Mercat a la Planxa - Chicago, IL

I've been a fan of  Jose Garces on Iron Chef and especially from his food demonstration at the Chicago Gourmet this past summer. He was very approachable and down to earth. I've been itching to try his Chicago restaurant, Mercat a la Planxa, but for one reason or another, it kept eluding me.  

So number two on my list for Restaurant Week was Garces' Mercat.  I got a bunch of us together on a Friday night for some tapas.  It's a beautiful space right on Michigan Ave near the Art Institute.  Here was what was great and not so great about Mercat for Restaurant Week.

The good news: the food is excellent, it's so flavorful and everything we had was delicious

The bad news: you do not get your money's worth if you come in a big group for Restaurant Week.  Typically for Restaurant Week, you get a choice of three items as a three course meal, which usually ends up being more than enough food.  I thought it was a bit odd that the waiter encouraged us to order additional plates on top of the restaurant week menu.  We thought a few additional tapas would be enough, but even with those additions, we totally felt stiffed.  We got some items taken off the final bill, but it didn't leave us with a good impression.  


Because everything is served family style, the portions weren't adequately thought out.  We were often times presented with one dish to share among the six of us, even though we were each paying a prix fixe price.  Tables of two next to us were getting the same exact dish that we were, except they were only sharing amongst the two of them.  


I do think it's worth it if you come in pairs.  If you do decide to come with a bigger group, you're better off ordering off the regular menu instead of doing the set menu.  

Our waiter highly recommended the bacon wrapped dates stuffed with almonds.  Each order comes with 2 skewers so for the five of us, we ordered 2.5 orders.  These were amazing. If you've never had bacon wrapped dates before, you need to get on it.  

Cafe Iberico - Chicago, IL

Cafe Iberico holds a special place in my heart ... and stomach, of course.  My law school friends and I used to come here all the time, but I haven't had a chance to come back since I moved back to Chicago.  I was pleading with Jung to eat something besides Italian Beef so when he said he was up for tapas, I knew it was my chance!

Original Food - Seoul, Korea (Ewha Womans University)

Original Food has been in existence since 1967 and was a favorite lunch spot of my mom and her friends during college. A few years ago, they remodeled, but up until that point, she claimed it looked exactly the same as when she was in school. They kept the front area, where they have the two friers, the same and they still specialize in tteokbokki (spicy rice cake) and fried squid. We come here nowadays mostly to eat the fried squid. We had already eaten lunch elsewhere so we stopped by for a midday snack. Here's the guy, clearly not focused on the glorious task at hand, overlooking the two huge woks where the squid and other veggies are fried.

Here's why I think it tastes so good. First of all, they only fry the squid legs and not the body of the squid. The squid legs are a lot chewier and not as rubbery. The best part is that they fry an extra ruffle of batter that gets extra crispy and tastes like you're eating a fresh shrimp chip. I know I am not doing the fried squid proper justice, so you must try it for yourself. Jung said that this was one of his favorite foods of all time.

You get five pieces for 3,000 won. We came in and moaned about how full we were from lunch and how we could only eat one piece each. After we finished off the plate, we ended up ordering another one. Then thirty minutes later, my mom called and asked us to bring some home for the parents. So clearly the whole family is a fan.