Corned Beef and Cabbage

by Josh Theisinger

St. Patrick's Day is almost here, and for our area of mostly Irish descent, it's a holiday that doesn't get overlooked. As we've noted before, Saturday, March 12th is the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown LaSalle. Filled with fun and festivities, it's sure to bring a huge crowd. But once the celebration begins to settle, look no further than the Uptown.  We'll be offering up some Irish fare for those seeking a true St. Patty's treat!

For two days only, this Saturday the 12th and again on Thursday the 17th (the actual St. Patrick's Day), we'll be dishing out the famous corned beef and cabbage plate that everyone looks forward to. We start with a generous 8 ounce portion of housemade corned beef before it is paired with hand sliced and boiled carrots, potatoes, and of course cabbage. This isn't your everyday run of the mill dish either. You will never find any canned veggies on our plate. Everything is cut and peeled in house before it comes to you.

If corned beef and cabbage is a little too much for you, we're also serving up our classic reuben sandwiches. Our corned beef is piled high with swiss cheese and housemade honey-bacon sauerkraut on fresh baked rye. With a side of thousand-island dressing, what's not to love?

And to keep the mood rolling, don't forget our bar is stocked with great Irish Whiskeys, Guinness on tap, and something that a lot of people tend to forget about: Irish Coffees. During this time of year, we like to make our coffees a little more fun!

We start with Jameson Irish Whiskey and mix it with freshly brewed hot coffee before we top it with a housemade cinnamon and sugar whipped cream. Our whipped cream is made fresh for every order, they'll even make it in front of you (if you're sitting at the brand new bar). Finally, it is topped with a little creme de menthe to finish it off.

Much like the area residents, we don't take St. Patrick's Day lightly. Sure, it's not celebrated like any of the other major holidays, but what's to stop us from eating the traditional fare? While it's only two days, we can guarantee one of the best dishes you'll find in our area!

But it won't last long, so stop in and see us before (or after) your St. Patty's celebration!

Quinoa and Pork Belly

Arugula and Quinoa Salad

Spring is approaching....we hope. Meaning hopefully we can start burning in lighter meals. Winter is heart and gut busting. Spring is light and airy. To prove it we developed a new salad that is healthy but enough to keep you going all day.  Chef Chris has made an arugula nod quinoa mix. Quinoa is the new superfood. Rush in nutrients and filling to make it feel like a full meal. The dish starts with a bed of arugula with a healthy dose of quinoa with house toasted almonds, sweetly drop peppers,  dried figs, Ned finished off with sourdough toast with a creamy goat cheese spread. It's healthy, it's good, and it'll get you through the day. Stop down And get it to see for yourself

Braised Chinese Pork Belly

The bacon craze is everywhere as evidenced by abundant use of bacon on restaurant menus. Chefs offer glazed bacon with maple as a sweeter side dish.  And then there's your more typical usage of bacon as a salad or burger topping.  A nice slice of crispy bacon almost pairs well with anything.

But, did you know that bacon is simply cured pork belly? So, why not skip a step, forego the bacon and seduce your palate with the flavor of the pork belly. Our dish offers the crispy seared - but still tender enough to cut with a fork - pork belly served over wilted arugula, cilantro and 5-spice sauce.

As is the case with most inexperienced diners, if you have not tried something on a menu before, chances are that you will not put your money towards something new for fear of not enjoying your meal. While pork chops, pulled pork and bacon litter restaurant menus with choices, it is not often that you see pork belly. So what is it?

Pork belly is exactly what it says, the underbelly of the pig. It is where bacon comes from after the pork belly has been cured.  This is what gives bacon its smoky, salty flavor we all love. Pork belly is juicier and has a texture more similar to that of a pork chop.

Each belly has three distinct textures: a thin layer of skin, then ribbons of silky fat, and finally streaks of reddish pink meat. The cooking process is what sets pork belly apart from any pork you've ever had before. The belly needs to be slowly cooked or braised, covered to allow moisture to help slowly break down the fat, most specifically the layer just under the skin. This will help to break down the collagen, making a once tough cut of meat into a meltingly-tender mouthful of delicious.

After the belly is prepared in this fashion, it must rest overnight so the belly can absorb all of the flavorful fat and become a firm piece of meat that will be much easier to cook with. Resting overnight allows the belly to be readied for the perfect finishing touch... the final sear. Put that belly over a cast iron skillet at high heat and sear the perfect amount of crispness on top while warming the rest of the portion all the way through.

