One great thing about being back in Chicago for work is the chance to see all of my friends that live in the Windy City. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to meet up with my friend, Jack, who recently graduated from college and is starting his career in banking this July. To celebrate, we headed to Il Mulino Chicago, which is the only Il Mulino to change their name (all of the other Il Mulino’s are known as Il Mulino New York, even though they’re in different locations). Il Mulino is in the Biggs Mansion (most people will probably recognize it from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and is absolutely beautiful inside. When we sat down, the waiters immediately came over and brought us a ton of free goodies:

They also serve bruschetta tableside (my favorite out of all of the freebies). None of the free things were that good (the breads were all too hard) and the zucchini was too oily (although it was Jack’s favorite dish).

Since the portions at Il Mulino are pretty large, the waiter suggested we get a half portion of pasta and a main course. We decided to split an order of porcini ravioli in a black truffle/champagne sauce:

I didn’t know there were only four pieces in a half order (it seemed like so little!) but the sauce is really rich and two pieces really is enough (especially since there is so much cream in the sauce). Jack really liked the porcini filling of the ravioli since there was a lot of flavor in the filling (especially since the taste is usually overpowered with the sauce and pasta):

After the porcini ravioli, we had a serving of osso bucco with risotto:

Jack thought the osso bucco tasted like it was drenched in A-1 sauce/came from a can, which I totally agreed with, and the risotti was a little too mushy. The veal was definitely very tender and cooked well (Jack mentions that it falls right off the bone in the video review), but the sauce basically ruined the veal.

For dessert, we ordered tiramisu:

The best thing of the night - I really didn’t plan on eating the whole thing, but somehow it was gone in about 3 minutes. (oops!) Il Mulino finishes off every meal with grappa (a very strong Italian brandy) - they infuse the grappa and change the flavors on a daily basis (we had a sampling of green apple).

Il Mulino Chicago would be a great meal for a winter night (when you don’t feel bad about having an extremely heavy meal), but I practically had to be rolled out of the restaurant after we finished our meal. I might try Il Mulino in New York, but I’ll wait until the winter time when I don’t have to worry about eating a little extra!

My video review of Il Mulino Chicago:

Il Mulino Chicago Review from Grace Yang on Vimeo.

When my friend John came to New York on business, he wanted to try some New York style pizza. I’ve been going to Patsy’s and John’s for pizza for the past year since I know they definitely have quality ingredients and great service, but since we were in the Soho area, we decided to give Lombardi’s a try. When I interned in New York a couple years ago, I never had the opportunity to eat at Lombardi’s, even though everyone says it’s the first place you should go for pizza when you visit. I was a little sceptical about their pizza; everyone that visited New York recommended the place, but no one that lived in New York had ever mentioned Lombardi’s…was it a tourist trap?

The pizzeria is on situated on Spring, alongside boutiques, Little Italy tourist traps, and on the edge of Chinatown. When John and I stopped by with a couple of other friends, we waited about 45 minutes before being seated. Understandable since I’ve waited longer for John’s/Patsy’s. Our waiter took our order (large pizza with pancetta, green onions, mushrooms) and another 45 minutes later our pizza arrived:

First bite: ok, this pizza definitely isn’t as good as John’s.

Second bite: chomp chomp, why is this pizza so freaking salty?!

Third bite: …why are there anchovies on the pizza?

Yeah, not only had the pizza taken forever, they didn’t even get the order correct! We were going to ask them to fix it, but we couldn’t get any waiter to come by our table and we were stuck with an anchovy pizza. The waiter never came by to refill our waters and when John ordered a drink at the bar before we were seated, the bartender was extremely rude to him.

I will NEVER go back to Lombardi’s; their service and food are both TERRIBLE!

How to get to Lombardi’s:

Go to John’s Pizzeria Instead
278 Bleecker Street
New York, NY 10014
212-243-1680

The Spotted Pig, one of my favorite restaurants in New York and a Michelin star restaurant, has a crave-worthy sandwich. The cubano, filled with lots of pork, cheese, peppers, and other ingredients to clog your arteries on a perfectly toasted baguette, is one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. EVER. Better than Jimmy John’s (by the way, when are they going to bring those to New York?!). Better than Potbelly’s (which is saying a lot since I used to go there everyday when I was in college). Even better than Pearl Oyster Bar’s lobster roll. (…actually, I take that back….the lobster roll isn’t a “sandwich,” it’s a “roll,” meaning they’re in two different categories!

My perfect cubano with a side salad:

Every time I look at my cubano pictures I begin to salivate; I can’t even begin to describe how elated I am whenever I see the sandwich!!!. The cubano from The Spotted Pig definitely ranks up there with the best sandwiches ever made because of the salty flavor of the pork mixed with the crunchy pickled veggies and perfectly melted cheese. If this isn’t love, I don’t know what is.

Chris ordered the French toast with bananas:

I’m kind of picky when it comes to French toast; the bread has to be thickly cut so when the bread is dunked in the egg mixture, it completely absorbs it but doesn’t lose its original shape. Also, it can’t be thick to the point that the batter can’t touch every crevice of the bread because then it’s unnecessarily dry. Picky, I know. The French toast at Spotted Pig fit all of my criteria; a thick piece of challah bread that was perfectly moist but not soggy flavored with crème fraiche and syrup, with bananas on the side. Perfect!

