Work Potluck Week Eleven: Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and Taking Symbolism Too Far

Last week's theme was Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was also the first week Anna actively participated in the potluck. The theme was a lot more abstract than that of the previous potluck, but we are super smart people. Once again, we drew the Seven Wonders at random and then chose which course to make.

Anna: Lighthouse of Alexandria

Stuffed bell peppers with feta, (sausage), corn, onion, and cornbread stuffing. Anna didn't have a great explanation for the dish except that stuffed peppers are part of traditional Egyptian cuisine. I remarked that the peppers resembled stoplights, which is (tenuously) connected to the lighthouse.

Amanda: Great Pyramid of Giza

Egyptian style pitas, feta, and baba ghanoush
Amanda also opted for traditional Egyptian dishes. The Egyptian style pitas she made were denser than the typical pita encountered stateside, and their color was reminiscent of sand.

Duo: Statue of Zeus at Olympia

Watermelon limeade with pineapple and cherry garnish

Zeus, being the head honcho of the Greek pantheon, invented many things, including infidelity. While Hera was technically Zeus' wife, Zeus loved some of dat mortal ass. My original idea was a limeade because sour flavor had a shocking quality to it, which I made more obvious by adding lightning-shaped pineapple garnish and citric acid and sodium bicarbonate. The limeade turned into watermelon limeade (to emulate the all powerful presence of Zeus, I squeezed the juice out a watermelon with my bare hands), and a cherry garnish was added, because... well, remember what I said about Zeus, infidelity, and dat mortal ass?

Greg: Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Garden salad with mixed greens, peppers, tomatoes, and feta
Originally, Greg was going to bring an empty salad bowl because the hanging gardens' location has not been verified. Knowing that we would spite him for that, however, he opted to bring a huge mix of vegetables, some of which looked very much like each other. Tomatoes resembled peppers and vice versa, and who could keep all of the salad green varieties straight?

Jaycie: Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

Vegetable kebabs with zucchini, yellow squash, bell peppers, onion, and baked cheese
The temple of Artemis would have been a lot easier to execute if the potluck weren't vegetarian. So, instead of serving venison to represent the bounty of the huntress, Jaycie modeled her dish after the columns supporting the temple. The ingredients are also skewered because one of Artemis' signature weapons is bow and arrows, the latter represented by toothpicks to signify the act of hunting.

Sam: Colossus of Rhodes
Stuffed mushrooms with spinach, cream cheese, feta, parmesan, and garlic
The Colossus of Rhodes is a statue of the Titan Helios, the personification of the Sun. Do you know what comes from exposure to the Sun? Vitamin D. Do you know what else contains a lot of Vitamin D? MUSHROOMS. The connection is so clear I'm surprised you didn't arrive at it earlier.

Sarah: Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

S'mores of the Dead

Why s'mores? Because graham crackers are like the earth, chocolate is like the physical remnants of the deceased, and marshmallows are like ghosts. Plus, are you seriously going to turn down s'mores? I don't think so.

Tanuki is the Best and Cutest Sushi Restaurant in Lakeview

This is Tanuki. It's a small sushi restaurant by the Wellington Brown line stop. For those of you who do not take public transit, it's around the corner of Sheffield and Wellington. It opened on February 13th, 2013, and occupies a space that once housed an aggressively mediocre late night/hangover pizza restaurant.

Tanuki is my favorite sushi restaurant in Chicago. I first visited the restaurant a week after it opened, before it had the sign you see in the picture above. I didn't go there because I knew the food would be good: I went there because it was close to my apartment and because tanukis have huge balls. Yes, I'm a child.

This is what my friend Sarah and I had the first time we were there. No, Instagram did not do the food justice. In addition to sushi, Tanuki served robata, which is basically a collection of delicious morsels grilled on skewers. I was so impressed by the food and how nice the place was I went back there for my birthday.

However, as much as I was enamored with the food, I still didn't know why anyone would name their restaurant after a raccoon dog with giant testicles.

This is Warren, owner and head chef of Tanuki. I asked him why his restaurant was named Tanuki.

When Warren was taking a field trip in Japan, he happened upon a sushi restaurant with a tanuki statue in front. Curious, he went inside and asked the owner about the tanuki statue.

