Diary of a Fat Girl - Bien Trucha

Oh….my….goodness!

My husband and I had a much needed date night this past Saturday. Between our three jobs and our handsome little son, it’s hard to go out and just be a couple. Well, the deck was stacked in our favor. Desmond’s grandpa wanted an overnight with the little guy and we had a gift certificate to redeem at Bien Trucha. And let me just state…best damn gift certificate EVER! (Don’t worry Francesca’s, you’re still my #1 Italian place but this place’s atmosphere kicks your ass!)

So where do I begin? Well, I’ll start with our entrance. Bien Trucha is easily overlooked. I can’t recall seeing a sign outside with the name. I think you just have the address to go by. Plus the outside doesn’t let-on to the magic that resides inside. So make sure you have a nifty GPS or some good eye sight to spot the address for this location. Now, let me forewarn you on the wait…cause it’s gonna happen. I can’t deny or affirm if this is the case for lunch, but for dinner, this place is hopping. The very first time my husband and I attempted to go to Bien Trucha, we were told it would be a two hour wait. Well, this fat girl was too hungry to wait that long and we vowed to come back. This past Saturday we arrived at 8:30 and we were told it would be a one hour wait. We happily agreed, this was gonna happen.

So, a small suggestion; Bien Trucha does have a bar you can spend your wait and you’ll see later that I do LOVE their drinks so that’s not a bad idea, but if the weather is nice, take a stroll. Bien Trucha is right in the downtown Geneva area. We walked two blocks down to a bar called Stockholm’s and had some beer while we waited. (I liked this place but it is not your only option, just keep walking to find somewhere else.) I had my cell phone out because Bien Trucha sends a text right to your phone when your table is ready. And if you’re as lucky as us, we got a call saying a table for two opened up 20 minutes after we arrived. So we didn’t even have to wait the hour, sa-weet!

Now, for the inside of this place…it’s small but I think that gives you an intimate feel to place. Your neighbor’s tables aren’t far from you. (In fact, since I’m wide I had to move the table a bit to sit on the far side…but hey, it worked.) Being close to your neighbors also gives you a good view of their food. (Which I fully expect you to oh and ah over, like we did). The in-laws forewarn the lightening is dim in the place, and I agree, it is, but not in a bad way. I suppose being young still has it advantages. I had no problem reading the menu. (But that could be I eyeballed the thing for a few hours before I went. It’s online. Yes, go check it out. Link is below.) But I think the lighting gave the place a romantic feel. One of my favorite parts of the place is the music. I love good Latin music. And this place had it in spades. It was so energetic. I was consistently doing a cha-cha-salsa wiggle in my seat. It completed the atmosphere of the place, and it also gave you some privacy. You may have a good view of your neighbors food but I can’t recall being able to hear their conversation. It was like the music was just loud enough to block them out and force you to focus on your date and food. Overall, I say the place is trendy. Not a place to go slumming and definitely a good place for a date. Do it!

So how was my food? Here is a run down of what my husband and I shared:

Guacamole del Dia

Fresh avocados, lime, cilantro, fresh fruit of the day (which was pineapple) and chef’s inspiration

Bien Trucha (Tacos)

Grilled skirt-steak, home-made chorizo, chihuahua, roasted tomatillo-serrano salsa

Pastor (Tacos)

Ancho-guajillo marinated pork, cilantro, onion, pineapple, morita salsa

Pica-Pica (Brochetas)

Bacon wrapped shrimp, onion, pineapple, chipotle-lime glaze

Esquites (Side)

Grilled corn, epazote-butter, lemon-aioli, queso cotija chile piquin

Arroz Poblano (Side)

White rice, poblano cubes, sour cream, chihuahua cheese

Corn Cake (Dessert)

Fresona (Drink)

fresh muddled strawberries, lime, sugar, orange liquor, sauza blanco

Pepino (Drink)

fresh muddled cucumber, lime, orange liquor, herradura blanco, tajin

Ahuacatl (Drink)

avocado, agave nectar, lime, sauza blanco, orange liquor, mezcal mist

Mojito (Drink)

fresh muddled mint, lime, sugar, rum, splash of soda

Is your mouth watering? Cause mine is from remembering my meal. It wasn’t until after we placed our food order I thought “where the heck are they going to put our food, our table is so small?” Ahhhhh but that only comes with my lack of experience here, they are masters at dinner service. Our food was brought out in what felt like courses. We had our sides out the whole time but we were presented with one main course at a time. We started with our Bien Trucha tacos and once those were done and removed, they brought out our Pastor tacos. I loved this for many reasons. One, and most importantly, your food is always hot. Two, it promotes a good date. Tacos come in sets of 4, so it’s easy sharing and easy conversing. (Cause you are going to want to talk about the food you just greedily ate.) Three, your table is clear of clutter. So that’s how it works if you order tons of food like me and my husband.

