Anteprima Review

Quick Review: With the tasty memories of Trattoria Trula still in my mind (I still can't wait to go back) we headed to Anteprima in Andersonvillefor my mother's birthday to do a comparison. It close behind Trattoria and has become one of my favorite Italian Restaurants. And not just because of the food.

Long Review: Trattoria Trulo is still my favorite Italian restaurant in Chicago, through AntePrima follows closely behind. We all arrived there for my mothers birthday at around 5:30 and they only had three tables open- Andersonville is becoming a restaurant hot spot but AntePrima has made a name for itself already.

The host was very nice and seated us quickly as the restaurant was nearly empty. We sat down and on the table was a bottle of water (not just any bottle but a bottle with a flueted opening with a blue gel/rubber cap) Very nicely presented and the bottle made the water look refreshing. And it was (I'm glad I didn't need to drink polluted Chicago tap water) It was nice to see AntePrima take the extra step.

Another extra step I enjoyed were the four Quiche Lorraines waiting for me on the table. Another inviting extra step.

Our waiter came over and was genial and pleasant as he explained the specials to us. He left us to mull over the menu. I decided to get the Veal meatballs for an appitizer and the Spagehtti with Anchovies for the main course. My mother went for the beat salad for an appitizer and Halibut with Fugami mushrooms for a main course.

The veal meatballs were smaller than I expected but still there were enough of them to be eaten as an appetizer. I was expecting three or four large meatballs to be placed in front of me similar in size to ones served at pasta houses- AntePrima is not a pasta house.

The restaurant started ti fill up quickly as we finished our appetizers, although this is Andersonvile.

Our main courses came out and my spaghetti was the best non-sauce spaghetti I've had. I had Watercress sprinkled on top, grated cheese, and of course anchovies tossed in. Although, I couldn't taste the anchovies that much maybe because they were thinly sliced or there weren't that many of them. The spaghetti was still very good, I nearly melted into my chair.

My mothers Halibut was a bit "too salty" for her taste. Maybe it's because she often doesn't put salt on her food. Everyone else enjoyed their dishes thoroughly.

The deserts were very good also, my Chocolate Hazelnut cake was a nice way to end a good meal.

The bathrooms were clean and designed in a similar theme as the restaurant, they felt as if you were in someones guest bathroom instead of a bathroom at a restaurant. The were no florescent lights buzzing above your head and the towels were refreshingly ample enough to dry you hands. (Go to AntePrima and you'll see what I mean)

The other great thing I like about AntePrima is the diversity of its patrons. There were young and old, couples on dates, families out for a special Sunday night and there was even a large tables of three families sitting all together. It reminded me of families sitting together at long tables in Italy.

The quality of the food is part of what makes a resturant but the experience is the other key factor. Both were great at AntePrima. A great restaurant for a special occasion or just about any occasion, I will be back.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Dining Out For Free in Chicago

Eating out in Chicago doesn't need to be expensive. There's many restaurants where you can eat on the cheap or even for free. In fact if you go to certain restaurants on the right day you can find yourself a deal. Here's a big list of restaurants that offer dining deals, happy hour, or buffets around Chicago.

Downtown

Brasserie Joe- Happy hour 5-7pm every Tuesday
59 W Hubbard St
Chicago, IL 60610

View Larger Map

The Buzz- Free buffet from 5-6pm with free salsa lessons from 6:30-7:30pm
308 W Erie St Bsmt
Chicago, IL 60610

View Larger Map

Golden Buddha Chinese Restaurant- Don't be put off by entering through a lobby of an office building as they offer free appetizers every Friday evening.

312 W Randolph St Chicago, IL 60606

View Larger Map

Mezito Latin Bistro and Wine Bar- Free tapas on Tuesday from 5-10pm

710 N Wells St,
Chicago, IL 60606

View Larger Map

Northside

Big Chicks- This popular GLBT spot in Uptown offers a free full Sunday brunch buffet from 3-4pm. Salad, pasta, sandwiches, and deserts are included.

