Archive for August 2008

Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile my healthy eating plans with my endless appetite for frozen sweets. I love ice cream, sorbet, gelato, and frozen custard. Milkshakes bring me to the yard. Luckily, I discovered a delicious new frozen snack at Starfruit. Located on Division Street in West Town, just south of Wicker Park, Starfruit is a great place to meet your friends for frozen kefir.

Starfruit opened early in 2008 with a new approach to cold confections. They serve organic kefir, a dairy product similar to frozen yogurt with cultures that aid digestion and help the body process calcium. Kefir is usually found in liquid form in grocery stores, much like a smoothie. The drink originated in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia, and as its popularity spread west, flavors were added. After enjoying the sweet/tart flavor of kefir drinks, I moved on to Starfuit, the only Chicago shop that sells the soft-serve, frozen form.

If your friends know and love frozen yogurt, they will appreciate kefir even more. Starfruit serves Lifeways frozen kefir, with vanilla and different fruit flavors like peach, strawberry banana and pomegranate. Cappuccino is my all-time favorite, combining creamy chocolate and coffee flavors. Like the frozen yogurt shops I miss from the 1980s, Starfruit has plenty of toppings to mix with the kefir. You can have a healthy parfait with California green grapes and walnuts or go totally hedonistic with Butterfinger bits and mini chocolate chip cookies. The peach kefir goes very well with mochi balls, for a peaches and cream type parfait. Smoothies here provide plenty of calcium, protein and Vitamin C, with the option of seasonal fruit like Washington cherries or exotics like Brazilian goji berries. Your health nut friend and your chocoholic friend will both appreciate Starfruit. The cappuccino smoothie with Butterfinger bits is my favorite summer treat, and I can still tell people it’s a health food.

All the organic kefir cups, parfaits and smoothies cost between $4 and $7, so you can afford to treat your friends. This is also a good spot for parents to bring their kids for a dessert or after-school snack. You can tell them it’s healthy after they try it and like it. Best of all, Starfruit’s friendly servers will let you sample the flavors and help you pick out tasty combinations of toppings and kefir. Every time I visit, the service is excellent and unhurried. The cool white restaurant interior and its outdoor metal tables and chairs are always spotless.

Frozen yogurt is back in fashion and kefir is the next delicious step. Treat your friends to something new today at Starfruit. Be sure to ask for a punch card, so your tenth frozen dessert will be free.

Chicagoland is full of Irish bars but not all of them offer the food, coziness and Irish music that distinguish a pub from your basic American sports bar. One of the friendliest and most modestly priced Irish restaurant is The Celtic Knot in Evanston. Unlike some of the louder pubs, this one makes a great date spot because of its menu and the snug, a dining room separate from the bar. The Celtic Knot’s live Irish music on Tuesdays and Storytelling in the Snug on Sundays make for a unique date. Whether your date likes to sip whiskey at the old wooden bar or eat dinner behind the curtained windows of the snug, The Celtic Knot is sure to please.

The Celtic Knot’s authentic menu serves up plenty of stew, salmon, oysters, lamb and chips with gravy or curry. The Full Monty Irish breakfast with bangers, bacon, sliced tomato, mushrooms, black and white pudding and fried bread. For $11.99, that‘s all the sausage you can dream of and breakfast and lunch in one meal. The corned beef sandwich comes on brown bread with melted Swiss cheese and thick-cut, lean corned beef and a side of chips. Stew with beef and Guinness or traditional shepherd’s pie with onion, peas and duchess potatoes will warm you up on a cold day. In hot weather, try one of the excellent salads. I enjoyed my salmon, white bean and red onion salad on mixed greens, a fresh spin on traditional salmon. You can also treat your date to crab cakes with smoked salmon and red pepper sauce ($7.99) or dare each other to slurp some oysters ($8.50 for half a pound.) The sides of brown bread, Heinz beans and even mushy peas keep the menu traditional and the fish and chips comes wrapped in newspaper ($11.99). The Celtic Knot does not offer one lone corned beef sandwich surrounded by the usual chicken wings and PBR, like some wannabe Irish bars I could name.

For a great finale to a meal here, split a dessert. Try the traditional sticky toffee pudding ($7) chocolate cake or bread and butter pudding with whiskey caramel sauce ($7.50). The elegant vintage cheese plate with raisins, apples and nuts also appears as a dessert option. For total decadence, share a dessert combo for only $8.99 and find a favorite sweet.

As in Ireland, you can order beer by the pint or half-pint here (20 or 10 glasses). I like the 10 ounce Guinness and my friends recommend Smithwick’s a lighter lager-style Irish beer. The wine menu offers a good mix of American and imported reds and whites, most for under $10 a glass. Your whiskey choices include Jameson, Bushmills (S7) and aged Scotches, like the 12-year-old Glenlivet ($8). If your date likes sweet drinks, suggest the unique Celtic coffee made with Tia Maria and whipped cream.
Music

The house band played mostly instrumental Irish music, always at a pleasant volume so diners can converse. The instruments include a fiddle, string bass, banjo and mandolin. I really enjoyed the traditional music and the theme from the “real party” in Titanic. The music, fine food and coziness of The Celtic Knot will soon make it a favorite date spot.

Art lovers around the world know the paintings of Frida Kahlo, haunting self-portraits, Aztec inspired symbols and fearless feminist images. Very few, however, get to enjoy this Mexican painter’s other creative gift - her culinary skill. Chicago sisters Marlene and Lidia Benitez are changing that. Their restaurant, La Cocina de Frida, pays homage to Kahlo’s art and prepares delicious meals using her original recipes. The simple elegance of the food and décor will impress any date, especially an art lover.

As you make your way up Clark Street in Andersonville, look for the brown awning that simply says “Frida.” Notice the many versions of Frida’s paintings on the walls, and the beautiful portrait of her with calla lilies, painted by her husband Diego Rivera. If the weather’s hot, proceed to the cool, shady patio. If not, stay inside and enjoy the art and the brightness of the pink and orange room. Most tables seat two and the quiet, modestly-sized dining room allows for long conversations. Service is friendly, but never intrusive. Order a cerveza or wine from the full bar. I enjoyed the margarita, served in a pint glass with salt.

As Frida probably knew, a shortcut to the heart of a man or a woman is through the stomach. Start your meal with an appetizer like the guacamole de Frida with queso fresco, or the ceviche, a simple, addictive mix of shrimp, avocado, tomato and red onion ($8). The crimson salsa is smoky hot but won’t scald your tongue; spices are used wisely here. Offer your date some corn comfort food with the popular tamales ($2 each), baked fresh here every day.

Many dishes give you the option of steak, chicken, shrimp or beans and cheese. The Mexican cheeses nicely balance the spicy dishes. Vegetarians and others will appreciate plentiful, unique vegetables like the traditional grilled cactus salad, pickly yet crunchy, flecked with white cheese. I ordered La Bomba de Frida, an explosion of chorizo, ham, pork, pineapple, red and green bell peppers, crowned with melted manchego cheese and cilantro, with tortillas. There was plenty to share, so I sampled and traded with my dining partner, who enjoyed the special carne in chipotle, chicken with a white sauce of Chihuahua cheese smoked chipotle peppers, with a side of beans and cactus salad.

You can finish your meal on a romantic, traditional note with a thick slice of flan ($4). The creamy caramel flan sits in a light cinnamon sauce with a cherry on top. Or warm up with a big mug of hot cocoa; the original food of love from Mexico.

In a city with hundreds of good Mexican restaurants, La Cocina de Frida is a great one.