Coobah



Outdoor dining area

We ate dinner in Lakeview at Coobah, which we had heard about a while ago on Check Please.  Just like their website says, think Cuba, Spain and Brazil meet the Philippines.

As an appetizer we ordered jibarito, which was jerk chicken, layered between caramelized plantains and served with red onions and orange slices, all over an arugula leaf. In the pronunciation of this it kind of sounds like a burrito but it is not a burrito - more like shredded chicken salad between 2 perfectly caramelized fried plantains. It wasn't nearly as spicy as the reviews had mentioned, but it was full of wonderful flavors. Apparently a jibarito was invented in Chicago in the mid-1990's, but at that time it was more of a sandwich with the plantains used as bread.  This dish at Coobah took the concept to a different level - less of a sandwich, more of a mountain and probably more sweet due to the way the plantains are caramelized and soft.

Jibarito

Entrees:
Short Ribs - adobo braised beef with mustard potato salad.  Very tender meat, they don't even give you a sharper knife to eat this.  It was infused with adobo flavoring, which is a Filipino preparation method with garlic, soy sauce, vinegar and ginger. There was a sweet sauce that came with it that paired well with the beef and potato salad.  The potato salad was reminiscent of a picnic, and in this case it was an Asian/Latino picnic.

Short Ribs with potato salad

Pork Bicol - seared pork tenderloin and crispy pork belly with coconut arincini (rice ball), pineapple-bacon chutney, wilted arugula and adobo glaze. Once again another Filipino inspired dish.  It had a kick to it, but not nearly as much as a traditional Filipino Bicol Express dish (which this is based off of ). It was very enjoyable with all of the different types of pork.  The sauce was a caramelized coconut sauce (that is what bicol is). It really brought together the rice balls and the pork.  Although they gave us a steak knife for this entree it wasn't really that necessary. Maybe our friend Anthony Bourdain would like this dish since he is a connoisseur of all things pork.

Pork Bicol

Caramelized Plantains

We ordered a side of caramelized plantains to go with the entrees.  It was a lot larger dish than we expected. Since we only got a little bit of plantains in the appetizer, it was nice to get the full sweet taste of them on their own.

Desserts:
Pina Colada Bread pudding - baked bread custard with rum, spiced pineapple and coconut cream served warm with toasted coconut ice cream. Very tropical, maybe what "Cuba" would taste like.  It was very warm and smooth - the sauces were absorbed into the bread and the flavors were throughout the bread not just on top.

Pina Colada Bread Pudding

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Flourless Chocolate cake - with vanilla ice cream, dulce de leche, ancho chili, creme anglaise and strawberry. We liked the spice and chocolate combination so much from the Kama Sutra cake at Marigold that we wanted to try this type of combo again.  The spice brought a warm depth of flavor.  The ancho chile was actually mixed into a sauce instead of into the cake itself. The chocolate cake was almost "brownieish" in how warm and gooey it was.

Final thoughts on Coobah:
Food - Nick says awesome.  It combines a lot of flavors and feelings that Nick enjoys in food.  It was Latino food with the entrees having a definite Filipino slant.
Service - excellent.  our waiter told us after we ordered that we picked all of his favorite dishes.
Atmosphere - in a cute neighborhood, sort of near to Wrigley Field.  There is an outdoor patio but we chose to dine indoors.  They are known for their Latin inspired cocktails, especially mojitos.  Our waiter told us that it gets super busy on the weekends, so you definitely need reservations then.
The owner of the restaurant is Filipino, that is where that influence comes from.  We would love to return but due to its north side of Chicago location it was bit difficult for us to get there - lots of traffic.  We did enjoy parking in their free parking lot, but it is pretty small so probably not a likelihood on the weekend.