112626 Sat Apr 19 22:44:10 -0700 2003 26 7 Chicago Area 0 611749 Swieconka (pronounced shvyen-tzon-kah) is the most beautiful of Poland's many folk traditions. On Holy Saturday (today!), Polish families prepare baskets filled with traditional food items and take them to church to be blessed. This food is shared on Easter morning in a ritual breaking of the fast. I had a chance to witness this magnificent custom in the Avondale neighborhood this afternoon. The whole section of Milwaukee from Diversey to Belmont was filled with Polish families (yuppie couples, blue-collar families, recent immigrants etc) dressed in their very best, parading up and down the street on their way to and from the service of the Blessing of Baskets at St. Hyacinth. Clearly, the walk up and down the street was part of the celebration: a chance to show off the elaborately-decorated baskets to the world. And what baskets! Some of these I saw today were obviously heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation and festooned with ribbons, with daffodils, with sprigs of boxwood, covered with intricate pieces of lace or beautifully embrodiered napkins. A google search on "swieconka" will yield several websites with additional information on this lovely tradition. The best one is probably the first that appears (the one at acweb.column.edu): it includes links to videos of the service as well as some excellent pictures. Towards the bottom of the home page, you will also find a link to a diagram of a typical arrangement of the basket and an explanation of the symbolism of the food items in the basket. Among the items on that diagram are egg, ham, sausage, bread, salt. In addition I also saw several baskets today with little jars of horseradish. I was told that horseradish is sometimes also included to represent "the bitter" and that vinegar (for "sour") might also at times be found. Of course, all the delis and bakeries at Avondale were insanely packed. There were lines at Kurowska, at Andie's, at the bakery across the street from Andie's. My friend and I finally managed to snag a couple of chicken pasties (pasztecik, 2 of these = $1.32) at Staropolska. Thin, light, flaky crust + expertly-shredded chicken meat: an excellent snack! Outside Animal Kingdom (pet shop) was a man dressed in a fuzzy pink bunny costume handing out cardboard bunny ears. Of course, we had to go in to say hello to their tiger and lion. Unfortunately, they are on tour at the moment, although they had a vicious coyote and a giant hornbill (neither of these for sale) on display. The parrots were making loud, raucous noises. The giant turtle ambled at its own regal pace down the aisles of the store (it's not shy at all and doesn't mind being petted and doesn't slink back into its shell). All kinds of kids (Mexican kids, Puerto-Rican families, Polish families with their Easter baskets in hand, big kids like me) ran around riotously marvelling at this cute animal or that. It then occurred to me how wonderful a neighborhood this would be for hounding with kids. There was an inquiry a month or so back about doing fairly adventurous hounding with kids on hand. This Logan Square/Avondale section would have been a wonderful possibility. One could take the blue line (and emerge at Logan Square station) or take the Milwaukee bus from downtown (bonus here of being able to ride past other neighborhoods such as Wicker Park). The walk north to Diversey is filled with possibilities for Puerto-Rican, Cuban, Mexican hounding. One could perhaps stroll up to have lunch at Ixcapuzalco, continue on from there to explore Avondale (with its lovely art deco commercial buildings), and then at the end of the day head on for dinner at Thai Aree or the Keralan take-out place next to it. The more ambitious can even continue on (on the Milwaukee bus) past Portage Park neighborhood (with its superb antique stores, the time-warp diners, the huge costume store, the ancient time-warp billiard hall) to Lawrence, where the Lawrence bus can take them on past the wonders of Albany Park. (The brown line at Kimball can then bring them back to downtown). The kids would have fun watching tortillas being made at Ixcapuzalco, buying coconut ice from the ice cream man (more on this below), trying all kinds of meat pies or sweets at the Polish delis and of course, saying hello to all the animals at the pet shop. My thanks by the way to the dashing, handsome, very gracious Luis Flores (one of Geno Bahena's lieutenants at Ixcapuzalco) who gave my friend Sharon (who had never been in there) a tour of the restaurant. Luis is from Teloloapan (like Geno) and I enjoyed chatting with him for a few minutes about my recent trip to the Taxco-Iguala and Chilpancingo-Chilapa areas of Guerrero. **** Also from the Iguala-Teloloapan area are several of the coconut ice carts/vendors in Logan Square. I saw at least 6 of these carts on my walk up and down Milwaukee