OyChicago articles

Rating: Four Stars

Chalkboard, easily elegant

I must first, in the spirit of full disclosure, out myself as a close personal friend of Chalkboard's owner/chef Gil Langlois and his wife, co-owner Elizabeth Laidlaw. However, I also have to say that it would not exactly behoove me to tick off a bunch of potential readers, so the review is as honest and objective as I can be…grain of salt me all you like.

Gil and Elizabeth have created a gorgeous room, romantic enough to be a great date spot, but not so overt as to be alienating for those of us who are dining with friends or family. The menu is full of carefully crafted dishes, with inspired touches…your childhood favorites made sophisticated with a rich tomato soup paired with a blue cheese grilled cheese sandwich on the side, Kobe beef mini burger appetizer with Nueske bacon, truly spectacular fried chicken.

Redefining the slider.

But there is an easy elegance at play here as well. Starters always include diver sea scallops, caramelized on the outside and succulent within, served with a vanilla aioli, spiced walnuts and sugared kalamata olives. Salads are simple and fresh, and the seared tuna cobb, a simple deconstructed plate with sushi grade tuna surrounded by small accompaniments, crisp bacon, blue cheese, caviar with truffle oil, soft poached egg, cucumber brunoise, diced avocado and roasted grape tomatoes, is a revelation.

For entrees, a gorgeous duck cassoulet, topped with meltingly tender slices of duck breast, and just enough back of the throat heat to prevent it from being too rich. Grilled pork tenderloin is perfectly cooked, sitting on a base of sweet corn relish and topped with a light potato salad with apples and celery, which not only complements the pork, but also somehow cleanses the palate between bites. The bouillabaisse is steeped in tradition, served in a small cast iron pot, and full of whatever the day’s freshest seafood and shellfish are on order, in a well seasoned broth that cries out to be sopped up with the warm-from-the-oven rolls. Gil’s recipes are French-influenced American, with more than a hint of high-end comfort food. No meal here is complete without a side dish of the Macaroni and Cheese, rich with smoked gouda. I’ve had dining companions express a wish to eat their way out of a bathtub full of the stuff.

Making it easy to eat your veggies.

The daily specials on the chalkboard always include the freshest fish dishes, and the chef’s current interests, as well as celebrations of the best local produce. On a recent trip, Gil’s take on surf and turf, a beef osso bucco paired with Alaskan Halibut, served with a celery root puree and crispy fried artichokes. Meltingly tender hanger steak, with a fresh chimichurri sauce was also a standout.

Desserts can be hit or miss, sometimes a delight, sometimes better in theory than in practice, but you will never go wrong if you stick with the whimsical chocolate chip cookie dough egg roll, or the fresh berries with yogurt and honey, both consistently wonderful.

The wine list isn’t massive, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in carefully selected bottles in a range of affordable prices. I recommend you start with a glass of Taltarni, a pink sparker from Australia that is my new favorite quaff, and then let Gil or your server make a recommendation.

They don’t take parties of more than six, affirming my belief that unless a small restaurant has a private room to accommodate them, any party larger than that becomes a liability for the other patrons. It isn’t a place for very young children, unless they have sophisticated palates, but it is a spot I have taken both my grandmother and a romantic hopeful with equal success. Well, dining success at any rate. Gil can guarantee a great meal, but not necessarily a new boyfriend!

As a bonus, Saturday and Sunday afternoon high tea is fun. Be sure to get there early as seating is limited, and the made-to-order scones are worth the trip.

Chalkboard is located at 4343 N. Lincoln Ave.

NOSH of the week:
My go-to canapé these days celebrates fresh flavors and will wow your company with a minimum of effort.

1 small baguette French bread, sliced into rounds about ½ inch thick

1 log softened goat cheese (chevre)

3 T honey

3 large peaches

1 package fresh sage, leaves plucked, and halved lengthwise if large

Blend softened goat cheese with honey until smooth. If you like it sweeter, feel free to add more honey. Spread cheese mixture on bread rounds. Slice peaches and put 2-3 slices on each round. Tuck a leaf of sage between the peach slices and serve.