What we have created for you, first time pork belly connoisseur or not, is simply swine divine.

On Special - Casonsei

With the cooler weather slowly creeping in we 

decided to change the menu around a little to

accommodate the soon to be changing appetites. Our diets will change from craving salads and lighter entrees to something a little more hardy. And in the meantime, we've got a dish that will help you transition perfectly!

Starting this lineup is our Casonsei. 

Casonsei (or casoncelli from the italian dialect) Originating from the Lombardy region in the north-central region of italy this dish is famous in the region as being a "fall" entree.  We start by taking 4 cheese raviolis and browning them slightly before we top it with a white wine cream sauce that is sauteed with fresh tomatoes and italian sausage.  This isn't just any plain, generic, italian sausage. Our chefs spend time meticulously hand grinding pork with the perfect amount of spices for a sausage that is truly unforgettable.   

It's not too light, but not too heavy and it's perfect for a cool night on the patio (for however many days we have left).  We know, we're all dreading the cold that Midwestern winters can bring, but the Uptown can help make that transition with this italian entree and you won't even be thinking about the weather. 

Wiener Wednesdays

We always brag that our weekly specials are a great value. Which they are. For instance, who can beat a $13 oscar every Sunday? Especially when you can customize it with up to 5 different styles?

But this week I'm focusing on one... our Wienerschnitzel Wednesdays - or Wiener Wednesdays for short.  Guess what day it is, HUMP DAY! Yea we know, we've heard all the jokes about it (trust me I'm a big culprit of making them, too). But nevertheless, we don't grow tired of it either.

Every Wednesday (but only after 4pm) we serve hand-made wienerschnitzel with buttery spaetzle and roasted asparagus. And even better than that, it's only $13. Schnitzel is the most recognizable dish in Viennese Cuisine; it has actually risen to fame becoming the national dish of Austria!

Our schnitzel is very similar to the original styling. We take a butterflied pork filet and lightly bread it before sauteing to a perfect golden brown. It is then squeezed with fresh lemon according to traditional customs. We serve it with the ever-famous German spaetzel, a soft egg dumpling that is usually similar to butter noodles.

So come down, make your jokes (seriously, it's not tiring at all) and find out for yourself the great deal that our weekly specials offer. Who knows, maybe Hump Day will become your next favorite day of the week!

A Merry Steak Experience:Introducing Dry Aged

Dry aging............ Many of us have heard of it, but I can't say in our area that I've ever seen it. I know in the past it has been available to us but at premium (see my researched prices below). It takes time, knowledge, equipment and an old world skill.

Recently, one of our purveyors started to offer aging as a service. If we buy the meat from them, it becomes ours and they will age it for us. We were able to sample one of these steaks a couple weeks ago, and it was unbelievable. You could eat it with a butter knife, and the flavor was like... animal butter. New York Strips are my favorite cut. They feature a meatier texture than a filet and less fat than a ribeye but with all the flavor. This cut also includes the bone, which to me always imparts more flavor in a steak.

Dry aging is a process requiring a very controlled environment, temperature, humidity and time. The process changes beef by two means. First, moisture is evaporated from the muscle. This creates a greater concentration of beef flavor and taste. Secondly, the beef’s natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, which leads to more tender beef. These strips are aged for 35 days.

Dry aging also make a steak much more expensive. Much of that weight that the butcher charges you for is basically water. True dry aging reduces weight by at least 30% which adds significantly to the cost.

In researching this article, I looked at a couple of the places that are popular for selling Christmas steak gifts.  We all get mailings from them, don't we? The going price was between $50-75 per steak.

That is uncooked, unserved, uncleaned up after, and un smiling-faced Uptown employees. Does anyone remember the Un-Deer? Well we are workin' our hoofies to quickly bring you this great deal. If these dry aged steaks go over, look for us to try some more.

I know a cut of meat like this is not for everyone. Now that we have a source for dry aged steaks we will be experimenting with other cuts in the future. This cut is available today for $43.

In the future, as we have others available, we will make sure we post it here on our newsletter. Looking ahead 35 days will be very hard to plan. At uptowngrill.com, our menu is also available to check if we have one on hand.

Do you have a steak-loving carnivore on your gift list?

Jail Island Salmon

Over the course of the last few decades, farm raised seafood has become more of the norm for our world's food supply. With farm raised anything, questions arise. Some of those questions might include what the fish are being fed; what type of water are they being kept in; how long are they raised; and what type of effect does this have on the surrounding environment?

