Sure they’re bugs, but boy are they tasty!

On one of our outings to the San Francisco Exploratorium‘s monthly After Dark evenings we dined at Nettie’s Crab Shack. Nettie’s describes themselves like this “We would fill it with big, chunky picnic tables simply covered with butcher paper and beautifully weathered furniture you’d find in an old seaside joint.” I grew up and lived for many years on the east coast of Canada where there are plenty of “old seaside joints,” like this one in Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia.

Nettie’s delightfully captures the essence of places like this. All that’s missing is the spray from the breakers against the wharf and the tang of salt and seaweed in the air.

We stared off by splitting a rather nice salad (~ $7).

I love crab, especially crabcakes, so that’s what I opted for: The crab cakes, shoestrings, lemony mayo ($11). These were very nicely done, each topped with a dollop of lemon mayo. As an added bonus, the presentation was reminiscent of a pair of boobs. You have to love food that reminds you of boobs.

Ironically, while I grew up in prime lobster country, I have never really developed a love of lobster. Maybe that’s because we never had it when I was a kid. Suzanne, however, loves it and chose warm maine lobster roll ($35). Sure it was Maine Lobster, and not Nova Scotia lobster, but it was still tasty. Lost of meat heaped into a large roll that had been well toasted.

Both our entrées came wit Nettie’s rosemary shoestring fries. Yummy.

To finish off the meal, we split a sweet cherry pie ($8). This was nice, with a flakey crust. It was so good, that we almost forgot to snap a pic before finishing it off.

I’d really like to get back to Nettie’s sometime before we move. I strongly recommend it if you like seafood in a casual setting.

Suzanne and I had a evening out recently: dinner and a one-man/standup show. The show was by Mike Schmidt, who does the 40 Year Old Boy podcast. I’m not a big podcast listener, but Suzanne is and this is one that she listens to. Overall, I enjoyed the show and found it, by and large, quite funny. It’s always uplifting when you can laugh at someone who’s more fucked up than you are.

But I’m not here to talk about the show. I’m here to talk about the dinner we had.

We went to Bar Tartine, which is apparently a “go to” place in the Mission. Indeed, it has a good rating and generally good reviews on yelp.

Suzanne was quite pleased with her meal, but I left feeling that I would have been happier if we’d dined at McDonalds. I’ll get to that in a bit.

First, the service. This was mixed. One one hand, we were seated promptly and attended by our waiter fairly quickly. We were given our choice of still or sparkling water while we perused the menu. The water arrived post haste as did a basket of very nice bread. I don’t believe our water glasses every made it down to a quarter full before being topped up. On the other hand, it took me two requests to have my “cocktail” renewed (or should I say mocktail as they don’t serve liquor … I had a “New Fashioned” which was essentially an Old Fashioned (which appears prominently in the Best. Show. Ever. Mad Men) made with Vermouth rather than Bourbon, tasty but ineffective). Also, while considering dessert I asked for “coffee to start dessert with”. The pot (a mini french press) didn’t arrive until we were well into eating dessert.

One other thing I don’t really like is how they do their menu. First it’s hand written, and not always the most legible, I found. OK, maybe it gives the place a edgy touch: open to change up to the last minute and all. But please, you can do the same with a computer and printer. My other beef with the menu is that what they have online isn’t up to date with what’s on the table. I tend to base my restaurant selection on their menu, the menu they have online. Get with the times, people.

Let’s get more positive for a bit. The appetizers we selected were both very nice. Suzanne opted for the Sea Bass Tartar. It was nicely presented, and accompanied by some very fresh lettuce for shuttling the bass to your eagerly awaiting mouth.

I love fresh beans, so I chose the Blue Lake Beans. They were very lightly battered and fried, much like tempura. On the side was a nice dill augmented creme fraiche. This dish was, in my opinion, the best thing that landed on our table all evening. In hindsight, I should have gotten another order or two of the beans as my entrée. But I’ll get to that in a minute.

One of Bar Tartine’s signature dishes seems to be their roasted bone marrow, and I was a bit surprised when Suzanne didn’t order it. I’m not a fan of bone marrow, but she is. This is a specific case of me not being a fan of the whole nose-to-tail thing. Partly it’s baggage from being vegetarian for fourteen years (and vegan for most of that). Partly it’s because a lot of non-muscle meat is very rich, or at least seems very rich to me, and I have some problems with really rich food. And finally, because of my childhood years (in a backlash kind of way), I see “using the whole animal” as something you do out of desperation and poverty. I like being able to be selective about what parts of an animal I eat and throwing out the rest.

