Kai Zan - 22 seat sushi restaurant in Humboldt Park

Kai Zan is a newish ~22 seat byo sushi restaurant in Humboldt Park. It was opened by chefs/brothers Melvin and Carlo Vizconde (formerly of Kamehachi, Kizoku and Kyoto).

I went at the end of June, but I've been busier than I normal so I'm just positng about it now.

I'm neither a sushi expert nor a sushi novice. I typically enjoy sashimi and a few pieces of sushi; I avoid most maki. I like a traditional sushi menu - I experienced the omakase at Uchi in Austin earlier this year and did not enjoy it (the restaurant has a great reputation) because I thought the fish was too overwhelmed by other ingredients. The dishes at Kai zan are more complex than straight sushi/sashimi, but unlike Uchi, I really enjoyed it.

My wife and I sat at the sushi bar and ordered the omakase.

Everything tasted great. Here are some of the items we tried.

Escolar
Tako w/wasabi mix
Uni on cucumber
Salmon & Tuna rolled sashimi
Salmon ikura
Shiitake and uni
Angry crab sushi roll - tuna & crab
Green Monster roll - shrimp tempura & avacado
Tamago
Coffee Gelatin

It is difficult to comprehend what we had without pictures and full descriptions - we sat at the bar and I didn't receive description of the courses

Again, everything tasted great. Not the most traditional menu, but very well executed with enough restraint to enjoy the fish.

My only complaint was that they didn't "own" their omakase. I didn't feel any progression to the meal; the dishes almost seemed random.

Next time I will order off the menu. I will also try some cooked items (they have a lava rock charbroil & a small teppan grill).

There is a liquor store across the street that has a good selection of good beer and a good selection of bad wine.

Other than Katsu and Arami, this is the only place I've traveled to the city for sushi in the past few years. I'd gladly return.
Some LTHers have enjoyed Arami despite the recent change. As an Arami fan, I'd be curious their opinion of Kai Zan.


Kai Zan
2557 1/2 CHICAGO AVE. CHICAGO, IL 60622
(773) 278-5776
http://eatatkaizan.com/

I had a fantastic meal at Kai Zan last night. As good as any sushi service in Chicago in terms of quality, creativity, service, and value. Due to the size, make a reservation and bring a cold beer (BYOB).

We ordered:
Escolar pearls - Excellent. Escolar marinated in soy/truffle then seared and served with spicy aioli on top of a rice "pearl"
Masago pearls - Very Good. Similar preparation with different flavors
Chutoro (medium fatty tuna) Sashimi - Very Good. High quality and well cut. I almost pulled the trigger on an Uni/Chutoro/Quail Egg tartare, but the sashimi prep highlighted the quality and simplicity of the fish.
Orange Rush - Excellent. Seared salmon wrapped around a scallop with a citrus glaze. Interesting texture and great flavor.
Cheesecake - Good. Non-traditional (more dense and less sweet) and made in-house.

~$50 for two.

Really, really, really strong meal. Get there.

Kai Zan 2557 Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622

Alpana Singh was tweeting through her recent meal at Kai Zan...she seemed to love it and the pictures were great. A selection:
https://twitter.com/alpanasingh/status/ ... 1242844160
https://twitter.com/alpanasingh/status/ ... 5604385793
https://twitter.com/alpanasingh/status/ ... 0386906112
https://twitter.com/alpanasingh/status/ ... 1962866689
https://twitter.com/alpanasingh/status/ ... 4838225923
https://twitter.com/alpanasingh/status/ ... 0182419456

Sorry to temper enthusiasm, but my meal at Kai Zan was a real mixed bag. However, I will say that simpler, raw fish items generally were more successful. Miso largely paled in comparison to the version I recently tried at Arami. First, it's served in a more western-style bowl with a western soup spoon, so no drinking from this bowl. And miso flavor a little light. But the tofu was really silky and excellent. Do they make it here? I didn't ask.

Oyster shooter was quite good though, particularly the raw quail egg addition, and I was pleased that the oyster flavor still came through clearly. But the Danielle sushi (tuna, unagi and spicy tuna crunch), while fine, just got a little lost on my taste buds.

A couple of hot items really let me down. First, the Japanese-style fried chicken (karaage) offered little in flavor other than the flavor of burnt crust, and the breading was too thick. Shrimp negi mayo was also a bit of a letdown. The whole prawn I had last week at Arami was amazing; this shrimp was merely tail-on, cooked well but still a bit dry, and just muted in flavor. Yeah, there was a tasty green onion mayo, but I hoped that the shrimp would deliver its own flavor too and it really did not.

