Author Archives: steve

The Little Beet Table

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Interior

Cauliflower hummus

Roasted Brussels sprouts

Madras curry almonds

Chick pea Caesar with grilled lettuce

Crispy rice

***** (5 stars)

If you’ve ever wanted to win someone over to vegetarian food, this is the place to do it. While there are many non-vegetarian offerings on the menu, the vegetarian dishes are so flavorful it’s hard to imagine anyone not liking them.

What’s amazing is that most of the recipes are fairly simple, but there is a depth to the flavors that is impressive.

We started with madras curry almonds, which were nicely toasted, slightly spicy, and slightly sweet.

Roasted Brussel sprouts were simply prepared, perfectly tender yet charred, and bursting with flavor.

The standout dish was definitely the cauliflower hummus. A simple mix of tahini and lemon oil, with some seeds on top, this was amazingly flavorful, the best hummus I’ve ever had. The accompanying grilled pitas (how can these be gluten-free?) were also stellar.

Crispy rice was essentially a mini dolsot bibimbap. The sunnyside up egg and sriracha sauce elevated this dish.

Least impressive but just fine was the chickpea Caesar, the only dish where the combined ingredients didn’t rise above their individual sums.

Service was enthusiastic, and the ambiance is cool without being annoying.

The Little Beet Table
845 N State St
Ste 101
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 549-8600
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-little-beet-table-chicago-2

Little Goat Diner

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Exterior

Interior

Last Word

Okonomiyaki (Pronounced Yum)

Tempura Mashed Potato

One Twisted Sundae (Pretzel ice cream)

**** (4 stars)

Sitting at the counter watching the frenzied chefs in the kitchen cranking out perfect dish after perfect dish is a lot like watching an episode of Top Chef. But it’s also a lot like being in a tile box with 150 people screaming to be heard… because that’s exactly what it is.

Somewhere along the line restaurant designers decided that people wanted to eat in a loud environment because it made them feel like they were in a happening scene. They achieved this by not bothering to hire acoustic engineers. But even an authentic diner doesn’t have that kind of ambiance. It’s a place where you can hear the rattle of cutlery, and the waitress chatting up the regulars. There’s certainly no chance of that here.

But the food is wonderful. Each dish is Stephanie Izard’s take on traditional cuisine, with her own twists. And those twists are exceptional.

Okonomiyaki is a wonderful Japanese breakfast pancake/egg dish with a delicious combination of savory sauces and crunchy bits to add texture.

Tempura fried mashed potatoes are light, with a perfectly crisp and not oily shell.

And One Twisted Sundae is a decadent sweet/salty combination of pretzel ice cream, caramel sauce, and whipped cream.

There are an interesting cocktail menu and a limited selection of beer and wine, but if you want to go authentic you can choose from fountain drinks, shakes and floats.

I guess the service is good. I couldn’t hear well enough to tell.

Little Goat Diner
820 W Randolph St
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 888-3455
https://www.yelp.com/biz/little-goat-diner-chicago-4

Gibsons Italia

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Interior

Exterior

Chef’s Crudo Selection

Lettuce and herb salad with Meyer Lemon vinaigrette (off menu item)

New York Strip Bone-In

Grilled Romanesco

Grilled asparagus

Affogato

Good view, rain or shine

***** (5 stars)

The original Gibson’s is a good restaurant, but this one is a great restaurant. Every element of my meal was about as close to perfection as I can expect from a steakhouse. Of the dozens of steakhouses I’ve tried in Chicago, it was clearly the best.

Of course, there is the view, perhaps the best in the city, looking out at the junction of the Chicago River. And the room itself is also gorgeous. It’s on the third floor, with a bar on the floor below.

The service was also impressive. Not only were the waiters professional and friendly, but they were genuine hosts, with several of them stopping by to chat.

The menu includes the full range of Gibson’s branded prime steaks, and they are just as good as you would expect. But it’s the other dishes that impressed me most. The chef’s selection crudo was a wonderful starter: three sashimi preparations of tuna, kanpachi and fluke, with amazing and surprising accompaniments.

An off-menu salad of lettuce and herbs dressed in Meyer Lime vinaigrette was a perfect break before tackling the steak. For sides I couldn’t decide between the grilled romanesco and grilled asparagus, finally ordering the asparagus. To my surprise, my waiter also brought the romanesco so I could try it. Both were excellent.

I finished off with the affogato, which was served deconstructed, so you could add your own coffee to the ice cream. The coffee was laced with Averna, which imparted a delightful bitterness to offset the sweet ice cream. The homemade cookies that came with it were also amazing.

The wine list is also top notch. There’s a great variety, and some reasonable prices. The Morey Saint Denis I had was a gem.

I can’t ask for much more than the meal I had at Gibson’s, and it’s perhaps the first Chicago steakhouse I’ve been to that will keep drawing me back rather than always trying new ones. Highly recommended.

