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