Pannenkoeken Cafe

Hello, today we are reviewing Pannenkoeken Cafe in Lincoln Square.

Otto:
Pannenkoeken is known for their Dutch pancakes, which are more like crepes than like American pancakes. You just get one big but thin pancake that fills up your whole plate. It's served open with your toppings on it. I usually just get powdered sugar on top, but they have all kinds of toppings: thinly sliced apples with cinnamon, or bananas and Nutella, or bacon and cheese or vegetables. They also have other typical breakfast choices: omelets, french toast, buttermilk pancakes and waffles. But we almost always get the Dutch pancakes. The owner learned to make these pancakes in Holland when she studied with a chef there, and they seem to be really authentic. We've never had these kind of pancakes anywhere else. My simple pancake was delicious, as always. The restaurant is tiny but really cozy, we counted that there were only about 20 seats total. On weekends it is really crowded and there is a long wait, but we go there on weekday mornings, and we usually get right in.

Max:
I have been going here since i was very small, and they've always served some of my favorite dutch food. first off, they have a great and authentic atmosphere. they have great service. they have the best fresh squeezed orange juice, and when you eat there it feels like you are actually in the netherlands. their dutch pancakes are simply irresistible! i got the Apple Ginger Dutch Pancake. it was delicious. though i wasn't a huge fan of the ginger jam. i recommend getting or using some berry jam instead, but that's just my opinion. the pancake was fresh, sweet, and tasted like a real dutch pancake. also the apple really gave the dutch pancake a ZZANG! also, after i was done eating, i went to go wash my hands and inside the restroom it felt very cold. it actually felt like outside wether. but it was just because there was something wrong with the ventilation system. but i think that the Pannenkoeken Cafe was and has always been delicious, and i very much recommend for anyone in Chicago to try this place.

Ruben:
Okay, now these are good pancakes, and they are not just your average pancakes they are the most tasteful Pannenkoekens ever. So i have never had Pannenkoeken so i didn't know what it was gonna look like or taste like but it was amazing. Pannenkoeken are dutch pancakes that are very big and thin and have more egg then regular pancakes. I had the apple Pannenkoeken. it had thinly sliced apples with cinnamon on top and then powdered sugar too. It was so good, very flavorful. i loved the thinly sliced apples on it, they gave the Pannenkoeken a little sourness which was good. The Pannenkoeken itself was very good and fresh. I liked the atmosphere of the place very small only sat about twenty people. i hear on weekends it sometimes is a hour wait and you put your phone number in and they will literally call you when there is a table avaliable. I also had the fresh squeezed orange juice and you could tell it was fresh squeezed cause there was so much pulp but i love pulp so that was a pro for me. For how big the Pannenkoeken is it must take tremendous skill to flip it and cook it just right since it so thin. Overall i loved this place and i plan to go back and i can't believe i have never been here since i live in the lincoln square area.

Ready for Pannenkoeken.

Otto's Powdered Sugar Pancake

Max's Apple Ginger Pancake

Ruben's Apple and Cinnamon Pancakes

Dutch syrup, used on sweet or savory dishes.

Condiments.

Huck Finn Donuts

Hello, today we will be reviewing Huck Finn Donuts.

Max:

So i have been here once before and they have good food, but great donuts. if you are in a hurry or if you want something tasty and cheap, than Huck's is the place where you should go. i got the Chocolate Sprinkle and Buttermilk Donut. the Chocolate Sprinkle Donut was definitely high above the average Chocolate Sprinkle Donut. it was very tasty and not dry at all. The Buttermilk Donut was a little too dry and it didn't quite have enough glaze on it. the atmosphere was like an average pancake diner. the service was good and patient. and the entire place is just a great donut shop. i think that Huck Finn Donuts was good and i will go back. and remember, their fast and cheap and perfect for on the go food!

Otto:
I have also been here once before. I got the old fashioned glazed donut and the custard filled powdered sugar donut. The old fashioned was better than average. The custard filled donut was really good, not as good as the other donut shops we reviewed, though. This place is more of a classic donut shop/diner. The food at the diner part is okay, and they do have pretty good cinnamon bun french toast.

