DMK Burger Bar

Truffle parmesan fries, blue cheese/onion straw burger, olive tapenade/tzaziki lamb burger. Heaven? Close enough (well to me at least). These delectable items can be found at one of Chicago's new burger joints - DMK Burger Bar.

What started as the love child between David Morton and Michael Kornick (DMK - get it?) has turned into Lakeview's premiere gastropub/burger joint. Boasting 14 different burgers (eight meat and six "others"), this place has been on my radar for quite some time. The timing was perfect when my dad was recently in town and we wanted to check out someplace to new eat. Normally I have an ongoing list of places where we should go, but this time around I got a little busy and didn't plan. We started walking around my neighborhood when I remembered - DMK...

As luck we have it we were about a block away when the idea stuck me and so we went. Always hungry and ready for a good meal, we dove right into the menu and started with the caesar and wedge salads. The presentation of these were great; the caesar had fresh anchovies strewn across the top of the crisp romaine (pictured) and the wedge, large crumbles of blue. If I know I am going to be indulging in something as decadent as a burger, I like to get a salad to start in hopes of filling up my tummy a little bit before diving into the deep end of meat and cheese. These salads did their best to curve my hunger - I didn't even finish mine! Had we known the sheer mass of both salads we could have easily gone with one.

On to the next round: burgers. DMK Burgers offers only grass fed beef, which is great because cattle are suppose to eat grass. Seems simple enough yet a lot of grocery stores, restaurants (even high end ones) still use corn fed beef. Cows are designed to eat grass - not corn. Got it? Good. I could go on forever about my position on industrial farming, but thats for a separate post. ANYWAYS, burgers. We ordered:

1) The roasted hatch green chile, fried farm egg, sonoma jack, fresh bacon turkey burger (also known as #4)
2) Sheep's milk feta, olive tapenade, greek salad, tzaziki grass feed lamb burger (aka #11)
3) Chili rubbed onion strings, blue cheese, spicy chipotle burger (aka #2)

Coupled with our three orders of fries, sweet potato with lemon tabasco aioli, parmesan truffle cream, and amish blue and smoked bacon, this meal was a total knock out. The first burger was a great mixture of salt, sweet and spice from the bacon, egg and chiles. The lamb burger actually felt very light; the cucumbers from the greek salad and the brininess of the olive tapenade was a great background for the lamb. Then there was the onion strings/blue cheese burger. My burger. I have to be honest I normally don't go for the blue cheese burgers because I often feel that the cheese overwhelms the flavor of the beef, however this burger balanced all the flavors very well. The spice from the ketchup and the chili in the onion strings played right into the tang and pungent flavors of the blue cheese. All three burgers were dynamite and packed with great flavors - cooked perfectly too!

Not only was the food great, but the bar offers a unique selection of beers and homemade sodas. Being that it was a Monday I got the blood orange soda and I couldn't have been happier. Refreshing, sweet and unique this soda definitely hit the spot for me. I can definitely see craft sodas becoming a trend in the culinary world. When I go back (and I will go back) I want to try the Allagash, white wheat ale. Several people were drinking it and it looked mighty tasty.

For about $8 a burger, $2-$5 for fries and $5-$14 for beer you can get a gourmet burger in a great atmosphere. I am just looking for someone who wants to indulge with me again!

DMK Burger Bar
2954 N. Sheffield
Chicago, IL 60657

Two Year Anniversary :)

Well Dear Foodies, if you can believe it today marks my two year anniversary of when I decided to start this little ole food blog. Blogging has allowed me to meet some incredible people/culinary icons including Art Smith, Marcus Sammuelsson and recently Dean Fearing. It's also lead me to some of the greatest meals (Prune, The Bristol, Extra Virgin, Craft) of my life with some of my best friends in the entire world. I wouldn't take back all the calories, spell or grammatical errors in the world for it (despite the fact it physically pains my mother - sorry Mom!) :) 

I want to thank my five dedicated followers for putting up with my harassment over reading the latest post, or blasting it all over you facebook and gmail statuses. I probably don't say it enough but it means the world to me!  

