{"id":284401,"date":"2025-10-07T17:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T17:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/284401\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T17:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T17:12:11","slug":"a-few-of-our-favorite-meals-lately-chicago-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/284401\/","title":{"rendered":"A Few of Our Favorite Meals Lately \u2013 Chicago Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Subscribe on\u00a0Apple Podcasts<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Spotify<\/a>. Read the transcript below.<\/p>\n

Amy Cavanaugh: <\/strong>Welcome to Dish From Chicago Magazine. I\u2019m Amy Cavanaugh, Chicago magazine\u2019s dining editor.<\/p>\n

John Kessler: <\/strong>And I\u2019m John Kessler, Chicago magazine\u2019s dining critic.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>And today we\u2019re talking about all the places we\u2019ve been eating lately, from a new pizza joint to a new steakhouse, plus we\u2019ll share the best dishes we\u2019ve eaten lately, which includes a fancy take on lumpia. And John, before we get into this, I know that you\u2019re just back from Tulum.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Yeah. So we found an amazing points ticket redemption, and just decided, you know, what the hey, let\u2019s go to Tulum for a few days on it. And it was very fun. We ate well, we went to the beach when it wasn\u2019t like storming torrentially. But one cool thing to report is we went to Wild Tulum<\/a>. How do you know about that restaurant?<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>I\u2019ve heard about it. Can you tell us about it?<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>So yeah, it is the restaurant where Norman Fenton of Cari\u00f1o<\/a> is the executive chef, and I believe he had been there before he even opened Cari\u00f1o. Yeah. And it\u2019s, if you\u2019ve ever been to Tulum, there\u2019s kind of a strip of resorts along the beach a little bit south of town, yep. And so it\u2019s right in there. It\u2019s where Hartwood and Arca and some other, you know, quite famous local restaurants are. And you know what\u2019s the interesting thing to report is it was like, 98% the same menu as Cari\u00f1o.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Oh, that\u2019s interesting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Yeah, there were a couple dishes that I didn\u2019t recognize. There\u2019s delicious, incredible sikil pak, you know, the pumpkin seed spread with just a bountiful group of crudites and different kinds of raw vegetables to dip into it. And they did a beautiful local snapper that had been rolled in greens, really, really fresh, but everything else was the same. And I would say the ingredients seemed a little brighter. The cooking wasn\u2019t quite as incredibly refined as it is, as Cari\u00f1o. But you know what I loved about it? It wasn\u2019t freaking a tasting menu. You could have<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Oh, interesting.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Okay, yeah, you could have the tasting menu if you wanted, but you could just order everything a la carte. And, man, I wish I could eat Norman Fenton\u2019s food a la carte once in a while, you know,<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>I know I\u2019d go and get like, five plates of tacos.
John: <\/strong>Or just go and get that, you know, agua Chile, or just a couple dishes when you just don\u2019t want to go in for the whole thing and the whole evening. So anyhow, Norman, if you\u2019re listening to this, at least one customer would love some a la carte once in a while.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Well before I we get into it, I know that, you know, it is finally fall. It is maybe coming off being 85 degrees, and I\u2019m, I have, like, a couple fall things that, like, I\u2019m I\u2019m really eager to eat and which I\u2019m hoping to do in like, the next week. One of them is the pumpkin spice donut from Do-Rite<\/a>. I think that Do-Rite has, like, really become my favorite local doughnut shop. Everything is just so, so good there. But I love, like, the buttermilk donuts, and in the fall, they do a pumpkin spice version, and it\u2019s so good. It\u2019s just like, it\u2019s very restrained, but just like, really perfect and autumnal, and you kind of need it with, like, a hot coffee. So I haven\u2019t gotten gone down to go have one, I live walking distance from a Do-Rite location, but that is on my list for the next week. And then the other thing is an Enzoni at Queen Mary<\/a>, which is a really fantastic cocktail that\u2019s made with grapes, gin, lemon juice. And it\u2019s a classic, but Queen Mary\u2019s take on it is using concord grapes, and so they only have it during concord grape season, which you know can be as short as a few weeks. And so that is a must. I go every single fall and have one. So I\u2019m planning to head there soon.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>I\u2019ve been using pumpkin spice deodorant. No, I haven\u2019t, but<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>I\u2019m sure that exists.