SCHWA

After reading a bunch of blogs about the Chicago food scene, I came across a few that talked about the amazing dinners they had at Schwa. When I found out I was coming to Chicago, I decided right away that I would try to score a reservation.

The only catch is that Schwa is one of the hardest reservations to get in America. After two days of repeated phone calls, I finally got through at 12:30 p.m Chicago time. A man picked up the phone, I told him when I was coming out and if I could get a reservation at any time. He said 5:30 on the 21st of April and the rest is history.

I will not go into detail about Chef Carlson and his story, (read about it here here: http://www.gq.com/food-travel/alan-richman/200901/chicago-michael-carlson-schwa-charlie-trotter), because GQ magazine has a great article on him and the restaurant so I recommend you read that before.

I arrived at Schwa at 5:30 and to my surprise, I was the only one in the building other than the chefs. I was quickly greeted by culinary genius Michael Carlson and crew and was directed to sit down and enjoy. The drink policy is BYOB so I brought a few of my favorite beers to drink throughout the meal. The host also inquired about providing me with extra courses which I had no problem with.

With loud rap and metal music playing, i.e. atmosphere, sage francis, etc; the chefs were prepping food in the kitchen and the meal was underway.

The first course, I do not have a picture of, but it was a recreation of the drink Manhattan. The drink consisted of a shot of bourbon with a cherry covered piece of chocolate that melted in your mouth.

Next, was actually initially a set piece on the table. What looked like a flower was actually a root in a vase with soda at the bottom. WILD.

" Baked Potato Soup"

This soup was inspired by potato bars at weddings. Consisted of a baked potato soup, fried potato skins, scallion puree, bacon crumble and stretchy cheese across the plate. When mixed all together, it tasted like a liquid baked potato!

Carlson's signature dishes. Quail Egg Raviolo

I was instructed to eat it in one bite. Contained raw quail egg and truffle butter. It was an explosion of flavor that rivaled the previous night's black truffle explosion at Alinea. Superb.

Chicken Liver Risotto

A beautiful presentation. I had heard about this dish and was so excited to try it. Was really rich, decadent and delicious. The liver flavor was great and the gelee on top added a much needed sweetness that brought the dish together. Could have had a bucket of it!

Deep fried roe with passionfruit gelee and violet foam.

Another dish that reminded me of an Alinea dish which was the hamachi. This was one much different and actually blew Alinea's version away. The chef told me to combine the gelee, roe and foam and it would be somewhat reminiscent of fruit loops. It was amazing how much it tasted like fruit loops, but an insanely better version. Another one of my favorites.

Scallops with a shot of gin

I do not really remember the different components of the dish, but the scallop was cooked perfectly and was deliciously buttery and tender. The shot before the dish was also great.

Butterscotch Pork belly with mango

I was super excited when this dish came out due to my love of anything Pig. The pork belly was melt in your mouth tender with a beautiful butterscotch sauce. The mango wasn't overly sweet and added a delicious fruitiness that cut the fatness of the meat. Fantastic.

"Trail Mix"

This is Chef Carlson's interpretation of trail mix. THe dish consisted of many normal components with the addition of fried pork skin. Simple and comfortable, and really delicious. Under the glass was a consomme of the same trail mix. Basically a concentrated liquid of all the flavors. Very deep flavor and unique.

"Smore's"

After a few 22 oz. belgian beers and a few shots with the chef, it was time to segway into dessert. The chef said this was his play on smore's, but this was totally different. Yes there were graham crackers and marshmallows, but the chocolate component was a braised short rib in a chocolate mole sauce. I do not know how you would think of that, but it was probably the best thing I have ever eaten. What made it even better was when you lifted the glass, there was a glass underneath filled with smoke that was reminiscent of a campfire. Incredible.

"Cheese Course"

This was the cheese course and it was not so traditional. The dish consisted of a gougere filled with beer flavored cheese. The beer in the cheese was Chimay which is one of my all time favorites. Very unique and delicious.

