Full Transcript for The Restaurants We've Revisited Lately

Well, he's he's doing great work there. So excited to get back there at some point. 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:44.520 All right, what's up next? I did the big one. I went back to Kyoten and had the$490 sushi omakase. God, loved and it was blessedly fried. Very happy to that place. It never changed. 00:03:39.748 --> 00:04:04.485 Never changes. The laminate on the sushi bar is still peeling in the corner, and it is, you know, there's still paper over the windows, and it is just all about a comfortable environment where there is amazing food. And holy hell was the food amazing. 00:03:59.633 --> 00:04:33.439 I think Otto Phan is somebody who, the more you get to know his perspective, the more you appreciate it. I just, it wasn't just the sushi. The small plates were great. You know, we're in firefly squid season, which is early spring in Japan. Those were delicious. We also had something very interesting, which was puffer fish milt. Milt being the male reproductive substance from a puffer fish. 00:04:44.214 --> 00:04:51.295 have eaten amazingly delicious sushi and some things you won't find elsewhere. On to you. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:05:19.605 All right, so I mentioned the beets at The Radicle last time as the best thing I ate. But we're gonna talk about it again, because I've been twice and I've eaten a large chunk of this menu now. So this is the new spot that is from the Daisies team. It's really, you know, a cocktail bar, but there is a pretty big food menu. On the drink side, my favorite cocktail is the Weeknight Giuseppe, which is actually one of the nonalcoholic options, inspired by your Bitter Giuseppe, which, you know, is a Chicago-based cocktail. 00:05:19.845 --> 00:05:28.425 Nonalcoholic amaro, cherry, lemon, delicious. I really enjoyed that one quite a bit. 00:05:25.125 --> 00:05:47.970 There's also a really fun wine program. And then on the food, we know I love the beets, but the smoked mackerel toast with tonado and radish is absolutely delicious. I really like the Calabrian chile-glazed wings with, comes with an onion dip, ranch, really delicious. Daisies is known for their onion dip, so some variants kind of pop up. 00:05:47.970 --> 00:06:17.415 Yeah, you can actually get it with veggies here. And the deviled eggs are great. I've never met a deviled egg I didn't like. And then I've had a few of the pizzas. I really enjoyed the clam and potato with garlic and cream. Really tasty. But my new favorite is the mortadella with pistachio pesto, lemon. It's very rich and decadent. It's really fantastic. So I have really enjoyed my two visits at The Radicle so far, like I think definitely going into my Logan rotation. 00:06:16.740 --> 00:06:53.565 Continuing on in the super expensive destination dining arena, which I promise to leave soon enough, but I finally made it back to Kasama for dinner, which is a meal I have not had since you and I dined there together before deciding it was the best new restaurant three years ago. Yeah, and it was lovely to go back. It is quite expensive now. It is $325 before tax or tip or beverage. 00:06:48.178 --> 00:07:36.663 It has two Michelin stars, and it has the kind of staffing and extreme attention to detail you would expect for a restaurant operating at that level. It still kind of presents its menu as sort of an introduction to all the classic Filipino preparations such as lumpia, kinilaw, inihaw, sinigang, which are all different kinds of, perhaps rolls or soups or stir fries, and presents a very, very upscale version of it. I will say that the food was lovely, full of flavor and great. Really took off once you hit desserts. 00:07:36.750 --> 00:07:42.225 I thought that the food was an A, the desserts were an A-plus. 00:07:42.314 --> 00:08:05.100 They just are so memorable and different and just unlike anything anywhere. I also poked back in for lunch one day and did my due diligence and waited 45 minutes in line and got a bunch of food to go, and we really liked everything. So nice to go back again. 00:08:05.180 --> 00:08:14.120 That's great. I haven't been in a little while, but I feel like I'm overdue on some of the, the mushroom adobo is my favorite daytime dish there, so I really have to go back and have that soon. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:34.879 It really is great. And it's such a nice sort of vegetarian version of a silog. You know, a Filipino breakfast with garlic rice and, you know, pickled vegetables and a fried egg. And it was just, it's really great with that nice, like, thin line of vinegar going through this really rich, dark sauce. Where else have you been? 00:08:34.000 --> 00:09:32.830 All right, so I had dinner at Xoco. Xoco is the Rick Bayless spot where, you know what you want, and it is my kind of go-to between events. So if I ever have a night where I'm like, kind of hopping around, and I have things that are not dinner, but I know I need dinner, Xoco is my answer. So I will say that I had never had anything that was not a torta before. So I decided to branch out, and I got the carnitas enchiladas, super tasty, tomatillo sauce covered with cheese, onion, cilantro. The pork was delicious, beautiful tortillas. Really enjoyed it. I hadn't known that, you know, they have these plates. Like they also do, like flank steak and chicken milanesa as platillos. And so I don't know if that's new or if I just missed that they offered this, but very solid for a quick dinner and that you can easily walk right into. So very well done there. 