(Pictures taken with a LG9400 camera-phone)

Last week, my parents had a guest from Chicago who brought with him a care package of Portillo’s food. This has turned into a tradition for the past few years for us in Phoenix. I recently introduced Joy to the pleasure of this food as well and she is hooked now. I have always wanted to return to Chicago to do the simple things and in this post, I hope to hit on the big ones. Being born and raised in Chicago, there are a few things I need to require a vistor to do:

1) Visit a Cubs game (even if you are not a fan)

2) Visit downtown for the museums and Sears Tower

3) Eat a Deep Dish pizza (Either Lou Malnati’s or Pizzeria Uno’s, NOT the chain places outside of Chicago.)

4) Eat an Italian Beef. This one is a little tricky to some because it is essentially served like a French Dip sandwich but do not get it confused. The difference being an Italian beef is rubbed with spices, peppers, and you heat the beef in the au jus that you serve with it.

And last but not least, 5) Eat a Vienna Beef hot dog.

Oh, sure, the last one is probably common in your area by now, but have you noticed that is expensive? You are paying for the shipping from Chicago, really. Another thing to note. Do not read the nutritional label. You are getting this hot dog on a need-to-have basis. Besides, you are not in a diet if you do not allow yourself to cheat. You’re in the Second City, enjoy the flavor!

I have recently learned there are a few rules about eating a Chicago style hot dog:

1. -When making the dog in “The Works” fashion, the order and selection of your toppings is extremely important.
   Taken from Chicago HotDog.com:
   -Yellow Mustard
   -Bright Green Relish
   -Fresh Chopped Onions
   -Two Tomato Wedges
   -A Pickle Spear or Slice
   -Two Sport Peppers
   -A Dash of Celery Salt
2. Your bun will have poppy seeds and is steamed. Not fried, grilled, or cold. Steamed. So it is soft. If you can get it, I recommend S. Rosen’s for your hot dog holder. A quick Google search will have several outfits selling the packages online.
3. Any stand will do. Do not be afraid if the place you pick is a little ratty. It is supposed to be that way. I would at least recommend getting your dog at a restaurant and not a street vendor so you can pick up some fries and a drink as a combo.
4. While the above website says microwaving your hot dog is okay, I will add this to the rules of NOT doing. The optimal way would be a steam bath (Not boiling water!), followed by a good grilling. Leave the microwave for those Oscar Myer hot dogs.
5. This one is i m p o r t a n t! Did I stress that enough? good.
   In this image, I have performed a cardinal sin of the Chicago dog:Yes. There is not supposed to be ketchup (catsup, tomato paste, etc.) on your Chicago dog.

If you follow these simple rules, you will have enjoyed the finest hot dog in the US. The Chicago dog is often imitated but never replicated. I hope that this has enticed you to travel abroad and experience the joy that is the Vienna Beef Hot Dog.

There’s a new place in North Phoenix for healthy eating. It is tucked away off Camelback and 16th Street but don’t let the strip mall location scare you from trying this place. It’s Zoe’s Kitchen. It’s a quaint cafe-like place that serves up amazing dishes that are full of flavor and eye-appeal but are prepared without deep frying.

I visited this place using a free coupon that was given to the office and no one claimed it. They missed out on a great deal because this place did not disappoint on anything. This place offers a great vast array of great dishes, sandwiches, and salads. My coupon got me a platter of quesadillas. These were out of this world! It was not your usual quesadilla at all.

Chicken, spinach, scallions, and feta melted slightly between tortillas with a scoop of rice pilaf. I saw some of you drooling at the sound of that combination. It tastes just as divine as it it sounds. I wish I had a camera so I could share the awesome appearance of the quesadilla for you all. Even Joy, who says she doesn’t like wraps, said she would devour this dish from Zoe’s.

There’s locations in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Give this healthy alternative to the ordinary a try if you have one in your area! Enjoy!

You have heard us comment about the place, now it is time for me to review the place that we have referenced about: Sauce! It’s the pizza and wine restaurant concept from Fox Restaurants (No relation to the Rupert Murdoch corporation) that offers a variety of specialty flat-bread pizzas, salads, sandwiches, and pastas.

Continue Reading

Over the weekend, Joy and I had our share of visiting friends. When I was waiting for her at the local outlet mall, I decided to pick up a digital kitchen scale. If it were not for Alton Brown and his several episodes about weights and volume and the flour test, I would have been none the wiser to the value of this contraption. My brother-in-Law’s brother uses his scale to measure out his meal portions and he says he’s sticking to it. So I picked one up and then I realized what the first meal prepared with this scale would be. Breakfast.

It was 12:05 on Sunday afternoon, so you know what that means; its breakfast time! Please join me and my assistant Teddy in making this breakfast perfect.
Continue Reading

In case you missed anything the past week, I’m here to tell you what we had here:

• Chocolate Dipped Marshmallow Cake Cones – Ice cream cones filled with homemade strawberry marshmallow, topped with devil’s food cake and dipped in Callebaut milk chocolate
• Sedona Sights — photos of pretty Sedona, AZ from our weekend trip
• Boiled Beef Soup — mommy’s Filipino recipe of her childhood favorite comfort food called “Nilagang Baka”. Made with beef soup bones, beef brisket, cabbage and spinach. Great for the cold winter days.
• Chocolate Covered Craving — We asked YOU what kind of chocolate you want. So far the Dark Chocolate camp has the majority of votes. You can still vote here.
• In Defense of Milk Chocolate – Milk chocolate has been neglected and have been dissed by chocolate purists for years, but it’s now making a comeback.
• Rotelli with Shrimp in Creamy Drunken Tomato Sauce – Pasta in tomato sauce with creme fraiche and a kick of white wine.