today. Seth Zurer was the first to mention these in a post from last year; I am beginning to think that coconut ice (helado de coco) might be one of the special products of the Logan Square nieghborhood. Other Mexican neighborhoods have their ice vendors of course, but in no other area in Chicago is the coconut ice such an exclusive specialty. And it seems to be one of the most popular street food forms as well: virtually every 5th person I ran into today was holding a coconut ice. Some vendors make their own ices at home, others buy from a specialist: I still do not have the whole picture but will continue probing for a story in the coming weeks. One of the most special of the ice-makers is Senor Bruno, who pushes a cart called Coquito Helado and who "parks" in front of "that" outlet store (let's not honor that brand by naming it) at Milwaukee and Diversey (he's by the Milwaukee exit/door). He says that he is there every single day (next to his friend, the paletero). Senor Bruno is from the Balsas Nuevo area of Guerrero (not near Teloloapan, but close to it). His ice is made at home: coconut meat is ground, steeped in milk, drip-filtered off with some kind of cheesecloth material to produce the base liquid of the ice. The final ice is very dense and cannot be scooped. Instead, Senor Bruno has to shave thin layers off repeatedly with his scoop to fill a cup. The product is very "dry" (i.e. not wet and sloppy), has a lightly "sandy" quality in its texture and sits unmelted on the palate for a split-second before releasing its pure, delicate flavor. A truly truly marvellous thing! (One of these days, we will have to discuss the different styles of ices in Mexico: the fabled Michoacan ice from the town of Tocumbo, the mole ice and shrimp ice I found at Dolores Hidalgo, the Oaxacan ices in front of La Soledad church...) To be continued RST Sat Apr 19 22:44:10 -0700 2003 0 RST 1 611754 Damn, just missed the elusive RST...was deli hopping myself today. Jackowo was indeed hopping! I live in Logan Square. Yes, these coconut ice vendors are ubiquitous. Unfortunately, they also tend to serve elotes, the most horrid creation known to man. Take an ear of corn slather on mayonaise (tons of it) POUR on liquid margerine (tons of it) shake on queso fresco (I believe that is the correct name, a soft loose cheese) salt cayenne pepper to taste If you have lost your teeth, you can have them shave the corn off the cob, and put all this in a plastic cup for you to eat. Other than that, I love the spicy mangos, cucumbers, ices, various deep fried pork products. Anybody know the history of elotes? Regional variations? I have not had elotes much outside of my block. ! Sat Apr 19 23:58:23 -0700 2003 611749 0 Ligament 2 611765 I happen to be quite a fan of elotes, particularly in a cup as they are easier to eat with some measure of dignity and you don't loose any cheese. In Mexico--and I've had them all over--I like mine with crema, queso, and corn--all layered {twice} and sprinkled with chili and lime juice. I had someone in Mexico tell me that they preferred the elotes here because they are made with sweet corn instead of the older field corn that they tend to use in Mexico. RST might be able to talk about regional variations. Sun Apr 20 12:22:31 -0700 2003 611754 0 JoanB 3 611783 Ok, I'll admit it, I do eat an elote once in a while when my cholesterol drops below 400. I feel physically ill for a while after... I'm glad you enjoy them joanb, all food deserves a chance. jason Sun Apr 20 23:35:48 -0700 2003 611765 0 Ligament 4 611797 Of course one does not have to have the elotes with the mayo or the margarine... I get mine with fresh squeezed lime and plenty of chili powder. Come to think about it, the elote is rather like the Chicago hot dog, no? At Maxwell, some of the elote vendors offer a choice between grilled corn or boiled corn, although frankly, who chooses boiled? Anyone else as intrigued by the fact that the vast majority of the corn for this rough street food comes from the modern version of J. Paul Getty, J.R. Simplot? Mon Apr 21 09:26:52 -0700 2003 611783 0 Vital Information 1 611757 Correction: the sentence about where Senor Bruno is from should read "not next to Teloloapan, but in the general area". There are other little mistakes. I'll correct them later. It's really late and I'm really tired. I was going to do a post on Ukrainian Village as Easter morning is probably a great day to visit this unique neighborhood (perhaps the only Ukrainian Village in the country) which has strangely enough not received due attention from this board. It would probably also be a great day to go see the three gorgeous churches in that neighborhood. Two of these churches are Sts. Volodymyr and Olha at 739 N. Oakley and St. Nicolas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral at 2238 W. Rice. You can see both churches standing in front of Sak's (very atmospheric Ukrainian