Chocolate Apricot Tart w/Crème Fraîche from Mado
Item Purchased: Chocolate Apricot Tart w/Crème Fraîche
Location Purchased: Mado / 1647 N. Milwaukee Ave. / Chicago, IL
Price: $6.00 + tax
Purchased on: 05/02/08
Review: Usually after finishing a fantastic meal with the swirl of savory flavor still mingling in my mouth, I want something light, simple and sweet for dessert. I knew Mado would have no problem with the simple. Simple, yet inventive and well prepared is what Mado seems to do best, so I was covered on that point. Chocolate and tart, when put together completely nix any chance of light in my mind, so I decide to go with the flow. The flow of dessert, however, doesn’t often include crème fraîche in the river. Still, co-owner of Mado, Rob Levitt spent the evening convincing me of his mastery of the savory, it was time to let his trusted wife convince me of the sweet.
Trust is a wonderful thing.
The dense dark chocolate with just a hint of apricot flavor all atop a crisp crust was quite a palate consuming experience that could have, alone, made the savory slip away into a misty cocoa-hazed memory. If I were in control, I would have left it at that.
It’s a good thing that Allison Levitt is Rob’s trusted wife and not me (for many different reasons). The crème fraîche initially hit my tongue and the sour obliterated the other flavors. After a few seconds, however, the flavors struck a balance which hit one last spike by trailing it through the sweet chocolate sauce drizzled decoratively on the plate. Through balance, the dense became light and the sweet stood out against the sour, making this a fantastic and well executed dessert.
Like I said, trust is a wonderful thing.
Rating: 4.25 / 5
Hanger Steak w/Gorgonzola Polenta from Mado
Item Purchased: Hanger Steak w/Gorgonzola Polenta
Location Purchased: Mado / 1647 N. Milwaukee Ave. / Chicago, IL
Price: $18.00 + tax
Purchased on: 05/02/08
Review: As one of the most expensive dishes on Mado’s menu, the Hanger Steak set me up with high expectations. Hanger steak was traditionally the cut of beef that butchers would save for themselves and keep secret from their customers due to its tenderness and natural flavor, so the privilege of ordering one can sometimes feel like being accepted into an inner circle of carnivores. The only catch is that hanger steak requires careful attention and precise cooking time, so even the slightest slip up can make the customer feel as if they are being hazed instead of hanging with the butchers.
Because of my taste for a perfectly medium-cooked steak, I may have made the task even more complicated. From the very little I know about cooking, hanger steak is routinely prepared rare to medium rare and can dry out easily if cooked beyond. Still, Mado persevered and came out making me feel like one of the guys as well as impressing the hell out of me with this dish.
First, it must be said that Mado is only the second restaurant in the history of my eating-out career that has succeeded in preparing a perfectly cooked medium steak (the first was Les Halles in New York). Second, the simple marinade used for this steak served only to enhance the beef’s natural flavor. Finally, the salt crust on the outside of the steak turned out to be the perfect finish to an already great cut of meat.
Though I could go on longer about the steak itself, I would rather use these last couple of lines to rave about the Gorgonzola polenta that came so lovingly cradled by the sliced beef. Deep and earthy with just the right amount of body, the polenta’s natural flavor coupled nicely with the biting cheese to both titillate and cleanse my palate between each mouthful of steak. Simply put, Mado’s flavor combination skills are, as the kids are saying, mad (I think that means phenomenal). Served with your choice of side from their menu (I chose the roasted potatoes with rosemary), the price and portions are right, even if they look small served on two separate plates with plenty of white space.
My only complaint is that the steak comes pre-sliced. Though it makes a nice presentation, I like to tear and rend… or simply slice… my own steak, thank you very much!
No… Really… Thank you very much, Mado, for being the culinary oasis needed in this part of the city!
Rating: 4.5 / 5
Roasted Chicken w/Arugula & Grilled Ramps from Mado
Item Purchased: Roasted Chicken w/Arugula & Grilled Ramps
Location Purchased: Mado / 1647 N. Milwaukee Ave. / Chicago, IL
Price: $16.00 + tax
Purchased on: 05/02/08
Review: Chicken, chef rockstar Anthony Bourdain asserts, is the dinner choice for people who don’t know what they want to eat. I do enjoy a good dirty bird, but I side with Bourdain most of the time simply because… well… most chicken served at restaurants around the U.S. just isn’t that good. So often, the finished bird tends to be dry and veiny. Not so under the watchful eye of Mado’s Rob Levitt. Bourdain, this dish just might make you change your mind.
The power of this roasted half chicken lies not in its dress or complexities, but rather in its absolute simplicity. Copy this next equation down and write it on the blackboard at your local chicken shack. Trust me, they need to learn this. Organic and local ingredients + brining of unbelievable competency = a mouthful of flavor and a few clean bones clinking on the plate. Mado’s brining of their fowl enhances its natural flavors while the time that the bird spends in the oven turns the skin into something to be savored instead of battered and fried. I going to go out on a limb here and say that Mado’s roasted chicken is the best chicken I have ever tasted in my life (sorry, Mom!). It even tasted freshly cooked straight from the takeout bag the next morning!
