Giacamo's

Lasagna

We went to dinner at Giacamo's in Des Plaines.  This restaurant has been featured on both Check Please and Chicago's Best. We made reservations a day in advance and good thing we did because it has a smaller interior and there was an event happening in one room.

Mushroom Soup

Salad

We didn't order any appetizers because we saw the entree portions coming out to the other diners - they are quite large and in fact we took half of both our entrees home with us and we were still stuffed.

The entrees come with a cup of soup or salad.  Nick got the salad and Natalie got mushroom soup.

Entrees:
The lasagna had recently been featured on Chicago's Best so we tried that.  It was a massive piece of lasagna and what they do differently is that they have a layer of polenta in addition to the layers of meat, pasta and cheese.  The polenta gave it a sweet taste that was a bit unique.  We thought it was a good lasagna but not worth the 40 minute drive from our house.

Braciole

For our other entree we had Braciole.  Braciole is beef stuffed with Italian meats and cheeses, covered in tomato sauce.  This is an Italian dish we have never had before so it was interesting and unique for us.  It probably is featured at other Italian restaurants we go to but we never had ordered it before. Nick loved it and if he sees this entree at other places he will try it again.

Final thoughts on Giacamo's:
Food - Good down home Italian fare.  Super large portions so a great value.
Service - We went to Giacamo's on a Saturday night. It was super busy and even with a reservation we had to wait a bit. (We think there was a bit of an "after-mass" effect due to the time we were there on a Saturday night.) We were sat at a table right in the middle of the dining area.  So despite the service being good we felt like we kept getting bumped into by other people getting to their tables.
Atmosphere - family owned restaurant.  Most of the other diners seemed to be regulars. It was very full (elbow to elbow) when we were there.

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

Weber Grill Restaurant

The giant grill is really cool!

We went to dinner at the Weber Grill Restaurant in Lombard.  There are 4 locations - here, Chicago, Schaumburg, IL and Indianapolis. We haven't been here to eat in over 4 years - it was one of the first restaurants we went to when we moved here.

Pretzel rolls (probably from Labriola across the street)

What we ate:
Bruschetta - Nick felt like having bruschetta; the bread was grilled so that is why it was on the menu. The bread wasn't as crispy as typical bruschetta - but it was novel that it was grilled.

Bruschetta

Korean BBQ steak salad - so the last time we were here (4 years ago) we ordered a steak salad and it was amazing.  But since it has been so long since we have been to this restaurant of course the menu has changed and it is now a Korean BBQ steak salad.  The flavors were good but not as great as the salad from 4 years ago.  It was a little weird but the steak came out sizzling on a griddle (like fajitas would be served).  So it was odd to be putting really hot steak on colder salad greens. The steak had a kimchi flavor to it (hence Korean steak). Korean flavors are "in" right now, but we missed the old, more traditional (but gourmet) steak salad.

BBQ combo

Salad with sizzling steak behind it

BBQ combo with pulled pork, brisket, mac n cheese and sweet potatoes.  The meats were great, especially the brisket - it was so tender you could cut it just with a fork.  But this is a "grill" restaurant so we would expect the meat to be great.  The mac n cheese was good, not great and the sweet potatoes were a bit disappointing.

Final thoughts on Weber Grill Restaurant:
Food - the food was good but we would probably return and get more traditional steak fare than bbq as we have some other bbq joints we prefer.
Service - good service; our waiter was friendly.  The location of our table seemed to be near where a lot of waiters were milling about so it was a little distracting.
Atmosphere - when we drove up to the parking lot we were worried because it was quite full looking.  But there didn't seem to be that many people in the restaurant itself.  Maybe they were in a back private room or in the large bar area where we couldn't see them. It was a little busier when we left. They do carry out and one odd thing we saw in the parking lot when we left was people "tailgating" - literally they had the tailgate of their SUV open and they had put up a card table with chairs.  It looked like they had gotten food from a couple of different nearby restaurants as PF Changs, Uncle Julios, Champs and DMK Burger are right there (we've never seen that before - maybe it was an unique date night).

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.)

New Rebozo

We had eaten at New Rebozo a couple of years ago and have wanted to return for quite a while.  In the Chicago area, it has been featured on Chicago's Best and Check Please. It is located in Oak Park, but they are in the process of opening a location in Chicago.

Salads - Jicama, Cactus & Shrimp

We ordered an appetizer special of 3 different "salads" to go with tortilla chips.  One had jicama, pineapple and cucumber.  The second had cactus and pickled cabbage.  The third was a shrimp ceviche.  They were all great but the jicama salad was the best.

One of entrees we ordered was the entree special of pork with mole 2 ways: white mole with white chocolate, and red mole with chiles.  We were encouraged to try both of the moles on their own and then together. They were both pretty amazing. The white chocolate was sweet and smooth and the red mole was spicy, but not fiery.  The red mole had a great smoky flavor.  So together it was a sweet and smoky success.  This dish also came with mashed potatoes - not that this is a Mexican thing - but because the chef likes mashed potatoes.