Ruben:
So this is my first time having Huck Finn Donuts. and let me tell you they are good! and cheap! seriously we were going to a group hike and we bought 2 and a half dozen for everyone and it was only 30 bucks! talk about cheap eats. I had the coconut with the vanilla frosting and i had the special brown sugar donut also. First of all the coconut donut was so good. it was a yeast donut and the dough itself was so good and the frosting was also fantastic and the coconut on top was a very nice touch. The brown sugar was also amazing, probably better then the coconut, the brown sugar on top went great with the frosting. I liked the atmosphere of the place, kinda of like an old fashioned diner. The service was good and they were very patient with us since we took a long time to choose which donuts we wanted. Overall i loved Huck Finn and it is a great place to get a quality donut for cheap cause some donut places so expensive. for instance a dozen donuts at glazed and infused or donut vault etc would be 30 bucks for a dozen and WE GOT ALMOST 3 DOZEN FOR THAT MUCH. So seriously donut lovers, check it out.

Blurry boys with donuts.

Our half dozen.

Two dozen to share with friends.

5411 Empanadas

Hello, today we will be reviewing 5411 Empanadas.

Ruben:
Now these are some good empanadas! when i say good, i mean probably the best in Chicago. So i have been here twice and ordered twice, and i have not had a bad experience. First of all i love the atmosphere of the place, very nice and little and felt very colonial on the outside of the building. kinda reminded me of when i went to Ecuador cause there is a part of Quito which is the capital of Ecuador that has a lot of colonial buildings and it was nice to have that feel since Argentina is another south American country and also where this style of empanadas came from. Also another interesting factoid: 5411 was the code that you had to dial to call Argentina, specifically Buenos Aires, which is a city in Argentina, and where the founders of 5411 are from. and even though the empanadas were made in Chicago they imported them from Argentina and thats why it's called 5411. I also liked that baby blue color that they have painted on they outside of the restaurant and their food truck, which i have never been to but i would like go to someday. Now enough talk about that! let's talk about the food 'cause thats what this blog is about. So let me just say that these empanadas are so flavorful they come nice and hot and when you bite into them BOOM your taste bud will go WILD. I got the BQQ Chicken and the beef. The BQQ Chicken i liked better then the beef, the Chicken was really good and had a amazing barbecue sauce there was also some grilled onions and there were possibly some other herbs but the dough is the real bomb, it's really soft and light kinda like a croissant. The beef was okay the meat was good and the veggies were too, but nothing to rave about. Also you might ask how do you tell the empanadas apart. well they all have different shapes or crusts. that's really cool and there is a little card on the table that tells you which shape represents each empanada. Overall 5411 is really good, so have an adventure and go check it out, try something new, and if you have never had empanadas before, you're in luck.

Max:
So I had never been here before, and i don't eat empanadas that often. but these are spectacularly delicious! i got the Malbec Beef and BBQ Chicken. The Malbec Beef was very good. it had beef and carrot inside. it had a little too much carrot in it, but i just took out a couple pieces of carrot, so it was more balanced with beef and carrot. the BBQ Chicken was SO DELICIOUS! it had cilantro and chicken inside. it was perfectly balanced with chicken and cilantro. and without the cilantro it probably wouldn't taste so good, to be honest. another empanada that i got was the Bacon Dates & Goat Cheese. that was very good too, but i didn't like the taste of the dates with the goat cheese, it made it taste too strong. i also tried a little of the sweet corn. that was also DELICIOUS! it had almost pure corn, but with a little sauce, that both took your taste buds on a journey! also the shell of the empanadas are really crispy, warm, and DELICIOUS! the way they serve you their empanadas feels very authentic Argentinian. they have a sign that tells you to eat with your hands. and that's authentic Argentinian. and i did in fact, eat my empanadas with my hands. there's another sign that shows you each shape of each empanada they serve. so you can know what all the other empanadas look like. the atmosphere is very nice. it basically feels like a argentinian empanadas place. but the overall restaurant was DELICIOUS! and i will go back. also, if you're ever in this neighborhood, i recommend to stop by here.

Otto:
I got the Ham & Cheese Empanada, and I tried the Malbec Beef, but it had too much carrot (as Max already mentioned). The Ham & Cheese was delicious. It was very cheesy, I would say it was like 3/4 cheese, 1/4 ham. But it was really good. I liked the atmosphere of it. It's small and simple, but I liked it. And the menu was simple too. Each empanada was $2.50, so it was not very expensive to eat here. Most people apparently eat 3 or 4, but I only needed 2.

Getting out of the rain and in for some empanadas.

Know your empanada.

Empanadas have arrived.

Max's BBQ Chicken and Malbec Beef Empanadas

Otto's Ham & Cheese and Malbec Beef Empanada

Sweet Corn Caramelized Onion and Caramelized Onion empanadas 

Nearby Art

Opart Thai House

Hello, today we will be reviewing Opart Thai House.

