Chicago's Best

Trying new restaurants and cuisines absolutely tops my favorite things to do and I'll have to say, I am doing a pretty darn good job at it so far in 2012. Of course yelp, urbandaddy, tastingtable, refinery29 and daily candy etc etc do a great job of blasting me with you-have-to-try-this-new-spot emails, but lately my favorite resource for finding new eats in the city is the show Chicago's Best on a little channel we call WGN. Most of the main stream media outlets seem to over look the smaller, non-scenester ish, non ambient music playing, non-River North/Old Town/LP/Wicker town spots...you get the drift...but Chicago's Best does not discriminate. The show is hosted by Brittany Payton, the legendary Walter Payton's kin who is as energetic and cute as can be, and Ted Brunson and I love starting my Sunday mornings watching their suggestions for good eats in and around the city. Some recent themes have been Chicago's Best Late Night, Best Chocolate, Best Comfort Food and even West Suburbs. My yelp "to try" bookmark list keeps expanding and duh, I'm pretty excited about it. Me and Sean have been trying one new place a week, which is completely reasonable and I reeeaaally hope to not let my schedule get in the way of this good streak. Check out our recent visits.

Estrella Negra keywords: BYOB, easy parking, takes reservations, reasonably priced, supports local art, mangoes, shrimp, goat cheese, tamales. I was OFFENDED when I heard a patron sitting next to us asking the waitress "What is a tamale?", but hey, I can appreciate when people go outside their comfort zone, especially to eat at places at delicious as Estrella Negra. And there is something for everyone here from burritos to burgers to tacos to Chocolate chip Tamales. According to the Chicago's Best episode, the owner uses his mama's recipes, and tweaks them to his liking. And I like it. We ordered the traditional Pork Tamales, Shrimp and Goat cheese enchiladas with Mango salsa, a goat cheese salad, and side of bean dip.

Aloha Eats brought me right back to the Hawaii that I love to visit. I first saw an ad in a Japanese newspaper, that I picked up from a Japanese grocery store, and I've been meaning to try this place for months now. I got a reminder when they were part of the "Tropical" episode of Chicago's Best and one day, when I had a spam craving, I got my little butt in the car to get that salty goodness in my belly. Reasonably priced, authentically flavored and the portions are GINORMOUS, so alot of sharing can definitely go on. We ordered the spam musubi, naturally, and chicken katsu, which came with a heaping service of rice and macaroni salad. This was plenty for two people and plenty to satisfy my need for Hawaiian/Asian/Japanese fare. The only downside is that this location is right smack dab in the middle of Lincoln Park, so if you're driving, bring your patience with you. They also take the BellyCard!

Garifuana Flava: Easily one of the best places that I have eaten in recent memory. For real real. This spot is located a tid far from where we live in that there is no easy way to get there as it's not close to a major expressway, but it was well worth the drive. This Carribean Cuisine gem, only three years young, serves food from Belize and not only is the food flavorful like you wouldn't believe hehe or Belize, but the service just makes you feel right at home. We chatted with the head chef's son and he was nice enough to give us a run down of the most popular dishes. We ordered the little meat pie panadas, conch fritters and jerk chicken, which came with some extra yummy fixins' of mixed rice and steamed cabbage. The fritters were deep fried seafood heaven, jerk chicken MOIST (excuse my language) like crazy and even the most simplest of dishes, rice, was flavored with seasonings to make your mouth reach a nirvana. Top this off with a cake with HOT thin layer of carmel. Happy tummy.