April 2013
2 posts
Lunch time!
Weekend Brunch at Au Cheval
While it may only be Tuesday, it’s never to early to start plotting your weekend brunch! And then there’s always lunch and dinner at Au Cheval during the week, too. Here are some pics from a recent brunch.
February 2013
1 post
Don't Forget, Au Cheval Is Open for Lunch, Too
January 2013
1 post
Expanded Hours
Starting on Monday, January 21, Au Cheval will be serving lunch. Our updated hours are Monday- Saturday from 11am to 2 am and Sunday from 10am to 1am (kitchen closes daily from 3-5pm).
December 2012
1 post
Happy New Year!
November 2012
2 posts
Brunch-time
A Monday at Au Cheval
Making a caramel apple
Caramel apple for Halloween
October 2012
2 posts
Friday Lunch at Au Cheval
We swung by to catch some of the action on a busy Friday lunch hour at Au Cheval— and highly recommend you do the same.
At Au Cheval
September 2012
1 post
Full English Breakfast and Then Some
The Full English Breakfast
Later on that evening
August 2012
1 post
Weekend Brunch
Au Cheval is now keeping some AM hours. Friday we’re doing lunch from 11am to 3pm, and Saturday from 11am to 3pm it’s brunch! Sunday brunch hours are 10am to 3pm. Here’s a peek at the action and a bit of the menu from last Sunday’s rainy day brunch.
July 2012
2 posts
Late Night at Au Cheval
We swung by Au Cheval for some of the late night action and a look at the famous chilaquiles that only come out after midnight…
Chilaquiles in the making…
The Latest from Au Cheval
June 2012
3 posts
Riding into Au Cheval
We rode in for an evening of photos at Au Cheval. Yes, that’s right, rode in. The name, Au Cheval, if you didn’t know, is a play on the French culinary term a cheval. The literal translation is “on horseback,” and in a culinary sense it refers to a dish with an egg atop. It could be said that Au Cheval is riders paradise— eggs astride on many a menu dish. Here’s a...
Another Night at Au Cheval
We popped in on a random evening to shoot at Au Cheval and enjoy the super low-key vibe. Here’s a bit of what we soaked up…
Smashed potatoes and roasted garlic gravy.
General Jane’s honey fried chicken with chili, sesame seeds and cilantro.
Fois gras terrine, tart cherry jam.
Roasted bone marrow, oxtail marmalade and toast.
Grilled cheese!
2 tags
Polaroid-Style at Au Cheval
We swung by the diner for some photos, but this time we came armed with an old instant Polaroid camera. We handed it off to the team at Au Cheval to see their viewpoint of the diner. The results were a mix of double exposures and singles exposures, abstracts and realism, familiar faces and unknown. The film is a reincarnation of the original Polaroid film called Project Impossible.
Two of the...
May 2012
3 posts
4 tags
A Taste Around Town Hits Au Cheval
Prime your wine-tasting palate and come sample a sundry of wines; Taste Around Town is at Au Cheval from May 14-25, 2012. We are carrying three featured wines— see below for details— that are available by the glass or in a wine flight (the wine flight will consist of 3 ounce pours of each of the three wines) and the Taste Around Town menu has a suggested pairing for each wine.
After...
1 tag
Supporting Small Producers
If you’re interested in supporting small producers, like us, you’ll want to scope out the SMALL Showroom this Friday. Creators of local products will be demonstrating and sampling their products in a gallery-like space. Plus, each Friday during May SMALL Showroom will host promotional events, supper clubs and tastings.
According to its website, “SMALL is a new organization...
April 2012
3 posts
Pulled
If you’re looking for something to do before tucking into dinner at Au Cheval in the coming weeks, we uncovered a screen print show that looks to be quite cool. Starting on May 11th, the lofted gallery space near the Damen Blue Line, Public Works, will host Pulled— a Catalog of Screen Printing. Pulled showcases a vast amount of work from over 40 designers around the world. While screen...
Au Cheval, Au Cheval
Who's Hungry?
This past week Au Cheval had a favorite Hungry Hound stop by to do a little filming for an upcoming episode of his show on ABC. We have a few behind the scenes shots to share as well some of the action on a packed Wednesday night. The Au Cheval episode will air in late April. In the meantime, you can catch up with Steve Dolinsky, aka the Hungry Hound on his [blog]. And if you haven’t been...