Celery root cake

This dish consisted of a celery root cake, caramelized bananas and some creme fraiche. The celery cake wasn't overpowering and everything together was insanely delicious. Would never have thought to put celery with bananas, but it worked out perfectly and was a great end to the meal.

I really had no idea what I was getting into before dining at Schwa. There are no servers, the music is loud and profanity ridden and the food is unconventional, but insanely good. Chef Carlson is a culinary genius and his food represents his creativity and sheer brilliance. It was no mistake that Schwa was named GQ magazine's "Most Revolutionary Restaurant". The food was some of the most unique and delicious I have ever had. Each dish was well thought out and done with precision. Many dishes brought back past memories and that is what food is all about. When the meal was all over, I told the chef I wanted to start all over again because it was that amazing. If your in Chicago and want the meal of a lifetime, I suggest you head over to Schwa for a unique dining experience and some of the best food you will ever eat.

ALINEA

http://vimeo.com/22749603

**Above is the video of the whole dinner. Many of the dishes were vegetarian, so what I ate was a lot different that what is shown on the video. It is important to note that all of the dishes in the video looked almost identical to my meat dishes. The epic dessert is filmed all the way through towards the end of the video. Some of my favorite dishes of the meal are provided below.

Alinea: A new train of thought.

When I found out I was heading to Chicago, I knew I needed to snag a reservation at not just the top restaurant in the city, but the best and most important restaurant in America.

Alinea's food is unlike anything anyone could ever imagine. Led by Grant Achatz, the kitchen at Alinea is less like a normal kitchen and more like a place where science experiments are conducted. One important note is that Chef Achatz had a rare tongue cancer in 2009 and some have argued that he had lost his sense of taste. Regardless of accusations, the food at Alinea is still evolving and eventually I believe that Alinea will be the number one restaurant in the world.

We had a later reservation at 9:30 which worked out perfectly due to the fact that we had a late lunch. The restaurant was walking distance from our house so we got there right at 9:30. Once we arrived, we walked into the main door into a room that was all pink. While walking, a door to our left slid open which was reminiscent of something from Star Trek. We quickly walked through the door and were right in front of the kitchen watching the master at work. We were then directed upstairs and quickly seated at our table. A quick dietary check was in order and beverage pairings were offered which resulted in a housemade soda progression for my

brother and a beer progression for myself. The meal consisted of 20 or so courses ranging from one single bite to a full dish.

I will not go into detail of every course simply because there is so many and they were all fantastic, but I would like to provide some pictures of my menu, some food items not captured in the video and also the video of my brothers vegetarian dishes that looked almost identical to mine.

Here is my copy of the menu.

Each course was well thought out with tremendous precision, but some stood above the others. Here are a few of my favorite dishes.

Halibut- black pepper, coffee, lemon

It was no mistake everything was white on the plate. Intentionally, even the black savory components were in one way or another manipulated into a white hue in order to make the dish completely white. The halibut here was the best I have ever had blowing out anything else I have ever had. The fish melted like butter and had the perfect flakeyness. Just amazing.

Rabbit: parfait, rillete, consomme

Rabbit gelee, sunflower seeds, onion and butternut squash.

Not many words to describe the flavor. So smooth and creamy and the fruit added the perfect contrast to the rich rabbit.

Panko crusted rabbit rillete with blood sausage, mushrooms and squash puree

The mushrooms added the earthness while the crunchy rillete was rich and creamy. The blood sausage also added a good saltiness to the dish which was balanced out by the squash. AMAZING

Rabbit and apple consomme. An insanely rich and flavorful broth of rabbit and apple. The cinnamon added the aroma while the hot black rock in the soup was there to keep it warm. Genius

Hot Potato Cold Potato

This dish consisted of a warm creamy, buttery potato soup. The pin sticking through the bowl is a warm potato ball with little cheese cubes and a black truffle. You pull the pin out so everything empties in the soup and you get the coldness from the liquid mixed with the hotness of the potato and it is mindblowing. Wow.

