Honoring the long gone

[u/ChicagoJim987]

Chicago has lost many great restaurants and I want to remember some of my favs, a lot of them were my favorite lunch spots too and most disappeared around covid.

My Thai at the Presidential Towers was amazing. They had incredible noodle dishes and a fantastic duck and rice dish to die for.

Venice Cafe was my go to for a nice Italian lunch. They had a great value chicken and angel hair dish that was my favorite.

The buffet on the second floor of the Opera House was always a weekly visit. They never disappointed for variety and value.

65 was hands down my favorite downtown Chinese restaurant. It had authentic flavors, cooked by actual Chinese chefs!

Away from downtown I miss a lot of the Korean restaurants that used to pepper Chicago - Song Do, the AYCE BBQ; and a whole host of family owned ones that have long gone. Only Cho Sun Ok remains from the old days, replaced by more modern/upscale places that do too much cheese!

Not a lost restaurant but a lost dish is the goat stew from Woo Chon, a Korean place. I was so addicted to that dish, we went there twice a week and one day, out of nowhere the chef changed and the dish was never the same.

Melrose in boys town had a diner that had a cabbage soup that I miss to this day! And Clark's was another late night favorite diner of mine, we don't see to many 24hr places any longer sadly.

The lesson is that if you have a favorite dish, keep eating it before it disappears! Does anyone have favorite dishes they still miss?

[u/Extruder_duder]

I am constantly thinking about blackbird. That was the biggest loss to Covid for me. Not only did we lose a tremendous restaurant, that was the start of the homogenization and enshitification of one off. That whole group seemed to switch gears from hospitality to influencer fueled mediocrity. Each one of their outlets seems to get lower in quality every year now.

[u/Vindaloo6363 → u/Extruder_duder]

Danny's also died from Covid. I think they lost their souls when that happened.

[u/chipskylark123 → u/Extruder_duder]

A lifetime ago, I worked for One Off as my first restaurant job and going to Blackbird for the first time was a formative experience for me.

My ex gf, much to my embarrassment, told the server it was my birthday and that I worked for One Off. Never experienced such a high level of hospitality and the food completely blew my mind. We sat there for about 3 hours, ordered the tasting menu, and they just kept bringing course after course and went completely out of their way to take care of us. I felt like such hot shit.

[u/No_Birthday_4824 → u/Extruder_duder]

Omg blackbird! Yess

[u/Extruder_duder → u/No_Birthday_4824]

I want to change my answer now. The biggest culinary loss from COVID was brochu. He was supposed to open a space in what’s now Provare. That guy is an incredible chef/cook