Fear not, farm raised salmon are perfectly safe for eating. In fact, since raising salmon at an aquaculture facility began in the 1980's, it is now considered common place.  The Wall Street Journal indicates that upwards of 99% of salmon is now farm raised.

The Reuben Turns 100

The classic Reuben sandwich - so simple, so delicate and so delicious - recently turned 100 years old. I never thought to myself, "Who invented the Reuben sandwich?"  But I guess everything has to have an origination.

It was 1914, in Manhattan's Reuben's Delicatessen that the sandwich was born... according to legend. The inventor was none other than Arnold Reuben. The urban legend to the story says that an out-of-work actress ordered something not on the menu, at which point the owner created it for her. That creation became to be known as "The Reuben."

A simple story for a simple sandwich.

Corned beef, German sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, rye bread and 1000 island dressing are staples to this ever-famous sandwich. Yet making the perfect Reuben isn't so simple. Do you put the sandwich on the griddle; do you toast the bread; do you batter the bread? Light rye, dark rye, marble rye? Do you choose a sharp Swiss cheese or a more mild Swiss cheese? How thick do you slice your corned beef?  Or do you prefer it crumbled?

Artisinal Cheese Sampler:The New Shipment

Every two to three months or so, we are due to bring in five new cheeses for our artisinal sampler. We know the day that the cheeses are to come in, and for us, it's almost like anticipating Christmas. While you have a pretty good idea what you're going to receive, and you know that you're about to come into some excellent stuff, you just don't know how excellent. For us, this new batch of artisinal cheeses is incredible. The range of flavors may be the widest we have had yet on our sampler. 


#1 Ossau-Iraty Agout:  Ossau-Iraty is probably the least known 'Appelation d'Origine Controlee' (A.O.C) cheese. The Ossau-Iraty unites two regions of France in the Western Pyrénées: Ossau in the valley of the Bearn, and Iraty in the beech forests of the Pays Basque. The Ossau-Iraty is full of a delicious, nutty, robust taste if it is produced during the period from June to September when the herds move up to the high mountain meadows. Covered by a thick orange to grey rind, the pâte is white, supple and creamy. It becomes more firm as the maturing period is longer. An artisan pate may have small holes and should not stick to the palate.

Origin: France

The Dessert Tray is a Thing of the Past

We are still learning and challenging the capabilities of our digital tablet menus. One of the new discoveries we were able to work out has forever changed the landscape of our dessert selection. Do you remember how restaurants used to bring out the big dessert tray with mostly fake, sometimes real, exhibits of their dessert offerings for the evening? I must say, that tray always looked so darn good I had a hard time saying no.

The tray is now a thing of the past. Our digital menus bring that dessert tray directly onto your tabletop. Our new layout will feature 8 revolving desserts. As we bring the dessert menu back and set it on your table, you will see all 8 images of the desserts we will be offering for the evening... enticing to say the least! They will be tough to refuse. Some staples such as creme brulee and the chocolate lava armageddon will remain, but it's time to make some changes. 

Just Desserts:Gelato to Replace Ice Cream

Many of you have tried our affogato as a dessert.  And while feel that this simple, yet delicious dish helps demonstrate our ability to offer more than your "typical" American cuisine, we have been serving it with "typical" vanilla bean ice cream. For those who have given the dessert a try, what you may not realize is that the authentic Italian dish actually calls for gelato.

To give the affogato a true Italian flavor, we have officially brought in gelato to replace our current ice cream selections. Gelato literally translates from Italian as "ice cream." There are some differences between ice cream and gelato that we feel makes these new sweet treats a step above your typical frozen dessert.

Goodbye Panini Combo:Hello Adult Grilled Cheese

It was about 15 years ago we started doing our Panini Combo. Over the years, we sold thousands and thousands. We always tried to keep the sandwich filling interesting and accompanied it with a salad and cup of soup. This grilled sandwich filled a niche in our menu for a long time, but we feel it has run its course.

Another thing we noticed is the rise of the "grilled cheese." So much so, just recently a few new franchises were announced that their central theme is a grilled cheese sandwich. There is even a Grilled Cheese Academy.

Starting this week, we are switching to what will be called our "Adult Grilled Cheese." We will continue to mix it up using top quality and interesting ingredients. Obviously, it will always have a cheese (and a really good one) as well as a few other choice samplings. It will not be served automatically with a salad anymore, but it will be easy to add one as well as adding a cup of soup. Also, we will start serving it on a great crusty, crunchy ciabatta roll.

