Chicago Day Two: Pancakes and Little India
After an inspiring morning at the Art Institute of Chicago (click here to read what I have to say about the wonderful Edward Hopper show), my sister and I decided to walk through the city up to Second City, where we would meet our parents. Around lunch time we started looking for places to eat, and before long we came across The Original Pancake House. As a New Yorker I am usually suspicious of anything calling itself “original” — is it Original Famous Ray’s or Famous Original Ray’s? — but I knew we had to eat at the Original Pacake House.
It was pretty busy (lunch time on Saturday) but we were seated almost immediately. The menu is huge, but I knew I wanted pancakes. As amazing as the original apple pancake looked, it also looked like about five pounds of sugar, so I took the safe route and ordered what they call the “Two by Four,” which is two eggs and four pancakes. My sister went a more savory route, and ordered a crepe filled with spinach and served with potato pancakes.
The food came out pretty fast despite the lunch rush. The eggs were fairly standard for a pancake house, but the pancakes themselves were in a league all their own. They were surprisingly light and fluffy, almost melting in my mouth. My sister’s crepe was very good as well, smothered in Hollandaise, and the potato pancakes seemed homemade, as opposed to the frozen ones you see in most restaurants.After lunch we saw a surprisingly funny show at Second City, and then returned to out hotel. My parents had made reservations at the House of Blues, but I couldn’t bear the thought of eating there. My sister called her friend who writes freelance for Time Out Chicago , who volunteered to meet us and take us to Chicago’s Little India neighborhood. This was much more agreeable to me than the House of Blues, even though it meant a long ride on the El.
Little India reminded me a lot of Jackson Heights in Queens, with Indian video stores, Indian clothing stores, and block after block of Indian restaurants, all busy late on a Saturday night. My sister’s friend took us to Tiffin, an Indian restaurant she’d been to a few times before and loved. We didn’t have a reservation, but someone who did have a reservation was late so we got their table. As the manager said, “these people are here, we’ll seat them.” I was impressed with this policy; I don’t think any restaurant in New York would be so accomodating.
The menu had a huge vegetarian section, and I ordered a vegetarian thali. Partly because it embodies the idea of tiffin, but mostly because it offered so much variety that I wouldn’t have to decide on just one dish.
I can’t describe everything on the plate, but it was almost all excellent — creamy curried vegetables, spicy dhaal, lemony pickles, and more. The only disappointment was the soup, which had what tasted like canned veegtables, and the rice was a little salty. The thali also came with a large puffy chapati bread, which I used in place of a fork and spoon.I would highly recommend visiting any of the restaurants in the Little India neighborhood over eating at a place like the House of Blues (my parents described it as “fine”), no matter what city you are in. It will give you the opportunity to see new parts of the city (the House of Blues was literally next door to our hotel) and also to get some truly great food.
The Original Pancake House — 22 East Bellvue Pl
Tiffin — 2536 W Devon Ave
Click here to read my report on Day One.
Posted by Howard
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