Last week Sam and I made our bi-annual trip up to the Windy City to visit friends, Joe and Victor and their four year old Joel. On Saturday afternoon we decided to go look for a nice place to eat for lunch with the boys. At our first stop called "Feed" we were told that even though it was noon we were not able to order lunch for another half an hour. Only breakfast was being served at that time. We decided that we were not in the mood for pancakes and hash so we left and made our way back to the car. After about a ten minute drive we stopped in an area that is primarily Puerto Rican. There were HUGE wrought iron Puerto Rican flags over the roadways. After a little walking around we walked into this small very unpretentious little cafe/diner. My friend Joe and I were the only non Latino folks there. The place was called LATIN AMERICAN RESTAURANT & LOUNGE (2743 W Division St, Chicago, IL 60622. 1-773-235-7290). They have a web site (www.latinamericanrestaurantchicago.com), but it is down right now.
This place was so mismatched it was adorable. There were a number of different types of chairs and a large selection of mismatched plates to use at a buffet table. In the back of the place there were two big computer game machines, which Sam and Joel were fascinated with. Both of them had large half naked women on them (could this be what the boys found fascinating?). Anyway, we spotted that they had a buffet which looked very nice so we decided to partake. On the buffet were the following,
Yellow Rice and Gandules Beans
Brown Rice and Calamari
Plain White Rice
Herb Baked Chicken
Red Beans with Pumpkin Pieces
Chicken Noodle Soup
Macaroni with Chicken
Fried Plantains
Roasted Pulled Pork
Puerto Rican Tamales
Goat Stew
Green Salad
Everything was freshly cooked and it seemed to be removed and replaced on a regular basis. ALL of the meat was juicy and tasty. Sam particularly liked the fried plantains. My personal favorite was the pulled pork which was so flavorful it erupted in your mouth. I had never had Gandules beans before which were yummy in the yellow rice (not one single dried out grain). The Puerto Rican Tamales were like little silver foil wrapped gifts from the gods. The wonderful aroma oozed out as we opened them up and they tasted just as good as they smelled.
Afterwards (which I guess was part of the deal we were handed a plate with three coconut puddings with maraschino cherries on top. I am not usually a pudding type of guy, but these were something else. Creamy with a coconut taste that just melted in your mouth. We gave the boys the maraschino cherries as a bit of extra dessert. Sorry we did not partake in wines and such, as it just wasn't that type of place; the diet coke was lovely. I was so impressed with the food at this place that I just had to meet the chef. Out came this sweet and quiet, young Puerto Rican lady who proudly told me what all of the different dishes were in her broken English (shame on me for not learning Spanish at this point). I told her how thrilled we were and that I was going to let everyone know on an e-mail list just how wonderful her food was. She smiled and said "gracias, senor" and returned to the kitchen. I hope that she didn't think I was a bit of a whacko as I do get quite excited when I have great food.
When our bill arrived we were shocked to see that the buffet was ONLY $5.99 per adult and $3.99 per child. This is for UNLIMITED food. WHAT A DEAL!!!! If any of you are ever in Chicago on a weekend and fancy a real treat for a great price, check out Latin American Restaurant & Lounge. This is Phyllis's husband handing you back to Phyllis.
