BUFF - Fuji (Deep Fried Cheescake)

A quick post today as a celebration of graduating with my Masters Degree and moving back home! My aunt and uncle offered to do a little celebration dinner in buffalo where they live. Since I’m back with a new degree and my cousins are headed off to work on their post bachelors degrees this year we have a lot to celebrate.

LOCATION: 736 MAPLE RD., BUFFALO, NY. 14221

We decided to head to Fuji where my cousins work for a nice casual family lunch but to my amusement my cousins decide to order deep fried cheesecake for dessert after our copious amounts of sushi and Tonkatsu.

I was a little skeptical about deep fried cheesecake because these kinds of things tend to be pretty heavy and overly sweet not to mention it’s hard to gauge what texture will be like when a soft dessert like this is deep fried but boy was I pleasantly surprised.

I don’t know how Fuji does it but this cheesecake was great. They must use their tempura batter and a frozen cheesecake slice because it’s not overly sweet or heavy and the fried shell on the outside is light and fluffy as well. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it too much but maybe next time I’m at a festival in Rochester I won’t be so hesitant to order that deep fried cheesecake on a stick!

CHI - Rosebud

Work is amazing and they treat me so well here, I’m gonna be so sad to leave after such a short time. I already wish I came upon this job sooner or got to stay longer but it’s time for graduation and my time in this office is done. Luckily, this comes with a farewell lunch from the very place we ordered from on my very first day.

LOCATION: 1500 W TAYLOR ST. CHICAGO, IL 60607

Rosebud is a restaurant nearby that specializes in Italian food and has takeout for us to run and grab pretty easy from our office. With seven of us here it can be tricky for someone to make a decision about what to eat and Jess is vegetarian right now so pasta and salad works for us all and makes me very happy on this, my last day of work.

Everyone here is so great to me and they over order everything meaning we have tons of food and no one’s complaining. We go with two orders of fried calamari, house salad, and then single orders of Rigatoni al la vodka, Tortellini Carbonara, Cavatelli Rosebud which is Rosebud’s homemade dumplings in garlic and oil, green beans, mushrooms, and roasted red peppers, and I believe, their Chicken Vestuvio which is a boneless chicken with garlic, oregano, white wine, roasted potatoes, and sweet peas that’s only available as a weekday lunch special. And of course tons and tons of bread which they include with each order.

From what we remembered on my first day a few months ago, Rosebud was better than our experience today. It might’ve been our timing with the pickup but the Calamari wasn’t as crisp and the pastas just weren’t as good as they were before. Some days are just a hit or miss based off of who’s cooking and timing. While I think the food still tasted great, we just weren’t in love like we were before. I’d still go back if I was going to be nearby or if I was still working here so it wasn’t a deal breaker and it wasn’t a bad way to spend my last lunch at all.

CHI - Mcdonald's Global Headquarters Edition

That's right, McDonald's opened up a headquarters here in Chicago and made their store that's attached an international one meaning they have a few items from their global markets. We walk by it quite often when we look for food after climbing but the other day I noticed some of the screens inside displaying international flags and realized that my managers at work were talking about this specific McDonald's having international pieces on their menu. I mentioned it to Christel so of course we had to go and try it and today was that day. 

LOCATION: 36 W RANDOLPH ST, CHICAGO, IL 60601

I'm not gonna lie, there weren't as many international items as I expected but there was enough to make up a pretty good meal and Christel and I were pretty happy and full in the end. The introverts that we are just hogged the self-order kiosks gawking at the menu unable to make a decision for 5minutes. I actually really like these screens and while I have no problem walking up to the counter to order being able to just pick whatever I want and customize it without having to repeat myself over and over again to a person is nice. Also, since some of these items were international I had no idea what they had inside and it was way more relaxing to just order from the screen and make whatever modifications I wanted without looking dumb and asking what each thing was. We each got a McSpicy Chicken sandwich from Hong Kong which just comes with lettuce and mayo (I went light) and I got us a Cheese and Bacon Loaded Fries from Australia to share. I also ordered one of their new mix sprite tropic berry which wasn't bad or overly sweet. The McSpicy chicken was exactly what I wanted. It's a great burger and the chicken was moist but crispy on the outside and the spice totally hit you the more you ate it but wasn't too spicy or hot in the end. The mayo and lettuce were a great balance for it and I actually would order this more if this was an American choice I think. The cheese and bacon fries were also pretty good but I think I'm just a lover of plain fries. The cheese got to be a little too overpowering and Christel and I were both digging around to find plain fries to balance the super cheesy ones. The bacon came as bits so they didn't stick super well but it was all good in the end. Cheese fries are just not for me when I could have nice salty plain fries. 

We also decided we would get dessert and Christel contemplated more fries with her vanilla soft serve but we were totally full after the sandwich and cheese fries that we each went for plain ice cream. I decided to get a McFlurry Prestigio from Brazil which is the classic vanilla soft serve with strawberry sauce and mini chocolate coconut candies (think mounds). It actually wasn't super special and I ended up wishing I got the strawberry top sundae which is pretty much the same thing but with two cookie straws instead of the mini chocolate which I found to be too sweet and hard to wrap my head around with the extra coconut flavor on top of everything else.