Gibsons Italia
233 N Canal St
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 414-1100
https://www.yelp.com/biz/gibsons-italia-chicago-2

Ramen-san

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Exterior

Interior

Weekend special

Whiskey

Beef brisket with octopus

Kimchi and fried chicken ramen

**** (4 stars)

I enjoy a good bowl of ramen, and the Kimchi and Fried Chicken bowl I had here was a bit unique and tasty.

The star of the show, though, was the Okonomiyaki I started with. Described by my server as a Japanese pancake, it was more like a savory pile of great ingredients, including 18 hour beef brisket, tender braised octopus, a fried egg, and green onions, plus just the right amount of chili sauce. It was delicious. Sadly, it is only available on weekends, and before 3pm.

I rarely drink yellow beer, but I do like Asahi Super Dry, and it’s on tap here, and served in a frozen mug. A great accompaniment to the food.

Service was friendly and helpful, as I’ve experienced at all Lettuce Entertain You restaurants, and the ambiance is decent, with mostly rap music, but at a reasonable volume. If you’re by yourself, the bar is a great place to sit for full service.

Ramen-san
59 W Hubbard St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 377-9950
https://www.yelp.com/biz/ramen-san-chicago

Kuma’s Corner

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Jalapeno poppers

Kuma burger with impossible burger patty

**** (4 stars)

I’m factoring in the fact that this was delivered by DoorDash, so naturally some things, like fries, don’t travel that well.

I’ve had the Impossible Burger–that vegetable substitute that is almost identical to meat–at several places, and always enjoyed it. This version was about as good as I’ve had. It’s important to order it well or medium well so that it gets a nice caramelized crust.

I didn’t actually order the prefab version of it from Kuma’s because I wanted bacon (call me a hypocrite) and real cheddar cheese. So I ordered the Kuma Burger and chose the Impossible Burger as my patty. This was an expensive way to do it, because the Impossible patty is a $7 upcharge, but I got what I wanted, and it was delicious, with all the fixin’s just the way I like ’em.

I also tried the Jalapeno Poppers. These were large, thoroughly cleaned of seeds (so not spicy at all) and stuffed with a flavorful cream cheese concoction, then deep fried in panko batter. They weren’t oily at all, and reheated in the oven beautifully. The accompanying spicy jam was wonderful.

I don’t know if I would order delivery again, just because of the fragility of the food, but if in the neighborhood I would definitely stop in to Kuma’s Corner.

Kuma’s Corner
852 W Fulton Market
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 666-9090
https://www.yelp.com/biz/kumas-corner-chicago-5

Pink Taco

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Cadillac Margarita

Menu

Interior

Pink tacos

House salad and corn

***** (5 stars)

This is my favorite taco place in River North, and I think I’ve tried just about all of them.

I started with the Cadillac Margarita, which came with a float of Gran Marnier. It was more than a float–it was an entire small bottle! The drink was excellent, but I don’t like my margaritas to be too sweet, so I added some limes to make it perfect.

A great place to start exploring the menu is the pink tacos, after all, they’re the restaurant’s supposed namesake (although we all know better). They were terrific. Obviously handmade corn tortillas were topped with a complex, slightly spicy chicken mixture and marinated onions with a slight habanero kick.

Note that you don’t have to get three of the same taco, although the menu sort of implies this. At $15 for three pink tacos at lunch they were worth it, particularly considering the two generous sides. I had the very good house salad, and an off-menu item recommended by my waitress, a half serving of the off-the-cob street corn, which was in a wonderfully savory cream sauce.

You might assume from its trendy interior that it would have a deafening soundtrack, but actually the music level is just right, at least at lunchtime, and the song choices are terrific.

Service is very attentive, and my server made great recommendations.

Highly recommended.

Pink Taco
431 N Wells St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 212-5566
https://www.yelp.com/biz/pink-taco-chicago-2

BIG & little’s Restaurant

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Raw ahi tuna taco

Samurai taco

Cheeseburger

Deep fried grilled cheese

**** (4 stars)

In all fairness I ordered this food delivered, so I’m not going to comment on aspects that didn’t travel well (such as the fries), as I’m sure they’re much better at the restaurant.

What did travel well was the raw ahi tuna taco. The tuna was obviously excellent sushi grade, and the large chunks were still cold, and the fried taco shell crisp.

The other noteworthy item was the deep-fried grilled cheese sandwich. It was essentially fish and chips, except instead of fish there was a grilled cheese sandwich in there. The batter was nice and crisp, but I felt it needed a bit of seasoning, or perhaps the Swiss cheese version (rather than American cheese) is more flavorful.

The cheeseburger was a bit of a disappointment. It basically tasted exactly like a Big Mac.

I also sampled the Samurai fish taco, which was an okay combination of fried fish and pickled jalapenos on flour tortillas.

BIG & little’s Restaurant
860 N Orleans St
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 943-0000
https://www.yelp.com/biz/big-and-littles-restaurant-chicago-3

Rao’s – Los Angeles

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Exterior

Interior

Seafood salad

Penne alla Vodka

Fiocchi

Lemon Chicken

Amazing cheesecake!

