Etno Village Grill

How to kill a Vampire!!!
Etno Village Grill

Lincoln Park is known for its college feel and upper class neighborhoods. There are a number of fine eateries, which you will most likely find a number of DePaul students in as well as business professionals. Etno village grill is something that I have passed numerous times and had always caught my eye (especially since they have a giant cow on the roof)

I have heard nothing but good things about Etno village grill and after sitting down the other day and opening up Time Out Chicago I was presented the perfect opportunity. The recent Time Out Chicago issue featured some of Chicago's top burgers and of course on that list a some what hidden gem, Etno Village Grill!

Before I begin I just want to talk about the all around experience that I had when walking into the place known for serving, "real food fast!" Etno does nothing but this! The food is amazing and it comes faster than some fast food joints.

Having never stepped foot into the restaurant before I was welcomed with a giant chalk board over the register that listed everything they had on menu with a number of other small chalk boards around the main one. One thing that I had noticed was a small rack below the register that had a few boxes of girl scout cookies, solid move in my opinion, and under that was an assortment of chips. The place had a nice feel with all food benches and tables. While observing the menu I could see the cooks preparing everything behind the counter as well as grilling the burgers, oh boy was I hungry too!

Striking a polite conversation I asked the girl working the register what she liked at Etno..."My favorite would have to be the Vampire Hunter!"
Well that sounded like it was just up my alley!

At Etno's you can order a large or small burger. The small is a 1/3 pound while the large is a 1/2 pound. The burger contains a mouth watering collection of asiago cheese, sauteed mushrooms, roasted garlic and chive cream spread, what else could you want out of a burger!
According to some friends of mine I couldn't pass up the parmesan french fries either, so being a sucker for food I had to get some of those too!

Vampire Hunter
Living up to its name this burger had everything it needed to kill a Vampire! The roasted garlic was a great flavoring to the burger along with the chive cream spread. The asiago cheese melted in my mouth and the juicy burger purged with flavoring with its nice medium rare grill job. The fresh lettuce and assorted greens provided the experience with a nice crunch and a clean crisp taste. The mushrooms were big and juicy and absorbed the flavoring the burger perfectly. There was not a dominate taste over all, the mushrooms didn't take over the chive cream spread and the grilled garlic didn't leave my breath smelly. This I have to say is one of my favorite burgers and I look forward to going back to Etno's to try some more options out!



Parmesan Fries
The fries had a thick cut to them and were seasoned and salted just the way that I liked them. I wish they had a little more crunch to them, but don't take that statement as they were soggy (I just like my fries with some more crisp!) The fries had a type of grainy parmesan on top of them. The cheese had a great flavor and this was also the first time that I ever had paremsan that way, new but not bad.


Over all my experience at Etno's was nothing short then the rants my friends went on. I will no longer look at that goofy cow on top of the roof with skepticism anymore, but knowing that Etno's serves great burgers with fresh produce. Although they are a little pricey, the food is worth the money!

Duck N Roll

Duck N Roll Home Page

So I was finally able to meet up with a well-known Food Truck in Chicago, the Duck N Roll truck. The Duck N Roll Trucks can be seen featured all across the United States and has held captive people’s memories of their amazing cuisine! Duck N Roll is a must try in Chicago and I know for a fact that you will not be disappointed with what you have there.

Beef Short Rib

Miso braised short ribs a delightful punch of sweet and salty flavoring that you could eat again and again. The braised short ribs lay on top of a warm bed of some of the best Jasmine rice that I have ever had. This Jasmine rice is not just a normal Jasmine, but a coconut Jasmine rice, so it is even better for those that don’t know! Along side of the rice and beef was a tasteful picked cabbage. All of the flavors came together so well that I was left craving more. The whole plate satisfied my palate through its Asian explosion of flavor and sweet tender meat. If any of you were interested in the miso braised short ribs, I am apologize, but you will have to keep guessing! Even if I was given the recipe, I don’t think I could share it because it is so good. I suppose you will have to keep coming back to Duck N Roll to get your miso short rib fix that you have been looking for all this time!

Banana & Chocolate Donut Holes

Who ever thought of taking out the middle of a donut I am sure had no idea about what the creative geniuses at Duck N Roll had in store for this savory treat. The chocolate banana donut whole is a must try! The dessert was a banana nutella rolled in brown sugar and cinnamon. WOW…. A sweet treat that will melt in your mouth with the soft banana accompanied by the sweet and memorable taste of the mix of nutella, brown sugar, and cinnamon. I could have eaten a couple of boxes.

