A bear walks into a Starbucks and other recent notes

Just some recent short takes. The above, in case you didn't guess, is from the Von Steuben Day parade, part of the German-American Fest in Lincoln Square.

Mystery Pho

After a German lunch I had a hankering for Asian dinner and realized I hadn't been to Tank in a good while and the kids can handle it, better than some other Asian cuisines. The recent revival of this thread talked about service improving, though on a Saturday night I had trouble seeing it-- we had to ask for plates for everyone (how many? Well, how many of us are there?) AND bowls for the soup (how many? How many do you think now? And since it didn't occur to you to bring them in the first place, just how well do you think a 4-year-old handles a great big steaming bowl of soup?), we had to flag someone for water after minutes without, there were other missteps but most irritatingly, I'd swear I got the wrong thing. I wanted to try the bun rieu, a crab soup, but instead got this:



Which had, I am pretty damn sure, no crab, no seafood, but ground pork, blood sausage, something that looked corrugated (tripe?), and various other things I had to hide from the kids as fast as possible. The food at Tank is always good-- the scallion pancakes go over with the kids, the Tony C-recommended banh cuon are always so fresh and tasty, salt and spicy squid was perfect, but I'm a little bugged by always getting service that puts soup soons on the table, then reacts to a request for soup bowls with a look that says, "Bowls? What a novel, curious concept." Don't get me wrong, I love Tank-- and I wish all of its employees did too, enough to deliver the service the food deserves.

A Comfort Best Served Cold

Needed to pick up a sandwich after dropping something off Bucktownish. Thought of Cold Comfort Cafe. Walked in and ordered a turkey cranberry sandwich. Here's what was slightly wrong with it:

1. Bread a little chewy, not fresh that day.
2. Turkey, thick slices that were a little dry and had an odd off taste that I can only think was a fish odor picked up from the refrigerator case.
3. Hardly any cranberry relish on it. A thin schmear.

None of these seems like it should have been that big a deal but they added up to a sandwich, made of seemingly high quality ingredients, that in toto was sort of like eating a box of Kleenex. It's particularly unfortunate about #3, since it could have solved the problems of #1 and #2 to a considerable degree.

A bummer, that. Potential missed. (That seems to be my rather downbeat theme today.)

Crazy Shrimp in Elgin

Since one kid is train gaga and the other merely train interested, we went to something called the Fox Valley Trolley Museum on Sunday. Which turned out to be a bunch of old CTA trains sitting on tracks in Elgin. More exciting, no doubt, when there's an old trolley you can actually ride, but they were having electrical problems that day. So we walked around the tracks, that was good enough for the kids if not exactly justification for the drive we'd made.

Then we went looking for food. I had made a note of Carmina's from that thread, but when we got there it just looked like a Pompeii in a strip mall, total gringo banquet hall time on suburban Randall Road, I'm probably doing it an injustice but we just looked and said, we gotta find something else. So we went into downtown Elgin (home of the way cool, Bruce Wayne should work here Elgin Tower) and looked for some of the more authentic Mex I had claimed to have spotted all over this area. Two places right by the river were open: El Camaroncito Loco and a branch of a family of restaurants I've seen around the south side, El Faro. (Anyone ever tried one?) We settled on El Camaroncito Loco. The best thing, by far, was the black velvet murals on the walls:



Otherwise, this was just an okay place. Actually, a whole fried huachinango (aka red snapper) I had was quite good, prepared with nothing more than salt I suspect (the kids really enjoyed my removing the head and playing with it like a puppet), but some shrimp were a little over the hill, beans and rice and so on were average. A decent addition to the database for this neck of the woods, but there must be better. Maybe Carmina's really was it.

Crazy Shrimp in Rogers Park

It wasn't my plan to try another Mexican seafood place again so soon, and if it had been, it would have been this one. But a couple of us planned to meet for lunch at Cafe Salamera which turned out to be closed, perhaps permanently. (I hope it isn't, but fear it might be, the shortest-lived LTHForum discovery ever.) I suggested Las Islas Marias, which is just a door or two away, but was overruled in favor of trying La Cazuela, which was fine by me because I'd certainly seen it plenty of times (it being right next door to Dona Lolis and along Tamale Row).

First up (after some decent chips and salsa, and an especially cinnamony champurrado [correction: horchata]), an octopus ceviche:



This was really good, fresh and simple and refreshing. I had walked in mainly wanting cooked food but this turned me right around on that subject. We also ordered shrimp and fish tacos, here's the shrimp:



This was good, the fish was a little blandish. We also ordered, just to see what the non-seafood items were like, a pastor torta. As one person observed, "It tastes like a bad barbecue sandwich." Stick with the fishy stuff, especially the cevichy stuff, that's my advice.

Tank Noodle
4953 N. Broadway St.
(773) 878-2253

Cold Comfort Cafe
2211 W. North Ave.
773-772-4552

Camaroncito Loco
21 N State St, Elgin
847-488-9807

La Cazuela
6922 N. Clark St.
773-338-5425

The ceviche looks magnificent: nice balance of octopi parts, cilantro, tomato, etc.

I don't know why I don't make ceviche at home -- it's so good, so easy.

Hammond

Mike G wrote:I wanted to try the bun rieu, a crab soup...

And, so you did.

That wasn't ground pork. It was a paste made from shrimp, minced crab meat and egg.

IIRC, the bun rieu at Tank also includes cha lua, quail egg, fried tofu, and congealed blood.

Here you go.

Next time try the bun oc, or snail soup.


bun oc at Tank

E.M.

Huh. Well, the quail egg was there (upper right), and things that match up with the other things you mention, so it must be so.

But even by the standards by which I take for granted that what I'll get won't much resemble what I imagined, this wasn't what I imagined. I take back that much of my complaint about the service, though.

Mike G wrote: Two places right by the river were open: El Camaroncito Loco and a branch of a family of restaurants I've seen around the south side, El Faro. (Anyone ever tried one?)

Mike,

The El Faro location on Archer Ave in Summit was a frequent stop for me when I lived in the area. I always found it amusing that there would be long lines at El Famous Burrito (the original one) across the street. I still visit every once in a while when I have a craving for a burrito as big as my head.

Flip

A friend of ours from Mexico City particularly recommends El Faro on 31st just east of Pulaski, especially their tortas and the lengua. It's been on our list of places to try for a while, just haven't made it out there yet.

Amata

Mike G wrote:We also ordered, just to see what the non-seafood items were like, a pastor torta. As one person observed, "It tastes like a bad barbecue sandwich." Stick with the fishy stuff, especially the cevichy stuff, that's my advice.

Mike,

And good advice it is, though I know one fellow who swears by La Cazuela's beef fajitas.

La Cazuela's "bad barbecue" sandwich was more than offset by wonderful ceviche, I especially enjoy the octopus.

La Cazuela Al Pastor Torta



Enjoy,
Gary

that ceviche does look good... not a big fan of *** fish ceviche myself. tho i bet i can find a decent ceviche in pilsen... will go to el faro on 31st this wknd. that's pretty close to me i think...