Chicago Food (Twin Anchors, Pequod's Pizza, Ann Sather Restaurant, Futatsuki Ramen, Lickety Split Frozen Custard, Dao Thai Restaurant, Star Grill, The Weiner's Circle, Venice Cafe, and Pierogi Crib)

I recently went on a trip to visit Chicago. I had never been to the city and while there I tasted some of Chicago's food.

Twin Anchors:

Apparently Chicago is known for their barbecue. I wasn't aware of this before visiting the city, but smoked meat was added to the list of Chicago foods to try. I ended up at a restaurant called Twin Anchors. They have been open since 1932 and boast that Frank Sinatra was one of their regular customers.

I ordered a half slab of ribs with a side of onion rings and cole-slaw. The ribs were good enough. I found the meat to be a little on the dry side. Not the best I've ever had but good enough to keep the restaurant open since the 1930s.

Pequod's Pizza:

This restaurant was recommended as one of the best places to get Chicago-style pizza in the city. I'm still a bit confused on the different nomenclature of Chicago-style pizza, and the explanation that I got here didn't help. There is apparently pan pizza, deep dish pizza, and stuffed pizza. I think I understand that stuffed pizza is what Giordano's serves (seems like nobody in Chicago actually likes Giordano's). Haven't really figured out the difference between pan and deep dish though, and I don't know which version of the pizza I ate here.

Started out with a side salad.

The pizza, topped with Italian sausage and spinach. I enjoyed this pie. It wasn't the complete overload of cheese like you get a Giordano's and was much better proportioned. I did really enjoy the crust which got nice and crispy around the outer, vertical edge of the pie.

Ann Sather Restaurant:

This was a Swedish diner, which was a new concept to me. I visited them for breakfast and ordered one of the specials, which was a Swedish breakfast sampler. It started with two very large cinnamon rolls. I was pretty much full after both of these. 

This was followed with a plate filled with a Swedish pancake with lingonberry jam, a Swedish meatball with gravy, a Swedish sausage, scrambled eggs, and a fruit salad. I liked it all with the exception of the sausage. I believe it was a pork and potato sausage that lacked flavor.

Futatsuki Ramen:

A friend in Chicago said the ramen in this restaurant is amazing. He was right. Futatsuki was a very efficient restaurant with only a few things on the menu. There was tonkotsu ramen, curry pork, and some appetizers. 

The large bowl of ramen had a milky white broth with was delicious. From what I understand, the broth takes a while to cook, getting its color from pork fat and bone marrow slowly seeping into the soup. Ramen noodles were hidden underneath the broth. Two slices of pork, scallions, pickled vegetables, an egg, and nori finished off the bowl. I don't like making bold statements when it comes to food, but this just might be some of the best ramen I've ever had!

Lickety Split Frozen Custard:

Frozen custard, desserts, and candies was what Lickety Split sold.

I had the Bing Crosberry Concrete. This was cherries and raspberries mixed together with cheesecake, graham cracker crust, and vanilla custard. It was tasty, but I thought it was a bit on the expensive side for the small size of the cup which it was served in.

Dao Thai Restaurant:

Had Thai food in Downtown Chicago here.

Chicken Satay:

Wonton and BBQ Pork soup. The menu made this sound more exiting in my head then it was. This was basically a huge bowl of wonton soup that you can find in any Chinese restaurant.

Star Grill: 

This was my first attempt at having a Chicago style hot dog. I got caught in a nasty rain storm so I hid in a restaurant called Star Grill to wait out the rain. I was told by a Chicago local that these weren't authentic Chicago dogs because of the toppings. The two hot dogs came topped with mustard, pickle spear, peppers, and tomatoes in the form of salsa. Apparently the salsa was the offender. Tomatoes on an authentic Chicago dog need to be sliced...

The Weiner's Circle:

My second attempt at finding an authentic Chicago Dog was at The Weiner's Circle. Besides the hot dogs, this restaurant's gimmick is being nasty to the customers. Unfortunately, there's a difference between being clever about insults and just coming across as bigoted. Using the gimmick to ignore the people complaining about food/wrong orders is an interesting way to do customer service. I guess there's a reason that there were only tourists in here...

The hot dog was very adequate. The toppings were on in the right form, unlike my previous experience with a Chicago dog. The bun had poppy seeds on it. I've had better Chicago style dogs with more generous toppings in Florida. We won't mention the cheese fries. They were cold and soggy topped with something that didn't really resemble cheese besides color. The majority of these were thrown out.