Duck N Roll supplies some of the best food that I have experienced so far in Chicago. I do not suggest consuming this before work because after I had cleared my plate all I could do was layback and think about how great the experience was. Duck N Roll provides catering at events and you can learn more from their website. You can find the truck roaming the streets of Chicago Tuesday-Thursday because they are booked up the remainder of the week working on catering events.

Check out the Truck on Facebook and Twitter; make sure you tell them that Windy City Food Review says thanks again!

Hey out there!

Hey all,

Hope everyone is doing well. I know I have not been on here much recently due to new and exciting adventures in life, but that doesn't provide a sound reasoning for my absence. I will have a new post up here soon (I know I keep saying that).

I am open to any suggestions on new food trucks or old ones let me know what your thoughts are, I want to hear them!

Make sure you leave comments on some posts and let me know where you think I should go next.

Find us on Instagram to see some of dishes that I have had and some dishes that I have made myself.

I look forward to reading your comments!

Journey to the Southwest

I hope everyone has had a great start to the New Year so far, I know I have. As I said way back in 2012 I was going to be in Tucson Arizona for a little while and I would be telling my story about being out there. Well I went and had a blast at the Tucson Food Truck Roundup at Himmel Park on January 1^st. A few of the Trucks that I was able to visit were MaFooco, Stolen Recipe BBQ Company and Jamie’s Bitchin Kitchen. The round up was great there were a number of other trucks, but I was not able to make my way to all of them. In the time that I spent in Tucson I re-connected with some great people and met some more amazing people in my travels.

Now what you really want to hear about… The food!

            I would like to start off by saying, WOW! MaFooco does it right. I was fortunate enough to try the Korean beef taco, which had some amazing Korean beef accompanied by Kimchi, lettuce, and purple cabbage. This delight was serving of three mouth-watering tacos on flour tortillas with a lime on the side. The sweet tangy taste of lime along with the tender beef was delicious. I wish I still lived in Tucson so that I could eat at Mafooco more! I was actually told by a friend of mine that, “ You would be missing out if you DID NOT go to Mafooco!” Since it was my first time ever having Kimchi I was very happy to report that I would be trying to again very soon!

            The Stolen Recipe BBQ Company does it right with their “Red Neck Nachos” and their “Pulled Pork Burrito”. I was able fortunate enough to try to of their treats, a friend of mine and I split both of them. The Red Neck Nachos was a great blend of corn tortilla chips along with a heaping pile of BBQ pulled pork with some chopped green onions and sour cream. This nacho was right for me. The pulled pork very juicy and went great with the sweat and tangy BBQ sauce that was drizzled on top under a great serving of sour cream. I am a big fan of green onions so as an extra feature it sealed the deal for me in the end!

            I was also able to try to pulled pork burrito, which was originally a sandwich until they ran out of bread. Either way bread or burrito this was a great meal. The hardy burrito was packed with a large serving of warm pork, rice, black beans, peppers, and more! After eating at the BBQ company I had to take a break before I was able to continue with my journey of food trucks at this great gathering!

            After a much-needed digesting period I was able to get back into the eating game and wrap up my day with a Cuban Hot Dog at Jamie’s Bitchin Kitchen. This uniquely decorated truck appealed to my digestive track because of the well known Sonoran hot dogs that can be found all over Tucson. Needless to say watch out hot dog vendors Jamie knows how to make a great dog! The beef hot dog was decorated with some amazing tomatoes, cilantro, special sauce, cheese, and pinto beans. This was a hardy dog even more me! The great flavoring of the special sauce, beans, beef dog, and tomatoes gave me a great curiosity to Cuban food, if it is anything like this I want try it!

I was only able to stomach three food trucks in the hour and half that I was there while breaking at times to take a breathe from inhaling some delicious food that can be found in the southwest region. If you ever get a chance to get out here make sure you try these three trucks. There were some others there that I wish I was able to try as well, but due to the time that I was there unfortunately was unable to try them all! In the end my trip to Tucson was a success in trying the great trucks that they have out there! Make sure you follow them on Twitter and check out their Facebook pages to learn more about them!

Cafe El Tapatio

Cafe El Tapatio

Cafe El Tapatio is located at 3400 N Ashland Ave just North of W Roscoe street. The restaurant when walking up seemed a lot bigger than it actually was. There are only two rooms for dinning and not too many tables. It makes for a nice close environment. The walls were decorated with traditional Mexican paintings, but since it is the Holidays there were some festive lights and decorations up as well. The restaurant was filled, we had no wait and were seated right away, but I could imagine El Tapatio having a decent wait if word got out about how great their food is!

