Income Tax, Edgewater

We had a really nice dinner here this week. It's a comfortable, lively, nicely-finished space with dark walls, leather finishes, wide plank floors, black and white tile bathrooms and a long L-shaped bar that runs parallel to the front wall, makes a 90-degree turn and runs nearly all the way to the back wall of the space.

The food, 16 total savory offerings, is organized by country: 4 dishes each from Spain, France, Italy and Germany. There is a dynamic and robust wine program with many solid offerings by the glass, a reasonably-priced variety of full bottles and a customized half-bottle program, which allows diners to order a half-bottle of pretty much anything on the full-bottle list. The way this works is that the remaining half-bottles get relegated to the 'by the glass' list, so in addition to the everyday offerings, at any time, glasses of what would typically be full-bottle only are also available. I think it's a pretty cool concept.

We had a variety of dishes, many of which were really stand-outs, including:

Spain
Grilled Scallops (sweet potatoes, chorizo, pil pil)
Pulpo Gallego (papas fritas, romesco)

France
Root Vegetable Remoulade (pink peppercorn aioli, mustard greens)
Pate de Campagne (mustard, cornichons, baguette)

Italy
Strangolapreti - (fried spinach dumplings, ricotta, brown butter)
Grilled Porchetta (red pepper polenta, broccolini, salsa verde)

Germany
Flammenkuchen (onion tart, bacon, fromage blanc)

Dessert
Chocolate Mousse (smoked sea salt)
(they sent this out for us)

There's nothing we had that I wouldn't order again, though, the Flammenkuchen comes in 2 sizes and the small one is pretty darned small (appetizer-for-one-sized). Next time, I'd order the larger one. The beverage program made it really easy and fun to create pairings with the food. Service was excellent and notably friendly across the board. This seems to be a relatively under-served section of the city and in many such cases, I think places are only as good as they need to be. But based on the experience we had, I'd say Income Tax is a bona-fide destination.

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Income Tax (website)
5959 North Broadway
Chicago, IL 60660
(773) 897-9165

Just to satisfy my curiosity, why would anyone in their right mind name their restaurant Income Tax?

hoppy2468 wrote:Just to satisfy my curiosity, why would anyone in their right mind name their restaurant Income Tax?

Haha, great question . . .

ChicagoMag.com wrote:The name Income Tax (5959 N. Broadway, Edgewater) is, at first glance, a bit off-putting. But, fear not: this new Edgewater bar is actually named after a classic cocktail, not a government program. It happens to be a cocktail that’s beloved by the spot’s owners, one that includes gin, Americano Blanco, vermouth, orange, and bitters.

Income Tax Does a Little Bit of Everything in Edgewater

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It may seem silly to rave about pan con tomate, but the version at Income Tax is damn delicious. They make a rustic saffron bread in house and toast it, making for a great base. Tomatoes are seeded and strained, and the tomato water is converted into a jelly that lines and flavors the whole slice of toast. That's topped with roasted tomatoes and a few plucks of herbs.

If you're at all into this dish, order it. It's killer now even with off-season tomatoes.

nice post^

high on my list

We made it here last Friday and were very impressed. The organization of the menu is no longer by country but rather size, although there is still a fair diversity. We had the strozzapreti, which were different than most I have had, almost more cheese ball than dumpling, but very nice. The rillettes were nice if a bit rich, even for rillettes. The trout was standard and well executes, and the scallops with chorizo and sweet potatoes very good, but the carrot agnolotti really stole the show. Smooth pasta with the most intense sweet carrot flavor, only great care could have pumped that much flavor into the dish.

The wine list is also excellent, with many natural choices. A Tissot poulsard from the Jura went particularly well with the larger dishes. And I never say no to a vin jaune by the glass for after.

If you make the trip, Independent Spirits, the wine shop two doors down is also well worth a trip. They have a very large variety of well chosen wines with focus on values, things like aged Moldovan wines for a song. Also a huge spirits selection with many unusual things. I'd put it as a top-5 shop in the city.

My wife and I had an outstanding dinner here a while back. I don't remember everything we had, but some standouts were the pan con tomate, flammenkuchen, and (if memory serves) the carrot agnolotti. The concept of mixing these cuisines didn't strike me as promising, but the execution of the dishes was flawless and every bite tasted amazing. Great place to have in the neighborhood (and worth a trip for those who live further).

