Posts Tagged ‘BYOB’

Tanoshii, Andersonville

Friday, March 9th, 2012

Sushi Mike - Photo courtesy of Metromix Chicago

he said:

I can still remember the first time I tried sushi. It was a California roll and I was in college.  That first bite was so different, so unexpected, so delicious. Back then, sushi was an exotic dish. But that was a long time ago and sushi quickly became ubiquitous.

At first I was happy that you could buy it in the grocery store. What I didn’t stop to realize was that sushi just wasn’t special anymore. Not when you can pick it up next to the Van De Kamps.

Uncommon Sushi

I thought I knew all that sushi had in store for me, until I ate at Tanoshii. It was one of my first dates in Chicago with the lovely woman who is now my wife. That experience went much like every subsequent trip: we ordered two Mike’s Specials, told our waitress what kind of sushi we liked, and waited to see what we got.

The Mike of Mike’s Special is the owner. He’s also an amazing sushi chef. And when you order one of his specials, he creates for you whatever inspires him, based on the info you give him. I’ll often say I like spicy tuna and never have I gotten the same thing twice. He’ll do crazy things like add a chipotle mayo or a barbecue sauce, he’ll dice the tuna into a fine puree, he’ll add fried asparagus.

Same old unexpected

The last time we went, I indicated I liked spicy tuna, as usual. The dish that came back was unlike any sushi dish I could have ever dreamt of (not that I dream of sushi dishes). It was fashioned into rectangular pieces, with a bed of rice supporting fresh tuna, covered by shaved cucumber, caviar and a spicy, creamy sauce. Man, it was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.

I’m constantly surprised, and not only because I don’t know what he’s going to do. It’s because the flavors are so perfectly paired, the presentation so unique, the dishes so inspired. It’s exactly what I believed sushi should always be, from my very first bite.

she said:

I went to Tanoshii the first week it opened – I lived around the corner at the time – and, like my husband, I experienced a sushi reawakening.  Since then, all other sushi restaurants have been left shivering in Tanoshii’s shadow.  Sushi Mike is an artist, no doubt about it.  I’ve never seen rolls prepared more artfully or presented more beautifully… and this is to say nothing of the way they taste.  Have you ever eaten something so flavorful and robust that your jawbones hurt a little?  It’s a pleasurable ache and I experience it every time I visit Sushi Mike.

Not surprisingly, I’m particularly in love with his vegetarian maki rolls.  At most places, I’m limited to two or three of the same snoozy choices.  Not so at Tanoshii.  I ask for vegetarian Mike’s Specials and I’ve never been disappointed.  At Mike’s, I’ve come to expect the unexpected.  My maki may show up flavored with Italian seasonings or looking more like chips and guacamole.  The rolls may be created from finely shaved pear or mango.  No matter what, they’re always incredible.

If you’ve never been to Tanoshii, stop whatever you’re doing and take off in a dead run towards Andersonville.  First, though, while you’re stretching, a few pieces of advice.

  1. Like an artist, Mike does take his time in creating his masterpieces.  Don’t expect things to be snappy at Tanoshii.  You may want to order some miso soup while you wait.
  2. While I strongly recommend you order Mike’s Specials rather than from the menu (which is composed of regular boring sushi choices), I must say that they don’t come cheap.  The specials range from $16-$22 and you don’t know how much yours will cost until you get the bill.
  3. If it were up to Mike, soy sauce and wasabi would be illegal. Nobody will mind if you use them on the regular menu items, but if you use them on his specials, everyone will hate you.
  4. Don’t forget to grab booze before you go.  It’s BYOB and the atmosphere is jolly, even if the ambiance is standard for a sushi establishment.  Offer Sushi Mike a shot of whatever you’re drinking.  I promise you he’ll accept and the plates will only get more creative as the night goes on.

Okay, that should to it.  Ready, set, go.

 


Irazu, Bucktown

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

she said:

We spent half of our honeymoon on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica so when our friend Laura asked us to meet her at Irazu for some Costa Rican cuisine, we were pretty excited.  We arrived at the small, bustling Irazu on a Saturday night and were told we’d have a table in thirty minutes.  Not bad, but after waiting outside in the cold drizzle for over an hour, our enthusiasm wasn’t the only thing that had been dampened.

