Flamme and Co

Hace un par de semanas mi hermano y Elena nos visitaron en Estrasburgo. Despues de las tipicas visitas turisticas obligadas, decidimos ir a comer "tart flambee o flammekuche" a Flamme & Co, podeis recordar este tipico plato alsaciano pinchando aqui. 

Nos habian contado que el restaurante combinaba tradicion y modernidad, preparando las tipicas tart flambee mezclando distintos elemenos y sabores. Tambien nos habian hablado de los servicios del restaurante, una de sus grandes atracciones :) y que creo os va a sorprender.

Desde fuera, parece un sitio normal, dentro es moderno, la carta tiene de todo, desde la tipica tart flambee con cebolla, panceta y queso gratinado, a tart flambee mejicanas, italianas, vegetarianas o con pato.

A continuacion, os muestro las fotos de nuestra comida y despues, la parte mas divertida con video incluido :) 

A couple of weeks ago  my brother and Elena visited us in Strasbourg. After the typical touristic visits we decided to get "tart flambee or flammekuche" at "Flamme & Co". You can remember this traditional Alsatian dish clicking here.

We had been told that the restaurant combined tradition and modernity, preparing the typical tart flambee mixing different elements and flavors.

We had also heard about how original their restrooms were :) I think you are going to be surprised.

It looks just like a normal place from the outside, it is pretty modern in the inside, the menu cart has many exotic choices going from the normal tart flambee gratinee to Mexican ones, Italians, vegetarians or with duck.

I show you below the pics of our meals and after that, the funny part, the rest rooms!! Movie included :)

Este es el exterior del restaurante, parece un sitio urbano y moderno en pleno centro :)

This is the outside of the restaurant. It seems to be a modern and urban place in the city center :)

Thomas y Elena pidieron "Tart flambee gratine", la modalidad mas tradicional, con crema, panceta, cebolla y queso Munster gratinado.

Thomas and Elena ordered "Tarte flambee gratinee", the most triditional one made with cream, bacon, onion and gratined Munster cheese.

Mi hermano se pidio una muy francesa con magret de canard :)

My brother ordered a very French one with magret de canard :)

Yo que me tiro a lo mas "sano", me pedi una tart flambee con ensalada, tomates secos y parmesano.

I tried to do a "healthy" choice and I got a tart flambee with salad, sun dried tomatoes and parmigiano.

Hasta aqui la comida, pero quiero que presteis atencion a los manteles :) todos eran igual de sugerentes y nos ibamos aproximando a lo que nos podiamos encontrar en los servicios, jeje!

Next, I'd like you to pay attention to the table cloths :) there were different models, all of them suggesting the same thing actually, hehe! Of course, we could already have an idea about the restrooms, hehe!

Detalle del mantel. Table "cloth" detail.

Este cuadro es lo primero que uno se encuentra cuando entra al servicio, empieza bien la cosa, no?

This picture is the first thing one faces when entering the restrooms. It looks like a good start, right?

Foto de los servicios. Picture in the restrooms.

Por supuesto, no podia irme sin echarme una autofoto dentro del servicio, jeje! Tenian musica de Madonna a todo trapo!! Todo estaba plagado de espejos, arriba, abajo, izquierda y dercha :) y como no, luces rojas. Que locura!! Si quereis mas detalles, por favor, ved el video :) Espero que os haya gustado!!

Finally, I took a picture of my self inside the restroom. They were playing Madonna as if the world would finish the next day, hehe! All full of mirrors, left, right, up and down :) and red lights. Exciting, right?? To have a better idea, please watch the movie. Hope you like it!!

Autofoto en el servicio "barrio rojo"

Selfie pic in the restroom, pure "red light district" style

The Cellar, last time...The Cellar, la ultima vez

Nuestro ultimo dia antes de dejar Chicago fuimos a nuestro restaurante favorito: "The Cellar", en Evanston: http://www.thecellarevanston.com/

Desde que lo descubrimos al principio de llegar alli, hemos pasado momentos inolvidables disfrutando de su fabulosa cocina, cosa que, con todos mis respetos, no es facil encontrar en USA, aunque por suerte hemos disfrutado en sitios maravillosos.

Este lugar, merece un post exclusivo para ellos, pero por ahora, dejare mis ultimos recuerdos del lugar. El viernes, disfrutamos de nuestros platos favoritos con nuestros amigos y como despedida, nos invitaron a este exquisito postre, una seleccion de casi todos los postres de la carta. Gracias!! Si pasais por Evanston, vais al campus de Northwestern en Evanston o visitais la zona, os recomiendo pasar por alli. De momento, dejo aqui nuestras ultimas fotos, pero pronto le dedicare un texto con fotos de nuestros platos favoritos.

