Early Birthday Dinner [#1] at Omakase Takeya

Dallas heard about a new omakase sushi restaurant called Omakase Takaya. It JUST opened and only had 7 seats in the whole restaurant. Dallas somehow got a reservation and surprised me for my birthday. Because he got a reservation for 4, Marty and Todd joined us for dinner.


Omakase Takaya was opened by the owners of Wasabi and is located in the basement level of Ramen Takeya, their ramen restaurant. We’d been to Wasabi many times, but these places are way different. Located in Fulton Market, Ramen Takeya is styled like an izakaya. Downstairs, Omakase Takeya is TINY. A counter with 7 seats, a sushi chef, an assistant chef, and a few servers. That’s it.

Sushi chef Hiromichi Sasaki was so cute. Very old, he could speak very little English. It was fun just watching him do his thing.

 AMUSE BOUCHE: octopus, root vegetable

CHAWAN MUSHI: white fish, mitsuba, shiitake, lemon

KINME DAI: golden eye, snapper, nigiri

SHIMA AJI: striped horse mackerel, nigiri

AWABI: abalone, nigiri

IWASHI: sardine, nigiri

BLACK COD SAIKYO, NASU NIBITASHI, NADAI SASHIMI: pickled lotus, finger lime, fresh ginger

AKAMI & FOIE GRAS: lean bluefin, nigiri

CHU TORO: medium fatty bluefin, nigiri

O TORO: grand fatty bluefin, nigiri

JAPANESE A5 WAGYU FILET: dashi ponzu, yuzu, wasabi

UNI & IKURA: sea urchin, salmon roe, sushi rice

AKADASHI: little neck clam, red miso, chive

ANAGO: sea eel, nigiri

TEMAKI ZUSHI: seaweed, sushi rice

TAMAGO: tiger shrimp, yamaimo


DESSERT: matcha ice cream, crisp rice

We had 15 courses, plus the amuse bouche in the beginning and dessert at the end. Everything was as amazing as the photos look. I LOVED the black cod, the tuna with foie gras and the wagyu, but everything was so good. Best sushi in Chicago. Great experience. Nothing tops Sukiyabashi Jiro, but this was the closest we’ve had to that experience.

Paul Baker’s Birthday

Unlike the last two years, Paul Baker decided not to celebrate his birthday at Spring World this year (2010, 2011) and instead we all went to Cafe Laguardia. I’d never been to Cafe Laguardia before and I quite liked the food.

I wanted to order this:

When the waitress came over to take our order, Paul said, “You have red snapper on the menu six different ways, which is the best?” And the waitress said, “We’re all out of the red snapper fillets, so you can have a whole red snapper or you can have none.” Paul got the whole red snapper (and made out with it). I had none. Instead I had this:

Roast Pork (Pernil De Cerdo Asado), sliced pork lightly sauteed with onions and garlic sauce. For an appetizer we all split some pork that was slow roasted for 16 hours and it was so good, I asked the waitress which entree was most like it and this is what she pointed me towards. SO GOOD. And a big portion. I took half of it home and had a delicious pork quesadilla the next day!

Obviously Paul loved his fish too. He sure cleaned it off the bones!

At the end they brought out flan for Paul’s “birthday cake.” I didn’t try it, but he said it was good. Happy birthday, Paul!

Dallas’ Birthday Dinner @ El Barco

Dallas @ El Barco
Dallas, El Barco, East Village, Chicago

Yesterday was Dallas’ birthday so we went out for dinner at El Barco with a few close friends. Dallas got the red snapper that he always gets except they were out of the usual and he had to get the extra large red snapper for two. He still had no problem eating it all, not that anyone was worried.

Four of us split the Big Platter of Grilled Stuff for Three. We ordered the Big Platter of Grilled Stuff* for Three even though we had four people because once I got Big Platter of Grilled Stuff for Two and shared it with Dallas’ dad and it was too much. Even when we ordered down one last night, we still took some home. The BPoGSfT has steak, crab legs, chicken, grilled fish, fried fish, calamari, octopus, shrimp, mussels, onions, broccoli and potatoes and comes with sides of rice and beans.

When we got the bill at the end we were only $14 away from the amount you need to spend to get a free shirt (yeh, it was kind of a large bill with all the drinks and appetizers and entrees), so we each ordered one more beer so Dallas could get a free El Barco polo shirt. Trent expects to see him wearing it next summer when they go golfing.

*Not the real name of the entree.

El Barco, Take 2 3

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el_barco_fish.jpg
El Barco, East Ukrainian Village, Chicago

On Monday night, Jordan and George’s last night in town, Dallas wanted to take them to El Barco. Danny had never been there either, so he came along too. Yum! Danny and Dallas had the big, whole snapper, Jordan had some carne asada and stuffes chile rellenos, and George and I shared this mixed grill. It was mounds and mounds of grilled seafood and potatoes and fish and chicken and steak. So good!

These photos kind of blow because we were outside and I couldn’t see. I have better photos of El Barco here and here.