While browsing restaurant menu's on a recent trip to the East Coast, I was reminded about a cut of meat that maintains a unique popularity in the Midwest: the skirt steak. As you get further from Chicago, it becomes increasingly harder and harder to find a skirt steak in a restaurant or a market.
In my opinion, the best way to serve a skirt steak is to marinate slowly and grill quickly. The restaurant that does this the best is L. Wood's Tap. A Lettuce Entertain You creation in the space of their original Bones restaurant, L. Wood's has a woodsy, supper-club atmosphere. The menu is full of steaks, chops, ribs, and fish. Nothing, besides the skirt steak, is spectacular, but never disappointing either.
The skirt steak is tender and explodes with flavor. When it is first served to you, stretched out across the plate, you wonder if you'll be able to eat all of it. Halfway through, you wonder if the whole thing will be enough. I've tasted the skirt steak at many Chicago steak houses, and none of them match this one.
I have, as of yet, been unable to reproduce their results at home. I am told the marinade is made with pineapple juice, Worchester sauce, garlic, chili flakes, salt and pepper, but I can't seem to match the intensity of the flavor. I also recommend ordering the skirt steak at a medium temperature. I usually order my steaks medium rare, but the skirt steak is an exception to this rule. The meat of this steak needs to be cooked a tad longer, or else it's natural toughness will take hold no matter what.If you have a chance, check out this midwestern original steak at L. Wood's Tap at 7110 N. Lincoln Ave. in Lincolnwood (near Touhy), (847) 677-3350, free parking lot. Menu online at their website.
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