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.

Si Fu (Cino Latino)

Today we are reviewing Si Fu, an Asian Latino fusion restaurant in Roscoe Village.

Otto:
Cino Latino is good because it's two different kinds of food that I really like that you can't usually get in the same place, but it's in the same place here: Mexican and Chinese. You pick if you want stir fry, or tacos or a burrito, and then you pick your protein, and then you pick the style you want, either Cino  (which is with pickled daikon, carrots, cilantro, cucumber, jalapeño, and kimchi) or Latino (with black beans and pico de gallo). It's funny because my brother Max and I often disagree about whether we should go to an Asian place or a Mexican place, because I really like Asian food, and Max really likes Mexican, so it's perfect that we can get both here. I got the Mongolian Beef Burrito, and the style didn't really matter to me, because I only wanted rice in mine. But I guess the Mongolian Beef is a Chinese style of meat. It was really good. It was actually the first burrito I have ever had. It was really really delicious. I felt sad when I got too full to finish it. The decor was funny, a mix of the two styles. The wall behind where we were sitting had lots of shelves of hot sauce. The wall in front of us had illustrations of how to use chopsticks. It was very affordable for such delicious food. I give them 5 plates.

Max: 
Cino Latino has a lot of choices of food to choose from. You can get Latino, which is with Mexican style garnishes. Or you can get Cino, which is like asian fusion. We got chips and guacamole as an appetizer. The guacamole is very fresh tasting. I don't know what they put in it, but it's great guacamole. The chips are good, they're about average chips. I got a Latino Burrito, with Orange Chicken. It was the best burrito I have ever had. Seriously. Previously my favorite burrito was at Chipotle Mexican Grill (and I know that's a chain, but it really was my favorite burrito), but this just beat it by a little. The orange chicken is so good. It's one of the elements in the burrito that makes it taste so delicious. It was just all so good. The atmosphere is a mix of Mexican and Asian. It's a really nice feeling atmosphere with their wall of hot sauces and stuff. But since Si Fu (Cino Latino) made me the best burrito I've ever tasted, I give them 5 plates.

Ruben: 
I found this place on the inter web and the minute i saw it then i knew i wanted to eat there. I was so happy there is finally a new restaurant that is not a bar  in Roscoe Village it's been a while. We went to Si fu on a nice summer afternoon for lunch and the minute i walked in there i loved the atmosphere what can i say its chino and latino atmosphere fortune cookies at the door  sombrero's on the wall it is awesome. Also another cool addition is they have a wall of Mexican hot sauces and Asian hot sauces definitely a cool idea. So at Si fu you get to pick your meat and your bread or salad and you pick chino or latino style i got the coconut curry burrito chino style and it was the best dam burrito i have ever had in my life if you think chipotle is good imagine ten times better! The chicken was very good and the curry omg it felt like it was Kow Soy stuck in a burrito you probably don't know what Koy Soy is its a coconut curry dish served in northern thai land you can see my review of that in our Sticky Rice Thai review. Another thing that we had there was the guacamole and chips and i thought it was great the chips are house made and they are so crunchy and flaky just phenomenal and that guacamole was good too. I give Si fu 5 Plates and i have already been back once and i will be back again soon.

Menu.

Fun with the water dispenser.

Guacamole and chips.

Otto's Mongolian Beef Burrito.

Ruben's coconut curry burrito

First bites.

Hot sauce

Inside

Belly Shack

Today we are reviewing Belly Shack.

Otto:

Belly Shack is located right under the Blue Line train stop at Western, and the interior decorations all have an industrial feel. It has a very limited menu, only five main courses and sometimes they have specials. But I always get the same thing there because I LOVE it. It's the Korean Barbecue Beef with Pita. It also comes with Kimchi. The meat is really delicious. It's thinly cut, and the tasty sauce keeps it really moist. It's one of my favorite meals.

Max:

I love Belly Shack because it's not standard Korean food. It's actually a combination of Korean and Puerto Rican food, in what is called Fusion. I have gone here many times, and I have to say it's my favorite Korean place in Chicago so far. I got the Asian Pork Meatball Sandwich. It's stuffed with somen noodles, Korean chili paste and mint. It's REALLY REALLY BIG!!!!!!! I couldn't quite finish it. But at least it's really really tasty. It's 10 bucks but I have to say it's worth it. The somen noodles are soft and good they taste like ramen noodles actually. The pork meatballs are my favorite part of the dish. They're great with the Korean chili paste on them. The ingredients really complement each other. The pita that it's served in is delicious! They use the same kind of pita on all their dishes but man it's a great pita!! The restaurant Urban Belly and BellyQ are also Fusion Korean places in Chicago. They're owned by the same people as Belly Shack. I really love the atmosphere of Belly Shack. It's got skateboards, graffiti art, cool music and many other urban feeling things. One of the coolest things about the atmosphere I think is the skateboards on the walls. They have really cool designs on them and they look great with the rest of the restaurant. On the restroom doors they actually have Skateboard Trucks as handles, I've always thought that was a cool idea! But I overall say that this is a cool, hip, Asian fusion feeling restaurant that has great food! And I think people who live in Chicago obviously need to try this restaurant because it's my favorite Korean one in Chicago so far!