But I digress. Suzanne did order the pork jowls. She was very pleased but it was too fatty and rich or me. Suffice to say I’m glad I didn’t order it. Not that I was any happier with what I did order. But I’ll get to that in a minute. I tried a leaner bit of the jowls, and it was tasty … and very rich. It was accompanied by a roasted plum which provided a delightful tart counterpoint to the rich pork.

As I alluded to earlier, I did not enjoy my entrée. And now it’s time to get to that. I ordered the special. Prawns. I love prawns. From wee little shrimp to jumbo black tiger prawns. I love them all. This dish, however almost had me walk out without paying. I probably would have if I was by myself. Maybe the waiter didn’t provide full disclosure, or maybe I didn’t catch it. Regardless, I was not pleased. Here’s the dish.

Yes, nice big, plump gulf prawns. But unshelled and uncleaned. With maybe a quarter cup of rice in a broth that tasted like it was mostly the liquid from the pickled green tomatoes. The pickled tomatoes themselves were nice enough, however, and the high point of the dish was the strips of oven dried prosciutto (aka bacon!). There was also a scattering of sea beans in the dish. I do like sea beans.

What I take extreme exception to was the fact that I paid $25 for 4 unshelled, uncleaned prawns. Frankly I was disgusted. I cook shrimp/prawns a lot and routinely shell and clean them myself. I expect the fucking prep cook to do that. Not me, when I’m on a date, dressed somewhat nicely, in what has been purported to be a high end restaurant. So there I am shelling prawns that are juicy & covered in a light sauce. My fingers end up covered in sauce and stinking of shrimp shells. I made it through 2 of them before pushing back my plate in disgust. As I said, I would have walked out at that point if I’d been by myself. Suzanne felt sorry for me and helped shell the other two, the result being that her fingers stank as well. (Again, it’s not that I can’t shell shrimp, I just don’t expect to have to while dining, and certainly not when they’re covered with sauce.)

We recovered somewhat by having dessert (although I was still so distracted by the prawn fiasco that I forgot to snap a pic). We opted to share what turned out to be a very nice peach-oatmeal cobbler with buttermilk ice-cream. Another service failing here, though. We explicitly said we were sharing it, and the waiter did bring us each a spoon. However, they didn’t bring us sideplates. Ice-cream on a warm cobbler, shared by two people across the table from each other. Oh well, they have to wash the table clothes anyway.

I was pleased to see that they state clearly on the menu that they use Four Barrel coffee. What pleased me wasn’t that it was Four Barrel (I prefer Blue Bottle, or even better Philz or Barefoot for non-espresso), but rather that they thought it was worth stating what it was. As a bit of a coffee geek, I appreciate that detail. However they brewed it so weak that it didn’t particularly matter what it was.

My advice: don’t bother with Bar Tartine. Suzanne said it’s apparently one of the places to go in San Francisco. If that’s the case, I’m looking forward to getting moved to Chicago even more.

Tonight we went to El Metate for dinner. We had been thinking about eating there for a while (given that it’s close to home), and almost did once when we were on our way to the Roosevelt. After seeing mention of it on Tasting Table, or Urban Candy, or some, such we decided to make a point of going before we leave town.

The dining room is large and decently decorated. There’s a salsa bar and a selection of hot sauces. Not fancy, but servicable and the prices were decent. We picked a few classic Mexcian dishes. When they arrived at the table, we tucked in. We were both hungry and went away sated.

Suzanne decided on a shrimp taco.

I got some shrimp as well, but in quesadilla form. It was larger than I expected, and came with a generous accompaniment of sour cream, guabamole, and salsa.

Suzanne also picked a Flauta plate. When it came she commented that they were more of taquitas since they were made with corn tortillas rather than flour.

For the main event I chose chicken enchiladas.

Both plates came with black beans, rice, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, and chips. Oddly, Suzanne’s dishes came with pickled vegetables. Thankfully she shared.

Cheap, tasty Mexican food. Nothing exceptional good or interesting, but nothing unpleasant either.

Coco Pazzo Cafe was recommended to me. It was perfect. And across the street from my hotel. Bonus! I love Italian food, especially Tuscan, and Coco Pazzo Cafe was done up in a traditional rustic Tuscan motif. The effect was very homey. From their site: “Coco Pazzo Restaurants are Chicago’s authority on Tuscan inspired Italian dining.” I believe them.