restaurant frequented by cops, by artsy hipster types, by old-time Ukrainians: stuffed bear above the bar, funky artworks at the back) at the corner of Chicago and Oakley. St. Nicolas (1915) is the church with the 13 domes: try to take a peek inside as the mosaics are very beautiful indeed. And don't miss Louis Sullivan's little gem, the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church and Rectory (1899-1903) at 1211 N. Leavitt (it's two or so blocks east of Western, at Division). There is a Ukrainian Cultural Center AND a museum with a collection of the famous Ukrainian painted Easter eggs (pysanky). There is also a bookstore/giftshop on Chicago Ave that sells these Easter eggs. During the planning stages of the Western-a-thon, I circulated a couple of emails about Rich's Deli (on Western at Iowa; Iowa is 2 blocks or so north of Chicago) which has a superb selection of home-made hams and sausages (some of the best in the city!), croquettes and turnovers, of vodkas, Ukrainian beers, bottled wild mushrooms etc. The suite of time-warp neons of "OK'd Car Dealership" across the street from Rich's Deli is perhaps the most beautiful remaining in Chicago. Old Lviv was just discussed (a few threads back) by DVM, Prester John and Cathy2. There are several other bakeries (Ann's etc) and delis on Chicago Ave going towards Ashland and beyond (if you go as far as Ashland, don't miss the beautiful Holy Innocent's Church, which is Polish). If you have time, you could also consider exploring Taylor Street (and side streets: Fiore's on Erie etc) a few blocks south to see what the Italians there are up to on Easter morning. See you guys there! Two quick notes while we're on churches: *According to a friend, one can find delicious tamales outside St. Sylvester on Sacramento, about three blocks south of Fullerton. *I rode by St. Jude (Ashland at 19th) last Sunday (Palm Sunday) and there were several tables outside the church selling all sorts of goodies as well as the most beautiful woven palm leaf ornaments. I couldn't stop and so couldn't figure out where this tradition of the palm leaf crafts is from. For this matter, tomorrow is probably a great day to prowl outside Mexican churches to see about goodies. Try the church on North Ave (south side of street) about 4 blocks east of Pulaski. There's usually a lot of food activity (giant conchas etc) on Sunday mornings. Try Our Lady of Tepeyac on 22nd etc. Richard Sun Apr 20 02:22:01 -0700 2003 611749 0 RST 2 611764 Hi! Just to extend the Easter Celebration a bit further. Next week is Easter for the Orthodox religions: Greek, Russian, Romanian, ect. There have been flirtations Easter would be on the same day for both Christian and Orthodox, but apparently it hasn't happened yet. So what I cannot manage today, I will try for next week! Regards, Cathy2 Sun Apr 20 12:20:43 -0700 2003 611757 0 Cathy2 3 611781 For the Orthodox Ukrainians as well! And I guess also the Serbs, Macedonians and those Assyrians who do not follow Roman rites (and the Gregorian calendar) but instead follow the Byzantine/Orthodox traditions and the Julian calendar. Curiously, I think that there might be Keralan Christian traditions that actually follow those Byzantine Assyrian/Syrian dates, but apparently, "our" Keralans here in Chicago follow the western calendar and celebrated Easter today. Orthodox Ukrainians at Ukrainian Village celebrated verbna nedilia (Willow Sunday, i.e. Palm Sunday) today. Spilling out of Sts. Volodymyr and Olha this morning were hundreds of Ukrainians holding branches of (pussy) willow. It was a festive scene all along Chicago Ave with families strolling around with those branches in hand. As a contrast, the celebration mass at St. Nicolas (Catholic) was very restrained and deeply-moving. If our local Ukrainian communities follow the tradition, there might be a chance next Saturday afternoon to observe sviachenia, the Ukrainian counterpart of swieconka, or the blessing of traditional foods. (For this matter, the Serbs and other groups might also have a similar tradition.) Rich's Deli was closed for the day, suggesting perhaps that the owners might be Catholics (Ukrainian or perhaps Polish), and celebrating Easter today. I visited Ann's Bakery this morning (n side of Chicago Ave, about 3 blocks e of Western) and had a delicious selection of traditional sweet rolls. There is also a grocery section with Ukrainian canned goods, Ukrainian mineral water etc. Kasia's deli (s side of Chicago, 4 blocks or so e of Western) was closed at about 10:30. There are actually two bookstores (not one, as I wrote above) right next to each other, on the south side of the street between Western and Oakley. They both sell CDs, books, painted Easter eggs (pysanky). I don't have the address of the "other" Ukrainian museum on hand but I guess I was trying to emphasize on the other post that there is another museum in this area apart from the