First Slice Pie Café
4401 N. Ravenswood Avenue, Chicago, Illinois; Phone 773-769-4226
Date of Review: April, 2009
This is one of my favorite Chicago hidden gems and also one of my favorite lunch spots. This cozy 20 seat café is located in Ravenswood between Montrose and Irving Park within the Lillstreet Art Center. The Lillstreet Art Center supports the arts through an artist residency program, gallery, studio space, education and outreach program. The art center has a jewelry shop inside that sells pottery and jewelry and offers art classes for both children and adults. I have spent many afternoons reading the Economist or the newspaper, enjoying a gourmet sandwich and a large unique coffee mug (made in the art center) full of wonderful coffee. It is nice to know that the wonderful food all contributes to a great cause also. First Slice Pie Café has a subscriber program where an individual or family picks up a week’s worth of convenient, home-cooked, restaurant-quality meals each weekend and part of the subscription cost directly contributes to funding the same high-quality meals for people in need. They also have a community-supported kitchen (in another location) where volunteers and staff serve hot, high-quality three-course meals to approximately 100 men, women, and children. There are many kitchens that serve food to the needy but what sets First Slice Pie Café apart is the quality of the food. They use local organic ingredients and they serve the same high quality food to the needy that the subscribers and the people who dine in the café enjoy.
They have excellent soups, sandwiches and baked goods (cookies, pies, etc.). They also have quiches, tamales and fantastic assorted salads. I have never had anything I haven’t liked here and everything is freshly prepared. I usually opt for the sandwiches. There are a few seasonal sandwiches that rotate on and off the menu like the excellent lamb burger but some of the staples include the Duck and Mozzarella, Pear and Cheese, and Ham and Cheddar with Grilled Onions. The food is gourmet so all of the sandwiches have a twist with some kind of red pepper or garlic aioli or fruit chutney with some caramelized or grilled onions or sautéed spinach. This is far from a deli. They also have excellent desserts (hence the name) including Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, Michigan Sour Cherry Pie, Blueberry and Apple Pies to name a few along with cookies and lemon squares among their sweet selections.
Prices range from $5-10 for almost everything on the menu.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Venice, California (Eclectic) - Gjelina
Gjelina
1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA; Phone 310-450-1429
Date of Review: April, 2009
Rarely do I write reviews of restaurants outside of Chicago. However, sometimes a restaurant location or the way a particular meal touches me in just the right places inspires me to break my pattern and venture outside of Chicago in one of my reviews. A lunch date on Good Friday in April, 2009 is one of those times and Venice Beach and Gjelina are my inspiration.
As I walked around Abbot Kinney road in breathtaking Venice Beach, California on a sunny 70 degree day and tried to think how I could somehow increase my earning capacity to allow me to live in this setting year round, I was in a splendid mood. I walked into one gallery, furniture or clothing shop after another realizing quickly that I couldn’t afford anything. What I could afford though was food and drink. We walked by the Library Ale House in addition to other restaurants that caught our eye buy my fiancé Ivy mentioned a place called Gjelina and we decided to give it a try. Although there were many other wonderful options around us and our mind was still fresh with the memory of the excellent Happy Hour sushi dinner we had last night at Chaya, going to Gjelina proved to be the right decision.
The restaurant is unmarked with dark wood paneling on the outside and many windows allowing much light inside. We actually walked around the side and entered the restaurant through the patio entrance. The patio is outstanding and this is where we dined. It is situated in the back of the restaurant, seats 20-25 and gives one the feeling that they are sitting in someone’s very cool backyard. Casual but chic, there are fire pits that can be turned on to keep you warm and a view through a window into the kitchen. The inside of the restaurant is just as impressive with the same stone floor inside that is on the patio, a bar interestingly set behind glass, tables and lots of light. Gjelina looks cool, feels cool and is cool. However, the food is what sets apart this hip restaurant from many others that try to be the same thing.
The menu has starters, pizza, sandwiches and a variety of plates with fantastic vegetable side dishes that should not be underestimated. We decided to try a variety of dishes to get the full effect as plate sharing seems to be the norm based on the others enjoying lunch on this afternoon. We started with some refreshing drinks including the ginger Italian soda and a fresh lemonade / ice tea hybrid (better known as the Arnold Palmer – by the way, did he really invent this drink?) Our first dish was the PEI mussels steamed with ale, tomato and chorizo sausage in a savory broth with 2 slices of grilled bread for dipping. The mussels were tender and had excellent flavor. The sausage was a nice twist and we ended up using our spoons to eat the large bowl of broth as if it was a soup. Our next dish was the pizza and it was tough to select one based on the interesting variety of options available. Our selection featured thin slices of spicy sausage, a bit of mozzarella and shishito (a mini, sweet-hot, thin green pepper that is popular in Japan). This was a nice combination of flavors and the paper thin crust and fresh toppings made for a solid pizza. While I was satisfied, this was my least favorite dish and that says more about the rest of the menu than of my disappointment with the pizza. Maybe I was just jealous watching the guy across from me bite into his lamb burger. The chickpea stew with greens, Israeli couscous, spiced yogurt and Harissa (spicy red sauce) was outstanding. This dish would be great on a fall or winter day in Chicago. It was colorful and had just the right combination of colors (swirls of red and white) and flavors. Our last dish was the brussel sprouts with bacon and dates. This side dish was quite a combination of flavors that I saved for my last few bites despite a very full stomach. Sweet gooey dates, the roasted bitter flavor of the brussel sprouts and smoky bacon are a blend I will not soon forget and plan to try and replicate in my own kitchen. All of the vegetable side dishes I saw come out of the kitchen looked splendid including the French fries.
