Posted by Robyn Lee, August 30, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Roy is right; the "black shit" is awesome.
I don't know who the hell Roy is or if I can trust his palate, but according to him the Korean restaurant San Soo Gap San in Chicago is "the greatest restaurant in the entire world." And after reading his maniacally enthusiastic review accompanied by photos labeled in a way that seems more appropriate for a sports recap, I almost agree with him. He may not give the most illustrative descriptions—he refers to the kalbi sauce as "mysterious brown goo that makes everything better"—but he tells you what you need to know: that [x food] tastes good. Now I want to feast on "egg disc things" and brown goo-slathered short ribs. (Warning: Watch his introductory video at your own risk.)
San Soo Gap San
5247 N. Western Avenue, Chicago IL 60625 (at Farragut Avenue; map)
773-334-1589
Posted by Michael Nagrant, August 28, 2008 at 4:45 PM
If Edward Hopper were Korean, he probably wouldn’t have modeled his famous Nighthawks painting after a Greenwich Village diner. Rather, he might have considered Susie’s Noon Hour Grill in Chicago’s Rogers Park. Susie’s doesn’t have much neon but there’s an ample flat-top, a vintage Pepsi cooler, and plenty of cheesy décor including some disturbing clown paintings.
The food is a mix of American breakfast diner standards like pancakes and bacon with Korean stalwarts like pa jun and bulgogi. Sometimes the two cultures meet in owner Soon Lee’s (she also goes by Susie) kimchee omelet. There’s plenty of good stuff at Susie’s, including Lee herself—a charming grandmotherly type who does everything from washing dishes to taking and cooking the orders.
I stumbled upon Susie’s Noon Hour Grill last week and ordered an array of dishes—all pretty good, but I was really intrigued by the chop chae. Generally the chop chae I’ve come across is a nondescript mass of super-salty limp noodles, flaccid vegetables, and steamed meat. But not this.
Continue reading »
As contracts with "refreshment car" vendors run out (the last one expires Friday), the regional rail network has chosen not to renew them: "The commuter rail line has decided to shut down its rolling taverns, ending an era that hearkens back to the days when executives in gray flannel suits climbed aboard club cars and lubricated the journey home with martinis."
Posted by Michael Nagrant, August 21, 2008 at 3:45 PM
Every writer suffers from at least a touch of melancholy. As a food writer, though, my touches of depression are not from anything as pedestrian as the existential weight of the world. Rather, at least once a week or so, I freak out that I’ve discovered all there is to discover in the world of serious eats.
This usually happens late at night, when I’ve been co-opted by fatigue and a frozen pizza. I start counting mediocre tacos and limp burgers I’ve had over the year, just to find the handful of truly transcendent goodies here in Chicago. Somehow, I can ignore that there are more restaurants in Chicago—not even counting satellites like bakeries, food trucks, and artisanal groceries—than I can ever hope to visit in a lifetime. But, the burden still comes, as if someone told me pork disappeared from the planet entirely.
Inevitably, there’s always a new dish, a new bite that rouses me from my F. Scott Fitzgeraldean funk. This week’s cure comes courtesy of Isla Pilipina in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood. As the name suggests, the restaurant is a celebration of culinary thrills from Manila—and the biggest of all is a Filipino-style fried, cured pork called tocino.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, August 14, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Bad pho doesn't mean the rest of the menu isn't worth trying.
Even though one burned down last week due to an unfortunate fire, it feels like there are almost more Vietnamese restaurants on or near Chicago’s Argyle Street in the Little Vietnam neighborhood than there are in Vietnam itself.
Over the years I’ve slurped down bowls of steamy pho from the majority of them as frequently as the McKenzie brothers drink beer. I figure the basic meaty broth of pho is a good indicator of the rest of a Vietnamese restaurant’s fare. If a spot uses prepackaged broths, they likely don’t care about putting out good food. If they make the broth from scratch and offer fresh-cut herbs, then I’m usually on to something bigger. Turns out that’s not quite a foolproof plan—at least not at New Saigon where the pho isn’t exactly transcendent.
Continue reading »
Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, August 11, 2008 at 4:00 PM
I was woken up at approximately 1:30 on Wednesday morning by the sound of thunder and what looked like fireworks going off outside my window. When I raced over to the TV to check out what was going on, I saw a massive red blob stretching across nearly half the state, heading straight for Chicago. The storm had only begun. Somehow, I managed to continue sleeping through the storm and when I woke up later that morning, the sky was blue. I decided to head off to the farmers' market, not thinking that much about the storm.
I never imagined the storm would cause so much damage. As I walked up to Chicago's Green City Market, limbs covered the grass, enormous trees were downed, and some had been violently split. My thoughts went from, "What's fresh?" to, "Will the market even be open?"
Luckily, everything in the market was set up. Besides a few twigs I had to step around, the market was in top shape and had a lot to give.
Nearly every stand had a pile of corn sitting out front, ready for the picking. The corn was almost exclusively sweet bi-color. Nichol's Farm and Orchard from Marengo, Illinois, told me that no other kinds of corn would arrive, but I could "expect a lot more corn in the future."
Continue reading »
Though the musical acts packed their bags and left Chicago last weekend, Lollapalooza is still in the air—in the form of new BYOB sushi restaurants. Rollapalooza just opened in Boystown, further proving that sushi makes for some pretty lame puns. Despite the allusion, the music here isn't so hot according to one Yelper: "Nobody at 10PM on a Friday night wants to hear 'You Light Up My Life' and a Lionel Richie medley."
Posted by Michael Nagrant, August 1, 2008 at 3:30 PM
The huarache, sort of like a Mexican version of pizza, is a sandal-shaped flatbread made of corn masa. My favorite is usually from Chicago’s Maxwell Street Market, where sunbaked abuelas hand-pat big balls of corn meal with their crinkly-skinned hands, throwing their efforts on the grill until the air fills with corn perfume. Problem is, the market is only open on Sunday, so if I get a mid-week hankering for a transcendent huarache, I’m out of luck—that is, until I discovered Huaraches Dona Chio.
