For many, the ritual of going out and buying ethnic holiday fare is as much a part of the tradition as actually eating it. To help guide you through these rituals, we have brought back some of World Eats’ greatest holiday hits.
In some neighborhoods, crowds make that holiday shopping tradition arduous. That is especially true of Andersonville, the historically Scandinavian strip of North Clark Street between Foster and Balmoral. The Christmas lines are legendary at the Scandinavian food shops.
To help you navigate, we recently talked to a few Andersonville businesspeople for tips on beating the holiday crowds.
Our first response was not encouraging. “You tell me,” laughed Afhild Wikstrom, co-owner of Wikstrom’s Delicatessen (5247 N. Clark St.; 773-878-0601), where customers have been known to wait in line for three hours during the holidays. “Well, you can take a number and then do some other shopping and keep checking back. Or you can arrive first thing in the morning. We open at 8 a.m. during Christmas week, but people are waiting outside at 7:30 a.m.”
Arriving early is also the advice given by Ann Nilsson, manager of Erickson’s Delicatessen (5250 N. Clark St.; 773-561-5634) across the street. “A lot of this stuff will keep for a long time,” she says. “So you can avoid crowds by shopping in early December rather than later. Also, circle the blocks a few times for parking, because a lot of people are just going in and out, like the people who go to Starbucks.”
A few blocks north at the popular Swedish Bakery (5348 N. Clark St.; 773-561-8919), lines are a given, year-round. The strict waiting rules are posted on the wall. If your order has not been pre-paid, you must take a paper number and wait with everyone else. If you have already paid in full, you can take a plastic number and get helped sooner. The bakery has a small parking lot just north of it that it shares with Calo restaurant, and customers are warned that they cannot leave their cars there and then go to another establishment. But what if there is a two-hour wait? Can they park their car, get a number and stroll down the street? A Swedish Bakery worker told us that there are some people who do it, but a few have had their cars towed.
Other tips include taking Ashland Avenue (and turning on Balmoral) rather than taking Clark Street or Foster Avenue. Park in the residential areas; the neighborhood still does not require special permit stickers. Or best of all, take the Clark or Foster bus, or take the Red Line and get off at Berwyn Avenue.
For those who can’t shop early, bring a relaxed attitude and plan to make a Scandinavian day of it. Get your number at the deli or the bakery and then go down the street to Svea or Ann Sather for some lingonberry pancakes (or, yuck, lutefisk) and have someone check back periodically.
If they still haven’t called your number by the end of breakfast, visit the Swedish Museum and its neat gift shop or one of the many cool shops in the area.
“Most people are prepared for this kind of wait,” says Wikstrom, who often hands out sandwiches, coffee and glogg to long waiters around the holidays. “Many chat with their neighbor in line and get to know them by the end. They say that the wait is just as much of the Christmas tradition as anything.”
Here are some ethnic specialties:
Lutefisk
Lutefisk is kind of like your pesky Aunt Irma. She may be unpleasant, but the holidays just wouldn’t be the same without her. That seems to be the reason Scandinavian-Americans continue to include this legendarily unappetizing cod dish on their menus year after year and why local Scandinavian restaurants unfailingly serve it throughout December and early January.
At Ann Sathers (929 W. Belmont Ave. 773-348-2378; and 5207 N. Clark St.; 773-271-6677), they will be serving the lye-soaked fish through New Year’s Day. At Svea (5236 N. Clark St.;773-275-7738), lutefisk make its appearance on Dec. 13 and will stick around as long as supplies last. You can also try the rubbery fish at Tre Kronor (3258 W. Foster Ave.; 773-267-9888) as part of its month-long julbord buffet (by reservation only) or as an occasional dinner special during the month. Local lutefisk dinners run $9-$18. Or you can buy it fresh or frozen at Erickson’s and Wikstrom’s delicatessens in Andersonville for $5-$8 a pound and cook it at home.
Buche de Noel
Yule Log (or Buche de Noel in France, pronounced “boosh deh noel”) arrives about the time mistletoe gets hung over the door. The traditional French Christmas dessert is actually a sponge cake rolled with chocolate buttercream, chestnut mousse or fruit preserves, flavored with rum, then iced and decorated to look like a snowy bough.
At Bittersweet (1114 W. Belmont Ave.; 773-929-1100), owner Judy Contino uses an almond-flavored sponge cake. The large (15 inches) feeds up to 25; the small serves 12. (Prices are not set yet.) At Bake Shoppe.com (8244 Christiana Ave., Skokie; 847-677-2207), owner Philip Bruno uses a flourless chocolate cake rolled with mocha-flavored whipped cream. The large serves 15 ($65); the small, about eight ($45). NoMI (Park Hyatt Chicago, 800 N. Michigan Ave; 312-335-1234) will serve buche on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as part of its dessert menu.
Barszcz z uszkami
One can’t talk about eves without mentioning at least one of the foods that marks a traditional Christmas Eve feast. In Poland, that would be a soup based on a beet and mushroom broth called barszcz z uszkami (BAR-shh Z ooshkami). It’s a kissing cousin of borscht that is served with lovely little mushroom-filled dumplings called uszka.
Some restaurants such as Andrzej Grill (1022 N. Western Ave.; 773-489-3566) will sell the soup to go Dec. 23-24 if you call first and request it (prices to be determined). At Teresa 2 (4752 N. Milwaukee Ave.; 773-283-0184), you can find the soup just about every day, but people come in with special orders right before Christmas. Or you can visit any one of the many delis that offer the soup and dumplings, such as E & J Deli (6556 W. 79th St., Burbank; 708-598-1121), Kasia’s Deli and Catering (2101 W. Chicago Ave.; 773-486-7500) or Bobak Sausage (5275 S. Archer Ave.; 773-735-5334 and 100 Burr Ridge Pkwy., Burr Ridge; 630-655-2100).
