Loyal followers of this blog will have already read Valentine’s Day Part 1: Cards, Flowers and The Kitchen. What? You are not a loyal reader? That’s OK. Go read Part 1. I’ll wait.
For some of you, Valentine’s Day, Part 1 may have looked like plenty of celebrating for one day: cards, flowers, a nice brunch, Champagne and some quality time in the afternoon. What more could you possibly do? Well, I’m a romantic. In fact (shameless plug alert!), I helped photographer and author Rolando Gomez write a book, Taming the Trouser Snake on how men can be, among other things, more romantic.
One of the best selling books of all time (over 50 million copies and counting) on the differences between men and women is John Gray’s Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.
I read this book when it was first published in 1993. How you react to the tone, content and advice will very much depend on your age, sex and the status of whatever relationships you may be in. Thousands of reviews have been written, so I won’t bother to add another, except to say that there are some useful, biochemical and psychological facts presented in a clear and often amusing way. I have found many of these concepts helpful in my own relationships over the years.
The book has been turned into a musical play and a full-length movie starring Reese Weatherspoon is said to be in development. The most popular adaption has been a one-man, off-Broadway play written by Eric Coble. As luck would have it, a version of that play was in Chicago on Valentine’s Day, so I snagged a couple of tickets to take Valeria, who had never read the book.
The Chicago play starred a comedian named Josh Hyman. (Pausing for jokes and laughter about a guy who’s last name is “hyman” talking about relationships with women.) The original book was written with plenty of humor, so I was expected a lot of the information in the book to be presented with lots of laughs. It turned out to be more of a comedy routine loosely based on the book with a few video clips, some featuring John Gray himself, covering some of the meat of the book. I wouldn’t suggest that this play will give men a complete understanding of women or vice-versa. However, I think most couples would get a few laughs, a few poke-each-other-in-the-robs moments, and maybe take home a few more serious points to consider applying to their relationship. I know Valeria and I laughed a lot and enjoyed cross-referencing what we heard to our own relationship and other things we have learned from Taming the Trouser Snake, John Gray’s books and other authors such as Mark Gungor.
All in all, it was the perfect piece of theater for Valentine’s Day: light, funny and designed to bring couples closer.
All that laughing, thinking and bonding takes energy, however, so we were pretty hungry by the time the play was over. Continuing the day’s theme—quality time together—I chose a place for dinner where the emphasis could be on us talking and flirting rather than on a spectacular meal served with great flair and showmanship (there will be plenty of time for those the rest of the year). I made a reservation at Beatrix in River North (there is also a Streeterville location; both are listed at the end of this blog entry). Beatrix has been on my list of places to try for quite a while. It is relatively casual and inexpensive, but, by all accounts, the food is excellent. The menu tends toward comfort foods that are often given a makeover to more modern, healthier versions. It is part of the Lettuce Entertain You group, which, as I have written about before, includes a number of good to great restaurants in many styles and price points, from fast food burgers (M Burger) to Michelin ★ temples of Haut Cuisine (Tru).
The restaurant is very modern and open, much like The Kitchen where we had eaten earlier in the day (that was a coincidence, but let’s just go with the idea that I brilliantly planned matching decor for the two meals). Since we had been to the theater before dinner, I did not carry my camera with me (theaters tend to frown on people bringing professional-looking cameras) so I had only my trusty iPhone to grab a few photos. Blogger Lauren Folkmann did a nice review of Brunch at Beatrix a while back, and she included some nice photos of the interior and exterior if you like to take a look there.
It was dinner time for us, though, so we started with cocktails and a nibble. (You can peruse the drink menu and the dinner menu at the restaurant’s web site.)
The Deviled Eggs were really tasty. There was more emphasis on the “potato salad” than the “deviled.” The potato had not been puréed to a super-smooth paste, but rather had just a bit of texture left that was nice. I could taste the mayo, mustard, celery and capers. I might personally have added a bit more Dijon or a splash of hot sauce to give them little more spice, but that is just personal taste.