Located in a basement level storefront, Huaraches Dona Chio is a rock bottom affair decor-wise. There's a big rug that says “copier” with a knit image of a photocopy machine that looks like it was stolem from the set of Office Space. (PC load letter, anyone?)
Unlike the aesthetics inside, the food is top-notch Mexican from the Distrito Federal, also known as Mexico City. From puffy corn picadillo-stuffed gorditas to slightly floppy corn tortilla tacos, they have it all. And the huaraches are a street food lover's dream.
Continue reading »
Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 28, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Last week, Time Out Chicago hosted a create-your-own hot dog contest, judged by none other than encased meat overlord Doug Sohn of Hot Doug's. After 2,235 votes were cast, software consultant Kevin Haas from Portage Park won with his "New Chicago" entry, which carried 42% of the vote.
Mexican chorizo sausage, Asian pear chutney, Indian paneer cheese, chili mustard, served on a multi-grain roll. As the original Chicago dog reflected our immigrant heritage (Greek, Italian and Jewish immigrants), this encased meat reflects our new and future immigrant population. Latinos now account for 1 in 4 city residents, our Asian population is expected to grow over a third in a matter of a decade, and India presents the third largest group of new immigrants to Chicago. This new sausage celebrates this new Chicago.
That's pretty sociologically deep for tubular meat. How would you represent your city in hot dog form?
Team up your eating powers for a discount: if 11 people—perfect strangers are fine—join the Hai Yen Group Discount group at thepoint.com, they'll all get 25% off their final bill for lunch on August 13. Pretty cool concept. [via Gapers Block]
Posted by Michael Nagrant, July 25, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Whoever coined the phrase, “Ain’t no thang, but a chicken wang” was clearly a careless philosopher. Because, after a lunch of jerk wings at Ja’s Jerk Chicken in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood, I’ve found some wings that are quite clearly the thang. In fact, two hours after supping on them, my lips are still delighted, if not a touch inflamed, by the chili burn from their jerk sauce.
Anyone considering collagen injections should just consider a weekly order of these instead.
Ja’s has no tables or even the stainless steel chest-high counter—a Chicago staple found at beef stands and rib shacks everywhere. I had to dine with the styrofoam clamshell while holding the wings precariously perched on the console of my vintage scooter—by vintage I mean 1994 Honda Elite—underneath the Lake St. Green Line elevated train. Still, even with the train spitting the occasional drop of El juice as it roared by, I was hardly bothered. I was too busy sucking my way to the chicken bone.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, July 18, 2008 at 3:15 PM
At one point, Chicago's Le Passage was sort of the windy city's modern version of Studio 54. It had a storied history of celebrity appearances, exclusivity, and general craziness. Fast forward to last November when the club changed hands and the VIP section transformed into The Drawing Room, a modern cocktail lounge.
Much has been written about the Drawing Room's food coming from Nick Lecasse, a chef who recently beat Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard in a head-to-head cooking battle with his excellent foie gras with pickled fennel and kumquat gastrique. It's all deserved praise. My recent visit yielded some favorites, including a jerk-spiced quail and fresh housemade gnocchi tossed with farmers' market vegetables and a pan jus. But the real object of my affection on that particular visit was their Japanese Julep.
Continue reading »
Posted by Robyn Lee, July 17, 2008 at 1:30 PM
coloribus.com
A McDonald's in Chicago is featuring a billboard of a giant egg that cracks open at 6 a.m. and stays open until 10:30 a.m. to represent the time that eggs are available on the menu. It's a cool way target early risers, but as for the post-breakfast crowd, they'll just see a giant white blob. [via BuzzFeed]
Related
In Videos: The Off-the-Menu McDonald's Brunch Sandwich
Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 14, 2008 at 8:00 PM
The ground was a little soggy this Saturday from an earlier rainstorm, but beyond some muddy shoes the weather was warm and welcoming for my first excursion into Chicago's Green City Market. Advertised as the city's only sustainable market, not to mentioned home to regular cooking lessons from notable Chicago chefs, I absolutely couldn't wait to experience it for the first time.
Sure enough, as soon as I walked in I was given a cute little cup of cherry porridge with sweet Israeli cous cous, a creation from Jason Hammel and Amalea Tshilds of Lula Cafe. Luckily. I've visited that excellent restaurant before, and this was a great reminder of their remarkable menu. What a perfect way to start shopping.
Not that I needed any help. The only thing that could have held me back was my own lack of imagination. Whether it was a mountain of berries, elk meat, or fava beans, I felt overwhelmed in the best possible way.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, July 11, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Last week while driving down an empty road in Midlothian, just south of Chicago city proper, I spotted a knotty pine wood cabin and a sign featured a dancing pig that said “Hog Wild." As soon as I saw that sign, I squealed my tires and headed to the parking lot. Though I haven’t quite affixed the bumper sticker yet, I always brake for smoke.
Smoke, however, isn’t exactly what I got, except maybe in liquid form. With no pink ring to be found on the ribs at Hog Wild, I definitely wasn’t getting the slow version.
What I did find was a monster thick, salty, sweet pork chop as big as Thor’s silver hammer. It was nothing like the humble child’s fist-sized, succulent chops smothered in caramelized onion or served with a side of apple sauce and sour cream from my youth. Like Barry Bonds who one day had gone from lanky Pirate to San Francisco giant with a superhero torso, this bad boy crept up on me. Pink at the bone, brined and juicy, and featuring a California highway-like system of griddle marks, it was one of the better pork chops I’ve had in Chicago.
