Quick Bite: Lunch at Cocina Real

A quick post to tell you about a very tasty sandwich I had at the newish Cocina Real on University Avenue. The restaurant is located where, most recently, a second Dos Reales was for a while. I can't recall what the place(s) just before Dos were, but years ago the building housed a pub-like joint called Trito's (don't admit to remembering Trito's unless you want to betray your advanced age).

Anyway. Now it's Cocina Real; from what I gather online, there are two other locations, both in Wisconsin. The interior is pretty spacious, with both booths and tables, nicely decorated with murals and interesting blown-glass hanging lamps. I can't give you a full rundown on the food, having only visited once, but I wanted to mention a sandwich I had there on a recent weekday.

It's called the Torta Ahogada. I'd had tortas (Mexican sandwiches) before, but not this type. Ahogada means "drowned," and that's because the sandwich is covered in sauce. Sounds strange, maybe, but I've read that it's a much-loved thing in Guadalajara. I also read that the traditional filling is pork; at Cocina Real you can have your choice of pork, chicken, or beef.

The large roll/bun was not (from what I've read, and seen in photos) the real Mexican bolillo roll. However, it stood up to the sauce nicely. It was a little crunchy on the outside, as if maybe it had been grilled, and was soft inside. The roasted/fried pork, carnitas-like, on the inside was flavorful. The sauce that covered the torta was described on the menu as "a creamy chile de arbol"; I was expecting it to be spicier, but it was pretty mild. The torta was served, as you can see, with slices of avocado and pickled jalapeno.

You sort of take a bath in this torta, what with the drowning sauce and all. At first I ate it with a fork and knife, but after a few bites I dove in and picked it up with my hands. That's definitely the way to go, so don't try to be dainty when you eat this sandwich. Lick your fingers and wipe your mouth and be done with it.

The torta ahogada is, in my opinion, somewhat overpriced at $7.99; there could have been more meat in it. However, it is pretty large, and it is delicious and (I thought) very filling. (For a look at the version of this torta that's served at Xoco, Rick Bayless's place in Chicago, check local blogger Jason's post about that restaurant.)

I also tried a cup of chicken tortilla soup ($2.79). The broth was great tasting, not spicy (to me) but full of flavor. My one complaint was that the soup could have been hotter. There were chunks of chicken in there, plus tiny cubes of cheese and slightly larger cubes of avocado. And, of course, strips of fried corn tortillas. A small cup of chunky peppers, onions, and tomatoes, served on the side, was just the thing to dump on the soup. I ate some of the mixture with my torta, as well.

Here's a shot of the specials for this month.

I look forward to going back and eating more meals at Cocina Real. Have you been yet? If so, what do you recommend?

Cocina Real Mexican Restaurant
1106 West University Avenue
Urbana, IL
217-328-0411
Web site, where you can see the menus, although note that there are more offerings than are listed there; for instance, there were two soups on the printed menu I got at the restaurant that I didn't see anywhere online.

Novel Food Winter 2011: Vinegar Peanuts for the Novel World and Town

For this edition of Novel Food, I'm doing my book and food report on World and Town, the latest novel by Gish Jen.

The story is set in a small town in New England; a town, the narrator tells us, that "dates to before the Revolution. A town that was American before America was America." The narrator's name is Hattie Kong, and she's "half half"; that is, half Chinese and half American (her mother was an American missionary who married a Chinese man). Hattie was born and raised in China but was sent to live with her mother's family in Iowa as a teenager, when her home in China was threatened by war. Now in her late sixties, having lost both her husband of many years and her best friend two years earlier, she is, as it says in the book, "reconstituting herself."

As are Hattie's new neighbors, a Cambodian immigrant family who have moved to the town to get away from the problems they had in the big city. The adults in this family suffered unspeakable horrors during the Pol Pot regime in their homeland, the kind of trauma that probably no person ever recovers from—and yet they must live on somehow and try to make lives for their children as well. Hattie befriends the family, especially Sophy, the teen-aged daughter, and tries to help them in various ways. Naturally, there are clashes between the parents, raised in a country and with traditions and beliefs that are now lost to them, and the young people (Sophy, her sisters, and her brother) being raised in America.

