Posts Tagged ‘Food’
Cupcakes on the Move
It’s no secret that I love food, but what people might be surprised to know is that not so long ago I didn’t like cupcakes, or any cake really. A couple of years ago I was fortunate enough to write a review of More cupcakes before their opened their doors and after I left, I was officially on the cupcake train.
I recently had a chance to catch up with the owner of More, Patty Rothman, and she told me about the More Mobile that will be launching mid-August. You may be familiar with Flirty Cupcakes – the idea is similar, but I think it will outshine Chicago’s first cupcake truck. Part of the reason is because More sells a better cupcake and secondly, they have some really great ideas for the truck itself that will make it stand out.
For more information about this highly anticipated truck, check out the post I recently wrote for Gapers Block.
Re-Discover Chicago Sunday Morning (midnight – 5 a.m.)
This weekend is one of my favorites of the summer – on Saturday night my friends and I will go on a late night, 25-mile bike ride through Chicago. The L.A.T.E. Ride is a really great way to explore the city after-hours – from midnight until 5 a.m., the streets are closed off to vehicles and we’re free to bike, hang out and discover some of Chicago’s hidden gems.
We’ll finish the ride around 3 a.m. on the lake front and will stop somewhere to get some breakfast (Pick-Me-Up – hello pancakes!, Tony’s Burritos, perhaps a night cap at Carol’s?) then catch a few zzz’s before heading to one of our favorite soccer bars to watch the World Cup (go Netherlands!). All-in-all, sounds like a pretty awesome day to me.
If you’re at the L.A.T.E. Ride, look for the group of people decked out in Scared Panda gear and come say hello!
- Kate
Food Trailers + Cupcakes
A couple of weekends ago, Scared Panda and friends headed south to Austin, Texas. One of our favorite things about traveling is, of course, the food. If you can’t tell from the three food-themed shirts we’ve produced, we love to eat. And searching out local food is such a great way to learn about a particular culture and social scene. During our time in Austin, we discovered, and fell in love with, food trailers. If you haven’t experienced this yet, please make it a point to do so. The best food we ate during our four days in the city was produced in a food trailer – tacos, crepes, snow cones, cupcakes and more. Here is a short video of Clint destroying a strawberry cupcake from Hey Cupcake! Enjoy.
- Kate
Feeding Chicago
Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on a story about food pantries in Chicago for Gapers Block. I had the pleasure of talking to many volunteers and spent some time researching an issue that has always been really important to me. Each day, food pantries in Cook County serve more than 142,400 men, women and children. Learn more about the important role food pantries play in Chicago here.
- Kate
Foods that kept me warm this winter
I’m glad to see upper 50′s and other signs that winter is taking a walk. Soon I’ll be taking every chance I have to eat something in the outdoors. So, to help say good bye to old man winter, I’ve compiled a few photos of the foods(and drinks) that helped keep me warm this past winter.
Wicked strong beers at The Long Room
Mad Dog shots at The Bim Bom Lounge
Burgers at DMK Burger Bar
The humongous egg & cheese sandwich at Jack’s on Halsted
The Chocolate Tower French Toast at The Bongo Room
The eggs benedict at The Bongo Room
Some type of spread at The Bim Bom Lounge
And thanks to Anthony Bourdain & No Reservations for introducing me to the Three Little Pigs sandwich from The Silver Palm which helped me survive one of the coldest nights of the year.
Ugh, I’m full just from looking at all that…But damn it looks tasty 
See ya on the patio,
- Clint
My top burrito joints
There are about a million great places to get burritos in Chicago; some are great, some are not so great and some are much better the later in the night you eat them. Here is a list of the top 10 burrito joints in Chicago that I’ve been to. Now, these are only the burrito joints that I’ve actually been to, so if you have some recommendations on neighborhoods/places not listed below; please leave them in comments. It would be great to explore some more of the great burrito places and neighborhoods in the city.
1. Tony’s Burrito Mex – Lakeview
2. Taco & Burrito Palace #2 – Lincoln Park
3. Los 3 Panchos Taco & Burrito Place – Lakeview/Lincoln Park
4. Taco Burrito Express – Wicker Park
5. El Burrito Mexicano – Lakeview
6. Burrito House – Lakeview
7. Carnicerias Guanajuato – Avondale
8. Las Asadas – Bucktown
9. El Gallo Bravo #5 – North Center
10. Taqueria Moran – Logan Square
A Harry Caray hot dog t-shirt – my sketch
I’ve been talking with artists lately about getting some new designs done and yesterday at the Green Eye I found myself drawing one of my very own. I drew this up to give the artist an idea about what has been going around inside my head. This is the first and very rough draft of one of the next t-shirts. The shirt is inspired by Harry Caray and how you don’t put ketchup on a Chicago hot dog. Pretty awesome huh?
Corned beef in Chicago
Photo by JerryDoughnut
Today the temperature reached 62 on the lakefront and I could feel the people of Chicago start to thaw. Short sleeve tees, smiles and bikers all around. March is coming in like friendly lamb riding on the back of a rainbow unicorn. The highest temperature so far this year made me forget that it’s still only March here in the city. March means St. Patrick’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day means corned beef. My favorite corned beef meal, not sandwich mind you, but meal, is at Four Moon Tavern in Roscoe Village. I recently discovered this place last year when my good friend Matty O brought Kate and I there for their annual St. Patrick’s week corned beef and cabbage. He’s been raving about it since the day I met him. There isn’t any information on their website about the special but I think this bar is definitely worth grabbing a Guinness at even if the corned beef special is not happening again this year. However, I cannot think of a reason it would not. Rest assured I will be venturing there early next week or late this week to check it out and report back my findings.
So my friends, I leave you with this question: Where is your favorite corned beef in the city? Let us all know and leave your suggestions and recommendations in the comments section!
Happy spring everyone!
- Clint
Hello.
Proudly sporting my new Scared Panda shirt
Hi, my name is Kate. I’m part of the Scared Panda team and thought I should introduce myself. I moved to Chicago about two years ago and absolutely fell in love with the city. I love the buildings, the people, the music, the parks. But most of all, I love the food (you’ll be hearing more about my food adventures in future posts, or you can check out some of the posts I’ve written for Gapers Block). I’m particularly excited about the Tamale! Tamale! shirt because I love, really love, those tamales – partly because they are delicious, but also because how happy Claudio’s presence makes everyone. When he enters a bar, everyone cheers, he offers smiles to every single person and the atmosphere in the place tends to get a little more energetic. Because no one ever knows where he’ll show up on a particular night, you get the sense that you won some contest when he enters the bar YOU chose to go to that night. You’re one of the chosen ones.
Happy Tamale searching, folks. If you happen to run into Claudio, let him know we’ve got a t-shirt for him.