Hog Wild
14933 Pulaski Road, Midlothian IL 60445 (b/n 148th Place and 150th Street; map)
708-371-9005
hogwildpitbar-b-q.com
Posted by Michael Nagrant, July 10, 2008 at 8:27 AM
We figure there will be some hardcore Apple faithful in Chicago ready to line up outside the Apple Store on Friday morning to get their hands on a new iPhone 3G as soon as it's out. We asked Michael Nagant, our Windy City contributor and the editor of Hungry Magazine, for some of his top choices near the Apple Store here.
Wow Bao: Like a shiny new iPod, steamed Asian-style yeast buns here offer the ultimate functionality. Portable and stuffed with goodies like spicy kung pao chicken and barbecue pork, they'll fuel you for hours of intense line-waiting. The whole-wheat version filled with edamame will probably keep you most spry. Fight the heat and wash down the buns with Wow Bao's spicy-sweet homemade ginger ale. 835 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611 (map)
You wouldn't expect to find healthy and quick sustenance at a mall food court, but this Water Tower Place market is the grand exception. The Foodlife Market , which features one of the most diverse salad bars around, is your best bet. (Don't miss the herb-filled Green Goddess dressing). If you don't DYI, head to the Eat Greens kiosk to score a protein-filled Cobb or a sweet and tangy Asian Chicken salad. 835 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago IL 60611; 312-335-3663; foodlifechicago.com
Sayat Nova: It's almost a shame you won't have time to slink into the white grotto booths here, but at least these Middle Eastern flavors are portable. Try the lulla kebab pita filled with sweet, spiced smoky beef and lamb shawarma, onion, and tomato. The beefy perfume is so good it may lull linemates to grab their own sammie, thus moving you ahead in the queue. 157 East Ohio, Chicago IL 60611 (map)
More iPhone Eats in ...
New York
Philadelphia
D.C. Metro Area
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Serious Eats Mobile
Now's a good time to mention that you can view this guide on Serious Eats Mobile: m.seriouseats.com. And because Serious Eats Mobile supports commenting, you can supply live eats intel from the field, from whatever device you're about to upgrade out of. It's as easy as thumb-thumb-thumb-Post a comment!
Posted by Michael Nagrant, July 3, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Nothing says 4th of July like a smoky cookout. Unfortunately for city dwellers here in Chicago, outdoor space for monster barbecue gatherings comes at a premium. Likewise, because the Fourth is a major national holiday, hopping over to your local barbecue shack isn’t really a viable alternative, as most of them would be closed.
Thankfully, we’ve got no shortage of restaurant-owning Chinese immigrants here in Chicago who happen to be fond of ignoring major American holidays and keeping their places open. There are a lot of options to check out, but after lighting a few hundred sparklers and popping off a brick or two of Black Cat fireworks, my personal 4th of July Chinese barbecue spot of choice in Chicago is Sun Wah BBQ.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, June 27, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Perennial
From the team that opened popular spots Boka and Landmark comes this farm fresh-focused American-style bistro. The kitchen is helmed by chef de cuisine Ryan Poli, formerly of Butter, named by Esquire as one of the best new restaurants in 2005. When Butter closed, Poli headed to Spain to study pastry and hone his savory chops once more under the Spanish new wave, with stints at El Celler de Can Roca and Alkimia in Barcelona. Though he's also worked for Ferrán Adrià disciple Sergi Arola at La Broche and done time at the French Laundry under Thomas Keller, Poli is one off those chefs who believes culinary learning is a lifelong process.
When we spoke with him recently, he told us that he's excited about his pork tenderloin with corn and fava bean succotash, and roasted corn spoon bread (aka poor man's souffle). Appetizers run about $10, with most entrees around $20. 1800 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago IL 60614 (near North Clark Street; map); 312-981-7070; perennialchicago.com
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, June 20, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Rob Levitt makes fresh pasta at Mado
A couple of month’s ago I profiled husband and wife chefs Allison and Rob Levitt’s new restaurant Mado. While I’ve definitely eaten Rob’s food in the past and sampled various morsels, I hadn’t actually dined at the restaurant until a couple of weeks ago when my folks and my grandmother came to town.
When I heard my grandmother was coming, I was a bit nervous. She’s not the ultimate version of the cautious soft food-chewing, earlybird special-loving cheapskate, but she’s pretty close. I was concerned that Mado, with its house cured meats and olive oil cooked octopus with Calabrian chilis, might throw her for a loop.
Normally, as a food writer, chicken would be the last thing I’d order at a restaurant. Chicken is pretty much now in the “yawn” category along with crab cakes, steaks as big as Shaquille O’ Neal’s head, and caprese salad. That’s not to say I don’t love a great roast bird, but I tend to make my own a few times a month. In the name of research, I’m naturally drawn to the craziest looking stuff on a restaurant menu. You can bet that if a restaurant has braised and then deep fried bear claw coated with crunchy grasshoppers and sauced with the bile of an antelope, I’m there. But, in order to appeal to grandma’s sensibility, I ordered up the roast chicken with pistachios.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, June 13, 2008 at 10:45 AM
Nothing will make dad feel better than some great drinks and a touch of comfort food. Here are three spots that’ll fit the bill for Father’s Day in Chicago.
Kuma’s Corner
Kuma’s is so hardcore that owner Mike Cain won’t hire anyone unless they have at least one tattoo. That hardcore-nature seeps through to their incredibly deep beer list and perfect burgers. Given the chance to sup here, we’d probably go with the Moylan’s Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale, a rich malty brew which should cut nicely through a big fat juicy Kuma Burger, a 10-ounce patty topped with bacon, cheddar, a fried egg and nestled in a toasted pretzel roll. 2900 W Belmont Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (at N Francisco Avenue; map); 773-604-8769; opens at noon on Sunday, kumas-corner.com
Continue reading »
Posted by Matthew Amster-Burton, June 9, 2008 at 10:15 AM
The good news is, someone in my family is eligible to enjoy a prix fixe menu at Chicago's Frontera Grill, Osteria di Tramonto, One Sixtyblue, or Coco Pazzo Cafe for $4. The bad news is, I have to pay $20, and we don't live in Chicago.