Everyone that worked there was very nice and I am guessing that it was the owner or manager who walked around to every table, a couple of times, to make sure everyone was doing well. The service was great; food came fast, and left my plate even faster!

Café El Tapatio makes their own tortilla chips as well as all of their salsas and sauces. We were given a nice size bowl of chips and a great homemade salsa with a good kick to start off.

The first course my girlfriend and I started out with was the Empanadas. If you have never had an Empanada before they are turnovers stuffed with various ingredients. The one that we had was the baby spinach and queso de cabra. It was great. The order came with four good-sized Empanadas along with a Verde salsa and sour cream in the middle of the plate. The cheese had a great taste and was melted and warm inside along with the baby spinach; it made an excellent start to dinner!

Following the Empanadas my main course came quickly after the appetizer plate was cleared. The Tacos del Mar was something that caught my eye right away. Being a huge fan of fish tacos I always think back to the great ones that I had on the beaches of San Diego. Now I can enjoy the same ones right here in the Windy City! The Tacos del Mar were described as a lightly battered tilapia topped with mixed greens and cilantro crema. Served in a warm tortilla de maiz and arroz blanco. I would describe this as DAMN, that’s good stuff! The tacos were excellent. I got three tacos with a large chunk of battered and deep fried fish along with a mound of rice and some diced tomatoes, onions and cilantro in its own little pile. The cilantro crema was something that I had never had before, but it was great. Having a similar consistency as sour cream accompanied with some lime I squeezed on them I was in heaven!

Overall Café El Tapatio is a hidden gem right in Roscoe village. This restaurant is the type of place I will bring my friends from out of town to get some fine Mexican cuisine!

Seasons Greetings!

Hello to all,

I hope everyone has had a great holiday, we have the new year coming closer with even more new possibilities to eat and places to enjoy! I wanted to reach out and post this to let everyone know that since the creation of Windy City Food Review the blog that you are now looking at now was not allowing any comments to be added. I believe a number of people tried and it did not work. That is my fault. I thought it was an error on the sites part, but all along all that needed to be done was change some things around in the settings. So please leave some comments let us know what you think and if you enjoyed our review! We are looking for new places to go to at all times!

Coming soon will be the review on the food truck Duck N Roll. Also we will be having two restaurant reviews coming out on Cafe El Tapatio and Sarks in the park.

Find us on Facebook if you haven't already and follow us on Twitter. We have recently added an Instagram page too!

@WindyCityFoodRe

As I have previously stated our website will be coming out in the next couple weeks so keep your eyes open for www.windycityfoodreview.com

I would also like to announce that there has been over 800 views on the site, and on this past Wednesday alone there were 60 views that day! Sooooo, I would like to thank everyone that keeps up with the blog and we look forward to hearing your response on the reviews!

~ Windy City Food Review ~

The Southern Mac and Cheese Truck

Comfort Food with a Twist

The Southern Mac and Cheese Truck

The Southern

The Southern Mac and Cheese Truck specializes in assorted macaroni and cheese dishes. The truck can be recognized from anywhere on the road with its distinctive colors and life like macaroni and cheese on the side of it.

The Southern Mac and Cheese Truck is a branch off of The Southern Chicago (kick ass bar and comfort food) restaurant, which can be found in Wicker Park at 1840 West North Avenue. The restaurant carries similar macaroni dishes, but since it is a restaurant they have a larger variety of options.

I was able to catch up with the truck and met, Dave who was running it . He pointed me in the direction of one of the best mac and cheese combinations that I have ever had, The Mexican Chorizo Macaroni and Cheese. This pleasant meal goes great as a lunch and I imagine would be a great side to any dinner.

Mexican Chorizo Mac and Cheese

The Mexican chorizo was amazing, it had a great flavor and a nice medium heat to it. The dish had elbow macaroni that was cooked to my preference, soft. The cheese was rich, tasty and did not flood the plate. There was what seemed to be panko breadcrumbs in the dish that added more flavoring and a light crunch. All around I really enjoyed it all and had no complaints, other than can I have some more please. Normally I have to put hot sauce in any mac and cheese I have to add a little extra flavor. I think if I had done that it would have been an insult to this great meal!

I really enjoyed this dish and I have been looking forward to trying the Southern Mac and Cheese Truck for a while. I was not disappointed at all! In fact I can’t wait to go back again! The proportions were nice sized. I ate mine for lunch and was pretty content with the amount of food that I had. I could have easily taken a nap afterwards. I want to thank the Southern Mac and Cheese Truck for providing Chicago with some great comfort food with a new twist!