Day 179: Still Alive . . . But Barely

The Kobe beef at Japonais

I’ve actually been eating out like crazy lately and it’s a pity that I’m such a lazy blogger. A sampling of my whereabouts:

– Japonais (600 W. Chicago Ave.; 312-822-9600). The ginormous fancy sushi barn in the old Montgomery Ward building where seemingly every Chicagoan except me has dined and loves. I went with a devotee, who ordered seven or so of the menu’s greatest hits and they were really good, I must say, which is hard for me because I’m generally suspicious of reengineered Japanese food. One dish was laser-thin slices of Kobe beef drizzled with oils and flash-fried crispy bits and capers and stuff. YUMMY. But seriously expensive and the crowd made me feel dumpy and fat. WIGB? Yes, if someone else is paying.

– The Drawing Room (937 N. Rush St.; 312-255-0022). OK, here’s the boring and convoluted back story: Le Passage is a trendy nightclub on Rush Street near all the yucky old-man bars where alcoholics hang out. Last year or so, it was bought by a group of three Chicago entrepreneurs who also own a few other bars around town, including Evil Olive (it’s a palindrome; dorks!) and Cans, which brings together canned beers from around the globe (yuck!). Anyhoo, they remodeled and turned the V.I.P. area into a 50-seat restaurant. Shawn McClain, who is the chef of Spring, Green Zebra, and Custom House, created the menu, which is mainly appetizer portions of fun things like pork belly wrapped in bacon and a burger that’s actually a chunk of braised short ribs on a bun. I was so hungry when I ate there that I didn’t think too much about whether the food was very-good-period or merely very-good-for-food-served-in-a-bar. The restaurant’s gimmick is roving “mixologists” who sidle up to your table with a rolling cart of booze and shake up an old-school cocktail to order. The drinks are completely pretentious but pretty tasty and I suppose worth all they trouble they take to make grenadine and maraschino cherries from scratch. YUMMY, but WIGB? Probably not, because, honestly, when would I ever go to Rush Street for a meal?

– Uncommon Ground (1401 W. Devon Ave.; 773-465-9801). If you blot out Clark Street in Andersonville, the Far North Side is utterly devoid of fun restaurants that aren’t storefront Indian or gussied-up junk food. So, when Uncommon Ground opened on Devon Avenue, which is just four blocks from our condo, I jumped up and clicked my heels together. This past week, I ate there twice, once on Super-Duper Tuesday and again on Saturday night. The first meal was great: The Husband and I decided to splurge on a mid-week meal out with the kids and so we went to Uncommon Ground and ordered a smorgasbord of comfort food including a burger, the bacon-wrapped meatloaf, pizza, and sweet-potato fries. YUMMY, YUCKY (too dry), YUCKY (too greasy), and YUMMY, but overall exactly what you want on a cold, blizzardy night in Chicago. On Saturday, we went with The Husband’s parents and, although the calamari appetizer was terrific (the light batter is saturated with a sweet and spicy Korean-ish sauce), the rest of the dinner was basically terrible. The Husband’s cassoulet was more like pork and beans (brown, mushy, and dull tasting); I ordered a pasta dish, oxtail ragu with cheese-filled gnocchi, that was served in a bowl and oversauced to the point where it really seemed like a soup; and I did not finish my chocolate cake dessert, a tragedy that speaks for itself. WIGB? I’m sure I’ll go back many, many times, but it won’t be for the food. The sweet potato fries, however, are excellent — crispity-crunchity and not overbrown as sweet potato fries tend to be — and perhaps themselves worth the trip.

– Crisp (2940 N. Broadway; 877-693-8653). Korean-style deep fried chicken. I’ve been told the signature chicken is outstanding if eaten straight from the fryer, but the wings I sampled after an hour-long bus ride and a trip to the grocery store were sodden, over battered, and kinda gross. One of the owners told me that they spend about as much money on the marinade as they do on the chicken, which seems slightly out of whack to me, but there you go. WIGB? I might try Crisp again but I’m wary. Do not order the chicken sandwich! The chicken fillet is too salty and desiccated from having been deep-fried to death, and the sandwich’s potato roll sticks to the roof of your mouth, which, needless to say, is YUCKY.