Chicago......what an adventure

[shroomgirl]

Well, as you may have noticed I've not been posting in the last week or so...2 trips to Chicago in a 10 day span....

The first visit I stayed for a day and ate at the Ritz Dining room....menu under the Ritz.

This past weekend I ate at Blackbirds, Printer's Row, Prairie, Sammys (yup really)
The James Beard cocktail party, Thyme,Inas, The Drake dining room and of course the venders at the Fancy food show.
Chicago has amazing restaurants. I trully enjoyed the hand cut fries at a dive near the el train library....good dog, great fries....I didn't look to close for their health inspection...sure it wasn't an A or B.

[Isa]

Shromgir

Please tell us more about the food you ate. I sure enjoyed the description of your lunch...

[shroomgirl]

Prarie....butternut soup with dried apple
lamb chops...not exciting at all

Printers Row was a Wisconsin cheese reception. Got to meet Michael Foley for 5 minutes...interesting food...halved heads of radicchio grilled, cheeses of course, meats, some endive that looked braised...

Drake breakfast with blueberry pancakes with syrup (ok)
Tea...scone with raspberry jam, whipped cream, asp ham roll sandwich, cornbeef on rye (finger san), cucumber,tarts, eclair, banana bread....OK I'd go to the Ritz or Seasons next time.

Blackbird lunch is under blackbird thread
Ritz dinner under Ritz thread
Inas under Blatant thread
Sammy's above (I can't believe I ate there, but even more that it was good.)

Thyme..I had sweetbreads with mashed potatoes and haricot verte...interesting proportions for an apt...could have been an entree..
Duck breast with blueberry/asp risotto (nice)

John Babula,did rabbit and leeks over a soft polenta for the Beard event.
Marche had oreo foie cookies...unsweetened choc cookies with a foie mousse as the filling...I ate it, it was unusual
Bread pudding with caramelized bananas won over several at the table.
Pork dumpling field salad with a soy dressing from Red Light was good
Gumbo (chicken and andouille) was Great from Heaven on Seven...boy was I a skeptic, but it was really great.
Rice pudding with marsala dried cherries was good
Blackbird did tortilla chip with guacamole and a slice of salmon...great! simple and great...
A few others made unweildy things.. to big to eat in a bit or two....
Raviloi with 4 cheese pan crisped with marsala sauce was ok
duck confit with asp in fillo got raves..I thought was good
Cab franc was good.

Fancy food show...Hawaiian fruit butter that's kosher was wonderful. I found a good importer of French goodies.
Met a poultry farmer from near Ithica NY got to talk a couple of times. I'm connecting him with Moosewood CC chapter and Cornell...turning them on to the different things we're doing here.

Saw alot of teas, alot of popcorn
Ate a phenominal white choc popcorn from Wisconsin...this shtuff was sooooo gooood.
Trotter's go food menu, I like their fudge sauce. Didn't get to the store...
Hmmmm what else....found packaging for the farmers, looked at baskets
One of my farmers was at the market selling apple chili jams. Another was trying to decide whether to rent a booth for her dried mushrooms. Oh yeah crisped barley Kernels...pretty interesting.
Many jumping on natural / organic and not being certified...will be interesting because they can be fined in 18 monthes for doing that very thing.
I think jellies will be HOT!!! They are so fine. I never liked the texture but the high end are so flavorful, black currant,mango are wonderful.
My trips to Chicago.

[Isa]

Wow it sounds like your trips were worthwhile. It all sounds so good. Thanks for sharing.

Foie gras with chocolate? It sounds really bizarre. Iknow there is a man in France that does cheese chocolate but foie gras. Foie gras is so good on its own, personally I prefer it with toasts.

Duck with blueberries I wouldn't have thought of it but it sounds good. I'll have to try it.

Chocolate and poppcorn, yummy. Scones, I love them with candied ginger.

I am a bit hungry think I'll go check what's in the kitchen....

[Pete]

Sounds like you had a fun time here in Chicago. Any plans for coming up for NRA? Sounds like all the food was killer, I love Blackbird. As for the hot dog stands, I love them all! Yes, most of them are very scary places, but so are the restaurants up on Argyle St. (new "Chinatown"). I just try to avoid thinking about what the kitchens look like! By the way, there is a great photography exhibit at the watertower on Mich. Ave. It focuses on Chicago's Hot Dog stands. Very cool.

