I am going to bow out of this delight-a-thon and allow another to take my place.

Have fun despite the lack of my radiant presence.

Giovanna

I might have been next up, or close to it, of those on the waiting list. I've got to bow out, also. Have fun all.

This sounds like it will be a great time. I'm hereby requesting a chow buddy to help me eat a Bahn Mi and Cuban Sandwich, since I'm pretty sure I won't be able to do the whole thing.
Can't wait! Thanks, thaiobsessed, for putting this together!

Pie Lady wrote:This sounds like it will be a great time. I'm hereby requesting a chow buddy to help me eat a Bahn Mi and Cuban Sandwich, since I'm pretty sure I won't be able to do the whole thing.

These -athons work really well if you can accept the notion everyone is a chow buddy. A few examples are purchased, then everyone digs into them from all angles. Everyone also takes turns with the expenses, so these are pretty low cost events. Unless you don't like sharing, then it can be relatively expensive.

Regards,

Just making sure. Sandwiches are harder to split. The sharing aspect is always what draws me to these things anyway, since you get more bang for your buck.

Always snag a plastic knife at the first opportunity. Makes sharing a bit neater.

Friends - I'm sorry, but I need to bow out - a rehearsal is impinging on my eating time.

I'm terribly sorry for the short notice but The Suburban 3 are out. I can't believe we're going to miss this after looking forward to it for so long

Have fun, everyone.

=R=

Sorry to miss you Seth and Suburbans...
There's a few spots open now if anyone else would like to join in...

another spot opened, I'm afraid

Have fun in my hood, everyone. Sorry to have to miss what I'm sure will be a great time.

This is ridiculous.
I went to bed sniffly and sneezy. Just woke up with a full-blown cold: can't smell or taste a thing. I have to bow out; my sincere apologies to all. This is one I've been looking forward to for a long, long time. I am so sorry to miss what promises to be a great day--and a beautiful day. Hope you all have a spectacular time.

feeling bad about not being able to make this, I stopped in at el Trigal very early this morning to see if I could discover some new things worth trying, and report back to the group in advance of your Kaper. I was too early for donuts, which are el Trigal's best offering, so I ended up with these three things:



Clockwise from the top:

- That raisin bread is worth getting. Don't imagine a croissant, or you'll be disappointed. It is a light, airy, but not at all flaky, pull-apart "monkey bread" type pastry. Like all of el Trigal's pastries, this is not overly sweet, which I like. Fresh out of the oven as I just tried it, it's really quite good.

- The next one is also very light and airy, but much more like a regular dinner roll that happens to have cinnamon sugar on top. Not bad, but I'd take a pass.

- The third thing was called either "milk bread" or "milk roll". It's basically a crumbly, not-too-sweet, pleasant scone. Fresh and still warm as I had it, spread with some guava marmalade and eaten with a cup of coffee, I liked this one.

A word about ordering at el Trigal, in case you've never been to a Mexican pastry shop, or this isn't plainly obvious: There are a bunch of trays and tongs up near the cash register - just grab a set, then grab whatever you want from the display cases (or from the cart in the center of the store, where most of the freshest stuff is) and bring your full tray to the register. Then watch with amazement as they ring up what seems to be a monstrous amount of food, while the cash register dial barely moves. El Trigal's pastries are a bargain!

Favor to ask...my parents were coming up for an appointment and it turns out the office had to cancel because the power was out all over the neighborhood. Would it be too much trouble if I invited them too? If we're at capacity, that's okay (I wasn't sure what are total is now).

Thanks

Feel free to bring them. We've had a few cancellations so, plenty of room.
Anyone else who has free time today--feel free to join us along the route.

thaiobsessed wrote:Anyone else who has free time today--feel free to join us along the route.

Looks to be a world of fun, really sorry I am unable to attend the Kedzie-a-thon.

Looking forward to tales of good food, conversion and general merriment.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote: Looking forward to tales of good food, conversion and general merriment.

Typical LTH event: there was food, fun and now we're all Buddhists.

Thank you thaiobsessed for organizing a wonderful walkathon. Clearly, you spent a lot of time prior to the event, planning all the details and alerting the restaurants.

Food highlights of the day for me were:
Sanabel Bakery
The owner Pierre was extraordinarily gracious and welcoming. We were invited in to watch pitas on a conveyor coming out of the oven.Nothing more delicious than eating a pita straight out of the oven. Also delicious were the mankoushi, flat bread topped with a combination of za'atar and cheese and the lahem biajin which are topped with meat.
Salam
By this time our appetites were really flagging. However, despite our food exhaustion, we managed to put away plenty of falafel (crunchy exteriors with moist and fluffy interiors), hummus with schwarma, and the spinach special of the day.

