Annals of the Overlooked: Angelica's

It's funny sometimes the places that we cluster around-- and the other places, often better situated and more obvious, that get overlooked. Vital Info selects a far west side Polish restaurant or a Puerto Rican chicken place more or less randomly, likes what he finds, and suddenly Pico Rico and Zascianek are known locations on the great Foodmap in our collective heads.

Meanwhile, right in the heart of the Polish community, on one of the city's main arteries, there sits a good-sized Polish restaurant attached to a well-known grocery store-- and so far as I can tell the only substantial mention of it ever on any food board is this 3+-year-old one on Chowhound. But my friend Wyatt had good memories of going there some years ago, so we decided to give it a try yesterday.

The Angelica for whom Angelica's is named is apparently the daughter of the Wally for whom Wally's is named. As with Bobak's buffets attached to their sausage superstores, the restaurant is an offshoot of the retail establishment, something that became obvious when we were served the first pea soup which ever had more ham than pea in it. Clearly they get, shall we say, a good deal on small bits and ends of ham to put in the soup:



I'll cut to the ending here and say that this soup was by far the best thing I had, full of smoky hammy goodness. And given that this was a Polish place, even though not a buffet, I got to try a lot of stuff for a whopping $4.99-- a salad bar, a basket of bread, soup, and then my main course, Hungarian goulash. This consisted of the world's largest potato pancake, a layer of pork in gravy, and under it... the world's other largest potato pancake:



I left an entire potato pancake, which would be the equivalent at a normal restaurant of TWO entire potato pancakes, and was still stuffed. Goulash had a nice peppery flavor, the potato pancakes were pretty good, but clearly it was not delicacy and acuteness of flavor with which they were selling this food. This food is predicated on the assumption that you're halfway through a 12-hour day of hanging drywall, and this food needs to help get you through it. Which explains why, in addition to the salad bar, it came with this:



It seems almost paradoxical to talk quality in an environment so quantity-oriented. Angelica's food was, apart from the soup, competent and even heartily enjoyable, a notch above buffets like Red Apple, but a bit by-the-numbers, cafeteria-like next to a little family restaurant like Smak Tak (or, from the descriptions, Zascianek's).

Afterwards we went into Wally's to check it out. Wyatt's first comment: "It smells like your soup." The coolest thing was a 55-gallon drum of sauerkraut. The scariest thing was a 55-gallon drum of salted fish. (At least I hope it was salted....) The thing that might lure me back-- a surprisingly wide assortment of apples, at about 40% of the price for the same varieties at Whole Foods.

Angelica's Restaurant
3244 N. Milwaukee Ave.
773-736-1186

Wally's Market
3256 N. Milwaukee Ave.
773-736-1212
assorted other locations around the city

Annals of the Overlooked 2: Kabob2

I've often passed by the last little stretch of ethnic Devon before Kedzie, the petering-out of Russian Jewish and middle-eastern spots. Often passed by, but almost never stopped, except during the relatively brief life of a little Israeli spot I liked (but nobody else did) called Sarah's Kitchen. In fact considering the popularity of Indian Devon a few blocks east, it's surprising how little attention has been paid to the fish shops and kosher restaurants and so on along here.

I decided, spur of the moment, to remedy that by trying a kabob place which occupies a somewhat forlorn strip mall next to an, ahem, European Spa. (I don't actually know if this one warrants the ahem, unlike the similar Chalet Spa which used to be near Isla Pilipina, which made the local press for its ahem activities before finally disappearing. This one just looks like it might be, ahem.)

Amusingly in light of the foregoing, the only people inside Kabob2 when I went in were three police officers. Once inside, I instantly understood why Kabob2 wasn't packing them in. There was an overall feeling of utilitarian glumness radiating from the large, empty, institutional-tiled interior, the TV blaring Fox local news from one wall, the faded pictures of blue-green entrees on the menu board. I've been to laundromats with more joie de vivre.

In other circumstances I might have taken off right there, but jeez, the guy was standing there staring right at me, glumly, so I looked around the kitchen area, spotted the cone of meat, and ordered a kifta sandwich and some hummus. For some reason the hummus prompted a harrumph of disapproval, which did not exactly come from the McDonald's How To Upsell Manual. Given the vibes the place and its owner were giving off, I had fears that the food would be inedible when it came, but actually it was pretty good; the texture of the kifta wasn't overcooked and it had a little mint-and-other-seasonings flavor. The hummus was generic and a bit too drowned in oil, but perfectly edible. Still, can I imagine myself ever walking into this simulacrum of a small town bus station in central Assyria, ever again? Only if I need a policeman, I suspect.

Kabob2
3104 W. Devon
773-508-0415

Kabob 2 has pretty good falafel, too.

I remember reading MikeG’s post long ago, and then I made a mental note that this might be a place to try sometime. So I figured, this being one of the hottest days of the year, what better time to eat Polish meat and potatoes?

I had the beef with a pickle inside and really liked having buckwheat on the side, so much more flavorful than spud or rice. The salad of beet puree with horseradish was a fine smack in the mouth and a light relief from the heavy meat with gravy.



The Wife had the egg-battered veal, which was very good and a lot.



No pix, but the soups here are home-made tasty, even on a day like today.

On a downnote: the people in this restaurant seemed kind of sad and former-Soviet-client-looking. Smiles, when they came, were forced, and servers and patrons were very pale and beat-up. Still, the portions were huge.

Hammond

They've been sad and Soviet looking for years, and at least stay in business. Right about the time Chicago magazine profiled them for Best Cheap Eats (around 2000), several items on the menu were still under $1, including 60 cent soup and .95 for two pierogi or a kolach(ki) and coffee (which I find are now increasingly rare; they just don't make 'em some days). The menus had pasted a $1 increase over the item featured in Chicago - the veal goulash between two potato pancakes, which had been upped to a whopping $4.15. I think it's over $6 now. The food is great and a few of the servers are knockouts, but I've never seen a big smile or light heart in the bunch.

Santander wrote:They've been sad and Soviet looking for years, and at least stay in business. Right about the time Chicago magazine profiled them for Best Cheap Eats (around 2000), several items on the menu were still under $1, including 60 cent soup and .95 for two pierogi or a kolach(ki) and coffee (which I find are now increasingly rare; they just don't make 'em some days). The menus had pasted a $1 increase over the item featured in Chicago - the veal goulash between two potato pancakes, which had been upped to a whopping $4.15. I think it's over $6 now. The food is great and a few of the servers are knockouts, but I've never seen a big smile or light heart in the bunch.

I still find it quite a deal. For two bucks, you get fine soup with good bread -- mere mortals (i.e., not LTHers, civilians) could probably make a whole lunch of the soup alone, which is included in the price of most meals, which themselves seem to hover around 8 bucks. Not bad.

The pierogi were excellent -- lightweight with a hand-made quality.

Would I go back? Probably not, but I'm glad I went.