Ibiza Restaurant

So my friend J is off doing big things in Uganda making me feel slightly unaccomplished.. but that's ok. i'll do something earth-shattering one day.. but until that day.. i will take pleasure in feeding my friends good foods :) As a send off, I took J to this tapas restaurant, Ibiza, in New Haven (owned by the same person who owns Meigas in Norwalk.. see previous post) so I was expecting great things.  Since my friend J will be eating Ugandan foods for the next 3 months, we decided to try the tasting menu to try and get as many different flavors as possible.
my descriptions of the dishes will not be very good because there was no set menu for the tasting menu.. it was what the chef decided to send out.  (though our waiter came by with each dish to explain what it was.. he has a thick accent and i have a bad memory...)

Some gazpacho of sorts, fire roasted shishito peppers, codfish croquette

shrimp, scallop, lobster ceviche with avocado base

foie gras croquette with quail egg and salami(?) wrapped salad

codfish(?) some fish on bed of linguine um... it was really good though x_x

2 ways cooked quail and caramelized veggies and sweet potatoes

passion fruit and brownie with coconut whipped cream and chocolate crisps and caramel

everything was really good though dinner took forever because it took a while between each dish to get the next one, but by the end we were both crazy full and satisfied.  next time i'll pick my own dishes though.  Not as good as meigas but still yummers :)

Ibiza

39 High Street

New Haven, CT 06510

Girl & the Goat

So had another chicago weekend with my boo <3 we had heard about this restaurant in chicago that required reservations at least 4 months in advance... ridiculous! and on yelp they are 4.5 stars with 1500 reviews.. definitely wanted to try this place out.. but didn't want to wait until winter to be able to try it. according to some of the reviews, you can go early and wait for a table without reservations (though you would prob have to wait for over an hour)  so we decided to go early (~4:45-5pm) to try and beat the rush and wait for a table.  we get there and we still have to wait an hour 45! this place is crazy! but im so glad we waited :) we sat at the bar and got yummy drinks until we were seated. now here comes the delish food.

hiramasa crudo 

with crisp pork belly. chili aioli. caperberries

diver scallops 
braised duck . marcona almond butter . green papaya . green almond nuoc cham

pig face

with egg and some stuff (i forget the exact)

sauteed green beans 

fish sauce vinaigrette . cashews

crisp braised pork shank

spring onion kimchee . buttermilk dressing

OMG everything was sooo foodgasmic! small tapas (except for the pork shank) and unbelievable flavors. pig face? you mash it all up before eating it. looks and sounds kinda weird but it was one of the best things i ever ate.  definitely worth the wait. don't even bother making a reservation. i would rather wait hour and half than 4 months to eat here again.

Girl & the Goat

809 W Randolph St
Chicago, IL 60607

Meigas in Norwalk

So I had the pleasure of getting a call from a friend who had a groupon that was expiring soon and wanted to grab dinner. It was at this tapas restaurant Meigas in Norwalk, CT. Bit of a drive for me but totally worth the trip. I got to see my bestie S. and I had some delicious food.

With a glass of Albariño La Caña white wine, I was ready to eat. We ordered 2 tapas plates and 1 entree plate.




Sorry the picture is so blurry. This was one of the best dishes I have ever eaten.. Vieiras a la Meigas was a scallop dish with roasted beets, orange guacamole and mango vinaigrette. The scallops were like butter! So smooth and the dish a perfect balance of creamy and acidity. Definitely would get this again.




Piquillos de Pato was a duck confit and rice mixture stuffed into a roasted piquillo pepper. The stuffed pepper itself was just ok. Couldn't really taste the duck but the sauce was delish. I cleaned the plate up of the sauce with the garlic bread that the waitress would keep bringing out nonstop. This garlic bread is not what is normally pictured when one thinks garlic bread. It is a loaf of soft white bread with whole cloves of garlic baked throughout the bread. You would break the bread and see a garlic clove sticking out at you. Oh so yummy. So second tapas dish was just okay. I would consider it more of a side dish to my bread :)





S. and I were planning on sharing each of the dishes, including the entree. So for our third dish we ordered the Cochinillo de Segovia which is suckling pig, potato gratin and apricot puree.