Ruben:

Belly shack what can i say Chef bill Kim wow's me every time i go to one of his restaurants. Belly Shack is one of my favorite restaurants i just love it. The thing that makes belly shack stand out is the atmosphere matches the location and the food. located right under the Western Blue Line stop Belly Shack has sort of a edgy look with awesome metal stools, metal tables and skate boards hanging on the walls so freaking awesome. The food is amazing it tastes so flavorful , fresh and spicy. I got the korean BBQ beef , 4 miniature pita's with Korean beef and kimchi. First of all the beef is so tasty has so much flavor the minute you bite into it your taste buds dance across your tung i know I'm being a little dramatic but seriously its good beef. The KimChi is also very good tastes so authentic tastes just like the KimChi that you get at Super H Mart a Korean Food store located in Niles IL. Then you take that beef the kimchi put it all in that hot pita Mmmmmmmm. So if your around in wicker park buck town area defiantly check belly shack out and if you missed our review of urban belly belly shack's sister restaurant check it out.

Exterior shot.

Interior shot.

Candies at the counter.

Otto and Ruben both got the Korean BBQ Beef.

Max's Asian Pork Meatball Sandwich

Chicago Food Boys Eat.

Urban Belly

Hello, today we will be reviewing Urban Belly.

Max:

I have never been here before and their food is AMAZING!!! no seriously this is the best review we have done so far, we all think. i had their Rice Cake, if you have never had rice cakes before, they are basically big plumps of rice, but not in grains they are more like balls of rice flour. but anyway, the Rice Cake was very good. it was in a big bowl with Really tasty spicy sauce, and my favorite part, Mango! that's right, Slices of mango were in the sauce, which was interesting since Mango is sweet and the sauce was spicy. but it was Delicious! there were also strips of fried chicken. and even though the sauce made the fried chicken a little soggy, the chicken was still so flavorful!! the restrooms were very pretty, and the tile in the restrooms was pretty too! and the soap containers were very cool, they were old cans that had Korean symbols on them. and they also had a really cool wall of plants,  they were growing in pots and on the wall! and not to get confused with the green rug that was on the wall near the restrooms. they were playing really good music in the entire restaurant!! so after we all finished our meals, we got warm maple doughnuts! and they were delicious with a nice maple flavor!! but they are also too hot if you eat them right way. OHH! and speaking of doughnuts, we tried to go to The Doughnut Vault before we went too Urban Belly. but unfortunately they were sold out :( but even though that they were closed we at least could go too Urban Belly!! so to get back into the subject of Urban Belly, i would definitely go back there because their food is AMAZING! and we loved it.

Otto:
This was the first restaurant we have reviewed when I have been able to try all the meals, and I liked them all. I got the beef brisket, which was really really good, every single part of it was good, except for the garnish on the top (carrots and green stuff), which we removed. It was beef on noodles with a really good, non-spicy curry sauce. I would have liked even more sauce on it. Another dish I tried was the Ramen, which was really good. I don't eat much Ramen, so I don't know how it compares to other Ramen, but the parts I ate of it were good, the noodles and the broth and the pork belly. I've never had rice cakes like the ones in the shrimp and chicken dishes we got, but I really really really like them. They are like rice compacted together, most likely in a tube like thing and then sliced. (We just looked them up on Wikipedia, and I am mostly right.) We got the maple glazed mini donuts for dessert. They were small and warm and delicious.

Ruben:

Okay i have never been here before and it is amazing! First of all the service was great, the woman behind the counter told us what was good and let us take our time before ordering. Also the other staff was very nice. I had the Urban Belly Ramen. I'm new to gourmet ramen i have only had it a couple of times but this ramen was phenomenal. The broth was very good it had a wonderful combination of spices. and the broth really complemented the other ingredients of the ramen. The noodles were good they were not amazing but just regular ramen noodles. The pork belly was so good very chewy but in a good way. Also the mushrooms were a very nice touch to the ramen. I also tried the other dishes and let me say all of them were good, not one tasted bad. I really liked these rice cakes that Max had in his dish. when i go back to urban belly i might consider getting a dish that has the rice cakes in them. To finish it off we had the fried bite sized donuts they were so good! it reminded me of these donuts that i had a couple of times in southern Indiana. even though they were Vietnamese it still reminded me of the south. I liked the atmosphere of the restaurant, very modern and edgy. All there furniture was super cool and they had a awesome plant wall. The music was great—whoever made that playlist thumbs up! to them cause i was dancing throughout the restaurant. Overall i had wonderful experience at Urban Belly and i plan to go back soon. P.S. check out the Urban Belly restroom dancing video below.

Outside of Urban Belly

Shrimp Pad Thai (Korean Rice Cakes with Shrimp, Peanuts, Toasted Garlic & Chives)

Beef Brisket (Thinly Sliced Beef with Wide Rice Noodles, Red Curry & Cilantro) 

Ramen Noodles with Braised Pork Belly, Mushrooms & Egg 

Chicken Katsu with Sliced Rice Cakes, Mango, Cilantro & Korean Chili Broth

Eating/Slurping

Mmmmm.....Maple-Glazed Mini Donuts with Vietnamese Cinnamon 

Ruben at green wall

                       

Max at green wall

Korean Soap Dispenser

Restroom Tile

Chairs

Extra long table

Wall of Plants

The extremely loud and awesome music in the restroom inspired a dance.

And if you just can't get enough of the dancing...

And....

Finally made it to Doughnut Vault.

Sold Out.