If we did, however, I'd be all over Kids' Restaurant Week in Chicago, which runs June 21-28. Nineteen of Chicago's top restaurants are participating. The rules are: (1) come in between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.; (2) kids under 12 pay their age; and (3) adults and older kids pay $20.08.
The web site doesn't say anything about the menus, so I called a couple of the restaurants to find out what kids should expect to eat. Read the menus, after the jump.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, June 6, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Photograph taken by Brendan Lekan
While New York has Milk & Honey and Pegu club and their ilk, Chicago is still cocktail challenged. We only have one really dedicated cocktail palace, Violet Hour, and then a handful of restaurants with dedicated bartenders, like Peter Vestinos at Sepia, John Kinder at MK, and Adam Seger at Nacional 27. It’s a mystery why the city of Al Capone—a city built on bootleg liquor, a city that kept drinking at an all-time high, even when it was illegal—lags behind. Why is it that we don’t drink like we dine?
As General Manager, Sommelier, and Chief Mixologist of Lettuce Entertain You’s Nacional 27, and a former kitchen stage in the Michelin-rated Chez Julien of Strasbourg, Adam Seger has both the culinary and mixology skills to take Chicago to the next level, spirit-wise. Last week I had a chance to sample some of his new spring cocktails including a Ruby Red Hemingway with Cuban Oregano and a hibiscus-spearmint mojito.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, May 29, 2008 at 2:00 PM
L20: For Unconventional and Luxurious Seafood
Inside L20; lamb tartar, ebi shrimp, pickled peach, tarragon; butter dome.
Chicago’s been patting itself on the back for the better part of the last couple of years as the new food capital of the world. While I try not to be a one sided cheerleader, I’ve certainly showered my fair share of praise on Windy City eats. It’s a reasonable thing to do when you look at the breadth of offerings here, from the high end to the low end. Truth be told, we had a handful gems at the high end, but really luxurious Michelin-style dining was generally elusive. Even a spot like Alinea, which definitely deserves the accolades it received as America’s best restaurant from Gourmet, tended to eschew luxury for luxury’s sake as they tend to challenge all conventions.
Enter L20, the new seafood-focused spot from Laurent Gras, former disciple of Ducasse. Gras not only challenges convention, offering up a small circular case of upside-down hanging butter and custom table side shabu-shabu service designed by Martin Kastner of Crucial Detail (Alinea collaborator who created their serviceware), but he’s also an unabashed devotee of luxury and delivering on more than you promise. Four course meals turn into eight course meals with extra mignardise and amuse bouche, like passion fruit marshmallows with chocolate ganache. Likewise, Gras flecks ebi sweet shrimp and lamb tarter with gold leaf and edible flowers, and dollops citrus cured fluke with a quenelle of Osetra caviar. L20 feels like you threw French Laundry, Masa, Alinea, and Tru restaurants in a blender and poured the resulting mix out as a new restaurant. It is definitely one of Chicago’s best new restaurants.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, May 23, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Though the name sounds the same, Ben Li is not the mop-headed Australian born musician that dated Claire Danes—that’s Ben Lee. On the other hand, chef Ben Li also rocks it out…Sichuan style in the kitchen at his spot Double Li in Chicago’s Chinatown.
Many of the restaurants in Chinatown are run by Chinese immigrants who are decent home cooks, but not formally trained. Even if they’re formally trained, they tend to serve up a lot of Cantonese-American style eats, like cloying sweet and sour chicken, almond boneless chicken, and that tiki-fave crab rangoon to appeal to American palates.
Ben Li, on the other hand is a culinary school trained chef from Chongquing. As a result, he understands nuance and balance. He undergirds his fiery chili-inflected dishes with the right amount of sweet, sour, salt and umami.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, May 21, 2008 at 1:30 PM
I wonder if Miamians get bored with the Cuban sandwich or Philadelphians forego the Philly cheesesteak for long periods of time. I know, with so many new restaurants opening each day and so many tasty leads to follow, sometimes I take the local food icons here in Chicago for granted. I even forsake them occasionally. But, with so many fanny pack clad tourists descending on our city in search of salad dogs, deep dish pizza, and the Italian beef, I don’t really think they need me.
Fast forward to last Thursday when I just happened to be driving through Elmwood Park, a suburb adjacent to the Northwest side of Chicago city proper, and I spotted one of my favorite Italian beef stands: Johnnie’s. You know the soup nazi? Well, Johnnie’s proprietors are the beef Nazis. They make you wait in a single file line and if you’re the next person in line in front of the entrance door and you thing about holding it open to suck up some warm beefy air on a cold or rainy day, don’t do it. If you let so much as a minor draft sneak in to the store, you’ll get glares from the employees and customers alike. You also better have your order together when you hit the cash register and it better not include cheese on your beef (which is pretty much an equivalent crime in these parts to putting ketchup on your hot dog), unless, of course, you want to get laughed at.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 14, 2008 at 4:05 PM
The Chicago Tribune is reporting:
Over the shouted objections of Ald. Joe Moore (49th), the ban's sponsor, the council used a parliamentary manuever to put the ordinance on the floor for a vote.
The council voted 37-6 to repeal the two-year-old ban, which critics argued had made Chicago--and the City Council--a national laughingstock.
And the folks at D'Artagnan just sent out an email blast celebrating. The D'Artagnan missive, after the jump.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, May 10, 2008 at 2:00 PM
It seems like every year one of my favorite Pakistani restaurants burns down. Two years ago it was Khan BBQ, my favorite spot to grab green chili slathered charcoal tandoor fired chicken boti. The fire turned what was once a dingy smoky cabbie joint, thick with smoke from poor ventilation, into a relatively elegant peach colored banquet hall with a chandelier that would be at home in the Taj Mahal.
