The Mango Lassie

Lucky old Empanada Boy didn’t have to work at all between Christmas and New Year’s. In contrast, I had to work on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas and will be working tomorrow (New Year’s Eve day) as well. Empanada Boy spent most of the past week in Wisconsin visiting his family. Determined not to mope, I decided to spend some time catching up with friends. My friend Jamaican Jerk Sauce and I went out for breakfast Sunday morning before she took off for New York. She had been telling me for weeks that she wanted to try a brunch place in Uptown called Tweet…Let’s Eat, right down the street from where she used to live.

Tweet is a cute little sidewalk cafe tucked away on an otherwise restaurant-less stretch of Sheridan Avenue. In many ways, Tweet reminds me of Portland restaurants I’ve frequented. It has funky decor, including a glass display case filled with pretty vintage tea sets and cakes and cookies to go. There are a few tables on a raised platform that looks out onto the street. Outside seating is available in the summertime. The menu is organized around fresh, largely organic vegetables, meats and dairy products. Vegetarian options abound. This was ideal for Jamaican Jerk Sauce— a non-meat eater. She ordered the Vegetarian Country Benedict. This consisted of an English muffin topped with a vegetable or bean-based patty, topped with eggs and a thick, peppery white gravy. This dish was flavorful, but incredibly filling. And although the patty was surprisingly good, I probably would have opted for one of the other egg dishes.

In fact, my dish— the Eggs Florentine pictured above— was also vegetarian. It was classic in style with a split English muffin covered with spinach, sunny-side-up eggs and hollandaise. The sea of rich hollandaise got to be a bit too much for me after a while, but I thoroughly enjoyed everything, including the pile of hash browns.

It was the little things that really won me over at Tweet. The meal started with an amuse bouche of tasty carrot cake sqaures, a pre-breakfast treat that reminded me of the temporarily-closed O’Rourke’s Diner in Middletown, CT. I also noted the large line-up of hot sauces on the table and sampled many of them during breakfast. I also enjoyed the great graphic design (shown here) used to decorate the menus, the exterior and even the shirts worn by the waitstaff. In addition to all of these smaller elements, Jamaican Jerk Sauce and I got great pleasure from scoping out the laden plates being delivered to neighboring tables. From breakfast burritos to pretty piles of pancakes, there is evidently much more left to sample at Tweet.

Tweet…Let’s Eat
5020 N. Sheridan Rd.
Chicago, IL 60640
773.728.5576

Empanada Boy and I are always on the lookout for new restaurants opening in and around our neighborhood. A few weeks ago, as we were driving past the Lawrence Red Line stop, we noticed that a previously abandoned restaurant space was about to reopen as an Ethiopian restaurant. Neither of us had very positive memories about our earlier experiences with Ethiopian food. We both remembered it being too bland, and we recalled stomach-churning moments resulting frominjera, the traditional, spongy, fermented bread, used instead of utensils. But in the spirit of supporting local business efforts, we decided to give this new place a try. That’s what brought us to Demera Ethiopian late last Tuesday evening.

From the moment we walked in and saw tables filled with Ethiopian people and smelled the scent of ginger, garlic and caramelizing onions, I knew this restaurant would be different. The walls are hung with traditional Ethiopian artwork, and the windows are draped with soft curtains, giving the room a mellow glow. We sat at one of the traditional wicker tables, designed to fit the platter on which the food is served. Our hostess lifted the cover, and we sat down to ponder the menu. We were starving, and everything we read sounded good. This left us only one option: the combination plates, which allowed each of us to order two meat dishes and two vegetarian dishes. These were delivered to our table atop a large round of injera, lining the single metal platter. The dishes are too numerous to describe each in detail, but I will point out the highlights. I loved the spicy doro wot, a chicken drumstick marinated in lemon and Berbere sauce (a flavorful African spice mix) with onions, garlic, ginger, a hard-boiled egg and a homemade cottage cheese. Being a huge jerky fan, Empanada Boy went crazy for the ye-kwanta firfir, made with a special Ethiopian-style dried beef, the Berbere sauce and torn pieces of sauce-soaked injera. On the whole, our favorite dishes contained meat, but I also enjoyed the collared greens and a sauté of cabbage and carrots, seasoned with onions, garlic, ginger and green pepper.

Demera doesn’t have alcohol on the menu, but it’s not clear whether BYOB is allowed. I decided to opt for what the Ethiopian patrons were drinking: an aromatic, cardamom and cinnamon-infused tea. The meal was far more flavorful and used better, fresher ingredients than either of us had remembered from our previous experiences. We still didn’t love the sour flavor of the injera, but we are both willing to go back and try more of the dishes on Demera’s lengthy menu. One thing is for sure, though: we will never have room to sample Demera’s desserts.

