Mega Bites/Food Babies Dinner

My friends Keith, Jess, Meg and Bobby live for food in the same way that I do and manifest their love for all things culinary in a blog they call Food Babies.

So when Keith and Jess invited us all over for dinner at their new place, I knew I was in for a meal of epic proportions. Keith and Jess said they'd supply the main course (burgers) and they asked the rest of us to bring sides.

To my delight, Julie, a friend who went to high school with Keith, Meg and me, was able to join us as well. She brought some outstanding homemade guacamole (vaya, former Spanish teacher!) and an assortment of delicious cheeses to kick of the meal. It seemed that the Drunken Goat was the favorite, but the cheddar and the blue she found at Olivia's Market in Bucktown were pretty extraordinary, too.

Since Keith (who I had affectionately nicknamed "Beef" in high school -- though at the time it was short for "Beefcake") knows more about meat than anyone I know, I suspected that these wouldn't be just any ordinary burgers. And in typical Keith fashion, he didn't disappoint. Naturally, he has already managed to find an amazing butcher shop in his new 'hood (Olympic Meat Packers) and procured 5 lbs of 100% Kobe beef, which they'd happily ground for him on site. Keith turned this massive quantity of freshly ground Kobe into some spectacular-looking burgers, even raw. When they came off the grill topped with either Cheddar or Gruyere, depending on your preference, these burgers were true masterpieces.

But Keith didn't stop there. He also managed to bake some bacon. That's right. In the oven. With some rosemary. And after this experience, I'm a believer in baking bacon to crispy perfection. The rosemary made bacon smell even better -- and it did no small favors for the taste, too. Next, he sliced some flawless heirloom tomatoes and toasted some amazing pretzel buns he and Jess had managed to find. Oh, and somewhere along the way, Keith had also had time to make a homemade chive aioli, which he noted was a labor of love due to all of the whisking. I'm sure it was worth it in the end, right, Keith? While I can't speak for him, I can say that the finished product was absolutely out of this world. The burgers looked great and tasted better. Best burger I've had all year -- I'm not even joking. (And I've had a lot of the burgers voted Top Ten in this city this year.)

For their side, Meg and Bobby made a phenomenal pesto pasta salad with plenty of delicious mushrooms, tomatoes, pine nuts and yes, more goat cheese. Everything about it was light and fresh -- a perfect complement to the heavy beef-eating we were doing that evening. Bobby also brought some of his home-brewed beer because welp, Bobby brews beer. And it's some great stuff. There's a slightly smokey element to it that's really unexpected and truly delicious. At this point, I was feeling pretty lucky to have the friends I do.

For my side, I'd originally planned to hit up the Farmer's Market that day and just see what struck me. Unfortunately, it rained like cats and dogs all day long... so there was no trekking to the Farmer's Market. Instead, I hit up what I firmly believe to be the next best thing: Whole Foods. Before I left, I thought about what produce is most in season right now, so that it'd be the freshest possible foil to our big beefy burgers. I decided that corn and tomatoes would be my best bet and consulted my BFF, the Bon Appetit cookbook. I decided on a Sweet Summer Corn, Tomato and Basil Salad. While I didn't follow the recipe exactly, I stayed pretty true to the original and was quite pleased with the results. Though the salad was pretty tasty that night, I have to note that I wish I'd chilled it longer than I did -- because the end result was even better the next day.

Something you should know about me is that I rarely end up following a recipe to the letter (unless I'm baking something... for the first time). I'll post the menu for this salad tomorrow: the original version, with a few notes about where I may have taken some "creative liberties."

Lastly, there was dessert. Jess, a baking machine, made some fabulous banana bread. (Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the banana bread. Notoriously horrible about remembering to take photos when there's food to be eaten, I am apparently even worse when I find myself in a Kobe beef-induced food coma. I'm sorry, Jess! I'll try to do it justice with my words.) This banana bread was impeccably done and was really the ideal end to our meal. Anything sweeter or chocolatey would have been way too much on top of everything we'd just eaten. Banana bread was perfect. Flavorful, dense but still somehow light, never dry... It made us all very happy. Along with the company, the wine, home-brewed beer and the bourbon, of course.

My mouth is already watering just thinking about the next foodie dinner with these peeps!