Pork with White Chocolate and Red Chile Mole

We also ordered Camaron Mixteco - shrimp with a pumpkin seed mole.  This was a different kind of sauce.  It was good, but nothing could come close to the moles in the pork special.  This dish got a little messy because the tails were kept on the shrimp for presentation but you had to touch them (which were covered in sauce) to get to all of the shrimp "meat" out.

Shrimp with pumpkin seed mole

We love Chef Paco (the owner of the restaurant). He introduces himself to all of the tables and comes around to talk about the night's specials.  The way he describes them makes you of course want to order them. The other time we were here we only ordered specials as well. (maybe they don't need as much of a regular menu that way???)  On the regular menu there are several other types of moles but otherwise it seems like typical Mexican fare.

Final thoughts on New Rebozo:
Food: great food; the specials are always great.  This is a better more elevated Mexican food than what is typical. This restaurant specializes in moles so that is why we both ordered mole related entrees.
Service: now if Chef Paco wasn't as super nice and friendly as he is, the service would just be marginal.  The actual waiter we had was not that friendly and really didn't do a whole lot besides take our order and bring us water.  Chef Paco explains the specials and actually brought our food out to describe everything to us and he also brought out extra chips for the appetizer course we had. We weren't planning on ordering dessert but the waiter didn't even ask if we wanted anything he just brought out our check. Now the food here is great; but really the way Chef Paco makes you feel about being there and eating his food is what makes this place amazing. We wonder what will happen when the Chicago location opens and Chef Paco can't be part of the everyday operations of either location. (If you want to see a video of the chef interacting with customers go to the Check Please clip about this restaurant - we really can't do it justice talking about it.)
Atmosphere: We were there this time on a week night and it wasn't that busy. The last time we were there was on a weekend and it was very busy so you would definitely need reservations then.  There are lots of Mexican inspired pieces of art around the walls.

Icosium Kafe

So 4 years ago when we moved to the Chicago area, we made a long list of all the restaurants we wanted to try.  Since then we have been faithfully "eating" through that list not really stopping to go to a place a second time since there were so many new places to try.  Well we are finally near the end of that list (yes there will always be more options to add to other lists) so we are starting to go back to the places we really enjoyed - and we will blog about any places we haven't already written about.

Almost 3 years ago we went to Icosium Kafe in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago and really enjoyed it.  We had heard about it from Check Please and were intrigued by their menu which consists mostly of crepes, both savory and sweet. We really loved the crepes and always planned to return.  (Maybe it was the build up of expectations in the last 3 years but this second experience fell a little short of our first time - but isn't that always the case.)

Crepe Marrakech

Icosium Kafe used to have 2 locations and now they just have the Andersonville (5200 N Clark) location. When you hear crepes you first think of France but this restaurant has more of an Algerian theme - which makes sense because France ruled Algeria for over 100 years. So the interior of the restaurant is full of Arabic artwork and decore.

We each ordered a savory crepe and shared a dessert crepe. 

Chicago Crepe

The Crepe Marrakech had toasted almonds, raisins, baby spinach, caramelized onions, olive tapenade, fresh mint, cream cheese and sun dried tomatoes. The Chicago Crepe (with more of a local take on the crepe) had muenster cheese, avocados, sun dried tomatoes, fresh cilantro, bell peppers, scallions, organic mixed greens and sun flower seeds.   The crepes were light and were stuffed with fresh ingredients. They were both vegetarian, but you can build your own crepe and add meat options.

The savory crepes came with either soup or potatoes and we ordered one of each so we could try them both.

For dessert we had the Crepe Ines - with dulce de leche, bananas and coconut. We wish there were more dulce de leche, but otherwise very enjoyable.

Dessert Crepe - Crepe Ines

Besides the food, there were a few other things to know about this restaurant.  First their website is no longer working so we went to yelp to find out some current information.  But yelp is wrong in that right now they are cash only.  This proved to be a problem because some customers didn't know this and left the restaurant to go elsewhere - sadly it is clearly turning people away.

Final thoughts on Icosium Kafe:

The filling of the Crepe Ines

Food - It is hard to pin point, but the food just didn't seem quite as amazing as it had before for us - and probably a lot of that was just managing our own expectations.  But still there aren't a whole lot of restaurants that specialize in crepes so we love that concept and would recommend this place to anyone.  It can be difficult for us to get to Icosium Kafe's location so we don't know when we will be back; Nick will have to dust off his crepe making skills for us to savor this type of food at home.
Service - there weren't a whole of people there so this wasn't an issue at all; very friendly and helpful
Atmosphere - small interior with the Arabic/Northern African decore.  We came here with a friend we had not seen in a while so we hope she enjoyed the whole experience. (P.S. after talking with our friend afterwards she did enjoy our pick and thought the food was great.)