ArcaMax

One Installment of Food Exotica

This was quite the weekend of exotic eating.

Our friend Harry O came for a short vacation with his friend Connie. We ate and drank our way from one end of Chicago to the other. A good time was had by all.

The first evening we had a late night reservation at Girl & The Goat. The reservation was for 10:15 p.m. Our guests arrived around 9:30 so this was good timing. This is also one of the hardest dining tickets to get in the big city of Chicago so it’s not odd to have a late dinner reservation when dining there. For an earlier reservation you have to plan months ahead. The chef, Stephanie Izard won TopChef in season four, and it’s been a non-stop whirlwind for her ever since. Stephanie took her time in deciding what kind of new restaurant she wanted to build after her newest fame kicked in. She found a unique niche for sure. She’s featuring, of all things, goat.

Now, goat is actually the most widely eaten meat on the planet. So many of the developing countries depend on goat as their staple meat. Not so in the US, so we think goat is an exotic ingredient. Stephanie features at least three items on her menu each night in which goat is the main ingredient. Then, some of the other items might have goat involved too. All dishes fall into that ‘small plates’ category so the idea is to share with the group at your table. They suggest you order 8 to 12 small plates to feed four. We ordered nine and had PLENTY. One of the items was a goat liver mousse. I think I’ll go back to duck and goose liver mousse. I was not a fan.

Another item was a small plate that involved a goat preparation surrounded by a lobster prep. That whole mess was on top of a fennel puree. Sounds weird doesn’t it? It was DEVINE.

On another night we had tickets to a comedy club so we decided to go to a small place in the same neighborhood. The one I chose serves Japanese food. It’s called Chizakaya. They do not serve your standard Japanese-US fare at this establishment.

This is how the Chizakaya website describes what they offer.

"By Melding the concept of a Japanese pub with its Chicago locale, Chizakaya introduces and expands upon the izakaya trend by harmonizing Japanese cuisine with contemporary philosophies and techniques, including the importance of using local, seasonal and sustainable resources. Chizakaya is the brainchild of chef/owner Harold Jurado. Chef Harold, a Chicago native, has cooked in such renowned restaurants as Sunda, Charlie Trotter's (Chicago and Las Vegas) and Japonais (Chicago, New York and Las Vegas). He places the significance of local, seasonal and sustainable ingredients above all else in the kitchen. The source of inspiration is seasonal ingredients from local farms and co-ops, as well as free-range livestock and responsibly sourced fish. Chef Harold aims to showcase these products to their fullest in their intelligent and informed approach to cuisine."

The word on the street is this is how they eat in modern Japanese local pubs. I thought that sounded interesting so we went for it.

Turns out in the izakaya trend, this is also a "small plates" joint. So it was back to ordering 8 to 12 dishes to share. Harry and Connie got into this sharing thing and enthusiastically began ordering.

The first two things ordered were Puffed Pigs Ears and Kushi Yaki (fried chicken skins). I am not kidding and I assure you we were not intoxicated!

Pigs ears and chicken skin. Hmmm.

I’ve eaten my share of chicken skin but it’s usually attached to the chicken. This was just skin on a stick. I was visualizing something very crunchy. I love a crunchy chicken skin. This was a disappointment, but we learned and moved on.

The pigs ears were next. They arrived in a bowl looking more like thin cheezy poofs than anything attached to livestock. The waiter explained that they freeze the pigs ears. Then they shave thin slices off and fry them. You can almost see through them. Lastly, they are flavored with a jalapeno dusting and vinegar. Sort of like a spicy potato chip.

My husband ate one and backed off.

I ate my first one and let out a yum. I probably ate about 8 of them. They were very good but I knew I had seven or eight more things to try that were still coming in waves.

Connie and Harry O went at the pigs ears with great enthusiasm. They even ordered seconds. How about that!?

I still haven’t ventured far enough to eat an entire soft-shelled crab and yet I ate pigs ears. I was rather impressed with my adventure and had a great time. We laughed a lot for sure. Just talking about the food we were eating gave us enough conversation to cover the whole meal time.

There were plenty of other things on the menu we did not sample. The short list includes but it not limited to:

Chicken gizzards, hearts and wings, duck hearts, wagyu cheek, tongue black edamame, seaweed, Hamachi bone marrow, menma, ponzu, umeboshi and more. One last thing I’ll tell you we ordered was okonomiyaki. Harry O was just happy that he could pronounce it! It was bacon, squid, shrimp, ginger and bonito. It was Bueno!

Today’s recipe is much less exotic. In order to keep down the fat calories while you are reducing, you even eliminate the chicken skin, but definitely still has plenty of flavor.

Tuscan Chicken with Grilled Tomatoes and Onions

Serves 4

4 chicken breast pieces, 4-6 oz each. Skinless
Sea salt and pepper
Olive oil spray
1 tsp of fennel seeds, divided
1 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes, divided
2 red onions cut into thick slices
4-6 plum tomatoes cut in half lengthwise
2 garlic cloves, crushed (jar garlic will work)
Grated zest of one lemon
Juice from two lemons
Basil leaves, shredded

Spray the chicken with olive oil spray. Sprinkle with grated sea salt and pepper to taste. In a small bowl mix half of the fennel seeds with half of the crushed pepper flakes. Sprinkle them over the chicken.

Spray your grill or grill pan. Cook the chicken, spice side down until you get some nice grill marks. Now you can continue to cook the chicken on your grill until done or finish it in the oven. Unless it’s warm and I’m outside, I sear the chicken on my grill pan and then transfer it to an oven-proof pan and let it roast in the oven at 375 for approximately 20 minutes until the chicken has no pink remaining in the middle.

While the chicken is cooking you can grill your veggies. In the grill pan or on the grill, lightly spray the onions and tomatoes and put them on the grill over medium heat and cook until they get grill marks on them and the onion gets soft (see picture).

In a bowl, mix the rest of the fennel seeds and red pepper flakes along with the garlic, lemon zest and lemon juice. This is sort of a dressing.

When the chicken is done plate it with the veggies and then drizzle the whole thing with the dressing. Finish up by garnishing with the basil shreds for garnish and flavor.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola