Tao
The Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas NE; Phone 702-388-8338
Date of Review: May, 2006
Located in the Venetian hotel, I challenge anyone with any interest in Asian culture to pass by this venue without stopping in for at least a drink. If you can, you have more will power than I. After meandering through the Venetian hotel, I made my way towards the light outside but paused when I caught a whiff of a nice fragrance. After realizing that this aroma was coming from the restaurant I just walked by, my interest was piqued enough for me to turn around and do a bit more investigation. I was taken in immediately as the entrance to the restaurant is lined, on both sides, with large sunken tubs filled with water and various different kinds of flower petals. After a quick glance inside, I knew where I was having dinner on this particular evening.
Tao’s atmosphere begins with bathtubs full of flower pedals which open out into a fantastic Asian accented lounge area that has the feel of a club. The Asian accents are ever present as you move from one room to the next. This is the type of place where you might spot a Hollywood power couple. Tao is that cool. Tao is a 42,000 square foot entertainment complex that features the aforementioned lounge and restaurant, banquet facilities and a nightclub. No worries if the nightclub atmosphere isn’t for you. You probably won’t even see it. I didn’t. With velvet and silk prominent throughout an atmosphere that is accented by waterfalls and a hand-carved 20-foot-tall Buddha floating peacefully above a pool complete with Japanese carp, dining at Tao is much more than a meal. It is an experience.
The menu is varied (Pan-Asian) but Tao specializes in Hong Kong Chinese, Japanese and Thai cuisine. The variety of delicacies available includes sashimi with different types of dipping sauces, innovative sushi rolls, lobster wontons, Peking duck and a Wasabi Crusted Filet Mignon.
During my visit, I dined with my friends Andy and Marcia. We started with yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno and Ponzu sauce. The fish was succulent and fresh and the Ponzu sauce was a nice contrast to the fresh fish and jalapeno flavors. We continued with the Thai Stuffed Shrimp with Garlic, Lime and Thai Chili Sauce and the Lobster Wontons with Shiitake Ginger Broth. I think the sentence above gives enough perspective regarding the flavorful combinations in these 2 dishes. Both were absolutely wonderful. We continued with the Peking duck. We took turns picking different things to eat and this was my choice. I love duck but this was my first experience with Peking duck. I now understand what I have been missing. With the flavors of the crispy and scrumptious duck accented by slivered spring onions and hoisin sauce all combined in a mushu wrap, this was a delectable combination of flavors that I could not get enough of. I put the exclamation point on this entree by disregarding everything I know about health and eating every piece of crispy duck skin left on the plate.
For dessert, we had the Giant Fortune Cookie which was filled with white and dark chocolate mousse. Visions of cracking the crispy crust of this massive fortune cookie with my spoon to delve into two kinds of mouthwatering chocolate mousse are still very much fresh in my head.
It is impossible to really find value at a restaurant as exclusive as Tao. When you walk into the restaurant and take a look around, you know it is going to be very expensive. That said, it is undoubtedly worth every penny spent. We chose 1 bottle of wine from the extensive and impressive wine list to go with four different dishes and a dessert. The cost was $220 plus tax and tip and it was worth every cent.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Chicago (Italian) - Rose Angelis
Rose Angelis
1314 West Wrightwood, Chicago IL; Phone 773-296-0081
Date of Review: May, 2006; updated May 2008
This neighborhood Italian joint offers large portions of solid, standard and somewhat innovative Italian food. It is my favorite Italian restaurant in Chicago.
This is a very romantic restaurant. It feels like you are eating in a home. The entrance has a warm, cute bar with some tables where you can enjoy a drink as you wait for your table. There is also a nice outdoor area off to the left of the bar entrance. The restaurant opens up into 3 additional adjoining rooms that give you the feeling that you are moving through a home. The tables are close together and the restaurant fits in with its location between 2 homes on a quiet side street.