[shroomgirl]

Wish I'd known, I stayed at the Ritz a couple of weekends ago, didn't know of the exhibit.
Yep I'm talking May 20th at the winter pantry in Chicago, it will be a quick trip maybe one day at the most....crazy weekend, not sure how I ended up committing to the trip....but it will be good to see you guys.

[W.DeBord]

Schroomgirl, hope you don't mind?????...I've read many of your posts since I've began visiting this site. I haven't figured out what your job is....now you've really peeked my interest knowing that you're able to visit us (Chicago)on a rather first class tour.

I'm thinking your on some sort of food council or a home economist for a company???

[Mezzaluna]

Loved your report, Shroomgirl! Savored the details.

Duck with blueberries: it's on the menu and absolutely delicious at Harold's, a wonderful establishment in Milwaukee- located in a hotel near the airport, and defying all stereotypes about such places (pedestrian or awful). It's a special occasion place, like Sandy D'Amato's Sanford- also in Milwaukee.

[W.DeBord]

Wow!!!!, thanks for answering...hate to admit I'm not really sure what a couple of your positions are exactly but...if I read your posts long enough I'm sure I'll get it one day.

I would love more recipes with fresh morels...good luck with the book. Have you written others?

[shroomgirl]

W. DeBord~ Wellllll I make my income from personnel cheffing, catering, teaching cooking, consulting (mainly with kosher caterers or novices), co-founded and run a permium farmer's market with 4 different chefs doing shtuff every week (May 12- Oct. 27)I am program chair for a professional food group, founder and chair of chef's collaborative Mo chapter, coordinator of a wild mushroom gourmet group...and I cook for them regularly in the field on burners.
Single mom of three boys 12, 13 and 18
Ummm think that's it, oh yeah I'm also putting together a wild mushroom cookbook in my spare time, and I talk at conferences on sustainable farmer-chef relations.

I don't have a 9-5 or a 80 hour a week indoor job, I'm sure I put in that many hours but it's a combination of different groups and activities, each has it's rush season....

[shroomgirl]

Nope this is my first venture, and writing is not my forte.
Hmmmm I'm not sure which are confusing to you.
Morels huh...well, we can open a thread on them and see what input we get.

[W.DeBord]

Shroomgirl I'm not yet that familar with this site so if you wouldn't mine would you start a tread on cooking fresh morels?

When my spouse and I do come into alot (since theres a limited hunting season) I stuggle to find ways to serve them at home. I can't even give them away....no one will eat wild mushrooms (that I know).

Like I mentioned before, all we do is fry them. I'd love some other ideas..maybe you'll find some to add to your book, too?

Shroomgirl,
What you going to be talking about at the pantry next month?

Did we by chance meet at the March market? I raise a few pigs and chickens that I display at the winter market.

[shroomgirl]

Why Farmer Greg, yes we did meet at the March pantry. I even talked to you at length about your growing practices and poultry processing. The pork shoulder was wonderful as well as the bologna.

I'm speaking at the Winter Pantry (slide show and all) about my market in St. Louis,
Clayton Farmer's Market. Boy o Boy are we moving fast on this now.

I enjoyed your pantry so much I'm opening one here during our off season (nov-Apr)
I hope to see many more value added products, chipotles, garlic wreaths, herb wreaths, jams, jellies, meats, eggs, wine, flour, dried flour, herb tea, dried shrooms (not mine), etc....what a wonderful adventure.
We do things very differently here, our market is in the middle of a street. With 4different chefs every week, 1 giving tours, one doing cooking demos, one making omelets and me. Farmer's speak every week about sustainability, Master Gardeners answer organic gardening questions, SLU Dieticians answer nutrition questions, we have recipes from local ingrediants...musicians...literally hitting all your senses...I love this culmination of a dream. It is thriving and growing exponentially.
Well you just heard my talk. See you in 3 weeks.

Hi,

I'm new to the list. I'm wondering why they call Schroomgirl Schroomgirl. I assume she's an avid mushroomer. Schroomgirl, did you know we pick morels and chanterelles here in Chicago? And have you ever eaten parasols? They are great in risotto. Also, has anyone ever eaten black chanterelles? I'm wondering how people cook them and what they're good in.

Writer