This week, the Sun-Times opts for a pair of establishments that trade in solid, but five-minutes-ago, themes: organic and high-end Southwestern.
At Taos in Roscoe Village, Denise O’Neal loves that you can dine until 2am, and receive delivery until 11pm. All welcome news, but is the food any good? Yeah, she seems to think, highlighting its classy seafood dishes (specifically, blue corn crusted tilapia Veracruz in a homemade sauce of tomato, olives, onion and fresh herbs served with green chili creamy rice and cucumber relish for $17). What we don’t like is that the restaurant’s called Taos, which is in New Mexico and has a distinctive indigenous culinary scene, while the chef is from Arizona, where everything is more fusion-y. How about some geographical fidelity! But if we want something delicious at 10:45pm in our jammies, we won’t quibble.
Meanwhile, Sandy Clark reports that the very first certified organic bakery in the country is Chicago’s own Bleeding Heart Bakery, in Ukie Village. Take that, California! Anyway, owner/pastry master Michelle Garcia could not be more passionate about the enterprise, spending 16 hour days in the kitchen while juggling two children and 400 recipes (we’re getting a funny mental image of confetti and flying kids). All the classics are available at the shop, and later this spring, the anarcho-environmentalist will test her mettle at a Food Network bake-off. That’s cool, because Bleeding Heart is at least as awesome as Ace of Cakes, no?
“Taos pleases palates” [Sun-Times]
Taos [MenuPages]
“Punk rock pastries strive for perfection” [Sun-Times]
Bleeding Heart Bakery [MenuPages]
Bleeding Heart Bakery [Official Site]
