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Amy Cavanaugh: Welcome to Dish From Chicago Magazine. I’m Amy Cavanaugh, Chicago magazine’s dining editor.

John Kessler: And I’m John Kessler, Chicago magazine’s dining critic

Amy: Today, we’re talking about Atsumeru, the new Nordic-Japanese tasting menu restaurant, as well as Turkish Doner, a new spot in Uptown. Plus we’ll also share the best things we’ve eaten lately, which includes a delicious falafel sandwich. 

Amy: So in the March issue, I wrote about Atsumeru, which is the new Japanese-Nordic tasting menu restaurant from Devin Denzer, a chef who’s originally from Minnesota, but he has been in Chicago for the past five years or so. You may know his name from, he was hosting a pop-up called Loon for four years. He also worked at Schwa and he recently opened Atsumeru in the former Temporis space, doing a tasting menu. So even though I wrote the story, John, you’ve been as well. So I know that we are both big fans of this restaurant. I really enjoyed the experience. I thought, not only was the food all really delicious, I just enjoyed the feel of the space, the feel of the service. I found, I found it to be the right amount of food. I think so many tasting menus just give you way too much food, but this was like perfect.

John: Amy, before we talk about Atsumeru, I’ve got to disclose something to our listeners, which is that my daughter’s partner, Tony, is the sous chef at Atsumeru. And, you know, I’m a known quantity. I know Tony quite well. Of course, when I went, we paid for everything.

Amy: Yeah, and I just really thought it was a lovely experience. So what was your kind of takeaway from it?

John: Yeah, no, I’m with you. I really liked, as you did, the fact that it was a lot of seafood on the menu. It made it so that, if you like seafood, it was not too heavy. I mean, there was, you know, a variety of different kinds of things to eat, some vegetarian courses. But, you know, you might have a course with some Wagyu beef or some duck or something, but it is just the right amount of food, right? It kind of moves along at a nice clip. There’re a lot of courses, but they’re not so many that you kind of want to start editing things out. It just felt like, oh, okay, that was really, you know, it like it stuck its landing.

Amy: Totally, yeah. And, you know, I was intrigued by this mashup of Nordic and Japanese, because it’s like, Well, I haven’t seen that before, but then you realize how much it makes sense to combine these two cuisines. Like they are both very seafood heavy. They you know, we have fermentation and pickling in Nordic cuisine, and we have that in Japanese cuisine. And so I think that even though we really haven’t seen this combo before in town, it makes a whole lot of sense. And Denzer hasn’t been to either place. But— 

John: No, he hasn’t.

Amy: Which is funny. But I think that you know he he’s very smart and thoughtful and brings a really good sensibility to his menu. What are some of your favorite dishes?

John: I really liked— So when you start, you go downstairs and you have a few bites down in, you know, they turned the basement into a kind of a bar and lounge. And you know, there’s some just nice little like canapés to have down there. And there was one that was a, kind of, like a little choux, like a little gougère that was filled with a Gjetost cream, Gjetost, I never can pronounce it right. Can you, how do you say it? 

Amy: Gjetost. 

John: Gjetost. Okay, thank you. Thank you. You do the Nordic. I’ll do the Japanese. Between us, we’ll get the pronunciation right, yeah. But that was just such an interesting way of presenting that cheese, you know, which is made from caramelized whey, and I’ve had it. It’s not my favorite thing. But I was like, Oh, I get how delicious this can be. And I see why people in Scandinavia love it. I also love their chawanmushi, which had, it changes with the seasons, but when I went it had this nice piece of seared ocean trout on top of of a custard and then a spot prawn in a, it was like a lemon grass and galangal foam. I mean, it sounds very all over the place, but it was just all the flavors worked together, and they just had this, I don’t know. I found that his cooking had kind of a vibe to it that I liked. It really was like cold-weather food. 

Amy: Absolutely. Yeah, those two dishes also really stood out for me. And I know the menu changes, you know, with some frequency. Like, I think I went maybe a week or two after you did, and my main meat course was wagyu. And I go to so many tasting menus, and I see the wagyu, and it’s like, Oh, of course, it’s time for the wagyu. But here — like without fail, it’s on like every menu — but he’s cooking it in soy sauce and no other seasonings. So it’s beautiful. The meat itself, like, tastes beautiful and different. And then he paired it with a sunchoke puree, crispy shiso leaf, and fried corn silk. Really unexpected. And I absolutely loved it. Great, you know, combinations of flavors and textures. So, you know, he took something that felt feels very expected for a tasting menu, and really made it stand out. 

John: One other thing about Atsumeru that I really like is that it isn’t that expensive. I mean, yes, it’s expensive, but with most other tasting menus, you know, going over $200 these days, you know, I think for last year, we’re seeing a lot that were like in the $195 range. Now that’s turned into $225. And Atsumeru still keeps the price pretty well under $200 and I appreciate that.

Amy: I agree. I felt like I saw the bill and I was like, I felt like I got bang for my buck, which is how you want to feel leaving a restaurant. 

