Lillie's Q

Barbecue is quickly becoming the next cupcake in Chicago, I can think of at least five nouveau places opened recently or opening soon. The gold standard is Smoque, but Lillie's Q is proof that there are contenders to challenge for the crown. Brick walls and a small, unassuming room with a blackboard drink menu offer nothing of the nuances to come. That drink menu features several mixed drinks containing a boutique, small batch corn whiskey, which added a nice bite and depth to an Arnold Palmer. The menu isn't long, but it doesn't need to be. Three appetizers, ten or so entrees, a few sides and a pair of desserts are more than enough to satisfy a picky eater. From the appetizers, fried pickles are fantastic. The batter is similar to tempura, which leaves them relatively light and not at all greasy. They performed well as a blank canvas to test out the six sauces left at the table. Carolina and Smokey were two favorites. As for entrees, the pulled pork with slaw sandwich on a fluffy brioche was a bit flavorless, but that was remedied quickly with lashings of the slightly spicy Smokey sauce. The tri-tip sandwich was another story. Pink and smoke-flavored, it surpassed Smoque's brisket in flavor. However, on a second visit, the same meat was chewy and tough. A side of baked beans was sublime; brown sugar and maple flavors pushed the beans past a thin, bland mac and cheese. A side of green beans was deliciously slick with butter and studded with bacon. Service was friendly, and the owner stopped by to discuss his triumphant Memphis in May BBQ contest victories. Lillie's Q definitely has a fighting chance in this city as well.

Kendrick Meek

Shouldn't the White House be offering Kendrick Meek a plum job right about now? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Islamophobia...

in America is scaring the hell out of me. Politicians railing against members of a certain religion, blaming them for wrongs assailing our country, asserting they aren't like us, have cult-like practices, want to impose their way of life on us and are abnormally powerful, and stirring up a general mistrust and hatred of a religious group reminds me of Berlin in oh, say, the early 1930's. While rights for groups such as gays seem to progress, some politicians (Michele Bachmann, Sue Myrick just off the top of my head) seem to prefer the rights of Muslims be curtailed. Why? They surely are aware of crazy Christians and Jews and Sikhs and Quakers in this country who dream of killing in the name of their religion. Fire breathers like Hannity and O'Reilly invented a war on Christmas after some corporations decided to switch to "Happy Holidays", but when religious rights are actually being infringed upon, where are those self-appointed defenders of freedom of religion?

Go Ahead, Have That Paraguayan Mango

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/opinion/20budiansky.html?_r=1

Coq d'Or

Amongst the restaurants in the venerable Drake Hotel, the Coq d'Or is by far my favorite. As a child, I was in love with the since-closed Oak Terrace, with its elaborate sundae bar and gorgeous views of Michigan Ave and the lake. Within the last several years, it was replaced by Drake Bros, a by the numbers steak restaurant that failed to inspire a return visit. I've also enjoyed the Cape Cod Room, a musty old warren of rooms designed like an 1850 man-o-war (it may have been crewed by some of the ancient waitstaff). But the ship is cozy and romantic with its side by side booth seating and well kept by its crew. The quality of the seafood is impeccable, even though the dining room is rarely even half full anymore, the restaurant still delivers a pleasurable experience. Of course, the Palm Court is nice for a drink but the hidden gem of the hotel is indeed the golden rooster. It's been one of my favorite restaurants since I was little; when I began going there with my family. The bar began serving five cent glasses of whiskey the day prohibition ended and today serves $18 executive (meaning double) martinis. The small rooms, low ceilings, murals depicting French sailors and lanterns create a womblike effect. The menu changed repeatedly as it attempts to remain current in an odd contrast to the setting. The constants are clam chowder from the Cape Cod Room (the best in the city), Bookbinder's soup (a red snapper broth served with a miniature snifter of sherry that's never been to my taste), and a club sandwich. The Coq d'Or is in no way a place to be seen, but the personal connection I've developed over my life makes it a very special place for me. Plus, it's an unbelievable date spot (classy, cozy, and lots of alcohol).

PGA Championship

As I sit here watching the PGA Championship, I'm struck by the fact that golfers are extremely humble athletes, at least in public. Excessive celebration is rare, players are self-effacing and quick to point out flaws in their game or poor shots from the previous round. Golfers are an exception to the rule that athletes are always thanking God for victories. When a player is four or five over, he has no one to blame but himself. I also think golfers have much more respect for their sport and its officials than other athletes; this probably stems from golfers calling their own fouls, enforcing the rules themselves. The rules of golf are sacred, every golfer understands this. From the first day a young golfer picks up a club, he learns both official and unofficial rules which are enforced by sanctions, both official and unofficial. If a player hits a ball in a tough yet playable spot, he cannot kick the ball without incurring a serious penalty. If a player talks during another's backswing, he likely won't be invited to play again. Essentially, being a golfer means bringing an honorable and respectful attitude to the course which is less than can be said for other sports where the goal is winning at all costs.

