually every week and luckily have the opportunity to dine at some of the finest institutions and loathsome watering holes known to man. Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, some deity would permit us to be pirates and savage our nutriment.

I like eating. It fascinates me. I sit and look at the food for hours. I often eat while laying down in my hotel room with a bib in my lap and my outlook calendar open. Eating is my tweeting, except it's much cooler. Food is often made into the celebrity of carnage, which makes us appear to be pompous and scarce in regards to the act of eating itself. You eat because you fuel. I eat because I'm hungry. I eat because it's my job. I go out to these establishments to consume their lineups.

I then judge it.

Grahamwich
615 N State St
Chicago, IL 60654

It was another annual visit to Chicago for the NRA and Menu Masters event and we had the whole gang to parade through the Chicago streets to pillage another eatery. I coursed  everybody downtown to check out celebrity chef Graham Elliot's new sandwich shop, Grahamwich. We arrived with a fairly large group and the shop was booming with some creative, eclectic visuals and the smell of cheesy popcorn. The casual counter-service spot offers sammies both hot and cold (turkey confit with candied yams, stewed cranberries and sage mago, or grilled cheese with Wisconsin cheddar, prosciutto, tomato marmalade and cheese curds), as well as snacks such as pickled seasonal veggies, G'chips, truffled popcorn and house-made sodas. Save room for soft serve ice cream with tasty toppings such roasted apple, salted caramel sauce and pie-crust crumbles. The surroundings  here  are minimal--vintage-inspired wallpaper,chalkboad menu and a long communal table in the back. A soundtrack pumping out rockabilly, surf guitar and old-school punk was a nice backdrop for the food.

Toasted marmalade on a grilled cheese? Hell's yes.

What I injested:

After hitting The Publican the night before, (review coming shortly) I was craving a meatless lunch to hold me over until the night's events. I chose the Grilled Cheese and G'salad. The salad contains mixed greens, shaved fennel, tosted almonds, pink grapefruit and white balsamic. It was a great compliment to the comfort to the grilled cheese. I swished down the housemade Ginger Orange soda followed by the creamy vanilla bean ice cream with nutella, caramelized banana and marshmellow fluff. It was a heavy lunch that called for some one-handed pushups (Jack Palance style) after lunch.

The place was a great spin on the average sandwich shop, although a few in our group had some trouble with the service system and hospitality from the crew working the line. The crew was the hipster, artsy chic elite that often feels they are against the grain by not speaking to you and throwing around Vin Diesal movie lines because of the irony it it. Hipsters have their own way of communicating. They converse using special terms and lingo to show they are in the know. Being up on the latest slang is essential to being a Hipster.So, to basically sum it up - the service was a little sketchy, but it's definitely a must stop the next time you're craving a sandwich in Chi-town.

Chopbiscuit on the road dining review - Workin' NYC

Editors note: Sorry for the lack of sophomoric banter on here lately. Sometimes work and life just get in the way of bogging, ya dig.

A Yankee game and a lollipop tree?

 I was able to make it down to the Big Apple this weekend, thanks to my birthday present from my wife, Red Sox - Yankees tickets. Outside the world of food, I'm a bit of a sports fan and a huge Yankees fan. Unfortunately the Bombers lost miserably and my wife had a bit of a smirk the whole time. She is a Red Sox fan, so thank god for other commonalities we have!

We rode the train in on Saturday morning and decided to hit David Burke Townhouse for brunch. David Burke Townhouse is the flagship restaurant of the celebrated chef  and has been serving interestingly pieced Modern American Cuisine in an elegantly refurbished Upper East Side space since 2003. According to the website, The restaurant's design is inspired by the bold colors and lacquered surfaces on the 1930's, yet it has decidedly contemporary aesthetic. Upon entering David Burke Townhouse, guests will feel the glamour and sense of fun in the lounge with its sleek white gloss, stone bar and whimsical art installations. The volume of color and drama is turned up for the main event, the dining room, where a striking color palette of chocolate, vanilla and lipstick colors prevails. 

It's been a place I've always wanted to visit, so Katie was nice enough to spend the afternoon diving into his culinary circus. 

What I absorbed:

We both went the with three course Prixe Fixe since we were pretty hungry from the train ride in. I ordered the Burata Mozzarella, Hanger steak and world famous cheesecake lollipop tree. (That felt weird typing as a straight man) All three items were decent and had great taste. The cheesecake lollipop tree was more theatre than appealing to my hungry stomach. When the waiter brings it out, you feel as if a Ruby Tuesday waitstaff has just wished you a happy birthday during a lonely trip to Lockport, NY on a cool winter's eve. Extremely inappropriate and campy. One item that did "punch me in the face" with flavor was Katie's pretzel crusted crabcake with tomato orange chutney and poppyseed honey. It was freakin' insanely delicious. Since it was brunch, of course I had a spicy bloody mary to wash down the food shenanigans. Meh, it was ok but I would rather have ordered an $8.00 strawberry mint iced tea that Katie drank. 


