Carnivale

We went to dinner at Carnivale, in the West Loop of Chicago. We had heard about this place on Check Please and had seen it from I-94 since it is located right near the highway.

It is a huge restaurant with super high ceilings.  The decore matches the tall height with giant mirrors and lighting fixtures.  The whole place is very colorful and does remind you of a Carnivale type of vibe.

After reading some reviews online we were a little hesitant to come, but we were very pleasantly surprised by the entire experience.

Ropa Vieja on left, Arepas on right

We ordered several different appetizers and one entree.
Ropa Vieja (which literally translates as "Old Rope") - braised beef, spicy mayo, sweet plantains and queso fresco.  We weren't originally going to order this but the server said it is their most popular appetizer and it didn't disappoint.  It didn't taste like old rope at all, but each morsel was both warm in temperature and to the taste.  The spicy mayo had just enough kick to enhance, but not overtake, the flavors of the beef.

Shortrib Empanada

Arepas with pork belly, corn cakes, plantains, black beans, jicama, avocado and lime puree. The corn cake perch was nestled in the amazing avocado and lime puree. There was very few beans or jicama, but just enough to taste them but not to overshadow the pork belly. The only problem we had with this dish is that it comes on a plate with three arepas and we had to split the third one.

Empanada with short ribs, curry, sweet and sour yams and lime crema. This dish came as one huge empanada sitting on top of the yams and covered/surrounded by lime crema. We've never had short ribs in an empanada before but it was good.  The dish wasn't as unique as the others served but still quite a tasty dish.

Churrasco - grilled beef tenderloin

Trio of ceviches - small portions of kampachi, bass and salmon ceviches. The kampachi was our favorite - it was served with basil, wasabi, garli and chili puree. The fresh basil really stood out with the fresh fish. The bass was served with jicama, radish, cilantro, peanuts and jalapeno puree.  The salmon was served with Serrano chile, olives, celery, radish and parsley.

Ceviche Trio - Kampachi (Left), Bass (Center), Salmon (Right)

For an entree we ordered the Churrasco - a Nicaraguan style wood grilled beef tenderloin with sweet potato puree, truffle oil, choclo corn and herb chimichurri sauce.  This was another recommendation from the server.  He said that most people come away saying it's the best steak they have ever had.  Now we've been to some very nice steakhouses so maybe it's the exactly the best steak ever, but it was up there. It was so tender it melted in your mouth.  The combination of the sweet potato puree and the zip of herb chimichurri really enhanced the beef. The corn kernels were massive, which helped to have them stand out more. Overall a very pleasing dish.

Somehow we had a little more room for one dessert. As we were looking over the dessert menu we saw an interesting dessert called the Big Top.  Obviously we skimmed over it a little too quickly because the $25 price tag seemed quite steep.  Apparently it is lot of ice cream, with a whole plate full of cake and flan and then there is a large portion of cotton candy.  Now of course we didn't order this but just wanted to make everyone aware.  We went with the ice cream sandwich which is quite a casual name for the elegant dessert we got.  It was banana ice cream sandwiched by a thin layer of chocolate cake and then dipped in hot fudge and rolled in cashews and frozen. It was plated with chocolate sauce and some grilled plantains.  It was very good and kept more with the Latino theme (as opposed to another dessert option of Red Velvet Cake).

Banana Ice Cream "Sandwich"

Final thoughts on Carnivale:
Food -  better than expected (from online reviews), actually outstanding, would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes this type of cuisine.  We were a bit worried when we first got there by the much larger beverage menu than food menu that the food would be second rate, but fortunately this was not the case.
Service -  very good, we asked for and received some great recommendations and the waitstaff was quick to refill glasses and remove plates.  The food came out of the kitchen pretty quickly and we were done eating in an hour.
Atmosphere - definitely fits its name. As we were there on a weekday it probably wasn't nearly as crowded as a weekend.  It seems like it could get pretty hectic and crazy on a weekend with such a large space.  But the entire experience (except for some of the dessert options) fit with the Nuevo Latino theme.