End-of-year “best of” lists are fun to make and fun to read. That’s why they’re everywhere right about now.
But “best of” lists also are a little depressing. Try to eat at anyone’s top 10 restaurants of ’09, and you’ll probably run up a tab in the quadruple digits. And not all of us — especially this year — have that kind of cash to burn.
So, in the tradition of our regular 2 for $20 feature, we rounded up a dozen of the very best bites we had this year. They’re all new in 2009. They’re nearly all less than $5. And they’re all suitable one-off purchases — no strings attached. (The $5 house-made tofu at Takashi’s new-this-year noodle lunch is fantastic, for example. But who goes to a full-service restaurant and orders tofu and glass of tap water?) The total bill for our bites: $39.73.
$.75
Macaron
Fritz Pastry
1408 W. Diversey Pkwy. 773-857-2989
A delicate outer crust melts in your mouth, giving way to a slightly chewy cookie, then a silky-smooth filling — usually buttercream, ganache or jam, depending on the flavor. And suddenly, you’re in France. Or maybe heaven. But definitely not Lincoln Park. We’re partial to mocha (call us suckers for a buttercream filling) but pistachio or chocolate will more than suffice.
$3.95
Char Siu Pork Banh Mi
Bon Bon Vietnamese Sandwiches
2333 W. North Ave. 773-278-5800
Sometimes, single-mindedness is a virtue. Case in point: This Wicker Park spot, which does banh mi eight ways, and pretty much nothing else. It’s not quite the best in town (we reserve that honor for Nhu Lan, from which Bon Bon wisely sources its bread) but it’s easily the best to hit the street this year, especially the smoky-sweet barbecued pork version.
$4
“Hot and Sour” soup
Belly Shack
1912 N. Western Ave. 773-252-1414
Part spicy chicken pozole. Part eggy hot and sour soup. Entirely amazing. This fragrant, filling bowl represents Bill Kim’s mashup-style take on Asian and Latin cuisines at its best.
$4
Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie
Hoosier Mama Pie Shop
1618 1/2 W. Chicago Ave. 312-243-4846
A pie without fruit, chocolate or nuts? We had doubts. Until we met a slice of this one and the velvety filling and flaky, buttery crust made us forget all about what wasn’t there.
$5
Bacon Toffee
Rootstock
954 N. California Ave. 773-292-1616
This melt-in-your-mouth, stick-to-your-teeth toffee studded with smoky bacon chunksis all the proof you’ll need: There is evil genius brewing in the kitchen at this Humboldt Park beer and wine bar.
$3.25
Almendrado Chocolate
Xoco
449 N. Clark St. 312-334-3688
You can get drinking chocolate at any number of places in town. You can get drinking chocolate from a bean-to-bar chocolate program — that means the final product is made on site, just steps from your cup — only at this Rick Bayless spot. A shot of sweet almond milk balances our favorite version, which always seems to disappear from the tiny cup at an alarming rate.
$5.50
Al Pastor Burrito
Abuelo’s Mexican Grill
2007 S. Damen Ave. 312-733-0329
Tightly packed with spit-grilled pork, super-fresh tomatoes, crunchy red cabbage, lightly pickled onions and a refreshingly restrained portion of black beans, then touched with tangy house-made habanero dressing, this is one hefty burrito. It’s not just the best cheap dinner we had this year. It’s the best cheap two dinners we had this year.
$3
Taco de Rajas de Poblano
Big Star
1531 N. Damen Ave. 773-235-4039
We thought we knew where to get a good taco in this town. And, with due respect to Flash Taco, it was nowhere near Wicker Park’s Milwaukee-North-Damen intersection. Then Paul Kahan came along and opened a bar with a taco window and started handing out these divine little packages: soft, fresh tortillas filled with a fiery mess of roasted poblano peppers, topped with a single browned, bubbling strip of queso.
$3
Whoopie Pie
Bake
2246 W. North Ave. 773-384-7655
Warning: Do not attempt to eat a whoopie pie alone. These two-handed bundles of joy — impossibly soft chocolate cake cookies with a layer of thick, rich vanilla-bean buttercream (or chocolate-sour cream frosting if you’re lucky, though flavors change daily) sandwiched between them — are so deliciously sweet that sharing should be mandatory. Whoopie, indeed.
$1.79
Fries
Benjyehuda
212 W. Van Buren St. 312-40A8-2365
We know what you’re thinking: Fries? Really? One of the best bites of the year? You need to get out more. Just trust us on this one: A one-pound bag (one pound!) of these thick, crunchy, hand-cut beauties will change your lunch hours forever. Add a little tub of Merkts cheddar sauce (99 cents) for dipping if you really want to take them over the top.
$2.49
Pollo Empanadas
Macondo
2965 N. Lincoln Ave. 773-698-6867
We have the family behind Las Tablas Colombian steakhouse to thank for these little flavor bombs. Not only does Leo Suarez, son of Las Tablas patriarch Jorge Suarez, run Macondo, the crunchy corn dough empanada recipe is his grandmother’s. Though you can’t go wrong with any of the half-dozen or so varieties, we like ours stuffed with smoky spiced chicken.
$3
Fraise Du Bois sorbet
Seedling Fruit
Green City Market
Disclaimer: The fact that it was a sweltering summer day at the Green City Market when we first tried this treat may have colored our opinion. Still, it’s hard not to put a cup of cool, soothing wild strawberry sorbet on our short list of things we’re missing most about summers in Chicago.
———-
kpratt@tribune.com