Here’s a peek at what we’ll be featuring this week:

• Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding Pie
• Comfort Beef Stew
• Linguine with Beef and Mushroom Cream Sauce

Next week we are also going to have a weekly roundup of recipes and articles we like from other websites.

Are you having an Oscar’s Party tonight? What are you going to eat?! What’s a-cookin’ in your kitchen? We are going to make cinnamon rolls! Yipee!

If you want to eat something that is not the usual, in Phoenix it is not that hard to do. Once you go outside city limits it becomes less and less likely you will find something unique. Tea Light Cafe has been around the Valley for almost a year now in North Scottsdale and we enjoyed our dining experience there every time.

You may think we are nuts, but Tea Light Cafe is another restaurant in the North Scottsdale 101 shopping center. (We have a few more places to review in this place, the rest are just fast food places.) What makes this place different is that it is Vietnamese dishes. We tried to find a website before this post, but it did not happen. They have none. A simple Google search will give many other site reviews. I think I will add one more to that list now.

Unique is a great name to describe this little cafe off the beaten path. They have a cute little setup for seating a few families only because of the small space they have for sitting. Don’t let the small place fool you, however, Tea Light Cafe is full of flavors. Pho, Chicken, brisket, and more.

Don’t let the Pho scare you. Simply speaking, it a giant bowl of beef and noodle soup. There are obviously other flavors in the bowl, but I recommend you try it out! When we visited on Friday, I tried the chicken sandwich. An unbelievable change of pace that was perfect for a night out. I wish I knew what it was about the chicken’s flavor and the dressing because it was neither bland or mayo.

Come on over to this North Scottsdale location for lunch or dinner. You will not be disappointed. I hope to see you there soon. Enjoy!

We have been good about cooking at home lately and on Thursday Joy was not feeling that great and I did not want to screw up in the kitchen (Read: Forgetting to put the pan on the right burner. Please PLEASE tell me I am not the only one this has happened. Right?) After coming home, relaxing a bit, and watching some interesting TV, we decided to grab some eats. Since it was getting late on a weekday, our options were limited, especially where we are located.

There’s a place in North Scottsdale that has suffered the same fate as other restaurants in the area. Joy and I saw a place change from Ippei to Spicy Tuna. We did not want to return to Buffalo Wild Wings if we could avoid it on Thursday night so we knew where we wanted to go. We pulled up to the place late at about 10PM. Here is my take on the new place.

Continue Reading

Taken from the Williams-Sonoma Sale post, I made two cups of the Peppermint Hot Chocolate for the first time while putting the finishing touches on my other webpage, Tech Hub. If you have picked up a tin after reading the post, the important thing to know is following the directions precisely.  There is a little blurb about heated cups so microwave your cups for one minute.

One thing I noticed in the process, when heating the milk it says to watch for bubbles around the edges. There were bubbles when I poured the milk! So I waited for more bubbling to appear and by the time it happened, a thin layer of film was over the heated milk. I had to skim it off and put in the measured chocolate. 

It says to use 5 tablespoons per 1 cup. I measured it out and in case you don’t feel like counting it out, the loose equivalant is about 1/4 cup. This makes for a really rich and creamy chocolate. It also makes for the best tasting hot chocolate you will ever drink. Joy made a comment after her first sip that the regular chocolate version would be perfect with churros.

We took the marshmallows to the concotion. The picture you see above was taken when a chocolate one was first dropped into the drink. Shortly after thereafter, the marshmallow started to melt, adding more goodness to the drink.

I made another couple of cups the following night. Instead of waiting for the bubbles to happen, I heated the milk at medium heat and waited for steam to come off the saucepan.  This made for perfect temperature cocoa that could be enjoyed once it has been mixed. There was also no skimming needed!

If the tins are still available at your local Williams-Sonoma, I still recommend you get either of the chocolate variety the have available. Enjoy!

Next to the local movie theatre, there is a strip mall. Logic would say that with the proximity to the movie theatre, a resturant should be sustainable. This location in particular has changed 3 times since the area has been open. There is a lot of competition around the area, especially with Buffalo Wild Wings directly across from this location, but the latest resturant to reside is Cafepino.

Joy and I decided after watching Cloverfield if it was still open, we would visit. We crossed the threshold just shy of 11PM.

Continue Reading

I found myself looking for another great dining experience in Phoenix. In the same shopping center where you can find Delux, there was a place that gave the impression of an Irish bar. Looking further at the name of the place, I decided to spend my lunch hour there.

The place is Keegan’s Grill and Taproom. Please read on if this experience can be enjoyed by anyone in Phoenix.

Continue Reading