very visible one on Chicago Ave. Holy Innocents (east of Ashland) is being restored and was covered in scaffolding, on the outside and on the inside. **** Hey Steve, Is the place you are thinking of on Iowa St itself? Or are you thinking of the restaurants on the main strip, Chicago Ave? **** Just adding to the database: on Western itself, past Rich's deli, the neighborhood turns Polish with several rather well-known restaurants (Mitch and Janina's, Andrezj's Grill) often reviewed in the local food press as well as delis and old-timers' bars with signs proclaiming zimne piwo (cold beer). For those who found this through search and are from out of town, I would like to round off this survey by adding a few things already well-known to Chicagoans: just around the corner, on Division past Western is the largest cluster of Puerto-Rican businesses/restaurants in Chicago. Empty Bottle, famous nationally for its adventurous music programming, is at Western, two blocks south of Division. RST Sun Apr 20 23:19:53 -0700 2003 611764 0 RST 4 611860 it was right behind the deli on iowa st. a very small place, seating for maybe 15 people. they had a all u can eat buffet. no one spoke english so i'm to sure what i had but it great Mon Apr 21 19:28:05 -0700 2003 611781 0 steve 5 611969 Thanks Steve. Will keep an eye open for it. By the way, I take it you no longer live in Chicago or have not been back to UVillage for a while. One of the old-timers, Galan's, is no longer there, although there is still a huge faded painted ad for it on a wall. RST Wed Apr 23 15:37:29 -0700 2003 611860 0 RST 2 611766 wondering is the little resturant just east of Rich's Deli is still there. steve Sun Apr 20 13:37:03 -0700 2003 611757 0 steve 2 611767 wondering is the little resturant just east of Rich's Deli is still there. steve Sun Apr 20 13:40:48 -0700 2003 611757 0 steve 2 611777 Inspired by this, it was time to do a little something on our way to an Easter Brunch downtown - so we wandered through Ukrainian Village and past all the churches ad people in their Easter finest. Then, on the way back we went to the Garfield Park Conservatory, which is always pleasant, but completely under construction. The flower show is pretty minimal (when do they do the Lily show? I thought that was for Easter.) So the best part was the exhibit of old pictures of the conservatory and all the families done up for Easter. Very pleasant. Ever think of doing a guidebook, RST? I would buy, often to do exactly what you suggest, and often for inspiration. d Sun Apr 20 22:45:48 -0700 2003 611757 0 dickson d 2 611981 Re: neighborhood specialties, (i.e. how a certain item becomes a hit in a locality and gets copied repeatedly to the point where it becomes a famous product, associated exclusively with that place), we can cite many different famous examples: Carnitas for instance is made throughout the Mexican republic, but the city of Uruapan became so famous for it that the name Uruapan and carnitas have become synonymous. And we have several examples here in Chicago of Uruapan carnitas: 5 or 6 of them are in Pilsen. Tzararacua is a waterfall (famous sight) outside Uruapan and the owners of Carnitas Tzararacua are from the city itself. We have Carnitas Uruapan of course. Sabor Vega is also Uruapan-owned. All of these places do things the precise way: i.e. pork is long-cooked in gigantic vats, purely, with virtually no spicing except for a bit of orange peel (for color and flavor). You simple cannot equate this superb kind of product with the kind of taqueria carnitas (in other US cities) that is simply meat fried in a bit of grease in a skillet. At the moment, from just one first survey, my personal favorite is Sabor Vega on Ashland (w side, just south of 18th) where one can ask for surtido (mixed meats) or individual offal parts (liver, heart, cheeks/jowls etc) or my favorite combination: maciza and ear (oreja). My only regret about the Chicago carnitas scene is that the greatest of all gastronomic delights, the nana (uterus) is not available. An aside: for Jalisco-style barbacoa de res, the greatest of all prizes for the connoisseur is the ojo, the eye. Iturriaga, who wrote a superb study on Mexican street foods (De tacos, tortas y tamales) goes into raptures describing this delicacy. Jalisco-style barbacoa, including the eye, could be had at Maxwell Street market. Carnitas not from Uruapan (and superb examples too!) can be found in any of several dozen butchers/delis inside one of the countless Mexican supermarkets in Chicago. On lazy Sunday afternoons, if you take a walk in one of the Mexican neighborhoods (say, between 22nd and 26th; or in Back-of-the-Yards; or 19th west of Damen), you just might run into a family making chicharrones and carnitas in smaller tubs/vats right in their front yards. Likewise, Teloloapan is not the only town in Mexico with a unique recipe for mole. But the Teloloapense have managed