Chicago Foodies

Crisp, the New KFC

In Chicago, the Korean fried chicken craze has not quite approached the madness of say, haute cupcakes, but we do have a number of options for Asian-inspired fried chicken. Prompted by Josh's newfound love for Korean fried chicken, I went to investigate Lakeview's Crisp, which does the honors of putting the Seoul in soul food.

Southern-style fried chicken relies on dredging the chicken in a thick crust, sometimes made thicker through a buttermilk soak. In contrast, Korean-style chicken is unique in its very thin flour coating and twice-cooked frying process. The first round of frying renders out most of the fat, and the second round turns the skin crisp, almost translucent. This results in an unbelievably crunchy exterior that is not greasy. After frying, the chicken is given a light coating of sauce, which is absorbed into the crust. Done well, you will have flavorful, but not soggy chicken.

At Crisp, just approach the counter to place your order for a half ($9) or whole chicken ($13), and in a few minutes, your name will be called out to pick up your food. I clutched the basket of Seoul Sassy chicken, expertly seasoned with ginger, soy and garlic flecks. The meat was juicy, sizzling hot, and perfectly crisp. I am proud to say that I gnawed away until the bones were picked clean.

HB: Home Bistro... In the words of Britney Spears, "Gimme More"

I say “Gimme More”, not because I was disappointed, but rather I cannot wait to go back and try the rest of the menu. This past Wednesday, another self ordained Foodie and I ate at HB: Home Bistro on Halsted Street. For $29 per person (3-course menu), we enjoyed one of the best meals in a long time!  HB is also a BYOB, so the bill for the 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts was $64. Value, leftovers, and satisfying/memorable food…very nice!  HB offers a variety of dishes that can be categorized as American cuisine with East Coast and European influences.

Belly Shack

Belly Shack, the follow-up act to the much-lauded Urban Belly, has arrived. Personally, I have been eagerly awaiting this opening ever since the news broke in July that Bill Kim had signed the lease for this space, right under the Western Blue line stop (rather than in a strip mall). Urban Belly put a sophisticated, contemporary spin on noodles and potstickers. With this new venture, Kim moves into Asian-Latin fusion street food. Though this was only the restaurant's first night, the results are impressive, and more importantly, fun.

After ordering at the counter, we plopped ourselves down in the center of the room at a large communal table constructed of reclaimed 200-year-old maple. Belly Shack's decor was designed by Yvonne Cadiz-Kim and has been self-described as "reclaimed industrial." With an abundance of metals and browns, and a sprinkling of anti-establishment-esque graffiti messages on the walls, Belly Shack is the restaurant incarnate of a skater. I reached for my Vans and red hair dye. The noise of the trains overhead even serves to amplify the urban grittiness.

Crepe & Coffee Palace

Tucked away in an unassuming storefront on Clark, Crepe and Coffee Palace offers a unique ethnic eatery to Lincoln Park: the Algerian creperie. For those of you who live further north, an additional sister location in Andersonville might fit the ticket.

The restaurant offers both sweet and savory crepes, but the savory options are the real stars of the show. These are served with a cup of soup, your choice of either sweet potato or chicken cilantro.

If you are accustomed to thinking of crepes as dainty dessert items, you will be pleasantly surprised at the robustness of the Algerian dinner crepe. Pictured here is the Crepe Iberica, which came stuffed with housemade olive tapenade, ricotta, pistachios, pineapple, cilantro, and mixed greens. On another occasion, I tried the Crepe Marrakech, filled with raisins, cream cheese, carmelized onions, almonds, sundried tomatoes, and baby spinach. Though most of the filling ingredients are not specific to North Africa, there are a couple of items (merguez and rosewater) that you can incorporate for an Algerian accent.

Han 202

My jaw dropped when I first heard the news in June--a five-course dinner for a mere $20? How does that even begin to cover food costs? Review after review urged readers to run, don't walk to Han 202, Bridgeport's newest Asian fusion restaurant with an incredible recession-friendly deal. To further sweeten the pot, the restaurant is even BYOB. I picked up the phone and held my breath, hoping that all the positive press wouldn't make it impossible to snag a table.

