90 Miles Cuban

When Nick's parent's came into town they wanted to for sure hit up 90 Miles Cuban because they had seen it featured on Diners Drive ins and Dives.  We had eaten at this restaurant a few years ago right before we started the blog but we think it was before the DDD episode so we ordered differently this time based on what Guy Fieri ate.

Croquetas

We ordered croquetas as an appetizer. They were fried ham and bechamel balls that were packed full of flavor.

Puerco Rostizado

Puerco Rostizado - this was the main dish featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  It is a pork dish marinated and roasted over night with bacon guava and ham. So this dish was pretty amazing. Here is the funny thing Natalie tried the dish first and had the ropa vieja second and this dish made the ropa vieja kind of taste bland. Nick tried the ropa vieja first and then the pork and that was the proper order because he loved the beef and then loved the pork even more. The marinade really brought out great flavors in the pork.  This was definitely the best dish we had from both our visits to this restaurant.

Ropa Vieja

Ropa Vieja - slow cooked shredded beef with onions, peppers, garlic, in house creole sauce. The dish was good but not as good as ropa vieja we have had at other restaurants.  It was tasty but not nearly as dynamic a dish as the puerco rostizado.  Natalie wishes she had eaten the entrees in the different order because she would have been a lot happier.

Ceviche

Ceviche - Nick's dad chose to have this as an appetizer but it was so large that we got to try a taste of it later. It was a typical ceviche but such a great deal due to is overwhelming size.

Final thoughts on 90 Miles Cuban:
Food - The pork was amazing! Cuban food is known for its pork dishes so stick with them.  The last time we went we had a Cuban Sandwich which was also very good. We went there on a Tuesday night which is Paella night so lots of other tables were ordering that.

Service - The order and sequencing of bringing out the appetizers and the entrees was a bit weird. The croquetas came out first and then the ceviche a little later.  But then the entrees came out soon afterward so it was awkward with having the courses overlap and not having enough room at the table.

Atmosphere - the restaurant had a vibrant atmosphere and Tuesday night is also Flamenco night so there was live Flamenco music and dancing going on right near our table.  That was fun to experience the entertainment and the dancers were great.  It is quite dark inside the restaurant and we had to use flashlights on our phones to read the menu.

Volare

We went to dinner at Volare in Oakbrook Terrace after seeing the Chicago location featured on Chicago's Best.

Rolled Eggplant

Rolled Eggplant - this is the dish that was featured on Chicago's Best, thinly sliced eggplant and stuffed with ricotta.  We both really enjoy eggplant so it was nice to have it served in a different way (not just as eggplant parmesan). This would be a fun dish to try at home as well.

Warm Kale Salad

Warm Kale Salad - the name is a little weird but this was a great salad with lots of stuff in it - garbanzo beans, prosciutto, pancetta, brussel sprout leaves, red onions, white beans, shaved parmesan; this is normally an entree sized salad but they were able to make a half size order so we wouldn't get too full on it. For not being kale lovers it was smoky and crisp but still salad-esqe.

Black Pasta with Seafood

The pasta dishes were huge and we probably were only able to eat about 1/3 of the dishes at the restaurant and then took the rest as lunch for the next day.

Fussilloni al Ragu di Vitello - pasta with ragu of veal, porcini mushrooms and peas (lots of peas). This was a very hearty dish with lots of veal.  The peas were a bit excessive.

Spaghetti Neri al Pesce - black spaghetti with shrimp, scallop and lump crab meat, lots of seafood. This was tasty.  It was a bit over-sauced as you couldn't really see the black pasta underneath.

Pasta with veal and peas

Dessert - We weren't going to order a dessert but we found out they have several small desserts (kind of like Season's 52) and that was good because we didn't have much room.  But they had a cannoli cream dessert that we split, basically cannolis that we stuffed ourselves.  It was a small but good end to the meal.

Cannoli

Final thoughts on Volare:
Food - tasty and we would go back since they are close to us. But we would keep in mind that the pasta entrees are massive and therefore maybe only order one and a full size kale salad.
Service - not memorable. We were there on a weeknight without a lot of other customers so we weren't ignored but they seemed to be setting up for a larger party coming later.
Atmosphere - typical Italian restaurant look. We didn't get too much of a sense of it because there weren't that many people there.

Mecenat Bistro

We went to dinner at Mecenat Bistro in Western Springs.  It was recently featured on Chicago's Best and we wanted to try it out since we live close by. As we will explain more later, this became a 2 part/2 day meal.

