By Michael Philippi
Ungaretti & Harris • Restaurant Critic
Years ago we used to have those gaudy summer associate programs like every other firm in town. It was always fun to see the summer kids try to act like it was perfectly normal for them to be wined and dined while pulling in the weekly equivalent of north of $100K a year with actual job responsibilities that, if put in by a city worker, would have them on the front page of the Sun-Times and on Rahm's "you're outta here" list in about two days.
In an effort to confirm what we already knew — that we were the cool firm — we had this thing called "Dive of the Week" where the summer associate program coordinators (best job ever back then) would pick a genuine dive and take the kids to it for some real city flavor. These second-year law students, with their sophisticated palates, couldn't, after all, be expected to survive on Bice and NoMI or other such places. Genuine dive status, however, is subject to interpretation. I have some rules — if they have tablecloths, not a dive. Menus that come in a leather holder? — nope. A bulletproof turnstile to get your food — pretty much always — and, of course, the ever important hand-written menu on the wall.
There are not too many dives I like better than the amazing BIG & little's Restaurant on North Orleans. If food is BIG and space is little, it should be BIG & tiny's. It seats eight, maybe 10 on wooden, backless bar stools against the one long wall opposite the counter and open kitchen in this rectangular space that isn't bigger than most of your kitchens. The menu, well, there are three actually, each on a blackboard on a wall written in colored chalk. The special menu boasted duck sausage with cranberry goat cheese and truffle oil — get the idea?
One board contained the po' boys, including soft-shell crab, pork belly, squid, shrimp, whitefish and smelt. We opted for steak teriyaki and were very happy with ourselves with that choice. For $12 out comes a basket teeming with fried chunks of tender steak and okra smothered in a tangy — a little bite to it — sauce. The bread was good, but a platform for the mound of meat and okra that were impossible to stop eating.
The main chalkboard is conveniently color coordinated for the indecisive. In electric blue are the fish selections. Tacos and sandwiches — the fried tilapia (also served broiled) was the best I have ever had — including Gladstones in Malibu — big chunks of fresh fish served simply with purple cabbage slaw and a sweet/ spicy sort of remoulade sauce, it was terrific. So was the mahi taco — same slaw and sauce and the generous chunks of mahi mahi were as fresh and meaty as they could be. It really is hard to pick from the 10 other fish choices, but to mix it up we left taco world and tried the crab tostada, which came as a typical flat hard tortilla shell with a ton of sweet crab on top. We were surprised that it was served cold with a sharp vinegar bite, but since it was about 110 degrees in this tiny joint, the cold wasn't such a bad idea.
The middle of the main board, in shocking pink, are burgers and such. The burger was good, solid, made better with a fried egg on it. The portobello burger was actually delicious, a big, honest slice of portobello seared and grilled perfectly. Speaking of seared, you gotta like a foie gras and fries. Two medallions of crisp, flavor-burst-in–your-mouth foie gras served over a bed of salty, crunchy fries and you can see why this place was the Cheap Eats Restaurant of the Year and is a Triple D favorite. Feel free to linger on the fries selection. They also come in sweet potato variety, for those of us trying to watch our figures, or better yet, actually much better yet, the perennial favorite truffle variety. This is a big basket of earthy, salty truffle fries that are as good as anywhere. Wash all this good stuff down with an ice cold can of coconut juice and you now experienced a dive worthy of our great city.
Lagniappe:
You have to like a place whose hours are 8:30 a.m. until we run out of doughnuts. Imagine if lawyers' hours were like that, no we don't sell doughnuts, but we do sort of sell words — "Here at Dewey, Cheatum and Howe our hours are from the beginning of the 9 o'clock call until we are out of words to describe how annoyed we are at your honor's shocking inability to make a decision." Wouldn't work, but it does work for The Doughnut Vault, which, almost in Harry Potter Platform 9 ¾ style hides in plain sight in the shadow of the Merchandise Mart at 401 ½ N. Franklin St.
It is aptly named and not only because of the treasures contained in the form of ginger stackers (three sugar cake doughnuts with a crisp ginger bite) or the giant chestnut glaze with its sweet maple bourbon icing or even the chocolate/vanilla big fresh gooey. They're guaranteed to give you that sugar rush to keep you awake during even the most tedious expert dep. This is possibly the smallest retail space in town, but coming out of it are the best doughnuts. Get there early because they don't usually last past noon.
Pleadings:
BIG & little's Restaurant
939 N. Orleans St., Chicago
312-943-0000
Court costs:
Entrees: $3.50 - $14
Verdict:
4 Gavels