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Leena Eats: Trencherman restaurant in Chicago

Leena Eats: Trencherman restaurant in Chicago

The chestnut agnolotti, butternut squash and miso broth, smoked pickled grapes at Trencherman in Chicago.

Oh Chicago. How I’ve missed your food! Don’t let the Bay area know, but I secretly think your restaurant scene is the best in the country. So innovative, so delicious, and every restaurant so different from the last (something the Bay area does NOT do well). So when I planned a visit over Thanksgiving 2012, I knew I wanted to check out one of the many new restaurants that have popped up since I left in late 2009. I consulted my local food peeps, and decided to try out Trencherman, a New American restaurant in Wicker Park.

More photos of food after the jump!

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Leena Eats: Vedas Indian restaurant in Milpitas, CA.

Leena Eats: Vedas Indian restaurant in Milpitas, CA.

Complimentary app: pappadums with two chutneys at Vedas.

I joined a friend to review an East Bay Indian restaurant, and this is the food porn from that event. Vedas restaurant tries to come off as more than just your average Indian restaurant with their modern Indian decor and slightly modern food plating. For me, most dishes were either hit or miss. Check out my opinion and food porn after the click.

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Leena Eats: The Mission Food Tour (aka the best damn food tour ya ever been on, fool)

Leena Eats: The Mission Food Tour (aka the best damn food tour ya ever been on, fool)

Three friends (one food lover) plus one SF hood plus seven food places equals way too much deliciousness and one slightly sore ankle.

Well folks, you knew it was eventually coming–my first official food tour of San Francisco. The hood in choice? The Mission, the city’s first neighborhood, home to Latin, Indian and Asian cultures, gorgeous historical murals and seriously delicious food. This diverse neighborhood means that one block can be littered with homeless people and abandoned buildings, and the very next could be gentrified into gorgeous buildings filled with independently-run, creative businesses.

If you’re ready, if you think you can handle the gluttony that is a custom-made Leena Eats food tour, then please, by all means, check it out: more food porn and fun photos than you could shake a stick at after the jump.

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Gastro Friday: Feeding the U.S. to some Australians

Gastro Friday: Feeding the U.S. to some Australians

My mini pumpkin pies in tart form with shortcrust pastry.

I am lucky enough to be friends with some folks from the land down under, Australia, and a few visited me not too long ago in my new SF home. I am even luckier that one of these Aussies was able to smuggle over not one but TWO bottles of Stone’s, my favorite alcoholic ginger beer. I rewarded the Aussie with a treat rare to an Australian: root beer.

Gastro Friday: Feeding the U.S. to some Australians

Me with the smuggled ginger beer. Bec (a real live Aussie) with her mug of American root beer. Yay life.

This begs the question, what does one feed to an Aussie? Especially to give them a sense of what America is known for, culinarily speaking? Well, it helps to have some knowledge of Australian cuisine, a fusion of sorts created from British, Asian and native influences. Do you know that they have thing they call “bacon”, but it is NOTHING like the proper, smoked American pork belly we call BACON? A sad fact, indeed, but true. What to feed an Aussie: 1. Bacon (unless they do not consume pork. Then, just cry for their souls.) Read the rest of this entry »

Leena Eats: Update

Leena Eats: Update
Hi! I live here now!

Hey guys! I’ve landed in California and am currently setting up the homestead with the hubby and Nugget the cat (who, btw, freaking LOVED the roadtrip). Read the rest of this entry »

Leena Eats: WTF is up?!

Leena Eats: WTF is up?!
Yum.

Hello, dear readers! So much is happening in Leenaland right now, but I wanted to take a moment and get you up to speed. So much was/is/will be happening over the past (and next) two months, I’ve been trying my best to document it all. And you know, keep up with my regular bacon-eating regiments. Read the rest of this entry »

Leena Eats: Drowning in a Sea of Pixy Stick Wrappers and Moving Boxes

Leena Eats: Drowning in a Sea of Pixy Stick Wrappers and Moving Boxes
A graveyard of Pixy Stick wrappers atop of a fallen star,Gourmet Magazine. Seriously, how sad is it that I can’t read in print Ruth Reichl every month?!

Hey there. I’m still alive and kicking, although not posting. My bad. I’ve been busy…eating Pixy Sticks…and maaaaaaaybe procrastinating a massive research paper that is due soon and that I’ve known about for, oh, 7 months now. And it’s not even like I don’t have a million things to talk about. Like my “things wrapped in bacon” party. And how much Blog Her Food 2009 and my trip to San Francisco kicked major ass. For reals. I apparently took 27 pages of notes during the one day conference! But then San Francisco was a bitch and gave me the worst flu EVER, which put me out of comission for eleven days straight. Read the rest of this entry »

Leena tries to eat, but is a big old pile of sick.

