April Additions To The Recommendation List

It’s been a while since I let you know about some of the recent additions to the Recommendation List, so here’s a quick look at what my cabbies have been plugging recently.

• Algerian – Icosium Kafe - 5200 N Clark St – Andersonville
• Kyrgyz – Jibek Jolu - 5047 N Lincoln Ave – Lincoln Square
• Mexican – Mi Tierra - 2528 S Kedzie Ave – Little Village
• Indian – Pista House - 2501 W Devon – West Rogers Park
• Nepalese – Himalayan Restaurant - 8265 W Golf Rd – Niles

Out of these, I’m definitely most excited to try Jibek Jolu. I’ve never experienced Kyrgyz cuisine, and this spot is apparently pretty popular with natives and outsiders alike.

Beyond the new recommendations, I wanted to share this snapshot from my recent meal at one of the most highly praised Pakistani restaurants on Devon – Khan BBQ. That handsome gentleman I’m sitting with is Chicago’s most famous taxi driver, Rashid Temuri (better known to his 4,000 Twitter followers as @ChicagoCabbie). While my good friend Samantha was in town for a visit this weekend, I took advantage of her superior cinematography and directorial skills to film Chicago Cab Fare’s first video review, with Rashid serving as a special guest. Be on the lookout for that in the coming weeks.

Vee Vee’s African Restaurant – Nigerian in Edgewater

Nigerian – Vee Vee African Restaurant – 6232 N Broadway Street – Edgewater

Ever been to a busy restaurant where the excellent service made you feel like you were the only table in the place? It’s great. What is less great is walking into a completely empty restaurant and feeling like the staff still can’t give you the time of day.

My date and I entered Vee Vee’s African Restaurant on a Saturday evening to find the dining room completely empty, except for one gentleman, who may or may not have been an employee, bringing in several cases of beer and setting up half the restaurant for what we gathered to be a dance party. He motioned that we could sit anywhere, so we grabbed a table, pulled up two of the restaurant’s impressive collection of completely mismatched chairs, and waited for a server. It’s worth noting that this guy didn’t actually make an effort to alert anyone that they had customers, but I’ve got to respect his commitment to preparing for the evening’s festivities.
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Tabaq – Pakistani on the Near North Side

Pakistani – Tabaq – 1245 N Clybourn St – Near North Side

I’m no stranger to restaurants with dirty floors and mismatched furniture, and I don’t typically dine with people who have even a hint of snobbishness about dining room decor. Despite this, I must really give off the vibe that I have no idea what I’m getting myself into when I take a cab to some of the restaurants on my list.

The ride to my recent meal at Tabaq drove this point home when my Pakistani cabbie disapprovingly looked at my friend and I in the back seat and told me it was no place to take a lady. No offense, my friend, but I don’t think the hole in the wall with a row of taxis parked outside, no website, and 12 mediocre Yelp reviews is somewhere that many people purposefully travel to without knowing what to expect.
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Tiffin – Indian on Devon

Indian – Tiffin – 2536 W Devon Ave – West Rogers Park

High expectations can be a killer. This is especially true if those expectations have an extended period to marinate in your imagination. Tiffin was first recommended to me several months ago, and since that initial recommendation it has become my drivers’ most frequently recommended Indian restaurant on Devon. Needless to say, I was excited to experience it for myself.

When I arrived at Tiffin, there were three immediate signs of trouble. First, it was 8 p.m. on a Friday evening (high tide in most restaurants), and there were only two other tables seated. Second, none of the other diners looked to be Indian. Lastly, only one of the front of the house staff looked to be Indian either. From my experience, none of these things boded well for our meal. The warning signs acknowledged, we soldiered on.
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Two New Countries Added to the Recommendation List

It’s been a little while since I’ve given a shoutout to some of the newest additions to the Recommendation List, and I’ve picked up some really unique options recently, so I wanted to make sure you’re all aware of them. I’ve even got recommendations for countries that are making their first appearance on the list.

The most interesting of these is our first Mongolian restaurant (no it’s not a Mongolian BBQ), Bai Cafe. The place isn’t listed on Yelp, and the owner may actually be Turkish, Kazakh, Uzbek or Kyrgyz, but I’ll take my driver’s word for it. He also said that there’s another Mongolian restaurant near the corner of Belmont and Sacramento, but he claimed that it doesn’t have a name. I’m afraid he may have just been referring to a friend’s house. Even though Mongolia is more of a Central Asian country than an Eastern European one, I’m going to add it to the Eastern European category, because I’m out of space in the navigation bar. I think that’s probably the closest fit.

