Month: December 2011

Thomas Keller’s fried chicken at Ad Hoc (Addendum) in Yountville

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Thomas Keller’s famous buttermilk fried chicken at Addendum

Resident Foodies say: Thomas Keller is known for his 3 Michelin-star restaurants The French Laundry and Per Se. But his buttermilk fried chicken (click here for the recipe) is just as famous. One of the highlights of our year was making a trip to Addendum in the parking lot of Keller’s Ad Hoc restaurant in Yountville. The buttermilk fried chicken is so tender and juicy, our mouths water just thinking of it. The coating has just the right crisp, which gives way to the tender white meat when you sink your teeth into it. The taste is perfection.

Video: Chef Anne Burrell eliminated from Next Iron Chef (Episode 6, Top 5)

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Resident Foodies say: Chef Geoffrey Zakarian and Chef Anne Burrell were in the bottom two this week and had a cook-off with Ponzu and Panko bread crumbs. The twist was that they had to make a dessert, instead of a savory dish with the two Japanese ingredients.

Zakarian made a soufflé, while Burrell made a zucchini involtini. The judges really liked both dishes (as Michael Symon said, both were Iron Chef worthy dishes), but ultimately decided to keep Chef Zakarian based on his technical skills, which all three judges have continued to rave about. The judges also thought he had one of the top dishes earlier that evening, so that probably helped. Zakarian was in the bottom two only because Chef Burrell was given the vote, based on her victory last week in the NYC challenge, to pick the least risky dish of the night. She picked Zakarian because he cooked wagyu beef in the least risky way of the remaining chefs. Ironically, Burrell had the most time to cook her dish (based on her victory last week), but ended up in the bottom two, pitted against the chef she selected for the bottom. She picked her poison.

The competition is now down to the Final Four: Chef Zakarian, Elizabeth Falkner, Alexandra Guarnaschelli, and Michael Chiarello. Two men, two women. Two West coasters, and two East coasters.

Dessert at Farmhouse Inn (Russian River Valley)

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Raspberry sorbet, with delicate wafers of hazelnut praline crisp and vanilla ice cream

Vanilla ice cream on surfboard wafer and rhubarb tart

Resident Foodies say: The Farmhouse Inn Restaurant is a delightful place, one Michelin-starred, tucked away in the Russian River valley in wine country in California. After a sumptuous meal of lamb chops, soft-shell crab, and halibut, we were treated with dessert. It was heavenly.

Review: La Tacorea, best Korean taco in Chicago

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Resident Foodies say: We stumbled on a new Korean taco restaurant called La Tacorea in Chicago, on Belmont (x Clark, near the Belmont stop) in Lakeview, which just opened up last week.

The clever name alludes to the fusion of Mexican and Korean flavors, which the restaurant describes as “muy yum.” Of course, the Korean taco has been around for some time, popularized in LA and moving around the country. Chicago has a few places that serve Korean tacos, or a fusion of Mexican and Korean flavors.

But we were pleasantly surprised by La Tacorea. It was amazing, even better than Del Seoul, which is commonly thought to have the best Korean taco in Chicago.

So what did we like so much? The flavors. The lightly spiced honey soy chicken taco is close to perfection. It is served with rice on a soft tortilla, with your choice of lettuce, cilantro, onions, cheese, and other fixings. And don’t forget the special Chipotle sauce in the yellow bottle–it has a kick! The taco is a “jumbo taco,” with generous portions for an unbelievable price of $4.25. That’s a steal. The menu is simple in a good way. You can get Korean bulgogi, Korean kalbi, shrimp, and tofu tacos. Plus, each of the above dishes comes in a burrito or a bowl version, similar to the pick-and-choose, made to order approach of Chipotle.

Showing its true Korean expertise, La Tacorea also offers mandu, bibimbap, and kimchi in a jar. We love this place.