#bellyq

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Cornerstone Restaurant Group (CRG), a national leader in the restaurant space, looks beyond traditional borders in restaurant dining to where the customer is consuming today. Widely considered a trailblazer in the delivery space in Chicago, CRG is embracing new opportunities and new technologies in the months ahead. Led by freshly minted President Josh Zadikoff, CRG is pleased to announce…

Totally delayed in creating this post (sorry!). In mid-April, I went to Chicago for the first time with a couple of my friends and had the best time ever! Of course, when you hear “Chicago,” you immediately think Deep Dish Pizza, right? RIGHT! So the first place my food-loving friends and I went to is this place called Lou Malnati’s, where they’re known to have the best deep dish pizza in Chicago. 

First, we ordered their signature salad called “Malnati’s Salad” which had  Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, mushrooms, Volpi salami bits and gorgonzola cheese with our Sweet Vinaigrette and romano cheese. Those salami bits were nice and crunchy, which gave it a nice touch in flavor. Since the pizza takes about 1/2 hour to make, we ordered some drinks in the meantime. I had the Goose Island IPA (since we’re in Chicago, why not?) while everyone else had their own specialty beer/drink. 

Now for the best part...THE PIZZA! We ordered the Malnati Chicago Classic™ which is made with Lou's lean sausage, extra cheese (yum) and vine-ripened tomato sauce on Buttercrust. What’s not to love about all of those? The deep crust definitely added on the extra texture. Presentation of the food may seem small, but it’s quite filling (not to mention there were 4 of us)! Overall, I give this place a gold star for my first deep dish pizza experience in Chicago :) 

Next for dinner, we went to this place called bellyQ, which is an Asian-Inspired BBQ restaurant in Chicago. As soon as I entered, I fell in love with the interior designing of this place. We ordered some drinks, appetizers and entree of our own. Did a little flight of whiskey/sake (which were provided with a mat that had full description of what each of them were), and they were both delicious! See below images for description of each item.

Chilled Edamame w/ soy balsamic

Noodle + Cheese (aka Asian Mac n’ Cheese). Hint of spice with a curry taste. Definitely recommend for those of you that love curry!

Special Jambalaya dish they had with duck.

whiskey flight for the gents...

...followed by a sake flight for the ladies.

My friend had the wagyu beef burger and it looked very appetizing....YUM!

Late at night, we stopped by Goose Island brew pub for a quick drink. What a successful 1st day in Chicago, amirite?

Last food adventure we went on is this American-Style gastropub called SideDoor which was located near our hotel. When you enter, you see multiple pictures of keys displayed on the wall, which gives it that mysterious and vintage look. We ordered the deviled eggs to share, and I had a cosmo fizz (I believe that’s what it’s called) to drink. I was pretty beat by the end of this day so I honestly didn’t get a chance to drink the whole thing, but it tasted amazing! We also ordered their baked mac n’ cheese which was baked to perfection! For our main course, I ordered the Pulled Pork Poutine (which was amazing and definitely filling) and my boyfriend had the slow roasted duck.

I walked into bellyQ subconsciously preparing to be disappointed. There was no way the latest Asian Fusion joint sitting on a corner of West Randolph was going to have anything as appetizing as the foods I had enjoyed in Asia while studying abroad in Hong Kong. To make matters worse, I was slowly being taken over by nausea—probably from taking an antibiotic clearly labeled “take after food” that I took before food. Nonetheless, I started to lighten up as the young hostess led us to our wooden booth.

The juxtaposition of the wood with metal furniture gave the place a modern yet natural feel. The restaurant’s high ceilings gave the sensation of openness even when every seat in the house was filled, plus it diffused the chattering of the roomful of happy diners. We started by ordering some items to share, then chose three barbecue items as entrees to split between the four of us, and couple of side dishes to add to the mix as well. Everything looked like it was going to be amazing as the friendly staff whizzed around with trays of well put together dishes.

Although our cheerily pregnant waiter was certainly busy, she rushed to bring us our drinks and moments later came to the rescue with some Thai Style Fried Chicken and a Goat Milk Feta Pancake. As soon as I caught a waft of the sweet chili sauce glazed over the chicken, I told the churning in my stomach to move aside. This appetizer came with four fist-sized pieces of perfectly tender chicken. The crispiness of the chicken combined with the richness of the sweet chili sauce and the tanginess from a dash of lime made for a perfect start.

As the poultry made its way down my digestive system, I went in for the pancake. The almost paper thin pancake was topped with goat milk feta, crispy rice fried noodles, and spinach. Never having really eaten something of the sort before, I was pleasantly surprised by different flavors and textures that went into this plate. The pancake was soft and salty and while the goat cheese added a creamy texture to the dish, the noodles and spinach added an interesting crunchiness to it all.

It was an impressive start, definitely a trip from the traditional flavors of Asian cuisine, but the freshness and quality of the seasonal and locally grown ingredients is uncontested. We finished the appetizers and while my friends enjoyed a nice bottle of cold sake as we waited for the entrees, I stuck with water and Coca-Cola—though I did see some interesting cocktails zipping by. The main courses arrived, we had the choice of having our meats barbecued at the small built in hibachi table in front of us, but we opted for having the dishes cooked in the main kitchen. Although we seriously underestimated the size of the portions—one entrée for two people should be enough—I was excited to experiment with these different plates.

I started by digging into the Braised Lamb Shank. At just the right temperature, the forkfuls of lamb were so soft I hardly needed a knife to get them off the bone. On the side, we had some fresh out of the oven Chinese Steam Buns that went perfectly with the lamb’s red Thai curry. Those cloudlike buns topped with the mild spiciness of the curry and the salted lamb made a perfect combo.  As if my taste buds weren’t already having a mini rager, I glanced over at the grilled Pork Chop laying innocently on a bed of rice and I just had to cut myself a piece. If you love meat, then this piece of juiciness is for you. Perfectly grilled, almost to a slight toastiness, the pork was a spectacular way for me to end my meal—until dessert that is.

Although the dessert menu consists of a variety of soft serve delicacies, we opted for the one that was on the Restaurant Week Menu—Vietnamese cinnamon donuts with Seoul caramel. Probably not the choice to go with after an enormous and wonderful meal, but just one bite of those donuts was enough. Although each bite likely contains 1,000 calories, the freshness of the slightly fried dough was incredible, and the caramel sauce was one of the best I’ve ever tasted.