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.)

Takashi

We went to dinner at Takashi in Bucktown.  We had heard about it on Check Please and also we know that the chef (Takashi himself) competed on Top Chef Masters (so he is somewhat of a celebrity chef).

Pork Belly Appetizer

Appetizers
Pork Belly - soy ginger caramel pork belly with pickled daikon salad and steamed buns.  We were told to eat it like an open face sandwich.  This dish was not only fun but tasted great. The soy ginger caramel flavor was unique and it was fun to make the little sandwiches. A must have - this was probably the best dish of the night.

Scallops - sauteed Maine scallops and gnocchi, with trumpet mushrooms and celery root - parmesan foam.  The whole dish was super creamy and the scallops and gnocchi worked really well together. The celery root foam was very aromatic and was a delicate way to flavor the scallops.

Main Plates

Seared Veal Loin - with onion gratin, couscous, and bacon wrapped asparagus. This was a wonderful paring. The bacon was crispy and a flavored the asparagus with a hint of salt.

Roasted duck breast with baby turnips and green beans.  Nick didn't like eating the fat on the duck; he felt it was a little under done (but that's probably the way duck is supposed to be served).

Scallops Appetizer

Desserts

Sesame Panna Cotta with Genoise cake, pickled cherries, cherry cocoa nib ice cream. A wonderful presentation - it was both sweet and tangy

Egg - milk chocolate creme brulee inside a brown egg, with caramel custard foam, and served with a macaroon (very soft not like hard ones we are used to eating), just a beautiful thing to look at.  We marveled at how they cooked this inside the egg. It didn't disapont in the flavor department. It was smooth and creamy with a warm sweet chocloate finish.

Roasted Duck Breast

Final thoughts on Takashi:

Food - very good and interesting flavor combinations. We knew it was going to be a fusion of French and Japanese, but it definitely leaned more French than we had anticipated.  Everything tasted great but with a restaurant called Takashi we expected more Japanese flavors. We preferred the appetizers and desserts over the entrees so maybe that is the way to go in the future. We saw others sharring appetizers like tapas.

Service - excellent, attentive to all of our needs

Atmosphere- upscale, small dining area on the first floor. most of the customers were more yuppie types (well it is pricey).  As a side note, as we walked in the restaurants we actually bumped into chef and owner Takashi.

Seared Veal Loin

Panna Cotta

The Egg Dessert