Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Dine a world away: Veer off Michigan; Head east of the avenue for

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Dine a world away: Veer off Michigan; Head east of the avenue for

    Crain's Chicago Business
    October 11, 2004, Monday

    Dine a world away: Veer off Michigan; Head east of the avenue for
    Armenian kebabs, Italian spinach salad

    by Anne Moore

    There are many reasons to be on North Michigan Avenue, and plenty of
    reasons to detour off it, too: fewer pedestrians, tree-lined streets
    and scads of restaurants that typically don't have a line of tourists
    spilling from their doors. We tried a few around Streeterville, just
    east of Michigan Avenue.

    Bice Ristorante

    158 E. Ontario St., (312) 664-1474

    We'd planned to eat at the very casual Bice Grill but walked next
    door to the more formal side, wanting to be pampered. What a wise
    choice: Our meal was unusual and excellent and our waiters very
    attentive.

    I'd brought a friend who lives part of every year in Italy; she
    zeroed in on a spinach salad. Theirs, rustica con spinaci ($6.50), is
    astonishingly good: delicate spinach leaves dressed with cream,
    tossed with beets, potatoes, carrots, fried pancetta and lentils. We
    split one serving: I could have stopped right there and been full and
    happy.

    My friend's penne all'arrabiata ($11.75) was red-gold and flavorful,
    neither too heavy nor too spicy. ''Like a dish you'd get in
    Tuscany,'' she said. ''Really authentic.'' I wavered between lobster
    and crabmeat soup ($7.25) and risottino ai frutti di mare ($17.95),
    but went for the rice dish and its pleasing variety of seafood
    (shrimp, tiny scallops, calamari, clams, mussels).

    Ricotta cheesecake ($7.95) tasted more of egg than cheese; we liked
    hazelnut and vanilla gelati ($6.95) far more. Finish with a cafe
    macchiato ($2.25), espresso with a dollop of steamed-milk foam.

    Sayat-Nova 157 E. Ohio St., (312) 644-9159

    A friend of Armenian descent heads here when she's in Chicago because
    the food is authentic and consistently good. Take a half-circle
    leather booths in the back for a seemingly private meal. The lighting
    is dim and fractured; I always feel a world away.

    Don't miss the creamy hummus ($4) or tabbouleh salad ($4.50), and
    keep the hummus on the table for slathering on just about anything.
    We tried the jajik ($4), chunks of cucumber in yogurt, with garlic
    and mint, and found it refreshing.

    Lula kebab ($11.95) is more like a hamburger-ground beef and
    lamb-tucked into a pita. Chicken kebabs ($12.95) are big, broiled
    squares, flavorful and moist. Rice pilaf is fluffy and nicely
    seasoned.

    Cream-filled knafi ($3.50) was attractive, seemingly topped with spun
    gold, but we preferred pistachio baklava ($3.50), a flaky pastry
    shell cupping honey and crunchy nuts.

    West Egg Cafe

    620 N. Fairbanks Court, (312) 280-8366; 66 W. Washington St., (312)
    236-3322

    Freed from an overly long appointment on Michigan Avenue, I ran into
    a friend I hadn't seen in months. I needed lunch; she needed to pick
    up her kids in an hour. We headed to West Egg, knowing we could get
    breakfast or lunch without a wait.

    Nothing on the vast menu-pancakes, French toast, salads, sandwiches,
    roast chicken-is more than $10. Sensing we were overwhelmed, our
    patient waitress steered us to ''healthful'' offerings-egg-white
    omelets, yogurt and granola-which we glanced at, then guffawed. We
    wanted to eat.

    My friend needed guidance: eggs Benedict ($7.50) or Bleu Bayou
    ($6.95), a scramble of eggs, blue cheese, spinach, bacon and
    tomatoes. She went for the Bleu Bayou, and it was a hit, disappearing
    nearly as quickly as it arrived. I needed some kick to my eggs, so I
    chose the breakfast burrito with spicy green chilies and cooling sour
    cream ($6.95). Fresh fruit and paprika-dusted potatoes made for tasty
    sides; orange juice ($1.50) was freshly squeezed.

    We both liked the airy room and whimsical paintings of gigantic
    coffee cups. Plates clatter-it's a diner, after all-but noise was
    never a problem.



    GRAPHIC: "Like a dish you'd get in Tuscany," my friend said of Bice's
    penne all'arrabiata.
Working...
X