Delicioso y Sabroso

Delicioso y Sabroso

Opened in May.

Two sides to the place: go fancypants (Delicioso) or more casual (Saborso).

One of the Seven Moles of Oaxaca served each day of the week at Delicioso.

Geno Bahena, "Corporate Executive Chief Mentor," says the business card.

If you've lost your shirt at Horseshoe (before 8:00 PM), you can cheer yourself up by stopping by for some of Ma Bahena's exquisite moles (remarkably consistent throughout the city).

This is a big damn place; given the location, it'll be interesting to see how it does.

Delicioso y Sabroso
10468 S. Indianapolis Blvd.
773.374.6089

The last seating is at 8 PM? I might try going down there with some Hyde Parkers. Which side have you enjoyed most?

Almost no one was on the Sabroso (grill) side, which features mostly predictable stuff (gorditas, tacos, etc.). The Delicioso (white table cloth) side had a lot more range...and all the moles. I can't say which side I prefer because I've only been to one side, and I thought all the moles and sauces we had on the Delicioso side were very good (though I'm honestly not sure it's worth the price).

David,

After seeing your post and knowing this wasn't too far off the beaten path for us, my husband and I took a trek over here last Friday.

I've been to one of Behena's earlier incarnations about two-and-a-half years ago (Ixcapuzalco on Milwaukee Ave) and really enjoyed the moles there.

Anyway, we headed over there for a 7:30 pm reservation, which, as it turns out, wasn't really needed, since there were only about three other tables taken at the time. True to David's post, there was no one on the Sabroso side, and it appeared to me that they were seating folks on the white-tablecloth side unless otherwise asked.

After purusing the menu, Mr. GF and I both decided to go with the five-course tasting menu ($45). This seemed reasonable, given that most entrees ran around $16-18 on average. They also offered a wine add-on for $19, which we decided to take as well.

Unfortunately, there was a communication error (this could be because mi habla NO Espanol and the waitresses didn't speak very good English). We only ended up getting one tasting menu, which ultimately, wasn't quite enough food -- but more about that in a minute.

The tasting menu itself was decent. We started off with what I believe was a pork enchilada in a red chile sauce - very excellent. Unforunately, there was only one on the plate, so we jabbed over who got the bigger half. We were offered the option of a soup or salad for the second course, so my husband chose a salad -- it was a simple baby greens salad with a light lime vinagrette. We were given the two main courses at the same time -- the first was that day's mole special, a dark, rich, cocoa-based mole with chicken and a really tasty side of something I couldn't place (starchy, potato, yicama? I'm not sure.) The second main dish was a shrimp entree with a creamy green pepper sauce, which we both agreed was actually better than that day's special mole. The dessert was a thick, creamy flan which was just heavenly. Definitely the best flan I've ever had.

Since we were both still hungry afterwards, we ordered a duck entree that was also very good, probably on par with the chicken dish we had.

My husband and I both agreed that the food was great. However, the service was very lacking --- which I think could be attributed to a combination of inexperience and misunderstanding. We watched the table next to us get served margaritas instead of martinis, like they'd ordered.

We stuck with wine, which was decent enough, but it was obviously stored incorrectly, because the wine was warm when she poured it. (Not room temperature -- warm.) Still, our waitress was overly generous with the wine pours and refilled us once, gratis.

All in all, with two glasses of wine, the tasting and the entree, our meal came out to approximately $85 with tip. Not bad for the quality of the food, in my opinion, but not a cheap night out, either. I wouldn't make a special trip to come out here, but if you're in the neighborhood, I think it's worth a stop. If I went again, I would probably just order an entree rather than the tasting menu. Hopefully, their service will improve over the next few months. I know they could certainly use it if they're going to get more business!

PS: I did check their hours as we went in and it looks like they're open until 9 pm on the weeknights and 10-11 on the weekends, if I remember right.