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>I\u2019m sure it does, yeah, but I would say the fall thing I\u2019m most interested in right now are all the varieties of apples you can get from Nichols Farms<\/a> at the various farmer market, farmers markets. I go to to Green City<\/a>, but I\u2019ve been like making apple pies out the wazoo and just trying so many of the different kind of baking apples. So that\u2019s been really, it\u2019s been really a treat doing that.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>I know I was looking, I went to Green City on Saturday, and I was looking at all those apples, and it was just, I don\u2019t know, two dozen, three dozen types. So cool, so many you know that I want to play around with.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Yeah, incredible. All right, so this week, I guess we\u2019re talking about just doing kind of a rapid fire, going back and forth and talking about the best things we ate, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Yeah. So one spot that I really enjoyed recently was Noriko<\/a>, the hand roll bar from the team behind Perilla. It is, I know you have been before. It took me a long time to finally get in, but I made it in by myself one night, and I really had a great time. It\u2019s a really fun spot, if you\u2019re a solo diner, because every single thing is just by the piece, so you\u2019re not missing out on, you know\u00a0\u2014 the experience you\u2019re having, everyone\u2019s having the same experience, and so as a solo diner, you don\u2019t miss out. I got the signature hand roll set, and then I augmented that with a few others. I really liked the bluefin tuna akami hand roll with toro tatak on top. Really delicious. I also, like, really, I really enjoyed the California as kind of a sleeper hit that was really delicious, too. Just a fun spot. You\u2019re in and you\u2019re out and, you know, everyone around me was having such a really great time. It\u2019s a place that, like, encourages, you know, looking over at what your neighbors are ordering and, you know, talking to the sushi chef. So very fun spot if you are dining out alone, but also fun if you can go as as a group, right?<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>You know, we were lucky when we went there at right at five, and they said, Yeah, you can sit down, but we need the spots back in an hour. But it can be so hard to go there as two people. I think as a solo diner, your chances are much better. So it\u2019s definitely something to to remember for when, for when you\u2019re flying solo. I went back for the first time in years to Frontera Grill<\/a>, and I wanted to try some of the menu items that were prepared by Javauneeka Jacobs, who is there. I think she was just named their executive chef. That\u2019s right, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>I think so, yeah, yeah.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>And so anyhow, she\u2019s been making, you know, it\u2019s Rick Bayless\u2019s menu, but she\u2019s really been putting her own stamp on it, and I had just incredibly delicious plate of vegetarian enchiladas. It was a couple months ago, so, you know, it was still, it was like, you know, zucchini and zucchini blossoms and things like that. But, man, it was so good. The flavors are so bright. So I\u2019m excited to see what she\u2019ll be doing.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>I have also had that dish, and I also found it really memorable and just delicious. So yeah, I can\u2019t wait to see what else she\u2019s adding. I recently went back to Feld<\/a>, which we both really enjoy, and it was my second visit, so it had been a year since I was last there, and I was really blown away. Like, you know, I absolutely enjoyed the first dinner there. I felt like, when I went back, everything was, you know, even more sophisticated, even more thoughtful, even more delicious. Like, it was really, really a fantastic menu. I was there during, you know, kind of the wind down on tomato season, although I did see Jake at the farmers market on Saturday, and he said that, you know, tomatoes are still here. So, you know, they\u2019re not supposed to be still around by this time. But the tomatoes are fantastic. The peaches were fantastic. Just really, really an excellent restaurant. I think that this has really become my favorite tasting menu in town.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Yeah. And I think he makes a good case for the tasting menu, which is, if you\u2019re being that hyper local and really, really looking at what\u2019s in season. And just like understanding that, you know, the tomatoes may still be around, but they might have a slightly different flavor than they did, there might be other ingredients around to play off of them. I know he\u2019s doing a tomato and peach dish now, and I had a late-season tomato and plum dish at Lula Cafe<\/a>, which was just amazing. It was\u2014 this is such a good time of year to eat at Lulu Cafe. I know that I had mentioned this in my column<\/a>, but anyhow, yes, really, really smart, delicious, not overwrought, seasonal food. So I\u2019m always happy when I go back to Lula Cafe. It\u2019s really one of my faves.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Yeah, it\u2019s such a it\u2019s such a classic. I recently went to Little Lark<\/a> at Guild Row. Have you been there yet?