Bruschetta Platter

Bruschetta platter with 3 different types of bruschetta.  The first type had smoked salmon and dill cream cheese on it so it was kind of like lox and bagels.  The second type was the closest to traditional bruschetta (but it wasn't traditional). It had prosciutto, roasted red pepper, pesto, goat cheese and balsamic vinegar.  The third type had wild mushrooms and blue cheese.  The cheese was a mild blue cheese so it didn't over power the mushrooms.  We enjoyed all 3 of these "bruschettas" and would order them again. It was a great dish for 2 people since their were 2 of each type of bruschetta.

$5 Burger

We were there on a Tuesday night which is $5 burger night.  Since this was such a deal we decided to get a burger. It was a fairly simple burger with cheddar cheese, red onion, and pickles on a pretzel roll. Good quality burger, nice and tasty and quite large for $5.  We had to wait quite a bit to get our meal (we heard this was because it was busier due to burger night) so we probably wouldn't come back on a Tuesday night just for this.

Duck Confit Eggrolls

Instead of ordering another entree we ordered 2 more appetizers because they sounded more fun.  We got Duck Confit Eggrolls with chili sauce and Corn and Avocado Fritters with mango salsa. Nick really enjoyed the eggrolls, Natalie thought they were just okay. There was a good balance of duck, spiciness and crunchiness.  Natalie enjoyed the fritters although there wasn't much avocado in them so they should of just been called corn fritters.  The mango sauce they came with was like a tropical apple sauce with that type of consistency.

Corn Fritter

At this point in the meal we kind of wanted to order the chocolate lava cake dessert because that is what had been featured on Chicago's Best. But quite honestly all of our food took such a long time to get out to our table that we couldn't stay there any longer, especially knowing it would take at least 15 minutes to bake the cake.  We were disappointed because we wanted the service to be better.  From the way Nick was faced he felt we were being ignored as he saw the wait staff helping other tables a lot more.

Coconut Curry Shrimp

Well after this meal we had a somewhat negative view of the restaurant despite eating some good food.  Since it was close by and we are impulsive, we decided to meet there on Natalie's way home from work the next day so it would be slightly earlier and not as busy (and not burger night).  On the weeknights from 4-6pm they have 1/2 price appetizer happy hour specials if you sit in the bar area. We decided we would eat at the bar and order 2 appetizers and the cake all at once so everything could be served quickly.  There was no one else in the restaurant at this point so we experienced something extremely different than the night before.

Grilled Brie

We ordered Coconut Curry Shrimp and Grilled Brie.  The shrimp came with a brown mustard on the side.  They had an unusual but tasty flavor to them and Nick liked the mustard a lot.  The brie came with pesto and a citrus chutney. The pesto and the chutney were great with it and made it even more interesting.

Right after we were done with the appetizer the cake came out - such perfect timing. It was rich and decadent and came with vanilla ice cream and berry sauce. It was definitely a flowing lava cake and was worth waiting a day.

Final thoughts on Mecenat Bistro:

Lava Cake

Food - good food, the appetizers were definitely more intriguing to us than the entrees and our favorite of all of them was the bruschetta platter. The cake was great but not worth a problematic rest of the meal.
Service - the difference in the service between the 2 meals was night and day. They probably thought we were weird eating at the bar and not ordering any drinks but that is the only way to get the 1/2 price appetizers which is definitely worth the price. If the first night had been our only experience we wouldn't be recommending it and it was only because we live close by that we returned.
Atmosphere - definitely a wine bar look to it. There is an outdoor patio area, the bar and a medium sized dining area. We had driven past this location in the past and didn't realize that it was a restaurant.

Topo Gigio

On a day off together we went to Topo Gigo for lunch in Old Town.  We had seen it on Check Please and it was recommended by friends.  We were in the area and stopped by.

Polenta with Bolognese

Appetizer - Polenta with bolognese sauce.  Nice, smooth polenta and quite filling with the sauce. There are 2 polenta appetizers so we had to make sure we ordered the one we wanted.

Entrees:
Tortellini alla Panna - with peas, mushrooms, and pancetta in a cream sauce. This was a huge portion and quite filling.  We both enjoyed the dish.  It was pretty typical Italian fare.

Tortellini alla panna

Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala special with spinach. The chicken was tasty; moist and good flavor. It was good but not spectacular.  There was a lot of spinach which Natalie thought was a bit excessive.

Final thoughts on Topo Gigio:
Food - good Italian food at a good price. But there are lots of Italian options in the city so its not worth going out of your way for
Service - There weren't that many people in the restaurant but it took a bit for the food to come out to us (for a lunch)

Topo Gigio himself

Atmosphere - the exterior was under construction but the inside was fully functional. It has a large dining area and lots of pictures of various forms of "Topo Gigio" the mouse from 1960's TV shows.

Chicago Bagel & Bialy

Matzo Ball Soup

We saw Chicago Bagel & Bialy featured on Chicago's Best a few weeks ago and since Nick can never pass up a good Reuben sandwich he wanted to try it out.  It is located in Wheeling and we happened to be near there so we stopped by.