For appetizers, I really enjoy the bruschetta and the “special” whole wheat pizza. The vegetable laden pizza had a very tasty wheat crust that added to, rather than detracted from the pizza. In addition, I highly recommend the minestrone soup. I am not even a big fan of minestrone soup but it will definitely be the appetizer I order the next time I visit the restaurant. The grilled calamari steaks sautéed with spinach and onions in a spicy balsamic sauce with toast points is solid and the sauce really makes this dish.
The menu is heavy on pasta but the chicken marsala and fish specials are very good also. On the innovative side, the duck filled tortellini is one of those rare “must try” entrees on a menu that immediately catches your eye. The wine and cognac reduction sauce is a good accompaniment to the flavors of the duck and the spinach, mozzarella, and tomato that are layered throughout the dish. Rose Angelis specializes in different types of ravioli’s. I have been particularly impressed with the salmon filled ravioli and the ever changing special ravioli. On other occasions, I have enjoyed the pumpkin filled ravioli and the cherry, walnut and portobella mushroom ravioli. The linguini al frutti di mare features fresh linguini served in a tomato white wine sauce with mussels, shrimp, calamari and scallop garnished with parmagiana cheese. It is one of the best renditions of this dish I have had as the home-made pasta is outstanding.
On the down side, I wasn’t blown away by the asparagus wrapped in prosciutto appetizer and thought the huge portion of lasagna was awfully cheesy, but lacking in taste. The appetizer salad for the table was nothing special.
For dessert, the bread pudding with caramel sauce is enough for 3-4 people and is one of my favorite deserts in Chicago. The strawberries in caramel and the chocolate mousse assortment are also very good.
The service is excellent and the servers here are ripe with suggestions. Most of the servers have a “flavorful” persona that suits the environment of the restaurant. This is not a formal atmosphere and this comes through in the personalities of the servers.
On my last visit, we had 3 appetizers, 3 entrees and a dessert for 81$ plus tax and tip. We had 5 people eating but did a lot of sharing because the portions are so large and we still left with a take home bag. We only had 2 drinks total so that helped keep the price low. I don’t think you will find many other restaurants in Chicago that give you large quantities of good food at such great prices.
1314 West Wrightwood, Chicago IL; Phone 773-296-0081
Date of Review: May, 2006; updated May 2008
This neighborhood Italian joint offers large portions of solid, standard and somewhat innovative Italian food. It is my favorite Italian restaurant in Chicago.
This is a very romantic restaurant. It feels like you are eating in a home. The entrance has a warm, cute bar with some tables where you can enjoy a drink as you wait for your table. There is also a nice outdoor area off to the left of the bar entrance. The restaurant opens up into 3 additional adjoining rooms that give you the feeling that you are moving through a home. The tables are close together and the restaurant fits in with its location between 2 homes on a quiet side street.
For appetizers, I really enjoy the bruschetta and the “special” whole wheat pizza. The vegetable laden pizza had a very tasty wheat crust that added to, rather than detracted from the pizza. In addition, I highly recommend the minestrone soup. I am not even a big fan of minestrone soup but it will definitely be the appetizer I order the next time I visit the restaurant. The grilled calamari steaks sautéed with spinach and onions in a spicy balsamic sauce with toast points is solid and the sauce really makes this dish.
The menu is heavy on pasta but the chicken marsala and fish specials are very good also. On the innovative side, the duck filled tortellini is one of those rare “must try” entrees on a menu that immediately catches your eye. The wine and cognac reduction sauce is a good accompaniment to the flavors of the duck and the spinach, mozzarella, and tomato that are layered throughout the dish. Rose Angelis specializes in different types of ravioli’s. I have been particularly impressed with the salmon filled ravioli and the ever changing special ravioli. On other occasions, I have enjoyed the pumpkin filled ravioli and the cherry, walnut and portobella mushroom ravioli. The linguini al frutti di mare features fresh linguini served in a tomato white wine sauce with mussels, shrimp, calamari and scallop garnished with parmagiana cheese. It is one of the best renditions of this dish I have had as the home-made pasta is outstanding.
