We spent much of the weekend packing our infinite belongings and moving them to our new apartment. We're taking it slowly, using three weekends to complete our move, but with close to 30 boxes of books and other heavy stuff, the first weekend was tiring enough. I'm having that weird sensation that I (wow!) have arms and legs--these are the body parts I'm not usually aware of, unless they feel heavy with some dull pain at the core, like they do now. Given the physical work, I didn't do much of interesting cooking; I stuck to the easy, reliable food like scrambled eggs with sausage (Saturday breakfast) and plain old French toast (Sunday breakfast). Saturday night, though, I was in a rare mood for sashimi and Japanese sake, and wanted to go to Kuni's, a good, cozy Evanston sushi place.

Somehow, we ended up at Trattoria D. O. C., on the same street but millions of light years apart in terms of cuisine. Well, not "somehow." It was the outdoor seating that did it. When we parked on Main Street, just west of the D.O.C., the golden combination of sashimi and chilled Japanese sake was still the winner in my head. But the Japanese combo's throne was short-lived: as soon as I saw the white-clothed outdoor tables basking in the warm, late-afternoon sun, I couldn't say no to the al fresco dining at the D.O.C. It was too good of a weather to waste indoors--temperatures probably in the 70s, with slight lake breeze to freshen things up. And of course, I knew the D.O.C.'s excellence in pizza making. Adieu, sashimi; adieu, sake--I'll have a clandestine rendezvouz with Italian goodness.

I thought that the Italian goodness was going to be pizza. Granted, pizza was a part of it, but the meal convinced me about something else: Trattoria D.O.C. is one of the best places in town to get fried food. Let me explain.

There was a good number of people crowding the bar area of the restaurant, but we were seated right away; not too many customers wanted the outdoor tables, apparently. From the specials, we ordered tuna tartar and fiori di zuccca, and decided to share a potato rosemary pizza. It turned out that they were out of tuna tartar, which we substituted with beef tartar. I had a glass of soave--a drinkable yet flavorful white wine on the dry side, with a strong muscaty taste and slightly spicy finish. Patrick had a red. (I don't remember what that was.)

Fiori di Zucca: battered and deep-fried zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies

Inside, the intense yellow of the zucchini flowers peeked behind the white mozzarella.

Beef Carpaccio was fresh and good, but lemon juice overpowered everything.

I'm split between the fiori di zucca and the potato rosemary pizza in terms to the best item of the meal. (The beef carpaccio was good and came with fantastic parmesano shreds, but the lemon juice completely overpowered the flavor of the beef, thus leaving some room for improvement.) The zucchini flowers were stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies, dressed with light batter and deep-fried. It was my first time to eat zucchini flowers although I've been curious about them for a while. D.O.C. version was decidedly more exciting than the traditional recipe of ricotta and egg for stuffing. And it worked fantastic: the batter was light and fluffy but a little resilient; the mozzarella was rich and supple; and the oceanic, salty flavor of the anchovies was a wonderful accent to it all. The refreshing vinaigrette on the greens which the zucchini flowers were served on balanced out the oil. So, my first experience with deep-fried zucchini flowers was awesome. We shared four flowers between the two of us, but I could have finished the whole plate with a glass of white wine and be merry.)

Rosemary Potato Pizza: look at the beautiful puffs!

On the other hand, the rosemary potato pizza was nothing to be slighted. On a crispy yet stretchy (i.e., not a cardboard pizza) and flavorful crust, thin slices of golden-yellow potatoes were gleaming with olive oil. The crust bubbled and charred beautifully in parts, and some of the potato slices were starting to crispify, just like very good kettle-cooked chips. There was just enough rosemary to complement the earthy sweetness of the potatoes. Mozzarella was so buttery that I suspected the pizza baker used the ancient cook's trick of adding a dollop of butter to everything. (Then again, maybe he did.) It was a sauceless pizza, but also a sublime one.

Had I not been to Spacca Napoli, I would give the D.O.C. the title of Chicago's Number One Pizzeria, but unfortunately I'd been to Spacca, so that title isn't available to the D.O.C. Yet, it is definitely one of the best in town. (I tend to think that pizzerias that bake a few sauceless pizzas might be decent ones--I don't think a pizzeria without an absolute confidence in its crust would want to serve it without the palate-drenching marinara slathered on it.)

Rosemary potato pizza was indulgent till the last slice.

So, the pizza was excellent. But the fiori di zucca might have been even better. I was amazed by the batter that was light and fluffy but never mushy, flimsy or fragile. It was spirited, if I may put it that way. Combined with a large platter of light, crispy and awesomely oceanic fried calamari (that didn't require marinara) that we'd had there before, the fiori di zucca totally convinced me that Trattoria D.O.C. knows their fried stuff. I'm not a fried food enthusiast, but within my limited experience, I dare say the D.O.C. is probably the best place to get fried food. And instead of the staple sodas of the fast food joints, I can get good wine at this restaurant. What not to love, right?

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Trattoria D.O.C.
706 Main Street, Evanston, IL
847.475.1111

The veggie dish I touched upon in the previous entry features a spinach-like Japanese vegetable called "komatsuna" (photographed in the lower-left hand corner). I found a very fresh bunch in the stand of Henry's Farm in Evanston Farmers Market last Saturday, and couldn't resist. It's pretty rare to see komatsuna in Chicago, let alone a fresh one. Flavorwise, they're more subtle than spinach--komatsuna doesn't have that earthy, pungent flavor spinach has (or is supposed to have). The delight of komatsuna is more in the light, crunchy texture than in punchy flavor. Komatsuna is often used in miso soups, and marinated with ground sesame seeds, soy sauce and sugar (goma-ae). (By the way, other veggies in the photo are potted Thai basil, oyster mushrooms and asparagus, from the top, clockwise.)

I also had a fresh, firm bunch of oyster mushrooms, also from a farmers market stand. To use both of them and to enjoy their subtle flavors, I decided to lightly stir-fry them. The ideal recipe would call for real homemade chicken stock, but of course I didn't have one at hand, so I used the powdered Chinese soup mix. In heated oil, I sautéed a generous amount of minced ginger, and added the komatsuna and mushrooms. When they're about 70% done, I added some soup mix dissolved in about three tablespoons of hot water. (I wanted that restaurant-style wateriness; this worked well.)

The komatsuna was still nicely crunchy and the oyster mushrooms had soaked up the ginger and chicken flavors. I could have used all the komatsuna in the bunch; it was such a good accompaniment to steamed rice. The small bunch of komatsuna was (I think) about $3, so this isn't something we can do very often (which is kind of funny because I could easily spend $3 or even more for coffee in one day!), but it'll be quite difficult to resist the soft green leaves when we go to Henry's stand...

I'll probably use the rest of the bunch for miso soup one of these days. There isn't enough left to make the komatsuna a main feature of a dish, sadly.

I just started writing for a local web magazine Gapers Block's food blog Drive-Thru. My virgin post is on young garlic leaves that I procured at the Evanston Farmers Market.

With the garlic leaves, I made this:

Check it out!