Ten meals in ten minutes

No, I didn't EAT ten meals in ten minutes, but I've had a lot of meals I haven't written about lately, and I feel like knocking them off real fast. Probably won't get to 10, but here goes:

Uncle Abe's Deli at the Marquette Inn-- Jim In Logan Square, did you happen to see a guy who looked like me at Uncle Abe's today, sitting in the smoking section (though not smoking) looking stoned? Well, I wasn't stoned, I had my pupils dilated for an eye exam right before lunch, which means I staggered out of there and into the first restaurant (well, the first non-Quizno's) I could find. Which was Uncle Abe's, or rather, it was a Marquette Inn with a sign in the window that said "Uncle Abe's is now at the Marquette Inn." So is that the same place, or are there two, one inside a Marquette Inn? Anyway, I had a Reuben, but I did not swoon. It was decent, but a little gristly and cut too thick for easy chewing, worse yet the bread that was plate side down was incredibly soggy, worse yet the fries were underdone, for food alone I wished I had staggered to Mrs. Levy's in the Kmart Tower. But fun old school Loop atmosphere.

Turquoise-- Finally went in this talked-about Turkish place yesterday, I say finally because jeez, it's five feet from my house. I like Turkish a lot, it's usually not that spicy or artful but hearty, simple, likable-- typified by Iskander Kebob, which is gyros meat in a mix of yogurt and lemon juice and tomato sauce-- a unsubtle, satisfying dish. Turquoise seems to be trying to upscale Turkish food's image, and maybe at dinner that works great. At lunch, a rather sparse menu seemed to offer few things that were even Turkish in the first place-- it stretches to include Italian and even burgers and panini-- and at least what I had, Cop Sis, reminded me of eating at a place like Reza's or Andie's where some dryish cubes of meat sit atop some dryish flatbread and approximately one metric ton of rice. A salad I had beforehand was somewhat better, though I'd still say that blue cheese and pomegranate juice did not mix (but at least something was going on there). I'd certainly try this again but at dinner, the lunch menu seems to have been Americanized for a patron of Reza's 15 years ago, and thus to have lost any interest it might have had for me. Although who knows, maybe they do a great burger.

Cafe Furaibo-- Pretty decent Lincoln Park sushi place, as written about here by several people. Good udon if a tad sweet, but certainly within range, nice fresh noodles; had a decent spicy tuna roll though it was a little sloppily-made. Are there more sushi joints than decent sushi chefs by now, I wonder?

Tampopo-- Hadn't been to this once-GWiv-loved sushi place in a long time, popped in with my younger son and ordered a lot of food in hopes he'd eat SOMETHING. He actually ate the "mac and cheese" (that is, the macaroni salad), with his chopsticks no less, showing more dexterity than he generally has with a fork. Chicken teriyaki was a little tough (do I sense Costco's hand here, those over-the-hill rubber chicken breasts they sell?) but since he didn't eat it anyway I'm sure it'll be the last time I order that in any case. What was actually really, really good was a "red snapper-tempura" roll on the specials board, the combination of red snapper and some crispy fried stuff and a little spicy mayo was very scarfable, I didn't mind that he didn't want to eat that.

Mayan Sol-- Rene G, I think, wrote about this place on some other board a while back, it's actually a semi-upscale Guatemalan place with a handsome room. I had a pork chop with the usual Mexi-Guatemalan sides and it was all right, though I couldn't help but feel that it had about 60% as much flavor and interest as the same dish would have had at Rudy's Taste. Still, a nice room for Guatemalan food is not the worst thing, I can imagine going back here some evening when I need a place that's a little nicer than average. (By the way, speaking of such, I noticed when I went to a movie at the Lasalle Cinema a few weks back that El Llano has a much snazzier location now out on that stretch of Irving, too.)

Miami Flavors-- I was on an ice cream kick with the kids a few weeks back when the weather was warmer, never got around to posting about it, but made several visits to Miami Flavors and really liked the place. Even with the perversity of keeping his ice cream just at melting temperature, I sure liked his flavors, had an excellent Mexican chocolate, an equally fine coconut. It helps to come in with your kids a couple of days in a row, the second time the proprietor gave me a slice of what he called "San Juan Cake," which was basically bread pudding, maybe just a little more spice kick than the Victorians would think proper. The only thing-- has anyone been there recently? I tried going by on a Friday night and there was a sign like it was closed. Would he have closed for winter? I hope no more than that....

Papa's Cache Sabroso/Pollo Chon-- Of course, visiting Miami Flavors I spotted the much talked-about Papa's/Pollo Chon across the street so one of our trips included a visit there. Maybe I just prefer the Brasa Rojas style and Cathy2 prefers this and never the twain shall meet; or maybe, as I've heard, he has a new rotisserie and is still getting the hang of it, but I thought this was, while good, a little dry, not quite the chicken of my dreams. I'd certainly give it another shot here sometime, and I note that on Fridays or the weekends or something they have roast pork leg, lechon, so I'm very tempted to try that as I'm still kicking myself for not eating from the Cuban place in the mall in Orlando that had a roast leg sitting there in between the Sbarro's and The Great Steak & Fry Co., which probably would have been the best meal I had in Orlando.