On the down side, I wasn’t blown away by the asparagus wrapped in prosciutto appetizer and thought the huge portion of lasagna was awfully cheesy, but lacking in taste. The appetizer salad for the table was nothing special.
For dessert, the bread pudding with caramel sauce is enough for 3-4 people and is one of my favorite deserts in Chicago. The strawberries in caramel and the chocolate mousse assortment are also very good.
The service is excellent and the servers here are ripe with suggestions. Most of the servers have a “flavorful” persona that suits the environment of the restaurant. This is not a formal atmosphere and this comes through in the personalities of the servers.
On my last visit, we had 3 appetizers, 3 entrees and a dessert for 81$ plus tax and tip. We had 5 people eating but did a lot of sharing because the portions are so large and we still left with a take home bag. We only had 2 drinks total so that helped keep the price low. I don’t think you will find many other restaurants in Chicago that give you large quantities of good food at such great prices.
Chicago (Italian) - Pizza D.O.C.
Pizza D.O.C.
2251 West Lawrence Avenue, Chicago IL; Phone773-784-8777
Date of Review: May, 2006
So, what does D.O.C. stand for? It actually stands for "Denominazione Di Orgine Controllata", a term used on Italian wine labels to convey both the excellence of a product and the care with which that product was made. Take it from the owner’s themselves, “We insist on excellent ingredients and attention to their preparation, which is the reason we call ourselves "D.O.C."
Pizza D.O.C. is a very romantic restaurant. It makes you feel like you are in a restaurant in Italy. There is a “community table” in the middle of the restaurant where you can select items like marinated zucchini or eggplant for your antipasti plate which contributes to a warm, comfortable environment. Most of the servers, based on their accents, seem to be of Italian descent. There is a not a large waiting area but there is a small, cute bar at the back of the restaurant where you can enjoy a drink and wait for your table. The restaurant is active, just like in Italy and has a wood burning oven in full view as you pass by to go to the bathroom. If you want an Italian oasis in Chicago, this is the place.
Pizza D.O.C. has generous size portions of absolutely very good, authentic Italian food. Everything about this place screams Italian, making it a favorite of the Italian immigrant community. On my visit, we started with the Insalata Tricolore and we both enjoyed it. Consisting of arrugula, endive, beets and parmigiano shavings in a light lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil dressing, this salad went very well with the fresh, home baked bread. The menu is loaded with different pastas and pizzas that I will continue to sample as I visit Pizza D.O.C. again and again. On this evening, we shared the pizza porcini. The ingredients – tomato sauce, mozzarella, porcini mushrooms – were simple but the taste was definitely not. To start with, the pizzas are cooked in a wood burning oven. This makes for old style Italian crust that is somewhere between thin crust and New York style chewy crust. It doesn’t get soggy no matter how long you take to finish your pizza. The crust is chewy but not too much and a bit sweet. There is just the right amount of extremely tasty sauce as it doesn’t overpower the flavors of the mushrooms or mozzarella. To be honest, I am still wondering how a pizza with so few ingredients could be so flavorful. I guess that says a lot about the quality of the ingredients. The pizza is big enough to share with another person along with a salad or appetizer but eating the entire pizza yourself as an entrée would not be a problem.
For desserts, we had the panna cotta and the pistachio gelato. The panna cotta was simply scrumptious. This creamy, egg-less vanilla bean based custard that is topped with caramel sauce is a worthy, if not superior, comparison to flan or crème brulee. I would actually describe this dessert as refreshing. The pistachio gelato made me look around and ask myself, “Where am I? Am I in Chicago or Vivoli’s in Florence?”
The service is somewhat offbeat but very attentive. It is offbeat because this is a “real” Italian restaurant and I would expect nothing less than this type of service. This is the kind of place where your waiter notices the attractiveness of the women who just entered the restaurant or complements you on your own date. Like I said, this place is truly Italian.
The food is reasonably priced. Our total bill was $57 plus tax and tip for a salad, pizza, 2 desserts and three glasses of wine.