The book is all about people's need to belong and their need to believe in something. And it's about not being able to have either need met. Hattie herself epitomizes the discomfort, nay, the deep pain, of not being able to fit in anywhere: She's not totally Chinese, so she can't merge with that culture and its traditions, and she's not totally American, so she can't disappear into her American life, either. In this excerpt, she reminisces about being suddenly thrust into an American family at sixteen, after losing her homeland and her parents.

Thank goodness for her English! People said she spoke so well, they forgot she was Chinese, or half Chinese, or whatever it was she was. Yet even as they forgot, she remembered that she was whatever it was she was. A person away from herself. With what she guessed must be Chinese ideas and what she guessed must be Chinese feelings. She was pretty sure she dreamed in Chinese. And she craved Chinese food, of course. Màntóu. She craved màntóu. Lǎocù huāshēng—peanuts generally. Cù—American vinegar was not vinegar. She missed sea cucumbers, squid. Spicy clams. Before this she had known that her mother was American, but not that her father was Chinese, really.

Now, every day, she knew: Her father was Chinese. She was raised in China.

And yet she was not her old self, translated. Neither was she a Chinese in America. She was just foreign—wàiláide.

What she had always been—wàiláide.

From elsewhere. A stranger.

This is a big, complex novel filled with fascinating, engaging characters and lots of humor, despite the losses and the tragedies. It's also the story of a decades-long romance. It raises questions that can't be answered. It has heart and courage, intelligence, and insight. Reading the book and living, as it were, with Hattie, Sophy, and the other characters for a while was an experience that I feel grateful to have had. Gish Jen is a stupendously good writer.

In honor of the novel I made one of the northern-Chinese foods that Hattie misses (she had lived in Qingdao as a child and teenager). It's a snack-type dish called lǎocù huāshēng — vinegar peanuts. The peanuts were easy to make and were quite sweet. I plan to play around with them again using less sugar, because I'd like to try them more sour than sweet (I saw some recipes in which raw peanuts were simply soaked in Chinese vinegar with no sugar at all, in fact). That said, I really enjoyed these peanuts.

I got the recipe from a food blogger's site in China called Beijing Haochi, which also has gorgeous photos. Unfortunately, as of yesterday, the site has been unavailable. I hope that situation will be resolved soon, so please do check the following link until you can get to the blog and try the recipe for yourself!

Recipe for Vinegar Peanuts on Beijing Haochi food blog

The method for making the peanuts is simple: You buy some raw, shelled peanuts (I got mine at Chang's grocery in Royal Plaza; Farm & Fleet also carries them, as does Strawberry Fields, though Fields' are skinned and blanched).

You fry a cup of peanuts in a couple of tablespoons of oil (I used peanut oil) in a wok or a skillet until the peanuts turn from pale white to deep golden brown.

Then you take the peanuts out of the wok with a slotted spoon and put them in a bowl, sprinkle them with salt, and leave them to cool a bit.

Meanwhile, you pour some vinegar into the wok and add sugar to it, then you cook and stir for about 5 minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the vinegar sauce thickens somewhat. (I believe the Beijing Haochi recipe called for equal parts vinegar and sugar, and  I think the amount was a half-cup of each.)

As you can see, the vinegar really bubbles up when the sugar is added. Note that it's very important to use Chinese black vinegar, not white or cider or wine vinegar. I got my black vinegar at Chang's, where I'd gotten the peanuts. This is what the bottle looked like.

That said, I've read that balsamic vinegar can be substituted for the black vinegar with good results.

Once you've cooked the vinegar mixture for about 5 minutes, you pour it over the salted peanuts that you'd previously put into a bowl, and stir. Then you garnish with chopped scallions and cilantro.

Because the syrup became almost candy-like, the peanuts were sticky-sweet and reminded me of the ones in boxes of Cracker Jacks. Curiously addictive.

Now let's go and see what the other food bloggers who joined us for this edition of Novel Food are reading and cooking.

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Michelle, who writes the blog On and Off My Plate, recently read the memoir Untangling My Chopsticks, by Victoria Abbott Riccardi.

Michelle reports that "you will devour this book and rush to the kitchen to savor every recipe as you 'live' in Kyoto." Michelle made toshikoshi soba ("year-crossing soba") in honor of the book.

