Sushi @ Paradise Sauna

Some friends and I will be making our first visit soon to Paradise Sauna to check out the dipping pools. Does anyone have advice about eating there? I know Mike G/Sky Full of Bacon has written briefly about sushi at Paradise, but I'm wondering if there are any specifics we should know about ordering.

Thanks,
Sharon

Paradise Sauna
2912 W Montrose Ave
Chicago IL 60618-1404
773-588-3304

{Edited to correct spelling error}

Sharon,

I'm curious, do you and your friends intend to get a sauna as well as eat a meal?

Occasionally, Vital Information has suggested going to an authentic Jewish shvitz, where I believe alcohol and food was also served. While it intrigues me, not enough to endure the hot, steamy temperatures.

While I am on a roll, Kenosha has a steam bath that looks like it has been around forever. Another place that gets my imagination spinning, if only I was heat and humidity tolerant.

Kenosha Steam Bath
3504 60th Street
Kenosha, WI 53144-4146
(262) 657-9277

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Sharon,I'm curious, do you and your friends intend to get a sauna as well as eat a meal?

Yes. I have a long-standing fascination with all forms of bathing (including sauna-ing) but also more generally with ways of leisurely (and non-swimming) being in water (and/or steam). The springs of Iceland and the bath houses of Japan are two big interests of mine. I'm in the process of planning a vacation to Japan, and a friend who just returned from there was telling me about a few bath houses I must visit and one in particular that she said I'd love because it also has an impressive food court. This friend shares my "being in water" and food interests and suggested we make a day of Paradise. I've also had the coincidence in the last two weeks of several other, random friends and acquaintances mention Paradise to me in different contexts, so it seems like the time to go. Also, I've been wanting to do more exploring of neighborhood sushi joints.

I live just a few blocks from Paradise, but I almost never get there (story of my life). I like it, but my efforts to befriend the staff and get anything more than middle-of-the-road, popular fare have been unsuccessful. Then again, I've never preceded my meal with a pedicure or steam bath, so maybe that's the key. I look forward to hearing how your meal goes.

I've only been to the spa, not for sushi. The pools are ok, not as nice as thousand waves. I do recommend the exfoliation, but I do not recommend the massage or facial. (No joke - Prairie farms strawberry yogurt slathered on my face)

It's definitely an "out of your comfort zone" experience.

The exfoliation can't be beat.

I'll spare LTHForum the details - but the Yelp reviews are spot on.

happy_stomach wrote:Some friends and I will be making our first visit soon to Paradise Sauna to check out the dipping pools. Does anyone have advise about eating there? I know Mike G/Sky Full of Bacon has written briefly about sushi at Paradise, but I'm wondering if there are any specifics we should know about ordering.

Thanks,
Sharon

Paradise Sauna
2912 W Montrose Ave
Chicago IL 60618-1404
773-588-3304

Do not order rolls, especially fancied-up rolls. Stick to nigiri. It's on the good side of passable, but the place is, on a whole, just passable.

Best,
Michael

kafein wrote:I do recommend the exfoliation, but I do not recommend the massage or facial. (No joke - Prairie farms strawberry yogurt slathered on my face)

Huh...interesting. Makes me think I should start a thread on food and facials (or cosmetology more generally). The yogurt reminds me of a gallery show I recently read about happening in Bangkok right now. The Thai artist Pachcharapong Meesilp paints portraits of women whose faces (and sometimes bodies) are covered in very creamy-looking icing. (In this imaginary thread, we could also revisit the Aja ad... What if we think about the green goo as edible?)

kafein wrote:It's definitely an "out of your comfort zone" experience... I'll spare LTHForum the details - but the Yelp reviews are spot on.

I can never make sense of Yelp reviews, but I'm very excited now. Friends who've been (to the spa part; these are female friends only) and with whom I've visited other bath houses have said it's a decent place to go. I'm comfortable with the naked thing, and I've been to a few places with zero frou-frou, but I don't think I've been to a Korean bath house before and certainly not one with a sushi bar.

eatchicago wrote:Do not order rolls, especially fancied-up rolls. Stick to nigiri.

Thank you. That is helpful. I don't order rolls much ever, but if I'm really unsure about a place I sometimes start with maki. I won't do that this time.

Count me an almost-fan of the Paradise one-two punch.



I stopped in twice this past week and had a blast in the hot and cold pools, sauna and steam room. With wellness and sushi on the brain, I was pretty amused to find upon entering the ladies side of the bath house for the first time vending machines stocked with all manner of chips, candy, pre-packaged baked goods, soda and sports drinks.



Then I remembered a friend telling me about the spa's TV room with its rows of pleather recliners where one can watch Korean sitcoms and indulge in Zingers and Donut Gems. (The Dolly Madison store across the street may have closed, but one couldn't tell based on Paradise's snack offerings.) It seems visitors to the bath house are also welcome to bring their own food (though no food in the pool area, a sign clearly states) since there is a microwave in the anteroom next to the vending machines.



Maybe I'll bring popcorn with me next time.

Kennyz wrote:I live just a few blocks from Paradise, but I almost never get there (story of my life). I like it, but my efforts to befriend the staff and get anything more than middle-of-the-road, popular fare have been unsuccessful. Then again, I've never preceded my meal with a pedicure or steam bath, so maybe that's the key.

It turns out that there isn't (at least not currently) a connection between the spa and restaurant. I had envisioned getting all raisin-like in the hot and cold pools, then getting dressed and being granted access to a passageway that would lead me directly from sauna to sushi. This wasn't the case. One has to exit onto the street to get from one to the other; they aren't even directly next door. I also learned from the person at the front desk of the spa that the businesses share a name but not owners.

That said, the restaurant, like the spa, seems to be run by Koreans. The menu consists of primarily sushi and other Japanese fare, but there is also half a page of Korean dishes:



From my two visits, I enjoyed most the Dae Gu Mae Un Tang:





It's not a cheap lunch at almost $12, but it's an impressive, steamy bowl nonetheless. Hidden beneath the slabs of tofu were big, silky pieces of cod in a very spicy and soothing broth.

Banchan, apparently served whether or not one orders any of the Korean dishes, were very basic and just OK.



On another visit, to cover my bases, we ordered two pieces of nigiri as well as two bowls of udon, vegetable and seafood.



The sushi was also just OK (again, I only had two pieces) though I can see in the future having enough of a steamy sojourn at the spa and wanting just straight fish to follow.

I would never get udon at Paradise again. Broth and noodles tasted like the instant udon I've bought at H Mart. Shrimp, scallops and mussels were plentiful but mushy underneath all of the imitation fish on the surface of this bowl:



I tried twice to get Paradise's Gom Tang, but they didn't have it on either visit. Perhaps I'll try to make advance arrangements for my next spa day.

I don't know that I'd visit just the restaurant even if I lived closer to this block of Montrose, but it's a worthy post-sauna stop. Service was friendly but very hands-off. The music at the restaurant was comically depressing; I think I heard "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "[I Can't Live if Living is] Without You" more times in two meals than I have in my entire life...and my dad loved his Simon & Garfunkel. The bath house rocks though.