Cafe Iberico

We went out to eat at Cafe Iberico, a Spanish tapas restaurant in River North. It had been several months since eating at the last tapas restaurant so Nick was ready to go to another one. Natalie had been here many years ago but it was Nick's first time.

Patatas Alioli-Garlic Potato Salad

We ordered the following tapas:
Ensalada Mixta - Spanish style mixed salad with asparagus, beets, hearts of palm, endive, avocado and vinaigrette dressing. A nice combination of ingredients for a salad. We should try some of these items in a salad at home.

Ensalada Mixta

Patatas Alioli (under cold tapas) - red potatoes with garlic mayonnaise.  This is Natalie's staple dish at all tapas restaurants. They really all taste about the same - Nick thought this one was a little more mild (not so garlicy) and creamier than others.  It was definitely a larger portion than at other tapas restaurants.

Bacon wrapped dates with goat cheese and rice with raisins on the side. This is Nick's favorite tapas restaurant item. This was a special item for that night.  It was nice to have the cheese with dates - not all tapas restaurants do this.  Also most places just serve the dates and not anything else like the rice dish that accompanied the dates.  Overall, having the combo of the sweet dates and the salty bacon makes this dish great.

Bacon wrapped dates

Queso de Cabra

Jamon Iberico

Jamon Iberico (under cold tapas) - Spanish style cured ham with Manchego cheese and tomato bread (better description is toast points with a bruschetta style tomato sauce).  All of these items went together nicely.  The description of tomato bread was quite deceiving and ended up being the much better reality of bread with tomatoes on top like a bruschetta. We piled the ham and the Manchego cheese on top of the bread and it all tasted great.

Queso de Cabra (under hot tapas) - baked goat cheese with fresh tomato basil sauce and pesto toast. We love goat cheese and this was no exception. This is another dish that is offered at most other tapas restaurants. The combination of the cheese and the tomato sauce and the toast melded into one fluid flavor.

Croquetas de Pollo

Croquetas de Pollo (under hot tapas) - chicken and ham puffs served with alioli sauce.  These were surprisingly tasty.  The description on the menu was quite sparse so Nick went out on a limb in ordering this one.  They looked like hush puppies but inside they were even better with a warm combo of chicken, ham and cheese.

Final thoughts on Cafe Iberico:
Food - good tapas but Nick appreciates the tapas places near our house better
Service - very good, all of the dishes came out very quickly
Atmosphere - vibrant scene for a weekday evening, gets hopping on the weekends.  In the front part of the restaurant they have a tapas bar concept of ordering small individual tapas.

Interior

Interior

Pa

Woow Japanese

Interior Shot - notice the wild decorations

Crab Rangoon

For another celebration of Nick's birthday (this time with Natalie's parents), we went to Woow Japanese in downtown La Grange.  This location has been open for 3 months. It is their 3rd location in the the Chicago Suburbs - the weird thing is they all happen to be located on La Grange Road (in Orland Park, Frankfort and now La Grange).  Their menu features mostly Japanese entrees and sushi but also includes other Asian fare such as traditional Chinese and Thai dishes.

Shrimp & Vegetable Tempura

Appetizers:
Crab Rangoon - 4 pieces, deep fried combo of cream cheese and crab meat, celery and onions.  We each got a piece of this and it tasted great. Each piece was pretty large so you could really get a good taste of the filling.

Miso Soup & Salad

Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura - Shrimp, broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini and sweet potato.  We each got a couple of pieces of this appetizer. The items were lightly breaded and therefore didn't taste to heavy.

Eel Avocado Roll (front on plate)

Sushi roll - Eel Avocado roll, Nick didn't like this as much.  But, Natalie liked it because she really likes eel.  Don't know that we can really form an opinion about their sushi from 1 roll. They do offer a lot of sushi pieces, regular rolls and specialty rolls on their menu.

Entrees:
Tropical Fried rice - rice, egg, shrimp (slightly breaded), chicken, cashews, pineapple, carrots, peas, onions, all served in a hollowed out pineapple half.  The presentation of this dish was very impressive (very much like a similar dish served at May Street Cafe).  The fried rice was pretty typical fried rice but was definitely made more special with the way it looked. The menu did not indicate it would be presented in a pineapple so that was a surprise when it got to the table.