GreenFish wrote:The second main dish was a shrimp entree with a creamy green pepper sauce, which we both agreed was actually better than that day's special mole.

Sounds like the mole verde, which tastes just like the mole verde at Tepatulco and Sol de Mexico because the recipe used at all three restaurants comes from one source: Ma Bahena. I can eat this stuff alone, just smeared on tortillas.

Service at DyS is, indeed, a work in progress. Tamarkin in Time Out Chicago also mentioned the remarkable slooowwwwness of the servers here, but service takes a while to get in order at a new restaurant, and this place is still quite new. I'm inclined to cut them some slack on service issues...though I am not willing to forgive serving soulless industrial tortillas with dinner -- at their prices, they should be griddling the masa fresh for every order.

Funny, when I was there, they assured me the tasting menu was enough for two...

Hammond

I'm inclined to cut them some slack on service issues...though I am not willing to forgive serving soulless industrial tortillas with dinner -- at their prices, they should be griddling the masa fresh for every order.

Good point, actually. I was a little disappointed by the tortillas, myself, though I'm starting to think I've been really spoiled by Xni-Pec and Amanecer Tapatio's homemade ones. Still, the tortillas came out nice and warm and were soft, not flaky, which is a problem I've seen with (non-homemade) tortillas at some places.

I still stand by my theory that it's not really worth a trip, per se, but if you're in the area, it's not bad.

And trust me: that tasting menu was not enough for two, unless you have a very small appetite. (Or maybe I just have an inordinately large one, tempered by too many nights out. Heh.)

All I have to say is WOW! WOW...how bad is this place! After a similiarly dissapointing mexican food experience recently at Cantina Grill in the south loop, I was looking for a little salvation in this off the beaten path Bahena spot. Salvation was not in the cards my friends, this was just plaion bad.

We walked in and the place reminds you of a VFW hall, I was half expecting to see a group of elderly bingo players grinding out a game in the very much empty Sabroso side. Service was adequate throughout the night but that's not a huge feat when you're dealing with a total of ten covers on a Friday night. My girl had a passion fruit margarita, which was actually quite good. I stuck with Dos Equis which was delivered without a lime.

For a starter we had the scallop ceviche, which arrived dyed bright pink from the red onion in the marinade?, tasting not today's fresh, and sitting in a not kidding, 2oz. slick of olive oil in the bottom of the plate. When the ceviche was mixed and put on to a tortilla chip it suffered from the overly EVOO flavor and lacked that crisp freshness and bite that make a great ceviche.

For mains we had the chicken enchiladas in mole rojo which were standard run of the mill tex-mex enchiladas. The chicken was moist, but the mole was certainly not even on par with what his brother-in-law is doing over at Sol de Mexico. We also had the carne asada which was a 1/4" thick ribeye steak grilled to way past well done perfection. This got sent back on arrival since it was waaaaay past the med-rare requested. I understand mexican food like this should not get held to the high regards of ultra fine dining, but at least leave the steak a little pink or cut your meat a little thicker. After this debacle we got our check and left. Geno really needs to rethink this place if he wants to keep this place going, but as time has shown with his restaurants maybe he is aspiring too much before he even gets up and running.

Geno’s Beast
Delicioso y Sabroso Grill, Geno Bahena’s two-pronged Mexican restaurante just off the Skyway (10468 S. Indianapolis Blvd.), opened in May and closed last week after the sale of the building. “It’s a really long story,” Bahena says. “I don’t know exactly what is going to happen there.” Ever the optimist, Bahena (Tepatulco) says he is trying to renegotiate with the new owner, but as usual, he also has other plans. “I got something going on right now on 946 West Randolph Street. That’s the place we are looking at.”

/Dish (Chicago Mag)

Thanks for posting this info Santander. My wife and I were actually going there today! We would have had to mosey over to Phil Schmidts instead.

Props to aschie30 in the openings and closings thread; I had heard this last weekend and meant to post but didn't have the link until this morning.