To say goodbye to Chicago and Evanston we went to our favorite restaurant in town: "The Cellar": http://www.thecellarevanston.com/

We've been there many times enjoying their delicious food since we discovered it at the beginning of our time in Chicago. Their cuisine is exquisite and to be honest, this is not an easy thing to find in USA, even though we have found many wonderful places.

This place deserves an exclusive post, but for now I'll just leave here my last memories in the restaurant. Last Friday we enjoyed our favorite dishes with our friends and we were invited to a great selection of their desserts. Thanks!! If you guys are in Evanston, visiting, working in campus or just around, I highly recommend this place. For us, the best place to eat, with no doubt.

Here you can see some of our last pictures, but a full post is in process.

Seleccion de postres. El antes... Dessert selection. Before...

 Y despues...And after...

 The girls: Elena, Christina and myself.

Las chicas: Elena, Christina y yo.

 The boys: Thomas and Lyle

Los chicos: Thomas y Lyle

Finalmente, la foto con nuestro barman favorito, Richard. Nos hizo entrar a la barra para fotografiarnos con el vaso de "Kwaak", la cerveza favorita de Thomas y la que el siempre bebe alli. Terminamos la noche brindando con cerveza :)

Finally the picture with our favorite barman, Richard. He made us enter the bar to take a picture. Thomas has a "Kwaak glass". That's his favorite beer and the one he drinks always there. We ended up the night toasting with beer :)

The Rice Table

Ayer fuimos con nuestros amigos Christina y Lyle a cenar a un restaruante de Andersonville, una zona de Chicago con millones de bares y restaurantes interesantes. Fuimos a "Vincent", un restaurante holandes, si, si, lo que leeis, no se exactamente que tipo de comida cocinaran :) pero el restaurante es holandes! De todas formas, ayer no fuimos por la comida holandesa, sino por comida indonesa. Este evento, llamado "The rice table", se celebra cada año en Chicago y la empresa alquila un restaurante distinto cada vez. Este año fue en Vincent, asi que compramos los tickets online y nos fuimos a disfrutar de la comida.

Yesterday we went out for dinner with Christina and Lyle. The restaurant we went is in Andersonville, a cool area of Chicago with many interesting bars and restaurants. We went to "Vincent", which is a Dutch restaurant, yes, exactly what you are reading, a Dutch restaurant :) I don't know exactly how is the food there since we went there for a tasting of Indonesian food. The event is called "The rice table" and it is celebrated every year in Chicago. The company rents a different restaurant every year and this time it was in Vincent. We bought the tickets online and went there to enjoy the food.

Llegando a Vincent. Arriving in Vincent.

El restaurante por dentro me recordo realmente a los restaurantes holandeses por la decoracion y la luz, que aunque hacia la estancia muy acogedora, no me permitio hacer una foto en condiciones, jeje!

El menu consistia en numerosos platos pequeños para compartir cocinados con especias tradicionales indonesas. Entre los platos se incluian arroz frito con salsa de coco, pollo con jengibre, ternera picante, noodles con verdura, judias verdes especiadas, tofu, ensalada con salsa de coco, patatas fritas con salsa dulce, etc. Lo cierto es que me gusto todo, estaba muy bien cocinado y pudimos repetir. Algunos platos eran algo picantes, pero con limite y todo muy sabroso.

De postre un riquisimo pudding de arroz, un estilo al tradicional arroz con leche, pero mas espeso, todo ello con caramelo por encima, buenisimo! El cocktail que me tome estaba delicioso, era de champan con un licor especial llamado "San Germain", se llamaba "burbujas y flores" y espero tomarlo otra vez dentro de poco :)

The interior of the restaurant really reminded me of the Dutch restaurants. The decoration and the light was very Dutch and cozy, but it didn't let me take a normal picture of the food!

The menu consisted of many small plates to share based on all kinds of typical Indonesian food: fried rice with coconut sauce, chicken with ginger, spicy beef, tofu, sweet fries, salad with coconut, etc. I absolutely liked everything, the food was well cooked, a bit spicy but with a limit and everything very juicy. 

Desert was also delicious, it was rice pudding, very similar to the traditional "arroz con leche" but more dense and with caramel on top. I also ordered a cocktail that was delicious, it had champagne and "Saint Germain" liquor, I hope to drink it soon again ;)

Aqui podeis ver como se sirvio la comida, aunque la luz era fatal para las fotos.

Here you can see how the food was served, even though the light was awful for the pictures.

 The menu. El menu.

 Rice pudding. Pudding the arroz.

Posando con Christina. Posing with Christina.

Despues de cenar dimos un paseo por el barrio y me encontre este caballito tan gracioso!!