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Jo, author of Not an Everyday Circumstance, and currently residing in England, read William Goldman's The Princess Bride. In the book's honor, she made a delicious-looking shepherd's pie.

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Ruhama, of the blog Rumahama, read the novel Matched, by Ally Condie, and the dish she was inspired to make was mixed-berry pie. That pie is taking me back to summer.

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Sandi, a.k.a. the Whistlestop Cafe Cook, read another of her favorite author's novels for this edition of NF. This time it was Flagg's latest novel, I Still Dream About You. In honor of that book, Sandi whipped up luscious looking raspberry mousse brownies.

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Florence, who writes From Bach to Stock, chose a nonfiction book instead of a novel. The book's title is How to Walk to School: Blueprint for a Neighborhood School Renaissance, and it's written by Jacqueline Edelberg and Susan Kurland. Florence is working as a student teacher at the moment, and she decided to create the school lunch she wishes all "her" kids would be interested in eating: a pita sandwich stuffed with a chickpea and vegetable mixture.

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Susan, the Well-Seasoned Cook, made strawberry fool and no-bake strawberry crisp, having been inspired by Edward Morgan's poem "Strawberries," which appears in the volume A Book of Love Poetry, edited by Jon Stallworthy for Oxford University Press. Let's think of Susan's post as a reminder that spring is just around the corner.

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Finally: Simona, writer of the blog briciole and my partner in this event, made her own Neufchâtel cheese. The novel she read is called Blessed Are the Cheesemakers, so you can see that food and novel fit together like—well, like a Fuji apple and a slice of sharp cheddar.

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Thanks so much to everyone who joined us for this edition of Novel Food. Be sure to check out the other half of the submissions on Simona's blog for more tasty treats.

Learn to Cook Indian Food & Help Children in Need at the Same Time

Check it out. This Saturday, a local cook, teacher, and food blogger is holding a class where you can learn some basics of Indian cuisine. All proceeds from the class will benefit Asha, a charitable organization that does great work with underprivileged children in India. You can find out more about the UIUC chapter of Asha (and the special monthly benefit dinners the chapter runs at the Red Herring restaurant) in this Smile Politely article.

The class is open to everyone in C-U, and it sure sounds like fun. There's very limited seating so as to maximize interaction with the instructor, so e-mail uiuc@ashanet.org right away if you'd like to attend. Note that there will be tasting of the food and drink that Shuchi, the instructor, shows you how to make.

Happy Valentine's Day

Update: I was just alerted to the fact that there's free stuff to be had around town today—coffee at Pekara Bakery and Caribou Coffee, tiramisu ice cream at Marble Slab, cookies at Subway, and even a free entree (at IHOP). See the deals at chambanamoms.com.

Soup's On in Champaign-Urbana

When it's so cold outside your very brain seems frozen and you can hardly remember your name, thaw that gray matter by treating yourself to a steaming bowl of soup at one of our local restaurants. Here are some comforting concoctions that should have you feeling warmer from the inside out in no time.

Note that this is NOT meant to be an exhaustive list, only a mention of some of my favorite soups around town. Also note that I'm only including soups that are actually cooked (as opposed to reheated) in local restaurants' kitchens. If you're a food establishment and you serve reheated soup, or you're a customer who likes said soup, I'm not judging you; there are some good-quality ready-made products out there. But this list happens to be all about made-from-scratch soups.

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The pork noodle soup at Empire Chinese Restaurant on Green Street is a boon at this time of year. Large bowl, piping hot, some greens and carrots in there along with a pile of (wheat) noodles and BBQ pork—if you eat pork, you cannot go wrong with this soup. Especially as the price is just $5.95.

You can get any of Empire's food to go, and they also offer delivery.

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Let's do all the Asian soups together, shall we?

Next up are the big bowls of (rice) noodle soup known as pho at Xinh Xinh Cafe in Urbana. You may remember that I featured the chicken pho (now available only on weekends) recently; there are also eight other varieties to choose from, and prices range from $6.75 to $7.75.

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Then there is subgum wonton soup, which you can get at several restaurants around C-U (First Wok, Green Jade, and No. 1 Wok). The version at First Wok is my favorite.