We had 4 dishes, 2 drinks and a ginger beer (which I wouldn’t order again) for a total of $92 and that included tax and tip. Gjelina isn’t cheap but we ordered 4 dishes and were on vacation justifying a more expensive lunch. What we got in return was one of the best and most innovative meals I remember having in some time. I plan on definitely visiting Gjelina again the next time I am in Los Angeles.
1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA; Phone 310-450-1429
Date of Review: April, 2009
Rarely do I write reviews of restaurants outside of Chicago. However, sometimes a restaurant location or the way a particular meal touches me in just the right places inspires me to break my pattern and venture outside of Chicago in one of my reviews. A lunch date on Good Friday in April, 2009 is one of those times and Venice Beach and Gjelina are my inspiration.
As I walked around Abbot Kinney road in breathtaking Venice Beach, California on a sunny 70 degree day and tried to think how I could somehow increase my earning capacity to allow me to live in this setting year round, I was in a splendid mood. I walked into one gallery, furniture or clothing shop after another realizing quickly that I couldn’t afford anything. What I could afford though was food and drink. We walked by the Library Ale House in addition to other restaurants that caught our eye buy my fiancé Ivy mentioned a place called Gjelina and we decided to give it a try. Although there were many other wonderful options around us and our mind was still fresh with the memory of the excellent Happy Hour sushi dinner we had last night at Chaya, going to Gjelina proved to be the right decision.
The restaurant is unmarked with dark wood paneling on the outside and many windows allowing much light inside. We actually walked around the side and entered the restaurant through the patio entrance. The patio is outstanding and this is where we dined. It is situated in the back of the restaurant, seats 20-25 and gives one the feeling that they are sitting in someone’s very cool backyard. Casual but chic, there are fire pits that can be turned on to keep you warm and a view through a window into the kitchen. The inside of the restaurant is just as impressive with the same stone floor inside that is on the patio, a bar interestingly set behind glass, tables and lots of light. Gjelina looks cool, feels cool and is cool. However, the food is what sets apart this hip restaurant from many others that try to be the same thing.
The menu has starters, pizza, sandwiches and a variety of plates with fantastic vegetable side dishes that should not be underestimated. We decided to try a variety of dishes to get the full effect as plate sharing seems to be the norm based on the others enjoying lunch on this afternoon. We started with some refreshing drinks including the ginger Italian soda and a fresh lemonade / ice tea hybrid (better known as the Arnold Palmer – by the way, did he really invent this drink?) Our first dish was the PEI mussels steamed with ale, tomato and chorizo sausage in a savory broth with 2 slices of grilled bread for dipping. The mussels were tender and had excellent flavor. The sausage was a nice twist and we ended up using our spoons to eat the large bowl of broth as if it was a soup. Our next dish was the pizza and it was tough to select one based on the interesting variety of options available. Our selection featured thin slices of spicy sausage, a bit of mozzarella and shishito (a mini, sweet-hot, thin green pepper that is popular in Japan). This was a nice combination of flavors and the paper thin crust and fresh toppings made for a solid pizza. While I was satisfied, this was my least favorite dish and that says more about the rest of the menu than of my disappointment with the pizza. Maybe I was just jealous watching the guy across from me bite into his lamb burger. The chickpea stew with greens, Israeli couscous, spiced yogurt and Harissa (spicy red sauce) was outstanding. This dish would be great on a fall or winter day in Chicago. It was colorful and had just the right combination of colors (swirls of red and white) and flavors. Our last dish was the brussel sprouts with bacon and dates. This side dish was quite a combination of flavors that I saved for my last few bites despite a very full stomach. Sweet gooey dates, the roasted bitter flavor of the brussel sprouts and smoky bacon are a blend I will not soon forget and plan to try and replicate in my own kitchen. All of the vegetable side dishes I saw come out of the kitchen looked splendid including the French fries.
We had 4 dishes, 2 drinks and a ginger beer (which I wouldn’t order again) for a total of $92 and that included tax and tip. Gjelina isn’t cheap but we ordered 4 dishes and were on vacation justifying a more expensive lunch. What we got in return was one of the best and most innovative meals I remember having in some time. I plan on definitely visiting Gjelina again the next time I am in Los Angeles.
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