Crossroads Coffee

This past Sunday, on our way to church, my wife wanted a cup of coffee. Realizing that we had yet to visit the nearby Crossroads Coffeehouse, I recommended that we go there. This turned out to be a fantastic decision!

With convenient parking out front, and adjacent, the Crossroads Coffeehouse (XRC) has a wonderfully convenient location. When you walk into XRC, you are greeted by a warm, slate-laden coffee bar. The walls are adorned with fantastic artwork (that I would hang on the walls of my home), created by local artists, and listed for a reasonable sale price (the most important part for us unpretentious). There is even a Central Perk-esque stage in the front window, where (if you listen really hard) you can even hear Phoebe Buffay singing "Smelly Cat". Okay, okay, that last part is not true, but you get what I am saying.

Upon approaching the bar, you see the numerous pastries (and on this particular Sunday - and with all likelihood, every Sunday - bountiful Quiche), sitting there, calling your name. This particular Sunday, I was able to resist, knowing that I had an upcoming week of gluttony ahead of me. However, I know that I will fall  victim to the sweet goodness of a XRC breakfast soon enough. Today was all about the coffee. 

Mi esposa went with the cappuccino. I, however, went with something more interesting (the Purple Haze). I tell you what: you put some crazy delicious concoction on your menu and give it a name that infers that its ingredients are slightly taboo, you will find your way onto this blog! The Purple Haze is essentially a latte with caramel, chocolate, and hazelnut flavours. I imagine that the "Purple" comes from the colour that comes from mixing chocolate and caramel. The "Haze" obviously comes from the hazelnut. The result is the richest and most unique coffee drink I have ever had in my life! 

The only question that I have left about XRC is why it took me so long to try it. They serve Chicago's famous Intelligentsia coffee. The ambiance is the perfect middle-ground between the hipster-packed low-end coffeehouses (that I also love, once the hipsters have gone to bed) and the big name chains (who's names will not be mentioned here). I honestly cannot imagine a more perfect coffeehouse, unless they served local coffee, but we will let that slide for now.

Food Truck Roundup (Part 4)

Sorry for the wait! I know that November is pretty much the swan song on food truck season for most trucks and I did want to get this post out before they go into hibernation for the winter, but I had to let the Aaron Sanchez post marinade for a couple weeks (for my own vanity) before I made another one. I apologize once again, but I promise that it was well worth the wait, because I have 3 new (or maybe just new to me) trucks (2 actual trucks and one pizza oven trailer) that are going to rock your world!

First up is Prairie Fire Oven . PFO is an open air wood-fired oven experience that also serves up some  pretty awesome thin crust pizza. Although the pizza is thin crust style, it is not dry and rock hard (like some thin crust pizzas) because of the properties of the wood fired oven. When the wood is burned in the wood-fired oven it releases the moisture that was contained in the logs and produces a moist heat that does not dry out your crust (you won't get that at Domino's).

The pizzas from PFO have a bit of kick to them. We had The Margherita and The Duo, both were made with super fresh ingredients (which does make a difference) and both had a medium amount of kick to them (depending on who you ask, of course). Both also go great with the Mike's Hot Honey that is offered up with the standard Parmesan cheese and pepper flakes. A little bit of the Mike's goes a long way! (Tangent Alert: Mike's is a Brooklyn-made imitation of a South American honey infused with chilies. A guy named Mike from Brooklyn came across this creation in his South American travels, decided to bring it back Stateside with him, and started making it for distribution.) David and Nancy (the owners of PFO) fell in love with it and thought it would go great with their pizzas. They are right, it is killer! You can even order an off-menu pizza (although I may be overstepping my bounds by letting out this secret, oops) called The Bee Sting that is made with Mike's Hot Honey and then fired in the oven, this is for serious heat-seekers only.

David and Nancy also let me take a peek inside the oven, jealous?

Next up on this tour is Jazzy B's . Jazzy's is where you go for some far out food that will leave your stomach full, your taste buds blown away, and you scratching your head saying "how in the world did he come up with that?!?". Brandon (the owner of Jazzy B's) and Adrian (the owner of Indios Carbonsitos) are constantly going back and forth over which one of them has the best tacos, the best burger, and overall the best menu. Both are incredible and if I had to choose between the two, I would claim that I had to taste each of them again, solely as an excuse to get more food!

Brandon has incredible sweet fries that are plucked from a fryer and tossed in a secret blend of brown sugar and other sweet flavours. The brisket tacos are out of this world! They abide by the corn tortilla rule, he told me that he tried flour tortillas, but there was just something missing. The brisket is juicy and tender, the slaw is tangy and adds the perfect crunchy compliment to the tender brisket. Brandon does a smoked-fried-chicken, he decided that smoking the chicken wasn't enough, that it needed to be fried to get that crispiness to it. He even has "Armadillo Eggs" and the "Armadillo Egg Burger". Lets just say that mixing gourmet jalapeno poppers, bacon, and a burger is a sure fire way to get EatingAwesomeness to eat at your food truck window. I will definitely be coming back for the AEB! 

Last up on this tour is Little Italy food truck . I really wanted to try more from Little Italy, and will soon, but I was completely stuffed by this stage of the night. I could not however pass up the risotto ball that I had been dying to try for weeks. A friend of mine went to Rome over the summer and kept telling me that the best thing he had while he was over there was "this rice ball thing", when I saw the risotto ball from Little Italy I knew that had to be what he was talking about. It did not disappoint! The risotto ball was delicious and even donned an Italian flag when it came out of the window. Imagine a creamy risotto ball with a crispy shell, covered in marinara sauce, assolutamente fantasitco!