Liver Lovers Shiver at the Dish's Decline

Diners Band Together to Enjoy a Meal Whose Popularity Is on the Wane - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... lenews_wsj

Good lord, fresh calves' liver quick fried in a pan, deglaze with lemon juice. There's no finer cut of beef.

I'm a sucker for chopped chicken livers.

Problem is, liver is either very good, or very bad, based in the skills of the cook. There's no in between. It's either properly done, or inedible, thus, and there are very few places in which I have the confidence to order the dish.

Grizzley, I agree. The only chopped chicken livers (around my neck of the woods) that I trust to eat are the ones I make myself.

Hi,

Mom2's last liver and onions meal was several years ago at a roadhouse. The first time it arrived, it was undercooked. It's second coming was overcooked. She has not ordered liver and onions since then.

If it is made right, it is delicious. Agreed.

Regards,

My late mother was your classic Midwestern cook, raised on a farm during summer months. Things like ham loaf, "real" mashed potatoes, vegetable soup, pineapple upside down cake, and liver 'n onions were her signature dishes.

The liver preparation started with frying bacon; then sliced onions went into the pan. After removing the bacon and onions, the liver slices, which had been coated with flour, were fried in the bacon renderings. Even as kids we liked and ate liver, possibly because if we didn't eat the liver then there was no bacon either.

I never had real liver & onions. I had liver dumpling soup at Klas (outstanding the first time, very good the second) and I think I may have had liver somewhere else, just a tiny piece, thrown in a dish with other stuff. Helpful, I know.

Where can I find a good rendition?

Pie Lady wrote:Where can I find a good rendition?

The Erie Cafe usually does a good job with it. (And gives you some big pieces of very thick-sliced bacon on top, to boot.)

Also, it's something of a "signature dish" at MK. It's been a long time since I've had it there, but my memory is that it was good.

Speaking of liver dumplings...I got a great pkg of the stuff frozen from Ream's. Really good!

Nice! How do you use them?

I made a beef onion broth, and then added small scoops of the dumpling mixture while simmering. I really thought it turned out great.

I'm with you on the chicken livers, razbry. An occasional comfort food for me is chicken livers and gravy over rice, the way my mom made it. I sometimes just make a basic creamy gravy with some sherry, but often add a package of McCormick's hunter sauce mix. I get the sauce and rice all ready and then separate the liver lobes and just sautée them lightly before mixing them in.

I had a very good calf's liver dinner at Jimmy's Charhouse in Libertyville. I assume it's on the menu at their other locations too.

I enjoyed the first liver I’d had in years at Cere’s Table a few months ago.



Liver done this well is very juicy: when you pierce the exterior surface, it almost pops. This liver preparation came with the traditional bacon but not onions, and the little cluster of sprouts on top added mostly color and a little crunch. The current menu lists a different preparation with cipolotti (spring onions) and brown butter.

As I recall, Cere’s Table served us a Dietzler liver, and that’s important because given the questionable diets (and medications) fed to some cows, it’s good to know that this organ has not been the filter (and thus potentially the repository) of some unsavory substances.

The Wife and I made liver at home last week for maybe the first time in a decade. We had bought some from Wettstein’s (only about 3 bucks/lb). We discovered, as noted upthread, that proper preparation makes all the different. I remember liver being almost inedible the next day; because we cooked the liver to just this side of done, it remained juicy and on Day Two was every bit as tender and tasty as on Day One.

I had a great plate full of liver at Golden Steer in Forest Park recently.

Picture in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=30414&hilit=golden+steer

I was just about to recommend Golden Steer for liver, bacon and onions. Best rendition of that dish I ever had.

Wow, chicken livers are cheap. I got a tub for 90 cents and made a nice mound of chopped chicken livers. Love the stuff on melba toast. Excellent source of protein!

teatpuller wrote:I had a great plate full of liver at Golden Steer in Forest Park recently.

Picture in this thread: http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... lden+steer

Very good looking plate.

Thanks for sharing. I'll have to check it out.

Mmm. Well prepared liver.
Avanzare used to do fegato alla Veniziana really well.
And I used to get chicken livers sauteed with onions and scrambled eggs at Sam and Hy's on my way to the airport when I was a student going home for break.
I had a great liver preparation at the high-end-ish restaurant in Plaza del Lago some 10 or 12 years ago, since which it's turned over about 3-4 times.
During my very brief stint in the kitchen of the Levy restaurant, Bencher's, when it first opened in the then Sears' Tower, arguably the best dish on the menu was thin strips of liver, flour dusted, quick sauteed in a hot pan and then finished with a splash of white wine/garlic/sage reduction. There was always hysteria whenever Larry Levy came in for it because he required it to be made in some way at variance with the regular menu prep, so we had to carefully track his particular order to make sure the right version got made and then found its way to his table.
I had a decent chopped liver app. at The Bagel just last week.

I do love chopped liver sandwiches on challah from The Bagel, although they're pretty pricey.

Bountiful plate of tender chicken livers with caramelized onions at Smak Tak. Sauteed medium, nothing worse than overcooked liver, with a bowl of borscht and split order of pierogi. Highly recommended.

Smak-Tak
5961 N Elston Ave
Chicago, IL 60646
773 763-1123

I haven't been there in a while, but Myron & Phil's used to have both calves liver and fried chicken liver on the menu (not to mention the free chopped liver served with the relish tray). They always did a nice job with these dishes.

Myron & Phil
3900 West Devon Avenue
Lincolnwood, IL 60712
847-677-6663

The best chopped liver I've had in this area comes from the deli at Garden Fresh in Northbrook, particularly the beef chopped liver.

stevez wrote:I haven't been there in a while, but Myron & Phil's used to have both calves liver and fried chicken liver on the menu (not to mention the free chopped liver served with the relish tray). They always did a nice job with these dishes.

Myron & Phil
3900 West Devon Avenue
Lincolnwood, IL 60712
847-677-6663

I had Myron & Phil's calves liver about a year ago and it was very enjoyable. Cooked MR as requested. Onions could have been a bit more caramelized and I wish they had used a better quality (thicker) bacon, but all in all, I was very happy with my meal. Yes, liver twice in the same meal!

Evil Ronnie

I had lunch at Russian Tea Time last week and noticed that their menu boasted the best chopped liver ever anywhere, etc. I didn't have it, but I thought it's at least worth noting that they choose to make a big deal of their preparation.

I've had the Russian Tea Time chopped liver. It's very light...kind of a mousse deal. The problem was it was served too cold. Very good with some black bread and pickles, however.

Kaufman's on Dempster in Skokie has, in my opinion, great chopped liver. They don't make it themselves...it's shipped in frozen from NY. It's sweet but has a very short shelf life.

The Ohio House restaurant oftentimes has a beef liver entree, though bacon is extra.

Speaking to the difficulty of getting it right: I had fegato at Frommer's best-rated place in Venice. Dry and a bit overcooked. I was horribly disappointed.

But then... two days later, at lunch in Münchens Ratskeller I had the finest calf's liver I've ever had. Leave it to Die Deutschen to understand liver!

Geo

Fun fact about liver: "fegato" and "foie" related to Latin word for fig, which was fed to geese to fatten their livers.