Dish From Chicago Magazine
Dining critic John Kessler and dining editor Amy Cavanaugh offer their critiques of restaurants around Chicago, along with their perspectives on trends and happenings in the local hospitality scene.
Dish From Chicago Magazine
Sophomore Slump? Not for Chicago Restaurants
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John and Amy discuss some of their favorite follow-up projects from great restauranteurs — which are also often more casual and accessible — along with what second acts may be coming soon.
It's the best thing he makes. I just want, yes, a plate of suadero tacos and a michelada, and you know, Bob's your uncle.
Amy Cavanaugh:Welcome to Dish From Chicago Magazine. I'm Amy Cavanaugh, Chicago magazine's dining editor.
John Kessler:And I'm John Kessler, Chicago magazine's dining critic.
Amy Cavanaugh:Today we're talking about sophomore projects from successful restaurateurs. When we named the Best New Restaurants in April, something really stood out to us: So many of the restaurants we most loved last year were follow-up projects from our best chefs. There was Cafe Yaya from Zach Engel of Galit, Nadu from Sujan Sarkar of Indienne, and our No. 1 best new restaurant, Creepies, from David and Anna Posey of Elske. All three are second projects that are more casual than their Micheli- starred predecessors, and that got us thinking about what else is coming down the line. Plus, we'll talk about two favorite bites from second restaurants. So, John, why do chefs open second restaurants?
John Kessler:I mean, I think they all are like, you know, Napoleon and want to open their restaurant empires to some degree. Certainly, chefs are creative people and they have other ideas they want to realize, but also, you know, it's the only way that they can actually make serious money. But I have a little quiz for you first.
Amy Cavanaugh:Yeah, go ahead.
John Kessler:You do you know what the second restaurant from the Boka Group was?
Amy Cavanaugh:Oh man, I feel like I should know. Was it GT Fish?
John Kessler:It was something called Landmark, which I think came and went before you and I were here.
Amy Cavanaugh:Oh wow! Okay.
John Kessler:But it, they turned it into Belena after that, and so it was their first time stepping out. Now you look at all the restaurants that the Boka Group has opened since then, and you know that is something that everybody wants to emulate. And if you look at what has happened, sometimes second restaurants outlive the first ones. Avec is called Avec because it is, was next door to the original restaurant from Paul Kahan and Donnie Madia, which was Blackbird. The second, more casual restaurant is the one where they can actually gain a bigger following, earn more money, and get known for a certain kind of vibe, style, perspective that will really help to build a restaurant group.
Amy Cavanaugh:Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, you know, one of the places that I think that you and I are both most excited about that opened this year is All Well, which is the restaurant from Noah Sandoval's Oriole. It's in the La Sardine space, and he brought Larry Feldmeier over, and he had been working at Oriole, correct?
John Kessler:Yeah, he'd been at Oriole, and before that, he was, did great things at the menu at the Bristol. And he's like one of those journeyman chefs in Chicago who has done some really great stuff, but maybe hasn't quite earned the kind of national recognition he might be deserving.
Amy Cavanaugh:I'm excited about this because you know, obviously, Oriole is one of our most fine dining restaurants, and so All Well offers two ways in. You, there's both a prefix menu, and then there is just bar dining. So, I mean, I I love a casual dining experience. So, I'm I I want to try both, but I feel like I'm most excited about the bar menu.
John Kessler:Yeah, me too. I mean, that's the thing. I love Oriole, and I just wish there was a way I could go there and order three items off the tasting menu and spend a quarter the amount of money and just get a little taste of delicious things. And so I really feel like, All Well, I mean looking at the menu, it just seems great. It seems like exactly what I want but even the prefix isn't quite the whole special evening out that it is at Oriole. It'll be nice but I think it's what, like five courses and with a little bit of choice within each course?
Amy Cavanaugh:Yeah.
John Kessler:Or some of them? Yeah.
Amy Cavanaugh:Yeah. So definitely feels like, you know, there's an easier way in that is both less expensive, less food, and less time consuming than you know a full tasting menu. So it feels like we're kind of seeing a lot of chefs go in that direction.
John Kessler:I know, and it's just like, Hosanna, right? It's so good.
Amy Cavanaugh:Thank you. Yeah.
John Kessler:Thank you. Thank you, you know, dining gods, for letting us actually go back to this level of sanity. So, yay!
Amy Cavanaugh:So, what else is on your radar?
John Kessler:So, what I'm really excited for is taqueria Los Hermanos, which is next door to the Michelin-starred restaurant Cariño from Chef Norman Fenton. He gets all this great heirloom non-GMO corn from Mexico and grinds it for his tortillas. Which show up at the tasting menu at Cariño, but specifically at the 10 o'clock taco omakase, where you just get to try this corn masa in all its glory. So the new place is going to be kind of dual concept with a volcanic stone mill on one side, where they'll be grinding out the masa and nixtamalizing it, making the tortillas that you can actually buy there. And there's also a 24-seat chef's counter, and there you'll be able to order all sorts of tacos and enmoladas, quesadillas and other kind of masa products. His famous, and justifiably famous, suadero taco will be there, yay! And then some more fanciful things like a enmolada, you know a mole-smothered corn tortilla with foie gras.
Amy Cavanaugh:Man, I cannot wait to just go have a whole plate of suadero tacos.
John Kessler:Right, just a whole plate of them.
Amy Cavanaugh:Best thing he makes.
John Kessler:I know it's the best thing he makes. I just want yes, a plate of suadero tacos and a michelada, and you know, Bob's your uncle.
Amy Cavanaugh:All right, so I know that we keep talking about the second place from Sarah Grunenberg. Do you know anything about that?