On the plus side, the quality of the sushi offered hope - cut well, right temperature, well put together, generally flavorful. I particularly enjoyed the saba. Also, I thought the sushi was very well seasoned - I liked that the slightest dab of soy was all that was needed. That being said, tamago was treated as the afterthought it too often is. It was extremely dense and tasted largely of egg and sugar. I understand that if you've had tamago throughout Chicago, you'll feel it's a waste of time to order . . . but it shouldn't be.

I wouldn't say that anything I had at Kai Zan will cause me to run back (and they were out of a couple of more interesting fish choices), but if they up the quality and variety of fish offered, I'd be more likely to visit.

Edited to note: They also need to understand the proper temperature for green tea. The green tea we were served was served way too hot. So hot that it was even too hot to drink for around five minutes.

Came across some pictures from a couple months ago.

The uni was flown in from Japan the same day, and worth the $24 price tag. It was definitely the best urchin we've had in the US.

Holding pattern:



Whole Urchin Special:



Razor Clam Special:

Boy, was dinner great here Tuesday night. I'm really surprised the thread is not more active. For (currently) $60 a head, and BYO, it's as strong a leave-stuffed-and-satisfied-meal as I've had recently, with each dish artfully and delicious composed, constructed and presented. I was particularly impressed how so many of the dishes borrowed from or, more accurately, worked in harmony with the principles of ceviche, pairing raw fish with lime juice and/or hot peppers for a truly inspired fusion. I loved the space, appreciated the service, and greatly enjoyed myself, not least because my wife was full before the end of the meal, leaving much of her food to me! "Well done," commended the service, clearing my plate of a surprise unclaimed duplicate dish he had offered us a few moments before.

BTW, Kai Zan truly demonstrates the value of real life friends working in conjunction with the LTH community. It's been nine months since this thread popped up, and yet I had three good friends all dine here separately in recent weeks, and all returned with raves, so off I went. And hopefully this bump inspires others to go and/or report back as well.

Wholeheartedly agree Vitesse! I've been a couple times over the past few months, most recently a couple weeks ago. After the meal, my girlfriend and I agreed that the $60 Omakase has to be the best current value in Chicago upper-end dining. We'd been to Katsu for Omakase about three weeks earlier, and both strongly preferred Kai Zan.

Shocked by the few number of postings about Kai Zan, I finally made it and went with the Omakase. What a STEAL! The service was fantastic and the quality, quantity, and variety of the courses was phenomenal. Unfortunately I can't recall each dish, but I was impressed by all of them

Seared salmon, sashimi, mussel dynamite, flight with tako, crab cake, pork skewer, shitake, soup with mackerel, maki, rolled bite with crab in the center, the shooters, dessert, I mean MY GOD!

Biggest problem for me will be finding a friend to go with as often as I'd like.

Kudos Kai Zan!

I had an overall very pleasurable experience at Kai Zan a couple nights ago. As you may have already gleaned from reading up, not everything was perfect. But I have to say, for the price it has to be close to the best value in Chicago. With some more experience, I feel as If I could really learn to navigate the menu and come up with a decent ordering strategy.

Between the 4 of us, we split 2 omakase menus and ordered a bunch of extra things.

Shishito Peppers with bonito flakes

I enjoyed this, I always love shishitos.

Gyu Tongue Kushi (grilled beef tongue)

I thought this was excellent. Perfect flavor, juicy, tender, It was a larger portion than the picture looks.

Tonkatsu Shiso Age


Though I thought this was a great dish, for whatever reason I didn't taste much shiso. Otherwise this was a great snack, and would order it again.

2 Escolar Pearls and 2 Maguro Pearls. (Omakase)



Basically what they call a "pearl" is a 1/2 size nigiri with some stuff on it (soy sauce, truffle oil and green onion). They were decent, but a little overboard for me, I'd rather go with more traditional stuff in the future.

Kaki Fry (deep fried oysters)

This was from the monthly specials menu, and one of our favorites. We actually ordered a 2nd round. At $9 for 5 of these, it was quite a deal.

Tako Wasabi (Octopus and squid with pickled wasabi and vegetables)

Also from the monthly specials, it was pretty good. It had a nice wasabi kick to it.

Agedashi Tofu

Probably the worst dish of the night. The flavors were all there, but the texture of the breading was a mess. It was gooey and stretchy, almost like a mochi.

Hamachi Collar

Another monthly special, for $14 (or $19 with bento box) it was another crazy value. It was as perfect as hamachi kama can get. At this ponit, I am starting to realize the monthly specials and broiled items are where to look for ordering.

