Restaurants in Markham

Lowcountry Cuisine That Brings Charleston to Chicago

At Carriage House (1700 W. Division St.) in Wicker Park, Chef Mark Steuer’s Restaurant Week menu ($44 for dinner) gives Chicago a taste of a balmy Southern beach town in the midst of our winter deep-freeze. LOWCOUNTRY, DEFINED To my ears, the words lowcountry cuisine are onomatopoeia in action: five smooth syllables that are buttermilk biscuits, bags of boiled peanuts, iron vats of corncobs and shrimp. This association is from growing up living—and eating—in the South. I relished the thick slices of liver mush that my grandmother fried for breakfast, Wheel of Fortune blaring in the background; the baskets of hush puppies my sisters and I shared at a now long-since-shuttered restaurant called Po’Folks. On certain holidays, we’d pile into our parents’ minivan and ride across North Carolina’s rolling piedmont toward Charleston, South Carolina’s ritzy beach town. Once we got there, we’d cover our bodies in sunscreen, hit the beach, and acquire impressive sunburns. Equally important, though, was the ritual that came afterward—searching for dinner along Charleston’s mansion-lined boulevards. In Charleston, dinner wasn’t just a meal. It was a mainline to the city’s lifeblood: a chance to glimpse fancy old ladies and distinguished gentlemen, the couples carousing with their debutante daughters. It was a chance to giggle at tourist-hustlers coaching trained monkeys, a chance to taste fried squid from chefs who ventured onto the sidewalk with platters. These were my first glimpses at lowcountry dining. These food memories are so wrapped up in culture, which makes sense. After all, lowcountry cuisine, by nature, brings many cultures together. Even in ubiquitous dishes like shrimp and grits or hoppin’ john, you’ll find flavors of Spanish and French influence, as well as culinary traditions from enslaved Africans. The frequent use of rich ingredients such as cream and sherry denotes the decadent tastes of the area’s ornate upper-class homes. LOWCOUNTRY COMES TO CHICAGO Mark Steuer, the culinary mind behind Chicago’s Carriage House (1700 W. Division St.) and The Bedford (1612 W. Division St.), knows these lowcountry elements well. He too grew up in the South. Steuer’s education in Southern cooking began hands-on: he remembers fishing crabs and shrimp from a backyard dock on John’s Island with his father, then cooking the seafood on the family’s porch. Later, he learned the intricacies of lowcountry cuisine in the kitchen of Brett’s, a James Island eatery run by lauded Charleston restaurateur Brett McKee. A move to Madison—and enrollment at the University of Wisconsin—ended Steuer’s residence in the South, but he never got over lowcountry cuisine, left lingering on his palate like a debutante's kiss. Carriage House is Steuer’s way of remaking and sharing his memories of the South. The dishes he serves don’t play to a typical Southern standard of authenticity; instead, they highlight some of the South’s most evocative flavors in preparations that aren’t too stereotypically heavy or greasy. Carriage House’s Restaurant Week 2014 menu ($44 for dinner) offers newcomers a chance to get oriented with Steuer’s take on lowcountry cuisine, and offers Southern transplants like myself an evening with a culinary passport home. Read on for some of Steuer’s thoughts on the dishes he and his team are preparing regularly and for Restaurant Week, which includes a first course of skillet cornbread, pictured below. GROUPON: If someone has never had lowcountry cuisine before, how would you describe it to them? MARK STEUER: It’s a mix of of familiar Southern food with a bit of French and Spanish influence. G: You’re known for adding modern touches to traditional Southern cuisine. Are there any dishes on the Restaurant Week menu that really bring together traditional and modern flavors and techniques? MS: The pickled-squash salad. Normally, pickling squash would make it mushy, so we use a cryo machine to compress the squash so it stays nice and crisp and crunchy. We also use pears packed in salt and roasted for an hour, so they stay crunchy. G: I read on your site that you credit Mindy Segal with helping you master sourcing ingredients. In what ways did she influence you when if comes to ingredient-sourcing? MS: Mindy facilitated me meeting everyone I need to know. She’s a big supporter of the farmer’s market, and so am I. She helped me understand how important local sourcing is, because everything tastes so much better that way. G: If you weren’t cooking during Restaurant Week, where would you eat? MS: Probably La Sirena (954 W. Fulton Market) or Maude’s Liquor Bar (840 W. Randolph St.). Photo of lowcountry boil and skillet cornbread courtesy of Jamco Creative; photo of Chef Steur courtesy of Carriage House

