Erwin Cafe: Revisiting An Old Reliable

Over the course of the last year, having been on and off South Beach and Atkins, I have found myself to visit my favorite neighborhood spot, Erwin Cafe, with less and less frequency.

Last night, I escorted a co-worker, who is looking for a place to live in Lakeview down to the neighborhood to check out a couple of places. I suggested a quick dinner at Erwin to get things started.

Boy, was it a good call. Culinarily, Erwin was hitting on all cylinders. We started by ordering a couple of wheat beers which come in an huge 24 oz glass. A good bargain in the neighborhood for $4.50.

We shared an appetizer of the onion tart which is always very reliable there. The sweetness of the wheaty tart crust is well complimented by the tartness of maytag blue cheese and sweet carmelized onions.

For an entree, I chose a one of the day's specials, a huge fork tender veal chop served with sauteed mushrooms and veal jus over the tastiest bacon infused greens that I may have ever eaten. The entree was also accompanied by some pan fried polenta. Grits, greens, and veal. Who could ask for more?

Finishing the chop would have normally been a Herculean task, but was made more Herculean by the fact that I lunched on Lemon Chicken and Pasta at Tufano's only hours earlier. (everyone sing...Like Wiv, I'd like to be like Wiv).

The veal chop was the size of something that one would get at one of the big steak houses, but at $24 was only a fraction of the cost.

My friend, who was visiting Erwin for the first time, chose the burger and pronounced it one of the best he had eaten. Erwin's burger, with its chopped versus ground consistency and asian spice blend, seems to draw love or hate reactions. There is no middle ground.

We passed on dessert, a mistake considering that Erwin is reknown for its butterscotch pots de creme, and settled for coffee instead.

The service was really slow. But, in defense of the waitstaff, the room was quite crowded for a Tuesday night following a holiday.

Overall, it was a nice reintroduction to a place that I haven't eaten nearly enough over the past year. I need to make it back more often.

erwin
2925 North Halsted.

Thanks for the report on an old favorite of mine. I too have not been to erwin in some time though for different reasons. As I stated on the burger thread, I also really like their burger, particularly with their fries extra crispy. I'll have to put that on my to-visit list.