Oiistar

Happy Anniversary to us! Chicago Food Boys is now 1 year old! For our celebratory lunch, we were trying to decide if we should revisit a place we had all loved, or if we should try something new. Two of our favorite meals were the ramen at Urban Belly and at Slurping Turtle, so we decided maybe we should try another ramen place. We went to Oiistar in Wicker Park, another ramen place which has gotten good reviews.

Max:
Oiistar is an Asian Fushion/Japanese restaurant. It is located on Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park. They are known for their ramen and steamed buns. First let me start with the atmosphere. It's kinda dark and modern. Definitely an asian fusion looking place. But of course, it's really cool looking. Now, let me talk about the food. We started with some steamed buns. I got the Tempura Shrimp. it comes with tiger shrimp, thai chili mayo, fennel slaw, and roasted sesame seeds. The tiger shrimp is amazing. It's perfectly cooked and delicious. The thai chili mayo really complements the tiger shrimp. The fennel slaw is about average, but goes well with the sesame seeds. After that, we all ordered ramen. I got the Musclemen ramen. It comes with mussels, onions, chili peppers, scallions, and bonito miso. The broth was a little spicy, but still tasty. I feel that they didn't need to put so much chili peppers in it though. The noodles were really good. I don't know what kind of ramen noodles they were but they were great. The overall ramen was pretty good. The service isn't the best. One of us ordered the Pozolmen. And our waiter said that it was his favorite ramen if you like it spicy. But he didn't say that it was going to be PIPING SPICY! Seriously, I tried it and it was like eating a ghost pepper fresh off the vine. And when he came back and asked us how much we like the ramen, we said that one of us got the Pozolmen and it was way too spicy. And he said - well I warned you it was going to be spicy. But that wasn't true. All he said is that it was spicy and that it was his favorite ramen. He didn't warn us about it like it was going to be REALLY spicy. But anyway, back to the review. Oiistar is overall a good restaurant, so I give 4 plates to Oiistar.

Otto:
I started with the BBQ Beef steam bun as an appetizer. I asked for it to be plain (just the meat and the bun). It was the best steam bun I have had yet. I got the Chadolemen Ramen, which was also beef and normally comes with vegetables too, but I asked for it to be just the meat and noodles and broth, which they said was no problem. It was really really good. The broth was really good, and after a while, it got to be a bit too spicy for me, but it was still amazing. It was a gigantic bowl of ramen, and I only eat a little bit of it, so we took a lot home. I would give it 4 plates.

Ruben:
It's been one whole year folks of Chicago Food Boys. hard to believe right?

So for our blogaversery lunch we went to a ramen place in wicker park called Oiistar. You might ask why ramen for our blogversery. well, we we're just in the mood for some ramen thats it. Everybody walked in with excitement. we sat down at our table not knowing what to expect. The menu i thought was very interesting they had a wide variety of buns, ramen, and some American Japanese appetizers. We all decided to get one bun and one ramen cause that's what the waiter recommended. I ordered the goki bun a barbecue beef bun. I thought it was very good the beef was a little to chewy for my taste but it was still okay. The garnish on the bun, i liked it. it went well with the beef but i would have to say my favorite part of the bun was the creme fraiche which was very sweet but not so sweet and the bun also had hot sauce so both the sauces really complimented each other very well. The ramen i ordered the chadolemen which is not on their online menu. for some reason so i had to look on yelp to see what it was called which is very weird to have a item on your physical menu but not your digital. It actually had a mix of beef brisket and ground beef which i thought was pretty good. I think i liked the broth the best, though it was spicy and had a lot of flavors that you could smell and taste. There was some bean sprouts and kimchi in the ramen to which were okay to but nothing special. I give oiistar 4 plates.

The Food Boys

Inside

Cod Steam Bun.

Max's Tempura Shrimp Steam Bun.

Ruben's Goki bun

Otto's Ramen.

Max's Musclemen Ramen.

Ruben's  Ramen

Max and Musclemen.

Slurping Ramen.

Otto and noodles.