For our inaugural sampling, we are offering what I consider to be the king of ham and cheese, a Serrano Ham with Egmont Cheese. This combo has so much flavor it needs nothing else. The artisanal Egmont cheese is from New Zealand and has a creamy, almost butter-like texture along with a nutty finish. The ham is a Serrano Ham from Spain from the world-famous Redondo Iglesias.

Not your typical ham and cheese sandwich...

Weekly Specials: Great Taste & Great Value

For those of you who receive our newsletter - thank you for subscribing.  Thank you also for your patronage and for simply reading about us each week as we discuss what is going on in and around our business. Our goal for the newsletter has not only been a way to promote, but also a way to offer a view of what life is like in the restaurant world. Each week, we bring new ideas and dishes to our menu and newsletter.  But as I sit down today to brainstorm an article, I think about the amazing weekly specials we have every day of the week. We have some unique specials for a great value that hopefully you're aware of from reading our newsletter. (This week, we've brought it up again to give you a quick refresher course on all that we offer.)

We have always been personified as one of those upscale restaurants. In some ways, it is a false pretense. Although there is nothing wrong with having that look and feel, we believe there really is something for everybody when it comes to our menu. And we feel we create just as much value and variety in our featured specials each week. I mean, think about it.

Every Monday Evening, The Original Red Door Inn Steak Diane
We all know the Red Door has been closed for a while now. If you've had the pleasure of dining there, remember how great it was? For those that had never been, this is your chance to taste one of the originals. We do it just like they did for only $18. Remember, it has been Victor Approved. The price even almost dates back to the Red Door times. 

The Evolution of our "Real" Housemade Potato Skins

The potato skins appetizer has been one of those "comfort" foods that seems to be on every menu across the country. Most of the time, they are pre-cut, frozen, almost artificial potatoes that really do not have much of a flavor. For the last 30 years, we have offered our own version of these potato skins (flavorful and never frozen... keep reading).

During that time, the dish has undergone a few changes, and there have even been many discussions about getting rid of it altogether. But everybody loves potato skins... they seem to be a consistent crowd pleaser. The appetizer simply sells.

If there is one thing we have always strived for, it is to provide a fresh, made-from-scratch potato skin with a twist on the traditional offering. Please note that our potato skins are fresh baked, never frozen skins of the potato. What we have topped, stuffed or layered on these skins is where we have become creative over the years. We try to introduce new and interesting combinations every few months. These dishes become so unique that often times some folks eat them as their entree course! 

New Food Menu Additions

We recently sat down and analyzed our dining room food menu, and I want to inform you of some new additions - along with what I almost hate to mention, subtractions - to our menu selection. Each month we sit down and discuss many things that relate to what we put on our menu. It may be cost, storage, time to prepare, holding quality, appearance, etc. The list can be quite long. The panel of owner, managers and employees that review these changes always have conflicting opinions on what should stay and what should go.

However, in order to run an efficient restaurant with an interesting menu, it is essential that we talk about each item we offer. For those items that have left us, they will not be forgotten. We promise you will find them one day back on the specials menu. For those that are looking for new and interesting dishes that we come up with, some of these items you will now find available, every day.

What was left behind....... The items you will no longer find on our daily menu will include our reuben sandwich, tuna burger, chocolate chip cookies, bread pudding and chocolate cobbler. For some reason I can hear many of you screaming "Nooooooo!"  We know we will have a few unhappy people, but again, we hope that we will introduce you all to some new and interesting things this summer.

What's new:

Port Wine & Bleu Cheese:A Perfect Dessert Combination

Dessert is often the favorite part of any meal. There are times where you almost feel you have to start with dessert... because when the time comes, you're probably too full for this course!

We have all been to those restaurants where the server brings out a big spread of every bit of sinful food hoping to lure you in. Our eyes are always bigger than our bellies. Of course all of these desserts are wonderful, but a lot of time you are just not in the mood for something so filling. Uptown has the answer!

Within the last year, we have been offering single cheeses from our Artisanal Sampler. You can now try any one of the 5 cheeses we offer, and this goes great as a dessert. I personally love cheese, and a creamy bleu with a glass of port wine is the perfect combination to end a great meal. 

Mighty Leaf Tea

As the seasons change to the colder months, the consumption of hot beverages like coffee and tea are on the rise. There is nothing more satisfying than finishing a meal or warming up with either of these two. When it comes to offering these on our menu, we have always taken great pride in our coffee and hot tea program. There are several things that we require in order to provide the best tasting cup around. This week, we want to introduce a new tea product that we have brought in that we are sure you will enjoy.

