Food & Drink

Pork belly with roasted and fresh apple at Powerhouse

A. Jackson

What's New

American classic via Alinea at Powerhouse, Demera's excellent Ethiopian food, and uncompromising dishes at Korean Seoulfood Cafe. Plus: More recent openings.

December 27, 2007

The principals behind Powerhouse, the new “classic American” restaurant in the restored Chicago & North Western Railway facility, have worked under some of the city’s best chefs, so it’s a mystery to me why my meal there went off the rails. Chef John Peters followed the almighty Achatz from Trio to Alinea, then put in some time at Naha, but while his menu descriptions reflect his mentor’s penchant for understatement, don’t expect a lot of culinary lab work. Peters’s food is more down-to-earth and carne-centric, and it’s not nearly as pricey, though the prices are steep enough ($15 cocktails!). Things started at a pinnacle and slid steadily downward, though each course was perfectly paired by sommelier Scott Noorman, another Alinea vet. Appetizers were sensational, particularly pork belly with roasted and fresh green apple in a mild curry broth—crispy but unctuous enough to be served with a spoon. A flavorful slow-roasted chicken thigh with nutty toasted farro also worked the crispy-fatty angle, and a Kona Kampachi tartare with sizably diced fish was rich and luscious.

The decline began with a dramatically presented pureed pearl onion soup with pickled shallots that weren’t acidic enough to temper the sweetness. A roasted pheasant with sage stuffing and a puck of sweet potato topped with marshmallow brulee trumped all other entrees—it was the very picture of Thanksgiving—but the outside edges of the bird were a bit dry. Braised short ribs were a tad salty but balanced by some creamy polenta. A nice piece of arctic char suffered from the only gratuitously goofy plating: a pile of powdered egg yolk with tiny frazzled saffron burrs and Romanesco cauliflower. The spaces (bar and dining rooms are separate and have their own menus) are long with high windows, and weirdly but not uncomfortably evoke the interior of a pair of railcars—especially when the Metra rumbles by on the other side of the wall. —Mike Sula

Powerhouse Restaurant and Bar

215 N. Clinton, 312-928-0800

“Would you like something to drink?” asked the sweet-faced waitress. “Ethiopian beer, or some honey wine?” It was a reasonable question, and the wine, a goblet filled to the rim with sweet mead, was delicious. If only she had asked 20 minutes earlier—like, before we had ordered. This sort of ultimately inoffensive disorganization was typical of a recent dinner at Demera, a new Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurant at Lawrence and Broadway, across from the Green Mill. Menus were slow to appear, actual food even slower, and I’m not actually sure we got everything we ordered. But the array of Ethiopian wats (stews) was creative and tasty, a notch above the neighborhood standard, Ethiopian Diamond up the street. The extensive menu features a wide range of traditional preparations of lamb, chicken, beef, and seafood, but we opted for the diners’ choice vegetarian combo with a side of doro wat: two chicken drumsticks simmered with onions, garlic, and ginger and served with a hard-boiled egg in a thick, fiery berbere sauce. Presented on a platter lined with deliciously sour injera—the broad, spongy pancakes that are the backbone of Ethiopian cuisine—the veggies included gomen (collard greens) and tikle gomen (cabbage and carrots) stewed in the same complex blend of onions, garlic, and ginger and served with fresh green pepper; shiro, a mild mix of legumes, ginger, rue seed, bishop’s weed, and garlic; and the house specialty ye-selit fitfit, a fluffy pile of injera bits flavored with roasted sesame, garlic, onions, and ginger. Hung with African art and set around the perimeter with little woven tables for two, the two rooms are warm and cheery. And there’s an upside to the hit-or-miss service: you can linger as long as you want. —Martha Bayne

