Nano Sushi

On September 9, 2016September 9, 2016 By EdamamasterLeave a comment

Nano Sushi is a Japanese sushi restaurant located in Ravenswood on N western avenue.
It’s a slim, small restaurant with brick walls and about 7 tables total, all of which are booths. There is also a small sushi bar with a few bar stools right at the front. The atmosphere is very modern and sharp with a heavy red and black color theme. The ambience is quiet and very cool, with jazz and house music playing softly over the speakers. The tables are set with only the essentials laid out- a soy sauce jar and a few pairs of plastic chopsticks.

The menu is mainly dominated by the sushi with tons of choices in nigiri and sashimi, as well as a good selection of maki rolls. If sushi isn’t quite your thing there are also a handful of other items on the menu including pad thai, fried rice and tons of ramen dishes. The menu also contains a few options for dessert including mochi ice cream, which comes in green tea, chocolate, mango and red bean flavors.

I was a little put off by the fact that it is BYOB only and there is no alcohol served here. So to drink you are limited to soda or tea. This disappointment quickly disappeared after I ordered the Thai iced tea. I’ll be honest I have no idea what Thai iced tea consists of but it was absolutely delightful.

The wait staff was very prompt and professional while the sushi chef was constantly busy at the bar preparing his dishes. My waitress arrived shortly after I was seated to take my order.

The Edamame was served in a small square porcelain bowl atop a square plate. Edamame comes heavily salted, and literally steaming hot! Cooked to perfection and very firm. The salt distribution is a little heavy on top and low on the bottom of the bowl, leaving the bottom pieces lacking a bit on flavor but still resulting in a great dish.

My Sushi plate came out extremely fast, mere moments after the edamame was served. This left very little time to enjoy my appetizer, though I’m not going to fault them for being fast. My Hamachi Rock Sushi was served with ginger and wasabi, as well as a tray to soak each piece in soy sauce. My servicing consisted of 6 pieces. The wasabi was a bit on the mild side but still added a nice flavor to the roll. The sushi had great construction and was rolled together very tightly. The portion sizes were very nice, the meal left me fulfilled both in quality and quantity.

The perfectly cooked, steaming hot edamame paired wonderfully with the maki rolls and the thai iced tea was a perfect beverage to wash it all down with. For dessert I ordered the chocolate mochi balls! These are something I try to order whenever they are available. Mochi is a frozen ice cream treat wrapped in some type of powdered dough. I’m not sure how it all works but it is super delicious and really fun to eat. Let it be known that ice cream is just better when it comes in spherical form. This particular take on mochi came served in a bowl with each piece split into quarters with little chunks of chocolate inside and a dollops of whip cream and caramel in the center, creating a very nice display.

The meal was overall very satisfying, from the well constructed Maki rolls to the wonderfully displayed mochi. And of course, the edamame never disappoints. The meal was very modestly priced coming in at just over $20. Not bad at all for a 3 course meal. Overall I am giving Nano Sushi a Triple Pod rating. It’s a great choice if you’re in the mood for a side of sushi with your edamame, just remember to bring your own booze as there is none served here.

Roka Akor

On February 14, 2016July 31, 2016 By EdamamasterLeave a comment

Roka Akor is a popular Japanese sushi restaurant located in downtown Chicago. I arrived at about 6:30 on a Tuesday night and found the placed packed. This was likely because I chose to dine here during Restaurant Week, which is a Chicago wide event in which restaurants include special meals for the occasion.

When I walked in I saw a bar and lounge in the first room, and the main dining room just beyond that. The bar lounge has a very cozy feel with sofas and chairs for your party to wait at, and floor to ceiling windows to look out onto the busy streets of downtown Chicago. The kitchen is in plain sight, with an additional bar to sit at and look over the multi-tiered open charcoal grill where they cook your food in front of you. Towards the back of the main dining hall sits a large ceiling-high glass case displaying hundreds of wine bottles, ranging anywhere from twenty to hundreds of dollars.

