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

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

Amy: Today, we’re talking about dining in the Loop, and we’re joined by a guest, noted Chicago food writer Nick Kindelsperger, who writes a newsletter focused on that very topic. We’ll talk about some new places to check out, how dining in the Loop has evolved, and more. Plus, we’re going to talk about the best things we’ve eaten lately, which includes a sandwich at a top Chicago bakery. 

Amy: Today we’re joined by Nick Kindelsperger, a longtime Chicago food writer, whose byline you may know from the Chicago Tribune and Serious Eats. Now he’s writing a terrific newsletter all about dining in the Loop. It’s called Nick in the Loop, and he publishes it on Substack. He started publishing last October and comes out with new stories every Tuesday. Nick, thanks so much for joining us.

Nick: Thank you.

Amy: Can you tell us the backstory of your newsletter, and why you’ve decided to focus on the Loop.

Nick: Yeah, I had just kind of found myself in the Loop quite often. I once I left the Tribune, I was working downtown, and then my daughter takes ballet downtown as well, and she’s progressed to the point where she’s now down there five nights a week, which means I’m down there five nights a week, and so I kind of wanted something to do while I was down there so often, and so the idea of kind of looking at what was happening in the Loop came up, and when I was at the Tribune, I was kind of known as the person who went everywhere, who went to every neighborhood, I mean, I think I’ve literally been to every neighborhood in Chicago, in most of the suburbs, and there’s something really great about that, about exploring different neighborhoods and seeing what else is out there. But I thought it might be interesting to just do a hyper focus on one neighborhood, and since I was in the Loop so often, I thought I would try that, and I, you know, people always try to write about things outside of downtown, I feel like, but the Loop is kind of cast aside often. It’s kind of the forgotten stepchild of the downtown scene, and I thought it would be weird and interesting to see what was actually there.

Amy: I think it’s such a great idea for a newsletter, because you know, you’re right, like I haven’t worked downtown in six years, like I work from home. I live on the North Side, and so I certainly go to the Loop, and I go to River North and those areas, but I’m not there day to day, and I’m not, you know, seeing how things were changing. But every time I go down, you know, there are tons of people going out for lunch, stopping places after work. It does feel like there’s a lot of stuff happening there that really kind of seems to be escaping a lot of coverage in other places.

Nick: Yeah, it’s surprising the number of restaurants that have opened, especially toward the east side of the Loop. And then there are all of these places that are just institutions that I had never, you know, if you don’t work right next to it, you wouldn’t even know it’s there, that have been there for 50 years that have just been fascinating to sort of stumble into. And so my goal is to try to hit every restaurant in the Loop, which I thought wouldn’t take that long, but is actually turning out to be quite an ordeal, and so I think that this is going to go on for quite some time now. You can sign up, and you won’t run out of things to read for quite some time.

Amy: Awesome. All right, so let’s kind of talk about some newer spots. What are some of the new Loop openings that you’ve been really excited by?

Nick: I just went to the Jibarito Stop today, which is a Puerto Rican restaurant that opened on Wabash. Actually, Wabash has a number of different things. So, and then further down, I guess, Momento, if we want to call that new, has opened within the year, which is a really terrific Mexican restaurant in the Loop. It seems almost like it should be in River North or the West Loop. That’s one that I’ve been super excited about. There’s a lot of lunch places that are fascinating. So Da Local Boy has a new location in the Loop that was mentioned, I don’t know if we should mention other publications here, but it was mentioned by The New York Times. It’s one of their 25 best restaurants in Chicago, which we can debate, you know, if it should have been that high. But yeah, it’s a great spot, and they have a second location here. 82 Kimbap is a, is a Korean rice hand roll place, that’s just fascinating. Another place that I think has kind of just been overlooked is KTM Kitchen, which is a, it’s Indian, and then also Nepalese. They have momos, those little dumplings. You just really, you wouldn’t know it was there.

Amy: I actually, I have not been to any of the Loop locations of the places you’ve mentioned. I’ve been to Da Local Boy in Highwood, and found that very good. Yeah, I have Kimbap on my list. I feel like I’ve been impressed with the new places that have been opening in Sterling Food Hall. Yes, it seems, yeah, like I feel like food halls have not been having the easiest time, but it seems like whatever’s happening there is really working,

Nick: Yeah. You know, when I would, was last looking at the Loop at the Tribune, it was probably.. it was literally 2020 in February, so it was just a week before everything went down, and it really felt like the Loop was coming up, in that there was more places than ever, and the Loop got hit hard by the pandemic. There are still loads of empty storefronts, and so it needs some attention, I think, but I do think it’s really on the upswing, but one of the things that got hit the hardest were all the food halls in this, in the area. But Sterling now has Pizza Dada, which is an excellent New York slice shop that they have great slices, and then also grandma slices, which is one of my favorite New York slices that you just almost don’t see at all here in Chicago. And then the other place, Seedo’s Levantine Bakery, is also a really interesting spot there.