Demera Ethiopian
4801 N. Broadway St.
Chicago, IL 60640
773.334.8787

I’ve been wondering about Silver Seafood ever since I first saw it. That was probably right around the time I started dating Empanada Boy because it’s just across the street from the Broadway bus stop where I would wait on my way back from his house. Since then, I’ve heard a number of positive reviews from reliable sources, so Empanada Boy and I finally decided to check it out on Thursday night.

Silver Seafood stands out from other Chinese restaurants because it focuses on fresh seafood. It’s also distinctive because it’s one of the few Chinese restaurants located in Chicago’s “new Chinatown,” which is actually mostly Vietnamese. If that was too confusing, here’s the bottom line: This is a great restaurant with friendly service and distinctive seafood dishes, as well as many other options. It uses fresh ingredients— at least on its encyclopedic, Chinese menu— and avoids most of the the gelatinous pitfalls of bad Chinese food . Most importantly, it manages to keep the vast majority of entrees below my $12 price limit.

Feeling adventurous as usual, Empanada Boy and I ordered an appetizer of fried intestines from the Chinese menu. (The other menu features Chinese-American options like pot stickers and fried rice, but it also includes more interesting options like crab with ginger and onion and braised red snapper.) These ended up coming after both entrees, but that didn’t matter much. Unappealing though they may sound, fried intestines are delicious in just the way that things you know are bad for you often are. Their texture is similar to the crackly skin of a Chinese fried duck. We dipped the rings into a slightly sweet sauce for the perfect, decadent treat.

For our entrees, we stuck to seafood and to the Chinese menu. I saw someone at the next table eating the clams in black bean sauce (pictured above) and knew I had to try them. This was a phenomenal dish— tender clams coated in the smoky sauce made of fermented black beans, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and a few other ingredients. Thin slices of hot pepper gave it an extra kick.

There were even more of these hot peppers in the seafood medley that Empanada Boy selected. This dish included shrimp, squid and large tender scallops, along with snow peas and thinly sliced cucumbers in a spicy oyster sauce. Luckily we had two cold Tsingtao beers to de-spice our palates. EB and I both enjoyed this dish, but we were more impressed with the clams, which we devoured.

We left the restaurant feeling like we had made a great discovery and eager to come back and bring some friends to help us sample some of the myriad other dishes on the voluminous menu. I, for one, am looking forward to sampling one of the lobster dishes, if only for the chance to see my dinner snatched live out of the dining room’s tank.

Silver Seafood
4829 N. Broadway Ave.
Chicago, IL 60640
773.784.0668

Mango Mama was in Chicago last week during Chinese New Year. If there’s one thing Mango Mama loves, it’s a good parade. Empanada Boy and I decided to take her down to the one in Chinatown that afternoon. And what better way to prepare oneself for a parade than with a breakfast of dim sum? I briefly considered trying a few places in Chinatown before I realized the wait would be far too long to make it worthwhile. EB and I decided to stick a little closer to home with Furama in Uptown.

Furama’s upper level had been rented out by a private party, so the lower level was filled to the gills with people enjoying dim sum. But they were herding people through quickly: we put our names down on the waiting list and were seated soon after. Our table was directly inside the door in front of the hosts’ booth, a fact which we would later come to regret.

The food was fine, but not exceptional— just like most dim sum places outside of San Francisco and China itself. Chinese broccoli, spinach and shrimp dumplings, steamed barbecue pork buns, and sticky rice were among the numerous dishes delivered to our plastic-coated table. (After each set of diners leaves, bussers just peel away a layer of plastic tablecloth to reveal another clean sheet below.)

But as we sat there, people waiting in the foyer gradually started coming into the dining room to wait. A substantial crowd soon gathered near the door and started winding its way between the tables. Empanada Boy and Mango Mama were repeatedly bumped by hungry diners literally breathing down their necks. To make matters worse, the carts had to continue to squeeze through the crowds to deliver food to the various tables in our area. The manager feebly tried to tell the crowd that the room was at capacity, but no one seemed to think he was talking to them. Parents, children, grandparents, friends, all stood in eager anticipation directly around our table. No one left.

Half amused, half annoyed, we tried to ignore them as we finished up our meal. Then something happened that tipped the scales toward the totally absurd and ridiculous. A water pitcher had been placed on our table by a server. Another server passed by our table with a glass of water and poured the water from the glass into the pitcher, leaving the pitcher on our table without saying a word! Then, yet another server saw the pitcher on the table and came to reclaim it, pouring in another glass of water before he did so. By this time we were all laughing uncontrollably.

