Comfort Food Proves the Winner at Chicago's Boka

Boka
1729 N. Halsted St.
Chicago, IL 60614
312.337.6070
www.bokachicago.com

The last thing I expected to find myself fawning over at Boka was the macaroni and cheese. After all, the restaurant's executive chef is Guiuseppe Tentori, an alum of Charlie Trotter's, where making beautiful vegetable meals is a given.

But at this trendy Lincoln Park restaurant, it was the humble mac 'n' cheese (below) that stole the show. Granted it's not your box of Kraft. The dish includes a mix of fontina and sharp and medium cheddar cheeses as well as edamame. Two orders (it's a side at $7) and a dark beer and I would have been set.Alas, I didn't go to Boka for comfort food. My main dish was the herbed risotto tart with roasted portobello thinly sliced on top, baby turnips, ricotta and beet puree. The dish didn't disappoint. The turnips were fresh and nicely cooked; the tart was an interesting way to present risotto. And the portion was just right so as not to be overly filling.Boka's food is good, and the restaurant is unquestionably popular. Reservations are necessary. The downsides are it is loud and service is not up to par. The two tables next to me and I each had to inquire about ordered items that did not show up when they should have.

The wine list has a lot of offerings in the $45 range, which is nice to see. On the other hand, expect to get a wine that retails for less than $15. I found their markups to be outrageous - about 200 percent.

San Francisco's Plant Cafe: A Triumph of Style Over Substance

Plant Cafe
Pier 3
San Francisco, CA 94111
415.984.1973
www.theplantcafe.com

This mostly organic restaurant in San Francisco boasts a peaceful location on the waterfront at pier 3, near the Ferry Building, and an executive chef with a resume that will make any Bay Area vegetarian drool -- Sascha Weiss was pastry chef at vegetarian restaurant Millennium and worked at the sorely missed raw foods restaurant Roxanne's in Marin County.

Despite that, Plant Cafe is a triumph of style over substance. It's not that the food is bad, but that nothing is exceptional, although with a little tweaking it could be. The setting, with the relaxing tables on the water's edge (the outside tables are heated), makes for a delightful place to spend a leisurely lunch break. And while the food is fine, with a good mix of items for vegans, vegetarians and carnivores alike, you are likely to come away satisfied but not overwhelmed by the taste combinations.

The menu is a mixture of several salads, small plates (most with mussels, scallops or crabs), a pasta, several pizzas, the vegetarian Plant Burger (above), and large plates, which are split about half-and-half between vegan items such as pumpkin seed and cornmeal-encrusted tempeh and animal-based dishes such as duck breast in plum puree.

The signature Plant Burger patty is a mixture of lentils, mushrooms, bulgur, beets and cashews. It comes topped with avocado, cheese, aioli and onions and, for inexplicable reasons, is served on wheat bread. The heavy, mushy mixture of ingredients overwhelms the bread making a soggy mess. While it’s good, a whole wheat bun would be a better choice here.

The walnut pizza (above) with goat cheese in a balsamic reduction was probably the best choice, although slightly bland.

The fresh herb pasta (above) with corn, cherry tomatoes, arugula, garlic and pecorino was also not a bad choice.

Entrees range from about $13 to $20.

Perhaps the best way to enjoy Plant Cage is sitting out on the back deck on the water enjoying the patatas bravas, bowl of mixed olives and a beer or glass of wine from their extensive list of beverages.

Blouet Offers Masterful Culinary Strokes at Cafe des Artistes in Puerto Vallarta

Cafe des Artistes
Guadalupe Sanchez 740, Centro
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
www.cafedesartistes.com
+52 (322) 222.3228

Chef Thierry Blouet has worked in some of the most prestigious kitchens in the world, from Le Fouquet's de Paris and Le Moulin de Mougins near Cannes to the Ritz in Chicago. Along the way, he earned Maîtres Cuisiniers de France award, being one of only 340 French chefs to do so.

He now has his own restaurants in Mexico, the star of which is Cafe des Artistes in Puerto Vallarta, where he merges his French training and skills with Mexican ingredients. The result is that his restaurant is considered one of the top in Latin America.

While Blouet offers a three-course menu that may or may not offer vegetarian dishes for about 350 pesos a person, the kitchen is also eager to prepare dishes for vegetarian diners.

On a recent meal an appetizer included an artfully prepared trio of gazpachos - cucumber, tomato and beet (below).A poblano pepper stuffed with cheese was certainly not out-of-the-ordinary, but nonetheless very well prepared.The surprise vegetarian dish from the kitchen featured five thinly sliced pieces of eggplant wrapped around fresh goat cheese (above). While I generally dislike the texture of eggplant, this was excellent, leaving none of the spongy eggplant texture, but lots of wonderful flavor.

My guests and I passed on dessert, but the kitchen delivered some small pieces of multi-layered, fondant-filled chocolate cake.

Service is top-notch, and the restaurant offers probably the most extensive wine list in all of Puerto Vallarta, with an excellent selection of wines priced under 500 pesos. With cocktails, a bottle of wine, and two courses each, I'm not sure where you can get a better meal for about $35 US per person.