the publican

chicago, il

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chicago has amazing food, but it's not easy to figure out which places are going to be good. thankfully i have christine and val to show me around whenever i'm in town. we headed to chicago's version of the meatpacking district for a meat-centric meal at the publican. the restaurant is clearly one of the farm-to-table types and it appears to have brought the tables and pigpens from the farm as well. christine, val, and i were seated at a booth located in one of these pigpens, which was fun.

there's vegetables and starches available on the menu, but we focused on the good stuff - a full order of the mussels served with crusty french bread to dip in the broth (i'm glad we ignored the waiter who suggested that a half order would be sufficient), a plate of pork belly served over lentils (if i remember correctly), and my favorite - the blood sausage served with kimchee and apples. this was my first time trying blood sausage (but i've seen anthony bourdain rave about it on tv). it was fantastic - the richness of the sausage was perfectly balanced by the spicy acidic kimchee.

syrah bistro

santa rosa, ca

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derek and i decided to spend the night in napa valley, rather than driving through the night to get to the south bay. i IM'd danielle on my blackberry and she found us a great hotel in the area - the hyatt vineyard creek hotel and spa in santa rosa. perfect location - just off the 101 and within walking distance of the historic railroad square area with shops and restaurants. after 2 days of driving, it was nice just to get out and walk. the concierge at the hotel recommended the syrah bistro, a cute but small restaurant a few blocks away. the restaurant was a little cramped, so when the hostess asked if we wanted to be seated outside, we gladly said yes. but turns out that "outside" is really a hallway between the restaurant and a hair salon.

it was a little odd to be seated next to a display of hair products, but the food and wine made up for it. derek and i shared a terrific bottle of wine, which was from a nearby winery - a 2008 desmond pinot noir. we started with the wild arugula and escarole salad - very good, derek especially liked the crispy shallots and i liked the white anchovy on top. i ordered the pan roasted duck breast, with risotto style farro, oregon chanterelles, and black garlic-sour cherry jus. delicious. definitely a great little spot if you ever find yourself in santa rosa.