Mado
1647 North Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL; 773-342-2340
Date of Review: May, 2010
http://madorestaurantchicago.com/
If you like local produce, organic vegetables and grass fed meat, you will appreciate Mado and what it is trying and succeeding in doing very successfully. If you don’t value those aspects of a meal, you might still want to swing by to try a very good BYOB restaurant in the trendy Wicker Park neighborhood. Mado is a small restaurant near the busy North, Milwaukee and Damen intersection that is located just far enough from the chaos of this junction to allow for a quiet dining experience. The restaurant has a clean design that is minimalistic and works well. While they have traditional menus, the ever changing menus are also displayed tastefully on the chalkboards hanging on the walls.
The service is efficient and the servers are extremely knowledgeable of the ingredients and the menu which is important given the importance of the ingredients and where they come from at a restaurant like Mado that hangs it hat on meat and produce that comes from Midwestern farmers.
For appetizers, the roasted carrots with goat cheese, pistachios and cumin honey are out of this world with a nice sweet flavor that is a perfect contrast to the flavors and textures of the almonds and cheese they are served with. On another occasion we had the roasted beets which were served the same way and were also excellent. I find myself to favor vegetables at restaurants like Mado that use organic and local produce as they seem to be able to do wonderfully creative things with the freshest carrots, lettuces, brussel sprouts, beets, etc. It is nice to see restaurants treat vegetables as something special as opposed to something additional. We have also had the very good spicy green salad which is served with smoked trout, farm egg, sourdough croutons and mustard vinaigrette.
This is our second visit to Mado and the 2nd time we ordered the wood grilled hangar steak. Its grass fed beef and it is that good. The steak is served sliced surrounding a bed of polenta. The creamy gorgonzola polenta is gluttonously rich but almost a bit too much for me as I would prefer an accompaniment on the lighter side. On both of our visits to Mado, we were only able to finish half the portion of polenta. The steak was served medium rare and cooked perfectly with a tad bit of crispiness on the outside and was absolutely luscious within. We savored every bite. We also tried the ever changing pasta special on our last visit which is offered as either an appetizer or an entrée. The penne pasta wasn’t homemade but was cooked al dente and was served in a tasty pork bolognese that was solid and which we both enjoyed.
We were too full for dessert on this evening but on our last visit to Mado, we had a fabulous vanilla bean rice pudding with golden raisins and almonds that was rich, creamy and out of this world.
Mado’s prices are about what you would expect given the caliber of the food but if you are consuming alcohol, the BYOB policy turns it into a value for a gourmet meal. Our total bill came to $90 with tax and tip for 2 entrees and 2 appetizers. Mado prides itself on quality ingredients and succeeds on every level. They are also doing some cool and unique things such as hosting pig butchering demos where the Chef butchers a pig, explains how each part of the pig is used, and provides each attendee with a sampling of fresh pork to bring home.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Chicago (Turkish) - Café Orchid
Café Orchid
1746 W. Addison St, Chicago, IL; 773-327-3808
Date of Review: May, 2010
http://cafeorchid.com/
On the heels of a couple of wonderful dining experiences at one of Chicago’s Turkish dining options, Turquoise, and based on a recommendation from a friend, my wife and I decided to give Café Orchid a shot. We are awfully glad we did. On a beautiful Saturday in May after getting a jog in by the lake, we were famished and debating where to go for lunch. As my mind continued to mull over a few options while I drove up Clark street towards Irving Park, I made a turn onto Lincoln Avenue and remembered Café Orchid.
Café Orchid is a cute little restaurant in a small, somewhat dilapidated strip mall near the busy intersection of Lincoln, Addison and Ravenswood. The busy intersection makes it somewhat difficult to pull into the restaurant but there is plenty of street parking around. By the looks of the restaurant from the outside, you would not have any idea that this is any more than a quick carry out spot, but it is cute and romantic inside almost offering an oasis from the busy intersection just outside. The heated and attractively decorated patio doubles the size of the restaurant and is extremely pleasant with small vases containing orchids on each table.