Saba (Omakase)

This was probably some of the best fish of the night. Excellent.

Tuna ceviche "mini-martini", Tuna, avocado, citrus. (Omakase)

This is an example when the quality of the fish wasn't the best. It was not the type of tuna I like. No fat content and bland. As silly as it looks, I didn't mind the "mini-martini" presentation, and I love shiso leaves. We were told is not on the regular menu anymore.

Oyster and Uni shooters. (2 of Omakase).

I enjoyed these, though the others thought maybe it was a bit too salty.

Angry Crab - tuna wrapped around spicy crab with crispy bits and other stuff on top (Omakase)

Not my cup of tea, the tuna isn't the star of the show at Kai Zan.

Soup - Tuna and shitake mushrooms. (Omakase)

Nothing to write home about.

Grilled mackerel (Omakase)

Excelent! I saw a whole grilled Mackerel on the monthly specials ($14). If it's like this I would be very excited to order this one again.

Uni

I ordered this extra just to try the uni plain. I'm not sure if it's just that I'm used to eating less than fresh uni, but I thought this actually suffered from lack of flavor. Maybe it was served too cold or maybe this is just what fresh uni tastes like. I enjoyed it but wished it was not served on a cucumber.

4 more courses from the Omakase


Crab cake.

If I recall correctly, this was a favorite of our dining companions, but I don't think I had a chance to try it.

Pork belly.

Rich, flavorful, fatty, excellent.

tako wasabi

A small sampling of the same thing we had already ordered. (which brings the point, that with as much overlap on the omakase and specials menu, it would be a good idea for them to let you know if you're ordering something which is on the omakase, or perhaps had a menu outlining what to expect with the omakase.)

Shrimp and shitake.

Wasn't bad, but wouldn't order it next time.

California and Spicy Tuna rolls


Believe it or not, these were some of the highlights of the meal. Revoke my LTH badge if you wish, but I actually enjoy the occasional California roll. The rice was about as perfect as I've had. Perfect texture, individual grains, ever so lightly pressed together, as you see in the pictures. I wish i knew this earlier on in the meal, and I'd have tried more rolls. Prices from $4 to $6, a great deal.

Scallops Negi

Not bad, but nothing memorable. This would be a good time to bitch about the copious amounts of shredded cabbage with ginger dressing we had to endure. I think if they paired a unique and better side with each of the fried/broiled items, it would add a lot to the overall experience.

Sashimi (Omakase):


The sashimi selection here was not the strong point of the meal but I remember really enjoying a couple pieces, while a couple others were just so-so.

Dynamite Mussels (Omakase):

Mussels covered with a whole bunch of crap. Not at all the kind of thing I like.

Green tea ice cream:


Cheese cake mousse:


Fried Chicken:

Not at all burnt as mentioned above. I definitely enjoyed it, but the meat seemed over brined, to the point of it having a spongy processed texture, though it was bizarrely moist for white meat.

In the end, we had quite a feast, way too much food, we actually doubled up on a couple of other dishes, and still the cost was about $70/pp after tax and tip. I look forward to coming back, but probably won't do the Omakase next time.

Our lovely dining companions (and comfortable room):

The space was extremely comfortable and had a nice vibe. We were sat in one of the semi-private rooms, which was spacious and comfortable.

The sushi bar:


We brought 3 bottles of sake, and the staff did the BYOB service up right, bucket of ice, sake decanter, even poured our sake for us when we were empty. Considering we weren't necessarily tipping on the drinks, the $5 corkage per table (not per bottle) was a steal for the service we received. They even offered to warm up any sake if we wanted it warm. Service was more of a tag team effort it seemed, and they really had the teamwork down. Every dish was described well, and everyone we asked questions to seemed very knowledgeable.

I'm heading to Kai Zan tomorrow with my husband for the omakase. How much time can we expect to spend on this experience? It's just the two of us.

I'd say close to 2 hours, maybe even less. It's hard for me to guess since we ordered other things as well.

Thanks. From what everyone has said, the omakase is a lot of food, so I'm not sure if we'll order extra.

Any wine/sake/beer pairing suggestions?

I'm no expert, but to me this style of food (at least the menu items we gravitated towards) is like izakaya food, so it was great with just about whatever sake or beer I happened to be in the mood for. Bourbon also tasted great! Maybe this answer wasn't helpful, someone else may have better advise.

TheJesster wrote:Any wine/sake/beer pairing suggestions?

