Evanston Lunch Group™ Wed. 8/19 12:30pm at Qatto

I've been remiss in not posting pix of our last lunch at Simple Gourmet - but I will make up for that by posting them some time in the next year or two.

In the meantime, I'm suggesting something a little different for August. Even though our West African specialists probably won't be able to join us, it should be an interesting lunch.

Qaato African Restaurant
7118 N. Clark
Chicago, IL 60626-2408

I will be back in town and ready to join again - first time since April.

I plan to be there....

PS. Thanks, nr706!

Can you tell me a little about what the food is like, or post a link to their website, if they have one?

Chicago Reader wrote:Qaato African Restaurant
7118 N. Clark
Chicago, IL 60626-2408
Rogers Park/West Rogers Park
Hours: Dinner: Mon-Sat
Lunch: Mon-Fri
Closed: Sun
Bare-bones restaurant with above-average versions of West African standards like spicy pepper soup with goat, jollof rice, and of course fufu.

I'm out of town now, and having internet trouble, but there was also some discussion and pix in the first North Clark-a-thon thread, under Events ... maybe someone else can find the link.

nr706 wrote:I'm out of town now, and having internet trouble, but there was also some discussion and pix in the first North Clark-a-thon thread, under Events ... maybe someone else can find the link.

Here's the link:
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=9832&hilit=north+clark+a+thon+qaato

The thread features photos and commentary by GWiv:
"Qaato
Pepper soup
Service may have been a wee bit slow, though it might has seemed a bit slower than it was as we were on a mission, but you can't fault the friendliness factor.
Seth Z made fast friends with Qaato's waitress.
Egusi Soup w/goat was tasty, perfectly complimented by fufu, both yam and cassava. Yam fufu is more neutral, though the slight astringency of the cassava goes well with egusi soup.
Egusi Soup/Stew
We also had Aya Mase, which the waitress said was very spicy. I did not find the Aya Mase particularly spicy, especially in comparison to the Pepper soup.
Aya Mase
My favorite dish, next to the pepper soup, was the Jollof Rice, though more for the accompanying goat stew than rice, though the stew quite enlivened the rice. I loved the richness of the meat with palm oil.
Jollof Rice w/goat stew
300-feet accomplished, another mile to go."

and the summary posted by germuska following the event in 9/06:
"We decided to head across the street to Qaato, a Nigerian restaurant. In contrast to Chapala, there was no one at Qaato at all. The staff were quite friendly, although I think we had some language challenges in ordering. We definitely got a few extras of some things that I think we thought we'd only ordered one of, but in the end, it probably ended up being a reasonable order. At least, not much went uneaten. We started with the "Assorted Meat or Oxtail pepper soup" which indeed included goat meat, tripe, and oxtail. It was quite spicy, and I found it quite tasty. We intended to order some "fish and shrimp pepper soup" also, but I guess we didn't really make that clear. We also ordered egusi soup with goat, yam fufu, cassava fufu, jollof rice with goat, and "Aya Mase (Very Spicy)". I suppose that ended up being quite a bit of goat, but it worked out. The Aya Mase was my other surprise winner. It was not really very spicy at all, especially in the wake of the pepper soup. It was simply fluffy white rice and more goat in a interesting, somewhat complex dark brown sauce. Sorry, I can't be much more specific, but I would happily order it again if you need me to do a better job describing it. Despite us being the only people there, service was pretty slow, and by the time we done we realized that it was nearly 1 pm, and, as Gary (GWiv) observed, we'd only travelled 300 feet."

Brief bump for anyone interested in a Nigerian lunch Wednesday.

It was a small turnout for the Evanston Lunch Group™ today. That's too bad, because GAF, tarte tatin and I thought it was among the best lunches we've had in a long time.

Initially, we weren't even sure Qatto was open. The whole time, we were the only ones there.

We started by ordering the two specials, asaro (yam porridge) and fish and shrimp peppersoup (which, according to the chalkboard, would take 30 and 40 minutes to prepare, respectively - in reality they came slightly faster than that).


The asaro was described as "boiled cubes of yam cooked in a sauce with crayfish, tomatoes and seasoning." The dish was all about the sauce. While rather gloppy, it was wonderfully complex, with a healthy but not overpowering spiciness.


Fish and Shrimp Peppersoup was described as "cooked with special exotic seasoning and spices." It didn't look like much, but the group agreed it was the best of the dishes we ordered. The broth spicing was fascinating. And, again, it has some heat to it, but at tolerable levels.


Our third dish was Jollaf with Goat. The goat was braised, slightly on the dry side, but complimented by a spicy tomato sauce.

Qatto looks a little rough around the edges, and there were some slight language issues. But the staff was friendly and welcoming (even though we really didn't need them to turn on the TV so we could watch soap operas). The bill came to less than $9 each before tip, although we tipped well.

If you find yourself in that stretch of Clark in Rogers Park, and you're not in the mood for Mexican food, Qatto is a great alternative.

edit: out, you damn typos, you

For me it was the fish soup "stock" that made the lunch special. Both hot and complex it was delicious throughout. It turns out that Qatto has been in business for fifteen years (ten in the same location), and how many four star restaurants can make that claim. The prices were embarrassing low, under $9.00/person before a generous-LTH-style tip.