But how was the food? Well, I’m sure you can see I’m writing a positive review here and it stays that way. We got everything as is. No modifications despite some of my food aversions. (Like pineapple, or shrimp, I like neither.) But after hearing so many good things about Bien Trucha we wanted to experience the food as it was suppose to be prepared. And it was AWESOME! I mean it.

I’d love to go into detail on each food but that would make this already longer blog, much much longer. So here are my highlights. My biggest surprise of the night, Pica-Pica brochetas. I don’t do shrimp. But the husband wanted to get them and I agreed because I like to challenge my palette. Well, these things were knock your socks off good. If every shrimp I ventured to try were like these, I’d be completely converted to eating them full time. They didn’t have that unappealing shrimp texture I’m used to and pair that with the yummy bacon and the right amount of char from the grill and these things were just off the hook. (Off the hook? Yikes, I need better ways to say things were amazing.)

Another shocking highlight…the sides. How many times have you gone to your favorite Mexican Restaurant and just love their taco/burritos but the sides are always just alright? These sides are not just alright. I can not stress enough that the grilled corn (Esquites) is 100% required of you, if you go to Bien Trucha. Seriously, this is corn is out of this world. My husband nearly had a spoon fight over the last bites. Who knew corn could be so flavorful. And though I’m stressing the corn, we did LOVE our rice too. It may say white rice and it may look pretty plain but it packs a punch. (No, not heat kinda punch, just a flavor punch.) So I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend ordering both of these when you go. You won’t be disappointed.

And I recommend eating everything as is on the menu. These people know what they are doing when they are pairing up their foods. For example, the pastor tacos we had were topped with a thin strip of pineapple. I’m not a fan of pineapple but I took a bite and thought, man that’s good. It was like they paired the sweetness of the pineapple to counter act the heat of the sauce. I say, give it a try, you just might like it. And if you don’t, pick it off afterwards. Nothing on this menu appeared couldn’t be modified with the use of your own fingers. So be brave and try it first por favor.

My last favorite things and I’ll pair them together just to wrap this up, were the drinks and dessert. My husband drinks were better than mine. I went safe with a mojita and Fresona (strawberry) drink. They were good and strong but when you’re on a food adventure like we were, it paid to go the off beaten path. His cucumber and avocado based drinks were so refreshing. It was cleansing your taste buds before the next course was brought. I highly recommend them on taste and for the fact they were something completely new to me. And a quick word about the corn cake…get it!

The only bad thing about Bien Trucha…the food was so good and we literally finished every bit that we were so stuffed we went into a food coma and had to end our date night out. Ok, so that’s really not a negative. But I was sad to go when the experience was over. I will be going again and I can’t wait to try a whole new assortment of food.

For more information, like address, menu and prices check out Bien Trucha’s website:

http://www.bientrucha.com/

Sprinkles Cupcakes - Food Diary of a Fat Girl

A few weeks ago I was driving home from work and I heard an interview on the radio discussing the grand opening of Sprinkles in downtown Chicago. I don’t remember the owners name but I do remember the way she was describing her Cinnamon Sugar cupcake…I was salivating! The next day, I googled Sprinkles and sent a list of cupcakes to my husband, who works downtown, that if he ever wanted to surprise me, here’s a bunch of cupcakes I would love to try. I almost forgot about this request, until last Friday my dear husband came home with a dozen cupcakes for me for our anniversary. (What a sweetie, huh?!)

So what’s my review??? It’s mixed. The current prices online are $3.25/cupcake or $36/dozen, which is not the current prices, they are a little higher now. So between the high price and the fact that Oprah raved about these cupcakes, my expectations were really high; They did not always meet those expectations.

The first cupcake I bit into was the Cinnamon Sugar. I am normally a vanilla or chocolate fan but I craved for this cupcake ever since I heard about it. The cupcake was light and moist. I enjoyed the actual cake part but the topping was too lightly sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. It just didn’t have enough. It would have gotten an A+ had it had a bit more. It just ended up tasting a little plain. This is one of the few cupcakes I ate entirely to myself.

