Monthly Archives: September 2008

Sun Luck Garden

September 29, 2008 | by Ben 3

Sarah and I picked up food from Sun Luck Garden lately, which reopened on September 11th after Annie Chiu’s Surgery. Ignore the website’s announcement that they’ll “reopen soon”–they are open.

Takeout is almost as fun as eating in at Sun Luck Garden. The host (who is a bit of a character) kindly offered me a table, gave me a Scene, and asked if I wanted water. Annie came out shortly and thanked me, followed by a third person who gave me my order. As I was leaving Annie was introducing a large table of customers to the extensive, yummy-sounding dessert options.

Sarah and I were very happy with our food. I started with the halibut spring rolls, which were fresh, crispy and spicy. Sarah ordered the Cantonese Special Chow Mein, which was rich, flavorful, and packed with vegetables, chicken and shrimp. I had the pineapple stirfry with chicken, which was also full of fresh vegetables and had a very distinct sweet and … continue reading

Mi Pueblo

September 25, 2008 | by Ben 1

We’ve eaten a few times at Mi Pueblo on Euclid lately, and it’s starting to become habit-forming. Their burritos ($5.50) are a great deal, very tasty, and offer far more variety than you can find anywhere else in the area. I usually go for the frijole (bean), which is filled with refried beans, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. And the picadillo (ground beef) is definitely not standard issue: the cooked carrots and potatoes add a lot of flavor and substance. You also can’t go wrong with the mole enchiladas, the queso fundido (vegetarian, unlike most versions) or, for that matter, anything else we’ve tried on the menu. The pickled carrots along with the salsa on the table is also a nice touch.

Jonathan usually orders the kids’ quesadillas, which have about a half pound of cheese each (we did take out once, and I weighed them).

I was a longtime fan of Mi Pueblo on the West Side when … continue reading

City Fresh

September 21, 2008 | by Sarah 1

A couple of weeks ago we walked by what looked like a tiny farmers market on Coventry Road. We were curious so we stopped by. It was a City Fresh pick up location. I had heard of City Fresh before, but we did not sign up for it because we had a negative experience with a CSA last summer and the pick up time seemed inconvenient.

My opinion changed however when we took a look at what the share holders were receiving. Granted part of the bounty is due to time of year, but the variety was impressive. We were sold, purchased a full ($20) share and eagerly awaited the following week. The first week we received a yellow water melon, tomatoes, apples, garlic, potatoes and more. There was enough of a variety that it was easy to plan dinners around the produce. The produce itself was awesome, and we’ve never before gone through a week’s allotment from a CSA … continue reading

Baked Eggplant “Pasta”

September 12, 2008 | by Ben 0

We recently made Alton Brown’s Eggplant “Pasta” based largely on this YouTube clip:

In order to make it more like real eggplant Parmesan, though, i.e. fried and crusty, I made one modification. After sauteeing everything in my large cast iron skillet (it took about 3 1/2 minutes for two servings, i.e. one eggplant and one tomato from City Fresh), I added the following, in order:

A sprinkling of flourOne beaten egg, spread over the top of everythingA coating of bread crumbs w/some fresh Parmesan

I broiled the whole thing in the skillet for a couple minutes to create a nice crust. Finally, I sprinkled on 1/4 cup or so grated provolone and broiled briefly.

The dish was a yummy hybrid of baked “pasta” and cheesy eggplant Parmesan, but without the heaviness of either as it was neither deep fried nor contained much starch. It also paired very well with the Spaten Optimator I had on hand.

We’ll definitely make this again!… continue reading

Lilly Handmade Chocolates

September 9, 2008 | by Sarah 1

This weekend after another great dinner at the Tap House we decided to make a pit stop at Lilly Handmade Chocolates before heading home. We just made it in before they closed for the night. The store was nicely decorated–it reminded me of the choclatiers we have visited in NYC.

There was a nice selection of hand made chocolates available. There were some traditional flavor combinations like chocolate and peanut butter (one of my favorites) but there were quite a few non-traditional flavors as well. Ben tried the Heather (cayenne and dark chocolate, named after Heather Haviland of Lucky’s Café), the Mike (milk chocolate and bacon–named after guess who) and the Boozie Suzies (cherries soaked in kirsch and enrobed in dark chocolate). They were all flavorful and satisfying, especially the Boozie Suzies, which are much, much better than typical cherry-filled chocolates. Ben decided, though, that he isn’t likely to repeat the chocolate … continue reading

Memphis-Style Ribs

September 6, 2008 | by Ben 1


I recently bought a smoker from Craig’s list for $15 (a Brinkmann Smoke ‘n Grill) and decided to make some Memphis-Style St. Louis ribs for Labor Day. They turned out really well. While indirect grilling on my Weber had worked fine before, true smoking made them even more tender. This was also the first time I’d used a Memphis dry rub (vs. Kansas City ribs, which are typically slathered with barbecue sauce). While I’m used to wet Baby Back ribs, the dry-rubbed St. Louis ribs were meatier and the pork flavor came through more.

The rub and vinegar mop sauces were from Steve Raichlen’s How to Grill. I’d strongly recommend the book if you’re interested in grilling. Like my copy of Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything… continue reading, it’s pretty much falling apart from frequent use. The recipe I made was intended for beef ribs, but it works well for any kind