Saturday, November 24, 2012

Purple Pig and Cantina Laredo, Chicago


Thursday 15 November
Today we drove up to Chicago to attend the ASOR annual meeting.  What with all this teaching stuff, we had had little time to prepare, anticipate, or even set up meetings with friends, so we depended on advice from the Marriott concierge desk, and on the whole, they didn't steer us too wrong.
First they sent us just down the street to the Purple Pig, where they're riding high (on the hog) with the trend of eating whole-hog.  Nonetheless, we skipped the incredible salumi spread.  We just had a copa di cava; a few meaty fried sardines with arugula salad scattered - and this is cute - with identical-looking lentils, capers, dried currents, and pignoli; and a tasty bowl of almonds, rosemary, and garlic, crisped in pig fat.  This is addictive, and we'll have to try it at home, maybe using goose fat, as we don't have much lard in the larder.
Our actual dinner was at Cantina Laredo, again nearby.  We didn't know it was a franchise, but Holt had a yen for Mexican, and the concierge said it was okay (lines for the Frontera grill being an hour long).  Along with some tall glasses of dos equis amber, our chicken enchiladas with mole were indeed just okay, but the fiesta di parilla was a step above: good fresh grilled shrimp, chicken, steak, and carne asado, plus guacamole, crema, and nice pickled onion pico di gallo.  The beans and rice were boring, but they usually are.

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