Coffee and tea is no joke around here. We have always purchased both of these items from small, single source distributors. This is what the company specializes in, so a lot of effort has gone into making that perfect bean or leaf. This past spring at the National Restaurant show in Chicago, we came across the Mighty Leaf Artisan Tea booth. After sampling a few of both hot and iced teas, we knew we had to bring it here. Mighty Leaf has several different options to choose from and we found it quite difficult to narrow it down to the nine that we will offer. 

Artisanal Cheese Sampler:Introducing 5 New Flavors

We're always excited to get new cheeses around here. Trying new cheeses (which most of us have never heard of before) and trying to come up with pairings for each one is a fun experience. Just recently, we picked up 5 new cheeses that will soon be on our cheese sampler for everyone to try.

Little Darling: This firm and crumbly cheese is made in both pasteurized and raw milk versions. Little Darling is an English farmhouse-style small tomme (small aged wheel), cellar-aged for six weeks. The firm, natural, brown-gray rind is gently pitted, while the interior texture is smooth, slightly waxy and straw-yellow in color. Flavors are extremely earthy and mushroomy with slight vegetal notes and goes well with Cabernet Sauvignon, Stout and Brown Ales.  

Brugge Rodenbach: Belgium is well known for its Abbey style ales made by monks that have been carried down from generation to generation. But now they've started incorporating this into their famous cheeses. Brugge Rodenbach is the result of Brugge ripened in beer that turns to be the perfect combination between cheese and beer. The fermented taste of the beer combines through the rind with the creamy piquant taste of the cheese. Eventually a taste and aroma is achieved that is recognizable for every beer lover without being overpowering. It is also the only half-hard cheese created in this way.

Hail to Our Caesar!

The single most popular salad on restaurant menus in the United States is the Caesar salad. Because it is so common place, it is often overlooked. After all, a Caeser salad is just a Caeser salad. Well not here. Over the years we've had several incarnations of our Caesar salad, but we've always been serious about putting out the best possible product for you.

What are the keys to a great Caesar salad?

Let's start with the dressing, which we make in house with Parmesan cheese and just a touch of anchovy.  It is absolutely delicious.

Probably the next most important thing is the romaine. Many places use the entire head which can be bitter, dark green and soggy.  We use only the hearts... crisp, light colored and sweet.

Our Housemade Pesto Sauce

You may have noticed that our housemade pesto sauce has appeared in several items on our menu lately.  And let me clarify that this is not your ordinary store bought pesto!

 

The pesto you find in the store is just not the same as what you will find here. This is who we are. This is what we do. We use only the freshest ingredients possible to bring to your taste buds on each and every visit here. In fact, our pesto is made fresh from scratch almost daily.

 

So what is pesto exactly? Our chefs begin by hand grinding fresh basil, garlic and pine nuts into a thick paste. Then, using fresh reggiano parmesan and only the finest olive oil, they combine everything into a delicious sauce.
 

Probably the most frequent menu item featuring pesto is in our housemade focaccia bread found in your daily bread basket. Yep, even this is made in house each day. You can also enjoy our pesto sauce with our butter garlic infused chicken breast entrée, as a topping on our grilled pesto chicken sandwich, on our caprese pizza appetizer, or as a topping on our pasta purses.

Sufferin' Succotash

One of the changes we made with the installation of the digital menus was to freshen up our side choices a bit. The first change was to offer sides that could be "shared." Each entrée will still be offered their choice of our usual selections, but the sides that are listed under our menu's "SIDE" page will always be served in a portion that is large enough for a group of 2 or 4 to share. If you see something there that appeals to you, but are afraid that your eyes might be bigger than your stomach, keep in mind that there will be plenty to pass around. I'm sure someone at the table would be willing to share. 

The "SIDE" page also offers a different way to look at dining. You don't always have to order a sandwich, entrée or salad. Some days, there might just be a dish (or two!) on our sides page that can easily fit the need of a full meal. We've recently done dishes such as black beans and ham over white rice or orzo with lentil and goat cheese. Those two dishes alone can make for a full meal.

Currently as a featured side dish, we are offering succotash. The dish is made with fresh sweet corn, edamame, red onion, zucchini, carrots, green and red pepper - a perfect late summer, early fall dish of fresh vegetables. Again, the plate truly is a meal in itself.

 

And, what is succotash you might ask? Well succotash is a dish that consists of corn, squash and bean. Those are the main ingredients, and the rest of the vegetables can be mixed and matched as needed to complete the dish.