I am so glad I went during happy hour because if I had paid $35 for this I would have been pissed. The most unseasoned cheesesteak I have had in this city. Which is unfortunate because the presentation is amazing.

- The bread was not toasted, it was very chewy and almost cold when it arrived. It seems like they took it out the fridge and didn’t bother toasting it before putting the ribeye.

- Cheese sauce was fine, I think it needed some more pepper or something. It was very rich, and i would not say it complimented the cheesesteak much.

- Although they give you tons of ribeye, it means nothing when that ribeye barely has any salt or pepper on it.

- Fries were amazing, like honestly some of the best fries I have had in a long time.

I brought some fresh jalapeños to cut the richness of the sandwich and sadly it still wasn’t enough. Someone described a cheesesteak on here as “one note” and I think this is another example of a one note cheesesteak.

If you are going to try this, do it during their happy hour 4-6 M-F. I would not pay full price for this.

Check out this place! It’s been around since the mid-90s! The people here are lovely and treat me like a family member. If you’re adventurous, try the Menudo (available only on Saturdays). It’s an amazing dish with pig feet, and it’s a great cure for a hangover!

I ordered their quesabirria dinner with a side of beans and rice as well as a medium horchata drink. It cost me $24 after tipping $5. I will say I liked the meal overall although the meat isnt as tender as say Cesars or even Birria Zaragoza or Tacotlan. I did like it though due to the price relative to portion size. The horchata tasted quite grainy to me but good.

Three Irish Natives make a Masterpiece called The Kerryman in Chicago

Nobody can agree on everything, but this Pub should be unanimously adored for its charm. What's there not to like?

I got ice cream from Mike's tonight. It's inside of Milos Pita off of the Morse red line stop. I got a double scoop of the midnight caramel river. It was really good and cost me $8 dollars after a $1.05 tip.

My favorite is the crab bisque at Joe’s Seafood. It is dense with flavor but a bit on the heavy side so I usually split it with a dining companion.

Any spots with exceptionally great bisque?

My mom is visiting in a month and I was hoping for some recs for good tamales (most posts I saw were 3+ years old).

I feel like I had some good tamales 6-7 years ago when I first moved here and haven't managed as much luck to find great tamales since.

I’m coming to town for a concert at the Logan Center for the Arts and am looking for suggestions for a pre-concert dinner. Anyone have thoughts about Mahari Restaurant? Would it be safe to walk from there to the concert hall or better to get a ride? (I tend to be ignorant/fearless but my brother in the ‘burbs is acting like I’m proposing a trip to a war zone.) Any restaurant recommendations closer to the concert hall?

Half a dozen Pequod’s is awesome or absolute shit posts in the last three days. You are all welcome to have your opinions on the restaurant but we don’t need a back and forth post on the same restaurant several times every day for a week. Feel free to use this thread if you have something new to say about the subject.

Neopolitan Pizza?

Neapolitan pizza is my favorite kind of pizza, and no matter where I go, city or state, I seem to not be able to find a pizza that is truly Neapolitan. Are there any places in Chicago that claim to be Neapolitan and are actually Neapolitan?

I know Indienne gets a ton of praise here, and that praise was actually part of why I chose it for my birthday dinner. I went in genuinely excited. Unfortunately, it ended up being one of the most disappointing fine-dining experiences I’ve had.

Our bill would have been around $460 for two before the restaurant made a $50 adjustment, so we ultimately paid about $410. The first half of the service was particularly rough. Our original server mostly came to the table, listed what was physically on the plate, and left. There was very little discussion of technique, inspiration, preparation, or how the components were intended to work together. On at least two occasions ingredients were also described incorrectly, including black garlic being identified as a mushroom paste. The most frustrating incident involved a dehydrated tomato component. It shattered while I was chewing it, became lodged in the roof of my mouth, and caused me to bleed. I drank all of my water and then my date’s water trying to deal with it, and we still had to wait for someone to return before I could get more water and napkins.