While I did not order the omakase menu, I drank champagne, meursault and gruner veltliner with my dinner, which paired nicely (although I think champagne and gruner veltliner pair nicely with almost anything).

In looking at the pictures above, the food generally does not look particularly red wine friendly. A trocken or kabinett riesling would also probably be a pretty decent match although you probably would not want something that ran too sweet.

In addition to sake and Champagne, dry Alsatian Rieslings, dry roses, and light reds with low tannin and good acidity work well. Pinot Noir was a surprise hit with several dishes I had on the omakase menu.

Kai Zan, normally closed on Wednesdays, is hosting a pop-up ramen dinner this evening from 5-9:30, or whenever they run out. As per their FB posting:

How does a really good bowl of Ramen sound?

Well, stop by on Wed, May 7th and see what Jake Verstegen, David Hollinger and Chiyo Takemoto have put together. You already know their faces, Jake and Dave working right by Carlo and Melvin and Chiyo has probably served your table before but, they want to show off their skills and show you what they can do on this special night.

Yes, Kai Zan is closed for service this day (our regular day off) but Carlo and Melvin have agreed to let the Trio use the original side of the restaurant for a POP-UP RAMEN DINNER.

Here are some of the details,

- WALK-IN ONLY service begins at 5:00 PM and runs 'til 9:30PM or until they run out of Ramen (whichever comes first).
- CASH ONLY
- Quick, casual dining
- Small parties (2,3,4 tops) OK as only the original side of restaurant will be used for service

So, get here after a long day of work, right before work or just for the heck of it to enjoy a tasty bowl of Ramen and support Jake, David and Chiyo. Carlo an Melvin will make sure to stop by!

I've now been to Kai Zan on three occasions, the most recent visit this past week. However, I've largely stuck to nigiri so I can't offer much thought with respect to the rest of the menu (other than what I mentioned above with respect to my first visit). As to the nigiri, I'd say it's a small notch better than most neighborhood sushi joints, but I'm not willing to give it much more of an endorsement. There are some hits and some misses.

On this last visit, I was initially bothered by the smoke/scents emanating from the grill as we sat at the sushi bar. I didn't notice this issue on my previous visit, but it certainly bothered me the other night. Some of the flavors are more delicate and you really don't want 20+ added aromas affecting your senses.

I started the evening with an uni shooter, followed by many pieces of nigiri. The uni shooter offered too much acidity, which overwhelmed the richness of the uni. Luckily, I ordered a separate piece of uni nigiri so I wasn't that upset. As for the nigiri, I do like that Kai Zan offers pickled fresh wasabi (although they plate nigiri with the fake stuff too). I realize fresh Japanese wasabi is pricey, but if you really want to be taken seriously as a sushi restaurant, the fake powdered stuff won't suffice. It's not wasabi. And the Oregon wasabi just doesn't pack the same punch as the Japanese wasabi.

Unfortunately, I found that almost every piece of nigiri to be slightly under-seasoned, both in terms of wasabi and soy. Not a huge deal, but chefs at sushi restaurants must be held to the same standards as chefs at other restaurants; i.e., you're the chef, so season your food appropriately. Aside from seasoning, rice prep was slightly disappointing this night - right temperature, but a little dry and not well seasoned. On the plus side, the rice kernels were largely distinct and not sticky and that has to be appreciated.

As for the fish, there were some delicious pieces, including a really nice salmon belly and a whole sweet shrimp (botan ebi). The shrimp was served with the head on the side, fried beautifully, and it was just magnificent. A couple of the nigiri pieces were a little too moist, but not terribly so. All were served at an appropriate temperature. Of the nigiri, the only real disappointment of the night was the tamago which was tough, tasted of little beyond egg and I didn't quite get the concept of charring it on the grill. For dessert, I had a house-made black sesame seed ice cream that was decent, though badly infected by ice crystals.

Complaints aside, Kai Zan is one of the better sushi options in Chicago these days, though I think that says more about the horrendous state of sushi in this town. But if you're looking to slightly elevate your nigiri experience, Kai Zan might be a worthwhile choice. I much prefer the fish and other items at Arami, although I've found Arami lacking when it comes to rice prep on a couple of visits. I also prefer Juno, but it's going to be another month or so before it reopens. Additional pluses: Kai Zan is byo (there's a liquor store across the street that offers respectable beer and sake choices), prices are very reasonable and service is good.