Demera

4801 N. Broadway, 773-334-8787

Korean restaurants outside Koreatown and its suburban outposts often seem to pander to feeble Western guts, sapping strength from dishes that should make eaters leap tall buildings with a single bite. The name of Korean Seoulfood Cafe may pun on South Korea’s capital, but Dan Choi, who opened this West Loop spot three months ago, employs a cook from Jeonju, in the southwest of the country. There, in the rice bowl of the peninsula, the food is spicier, saltier, and generally more highly regarded than the rest of the nation’s—and here in Chicago the cook isn’t trying to coddle patrons with oversweetened glop. Chonju is the home of the ubiquitous rice dish bi bim bop, and at Seoulfood it’s available with chicken, shrimp, or pork as well as the more common beef. It’s a deep bowl filled with quality grains, but like most items on the menu, it’s a mite pricier than what you’ll find on the northwest side. Then again, that’s where you’d otherwise have to go to find less common dishes like beo-sut jeon gol, a hot pot filled with chap chae and assorted mushrooms; “Harry Met Sally,” a special of spicy stir-fried pork belly and squid; and nak ji bok keum, broiled octopus with noodles and vegetables that’s usually eaten while the critter is still in its death throes (not here, unfortunately). A few panchan come with each order, including a salty-sour jalapeno kimchi I’d never seen before. The house cabbage kimchi is fresh and crisp, and though I prefer a bit more funk myself, it has a respectable burn. Choi says it’s become so popular he’s planning to jar and retail the stuff in a few months. I like this place—even if some dishes are served in tinfoil containers like TV dinners, giving the impression that they’ve been held and reheated. I guess that’s the price of offering such a large menu of relatively obscure items. —Mike Sula

Korean Seoulfood Cafe

560 W. Van Buren, 312-427-4293

OTHER RECENT OPENINGS

Lockwood 17 E. Monroe, 312-726-7500

Mythos Greek Taverna 2030 W. Montrose, 773-334-2000

The Painted Lady Organic Eatery 2018 W. Chicago, 773-278-3638

Prosecco 710 N. Wells, 312-951-9500

The Rusty Armadillo Grill & Cantina 6154 N. Milwaukee, 773-792-8360

Spertus Cafe 610 S. Michigan, 312-322-1700

Uncommon Ground 1401 W. Devon, 773-465-9801

For more on food and drink, see our blog The Food Chain at chicagoreader.com.

New Too

Twenty more recent openings

A Mano335 N. Dearborn | 312-629-3500

$$$Italian | Lunch: Monday-Friday; Dinner: seven days | Open late: Friday & Saturday till 11

At A Mano, a basement little brother to Bin 36, the menu and wine list are vast and wide-ranging—in fact potentially unnavigable—but with careful selection you can build a great meal. An assortment of six antipasti and/or salumi for $22 is a sweet deal that affords the chance to sample a spicy, chocolaty, cinnamony mole salami from Seattle’s Armandino Batali or culatello, the soft, buttery nucleus of a ham cured prosciutto style. Most recent restaurants of A Mano’s ilk haven’t dared open their doors without firing up a wood-burning pizza oven, with mixed results, but here it’s executed with facility to produce a slightly puffy crust. That’s just the left side of the menu. Primi include a take on the classic Tuscan bread soup ribollita and the northern cotechino sausage, fried crispy atop white polenta. Some of the fresh pastas work, such as the delicate al dente pappardelle with braised boar and raisins, but the farfalle was overcooked and drowning in amatriciana sauce, which also obscured the house-cured guanciale. Under no circumstances skip the house-made gelati, which include both common flavors and curveballs like gingersnap, mascarpone, and an incredibly rich and fruity olive oil version. —Mike Sula

Abe Frohman’s Neighborhood Joint1316 N. Western | 773-227-7666

$Coffee Shop, american | Breakfast, lunch, dinner: seven days | open late: every night till midnight | Cash only

Named for the puissant but unseen Sausage King of Chicago in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, this bare-bones Humboldt Park coffee shop has been open for two months but has yet to ramp up to an ambitious program of breakfast dishes, sandwiches, and sides. For now the menu is limited to Chicago-made products like Metropolis coffee, Filbert’s sodas, and local sausages from Vienna, David Berg, Best Kosher, Bobak’s, Leon’s, and Sausages by Amy, grilled on a panini press and bunned on Gonella or S. Rosen’s breads. It’s a cute concept, but it’s taking an awful long time to live up to its promise. Currently there’s a monthly open mike nights; there are plans for live music, credit cards, and a BYO license. —Mike Sula