Amy: Yeah, I stopped for breakfast at Seedo’s recently, and I had this date cake that was like really fantastic, and I know that I need to go back and try some more things. 

Amy: Nick, you’re not just covering new spots. What have been some of your other favorite overall finds?

Nick: I really love going to some of the older bars in the neighborhood, especially Monk’s Pub. I just love that place so much. It has a ridiculously good beer list for a place in the Loop, and with obviously a specialty of Belgian beer, and so you can go there and find beers that you’re not going to find almost anywhere else in the city, just on draft, and it’s so unpretentious, and it’s really fun to go check out. Let’s see, where else have I been? I’ve been checking out Miller’s Pub a lot. I haven’t written about it yet. I’m trying to figure out the best way to do it. You know, a lot of these places have been open just forever, and so they have these massive menus, and it’s so hard to know how to sort through them, because there’s a lot of things that are probably just okay, but— 

John: I went to Miller’s Pub before going to something at the Symphony Center, and you know we were just looking to change it up, and it was right there, and it was really fun. It was a nice old school environment. The waiters had that feeling like they had all been there 30 years, and you know, we definitely like, we’re like, yeah, let’s come back here.

Amy: I think I’ve only been to Miller’s for Tom and Jerry time.

Nick: That’s true, yeah, that they have a longstanding tradition during December with that.

Amy: For those who don’t know of the Tom and Jerry, it’s, it’s like a kind of like an eggnog, and Miller’s makes a noted version that’s really, really good.

Nick: I’ve also just recently checked out, this is kind of embarrassing, but Ceres Cafe, which is in the financial district, and it’s just, it’s been there forever, and everyone jokes about it serving really strong drinks, and I thought that it was kind of a, would be a joke, but there’s no lying going on. These are some of the strongest drinks I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

Amy: I have actually never been there, so, like, I’m embarrassed. I’ve never been. I feel like that is one should be on my, like, Chicago bucket list to get to at some point, like, that feels like a real icon.

Nick: I was looking for happy hours, and their happy hour runs from 1:30 to 3:30 in afternoon. 

Amy: Oh my god, 

Amy: Oh my god, that’s amazing.

Nick: So I went, and it was, and it was packed, and all these people were drinking, you know, the.. it’s one of those places where they fill a little glass with ice, fill it all the way up with booze, and then give you the mixer on the side, and you know it was tough. I had to put, set one, the second drink aside, because I didn’t, I had to drive home, and so I couldn’t finish it. But it’s quite a, quite a fun place to try.

Amy: That’s funny. You know. As you’ve been kind of looking at the evolution of the Loop, are you finding that, like, more of these new places are lunch focused, or do we have places that are doing, like, both lunch and dinner, or just dinner?

Nick: It’s a mix, you know. So, I think that, we think of, when I think of the Loop, I think of sides of it. So, when you get closer to the east side, which is a little bit more touristy, a little bit busier most of the time. You’re going to have the mix of lunch and dinner. The further west you go, it’s going to be more business, so it’s going to be more lunch focused. And then when you go south, it, I mean, all bets are off, I think. So one of my favorite places is actually Bistro Monadnock, which is such a find, and they make incredible cocktails too, and serve really excellent French food, but it’s totally not in a place that you would think would be busy after hours, but it’s been, it’s been remarkable. So, you know—

John: They’re not open on, they’re not open on Saturday or Sunday, right?

Nick: Oh, I don’t know about that, that would make sense.

Amy: I feel like their hours have changed a fair bit, and I don’t know if that is true. They are open Tuesday to Saturday, so closed Sunday, Monday.

Nick: But see, the Loop is such a weird place, because I think actually more people live in the Loop now than have for like 100 years, you know, the Loop was just not a place that people lived before, but it used to be where all the dining and nightlife was located. There are all these buildings that used to be these huge restaurant and nightlife spots that either have been destroyed and turned into parking garages or have been adapted into something else, so there is this history in the Loop of it being a nightlife spot, but we’re seeing things different now as people are not returning to work, more people, they’re adapting these old buildings and turning them into places that people can actually live, and so then other places are popping up to support that, and so we’re seeing, you know, the Loop has always been changing for its whole history, but right now we’re, that’s the kind of thing we’re seeing, and so instead of it being totally abandoned, it’s slowly converting into a place that people are actually moving to, so we’ll see how, if that happens faster or slower, but that’s sort of what I’m noticing right now. 