John: Yeah. I mean, no matter at any level, right? You want to feel like you get bang for your buck, even if it’s, you know, a 12-course, $200-plus tasting menu, you want to feel like it was worth it. And you definitely do there. 

John: For a Neighborhood Find this month, I went to Turkish Doner. It is a restaurant, and you’re going to tell me the neighborhood. Is it Uptown? 

Amy: It is Uptown.

John: Yay. Okay, I’m learning Chicago geography. I’m finally getting the neighborhoods right. Yeah, it is in Uptown. It’s at the end of the Vietnamese section of Argyle, and it is a very interesting Turkish restaurant run by an Azerbaijani guy named Etibar Maharramli, and Etibar cut his teeth as a restaurateur in Ukraine. So it’s a complicated story.

Amy: Yeah, this is a fascinating spot. Like, it feels like, you know, he’s really done a lot and and has ended up here now serving doner on Argyle, which I think is fascinating. I live fairly close by, and I have yet to go, but your story and talking about it here is really making me want to get there soon.

John: Yeah, it’s really, I mean, first of all, the food is very, very good. It’s delicious, if you like doner kebab, it comes all kinds of ways. But what’s really interesting is, I have begun to understand that Turkish food is really kind of like, for Central Europe, it is the cuisine that everybody knows and loves. You might say it’s a little bit like the way Italian food is in Europe. Wherever you go in Europe, you’re going to find just a great pizzeria and Italian restaurants everywhere. And I feel all through Central Asia and Central Europe, there are great examples of Turkish food. And so, you know, he’ll do both beef and chicken doner, but you can get it Slavic style rolled up with white sauce and cabbage. Or you can get it Turkish style in this ka’ak bread, delicious home-baked bread that’s split and just piled with the meat and veggies and white sauce. And it’s a really, really good sandwich. You can also get İskender doner, which is slices of doner meat served with rice and tomato sauce with yogurt and melted butter.

Amy: That sounds fantastic. For the shawarma, do you like the chicken or the beef?

John: I liked both a lot. I am maybe it’s just my own proclivity. I kind of like the chicken a bit better. I gotta say I got a chick— Or maybe what I should say is, I got the chicken doner sandwich on the bread. It was great. It just, you know, there are lots of crispy little burnt ends in there, which I really like. They also make pide, which are those Turkish-style, kind of ovoid-shaped pizzas. They look like a like the shape of an eye, like the eye is drawn in like hieroglyphics, that’s what the pide look like. They have khachapuri, the Georgian pizza that has the cheese and the raw egg in the center. So there’s really a lot to explore there. And the people are super, super nice.

Amy: Oh, fantastic. Yeah. This is definitely going on my list to get to soon. And they’re open for both lunch and dinner?

John: Yep, it’s a small place right now with just a few tables. And when I went at lunch, it filled up really fast, so go a little early. But also, what’s interesting is it has been such a success that they have taken over the spot next door that used to be Millie’s Pizza in the Pan, and they’re going to expand into there so there’ll be more seating. 

Amy: Oh, that’s fantastic. Good for them.

John: Yeah. And he’s a, he’s just a really sweet guy. I really— I was learning more about the restaurant, we texted back and forth a lot, and he told me his story of how he had to leave Ukraine. And he had a, you know, he’s very young, but he had, you know, very entrepreneurial, and had a small chain of Turkish restaurants in Kharkiv. And then eventually had to leave and came here and just started fresh.

Amy: What’s the best thing you ate lately?

John: So I had my my basic B lunch, which I really love. It’s been a while since I’ve had it, and I always love it is the chopped salad at RL. RL being the restaurant at, yes, at Ralph Lauren, where I don’t fit in it at all with the kind of fancy Gold Coast ladies, but I love being there. It is the best chopped salad in Chicago. There’s hearts of palm, avocado, feta, corn, tomatoes, radishes, little bits of raw green beans. And you can get, like, some shrimp or something on top of it. You can get yourself a little glass of wine. And it’s just like dudes who think they’re ladies who lunch and eat alone. It’s the perfect place. How about you?

Amy: I picked this dish because I ate it and it was fantastic. But it’s very spot-on for this particular episode. It’s the falafel ka’ak from Ragadan. It is. So, yeah, so the same sesame bread as we just talked about at Turkish Doner, but with falafel. And so I live very close to Ragadan, and I’ve been a number of times, but I’ve actually never had this sandwich. And this is kind of the sandwich that started it all, and I think it’s my new favorite. So it’s falafel— 

John: I love it.

Amy: So good, so so good. You know, the falafels are, like, really light and flavorful, and then it’s dressed with tomatoes, cucumber, pickles, hummus, tahini, this red chili sauce, and then parsley sauce. So I love, you know, messy, saucy things, and this really, really fits the bill. I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve ever had at Ragadan, but this sandwich is going to be my new go-to.

John: What’s so great about it too is it’s messy and saucy, but the way that bread is so, like, crisp on the outside, but airy in the center, it absorbs a lot of it, so you don’t end up with just this handful of goo like you do with some other saucy sandwiches. It’s just, it’s it’s like, it really is a easier thing to eat. It’s messy, but I love that sandwich. 

Amy: So good.