Ai Sushi358 W. Ontario | 312-335-9888

$$$Asian, Japanese | Lunch: Monday-Friday; Dinner: seven days | Open late: Friday & Saturday till 2, other nights till 11:30

Stylish and thoughtfully appointed, in a space previously occupied by Kizoku (which not even “naked sushi” could save), Ai’s the third restaurant launched by the folks behind Ringo and Tsuki. We started with Hou Hou Shu, a semisweet, naturally carbonated sparkling sake, and chawan mushi, an egg custard with uncommon mushrooms that was remarkably both ethereal and earthy. Ai offers a host of maki variations, but the ones we tried suffered from competing ingredients: the flavors of “rainbow spicy pine nut tuna” were indistinct, and it was almost impossible to locate the crab in our “soft-shell crab volcano”—there was just too much going on. We enjoyed hamachi carpaccio in a light ponzu sauce with jalapenos, as well as an innovative take on shabu-shabu, here not meat but whitefish dipped first in cold sake and then miso-based sauce. You can play chef yourself with kaisen tobanyaki, a metal stove that enables you to cook shellfish and mushrooms at your seat. In back there’s a pleasant lounge that can easily accommodate large groups. —David Hammond

Brasserie Ruhlmann500 W. Superior | 312-494-1900

$$$$French, Steaks/Lobster | Lunch: Monday-Friday; Dinner: seven days | Saturday & Sunday brunch

If pedigree guaranteed quality, Brasserie Ruhlmann would be sitting pretty. The partners include the owners of Japonais, across the street, and the chef is Christian Delouvrier, formerly of Alain Ducasse and Lespinasse in New York (where the original Brasserie Ruhlmann is located). The place makes a great first impression with its gleaming dark paneling and plush red velvet drapes, chairs, and banquettes. The problem was that the food and service weren’t special enough to justify the prices. Leathery baguette slices were a bad early sign. We were momentarily buoyed by plump snails swimming in garlic butter under individual caps of flaky puff pastry, only to be dismayed by a tarte savoyarde that resembled a shrunken softish-crust pizza. A little cod fillet with shellfish in a creamy shallot-white-wine broth didn’t impress us either, except for the single deliciously sweet sea scallop. Gratineed onion soup that could have been made from the classic recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking also ranked high, as did the hazelnut cream puff with poached pear, a dessert special. With bottles of red wine starting at $60, the $22 carafe of house pinot noir (about half a bottle) wasn’t a bad buy. —Anne Spiselman

Couscous House4626 W. Lawrence | 773-777-9801

$$Moroccan | Dinner: seven days | Open late: Every night till 11 | BYO

Hadja Zohra, the mother of one of the partners of this two-month-old Algerian restaurant in Mayfair, keeps watch over the kitchen, maintaining quality control on the small menu of couscous plates, kebabs, and mezes. A heaping plate of the fluffy steamed pasta arrives with carrots, potatoes, squash, zucchini, and lamb or chicken, along with an accompanying bowl of the cinnamony red gravy merka. There’s also a different tagine special each day, incorporating chicken and olives or some other preparation. Simple, minimal, and decent enough, this place has been nearly empty each time I’ve been by. It deserves some love. —Mike Sula

El Cubanito2555 N. Pulaski | 773-235-2555

$Cuban | Breakfast, Lunch: seven days

The menu at this teeny west-side shack is as limited as the cinder-block surroundings: Cuban, steak, and ropa vieja sandwiches plus a handful of breakfast-oriented options like ham and egg. The Cuban sandwich is the star, a classic mix of tender roast pork, smoky ham, Swiss cheese, yellow mustard, and sliced pickles on crusty Cuban bread. When pressed and toasted the various elements fuse into almost perfect balance; my only quibble was with the stingy application of pickle—ask for extra. There’s room for about four people to eat on site, squeezed on stools underneath black-and-white photos of Havana. Grab a can of Ironbeer—the sort of diluted, fruitier Dr. Pepper that touts itself as Cuba’s “national beverage”—and head for roomier environs. —Martha Bayne

Forno Diablo433 W. Diversey | 773-525-6400

$$Italian, Pizza | Lunch: Friday-sunday; Dinner: Sunday, Tuesday-Saturday | Closed Monday | Open late: Saturday till 3, Tuesday-Friday till 2 | Reservations not accepted