Pupuseria y Restaurante Cuscatleco
The pupusas were excellent as was the desert - deep fried balls of mashed plantains with dulce de leche (an off menu item).

Great Seas
I had to concede defeat by this time. At GAF's suggestion,I took home an order of wings - the 1X I just had for dinner really hit the spot.

Can't think of a better way to explore the city than in the company of friendly food-loving LTHers. Thanks to all who attended. Looking forward to Kedzie Kaper Part 2.

Jyoti

thaiobsessed wrote:

In your explorations can you see if fresh almonds are in stock now. They usually come in around Easter.

Will do. I'd love to find some so I can recreate this image:




GAF,

Take a look at these green almonds - more mature than the ones we tried today. Shells cracked open and the almond visible. This picture represents my experience with green almonds.

Jyoti

We did have a fantastic time. Thank you Thaiobsessed (Becca) for a schedule that kept us going, right on time. My favorite moment was visiting Sanabel bakery, seeing the puffy pita being made in the bakery behind the grocery: little footballs of pleasure.

Food memories include the Zaatar bread at Sanabel, the Basil seed drink at Nhu Lan, the falafal at Salam, and the plantains with dulce de leche at Pupuseria y Restaurante Cuscatleco. I didn't make it to Great Seas, but I am confident that the wings were as memorable as always.

Also discussing with Jyoti about difference between infant green almonds (Palestinian style, the entire nut is edible) and toddler green almonds (see above) (Indian style).

So glad you guys enjoyed Sanabel and Cuscateclo. Sorry I missed the extravaganza. The rehearsal was fruitful though: http://substitutematerials.org/

The Kedzie Caper was a great success in my book. Beautiful day, interesting company, lots of variety and cheap eats. A great introduction to some good eats in the neck of the woods.

Highlights:

El Trigal: Basa de crema - was like a crumbly coffee cake, but looks like a biscuit sandwich with a cream center. Elote- pastry with a sweet corn center. Everything is so cheap. Grab what you like and bring it to counter.

Sanbel Bakery: spinache pie, zataar/cheese pita.
They let us go in the back and watch the doe being made and traveling around on the machines which wound around the space...I felt like a kid in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory...minus the oompa loompas. They were very kind and proud of their facility adn when we tasted the food we could tell why. Simple and good. I preferred the non meat pitas.

Con Sabor Cubano: #6 sandwich- the Ropavieja - shredded beef.
I try not to eat too much beef, but when I do I like it to be good. This thus was the most succulent and tasty of the cuban sandwiches by far in my book. Almost like a BBQ. Very friendly service.

Nhu Lan: I did not try the Bon Mi to save room. But the basil seed tea was an adventuresome drink. Too sweet for me, but made with jello. There was a very good corn dish with a sugary substance on top.

Al Khayam: $1 fresh pita! Nice middle eastern grocery supplies. I you have a hookah, plenty of tobacco stock here... Gastronome said the adjacent restaurant has a very good Cornish hen.

Salam: Spinach special on Sat with or without chicken a chicken. The shawarma was very good. 25 cent falafel balls! Crispy and well flavored. Clean, decent crowd and friendly.

Nazareth Sweets: right next door to Salam. The cashew baklavah fingers and the semonila cake were great. Perfect small sizes for these sweet, cheap treats. Can get as little as you want.

Pupuseria: Even after all the food we all ended up devouring the pampusas here. Nice cafe feel and good eats. The Empanada con leche (I think it was called) is a plantain fried with cream in center was a big hit.

Great Seas: chicken wings...not my fav style, but the one X was recommended by a few. I am not as crazy about the friend style, crispy like a general tso's chicken. I ate that so much as a kid I think I ODed on it. But we were disappointed to find no LTHers on the wall of chicken wing fame for most eaten...86 is the number to beat. (went from 46 to 86...game changing)

Overall a great day. We are considering a Chinatown or Argyle crawl sometime. Thanks again for the planning of this. It was a great mix of walking and variety. Did not spend that much money either. I think top bill at a place was $6.

