Leena Eats, Gourmet Communication ... Food, Travel, Gastronomy

Bleeding Heart Bakery’s homage to Rick Bayless: the Holy Mole cupcake! Sweet organic corn cupcake with Oaxacan mole ganache and topped with freeze-dried corn.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love me some Bleeding Heart Bakery. So when a good friend offer to pop on by my apartment on Saturday a.m. to share a Holy Mole cupcake from Bleeding Heart, I damn near peed myself in excitement waiting for him to arrive. Thankfully, we have scotchguarded the carpet for such occasions. Read the rest of this entry »

Applefest: This is how we roll in Lincoln Square.

A sign…about Applefest…at Applefest. Deep, I know.

Applefest 2009: I came, I saw, I…did not eat any apples. The sad news: only two apple vendors at Applefest. Good news: Plenty of other stuff, like German food and paczkis and overly friendly giant animals. Holla. Read the rest of this entry »

Two awesome and super rich cupcakes from Bleeding Heart Bakery: chocolate with peanut butter frosting and tres leches cupcake.

Chicago is home to a bounty of cupcake-only bakeries, as you might remember from a recent cupcake test I performed. I enjoy most cupcake bakeries, but among the most daring and creative with their flavor combinations has to be a proper bakery, not a cupcake shop at all: Bleeding Heart Bakery at the corner of Damen and Belmont in Chicago. While catching up with a good friend, we decided to indulge in a few cupcakes from Bleeding Heart. Our choices for the day were the chocolate cupcake w/ peanut butter frosting, and a tres leches cupcake. And maybe a few pieces of chocolate covered bacon that were not photographed because I ate them in 3.5 seconds. Maybe. Read the rest of this entry »

Tartare of Hawaiian “Yellowfin” Tuna, Citrus Cured Arctic Char and Door County Golden Whitefish Caviar, Hard-Cooked Quail Egg with a Mosaic of Nicoise Garnishes, Aigrelette Sauce and Toasted Brioche at Naha.

I have been DYING to try out Naha for a long time. The restaurant is known for doing upscale versions of Mediterranean/Armenian specialties, and when one of my husband’s vendors wanted to take us out to eat, I knew we had to try it out. Mainly because I am a writer. And writers are what folks? Say it with me now…”POOR!” Read the rest of this entry »

MK’s amuse bouche of the day: peas with a sherry vinaigrette. Yum!

Not too long ago, I was lucky enough to dine at the restaurant MK in Chicago with my favorite man for a pretty damn good meal. Enjoy the food porn! Adam went for the tasting menu ($45/per person), which came with four courses. His first course was a raw tuna dish that was awesome, just perfectly light and clean.

Adam’s first course: crudo of super white tuna, charred scallions sea beans, pickled ginger, white soy

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We came, we saw, we ate cheese.

So, if you are a regular reader of this blog, you know by now why I fricking LOVE Brown Trout, the new restaurant in North Center. Great food, byob with no corkage fee, and possibly the world’s best bacon, which they shove on to everything they can. I have been back twice since then. Once just for their stellar burger, and again for a date with my man. It’s official, I am convinced: this place is slap yo mama good. And I like my mom. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a gravy boat full of hot butterscotch. When I chunk out, it is EPIC.

It was just another night out, nothing special. The husband and I were looking for a new restaurant to try. Being fans of gastropubs, we headed towards The Publican, a new venture in the west loop of Chicago that is the partial creation of one of my favorite chef, Paul Kahan. We called up Dan and Claire, our cohorts in chunk, and made a date. Little did we know it was a night that would end in unbridled gluttony. Ok. Maybe we did know. But the onslaught of glut still shocked us a bit. And considering how much we eat? That’s saying a LOT. Read the rest of this entry »

My green meanie sandwich with carrot saffron soup. Yum!

As much as I love–LOVE–bacon, I also appreciate a properly made vegetarian meal. Nothing can compare when a meal with healthy ingredients tastes so delicious, you don’t even miss the meat, and you are doing your body a favor. The problem is, not very many people know how to do this. Ethiopians do. Middle Easterners do. And apparently? So does Chicago. I met up with an old friend for some delicious vego food at The Handlebar. Check it out. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to Wally n Agador’s! We love delicious, fatty food here!

Once upon a time, I was reading up on Metromix Chicago about new Chicago restaurants and happened upon a Boystown sandwich shop that had a sandwich with chicken liver mousse. I LURVE chicken liver mousse so much, I am willing to spell “love” incorrectly. I screamed, ran around yelling for a bit, and then a bitch went to get her some food, YOU KNOW! Read the rest of this entry »