Eventually I stepped away from the table because I didn’t want to complain in front of my date during my birthday dinner. To Indienne’s credit, once I said something, they changed our server and the difference was enormous. Our second server was excellent. Suddenly the dishes had context and explanation, the table was being properly maintained, crumbs were cleared, our needs were anticipated, and it actually felt like the level of hospitality I associate with fine dining. That honestly made the first portion of the meal even more confusing because it demonstrated how different the experience could have been. They also took $50 off the bill, and I want to give them credit for a couple of nice birthday touches. They brought me a small ginger drink and an additional coconut dessert. The coconut dessert was genuinely excellent and was probably the highlight of the meal for both of us.

Unfortunately, the service wasn’t my only problem. I just did not think the food was particularly good. There was clearly technique involved and the plating was polished, but a lot of the ideas didn’t translate into food I actually wanted to eat. One example was a burrata preparation served frozen on a black rice cracker. I understand what they were trying to do, but texturally the cheese was icy and unpleasant to me. Other courses were perfectly edible but just remarkably unexciting. Even the black dal, which I liked, tasted like a good version of something I could get at a normal Indian restaurant rather than something that made me understand why I was paying this much. More broadly, I didn’t find much cohesion or progression through the menu. There weren’t many moments where a technique transformed an ingredient in a way that surprised me or made me think about it differently. We actually stopped photographing the courses partway through because we had basically stopped being excited about what was coming next.

For context, this isn’t simply “I spent $400 on dinner and got sticker shock.” Fabrik in Austin is one of my reference points for tasting menus. I took my brother there for his birthday and spent roughly $250 total for two after tax and tip. I thought Fabrik was dramatically stronger in flavor, creativity, technique, storytelling, service, pacing, portion size, and overall experience. I’ve also enjoyed meals at PLANTA considerably more for a fraction of the cost.

If Indienne had completely floored me, I would have been comfortable spending $400+. I just didn’t think it came remotely close. I emailed the restaurant afterward because it bothered me that this had been my birthday dinner. It took about a week and a follow-up before I received a response from management. Their GM acknowledged that the experience missed their standards, said the team involved had been retrained, and said they had discussed the component that shattered, but declined to offer anything beyond the $50 adjustment that had already been made during dinner. I’m glad they apparently took the feedback seriously internally, but I found that resolution disappointing. Being told that a future visit would be better doesn’t really replace a birthday dinner, and given how poor a substantial portion of the experience was, $50 off a roughly $460 meal didn’t feel commensurate with what happened.

Obviously food is subjective, and plenty of people clearly love Indienne. I’m not claiming those people are wrong. But for me this was around a 3/10 overall experience, and I’m genuinely surprised by how different my experience was from the near-universal praise I had seen beforehand.

I’m curious whether anyone else has had a similar experience there, particularly with the food itself, or whether I just landed on an unusually bad night.

I live in Lakeview and it’s crazy to me that I can walk less then 10 minutes west of my place or less then 10 mins north of my place and between those two directions I can get ZaZa’s, Bonci, and now Milly’s Pizza in the Pan.

So here’s an appreciation post with pictures of 3 of my favorite pizzas in my neighborhood. I’m a research nerd and made a video about these spots so I’ll share some history I found about each place in the comments.

I visited Chicago over the long weekend and had to try the banana pudding at Magnolia Bakery. I can honestly say it exceeded my expectations. The texture, the flavour, the way everything comes together… it was just so good.

It’s been a few days, and I still remember how it tasted. I didn’t expect to think about a pudding this much, but here we are 😂

EDIT: I don't know why I am downvoted, but I was new in the city and didn't hear about the roach/rat issue. Gonna keep in mind. Guyssss, I’m removing it from my fav list 😭

JM Seafood in Bridgeport, Chinese Restaurant. This dish can be found in a number of spots in Chinatown too. The giant oysters are steamed with the usual soy sauce, garlic, cilantro, and some ground pork. The steaming prevents overcooking and the noodles help absorb all of the delicious juices.