Cheers-
Soft Boiled

I'll echo what was said above.
We really had a great day--the weather cooperated, the company was terrific, the proprietors were welcoming and the food...
I agree with GAF and Soft Boiled about the hightlights:
Salam: falafel and the hummus and shawerma plate
Pupuseria y Restorante Cuscatleco: Great pupusas (cheese and bean especially) and empanadas de leche
Great seas: wings, of course

Our first stop was El Trigal bakery




Our second stop was Sanabel bakery.
Pierre, the proprietor, was very hospitable and let us tour pita-making operation and take pictures.
I didn’t eat too much there yesterday (I live close) but I’m a big fan of their pita with ground beef topping (lahm bi ajeen—sometimes made with lamb), z’atar bread and spicy cheese pies






Stop #3: Con Sabor Cubano.
I have to say, I like Cuban sandwiches but the Cubano is not my favorite (I prefer Ropa Vieja, Lechon). That being said, I think Con Sabor Cubano makes a respectable Cuban (I’m just not the best person to judge).
I'm with Soft Boiled-- love the ropa vieja sandwich. They make great maduros and tostones as well. I didn’t try the batidos but I think the general consensus was that these weren’t a strength.

Ropa vieja (half sandwich)

Cubano


Stop #4: Nhu Lan
We didn’t eat much at Nhu Lan (we were recovering from the previous stops and needed a breather. I’m a big fan of their #4 (lemongrass pork) sandwich with extra jalapenos. GAF passed around a sweet corn snack and we tried a rice flour dumpling with shrimp. The basil drink (available bottled or home made) was pleasantly interesting.

Checking out the wares at Nhu Lan


Bottled basil drink


Stop #5: Al Khayam Bakery/Zeina brand
We took a stroll through this bakery/market to give ourselves a breather. They sell a wide variety of middle eastern groceries (great spot for bulgher wheat (about 7 kinds in the bulk bins) and legumes. I spotted Cortas brand fig jam. Pie Lady picked up an interesting array of chocolate bars.



Stop #6: Salam
I live close and tend to go to Semiramis for Middle Eastern but our experience at Salam convinced me I need to mix things up a bit. The proprietor was really welcoming—he sent out a free plate of falafel. Their falafel fresh out of the fryer just can’t be beat. I also enjoyed the shawerma and hummus combo and the spinach soup. Oh, and really
great tabouleh. I’m looking forward to trying their homemade labneh and fried cheese.
Tabouleh

Carrot juice and pickles


Stop #7: Nazareth
Well, I was hitting the wall at this point and I’m not a big sweets person so I just tried a bite of the semolina cake (nice, not too sweet)

Stop #8: Pupuseria y Restaurante Cuscatleco—Salvadorean food
I sort of got my second wind here. Great pupusas (bean and cheese, cheese, cheese and loroco—a green) with cabbage. I loved the empanadas de leche (fried ripe plantains with sweetened condensed milk inside). The tamal de elote with crema was also very good.


Stop #9: Great seas
The chicken wings did not let us down. None of us made the wall of fame but I think most of us put away at least a few of these.

Wall of fame at Great Seas


Thanks everyone who participated.
We already started scoping locations for Kedzie Kaper II

New antojitos place (formerly Cups Coffee and Tea)



I can't remember who pointed this out (Soft Boiled? Gastro Gnome?) but it is probably a bad sign to have an aquarium shop and a seafood vendor in the same building...


There were a couple other photographers (hopefully better than me, for their sake) who can probably provide pics of stuff I missed. Nr706, how did yours turn out?

The Kedzie Kaper - 12 souls, 8 stops, full stomachs.

A great big thanks has to go out to Becca for the idea, organization and timing that made the day possible. A lot of thought went into how to set everything up and I think it worked out wonderfully. It was a great time sampling many cuisines with some intrepid and always friendly LTH'ers. I can add the few images I came out.

As others have mentioned, the factory tour was a nice surprise. I was one of the last ones in Sanabel, but the front of the group was already through the door and snapping pictures of the assembly line.



The walk to Cafe Son Sabor Cubano was welcome. As the day wore on, I could have done with a couple of more walks of this length (or twice as long). Along the way, there were discoveries that can become apparent when you really investigate a neighborhood. Like the surprising number of auto-body shops along Lawrence. A regional Filipino restaurant (GAF picked up a menu). Or, the fact thatChicago has a Cambodian Association.



The proprietors were very welcoming and accommodating throughout the day, but the prize really goes to Cafe Sabor Cubano who pushed together tables, sliced up sandwiches in many pieces and readily recommended easy-to-share dishes.

A semi-candid shot of the crew at CSC (with a hand-painted mural that rivals Uru-Swati in color).


The next stop for serious eating was at Salam where the falafel was as freshly fried as I've had it there and the shawarma with humus is always a crowd-pleaser:



I really enjoyed Nazareth Sweets. I wholeheartedly agree that Salam + Nazareth have got to be one of the best one-two punches in the city.