This soup has pork-stuffed wontons in it as well as lots of fresh vegetables, slices of roast pork, extremely tender pieces of chicken, and succulent shrimp. Definitely a meal in a bowl. If you feel like you haven't been eating enough veggies lately, this is the soup for you.

And here's even more good news: A quart container costs right around five bucks, and it comes with crispy fried wonton strips.

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I recently discovered something called wonton noodle soup. I had no idea there was a version of wonton soup that included noodles as well. Okay! Sounds good to me. I tried it at Golden Harbor, where they were offering a new shrimp wonton noodle soup (in addition to the regular pork wonton noodle version).

What I received was a large bowl filled with hot broth, lots of lovely bok choy, many shrimp-filled wontons, and lots of (wheat) noodles. I'd expected the filling inside the wontons to be made of minced shrimp mixed with other ingredients, but the wontons were filled instead with one whole shrimp and nothing else.

At $9.99, this soup was expensive compared to some others on this list, so for good value, I'd usually go elsewhere for my soup fix.

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Golden Wok on University Avenue has very tasty soups, and the prices are not bad. I like both the creamy, spicy tom kha and the hot-and-sour tom yum ($7.35 including a side of steamed rice). Both soups are served in large portions that will really fill you up.

GW also serves wonderful big bowls of pork noodle soup ($7.30) and Vietnamese pho ($7.30).

All GW's soups are available for takeout, and the restaurant delivers for a small fee.

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You can get a delicious tom yum or tom kha soup at Nitaya Thai in downtown Champaign, as well, and the price for the soup itself is not bad (from $3.95 to $8.50 for the small and large bowls), but what irks me is that they charge $2 for a side of steamed rice (steamed rice is included in the price of the tom kha and tom yum soups at Golden Wok). So, suddenly that medium-sized bowl (what's called "large" on the menu) of tom kha, acceptably priced, though on the high side at $8.50, costs you $10.50. Humph. Still, both the tom kha and tom yum taste so good here that I go for it every so often.

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Moving on to Mexican cuisine: I must tell you about the soups at Fiesta Cafe on First Street. Well—I've already mentioned how great their chicken tortilla soup is, but I recently noticed that they also serve the spicy pork-and-hominy soup called posole (also spelled pozole).

First of all, the chicken soup. It's filled with vegetables like celery, onions, tomatoes, and mild green chiles, plus, obviously, chicken; it's topped with crispy tortilla strips and cilantro; your waiter will happily bring you wedges of lime with it if you ask; and it costs $5.45 for the grande bowl. Are you kidding me? $5.45 for the grande bowl (and $3.45 for the smaller bowl). Plus, you have the basket of homemade tortilla chips and two kinds of salsa on your table.

Now, the pozole. It's spicy (but not excessively so) and warming, with lots of tender strips of pork in it, and you get a plate full of lettuce and onions, along with a lime wedge, to garnish it with. (Or did I ask for the lime? You definitely get the plate of lettuce and onions; you might have to request the lime). This stuff will set you back just $4.45 for the regular-sized bowl or $6.45 for the grande bowl (pictured).

I like to get a side order of guacamole with these soups; a very generously sized side goes for $2, so your total bill is still under ten dollars, and, with the addition of avocado to the meal, you are completely satisfied and wanting for nothing.

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The Black Dog Smoke and Ale House in Urbana also serves posole (on Saturdays only). As you may be aware, the BD smokes all their own meats, so the pork or turkey in their version of the stew is extra-special. And on a recent Saturday, the turkey in the posole was of the free-range, Amish variety—even better.

The BD's posole came with lettuce on top, and it was served with freshly fried tortilla chips ($6.50). I'm putting out a public request here for them to add chopped onions and cilantro as garnishes and maybe even to go so far as to serve the soup with a wedge of lime as well. When I asked for lime last time I was there, the bartender/waiter told me they were out of limes. Out of limes? That was odd, and disappointing. However, the posole was very good even without the lime.

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You can enjoy yet another version of posole at  El Charro Grocery and Taqueria on Green Street.

It's made by owner Alejandro, and his posole is a rustic, home-style affair that you might find a piece of pork shank in. The meat just falls off the bone, so don't worry about it. El C's chile-laced, pork-and-hominy concoction comes with lettuce, chopped onions, fresh cilantro, limes, and tortilla chips, and it costs $6.50 for a quart. You can get it for takeout, and the stew, plus all garnishes, is packaged very well, so there's no spillage.