All in all, it was a decent experience even if the "Eastern Block" waiter may have said two complete words to us. The service pretty much blew - sorry Sergey Israntoicvah or whatever your name was. It's ok to say hello to your guests. Best experience of the restaurant - free Peanut Butter peanut brittle on the way out. Dinner that evening we hit up Yankee stadium and were encompassed with $10 watered down draft beer and shitty burgers and limp fries from the poor man's Johnny Rockets. $100 dollars later your full, sans a buzz and angry that the Red Sox crushed the Yanks. Boo.

What type of financing do you offer for a 20 oz.?

The next morning we considered hitting the world famous Balthazar, but a one hour wait and pregnant wife nixed that, quickly. We ended up eating at a little breakfast nook in Soho called Le Petite Cafe. It was warm, simple and quick. That's basically it. During our morning walk we hit one of my favorite coffee joints, Gimme coffee. They have a few locations now in NYC, so it's nice to have a little piece of Ithaca, NY in the Big Apple. For lunch we decided to hit up the Shake Shack, but before that we hit up Eataly. If you've never been and you love food - put it on your bucket list. This may be one of the best food retail experiences I've ever seen. Picture a Whole Foods Market on steroids with a design approach of an Apple store. Simply an amazing experience and one I will make sure I dive into in the near future. We bought some bread for our train ride home and took in the sights, smells and sounds of a world class food experience. 

"We cook what we sell and we sell what we cook"

Like I stated previously we ended up at the Shake Shack at Madison Park with of course, a burger and a shake. I chose the Peanut Butter shake which was insanely Peanut Butt-ery. In the world of burgers right now, In and Out is still my favorite, but Shake Shack puts out a pretty good beef patty.  As always, a trip to NYC is a great food experience and I can mark this one as one of my favorites.

Chopbiscuit on the road dining review: Z' Tejas Grill - Tempe, AZ

Leo's Street Tacos from Z Tejas

Welcome to another delightful Chopbiscuit inspection of some of the USA's most frequented saloons, dining halls and high end bistro's. At least one of your humble contributors is on the road virtually every week and luckily have the opportunity to dine at some of the finest institutions and loathsome watering holes known to man. Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, some deity would permit us to be pirates and savage our nutriment.

I like eating. It fascinates me. I sit and look at the food for hours. I often eat while laying down in my hotel room with a bib in my lap and my outlook calendar open. Eating is my tweeting, except it's much cooler and hip. Food is often made into the celebrity of carnage, which makes us appear to be pompous and scarce in regards to the act of eating itself. You eat because you fuel. I eat because I'm hungry. I eat because it's my job. I go out to these establishments to consume their lineups.

I then judge it.

Z' Tejas Grille
20 W. 6th Street
Tempe, AZ 85281

After a long trip out to Arizona from New York, the crew was a bit tired and dreary of travel. Unfortunately I didn't have the zest to put much effort into theorizing a nice review for you here. Z' Tejas Grille is a Mexican taqueria concept located right off the popular Mill avenue in the heart of Tempe, AZ. Home of the Arizona St. Sundevils. 

I obviously started off with their house margarita and some fresh chips and a medley of dips. I would have assumed that the guacamole was made fresh, but by the texture I don't believe it was. (Don't hold me to that, I was a bit jet lagged) The concept had the big-overpowering concept feel of the late 90's where everything in the space went "huge". Meh.

For my entree, I kept it light and ordered off the appetizer menu. I ordered the Leo's Street tacos. Seared beef tenderloin, chopped cucumbers, topped with avocado and cotija cheese and then drizzled with a chipotle cream sauce. They were filling and had decent flavor. A good option that has some good flavor pop and you don't want to eat too much. Like I said - we were tired, groggy, and not "feelin'" the moment.

A nice grilled cheese and tomato soup at home with a Yankees win would have suited me fine this evening.

Chopbiscuit on the road dining review: Sportello - Boston, MA

The Diner Style Elites

My travels this week brought me to Boston. As a Yankees fan, this is considered enemy territory - but duty (work) calls. I met some of my co-workers at Sportello, located in Boston's Fort Point neighborhood. Sportello is actually the term for counter service in Italian.  The restaurant offers a menu of Chef Barbara Lynch's trattoria-inspired Italian dishes for both lunch and dinner. You can either grab a seat at the counter and enjoy a bowl of handmade pasta or sit with friends at a table and enjoy a glass of wine from the creative artisanal wine list. Sportello also offers freshly baked breads, pastries and coffee from the bakery counter, along with a selection of prepared dishes and pantry (retail) items.

My group sat at a table, for conversing purposes and ordered off the evenings dinner menu. I started out with Gorgonzola fonduta which was prepared with fresh salumi, dates and roasted vegetables. Truly, an evening style comfort food. For my main course I enjoyed the tender Pork Osso Buco. This entree was prepared with white beans, artichoke mustardo and jus. Of course, I enjoyed a glass of the dry Sportello Cabernet, which was a great compliment to the cheese heavy starter. * Geez, I sound like a pompous-ass food writer.

Sportello is a great little comforting spot located right above one of Boston's newest raves, Drink. Drink is also owned by Sportello owner Barbara Lynch. If you haven't been, it's a must stop on your next trip. Just wear your drinking shoes.

Overall, Sportello  gave me a feel of a "chic diner" for the 20-30 something crowed. Nice "Big" White tones created the sense of the counter service aura, but with the luxury of a high-end Bistro. Great food, great service and a nice wine list. You can't complain about that.