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

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

Amy: Today we’re talking about one of the best topics: eating in Chicago in the summer. We’re joined by writer Chandra Ram, who put together a list of 13 must-eat summer dishes for our new June-July issue. Plus, we’re going to talk about the best things we’ve eaten lately, which includes a summery noodle dish at a new cafe in town. 

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Amy: In our June-July issue, which is out on stands now, we ran a piece on a checklist of 13 must-try summer dishes, from salads to ice cream, and everything in between. Today, we’re joined by the writer of the piece, Chandra Ram, who is a regular contributor to the magazine. Chandra, welcome back.

Chandra Ram: Thank you so much for having me, Amy.

Amy: So, summer in Chicago is great for so many reasons, but for me it is the best time of year to eat in the city. What are some things that you love about summer dining in Chicago?

Chandra: Excited, I love the fact of all produce coming in from local farms. When I say local, I’m counting Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan, and just the fact that yes, we’re in the upper Midwest, and things are rolling in, maybe a little slower, a little later than we would like, but there’s that anticipation, there’s the fact of, you know, I love showing up at the farmer’s market in June, and being like, hi guys, where are the peaches, and they’re like, shut up, they’ll be here later this summer, and really reveling in live, and I just think summer in Chicago is fantastic, and you need to eat all the seasonal food, you need to get outside, you need to get by the water by some body of water, and also just take advantage of all the small little moments where you can grab a small bite that will kind of make your day.

Amy: Yes, all of that. You know, I, as we were putting together this list of, you know, 13 dishes to try, some of my favorites made this, which I’m super excited about, but now I have, like, my whole own checklist of ones I need to hit. Let’s talk about a few of them, starting with one of my own favorites, which is the overpriced tomato at Daisies.

Chandra: Ah, I love it, and this is, this has become a fantastic, a lovely little tradition for me at the end of summer. I love to, well, I might get in and just, you know, have that during the course of a full meal at Daisy’s. When in doubt, I always make sure I get a spot at the bar, and I just order the overpriced tomato and a lovely glass of wine, and then I get a little dessert, because I can’t not have one of Leigh’s desserts from Daisies. But I do want to tell people, because anytime I post about this dish on Instagram, people come after me, and they’re like, why are you calling it overpriced, and don’t you understand? People: This is the name of the dish at the restaurant. I am not saying it’s overpriced, it’s not the cheapest tomato you’re ever gonna have, but it’s really good.

Amy: Yes, that was like a Yelp review or something that you know someone wrote a few years ago, and it’s a hilarious name, but yes, this dish is worth every penny. It’s fantastic.

Chandra: Ugh, it’s.. I look forward..

John: What all is in the dish?

Chandra: It’s a slab of bread from PQM, from Publican Quality Bread, and then I love.. I think it’s.. it’s got a little of.. is it bone marrow on there? Yeah, I think bone marrow on there, and.. and then Joe Frillman says he drizzles it with a little cheap balsamic, and then it’s like this perfect thick slab of tomato and some really great salt and fantastic olive oil, and it’s just it, it’s like the simplicity of a perfect summer tomato times 10, because, because of all the little, you know, all the little touches there.

Amy: John, have you had this dish?

John: Actually, I have, and I was just trying to.. I remember that there was some sort of surprising ingredient on it, and yes, I think it is a little bit of bone marrow, which really just kind of works so weirdly perfectly, like between that and the balsamic, it just kind of like— I don’t know, kind of hits the two competing personalities of a really fresh, ripe summer tomato. So I do love it, and I think sitting at the bar and eating it is the perfect thing to do.

Chandra: It’s such a nice little moment to say farewell to summer. I think it was the year before last I got the last overpriced tomato dish.

Amy: Wow.

Chandra: And so I was getting close, and I was there on like a Saturday night at 9 o’clock or something, and I was like, looked around the dining room, and I was like, sorry suckers, but wait until next year.

John: Also, it’s.. tomatoes here come in so late in the summer, and then it’s just womp, there’s so many of them, and they’re so good, and then they kind of peter away, so there is just this great, like, you know, tomato moment you want to live in for a bit, and I think the dish really encapsulates it.

Chandra: Another dish that you know really captures summer produce is the creamed elotes at Antique Taco, so good, so good, and I really love that it, that Rick Ortiz turns elotes into a dip, because I— especially in summer, honestly, any time of the year, I just want to shovel delicious food onto perfectly fried tortilla chips, so if I got with beautiful summer corn, especially after, in the first part of summer, if you’ve driven outside the city, you see corn fields everywhere, and you’re just like, yes, yes, you will all be mine at some point late summer. So, I think this is such a fun dish.

Amy: Awesome. And so, another one that is a personal favorite of mine is the crab salad with waffle fries at Giant.

