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Sunday, July 24
Ethnic and Eggy Food in Chicago
This past weekend I was in Illinois, and Chicago for a day. Finally I knew enough about the local food scene to really dig my heels in and get some great eats. In 24 hours we consumed 3 meals, all good or better and each very different. The first 2 meals are the subject of this post, and the final lunch gets its own space.
Anatolia Kebab
First, Anatolia Kebab in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Good Turkish food, moderate prices, and OK service. Problems? It took 3 tries to order food that they were not out of, making the waitress come back each time from the kitchen to inform us of this problem - including one time when she said that only one of the two of us could have our currently ordered entrees, since they only had enough dough for one of the breads.... and then she told us they had already started mine so basically my companion had to choose yet another dish. Middle eastern restaurant running out of flatbread dough? Have you ever been to a Mexican restaurant that ran out of tortillas? Me neither. Hrmph.
The breads served before our food were both leavened and not, a crusty bread with good bite and a pita that I did not sample. Olive oil provided a nice dipping sauce.
Based on the recommendations I was given I ordered a side of yogurt, promised to be housemade and described as coming with garlic and spices, but mine was just garnished with parsley (despite nevertheless tasting very fresh and tangy):
Next up, a side of red lentil soup, pureed to a creamy texture and lightly spiced. This was a very good dish, especially after squeezing some lemon juice into it.
Finally, the much-debated main courses: a Turkish "pizza" for me,
...and luscious looking plate of meat and fat for my partner:
My pizza was a freshly cooked pita bread with a paste-like topping of ground beef, tomato, and spices. The topping seemed to have been cooked at the same time as the bread, as they merged into one chewy circle. Good spicing overall - not a bad entree, though I had preferred a mixed plate as my first choice.
The braised beef next to me, perched in its moat of hummous, was excellent. Extremely tender meat served with stewed eggplant and peppers, the dish really came together, especially when sopped up with some of the table's pita bread.
Overall, it was a good meal after a rather rocky start. I did not try the much lauded doner kebab, but I cannot recall if that was one of the items they were out of, or if I just forgot. Given that there is a lot more Turkish to be found in Chicago, I may never be back to Anatolia Kebab, but I hope they stay around.
The Original Pancake House
The next morning I decided that at least one thing I ate in Chicago had to be "mid-westerny", so its off to the Original Pancake House in Oak Park. According to the website, the first location was in Portland, Oregon and currently it is a rather large chain that basically does what IHOP ought to do - make pancakes really well, and in copious varieties.
The one downer of this meal came early, and it was the just so-so coffee. Granted, my coffee palate is a bit too high nowadays and this coffee was far better than I have had in other diners, it just was not fantastic. Being 9am, did we care? Not so much.
For breakfast, I had to have the famous Dutch Baby, of course, and it did not disappoint:
Needless to say, there was no need for further questioning of why the Dutch Baby does not come with any sides. About 7" in diameter, poofed out to 3" tall but shrunken again to about one inch, it was somewhere in the nexus of crepe-pancake-souffle. Not a pancake because it was VERY eggy; not a crepe due to thickness; and far too deflated to be a souffle.
It is served dusted with powdered sugar and with many lemon wedges, more powdered sugar, and butter. I only used the lemons, as they were best to cut the richness of the creation in front of me. Seemingly moments later, the aftermath:
Across the table was a more "normal" breakfast plate of eggs, bacon, and a side of standard sourdough pancakes. They stole the show of that meal - light, perfectly cooked, and mildly sweet - all 3 were eaten and this by a person who doesn't normally like pancakes!
After this, we were off for some power walking around town to get ready for the lunch of a lifetime...
Time posted: 15:31 [permalink]
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CONTACT ME: tenacity -at- gmail.com
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