A little before my bought with the flu Mike and I headed out for our first "exploring Chicago" lunches (part one in a series). We went down Grand to Bari Foods for their famous sandwiches. As is evident from the picture this was to be a curb meal and it made the lunch all that better. Right next door to Bari is Damato's Bakery where we stopped in for some cookies. I had the lady make me up a mixed box of her favorites. I must say that they where worth the trip on their own! Not usually a huge fan of the dry Italian style cookies but these were very well made and I'd defiantly go back. Next on our agenda is unraveling the mystery of the Jibarito, a sandwich invented here in Chicago.This past weekend Leyla and I finally made it out to Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights after hearing about it for the past year. Mitsuwa is a Japanese supermarket with a built in food court. We had a little lunch before diving into the shopping. I hate to say it but the best part wast the green tea soft serve ice cream, although the food was not bad either. The market itself is amazing. Very clean and filled with packaging that I could not decipher, lots of big eyed cartoon characters telling me to buy, buy, buy!
So I did. The fish section was very nice, we bought a couple pieces of salmon, yellowtail and chu-toro for nigiri later that night. I was finally able to find some nice high end Shoyu (soy sauce) along with good quality short grain rice. My favorite find of the day was something that I thought was 100% Brazilian. I used to drink this stuff called Yakult when I lived in Brazil. Its a small shot of a yogurt flavored drink, basically a shot of lacto-basilicas, but very tasty! Turns out its a Japanese/Korean product! Needless to say I bought about 30 of them! 
After making our way around the market and checking out we headed over to the booze section! Always bad news for me! To make matters worse there was a lady giving out samples of different sakes. Needless to say I bought some along with some plum wine for Leyla. While looking for a bottle I found this poster towards the back and proceeded to study it and figure out how sake is made. Well, all I got from it is that a cartoon bottle runs the production line and lays out flow charts, then POOF! Sake's done!
6 comments:
Poof! YES! I love how that stuff is so magical.
Mitsuwa is a somewhat regular trip for me. I try to go at least once a quarter if not more whenever I can snag a ride or persuade people to go out there.
Remiscent of my teenage years in Asian food courts, I feel pretty at home there.
Umm, where was I? You know I'm always down for some eating.
turns out brazil has the largest population of japanese living outside of japan- might be why you found your drink
Your friend Veronica knows her stuff. Brazilians owe the Japanese the development of the culture of peaches, grapes, figs you name it, and yes Yakult. During their immigration the young Japanese "imported" boatloads of wives...they did not mix until many years later.
El Borinquen on California is a great place to get a jibarito. I think it is one of my favorites, and it's not far from your casa.
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