Blog Reviews: Week Of Roasting Pig For Jesus And Profit

Chicago’s intrepid food bloggers were all over the damn place last week, in alphabetical order by restaurant


• Cheap and easy Thai and Sushi at Butterfly in West Town, when you don’t feel like straining your palate or budget [Gastronomic Bypass]

• One-week-old Cafe Marbella, a tapas restaurant in northern Peterson Park, impressed Monica Eng with top-notch mussels and baked goat cheese; she calls it “easily the best new place I know for big convivial dinners on a wintry night.” Also, it’s BYO for now [The Stew]

• Even former vegans love the taste of Chicago Diner’s egg- and dairy-free baked goods. Try the “coconut-custard filled carrot cupcake with coconut ‘butter’ cream;” it requires six ‘c’ words to properly describe! [Bake and Destroy]

• When in doubt, Clarke’s on Belmont will usually have a free table for brunch (not waiting is worth a lot!) Try the waffles, and if you order potatoes, remember to ask for extra crispy [Drive-Thru]

• Gold Coast winebar Cru Café has a disappointing tendency toward mediocrity, striking both high and low notes on food, service and atmosphere in a genre with a lot of competition [Chicago Foodies]

• Do you like English pub clones? Slightly more true-to-original than Irish pubs, Elephant & Castle has opened a third Chicago location at 185 N Wabash. As the exotic Brits say, “cheers” [Chicago Foodies]

• A little bit more down-and-dirty than Fish Keg, Hagen’s Fish Market, will smoke it or fry it if you bring it in, and sells trans-fatty sandwiches and seafood by the pound [Chicago Foodies]

• Kicking it ever up a notch, Hopleaf offers a cashew butter and jelly sandwich, which is pan-fried and served with Stilton mac & cheese. Yowza! [Chicagoist]

• Some of the best surprise dining treats can be found in strip malls; enter La Gondola, which serves big portions of tasty and classic Italian cuisine in addition to their popular pizzas [Drive-Thru]

• Bridget and Tammy go to OTOM, and like - but don’t love - the Moto sibling. The food scores merely 3/5 from both reviewers [Chicago Bites]

• We rarely hear “too spicy” as a major complaint about a restaurant, but such is the case for, Zocalo, whose overpriced Mexican food did not impress the reviewer besides [Gastronomic Bypass]

[Photo: Flipped Out/flickr. See Chicagoist for details.]

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Blog Reviews: Week Of Roasting Pig For Jesus And Profit