Urban Belly

I was super excited to go to Bill Kim's first restaurant, Urban Belly. I couldn't wait to compare it to David Chang's Momofuku, but when I got my food, I was a little disappointed. Two of my friends ordered the noodle dishes and they loved it, but I really did not think there was anything special about the rice dish that I ordered. The dumplings were ok at best but the side dish of eggplant that I ordered was amazing. I tried my friends noodle dishes, and I was impressed. Definitely not what I was expecting, but really good. All of the dishes seem to have a fusion of many different Asian influences. But overall I was not too impressed. Maybe I had too high of expectations, but I personally would not go again unless there was something new that I HAVE to try on the menu. Nothing blew me away but the food was decent at best. 

I really enjoyed the communal style of eating until some random guy started offering me some of his food. He then tried to tell me about how there is this great Asian grocery market that I have to go to because of the food. 

The first set of dumplings are the pork and cilantro dumplings. They were good but like I said in my post, they were not to die for. The duck with pho spices were good but nothing too crazy. I would have to say that both are a little bland and that is why i drenched the dumplings in hot sauce. 

My 'ok' rice dish. The short rib and scallion. Not a die hard fan of long grain rice because to me it always seems dry, but the meat was good! 

Aloha Eats

One of the best places to go when you really do not know what to eat. The menu has something for everyone, and when you still cannot make a choice, just go with the spam masubi. I do not know why people have this stigma towards spam, but growing up in an Asian household, you learn to love it. I was introduced to this restaurant less than a year ago but right after I tried it, I fell in love. They also have many different combinations of meats that you can have for your meal. But I have to warn you, the portions are HUGE. I usually see my friends split a plate lunch. The plate lunch comes with whatever meat you choose, plus two scoops of rice, and one scoop of the best macaroni salad you will have ever had. You can also substitute fries with any of the rice or salad, or you can just get all rice, or all salad. I also recommend a side of spam with your meal and pass-o-guava aloha maid. 

The Hawaiian BBQ mix plate. A plate filled with meat. Chicken, short ribs, bbq beef. One of the favorites amongst me and my friends. And in the picture, you can see that my friends are sharing the dish. 

The double chicken and 3 scoops of macaroni salad. A plate filled with Hawaiian style bbq chicken and also loaded up with their chicken katsu. The chicken katsu is extremely crispy but thats how I personally like it. The sauce for the katsu is also a perfect match with all of the food. 

Katsu mini plate. Just to give you an idea of how big the portions are, I am 6'2" tall and weigh about 230 lbs. This is what I eat and I am usually stuffed after. 

Katsu and beef combo. Perfect mix of chicken and beef. 

I love Aloha Eats. Every time I am in the area I try to convince my friends to go with me. Everything is good but things can get a little sweet. I personally like my food with some spice so I don't get tired of eating the same thing over and over. The restaurant does offer sriracha and make sure you take advantage of it. 

Tokio Pub

 Tokio Pub is a new restaurant located in Schaumburg. Its a small restaurant that specializes in Asian small plates. All of the food seems to be a fusion of many different types of Asian dishes, and also has a little bit of an American twist. I personally really like the food, but it does get pricey. The portions are extremely small so be prepared to order many different dishes. The first thing that I noticed about the restaurant was its size. It really is not that big. There are about 10 tables and then there is a small outdoor seating area. There is also a bar located right in the front of the restaurant where they make fusion cocktails. One of the favorites for the table was the sake sangria. I personally think that they have the best nachos in Chicago, only because I LOVE pork belly. I also think that Tokio Pub takes the cake with the best fish tacos in Chicago as well.

Combination of tuna, salmon, shrimp, crab, and lobster crispy rice. Almost like nigiri rolls, but the rice on the bottom is extremely crispy on the outside. 

One of my personal favorites at Tokio Pub. BBQ pork belly. This really reminds of the Japanese Izakaya style of eating. If you like pork belly then you will love this dish. 

In the back on skewers you can see the crying tiger shrimp. It was marinated with sriracha to give it a slight spiciness. In the front of the picture you can see the fish tacos. Probably one of the best dishes at Tokio Pub. 

From the pictures above, you should be able to tell that the plates are EXTREMELY small. Luckily we went with a friend that worked for Lettuce Entertain You and the manager of the restaurant gave us a 50% discount. We also received quite a few dishes on the house. Overall the restaurant is great. I loved the food and the service was great. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to everyone and I plan on returning in the near future.

Cafe Ba ba reeba

I really wish I took some pictures of the food but I am a little addicted to hanging with friends which drains my battery but I am sure I will go again soon and I'll update with pics. First off, the food is amazing. I loved everything that I ordered. To start off I ordered a pitcher of the peach sangria and it tasted great. I don't know how much alcohol is in it, but it tastes great. After 2 pitchers of wine, I decided to give up on trying to catch a buzz and just started to order food. First dish that came out were the spicy potatoes. I personally think a lot better than cafe iberico because the potatoes actually have a slight kick to them. Then we had roasted dates wrapped in bacon. Im usually not the biggest fan of dates, but these were perfect. The bacon added the perfect smokiness to the dates and the sweet savory flavor combination was perfect. Next I ordered the beef tenderloin and blue cheese. We ordered the steak medium, but I definitely recommend it medium rare. The steak was great and it was accompanied by house made potato chips. To go with the steak I also ordered the spinach and manchego stuffed mushrooms. I was really excited about the mushrooms but when they came out I was extremely disappointed. I was expecting something large enough to share with people, but they were 4 tiny little mushrooms. The mushrooms were all a little bigger than a quarter and it was hardly stuffed with any spinach. And for our last plate of tapas we had the serrano ham and tomato bread. I was also really excited for this dish, but when the dish came out, it seemed as if the bread and tomato sauce had been sitting out for a long time. The bread was all soggy from the tomatoes and there was no way of picking up the bread with your hands. I ended up just eating the ham on its own and it was great. After all of this we decided to order some dessert and I must say, their dessert is just as good as their main tapas. The chocolate truffle cake was nice and rich and the Dulce de leche cake was amazing. I recommend cafe ba ba reeba to everyone and make sure you go with a lot of people so you can order many different things to share. The sangria, food, and atmosphere are all great and I plan on returning very soon. I personally think that ba ba reeba has a little more american/spanish fusion twist that I personally like. Cafe Iberico is also great, but the atmosphere of ba ba reeba is just much more inviting.

Happy Birthday America!

The 4th is one of my favorite holidays. People always gather together and enjoy all the great activities that different places have to offer. This year I watched the fireworks at both Maine East High School on the 3rd and at Morton Grove Days. I have to say both shows were great, but Morton Grove Days had a step up. There was a carnival set up in the same park as the fireworks. I personally did not get a chance to go on any of the rides at the carnival, but many of my friends did and they said that the whole experience was great.