Headed to Adobo Grill, suggestions

Hey all -

Headed to Adobo Grill tonight and have been searching on here (via search button and google method) but have not found one solid thread dedicated to this place.

Can anyone suggest some highlights from past trips?

Thanks!

Adobo Grill
1610 N Wells St
Chicago, IL 60614
312-266-7999

Definitely order the guacamole prepared tableside. The appetizers tend to be better than the entrees. last time I was there with a group, we all shared a big assortment of apps instead of getting entrees. I think that worked out well.

Hmm, note taken on the apps. Sounds like a good idea.

Table side guac and margaritas. Stick with appetizers if possible. The entrees tend to be very salty.

Just do margaritas and guacamole. =)

Ok, so I get it, they have good guac.

Thats unfortunate as usually my fav guac comes from my own hands.

jpeac2 wrote:Ok, so I get it, they have good guac.

Thats unfortunate as usually my fav guac comes from my own hands.

Not much reason to go then, is there?

Last time I was at Adobo Grill, I found their menu seamed to list toward Oaxaca, so there are a number of decent moles on the menu. I had some fluke in red and green mole that I thought was fine. You can also get the double-mole treatment with enchiladas (priced a bit high at $19).

On a boozy note, we liked the chilpachole: a platinum tequila shooter chased with shooter of warm shrimp broth. Aye caramba!

*Sigh*

Not much reason other than a friend's going away party. Although, after perusing their menu, some of their apps look pretty good.

Yes on the guac...get the "spicy" one. Yes on margaritas. Eh...on entrees tho' the huachinango snapper(if available) is tender and flavorful...the moles are passable. I find the service very attentive.

I must admit to some suspicion about the guacamole cart. Basically, what's the point? Few weeks ago, I noticed the same gimmick at Fajita Grill on Foster as well as a few other local joints, and I must not be understanding how the guac is better when it arrives on wheels. Am I missing something? And should one tip the guacamole maiden?

I'm not claiming to be an authority on the subject of tableside guacamole as I have never been to Adobo Grill or witnessed what I am about to describe, but in an attempt to perhaps shed some light on your confusion, Mr. Hammond, I offer this:

When my sister was in Mexico recently (okay, maybe not too recently . . . a couple years ago), she commented about how many of the restaurants they went to brought out the ingredients and prepared the guacamole tableside (she was in both touristy and non-touristy places, can't remember where these restaurants were at, and I can't really consult her at the moment), not necessarily for the reason of taste or being better, but probably for the same reason a Lawry's salad is spun tableside - for the service and the spectacle. I'm sure they could make that salad in the kitchen and bring it out without sacrificing anything . . . so I'd apply tipping rules the same way as I would to Lawry's or a restaurant that fillets a fish tableside as well.

Perhaps the owners/managers of these restaurants also saw this in Mexico or elsewhere and just thought it'd be a neat way of serving their guacamole.

Throw Las Palmas also into the mix of places that provide the tableside spectacle.

I guess the idea is to show you that its truly being made to order.
A downside to the tableside guac is that its not being tasted before going to the table. No question that its super-fresh, but is it seasoned properly? Its not enough to just have a formula for so much salt, lime, chiles. Avocados vary in size, limes in juice, and chiles in heat.

I suppose it's done someplace in Mexico, but in 36 years of travel in the country (including 6 years living in Mexico city), I've never seen guacamole fixed table-side - either in "touristy" or "non-touristy" places. Though, I have to admit - I don't frequent destinations such as Cancun, Los Cabos or Vallarta. I suppose the table-side guacamole presentation carries a higher price-tag, and people not all hat familiar with Mexico think that's how it's presented in that country. I also don't see people order margaritas where I eat in Mexico - probably never have - but everyone eating in a Mexican restaurant in Chicago seems to order one. Different strokes for different folks.

Bill wrote:I suppose it's done someplace in Mexico, but in 36 years of travel in the country (including 6 years living in Mexico city), I've never seen guacamole fixed table-side - either in "touristy" or "non-touristy" places. Though, I have to admit - I don't frequent destinations such as Cancun, Los Cabos or Vallarta. I suppose the table-side guacamole presentation carries a higher price-tag, and people not all hat familiar with Mexico think that's how it's presented in that country. I also don't see people order margaritas where I eat in Mexico - probably never have - but everyone eating in a Mexican restaurant in Chicago seems to order one. Different strokes for different folks.