Experiment with other herbs and fruit….plums and lemon thyme, pears and mint, apricots and basil…hit your local farmer’s market and enjoy!

NOSH food read of the week:
My Life In France, by Julia Child

Adam, jumping for your love

… indicates a continuation, a sign that there’s more to say, more to come. And for Adam Blair and his band Dot Dot Dot, that couldn’t be more true.

From the band’s inception, things moved fast. The Chicago-based power pop-rock band played to 1,300 people at its third show. Within five months Dot Dot Dot landed a spot on Fox’s reality TV competition, The Next Great American Band and released a CD. It’s been nine months since the band’s national television debut, and lead singer Adam Blair says his head is still spinning.

“It’s been hectic and insane. It’s great and I love it, and I thank God every day,” he says. “Without music, I’d be 100% screwed. I can’t type, and I don’t spell so good. It’s the only thing I know how to do, the only thing that ever came naturally to me, that I do well. I didn’t get into music, music got into me.”

And it seems that fans and critics get into Dot Dot Dot. Six thousand bands auditioned for The Next Great American Band, 12 made the cut. For six weeks last fall, Adam and band mates Michael, Stephan, Rose and Lisa took their talent—and their eyeliner—to the west coast, where they lived together in the middle of Hollywood with the other bands, including some Christian rockers, a group of pre-teen boys who often performed shirtless and a couple of indie kids from New York.

From week to week the American Idol-style competition kept the bands on their toes, not always giving them a say in what they played. “Some weeks they gave us an artist and catalog to pick from, some weeks they’d pick for us.”

Rose, Michael, Stephan, Lisa and Adam are ...

Adam and Dot Dot Dot took the challenge of playing songs that weren’t necessarily their style in stride. “I’ve played [a mix of] cover songs and my own music my whole life,” Adam says. “I’ve always had an appreciation for other people’s work. We took whatever they gave us and made it our style even if it didn’t start that way.” One of the songs they covered, Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s “Your Song,” remains in their set list today.

Even though the band’s 5th place finish was impressive and the show catapulted Dot Dot Dot to the national stage, Adam was originally opposed to the band’s participation and isn’t sure he’d choose to participate again if the opportunity presented itself. “It’s a battle of the bands, and music is interpretative. Not competitive.”

Currently, Dot Dot Dot is making the rounds at a number of Chicago’s much-loved summer festivals happily playing for the fans, not the judges. “We like playing festivals in the summer. I’m a huge fan of walking on stage and smelling an elephant ear. We like playing outside. Come say hi.”

I had the good fortune to see their set at Midsommarfest in Andersonville last month, and no matter what style they played, Adam, Lisa, Rose, Stephan, and Michael’s energy was undeniable and contagious. Even Adam’s dad is addicted to the music. He insists on working at the band’s merchandise table any time he sees them perform. “We have people who work the merch table,” Adam says, “but he won’t leave!”

Not that Adam minds having his parents around. In fact, his parents mean so much to him that he had a tribute to them tattooed on his arms: Ima (the Hebrew word for “mom”) is inked on his right arm, and Abba (Hebrew for “dad”) is on his left.

“Mom is the kinda super Jewy one in the family. When I took off my jacket and she could see something was there she said, ‘Oh Jesus Christ! Tell me you tattooed yourself.’ The she started crying because she saw it said “Ima.”

So what comes after the … for Adam and Dot Dot Dot? “We’re recording now and we’re on the road touring at least four nights a week. And you can put the word out that I’m looking for people to join my new band, the Rosh Hasha-na-nas; it’s a Jewish Doo-Wop group.” While I was ready to break into a round of “The Great Pretender” for an impromptu audition, this sounded a little suspect to me. Turns out, Adam was kidding.

