Evanston Lunch Group™ Fri Mar 28 @ Tickie's 12:30 pm

Almost anyone living in Evanston or further north, taking the El, has had to change trains at Howard Street. And while standing there, bored, and thinking about food, it's tough to miss seeing Tickie's.

There used to be several Belizean restaurant's in the neighborhood, including Flower's Pot, and another whose name I don't remember, but was in the space that's now La Cucina di Donatella. It'll be interesting to see if Tickie's can carry on their legacy.

Friday, March 28th seems to be a date that a number of people can make.

I hope to see a bunch of LTHers there on the 28th.

Tickie's Belizean Cuisine
7605 N. Paulina Ave., Chicago
(773) 973-3

I'm going to have to make a last-minute decision on this one - Sparky's off school that day, so we'll have to see which way the wind is blowing that day...probably? I've also spied Tickie's from the El Platform, high time to check it out....

I'll be there.

Count me in. I'll come armed with my story of shooting a Taster's Choice commercial in Belize.

We will be there. Catherine and Robert

It appears I've been successful in getting all the balls I'm juggling up in the air, so I'm in! See you guys there!

Hi,

Unfortunately I cannot make it.

Regards,

I'll (tentatively) have one guest. More details if and when they become available.

No guest. Just me.

I called yesterday - they said they didn't care about the size of the group - just walk in.

Well, I'll jump in - I did quite like Tickie's; a nice place to get odd bits of cow and pig: we had cow's foot stew and both oxtails and pigtails. The tamales were huge and well-stuffed, somewhere between southern cornbread and Mexican tamales of the large banana-leaf variety. The "green corn" tamale is something I'll have to get for Sparky; it was kind of like a rich, creamy pudding of the outside of a corndog. All in all, I liked everything but the king fish, which was overcooked for my taste - although the accompanying relish for that and the conch fritter were quite interesting.

I'm wondering about the desserts, which I opted not to try, but which were plentiful and looked really good...

Thanks everyone for coming out, lovely to see you all and to meet you, riddlemay!

For $10, it was quite a luncheon banquet, although we ordered well and didn't have leftovers. The kingfish was the least appealing, being both quite fishy and overcooked (the way my mother used to cook swordfish or halibut), but the onion-garlic relish was excellent. Most of the rest was very tasty, including the pork tamale, the oxtail stew, the corn tamale, and it was interesting - and not unappealing - to have the pig tail. This is what Fergus Henderson means when he speaks of cooking from snout to tail (which he really doesn't do at St. Johns).

As for dessert, I ordered a Jam Roll and a Coconut Tart to take home. The jam roll was nicely willed with a thick, sweet red jam - I wasn't sure of what fruit - it didn't seem to be raspberry or cherry - slathered in a very flaky pastry. The coconut tart (orange colored) was good as well. Less distinctive in taste, but moist.

I have pleased to have made it to Tickie's. I suppose it isn't quite fair to compare Belizean restaurants, but I found the food to be a notch more sophisticated than the departed "Flower's Pot."

Thanks, M. It was wonderful meeting all of you for the first time. For the first time, that is, all except GAF, whom I have been meeting for forty years. (Can it really be?)

As for the food, it was offal!

(Fun with homonyms.)

I think it's the case that except for the oxtails and the plaintains, every single thing that was put in front of us was something I'd never eaten before. I enjoyed all of it. And I think I liked the conch fritters better than some at the table.

(Truth to tell, I'm somewhat reluctant to admit this gluttony, but as many dishes as we had, I could have eaten one or two more.)

I look forward to joining you all again.

I agree with the other comments - I was pleasantly surprised by Tickie's, after having seen it from a distance while waiting at the Howard Street El Stop. Please note that I didn't do a good job taking notes - if I've mis-identified something, please let me know.

Several people started with some interesting beverages.


Riddlemay seemed to enjoy the kola champagne.


The conch fritters with relish were very good - not as chewy as conch I've had in the past.


The large tamales were impressive. Chicken:


And pork:


I agree that the Kingfish was overdone, although the relish helped mitigate the slight toughness.


Possibly the most interesting item was the Oxtail Malcolm.


Unless you consider the pig tails.


Or the cowfoot stew.


Rice and beans with beef was a bit pedestrian, but good nonetheless.


(Note the Fiestaware serving platters throughout.)


from left: the ever-so-shy MHays, Catherine and Robert, (aka The French Couple, aka Chapulin, aka rgl 201), tarte tatin (with her back turned), GAF, and Riddlemay.

I think Tickie's is the kind of off-most-peoples'-radar-screens-place that LTH is particularly adept at finding, and is well worth a visit, especially since it's so easy to get to, if you're into taking the El.

I'll go back.

Looks good. Sorry to have missed it.

Any preliminary chatter about an April location and date?

I think we left it with the French Couple, and they suggested the relatively new pupusaria on Clark in Rogers Park. But I could be wrong. And, of course, we don't necessarily need to limit it to once a month. If you have an idea, let us know!

ChgoMike wrote:Any preliminary chatter about an April location and date?

4/16 was the date we discussed, and yes, the pupusaria was the place. Robert recently confirmed the date to me in a PM, as my April calendar (work, not social, unfortunately) is just about full!

Other than that, I second NR706's comments re no limitations!