Sushi X

Dinner, delivery. Two vegetable tempura rolls w/ tempura crumbs: delicious, one of them had crazy long pieces of sweet potato. Hamachi roll w/ cucumber and chili oil: delicious. Salmon roll w/ asparagus, eel sauce, and tempura crumbs: delicious. White tuna roll w/ avocado and chili sauce: delicious, and very spicy.

Said 45-60 minutes, arrived in about 45. Everything tonight was delicious. The chili sauce was flowing like water tonight -- last time it was hardly spicy at all.

Sushi X
1136 W. Chicago Ave.
312-491-9232

Elephant Bar, St. Louis, MO

Lunch. Cashew chicken: not that good. Pad thai: bland. Teriyaki chicken: too sweet or something.

St. Louis Bread Company, St. Louis, MO

Lunch. Turkey and bacon sandwich on tomato basil sourdough with gouda and special dressing: good. Chicken noodle soup with crusty bread: very good.

St. Louis Bread Company

Wendy's

Dinner, to go. Spicy chicken sandwich, good.

Wendy's
1623 W. Division St.
773-486-2344

My Pie

Dinner, delivery. Deep dish w/ pepperoni, sliced tomato, onion, and green peppers: delicious. Forgot to get it unsliced, but it was still in one piece when it arrived.

My Pie Pizza/Li'l Guys Deli
2010 N. Damen Ave.
773-394-6900

Potbelly

Lunch. Turkey and provolone, on wheat, extra turkey: fine. Apparently now they have bacon, so next time...

Potbelly
111 East Wacker Drive
312-861-0013

Penny's

Dinner, delivery. Japanese gyoza: good, but a little cold; pad thai w/ chicken: good; hot pepper noodle w/ chicken: good, quite spicy.

Delivery took about 45 minutes.

Penny's Noodle Shop
1542 N. Damen
773-394-0100

Chipotle

Dinner. Chicken fajita bol: fine, fine.

We wanted Indian Garden, but the stupid Michigan Ave. Mickey Mouse happy family fun time parade had us running about 45 minutes late. :-(

Chipotle
291 East Ontario St
312-587-7753

mk

Dinner. Amuse bounche (some kind of cube of fish on watercress): unexciting. Lobster again (lobster bisque with a bunch of vegetables, including leeks pureed): not nearly as good as the last lobster again, which included corn. Beef (10 or 12 oz. New York strip/sirloin/something), medium rare, with garlic mashed potatoes instead of spinach: kind of scared to get it so rare, but it was deeeee-licious -- and ginormous (could only eat about 60% of it). Pomme frites with white truffle oil sauce: delicious of course. Turtle dessert (chocolate-and-caramel ice-cream-like brick, plus a chocolate cookie thing): delicious, again.

Delicious food again, excellent prompt and attentive (almost to the point of interfering with conversation) service, and a great upper level corner table.

mk
868 N Franklin St.
312-482-9179

Panda Express

Lunch. Orange chicken: good as usual. Cashew kung pao chicken breast: good -- I asked for as few shrooms as possible and they obliged. Nice!

Panda Express
100 W Randolph St
312-201-8790

Cincinnati chili

Dinner. Cincinnati chili leftovers: better than straight off the stove, weird!

Chipotle

Lunch. Chicken fajita bowl: delicious. A little spicy today.

Chipotle
316 N Michigan Ave
312-578-0950

Cincinnati chili

Dinner. From Cover and Bake (A Best Recipe Classics). Good, but not great. Slightly nasty flavor ... is it the chili powder?

La Tasca

Dinner. Beef tenderloin, good. Melty goat cheese, good. Paprika potatoes, just OK. Scallops, good. Pork tenderloin, good. Fried bananas and dates wrapper in bacon, OK, but tough and chewy. Chicken and chorizo, just OK.

This place was pretty good food, very nicely priced. Very loud, very crowded, and the service wasn't so good.

La Tasca
27 South Northwest Highway
Park Ridge, IL
847-698-4500

Penny's

Dinner. Gyoza: delicious. Vietnamese spring rolls: delicious. Lad nar with chicken: delicious, not much ginger or brocolli today. Pad thai with chicken: delicious.

