I really hate to keep saying "I found my new favorite restaurant", but I just can't help it sometimes. This is Chicago after all and there are too many good eats to choose from. However, I'd like to say this time, I mean it!
Drum roll...
Tanta. Sean and I went to Tanta a few weeks ago for his birthday and all the critical pieces of a great dining experience exist at Tanta-great decor, service, booze and of course the food. Gaston Acurio, Tanta's owner and Peruvian restaurant king (his restaurant in Lima is currently No. 14 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list), has brought it. I mean brought. It. I've dined at Acurios'
La Mar in San Francisco, but Tanta is just so, well, Chicago. Much more casual, with the freshest of ingredients.
I always love learning new things during these experiences too; this time I learned about a new type of Japanese fusion called Nikei, which is Peruvian-Japanese. I mean, what?! Eastern flavors prepared with South American influences. Uniquely perfect. In my mouth.
See what we ordered below.
And yeah, I'm definitely going back.
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| Mural work by a Chicago artist |
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| oh, hello |
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| Pisco Sour (Pisco: yellowish-to-amber colored grape brandy produced in winemaking regions of Peru and Chile) |
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| Nikei menu: Pobre (left)-skirt steak, quail egg Criollo (right)-scallops, smoky sesame beef, huacatay cream |
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| Grilled Octopus on top of a delicious whipped peruvian mashed potato dallop |
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| Empanadas |
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| More Nikei |
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| Braised lamp shank, cilantro, aji amarillo, cannelli beans, radish criolla | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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