I enjoyed the season 3 premier of Top Chef, especially the elimination challenge. For those who have not seen it, the challenge consisted of a table laid out with several exotic types of meat (or proteins, which seems to be the defacto term to use in hip culinary lingo). Half of these came from land animals and half from sea animals and the idea was to create a surf-and-turf entrée using an item from both categories. Most of these ingredients were all from animals that I had heard of like alligator, kangaroo, sea urchin, and snake. However, there was one that I had never heard of: black chicken.

According to Wikipedia, the Black Chicken, or Silkie, is a variety of chicken that originated in Eastern Asia. Their skin, bones, and flesh are entirely black. I have not seen black chicken on any Twin Cities restaurant menu, or witnessed it at any market - Asian or otherwise. I would be curious to know if anyone has tried it.

My new job is on the edge of downtown, about a half block from both a Subway and Eddington’s. There isn’t much else for quick lunchtime fare, everything else is sit down. So unless I’m in the mood for a walk to the nearest skyway entrance or over to Nicollet Mall, these two are my choices on days when I haven’t brought lunch. I gotta give props to Eddington’s, my usual choice for I hope obvious reasons. I hadn’t thought about them since my days in the early 90s working at a law firm on the other side of downtown. Then, I recall them only from the leftover box lunches I would pirate from the conference rooms after some attorney couldn’t make the meeting. Now that I’m actually paying, I have to say, their tuna salad sandwich is great, as is the Eddington’s Club, which features turkey, bacon and chipotle mayo. Other than these two, I’ve had several bowls of soup, and I love the split pea, the ratatouille (and I’m not a tomato based soup girl, generally), and the good old chicken noodle. I’m sure I’ll have the opportunity to try more, but so far I’m thrilled they’re still around.