I started with a glass of wine at the bar while I waited for a table. The wait was just long enough for me to order a glass and have a sip. Once I was at a table, a basket of sliced baguette and foccacia arrived to entertain me as I perused the menu and listened to the specials, which sounded too good to ignore.

For an appetizer I decided on bruschetta: Tomato & Basil and Mushroom & Arugala. The bread was sliced thin and grilled to the perfect crispness. The tomatoes were sweet and the basil vibrantly fresh. The mushrooms were nicely sautéed and earthy, topped with a thin slice of cheese and some loose arugala.

The bruschetta arrived so quickly, that the party at the table next to me asked if I were a known restaurant critic and was being pampered. Not yet anyway. Aside: they had been waiting since before I arrived, but they were a party of eight so you expect it to take longer to have everything ready to go together. They later said that they were unanimously impressed with their food.

Next up was the pasta course. I opted for risotto. I love risotto. A lot. Really. I love eating it, and I love making it. The risotto is a daily thing here, and today’s was wild mushroom. The flavor was great, the texture not quite so great. Personally, I think I make a better risotto … but only slightly. I have two complaints: 1) it could have been cooked slightly longer to make the rice a bit more tender, and 2) it needed more parmesan. The flavor was, as I said, great. Earthy mushroom and rich butter. It’s just that it could have been a bit better. That said, I’d try it again.

I chose the special entrée of the day: Roasted Sea Bass. This was roasted, skin on, to a beautiful brown. The flesh tender and moist … perfectly done. This was served on a bed of white beans with sautéed spinach and cherry tomatoes. Everything was just fabulous. The textures and flavors were bang-on.

Now, what Italian meal is complete without some dessert? I am an unabashed Tiramisu slut. It was on the menu, as well as Panna Cotta. Both were compelling, and I found myself wishing for a dinner companion so that we could get both and share. I asked whether the desserts were made from scratch in house and was assured that they were. Ok, Tiramisu it was, than. Very nicely done, rich with perfect texture. A scatter of fresh blueberries and a large, sweet strawberry completed the presentation.

I was impressed. So much that I’ve recommended it to Chad, my foodie friend. So much that I hammered out this post as soon as I got back to my hotel room. So much that it will be a go to place for Italian food once we get moved here. You should give it a try if you like rustic Italian food. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

I had dinner at Frontera Grill last time I was in Chicago, with my friend and fellow foodie, Chad. As mentioned in an earlier post we had thought to go the previous time I was in the city, but Rick was visiting Mexico with his staff and so the restaurant was closed.

This time we would not be deterred. Frontera is basically a first-come first-served place. We showed up at about 6:00 on Tuesday evening, and expected maybe a brief wait. What we didn’t expect was a one and a half to two hour wait. As I said we would not be deterred, so we said “Fine, we’ll wait”. Making the best of it, we went around the corner to another member of Bayless empire: Xoco, which Suzanne and I had visited when she recently visited Chicago. We spent a pleasant hour or so over beer & chips & guac discussing work, tech, girls, dating, etc. and generally discovering our shared interests.

Back at Frontera we had a a brief wait before our table was ready. We were seated across from the bar were we could admire their extensive tequila selection. In addition to that there were all sorts of funky stuff on the walls: paintings and sculptures of a sort.

After perusing the menu (which changes semi-regularly) we decided to start with some ceviche. Trio, Trio, Trio:(a sampling of Ceviche Fronterizo, Ceviche Yucateco and Coctel de Atun Tropical.) Very nice, very fresh, and with a very nice heat level. The presentation was elegant.

Keeping with the theme, we chose another ceviche appetizer. Ceviche Verde: ( Sashimi-grade Hawaiian ahi tuna with Mexican “chimichurri” (cilantro, parsley, roasted garlic, serrano chile, olive oil), fresh-squeezed lime juice, cucumber and jicama. Roasted fennel, fennel pollen, dry Jack chicharron, pinenut crunch.) Brilliant. The Ahi was tender , complimented by the crunch of the chicharron.

We decided that we should try the Mole, seeing as that’s a Mexican classic. Specifically, Enchiladas de Mole Poblano: (homemade tortillas rolled around Gunthorp free-range chicken, doused with Mexicos most famous mole; black beans.) The chicken was tender, the mole was rich. It did not disappoint.