<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Not, no. So it is.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>It\u2019s so tiny. I mean, there\u2019s more seats outside than there are inside. And it\u2019s a very cute little pizza spot from the team behind Meadowlark and Lardon and Union in Logan. And they\u2019re doing wood-fired pizzas and small plates and cocktails. And they also have like, beer and wine too. But a really cute spot. I very much enjoyed it. I really loved the and pizza because they use lardon nduja, which is, you know, great. And then it also has, like, had pickled cherry peppers, and it was, like, really spicy. And I love spice, so that was good. And some really nice small plates too, like a broccoli salad and, like, a radicchio, hazelnut and Brie salad. So really solid spot open all day, Friday to Sunday. So I could see it being like a nice, kind of Friday lunch option.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Nice. What is the pizza like?<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>It is wood-fired, so it\u2019s got, like that, that nice, like blistered edge there. I, they\u2019re kind of individual-sized. I mean, I, you know, maybe for other people, you could share one. But for me, that would be like an individual-size pizza. Really, really nicely done.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Nice. I can\u2019t wait to try it. And I, you know, I love Guild Row. I used to be a member there, and I\u2019ve worked there a lot, but I still love going back there for events and things. It\u2019s a really, really great space in Avondale. So I went to Nadu<\/a>, which is the third restaurant from Sujan Sarkar of Indienne<\/a>. He also is an owner at Sifr. They\u2019re both in River North. This one is in Lincoln Park, right on Lincoln, and it\u2019s a little like it\u2019s not quite as, you know, high-end tasting menu as Indienne. There is a tasting menu there, which is five courses and 60-something dollars, which is a nice deal, but it is mostly a la carte. I did go and I tried a few things off the tasting menu, and it feels like the place needs a little more time to figure itself out. It was, I liked some dishes better than others. It tries to give you a little bit of different dishes from all over India. So they might have, like, for instance, they have some pork ribs that are seasoned with inji puli, which is this tamarind ginger chutney that is from Kerala. And, you know, they\u2019re kind of, you know, fun, stupid-fatty, sweet pork ribs. I enjoyed them. Some other things were nice. But, you know, I\u2019m gonna wait a little bit and try and go back later.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Yeah, I have some friends who absolutely adore it. I went once, and I tried a couple dishes, and I don\u2019t know if I just ordered, did a bad job ordering. Sometimes I feel like I do if I\u2019m going in, you know, just sitting at the bar and trying it later too. But yeah, I agree. I would like to go back, maybe do that tasting and try and try more of the stuff. So also in Lincoln Park, I just went to the new version of S.K.Y.<\/a> which I know you have been to as well, which is in the Belden Stratford. I\u2019ve really enjoyed it. There are some of the old favorites, like the Maine lobster dumplings still on the menu, still fantastic. But then a lot of like, really good new stuff, the tuna tartare lumpia was delicious. I love the Sichuan ricotta with\u2014<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>That was so good. I love that.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Yes, really, really good. I love the flat bread. It was also really spicy, really great. And then for desserts, we did the dark chocolate cruller, which had, like a honey gelato and truffle. So it was like, really had those, like earthy notes. But I mean, all of Tatum Sinclair<\/a>\u2018s desserts are something special. And so this one was really great. So I love the new room. And then after dinner, I went to take a look at the new bar, Le Mistral<\/a>, which, of course, I picked a day that the bar wasn\u2019t open, so I ha e to go back and do that. But so that\u2019s also in the same space.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>And that\u2019s Jelena Prodan\u2019s place, right?<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Yeah. So there\u2019s wine, there\u2019s cocktails, there\u2019s plates, like fried chicken sandwich and some small plates like, definitely, you know, you can go for dinner, which I think I\u2019m going to plan to do. And then they\u2019re also opening Intro, which is going to be a tasting menu, and that\u2019s slated to open next month. So eager to see what they do with with that space, and how they kind of reinterpret Intro as well. So yeah, that\u2019s going to be three new spots in the Belden Stratford. So very cool.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>I\u2019m psyched for the new S.K.Y., because I do like Stephen Gillanders\u2019s food, and I just feel like, you know, Valhalla is, again, it\u2019s, it\u2019s a tasting menu, so it\u2019s kind of a bit of a, you know, a time and expense commitment. But I, you know, I love being able to order a la carte and just get those, you know, those lobster dumplings, and they\u2019re so good. They\u2019re so good. And sadly, when I went to S.K.Y., I went with people who were not dessert people. So I last week, we tried to get off the waiting list to get into Dimmi Dimmi<\/a>, that new Italian restaurant on Armitage, and they gave my wife a three-to-five-hour wait time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Three to five?! Oh, my God.