Matzo ball soup with a challah roll - good solid Matzo and big chunks of vegetables. We got the smaller size serving and it was more than enough for both of us.

Bagel and Lox sandwich

Reuben Sandwich

Reuben sandwich - lots of pastrami, good sandwich but not the best Reuben Nick has ever had.  It came with a pickle and coleslaw.

Bagel sandwich with veggie cream cheese, lox, tomato, red onion and cucumber with potato salad and pickle on the side. Natalie loves bagels and lox and would eat them all the time if smoked salmon were cheaper. They have lots of bagels and cream cheeses to choose from. They toasted the bagel before preparing the sandwich.


Final thoughts on Chicago Bagel & Bialy:
Food - good Jewish deli food but nothing that we would drive so far for in the future.
Service - you order at a counter and they bring out food to your table or you can take food to go.
Atmosphere - it is a cozy, casual place on a busy street right across from Superdawg II

Nana (for dinner)

A couple of years ago we went to Nana for breakfast and loved it (see our posting for that here).  So when we saw they were participating in Restaurant Week we wanted to try their dinner fare.

Avocado Fries

Starters
- avocado fries, cilantro, chipotle - lime aioli
- pulled pork tostones, cirispy plantains, cilantro-lime slaw, harissa honey
These were both great.  We would definitely order the avocado fries again. Good flavor combinations for both.

Tostones

Main
- ancho chile braised short ribs, bacon and brie mashed potatoes, leeks, sun-dried tomatoes
- chili rubbed pork tenderloin, squash puree, kale, apples, cider jus
Awesome flavors in both dishes. Unique combinations of ingredients. The short ribs had a bit of heat but that was balanced with the bacon and brie mashed potatoes. The pork was sweet with the squash and apples so getting to try both dishes together was enjoyable.

Short Ribs

Pork Tenderloin

Dessert
- Chocolate Sformato
There were other choices but this sounded the best so we both ordered it.  It was kind of a chocolate mousse and it was VERY rich.  The serving size was pretty large as well so we were more than satisfied when we were done.

Chocolate Sformato

Final thoughts on Nana:
Food - great local food. We enjoyed all of the courses, but especially the appetizers and the dessert.
Service - fast and friendly service.  All the dishes came out more quickly than we expected.
Atmosphere - they have a more casual vibe than the other restaurants we went to during Restaurant week.  It felt cozy.

Anna's Asian Bistro

We went to dinner at Anna's Asian Bistro in the West Loop of Chicago.  We found out about it from Chicago's Best.  Otherwise we probably would have walked right by it because it doesn't stand out too much from the street; and it is on Lake street so the facade kind of gets covered up by the El trains.

Stuffed Fried Avocado

When the title says Asian they are correct - the menu is huge and covers pretty much all Asian fare: including Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and even Filipino.

We went there specifically to try the Stuffed Fried Avocado - avocado stuffed with spicy tuna and tempura fried.  This was the item featured on Chicago's Best.  It was really good and we could have easily had more of it. It was warm and spicy and crunch all at the same time. Kind of like having sushi, except with avocado instead (which we love).

Lumpia

Since we saw some Filipino items on the menu we couldn't resist because we don't find them that often.  We had lumpia which are small egg rolls/spring rolls with chicken and vegetables. They were nice and crunchy but pretty standard Filipino fare.

For an entree we had Panang Curry - chicken with green peppers and basil in a peanut coconut curry sauce. The sauce was great.  The only disappointment is that there wasn't quite enough rice for all the sauce - but that seems to be the case with all curry dishes at any restaurant - there is only a small scoop of rice included with the entree.

Pancit Noodles

Unagi roll

Filipino Pancit noodles - we had to try another Filipino dish.  Pancit is thin noodles and in this case it was served with eggs, vegetables and shrimp.  Nick thought it wasn't quite up to the ultimate Filipino standard (something about how the noodles stuck together), but Natalie enjoyed it.

Panang Curry

We also had a black maki roll with unagi.  Don't know what the "black" in the title meant but Natalie loves unagi (eel).  Nick thought it was pretty standard/nothing special.  We've had better sushi elsewhere.

Final thoughts on Anna's Asian Bistro:
Food - the avocado and tuna was amazing.  The entrees were good. The other appetizers were just okay.  What was interesting was having the variety of Asian options in one restaurant. But since they were trying to do every type of cuisine they weren't outstanding in one category.
Service - pretty good but there weren't that many people on a Tuesday night when we went
Atmosphere - it is easy to miss it from the outside, kind of non-descript, but looks nice inside

Maya del Sol

We went to dinner at Maya del Sol in Oak Park.  We had seen it mentioned on both Chicago's Best and Check Please and decided to check it out for Natalie's birthday.