5024 N Sheridan Rd,
Chicago, IL 60640

View Larger Map

Celtic Crown- Free pizza 5-8pm on Fridays

4301 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60618

View Larger Map

Franks'- Free food on St Patrick's Day and Fat Tuesday

2503 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60614

View Larger Map

Full Shilling Pub- This Wrigleyville bar offers free food Fridays 5-7pm during Cubs games

3724 N Clark St,
Chicago, IL 60613

View Larger Map

Clybar- Free pizzas from 5-8pm on Fridays

2417 N Clybourn Ave,
Chicago, IL‎ 60614

View Larger Map

McGee's Tavern and Grille- Free pizza at Midnight on Fridays

950 W Webster Ave,
Chicago, IL 60614

View Larger Map

North End- This Lakeview sports bar has Sunday buffets during Bears season. GLBT

3733 N Halsted St
Chicago, IL 60613


View Larger Map

Sedgwicks- Free Friday buffet at 10:30pm Saturdays around midnight.
1935 N Sedgwick St
Chicago, IL 60614


View Larger Map

West Side

Cleo's- You can get your late night free food fix with free appetizers Saturday 11-1:00 am at this Ukrainian Village spot

1935 W Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60622


View Larger Map

The Map Room
1949 N Hoyne Ave
(between Homer St & Armitage Ave)
Chicago, IL 60647


View Larger Map

International night, 2 drink minimum strictly enforced on Tuesday night. Local from around the world chefs gather at this Bucktown spot to cook ethnic dishes from their country.

Free samples around town

Fox and Obel- Offers free samples of food everyday, free wine samplings Thursday and Friday evenings from 5-8pm and Saturday afternoon from 2-5pm

Godiva Chocolates- Free samples on weekend (double check website to see upcoming offers)

Trader Joes- Free samples offered everyday

Whole Foods- Samples offered weekend afternoons

Meson Sabika Review

Quick Review: Went all the way out to Naperville to Meson Sabika today for diner (in rush hour traffic on 294) for some Tapas and had a reasonable meal when we finally got there.

Long Review: After seeing Mason Sabika on Cheak Please we decided to go and check it out for ourselves and also to enjoy the springtime weather outside Spanish style in la sol (which was quickly receding below the horizon)

We arrived and ordered some cold tapas to start out. They were pretty good, the bacon wrapped prunes. They were good but after a few the sauce seemed too sweet and some water was needed to dilute the taste.

We moved onto the hot tapas and I ordered the lamb chops with cous cous. It was good not the best lamb I've had, the cous cous was good and was large grain which absorbed the sauce well.

We moved onto deserts and I had Tarimsu. It was alright for the price. All in all I had high expectations for Meson Sabika since I heard so many great things about but it didn't quite live to expectations. Maybe it was the phenomenal meal we had at Trattoria Trullo but I was expecting more. It's still a nice restaurant with good quality tapas for the suburbs.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Trattoria Trullo Review

4767 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60625


View Larger Map

Quick Review: One of the best non-pasta Italian restaurants I've been to- if not the best I've ever had.

Long Review: We braved the rain storm and went to Trattoria Trullo for my birthday. It was one of the greatest birthday dinner I've had in a while. I originally saw the restaurant on Check Please and thought it looked like a nice place to go for upscale Italian restaurant in Chicago.

We the main dinning room decor and setting are very nice and relaxing. A high, lofty ceiling and soft lighting and candles on every table I recognized the owner walking back and fourth making sure everything and everyone is OK. The owner is from Sicily and the restaurant focuses on serving dishes from that region.

We started out with an appetizer of grilled Octopus and Calamari. Both were great, and my first taste of octopus was better than I thought.

For my main course I had the veal. It was very good, but the best dish on the table was my father's Sea Bass, it was the best Sea Bass I ever had and the seasonings and sauce made it unbelively good. It was also the first time I said "oh my god" at a restaurant and for a very good reason. My sister ordered the stuffed steak with Blue Cheese and that was extremely good also. Everything we had was extremely good. It was like culinary bliss.

For desert I had the Tarimissu and that was also well made, not too much liquor and not too much Marzipanne cheese either. Just right, some restaurants make their Tarmissu too sweet and mess up the meal. Trattoria has desserts that end the meal well.

Everything is extremely good here and I'll definitely be back to my new found favorite Italian Restaurant in Chicago.

Joy's Noodle and Rice Review

View Larger Map

3257 N Broadway St
Chicago IL, 60657

Quick Review: Stopped by Joy's Noodle and Rice today after wanting to try it out for a long time and trekking all over Lakeview looking for a spot that where the wait was 20 minutes (or longer) Although there's a reason Joy's wasn't crowded and it probably didn't have to do with the economy.

Long Review: Walked into Joy's Noodle and Rice for an early dinner for some Thai food. My hopes were high as I heard good things about Joy's. Though, maybe my hopes were a little too high.

We started the meal off with an appetizer of Crab Rangoon. When it arrived it was about the size of my thumbnail. Are they cutting back on portion size due to the economy? Aren't they supposed to a little bigger? They were good nonetheless and I gobbled them (almost all of them anyway) up expecting my main course to be just a good if not better.