Anyhow, check out the new stops listed below and let me know if you’ve already experienced them.

• Mongolian - Bai Cafe - 3406 N Ashland Ave – Lakeview
• Ecuadorian - La Humita - 3466 N Pulaski Rd – Irving Park
• Ecuadorian - La Pena Restaurant - 4212 N Milwaukee Ave – Humboldt Park
• Indian - Naan on Devon - 2305 W Devon Ave – West Rogers Park
• Indian - Viceroy of India - 2520 W Devon Ave – West Rogers Park
• Indian - Sukhadia’s - 2559 W Devon Ave – West Rogers Park
• Somali - Daavat Restaurant - 211 W Walton St – Near North Side
• Nigerian - Iyanze Restaurant - 4623 N Broadway – Uptown

Ras Dashen Ethiopian Restaurant – Edgewater

Ethiopian – Ras Dashen Ethiopian Restaurant – 5846 N Broadway St – Edgewater

One of the most common questions I get when people find out that I write this blog is, “What kind of ethnic food is your favorite?” I think most people expect me to say Indian, Thai, or some variety of Middle Eastern cuisine. Pretty much everyone is surprised when I tell them it’s Ethiopian. A main reason that Ethiopian tops my list is because I’m yet to have anything less than a good meal at any of the Ethiopian restaurants I’ve been to. Continuing that trend was my recent trip to Edgewater’s Ras Dashen.

Now, I’ve been to Ras Dashen before, and it is admittedly my least favorite of the Ethiopian restaurants I frequent (although that’s hardly much of a criticism). The minor issues that I’ve had with Ras Dashen in the past remained during this visit. Namely, the service can be almost painfully slow at times. During this meal, we asked our server for another minute to look over the menu when she first approached to take our order, and that was the last we saw of her for more than 20 minutes. If she hadn’t showed up when she did, I likely would’ve written down what we wanted it and delivered it to the kitchen myself. Continue reading »

India House Restaurant – Near North Side

Indian – India House Restaurant - 59 W Grand Ave – Near North Side

For most of you reading this site, I know that heading to a new restaurant where you know you’ll be the only one whose first language is English is part of the fun. A little culture shock is a good sign when you’re looking for a culinary adventure. That being said, most of us also probably have plenty of friends or family members who wouldn’t find that same experience so enjoyable. In those situations, when you want to introduce someone to a new type of cuisine without freaking them out before they’re even seated, it’s good to know of a handful of options where the food is authentic, but the atmosphere is decidedly not intimidating. For this purpose, India House is a perfect pick.
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ChicagoCabFare.com on ABC’s 190 North

In case you missed it, I made a brief appearance on last night’s all-food episode of ABC’s 190 North to talk about Chicago Cab Fare during their 190 Cyber Surf segment. Check out the clip & let me know what you think!

Mogadishu Restaurant – Somali on the Near North Side

Somali – Mogadishu Restaurant – 931 N Orleans – Near North Side

The past seven months I’ve spent writing this blog, along with my near obsessive compulsion to try any ethnic food I haven’t come across before, have left me feeling like I’ve got a pretty good idea what to expect anytime I walk into a new restaurant. One exception to that rule was my recent trip to Mogadishu Restaurant, a cabbies-only, hole in the wall that occupies the first floor of an isolated walk-up on the Near North Side. It was my first experience with Somali food, a cuisine I’ve heard passing descriptions of, but never even seen written about.

Shortly after walking in to Mogadishu, I realized that this is an establishment designed for patrons who already know what to ask for. There are no waiters, no menus (I asked, they laughed), no prices, and no furniture that looks like it was designed to be paired together. We approached the hot tray-laden counter and asked the gentleman manning the register if he could walk us through the options. After doing my best to interpret the descriptions through his heavy accent, I just told him to give us enough food for the four people in our party; whatever he recommends.
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Bolat African Restaurant – Nigerian in Lakeview

Nigerian – Bolat African Cuisine – 3346 N Clark St – Lakeview

News flash for new restaurants: If you want to build positive word of mouth for your business, don’t sign up for a Groupon deal until you’re sure your kitchen staff can handle the spike in customers. All those extra bodies in your seats won’t do you any good if they don’t plan on coming back and don’t recommend you to their friends.

My recent trip to Bolat was my second, and it was one I hadn’t planned on making until several months into collecting recommendations for this site. My first visit came shortly after it opened and misguidedly signed on for a Groupon in early 2010. On that day, the new operation was clearly still working out the kinks. They ran out of several items on the menu, the food took forever to arrive, and I felt like I’d mistakenly ordered Goodyear with my soup instead of goat.
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