Manee Thai

Last night, we had dinner at Manee Thai on N Pulaski Rd between Addison St and Eddy St in Irving Park. They have a huge menu offering Thai and Japanese cuisine.

It's BYOB, and we brought a bottle of wine. There is no corkage fee, which is nice.

We ordered the Crab Rangoon to start, which is crab meat, cream cheese, and celery wrapped in a thin pastry shell and fried to golden brown. It was good, and the portion was generous.



For our meal, we went with sushi, and split 3 rolls between the 2 of us. We had the Spicy Tuna, which is tuna, scallion, and spicy mayo, Crunchy Salmon Lover, which is salmon, avocado, cream cheese, oba, and spicy mayo deep fried, and Tarantula, which is softshell crab, shrimp tempura, cream cheese, scallions, avocado, and tempura crumbs topped with black tobiko and unagi sauce. The sushi was just okay. We were very full when we left.







The food was served quickly, and in the order in which it was ready rather than all at once. There's salt, pepper, soy sauce, and sweet chili sauce on the table.

We may return and try out some Thai dishes next time.

The Brat Stop

On our way home from Milwaukee to Chicago, we grabbed lunch in Kenosha at The Brat Stop.

It's a classic Wisconsin restaurant. It's not exactly an easy drive-thru between the state lines of Wisconsin and Illinois, or particularly easy off of the highway, but it's very close, and very popular. They have a shop with Wisconsin cheeses and Usinger sausages for sale in addition to their dine-in restaurant.

My partner and I enjoyed a bowl of Wisconsin Cheddar Soup together. It was what you'd expect: Better cheese than average, a little too thin, but satisfying.



I ordered the Cheddar Wurst with fries. I loved the Cheddar Wurst. The fries were microwavable junk.

Miller Park

We recently went to a baseball game at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI. It was my first time in that ballpark. I'd love to go to every ballpark! As far as Miller Park food goes, I only know a tiny bit. Around the 3rd inning, I went and got some Bratchos. Bratchos are kettle chips loaded with local brand Klement's triple-grind sausage, nacho cheese, pico de gallo, sauerkraut, jalapeños, and sour cream. They're available for $10 in sections 117, 124, 210, 221, 228, and 408. I ordered some, and nursed the dish for the whole game. I couldn't even finish it myself. It was fantastic ballpark food, but didn't leave room for anything else. Next time, I intend to go after some nachos on a stick.

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Sobelman's Pub and Grill

We went to Milwaukee, WI recently. The city is famous for their burgers, brats, and cheese, and I looked to my friends for recommendations. I was led to Sobelman's Pub and Grill for a burger for lunch.

I ordered The Hangover, which is a burger with Colby-Jack cheese, smoked bacon, buttery fried onions, and a fried egg. I added ketchup.



The burger was a burger. It didn't wow me, or upset me. It was good.

The weirdest thing about Sobelman's is that that whole restaurant is on a slant. I wondered if anyone in there even realized that the whole restaurant tilted downhill. It's a little weird. Nonetheless, I was told it's local culture, and I'm glad we partook.

Au Cheval and Small Cheval

Recently, we had an early dinner at Au Cheval on W Randolph St between Green St and Halsted St in the West Loop. The restaurant is famous for their notoriously long waits (no reservations accepted), but when we showed up at 4:30pm on a Tuesday, our group of 4 was seated immediately in a comfy booth, which was a pleasant surprise. The kitchen is closed from 3pm-5pm every day, so maybe that helped in making our timing good. We enjoyed some drinks before our meal to fill the time, but it didn't feel like we were ever waiting at all. Our server began taking food orders prior to 5pm, and the kitchen was fully ready to accommodate everyone there. Even as we were finishing up and a line had formed out the door, we never felt like we were being rushed out of the restaurant to make more tables available. The staff remained warm and kind.

I love the vibe at Au Cheval. It's a kind of dark, sexy, hipster vibe. Au Cheval recreates traditional comfort foods in modern and inventive ways in a relaxed and cool environment.

I ordered the Fried House-made Bologna Sandwich. It's a massive sandwich featuring thinly sliced mortadella with some black pepper and lots of salt piled high on a brioche bun. It's smothered in what I suspect is a creamy gruyere cheese as well as a mayonnaise and Dijon sauce. It takes the classic all-American fried bologna sandwich to another level. It takes a lot of smushing down to fit a bite into your mouth, but it can be done.



Simply put, I love this place. The wait can be stupid, but sometimes you can get lucky.

About a week later, a co-worker and I tried out the new Small Cheval restaurant on N Milwaukee Ave at Wabansia Ave in Wicker Park that's run by the same folks at Au Cheval. It just has a minimalist and faster version of Au Cheval's menu. The same 3pm-5pm kitchen closing applies.

I tried out the simple Cheeseburger. It was a peppery, greasy, perfectly cheesy two-patty burger. It's everything a burger should be without all of the contemporary flair. It's just perfectly right. It's just a simple, good burger.

There's a great outdoor patio to enjoy during our short Chicago summers.

I recommend both places.

Sweet Station

We recently grabbed lunch at Sweet Station on N Lincoln Ave at Lill Ave in Lincoln Park. It's Sweet Station's second location. We rarely go as far south as Chinatown, and since Sweet Station's original location is in Chinatown, we figured this could be the real deal, and it was. The food was obviously made with fresh ingredients, and was truly authentic Cantonese food. It's also amazingly affordable, especially during lunch. We were about an hour late for lunch, and our server still gave us the lunch rates for our meals. We spent about $15 total for fantastic sit-down meals for the two of us.

The menu can be difficult to decipher for an English speaker. We've gotten very good at speaking in Spanish, Italian, French, and Greek while ordering our food at restaurants, but we weren't totally sure about what we were getting this time as we flubbed our way through a language neither of us know at all. Nevertheless, I expect that any sort of language flub would've still yielded good results at this place. I bet everything's great.

We had the Crab Rangoon to start. We always love Crab Rangoon.



I had the Orange Chicken with chicken fried rice on the side. It was so fresh, and it was delicious. It was served with freshly cut orange slices and broccoli.



My partner loved her meal as well. We'll be back again and again. We've been in Chicago for almost 3 years, and this is our favorite Chinese food by miles.

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

We recently went on a double date (with kids) to Chicago's new Dinosaur Bar-B-Que on W Weed St near the North Side. This is the chain's first Midwest location. All others are on the East coast.

We shared a few appetizers. We had the Creole Deviled Eggs, which I loved. They're Cajun-spiced with chives, and can be ordered in sets of 3, 6, or 12 pieces.



We also shared the Jumbo BBQ Chicken Wings, which can be ordered in sets of 3, 6, or 13. They're spice-rubbed, pit-smoked, then finished on the grill, and served with bleu cheese dressing, celery sticks, and covered in your choice of sauce. We split it up with a mild honey BBQ sauce, and hot wango tango sauce.



I ordered an original BBQ Pork Sandwich platter for myself, which comes with 2 sides. I chose fresh cut fries and mac & cheese as my sides.



We had a great time out with friends. It's family-friendly with lots of room. We had a large feast! The food was good, and fun to share. This place will only gain more popularity as Chicago experiences their legacy.