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.