tank

4514 N. Lincoln Ave.
Lincoln Square
773.769.2600
www.tanksushi.com

I haven't been this satisfied with a sushi restaurant since I went to Sushi Wabi four years ago. Tank is a newer sushi joint in Lincoln Square that can be classified in the "trendy sushi restaurant" category, but doesn't have the obnoxious prices or attitude that some of the other restaurants have. You walk into a dimly lit, simply-designed space and you instantly feel comfortable. There are also 2 shoji screened rooms for larger parties. The space is small, so reservations are recommended and it did fill up at the prime-time dinner hour so I would suggest going a little earlier on the weekend.

For an appetizer, we ordered the fried oyster platter with Hawaiian ketchup, which was fantastic! The oysters were juicy and the ketchup had a nice tangy kick to it. Then, between my dining companion and I, we ordered 4 sushi rolls, along with a small side order of curry potato hash and a 2-piece ikura order for me. (Ikura is my favorite! It had the salmon roe on top. I thought the side dish was only okay.)

The speciaty rolls we ordered were the rainbow roll, tropic thunder (yellowtail, shittake, mango, avocado), orange crush (crab, asparagus, avocado, salmon) and spicy tuna. They were all scrumptious--the fish was fresh and the flavor divine! (Although, the spicy tuna roll was just a bit spicy for my palate.) If you check out their web site, you can look at the list of all the specialty rolls for the descriptions--there are so many choices you will have to go back multiple times!

For dessert, we had the chocolate chip cookie dough egg roll. It was presented so cute on a platter with a dish of pureed raspberry sauce, which was meant to look like the sweet and sour sauce. The dessert was very rich and sweet, a little too sweet for me.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience! I would definitely go back to try some other rolls.

de cero

814 W. Randolph St.
312.455.8114
Mexican

De cero is a newer Mexican restaurant located right on the Randolph St. restaurant row. The atmosphere is open and semi-trendy, while being a tad Mexi-rustic. The music is lively and the lights are dim-a place where you can take a date or dine with a group of friends.

We ordered the chips and salsa which were quite addicting. The chips were perfectly crisp and salty, the green salsa spicy and flavorful. It didn't take me long to decide what I wanted to order once I saw the selection of tacos they had. The way it worked is you can order regular entrees or a la carte dishes. We opted to go "a la tacos". There were like 15 different types of gourmet tacos, combining unique flavors and meats. My favorite was the catfish taco, which was lightly battered and had the perfect blend of sauces and spices-some sweet and some spicy. The catfish was crisp on the outside, yet tender on the inside. I also tried the ahi tuna taco, which was tasty but I found the tuna to be a little dry. Others that are worth trying are the skirt steak, which had a smokey flavor, and the salmon taco. I also had the shrimp taco which was interesting to me... I felt the shrimp didn't really mesh well with the flavorings it was paired with. The one taco that I would not recommend was the duck. It was paired with a corn salsa (which was decent) but the duck was dry and bland.

Overall, I liked the concept of ordering the tacos a la carte for the variety. It is exciting to entice your palate with so many combinations of flavors. And even though the tacos are small, they are quite filling! I had about 3 and a half tacos and was stuffed. I would definitely suggest going to de cero for the Mexican flair on tacos.