How Mexique and Chef Gaytan Helped Me Not Hate Fusion Cuisine

Top Chef contestant and Michelin-starred chef Carlos Gaytan tells us what to expect from Mexique (1529 W. Chicago Ave.) during Restaurant Week—and why you shouldn’t shy away from fusion cuisine. It’s often trendier to be a hater than an enthusiast. This is certainly true in the fickle world of restaurant reviews and celebrity chefs, where trends quickly shift from avant-garde to passé. For reference: “I just dislike—really dislike—the idea that somebody would put Texas-style barbecue inside a fucking nori roll." – Anthony Bourdain “I hate fusion food, hate it with a passion. In its trauma and enthusiasm it’s like a gangly youth with pimples…Hopefully it is a fad.” – Australian chef David Thompson For years, I harbored my own aversion to fusion food. Though I was ignorant of the anti-fusion sentiment en vogue among culinary bigwigs, I was soured to the concept by sickening visions of teriyaki-alfredo mash-ups. It was this generalized dislike that kept me away from Mexique, Chicago’s Mexican-French eatery. But I can admit when I’m wrong. I have Chef Carlos Gaytan to thank for my conversion. My first trip to Mexique was during Restaurant Week 2013, and I was taken aback by the delicacy with which he brought together French and Mexican flavors. An infusion of roasted poblano peppers lent depth to gruyère-topped french onion soup, and a pleasingly tart goat-cheese fondue dressed up a second course of flank-steak asada. Though these flavors were new to me, French-Mexican cuisine is not a new phenomenon. According to Gaytan, France’s occupation of Mexico in the 1860s led to the melding of the two culinary worlds. Born in the Mexican state of Guerrero, Gaytan is riffing on this history. However, his gift for subtlety and delicate preparation is what sets Mexique’s menu apart. I’m not the only one who thinks so. This year Top Chef recruited Gaytan for its Season 11 in New Orleans [at publication, he was among the final four contestants], and the Michelin Guide awarded Mexique a Michelin star. I talked with Gaytan about the theory behind his cooking, and asked him what to expect from Mexique during Restaurant Week 2014. GROUPON: I loved your Restaurant Week menu in 2013. What’s in the cards for 2014? CARLOS GAYTAN: We’re going to do a soup of the day, maybe a creamy soup with foie gras. We’ll be doing a ceviche, which we change everyday. For the main course, [one of the choices is] pork belly with sweet-potato purée and spicy mole. G: How do you make French and Mexican techniques and flavors work so well together? CG: We don’t have any strict balances or percentages, no 50-50 balance. It’s about the ingredients; whatever ingredients I find on the market, I make whatever recipes and preparations bring out the best flavors. I call it modern Mexican with a French influence. That gives me room to be creative. G: At Sheraton, you discovered your talent for carving ice and fruit. What was the most unusual carving you ever made? CG: I used to do a lot of carvings for seafood displays. A swordfish, a seahorse…at the Union League Club (65 W. Jackson Blvd.), I carved shells and put some sorbet in the shells with caviar. G: Congratulations on earning a Michelin star in 2013. If you could bestow a Michelin star upon another Chicago restaurant, which would it be? CG: Avec (615 W. Randolph St.). They don’t have one yet, but I would recommend. G: If you weren’t going to be cooking at Mexique during Restaurant Week, what restaurant would you eat at? CG: I would go to May St. Cafe (1146 W. Cermak Rd.) …a really small restaurant. Chef Mario [Santiago] does a really good job. If not May St. Cafe, probably Blackbird (619 W. Randolph St.). Really good. [And] I would see what Stephanie [Izard] was doing. G: How has being on Top Chef changed your life? CG: It’s changed my life a lot…people now see me on the street. Everywhere that I go, people want to pose for a picture, or just say hi. I try to be nice about it. Photo credit: Andrew Nawrocki, Groupon

