ELIZABITES

March 23, 2009 · 12:05 am

Roto-foodie

Have a Bite

I could never tire of the eye candy at Rotofugi, from colorful plush monsters to ass-kicking vinyl ninjas, robots and other inanimate objects. But I truly can’t get enough of the tiny and totally freakin’ adorable food toys from Japanese company Re-Ment USA (warning, serious cute factor ahead) I spotted this weekend. Lilliputian burgers, shakes, fries, kebabs and more are in the “Have a Bite” collection, while rice bowls and cakes are hidden inside the “Triple Meals Deluxe.” The “Fun Meals” collection includes wee waffles and berries while “Sushi Bar” features a sushi, tea and wasabi meal called “Wasabi makes my eyes watery.” Like baseball cards and many of the toys at Rotofugi, the collections are packaged in “blind boxes,” so you don’t know which one you’re getting, but they’re all so darn cute it hardly matters. 1953 W. Chicago Ave., 312.491.9501

Triple Meals Deluxe

Burger shop toys

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March 19, 2009 · 11:27 pm

Bleeding Heart Bakery cupcakes

It’s the first day of spring! I’d say to celebrate with a red velvet, but I’m going to add the s’mores cupcake from Bleeding Heart Bakery to my list of new loves. The campfire-inspired creation features a chocolate cupcake covered with lightly brûléed marshmallow fluff and a chunk of what tastes like a graham cracker in cake form. A dab of mint chocolate frosting hiding inside is a welcome surprise and I love the red wrapper. I spotted these at the Coffee Studio, but I assume you can score them at the bakery as well. Bleeding Heart Bakery, 1955 W. Belmont.

Mystery logo

This logo belongs to what Chicago restaurant?

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March 18, 2009 · 12:05 am

A Jell-O mold to behold…

Now that's a Jell-O mold

My grandmother Ada was a Jedi master of the Jell-O mold, but hers never looked like the one I spotted at La Baguette North bakery over the weekend. The multi-leveled masterpiece made me ponder the flavor of clear Jell-O, but I think it might be too pretty to find out. 5712 N. Clark St., 773.878.8556

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March 17, 2009 · 12:13 am

Big Sandwich Tuesday at Theory

I was tempted to be real boring and write about Shamrock Shakes today (which I’ve been strangely craving for years now) but thought I would spare myself the stomach ache and focus on a particularly good and semi-big sandwich I enjoyed at Theory last week. I am a sucker for a good chicken salad sandwich on a lunch menu, but am often disappointed with the obscene amount of mayo that douses many concoctions. The Chicken Salad Sammy at Theory made me forget about the 15 flat screen TVs surrounding our table with smoked chicken breast, walnuts, raisins, grapes, celery all mixed in a slightly spicy dijon chive mayo on lightly toasted sourdough. I knew it would be good when I could actually see all of the contents of the salad, which had luckily escaped a hearty drenching of Hellman’s. A mix of hand-cut regular and sweet potato fries rounded everything out, and if we would’ve tacked on the ice cream cookie sandwich trio, it would’ve been the perfect lunch, plasma screens aside. 9 W. Hubbard St., 312.644.0004.

Pizza on the move…

I spotted this Chicago’s Pizza sign heading North on Ashland over the weekend, ironically breezing past the shuttered Pizza Hut just south of Division. I couldn’t tell if it’s just come down from one of their four locations, or is heading up to 3413 N. Clark where, according to the Web site, the chain is supposedly opening another spot with a “reduced” menu. Either way, I’ve never tried the stuff. Is it any good? Any other tasty new ‘za discoveries to report?

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March 13, 2009 · 12:06 am

Random foto Friday

Choose your Quality meat, let the palm reader predict dinner…

Randolph Street, March 6, 8:42PM

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March 11, 2009 · 11:47 pm

Sushi scene at Sunda

Man, oh man I couldn’t wait for Sunda to finally open, and dropped in this week to experience chef Rodelio Aglibot’s never-ending modern Asian menu, and the long-awaited interior designed by the internationally renowned Tony Chi. A packed house last night (even at 10:30PM) had the sushi chefs whipping up maki rolls and more under the watchful eyes of 1,200 bamboo fish hanging above. Watch for a full post on my fantastic meal (can you say crab cake-crusted ahi tuna sashimi? Yeah, um, you’re going to wanna). 110 W. Illinois, 312.644.0500