ECCE

Went to Ecce (Broadway/Roscoe) tonight. I thought their Pad Thai was amazing.
I can't think of the names of their Maki tht I liked, but it was all good.

HI,

I often take a carry-out menu with me so I have something to refresh my memory.

ECCE Cafe
3422 North Broadway Street
Chicago, IL 60657
773-244-9331

I live near Ecce, so it's been one of my local staples since it opened. A lot of restaurants claim to be pan-Asian, but Ecce actually is. They have sushi, they have some Thai dishes, they have some Chinese stuff, one or two things from Singapore...you get the idea. I wouldn't go so far as to describe it as a destination restaurant, but if you live in the neighborhood (Lakeview/Boystown), you're making a mistake if you haven't tried Ecce.

On the appetizers, I particularly recommend their fried calamari. (Yeah, yeah...I know!) It's tempura battered, but particularly light and crispy (even holds up for delivery), served with thai tomato sauce that has a hint of spice. Unfortunately, they stopped making my favorite appetizer, Mussels on the Shore, which was their version of Dynamite (mussels, chopped and mixed with roe and spicy mayo, then put back into the shell and cooked under the broiler).

They do a good spicy basil fried rice with crab. I agree with their OP that their Pad Thai is good, though I wouldn't give it marks as high as he/she did. I also love their soft shell crab with yellow curry, as well as their honey walnut shrimp.

On the sushi menu, if you like trendy rolls, their ecce maki, sweet potato maki and fired dragon maki are all makis I order regularly.

PS: A friend just told me that apparently Ecce also owns the new Asian market that opened about 2 blocks south on Broadway (just south of Ping Pong).

Has Ecce closed? It would be a shame if it did. It wasn't a destination restaurant by any means, but it was always reliable for good "fast food" sushi and the other entrees I've tried were always solid. (I liked their Korean Jumbo noodles -- a mildly spicy soup with spaghetti noodles with vegetables and seafood.)

Natasha wrote:Has Ecce closed? It would be a shame if it did. It wasn't a destination restaurant by any means, but it was always reliable for good "fast food" sushi and the other entrees I've tried were always solid. (I liked their Korean Jumbo noodles -- a mildly spicy soup with spaghetti noodles with vegetables and seafood.)

It seems to have closed...about a month ago I called for delivery and the phone rang and rang and rang. I noticed later that the windows were papered over. I haven't walked by to see if there's a sign up. If it's true, I'm disappointed, because it's a solid go-to place in the neighborhood, great for delivery and inexpensive.

They seemed to be doing good business when ever I was in there (no line out the door, but 60% full). I wonder if the PingPong expansion (can't remember the name of their new Japanese joint) and Joy's larger space hurt their business. While I like the other Asian places in the neighborhood, Ecce provided some good variety. (Plus the delivery guy--who probably came to my condo once a month or less--always remembered my cat's name and asked about him. What service!)

I never made it to Ecce, and it sounds like I missed something good. I have a kind of unthinking prejudice, though, that I wonder if anybody else shares. I'm turned off by the idea of pan-Asian. Well, not by pan-Asian if that's really the concept (as with Red Light), but more by bi-Asian--places that try to be two things, because they're afraid to be just one. I have an image in my mind of a restaurant that I passed yesterday, which had two neon signs in the window: "Pad Thai," and "Sushi." There's a part of me that wants to say, "Make up your mind!" Even though I know it's logically possible for a place to be a great Thai restaurant and a great Japanese restaurant at the same time, it just doesn't seem likely to me. I get a vibe of "covering all the bases" rather than "strongly committed to excellence." My default assumption is that all the bases are being covered in mediocre fashion, rather than any one of them being covered expertly. There's a sense of "we tried to make it on the quality of our Thai food alone, but it didn't work, so we had to throw in something else"--or vice versa. And there's an even less thinking part of myself that says you can't have good sushi in a place that serves Thai, and vice versa, because no place can possibly know how to do both of those things well. We're talking now about a gut level feeling rather than reason based on evidence--but the gut is probably the decision-maker most of us use to choose a restaurant on any given afternoon or evening. I guess this is a kind of culinary snobbery--but I own up to it.

Year ago I used to have a rule that I wouldn't eat in any place that advertised "Chicken-Ribs-Pizza" or the like. (Used to be a lot more places like that.) If the three things you're advertising are too different, you probably can't be doing all, or maybe any, of them well. (Of course, I didn't always follow my own rule.