Despite the presence of some "authentic" preps at Adobo Grill I don't really see it as an "authentic" experience. Perhaps it's authenticity lies more within the realm of yuppified, convivial atmosphere, with at least a tacit attempt to reproduce real flavors. Hence...good tableside guac and decent(not mix-heavy) margaritas.

I'd rather have my guac made in advance and refrigerated for a while so that the flavors come together. At least that's how I do it a la Frontera Grill ....

I suppose it's akin to doing crepe suzette or bananas foster tableside.

Well I am back.

Had the Guac, with the four salsas to start. Guac was bland, you all were right, they needed to check their seasoning as it didn't do much for the flavor.

I ordered the snapper. Overall OK. Nothing too great, but about what I expected.

Highlight of the meal was one of the salsas. It was a lime green creamy consistency. Very good and I could not pick out what the flavoring was from. Anyone have an idea?

jpeac2 wrote:Highlight of the meal was one of the salsas. It was a lime green creamy consistency. Very good and I could not pick out what the flavoring was from. Anyone have an idea?

Cilantro? Tomatillo? Guess I'd have to taste it...

i've seen and tasted a lettuce puree/salsa that looks like that via extramsg.

It was more than your standard tomatillo/cilantro green salsa. The coloring was a creamy light but bright green.

Sometimes avocado is blended into salsas.

We were there for the first time last night. I twelfth the tableside guacamole and the tableside-shooken margaritas, and I also enjoyed my entree. It was a "special" last night, but it might be a special every night. A kind of paella except a little soupier, with various tasty pieces of fish and shellfish buried in or sitting atop an environment of rice. I think it had the word Arroz in it (which I know is rice) and the word Tombado in it (which I have no idea what it means). Someone above said the entrees can be salty; this was, and also very garlicky, but while I do occasionally in life find some foods too salty to enjoy, this was like, "It may be salty, but bring it on-it's good." The broth (or whatever) it was in, along with the quality of the fish and rice, made me eat it down to the last grain.

Also agree that the service is really smooth.

I can't believe how long I avoided this place. It's certainly convenient to Pipers Alley and Second City, but the "chaininess" of the look and feel from the outside always made me think the place had to be a temple of mediocrity. It's better than that.

A week or so ago, we had Adobo Grill
visit our cafeteria where I work as part
of Hispanic Heritage Month. They prepared
some really tasty Cochinita Pibil, with little
foil packets of tortillas and the great pink
pickled onions.

I really like their Chilpancingo-like
masa boats, especially the plantain
in mole negro.

The creamy consistency in a green salsa is often pureed lettuce. Taqueria San Juan has it, I just had it somewhere else recently but can't think where...

Visited the Lombard location Sat night and had the obligatory guac and margaritas. The drinks were indeed shaken tableside but the guacamole was prepared at a cart positioned awkwardly near the foyer and delivered to the table. Given how oppressively crowded the place was nobody or nothing could have fit between the tables anyways. I had the pork en dark mole and, which was decent. Loved the masa boat. Guac not as limey as I remember it in the old town location. Fish tacos were solid. Good addition to the burgeoning Lombard chain restaurant scene.

We had a pretty bad experience at the Lombard location about a month ago. The service was really awkward, bordering on bad. Our server began rushing us to order as soon as we sat down, only to subsequently disappear. She literally had to be flagged down so that we could get our check well after we were finished. It was busy but not overly crowded when we were there (on a Friday night).

The food was okay, not great. We had the guacamole, and have had it before at the Old Town location. It's good. IMHO, the guac and margaritas are the highlight at this place, and it's downhill from there. Perhaps I'm not ordering the right items, but the entrees seem pretty mediocre. Maybe we'll give it another try.

Had a surprisingly good meal at the Division Street location last Saturday. I can recommend the Baja tilapia tacos without hesitation. I'm not really a connoisseur of fish tacos, but these were quite nice: firm, meaty nuggets of tilapia fried just right, topped with some kind of tangy tartar/mayo sauce and thin shreds of red cabbage. Not a bad deal at $13 with unremarkable (but fine) rice and beans. Much better than the carne asada tacos everyone else had. Drinks and guacamole (pretty much de rigeur at this place) will raise your bill northward. I cringed everytime my table ordered another $8 bowl of guac (four total for a table of 13). I'd be surprised if they used two avocados/bowl.