Happy New Year!

  

It's New Years Eve and what better way to celebrate the end of the year than going out to grab some grub! Wayne and I wanted to celebrate with a bit more flair so we decided to go to Sprout in Lincoln Park. I've always wanted to try this place, along with The Girl and The Goat, Grace and Alenia. :) So I was pretty excited.

Now, you would think that Sprout would be geared towards more vegetarian chic dishes but nope! They're more contemporary French/American cuisine. Plus the Executive Chef is Dale Levitski from season 3 of Top Chef.  Chef Levitski also opened up a restaurant called Frog n Snail (which I also would like to try) that focuses on more European classics. However, Sprout does cater to vegetarians by having a vegetarian New Years Eve dinner offered along with their five course meal special. 

 

When you first walk into Sprout, the first thing you may notice is how small the restaurant is. Despite that minor detail though, the atmosphere has a classy yet comfy feel to it. We had a 7:15pm Reservation so the restaurant was a little slow at first. But it began to pick up halfway through our meal. 

 

We were first given a pumpkin squash appetizier to start off with. It had nuts and a gingerbread topping. I thought it was really neat was that it came with a cute itty bitty spoon and that it was served in an actual egg shell. 

After the little pumpkin egg we were then given the Lobster. It had butternut, armagnac, cream and crab. I have to say that this was my favorite dish out to the meal. The smooth butternut squash base added a nice touch to the lobster. It was as if the squash flavor softened the lobster so the seafood taste was subtle instead of overpowering. While the slices of chips added a nice crunch to the soup without taking away from the flavor.  I felt that every element of the dish complimented each other, creating a nice symphony of flavors on the palate.

The gnocchi dish was Wayne's favorite. It had black truffle, cauliflower mash, kale and Ossau-Iraty. Fun fact, ossau-iraty is a creamy, rich yet smooth French cheese made from sheep's milk. Apparently the cheese is produced traditionally. As the sheep get to graze in mountain pastures. I also liked how the served the gnocchi with three pieces. I'm not a huge fan of gnocchi because it can be too filling, but the smaller portion was just right. As the dish gave enough to make your mouth savor it, but not too much where it was overwhelming.

Yup. Sipping my drink like a lady :)

 Haha. He's such a cutie.

The Quail was another one of Wayne's favorites. If you haven't seen our previous posts, Wayne really likes foie gras. So the fact the quail had foie gras made his day. The quail was delicious it was moist but still had a bit of gamy texture with it. I've never actually ate quail before. I've had quail eggs but never quail. I think quail is like duck in its gamy texture. Despite that fact though, the texture complimented the dish quite nicely with the corn grits.

The venison was a very tasty dish. It had Glögg, chestnut, cauliflower and goat cheese. I'm not a huge fan of venison but what was great about this dish was that the Glögg (a nice mulled Swedish Wine) added a nice hint of sweet-fruitiness to the meat without taking away from the texture of flavor of the venison. There was also a goat cheese stuffed prune which was really delicious too.

Last but not least for dessert we got three different types of cream puffs of milk chocolate, caramel and vanilla.  There was lingonberry berry jam, and decorative candied sugar web over the cream puffs. To top off our dessert, we also ordered a cappuccino. The coffee was really rich yet smooth. The cream puffs were pretty good, however, I felt like they were kind of rushed. The outside of the puff was kind of crispy instead of fluffy and the decorative sugar webbing was very pretty but difficult to eat.

 But to end on a sweet note, we were given free homemade cookies after our meal! It was very nice and they were very yummy!

Thank you to everyone who follows us!

We wish everyone a Happy New Year! See ya 2012!

May 2013 bring more wonderful opportunities and memories along the way!!!!!!!

 

As always,

"The Couple that Grubs Together,

Stays Together"
-Grub Couple-

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Noodles!

 

Tonight Wayne and I went to Urban Belly for dinner around Avondale. We were craving something affordable yet tasty and Urban Belly definitely met our requirements.

When you get to the restaurant it's in a tiny plaza next to a laundromat. At first we thought it was closed because the lights inside are kind of dim. But thankfully for our stomachs, it wasn't.  Once you walk in you instantly see its not your normal place to eat. For one thing there's communal tables. In other words, don't be the jerk that sits in the middle of the table. But I think it's BYOB, so you do have the potential to make friends. :)  If you can get over that initial shock that you will probably have to sit with a complete group of strangers, it's a great place to get delicious noodles and dumplings. The atmosphere is casual and can be quick because you can order carryout. 

 

Plus I really liked reading about Chef Bill Kim's philosophy for Urban Belly. On their website it says, "Urbanbelly is about the communal dining experience. Meet new people. Eat great food. Feed your belly from the heart."

In my personal opinion, eating good food and being around the people is a form of happiness. I don't believe that materialistic things can make you happy. They can sustain your happiness for a little bit. Happiness is a revolving emotion. Some days you're happy and some days you can't find the happiness. And there are some people are constantly searching for happiness. When in reality, it is right in front of them.  I strongly believe that being around good people who make you feel good about yourself/make you better person, can be the best route to happiness. But anyway, I digress...

THE FOOD:
For appetizers we ordered the lamb & brandy dumplings and the duck & pho spices dumplings. And wow, these dumplings were really delicious. The duck dumplings had a little subtle kick of spice. While the lamb and brandy dumplings were fried tasty little pockets. I think my favorite dumpling was the duck though.

 

 YAY dumplings!

For entrees, I ordered the Rice Noodles and Wayne got the Urban Belly Noodles.
The Rice noodle had hominy, kimchi and a spicy pork broth.  I thought that the kimchi made the noodles taste really good. Then again I'm biased because I'm South Korean and Koreans love their kimchi. :)

 

Rice Noodle Bowl 

But if you're looking for something with a little more spice then this is the noodle bowl for you.  The only downside I saw with the Rice Noodles was the fact that there was too much Tteok (떡) or rice cake. If they had cut them smaller or added less it would have been perfect in my book. As for Wayne's Belly Bowl, I thought it was really tasty. However, I quickly got bored with the taste. Probably since I like my noodles to be a bit spicier. But if you're looking for a safer choice, or something a little bit heartier then this may be the noodle bowl for you.

 

Urban Belly Bowl

In short our verdict is, if you're too lazy to make your own ramen and want to take a person out for a date (but still haven't made it to the intimate stage) this might be a good place. Or if you just want Ramen Noodles after a long day of work, you should check this place out. :)

As always,

"The Couple that Grubs Together,

Stays Together"

-Grub Couple-

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