We walked around the neighborhood after dinner and we found this cute horse :)

Fue una cena estupenda, buena comida, risa y amigos para disfrutar de nuestras ultimas semanas aqui :(

It was a great dinner: good food, laughs and friends to enjoy our last weeks here :(

Visita de mi prima :) My cousin's visit :)

Este pasado fin de semana ha sido estupendo!! Mi prima Ana estaba en Chicago para asistir a una conferencia de cancer, horrible enfermedad que  necesita mucha investigacion!! Ella es oncologa y presentaba dos posters con su trabajo del hospital de la Paz en Madrid :)

El viernes quedamos con ella en Chicago. Nos encontramos en el edificio Hancock y de alli  nos fuimos a cenar a uno de los restaurantes que Thomas habia elegido al azar. El restaurante esta situado en el hotel "Peninsula". El sitio precioso, un hall gigante con muy buena decoracion, buen ambiente, musica jazz en directo y buen servicio. La comida buena, nada del otro mundo, el precio...caro...en nuestra linea.

Esa noche no hicimos mucho mas, el cansancio de la semana se notaba, ademas del jetlag de mi prima unido a que habia estado de guardia dos dias antes.

Last weekend was awesome!! My cousin Ana was in Chicago for a cancer conference. From here I want to encourage and support all kind of research to fight this illness!! She is an oncologist and she was presenting two posters with her work at "La Paz" hospital in Madrid :)

We met her in Chicago on Friday night. We met at the Hancock building and from there we went for dinner to the restaurant "The lobby" at the "Peninsula" hotel. The place was beautiful, a big nice hall with good environment, live jazz music and good service. The food was good, but nothing special, just normal stuff, not like the price. The place ended up being a bit overpriced for what we ate.

We didn't have more plans for the night. We were tired after the week and my cousin was kind of jet lagged and also she had a 24 hour shift two days ealier.

Mi prima y yo en "El lobby". Se le nota el jet lag :)

My cousin and I at "The lobby". The jet lag was present.

Esa noche dormimos en Evanston en nuestra casa y aprovechamos el sabado para enseñarle el lugar, el campus y nuestros respectivos laboratorios. Thomas estuvo enseñandole imagenes de celulas metastaticas de cancer de mama con el microscopio confocal y mas resultados de su investigacion, mucho mas cercana a ella que mis celulas solares :) Despues comimos en una creperia del centro de Evanston y nos fuimos a pasear por la orilla del lago Michigan. 

We slept in our house in Evanston and we spent Saturday walking around Evanston downtown and showing my cousin Northwestern campus and our labs. Thomas showed her many images of metastatic breast cancer cells taken with the confocal microscope. He also showed her more of his results, which are closer than my solar cell research :) After that we went for lunch to a new creperie in the center and then we walked along lake Michigan shore.

Fotos en el lago. Pictures at the lake.

El domingo fuimos de nuevo a Chicago una vez que las charlas terminaron. Quedamos de nuevo en el edificio Hancock y de alli nos fuimos a comprar un tipico "smoothie" de "Jamba juice". El "Mango-go-go" esta bastante bueno :)

Queriamos ir al centro comercial "The Water Tower Place" a hacer unas compras y por supuesto, a hacernos las fotos en los lugares mas emblematicos de la ciudad.

We went to Chicago again on Sunday once the conference lectures were finished. We met at the Hancock building again and we started our tour after getting a smoothie from "Jamba juice". The "mango-go-go" one is pretty delicious :)

The plan was going first to the mall in "The Water Tower Place" to do some shopping and then walk around the center to take pictures at the most important places of the city.

Con nuestros "Jamba Juice" en la puerta del edificio Hancock.

With our "Jamba Juice" at the entrance of the Hancock building.

En la Torre del Agua. At the Water Tower.

En uno de los puentes por encima del rio Chicago. In oun of the bridges over the Chicago river.

Millenium Park. Concierto de la orquesta sinfonica de Chicago (seccion joven).

Concert of the Chicago symphonic orchestra (young section).

En el "haba" o "Cloud Gate". At the "bean" or "Cloud Gate".

En una de las fuentes mas originales de Chicago. Picture in one of my Chicago favorite fountains.

Terminamos la noche cenando en "The Gage", un sitio muy recomendable. Creo que alli todo esta bueno  :) La cena la acompañamos de vino español y tuvimos suerte de poder sentarnos en la terraza, ya que hacia un tiempo muy agradable.
We ended up the night eating dinner at "The Gage", I highly recommend this place. I think everything there is delicious :) We had Spanish wine and we ate at the terrace thanks to the warm weather of yesterday night.

Ana y Thomas en "The Gage". Ana and Thomas at "The Gage"

Fue un dia fantastico, buen ambiente en Chicago, mejor tiempo y lo mejor de todo, buena compañia. Un fin de semana para recordar. Probablemente sea la unica visita familiar que reciba, asi que habia que aprovecharlo!!
It was a fantastic day, good environment in Chicago, nice weather and the best of all, good company. A weekend to remember. It will be probably the only visit from someone of my family, so we had to celebrate it!!