The majority of the cupcakes were spilt with my friends and family. One that sticks out was the Chai Latte. I normally would never order this one and I find out that is with good reason. After one bite of my half, I was not willing to finish the rest of the cupcake and neither was my friend. In my personal opinion this cupcake is a total waste of calories and I would be interested to talk to someone who likes it and hear why. It was just gross. First time I ever met a cupcake that I wouldn’t finish.

But things were looking up after that; the Pumpkin, Lemon Coconut, Red Velvet, Strawberry & Vanilla cupcakes were outstanding. I’m not surprised about the liking the Pumpkin. What’s not to love when you mix pumpkin and cream cheese? That’s hard to mess up. I was surprised about the Lemon Coconut though. I don’t like either of those flavors but their cake had just a hint of the lemon flavor and their coconut cream cheese frosting was also subtle. I liked the Red Velvet. This was actually my first time trying Red Velvet and between the moist cake and the cream cheese frosting it was a winner. The Strawberry had a really yummy frosting and I was sad that I had to spilt this one three ways. The vanilla was also enjoyable; their vanilla frosting is very creamy but the only down fall for this one was the sprinkles. I would prefer my cupcakes without and this delish frosting was coated with them.

I basically found that I REALLY liked their cream cheese and vanilla frosting and their vanilla or “spiced” cake. They were highly superior to all their chocolate counterparts. This seems to be a cupcake shop where the flavors aren’t too strong and in your face. This worked well for the vanilla or “spiced” cakes with vanilla or cream cheese frosting, but when I think of chocolate I think melt in your mouth, cocoa explosion and powerful flavor, so when I tasted these chocolate cupcakes it just wasn’t cutting it.

Overall, I think it was a cool experience to try these hyped up cupcakes but I won’t be running to the store to get more.

Seasons 52 - Food Diary of a Fat Girl

For the past five months, I’ve been trying to be conscious of the food I’m eating. It’s not long from now that Desmond with turn one and I’m still lugging around 13 pounds of fat from my pregnancy. (Not to mention the additional fat that was there before getting pregnant.) It’s hard to be good when I love food so much. I use food when I’m bored, when I celebrate and when I’m depressed or sad. But one thing that will make going out a little easier on my waistline is a new restaurant in Schaumburg that just opened up, it’s called Seasons 52.

I went to Seasons 52 last night with nine co-workers to celebrate office birthdays. The menu changes each season and each week are new specials, so the menu always has the freshest in-season foods possible. We picked the place because we read that all items on the menu are guaranteed to have 475 calories or less. What a great concept! Our society today is getting so fat I don’t know why there aren’t more restaurants doing this. On their website you can find all their menu items with full nutritional information. So I knew last night exactly how many calories, fat and fiber I had, which was perfect for somebody like me who is doing Weight Watchers.

Now for the best part, the food review. I was knocked out! Not only did everyone’s dishes look delicious but it WAS delicious. I had the soup special, Steak & Onion. The steak was so tender, melt in your mouth good. My friend and I shared the Garlic Chicken Flatbread which was another awesome choice. This dish is originally an appetizer but it was large enough to share as an entrée when paired with the soup. I was definitely satisfied with these two dishes. Other dishes that were ordered were; Shrimp & Crab Stuffed Mushrooms, Spicy Tuna Roll, and Shrimp Penne Pasta. I didn’t hear one complaint from my fellow co-workers.

And the best part of the food…dessert. They have this dessert presentation where they bring fresh dessert right to your table and you get to see what each one looked like. My mouth was watering. Each dessert is in a small glass appropriately the size of two large shot glasses. I chose the Caramel Mocha Macchiato, which reminded me of a tiramisu; I would definitely get again. I tried my co-workers Chocolate & Peanut Butter Mousse and it was amazing. (My only complaint was the brownie bottom was bland but the actual mousse part was awesome.) I didn’t get to try my other co-workers desserts but they had the Rocky Road, Baklava, Mango Cheesecake, Key Lime Pie and Pecan Pie desserts. They seriously all looked fabulous. Can you tell I’m a sucker for sweets?

I had a total of 688.5 calories, 26.5g fat and 3g of fiber or in Weight Watcher world better known as 15 points. Not bad for soup, pizza and dessert!!!

So check out Seasons 52. Even if you’re not watching what you eat, I can tell you that if nobody told me the food was 475 calories or less I wouldn’t have been able to tell because it still tastes sinful.

Seasons 52
1770 East Higgins Road
Schaumburg, IL 60173
www.seasons52.com