2251 West Lawrence Avenue, Chicago IL; Phone773-784-8777
Date of Review: May, 2006
So, what does D.O.C. stand for? It actually stands for "Denominazione Di Orgine Controllata", a term used on Italian wine labels to convey both the excellence of a product and the care with which that product was made. Take it from the owner’s themselves, “We insist on excellent ingredients and attention to their preparation, which is the reason we call ourselves "D.O.C."
Pizza D.O.C. is a very romantic restaurant. It makes you feel like you are in a restaurant in Italy. There is a “community table” in the middle of the restaurant where you can select items like marinated zucchini or eggplant for your antipasti plate which contributes to a warm, comfortable environment. Most of the servers, based on their accents, seem to be of Italian descent. There is a not a large waiting area but there is a small, cute bar at the back of the restaurant where you can enjoy a drink and wait for your table. The restaurant is active, just like in Italy and has a wood burning oven in full view as you pass by to go to the bathroom. If you want an Italian oasis in Chicago, this is the place.
Pizza D.O.C. has generous size portions of absolutely very good, authentic Italian food. Everything about this place screams Italian, making it a favorite of the Italian immigrant community. On my visit, we started with the Insalata Tricolore and we both enjoyed it. Consisting of arrugula, endive, beets and parmigiano shavings in a light lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil dressing, this salad went very well with the fresh, home baked bread. The menu is loaded with different pastas and pizzas that I will continue to sample as I visit Pizza D.O.C. again and again. On this evening, we shared the pizza porcini. The ingredients – tomato sauce, mozzarella, porcini mushrooms – were simple but the taste was definitely not. To start with, the pizzas are cooked in a wood burning oven. This makes for old style Italian crust that is somewhere between thin crust and New York style chewy crust. It doesn’t get soggy no matter how long you take to finish your pizza. The crust is chewy but not too much and a bit sweet. There is just the right amount of extremely tasty sauce as it doesn’t overpower the flavors of the mushrooms or mozzarella. To be honest, I am still wondering how a pizza with so few ingredients could be so flavorful. I guess that says a lot about the quality of the ingredients. The pizza is big enough to share with another person along with a salad or appetizer but eating the entire pizza yourself as an entrée would not be a problem.
For desserts, we had the panna cotta and the pistachio gelato. The panna cotta was simply scrumptious. This creamy, egg-less vanilla bean based custard that is topped with caramel sauce is a worthy, if not superior, comparison to flan or crème brulee. I would actually describe this dessert as refreshing. The pistachio gelato made me look around and ask myself, “Where am I? Am I in Chicago or Vivoli’s in Florence?”
The service is somewhat offbeat but very attentive. It is offbeat because this is a “real” Italian restaurant and I would expect nothing less than this type of service. This is the kind of place where your waiter notices the attractiveness of the women who just entered the restaurant or complements you on your own date. Like I said, this place is truly Italian.
The food is reasonably priced. Our total bill was $57 plus tax and tip for a salad, pizza, 2 desserts and three glasses of wine.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Chicago (Vietnamese) - Hai Yen Restaurant
Hai Yen
1055 West Argyle Street, Chicago IL 60640; Phone 773-561-4077
Date of Review: May, 2006; updated May, 2008
Located on Argyle Street right off of Broadway in the Vietnamese section of Chicago (better known as Little Saigon), Hai Yen is my first choice for Vietnamese food in Chicago. The atmosphere is basic, yet pleasant and suits the restaurant’s philosophy of a fresh, quick meal at good prices. This restaurant is very clean.
The key word I would use to describe the food at Hai Yen is “fresh” as everything I have sampled is tasty and freshly prepared. The Green Papaya Salad with Shrimp and Pork is an excellent starter as the shredded green papaya, carrots, onions, shrimp, pork, fresh mint and peanuts are in perfect contrast to the sweet and tangy lime dressing that this mixture was tossed in. I also highly recommend the grilled beef spring rolls (Bo Cuon) and the Banh Xeo. Banh Xeo is a Saigon style crepe made from rice flour that is filled with shrimp, pork, and bean sprouts and is served with vegetables and a lime dipping sauce. As soon as I saw this on the menu, I knew I had to try it as I remember having this dish in a small local restaurant in Saigon some years back and have fond memories of being the only tourist, or at least Caucasian one, in this crowded restaurant at that particular time.