Venice Cafe:

Got a quick slice of pizza for a snack from this restaurant near the Willis Tower. I decided to try a NY style slice in Chicago. In my head, it was what I would expect NY style pizza to be like in the midwest. Way too much cheese and a bit doughy.

Pierogi Crib:

I visited a food hall in Chicago called the French Market. After wandering around a bit, I decided to try a booth called Pierogi Crib.

I had a Pierogi Bowl. This was an assortment of six pierogi served over a spinach salad, topped with bacon, grilled onions, red cabbage, and sour cream. I very much enjoyed this meal.

And that was my trip to Chicago. I tried most of the stereotypical Chicago foods on my list, along with foods I wasn't expecting to try. Never got around to trying an Italian Beef Sandwich though. Guess I have to go back...

Ikea Orlando's Julbord Holiday Buffet

I was invited to visit IKEA and try their Julbord Holiday Buffet. According to IKEA's website, Julbord is a classic Christmas dinner in Scandinavian countries. The word “Julbord” is made up of two parts: “Jul,” meaning Yule (synonymous with Christmas) and “Bord,” meaning table. 

The all-you-can-eat smörgåsbord happened in the Orlando IKEA on December 11, 2015 in their restaurant. The center of the restaurant was transformed into an abundant spread of delicious foods.

There was assorted breads and crackers.

Cheese:

IKEA served some of their standards including their meatballs.

Mashed potatoes:

Prinskorv sausages were new to me. According to Wikipedia, the name translates to prince sausages.

Red Cabbage:

There was a huge spread of crawfish to choose from.

I really like IKEA's Red Beet Salad. I first tried this at another IKEA media event last year. It was delicious this time around too.

Swedish Potato Salad:

Hard Boiled Eggs:

This was a type of potato casserole. This was interesting by having a sweet aftertaste.

Gravad lax is one of my favorite foods from IKEA. I helped myself to far too much of this delicious cured salmon.

Christmas Ham:

IKEA served lots of assorted desserts, including cakes, cookies, rice pudding, and chocolates.

Glögg:

With that overview of the Julbord Holiday buffet, here's my two plates of delicious foods. Plate #1 was loaded up with crawfish, salmon, cucumber salad, meatballs, sausage, carrots, and mashed potatoes.

Plate #2 had ham, gravad lax, assorted salads, cheese, and the potato casserole.

I really enjoyed trying the Julbord Holiday Buffet. I had tried going here a few years ago but ended up trying to get my tickets too late and it was sold out. For future reference, buy your tickets early! I'm glad I finally had the chance to visit this year and sample all the delicious Swedish Christmas foods!

#WrappedInIKEA Foods

Do most people go to IKEA for Swedish food rather than actually shopping for furniture? Perhaps that's me. I was recently invited to taste some of the foods from IKEA's JULBORD party menu as well as hear about other happenings in the Orlando store.

The JULBORD Dinner is what will most likely be of interest to readers of this blog. It is an all you can eat meal of Swedish holiday foods and happens on Friday, December 12. Julbord has two seatings, one from 2-4:30pm an the other from 6-8:30pm. Here's a sample of the menu:

The first thing I tried was the Red Beet Salad. It had nice hints of dill and onion.

Assorted Cheeses were next:

Crawfish Salad, complete with a whole crawfish on the side:

Meatballs and Lingonberries:

Gravad Lax with Mustard Sauce:

Desserts:

Glogg with Almonds and Raisins:

IKEA has also given you all a chance to win free stuff. Enter below for a chance to win a $100 IKEA gift card. You may enter from November 17 – November 30th. IKEA will pick a winner on Monday, December 1st, and contact them via Twitter.

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Ikea in Sunrise, FL

 What visit to Ikea is complete without buying some sort of food? On this visit to the Ikea in Sunrise, I had the Swedish Meatball Combo, served with the standard mashed potatoes and lingonberry sauce. This came with a side salad and fountain drink (lingonberry soda, of course).

Ikea Orlando Pasta

I ate at the restaurant in Ikea once again. I ate the same thing that I ordered last time too. I had pasta with alfredo sauce, topped with steamed vegetables. This came with a side salad and garlic bread. It was pretty good for $3.99, but I sort of realized that their food has declined over the years since I first ate in an Ikea up on Long Island several years ago where I was amazed with their good cheap food. It seems like their food has become more American and less Swedish. They definitely didn't have chicken tenders back then...