Garifuna Flava

We finally got to eat at Garifuna Flava in Chicago.  We had seen it on many food shows including, Diners Drive Ins and Dives, Check Please and Chicago's Best. It is known for Caribbean (especially Belizean) food, so we knew we had to check it out.

Fun Caribbean drinks

We ordered a bunch of appetizers instead of 2 full entrees:
Panades - corn patties with hashed buffalo fish and garnished with sweet vegetable sauce.  The panades kind of look like emapanadas but they have a different filling.  It didn't didn't taste fishy; but warm and sweet and it was served with some restaurant made hot sauce that looks like coleslaw but it definitely packed a punch.

Garnaches

Panades & Conch Fritters

Garnaches - crunchy tostada like dish of round fried corn tortillas topped with refried beans, a lettuce sauce, shredded cheses and a ketchup sauce.  We really liked these - they reminded us of Mexican tostadas.  They were very simple but delicious; Nick's favorite dish of the day.

Conch fritters - minced conch seasoned with various Caribbean spices. This style of conch fritter was in a ball shape; it is reminiscent of a hush puppy in texture.  It of course had the sweet conch meat inside.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken lunch - marinated with Jamaican spices and slow cooked on the grill, served with rice and beans, a fried ripe plaintain and Belizean potato salad.  The chicken wasn't too spicy (well not on its own there were some sauces that came with our meal that were sure spicy). The rice and beans were good and the chicken was tender and moist without being overly spicy.  The plaintain was nice and sweet (so we ordered more later). The potato salad was just ok - you have a choice of a garden salad, steamed cabbage or the potato salad and we thought the potato salad sounded the best.

Jerk Chicken

Potato Salad

Hot Sauce

Rice & Beans and Plantain

They didn't have Cassava cake available for dessert so we had a side of fried ripe plaintains for dessert instead. We only got one plaintain with the jerk chicken meal so we were eager for more.

Also we had some beverages - a Ting soda and a Pineapple Coconut smoothie, to put us in the mood of being in the islands (on a colder day) before our meal began.

The price was great. We were there for lunch so that may have been why; but we really got a lot of food for not too much.

Now this restaurant is located somewhere on the south side of Chicago. It's probably not in that bad of a neighborhood, but they do have their own parking lot.  And inside the restaurant, one of the tv's has a live camera feed of the parking lot just to give you peace of mind.

Final thoughts on Garifuna Flava:

Plantains

Food - warm and spicy and reminds you of the Caribbean
Service - we were the only patrons in the restaurant for the majority of our meal so it was very personalized.  But they seemed willing to help you navigate the menu. At the end of our meal they gave us menus to take with us and to share with our friends.
Atmosphere - It is a very casual establishment - definitely falling in to a Diner, Drive in or Dive category.

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.

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

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.