Chandra: It’s so good, and I think doubly so if you snag a spot on the patio at Giant, because I didn’t actually know Giant had a patio, I think for a couple of years, and it’s one of those like hidden little spots in the city, obviously, behind an incredibly busy and popular, and you know, highly regarded restaurant. But those waffle fries are just incredible. I mean, it’s, it’s.. it first of all, they’re not like any kind of waffle fry you’ve already had, because they are piped by hand into this, you know, hash-marked, crisscross pattern, and then fried, and then you get this hot fried potato, the chilled crab salad, the cocktail sauce. It’s just perfection.

Amy: It’s so good. And I actually have never been on the Giant patio either, so I need to add that to my summer to-do list.

Chandra: Put it on your checklist, it’s.. it’s just like this. I don’t know why it feels hidden to me, but you know, perhaps because I was so shocked that I didn’t know that Giant even had a patio for years. But it’s just a lovely, lovely spot. 

Amy: Great. So, one that I haven’t had.. I haven’t even heard of this place, Matcha En, the ice cream spot. 

Chandra: Yes, yes, I last summer, I, my oldest brother was in town with his children. We had promised my niece and nephew that we would, we would go out for, we, you know, we would go to Chinatown, we would get some bubble tea, we, you know, would just kind of do it up and walking around Chinatown with them, and just seeing all of the over-the-top desserts, it’s such a fun, you know, like I think there’s something to be said for taking preteens on a dessert crawl around Chinatown, anyways, because there’s so many incredible ice cream shops and pastry shops. But this hojicha soft serve, it’s just so refreshing and delicious. It’s they’ve they make it with a like a fantastic tea, it’s creamy, it’s rich. And then I like it with the corn flakes, because I love, I love getting that crunchy textural contrast. I will say I think that anytime you’re in Chicago in the summer, you have to find soft serve. It is, it’s, it’s just such a wonderful treat, and there’s so many great spots all over the city.

Amy: For sure. Yeah, and there’s a Lake View location of Macha En as well, so definitely gonna have to add that to the list for the summer. 

Amy: And John, I know that you and I often wax poetic about some of our favorite seasonal dishes. What’s a standout Chicago summer dish for you? 

John: Mm. Well, I know this is the most basic thing to say ever, but I do love Italian ice, and I love when the Italian ice places open up in summer in Chicago. I go to is always Miko’s, which is in Logan Square, and it’s about a, I don’t know, 20- or 30-minute walk from our house to go there and back, and that is, I don’t know, just my favorite bite of summer. I like to get passion fruit and lemon. Also, Ava’s on Western Avenue is great, and they have some very nice, like, rotating flavors. So, yeah, a very basic response, but I cannot get enough Italian ice. 

Amy: I feel like Italian ice is really a Chicago thing, like I know you know, obviously they have it other places around the country, but I never really have seen it embraced with such passion as it is here.

John: Oh my god, it is so true. And I just love also, like I hate waiting in line for, you know, stupid viral bagels and you know, shit like that, but I love waiting in line at Miko’s, because it’s like so many different kinds of people, and so many little kids who are excited to be getting Italian ice, and it’s just.. I don’t know, when you finally get it, too, and it’s really like sweet and sour and cold, it’s just like a really nice feeling.

Amy: Yes, I would be willing to wait in line for Italian ice, but almost nothing else. 

Chandra: Yeah, it’s part of like what makes Italian ice. It’s like part of the culture of summer in Chicago. We are like, we will be thinking about this for seven of the next nine months, so like, yes, let’s enjoy this, let’s it, let’s all smile at each other, because we are outside and it is beautiful and glorious, and we’re about to eat something cold and sweet and tart and refreshing and so good.

John: And then, what else? How about you, Amy? What are you? What’s your summer go-to?

Amy: Well, last summer I was eating lunch on the patio at Frontera Grill, and it was a weekday, so it’s like I can’t have my usual go-to Frontera margarita here, and I got an agua fresca, and I think it was the best agua fresca I’d ever had. It was just like, you know, lime and melon, and it was so fantastic. They do a daily agua fresca there. You may have also had their agua frescas at Xoco. They’re really good, but the one at Frontera was fabulous, and also really just like a nice reminder that you could have a nice drink in the middle of the day, and it doesn’t have to be a glass of wine or something too. So definitely planning on doing that again this summer.

John: Okay, good to know. And then I also think that mid-summer is a fantastic time to go eat pizza out on the patio, whether you’re at Lobo or better yet at Middle Brow, and better yet on Tuesday at Middlebrow, when they do that Tavern Tuesday, and they have those like super, super thin, super, super crunchy tavern-style pies that are cut into, you know, perfect 1.5-inch squares. That is some serious summer.

Amy: They are so good. I love how teeny, teeny, tiny those squares are. They are the best. And yes, the middle brow patio in the summer is a really special place.

Chandra: And tavern-style pizza in the summer is so perfect, because it doesn’t weigh you down. It’s, it’s, you know, it works with the hot weather and those teeny tiny little pieces. It’s like, I think, John, you once started counting how many you were eating, which is something I would never do ever, because I assume—

John: I had 18. I get to brag that I ate 18 pieces of pizza.