Tropical Fried Rice

Hibachi Shrimp - served on a giant plate (think platter size), shrimp came with 2 dipping sauces - ginger and seafood, plate also had broccoli, rice and noodles (so you didn't have to choose between the 2).  Once again the presentation was a bit amazing due to the sheer size of the plate it was served on. The shrimp had a smoky grilled flavor, enhanced with ginger and soy sauce.  This entree was served with both a salad and miso soup. The ginger dressing on salad was great (like most dressings at Japanese restaurants).

Hibachi Shrimp

Final Thoughts on Woow Japanese:
Food - So far their hasn't been a Japanese restaurant that Nick doesn't like and this follows that pattern
Service - very good, waiters were insightful and engaging

Fun and Crazy interior

Fun and Crazy interior

Atmosphere - now this is the surprise.  We walked in and it looks like a nightclub.  The decore is very over the top - there was animal print wallpaper, clear lucite columns that had a bubble effect that changed colors, crystal beads, etc.
It definitely didn't look like a typical Japanese restaurant.  We felt we had walked into some place in Las Vegas (think the Cosmoplitan). They played dance/club music in the background.  It didn't quite fit what we thought it would be, but it was fun.

David Burke's Primehouse

We went to another dinner with Nick's parents at David Burke's Primehouse in River North. This had been a place that Nick's father wanted to try from seeing it on Steak Paradise on the Travel Channel. They are known for their dry aged steaks.

Parmesan Popover

Now normally you wouldn't mention the bread that was served with dinner but what they served was really worthy of writing about.  They served us each a Parmesan popover - perfectly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  It was warm and satisfying and served in an individual measuring cup container.

Lamb Stone

Stone after we were done

Ahi Tuna Stone

As appetizers we ordered "Stones" - small pieces of meat cooked tableside on a hot Himalayan salt stone.  We chose 2 of them: Ahi tuna with spicy chili bean sauce and Lamb loin with chorizo mayo.  It was neat to try both of these.  There were 5 small pieces of both the tuna and lamb that were cooked right on top of the stone.  We may have kept the ahi on the stone too long - only because we were watching both in front of us and got distracted.  Nick really liked the chorizo mayo that went with the lamb. They both tasted good and were a small appetizer to start with.

Caesar salad preparation

Classic tableside Caesar salad - dressing prepared at our table, the whole nine yards with with the coddled eggs and everything. Nick's dad was sold on eating at this restaurant just by the mention of a tableside Caesar salad.  It was prepared right at our table, with the dressing made right before our eyes - including the hardly cooked coddled egg - and then being tossed with the romaine lettuce.  We both enjoyed this and Nick's dad liked this version just as much as his favorite Caesar salad in Maui.

Caesar Salad

David Burke's Primehouse is known for its salt dry aged reserve steaks. The steaks are aged in a Himalayan salt room for specific periods of time.  You can get a Ribeye that has been aged 28, 40, 55 or 75 days (with increases in price for each increase in time period) or a Kansas City Strip that has been aged for 35 days. There are only a limited number of 75 day aged Ribeyes, but we chose to go with a 40 day Ribeye and the 35 day Kansas City Strip.
  

35 day aged Kansas City Strip

40 Day Ribeye - full of bold flavor did not need anything extra in order to taste great.  It was full of marbling which holds in the aged flavor. We were worried that being aged the steak might be tough or chewy, but that was not the case, it was tender and tasted great.

35 Day Kansas City Strip, bone in sirloin - despite being aged for a similar number of days as the Ribeye there was a definite difference in flavor between the 2 steaks. Both of us enjoyed the Kansas City strip a little bit better.  Hard to believe, but it had an even bolder flavor to it and was a less fatty cut of meat.  We definitely like this dry age formula better than wet aged steaks.

Sides:

40 day aged Ribeye

Green Beans - tempura fried - light and crispy, not heavily breaded
Snap peas - with mint and pearl onions - nothing out of the ordinary
Hand cut Truffle Asiago fries - we read a lot of reviews about these fries but really they didn't live up to all of the overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Asiago Truffle Fries

Overall the sides were okay but just not nearly as good as the steaks themselves.  It may have felt a bit sparse not having any sides but we would have been fine, they mainly served to break up eating all the bites of the meat.

Snap Peas

Taste of Prime Dessert - chocolate mousse dessert with marshmallow topping, and smore's ice cream. We weren't going to order any dessert but the waiter brought out this dessert to help celebrate Natalie's birthday (which although it wasn't quite her birthday yet we were sort of celebrating this with Nick's parents). This particular dessert isn't available on the regular menu, but maybe it should be because it sounded better than some of the items on that menu. We all got to taste a little of this and it was a nice sweet ending to the big meal.