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>I don\u2019t even know what five hours means in that context. I mean, oh my god. So we thought maybe not. We were able to snag a nice little table at John\u2019s Food and Wine<\/a>, which I hadn\u2019t been to in a hot minute. And it is still really, really good. They\u2019ve got a delicious green bean dish on there now with kind of an eggplant miso puree at the bottom. It\u2019s just their big veggie salad. Things are so good right now, they\u2019re doing a caramelized sweet potato, like everyone is, but with this nice clothbound cheddar, so that you get this, these nice, kind of fudgy textures up against each other. Yum. Really, really good. So, delicious Chilean sea bass, which, you know, it\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve eaten Chilean sea bass, but it was like this, you know, old friend. And it just came in a, in a, in a beautiful sauce with some like fish mouse quenelles. So you know, if you haven\u2019t been in a minute, check it out.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Yeah, I\u2019m overdue for a return visit.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Another new spot I went to recently was Matilda<\/a>, which is in River North, not to be confused with the one that\u2019s in Lake View. It is Mexican-Peruvian. It\u2019s a group that\u2019s out of New York, but they have come into Chicago in a big way, and have opened a handful of spots, including Kayao, which is in Old Town.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Old Town, right?<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Yeah, yeah. And then Clandestino<\/a>, which is a bar underneath. It\u2019s very tasty. I really like the ceviche. They do a daily ceviche with like sweet potatoes and choclo, calamari chicharron on top. And then I enjoyed the paella. Although it is absolutely not a paella, it\u2019s like a risotto, but like topped like you would expect a paella to be; really tasty. It was, you know, filled with seafood and salsas and Manchego. Very, very tasty. So it\u2019s right next to Zarella. And, yeah, it\u2019s like, I they had a nice bar area, so, like, I would definitely like pop in there sometime for, you know, an easy dinner.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Great, great. That\u2019s good to know. Yeah, I It\u2019s funny, we don\u2019t have a lot of Peruvian restaurants here, and it just like, Yeah, you know, I\u2019d love to see more maybe, you know, maybe eventually we\u2019ll have a restaurant where we can eat cuy, those big roasted guinea pigs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>No, thank you.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Well, you know, you can get them like served really cutely with a little salt lick on the sides and\u2014<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Oh, God.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>I\u2019m sorry. Okay. Well, speaking of Latin America, but not delicious rodents, I chew Trino<\/a>, which is that new steakhouse from Chef Stephen Sandoval, yes, and it was, you know, it\u2019s still young. I\u2019m going to reserve judgment on it. A couple things were really good. They do, one thing that\u2019s interesting is that picanha cooked like prime rib, so you get that nice kind of it\u2019s, you know, picanha is a very lean cut of meat. And, you know, prime rib is fatty, but it\u2019s really cooked to a nice, you know, very soft rare with a nice cap of fat on top of it. And that was a, you know, fun dish with the choice of sauces and some good appetizers, one of which I will name in our best things we ate this week when we finish up the segment.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>I also went to Void<\/a> recently and had a really great meal. We sat at the bar. Had some good drinks. I just had non alcoholic cocktails that were really good, but I loved the eggplant parm. It was just so crispy and so delicious. Definitely feels like one I will go back for again on like a night I need a cozy dinner. I also enjoyed the fried chicken marsala, which comes, like in a paper bag with maitake mushrooms and, like a ranch dipping sauce. Really fun. I think that the food there is has such, like, a sense of fun and wit and everything\u2019s really tasty. Yeah, I\u2019m looking at the menu now I had this great broccoli salad that is not on the menu anymore, but loved it. Yeah, I think that, you know, I need to make this more part of my regular rotation.