BR, Thanks for supplying us with a very thorough review of specifically the sushi aspect at Kai Zan. Your experience pretty much mimics my impression, though I perhaps walk away each time much more satisfied than you because despite the few imperfections, it's a crazy good value. You can walk away satisfied from Kai Zan for easily half of the price of Juno or Arami. Add BYO to the equation and it's as good as you can get for the price. I may have even disliked a larger percentage of the fish than you did, but as I believe I stated above, I love the quality of the rice at Kai Zan, and for me that is 3/4 of the battle with sushi. Thanks for the tip on the liquor store across the street!

laikom wrote:BR, Thanks for supplying us with a very thorough review of specifically the sushi aspect at Kai Zan. Your experience pretty much mimics my impression, though I perhaps walk away each time much more satisfied than you because despite the few imperfections, it's a crazy good value. You can walk away satisfied from Kai Zan for easily half of the price of Juno or Arami. Add BYO to the equation and it's as good as you can get for the price. I may have even disliked a larger percentage of the fish than you did, but as I believe I stated above, I love the quality of the rice at Kai Zan, and for me that is 3/4 of the battle with sushi. Thanks for the tip on the liquor store across the street!

No questions on the value - very reasonable prices. But in terms of Kai Zan's strengths, from what I can tell having read your write-up, it sounds like the grilled/cooked items may be the best way to go.

As for the rice issue, I don't recall this being a problem on either of my past two visits so maybe it was confined to this visit. And I certainly agree with you on the importance of the rice -- way too often overlooked, misunderstood and mangled at many a sushi restaurant.

And as to your uni shooter, and my experience with the Kaiseki menu, there is a wrong way to order from the sushi offerings. If I were to judge my entire experience on the Kaiseki, i would probably not go back. So many things were over flavored, simply train wrecks of flavors. My 2nd visit was much better, as I learned from the first, if on the menu it looks like it has potential to be a bad idea, it probably is.

Any updated visits? We're going for our fifth anniversary on Friday. Any omakase experiences? It also appears BYO is out...

We've had the oma kase twice in the past six months, including a few weeks ago, and found it very, very enjoyable - fresh, luscious, creative.

Second annak. Had standard omakase two weeks ago and it was fantastic. I believe it to be a phenomenal value.

Thanks all. I don't usually do omakase, but sounds like it's worth it.

Had an enjoyable anniversary dinner at Kai Zan yesterday. Omakase had some misses and some hit, and gave what seemed to be a coherent overall expression of the restaurant.

Positives included:
Mushroom dashi w razor clam -- the razor clam was really lovely.
Sashimi course (last; save room) --extremely fresh.
Pork belly skewer on rapini -- could've been warmer, but a nice set of flavors.

Negatives:
Tako yaki -- gummy fried ball with ginger. Pass.
Escolar pearls -- truffle oil distracted from the fish
Tuna-wrapped crab (angry crab?) -- again, truffle oil.
Tuna sashimi-tini -- no discernible sauce, stringy tuna
Oyster shooter -- way, way too much Tabasco. Couldn't taste oyster.
No uni in the omakase, which was a bummer for me.

My spouse tends to like more composed sushi (maki, etc), but found a few of the foods texturally difficult. Her favorite course was the escolar pearls. I enjoy the more raw side, so mine was the sashimi, but a second place to the razor clam dish. I echo other above in saying I'm glad we tried the omakase, but we'll be ordering off the menu next time.

rtb178 wrote:I echo other above in saying I'm glad we tried the omakase, but we'll be ordering off the menu next time.

Interesting that not many have chimed in with their thoughts, so I'll give it another go. Last night went in a party of four, where we all had the omakase. Very little had changed from the previous incarnation. My push for a la carte was rejected--and I'm not sure I could've paced out a meal of raw-ish food with the omakase eaters since not too many raw dishes are on the menu.

Similar hits and misses. No razor clam in the dashi broth, unfortunately. Was able to order uni in addition to the omakase, which was solid. Again, too many heavy flavors concealing delicate seafood (e.g., tabasco in the oyster shooter, dynamite mussel).

The characterization of Kai Zan as a kind of izakaya/sushi hybrid is apt; given that framework, execution is very good. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't. Good value on the meal and wine list. Though we will return again at some point, I think I'll dig my heels in and try to order more fresh fish.

I had a meal here in February that I thought was stellar across the board. 4 of us had the higher-level omakase (with a few added courses) and were impressed throughout the entire meal. Service was great, too. We drank a bit, too, including some nice sakes, and in the end, the all-in tab was about $800, so not really any less expensive than Katsu or Momotaro. But given the overall quality of our meal, I wouldn't hesitate to return, though I'd probably ease up a bit on the ordering next time. This was a birthday celebration, so we went all out.

=R=