Black Truffle Explosion

One of the Chef's most famous dishes. This ravioli pasta is filled with pure liquid black truffle with a little parmesan cheese on top. We were instructed to put the whole thing in our mouths and close them. Once we bite down on the pasta, it explodes with truffle juice and coats your entire mouth with one of the most amazing flavors I could have ever imagined.

Sweet Potato: cedar, bourbon and pecan

Our segway into dessert started with this course. This dish consisted of braised sweet potato, cayenne cotton candy, candied pecans and a bourbon gelee. The dish came out on a wood plank which was just lit to provide the essence of burning wood in a fire. The aroma of the wood with this dish just tasted like wintertime in Mammoth. It was an unbelievable flavor and aroma that brought back so many memories which I never thought food could accomplish so successfully.

The last course of the evening was the dessert. The staff brought out a mat to drape across the table. Then the chef came with 10-15 different bowls and started painting a picture on the table. In the video below I provide the whole dessert preparation and also the aftermath of it. The big block of chocolate is actually a chocolate mousse that was instantaneously frozen with liquid nitrogen. There were also pickled blueberries, peanut butter powder, hazlenut and white chocolate sauces and puddings that solidified after only a few seconds.

Chocolate: blueberry, honey, peanut

http://vimeo.com/22749603

Overall, I can easily say that this was the greatest dining experience of my life. More than just a dinner, Alinea is an experience that every person should experience at least once in their lives. The 3 michelin star rating characterizes the restaurant as "Worth the Trip" and with that I can totally agree. Even if I came for one night to eat at Alinea, I could say with confidence that it would be worth it. The food was created with insane precision and each dish was a new unique flavor that I could have never imagined in my wildest dreams. The whole dinner lasted about three and a half hours and only felt like an hour or so. The courses keep coming and they get better and better. Although Alinea is characterized as a "once in a lifetime" event, I am glad and excited to say that I will certainly be back maybe not soon, but in the near future.

DAY 3 and 4- XOCO, Bongo Room and Hot Dougs

Day 3 we decided to tour the city. After visiting the Navy Pier and a few other sites, we decided on eating at the very popular XOCO. XOCO is a fast casual eating specializing on wood fired tortas and soups. It's the third restaurant in the trio of Rick Bayless' Topolobampo and Frontera Grill. Although XOCO has only been open for a little more than a year, but has quickly become one of the top lunch spots in the city.Usually there are lines out the door ranging from 45 minutes to an hour, but luckily, we were able to walk in and o

nly wait about fifteen minutes to place our order. Once our order

was placed, we were directed to a table provided by the staff members.

First to come to the table was chips, guacamole and salsa. Also their agua fresca of the day which was papaya and lime.

Everything here was good. Chips had great crunch and the guacamole was nice and creamy.

Next up, XOCO's famous tortas

The first torta I ordered, was titled the "Top Chef" torta. The sandwich consisted of confit of beef tongue, potatoes, chorizo, avocade and jack cheese all piled in a freshly baked rustic loaf of bread.

The first bite was an explosion of flavor and the crunchy hot bread just made the sandwich unbelievable. Really a great sandwich.

Next up, the second torta I ordered was the Pork Belly torta.

This torta consisted of braised pork belly, dark salsa negra glaze, bacon, arugula and queso anejo along with the same fresh baked bread.

This sandwich was even better than the first. The pork belly was melt in your mouth tender and the salsa glaze added the perfect sweetness to the salty bacon.

To finish off the meal, we got XOCO's famo

us Churros with a chocolate dipping sauce.

Hard to mess up churros and these did not disappoint. Delicious.

Overall XOCO exceeded the already high expectations. Easily one of the best sandwiches I have ever had and definitely lived up to the hype.

DAY 4

For breakfast, we decided on the Bongo Room which specializes in pancakes and french toast.