Big Dreams and Little Dreams

This post is about dreams. I recently saw the movie Inception. Though many have pointed out that the story is not original (stealing secrets from dreams was part of the plot of an old Ducktales cartoon), and even the director Christopher Nolan admittedly borrowed from many sources in his filmmaking, at least it's no Avatar, which is literally the story of Pocahontas. Inception is very well done with a story that holds the viewer's attention with the exception of a few small lapses nearing the end. Dreams are spun within dreams, subconsciouses are delved, theories are held forth on the nature of dreams. Some of the movie is dull action sequence, while less is genuinely creepy, and Ellen Page as Ariadne did an excellent job lending an aura of unsteadiness to what could have been a simple heist movie. There are rules, and there are secrets. One scene especially stood out to me; when Ariadne visits Cobb (DiCaprio) in his own dream state. She takes a literal elevator down to his figurative memories and sees his lost wife's manifestation. The way Page whispers to Mal (Cotillard); it feels like her fear is palpable and thus shared with the audience. The scene feels like something we all do; bury things we don't want to think about.

Little dreams can leave impressions too, but it's more difficult to remember them sometimes. To illustrate, I recently dined at Piccolo Sogno (little dreams). I was unimpressed. The restaurant is nicely decorated in a sort of mismatched manner, chandeliers are strewn about closely to each other, there's a lot of white space and tables seem oddly grouped together. The real winner is the large patio with its high ivy-covered walls and more mismatched furniture. Dinner, for a place that has had so much buzz, was generally a letdown. Fried squash blossoms filled with fontina and drizzled with a sweet tomato sauce was the only dish to leave an impression. The peach salad with beets and goat cheese was fine, and the burrata with cullatelo was obviously enjoyable as it would be to anyone with taste buds. Branzino, presented whole then roasted and served with a nice citrus broth and cippolinis was well prepared but forgettable. A perfectly al dente pasta with veal ragu was better, a gnocchi with tomatoes wasn't. Though it's always nice to dine at an Italian restaurant in a predominately red sauce town that knows there's more to Italian cuisine than whatever parmesan or vesuvio (Club Lago, j'accuse), Piccolo Sogno simply didn't make the grade.

Question

I recently read "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn. In it, a character speaks about feeding the hungry. We shouldn't feed the hungry, he says, because feeding the hungry leads to more population growth, which means more mouths to feed, so we must devote more energy to producing additional food; essentially we can never truly feed the hungry. Of course this sounds cruel and horrifying, but the book speaks about civilizations and humans surviving on Earth over millions of years. Our population is exploding. Is this something we can do anything about?

Part of This Complete Breakfast

Who most egregiously overestimates the intelligence of Americans? Junk food advertisers and politicians are two that quickly come to mind. Whenever a sensible bit of legislation is proposed that say, limits soda sold in grade schools, or requires listing trans fats in donuts, just as predictably as right-wingers yelping about the nanny state, allies of Big high fructose corn syrup (advertisers, industry lobbyists, etc) proclaim that Americans are smart enough to know that too much trans fats or high fructose corn syrup or whatever additive is only harmful in large amounts. While the science may be true, while consuming trace amounts of Red No. 45 may be harmless, most Americans have no idea what's healthy and what isn't. We can blame small servings sizes or huge portions but the truth is that most Americans are not smart enough to understand healthy eating. Studies have been done by groups such as the CSPI that demonstrate that Americans are clueless when asked to estimate how many calories are in a dish. In fact, they consistently underestimate. Sugary cereals are given check marks from the AHA and other healthy sounding seals of approval. If junk food merchants are to continue to push the foods they do, they should carry something akin to the surgeon general's warning on cigarettes warning people that consuming in excess of moderation may cause serious health problems such as obesity and diabetes.

I'll save politicians for another post.

Piece of Advice

I recommend that you do not click on the "Next Blog" link in an attempt to see if there are any other intelligent people using a free, easy blogging service. There aren't.

Misused Words

Unique. Something cannot be a little unique, more unique, or less unique. Something is either unique or it isn't.