Café Orchid is a BYOB mom and pop spot and you can tell right away that everything here is prepared freshly. As we sat outside waiting for our appetizers to arrive, I could hear the chef at work in the kitchen chopping away preparing made to order dishes. For me, that makes everything taste just a little bit better. For starters, we had hummus and ezme which were both served with Turkish bread. The hummus was ordinary but decent; however the ezme was out of this world. Ezme is chopped spicy roasted red bell peppers and green peppers with tomatoes, garlic walnuts and parsley. It was full of wonderful flavor and we couldn’t get enough of it as we wiped the plate clean. Truth be told, there were a number of tasty appetizers which made it very hard to choose two. I can’t wait to sample some of the others on my next visit, although the ezme will be tough to pass on.
For our lunch entrees, we both went for lamb. Ivy went for the lamb cubes marinated with vegetable oil, lemon juice, paprika, oregano, black pepper and onion. It was served with bulgur and was outstanding. We were both extremely satisfied with the flavor of not just the lamb but the bulgur. I went for the kofte sandwich which is served wrapped in thin Lebanese bread, or lavash, and served with fresh tomatoes and lettuce on top. Kofte is ground lamb and beef with spices. I guess you could say that it is the Turkish version of a meatball and it is very flavorful. Both entrees were served with a crisp salad, of crunchy green peppers, lettuce, tomato and onion dressed with olive oil and lemon.
Everything was high quality with excellent ingredients, tasty and very reasonable as our total bill was $35 with tax and tip. I cannot wait to go back for dinner as I have a hunch that Café Orchid will become a go to place for me and my wife.
1746 W. Addison St, Chicago, IL; 773-327-3808
Date of Review: May, 2010
http://cafeorchid.com/
On the heels of a couple of wonderful dining experiences at one of Chicago’s Turkish dining options, Turquoise, and based on a recommendation from a friend, my wife and I decided to give Café Orchid a shot. We are awfully glad we did. On a beautiful Saturday in May after getting a jog in by the lake, we were famished and debating where to go for lunch. As my mind continued to mull over a few options while I drove up Clark street towards Irving Park, I made a turn onto Lincoln Avenue and remembered Café Orchid.
Café Orchid is a cute little restaurant in a small, somewhat dilapidated strip mall near the busy intersection of Lincoln, Addison and Ravenswood. The busy intersection makes it somewhat difficult to pull into the restaurant but there is plenty of street parking around. By the looks of the restaurant from the outside, you would not have any idea that this is any more than a quick carry out spot, but it is cute and romantic inside almost offering an oasis from the busy intersection just outside. The heated and attractively decorated patio doubles the size of the restaurant and is extremely pleasant with small vases containing orchids on each table.
Café Orchid is a BYOB mom and pop spot and you can tell right away that everything here is prepared freshly. As we sat outside waiting for our appetizers to arrive, I could hear the chef at work in the kitchen chopping away preparing made to order dishes. For me, that makes everything taste just a little bit better. For starters, we had hummus and ezme which were both served with Turkish bread. The hummus was ordinary but decent; however the ezme was out of this world. Ezme is chopped spicy roasted red bell peppers and green peppers with tomatoes, garlic walnuts and parsley. It was full of wonderful flavor and we couldn’t get enough of it as we wiped the plate clean. Truth be told, there were a number of tasty appetizers which made it very hard to choose two. I can’t wait to sample some of the others on my next visit, although the ezme will be tough to pass on.
For our lunch entrees, we both went for lamb. Ivy went for the lamb cubes marinated with vegetable oil, lemon juice, paprika, oregano, black pepper and onion. It was served with bulgur and was outstanding. We were both extremely satisfied with the flavor of not just the lamb but the bulgur. I went for the kofte sandwich which is served wrapped in thin Lebanese bread, or lavash, and served with fresh tomatoes and lettuce on top. Kofte is ground lamb and beef with spices. I guess you could say that it is the Turkish version of a meatball and it is very flavorful. Both entrees were served with a crisp salad, of crunchy green peppers, lettuce, tomato and onion dressed with olive oil and lemon.
Everything was high quality with excellent ingredients, tasty and very reasonable as our total bill was $35 with tax and tip. I cannot wait to go back for dinner as I have a hunch that Café Orchid will become a go to place for me and my wife.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)