First up, one of the daily specials, red velvet pancakes w

ith cream cheese sauce and toasted pecans.

The pancakes sounded amazing and they did not disappoint. The cakes had a somewhat cupcake consistency and were unlike anything I have had before. They were so flavorful, but extremely rich and filling.

Up next, pretzel pancakes, white chocolate and caramel sauce with chopped pretzels

These pancakes were light and fluffy and had a little crunch in them due to the pretzels. The saltiness from the pretzels added a nice contrast between the sweet sauce and the salty pretzels.

The Bongo Room was very good. Everything I sampled was different than anything I have ever had before.

LUNCH: Hot Dougs

Hot Dougs is one of the most popular places to eat in Chicago. Although there are many Hot Dog places in Chicago, Hot Dougs consistenly is at the top of the list. It even was once named Top 50 restaurants in the World by Bon Apetite Magazine. There is always a line no matter what time of day. On this particular afternoon, we had to wait about thirty minutes, but once we ordered our food, it was ready in a matter of seconds.

The first dog I ordered was the famous Chicago dog. Consisting of a chargrilled dog with dill pickle, mustard, neon green relish, celery salt and onions and tomatoes.

Easily the best hot dog I have ever had. I usually do not put relish or pickles on my dog, but everything went together so perfect. The bun was also amazing, so soft and was the perfect size.

The next dog was actually a sausage. One of Do

ugs most famous and unique. The Foie Gras dog.

The foie gras dog consisted of a duck sausage, truffle aioli, foie gras mousse and fleur de sel. This was definitely the most decadent hot dog I have ever had. Insanely rich and creamy, the duck sausage worked perfectly with the foie and aoili. The sausage was super filling, but really something special and totally worth it.

Hot Dougs was absolutely amazing. Doug himself was there and he was extremely nice and genuine to us and all the other customers. The fries were also great too. Can't wait to come back.

Day 2- M Henry, Kumas Corner and Peqouds Pizzeria

Day 2.

We woke up later than we wanted to so we hopped on the train and headed to the North Side for a late brunch. Our first breakfast place we wanted to check of

f the list was M Henry. Known for its delicious pancakes and french toast, it would be the perfect place to fill up before we traveled around the city.

Usually there is a seriously long wait, but it was cold and rainy and later i

n the day so we only had to wait ten minutes. We were quickly seated and ordered right away. I ordered their house made hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows, large orange juice, apple chicken sausage and the banana rumba french toast.

The dish came with two thick slices of brioche french toast dipped in cinnamon. On top was a rum and cinnamon syrup, caramelized bananas, golden raisins and pecans. It was insanely good and exactly what I wanted for breakfast. Everything we ordered was amazing and was one of the better breakfasts' I have had in a while.

After traveling around the city, we decided to take a taxi to one of the most highly anticipated restaurants. Kumas Corner. Easily the best burger in the city and one of t

he best in the United States.

Usually waits can be 2-3 hours, but we came at an off time and were able to score a spot at the bar right away. One thing unique about this place is all the employees are covered in tattoos and there is loud Metal playing the whole time, while all the burger names consisted of American metal bands.

The menu is quite overwhelming and everything sounded so good. I decided on the make your own mac and cheese with sweet corn and jalapenos and the Lair of Minotaur burger.

First off, the mac and cheese was gigantic and it was absolutely delicious. A huge serving of creamy pasta with spicy jalapenos and sweet corn.

Next, the burger

The burger was a 10 oz. patty cooked medium rare accompanied by caramelized onions, pancetta, brie cheese and poached pears, with fries on the side. The burger was one of the best I have ever had. The meat was cooked perfectly and oozing with juices and flavor. The pancetta and brie cheese added the saltiness which was counterbalanced by the sweet onions and pear. Everything went so well together and made it ridiculously good. I just wish this place existed in Orange County.

After leaving Kumas, we went to the Blackhawks game and after got some deep dish pizza. Unfortunately it was too dark inside the restaurant, I was still able to get some pictures a day later after we took the pizza home.