Lincoln Park gets in on the wood-burning oven craze with this entry from the folks behind Cobra Lounge and Moonshine. Which explains a lot, actually, from waitstaff tattooed to a degree not usually seen at Clark and Diversey to the sudden appearance of Sleater-Kinney on the sound system at the witching hour of ten o’clock. Forno Diablo means “devil’s oven” in Italian, and the dining room plays up the underworld theme, with recessed red lighting and a menu printed in a font more commonly associated with Norwegian black metal. The food, thankfully, wasn’t hellish—though neither was it exactly transcendent. An appetizer of bruschetta three ways was perfectly . . . serviceable: three little rounds of toast topped with, variously, chickpeas and olives, tomato and mozzarella, and raspberry jam with Brie and mint. The Caesar salad was no more inspiring, but pizzas were a happy step up, thanks mostly to a tangy, peppery tomato sauce. And while the crust was oddly floppy and not terribly distinguished, the toppings were fresh and creative. Our favorite was a real curveball: butternut squash puree, a sage cream reduction, fried sage, Brie, and Romano. —Martha Bayne

El Huarachin Huarachon3320 W. Lawrence | 773-267-3926

$Mexican | Lunch, dinner: seven days | Cash only | BYO

George Ortiz didn’t name his new Albany Park restaurant after his nine-year-old Rogers Park place, Quesadillas y Mariscos Dona Lolis, because he didn’t want people to think he was starting a chain. But as at the original restaurant, quesadillas and huaraches are the game here, in addition to the familiar lineup of antojitos, little snacks like tacos, sopes, gorditas, pambasos, and tlacoyos, all made from fresh masa, ground and cooked at the mother ship. I got burned with some dried-out asada, but other toppings such as cactus with scrambled egg and a pork, mushroom, and poblano mixto are more durable and pretty tasty. The less common fillings that make Dona Lolis so notable (squash blossom, huitlacoche) are available, as is the house-made champurrado. —Mike Sula

King Tut Restaurant and Hookah Bar3737 W. Lawrence | 773-478-1888

$$Middle Eastern, Mediterranean. Lunch, dinner: seven days | Open late: Every night till 3:30.

Is it propitious to name your restaurant after a relatively insignificant ancient monarch with a cursed tomb? The restaurant formerly known as Queen Nefertiti is now called King Tut, after her probable son-in-law by incest, and the cavernous space has been completely remodeled in Vegas-style Fauxgyptian­—you almost expect to see Steve Martin doing the funky Tut behind the performance-space mike. The menu now offers appetizers as rarefied as raw kibbeh and lamb tongue alongside fried shrimp and cheese poppers. A selection of stews includes kidney beans and beef (fasolia) and okra (bamia), and there’s an entire page of Westernized entrees like Sphinx Chicken, a riff on cordon bleu with bastirma, or air-dried beef, in place of the ham. But the kitchen’s output seems institutionally executed compared to what some far less flashy Albany Park joints produce. The lavoshlike al-khubz al-shamsy (“bread of the sun”) arrived cold and stretchy, lentil soup was bland and starchy, and the raw kibbeh, which should taste like it was alive that very day, was an artifact. Some things showed promise: raheb eggplant salad was brightened with a splash of pomegranate syrup, and the tiny pieces of lamb tongue were balanced with a good dose of lemon. The place fills up during the later hours with stoic older men and college-age kids who seem to have little in common apart from the pipes attached to their lips and an apparent disinterest in eating. Lunchtime is as quiet as the king’s crypt. —Mike Sula

Macello1235 W. Lake | 312-850-9870

$$Italian | Dinner: seven days | Open late: Friday & Saturday till midnight, other nights till 11