In fact, my only complaint and point loss on the dish’s score pertains to the arugula and ramp mixture served as a modest side. While the vegetables were both in season, crisp and fresh, there was an abundance of salt sprinkled throughout. I like salt. I like a lot of salt. The arugula made me cough from all the salt that was on top. Despite this small annoyance (which I will chalk up as an opening-week mistake), this dish is wholly satisfying and worth every penny.
At $16.00 for a plain chicken dish, that’s saying a lot! I will return for another, Mado. Just you wait!
Rating: 4.25 / 5
Consumer Bites: 05/06/08
- The video game publisher who is responsible for “Grand Theft Auto 4″ just car-jacked the Chicago Transit Authority with a lawsuit for breach of contract. The CTA pulled ads for the controversial video game despite a $300,000 advertising deal. Now, the publisher is seeking damages of… guess how much… $300,000! They also want the lawsuit to end in forcing the CTA to run the ads. How’s that for free advertising? (link)
- A 67 year-old man had a custom coffin made for himself. Awesome! Until he kicks the can, he’s using it as a beer cooler. Super Awesome! Hipsters across America are kicking themselves for not thinking of this first. (link via Chicagoist)
- The world’s ten most disgusting beers? Where is Mountain Creek? I’ve only tried one of the beers on this list. Which beers would you nominate? Which of these have you tried? (link)
Mado Salame
Item Purchased: Mado Salame
Location Purchased: Mado / 1647 N. Milwaukee Ave. / Chicago, IL
Price: $4.00 + tax
Purchased on: 05/02/08
Review: Call me weak, but house cured meats are my kryptonite. Homer Simpson has his Duff beer, Al Bundy has his pants in which to put his hand and I have sausages that are smoked, salted and spiced mere feet from where I will eat it. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, I just have to try it. The best I’ve had was at Mario Batali’s Lupa, in New York City, where hair thin strips of meat erupt with flavor from inside thick slabs of glorious fat.
Mado’s namesake sausage takes a different approach, as it is a coarse mince of pork and other meats with speckles of melt-in-your-mouth fat throughout. For four bucks, Mado serves up a sparse, yet fulfilling, plate of five half-dollar sized slices of this meat. Unlike many antipasto meat dishes, salt is not the main flavor in this tender sausage. Instead, an unexpected and powerful anise flavor permeates throughout each bite. Though my girlfriend found the flavor to be a bit overwhelming, I found the anise complemented the dark and earthy flavor of the meats quite nicely.
Though not the best specialty cured meat I’ve had in my life, Mado makes a good showing with a unique namesake sausage and I am eager to head back soon in order to try the other five varities.
Rating: 3.75 / 5
Consumer Bites: 05/05/08
- BMW is planning an all-electric lithium-ion car for European and American streets, thus adding to the number of environmentally sound products I won’t be able to afford. (link)
- Who’s on your currency? Check out this nifty Flickr pool of American currency all dressed up for halloween! ()
- One of the few mega chains I frequent (Dunkin’ Donuts) is suing their smaller franchise owners for the slightest slip up in order to secure franchise deals with larger partners. The goal? Compete with the other mega chain I sometimes avoid by buying Dunkin Donuts coffee. America runs on DD or from DD? (link)
- I find the idea of local currencies alluring for the social and economic advantages. Slate seems to think the social advantages are the only ones to be had. I say that’s only in an all-or-nothing game. What say you? (link)
- The new Castro in charge is letting Cubans purchase computers for home use, but most are still banned from having an internet connection. Don’t stop writing your Trystero-delivered pen-pal letters just yet. (link)
- Read . Watch . They are both fantastic, yet I still don’t know if the newly sought credit card rules are going to change much at all. (link)
Watercress Salad w/Radishes, Almonds, Lemon & Mint from Mado
Item Purchased: Watercress Salad w/Radishes, Almonds, Lemon & Mint
Location Purchased: Mado / 1647 North Milwaukee Ave / Chicago, IL
Price: $7.00 + tax
Purchased on: 05/02/08
Review: If I were planning a salad course, my first instinct would not be to highlight two members of the mustard family as primary ingredients. Of course, my salads tend to be massive concoctions of complement and contradiction aimed at engaging every part of the palate, instead of a modest introduction to a fresh and fearless meal. This is probably also one of the many reasons I don’t own and operate a restaurant as refreshing and fantastic as the one Rob and Allison Levitt have just opened in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.
Though both slightly bitter, the impeccably fresh watercress and radish protagonists in this salad go down easy and prepare the taste buds for the other savory flavors that followed. With just a hint of lemon and mint used to flavor and tame the salad, the flavors really came together. Naked almonds were sprinkled about the greens, giving the dish texture and extra body as well, proving that a salad doesn’t have to be the flavor bomb that most of my home made ones end up being.
