El Veneno Seafood Restaurant

We went there yesterday. It was very good. There are 6 of them, I believe, including one in Georgia. The waiter was fabulous, Daniel. He came over and made recommendation and explained the different items. The menu needs some help, or so this gringo thinks. There really isn't much explanation of what things are. It is very similiar to Flamingo's in that it's seafood, all seafood I might add. My 80 yr old mother and I split the fried red snapper (Daniels rec) which was to die for. The fish was bigger than I've ever seen and cooked perfectly. My husband had the shrimp and octopus cocktail. It had the option of hot or cold which I had never seen before. When it arrived it made sense, it was almost soup-like and delicious! As soon as you sit down, they bring a harbanero salso, some fried whole tortillas and a plate with a blue marlin ceviche tostada for each person. It was wonderful! I was asking the waiter why they had opened in Mt. Prospect (and really wondering what made them think they could make it if Flamingo's couldn't) and he replied that a lot of people in that area traveled to the south side to eat at their other restaurants...The prices are very much like Flamingos but the food was well worth it. The fried snapper was $16 and I believe the cocktail was $12. Very little changes inside, the most noticible was the booths are gone, replaced with long tables seating 8 I think. The food was creative and well executed and we will be back!!

jleblanc05 wrote:We went there yesterday. It was very good. There are 6 of them, I believe, including one in Georgia.

By there you mean El Veneno which with this one does make six of them. Four locations are in Chicago proper with another in Doraville, Georgia. The carry out menu is interestingly written all in Spanish except "Fish and Chips" listed at $5.25 and the warning that "The consumption of raw or undercooked foods .....may cause serious illness or death".

El Veneno
1590 S. Busse Rd.
Mt. Prospect, Il 60056
847-364-9988

Yep, that would be the one! The carryout menu was completely in Spanish, while the in house menu was only 75% in Spanish! LOL

jleblanc05 wrote:really wondering what made them think they could make it if Flamingo's couldn't

I don't think Chef Jorge closed Flamingo's for lack of business in that location.

There's quite a bit of interesting history on the board about the Veneno empire. Indeed, an impressive number of LTHers have visited the original in the tiny surf town of Bucerias (near P. Vallarta). Follow the links to learn more about the unique regional style of seafood from the Pacific state of Nayarit, which has strong elements of Chinese and Japanese. The fish was likely pescado sarandeado, the signature dish of this style.

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=20273&p=272219
Veneno Ukie Village

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10934&p=280309
Veneno Bucerias

I've said it before, but really, it's both highly unlikely and lucky that we have such a good selection of Nayarit-style seafood places here. Veneno, Las Islas Marias, and others.

nsxtasy wrote:

jleblanc05 wrote:really wondering what made them think they could make it if Flamingo's couldn't

I don't think Chef Jorge closed Flamingo's for lack of business in that location.

Actually, that's exactly why it closed. I spoke to him about it personally.

=R=

Ronnie, I would have guessed lack of business, sadly.
JeffB - great info. In fact, I could have reposted that first link, it's identical to my experience, except we had the shrimp and octopus cocktail and it was delicious. But all the pictures were of the food on my table!!! LOL Made me want to go back now for the snapper!!

ronnie_suburban wrote:Actually, that's exactly why it closed. I spoke to him about it personally.

I stand corrected. I'm sorry to hear that.

He was getting plenty of business on the occasions when I went there, which were at lunch as well as dinner... but I haven't been back in a while.

I wish him the best of luck in the future. Please keep us updated on his future ventures.

nsxtasy wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Actually, that's exactly why it closed. I spoke to him about it personally.

I stand corrected. I'm sorry to hear that.

He was getting plenty of business on the occasions when I went there, which were at lunch as well as dinner... but I haven't been back in a while.

I wish him the best of luck in the future. Please keep us updated on his future ventures.

It was always busy when I went to Flamingo's, too. For a while there, weekend tables were a near-impossibility (and for us, weeknights were not really possible because of the distance between our house and the restaurant). But I think the Check, Please! effect wore off and business contracted quite a bit. My guess is that something a little 'chainier' will do better in that location.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:My guess is that something a little 'chainier' will do better in that location.

That location is really off the beaten path, although it's convenient to the nearby northwest suburbs. The immediate area is more industrial rather than commercial or residential. The restaurant has absolutely zero visibility from Algonquin Road, which is the major thoroughfare just a half block away. Busse Road itself is more of an industrial through street, and at that point Dempster is little more than a local street for access to local industrial parks.

You would hope that less-than-optimal locations would come with correspondingly low lease rates, but that's not always the case.

nsxtasy wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:My guess is that something a little 'chainier' will do better in that location.

That location is really off the beaten path, although it's convenient to the nearby northwest suburbs. The immediate area is more industrial rather than commercial or residential. The restaurant has absolutely zero visibility from Algonquin Road, which is the major thoroughfare just a half block away. Busse Road itself is more of an industrial through street, and at that point Dempster is little more than a local street for access to local industrial parks.

You would hope that less-than-optimal locations would come with correspondingly low lease rates, but that's not always the case.

Hopefully, whoever takes over a space understands a location for what it is. There's a lot of space available these days and it's certainly a renter's/buyer's market. But a chain -- even a smaller one -- might have an already-existing promotional plan and deeper pockets than a single-unit restaurant for marketing, etc.

=R=

nsxtasy wrote:That location is really off the beaten path, although it's convenient to the nearby northwest suburbs. The immediate area is more industrial rather than commercial or residential. The restaurant has absolutely zero visibility from Algonquin Road, which is the major thoroughfare just a half block away. Busse Road itself is more of an industrial through street, and at that point Dempster is little more than a local street for access to local industrial parks.

This location hasn't been a problem for Jameson's Char House directly across the street or Torishin just next door. Within a block are numerous other establishments serving fast food, Mexican and Korean.

An autopsy of Flamingo's death points to other causes than location per se. It had a schizophrenic identity as a pricey, untraditional and non regionalized Mexican seafood restaurant. From the start this made it uninviting/confusing for both the local Gringos and Mexicans. Then the small space and lack of any bar waiting area created significant obstacles for the throngs that descended from Check Please. Weekend walk in business was also done in. The wait staff persona wasn't the greatest. The downturn in the economy killed the weekdays and was the final blow.

El Veneno appears to have an ethnic identity, informality and price point which will give it a chance. As we all know as LTHers it's too many times not just about the Food.

Fed up with turkey and dressing and bored senseless because I was one of the only people in the office today, I ventured out to find and try the Doraville outpost of one of my Chicago favorites.

When I walked in the door, I was taken aback, because while the Doraville location is substantially bigger than the Ukrainian Village store front, they have identical paint jobs, identical design and, believe it or not, exactly the same menu.

I opted for the deep fried red snapper en estilo Nayarit and found myself taken back to digging into that wonderful dish with friends in Chicago (though my Chicago friends were only there in memory). The Doraville location, like UV, serves the fish with a small salad, and some completely unnecessary rice and french fries. My meal even came with the gratis tostada with marlin, carrot and celery ceviche.

T Comp, thanks for mentioning the various locations in your post. It would have taken me years to find this otherwise.