A little taste of Chicago

After spending several years in the Windy City and having access to delicious stuffed crust pizza, it would seem that a decent Chicago-style pizza would be hard to come by in the Old Pueblo. However, Rocco's Little Chicago Pizzeria on Broadway, between Tucson Blvd and Country Club delivers!

Rocco has created a fantastic restaurant with a little bit of everything. Not in the mood for deep dish pizza? No problem, there are several pasta dishes to choose from. Not into pasta? How about a sandwich? Or there's thin crust....

For starters you can choose from crisp green salads, with deep green lettuce not the watery iceburg stuff. Or a delicious Caprese salad, mozzerela, tomato and basil drizzeled with basalmic vinagrette. Doughy breadsticks or Spicy Hot Sticks (Rocco's special sauce twirled up in a breadstick) are a good option to get things started if you're not counting carbs. If you are then perhaps you should go with the chicken wings.

No authentic Chicago restaurant is complete without Old Style.

However for those whose beer tastes are a bit more refined or can't appreciate a good, cold Old Style, there are ample craft and import beers to choose from, as well as a list of wines.

For our tasting Rocco served a rosemary penne pasta, intense and flavorful. We sampled the Angry Samoan, Spin City (pictured above) and the Kitchen Sink. My favorite has always been the Spin City - a pizza packed with spinach, basil and garlic.

Like we had any room after salad, wings, pizza and pasta, Rocco brought out a sausage sandwich smothered in marinara sauce.

No meal is complete without dessert and Rocco generously served 3 different flavors of Eli's cheesecake. Another famous Chicago favorite.

In addition to cheesecake, Rocco offers giant fresh baked cookies. We had no room to sample these so we'll have to try them next time. And there WILL be a next time!

Here's an album of higher quality pictures!

http://www.roccoslittlechicago.com/

2707 E. Broadway

520.321.1860

Open everyday but Sunday 11:00am - 10:00pm

If you go in, mention that you read about his restaurant on Tastecasting and receive free beverages.

Amber: Polish Cuisine

Who would have thought a vegetarian could eat a satisfying meal at a Polish restaurant? It IS possible. And it's mighty satisfying too!

When I hear "Polish food" I typically think of kielbasa. And while this is in fact a staple in the Polish diet and on the menu at Amber, there are several other options to consider.

Amber serves fresh made-on-premise food. Everything that can be made on site is. What can't be, is flown in fresh from the old country, or close to it: Chicago, IL. (That town is so Polish they have Pulaski Day, a holiday for a Polish guy. Schools close, there are parades....but I digress)

My fellow Taste Casters and I arrived for a late lunch on a Sunday afternoon. We were served fresh bread from my favorite local bakery, La Baguette, with a plate of butters. The herb butter was a big hit!

Next came the salad. The standard dinner salad is served with a bacon, rasberry vinaigrette so they brought me a plate of greens with mozerrela and tomato and a basalmic vinaigrette. Even if you do eat bacon, I suggest requesting this salad. Fresh, flavorful tomatos and mozzerela can't be beat.

The chef coordinated a vegetarian sampler plate of mushroom and sauerkraut pierogies, potato and cheese pierogies, potato pancakes, red cabbage coleslaw with carrots and rasins, mizeria, which is a refreshing combination of cucumber and sweet cream sauce, and a side of sour cream and sauerkraut to round things out.

The potato pancakes were amazing. Delicious and cooked to the perfect texture. I love pierogies and although I didn't have high hopes for the mushroom version, it was very good! I have never been a big fan of sauerkraut but it made for a flavorful combination with the mushrooms. I'm not a big fan of coleslaw either but this version of the classic picnic salad was very satisfying.

Everyone else had a similar plate, however they also tried a beef pierogie, kielbasa and cabbage roll. The cabbage roll was filled with pork and rice.

This "sampler" plate was a feast and we barely had room for dessert. But we were able to squeeze some in!

The dessert sampler plate included European Style cheesecake - much different from New York Style cheesecake. Strawberry creme brulee and Crepes Suzette. We didn't get to try the German Chocolate Cake, but I'm gonna make sure to go back and try that! I'll definitely be going back and taking my Eastern European Grandfather, whose mother taught my Grandma to make cabbage rolls.

Amber

7000 E. Tanque Verde.

520-296-9759

Read about another Taste Casters thoughts on the meal at Amber: http://www.tastecasting.com/reviews/tucson/amberrestaurant

Tastecasting

I was invited to join the new Tucson Taste Casting group. What is that???

TasteCasting combines socially networked people and the social media platforms and applications they use to help establishments build awareness, announce grand openings, introduce new menu items, distribute special offers and encourage people to visit the establishment.

Using applications such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, blogging and various other mediums, Tastecasters provide "grassroots promotion" for local restaurants. We get free food, they get free advertising. It's a win-win!! What a concept!

Learn more at http://www.tastecasting.com/

If you live in Tucson and are interested in joining, visit: http://tucsontastecasting.qlubb.com

Enter your email and use the password: Food (case sensitive)
Once you log in, you will automatically be added to the Member list - no registration required!