Executive chef-partner Giovanni DeNigris (Trattoria Trullo) showcases the rustic cucina and robust wines of Puglia in this exposed-brick dining room, a former meatpacking warehouse. Under the hands of pizza chef Gino Losacco, pies are a good bet: Pizza Barese featured melted mozzarella and burrata blanketed by silken prosciutto crudo on a beautifully blistered thin crust. Wood-roasted meats and daily hot antipasti come from a smaller oven. The hefty pork chop, though cooked past the requested medium rare and a tad dry, was flavorful and cannily paired with porcini linguine. Fish are roasted whole only, but don’t expect a lot of food: once deboned by the friendly server, our strawberry grouper turned out to be a mere half-dozen bites for $26. One pasta, cappellacci stuffed with firm pumpkin-squash puree, basked in a truffle-flecked Parmesan cream sauce, making it even richer than the best dessert, croccantino with walnuts and caramel. Weekends bustle with trendy crowds, but I prefer quieter nights early in the week. —Anne Spiselman

La Madia59 W. Grand | 312-329-0400

$$Italian, Pizza | Lunch, dinner: seven days | Open late: Friday & Saturday till midnight, other nights till 11:15

Can I go on record predicting the 2008 resurgence of deep-dish pizza? With thin-crust, Neopolitan-style pies flying out of wood-burning ovens all over town, a backlash can’t be far behind. One of the latest entries in the suddenly crowded field is La Madia, housed in the space where the Jazz Showcase used to be. A floor-to-ceiling wall of wine provides visual focus—unsurprising given the dizzying oenophilic options; there’s something in the neighborhood of 250 bottles, many available by the four- or seven-ounce pour, with prices hitting $500 for a 2001 Colgin Cellars Tychson Hill cabernet. As for the pies, they’re delicious. A soft, slightly chewy thin crust showcases the pure flavors of fantastic house-made fennel sausage, fresh arugula and prosciutto, and other select toppings like a sweetly savory combo of Taleggio and roasted vin santo grapes that hung in tricky but ultimately successful balance. It may be personal preference, but I appreciated the liberal hand with the cheese—there was noticeably more holding up that fennel sausage than I’ve found on similar pies at Coalfire or Spacca Napoli. The staff was unflaggingly patient as my friend and I waited (and waited) on a third to join us late Sunday night. And on a bitter winter night the blasting heat from the oven is a welcome bonus. —Martha Bayne

Maya del Sol144 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park | 708-358-9800

$$$Mexican, Latin American | Dinner: seven days | Sunday brunch | Open late: Friday & Saturday till 11

In the beginning there was Bayless, who did beget . . . well, it’s a long story, the most recent chapter of which is being written at Oak Park’s Maya del Sol, where Frontera alum Ruben Beltran serves pan-Latin offerings in a space balancing a laid-back low-lit dining room and a more extroverted bar space festooned with flat-screen TVs. Like his mentor, Beltran employs fresh, high-quality ingredients in dishes finely shaded with south-of the-border spicing. Flavors in a tuna ceviche, one of three, popped cleanly and were satisfyingly simple. Our salmon was moist, almost sashimi-like at the center, and seasoned with restraint to let its naturally beautiful taste come to the surface. Nachos are quirkily but successfully crowned with pot roast braised in honey and cider vinegar. Moist and savory, cochinita pibil, the Yucatecan dish of achiote-marinated pork, is perked up by the traditional accompaniments: red pickled onion, house-made habanero salsa, and handmade tortillas. Cuban mojitos, Brazilian caipirinhas, and Peruvian pisco sours are, like the food, well-balanced and pleasingly proportioned. —David Hammond

Old Town Brasserie1209 N. Wells | 312-943-3000

$$$French | Dinner: Monday-Saturday | Closed Sunday

Veteran chef Roland Liccioni came up in legendary European kitchens (the Parisian brasserie Bofinger and London’s La Gavroche) before conquering Chicago at Carlos’, Le Francais, and Les Nomades, and while this assignment might seem a step down from the high-end nouvelle cuisine he’s known for, it’s modest only in name and price. Appropriately, a trio of patés leads off the menu, including a creamy slab of “chicken” liver that might have rejiggered my opinion of the bird’s potential had a server not hinted it was made from the outlawed organ of another species. Duck consomme with a single truffle ravioli was a paradigm of clear, dark amber purity, and escargots were broiled in a tomato confit, funky with Roquefort, that begged for the bread basket. Lemongrass-seasoned poached salmon and lobster ravioli with a wasabi-based foam show that the Vietnamese-born chef is not enslaved by tradition. For better or worse, that is—the veal was presented with a mound of crinkle-cut frites that momentarily conjured up unhappy associations with Ore-Ida. But not everything is meat and potatoes: an oil-poached lobster with seared scallops is a delicate option, and for dessert, Grand Marnier and chocolate souffles are fluffy and light. —Mike Sula