We went to Peqouds pizza which is one of the most popular in Chicago. They specialize in deep dish and towards the edge of the crust, they caramelize the edges which makes the cheese extra crunchy.

I opted for the sausage deep dish.

I also ordered an order of twelve wings and ate all of them which in turn made me way too full to eat all of the pizza.

Overall the deep dish pizza was delicious. The sausage made the whole pizza and the caramelized crust added another dimension of flavor. The only issue I have with the deep dish is that I would not call it pizza. It may have the same ingredients, but it's more like a casserole. Whatever it is, I like it.

Chicago- DAY 1- Old Town Social and Girl and the Goat

My brother and I arrived in Chicago on Monday afternoon around 3:00 and had no eaten anything all day. We quickly got a cab to the house and walked down the street to find a quick bite to eat.

Luckily, it was 5:00 so all the dinner restaurants were just openin

g. We came across a newer restaurant called the Old Town social whi

ch is (New) American fare. The restaurant itself was really awesome, basicall

y a giant saloon with a huge bar, and tv's coming from the ceiling and the bar.

We were really hungry so we ordered right away because we also had a huge dinner in a few hours.

First thing I ordered were the pretzel bites and pork rilletes.

The pretzel bites were the perfect consistency and went really

well with the accompanied dijon and cheese sauce. The rilletes are essentially spreadable meat on bread and they were also good. A little dry, but flavor was good.

Next I ordered their most popular item, the burger "Their way", wh

ich consisted of a burger with bacon, house aoili and a fried egg.

The burger was pretty good. Probably a little overcooked and I am not totally sold on the fried egg in a burger, but it was certainly passable and looked really good. Th

e extra vinegar ketchup also added another dimension of flavor.

Although we were not planning on dessert, they had a special of Donuts so we felt obligated to order them.

Two hot donuts dipped in cinnamon sugar arrived to the table accompanied by a bourbon creme fraiche. It would be really hard not to like these and they did not disappoint. Absolutely amazing.

After the meal, we decided to go back to the house and get ready

for dinner at the Girl and the Goat.

We took the train for about twenty minutes to the restaurant and right away noticed that all of Chicago may have been inside. The place was absolutely packed and we were quickly seated at a communal table right near the kitchen. The restaurant is basically all small plates and are intended to share. Since one of us was a vegetarian, we decided to each get three dishes which is what the waiter requested.

First order was their fresh baked wheat bread with honeycomb

mb and a banana and bacon whipped butter.

The bread was insanely good. A homemade wheat loaf and when paired with the salty bacon and banana butter with the honeycomb made it one of the best breads I have ever had.

Up next, the server suggested the confit beef tongue so I went with that.

Beef tongue has always been one of my favorite cuts of meat and this did not disappoint. Cooked in its own fat until melt in your mouth tender, the meat was so rich and delicious and the accompanied greens and chips cut down the fatiness of the tongue perfectly.

Up next was one of their signature dishes. A goat, pork and veal sugo over papardalle noodles.

This pasta was cooked to a perfect al dente and the ragu was so rich and flavorful. You could taste all three different types of meat and everything melded so well together. Easily one of the best pastas I have ever had.

The last savory dish I ordered, was the wood oven roasted pig face.

This was basically a more decadent and delicious play on bacon and eggs. It really just tasted like bacon but a thousand times better if that's even possible. Due to my love of pork, this dish was just ridiculously good.

And now for dessert. I got the pork fat donuts with a sesame semifreddo.

The donuts were really great and you could get that hint of pork in every bite. The ice cream was overwhelmingly spicy on its own, but when paired with the pork donuts and pineapple chunks, it was a flavor explosion and was amazing.

Overall, I had very high expectations heading into the Girl and the Goat and it very well exceeded them. Every dish was extremely unique and the flavors were some I have never experienced before. This place is booked months in advance for a reason and now I know why it is up for best new restaurant in America. Can't wait to come back.