No more sugar coating.

It's come to my attention that I may be sugar coating my blogs a bit.  After a short bit of thinking about it, I discovered that I had become exactly the type of food person that I despised, one that never called out the BS and bad food that almost every place serves.  Not every restaurant has A+'s across the board, and not every restaurant is a bomb either.  So, from here on out, I will call out the dishes that suck, the customer service that sucks, and whatever else that sucks.  I will also praise the things that rock.  If I've been to a place that has totally failed as a restaurant, I won't revisit that place just to demean them and put them down.  So, from here on out, you will see an improved blog, now with photos.  My goal is still to make the descriptions vivid and real and to make you want to reach into your computer monitor to grab what I'm eating, or to be able to smell or taste exactly what I'm trying to describe.  I will also be me, when describing these meals, so occasionally I may swear, and if that offends you, well, I'm sorry, but being as passionate as I am about food, sometimes I lose my mind.  For example, tonight, I paid a visit to Hopleaf, in Andersonville.  Of course I went unprepared, meaning without my camera.  I was with a vegetarian friend, but that is absolutely something I can work with.  I don't turn my nose up to vegetarian, nor vegan fare, as a matter of fact, I love it, as long as it's well prepared.  So, after a few beers, we ordered the CB&J.  It was truly an interesting and tasty sandwich.  The CB&J was a pan fried sandwich, on sourdough.  Inside was fig jam, house made cashew butter, and raclette cheese.  Raclette cheese is a Swiss Cheese, made mostly for melting, so it was perfect on the sandwich.  The sourdough was prefectly fried, not greasy at all, like your typical grilled cheese disaster.  This was practically like it had just been toasted.  The combination of the cashew butter, jam, and cheese married into a perfect balance of salt and sweet.  If it hadn't been so dark in there, I would've take a photo with my phone of the sandwich, but honestly there wouldn't be much to photograph.  This was definitely more about the flavor than the presentation.  This sandwich came with a side of Stilton mac and cheese and house made chips.  Stilton cheese is a British cheese, that's quite pungent with a strong flavor.  There  are two varieties, the blue and the white, but the blue is the most common.  The sandwich tonight had the blue stilton, which was obvious from the first bite.  Personally, I'm a fan of blue cheeses, and I would never have expected this combination to have so much flavor.  Whomever designed this sandwich should win an award because it was an amazing combination.  And the mac and cheese, I won't say shut the front door, I will say holy balls though.  It's great because over the last few weeks, I have had some absolutely amazing Mac and cheeses!!!  And the house made chips, come on, need I say more.  You better be on your A game in order for your house made chips to be good, but then these guys season them with a salty, spicy seasoning just perfectly.

I swear, everything I say about Hopleaf was from the heart and honest.  There was nothing about this place that sucked and that is a promise.  Their beer list is extensive, even with seasonal brews and their food menu and comfortably full of you not so typical bar food, and that in itself is comforting.

I feel fortunate to live in Chicago.  I have access to amazing restaurants, top notch pubs, and some incredible night life.  Visitors to my city, please, stay away from TGI high sodium content, or Chili's or whatever other chain restaurant you may have a hankering for, please, think outside of the box and try something local.  I promise that there is nothing to be afraid of.  Visit Chicago and dine like a Chicagoan.