Yo Soy Fall dinner, 12-6-09

We are excited to be planning our next dinner on Sunday December the sixth! We have been ramping up on what the season is offering us and the techniques that befit these ingredients. So as the weather cools down, we slow down in the kitchen. Slow braising, roasting, curing and pickling will be surfacing more and more as we tumble from fall into winter, and with this the pantry will be stocked with beautiful squashes, hearty root vegetables and comforting fruits. The dinner on the 6th will be a four course affair for $50, we are  tentatively looking forward to starting off with adobo rubbed squash and apple with crispy pancetta, moving into a salad with spice roasted pears and moving into a slow-roasted pork dish in the 'cochinita pibil' style, a popular Yucatan dish flavored with annatto paste and citrus. Dessert will revolve around spiced chocolate, with a few surprises! For any non-meat eaters don't be intimidated by the menu! We always offer vegetarian dishes and welcome you to enjoy dinner with us. For any more questions please feel free to contact us through the site, To reserve a seat send us an e-mail and we will proceed from there. We look forward to meeting you all and sharing this meal with you! Cheers!

Expanding our horizons!

We here at yo soy, and by we I mean just brian and I, are deciding it is still early enough in our endeavors to upgrade our concept. We love, love, love the idea of experimentation, and felt that we were somewhat limited by strictly chinese and mexican combinations, so we decided to open it up to unlimited possibilities. Yo soy is now Mexican. Inspired! I feel liberated and excited! It's the same feeling when I play and win loteria (hence the photo)! We celebrated by having friends over for dinner last night by having a tasting of what's to come. we served a comforting soup called fideo which is vermicelli noodles cooked with roasted cumin and tomatoes topped off with fresh crisp tortilla strips. We then presented brian's fantastic empanadas filled with all spice, ground beef and carrots as well as a touch of manzana vinegar. The sauces for the empanadas were homemade chimmichuri and also a chipotle garlic with tamarind. We had mexican rice as well , which is white rice sauteed with fresh cilantro, cumin, garlic and onions and then all steam cooked together (there are tons of variations on this recipe). And then for dessert, which was an experimentation on my part, was peanut butter and ghirardelli cocoa flan with cajeta drizzled atop. It turned out amazingly paired with port from our favorite neighbor, and wine store, kafka! After dinner we decided it would be appropriate to play my favorite past time game, LOTERIA! A blast was had by all as we drank the night away with fantastic wine and port, and toasted each other every time el boracho was pulled from the deck of cards! We could not have had a better relaunch dinner, well, unless we had live mariachi's! But we will put that idea in our back pocket for one of our upcoming dinners later down the road!

Which leads me to touch base on that subject. We have been advertising in the Chicago Free Press for a couple of weeks now. And We have been delighted by the responses we are getting, and want to address the date that we are toying with. We are trying to navigate things around our working schedules, as well as the upcoming holidays. We will send out emails to those who have patiently waited (thank you!) for this dinner. We will send out an email to you with at least a 2 week notice. And for the people who have just seen the ad, and want more information, we have the info. posted under the "goodies" blog from a couple of weeks back. Also, I am excited about the entertainment that will be at our dinner table. We have confirmed a soprano singer as well as her pianist, and some local podcasters thrown in the mix as well. There is one other person I am trying to get to attend, and don't want to scare him off by naming him, so stay posted to watch what happens! So, once again, thank you to the individuals who have showed interest in attending, please stand by and I promise to get in touch with you in the next week with an exact date!

xoxoxo goodies!

mikey & brian

our first halloween dinner!