Pepitone’s5437 N. Broadway | 773-293-3730

$$$American, Italian, Barbecue/Ribs | Lunch, dinner: seven days | Open late: Every night till 11

This new neighborhood Italian-American restaurant attempts to score on two fronts, with a wood-paneled bar and lounge featuring the usual big-screen TVs and an expansive high-ceilinged dining area and patio out back. The menu of bar bites, burgers, and comfort food is well executed if unadventurous. Baked mostaccioli with herb sauce, capers, and olives was hearty, though the creaminess of the dish overwhelmed any subtle flavors. Smothered chicken breast, however, really hit the spot: topped with plenty of mushrooms in a goat-cheese sauce and served with garlic mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus that helped counteract its richness. Other options include salads, steak, pizza, stuffed pork chops, and ribs. Portions are generous, and weeknight food and drink specials offer some real bargains—don’t skip the portobello mushroom caps with melted goat cheese, which you’ll vacuum up in no time. The bar stays open till 3 AM on Fridays and Saturdays, other nights till 2 AM. —Rob Christopher

Pizzeria Via Stato620 N. State | 312-642-8450

$$Pizza | Lunch: Monday-Saturday; Dinner: seven days | Open late: Friday & Saturday till midnight, Monday-Friday till 11

Rich Melman is usually ahead of the curve, but Pizzeria Via Stato seems a little behind it—how many more thin-crust Italian-style pizza joints do we need? Years ago Lettuce Entertain You spearheaded the wood-fired-oven trend; here Melman’s disavowed it, and his crackery “taverna pizzas” suffer by comparison to the chewy pies at Coalfire and Spacca Napoli. The toppings we tried were hit-or-miss: while truffle oil did wonders for a white pizza with artichokes, the pepperoni, described on the menu as fennel salami, tasted of nothing so much as salt and grease. It’s a bad sign when you have no interest in taking leftover pizza home, especially when your tab for two tops $70. I did like the crunch julienned celery gave to a Caesar salad, one of three salads on the concise menu, but a white anchovy or two would have been nice. And when I chose the sole red wine ($8) from an ultracondensed beverage list of house favorites, I didn’t expect it to be about on par with Yellow Tail. Nonetheless, crowds of what looked to be tourists and shoppers packed the small space, stuck between its big sister, Osteria Via Stato, and the bright, barren lobby of the Embassy Suites. Locals should know better. —Kate Schmidt

Sabai-Dee5359 N. Broadway | 773-506-0880

$Asian, Chinese, Other Asian | Lunch, dinner: Sunday, Tuesday-Saturday | Closed Monday | Cash only

This mostly takeout place offers a cafeteria-style steam table with a perfunctory selection of Chinese-American dishes and—more importantly—the only Lao food available in the city. Similar to northern Thai Issan cuisine, it’s supposed to be spicier than its neighbor’s, and though owner Kevin Wong tones down his red and green coconut milk curries, on request he’ll doctor orders to their appropriately nuclear levels. Floating with fall-off-the-bone chicken or pork and tender vegetables, these stews are meant to be eaten with sticky rice or rice vermicelli. There’s also a pa lo stew, boiled eggs and firm tofu in a thin soy-based broth, with or without fatty chunks of pork belly, and a deep, nourishing pho with beef and meatballs. Beyond salads (papaya, ham, beef) and an assortment of finger food, there are other hidden treasures not on display. Just ask Wong what’s good and unusual and he’ll set you up. —Mike Sula

Stretch Run Sports Club & Grille544 N. LaSalle | 312-644-4477

$$Bar/Lounge, American | Lunch, dinner: seven days | Open late: Friday & Saturday till 2, other nights till 1