Catch Adam and Dot Dot Dot at Taste of Lincoln, Retro on Roscoe, and Market Days this summer, as well as a number of other Midwestern bars and festivals. Their self-titled CD is available on their website as well as iTunes. For a full list upcoming shows or more information about Adam, Lisa, Rose, Michael, and Stephan, check out on their official website  or their MySpace page.

The author's daughter making hamentaschen

Coming of age in a suburb where salt and pepper were considered exotic spices, I grew up eating corned beef on white bread with Miracle Whip. My parents served eggnog for Chanukah. I had never heard of kugel, kishke or knishes. The thought of chopped liver made my stomach roil. And don’t even get me started on tongue.

When I became active in the Jewish community, this culture gap became embarrassing. On our second date, my now-husband served me an appetizer of chopped herring and I had no idea what it was. Since so much of Jewish life is about food, my milquetoast upbringing made me a woman without a country, a minister without portfolio in the Jewish world.

I now know a number of women who are converting to Judaism, and most of them worry about what kind of Jewish moms they’ll be without family recipes to hand down to their daughters. I feel their pain.

When I graduated from college, all I had in my Jewish recipe file was my grandmother’s date cake studded with bits of Hershey bars. So I was delighted that when Joel and I got engaged, my mom’s Chavurah offered to host a recipe shower to celebrate. Imagine my surprise when members of the Temple Sisterhood proudly presented me with such recipes as Harriet’s baked brie en croute, Jan’s Irish soda bread and Deanna’s authentic spaghetti sauce.

Thankfully, my mother-in-law came through with her noodle kugel recipe, my aunt ponied up her mom’s recipe for poppy seed cookies and my mom valiantly reconstructed my great-aunt’s recipe for chicken soup, which I made for our first Rosh HaShannah as a married couple.

From there, I decided that it was up to me. I bought a Jewish cookbook and started to clip holiday recipes, most from the Chicago Tribune! When our daughter, Jenna, toddled home from pre-school with recipe packets for every Jewish holiday, I tried making them. I bought the Youth Group cookbook, and asked my friends for their recipes.

Then, one Erev Chanukah when Jenna was 4, she asked me when we were making sufganiyot. Not “if,” when. My mouth went dry. Jelly doughnuts? Deep fried? I tried to deflect my little girl’s request with an offer to make latkes from actual potatoes instead of a Manishewicz box. She would not budge, patiently explaining that Israelis made sufganiyot, and so should we. I looked into my child’s earnest eyes and pulled out the canola oil.

The resulting doughnuts—and I use the term loosely—were burnt on the outside, raw on the inside. Jenna declared them delicious. The next day, she announced to her preschool class that her mother was a great Jewish cook who “always” made sufganiyot for Chanukah.

I might not have inherited all the recipes, but it no longer matters. Yes, I make my great-aunt’s chicken soup and my mother-in-law’s kugel for Shabbat, and my grandmother’s chocolate date cake makes an appearance every Sukkot. But it’s Joan Nathan’s hamentaschen for Purim, and an apple cake on Rosh HaShannah from an apple orchard’s cookbook. My cousin Emmi and I created our own flourless chocolate cake for Passover, and Jenna and I have switched to making my friend Aaron’s Sephardic-style latkes for Chanukah. I make cheese blintzes for Shavuot with a recipe I found on the Food Network website. And for any holiday dinner, when in doubt, I make my friend Lisa’s mom’s brisket.

Recently, as Jenna and I were watching Throwdown with Bobby Flay, she said: “Bobby Flay should challenge you to a throwdown. He could never beat your chicken soup.” And I realized that I had arrived.

Linda Cohen is a Diet Coke fanatic who lives in suburbia with her family and two psychotic cats. Linda also is a longtime HIV/AIDS activist who heads up marketing communications for JUF. Her favorite book is The Lone Pilgrim by Laurie Colwin, and she is addicted to “Top Chef” and “Iron Chef America.” She currently is having an affair with Jon Stewart.