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So, those are some of my favorite soups to make a meal of around town. If there's a soup you love at a restaurant in C-U that you want to talk up, please share in the comments.

Valentine's Day in Champaign-Urbana 2011

If you're planning on taking your main squeeze out for the evening meal on V Day, I've got a recommendation for you.

Black Dog Smoke and Ale House

Menu for February 14

Starter:

Smoked oysters*

Entree:

Smoked leg of lamb or prime rib*
Smoked lobster tail*

Choice of two sides

Dessert:

Pots de crème

Each course is accompanied by a glass of wine from the Corkscrew

$50 per person

Seatings at 6 and 8 p.m.

Call 217-344-9334 for a reservation NOW while there are still a few left.

 * In case you're not aware, all smoked foods are done in-house in the Black Dog's Texas-sized, wood-powered smoker, a photo of which you can admire in this post.

Ahem. Normally I frown on promotional links in comments, but if you've got something for V Day that can go up against this dinner, whether you're a civilian or a restaurateur, I invite you to share that info.

Or are you planning on whipping a homemade meal on your paramour this year? If so, what's on your menu?

P.S. Specialty chocolates from the Art Mart in Urbana or the Cheese and Crackers store in Champaign are never a bad idea. A cupcake with roses and/or candy hearts on top from Cakes on Walnut wouldn't hurt, either.

Update 2/11/11: THIS JUST IN!

Had to let you know right away—the Bread Company on Goodwin Avenue is running a V Day special that sounds très romantique. Ready?

The Bread Company on Goodwin

Menu for Sunday evening, February 13, and Monday evening, February 14

First course:

A large, mixed-greens house salad for two

Second course:

A classic Swiss cheese (Gruyère & Emmental) fondue for two

served with vegetables, potatoes, and cubes of homemade bread

or

Fondue Bouguignon (beef tenderloin fondue) for two

served with roasted potatoes, vegetables, and assorted sauces

Third course:

Chocolate fondue for two, served with fresh fruit and pastry

Plus:

Half-carafe of house wine (Cabernet-Merlot blend or Chardonnay)

or

San Pellegrino sparkling water for two

$25/person with the cheese fondue, $30/person with the beef tenderloin fondue

Call now before it's too late!

217-383-1007

Puerto Rican Cabbage Salad, Vinegar and Spice Oven Ribs

I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe in the almost 5 years I've been writing this blog, because it's a favorite. But sometimes there are inexplicable lapses. Here it is now. If you have a taste for crunchy, raw-vegetable dishes, I think you will love this salad.

Puerto Rican Cabbage Salad
From American Wholefoods Cuisine, by Nikki and David Goldbeck

Authors' headnote to the recipe: "We learned to love this salad in Puerto Rico, and never tired of it, even though we ate it day after day."

1 pound cabbage, chopped (about 5 cups)
2 small tomatoes, diced
3 ribs celery, chopped
3 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Combine all ingredients and toss together. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serves 6

And see how easy? Seven ingredients, chop chop, and you're done. I used half a small cabbage (that was 5 cups of chopped), two of those "ripened on the vine" tomatoes that the grocery stores sell, good olive oil, and Tabasco for the hot pepper sauce. This is a satisfying, crunchy side salad that you could also use in a pita sandwich or to top fish tacos. We had it on the side of baby back pork ribs.

I didn't get a photo of the finished ribs, but let me assure you that they were really tasty: a little sticky from the caramelized sugar, with some burnt end action, yet the meat under the surface was moist and tender—we'll make these again, without question.

You can find the recipe on the CHOW Web site:

Vinegar and Spice Oven Ribs recipe

Like the cabbage salad, the ribs were very simple to make. Once you've got them into the marinade, you're about finished, except for the actual roasting in the oven, which isn't much work.

Note that because we had light-brown sugar instead of the dark called for, I added a shot of molasses to the marinade. We also used smoked (sweet) paprika instead of regular, and I didn't have allspice on hand so I subbed pumpkin pie spice.

Update: Kalyn, of the food blog Kalyn's Kitchen, made her own version of the cabbage salad and it looks really good.