The service was exceptional throughout the meal. The waiter was very knowledgeable and able to explain all of the options (there are a lot of them) and what they were made from. When he first arrived at our table he explained the best way to go about ordering our meals. He explained that it is best to share meals among the table and to sample and enjoy a variety of dishes. This turned out to be very good advice because as with most sushi restaurants, variety is very important. You don’t want to eat the same roll over and over again. The restaurant has an extensive drink menu including beers, wines, cocktails and saki.

After being seated, my party and myself were left to decide what we would like to do for drinks, and to look at the menu for a little while. After our drink orders were taken we were asked if we would like to start with an appetizer as well. Of course we took this opportunity to order the edamame. After informing him of our choice in appetizers he gave us a counter suggestion stating that the edamame is a very plain dish and recommended trying the brussel sprouts instead. This offended me greatly, embarrassment would have overwhelmed this man had he known that he was talking to the world’s greatest edamame blogger, the Edamamaster himself.

After ensuring the waiter that we did in fact want the edamame he served it to us only a few minutes later. The edamame came served in very plain standard porcelain bowl with a tray on the side to discard shells. It was served steaming hot and extremely fresh. But the real treat that makes this particular take on edamame stand out from the crowd was the salt. Sprinkled with very large chunks of sea salt, distributed evenly throughout entire bowl.

Bold salt chunks make this edamame shine.

The salt on the edamame was some of the best I have experienced. They were very wide, but thin freshly ground chunks. The flavor of the salt was grand, like nothing I had ever tasted before. The edamame itself was cooked wonderfully without a single piece being under or over cooked, very tender and easy to break out of the shell.

As an entree we got the Restaurant Week special, which was a 3 course meal. Before it was served the chef gave us a complimentary serving of yellow tail. They claimed it was brought out because it was our first time visiting, but we knew that it was actually a tribute being paid to the Edamamaster. A very generous and delicious offer. The Restaurant Week special came with a whiskey sour to go along with the meal which was tasty, but lacking a bit on the whiskey.

Round 1 was maki rolls and sashimi served over ice with fresh Wasabi and ginger. The dish was beautifully presented in an iced tray in the shape of a fish. The maki rolls had a large variety of flavors that blended together nicely. However, the sashimi was very plain, as it was just a single slice of raw fish. Not sure what else to have expected though. The fresh wasabi was a little mild for my tastes and left me longing for something a bit more spicy.

By the time the main courses came out I already felt satisfied. The waiter brought three plates out to us, one with lamb on the bone, one with yellow cod fish, and the final with a sirloin steak. All three had a side to go with them, pickled onions with the fish, eggplant salad with the lamb and sauteed mushrooms with the steak. The portions were a little on the light side but still filing. The presentation of all the dishes was very elaborate, with the cod stealing the show by coming served wrapped in a giant leaf that it rested inside of.

After the main entree the Restaurant Week special had two different desserts to choose from. One of these was a chocolate cake served with coffee flavored ice cream. The other being some confusing foreign name that I failed to pronounce, but despite not knowing what the hell it was I enjoyed it a lot. It had the consistency of cheesecake and was served topped with fruity syrup and almonds.

Overall Roka Akor is an upstanding restaurant to get your edamame from, but is far on the pricey side. However, you get what you pay for here as the environment, presentation, food quality and overall experience are very pleasant. I’m leaving Roka Akor with a Triple Pod rating. While the restaurant itself is absolutely a delight, it may not be the best place to choose just for edamame.

Enso Sushi Bar

On January 30, 2016January 30, 2016 By EdamamasterLeave a comment

Enso Sushi Bar is a fancy restaurant located in Wicker Park on Damen and North ave. The atmosphere is dark and warm with a few TVs and a projector screen. There’s a full liquor bar right at the front when you walk in as well as a sushi bar in the back looking right into the kitchen. There are plenty of tables and booths all laid out with chopsticks on the table to eat with. The unique arched ceiling makes it seem like you are dining in a tunnel, combine that with the loud poppy electro music and you have a pretty unique dining experience to look forward to.

The Service itself was wonderful, prompt and friendly. The waiter presented the beer and food very well and with a friendly demeanor.