00:09:33.259 --> 00:11:14.960 Okay, so next for me is Clay Pot. Clay Pot is a Korean restaurant in Northbrook along that Milwaukee Avenue stretch that also has New Village Gastropub and the really, really big Joong Boo Market and a whole bunch of other good Korean restaurants with specialties like, you know, they might serve a certain kind of pork stew. Or there's one place that it just serves grilled intestines. It's called Gopchang Story, and I've not been there yet. But Clay Pot's specialty is seolleongtang,

which is this kind of ox bone soup that's very plain. They boil and boil and boil the bones to get all the collagen out so it gets very white and milky, and then you get the soup served to you with your meat garnishes of choice. And alongside are some sliced scallions and some fine sea salt. The soup is totally unseasoned, and once you put a little salt and just all the flavors come into focus, it's a nice magic trick. It's very mild. But this restaurant has also started branching out and putting more dishes on the menu. There is a black goat soup with perilla leaves and bitter mustard greens and perilla leaf powder, and it comes in the bubbling clay pot, and it's absolutely killer. So if you're up there, it is just the best area in the whole metro area for Korean food. 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:50.465 Well, I next went to Gibson's, which I'm embarrassed to admit how long it had been since I had last dined at Gibson's, but you put it on our Best Steakhouses list. So I was like, I have to prioritize going here. We had an absolute ball at that restaurant. We went on a Friday night. It was jam packed, lively dining room. 00:11:47.164 --> 00:11:50.465 Everyone was so happy to be 00:11:50.465 --> 00:12:08.509 shrimp cocktail, wedge salad, split the WR Chicago cut, creamed spinach. And then we kind of hesitated on the potato, and our server was like, Oh, well, you have to get the fries. 00:12:05.210 --> 00:12:21.830 And so fries would not typically be my potato go-to, I love a baked potato or a twice-baked or something. But these were, like, shoestring — just really delicious. So highly recommend those next time you go to Gibson's, perfect with— 00:12:21.830 --> 00:12:22.549 Good to know. 00:12:22.549 --> 00:12:28.654 So perfect with the ribeye and the the creamed spinach, really, really good. 00:12:25.475 --> 00:12:41.315 And then also the cocktails were, like, excellent. I had a Manhattan. There is, like, excellent. Like, just no notes, like, I got a Manhattan, is one of my go tos, and that was perfect. And Kenny had a martini, and it was like, that was excellent. 00:12:41.315 --> 00:13:04.220 I kind of loved the dirty martini there. And I'm not a, like, a dirty martini drinker, but I had one there once, and it was just, so I don't know, so big, so, yay, big, yeah, but it was so icy, and I don't know it just, there was something about drinking it there that was such a nice experience that I have repeated it a few times. 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:08.840 Yeah, it is a great little spot that everyone already obviously knows about, but 00:13:10.039 --> 00:13:10.940 Exactly. 00:13:10.940 --> 00:13:12.605 You know if you haven't been before. 00:13:12.779 --> 00:13:23.700 Yeah. Listen to us for all the latest, you know the latest and hottest tips that you're not going to hear anywhere else. All right, I went back to Galit, which was great. 00:13:23.759 --> 00:14:05.009 It's gotten a bit more expensive. It's, the four-course menu is up well above 100 bucks now, but the food is delicious, and they thread the needle so well between being kind of a genre-style dining, where you can expect a certain amount of Middle Eastern food presented in a way that feels very true to the origins — you know, a lot of mezze to start and great hummus and beautiful inflated pillows of pita like you have never seen. They're just the best pita and then nice entrees and simple desserts. How about you? 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:21.139 So I went to Cleo's Southern Kitchen, which had been on my radar for a long time, and I had just never made it before. I've gotten, you know, it's a place that people come into my DMs and are like, highly recommend. Have you been there yet? So I finally went. 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:24.379 They just opened a new Lake View location a couple months ago, so that was a good peg to go in. 