This is when I discovered a new wrinkle: Han 202 only takes parties up to four people, no more. Unfortunately, I had guests visiting from out of town, and we totaled five. Were they serious about only serving groups up to four people? How small was this dining room, anyway? What if I volunteered to sit on a lap? I debated my options and decided that if they were adamant on putting their foot down, we could always go down the street to Ed's Potsticker House. I called back and reserved a table for four.

Cozy Noodles & Rice

Do you like robots? Want curry in a hurry? Ever wondered what it would be like to use Pez dispensers as wallpaper?

If the answer is yes, then you should make plans to schlep to Cozy Noodles & Rice. With a kitschy, vintage decor and a coterie of classic Thai dishes on the menu, this restaurant certainly puts the "D" in cognitive Dissonance.

Upon entering, you are greeted with a dining room that is busier than Obama's team of economic advisers. In an offbeat cross between a '70s diner and a five-and-dime store, the walls are jam-packed with retro signs and the shelves are lined with all manner of wind-up cars, plastic rockets and robots. A grinning, life-sized model of Elvis stands in the corner, crooning into a microphone and pointing directly at you. Be careful not to kick the jewel-studded tables, whose bases are made from sewing machines and have some moving parts.

Mariscos El Veneno

It was a warm and mild evening, with glorious puddles of melted snow on the sidewalks, but my heart was in despair. We were on a quest for pierogies and borscht in Ukrainian Village, hoping to knock back a few beers and leave smelling like cabbage. Alas, not one, or two, but three of the Polish restaurants we’d passed were closed for the night. (Apparently, it’s common for Polish restaurants to close their kitchens at 7 pm on Fridays.) Where to turn next? Our eyes alighted upon the glowing signs of Mariscos El Veneno (translation: “poisonous seafood”), and more importantly, the enormous platter of prawns being brought out by a server. We bit.

Drink of the Week: Miller Genuine Draft 64 – Here's the Secret

So I bought a 12-pack of MGD 64. It wasn't hard to rationalize... 64 calories? Sure! I like the TV spot that shows a full glass of 64 vs. a 1/3rd of a glass of the regular beer. But to continue with an accurate representation would be to finish filling that glass with seltzer. Now alcohol isn't the reason we drink beer. To some it might even be an annoying by-product. So in those instances this is the solution you've been waiting for.

But for everyone else it's a light beer that has no finish at all and a lousy 2.8% of alcohol to boot. Say you're at a bar and want to at least get a buzz going. It will cost you far more to get loaded on 64 than a regular light. So in those instances what do you do?

Bill Kim's Urbanbelly

It's hard to explain how my Friday was redeemed. It was a long day. I was graciously getting a ride home that was delayed an hour due to construction on the inbound LSD... are they kidding! Traffic outbound wasn't much better so I was needed something nice. I saw a listing on LTH for Urban Belly and made the Bill Kim connection and talked the driver into a detour to California, just North of Diversey. In a strip mall is Bill Kim's new diggs. Sure enough three weeks into the endeavor he was right there in the kitchen dishing out dumplings, rice dishes and bowls of noodles. Once you order at the counter seating is at one of four communal tables. It surely isn't Le Lan. But TGIF.

Sura – Space-Age Thai Tapas

Just next door to the Bamee Noodle shop (where you can get bang-up udon noodles btw) is the new trendy face of Lakeview, just south of Boystown. They're serving food on the weekends until midnight? 2am? I'm not sure how late but late... The interior is all white and very modern circa 1977... so it's retro-modern? Saarinen-type stuff. There's a digital DJ turntable rig. The room was fairly cold (chilly) and the club music was playing. Waiters were plentiful (no waitresses).

I was really worried that this place was style over substance. I bet myself that the website surely played music... check and find out.

Al-Khaymeih Restaurant

On Kedzie, just south of Lawrence is the Lebanese restaurant Al-Khaymeih. Just down the street is Semiramis another Lebanese restaurant but one at a time.

Shawarma was the reason for going and well worth it. You can choose either chicken or beef and you can take your time as you watch the meat on the spit. Monday evening I went back for more Tacos Al Pastor from Taqueria Uptown and thought about how similar regional foods are even when geographically they're literally a world apart. Of course you have to mention gyros and there you have it... beef, chicken, pork, and lamb. All we need is a slowly rotating giant spit of fish fillets. Hmmm. I think I'm on to something.