The alcohol selection was very admirable with plenty of sake, liquor, wine, and beer, I ordered an import beer, Kirin Ichiban an American pale lager from Japan. It came served with a small jar on the side that it was poured into for me, the jar held about half the bottle only.

The menu consists of a large selection of entrees including, most importantly, the Edamame. Enso also serves a lot of different types of Ramen and some pad thai. But, of course, the largest focus of this restaurant is on the sushi, of which they have plenty.

Now onto the most important part of the restaraunt: The Edamame!

Enso Sushi Bar — Awesome tilted metal bowl

The edamame came served in a tilted metal container with a porcelain dish to discard the shells on the side. Served steaming hot and lightly salted. Great serving size, that tilted metal bowl never seemed to end! The salt was distributed evenly throughout the dish, not just on top. Edamame is tender but firm to the bite. The unique serving bowl kept the edamame warm long after it was served. Halfway through my edamame the waiter grabbed my tray of discarded shells and took it away. The horror this made me feel was overwhelming, what was I to do? Start throwing the empty shells straight onto the table, or into my napkin like some sort of edamame savage? But then, to my relief, not a moment later my waiter came back with a new empty tray for me to continue disposing the shells onto. Such spectacular service was very impressive to me.

For an entree I ordered the tofu pad Thai ramen. It came with a side of spicy miso soup. Which was in fact, very spicy, and very delicious.

The Tofu pad Thai ramen. was good. It came served only with chopsticks and no fork so if your chopstick game is weak you had better practice before going in so you don’t look like a noob.The Enso Sushi Bar was quite an enjoyable experience overall for me from the great atmosphere to the excellent service and presentation. I will definitely be going back to this restaurant for edamame round 2.
I’m leaving Enso with an Edamamaster Triple Pod rating!

Polygon Cafe

On January 9, 2016May 16, 2016 By EdamamasterLeave a comment

The Polygon Cafe is a relaxing, friendly cafe located in Edgewater. It’s a decent sized restaurant with plenty of seating arrangements. The environment overall was very calming and welcoming with dim lighting and quiet music.

The alcohol served at this establishment was very fitting, they have a selection of Asian beers of which I ordered the Chang Thai. It paired with the edamame very well. If wine is more your thing there are many different types served either by the glass or bottle. The restaurant also allows you to bring your own beer or wine with a $3 uncorking fee per person

Now onto the edamame itself: I ordered the spicy edamame. It was nice to see an alternative to the normally available lightly salted option (Though, the lightly salted, standard option is still available for the same price.)
The tenderness was spot on, it’s easy to break the edamame out of it’s shell without the shell coming apart yet it still remains very firm and having a sort of crack to them when you first break them open. The spice was great, it tasted like some type of red pepper seasoning and really added a nice kick to the dish. Serving size was ample and left my edamame craving fulfilled. It’s good to see a place offer more kinds of edamame in addition to the usual lightly salted option.

Presentation of the plate was nice, it came served in a small metal bowl with a square plate on the side to toss empty shells. Individual shells are all consistent with only 1-2 shells over cooked, and none of them came broken. Even though the seasoning was delicious, I couldn’t help but notice that the spice wasn’t evenly distributed amongst all the layers of shells. The shells on top had the most spice.

As an Entree I ordered the spring rolls with my edamame, they were served cold and drizzled with a sweet and sour sauce. I was also impressed with the presentation of this plate. They included a carrot in the shape of a butterfly, it was really neat.

In short, The Polygon Cafe was a very calming and delicious dining experience, I entered around 5 p.m. to an empty restaurant. Then as I walked out about an hour later there were two groups who had just entered. Not the busiest place in the neighborhood but less crowd meant faster service. The environment left me feeling at ease, the food left me fulfilled, and the check left me content with the amount I paid.
Overall I give The Polygon Cafe an Edamamaster triple pod rating. A great restaurant to start off the world’s greatest Chicago edamame blog!

Huge fan of Butterflycarrot. #BFC.

Coming next week I will be reviewing the Enso sushi bar!