We were groaning under some stomach pressure at this point, but made our way to Cuscatleco. Even Cookie Monster who had perked up earlier at the description of pupusas (masa, cheese, beans) was feeling the aggregate effects of the day. But as thaiobsessed later mentioned, great food has a way of giving you a second wind.

Pupusas, curtido and two desserts I don't quite remember.


The revived group. Sue and softboiled must be discussing how much space is left in their stomachs


The remaining group pushed on to Great Seas. I wondered if I would make it because a) it was the last stop and b) I am oft-critical of chicken wings. In solidarity, I scarfed one down. I have to admit: it was pretty tasty.

Sue used the lazy Susan (appropriately) and played Russian roulette (Korean karousel?) to find happy homes for these last 4:



Highlights for me include the:

- the plain donut I had at El Trigal. Yeasty was a good way to describe the flavor, but also light and delicate. This was a great way to start off the day. I also enjoyed the rum cake I packed for later.
- as others have said, the ropa vieja at Cafe Sabor Cubano was very good. The maduros were also a great bite. The cubanos were better than some others I have tried in the city, though a bit heavy on mayo and light on pickles for my taste.
- the falafel and tabouleh at Salam
- semolina cake at Nazareth Sweets - as well as all the honeyed nut clusters I brought home that a subtle flavor with near-molasses depth. Really, one of the great things about this place is the restraint on the sweet in the sweets.
- bean and cheese pupusas at Cuscatleco. I really need to eat more pupusas. As GAF said, you could make a dinner of these and curtido and get change back from a $5. How's that for recession-proof eating out?

And whether it was the impromptu tour of a pita factory or the gratis second plate of falafel at Salam, it pays to travel with a bunch of courteous, camera-toting LTH'ers.

A great day with some very good eating and wonderful company. I look forward to getting the team back together for one more Kaper.

As expected, this looks to have been a tremendous day of eating. Thanks for the mouthwatering reports.

man, i'm sorry i had to miss this! i really wanted to go because i grew up in the area...oh well, . it looked like a great time.

Other than expressing great thanks to Becca/thaiobsessed for organizing, I'm not sure I have much to add. It was a great time. I was sufficiently stuffed to skip the last two stops (I'd been to both previously).

I found the tostones at Con Sabor Cubano interesting. Instead of the usual slices, these were horizontal slices/segments of the fruit. Unfortunately, they were a bit dry, and needed salt. - in contrast to the excellent sandwiches we had there.


Despite our best efforts to stare through the window and make people sitting at one of the few tables sufficiently uncomfortable to leave, we ended up sharing our eats on the street. Gary got an interesting sweet corn, topped with a sauce that seemed to contain a little soy, with a separate packet with sugar to sprinkle over.


I also thought the basil soda had an interesting texture, almost like a bubble tea.


At Salam, the fresh, house-made falafel were outstanding.


And the tabbouleh was refreshing.


A special of the day was a spinach soup with chicken. Being stuffed, we ordered it on its own. The consistency was thick enough that some of us used it as a sauce. The flavor was interesting - it had one or more herbs included that I couldn't identify.


It's a great area to explore. Thanks again, Becca!

I want to thank our organizer thaiobssessed for a wonderful day out and the extremely
cute itinery that she made for us.
i wanted to mention the high lights of the day:
Sanabel Bakery wonderful spinach cheese turnovers and cheese and zataar lebneh which we got piping hot from the oven.
Con Sabor Cubano: had great maduros and ropa vieja sandwiches.
Salam: had wonderful shawerma with hummus which we ordered thanks to gastro gnome. The spinach soup was very delicate and delicious
Nazareth Sweets: great nut caramel bars.
Pupuseria y Restaurante Cuscalteco: had FABULOUS fried plaintains stuffed with milk. the pupusas were wonderfully flavored as well.
Nhu Lan: the basil tea is the funkiest thing I have seen as a dessert drink which looked like a bunch of tadpoles in a cup. I had a pastry stuffed with meat which I had the next day and it was very tasty.
Overall this was a wonderful day.
So thaiobsessed what is our next trip?

Thanks from me too! I have even less to add in the way of photos, but here they are anyway:


Medianoche Sandwich from Con Sabor Cubano


Fried Plantains


Atole de Elote (sweet, hot corn drink) from Pupuseria y Restaurante Cuscatleco

All-
Con Sabor Cubano is long gone! I drove by last night and they're cleared out.