Pio Pio Restaurant

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***** (5 stars)

This latest location in the Pio Pio chain takes over a nice space in the Publix shopping center that was previously a mediocre BBQ place. Pio Pio is much better.

I love their rotisserie chicken, which always has a delicious golden brown crust. It comes with rice, beans, and plantains. The quarter chicken is surprisingly small, so you may want to get the half chicken. Both are very reasonably priced.

Not so reasonably priced, but also delicious, is the ceviche ($18). It’s a Peruvian style ceviche, (which is a bit confusing since the restaurant is often listed as Colombian).The Mixto version combines raw white fish and cooked shrimp with onions and lots of lime juice. It’s served with the traditional mutant(!) corn, and also cracked corn kernels.

Service was excellent.

By the way, they also have whole rotisserie chickens to go at very reasonable prices. They’re way better than the ones next door at Publix.

Pio Pio Restaurant
2588 Maguire Rd
Ocoee, FL 34761
(407) 347-7101
http://www.yelp.com/biz/pio-pio-restaurant-ocoee-2

Caps On The Water

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***** (5 stars)

One of the best outdoor dining venues in Florida. Where else can you sit right at the shore, yet be shaded by a spreading canopy of tree branches?

Of course there’s a lot of fresh seafood on the menu. Highlights were the smoked fish dip appetizer and the appetizer sampler. The “sampler” isn’t actually a sample of other appetizers, but rather an assortment of things not available elsewhere on the menu, the best of which was the smoked salmon.

For entrees we had peel and eat shrimp and fish and chips, both very good.

The wine list is terrific, with many domestic and imported bottles, all at reasonable prices.

Service is friendly, and the kitchen does a great job of keeping up with this very popular spot. No reservations.

Caps On The Water
4325 Myrtle St
St Augustine, FL 32084
(904) 824-8794
http://www.yelp.com/biz/caps-on-the-water-st-augustine

Zoës Kitchen

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***** (5 stars)

This might be my new favorite quick serve restaurant. It’s amazing that this store has only been open a short time, because they really have their act together. Both the service and the food are exemplary.

I had the salmon kebabs, which were extremely high quality, and served with a large Greek salad, some hummus and a few pita wedges. Everything was freshly prepared and delicious.

Each member of our party tried something different, and we all enjoyed our food, but I think I made the best choice–although slightly more expensive, it was a lot of very high quality food for the money.

The interior decor is quite pleasant, and the staff is really engaged with their guests. My only negative comment is that parking is extremely difficult; it was a problem even before they built this new building, so I’m not sure what the plan was, but I suggest you arrive before lunch time.

Zoës Kitchen
7341 W Sand Lake Rd
Ste 1081
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 730-5022
http://www.yelp.com/biz/zo%C3%ABs-kitchen-orlando-2

Geja’s Cafe

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***** (5 stars)

Geja’s offers excellent fondue, and even better ambiance. If you’re looking for an intimate, romantic place for a Tête à Tête, this is the spot. Be sure to ask for one of the booths, which are more like private little rooms.

The complete dinners here are pretty reasonably priced when you consider everything they include: a smokey cheese fondue appetizer, a French-style green salad, whatever entrée meats/chicken/fish/shellfish you select, and a generous chocolate fondue dessert.

Along the way your waiter will keep everything on fire and at the right temperature–at one point we had four flames going on the table at once, a record, I believe.

The wine list is really the only negative, as the choices are limited to fairly everyday wines at high markups.

Whether you’re in the mood for fondue, or just a romantic evening, this is a good choice.

Geja’s Cafe
340 W Armitage Ave
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 281-9101
http://www.yelp.com/biz/gejas-cafe-chicago

Maya Del Sol

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*** (3 stars)

A beautiful patio is the highlight of this place. Unfortunately sitting in it means you have to eat their food, which is a mixed blessing at best.

The only particularly good item was the nachos, which were unconventional but good. Each rustic chip was topped with shredded beef, black beens, a little drizzle of cheese, tomatoes, scallions, jalapeños and sour cream.

The fish in the fish tacos was coated with a very strange seasoning that no one at our table liked. And the chilaquiles were a sodden lump, the worst we ever encountered.

Service was friendly and efficient, and as I said, the patio is lovely. My advice: have a sangria and some nachos and call it a day.

Maya Del Sol
144 S Oak Park Ave
Oak Park, IL 60302
(708) 358-9800
http://www.yelp.com/biz/maya-del-sol-oak-park

Garrett Popcorn Shops

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***** (5 stars)

There’s a reason the line is out the door at these local popcorn shops, and it’s called the Chicago Mix. It’s a combination of cheese popcorn and caramel corn, which sounds awful, but somehow is amazing.

The price of a tin is pretty steep, and although they make it impossible to compare the cost per pound by the tin or bag, it appears that the bags are several times more cost effective. So unless you really need a souvenir, buy a jumbo bag for under twenty bucks. It may seem like a lot, but you’ll thank me later.

Garrett Popcorn Shops
625 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60611
(888) 476-7267
http://www.yelp.com/biz/garrett-popcorn-shops-chicago-8

The Blanchard

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** (2 stars)

I don’t understand what the  hype is about. This is a perfectly average French restaurant with adequate food, a poorly thought out and overpriced wine list, and a deafening ambiance. I have not eaten in such a loud restaurant since Graham Elliot, and at least there it was because of the absurdly loud music. If The Blanchard has music it is not audible over the roar of other diners in this hard-surfaced room, bare of any attempt at acoustic treatment.