***** (5 stars)

Rao’s is tucked away on an unlikely side street in residential Hollywood. It has that magical and now rare ambiance of the red leather booth restaurants of the 1950s.

You’d be hard-pressed to find better Italian food in LA. The meatballs and the seafood salad were great starters, and the Penne alla Vodka was also very good.

But the standout was the Fiocchi, made of Beggar Purse Ravioli, with Ricotta and Bartlett Pear Filling, sauteed in Brown Butter, and dressed with Sage and Dried Cranberries. It was, simply put, the best pasta dish I’ve ever had.

Another number one ranking goes to the cheesecake, served New York style, but with an airy character, elevated by a hint of Amaretto. Amazing.

Our server, Jonathan, was a terrific host, and basically assembled this wonderful menu for us. A great new LA find!

Rao’s – Los Angeles
1006 Seward St
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 962-7267
https://www.yelp.com/biz/raos-los-angeles-los-angeles

The Bazaar by José Andrés

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Interior

Exterior

Scallop ceviche

Caviar and lox cones

$9 a bite x 4

Foie Sandwich

Smoked oysters

Pork Bahn Mi Bun (3 Each)*

Octopus Toast

Squash Tempura Squash Blossoms

Philly Cheesesteak (signature dish)

Dessert room

Mille-Feuille, Caramel Cream and Salted Caramel

Rose

***** (5 stars)

The is an enormous restaurant that feels surprisingly intimate due to clever use of draperies and display cases as partitions. It definitely has an upbeat vibe, but isn’t deafening, and doesn’t make you feel like you’re not cool enough to be there.

Let’s get this out of the way first: it’s not cheap. In particular I thinking of the “cones” that look like little ice cream cones but are filled with ingredients like caviar. The operative word is “little”. They are literally smaller than your thumb, and couldn’t possibly be considered more than one bite, and not a very big bite at that. At $9 each they simply aren’t worth it, even if they are good.

But moving on, there are some much more noteworthy items on the menu. It’s divided between traditional tapas and modern tapas. The modern items were so interesting we just kept exploring, and never got to the traditional side of the extensive menu.

Scallop ceviche was Peruvian style with an unusual creamy but very tart broth. There were only a few bites of fish in the large bowl, but the tart broth made that seem like plenty.

The most inventive item we tried was the foie sandwich, which looked just like a Wonder Bread sandwich, but the bread was made of a somehow soft apple meringue! A thin layer of foie gras and jam was just enough.

Four raw oysters were served under a smoke-filled glass dome. The released smoke makes everyone around you want them, too!

Pork Bahn Mi Buns were three mini sliders with traditional flavors.

The octopus toast was extremely tender, and a generous serving. Raw jalapeno slices added a kick.

Squash tempura blossoms were stuffed with a cheese and olive mixture. The pungent olives overwhelmed the delicate flavors of the squash.

Philly cheesesteak is their signature dish, and it’s easy to see why. Four thin slices of wagyu are served atop a football-shaped pastry filled with a sharp cheese sauce. Eat this over a plate!!! It was delicious.

The wine list is fairly extensive, although most prices are pretty high. However, the Spanish wines are priced quite fairly, and there are some real gems.

A large section of the restaurant has been devoted to a separate dessert room, so at the conclusion of your meal they can transfer your drinks over there for a second experience that is seamless. The only other place I’ve seen this done is Berns in Tampa.

The dessert room lets you survey an array of dozens of items to help decide what you want to order. The rose filled with chocolate mousse was good, but the mille-feuille with salted caramel filling was even better.

Service in both parts of the restaurant was professional, attentive and pleasant. This is definitely one of the more interesting dining experiences in LA.

The Bazaar by José Andrés
465 South La Cienega Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90048
(310) 246-5555
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-bazaar-by-jos%C3%A9-andr%C3%A9s-beverly-hills-3

The Little Door

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Door

Exterior

Mussels

Sesame Seared Day Boat Scallops, Preserved Lemon Sauce

Chermoula Marinated Grilled Octopus, Preserved Lemon Sauce

Spicy Ahi Tuna Tartare and Shaved Fennel Salad

Patio at night

***** (5 stars)

The extraordinarily romantic ambiance of The Little Door makes it almost a magical dining experience. Divided into many intimate spaces, it feels like you’re dining in a patio, or a forest, or a cottage, depending upon where you sit.

Tuna tartare was a nice starter, but the grilled octopus was even better, extremely tender and flavorful.

The mussels appetizer which my companion had as an entree was huge; she could only eat half!

My grilled scallops were perfectly cooked and accompanied by carrots seasoned with interesting Morrocan spices.

The extensive wine list is extremely reasonably priced.

Service was professional, attentive, and friendly.

The Little Door
8164 W 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 951-1210
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-little-door-los-angeles