We took the train south to Chinatown for the parade. There were a few distinctly Chinese displays in the parade, including a couple dragons, some children from a Chinese school playing drums and some women dressed in elegant, traditional garb. There were also a few commendable high school marching bands. But a good part of the parade was taken up by politicians running in Chicago’s upcoming municipal elections. Oh, Chicago, you and your blatantly pandering politicians! At least some of them were waiving Taiwanese flags to help them blend in.

After the parade, we walked over to a wonderful outdoor Chinese mall, filled with shops selling everything from dried fish products, to housewares, to traditional herbal remedies. We stopped in at a magnificent store, which sold some of all of these things. We looked at the dried skate and fish cartilage and then bought a variety of candies. Among these were tomato and cucumber flavored chews.

Finally, unable to resist the call of the bubble tea, Empanada Boy braved the line at the wonderful Saint Anna Bakery to get himself an avocado bubble tea. For those of you who have never tried bubble tea, it’s like a milkshake or smoothie with round globes of gummy black pearl tapioca at the bottom. EB loves the avocado because the fruit’s creaminess adds extra richness to the drink. St. Anna’s version was sweetened with honey instead of sugar, making it lighter and a bit more savory that others we’ve tried.

EB and I will be back to sample more of St. Anna’s delectable-looking baked goods. But until then, have a wonderful year of the boar. Gung hei faat choi— congratulations and be prosperous!

Furama
4936 N. Broadway St.
Chicago, IL 60640
773.271.1161

Saint Anna Bakery
2158 S. Archer Ave.
Chicago, IL 60616
312.225.3168

In case you don’t live in the Midwest and haven’t heard, it has been freezing cold here for the past week. And by freezing, I don’t just mean below 32 degrees. My online weather tracker currently says it’s -3 degrees outside. We are not expected to see highs in the 20s again until Thursday.

When it gets this cold outside, there is nothing better than a nice, hot bowl of soup. It helps if the soup is spicy too, because then it warms you from the inside. That’s why Empanada Boy and I decided to stop in at one of his old Uptown stomping grounds— Phò 777 on Argyle Street.

Argyle is like a mini, Northside, Chinatown, including plenty of dim sum, markets, bakeries and bubble tea outlets. But there are also a fair number of places specializing in phò (pronounced “fuh”), the traditional Vietnamese beef noodle soup. Perhaps a better name for this neighborhood would be “Little Saigon.”

Empanada Boy ate phò all the time before he moved in with me because it was nearby, cheap and delicious. For a total of about $11, we got two meals which included noodles, meat and vegetables. Phò 777 (as opposed to Phò 888, just down the street) was the place EB pinpointed early on as his favorite, although I’m not sure why. There are plenty of other things on the menu there, but we really haven’t tried much beyond the soup and an occasional bubble tea. The truth is, once you finish a bowl of phò— even the small size— there is little room in your stomach for anything else.

Phò is made with a flavorful beef broth, which includes spices like Saigon cinnamon, star anise, ginger, and cloves. There is undoubtedly plenty of MSG in the mix as well. But that’s what makes it taste so good. In the broth are vermicelli noodles, green onions, white onions, cilantro, ngo gai (“saw leaf herb”) and mint, along with various meat products, depending on which option you select. There is also a side plate of condiments that come with each bowl. This usually includes Thai basil, lime, bean sprouts and chili peppers.

Being the resident fan of offal, Empanada Boy ordered a large bowl of the Number 2, which comes with well-done flank steak, fatty brisket, soft tendon and the requisite bible tripe, the latter being made from one of the many stomachs of a cow. The meat comes out exactly as it sounds: the flank a little tougher, the brisket falling apart, the tendon rich and tender and the spongy tripe tasting tough and chewy.

I am not a huge fan of tripe, so I ordered a small bowl of the Number 7, which comes with well-done flank streak and soft tendon. As I mentioned above, a small bowl is not really very small. It is still enough to fill me up completely, and that is saying something. I wanted to add fatty brisket to my order, so I asked the waiter if he could put some in. He agreed, but when I got my dish, there was one large piece of flank and a cluster of soft tendon. I thought there was too little meat in my dish altogether, and EB seemed to concur. Still, I’m not sure if this reflects on the restaurant so much as the person who happened to serve up our soup. I have been to Phò 777 in the past an received a healthier portion of meat.

In addition to adding the vegetable condiments, I always add sweet hoisin sauce and spicy Thai Sriracha sauce. Along with the thick slices of chili peppers, these give the dish some powerful spice, which clears out my sinuses nicely. EB chooses to administer his sauces a bit more sparingly, adding a little to a piece of meat here and there. My broth looked about five shades darker than his by the time we called it quits.

Feeling full, we ran from the restaurant back to the car. The icy wind whipped us around, but, thanks to my friend phò, the insides of our stomachs were warm and toasty.

Phò 777
1065 W. Argyle St.
Chicago, IL 60640
773.561.9909