Jon schleps all over the world for a good story

Jon Siskel gets to travel the world scouting for interesting stories. A partner in Siskel/Jacobs Productions, a Chicago-based television and documentary production company, Siskel currently is in production on a two-hour special for The History Channel, "Voices of 9/11", and is developing a feature documentary about the annual "Louder Than a Bomb" high school team poetry slam competition in Chicago. The company also has produced Head On, a two-hour special for Discovery Channel and Forensics Under Fire, an episode of National Geographic's "Naked Science" series.

So whether you love documentaries, enjoy jumping off of tall things or share an interest in Captain Underpants, Jon Siskel is a Jew you should know!

1. What did you want to be when you grew up?
A stuntman. I used climb everything as a kid... my elementary school, trees, my parents house—I used to jump off all of them, except for the school.

2. What do you love about what you do today?
I get to talk to people for a living and they allow me to tell their stories. I've interviewed Senators, archeologists, a Burmese drug lord and demolition derby drivers...I love my work!

3. What are you reading?
Captain Underpants...to my kids.

4. What’s your favorite place to eat in Chicago?
Hot Chocolate. In the interest of full disclosure, my friend Mindy Segal is the owner and chef...but it really is my favorite place to eat. Try it, you'll love it!!

5. If money and logistical reality played no part, what would you invent?
Peace on Earth...I could say more but why?!

6. Would you rather have the ability of fly or the ability to be invisible?
Fly...The price of gas is crazy.

7. If I scrolled through your iPod, what guilty pleasure song would I find?
Madonna's "Hung Up.” I love everything from punk to country and the Grateful Dead to Miles Davis, but every once and awhile you need a dose of sugar sweet pop music and Madonna is the best.

8. What’s your favorite Jewish thing to do in Chicago—in other words, how do you Jew?
Shabbat dinner at home with my wife Sophia and our two boys, Nathan and Jonah.

Ari helps you think before you drink!

Hello Oy!sters! It’s your friendly neighborhood Jewish bartender, back again with some exciting things to tell you. To me, Chicago summers mean wonderful weather and sizzling hot spots, overflowing with some of the best cocktails to cool you down or pick you up. I have personally scouted the city and only have enough room in this issue for six of the hottest to check out this summer, including spots even native Chicagoans might not know about. Join me for this virtual tour of the best places in the downtown area to kick back and savor the flavor!

The Lux Bar  – 18 E. Bellevue Pl. 
This bar is a great introduction to the Chicago bar scene, residents and visitors alike. I knew when I stepped in through the doors and saddled up at the bar for a drink that this was a neat place to be, any time of the day, outside or in. Now, in terms of cocktails there are many ways to go here. If you want to play it relatively safe I would recommend the Key West Mango Frappe with orange vodka, mango puree and fresh ginger, or perhaps the Fresh Fruit Sling, made with lemon vodka, lemon juice, homemade simple syrup and seasonal fruit. For those willing to go outside their comfort zone, the Ramos Fizz is simply amazing—the drink is crafted with raw egg white and cream and after some vigorous shaking, the cream and egg whites blend giving the cocktail a rich, frothy finish.

This cocktail was made famous by a bartender in New Orleans, who would set up his Gin Fizz station, hire twenty men and have each cocktail shaken for 15 minutes per person and handed down the line to each man until it had been shaken continuously for hours! It’s a fun journey of flavors that everyone should try once.

De La Costa  – 465 E Illinois St. 
This Chicago hot spot is a must-see for anyone looking for a good time. While it’s known primarily for its food and atmosphere, the signature cocktails are surprisingly well-constructed and creative. The selection of cocktails begins with standard bar fare: the cosmopolitan, the Mojito, etc. As I continued down the list I came across something wild and new in the cocktail world that quite possibly may be this summer’s best drink. Called "Poptails," these delicious drinks arrive in squat martini glasses and are garnished with flavored alcoholic popsicles! Try the sensational coco-lime Poptail and enjoy the fun atmosphere all night long.