All in all it was a fun adventure but I don't think I'm going to miss this stuff too much. I'm always just gonna want fries and some chicken nuggets when I come to McDonalds' and I'm happy with that.  

CHI - Mario's Italian Lemonade

Keep an eye on this post guys because I've just gone to Mario's but I know I'm going back soon to try more flavors already!

LOCATION: 1066 W TAYLOR ST., CHICAGO, IL 60607

Thanks for the Street View Google!

Mario's Italian Lemonade is this staple of Chicago especially if you go to UIC. It's right around the corner from East Campus and I've heard about it since I moved here two years ago but their on one of those summer schedules and I never understood the hype so I didn't go at all last year. This year we saw them reopen again a couple days ago when May 1st hit and Chicago decided it wanted to finally be hot and kill us with the first 80º day of the year so today Christel and I decided to stop by on our way back to campus from lunch. 

One bite and I understood the hype. This Italian Lemonade is so good. It's not too icy and frozen, it scoops super easily but melts super slow and is still drinkable through the straw a little too. It's cash only so I'm pretty happy Christel had some on her so that we could finally taste these. 

Today we opted for Pomegranate and Lemon and we were both pretty excited about it. I'm so happy I have Christel to try these things with because I just steal her cup and hand her mine for impromptu switches while we walk back to the studio and this way we basically get a pomegranate lemon mix without the messy mixing. We've already planned our trip for tomorrow and strategized what flavors we want to try that still go well with each other. I'm starting to understand why this place is so popular and I don't have a problem with it. 

Watermelon with fruit chunks hidden inside. Did not disappoint

CHI - Urbanbelly

It's the last final week of classes for me (for real this time) yet Christel and I are still managing to find time to go out and hit some spots on my list while I'm still in Chicago. We checked out the menu online and it's just weird and fusion enough that we needed to check it out right away. 

LOCATION: 1400 W. RANDOLPH ST., CHICAGO, IL 60607

Their tagline one on of the menu's online was "Long Noodles, Short Rice, Phat Dumplings" which just sold us. We figured we could order a little of each and go family style on this meal to test them all out. When we got to the restaurant the current menu was a little different from what we saw online but we had a basic idea and just altered our plan a little. 

We ended up getting coconut curry pho, wok fried rice cakes, and togarashi fries which come with a curry mayo. Since it was so warm out we decided to just opt to sit outside even though it was getting a little later and windier. It was still a great decision and it's so nice to finally be able to sit out and eat in the sunshine. 

Everything was so delicious and while I can be a little skeptical of asian fusion I was super happy at urban belly. The rice cakes were by far our favorite. There was shrimp, peanuts, toasted garlic and chives and had a great pickled kinda cucumber thing that was super well balanced with the textures and flavors of everything else. The menu describes this as their version of a Pad Thai which I like as a reference because it's pretty much a nail on the head with what they've accomplished. Christel and I are also both suckers for good rice cakes like this so it wasn't a hard sell for us. The coconut curry pho was an alright choice, a pretty good flavor but honestly just tasted like a normal Thai coconut curry with pho noodles in it. Not the most imaginative dish but also not a miss either. They nailed the coconut curry so it wasn't hard to like. The togarashi fries were also pretty good in terms of seasoning and the curry mayo was a nice touch. I'm not a huge fan of dips but mixed mayos and aiolis are usually pretty good in my book. 

And of course we somehow managed to get lucky and there was a special deal for the 1st of every month where each dumpling was offered for $1 each instead of $1.50+ for dine in which sent Christal through the roof because she HAD to take advantage of the deal. So, even though we had all this food we went for a dumpling round as well and ordered two of each dumpling to test them out.     

Pork and Cilantro

Chicken Curry

Beef and Cheddar

Sweet Potato and Maple

So here's the run down on each of the dumplings really quick 

Pork and Cilantro - Pretty classic for a dumpling, it comes soaked in soy sauce and ready to eat without any need for dipping but it does get a little salty so maybe less sauce is more. 

Chicken Curry - SUPER light flavor for what you think a curry dumpling would be. The chicken was a good texture and it was a clean bite but could actually use more of a kick.

Beef and Cheddar - If you like pizza rolls this guy is for you. Tastes pretty much like a beef and cheese pizza roll with a crunchy exterior and a pretty recognizable taste. The pickled onion on top was a great touch that made it a little different and 'elevated' it from the pizza roll world.

Sweet Potato and Maple - This was a perfect combination, not surprisingly, but it was a little tough to chew into and I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of the texture of the potato. I love pirogies but this was missing the mark for some reason and while the flavor was good I'm not sure I would get this dumpling again. 

All in all, I say Urbanbelly was surprisingly good but then again I was skeptical to start with so I'm not sure that's saying much. I would go back but I'm not sure that I would ever really crave anything I ate.