Amy: Oh, that’s interesting.

John: So, Nick, I do have a question for you. 

Nick: Yeah, yeah. 

John: We do like to go down and go see shows at like the Chicago Theatre or Siskel Film Center or Goodman Theatre, and it always seems that we are like terrible at planning, and then just before— plan to get downtown a couple hours early, and then go to the same kind of mediocre restaurant we know we can get in and out of. And I’m curious, what would you tell people? Do you have any good finds for pre-theater dining?

Nick: Yes, absolutely. I’ve already mentioned Momento, which is right around that area. Then there’s a new, there’s a place called Sotto that’s in the Italian Village complex. I’m not sure if you guys have ever been to this, but there’s a basically, is it 100 years old? And it has..

Amy: Yeah, I haven’t been, but I know it’s like a real icon.

Nick: So you see this building, and if you walk, you go in the lobby. If you go up the stairs, you go to this very old-school Italian-American restaurant that is, yeah, you know, I haven’t actually eaten dinner there, but they have a great bar, and they have a great happy hour as well, that’s fun to check out. But I mean, it’s one of those places where they have decorations of like gaudy Italian vista scenery all up on the wall, and yeah, it’s a total trip, and there’s no windows at all, in the dark, it’s a totally a scene, and it’s super fun, and they actually have a really excellent wine cellar that’s on the on the on the in the attic, you can get some excellent deals there on on bottles, and but in the base—

John: Belinda Chang was saying that too.

Nick: Yeah, it’s really incredible. I’ve kind of thumbed through it a little bit, but I need to, you know, if you can plan it out, you can get bottles that I think the deal was that they’re selling them based on the price that they bought them, not at like the adjusted price over the years. So, anyway, I’ll let Belinda Chang — she would know more than I would on that fact. But if you go down into the basement, though, is a more modern take, and there’s this chef called David Rodriguez Jr. and he’s completely changed the whole menu down there, and so it’s much more, it’s still considered sort of Italian-American, but he’s a chef that, there was this great Mexican restaurant on the southwest side that his mom worked at, and that he worked at, and sort of helped out. Xocome.

John: Yeah, yeah,

Nick: Which is amazing. And so now he’s at the Italian Village at Sotto, and doing incredible work. And so that’s my pick, because that’s right in the whole theater district area.

John: That sounds great. Thank you for that.

Nick: Yeah, so it seems like a lot of these old school places are really trying to adapt to the new, you know, because you have, if you don’t, then you’re gonna just be left behind. And so I love seeing places like that really trying, but it’s hard. I know, I know, Bandol just closed recently, I think it’s turned into Mexican Radio or something, which I have not checked out yet, but.

Amy: All right, so you can subscribe to Nick’s newsletter at nickintheloop.substack.com. 

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

John: I have to admit, I tried to get in and eat at the bar at Le Bouchon. It was packed solid, and so then I went next door to Pompette, and I’m so glad I did, because it was so good, and they had these grilled artichokes with, I don’t know, I can’t remember everything that was on it. There was a little bit of, I think, pistachio crumble and some kind of like a romesco kind of sauce. But they were just nice, fresh artichokes. They’ve been opened up and cooked on the grill, and they were fantastic.

Amy: That sounds great, Nick. What’s the best thing you ate lately?

Nick: I know it was a big surprise, but I’ve been in the Loop and looking around, and I actually was on the Riverwalk, and that’s not a place you want to go to look for great food. You go there for the views, which are astonishing. But there is one place called Haire’s Gulf Shrimp, which has always been my favorite South Side fried shrimp place, and they’re making great fried shrimp in the Loop. It’s, it’s jumbo shrimp, they’re super juicy. The coating is light, but it still sticks to the shrimp, which is super important. So that’s my pick for what you should eat on the Riverwalk.

Amy: All right, that’s a really good tip. I will close it out with a really, really great sandwich I had lately. I’ve been to Loaf Lounge a couple times recently, once for breakfast, once for lunch, and so I’ve been working my way through the menu, and they have this.. I think it’s relatively new. It’s called the Freaky Leaky, and it’s rosemary ham. They do a leak aioli. There’s Gruyere cornichons, and then there’s crunch from these caramelized honey mustard chips. It is so ridiculously good. Kenny actually ordered it. I got the turkey sandwich, because I will always want to try every place’s turkey sandwich, and I ended up finishing the Freaky Leaky, because it was just like ridiculously good. So highly, highly recommend going to check that out.

John: I saw your picture of it, it looks quite good.

Amy: It’s on this like beautiful baguette too, like so, so good,