The other entree we decided to try was another seafood dish: Pescado y Camarones en Escabeche: (fresh day-boat catch and fresh Florida shrimp in tangy escabeche of white onions, guero chile, rich lobster stock, passion fruit, bay leaf and sweet spices. Grilled green beans, crispy garlic.) Plated very nicely on a banana leaf which, alas, in the low light conditions didn’t provide adequate contrast for a good photo (that iPhone4 camera is looking better & better). So I served myself some on a tortilla that accompanied the dish, and took a picture of that. The fish and shrimp were cooked perfectly. The green beans were delicate, garlicky, and retained just enough crunch.

And then it was time for dessert! And at such a well known Mexican restaurant, what to have for dessert? Why, flan, of course. Two flanes, actually! Duo de Flanes: (a duo of Mexican caramel custards: one with Bayless Garden lavender (and a touch of honey), the other with pure aromatic Mexican vanilla. Spence Farm mulberry-black raspberry salsa.)

These were quite different, one was velvety smooth, while the other had a more custardy texture and taste. Both were delicate and delicious. I wasn’t sure about the black raspberry salsa that accompanied the flanes. The contrast between the smooth custard and the crunchy raspberry seeds seemed too striking. Nonetheless, the dish was uniformly delicious.

Another thing that can’t be passed up when considering dessert at a good Mexcian restaurant: Chocolate! In this case Bunuelo de Viento: (crispy rosette-style bunuelo dipped in Xoco’s homemade Mexican-style chocolate with white chocolate-tequila crema and drunken Klug Farm peaches and blueberries.) Wow. The combination of the dark chocolate, the crema, the peaches, and especially the blueberries was over the top. An excellently decadent way to cap off the meal.

Not much was left.

Frontera Grill, 445 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60654

Last Friday we got a taste of San Francisco’s underground food culture. The folks at ForageSF.com put on a dinner of foraged/gleaned/found ingredients on occasion. ShazamSF’s already written about the amusement provided by our table-mates.

The whole thing was a blast: from sending out the location the day of the dinner, to the dessert sorbets. It was a leisurely eight course meal over about 4 hours. The lighting was low, provided by candles on the tables, so there are no pictures. I should get an iPhone 4 sometime for this sort of situation.

Amuse Bouche: Bay butter on crustini

Simple and elegant. Baguette rounds toasted with a butter made by steeping bay leaves in melted butter.

First: Local Wild Nettle Soup with Cowgirl Creme Fraiche

Beautifully done and delicious .. nettles, who’da thought?

next: Fresh Mendocino Porcini Polenta with Heirloom Tomatoes and Basil

Creamy, tasty polenta. Incredibly good tomatoes, cooked just enough.

next: Local Yellowtail Sashimi with Tempura Fried Seabeans and Oven Baked Wild Nori

The sashimi and nori were good, but the seabeans were excellent! The saltiness of the beans cutting the fry-ed-ness of the tempura.

next: Roasted Marin Sun Farm Bone Marrow with Pickled Wild Radish Seed Pods, Sea Beans and Flowers

I wasn’t sure about bone marrow. But I gave it a try. Buttery, mild, decadent! I can’t say that I fell in love with it, but it was ok. I found it to be a bit on the rich side. ShazamSF was happy to finish what I left.

next: Local fresh Ricotta and Gleaned Figs with Wild Fennel Pollen Dusted Fava Beans

Wow. The ricotta was incredible. Creamy and delicious.

next: Squid Ink Rissoto with Smoked Black Cod with “Wild Radish Rabe”

This was really good. The Cod was deeply smokey, a great counterpoint to the delicate risotto.

next: Salad of Quick Fried Wild Radish Seed Pods with Spring Greens, Wild Radish Flowers, and Roasted Beets in a Tart Champagne Vinaigrette

It was a salad. Quite nice though.

last: A Trio of Gleaned Fruit Sorbet: San Francisco Plum, Berkeley Loquat, North Bay Blackberry

YUM!

Especially the Plum … punch you in the face flavor. There wasn’t a blackberry one, something else was substituted which was subtle and mild. The Loquat was clean and made for a perfect finish to the meal.

Eight courses over about four hours. It was a great meal, and we had a wonderful time. It was a great start to what was an exquisite night. But then, every night with ShazamSF is exquisite.

Suzanne and I took my buddy Sam out for dinner to celebrate his birthday. Suzanne suggested Range, and since she has yet to steer me wrong, that’s where we went.

We started with cocktails. Suzanne had a Bottle Rocket (pueblo viejo tequila, strawberries, chile, ginger, yellow chartreuse, lemon). Sam and I had what ever the special cocktail was … so I don’t have a reference as to what was in it. I recall rum & pineapple juice. And there was a dusting of nutmeg. It was tropical, spicy, and good.