So yes, I tend to feel the same way as you about "Pan-Asian." I'll accept a little stretch in recognition of the historical ties between certain peoples, i.e., a lot of Koreans in Japan (and occasionally the Japanese army in Korea) means Koreans can do sushi perfectly well, but even so, should they be trying to pull off cold sushi and hot dolsot bim bop in the same kitchen? Questionable. Make Thai and Chinese food in the same place and odds are you're going to put too much sugar, soy sauce and corn starch in your Thai food. And so on. It's possible it will all be done well, but most likely it will sink to a lower common denominator.

Ecce is indeed closed with no sign of what is to be in the space.

There appears to be some kind of Italian restaurant/market going in down the street in the former Einstein Brothers space.

And, gratefully, a little further south on Broadway, Mars Chinese, the home of perhaps the worst Chinese I have eaten in Chicago,has closed. A Sign indicates a new "thai cafe" will be opening there.

Thai + Cafe = I'm not too hopeful.

Thankfully, Ecee is just recharging for a new appearance. I think there is some signage in the windows, but I've only been driving by, so I don't know exactly what it says.

However, their website does confirm that they plan to reopen this October 2006.

http://www.eccecafe.com/

I only ate there once, which was recently, and I had an awesome crab dish that I'd love to eat many, many more times. On that recent visit, business was brisk.

I think this renovation is just in line with what recently happened at neighboring Joy's and Ping Pong. Even better things yet to come, I hope!

kithat wrote:Thankfully, Ecee is just recharging for a new appearance. I think there is some signage in the windows, but I've only been driving by, so I don't know exactly what it says.

However, their website does confirm that they plan to reopen this October 2006.

http://www.eccecafe.com/

I only ate there once, which was recently, and I had an awesome crab dish that I'd love to eat many, many more times. On that recent visit, business was brisk.

I think this renovation is just in line with what recently happened at neighboring Joy's and Ping Pong. Even better things yet to come, I hope!

I'm always a little skeptical of restaurants that are "closed for renovations." (I wonder what percentage never reopen?) But this posting made me happy, since I prefer Ecce to PingPong (and the sushi I ordered from Wakamono the other day was no better, no worse than Ecce's but cost more). Yes, it's not a destination restaurant, but if you live in the neighborhood, Ecce makes reliable, tasty food.

kithat, do you remember what crab dish you enjoyed? (I've always enjoyed their soft shell crab in yellow curry.)

chgoeditor wrote:But this posting made me happy, since I prefer Ecce to PingPong (and the sushi I ordered from Wakamono the other day was no better, no worse than Ecce's but cost more). Yes, it's not a destination restaurant, but if you live in the neighborhood, Ecce makes reliable, tasty food.

kithat, do you remember what crab dish you enjoyed? (I've always enjoyed their soft shell crab in yellow curry.)

Indeed, I think it's the same crab curry that I really enjoyed. Also, I've also found some of Wakamono sushi to be average and expensive. I've found their more jazzed up maki to be the better ones. For example, they have a good maki called Connie Chung.

kithat wrote:For example, they have a good maki called Connie Chung.

Oh, yes, that's the one!*



E.M.

* I kid, I really do. It is entirely possible that my experience was anomalous.

kithat wrote:Thankfully, Ecee is just recharging for a new appearance. I think there is some signage in the windows, but I've only been driving by, so I don't know exactly what it says.

However, their website does confirm that they plan to reopen this October 2006.

http://www.eccecafe.com/

When I click on this URL, I get "www.eccecafe.com cannot be found."

We love Ecce Cafe for all the reasons people have mentioned. Not the greatest Thai food, certainly not authentic sushi, dimly reminiscent Korean, imitation Japanese, but when you want something inexpensive and freshly made, it's a winner. Basil crab fried rice, singapore noodles, and the curry with sweet potatoes are all satisfying. We have been wondering what is going to happen, and we are fearful they are gone. They seemed to do a good local business. What happened?
I heard that Sura is a fusion thai/asian cafe chain that's already in NYC. Adesso on Roscoe will be italian paninis.

I walked by yesterday, so I was able to look a bit more closely at Ecce. The storefront next door (to the north, used to be a tailor, I believe) is vacant and neatly paper in the same manner as Ecce. It might lead you to believe that an expansion is a possibility. There's a building permit on Ecce's window, dated late August, that said something like "Repairs to existing restaurant, sushi bar, kitchen..." But it's hard to tell if there's any work on going.

Does anyone go to the Asian market just south of PingPong? It was my understanding that it's the same owners as Ecce. If anyone's in there soon, it's worth asking what they know.

BTW, also walked past Adesso while the front door was open on Saturday. There were still ladders, etc., present, but also tables and chairs arranged in a fairly tidy layout (i.e., they weren't stacked against the wall, but placed in what I assume is their approximate location for when they open. It looks like tile wall murals have been put up on the rear wall. The kitchen seemed as if it's open or semi-open to the dining area.