Max:
I have been here quite a few times and their Thai food is really good. and just to make sure you know, they serve more traditional Thai but they also have a little Northern Thai. i got the Gaeng Musaman. and it's good. it's yellow curry with chicken, potatoes, peanuts, and it's sautéed in coconut milk. it has a little too much potatoes and it tastes a little plain, but it's still pretty tasty. another meal that we got which i actually liked more than Gaeng Musaman is Plamuk Nam Prik Paow, it's squid sautéed with chile paste, bell peppers and onions. YUM! it's a very good meal. and i love squid. the atmosphere is really authentic, really great art. everything is made out of wood. and the service is okay. the restrooms are extremely small, but a lot of thai places tend to have small restrooms. you have to go in one at a time actually. by the way, it's 1 building away from another great thai place that i'm sure we'll review sometime in the future. so i think that Opart Thai House was pretty good, and i will probably go back relatively soon. There are a lot of other thai places in Chicago, but it's a really convenient location for us, and i think that it might be my 2nd favorite thai place in Chicago. my favorite thai place is Sticky Rice. if you missed our review of Sticky Rice, then here's the link.

Otto:
I got the chicken and the beef satay and rice. It's good because you can choose to get half chicken and half beef as your order (although we just got a full order of each so we could all share it). Both are delicious. This was our favorite Thai restaurant in Chicago before we discovered Sticky Rice, and I still think it's really really good. We go here a lot because we are often in Lincoln Square. There are so many things on their menu, and we have only tried a handful of them, even though we have been coming here for many years. I have only had a few of them, since I almost always get the satay. I also like their Pad See Iew, but I didn't get it this time.

Ruben:
I liked this place i hadn't ever been here before i wouldn't say this was great thai just okay. First we got the beef satay and chicken, the beef was way too chewy it had so much fat on it i couldn't even swallow part of it cause it was so chewy. On the other hand, the chicken was quite good some of the best satay i have ever had and their peanut sauce was really good too. Next for my meal i got the Pad Thai even though it's a simple dish that i usually don't get it's good to try something that a lot of people get at the restaurant when you have never been there. The Pad Thai was good. i really liked the noodles MMMmmmm they were so good. and the vegetables and chicken were good too. I liked Opart Thai and i would go back.

Beef and Chicken Satay

Max's Gang Musaman

Ruben's Pad Thai

Plamuk Nam Prik Paow

Outside Opart

Stan's Donuts & Coffee

Hello, Today we will be reviewing Stan's Donuts & Coffee.

Max:

So i have been here a few other times, and their donuts are some of the best donuts in the city. they actually might be the best donuts in the city, but there are many more donut places around Chicago, so i can't be positive. i got the Chocolate Pretzel Donut, and it's outstanding! Seriously one of the *Best* donuts. shaped like a pretzel, and with the dough of a donut. it's also covered in chocolate. Yum! very delicious. the atmosphere is very modern. and looks like an average bakery but with a lot more decor. the floor tile is really nice. they are making a lot of donuts fast! and their donuts pretty much always taste fresh and delicious! but overall Stan's Donuts & Coffee has very good donuts and i will go back soon! did you know that Stan's Donuts & Coffee's original location was built in 1963 and in Los Angeles California? check their website out. also Chicago is the only other place that has a Stan's Donuts & Coffee location other than California.

Ruben:
I liked this place a lot. This was my first time here and i had a pretty decent experience. I loved the atmosphere of the place kinda 50's retro but still it still had that new modern kind of look. The service was good and the employes were nice. I loved the display of the donuts they were nicely arranged and they had some really interesting flavors. I had the Old Fashioned blueberry donut. for an old fashioned donut it was super good. i really liked the blueberries it really complemented the glaze. And since one of Glazed and Infused locations is right across the street, Glazed And Infused better look out, cause you've got some serious competition. Stan's is a really good donut shop and i will definitely be visiting again soon.

Otto:
The doughnuts at Stan's are really good. I got the glazed donut, which might seem like a boring choice with all they have there (they have vanilla old fashioned, orange old fashioned, pistachio, maple, nutella filled, peanut butter filled, Biscoff cookie spread filled...and many more), but I like plain glazed donuts, and I think if a bakery can't make a good glazed donut, then they might not be a very good bakery. So it's a good test. And Stan's Donuts did really really well on the test. (I did also try the maple long john on a different occasion, in case you are interested, and it was delicious too). I like the design and layout and feeling of the shop.

