Katie wrote:

PitaChip wrote:- a place to get decent olive oil, preferably by the ounce. And I'd like to be able to taste it first.

Man, if I were a pita chip, I'd be thirsty for some olive oil too. How about this?

The Olive Tap
240 Robert Parker Coffin Rd
Long Grove, IL 60047
(888) 642-5472

Also the Olive Mill with several outlets, the main being in Geneva.

http://www.olivemillgeneva.com/

The Olive Mill
315 James Street
Geneva, Ill
630-262-0240
One door off of Third Street, behind the Post Office.

How bout a Haitian place - griot (fried goat) with picklis (habanero pickled cabbage).

or Dominican - chicharon de pollo anyone?

or best of all, please answer my prayers great deities of the world, a Guyanese place so I can get some doubles, pholories and aloo pie. Oh man, I really want some doubles.

Damn son, I could go on for hours with the Caribbean hits.

There's a Hatian place on Howard St - they don't have fried goat on the menu, but I bet they might do it on occasion if you call; instead they do turkey and pork.

Sweet Nick's Caribbean

See also:

Regional Food MIA in Chicago

Kennyz wrote:

Gypsy Boy wrote:Swiss (as is real raclette and pizzocheri).

Pizzoccheri has Swiss origin? I always thought of it as classic Italian Alps food.

Kenny - you're killing me. Yes, pizzocheri has Swiss origins and about 7% of Swiss speak Italian and reside in a canton called Ticino, which is in the Alps. (If there's one country that holds the most claim to the Alps, it's Switzerland.) Steve is right about there being an "imaginary" line. There is plenty of overlap in Alpine culture, which is why you'll see distinctly Austrian/Germanic influences in Piedmontese, Lombard and especially Trentino, cuisine (Trentino with its Alto Adige wines). In fact, I had some of the damndest finest pasta and wood-fired pizza years ago hiking through the Swiss Ticino (Tessin) region. You should go.

aschie"with a tear running down her face"30

Katie wrote:

PitaChip wrote:- a place to get decent olive oil, preferably by the ounce. And I'd like to be able to taste it first.

Man, if I were a pita chip, I'd be thirsty for some olive oil too.

nsxtasy wrote:...really superb pastry shop, with a huge variety of top-quality pastries. The kind of place where you walk in and see 15-20 different individual slices of tortes/cakes, and every one of them is exquisitely delicious. Like this one in Toronto or this one in Portland.

Yes, more places to have cake like Duc de Lorraine in Montreal, Tartine in San Francisco or a Viennese place...

carry out curry places.

nsxtasy wrote:...really superb pastry shop, with a huge variety of top-quality pastries. The kind of place where you walk in and see 15-20 different individual slices of tortes/cakes, and every one of them is exquisitely delicious. Like this one in Toronto or this one in Portland.

Again, in Geneva: http://www.cocoabeangeneva.com/home.html

Cocoa Bean
11 South 7th Street
Geneva, Il
630-845-2990

I doubt there's there a city in N. America with more casual places serving curry. Is there a specific curry fast food genre that we are missing? I'm intrigued.

NY style pizza

HA! JUST KIDDING!

I second the motion for more good ceviche, and am mystified by the suggestion for more Portuguese. "I'd really like to eat some Portuguese food tonight" is a sentence I've never heard in my life.

...public market, like Milwaukee Public Market, West Side Market in Cleveland, Pike Place Market in Seattle, etc.

Chicago's French Market is coming in a couple of weeks at MetraMarket in the West Loop. Whether it will be a success is anyone's guess, although my money says it will be a half-assed imitation of the ones you mentioned.

http://www.frenchmarketchicago.com/dl/vendors.pdf

Sake distillery with awesome small plates and $5 saison beers:

http://www.moto-i.com/

...really good, authentic soul food place on the northwest side.
...more ethnic places that are not Chinese, Sushi, or Italian in same area. There are so many nifty places on the south side!

Habibi wrote:How bout a Haitian place - griot (fried goat) with picklis (habanero pickled cabbage).

or Dominican - chicharon de pollo anyone?

Habibi, I trust your tastes very much, but, as much as I adore the DR, its people, and its tobacco, I'm well-convinced that Dominican food adds virtually nothing to the Caribbean repertoire. We have a ton of Puerto Rican and OK Cuban, which covers 99.9% of what is eaten in the DR. Again, I love the DR, have family connections etc. But like Costa Rica, it's a great place with not great food. I'd like to see some beer distributor get Presidente back, though. Agreed that the other end of Hispanola has great food we could use more of.

happy_stomach wrote:or a Viennese place...

I've mentioned this one before; I haven't been in like 15 years, so I don't know if I'd still like the original, but a coffee bar like Cafe Intermezzo in Atlanta: essentially a bakery with coffees and alcohol, frequently both. What was distinctive about this place as I remember it was that the pastry case was huge (website touts it as having 100 different offerings,) none of it was foodservice junk - all real dairy and eggs - and it was open late at night - kind of like Cafe Selmarie or a place of its ilk but more night-life style.

Great place for a date, especially after-theater; why screw around with dinner when you can have heavily fortified coffee and a decadent dessert for about the same calorie intake and less than half the cost?