When the waiter brought out this dish, he actually brought out 2 plates of what is pictured above. We told the waiter that we had only ordered 1 of this dish, not one for each of us.. and he says, "oh no, this is just one entree. I split it into 2 plates so it is easier to share." awwww :D i love this guy! and there was so much food too! I could have eaten just the "split" plate as an entree! one day soon I will go back and see how big an actually entree looks on 1 plate.

back to the food. The suckling pig was divine! the skin was crispy, yet the fat underneath was melt-in-your-mouth juicy. The potatoes and spinach were a nice compliment. apricot puree baby.. the touch of sweetness that paired with the saltiness of the pork and vegetables perfectly. i was in heaven.

I had a perfect dinner with great food, great drinks, and great company. It also just so happened that the day we went to dinner, groupon was offering another groupon for this restaurant. I bought it immediately :) Anyone wanna join me for round 2 this summer?

<3

Meigas Restaurant
10 Wall Street

Norwalk, CT 06850

Chicago Weekend

yaaay I finally got a chance to go to Chicago for a weekend! I got to see my J :) Didn't do anything too crazy. just wanted to spend time with each other (i know aww so cute) but what we did do was watch 21 jump street (*drool* channing tatum and jonah hill) hilarious movie btw.. and eat some really good food. And here are my chi-town food adventures..

We surprising didn't sleep into the afternoon on saturday but woke up decently early (mainly because my alarm that i forgot to turn off went off at around 7:20am) so we went to this breakfast joint called Yolk which ironically, i loved the restaurant, hate actual egg yolks... Apparently their eggs benedicts were known for being de-lish so decided to go with their... Pot Roast Eggs Benedict! jealous? you should be. Now i understand that eggs benedicts is mainly about the yolk.. poached egg and hollandaise sauce.. blah blah.. but i don't like yolk (like i said.. ironic in this restaurant) so i got mine with egg whites and hollandaise sauce on the side. i know i'm totally ruining eggs benedict..

Pot Roast Eggs Benedict

The pot roast was tender and juicy.. egg whites cooked perfectly and not rubbery.. potatoes a little undercooked but i'm ok with that as long as i have ketchup and tabasco sauce. With a side of fresh fruit, this meal everything i was craving and a great start to my day with J :D J got a customized omelette (but basically a western) with ham onions peppers and mushrooms.

Western Omelette

very tasty.. surprised the inside was cooked because it was a very large omelette. looked more like a football. ended up eating only half and took the other half plus potatoes home for a rainy day.

Yolk

355 E Ohio Street

Chicago, IL 60611

So i love my vietnamese food.. maybe that's why i joined VSC instead of KSA during college. i already had access to korean food at home.. but what about my banh mis and phos? anyways we decided we were craving some pho so we went to the viet-town of chicago (more like viet-corner.. but that's ok) and went to Tank Noodle. Lots of tables squished together, sometimes even sharing tables with people you don't know.. but i'm ok with that as long as i get fed. J got Phở Tái, Chin, Gân, noodle soup with beef, brisket, and tendon and i got Bún Heo Nướng, rice vermicelli with sliced grilled pork, vegetables, and peanut. I was craving fish sauce for some strange reason. You can never go wrong with vietnamese food. de-lish.