Penny's Noodle Shop
1542 N. Damen
773-394-0100

Chipotle

Lunch. Chicken fajita bol: delicious.

Chipotle
316 N Michigan Ave
312-578-0950

Sushi X

Dinner, delivery. Shrimp tempura roll w/ tempura crumbs: very good. Vegetable tempura roll w/ tempura crumbs: very very good -- what a bargain at only $5.50, it almost makes the shrimp tempura roll not worth it! Sake roll w/ asparagus and eel sauce: deeee-licious -- adding eel sauce was a revelation, and well worth 50 cents. Yellowtail roll w/ chili oil and cucumber: deee-licious -- the yellowtail was super soft and delicious. Avocado roll w/ asparagus(?), wasabi mayo, and tempura crumbs: very good.

Tonight, all of the rolls were excellent. They said 45-60 minutes, and it took about 70. :-(

Sushi X
1136 W. Chicago Ave.
312-491-9232

Star of Siam

Lunch. Cashew chicken: very good, but loaded with mushrooms (that wasn't mentioned on the menu). Good food, decent price (they charge extra for rice!), very fast service, grumbly waitstaff.

Star of Siam
11 E Illinois
312-670-0100

Baked ziti

Dinner. Baked ziti with sausage, from Cover and Bake (A Best Recipe Classics): delicious, and not that hard to make -- easier than lasagne.

We used Han's All Natural chicken sausage, and it was good, but very very hard to "crumble" in the skillet. Whole Foods' meat-counter's sausage is squishier and would probably work better.

Bacon

Breakfast. Whole Foods' meat-counter's applewood smoked bacon: terrible. Very fatty, very hammy, very thick. More like a slab of fatty ham than a slice of bacon. Took forever to cook. Puke-alicious. Gag-ariffic.

Cover and Bake (A Best Recipe Classics) recommends:
1. Farmland Hickory Smoked Bacon
2. Boar's Head Brand Naturally Smoked Sliced Bacon
3. Hormel Original Black Label Bacon

Potbelly

Dinner, catered. Turkey sub: delicious.

Toast

Brunch. Stuffed French toast (marscapone, strawberry, and chocolate), with fresh berries: delicious! Toast delivers again, and the wait wasn't too terrible.

Kabul House

Dinner. Aushak (scallion-filled dumplings with meat sauce): pretty good. Mantu (meat-filled dumplings): pretty good. Basket of flat bread: very very good. Lamb kabob: very good, very tender, nice green dipping sauce.

This was a very pleasant place, with a very friendly (I think he was the) owner, and ridiculously attentive water service. Good place, especially before Steppenwolf.

Kabul House
1629 N Halsted
312-751-1029

Panda Express

Lunch. Orange chicken: good as usual. Cashew kung pao chicken breast: very very good. I doubled up on the orange chicken (and got the kung pao for free) and feel so so sick.

Panda Express
100 W Randolph St
312-201-8790

Halibut fillet, potato cakes, and Swiss chard

Dinner. (Malaysian) Steamed halibut with ginger and garlic and sesame sauce (from Mark Bittman's "Fish"): better than expected, not too gingery ... but not great. Potato cakes (from Pam Anderson's "How To Cook Without A Book"): deeeee-licious, and pretty darn easy to make. Swiss chard: also good.

Chipotle

Lunch, to go. Chicken fajita bol: great ... and free! :-)

Chipotle
316 N Michigan Ave
312-578-0950

Sushi X

Dinner, delivery. Shrimp tempura roll w/ tempura crumbs: excellent. Vegetable tempura roll w/ tempura crumbs: delicious. White tuna roll inside out w/ wasabi mayo: very good, the white tuna was very good, very soft. Asparagus roll inside out w/ avocado and chili sauce and tempura crumbs: very good, very very spicy (unlike last time's chili sauce) ... and they forgot the tempura crumbs! :-( Salmon roll inside out w/ cucumber and chili oil: very good, very spicy ... chili oil is not bad, not bad at all.

Oh, and they said 45-60 for delivery, and it was >60 minutes. :-( They were really hectic and frazzled today. They also didn't give us chopsticks and napkins, and they gave us, for no apparent reason, a ton (4 tubs) of soy sauce...?

Sushi X
1136 W. Chicago Ave.
312-491-9232