Chicago

Over the holiday weekend, I was lucky enough to visit Chicago for a friend's wedding. While the wedding was lovely, it was really the great restaurants that were the highlight of the trip.

Of all the meals we enjoyed over our four day stay there were three meals that really stood out:

Brunch @ Feast - we just stumbled across this restaurant near our hotel and we were blown away with the menu. We tried the "eggs portobello" which was basically an eggs Benedict served over a breaded portobello mushroom with steamed spinach and oven-roasted tomatoes and the "breakfast croissant" with prosciutto, arugula, mozzarella, and scrambled eggs. I was impressed with the local-sourcing mentions on the menu and the coffee (Intelligentsia, roasted in Chicago) was fabulous.

Lunch @ Frontera Grill - Of course, everything was just as great as we expected it to be, but one dish really stood out. The goat-meat enchiladas with a tomatillo salsa and black beans. I had never had goat before and I was pleasantly surprised. It was super tender and reminded me of a cross between beef and duck.

Dinner @ The Publican - Paul Kahan's newest place is now my favorite spot in Chicago. Everything was amazing so I'll list it all out: yellowtail crudo with fava bean salsa, mint & pistachios; country ribs with asparagus and polenta; yellow beets with housemade ricotta; and grilled ramps with hazelnut-breadcrumb salsa. Everything was perfectly cooked and so flavorful. I was especially impressed with the kitchen's use of finishing salts. Each dish was perfectly seasoned without being noticeably "salty".

**I apologize for the lack of photos; I was so busy swooning over my food that I totally forgot to snap photos! I guess I'll just have to go back, you know, for the sake of the blog...

Go Big or Go Home

Today we are starting a new promotion at the restaurant - Big Salads. Remember that episode of Seinfeld where Elaine wanted the "big salad"?? Well, with the recently gorgeous weather we thought it would be fun to bring not just one but several Big Salads to Food 101 Morningside.

Every Wednesday, starting today, we will be serving several unique entree-sized salads for lunch and dinner.



On today's menu:

“The Dude”
Kobe Beef Patty, Smoked Bacon, Cherry Tomato, Chopped Iceberg & Blue Cheese

Big Fat Greek Salad
Grilled Romaine, Cracked Olives, Local Cucumber, Haricot Vert & Goat’s Milk Feta

“The Surf & Surf”
Lobster Salad, Petite Crab Cake, Local Peaches, Roasted Onion & Buttermilk Peach Dressing

“Fritolicious”
Local Ground Beef, Guacamole, Shredded Tillamook Cheddar, Shredded Iceberg & Fresh Cilantro

“The Southern Belle”
Springer Mountain Fried Chicken, Housemade Pimento Cheese, Celery & Pistachio Brittle

Kung Pao Catfish
Spicy Cabbage, Toasted Peanuts, Carrot, Local Radish & Green Onion

Dinner at Woodland Gardens

Yesterday, Food 101 hosted its annual dinner at Woodland Gardens. Although the day ended up being a bit wetter than we anticipated, we all had a great time. We got up to the farm (located in Athens) around lunchtime to start prepping for the dinner and by 5 everyone was seated and chowing down! I thought you'd enjoy some random photos from throughout the day:

Ron reviewing the menu for the evening.

Jeff & Kat pouring homemade strawberry lemonade cocktails.

Isn't the table pretty?

Making new friends before dinner starts.

Kat helps chop fresh tomatoes from Woodland Gardens.

Adam and Christian contemplate green tomatoes.

Chilled Carrot Soup (my favorite course).

Celia gives guests a farm tour after dinner (and in-between rain showers).

Weekend Round-Up

Since we serve brunch on both Saturdays and Sundays, we often have to miss out on some of the great food-related events going on in the city, but that doesn't mean you have to miss out too! Here are some of our favorite events coming up this weekend:

On Saturday at the Morningside Farmer's Market join Slow Food Atlanta for a Strawberry Celebration. From 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. you can sample the seasons freshest berries, enjoy homemade strawberry shortcake and shop our favorite local market. This event is $5 per person and proceeds benefit Slow Food.

Also on Saturday, Atlanta is getting FREE PIE. How fun is this event? From 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. at several Atlanta neighborhoods like Cabbagetown, Candler Park, Piedmont Park, Virginia Highlands, Little Five Points and Decatur, kind souls will be handing out free pie to anyone that shows up. Talk about some good karma! For more info and specific locations, click here.

Happy Friday!

Menu Design Version 331

Ok, maybe "version 331" is a slight exaggeration. We are really only in our second round of menu revisions, but, in my defense, between menus, websites, business cards, and birth announcements it feels like revision 331. Thought you might like to see where we are at right now; who knows where we will acutally end up by July...