Last year, apparently due to faulty wiring, my other go-to spot, Sabri Nihari, burned down. Unlike Khan BBQ, the new incarnation, a narrow El car-wide corridor of a restaurant outfitted with more mirrors than a ballet studio, is a step down from the old, pure white Liberace-like garishness of the old spot. The owners assured me this was a temporary location, though it’s been open for over a year now, so maybe not.
Continue reading »
Posted by The Serious Eats Team, May 4, 2008 at 9:00 PM
Cinco de Mayo is a day of national pride for Mexicans around the world, commemorating Mexico’s victory over French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. We join in the celebration with our favorite Mexican food and drink.
- Best Tacos in Chicago: when it comes to finding the best regional Mexican dining outside of Mexico, Chicago is the best spot in America.
- I Drove 40 Miles for a Taco: In the suburbs of Chicago one finds Bien Trucha, an iconoclastic taqueria.
- Chi-Mex: A New Frontier: Mexican Inn turns out to be a very inspired delicious meshing of cultures, a unique Chi-Mex blend, and holds the middle ground between Bayless and Taco Bell quite nicely.
Posted by Michael Nagrant, May 2, 2008 at 2:15 PM
Screw the Michelin guide and its ilk. Like the SAT or personality tests, reductive rating systems that award mini constellations, forks, spoons, or pepper shakers can never see what's in a restaurant's heart.
The endurance of these systems often encourage readers to skip the meat of a review and go straight to the final number as an arbiter of whether they should call for reservations.
Some of these systems are just plain impossible. Consider the S. Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants in the World. Did Gordon Ramsay U.K. really improve 11 spots in a year while its proprietor was out traveling the world berating and dehumanizing line cooks and restaurateurs? In one year, did Charlie Trotter's, which has been fine-tuning things for 20 years, really suck it up so bad as to drop from 31 to 38 and lose the title of Chicago's best restaurant to upstart Alinea?
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, May 2, 2008 at 11:15 AM
In Chicago, we have not yet been blessed with a noodle god like Momofuku’s David Chang. We’ve instead had to settle for noodles from a handful of lower level deities, like Tony Hu at Chinatown’s Lao Szechuan or Vanna Gumtrontip at Spoon Thai. Last week, I discovered a new star to add to the mix. I may not actually know the star, as I didn’t get the chef’s name, but his fried duck noodle soup speaks quite well on his behalf.
Served at a new Argyle St./Little Vietnam storefront named Pho Xua, this bowl of soul is filled with a fresh nest of pliant egg noodles, a deep, rich ducky broth, and a fat, fried, crunchy-skinned duck leg, along with a garden of bok choy, scallions, and little earthy mushroom rafts. Slurping it down banished the seasonal mood swings I’d been indulging after a string of weeks of ubiquitous overcast, slate gray days of drizzle and chafing wind.
Continue reading »
Posted by Melissa Hall, April 25, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Southern Foodways appears on Fridays as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in!
Photographs taken by Amy C. Evans
SFA oral historian Amy Evans just returned from a weeklong fieldwork-gathering trip to the Windy City, looking for stories of transplanted Southerners who left their homes but held on to family recipes. Some of the people she visited include:
- James Lemons of Lem's Bar-B-Q, who left Indianola, Mississippi, as a young man, following his brothers to Chicago and into the barbecue business.
- Barbara Ann Bracy, who laughed as she remembered her Mississippi-born father opening the barbecue joint she still runs on the South Side and naming it after her.
- Edna Stewart, who recalled the moment when Civil Rights workers first visited her restaurant, Edna's, and when the Reverend Jesse Jackson fell for her sweet potatoes.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, April 24, 2008 at 3:30 PM
"Each of the 46 flavors spanning the international scene, from Jamaica (Fire Jerk, Rum BBQ) to Italy (Parmesan, Tomato Basil Pesto), is a study in balance and contrast."
Chicago's Wings Around the World is like the Baskin Robbins of Chicken Wings. When they opened in January of 2007, they had 34 flavors of wings. A year and a half later, another twelve have been added to honor their motto, “Flavors to Infinity”. Abeng Stuart founded the spot and concocted the sauces with his mother Lorna Greene and his manager Andre Palmer.
What’s crazy is that this isn’t some spot where they throw chicken in the deep fryer and haphazardly toss the half soggy/half crunchy overcrowded fried chicken with a drippy Franks Red Hot Sauce and margarine glaze. Each of the 46 flavors spanning the international scene, from Jamaica (Fire Jerk, Rum BBQ) to Italy (Parmesan, Tomato Basil Pesto), is a study in balance and contrast. The selection is a thoughtful cornucopia of glazes and seasonings spiked with the right amount of heat, sour, and sweet. The chicken itself is uniformly crunchy if deep fried, or soft, pliant, and smoky if you get the wings grilled. Of course, on this stretch of 35th street lined with a Churches, Popeyes, KFC, and a local JJ Fish and Chicken chain, you gotta bring the goods if you want to survive more than a year.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, April 19, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Rosario’s has a serious pig problem. There are little porky tchotchkes on the counter, statues of swine behind the counter, and a few huge piggy bank–looking porkers above the freezer case. Even the neon sign on the front of the building depicts a bunch of happy piglets jumping in to a grinder. Of course, I wouldn’t expect anything less from one of Chicago’s best Italian sausage makers.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, April 11, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Last week, Good magazine named Chicago’s Broadway as one of the tastiest streets in the U.S. Good magazine’s criteria said a best street features “exquisite food you can actually afford." Haute cuisine is out of the equation. That said, as usual, a bunch of dudes writing from the coasts (this time L.A.) get it wrong. Broadway’s not even the tastiest street in Chicago.
It may not even be in the top five. Off the top of my head, I say 18th Street, Devon Avenue, Clark Street, Halsted Street, and Milwaukee Avenue, amongst others, might be better. My gut says there’s no question that the real tastiest street of all though, is Western Avenue.