In Japanese folklore, tanuki are shapeshifters. One day, a tanuki caught the scent of delicious food emanating from a sushi restaurant, so he shapeshifted into a man and walked inside. He ate and drank and ate and drank and ate and drank until he could eat and drink no more. When it was the time to pay, the tanuki didn't have any money, because his only assets were his giant sacks of family jewels. So, the owner angrily chased the tanuki away. However, after the tanuki's freeloading spree, the restaurant became very popular and was frequented by many patrons.

So, tanuki was both part of Warren's history and a symbol of good luck. Warren was originally trained at Indie Café in Andersonville, but wanted to run his own restaurant. So, he opened Tanuki with the support of his friends and family, many of which work at the restaurant!

Eringi (king oyster mushroom) and bacon-wrapped enoki (golden needle mushroom) robata

Silver sushi platter (chef's choice)

Spicy tako roll

Terah's Fire Cracker roll: spicy tuna, cream cheese, avocado, asparagus, almond, and sweet soy sauce. The roll contains no rice, and the whole roll is fried before serving. Because it contains no rice, it's very light for a fried roll. Chef Warren believes it's a great summer-time roll: the flavors are fresh and crisp, and it won't weigh heavily on your stomach.

The hamachi pearl nigiri: seared yellow tail with truffle oil soy sauce, caviar, spicy mayo, and scallion.

The salmon ceviche nigiri: salmon, mango slices, chili, and lime zest vinaigrette. The acidity from the vinaigrette balances the richness of the salmon's mouth feel quite nicely. To give you an idea of the attention paid to detail, observe the "strip" of mango above the salmon. Each "strip" is actually composed of strips of thinly sliced mango so the finished product articulates with the natural curvature of the nigiri.

Even the salad looks meticulously made.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Dragon Pearl. It's a giant ball of tempura-battered and deep fried lychee ice cream. There's nothing not to like about this dessert.

It's not just the food either: the entire place is adorable.

From the decor...

to the super cute t-shirts...

to the lucky tanuki statue.

So yeah, the next time you're in Lakeview and want some sushi, visit Tanuki!

This post is not sponsored. You should feel bad for even entertaining that notion.

Work Potluck Week Ten: Welcome to Chicago Anna!

A few weeks ago we welcomed Anna, our new Lead Teacher to the School Programs team. What better way to welcome her to Chicago than to make dishes based on Chicago neighborhoods? We each randomly drew from a cup filled with Chicago neighborhoods, emphasis on randomly.


Amanda: Little Italy
Panzanella: bread salad with Italian bread, mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and olive oil. We love carbs, but I think she made a little too much.

Duo: Chinatown. IT WAS RANDOM I SWEAR.
Cold eggplant salad: chilled boiled eggplants with garlic, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, Szechwan peppercorns, and homemade sesame paste. I've been wanting to cook eggplants for a while, and since I knew people will be needing the stove for their hot dishes, I made the eggplants ahead of time. It's not the prettiest dish, but it is flavorful.

Greg: Lincoln Square
Assorted root beer: Lincoln Square is on the Brown line, and root beer is brown. Lincoln Square is a German neighborhood, and Germans make the best root beer. Square Roots Festival also takes place in Lincoln Square.

Jaycie: Andersonville
Swedish pancakes: Jaycie and Andersonville are both Swedish (randomness is not without a sense of irony), so she made slightly sweetened pancakes, rolled and served with jam.

Sam: Pilsen
Re-imagined churros: cinnamon sugar pitas with salted caramel and cream cheese sauce. Pilsen is famous for its multitude of great Mexican restaurants. Also, remember when I said we love carbs? We really, really love carbs.

Sarah: Lincoln Park
Bow tie pasta with garlic scape pesto: garlic scapes are the green shoots that grow from garlic bulbs. You may have seen them when you've had bulbs of garlic for a while. There's this great farmer's market called Green City Market by where we work, and Sarah picked up some garlic scapes on a whim. The pesto is made from said garlic scapes, pistachios, parmesan cheese, garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Even though garlic scapes are not as overpowering as raw garlic cloves, they still pack a punch!