Places Already Mentioned - Less Satisfied Edition

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I got to go to three places I generally enjoy, but in each case, I enjoyed them less than usual. I offer this not so much as "downhill alerts", just data points. Mostly, it goes to show, it's not all good.

The Colombian Place on Fullerton near Kedzie - Gloria's
There has been a place offering Colombian food, especially roasted chicken on Fullerton just west of Kedzie for about 6 or so years. For many years, it was owned by the same family that owned Flying Chicken of various locations on Lincoln. Sometime in recent times, the place on Fullerton changed ownership. While it is not widely noted on-site, I believe the current name is Gloria's. Now, I have been a few times since Gloria took over. Until Friday, I found the quality the same--very good. Not Friday. The roast chicken had a very off taste, like maybe it was just old, the grilled chicken breast was devoid of any marinade and hence was devoid of much taste. Only a grilled steak satisfied. Some sides were decent enough. (Sorry, I do not have the exact address)

Grota
With the demise of the Slovakian restaurant, Happy Noodle, can the 2900 block of N. Central still carry weight as the best chow block in Chicago? After a week of pain and anguish, I thought a bit of pigging out would help. Groto, for a while, has been our favorite Polish buffet. And yes, for $6.75, it was worth it, but it was not quite as worth it as usual. Some of the things that always "make" the buffets for me, paled. The potato pancakes were especially greasy, and the blintzes were not much better. I still liked the stuffed cabbage a lot and all the cold salads and Polish style spareribs, and the buffet included soup, like all Polish soup, that would be delicious to the extreme. Again, it was more than enough good food for the money, but in the past, I have not had anything to quibble with at Grota besides weak coffee. Saturday, the results were mixed. (3112 N. Central, Chicago, IL)

El Guanaco
We met SethZ and Kerensa for my new passion, pupusas last night. Like Grota, there was still a lot of great things on the table, especially for the money, but it was not all good this time. The biggest disappointment was the homemade sausage. Like the Colombian chicken above, it just tasted too old. The herbs seemed dead. The other problem with the dinner was, you just cannot share pupusas across six people. It was just unsatisfying eating the slices. I liked fried yucca with bits of chicharron and a slightly spicy red sauce, but no one else liked it that much. A pastel de carne, which I had not had before, was worth ordering. (6345 W. Grand, Chicago, IL)

Re: El Guanaco, both Kerensa and I really liked the Fried Yucca with Chicharron, I may even have liked it better than the pupusas, which were much cloder to an arepa than I had anticipated. I seems to remember a more gordita-like shell with more stuffings. But they were very yummy too.

Seth Zurer wrote:Re: El Guanaco, both Kerensa and I really liked the Fried Yucca with Chicharron, I may even have liked it better than the pupusas, which were much cloder to an arepa than I had anticipated. I seems to remember a more gordita-like shell with more stuffings. But they were very yummy too.

I liked the fried yucca with chicharron, too; a pleasant blend of crispy starch, tangy tomato sauce, flavorful nuggets of pork, topped with cabbage curtido. With it, I had a refreshing glass of maranon, a juice made of the fruit of the cashew tree (I had the same drink at Yassa on the southside -- not sure where it originated).



Hammond

A search for Gloria's reveals several threads where a conversation about the place is started but never continues. So I'll pick this one as being as good as any to report on a recent lunch with another LTHer.

There was a time, when my kids were very little and could spend hours at the park at Belmont and Damen, that I used to hit this place in its Flying Chicken days for an order of chicken and some cheese arepas to take back there and eat. The kids would eat the thing that looked like grilled cheese, and I would eat the chicken, and I would sit while they ran around.

Well, that was then, or at least that was summer, not November, and I haven't been to that place in eons. Maybe also because, hey, I had enough chicken like that already. But it was suggested the other day and so I went. The chicken was pretty good, some little charred edges that I could have stood more of, to be sure; and, recalling an old criticism of Erik's of Brasa Roja, a little porky flavor that suggests a brush with lard while cooking. Better yet was the rice and beans (moros y cristianos?) which had a nice hammy depth of flavor. But the best thing were some empanadas with spinach in them, a crunchy corny arepa-like exterior with bitter-tart spinach flavor inside waiting to be accented with the pellucid, lava-on-Venus green salsa.

The interior, which was pretty workingman's-lunch-functional back then, has been brightened up with a sunny Latin-culture paintjob. Maybe I'll finally actually take my family there, not just get food to go.

Gloria's Cafe
3300 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago
Tel: (773) 342-1050

VI and his family, Cathy2 and Mrs. JiLS and I had a pleasant dinner at Gloria' a couple of months back. Unfortunately, this far out its something of a memory blur, but I do recall our largish group being very well accommodated by the staff and enjoying most of the dishes. I drive past on my way home from work every evening, and they almost always have a healthy crowd in there.