Fresh and simple seems to be the first course philosophy at Mado. Count me in as a subscriber and avid follower.
Rating: 4 / 5
Consumer Bites: 04/27/08
- My friend Erik has decided to start a project in response to rising food prices. For one week, he will not be making any food purchases. Instead, he’ll be eating what he already has (fully displayed in the picture above). He’s currently inviting people to join in and attempt to do the same. I would do so, but I tend to only buy what ingredients I need for dinner at any given time and rarely stockpile food (even against the recent warnings). I can relate, however, with withholding myself from certain purchases. I used to resist new purchases because I didn’t have the time to review them. If you’d like to try using what you already have, please take a look at Erik’s site and sign up for the project. (link)
Consumer Bites: 04/25/08
- Those economic stimulus checks we’ve all been waiting for will start shipping early, with the first set arriving on Monday. I’ve scoured the news sites and run across a couple of FAQs and still can’t figure out where exactly this money is coming from. I assume it will come from more loans, such as bonds sold to investors. If this is true, those loans will, of course, earn even more interest for the buyers, thus increasing our national debt.. It’s annoying that all of the reports of this stimulus plan are geared toward when we will receive the money instead of where the money is coming from and what implications that might have. Technically, the spending of your check is just perpetuating and ballooning the natrional debt. Hooray!(link)
Large Popcorn from Landmark Century Centre Movie Theater
Item Purchased: Large Popcorn
Location Purchased: Landmark Century Centre Movie Theater / 2828 N Clark St. / Chicago, IL
Price: $5.00 w/tax
Purchased on: 04/19/08
Review: I’ll spare you the stories about how popcorn was traditionally the profit maker for movie theaters. If I wanted to impress you all with various facts about the movie industry, I would have gone to film school… oh wait… I did… Yet, I still don’t want to sit around regurgitating things I read in my film textbook. That’s what I did while I was in film school, just like everyone else.
I’d rather use my five dollar purchase to question why we feel the urge to buy popcorn at a movie theater. Seriously. I wasn’t even that hungry, and there were several other things to choose from at the concession counter… Including DVDs of recent films (really? who’s going to buy a movie after they just spent $10+ to see a movie?). Why, then, did I decide to go with the time-tested staple? Did I even decide at all?
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy popcorn as much as the next guy. I’m just not so sure I like it enough to pay for it at 7000% markup.
There is obviously something other than a simple consumer choice going on here. Popcorn at a movie theater may just be the single most powerful bit of expectational consumer psychology success in the world today. I admit it. I buy popcorn because it just seems to be the natural choice. It may be messy and awkward. It may leave grease marks on my fingers and pants. I may find popcorn crumbs in my collar and shards of kernels in my teeth weeks later, yet popcorn at a theater has transcended its status as consumer snack choice into the realm of very serious ritual.
The popcorn, itself, is always the same. Fresh, crunchy and hot, it tastes like what you put on it. For me, butter. Always butter (3 points for getting that movie reference). Usually there is salt too, but Century Center has upped the ante by providing a varied selection of “gourmet” popcorn toppings in the form of flavored dust. This time, I went with white cheddar.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, this modern ritual consists of executing a few test runs on the way to my seat, sitting down and proceeding to set a steady and consistent pace stuffing asymmetrical gobs of kernels into my greedy mouth. Half of the bag is almost always gone by the time the commercials, previews and silence PSAs have finished. When the lights complete their dimming cycle, a pang of shame usually washes over me and a split second of self awareness causes me to stow the remainder of my snack on the floor beneath my seat.
At this point, the opening credits of the movie have barely begun and two questions arise. The first question is why I didn’t order a smaller bag? The second is why I am still eating the dry kernels at the bottom of the bag when all flavor and hunger has left the building. For a while I am sated and comfortably enjoying whatever cinematic work is being projected before me, but before the first rising action has the opportunity to cleverly foreshadow anything, the bag appears in my lap and my right fist is plunged into the nutritionless void once again.
It is usually at this point of the ritual that I realize that what little butter is left has coagulated and attached itself to the inside of the bag. As it slowly and parasitically works its way up my arm in attempts of staining anything I touch, I realize it has ceased to flavor anything except for my open pores. Meanwhile, the popcorn itself has lost all of its warmth and is proudly displaying its lack of all flavor. I don’t even know what’s going on with the movie anymore! My breath quickens and all of the elements of my digestive tract curse the day I began purchasing my own food. Even though I knew how much I was getting ripped off going into this purchase, I act surprised and angry. I can’ help but wonder what kind of person has the constitution and superhuman bowels to take advantage of the theater’s free refill policy. As the ritual ends, I am left frustrated, in need of a loan and utterly confused about both my own actions and whatever might be taking place on screen.
I suppose this is why they suggest “dinner and a movie” instead of the reverse. Going to a movie hungry leaves me open to one of the most profitable rackets in consumer history.
You’d think I would learn, but I have been victim to this ritualistic savagery many times before and I am sure I will prove my weakness again.
Rating: 2 / 5