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.)

Palmer Place

Pretzel Bites

We ate dinner at Palmer Place in La Grange.  It has been has been featured on Chicago's Best. We have eaten here a couple of times before but this is the first time we were able to eat outside in the Biergarten.  It was a nice day and most everyone was doing that.  They have a large outdoor space on 2 levels. When we first moved to the area this is the place in La Grange where everyone told us to go.

We started out with Pretzel Bites and a honey mustard dipping sauce.  They taste exactly like a doughly pretzel would taste but in minature form.

Mexicali Burger

There are over 30 hamburgers listed on the menu so it is really difficult to decide. We went with:

Mexicali burger - with jalapeno jack cheese, guacamole and pico de gallo.  A bit messy but we both love guacamole so it is okay.

Benchmark Burger - it was listed as a new burger on the menu.  Is is a more specialty burger with a blend of prime chuck, brisket and short rib.  It was topped with Cheddar cheese, smoked picante ketchup (spicy), roasted red pepper remoulade, bacon, tomato and pickle slaw.  The ketcup was spicy.

Benchmark Burger

The menu said that the Benchmark Burger was chosen as the 2011 People's Choice Award Winner, Chicago Gourmet Hamburger Hop in Millenium Park. That is part of why we ordered it.   

The burgers can come with a variety of sides - we chose fries and potato salad.  The potato salad left something to be desired so try something else. 

Maybe Natalie is getting burned out with hamburgers.  Yes these were good burgers but all hamburgers are starting to meld together now.

Final thoughts on Palmer Place:
Food - large burger selection which should accomodate most people's preferences.
Service - it sure seemed like it took a long time to get our food out.  Another table got pretzel bites a little before us, but we thought when we saw the place coming (kind of in our direction) that they were for us since so much time had elapsed.
Atmosphere - fun atmosphere, local hangout for groups









White Chocolate Grill

We have eaten at the White Chocolate Grill once before a few years ago and wanted to try it again.  They also have 2 other locations in Arizona and Colorado. They are known for the grilled entrees so we ordered items that had steak and pork in them.

AZ Egg Rolls

AZ Egg rolls - basically southwest eggrolls, served with a jalapeno ranch dressing and salsa. They were served very warm.  Nothing overly special about them - typical southwest style egg rolls.

Filet Mignon Cobb Salad - good steak flavor, also included tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, avocado, blue cheese, marinated mushrooms, croutons and bacon with a vinaigrette.  The marinated mushroooms were a bit over powering but the rest of it was great.

Filet Mignon Cobb Salad

Pulled Pork sandwich with pickles and a side (Nick chose broccoli) - there was some confusion on this dish.  We were brought out the BBQ pork tenderloin instead of the pulled pork sandwich but they took it back and fairly quickly brought out the sandwich (they comped our dessert for this oversight). 

Pulled Pork Sandwich

White Chocolate Brownie - all of the desserts are listed as desserts for 2, they are a little larger on purpose, and because of the restaurant name they list the desserts first on their menu so you remember to save room. This dessert includes a warm Blonde Brownie, freshly baked and topped with French Vanilla ice cream, warm chocolate sauce, whipped cream and white chocolate shavings. So this was great.  With a restaurant called the White Chocolate Grill you have to try a white chocolate dessert.  It was warm and gooey and delicious.

White Chocolate Brownie

Final thoughts on White Chocolate Grill:
Food - The grilled food was good; the dessert was great so save room!
Service - we thought it was taking a long time for the entrees to come out considering we ordered a dinner salad and sandwich. Then when they brought the wrong entree we understood why.  They quickly tried to remedy the situation and quickly brought out the pulled pork sandwich.  They also ended up not charging us for the dessert to smooth things over so that was nice.
Atmosphere - very busy and loud for a Tuesday night.  It looks like the place to be for happy hour.









Bop n Grill

Philly Cheese Steak Egg Rolls

We went to dinner at Bop n Grill in Roger's Park.  We have seen it featured on Diners, Drive ins and Dives and Chicago's Best and despite being located on the furthest north part of Chicago (therefore furthest from where we live) we wanted to try it.

What we ordered:

Philly cheese steak egg rolls - this is an appetizer that is only available Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. They limit the amount one can order to 2 egg rolls and once they are gone they don't make any more for the day.  They were cooked to order - served hot and fresh. It is a fun twist on both a cheese steak and egg rolls.  Nick wished there were more cheese.  Maybe it was bit overhyped - it was tasty but we wouldn't need to go there on a weekend specifically for this dish. This is one of the dishes featured on Diners, Drive ins and Dives.



Kimchi fries

Kimchi fries - also featured on DDD. These fries were pretty great. The fries were topped with caramelized kimchi, scallions, bacon, cheese sauce and sesame seeds. We were worried the kimchi might be a bit much for us but it was milder than we thought and gave the whole dish a nice heat. But if you need more heat, they had sriracha sauce on hand. We ate the fries with a fork to get all of the toppings in one bite. These fries were also featured on Chicago's Best.

Umami Burger

Umami burger - also featured on DDD. This is their number one selling burger. Topped with truffled mushroom, sun dried tomato, bacon, smoked gouda and togarashi mayo. Umami is known as the 5th basic taste after sweet, salty, bitter and sour. This was the quntessential umami taste - juicy burger with both salty and sweet components.  Mushrooms are high in the umami taste which is why they were on this burger. It wasn't an overly large burger; we split it in half and each wanted more.

Chicken Katsu- panko crusted chicken served as a dinner platter with rice, kimchi, a side salad and katsu sauce.  This was featured on Chicago's best.  Of the 4 things we ordered this was the least impressive.  It was a nice tasty fried chicken dish but not something we would order again. Not much to say about this compared to the Umami burger and the kimchi fries.

Final thoughts on Bop n grill:

Chicken Katsu

Food - a different way to fuse Korean and American styles.  We really haven't eaten too much kimchi in our lives but this made it more accessible.

Service - there is counter service where you order your meal at a counter and then wait for your number to be called.  It took about 15 minutes for us to get our food which seemed to be the normal wait time because they cook everything to order. We happened to get to the restaurant right at a moment when it was raining pretty hard outside.  This worked to our benefit because it kept some other customers away for a bit longer.  We didn't have to wait to order at all.  But while we were eating (and the rain stopped) many locals walked in.

Atmosphere - Bop n Grill is located right in the middle of the Loyola campus in Rogers Park. So there are a lot of college age customers.  We felt that except for one other party we were the oldest customers there. After the rain stopped we got a sense of the more normal busier atmosphere for dinner. We loved the food but this is literally one of the furthest restaurants from our house so it would be hard to return.