to organize themselves so, so that mole paste from here have become famous as a quality export product. There are now some 6 or 7 different houses (brands) for mole in the village/town of Teloloapan. (For a great Teloloapan mole taco, not made from paste, visit Taqueria Teloloapan on 22nd, just w of Western. You have a choice of cheaper factory tortillas or more expensive excellent handmade ones. For great Teloloapan-area birria with handmade tortillas, try El Cabrito on Ashland at about 49th, w side of street.) Tocumbo in Michoacan became so famous for their ices that Mexicans have come to think of Michoacan ices/ice creams as the best. It helped of course that the Michoacanos are great migrants, travelling far afield to California and Illinois and taking the fame of the ice with them. They are also great internal migrants and could be found in many, many major cities in the country (there are Michoacan ice cream houses everywhere in Mexico). There has also of course been more and more internal movement in recent years across state borders as the Mexican government tries desperately to ease the near-catastrophic burden of Mexico City by encouraging decentralization of business/industry/bureaucracy and the emergence of regional centers throughout the country. All this above came out as a reflection on those coconut ices in Logan Square and also on the little dab of beans that come with chips, ONLY at the taquerias in Rogers Park. Has anyone else noticed this? Dona Lolis does this. Taqueria Uptown does this. Yet nowhere else in the city, in any other Mexican neighborhood, do you find this custom. This cannot really be explained through source of immigration since Rogers Park is fairly mixed (chiefly Ciudad Hidalgo though). Could it possibly have been started by one single house, only to be picked up and copied by the next, and so on? (Incidentally, the most delicious beans relish/garnish in the city is what I call a proto-chile-con-carne that comes as an accompaniment to the mixiotes at Taqueria Puebla-the cemitas place on North.) **** Additional notes on hounding with kids: * I just did a post on "Chicago in a day" "layover possibilities from OHare" where I described a ride on the brown line as one of the great kiddie delights in Chicago. The brown line to Kedzie stop might be a fun easy 3-4 hours excursion with kids: stop at all three Middle-eastern sweet shops and have them choose their own goodies. Mom and dad can enjoy falafel, browsing through the groceries etc. * For Chicagoans with a car, another area that is a possibility with kids is Portage Park. Visit the huge costume shop (plenty of hocus-focus magic stuff in there) before or after a meal at Ecuadorian La Pena (there's a MikeG report from Aug 2002) or at the new branch of Colombian La Tabla (unreviewed by press or on this board). RST Wed Apr 23 17:54:21 -0700 2003 611757 0 RST 3 611995 I've noticed the rogers park beans before meals thing, too. I really like it, maybe because at Dona Lolis our 5-year old often makes a meal of the beans (with cheese) and an horchata (btw, a complete protein). It is though not strict. For example, los molcajetes (there was a recent thread regarding this) substitutes very nice house-made salsas instead - including a very good salsa verde with avacado, and el novillo, which is pretty much the worst one I've been too (though unfortunately the only 24 hour one I know of) does not give much of anything. Also, I've been given black beans at Riques just of argyle. I wonder if the uptown taquerias in other areas provide beans or salsa? Thu Apr 24 09:26:25 -0700 2003 611981 0 zim 4 612006 It's a curiosity because chips are a Mexican-American thing. You never find "chips" in the Mexican heartland: never. (You do in gringo restaurants, resort etc//it's almost a givaway about the nature of a place in Mexico). So this is a spin on? a subgenre emerging out of? a Mexican-American tradition? I am also wondering if it's a tradition somewhere in Texas and someone from the neighborhood first picked it up there. RST Thu Apr 24 11:01:03 -0700 2003 611995 0 RST 5 612010 I know that RST is on record in the past as claiming that the northern tier of Mexico is not *really* Mexico, but Lonely Planet, World Food Mexico has this to say about eating in Monterrey: .there are several restaurants serving [cabrito, i.e., roasted kid] fresh from the barbeque pit, where it roasts whole on a spit for hours...The restaurants are all huge and cavernous, making eating cabrito a sense of ritual, where nortenos remind themselves of who they are. Portions come large...accompanied by guacamole, roasted onions, salsa and totopos (i.e., crisp corn chips). [By the way, does not that sound great!] Of course RST would agree that pozole is supposed to be served with tostada circles. Both Islas Marias and my Mexican seafood "discovery" in Melrose Park serve tostadas on the table. Never having been to the