{"id":153,"date":"2009-08-01T11:34:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-01T11:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/endoedibles.ifm.yji.mybluehost.me\/?p=153"},"modified":"2009-08-01T11:34:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-01T11:34:00","slug":"yolk-chicago-il","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/?p=153","title":{"rendered":"Yolk, Chicago IL"},"content":{"rendered":"

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At home breakfast is the same nearly every day \u2013 after a good workout it is a filling salad with chicken, fried eggs, and a parfait of yogurt, fruit, salt, and protein powder. <\/span>When on vacation breakfast is the same nearly every day as well \u2013 after a good workout it is pastries, pancakes, donuts, or whatever childish combination of flavors I can find \u2013 vacation is a time for fun and breakfast is fun! <\/span>Having already done both Bongo Rooms and Over Easy in Chicago the decision for the morning meal before Alinea was Yolk on Michigan Avenue before heading over to the Gold Coast Art Show. <\/span>Opening at 7am with our group arriving at 8:45 the place was jammed \u2013 but thankfully parking was close-by and cheap \u2013 with a line so long I expected good things and surprisingly we were seated in less than 15 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Having already browsed the pastry case and seated in the middle of the large room I must say I was impressed by the food but taken back by the noise level \u2013 between the close packed tables, loud voices, and clatter of utensils I simply found the music unnecessary \u2013 even if it was Neko Case who is superb. <\/span>Greeted by our friendly server our water was filled and drink orders were taken along with an order for three pastry appetizers. <\/span>Arriving in short order my sister\u2019s tea selection, my coffee, and mom\/aunt\u2019s orange juices were all good and my coffee was kept refilled quite adequately \u2013 thankfully I brought my own nutrasweet, though as Yolk had only Splenda and Equal (does Steve Wynn own this place?? \"Smilie:

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Following the beverages were our pastries \u2013 dessert before dessert-esque breakfast? <\/span>Sure! <\/span>Ever since I was offered dessert at breakfast in LA this has been my mantra. <\/span>Starting first with the blueberry muffin \u2013 lets just say it was still warm, super buttery with hints of vanilla, and loaded with very fresh blueberries \u2013 all told I liked it ($2) better than my Blueberry Baba at Spiaggia the night before. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The second pastry was their \u201cfamous\u201d cinnamon roll. <\/span>While I can\u2019t say I\u2019ve heard of their cinnamon roll before (as compared to Ann Sather\u2019s) I will state now that it has replaced Omega as my favorite cinnamon roll to date. <\/span>Creamy and luscious with heavy hints of cinnamon, vanilla, and butter the frosting was an additionally wonderful addition with its sour cream cheese essence lingering throughout the palate \u2013 I need to taste Sather\u2019s on my next trip to see if it even compares.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The third pastry \u2013 homage to the previously mentioned LA meal \u2013 was a griddle grilled Pecan Roll. <\/span>While good and perfectly prepared with a crispy\/buttery exterior I simply must state that after the cinnamon roll it didn\u2019t have a chance. <\/span>Good, but not \u201camazing\u201d \u2013 just get the cinnamon roll, it costs less too.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sharing our appetizers around we were all primed for the main event and once again Yolk produced quite quickly \u2013 we had our mains within 20 minutes of seating and lingered over them for some time without feeling rushed at all. <\/span>Starting with my option \u2013 mostly because I always wait to see what everyone else orders before making my decision (in order to maximize tasting options) – Semi-sweet Chocolate and Strawberry Cakes. <\/span>While tasty, I personally found the cakes to be a bit doughy and (like Bongo Room the day before) more like McDonald\u2019s Hotcakes than I\u2019d prefer. <\/span>Draped with a small dollop of whipped cream and even less chocolate I was fortunate that the strawberries were of good quality \u2013 but regardless the dish required a lot of extra syrup to be as tasty as hoped.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The next dish, one of the two I\u2019d wanted to order but was glad others had chosen so that I could sample, was my sister\u2019s Cinnamon Roll French Toast \u2013 essentially one of Yolks previously mentioned awesome cinnamon rolls cut lengthwise and griddled. <\/span>Without adding any additional cream cheese frosting aside from that which topped the original I\u2019m not really sure why there was a $4 increase to simply pan fry this item and my sister noted that the top layer was way too sweet while the rest was way too bland. <\/span>The taste I had was quite tasty and well complimented by the maple syrup, but I\u2019d stick to the plain cinnamon roll sans grilling.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ordered by my mother, Cheese Blintzes with Raspberry and Sourcream was a dish I\u2019d not have ordered, but she didn\u2019t want something \u201ctoo sweet.\u201d <\/span>Very well formed and appropriately airy crepes were served filled with creamy cheese and along with fresh sour (and I mean SOUR) cream and a wonderful raspberry compote. <\/span>Not a fan of sour cream in general I took one taste of the dish with sour cream and reconfirmed my belief. <\/span>Thankfully my mother opted to top each Blintz individually I did re-taste the dish sans sour cream when she couldn\u2019t finish and did appreciate the quality of the presentation and how the creamy cheese mellowed the sweet compote.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The final selection, the dish I\u2019d planned to order on browsing the online menu, was ordered by my aunt – Peanut Butter Banana Nut Bread French Toast. <\/span>Having had Banana Bread Pudding French Toast at Brenda\u2019s in San Francisco and Norma\u2019s famous Banana Bread in NYC I only hoped this dish could live up to my expectations \u2013 and mostly it did. <\/span>Thick cut and crisply fried banana bread, a small degree of egginess, strong hints of cinnamon, and all the better when topped with Peanut Butter. <\/span>My only complaint would actually be the quality of the Peanut Butter \u2013 clearly a canned\/jarred non-natural I would\u2019ve much preferred something with less added sweetness \u2013 I\u2019m picky about my Peanut Butter.<\/span><\/p>\n

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When it was all said and done I do believe Yolk was our cheapest meal of the weekend and I enjoyed the experience moreso than our meal at Spiaggia the night before \u2013 despite the packed seating I didn\u2019t get elbowed once! <\/span>With that noted, I can\u2019t say I\u2019d return to Yolk on future trips simply because better options exist \u2013 specifically Bongo Room and m.henry.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At home breakfast is the same nearly every day \u2013 after a good workout it is a filling salad with chicken, fried eggs, and a parfait of yogurt, fruit, salt, and protein powder. When on vacation breakfast is the same … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3,96,28,13,102,97,32,205],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bread-basket","category-breakfast","category-chicago","category-coffee","category-dessert","category-french-toast","category-illinois","category-pancakes","category-yolk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}