Aside from the imperative to escape from the noise as quickly as possible, there is little to make one want to linger anyway. The highly touted “oeuf outhier”turned out to be a rather gritty scrambled egg mixture in a decapitated egg, topped with sour cream, vodka and a dot of caviar. The flavors didn’t really mesh.

Mussels were just adequate, although a companion liked the mussel soup, which was more like saffron soup. The mussel-topped toast it came with was good, though.

The best appetizer was the duck confit, which was flavorful and nicely defatted. Foie gras ganache was also good, and accompanied by nicely charred brioche.

The dover sole and steak frites were straight from central casting–nothing really wrong with them, but nothing to justify $42 for the sole, either. The best entree (and best item of the meal) was the short rib, which combined an interesting combination of Moroccan and Indian spices, and was topped with a delicious mint couscous. This dish would be the only conceivable reason to return.

The biggest problem is the wine list, a medium sized offering of exclusively French wines that are almost all from either weak vintages or mediocre producers. Even so, prices are high. The Puligny-Montrachet and Nuits-Saint-Georges I ordered were two of the worst bottles of those wines I’ve ever had, despite both being close to $200 each. We let most of both bottles. It’s hard to imagine a sommelier ever sampled either of those wines before buying a case from the distributor.

In the end we were disappointed but happy to flee into the peaceful solitude of the evening.

The Blanchard
1935 N Lincoln Park W
Chicago, IL 60614
(872) 829-3971
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-blanchard-chicago

Burrito Beach

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*** (3 stars)

This is a much better place for a fast Mexican counter service lunch that Chipotle or Adobo Grill. The reasons are the more extensive choices, better ingredients and greater preparation options.

For example, In addition to burritos and quesadillas, you can get tacos, with either soft or crispy corn tortilla shells. I had the crispy tacos, and the double layered shells were fresh, crisp and tasty. They were really good with the spicy barbacoa beef.

Orders also come with excellent tortilla chips.

The chicken quesadilla was also good. The only miss was the nachos, which used movie theater cheese glop and got soggy very quickly.

Burrito Beach
19 S La Salle St
Chicago, IL 60603
(312) 578-9340
http://www.yelp.com/biz/burrito-beach-chicago-6

Oriole

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***** (5 stars)

After being open only a bit more than a month, Oriole is already in contention for best restaurant in Chicago, which also makes it a contender for best in the US.

Nearly every one of our sixteen courses was a home run–so much so that it’s hard to pick standouts. From the first bit of langoustine topped with caviar, each course offered an impressive array of flavors, sometimes merging into a complex whole, and at other times exploding sequentially on the palate revealing one ingredient after another.

The alteration of courses from rich to refreshing and back again kept our palates fresh. Portion sizes were just right, so that we never felt over-stuffed (although we would have happily consumed another six orders of just about anything we were served!)

Rather than attempt to describe individual courses, which change anyway, let me just list those items that topped those I’ve had at the best Michelin-starred restaurants in the world: Sea urchin, foie gras, Alaskan king crab and Japanese A5 Wagyu. Each of these provided a mind-blowing complexity that forced one to stop and consider what was going on in each bite, and each event on the plate. For example the charred lettuce that accompanied the Wagyu was so phenomenal it almost upstaged the Wagyu, which was the best piece of Wagyu I’ve ever tasted.

As with many tasting menus, the last four courses are desserts, and some members of our party don’t have much of a sweet tooth. Let me just say that not one crumb survived. The desserts provided terrific variety, were never cloying, and were paired with wines that had very controlled sugar and acid levels, keeping our palates fresh and interested until the very end.

With only about a dozen tables arranged in ample space, the dining room is stylish yet comfortable. Soothing colors and rough brick walls contrast with retro hanging lamps, and a spotlight on each table shows off the food to its best advantage. A glass wall separates the dining room from the kitchen, although it certainly isn’t needed for noise abatement, as there is no kitchen commotion from the many chefs working their magic.

Service is professional yet welcoming, without the stiff affectations of some top restaurants. We were particularly impressed with our sommelier, whose extensive knowledge and passion for the wines on the tasting fight was matched by his deep understanding of the ingredients in each dish and how they matched his selections.

While Oriole is not inexpensive, it offers an astonishing value given the perfection of the experience.

Oriole
661 W. Walnut St.
Chicago, IL 60661
(312) 877-5339
http://www.yelp.com/biz/oriole-chicago

Latinicity

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*** (3 stars)

Latinicity is a couple of concepts in one. It’s essentially a mall food court, except that you use a plastic card to keep track of your purchases at the various counters and then pay on the way out.

But the first thing you come to when you enter is a conventional sit down restaurant. Do not eat there! It offers a limited select of mediocre and over-priced Spanish tapas. You will do better at literally any other tapas restaurant in town.

Beyond it, the food counters offer some interesting selections, though, including ceviche (which is really more of a seafood cocktail) and even sushi.

The best choice is Machefe Taqueria, which serves tacos, burritos and cazuelas in a fashion similar to Chipotle, but with actually good ingredients. The corn tortillas are completely authentic, for example. The pastor was not the best in town, but was decent. And at $3 the tacos are certainly reasonable.

A better deal is the burrito, which is served in a flour tortilla the size of a manhole cover for $7.

An even better deal is the cazuela, which is basically an exploded burrito served with three corn tortillas. The attraction here is that it’s the only way to get the chicken mole, a nice slab of breast meat drenched in a very good dark mole sauce. It’s a lot of food for $8.

There’s plenty of seating in the back, but it’s nicer to set near the exit, which is much quieter.

You can get better Mexican food elsewhere, but if you’re in the area it’s a perfectly acceptable choice.

Latinicity
108 N State St
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 795-4444
http://www.yelp.com/biz/latinicity-chicago-2