Ropa Vieja

Before the waitress came to give us her recommendations we had already pretty much decided what to get and actually 3 out of the 4 dishes we ordered were her recommendations as well.

Tuna Cevhice

Platanos de Ropa Vieja - this dish was actually the one that wasn't the waitress recommendation - but actually Natalie enjoyed it the most. We have had ropa vieja dishes before and enjoyed them and this was no different. Ropa Vieja literally means old clothes - which is kind of weird - but it is a tasty version of shredded beef. This was served with plaintains, queso fresco and pico de gallo.

Tuna Ceviche with avocado and watermelon.  This was a small version of a typical tuna ceviche.  Honestly we have had better ceviche, especially during our recent trip to Miami.  Some of our favorite ceviche in the Chicago area has been at Frontera Grill and New Rebozo (also located in Oak Park).

Fish tacos - with blackened tilapia, avocado mayo, pico de gallo and cabbage. They were what a good fish taco should be, light and fresh.  Nick was hoping for a bit stronger tropical flavor from the mangoes, but the dish was satisfying.

Fish Tacos

Cochinita Pibil - marinated pork shoulder. This dish specifically was mentioned on both Check Please and Chicago's Best. The pork was excellent and we would both recommend it.  But it could have come with some different accompaniments.  It came with a lot of black beans which we couldn't even finish.  And is also came with 2 different sauces, one of which was a habanero flavor which was way too spicy for even Nick to go back for a second taste (it was so overpowering it killed the flavor of the meat).  You could put all of these ingredients together on a corn tortilla but maybe a rice side and another more mild sauce would work.

Since this was a part of Natalie's birthday celebration, we were comped a chocolate mousse cake.  It wasn't available on the regular dessert menu.  It was fairly standard but a nice finish to the meal.

Cochinita Pibil

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Maya del Sol has what they call a "risk-free policy" - they encourage you to go outside of your comfort zone and try something new to eat.  If you don't like the dish you can send it back to the kitchen and they will take the item off of your bill.  None of the menu items seemed super adventurous to us.  We wouldn't have been taking a big risk to try them. (Also keep in mind that we have been to Latin American restaurants many times before so it isn't new to us.) There was a dessert that sounded weirder (that had avocado mousse in it), but since we got a free birthday dessert we didn't order anything else for dessert.  So we didn't get to exercise this policy, but if this is new cuisine to someone it is a good way to try something like a ceviche for the first time.

Final thoughts on Maya del Sol:
Food - overall good food.  We had a couple of home runs and couple of base hits. We've had this type of cuisine before though so it wasn't novel to us like it might be to others.
Service - good service, nice touch to have the risk free policy.  They also own a limousine which can take you home if you had too much to drink.
Atmosphere - we got there early enough on the weekend to enjoy a table outside.  After Piccolo Sogno, this is the second nicest patio dining area we have been to in the Chicago area. It is very large outside and festive.  Also there is a large fire pit for when the weather gets cooler and they offer customers individual blankets if it is cooler weather outside. The inside seemed nice as well but try to dine outside if you can.

Fatduck Tavern & Grill

Duck Fat Fries with 3 sauces

We went to dinner at Fatduck Tavern & Grill in Forest Park.  Natalie had heard about it a while ago from some friends but recently it was featured on Chicago's Best.

Here are the dishes we ordered:

Duckfat Fries with 3 dipping sauces - roasted garlic aioli, Mexican pesto and Chipotle ketchup. This is what was featured on Chicago's Best and it is the namesake of the restaurant.  The fries themselves were tasty but since we have had duck fat fries before it is no longer unique for us.  But the sauces are what made this dish special.  They were tangy and spicy and we each had our favorites - Nick liked the Chipotle ketchup and Natalie liked the Mexican pesto.

Duck Confit Quesadilla

Duck Confit Quesadilla - with Chihuahua cheese, apples and pineapple sweet chili sauce - this was good and once again the sauce made it special.  The pieces of apple were really small and we wished they were larger to add a larger crunchy element to the dish.

Grilled Pineapple Burger with bacon and BBQ sauce - Tasty and tangy due to the BBQ sauce.  The sweet note of the caramelized pineapple was a nice offset. This type of burger is Nick's favorite because he loves pineapples. The bacon was okay on it but it wasn't completely necessary.

Pineapple Burger

Final thoughts on Fatduck Tavern & Grill:
Food - tasty food, a slight variation on standard bar fare
Service - attentive and good; we were there at a slower time so maybe service would have been different at a busier time
Atmosphere - we ate outside at a "Key West" inspired patio area.  There were decorative elements from Key West and an outdoor bar.  The indoor area was dark and the walls were covered with TVs (which at the time we were there were covering college football games.)