I Eat SPAM: A Confession

Yes, I grew up eating SPAM. I also grew up in a Filipino household, where SPAM has a culinary legacy. During WWII, Americans air-dropped canned goods to Filipinos during the Japanese occupation. And Filipinos, being culinarily creative, found some delicious ways to cook with the stuff. It’s the reason why a good Filipino breakfast can include eggs, garlic fried rice, and SPAM, sliced thin and fried till the edges are crispy. Every time my best friends and our families get together for a weekend, on at least one of the mornings, we make that Filipino breakfast. In fact, we love SPAM so much, that one of my co-best-friends, Charity, hosted a SPAM cookoff, which yielded such SPAMMY delights as: * Tempura SPAM fries * SPAM cornbread * SPAM egg rolls * SPAM quiche * Barbecue SPAM on a stick * SPAM sausage * SPAM hand rolls My other co-best-friend, Donna, serves SPAM to her husband and kids regularly. She’s known to fry it in bacon grease or swap it for the B in BLTs. Her recipe for SPAM fried rice is below, along with Char’s recipe for SPAM hand rolls. One thing I know is true, SPAM is always a crowd-pleaser, and even the pickiest of kids love the taste. A SPAM recipe is always kid-friendly. Make These SPAM-Centric, Kid-Friendly Recipes Charity’s Spam Hand Rolls (pictured above) Note from Char: This is our version of SPAM Musubi. We call it "Spalmon hand rolls.” Kids can help with most aspects of this recipe. What You Need: 1 can of SPAM 1 pot of cooked rice 2 peeled carrots 1 bunch alfalfa sprouts 1 cucumber 1 package of nori Sesame seeds (optional) For the sauce, whisk together: 3 tablespoons mayo 2 tablespoons sesame-seed oil Dash of sriracha What You Do: Julienne the SPAM, then fry it lightly or to a crisp. We like it to a crisp. Also julienne the carrots and cucumber. Cut those sheets of nori in half. On each half, spread (as well as you can) 1 tablespoon of cooked rice, then place those strips of SPAM, carrots, and cucumber on top. Add a clump of alfalfa sprouts and a dollop of the sauce. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Then roll it in a cone-like shape, so it looks like a hand-rolled sushi roll, or at least as close to one as possible. It doesn’t matter if it’s perfect, which is what makes it great to make with kids. Donna’s SPAM Fried Rice Donna’s note: This is the amount I make for my family—two older kids, one toddler, one husband, and me. Kids can beat the eggs and help with stirring and garnishing in the recipe’s final steps. What You Need: 1 can SPAM, diced 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 eggs, beaten 5 cups cooked white or brown rice 1 bunch green onions, diced 3–4 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon garlic salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper What You Do: Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet or wok. A wok is just more fun if you have it. Sauté the SPAM on medium-high heat until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Longer if you like it crispier, like most of us do. Scoop it out of the pan with a slotted spoon and drain it on a paper-towel lined plate. Cook the beaten eggs in the same pan for 2–3 minutes, then set aside. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, in the same pan you’ve been using all along if you want, or you can use a fresh, clean one. Add the green onions and garlic. Sauté for 1–2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent the garlic from burning, because burnt garlic sucks. Add the cooked rice, breaking down any clumps with the back of the wooden spoon. Heat until warm. (At this point, if you’re cooking with kids, you can transfer the rice into a large bowl, and continue with the rest of the recipe.) While stirring, sprinkle with the garlic salt and pepper. Add the SPAM and stir. Add the egg, breaking the patty into smaller pieces with a wooden spoon. Before serving, garnish with chopped green-onion tops. Or Go Here: Don’t feel like turning the key to open up that can? Check out these spots where you can get a taste of SPAM: Aloha Cafe (Lincoln Park, 2534 N. Clark St.): This Hawaiian eatery serves SPAM in no fewer than six of its dishes, including a SPAM Loco Moco and the classic Hawaiian treat, SPAM musubi, a block of teriyaki-seasoned rice and SPAM wrapped in a strip of nori. Uncle Mike’s Place (Ukranian Village, 1700 W. Grand Ave.): For the traditional Filipino breakfast that my BFFs and I enjoy, the cooks fry up sliced SPAM and serve it with eggs and garlic fried rice. SPAM can also be sliced for breakfast sandwiches or omelets. Yeowoosai (Rogers Park, 6248 N. California Ave.): This Korean karaoke lounge serves up morsels of SPAM in the garlic fried rice dish bokkeumbap. Photo: © Aimee Algas Alker, Groupon

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Lowcountry Cuisine That Brings Charleston to Chicago

How Mexique and Chef Gaytan Helped Me Not Hate Fusion Cuisine

I Eat SPAM: A Confession

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Aguamiel

Mexican Cuisine for Dinner for Two, Four, or More at Aguamiel (Up to 39% Off)

Lowcountry Cuisine That Brings Charleston to Chicago

How Mexique and Chef Gaytan Helped Me Not Hate Fusion Cuisine

I Eat SPAM: A Confession

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