Gluttony….Chicago Style! (Day 2)

First stop of the day was Longman and Eagle. My friend from work had told me this was a place I had to stop at, and I was really glad I did. The building is composed of both a restaurant and also some motel rooms. Basically, it’s kind of like a bed and breakfast. The food here is top notch, consisting of fresh ingredients that make the dishes really stand out. I went with the highly recommended duck, egg, and hash. From the first bite I couldn’t put my fork down. The duck was moist, and when combined with the hash, made for an incredibly experience. Add in the egg (especially the yolk part) and you have a great balance of savory and salty. This place was so good I actually planned to make another stop there before leaving on Friday.

Next up was Revolution Brewing. This has been touted as being one of the better places to go for a delicious craft beer. Well beer is all well and good but nothing had really been said about their food. Well for my beer I chose as always, by name. I went with the Double Fister.

For the food I went with their meat sampler. The sampler has some incredible venison jerky that has a nice sweetness to it. Next was 2 different brats. One was a blend of spicy that gave it a good zing but nothing too overpowering to destroy the taste of the meat. The other one had a dill flavor that I found perplexing at first but it began to grow on me. The last bit of deliciousness on the plate was a steak tar tar. I love tar tar because it’s really the meat in its natural form and is so smooth on the tongue.
Moving on with my long journey I headed back down the street to a French bakery I had spotted. La Boulangerie is a small little store just down from the CTA Blue Line stop at Logan Square. They feature some outstanding pastries and crepes. I of course got not only a crepe, but also 2 smaller pastries too calm the sweet tooth that was lashing out at me. Now you’d think I’d give it a rest at that point and go back to my hotel room for a nap, but I felt I had a duty to do and pushed onward.
A 20-25 minute walk from La Boulangerie was a pretty famous burger joint in the Chicago area. That’s right, I’m talking Kuma’s Corner. This trendy neighborhood eater that blares out the best of metal music attracts people from all walks of life because if you’re looking for a massive burger packed with flavor and interesting toppings, look no farther. The burger I got was darn near as big as my head and was topped with a garlic sauce and a red pepper. The meat was very juicy which can be difficult to maintain on a burger that size. In my opinion, I think the burger was actually too big. I say this because it was difficult to eat with your hands as everything was sliding out the back door. Not only that, the bun began to crumble as well, leaving a giant heaping mess of what was once a beautiful looking burger. It just might be one of those fork and knife situations. On a side note, I have seen a person eat ribs with a fork and knife before. I DO NOT recommend this method as it makes you look like a bit of a sissy when you’re eating such a manly meal.
Note from BOB: In defense of those civilized few who might visit this site … using a knife and fork to eat *anything* is okay as long as you keep them in a defensive position. Knifes that are ready to defend one's plate are ALWAYS manly …. no matter what some MMA guys might think. (As is a pink background…)
Overall it was a pretty successful day two in the Windy City. I even capped it off with a couple beers at a bar close to my hotel called Kasey’s. The bar offered a wide selection of both craft and domestic beers, as well as bourbons. Oh, in case the name didn’t give it away, the bar is Irish and they were playing some Flogging Molly and Pougues….score! However, the walk from Kuma’s to the train station to get to my hotel was quite the struggle. I’m considering writing to the mayor and advising of moving sidewalks to ease future travelers’ pains after going on a food bender.
Note from BOB: I need to apologize to Carl for the length of time this (and the next one) blog entry sat in my inbox. Unfortunately I still have a day job that has a higher priority that my Grill Business. Although if y'all would order more stuff maybe that could change …