Mince pies and plum pudding
Lucky for us and the British, Christmas bonuses don’t just come with dollar signs. In Great Britain, they also come on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) via slices of plum pudding and mince pie topped with the sugar-butter-brandy mix called hard sauce.
In Chicago, you can find a variety of imported mince pies and plum puddings at many groceries, with an especially large selection at Winston’s Market (7961 W. 159th St., Tinley Park; 708-633-7500). There, a box of six small mince pies goes for $2.89. The plum puddings run between $6.95 and $11.79. For a fresh-baked wedge of warm mince pie served with a British accent, head to the Red Lion Pub (2446 N. Lincoln Ave.; 773-348-2695), where the Cordwell family has been serving up mince pie and occasionally tossing Boxing Day parties for years. A slice of mince pie is $3.95; with ice cream, $4.70. Call later in the season to find out when the plum puddings make their appearance.
Holiday spirits
`Tis time to toast, and Chicagoans do so in many languages with many different brews. The hands-down favorites are hot mulled wine and its cousins.
For hot mulled wine, most bars and restaurants doctor up commercial brands. Gluhwein is made by warming and sweetening red wine, then flavoring it with heady pumpkin-pie-type spices. Typically, gluhwein is served in Switzerland, Austria and Germany, and its degree of sweetness is strictly personal. At Chicago Brauhaus (4732 N. Lincoln Ave.; 773-784-4444), the version ($3.75) is just sweet enough.
In Mexico, a hot, fruity ponche is the classic holiday sipper and is traditionally served during the posadas, the re-enactments of Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging. At Cuernavaca Restaurant (1160 W. 18th St.; 312-829-1147), they prepare the brew with guavas, small apples, oranges, raisins, sugar and water during the holidays ($3 with alcohol and $1 without).
For a tropical twist on eggnog, try Puerto Rican coquito, a coconut milk and rum-spiked staple of late-night, house-to-house caroling and visitations (called parrandas) that mark the holiday season on the island. Find it starting in mid-December at La Bruquena (2726 W. Division St.; 773-276-2915), where they still scrape, chop and squeeze the fresh coconut meat to create a sweet, thick, potent and nutty version that goes for about $18 a liter.
If you want some holiday cheer without the dairy, try the “Vin Glogg” from the Glunz Family Winery. It’s a red wine fortified with port and flavored with spices and meant to be served warm. Available from most wine sellers, it is $11.79 a liter at House of Glunz (1206 N. Wells St.; 312-642-3000) or at the family winery in Grayslake (888 Belvidere Rd. [Illinois Highway 120]; 847-548-9463). You can also find a nice selection the traditional glogg at Erickson’s (5250 N. Clark St.; 773-561-5634) and Wikstrom’s delicatessens (5247 N. Clark St.;773-878-0601).
Sufganiyot
Until we tried a sufganiyot (SOOF-gan-ee-yoat) from North Shore Kosher Bakery, our favorite dimples were on babies and movie idols. But the deep-fried doughnut–a dollop of red raspberry jam squeezed into a thumbprint in its middle and dusted with confectioners’ sugar–won us over.
The jelly-filled, yeast-leavened doughnuts are a Hanukkah tradition in Israel. Here, they can be found at West Rogers Park bakeries such as Gitel’s Kosher Pastry Shop (2745 W. Devon Ave.; 773-262-3701), where they go for 75 cents a piece; and Tel-Aviv Kosher Bakery (2944 W. Devon Ave.; 312-764-8877), for 70-80 cents each around Hanukkah, which ends today.
You can also find them at North Shore Kosher Bakery (2919 W. Touhy Ave.; 773-262-0600), where sufganiyot (69 cents) fillings include custard as well as raspberry and cherry jam.
Christmas breads
The bad news about ethnic holiday breads: You’ll probably have to stand in line at the bakery in order to get them. The good news: They are made to last so you can buy them early and avoid the Christmas-week crowds. The breads we tracked down are sweet and studded with dried or candied fruit and are usually fab toasted on day two, sometimes day seven.
When it comes to stollen, Germany’s Christmas fruit bread from Dresden, fresh is not best. Nor is cheap. The genuine article oozes butter and rum-macerated fruit. When made correctly, the powdered-sugar-dusted loaf, shaped like a babe in swaddling clothes, needs weeks of ripening for great flavor. A terrific stollen comes from Cafe Selmarie (2327 W. Giddings; 773-989-5595). A one-pounder sells for $9.25.
Houska and its sibling, vanocka, are a Christmas morning tradition in Czech homes, where thick slices of the raisin-and-almond-studded braid, baked with a glossy mahogany egg glaze, are served with butter to fuel gift-unwrapping. Houska is available year-round. Pticek & Son Bakery (5523 S. Narragansett Ave.; 773-585-5500) sells the braid at $4.20 a pound. Vanocka, a candied-fruit-enhanced houska, is in demand at Christmas at Vesecky Bakery (6634 Cermak Rd., Berwyn; 708-788-4144). Small loaves run $4.15-$5.85.
In Italy, panettone, a yolk-rich, tender fruit bread shaped like puffed-up souffle, is made at home or mass produced. Sorry, bakeries here leave it to the imports. An Italian grocer can recommend a favorite–ours is Perugina in a fire-engine-red box. They are available in most Italian groceries or delis, including Joe Caputo & Sons (959 E. Oakton St., Des Plaines; 847-827-6700), where they go for $3.99-$14.99.
Sweden’s nod to Christmas bread is julekaka, a cardamom-scented dough with raisins and candied fruit shaped into a foot-long loaf. A top-notch number ($5.10) comes from the Swedish Bakery (5348 N. Clark St.; 773-561-8919).