Leena tries to eat, but is a big old pile of sick.
The saddest sign I’ve ever seen in my life.

Whoa. WHOA! Where the ef did I go? Well, so glad you asked. For you see, audience, Leena was sick. Is sick. Sick enough to talk about herself in third person, at the very least. The sort of sick where they feed you crappy lime jello and then put up signs like the ones above that only make you cry. Let me tell you, it was four kinds of awesome. And although I am at home, I am still on the mend and the docs are still scratching their heads at what the ef is messing with my stomach. And on top of all of that, I have big, exciting news… Read the rest of this entry »

Leena Eats: Change

This week, I turn 28, and I’ve already decided, this is going to be a year for change. I want to focus on eating locally and seasonally whenever possible, not just when it is convenient or after I read Michael Pollan’s latest article. I want to eat healthier and force myself to workout 5 days a week, and not let it fall to the wayside when silly things like “winter” or “sleeping in” get in the way. Finally, I want this website to see some changes. After a lot of soul-searching and a few bacon sandwiches, I’ve made a major decision–Leena Eats This Blog is going to have scheduled, weekly blogs. I’ve avoided this before now for many reasons, namely laziness and a life that thrives on chaos. But the bacon got me thinking, and I really think it is time for my little food blog grow up a bit, take its first shot of liquor, and along with, its first shot at responsibility. Starting this week, you can expect three weekly blogs. Mondays will be Leena Cooks, where I (duh) talk about what I’ve been cooking lately and perhaps throw in a recipe or two (but no promises–this is not a recipe blog!). Wednesdays will be Leena Eats, where I talk about restaurants I’ve eaten at lately. You could call it a restaurant review, but since I only visit most restaurants once before writing a review, by a food critic’s standards, it is not a proper review. But it is freaking funny! Fridays will be Gastro Fridays, where I will put my master degree to good use and ponder the world’s great gastronomic questions and ideas. Be warned–it’s about to get chunky up in here. In between, you can expect to see more Chicken ‘n Waffles food podcasts, and as Chicago slowly starts the thaw, more travel posts as well. Thanks for sticking with me this long, and I hope you enjoy my changes! ~LTG!

Best. Husband. Ever.

Best. Husband. Ever.
Nothing is hotter than a man that makes you pad thai. FROM SCRATCH.

Hot damn, I hate winter. It has been a rough couple of weeks in the Trivedi-Grenier household. After living in Australia, we just don’t do winter. It has completely wrecked havoc on our workout schedule (sort of difficult to run a outside when the sidewalks are caked with ice and snow, especially when I am so likely to fall on my ass), we have both been sick more times in the past three months than we were the entire year and a half we lived in Australia, and frankly, I think the snow be makin’ people crazier than a one-armed hooker trying to hail a cab in a blizzard, YOU KNOW. But my husband? He generally rocks. He makes midnight pixy stick runs when I get a craving (and no, I am NOT pregnant. I just happen to enjoy sugary kid candy. Don’t judge. YOU like cheese in can.). He trades dishes with me at a restaurant when the adventurous dish I tried turns out to be crap. He sometimes even orders what I like in anticipation of this event. Cleaner of cat vomit, Leena vomit, cleaner of clothes, sewer of buttons, doer of dishes even when I ask him to cook…sigh. I am one lucky lady. So why the hell do I deserve a husband that actually wants to cook for me after an eight hour day at work/being sick/dealing with Chicago crazies? Read the rest of this entry »

Leena Eats with Playing in Peoria

Leena Eats with Playing in Peoria

Not too long ago, I had the pleasure of joining a group of local Chicago podcasters and funny men known as Playing in Peoria. I brought muffins, they fed me Tim Tams from Australia, and asked me pressing questions like “what the hell do you do?” and if I studied “sweets” or “savories” in culinary school. A good time was had by all. Check out the podcast on the Playing in Peoria website. You can even chat about it in their forum section. Thanks for letting me hang, guys! ~LTG!

The secret life of a fledgling food writer: Leena loves tiny ceramic kitchen crap

The secret life of a fledgling food writer: Leena loves tiny ceramic kitchen crap

How freaking adorable is my new sugar dish, huh? HUH?

Whoa. Whoa. Where has the time gone? I have been steadily eating, writing and cooking since I arrived back in Chicago from Australia, but the old blog, as always, has been treated like a red-headed step child, locked in a cage and only give scraps of Spam for dinner. So while I am working harder than a Mexican rodeo clown to catch y’all up on my meals and ponderings, I figure I owed you at least a brief update. Update #1: Leena loves tiny ceramic kitchen crap. Heaps. Linda, if you’re reading this, you know what I mean. Sometimes, buying a tiny ceramic dish to hold various food and drink items is all you need to make the world right. And my world? Well, with a stellar sugar dish like that, how could it NOT be right? It’s so adorable, it makes me want to spit. Read the rest of this entry »

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