Enter Omar, our waiter, whose personality was as large as his physique and whose booming apologies were backed up by several complimentary snacks, including black beans and plantains splashed with spoonfuls of Lizano salsa.  Lizano salsa, by the by, is a spicy sweet Costa Rican sauce made with onions, carrots, cauliflower and cucumber.  Although it’s ubiquitous in Costa Rica, it’s uncommon here.  Within five minutes of sitting down, I’d forgiven the long wait.  I knew why the place was so packed, and why nobody wanted to leave.

We started with a combo order of empanadas (cheese, black bean, spinach, zucchini and plantain, if you must know), which were very tasty, especially when topped with pico de gallo.  For dinner, I ordered the “award winning” vegetarian burrito, which was straightforward and delicious, stuffed with occasional hot peppers that nearly burned my lips off my face.  I love plantains so I ordered them on the side; they arrived in a perfect combination of goo and crisp.

It’d be a shame to leave Irazu without trying one of their trademark Aveno (oatmeal) shakes.  I tasted the fresa (strawberry) and the chocolate and I haven’t stopped thinking about them since.  In addition to being uniquely scrumptious, they also come in handy as cooling remedies when you think you might have to be hospitalized for the relentless burn that’s spread from your lips, through your cheeks and is now tingling its way into your sweating scalp.  (I’m exaggerating.  They’re just peppers, but if you don’t like crying, you may want to avoid them).

Icing on the cake?  Irazu is BYOB.  At the end of the day, we didn’t pay more than $10 per person, if that.

In Costa Rica, you can’t walk down a street without hearing or reading the phrase, “Pura Vida.”  It’s on menus and t-shirts.  It’s painted onto the sides of buildings and etched into cliffside rock.  Pura Vida can mean hello and goodbye, thank you and you’re welcome.  It can express wonder or satisfaction, best wishes or respect.  In Spanish, it translates (though backwards) to Pure Life, but it means something closer to Good Life.  It’s an affirmation that this moment, experience, taste, smell, sight, person, friendship, interaction, etc, is real and true and….. well, good.

Pura Vida is not the same thing as the sweet life.  It’s simpler than that, and more humble.  You can get a taste of it at Irazu.

he said:

I think my wife undersold just how miserable the wait was. About the last thing on my mind as we were standing outside this little restaurant was the warmth and beauty of our honeymoon. It was cold, it was wet, we had to stand near a group of louts who arrived after us, only to realize that this loud, obnoxious group had deposited one person there earlier who had put their name in, so they got to go in ahead of us while we watched them from outside as they warmed up and enjoyed the delicious food and their insipid conversation.

In fact, by the time I finally made it inside, I wanted to smack the Costa Rican rainforest in the face (much like it had smacked my wife in the face when we went ziplining, though that’s a story for another time). But she was right. Omar was the best. The food was amazing. All was forgiven before the feeling returned to my toes.

Costa Ricago Favorite

I’d read online that Irazu had wonderful sandwiches. I hadn’t tried a Costa Rican sandwich when I was in Costa Rica, but they’d received such glowing reviews that I wanted to give it a go. After having one, I’m ready for another trip down south to compare Irazu’s to the originals. And that’s setting the bar pretty high for that small country, I have to say.

I had the Pepito Sandwich, which was described as a Chicago favorite. I opted for the ribeye, and added the hot peppers, cheese and avocado. When you’re starting with a sandwich for $4.95*, why not add a few delicious things on top?

*I rarely mention price on this blog, but this is one of the best values I’ve ever had at a restaurant. I’d have paid three times that for this sandwich.

The steak in the sandwich was amazing, good enough to eat by itself. And the beans and Lizano sauce complimented it perfectly.

As we left, I noticed that Irazu has a pretty generous delivery area. It won’t deliver to our house, but it would deliver to my work, so I’m thinking about impressing my coworkers with some delicious delivery one of these days. At the very least, I know that I won’t have to wait in the cold and the rain.