National Culinary Review

So, pretend you’re Zorba, improvising a dance on the island of Crete. Or prepare to bone up on Greek life during the Ottoman Empire. Or just pour ouzo on your octopus. But do leave room for Valrhona chocolate semolina halvah. Ours came with candied mandarin oranges, a flood of almonds and a lovely cloud of Chantilly cream— transporting us to an imaginary culinary island in trendy Wicker Park.

Tucked into one of Chicago’s gastronomic palaces, Lettuce Entertain You’s M Burger serves up hamburgers, cheeseburgers and bacon-and-cheese M burgers, plus fries, shakes and a few other choices, while offering a clear view into the kitchen of Rick Tramonto’s Tru, where studious chefs prepare seared foie gras and the $280 sturgeon caviar staircase. Meanwhile, M Burger’s merry crew flips burgers for long lines.

Moving beyond upscale Blackbird, Avec and the Publican, Chicago’s Paul Kahan twinkles with a less-exalted price point at Big Star, his new taqueria/bar where “oinky-toink meets honky-tonk,” as tasty cheapie tacos—on the mini side—include pork belly and spit-roasted pork tacos al pastor. Count 35 bourbons and 25 tequilas, plus mezcals and beer.

Upscale chefs twinkling down

M Burger, 161 E. Huron,
(312) 254-8500
Burgers, $2.49-$4.49; french
fries, $1.99; shakes, $2.99.

Big Star, 1531 N. Damen Ave., Wicker Park, (773) 235-4039 Tacos and tostadas, $2-$3; dulce de leche milkshake, $4; guacamole and chips, $5; whisky shorts, $3.

Small plates, $5-$14; entrées, $16-$32. *Taxim opened shortly before the last NRA show.

XOCO 449 North Clark St. (312) 334-3688 No one is better than Rick Bayless at evoking the joy of instantaneous eating. And that’s just the problem. We almost fainted when the gregarious new manager told us that, every day, between 750 and 1,500 people crowd into Bayless’ tiny XOCO (which means “little sister” in Aztec). If only Rick’s renditions of Mexican street food were served up in a real Mexican market full of clamor and color instead of in this long, thin space where some 40 diners push up to counters facing walls.

So, with such high expectations, may a mariachi band sing in your head as you savor a delicious red chile chicken torta with pickled white onions, avocado, tomatillo salsa and black beans. And may the maracas jingle and your Mexican silver jewelry shine as you devour the wood-roasted garlic/mushroom torta filled with creamy goat cheese, three-chile salsa, black beans and wild fresh arugula. Other versions aching for the aromas of a real Mexican street are wood-roasted suckling pig, braised short ribs and pork carnitas, plus a ham and organic cheddar cheese torta with avocado, black beans and chipotle mustard. (Go ahead, add a fried egg!)

With so much success, thanks to this tasty array, and with forgiveness for poor Clark Street, which will never shimmer like a Mexican market or byway, America’s king of Mexican food can only be crying tears of gold, just like the Mexican sun god.

Tortas, $8-$12.50; soups, $10.50-$12.50; pastries, $1-$4.50.

Ethel Hammer is a writer, lecturer and cartoonist based in Chicago.

Though the wait can be daunting, cheerful staff will bolster your hopes that soon, soon you’ll be biting into one of Rick’s nine warm succulent tortas, pulled straight out of the wood-burning oven or from the griddle. If only you could be gallivanting through the streets side by side with Rick, when instead you are left to envision your own Mexican street scene. Still, his fried churros offers up a sugar and cinnamon high as hepped up as the chef himself caught biting into a taco in Mexico City.

At Rick Bayless’ XOCO, soup’s on after 3 p.m., when diners can enjoy this caldo de carnitas—slow-cooked pork carnitas with potato/masa dumplings, chayote, roasted serrano chiles, spinach, chunks of avocado and arugula.