Eating
PHOTOGRAPHS: TOP LEFT: COURTESY AVEC; TOP RIGHT: JACLYN RIVAS; CENTER RIGHT, BOTTOM: MARTHA WILLIAMS
Write your Eating Avec Burger at Avec
own review at
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Edited by
Amy Cavanaugh
food.chi@
timeout.com @AmyCavanaugh
Fried chicken at Dusek’s Knockwurst at Bohemian House
Ave; 312-801-2100, promontory
chicago.com). 1227 W 18th St (312-526-3851, dusekschicago .com). Mon–Fri 11am–3pm.
Fat Rice
Lunch is the new brunch The city’s top restaurants reclaim the midday meal.
By Amy Cavanaugh & Elizabeth Atkinson
he days of three-martini lunches are long past (sob), but that doesn’t mean midday meals need to be a soul-crushing parade of turkey sandwiches. Some of Chicago’s best restaurants agree—they’re adding new weekday lunches that are more low- key and affordable than dinner. We’ll take it—we’re treating weekday lunch as the new brunch and are escaping the office, meeting friends and relaxing over great, and we mean great, food.
T
Avec By night, Avec has a dark date- night vibe, but by day, it’s brighter and more relaxed. The famous chorizo-stuffed Medjool dates are reborn as a chorizo-beef burger topped with bacon, date mostarda and zippy piquillo pepper aioli
($14), while a slow-roasted pork sandwich, a soul-satisfying banh mi riff, has marinated carrots, turnips, cilantro and spicy harissa aioli ($12). Low-octane drinks, like a fizzy Jerez spritz ($11), keep it light. 615 W Randolph St (312-377- 2002,
avecrestaurant.com). Mon–Fri 11:30am–2pm.
Bohemian House Lunch at the nouveau Czech gem includes dinner mainstays, like an elegant chicken paprikash ($25), plus a new burger ($12) and refreshing mango mint soda ($6). Knockwurst, brightened by sauerkraut and mustard seeds, ($13) is another worthy offering. End with a fruit kolacky ($8) before heading back to work. 11 W Illinois St (312-955-0439, bohochicago .com). Mon–Fri 11am–2pm.
32
TIMEOUT.COM/CHICAGO September–November 2015 Formento’s
Skip the long dinner waits and go to this Macanese spot for lunch, when you can sit right away and get down to business with gingery pork dumplings in chili oil ($8) and nasi lemak, a Malaysian dish with coconut rice surrounded by peanuts, fried anchovies and pickled cabbage ($10). Booze is available, but for midday refueling, you can’t beat the energizing Hong Kong–style milk tea ($3). 2957 W Diversey Ave (773-661-9170,
eatfatrice.com). Wed–Sat 11am–2pm.
Formento’s Dusek’s
This Pilsen spot has great drinks, like the lemony, beer-based Dusek Cooler, with cloves from herbal bitters Becherovka ($9). For food, try a po’boy with perfectly fried oysters, Old Bay aioli and crunchy pickle slices ($14). Still hungry? Chef Jared Wentworth also recently launched a lunch menu at the Promontory (5311 S Lake Park
When you can take a long lunch, this classic Italian spot delivers pastas like orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe ($18), and a pimiento cheese and grilled onion laden burger ($15), plus a great wine list. But for a lightning- fast lunch, hit the daily changing salad bar—it’s $19 and includes cured meats and olives. 925 W Randolph St (312-690-7295,
formentos.com). Mon–Fri 11:30am–2pm.
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