Chris and I have gone to The Spotted Pig on a couple of occasions and have always been treated nicely by the wait staff, but I feel as if the prerequisite to work there is that you HAVE to be a hipster with absolutely no food service background. Seriously, they have really terrible service! This time was no exception; we already looked through the menu before we got there knowing there’s always a long wait for the cubano (allow at least 15 minutes for prepping) but on our most recent visit, we ended up waiting an hour and a half for my sandwich and Chris’ French toast! Not only that, but we were seated in an area with a direct view of the kitchen so I could see what they were doing - and I saw the hostess grab my salad with her bare hands! She was using the phone, touching her body, scratching who knows what, and then she just used her bare hands to pick up my salad! Can you believe that? I mean, I’m not a germaphobe, but when I see something like that, I get completely turned off. I brought it up to our waitress and she gave me a new salad, but seeing the way the hostess handled my salad was enough to put me off.

Since the kitchen took so long to get our orders, they offered us a free dessert - which took another 20 minutes - can you believe that?! We ordered the lemon lime tart:

The waitress raved about the tart and said she really loved the taste so we ordered it, but it was just a lemon square that hadn’t completely solidified so it was a little goopy. Not something I’d order again.

Overall, the food was great (minus the dessert) and I would go there again, but they should definitely work on their waitstaff because the time you wait for your food is simply unacceptable.

How to get to The Spotted Pig:

The Spotted Pig
314 W 11th Street
New York, NY 10014
212-620-0393

On our recent Labor Day vacation to California, Chris took me to his favorite pizza restaurant by his house: the Pizza Box in Milpitas. The place is in a strip mall (apparently strip malls are all the rage in Northern California) and it’s slightly run down (and by slightly, I mean it looks like we walked into the 70’s when we were pulling into the parking lot):

Chris hadn’t been there since last Thanksgiving, but he told me that the place hasn’t changed since the late 80’s, when he first started going there as a kid. The place is owned by a Filipino family and the wife is known to be a little…spacey. She wasn’t sure if they had garlic bread or not (another one of Chris’ favorites) but she did charge us up front for a product she might not have…couldn’t she have just gone to the back and checked? I suppose not.

The Pizza Box is known for their large pizzas - look at the different size options you can order:

Chris said we should only order one slice of pizza and one piece of garlic bread. I asked him if he remembered who he was with (I’m a really big eater…what can I say?) He really wasn’t kidding when he said one slice would fill both of us up. Look at how huge this ONE piece is:

I put a knife next to the pizza to do a side by side comparison. Yeah, it’s huge! The pizza was comparable to New York style pizza (I’m thinking John’s + Patsy’s). There was so much cheese and toppings on our slice that I really couldn’t eat the entire slice on my own (which is saying a lot, considering I usually scarf down at least 3 pieces of John’s).

They ended up having garlic bread (whew!) and like their pizza, the garlic bread was also gigantic:

Can you even see the knife to compare the size?! The garlic bread was oozing cheese and oil (but the good kind of oil…yeah, you’d like it). It was so chewy and doughy - definitely great garlic bread.

We finished our pizza and garlic bread right before the after school rush (thank goodness) but it seems like it’s still really popular with kids. I can’t wait to go back the next time I’m in Milpitas!

One of the many staples of my diet is pasta (also included: watermelon, mangoes, apples, peanut butter, potatoes, steak, and Pinkberry). I love making pasta at home topped with Whole Foods’ basic marinara, some bell peppers, and a little Italian sausage. When I don’t feel like cooking, I’d like to have a restaurant to fall back on for quality pasta/Italian food that’s not too pricey. That’s where Il Mattone comes in - it’s a not-too-expensive Italian place in Tribeca that offers quality Italian foods (antipasti, pizza, pasta, and other goodies). Chris loves the pasta and the artichokes from Il Mattone, so of course, we had to order both!

We started off with the artichokes:

They’re in a buttery lemon sauce that was so tart and tasty I can definitely see why Chris loves them so much. The tomatoes and artichokes paired well together and the dish was a great way to start the meal.

I ordered the rigatoni, the pasta Chris usually orders, which came with portobello mushrooms, chicken, and smoked mozzarella in a light tomato cream sauce:

The dish was absolutely amazing - the tomato cream sauce was really chunky (which I loved), the rigatoni was cooked perfectly, and the smoked mozzarella added a great overall flavor to the dish. The one thing I didn’t care for was the chicken - it was a tad dry and didn’t add anything to the dish. If I were to order the dish again, I’d ask that they make it vegetarian (add more mushroom instead of the chicken for a meaty flavor). The dish was perfect otherwise!

Chris ordered the seafood ravioli - ravioli with shrimp, crab meat, and lobster in a vodka sauce:

We heard that the seafood ravioli was a great dish that was a special treat, but neither of us liked the ravioli. The crab meat tasted grainy and I don’t think the proportions of the different types of seafood was equal, making the dish too crabby. Also, I don’t think the vodka sauce paired well with the seafood ravioli.

Il Mattone was a great place for pasta and it’s on a quiet street in Tribeca. There’s also outdoor seating, which is great for summer nights. I hear the pizza’s great, too!

How to get to Il Mattone:

Il Mattone
413 Greenwich Street between Beach and Hubert
New York, NY 10013
212-343-1210