On to appetizers! I had seared massachusetts dayboat scallops with cactus gazpacho, mint and olive oil. Nicely done. The cactus gazpacho was brilliant.

Suzanne chose the cured steelhead with crème fraîche, fennel and chioggia beets.

And Sam had a goat cheese ravioli.

Entres. I kept with the seafood theme and had california bass with corn chowder, pancetta, fingerling potatoes and chives. This was fall apart tender and good. The chowder is velvety and rich. Suzanne noticed that someone at a neighboring table had this dish and just ate the fish, leaving the chowder. What a sin … it was at least as good as the bass.

Suzanne opted for the slow cooked duck breast with creamed hominy, dino kale and marinated spring onions. The waiter commented on it being done in a sous vide style. Indeed, it was moist & oh so tender.

Sam had fava bean cassoulet with lentils, arugula, meyer lemon and pistachios which we didn’t take a picture of as the dish was served topped with greens, and so looked rather like a salad before digging in.

I was told that a meal at Range was not considered complete without staying for dessert. And so we we did. I had cornmeal crêpes with roasted strawberries, crème fraîche ice cream and pistachios. I love crepes, and while quite different than the classic French version, these didn’t disappoint. Crisp and sweet, they complimented the blackberries so well. Just delightful.

Suzanne had a classic, but extremely well executed strawberry shortcake.

Sam’s dessert was quite nice looking: raspberry ice cream puffs with regina peaches. Thanks to Sam, by the way, for thinking to use the candle to light the dessert photos, as the light was waning by this point and my iPhone is a pre-flash model.

In summary, Range was a big win. I’d love to go back. It’s definitely not cheap, earning it’s Yelp! rating of $$$, but the food and experience is top notch if you’re looking for casual, comfortable fine dining.

I’d heard about Avec quite a while ago and have been thinking of checking it out sometime. I finally had the opportunity, though by a somewhat circuitous route. A foodie friend and I had planned to have dinner at Frontera. However they were closed while Rick Bayless had his staff in Mexico, so we thought we’d check out the new Girl and the Goat, Stephaine Izard‘s new restaurant. Stephanie was winner of season 4 of Top Chef and has just recently opened Girl and the Goat. But it was not to be. They were closed for a private event that evening. And so we decided to go to Avec, which we knew was open as we’d walked past it on the way.

Avec is long and narrow, extending from the street back, into the the building. the walls, floor, and ceiling are paneled with a rich, brown wood. Dining is either at the counter or an communal tables.

We decided to share a selection of small plates to maximize our experience. We selected four dishes, all of which were a complete WOW!

Tuna tartare with housemade squid ink and olive pasta, house giardinara and sesame bottarga vinaigrette

The giardiniera was brilliant combined with the tuna. The heat and the crunch from the vegetables combined with the silky smoothness of the raw tuna to very nice effect. And the tang from the vinaigrette complimented the fish perfectly. The pasta filled out the dish nicely. Squid ink pasta is always cool.

Couscous salad with Werp Farms mustard greens, grilled eggplant and asparagus

Nicely browned cheese and beautifully roasted eggplant: smoky and creamy. I love Israeli couscous, and this was done to perfection.

Beet crustini

One word: Yum. I’m a huge fan of the beet. If you, too, are a beet lover be sure to read Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins, if you haven’t already.

This dish included a mix of red and yellow beets as well as a beet puree. This was heaped on top of crunchy bread, topped with some kohlrabi shreds for a nice crunch. A touch of black pepper gave the dish a bit of zing.

Chorizo-stuffed Medjool dates with smoked bacon and piquillo pepper-tomato sauce

This was a run away hit. Definitely the star of the evening. No wonder it’s a favorite of several foodie friends.

The sauce was sweet and smoky. Date, chorizo, bacon: a brilliant mélange of flavor, sweetness and heat. Let’s get serious: chorizo and bacon in the same dish … how could it not be amazing. I’ll be trying to replicate this in my own kitchen.

Finally, some of the dishes came with a delicious warm fresh bread for cleansing the palette and, maybe more importantly, soaking up sauces.

I was impressed: woodsy decor, great service, good wine & beer selection, and awesome food. I’ll be back for sure.

