Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Monday, October 25, 2004

Can We Talk - Places Mentioned Again

What's the rule for reposing. Does one need new information about a place. Must there changes? Should we regularly update our old posts?

Here's a quick rundown on recent meals at places I have written about before:

Yum Thai
Has the attention made this strip mall Thai better? I have been twice in recent weeks and the food was as good if not better than ever, and they have hired a few extra servers. Rumors abound of a new version of the "secret" menu. Until then, you can work off of the old foodfirst version. An orange soup-curry from the Thai menu on a recent visit was too hot for some of my dining companions. You might love it. I nearly always order one dish from the regular menu, a dish of grilled steak, too much garlic, too much sliced fresh peppers and a bit of dressing. Amazing. Chewy rice noodles have been especially good too. 7748 W. Madison, Forest Park, IL.
(708) 366-8888

La Quebrada
Breakfast has to be a winner when the chilequiles come from fresh made tortillas. A recent order of ceviche Acapulceno was a bit tiny, and it took a while to get the extra jalepenos needed to make it exactly as I like it, but once I settled in on this limey pleasure, I did not care about much else. 4859 W. Roosevelt Rd. Cicero, IL (and other locations)

Grand Slam Pizza
This is not "classic" Chicago thin pizza, Vito and Nick's style pizza with no border, but it is exceedingly good thin crust pizza. Lately, the crust has been a bit harder, and while I am no crisp fetishist, the extra cook only made this pizza better. Go here for coupons and other info.

Salerno's
OK, I do not think I have ever written about the Berwyn branch of this red sauce-aria. They have a great sampler, chicken parma, sauteed mushrooms (you wonder why until you cannot get enough of the mushrooms), cheese ravioli, sausage and meatball all drenched in that red sauce, Sunday sauce any day. 7111 Roosevelt Rd. Berwyn, IL

3-D Jerk Chicken
Not the best jerk chicken in Chicago, but...I wish this still used the jerry-rigged Weber under the hood instead of the gas fired Southern Pride as the meat, while well cooked, tastes a bit of gas (and I do not buy the idea that gas has no flavor). More than great chicken, the $7 chicken is one of the finest deals in Chicago. You get a 1/2 chicken well hacked, over a lot of gravied rice and beans, a slice of dough bread (always a reason to have jerk), a good portion of well cooked, peppery cabbage, and another good portion of sweet, sweet potatoes. The dish of jerk sauce, a Chicago thing, seems too small until you realize its scotch bonnet intensity requires not much more in the bucket. 5317 W. North Ave, Chicago. Take Out only (773-637-6518)

Thyme and Honey
$14.95 for home-made soup, several fried shrimps, a nicely flavored and tender butt steak, fresh made garlic mashed potatoes AND dessert. It made an unexpected fine dinner on a Saturday night when we meant to go to Chinatown but left too late. 100 S Oak Park, Oak Park

The "New" Mandarin Kitchen
I have yet to go here when I cannot possibly come close to ordering all the things I want. Too many good things. I keep on, however, veering to a few key dishes: homemade noodles, salty vegetable with minced tofu, soup dumplings, fresh sesame pancakes. They have lunch specials that are amazing deals at less than $5 for food, and they are worth it just for the boiled peanuts. Based on a post card, the hot pot looks well worthwhile to order. 2143 S Archer, Chicago