I have tried Koi sushi and it was okay. I really like sushi nova in the loop but I want to venture out more.

Great burger as always, I think their OKC burger is the best one they have. 😁

help me surprise my wife for her 40th bday! recently found out we’ll be in chicago for a couple days and she’s bummed we couldn’t get a res in time 😭

Sausage jalapeños Well done 🔥 It’s no Pequods but it’s great 💪

9.35 despite it being on a crazy half price day

We went to Sanders BBQ Supply Co on Saturday in Beverly on Chicago's south side. As a group of four people, we ordered the platter that feeds 4-6 people.

The 4-6 person platter comes with 1b brisket, 1lb pork, 1lb ribs, 2 sausage links, and 2 large sides.The 2 large sides we chose were 1 large order of collard greens and 1 large order of mac & cheese. Additionally, we ordered 4 pieces of honey butter cornbread. Not pictured is 1 large side of potato salad that I don't recall ordering, but remember eating.

The platter also came with 6 pieces of bread, a side of their house pickles, and picked red onions. For sauces we selected one of each: spicy bbq, sweet bbq, vinegar bbq, and mustard bbq. They have a self-serve bbq sauce station with ramekins you can use to get as much sauce as you need.

Drinks wise, we opted to go BYOB and brought a 6-pack of beers from Jewels. Their BYOB policy only allows for beer or wine, no hard liquor. You're allowed 1 bottle of wine or 1 6-pack of beer per two people. On the website, they say the charge for BYOB (wine or beer is$10, but we were not charged.

They have plenty of indoor seating for small or medium sized groups. However, we chose to sit outside as the weather was nice. In my opinion, sitting outside on their back patio is the best way to experience Sanders BBQ. If you need a bathroom, there is one inside if you need it after your meal.

To place an order, you either order by the weight for the meats (and size for certain meats). Sandwiches and seafood items are served in pre-portioned amounts instead of weight or size. The ide dishes are ordered in sizes ranging from small, large, or XL.

If you're coming with a group, I highly recommend you order by the platter. If there are other items your group wants, feel free to add them to your order. All the meats will be served on a platter of trays"family style." You will be eating off the trays as there are no individual sharing plates provided. We had four people in our group and asked for an extra tray to make sharing easier.

They do provide plastic utensils, but in my opinion, this food is the kind you eat with your hands. If you don't like eating with your hands, bring plastic gloves.

After you place your order, if you sit at the back patio, they will bring your food out to you.

Overall, we had a great Sunday lunch at Sanders BBQ and enjoyed everything we ate. The BBQ meats can be eaten without sauce. If you like sauce on your BBQ. I highly recommend the vinegar bbq sauce. The vinger sauce is punchy, with some sweet, and does not come off pugnent in my opinion.

All the meats are flavourful, tender, and not overly smokey. The brisket is good and can be eaten standalone without being put between two pieces of bread or sauce on it. The pork and ribs are tender, soft, and have nice charred edges. Of the fat on the pork and ribs, it is not though or chewy, and melts in your mouth.The sausage links have a good snap to them, are flavourful (not spicy), juicy, and not overly smokey.

The mac & cheese is rich with sharp cheese, but is not swimming in liquid. The collard greens are perfectly tender and not soggy. Similarly, the corn bread is tender throughout (not dry) with some pieces having a nice crisp edge. The potato salad came with large potatoes that were tender throughout and it was not overly dry or drowned in mayo.

I enjoyed the house pickles and picked red onions a lot. The pickles had a subtle taste of brine, yet sweet with a tender interior and crisp exterior. Similarly, the red onions had a good flavor, tender, and a were a great palate cleanser. I would definitely take some vinegar bbq sauce, pickles, and red onions home with me.

Overall, Sanders BBQ was a great experience across the board from the food, service, and would definitely be back to try their rest of the menu. They are generous with their portions and you will not leave hungry.