Lingonberry secret bakery tamales and a Manhattan

A roundup of various recent meals not commented upon at greater length, in the form of a day's eating:

Breakfast: Svea

Needed breakfast relatively early between Lakeview and Rogers Park this morning. Not an immediately easy to achieve objective, it turns out, as many of the obvious candidates are weekends only (Tweet), late openers (Orange) or not that great (any Golden Apple/Angel/Nuggets between here and there). That left basically the Swedish places, so I picked the one I'd never been to, Svea.

I guess I'd avoided it thinking it was little-old-ladyish. Actually it's funkier than either Sather or Tre Kronor, at least now it is, has a kind of Swedish-country-house-meets-art-gallery-coffeeshop thing that reminds you of a place in somewhere like Saugatuck or Union Pier. Menu is less adventurous than Tre Kronor's, basically eggs or Swedish pancakes, but satisfying and the veal sausage that came with my Gothenburg Special was a hit with both of us. I'd go back to try some other things, including lunch or dinner.

Also noticed that Wikstrom's, which I haven't been inside in years and thought was just a shop shop, has a few tables for breakfast-- but not until 9.

Svea
5236 N. Clark
(773) 275-7738


Late Morning Snack: San Miguel Bakery

A friend whose kids go to school with mine, and who has often asked me for good restaurant tips (as well as passing the Maxwell Street video on to several friends in turn) amply repaid my help with a first-rate tip: tamales in an Igloo cooler behind the register at San Miguel Bakery, a typical Mexican bakery on Montrose just west of Ashland. I popped in there today and asked if there were tamales in the cooler and the woman behind the counter stared at me like I had just read her mind.

They have chicken and pork, red and green. I ordered red and green pork and took them to go but immediately tore into them on the street. They're the real deal, succulent pork inside lightly spicy masa. Considering all the stuff you see for sale around carnitas places, for instance, I now wonder if tamales are actually a common thing at bakeries, rather than them being the only ones who happen to be filling a tamales-to-go need. Either way, these were plenty good and well worth a stop, and I have to say, by Mexican bakery standards the other stuff looked and smelled quite good, too.

San Miguel Bakery Inc
1607 W Montrose Ave.
(773) 404-2241


Lunch: Coyote Grill Cafe

What first brought me to Montrose and Ashland a few days earlier, however, was that I had noticed Mexican words in the window of a former hair salon at that corner. The restaurant didn't seem to have a name yet, though the menu revealed, less promisingly, the decidedly gringo-sounding (and somewhat redundant) Coyote Grill Cafe.

Still, the menu looked to have some real Mexican dishes (Huachinango Veracruzana) as well as Mex-Am ones (fajitas). I ordered chicken mole.

It was okay, I guess, though stewed dark meat rather than the white meat I'd had even at places like the late Los Alambres. (And at a white meat price.) There might be some decent Mexican things on the menu, and it's a pretty enough place, but when I got the bill I saw that the credit card machine said "Mi Patio" as the name of the restaurant-- which I take to mean it's the slightly more authentic relative of a clichéd sombreros-and-margaritas gringo joint of that name on Armitage. If I lived close by this might do on occasion, but I am more inclined to explore some of the other things on Montrose nearby, such as a Mexican-Ecuadoran place and a new Guatemalan place, rather than come back.

Coyote Grill Cafe
address/phone unknown; at SE corner of Montrose/Ashland


Dinner: Gale Street Inn

This is actually an addendum to the Short Notice-A-Thon, since the next night, having recovered sufficiently from 14 plates of carnitas, pizza, a steak taco and some donuts, I went out for a big juicy steak with GWiv, Ms. Wiv, and Pdaane at this old school big juicy steak place on the northwest side, which has what GWiv referred to as "Wisconsin supper club" atmosphere (I think I would call it "middle-aged alcoholic white businessman" atmosphere myself). Notes are as follows:

1. They make a mean, as in Mike Tyson mean, Manhattan.

2. The correct answer after no food to "Want another one?" is not "Yes."

3. You can eat a whole loaf of bread before dinner when you've had two Manhattans. And only get full, not sober.

4. I don't really like oysters and clams, coming from Kansas where we never heard of such things, but I did like their oysters (with the usual horseradish-cocktail sauce) and baked clams a lot. Evolving palate-- or drunken stupor? You be the judge!

5. Pretty good steak. Not a great steak, though. Old school place didn't quite measure up to latest and greatest, even on a cost-adjusted basis.

6. Prime rib, of which I had one bite, was perfection. Old school place does at least some old school stuff right.

7. Gary had the ribs, just to calibrate his meat-jello palate I guess. He took one for the team, that's the only way to describe the look on his face.

8. I was more wiped out by two Manhattans (and a glass of red wine) and a giant steak and a loaf of bread in 2 hours than I was by 14 plates of carnitas, pizza, a steak taco and some donuts, plus 3 Old Styles and a couple of Goose Island 312s over 12 hours. G'night.

Gale Street Inn
4914 N. Milwaukee Ave.
773-725-1300

Mike G wrote:7. Gary had the ribs, just to calibrate his meat-jello palate I guess. He took one for the team, that's the only way to describe the look on his face.

Why, gary, why?

*shakes his head sadly*

Count me among the fans of Gale Street Inn, especially their prime rib which does indeed come darn close to perfection, every time. I prefer to go on the weekends when they're making twice-baked potatoes too. A couple martinis definitely round out the whole meal.

As far as the ribs are concerned, if one were a fan of meat-jello ribs (and their are many, Ms. EC included), I would say that you could do no better than Gale Street. Personally, I find this overall style of ribs to be "tolerable". I think Gale Street is the best of that breed.

Still, I'll stick to the prime rib.

Best,
Michael / EC

Having never tried Swedish food, I decided to head up to Andersonville for a Swedish breakfast. After reading through a few threads I decided on Svea. I hopped on the 22 and thirty minutes later I was sitting at the counter.

I ordered the Viking: two eggs, fried potatoes, some kind of Swedish sausage and toast. It came with something else too ... what was the name ... I can't quite remember ... oh yeah ... Swedish pancakes with langonberries! They were awesome. The powdered sugar and berries were the perfect match of sweetness and acidity. Combine that with the smooth, chewy texture of the pancake and I found myself a new breakfast favorite. Not to mention it was only 11 bucks.

The excitement didn't stop there though. Afterwards, I walked into Wikstrom's to pick up dinner. (Actually, I went into Bon Bon first and bought six chocolates truffles. But that breaks the Swedish theme I'm trying to build.) I went in for Swedish meatballs and walked out with: meatballs (obviously), a cabbage roll with ground pork filling, mashed potatoes, diced cucumber and tomotato salad and rice pudding with lingonberries. I finished eating all that not less than thirty minutes ago and what more can I say than, "Wow!" Another Scandinavian bombshell. Everything was delicious. Oddly enough, those were the best mashed potatoes I've ever had.

My only regret is that I didn't go on Saturday so I could have stopped by Swedish Bakery (they're closed on Sunday). I'll just have to wait till next week.