The featured cocktails at Beatrix are made with top-shelf liquor and, as much as possible, with fresh juices that are squeezed in house. My Whiskey Sour featured Old Overholdt Straight Rye Whisky with fresh lemon juice and some unidentified bitters. Old Overholdt is about the only straight rye whiskey (meaning it is made using 100% rye grain) available. (Most American and Canadian whiskeys are made from some combination of rye, wheat, corn and/or barley). I like a good dose of rye so rye whiskies appeal to me, not that I don’t like a good bourbon (which is mostly corn based) as well.
A whisky sour is a classic (first known reference is from 1870), simple cocktail that is perfect when made correctly, an abomination when abused. By “abused” I mean using bottled or old lemon juice or adding too much sweetener (usually simple syrup, a 50/50 mix of water and sugar). Pure, freshly squeezed, lemon juice, please. Or use a mixture of lime juice and lemon juice if you like (as I sometimes do), but, if you pull out the bottled sour mix, the Cocktail Police will haul you away in chains. You should be able to clearly taste the excellent rye or bourbon you have used, with a fresh, clean taste of citrus and just enough sweetness to take the acidic edge off of the juice. You can use just about any kind of bitters you happen to have on hand, from the classic Angostura to orange to any of the exotic house-made bitters featured behind many top bars these days. The bitters are the seasoning for the drink, like the herbs and spices in a chicken recipe. Swap out the oregano for some thyme or rosemary and you have a subtly different dish; use different bitters and you have a subtly different cocktail.
Valeria’s Spicy Bloody Mary was made with house-made tomato juice, Grey Goose Le Citron Vodka, Tabasco, Worcestershire and celery salt, garnished with a single celery stalk and lime wedge. Once again, the bartender kept it simple and classic. Too many fern bars turned the Bloody Mary into a vegetable salad, competing to see who could get the most stuff sticking out of the glass: celery, carrots, olives, pickles, green onions…please stop!
The bloody Mary was born when Americans fleeing Prohibition and Russians fleeing the revolution met up with a French bartender named Ferdinand “Pete” Petiot in Paris at Harry’s New York Bar. The bar had literally been taken apart in New York City and moved to Paris. The American’s brought canned tomato juice (a new thing at the time) and the Russians brought vodka. Petiot didn’t care for either straight up, so he started mixing and blending and eventually came up with a recipe that included tomato juice, vodka, lemon juice, black pepper, cayenne, salt and Worcestershire. At it’s birth, it was named “Bucket of Blood” after a west-side Chicago nightclub. There is controversy about just where, when and why the cocktail was first called a Bloody Mary, but it seems to have happened in the 1930s. (For a complete history of this drink, including Ernest Hemingway’s detailed recipe, take at look at this article from Esquire magazine.)
If there is one dish that sums of Beatrix, it might be the Turkey, Sweet Potato and Kale “Neatloaf.”
The “Neatloaf” is made with ground turkey and a high proportion of kale, sweet potato and perhaps some other veggies mixed in. I often use the same concept at home. I use a food processor to mince a bunch of red bell pepper, garlic, onion, edamame, carrots and any other veggie that catches my eye in the refrigerator. I mix about 1 part veggie mixture with 2 parts ground turkey and season it up with salt, pepper, Tabasco (usually the Chipotle), tomato paste, whatever herbs I feel like. The mix gets portioned into a muffin tin to bake individual meatloaf “muffins.” Yum.
Beatrix’s “Neatloaf” was darn good, too. Baked in a loaf, then sliced, sautéed to give nice brown crust, and served with a vegetable velouté-ish sauce, it was moist and flavorful. The kale and cauliflower completed the dish. Healthy Comfort Food.
For the record, I am officially over kale, even if it is still considered some kind of healthy superfood by true devotees. Yes, it can be tasty properly sautéed with some garlic or simmered in a good soup or even chopped up and baked in a meatloaf. However, my theory is that the people who grow spinach conspired to make everyone eat kale to make spinach taste better. (Oh, c’mon, you’ve heard far crazier conspiracy theories than that!) Think about it. Spinach is easier to cook, cheaper, less bitter, more tender and also very nutritious. After eating some poorly prepared kale, spinach is a treat.
And while I totally support creating dishes with lots of veggies and leaner cuts of meat, the best meatloaf ever created was my mom’s, made with the classic mixture of pork, beef and veal.
It was Valeria, of course, who chose the Neatloaf. I had to go for the burger. No, really, I had to. I have an ongoing research project to analyze all the burgers in town.