Pacific coast of Mexico, but is that common practice there? I wonder what Orgullo de Mexico thinks? Rob Thu Apr 24 11:24:32 -0700 2003 612006 0 Vital Information 6 612012 Pls no baiting! Pls find the actual post where I said the northern tier is not Mexico. And pls find my post on totopos. I am referring to the custom of offering fried chips and salsa as an opener in restaurants. Not referring to the tostadas to accompany pozole verde in Guerrero. Or for this matter to the tostadas that accompany menudo (see my post on cuajo and menudo). Or let's not resort to quotes, bec I have a whole library of books where I can pull out corresponding quotations. This is my last post on this thread. RST Thu Apr 24 11:52:23 -0700 2003 612010 0 RST 7 612020 Odd, because the quote was, "you never find chips in the Mexican heartland". Perhaps if you said right from the start, "offering fried chips and salsa as an opener", there would be no disagreement. Thu Apr 24 15:26:57 -0700 2003 612012 0 Vital Information 8 612075 I had some great chips at Riques the other day. Unfortunately the chips were the only exemplary part of the meal -- the pork in green salsa was ok-- a mixed bag of tender and stringy chunks, and such small portions. The pico de gallo was overpriced -- 5 bucks for 75 cents worth of sliced mango jicama and cucumber in lime chile and cilantro. My friend burrito was good he reported, but the chips were hot and fresh, lardy and salty, with some ok beans and very good fine red salsa in a bowl. Fri Apr 25 14:40:47 -0700 2003 612020 0 Seth Zurer 9 612082 Sorry to hear such an unexceptional report on Riques. Ate there once and had a very nice, if not mind-blowing dinner. Have been really pulling for them to do well, as it's a nice addition to the neighborhood. Fri Apr 25 17:30:41 -0700 2003 612075 0 mark 9 612083 Sorry to hear such an unexceptional report on Riques. Ate there once and had a very nice, if not mind-blowing dinner. Have been really pulling for them to do well, as it's a nice addition to the neighborhood. Fri Apr 25 17:43:35 -0700 2003 612075 0 mark 10 612135 We had a terrific meal at Riques several months ago, right after it opened. Great ingredients, preparations bursting with flavor, respectable portions, lots of care lavished on side dishes (excellent chips, rice, beans, etc.). Subsequent visits have gotten progressively worse each time, with deterioration in all areas (except the service, which has remained disoriented). Our last visit was so poor that we have crossed this place off our list. Mon Apr 28 02:13:00 -0700 2003 612083 0 Harry V. 1 611997 a few thoughts on the "hounding with kids" part of this, base mainly on my kids so YMMV: Crowds/color/life /space ours like a little color, some crowds, some vibrant neighborhoods but too much is a bad thing, they want to be able to run on the sidewalk, hit each other on the head, play tag- an area that's too jam packed with life is tough, and it's a headache for the parents so examples of good: Pilsen (park near the museum), Chinatown sq, not so good argyle (except during new year when they close off the street movable feasts/creatures of inertia My kids at least aren't so big on this, or are only to a point. Kids get tired, especially when they are not really in charge of the itinerary, and you start hearing the "when are we going to get there". Also when you have hit upon a place that's fun, they want to stay and stay until they are ready to go home A place to try their discovery Once they've found something they want, they want to sit down and savor it - so al basha (the sweet shop next to salam) with it's couple of tables is very good, bombon, though they love the stuff, no place to sit, have to wait, somewhat bustling - not so good (especially when it's cold out and you can't park yourself on the steps next door) In some ways the best strategy I've found, is to bring along a friend or two(preferably an adventurous one) Thu Apr 24 10:01:48 -0700 2003 611749 0 zim 2 612008 Bombon really should put a couple of benches outside the door for the summer. I know I nearly explode out of impatience to eat the bunuelos or whatever in my bag. (Has anyone else tried those bunuelos? Wow!) I usually gobble mine up at the little triangular traffic-island-cum-plaza on Blue Island in the middle of the street, but that's not exactly charming, bec of all the cars. Or I go to Jumping Bean cafe. I don't have kids of course but thought I'd help. ("Hey, I'm not a father, but I play one on CH") ;) RST Thu Apr 24 11:10:39 -0700 2003 611997 0 RST 2 612019 You mean, actual experience in dining with children is pertinent to knowing something about dining with children? Thu Apr 24 13:50:24 -0700 2003 611997 0 Harry V. 1 612030 Lately the pushcarts in my neighborhood (Albany Park area, generally) have had handmade signs on their carts advertising "nieve de coco". Any insights? Thu Apr 24 18:00:15 -0700 2003 611749 0 annieb