Tempura Green Beans

Final thoughts on David Burke's Primehouse:
Food - great steak, salad, appetizer and popover.  Don't even need the sides - maybe we should have tried to get another popover instead
Service - Nick calls it stellar; full service with describing all of the items on the menu especially the dry aged steak process. We enjoyed the Caesar salad preparation and the thoughtful dessert.
Atmosphere - There is a bit of a casual atmosphere to this restaurant with the waiters in nice jeans and a ranch decore theme, with even "leather" tablecloths.

Taste of Prime Dessert

Seasons 52

Spicy Chipotle Shrimp Flatbread

We had heard about Seasons 52 from a few different people.  It is located in the Oak Brook Mall (where Braxtons used to be). There are about 20 different locations of this restaurant throughout the United States.

     The concept is fresh seasons foods as locally sourced as they can be.  The main menu changes every season and there are weekly specials - thus the name of the restaurant.  Supposedly every dish is designed to be under 475 calories.  (Almost makes you not want to order much when you know this piece of information.) The lower calories are accomplished by using the fresh ingredients, herbs and spices and not as many sauces.  All of the food was very tasty and you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell it is lo-cal.

Artichoke Stuffed Shrimp

We went to Seasons 52 with Nick's parents to celebrate his birthday (a few days early).

For appetizers we shared the following:

Spicy Chipotle Shrimp Flatbread - grilled pineapple, poblano peppers, feta cheese.  This was Nick's father's introduction to flatbread and it did not disappoint. The flat bread itself was very thin.  All of the ingredients went well together, even though as a separate list you might not think so - there were sweet and spicy tones to it.

Tuna & Avocado Sushi Roll

Maryland Crab, Roasted Shrimp & Spinach stuffed mushrooms under Parmesan-panko crust.  The mushrooms were served in an escargot serving dish.  They were a bit slippery and hard to get out of the dish but they were tasty. There was a generous portion of shrimp on each mushroom and the whole bite of it wasn't too heavy due to the light panko crust.

Tuna and Avocado Sushi Roll - quite fresh and tasty, you could tell the tuna was of a high quality.


Stuffed Mushrooms

Organic Arugula salad with watermelon, grilled golden beets, goat cheese, jicama and toasted pistachios.  This was a great combination of flavors for a salad.  The combo of the watermelon and the beets made us want to get it.  For a side salad it was large enough for us to split.

Entrees - the entrees were a bit smaller than the size you might get at a traditional restaurant, but that way you didn't leave feeling over full.
 

Arugula Salad with beets

Caramelized Grilled Sea Scallops with roasted asparagus, sun-dried tomato-mushroom pearl pasta. The scallops were nice and firm nestled in a bed of pearl pasta and latticed asparagus.  It made for a scrumptious entree.

Sea Scallops and Asparagus

Wood-roasted Pork Tenderloin with soft herb polenta, cremini mushrooms, broccoli and shallot-Dijon glaze. The pork was super tender and very tasty.  The polenta was a nice touch (instead of the traditional mashed potatoes).  We didn't miss any gravy or sauces; it was well flavored.

Pork Tenderloin with Polenta 

Mini desserts (in shot glasses)

We ordered Peanut Butter Mousse and Blueberry Cheesecake.  They did literally come in shot glasses.  The presentation of the 9 different types of desserts was fun - the waiter brings out a tray of all of them and you can pick right there what you want. These desserts were just ok; we realize the point is to have a small sweet note at the end of the meal. They relied on a lot of mousses so you can get the flavors without the calories.

The others in our party ordered - Pecan pie with vanilla mousse dessert, Chocolate rocky road dessert, Roasted Artichoke Stuffed Shrimp with wilted leaf spinach, pasta pearls and clam cioppiono sauce entree - we didn't hear any complaints.



Shot Glass Desserts

Final thoughts on Seasons 52:

Food - very good food without feeling the guilt of a much heavier meal.  We felt full but not stuffed. We didn't miss any flavor due to the lower calories.

Service - great service, our waiter was very engaging and gave us good explanations of the restaurant and dishes he enjoyed. To celebrate the birthday we got a complimentary picture and comped dessert

Atmosphere - very busy for a weeknight and for the fact that they have only been open a few months.  They had live piano music at the bar. You could go here for either a casual or fancy meal due to the ambience.

　

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.