Mr. X and I had a fantastic meal this past Friday at Income Tax. We arrived at 6 PM with a reservation for a table, but gave that up to sit at the bar. That was a great decision as Mr. X was able to tap into the bartenders' creativity. Food-wise, we had the delicate squash parmesan from the "bites" section, the flammenkuchen (onion tart) from the appetizers and grilled scallops and grilled dry-aged sirloin for entrees. The onion tart and sirloin we some of the best bites we've had. For dessert, the oloroso sherry ice cream was amazing and overshadowed the decent chocolate mousse. Service was excellent as well. I want this to be more in our rotation.

We celebrated a friend's birthday at Income Tax last night. Happy to say they are still operating at a high level. Excellent service, food and drink. Mr. X's coq au vin might be on his top 10 meals of the year. I realized we hadn't been back since I posted above. Bad us.

Ellison Park has been named the executive chef at Income Tax (5959 N. Broadway), replacing original chef Ryan Henderson, who left (amicably, we’re told) earlier this year.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/ct ... story.html

My daughters and I recently dined at Income Tax and had an excellent overall experience. Both the food and service were uniformly top notch. To start, we had four items from the middle part of the menu which included:

Stewed eggplant - walnut, mint, charred cucumber
Seared lamb belly - smoked grape, celery
Roasted string beans - truffle, hen of the woods mushrooms
Little gem lettuce - parsley vinaigrette, radish, ricotta salata

To follow we had:

Garganelli - wild mushroom, leek fonduta
Bavette steak - roasted carrot, vadouvan butter
Halibut cheek - (nightly special and I forgot the preparation)

We washed it down with a bottle of Vadin-Plateau pinot meunier champagne which was quite nice and reasonably priced at $80. In addition, I arranged to bring a bottle of 1991 Hermitage La Chapelle. Corkage was $25.

Everything we had in the "first wave" was delicious, with the standouts for me being the little gem salad and the eggplant. In the second round, the steak was perfect, but I had a slight complaint about the pasta which I found to be not quite cooked to al dente. That being said, I was the only one of the three of us that found the pasta undercooked.

For dessert we had a perfectly poached pear that I did not eat, but it didn't last very long at the table.

The cooking was really thoughtful and each element of each dish added to what was on the plate. The drinks program was really well thought out with interesting choices at a variety of price points.

If this place was a bit closer to home I'd be back in a flash.

deesher wrote:In addition, I arranged to bring a bottle of 1991 Hermitage La Chapelle. Corkage was $25.

Nice! Wouldn't find this on many lists in Chicago. And especially for your cost, if you bought it upon release and the $25 corkage.

$25 is about at my max, especially since you already bought an $80 bottle, but you almost forget about it when opening a great bottle like that.

My husband and I had the humbly named but exceptionally tasty "Chicken Dinner" from Income Tax on Saturday night and highly recommend it. Perfectly roasted chicken, fennel & citrus salad, root vegetable mash, and an absolutely decadent cream puff for dessert. We also took advantage of the opportunity to buy a couple of interesting bottles of wine at retail prices. Easy ordering and contact-free pickup. This is one of our go to places in "normal" times (?) and it was nice to have a reminder of why we like it so much.

I didn't try the dinner but can reinforce that the wine options are great and at fair prices.

Income Tax in Edgewater permanently closing, per their Instagram. Very sad. Was a very different kind of place from standard neighborhood fare.

KevinM wrote:Income Tax in Edgewater permanently closing, per their Instagram. Very sad. Was a very different kind of place from standard neighborhood fare.

We called to order their chicken dinner last night. Mr. X was told they weren't open as they were trying to figure things out. That news was a surprise to Scott at Independent Spirits a couple doors down. This is sad. (Independent Spirits, by the way, compiled a fun case of whites and roses at my request. They have such an eclectic selection so it will be fun to see what they chose.)

Per their Facebook page, they are now permanently closed. Discovered this via a friend who lives in the neighborhood and was a huge fan.

We live right down the street from Income Tax, and it became one of our favorite restaurants in the city. As great as their regular rotating menu was (our meal there in February was one of the best), we were disappointed in how they approached the shelter-in-place take-out menu. While I'm sure the roast chicken dinner was good, the lack of variety and no rotation of menu did not seem like the best strategy for attracting enough orders. We will certainly miss them.