Beatrix makes it’s burger with juicy prime beef (prime = fat = yum), classic egg bun (choose whole grain, if you prefer), house-made giardiniera (a Chicago touch), and your choice of aged white cheddar cheese, Wisconsin swiss cheese, or havarti. I chose the classic cheddar and was anxious to try the Kennebec fries on the side.
The burger was excellent. Juicy, cooked to my specification (medium) and flavorful. The bun was the perfect size (one of my pet peeves is when the bun is too large for the burger patty or vice-versa) and had enough texture to hold together through the entire burger without overwhelming the meat.
Giardiniera is an Italian condiment that is beloved in Chicago, especially on Italian beef sandwiches but also on hotdogs and just about anything else. It is classically made by picking vegetables (typically red and green bell peppers, celery, carrots, cauliflower and cucumber) in vinegar then storing them in oil. Chicago-style giardiniera is made spicy with sport and/or serrano peppers. The Beatrix version was delicious. I don’t remember ever putting giardiniera on a burger before, but I will again.
Giardiniera is quite easy to make, although it takes a few days for things marinate properly and for the flavors to come together. You can find a recipe for home-made spicy giardiniera from Chicago’s own Jeff “The Sandwich King” Mauro here. Milder versions (often used on those heavenly Muffuletta sandwiches in New Orleans) add just a trace of red pepper flakes, as in this recipe. Almost any supermarket will have at least one, and probably several, brands of giardiniera to chose from. Find one that suits your taste if you’d rather not make your own. (There is a lot of variation in flavor, crunch and heat levels between brands. You can read one foodie’s opinions here.)
Now about those fries. The Kennebec is a specific kind of potato, like a Russet or a Yukon Gold.
They look a lot like the common Russet, beloved for baking and fries, but they have a thinner skin and lower moisture content. They have been a preferred potato by potato chip makers for years, but have recently become popular for making fries in trendy restaurants. The thin skin makes it unnecessary to peel the potato (if, indeed, it is ever really necessary) and the low moisture content helps it to fry up quickly, crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. To be honest, if you simply put a serving of these fries in front of me I am not sure I would immediately know what potato was used. There is such a huge variation in the flavor, shape, texture and seasoning of French fries from restaurant to restaurant that relatively subtle differences between potatoes are easily lost. Maybe I should do some blind taste tests to compare fries made with several different kinds of potato. So much research to do, so little time! Regardless, the fries at Beatrix were made as I like them: relatively thin, lightly salted, crisp outside, tender inside.
Overall, we really enjoyed the meal. Our server was terrific. The music could have been a touch softer with all the hard surfaces in the room, but we were able to carry on a conversation just fine. We will definitely be back to Beatrix, probably at the Streeterville location that is actually closer to our condo.
It was too cold and damp to walk back home, so we called Über and were soon safe and warm looking out over the city. Valentine’s Day had been a great success from first to last. I earned a lot of points that day. I wonder how long it will take me to do something stupid and lose them all?
Beatrix – River North
Address: 519 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654
Phone: (312) 284-1377
Reservations: opentable.com
Website: http://beatrixchicago.com
Dress Code: Casual Elegant
Price Range: $30 and under
Hours: Lunch & Dinner
M-Th 11:30am-10:00pm
Fri-Sat 2:00pm-11:00pm
Sun 2:00pm-9:00pm
AMEX, Discover, MasterCard, Visa
Beatrix – Streeterville
Address: 671 N. Saint Clair, Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: (312) 642-0001
Reservations: opentable.com
Website: http://www.beatrixchicago.com/
Dress Code: Casual Elegant
Price Range: $30 and under
Hours: Breakfast: Mon-Fri 7am-11am
Brunch: Sat-Sun 8am-3pm
Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30am-4pm
Dinner: Sun 4pm-9pm
Mon-Thu 4pm-10pm
Fri-Sat 4pm-11pm
AMEX, Discover, MasterCard, Visa
Chicago, IL 60611 Chicago, IL 60654
The slideshow contains some images not included in the text.
All images were taken with an iPhone 6 Plus using ambient light. Post-processing in Adobe Lightroom® and Adobe Photoshop with Nik/Google plugins.
