Ready for the Action Now; Dinner Time

After a stint of travel, personal time off for seeing the world, and simply sitting still long enough to stop acting like it is imperative that I live my life in one day, I have resumed my eating and journalling. Hip, hip, hurrah! Things have been quite busy and it is important that I take time out to get nourishment for whatever adventures I have in store. And in good spirit, I must keep you, my reading audience, in the know about all the fantastic ethnic eateries that Chicago has to offer.

So, don’t just sit there. Get on the bus. Get on down to a local restaurant and get your fill. Know that there is love in eating. Know that there is life. Just be sure to wipe the last bit of crumbs and gravy from the corners of your lips.

No Spam Here

It is becoming increasingly obvious that spam has taken over cyberspace. If your comment does not show up after you have submitted it, please give it some time. I am moderating the postings that go onto my page and I do that when I am not at work. However, if your comment never shows up, it may be for one or more of the following reasons:

• You sent a link to an offensive page that had a redirect to a porn site.
• You included an invite to participate in some inappropriate behaviour.
• There were more expletives in each sentence than necessary.
• The most substantive thing in your comment was a link to a page that set off my virus software.
• The priest reading your comment over my shoulder had a cardiac arrest.

I am sure it may feel like I am slamming fingers in the drawer by not allowing distasteful comments, links, and embedded photos of full frontal nudity on my page. I may even be considered a twirp for not wanting other readers clicking on links to pages that have viruses in surplus. This is a journal about eating at restaurants, not a page about eating that which is not on a menu or indulging human curiosities in trash. Happy reading and when you do find yourself in one of the restaurants, be good. And if you can’t be good, then improvise.

Remember. No spam here, and I’m not talking about that awful stuff in a can.

Introduction

One of my favorite pastimes is eating good food. Food is my lover. What better way to find out about fantastic restaurants than to read a review. Well, that does not always seem to work. Quite often, I read restaurant reviews written by critics and I wonder if they send apprentices to sample the dishes and report what was on the menu, the ambiance of the restaurants, and whether the service warrants time to write an authentic review. You never get the impression that the food critic actually went to the restaurant. Let’s not forget about the mad rant from some random critic who is just angry on the general principle and doesn’t have anything nice to say. People like that just want a hug — that’s all.

Being a man who will try anything once, that is within reason, I decided to start a journal of Chicago-based ethnic restaurants. Where else in America, other than in New York City, can you find a wealth of restaurants that cater to every ethnicity that lives in the city? Having lived abroad and traveled internationally rather extensively, my tastes in food have changed dramatically to the point where my diet consists primarily of ethnic cuisine — i.e., Ethiopian, Indian, Thai, Jamaican, Ghanaian, Mediterranean, and Moroccan. [As you may notice, my definition of ethnic is in the global sense — translation: not American or based in America or in any region of America.] I am far from being a food critic with reviews in major newspapers and magazines, so you will find a lot of humor in the editorials, which will give readers a feeling that they are having an actual conversation with a friend or family member about a restaurant. I list the restaurants according to their ethnicities alphabetically. A very good friend and I, sometimes joined by one or more adventurers, go to one restaurant per month, twice if hunger dictates. Our rule is that we do not go to franchise or chain restaurants, unless we’re out of options for that type of ethnic food. Many of the eateries are off the beaten path, corner shops, hidden gems, or just plain old holes in the wall.

I hope that you not only enjoy perusing the blog, but that you may find yourself inclined to try one or more of the restaurants. If you have any suggestions for any good independent ethnic restaurants, send those in. We’d love to hear what other adventurous restaurant connoisseurs recommend.
Bon apetite.

Gino Williams