Dressed for Donuts

Looking at Donuts

Ready for Donuts

Otto's Classic Glazed 

Max's Chocolate Pretzel Doughnut

Ruben's Blueberry Cake Old Fashioned

Floor Tile

Menu and Donuts

Mixers

OMG...Olive Mediterranean Grill

Hello, today we are reviewing Olive Mediterranean Grill.

Otto:
I got the Mediterranean Chicken as a side dish (one of the good things here is that they offer the meat as a side, they call it a protein plate, and it is very affordable). I also got a side of pita and then put the meat inside. The Mediterranean chicken is not very spicy, but it has a really nice taste. They also have plates and sandwiches. The way it works for the plates is that you pick your protein (chicken, steak or falafel) and then you can pick from different salads and sides. The restaurant is a very modern design, not too fancy but really nice.

Ruben:
This is probably one of my favorite quick restaurants in Chicago. I first went to Olive back in november and went back again in january so this was my third time going there. I got the chicken shawarma sandwich it had chicken, tomatoes, pickles and garlic spread all served in a delicious pita. It was so good and very good quality for the price. I liked the atmosphere of olive very small and nice, and the service was good and the employes were  nice. One of the questions we asked them is how many locations there were, and they said there were three which i did not know, one in downtown, one by Kingsbury street (that's the one we went to) and one in evanston that they just opened in january. Overall Olive is a great place to get a good affordable meal that is quick. I will definitely be going back to Olive in the near future.

Max:
I have been here a few times before and i think their food is very very good. I got the falafel and it was really good. I have had falafel a few times and my previous favorite  falafel was a the West Side Market in Cleveland Ohio. But this one is now my favorite! it comes with 3 balls of falafel, and a few others things on it like hummus and potatoes. And i got mine in a pita instead of as a plate. and also  the thing that i'm noticing is that it needs more condiments on it like maybe some mild salsa, yogurt sauce, or a little more hummus. But you can easily add that by buying those that they sell there. (i added yogurt sauce and hummus on mine by the way.)  but the restaurant was very very good and i will go back someday soon.

At Olive

Max's falafel sandwich

Max's falafel, layers revealed

OMG Plate: Kebab chicken, Mediterranean salad, persian yogurt, chickpea salad

Tiffin

Hello, today we will be reviewing Tiffin.

Ruben:

I have been to many indian places and this one was pretty good. I have been to Tiffin several times but i haven't been there in about 2 years. One of my favorite parts of Tiffin is the tandoori chicken and naan which they bring to you with any meal. the Naan is so flavorful and comes out nice and hot. And the tandoori chicken is served steaming hot you basically have to wait about 10 minutes for it to cool down but it's worth the wait for the crispy red chicken served with grilled onions! we had the lunch buffet it was okay. the meat was exceptional. the curry was really good and spicy. and the samosas were  just average, but i had a good meal so I'm not going to say Tiffin was Amazing But just okay so if you are ever on Devon Ave Check it out. also the servers were nice but the service was slow. i will probably go back to Tiffin but not any time soon.

Max:
So this is fairly standard indian cuisine. their buffet is okay, their Chicken Tikka Masala is pretty good, but the atmosphere is really authentic with different colored lamps and soothing music. their Naan is nice and flavorful. their buffet had plenty of choices to choose from. their chicken and lamb was quite good with a nice sauce, but i didn't like that they left the bone on them. their Tandoori Chicken was pretty good and served on a skillet, also very spicy, and it needs to cool down a lot before you can eat it. and Samosas were pretty good. after that, we got the Chicken Tikka Masala and it was good. it had a bright orange curry sauce, and it was a little spicy but still pretty decent, but it didn't blow my mind. So the restaurant was about average and i might go back someday, but there are so many more indian places that i can go on Devon.

Otto:
At first I tried the buffet. I got a couple of pieces of curry chicken and some rice. But the chicken was on the bone, and I don't like it like that when it is in sauce. They let me order something off the menu instead and did not charge me for the little bit I had taken from the buffet, which was nice of them. I ordered Chicken Tikka Masala, which was really good. And their naan was good. I also liked the Tandoori chicken. I also liked the little donut like sweets they had for dessert.

Tiffin

Food is here!

Sample of the buffet offerings

Tandoori Chicken

Dessert

Our Tiffin Restroom Dance.

Our adventure!