I have never been to Tokyo. I have never sat in a smoky izakaya next to a Japanese businessman drinking himself into oblivion with a side of chicken skin. So for all I know this might be the most inauthentic place ever to call itself an izakaya.
And I don't care.
The dishes were almost all hits, with a few misses. And the service was attentive and friendly throughout. I'm sure it helped that we were there on a Thursday night in winter, but bad service will manifest itself even if you're the only party in the restaurant.
We were seated in the front room. I really liked the mural-style painting on the walls and thought they added a nice touch of color to an otherwise cool and somewhat dark room. The back room looked much brighter and sounded a bit more raucous, but we didn't get a chance to check that out. Next time.
And there will be a next time. Because there were some dishes that demanded attention.
They started us with a bowl of complimentary miso soup. This was okay. It was very nice to have a bowl of warm soup after being in the cold. Simultaneously a bit bland and yet a bit overly salty. As Homer Simpson might say it was a perfectly cromulent soup.
Life got better with the next batch of dishes. The puffed pigs ears with togarashi were a salty, spicy, crunchy, porky pile of wonderful. My lips were numb and my tongue was happy after going through a bowl of what pork rinds dream of growing up to become.
As we finished the pork the duck confit croquettes arrived. These were topped with small cubes of asian pear. This is important, because this helped make these the best part of the meal. The pear helped give the dish a sweetness that made this deep fried candy. Seriously, these are just wonderful. The contrast of the duck flavor with the pear, all against the breading and slightly greasy goodness from being fried is just excellent.
Next came a skewer with a small amount of wagyu beef, a little bit of wasabi, and a lime to squeeze atop. The lime and wasabi combined to almost make the dish taste like something out of a Mexican restaurant. Spicy and a little tart, along with the soft and juicy meat. This was a hit.
Somewhat less inspiring were the chicken meatballs. I loved the warm egg yolk to dip the meatballs in. And if I had these as a first plate I might have been more impressed. But after the 1-2-3 punch of the puffed ears, the duck croquettes, and the wagyu-wasabi, this seemed a bit bland and uninspired.
A few more skewers followed. The wagyu cheek was unrepentantly meaty and almost like eating chicharrones. And that's a good thing. The baby octopus skewer was the only dish we tried that did nothing for us. The flavor was okay, but the texture was just too unappealing. Unless you have a deep love of squid I would say to try other things. Like the chicken skin skewers. Perfect for anyone who has been yelled at for pulling the skins off all the pieces of fried chicken before anyone could get their pieces. I could have eaten about 10 of these.
We finished with a bowl of squash bisque with lemon, Japanese curry, and blue crab. This was excellent. The lemon was a flavor I didn't expect to work with the squash bisque, but it was a winner. It flitted through the taste of the squash and crab, giving a brightness to the otherwise hearty and earthy flavors of the dish.
For the amount of food we had, the quality of the food, and the attentive service I felt like the price was totally within reason. The most expensive thing was the bisque at a whopping $9. Certainly if you come in looking to fill up to the point of bloating it could get expensive, but there's nothing wrong with being able to walk to your car instead of being rolled there.
I hope this place makes it, because we had a great meal here.
Chizakaya Japanese Pub
3056 N. Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 697-4725
HCH rating - 4 stars
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