Nacional 27 – 325 W. Huron St.
This fusion restaurant, known for its eclectic atmosphere and good eats, is often overlooked for its dazzling drinks. National 27 takes cocktails to a whole new level, turning them into meals in a glass! Their drink menu is full of a wide range of white and red wines to enjoy from many parts of the world, but they also boast quite a selection of rums and tequilas to sample alone or mixed. Adam Seger, head bar chef and sommelier, creates many of his own syrups and mixes in-house, including Bloody Marys, Sangria, Tres Leches and Horchata. He even makes his own maraschino cherries. He has won many accolades for his pioneering skills behind the bar, and it shows in his signature drinks. My recommendation, other than wine, would be the Passion Fruit Screwdriver, topped with a beautiful pineapple-vanilla foam garnish.

Cru – 25 E. Delaware St.
While Cru is my main competition for clientele, I cannot deny its history and reputation as one of the premier wine bars in the Gold Coast area, on the corner of Wabash and Delaware. Not only is their wine selection exquisite, but they are also down the street from one of Chicago’s oldest Jewish congregations, Chicago Sinai Congregation. My cousin Evan Moffic is the Assistant rabbi at the reform synagogue, so join the congregation if you need a place to daven in the city at the last minute!

But back to Cru. It’s is the perfect place to relax outside, enjoy a glass of wine, and observe the bustling Michigan Avenue crowds. My recommendations are as follows: for sparking, try the Portuguese Brut Rose, pink in color but full of flavor. For a white wine, either the Chenin Blanc from South Africa, or the more expensive (but well worth it) Chapoutier from the rich Rhone Valley in France. The red to sample here is the sinsky Merlot from Napa. Cru also offers sparkling cider and sake and a very tasty Saketini made with Ketel One and pickled ginger.

Inter-Continental Hotel – 505 N. Michigan Ave.
When trying to decide which beverage depots to share, I had to put at least one hotel bar on the list, and this is one experience you can’t afford to pass up. Alex Rose, a classmate of mine at the Academy and the Assistant Bar Manager at The Bar located in the hotel, can’t stop talking about his establishment’s trip back in time to Chicago’s infamous 1920’s Prohibition Era, décor and all! This might surprise you, but rather than choose a Prohibition drink or one of their many fabulous martinis, I am recommending their semi-secret and ultra-fabulous Cosmopolitan. Guaranteed to be lip-smacking good! Make this one of your stops as you bar hop through the city and you won’t be disappointed.

Cityscape Bar –  Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza • 350 West Mart Center Drive
Finally! This is my personal hidden gem that few Chicagoans know about, and the word is spreading fast! You know how great chefs always say that presentation matters, that we “eat with our eyes first?” Well, this bar nestled atop the Holiday Inn and boasting one of the most gorgeous nighttime skyline views the city has to offer, fits the bill. It offers an amazing cocktail list. If you’re a fan of tea, you’ll love their Pomegranate Rose martini with a rare European rose nectar and a candied lime slice. For spice lovers, the Cajun Spice martini consisting of pepper vodka and pepper-stuffed olives is the drink for you. However, my personal favorite takes me back to when I was a kid in Wisconsin sampling some of the best root beer from the original A&W store. The Root Beer Float Martini is made with Absolute Vodka, root beer schnapps, Godiva Chocolate Liqueur and a Root Beer candy.

Well, I hope you all found this guide to be helpful and are eager to explore. I encourage all of you to not fear the mixed drink–GUYS: DO NOT BE AFRAID OF MIXED DRINKS!!! Break the shackles of alcoholic conformity, take a leap of faith and try something different. Start with what you know you like and work from there.

I know there are plenty of places that I did not cover that would make this list easily, so please feel free to share your favorite drinks and places to toast. As always, I am here to answer any of your questions or give my opinions on favorite cocktail recipes or cool drinking establishments.

L’Chaim!