Breakfast at erwin

erwin, 2925 N. Halsted Street, Chicago, Ill. 773-528-7200

"To be continued...and hopefully before any more cocktails and before our second trip to Chicago in April."

That was the ambitious statement from my last Chicago post. I leave in less than 24 hours for my second trip to Chicago to see Hawkeye, and I haven't even completed writing about our first trip in February. Suffice to say, my self-imposed deadline is just around the corner and I'm determined not to leave without completing this post. I better get going.

Sunday in Chicago revolved around two events: breakfast at erwin and seeing Hawkeye's favorite musical Wicked.

One too many fruity cocktails, followed by one too many beers, made getting out of bed Sunday morning quite a struggle. The only way we were going to feel any better was by putting some food in our system. Hawkeye's buddy CB waits tables at a place called erwin and we were determined to eat there while he was on duty.

We got ready as quickly as we could, without letting the cobwebs take over, rushed downstairs and scurried into a cab. After several minutes into the ride, I spotted a forest green awning with "erwin" on it.

"STOP!"

I have the good eye in my family, and now I know I have the better eye than Hawkeye. In our excitement to put food in our hungover bellies, we practically forgot to tip the driver.

The host greeted us with some friendly trepidation. I'm sure we were looking as haggard as we felt. Hawkeye was initially concerned we might get CB in trouble by requesting to be seated in his section. He mentioned to the host we were CB's friends and before we had a chance to ask, the host offered to put us at one of his tables.

We sat for a few moments, taking it all in. The room was empty, except for a few other small parties, but I knew the quiet wouldn't last long. The decor was simple. Besides some clean mirrors on the far walls, there was nothing flashy about erwin. Coming from New York, where it's often more is better, I felt very relaxed. There were no frills or gimmicks, just tables, and the occasional server gliding in and out of them, doing his or her preps for the busy brunch ahead. Erwin was warm and comforting, and the perfect cure for any morning blues.

We sat on a mini-banquette behind the bar. Hawkeye had his back to it, and I faced the stacked shelves of liquor. This was probably a bad idea. All I could think about, with the big bottles staring down at me, was which lucky one I would try that morning with breakfast. Hawkeye expressed some concern and I quickly replied with some attitude, "I'm on vacation."

"Hey guys!" CB appeared, half cheerful and smiling, and half jealous that he wasn't sitting with us, enjoying a work-less weekend morning.

We rehashed some of the previous evenings adventures, inquired how we each were feeling, then CB asked if we wanted a drink. Hawkeye shook his head in ''no way" fashion, and I did the opposite.

"Bloody Mary!"

I watched CB go behind the bar and this is what he came back with. I could have ended my breakfast with this. Just look at it! I think it had something from all five of the food groups, except steak. It was spicy and salty and sweet all at once.

Hawkeye decided he'd go with some coffee, minus alcohol. Instead of a mug of coffee, CB cracked us up when he dropped an entire thermos on the table, as if we were headed off to Lake Michigan for a summertime morning picnic. For a starter, and to get some immediate sugar in our system, I ordered the fruit bowl. I loved the fresh bananas on top.


For my breakfast I ordered scrambled eggs with country potatoes, multi-grain toast and either basil sausage, capicola ham or applewood-smoked bacon. I chose the basil sausage, because according to CB, his boss Erwin made it himself.

I didn't know which aspect of this breakfast plate I liked best. The eggs were piping hot, thick and the perfect blend of soft and well cooked. The sausage was rich and tasty. And the bread. Oh the bread! As soon as I bit into it, I said, "Oh my god. This is not just ordinary bread. This has got to be homemade." It was thick and had texture. Erwin's whole wheat bread is to the generic slice as Kobe beef is to the standard strip. I confirmed with CB that the bread was made in house and I told him to tell Erwin himself it was incredible.

Hawkeye ordered the eggs Benedict with capicola ham and country potatoes. I'm not a huge Benedict fan because I'm not crazy about Hollandaise sauce. But I could tell Hawkeye was every bit as pleased with his breakfast as I was with mine. CB even threw in some of the applewood-smoked bacon. It was thick and crispy and there was no visible fat on any of the pieces.

Towards the end of our breakfast, CB introduced us to a very special somebody -- Chef Erwin Drechsler. I couldn't believe he came out of his busy Sunday kitchen to meet us. We talked about the day ahead of us and where we should be going in his city, I raved about the food, and how grateful we were he came out to say hello, then he headed back into the kitchen. I debated giving him my address, or suggesting he should ship out his bread, bacon and sausage, but decided maybe I should wait until the next time to be so pushy.

There were plenty of desserts on the menu that sounded delicious, and it was hard for us to pass them up, but if I put anything else into my stomach, I would have had to curl into the fetal position in the hotel bed.

The rest of the day revolved around seeing Wicked and going to dinner. Wicked was incredible. If you haven't seen it, and you're a musical person, go see it. Hawkeye appreciates musicals like I do and gave me some good advice. He told me to listen to the music before our date and I did. It made such a difference. The musical numbers were outstanding -- tears welled up in my eyes several times during the performance because the singers were that strong -- and I'm so happy I've finally seen it. I'm sure my roommates are too because I'm no longer dancing around the house belting "Defying Gravity" in search of green face paint and a broom.

Unfortunately, our high Sunday fell flat on its face with the final meal of the day. I spent hours scouring Chicago's Chowhound and other various foodie sites and found an adorable looking French restaurant Bistro Campagne. When I stumbled upon its website, this is what grabbed me:

"His commitment to organic agriculture leads him to seek products from local organic farmers throughout our midwestern growing season, and even from organic farms on the west coast throughout winter."

Why wouldn't I want to try this place?

In my blogging experience, I once read, "Who are we, bloggers, to eat at a restaurant once and write up a horrible review?" If you're not eating at a restaurant multiple times, like our fellow food critics at most publications, then the chances that you might catch a restaurant on a bad night are extremely high. Is it worth giving a restaurant a bad reputation in only one sitting? To me, I don't think that's fair, and that's the reason I will refrain from writing in full about our dinner. I will just say I hope we did catch Bistro Campagne on an off night.

Our server was adorable, and felt terrible about our disappointing meal. She almost made up for it with her dessert selections for us : a caramel bread pudding

and this chocolate souffle.

It was a good lesson for me. Instead of being Mona the dining explorer when venturing into a foreign city, I need to listen to my friends' food picks. RaiderofChitown sent us a huge list of places, but since I received it after I made the BC reservations, I ignored them. Bad move.

That last meal aside, it was another great day spent in the Windy City. In a few hours, I will be spending a few more great days there, and if I'm lucky, I'll get another slice of Chef Erwin's ''wonder'' bread.