The halloween menu was a hit! but, it was not without it's behind -the-scenes drama. so, if any of you have ever tried to make caramel apples, you will understand my pain! we were up the night before until 3 am the night before trying to get the caramel to set atop our mini apples just the right way, without  all the caramel melting right off the flesh! I finally found a way to make it work, and if you want to know, contact me and i will let you in on the secret! another problem that we had to remedy was that our pepitas were too big for mini apples, so we had to crush them and dip the apples in them after being coated with the caramel to keep the ground pepitas on! it was all a learning experience, and a tasty one ,too! also, we found it pretty problematic trying to get the event as well, since it was halloween night, and it the event was located at halsted and belmont, which is ground zero for the annual halloween parade! it was not without the help of our friend edgar visiting from houston carrying containers full of sauces and skewers through crowded streets of people dressed in all sorts of costumes! we also changed the presentation of our chicken skewers. We decided to go with smaller pieces of chicken on each skewer to make it easier for a party that is a lot less formal. and it worked amazingly well! we figured guests were going to be a little to confined with their costumes to be carrying around multiple bite items, so opted for single bite. So, for a 3 day planning period for this menu to happen, we were very proud of ourselves for being able to pull it off without making the host use his sword on us! 

halloween!

Halloween is tomorrow and we are gearing up. no, not literally gearing up, we are preparing our menu for a halloween party. our new friend michal heard about us through our friend doug. Michal decided to put the task on yo soy to create the food for his annual halloween bash! and we were excited! Michal's friends consists of a group of "goodies", and he wanted to please them by presenting a twist on halloween parties. So, instead of orange coated cookies with pumpkins iced on them, he called on us! Brian and I jumped at the opportunity to create a fall menu, not a halloween menu! listen, just because you are dressed in a see through bunny outfit, we'd like to believe there is still a bit of class lying underneath! So we came up with a fantastic menu!

We have beef sliders with roasted poblano peppers with a lemon aioli making their debut. I swear this dish is always one that hosts pick to have prepared for their event. Most of the time the order is followed by a quick " it will help absorb the alcohol" statement! which is very true! another one we came up with is a pork and sauteed apple wonton. the dipping sauce is still being tweaked, but will consist of a fig and cocoa creation! the one i am most excited about however is the mini cajeta apples with pepitas! i love cajeta (mexican goat milk caramel)! and it is a great play on caramel apples, and the texture of the pepitas (small roasted pumpkin seeds) with their savory touch makes me freak out! 

we will be posting pictures of the event, and the crazy costumes that surround the halloween inspired menu!

stay tuned, and be safe!

viva dia de los muertos!

So, the day of the dead is coming up, and we are excited. There are many latin american traditions for this day, and each one is just as meaningful as the next, but the core is remembrance. So, the way my family used to celebrate it was through "all souls day" which is basically the catholic version of the celebration, but with much more prayer, and a lot less booze and food. You would typically go to the graves of your loved ones and clean it and put fresh flowers as well as candles (they acted as beacons for the souls) and you would pray all day. I particularly like the "dia de los muertos" celebration which is November 1st and 2nd, because it's much more festive. This is the CELEBRATION of deceased loved ones memories and favorite things! So, just imagine, 2 days out of the whole year where it is encouraged to celebrate the fun times, the favorite music, food and even the dress of some of the people you hold close to your heart, that are no longer with us. I love it! The use of bright colors on food, the marigolds that are used to place at homemade altars throughout homes, the mariachi music, and of course, the tequila! I have always said that when i die, i do not want a funeral , i want a celebration! after all, the first three letters of funeral are FUN! You should celebrate the life people led and the memories that will never die. So, this weekend, while the majority of people are gearing up for October.31st, we will be anxiously awaiting November 1st and 2nd, so that we may light all my saint candles, prepare colorful foods with our friends, and make the favorite dishes that i learned to cook at my grammy's house. We will also sit around and eat, and tell stories to each other about our past loved ones, become closer as we get to know parts of our friends we do not normally see, and we will also plan out our menu for our offering when our time has come. I know, I know, some people reading this are probably thinking that is kinda morbid, but it is life, and life is a celebration, and to make sure a celebration is successful it takes planning!  

salud to vida! salud to familia! salud to comida! salud to tequila!