Julium Meinl is sort of like that.
See http://www.meinl.com/northamerica/home.html

I think they serve alcohol, but don't see it on the menu.

..more ethnic places that are not Chinese, Sushi, or Italian in same area. There are so many nifty places on the south side!

Ethnic goes to ethnic and it depends on your definition of Northwest Side. Some of Chicago's finest Polish options are found on the Northwest Side. Also excellent Mexican, Thai, decent Peruvian, Irish, Spanish and others.

... good online clearinghouse of restaurant info so people can track down all the places on this list that actually exist here already. PS, Meinl also covers "Viennese" under the very strictest definition of the term.

Darren72 wrote:Julium Meinl is sort of like that.
See http://www.meinl.com/northamerica/home.html

I think they serve alcohol, but don't see it on the menu.

no alcohol, and no byob allowed. A shame.

JeffB wrote:... good online clearinghouse of restaurant info so people can track down all the places on this list that actually exist here already. PS, Meinl also covers "Viennese" under the very strictest definition of the term.

Great! I was going to write something like this, but I thought people would think I was being...well, spiny.

I doubt there's there a city in N. America with more casual places serving curry. Is there a specific curry fast food genre that we are missing? I'm intrigued.

I don't know of one in Bucktown/West Town/Ukie area.

JeffB wrote:I doubt there's there a city in N. America with more casual places serving curry. Is there a specific curry fast food genre that we are missing? I'm intrigued.

It would be nice to have an Indian fast food place New York syle like Indian Bread Co or Khati Roll Co. Roti Grill doesn't count. Even, a dosa cart/van would be super!

Sorry. We were originally talking about what's supposedly missing in Chicago.

There are dozens, maybe scores of Indian and Pakisatni takeout places in Chicago making bread to order and selling "curry." That was my point. I don't know about West Town/Ukie, though the Indo-Pak places on Orleans aren't that far.

That said, I wouldn't mind if Cafe Trinidad joined some of the Jamaican places and got a truck to sell roti in the Loop.

PS, aren't the Curry House and Chutney Joe's the sorts of places you are talking about? "Accessible" youth-oriented Indian food?

aschie30 wrote:

Kennyz wrote:

Gypsy Boy wrote:Swiss (as is real raclette and pizzocheri).

Pizzoccheri has Swiss origin? I always thought of it as classic Italian Alps food.

Kenny - you're killing me. Yes, pizzocheri has Swiss origins and about 7% of Swiss speak Italian and reside in a canton called Ticino, which is in the Alps. (If there's one country that holds the most claim to the Alps, it's Switzerland.) Steve is right about there being an "imaginary" line. There is plenty of overlap in Alpine culture, which is why you'll see distinctly Austrian/Germanic influences in Piedmontese, Lombard and especially Trentino, cuisine (Trentino with its Alto Adige wines). In fact, I had some of the damndest finest pasta and wood-fired pizza years ago hiking through the Swiss Ticino (Tessin) region. You should go.

aschie"with a tear running down her face"30

I didn't mean to imply that the Swiss had neither influence on nor availability of pizzoccheri. I always feel bad when I make people cry.

[quote=]Sorry. We were originally talking about what's supposedly missing in Chicago.

There are dozens, maybe scores of Indian and Pakisatni takeout places in Chicago making bread to order and selling "curry." That was my point. I don't know about West Town/Ukie, though the Indo-Pak places on Orleans aren't that far.

That said, I wouldn't mind if Cafe Trinidad joined some of the Jamaican places and got a truck to sell roti in the Loop.

PS, aren't the Curry House and Chutney Joe's the sorts of places you are talking about? "Accessible" youth-oriented Indian food?[/quote]

Let me clarify for you then. I would be thrilled if there was a kati roll joint in downtown Chicago or in the suburbs(hint hint business owners). It has nothing to do with accessibility or age but has to do with the format of having the spicy goodness enclosed in a paratha-like device for a great self-contained meal on the go. IMO. Chutney Joe's is okay but I personally prefer to spend a couple more dollars and go for a buffet.

Edit: More about it here, http://midtownlunch.com/2006/06/29/kati-roll/
I think this concept would work well here in Chicago as a loop lunch alternative and is particularly amenable to the lunch cart format.

low-cost (or any) Cambodian restaurant, please.

=R=

gooseberry wrote:It has nothing to do with accessibility or age but has to do with the format of having the spicy goodness enclosed in a paratha-like device for a great self-contained meal on the go. IMO. Chutney Joe's is okay but I personally prefer to spend a couple more dollars and go for a buffet.

I'm with you, brother. I get chicken paratha to go from places on Devon and on Orleans all the time, often in the middle of the night. But they come from the so-called "cabbie joints." Should somone take the idea, spiff it up and deliver it to the masses? Well sure. I guess.

gooseberry wrote:

JeffB wrote:I doubt there's there a city in N. America with more casual places serving curry. Is there a specific curry fast food genre that we are missing? I'm intrigued.

It would be nice to have an Indian fast food place New York syle like Indian Bread Co or Khati Roll Co. Roti Grill doesn't count. Even, a dosa cart/van would be super!

Chicago needs a Kati roll joint except at places frequented by JeffB
Peace out from one brotha to anotha