Western Avenue, which runs 23.5 miles, is the longest continuous street in the city of Chicago, but its strength goes beyond length. There’s a density and diversity that just can’t be beat.
Continue reading »
Does the name Rosscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles in Chicago sound a little too similar to that of the long established Roscoe's House of Chicken 'n Waffles in Los Angeles? Just a tad, perhaps. Besides the extra "s," other similarities include their logo designs and names of their menu items. The Chicago Tribune says that the original Roscoe's is sueing the Chicago imitator and gives some of the history behind the chicken and waffle restaurant.
Posted by Michael Nagrant, April 4, 2008 at 9:45 AM
Mercat a la Planxa: Jose Garces, former protégé of Stephen Starr and Douglas Rodriguez, took a break from building his mini-empire in Philly to unveil some Catalan tapas-style love on his hometown of Chicago at the newly refurbished Blackstone Hotel. The mod space outfitted with gleaming hexagonal tiles and mirrors etched with organic (think birds and leaves) motifs and bare hanging bulbs is one of the funkiest dining rooms to grace our austere storied hotels. The term “smoke filled rooms” actually originated in the Blackstone, and it used to refer to the cigar laden atmosphere in which party bosses once chose Warren G. Harding as a presidential nominee. Today it refers to the smoky romanesco sauces and salbitxada served with deep fried peppers, or the grill-marked succulent lamb chops and head-on shrimp from the grill. The rabbit agnolotti with black truffle may be my favorite dish of the year, and the restaurant itself is one of the best openings of 2008.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, March 28, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Rick Bayless, chef/owner of Chicago's Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, has me brainwashed. Inspired by his example for the last few years, I’ve been telling everyone that you either go regional Mexican or you go home.
If the shadow of a Chipotle and their swaddled infant-sized burritos fell across my path, I’d consider taking a shower. Scarfing down Oaxacan moles and Yucatecan puerco pibil meant I was living right; chewing on chimichangas and noshing on Nachos Belgrande, not so much. Then a few weeks ago, I discovered Mexican Inn.
Mexican Inn is a 47-year-old corner joint located in the shadow of the Chicago skyway. It’s in a south side neighborhood called the East Side, an island of land separated from the rest of the city by the Calumet River and surrounded by behemoth factories with flatulent smokestacks. The East Side is closer to Indiana than it is to downtown. It’s a place most Chicagoans never stop for, though many drive through when the tollway gets backed up.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, March 21, 2008 at 11:00 AM
When people find out I’m a food writer, they always ask me what my favorite restaurant is. I always respond that answering the question is like asking me who my favorite child is. I usually ask them what kind of food they’re looking for and give them a top three list of options for that particular cuisine.
Truth is, though, if some hungry felon held me up at gunpoint and needed to know my top five favorite spots, Hot Doug’s: The Sausage Superstore would absolutely make the list.
Owner Doug Sohn, a culinary school grad, brings his chops to bear on the humble hot dog. He serves the best Chicago style salad dog in the city. But, it’s not the basic dog I come for. It’s the duck fat fried French fries glistening with sea salt and the custom sausages with ridiculous luxury ingredients.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, March 14, 2008 at 11:15 AM
There are at least a thousand taquerias in Chicago city proper, though only about ten of them actually sear their meat and season it properly. Still, ten is a pretty hefty number. Hell, growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, we didn’t even have one good taqueria, only a second rate Chi-Chi’s serving up enchiladas “Cancun” filled with fake crab meat and krill-sized shrimp. Faced with this gluttony of “local” options, I wondered why I was driving 40 miles to check out a suburban taqueria. But I try not to leave any stone unturned when it comes to food tips, and I'd heard from a good source that the folks at Bien Trucha were tearing it up.
Continue reading »
Posted by Zach Brooks, March 12, 2008 at 4:45 PM
Photograph from Fabrizio Rizzo on Flickr
Whiskey can be an amazing or terrible cooking ingredient depending on who is using it. For example, Jack Daniels in the hands of an old college roommate led to some pretty obscenely terrible "bourbon burgers," "bourbon whipped cream," "bourbon marinated steaks," and "bourbon everything else he ever cooked"—and none of it could've been eaten in enough volume to fill you up before it got you trashed.
On the other hand, give Dirk Flanigan, chef at the Gage in Chicago, a bottle of Jameson and a brisket and he'll make you a serious sandwich that is so obscenely good, you'll have no problem getting stuffed on it.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, March 7, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Chicken boti at Khan BBQ
When looking for serious ethnic spots, I find if you're the only white anglo dude in the joint, you're probably in the right place. Khan BBQ, on Chicago’s Devon street—a strip of Pakistani, Indian and orthodox Jewish bakeries, restaurants, and clothing shops—is one of those places.
It shouldn't be, as I and a few others have written about the perfume of coriander from the tandoors, the puffy stacks of Naan bread, and the grilled succulent meat over the last couple of years. Yet, last week when I stopped by for a bite, the dining room was filled with the usual smattering of cabbies and Pakistani families.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, February 22, 2008 at 8:15 AM
With Quartino, Osteria via Stato, and now A Mano all slinging cured meats, Chicago’s downtown lunch arena is sporting more sausage than the Chicago Bears locker room after a big game. A Mano, the newest of the triumvirate, is helmed by Bin 36 veteran chef John Caputo and offers a wide selection of salumi, including the handiwork of Seattle’s sausage king, Armandino Batali. In addition to the charcuterie, A Mano features all manner of Italian-focused goodies from wood-fired pizzas to zingy crudo.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, February 8, 2008 at 10:15 AM
I stopped in at Takashi, a month-old spot in the former Scylla space in Bucktown, last Friday night. The restaurant’s namesake, chef Takashi Yagihashi is a 2003 James Beard Best Chef Midwest award winner. He’s slinging an Asian-French fusion that includes crisp sweetbreads in arimasansho (Asian green peppercorns) and sake, soy, and lemongrass marinated chicken fried in duck fat.