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:56.029 And I love fried catfish. And they make a very nice fried catfish. I particularly like the version served over grits and drizzled with comeback sauce, which is a Mississippi condiment, chicken was also good. And then they make just an excellent baked macaroni and cheese, like, just gooey, yummy, really tasty. So they have a few locations around town, all the kind of packaged up to go. So you can definitely think of it as, you know, a takeout joint. 00:14:51.605 --> 00:15:05.870 But the portions are absolutely massive, like you can get a main and a side or two, and that is good for two of you. So kind of a more affordable option, if you want to get a couple things and then share it for your dinner. 00:15:05.870 --> 00:15:08.870 So that's great to know about. 00:15:05.870 --> 00:15:09.289 Yeah, how about you? What's next for you? 00:15:09.649 --> 00:15:21.154 I went back, had a nice meal with some friends at S.K.Y., SStephen Gillanders's restaurant in the Belden something or other. What's that building called? 00:15:21.514 --> 00:15:23.195 The Belden Stratford. 00:15:23.195 --> 00:16:22.024 The Belden Stratford, yeah. And it was very lovely. I really do appreciate his food. I idolize his beverage director, Jelena Prodan. The staff is great. The food was a little hit and miss, but the hits were big hits. They do this Singapore-style crab cake that is in your face with a lot of flavor. Fantastic. Their great pastry chef Tatum Sinclair now makes a bread pudding for two that you have to order ahead of time. And I'm like, oh, yeah, I don't want bread pudding. Bread Pudding is boring. It's just more starch. I don't need more starch. But I tried it and it was like, I need more starch. I need this starch. I need all of this starch. It was just the crustiest, fluffiest, most delicious bread pudding I've ever had. So there were a couple dishes I didn't love, but it's all in all very, very solid restaurant. 00:16:22.700 --> 00:16:27.860 Yeah, I have had one excellent meal there, and I'm eager to go back and try some more. 00:16:28.259 --> 00:16:33.779 Yeah, it's good to know. And you can get in there too.

And it's a lovely room. 00:16:31.080 --> 00:16:40.440 It's not a, it's not one of these reservations that will like, you don't have to camp out for it. You can usually get in. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:42.899 So it's great. All right, we're starting to wind down to the last few What do you got? 00:16:42.899 --> 00:17:54.734 Del Rio Restaurant in Highwood. I don't know if I've talked about this restaurant on here before, but it's over 100 years old, classic old-school Italian, family-owned place, one of the restaurants I go to the most and I almost always get either a parm, like, eggplant parm, chicken parm or a branzino, which they do in a very lemon butter, beautiful sauce. On my most recent visit, I was like, I'm gonna branch out. I'm gonna try something new. And I got the duck lasagna because chef Todd Stein came into my DMs when he saw that I had gone there previously, he's like, you must get the duck lasagna. So it's, like, all right, absolutely delicious, ground duck, a creamy tomato sauce. Really, really delicious, like, I've been thinking about it since I ate it last week. I will definitely be getting it again. This is just, you know, a very classic place. There's like, a house veal dish. There's tortellini in brodo, Caesar salads, chicken piccata, very classic, but the service is always wonderful. The room feels like a time warp, but a place that you can kind of, you know, go and shut out everything else. 00:17:51.269 --> 00:17:57.795 So one of my favorite spots to go to, and I was rewarded for branching out for once. 00:17:57.974 --> 00:18:06.434 That's nice when that happens, because I hate that, what always happens is the opposite, is you think, Okay, I'm not going to get my ususal order. I'm going to try something else. And then, nope. 00:18:06.434 --> 00:18:07.515 All right, what's your last? 00:18:07.515 --> 00:18:18.720 Well, so you went to Del Rio's in the north suburbs. But have you ever heard of Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket, which is in Willowbrook? 00:18:18.779 --> 00:18:24.500 Yes, I've been there. Oh my god, many years ago, probably like 14 years ago. 00:18:24.660 --> 00:18:27.900 What a hoot and a holler that place is. Oh my god. 00:18:27.900 --> 00:19:20.009 It was so fun because we went to a national ping pong tournament that was happening in the arena right next door, because my nephew was involved with national ping pong, and we just went afterwards, and we got fried chicken and old fashioneds made with maraschino cherries that have probably been sitting there for three years. And I shouldn't say that, but you know, just these very old-school bar old fashioneds. Pretty good fried chicken, really kind of nice mac and cheese and ribs in sticky sauce and great waitresses and just this great old diner environment. So it was happy-making meal, very fun. All right. Amy, close us out. 00:19:20.009 --> 00:19:21.210 All right. Right. 