For entrees, I recommend the charbroiled pork meatballs that are served with an egg roll on top of vermicelli rice noodles. They are served with fresh mint, basil, rice paper and a sweet and sour lime sauce. Much like a fajita, you combine a bit of each of these ingredients in a piece of rice paper and bite into some gorgeous flavors. I also recommend the Pho. Pho is a traditional Vietnamese soup that offers an intriguing composition of carefully arranged layers of noodles, vegetables and meat surrounded by a hot, rich broth that is spiced with anise, cloves and roasted ginger in addition to fresh basil, cilantro and sometimes even mint. Another favorite of mine is the Chao, rice porridge with a combination of pork, meatballs and/or assorted seafood. It is nourishing, tasty and filling. I recommend sticking close to the Vietnamese menu options and straying from the Thai style options like meat or seafood with vegetables as these menu options are decent, but nothing you can’t get at any other restaurant.
The service is basic and efficient; it suits the restaurant. It is definitely prompt and if you want to have a quick meal and leave quickly, this is the perfect place.
The portions are large and the prices are reasonable. On our last visit, we had 2 appetizers and 2 entrees for $30 including tax and tip.
Try the fresh fruit drinks with tapioca and ask the servers to point you in the direction of the dishes that are authentically Vietnamese.
1055 West Argyle Street, Chicago IL 60640; Phone 773-561-4077
Date of Review: May, 2006; updated May, 2008
Located on Argyle Street right off of Broadway in the Vietnamese section of Chicago (better known as Little Saigon), Hai Yen is my first choice for Vietnamese food in Chicago. The atmosphere is basic, yet pleasant and suits the restaurant’s philosophy of a fresh, quick meal at good prices. This restaurant is very clean.
The key word I would use to describe the food at Hai Yen is “fresh” as everything I have sampled is tasty and freshly prepared. The Green Papaya Salad with Shrimp and Pork is an excellent starter as the shredded green papaya, carrots, onions, shrimp, pork, fresh mint and peanuts are in perfect contrast to the sweet and tangy lime dressing that this mixture was tossed in. I also highly recommend the grilled beef spring rolls (Bo Cuon) and the Banh Xeo. Banh Xeo is a Saigon style crepe made from rice flour that is filled with shrimp, pork, and bean sprouts and is served with vegetables and a lime dipping sauce. As soon as I saw this on the menu, I knew I had to try it as I remember having this dish in a small local restaurant in Saigon some years back and have fond memories of being the only tourist, or at least Caucasian one, in this crowded restaurant at that particular time.
For entrees, I recommend the charbroiled pork meatballs that are served with an egg roll on top of vermicelli rice noodles. They are served with fresh mint, basil, rice paper and a sweet and sour lime sauce. Much like a fajita, you combine a bit of each of these ingredients in a piece of rice paper and bite into some gorgeous flavors. I also recommend the Pho. Pho is a traditional Vietnamese soup that offers an intriguing composition of carefully arranged layers of noodles, vegetables and meat surrounded by a hot, rich broth that is spiced with anise, cloves and roasted ginger in addition to fresh basil, cilantro and sometimes even mint. Another favorite of mine is the Chao, rice porridge with a combination of pork, meatballs and/or assorted seafood. It is nourishing, tasty and filling. I recommend sticking close to the Vietnamese menu options and straying from the Thai style options like meat or seafood with vegetables as these menu options are decent, but nothing you can’t get at any other restaurant.
The service is basic and efficient; it suits the restaurant. It is definitely prompt and if you want to have a quick meal and leave quickly, this is the perfect place.
The portions are large and the prices are reasonable. On our last visit, we had 2 appetizers and 2 entrees for $30 including tax and tip.
Try the fresh fruit drinks with tapioca and ask the servers to point you in the direction of the dishes that are authentically Vietnamese.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)