March 2012
7 posts
On the Beer Menu: Founders Red Rye
While the beer menu at Au Cheval is a work of art in itself, a highly curated selection of so many fantastic beers to try, there’s one tempting red rye ale from Founders that might ring a bell. Maybe you’ve heard of Founders, noticed that they’re from the not-so-distant state of Michigan. But what you might not know is that the brewery isn’t just winning regional attention, the accolades from...
General Tso's Chicken
Toward the top of the diner menu, well above the burgers and fried bologna sandwich; below the salads, lies a bellwether to Au Cheval’s international inspirations: General Tso’s fried chicken with dried chili and brown sugar glaze. An unusual dish at most diners, but not here.
An obvious tribute to Chinese cooking, the chicken is simultaneously unique and familiar. The simmering familiarity...
Une Soiree at the Diner
Au Cheval is cozy any night of the week, but last night with the warm winds outside, the awesome reel to reel tunes playing, and the smell of home-cooked food wafting through the air, the diner was extra chill. Here are a few shots from the evening.
La Trappe Isid’or: Homage to an Original Trappist...
Among the over 30 beers on tap at Au Cheval is the stately Isido’or from La Trappe. This gem is a commemorative, special occasion beer— i.e. it’s one to try now, because it won’t last forever. This ale was created as a homage to the Dutch friar, Isidorus Laaber who was the founding monk of the Dutch Trappist brewery, Brewery de Koningshoeven in the Netherlands, which makes La Trappe.
So who...
3 tags
Creamy Sexy Blue
Crumbles of the creamy sexy blue cheese.
Could that be the name of a cheese? A good cheese? Shouldn’t it have a more traditional name? No, says Giles Schnierle of the Great American Cheese Collection in Chicago, which supplies Au Cheval with the cheese. Schnierle works with private label cheese-makers to create unique and traditional cheeses which he sells out of his Chicago warehouse....
The French Way to Diner →
A nice write up about Au Cheval on Tasting Table Chicago.
dubstuff asked: Where is your menu? THANKS.
February 2012
17 posts
The Egg
Yeh, that’s right, I’m the Egg Man
Driving Around, King of the town
Always got my windows rolled down
You know, I’m the Egg Man
— Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys had it right. The common chicken egg is pretty rad: a surprisingly complex bit of biology and nutrition. We thought we’d break it down for you here, so you’ll have some awesome egg savoir-faire to show off. After all, if...
4 tags
Volcanically Grown Wine from an Aegean Sea Island
At first taste, this white wine is fresh and light. You put the glass down and your attention turns to something else on the table— the chopped chicken liver has just arrived and looks delicious. You take a bite and your suspicions are confirmed; the dish is rich, salty and fantastic. It makes you a bit thirsty and you instinctively grab for your glass and take another sip. This second sip is...
4 tags
President Swank
At first glance, the array of influences from which the Au Cheval cocktail list was designed is apparent. Quite an alluring mix representing classic, modern, and house cocktails originating from various pockets of the globe, the search through numerous cocktail books and the countless (and oh-so-tiring) attempts at getting a recipe just right coincides with a theme of our beverage program:...
Don’t Forget the Horse’s Neck
If you’ve been following the blog, you’ll know that the name for the diner, Au Cheval, stems from the French culinary term, literally translated as “on horseback,” while in the kitchen it denotes a fried egg atop of a bun or toast . And while there’s no horse on the menu at Au Cheval, there is a Horse’s Neck.
But before you gasp with a mixture of surprise and fright, think again— it’s a...
3 tags
The Pickleback
The origin of the Pickleback (also known as the Piskey Whickle) remains, to this day, shrouded in mystery. A simple enough one-two punch, the Pickleback is by definition a shot of whiskey followed immediately by a shot of pickle brine. As delicious as this sounds, some still need a little convincing. Jonathan Swift once said, “Twas a brave man who first ate an oyster”, and by this...
4 tags
Who Wants an Orange Whip?
As the story goes, there was once a beverage manufacturing company by the name of Orange Whip Corp. that made a syrupy, whipped fountain drink, the likes of which you may’ve found in gas stations in the 60’s and 70’s. Details regarding the company are hard to come by, but it appears as though production had come to a halt by the early 1980’s.
According to a Chicago...
2 tags
What's in a Name?
What’s in a name? Baby books and astrology charts would have us believe personality, character and perhaps destiny are all possibly determined by a given name. So, as interest piques about the soon-to-open diner on Halsted and Randolph Street, we thought it might be illuminating to learn a bit about the gracefully looping hues of burgundy and ecru painted on the stained wooden facade: Au...
January 2012
1 post