I went with the Bamee Noodles and my dining companion went with the Lard Na. When our dishes arrived I dug into my noodles, the pork on top looked like it scrapped off of someone else' plate a week ago and reheated for my dish. The noodles underneath the pork appeared to be Ramen noodles. I went for them first.

I could barely get the clumpy mass of noodles apart with my chopsticks so I used my fork but that didn't work much better and I felt I needed a knife to cut the noodles apart. I took one bite and was hit by an overwhelming taste of sugar. These are Ramen noodles- and why are they so sweet. Maybe the pork would counter the sweet effect.

It was chewy and may have very well been reheated. I struggled to finish my meal and instead took some of the Lard Na to see if it was better than my meal. Many of the noodles were burned and thus crunchy. Why are these noodles burned? This isn't like any Lard Na I've had, the sauce was also too salty. We both finished our meals nonetheless and were happy we didn't pay more than $7.50 for our dishes.

Although, the interior decor is nice and the service was attentive and friendly. I don't like giving them such a bad review because I had been anticipating the experience for a long time and the waiter was very nice but I don't think I going back anytime soon.

2 out of 5 stars

Lunch at Panes Bread Cafe

3002 N Sheffield Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657


View Larger Map

Short Review: Headed over to Panes Bread Cafe after a much anticipated (and delayed) visit. I was excited to make my way down Sheffield and into the door of Panes because I heard some great things about it. Thankfully, the hype is the truth after one bite of a certain sandwich.

Long Review: I stood in front of the sandwich board (pretending to) think about what to order. I already knew what I was going to order, the Turkey Club Sandwich. It was our turn to order and I was given a plastic number after I ordered. We sat outside and waited for our sandwiches to arrive. We were talking about what a nice little neighborhood cafe this was when rowdy and drunk Cub's fans drove by on Sheffield. Should have remembered to sit inside when a Cub's game is letting out.

No problem because our sandwiches had arrived. I took a bite of my Turkey Club. It was okay, not as good as I was expecting but still better than average. The thing I didn't like about the sandwich was it had American cheese on it (I'm not much of a fan of American cheese) and and it was something I could make at home. It cost $5.50, a little on the expensive side for what I got.

Uh oh, was I expecting too much from Panes?

I took a bite of my lunch companions Turkey, Turkey sandwich (playfully named after the Little Cesear's slogan "Pizza, Pizza") to make sure it was just my sandwich that was slightly below my expectations. It was good- really good. I was tempted to wolf down the rest of that Turkey, Turkey sandwich but refrained from doing so, but it was very good and I wanted more.

I went back in to order one of their famous Monster cookies (and partially to get out of sight of my lunch companions delicious sandwich that I wanted to snatch out of her hands and finish the rest of) They were all out of Monster cookies so I go a regular chocolate chip cookies. It was ok, but probably not as good as the monster cookies. Though, after trying Carol's Cookies I'm a bit of a cookies snob now.

I'll be back to order the Turkey, Turkey sandwich and it has me too signing the praises of Panes Bread Cafe.

Rating 5/5 stars

Pizza at the Chicago Pizza & Oven Grinder Co.

2121 N Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60614


View Larger Map

Quick Review: A classic place to get pizza in Chicago and one of the best in the city.

Long Review: This is a good place to get a good slice of pizza in Chicago.

Tucked away in a niche on the street stands the Chicago Pizza & Oven Grinder. The building is easy to miss if you're driving down the street.

Though, once you step inside you step foot into an intimate dining space, low ceilings, small booths and low level lighting. The space can get a bit crowded on busier nights and especially on the weekends and the intimacy can transform into a cramped feel.

It seems like there are only two things on the menu though as everyone that goes there get the same thing- the pizza bread for an appetizer and the upside down pizza which they're famous for. Though, there's a reason they're famous for it.

The pizza bread is very good and can be made into a meal itself. There's been times when I wanted to order more but had to prevent myself because you'll need to save room for the pizza.

The pizzas aren't traditional pizzas that come out on pans, instead they have small individual pizzas that are very good, but just because the pizza is small doesn't mean it's not filling- it is. The pizza is cooked upside down in an oven and served similar to a pot pie and needs to be eaten with a fork.

If you never gone this is place go on a weekday during the day as it won't be that crowded and you won't have to wait for a table that long. It can get crowded on weekends around the afternoon so be prepared for a little bit of a wait if you'd rather go on the weekend.

Rating 4/5 stars