May St. Cafe

We ate dinner at May Street Cafe in Chicago.  We had heard about them from both Check Please and the Best Thing I Ever Ate program on the Food Network.



Interior with fun artwork

Brie and Pear Quesadilla

This is an quite unassming place.  It is next to an industral part of town and wouldn't be where you would think to locate a nicer restruant.  But as you pass by you can't miss it - with it's festive green paint job. One really nice thing it has a parking lot that isn't valet only. It also is a little oasis in the grim industral area with trees and flowers and an outdoor seating area that would have been nice if it hadn't been a 100+ degree day. We were able to come right after work so we were the only ones in the very small and intmate place. So if you are thinking on coming on a weekend get reservations.

Beet Salad

There were a lot of interesting Latin fusion choices and this is what we ate:

French double cream brie & winter pear quesadilla with sour cream and chipotle sauce; we liked this combination so much that we made it at home later.  It had sweet notes from the pear. The pear also gave it a good firm crisp texture and the brie made it smooth with a hint of salt. It was served with a chipotle sauce that we weren't sure would complementt the brie, but it blew it away with a dynamic flavor.



La Pina de la Playa

Special beet salad - beets, arugala, chipotle goat cheese, and mango vinaigrette.  Tasty, it apears that beet salads are our new favorite salad.  Our taste buds did not get bored with the goat cheese and mango. 

La Pina de la Playa de Puerto Rico - the pineapple of the beach of Puerto Rico - shrimp and scallop spanish fried rice made with chipotle coconut sauce (but not spicy) served in a half pineapple; this dish made us feel like we were eating somewhere on the beach. It was served in a hollowed out half of a pinapple. It was a nice combo of the sweet acidity of the pineapple and the smoky favors of the chipotle. The coconut aroma wafted over us when it was brought out and it made Nick yearn for a beach vacation.



Fajitas

Fajitas - steak fajitas, with squash, zucchini, red onions, portobello mushrooms, rice, beans and chipotle cream sauce. We haven't often ordered this out since it is such an easy dish to do at home but it sounded like a good fit for the rest of the meal. The steak was flavored well and cooked medium rare.  But what made this dish unque whas the grilled zucchini and mushrooms that came with it. The next time we make fajitas at home we will definitely grill up some zucchini.



Sides that went with the fajitas

Tostones - fried plantains with garlic sauce. They were lightly fried and served warm.  These were a great addtion to our meal.  They came with a garlic dipping sauce. 

  White chocolate flan with caramel sauce - Art Smith (from Table 52 in Chicago) chose this dish as The best thing he ever ate for the Food Network show's chocolate episode.  Hmmm...we're not sure that we agree.  First of all it was really small and not what we were expecting. When you hear flan you expect something like a half inch deep and giggly with a caramel top. These were wafer like and sweet and tasty but not as satisfying as a Best Thing I ever ate should be (see the sea bass apppetizer from the Las Vegas  episode). Also the chocolate flavor was really subtle.  For a "Best Thing" chocolate we figured that would have been a bit more pronounced. To get enough of what we wanted we would have had to order three of these each - once again it was quite small. 

Flan

Final Thoughts on May St. Cafe:Food - very good, the food is pricey for the hole in the wall location but worth it.  All of the savory items were worth it - but we were disappointed with the dessert.

Service - This is hard to judge since we were the only ones in the restaurant.  But they were attentive and filled our water all the time and were at our call as all of the staff were sitting at the bar very close to us.  It seemed like it took a little longer for our food to come out but that may have just been a perception.

Tostones

Atmosphere - the exterior neighborhood does not match the cuteness of the interior.  The interior is very small - probably 10 or less tables.  We went right after the 4th of July on a super hot day and we were the only customers there (and we were there at least 1 1/2 hours if not longer). We felt a little strange being the only customers.  We saw the video of this restaurant on Check Please and all the tables were filled so maybe this was a fluke.



 



Patio area