00:19:20.009 --> 00:19:21.210 So I— 00:19:21.210 --> 00:19:23.250 What was the last great one? 00:19:23.309 --> 00:19:29.549 I went to Atelier to do the a la carte menu, and I really, really enjoyed it. Have you been to the new space yet? 00:19:29.549 --> 00:19:30.990 I've not, I need to. 00:19:31.019 --> 00:20:11.505 Yeah. So now they have, it's two rooms. In the front room, there's a bar, and that's where you have a la carte dining. And then in back, you walk past the kitchen, and there are the tables for the tasting menu. So I haven't done the new tasting menu yet, but I very much enjoyed the a la carte menu. Solid beverage program from Ali Martin. She's doing a really nice job there. The food changes quite frequently. So I'm looking at the menu now, and I see it's different from when I went and so things I mentioned may not be available when you go next. But there was this really great charred salad with beets, feta, grapefruit, a really nice white fish dip I really enjoyed. 00:20:11.565 --> 00:20:23.670 The jerk rabbit leg with coconut rice and beans was absolutely delicious. And then had a really nice pasta with mushrooms and sauerkraut and truffles and so— 00:20:23.970 --> 00:20:25.109 That sounds great. 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:28.180 Yeah, very solid. 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:35.019 Would be eager to go back. Would also just like to go sit at the bar, have a glass of wine and have a bite or two. They do have some very like, smaller bites. 00:20:35.019 --> 00:20:54.744 Like the oysters were also really good. They came with a strawberry mignonette granita that was very tasty. So you can go in and have a glass of wine, a couple snacks, or you can do a la carte, or you can do the tasting menu. So they're now offering a lot of options, still generally kind of Lincoln Square area, but like a little bit south, which I think is probably a better location, feels kind of less hidden away. 00:20:55.105 --> 00:20:58.164 I'm really curious to go back and try it again. 00:21:10.224 --> 00:21:11.964 John, what's the best thing you ate lately? 00:21:12.140 --> 00:21:36.365 I went back to Beity, the Lebanese restaurant in the West Loop that is owned and run by a young chef named Ryan Fakih. And it was really lovely. The cocktails there are great, as you know, but just to sit at the bar and order a lovely plate of hummus with his homemade pita bread was great. 00:21:36.365 --> 00:22:11.690 It's a, if you're in the West Loop and you just need a little snack, highly, highly recommend it. There are several kinds of hummus they serve. And I had one that was topped with just the most beautifully booked, meaty rendered maitake mushrooms. Just really the best, most flavorful maitakes I've had. And so it's a sweet place. I really enjoyed it. It's a little expensive, but it's a la carte now, so you don't have to commit to a tasting menu if you don't want to. And I'd really recommend to checking it out. How about you? 00:22:11.990 --> 00:22:14.569 So I went to Cerdito Muerto. Have you been there? 00:22:14.569 --> 00:22:15.349 I have not. 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:21.480 This is I really, really enjoyed it, and I will definitely be going back. It is a cocktail bar in Pilsen. 00:22:21.539 --> 00:22:58.184 Mexican in terms of its food focus, in terms of its cocktail focus. I enjoyed the drinks, and I really enjoyed the food as well. The steak quesadilla was with salsa macha was absolutely delicious. But kind of the sleeper hit was the burger, which, it was a mix of beef and chorizo for the patty, and then it was topped with Chihuahua cheese. Actually, it was a double patty, so it was like a smash burgers. So, yeah, beef and chorizo topped the Chihuahua topped with curtido, which is like a cabbage slaw, fantastic. 00:22:53.505 --> 00:23:05.190 This is definitely in the conversation among best burgers right now. I, best one I've had in a minute. Like, really, really enjoyed it. 00:23:05.670 --> 00:23:07.589 That sounds great. 00:23:05.670 --> 00:23:16.650 I love the idea of, like, the vinegar edge from the curtido on a burger, because I love it when kind of nice, yummy, fatty, greasy meat is offset by something vinegary. 00:23:16.650 --> 00:23:32.234 Yeah. Like they, it was, it was a very good call to add that there. We've been seeing smash burgers everywhere, and this was just a great take on one that felt like perfect for the place, and then really with a great point of view. So highly recommend. 00:23:40.454 --> 00:24:01.559 Thanks for joining us for this episode of Dish From Chicago Magazine. Your hosts are dining editor Amy Cavanaugh and critic John Kessler. Editing by Sarah Steimer and music by Bill Harris. You can find us online at chicagomag.com. Please be sure to follow, rate, and review us wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you next time.