Starbucks

A couple of weekends ago my sister Amie told us about a new drink at Starbucks called the Caramel Brulee Latte. Last Thursday I found myself at a Starbucks and decided that I had to try the drink. Then over the weekend Amie brought over a Brulee Latte for her and Liz to try. All were surprised by the wonderful taste of the latte.

First, in order to properly appreciate the latte for its creme brulee taste you must get the sprinkles that come with the drink, for those are what give the latte the sugary top taste.

As a latte the drink was actually very good, however, it was pretty expensive. As a creme brulee it just wasn't that great. There was not enough sprinkles in the drink to really get the full taste of the all important sugary top of a brulee. However, when I was lucky enough to get a taste of a sprinkle or two I could really taste the similarity between the drink and a top notch brulee.

The other big knock against the drink was the coffee taste completely overpowered the custard flavor of the drink. While I could tell that I was drinking a creme brulee coffee, the drink did not make me believe that I was experiencing a great creme brulee which would have been necessary for the drink to get a 5.0.

When its all said and done I give the Caramel Brulee Latte a 2.5 out of 5.0. This was a good fun drink to try once, but the cost and heaviness of the drink will keep me from drinking it regularly. As a something for creme brulee connoisseurs you will recognize familiar flavors, but the flavors are not nearly strong or bold enough to make this drink memorable.

Tavern On Rush

Last weekend Brian's parents came into town for a visit. On Friday we went to the Tall Ships Festival on Navy Pier.

The next day we went to IKEA and the Chicago Triathlon Expo. Brian and I got some things to eat while you are running (Clif bloks: http://www.clifbarstore.com/detail/CLF+118+BC). After a long drive back from IKEA we went to dinner at Tavern on Rush. Brian and I had been there before, but for some reason we did not order the creme brulee the last time we were there. We would not make the same mistake again! We ate dinner and then ordered dessert! Brian ordered the praline creme brulee.

Other desserts were ordered as well. I ordered a chocolate bundt cake and Mary ordered a brownie a la mode.

All three desserts were delicious. While Mary and I could not finish our desserts, Brian, showing a high level of strength and stamina not only finished his brulee, he also finished the other two desserts.

Now onto the review. As noted above this was a praline creme brulee. It was also topped with chocolate shavings and accompanied with a cookie. Brian gives the brulee a very strong 3.5/5.0. He thought that the praline cream was a nice twist on a classic flavoring. He also enjoyed the size of the dish. However, he thought that the chocolate shavings overpowered the surgary top and as a result the dish on a whole was not sweet enough.

I give the brulee a 3.0/5.0. I thought overall that the flavor combinations in the dish were a little weird and it just did not work for me.

Whole Foods

Last Tuesday we were lucky enough to score some tickets to the Counting Crows http://countingcrows.com/ concert at the Ravinia. http://www.ravinia.org/ Ravinia is somewhere in middle America and it gets right to the heart of matters. Here is a picture of the Counting Crows!!!

We had lawn seats so we decided to go to Whole Foods to get the necessary materials for a picnic. http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/ We got a bunch of fruit, pasta salad, chicken salad, and dessert. It has been a long summer and there was reason to believe that this summer would be better than the last. This picnic was one of our summer highlights. Here is a picture of our fabulous spread!!!

While looking in the backery section at Whole Foods I stumbled across a creme brulee. It was pretty expensive but a nice find at the end of our shopping trip. Liz was nice enough to buy it for me.

Overall it was what you would probably expect from a creme brulee bought at a grocery store. I give the brulee 3.0/5.0. The top was not very crispy but the custard was pretty good. The size of the brulee was also surprisingly big. The brulee sat in the car for a bit while we traveled to Ravinia and then sat in the picnic basket while we set up and ate dinner. It would have been nice to try it right away.

Liz gives the brulee a 2.5/5.0. She did not enjoy that there was essentially no crispy surgary top, so it was essentially just custard. The custard was decent though. Overall, it was just OK, but that's not surprising since it was from a grocery store.

Here is a picture of the two of us enjoying the concert. Pictures are great because they allow us to capture moments and keep them forever. I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself to hold onto these moments as they pass.

Mon Ami Gabi

For our anniversary I took Elizabeth to Mon Ami Gabi (a lettuce entertain you restaurant) http://www.monamigabi.com/. Dinner was a pleasant break from studying for the bar exam.

Liz and I have wanted to go there for awhile now and had always wanted to sit outside. I made reservations the week before with instructions that we would like to be seated outside. However, when we got to the restaurant they informed us that rain was expected and we would have to be seated inside. (Bummer)

As an appetizer we ordered the baked brie which was very good. It had some garlic which I liked because I had seen so many twilight commercials I wanted to protect myself. For the entrees Liz ordered the veggie platter which was an assortment of beets, zucchini, squash, and cauliflower mumbo jumbo with a side of mashed potatoes. I had the pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon. (Yes, it was amazing)

And now on to the main event: dessert. Liz ordered the flowerless chocolate cake.

The cake was yummy.