I’m still on the fence about the spot, mostly as a function of value—this place offers a lot of $14 small plates that are barely satisfying for one person. Portions fall somewhere between amuse bouche and appetizer quantity and would make more sense at $7 or $8 a pop. That said, the flavors and execution are spot on. People have been making comparisons between foie gras and sweetbreads for years, but other than both being offal meat, that’s where the similarities ended for me.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, January 16, 2008 at 9:30 AM
Technically, the empanadas at Lincoln Park’s Lito’s Empanadas are not balls, rather more like half moons. But they’re definitely deep fried and good. Colombian-born Carlos Escalante and his wife, Eve, used to make the deep fried stuffed dough packets for raving friends, earning so much cred that they finally opened a legit business. Based on some early buzz and the allure of a shoe box sized storefront selling nothing but empanadas I stopped by to sample the wares on Friday.
Rolled, stuffed, and deep fried fresh daily, the crust, which has a crispy and dimpled exterior like a McDonald’s apple pie wrapper and a melty, moist, and pliant interior reminiscent of the inside of a fresh custard donut, is probably the best of its kind in Chicago.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, January 11, 2008 at 11:00 AM
You gotta have bulletproof glass, utilitarian decor, and a grizzled soul man stoking an aquarium-style smoker or a black pit drum with hickory and fruitwoods to have great barbecue, right? In Chicago, until about two years ago, this seemed the rule.
In these parts, good ‘cue was predominantly an African American community–driven affair. Finger-lickin’ piles of ribs sandwiched in clamshell styrofoam that are so good you wolf them down while leaning against your car came from unremarkable storefronts on the city’s south side (save Honey 1).
So when Smoque BBQ opened last December on the north side with a ton of accolades, lines out the door, and media coverage second only to that of Britney Spears’s affairs, I was skeptical. Were people (me included) covering the ‘cue so heavily because it was coming out of a clean well-lit space in an upper middle class Chicago neighborhood from white people, or because it was genuinely good?
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, January 10, 2008 at 3:45 PM
Yesterday I asked whether the world needs any more fancy-pants French restaurants. Today, our Chicago correspondent, Michael Nagrant, alerted me to his take on the issue, which appeared last year in Newcity Chicago:
Aren't [Alain] Ducasse and [Joël] Robuchon culinary carpetbaggers taking advantage of our Midwestern hospitality and standing upon the labor of our pioneers? Despite our success, the Tribune's Good Eating section still features a syndicated column from Wolfgang Puck. Hasn't Charlie Trotter or Paul Kahan at Blackbird earned a voice in our local pages? Legends, especially French demigods, cast long shadows, ones that may shroud our own identity.
Photograph from iStockphoto.com
Posted by Michael Nagrant, January 4, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Photograph courtesy of Ron Kaplan
It's often said Chicago is a city of neighborhoods. Taking it a step further, it's also a city of sandwiches, as each of those neighborhoods, whether it's the Will Special in Dunning, Al's Italian Beef in Little Italy, or the Bari prosciutto and mozzarella in West Town, has its own distinctive bread-and-meat combo.
In Logan Square, my new obsession is the juicy olive-studded ropa vieja or braised beef piled high with a smattering of lettuce on crisp grill-marked water bread from El Cubanito.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, December 28, 2007 at 11:00 AM
I've had some great moments at Cafe du Monde, the legendary beignet stand in New Orleans. That said, most of those moments are rooted in nostalgia for the Big Easy, rather than for the stand's doughnuts and coffee. Occasionally you'll score some beignets fresh out of the deep fryer, where the confectioners' sugar melts into a gooey glaze, but sometimes they're just lukewarm and flat. Likewise the much-lauded chicory coffee, which is brewed in big commercial urns, tends to run bitter.
That being said, last week while dining at Powerhouse (215 N. Clinton St.), one of Chicago's newest restaurants, I found a set of doughnuts that I wish Cafe du Monde served. Tater tot–size fluffy sweet potato dough nuggets glazed in brown butter sauced with a creamy pool of cinnamon sabayon studded with arrop (candied glazed aged pumpkin bits) and toasted pepitos. While it's primarily a sweet dish, the saltiness of the toasted pumpkin seeds melds with the heady fragrance of cinnamon and the sweet sugar and satisfies every kind of taste receptor on your tongue. If you close your eyes, the pumpkin and sweet potato perfume from the dish transforms your banquette into a fall farmhouse hayride.
Posted by Michael Nagrant, December 21, 2007 at 10:30 AM
For a city/metro area with 9,000,000+ people, Chicago has a dearth of good egg rolls. You can find great Szechuan braised tendon, head-on salt and pepper shrimp, and a celebration of the diverse fungal bounty of Yunnan province down in Chinatown, but a personal dynasty's length search for sublime crisp deep-fried won ton skin pockets in this same 'hood have turned up nothing.
Instead, I have to turn to the Filipino Uni-Mart grocery on the northside for my fix. Ford the stainless steel shelves filled with salty and sweet shrimp and squid chips and you'll be rewarded with a take-out counter filled with pork glazed in thick syrupy adobo; orange laquered barbecue chicken; beefy, brothy oxtail-studded kare-kare, and a host of Filipino favorites. The object of my affection, though, is the golden fried Philly blunt–size lumpia Shanghai filled with moist pork. Snap one open and a garlicky perfume that roils about your nostrils should take care of any vampire infestations you might have.
As much as I love to cook, my annual holiday party usually requires mis en place for 50, which means the culinary army of one that is me usually limits the homemade goods to two or three passed hor d'ouevres. The lumpia is one of my standbys for filling out the rest of the menu. Last year I bought 150 rolls, and they were gone in the first hour.