The one dissenting order was for a kefta-kebab type thing that I would order next time. The tahini sauce does wonders with charred meat. In addition to the sandwiches we really enjoyed the hummus and the very smokey babaganoush. Their tabbouleh salad was heavy on the veggies and light on the bulger. A friend explained the regional differences. When you're closer to the veggies - you get more veggies. The kibbeh was also terrific – deep fried spheres of bulger wheat filled with ground meat. Complimentery olives pickled with lemons and salty picked turnips were nice additions.

Think Cafe

So, it's not much to look at from the outside, but the food inside of Think Cafe is spectacular.  The Web site says this place used to be a kitschy cafe, but it's definitely swank these days...blond wood, white linens, etc.  Most of the patrons used the BYOB menu as an excuse to pull out the neoprene wine cooler bags they received for Christmas, but one guy pulled up with a 12 of Miller Lite, so really, all kinds are welcome.

Rick's Cafe Casablanca

Rick's is a small restaurant next door to a wonderful Wrigleyville pizza place, Pizza Rustica. Walking in we met another couple and made a comment that we should get a quick appetizer and go next door for their wonderful potato/rosemary pizza. Maybe next time...

Wellfleet at The Fish Guy Market

On Thursday evenings the Fish Guy Market on Elston closes its retail fish shop and transforms into Wellfleet fish restaurant. Tables are set out between the refrigeration cases and tea lights and candles create an unorthodox atmosphere for a 6 course dinner, though some courses are plated and served together.

The candlelight effect is terrific but the presence of Bill Dugan and crew is equally engaging. Anything you want to know about anything with gills he can explain and he takes you through the evening's dishes with a genuine enthusiasm.

The menu changes every few weeks but the service and level of preparation of the dishes should be constant. Given that they've only been at it for a short time it should even improve. It's BYOB and a couple of different bottles would give you a nice range considering the several courses.

The first course came as a plated combination of three large oysters in an "Asian style," a soy and radish treatment. It was a very clean way to serve a very fresh oyster. A ramekin of creme fraiche covered a layer of cauliflower puree and a healthy portion of Illinois sturgeon caviar – Joel Robuchon style. I enjoyed the cauliflower puree but would have liked toast points or something on which to spread the very rich and very tasty dish.

Indie Cafe pt.2

It's been a long while betweeen visits to Indie Cafe. My experience had been months ago, during their Reader-induced celebrity. It was time to go back.

They're still BYOB and they're still packed. Thursday night we had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. The dining room is small. So I'm guessing their business is still very brisk. That was a good sign and I was in for more good news.

Dorado

I've been reading rave reviews about Dorado for some time now and finally decided to give it a try.  If the food is consistantly like I tasted last night, I've been missing out on a lot of fantastic meals.  Dorado serves Mexican cuisine with a French flare. 

There are some traditional Mexican items on the menu, like Queso Fundido, Carne Asada and Chicken Enchilades Mole.  However, there are far more non-traditional items, each sounding more delicious than the next.  We decided to start with the popular Duck Nachos.  I'm not a huge Nacho fan but these were tasty - topped with crispy duck, black beans, cheese, sour cream and jalapeño peppers. 

Wholly Frijoles

There is something about Mexican food that puts me in a good mood.  Maybe it's all the wild and bright colors usually painted on the walls, or the up tempo music piped through the dining room, or the spicy flavors that remind me of how much fun I always have in Mexico.  Whatever it is, I usually crave Mexican food daily for these reasons however, I've found most of the local Taquerias fall short of imagination and taste. 

Frontera Grill has been a long time favorite and in my opinion Rick Bayless does everything right, but I can not afford that luxury as often as I would like until now....I've fallen in love with Wholly Frijoles - a Mexican Grill that to me rivals Frontera - at last! 

Indie Cafe

As an Edgewater resident and Thai and sushi enthusiast I was thrilled to hear of this mystical Thai place that has great sushi. I initially thought they meant Thai Vietnamese – Thien Noodles on Clark - a true one of a kind. A neighbor mentioned it so we went. Then a friend said something. then my aunt called. Let's just say word is out.

OK. Here's the deal. Indie Cafe is just OK.
What makes the place special is the way the food looks.