Bún Heo Nướng

Phở Tái, Chin, Gân

Tank Noodle Restaurant

4953-55 N.Broadway

Chicago, IL 60640 

So dinner we had already made plans early on because we wanted to try this steakhouse, Gibson's. We made reservations when i first bought my plane tickets to chicago. their chicago location were booked up! so we decided to try their oakbrook site. This is probably where i would brag the most about the food but the pictures are not that great because i didn't want to have flash go off in this nice restaurant. This restaurant atmosphere was a bit confusing though. half the people dressing really classy with bottles of wine (ourselves included), other half dressed semi-casual/casual... and then the table next to us seated a couple in sweats, watching a basketball game with sound ON on their cell phone... distracting and rude! Another distracting aspect at this restaurant was birthdays. apparently birthdays are a to-do at Gibson's on weekends. they have so many birthday requests that they don't sing you the song. a group of waiters stand next to your table and shout "Happy! Happy! Happy Birthday to You!!" and then walk away. definitely kept you on your toes.. enough about the atmosphere. on with the food.

what's a fancy restaurant without oysters? and there was this sauce. could not place the exact flavor. like a citrus-y shaved ice that you put on the oyster. oh divine!! cocktail sauce and tabasco will no longer be enough for me.. :(

Oysters on the Half Shell

And now onto the steaks! before you order, the waiter brings you a platter with all the different steak options to show you the marbling, size, cut, etc. (each steak had the option of peppercorn crust, garlic herb, blue cheese something or another.. don't remember the rest) their special that night was the 16 oz. bone-in filet with king crab bearnaise sauce which i added peppercorn crust and J got the 22 oz. "chicago cut" with peppercorn crust. can't have steak without sides. double baked potato, 1/2 order of sauteed mushrooms, and 1/2 order of creamed corn (because we were indecisive and our waiter was awesome). paired very nicely with a waiter-recommended bottle of Mionetto il Moscato sparkling wine and a french martini (guess who had which drink ;) both sound girly right? XP)

Bone-In Filet (16oz) with King Crab Bearnaise Sauce

W.R.'s Chicago-Cut (22oz)

i know these pictures just look like black bricks.. just trust me they were awesome.


our eyes definitely bigger than our stomachs.. we had a very big doggie bag when we left.. we both ate about half of our steaks and a fraction of the sides. (i sliced up my leftover filet the next morning to have with eggs. yum) no room for desserts, though i did see plates with 1/4 slice of a humongous cake floating around so i must come back for that. this was a very extravagant dinner but i'm going to justify it by saying it landed on the day of our 26 month anniversary.................

Gibson's Bar and Steakhouse

2105 South Spring Road

Oak Brook, IL 60523

So lunch the next day, just walking around downtown chicago we walk by a place called the Purple Pig. J had heard of this place before! 4 stars on yelp with over 1000 reviews? sounds good to me. usually there is a 2-3 hour wait to eat here but apparently not for a 1pm lunch on a sunday. as a tapas place, the dishes are small and meant to be shared. we ended up getting:

Salt-Roasted Beets with Whipped Goat Cheese & Pistachio Vinaigrette

cool and refreshing with a tang from the goat cheese and perfect amount of saltiness from the pistachios. the chef is a genius with this dish!

Olive Oil-Poached Tuna with Greek Lima Beans

citrus-y and herb-tastic! tuna not too crumbly and nice big lima beans to balance the fish.

Roasted Bone Marrow with Herbs 

served with toasted bread, this smear was different and amazing. scoop out the bone marrow, smear it on the bread, sprinkle a little sea salt and top with light vinaigrette salad to balance the fattiness. yummy :)

Eggplant Parmesan Balls 

you would think something so simple wouldn't taste that must better than any other eggplant parmesan.. oh but it did! little nuggets of happiness :) J ate one before i could take the picture.

Milk Braised Pork Shoulder with Mashed Potatoes 

so tender and juicy! the meat just falls apart! on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes. a perfect comfort food.

Wild Striped Sea Bass with Artichoke

so good! crispy crust with flaky insides. paired perfectly with the tomato-based marinated artichokes. (sorry for blurry picture.. was anxious to try this last dish since all the past ones were so good)

Amazing food-gasm experience. I have nothing bad to say about this place. except for they should invest in more than 1 single user bathroom. maybe 1 for each gender at least?

the purple pig was the best way (if there is any good way) to end my weekend in chicago with my J (too much rhyming there.. not intentional)

The Purple Pig

500 North Michigan Avenue

Chicago, IL 60611

Now i am back in the fruit :(