I of course ordered the creme brulee. As you can see from the picture the brulee did not come with fresh fruit which was a disappointment. However, not much else of the brulee was disappointing. Overall, I give this brulee a solid 4 out of 5 with it coming very close to earning a 4.5. What knocked it down to a 4.0 was that the temperature of the custard was not consistent throughout the dish. At the edges the custard was cool, but towards the middle it was warm. I did not think that either temperature was any better or worse, I just would have preferred it to be consistent.

What made this brulee so good was the surgary crust. It was by far the best top that I have had in a really long time.

Liz also gives the brulee a 4.0 out of 5. Yumscrilliumptous!!!

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Bistrot Margot

Last night we went to Bistrot Margot (http://www.bistrotmargot.com/) in Old Town. We walked to Old Town to look around and find some place to eat without a real plan. The weather was pretty crazy yesterday - a big storm in the afternoon - but it had cleared up by the time we left the apartment. The weather report said it wasn't going to rain for the rest of the night (foreshadowing!!!)

We walked around Old Town for awhile looking at various restaurants (and one awesome aquarium store). We finally settled on Bistrot Margot. We

were seated immediately, outside (FORESHADOWING!!!!!!!)

I ordered a cabernet and Brian ordered merlot to drink. My wine was really quite good and Brian's was decent. We got a brie appetizer that was ... amazing!! It was brie, honey, asparagus, some sort of puff pastry.

Here is a picture of what the outdoor seating was like. Very nice.

For dinner I had

a salad that was beets, watercress and goat cheese, and a side of mashed potatoes. Brian had a skirt steak. My salad was delicious - the goat cheese was breaded in something satisfying. Brian's steak had some strange green sauce on it. His fries were very good.

Then, we ordered dessert. TA DA! I had bread pudding (sub-par!) and Brian, of course, ordered the creme brulee! Well, (momentum building), the waiter TOOK FOREVER to bring out our desserts (upwards of 20-30 minutes). As we were waiting, the wind was picking up. But we were NOT deterred! Oh no, we persevered on like the American soldiers in the Revolution and the rhinos of the East. Our desserts finally arrived.

Elizabeth gives the creme brulee a 3/5. There was not enough harmony between the crust and the puddin'. The custard was grainy. However, the top was a nice sugar crisp and the taste was decent.

Brian gives it a 3/5. First of all, there was no fruit on top. The sugar crisp was a treat to eat and a site to see. The custard was not consistent throughout the depth of the dish. However, the size of the brulee was a pleasant surprise (see above). Overall, this brulee had the makings to be very good, but the taste and consistency of the custard brought the whole dish down a level.

After waiting for a substantial period of time for our desserts, eating them and paying, the wind was driving madly. We made it about a block towards home before a torrential downpour started. We had about a five block walk to get home. The wind was blowing at speeds of 100 mph, so my umbrella was unusable. By the time we got home, we were soaked to the bone!

Tosi's

While we started our journey hoping to try all of the creme brulees in Chicago, our love for brulee recently took us to Michigan. We spent the day hanging out with my parents, going for an eight mile run, and spending some time at Silver Beach in Saint Joseph, MI. http://www.sjtoday.org/site/ For dinner, my parents took us out to Tosi's which made my sibling jealous. http://www.tosis.com/frameset.htm

Dinner was excellent and what helped make the experience so great was the creme brulee that I got for desert. The bottom custard was excellent. The burnt sugary top was very good although it was a tad too burnt and a pinch light on the sugar. Overall, this was a very good brulee and I give it a 4.0 out of 5.0.

My only big complaint about this brulee is that it was not accompanied with any fresh fruit. Since I have been tasting brulees all over Chicago I have come to realize that for a brulee to be truly elite a serving of fresh fruit on the top is a necessity. The fresh fruit was the element of the brulee at Tosi's that was missing to make it elite.

-Brian

Shine Restaurant

Two weekends ago we went to Shine Restaurant for some Asian Cuisine. http://www.shinerestaurant.com/Shine/ Overall, it was a very pleasant experience. We went on a Friday night with no reservations and did not have to wait for a table. When we arrived at the table we were given a warm, moist towel to help release the stress of city life. Liz and I both ordered a glass of wine which was very tasty. For an appetizer we ordered the pot stickers which were good but were made great with the delicious sauce that came with it. Both Liz and I were slightly disappointed with our entrees. I ordered the General Tso's chicken and Liz go the Pad Thai.

Finally, for dessert we got the orange ginger creme brulee. This was our first flavored brulee and boy was it a treat. Overall, I gave it a 4.0 out of 5.0. The orange flavored custard is what put this brulee in the upper echelons of brulees. I was skeptical at first, in fact I was a little disappointed when I saw on the menu that it was orange ginger, but after the first bite I could tell that the orange flavor added something special to this brulee.

What led to Shine's brulee not getting a higher score was the fact that the burnt sugary caramel top needed to be a little more burnt to properly contrast the custard based bottom of the dish.

Liz also gives the brulee a 4.0 out of 5.0 stating that the flavor was both nice and unique.

Overall, this was a very good brulee, one of the best that we have had in a long time.

-Brian