Greek Fest? Not so much. Japanese goodness? Much better.
So one sunny/cloudy/sunny/cloudy and very humid afternoon, Lois and I decided to head down to the Lincoln Park Greek Fest, being held on Sheffield, south of Diversey, with the intentions to get our “food on.” After a few miles walk, we got there and were very disappointed that it wasn’t an all out free for all, but a rather organized, really tame, church loving festival, where you had to buy meal tickets. WE HATE MEAL TICKETS. What a turnoff.
We were fatigued, hot, and tired, so we resorted to Lois’s bag of tricks — literally. She fished out some of those gift certificates that we purchased on sale at restaurants.com, and luckily we were only about six blocks from the nearest restaurant, which so happened to be the one I was looking forward to the most, Yuki Hana at 2920 N. Clark Street in Lake View East.
The interior of this establishment is quite clean and modern — a very intimate setting that would be a better place to go for dinner with a significant other. We walked in and joined only three other people in the dining room. We were quick to jump on a window table, but the rest of the patrons sat around the sushi bar, enjoying their beautiful looking rolls made fresh by the chef .
The coupon from restaurants.com was for $25 off of $35 so we had to order more than usual, again. I wanted sushi, but not a lot, but also wanted something– anything– with teriyaki sauce, and Lois wanted teriyaki, but also wanted tempura. So we were in a bind. What to do? Easy. Order the appetizer of “Yakitori Chicken,” a beautiful display of chicken skewers, broiled with onions, green red, and yellow peppers, along with some “Edamame” — always a classic. At this point we also ordered our entrees. Lois got the Shrimp Tempura ($12.95/ shrimp and veggie tempura served with tempura sauce), and I opted for the “Chicken Box” ($15.95/ chicken teriyaki, shrimp and vegetable tempura and a California roll) off the combination section of the menu. This way we got to both satisfy our double cravings and could walk away from this with no blood shed.
The waitress started us off right with a fat bowl of Edamame, the appetizer that requires a little work, for a lot of satisfaction. We love these things. They were freshly chilled after their steam bath, and lightly seasoned with salt. Not much else to to say about these — they’re basically the same everywhere you go. The pictures says it all.
Because we ordered entrees and combos, they hit us up with the house green salad. This was a standard mixture of greens topped with the traditional Japanese restaurant style dressing, a little vinegar, some soy sauce, sesame oil, and some grated onions, carrots, and ginger to give it an extra kick and texture. We always love these little bowls of excellence. That dressing never lets us down.
Hot and Sour is not for me-so!
Immediately after that we received our soups. Neither of us are really into Asian soups, so this is where the meal took a slight turn. I had never tried the vegetarian hot and sour soup. So I ordered that, and was taken back right away. Sure it’s got a distinct flavor, but it does not appeal to my taste buds whatsoever. Maybe it also has to do with the density of the broth, mixed with the egg, but for me, it just doesn’t work. I tried to be a good sport, and got about half way through, but I had to stop. Lois on the other hand ordered the Miso Soup (soybean soup with seaweed, tofu chunks, and onion), and barely touched it. The waitress came around shortly after that and asked us if everything was alright; we felt bad lying to her, so we blamed it on being too hot out for soup. I’m sure both are delicious if you’re an Asian soup lover, but we just don’t enjoy them.
The skewers came shortly after the soups. The presentation was nothing but amazing – two 12 inch skewers packed with meat and vegetables, and drenched with teriyaki sauce, and lightly topped with sesame seeds, served on a two foot long skinny dish, so that each skewers is placed tip to tip, and capped of with fresh steamed broccoli. The taste was phenomenal as well. The chicken was really tender and broiled to a delicate softness, with the taste of an open flame. The vegetables were nice and crunchy, while maintaining their juiciness and retaining the sauce’s flavor.
Next came out our entrees. My Combo Box consisted of a large portion of teriyaki chicken, next to steamed rice, a whole roll of the California roll (8 pieces), and shrimp and vegetable tempura. I didn’t realize it consisted of so much, but I was extremely happy when I saw that I got such an array of choices. The California roll was pretty standard, but fresh. Good sushi is hard to come by in Chicago, and this basic roll, didn’t really leave me with anything special to talk about. But I will step in to say that the teriyaki chicken was absolutley fabulous, especially being served with the sticky white rice. The chicken appetiser had me wanting more, and they provided. The tempura was outstanding as well. Large fresh deep fried shrimp, carrots and brocoli, I was amazed Lois got so far into her dish, because the tempura sure was filling. And the tempura coating. Crunchy and light and so good.
After all of the starters and appetizers, Lois would have been just as happy if the waitress would have put her shrimp tempura in a to-go box. But she didn’t, so Lois had to make an attempt to eat it…and admirably got about half way through. The dish was over-sized and tasty — the shrimp were huge and well coated with the tempura as were the vegetables (huge hunks of broccoli, carrots and others). It was a crispy delight.
So when we got the bill we realized we had gone a little crazy (and that this place adds an automatic 18 percent gratuity for restaurants.com certificates) because even with the $25 off we ended up spending about $40 including tip. But we had plenty of leftovers and didn’t really have to eat again the rest of the day so it was more like an investment than an expense. They hooked it up.