Chandra: You know. I’m, it’s so nice, so you’re just like sitting and hanging out, and you’re like, “Oh, I’m just gonna grab another bite, I’m just gonna grab another.”

John: Right. Kobayashi has nothing on me.. All right, any others?

Amy: Yeah, I’ll call out the cappelletti al pesto and burrata at Tortello, which is, you know, the great little Italian spot in Wicker Park. This is a seasonal offering, you know, with fresh basil pesto in the summer, and it’s, they add some, you know, globs of burrata onto it. So delicious. I’m a big fan of their pasta in general, but I really, really love this one, and they have like a great little outdoor seating area too, so you know, a nice spot for a casual dinner on a summer night.

John: Great, I should go back and check it out again. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten at Tortello, but yeah, it’s always.. it’s a really fun spot, and I think eating the pasta there is a very different experience than buying a box in the supermarket and making it a home.

Amy: Very much. One more dish, John?

John: Sure, I don’t know if this is a regular summer offering, but Jason Hammel, if you’re listening to this, or Jason Hammel’s publicist, if you’re listening to this, at Lula Cafe last summer they made this tomato and plum salad that was like bonkers good. It had some like fennel, I don’t know, not fennel seeds, but like fennel pollen, like little fennel pollen pods up on top of it, just a really nice tart vinaigrette with a sharp edge of vinegar in it, and just the way that the kind of— it wasn’t the sweetness of the tomato and plum playing off each other, it was almost more the umami in really great peak-season summer tomatoes playing off the texture of the plums, but I thought that was the best tomato salad I’d ever had in my whole damn life. 

Amy: Wow, that sounds amazing.

John: Yeah, so Jason Hammel, hi, listen to us and make this again, please.

Amy: Give us the salad, yeah.

John: Yeah, give us the salad, just, you know, hold up two two fingers if you’re listening to this.

Amy: John, what’s the best thing you ate lately?

John: I finally got to try out Zaab E Lee, the sort of Northern Thai Isan-style restaurant in Albany Park, and it’s a fun place. It is decorated inside, so that you feel like you’re eating in like a street stall, and the food is bright and funky and interesting. The dish I would send everyone there to eat is called three-flavor fish, and what it is, it’s a whole tilapia that had been scored to the bone, dropped it in hot oil, left there for a good long time until it was halfway to fish jerky, and then just doused, like doused, doused, doused in this three-flavor sauce, so called because it’s, you know, sour, salty, and sweet. It’s also quite hot, and there are a ton of fried shallots and cilantro leaves on top of it, and man, my friends and I, we just picked that sucker to the bones. It was so good. So everyone should go try three-flavor fish. It’s at Zaab E Lee. How about you, Amy?

Amy: Well, I just had lunch at Txa Txa Club, which is pretty new. It’s in Logan Square. It’s from, you might know their name, Txa Txa Club, from hosting some pop-up dinners around town. They also used to work at Lula, so they bring kind of a similar, you know, sensibility to the food there. I really enjoyed everything, but my standout dish were the cold noodles, tossed in xo sauce with sesame, soy, you know, really spicy chilies, bright herbs, it was just like such a good dish, and the fact that there are cold noodles, you know, it really feels like something to eat in the hot weather. And it’s on their like signature section, so I don’t think it’s going anywhere, and they told me that that’s their most popular dish, so definitely worth checking out the cold noodles there.

John: Do love me, I do love cold sesame noodles. And then Amy, Txa Txa Clubs has sort of a funny spelling, right?

Amy: Yes, it is T-X-A, T-X-A. All right, and then Chandra, how about you? What’s the best thing you ate lately? 

Chandra: Well, first of all, I’d like to say that I, the next, the most delicious thing I eat next will be after I murdered Kessler, because that was exactly my restaurant and dish. 

Amy: No way.

John: Oh no, I’m so sorry!

Chandra: So everyone say your goodbyes to him, yeah, I’m gonna get some work done, and then drive to your place to murder you. But I have a backup. I participate. Okay, so one of the best things I’ve eaten lately is the walleye katsu at Maxwells Trading. Yes, it’s so fun. I have a personal love of spotting when chefs are playing around with the concept of a Filet-O-Fish sandwich on their menus and recreating them and doing them in their own styles. And I feel like this, you know, like there isn’t a slab of American cheese on it, it’s not on as squishy a bun, but it does have such a fantastic, like, so much fantastic flavor, the crunch is unbelievable, it is, it’s impossible to stop eating it. This Japanese tartar sauce is tangy, creamy. There’s all of this like fantastic marinated cabbage with it. It’s just such a great bite. I am particularly enthralled by the fact that it’s walleye, because I love seeing a Midwestern fish on the menu, and yeah, that is that one is really fun.

Amy: Yes, cosign all of this. John and I had this dish together recently, and it was so fantastic, but also I love that you both endorsed the same three-flavor fish, two fried fishes. Fried fish feels like it’s really having a moment right now.

Chandra: Right? It’s not even lent anymore, but we’re like, do it. Let’s have the fried fish.

Amy: I’m here for it.