Girl and the Goat

I dined at Stephanie Izard's new restaurant last night. Having never been to Scylla, I was looking forward to seeing what she can do. I wasn't disappointed, but the concept seemed cookie cutter. Bring me food from Mado, Bristol, or the Publican, all of which I have enjoyed, mix the dishes up and I'd have no clue what came from where. Obviously this sort of hearty, butcher's block communal tables upon which all sorts of animal parts in different configurations are served place is popular. It isn't fussy and it tastes good. But let's not go crazy every time another place opens that will fry pig feet or whip liver into butter. Our arteries would want us to exercise restraint. Anyway, everything I sampled was good or great. Kohlrabi salad (essentially cole slaw) with blueberries, escargot with goat meatballs in tomato sauce, ham frites (ham salt shaken over fries), goat flatbread with sour cherry, ricotta, onion and basil (the winning dish), yellow tomato soup with yogurt (thick like vichysoisse), and lastly, a dessert of olive oil gelato, fudge cubes, thin cookie and a stout sauce. There were also old fashioneds as accompaniment. The crowd was lively, the music was 90's, the place was full at 11, but the service was slow and the course pacing was off. Overall, it was very enjoyable.

Batteries Not Included

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/world/middleeast/07tanker.html?hp This sort of attack in the Straits has the ability to paralyze oil shipments, as the article points out. It also has the ability for big anti-American PR victories in the Middle East. Though a lot of this PR is no doubt manufactured by some MENA governments, attacks done by rogue groups against Western shipping interests from Iran controlled territory are no doubt tacitly permitted by Iran in order to drum up some good PR for Iran from those who would love to sell America oil, only to see it never reach America. Rinse and repeat. It's similar to the idea that the Revolutionary Guard was assisting Shia militias in Iraq. Become a regional hegemon by influencing its geographical sphere. Though this bombing was fairly unsuccessful (the tanker was barely damaged and oil prices didn't rise), there's a great solution to what will no doubt soon be frequent tanker attacks; Battery technology.

Though oil is used for more than powering cars, reducing our dependence on oil, both foreign and domestic, will be good for our environment and our R&D departments. Battery powered cars are coming, slowly. They won't be successful until people aren't afraid their battery will run out on the way to Chipotle. New battery technology is an area of interest to me, both to study and invest in.

Misused Words

Disinterested. You sound really stupid if you use this word to mean uninterested.

WWJD (Who Would Jesus Discriminate)

The right to discriminate has been getting a lot of play in right-wing circles. No, I'm not talking about the barely hidden undercurrent of racism that invariably comes up whenever right-wingers discuss our President, or back during the 2000 R-Pres campaign when rumors were circulated in South Carolina about possible nominee John McCain having possibly fathered a black child, costing him that state's primary. I'm also not talking about the onslaught against all things Islam as an evil, hate filled group of cultists hell-bent on suicide bombing baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. I'm actually talking about the gays. Specifically same sex marriage, gay weddings, the abomination that is homosexuality (however you choose to refer to it). I am pro gay marriage. I think that little line in the Constitution about the pursuit of happiness sort of applies here, not to mention basic human rights, whether endowed by God or the state. But that seems to be irrelevant to the right-wing. They argue that traditional marriage will suffer. They argue divorce rates will climb. They argue that children raised in same sex households will be maladjusted. Those arguments are silly and have been debunked, some by Judge Walker in his excellent decision striking down Prop 8.

This post was meant to be about one specific argument that some right-wingers have made; "Our rights are being infringed". The gist of the argument is that since we believe either based on Christianity or astrology or the baby Jesus, that homosexuality is wrong and we're going to speak out against it, donate large sums to outlaw it, and basically attempt to prevent its practitioners from advancing in the public sphere. In the process of attempting to deny a group of people, that group of people and its allies are denouncing us. They call us names like bigot, demonize us, and try to delegitimize our organizations.

Right-wingers argue that they're being persecuted for their beliefs. What they actually mean is "This curtails or denies us our right to discriminate against gays". Once right-wingers admit that it isn't about their right to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and that they simply hate gays, we'll all get along much more fabulously.

Dos Diablos

Ended up at Dos Diablos for a late dinner after the driving range. It was decent, the patio was pleasant, and the micheladas, queso and fajitas were fine but not worth running to get.

