This weekend, AZ and I hooked up with Brian and Shylo for a little food action at Kitchen.

Brian's written about Kitchen before, and he introduced us to its charms a few months back. Since Brian and I had some ChiBlogger Geeketry to discuss, we met there before the ladies, had some coffee and used the free wifi for a bit to look at data.

Subsequently, we got down to the business of eating. Kitchen's methodology is that they are a shared use kitchen for lease to various chefs. Today the chef was barely using the kitchen - he was a wood oven pizza maker, who wheels around his grill for events and parties and had it set up on the sidewalk out front. AZ and my take on the pizza - tasty, but the dough could have been a bit flakier toward the center (note, of course, that the two of us are fans of the NY style of pizza, not the Chicago heart attack blob). The sauce and cheese were fine, and the charring on the crusty edge was enjoyable.

After lunch, I picked up some treats, shocking AZ... Miniscule cupcakes with peanut butter (think the most decadent Reese's Peanut Butter Cup possible), and a slice of Maple-Pecan Pie - both by a vendor called "Hoosier Mama Pies". The filling was as sweet as the name, but the maple made a nice change from the usual molasses base. Apparently Haney has pastry chefed around the area for a while; I'll be looking for more pie soon...

I expect Kitchen has some interesting times ahead. First, I'm surprised they haven't been swamped with business - though sitting at the Chicago Francisco stop has some impact on this - Ravenswood Manor is a charming area, but it's not exactly high traffic central. And secondly, at the end of the summer when the Francisco stop goes under the knife, will people still make the short trek over?

Posted by esinclai at February 06, 2006 08:31 PM |