La Ciudad: Mexican Food without the Sombrero

Recently, someone asked us how we would choose the one restaurant to visit for each of the popular cuisines, like Italian or Chinese or Mexican, and we didn't have a good response (some of our friends have mistakenly assumed we've put lots of thought into this project, and that's adorable!).  This past weekend we came up with the answer: we opted for La Ciudad for Mexican cuisine because it was a nice afternoon and the restaurant was an easy walk from our place.  We weren't that familiar with the restaurant, but we were aware that the place had been featured on Check, Please!, so we strode off confidently, knowing that the liberal media wouldn't steer us wrong.

Isla Pilipina Restaurant: Heaven in a Strip Mall

When you don't own a car, you learn the charms of public transportation quickly.  Besides your colorful fellow commuters, one of the perks not driving is being able to look around and see what is passing by outside your window.  Several months ago on our way to Sarajevo Restaurant, we spotted several promising looking places while enjoying the 81 - Lawrence bus, including an Iraqi place that you'll probably read about in the coming months.  Another place that looked good was Isla Filipina.  On that particular night, people were lined up out the door, so we took that as a good sign.  This restaurant is an unassuming place in a small strip mall, tucked in near a Little Caesars and several places catering to Eastern Europeans.  So this week we hopped back on the bus headed to Isla Filipina to get a taste of the Philippines!

Tre Kronor: Non-Muppet Related Swedish Food

One of the charms of this little adventure is trying places that we've seen many times and always remarked that we should try, but never did.  This week we ventured to Tre Kronor, which is straight up Foster Avenue towards O'Hare Airport from us.  On just about every trip to and from the airport, one of us would remark that we should try Tre Kronor, a Swedish restaurant, to see what Swedish cuisine was all about when it wasn't prepared by the Swedish Chef on the Muppets or served in Ikea's cafeteria.  On a sunny, warm March day, we decided to hop on the Foster bus and check out our first Scandinavian country for lunch.   Tre Kronor, show me what Sweden is all about!

Den Den Restaurant: A Taste of Eritrea, a Country Since '93!

We've encountered some skepticism that we'll be able to achieve our goal of eating the cuisines of 52 different countries in a year (you know who you are, M.F.), but we have gone confidently forward, knowing Chicago will provide for us.  And Time Out magazine just served us up an easy one!  Beth was thumbing throw an issue and read about Den Den, an Eritrean restaurant in Rogers Park.  Where is Eritrea you ask?  Or you might also ask, is it really a country, or perhaps the name of some lesser known internal organ located, probably, near the appendix?  Well, according to extensive Internet research (aka Wikipedia), up until 1993, it was just the northern part of Ethiopia along the Red Sea, but they gained their independence after a 30 year civil war.  Our first question was how this food would be different from Ethiopian, but the Time Out article helpfully pointed out that this part of Africa had been an Italian colony for many years and that link had influenced the cuisine.  With images of injera bread and meatballs dancing in our heads, we set off on the 151 bus to discover the tastes of Eritrea!

Sarajevo Restaurant: Come for the Food, Stay for the Color

When you frequent only the fanciest restaurants, you get used to making reservations.  Luckily for us (us = Neil), we usually don't frequent the fancy places and most of the places we've checked out so far haven't had much of a wait.  That's one of the reasons we were surprised when we showed up at Restaurant Sarajevo on a Friday night and were told that there was no room at the inn.  We wandered off disappointed, but we gave it a try the the next Friday (making a reservation well in advance) and got ready to check off our first former Yugoslav republic off of the list.  Bosnian cuisine, here we come!

Manny's Deli: A Chicago Tradition, or Rumination on the Culinary Heritage of the Jewish Diaspora

When we sat down to write out a list of international cuisines, we weren't sure about how to address Jewish cuisine, and in particular where the quintessential Jewish deli fit in.  But since we had been wanting to visit Manny's Cafeteria and Delicatessen for a while, we decided it wasn't too much of a stretch to include them in our project.  Plus, yet another unsuccessful trip to the DMV (don't ask) left us with a rented I-GO car and some time to kill.  We already knew all about bagel and lox, matzo ball soup, and a good deli sandwich from excellent sources--Woody Allen and Larry David--but we wanted to learn more and learn it first hand.  With its cafeteria line and ample seating, pictures of visiting presidents on the walls, and tables full of old men shooting the breeze, Manny's feels like what you want an old school deli to feel like, so let's take in the wonders of Jewish delicatessen cuisine!

Barba Yianni - Greek Food in a German Neighborhood

On an unseasonably mild February night, we set out with a Bosnian restaurant in mind.  It must be good, because when we got there, they were full for the evening already!  I'm sure we'll be back, but luckily for us, on the bus out there, we saw a number of interesting looking restaurants, some of which I'm sure we'll make it back to (that Philipino place looked good!).  As we looked the various ethic offerings, we decided to pick a Greek place in Lincoln Square in keeping with the region we originally had in mind.  It looked pretty empty for a busy Saturday night, but we didn't let that deter us.  In we went to begin our Greek experience at Barba Yianni, which translates to Uncle John.  I hope he's back there cooking!