With an assist from food TV–including a new show on Travel Channel called Feed the Beast, which I’ll be previewing before it premieres on Wednesday; and then an hour of Food Network’s Diners, Drive Ins & Dives yesterday, and after my wife (i.e. Jenny) and I both had this sluggish, head-achy thing going on, we decided we needed to eat something fatty and greasy. We were not hung over, but that’s what it felt like, and we needed a Sunday morning hangover remedy on Sunday evening. Those shows made me crave eggs and fat and salt, and when I saw we had chorizo in the fridge, I knew what had to be done–we had to make Mexican breakfast for dinner. Jenny agreed and put that on her chalkboard.

So what you’re seeing in the photo and that went happily into our bellies last night is this…..first, I took a leftover baked potato and cut that up, and stir fried it in a bit of canola oil. Meanwhile, as the potato was cooking, I took a link of chorizo (by link I mean it was maybe a foot long), removed the meat from the “fake” casing, and fried that up in a pan for about 10 minutes until it was cooked through and crispy, draining on paper towels. I wiped out the pan, and fried four eggs in it. Jenny shredded some cheddar cheese (full fat kickass Wisconsin cheddar), and I cubed an avocado while the eggs were cooking. I also opened up a can of refried black beans, and chopped some cilantro. As the eggs were set, it was time to assemble this creation in a big bowl–

First, the potatoes, which were nice and crispy. Then a dollop of refried beans and the chorizo. We topped that with two eggs in each bowl, followed by the avocado chunks, cheese and cilantro. Oh, and some Mexican hot sauce for good measure. Suffice to say we both felt so much better after eating this dinner. It was one of those food nirvana moments when you feed your body what it’s craving, and then some. And hey, now I know what to make next time we are hung over….and we hope you try it too.

Mrs. Mike and I rolled into Chicago last Friday night, sans kid–that meant that it didn’t matter how late we arrived, that we could just drop our luggage and go grab some grub. And we did just that as the clock struck 10pm. The first place we intended to check out was called The Purple Pig–and their theme is “swine, wine and cheese.” It sounded too funky and cool to pass up. So we were disappointed at the 60 minute wait. However, the hostess assured us that a lot of folks did not stay, so that it could be much less than 60 minutes.

We thought about not staying, but then decided to just have a drink and see what happened. Turns out 60 minutes was more like 3 minutes, and we were thrilled. Then we got a look at the crazy menu–which had sections such as appetizers, fried items, sandwiches, cheeses, sausages, and main courses. It is a tasting menu too, with most dishes being small portions that are meant to be shared.

Okay. So we ordered some wine, and then chose a few food items–salt roasted beets with goat cheese and pistachios; fried manchego cheese; fried olives with chorizo; a coppa, cheese and fennel panini; and a JLT–their take on a BLT with the J standing for “jowels,” i.e. pork cheeks, i.e. just real tender ham-like meat. Anyway, Mrs. Mike was willing to try the fried pig ear and/or the bone marrow, but not me. The jowels were the extent of my ambition.

Anyway, the beets were sweet, salty and had the creamy cheese–a crazy combination of flavors that just worked. The cheese was in squares and along with the really tasty olives were like sophisticated bar food. Seriously, that was some killer fried cheese. The panini was good, but the JLT was better–and the duck egg on top was the weirdest part of it. So much for tasting menus– we were rolling out of there, and ordered dessert to go–a nutella, banana and whipped cream panini–that I could not force a bite of until the following morning.

But the meal itself, and especially the experience, was a great start to our weekend in Chicago.