Uni-Mart
Address: 5845 N. Clark, Chicago IL 60660 (map)
Phone: 773-271-8676
Posted by Michael Nagrant, December 14, 2007 at 1:45 PM
Sometimes you just want to give the clueless a beat down. Monday night, I'm sitting at the Sepia restaurant bar, sipping one of bartender Peter Vestinos's Fig and Almond Old Fashioneds (fig- and almond-infused Woodford Reserve bourbon, fig and cranberry bitters, muddled cherries, and oranges). Vestinos infuses the bourbon with figs for four days and adds the almonds in the last 24 hours to capture their essence without transforming the liquor into Amaretto. The cranberry bitters are homemade, too.
As I sipped and perused a long list of amazing cocktails made with fresh ingredients and homemade concoctions, wave after wave of people order vodka. It might as well be a bathhouse in Moscow. You got guys trying to flash their cajones and wallet endowment through their vodka orders, "Oh yeah, buddy, I'll take your Ketel One and tonic and I'll have two Grey Goose and tonic with a Belvedere chaser." There's an occasional Laphroaig and ice order punctuated by a token chardonnay, but it seems like there have been only two orders over the course of an hour from Vestinos's cocktail list. The bulk of cocktails that pass across the wooden bar top are vodka-based.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, December 6, 2007 at 3:00 PM
Forget the taco trucks in Los Angeles and the green-chile spots in New Mexico, when it comes to finding the best regional Mexican dining outside of Mexico, Chicago ... is the best spot in America.
View Larger Map »
The cookbook pimps are out in full force. As is the case every fall, publishers aiming to capitalize on the Christmas shopping season and the subsequent loosening of foodie purse strings, release a trove of culinary related tomes and celebrity driven cookbooks. The authors of said cookbooks get sent on book tours, drop in on big food cities, sign some of their wares, and, depending on their celebrity, get courted in various media outlets and at hot local dining spots. As such, authors return the hospitality by giving a shout out to their hosts and friend’s restaurants in whatever city they are visiting. According to the Chicago Tribune’s excellent food blog, The Stew:
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, August 13, 2007 at 8:40 AM
On the way back from Greenwood, Mississippi, we stayed in Memphis. We arrived in downtown Memphis at 10 p.m. to find ourselves in a sea of Elvis impersonators. They were having a huge Elvis impersonator concert and contest. I'm not kidding. There were two Elvis impersonators checking in ahead of us at the Peabody Hotel. We were not there to see faux kings, we were there to eat barbecue.
In the name of research, because Bon Appétit had named Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous one of its three finalists in its search for the best baby back ribs in the country, and also because it was a two-minute walk from our hotel and it was too late to eat at someplace like Cozy Corner (the best all-around barbecue joint in Memphis), we had a couple of racks of Rendezvous Room ribs. Now I have eaten these ribs many times, and maybe at one point they were really good.
But last Saturday night the Rendezvous Room ribs were not even worthy of a top three designation in downtown Memphis, much less the nation.
Continue reading »
Posted by The Serious Eats Team, June 15, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Ladies and gentleman, today we talk with the food and drinks editor at Chicagoist, the Windy City–obsessed website that keeps readers up-to-date on what's going down in the City of Big Shoulders.
Continue reading »
Posted by Lia Bulaong, May 7, 2007 at 4:00 PM
My friend Andrew found this beautiful bus stop ad in Chicago recently. Designed just like a World War II-era poster, of a caped nurse cradling a corn dog in the crook of her arm like a baby and feeding it from a mustard bottle, it urges you to visit Springfield's own Cozy Dog Drive In, the birthplace of the corn dog. It's part of a series of vintage-styled advertisements from the Illinois Bureau of Tourism for their Offbeat Illinois campaign, meant to highlight quirky attractions around the state.
I love the corn dog poster best and am planning to get one for my wall, but you can buy any of the other advertisements (the Butter Cow and World's Largest Catsup Bottle are very nice) printed on t-shirts, tote bags, notebooks and all kinds of merchandise from the Enjoy Illinois CafePress store.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 30, 2007 at 1:30 PM
Time Out Chicago announces the winners of its First Annual Eat Out Awards.
Editor Heather Shouse says, "the challenge wasn’t finding amazing food and drinks in Chicago—it was narrowing down the best from a break-out year. Local chefs achieved national acclaim, pizza parlors aimed for authenticity, and mixologists brought the farm to the bar, spiking cocktails with herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Our 25 Critics’ Picks Awards honor everything from the year’s best play on surf-and-turf to the city’s fiercest culinary crusader."
The magazine's online poll for the Readers Choice Awards got almost 4,000 votes, proving that Chicagoans really are serious eaters!
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 28, 2007 at 4:45 PM
In the Chicago Tribune's "Dinner and a Show" column, which pairs an entertainment event with nearby dining choices, writer Chris McNamara hits upon a perhaps too literal combo of ribs and ribs: "I kept the graphic 'Body Worlds 2' brochure tucked away while eating my meaty meal, but the memory of some of the unhealthy corpses we'd just seen crept into my consciousness toward the end of my slab."
Posted by From Roadfood.com, February 19, 2007 at 6:00 AM
As is the custom on Mondays here at Serious Eats, we asked our friends Jane and Michael Stern to help us get the week rolling with their take on the best foodstuffs in the nation. Instead of focusing on a single food item like we have in the past, we asked them to focus on a region. Here, we have Illinois—well, Chicagoland mostly, but a treat nonetheless. Happy eating! —The Serious Eats Team
Continue reading »
Posted by From Roadfood.com, January 8, 2007 at 7:00 AM
We asked our friends Jane and Michael Stern over at Roadfood.com to give us their top five hot dog picks. Here are their choices, with tasting notes.
SUPER DUPER WEENIE | 306 Black Rock Turnpike,
Fairfield CT 06430 [map]. 203-334-DOGS. superduperweenie.com
