Category: Chicago

Review of Green Zebra in Chicago (vegetarian)

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Executive chef/owner: Shawn McClain

Location: 1460 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60642 (map)

Website: greenzebrachicago.com Yelp reviews: click

Resident Foodies say: Green Zebra is a modern vegetarian restaurant that makes you forget you are eating vegetarian. The dishes are so very interesting and tasty, served on quite generous tasting plates. Chef Shawn McClain (also of Spring and Custom House in Chicago) has put together one of the most impressive arrays of vegetarian dishes we’ve encountered. There’s even one nonvegetarian dish for those who don’t believe that vegetarian can be just as tasty and filling as the standard fare.

Green Zebra’s incredibly innovative vegetarian dishes have both Western and Asian influences. Our favorites were the slow roasted shiitake mushrooms with crispy potato and savoy cabbage. Not only was the presentation beautiful, the combination of soft shiitake mushroom and crispy potato encasing was scrumptious. We also loved the creamy parsnip and leek soup, which was a heavenly creation.

We do have one caveat to note: although the vegetables are incredibly fresh, one should not necessarily assume that all of the vegetarian dishes are for the most health conscious (meaning that some probably use butter and/or salt). Having said that, plenty of the dishes are for the health-minded (or at least seemed so to us). And we counted 11 dishes that were vegan. Green Zebra has something for everyone.

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New Review: Belly Shack in Chicago, Executive Chef Bill Kim

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Executive chef: Bill Kim, co-owner with wife Yvonne Cadiz-Kim

Location: 1912 N. Western, Chicago, IL 60647 (under Western blueline stop) (Map)

Phone: 773.252.1414

Website: www.bellyshack.com Yelp reviews: click

Resident Foodies say: Fantastic Korean-Latin fusion! Chef Bill Kim and wife co-owner, Yvonne Cadiz-Kim, opened a new restaurant on October 20, 2009, right underneath the blue line Western El stop. The Shack follows their acclaimed Urban Belly restaurant. We sampled: (1) quinoa ssam (lettuce wrap) with Korean chili paste, Bibb lettuce, and apples, (2) the boricua sandwich (fried plantains, marinated tofu, organic brown rice, spinach), (3) Korean BBQ kogi with pita and kimchi, and (4) kimchi.

Put simply, Chef Kim is killing it with these amazing fusion dishes. The ssam and BBQ kogi have unmistakable and authentic Korean flavors–yet they are transformed in wonderful modern fusion dishes. The ssam or lettuce wraps were so refreshing, and the portabello inside so tasty, that it brought a smile to our faces. The BBQ kogi was sweet, and, when coupled with kimchi inside a pita, made for the yummiest of Korean-influenced concoctions. Finally, the boricua sandwich used fried plaintains to create a mouth watering, vegetarian sandwich with tofu, rice, and spinach inside. Belly Shack may well turn out to be our favorite new opening in Chicago this year!

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Review of Boka in Chicago

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Executive chef: Giuseppe Tentori Pastry chef: Elizabeth Dahl

Location: 1729 North Halsted, Chicago, IL 60614 (Lincoln Park) (map)

Phone: 312.357.6070

Website: www.bokachicago.com Yelp reviews: click

Resident Foodies say: There’s good reason why Food & Wine named Chef Guiseppe Tentori as one of the best new chefs in 2008. His food is a visual and culinary delight, with stunning displays of colors and surprising mixtures of ingredients. Salad is not an appetizer at Boka, it is true artwork consisting of greens, fruit, and cheeses. The salad is just as, if not more, memorable than the entrees! But the entrees continue the dazzling mixture of subtle ingredients.

We sampled (1) the braised short rib ravioli (with prawn and sweet corn ragout, and goat milk foam), (2) the herb crusted white fish (with wild rice, brussel sprout leaves, pickled cockscomb, and winter squash sauce), (3) the lake trout (with salt cod croquette, fennel sauce, orange segments, and sauteed spinach), and (4) the vegeterian herbed risotto tart (with roasted portobello, baby turnips, ricotta, beet puree). The dishes are sophisticated and complex, yet also very comforting and downright delicious. The portions are generous, some may find too generous. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Pastry Chef Elizabeth Dahl continues Boka’s impressive concoction of interesting ingredients with desserts that are different from anything we’ve encountered, yet so delicious.

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