Puerto Rican Grocery on Western just N of Division, by the Sandinista bookstore-- Making all these visits to Miami Flavors I decided one day to try a place no one had ventured into, a little grocery store (name now escapes me, something like Rinconcito Sabroso or something) with some steam table items. Beef akin to ropa vieja wasn't bad, but a taro root fried ball, which was alleged to be sweet, was completely sweetless and somewhat like eating a spackle fritter. The main thing was, nobody seemed very happy to have me there, they were formally courteous in a sort of "effin' gringos come down here and eat our food and then think they're going to go write about it on some website" way, like maybe they'd attended one too many Chomsky readings next door. Okay, I exaggerate, but I didn't get a warm loving Latin vibe here and nothing about the food made me want to race back either.

Gee, this was kind of a depressing report. I guess this was why I wasn't in a hurry to post about most of these things. (And I didn't even get to an uncharacteristically disappointing breakfast at Flo, or a really lousy Burger King Crossan'wich.) Oh well, I had two fantastic meals at TAC Quick during the same few weeks. It's better than Arun's!

Uncle Abe's Deli
(312) 425-9983
122 S Franklin St (maybe)

Turquoise Restaurant
2147 W. Roscoe, Chicago
Tel: (773) 549-3523

Cafe Furaibo
2907 N. Lincoln Ave.
773-472-7017

Tampopo
5665 N. Lincoln Ave.
773-561-2277

Mayan Sol Latin Grill
3830 W. Lawrence Ave.
773-539-4398

Miami Flavors
2504 W. Division St.
773-227-2337

Papa's Cache Sabroso
(773) 862-8313
2517 W Division St.

Mike G wrote:Papa's Cache Sabroso/Pollo Chon-- Of course, visiting Miami Flavors I spotted the much talked-about Papa's/Pollo Chon across the street so one of our trips included a visit there. Maybe I just prefer the Brasa Rojas style and Cathy2 prefers this and never the twain shall meet; or maybe, as I've heard, he has a new rotisserie and is still getting the hang of it, but I thought this was, while good, a little dry, not quite the chicken of my dreams.

MikeG:

We've had two PCS/PC experiences... Great jibarito's eaten in-house and a take-out meal of a pollo chon, arroz+gandules, yuca, etc. The take-out chicken was really tasty but sadly dry. I wondered if the dryness was a result of the fact that the chicken had been cut up before packing but now I wonder... I like their arroz and gandules a lot but that night they were dry too... Next time, we're going to go on a Saturday for piglet or else chicken and rice and eat in in situ.

A

Antonius wrote:

Mike G wrote:Papa's Cache Sabroso/Pollo Chon-- Of course, visiting Miami Flavors I spotted the much talked-about Papa's/Pollo Chon across the street so one of our trips included a visit there. Maybe I just prefer the Brasa Rojas style and Cathy2 prefers this and never the twain shall meet; or maybe, as I've heard, he has a new rotisserie and is still getting the hang of it, but I thought this was, while good, a little dry, not quite the chicken of my dreams.

MikeG:

We've had two PCS/PC experiences... Great jibarito's eaten in-house and a take-out meal of a pollo chon, arroz+gandules, yuca, etc. The take-out chicken was really tasty but sadly dry. I wondered if the dryness was a result of the fact that the chicken had been cut up before packing but now I wonder...

I've only had one PCS/PC experience, dining in, and the pollo chon wasn't dry at all. It was 6 weeks or so, and perhaps I just caught one early off the rotisserie. The skin wasn't crispy, but the meat was juicy and flavorful, and the skin had good taste to it even in its non-ideal state.

I do like brasa roja's more. I didn't enjoy the yuca, but that's because I don't think I like boiled yuca. Fried, on the other hand, I do.

-ed

Hi,

Papa's acquired a new rotisserie with a capacity of 45 chickens over their old one of 25 chickens. Since the acquisition of this new rotisserie, the chickens have not been as consistent as they have been according to Erik M. Last week, Erik M, CrazyC and I met up for Papa's for dinner. We came armed with a contact name - a friend of Gary's - who is expert in rotisseries.

In very short time I had Vic on the phone with Gary's friend Chris. I could tell they were deep into a techie rotisserie discussion. I learned the rotisserie at Papa's is one which requires operator finesse and they are still on the learning curve. Chris felt Papa had a solid understanding of what was needed, it would just take time to learn all the ins and outs.

I am confident Papa's is on a solid footing to return to chicken greatness. I just have to wait out this learning period. I will then take the Brasa Roja chicken challenge up again!