This new addition to the Financial District is a hybrid of an upscale sports bar and an off-track betting parlor. Downstairs, TVs are tuned to ESPN; upstairs, darkened study carrels face giant screens beaming in races from Hawthorne, Aqueduct, Calder, and Beulah. It’s far more genteel than the old OTB at State and Lake, which had the ambience of a currency exchange and a short-order menu with hot dogs and grilled cheese. My racetrack buddy McChump had a pastrami sandwich (the meat is from Manny’s), which he declared “a little bit greasy but not tough or tasteless.” I went for a chicken breast with mashed potatoes and green beans, both buttery and delicious, and was so hungry I poached some of McChump’s crispy, stringy fries. In the meantime, we neglected to bet an 18-1 winner at Calder—a pitfall of the distractions posed by decent grub. The menu also features flatiron steak, cedar-plank-roasted salmon, and sandwiches like Kobe or Angus burgers and a double-decker club. Eat with a martini or a mint julep, and chase it with a four-inch-tall wedge of carrot cake. —Ted McClelland

Thalia Spice833 W. Chicago | 312-226-6020

$$Asian, Japanese, Thai | Lunch: Friday-sunday; Dinner: seven days | Open late: Friday & Saturday till 11 | BYO

Inheriting a space (and some cool twisted wire furnishings) from former restaurant and dance club Spice, Japanese-Thai BYO Thalia sprawls over two rooms with several cozy VIP chambers. Though we’re sometimes hesitant to chow down on raw fish at fusion places, we found the artfully arranged chirashi here freshly fine. Some Thai selections seemed dialed down, but when I gave our server the green light to make it real, seared tuna came out deliciously dressed with chiles and fish sauce; the owner’s Laotian mother works the kitchen and knows how to turn up the flavor. Green curry with pleasing chunks of eggplant and sweet pepper packed full-on Southeast Asian seasonings and good heat, and Thalia’s version of honey-marinated duck was full of tasty crunch. Thalia’s fusion creations—sake baby ribs, spicy salmon maki—show a commitment to fresh ingredients and honest flavors, so even if you’re skeptical of such offerings, get over yourself and enjoy. —David Hammond

Torpedo’s Subs and More5211 W. Diversey | 773-622-7060

$American | Lunch, dinner: Sunday, Tuesday-Saturday | Closed Monday

At this little corner sandwich shop in Belmont-Craigin, owner Carl Drace and his crew launch a fleet of soups, salads, and subs (“torpedoes” in Jersey parlance). The sammies, though sent out in smooshy rolls (“Easier for kids and older customers to chew,” says Drace), carry high-quality ingredients in inventive combinations. The namesake Torpedo has a lot going on, with ham, salami, pepperoni, and American and Swiss cheese; the Italian features paisano faves gabagool (i.e., capicola), Genoa salami, mortadella, and provolone with a slight splash of oil. Better even than the sandwiches are house-made soups: we enjoyed a creamy broccoli with fresh flowerets floating in a mildly rich broth; minestrone had generous chunks of beef, and smoked red pepper soup packed considerable zing. At $1.99 a cup they’re all a very good value, as are the subs, which start at $3.25 and top out at $6.95 for a 12-incher. Drace takes understandable pride in his work (there’s no tip jar because he feels them unseemly, but we duked ’em anyway because the folks here are so damn nice). —David Hammond

Wilde Bar & Restaurant3130 N. Broadway | 773-244-0404

$$$Bar/Lounge, English/Irish/Scottish | Lunch, dinner: seven days | Open late: Saturday till 3, other nights till 1:30

Named for dear old Oscar, this former hardware store has been transformed into a posh Irish pub complete with stained-glass ceiling domes, a library nook, two full bars, and two fireplaces. Well, why not? The standout dish here is the baked macaroni and cheese—and I consider myself something of a connoisseur. Served bubbling hot in its own little crock, this lily is gilded: beneath a layer of toasted bread crumbs, the creamy heart of the dish, corkscrew pasta mixed with bacon and red peppers in a just-right sauce, is damn near perfect. The chicken potpie is nearly as a good—puff pastry topping a savory filling with chunky garden veggies, still pleasingly crisp. Other entrees include fish-and-chips, burgers, steaks, pasta, and meal-size salads. They’re a shade more standard; the sirloin for one was somewhat dry. But the only really incongruous touch is the weirdly pedestrian music, which is somehow suggestive of a CW show. —Rob Christopher

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