west loop Archives

Lou Mitchell’s is one of Chicago’s oldest restaurants specializing in diner food. They only sell breakfast and lunch till 3pm everyday. It’s located in the loop and serves up American food.

There was a lot of seating inside but during the weekday, it wasn’t too busy at all.

What makes them different is that everyone gets a donut hole and a box of milk duds. As the owner is Greek, he offered a nice sweet treat to welcome his customers as a symbol of his generous hospitality.

The reason they chose Milk Duds to give away is because they were originally manufactured in Chicago and the owners was a customer and a friend to Lou.

Corned Beef Hash comes with eggs cracked on top and a side of toast. It’s only supposed to be 2 eggs, but looked like 4 eggs. I got a choice of different bread but I chose rye bread. The dish was good but a bit greasy, which isn’t strange cause it’s a diner and breakfast food should be sinfully delicious.

One egg comes in a pan with roasted potatoes. Jenn also added $0.50 for raisin toast. She wasn’t too hungry, so she settled on this.

Overall, it’s a great place to go to if you want American diner food. It’s not fancy food. You may not remember the meal, but you’ll remember the donuts and Milk Duds.

We Rate Lou Mitchell’s:

Address:
565 W Jackson Blvd
Chicago, IL

Website:
http://www.loumitchellsrestaurant.com/

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The Publican plays a homage to beer, pork and oysters. The restaurant is owned and operated by Executive Chef and James Beard award winner, Paul Kahan. We made a call before we went to dine here and sure enough, they did have space available.

The interior is style like a European beer hall with lots of communal seating. There are some standing tables in the centre, but set up in a square are long tables. They can seat about 100 people in the restaurant. There are portraits of pigs all around the restaurant.

The waitress was nice and explained how the menu works. It’s family style, so everything is shared. She suggested about 2 plates per person. We had 4 people, but we only chose 6 items.

Complimentary bread service available upon request. So, it won’t come until you ask. What arrives is rustic bread with butter. I found the bread to be quite burnt on the outside, so most of us avoided that part.

Beets ($9) were very delicious. You can really taste the freshness of the beets. There were some grapefruit and pistachios accompanying the dish.

Tomatoes and Burrata has some balsamic drizzle on top with sprouts.The tomatoes were very cute and had so many different colors. The creamy and rich burrata is a great combination.

Taste of Three Hams ($21) has their 3 signature cured hams with their distinct tastes. It is served with nordic creamery goat butter and peasant bread. It’s a nice item to munch on if you’re having a few drinks.

Loup de mer ($28) has a yummy sauce with a nice crispy skin.

Pork Belly ($26) comes in a thick slab with potatoes, shrimp and corn. The pork belly is just cooked so nicely and falls apart. One of our favourite dishes of the night. Highly recommended.

Farm Chicken ($25) with summer sausage & frites. The fries were very crunchy and oh so gooood. Chicken was very moist and the outer skin had a nice smokey flavour. The sausages were ok, but wasn’t very moist but more dense.

Overall, The Publican was a great place for dinner. When you come here, you must have pork! Some of the dishes can be a bit heavy and greasy, but you can wash it down with some beer.

We Rate The Publican:

Address:
837 W Fulton Market
Chicago, IL

Website:
http://thepublicanrestaurant.com/

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