After taking in some of the San Francisco Pride parade, Suzanne and I headed home. We we getting quite hungry by that point and our first destination, Tu Lon, was closed. We thought Basil might be a good choice, but alas, they were also closed. Now that we were on Folsom we decided to head back into SOMA and find something that was open. We happened upon Triptych, which neither of us had been to before. That and the fact that they were advertising brunch was plenty for us to decide to give it a try.

We settled into a bright window table and Suzanne went in search of the restroom. When she came back she suggested we reseat ourselves on the patio in the back. And we did. The walk to the back of the restaurant had a bit of a “cutting through the kitchen” feel to it, but there was some interesting art on the wall to be perused on the way.

While the main dining room looked fine, the “patio” left something to be desired. It looked like they ran out of funds when they got to the back of the restaurant. The “patio” was a fenced off area with a raw concrete floor, and a standard blue plastic tarp stretched overhead. The steps down to the patio were a couple of pallets with loosely covered with plywood. Other than a nice selection of plants along the walls, the overall effect did little to make the space cozy or inspire confidence. That said, the effect on that afternoon was nice, the plants, the shade from the tarp, and the quiet from being away from the street did make it a pleasant enough space in which to share brunch. It could be a really pleasant space with a bit more money and work.

Service, however was not great at all. There was an overall feeling of haphazardness to it. We noticed that we had received different menus than the next table, and they soon had their menus replaced. Also, it had taken far too long for us to receive our menus. Then it took far too long for someone to come along to bring us water, or take our order. While we were waiting, Suzanne suggested I check out the restroom. I did. It was a homage to the 80s & the disco era:

We eventually had our orders taken. We asked for the crab cake (mini crab cake with spicy dipping sauce) as an appitizer. I ordered a Club Sandwich (grilled chicken breast, bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado) with a side salad, and Suzanne had the Fritatta Blanc (egg whites, mushrooms, roasted tomato and onions, spinach & avocado cream). In time the entrees arrived. When the server returned (eventually) we commented that our appitizer was missing. It eventually (notice that word seems to be a theme) arrived, after we had finished the rest of the food. Since I’m talking about the crabcake now, I’ll comment on it here. It was too greasy, and the serving size was barely enough as an appetizer for one. I was not impressed, but to be fair, my initiation into crabcakes was in D.C. at the famous Market Lunch.

The entrees were passable. My sandwich was fine, with a nice side salad or mixed greens. One thing I found odd was that in contained only two slices of bread, whereas a club sandwich, by definition, involves 3 slices. Suzanne’s “Fritatta” was more like an open-faced omelet: essentially some fried egg white with sauteed vegies and such piled on top. Like my sandwich (which I shall refrain from referring to as a “club”), it was tasty enough, but was not quite what was expected from the description on the menu.This kind of bullshit really bothers me at a restaurant. It makes me think that they simply don’t know what they are doing.

In summary, the place was physically sloppy, service was very poor, and the food was mediocre and didn’t well match what was on the menu. I doubt very much that we’ll be back, given that there are so many better places in the area, and in the city in general. It’s definitely not worth going for the food, though maybe to check out the 80s restroom.

Friday morning of Suzanne’s visit to Chicago we went to Xoco for brunch. We didn’t get there for their breakfast service, and arrived early in the lunch service. There was already a long line, which we joined, giving us time to puruse the menu.

Xoco is one of Rick Bayless‘s trio of Mexican styled restaurants at the corner of Clark and Illinois, the other two being Frontera Grill and Topolobampo. Xoco is billed as focusing on “contemporary expressions of Mexico’s most beloved street food”.

As is our habit when dining out, we picked a couple things that we would both like to try. One of Xoco’s specialities is tortas (Mexican sandwiches). There was a nice variety to choose from, but we finally settled on a Choriqueso (Homemade chorizo sausage, roasted poblano, artisan jack cheese, tomatillo salsa) and a Pepito (Braised Tallgrass shortribs, caramelized onion, artisan Jack cheese, black beans, pickled jalapenos). Both sandwiches came with a small dish of tomatillo salsa that was very tasty. The rolls they used for the tortas were great, crunchy and tasty.

Choriqueso

Classic chorizo, spicy, greasy, red, and yummy. Suzanne liked this one, though I thought it lacked character. It tasted like chorizo. ‘nuf said.

Pepito

I really liked this one. Shortrib meat, reminiscent of pulled pork: tender and delicious. The peppers and onions were mindblowingly good when you got them in a bite.

In summary, we were very pleased with our meal at Xoco. I look forward to dinner at Frontera on my next visit to Chicago. I also want to make a point of getting there for breakfast and some of their great sounding hot chocolate.