John Kessler:Oh my God, I just like try and shake them down, shake their publicists down, and they're like, "Yeah, we're not ready to talk yet." I mean, so whatever. The space is clearly going to happen. It is at the corner of Leavitt and Armitage in Bucktown. It is currently a wide-open construction site, and as far as I know, guess here, I think pizza is going to be part of it. But let's wait and see. But whenever it does happen, it'll be great. I'm sure of that because Monteverde is such a great Italian restaurant with a incredibly well thought out menu and a real perspective, and I can't imagine it being anything less than that.
Amy Cavanaugh:Yeah, that'll be a huge opening once that happens. Any any others on your radar?
John Kessler:Yeah, so I've been eyeing Mansun, which is James Shin's second restaurant. Shin owns the great Korean drinking, dining, hanging out spot called New Village Gastro Pub up in Northbrook. It's a kind of a Korean restaurant called a pocha, which is sort of analogous to a Japanese izakaya, you know, a place where you just go and get some nice simple drinks, you know, beers and shots and things like that, and then order food to share, you know, nice bubbly stews, fried chicken, big salads, things like that. And so, anyhow, he's going to take it in town. The new place is right on Milwaukee in Logan Square. It's called Mansun, M-A-N-S-U-N. And right now, he just says he's being overwhelmed with permitting challenges and just has to figure out what to do. He, they want to have a patio, but the city wants them to use the space for something else, and they think the patio is key. So that's happening, but the build out is pretty close, and so that'll be an amazing addition to Logan Square.
Amy Cavanaugh:Oh yeah, I'm super excited about that. I'm such a fan of New Village Gastro Pub that I can't wait to have some of their stuff a little bit closer.
John Kessler:Yeah, no, I I can't either. I think there is a, you know, there's another Korean spot called — I'm going to mispronounce it — but Paligu, Palilogu. It is a restaurant from the Nomonomo group that owns Nomonomo Sushi and Wasabi Ramen in a little cluster of restaurants down there on near Milwaukee and Armitage, and the food was good the one time I went. It seemed very understaffed, and I poked my head in a couple times. So it'll be nice. I think it'll you know
Amy Cavanaugh:Nice. All right. Any others that we can talk hopefully give them a little competition and you know up their game. about?
John Kessler:I am trying to think of— any others that you've heard of that you're excited about. I've heard a couple of rumors, but you go first.
Amy Cavanaugh:Always rumors. I am eager to check out the Alley Cat, which is the new bar from the Paulie Gee's team because it's super affordable cocktails, which we all know and love. So that just opened in Wicker very recently, and I haven't gotten to go there yet, but that's on my list to check out. So I love the pizza at Paulie Gee's. So I'm eager to see what they do with a totally different perspective.
John Kessler:Love their pizza, particularly the Logan Square location.
Amy Cavanaugh:Yeah, the Logan Squares are so ridiculous. I don't know that I have any others that we can talk about at the moment.
John Kessler:So hi, rumor time. I have been hearing around that the folks who own John's Food and Wine are planning to open a second restaurant. They are co-chefs Adam McFarland and Tom Rogers. I reached out to McFarland and got a very political answer, and said that yes, we're always looking for, you know, ways to expand our team and our vision and da da da. And isn't the weather amazing? So I take that as a tacit, Yes, it's going to happen sometime. I've heard through the grapevine too that Devin Denzer at Atsumeru might be looking for a second, more casual location, which I think would be great. I'm. I really enjoy his work.
Amy Cavanaugh:That would be really nice. I would. I would love to see what he does, you know, with a more casual focus too.
John Kessler:Yeah. And otherwise, that's what I've got. Yeah. That's it.
Amy Cavanaugh:All right. So lots to look forward to.
John Kessler:Lots to look forward to.
Amy Cavanaugh:So, instead of the best thing you've eaten lately, what's the best thing you've eaten from a second restaurant.
John Kessler:The Kerala-style crab curry at Nadu is just insane. I love it. It is a whole dungeness crab that is just drenched in this Kerala-style black pepper curry. Comes with gloves and lots of appams to mop up the sauce with. So that is something you got to plan ahead. But that is something that I think is one of the better dishes in Chicago today.
Amy Cavanaugh:Still need to go. I still need to go try that.
John Kessler:Yeah, yeah, you really do. Let's let's let's plan a party. Make make it a Secret Supper. Y
Amy Cavanaugh:Yeah, good plan. Yeah.
John Kessler:Yeah. How about you?
Amy Cavanaugh:Um, so you know, I'm a big fan of Brasero, the second restaurant from the El Che team, and right. There's a
John Kessler:Yeah.
Amy Cavanaugh:Which is partly why I think this braised pork lot of dishes I like there, but I love the braised pork shank. The preparation changes seasonally a little bit, but there's always this just like gorgeous hunk of meat with a feijoada risotto, and it currently has like a yuzu vinaigrette, a radish and fennel slaw. It's so good. I, you know obviously, obviously we associate John Manion with steak. I tend to like really go seafood heavy at his restaurants because I love them. shank was such a showstopper for me because I got it, I was with a group and it was like it's a great group dish. Like it's a really easy, easily shareable dish. So I recommend it for that. But just beautifully cooked and and so good and so fun. So definitely try that next time you're there.
John Kessler:All right, I will for sure. Maybe we can plan a bang-bang crab and pork.
Amy Cavanaugh:Oh my god, that's a perfect night.
John Kessler:I know.
Amy Cavanaugh:Yeah, it sounds great.
John Kessler:Yeah, it really does.
Amy Cavanaugh:Thanks for joining us for this episode of Dish From Chicago Magazine. Your hosts are dining editor Amy Cavanagh and critic John Kessler, editing by Sarah Steimer and music by Bill Harris. You can find us online at chicagomag.com. Please be sure to follow, rate, and review us wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you next time.