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Yeah, I feel like that\u2019s a restaurant where the cooking is sneaky and surprising. At first, it seems like it\u2019s, you know, like it\u2019s in it for the joke of being, you know, kind of trashy-sounding Italian-American food. But the cooking is more subtle and interesting than that. And so it\u2019s, I find it pretty delightful. And I like the way, too, it has such this huge bar, those big bars, you can always find a spot there. And it\u2019s, you know, it\u2019s just a really fun place. So I went to Lao Der<\/a>, which is that new Lao restaurant that is up on Elston, and I liked it. I didn\u2019t love it yet, but I do want to go back. But my top recommendations are definitely try the fermented pork sausage that is, they\u2019re really, like, you know, plump and bursty and delicious, and they do a very cool version of green papaya salad. The papaya isn\u2019t shredded so much as it\u2019s cut into these like thick strips, almost like pappardelle noodles, and they\u2019re left to soften a bit in the in the marinade. And it\u2019s really fun.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>And then my last one here is I went to Boonie\u2019s<\/a> for lunch the other day, I had heard that there was a new breakfast sandwich. I saw that Infatuation put it on their list of the best breakfast sandwiches<\/a>. And I don\u2019t like when there are breakfast sandwiches that I haven\u2019t had yet. So it\u2019s called the BBL, a monster of a sandwich. Like, you could totally go and, like, split this with someone. So it\u2019s served on this bread is, like, it\u2019s a coconut bread, yeah, like it\u2019s a coconut rice cake, like coconut milk, and so it\u2019s sweet. And then there\u2019s two versions. There\u2019s one with spam, and there\u2019s one with Vigan longanisa, V-I-G-A-N, not V-E-G-A-N. Vigan is a city in the Philippines, so this is their style of it. And it\u2019s got like a, like a kind of, like an egg patty, smoked Gouda, a hash brown. It\u2019s a monster of a sandwich. Really delicious. It\u2019s like a Filipino McGriddle. Go share one. I also had the mac salad, which I\u2019m always going to get, like a pasta salad that was really tasty too. But, oh yeah, I had not been for lunch before and really good, easy lunchtime spot.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Oh, good. I should remember that, because I remember I had a really fun lunch there a couple years ago with food writer Maggie Hennessey, and really enjoyed it. Well for my last \u201cwhere I\u2019ve been recently,\u201d I went back to one of my faves, Maxwell\u2019s Trading<\/a>. I had a bunch of college classmates were in town. They, we decided to have a weekend: They came over to our house for dinner. You know, I made them big apple pie, but the night before we went to Maxwell\u2019s. We got that big table with the lazy Susan in the center of it there. It\u2019s a great table there for a big group. And it\u2019s really good. It\u2019s still great, you know, just a wonderful, like, a really, really perfect endive salad that they\u2019re doing this, you know, season. And I realized one thing I like about Maxwell\u2019s is, you know, they come out and they tell you all our food\u2019s meant for sharing, but it really is. It\u2019s not like meant for sharing, and that means that everybody gets one tiny, little, you know, piece of, a piece of a piece of broccoli or something. I mean, it\u2019s, you know, the food, the salads are generous. The portions are there. They really, they are portioned for sharing. So, you know, we ordered way too much food and managed to eat almost all of it. So yay Maxwell\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Yeah, I love Maxwell\u2019s. I need to, I need to get back there soon.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>Yeah, and great wine too. I\u2019m trying to, I can\u2019t, you know, I have a picture of it somewhere, but just a wonderful Portuguese white wine that I\u2019m still thinking about. So good.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Nice.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>John, what\u2019s the best thing you ate lately?<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>So as promised, at Trino, there is just an insane, bonkers-delicious appetizer called cangrejo tostada, crab tostada. And it\u2019s just, you know, basically crab salad and a tostada. But it\u2019s really good crab salad, and it\u2019s, I split one with somebody, and next time I want to go and order my own. So go eat crab tostada. How about you?<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>I\u2019m going to talk about the tuna lumpia at S.K.Y., which I teased earlier. So it\u2019s like a lumpia shell. It\u2019s not closed off at the end, but inside is tuna tartare with Fresno chili. So it\u2019s like a spicy tuna lumpia. So you have the, you know, the soft tuna, you have the crispy shell. I, we, the order came with two. My friend and I were just like, Oh my god. Why, should we get like, five more orders? Because it was just, like, a couple little bites. Just really, really, really delicious. So next time I would go and probably, probably get like an order for myself, yeah, yeah.<\/p>\n

John: <\/strong>I love that too. I kind of, to me, it made me think it was like a, it was like a tuna cannoli, sort of, you know?<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Yeah, yeah. Real, really good dish.<\/p>\n

Amy: <\/strong>Thanks for joining us for this episode of Dish From Chicago Magazine. Your hosts are dining editor Amy Cavanaugh and critic John Kessler, editing by Sarah Steimer and music by Bill Harris. You can find us online at chicagomag.com. Please be sure to follow, rate, and review us wherever you get your podcasts. We\u2019ll see you next time.<\/p>\n