A Tavola

Just enjoyed dinner at A Tavola in Chicago. Overall, it was phenomenal. Clearly patronized by a well-to-do clientele, the standards were done well (caprese salad, cheese polenta) and the rest of our order was simple yet satisfying (eggplant caponata, brown butter gnocchi with fried sage, sliced leg of lamb with garlic spinach, chocolate and walnut torte). The waiter was both knowledgable as he spoke about the large number of specials which rival the short menu in length and friendly as he acted as the sole waiter for the smallish dining room. The only negatives were a slightly unkempt dining room and the fact that as we arrived at the door, the waiter was smoking outside. Not the best greeting. However it was quickly forgotten by a restaurant that offered excellent cuisine at a very reasonable price.

Senatorial Misconduct

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/09/100809fa_fact_packer?currentPage=all This is an excellent New Yorker article on my favorite governmental institution, the US Senate. Though it has a bitterly partisan history, full of duels, beatings administered with canes, and ugly arguments over slavery, the body for most of its history has been made up of genteel white males who all got along at the end of the debate. Today, the Senate is made up of genteel white males who mostly despise each other it seems, especially illustrated by some of the anecdotes in this piece. What has changed? The thesis statement here is "Money and special interests have a corrosive effect on a free exchange of ideas and eventual compromise". But there have always been special interests at work in this country. Fundraising has taken on a new importance with massive TV ad buys and political parties hungry for more dollars, true, but I think that what's changed is alcohol. Drinking on the job. As an avid fan of Mad Men, everyone gets along much better after a three martini lunch. In fact, some characters barely tolerate others without a round of scotch. Back in the 19th and early 20th century, except for that brief period of Prohibition, Senators were probably regularly drunk on the job, never mind nights and weekends. This NYer article mentions lunch as a good bonding experience, what about sake bombs? Or a weekly round of beer pong, partnering up each state's Senators in a tournament? I think this would inspire comity and a feeling of "we're all in this together" more than any speech about bipartisanship.

Birchers

http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/08/bob-inglis-tea-party-casualty Who still thinks tea partiers are harmless? They've essentially become modern day John Birchers. Over under 6 months on some of these idiots calling to end fluoridating our water supply?

Fat acceptance

The fat acceptance movement is not new, it's been around for a number of years. Led by groups such as NAAFA and various blogs, the movement seeks to end "fat discrimination", rails against dieting, and tries to engender a feel good message about loving people for who they are and not trying to change anyone. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I don't care what you do to your body as long as I don't have to see you naked. On the other hand, I'll be indirectly paying for your fourth quintuple bypass after you decide to eat foods exclusively from www.thisiswhyyourefat.com. Overall, it seems these fat acceptance people are less happy to be overweight then they are happy to rebel against what they see as societal conventions.

To try

Restaurants in Chicago I need to try: L20, Avec, Sepia, Bonsoiree, Franks and Dawgs, Girl and the Goat, Lillie Q.

ADL, Newt and Palin

Since the last post got me thinking about my religion, I also want to share a thought on the ADL and its opposition to the so-called Ground Zero mosque. I sometimes struggle with the idea of Islam as a peaceful religion while so many of its adherents carry out violence in its name. But building a community center that contains a mosque and is meant to reach out to the area is a noble goal, and I'm ashamed that the ADL, Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin are all on the same side. I read a lot of political blogs, and many of those of the right-wing variety make it sound like our country is under an onslaught; Shariah, Halal, prayer rooms. "The Constitution is not a suicide pact", they proclaim. We shouldn't have to extend the rights we enjoy to those who wish to destroy us, goes the line of thought. But many of these right-wingers (I refuse to call them Conservatives) are too simple or afraid of change to understand that Islam is not the enemy. A recent post on Redstate mused that churches aren't permitted or are heavily limited in Saudi Arabia, so we shouldn't permit this mosque to be constructed. Yep, that argument was made by a writer for a blog which may as well have the mission statement "America Perfect, Rest of World Bad". In fact, that might make a good Republican slogan. It's simple, direct, and good for the semi-illiterate.

Amar'e

So Amar'e Stoudamire is trying to discover his Jewish identity. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQPJ1Ujo7_U As a Jew, I'm slightly amused by this. Maybe he'll be spotted in a Moses piece? Religion as a whole occupies a strange place in sports. Players always thank God after a win but does anyone actually believe God is a Knicks or a Packers fan? Notre Dame fans attend a special mass held before football games. I suppose that thinking God wants you to win the World Series is less harmful than thinking God wants you to run for office or commit genocide. But if there is a God, what would he want?

First Post

Greetings. Welcome to my little pretentious corner of the internet. This blog will be sporadically updated with posts about my two favorite subjects; food and politics. I also enjoy obnoxiously correcting others' grammar and inappropriate humor.