The only way I really know to celebrate is to head to the first outdoor Green City Market in Lincoln Park and take lots of pictures. 

Thank you all so much for reading and happy eating!

Much Love,

Renee 

Also special birthday shout out to Baby Beth who turns 25 today!!!!! WAHOO!!

Stone Ridge Creamery

I'm in love. One of those loves where you can just find no faults, everything is perfect and when your together all is right in the world. That's how I feel every time I eat a bowl of Double Berry Cheesecake from Stone Ridge Creamery. 

The ice cream has a bit of marscapone in it which creates the most rich, yet light texture (honestly more so like cheesecake than ice cream), inter-weaved with blackberry and strawberry preserves. To top it off, throughout this wonderful creamy paradise are little tiny bits of graham cracker. 

If you see this in your grocery store take my advice and BUY IT NOW!!

Beer Margaritas

So this recipe is from an Websuite party from the good ole college days and recently from a now infamous Dos de Mayo party. I think everyone can agree - they are amazing.

I normally do not do margaritas, but these are so light and the beer really cuts into the tequila so I don't instantly get a headache...

Ingredients

• 1 (12oz.) can frozen limeade concentrate
• Tequila
• Sprite/Soda Water 
• Beer (preferable a Corona, Tecate etc.)
• Ice
• Lime slices (for garnish)

Directions

In a pitcher empty limeade. Using the can as a guide fill with tequila, then empty into pitcher. Add the bottle of beer and stir till the limeade till dissolved. Pour over ice, top off with soda water or sprite and garnish with a lime.

If you don't like margaritas, I promise these will change your mind.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I know what you are thinking: she's finally lost it, brussel sprouts? Brussel sprouts...but look at that picture. They don't look that bad do they?

Well I'd like to think that I haven't lost it all, but rather I've taken an ingredient that gets a bad rep and turned it into something I think is pretty darn good (and not to mention incredibly easy!) So come on, let's all get crazy and make brussel sprouts!

Ingredients:

- Brussel sprouts (Trader Joe's has a great selection)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Butter
- Salt

Directions (Cook time - 20 minutes):


Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Clean your brussel sprouts then halve down the middle. Add the brussel sprouts to a shallow roasting pan and dizzle with EVOO, then season with salt. Place brussel sprouts face down and put the dish in the oven.

After 10 minutes of cooking lightly toss (at this point your brussel sprouts should be browned on the bottom). Return to the oven and cook for 5 more minutes, then add 1/2 tablespoon of broken up butter and spread over the brussel sprouts. Cook for 5 more minutes and remove from oven.

Trust me, this recipe is a keeper. I have cooked this multiple times in the past week and can't seem to get enough of these little guys!

Simple Salmon Recipe

This is one of my go to recipes. It's simple, healthy and only requires three ingredients!

Ingredients (serves two)

• 2 6-8oz salmon filets (with the skin on, you don't have to but I think it adds a lot of flavor)
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup djion mustard

Directions
First, set your oven to broil and heat a skillet to medium and lightly coat the pan in a little extra virgin olive oil.
In a bowl mixture together orange juice and djion mustard.
Salt and pepper salmon filets. Place the filets in the skillet skin side down. After about two minutes flip, then remove after two minutes. We are not fully cooking the salmon here, just trying to get the skin crispy and some nice color.
Remove salmon and start brushing on the orange juice/mustard mixture.
Once coated (I like to get the sides and everything) place in the oven for about 5-7 minutes.
Salmon is easy to over cook, so make sure you are watching. Once done the salmon should have a nice crust from the mustard on top and a flaky tenderness.
Serve with your favorite vegetable (green beans are great!) and you have a healthy dinner that is ready to go in about 20 minutes!

Help Me Win The Moleskine Passed Down Contest!

Dear Foodies, 

I recently submitted my Sweet Potato Soup recipe inspired by my mother's love for soups, and my love for sweet potatoes, to the Moleskine Passed Down Recipe contest. If you like this recipe, it would be GREAT if you could go here and write a nice comment for yours truly. The announce a winner soon so the more comments, ratings the better. 

 Much love,

The Frugal Foodies